Spring-block approach for crack patterns in glass

Fracture patterns resulting from point-like impact acting perpendicularly on the plane of a commercial sodalime glass plate is modelled by a spring-block system. The characteristic patterns consist of crack lines that are spreading radially from the impact point and concentric arcs intersecting these radial lines. Experimental results suggest that the number of radial crack lines is scaling linearly with the energy dissipated during the crack formation process. The elaborated spring-block model reproduces with success the observed fracture patterns and scaling law.     

Corelationship between local structure and water purifying ability of iron-containing waste glasses

A relationship between the structure and water purifying ability of waste glass prepared from household garbage and Fe₂O₃ was examined by ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer and induced coupled plasma (ICP) measurements. From the Debye temperature of waste glass, Fe^II proved to be loosely bound in the glass network as a network modifier. Dissolution amount of Fe^III into artificial drain can be controlled from 0.14 to 0.35 mg/l by changing the Fe₂O₃ content. It proved that chemical oxygen demand (COD) decreases in proportion to the content of Fe^III, indicating that iron causes decomposition of organic and phosphorus compounds.     

Electrical conductivity and local structure of lithium iron tungsten vanadate glass

A relationship between physical properties and local structure of 20Li₂O·10Fe₂O₃·xWO₃·(70–x)V₂O₅ glass, abbreviated as xLFWV glass (x?=?0???25 in mol%), was investigated by ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential thermal analysis (DTA), leaching test using 20 vol% HCl and DC two- or four-probe method. ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectra of xLFWV glass showed an increase of quadrupole splitting (Δ) from 0.67 to 0.73_±0.02 mm s^???1 and a constant isomer shift (δ) of 0.39_±0.01 mm s^???1 with an increase of ‘x’ from 0 to 25. This suggests that Fe^IIIO₄ tetrahedra gradually increase their local distortion along with a substitution of WO₃ for V₂O₅. DTA of xLFWV glass showed an increase in glass transition temperature (T _g) from 252 to 298 $_{\pm 5}^{\circ}$ C with an increase of ‘x’. Composition dependency of T _g and Δ indicates that Fe^III atoms occupy substitutional sites of WO₆ octahedra as network former (NWF), since a large slope of 680 K (mm s^???1)^???1 was obtained in T _g ? Δ plot. Comparable electrical conductivities (σ) of 2.5 × 10^???6, 1.9 × 10^???6, 8.4 × 10^???7 and 2.9 × 10^???6 S cm^???1 obtained for xLFWV glasses with ‘x’ of 0, 10, 20 and 25, respectively increased to 2.4 × 10^???2, 2.4 × 10^???3, 3.5 × 10^???4 and 8.8 × 10^???5 S cm^???1 after annealing at 400 °C for 100 min. Smaller Δ values of 0.58 and 0.67_±0.02 mm s^???1 obtained in annealed xLFWV glasses with ‘x’ of 0 and 10, respectively indicate that structural relaxation occurs in VO₄ units of vanadate glass units, as had been observed in other vanadate glasses.     

Local structure and water cleaning ability of iron oxide nanoparticles prepared by hydro-thermal reaction

Nanoparticles (NPs) of Fe₃O₄ and γFe₂O₃ synthesized by hydrothermal reaction were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). A decrease in concentration of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution due to bulk Fe⁰-NP γFe₂O₃ mixture with the mass ratio of 3:7 was measured by ultraviolet-visible light absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The Mössbauer spectrum of NP Fe₃O₄ prepared from hydrothermal reaction was composed of two sextets with absorption area (A), isomer shift (δ) and internal magnetic field (H _int) of 56.3 %, 0.34_±0.03 mm s^???1 and 49.0_±0.30 T for tetrahedral (T _d) Fe^III, and 43.7 %, 0.66_±0.11 mm s^???1 and 44.0_±0.71 T for octahedral (O _h) Fe^II?+?III. The Fe^II/Fe^III ratio was determined to be 0.280 for NP Fe₃O₄, giving ‘x’ of 0.124 in Fe_3???xO_4. These results show that NP Fe₃O₄ prepared by hydrothermal reaction was not regular but nonstoichiometric Fe₃O₄. Consistent results were observed for XRD patterns of NP Fe_3???xO₄ indicating sharp intense peaks at 2Θ of 30.2, 35.7 and 43.3° with a large linewidth of 0.44°, yielding the crystallite size of 29–37 nm from the Scherrer’s equation. Iso-thermal annealing of NP Fe_3???xO₄ at 250 °C for 30 min resulted in the precipitation of NP γFe₂O₃ with δ of 0.33_±0.03 mm s^???1 and H _intof 46.4_±0.27 T due to magnetic tetrahedral Fe^III. The Debye temperature of NP Fe_3???xO₄ was respectively estimated to be 267_±5.45 K for Fe $^{\mathrm{III}}(T_{\mathrm{d}})$ and 282_±7.17 K for Fe $^{\mathrm{II+III}}(O_{\mathrm{h}})$ , both of which were smaller than that obtained for bulk Fe₃O₄ of 280_±4.15 K and 307_±5.70 K, indicating that the chemical environment of iron of NPs is less rigid than that of the bulk compounds. A leaching test using methylene blue (MB) and mixture of bulk Fe⁰-NP γFe₂O₃ (3:7) showed a remarkable decrease in MB concentration from 1.90 × 10^???2 to 9.49 × 10^???4 mM for 24 h with the first order rate constant (k _MB) of 2.1 × 10^???3 min^???1. This result verifies that MB decomposing ability is enhanced by using NP γFe₂O₃ compared with the k _MB of 1.1 × 10^???4 min^???1 previously obtained from the leaching test using MB and bulk mixture of Fe⁰???γFe₂O₃ (3:7).     

Mössbauer study of new vanadate glass with large charge-discharge capacity

Charge-discharge capacity and cyclicity of lithium ion battery (LIB) was evaluated in which 15Li₂O·10Fe₂O₃·xSnO₂·5P₂O₅·(70–x)V₂O₅ glass (x?=?0 and 20 in mol%, abbreviated as xLFSPV) was used as a cathode. A local structure of xLFSPV glass before and after charging was investigated by ⁵⁷Fe- and ¹¹⁹Sn-Mössbauer spectroscopies. ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectrum of xLFSPV glass with ‘x’ of 20 was composed of a doublet with isomer shift (δ) of 0.35_±0.02 mm s^???1 and quadrupole splitting (Δ) of 0.88_±0.03 mm s^???1 due to distorted Fe^IIIO₄ tetrahedra. ¹¹⁹Sn-Mössbauer spectrum of this glass consisted of a doublet with δ of 0.08_±0.01 and Δ of 0.52_±0.01 mms^???1 due to distorted Sn^VIO₆ octahedra. After discharging the battery from 4.5 to 1.0 V, larger δ of 0.40_±0.03 mm s^???1 and Δ of 0.94_±0.04 mm s^???1 were obtained, indicating that both iconicity of Fe-O bonds and local distortion of Fe^IIIO₄ tetrahedra were increased. On the contrary, identical δ of 0.09_±0.01 mm s^???1 and Δ of 0.50_±0.01 mm s^???1 were observed in the ¹¹⁹Sn-Mössbauer spectrum of 20LFSPV glass after the discharge, indicating that chemical environment of Sn^IVO₆ octahedra was not affected after the discharge. Charge-discharge curve of LIB containing 20LFSPV glass as a cathode active material recorded under the current density of 8.3 mA g^???1 (0.011 mA cm^???2) between 1.0 and 4.5 V showed a large initial charge capacity of 431.1 mAh g^???1 and discharge capacity of 382.3 mAh g^???1, respectively. These results indicate that 20LFSPV glass could be a new cathode active material for LIB.     

Ring transformation of 4-oxo-1,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-pyrido[1,2-a]-pyrimidine-3-carboxamide

The title compound /$\text{3}$/ may be transformed into the 3-/methylaminomethylene/--2,3,6,7,8,9-hexahydro-4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidine-2,4-dione /$\text{5}$E, $\text{5}$Z/ which is in equilibrium with the 1,2,3,6,7,8-hexahydro tautomer /$\text{8}$E, $\text{8}$Z/ in DMSO-d₆.     

Comment on the O(αs2) corrections to jet-production in e+e− annihilation

Using recent results of Ellis et al. I calculate the O(α²_S) corrections to thrust distribution in e⁺e^? annihilation. The numerical importance of the change of the four-momentum squared which determines the strength of the running coupling constant is studied in detail.     

Oriented crystal growth model explains the formation of titania nanotubes

We discuss the formation mechanism of titania nanotubes synthesized by the hydrothermal method. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of TEM, HRTEM, FT-Raman, and N(2) adsorption data, we point out some major shortcomings of the currently accepted trititanate sheet rollup mechanism. We suggest that a novel formation mechanism, oriented nanotube crystal growth from nanoloop seeds, can explain the experimental findings better than the ones proposed so far.     

Self-organized Monte Carlo localization of critical point via linear filtering

Self-organized Monte Carlo simulations are suggested. Their essence is artificial dynamics consisting of the well-known single-spin-flip Metropolis algorithm supplemented by biased random walk in temperature space. The action of walker is driven by feedback utilizing the linear filtering recursion based on the instantaneous estimates of Binder cumulants. The simulation for 2d Ising model demonstrates that the mean temperature typical for the steady noncanonical equilibrium regime properly approximates the true critical temperature. The estimates of the critical Binder cumulants and critical exponents are also discussed.     

Ion soft-landing into liquids: Protein identification,separation, and purification with retention of biological activity

Protein ions, after mass spectrometric separation, can be soft-landed into liquid surfaces with preservation of their native structures. Retention of biological activity is strongly favored in glycerol-based surfaces but not in self-assembled monolayer solid surfaces. Soft-landing efficiency for multiply-charged hexokinase ions was found to be some four times higher for a glycerol/fructose liquid surface than for a fluorinated self-assembled monolayer surface. Soft-landing into liquid surfaces is also shown to allow (1) protein purification, (2) on-surface identification of the soft-landed material using MALDI, and (3) protein identification by in-surface tryptic digestion. Pure lysozyme was successfully isolated from different mixtures including an oxidized, partially decomposed batch of the protein and a partial tryptic digest. Liquid glycerol/carbohydrate mixtures could be used directly to record MALDI spectra on the soft-landed compounds provided they were fortified in advance with traditional MALDI matrices such as p-nitroaniline and alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid. Various proteins were soft-landed and detected on-target using these types of liquid surface. Soft-landing of multiply-charged lysozyme ions onto fluorinated self-assembled monolayer surfaces was found to occur with a limited amount of neutralization, and trapped multiply-charged ions could be desorbed from the surface by laser desorption. Initial data is shown for a new approach to protein identification that combines top-down and bottom-up approaches by utilizing protein ion soft-landing from a protein mixture, followed by tryptic digestion of the landed material and detection of characteristic tryptic fragments by MALDI.