Cement-rock interaction : infiltration of a high-pH solution into a fractured granite core

Within the framework of the HPF project (Hyperalkaline Plume in Fractured Rock) at the Grimsel Test Site (Switzerland), a small scale core infiltration experiment was performed at the University of Bern. A high-pH solution was continuously injected, under a constant pressure gradient, into a cylindrical core of granite containing a fracture. This high-pH solution was a synthetic version of solutions characteristic of early stages in the degradation of cement. The interaction between the rock and the solutions was reflected by significant changes in the composition of the injected solution, despite the negligible pH-buffering capacity, and a decrease in the permeability of the rock. Changes in the mineralogy and porosity of the fault gouge filling the fracture were only minor. Within the new LCS (Long-Term Cement Studies) project at Grimsel, new one-dimensional reactive transport modeling using CrunchFlow has been used to improve the interpretation of the experimental results. Dispersive and advective solute transport, adsorption processes and mineral reaction kinetics have been taken into account. The evolution of solution composition is mainly controlled by dissolution/precipitation reactions. Adsorption processes (cation exchange, surface complexation) only play a role in the very early stages of the experiment

Leaf-wise intersections and Rabinowitz Floer homology

In this article we explain how critical points of a particular perturbation of the Rabinowitz action functional give rise to leaf-wise intersection points in hypersurfaces of restricted contact type. This is used to derive existence and multiplicity results for leaf-wise intersection points in hypersurfaces of restricted contact type in general exact symplectic manifolds. The notion of leaf-wise intersection points was introduced by Moser.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure; v3: completely rewritten, improved result

Biased Metropolis-Heat-Bath Algorithm for Fundamental-Adjoint SU(2) Lattice Gauge Theory

For SU(2) lattice gauge theory with the fundamental-adjoint action an efficient heat-bath algorithm is not known so that one had to rely on Metropolis simulations supplemented by overrelaxation. Implementing a novel biased Metropolis-heat-bath algorithm for this model, we find improvement factors in the range 1.45 to 2.06 over conventionally optimized Metropolis simulations. If one optimizes further with respect to additional overrelaxation sweeps, the improvement factors are found in the range 1.3 to 1.8.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; minor changes and one reference added; accepted for publication in PR

Dissipative Hydrodynamics and Heavy Ion Collisions

Recent discussions of RHIC data emphasized the exciting possibility that the matter produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions shows properties of a near-perfect fluid. Here, we aim at delineating the applicability of fluid dynamics, which is needed to quantify the size of corresponding dissipative effects. We start from the equations for dissipative fluid dynamics, which we derive from kinetic theory up to second order (Israel-Stewart theory) in a systematic gradient expansion. In model studies, we then establish that for too early initialization of the hydrodynamic evolution (\tau_0 \lsim 1 fm/c) or for too high transverse momentum (p_T \gsim 1 GeV) in the final state, the expected dissipative corrections are too large for a fluid description to be reliable. Moreover, viscosity-induced modifications of hadronic transverse momentum spectra can be accommodated to a significant degree in an ideal fluid description by modifications of the decoupling stage. We argue that these conclusions, drawn from model studies, can also be expected to arise in significantly more complex, realistic fluid dynamics simulations of heavy ion collisions.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, uses revtex4; v2: references added, typos correcte

Measurement of I-129 in environmental samples by ICP-CRI-QMS: possibilities and limitations

129I is preconcentrated from environmental samples and its accessibility is addressed for inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometer with collision/reaction interface (ICP-CRI-QMS). By applying oxygen as CRI gas through skimmer cone, the signal of the interfering 129Xe from the impurity of plasma gas can be eliminated while the formation of 127I1H1H+ can be partially removed. The improved ICP-QMS can be employed for investigation of 129I in environmental samples with a 129I/127I ratio down to 10-7. The detection capability was demonstrated by measuring 129I in seaweed samples collected around the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague. The abundant 127I in the sample matrix causes a serious problem and degrades the detection capability of the instrument when the concentration of 127I is larger than 105ng/g. Even combined with a sufficient pre-concentration procedure, ICP-QMS is not considered as a suitable technique for the analysis of 129I in uncontaminated environmental samples with 129I/127I ratio of less than 10-7. Results are presented for seaweed samples collected around La Hague. In addition, time dependant I concentrations and ratios are given for colloids and water sampled from Lake Thu

Correlates of children’s physical activity during physical education classes

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of correlates on physical activity (PA) during physical education (PE). Method: One hundred and ninety children (11.2 ± 0.8 y, 1.5 ± 0.1 m, 37.7 ± 8.3 kg) of 12 classes participated. Children were asked to wear an accelerometer for seven days. Teachers filled in a questionnaire to collect data about correlates of PA during PE (i.e. sex, weight, age of children, daily PA of the children, class size, PA behavior and formation of the teacher and size of gym). Correlates for moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) during PE were determined using multifactor linear regression analysis. Results Fifty-three percent of the variability of MVPA during PE was explained by the investigated correlates. Apart from individual correlates (sex, weight, age), PE taught in small classes and large gyms by a PE specialist and a high overall PA of the child had independent positive effects on MVPA during PE. Conclusion: The results underline the importance of small PE classes taught by specialized PE teachers in large gyms and the increase of overall PA of children for effective future intervention studies and for political discussion focusing on increasing PA during PE

The Study on Programmes, Facilities and Achievements in USHA Schools of Athletics

The study on this paper focus on the various programmes, facilities and achievements that are available at USHA School of Athletics, Quilandy, Calicut District, Kerala, India. The personal interview technique was adopted for the collection of data. After obtaining permission to visit the school, through proper channel, the author visited the campus personally for the detailed study with a check list to collect data. The detail of the collected data pattern to the study was classified as General Information, Programmes, Facilities, Achievements and Special Information. Going through the analysis and interpretation of the data, it shows about the detailed information of the school and its vision, mission, various future plans and table wise detailed information about achievements and its diagrammatic representation on both state and national level. In short we can state USHA School of Athletics is best in their organization and administration looking forward its goal for achieving the Olympic medals

Anti–de Sitter/Conformal-Field-Theory Calculation of Screening in a Hot Wind

One of the challenges in relating experimental measurements of the suppression in the number of J/ψ mesons produced in heavy ion collisions to lattice QCD calculations is that whereas the lattice calculations treat J/ψ mesons at rest, in a heavy ion collision a cc̅ pair can have a significant velocity with respect to the hot fluid produced in the collision. The putative J/ψ finds itself in a hot wind. We present the first rigorous nonperturbative calculation of the consequences of a wind velocity v on the screening length Ls for a heavy quark-antiquark pair in hot N=4 supersymmetric QCD. We find Ls(v,T)=f(v)[1-v2]1/4/πT with f(v) only mildly dependent on v and the wind direction. This Ls(v,T)∼Ls(0,T)/sqrt[γ] velocity scaling, if realized in QCD, provides a significant additional source of J/ψ suppression at transverse momenta which are high but within experimental reach

Testing collinear factorization and nuclear parton distributions with pA collisions at the LHC

Global perturbative QCD analyses, based on large data sets from electron-proton and hadron collider experiments, provide tight constraints on the parton distribution function (PDF) in the proton. The extension of these analyses to nuclear parton distributions (nPDF) has attracted much interest in recent years. nPDFs are needed as benchmarks for the characterization of hot QCD matter in nucleus-nucleus collisions, and attract further interest since they may show novel signatures of non- linear density-dependent QCD evolution. However, it is not known from first principles whether the factorization of long-range phenomena into process-independent parton distribution, which underlies global PDF extractions for the proton, extends to nuclear effects. As a consequence, assessing the reliability of nPDFs for benchmark calculations goes beyond testing the numerical accuracy of their extraction and requires phenomenological tests of the factorization assumption. Here we argue that a proton-nucleus collision program at the LHC would provide a set of measurements allowing for unprecedented tests of the factorization assumption underlying global nPDF fits.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Security with Evidence Using Zigbee

The ZigBee standard is designed to enable the deployment of low-cost, low-power and self-forming wireless sensor and control networks based on the IEEE 802.15.4 physical radio standard. Despite the low data rates of ZigBee, its use for transmission of image has been proven to be feasible. The current researches of ZigBee wireless sensor network on industrial automation, electronic products, smart buildings and medical care were presented and, as an explorative application of ZigBee wireless sensor network in providing security using motion sensor and image capturing device is appreciable. This paper presents the idea of providing security with evidence in the frame work of ZigBee-cam project which targeted the development of a low-cost, ultra-low-power, long-range, ergonomic wireless cam using ZigBee technology to transmit high quality image. Keywords : ZigBee Cam, ZigBee Coordinator, ZigBee Massage, ZigBee IP gatewa