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.     

Radioactive waste treatment using natural Syrian bentonite

The uptake of¹³⁷Cs and⁹⁰Sr/⁹⁰Y onto Syrian bentonite has been studed, using batch and column tracer techniques in order to investigate its utilization for aqueous radioactive effluent treatment. Parameters influencing the percent uptake considered and studied in this work are: nuclide concentration, pH of the aqueous phase, heat treatment and particle size. Leaching experiments using natural sea and ground waters were carried out on bentonite/cement composites. They demonstrated the effectiveness of calcination and cement containment.     

Sample preparation for chromatographic analysis of food.

Sampling, homogenisation and sample preparation prior to chromatographic injection of food analytes are designed to enhance accuracy and precision. The reduction of inherent errors introduced by these steps requires the analyst's attention as a matter of course. Methods and examples of minimising errors in each step are reviewed.     

Incremental evolution of induced anisotropy

The aim of this article is to define a model that describes the evolution of the yield surface during plasticity. We propose a modelisation that is completely different from the classical approach as far as conception is concerned. It consists of describing the yield surface evolution with the help of velocity. The yield function is not directly known but is obtained by integrating a differential law starting from an initial surface. A very simple evolution law is used; the complexity of the induced anisotropy is obtained by incremental accumulation.     

Algorithms for ham-sandwich cuts

Given disjoint setsP ₁,P ₂, ...,P _d inR ^d withn points in total, ahamsandwich cut is a hyperplane that simultaneously bisects theP _i . We present algorithms for finding ham-sandwich cuts in every dimensiond>1. Whend=2, the algorithm is optimal, having complexityO(n). For dimensiond>2, the bound on the running time is proportional to the worst-case time needed for constructing a level in an arrangement ofn hyperplanes in dimensiond−1. This, in turn, is related to the number ofk-sets inR ^d−1 . With the current estimates, we get complexity close toO(n ^3/2 ) ford=3, roughlyO(n ^8/3 ) ford=4, andO(n ^d−1−a(d) ) for somea(d)>0 (going to zero asd increases) for largerd. We also give a linear-time algorithm for ham-sandwich cuts inR ³ when the three sets are suitably separated. A preliminary version of the results of this paper appeared in [16] and [17]. Part of this research by J. Matoušek was done while he was visiting the School of Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and part of his work on this paper was supported by a Humboldt Research Fellowship. W. Steiger expresses gratitude to the NSF DIMACS Center at Rutgers, and his research was supported in part by NSF Grants CCR-8902522 and CCR-9111491.     

Novel optical techniques for the analysis of polymer surfaces and thin films

Summary We report on novel optical techniques, based on evanescent waves, for the characterization of polymer surfaces and thin films. We first describe photo-ablation studies with polysilane films investigated by surface plasmon microscopy, a technique which is particularly well-suited for ultrathin samples. Thicker films that are homogeneous enough to carry optical waveguide modes can be characterized with high lateral resolution by the recently developed waveguide microscopy. We demonstrate this for a thin film of a solid polyelectrolyte. Finally, we report on surface plasmon field-enhanced Raman-spectroscopic and -imaging investigations of ultrathin Langmuir-Blodgett-Kuhn-layers of cadmium arachidate.W. Hickel is now with HOECHST AG, Angewandte Physik, W-6230 Frankfurt 80