Change in the magnetic state of a surface upon formation of hydrogen bonds during adsorption

It is established that reversible adsorption of water and methyl alcohol molecules, occurring via formation of hydrogen bonds, changes the dynamic properties of domain walls in the surface region of soft ferromagnets, as well as their initial static magnetic susceptibility. A mechanism is proposed for the effects revealed.     

Magnetic structure and transport properties of atomically disordered crystals of two-dimensional manganites La2−2x Sr1+2x Mn2O7

The magnetic structure and transport properties of partially disordered crystals of two-dimensional manganites La_2?2x Sr_1+2x Mn₂O₇ (x = 0.3, 0.4) are studied over a wide range of temperatures. The crystals are transformed into an atomically disordered state under irradiation with fast neutrons at a dose of 2 × 10¹⁹ cm^?2. The average concentration of substitutional defects in the crystal is ≈4%. It is found that substitutional defects are responsible for the transition of these manganites from the ferromagnetic metal state to the insulator state with a spin glass structure. The results obtained are discussed in terms of the ratio between the kinetic energy of charge carriers and the exchange energy of localized spins.     

Light scattering by aggregates of magnetite nanoparticles in a magnetic field

The effect of variation of the scattered light intensity in a magnetic fluid with aggregates of magnetite particles several microns in size under the action of a magnetic field is studied. The effect relaxation times are determined when the magnetic field is turned on and off. This effect is found to be caused by the orientation of anisotropically magnetized aggregates. Experimental data are used to calculate the average anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility of the aggregate and estimate its magnetic permeability.     

The effect of technological microdefects of structure on service life of polymer materials

Within the framework of the kinetic theory of strength, relations for estimation of durability of thermoplastic materials under stationary and non-stationary thermomechanical impacts are obtained It is shown that durability decreases linearly with increase in the natural (Napierian) logarithm of the mean size of microcracks formed during manufacturing of polymer products. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 3–6, July, 2007.     

Anomalous electric-field effect and glassy behaviour in granular aluminium thin films: electron glass?

We present a study of non-equilibrium phenomena observed in the electrical conductance of insulating granular aluminium thin films. An anomalous field effect and its slow relaxation are studied in some detail. The phenomenology is very similar to the one already observed in indium oxide. The origin of the phenomena is discussed. In granular systems, the present experiments can naturally be interpreted along two different lines. One relies on a slow polarisation in the dielectric surrounding the metallic islands. The other one relies on a purely electronic mechanism: the formation of an electron Coulomb glass in the granular metal. More selective experiments and/or quantitative predictions about the Coulomb glass properties are still needed to definitely distinguish between the two scenarios.     

The effect of nanoparticle shape on polymer‐nanocomposite rheology and tensile strength

Nanoparticles can influence the properties of polymer materials by a variety of mechanisms. With fullerene, carbon nanotube, and clay or graphene sheet nanocomposites in mind, we investigate how particle shape influences the melt shear viscosity η and the tensile strength τ, which we determine via molecular dynamics simulations. Our simulations of compact (icosahedral), tube or rod‐like, and sheet‐like model nanoparticles, all at a volume fraction ? ≈ 0.05, indicate an order of magnitude increase in the viscosity η relative to the pure melt. This finding evidently can not be explained by continuum hydrodynamics and we provide evidence that the η increase in our model nanocomposites has its origin in chain bridging between the nanoparticles. We find that this increase is the largest for the rod‐like nanoparticles and least for the sheet‐like nanoparticles. Curiously, the enhancements of η and τ exhibit opposite trends with increasing chain length N and with particle shape anisotropy. Evidently, the concept of bridging chains alone cannot account for the increase in τ and we suggest that the deformability or flexibility of the sheet nanoparticles contributes to nanocomposite strength and toughness by reducing the relative value of the Poisson ratio of the composite. The molecular dynamics simulations in the present work focus on the reference case where the modification of the melt structure associated with glass‐formation and entanglement interactions should not be an issue. Since many applications require good particle dispersion, we also focus on the case where the polymer‐particle interactions favor nanoparticle dispersion. Our simulations point to a substantial contribution of nanoparticle shape to both mechanical and processing properties of polymer nanocomposites. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1882–1897, 2007     

Semiparametric estimation of the long-range parameter

We study two estimators of the long-range parameter of a covariance stationary linear process. We show that one of the estimators achieve the optimal semiparametric rate of convergence, whereas the other has a rate of convergence as close as desired to the optimal rate. Moreover, we show that the estimators are asymptotically normal with a variance, which does not depend on any unknown parameter, smaller than others suggested in the literature. Finally, a small Monte Carlo study is included to illustrate the finite sample relative performance of our estimators compared to other suggested semiparametric estimators. More specifically, the Monte-Carlo experiment shows the superiority of the proposed estimators in terms of the Mean Squared Error. The first author research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) reference number: R000238212. The second author research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology of Japan, reference number: 09CE2002 and B(2)10202202.     

A potentiometric DNA sensor for determining autoimmune antibodies to DNA

A new technique is proposed for detecting interactions between DNA and DNA autoimmune antibodies using a potentiometric sensor based on a glassy-carbon electrode modified with polyaniline and native DNA from chicken erythrocytes. It is shown that the DNA-antibody interaction changes the rate of polyaniline doping in transferring the DNA sensor from an alkaline (pH 7.5) solution, which is optimum for the immunochemical reaction, to an acidic (pH 3.0) solution. The dynamics of the variation of the DNA sensor potential depends on the titer of antibodies and their origin. The dependence of the DNA sensor signal on the dilution of the blood sera from systemic lupus erythematosus and autoimmune thyroiditis patients shows that DNA antibodies can be diagnosed by the characteristic maximum in the dilution curve found in the range of serum dilutions from 1: 20 to 1: 50.     

Excess enthalpy of ternary mixture for diamine+heptane+cyclohexan

The excess molar enthalpy of ternary mixture for 3-diethylaminopropylamine+heptane+cyclohexane were measured using a Calvet microcalorimeter at 303.15 K. Empirical equations, Redlich-Kister, Tsao-Smith, and Kohler and group contribution models, UNIFAC (modified version) and DISQUAC have been applied. A reasonable representation of ternary data is obtained. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.