‘Factors of ignorance’ and the rationalized M.K.S.A. system of units

An attempt is made, by means of an allusive (rather than a systematic) historical account of the development of the subject, to exhibit the essentially unique character of the rationalized M.K.S.A. system of units. The establishment of this system involved one arbitrary decision—the determination to retain unaltered the size of the previously accepted unit of current. Thereafter, any choice of derived units, other than the choice actually made, would have destroyed the basic symmetry of the formulation.     

Reply to a comment by S.N. Semenov and M.E. Schimpf on ‘Role of the velocity frame of reference in thermodiffusion in liquid mixtures’, Philosophical Magazine vol. 92, 705 (2012), by M. Eslamian,C.G. Jian and M.Z. Saghir.

A small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) study of nanovoids in 99.988 and 99.995?at.% aluminium is presented. Absolute intensity calibration using a glassy carbon standard is used to extract the weak SAXS signature from nanovoids introduced by thermal quenching. SAXS analysis methods, including Guinier, Porod and Indirect Transform, are used to obtain values for the void–size, number distribution and volume fraction, as well as measures of the void-metal matrix interface structure in quenched aluminium samples. The SAXS analysis has identified a residual impurity effect on void formation and has been used to characterize trends in nanovoid size, number distribution and interface structure as a function of ageing time at elevated temperatures (artificial ageing). The work presented here, including identification of experimental tools that can be readily improved, demonstrates that SAXS studies are capable of providing precise characterization of nanovoid structure in aluminium. This level of information will be useful in developing phenomenological models of void nucleation and growth capable of linking atomic scale phenomena to macroscopic material properties.     

Comment on ‘Cr LVV Auger emission and photoreduction of hexavalent Cr oxides by A.G. Schrott,G.S. Frankel,A.J. Davenport,H.S. Isaacs,C.V. Jahnes and M.A. Russak’

A paper by Schrott et al. [Surf. Sci. 250 (1991) 139] on the Auger Cr LVV spectra of Al/Cr alloys is commented on.The area of major disagreement regards the hypothesis that Al-alloying suppresses the Cr LVV decay. It is pointed out that the surface chemical composition of the alloys should be considered in detail, and that instrumental factors and the presence of surface contamination would account for the negligible Cr LVV intensity.     

Large Deviations, Guerra’s and A.S.S. Schemes, and the Parisi Hypothesis

We investigate the problem of computing $$\lim_{N \to \infty}\frac{1}{aN}\log EZ_N^a$$ for any value of a, where Z _N is the partition function of the celebrated Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) model, or of some of its natural generalizations. This is a natural “large deviation” problem. Its study helps to get a fresh look at some of the recent ideas introduced in the area, and raises a number of natural questions. We provide a complete solution for a ≥ 0.     

Mössbauer and N.M.R. studies of ErFe2Hx

Hydrides of Intermetallic compounds have been the object of many studies because of their potential applications/1/. Recent papers were devoted to the problem of interstitial site occupation in connection with H-H exclusion rule (d_H–H > 2.1 A). The present work deals with ErFe₂H_X, which has been investigated both by⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer Effect and by¹⁶⁷Er N.M.R. Previous studies were limited to X 2, 3.5, 4.1. Here five values of x (1.45, 1.6, 1.84, 2.6, 3.3) are considered, in order to obtain information on hydrogen location, filling and diffusion as a function of x, and also on hydrogen contribution to the electric field gradient (E.F.G.) and crystalline field at the Rare Earth.     

Comment on “Role of the velocity frame of reference in thermodiffusion in liquid mixtures” by M. Eslamian,C.G. Jiang and M.Z. Saghir

We analyze the material transport equations (MTE) derived by Eslamian and co-authors and address the criticism expressed regarding the approach formulated in our previous work. In doing so, we show that the MTE formulated by Eslamian and co-authors are valid only in closed stationary non-isothermal systems in combination with the restrictions on the Onsager coefficients formulated in our work which is criticized, and that for non-stationary systems the approach we took can be used.