New track interval radon exposure meters (operating principle and design).

The operating principle of innovative interval radon exposure meters INERAD (types IE-2 and IE-4) is described. The major technical features of the both models have been standardized as much as possible. The exposure meters use the LR-115 type 2 track threshold detector, which is sensitive to alpha particles.

The unexpected reactivity of 9-iodo-nido-carborane: from nucleophilic substitution reactions to the synthesis of tricobalt tris(dicarbollide) Na[4,4',4''-(MeOCHCHO)-3,3',3''-Co(μ-O)(μ-S)(1,2-CBH)].

An unusual reactivity of 9-iodo-nido-carborane [9-I-7,8-CBH] towards nucleophiles under strong basic conditions was revealed. The nucleophilic substitution of iodine with O- and N-nucleophiles results in [9-RO-7,8-CBH] (R = H, CHCHOMe) and [9-L-7,8-CBH] (L = Py, NEt, MeNCHCHNMe), respectively. Reaction of [9-I-7,8-CBH] with CoCl in 1,2-dimethoxyethane in the presence of t-BuOK, depending on the order of addition of the reagents, leads either to a diastereomeric mixture of diiodo derivatives cobalt bis(dicarbollide) rac-[4,4'-I-3,3'-Co(1,2-CBH)] and meso-[4,7'-I-3,3'-Co(1,2-CBH)] or to the corresponding mixture of 2-methoxyethoxy derivatives rac-[4,4'-(MeOCHCHO)-3,3'-Co(1,2-CBH)] and meso-[4,7'-(MeOCHCHO)-3,3'-Co(1,2-CBH)].

Can scintillation detectors with low spectral resolution accurately determine radionuclides content of building materials?

The current paper makes an attempt to check whether the scintillation NaI(Tl) detectors, in spite of their poor energy resolution, can determine accurately the content of NORM in building materials. The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides were measured using two types of detectors: (a) NaI(Tl) spectrometer equipped with the special software based on the matrix method of least squares, and (b) high-purity germanium spectrometer. Synthetic compositions with activity concentrations varying in a wide range, from 1/5 to 5 times median activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides available in the earth crust and the samples of popular building materials, such as concrete, pumice and gypsum, were tested, while the density of the tested samples changed in a wide range (from 860 up to 2,410 kg/m(3)).

Effect of voltage drop within the synaptic cleft on the current and voltage generated at a single synapse.

In a model of a single synapse with a circular contact zone and a single concentric zone containing receptor-gated channels, we studied the dependence of the synaptic current on the synaptic cleft width and on the relative size of the receptor zone. During synaptic excitation, the extracellular current entered the cleft and flowed into the postsynaptic cell through receptor channels distributed homogeneously over the receptor zone. The membrane potential and channel currents were smaller toward the cleft center if compared to the cleft edges.