Small-Angle Scattering from Nanoscale Fat Fractals.

Small-angle scattering (of neutrons, x-ray, or light; SAS) is considered to describe the structural characteristics of deterministic nanoscale fat fractals. We show that in the case of a polydisperse fractal system, with equal probability for any orientation, one obtains the fractal dimensions and scaling factors at each structural level. This is in agreement with general results deduced in the context of small-angle scattering analysis of a system of randomly oriented, non-interacting, nano-/micro-fractals. We apply our results to a two-dimensional fat Cantor-like fractal, calculating analytic expressions for the scattering intensities and structure factors. We explain how the structural properties can be computed from experimental data and show their correlation to the variation of the scaling factor with the iteration number. The model can be used to interpret recorded experimental SAS data in the framework of fat fractals and can reveal structural properties of materials characterized by a regular law of changing of the fractal dimensions. It can describe successions of power-law decays, with arbitrary decreasing values of the scattering exponents, and interleaved by regions of constant intensity.

Optical luminescence studies of the ethyl xanthate adsorption layer on the surface of sphalerite minerals.

In this work we propose optical luminescence measurements as a method to evaluate the kinetics of adsorption processes. Measurement of the intensity of the integral optical radiation obtained from the mineral-xanthate interface layer, stimulated with a monochromatic pulsating optical signal, as a function of time were made. The luminescence radiation was obtained from the thin interface layer formed at the separation surface between the sphalerite natural mineral and potassium ethyl xanthate solution, for different solution concentrations and pH-es at the constant industry standard temperature. This method enabled us to determine the time to achieve dynamic equilibrium in the formation of the interface layer of approximately 20min, gaining information on the adsorption kinetics in the case of xanthate on mineral surface and leading to the optimization of the industrial froth flotation process.

Heavy metal and nitrogen concentrations in mosses are declining across Europe whilst some "hotspots" remain in 2010.

In recent decades, naturally growing mosses have been used successfully as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals and nitrogen. Since 1990, the European moss survey has been repeated at five-yearly intervals. In 2010, the lowest concentrations of metals and nitrogen in mosses were generally found in northern Europe, whereas the highest concentrations were observed in (south-)eastern Europe for metals and the central belt for nitrogen. Averaged across Europe, since 1990, the median concentration in mosses has declined the most for lead (77%), followed by vanadium (55%), cadmium (51%), chromium (43%), zinc (34%), nickel (33%), iron (27%), arsenic (21%, since 1995), mercury (14%, since 1995) and copper (11%). Between 2005 and 2010, the decline ranged from 6% for copper to 36% for lead; for nitrogen the decline was 5%. Despite the Europe-wide decline, no changes or increases have been observed between 2005 and 2010 in some (regions of) countries.