Thorium is a radionuclide used in various environmental studies such as dating, sediment movement, soil-plant transfer studies, and contamination of waste from the natural fuel cycle. The liquid-liquid extraction method using tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) allows for the separation of Th from the accompanying actinides. However, the separation of Th and U present in the same sample is not trivial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFear of crime has been rising persistently in Chile, even in periods where actual crime rates have decreased, making the perception of crime an important policy issue. This paper presents the results of the impact evaluation of a pilot public policy designed to reduce fear of crime around a shopping centre in Santiago, Chile. The pilot policy consisted of installing a team including police officers and local government officials that handed out information leaflets and talked to passers-by about crime prevention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, the thermoluminescence (TL) properties of natural NaCl from Lluta, Arequipa-Peru was investigated. The number of peaks and the kinetic parameters associated with the TL glow peaks of NaCl sample after gamma-irradiation were analyzed by initial rise and deconvolution method. Defect centers induced in pure salt by gamma irradiation have been studied by electron spin resonance (ESR) with a view to identify the centers associated with the TL process in the salt.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAndalusia's lowland countryside has a network of small geographically isolated playa lakes scattered across an area of 9000 km2 whose watersheds are mostly occupied by clayey rocks. The hydrological model proposed by the authors seeks to find equilibrium among usefulness, simplicity, and applicability to isolated playas in a semiarid context elsewhere. Based in such model, the authors have used monthly climatic data, water stage measurements, and the basin morphometry of a particular case (Los Jarales playa lake) to calibrate the soil water budget in the catchment and the water inputs from the watershed (runoff plus groundwater flow) at different scales, from monthly to daily.
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