From quantum mechanics to the physical metallurgy of steels

In the last decade there has been a breakthrough in the construction of theories leading to models for the simulation of atomic scale processes in steel. In this paper the theory is described and developed and used to demonstrate calculations of the diffusivity and trapping of hydrogen in iron and the structures of carbon vacancy complexes in steel.Comment: Paper presented at "Adventures in the Physical Metallurgy of Steels," Cambridge, August 2013. See http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/apms where the slides and video of the talk can also be seen. Paper is submitted to a special issue of Materials Science and Technolog

Group amenability properties for von Neumann algebras

In his study of amenable unitary representations, M. E. B. Bekka asked if there is an analogue for such representations of the remarkable fixed-point property for amenable groups. In this paper, we prove such a fixed-point theorem in the more general context of a $G$-amenable von Neumann algebra $M$, where $G$ is a locally compact group acting on $M$. The F{\o}lner conditions of Connes and Bekka are extended to the case where $M$ is semifinite and admits a faithful, semifinite, normal trace which is invariant under the action of $G$

Rude and crude?: When teens in your library respond negatively to you, think back to how you approached them

Skaters, taggers, gang members, and other groups of young people are being identified all over America as problems for libraries. However, these teens respond negatively to librarians because of the way that they are approached and because they experience so much discrimination. If teen behavior needs to be changed, there needs to be a change in the way they are approached and an appeal toward their code of ethics