Global variations in peak bone mass as studied by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

In 1994, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) initiated a 5-year Co-ordinated Research Project (CRP) to determine geographical and racial differences in peak bone mineral density (BMD) in men and women aged 15-49 years. The study demonstrates that there are distinct global differences in BMD at the hip and spine in both men and women approximating to one population standard deviation between populations with the highest and lowest BMD. These differences persist following adjustments for age, sex and body size. Such information is valuable in understanding the reasons for global differences in fracture rate and predicting future trends in fracture incidence. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Chaotic-to-ordered state transition of cathode-sheath instabilities in DC glow discharge plasmas

Transition from chaotic to ordered state has been observed during the initial stage of a discharge in a cylindrical DC glow discharge plasma. Initially it shows a chaotic behavior but increasing the discharge voltage changes the characteristics of the discharge glow and shows a period subtraction of order 7 period → 5 period → 3 period → 1 period, i.e. the system goes to single mode through odd cycle subtraction. On further increasing the discharge voltage, the system goes through period doubling, like 1 period → 2 period → 4 period. On further increasing the voltage, the system goes to stable state through two period subtraction, like 4 period → 2 period → stable.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation of the linear optical response of YBa2Cu4O8 The relevance of LDA calculations

We report results of ellipsometric measurements of the dielectric tensor of YBa₂Cu₄O₈ as well as calculations employing density functional theory in the local density approximation (LDA). For the computation of the one-electron eigenvalues and states the linear-muffin-tin-orbital method (LMTO) was used. Measured and calculated results show good agreement. In particular, the calculation predicts different band structures for YBa₂Cu₃O₇ and YBa₂Cu₄O₈ in the vicinity of the Fermi energy which lead to significant differences in the optical spectra. One such difference is a region of small ε₂ in the near infrared which is a fingerprint of the high (relative to the top of the highest fully occupied band) Fermi energy as compared to the situation in YBa₂Cu₃O₇. Our experimental results confirm the theoretical findings.     

Rod–coil block copolymers: An iterative synthetic approach via living free-radical procedures

A modular approach has been developed for the synthesis of rod–coil block copolymers involving the initial preparation of a macroinitiator based on the rod block followed by the growth of the coil segment with living free-radical procedures. The key feature of this strategy is the utilization of an alkoxyamine group from the beginning of the synthesis, which serves as a solubilizing group and ensures that each rod block contains a single initiating fragment. Using this approach permits block copolymers based on insoluble biphenyl ester oligomers to be conveniently prepared with coil segments that range from styrenes to acrylates to 1,3-dienes. The tendency of the rod segments to crystallize is strongly dependent on the weight fraction of the rod segment and the chemical nature of the coil segment. Rod–coil molecules containing at least 25–35 wt % polystyrene or poly(n-butyl acrylate) coil segments show a two-dimensional hexagonal arrangement of rod aggregates, as characterized by transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. Polyisoprene block copolymers exhibit a lamellar microstructure with short rigid domains in which the rod units lie in an interdigitated smectic C arrangement. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3640–3656, 2003     

TDPAC studies of Hf doped YBCO

Time differential perturbed angular correlation measurements of the 133–482 keVγ-γ cascade of¹⁸¹Ta in Hf-doped YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x are presented. The¹⁸¹Hf precurser nuclei are incorporated into the sample by thermal neutron irradiation. Two quadrupole interaction frequencies are observed in the as-irradiated sample:v _Q1=161±10 MHz with intensityf ₁=75%, asymmetry parameterη ₁=0.32 and damping parameter Λ₁=0.42, andv _Q2=1108±40 MHz withf ₂=25%,η ₂=0.62, and Λ₂=0.60. On annealing the sample in air at various temperaturesT _a and quenching to room temperature,f ₁ remained nearly constant forT _a<600°C andv _Q1 for all annealing temperatures indicating that these are insensitive to oxygen stoichiometry. This frequency is interpreted to be due to¹⁸¹Hf substitutingY sites. BeyondT _a=600°C,f ₁ increased and reached a constant value of 90% forT _a=800°C. The value ofv _Q2 showed a slight variation between 1086 and 1160 MHz, whilef ₂ remained nearly constant at 25% forT _a<600°C. This component is identified to be due to¹⁸¹Hf substituting Cu 1 sites in the Cu-O chains of YBCO. Above 600°Cv _Q2 decreased and reached a value of 808 MHz beyond 750°C.     

Drag on an elliptic cylinder in a fluid particle suspension

An elliptic cylinder is performing oscillations parallel to either of the principal axes of the cross-sectional ellipse in a fluid particle suspension. The stream function governing the flow and the velocity components are determined in terms of Mathieu functions. The drag on the cylinder is evaluated and expressed in terms of two parametersK andK. The effects of the variation of the frequency parameter, eccentricity parameter and relaxation time parameter on the drag parametersK, K is studied numerically.     

Polymerization of acrylamide initiated by peroxomonosulphate and metal ion catalysis

The kinetics of polymerization of acrylamide initiated by potassium peroxomonosulphate, in the presence and absence of Ag⁺, were studied. Rates of polymerization and oxone disappearance were followed. From the rate law for the polymerization, a mechanism has been proposed.