Use of accelerated helium-3 ions for determining oxygen and carbon impurities in some pure materials

Methods are developed for the determination of O impurity in Be and Si carbide and concurrent determination of C and O impurities in Si and W by irradiation with accelerated He-3 ions and subsequent activity measurements of C-11 and F-18 formed from C and O with the aid of a gamma-gamma coincidence spectrometer. Techniques for determining O in Ge and Ga arsenide with radiochemical separation of F-18 are also described

Phase transitions and phase diagram of the ferroelectric perovskite NBT-BT by anelastic and dielectric measurements

The complex elastic compliance and dielectric susceptibility of (Na_{0.5}Bi_{0.5})_{1-x}Ba_{x}TiO_{3} (NBT-BT) have been measured in the composition range between pure NBT and the morphotropic phase boundary included, 0 <= x <= 0.08. The compliance of NBT presents sharp peaks at the rhombohedral/tetragonal and tetragonal/cubic transitions, allowing the determination of the tetragonal region of the phase diagram, up to now impossible due to the strong lattice disorder and small distortions and polarizations involved. In spite of ample evidence of disorder and structural heterogeneity, the R-T transition remains sharp up to x = 0.06, whereas the T-C transition merges into the diffuse and relaxor-like transition associated with broad maxima of the dielectric and elastic susceptibilities. An attempt is made at relating the different features in the anelastic and dielectric curves to different modes of octahedral rotations and polar cation shifts. The possibility is also considered that the cation displacements locally have monoclinic symmetry, as for PZT near the morphotropic phase boundary.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

The View of Russian Students on Whether Psychology is a Science

The Psychology as Science Scale (Friedrich, 1996) was administered to 525 psychology students from nine Russian universities to assess their beliefs about the nature of the discipline. About half of students (49.6%) generally agreed that psychology may be called a scientific discipline. Specifically, 71. 5% of the students agreed that psychology is a natural science, similar to biology, chemistry, and physics, 39. 9% of students agreed that psychological research is important and training in psychological methodology is necessary, and 43.1% of students agreed that human behavior is highly predictable. Students who took three methodology courses shared significantly stronger beliefs in the need for psychological research and the importance of training in methodology compared to students who did not take any methodology courses. Furthermore, students with a specialist degree had significantly stronger beliefs that psychology is a science compared to students who have just finished school. In terms of the effect of students’ career aspirations, students who wanted to be academic psychologists and clinicians had significantly stronger beliefs that psychology is a science compared to students who did not have clarity about their future careers. Regardless of the study limitations, these findings have potential implications for Russian psychology instructors

Komsomol Activity as Factor in Formation of Value of Knowledge in Public Consciousness of Youth at the Turn of 1950s-1960s

The questions of how successfully the youth of the second half of the 1950s - the first half of the 1960s formed a focus on the value of knowledge and what role the Young Communist League (Komsomol) played in this are considered. Studying the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League from the standpoint of state, the authors came to the conclusion that this kind of “Ministry of Youth” not only served as an institution of political socialization, but also persistently showed concern for the education of youth. The basic directions of activity of the Komsomol to achieve the goals of universal education (universal education) are revealed. The achievements in the popularization of science and technology among young people are shown. To assess the perception of the youth of the USSR of knowledge as a value, the authors widely use the results of mass surveys published in the 1960s in the “Komsomolskaya Pravda.” It is noted that the most important indicator of the prestige of knowledge is the high level of popularity of self-education. It is especially emphasized that during this period the organizers of youth leisure in any case did not forget about educational tasks. The novelty of the study is that the materials of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, as well as previously stored under the heading of “top secret” documents of collections for official use have been introduced into scientific circulation

On stress/strain state in a rotating disk

In the framework of mechanics of continuum bodies, the problem of stress/strain state in a high-speed rotating disk of constant thickness has been considered. The material of the disk is assumed to be homogeneous, elastic/perfectly-plastic. In the plastic zone, the stresses and plastic strains are related by some associated law similar to the one employed in deformation theory of plasticity. The general algorithm of the solution covers any smooth plasticity function. At some steps of the algorithm, it is possible to get analytical expressions, particularly, for the quadratic Mises yield criterion. For the given model, the notion of control parameters (external and internal) has been introduced. The allowable boundaries of external parameters have been defined as well. For some states of the disk, the coherent values of external parameters have been obtained. The results are represented graphically to show various states of the disk. The usage of piecewise plasticity functions has been briefly discussed. The results obtained can be used in preliminary engineering design and related numerical codes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Towards nanomaterials with tubular pores: synthesis and self-assembly of bis-pillar[5]arene

Recently, materials obtained using supramolecular chemistry approaches, and, in particular, spatially preorganized macrocyclic compounds, have attracted close attention of the researchers. Pillar[n]arenes are of special interest due to their tubular spatial structure and macrocyclic cavity. A similar tubular structure is retained in the supramolecular packaging of pillar[5]arene crystals, forming pores. In this study, we developed a block synthetic approach for the preparation of bis-pillar[5]arene containing amide groups. The ability of the synthesized bis-pillar[5]arene to form stable self-associates in solvents of different polarity (CHCl3 and CH3OH) was demonstrated by the DLS method. In trichloromethane at concentration of 1·10–3 M, monodisperse associates with average hydrodynamic diameter of 227 nm (PDI = 0.28) are formed; in methanol, stable associates (1·10–6 M) have an average hydrodynamic diameter of 136 nm (PDI = 0.21). The results obtained can be used to create new supramolecular systems, molecular machines, or capture and detect various organic molecules.

Study of the dynamic structure of the near-lunar orbital space

The knowledge of the dynamic features of the near-lunar space is necessary for its optimal mastering. This work is devoted to a study of the special features of the dynamics of the artificial Moon satellites (AMS) with intermediate and high orbits in the range of semimajor axes from 2500 to 26000 km

In Vitro Cytotoxicity Screening as a Criterion for the Rational Selection of Tear Substitutes

A large number of artificial tears are currently available in the pharmaceutical market. Selecting the right drug for the patient remains a challenge for both the doctor and the patient. Comparing the cytotoxicity of artificial tears is one of the criteria for the rational selection of a drug that promotes maximum clinical efficacy and a higher safety profile. It is known that cells grown in vitro retain many metabolic features of the parent host tissues and at the same time lack tissue and organ interrelations and regulatory effects of the nervous and endocrine systems and have very limited compensatory capabilities. These features of cell cultures provide an opportunity to investigate the interaction of chemical agents directly with the cell itself, to identify changes in cellular and subcellular structures that can be masked in whole-organism settings. This study presents the results of assessing the cytotoxicity of tear substitutes, which demonstrate that these drugs can have a cytostatic effect in vitro and differ in their cytotoxic potential. In recent years, the problem of drug therapy of patients with dry eye syndrome has been attracting increasing attention of ophthalmologists, so screening the cytotoxicity of a wide range of tear substitutes using cell culture-based test systems can promote the rational selection of these drugs

Study of Lead-Free Perovskite Solar Cells at Elevated Temperatures and UV Irradiatio

In the present work, the change of the electrical performance is investigated for two lead-free perovskite materials with novel iodide- based and bromide-based compositions under different exploitation conditions, such as light-induced stress, elevated temperatures and ultraviolet light exposure. The charge transport properties are studied in more detail by spectroscopic methods for the cell with the iodide layer due to its greater stability, aiming to understand the degradation mechanism. The results show that this perovskite exhibited excellent stability at UV exposure and acceptable stability at continuous illumination at 600 nm. The device is stable up to 55 °C, when the photovoltage drops. Beyond this threshold temperature, a phase change transition occurs related to traps formation and charge carriers escaping, which affects the photovoltage and it slightly increases