This research explored the feasibility of using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry to quantify Fe, Cu, Zn, and As concentrations in dried ground organic materials (fungi, vegetation, animal tissues) with intermediate thickness.

There is a fairly old apocryphal quotation stating : “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” [1] attributed at one time to Charles H. Duell of the US Patent office in 1899. We all realize this is an absurd statement, and it is well documented that Duell actually said something quite different and urged the US Congress to encourage the advancement of science as well as to improve th...

We report the growth by ion exchange synthesis of ZnS nanoparticles in MCM-41 matrices using Zn (CH3COO)2 and Na2S starting sources. The final product (ZnS/MCM-41) was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectrometry (IR) and UV-vis spectroscopy. Its crystalline st...

Ribosomal protein S1 has been shown to be a significant effector of prokaryotic translation. The protein is in fact capable of efficiently initiating translation, regardless of the presence of a Shine-Dalgarno sequence in mRNA. Structural insights into this process have remained elusive, as S1 is recalcitrant to traditional techniques of structural analysis, such as x-ray crystallography. Throu...

  ABSTRACT   Background : The application of DU emanation for first time contaminated certain areas in the south west region of Iraq after the second Gulf war (1991). These contaminated areas were discovered in 1994. Radioactive contamination was detected using the nuclear enterprise PCM5/1 in soil samples collected from two regions near by grazing lands. This study was done for assessment of D...

Carbon steel is a preferred construction material in many industrial and domestic applications, including oil and gas pipelines, where corrosion mitigation using film-forming corrosion inhibitor formulations is a widely accepted method. This review identifies surface analytical techniques that are considered suitable for analysis of thin films at metallic substrates, but are yet to be applied t...

Electron-excited X-ray mapping is a key operational mode of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS). The popularity of X-ray mapping persists despite the significant time penalty due to the relatively low output count rates, typically less than 25 kHz, that can be processed with the conventional EDS. The silicon drift detector (SDD) uses t...

Scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM/EDS) is a widely applied elemental microanalysis method capable of identifying and quantifying all elements in the periodic table except H, He, and Li. By following the "k-ratio" (unknown/standard) measurement protocol development for electron-excited wavelength dispersive spectrometry (WDS), SEM/EDS can achieve accuracy and...

An experimental scheme to realize single-shot spectrometry for the diagnostics of x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) is presented. The combination of an ultraprecisely figured mirror and a perfect crystal form a simple, high-precision spectrometer that can cover an energy range from a few eV to a hundred eV with high resolution. The application of the spectrometer to determine XFEL pulse widths...