Heavy-Fermions in a Transition-Metal Compound: LiV2O4LiV_2O_4

The recent discovery of heavy-Fermion properties in Lithium Vanadate and the enormous difference in its properties from the properties of Lithium Titanate as well as of the manganite compounds raise some puzzling questions about strongly correlated Fermions. These are disscussed as well as a solution to the puzzles provided.Comment: late

Effect of annealing on the phase transition in poly (vinylidene fluoride) films prepared using polar solvent

The γ -phase poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films are usually prepared using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent, regardless of preparation temperature. Here we report the crystallization of both α and γ -phase PVDF films by varying preparation temperature using DMSO solvent. The γ -phase PVDF films were annealed at 70, 90, 110, 130 and 160°C for five hours. The changes in the phase contents in the PVDF at different annealing conditions have been described. When thin films were annealed at 90°C for 5 h, maximum percentage of β -phase appears in PVDF thin films. The γ -phase PVDF films completely converted to α -phase when they were annealed at 160°C for 5 h. From X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Raman studies, it is confirmed that the PVDF thin films, cast from solution and annealed at 90°C for 5 h, have maximum percentage of β -phase. The β -phase PVDF shows a remnant polarization of 4.9 µC/cm2 at 1400 kV/cm at 1 Hz

Quality control of molluscan shellfish products

Since the molluscan shellfish filter large quantities of water during their feeding process, there are chances of accumulation of toxic heavy metals in their body, if the environment is polluted with toxic metals