Assessment of Primordial Radionuclides in Pakistani Red Bricks and Associated Radiation Doses

Specific activity of primordial radionuclides and associated radiation hazards due to 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th have been measured in backed red brick samples, collected from five highly populated areas of the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. For the detection, analysis and data acquisition, a high purity germanium detector was used. Associated external doses were calculated using a Monte Carlo neutron photon transport code. A theoretical model to determine the gamma dose rate at 1 m height from the floor, made of bricks, was employed for the calculation of mass attenuation coefficient and self-absorption in the floor for the gamma energies of these radionuclides and their progeny. Monte Carlo simulation shows that in this study the floor, having more than an effective thickness of 15 cm, contributes very little to the external gamma dose rate. The values of the external dose rate and annual effective dose are found to be much lower than the world average as well as from other countries of the world.

Structural and optical analysis of Cr_2N thin films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering

Chromium nitride （Cr2N） thin films were prepared by a DC magnetron sputtering technique. The deposition temperature was raised from 50 to 300℃, and its influence on the film structure and refractive index was investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the crystalline strucure of the films transforms from the （101） to （002） oriented hexagonal CrzN phase as the increase of substrate tempera- ture above 50℃, and a highly texatred film grows at 100℃. An empirical relation between the crystalline orientation and infrared active modes of the films is obtained, i.e., the Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spectrum of the film prepared at 50℃ exhibits only A1 （TO） mode. The prominent peak in the FTIR spectra of the film prepared above 50℃is assigned to the E1 （TO） mode and is correlated with the （002） or c-axis oriented hexagonal wurtzite phase of Cr2N. In the surface analysis of atomic force microscopy, a transformation from the featureless surface to columnar-type morphology is observed with the increase of substrate temperature from 50 to 100℃, exhibiting c-axis oriented crystallite growth. A further increase in substrate temperature to 200℃ causes the c-axis crystallites to merge, resulting in the formation of voids. The refractive index （n） of the deposited films is obtained using spectroscopic ellipsometry.

Effect of radiation on compressibility of hot dense sodium and iron plasma using improved screened hydrogenic model with𝑙splitting

High pressure investigations of matter involve the study of strong shock wave dynamics within the materials which gives rise to many thermal effects leading to dissociation of molecules,ionization of atoms,and radiation emission,etc.The response of materials experiencing a strong shock can be determined by its shock Hugoniot calculations which are frequently applied in numerical and experimental studies in inertial confinement fusion,laboratory astrophysical plasma,etc.These studies involve high energy density plasmas in which the radiation plays an important role in determining the energy deposition and maximum compressibility achieved by the shock within material.In this study,we present an investigation for the effect of radiation pressure on the maximum compressibility of the material using shock Hugoniot calculations.In shock Hugoniot calculations,an equation of state(EOS)is developed in which electronic contributions for EOS calculations are taken from an improved screened hydrogenic model with−l splitting(I-SHML)[High Energy Density Physics(2018)2648]under local thermodynamic equilibrium(LTE)conditions.The thermal ionic part calculations are adopted from the state of the art Cowan model while the cold ionic contributions are adopted from the scaled binding energy model.The Shock Hugoniot calculations are carried out for sodium and iron plasmas and our calculated results show excellent agreement with published results obtained by using either sophisticated self-consistent models or the first principle study.

Ab-initio calculations of structural,electronic,and optical properties of Zn_3(VO_4)_2

The structural, electronic, and optical properties of Zn3（VO4）2 are investigated using full potential linearized aug- mented plane wave （FP-LAPW） method within the framework of density functional theory （DFT）. Various approaches are adopted to treat the exchange and correlation potential energy such as generalized gradient approximation （GGA）, GGA＋U, and the Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson （TB-mBJ） potential. The calculated band gap of 3.424 eV by TB- mBJ is found to be close to the experimental result （3.3 eV）. The optical anisotropy is analyzed through optical constants, such as dielectric function and absorption coefficient along parallel and perpendicular crystal orientations. The absorption coefficient reveals high absorption （1.5 ×10^6cm^-1） of photons in the ultraviolet region.

Crystallization and Hardness of Melt Spun Fe_(73)Si_(13)B_9Nb_4Cu_1 Alloy

An alloy having composition Fe73Si13B9Nb4Cu1 was synthesized by melt spinning to investigate the kinetics of crystallization. Techniques of differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）, X-ray diffraction （XRD） and Mossbauer spectroscopy were employed to characterize the phases produced due to annealing at various temperatures. High temperature DSC revealed two stage crystallization reactions. First stage, crystallization occurs at temperature around 514℃ with the production of α-Fe （bcc） and Fe3Si phases. In the second stage, Fe2B and α-Fe （Si,Nb） phases were produced. Mossbauer results revealed the formation of Fe3Si, Fe13Si3 and Fe7Si1 in the first stage and Fe3Si, Fe13Si3, Fe2B and α-Fe （Si,Nb） phases in the second stage of crystallization. An abrupt change in average internal magnetic field was observed at 500℃. The maximum hardness value was found for the sample heat-treated at 500℃.

Static and adaptive feedback control for synchronization of different chaotic oscillators with mutually Lipschitz nonlinearities

This paper addresses the control law design for synchronization of two different chaotic oscillators with mutually Lipschitz nonlinearities. For analysis of the properties of two different nonlinearities, an advanced mutually Lipschitz condition is proposed. This mutually Lipschitz condition is more general than the traditional Lipschitz condition. Unlike the latter, it can be used for the design of a feedback controller for synchronization of chaotic oscillators of different dynamics. It is shown that any two different Lipschitz nonlinearities always satisfy the mutually Lipschitz condition. Applying the mutually Lipschitz condition, a quadratic Lyapunov function and uniformly ultimately bounded stability, easily designable and implementable robust control strategies utilizing algebraic Riccati equation and linear matrix inequalities, are derived for synchronization of two distinct chaotic oscillators. Furthermore, a novel adaptive control scheme for mutually Lipschitz chaotic systems is established by addressing the issue of adaptive cancellation of unknown mismatch between the dynamics of different chaotic systems. The proposed control technique is numerically tested for synchronization of two different chaotic Chua＇s circuits and for obtaining identical behavior between the modified Chua＇s circuit and the R6ssler system.

Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of carbon-doped TiO2 nanoparticles

We report the hydrothermal growth of pure and doped TiO2 nanoparticles with different concentrations of carbon.The microstructure of the as-synthesized samples is characterized by x-ray diffraction(XRD),field emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM),energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy(EDX),and Raman spectroscopy to understand the structure and composition.The XRD patterns confirm the formation of anatase phase of TiO2 with the average crystallite size is calculated to be in the range of 13 nm to 14.7 nm.The functional groups of these nanostructures are characterized by Fourier transformed infrared(FT-IR)spectroscopy,which further confirms the single anatase phase of the synthesized nanostructures.UV-visible absorption spectroscopy is used to understand the absorption behavior,which shows modification in the optical bandgap from 3.13 eV(pure TiO2)to 3.74 eV(1.2 mol%C-doped TiO2).Furthermore,the Ti^3+centers associated with oxygen vacancies are identified using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy(EPR).

Screening and identification of bioactive compounds from citrus against non-structural protein 3 protease of hepatitis C virus genotype 3a by fluorescence resonance energy transfer assay and mass spectrometry

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus genotype 3a(HCV G3a)is highly prevalent in Pakistan.Due to the elevated cost of available Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs against HCV,medicinal natural products of potent antiviral activity should be screened for the cost-effective treatment of the disease.Furthermore,from natural products,active compounds against vital HCV proteins like non-structural protein 3(NS3)protease could be identified to prevent viral proliferation in the host.AIM To develop cost-effective HCV genotype 3a NS3 protease inhibitors from citrus fruit extracts.METHODS Full-length NS3 without co-factor non-structural protein 4A(NS4A)and codon optimized NS3 protease in fusion with NS4A were expressed in Escherichia coli.The expressed protein was purified by metal ion affinity chromatography and gel filtration.Citrus fruit extracts were screened using fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET)assay against the protease and polyphenols were identified as potential inhibitors using electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry(MS)/MS technique.Among different polyphenols,highly potent compounds were screened using molecular modeling approaches and consequently the most active compound was further evaluated against HCV NS4A-NS3 protease domain using FRET assay.RESULTS NS4A fused with NS3 protease domain gene was overexpressed and the purified protein yield was high in comparison to the lower yield of the full-length NS3 protein.Furthermore,in enzyme kinetic studies,NS4A fused with NS3 protease proved to be functionally active compared to full-length NS3.So it was concluded that co-factor NS4A fusion is essential for the purification of functionally active protease.FRET assay was developed and validated by the half maximal inhibitory concentration(IC50)values of commercially available inhibitors.Screening of citrus fruit extracts against the native purified fused NS4A-NS3 protease domain showed that the grapefruit mesocarp extract exhibits the highest percentage inhibition 91%of protease activity.Among the compounds identified by LCMS analysis,hesperidin showed strong binding affinity with the protease catalytic triad having S-score value of-10.98.CONCLUSION Fused NS4A-NS3 protease is functionally more active,which is effectively inhibited by hesperidin from the grapefruit mesocarp extract with an IC50 value of 23.32μmol/L.

Experimental and numerical study of buoyancy driven flow within a bottom heated vertical concentric cylindrical enclosure

The study of buoyancy driven flow within bottom-heated vertical concentric cylindrical enclosure was important with respect to the processes in chemical and nuclear industries. In this research paper, experimental and numerical study of the axial temperature gradient and the heat transfer mechanism within the enclosure were performed. The numerical simulations were validated by comparing the numerical results with experimentally measured axial temperature. The numerical results of the streamlines within the enclosure depicted the real picture of the buoyancy effects. Eighteen different experiments were performed by using inner cylinder of different materials and outer cylinder of different diameters within the bottom disc temperature range of 353 - 433 K. The CFD simulations were performed to study the buoyancy effects within the enclosure. At the bottom disc with temperature up to 393 K, the streamlines within the inner cylinder were almost the same for both con- figurations being independent of outer cylinder diameter, while at 433 K streamlines within the inner cylinders varied. With larger diameter outer cylinder configuration, the buoyancy effects in the outer annulus were stronger as compared to smaller one.

Thermophysical Properties and Supercritical Heat Transfer Characteristics of R515A

The heat transfer of supercritical fluids is a vastly growing field, specifically to find suitable alternative to replace conventional R134a, which can be beneficial for climate change. A considerable suggestion is R515A which possesses considerably lower global warming potential. The present simulations are designed to study supercritical fluid R515A under cooling conditions in horizontal position. The effect of pressure, mass flux, heat flux and tube diameter were considered for horizontal tube in the vicinity of pseudo critical temperature. Numerical investigations on heat transfer characteristics of supercritical fluid R515A were performed using widely used shear-stress transport (SST) model. Moreover, heat transfer correlations were developed and suggested to accurately predict Nusselt number within 10% accuracy. The simulation results showed about 3.98% average absolute deviation.

Dirac R-matrix calculations of photoionization cross sections of Ni Ⅻ and atomic structure data of Ni

We performed R-matrix calculations for photoionization cross sections of the two ground state configuration 3s^23p^5（~2P_（3/2,1/2）~o） levels and 12 excited states of Ni Ⅻ using relativistic Dirac Atomic R-matrix Codes（DARC） across the photon energy range between the ionizations thresholds of the corresponding states and well above the thresholds of the last level of the Ni XIII target ion. Generally, a good agreement is obtained between our results and the earlier theoretical photoionization cross sections. Moreover, we have used two independent fully relativistic GRASP and FAC codes to calculate fine-structure energy levels, wavelengths, oscillator strengths, transitions rates among the lowest 48 levels belonging to the configuration（3s^23p^4, 3s3p^5, 3p^6, 3s^23p^33d） in Ni XIII. Additionally, radiative lifetimes of all the excited states of Ni XIII are presented. Our results of the atomic structure of Ni XIII show good agreement with other theoretical and experimental results available in the literature. A good agreement is found between our calculated lifetimes and the experimental ones.Our present results are useful for plasma diagnostic of fusion and astrophysical plasmas.

Theoretical Determination and Experimental Verification of Transport Index of Rectangular Shaped Radioactive Containers

Ionizing radiations are widely used to sustain and enhance our quality of life in the areas such as medical diagnosis, therapy, scientific research and industry etc. Ionizing radiations are available from radioactive sources which are made of radioactive materials. The radioactive materials are produced in either nuclear power or research reactors or nuclear accelerators or extracted from the naturally found radioactive ores. These radioactive sources and radioactive materials need to be transported from their places of production to the places of applications and finally to waste repositories. The radioactive materials are transported in well designed packages having various shapes and sizes. In the field of radioactive transport, it is a mandatory to find the Transport Index (TI) to be mentioned on each package for transportation. This research is focused on the determination of the maximum γ-ray radiation dose at one meter from the surface of cubic and rectangular shaped package or containers. A computer code “Solid Angle for Transport Index” (SAFTI) has been developed using MATLAB to determine the location of maximum value of the radiation dose rate from the surface of a rectangular or square container. This maximum dose rate is used to determine the transport index. Some of the results of the code have been compared with the experimental results. The results of this research are useful not only to determine TI for individual packages but also to find the TI of the vehicles carrying the transport packages.

Experimentation on Optimal Configuration and Size of Thin Cylinders in Natural Convection

In this paper,an experimental study of laminar,steady state natural convection heat transfer from heated thin cylinders in an infinite air medium has been reported.Two electrically heated cylinders having the same slenderness ratio(L/D)i.e.6.1 but different diameters i.e.3.8 cm and 5.08 cm were used.105 experiments were carried out to study the effect of diameter and inclination angle of thin cylinder on natural convection heat transfer.After mandatory corrections of radiation and endcap heat losses,convective heat transfer results were presented in the form of local and average dimensionless numbers.For vertical configuration of thin cylinder,Nusselt number was varied from 52.99 to 95.10 corresponding to 1.28×10^(8)≤Ra*L≤1.08×10^(10).While for horizontal configuration,Nusselt number was varied from 10.74 to 17.78 corresponding to 9.42×10^(4)≤Ra*D≤8.17×10^(6).Results were compared with the published data and found satisfactory as the maximum percentage difference was only 3.09%.The essence of research is that the heat transfer coefficient increases with decrease in diameter and increase in inclination angle.Smoke flow visualization was done to capture patterns of fluid flow.Finally,comparison was made to quantify increase in Nusselt number from slender cylinder as compared to the flat plate.

Numerical Simulation of Direct-contact Condensation from a Supersonic Steam Jet in Subcooled Water

直接接触的冷凝作用的现象，在驾驶的蒸气使用喷气注射者，核反应堆紧急情况核心冷却系统和直接接触的热 exchangers，被在使过冷的水里为蒸气的直接接触的冷凝作用介绍一个热平衡模型计算地调查。介绍的冷凝作用模型是在接口的双方上照顾热转移过程并且使用一条可变蒸气水泡直径的二个抵抗模型。在使过冷的水坦克的超声的蒸气喷气的注射用 Euler-Euler 多相的流动模型被模仿流畅与冷凝作用模型一起的 6.3 代码合并了。模拟与出版试验性的数据和相当好的同意相比的计算液体动力学(CFD ) 的调查结果被观察在之间二，因此验证冷凝作用模型。为羽毛从 2.73-7.33 改变的蒸气的无尺寸的穿入长度的 CFD 模拟的结果，当冷凝作用热转移系数从 0.75-0.917 MW 汯敹桴牥?晬湯 ? 变化时 ???? 琠楲敭潳汹？？

Antibacterial Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles against E.Coli ATCC-15224

Silver nanoparticles of mean size 16 nm were synthesized by inert gas condensation （IGC） method. Crystalline structure, morphology and nanoparticles size estimation were conducted by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. Antibacterial activity of these silver nanoparticles as a function of particles concentration against gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli （E. coli） was carried out in liquid as well as solid growth media. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and TEM studies showed that silver nanoparticles after interaction with E.coli have adhered to and penetrated into the bacterial cells. Antibacterial properties of silver nanoparticles are attributed to their total surface area, as a larger surface to volume ratio of nanoparticles provides more efficient means for enhanced antibacterial activity.

Fuel loading pattern optimization of a pressurized water reactor by varying internal weights-based particle swarm optimization

Fuel reload pattern optimization is essential for attaining maximum fuel burnup for minimization of generation cost while minimizing power peaking factor(PPF).The aim of this work is to carry out detailed assessment of particle swarm optimization(PSO) in the context of fuel reload pattern search. With astronomically large number of possible loading patterns, the main constraints are limiting local power peaking factor, fixed number of assemblies,fixed fuel enrichment, and burnable poison rods. In this work, initial loading pattern of fixed batches of fuel assemblies is optimized by using particle swarm optimization technique employing novel feature of varying inertial weights with the objective function to obtain both flat power profile and cycle k_(eff)>1. For neutronics calculation, PSU-LEOPARD-generated assembly depletiondependent group-constant-based ADD files are used. The assembly data description file generated by PSU-LEOPARD is used as input cross-section library to MCRAC code, which computes normalized power profile of all fuel assemblies of PWR nuclear reactor core. The standard PSO with varying inertial weights is then employed to avoid trapping in local minima. A series of experiments havebeen conducted to obtain near-optimal converged fuelloading pattern of 300 MWe PWR Chashma reactor. The optimized loading pattern is found in good agreement with results found in literature. Hybrid scheme of PSO with simulated annealing has also been implemented and resulted in faster convergence.

Stark-Broadened Profiles of the Spectral Line P_α in He Ⅱ Ions

We report a systematic method to perform calculations of spectral line broadening parameters in plasmas. This method is applied to calculate Stark-broadening line profiles of Pα（n = 4 → n = 3） transitions under certain specific plasma conditions, by treating this case as an example. In the framework of the fully relativistic Dirac R- matrix theory, we calculate the electron-impact broadening operators, which are assumed to be diagonal matrix to simplify the situation. The electric microfield distribution function is calculated by retaining Hooper＇s formalism. The dipole matrix elements and atomic structure parameters used in these calculations have been obtained from atomic structure GRASP code. Based on this required data, we calculate the Stark-broadened line profiles of the Paschen spectral lines in He Ⅱ ions in a systematic manner. Overall, there is a very good agreement between our calculated Stark-broadened line profiles and other line Our reported spectral line-broadening data have real also play a fundamental role in plasma modeling. broadening numerical simulation codes （Sire U and MELS）. applications in plasma spectroscopy, plasma diagnosis and

Strong interfacial charge transfer between hausmannite manganese oxide and alumina for efficient photocatalysis

Well crystalline manganese oxide(Mn_(3)O_(4))nanoparticles anchored on gamma alumina(γ-Al_(2)O_(3))have been successfully tailored via a proficient and cost effective chemical process as an efficient material for photo catalysis.XRD indicated the composite formation ofγ-Al_(2)O_(3) and hausmannite structure of Mn_(3)O_(4).SEM and TEM revealed that hetero structure of Mn_(3)O_(4)/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) exhibits an amalgam of aggregated nanoparticles and nanorods.XPS demonstrated the chemical states of binary nanocomposite.The band gap tuning has been performed withγ-Al_(2)O_(3) nanoparticles by assimilating hausmannite Mn_(3)O_(4) particles into flower like microstructure of Al_(2)O_(3).The photoluminescence spectra affirmed the enhancement in charge separation in Mn_(3)O_(4)/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) binary hybrid photocatalyst.The band gap becomes narrow with the increase in concentrations of Mn_(3)O_(4).The narrowing of band gap is concorded with crystalline domains of primary aggregated particles.To elucidate the mechanism of the photocatalytic activity linear sweep voltammetry was performed.The results showed that Mn_(3)O_(4)/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) nanocomposite revealed the enhancement in current density as compared to pureγ-Al_(2)O_(3) which confirmed the electron transfer from Mn_(3)O_(4) toγ-Al_(2)O_(3) through the interfacial potential gradient in conduction bands.The optimum concentration of 6.0%Mn_(3)O_(4)/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) for hybrid structure showed an excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light due to narrow band gap energy.High degree distribution of Mn_(3)O_(4) nano architects overlying onγ-Al_(2)O_(3) induces a significant synergic effect betweenγ-Al_(2)O_(3) and hausmannite phase of manganese oxide(Mn_(3)O_(4)).This strong interfacial contact betweenγ-Al_(2)O_(3) and Mn_(3)O_(4) endures the quick transfer of photo generated charge carriers across interface.

Remembering John Bardeen: inventor of transistor

Transistor's invention revolutionized global society by spawning electronics industry. John Bardeen is among one of the inventors of transistor. He was a genius and one of the most influential semiconductor Physicist of 20 th century who won two Nobel prizes in Physics.

Plasmon mediated entanglement dynamics of distant quantum dots

We investigate the time evolution of entanglement between two quantum dots in an engineered vacuum environment such that a metallic nanoring having a surface plasmon is placed near the quantum dots. Such engineering in environment results in oscillations in entanglement dynamics of the quantum dots systems. With proper adjustment of the separation between the quantum dots, entanglement decay can be stabilized and preserved for longer time than its decay without the surface plasmons interactions.