Peculiarities of anharmonic lattice dynamics and thermodynamics of alkaline-earth metals

The calculations are performed for a broad range of the properties of Ca and Sr in the fcc and bcc phases. A detailed information on the magnitude and character of temperature dependence of anharmonic effects in the lattice dynamics over the entire Brillouin zone (frequency shifts and phonon damping, Gruneisen parameters) is given. A detailed comparison of the computational results for the heat capacity and thermal expansion with the experimental data is carried out; the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experiment.Comment: 16 pages, 19 Postscript figures, Revte

Permanence, Temporality and the Rhythms of Life : Exploring Significance of the Village Arena in Igbo Culture

The village arena (or ‘square’ or ‘Otobo’ in Nsukka Igbo) is at the physical and socio-cultural centre of Igbo life, in southeast Nigeria. It is a space where intangible Igbo cultural heritage is played out, and also serves as a virtual museum where heritage materials are kept. The arena performs its roles in two very different ways: as a sacred space hosting initiation rites and religious rituals; and as a profane space for meetings and ceremonies. Either way, these uses see the arena transition between permanency and temporality, following routines and rhythms which themselves give the practices meaning and significance, and contribute to their inscription on the landscape. This paper explores the complexities associated with these village arenas with a particular focus on their socio-cultural, political, economic and religious functions through time, as well as the way those complexities are manifest in material cultures that serve to characterize the village arena

Isotopic Grand Unification with the Inclusion of Gravity (revised version)

We introduce a dual lifting of unified gauge theories, the first characterized by the isotopies, which are axiom- preserving maps into broader structures with positive-definite generalized units used for the representation of matter under the isotopies of the Poincare' symmetry, and the second characterized by the isodualities, which are anti-isomorphic maps with negative-definite generalized units used for the representation of antimatter under the isodualities of the Poincare' symmetry. We then submit, apparently for the first time, a novel grand unification with the inclusion of gravity for matter embedded in the generalized positive-definite units of unified gauge theories while gravity for antimatter is embedded in the isodual isounit. We then show that the proposed grand unification provides realistic possibilities for a resolution of the axiomatic incompatibilities between gravitation and electroweak interactions due to curvature, antimatter and the fundamental space-time symmetries.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, revised in various details and with added reference