Structural hierarchy of rock masses and the mechanisms of its formation

The formation mechanisms for the structural hierarchy in geological media are discussed. It is shown that the formation of such a hierarchy is caused by certain external and internal circumstances. The first ones consist in the fact that, because of external actions, the Earth’s poles continuously execute the translational and rotational motions responsible for a regular structure of rock fracture and for the appearance of the scale factor √2. The second ones consist in the fact that, under the action of many random factors and because of external actions, during the formation of geological media there appear dissipative structures and, hence, some self-similar fractal structures are formed.     

Crystallographic report: Diiodo[tris(2‐pyridyl)amine]mercury(II), [(C5H4N)3N]HgI2

In mononuclear HgI₂[(C₅H₄N)₃N], mercury is tetrahedrally coordinated by two nitrogen atoms of a tris(2‐pyridyl)amine ligand and two iodides. The coordination moieties are connected by weak intermolecular Hg(II)···I interactions to give a one‐dimensional structure. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reply to Nathan: How to reconstruct the causal argument

Nicholas Nathan tries to resist the current version of the causal argument for sense-data in two ways. First he suggests that, on what he considers to be the correct re-construction of the argument, it equivocates on the sense of proximate cause. Second he defends a form of disjunctivism, by claiming that there might be an extra mechanism involved in producing veridical hallucination, that is not present in perception. I argue that Nathan’s reconstruction of the argument is not the appropriate one, and that, properly interpreted, the argument does not equivocate on proximate cause. Furthermore, I claim that his postulation of a modified mechanism for hallucinations is implausibly ad hoc.     

Exploitation of introducing of catalytic centers into layer galleries of layered silicates and related epoxy nanocomposites. I. Epoxy nanocomposites derived from montmorillonite modified with catalytic surfactant‐bearing carboxyl groups

Montmorillonite (MMT) was modified with the acidified cocamidopropyl betaine (CAB) and the resulting organo‐montmorillonite (O‐MMT) was dispersed in an epoxy/methyl tetrahydrophthalic anhydride system to form epoxy nanocomposites. The intercalation and exfoliation behavior of the epoxy nanocomposites were examined by X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The curing behavior and thermal property were investigated by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and DSC, respectively. The results showed that MMT could be highly intercalated by acidified CAB, and O‐MMT could be easily dispersed in epoxy resin to form intercalated/exfoliated epoxy nanocomposites. When the O‐MMT loading was lower than 8 phr (relative to 100 phr resin), exfoliated nanocomposites were achieved. The glass‐transition temperatures (T_g's) of the exfoliated nanocomposite were 20 °C higher than that of the neat resin. At higher O‐MMT loading, partial exfoliation was achieved, and those samples possessed moderately higher T_g's as compared with the neat resin. O‐MMT showed an obviously catalytic nature toward the curing of epoxy resin. The curing rate of the epoxy compound increased with O‐MMT loading. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1192–1198, 2004     

Ionic conductivity of multiarm star polymer/LiClO4 electrolytes

A series of polymer electrolytes based on multiarm polymers and lithium salt complexes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and impedance measurement. The relationships of conductivity with salt concentration, temperature, and arm numbers are discussed. It is suggested that the star polymer has a higher solvency and ion transfer ability on lithium salts than on linear polymers. The conductivity maximum appeared at a higher salt concentration ([EO]/[Li] = 4). Impedance measurement suggested that the optimum conductivity was 2 × 10^?4 s · cm^?1. The conductivity increased with temperature and the dependence of ionic conductivity on temperature fits the Arrhenius equation. Among the studied systems, the star polymer with a five arm number performs better than other structures. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4195–4198, 2004