Critical behaviour of the compressible magnet with exchange anisotropy

Then-component magnet with exchange anisotropy on a compressible lattice, with isotropic elastic properties, is studied. The renormalization group method is applied ind =4 — dimensions. The fixed points and the stability regions are explored to the order ², and the analysis is concentrated upon the casen<4—2 +O( ²). Investigation of the fixed points reveals various crossover phenomena which are not present in the corresponding rigid model. Renormalization of the anisotropy crossover exponent is demonstrated. It is shown that macroscopic instabilities, leading to the first order phase transition, may appear.     

Raman scattering in SnSe

Zone center optical phonons in SnSe were investigated using Raman scattering data obtained here and previously reported far infrared reflectivity measurements. The values of the ratio of the pairs of interlayer force constants were calculated te be between 3·3 and 4·5. Thus it can be concluded that SnS is a layer like semiconductor but less layer like than GeS, GeSe or SnS.     

Intermolecular potential energy surface and spectra of He-HCl with generalization to other rare gas-hydrogen halide complexes

A two-dimensional (rigid monomer) intermolecular potential energy surface (PES) of the He-HCl complex has been obtained from ab initio calculations utilizing the symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) and an spdfg basis set including midbond functions. The bond length in HCl was chosen to be equal to the expectation value in the ground vibrational state of isolated HCl. The rigid-monomer potential should be a very good approximation to the complete (three-dimensional) potential for H-Cl distances corresponding to the lowest vibrational levels of the monomer since the He-HCl interaction energy was found to be only weakly dependent on the HCl bond length in this region, at least as compared to systems such as Ar-HF. The calculated points were fitted using an analytic function with ab initio computed asymptotic coefficients. As expected, the complex is loosely bound, with the dispersion energy providing the majority of the attraction. Our SAPT PES agrees with the semiempirical PES of Willey et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 96, 898 (1992)], in finding that, atypically for rare gas-hydrogen halide complexes including the lighter halide atoms, the global minimum is on the Cl side (with intermonomer separation 3.35 A and depth of 32.8 cm(-1)), rather than on the H side, where there is only a local minimum (3.85 A, 30.8 cm(-1)). The ordering of the minima was confirmed by single-point calculations in larger basis sets and complete basis set extrapolations, and also using higher levels of theory. We show that the opposite findings in the recent calculations of Zhang and Shi [J. Mol. Struct: THEOCHEM 589, 89 (2002)] are due to the lack of midbond functions in their basis set. Despite the closeness in depth of the two linear minima, the existence of a relatively high barrier between them invalidates the assumption of isotropy, a feature of some literature potentials. The trends concerning the locations of minima within the family of rare gas-hydrogen halide complexes are rationalized in terms of the physical components of the intermolecular forces and related to monomer properties. The accuracy of the SAPT PES was tested by performing calculations of rovibrational levels. The transition frequencies obtained were found to be in excellent agreement (to within 0.02 cm(-1)) with the measurements of Lovejoy and Nesbitt [J. Chem. Phys. 93, 5387 (1990)]. The SAPT PES predicts a dissociation energy for the complex of 7.74 cm(-1) which is probably more accurate than the experimental value of 10.1+/-1.2 cm(-1). Our analysis of the ground-state rovibrational wave function shows that the He-HCl configuration is favored over the He-ClH configuration despite the ordering of minima. This is due to the greater volume of the well in the former case. We have also determined positions and widths of three low-lying resonance states through scattering calculations. These predictions are expected to be more accurate than values derived from experiment.     

Sorption of trace concentrations of gallium(III) and iodide ions on tin(II) hydroxide

Summary The results of sorption measurements for gallium (III) and iodide ion traces onto tin(II) hydroxide from aqueous heterogeneous systems are given. Since only tagged sorbate was used (⁶⁷Ga and 1311), in the determination of sorption by radioactive tracer method, it was necessary to establish the pH interval of tin(II) hydroxide in/stability. This was done by a turbidimetric method and the pH region of instability between 3 and 9 was found.The sorption results indicate a difference in sorption ability of gallium(III) and iodide as it appears from the dependence of the amount sorbed on contact time between heterogeneous reactants (sorbentsorbate). The amounts sorbed increase with increasing contact times at higher pH values for Ga(III) but remain unaffected for iodide sorption. Thus the sorption of iodide ions seems to be restricted to the solid surface while the sorption results for gallium(III) indicate the diffusion of sorbate into sorbent as a possible parallel mechanism. Those processes could be taken as compatible with the porous-double-layer mechanism which has been proposed in literature for aqueous heterogeneous oxide systems.

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Zusammenfassung In der Arbeit werden Ergebnisse von Sorptionsmessungen für Ga³⁺- und j-Spuren an Zinn(II)-Hydroxid aus wäßrigen heterogenen Systemen berichtet. Zur analytischen Erfassung wurden radioaktives⁶⁷Ga und 131 J verwendet. Die Stabilität von Zinn(II)-Hydroxid wurde durch Trübungsmessungen untersucht. Im pH-Bereich von 3–9 ist das Zinn(II)-Hydroxid als kolloide Suspension instabil.Ga³⁺ und J^– verhalten sich bei der Adsorption unterschiedlich. Die adsorbierte Menge steigt mit zunehmender Kontaktzeit bei hohen pH-Werten von Gallium, bleibt jedoch für Jod unverändert. Die Unterschiede werden gedeutet durch die Annahme, daß Jod nur an der festen Oberfläche adsorbiert wird, während die Galliumionen auch in das Sorbens diffundieren können. Man könnte die Ergebnisse als verträglich mit einem porösen Doppelschichtmechanismus ansehen; ein solcher Mechanismus ist in der Literatur für wäßrige heterogene Oxidsysteme vorgeschlagen worden.

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With 4 figures     

Teaching Operational Research Technique

Good technique, i.e. competence in carrying out operational research, is as vital for the practitioner to acquire as competence in the traditional ‘techniques’. It is suggested that universities should teach students how to conduct simple projects prior to alerting them to more sophisticated methodological issues.As an aid to this task, the traditional five or six parts of an operational research project are broken down and extended into 39 steps, and regrouped into three phases. Also, five skills are identified as being conceptually essential to "good" operational research, which students can develop through tackling suitable case studies.     

Adsorption configuration and local ordering of silicotungstate anions on Ag(100) electrode surfaces

X-ray reflectivity, cyclic voltammetry, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) are used to examine the structure of alpha-SiW12O4(4-) or silicotungstic acid (STA) adsorbed on Ag(100) in acid solution. The voltammetry shows that STA passivates the Ag surface relative to electron transfer to a solution redox species. STM images reveal the formation of a series of lattice structures, one of which can be associated with a commensurate ( radical13x radical13)R33.69 degrees structural model. X-ray reflectivity measurements show uniquely that STA orients with its four-fold axis perpendicular to the Ag(100) surface and that the center of the STA molecule is 4.90 A above the top layer of the Ag substrate. Analysis of bond lengths leads to a footprint of STA on Ag(100), in which the four terminal O atoms are located near the hollow sites and have a Ag-O bond length of 2.06 A. This bond length is consistent with a strong covalent interaction between STA and the Ag surface.     

Distribution of fallout radionuclides through soil surface layer

The distribution of¹³⁷Cs through soil layers has been investigated by field sampling. The investigation deals with¹³⁷Cs concentration found after the Chernobyl accident. The relationship between important soil characteristics, total precipitation and cesium distribution are analyzed. Cesium is strongly sorbed in the top soil layer and its migration downward is limited. Measurements performed over a 3-year period revealed that approximately 20–38 per cent of total¹³⁷Cs is located in the upper soil layer.     

Metal—metal bonding in dinuclear complexes of platinum(I). The crystal and molecular structure of carbonyl(chloro)-bis-μ-[bis(diphenylphosphino)methane]diplatinum hexafluorophosphate

The structure of [Pt₂Cl(CO) (μ-Ph₂PCH₂PPh₂)₂] [PF₆] was determined by $\text{X}$-ray methods and refined to $\text{R}$ = 0.082, using diffractometric intensities of 5646 independent reflections. The crystals are monoclinic, space group $\text{P}$2₁/$\text{n}$, $\text{a}$ = 12.919(3), $\text{b}$ = 15.576(6), $\text{c}$ = 25.151(5)Å, β = 94.82(3)°, $\text{Z}$ = 4. They are built of octahedral hexafluorophosphate anions and dinuclear platinum(I) cations. The latter contain PtCl and PtCO fragments linked to one another by a PtPt σ-bond and by two bridging bis(diphenylphosphino)methane ligands. The platinum atoms are in square planar environments and the dihedral angle between the two coordination planes is 40.1°. Selected bond lengths are: PtPt 2.620(1), PtCl 2.384(5), PtC 1.89(3) and PtP 2.291(5) – 2.308(5)Å.     

Classification of wheat varieties: use of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis for varieties that can not be classified by matrix assisted laser desorpiton/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry and an artificial neural network

Analyzing a gliadin extract by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) combined with an artificial neural network (ANN) is a suitable method for identification of wheat varieties. However, the ANN can not distinguish between all different wheat varieties. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) was applied to three pairs of wheat varieties, which can not be classified correctly by ANN. By 2-D PAGE the varieties in the three pairs can be discriminated and these six wheat varieties can be separated from each other, which could not be separated by MALDI-TOF-MS and NN.     

Optimization of artificial neural networks used for retention modelling in ion chromatography

The aim of this work is the development of an artificial neural network model, which can be generalized and used in a variety of applications for retention modelling in ion chromatography. Influences of eluent flow-rate and concentration of eluent anion (OH-) on separation of seven inorganic anions (fluoride, chloride, nitrite, sulfate, bromide, nitrate, and phosphate) were investigated. Parallel prediction of retention times of seven inorganic anions by using one artificial neural network was applied. MATLAB Neural Networks ToolBox was not adequate for application to retention modelling in this particular case. Therefore the authors adopted it for retention modelling by programming in MATLAB metalanguage. The following routines were written; the division of experimental data set on training and test set; selection of data for training and test set; Dixon's outlier test; retraining procedure routine; calculations of relative error. A three-layer feed forward neural network trained with a Levenberg-Marquardt batch error back propagation algorithm has been used to model ion chromatographic retention mechanisms. The advantage of applied batch training methodology is the significant increase in speed of calculation of algorithms in comparison with delta rule training methodology. The technique of experimental data selection for training set was used allowing improvement of artificial neural network prediction power. Experimental design space was divided into 8-32 subspaces depending on number of experimental data points used for training set. The number of hidden layer nodes, the number of iteration steps and the number of experimental data points used for training set were optimized. This study presents the very fast (300 iteration steps) and very accurate (relative error of 0.88%) retention model, obtained by using a small amount of experimental data (16 experimental data points in training set). This indicates that the method of choice for retention modelling in ion chromatography is the artificial neural network.