Methods for measurement of electron emission yield under low energy electron-irradiation by collector method and Kelvin probe method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tondu, Thomas; Belhaj, Mohamed; Inguimbert, Virginie

2010-01-01

Secondary electron emission yield of gold under electron impact at normal incidence below 50 eV was investigated by the classical collector method and by the Kelvin probe method. The authors show that biasing a collector to ensure secondary electron collection while keeping the target grounded can lead to primary electron beam perturbations. Thus reliable secondary electron emission yield at low primary electron energy cannot be obtained with a biased collector. The authors present two collector-free methods based on current measurement and on electron pulse surface potential buildup (Kelvin probe method). These methods are consistent, but at very low energy, measurements become sensitive to the earth magnetic field (below 10 eV). For gold, the authors can extrapolate total emission yield at 0 eV to 0.5, while a total electron emission yield of 1 is obtained at 40±1 eV.

Discrimination of Rice with Different Pretreatment Methods by Using a Voltammetric Electronic Tongue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Wang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, an application of a voltammetric electronic tongue for discrimination and prediction of different varieties of rice was investigated. Different pretreatment methods were selected, which were subsequently used for the discrimination of different varieties of rice and prediction of unknown rice samples. To this aim, a voltammetric array of sensors based on metallic electrodes was used as the sensing part. The different samples were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry with two sample-pretreatment methods. Discriminant Factorial Analysis was used to visualize the different categories of rice samples; however, radial basis function (RBF artificial neural network with leave-one-out cross-validation method was employed for prediction modeling. The collected signal data were first compressed employing fast Fourier transform (FFT and then significant features were extracted from the voltammetric signals. The experimental results indicated that the sample solutions obtained by the non-crushed pretreatment method could efficiently meet the effect of discrimination and recognition. The satisfactory prediction results of voltammetric electronic tongue based on RBF artificial neural network were obtained with less than five-fold dilution of the sample solution. The main objective of this study was to develop primary research on the application of an electronic tongue system for the discrimination and prediction of solid foods and provide an objective assessment tool for the food industry.

Sample Preparation for Electron Probe Microanalysis-Pushing the Limits.

Science.gov (United States)

Geller, Joseph D; Engle, Paul D

2002-01-01

There are two fundamental considerations in preparing samples for electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The first one may seem obvious, but we often find it is overlooked. That is, the sample analyzed should be representative of the population from which it comes. The second is a direct result of the assumptions in the calculations used to convert x-ray intensity ratios, between the sample and standard, to concentrations. Samples originate from a wide range of sources. During their journey to being excited under the electron beam for the production of x rays there are many possibilities for sample alteration. Handling can contaminate samples by adding extraneous matter. In preparation, the various abrasives used in sizing the sample by sawing, grinding and polishing can embed themselves. The most accurate composition of a contaminated sample is, at best, not representative of the original sample; it is misleading. Our laboratory performs EPMA analysis on customer submitted samples and prepares over 250 different calibration standards including pure elements, compounds, alloys, glasses and minerals. This large variety of samples does not lend itself to mass production techniques, including automatic polishing. Our manual preparation techniques are designed individually for each sample. The use of automated preparation equipment does not lend itself to this environment, and is not included in this manuscript. The final step in quantitative electron probe microanalysis is the conversion of x-ray intensities ratios, known as the "k-ratios," to composition (in mass fraction or atomic percent) and/or film thickness. Of the many assumptions made in the ZAF (where these letters stand for atomic number, absorption and fluorescence) corrections the localized geometry between the sample and electron beam, or takeoff angle, must be accurately known. Small angular errors can lead to significant errors in the final results. The sample preparation technique then becomes very

Study on application of the physical detection methods for electron beam-irradiated agricultural products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Dong Yong; Park, Yong Dae; Jin, Chang Hyun; Choi, Dae Seong; Jeong, Il Yun; Yook, Hong Sun

2010-01-01

Physical detection methods, photostimulated luminescence (PSL), thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) were applied to detect electron beam-irradiated agricultural products, such as red pepper, black pepper, raisin, walnut, beef seasoning and pistachio. The absorbed irradiation doses for representative samples were controlled at 0, 1, 3, 5 and 10 kGy. PSL values for non-irradiated samples were 1 ) except beef seasoning, whereas those of irradiated samples were more than 5,000 photon counts, upper threshold (T 2 ) in black pepper, raisin, and beef seasoning and intermediates values of T 1 -T 2 in red pepper, walnut, and pistachio. Minerals separated from the samples for TL measurement showed that non-irradiated samples except pistachio (TL ratio, 0.12) were characterized by no glow curves situated at temperature range of 50 ∼ 400 .deg. C with TL ratio (0.01 ∼ 0.08), while irradiated samples except pistachio at only 1 kGy (TL ratio, 0.08) indicated glow curve at about 150 ∼ 250 .deg. C with TL ratio (0.28 ∼ 3.10). ESR measurements of irradiated samples any specific signals to irradiation. The samples of both red pepper ad pistachio were produced specific signals derived from cellulose radicals as well as single line signals for black pepper and walnut, and multiple signals derived from crystalline sugar radicals for raisin and beef seasoning. In conclusion, The ESR methods can apply for detection of pistachio exposed to electron beam but PSL and TL are not suitable methods. Furthermore, TL and ESR suggested that both techniques were more useful detection method than PSL to confirm whether red pepper, walnut and beef seasoning samples have been exposed to electron beam

Optical methods for microstructure determination of doped samples

Science.gov (United States)

Ciosek, Jerzy F.

2008-12-01

The optical methods to determine refractive index profile of layered materials are commonly used with spectroscopic ellipsometry or transmittance/reflectance spectrometry. Measurements of spectral reflection and transmission usually permit to characterize optical materials and determine their refractive index. However, it is possible to characterize of samples with dopants, impurities as well as defects using optical methods. Microstructures of a hydrogenated crystalline Si wafer and a layer of SiO2 - ZrO2 composition are investigated. The first sample is a Si(001):H Czochralski grown single crystalline wafer with 50 nm thick surface Si02 layer. Hydrogen dose implantation (D continue to be an important issue in microelectronic device and sensor fabrication. Hydrogen-implanted silicon (Si: H) has become a topic of remarkable interest, mostly because of the potential of implantation-induced platelets and micro-cavities for the creation of gettering -active areas and for Si layer splitting. Oxygen precipitation and atmospheric impurity are analysed. The second sample is the layer of co-evaporated SiO2 and ZrO2 materials using simultaneously two electron beam guns in reactive evaporation methods. The composition structure was investigated by X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and spectroscopic ellipsometry methods. A non-uniformity and composition of layer are analysed using average density method.

``Low-cost Electronic nose evaluated on Thai-herb of Northern-Thailand samples using multivariate analysis methods''

Science.gov (United States)

na ayudhaya, Paisarn Daungjak; Klinbumrung, Arrak; Jaroensutasinee, Krisanadej; Pratontep, Sirapat; Kerdcharoen, Teerakiat

2009-05-01

In case of species of natural and aromatic plant originated from the northern Thailand, sensory characteristics, especially odours, have unique identifiers of herbs. The instruments sensory analysis have performed by several of differential of sensing, so call `electronic nose', to be a significantly and rapidly for chemometrics. The signal responses of the low cost electronic nose were evaluated by principal component analysis (PCA). The aims of this paper evaluated various of Thai-herbs grown in Northern of Thailand as data preprocessing tools of the Low-cost electronic nose (enNU-PYO1). The essential oil groups of Thai herbs such as Garlic, Lemongrass, Shallot (potato onion), Onion, Zanthoxylum limonella (Dennst.) Alston (Thai name is Makaen), and Kaffir lime leaf were compared volatilized from selected fresh herbs. Principal component analysis of the original sensor responses did clearly distinguish either all samples. In all cases more than 97% for cross-validated group were classified correctly. The results demonstrated that it was possible to develop in a model to construct a low-cost electronic nose to provide measurement of odoriferous herbs.

Toward cost-efficient sampling methods

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Peng; Li, Yongli; Wu, Chong; Zhang, Guijie

2015-09-01

The sampling method has been paid much attention in the field of complex network in general and statistical physics in particular. This paper proposes two new sampling methods based on the idea that a small part of vertices with high node degree could possess the most structure information of a complex network. The two proposed sampling methods are efficient in sampling high degree nodes so that they would be useful even if the sampling rate is low, which means cost-efficient. The first new sampling method is developed on the basis of the widely used stratified random sampling (SRS) method and the second one improves the famous snowball sampling (SBS) method. In order to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of two new sampling methods, we compare them with the existing sampling methods in three commonly used simulation networks that are scale-free network, random network, small-world network, and also in two real networks. The experimental results illustrate that the two proposed sampling methods perform much better than the existing sampling methods in terms of achieving the true network structure characteristics reflected by clustering coefficient, Bonacich centrality and average path length, especially when the sampling rate is low.

Application of CTOF method to detect secondly charged particle from 2 GeV electron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Kazutoshi; Sanami, Toshiya; Ban, Syuichi; Lee, Hee-Seok; Sato, Tatsuhiko

2002-01-01

To design a shield and evaluate leakage radiation at high energy electron accelerators, the energy and angular data of secondary particle from the reaction of electrons with structural materials are required. Secondly neutron spectrum from structural materials has been measured by using electron accelerator in PAL (Pohang Accelerator Laboratory). In the neutron measurement, the electronics with Multi-hit TDC (MHTDC) was adopted to measure Time of Flight of every particles (TOFs) emitted from the reactions by each single electron bunch. The measurements are extended to secondly charged particles. For the charged particles measurement, the pulse height data for every particles are indispensable to distinguish charged particles by Δ E-E method. A new system which can measure pulse height for every particle is required instead of the MHTDC system. For this requirement, the method which can take output current from detectors was developed by using digital storage oscilloscope system is named ''Current Time of Flight method'' (CTOF). The CTOF method is able to measure pulse height and TOF for every particles produced by single electron bunch. Electrons are accelerated to 2.04 GeV and the repetition rate is 10 Hz. These electrons bombard thin disk samples of Cu 1mm, Al 4 mm and W 0.5 mm. Secondly charged particles, proton and deuteron, are produced in the samples by photonuclear reaction. Two dimensional of Δ E-E spectrum for each the samples measured by CTOF shows separation between proton and deuteron perfectly. Thus, proton and deuteron spectrum are obtained from this data. (M. Suetake)

Study on application of the physical detection methods for electron beam-irradiated agricultural products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dong Yong; Park, Yong Dae; Jin, Chang Hyun; Choi, Dae Seong; Jeong, Il Yun [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Jeongeup (Korea, Republic of); Yook, Hong Sun [Chungnam National University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2010-09-15

Physical detection methods, photostimulated luminescence (PSL), thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) were applied to detect electron beam-irradiated agricultural products, such as red pepper, black pepper, raisin, walnut, beef seasoning and pistachio. The absorbed irradiation doses for representative samples were controlled at 0, 1, 3, 5 and 10 kGy. PSL values for non-irradiated samples were <700 counts/60s (lower threshold, T{sub 1}) except beef seasoning, whereas those of irradiated samples were more than 5,000 photon counts, upper threshold (T{sub 2}) in black pepper, raisin, and beef seasoning and intermediates values of T{sub 1}-T{sub 2} in red pepper, walnut, and pistachio. Minerals separated from the samples for TL measurement showed that non-irradiated samples except pistachio (TL ratio, 0.12) were characterized by no glow curves situated at temperature range of 50 {approx} 400 .deg. C with TL ratio (0.01 {approx} 0.08), while irradiated samples except pistachio at only 1 kGy (TL ratio, 0.08) indicated glow curve at about 150 {approx} 250 .deg. C with TL ratio (0.28 {approx} 3.10). ESR measurements of irradiated samples any specific signals to irradiation. The samples of both red pepper ad pistachio were produced specific signals derived from cellulose radicals as well as single line signals for black pepper and walnut, and multiple signals derived from crystalline sugar radicals for raisin and beef seasoning. In conclusion, The ESR methods can apply for detection of pistachio exposed to electron beam but PSL and TL are not suitable methods. Furthermore, TL and ESR suggested that both techniques were more useful detection method than PSL to confirm whether red pepper, walnut and beef seasoning samples have been exposed to electron beam.

Sample Preparation for Electron Probe Microanalysis—Pushing the Limits

Science.gov (United States)

Geller, Joseph D.; Engle, Paul D.

2002-01-01

There are two fundamental considerations in preparing samples for electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The first one may seem obvious, but we often find it is overlooked. That is, the sample analyzed should be representative of the population from which it comes. The second is a direct result of the assumptions in the calculations used to convert x-ray intensity ratios, between the sample and standard, to concentrations. Samples originate from a wide range of sources. During their journey to being excited under the electron beam for the production of x rays there are many possibilities for sample alteration. Handling can contaminate samples by adding extraneous matter. In preparation, the various abrasives used in sizing the sample by sawing, grinding and polishing can embed themselves. The most accurate composition of a contaminated sample is, at best, not representative of the original sample; it is misleading. Our laboratory performs EPMA analysis on customer submitted samples and prepares over 250 different calibration standards including pure elements, compounds, alloys, glasses and minerals. This large variety of samples does not lend itself to mass production techniques, including automatic polishing. Our manual preparation techniques are designed individually for each sample. The use of automated preparation equipment does not lend itself to this environment, and is not included in this manuscript. The final step in quantitative electron probe microanalysis is the conversion of x-ray intensities ratios, known as the “k-ratios,” to composition (in mass fraction or atomic percent) and/or film thickness. Of the many assumptions made in the ZAF (where these letters stand for atomic number, absorption and fluorescence) corrections the localized geometry between the sample and electron beam, or takeoff angle, must be accurately known. Small angular errors can lead to significant errors in the final results. The sample preparation technique then becomes very

Thermal diffusivity and electron transport properties of NTC samples obtained by the photoacoustic method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Savic, S.M.; Aleksic, O.S.; Nikolic, M.V.; Lukovic, D.T.; Pejovic, V.Z.; Nikolic, P.M.

2006-01-01

Thermal diffusivity and electron transport parameters of sintered NTC samples were determined by the photoacoustic (PA) technique. Powder mixtures composed of MnO, NiO, CoO and Fe 2 O 3 were milled to nanometer particle size. NTC discs were dry powder pressed and sintered at different temperatures in the range from 900 deg. C to 1300 deg. C for 30 min. A second group of NTC discs was sintered at 1200 deg. C with the sintering time varying from 30 min to 360 min. These NTC samples were polished and exposed to a chopped laser beam in order to plot a response in the acoustic range. The thermal diffusivity of sintered NTC layers based on a metal oxide powder mixture was measured at room temperature by the photoacoustic technique. An increase of thermal diffusivity with the sintering temperature and time of sintering was observed

Thermal diffusivity and electron transport properties of NTC samples obtained by the photoacoustic method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savic, S.M. [Institute of Technical Sciences of SASA, Knez Mihailova 35/IV, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia); Aleksic, O.S. [Center for Multidisciplinary Studies of the University of Belgrade, Kneza Viseslava 1, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia); Nikolic, M.V. [Center for Multidisciplinary Studies of the University of Belgrade, Kneza Viseslava 1, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia); Lukovic, D.T. [Institute of Technical Sciences of SASA, Knez Mihailova 35/IV, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia); Pejovic, V.Z. [Center for Multidisciplinary Studies of the University of Belgrade, Kneza Viseslava 1, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia); Nikolic, P.M. [Institute of Technical Sciences of SASA, Knez Mihailova 35/IV, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia)]. E-mail: nikolic@sanu.ac.yu

2006-07-15

Thermal diffusivity and electron transport parameters of sintered NTC samples were determined by the photoacoustic (PA) technique. Powder mixtures composed of MnO, NiO, CoO and Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} were milled to nanometer particle size. NTC discs were dry powder pressed and sintered at different temperatures in the range from 900 deg. C to 1300 deg. C for 30 min. A second group of NTC discs was sintered at 1200 deg. C with the sintering time varying from 30 min to 360 min. These NTC samples were polished and exposed to a chopped laser beam in order to plot a response in the acoustic range. The thermal diffusivity of sintered NTC layers based on a metal oxide powder mixture was measured at room temperature by the photoacoustic technique. An increase of thermal diffusivity with the sintering temperature and time of sintering was observed.

Standardless quantification methods in electron probe microanalysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trincavelli, Jorge, E-mail: trincavelli@famaf.unc.edu.ar [Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba (Argentina); Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina, Medina Allende s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba (Argentina); Limandri, Silvina, E-mail: s.limandri@conicet.gov.ar [Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba (Argentina); Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina, Medina Allende s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba (Argentina); Bonetto, Rita, E-mail: bonetto@quimica.unlp.edu.ar [Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas Dr. Jorge Ronco, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 47 N° 257, 1900 La Plata (Argentina)

2014-11-01

The elemental composition of a solid sample can be determined by electron probe microanalysis with or without the use of standards. The standardless algorithms are quite faster than the methods that require standards; they are useful when a suitable set of standards is not available or for rough samples, and also they help to solve the problem of current variation, for example, in equipments with cold field emission gun. Due to significant advances in the accuracy achieved during the last years, product of the successive efforts made to improve the description of generation, absorption and detection of X-rays, the standardless methods have increasingly become an interesting option for the user. Nevertheless, up to now, algorithms that use standards are still more precise than standardless methods. It is important to remark, that care must be taken with results provided by standardless methods that normalize the calculated concentration values to 100%, unless an estimate of the errors is reported. In this work, a comprehensive discussion of the key features of the main standardless quantification methods, as well as the level of accuracy achieved by them is presented. - Highlights: • Standardless methods are a good alternative when no suitable standards are available. • Their accuracy reaches 10% for 95% of the analyses when traces are excluded. • Some of them are suitable for the analysis of rough samples.

Towards Cost-efficient Sampling Methods

OpenAIRE

Peng, Luo; Yongli, Li; Chong, Wu

2014-01-01

The sampling method has been paid much attention in the field of complex network in general and statistical physics in particular. This paper presents two new sampling methods based on the perspective that a small part of vertices with high node degree can possess the most structure information of a network. The two proposed sampling methods are efficient in sampling the nodes with high degree. The first new sampling method is improved on the basis of the stratified random sampling method and...

Shielded scanning electron microscope for radioactive samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crouse, R.S.; Parsley, W.B.

1977-01-01

A small commercial SEM had been successfully shielded for examining radioactive materials transferred directly from a remote handling facility. Relatively minor mechanical modifications were required to achieve excellent operation. Two inches of steel provide adequate shielding for most samples encountered. However, samples reading 75 rad/hr γ have been examined by adding extra shielding in the form of tungsten sample holders and external lead shadow shields. Some degradation of secondary electron imaging was seen but was adequately compensated for by changing operating conditions

[Standard sample preparation method for quick determination of trace elements in plastic].

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Wen-Qing; Zong, Rui-Long; Zhu, Yong-Fa

2011-08-01

Reference sample was prepared by masterbatch method, containing heavy metals with known concentration of electronic information products (plastic), the repeatability and precision were determined, and reference sample preparation procedures were established. X-Ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) analysis method was used to determine the repeatability and uncertainty in the analysis of the sample of heavy metals and bromine element. The working curve and the metrical methods for the reference sample were carried out. The results showed that the use of the method in the 200-2000 mg x kg(-1) concentration range for Hg, Pb, Cr and Br elements, and in the 20-200 mg x kg(-1) range for Cd elements, exhibited a very good linear relationship, and the repeatability of analysis methods for six times is good. In testing the circuit board ICB288G and ICB288 from the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Company, results agreed with the recommended values.

A simple method to adapt time sampling of the analog signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalinin, Yu.G.; Martyanov, I.S.; Sadykov, Kh.; Zastrozhnova, N.N.

2004-01-01

In this paper we briefly describe the time sampling method, which is adapted to the speed of the signal change. Principally, this method is based on a simple idea--the combination of discrete integration with differentiation of the analog signal. This method can be used in nuclear electronics research into the characteristics of detectors and the shape of the pulse signal, pulse and transitive characteristics of inertial systems of processing of signals, etc

Characterization of electron microscopes with binary pseudo-random multilayer test samples

Science.gov (United States)

Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; Conley, Raymond; Anderson, Erik H.; Barber, Samuel K.; Bouet, Nathalie; McKinney, Wayne R.; Takacs, Peter Z.; Voronov, Dmitriy L.

2011-09-01

Verification of the reliability of metrology data from high quality X-ray optics requires that adequate methods for test and calibration of the instruments be developed. For such verification for optical surface profilometers in the spatial frequency domain, a modulation transfer function (MTF) calibration method based on binary pseudo-random (BPR) gratings and arrays has been suggested [1,2] and proven to be an effective calibration method for a number of interferometric microscopes, a phase shifting Fizeau interferometer, and a scatterometer [5]. Here we describe the details of development of binary pseudo-random multilayer (BPRML) test samples suitable for characterization of scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopes. We discuss the results of TEM measurements with the BPRML test samples fabricated from a WiSi 2/Si multilayer coating with pseudo-randomly distributed layers. In particular, we demonstrate that significant information about the metrological reliability of the TEM measurements can be extracted even when the fundamental frequency of the BPRML sample is smaller than the Nyquist frequency of the measurements. The measurements demonstrate a number of problems related to the interpretation of the SEM and TEM data. Note that similar BPRML test samples can be used to characterize X-ray microscopes. Corresponding work with X-ray microscopes is in progress.

Characterization of electron microscopes with binary pseudo-random multilayer test samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; Conley, Raymond; Anderson, Erik H.; Barber, Samuel K.; Bouet, Nathalie; McKinney, Wayne R.; Takacs, Peter Z.; Voronov, Dmitriy L.

2011-01-01

Verification of the reliability of metrology data from high quality X-ray optics requires that adequate methods for test and calibration of the instruments be developed. For such verification for optical surface profilometers in the spatial frequency domain, a modulation transfer function (MTF) calibration method based on binary pseudo-random (BPR) gratings and arrays has been suggested and proven to be an effective calibration method for a number of interferometric microscopes, a phase shifting Fizeau interferometer, and a scatterometer [5]. Here we describe the details of development of binary pseudo-random multilayer (BPRML) test samples suitable for characterization of scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopes. We discuss the results of TEM measurements with the BPRML test samples fabricated from a WiSi 2 /Si multilayer coating with pseudo-randomly distributed layers. In particular, we demonstrate that significant information about the metrological reliability of the TEM measurements can be extracted even when the fundamental frequency of the BPRML sample is smaller than the Nyquist frequency of the measurements. The measurements demonstrate a number of problems related to the interpretation of the SEM and TEM data. Note that similar BPRML test samples can be used to characterize X-ray microscopes. Corresponding work with X-ray microscopes is in progress.

Sampling methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loughran, R.J.; Wallbrink, P.J.; Walling, D.E.; Appleby, P.G.

2002-01-01

Methods for the collection of soil samples to determine levels of 137 Cs and other fallout radionuclides, such as excess 210 Pb and 7 Be, will depend on the purposes (aims) of the project, site and soil characteristics, analytical capacity, the total number of samples that can be analysed and the sample mass required. The latter two will depend partly on detector type and capabilities. A variety of field methods have been developed for different field conditions and circumstances over the past twenty years, many of them inherited or adapted from soil science and sedimentology. The use of them inherited or adapted from soil science and sedimentology. The use of 137 Cs in erosion studies has been widely developed, while the application of fallout 210 Pb and 7 Be is still developing. Although it is possible to measure these nuclides simultaneously, it is common for experiments to designed around the use of 137 Cs along. Caesium studies typically involve comparison of the inventories found at eroded or sedimentation sites with that of a 'reference' site. An accurate characterization of the depth distribution of these fallout nuclides is often required in order to apply and/or calibrate the conversion models. However, depending on the tracer involved, the depth distribution, and thus the sampling resolution required to define it, differs. For example, a depth resolution of 1 cm is often adequate when using 137 Cs. However, fallout 210 Pb and 7 Be commonly has very strong surface maxima that decrease exponentially with depth, and fine depth increments are required at or close to the soil surface. Consequently, different depth incremental sampling methods are required when using different fallout radionuclides. Geomorphic investigations also frequently require determination of the depth-distribution of fallout nuclides on slopes and depositional sites as well as their total inventories

Coordinate transformation based cryo-correlative methods for electron tomography and focused ion beam milling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukuda, Yoshiyuki; Schrod, Nikolas; Schaffer, Miroslava; Feng, Li Rebekah; Baumeister, Wolfgang; Lucic, Vladan

2014-01-01

Correlative microscopy allows imaging of the same feature over multiple length scales, combining light microscopy with high resolution information provided by electron microscopy. We demonstrate two procedures for coordinate transformation based correlative microscopy of vitrified biological samples applicable to different imaging modes. The first procedure aims at navigating cryo-electron tomography to cellular regions identified by fluorescent labels. The second procedure, allowing navigation of focused ion beam milling to fluorescently labeled molecules, is based on the introduction of an intermediate scanning electron microscopy imaging step to overcome the large difference between cryo-light microscopy and focused ion beam imaging modes. These methods make it possible to image fluorescently labeled macromolecular complexes in their natural environments by cryo-electron tomography, while minimizing exposure to the electron beam during the search for features of interest. - Highlights: • Correlative light microscopy and focused ion beam milling of vitrified samples. • Coordinate transformation based cryo-correlative method. • Improved correlative light microscopy and cryo-electron tomography

Minimum detection limit and spatial resolution of thin-sample field-emission electron probe microanalysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubo, Yugo; Hamada, Kotaro; Urano, Akira

2013-01-01

The minimum detection limit and spatial resolution for a thinned semiconductor sample were determined by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) using a Schottky field emission (FE) electron gun and wavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometry. Comparison of the FE-EPMA results with those obtained using energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry in conjunction with scanning transmission electron microscopy, confirmed that FE-EPMA is largely superior in terms of detection sensitivity. Thin-sample FE-EPMA is demonstrated as a very effective method for high resolution, high sensitivity analysis in a laboratory environment because a high probe current and high signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved. - Highlights: • Minimum detection limit and spatial resolution determined for FE-EPMA. • Detection sensitivity of FE-EPMA greatly superior to that of STEM-EDX. • Minimum detection limit and spatial resolution controllable by probe current

Transmission electron microscope sample holder with optical features

Science.gov (United States)

Milas, Mirko [Port Jefferson, NY; Zhu, Yimei [Stony Brook, NY; Rameau, Jonathan David [Coram, NY

2012-03-27

A sample holder for holding a sample to be observed for research purposes, particularly in a transmission electron microscope (TEM), generally includes an external alignment part for directing a light beam in a predetermined beam direction, a sample holder body in optical communication with the external alignment part and a sample support member disposed at a distal end of the sample holder body opposite the external alignment part for holding a sample to be analyzed. The sample holder body defines an internal conduit for the light beam and the sample support member includes a light beam positioner for directing the light beam between the sample holder body and the sample held by the sample support member.

Comparisons of methods for generating conditional Poisson samples and Sampford samples

OpenAIRE

Grafström, Anton

2005-01-01

Methods for conditional Poisson sampling (CP-sampling) and Sampford sampling are compared and the focus is on the efficiency of the methods. The efficiency is investigated by simulation in different sampling situations. It was of interest to compare methods since new methods for both CP-sampling and Sampford sampling were introduced by Bondesson, Traat & Lundqvist in 2004. The new methods are acceptance rejection methods that use the efficient Pareto sampling method. They are found to be ...

Study of runaway electrons using the conditional average sampling method in the Damavand tokamak

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pourshahab, B., E-mail: bpourshahab@gmail.com [University of Isfahan, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Advance Sciences and Technologies (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Sadighzadeh, A. [Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion Research School (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Abdi, M. R., E-mail: r.abdi@phys.ui.ac.ir [University of Isfahan, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Rasouli, C. [Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion Research School (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2017-03-15

Some experiments for studying the runaway electron (RE) effects have been performed using the poloidal magnetic probes system installed around the plasma column in the Damavand tokamak. In these experiments, the so-called runaway-dominated discharges were considered in which the main part of the plasma current is carried by REs. The induced magnetic effects on the poloidal pickup coils signals are observed simultaneously with the Parail–Pogutse instability moments for REs and hard X-ray bursts. The output signals of all diagnostic systems enter the data acquisition system with 2 Msample/(s channel) sampling rate. The temporal evolution of the diagnostic signals is analyzed by the conditional average sampling (CAS) technique. The CASed profiles indicate RE collisions with the high-field-side plasma facing components at the instability moments. The investigation has been carried out for two discharge modes—low-toroidal-field (LTF) and high-toroidal-field (HTF) ones—related to both up and down limits of the toroidal magnetic field in the Damavand tokamak and their comparison has shown that the RE confinement is better in HTF discharges.

The electron transport problem sampling by Monte Carlo individual collision technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Androsenko, P.A.; Belousov, V.I.

2005-01-01

The problem of electron transport is of most interest in all fields of the modern science. To solve this problem the Monte Carlo sampling has to be used. The electron transport is characterized by a large number of individual interactions. To simulate electron transport the 'condensed history' technique may be used where a large number of collisions are grouped into a single step to be sampled randomly. Another kind of Monte Carlo sampling is the individual collision technique. In comparison with condensed history technique researcher has the incontestable advantages. For example one does not need to give parameters altered by condensed history technique like upper limit for electron energy, resolution, number of sub-steps etc. Also the condensed history technique may lose some very important tracks of electrons because of its limited nature by step parameters of particle movement and due to weakness of algorithms for example energy indexing algorithm. There are no these disadvantages in the individual collision technique. This report presents some sampling algorithms of new version BRAND code where above mentioned technique is used. All information on electrons was taken from Endf-6 files. They are the important part of BRAND. These files have not been processed but directly taken from electron information source. Four kinds of interaction like the elastic interaction, the Bremsstrahlung, the atomic excitation and the atomic electro-ionization were considered. In this report some results of sampling are presented after comparison with analogs. For example the endovascular radiotherapy problem (P2) of QUADOS2002 was presented in comparison with another techniques that are usually used. (authors)

Quantitation of tetrabromobisphenol-A from dust sampled on consumer electronics by dispersed liquid-liquid microextraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Napoli-Davis, Gina; Owens, Janel E.

2013-01-01

Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) is a brominated flame retardant used worldwide. Despite its widespread use, there are few data concerning environmental concentrations of TBBPA. Thus, the objective of this work was to optimize an ultrasound-assisted dispersed liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) method to analyze swabbed surfaces of consumer electronics to determine TBBPA concentrations. Upon sample preparation with DLLME, TBBPA was derivatized with acetic anhydride and then analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Using a 13 C 12 -TBBPA internal standard to improve precision and quantitation, a recovery study was performed. At concentrations of 250–1000 ng/mL, recoveries were 104–106%. Sample preparation with solid phase extraction had comparable recoveries, although overall, improved analyte recovery and precision were achieved with DLLME. In a small survey study, TBBPA concentrations in dust collected from 100 cm 2 areas on electronic surfaces (monitor, microwave, refrigerator, and TV) were determined to range from less than the LOQ to 523 ng/mL. -- Highlights: •Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) concentrations in dust samples were determined. •Dust samples were collected from surfaces of consumer electronics. •Dispersed liquid-liquid microextraction was used to prepare samples for GC/MS. •A 13 C 12 -labeled internal standard was used to improve precision and quantitation. •TBBPA was found in dust samples at levels below LOQ to 523 ng/mL. -- This work describes the analysis of the brominated flame retardant, tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA), from dust sampled on surfaces of consumer electronics

31 CFR 203.10 - Electronic payment methods.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Electronic payment methods. 203.10... TAX AND LOAN PROGRAM Electronic Federal Tax Payments § 203.10 Electronic payment methods. (a) General. Electronic payment methods for Federal tax payments available under this subpart include ACH debit entries...

Application of Macro Response Monte Carlo method for electron spectrum simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perles, L.A.; Almeida, A. de

2007-01-01

During the past years several variance reduction techniques for Monte Carlo electron transport have been developed in order to reduce the electron computation time transport for absorbed dose distribution. We have implemented the Macro Response Monte Carlo (MRMC) method to evaluate the electron spectrum which can be used as a phase space input for others simulation programs. Such technique uses probability distributions for electron histories previously simulated in spheres (called kugels). These probabilities are used to sample the primary electron final state, as well as the creation secondary electrons and photons. We have compared the MRMC electron spectra simulated in homogeneous phantom against the Geant4 spectra. The results showed an agreement better than 6% in the spectra peak energies and that MRMC code is up to 12 time faster than Geant4 simulations

Acetic Acid Detection Threshold in Synthetic Wine Samples of a Portable Electronic Nose

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel Macías Macías

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Wine quality is related to its intrinsic visual, taste, or aroma characteristics and is reflected in the price paid for that wine. One of the most important wine faults is the excessive concentration of acetic acid which can cause a wine to take on vinegar aromas and reduce its varietal character. Thereby it is very important for the wine industry to have methods, like electronic noses, for real-time monitoring the excessive concentration of acetic acid in wines. However, aroma characterization of alcoholic beverages with sensor array electronic noses is a difficult challenge due to the masking effect of ethanol. In this work, in order to detect the presence of acetic acid in synthetic wine samples (aqueous ethanol solution at 10% v/v we use a detection unit which consists of a commercial electronic nose and a HSS32 auto sampler, in combination with a neural network classifier (MLP. To find the characteristic vector representative of the sample that we want to classify, first we select the sensors, and the section of the sensors response curves, where the probability of detecting the presence of acetic acid will be higher, and then we apply Principal Component Analysis (PCA such that each sensor response curve is represented by the coefficients of its first principal components. Results show that the PEN3 electronic nose is able to detect and discriminate wine samples doped with acetic acid in concentrations equal or greater than 2 g/L.

The electron transport problem sampling by Monte Carlo individual collision technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Androsenko, P.A.; Belousov, V.I. [Obninsk State Technical Univ. of Nuclear Power Engineering, Kaluga region (Russian Federation)

2005-07-01

The problem of electron transport is of most interest in all fields of the modern science. To solve this problem the Monte Carlo sampling has to be used. The electron transport is characterized by a large number of individual interactions. To simulate electron transport the 'condensed history' technique may be used where a large number of collisions are grouped into a single step to be sampled randomly. Another kind of Monte Carlo sampling is the individual collision technique. In comparison with condensed history technique researcher has the incontestable advantages. For example one does not need to give parameters altered by condensed history technique like upper limit for electron energy, resolution, number of sub-steps etc. Also the condensed history technique may lose some very important tracks of electrons because of its limited nature by step parameters of particle movement and due to weakness of algorithms for example energy indexing algorithm. There are no these disadvantages in the individual collision technique. This report presents some sampling algorithms of new version BRAND code where above mentioned technique is used. All information on electrons was taken from Endf-6 files. They are the important part of BRAND. These files have not been processed but directly taken from electron information source. Four kinds of interaction like the elastic interaction, the Bremsstrahlung, the atomic excitation and the atomic electro-ionization were considered. In this report some results of sampling are presented after comparison with analogs. For example the endovascular radiotherapy problem (P2) of QUADOS2002 was presented in comparison with another techniques that are usually used. (authors)

On the role of the gas environment, electron-dose-rate, and sample on the image resolution in transmission electron microscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ek, Martin; Jespersen, Sebastian Pirel Fredsgaard; Damsgaard, Christian Danvad

2016-01-01

on the electron-dose-rate. In this article, we demonstrate that both the total and areal electron-dose-rates work as descriptors for the dose-rate-dependent resolution and are related through the illumination area. Furthermore, the resolution degradation was observed to occur gradually over time after......The introduction of gaseous atmospheres in transmission electron microscopy offers the possibility of studying materials in situ under chemically relevant environments. The presence of a gas environment can degrade the resolution. Surprisingly, this phenomenon has been shown to depend...... initializing the illumination of the sample and gas by the electron beam. The resolution was also observed to be sensitive to the electrical conductivity of the sample. These observations can be explained by a charge buildup over the electron-illuminated sample area, caused by the beam–gas–sample interaction...

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Sample Preparation of Si(1-x)Gex in c-Plane Sapphire Substrate

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyun Jung; Choi, Sang H.; Bae, Hyung-Bin; Lee, Tae Woo

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration-invented X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods, including the total defect density measurement method and the spatial wafer mapping method, have confirmed super hetero epitaxy growth for rhombohedral single crystalline silicon germanium (Si1-xGex) on a c-plane sapphire substrate. However, the XRD method cannot observe the surface morphology or roughness because of the method s limited resolution. Therefore the authors used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with samples prepared in two ways, the focused ion beam (FIB) method and the tripod method to study the structure between Si1-xGex and sapphire substrate and Si1?xGex itself. The sample preparation for TEM should be as fast as possible so that the sample should contain few or no artifacts induced by the preparation. The standard sample preparation method of mechanical polishing often requires a relatively long ion milling time (several hours), which increases the probability of inducing defects into the sample. The TEM sampling of the Si1-xGex on sapphire is also difficult because of the sapphire s high hardness and mechanical instability. The FIB method and the tripod method eliminate both problems when performing a cross-section TEM sampling of Si1-xGex on c-plane sapphire, which shows the surface morphology, the interface between film and substrate, and the crystal structure of the film. This paper explains the FIB sampling method and the tripod sampling method, and why sampling Si1-xGex, on a sapphire substrate with TEM, is necessary.

Distance sampling methods and applications

CERN Document Server

Buckland, S T; Marques, T A; Oedekoven, C S

2015-01-01

In this book, the authors cover the basic methods and advances within distance sampling that are most valuable to practitioners and in ecology more broadly. This is the fourth book dedicated to distance sampling. In the decade since the last book published, there have been a number of new developments. The intervening years have also shown which advances are of most use. This self-contained book covers topics from the previous publications, while also including recent developments in method, software and application. Distance sampling refers to a suite of methods, including line and point transect sampling, in which animal density or abundance is estimated from a sample of distances to detected individuals. The book illustrates these methods through case studies; data sets and computer code are supplied to readers through the book’s accompanying website.  Some of the case studies use the software Distance, while others use R code. The book is in three parts.  The first part addresses basic methods, the ...

Adaptive multiresolution method for MAP reconstruction in electron tomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Acar, Erman, E-mail: erman.acar@tut.fi [Department of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 553, FI-33101 Tampere (Finland); BioMediTech, Tampere University of Technology, Biokatu 10, 33520 Tampere (Finland); Peltonen, Sari; Ruotsalainen, Ulla [Department of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 553, FI-33101 Tampere (Finland); BioMediTech, Tampere University of Technology, Biokatu 10, 33520 Tampere (Finland)

2016-11-15

3D image reconstruction with electron tomography holds problems due to the severely limited range of projection angles and low signal to noise ratio of the acquired projection images. The maximum a posteriori (MAP) reconstruction methods have been successful in compensating for the missing information and suppressing noise with their intrinsic regularization techniques. There are two major problems in MAP reconstruction methods: (1) selection of the regularization parameter that controls the balance between the data fidelity and the prior information, and (2) long computation time. One aim of this study is to provide an adaptive solution to the regularization parameter selection problem without having additional knowledge about the imaging environment and the sample. The other aim is to realize the reconstruction using sequences of resolution levels to shorten the computation time. The reconstructions were analyzed in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency using a simulated biological phantom and publically available experimental datasets of electron tomography. The numerical and visual evaluations of the experiments show that the adaptive multiresolution method can provide more accurate results than the weighted back projection (WBP), simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT), and sequential MAP expectation maximization (sMAPEM) method. The method is superior to sMAPEM also in terms of computation time and usability since it can reconstruct 3D images significantly faster without requiring any parameter to be set by the user. - Highlights: • An adaptive multiresolution reconstruction method is introduced for electron tomography. • The method provides more accurate results than the conventional reconstruction methods. • The missing wedge and noise problems can be compensated by the method efficiently.

Focussed ion beam thin sample microanalysis using a field emission gun electron probe microanalyser

Science.gov (United States)

Kubo, Y.

2018-01-01

Field emission gun electron probe microanalysis (FEG-EPMA) in conjunction with wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometry using a low acceleration voltage (V acc) allows elemental analysis with sub-micrometre lateral spatial resolution (SR). However, this degree of SR does not necessarily meet the requirements associated with increasingly miniaturised devices. Another challenge related to performing FEG-EPMA with a low V acc is that the accuracy of quantitative analyses is adversely affected, primarily because low energy X-ray lines such as the L- and M-lines must be employed and due to the potential of line interference. One promising means of obtaining high SR with FEG-EPMA is to use thin samples together with high V acc values. This mini-review covers the basic principles of thin-sample FEG-EPMA and describes an application of this technique to the analysis of optical fibres. Outstanding issues related to this technique that must be addressed are also discussed, which include the potential for electron beam damage during analysis of insulating materials and the development of methods to use thin samples for quantitative analysis.

Independent random sampling methods

CERN Document Server

Martino, Luca; Míguez, Joaquín

2018-01-01

This book systematically addresses the design and analysis of efficient techniques for independent random sampling. Both general-purpose approaches, which can be used to generate samples from arbitrary probability distributions, and tailored techniques, designed to efficiently address common real-world practical problems, are introduced and discussed in detail. In turn, the monograph presents fundamental results and methodologies in the field, elaborating and developing them into the latest techniques. The theory and methods are illustrated with a varied collection of examples, which are discussed in detail in the text and supplemented with ready-to-run computer code. The main problem addressed in the book is how to generate independent random samples from an arbitrary probability distribution with the weakest possible constraints or assumptions in a form suitable for practical implementation. The authors review the fundamental results and methods in the field, address the latest methods, and emphasize the li...

A method of language sampling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rijkhoff, Jan; Bakker, Dik; Hengeveld, Kees

1993-01-01

In recent years more attention is paid to the quality of language samples in typological work. Without an adequate sampling strategy, samples may suffer from various kinds of bias. In this article we propose a sampling method in which the genetic criterion is taken as the most important: samples...... created with this method will reflect optimally the diversity of the languages of the world. On the basis of the internal structure of each genetic language tree a measure is computed that reflects the linguistic diversity in the language families represented by these trees. This measure is used...... to determine how many languages from each phylum should be selected, given any required sample size....

A new method to characterize dopant profiles in NMOSFETs using conventional transmission electron microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawamura, Kazuo; Ikeda, Kazuto; Terauchi, Masami

2004-01-01

We have developed a new method using conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to obtain two dimensional dopant profiles in silicon and applied it to 40 nm-gate-length N + /p metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). The results are consistent with those of selective-chemically etched samples observed by TEM. This method, using focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation and conventional TEM, has the great advantage of simple sample preparation and high spatial resolution compared to other characterization methods, such as atomic capacitance microscopy, spreading resistance microscopy, and TEM combined with selective chemical etching. This indicates that this method can be applicable to the analysis of FETs at the 65 nm or smaller node

An economic passive sampling method to detect particulate pollutants using magnetic measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Liwan; Appel, Erwin; Hu, Shouyun; Ma, Mingming

2015-10-01

Identifying particulate matter (PM) emitted from industrial processes into the atmosphere is an important issue in environmental research. This paper presents a passive sampling method using simple artificial samplers that maintains the advantage of bio-monitoring, but overcomes some of its disadvantages. The samplers were tested in a heavily polluted area (Linfen, China) and compared to results from leaf samples. Spatial variations of magnetic susceptibility from artificial passive samplers and leaf samples show very similar patterns. Scanning electron microscopy suggests that the collected PM are mostly in the range of 2-25 μm; frequent occurrence of spherical shape indicates industrial combustion dominates PM emission. Magnetic properties around power plants show different features than other plants. This sampling method provides a suitable and economic tool for semi-quantifying temporal and spatial distribution of air quality; they can be installed in a regular grid and calibrate the weight of PM. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sample Development on Java Smart-Card Electronic Wallet Application

OpenAIRE

Toma Cristian

2009-01-01

In this paper, are highlighted concepts as: complete Java card application, life cycle of an applet, and a practical electronic wallet sample implemented in Java card technology. As a practical approach it would be interesting building applets for ID, Driving License, Health-Insurance smart cards, for encrypt and digitally sign documents, for E-Commerce and for accessing critical resources in government and military field. The end of this article it is presented a java card electronic wallet ...

SWOT ANALYSIS ON SAMPLING METHOD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHIS ANCA OANA

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Audit sampling involves the application of audit procedures to less than 100% of items within an account balance or class of transactions. Our article aims to study audit sampling in audit of financial statements. As an audit technique largely used, in both its statistical and nonstatistical form, the method is very important for auditors. It should be applied correctly for a fair view of financial statements, to satisfy the needs of all financial users. In order to be applied correctly the method must be understood by all its users and mainly by auditors. Otherwise the risk of not applying it correctly would cause loose of reputation and discredit, litigations and even prison. Since there is not a unitary practice and methodology for applying the technique, the risk of incorrectly applying it is pretty high. The SWOT analysis is a technique used that shows the advantages, disadvantages, threats and opportunities. We applied SWOT analysis in studying the sampling method, from the perspective of three players: the audit company, the audited entity and users of financial statements. The study shows that by applying the sampling method the audit company and the audited entity both save time, effort and money. The disadvantages of the method are difficulty in applying and understanding its insight. Being largely used as an audit method and being a factor of a correct audit opinion, the sampling method’s advantages, disadvantages, threats and opportunities must be understood by auditors.

A method for the determination of potassium concentration in organic tissue samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maciel, A.C.A.

1976-12-01

An original method has been developed to detect small variations of potassium in several samples of organic tissue. These variations are relative to elements that are biologically representative, such as carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. The samples are irradiated with a beam of protons from a Van de Graaff accelerator (4MV). Vacancies are created in the K-shell of potassium, and x-rays are emitted when these vacancies are filled with outer electrons. These X-rays and the protons elastically scattered by the nuclei of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are detected and their energy spectra are analysed by computer programs especially elaborated for this purpose. A technique for routine preparation of samples in the laboratory was developed including the production of aluminum support layers, and the preparation of organic tissue samples with a low temperature microtome. The unique features of this method are that it does not destroy the tissue, permitting further analysis with the microscope, and the normalization of the amount of potassium using other elements (C,O,N) instead of the total mass of the sample. (Author) [pt

Processing scarce biological samples for light and transmission electron microscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P Taupin

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Light microscopy (LM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM aim at understanding the relationship structure-function. With advances in biology, isolation and purification of scarce populations of cells or subcellular structures may not lead to enough biological material, for processing for LM and TEM. A protocol for preparation of scarce biological samples is presented. It is based on pre-embedding the biological samples, suspensions or pellets, in bovine serum albumin (BSA and bis-acrylamide (BA, cross-linked and polymerized. This preparation provides a simple and reproducible technique to process biological materials, present in limited quantities that can not be amplified, for light and transmission electron microscopy.

Sampling system and method

Science.gov (United States)

Decker, David L.; Lyles, Brad F.; Purcell, Richard G.; Hershey, Ronald Lee

2013-04-16

The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method for coupling conduit segments together. A first pump obtains a sample and transmits it through a first conduit to a reservoir accessible by a second pump. The second pump further conducts the sample from the reservoir through a second conduit.

A method of language sampling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rijkhoff, Jan; Bakker, Dik; Hengeveld, Kees

1993-01-01

In recent years more attention is paid to the quality of language samples in typological work. Without an adequate sampling strategy, samples may suffer from various kinds of bias. In this article we propose a sampling method in which the genetic criterion is taken as the most important: samples...... to determine how many languages from each phylum should be selected, given any required sample size....

Subrandom methods for multidimensional nonuniform sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Worley, Bradley

2016-08-01

Methods of nonuniform sampling that utilize pseudorandom number sequences to select points from a weighted Nyquist grid are commonplace in biomolecular NMR studies, due to the beneficial incoherence introduced by pseudorandom sampling. However, these methods require the specification of a non-arbitrary seed number in order to initialize a pseudorandom number generator. Because the performance of pseudorandom sampling schedules can substantially vary based on seed number, this can complicate the task of routine data collection. Approaches such as jittered sampling and stochastic gap sampling are effective at reducing random seed dependence of nonuniform sampling schedules, but still require the specification of a seed number. This work formalizes the use of subrandom number sequences in nonuniform sampling as a means of seed-independent sampling, and compares the performance of three subrandom methods to their pseudorandom counterparts using commonly applied schedule performance metrics. Reconstruction results using experimental datasets are also provided to validate claims made using these performance metrics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Some connections between importance sampling and enhanced sampling methods in molecular dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lie, H C; Quer, J

2017-11-21

In molecular dynamics, enhanced sampling methods enable the collection of better statistics of rare events from a reference or target distribution. We show that a large class of these methods is based on the idea of importance sampling from mathematical statistics. We illustrate this connection by comparing the Hartmann-Schütte method for rare event simulation (J. Stat. Mech. Theor. Exp. 2012, P11004) and the Valsson-Parrinello method of variationally enhanced sampling [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 090601 (2014)]. We use this connection in order to discuss how recent results from the Monte Carlo methods literature can guide the development of enhanced sampling methods.

Scanning electron microscope autoradiography of critical point dried biological samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weiss, R.L.

1980-01-01

A technique has been developed for the localization of isotopes in the scanning electron microscope. Autoradiographic studies have been performed using a model system and a unicellular biflagellate alga. One requirement of this technique is that all manipulations be carried out on samples that are maintained in a liquid state. Observations of a source of radiation ( 125 I-ferritin) show that the nuclear emulsion used to detect radiation is active under these conditions. Efficiency measurement performed using 125 I-ferritin indicate that 125 I-SEM autoradiography is an efficient process that exhibits a 'dose dependent' response. Two types of labeling methods were used with cells, surface labeling with 125 I and internal labeling with 3 H. Silver grains appeared on labeled cells after autoradiography, removal of residual gelatin and critical point drying. The location of grains was examined on a flagellated green alga (Chlamydomonas reinhardi) capable of undergoing cell fusion. Fusion experiments using labeled and unlabeled cells indicate that 1. Labeling is specific for incorporated radioactivity; 2. Cell surface structure is preserved in SEM autoradiographs and 3. The technique appears to produce reliable autoradiographs. Thus scanning electron microscope autoradiography should provide a new and useful experimental approach

Perpendicular distance sampling: an alternative method for sampling downed coarse woody debris

Science.gov (United States)

Michael S. Williams; Jeffrey H. Gove

2003-01-01

Coarse woody debris (CWD) plays an important role in many forest ecosystem processes. In recent years, a number of new methods have been proposed to sample CWD. These methods select individual logs into the sample using some form of unequal probability sampling. One concern with most of these methods is the difficulty in estimating the volume of each log. A new method...

A fast cross-validation method for alignment of electron tomography images based on Beer-Lambert law

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Rui; Edwards, Thomas J.; Pankratz, Logan M.; Kuhn, Richard J.; Lanman, Jason K.; Liu, Jun; Jiang, Wen

2015-01-01

In electron tomography, accurate alignment of tilt series is an essential step in attaining high-resolution 3D reconstructions. Nevertheless, quantitative assessment of alignment quality has remained a challenging issue, even though many alignment methods have been reported. Here, we report a fast and accurate method, tomoAlignEval, based on the Beer-Lambert law, for the evaluation of alignment quality. Our method is able to globally estimate the alignment accuracy by measuring the goodness of log-linear relationship of the beam intensity attenuations at different tilt angles. Extensive tests with experimental data demonstrated its robust performance with stained and cryo samples. Our method is not only significantly faster but also more sensitive than measurements of tomogram resolution using Fourier shell correlation method (FSCe/o). From these tests, we also conclude that while current alignment methods are sufficiently accurate for stained samples, inaccurate alignments remain a major limitation for high resolution cryo-electron tomography. PMID:26455556

A fast cross-validation method for alignment of electron tomography images based on Beer-Lambert law.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Rui; Edwards, Thomas J; Pankratz, Logan M; Kuhn, Richard J; Lanman, Jason K; Liu, Jun; Jiang, Wen

2015-11-01

In electron tomography, accurate alignment of tilt series is an essential step in attaining high-resolution 3D reconstructions. Nevertheless, quantitative assessment of alignment quality has remained a challenging issue, even though many alignment methods have been reported. Here, we report a fast and accurate method, tomoAlignEval, based on the Beer-Lambert law, for the evaluation of alignment quality. Our method is able to globally estimate the alignment accuracy by measuring the goodness of log-linear relationship of the beam intensity attenuations at different tilt angles. Extensive tests with experimental data demonstrated its robust performance with stained and cryo samples. Our method is not only significantly faster but also more sensitive than measurements of tomogram resolution using Fourier shell correlation method (FSCe/o). From these tests, we also conclude that while current alignment methods are sufficiently accurate for stained samples, inaccurate alignments remain a major limitation for high resolution cryo-electron tomography. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sampling method of environmental radioactivity monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

This manual provides sampling methods of environmental samples of airborne dust, precipitated dust, precipitated water (rain or snow), fresh water, soil, river sediment or lake sediment, discharged water from a nuclear facility, grains, tea, milk, pasture grass, limnetic organisms, daily diet, index organisms, sea water, marine sediment, marine organisms, and that for tritium and radioiodine determination for radiation monitoring from radioactive fallout or radioactivity release by nuclear facilities. This manual aims at the presentation of standard sampling procedures for environmental radioactivity monitoring regardless of monitoring objectives, and shows preservation method of environmental samples acquired at the samplingpoint for radiation counting for those except human body. Sampling techniques adopted in this manual is decided by the criteria that they are suitable for routine monitoring and any special skillfulness is not necessary. Based on the above-mentioned principle, this manual presents outline and aims of sampling, sampling position or object, sampling quantity, apparatus, equipment or vessel for sampling, sampling location, sampling procedures, pretreatment and preparation procedures of a sample for radiation counting, necessary recording items for sampling and sample transportation procedures. Special attention is described in the chapter of tritium and radioiodine because these radionuclides might be lost by the above-mentioned sample preservation method for radiation counting of less volatile radionuclides than tritium or radioiodine. (Takagi, S.)

A scanning electron microscope method for automated, quantitative analysis of mineral matter in coal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Creelman, R.A.; Ward, C.R. [R.A. Creelman and Associates, Epping, NSW (Australia)

1996-07-01

Quantitative mineralogical analysis has been carried out in a series of nine coal samples from Australia, South Africa and China using a newly-developed automated image analysis system coupled to a scanning electron microscopy. The image analysis system (QEM{asterisk}SEM) gathers X-ray spectra and backscattered electron data from a number of points on a conventional grain-mount polished section under the SEM, and interprets the data from each point in mineralogical terms. The cumulative data in each case was integrated to provide a volumetric modal analysis of the species present in the coal samples, expressed as percentages of the respective coals` mineral matter. Comparison was made of the QEM{asterisk}SEM results to data obtained from the same samples using other methods of quantitative mineralogical analysis, namely X-ray diffraction of the low-temperature oxygen-plasma ash and normative calculation from the (high-temperature) ash analysis and carbonate CO{sub 2} data. Good agreement was obtained from all three methods for quartz in the coals, and also for most of the iron-bearing minerals. The correlation between results from the different methods was less strong, however, for individual clay minerals, or for minerals such as calcite, dolomite and phosphate species that made up only relatively small proportions of the mineral matter. The image analysis approach, using the electron microscope for mineralogical studies, has significant potential as a supplement to optical microscopy in quantitative coal characterisation. 36 refs., 3 figs., 4 tabs.

Drafting method of electricity and electron design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gungbon, Junchun

1989-11-01

This book concentrates on drafting of electricity and electron design. It deals with The meaning of electricity and electron drafting JIS standard regulation the types of drafting and line and letter, basics drafting with projection drafting method, plan projection and development elevation, Drafting method of shop drawing, practical method of design and drafting, Design and drafting of technic and illustration, Connection diagram, Drafting of wiring diagram for light and illumination, Drafting of development connection diagram for sequence control, Drafting of logic circuit sign of flow chart and manual, drafting for a electron circuit diagram and Drawing of PC board.

A simultaneous electron energy and dosimeter calibration method for an electron beam irradiator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, R.; Sunaga, H.; Kojima, T.

1991-01-01

In radiation processing using electron accelerators, the reproducibility of absorbed dose in the product depends not only on the variation of beam current and conveyor speed, but also on variations of other accelerator parameters. This requires routine monitoring of the beam current and the scan width, and also requires periodical calibration of routine dosimeters usually in the shape of film, electron energy, and other radiation field parameters. The electron energy calibration is important especially for food processing. The dose calibration method using partial absorption calorimeters provides only information about absorbed dose. Measurement of average electron current density provides basic information about the radiation field formed by the beam scanning and scattering at the beam window, though it does not allow direct dose calibration. The total absorption calorimeter with a thick absorber allows dose and dosimeter calibration, if the depth profile of relative dose in a reference absorber is given experimentally. It also allows accurate calibration of the average electron energy at the surface of the calorimeter core, if electron fluence received by the calorimeter is measured at the same time. This means that both electron energy and dosimeters can be simultaneously calibrated by irradiation of a combined system including the calorimeter, the detector of the electron current density meter, and a thick reference absorber for depth profile measurement of relative dose. We have developed a simple and multifunctional system using the combined calibration method for 5 MeV electron beams. The paper describes a simultaneous calibration method for electron energy and film dosimeters, and describes the electron current density meter, the total absorption calorimeter, and the characteristics of this method. (author). 13 refs, 7 figs, 3 tabs

Efficient k⋅p method for the calculation of total energy and electronic density of states

OpenAIRE

Iannuzzi, Marcella; Parrinello, Michele

2001-01-01

An efficient method for calculating the electronic structure in large systems with a fully converged BZ sampling is presented. The method is based on a k.p-like approximation developed in the framework of the density functional perturbation theory. The reliability and efficiency of the method are demostrated in test calculations on Ar and Si supercells

An improved sampling method of complex network

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Qi; Ding, Xintong; Pan, Feng; Li, Weixing

2014-12-01

Sampling subnet is an important topic of complex network research. Sampling methods influence the structure and characteristics of subnet. Random multiple snowball with Cohen (RMSC) process sampling which combines the advantages of random sampling and snowball sampling is proposed in this paper. It has the ability to explore global information and discover the local structure at the same time. The experiments indicate that this novel sampling method could keep the similarity between sampling subnet and original network on degree distribution, connectivity rate and average shortest path. This method is applicable to the situation where the prior knowledge about degree distribution of original network is not sufficient.

Comparison of sampling methods for animal manure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Derikx, P.J.L.; Ogink, N.W.M.; Hoeksma, P.

1997-01-01

Currently available and recently developed sampling methods for slurry and solid manure were tested for bias and reproducibility in the determination of total phosphorus and nitrogen content of samples. Sampling methods were based on techniques in which samples were taken either during loading from

Method of transport simulation for electrons between 10eV and 30keV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terrissol, Michel.

1978-01-01

A transport simulation of low energy electrons in matter using a Monte-Carlo method and studying all the interactions of the electrons with atoms, molecules or assembly of them is described. Elastic scattering, ionization, excitation, plasmon creation, reorganization following inner-shell ionization, electron-hole pair creation ... are simulated individually by sampling of confirmed experimental or theoretical cross sections. So atomic and molecular gases, metals such as aluminium and liquid water have been studied. The simulation allows to follow the electrons until their energy reaches the atomic or molecular ionization potential of the irradiated matter. The entire trajectories of primary electron and of all secondaries set in motion are exactly reproduced. Several applications to multiple scattering, radiobiology, microdosimetry, electronic microscope are represented and some results are directly compared with experimental ones [fr

Virtual rough samples to test 3D nanometer-scale scanning electron microscopy stereo photogrammetry.

Science.gov (United States)

Villarrubia, J S; Tondare, V N; Vladár, A E

2016-01-01

The combination of scanning electron microscopy for high spatial resolution, images from multiple angles to provide 3D information, and commercially available stereo photogrammetry software for 3D reconstruction offers promise for nanometer-scale dimensional metrology in 3D. A method is described to test 3D photogrammetry software by the use of virtual samples-mathematical samples from which simulated images are made for use as inputs to the software under test. The virtual sample is constructed by wrapping a rough skin with any desired power spectral density around a smooth near-trapezoidal line with rounded top corners. Reconstruction is performed with images simulated from different angular viewpoints. The software's reconstructed 3D model is then compared to the known geometry of the virtual sample. Three commercial photogrammetry software packages were tested. Two of them produced results for line height and width that were within close to 1 nm of the correct values. All of the packages exhibited some difficulty in reconstructing details of the surface roughness.

Drop-on-demand sample delivery for studying biocatalysts in action at X-ray free-electron lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuller, Franklin D; Gul, Sheraz; Chatterjee, Ruchira; Burgie, E Sethe; Young, Iris D; Lebrette, Hugo; Srinivas, Vivek; Brewster, Aaron S; Michels-Clark, Tara; Clinger, Jonathan A; Andi, Babak; Ibrahim, Mohamed; Pastor, Ernest; de Lichtenberg, Casper; Hussein, Rana; Pollock, Christopher J; Zhang, Miao; Stan, Claudiu A; Kroll, Thomas; Fransson, Thomas; Weninger, Clemens; Kubin, Markus; Aller, Pierre; Lassalle, Louise; Bräuer, Philipp; Miller, Mitchell D; Amin, Muhamed; Koroidov, Sergey; Roessler, Christian G; Allaire, Marc; Sierra, Raymond G; Docker, Peter T; Glownia, James M; Nelson, Silke; Koglin, Jason E; Zhu, Diling; Chollet, Matthieu; Song, Sanghoon; Lemke, Henrik; Liang, Mengning; Sokaras, Dimosthenis; Alonso-Mori, Roberto; Zouni, Athina; Messinger, Johannes; Bergmann, Uwe; Boal, Amie K; Bollinger, J Martin; Krebs, Carsten; Högbom, Martin; Phillips, George N; Vierstra, Richard D; Sauter, Nicholas K; Orville, Allen M; Kern, Jan; Yachandra, Vittal K; Yano, Junko

2017-04-01

X-ray crystallography at X-ray free-electron laser sources is a powerful method for studying macromolecules at biologically relevant temperatures. Moreover, when combined with complementary techniques like X-ray emission spectroscopy, both global structures and chemical properties of metalloenzymes can be obtained concurrently, providing insights into the interplay between the protein structure and dynamics and the chemistry at an active site. The implementation of such a multimodal approach can be compromised by conflicting requirements to optimize each individual method. In particular, the method used for sample delivery greatly affects the data quality. We present here a robust way of delivering controlled sample amounts on demand using acoustic droplet ejection coupled with a conveyor belt drive that is optimized for crystallography and spectroscopy measurements of photochemical and chemical reactions over a wide range of time scales. Studies with photosystem II, the phytochrome photoreceptor, and ribonucleotide reductase R2 illustrate the power and versatility of this method.

Method and apparatus for detecting dilute concentrations of radioactive xenon in samples of xenon extracted from the atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Warburton, William K.; Hennig, Wolfgang G.

2018-01-02

A method and apparatus for measuring the concentrations of radioxenon isotopes in a gaseous sample wherein the sample cell is surrounded by N sub-detectors that are sensitive to both electrons and to photons from radioxenon decays. Signal processing electronics are provided that can detect events within the sub-detectors, measure their energies, determine whether they arise from electrons or photons, and detect coincidences between events within the same or different sub-detectors. The energies of detected two or three event coincidences are recorded as points in associated two or three-dimensional histograms. Counts within regions of interest in the histograms are then used to compute estimates of the radioxenon isotope concentrations. The method achieves lower backgrounds and lower minimum detectable concentrations by using smaller detector crystals, eliminating interference between double and triple coincidence decay branches, and segregating double coincidences within the same sub-detector from those occurring between different sub-detectors.

The synthesis method for design of electron flow sources

Science.gov (United States)

Alexahin, Yu I.; Molodozhenzev, A. Yu

1997-01-01

The synthesis method to design a relativistic magnetically - focused beam source is described in this paper. It allows to find a shape of electrodes necessary to produce laminar space charge flows. Electron guns with shielded cathodes designed with this method were analyzed using the EGUN code. The obtained results have shown the coincidence of the synthesis and analysis calculations [1]. This method of electron gun calculation may be applied for immersed electron flows - of interest for the EBIS electron gun design.

Electronic-nose technology using sputum samples in diagnosis of patients with tuberculosis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kolk, A.; Hoelscher, M.; Maboko, L.; Jung, J.; Kuijper, S.; Cauchi, M.; Bessant, C.; van Beers, S.; Dutta, R.; Gibson, T.; Reither, K.

2010-01-01

We investigated the potential of two different electronic noses (EN; code named "Rob" and "Walter") to differentiate between sputum headspace samples from tuberculosis (TB) patients and non-TB patients. Only samples from Ziehl-Neelsen stain (ZN)- and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture-positive

Efficient electronic structure methods applied to metal nanoparticles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Ask Hjorth

of efficient approaches to density functional theory and the application of these methods to metal nanoparticles. We describe the formalism and implementation of localized atom-centered basis sets within the projector augmented wave method. Basis sets allow for a dramatic increase in performance compared....... The basis set method is used to study the electronic effects for the contiguous range of clusters up to several hundred atoms. The s-electrons hybridize to form electronic shells consistent with the jellium model, leading to electronic magic numbers for clusters with full shells. Large electronic gaps...... and jumps in Fermi level near magic numbers can lead to alkali-like or halogen-like behaviour when main-group atoms adsorb onto gold clusters. A non-self-consistent NewnsAnderson model is used to more closely study the chemisorption of main-group atoms on magic-number Au clusters. The behaviour at magic...

7 CFR 29.110 - Method of sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Method of sampling. 29.110 Section 29.110 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... INSPECTION Regulations Inspectors, Samplers, and Weighers § 29.110 Method of sampling. In sampling tobacco...

Uniform Sampling Table Method and its Applications II--Evaluating the Uniform Sampling by Experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yibin; Chen, Jiaxi; Chen, Xuan; Wang, Min; Wang, Wei

2015-01-01

A new method of uniform sampling is evaluated in this paper. The items and indexes were adopted to evaluate the rationality of the uniform sampling. The evaluation items included convenience of operation, uniformity of sampling site distribution, and accuracy and precision of measured results. The evaluation indexes included operational complexity, occupation rate of sampling site in a row and column, relative accuracy of pill weight, and relative deviation of pill weight. They were obtained from three kinds of drugs with different shape and size by four kinds of sampling methods. Gray correlation analysis was adopted to make the comprehensive evaluation by comparing it with the standard method. The experimental results showed that the convenience of uniform sampling method was 1 (100%), odds ratio of occupation rate in a row and column was infinity, relative accuracy was 99.50-99.89%, reproducibility RSD was 0.45-0.89%, and weighted incidence degree exceeded the standard method. Hence, the uniform sampling method was easy to operate, and the selected samples were distributed uniformly. The experimental results demonstrated that the uniform sampling method has good accuracy and reproducibility, which can be put into use in drugs analysis.

14 CFR 1260.69 - Electronic funds transfer payment methods.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Government by electronic funds transfer through the Treasury Fedline Payment System (FEDLINE) or the... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Electronic funds transfer payment methods... COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS General Special Conditions § 1260.69 Electronic funds transfer payment methods...

Comparing electron tomography and HRTEM slicing methods as tools to measure the thickness of nanoparticles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alloyeau, D., E-mail: alloyeau.damien@gmail.com [Laboratoire Materiaux et Phenomenes Quantiques, Universite Paris 7/CNRS, UMR 7162, 2 Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris (France); Laboratoire d' Etude des Microstructures - ONERA/CNRS, UMR 104, B.P. 72, 92322 Chatillon (France); Ricolleau, C. [Laboratoire Materiaux et Phenomenes Quantiques, Universite Paris 7/CNRS, UMR 7162, 2 Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris (France); Oikawa, T. [Laboratoire Materiaux et Phenomenes Quantiques, Universite Paris 7/CNRS, UMR 7162, 2 Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris (France); JEOL (Europe) SAS, Espace Claude Monet, 1 Allee de Giverny, 78290 Croissy-sur-Seine (France); Langlois, C. [Laboratoire Materiaux et Phenomenes Quantiques, Universite Paris 7/CNRS, UMR 7162, 2 Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris (France); Le Bouar, Y.; Loiseau, A. [Laboratoire d' Etude des Microstructures - ONERA/CNRS, UMR 104, B.P. 72, 92322 Chatillon (France)

2009-06-15

Nanoparticles' morphology is a key parameter in the understanding of their thermodynamical, optical, magnetic and catalytic properties. In general, nanoparticles, observed in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), are viewed in projection so that the determination of their thickness (along the projection direction) with respect to their projected lateral size is highly questionable. To date, the widely used methods to measure nanoparticles thickness in a transmission electron microscope are to use cross-section images or focal series in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging (HRTEM 'slicing'). In this paper, we compare the focal series method with the electron tomography method to show that both techniques yield similar particle thickness in a range of size from 1 to 5 nm, but the electron tomography method provides better statistics since more particles can be analyzed at one time. For this purpose, we have compared, on the same samples, the nanoparticles thickness measurements obtained from focal series with the ones determined from cross-section profiles of tomograms (tomogram slicing) perpendicular to the plane of the substrate supporting the nanoparticles. The methodology is finally applied to the comparison of CoPt nanoparticles annealed ex situ at two different temperatures to illustrate the accuracy of the techniques in detecting small particle thickness changes.

Variational methods in electron-atom scattering theory

CERN Document Server

Nesbet, Robert K

1980-01-01

The investigation of scattering phenomena is a major theme of modern physics. A scattered particle provides a dynamical probe of the target system. The practical problem of interest here is the scattering of a low­ energy electron by an N-electron atom. It has been difficult in this area of study to achieve theoretical results that are even qualitatively correct, yet quantitative accuracy is often needed as an adjunct to experiment. The present book describes a quantitative theoretical method, or class of methods, that has been applied effectively to this problem. Quantum mechanical theory relevant to the scattering of an electron by an N-electron atom, which may gain or lose energy in the process, is summarized in Chapter 1. The variational theory itself is presented in Chapter 2, both as currently used and in forms that may facilitate future applications. The theory of multichannel resonance and threshold effects, which provide a rich structure to observed electron-atom scattering data, is presented in Cha...

A new fractionator principle with varying sampling fractions: exemplified by estimation of synapse number using electron microscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Witgen, Brent Marvin; Grady, M. Sean; Nyengaard, Jens Randel

2006-01-01

The quantification of ultrastructure has been permanently improved by the application of new stereological principles. Both precision and efficiency have been enhanced. Here we report for the first time a fractionator method that can be applied at the electron microscopy level. This new design...... the total object number using section sampling fractions based on the average thickness of sections of variable thicknesses. As an alternative, this approach estimates the correct particle section sampling probability based on an estimator of the Horvitz-Thompson type, resulting in a theoretically more...

System for cooling hybrid vehicle electronics, method for cooling hybrid vehicle electronics

Science.gov (United States)

France, David M.; Yu, Wenhua; Singh, Dileep; Zhao, Weihuan

2017-11-21

The invention provides a single radiator cooling system for use in hybrid electric vehicles, the system comprising a surface in thermal communication with electronics, and subcooled boiling fluid contacting the surface. The invention also provides a single radiator method for simultaneously cooling electronics and an internal combustion engine in a hybrid electric vehicle, the method comprising separating a coolant fluid into a first portion and a second portion; directing the first portion to the electronics and the second portion to the internal combustion engine for a time sufficient to maintain the temperature of the electronics at or below 175.degree. C.; combining the first and second portion to reestablish the coolant fluid; and treating the reestablished coolant fluid to the single radiator for a time sufficient to decrease the temperature of the reestablished coolant fluid to the temperature it had before separation.

19 CFR 151.83 - Method of sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Method of sampling. 151.83 Section 151.83 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) EXAMINATION, SAMPLING, AND TESTING OF MERCHANDISE Cotton § 151.83 Method of sampling. For...

ALARA ASSESSMENT OF SETTLER SLUDGE SAMPLING METHODS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelsen, L.A.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this assessment is to compare underwater and above water settler sludge sampling methods to determine if the added cost for underwater sampling for the sole purpose of worker dose reductions is justified. Initial planning for sludge sampling included container, settler and knock-out-pot (KOP) sampling. Due to the significantly higher dose consequence of KOP sludge, a decision was made to sample KOP underwater to achieve worker dose reductions. Additionally, initial plans were to utilize the underwater sampling apparatus for settler sludge. Since there are no longer plans to sample KOP sludge, the decision for underwater sampling for settler sludge needs to be revisited. The present sampling plan calls for spending an estimated $2,500,000 to design and construct a new underwater sampling system (per A21 C-PL-001 RevOE). This evaluation will compare and contrast the present method of above water sampling to the underwater method that is planned by the Sludge Treatment Project (STP) and determine if settler samples can be taken using the existing sampling cart (with potentially minor modifications) while maintaining doses to workers As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) and eliminate the need for costly redesigns, testing and personnel retraining

ALARA ASSESSMENT OF SETTLER SLUDGE SAMPLING METHODS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NELSEN LA

2009-01-30

The purpose of this assessment is to compare underwater and above water settler sludge sampling methods to determine if the added cost for underwater sampling for the sole purpose of worker dose reductions is justified. Initial planning for sludge sampling included container, settler and knock-out-pot (KOP) sampling. Due to the significantly higher dose consequence of KOP sludge, a decision was made to sample KOP underwater to achieve worker dose reductions. Additionally, initial plans were to utilize the underwater sampling apparatus for settler sludge. Since there are no longer plans to sample KOP sludge, the decision for underwater sampling for settler sludge needs to be revisited. The present sampling plan calls for spending an estimated $2,500,000 to design and construct a new underwater sampling system (per A21 C-PL-001 RevOE). This evaluation will compare and contrast the present method of above water sampling to the underwater method that is planned by the Sludge Treatment Project (STP) and determine if settler samples can be taken using the existing sampling cart (with potentially minor modifications) while maintaining doses to workers As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) and eliminate the need for costly redesigns, testing and personnel retraining.

METHOD FOR OBSERVATION OF DEEMBEDDED SECTIONS OF FISH GONAD BY SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2000-01-01

This article reports a method for examining the intracellular structure of fish gonads using a scanning electron microscope(SEM). The specimen preparation procedure is similar to that for transmission electron microscopy wherein samples cut into semi-thin sections are fixed and embedded in plastic. The embedment matrix was removed by solvents. Risen-free specimens could be observed by SEM. The morphology of matured sperms in the gonad was very clear, and the oocyte internal structures appeared in three-dimensional images. Spheroidal nucleoli and yolk vesicles and several bundles of filaments adhered on the nucleoli could be viewed by SEM for the first time.

ArF photo resist pattern sample preparation method using FIB without protective coating

Science.gov (United States)

Okushima, Hirohisa; Onozuka, Toshihiko; Kuroda, Yasushi; Yaguchi, Toshie; Umemura, Kaoru; Tamochi, Ryuichiro; Watanabe, Kenji; Hasegawa, Norio; Kawata, Isao; Rijpers, Bart

2006-03-01

This paper presents a novel method of FIB (FIB: focused ion beam) sample preparation to accurately evaluate critical dimensions and profiles of ArF photo resist patterns without the use of a protective coating on the photo resist. In order to accomplish this, the FIB micro-sampling method that is one of effective FIB milling and fabrication method was employed. First a Si cap is picked up from a silicon wafer and fixed to ArF photo resist patterns to protect against ion beam irradiation. Then, a micro-sample, a piece of Si-capped ArF photo resist, was extracted from the bulk ArF photo resist. In this procedure, this silicon cap always protects ArF photo resist patterns against ion beam irradiation. For the next step, the micro-sample is fixed to a needle stub of the FIB-STEM (STEM: scanning transmission electron microscopy) compatible rotation holder. This sample on the needle stub was rotated 180 degrees and milled from the side of Si substrate. Lastly, the sample is milled to the thickness of 2μm. In this process, the ion beam is irradiating from the silicon substrate side to minimize the ion beam irradiation damages on the ArF photo resist patterns. EDX (EDX: Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) analysis proved that no gallium ions were detected on the surface of the ArF photo resist patterns. The feasibility of high accelerating voltage observation of STEM to observe line edge roughness of a thick sample like 2μm without shrinkage has been demonstrated.

Standard methods for sampling and sample preparation for gamma spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taskaeva, M.; Taskaev, E.; Nikolov, P.

1993-01-01

The strategy for sampling and sample preparation is outlined: necessary number of samples; analysis and treatment of the results received; quantity of the analysed material according to the radionuclide concentrations and analytical methods; the minimal quantity and kind of the data needed for making final conclusions and decisions on the base of the results received. This strategy was tested in gamma spectroscopic analysis of radionuclide contamination of the region of Eleshnitsa Uranium Mines. The water samples was taken and stored according to the ASTM D 3370-82. The general sampling procedures were in conformity with the recommendations of ISO 5667. The radionuclides was concentrated by coprecipitation with iron hydroxide and ion exchange. The sampling of soil samples complied with the rules of ASTM C 998, and their sample preparation - with ASTM C 999. After preparation the samples were sealed hermetically and measured. (author)

Sampling bee communities using pan traps: alternative methods increase sample size

Science.gov (United States)

Monitoring of the status of bee populations and inventories of bee faunas require systematic sampling. Efficiency and ease of implementation has encouraged the use of pan traps to sample bees. Efforts to find an optimal standardized sampling method for pan traps have focused on pan trap color. Th...

New adaptive sampling method in particle image velocimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Kaikai; Xu, Jinglei; Tang, Lan; Mo, Jianwei

2015-01-01

This study proposes a new adaptive method to enable the number of interrogation windows and their positions in a particle image velocimetry (PIV) image interrogation algorithm to become self-adapted according to the seeding density. The proposed method can relax the constraint of uniform sampling rate and uniform window size commonly adopted in the traditional PIV algorithm. In addition, the positions of the sampling points are redistributed on the basis of the spring force generated by the sampling points. The advantages include control of the number of interrogation windows according to the local seeding density and smoother distribution of sampling points. The reliability of the adaptive sampling method is illustrated by processing synthetic and experimental images. The synthetic example attests to the advantages of the sampling method. Compared with that of the uniform interrogation technique in the experimental application, the spatial resolution is locally enhanced when using the proposed sampling method. (technical design note)

Computational methods of electron/photon transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mack, J.M.

1983-01-01

A review of computational methods simulating the non-plasma transport of electrons and their attendant cascades is presented. Remarks are mainly restricted to linearized formalisms at electron energies above 1 keV. The effectiveness of various metods is discussed including moments, point-kernel, invariant imbedding, discrete-ordinates, and Monte Carlo. Future research directions and the potential impact on various aspects of science and engineering are indicated

A developed wedge fixtures assisted high precision TEM samples pre-thinning method: Towards the batch lamella preparation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dandan Wang

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Ion milling, wedge cutting or polishing, and focused ion beam (FIB milling are widely-used techniques for the transmission electron microscope (TEM sample preparation. Especially, the FIB milling provides a site-specific analysis, deposition, and ablation of materials in the micrometer and nanometer scale. However, the cost of FIB tools has been always a significant concern. Since it is inevitable to use the FIB technique, the improvement of efficiency is a key point. Traditional TEM sample preparation with FIB was routinely implemented on a single sample each time. Aiming at cost efficiency, a new pre-thinning technique for batch sample preparation was developed in this paper. The present proposal combines the sample preparation techniques with multi-samples thinning, cross-section scanning electron microscopy (SEM, wedge cutting, FIB and other sample pre-thinning techniques. The new pre-thinning technique is to prepare an edge TEM sample on a grinding and polishing fixture with a slant surface. The thickness of the wedges sample can be measured to 1∼2 μm under optical microscope. Therefore, this fixture is superior to the traditional optical method of estimating the membrane thickness. Moreover, by utilizing a multi-sample holding fixture, more samples can be pre-thinned simultaneously, which significantly improved the productivity of TEM sample preparation.

Influence of Plastic Deformation of Steel Samples on the Fast electron Backscattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sierra Trujillo, J. X.; Herrera Palma, V.; Desdin Garcia, L. F.; Codorniu Pujals, D.

2013-01-01

A considerable fraction of a fast electron beam incident on a target is scattered in backward direction. It is a very complex process involving electron - nucleus and electron - electron collisions. The fraction of backscattered electrons is described by a parameterization as a function of the atomic number and energy of the incident electrons. In such approaches the possible influence of the material structure is not taken into account. In this paper, the behavior of the 90 Sr/ 90 Y backscattered electrons from 08JuA and 15GJuT steel strained samples is investigated. A clear dependence between the degree of plastic deformation and the fraction of backscattered electrons was observed. This relationship is explained by the interaction of electrons with the dislocations in the material, whose density depends on the magnitude of the strain in the plastic region. On the basis of a simple model for describing this interaction, a mathematical expression is obtained for the relationship between the fraction of backscattered electrons and the degree of deformation. (Author)

Method of fabricating a cooled electronic system

Science.gov (United States)

Chainer, Timothy J; Gaynes, Michael A; Graybill, David P; Iyengar, Madhusudan K; Kamath, Vinod; Kochuparambil, Bejoy J; Schmidt, Roger R; Schultz, Mark D; Simco, Daniel P; Steinke, Mark E

2014-02-11

A method of fabricating a liquid-cooled electronic system is provided which includes an electronic assembly having an electronics card and a socket with a latch at one end. The latch facilitates securing of the card within the socket. The method includes providing a liquid-cooled cold rail at the one end of the socket, and a thermal spreader to couple the electronics card to the cold rail. The thermal spreader includes first and second thermal transfer plates coupled to first and second surfaces on opposite sides of the card, and thermally conductive extensions extending from end edges of the plates, which couple the respective transfer plates to the liquid-cooled cold rail. The extensions are disposed to the sides of the latch, and the card is securable within or removable from the socket using the latch without removing the cold rail or the thermal spreader.

An electron moiré method for a common SEM

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Y.M.Xing; S.Kishimoto; Y.R.Zhao

2006-01-01

In the electron moiré method,a high-frequency grating is used to measure microscopic deformation,which promises significant potential applications for the method in the microscopic analysis of materials.However,a special beam scanning control device is required to produce a grating and generate a moiré fringe pattern for the scanning electron microscope (SEM).Because only a few SEMs used in the material science studies are equipped with this device,the use of the electron moiré method is limited.In this study,an electron moiré method for a common SEM without the beam control device is presented.A grating based on a multi-scanning concept is fabricated in any observing mode.A real-time moiré pattern can also be generated in the SEM or an optical filtering system.Without the beam control device being a prerequisite,the electron moiré method can be more widely used.The experimental results from three different types of SEMS show that high quality gratings with uniform lines and less pitch error can be fabricated by this method,and moiré patterns can also be correctly generated.

Sample normalization methods in quantitative metabolomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yiman; Li, Liang

2016-01-22

To reveal metabolomic changes caused by a biological event in quantitative metabolomics, it is critical to use an analytical tool that can perform accurate and precise quantification to examine the true concentration differences of individual metabolites found in different samples. A number of steps are involved in metabolomic analysis including pre-analytical work (e.g., sample collection and storage), analytical work (e.g., sample analysis) and data analysis (e.g., feature extraction and quantification). Each one of them can influence the quantitative results significantly and thus should be performed with great care. Among them, the total sample amount or concentration of metabolites can be significantly different from one sample to another. Thus, it is critical to reduce or eliminate the effect of total sample amount variation on quantification of individual metabolites. In this review, we describe the importance of sample normalization in the analytical workflow with a focus on mass spectrometry (MS)-based platforms, discuss a number of methods recently reported in the literature and comment on their applicability in real world metabolomics applications. Sample normalization has been sometimes ignored in metabolomics, partially due to the lack of a convenient means of performing sample normalization. We show that several methods are now available and sample normalization should be performed in quantitative metabolomics where the analyzed samples have significant variations in total sample amounts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A method for sampling microbial aerosols using high altitude balloons.

Science.gov (United States)

Bryan, N C; Stewart, M; Granger, D; Guzik, T G; Christner, B C

2014-12-01

Owing to the challenges posed to microbial aerosol sampling at high altitudes, very little is known about the abundance, diversity, and extent of microbial taxa in the Earth-atmosphere system. To directly address this knowledge gap, we designed, constructed, and tested a system that passively samples aerosols during ascent through the atmosphere while tethered to a helium-filled latex sounding balloon. The sampling payload is ~ 2.7 kg and comprised of an electronics box and three sampling chambers (one serving as a procedural control). Each chamber is sealed with retractable doors that can be commanded to open and close at designated altitudes. The payload is deployed together with radio beacons that transmit GPS coordinates (latitude, longitude and altitude) in real time for tracking and recovery. A cut mechanism separates the payload string from the balloon at any desired altitude, returning all equipment safely to the ground on a parachute. When the chambers are opened, aerosol sampling is performed using the Rotorod® collection method (40 rods per chamber), with each rod passing through 0.035 m3 per km of altitude sampled. Based on quality control measurements, the collection of ~ 100 cells rod(-1) provided a 3-sigma confidence level of detection. The payload system described can be mated with any type of balloon platform and provides a tool for characterizing the vertical distribution of microorganisms in the troposphere and stratosphere. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Methods of Analysis of Electronic Money in Banks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melnychenko Oleksandr V.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The article identifies methods of analysis of electronic money, formalises its instruments and offers an integral indicator, which should be calculated by issuing banks and those banks, which carry out operations with electronic money, issued by other banks. Calculation of the integral indicator would allow complex assessment of activity of the studied bank with electronic money and would allow comparison of parameters of different banks by the aggregate of indicators for the study of the electronic money market, its level of development, etc. The article presents methods which envisage economic analysis of electronic money in banks by the following directions: solvency and liquidity, efficiency of electronic money issue, business activity of the bank and social responsibility. Moreover, the proposed indicators by each of the directions are offered to be taken into account when building integral indicators, with the help of which banks are studied: business activity, profitability, solvency, liquidity and so on.

Evaluation of Wet Digestion Methods for Quantification of Metal Content in Electronic Scrap Material

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subhabrata Das

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Recent advances in the electronics sector and the short life-span of electronic products have triggered an exponential increase in the generation of electronic waste (E-waste. Effective recycling of E-waste has thus become a serious solid waste management challenge. E-waste management technologies include pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and bioleaching. Determining the metal content of an E-waste sample is critical in evaluating the efficiency of a metal recovery method in E-waste recycling. However, E-waste is complex and of diverse origins. The lack of a standard digestion method for E-waste has resulted in difficulty in comparing the efficiencies of different metal recovery processes. In this study, several solid digestion protocols including American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM-D6357-11, United States Environment Protection Agency Solid Waste (US EPA SW 846 Method 3050b, ultrasound-assisted, and microwave digestion methods were compared to determine the metal content (Ag, Al, Au, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Pd, Sn, and Zn of electronic scrap materials (ESM obtained from two different sources. The highest metal recovery (mg/g of ESM was obtained using ASTM D6357-11 for most of the metals, which remained mainly bound to silicate fractions, while a microwave-assisted digestion protocol (MWD-2 was more effective in solubilizing Al, Pb, and Sn. The study highlights the need for a judicious selection of digestion protocol, and proposes steps for selecting an effective acid digestion method for ESM.

Survey of electronic payment methods and systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Havinga, Paul J.M.; Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria; Helme, A.; Verbraeck, A.

1996-01-01

In this paper an overview of electronic payment methods and systems is given. This survey is done as part of the Moby Dick project. Electronic payment systems can be grouped into three broad classes: traditional money transactions, digital currency and creditdebit payments. Such payment systems have

Injection Methods and Instrumentation for Serial X-ray Free Electron Laser Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

James, Daniel

Scientists have used X-rays to study biological molecules for nearly a century. Now with the X-ray free electron laser (XFEL), new methods have been developed to advance structural biology. These new methods include serial femtosecond crystallography, single particle imaging, solution scattering, and time resolved techniques. The XFEL is characterized by high intensity pulses, which are only about 50 femtoseconds in duration. The intensity allows for scattering from microscopic particles, while the short pulses offer a way to outrun radiation damage. XFELs are powerful enough to obliterate most samples in a single pulse. While this allows for a "diffract and destroy" methodology, it also requires instrumentation that can position microscopic particles into the X-ray beam (which may also be microscopic), continuously renew the sample after each pulse, and maintain sample viability during data collection. Typically these experiments have used liquid microjets to continuously renew sample. The high flow rate associated with liquid microjets requires large amounts of sample, most of which runs to waste between pulses. An injector designed to stream a viscous gel-like material called lipidic cubic phase (LCP) was developed to address this problem. LCP, commonly used as a growth medium for membrane protein crystals, lends itself to low flow rate jetting and so reduces the amount of sample wasted significantly. This work discusses sample delivery and injection for XFEL experiments. It reviews the liquid microjet method extensively, and presents the LCP injector as a novel device for serial crystallography, including detailed protocols for the LCP injector and anti-settler operation.

First-principles method for electron-phonon coupling and electron mobility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gunst, Tue; Markussen, Troels; Stokbro, Kurt

2016-01-01

We present density functional theory calculations of the phonon-limited mobility in n-type monolayer graphene, silicene, and MoS2. The material properties, including the electron-phonon interaction, are calculated from first principles. We provide a detailed description of the normalized full......-band relaxation time approximation for the linearized Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) that includes inelastic scattering processes. The bulk electron-phonon coupling is evaluated by a supercell method. The method employed is fully numerical and does therefore not require a semianalytic treatment of part...... of the problem and, importantly, it keeps the anisotropy information stored in the coupling as well as the band structure. In addition, we perform calculations of the low-field mobility and its dependence on carrier density and temperature to obtain a better understanding of transport in graphene, silicene...

Radioactive air sampling methods

CERN Document Server

Maiello, Mark L

2010-01-01

Although the field of radioactive air sampling has matured and evolved over decades, it has lacked a single resource that assimilates technical and background information on its many facets. Edited by experts and with contributions from top practitioners and researchers, Radioactive Air Sampling Methods provides authoritative guidance on measuring airborne radioactivity from industrial, research, and nuclear power operations, as well as naturally occuring radioactivity in the environment. Designed for industrial hygienists, air quality experts, and heath physicists, the book delves into the applied research advancing and transforming practice with improvements to measurement equipment, human dose modeling of inhaled radioactivity, and radiation safety regulations. To present a wide picture of the field, it covers the international and national standards that guide the quality of air sampling measurements and equipment. It discusses emergency response issues, including radioactive fallout and the assets used ...

EDM 1.0: electron direct methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Kilaas, R; Marks, L D; Own, C S

2005-02-01

A computer program designed to provide a number of quantitative analysis tools for high-resolution imaging and electron diffraction data is described. The program includes basic image manipulation, both real space and reciprocal space image processing, Wiener-filtering, symmetry averaging, methods for quantification of electron diffraction patterns and two-dimensional direct methods. The program consists of a number of sub-programs written in a combination of C++, C and Fortran. It can be downloaded either as GNU source code or as binaries and has been compiled and verified on a wide range of platforms, both Unix based and PC's. Elements of the design philosophy as well as future possible extensions are described.

Fluidics platform and method for sample preparation

Science.gov (United States)

Benner, Henry W.; Dzenitis, John M.

2016-06-21

Provided herein are fluidics platforms and related methods for performing integrated sample collection and solid-phase extraction of a target component of the sample all in one tube. The fluidics platform comprises a pump, particles for solid-phase extraction and a particle-holding means. The method comprises contacting the sample with one or more reagents in a pump, coupling a particle-holding means to the pump and expelling the waste out of the pump while the particle-holding means retains the particles inside the pump. The fluidics platform and methods herein described allow solid-phase extraction without pipetting and centrifugation.

Sampling Methods in Cardiovascular Nursing Research: An Overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Kandola, Damanpreet; Banner, Davina; O'Keefe-McCarthy, Sheila; Jassal, Debbie

2014-01-01

Cardiovascular nursing research covers a wide array of topics from health services to psychosocial patient experiences. The selection of specific participant samples is an important part of the research design and process. The sampling strategy employed is of utmost importance to ensure that a representative sample of participants is chosen. There are two main categories of sampling methods: probability and non-probability. Probability sampling is the random selection of elements from the population, where each element of the population has an equal and independent chance of being included in the sample. There are five main types of probability sampling including simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling, cluster sampling, and multi-stage sampling. Non-probability sampling methods are those in which elements are chosen through non-random methods for inclusion into the research study and include convenience sampling, purposive sampling, and snowball sampling. Each approach offers distinct advantages and disadvantages and must be considered critically. In this research column, we provide an introduction to these key sampling techniques and draw on examples from the cardiovascular research. Understanding the differences in sampling techniques may aid nurses in effective appraisal of research literature and provide a reference pointfor nurses who engage in cardiovascular research.

New method of ionization energy calculation for two-electron ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ershov, D.K.

1997-01-01

A new method for calculation of the ionization energy of two-electron ions is proposed. The method is based on the calculation of the energy of second electron interaction with the field of an one-electron ion the potential of which is well known

Treatment of liquid separated from sludge by the method using electron beam and ozone in combination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosono, Masakazu; Arai, Hidehiko; Aizawa, Masaki; Shimooka, Toshio; Shimizu, Ken; Sugiyama, Masashi.

1995-01-01

Since the liquid separated from sludge in the dehydration or concentration process of sewer sludge contains considerable amount of organic compositions that are hard to be decomposed by microorganisms, it has become difficult to be treated by conventional activated sludge process. In the case of discharging the separated liquid into closed water areas, the higher quality treatment is required. The method of using electron beam irradiation and ozone oxidation in combination for cleaning the liquid separated from sludge was examined, therefore, the results are reported. The water quality of the sample from the sludge treatment plant in A City is shown. The method of bio-pretreatment, the treatment method by using electron beam and ozone in combination, and the method of analyzing the water quality are described. The effect of the treatment by activated sludge process, as the effect of the treatment by the combined use of electron beam and ozone, the change of COD and TOC, the change of chromaticity, the change of gel chromatogram, and the reaction mechanism are reported. In this paper, only the basic concept on the model plant for applying the method of the combined use of electron beam and ozone to the treatment of the liquid separated from sludge is discussed. (K.I.)

Comparison between powder and slices diffraction methods in teeth samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Colaco, Marcos V.; Barroso, Regina C. [Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (IF/UERJ), RJ (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica. Dept. de Fisica Aplicada; Porto, Isabel M. [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (FOP/UNICAMP), Piracicaba, SP (Brazil). Fac. de Odontologia. Dept. de Morfologia; Gerlach, Raquel F. [Universidade de Sao Paulo (FORP/USP), Rieirao Preto, SP (Brazil). Fac. de Odontologia. Dept. de Morfologia, Estomatologia e Fisiologia; Costa, Fanny N. [Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao de Engenharia (LIN/COPPE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Lab. de Instrumentacao Nuclear

2011-07-01

Propose different methods to obtain crystallographic information about biological materials are important since powder method is a nondestructive method. Slices are an approximation of what would be an in vivo analysis. Effects of samples preparation cause differences in scattering profiles compared with powder method. The main inorganic component of bones and teeth is a calcium phosphate mineral whose structure closely resembles hydroxyapatite (HAp). The hexagonal symmetry, however, seems to work well with the powder diffraction data, and the crystal structure of HAp is usually described in space group P63/m. Were analyzed ten third molar teeth. Five teeth were separated in enamel, detin and circumpulpal detin powder and five in slices. All the scattering profile measurements were carried out at the X-ray diffraction beamline (XRD1) at the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory - LNLS, Campinas, Brazil. The LNLS synchrotron light source is composed of a 1.37 GeV electron storage ring, delivering approximately 4x10{sup -1}0 photons/s at 8 keV. A double-crystal Si(111) pre-monochromator, upstream of the beamline, was used to select a small energy bandwidth at 11 keV . Scattering signatures were obtained at intervals of 0.04 deg for angles from 24 deg to 52 deg. The human enamel experimental crystallite size obtained in this work were 30(3)nm (112 reflection) and 30(3)nm (300 reflection). These values were obtained from measurements of powdered enamel. When comparing the slice obtained 58(8)nm (112 reflection) and 37(7)nm (300 reflection) enamel diffraction patterns with those generated by the powder specimens, a few differences emerge. This work shows differences between powder and slices methods, separating characteristics of sample of the method's influence. (author)

Comparison between powder and slices diffraction methods in teeth samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Colaco, Marcos V.; Barroso, Regina C.; Porto, Isabel M.; Gerlach, Raquel F.; Costa, Fanny N.

2011-01-01

Propose different methods to obtain crystallographic information about biological materials are important since powder method is a nondestructive method. Slices are an approximation of what would be an in vivo analysis. Effects of samples preparation cause differences in scattering profiles compared with powder method. The main inorganic component of bones and teeth is a calcium phosphate mineral whose structure closely resembles hydroxyapatite (HAp). The hexagonal symmetry, however, seems to work well with the powder diffraction data, and the crystal structure of HAp is usually described in space group P63/m. Were analyzed ten third molar teeth. Five teeth were separated in enamel, detin and circumpulpal detin powder and five in slices. All the scattering profile measurements were carried out at the X-ray diffraction beamline (XRD1) at the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory - LNLS, Campinas, Brazil. The LNLS synchrotron light source is composed of a 1.37 GeV electron storage ring, delivering approximately 4x10 -1 0 photons/s at 8 keV. A double-crystal Si(111) pre-monochromator, upstream of the beamline, was used to select a small energy bandwidth at 11 keV . Scattering signatures were obtained at intervals of 0.04 deg for angles from 24 deg to 52 deg. The human enamel experimental crystallite size obtained in this work were 30(3)nm (112 reflection) and 30(3)nm (300 reflection). These values were obtained from measurements of powdered enamel. When comparing the slice obtained 58(8)nm (112 reflection) and 37(7)nm (300 reflection) enamel diffraction patterns with those generated by the powder specimens, a few differences emerge. This work shows differences between powder and slices methods, separating characteristics of sample of the method's influence. (author)

Three-dimensional reconstruction of highly complex microscopic samples using scanning electron microscopy and optical flow estimation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmadreza Baghaie

Full Text Available Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM as one of the major research and industrial equipment for imaging of micro-scale samples and surfaces has gained extensive attention from its emerge. However, the acquired micrographs still remain two-dimensional (2D. In the current work a novel and highly accurate approach is proposed to recover the hidden third-dimension by use of multi-view image acquisition of the microscopic samples combined with pre/post-processing steps including sparse feature-based stereo rectification, nonlocal-based optical flow estimation for dense matching and finally depth estimation. Employing the proposed approach, three-dimensional (3D reconstructions of highly complex microscopic samples were achieved to facilitate the interpretation of topology and geometry of surface/shape attributes of the samples. As a byproduct of the proposed approach, high-definition 3D printed models of the samples can be generated as a tangible means of physical understanding. Extensive comparisons with the state-of-the-art reveal the strength and superiority of the proposed method in uncovering the details of the highly complex microscopic samples.

Observation of coherent optical phonons excited by femtosecond laser radiation in Sb films by ultrafast electron diffraction method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mironov, B. N.; Kompanets, V. O.; Aseev, S. A., E-mail: isanfemto@yandex.ru [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Spectroscopy (Russian Federation); Ischenko, A. A. [Moscow Technological University, Institute of High Chemical Technologies (Russian Federation); Kochikov, I. V. [Moscow State University (Russian Federation); Misochko, O. V. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Solid State Physics (Russian Federation); Chekalin, S. V.; Ryabov, E. A. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Spectroscopy (Russian Federation)

2017-03-15

The generation of coherent optical phonons in a polycrystalline antimony film sample has been investigated using femtosecond electron diffraction method. Phonon vibrations have been induced in the Sb sample by the main harmonic of a femtosecond Ti:Sa laser (λ = 800 nm) and probed by a pulsed ultrashort photoelectron beam synchronized with the pump laser. The diffraction patterns recorded at different times relative to the pump laser pulse display oscillations of electron diffraction intensity corresponding to the frequencies of vibrations of optical phonons: totally symmetric (A{sub 1g}) and twofold degenerate (E{sub g}) phonon modes. The frequencies that correspond to combinations of these phonon modes in the Sb sample have also been experimentally observed.

Research on Electronic Transformer Data Synchronization Based on Interpolation Methods and Their Error Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pang Fubin

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper the origin problem of data synchronization is analyzed first, and then three common interpolation methods are introduced to solve the problem. Allowing for the most general situation, the paper divides the interpolation error into harmonic and transient interpolation error components, and the error expression of each method is derived and analyzed. Besides, the interpolation errors of linear, quadratic and cubic methods are computed at different sampling rates, harmonic orders and transient components. Further, the interpolation accuracy and calculation amount of each method are compared. The research results provide theoretical guidance for selecting the interpolation method in the data synchronization application of electronic transformer.

Radioactive and electron microscope analysis of effluent monitor sample lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kowalski, J.F.

1986-01-01

Effluent air sampling at nuclear power plant often leads to the question ''How representative is the sample of the effluent stream?'' Samples from radiation monitors are typically obtained at great distances from the sample nozzle because of high background concerns under postulated accidents. Sample line plateout during normal effluent sampling becomes the major concern. A US Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection raised a concern that monitors were not collecting representative samples per ANSI standard N13.1. A comprehensive 2-yr study at Beaver Valley was performed during normal effluent releases in two phases: 1) weekly charcoal and glass fiber filter samples were analyzed for radioactivity for 6 months, and 2) nuclepore membrane filter samples were analyzed by electron microscope for 4- and 6-h periods. A specially designed test nozzle was directly inserted into an effluent stream for comparison with the radiation monitor samples. Particle behavior characteristics can be determined during effluent releases using a simple test probe. While particle plateout was the major purpose of the study, other particle behavior characteristics were evident and equally as important. Particle travel through long sample lines can also lead to (a) agglomeration or the coagulation of smaller particles to form larger ones, (b) particle splitting or fracturing upon impact with the sample line interior walls, and (c) resuspension of large particles in sample lines

Measurement of Sub-Picosecond Electron Bunches via Electro-Optic Sampling of Coherent Transition Radiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maxwell, Timothy John [Northern Illinois U.

2012-01-01

Future collider applications as well as present high-gradient laser plasma wakefield accelerators and free-electron lasers operating with picosecond bunch durations place a higher demand on the time resolution of bunch distribution diagnostics. This demand has led to significant advancements in the field of electro-optic sampling over the past ten years. These methods allow the probing of diagnostic light such as coherent transition radiation or the bunch wakefields with sub-picosecond time resolution. We present results on the single-shot electro-optic spectral decoding of coherent transition radiation from bunches generated at the Fermilab A0 photoinjector laboratory. A longitudinal double-pulse modulation of the electron beam is also realized by transverse beam masking followed by a transverse-to-longitudinal phase-space exchange beamline. Live profile tuning is demonstrated by upstream beam focusing in conjunction with downstream monitoring of single-shot electro-optic spectral decoding of the coherent transition radiation.

On-capillary sample cleanup method for the electrophoretic determination of carbohydrates in juice samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales-Cid, Gabriel; Simonet, Bartolomé M; Cárdenas, Soledad; Valcárcel, Miguel

2007-05-01

On many occasions, sample treatment is a critical step in electrophoretic analysis. As an alternative to batch procedures, in this work, a new strategy is presented with a view to develop an on-capillary sample cleanup method. This strategy is based on the partial filling of the capillary with carboxylated single-walled carbon nanotube (c-SWNT). The nanoparticles retain interferences from the matrix allowing the determination and quantification of carbohydrates (viz glucose, maltose and fructose). The precision of the method for the analysis of real samples ranged from 5.3 to 6.4%. The proposed method was compared with a method based on a batch filtration of the juice sample through diatomaceous earth and further electrophoretic determination. This method was also validated in this work. The RSD for this other method ranged from 5.1 to 6%. The results obtained by both methods were statistically comparable demonstrating the accuracy of the proposed methods and their effectiveness. Electrophoretic separation of carbohydrates was achieved using 200 mM borate solution as a buffer at pH 9.5 and applying 15 kV. During separation, the capillary temperature was kept constant at 40 degrees C. For the on-capillary cleanup method, a solution containing 50 mg/L of c-SWNTs prepared in 300 mM borate solution at pH 9.5 was introduced for 60 s into the capillary just before sample introduction. For the electrophoretic analysis of samples cleaned in batch with diatomaceous earth, it is also recommended to introduce into the capillary, just before the sample, a 300 mM borate solution as it enhances the sensitivity and electrophoretic resolution.

Present status of NMCC and sample preparation method for bio-samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Futatsugawa, S.; Hatakeyama, S.; Saitou, S.; Sera, K.

1993-01-01

In NMCC(Nishina Memorial Cyclotron Center) we are doing researches on PET of nuclear medicine (Positron Emission Computed Tomography) and PIXE analysis (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) using a small cyclotron of compactly designed. The NMCC facilities have been opened to researchers of other institutions since April 1993. The present status of NMCC is described. Bio-samples (medical samples, plants, animals and environmental samples) have mainly been analyzed by PIXE in NMCC. Small amounts of bio-samples for PIXE are decomposed quickly and easily in a sealed PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) vessel with a microwave oven. This sample preparation method of bio-samples also is described. (author)

Evaluation of common methods for sampling invertebrate pollinator assemblages: net sampling out-perform pan traps.

Science.gov (United States)

Popic, Tony J; Davila, Yvonne C; Wardle, Glenda M

2013-01-01

Methods for sampling ecological assemblages strive to be efficient, repeatable, and representative. Unknowingly, common methods may be limited in terms of revealing species function and so of less value for comparative studies. The global decline in pollination services has stimulated surveys of flower-visiting invertebrates, using pan traps and net sampling. We explore the relative merits of these two methods in terms of species discovery, quantifying abundance, function, and composition, and responses of species to changing floral resources. Using a spatially-nested design we sampled across a 5000 km(2) area of arid grasslands, including 432 hours of net sampling and 1296 pan trap-days, between June 2010 and July 2011. Net sampling yielded 22% more species and 30% higher abundance than pan traps, and better reflected the spatio-temporal variation of floral resources. Species composition differed significantly between methods; from 436 total species, 25% were sampled by both methods, 50% only by nets, and the remaining 25% only by pans. Apart from being less comprehensive, if pan traps do not sample flower-visitors, the link to pollination is questionable. By contrast, net sampling functionally linked species to pollination through behavioural observations of flower-visitation interaction frequency. Netted specimens are also necessary for evidence of pollen transport. Benefits of net-based sampling outweighed minor differences in overall sampling effort. As pan traps and net sampling methods are not equivalent for sampling invertebrate-flower interactions, we recommend net sampling of invertebrate pollinator assemblages, especially if datasets are intended to document declines in pollination and guide measures to retain this important ecosystem service.

Direct sampling methods for inverse elastic scattering problems

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Xia; Liu, Xiaodong; Xi, Yingxia

2018-03-01

We consider the inverse elastic scattering of incident plane compressional and shear waves from the knowledge of the far field patterns. Specifically, three direct sampling methods for location and shape reconstruction are proposed using the different component of the far field patterns. Only inner products are involved in the computation, thus the novel sampling methods are very simple and fast to be implemented. With the help of the factorization of the far field operator, we give a lower bound of the proposed indicator functionals for sampling points inside the scatterers. While for the sampling points outside the scatterers, we show that the indicator functionals decay like the Bessel functions as the sampling point goes away from the boundary of the scatterers. We also show that the proposed indicator functionals continuously dependent on the far field patterns, which further implies that the novel sampling methods are extremely stable with respect to data error. For the case when the observation directions are restricted into the limited aperture, we firstly introduce some data retrieval techniques to obtain those data that can not be measured directly and then use the proposed direct sampling methods for location and shape reconstructions. Finally, some numerical simulations in two dimensions are conducted with noisy data, and the results further verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed sampling methods, even for multiple multiscale cases and limited-aperture problems.

System and method for compressive scanning electron microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Bryan W

2015-01-13

A scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) system is disclosed. The system may make use of an electron beam scanning system configured to generate a plurality of electron beam scans over substantially an entire sample, with each scan varying in electron-illumination intensity over a course of the scan. A signal acquisition system may be used for obtaining at least one of an image, a diffraction pattern, or a spectrum from the scans, the image, diffraction pattern, or spectrum representing only information from at least one of a select subplurality or linear combination of all pixel locations comprising the image. A dataset may be produced from the information. A subsystem may be used for mathematically analyzing the dataset to predict actual information that would have been produced by each pixel location of the image.

Secondary electron emission and self-consistent charge transport in semi-insulating samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fitting, H.-J. [Institute of Physics, University of Rostock, Universitaetsplatz 3, D-18051 Rostock (Germany); Touzin, M. [Unite Materiaux et Transformations, UMR CNRS 8207, Universite de Lille 1, F-59655 Villeneuve d' Ascq (France)

2011-08-15

Electron beam induced self-consistent charge transport and secondary electron emission (SEE) in insulators are described by means of an electron-hole flight-drift model (FDM) now extended by a certain intrinsic conductivity (c) and are implemented by an iterative computer simulation. Ballistic secondary electrons (SE) and holes, their attenuation to drifting charge carriers, and their recombination, trapping, and field- and temperature-dependent detrapping are included. As a main result the time dependent ''true'' secondary electron emission rate {delta}(t) released from the target material and based on ballistic electrons and the spatial distributions of currents j(x,t), charges {rho}(x,t), field F(x,t), and potential V(x,t) are obtained where V{sub 0} = V(0,t) presents the surface potential. The intrinsic electronic conductivity limits the charging process and leads to a conduction sample current to the support. In that case the steady-state total SE yield will be fixed below the unit: i.e., {sigma} {eta} + {delta} < 1.

Sample Preparation Methodologies for In Situ Liquid and Gaseous Cell Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy of Electropolished Specimens.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Xiang Li; Schilling, Sibylle; Zaluzec, Nestor J; Burke, M Grace

2016-12-01

In recent years, an increasing number of studies utilizing in situ liquid and/or gaseous cell scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) have been reported. Because of the difficulty in the preparation of suitable specimens, these environmental S/TEM studies have been generally limited to studies of nanoscale structured materials such as nanoparticles, nanowires, or sputtered thin films. In this paper, we present two methodologies which have been developed to facilitate the preparation of electron-transparent samples from conventional bulk metals and alloys for in situ liquid/gaseous cell S/TEM experiments. These methods take advantage of combining sequential electrochemical jet polishing followed by focused ion beam extraction techniques to create large electron-transparent areas for site-specific observation. As an example, we illustrate the application of this methodology for the preparation of in situ specimens from a cold-rolled Type 304 austenitic stainless steel sample, which was subsequently examined in both 1 atm of air as well as fully immersed in a H2O environment in the S/TEM followed by hyperspectral imaging. These preparation techniques can be successfully applied as a general procedure for a wide range of metals and alloys, and are suitable for a variety of in situ analytical S/TEM studies in both aqueous and gaseous environments.

Adapted methods for scanning electron microscopy (SEM in assessment of human sperm morphology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petra Nussdorfer

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Infertility is a widespread problem, and in some cases, the routine basic semen analysis is not sufficient to detect the cause of male infertility. The use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM could provide a detailed insight into spermatozoa morphology, but it requires specific sample preparation techniques. The purpose of this study was to select, adjust, and optimize a method for the preparation of spermatozoa samples prior to SEM analysis, and to establish the protocol required for its use in clinical practice. We examined sperm samples of 50 men. The samples were fixed with modified iso-osmolar aldehyde solution followed by osmium post-fixation. In the first method, dehydration of the cells and subsequent critical point drying (CPD were performed on a coverslip. In the second method, the samples were dehydrated in centrifuge tubes; hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS was used as a drying agent instead of CPD, and the samples were air-dried. The third procedure was based on a membrane filter. The samples were dehydrated and dried with HMDS in a Gooch crucible, continuously, without centrifugation or redispersion of the sample. Our results showed that the fixation with modified iso-osmolar aldehyde solution followed by osmium post-fixation, and combined with dehydration and CPD on a coverslip, is the most convenient procedure for SEM sample preparation. In the case of small-size samples or low sperm concentration, dehydration and drying with HMDS on the membrane filter enabled the best reliability, repeatability, and comparability of the results. The presented procedures are suitable for routine use, and they can be applied to confirm as well as to correct a diagnosis.

Time-Dependent Close-Coupling Methods for Electron-Atom/Molecule Scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Colgan, James

2014-01-01

The time-dependent close-coupling (TDCC) method centers on an accurate representation of the interaction between two outgoing electrons moving in the presence of a Coulomb field. It has been extensively applied to many problems of electrons, photons, and ions scattering from light atomic targets. Theoretical Description: The TDCC method centers on a solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for two interacting electrons. The advantages of a time-dependent approach are two-fold; one treats the electron-electron interaction essentially in an exact manner (within numerical accuracy) and a time-dependent approach avoids the difficult boundary condition encountered when two free electrons move in a Coulomb field (the classic three-body Coulomb problem). The TDCC method has been applied to many fundamental atomic collision processes, including photon-, electron- and ion-impact ionization of light atoms. For application to electron-impact ionization of atomic systems, one decomposes the two-electron wavefunction in a partial wave expansion and represents the subsequent two-electron radial wavefunctions on a numerical lattice. The number of partial waves required to converge the ionization process depends on the energy of the incoming electron wavepacket and on the ionization threshold of the target atom or ion.

Sampling Methods for Wallenius' and Fisher's Noncentral Hypergeometric Distributions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fog, Agner

2008-01-01

the mode, ratio-of-uniforms rejection method, and rejection by sampling in the tau domain. Methods for the multivariate distributions include: simulation of urn experiments, conditional method, Gibbs sampling, and Metropolis-Hastings sampling. These methods are useful for Monte Carlo simulation of models...... of biased sampling and models of evolution and for calculating moments and quantiles of the distributions.......Several methods for generating variates with univariate and multivariate Wallenius' and Fisher's noncentral hypergeometric distributions are developed. Methods for the univariate distributions include: simulation of urn experiments, inversion by binary search, inversion by chop-down search from...

Evaluation of common methods for sampling invertebrate pollinator assemblages: net sampling out-perform pan traps.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tony J Popic

Full Text Available Methods for sampling ecological assemblages strive to be efficient, repeatable, and representative. Unknowingly, common methods may be limited in terms of revealing species function and so of less value for comparative studies. The global decline in pollination services has stimulated surveys of flower-visiting invertebrates, using pan traps and net sampling. We explore the relative merits of these two methods in terms of species discovery, quantifying abundance, function, and composition, and responses of species to changing floral resources. Using a spatially-nested design we sampled across a 5000 km(2 area of arid grasslands, including 432 hours of net sampling and 1296 pan trap-days, between June 2010 and July 2011. Net sampling yielded 22% more species and 30% higher abundance than pan traps, and better reflected the spatio-temporal variation of floral resources. Species composition differed significantly between methods; from 436 total species, 25% were sampled by both methods, 50% only by nets, and the remaining 25% only by pans. Apart from being less comprehensive, if pan traps do not sample flower-visitors, the link to pollination is questionable. By contrast, net sampling functionally linked species to pollination through behavioural observations of flower-visitation interaction frequency. Netted specimens are also necessary for evidence of pollen transport. Benefits of net-based sampling outweighed minor differences in overall sampling effort. As pan traps and net sampling methods are not equivalent for sampling invertebrate-flower interactions, we recommend net sampling of invertebrate pollinator assemblages, especially if datasets are intended to document declines in pollination and guide measures to retain this important ecosystem service.

DOE methods for evaluating environmental and waste management samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goheen, S.C.; McCulloch, M.; Thomas, B.L.; Riley, R.G.; Sklarew, D.S.; Mong, G.M.; Fadeff, S.K.

1993-03-01

DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) provides applicable methods in use by. the US Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories for sampling and analyzing constituents of waste and environmental samples. The development of DOE Methods is supported by the Laboratory Management Division (LMD) of the DOE. This document contains chapters and methods that are proposed for use in evaluating components of DOE environmental and waste management samples. DOE Methods is a resource intended to support sampling and analytical activities that will aid in defining the type and breadth of contamination and thus determine the extent of environmental restoration or waste management actions needed, as defined by the DOE, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or others

DOE methods for evaluating environmental and waste management samples.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goheen, S C; McCulloch, M; Thomas, B L; Riley, R G; Sklarew, D S; Mong, G M; Fadeff, S K [eds.; Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

1994-04-01

DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) provides applicable methods in use by. the US Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories for sampling and analyzing constituents of waste and environmental samples. The development of DOE Methods is supported by the Laboratory Management Division (LMD) of the DOE. This document contains chapters and methods that are proposed for use in evaluating components of DOE environmental and waste management samples. DOE Methods is a resource intended to support sampling and analytical activities that will aid in defining the type and breadth of contamination and thus determine the extent of environmental restoration or waste management actions needed, as defined by the DOE, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or others.

Method for controlling low-energy high current density electron beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J.N.; Oswald, R.B. Jr.

1977-01-01

A method and an apparatus for controlling the angle of incidence of low-energy, high current density electron beams are disclosed. The apparatus includes a current generating diode arrangement with a mesh anode for producing a drifting electron beam. An auxiliary grounded screen electrode is placed between the anode and a target for controlling the average angle of incidence of electrons in the drifting electron beam. According to the method of the present invention, movement of the auxiliary screen electrode relative to the target and the anode permits reliable and reproducible adjustment of the average angle of incidence of the electrons in low energy, high current density relativistic electron beams

Failure Probability Calculation Method Using Kriging Metamodel-based Importance Sampling Method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Seunggyu [Korea Aerospace Research Institue, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jae Hoon [Chungnam Nat’l Univ., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2017-05-15

The kernel density was determined based on sampling points obtained in a Markov chain simulation and was assumed to be an important sampling function. A Kriging metamodel was constructed in more detail in the vicinity of a limit state. The failure probability was calculated based on importance sampling, which was performed for the Kriging metamodel. A pre-existing method was modified to obtain more sampling points for a kernel density in the vicinity of a limit state. A stable numerical method was proposed to find a parameter of the kernel density. To assess the completeness of the Kriging metamodel, the possibility of changes in the calculated failure probability due to the uncertainty of the Kriging metamodel was calculated.

40 CFR Appendix I to Part 261 - Representative Sampling Methods

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Representative Sampling Methods I...—Representative Sampling Methods The methods and equipment used for sampling waste materials will vary with the form and consistency of the waste materials to be sampled. Samples collected using the sampling...

A reverse Monte Carlo method for deriving optical constants of solids from reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Da, B.; Sun, Y.; Ding, Z. J.; Mao, S. F.; Zhang, Z. M.; Jin, H.; Yoshikawa, H.; Tanuma, S.

2013-01-01

A reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method is developed to obtain the energy loss function (ELF) and optical constants from a measured reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy (REELS) spectrum by an iterative Monte Carlo (MC) simulation procedure. The method combines the simulated annealing method, i.e., a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling of oscillator parameters, surface and bulk excitation weighting factors, and band gap energy, with a conventional MC simulation of electron interaction with solids, which acts as a single step of MCMC sampling in this RMC method. To examine the reliability of this method, we have verified that the output data of the dielectric function are essentially independent of the initial values of the trial parameters, which is a basic property of a MCMC method. The optical constants derived for SiO 2 in the energy loss range of 8-90 eV are in good agreement with other available data, and relevant bulk ELFs are checked by oscillator strength-sum and perfect-screening-sum rules. Our results show that the dielectric function can be obtained by the RMC method even with a wide range of initial trial parameters. The RMC method is thus a general and effective method for determining the optical properties of solids from REELS measurements.

Mixed Methods Sampling: A Typology with Examples

Science.gov (United States)

Teddlie, Charles; Yu, Fen

2007-01-01

This article presents a discussion of mixed methods (MM) sampling techniques. MM sampling involves combining well-established qualitative and quantitative techniques in creative ways to answer research questions posed by MM research designs. Several issues germane to MM sampling are presented including the differences between probability and…

Log sampling methods and software for stand and landscape analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Lisa J. Bate; Torolf R. Torgersen; Michael J. Wisdom; Edward O. Garton; Shawn C. Clabough

2008-01-01

We describe methods for efficient, accurate sampling of logs at landscape and stand scales to estimate density, total length, cover, volume, and weight. Our methods focus on optimizing the sampling effort by choosing an appropriate sampling method and transect length for specific forest conditions and objectives. Sampling methods include the line-intersect method and...

Sample acceptance time criteria, electronic issue and alloimmunisation in thalassaemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Trompeter, S; Baxter, L; McBrearty, M; Zatkya, E; Porter, J

2015-12-01

To determine the safety of a 1-week acceptance criteria of sample receipt in laboratory to transfusion commencement in transfusion dependent thalassaemia with respect to alloimmunisation. To determine the safety of electronic issue of blood components in such a setting. Retrospective audit of alloimmunisation (1999-2012) and blood exposure in registered thalassaemia patients at a central London thalassaemia centre where the acceptance criteria for the group and save sample from arrival in the laboratory to the time of issue of blood for transfusion for someone who has been transfused in the last 28 days was 1 week, and there was electronic issue protocol for patients who have always had a negative antibody screen (other than temporary positivity in pregnant women receiving prophylactic anti-D or anti Le-a, Anti Le-b and Anti P1 that are no longer detectable). There were 133 patients with thalassemia variants regularly attending UCLH for review. A total of 105 patients had transfusion dependent thalassaemia (TDT) (7 E-beta thalassaemia, 98 beta thalassaemia major). Ten of the 84 patients who received their transfusions at UCLH were alloimmunised. Seven of them had been alloimmunised prior to arrival at UCLH. Only two patients developed antibodies at UCLH during this period. The prevalence of alloantibody formation of 2% in UCLH transfused patients, with presumptive incidence of 0.01 alloantibodies per 100 units or 0·001 immunisations per person per year compares favourably with other reported series and suggests that 1 week interval with appropriate electronic issue is acceptable practice. © 2015 British Blood Transfusion Society.

New methods for sampling sparse populations

Science.gov (United States)

Anna Ringvall

2007-01-01

To improve surveys of sparse objects, methods that use auxiliary information have been suggested. Guided transect sampling uses prior information, e.g., from aerial photographs, for the layout of survey strips. Instead of being laid out straight, the strips will wind between potentially more interesting areas. 3P sampling (probability proportional to prediction) uses...

Statistical sampling method for releasing decontaminated vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lively, J.W.; Ware, J.A.

1996-01-01

Earth moving vehicles (e.g., dump trucks, belly dumps) commonly haul radiologically contaminated materials from a site being remediated to a disposal site. Traditionally, each vehicle must be surveyed before being released. The logistical difficulties of implementing the traditional approach on a large scale demand that an alternative be devised. A statistical method (MIL-STD-105E, open-quotes Sampling Procedures and Tables for Inspection by Attributesclose quotes) for assessing product quality from a continuous process was adapted to the vehicle decontamination process. This method produced a sampling scheme that automatically compensates and accommodates fluctuating batch sizes and changing conditions without the need to modify or rectify the sampling scheme in the field. Vehicles are randomly selected (sampled) upon completion of the decontamination process to be surveyed for residual radioactive surface contamination. The frequency of sampling is based on the expected number of vehicles passing through the decontamination process in a given period and the confidence level desired. This process has been successfully used for 1 year at the former uranium mill site in Monticello, Utah (a CERCLA regulated clean-up site). The method forces improvement in the quality of the decontamination process and results in a lower likelihood that vehicles exceeding the surface contamination standards are offered for survey. Implementation of this statistical sampling method on Monticello Projects has resulted in more efficient processing of vehicles through decontamination and radiological release, saved hundreds of hours of processing time, provided a high level of confidence that release limits are met, and improved the radiological cleanliness of vehicles leaving the controlled site

19 CFR 151.70 - Method of sampling by Customs.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Method of sampling by Customs. 151.70 Section 151... THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) EXAMINATION, SAMPLING, AND TESTING OF MERCHANDISE Wool and Hair § 151.70 Method of sampling by Customs. A general sample shall be taken from each sampling unit, unless it is not...

Method for estimating modulation transfer function from sample images.

Science.gov (United States)

Saiga, Rino; Takeuchi, Akihisa; Uesugi, Kentaro; Terada, Yasuko; Suzuki, Yoshio; Mizutani, Ryuta

2018-02-01

The modulation transfer function (MTF) represents the frequency domain response of imaging modalities. Here, we report a method for estimating the MTF from sample images. Test images were generated from a number of images, including those taken with an electron microscope and with an observation satellite. These original images were convolved with point spread functions (PSFs) including those of circular apertures. The resultant test images were subjected to a Fourier transformation. The logarithm of the squared norm of the Fourier transform was plotted against the squared distance from the origin. Linear correlations were observed in the logarithmic plots, indicating that the PSF of the test images can be approximated with a Gaussian. The MTF was then calculated from the Gaussian-approximated PSF. The obtained MTF closely coincided with the MTF predicted from the original PSF. The MTF of an x-ray microtomographic section of a fly brain was also estimated with this method. The obtained MTF showed good agreement with the MTF determined from an edge profile of an aluminum test object. We suggest that this approach is an alternative way of estimating the MTF, independently of the image type. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Method of determining the position of an irradiated electron beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukuda, Wataru.

1967-01-01

The present invention relates to the method of determining the position of a radiated electron beam, in particular, the method of detecting the position of a p-n junction by a novel method when irradiating the electron beam on to the semi-conductor wafer, controlling the position of the electron beam from said junction. When the electron beam is irradiated on to the semi-conductor wafer which possesses the p-n junction, the position of the p-n junction may be ascertained to determine the position of the irradiated electron beam by detecting the electromotive force resulting from said p-n junction with a metal disposed in the proximity of but without mechanical contact with said semi-conductor wafer. Furthermore, as far as a semi-conductor wafer having at least one p-n junction is concerned, the present invention allows said p-n junction to be used to determine the position of an irradiated electron beam. Thus, according to the present invention, the electromotive force of the electron beam resulting from the p-n junction may easily be detected by electrostatic coupling, enabling the position of the irradiated electron beam to be accurately determined. (Masui, R.)

Multilayer electronic component systems and methods of manufacture

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Dane (Inventor); Wang, Guoan (Inventor); Kingsley, Nickolas D. (Inventor); Papapolymerou, Ioannis (Inventor); Tentzeris, Emmanouil M. (Inventor); Bairavasubramanian, Ramanan (Inventor); DeJean, Gerald (Inventor); Li, RongLin (Inventor)

2010-01-01

Multilayer electronic component systems and methods of manufacture are provided. In this regard, an exemplary system comprises a first layer of liquid crystal polymer (LCP), first electronic components supported by the first layer, and a second layer of LCP. The first layer is attached to the second layer by thermal bonds. Additionally, at least a portion of the first electronic components are located between the first layer and the second layer.

Dynamical "in situ" observation of biological samples using variable pressure scanning electron microscope

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Neděla, Vilém

2008-01-01

Roč. 126, - (2008), 012046:1-4 ISSN 1742-6588. [Electron Microscopy and Analysis Group Conference 2007 (EMAG 2007). Glasgow, 03.09.2007-07.09.2007] R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA102/05/0886; GA AV ČR KJB200650602 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20650511 Keywords : biological sample * VP-SEM * dynamical experiments Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering

14 CFR 1274.931 - Electronic funds transfer payment methods.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... cooperative agreement will be made by the Government by electronic funds transfer through the Treasury Fedline... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Electronic funds transfer payment methods... COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH COMMERCIAL FIRMS Other Provisions and Special Conditions § 1274.931 Electronic...

Innovative methods for inorganic sample preparation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Essling, A.M.; Huff, E.A.; Graczyk, D.G.

1992-04-01

Procedures and guidelines are given for the dissolution of a variety of selected materials using fusion, microwave, and Parr bomb techniques. These materials include germanium glass, corium-concrete mixtures, and zeolites. Emphasis is placed on sample-preparation approaches that produce a single master solution suitable for complete multielement characterization of the sample. In addition, data are presented on the soil microwave digestion method approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Advantages and disadvantages of each sample-preparation technique are summarized.

Innovative methods for inorganic sample preparation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Essling, A.M.; Huff, E.A.; Graczyk, D.G.

1992-04-01

Procedures and guidelines are given for the dissolution of a variety of selected materials using fusion, microwave, and Parr bomb techniques. These materials include germanium glass, corium-concrete mixtures, and zeolites. Emphasis is placed on sample-preparation approaches that produce a single master solution suitable for complete multielement characterization of the sample. In addition, data are presented on the soil microwave digestion method approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Advantages and disadvantages of each sample-preparation technique are summarized

The spin relaxation of nitrogen donors in 6H SiC crystals as studied by the electron spin echo method

Science.gov (United States)

Savchenko, D.; Shanina, B.; Kalabukhova, E.; Pöppl, A.; Lančok, J.; Mokhov, E.

2016-04-01

We present the detailed study of the spin kinetics of the nitrogen (N) donor electrons in 6H SiC wafers grown by the Lely method and by the sublimation "sandwich method" (SSM) with a donor concentration of about 1017 cm-3 at T = 10-40 K. The donor electrons of the N donors substituting quasi-cubic "k1" and "k2" sites (Nk1,k2) in both types of the samples revealed the similar temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation rate (T1-1), which was described by the direct one-phonon and two-phonon processes induced by the acoustic phonons proportional to T and to T9, respectively. The character of the temperature dependence of the T1-1 for the donor electrons of N substituting hexagonal ("h") site (Nh) in both types of 6H SiC samples indicates that the donor electrons relax through the fast-relaxing centers by means of the cross-relaxation process. The observed enhancement of the phase memory relaxation rate (Tm-1) with the temperature increase for the Nh donors in both types of the samples, as well as for the Nk1,k2 donors in Lely grown 6H SiC, was explained by the growth of the free electron concentration with the temperature increase and their exchange scattering at the N donor centers. The observed significant shortening of the phase memory relaxation time Tm for the Nk1,k2 donors in the SSM grown sample with the temperature lowering is caused by hopping motion of the electrons between the occupied and unoccupied states of the N donors at Nh and Nk1,k2 sites. The impact of the N donor pairs, triads, distant donor pairs formed in n-type 6H SiC wafers on the spin relaxation times was discussed.

Crystallographic orientation study of silicon steels using X-ray diffraction, electrons diffraction and the Etch Pit method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, Hamilta de Oliveira

1999-01-01

The aim of the present study is the microstructural and crystallographic orientation of Fe-3%Si steel. The silicon steel shows good electrical properties and it is used in the nuclear and electrical power fields. The studied steel was supplied by Cia. Acos Especiais Itabira S/A - ACESITA. The material was received in the hot compressed condition, in one or two passes. The hot compressing temperatures used were 900, 1000 and 1100 deg C with soaking times ranging from 32 to 470 s. The material preferential crystallographic orientation was evaluated in every grain of the samples. The characterization techniques used were: scanning electron microscopy (SEM) using the etch pit method; X ray diffraction using the Laue back-reflection method; orientation imaging microscopy (OIM). Microstructural characterization in terms of grain size measurement and mean number of grains in the sample were also undertaken. The Laue method was found an easy technique to access crystallographic orientation of this work polycrystalline samples 2.5 mm average grain size. This was due to the inability to focus the X-rays on a single grain of the material. The scanning electron microscopy showed microcavities left by the etch pit method, which allowed the observation of the crystallographic orientation of each grain from the samples. No conclusive grain crystallographic orientation was possible to obtain by the OIM technique due to the non-existing rolling direction. A more extensive work with the OIM technique must be undertaken on the Fe-3%Si with oriented grains and non oriented grains. (author)

A data driven method to measure electron charge mis-identification rate

CERN Document Server

Bakhshiansohi, Hamed

2009-01-01

Electron charge mis-measurement is an important challenge in analyses which depend on the charge of electron. To estimate the probability of {\\it electron charge mis-measurement} a data driven method is introduced and a good agreement with MC based methods is achieved.\\\\ The third moment of $\\phi$ distribution of hits in electron SuperCluster is studied. The correlation between this variable and the electron charge is also investigated. Using this `new' variable and some other variables the electron charge measurement is improved by two different approaches.

Chapter 12. Sampling and analytical methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busenberg, E.; Plummer, L.N.; Cook, P.G.; Solomon, D.K.; Han, L.F.; Groening, M.; Oster, H.

2006-01-01

When water samples are taken for the analysis of CFCs, regardless of the sampling method used, contamination of samples by contact with atmospheric air (with its 'high' CFC concentrations) is a major concern. This is because groundwaters usually have lower CFC concentrations than those waters which have been exposed to the modern air. Some groundwaters might not contain CFCs and, therefore, are most sensitive to trace contamination by atmospheric air. Thus, extreme precautions are needed to obtain uncontaminated samples when groundwaters, particularly those with older ages, are sampled. It is recommended at the start of any CFC investigation that samples from a CFC-free source be collected and analysed, as a check upon the sampling equipment and methodology. The CFC-free source might be a deep monitoring well or, alternatively, CFC-free water could be carefully prepared in the laboratory. It is especially important that all tubing, pumps and connection that will be used in the sampling campaign be checked in this manner

A Transmission Electron Microscope Investigation of Space Weathering Effects in Hayabusa Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Lindsay P.; Berger, Eve L.

2014-01-01

The Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143 Itokawa successfully returned the first direct samples of the regolith from the surface of an asteroid. The Hayabusa samples thus present a special opportunity to directly investigate the evolution of asteroidal surfaces, from the development of the regolith to the study of the more complex effects of space weathering. Here we describe the mineralogy, microstructure and composition of three Hayabusa mission particles using transmission electron microscope (TEM) techniques

Thermodynamics, Gibbs Method and Statistical Physics of Electron Gases Gibbs Method and Statistical Physics of Electron Gases

CERN Document Server

Askerov, Bahram M

2010-01-01

This book deals with theoretical thermodynamics and the statistical physics of electron and particle gases. While treating the laws of thermodynamics from both classical and quantum theoretical viewpoints, it posits that the basis of the statistical theory of macroscopic properties of a system is the microcanonical distribution of isolated systems, from which all canonical distributions stem. To calculate the free energy, the Gibbs method is applied to ideal and non-ideal gases, and also to a crystalline solid. Considerable attention is paid to the Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein quantum statistics and its application to different quantum gases, and electron gas in both metals and semiconductors is considered in a nonequilibrium state. A separate chapter treats the statistical theory of thermodynamic properties of an electron gas in a quantizing magnetic field.

Comparison of soil sampling and analytical methods for asbestos at the Sumas Mountain Asbestos Site-Working towards a toolbox for better assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Wroble, Julie; Frederick, Timothy; Frame, Alicia; Vallero, Daniel

2017-01-01

Established soil sampling methods for asbestos are inadequate to support risk assessment and risk-based decision making at Superfund sites due to difficulties in detecting asbestos at low concentrations and difficulty in extrapolating soil concentrations to air concentrations. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) currently recommends the rigorous process of Activity Based Sampling (ABS) to characterize site exposures. The purpose of this study was to compare three soil analytical methods and two soil sampling methods to determine whether one method, or combination of methods, would yield more reliable soil asbestos data than other methods. Samples were collected using both traditional discrete ("grab") samples and incremental sampling methodology (ISM). Analyses were conducted using polarized light microscopy (PLM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) methods or a combination of these two methods. Data show that the fluidized bed asbestos segregator (FBAS) followed by TEM analysis could detect asbestos at locations that were not detected using other analytical methods; however, this method exhibited high relative standard deviations, indicating the results may be more variable than other soil asbestos methods. The comparison of samples collected using ISM versus discrete techniques for asbestos resulted in no clear conclusions regarding preferred sampling method. However, analytical results for metals clearly showed that measured concentrations in ISM samples were less variable than discrete samples.

Numerical methods in electron magnetic resonance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soernes, A.R.

1998-01-01

The focal point of the thesis is the development and use of numerical methods in the analysis, simulation and interpretation of Electron Magnetic Resonance experiments on free radicals in solids to uncover the structure, the dynamics and the environment of the system

Numerical methods in electron magnetic resonance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soernes, A.R

1998-07-01

The focal point of the thesis is the development and use of numerical methods in the analysis, simulation and interpretation of Electron Magnetic Resonance experiments on free radicals in solids to uncover the structure, the dynamics and the environment of the system.

A simplified method for determination of radioactive iron in whole-blood samples

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bukhave, Klaus; Sørensen, Anne Dorthe; Hansen, M.

2001-01-01

in humans. The overall recovery of radioiron from blood is more than 90%, and the coefficient of variation, as judged by the variation in the ratio Fe-55/Fe-59 is in the order of 4%. Combined with whole-body counting of 59Fe and direct gamma -counting of Fe-59 on blood samples, this method represents......For studies on iron absorption in man radioisotopes represent an easy and simple tool. However, measurement of the orbital electron emitting radioiron, Fe-55, in blood is difficult and insufficiently described in the literature. The present study describes a relatively simple method...... for simultaneous determination of Fe-55 and Fe-59 in blood, using a dry-ashing procedure and recrystallization of the remaining iron. The detection Limit of the method permits measurements of 0.1 Bq/ml blood thus allowing detection of Less than 1% absorption from a 40 kBq dose, which is ethically acceptable...

Sampling methods for low-frequency electromagnetic imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gebauer, Bastian; Hanke, Martin; Schneider, Christoph

2008-01-01

For the detection of hidden objects by low-frequency electromagnetic imaging the linear sampling method works remarkably well despite the fact that the rigorous mathematical justification is still incomplete. In this work, we give an explanation for this good performance by showing that in the low-frequency limit the measurement operator fulfils the assumptions for the fully justified variant of the linear sampling method, the so-called factorization method. We also show how the method has to be modified in the physically relevant case of electromagnetic imaging with divergence-free currents. We present numerical results to illustrate our findings, and to show that similar performance can be expected for the case of conducting objects and layered backgrounds

Comparability of river suspended-sediment sampling and laboratory analysis methods

Science.gov (United States)

Groten, Joel T.; Johnson, Gregory D.

2018-03-06

Accurate measurements of suspended sediment, a leading water-quality impairment in many Minnesota rivers, are important for managing and protecting water resources; however, water-quality standards for suspended sediment in Minnesota are based on grab field sampling and total suspended solids (TSS) laboratory analysis methods that have underrepresented concentrations of suspended sediment in rivers compared to U.S. Geological Survey equal-width-increment or equal-discharge-increment (EWDI) field sampling and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) laboratory analysis methods. Because of this underrepresentation, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, collected concurrent grab and EWDI samples at eight sites to compare results obtained using different combinations of field sampling and laboratory analysis methods.Study results determined that grab field sampling and TSS laboratory analysis results were biased substantially low compared to EWDI sampling and SSC laboratory analysis results, respectively. Differences in both field sampling and laboratory analysis methods caused grab and TSS methods to be biased substantially low. The difference in laboratory analysis methods was slightly greater than field sampling methods.Sand-sized particles had a strong effect on the comparability of the field sampling and laboratory analysis methods. These results indicated that grab field sampling and TSS laboratory analysis methods fail to capture most of the sand being transported by the stream. The results indicate there is less of a difference among samples collected with grab field sampling and analyzed for TSS and concentration of fines in SSC. Even though differences are present, the presence of strong correlations between SSC and TSS concentrations provides the opportunity to develop site specific relations to address transport processes not captured by grab field sampling and TSS laboratory analysis methods.

Sampling of temporal networks: Methods and biases

Science.gov (United States)

Rocha, Luis E. C.; Masuda, Naoki; Holme, Petter

2017-11-01

Temporal networks have been increasingly used to model a diversity of systems that evolve in time; for example, human contact structures over which dynamic processes such as epidemics take place. A fundamental aspect of real-life networks is that they are sampled within temporal and spatial frames. Furthermore, one might wish to subsample networks to reduce their size for better visualization or to perform computationally intensive simulations. The sampling method may affect the network structure and thus caution is necessary to generalize results based on samples. In this paper, we study four sampling strategies applied to a variety of real-life temporal networks. We quantify the biases generated by each sampling strategy on a number of relevant statistics such as link activity, temporal paths and epidemic spread. We find that some biases are common in a variety of networks and statistics, but one strategy, uniform sampling of nodes, shows improved performance in most scenarios. Given the particularities of temporal network data and the variety of network structures, we recommend that the choice of sampling methods be problem oriented to minimize the potential biases for the specific research questions on hand. Our results help researchers to better design network data collection protocols and to understand the limitations of sampled temporal network data.

Differentiating gold nanorod samples using particle size and shape distributions from transmission electron microscope images

Science.gov (United States)

Grulke, Eric A.; Wu, Xiaochun; Ji, Yinglu; Buhr, Egbert; Yamamoto, Kazuhiro; Song, Nam Woong; Stefaniak, Aleksandr B.; Schwegler-Berry, Diane; Burchett, Woodrow W.; Lambert, Joshua; Stromberg, Arnold J.

2018-04-01

Size and shape distributions of gold nanorod samples are critical to their physico-chemical properties, especially their longitudinal surface plasmon resonance. This interlaboratory comparison study developed methods for measuring and evaluating size and shape distributions for gold nanorod samples using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. The objective was to determine whether two different samples, which had different performance attributes in their application, were different with respect to their size and/or shape descriptor distributions. Touching particles in the captured images were identified using a ruggedness shape descriptor. Nanorods could be distinguished from nanocubes using an elongational shape descriptor. A non-parametric statistical test showed that cumulative distributions of an elongational shape descriptor, that is, the aspect ratio, were statistically different between the two samples for all laboratories. While the scale parameters of size and shape distributions were similar for both samples, the width parameters of size and shape distributions were statistically different. This protocol fulfills an important need for a standardized approach to measure gold nanorod size and shape distributions for applications in which quantitative measurements and comparisons are important. Furthermore, the validated protocol workflow can be automated, thus providing consistent and rapid measurements of nanorod size and shape distributions for researchers, regulatory agencies, and industry.

Neonatal blood gas sampling methods | Goenka | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

There is little published guidance that systematically evaluates the different methods of neonatal blood gas sampling, where each method has its individual benefits and risks. This review critically surveys the available evidence to generate a comparison between arterial and capillary blood gas sampling, focusing on their ...

An improved selective sampling method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyahara, Hiroshi; Iida, Nobuyuki; Watanabe, Tamaki

1986-01-01

The coincidence methods which are currently used for the accurate activity standardisation of radio-nuclides, require dead time and resolving time corrections which tend to become increasingly uncertain as countrates exceed about 10 K. To reduce the dependence on such corrections, Muller, in 1981, proposed the selective sampling method using a fast multichannel analyser (50 ns ch -1 ) for measuring the countrates. It is, in many ways, more convenient and possibly potentially more reliable to replace the MCA with scalers and a circuit is described employing five scalers; two of them serving to measure the background correction. Results of comparisons using our new method and the coincidence method for measuring the activity of 60 Co sources yielded agree-ment within statistical uncertainties. (author)

An algorithm to improve sampling efficiency for uncertainty propagation using sampling based method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campolina, Daniel; Lima, Paulo Rubens I.; Pereira, Claubia; Veloso, Maria Auxiliadora F.

2015-01-01

Sample size and computational uncertainty were varied in order to investigate sample efficiency and convergence of the sampling based method for uncertainty propagation. Transport code MCNPX was used to simulate a LWR model and allow the mapping, from uncertain inputs of the benchmark experiment, to uncertain outputs. Random sampling efficiency was improved through the use of an algorithm for selecting distributions. Mean range, standard deviation range and skewness were verified in order to obtain a better representation of uncertainty figures. Standard deviation of 5 pcm in the propagated uncertainties for 10 n-samples replicates was adopted as convergence criterion to the method. Estimation of 75 pcm uncertainty on reactor k eff was accomplished by using sample of size 93 and computational uncertainty of 28 pcm to propagate 1σ uncertainty of burnable poison radius. For a fixed computational time, in order to reduce the variance of the uncertainty propagated, it was found, for the example under investigation, it is preferable double the sample size than double the amount of particles followed by Monte Carlo process in MCNPX code. (author)

DOE methods for evaluating environmental and waste management samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goheen, S.C.; McCulloch, M.; Thomas, B.L.; Riley, R.G.; Sklarew, D.S.; Mong, G.M.; Fadeff, S.K.

1994-04-01

DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) is a resource intended to support sampling and analytical activities for the evaluation of environmental and waste management samples from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites. DOE Methods is the result of extensive cooperation from all DOE analytical laboratories. All of these laboratories have contributed key information and provided technical reviews as well as significant moral support leading to the success of this document. DOE Methods is designed to encompass methods for collecting representative samples and for determining the radioisotope activity and organic and inorganic composition of a sample. These determinations will aid in defining the type and breadth of contamination and thus determine the extent of environmental restoration or waste management actions needed, as defined by the DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or others. The development of DOE Methods is supported by the Laboratory Management Division of the DOE. Methods are prepared for entry into DOE Methods as chapter editors, together with DOE and other participants in this program, identify analytical and sampling method needs. Unique methods or methods consolidated from similar procedures in the DOE Procedures Database are selected for potential inclusion in this document. Initial selection is based largely on DOE needs and procedure applicability and completeness. Methods appearing in this document are one of two types. open-quotes Draftclose quotes or open-quotes Verified.close quotes. open-quotes Draftclose quotes methods that have been reviewed internally and show potential for eventual verification are included in this document, but they have not been reviewed externally, and their precision and bias may not be known. open-quotes Verifiedclose quotes methods in DOE Methods have been reviewed by volunteers from various DOE sites and private corporations

A Method for Choosing the Best Samples for Mars Sample Return.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Peter R; Sephton, Mark A

2018-05-01

Success of a future Mars Sample Return mission will depend on the correct choice of samples. Pyrolysis-FTIR can be employed as a triage instrument for Mars Sample Return. The technique can thermally dissociate minerals and organic matter for detection. Identification of certain mineral types can determine the habitability of the depositional environment, past or present, while detection of organic matter may suggest past or present habitation. In Mars' history, the Theiikian era represents an attractive target for life search missions and the acquisition of samples. The acidic and increasingly dry Theiikian may have been habitable and followed a lengthy neutral and wet period in Mars' history during which life could have originated and proliferated to achieve relatively abundant levels of biomass with a wide distribution. Moreover, the sulfate minerals produced in the Theiikian are also known to be good preservers of organic matter. We have used pyrolysis-FTIR and samples from a Mars analog ferrous acid stream with a thriving ecosystem to test the triage concept. Pyrolysis-FTIR identified those samples with the greatest probability of habitability and habitation. A three-tier scoring system was developed based on the detection of (i) organic signals, (ii) carbon dioxide and water, and (iii) sulfur dioxide. The presence of each component was given a score of A, B, or C depending on whether the substance had been detected, tentatively detected, or not detected, respectively. Single-step (for greatest possible sensitivity) or multistep (for more diagnostic data) pyrolysis-FTIR methods informed the assignments. The system allowed the highest-priority samples to be categorized as AAA (or A*AA if the organic signal was complex), while the lowest-priority samples could be categorized as CCC. Our methods provide a mechanism with which to rank samples and identify those that should take the highest priority for return to Earth during a Mars Sample Return mission. Key Words

Sampling and analysis methods for geothermal fluids and gases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watson, J.C.

1978-07-01

The sampling procedures for geothermal fluids and gases include: sampling hot springs, fumaroles, etc.; sampling condensed brine and entrained gases; sampling steam-lines; low pressure separator systems; high pressure separator systems; two-phase sampling; downhole samplers; and miscellaneous methods. The recommended analytical methods compiled here cover physical properties, dissolved solids, and dissolved and entrained gases. The sequences of methods listed for each parameter are: wet chemical, gravimetric, colorimetric, electrode, atomic absorption, flame emission, x-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, ion exchange chromatography, spark source mass spectrometry, neutron activation analysis, and emission spectrometry. Material on correction of brine component concentrations for steam loss during flashing is presented. (MHR)

Numerical simulation methods for electron and ion optics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munro, Eric

2011-01-01

This paper summarizes currently used techniques for simulation and computer-aided design in electron and ion beam optics. Topics covered include: field computation, methods for computing optical properties (including Paraxial Rays and Aberration Integrals, Differential Algebra and Direct Ray Tracing), simulation of Coulomb interactions, space charge effects in electron and ion sources, tolerancing, wave optical simulations and optimization. Simulation examples are presented for multipole aberration correctors, Wien filter monochromators, imaging energy filters, magnetic prisms, general curved axis systems and electron mirrors.

Investigations of electronic structure of Bi and Sb by the method of the angular correlation of annihilation quanta

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szuszkiewicz, M.

1977-01-01

The work is devoted to the investigations of electronic structure of solid bismuth and antymony using the method of the angular correlation of annihilation quanta, originated from the two-photons annihilation of positrons with the electrons of a sample. The measurements of the angular correlation were performed for monocrystallic samples of Bi and Sb for three crystallographic directions: /011/,/011/, /111/. The analysis of the obtained results is based upon the Brillouin zones theory extended by Jones for the crystalline structure of those semimetals. For Bi for the direction /111/, a distinct discrepancy has been found between the experimental and expected distribution, calculated on the base of the completely occupied Jones zone. This diveragence is assumed to be due to the conductivity electrons occupying the electronic states outside the Jones zone. The angular distributions for all directions of Sb turned out to be inconsistent with the model of Jones zone, containing 10 quasi-free electrons per unit cell. It is possible to give a satisfactory interpretation of the experimental data for Sb under the assumption that the first Brillouin zone in Jones zone is occupied by the electrons, behaving as being strongly localized, (about 2 electrons per unit cell) and the remaining part of Jones zone is occupied by quasi-free electrons, similarly to Bi. (author)

Fast electronic structure methods for strongly correlated molecular systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Head-Gordon, Martin; Beran, Gregory J O; Sodt, Alex; Jung, Yousung

2005-01-01

A short review is given of newly developed fast electronic structure methods that are designed to treat molecular systems with strong electron correlations, such as diradicaloid molecules, for which standard electronic structure methods such as density functional theory are inadequate. These new local correlation methods are based on coupled cluster theory within a perfect pairing active space, containing either a linear or quadratic number of pair correlation amplitudes, to yield the perfect pairing (PP) and imperfect pairing (IP) models. This reduces the scaling of the coupled cluster iterations to no worse than cubic, relative to the sixth power dependence of the usual (untruncated) coupled cluster doubles model. A second order perturbation correction, PP(2), to treat the neglected (weaker) correlations is formulated for the PP model. To ensure minimal prefactors, in addition to favorable size-scaling, highly efficient implementations of PP, IP and PP(2) have been completed, using auxiliary basis expansions. This yields speedups of almost an order of magnitude over the best alternatives using 4-center 2-electron integrals. A short discussion of the scope of accessible chemical applications is given

A new method to detect and correct sample tilt in scanning transmission electron microscopy bright-field imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, H.G. [School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010 (Australia); Ishikawa, R.; Sánchez-Santolino, G. [Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Lugg, N.R., E-mail: shibata@sigma.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Ikuhara, Y. [Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Allen, L.J. [School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010 (Australia); Shibata, N. [Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)

2017-02-15

Important properties of functional materials, such as ferroelectric shifts and octahedral distortions, are associated with displacements of the positions of lighter atoms in the unit cell. Annular bright-field scanning transmission electron microscopy is a good experimental method for investigating such phenomena due to its ability to image light and heavy atoms simultaneously. To map atomic positions at the required accuracy precise angular alignment of the sample with the microscope optical axis is necessary, since misalignment (tilt) of the specimen contributes to errors in position measurements of lighter elements in annular bright-field imaging. In this paper it is shown that it is possible to detect tilt with the aid of images recorded using a central bright-field detector placed within the inner radius of the annular bright-field detector. For a probe focus near the middle of the specimen the central bright-field image becomes especially sensitive to tilt and we demonstrate experimentally that misalignment can be detected with a precision of less than a milliradian, as we also confirm in simulation. Coma in the probe, an aberration that can be misidentified as tilt of the specimen, is also investigated and it is shown how the effects of coma and tilt can be differentiated. The effects of tilt may be offset to a large extent by shifting the diffraction plane detector an amount equivalent to the specimen tilt and we provide an experimental proof of principle of this using a segmented detector system. - Highlights: • Octahedral distortions are associated with displacements of lighter atoms. • Annular bright-field imaging is sensitive to light and heavy atoms simultaneously. • Mistilt of the specimen leads to errors in position measurements of lighter elements. • It is possible to detect tilt using images taken by a central bright-field detector. • Tilt may be offset by shifting the diffraction plane detector by an equivalent amount.

The Atmospheric Scanning Electron Microscope with open sample space observes dynamic phenomena in liquid or gas.

Science.gov (United States)

Suga, Mitsuo; Nishiyama, Hidetoshi; Konyuba, Yuji; Iwamatsu, Shinnosuke; Watanabe, Yoshiyuki; Yoshiura, Chie; Ueda, Takumi; Sato, Chikara

2011-12-01

Although conventional electron microscopy (EM) requires samples to be in vacuum, most chemical and physical reactions occur in liquid or gas. The Atmospheric Scanning Electron Microscope (ASEM) can observe dynamic phenomena in liquid or gas under atmospheric pressure in real time. An electron-permeable window made of pressure-resistant 100 nm-thick silicon nitride (SiN) film, set into the bottom of the open ASEM sample dish, allows an electron beam to be projected from underneath the sample. A detector positioned below captures backscattered electrons. Using the ASEM, we observed the radiation-induced self-organization process of particles, as well as phenomena accompanying volume change, including evaporation-induced crystallization. Using the electrochemical ASEM dish, we observed tree-like electrochemical depositions on the cathode. In silver nitrate solution, we observed silver depositions near the cathode forming incidental internal voids. The heated ASEM dish allowed observation of patterns of contrast in melting and solidifying solder. Finally, to demonstrate its applicability for monitoring and control of industrial processes, silver paste and solder paste were examined at high throughput. High resolution, imaging speed, flexibility, adaptability, and ease of use facilitate the observation of previously difficult-to-image phenomena, and make the ASEM applicable to various fields. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On Angular Sampling Methods for 3-D Spatial Channel Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fan, Wei; Jämsä, Tommi; Nielsen, Jesper Ødum

2015-01-01

This paper discusses generating three dimensional (3D) spatial channel models with emphasis on the angular sampling methods. Three angular sampling methods, i.e. modified uniform power sampling, modified uniform angular sampling, and random pairing methods are proposed and investigated in detail....... The random pairing method, which uses only twenty sinusoids in the ray-based model for generating the channels, presents good results if the spatial channel cluster is with a small elevation angle spread. For spatial clusters with large elevation angle spreads, however, the random pairing method would fail...... and the other two methods should be considered....

Interval sampling methods and measurement error: a computer simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wirth, Oliver; Slaven, James; Taylor, Matthew A

2014-01-01

A simulation study was conducted to provide a more thorough account of measurement error associated with interval sampling methods. A computer program simulated the application of momentary time sampling, partial-interval recording, and whole-interval recording methods on target events randomly distributed across an observation period. The simulation yielded measures of error for multiple combinations of observation period, interval duration, event duration, and cumulative event duration. The simulations were conducted up to 100 times to yield measures of error variability. Although the present simulation confirmed some previously reported characteristics of interval sampling methods, it also revealed many new findings that pertain to each method's inherent strengths and weaknesses. The analysis and resulting error tables can help guide the selection of the most appropriate sampling method for observation-based behavioral assessments. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

New method of computing the contributions of graphs without lepton loops to the electron anomalous magnetic moment in QED

Science.gov (United States)

Volkov, Sergey

2017-11-01

This paper presents a new method of numerical computation of the mass-independent QED contributions to the electron anomalous magnetic moment which arise from Feynman graphs without closed electron loops. The method is based on a forestlike subtraction formula that removes all ultraviolet and infrared divergences in each Feynman graph before integration in Feynman-parametric space. The integration is performed by an importance sampling Monte-Carlo algorithm with the probability density function that is constructed for each Feynman graph individually. The method is fully automated at any order of the perturbation series. The results of applying the method to 2-loop, 3-loop, 4-loop Feynman graphs, and to some individual 5-loop graphs are presented, as well as the comparison of this method with other ones with respect to Monte Carlo convergence speed.

Modified Monte Carlo method for study of electron transport in degenerate electron gas in the presence of electron-electron interactions, application to graphene

Science.gov (United States)

Borowik, Piotr; Thobel, Jean-Luc; Adamowicz, Leszek

2017-07-01

Standard computational methods used to take account of the Pauli Exclusion Principle into Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of electron transport in semiconductors may give unphysical results in low field regime, where obtained electron distribution function takes values exceeding unity. Modified algorithms were already proposed and allow to correctly account for electron scattering on phonons or impurities. Present paper extends this approach and proposes improved simulation scheme allowing including Pauli exclusion principle for electron-electron (e-e) scattering into MC simulations. Simulations with significantly reduced computational cost recreate correct values of the electron distribution function. Proposed algorithm is applied to study transport properties of degenerate electrons in graphene with e-e interactions. This required adapting the treatment of e-e scattering in the case of linear band dispersion relation. Hence, this part of the simulation algorithm is described in details.

Wet-digestion of environmental sample using silver-mediated electrochemical method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuwabara, Jun

2010-01-01

An application of silver-mediated electrochemical method to environmental samples as the effective digestion method for iodine analysis was tried. Usual digestion method for 129 I in many type of environmental sample is combustion method using quartz glass tube. Chemical yield of iodine on the combustion method reduce depending on the type of sample. The silver-mediated electrochemical method is expected to achieve very low loss of iodine. In this study, dried kombu (Laminaria) sample was tried to digest with electrochemical cell. At the case of 1g of sample, digestion was completed for about 24 hours under the electric condition of <10V and <2A. After the digestion, oxidized species of iodine was reduced to iodide by adding sodium sulfite. And then the precipitate of silver iodide was obtained. (author)

On the preparation of electron sensor using LiRbSO4 samples

Science.gov (United States)

El-Muraikhi, M.; Kassem, M. E.; Gaafar, M.; Abdel Gawad, M. M. H.; Ragab, I. M.

2005-01-01

The dielectric spectroscopy of metal-metal sulfate LiRbSO4 samples are described with particular emphasis on sensor performance to be used in the field of radiation. The obtained results as the effect of different electron energy beams at fixed dose, 0.5 Gy, showed abrupt change of the electrical properties (electrical conductivity, capacitance, and loss tangent). The results can be explained on the basis of radiation-induced defects followed by radiation quenching. The prepared samples can be used in the field of radiation dosimeter.

A new Langmuir probe concept for rapid sampling of space plasma electron density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobsen, K S; Pedersen, A; Moen, J I; Bekkeng, T A

2010-01-01

In this paper we describe a new Langmuir probe concept that was invented for the in situ investigation of HF radar backscatter irregularities, with the capability to measure absolute electron density at a resolution sufficient to resolve the finest conceivable structure in an ionospheric plasma. The instrument consists of two or more fixed-bias cylindrical Langmuir probes whose radius is small compared to the Debye length. With this configuration, it is possible to acquire absolute electron density measurements independent of electron temperature and rocket/satellite potential. The system was flown on the ICI-2 sounding rocket to investigate the plasma irregularities which cause HF backscatter. It had a sampling rate of more than 5 kHz and successfully measured structures down to the scale of one electron gyro radius. The system can easily be adapted for any ionospheric rocket or satellite, and provides high-quality measurements of electron density at any desired resolution

Use of an Electronic Tongue System and Fuzzy Logic to Analyze Water Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Guilherme S.; Paterno, Leonardo G.; Fonseca, Fernando J.

2009-05-01

An electronic tongue (ET) system incorporating 8 chemical sensors was used in combination with two pattern recognition tools, namely principal component analysis (PCA) and Fuzzy logic for discriminating/classification of water samples from different sources (tap, distilled and three brands of mineral water). The Fuzzy program exhibited a higher accuracy than the PCA and allowed the ET to classify correctly 4 in 5 types of water. Exception was made for one brand of mineral water which was sometimes misclassified as tap water. On the other hand, the PCA grouped water samples in three clusters, one with the distilled water; a second with tap water and one brand of mineral water, and the third with the other two other brands of mineral water. Samples in the second and third clusters could not be distinguished. Nevertheless, close grouping between repeated tests indicated that the ET system response is reproducible. The potential use of the Fuzzy logic as the data processing tool in combination with an electronic tongue system is discussed.

A flexible method for multi-level sample size determination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Ming-Shih; Sanborn, J.B.; Teichmann, T.

1997-01-01

This paper gives a flexible method to determine sample sizes for both systematic and random error models (this pertains to sampling problems in nuclear safeguard questions). In addition, the method allows different attribute rejection limits. The new method could assist achieving a higher detection probability and enhance inspection effectiveness

Multicommuted flow injection method for fast photometric determination of phenolic compounds in commercial virgin olive oil samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Lara-Ortega, Felipe J; Sainz-Gonzalo, Francisco J; Gilbert-López, Bienvenida; García-Reyes, Juan F; Molina-Díaz, Antonio

2016-01-15

A multicommuted flow injection method has been developed for the determination of phenolic species in virgin olive oil samples. The method is based on the inhibitory effect of antioxidants on a stable and colored radical cation formation from the colorless compound N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DMPD(•+)) in acidic medium in the presence of Fe(III) as oxidant. The signal inhibition by phenolic species and other antioxidants is proportional to their concentration in the olive oil sample. Absorbance was recorded at 515nm by means of a modular fiber optic spectrometer. Oleuropein was used as the standard for phenols determination and 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (trolox) was the reference standard used for total antioxidant content calculation. Linear response was observed within the range of 250-1000mg/kg oleuropein, which was in accordance with phenolic contents observed in commercial extra virgin olive oil in the present study. Fast and low-volume liquid-liquid extraction of the samples using 60% MeOH was made previous to their insertion in the flow multicommuted system. The five three-way solenoid valves used for multicommuted liquid handling were controlled by a homemade electronic interface and Java-written software. The proposed approach was applied to different commercial extra virgin olive oil samples and the results were consistent with those obtained by the Folin Ciocalteu (FC) method. Total time for the sample preparation and the analysis required in the present approach can be drastically reduced: the throughput of the present analysis is 8 samples/h in contrast to 1sample/h of the conventional FC method. The present method is easy to implement in routine analysis and can be regarded as a feasible alternative to FC method. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOE methods for evaluating environmental and waste management samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goheen, S.C.; McCulloch, M.; Thomas, B.L.; Riley, R.G.; Sklarew, D.S.; Mong, G.M.; Fadeff, S.K. [eds.

1994-10-01

DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) is a resource intended to support sampling and analytical activities for the evaluation of environmental and waste management samples from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites. DOE Methods is the result of extensive cooperation from all DOE analytical laboratories. All of these laboratories have contributed key information and provided technical reviews as well as significant moral support leading to the success of this document. DOE Methods is designed to encompass methods for collecting representative samples and for determining the radioisotope activity and organic and inorganic composition of a sample. These determinations will aid in defining the type and breadth of contamination and thus determine the extent of environmental restoration or waste management actions needed, as defined by the DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or others. The development of DOE Methods is supported by the Analytical Services Division of DOE. Unique methods or methods consolidated from similar procedures in the DOE Procedures Database are selected for potential inclusion in this document. Initial selection is based largely on DOE needs and procedure applicability and completeness. Methods appearing in this document are one of two types, {open_quotes}Draft{close_quotes} or {open_quotes}Verified{close_quotes}. {open_quotes}Draft{close_quotes} methods that have been reviewed internally and show potential for eventual verification are included in this document, but they have not been reviewed externally, and their precision and bias may not be known. {open_quotes}Verified{close_quotes} methods in DOE Methods have been reviewed by volunteers from various DOE sites and private corporations. These methods have delineated measures of precision and accuracy.

DOE methods for evaluating environmental and waste management samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goheen, S.C.; McCulloch, M.; Thomas, B.L.; Riley, R.G.; Sklarew, D.S.; Mong, G.M.; Fadeff, S.K.

1994-10-01

DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) is a resource intended to support sampling and analytical activities for the evaluation of environmental and waste management samples from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites. DOE Methods is the result of extensive cooperation from all DOE analytical laboratories. All of these laboratories have contributed key information and provided technical reviews as well as significant moral support leading to the success of this document. DOE Methods is designed to encompass methods for collecting representative samples and for determining the radioisotope activity and organic and inorganic composition of a sample. These determinations will aid in defining the type and breadth of contamination and thus determine the extent of environmental restoration or waste management actions needed, as defined by the DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or others. The development of DOE Methods is supported by the Analytical Services Division of DOE. Unique methods or methods consolidated from similar procedures in the DOE Procedures Database are selected for potential inclusion in this document. Initial selection is based largely on DOE needs and procedure applicability and completeness. Methods appearing in this document are one of two types, open-quotes Draftclose quotes or open-quotes Verifiedclose quotes. open-quotes Draftclose quotes methods that have been reviewed internally and show potential for eventual verification are included in this document, but they have not been reviewed externally, and their precision and bias may not be known. open-quotes Verifiedclose quotes methods in DOE Methods have been reviewed by volunteers from various DOE sites and private corporations. These methods have delineated measures of precision and accuracy

Neutron activation analysis of certified samples by the absolute method

Science.gov (United States)

Kadem, F.; Belouadah, N.; Idiri, Z.

2015-07-01

The nuclear reactions analysis technique is mainly based on the relative method or the use of activation cross sections. In order to validate nuclear data for the calculated cross section evaluated from systematic studies, we used the neutron activation analysis technique (NAA) to determine the various constituent concentrations of certified samples for animal blood, milk and hay. In this analysis, the absolute method is used. The neutron activation technique involves irradiating the sample and subsequently performing a measurement of the activity of the sample. The fundamental equation of the activation connects several physical parameters including the cross section that is essential for the quantitative determination of the different elements composing the sample without resorting to the use of standard sample. Called the absolute method, it allows a measurement as accurate as the relative method. The results obtained by the absolute method showed that the values are as precise as the relative method requiring the use of standard sample for each element to be quantified.

THE USE OF RANKING SAMPLING METHOD WITHIN MARKETING RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CODRUŢA DURA

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Marketing and statistical literature available to practitioners provides a wide range of sampling methods that can be implemented in the context of marketing research. Ranking sampling method is based on taking apart the general population into several strata, namely into several subdivisions which are relatively homogenous regarding a certain characteristic. In fact, the sample will be composed by selecting, from each stratum, a certain number of components (which can be proportional or non-proportional to the size of the stratum until the pre-established volume of the sample is reached. Using ranking sampling within marketing research requires the determination of some relevant statistical indicators - average, dispersion, sampling error etc. To that end, the paper contains a case study which illustrates the actual approach used in order to apply the ranking sample method within a marketing research made by a company which provides Internet connection services, on a particular category of customers – small and medium enterprises.

Selection of the Sample for Data-Driven $Z \\to \

CERN Document Server

Krauss, Martin

2009-01-01

The topic of this study was to improve the selection of the sample for data-driven Z → ν ν background estimation, which is a major contribution in supersymmetric searches in ̄ a no-lepton search mode. The data is based on Z → + − samples using data created with ATLAS simulation software. This method works if two leptons are reconstructed, but using cuts that are typical for SUSY searches reconstruction efficiency for electrons and muons is rather low. For this reason it was tried to enhance the data sample. Therefore events were considered, where only one electron was reconstructed. In this case the invariant mass for the electron and each jet was computed to select the jet with the best match for the Z boson mass as not reconstructed electron. This way the sample can be extended but significantly looses purity because of also reconstructed background events. To improve this method other variables have to be considered which were not available for this study. Applying a similar method to muons using ...

Validation of single-sample doubly labeled water method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webster, M.D.; Weathers, W.W.

1989-01-01

We have experimentally validated a single-sample variant of the doubly labeled water method for measuring metabolic rate and water turnover in a very small passerine bird, the verdin (Auriparus flaviceps). We measured CO 2 production using the Haldane gravimetric technique and compared these values with estimates derived from isotopic data. Doubly labeled water results based on the one-sample calculations differed from Haldane values by less than 0.5% on average (range -8.3 to 11.2%, n = 9). Water flux computed by the single-sample method differed by -1.5% on average from results for the same birds based on the standard, two-sample technique (range -13.7 to 2.0%, n = 9)

3D printing scanning electron microscopy sample holders: A quick and cost effective alternative for custom holder fabrication.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel N Meloni

Full Text Available A simple and cost effective alternative for fabricating custom Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM sample holders using 3D printers and conductive polylactic acid filament is presented. The flexibility of the 3D printing process allowed for the fabrication of sample holders with specific features that enable the high-resolution imaging of nanoelectrodes and nanopipettes. The precise value of the inner semi cone angle of the nanopipettes taper was extracted from the acquired images and used for calculating their radius using electrochemical methods. Because of the low electrical resistivity presented by the 3D printed holder, the imaging of non-conductive nanomaterials, such as alumina powder, was found to be possible. The fabrication time for each sample holder was under 30 minutes and the average cost was less than $0.50 per piece. Despite being quick and economical to fabricate, the sample holders were found to be sufficiently resistant, allowing for multiple uses of the same holder.

Sample Size Calculations for Population Size Estimation Studies Using Multiplier Methods With Respondent-Driven Sampling Surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Fearon, Elizabeth; Chabata, Sungai T; Thompson, Jennifer A; Cowan, Frances M; Hargreaves, James R

2017-09-14

While guidance exists for obtaining population size estimates using multiplier methods with respondent-driven sampling surveys, we lack specific guidance for making sample size decisions. To guide the design of multiplier method population size estimation studies using respondent-driven sampling surveys to reduce the random error around the estimate obtained. The population size estimate is obtained by dividing the number of individuals receiving a service or the number of unique objects distributed (M) by the proportion of individuals in a representative survey who report receipt of the service or object (P). We have developed an approach to sample size calculation, interpreting methods to estimate the variance around estimates obtained using multiplier methods in conjunction with research into design effects and respondent-driven sampling. We describe an application to estimate the number of female sex workers in Harare, Zimbabwe. There is high variance in estimates. Random error around the size estimate reflects uncertainty from M and P, particularly when the estimate of P in the respondent-driven sampling survey is low. As expected, sample size requirements are higher when the design effect of the survey is assumed to be greater. We suggest a method for investigating the effects of sample size on the precision of a population size estimate obtained using multipler methods and respondent-driven sampling. Uncertainty in the size estimate is high, particularly when P is small, so balancing against other potential sources of bias, we advise researchers to consider longer service attendance reference periods and to distribute more unique objects, which is likely to result in a higher estimate of P in the respondent-driven sampling survey. ©Elizabeth Fearon, Sungai T Chabata, Jennifer A Thompson, Frances M Cowan, James R Hargreaves. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 14.09.2017.

Sampling procedures using optical-data and partial wave cross sections in a Monte Carlo code for simulating kilovolt electron and positron transport in solids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez-Varea, J.M.; Salvat, F.; Liljequist, D.

1994-09-01

The details of a Monte Carlo code for computing the penetration and energy loss of electrons and positrons in solids are described. The code, intended for electrons and positrons with energies from ∼ 100 eV to ∼ 100 keV, is based on the simulation of individual elastic and inelastic collisions. Elastic collisions are simulated using differential cross sections computed by the relativistic partial wave method applied to a muffin-tin Dirac-Hartree-Fock-Slater potential. Inelastic collisions are simulated by means of a model based on optical and photoelectric data, which are extended to the non-zero momentum transfer region by means of somewhat different algorithms for valence electron excitations and inner-shell excitations. This report focuses on the description of detailed formulae and sampling methods. 10 refs, 3 figs, 8 tabs

Electron beam directed energy device and methods of using same

Science.gov (United States)

Retsky, Michael W.

2007-10-16

A method and apparatus is disclosed for an electron beam directed energy device. The device consists of an electron gun with one or more electron beams. The device includes one or more accelerating plates with holes aligned for beam passage. The plates may be flat or preferably shaped to direct each electron beam to exit the electron gun at a predetermined orientation. In one preferred application, the device is located in outer space with individual beams that are directed to focus at a distant target to be used to impact and destroy missiles. The aimings of the separate beams are designed to overcome Coulomb repulsion. A method is also presented for directing the beams to a target considering the variable terrestrial magnetic field. In another preferred application, the electron beam is directed into the ground to produce a subsurface x-ray source to locate and/or destroy buried or otherwise hidden objects including explosive devices.

Methods for fabrication of flexible hybrid electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Street, Robert A.; Mei, Ping; Krusor, Brent; Ready, Steve E.; Zhang, Yong; Schwartz, David E.; Pierre, Adrien; Doris, Sean E.; Russo, Beverly; Kor, Siv; Veres, Janos

2017-08-01

Printed and flexible hybrid electronics is an emerging technology with potential applications in smart labels, wearable electronics, soft robotics, and prosthetics. Printed solution-based materials are compatible with plastic film substrates that are flexible, soft, and stretchable, thus enabling conformal integration with non-planar objects. In addition, manufacturing by printing is scalable to large areas and is amenable to low-cost sheet-fed and roll-to-roll processes. FHE includes display and sensory components to interface with users and environments. On the system level, devices also require electronic circuits for power, memory, signal conditioning, and communications. Those electronic components can be integrated onto a flexible substrate by either assembly or printing. PARC has developed systems and processes for realizing both approaches. This talk presents fabrication methods with an emphasis on techniques recently developed for the assembly of off-the-shelf chips. A few examples of systems fabricated with this approach are also described.

An Efficient Method for Electron-Atom Scattering Using Ab-initio Calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Yuan; Yang, Yonggang; Xiao, Liantuan; Jia, Suotang [Shanxi University, Taiyuan (China)

2017-02-15

We present an efficient method based on ab-initio calculations to investigate electron-atom scatterings. Those calculations profit from methods implemented in standard quantum chemistry programs. The new approach is applied to electron-helium scattering. The results are compared with experimental and other theoretical references to demonstrate the efficiency of our method.

''In situ'' electronic testing method of a neutron detector performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, J.M.; Levai, F.

1987-01-01

The method allows detection of any important change in the electrical characteristics of a neutron sensor channel. It checks the response signal produced by an electronic detector circuit when a pulse generator is connected as input signal in the high voltage supply. The electronic circuit compares the detector capacitance value, previously measured, against a reference value, which is adjusted in a window type comparator electronic circuit to detect any important degrading condition of the capacitance value in a detector-cable system. The ''in-situ'' electronic testing method of neutron detector performance has been verified in a laboratory atmosphere to be a potential method to detect any significant change in the capacitance value of a nuclear sensor and its connecting cable, also checking: detector disconnections, cable disconnections, length changes of the connecting cable, electric short-opened circuits in the sensor channel, and any electrical trouble in the detector-connector-cable system. The experimental practices were carried out by simulation of several electric changes in a nuclear sensor-cable system from a linear D.C. channel which measures reactor power during nuclear reactor operation. It was made at the Training Reactor Electronic Laboratory. The results and conclusions obtained at the Laboratory were proved, satisfactorily, in the Electronic Instrumentation of Budapest Technical University Training Reactor, Hungary

Relativistic electron influence on sanitary-model microorganisms and antibiotics in model samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antipov, V.S.; Berezhna, I.V.; Kovpik, O.F.; Babych, E.M.; Voliansky, Yu.L.; Sklar, N.I.

2004-01-01

A series of the investigations of the electron beam influence on sanitary-model test cultures and antibiotics in model solutions has been carried out. For each of the test objects, the authors have found the boundary doses of the absorbed radiation. The higher doses cause the sharp increase in the bactericidal influence, which becomes complete. The sanitary-bactericidal indices of the water samples remain sable during 6 days. The samples of antibiotics in various concentrations (from 100 UA) have been irradiated. It is proved that the substratum processing by the beam (in the regimes 30 kGy) causes diminution and complete neutralization of the antibacterial activity in all probes of the samples

Kinetics of electron-positron pair plasmas using an adaptive Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pilla, R.P.; Shaham, J.

1997-01-01

A new algorithm for implementing the adaptive Monte Carlo method is given. It is used to solve the Boltzmann equations that describe the time evolution of a nonequilibrium electron-positron pair plasma containing high-energy photons. These are coupled nonlinear integro-differential equations. The collision kernels for the photons as well as pairs are evaluated for Compton scattering, pair annihilation and creation, bremsstrahlung, and Coulomb collisions. They are given as multidimensional integrals which are valid for all energies. For an homogeneous and isotropic plasma with no particle escape, the equilibrium solution is expressed analytically in terms of the initial conditions. For two specific cases, for which the photon and the pair spectra are initially constant or have a power-law distribution within the given limits, the time evolution of the plasma is analyzed using the new method. The final spectra are found to be in a good agreement with the analytical solutions. The new algorithm is faster than the Monte Carlo scheme based on uniform sampling and more flexible than the numerical methods used in the past, which do not involve Monte Carlo sampling. It is also found to be very stable. Some astrophysical applications of this technique are discussed. copyright 1997 The American Astronomical Society

Methods and apparatus for cooling electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Shawn Anthony; Kopcsay, Gerard Vincent

2014-12-02

Methods and apparatus are provided for choosing an energy-efficient coolant temperature for electronics by considering the temperature dependence of the electronics' power dissipation. This dependence is explicitly considered in selecting the coolant temperature T.sub.0 that is sent to the equipment. To minimize power consumption P.sub.Total for the entire system, where P.sub.Total=P.sub.0+P.sub.Cool is the sum of the electronic equipment's power consumption P.sub.0 plus the cooling equipment's power consumption P.sub.Cool, P.sub.Total is obtained experimentally, by measuring P.sub.0 and P.sub.Cool, as a function of three parameters: coolant temperature T.sub.0; weather-related temperature T.sub.3 that affects the performance of free-cooling equipment; and computational state C of the electronic equipment, which affects the temperature dependence of its power consumption. This experiment provides, for each possible combination of T.sub.3 and C, the value T.sub.0* of T.sub.0 that minimizes P.sub.Total. During operation, for any combination of T.sub.3 and C that occurs, the corresponding optimal coolant temperature T.sub.0* is selected, and the cooling equipment is commanded to produce it.

Microaspiration for high-pressure freezing: a new method for ultrastructural preservation of fragile and sparse tissues for TEM and electron tomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Auer, Manfred; Triffo, W.J.; Palsdottir, H.; McDonald, K.L.; Inman, J.L.; Bissell, M.J.; Raphael, R.M.; Auer, M.; Lee, J.K.

2008-02-13

High-pressure freezing is the preferred method to prepare thick biological specimens for ultrastructural studies. However, the advantages obtained by this method often prove unattainable for samples that are difficult to handle during the freezing and substitution protocols. Delicate and sparse samples are difficult to manipulate and maintain intact throughout the sequence of freezing, infiltration, embedding, and final orientation for sectioning and subsequent TEM imaging. An established approach to surmount these difficulties is the use of cellulose microdialysis tubing to transport the sample. With an inner diameter of 200 micrometers, the tubing protects small and fragile samples within the thickness constraints of high-pressure freezing, and the tube ends can be sealed to avoid loss of sample. Importantly, the transparency of the tubing allows optical study of the specimen at different steps in the process. Here, we describe the use of a micromanipulator and microinjection apparatus to handle and position delicate specimens within the tubing. We report two biologically significant examples that benefit from this approach, 3D cultures of mammary epithelial cells and cochlear outer hair cells. We illustrate the potential for correlative light and electron microscopy as well as electron tomography.

A method for atomic-level noncontact thermometry with electron energy distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Kinoshita, Ikuo; Tsukada, Chiharu; Ouchi, Kohei; Kobayashi, Eiichi; Ishii, Juntaro

2017-04-01

We devised a new method of determining the temperatures of materials with their electron-energy distributions. The Fermi-Dirac distribution convoluted with a linear combination of Gaussian and Lorentzian distributions was fitted to the photoelectron spectrum measured for the Au(110) single-crystal surface at liquid N2-cooled temperature. The fitting successfully determined the surface-local thermodynamic temperature and the energy resolution simultaneously from the photoelectron spectrum, without any preliminary results of other measurements. The determined thermodynamic temperature was 99 ± 2.1 K, which was in good agreement with the reference temperature of 98.5 ± 0.5 K measured using a silicon diode sensor attached to the sample holder.

Mixed ionic-electronic conductor-based radiation detectors and methods of fabrication

Science.gov (United States)

Conway, Adam; Beck, Patrick R; Graff, Robert T; Nelson, Art; Nikolic, Rebecca J; Payne, Stephen A; Voss, Lars; Kim, Hadong

2015-04-07

A method of fabricating a mixed ionic-electronic conductor (e.g. TlBr)-based radiation detector having halide-treated surfaces and associated methods of fabrication, which controls polarization of the mixed ionic-electronic MIEC material to improve stability and operational lifetime.

Methods for recovering metals from electronic waste, and related systems

Science.gov (United States)

Lister, Tedd E; Parkman, Jacob A; Diaz Aldana, Luis A; Clark, Gemma; Dufek, Eric J; Keller, Philip

2017-10-03

A method of recovering metals from electronic waste comprises providing a powder comprising electronic waste in at least a first reactor and a second reactor and providing an electrolyte comprising at least ferric ions in an electrochemical cell in fluid communication with the first reactor and the second reactor. The method further includes contacting the powders within the first reactor and the second reactor with the electrolyte to dissolve at least one base metal from each reactor into the electrolyte and reduce at least some of the ferric ions to ferrous ions. The ferrous ions are oxidized at an anode of the electrochemical cell to regenerate the ferric ions. The powder within the second reactor comprises a higher weight percent of the at least one base metal than the powder in the first reactor. Additional methods of recovering metals from electronic waste are also described, as well as an apparatus of recovering metals from electronic waste.

Prevalence of migraine in a diverse community—electronic methods for migraine ascertainment in a large integrated health plan

Science.gov (United States)

Pressman, Alice; Jacobson, Alice; Eguilos, Roderick; Gelfand, Amy; Huynh, Cynthia; Hamilton, Luisa; Avins, Andrew; Bakshi, Nandini; Merikangas, Kathleen

2016-01-01

Introduction The growing availability of electronic health data provides an opportunity to ascertain diagnosis-specific cases via systematic methods for sample recruitment for clinical research and health services evaluation. We developed and implemented a migraine probability algorithm (MPA) to identify migraine from electronic health records (EHR) in an integrated health plan. Methods We identified all migraine outpatient diagnoses and all migraine-specific prescriptions for a five-year period (April 2008–March 2013) from the Kaiser Permanente, Northern California (KPNC) EHR. We developed and evaluated the MPA in two independent samples, and derived prevalence estimates of medically-ascertained migraine in KPNC by age, sex, and race. Results The period prevalence of medically-ascertained migraine among KPNC adults during April 2008–March 2013 was 10.3% (women: 15.5%, men: 4.5%). Estimates peaked with age in women but remained flat for men. Prevalence among Asians was half that of whites. Conclusions We demonstrate the feasibility of an EHR-based algorithm to identify cases of diagnosed migraine and determine that prevalence patterns by our methods yield results comparable to aggregate estimates of treated migraine based on direct interviews in population-based samples. This inexpensive, easily applied EHR-based algorithm provides a new opportunity for monitoring changes in migraine prevalence and identifying potential participants for research studies. PMID:26069243

Standard methods for sampling North American freshwater fishes

Science.gov (United States)

Bonar, Scott A.; Hubert, Wayne A.; Willis, David W.

2009-01-01

This important reference book provides standard sampling methods recommended by the American Fisheries Society for assessing and monitoring freshwater fish populations in North America. Methods apply to ponds, reservoirs, natural lakes, and streams and rivers containing cold and warmwater fishes. Range-wide and eco-regional averages for indices of abundance, population structure, and condition for individual species are supplied to facilitate comparisons of standard data among populations. Provides information on converting nonstandard to standard data, statistical and database procedures for analyzing and storing standard data, and methods to prevent transfer of invasive species while sampling.

Ab initio methods for electron-molecule collisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Collins, L.A.; Schneider, B.I.

1987-01-01

This review concentrates on the recent advances in treating the electronic aspect of the electron-molecule interaction and leaves to other articles the description of the rotational and vibrational motions. Those methods which give the most complete treatment of the direct, exchange, and correlation effects are focused on. Such full treatments are generally necessary at energies below a few Rydbergs (≅ 60 eV). This choice unfortunately necessitates omission of those active and vital areas devoted to the development of model potentials and approximate scattering formulations. The ab initio and model approaches complement each other and are both extremely important to the full explication of the electron-scattering process. Due to the rapid developments of recent years, the approaches that provide the fullest treatment are concentrated on. 81 refs

Sample Preparation and Imaging of Exosomes by Transmission Electron Microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Min Kyo; Mun, Ji Young

2018-01-04

Exosomes are nano-sized extracellular vesicles secreted by body fluids and are known to represent the characteristics of cells that secrete them. The contents and morphology of the secreted vesicles reflect cell behavior or physiological status, for example cell growth, migration, cleavage, and death. The exosomes' role may depend highly on size, and the size of exosomes varies from 30 to 300 nm. The most widely used method for exosome imaging is negative staining, while other results are based on Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Atomic Force Microscopy. The typical exosome's morphology assessed through negative staining is a cup-shape, but further details are not yet clear. An exosome well-characterized through structural study is necessary particular in medical and pharmaceutical fields. Therefore, function-dependent morphology should be verified by electron microscopy techniques such as labeling a specific protein in the detailed structure of exosome. To observe detailed structure, ultrathin sectioned images and negative stained images of exosomes were compared. In this protocol, we suggest transmission electron microscopy for the imaging of exosomes including negative staining, whole mount immuno-staining, block preparation, thin section, and immuno-gold labelling.

A simple and low-toxic method of preparing small specimens of bacteria, flagellates and their likes for Scanning Electron Microscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, O. S.; Buchman, K.; Dalsgaard, Inger

2013-01-01

The preparation of samples of bacteria and other very small organisms (Electron Microscopy is often complex and intricate, which typically involve the use of specialized filter systems, complex handling and toxic chemicals. Based on the methods described in the literature...

Determination of the Electronics Charge--Electrolysis of Water Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Venkatachar, Arun C.

1985-01-01

Presents an alternative method for measuring the electronic charge using data from the electrolysis of acidified distilled water. The process (carried out in a commercially available electrolytic cell) has the advantage of short completion time so that students can determine electron charge and mass in one laboratory period. (DH)

Passive sampling methods for contaminated sediments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peijnenburg, Willie J.G.M.; Teasdale, Peter R.; Reible, Danny

2014-01-01

“Dissolved” concentrations of contaminants in sediment porewater (Cfree) provide a more relevant exposure metric for risk assessment than do total concentrations. Passive sampling methods (PSMs) for estimating Cfree offer the potential for cost-efficient and accurate in situ characterization...

Field evaluation of personal sampling methods for multiple bioaerosols.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chi-Hsun; Chen, Bean T; Han, Bor-Cheng; Liu, Andrew Chi-Yeu; Hung, Po-Chen; Chen, Chih-Yong; Chao, Hsing Jasmine

2015-01-01

Ambient bioaerosols are ubiquitous in the daily environment and can affect health in various ways. However, few studies have been conducted to comprehensively evaluate personal bioaerosol exposure in occupational and indoor environments because of the complex composition of bioaerosols and the lack of standardized sampling/analysis methods. We conducted a study to determine the most efficient collection/analysis method for the personal exposure assessment of multiple bioaerosols. The sampling efficiencies of three filters and four samplers were compared. According to our results, polycarbonate (PC) filters had the highest relative efficiency, particularly for bacteria. Side-by-side sampling was conducted to evaluate the three filter samplers (with PC filters) and the NIOSH Personal Bioaerosol Cyclone Sampler. According to the results, the Button Aerosol Sampler and the IOM Inhalable Dust Sampler had the highest relative efficiencies for fungi and bacteria, followed by the NIOSH sampler. Personal sampling was performed in a pig farm to assess occupational bioaerosol exposure and to evaluate the sampling/analysis methods. The Button and IOM samplers yielded a similar performance for personal bioaerosol sampling at the pig farm. However, the Button sampler is more likely to be clogged at high airborne dust concentrations because of its higher flow rate (4 L/min). Therefore, the IOM sampler is a more appropriate choice for performing personal sampling in environments with high dust levels. In summary, the Button and IOM samplers with PC filters are efficient sampling/analysis methods for the personal exposure assessment of multiple bioaerosols.

[Sampling methods for PM2.5 from stationary sources: a review].

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Jing-Kun; Deng, Jian-Guo; Li, Zhen; Li, Xing-Hua; Duan, Lei; Hao, Ji-Ming

2014-05-01

The new China national ambient air quality standard has been published in 2012 and will be implemented in 2016. To meet the requirements in this new standard, monitoring and controlling PM2,,5 emission from stationary sources are very important. However, so far there is no national standard method on sampling PM2.5 from stationary sources. Different sampling methods for PM2.5 from stationary sources and relevant international standards were reviewed in this study. It includes the methods for PM2.5 sampling in flue gas and the methods for PM2.5 sampling after dilution. Both advantages and disadvantages of these sampling methods were discussed. For environmental management, the method for PM2.5 sampling in flue gas such as impactor and virtual impactor was suggested as a standard to determine filterable PM2.5. To evaluate environmental and health effects of PM2.5 from stationary sources, standard dilution method for sampling of total PM2.5 should be established.

Statistics of electron multiplication in multiplier phototube: iterative method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grau Malonda, A.; Ortiz Sanchez, J.F.

1985-01-01

An iterative method is applied to study the variation of dynode response in the multiplier phototube. Three different situations are considered that correspond to the following ways of electronic incidence on the first dynode: incidence of exactly one electron, incidence of exactly r electrons and incidence of an average anti-r electrons. The responses are given for a number of steps between 1 and 5, and for values of the multiplication factor of 2.1, 2.5, 3 and 5. We study also the variance, the skewness and the excess of jurtosis for different multiplication factors. (author)

Approximation of the exponential integral (well function) using sampling methods

Science.gov (United States)

Baalousha, Husam Musa

2015-04-01

Exponential integral (also known as well function) is often used in hydrogeology to solve Theis and Hantush equations. Many methods have been developed to approximate the exponential integral. Most of these methods are based on numerical approximations and are valid for a certain range of the argument value. This paper presents a new approach to approximate the exponential integral. The new approach is based on sampling methods. Three different sampling methods; Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS), Orthogonal Array (OA), and Orthogonal Array-based Latin Hypercube (OA-LH) have been used to approximate the function. Different argument values, covering a wide range, have been used. The results of sampling methods were compared with results obtained by Mathematica software, which was used as a benchmark. All three sampling methods converge to the result obtained by Mathematica, at different rates. It was found that the orthogonal array (OA) method has the fastest convergence rate compared with LHS and OA-LH. The root mean square error RMSE of OA was in the order of 1E-08. This method can be used with any argument value, and can be used to solve other integrals in hydrogeology such as the leaky aquifer integral.

40 CFR 80.8 - Sampling methods for gasoline and diesel fuel.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Sampling methods for gasoline and... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES General Provisions § 80.8 Sampling methods for gasoline and diesel fuel. The sampling methods specified in this section shall be used to collect samples...

Fluorescence photooxidation with eosin: a method for high resolution immunolocalization and in situ hybridization detection for light and electron microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

A simple method is described for high-resolution light and electron microscopic immunolocalization of proteins in cells and tissues by immunofluorescence and subsequent photooxidation of diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride into an insoluble osmiophilic polymer. By using eosin as the fluorescent marker, a substantial improvement in sensitivity is achieved in the photooxidation process over other conventional fluorescent compounds. The technique allows for precise correlative immunolocalization studies on the same sample using fluorescence, transmitted light and electron microscopy. Furthermore, because eosin is smaller in size than other conventional markers, this method results in improved penetration of labeling reagents compared to gold or enzyme based procedures. The improved penetration allows for three-dimensional immunolocalization using high voltage electron microscopy. Fluorescence photooxidation can also be used for high resolution light and electron microscopic localization of specific nucleic acid sequences by in situ hybridization utilizing biotinylated probes followed by an eosin-streptavidin conjugate. PMID:7519623

Characterization of hazardous waste sites: a methods manual. Volume 2. Available sampling methods (second edition)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, P.J.; Turina, P.J.; Seely, D.E.

1984-12-01

Investigations at hazardous waste sites and sites of chemical spills often require on-site measurements and sampling activities to assess the type and extent of contamination. This document is a compilation of sampling methods and materials suitable to address most needs that arise during routine waste site and hazardous spill investigations. The sampling methods presented in this document are compiled by media, and were selected on the basis of practicality, economics, representativeness, compatability with analytical considerations, and safety, as well as other criteria. In addition to sampling procedures, sample handling and shipping, chain-of-custody procedures, instrument certification, equipment fabrication, and equipment decontamination procedures are described. Sampling methods for soil, sludges, sediments, and bulk materials cover the solids medium. Ten methods are detailed for surface waters, groundwater and containerized liquids; twelve are presented for ambient air, soil gases and vapors, and headspace gases. A brief discussion of ionizing radiation survey instruments is also provided

Scanning probe methods applied to molecular electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pavlicek, Niko

2013-08-01

Scanning probe methods on insulating films offer a rich toolbox to study electronic, structural and spin properties of individual molecules. This work discusses three issues in the field of molecular and organic electronics. An STM head to be operated in high magnetic fields has been designed and built up. The STM head is very compact and rigid relying on a robust coarse approach mechanism. This will facilitate investigations of the spin properties of individual molecules in the future. Combined STM/AFM studies revealed a reversible molecular switch based on two stable configurations of DBTH molecules on ultrathin NaCl films. AFM experiments visualize the molecular structure in both states. Our experiments allowed to unambiguously determine the pathway of the switch. Finally, tunneling into and out of the frontier molecular orbitals of pentacene molecules has been investigated on different insulating films. These experiments show that the local symmetry of initial and final electron wave function are decisive for the ratio between elastic and vibration-assisted tunneling. The results can be generalized to electron transport in organic materials.

Development of a non-destructive micro-analytical method for stable carbon isotope analysis of transmission electron microscope (TEM) samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hode, Tomas [Department of Geology, Portland State University, Portland, P.O. Box 751, OR 97201 (United States)], E-mail: hode@pdx.edu; Kristiansson, Per; Elfman, Mikael [Division of Nuclear Physics, Department of Physics, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund (Sweden); Hugo, Richard C.; Cady, Sherry L. [Department of Geology, Portland State University, Portland, P.O. Box 751, OR 97201 (United States)

2009-10-01

The biogenicity of ancient morphological microfossil-like objects can be established by linking morphological (e.g. cell remnants and extracellular polymeric matrix) and chemical (e.g. isotopes, biomarkers and biominerals) evidence indicative of microorganisms or microbial activity. We have developed a non-destructive micro-analytical ion beam system capable of measuring with high spatial resolution the stable carbon isotope ratios of thin samples used for transmission electron microscopy. The technique is based on elastic scattering of alpha particles with an energy of 2.751 MeV. At this energy the {sup 13}C cross section is enhanced relative to the pure Rutherford cross section for {sup 13}C, whereas the {sup 12}C cross section is reduced relative to its pure Rutherford cross section. Here we report the initial results of this experimental approach used to characterize ultramicrotomed sections of sulfur-embedded graphite and microbial cells.

Adaptive sampling method in deep-penetration particle transport problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Ruihong; Ji Zhicheng; Pei Lucheng

2012-01-01

Deep-penetration problem has been one of the difficult problems in shielding calculation with Monte Carlo method for several decades. In this paper, a kind of particle transport random walking system under the emission point as a sampling station is built. Then, an adaptive sampling scheme is derived for better solution with the achieved information. The main advantage of the adaptive scheme is to choose the most suitable sampling number from the emission point station to obtain the minimum value of the total cost in the process of the random walk. Further, the related importance sampling method is introduced. Its main principle is to define the importance function due to the particle state and to ensure the sampling number of the emission particle is proportional to the importance function. The numerical results show that the adaptive scheme under the emission point as a station could overcome the difficulty of underestimation of the result in some degree, and the adaptive importance sampling method gets satisfied results as well. (authors)

A Novel Method for the Discrimination of Semen Arecae and Its Processed Products by Using Computer Vision, Electronic Nose, and Electronic Tongue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min Xu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Areca nut, commonly known locally as Semen Arecae (SA in China, has been used as an important Chinese herbal medicine for thousands of years. The raw SA (RAW is commonly processed by stir-baking to yellow (SBY, stir-baking to dark brown (SBD, and stir-baking to carbon dark (SBC for different clinical uses. In our present investigation, intelligent sensory technologies consisting of computer vision (CV, electronic nose (E-nose, and electronic tongue (E-tongue were employed in order to develop a novel and accurate method for discrimination of SA and its processed products. Firstly, the color parameters and electronic sensory responses of E-nose and E-tongue of the samples were determined, respectively. Then, indicative components including 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF and arecoline (ARE were determined by HPLC. Finally, principal component analysis (PCA and discriminant factor analysis (DFA were performed. The results demonstrated that these three instruments can effectively discriminate SA and its processed products. 5-HMF and ARE can reflect the stir-baking degree of SA. Interestingly, the two components showed close correlations to the color parameters and sensory responses of E-nose and E-tongue. In conclusion, this novel method based on CV, E-nose, and E-tongue can be successfully used to discriminate SA and its processed products.

The effect of electron range on electron beam induced current collection and a simple method to extract an electron range for any generation function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lahreche, A.; Beggah, Y.; Corkish, R.

2011-01-01

The effect of electron range on electron beam induced current (EBIC) is demonstrated and the problem of the choice of the optimal electron ranges to use with simple uniform and point generation function models is resolved by proposing a method to extract an electron range-energy relationship (ERER). The results show that the use of these extracted electron ranges remove the previous disagreement between the EBIC curves computed with simple forms of generation model and those based on a more realistic generation model. The impact of these extracted electron ranges on the extraction of diffusion length, surface recombination velocity and EBIC contrast of defects is discussed. It is also demonstrated that, for the case of uniform generation, the computed EBIC current is independent of the assumed shape of the generation volume. -- Highlights: → Effect of electron ranges on modeling electron beam induced current is shown. → A method to extract an electron range for simple form of generation is proposed. → For uniform generation the EBIC current is independent of the choice of it shape. → Uses of the extracted electron ranges remove some existing literature ambiguity.

Field evaluation of personal sampling methods for multiple bioaerosols.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chi-Hsun Wang

Full Text Available Ambient bioaerosols are ubiquitous in the daily environment and can affect health in various ways. However, few studies have been conducted to comprehensively evaluate personal bioaerosol exposure in occupational and indoor environments because of the complex composition of bioaerosols and the lack of standardized sampling/analysis methods. We conducted a study to determine the most efficient collection/analysis method for the personal exposure assessment of multiple bioaerosols. The sampling efficiencies of three filters and four samplers were compared. According to our results, polycarbonate (PC filters had the highest relative efficiency, particularly for bacteria. Side-by-side sampling was conducted to evaluate the three filter samplers (with PC filters and the NIOSH Personal Bioaerosol Cyclone Sampler. According to the results, the Button Aerosol Sampler and the IOM Inhalable Dust Sampler had the highest relative efficiencies for fungi and bacteria, followed by the NIOSH sampler. Personal sampling was performed in a pig farm to assess occupational bioaerosol exposure and to evaluate the sampling/analysis methods. The Button and IOM samplers yielded a similar performance for personal bioaerosol sampling at the pig farm. However, the Button sampler is more likely to be clogged at high airborne dust concentrations because of its higher flow rate (4 L/min. Therefore, the IOM sampler is a more appropriate choice for performing personal sampling in environments with high dust levels. In summary, the Button and IOM samplers with PC filters are efficient sampling/analysis methods for the personal exposure assessment of multiple bioaerosols.

Sample preparation method for ICP-MS measurement of 99Tc in a large amount of environmental samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kondo, M.; Seki, R.

2002-01-01

Sample preparation for measurement of 99 Tc in a large amount of soil and water samples by ICP-MS has been developed using 95m Tc as a yield tracer. This method is based on the conventional method for a small amount of soil samples using incineration, acid digestion, extraction chromatography (TEVA resin) and ICP-MS measurement. Preliminary concentration of Tc has been introduced by co-precipitation with ferric oxide. The matrix materials in a large amount of samples were more sufficiently removed with keeping the high recovery of Tc than previous method. The recovery of Tc was 70-80% for 100 g soil samples and 60-70% for 500 g of soil and 500 L of water samples. The detection limit of this method was evaluated as 0.054 mBq/kg in 500 g soil and 0.032 μBq/L in 500 L water. The determined value of 99 Tc in the IAEA-375 (soil sample collected near the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor) was 0.25 ± 0.02 Bq/kg. (author)

Nondestructive testing method for a new generation of electronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azin Anton

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The implementation of the Smart City system needs reliable and smoothly operating electronic equipment. The study is aimed at developing a nondestructive testing method for electronic equipment and its components. This method can be used to identify critical design defects of printed circuit boards (PCB and to predict their service life, taking into account the nature of probable operating loads. The study uses an acoustic emission method to identify and localize critical design defects of printed circuit boards. Geometric dimensions of detected critical defects can be determined by the X-ray tomography method. Based on the results of the study, a method combining acoustic emission and X-ray tomography was developed for nondestructive testing of printed circuit boards. The stress-strain state of solder joints containing detected defects was analyzed. This paper gives an example of using the developed method for estimating the degree of damage to joints between PCB components and predicting the service life of the entire PCB.

Determining the water-cement ratio, cement content, water content and degree of hydration of hardened cement paste: Method development and validation on paste samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, H.S.; Buenfeld, N.R.

2009-01-01

We propose a new method to estimate the initial cement content, water content and free water/cement ratio (w/c) of hardened cement-based materials made with Portland cements that have unknown mixture proportions and degree of hydration. This method first quantifies the composition of the hardened cement paste, i.e. the volumetric fractions of capillary pores, hydration products and unreacted cement, using high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) in the backscattered electron (BSE) mode and image analysis. From the obtained data and the volumetric increase of solids during cement hydration, we compute the initial free water content and cement content, hence the free w/c ratio. The same method can also be used to calculate the degree of hydration. The proposed method has the advantage that it is quantitative and does not require comparison with calibration graphs or reference samples made with the same materials and cured to the same degree of hydration as the tested sample. This paper reports the development, assumptions and limitations of the proposed method, and preliminary results from Portland cement pastes with a range of w/c ratios (0.25-0.50) and curing ages (3-90 days). We also discuss the extension of the technique to mortars and concretes, and samples made with blended cements.

Systems and methods for self-synchronized digital sampling

Science.gov (United States)

Samson, Jr., John R. (Inventor)

2008-01-01

Systems and methods for self-synchronized data sampling are provided. In one embodiment, a system for capturing synchronous data samples is provided. The system includes an analog to digital converter adapted to capture signals from one or more sensors and convert the signals into a stream of digital data samples at a sampling frequency determined by a sampling control signal; and a synchronizer coupled to the analog to digital converter and adapted to receive a rotational frequency signal from a rotating machine, wherein the synchronizer is further adapted to generate the sampling control signal, and wherein the sampling control signal is based on the rotational frequency signal.

Prevalence of migraine in a diverse community--electronic methods for migraine ascertainment in a large integrated health plan.

Science.gov (United States)

Pressman, Alice; Jacobson, Alice; Eguilos, Roderick; Gelfand, Amy; Huynh, Cynthia; Hamilton, Luisa; Avins, Andrew; Bakshi, Nandini; Merikangas, Kathleen

2016-04-01

The growing availability of electronic health data provides an opportunity to ascertain diagnosis-specific cases via systematic methods for sample recruitment for clinical research and health services evaluation. We developed and implemented a migraine probability algorithm (MPA) to identify migraine from electronic health records (EHR) in an integrated health plan. We identified all migraine outpatient diagnoses and all migraine-specific prescriptions for a five-year period (April 2008-March 2013) from the Kaiser Permanente, Northern California (KPNC) EHR. We developed and evaluated the MPA in two independent samples, and derived prevalence estimates of medically-ascertained migraine in KPNC by age, sex, and race. The period prevalence of medically-ascertained migraine among KPNC adults during April 2008-March 2013 was 10.3% (women: 15.5%, men: 4.5%). Estimates peaked with age in women but remained flat for men. Prevalence among Asians was half that of whites. We demonstrate the feasibility of an EHR-based algorithm to identify cases of diagnosed migraine and determine that prevalence patterns by our methods yield results comparable to aggregate estimates of treated migraine based on direct interviews in population-based samples. This inexpensive, easily applied EHR-based algorithm provides a new opportunity for monitoring changes in migraine prevalence and identifying potential participants for research studies. © International Headache Society 2015.

Use of hydroxyapatite prepared by sol-gel method for gamma ray and electron beam dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hajiloo, N.; Ziaie, F.; Hesami, M.

2011-01-01

In this research, radiation dosimetry was made through measuring free radicals induced in synthetic hydroxyapatite using EPR spectroscopy. At the first step, the hydroxyapatite nano-powders were synthesized via sol-gel method. The produced powders were passed through a thermal treatment, weighted and packed. Then, the samples were irradiated at different dose rates using 60 Co γ-ray and 10 MeV electron beam radiation at a high dose range. The hydroxyapatite signal intensity of hydroxyapatite samples were measured at room temperature in the air. Subsequently, the variations of the EPR signal intensities were constructed as peak-to-peak signal amplitude and were compared with alanine and bone powder samples. The results showed that the EPR signal intensity of the hydroxyapatite samples are several times higher than alanine and bone powder and are saturated at the higher dose rates in comparison with other species.

The operation cutoff frequency of high electron mobility transistor measured by terahertz method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Y. M.; Zhuang, S. L.

2014-01-01

Commonly, the cutoff frequency of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) can be measured by vector network analyzer (VNA), which can only measure the sample exactly in low frequency region. In this paper, we propose a method to evaluate the cutoff frequency of HEMT by terahertz (THz) technique. One example shows the cutoff frequency of our HEMT is measured at ∼95.30 GHz, which is reasonable agreement with that estimated by VNA. It is proved THz technology a potential candidate for the substitution of VNA for the measurement of high-speed devices even up to several THz.

Method and apparatus for sampling atmospheric mercury

Science.gov (United States)

Trujillo, Patricio E.; Campbell, Evan E.; Eutsler, Bernard C.

1976-01-20

A method of simultaneously sampling particulate mercury, organic mercurial vapors, and metallic mercury vapor in the working and occupational environment and determining the amount of mercury derived from each such source in the sampled air. A known volume of air is passed through a sampling tube containing a filter for particulate mercury collection, a first adsorber for the selective adsorption of organic mercurial vapors, and a second adsorber for the adsorption of metallic mercury vapor. Carbon black molecular sieves are particularly useful as the selective adsorber for organic mercurial vapors. The amount of mercury adsorbed or collected in each section of the sampling tube is readily quantitatively determined by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

A Sequential Optimization Sampling Method for Metamodels with Radial Basis Functions

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Guang; Ye, Pengcheng; Yang, Zhidong

2014-01-01

Metamodels have been widely used in engineering design to facilitate analysis and optimization of complex systems that involve computationally expensive simulation programs. The accuracy of metamodels is strongly affected by the sampling methods. In this paper, a new sequential optimization sampling method is proposed. Based on the new sampling method, metamodels can be constructed repeatedly through the addition of sampling points, namely, extrema points of metamodels and minimum points of density function. Afterwards, the more accurate metamodels would be constructed by the procedure above. The validity and effectiveness of proposed sampling method are examined by studying typical numerical examples. PMID:25133206

Characterizing lentic freshwater fish assemblages using multiple sampling methods

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Jesse R.; Quist, Michael C.

2014-01-01

Characterizing fish assemblages in lentic ecosystems is difficult, and multiple sampling methods are almost always necessary to gain reliable estimates of indices such as species richness. However, most research focused on lentic fish sampling methodology has targeted recreationally important species, and little to no information is available regarding the influence of multiple methods and timing (i.e., temporal variation) on characterizing entire fish assemblages. Therefore, six lakes and impoundments (48–1,557 ha surface area) were sampled seasonally with seven gear types to evaluate the combined influence of sampling methods and timing on the number of species and individuals sampled. Probabilities of detection for species indicated strong selectivities and seasonal trends that provide guidance on optimal seasons to use gears when targeting multiple species. The evaluation of species richness and number of individuals sampled using multiple gear combinations demonstrated that appreciable benefits over relatively few gears (e.g., to four) used in optimal seasons were not present. Specifically, over 90 % of the species encountered with all gear types and season combinations (N = 19) from six lakes and reservoirs were sampled with nighttime boat electrofishing in the fall and benthic trawling, modified-fyke, and mini-fyke netting during the summer. Our results indicated that the characterization of lentic fish assemblages was highly influenced by the selection of sampling gears and seasons, but did not appear to be influenced by waterbody type (i.e., natural lake, impoundment). The standardization of data collected with multiple methods and seasons to account for bias is imperative to monitoring of lentic ecosystems and will provide researchers with increased reliability in their interpretations and decisions made using information on lentic fish assemblages.

A Miniaturized Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (MVP-SEM) for In-Situ Mars Surface Sample Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Edmunson, J.; Gaskin, J. A.; Jerman, G. A.; Harvey, R. P.; Doloboff, I. J.; Neidholdt, E. L.

2016-01-01

The Miniaturized Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (MVP-SEM) project, funded by the NASA Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO) Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES), will build upon previous miniaturized SEM designs and recent advancements in variable pressure SEM's to design and build a SEM to complete analyses of samples on the surface of Mars using the atmosphere as an imaging medium. This project is a collaboration between NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), electron gun and optics manufacturer Applied Physics Technologies, and small vacuum system manufacturer Creare. Dr. Ralph Harvery and environmental SEM (ESEM) inventor Dr. Gerry Danilatos serve as advisors to the team. Variable pressure SEMs allow for fine (nm-scale) resolution imaging and micron-scale chemical study of materials without sample preparation (e.g., carbon or gold coating). Charging of a sample is reduced or eliminated by the gas surrounding the sample. It is this property of ESEMs that make them ideal for locations where sample preparation is not yet feasible, such as the surface of Mars. In addition, the lack of sample preparation needed here will simplify the sample acquisition process and allow caching of the samples for future complementary payload use.

A comparative study of different methods for calculating electronic transition rates

Science.gov (United States)

Kananenka, Alexei A.; Sun, Xiang; Schubert, Alexander; Dunietz, Barry D.; Geva, Eitan

2018-03-01

We present a comprehensive comparison of the following mixed quantum-classical methods for calculating electronic transition rates: (1) nonequilibrium Fermi's golden rule, (2) mixed quantum-classical Liouville method, (3) mean-field (Ehrenfest) mixed quantum-classical method, and (4) fewest switches surface-hopping method (in diabatic and adiabatic representations). The comparison is performed on the Garg-Onuchic-Ambegaokar benchmark charge-transfer model, over a broad range of temperatures and electronic coupling strengths, with different nonequilibrium initial states, in the normal and inverted regimes. Under weak to moderate electronic coupling, the nonequilibrium Fermi's golden rule rates are found to be in good agreement with the rates obtained via the mixed quantum-classical Liouville method that coincides with the fully quantum-mechanically exact results for the model system under study. Our results suggest that the nonequilibrium Fermi's golden rule can serve as an inexpensive yet accurate alternative to Ehrenfest and the fewest switches surface-hopping methods.

Quantitative secondary electron detection

Science.gov (United States)

Agrawal, Jyoti; Joy, David C.; Nayak, Subuhadarshi

2018-05-08

Quantitative Secondary Electron Detection (QSED) using the array of solid state devices (SSD) based electron-counters enable critical dimension metrology measurements in materials such as semiconductors, nanomaterials, and biological samples (FIG. 3). Methods and devices effect a quantitative detection of secondary electrons with the array of solid state detectors comprising a number of solid state detectors. An array senses the number of secondary electrons with a plurality of solid state detectors, counting the number of secondary electrons with a time to digital converter circuit in counter mode.

Hard-to-reach populations of men who have sex with men and sex workers: a systematic review on sampling methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Barros, Ana B; Dias, Sonia F; Martins, Maria Rosario O

2015-10-30

In public health, hard-to-reach populations are often recruited by non-probabilistic sampling methods that produce biased results. In order to overcome this, several sampling methods have been improved and developed in the last years. The aim of this systematic review was to identify all current methods used to survey most-at-risk populations of men who have sex with men and sex workers. The review also aimed to assess if there were any relations between the study populations and the sampling methods used to recruit them. Lastly, we wanted to assess if the number of publications originated in middle and low human development (MLHD) countries had been increasing in the last years. A systematic review was conducted using electronic databases and a total of 268 published studies were included in the analysis. In this review, 11 recruitment methods were identified. Semi-probabilistic methods were used most commonly to survey men who have sex with men, and the use of the Internet was the method that gathered more respondents. We found that female sex workers were more frequently recruited through non-probabilistic methods than men who have sex with men (odds = 2.2; p review identified 11 methods used to sample men who have sex with men and female sex workers. There is an association between the type of sampling method and the population being studied. The number of studies based in middle and low human development countries has increased in the last 6 years of this study.

Evaluation of sampling methods for Bacillus spore-contaminated HVAC filters.

Science.gov (United States)

Calfee, M Worth; Rose, Laura J; Tufts, Jenia; Morse, Stephen; Clayton, Matt; Touati, Abderrahmane; Griffin-Gatchalian, Nicole; Slone, Christina; McSweeney, Neal

2014-01-01

The objective of this study was to compare an extraction-based sampling method to two vacuum-based sampling methods (vacuum sock and 37mm cassette filter) with regards to their ability to recover Bacillus atrophaeus spores (surrogate for Bacillus anthracis) from pleated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) filters that are typically found in commercial and residential buildings. Electrostatic and mechanical HVAC filters were tested, both without and after loading with dust to 50% of their total holding capacity. The results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA across material types, presence or absence of dust, and sampling device. The extraction method gave higher relative recoveries than the two vacuum methods evaluated (p≤0.001). On average, recoveries obtained by the vacuum methods were about 30% of those achieved by the extraction method. Relative recoveries between the two vacuum methods were not significantly different (p>0.05). Although extraction methods yielded higher recoveries than vacuum methods, either HVAC filter sampling approach may provide a rapid and inexpensive mechanism for understanding the extent of contamination following a wide-area biological release incident. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Innovative electron transport methods in EGS5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bielajew, A.F.; Wilderman, S.J.

2000-01-01

The initial formulation of a Monte Carlo scheme for the transport of high-energy (>≅ 100 keV) electrons was established by Berger in 1963. Calling his method the 'condensed history theory', Berger combined the theoretical results of the previous generation of research into developing approximate solutions of the Boltzmann transport equation with numerical algorithms for exploiting the power of computers to permit iterative, piece-wise solution of the transport equation in a computationally intensive but much less approximate fashion. The methods devised by Berger, with comparatively little modification, provide the foundation of all present day Monte Carlo electron transport simulation algorithms. Only in the last 15 years, beginning with the development and publication of the PRESTA algorithm, has there been a significant revisitation of the problem of simulating electron transport within the condensed history framework. Research in this area is ongoing, highly active, and far from complete. It presents an enormous challenge, demanding derivation of new analytical transport solutions based on underlying fundamental interaction mechanisms, intuitive insight in the development of computer algorithms, and state of the art computer science skills in order to permit deployment of these techniques in an efficient manner. The EGS5 project, a modern ground-up rewrite of the EGS4 code, is now in the design phase. EGS5 will take modern photon and electron transport algorithms and deploy them in an easy-to-maintain, modern computer language-ANSI-standard C ++. Moreover, the well-known difficulties of applying EGS4 to practical geometries (geometry code development, tally routine design) should be made easier and more intuitive through the use of a visual user interface being designed by Quantum Research, Inc., work that is presented elsewhere in this conference. This report commences with a historical review of electron transport models culminating with the proposal of a

Field Sample Preparation Method Development for Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leibman, C.; Weisbrod, K.; Yoshida, T.

2015-01-01

Non-proliferation and International Security (NA-241) established a working group of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to evaluate the utilization of in-field mass spectrometry for safeguards applications. The survey of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) mass spectrometers (MS) revealed no instrumentation existed capable of meeting all the potential safeguards requirements for performance, portability, and ease of use. Additionally, fieldable instruments are unlikely to meet the International Target Values (ITVs) for accuracy and precision for isotope ratio measurements achieved with laboratory methods. The major gaps identified for in-field actinide isotope ratio analysis were in the areas of: 1. sample preparation and/or sample introduction, 2. size reduction of mass analyzers and ionization sources, 3. system automation, and 4. decreased system cost. Development work in 2 through 4, numerated above continues, in the private and public sector. LANL is focusing on developing sample preparation/sample introduction methods for use with the different sample types anticipated for safeguard applications. Addressing sample handling and sample preparation methods for MS analysis will enable use of new MS instrumentation as it becomes commercially available. As one example, we have developed a rapid, sample preparation method for dissolution of uranium and plutonium oxides using ammonium bifluoride (ABF). ABF is a significantly safer and faster alternative to digestion with boiling combinations of highly concentrated mineral acids. Actinides digested with ABF yield fluorides, which can then be analyzed directly or chemically converted and separated using established column chromatography techniques as needed prior to isotope analysis. The reagent volumes and the sample processing steps associated with ABF sample digestion lend themselves to automation and field

Radiochemistry methods in DOE methods for evaluating environmental and waste management samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fadeff, S.K.; Goheen, S.C.

1994-08-01

Current standard sources of radiochemistry methods are often inappropriate for use in evaluating US Department of Energy environmental and waste management (DOE/EW) samples. Examples of current sources include EPA, ASTM, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and HASL-300. Applicability of these methods is limited to specific matrices (usually water), radiation levels (usually environmental levels), and analytes (limited number). Radiochemistry methods in DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) attempt to fill the applicability gap that exists between standard methods and those needed for DOE/EM activities. The Radiochemistry chapter in DOE Methods includes an ''analysis and reporting'' guidance section as well as radiochemistry methods. A basis for identifying the DOE/EM radiochemistry needs is discussed. Within this needs framework, the applicability of standard methods and targeted new methods is identified. Sources of new methods (consolidated methods from DOE laboratories and submissions from individuals) and the methods review process will be discussed. The processes involved in generating consolidated methods add editing individually submitted methods will be compared. DOE Methods is a living document and continues to expand by adding various kinds of methods. Radiochemistry methods are highlighted in this paper. DOE Methods is intended to be a resource for methods applicable to DOE/EM problems. Although it is intended to support DOE, the guidance and methods are not necessarily exclusive to DOE. The document is available at no cost through the Laboratory Management Division of DOE, Office of Technology Development

New pbysical methods used in the study of composition, electronic properties and surface phenomena of solid substances. I. Electronic spectroscopies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toderean, A; Ilonca, Gh.

1981-01-01

The discovery of different kinds of interactions between solids and fotonic, respectively electronic and ionic beams, leads to the development of many new, very sensitive, physical methods for the study of solids. This monograph tries to present some of these methods, useful in compositional analysis, in the study of electronic properties and of the surface processes of solid substances. This is done from the point of view both of physical phenomena underlying them and of the information obtainable with such methods. But the whole monograph is limited only to the methods based on the electronic properties of the elements existing in the solid probes studied and this paper presents only those of them in which the detected beam is an electronic one, like: ELS, DAPS, ILS, AES, AEAPS, INS, TSS, XPS and UPS. (authors)

7 CFR 51.308 - Methods of sampling and calculation of percentages.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

..., CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Apples Methods of Sampling and Calculation of Percentages § 51.308 Methods of sampling and calculation of percentages. (a) When the numerical... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Methods of sampling and calculation of percentages. 51...

A method for the direct measurement of electronic site populations in a molecular aggregate using two-dimensional electronic-vibrational spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lewis, Nicholas H. C.; Dong, Hui; Oliver, Thomas A. A.; Fleming, Graham R., E-mail: grfleming@lbl.gov [Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

2015-09-28

Two dimensional electronic spectroscopy has proved to be a valuable experimental technique to reveal electronic excitation dynamics in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes, nanoscale semiconductors, organic photovoltaic materials, and many other types of systems. It does not, however, provide direct information concerning the spatial structure and dynamics of excitons. 2D infrared spectroscopy has become a widely used tool for studying structural dynamics but is incapable of directly providing information concerning electronic excited states. 2D electronic-vibrational (2DEV) spectroscopy provides a link between these domains, directly connecting the electronic excitation with the vibrational structure of the system under study. In this work, we derive response functions for the 2DEV spectrum of a molecular dimer and propose a method by which 2DEV spectra could be used to directly measure the electronic site populations as a function of time following the initial electronic excitation. We present results from the response function simulations which show that our proposed approach is substantially valid. This method provides, to our knowledge, the first direct experimental method for measuring the electronic excited state dynamics in the spatial domain, on the molecular scale.

Several cases of electronics and the measuring methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Supardiyono, Bb.; Kamadi, J.; Suparmono, M.; Indarto.

1980-01-01

Several cases of electronics and the measuring methods, covering electric conductivity and electric potential of analog systems, electric current, electric conductivity and electric potential of semiconductor diodes, and characteristics of transistors are described. (SMN)

Sampling trace organic compounds in water: a comparison of a continuous active sampler to continuous passive and discrete sampling methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Coes, Alissa L; Paretti, Nicholas V; Foreman, William T; Iverson, Jana L; Alvarez, David A

2014-03-01

A continuous active sampling method was compared to continuous passive and discrete sampling methods for the sampling of trace organic compounds (TOCs) in water. Results from each method are compared and contrasted in order to provide information for future investigators to use while selecting appropriate sampling methods for their research. The continuous low-level aquatic monitoring (CLAM) sampler (C.I.Agent® Storm-Water Solutions) is a submersible, low flow-rate sampler, that continuously draws water through solid-phase extraction media. CLAM samplers were deployed at two wastewater-dominated stream field sites in conjunction with the deployment of polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) and the collection of discrete (grab) water samples. All samples were analyzed for a suite of 69 TOCs. The CLAM and POCIS samples represent time-integrated samples that accumulate the TOCs present in the water over the deployment period (19-23 h for CLAM and 29 days for POCIS); the discrete samples represent only the TOCs present in the water at the time and place of sampling. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis were used to examine patterns in both TOC detections and relative concentrations between the three sampling methods. A greater number of TOCs were detected in the CLAM samples than in corresponding discrete and POCIS samples, but TOC concentrations in the CLAM samples were significantly lower than in the discrete and (or) POCIS samples. Thirteen TOCs of varying polarity were detected by all of the three methods. TOC detections and concentrations obtained by the three sampling methods, however, are dependent on multiple factors. This study found that stream discharge, constituent loading, and compound type all affected TOC concentrations detected by each method. In addition, TOC detections and concentrations were affected by the reporting limits, bias, recovery, and performance of each method. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Sampling trace organic compounds in water: a comparison of a continuous active sampler to continuous passive and discrete sampling methods

Science.gov (United States)

Coes, Alissa L.; Paretti, Nicholas V.; Foreman, William T.; Iverson, Jana L.; Alvarez, David A.

2014-01-01

A continuous active sampling method was compared to continuous passive and discrete sampling methods for the sampling of trace organic compounds (TOCs) in water. Results from each method are compared and contrasted in order to provide information for future investigators to use while selecting appropriate sampling methods for their research. The continuous low-level aquatic monitoring (CLAM) sampler (C.I.Agent® Storm-Water Solutions) is a submersible, low flow-rate sampler, that continuously draws water through solid-phase extraction media. CLAM samplers were deployed at two wastewater-dominated stream field sites in conjunction with the deployment of polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) and the collection of discrete (grab) water samples. All samples were analyzed for a suite of 69 TOCs. The CLAM and POCIS samples represent time-integrated samples that accumulate the TOCs present in the water over the deployment period (19–23 h for CLAM and 29 days for POCIS); the discrete samples represent only the TOCs present in the water at the time and place of sampling. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis were used to examine patterns in both TOC detections and relative concentrations between the three sampling methods. A greater number of TOCs were detected in the CLAM samples than in corresponding discrete and POCIS samples, but TOC concentrations in the CLAM samples were significantly lower than in the discrete and (or) POCIS samples. Thirteen TOCs of varying polarity were detected by all of the three methods. TOC detections and concentrations obtained by the three sampling methods, however, are dependent on multiple factors. This study found that stream discharge, constituent loading, and compound type all affected TOC concentrations detected by each method. In addition, TOC detections and concentrations were affected by the reporting limits, bias, recovery, and performance of each method.

Multi-frequency direct sampling method in inverse scattering problem

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Sangwoo; Lambert, Marc; Park, Won-Kwang

2017-10-01

We consider the direct sampling method (DSM) for the two-dimensional inverse scattering problem. Although DSM is fast, stable, and effective, some phenomena remain unexplained by the existing results. We show that the imaging function of the direct sampling method can be expressed by a Bessel function of order zero. We also clarify the previously unexplained imaging phenomena and suggest multi-frequency DSM to overcome traditional DSM. Our method is evaluated in simulation studies using both single and multiple frequencies.

Influences of different sample preparation methods on tooth enamel ESR signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Wenyi; Jiao Ling; Zhang Liang'an; Pan Zhihong; Zeng Hongyu

2005-01-01

Objective: To study the influences of different sample preparation methods on tooth enamel ESR signals in order to reduce the effect of dentine on their sensitivities to radiation. Methods: The enamel was separated from dentine of non-irradiated adult teeth by mechanical, chemical, or both methods. The samples of different preparations were scanned by an ESR spectrometer before and after irradiation. Results: The response of ESR signals of samples prepared with different methods to radiation dose was significantly different. Conclusion: The selection of sample preparation method is very important for dose reconstruction by tooth enamel ESR dosimetry, especially in the low dose range. (authors)

Nonadiabatic transition path sampling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sherman, M. C.; Corcelli, S. A.

2016-01-01

Fewest-switches surface hopping (FSSH) is combined with transition path sampling (TPS) to produce a new method called nonadiabatic path sampling (NAPS). The NAPS method is validated on a model electron transfer system coupled to a Langevin bath. Numerically exact rate constants are computed using the reactive flux (RF) method over a broad range of solvent frictions that span from the energy diffusion (low friction) regime to the spatial diffusion (high friction) regime. The NAPS method is shown to quantitatively reproduce the RF benchmark rate constants over the full range of solvent friction. Integrating FSSH within the TPS framework expands the applicability of both approaches and creates a new method that will be helpful in determining detailed mechanisms for nonadiabatic reactions in the condensed-phase.

Methods for Sampling and Measurement of Compressed Air Contaminants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stroem, L

1976-10-15

In order to improve the technique for measuring oil and water entrained in a compressed air stream, a laboratory study has been made of some methods for sampling and measurement. For this purpose water or oil as artificial contaminants were injected in thin streams into a test loop, carrying dry compressed air. Sampling was performed in a vertical run, down-stream of the injection point. Wall attached liquid, coarse droplet flow, and fine droplet flow were sampled separately. The results were compared with two-phase flow theory and direct observation of liquid behaviour. In a study of sample transport through narrow tubes, it was observed that, below a certain liquid loading, the sample did not move, the liquid remaining stationary on the tubing wall. The basic analysis of the collected samples was made by gravimetric methods. Adsorption tubes were used with success to measure water vapour. A humidity meter with a sensor of the aluminium oxide type was found to be unreliable. Oil could be measured selectively by a flame ionization detector, the sample being pretreated in an evaporation- condensation unit

Methods for Sampling and Measurement of Compressed Air Contaminants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stroem, L.

1976-10-01

In order to improve the technique for measuring oil and water entrained in a compressed air stream, a laboratory study has been made of some methods for sampling and measurement. For this purpose water or oil as artificial contaminants were injected in thin streams into a test loop, carrying dry compressed air. Sampling was performed in a vertical run, down-stream of the injection point. Wall attached liquid, coarse droplet flow, and fine droplet flow were sampled separately. The results were compared with two-phase flow theory and direct observation of liquid behaviour. In a study of sample transport through narrow tubes, it was observed that, below a certain liquid loading, the sample did not move, the liquid remaining stationary on the tubing wall. The basic analysis of the collected samples was made by gravimetric methods. Adsorption tubes were used with success to measure water vapour. A humidity meter with a sensor of the aluminium oxide type was found to be unreliable. Oil could be measured selectively by a flame ionization detector, the sample being pretreated in an evaporation- condensation unit

Examination of Hydrate Formation Methods: Trying to Create Representative Samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kneafsey, T.J.; Rees, E.V.L.; Nakagawa, S.; Kwon, T.-H.

2011-04-01

Forming representative gas hydrate-bearing laboratory samples is important so that the properties of these materials may be measured, while controlling the composition and other variables. Natural samples are rare, and have often experienced pressure and temperature changes that may affect the property to be measured [Waite et al., 2008]. Forming methane hydrate samples in the laboratory has been done a number of ways, each having advantages and disadvantages. The ice-to-hydrate method [Stern et al., 1996], contacts melting ice with methane at the appropriate pressure to form hydrate. The hydrate can then be crushed and mixed with mineral grains under controlled conditions, and then compacted to create laboratory samples of methane hydrate in a mineral medium. The hydrate in these samples will be part of the load-bearing frame of the medium. In the excess gas method [Handa and Stupin, 1992], water is distributed throughout a mineral medium (e.g. packed moist sand, drained sand, moistened silica gel, other porous media) and the mixture is brought to hydrate-stable conditions (chilled and pressurized with gas), allowing hydrate to form. This method typically produces grain-cementing hydrate from pendular water in sand [Waite et al., 2004]. In the dissolved gas method [Tohidi et al., 2002], water with sufficient dissolved guest molecules is brought to hydrate-stable conditions where hydrate forms. In the laboratory, this is can be done by pre-dissolving the gas of interest in water and then introducing it to the sample under the appropriate conditions. With this method, it is easier to form hydrate from more soluble gases such as carbon dioxide. It is thought that this method more closely simulates the way most natural gas hydrate has formed. Laboratory implementation, however, is difficult, and sample formation is prohibitively time consuming [Minagawa et al., 2005; Spangenberg and Kulenkampff, 2005]. In another version of this technique, a specified quantity of gas

Turbidity threshold sampling: Methods and instrumentation

Science.gov (United States)

Rand Eads; Jack Lewis

2001-01-01

Traditional methods for determining the frequency of suspended sediment sample collection often rely on measurements, such as water discharge, that are not well correlated to sediment concentration. Stream power is generally not a good predictor of sediment concentration for rivers that transport the bulk of their load as fines, due to the highly variable routing of...

Solid phase microextraction headspace sampling of chemical warfare agent contaminated samples : method development for GC-MS analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jackson Lepage, C.R.; Hancock, J.R. [Defence Research and Development Canada, Medicine Hat, AB (Canada); Wyatt, H.D.M. [Regina Univ., SK (Canada)

2004-07-01

Defence R and D Canada-Suffield (DRDC-Suffield) is responsible for analyzing samples that are suspected to contain chemical warfare agents, either collected by the Canadian Forces or by first-responders in the event of a terrorist attack in Canada. The analytical techniques used to identify the composition of the samples include gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. GC-MS and LC-MS generally require solvent extraction and reconcentration, thereby increasing sample handling. The authors examined analytical techniques which reduce or eliminate sample manipulation. In particular, this paper presented a screening method based on solid phase microextraction (SPME) headspace sampling and GC-MS analysis for chemical warfare agents such as mustard, sarin, soman, and cyclohexyl methylphosphonofluoridate in contaminated soil samples. SPME is a method which uses small adsorbent polymer coated silica fibers that trap vaporous or liquid analytes for GC or LC analysis. Collection efficiency can be increased by adjusting sampling time and temperature. This method was tested on two real-world samples, one from excavated chemical munitions and the second from a caustic decontamination mixture. 7 refs., 2 tabs., 3 figs.

Transmission electron microscopy of amyloid fibrils.

Science.gov (United States)

Gras, Sally L; Waddington, Lynne J; Goldie, Kenneth N

2011-01-01

Transmission Electron Microscopy of negatively stained and cryo-prepared specimens allows amyloid fibrils to be visualised at high resolution in a dried or a hydrated state, and is an essential method for characterising the morphology of fibrils and pre-fibrillar species. We outline the key steps involved in the preparation and observation of samples using negative staining and cryo-electron preservation. We also discuss methods to measure fibril characteristics, such as fibril width, from electron micrographs.

Characterization technique for detection of atom-size crystalline defects and strains using two-dimensional fast-Fourier-transform sampling Moiré method

Science.gov (United States)

Kodera, Masako; Wang, Qinghua; Ri, Shien; Tsuda, Hiroshi; Yoshioka, Akira; Sugiyama, Toru; Hamamoto, Takeshi; Miyashita, Naoto

2018-04-01

Recently, we have developed a two-dimensional (2D) fast-Fourier-transform (FFT) sampling Moiré technique to visually and quantitatively determine the locations of minute defects in a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image. We applied this technique for defect detection with GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) devices, and successfully and clearly visualized atom-size defects in AlGaN/GaN crystalline structures. The defect density obtained in the AlGaN/GaN structures is ∼1013 counts/cm2. In addition, we have successfully confirmed that the distribution and number of defects closely depend on the process conditions. Thus, this technique is quite useful for a device development. Moreover, the strain fields in an AlGaN/GaN crystal were effectively calculated with nm-scale resolution using this method. We also demonstrated that this sampling Moiré technique is applicable to silicon devices, which have principal directions different from those of AlGaN/GaN crystals. As a result, we believe that the 2D FFT sampling Moiré method has great potential applications to the discovery of new as yet unknown phenomena occurring between the characteristics of a crystalline material and device performance.

Statistics of electron multiplication in a multiplier phototube; Iterative method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ortiz, J. F.; Grau, A.

1985-01-01

In the present paper an iterative method is applied to study the variation of dynode response in the multiplier phototube. Three different situation are considered that correspond to the following ways of electronic incidence on the first dynode: incidence of exactly one electron, incidence of exactly r electrons and incidence of an average r electrons. The responses are given for a number of steps between 1 and 5, and for values of the multiplication factor of 2.1, 2.5, 3 and 5. We study also the variance, the skewness and the excess of jurtosis for different multiplication factors. (Author) 11 refs

Validation of method in instrumental NAA for food products sample

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alfian; Siti Suprapti; Setyo Purwanto

2010-01-01

NAA is a method of testing that has not been standardized. To affirm and confirm that this method is valid. it must be done validation of the method with various sample standard reference materials. In this work. the validation is carried for food product samples using NIST SRM 1567a (wheat flour) and NIST SRM 1568a (rice flour). The results show that the validation method for testing nine elements (Al, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ca, Fe, Se and Zn) in SRM 1567a and eight elements (Al, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ca, Se and Zn ) in SRM 1568a pass the test of accuracy and precision. It can be conclude that this method has power to give valid result in determination element of the food products samples. (author)

Validation of EIA sampling methods - bacterial and biochemical analysis

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sheelu, G.; LokaBharathi, P.A.; Nair, S.; Raghukumar, C.; Mohandass, C.

to temporal factors. Paired T-test between pre- and post-disturbance samples suggested that the above methods of sampling and variables like TC, protein and TOC could be used for monitoring disturbance....

Field electron emission spectrometer combined with field ion/electron microscope as a field emission laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shkuratov, S.I.; Ivanov, S.N.; Shilimanov, S.N.

1996-01-01

The facility, combining the field ion microscope, field electron emission microscope and field electron emission spectrometer, is described. Combination of three methodologies makes it possible to carry out the complete cycle of emission studies. Atom-plane and clean surface of the studied samples is prepared by means of field evaporation of the material atom layers without any thermal and radiation impact. This enables the study of atom and electron structure of clean surface of the wide range materials, the study whereof through the field emission methods was previously rather difficult. The temperature of the samples under study changes from 75 up to 2500 K. The energy resolution of the electron analyzer equals 30 MeV. 19 refs., 10 figs

Electron paramagnetic resonance: A new method of quaternary dating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poupeau, G.; Rossi, A.; Teles, M.M.; Danon, J.

1984-01-01

Significant progress has occurred in the last years in quaternary geochronology. One of this is the emergence of a new dating approach, the Electron Spin Resonance Method. The aim of this paper is to briefly review the method and discuss some aspects of the work at CBPF. (Author) [pt

Electron paramagnetic resonance: a new method of quaternary dating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poupeau, G.; Rossi, A.; Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro; Telles, M.; Danon, J.

1984-01-01

Significant progress has occurred in the last years in quaternary geochronology. One of this is the emergence of a new dating approach, the Electron Spin Resonance Method. The aim of this paper is to briefly review the method and discuss some aspects of the work at CBPF. (Author) [pt

An electron microscopy based method for the detection and quantification of nanomaterial number concentration in environmentally relevant media

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prasad, A. [School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Lead, J.R., E-mail: jlead@mailbox.sc.edu [School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University South Carolina, Columbia 29208, SC (United States); Baalousha, M., E-mail: mbaalous@mailbox.sc.edu [Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University South Carolina, Columbia 29208, SC (United States)

2015-12-15

Improved detection and characterization of nanomaterials (NMs) in complex environmental media requires the development of novel sampling approaches to improve the detection limit to be close to environmentally realistic concentrations. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is an indispensable metrological tool in nanotechnology and environmental nanoscience due to its high spatial resolution and analytical capabilities when coupled to spectroscopic techniques. However, these capabilities are hampered by the conventional sample preparation methods, which suffer from low NM recovery. The current work presents a validated, fully quantitative sampling technique for TEM that overcomes conventional sample preparation shortcomings, and thus enables the use of TEM for measurement of particle number concentration and their detection in complex media at environmentally realistic concentrations. This sampling method is based on ultracentrifugation of NMs from suspension onto a poly-L-lysine (PLL) functionalized TEM grid, using active deposition (by ultracentrifugation) and retention (by PLL interactions with NM surface) of NMs on the substrate, enabling fully quantitative analysis. Similar analysis with AFM was satisfactory in simple media but the lack of chemical-selectivity of AFM limits its applicability for the detection of NMs in complex environmental samples. The sampling approach was validated using both citrate- and PVP-coated AuNMs in pure water, which demonstrated an even distribution of NM on the TEM grid and high NM recovery (80–100%) at environmentally relevant NM concentrations (ca. 0.20–100 μg L{sup −1}). The applicability of the sampling method to complex environmental samples was demonstrated by the quantification of particle number concentration of AuNMs in EPA soft water (with and without Suwannee River fulvic acid) and lake water. This sample preparation approach is also applicable to other types of NMs with some modifications (e.g. centrifugation

An electron microscopy based method for the detection and quantification of nanomaterial number concentration in environmentally relevant media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prasad, A.; Lead, J.R.; Baalousha, M.

2015-01-01

Improved detection and characterization of nanomaterials (NMs) in complex environmental media requires the development of novel sampling approaches to improve the detection limit to be close to environmentally realistic concentrations. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is an indispensable metrological tool in nanotechnology and environmental nanoscience due to its high spatial resolution and analytical capabilities when coupled to spectroscopic techniques. However, these capabilities are hampered by the conventional sample preparation methods, which suffer from low NM recovery. The current work presents a validated, fully quantitative sampling technique for TEM that overcomes conventional sample preparation shortcomings, and thus enables the use of TEM for measurement of particle number concentration and their detection in complex media at environmentally realistic concentrations. This sampling method is based on ultracentrifugation of NMs from suspension onto a poly-L-lysine (PLL) functionalized TEM grid, using active deposition (by ultracentrifugation) and retention (by PLL interactions with NM surface) of NMs on the substrate, enabling fully quantitative analysis. Similar analysis with AFM was satisfactory in simple media but the lack of chemical-selectivity of AFM limits its applicability for the detection of NMs in complex environmental samples. The sampling approach was validated using both citrate- and PVP-coated AuNMs in pure water, which demonstrated an even distribution of NM on the TEM grid and high NM recovery (80–100%) at environmentally relevant NM concentrations (ca. 0.20–100 μg L"−"1). The applicability of the sampling method to complex environmental samples was demonstrated by the quantification of particle number concentration of AuNMs in EPA soft water (with and without Suwannee River fulvic acid) and lake water. This sample preparation approach is also applicable to other types of NMs with some modifications (e.g. centrifugation

An efficient method for sampling the essential subspace of proteins

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Amadei, A; Linssen, A.B M; de Groot, B.L.; van Aalten, D.M.F.; Berendsen, H.J.C.

A method is presented for a more efficient sampling of the configurational space of proteins as compared to conventional sampling techniques such as molecular dynamics. The method is based on the large conformational changes in proteins revealed by the ''essential dynamics'' analysis. A form of

Measuring larval nematode contamination on cattle pastures: Comparing two herbage sampling methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Verschave, S H; Levecke, B; Duchateau, L; Vercruysse, J; Charlier, J

2015-06-15

Assessing levels of pasture larval contamination is frequently used to study the population dynamics of the free-living stages of parasitic nematodes of livestock. Direct quantification of infective larvae (L3) on herbage is the most applied method to measure pasture larval contamination. However, herbage collection remains labour intensive and there is a lack of studies addressing the variation induced by the sampling method and the required sample size. The aim of this study was (1) to compare two different sampling methods in terms of pasture larval count results and time required to sample, (2) to assess the amount of variation in larval counts at the level of sample plot, pasture and season, respectively and (3) to calculate the required sample size to assess pasture larval contamination with a predefined precision using random plots across pasture. Eight young stock pastures of different commercial dairy herds were sampled in three consecutive seasons during the grazing season (spring, summer and autumn). On each pasture, herbage samples were collected through both a double-crossed W-transect with samples taken every 10 steps (method 1) and four random located plots of 0.16 m(2) with collection of all herbage within the plot (method 2). The average (± standard deviation (SD)) pasture larval contamination using sampling methods 1 and 2 was 325 (± 479) and 305 (± 444)L3/kg dry herbage (DH), respectively. Large discrepancies in pasture larval counts of the same pasture and season were often seen between methods, but no significant difference (P = 0.38) in larval counts between methods was found. Less time was required to collect samples with method 2. This difference in collection time between methods was most pronounced for pastures with a surface area larger than 1 ha. The variation in pasture larval counts from samples generated by random plot sampling was mainly due to the repeated measurements on the same pasture in the same season (residual variance

SEM technique for imaging and measuring electronic transport in nanocomposites based on electric field induced contrast

Science.gov (United States)

Jesse, Stephen [Knoxville, TN; Geohegan, David B [Knoxville, TN; Guillorn, Michael [Brooktondale, NY

2009-02-17

Methods and apparatus are described for SEM imaging and measuring electronic transport in nanocomposites based on electric field induced contrast. A method includes mounting a sample onto a sample holder, the sample including a sample material; wire bonding leads from the sample holder onto the sample; placing the sample holder in a vacuum chamber of a scanning electron microscope; connecting leads from the sample holder to a power source located outside the vacuum chamber; controlling secondary electron emission from the sample by applying a predetermined voltage to the sample through the leads; and generating an image of the secondary electron emission from the sample. An apparatus includes a sample holder for a scanning electron microscope having an electrical interconnect and leads on top of the sample holder electrically connected to the electrical interconnect; a power source and a controller connected to the electrical interconnect for applying voltage to the sample holder to control the secondary electron emission from a sample mounted on the sample holder; and a computer coupled to a secondary electron detector to generate images of the secondary electron emission from the sample.

Electronic structure prediction via data-mining the empirical pseudopotential method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zenasni, H; Aourag, H [LEPM, URMER, Departement of Physics, University Abou Bakr Belkaid, Tlemcen 13000 (Algeria); Broderick, S R; Rajan, K [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-2230 (United States)

2010-01-15

We introduce a new approach for accelerating the calculation of the electronic structure of new materials by utilizing the empirical pseudopotential method combined with data mining tools. Combining data mining with the empirical pseudopotential method allows us to convert an empirical approach to a predictive approach. Here we consider tetrahedrally bounded III-V Bi semiconductors, and through the prediction of form factors based on basic elemental properties we can model the band structure and charge density for these semi-conductors, for which limited results exist. This work represents a unique approach to modeling the electronic structure of a material which may be used to identify new promising semi-conductors and is one of the few efforts utilizing data mining at an electronic level. (Abstract Copyright [2010], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Brachytherapy dose-volume histogram computations using optimized stratified sampling methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karouzakis, K.; Lahanas, M.; Milickovic, N.; Giannouli, S.; Baltas, D.; Zamboglou, N.

2002-01-01

A stratified sampling method for the efficient repeated computation of dose-volume histograms (DVHs) in brachytherapy is presented as used for anatomy based brachytherapy optimization methods. The aim of the method is to reduce the number of sampling points required for the calculation of DVHs for the body and the PTV. From the DVHs are derived the quantities such as Conformity Index COIN and COIN integrals. This is achieved by using partial uniform distributed sampling points with a density in each region obtained from a survey of the gradients or the variance of the dose distribution in these regions. The shape of the sampling regions is adapted to the patient anatomy and the shape and size of the implant. For the application of this method a single preprocessing step is necessary which requires only a few seconds. Ten clinical implants were used to study the appropriate number of sampling points, given a required accuracy for quantities such as cumulative DVHs, COIN indices and COIN integrals. We found that DVHs of very large tissue volumes surrounding the PTV, and also COIN distributions, can be obtained using a factor of 5-10 times smaller the number of sampling points in comparison with uniform distributed points

Clustering Methods with Qualitative Data: a Mixed-Methods Approach for Prevention Research with Small Samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, David; Dymnicki, Allison B; Mohatt, Nathaniel; Allen, James; Kelly, James G

2015-10-01

Qualitative methods potentially add depth to prevention research but can produce large amounts of complex data even with small samples. Studies conducted with culturally distinct samples often produce voluminous qualitative data but may lack sufficient sample sizes for sophisticated quantitative analysis. Currently lacking in mixed-methods research are methods allowing for more fully integrating qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques. Cluster analysis can be applied to coded qualitative data to clarify the findings of prevention studies by aiding efforts to reveal such things as the motives of participants for their actions and the reasons behind counterintuitive findings. By clustering groups of participants with similar profiles of codes in a quantitative analysis, cluster analysis can serve as a key component in mixed-methods research. This article reports two studies. In the first study, we conduct simulations to test the accuracy of cluster assignment using three different clustering methods with binary data as produced when coding qualitative interviews. Results indicated that hierarchical clustering, K-means clustering, and latent class analysis produced similar levels of accuracy with binary data and that the accuracy of these methods did not decrease with samples as small as 50. Whereas the first study explores the feasibility of using common clustering methods with binary data, the second study provides a "real-world" example using data from a qualitative study of community leadership connected with a drug abuse prevention project. We discuss the implications of this approach for conducting prevention research, especially with small samples and culturally distinct communities.

Clustering Methods with Qualitative Data: A Mixed Methods Approach for Prevention Research with Small Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, David; Dymnicki, Allison B.; Mohatt, Nathaniel; Allen, James; Kelly, James G.

2016-01-01

Qualitative methods potentially add depth to prevention research, but can produce large amounts of complex data even with small samples. Studies conducted with culturally distinct samples often produce voluminous qualitative data, but may lack sufficient sample sizes for sophisticated quantitative analysis. Currently lacking in mixed methods research are methods allowing for more fully integrating qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques. Cluster analysis can be applied to coded qualitative data to clarify the findings of prevention studies by aiding efforts to reveal such things as the motives of participants for their actions and the reasons behind counterintuitive findings. By clustering groups of participants with similar profiles of codes in a quantitative analysis, cluster analysis can serve as a key component in mixed methods research. This article reports two studies. In the first study, we conduct simulations to test the accuracy of cluster assignment using three different clustering methods with binary data as produced when coding qualitative interviews. Results indicated that hierarchical clustering, K-Means clustering, and latent class analysis produced similar levels of accuracy with binary data, and that the accuracy of these methods did not decrease with samples as small as 50. Whereas the first study explores the feasibility of using common clustering methods with binary data, the second study provides a “real-world” example using data from a qualitative study of community leadership connected with a drug abuse prevention project. We discuss the implications of this approach for conducting prevention research, especially with small samples and culturally distinct communities. PMID:25946969

Soybean yield modeling using bootstrap methods for small samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalposso, G.A.; Uribe-Opazo, M.A.; Johann, J.A.

2016-11-01

One of the problems that occur when working with regression models is regarding the sample size; once the statistical methods used in inferential analyzes are asymptotic if the sample is small the analysis may be compromised because the estimates will be biased. An alternative is to use the bootstrap methodology, which in its non-parametric version does not need to guess or know the probability distribution that generated the original sample. In this work we used a set of soybean yield data and physical and chemical soil properties formed with fewer samples to determine a multiple linear regression model. Bootstrap methods were used for variable selection, identification of influential points and for determination of confidence intervals of the model parameters. The results showed that the bootstrap methods enabled us to select the physical and chemical soil properties, which were significant in the construction of the soybean yield regression model, construct the confidence intervals of the parameters and identify the points that had great influence on the estimated parameters. (Author)

Improved methods for high resolution electron microscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taylor, J.R.

1987-04-01

Existing methods of making support films for high resolution transmission electron microscopy are investigated and novel methods are developed. Existing methods of fabricating fenestrated, metal reinforced specimen supports (microgrids) are evaluated for their potential to reduce beam induced movement of monolamellar crystals of C/sub 44/H/sub 90/ paraffin supported on thin carbon films. Improved methods of producing hydrophobic carbon films by vacuum evaporation, and improved methods of depositing well ordered monolamellar paraffin crystals on carbon films are developed. A novel technique for vacuum evaporation of metals is described which is used to reinforce microgrids. A technique is also developed to bond thin carbon films to microgrids with a polymer bonding agent. Unique biochemical methods are described to accomplish site specific covalent modification of membrane proteins. Protocols are given which covalently convert the carboxy terminus of papain cleaved bacteriorhodopsin to a free thiol. 53 refs., 19 figs., 1 tab.

Thick-Restart Lanczos Method for Electronic Structure Calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simon, Horst D.; Wang, L.-W.; Wu, Kesheng

1999-01-01

This paper describes two recent innovations related to the classic Lanczos method for eigenvalue problems, namely the thick-restart technique and dynamic restarting schemes. Combining these two new techniques we are able to implement an efficient eigenvalue problem solver. This paper will demonstrate its effectiveness on one particular class of problems for which this method is well suited: linear eigenvalue problems generated from non-self-consistent electronic structure calculations

Radiochemistry methods in DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples: Addressing new challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fadeff, S.K.; Goheen, S.C.; Riley, R.G.

1994-01-01

Radiochemistry methods in Department of Energy Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) add to the repertoire of other standard methods in support of U.S. Department of Energy environmental restoration and waste management (DOE/EM) radiochemical characterization activities. Current standard sources of radiochemistry methods are not always applicable for evaluating DOE/EM samples. Examples of current sources include those provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the American Society for Testing and Materials, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, and Environmental Measurements Laboratory Procedures Manual (HASL-300). The applicability of these methods is generally limited to specific matrices (usually water), low-level radioactive samples, and a limited number of analytes. DOE Methods complements these current standard methods by addressing the complexities of EM characterization needs. The process for determining DOE/EM radiochemistry characterization needs is discussed. In this context of DOE/EM needs, the applicability of other sources of standard radiochemistry methods is defined, and gaps in methodology are identified. Current methods in DOE Methods and the EM characterization needs they address are discussed. Sources of new methods and the methods incorporation process are discussed. The means for individuals to participate in (1) identification of DOE/EM needs, (2) the methods incorporation process, and (3) submission of new methods are identified

A comprehensive comparison of perpendicular distance sampling methods for sampling downed coarse woody debris

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffrey H. Gove; Mark J. Ducey; Harry T. Valentine; Michael S. Williams

2013-01-01

Many new methods for sampling down coarse woody debris have been proposed in the last dozen or so years. One of the most promising in terms of field application, perpendicular distance sampling (PDS), has several variants that have been progressively introduced in the literature. In this study, we provide an overview of the different PDS variants and comprehensive...

Scanning electron microscopy of bone.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyde, Alan

2012-01-01

This chapter described methods for Scanning Electron Microscopical imaging of bone and bone cells. Backscattered electron (BSE) imaging is by far the most useful in the bone field, followed by secondary electrons (SE) and the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analytical modes. This chapter considers preparing and imaging samples of unembedded bone having 3D detail in a 3D surface, topography-free, polished or micromilled, resin-embedded block surfaces, and resin casts of space in bone matrix. The chapter considers methods for fixation, drying, looking at undersides of bone cells, and coating. Maceration with alkaline bacterial pronase, hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium or potassium hydroxide to remove cells and unmineralised matrix is described in detail. Attention is given especially to methods for 3D BSE SEM imaging of bone samples and recommendations for the types of resin embedding of bone for BSE imaging are given. Correlated confocal and SEM imaging of PMMA-embedded bone requires the use of glycerol to coverslip. Cathodoluminescence (CL) mode SEM imaging is an alternative for visualising fluorescent mineralising front labels such as calcein and tetracyclines. Making spatial casts from PMMA or other resin embedded samples is an important use of this material. Correlation with other imaging means, including microradiography and microtomography is important. Shipping wet bone samples between labs is best done in glycerol. Environmental SEM (ESEM, controlled vacuum mode) is valuable in eliminating -"charging" problems which are common with complex, cancellous bone samples.

A comparison of fitness-case sampling methods for genetic programming

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez, Yuliana; Naredo, Enrique; Trujillo, Leonardo; Legrand, Pierrick; López, Uriel

2017-11-01

Genetic programming (GP) is an evolutionary computation paradigm for automatic program induction. GP has produced impressive results but it still needs to overcome some practical limitations, particularly its high computational cost, overfitting and excessive code growth. Recently, many researchers have proposed fitness-case sampling methods to overcome some of these problems, with mixed results in several limited tests. This paper presents an extensive comparative study of four fitness-case sampling methods, namely: Interleaved Sampling, Random Interleaved Sampling, Lexicase Selection and Keep-Worst Interleaved Sampling. The algorithms are compared on 11 symbolic regression problems and 11 supervised classification problems, using 10 synthetic benchmarks and 12 real-world data-sets. They are evaluated based on test performance, overfitting and average program size, comparing them with a standard GP search. Comparisons are carried out using non-parametric multigroup tests and post hoc pairwise statistical tests. The experimental results suggest that fitness-case sampling methods are particularly useful for difficult real-world symbolic regression problems, improving performance, reducing overfitting and limiting code growth. On the other hand, it seems that fitness-case sampling cannot improve upon GP performance when considering supervised binary classification.

Electronic properties of antiferromagnetic UBi2 metal by exact exchange for correlated electrons method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E Ghasemikhah

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the electronic properties of antiferromagnetic UBi2 metal by using ab initio calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT, employing the augmented plane waves plus local orbital method. We used the exact exchange for correlated electrons (EECE method to calculate the exchange-correlation energy under a variety of hybrid functionals. Electric field gradients (EFGs at the uranium site in UBi2 compound were calculated and compared with the experiment. The EFGs were predicted experimentally at the U site to be very small in this compound. The EFG calculated by the EECE functional are in agreement with the experiment. The densities of states (DOSs show that 5f U orbital is hybrided with the other orbitals. The plotted Fermi surfaces show that there are two kinds of charges on Fermi surface of this compound.

Shear Strength of Remoulding Clay Samples Using Different Methods of Moulding

Science.gov (United States)

Norhaliza, W.; Ismail, B.; Azhar, A. T. S.; Nurul, N. J.

2016-07-01

Shear strength for clay soil was required to determine the soil stability. Clay was known as a soil with complex natural formations and very difficult to obtain undisturbed samples at the site. The aim of this paper was to determine the unconfined shear strength of remoulded clay on different methods in moulding samples which were proctor compaction, hand operated soil compacter and miniature mould methods. All the samples were remoulded with the same optimum moisture content (OMC) and density that were 18% and 1880 kg/m3 respectively. The unconfined shear strength results of remoulding clay soils for proctor compaction method was 289.56kPa with the strain 4.8%, hand operated method was 261.66kPa with the strain 4.4% and miniature mould method was 247.52kPa with the strain 3.9%. Based on the proctor compaction method, the reduction percentage of unconfined shear strength of remoulded clay soil of hand operated method was 9.66%, and for miniature mould method was 14.52%. Thus, because there was no significant difference of reduction percentage of unconfined shear strength between three different methods, so it can be concluded that remoulding clay by hand operated method and miniature mould method were accepted and suggested to perform remoulding clay samples by other future researcher. However for comparison, the hand operated method was more suitable to form remoulded clay sample in term of easiness, saving time and less energy for unconfined shear strength determination purposes.

A multi-dimensional sampling method for locating small scatterers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Rencheng; Zhong, Yu; Chen, Xudong

2012-01-01

A multiple signal classification (MUSIC)-like multi-dimensional sampling method (MDSM) is introduced to locate small three-dimensional scatterers using electromagnetic waves. The indicator is built with the most stable part of signal subspace of the multi-static response matrix on a set of combinatorial sampling nodes inside the domain of interest. It has two main advantages compared to the conventional MUSIC methods. First, the MDSM is more robust against noise. Second, it can work with a single incidence even for multi-scatterers. Numerical simulations are presented to show the good performance of the proposed method. (paper)

Efficiency of snake sampling methods in the Brazilian semiarid region.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesquita, Paula C M D; Passos, Daniel C; Cechin, Sonia Z

2013-09-01

The choice of sampling methods is a crucial step in every field survey in herpetology. In countries where time and financial support are limited, the choice of the methods is critical. The methods used to sample snakes often lack objective criteria, and the traditional methods have apparently been more important when making the choice. Consequently researches using not-standardized methods are frequently found in the literature. We have compared four commonly used methods for sampling snake assemblages in a semiarid area in Brazil. We compared the efficacy of each method based on the cost-benefit regarding the number of individuals and species captured, time, and financial investment. We found that pitfall traps were the less effective method in all aspects that were evaluated and it was not complementary to the other methods in terms of abundance of species and assemblage structure. We conclude that methods can only be considered complementary if they are standardized to the objectives of the study. The use of pitfall traps in short-term surveys of the snake fauna in areas with shrubby vegetation and stony soil is not recommended.

Willingness to Provide a Hair Sample for Drug Testing among Electronic Dance Music Party Attendees.

Science.gov (United States)

Palamar, Joseph J; Salomone, Alberto; Cleland, Charles M; Sherman, Scott

2018-04-25

Non-disclosure of drug use on surveys is common and many drug users unknowingly ingest adulterant or replacement drugs, which leads to underreporting of use of these drugs. Biological testing can complement survey research, and hair-testing is an appealing method as many drugs are detectable for months post-use. We examined willingness to donate a hair sample to be tested among those surveyed in a population at high risk for consuming adulterated drugs-electronic dance music (EDM) party attendees. We surveyed 933 adults entering EDM parties in New York City in 2017. Hair donation response rates and reasons for refusal were examined from this cross-sectional study. A third (n = 312; 33.4%) provided a hair sample. Lack of interest (21.0%), lack of time (19.8%), not wanting a lock of hair cut (17.7%), and disinterest in having hair cut in public (13.8%) were the main reported reasons for refusal. 4.7% refused because they could not receive results. Past-year drug users were more likely to fear identification than non-users (p<.001). Asian participants were at lower odds of providing a hair sample (aOR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.32-0.87), and those reporting past-year use of LSD (aOR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.11-2.35), opioids (nonmedical; aOR = 1.93, 95% CI = 1.25-2.99), and/or methamphetamine (aOR = 3.43, 95% CI = 1.36-8.62) were at higher odds of providing a sample than non-users of these drugs. Only a third of participants provided a hair sample and we found individual-level differences regarding willingness to provide a sample. Factors contributing to refusal should be considered to increase response rates and generalizability of results.

Development of a testing method for asbestos fibers in treated materials of asbestos containing wastes by transmission electron microscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamamoto, Takashi, E-mail: tyama@nies.go.jp [Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 (Japan); Kida, Akiko [Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, 3-5-7 Tarumi, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8566 (Japan); Noma, Yukio [Department of Environmental Science, Fukuoka Womens University, 1-1-1 Kasumigaoka, Higashiku, Fukuoka 813-8529 (Japan); Terazono, Atsushi [Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 (Japan); Sakai, Shin-ichi [Environmental Preservation Research Center, Kyoto University, Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyoku, Kyoto 606-8501 (Japan)

2014-02-15

Highlights: • A high sensitive and selective testing method for asbestos in treated materials of asbestos containing wastes was developed. • Asbestos can be determined at a limits are a few million fibers per gram and a few μg g{sup −1}. • High temperature melting treatment samples were determined by this method. Asbestos fiber concentration were below the quantitation limit in all samples, and total fiber concentrations were determined as 47–170 × 10{sup 6} g{sup −1}. - Abstract: Appropriate treatment of asbestos-containing wastes is a significant problem. In Japan, the inertization of asbestos-containing wastes based on new treatment processes approved by the Minister of the Environment is promoted. A highly sensitive method for testing asbestos fibers in inertized materials is required so that these processes can be approved. We developed a method in which fibers from milled treated materials are extracted in water by shaking, and are counted and identified by transmission electron microscopy. Evaluation of this method by using asbestos standards and simulated slag samples confirmed that the quantitation limits are a few million fibers per gram and a few μg/g in a sample of 50 mg per filter. We used this method to assay asbestos fibers in slag samples produced by high-temperature melting of asbestos-containing wastes. Fiber concentrations were below the quantitation limit in all samples, and total fiber concentrations were determined as 47–170 × 10{sup −6} f/g. Because the evaluation of treated materials by TEM is difficult owing to the limited amount of sample observable, this testing method should be used in conjunction with bulk analytical methods for sure evaluation of treated materials.

Methods for Characterisation of unknown Suspect Radioactive Samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahagia, M.; Grigorescu, E.L.; Luca, A.; Razdolescu, A.C.; Ivan, C.

2001-01-01

Full text: The paper presents various identification and measurement methods, used for the expertise of a wide variety of suspect radioactive materials, whose circulation was not legally stated. The main types of examined samples were: radioactive sources, illegally trafficked; suspect radioactive materials or radioactively contaminated devices; uranium tablets; fire detectors containing 241 Am sources; osmium samples containing radioactive 185 Os or enriched 187 Os. The types of analyses and determination methods were as follows: the chemical composition was determined by using identification reagents or by neutron activation analysis; the radionuclide composition was determined by using gamma-ray spectrometry; the activity and particle emission rates were determined by using calibrated radiometric equipment; the absorbed dose rate at the wall of all types of containers and samples was determined by using calibrated dose ratemeters. The radiation exposure risk for population, due to these radioactive materials, was evaluated for every case. (author)

Multielement methods of atomic fluorescence analysis of enviromental samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rigin, V.I.

1985-01-01

A multielement method of atomic fluorescence analysis of environmental samples based on sample decomposition by autoclave fluorination and gas-phase atomization of volatile compounds in inductive araon plasma using a nondispersive polychromator is suggested. Detection limits of some elements (Be, Sr, Cd, V, Mo, Te, Ru etc.) for different sample forms introduced in to an analyzer are given

Multiple double cross-section transmission electron microscope sample preparation of specific sub-10 nm diameter Si nanowire devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Gignac, Lynne M; Mittal, Surbhi; Bangsaruntip, Sarunya; Cohen, Guy M; Sleight, Jeffrey W

2011-12-01

The ability to prepare multiple cross-section transmission electron microscope (XTEM) samples from one XTEM sample of specific sub-10 nm features was demonstrated. Sub-10 nm diameter Si nanowire (NW) devices were initially cross-sectioned using a dual-beam focused ion beam system in a direction running parallel to the device channel. From this XTEM sample, both low- and high-resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM) images were obtained from six separate, specific site Si NW devices. The XTEM sample was then re-sectioned in four separate locations in a direction perpendicular to the device channel: 90° from the original XTEM sample direction. Three of the four XTEM samples were successfully sectioned in the gate region of the device. From these three samples, low- and high-resolution TEM images of the Si NW were taken and measurements of the NW diameters were obtained. This technique demonstrated the ability to obtain high-resolution TEM images in directions 90° from one another of multiple, specific sub-10 nm features that were spaced 1.1 μm apart.

The validity of the density scaling method in primary electron transport for photon and electron beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woo, M.K.; Cunningham, J.R.

1990-01-01

In the convolution/superposition method of photon beam dose calculations, inhomogeneities are usually handled by using some form of scaling involving the relative electron densities of the inhomogeneities. In this paper the accuracy of density scaling as applied to primary electrons generated in photon interactions is examined. Monte Carlo calculations are compared with density scaling calculations for air and cork slab inhomogeneities. For individual primary photon kernels as well as for photon interactions restricted to a thin layer, the results can differ significantly, by up to 50%, between the two calculations. However, for realistic photon beams where interactions occur throughout the whole irradiated volume, the discrepancies are much less severe. The discrepancies for the kernel calculation are attributed to the scattering characteristics of the electrons and the consequent oversimplified modeling used in the density scaling method. A technique called the kernel integration technique is developed to analyze the general effects of air and cork inhomogeneities. It is shown that the discrepancies become significant only under rather extreme conditions, such as immediately beyond the surface after a large air gap. In electron beams all the primary electrons originate from the surface of the phantom and the errors caused by simple density scaling can be much more significant. Various aspects relating to the accuracy of density scaling for air and cork slab inhomogeneities are discussed

A DOE manual: DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goheen, S.C.; McCulloch, M.; Riley, R.G.

1994-01-01

Waste Management inherently requires knowledge of the waste's chemical composition. The waste can often be analyzed by established methods; however, if the samples are radioactive, or are plagued by other complications, established methods may not be feasible. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has been faced with managing some waste types that are not amenable to standard or available methods, so new or modified sampling and analysis methods are required. These methods are incorporated into DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods), which is a guidance/methods document for sampling and analysis activities in support of DOE sites. It is a document generated by consensus of the DOE laboratory staff and is intended to fill the gap within existing guidance documents (e. g., the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, SW-846), which apply to low-level or non-radioactive samples. DOE Methods fills the gap by including methods that take into account the complexities of DOE site matrices. The most recent update, distributed in October 1993, contained quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC), safety, sampling, organic analysis, inorganic analysis, and radioanalytical guidance as well as 29 methods. The next update, which will be distributed in April 1994, will contain 40 methods and will therefore have greater applicability. All new methods are either peer reviewed or labeled ''draft'' methods. Draft methods were added to speed the release of methods to field personnel

Immunoassay of C-reactive protein by hot electron induced electrochemiluminescence using integrated electrodes with hydrophobic sample confinement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ylinen-Hinkka, T., E-mail: tiina.ylinen-hinkka@aalto.fi [Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, P.O. Box 16100, FI-00076 Aalto (Finland); Niskanen, A.J.; Franssila, S. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, P.O. Box 16200, FI-00076 Aalto (Finland); Kulmala, S. [Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, P.O. Box 16100, FI-00076 Aalto (Finland)

2011-09-19

Highlights: {center_dot} C-reactive protein has been determined in the concentration range 0.01-10 mg L{sup -1} using an electrochemiluminescence microchip which employs integrated electrodes with hydrophobic sample confinement. {center_dot} This arrangement enables very simple and fast CRP analysis amenable to point-of-care applications. - Abstract: C-reactive protein (CRP) was determined in the concentration range 0.01-10 mg L{sup -1} using hot electron induced electrochemiluminescence (HECL) with devices combining both working and counter electrodes and sample confinement on a single chip. The sample area on the electrodes was defined by a hydrophobic ring, which enabled dispensing the reagents and the analyte directly on the electrode. Immunoassay of CRP by HECL using integrated electrodes is a good candidate for a high-sensitivity point-of-care CRP-test, because the concentration range is suitable, miniaturisation of the measurement system has been demonstrated and the assay method with integrated electrodes is easy to use. High-sensitivity CRP tests can be used to monitor the current state of cardiovascular disease and also to predict future cardiovascular problems in apparently healthy people.

Sampling and sample preparation methods for the analysis of trace elements in biological material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sansoni, B.; Iyengar, V.

1978-05-01

The authors attempt to give a most systamtic possible treatment of the sample taking and sample preparation of biological material (particularly in human medicine) for trace analysis (e.g. neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry). Contamination and loss problems are discussed as well as the manifold problems of the different consistency of solid and liquid biological materials, as well as the stabilization of the sample material. The process of dry and wet ashing is particularly dealt with, where new methods are also described. (RB) [de

Relativistic convergent close-coupling method applied to electron scattering from mercury

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bostock, Christopher J.; Fursa, Dmitry V.; Bray, Igor

2010-01-01

We report on the extension of the recently formulated relativistic convergent close-coupling (RCCC) method to accommodate two-electron and quasi-two-electron targets. We apply the theory to electron scattering from mercury and obtain differential and integrated cross sections for elastic and inelastic scattering. We compared with previous nonrelativistic convergent close-coupling (CCC) calculations and for a number of transitions obtained significantly better agreement with the experiment. The RCCC method is able to resolve structure in the integrated cross sections for the energy regime in the vicinity of the excitation thresholds for the (6s6p) 3 P 0,1,2 states. These cross sections are associated with the formation of negative ion (Hg - ) resonances that could not be resolved with the nonrelativistic CCC method. The RCCC results are compared with the experiment and other relativistic theories.

[Progress in sample preparation and analytical methods for trace polar small molecules in complex samples].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qianchun; Luo, Xialin; Li, Gongke; Xiao, Xiaohua

2015-09-01

Small polar molecules such as nucleosides, amines, amino acids are important analytes in biological, food, environmental, and other fields. It is necessary to develop efficient sample preparation and sensitive analytical methods for rapid analysis of these polar small molecules in complex matrices. Some typical materials in sample preparation, including silica, polymer, carbon, boric acid and so on, are introduced in this paper. Meanwhile, the applications and developments of analytical methods of polar small molecules, such as reversed-phase liquid chromatography, hydrophilic interaction chromatography, etc., are also reviewed.

Highly Al-doped TiO2 nanoparticles produced by Ball Mill Method: structural and electronic characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, Desireé M. de los; Navas, Javier; Sánchez-Coronilla, Antonio; Alcántara, Rodrigo; Fernández-Lorenzo, Concha; Martín-Calleja, Joaquín

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Highly Al-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles were synthesized using a Ball Mill Method. • Al doping delayed anatase to rutile phase transformation. • Al doping allow controlling the structural and electronic properties of nanoparticles. - Abstract: This study presents an easy method for synthesizing highly doped TiO 2 nanoparticles. The Ball Mill method was used to synthesize pure and Al-doped titanium dioxide, with an atomic percentage up to 15.7 at.% Al/(Al + Ti). The samples were annealed at 773 K, 973 K and 1173 K, and characterized using ICP-AES, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR, TG, STEM, XPS, and UV–vis spectroscopy. The effect of doping and the calcination temperature on the structure and properties of the nanoparticles were studied. The results show high levels of internal doping due to the substitution of Ti 4+ ions by Al 3+ in the TiO 2 lattice. Furthermore, anatase to rutile transformation occurs at higher temperatures when the percentage of doping increases. Therefore, Al doping allows us to control the structural and electronic properties of the nanoparticle synthesized. So, it is possible to obtain nanoparticles with anatase as predominant phase in a higher range of temperature

Methods of sampling airborne fungi in working environments of waste treatment facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Černá, Kristýna; Wittlingerová, Zdeňka; Zimová, Magdaléna; Janovský, Zdeněk

2016-01-01

The objective of the present study was to evaluate and compare the efficiency of a filter based sampling method and a high volume sampling method for sampling airborne culturable fungi present in waste sorting facilities. Membrane filters method was compared with surface air system method. The selected sampling methods were modified and tested in 2 plastic waste sorting facilities. The total number of colony-forming units (CFU)/m3 of airborne fungi was dependent on the type of sampling device, on the time of sampling, which was carried out every hour from the beginning of the work shift, and on the type of cultivation medium (p airborne fungi ranged 2×102-1.7×106 CFU/m3 when using the membrane filters (MF) method, and 3×102-6.4×104 CFU/m3 when using the surface air system (SAS) method. Both methods showed comparable sensitivity to the fluctuations of the concentrations of airborne fungi during the work shifts. The SAS method is adequate for a fast indicative determination of concentration of airborne fungi. The MF method is suitable for thorough assessment of working environment contamination by airborne fungi. Therefore we recommend the MF method for the implementation of a uniform standard methodology of airborne fungi sampling in working environments of waste treatment facilities. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

In-situ measurements of the secondary electron yield in an accelerator environment: Instrumentation and methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartung, W.H.; Asner, D.M.; Conway, J.V.; Dennett, C.A.; Greenwald, S.; Kim, J.-S.; Li, Y.; Moore, T.P.; Omanovic, V.; Palmer, M.A.; Strohman, C.R.

2015-01-01

The performance of a particle accelerator can be limited by the build-up of an electron cloud (EC) in the vacuum chamber. Secondary electron emission from the chamber walls can contribute to EC growth. An apparatus for in-situ measurements of the secondary electron yield (SEY) in the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) was developed in connection with EC studies for the CESR Test Accelerator program. The CESR in-situ system, in operation since 2010, allows for SEY measurements as a function of incident electron energy and angle on samples that are exposed to the accelerator environment, typically 5.3 GeV counter-rotating beams of electrons and positrons. The system was designed for periodic measurements to observe beam conditioning of the SEY with discrimination between exposure to direct photons from synchrotron radiation versus scattered photons and cloud electrons. The samples can be exchanged without venting the CESR vacuum chamber. Measurements have been done on metal surfaces and EC-mitigation coatings. The in-situ SEY apparatus and improvements to the measurement tools and techniques are described

In-situ measurements of the secondary electron yield in an accelerator environment: Instrumentation and methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hartung, W.H., E-mail: wh29@cornell.edu; Asner, D.M.; Conway, J.V.; Dennett, C.A.; Greenwald, S.; Kim, J.-S.; Li, Y.; Moore, T.P.; Omanovic, V.; Palmer, M.A.; Strohman, C.R.

2015-05-21

The performance of a particle accelerator can be limited by the build-up of an electron cloud (EC) in the vacuum chamber. Secondary electron emission from the chamber walls can contribute to EC growth. An apparatus for in-situ measurements of the secondary electron yield (SEY) in the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) was developed in connection with EC studies for the CESR Test Accelerator program. The CESR in-situ system, in operation since 2010, allows for SEY measurements as a function of incident electron energy and angle on samples that are exposed to the accelerator environment, typically 5.3 GeV counter-rotating beams of electrons and positrons. The system was designed for periodic measurements to observe beam conditioning of the SEY with discrimination between exposure to direct photons from synchrotron radiation versus scattered photons and cloud electrons. The samples can be exchanged without venting the CESR vacuum chamber. Measurements have been done on metal surfaces and EC-mitigation coatings. The in-situ SEY apparatus and improvements to the measurement tools and techniques are described.

Single- versus multiple-sample method to measure glomerular filtration rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Delanaye, Pierre; Flamant, Martin; Dubourg, Laurence; Vidal-Petiot, Emmanuelle; Lemoine, Sandrine; Cavalier, Etienne; Schaeffner, Elke; Ebert, Natalie; Pottel, Hans

2018-01-08

There are many different ways to measure glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using various exogenous filtration markers, each having their own strengths and limitations. However, not only the marker, but also the methodology may vary in many ways, including the use of urinary or plasma clearance, and, in the case of plasma clearance, the number of time points used to calculate the area under the concentration-time curve, ranging from only one (Jacobsson method) to eight (or more) blood samples. We collected the results obtained from 5106 plasma clearances (iohexol or 51Cr-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)) using three to four time points, allowing GFR calculation using the slope-intercept method and the Bröchner-Mortensen correction. For each time point, the Jacobsson formula was applied to obtain the single-sample GFR. We used Bland-Altman plots to determine the accuracy of the Jacobsson method at each time point. The single-sample method showed within 10% concordances with the multiple-sample method of 66.4%, 83.6%, 91.4% and 96.0% at the time points 120, 180, 240 and ≥300 min, respectively. Concordance was poorer at lower GFR levels, and this trend is in parallel with increasing age. Results were similar in males and females. Some discordance was found in the obese subjects. Single-sample GFR is highly concordant with a multiple-sample strategy, except in the low GFR range (<30 mL/min). © The Author 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.

Surveying immigrants without sampling frames - evaluating the success of alternative field methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichel, David; Morales, Laura

2017-01-01

This paper evaluates the sampling methods of an international survey, the Immigrant Citizens Survey, which aimed at surveying immigrants from outside the European Union (EU) in 15 cities in seven EU countries. In five countries, no sample frame was available for the target population. Consequently, alternative ways to obtain a representative sample had to be found. In three countries 'location sampling' was employed, while in two countries traditional methods were used with adaptations to reach the target population. The paper assesses the main methodological challenges of carrying out a survey among a group of immigrants for whom no sampling frame exists. The samples of the survey in these five countries are compared to results of official statistics in order to assess the accuracy of the samples obtained through the different sampling methods. It can be shown that alternative sampling methods can provide meaningful results in terms of core demographic characteristics although some estimates differ to some extent from the census results.

Sampling and analysis methods for geothermal fluids and gases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shannon, D. W.

1978-01-01

The data obtained for the first round robin sample collected at Mesa 6-2 wellhead, East Mesa Test Site, Imperial Valley are summarized. Test results are listed by method used for cross reference to the analytic methods section. Results obtained for radioactive isotopes present in the brine sample are tabulated. The data obtained for the second round robin sample collected from the Woolsey No. 1 first stage flash unit, San Diego Gas and Electric Niland Test Facility are presented in the same manner. Lists of the participants of the two round robins are given. Data from miscellaneous analyses are included. Summaries of values derived from the round robin raw data are presented. (MHR)

The method of radioactive tracer for measuring the amount of inorganic nanoparticles in biological samples

Science.gov (United States)

Buzulukov, Yu; Antsiferova, A.; Demin, V. A.; Demin, V. F.; Kashkarov, P.

2015-11-01

The method to measure the mass of inorganic nanoparticles in biological (or any other samples) using nanoparticles labeled with radioactive tracers is developed and applied to practice. The tracers are produced in original nanoparticles by radioactive activation of some of their atomic nuclei. The method of radioactive tracers demonstrates a sensitivity, specificity and accuracy equal or better than popular methods of optical and mass spectrometry, or electron microscopy and has some specific advantages. The method can be used for study of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion in living organism, as well as in ecological and fundamental research. It was used in practice to study absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of nanoparticles of Ag, Au, Se, ZnO, TiO2 as well as to study transportation of silver nanoparticles through the barriers of blood-brain, placenta and milk gland of rats. Brief descriptions of data obtained in experiments with application of this method included in the article. The method was certified in Russian Federation standard system GOST-R and recommended by the Russian Federation regulation authority ROSPOTREBNADZOR for measuring of toxicokinetic and organotropy parameters of nanoparticles.

The problem of large samples. An activation analysis study of electronic waste material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Segebade, C.; Goerner, W.; Bode, P.

2007-01-01

Large-volume instrumental photon activation analysis (IPAA) was used for the investigation of shredded electronic waste material. Sample masses from 1 to 150 grams were analyzed to obtain an estimate of the minimum sample size to be taken to achieve a representativeness of the results which is satisfactory for a defined investigation task. Furthermore, the influence of irradiation and measurement parameters upon the quality of the analytical results were studied. Finally, the analytical data obtained from IPAA and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), both carried out in a large-volume mode, were compared. Only parts of the values were found in satisfactory agreement. (author)

Efficient free energy calculations by combining two complementary tempering sampling methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Liangxu; Shen, Lin; Chen, Zhe-Ning; Yang, Mingjun

2017-01-14

Although energy barriers can be efficiently crossed in the reaction coordinate (RC) guided sampling, this type of method suffers from identification of the correct RCs or requirements of high dimensionality of the defined RCs for a given system. If only the approximate RCs with significant barriers are used in the simulations, hidden energy barriers with small to medium height would exist in other degrees of freedom (DOFs) relevant to the target process and consequently cause the problem of insufficient sampling. To address the sampling in this so-called hidden barrier situation, here we propose an effective approach to combine temperature accelerated molecular dynamics (TAMD), an efficient RC-guided sampling method, with the integrated tempering sampling (ITS), a generalized ensemble sampling method. In this combined ITS-TAMD method, the sampling along the major RCs with high energy barriers is guided by TAMD and the sampling of the rest of the DOFs with lower but not negligible barriers is enhanced by ITS. The performance of ITS-TAMD to three systems in the processes with hidden barriers has been examined. In comparison to the standalone TAMD or ITS approach, the present hybrid method shows three main improvements. (1) Sampling efficiency can be improved at least five times even if in the presence of hidden energy barriers. (2) The canonical distribution can be more accurately recovered, from which the thermodynamic properties along other collective variables can be computed correctly. (3) The robustness of the selection of major RCs suggests that the dimensionality of necessary RCs can be reduced. Our work shows more potential applications of the ITS-TAMD method as the efficient and powerful tool for the investigation of a broad range of interesting cases.

SnagPRO: snag and tree sampling and analysis methods for wildlife

Science.gov (United States)

Lisa J. Bate; Michael J. Wisdom; Edward O. Garton; Shawn C. Clabough

2008-01-01

We describe sampling methods and provide software to accurately and efficiently estimate snag and tree densities at desired scales to meet a variety of research and management objectives. The methods optimize sampling effort by choosing a plot size appropriate for the specified forest conditions and sampling goals. Plot selection and data analyses are supported by...

On the absorbed dose determination method in high energy electrons beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scarlat, F.; Scarisoreanu, A.; Oane, M.; Mitru, E.; Avadanei, C.

2008-01-01

The absorbed dose determination method in water for electron beams with energies in the range from 1 MeV to 50 MeV is presented herein. The dosimetry equipment for measurements is composed of an UNIDOS.PTW electrometer and different ionization chambers calibrated in air kerma in a Co 60 beam. Starting from the code of practice for high energy electron beams, this paper describes the method adopted by the secondary standard dosimetry laboratory (SSDL) in NILPRP - Bucharest

Soil separator and sampler and method of sampling

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Barry H [Idaho Falls, ID; Ritter, Paul D [Idaho Falls, ID

2010-02-16

A soil sampler includes a fluidized bed for receiving a soil sample. The fluidized bed may be in communication with a vacuum for drawing air through the fluidized bed and suspending particulate matter of the soil sample in the air. In a method of sampling, the air may be drawn across a filter, separating the particulate matter. Optionally, a baffle or a cyclone may be included within the fluidized bed for disentrainment, or dedusting, so only the finest particulate matter, including asbestos, will be trapped on the filter. The filter may be removable, and may be tested to determine the content of asbestos and other hazardous particulate matter in the soil sample.

Method for pulse to pulse dose reproducibility applied to electron linear accelerators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ighigeanu, D.; Martin, D.; Oproiu, C.; Cirstea, E.; Craciun, G.

2002-01-01

An original method for obtaining programmed beam single shots and pulse trains with programmed pulse number, pulse repetition frequency, pulse duration and pulse dose is presented. It is particularly useful for automatic control of absorbed dose rate level, irradiation process control as well as in pulse radiolysis studies, single pulse dose measurement or for research experiments where pulse-to-pulse dose reproducibility is required. This method is applied to the electron linear accelerators, ALIN-10 of 6.23 MeV and 82 W and ALID-7, of 5.5 MeV and 670 W, built in NILPRP. In order to implement this method, the accelerator triggering system (ATS) consists of two branches: the gun branch and the magnetron branch. ATS, which synchronizes all the system units, delivers trigger pulses at a programmed repetition rate (up to 250 pulses/s) to the gun (80 kV, 10 A and 4 ms) and magnetron (45 kV, 100 A, and 4 ms).The accelerated electron beam existence is determined by the electron gun and magnetron pulses overlapping. The method consists in controlling the overlapping of pulses in order to deliver the beam in the desired sequence. This control is implemented by a discrete pulse position modulation of gun and/or magnetron pulses. The instabilities of the gun and magnetron transient regimes are avoided by operating the accelerator with no accelerated beam for a certain time. At the operator 'beam start' command, the ATS controls electron gun and magnetron pulses overlapping and the linac beam is generated. The pulse-to-pulse absorbed dose variation is thus considerably reduced. Programmed absorbed dose, irradiation time, beam pulse number or other external events may interrupt the coincidence between the gun and magnetron pulses. Slow absorbed dose variation is compensated by the control of the pulse duration and repetition frequency. Two methods are reported in the electron linear accelerators' development for obtaining the pulse to pulse dose reproducibility: the method

Detecting spatial structures in throughfall data: The effect of extent, sample size, sampling design, and variogram estimation method

Science.gov (United States)

Voss, Sebastian; Zimmermann, Beate; Zimmermann, Alexander

2016-09-01

In the last decades, an increasing number of studies analyzed spatial patterns in throughfall by means of variograms. The estimation of the variogram from sample data requires an appropriate sampling scheme: most importantly, a large sample and a layout of sampling locations that often has to serve both variogram estimation and geostatistical prediction. While some recommendations on these aspects exist, they focus on Gaussian data and high ratios of the variogram range to the extent of the study area. However, many hydrological data, and throughfall data in particular, do not follow a Gaussian distribution. In this study, we examined the effect of extent, sample size, sampling design, and calculation method on variogram estimation of throughfall data. For our investigation, we first generated non-Gaussian random fields based on throughfall data with large outliers. Subsequently, we sampled the fields with three extents (plots with edge lengths of 25 m, 50 m, and 100 m), four common sampling designs (two grid-based layouts, transect and random sampling) and five sample sizes (50, 100, 150, 200, 400). We then estimated the variogram parameters by method-of-moments (non-robust and robust estimators) and residual maximum likelihood. Our key findings are threefold. First, the choice of the extent has a substantial influence on the estimation of the variogram. A comparatively small ratio of the extent to the correlation length is beneficial for variogram estimation. Second, a combination of a minimum sample size of 150, a design that ensures the sampling of small distances and variogram estimation by residual maximum likelihood offers a good compromise between accuracy and efficiency. Third, studies relying on method-of-moments based variogram estimation may have to employ at least 200 sampling points for reliable variogram estimates. These suggested sample sizes exceed the number recommended by studies dealing with Gaussian data by up to 100 %. Given that most previous

Ultrasonic Nebulizer Assisted LIBS: a Promising Metal Elements Detection Method for Aqueous Sample Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhong Shilei; Zheng Ronger; Lu Yuan; Cheng Kai; Xiu Junshan

2015-01-01

A newly developed approach for trace metal elements detection for aqueous samples analysis is presented in this paper. The idea of this approach is to improve ablation efficiency by transforming the liquid sample into a dense cloud of droplets using an ultrasonic nebulizer. The resulting droplets are then subjected to analysis by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). A purpose-built ultrasonic nebulizer assisted LIBS (UN-LIBS) system has been applied to the analysis of aqueous samples at trace levels of concentration. Experimental investigations of solution samples were carried out with various dissolved trace metal elements (Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Fe, Mg and Na) using this approach. The characteristics of UN-LIBS signal of the elements were investigated regarding the lifetime and S/B ratio and the calibration curves for trace metal elements analyses. The obtained LODs are comparable or much better than the LODS of the reported signal enhancement approaches when the laser pulse energy was as low as 30 mJ. The good linearity of calibration curves and the low LODs shows the potential ability of this method for metal elements analysis application. The density of the electrons was calculated by measuring the Stark width of the line of H α . The possible mechanism of the LIBS signal enhancement of this approach was briefly discussed. (paper)

Culture methods of allograft musculoskeletal tissue samples in Australian bacteriology laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Varettas, Kerry

2013-12-01

Samples of allograft musculoskeletal tissue are cultured by bacteriology laboratories to determine the presence of bacteria and fungi. In Australia, this testing is performed by 6 TGA-licensed clinical bacteriology laboratories with samples received from 10 tissue banks. Culture methods of swab and tissue samples employ a combination of solid agar and/or broth media to enhance micro-organism growth and maximise recovery. All six Australian laboratories receive Amies transport swabs and, except for one laboratory, a corresponding biopsy sample for testing. Three of the 6 laboratories culture at least one allograft sample directly onto solid agar. Only one laboratory did not use a broth culture for any sample received. An international literature review found that a similar combination of musculoskeletal tissue samples were cultured onto solid agar and/or broth media. Although variations of allograft musculoskeletal tissue samples, culture media and methods are used in Australian and international bacteriology laboratories, validation studies and method evaluations have challenged and supported their use in recovering fungi and aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.

New Combined Electron-Beam Methods of Wastewater Purification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pikaev, A.K.; Makarov, I.E.; Ponomarev, A.V.; Kartasheva, L.I.; Podzorova, E.A.; Chulkov, V.N.; Han, B.; Kim, D.K.

1999-01-01

The paper is a brief review of the results obtained with the participation of the authors from the study on combined electron-beam methods for purification of some wastewaters. The data on purification of wastewaters containing dyes or hydrogen peroxide and municipal wastewater in the aerosol flow are considered

Toward a More Robust and Efficient Usability Testing Method of Clinical Decision Support for Nurses Derived From Nursing Electronic Health Record Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, Karen Dunn; Febretti, Alessandro; Stifter, Janet; Johnson, Andrew; Wilkie, Diana J; Keenan, Gail

2017-10-01

To develop methods for rapid and simultaneous design, testing, and management of multiple clinical decision support (CDS) features to aid nurse decision-making. We used quota sampling, think-aloud and cognitive interviews, and deductive and inductive coding of synchronized audio video data and archival libraries. Our methods and organizational tools allowed us to rapidly improve the usability, understandability, and usefulness of CDS in a generalizable sample of practicing nurses. The method outlined allows the rapid integration of nursing terminology based electronic health record data into routine workflow and holds strong potential for improving patient outcomes. The methods and organizational tools for development of multiple CDS system features can be used to translate knowledge into practice. © 2016 NANDA International, Inc.

The SAMPLE experiment: Parity-violating electron scattering from the proton and deuteron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pitt, M.; Arrington, J.; Beck, D.; Beise, E.; Candell, E.; Cardman, L.; Carr, R.; Dodson, G.; Dow, K.; Duncan, F.; Farkhondeh, M.; Filippone, B.; Forest, T.; Gao, H.; Korsch, W.; Kowalski, S.; Lung, A.; McKeown, R.; Mohring, R.; Mueller, B.; Napolitano, J.; Simicevic, N.; Terburg, B.; Witkowski, M.

1995-01-01

Recent experimental evidence on nucleon structure has provided indications that some strange quark matrix elements can be comparable to those involving up and down quarks. The SAMPLE experiment will determine the strange magnetic form factor G s M at Q 2 =0.1 (GeV/c) 2 from a measurement of the asymmetry in the scattering of polarized electrons from the proton. The error on the extraction of G s M is ultimately limited by a theoretical uncertainty---the uncertain electroweak hadronic radiative correction to the axial form factor, R T=1 A . To address this issue, the collaboration is also approved to measure the asymmetry in parity-violating quasielastic electron scattering from the deuteron. The combination of the proton and deuteron measurements will yield a value of G s M that is almost completely free of the uncertainty in R T=1 A

Implementing and evaluating a fictitious electron dynamics method for the calculation of electronic structure: Application to the Si(100) surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, M J H; Claassens, C H

2006-01-01

A density matrix based fictitious electron dynamics method for calculating electronic structure has been implemented within a semi-empirical quantum chemistry environment. This method uses an equation of motion that implicitly ensures the idempotency constraint on the density matrix. Test calculations showed that this method has potential of being combined with simultaneous atomic dynamics, in analogy to the popular Car-Parrinello method. In addition, the sparsity of the density matrix and the sophisticated though flexible way of ensuring idempotency conservation while integrating the equation of motion creates the potential of developing a fast linear scaling method

Detection of protozoa in water samples by formalin/ether concentration method.

Science.gov (United States)

Lora-Suarez, Fabiana; Rivera, Raul; Triviño-Valencia, Jessica; Gomez-Marin, Jorge E

2016-09-01

Methods to detect protozoa in water samples are expensive and laborious. We evaluated the formalin/ether concentration method to detect Giardia sp., Cryptosporidium sp. and Toxoplasma in water. In order to test the properties of the method, we spiked water samples with different amounts of each protozoa (0, 10 and 50 cysts or oocysts) in a volume of 10 L of water. Immunofluorescence assay was used for detection of Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Toxoplasma oocysts were identified by morphology. The mean percent of recovery in 10 repetitions of the entire method, in 10 samples spiked with ten parasites and read by three different observers, were for Cryptosporidium 71.3 ± 12, for Giardia 63 ± 10 and for Toxoplasma 91.6 ± 9 and the relative standard deviation of the method was of 17.5, 17.2 and 9.8, respectively. Intraobserver variation as measured by intraclass correlation coefficient, was fair for Toxoplasma, moderate for Cryptosporidium and almost perfect for Giardia. The method was then applied in 77 samples of raw and drinkable water in three different plant of water treatment. Cryptosporidium was found in 28 of 77 samples (36%) and Giardia in 31 of 77 samples (40%). Theses results identified significant differences in treatment process to reduce the presence of Giardia and Cryptosporidium. In conclusion, the formalin ether method to concentrate protozoa in water is a new alternative for low resources countries, where is urgently need to monitor and follow the presence of theses protozoa in drinkable water. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determination of ten pyrethroids in various fruit juices: comparison of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction sample preparation and QuEChERS method combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yaohai; Zhang, Xuelian; Jiao, Bining

2014-09-15

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) sample preparation and the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) method combined with DLLME were developed and compared for the analysis of ten pyrethroids in various fruit juices using gas chromatography-electron capture detection (GC-ECD). QuEChERS-DLLME method has found its widespread applications to all the fruit juices including those samples with more complex matrices (orange, lemon, kiwi and mango) while DLLME was confined to the fruit juices with simpler matrices (apple, pear, grape and peach). The two methods provided acceptable recoveries and repeatability. In addition, the applicabilities of two methods were demonstrated with the real samples and further confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Modified Monte Carlo method for study of electron transport in degenerate electron gas in the presence of electron–electron interactions, application to graphene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borowik, Piotr; Thobel, Jean-Luc; Adamowicz, Leszek

2017-01-01

Standard computational methods used to take account of the Pauli Exclusion Principle into Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of electron transport in semiconductors may give unphysical results in low field regime, where obtained electron distribution function takes values exceeding unity. Modified algorithms were already proposed and allow to correctly account for electron scattering on phonons or impurities. Present paper extends this approach and proposes improved simulation scheme allowing including Pauli exclusion principle for electron–electron (e–e) scattering into MC simulations. Simulations with significantly reduced computational cost recreate correct values of the electron distribution function. Proposed algorithm is applied to study transport properties of degenerate electrons in graphene with e–e interactions. This required adapting the treatment of e–e scattering in the case of linear band dispersion relation. Hence, this part of the simulation algorithm is described in details.

Modified Monte Carlo method for study of electron transport in degenerate electron gas in the presence of electron–electron interactions, application to graphene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borowik, Piotr, E-mail: pborow@poczta.onet.pl [Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Physics, ul. Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warszawa (Poland); Thobel, Jean-Luc, E-mail: jean-luc.thobel@iemn.univ-lille1.fr [Institut d' Electronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologies, UMR CNRS 8520, Université Lille 1, Avenue Poincaré, CS 60069, 59652 Villeneuve d' Ascq Cédex (France); Adamowicz, Leszek, E-mail: adamo@if.pw.edu.pl [Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Physics, ul. Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warszawa (Poland)

2017-07-15

Standard computational methods used to take account of the Pauli Exclusion Principle into Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of electron transport in semiconductors may give unphysical results in low field regime, where obtained electron distribution function takes values exceeding unity. Modified algorithms were already proposed and allow to correctly account for electron scattering on phonons or impurities. Present paper extends this approach and proposes improved simulation scheme allowing including Pauli exclusion principle for electron–electron (e–e) scattering into MC simulations. Simulations with significantly reduced computational cost recreate correct values of the electron distribution function. Proposed algorithm is applied to study transport properties of degenerate electrons in graphene with e–e interactions. This required adapting the treatment of e–e scattering in the case of linear band dispersion relation. Hence, this part of the simulation algorithm is described in details.

Comparison of sampling methods for radiocarbon dating of carbonyls in air samples via accelerator mass spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schindler, Matthias, E-mail: matthias.schindler@physik.uni-erlangen.de; Kretschmer, Wolfgang; Scharf, Andreas; Tschekalinskij, Alexander

2016-05-15

Three new methods to sample and prepare various carbonyl compounds for radiocarbon measurements were developed and tested. Two of these procedures utilized the Strecker synthetic method to form amino acids from carbonyl compounds with either sodium cyanide or trimethylsilyl cyanide. The third procedure used semicarbazide to form crystalline carbazones with the carbonyl compounds. The resulting amino acids and semicarbazones were then separated and purified using thin layer chromatography. The separated compounds were then combusted to CO{sub 2} and reduced to graphite to determine {sup 14}C content by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). All of these methods were also compared with the standard carbonyl compound sampling method wherein a compound is derivatized with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine and then separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Comparison of sampling methods for radiocarbon dating of carbonyls in air samples via accelerator mass spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

Schindler, Matthias; Kretschmer, Wolfgang; Scharf, Andreas; Tschekalinskij, Alexander

2016-05-01

Three new methods to sample and prepare various carbonyl compounds for radiocarbon measurements were developed and tested. Two of these procedures utilized the Strecker synthetic method to form amino acids from carbonyl compounds with either sodium cyanide or trimethylsilyl cyanide. The third procedure used semicarbazide to form crystalline carbazones with the carbonyl compounds. The resulting amino acids and semicarbazones were then separated and purified using thin layer chromatography. The separated compounds were then combusted to CO2 and reduced to graphite to determine 14C content by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). All of these methods were also compared with the standard carbonyl compound sampling method wherein a compound is derivatized with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine and then separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Assessment of reagent effectiveness and preservation methods for equine faecal samples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Vavrouchova

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of our study was to identify the most suitable flotation solution and effective preservation method for the examination of equine faeces samples using the FLOTAC technique. Samples from naturally infected horses were transported to the laboratory andanalysed accordingly. The sample from each horse was homogenized and divided into four parts: one was frozen, another two were preserved in different reagents such as sodium acetate-acetic-acid–formalin (SAF or 5% formalin.The last part was examined as a fresh sample in three different flotation solutions (Sheather´s solution, sodium chloride and sodium nitrate solution, all with a specific gravity 1.200. The preserved samples were examined in the period from 14 to21days after collection. According to our results, the sucrose solution was the most suitable flotation solution for fresh samples (small strongyle egg per gram was 706 compared to 360 in sodium chlorid and 507 in sodium nitrate and the sodium nitrate solution was the most efficient for the preserved samples (egg per gram was 382 compared to 295 in salt solution and 305 in sucrose solution. Freezing appears to be the most effective method of sample preservation, resulting in minimal damage to fragile strongyle eggs and therefore it is the most simple and effective preservation method for the examination of large numbers of faecal samples without the necessity of examining them all within 48 hours of collection. Deep freezing as a preservation method for equine faeces samples has not, according to our knowledge, been yet published.

Methods of organization of SCORM-compliant teaching materials in electronic format

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacek Marciniak

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a method of organizing electronic teaching materials based on their role in the teaching process rather than their technical structure. Our method allows SCORM materials stored as e-learning courses („electronic books” to be subdivided and structured so that content can be used in multiple contexts. As a standard, SCORM defines rules for organizing content, but not how to divide and structure it. Our method uses UCTS nomenclature to divide content, define relationships between content entities, and aggregate those entities into courses. This allows content to be shared in different implementations of SCORM while guaranteeing that usability and consistency are maintained.

Extending the alias Monte Carlo sampling method to general distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edwards, A.L.; Rathkopf, J.A.; Smidt, R.K.

1991-01-01

The alias method is a Monte Carlo sampling technique that offers significant advantages over more traditional methods. It equals the accuracy of table lookup and the speed of equal probable bins. The original formulation of this method sampled from discrete distributions and was easily extended to histogram distributions. We have extended the method further to applications more germane to Monte Carlo particle transport codes: continuous distributions. This paper presents the alias method as originally derived and our extensions to simple continuous distributions represented by piecewise linear functions. We also present a method to interpolate accurately between distributions tabulated at points other than the point of interest. We present timing studies that demonstrate the method's increased efficiency over table lookup and show further speedup achieved through vectorization. 6 refs., 12 figs., 2 tabs

Research and application of sampling and analysis method of sodium aerosol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu Xiaochen; Guo Qingzhou; Wen Ximeng

1998-01-01

Method of sampling-analysis for sodium aerosol is researched. The vacuum sampling technology is used in the sampling process, and the analysis method adopted is volumetric analysis and atomic absorption. When the absolute content of sodium is in the rang of 0.1 mg to 1.0 mg, the deviation of results between volumetric analysis and atomic absorption is less than 2%. The method has been applied in a sodium aerosol removal device successfully. The analysis range, accuracy and precision can meet the requirements for researching sodium aerosol

A novel method for fission product noble gas sampling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, S.K.; Prakash, Vivek; Singh, G.K.; Vinay, Kr.; Awsthi, A.; Bihari, K.; Joyson, R.; Manu, K.; Gupta, Ashok

2008-01-01

Noble gases occur to some extent in the Earth's atmosphere, but the concentrations of all but argon are exceedingly low. Argon is plentiful, constituting almost 1 % of the air. Fission Product Noble Gases (FPNG) are produced by nuclear fission and large parts of FPNG is produced in Nuclear reactions. FPNG are b-j emitters and contributing significantly in public dose. During normal operation of reactor release of FPNG is negligible but its release increases in case of fuel failure. Xenon, a member of FPNG family helps in identification of fuel failure and its extent in PHWRs. Due to above reasons it becomes necessary to assess the FPNG release during operation of NPPs. Presently used methodology of assessment of FPNG, at almost all power stations is Computer based gamma ray spectrometry. This provides fission product Noble gases nuclide identification through peak search of spectra. The air sample for the same is collected by grab sampling method, which has inherent disadvantages. An alternate method was developed at Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) - 3 and 4 for assessment of FPNG, which uses adsorption phenomena for collection of air samples. This report presents details of sampling method for FPNG and noble gases in different systems of Nuclear Power Plant. (author)

A novel method for qualitative analysis of edible oil oxidation using an electronic nose.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Lirong; Yu, Xiuzhu; Liu, Lei; Zhang, Rui

2016-07-01

An electronic nose (E-nose) was used for rapid assessment of the degree of oxidation in edible oils. Peroxide and acid values of edible oil samples were analyzed using data obtained by the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS) Official Method for reference. Qualitative discrimination between non-oxidized and oxidized oils was conducted using the E-nose technique developed in combination with cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The results from CA, PCA and LDA indicated that the E-nose technique could be used for differentiation of non-oxidized and oxidized oils. LDA produced slightly better results than CA and PCA. The proposed approach can be used as an alternative to AOCS Official Method as an innovative tool for rapid detection of edible oil oxidation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effective absorption correction for energy dispersive X-ray mapping in a scanning transmission electron microscope: analysing the local indium distribution in rough samples of InGaN alloy layers.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X; Chauvat, M-P; Ruterana, P; Walther, T

2017-12-01

We have applied our previous method of self-consistent k*-factors for absorption correction in energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to quantify the indium content in X-ray maps of thick compound InGaN layers. The method allows us to quantify the indium concentration without measuring the sample thickness, density or beam current, and works even if there is a drastic local thickness change due to sample roughness or preferential thinning. The method is shown to select, point-by-point in a two-dimensional spectrum image or map, the k*-factor from the local Ga K/L intensity ratio that is most appropriate for the corresponding sample geometry, demonstrating it is not the sample thickness measured along the electron beam direction but the optical path length the X-rays have to travel through the sample that is relevant for the absorption correction. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Microscopy © 2017 Royal Microscopical Society.

Simple method for generating adjustable trains of picosecond electron bunches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Muggli

2010-05-01

Full Text Available A simple, passive method for producing an adjustable train of picosecond electron bunches is demonstrated. The key component of this method is an electron beam mask consisting of an array of parallel wires that selectively spoils the beam emittance. This mask is positioned in a high magnetic dispersion, low beta-function region of the beam line. The incoming electron beam striking the mask has a time/energy correlation that corresponds to a time/position correlation at the mask location. The mask pattern is transformed into a time pattern or train of bunches when the dispersion is brought back to zero downstream of the mask. Results are presented of a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating this novel technique that was performed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Accelerator Test Facility. This technique allows for easy tailoring of the bunch train for a particular application, including varying the bunch width and spacing, and enabling the generation of a trailing witness bunch.

Measurement of strain and strain relaxation in free-standing Si membranes by convergent beam electron diffraction and finite element method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, H.; Ikeda, K.; Hata, S.; Nakashima, H.; Wang, D.; Nakashima, H.

2011-01-01

Bridge-shaped free-standing Si membranes (FSSM), strained by low-pressure (LP) Si x N y , plasma-enhanced (PE) Si x N y and Si x Ge 1-x stressors, were measured by convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) and the finite element method (FEM). The results of CBED show that, while the strain along the length of the FSSM is compressive in an LPSi x N y /Si sample, those along the length of the FSSM are tensile in PESi x N y /Si and Si x Ge 1-x /Si samples. The average absolute values of strains are different in FSSM with LPSi x N y , PESi x N y and Si x Ge 1-x as stressors. The FEM was used to compensate the results of CBED taking into account the strain relaxation in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation. The FEM results give the strain properties in three dimensions, and are in good agreement with the results of CBED. There is approximately no strain relaxation along the length of FSSM, and the elastic strains along the other two axes in FSSM are partially relaxed by thinning down for the preparation of TEM samples.

Transformation-cost time-series method for analyzing irregularly sampled data.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozken, Ibrahim; Eroglu, Deniz; Stemler, Thomas; Marwan, Norbert; Bagci, G Baris; Kurths, Jürgen

2015-06-01

Irregular sampling of data sets is one of the challenges often encountered in time-series analysis, since traditional methods cannot be applied and the frequently used interpolation approach can corrupt the data and bias the subsequence analysis. Here we present the TrAnsformation-Cost Time-Series (TACTS) method, which allows us to analyze irregularly sampled data sets without degenerating the quality of the data set. Instead of using interpolation we consider time-series segments and determine how close they are to each other by determining the cost needed to transform one segment into the following one. Using a limited set of operations-with associated costs-to transform the time series segments, we determine a new time series, that is our transformation-cost time series. This cost time series is regularly sampled and can be analyzed using standard methods. While our main interest is the analysis of paleoclimate data, we develop our method using numerical examples like the logistic map and the Rössler oscillator. The numerical data allows us to test the stability of our method against noise and for different irregular samplings. In addition we provide guidance on how to choose the associated costs based on the time series at hand. The usefulness of the TACTS method is demonstrated using speleothem data from the Secret Cave in Borneo that is a good proxy for paleoclimatic variability in the monsoon activity around the maritime continent.

Transformation-cost time-series method for analyzing irregularly sampled data

Science.gov (United States)

Ozken, Ibrahim; Eroglu, Deniz; Stemler, Thomas; Marwan, Norbert; Bagci, G. Baris; Kurths, Jürgen

2015-06-01

Irregular sampling of data sets is one of the challenges often encountered in time-series analysis, since traditional methods cannot be applied and the frequently used interpolation approach can corrupt the data and bias the subsequence analysis. Here we present the TrAnsformation-Cost Time-Series (TACTS) method, which allows us to analyze irregularly sampled data sets without degenerating the quality of the data set. Instead of using interpolation we consider time-series segments and determine how close they are to each other by determining the cost needed to transform one segment into the following one. Using a limited set of operations—with associated costs—to transform the time series segments, we determine a new time series, that is our transformation-cost time series. This cost time series is regularly sampled and can be analyzed using standard methods. While our main interest is the analysis of paleoclimate data, we develop our method using numerical examples like the logistic map and the Rössler oscillator. The numerical data allows us to test the stability of our method against noise and for different irregular samplings. In addition we provide guidance on how to choose the associated costs based on the time series at hand. The usefulness of the TACTS method is demonstrated using speleothem data from the Secret Cave in Borneo that is a good proxy for paleoclimatic variability in the monsoon activity around the maritime continent.

Different methods for volatile sampling in mammals.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marlen Kücklich

Full Text Available Previous studies showed that olfactory cues are important for mammalian communication. However, many specific compounds that convey information between conspecifics are still unknown. To understand mechanisms and functions of olfactory cues, olfactory signals such as volatile compounds emitted from individuals need to be assessed. Sampling of animals with and without scent glands was typically conducted using cotton swabs rubbed over the skin or fur and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS. However, this method has various drawbacks, including a high level of contaminations. Thus, we adapted two methods of volatile sampling from other research fields and compared them to sampling with cotton swabs. To do so we assessed the body odor of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus using cotton swabs, thermal desorption (TD tubes and, alternatively, a mobile GC-MS device containing a thermal desorption trap. Overall, TD tubes comprised most compounds (N = 113, with half of those compounds being volatile (N = 52. The mobile GC-MS captured the fewest compounds (N = 35, of which all were volatile. Cotton swabs contained an intermediate number of compounds (N = 55, but very few volatiles (N = 10. Almost all compounds found with the mobile GC-MS were also captured with TD tubes (94%. Hence, we recommend TD tubes for state of the art sampling of body odor of mammals or other vertebrates, particularly for field studies, as they can be easily transported, stored and analysed with high performance instruments in the lab. Nevertheless, cotton swabs capture compounds which still may contribute to the body odor, e.g. after bacterial fermentation, while profiles from mobile GC-MS include only the most abundant volatiles of the body odor.

Kernel polynomial method for a nonorthogonal electronic-structure calculation of amorphous diamond

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roeder, H.; Silver, R.N.; Drabold, D.A.; Dong, J.J.

1997-01-01

The Kernel polynomial method (KPM) has been successfully applied to tight-binding electronic-structure calculations as an O(N) method. Here we extend this method to nonorthogonal basis sets with a sparse overlap matrix S and a sparse Hamiltonian H. Since the KPM method utilizes matrix vector multiplications it is necessary to apply S -1 H onto a vector. The multiplication of S -1 is performed using a preconditioned conjugate-gradient method and does not involve the explicit inversion of S. Hence the method scales the same way as the original KPM method, i.e., O(N), although there is an overhead due to the additional conjugate-gradient part. We apply this method to a large scale electronic-structure calculation of amorphous diamond. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

Effect of electron irradiation exposure on phase formation, microstructure and mechanical strength of Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8} superconductor prepared via co-precipitation method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mohiju, Zaahidah ' Atiqah; Hamid, Nasri A., E-mail: Nasri@uniten.edu.my; Kannan, V. [Center for Nuclear Energy, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, 43000 Kajang, Selangor (Malaysia); Abdullah, Yusof [Materials Technology Group, Industrial Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor (Malaysia)

2015-04-29

In this work the effect of electron irradiation on the mechanical properties of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi-2212) superconductor was studied by exposing the Bi-2212 superconductor with different doses of electron irradiation. Bi-2212 samples were prepared by using co-precipitation method. Irradiation was performed with irradiation dose of 100 kGray and 200 kGray, respectively. Characterization of the samples was performed by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Instron Universal Testing machine was used to measure the strength of the samples. The XRD patterns for the non-irradiated and irradiated samples show well-defined peaks of which could be indexed on the basis of a Bi-2212 phase structure. XRD patterns also indicate that electron irradiation did not affect the Bi-2212 superconducting phase. SEM micrographs show disorientation in the texture of the microstructure for irradiated samples. Sample exposed to 200 kGray electron irradiation dose shows enhancement of grain size. Their grain growth and texture improved slightly compared to other sample. The results also show that enlargement of grain size resulted in higher mechanical strength.

Non-uniform sampling and wide range angular spectrum method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Yong-Hae; Byun, Chun-Won; Oh, Himchan; Lee, JaeWon; Pi, Jae-Eun; Heon Kim, Gi; Lee, Myung-Lae; Ryu, Hojun; Chu, Hye-Yong; Hwang, Chi-Sun

2014-01-01

A novel method is proposed for simulating free space field propagation from a source plane to a destination plane that is applicable for both small and large propagation distances. The angular spectrum method (ASM) was widely used for simulating near field propagation, but it caused a numerical error when the propagation distance was large because of aliasing due to under sampling. Band limited ASM satisfied the Nyquist condition on sampling by limiting a bandwidth of a propagation field to avoid an aliasing error so that it could extend the applicable propagation distance of the ASM. However, the band limited ASM also made an error due to the decrease of an effective sampling number in a Fourier space when the propagation distance was large. In the proposed wide range ASM, we use a non-uniform sampling in a Fourier space to keep a constant effective sampling number even though the propagation distance is large. As a result, the wide range ASM can produce simulation results with high accuracy for both far and near field propagation. For non-paraxial wave propagation, we applied the wide range ASM to a shifted destination plane as well. (paper)

Impact of ambient environment on the electronic structure of CuPc/Au sample

Science.gov (United States)

Sinha, Sumona; Mukherjee, M.

2018-02-01

The performances of organic devices are crucially connected with their stability in the ambient environment. The impact of 24 h. Ambient environment exposure to the electronic structures of about 12 nm thick CuPc thin film on clean Au substrate have been studied employing UV photoemission spectroscopy technique. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) was used to find out the origin of the change of the electronic structures in the sample with the exposure. The XPS study suggests that the oxidation occurs at the CuPc thin film. Due to the adsorption of oxygen in the CuPc film from the ambient air, charge carriers are formed within the CuPc film. Moreover, the XPS results imply that the CuPc film is sufficiently thinner for diffusing oxygen molecules through it and gets physically absorbed on Au substrate during the ambient exposure. Consequently, the hole injection barrier height of pristine CuPc film, grown on Au substrate, is reduced by about 0.50 eV and work-function of the pristine CuPc sample is enhanced by around 0.25 eV in the exposure. The findings will help to understand the mechanism that governs the degradation of performance of CuPc based devices in ambient environment.

Advanced Markov chain Monte Carlo methods learning from past samples

CERN Document Server

Liang, Faming; Carrol, Raymond J

2010-01-01

This book provides comprehensive coverage of simulation of complex systems using Monte Carlo methods. Developing algorithms that are immune to the local trap problem has long been considered as the most important topic in MCMC research. Various advanced MCMC algorithms which address this problem have been developed include, the modified Gibbs sampler, the methods based on auxiliary variables and the methods making use of past samples. The focus of this book is on the algorithms that make use of past samples. This book includes the multicanonical algorithm, dynamic weighting, dynamically weight

On some methods to produce high-energy polarized electron beams by means of proton synchrotrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bessonov, E.G.; Vazdik, Ya.A.

1980-01-01

Some methods of production of high-energy polarized electron beams by means of proton synchrotrons are considered. These methods are based on transfer by protons of a part of their energy to the polarized electrons of a thin target placed inside the working volume of the synchrotron. It is suggested to use as a polarized electron target a magnetized crystalline iron in which proton channeling is realized, polarized atomic beams and the polarized plasma. It is shown that by this method one can produce polarized electron beams with energy approximately 100 GeV, energy spread +- 5 % and intensity approximately 10 7 electron/c, polarization approximately 30% and with intensity approximately 10 4 -10 5 electron/c, polarization approximately 100% [ru

Electronic-projecting Moire method applying CBR-technology

Science.gov (United States)

Kuzyakov, O. N.; Lapteva, U. V.; Andreeva, M. A.

2018-01-01

Electronic-projecting method based on Moire effect for examining surface topology is suggested. Conditions of forming Moire fringes and their parameters’ dependence on reference parameters of object and virtual grids are analyzed. Control system structure and decision-making subsystem are elaborated. Subsystem execution includes CBR-technology, based on applying case base. The approach related to analysing and forming decision for each separate local area with consequent formation of common topology map is applied.

Positron annihilation method for {alpha} self radiation effect studies in doped actinide UO{sub 2} samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roudil, D.; Vella, F.; Bonnal, M.; Broudic, V. [CEA centre de Marcoule. BP 17171 30207 Bagnols sur ceze cedex (France); Barthe, M.F.; Gentils, A.; Moineau, V. [CNRS- CEMHTI 3A rue de la Ferollerie 45071 Orleans Cedex (France); Jolly, L. [CEA centre de Valduc 21120 Is-Sur Tille (France)

2008-07-01

Towards disposal problematic, fine understanding of the {alpha} aging of UO{sub 2} and (U, Pu)O{sub 2} remains a fundamental challenge for the prediction of the potential increase of the radionuclide source terms with presence of water. The intrinsic evolution of the matrix is closely related to the behavior of radiogenic helium produced by actinide decay. Interactions between helium atoms and vacancy defects are involved in these mechanisms. Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy is also an appropriated method owing to its sensitivity to the vacancy type defects in solid materials. It is a non destructive technique with a remote acquiring data possibility. Because positron implanted in the material is sensitive to the electronic density, the positron lifetime method allows the characterization of the vacancy defects, namely size and concentration. Such equipment has been implemented in the L30 laboratory of the DHA facility in Atalante and will be applied on doped actinides samples, simulating {alpha} aging. This article presents, the analytical protocols and validation results on depleted UO{sub 2} samples and highlights the perspectives on (U, Pu)O{sub 2} for the investigation of different stages of self irradiation matrices and helium behavior. (authors)

A Novel Analysis Method for Paired-Sample Microbial Ecology Experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Olesen, Scott W; Vora, Suhani; Techtmann, Stephen M; Fortney, Julian L; Bastidas-Oyanedel, Juan R; Rodríguez, Jorge; Hazen, Terry C; Alm, Eric J

2016-01-01

Many microbial ecology experiments use sequencing data to measure a community's response to an experimental treatment. In a common experimental design, two units, one control and one experimental, are sampled before and after the treatment is applied to the experimental unit. The four resulting samples contain information about the dynamics of organisms that respond to the treatment, but there are no analytical methods designed to extract exactly this type of information from this configuration of samples. Here we present an analytical method specifically designed to visualize and generate hypotheses about microbial community dynamics in experiments that have paired samples and few or no replicates. The method is based on the Poisson lognormal distribution, long studied in macroecology, which we found accurately models the abundance distribution of taxa counts from 16S rRNA surveys. To demonstrate the method's validity and potential, we analyzed an experiment that measured the effect of crude oil on ocean microbial communities in microcosm. Our method identified known oil degraders as well as two clades, Maricurvus and Rhodobacteraceae, that responded to amendment with oil but do not include known oil degraders. Our approach is sensitive to organisms that increased in abundance only in the experimental unit but less sensitive to organisms that increased in both control and experimental units, thus mitigating the role of "bottle effects".

A method for ultrashort electron pulse-shape measurement using coherent synchrotron radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geloni, G.; Yurkov, M.V.

2003-03-01

In this paper we discuss a method for nondestructive measurements of the longitudinal profile of sub-picosecond electron bunches for X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs). The method is based on the detection of the coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) spectrum produced by a bunch passing a dipole magnet system. This work also contains a systematic treatment of synchrotron radiation theory which lies at the basis of CSR. Standard theory of synchrotron radiation uses several approximations whose applicability limits are often forgotten: here we present a systematic discussion about these assumptions. Properties of coherent synchrotron radiation from an electron moving along an arc of a circle are then derived and discussed. We describe also an effective and practical diagnostic technique based on the utilization of an electromagnetic undulator to record the energy of the coherent radiation pulse into the central cone. This measurement must be repeated many times with different undulator resonant frequencies in order to reconstruct the modulus of the bunch form-factor. The retrieval of the bunch profile function from these data is performed by means of deconvolution techniques: for the present work we take advantage of a constrained deconvolution method. We illustrate with numerical examples the potential of the proposed method for electron beam diagnostics at the TESLA test facility (TTF) accelerator. Here we choose, for emphasis, experiments aimed at the measure of the strongly non-Gaussian electron bunch profile in the TTF femtosecond-mode operation. We demonstrate that a tandem combination of a picosecond streak camera and a CSR spectrometer can be used to extract shape information from electron bunches with a narrow leading peak and a long tail. (orig.)

Development and application of advanced methods for electronic structure calculations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Per Simmendefeldt

. For this reason, part of this thesis relates to developing and applying a new method for constructing so-called norm-conserving PAW setups, that are applicable to GW calculations by using a genetic algorithm. The effect of applying the new setups significantly affects the absolute band positions, both for bulk......This thesis relates to improvements and applications of beyond-DFT methods for electronic structure calculations that are applied in computational material science. The improvements are of both technical and principal character. The well-known GW approximation is optimized for accurate calculations...... of electronic excitations in two-dimensional materials by exploiting exact limits of the screened Coulomb potential. This approach reduces the computational time by an order of magnitude, enabling large scale applications. The GW method is further improved by including so-called vertex corrections. This turns...

A random spatial sampling method in a rural developing nation

Science.gov (United States)

Michelle C. Kondo; Kent D.W. Bream; Frances K. Barg; Charles C. Branas

2014-01-01

Nonrandom sampling of populations in developing nations has limitations and can inaccurately estimate health phenomena, especially among hard-to-reach populations such as rural residents. However, random sampling of rural populations in developing nations can be challenged by incomplete enumeration of the base population. We describe a stratified random sampling method...

Electron spin resonance of particulate soot samples from automobiles to help environmental studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamanaka, C.; Matsuda, T.; Ikeya, M.

2005-01-01

The application of electron spin resonance (ESR) was studied for diesel soot samples and suspended particulate matter (SPM) from automobile engines. Soot samples or diesel exhaust particles (DEP) were recovered at various points: in the exhaust pipe of a diesel engine, at the dust sampler of a highway tunnel (standard DEP), on the soundproofing wall alongside a heavy traffic road, and on the filters of a dust sampler for SPM. The diesel soot samples apparently showed two ESR spectra: one was a broad spectrum at g=2.1 with a line width of ca. 80-120mT and the other was a sharp signal of a carbon radical at g=2.003 with a line width of 0.4mT. Annealing experiments with a DEP sample at 250 deg. C revealed drastic enhancement of the sharp ESR signal, which suggested a thermal process of carbonization of remnant organics. An oximetric study by ESR showed an enhancement of the broad signal in the diesel soot sample as well as in the sharp ESR signal. Therefore, the main part of the broad ESR signal would be attributed to carbon radicals, which form a different configuration, probably closely interacting aggregates. Enhancement of the sharp ESR signal was not observed in the standard DEP sample under vacuum condition, which suggested less adsorption sites on the surface of DEP samples

Sampling methods for terrestrial amphibians and reptiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Paul Stephen Corn; R. Bruce. Bury

1990-01-01

Methods described for sampling amphibians and reptiles in Douglas-fir forests in the Pacific Northwest include pitfall trapping, time-constrained collecting, and surveys of coarse woody debris. The herpetofauna of this region differ in breeding and nonbreeding habitats and vagility, so that no single technique is sufficient for a community study. A combination of...

Projection-reduction method applied to deriving non-linear optical conductivity for an electron-impurity system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nam Lyong Kang

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The projection-reduction method introduced by the present authors is known to give a validated theory for optical transitions in the systems of electrons interacting with phonons. In this work, using this method, we derive the linear and first order nonlinear optical conductivites for an electron-impurity system and examine whether the expressions faithfully satisfy the quantum mechanical philosophy, in the same way as for the electron-phonon systems. The result shows that the Fermi distribution function for electrons, energy denominators, and electron-impurity coupling factors are contained properly in organized manners along with absorption of photons for each electron transition process in the final expressions. Furthermore, the result is shown to be represented properly by schematic diagrams, as in the formulation of electron-phonon interaction. Therefore, in conclusion, we claim that this method can be applied in modeling optical transitions of electrons interacting with both impurities and phonons.

Universal nucleic acids sample preparation method for cells, spores and their mixture

Science.gov (United States)

Bavykin, Sergei [Darien, IL

2011-01-18

The present invention relates to a method for extracting nucleic acids from biological samples. More specifically the invention relates to a universal method for extracting nucleic acids from unidentified biological samples. An advantage of the presently invented method is its ability to effectively and efficiently extract nucleic acids from a variety of different cell types including but not limited to prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells and/or recalcitrant organisms (i.e. spores). Unlike prior art methods which are focused on extracting nucleic acids from vegetative cell or spores, the present invention effectively extracts nucleic acids from spores, multiple cell types or mixtures thereof using a single method. Important that the invented method has demonstrated an ability to extract nucleic acids from spores and vegetative bacterial cells with similar levels effectiveness. The invented method employs a multi-step protocol which erodes the cell structure of the biological sample, isolates, labels, fragments nucleic acids and purifies labeled samples from the excess of dye.

Electron Microscopy of Ebola Virus-Infected Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Noda, Takeshi

2017-01-01

Ebola virus (EBOV) replicates in host cells, where both viral and cellular components show morphological changes during the process of viral replication from entry to budding. These steps in the replication cycle can be studied using electron microscopy (EM), including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which is one of the most useful methods for visualizing EBOV particles and EBOV-infected cells at the ultrastructural level. This chapter describes conventional methods for EM sample preparation of cultured cells infected with EBOV.

Ponderomotive phase plate for transmission electron microscopes

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Bryan W [Livermore, CA

2012-07-10

A ponderomotive phase plate system and method for controllably producing highly tunable phase contrast transfer functions in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) for high resolution and biological phase contrast imaging. The system and method includes a laser source and a beam transport system to produce a focused laser crossover as a phase plate, so that a ponderomotive potential of the focused laser crossover produces a scattering-angle-dependent phase shift in the electrons of the post-sample electron beam corresponding to a desired phase contrast transfer function.

New characterisation method of electrical and electronic equipment wastes (WEEE)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Menad, N., E-mail: n.menad@brgm.fr [BRGM, 3 av. C. Guillemin, 45060 Orléans (France); Guignot, S. [BRGM, 3 av. C. Guillemin, 45060 Orléans (France); Houwelingen, J.A. van, E-mail: recy.cling@iae.nl [Recycling Consult, Eindhoven (Netherlands)

2013-03-15

Highlights: ► A novel method of characterisation of components contained in WEEE has been developed. ► This technique was applied on several samples generated from different recycling plants. ► Handheld NIR and XRF were used to determine types of plastics and flame retardants. ► WEEE processing flow-sheet was suggested. - Abstract: Innovative separation and beneficiation techniques of various materials encountered in electrical and electronic equipment wastes (WEEE) is a major improvement for its recycling. Mechanical separation-oriented characterisation of WEEE was conducted in an attempt to evaluate the amenability of mechanical separation processes. Properties such as liberation degree of fractions (plastics, metals ferrous and non-ferrous), which are essential for mechanical separation, are analysed by means of a grain counting approach. Two different samples from different recycling industries were characterised in this work. The first sample is a heterogeneous material containing different types of plastics, metals (ferrous and non-ferrous), printed circuit board (PCB), rubber and wood. The second sample contains a mixture of mainly plastics. It is found for the first sample that all aluminium particles are free (100%) in all investigated size fractions. Between 92% and 95% of plastics are present as free particles; however, 67% in average of ferromagnetic particles are liberated. It can be observed that only 42% of ferromagnetic particles are free in the size fraction larger than 20 mm. Particle shapes were also quantified manually particle by particle. The results show that the particle shapes as a result of shredding, turn out to be heterogeneous, thereby complicating mechanical separation processes. In addition, the separability of various materials was ascertained by a sink–float analysis and eddy current separation. The second sample was separated by automatic sensor sorting in four different products: ABS, PC–ABS, PS and rest product. The

New characterisation method of electrical and electronic equipment wastes (WEEE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menad, N.; Guignot, S.; Houwelingen, J.A. van

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A novel method of characterisation of components contained in WEEE has been developed. ► This technique was applied on several samples generated from different recycling plants. ► Handheld NIR and XRF were used to determine types of plastics and flame retardants. ► WEEE processing flow-sheet was suggested. - Abstract: Innovative separation and beneficiation techniques of various materials encountered in electrical and electronic equipment wastes (WEEE) is a major improvement for its recycling. Mechanical separation-oriented characterisation of WEEE was conducted in an attempt to evaluate the amenability of mechanical separation processes. Properties such as liberation degree of fractions (plastics, metals ferrous and non-ferrous), which are essential for mechanical separation, are analysed by means of a grain counting approach. Two different samples from different recycling industries were characterised in this work. The first sample is a heterogeneous material containing different types of plastics, metals (ferrous and non-ferrous), printed circuit board (PCB), rubber and wood. The second sample contains a mixture of mainly plastics. It is found for the first sample that all aluminium particles are free (100%) in all investigated size fractions. Between 92% and 95% of plastics are present as free particles; however, 67% in average of ferromagnetic particles are liberated. It can be observed that only 42% of ferromagnetic particles are free in the size fraction larger than 20 mm. Particle shapes were also quantified manually particle by particle. The results show that the particle shapes as a result of shredding, turn out to be heterogeneous, thereby complicating mechanical separation processes. In addition, the separability of various materials was ascertained by a sink–float analysis and eddy current separation. The second sample was separated by automatic sensor sorting in four different products: ABS, PC–ABS, PS and rest product. The

Method of electron emission control in RF guns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khodak, I.V.; Kushnir, V.A.

2001-01-01

The electron emission control method for a RF gun is considered.According to the main idea of the method,the additional resonance system is created in a cathode region where the RF field strength could be varied using the external pulse equipment. The additional resonance system is composed of a coaxial cavity coupled with a RF gun cylindrical cavity via an axial hole. Computed results of radiofrequency and electrodynamic performances of such a two-cavity system and results of the RF gun model pilot study are presented in. Results of particle dynamics simulation are described

Method of electron emission control in RF guns

CERN Document Server

Khodak, I V

2001-01-01

The electron emission control method for a RF gun is considered.According to the main idea of the method,the additional resonance system is created in a cathode region where the RF field strength could be varied using the external pulse equipment. The additional resonance system is composed of a coaxial cavity coupled with a RF gun cylindrical cavity via an axial hole. Computed results of radiofrequency and electrodynamic performances of such a two-cavity system and results of the RF gun model pilot study are presented in. Results of particle dynamics simulation are described.

Fluidics platform and method for sample preparation and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Benner, W. Henry; Dzenitis, John M.; Bennet, William J.; Baker, Brian R.

2014-08-19

Herein provided are fluidics platform and method for sample preparation and analysis. The fluidics platform is capable of analyzing DNA from blood samples using amplification assays such as polymerase-chain-reaction assays and loop-mediated-isothermal-amplification assays. The fluidics platform can also be used for other types of assays and analyzes. In some embodiments, a sample in a sealed tube can be inserted directly. The following isolation, detection, and analyzes can be performed without a user's intervention. The disclosed platform may also comprises a sample preparation system with a magnetic actuator, a heater, and an air-drying mechanism, and fluid manipulation processes for extraction, washing, elution, assay assembly, assay detection, and cleaning after reactions and between samples.

Two media method for linear attenuation coefficient determination of irregular soil samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vici, Carlos Henrique Georges

2004-01-01

In several situations of nuclear applications, the knowledge of gamma-ray linear attenuation coefficient for irregular samples is necessary, such as in soil physics and geology. This work presents the validation of a methodology for the determination of the linear attenuation coefficient (μ) of irregular shape samples, in such a way that it is not necessary to know the thickness of the considered sample. With this methodology irregular soil samples (undeformed field samples) from Londrina region, north of Parana were studied. It was employed the two media method for the μ determination. It consists of the μ determination through the measurement of a gamma-ray beam attenuation by the sample sequentially immersed in two different media, with known and appropriately chosen attenuation coefficients. For comparison, the theoretical value of μ was calculated by the product of the mass attenuation coefficient, obtained by the WinXcom code, and the measured value of the density sample. This software employs the chemical composition of the samples and supplies a table of the mass attenuation coefficients versus the photon energy. To verify the validity of the two media method, compared with the simple gamma ray transmission method, regular pome stone samples were used. With these results for the attenuation coefficients and their respective deviations, it was possible to compare the two methods. In this way we concluded that the two media method is a good tool for the determination of the linear attenuation coefficient of irregular materials, particularly in the study of soils samples. (author)

Sampling and examination methods used for TMI-2 samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marley, A.W.; Akers, D.W.; McIsaac, C.V.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the sampling and examination techniques that were used in the collection and analysis of TMI-2 samples. Samples ranging from auxiliary building air to core debris were collected and analyzed. Handling of the larger samples and many of the smaller samples had to be done remotely and many standard laboratory analytical techniques were modified to accommodate the extremely high radiation fields associated with these samples. The TMI-2 samples presented unique problems with sampling and the laboratory analysis of prior molten fuel debris. 14 refs., 8 figs

[Sample preparation methods for chromatographic analysis of organic components in atmospheric particulate matter].

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Liang; Wu, Dapeng; Guan, Yafeng

2014-09-01

The determination of organic composition in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is of great importance in understanding how PM affects human health, environment, climate, and ecosystem. Organic components are also the scientific basis for emission source tracking, PM regulation and risk management. Therefore, the molecular characterization of the organic fraction of PM has become one of the priority research issues in the field of environmental analysis. Due to the extreme complexity of PM samples, chromatographic methods have been the chief selection. The common procedure for the analysis of organic components in PM includes several steps: sample collection on the fiber filters, sample preparation (transform the sample into a form suitable for chromatographic analysis), analysis by chromatographic methods. Among these steps, the sample preparation methods will largely determine the throughput and the data quality. Solvent extraction methods followed by sample pretreatment (e. g. pre-separation, derivatization, pre-concentration) have long been used for PM sample analysis, and thermal desorption methods have also mainly focused on the non-polar organic component analysis in PM. In this paper, the sample preparation methods prior to chromatographic analysis of organic components in PM are reviewed comprehensively, and the corresponding merits and limitations of each method are also briefly discussed.