Development of boron calibration via hybrid comparator method in prompt gamma activation analysis

The prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA) facility at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin was utilized to quantify boron concentrations in boron carbide semiconductor films deposited on silicon substrates. Calibration was complicated by the unique and varying sample geometries analyzed. In addition, there was a dearth of solid materials available with quantified boron concentrations having comparable or readily modifiable dimensions to exploit for calibration purposes. Therefore, a novel hybrid comparator method was developed for the quantification of boron utilizing aluminum as an inexpensive and easily machinable reference material. Aluminum samples were manufactured with high tolerances to match the geometry of each sample of interest. Each boron carbide film sample and its congruent aluminum sample were measured in the PGAA system. The measured aluminum responses and relevant nuclear parameters were used to standardize the measurements. A boron standard was created using a procedure derived from a similar approach used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Quality control measurements using this standard show that the method provided accuracy to within 5% for boron quantification

The Composition of Soil Colloids in Relation to Soil Classification

For a period of approximately fifteen years investigators in the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils have been engaged in the accumulation of scientific data concerned with colloid material of the soil. During this period a large volume of accurate information has been secured which has been published in the form of bulletins and journal articles. So far as the Bureau publications are concerned, but little has appeared concerning theoretical aspects of the composition of the colloid. They have concerned themselves, for the most part, with methods of isolation and estimation, and determination of general physical and chemical characteristics

Iowa in War Times

This history of Iowa\u27s involvement in the Civil War was published in 1888. The author, Samuel Hawkins Marshall Byers, was a member of the Fifth Iowa Infantry during the Civil War, having enlisted in 1861. Byers was eventually captured and spent well over a year in several Confederate prison camps. Following his escape, Byers joined Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman\u27s staff until the war\u27s end. In 1869 he was appointed United States Consul to Zurich, Switzerland, and later held the same position in Rome. Byers many works include The Song of Iowa the official state song of Iowa.https://scholarworks.uni.edu/iowabooks/1016/thumbnail.jp