Reduction of acid chlorides with sodium borohydride in N,N-dimethylformamide: Nature of the reaction intermediate and a method for its conversion to the corresponding aldehyde with minimal alcohol formation

By use of sodium borohydride under the proper reaction conditions, direct conversion of both aliphatic and aromatic acid chlorides to the corresponding aldehyde can be achieved in 80–95% yield.     

A novel reducing agent derived from formic acid and two equivalents of a grignard reagent: Chemoselective reduction of aldehydes

Aldehydes are reduced at a moderate rate by use of a novel reagent obtained by the addition of two molar equivalents of ethylmagnesium bromide to formic acid in tetrahydrofuran solution. Under similar conditions the reduction of ketones proceeds quite slowly.     

The scaling of the current voltage characteristics of the YBa2Cu3O7:Y2BaCuO5 composites

We have investigated features in the current voltage (I—V) characteristics of YBa₂Cu₃O₇:Y₂BaCuO₅ composite sinters which indicate the occurrence of a second-order phase transition. For each sinter composition similar families of characteristics are found for a wide range of magnetic fields. The relation between V and I is seen to be of the form V = f(I, ζ(B, T)) where a single parameter ξ contains all of the field and temperature dependence. The locus of points in the B, T plane for which ζ(B, T) is a constant have been examined, and a low field and a high field régime have been identified. Samples of different composition show families of I—V characteristics which scale onto one another in a simple way, hence we are led to suppose the V = f(I, ζ(B, T, p)) where p is the dilution fraction. Data taken at temperatures below the phase transition agrees well with a simple scaling picture of dissipation close to a second order phase transition, with exponents which are independent of magnetic field and composition. Above the transition, however, the behaviour is more complex.     

Wave body interaction in 2D using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) with variable particle mass

Wave interaction with bodies is an important practical application for smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) which in principle applies to steep and breaking waves without special treatment. However, few detailed tests have been undertaken even with small amplitude waves. In order to reduce computer time a variable particle mass distribution is tested here with fine resolution near the body and coarse resolution further away, while maintaining a uniform kernel size. We consider two well‐defined test cases, in two dimensions, of waves generated by a heaving semi‐immersed cylinder and progressive waves interacting with a fixed cylinder. But first, still water with hydrostatic pressure is tested. The open‐source code SPHysics ( http://www.sphysics.org )^{§Update made here after initial online publication.} is used with a Riemann solver in an Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation. For the heaving cylinder, SPH results for far field wave amplitude and cylinder force show good agreement with the data of Yu and Ursell (J. Fluid Mech. 1961; 11 :529–551). For wave loading on a half‐submerged cylinder the agreement with the experimental data of Dixon et al. (J. Waterway Port Coastal Ocean Div. 1979; 105 :421–438) for the root mean square force is within 2%. For more submerged cases, the results show some discrepancy, but this was also found with other modelling approaches. The sensitivity of results to the value of the slope limiter used in the MUSCL‐based Riemann solver is demonstrated. The variable mass distribution leads to a computer run speedup of nearly 200% in these cases. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ballistic phonon studies in the lowest Landau level

We report time-resolved studies of ballistic phonon absorption in the fractional quantum Hall regime at Landau level filling factors of and . The technique used can resolve the interaction of the two-dimensional electron system with LA and TA phonons and has been used to measure the temperature variation of the heat capacity of a single layer of electrons at . The energy gaps at have also been measured and found to be in good agreement with theory. The roles of compressible and incompressible regions in the phonon absorption process are discussed. Angle resolved measurements at are also in good agreement with theory.     

Improving Our Knowledge on the 229mThorium Isomer: Toward a Test Bench for Time Variations of Fundamental Constants

For more than four decades, the lowest excitation in the whole landscape of atomic nuclei, the low‐lying, isomeric state of ²²⁹Th, the so‐called thorium isomer, has challenged physicists of various disciplines. Being a solitaire with its uniquely low excitation energy of <10 eV, its predicted lifetime of a few hours results in an extremely sharp relative linewidth ΔE/E as low as 10^–20. While until recently the indication of its existence was based only on indirect evidence, its unique properties inspired a multitude of potential applications, like the use of the thorium isomer as a nuclear frequency standard, potentially able to outperform even the best atomic clocks and a sensitivity‐enhanced access to potential temporal variations of fundamental constants. The various proposals to exploit the unique properties of ^229mTh are presented herein, in particular focusing on its ability to serve as a test bench for time variations of fundamental constants like the fine structure constant.     

The RATIO method for time‐resolved Laue crystallography

A RATIO method for analysis of intensity changes in time‐resolved pump–probe Laue diffraction experiments is described. The method eliminates the need for scaling the data with a wavelength curve representing the spectral distribution of the source and removes the effect of possible anisotropic absorption. It does not require relative scaling of series of frames and removes errors due to all but very short term fluctuations in the synchrotron beam.