Genetic risks to man from exposure to long-lived radionuclides

Ionizing radiation, irrespective of whether it is received from external sources or from internally-deposited radionuclides, is capable of causing genetic damage that will be transmitted from one generation to the next. Since strictly relevant human data is limited at present, there is no alternative to the use of data collected in experimental mammals for estimating genetic risks associated with the exposure of human populations to ionizing radiation.Animal studies reveal that plutonium reaching the testes and concentrates in the interstitial tissue but is later aggregated by macrophages, apparently leading to a reduction in effectiveness. For protracted alpha irradiation from testicular plutonium in the mouse, the RBE (relative biological effectiveness) for genetic effects of concern may be in a range of between 10 and 20, relative to chronic gamma irradiation. In female mice, plutonium appears to be much less effective although the data is very limited.Studies with beta emitters provide reasonable grounds for believing that in the case of chronic exposures to tritium, the RBE value may be about 2, whereas for others such as carbon-14, it may not be significantly different from unity.These and other results support the view that for plutonium alpha rays, the genetic risks following exposure of human males may be 10–20 times that estimated for chronic, low level, low LET irradiation, per unit absorbed testicular dose; for tritium exposures, the risks may be higher by a factor of 2, (again, relative to chronic gamma ray exposures) while for carbon-14, the risks are the same as that for chronic gamma irradiation. For estimating genetic risks following exposure of human females to radionuclides, in the absence of adequate data, it would be prudent to assume that the risks will be similar to those for irradiation of males.     

Thermal cycling,DLTS, and PEC studies on LEC gallium arsenide

This paper discusses the growth of gallium arsenide single crystals using the LEC technique. The Semi-insulating gallium arsenide was studied. The defect investigations were made by DLTS and etching studies. The variation of deep level concentration along the wafer was estimated using DLTS. The fabrication and efficiency of the PEC Solar cells are also reported.     

Enhancement of thermopower in the highT c superconductor YBa2Cu3O7 and related compounds

The absolute thermopower of single phase YBa₂Cu₃O₇ and Y_0.8Er_0.2Ba₂Cu₃O₇ has been measured in the range 250 K to the superconducting transition temperature. It is found that these compounds show a large enhancement of thermopower in the range 150 K down toT _c. This enhancement shows a steep exponential drop as the temperature increases from the transition temperature. The temperature variation of the enhancement is too steep to be accounted for by electron-phonon or electron-local structural excitation mechanisms.     

A switched controller for an underactuated underwater vehicle

We present a switched control law for stabilizing an underactuated underwater vehicle (UUV) moving in a horizontal plane in a neutrally buoyant condition. The control law consists of a sequential series of control actions, each of which achieves a certain objective, finally resulting in the system being moved to the origin. Finite-time controllers are employed at each stage to achieve the desired objective. Simulation results are presented to validate the control law.     

Dispersion and stability analyses of the linearized two‐dimensional shallow water equations in boundary‐fitted co‐ordinates

In the present investigation, a Fourier analysis is used to study the phase and group speeds of a linearized, two‐dimensional shallow water equations, in a non‐orthogonal boundary‐fitted co‐ordinate system. The phase and group speeds for the spatially discretized equations, using the second‐order scheme in an Arakawa C grid, are calculated for grids with varying degrees of non‐orthogonality and compared with those obtained from the continuous case. The spatially discrete system is seen to be slightly dispersive, with the degree of dispersivity increasing with an decrease in the grid non‐orthogonality angle or decrease in grid resolution and this is in agreement with the conclusions reached by Sankaranarayanan and Spaulding (J. Comput. Phys., 2003; 184 : 299–320). The stability condition for the non‐orthogonal case is satisfied even when the grid non‐orthogonality angle, is as low as 30° for the Crank Nicolson and three‐time level schemes. A two‐dimensional wave deformation analysis, based on complex propagation factor developed by Leendertse (Report RM‐5294‐PR, The Rand Corp., Santa Monica, CA, 1967), is used to estimate the amplitude and phase errors of the two‐time level Crank–Nicolson scheme. There is no dissipation in the amplitude of the solution. However, the phase error is found to increase, as the grid angle decreases for a constant Courant number, and increases as Courant number increases. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a novel high speed (electron-mobility) epi-n-ZnO thin films by L-MBE for III–V opto-electronic devices

Intrinsic epitaxial zinc oxide (epi-ZnO) thin films were grown by laser-molecular beam epitaxy (L-MBE), i.e., pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique using Johnson Matthey “specpure”-grade ZnO pellets. The effects of substrate temperatures on ZnO thin film growth, electrical conductivity (σ), mobility (μ) and carrier concentration (n) were studied. As well as the feasibility of developing high quality conducting oxide thin films was also studied simultaneously. The highest conductivity was found for optimized epi-ZnO thin films is σ=0.06×10³ ohm⁻¹ cm⁻¹ (n-type) (which is almost at the edge of semiconductivity range), carrier density n=0.316×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ and mobility μ=98 cm²/V s. The electrical studies further confirmed the semiconductor characteristics of epi-n-ZnO thin films. The relationship between the optical and electrical properties were also graphically enumerated. The electrical parameter values for the films were calculated, graphically enumerated and tabulated. As a novelty point of view, we have concluded that without doping and annealing, we have obtained optimum electrical conductivity with high optical transparency (95%) for as deposited ZnO thin films using PLD. Also, this is the first time that we have applied PLD made ZnO thin films to iso-, hetero-semiconductor–insulator–semiconductor (SIS) type solar cells as transparent conducting oxide (TCO) window layer. We hope that surely these data be helpful either as a scientific or technical basis in the semiconductor processing.     

Specific heat of YBa2Cu3O7−x from 4.2 to 60 K

The specific heat of superconducting oxide compound, YBa₂Cu₃O_{7 ?x} , is studied using a quasi-adiabatic calorimeter from 4.2 to 60 K. The analysis of the specific heat data below 15 K gives a value of 17 mJ/mole K² for the electronic heat capacity coefficient. The value ofθ _D(0) is determined to be 397±8 K. The variation ofθ _D with temperature was calculated in the temperature range 4.2 to 60 K.