Planar microresonators for EPR experiments

EPR resonators on the basis of standing-wave cavities are optimised for large samples. For small samples it is possible to design different resonators that have much better power handling properties and higher sensitivity. Other parameters being equal, the sensitivity of the resonator can be increased by minimising its size and thus increasing the filling factor. Like in NMR, it is possible to use lumped elements; coils can confine the microwave field to volumes that are much smaller than the wavelength. We discuss the design and evaluation of EPR resonators on the basis of planar microcoils. Our test resonators, which operate at a frequency of 14 GHz, have excellent microwave efficiency factors, achieving 24 ns pi/2 EPR pulses with an input power of 17 mW. The sensitivity tests with DPPH samples resulted in the sensitivity value 2.3 x 10(9) spins.G(-1) Hz(-1/2) at 300 K.     

The Effect of Temperature on Lattice Mechanical Properties of Noble and Transition Metals

A simple pseudopotential model is used for the calculation of the temperature dependence of lattice mechanical properties which also depend on the phonon density of states such as lattice heat capacity C _V , Debye temperature _D, harmonic contribution to free energy, thermal pressure, isothermal bulk modulus corrected to the fourth order, volume thermal expansion coefficient , Debye-Waller factor, mean-square displacement, Debye-Waller temperature parameter, and X-ray characteristic temperature _M of Cu, Ag, Au, Ni, Pd, Pt, Rh, and Ir. The contribution of d-like electrons is taken into account by introducing repulsive short-range Born-Mayer-like term. Very recently proposed screening function due to Sarkar et al. has been used to obtain the screened form factor. The theoretical results are compared with experimental findings wherever possible. A good agreement between theoretical investigations and experimental findings show the ability of our model potential to reproduce wide class of properties in noble and transition metals.     

Measurement of the K X-ray absorption jump factors and jump ratios of Gd, Dy, Ho and Er by attenuation of a Compton peak

The X-ray absorption jump factor and jump ratio of Gd, Dy, Ho and Er were measured with a Si(Li) detector by attenuation, with Gd, Dy, Ho and Er foil, a Compton peak produced by the scattering of the Am-241 Gamma rays. Al was chosen as secondary exciter. The experimental absorption jump factors and jump ratios are compared with the theoretical estimates of WinXcom (Radiat. Phys. Chem. 60 (2001) 23), McMaster (Compilation of X-ray cross sections UCRL-50174, 1969; Sec. II. Rev. I), Broll (X-ray Spectrom 15 (1986) 271), Hubbel and Seltzer (NISTIR (1995) 5632) and Budak (Radiat. Meas. accepted for publication). The present results constitute the first measurement for this combination of energy and elements, and good agreement is obtained between experiment and theory.     

Chromatographic impulse response technique with curve fitting to measure binary diffusion coefficients and retention factors using polymer-coated capillary columns

The theoretical basis of a Gaussian-like approximate solution was applied to a chromatographic impulse response technique with curve fitting for measuring binary diffusion coefficients and retention factors using a polymer-coated capillary column. The formulae were derived for evaluating both the accuracy of the approximate solution and the sensitivity of the parameters. The validity of the solution also was confirmed experimentally for pulse injection of phenol in acetone into supercritical carbon dioxide flowing at 313.15 K and 11.6-28.6 MPa. Potential sources for experimental errors of the method are discussed.     

Deformational Properties of Irradiated Composite Materials Based on PET and PE

Considering the wide applicability of polymeric composite materials, heterogeneous blends of poly(ethylene terephtalate) (PET) and polyethylenes of high and low densities (HDPE and LDPE, respectively) were investigated. Rheological (the flow-behavior index), mechanical (the yield strength and the Charpy impact strength), and morphological (crystallinity and the melting temperature) properties were detected for individual blend components and different blend compositions. A radiation treatment (-rays) was applied to improve certain characteristics of the heterogeneous blends. The results of this investigation show that the radiation modification can be successfully used to improve some physical properties of the PET-based blends and to choose individual blend components, optimum irradiation conditions, and desirable blend compositions, which allows producing materials with a predictable set of mechanical properties.     

Conformally Invariant Quantization at Order Three

Let (M, g) be a pseudo-Riemannian manifold and the space of densities of degree on M. Denote the space of differential operators from to of order k and S _k with = – the corresponding space of symbols. We construct (the unique) conformally invariant quantization map . This result generalizes that of Duval and Ovsienko.     

Evaluation of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in conjunction with chemometric resolution for identification of nitrogen compounds in crude oil

A chemometric resolution method is described for the identification of nitrogen compounds in crude oil. Prefractionation of crude oil into discrete chemical classes was performed by adsorption column chromatography using small quantities of neutral aluminum oxide and silicic acid. Subsequent high-resolution separation of individual components was achieved by using capillary column gas chromatography, and compound types were detected by mass spectrometer. In conjunction with a combined chemometric method, each principal chemical class was further resolved and separated, which made it possible to identify some nitrogen compounds in the investigated oils. To a certain extent, this method could relieve classical analysis of difficulty in identifying those species with poorly low contents or partially chromatographic overlaps, particularly in the cases where authentic standards were not available for addition into the unknown analytical systems to reveal what indeed existed in them.     

On Approximations of First Integrals for Strongly Nonlinear Oscillators

In this paper strongly nonlinear oscillator equations will be studied.It will be shown that the recently developed perturbation method based onintegrating factors can be used to approximate first integrals. Not onlyapproximations of first integrals will be given, butit will also be shown how in a rather efficient way the existence and stability oftime-periodic solutions can be obtained from these approximations. In particularthe generalized Rayleigh oscillator equation will be studied in detail, and it will beshown that at least five limit cycles can occur.     

Universal Margin Factors and Selection Criteria in Variable Environment

For nonautonomous dynamical systems, the principle of inheriting local properties by global Poincaré maps is developed. Using this method, a selection criterion for systems of close competitors is found: to gain competitive advantage, it suffices to outproduce other populations with a margin. The margin factor in question remains uniformly bounded as the number of competitors in the community grows.     

Stability of a Pivoting Strategy for Parallel Gaussian Elimination

Gaussian elimination with partial pivoting achieved by adding the pivot row to the kth row at step k, was introduced by Onaga and Takechi in 1986 as means for reducing communications in parallel implementations. In this paper it is shown that the growth factor of this partial pivoting algorithm is bounded above by _n <#60; 3 ^n–1, as compared to 2 ^n–1 for the standard partial pivoting. This bound _n, close to 3 ^n–2, is attainable for class of near-singular matrices. Moreover, for the same matrices the growth factor is small under partial pivoting.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.