The modern version of the old Schumann plate for photography in the far ultraviolet, where the gelatine of the emulsion absorbs strongly, is the ordinary unsensitized plate coated with a fluorescing layer, which may be mineral oil, salicylic acid or some proprietary compound. Exposure of such a plate then becomes a two-step process, the actual insolating rays being the fluorescence set up wherever rays of shorter wavelength strike the plate. A recent investigation of the relationship between contrast and wavelength of a plate coated with mineral oil showed that contrast was constant from about 1300 to 360 angstroms, and was the same as the contrast at 3150 angstroms, which was the wavelength of the fluorescing oil. In the region between 3150 and 1300 the contrast was lower and variable. It was shown that this variation was due to the transparency of the fluorescing layer to ultraviolet, so that the emulsion received a mixture of fluorescent and activating rays.

Like all fundamentally sound ideas, the electric tape described by Stanley E. Norris is capable of modification to most local conditions and special problems. This note is a report on two such modifications.

In a manner somewhat analogue to that employed by R. Margulies in his memo (BNL Log No. C-2985) on fast source corrections in sigma piles, corrections to be applied to the data obtained on the laid-up graphite in the BNL reactor have been calculated. The correction was computed for a Ra-Be source using the data of Seren and using a standard graphite density for the BNL pile of 1.69. Values of the correction for different experimental sets of data were computed for each of three different diffusion lengths measured parallel to the channels. A correction for diffusion lengths perpendicular to the channels was also determined.

A number of pipetting aids are commercially available which obviate the necessity of filling pipets by oral suction. Most of the commercially available devices involve fitting the pipet into a soft tight fitting bushing and filling by means of either a piston or a rubber bulb. The pipet is then emptied by means of a valve control which permits, it is claimed, a dispensing accuracy of 0.1mL. It is at once apparent that the probable error (10% for a 1 mL. pipet) is considerably greater than is permissible for great precision. In practice these devices are found to be awkward and after a period of use tend to become even more so due to corrosion of the valve and aging of the rubber bushing and rubber bulbs.

A new colorimetric method for the determination of cholesterol has been investigated. It makes use of the relatively stable green color given by a purified digitonin precipitate with the anthrone reagent of Dreywood. Equal precision can be obtained with the new method using 1/10 or less of the quantity of material required for present colorimetric methods.

The isolation and purification of an enzyme makes it possible to consider the reaction which it catalyzes from the standpoint of organic chemistry, i.e. as a reaction between organic molecules in which the catalyst happens to be a protein. Such a consideration allows the tools of physical organic chemistry to be applied to the the study of the enzyme mechanism, and, since a number of enzymes have been purified, to obtain correlations of what might otherwise appear to be unrelated processes. One of the particularly powerful tools used in the elucidation of chemical mechanisms is stereochemistry, and it would be expected that similar conditions might lead to a clarification of enzymatic mechanisms and enzyme-substrate intermediates. In this article, the effect of enzymatic reactions on the configuration of the asymmetric carbon atoms involved in the reaction has been examined and the observed changes described by mechanisms which are compatible with both the chemical and biochemical evidence.

A method has been developed for the determination of cyanide in the presence of dilute ferrocyanide, in the concentration ratio Ferrocyanide/Cyanide = 100 - 200. The method consists essentially of adding ferric sulfate in concentrated H2SO4 to the solution containing cyanide in the presence of ferrocyanide and sparging the solution with air. The HCN is collected in dilute KOH and the resulting KCN solution then analyzed according to the method of Childe and Ball and Lecoq. While the accuracy of the method is only slightly better than ±10 percent, it does provide a means of determining micro-molar quantities of cyanide in the presence of ferro cyanide for which the test was developed.

This report is a summary of the neutron attenuation data which have been obtained at the Brookhaven shielding facility on a mock-up of the fuel-rod-unloading plug used in the KAPL Reactor. Before this program was initiated, a number of small scale tests had been made in the ORNL lid tank on carbon steel mock-ups of components of the rotating plug. The results of the tests indicated considerable neutron streaming through the vertical steel and air members of the plug. However, the lid tank source strength and dimensions did not permit the tests to be extended to the full plug height. In view of the concern aroused by the ORNL tests and the absence of fundamental information on the transmission of neutrons through steel and the addition height (12') available here resulted in a request for BNL to construct and test a mock-up of a sector of the SIR top plug in accordance with KAPL specifications.

Continuous measurements of the ambient air temperature have been made on a 420-ft tower at Brookhaven for nearly four years. Operational requirements associated with reactor operations have established a need for equipment which is durable, stable and accurate. The sensing elements consist of Leeds and Northrup resistance thermometers (Thermohms), housed in radiation shields and aspirated by a central pump. A twelve-point, triple-range recorder effects the successional measurement of temperature at each level. Two model R Leeds and Northrup instruments record the differences in temperature between the top of the tower and its base, and between the top and an intermediate level. Numerous tests and experiments have been conducted to determine the characteristics of the Thermohms, radiation shields, recorders, and the aspirating system. A technique is described for calibrating the tower thermometers and their associated recorders. Brief mention is made of the importance for lightning protection on a high tower.

The experiments to be described were undertaken to correlate the metabolism of glucose by muscle with the transport of phosphate across the cell membrane, and the relative effects of insulin on the two processes. The isolated rat diaphragm was used as the experimental tissue, and P-32 phosphate and glucose uniformly labeled with C-14 were used as tracers. The selection of diaphragm was based on the finding first made by Gemmill (1) that the addition of the insulin to an incubation medium containing glucose resulted in an increased deposition of glycogen by diaphragms in vitro. Villee and Hastings have confirmed Gemmill's findings with C14 labeled glucose, and have demonstrated that the elevated R. Q. in the presence of added insulin noted by Gemmill is accompanied by an increased oxidation of glucose derived from the medium. An increased turnover of the acid-soluble P compounds of the resting striated muscle of cats under the influence of injected insulin has been reported by Sacks (3) and similar observations have been made by Goranson, Hamilton, and Haist (4) in rats. It has also been shown (5) that the administration of glucose to the fasted cat along P-32 leads to an accumulation of the tracer in …

It has been considered possible that the low-level radiation decomposition normally encountered in the neutron bombardment of organic halides might have some influence on the properties of halogen activity retained in organic form. The decrease in retention produced by chlorine and the increase produced by allyl chloride appears to be experimentally identical under the three conditions of bombardment used.

In preliminary studies on antibody production by spleen and lymph node intraocular transplants in cobalt-60 gamma irradiated mice, we observed that transplanted animals appeared to withstand whole-body irradiation better than irradiated control animals. In view of the work on splenic protection of x-irradiated animals by Jacobson et al. (1,2) and Storer (3), we thought it worthwhile to study the protective effects of spleen and lymph node transplants in the anterior chamber of the eye of cobalt-60 gamma irradiated mice.

Dilute aqueous solutions of ceric sulfate and ferrous sulfate in 0.8M H2SO4 were irradiated with hard X-rays. Using the mechanism for the radiation induced oxidation of ferrous sulfate solutions proposed by Rigg, Stein and Weiss and the mechanism for radiation induced reduction of ceric sulfate solutions proposed by Hardwick, values for the radical yield ratio 2Gf/(Gr + 2Gf) are obtained. These are 0.21 and 0.38 respectively, indicating that the two mechanisms are mutually incompatible.

During the last year we have been attempting to increase our understanding of the significance of the various dilution methods used to measure the extra-cellular fluid. When the dilution methods were first proposed to obtain a measure of the extracellular fluid volume, it was hoped that an agent could be found which would distribute uniformly and exclusively throughout this compartment, which would approach equilibrium rapidly, and which could be measured by simple and accurate procedures. We have turned our attention chiefly to the methods themselves using dogs and non-edematous adults as subjects.

Preparations of chlorophylls which had the same absorption spectra at room temperature exhibited different spectra at low temperatures. The origin of the difference was in the temperature dependence of equilibria between the two forms present in polar solutions of each preparation. The equilibria of any given preparation proved to be reproducible and were easily characterized by the temperature at which corresponding absorption maxima of the two forms had the same height. Thirteen of fourteen preparations of chlorophyll b and chlorophyll b' distributed themselves among three characteristic temperatures. (The fourteenth appeared to be out of line on another account also). The existence of these different chlorophylls seems to be in part traceable to the origin of spinach from which they were extracted. Chlorophyll a also seemed to have similar properties but was not studied as extensively as was chlorophyl b because of the greater difficulty of resolving the forms in equilibrium. Possible structural formulas of chlorophyll b are discussed to account for the varieties which have appeared.

An interesting dynamic foundation problem was recently posed at Brookhaven National Laboratory in supplying the main magnet power for the three billion electron volt (3BEV) Cosmotron; at present the highest energy particle accelerator known to be in operation.

The meteorological control program developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory requires some simple means of classifying atmospheric turbulence so that the dispersion of cooling air from the nuclear reactor may be measured and forecast on a routine basis. The first approach to the problem, was based on the variations of horizontal wind direction as measured by a standard Bendix-Friez Aerovane mounted 355 ft. above ground. The time interval used was one hour. The original system has proven satisfactory in most respects, and is still in daily use.

The radical pair yield from dilute aqueous solutions of ferrous sulfate and ceric sulfate solutions has been determined. Using the mechanism of Weiss et al. for the hydrogen formation in deaerated solutions of ferrous sulfate it is found that 23% of the radicals recombine to yield stable products in good agreement with values obtained by others. Two results are found for the reduction of ceric sulfate solutions, depending on the wave length of X-rays used. This indicates that the mechanism postulated for this reaction is not entirely correct. Further contradictions are found in the longer X-ray case when the hydrogen yields are considered. These results show that hydroxyl radicals must undergo some other reaction besides that with each other to yield O2 and H2O.

The rate of exchange of hydrated nickelous ion with the nickel of nickel ethylenediaminetetraacetate ion has been studied by use of radioactive nickel. Values of the rate constants have been determined at three ionic strengths. Possible mechanisms for the exchange are discussed.

Our interest in the light metal carbonyls is twofold. One phase concerns the general chemistry and structure of these compounds inasmuch as they provide interesting and important organic materials and may be considered to be organometallic substances. Secondly and secondarily, these materials afford a convenient synthetic route to isotopically labeled compounds since the labeled precursor, carbon monoxide, is readily available.

Dr. Sherlock's recent paper on the vertical variation of wind velocity and gusts seems an improved approach to the difficult task of deriving design parameters for tall buildings from the wind data that are generally available. The most serious criticism of the work is that it was based largely on data obtained at only one location, and one may therefore question whether it is representative. The fact that very few wind data of the proper type and quality are available exonerates the author, but the basic question of general applicability remains.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of a magnetic time of flight mass spectrometer to analytical problems. This new spectrometer has a number of advantageous features. It has a linear mass scale and heavy masses are easily resolved. The whole mass spectrum can be observed continuously on an oscilloscope and changes in its composition are seen instantaneously. The voltage of the ionizing electron beam can be varied continuously while viewing the spectrum, giving additional information about characteristic break-up patterns of complex molecules.

This report is the culmination of a year of progress and planning in the high-energy particle field. During this year the Brookhaven Cosmotron has been successfully completed and brought into operation for research at 2.3 Bev. Preliminary experimental results with the copious output of π-mesons are in process of publication. Multiple production of mesons has been observed, a few V-particles detected, and the interactions of π-mesons in hydrogen have been studied. Yet it already appears that higher energies will be needed to produce and study the several new heavy particles detected in cosmic ray observations.

Many of the most important properties of the clay minerals are in reality properties of the complex systems clay-water. Since water enters directly into the equilibria between clays and ionic solutions, determination of the water content of the minerals under specified conditions are an obvious necessity in any complete study of these equilibria. A formulation of the thermodynamics involved indicates what information is necessary and how to take it into account. Furthermore, recent results of others indicate that a knowledge of the water adsorption isotherms can profitably be used to help elucidate the structures of the clay minerals.