970 research outputs found
Wetland-based passive treatment systems for gold ore processing effluents containing residual cyanide, metals and nitrogen species
Gold extraction operations generate a variety of wastes requiring responsible disposal in compliance with current environmental regulations. During recent decades, increased emphasis has been placed on effluent control and treatment, in order to avoid the threat to the environment posed by toxic constituents. In many modern gold mining and ore processing operations, cyanide species are of most immediate concern. Given that natural degradation processes are known to reduce the toxicity of cyanide over time, trials have been made at laboratory and field scales into the feasibility of using wetland-based passive systems as low-cost and environmentally friendly methods for long-term treatment of leachates from closed gold mine tailing disposal facilities. Laboratory experiments on discrete aerobic and anaerobic treatment units supported the development of design parameters for the construction of a field-scale passive system at a gold mine site in northern Spain. An in situ pilot-scale wetland treatment system was designed, constructed and monitored over a nine-month period. Overall, the results suggest that compost-based constructed wetlands are capable of detoxifying cyanidation effluents, removing about 21.6% of dissolved cyanide and 98% of Cu, as well as nitrite and nitrate. Wetland-based passive systems can therefore be considered as a viable technology for removal of residual concentrations of cyanide from leachates emanating from closed gold mine tailing disposal facilities
Two-state theory of nonlinear Stochastic Resonance
An amenable, analytical two-state description of the nonlinear population
dynamics of a noisy bistable system driven by a rectangular subthreshold signal
is put forward. Explicit expressions for the driven population dynamics, the
correlation function (its coherent and incoherent part), the signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR) and the Stochastic Resonance (SR) gain are obtained. Within a
suitably chosen range of parameter values this reduced description yields
anomalous SR-gains exceeding unity and, simultaneously, gives rise to a
non-monotonic behavior of the SNR vs. the noise strength. The analytical
results agree well with those obtained from numerical solutions of the Langevin
equation.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
NN Scattering: Chiral Predictions for Asymptotic Observables
We assume that the nuclear potential for distances larger than 2.5 fm is
given just by the exchanges of one and two pions and, for the latter, we adopt
a model based on chiral symmetry and subthreshold pion-nucleon amplitudes,
which contains no free parameters. The predictions produced by this model for
nucleon-nucleon observables are calculated and shown to agree well with both
experiment and those due to phenomenological potentials.Comment: 16 pages, 12 PS figures included, to appear in Physical Review
Two-Pion Exchange Nucleon-Nucleon Potential: Model Independent Features
A chiral pion-nucleon amplitude supplemented by the HJS subthreshold
coefficients is used to calculate the the long range part of the two-pion
exchange nucleon-nucleon potential. In our expressions the HJS coefficients
factor out, allowing a clear identification of the origin of the various
contributions. A discussion of the configuration space behaviour of the loop
integrals that determine the potential is presented, with emphasis on
cancellations associated with chiral symmetry. The profile function for the
scalar-isoscalar component of the potential is produced and shown to disagree
with those of several semi-phenomenological potentials.Comment: 16 pages, 9 embedded figures, Latex 2.09, Revtex.sty, epsf.st
Three-pion exchange: a gap in the nucleon-nucleon potential
The leading contribution to the three-pion exchange nucleon-nucleon potential
is calculated in the framework of chiral symmetry. It has pseudoscalar and
axial components and is dominated by the former, which has a range of about 1.5
fm and tends to enhance the OPEP. The strength of this force does not depend on
the pion mass and hence it survives in the chiral limit.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Black Hole Thermodynamics from Near-Horizon Conformal Quantum Mechanics
The thermodynamics of black holes is shown to be directly induced by their
near-horizon conformal invariance. This behavior is exhibited using a scalar
field as a probe of the black hole gravitational background, for a general
class of metrics in D spacetime dimensions (with ). The ensuing
analysis is based on conformal quantum mechanics, within a hierarchical
near-horizon expansion. In particular, the leading conformal behavior provides
the correct quantum statistical properties for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy,
with the near-horizon physics governing the thermodynamic properties from the
outset. Most importantly: (i) this treatment reveals the emergence of
holographic properties; (ii) the conformal coupling parameter is shown to be
related to the Hawking temperature; and (iii) Schwarzschild-like coordinates,
despite their ``coordinate singularity,''can be used self-consistently to
describe the thermodynamics of black holes.Comment: 16 pages. Sections 2 and 3 and sections 4 and 5 of version 1 were
merged and reduced; a few typos were corrected. The original central results
and equations remain unchange
Peripheral N Scattering: A Tool For Identifying The Two Pion Exchange Component Of The NN Potential
We study elastic N scattering and produce a quantitative correlation
between the range of the effective potential and the energy of the system. This
allows the identification of the waves and energies for which the scattering
may be said to be peripheral. We then show that the corresponding phase shifts
are sensitive to the tail of the NN potential, which is due to the exchange of
two pions. However, the present uncertainties in the experimental phase shifts
prevent the use of N scattering to discriminate the existing models
for the NN interaction.Comment: 19 pages, 6 PostScript figures, RevTeX, to be appear in Phys. Rev.
The Puzzle and the Nuclear Force
The nucleon-deuteron analyzing power in elastic nucleon-deuteron
scattering poses a longstanding puzzle. At energies below
approximately 30 MeV cannot be described by any realistic NN force. The
inclusion of existing three-nucleon forces does not improve the situation.
Because of recent questions about the NN phases, we examine whether
reasonable changes in the NN force can resolve the puzzle. In order to do this
we investigate the effect on the waves produced by changes in different
parts of the potential (viz., the central force, tensor force, etc.), as well
as on the 2-body observables and on . We find that it is not possible with
reasonable changes in the NN potential to increase the 3-body and at the
same time to keep the 2-body observables unchanged. We therefore conclude that
the puzzle is likely to be solved by new three-nucleon forces, such as
those of spin-orbit type, which have not yet been taken into account.Comment: 35 pages in REVTeX, 1 figure in postscript and 3 figures in PiCTe
- …