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- Author or Editor: C. Garcia x
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Abstract
Radium isotopes were measured in groundwater near a radioactive storage facility with contained pasty residues from monazite and industrial processing sealed in concerete reserouirs. The concentration of radium isotopes in the water was slightly higher than found in the normal drinking water. The measured228Ra to225Ra ratio in the groundwater is not compatible with calculations of radium isotopes ingrow and docay in cake II for different elapsed times, leaving mesothorium cake as the most likely source of contamination.
Abstract
In the present work a study was made for determining colour intensities using as luminous non-monochromatic source the Cherenkov emission produced in the walls of a glass capillary which acts as luminous source itself inside of a coloured solution to be evaluated. The reproducibility of this method has been compared with the spectrophotometric assay; the relative errors of both analytical methods have been calculated for different concentrations of congo red solution in the range of minimal error, according to Ringbom's criterion. The sensitivity of this analytical method has been studied for the two β-emitters employed:90Sr/90Y and204Tl.
Summary
The feasibility of measuring picogram levels of actinides in a urine matrix using ion chromatography coupled on-line to an inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometer (IC-Q-ICPMS) was investigated. A chelation column for separation of matrix ions and preconcentration of the actinides was combined with a cation-exchange column for separation of the actinides. Sample preparation required simple addition of ammonium acetate to adjust the pH of the urine matrix. Spike solutions containing 232 Th, 237Np, 238U, 239Pu, and 241Am were added to undiluted urine, diluted urine (1 : 9) and water. Results showed that this approach enhanced the signal sensitivities of all the tested actinides over two orders of magnitude in the water matrix, while certain elements (especially Am) can still be effectively concentrated in undiluted urine.
Abstract
A discussion on the influence of grafted polar groups (succinic anhydride and succinil-fluorescein) in glass transition behaviour of atactic polypropylene is shown in this work, on the basis of the reaction conditions used to obtain the modified polymers, kind and amount of grafted groups, and the degradation processes which may take place. The Box-Wilson experimental design methodology for two independent variables (reactant concentration to obtain the modified polymer) has been used to follow variations in glass transition temperatures. The existence of undesired degradation processes is considered as independent of the grafting reactions, and the model predictions seem to agree with this latter.
Abstract
Hydration of zirconium diphosphate (ZrP2O7) conduced to formation of active sites in solid/liquid interface. In ZrP2O7/NaClO4 0.5 M suspensions, active sites and their acidity constants are quite determined but the presence of some impurities is now studied. This work was conducted to determine the surface properties changes produced by oxalic and citric acid during the hydration process. Moreover the presence of organic acids with ZrP2O7 modified reveals an increase in uranium sorption constants. The zirconium diphosphate has been characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Particle induced X-ray emission and Neutron (PIXE). Furthermore, the specific surface area, measured by the BET method, was 3.5 m2/g. The pH corresponding to the isoelectric point, determined by Zeta Potential measurements and mass titration was 3.6. The sites density calculated using titration curves was around of 5.37 s/nm2 for NaClO4 0.5 M, 13.71 s/nm2 for NaClO4 0.5 M/citric acid 0.1 M and 7.33 s/nm2 NaClO4 0.5 M/oxalic acid 0.1 M. The surface acidity constants and species distribution in surface were calculated by means of simulation of the titration curves with the FITEQL code (constant capacitance model), for ZrO and PO amphoteric sites of ZrP2O7. The uranyl sorption edge was determined for NaClO4 0.5 M. It spreads between pH 3 and 4.5 for complete sorption according to the previously published results. In the ZrP2O7–citrate modified surface, the uranyl sorption edge begin at pH 2 and was almost complete at pH 3.2 while ZrP2O7–oxalate modified surface edge started at 50% of sorption at pH of 1.5 and was complete at pH 3.
Bacillus subtilis natto is a potential source of fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which can be obtained by fermentation and may stimulate the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the colon representing a strategy to manipulate the intestinal microbiota acting as a prebiotic compound. The present study focuses on the ability of Lactobacillus ssp. strains to utilize FOS as a sole energy source. The results showed that FOS was equally good as glucose to provide energy source. The highest prebiotic activity score was obtained with Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 14917 grown on FOS (0.526), followed by Lactobacillus casei (LC-1) (0.222). The lowest score was for Lactobacillus paracasei ATCC 27092 (−0.051). The results suggests that specific combinations of probiotic (L. plantarum ATCC 14917 and L. casei (LC-1)) and prebiotic (FOS) could be used as synbiotics in dairy and other foods.
Abstract
Objectives
To examine 1) the contribution of physiological performance variables to Olympic-distance (OD) triathlon performance, and 2) the links between an 8-wk intensified training plus competition preceding the main OD triathlon race and the changes in the physiological status in triathletes.
Study Design
An observational longitudinal study.
Methods
Endurance performance variables during maximal incremental running and cycling tests, and average velocity during an all-out 400-m swimming performance test (V400) were assessed before (T1) and after (T2) the intensified training in 7 recreational-level triathletes.
Results
Overall main OD triathlon time was extremely largely (r = −0.94; P = 0.01) correlated with peak running velocity (PRV). Best correlation magnitude between exercise modes' partial race times and the corresponding specific physiological criterion tests was observed for swimming (r = −0.97; P < 0.001). Improvement in V400 (2.9%), PRV (1.5%) and submaximal running blood lactate concentration (17%) was observed along the training period, whereas no changes were observed in the cycling endurance performance variables. Higher volume of training plus competition at high intensity zones during cycling, running and swimming were associated with lower improvements or declines in their corresponding exercise mode-specific criterion performance variables (r = 0.81–0.90; P = 0.005–0.037).
Conclusion
Results indicate that: 1) PRV is highly associated with overall OD triathlon performance, and 2) spending much time at high relative intensities during swimming, cycling or running may lead, in a dose-response manner, to lower improvements or decreases on those exercise-specific physiological performance variables. This may favor the emergence of overreaching or diminished performance.
Food partitioning among coexisting species in different habitats remains an important research topic in trophic ecology. In this work, we combined carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios and stomach content analyses to investigate differences in diet and niche overlap of two congeneric juvenile mullet species (Mugil curema and Mugil liza) coexisting in a marine surf-zone and an estuarine zone in southern Brazil (29oS). These habitats have contrasting levels of food availability, especially in terms of prey diversity, with higher microalgae diversity in the estuary than in the marine surf-zone. In these contrasting conditions, we predicted that both mullet species will have (a) higher niche overlap and smaller niche breadth at the marine surf-zone due to the common exploration of highly abundant surf-zone diatoms and (b) lower niche overlap and higher niche breadth inside the estuary due to selective feeding on more diverse food resources. Isotope niche areas (measured as standard ellipse areas) were higher in the estuary (6.10 and 6.18) than in the marine surf-zone (3.68 and 3.37) for both M. curema and M. liza, respectively. We observed an overlap of 52% in isotopic niches of both species in the marine surf-zone and none in the estuary. We also found contrasting patterns in the diet composition between species according to the habitat. At the marine surfzone, diatoms of the classes Bacillariophyceae and Coscinodiscophyceae dominated (> 99%) the food content of both mullet species. In contrast, green algae, cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates and flagellates comprised the diet of both species in the estuary. These results could be explained by spatial differences in food availability (especially regarding diversity of microalgae) between both habitats. At the marine site, both species explored the most abundant microalgae available (mostly the surf-zone diatom Asterionellopsis cf. guyunusae and fragments of Coscinodiscus), whereas in the estuary both species shifted their diets to explore the greater diversity of microalgae resources. Overall, our findings revealed that niche partitioning theory could not fully predict changes in breadth and overlap of food niches of estuarine dependent fish species with complex life cycles encompassing marine to estuarine systems with contrasting food availabilities.
Abstract
We have quantified the evolution during 1994 of the impact on the Tagus river of liquid releases of3H (51.3 TBq in the cited year), originating from the functioning of the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant, and conditioned by the management of the cooling reservoir water. Taking into account, on the one hand, that tritiated water is hydrodynamically indistinguishable from untritiated water when both form part of the same mass of liquid, and, on the other, the practically null stratification and forced circulation of the water in the cited cooling reservoir, together with the hydrological fluxes interchanged between the said reservoir and the Tagus river (which is entirely regulated in the section under study and, because of prolonged drought, had a relatively small flow during the study period), we were able to model satisfactorily the temporal evolution of the3H activity in the cooling reservoir.
