Search results for "heavy [meson]"

The Utility of Ground Bryophytes in the Assessment of Soil Condition in Heavy Metal-Polluted Grasslands

2022

Bryophytes are commonly used in biomonitoring heavy metal pollution, whereas the bioindicative value of bryophyte communities is a less known issue. The aim of the present study is to recognize the utility of the bryophyte community’s structure in the assessment of soil condition in heavy metal-polluted, dry grasslands. The study plots are examined with respect to bryophytes; vascular plants; concentrations of Zn, Pb, Cd, and As in the soil; total nitrogen and organic carbon content in the soil; and soil pH. The results show that both bryophyte species richness and composition greatly depend on soil chemical characteristics, including heavy-metal pollution levels and soil pH. Three groups o…

The Influence of Industrial Waste on the Magnetic Properties of Salt-Affected Soils from Two Soda Ash Manufacturing Sites

2021

The aim of this study was to characterize the impact of soda ash manufacturing on the magnetic properties of soils located in the agricultural landscape in north-central Poland. Two study sites were chosen: Mątwy (SM) and Janikowo (SJ). Highly saline soils with halophyte communities were selected in order to develop an understanding of the relationship between salinization of water–soil interface and the potential contamination risk of the environment. Basic chemical and physicochemical properties of topsoil (0–25 cm) and water (surface and groundwater) samples from five locations were characterized. The characteristics of soil contamination were based on the content of sel…

Equilibrium and studies on sorption of heavy metals from solutions by algae

2013

Temporal trends of heavy metals in sediment core from the gulf of Palermo (Sicily, Italy)

2009

The evaluation of long–term heavy metal concentrations in the Gulf of Palermo was carried out in this study. Measurements of Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn concentrations were performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) on dated fractions of a sediment core, dated by the 210Pbex method. They are found to cover a time period from 1951 to 2004. The constant sedimentation rate model was used for dating. Specific activities of 137Cs have also been measured in the sediment core sections as a check of the time scale derived by the 210Pbex method. A time-series analysis based on temporal decomposition was used in order to investigate the presence of heavy metal pollution trend. The additive comp…

Optical quality of hyperopic and myopic phakic intraocular lenses

2013

Aims: To assess and compare the optical quality of the myopic and hyperopic implantable collamer lens (ICL) from its wavefront aberrations for different powers and pupil diameters. Settings and Design: Prospective study. Material and Methods: The wavefront aberrations of two myopic (−3 and −6 diopters (D)) and two hyperopic V4b ICLs (+3 and +6D) were measured in vitro . To assess and compare the optical quality of different powers of ICLs, we analyzed the root mean square (RMS) of total higher order aberrations (HOAs), trefoil, coma, tetrafoil, secondary astigmatism, and spherical aberration at 3- and 4.5-mm pupil. In addition, the point spread functions (PSFs) of each ICL evaluated were ca…

Marine Invertebrates as Bioindicators of Heavy Metal Pollution

2015

The marine environment presents a range of anthropogenic contaminants. According to the World Health Organization, more than 100,000 chemicals are released into the global environment every year as a consequence of their production, use and disposal. The fate of a chemical substance depends on physical-chemical properties, in combination with the characteristics of the environment where it is released. Among the substances that accumulate in the sea, for anthropogenic activities, metals/metalloids have a leading position. Some of these have a biological role but their bioaccumulation is injurious. Chemical pollutants can cause effects on organisms, biodiversity and human health. Various eff…

Fission Barrier of Superheavy Nuclei and Persistence of Shell Effects at High Spin: Cases of 254No and 220Th

2014

We report on the first measurement of the fission barrier height in a heavy shell-stabilized nucleus. The fission barrier height of 254No is measured to be Bf=6.0±0.5  MeV at spin 15ℏ and, by extrapolation, Bf=6.6±0.9  MeV at spin 0ℏ. This information is deduced from the measured distribution of entry points in the excitation energy versus spin plane. The same measurement is performed for 220Th and only a lower limit of the fission barrier height can be determined: Bf(I)8  MeV. Comparisons with theoretical fission barriers test theories that predict properties of superheavy elements.

On the adsorption and reactivity of element 114, flerovium

2022

Flerovium (Fl, element 114) is the heaviest element chemically studied so far. To date, its interaction with gold was investigated in two gas-solid chromatography experiments, which reported two different types of interaction, however, each based on the level of a few registered atoms only. Whereas noble-gas-like properties were suggested from the first experiment, the second one pointed at a volatile-metal-like character. Here, we present further experimental data on adsorption studies of Fl on silicon oxide and gold surfaces, accounting for the inhomogeneous nature of the surface, as it was used in the experiment and analyzed as part of the reported studies. We confirm that Fl is highly v…

Rotational properties of nuclei around 254 No investigated using a spectroscopic-quality Skyrme energy density functional

2014

Abstract. Background: Nuclei in the Z≈100 mass region represent the heaviest systems where detailed spectroscopic information is experimentally available. Although microscopic-macroscopic and self-consistent models have achieved great success in describing the data in this mass region, a fully satisfying precise theoretical description is still missing. Purpose: By using fine-tuned parametrizations of the energy density functionals, the present work aims at an improved description of the single-particle properties and rotational bands in the nobelium region. Such locally optimized parametrizations may have better properties when extrapolating towards the superheavy region. Methods: Skyrme H…

Ca-48+Bk-249 Fusion Reaction Leading to Element Z=117: Long-Lived alpha-Decaying (270)Db and Discovery of Lr-266

2014

The superheavy element with atomic number Z=117 was produced as an evaporation residue in the 48Ca+249Bk fusion reaction at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, Germany. The radioactive decay of evaporation residues and their α-decay products was studied using a detection setup that allowed measuring decays of single atomic nuclei with half-lives between sub-μs and a few days. Two decay chains comprising seven α decays and a spontaneous fission each were identified and are assigned to the isotope 294117 and its decay products. A hitherto unknown α-decay branch in 270Db (Z=105) was observed, which populated the new isotope 266Lr (Z=103). The identification of the long-live…