Surface modification on MoO/Mo(110) induced by a local electric potential.

Oxygen adatoms on the MoO/Mo(110) surface are observed to be removed when a sufficiently large bias is applied between the scanning tunneling microscope tip and the surface. Experimental observations, such as the bias polarity dependence of adatom removal and the observation of an intermediate state, indicate that the adatom penetrates the surface oxide layer. Through the comparison of finite element method simulations with various experimental relationships, the electric field is concluded to be the sole contributor to adatom penetration into the surface oxide layer.

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)).

[Ultrasound assessment in diagnosis of uncomplicated inguinal hernia].

After the introduction of ultrasound (US) into general surgical practice one could hardly find more available and noninvasive technique for evaluation of groin pathology. We present an original US procedure elaborated for distinct visualization of soft tissues structures in patients with inguinal hernias. The inguinal region was examined preoperatively in 91 cases (US linear scanner with a 7.