Crystallographic report: [N,N‐Methylethylaminopropylalane]2

Dimeric and centrosymmetric [MeEtN(CH₂)₃AlH₂]₂ comprises aluminum centers, coordinated in a distorted trigonal bipyramidal fashion by three hydrogen atoms, one nitrogen atom and one carbon atom. The aluminum atoms are bridged by hydrogen atoms, creating a planar, four‐membered Al₂H₂ ring. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hyperfeinstrukturuntersuchungen an wasserfreien Eisenhalogeniden mit Hilfe des Mössbauereffektes

Mössbauer effect measurements were performed with the anhydrous iron halides FeCl₂, FeBr₂ and FeI₂ at 78° K and 4 K° and with FeCl₃ at 4 °K. The quadrupole splitting, the isomer shift and the magnetic field at the nucleus were determined. From the quadrupole splitting it follows that in FeCl₂, FeBr₂ and FeI₂ the ground state is a doublet and that the singulet in these compounds is separated from it by (145±35) cm^?1, (175±35) cm^?1 and (135±35) cm^?1 respectively. The isomer shift shows the presence of strong covalence effects in all compounds. The large isomer shift in FeBr₂ cannot be fully explained. From the isomer shift and the magnetic field at the nucleus in FeCl₃ it can be concluded that the Fe⁺⁺⁺ ions has an 3d ^5,6 4s ^0,45 configuration. In FeCl₂, FeBr₂ and FeI₂ the smallness of the magnetic field can be explained by a not fully quenched orbital angular momentum of 0.6<L _z<1.     

A method for automatic identification of water and fat images from a symmetrically sampled dual-echo Dixon technique

Sampling water and fat signals symmetrically (i.e., at 0° and 180° relative phase angles) in a dual-echo Dixon technique offers high intrinsic tolerance to phase fluctuations in postprocessing and maximum signal-to-noise performance for the separated water and fat images. However, identification of which image is water and which image is fat after their separation is not possible based on the phase information alone. In this work, we proposed a semiempirical automatic image identification method that is based on the intrinsic asymmetry between the water and fat chemical shift spectra. Specifically, the approximately bimodal feature of the fat spectra and the observation that most in vivo tissues are either predominantly water or predominantly fat are used to construct a spectrum-based algorithm. Additional refinement is accomplished by considering the spatial distribution of the tissues that may have a coexistence of water and fat. The final improved algorithm was tested on a total of 131 three-dimensional patient datasets collected from different scanners and found to yield correct water and fat identification in all datasets.     

Scalar-Particle Self-Energy Amplitudes and Confinement in Minkowski Space

We analyze the analytic structure of the Covariant Spectator Theory (CST) contribution to the self-energy amplitude for a scalar particle in a ${\phi^2\chi}$ theory. To this end we derive dispersion relations in 1+1 and in 3+1 dimensional Minkowski space. The divergent loop integrals in 3+1 dimensions are regularized using dimensional regularization. We find that the CST dispersion relations exhibit, in addition to the usual right-hand branch cut, also a left-hand cut. The origin of this “spectator” left-hand cut can be understood in the context of scattering for a scalar ${\phi^2\chi^2}$ -type theory. If the interaction kernel contains a linear confining component, its contribution to the self-energy vanishes exactly.     

Horizontal bridges in polar dielectric liquids

When a high-voltage direct-current is applied to two beakers filled with polar liquid dielectrica like water or methanol, a horizontal bridge forms between the two beakers. By repeating a version of Pellat’s experiment, it is shown that a horizontal bridge is stable by the action of electrohydrodynamic pressure. Thus, the static and dynamic properties of the phenomenon called a ‘floating water bridge’ can be explained by the gradient of Maxwell pressure, replenishing the liquid within the bridge against any drainage mechanism. It is also shown that a number of liquids can form stable and long horizontal bridges. The stability of such a connection, and the asymmetry in mass flow through such bridges caused by the formation of ion clouds in the vicinity of the electrodes, is also discussed by two further experiments.     

Influence of air pollution and site conditions on trends of carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in tree ring cellulose

Oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of tree ring cellulose (delta13Ccell and delta18Ocell) were measured for pines growing at four sites in east Germany. Three sites differed markedly in soil water availability within a short distance and the fourth site served as a reference. The choice of the sites was guided by the desire to detect effects of air pollution on the long-term trend of isotopic compositions and to examine the influence of soil water availability on the relationship between the carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. Locations in east Germany are particularly well suited for the study of pollution effects because there was a steady increase in environmental contamination until the German Reunification in 1990, followed by a sharp decline due to the implementation of stricter environmental standards. The long-term trend of delta13Ccell showed an extraordinary increase in the period 1945-1990 and a rapid decrease after 1990, whereas delta18Ocell remained nearly constant. The increase of delta13Ccell is explained by secondary fractionation caused by phytotoxicity of SO2. Two effects are mainly responsible for the secondary fractionation under SO2 exposure: increase of dark respiration, and changes in photosynthate allocation and partitioning. Both effects do not influence delta18Ocell. Furthermore, a significant positive correlation between the year-to-year variations of carbon and oxygen isotope ratios (delta13Cresid and delta18Oresid) has been found for all sites. The slopes of the relationship between delta13Cresid and delta18Oresid differ insignificantly. It is concluded that this relationship is not influenced by soil water availability but by climatic variables.