Activities of \gamma-ray emitting isotopes in rainwater from Greater Sudbury, Canada following the Fukushima incident

We report the activity measured in rainwater samples collected in the Greater Sudbury area of eastern Canada on 3, 16, 20, and 26 April 2011. The samples were gamma-ray counted in a germanium detector and the isotopes 131I and 137Cs, produced by the fission of 235U, and 134Cs, produced by neutron capture on 133Cs, were observed at elevated levels compared to a reference sample of ice-water. These elevated activities are ascribed to the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor complex in Japan that followed the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The activity levels observed at no time presented health concerns.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

Fermion Particle Production in Dynamical Casimir Effect in a Three Dimensional Box

In this paper we investigate the problem of fermion creation inside a three dimensional box. We present an appropriate wave function which satisfies the Dirac equation in this geometry with MIT bag model boundary condition. We consider walls of the box to have dynamic and introduce the time evolution of the quantized field by expanding it over the 'instantaneous basis'. We explain how we can obtain the average number of particles created. In this regard we find the Bogliubove coefficients. We consider an oscillation and determine the coupling conditions between different modes that can be satisfied depending on the cavity's spectrum. Assuming the parametric resonance case we obtain an expression for the mean number of created fermions in each mode of an oscillation and their dynamical Casimir energy.Comment: 5 pages, no figur

Wigner Molecules in Nanostructures

The one-- and two-- particle densities of up to four interacting electrons with spin, confined within a quasi one--dimensional ``quantum dot'' are calculated by numerical diagonalization. The transition from a dense homogeneous charge distribution to a dilute localized Wigner--type electron arrangement is investigated. The influence of the long range part of the Coulomb interaction is studied. When the interaction is exponentially cut off the ``crystallized'' Wigner molecule is destroyed in favor of an inhomogeneous charge distribution similar to a charge density wave .Comment: 10 pages (excl. Figures), Figures available on request LaTe

Creatine Supplementation Improves Performance Without Deleterious Cardiovascular Parameters in Trained Females

Creatine monohydrate supplementation is broadly substantiated to elicit both favorable ergogenic and health-associated advantages amidst vast demographics. Nevertheless, its impacts on human cardiovascular outcomes are hitherto undescribed in generally healthy populations. Furthermore, females are largely underrepresented in the ergogenic creatine literature and their potentially differential cardiovascular responses are unknown. PURPOSE: to determine whether young, healthy females would glean discernible hypertrophy and enhanced performance, commensurate to favorable post-resistance training cardiovascular parameters and relative to placebo-matched controls across a four week training timeline. METHODS: Twenty-eight resistance trained women (25.5±6.1 years) were randomly assigned to supplement creatine monohydrate (CRE; 5g creatine monohydrate + 5g dextrose) or placebo (PLA; 10g dextrose) four times per day for 7 days in double-blind fashion. Each subject subsequently completed three resistance training sessions per week for four weeks that involved four consecutive sets to muscular failure of both smith machine half-squat (SMHS) and leg press exercise. The change in body mass, exercise repetition number, rated perceived exertion (RPE), and cardiovascular variables (heart rate, as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressures) were assessed at sessions 1, 6, and 12. All aforementioned experimental dependent variables were assessed with multiple three-way (supplement [CRE, PLA] x session [1, 6, 12] x set [1st, 2nd, 3rd]) mixed model ANOVA with repeated measures at a significance level of p≤0.05. RESULTS: Analyses revealed a significant CRE-specific body mass increase (p=0.013; 57.9±7.7kg to 58.7±7.7kg), as well as significant SMHS (p=0.006) and leg press (p=0.017) repetitions per set versus PLA. Additionally, CRE demonstrated significantly lower relative RPE values at session 12 compared with sessions 1 and 6. Analyses failed to reveal any significant main or interaction effects for any aforementioned cardiovascular variable. CONCLUSION: The present data both demonstrate the safety of combined creatine monohydrate supplementation and resistance training on cardiovascular parameters, whilst simultaneously substantiating its ergogenic efficacy in females subjects

Innovative Families Of Double-Layer Tensegrity Grids: Quastruts and Sixstruts

Double-layer tensegrity grids (DLTG) are spatial reticulated systems based on tensegrity principles, which have been studied in detail over recent years. The most important investigations have been carried out focusing on a short list of tensegrity grids. This paper explains with real examples how to use Rot-Umbela Manipulations, a unique technique developed for generating innovative typologies of tensegrity structures. It is applied to two already existing tensegrity grids in order to obtain two new DLTGs. Their analysis permits us to identify, inside these novel grids, the modules that compose them which were unknown until now. A brief description of these components is provided, as well as some information about their static analysis, e.g. states of self-stress and internal mechanisms. These novel modules belong to a family, all of them with similar characteristics in terms of geometry and topology, and can be used to generate a wide catalogue of DLTGs. Some examples of new grids are presented, describing the methodology on how to obtain many more models for other designers interested in creating and studying innovative DLTGs