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The battle between the Coca Cola Company's new Diet Coke product and Pepsi Cola's Diet Pepsi has escalated. Both companies have launched full scale advertising campaigns. In addition to new commercials, Coca Cola is engaging in a massive couponing effort. Pepsi Cola is trying to get a large portion of the pre-teen and teenage market with its Michael Jackson commercials. The battle is complicated because the industry's growth rate has fallen signifantly in recent years. This decrease is primarily caused by increased competition from other beverages and an aging population. Another problem is that new, specialized drinks are taking away sales from other drinks in the same brand family. Both companies are expected to challenge Seven Up's hold on the lemon-lime market. The stakes in the soft drink business have become enormous. Both Coca Cola and Pepsi have the resources and strong bottling networks for success. They may have to consolidate in some form in the future.

Hydrolytic stripping is the process whereby metal ions in a loaded solvent extractant are hydrolyzed by water, typically at 130°C to 200 °C (265°F to 392°F). Equilibrium hydrolytic stripping tests were done on Versatic 10 solutions containing various metals, singly and in mixtures. Single solutions of Fe, Ni, Cu, mg, and Mn precipitated αFe2O3Ni(OH)2Cu2O + CuO, Mg(OH)2and γMn2O3respectively, during hydrolytic stripping. Several mixtures containing iron precipitated magnetic spinel ferrites, MFe2O4. No other combinations formed mixed oxides. It is proposed that the mechanisms for hydrolysis and precipitation of iron in loaded Versatic solutions are similar to those for iron hydrolysis in aqueous solutions. Magnetic interactions between mixed carboxylate complexes are thought to be responsible for the homogenous nucleation of magnetic mixed oxides in preference to single oxides.

A survey is presented of recent developments in the study of radiation-induced changes in the microstructure of austenitic structural alloys that occur in fission reactors. The associated macroscopic consequences of these changes on both mechanical properties and dimensional stability are also reviewed. It is anticipated that some changes will occur in these phenomena as a result of the differences inherent in fission and fusion neutron spectra, but relevant data obtained to date do not indicate that the effects of helium and several other transmutation-related differences will be large.

Fifty male F344 rats were given diets containing 500 mg/kg P-chloroaniline. Controls received diets without the chemical. Eighteen of the dosed rats developed proliferative lesions of the spleen. Lesions included parenchymal fibrosis and fatty infiltration, well and poorly differentiated fibrosarcomas, osteosarcomas and hemangiosarcomas. All dosed rats had focal and diffuse fibrosis and papillary hyperplasia of the splenic capsule.

The deposition profiles that form around precipitates undergoing energetic transmutation reactions can be used to study the effects of helium, hydrogen and lithium on microstructural development during neutron irradiation. A completely general derivation has been performed to determine the deposition profile concentrations for any transmutation reaction and precipitate/matrix combination. Calculations of the deposition profiles were performed for the 10B(n, α)7Li reaction and selected precipitate/matrix stopping power ratios. With increasing ratio the deposition profiles become more uniform but the reaction products are deposited over larger volumes leading to lower concentrations in the matrix.

The use of 238Pu and 244Cm alpha sources for helium deposition into thin foils leads to different concentration profiles than are obtained with ion accelerators. The major differences arise due to isotropic emission in the source as opposed to normal incidence beams, and also due to self-shielding within the source. Using a source-target sandwich technique for typical pre-thinned foil applications leads to deposition profiles which are completely uniform, and also yields a substantial saving in time, effort and money compared to other alpha implantation techniques.