48,840 research outputs found
Distribution of heavy metals in sediments of Igbede, Ojo and Ojora rivers of Lagos, Nigeria
The distribution of some heavy metals,
namely Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe, Cu, Cr and Mn in epipellic
sediments of Igbede, Ojo and Ojora rivers of Lagos
was studied weekly in the early summer (November)
of 2003. The levels of selected trace metals were determined
using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer
(UNICAM 969 AAS SOLAR). Trends in heavy metal
burdens in the sediments revealed weekly variations in
all the rivers assessed. Statistical analyses also showed
different mean levels of trace metals in the aquatic environments,
the distribution of which followed the sequence
Fe > Zn > Mn > Pb > Cu > Cr > Cd, Fe
> Zn > Cu > Mn > Pb > Cr > Cd and Fe > Zn >
Mn > Cu > Cr > Pb > Cd in Igbede, Ojo and Ojora
rivers respectively. Fe recorded the highest concentration
levels (1,582.95 ± 96.57 μg/g–1,910.34 ± 723.19
μg/g) in all the sediments investigated while the Cd
levels (0.06 ± 0.10 μg/g–0.47 ± 0.36 μg/g) were the
lowest. Expectedly, trace metal concentrations in fine
grain muddy sediments of the Igbede and Ojo coastline
were much higher than those of Ojora which consist
of coarse and sandy deposits covering the near shore
area. Generally, the results obtained fell within toler-able limits stipulated by World Health Organization
(WHO)
Highly-improved lattice field-strength tensor
We derive an O(a^4)-improved lattice version of the continuum field-strength
tensor. Discretization errors are reduced via the combination of several clover
terms of various sizes, complemented by tadpole improvement. The resulting
improved field-strength tensor is used to construct O(a^4)-improved topological
charge and action operators. We compare the values attained by these operators
as we cool several configurations to self-duality with a previously defined
highly-improved action and assess the relative scale of the remaining
discretization errors.Comment: 22 pages, 7 postscript figure
ORGANOCHLORINES IN CHRYSICHTHYS NIGRODIGITATUS AND LIZA GRANDISQUAMIS FROM LAGOS LAGOON AND AGBOYI CREEK, NIGERIA
Catfish (Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus) and mullet (Liza grandisquamis) were sampled from Lagos
Lagoon and Agboyi Creek and analysed for alpha-BHC, beta-BHC, lindane, delta-BHC, heptachlor, heptachlorepoxide
(B), aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, endrin ketone, cis-chlordane, trans-chlordane, endosulfan 1,
endosulfan 11, endosulfan sulphate, methoxychlor, p,p´-DDE, p,p´-DDD and p,p´-DDT. Sampling was conducted
four times at the designated sites during the dry season months of December 2008 and February 2009 and the wet
season months of May and September 2009. The muscle tissues and organs of the finfishes were subjected to cold
extraction with petroleum ether/acetone (1:1 v/v) mixture and clean-up on silica gel adsorbents. A gas
chromatograph coupled with electron capture detector (GC-ECD) was used to detect and determine the
organochlorines. The residue levels of the fishes were higher in the Lagos Lagoon than in Agboyi Creek while a
higher concentration of the residues was observed during the dry season. The female fishes accumulated higher
organochlorines than the male fishes. The order of residue accumulation in the organs of the fishes was gills >
livers > large intestines > small intestines > kidneys > muscles. The dietary surveys indicated that the amount of
fishes consumed ranged from 20 to 200 g/day, with a mean value of 40 g/day. The estimated daily intakes of the
organochlorines were within the acceptable daily intakes while the levels of residues in the fishes were within the
permissible residue limits
Scaling behavior of quark propagator in full QCD
We study the scaling behavior of the quark propagator on two lattices with
similar physical volume in Landau gauge with 2+1 flavors of dynamical quarks in
order to test whether we are close to the continuum limit for these lattices.
We use configurations generated with an improved staggered (``Asqtad'') action
by the MILC collaboration. The calculations are performed on
lattices with lattice spacing fm and on lattices
with lattice spacing fm. We calculate the quark mass function,
, and the wave-function renormalization function, , for a
variety of bare quark masses. Comparing the behavior of these functions on the
two sets of lattices we find that both and show little
sensitivity to the ultraviolet cutoff.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Graphene as a Novel Single Photon Counting Optical and IR Photodetector
Bilayer graphene has many unique optoelectronic properties , including a
tuneable band gap, that make it possible to develop new and more efficient
optical and nanoelectronic devices. We have developed a Monte Carlo simulation
for a single photon counting photodetector incorporating bilayer graphene. Our
results show that, conceptually it would be feasible to manufacture a single
photon counting photodetector (with colour sensitivity) from bilayer graphene
for use across both optical and infrared wavelengths. Our concept exploits the
high carrier mobility and tuneable band gap associated with a bilayer graphene
approach. This allows for low noise operation over a range of cryogenic
temperatures, thereby reducing the cost of cryogens with a trade off between
resolution and operating temperature. The results from this theoretical study
now enable us to progress onto the manufacture of prototype photon counters at
optical and IR wavelengths that may have the potential to be groundbreaking in
some scientific research applications.Comment: Conference Proceeding in Graphene-Based Technologies, 201
Higher Kac-Moody algebras and symmetries of holomorphic field theories
We introduce a higher dimensional generalization of the affine Kac-Moody algebra using the language of factorization algebras. In particular, on any complex manifold there is a factorization algebra of "currents" associated to any Lie algebra. We classify local cocycles of these current algebras, and compare them to central extensions of higher affine algebras recently proposed by Faonte-Hennion-Kapranov. A central goal of this paper is to witness higher Kac-Moody algebras as symmetries of a class of holomorphic quantum field theories. In particular, we prove a generalization of the free field realization of an affine Kac-Moody algebra and also develop the theory of q-characters for this class of algebras in terms of factorization homology. Finally, we exhibit the "large N" behavior of higher Kac-Moody algebras and their relationship to symmetries of non-commutative field theories
Modelling the quark propagator
The quark propagator is at the core of lattice hadron spectrum calculations
as well as studies in other nonperturbative schemes. We investigate the quark
propagator with an improved staggered action (Asqtad) and an improved gluon
action, which provides good quality data down to small quark masses. This is
used to construct ans\"{a}tze suitable for model hadron calculations as well as
adding to our intuitive understanding of QCD.Comment: Lattice2002(spectrum
Impact of stout-link smearing in lattice fermion actions
The impact of stout-link smearing in lattice fermion actions is examined
through the consideration of the mass and renormalization functions of the
overlap quark propagator over a variety of smeared configurations. Up to six
sweeps of stout-link smearing are investigated. For heavy quark masses, the
quark propagator is strongly affected by the smearing procedure. For moderate
masses, the effect appears to be negligible. A small effect is seen for light
quark masses, where dynamical mass generation is suppressed through the
smearing procedure.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, presented at the XXVII International Symposium on
Lattice Field Theory - LAT2009, July 26-31 2009, Peking University, Beijing,
Chin
Stout-link smearing in lattice fermion actions
The properties of the momentum space quark propagator in Landau gauge are
studied for the overlap quark action in quenched lattice QCD. Numerical
calculations are performed over four ensembles of gauge configurations, where
three are smeared using either 1, 3, or 6 sweeps of stout-link smearing. We
calculate the non-perturbative wave function renormalization function
and the non-perturbative mass function for a variety of bare quark
masses. We find that the wave-function renormalization function is slightly
sensitive to the number of stout-link smearing sweeps. For the mass function we
find the effect of the stout-link smearing algorithm to be small for moderate
to light bare quark masses. For a heavy bare quark mass we find a strong
dependence on the number of smearing sweeps.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Scaling Behavior of the Landau Gauge Overlap Quark Propagator
The properties of the momentum space quark propagator in Landau gauge are
examined for the overlap quark action in quenched lattice QCD. Numerical
calculations are done on three lattices with different lattice spacings and
similar physical volumes to explore the approach of the quark propagator
towards the continuum limit. We have calculated the nonperturbative
momentum-dependent wavefunction renormalization function and the
nonperturbative mass function for a variety of bare quark masses and
extrapolate to the chiral limit.
We find the behavior of and are in good agreement for the
two finer lattices in the chiral limit. The quark condensate is also
calculated.Comment: 3 pages, Lattice2003(Chiral fermions
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