Role of the cluster structure of 7^7Li in the dynamics of fragment capture

Exclusive measurements of prompt $\gamma$-rays from the heavy-residues with various light charged particles in the $^7$Li + $^{198}$Pt system, at an energy near the Coulomb barrier (E/$V_b$ $\sim$ 1.6) are reported. Recent dynamic classical trajectory calculations, constrained by the measured fusion, $\alpha$ and $t$ capture cross-sections have been used to explain the excitation energy dependence of the residue cross-sections. These calculations distinctly illustrate a two step process, breakup followed by fusion in case of the capture of $t$ and $\alpha$ clusters; whereas for $^{6}$He + $p$ and $^{5}$He + $d$ configurations, massive transfer is inferred to be the dominant mechanism. The present work clearly demonstrates the role played by the cluster structures of $^7$Li in understanding the reaction dynamics at energies around the Coulomb barrier.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Letts.

Synthesis and Characterization of 2-(Hydroxyimino)- 1-(phenylpropylidene)thiocarbonohydrazide and its Metal Complexes with Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) Ions

Abstract: Synthesis and characterization of 2-(hydroxyimino)-1-(phenyl propylidene) thiocarbonohydrazide (called 'HPTCHOPD') was studied. The synthesized compound having the molecular formula C 10 H 13 N 5 OS, where in isonitrosopropiophenone is reacted with thiocarbonohydrazide in presence of sodium acetate in ethanol-water mixture. The yield which is comprises effecting the reaction in the presence of sodium acetate. Also the present work report a process for producing metal complexes having the formula ML 2 and (ML) 2 Cl, wherein M is the divalent metal cation, like cobalt (Co +2 ), nickel (Ni +2 ) and copper (Cu +2 ). The compound HPTCHOPD is admixed with a basic divalent compound that is halide, mainly chloride of Co +2 , Ni +2 and Cu +2 in presence of methanol-water mixture. The metal complexes so produced are characterized on the basis of spectral, elemental and magnetic analysis; reveal interesting geometries and bonding features. The data suggested square planar geometry for Co +2 complex, a distorted tetrahedral/square planar-octahedral geometry for Ni +2 complex and a bridged structure for Cu +2 complex

Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio predicts short- and long-term mortality following revascularization therapy for ST elevation myocardial infarction

Background: Several inflammation biomarkers have been implicated in the pathogenesis and prognosis of acute coronary syndromes. However, the prognostic role of the neutrophil-lymphocyte white cell interactive response to myocardial injury in predicting short- and long-term mortality after ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) remains poorly defined.Methods: We evaluated 250 consecutive STEMI patients presenting acutely for revascularization to our tertiary care center over 1 year. Patients with acute sepsis, trauma, recent surgery, autoimmune diseases, or underlying malignancy were excluded. Data gathered included demographics, clinical presentation, leukocyte markers, electrocardiograms, evaluations, therapy,major adverse cardiac events, and all-cause mortality.Results: Mean age was 62 ± 15 years, 70.4% of subjects were males while majority (49.4%) were Caucasians. Mean duration of follow-up was 571 ± 291 days (median 730 days). Univariate analysis of several inflammatory biomarkers including C-reactive protein, revealed white cell count (OR = 1.09, p < 0.001) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (OR = 1.05, p = 0.011) as predictors of short- and long-term mortality; but not mean neutrophil count (OR = 1.04, p = 0.055) or lymphocyte count alone (OR = 0.96, p = 0.551). Multivariate analysis using backward stepwise regression revealed NLR (OR = 2.64, p = 0.026), female gender (OR = 5.35, p < 0.001), cerebrovascular accident history (OR = 3.36, p = 0.023), low glomerular filtration rate (OR = 0.98, p = 0.012) and cardiac arrest on admission (OR = 17.43, p < 0.001) as robust independent predictors of long-term mortality. NLR was divided into two sub-groups based on an optimal cut off value of 7.4. This provided the best discriminatory cut off point for predicting adverse mortality outcome. Both short-term (≤ 30 days) and long-term (≤ 2 years) mortality were predicted with Kaplan-Meier survival curve separation best stratified by a NLR cut off value of 7.4.Conclusions: NLR based on an optimal cut off value of 7.4, was an excellent predictor of short- and long-term survival in patients with revascularized STEMI and warrants larger scale multi-center prospective evaluation, as a prognostic indicator. NLR offers improved prognostic capacity when combined with conventional clinical scoring systems, such as the Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction risk score.

Solar Images Processing in Parallel Environment

This paper presents the PVA-BDA project (Processing, Visualization and Analysis in ParallelEnvironment of the BDA Data) that has been developed for processing of solar images that will be captured bythe BDA (Brazilian Decimetric Array), a radio telescope under development at the National Institute for SpaceResearch (INPE). In a joint effort between the Department of Computer Science at Federal University of SãoCarlos (DC/UFSCar), the Astrophysics Division (DAS) and Associated Laboratory for Computing and AppliedMathematics (LAC) at INPE, a high performance parallel system is being developed with capacity to supportrealistic applications, involving a reasonable amount of parallel processing, in order to carry out the processing,visualization and analysis of solar images captured by BDA, in real time. The aim is to create the conditions forstarting a study of the solar weather forecast. The forecast of solar explosions are important as they may causeserious perturbations in terrestrial communication systems. An application for 3D reconstruction of X-raytomographic images of the solar atmosphere was developed at DC/UFSCar. Due to the need for the 3Dreconstruction of solar magnetic structures, in real-time, this application was implemented to execute in a parallelmachine using DSPs

Capability of 19-litre polycarbonate plastic water cooler containers for efficient solar water disinfection (SODIS): field case studies in India, Bahrain and Spain.

The small treated volume (typically ~2 litres) associated with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles that are most frequently used in solar water disinfection (SODIS), is a major obstacle to uptake of this water treatment technology in the developing world. In order to address this problem we have conducted a series of experiments in Spain, Bahrain and India, to assess the efficacy of large volume (19 litres) transparent plastic (polycarbonate) water cooler/dispenser containers (WDCs) as SODIS reactors to inactivate Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, under strong natural sunlight. Reduction values of 6 log10 units (LRV = 6.0) have been observed using WDCs in each location. Additional comparisons between 2-L PET bottles and 19-L indicate that WDCs provide bacterial inactivation similar in both systems. SODIS disinfection experiments in turbid water (100 NTU) in both reactors showed very good inactivation efficiency. LRVs of 7.2 and 7.8 were obtained for E. coli in WDC and 2-L PET bottles, respectively, and in the case of E. faecalis LRV = 5.7 and 7.9 were observed. These studies demonstrate that under conditions of strong sunlight and mild temperature, 19 litre water dispenser containers can be used to provide adequate volumes of SODIS treated water for households or larger community applications such as schools or clinics in the developing world

Novel extractant impregnated resin for preconcentration and determination of uranium from environmental samples

A novel method based on impregnation of Amberlite XAD-4 with extractant isonitroso-4-methyl-2-pentanone (IMP) has been developed for U6 + extraction and determination in various samples. The prepared extractant im- pregnated resin (EIR) sorbent was characterized by the field emission scanning electron microscope. The sorbent was packed in a glass column and investigated for various parameters such as pH, eluent, sample and eluent flow rates to optimize sorption desorption conditions for U6+. U6+ is quantitatively determined at pH 4 with flow rate 2 mL/min which showed recovery of 98.9%. The sorption behaviour of U6 + by EIR was also studied using different equilibrium isotherms and kinetic models and the experimental data confirmed that it follows Freundlich iso- therm and Weber-Morris pore diffusion kinetic model. The investigation of foreign ions influence on U6+ sorp- tion showed least interference and thus, facilitated its extraction and determination in Uranmicrolite (leachate) ore tailing, synthetic mixtures and spiked water samples. The detection limit was 0.41 μg/L while the limit of quantification as 1.35 μg/L made the method quite accurate

Evidence of a new shell closed nucleus governing slow quasi-fission

Mass distributions of fission fragments arising from the slow quasi-fission process have been derived by comparing the measured distributions with the theoretical distributions based on compound nuclear fission model for several reactions. The mass-distributions corresponding to quasi-fission events for all the systems show the following common features: (1) they are double peaked with fixed peak-centroids and nearly same width at different incident energies, (2) the yield of quasi-fission events decreases with the increasing projectile energy, and (3) peak corresponding to lighter fragment is observed at A $\sim$ 96 for all the systems, whereas the peak of heavier fragment increases linearly with the mass of the di-nuclear system. All the above observations are quite similar to the ones observed in well known asymmetric fission of actinides, thus providing clear evidences of shell effect in slow quasi-fission where the lighter fragment is possibly nuclei around $^{96}$Zr, a new doubly magic nucleus. This finding has great implications in the study of nuclear reactions, structure and particularly in super-heavy element synthesis where quasi-fission is synonymous

Combined Effect of Disc Coulters and Operational Speeds on Soil Disturbance and Crop Residue Cutting under No-Tillage System in Soil Bin

In the present study, a residue cutting system comprising of different disc coulters (plain, notch, curved teeth, cutter bar and star wheel) was developed and its performance was evaluated under no-tillage system in soil bin. The performance of residue cutting system was evaluated by performing a total of 135 experiments (including replications) in soil bin (black cotton soil, moisture content: 16.8–18.4% db and cone index: 1600±100 kPa) using forward speeds of 0.56, 0.83 and 1.11 m∙s−1 under the crop residues of rice (8 t∙ha−1), wheat (8 t∙ha−1) and maize (16 t∙ha−1). The effects of disc coulters and operational speeds on performance parameters viz. penetration depth, top width, soil disturbance and residue cutting were investigated. For all type of disc coulters, penetration depth and top width were found in the range of 5–10 and 0.6–5.7 cm, respectively. The least soil disturbance was observed for star wheel disc coulter under maize residue. The operational speeds of 0.56 and 1.11 m∙s−1 favored lesser soil disturbance. The highest mean residue cutting was observed for star wheel disc coulter (98.15%) followed by notched (84.12%), curved teeth (75.82%), plain (61.82%) and cutter bar blade disc coulter (52.12%). The change in forward speed did not produce significant effect on residue cutting. Star wheel disc coulter was effective in cutting of medium to heavy residue loads of rice, wheat and maize crops along with minimal soil disturbance

Combined Effect of Disc Coulters and Operational Speeds on Soil Disturbance and Crop Residue Cutting under No-Tillage System in Soil Bin

739-749In the present study, a residue cutting system comprising of different disc coulters (plain, notch, curved teeth, cutter bar and star wheel) was developed and its performance was evaluated under no-tillage system in soil bin. The performance of residue cutting system was evaluated by performing a total of 135 experiments (including replications) in soil bin (black cotton soil, moisture content: 16.8–18.4% db and cone index: 1600±100 kPa) using forward speeds of 0.56, 0.83 and 1.11 m∙s−1 under the crop residues of rice (8 t∙ha−1), wheat (8 t∙ha−1) and maize (16 t∙ha−1). The effects of disc coulters and operational speeds on performance parameters viz. penetration depth, top width, soil disturbance and residue cutting were investigated. For all type of disc coulters, penetration depth and top width were found in the range of 5–10 and 0.6–5.7 cm, respectively. The least soil disturbance was observed for star wheel disc coulter under maize residue. The operational speeds of 0.56 and 1.11 m∙s−1 favored lesser soil disturbance. The highest mean residue cutting was observed for star wheel disc coulter (98.15%) followed by notched (84.12%), curved teeth (75.82%), plain (61.82%) and cutter bar blade disc coulter (52.12%). The change in forward speed did not produce significant effect on residue cutting. Star wheel disc coulter was effective in cutting of medium to heavy residue loads of rice, wheat and maize crops along with minimal soil disturbance