Magnetic-field effects on the size of vortices below the surface of NbSe2 detected using low energy beta-NMR

A low energy radioactive beam of polarized 8Li has been used to observe the vortex lattice near the surface of superconducting NbSe2. The inhomogeneous magnetic-field distribution associated with the vortex lattice was measured using depth-resolved beta-detected NMR. Below Tc, one observes the characteristic line shape for a triangular vortex lattice which depends on the magnetic penetration depth and vortex core radius. The size of the vortex core varies strongly with the magnetic field. In particular, in a low field of 10.8 mT, the core radius is much larger than the coherence length. The possible origin of these giant vortices is discussed.     

"Ideal" engineering alloys

A newly discovered group of alloys, called Gum Metals, approaches ideal strength in bulk form, exhibits significant plastic deformation prior to failure, and shows no indications of conventional-dislocation activity. Two conditions must be met for a material to exhibit this "ideal" behavior: (1) the stress required to trigger conventional-dislocation plasticity in the material must exceed its ideal strength, and (2) the material must be intrinsically ductile when stressed to ideal strength. Gum Metals satisfy both criteria, explaining their remarkable mechanical properties.     

The Nasathermionic-Conversion (TEC-Art) Program a Proposed Paper for Presentation at the May 1977 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The NASA program for applied research and technology (ART) in thermionic energy conversion (TEC) comprises in-house, university-grant, and industrial-contract studies. In a few years this TEC-ART program has produced important results. Although many of these accomplishments are incremental, their integration has yielded performance gains and the knowledge necessary to direct future work. The current emphasis on out-of-core thermionics allows materials and designs previously prohibited by in-core nucleonics and geometrics. The additional degrees of freedom offer new potentialities. But as always high-temperature material effects will determine the level and lifetime of TEC performance: New electrodes must not only raise power outputs but also maintain them regardless of emitter-vapor deposition on collectors. In addition effective electrodes must serve compatibly with hot-shell alloys. Then, of course, space TEC must withstand external and internal high-temperature vaporization problems. And terrestrial TEC must tolerate hot corrosive atmospheres outside and near-vacuum inside. Finally reduction of losses between converter electrodes is essential even though rather demanding geometrics appear to be required for some modes of enhanced operation. In these and other areas from basic material characterizations to possible system definitions, significant progress is being made in the NASA TEC-ART Program.     

Hestenes' Tetrad and Spin Connections

Defining a spin connection is necessary for formulating Dirac's bispinor equation in a curved space-time. Hestenes has shown that a bispinor field is equivalent to an orthonormal tetrad of vector fields together with a complex scalar field. In this paper, we show that using Hestenes' tetrad for the spin connection in a Riemannian space-time leads to a Yang-Mills formulation of the Dirac Lagrangian in which the bispinor field Ψ is mapped to a set of SL(2,R)× U(1) gauge potentials F_α^K and a complex scalar field ρ. This result was previously proved for a Minkowski space-time using Fierz identities. As an application we derive several different non-Riemannian spin connections found in the literature directly from an arbitrary linear connection acting on the tensor fields (F_α^K, ρ). We also derive spin connections for which Dirac's bispinor equation is form invariant. Previous work has not considered form invariance of the Dirac equation as a criterion for defining a general spin connection.     

Preparation of 5-hydroxy-1-alkenyboronates from 1-alkynylboronates, Cp2ZrCl2/2EtMgBr, and aldehydes

1-Alkynylboronates form five-membered zirconacycles with Cp(2)ZrCl(2)/2-EtMgBr as indicated by deuterium labeling. The zirconacycles add aldehydes to form seven-membered zirconacycles. Hydrolysis of the latter provides 5-hydroxy-1-alkenylboronates in fair to good isolated yields. Both aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes undergo insertion.     

The role of magnesium in the susceptibility of soldiers to noise-induced hearing loss

A number of studies have demonstrated that magnesium, administered prophylactically, can reduce the amount of hearing loss resulting from noise exposure. This study explored the possible role of naturally occurring body magnesium concentration in susceptibility of soldiers to noise-induced hearing loss. Participants were 68 adult males who had received extensive noise exposure over several years as a result of training with weapon systems. Each participant provided a pure-tone audiogram, blood sample, and noise-exposure history. A variety of pure-tone indices was correlated with serum magnesium levels as determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. No significant correlations were observed between any audiometric index and body magnesium. The results of this study, therefore, do not support the hypothesis that there is a strong association between naturally occurring body magnesium and susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss.     

Influence of the polydispersity of polymeric surfactants on the enantioselectivity of chiral compounds in micellar electrokinetic chromatography

Poly(sodium undecenoyl-L-leucinate) (poly-L-SUL) was fractionated by the use of different molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) filters to narrow the polydispersity of the macromolecular sizes of the polymeric surfactant. The resulting polymeric surfactant fractions were characterized by the use of three techniques: (1) pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) was used to determine the hydrodynamic radii, (2) analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) was used to determine the molecular weights, and (3) steady-state fluorescence was used to determine the polarity of the nonfractionated and fractionated polymeric surfactants. From the data acquired from PFG-NMR, AUC, and fluorescence, it was noted that the hydrodynamic radii and molecular weight of the fractionated poly-L-SUL increased, while the polarity decreased with the increase in the size of the MWCO filter. However, a similarity in physical properties was observed between the nonfractionated and 10-30K fractionated poly-L-SUL except for the hydrodynamic radius and diffusion coefficients. The influence of different macromolecular sizes of poly-L-SUL on the chiral separation of phenylthiohydantion (PTH)-amino acids and coumarinic derivatives, as test analytes, was elucidated by the use of micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The size of polymeric surfactants as a prerequisite for chiral separation was demonstrated by comparing the separation properties of fractionated versus nonfractionated polymeric surfactants. Fractionated poly-L-SUL resulted in enhanced resolution and separation efficiency of the test analytes as compared to the case of the nonfractionated poly-L-SUL. This observation indicates that minimizing polydispersity of polymeric surfactants may be important for some chiral separation applications.