In vivo neutron activation analysis was used to measure total body sodium and chlorine in 18 male and 18 female normal adults. Corrections for body size were developed. Normalisation factors were derived which enable the prediction of the normal levels of sodium and chlorine in a subject. The coefficient of variation of normalised sodium was 5.9% in men and 6.9% in women, and of normalised chlorine 9.3% in men and 5 . 5 % in women. In the range examined (40-70 years) no significant age dependence was observed for either element. Total body sodium was correlated with total body chlorine and total body calcium. Sodium excess, defined as the amount of body sodium in excess of that associated with chlorine, also correlated well with total body calcium. In females there was a mean annual loss of sodium excess of 1.2% after the menopause, similar to the loss of calcium.

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A camera suitable for Weissenberg and other types of X-ray diffraction photographs is described. The special features are its simple and substantial construction, and the large diameter of lilmholder and consequent large size of the photograph. The distance from focal spot to crystal is 1OOmm and thus exposure times are particularly short. These advantages are gained by the sacrifice of the equi-inclination feature provided in the majority of Weissenberg cameras.

UV emission of silicon oxide molecules observed from a non-thermal atmospheric pulsed dielectric barrier discharge was experimentally explored in a spectral range from 228 to 253 nm. The main vibrational bands (1, 1), (2, 2) and (0, 1) of A 1 -X 1 + electronic transition were investigated. Corresponding synthetic spectra was built up and adjusted with good agreement. Excitation temperatures (T vib , T rot ) were deduced as a function of gas composition. It is shown that the rotational temperature can represent a non-intrusive diagnostic of plasma gas temperature in process control.

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