Study of the peak effect phenomenon in single crystals of 2H-NbSe2

The weakly pinned single crystals of the hexagonal 2H-NbSe₂ compound have emerged as prototypes for determining and characterizing the phase boundaries of the possible order-disorder transformations in the vortex matter. We present here a status report based on the ac and dc magnetization measurements of the peak effect phenomenon in three crystals of 2H-NbSe₂, in which the critical current densities vary over two orders of magnitude. We sketch the generic vortex phase diagram of a weakly pinned superconductor, which also utilizes theoretical proposals. We also establish the connection between the metastability effects and pinning.     

Shaping Solid-State Supramolecular Cavities: Chemically Induced Accordionlike Movement of gamma-Zirconium Phosphate Containing Polyethylenoxide Pillars

The hydrophilic oxygen atoms of polyethylenoxide chains inserted as pillars in gamma-zirconium phosphate form hydrogen bonds with the acid groups of the host. As a result the pillars are almost perpendicular to the gamma layers. Upon changing the pH level of the supernatant solution the hydrogen bonds are broken and the pillars become almost perpendicular to the layers (shown schematically). Thus there is a reversible enlargement-shortening of the interlayer space.     

(Liquid + liquid) equilibrium for the ternary systems {heptane + toluene + 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide} and {heptane + toluene + 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide} ionic liquids

The (liquid + liquid) equilibrium (LLE) data for two systems containing heptane, toluene, and 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([mpim][Tf₂N]) or 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([amim][Tf₂N]) ionic liquids (ILs) were determined at T = 313.2 K and atmospheric pressure. The effect of a double bond in an alkyl side chain in the imidazolium cation was evaluated in terms of selectivity and extractive capacity. The results show a decrease of the amount of toluene and heptane dissolved in the IL with the allyl group. Thus, the distribution ratios of toluene and heptane of [mpim][Tf₂N] IL are higher than those of [amim][Tf₂N] IL. On the other hand, the separation factor of the [amim][Tf₂N] IL increases comparing to [mpim][Tf₂N] IL. The NRTL model was used to correlate satisfactorily the experimental LLE data for the two studied ternary systems.     

Correlation between surface tension and void fraction in ionic liquids

An effort to systematize published and new data on the surface tension gamma of ionic liquids (ILs) is based on the hypothesis that the dimensionless surface tension parameter gamma V v (2/3)/ kT is a function of the void fraction x v = V v/ V m. The void volume V v is defined as the difference between the liquid volume V m occupied by an ion pair (known from cationic and anionic masses and liquid density measurements) and the sum V (+) + V (-) of the cationic and anionic volumes (known from crystal structures), while kT is the thermal energy. Our hypothesis that gamma V m (2/3)/ kT = G( x v) is initially based on cavity theory. It is then refined based on periodic lattice modeling, which reveals that the number N of voids per unit cell (hence the dimensionless surface tension) must depend on x v. Testing our hypothesis against data for the five ILs for which surface tension and density data are available over a wide range of temperatures collapses all of these data almost on a single curve G( x v), provided that slight (4%) self-consistent modifications are introduced on published crystallographic data for V (+) and V (-). An attempt to correlate the surface tension vs temperature data available for inorganic molten salts is similarly successful, but at the expense of larger shifts on the published ionic radii (8.8% for K; 3.3% for I). The collapsed G( x v) curves for ILs and inorganic salts do not overlap anywhere on x v space, and appear to be different from each other. The existence of a relation between gamma and x v is rationalized with a simple capillary model minimizing the energy. Our success in correlating surface tension to void fraction may apply also to other liquid properties.     

Overcoming the boundary effects in surface spline interpolation

Surface spline interpolation when the domain is all of R^d isknown to converge much faster to the data function f than inthe case when the domain is the unit ball. This difference isunderstood to be due to boundary effects which, as will be shown,also affect the size of the surface spline's coefficients. Wepropose a modified form of surface spline interpolation which,to a great extent, overcomes these boundary effects. This modifiedsurface spline interpolant uses only the values of f at thegiven interpolation points.     

A dynamic study of earthworm feeding ecology -using stable isotopes

Changes in the specific diet of earthworms with time in relation to landuse changes and two different climates were studied by analysing (13)C and (15)N natural abundance in soils and animals. Soil samples from three depths (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm) and earthworms were collected from two sites: Santiago (Northwest Spain) and North Wyke (Southwest England) both consisting of replicated long-term grasslands and recently converted to maize plots. Earthworms were hand-sorted in the field at the peak of the maize growth and after harvesting at both sites. In the Spanish plots, nine and eight earthworm species, all belonging to the three ecological categories (epigeic, anecic and endogeic), were found under maize and permanent pasture, whereas at the English site five and seven different species were, respectively, identified. At both sites (13)C isotopic values of the earthworm tissues reflected changes in diet from C(3) to C(4) with epigeic and epi/anecic worms in the maize plots showing one delta unit difference in relation to the ones found in the grassland plots. Anecic worms seemed to be less responsive to landuse changes. The higher (13)C values of the Spanish soils were also reflected in the earthworm tissues when compared with the English samples. (15)N values showed no clear relationship with the cropping treatments but were clearly related to the ecological grouping, with endogeic worms reaching the highest values whereas for the epigeic and epi/anecic species the lowest values were obtained. This finding was also previously recorded by other authors1 and suggests that, in the future, stable isotope techniques could also be a useful tool in taxonomic studies. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.