New developments in the field of piezothermal analysis

The solid transitions of C₂₁, C₂₃ and C₂₅ n-paraffins are examined from a piezothermal point of view. The paper is divided into two parts. The first is a report of the main features of a piezothermal analyzer when pressure scanning allows the continuous record of the expansivity as a function of pressure up to 5 Kilobars. Small samples are required and the scanning speeds vary from 0.3 to 16 Kilobars per hour. The second part describes the experimental procedure appropriate for solid state determinations. The resulting piezothermograms are presented and entropies of transformation are determined. A model allows a crude statistical approach giving the entropies of transformation with the correct order of magnitude. Problems related with phase transformations under a shearing stress are considered.

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Zusammenfassung Feststoffumwandlungen bei C₂₁, C₂₃ und C₂₅ n-Paraffinen wurden unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Piezowärme untersucht. Im ersten Teil vorliegender Arbeit werden die Haupteigenschaften eines piezothermischen Analysators beschrieben, bei dem durch Druck-Scanning die kontinuierliche Aufzeichnung des Ausdehnungsvermögens als Punktion des Druckes bis zu 5 kbar ermöglicht wird. Es werden nur kleine Proben benötigt, die Scanning-Geschwindigkeit variiert zwischen 0,3 und 16 kbar/h. Der zweite Teil beschreibt das geeignete experimentelle Verfahren zur Feststoffzustandsbestimmung. Die erhaltenen Piezothermogramme werden dargestellt und die Entropien der Umwandlung bestimmt. Ein Modell liefert eine grobe statistische Näherung, die die Entropien der Umwandlung in der richtigen Grö\enordnung liefert. Probleme in Zusammenhang mit Phasenumwandlungen bei Scherbeanspruchungen werden betrachtet.

     

The influence of phonons on quantum diffusion in superconductors

The hopping motion of charged light particles coupled to superconducting electrons as well as to phonons is investigated within the framework of a two-state model. Sufficiently far below the transition temperatureT _c the hopping rate is dominated by one-phonon processes if the static energy shifts between the particle ground states are finite but smaller than twice the BCS energy gap. In the opposite limit of large energy asymmetries phonon coupling does not crucially influence the jump rates. The rôle of nonlinear lattice coupling is investigated.     

The many facets of linear programming

We examine the history of linear programming from computational, geometric, and complexity points of view, looking at simplex, ellipsoid, interior-point, and other methods. Received: June 22, 2000 / Accepted: April 4, 2001?Published online October 2, 2001     

Excess enthalpies of some 2-alkanone + 1-chloroalkane binary mixtures at 25 and 35°C

Excess molar enthalpies h^E at 25 and 35° C and atmospheric pressure, are reported for the binary mixtures formed by a 2-butanone and 2-pentanone with 1-chlorobutane, 1-chloropentane, 1-chlorohexane, or 1-chlorooctane. The h^E values for all the mixtures are positive, increasing as the 1-chloroalkane length increases and as the ketone length decreases. Excess molar enthalpies depend slightly on the temperature. The experimental values together with those from the literature were used to calculate the interaction parameters for the Dang-Tassios version of the UNIFAC model.Communicated at the Festsymposium celebrating Dr. Henry V. Kehiaian's 60^th birthday, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 17–18 May 1990.     

Magnetism in electron-doped copper oxides

We report muon spin relaxation/rotation measurements on sintered powder samples of Nd_2−x Ce _x CuO_4−y and a large single crystal of Nd₂CuO_4−y . We find an electronic phase diagram which is quite similar to that of hole-doped superconductors such as La_2−x Sr _x CuO_4−y , although the doping of electrons into the system is less efficient in destroying the static moments on the copper spins. Static magnetic order in Nd₂CuO_4−y appears below about 250 K, and two spin reorientations are seen atT=75 K andT=35 K. Measurements of the magnetic field penetration depth have been unsuccessful due to the rare-earth paramagnetism of these materials.     

Collision Avoidance in Bi-Directional AGV Systems

The use of a bi-directional, as opposed to a one-way, transportation system, can increase the operational efficiency of automated guided vehicles in both manufacturing and warehousing environments. However, the full potential will only be realized if the routeing algorithms pay particular attention to the problem of collision avoidance. This paper is concerned with the development of such an algorithm. The method is based on the use of delays and deviations to avoid collisions that could arise when using the shortest routes for each vehicle, and is applicable to any transportation system which can be represented as a network with known travel times.