[en] Pressure-induced transitions in lanthanum, uranium and thorium were investigated by measuring the room temperature thermoelectric power (S) of these elements in the pressure range zero to one hundred kbar in a Bridgman anvil apparatus. In lanthanum two isostructural electronic transitions that are precursors to the structural changes at 23 kbar and 62 kbar are observed. Subtle electronic transitions are observed in uranium and thorium at 43 kbar and 30 kbar respectively. A schematic phase diagram of lanthanum and its similarity to that of uranium is discussed. (author)

[en] Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing is an important aspect of the Indian nuclear energy program to maximize the utilization of limited resources of uranium to meet the energy requirements of the country and structured development of Fast Reactor Fuel Reprocessing technology (FRFR) is being undertaken towards that direction. In the pilot plant COmpact facility for Reprocessing of Advance fuels in Lead cell (CORAL) reprocessing of spent fuels with progressively increasing burnups of Plutonium rich carbide fuel from Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and shorter cooling times have been successfully carried out since 2003. This facility has given indepth knowledge in identifying many future activities to improve the performance and presently spent fuels with a burnup of 155 GWd/t with cooling period of more than 2 years is being reprocessed. An overview of reprocessing of FBTR fuel at CORAL and the challenges in reprocessing development for fast reactors will be presented in this talk

[en] Thyroid storm is extremely rare. However, hyperthyroid patients with severe thyrotoxicosis are frequently not treated immediately with I-131 for fear of thyroid storm but are placed on thiouracil drugs for varying periods of time. We demonstrate herein that it is safe to treat these patients with I-131, without pretreatment with thiouracil drugs, provided they do not have complicating intercurrent disease. Our definition of severe hyperthyroidism includes marked signs and symptoms of thyrotoxicosis, suppressed thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), markedly elevated free T4 and/or free T3 and elevated radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU) (>30%) at 4 or 24 hours. Our diagnostic criteria for thyroid storm include two or more findings of fever (>38 deg C, 100 deg F), severe tachycardia, high pulse pressure, agitation with tremors, flushing, sweating, heart failure, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice associated with high free T4 and/or free T3. Patients were selected retrospectively for the period between August 2003 and December 2004. One hundred and twenty-two patient visits were identified. These patients were treated with 370-740 MBq (10-20 mCi) of I-131 and were evaluated for any evidence of thyroid storm. Most of the patients were placed on beta blocker drugs at the time of initial I-131 therapy; these were continued for at least two months, when the first follow-up visit occurred. At the time of I-131 therapy, it is our policy to educate the patients to seek immediate medical attention for exacerbation of symptoms of thyrotoxicosis. Not one of these patients developed thyroid storm. A subset of 25% of these cases with higher potential for thyroid storm (RAIU more than 65%, very marked signs and symptoms, and very markedly elevated free T4 and/or free T3) also tolerated the I-131 therapy well with marked clinical improvement and no exacerbation of the thyrotoxic state. It is safe to administer I-131 to patients who are severely hyperthyroid without fear of thyroid storm, provided beta blockade drugs are used to control the signs and symptoms; patient education is also important. With these steps, 4-6 weeks of prior medical treatment may not be necessary. (author)

[en] Recent high-pressure experiments have revealed that Y, La, Ce, Pr, Am, Cf, and Cf_0.6Bk_0.4 display a distorted fcc structure beyond the well-known sequence hcp-Sm type-dhcp-fcc. Six structures have been so far proposed for this phase. Here, we add two more distorted fcc structures. However, the analysis of diffraction data of Pr III, Nd III, Ce and Tb seems to suggest that these structures are merely different indexing schemes at present. (orig.)

[en] A first-principles computation of the zero-degree isotherm has been carried out for Re, employing a linear muffin-tin orbital electron-band theory technique. This computed isotherm departs significantly from the isotherm derived from shock-wave data, but is in reasonable agreement with those from empirical equations of states based on zero-pressure parameters. Consequently, it is suggested that the 200--250-GPa pressures achieved by Vohra, Duclos, and Ruoff in recent diamond-anvil-cell experiments are underestimated by about half a megabar

[en] High-pressure angle dispersive X-ray diffraction measurements have been carried out upto 18.2 GPa on the hydrogen storage compound Zr₂Ni. The ambient tetragonal CuAl₂ structure (SG: I4/mcm) is found to be stable upto a pressure of 7.3 GPa above which a phase transition to a lower symmetry phase is observed. The high pressure phase could be fitted to a monoclinic structure in space group I2/c which is a slight distortion in lattice parameter and unit cell angle from the ambient tetragonal structure. (author)

[en] Mannich Base (MB) based (β-Amino carbonyl compound) (4) was synthesized by adopting one pot Mannich reaction by taking 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, aniline and acetophenone as starting materials and the product was characterized using analytical techniques such as FT-IR, NMR, mass spectrometry, UV-Visible spectroscopy. The compound 4 utilized as colorimetric sensor for selective sensing of F⁻ ions. The particular sensing of F⁻ is obviously noticeable to the naked eye with a dissimilar colour variation. The F⁻ detection mechanism has been examined by UV-visible and ¹H NMR titration experimentations. The ¹H NMR titration data describes the deprotonation of OH and N-H protons by F⁻ as a noticeable stage in the detection. Furthermore, the studies was also carried out for reproduction of deprotonated 4 using trifluoroacetic acid as protonating agent. In addition, Boolean logic gates were fabricated for demonstrating the fluoride sensing mechanism and compound 4 in methyl cellulose biofilm was also been made and effectively used for film based detection of fluoride ion.

[en] In this paper, we are dealing with the approximate controllability for a class of second-order stochastic evolution inclusions of Clarke’s subdifferential type. Initially, we show the existence of mild solutions for the stochastic evolution inclusions by using stochastic analysis, nonsmooth analysis and fixed point theorems of multivalued maps. Then we provide a set of sufficient conditions for the approximate controllability of the second-order stochastic evolution inclusions. Finally, an example is included for the illustration of the obtained theoretical results.

[en] Ischemic colitis is a relatively common clinical entity. Conservative medical management is successful for most patients, but surgical intervention is required for patients with intractable disease. Noninvasive determination of the site and extent of the disease can be helpful in the preoperative decision on the surgical approach in these debilitated patients. However, current radiologic studies individually are inadequate in this respect. Based on the clinicopathologic correlation obtained after imaging with In-111 labeled leukocytes in a patient with ischemic colitis, the authors believe that this procedure may be useful; further studies in a larger patient population are warranted.41 references

[en] The results of electrical resistance and thermoelectric power (TEP) measurements in polycrystalline Cd under pressure up to about 9 and 6.5 GPa respectively are reported. The resistance versus pressure curve changes slope around 3.5 GPa. The TEP increases fast and saturates above 3.5 GPa. The above features observed in the TEP and the electrical resistance are identified as the signature of the electronic transition at room temperature and support the results of a recent theoretical calculation in which a c/a anomaly is indicated at V/V_o of 0.95. (author)