Low cost freshwater fish pickle using cheap citrus fruit (C. reticulata)

The juice extracted from a locally abundant cheap variety of citrus fruit namely, Citrus reticulata was utilized for pickling. The paper highlights the trials made to select the optimum concentrations of acetic acid and sodium chloride to be used along with the juice of C. reticulata so as to obtain the best, product. The product can be stored well at room temperature for six months.

Origination of an X-linked testes chimeric gene by illegitimate recombination in Drosophila

The formation of chimeric gene structures provides important routes by which novel proteins and functions are introduced into genomes. Signatures of these events have been identified in organisms from wide phylogenic distributions. However, the ability to

X-ray observation of micro-failures in granular piles approaching an avalanche

An X-ray imaging technique is used to probe the stability of 3-dimensional granular packs in a slowly rotating drum. Well before the surface reaches the avalanche angle, we observe intermittent plastic events associated with collective rearrangements of the grains located in the vicinity of the free surface. The energy released by these discrete events grows as the system approaches the avalanche threshold. By testing various preparation methods, we show that the pre-avalanche dynamics is not solely controlled by the difference between the free surface inclination and the avalanche angle. As a consequence, the measure of the pre-avalanche dynamics is unlikely to serve as a tool for predicting macroscopic avalanches.

The geometry and the number of contacts of monodisperse sphere packs using X-ray tomography

The three-dimensional structure of very large samples of monodisperse bead packs is studied by means of X-Ray Computed Tomography. We retrieve the coordinatesofeach bead inthe pack and wecalculate the average coordination number by using the tomographic images to single out the neighbors in contact. The results are compared with the average coordination number obtained in Aste et al. (2005) by using a deconvolution technique. We show that the coordination number increases with the packing fraction, varying between 6.9 and 8.2 for packing fractions between 0.59 and 0.64. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group.

Evidence for X(5) critical point symmetry in 128Ce

Lifetimes of excited states in 128Ce were measured using the recoil distance Doppler-shift (RDDS) and the Doppler-shift attenuation (DSAM) methods. The experiments were performed at the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory of Yale University. Excited states of 128Ce were populated in the 100Mo(32Si,4n) reaction at 120 MeV and the nuclear γ decay was measured with an array of eight Clover detectors positioned at forward and backward angles. The deduced yrast transition strengths together with the energies of the levels within the ground-state (gs) band of 128Ce are in agreement with the predicted values for the X(5) critical point symmetry. Thus, we suggest 128Ce as a benchmark X(5) nucleus in the mass A ≈ 130 region. © World Scientific Publishing Company.

Concentration dependence of the Er3+ visible and infrared luminescence in Y2-x Erx O3 thin films on Si

Y2-x Erx O3 thin films, with x varying between 0 and 0.72, have been successfully grown on crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates by radio-frequency magnetron cosputtering of Y2 O 3 and Er2 O3 targets. As-deposited films are polycrystalline, showing the body-centered cubic structure of Y2 O3, and show only a slight lattice parameter contraction when x is increased, owing to the insertion of Er ions. All the films exhibit intense Er-related optical emission at room temperature both in the visible and infrared regions. By studying the optical properties for different excitation conditions and for different Er contents, all the mechanisms (i.e., cross relaxations, up-conversions, and energy transfers to impurities) responsible for the photoluminescence (PL) emission have been identified, and the existence of two different well-defined Er concentration regimes has been demonstrated. In the low concentration regime (x up to 0.05, Er-doped regime), the visible PL emission reaches its highest intensity, owing to the influence of up-conversions, thus giving the possibility of using Y2-x Er x O3 films as an up-converting layer in the rear of silicon solar cells. However, most of the excited Er ions populate the first two excited levels 4I11/2 and 4I13/2, and above a certain excitation flux a population inversion condition between the former and the latter is achieved, opening the route for the realization of amplifiers at 2.75 μm. Instead, in the high concentration regime (Er-compound regime), an increase in the nonradiative decay rates is observed, owing to the occurrence of cross relaxations or energy transfers to impurities. As a consequence, the PL emission at 1.54 μm becomes the most intense, thus determining possible applications for Y2-x Erx O 3 as an infrared emitting material. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.