Studies on the maize cold tolerance tests in the Martonvásár phytotron

The climatic conditions in Hungary and in the countries to which seed is exported makes the study of maize cold tolerance and constant improvements in the cold tolerance of Martonvásár hybrids especially important. An improvement in the early spring cold tolerance of maize would allow it to be grown in more northern areas with a cooler climate, while on traditional maize-growing areas the profitability of maize production could be improved by earlier sowing, leading to a reduction in transportation and drying costs and in diseases caused by Fusarium sp. The recognition of this fact led Martonvásár researchers to start investigating this subject nearly four decades ago. The phytotron has proved an excellent tool for studying and improving the cold tolerance of maize. The review will give a brief summary of the results achieved in the field of maize cold tolerance in the Martonvásár institute in recent decades

Characterisation of Segregation by Dynamic Neutron Radiography

Dynamic neutron radiography is an advanced non-destructive technique to visualise and analyse different types of segregation phenomena in technically important objects. Here we describe applications on calorimetric devices studied during operation. Segregation behaviour in the water separator and formation of clogging in the tube system of absorption-type refrigerator is studied. Separation of lubrication oil on the surface of the cooling agent in the evaporator puffer of compression-type cooling units, and inhomogeneous distribution of the working fluid in thermostats is discussed

Uranium surroundings in borosilicate glass from neutron and x-ray diffraction and RMC modelling

Neutron and high-energy x-ray diffraction measurements have been performed on multi-component $55SiO_{2}\centerdot 10B_{2}O_{3}\centerdot 25Na_{2}O\centerdot 5BaOcenterdotZrO_2$ borosilicate host glass loaded with 30 wt% UO$_3$. Both the traditional Fourier transformation technique and the reverse Monte Carlo simulation of the experimental data have been applied to get structural information. It was established that the basic network structure consists of tetrahedral SiO$_4$ units and of mixed tetrahedral BO$_4$ and trigonal BO$_3$ units, similar to the corresponding host glass. Slight changes have been observed in the oxygen surroundings of the Na and Zr modifier cations; both the Na–O and Zr–O distances decrease and a more compact short-range structure has been obtained compared to the host glass. For the U–O correlations two distinct peaks were resolved at 1.84 and 2.24 Å, and for higher distances intermediate-range correlations were observed. Significant correlations have been revealed between U and the network former Si and B atoms. Uranium ions take part in the network forming, which may be the reason for the observed good glassy stability and hydrolytic properties