M. Carey Lea, the first mechanochemist

The experiments of M. Carey Lea (1823-1897) are usually considered the first systematic investigations on the chemical effects of mechanical action. This paper collects the most important facts about Lea's life and discusses his research from the point of view of mechanochemistry. Lea was born into a family of considerable privilege and exceptional achievements. He suffered from weak health throughout his life. Consequently, he was educated at home by a tutor and later worked in the private laboratory of his home in Philadelphia. Lea was primarily a photochemist, his first mechanochemical observation in 1866 concerned the pressure sensitivity of photographic plates. Later in his life, he investigated the effect of various kinds of energy—heat, light, mechanical action—on allotropic (colloidal) silver and silver halides. The “parallelism” of the results motivated Lea to study the mechanochemical decomposition of dozens of stable compounds between 1892 and 1894. He observed the decomposition of silver and mercuric chlorides by trituration in a mortar, although the same compounds are known to melt or sublime undecomposed when heated. Lea was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1892.     

From genome to proteome: protein map of Haemophilus influenzae

High-resolution two-dimensional (2-D) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis allows the separation of complex biological mixtures (i.e., several hundred proteins from a bacterial cell lysate) in a single experiment. In this report proteins from Haemophilus influenzae were separated by 2-D gels and analyzed by peptide mass fingerprinting and/or amino acid analysis. By comparing the peptide mass profiles and the amino acid composition with the Haemophilus influenzae database, 119 protein spots were identified. The combination of amino acid analysis and peptide mass fingerprinting is a powerful tool for a rapid and economical identification of a large number of proteins resolved by 2-D gels. Studies on gene regulation and changes of protein expression upon drug treatment require quick and serial analysis techniques to efficiently identify potential new drug targets.     

Magnetic and structural properties of Fe65Co35 alloys obtained by melting,high-energy milling and heat treatment

The influence of milling and annealing conditions on the structural and magnetic behaviour of mechanically milled Fe₆₅Co₃₅ alloys has been studied. By differential scanning calorimetry measurements we determined the internal stress relaxation temperature, recrystallisation temperature and structural order/disorder transition temperature of bulk and mechanical milled Fe₆₅Co₃₅. The width of the X-ray diffraction peaks was found to increase with the milling time. Two types of annealing were performed: a conventional heat treatment at 500, 550 and 600 °C for 2 h and a rapid annealing for a maximum of 2 min at 700, 750 or 800 °C followed by quenching. Crystallite size increases with increasing heat treatment temperature and time, as both are parameters that influence the magnetic properties of the sample. Magnetic permeability variations result from internal stress evolution, changes in crystallite size, supposing that the crystallite size of the annealed samples is at the border between viability of the Herzer model and the classical behaviour of the permeability vs. crystallite size.     

Two important periods in the history of mechanochemistry

Some form of mechanochemical experience has existed from fine grinding of materials since prehistoric times, yet the first systematic investigations on the chemical effects of mechanical action were carried out only at the end of the nineteenth century. Walthére Spring studied the consolidation and reactions of powdered materials due to high pressure at the University of Liège, in order to understand the formation of minerals in the earth’s crust and M. Carey Lea carried out experiments on the decomposition of compounds by grinding in a mortar. In some of his experiments mechanical action produced distinctly different result from the effect of heat. The first part of this paper compares the circumstances and results of Spring and Lea. The other important period in the history of mechanochemistry was the 1960s, the time when the first dedicated conferences were organized and a broader community of mechanochemists formed. This happened in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe where several groups were working on subjects related to mechanochemistry. In 1968, the first dedicated conference was organized as a special session of the yearly meeting of Soviet colloid chemists. An attempt is made to reconstruct the circumstances leading to that event and the roles played by Rebinder and Thiessen in bringing it together. The next conference on mechanochemistry was already a separate event and it started a yearly series. Extensions have led to the INCOME conferences, including this one in Ko?ice in 2017.     

Studies of 1s2s 3S-1s2p 3P transitions in helium-like Ne8+ recoil ions using photographic spectroscopy

This work describes the application of the technique of photographic VUV spectroscopy to accurate measurement of the wavelength of the theoretically interesting 1s2s ³S₁-1s2p ³P₂ transition in helium-like Ne⁸⁺ in a recoil ion source. Good resolution is obtained, and a preliminary value of 124.815±0.002 nm is found for the wavelength.     

SVD-based complexity reduction of rule-bases with nonlinearantecedent fuzzy sets

With the help of the singular value decomposition (SVD) based complexity reduction method, not only can the redundancy of fuzzy rule-bases be eliminated, but further reduction can also be made, considering the allowable error. Namely, in the case of higher allowable error, the result may be a less complex fuzzy inference system, with a smaller rule-base. This property of the SVD-based reduction method makes possible the usage of fuzzy systems, even in cases when the available time and resources are limited. The original SVD-based reduction method was proposed for rule-bases with linear antecedent fuzzy sets. This limitation remained valid in the later extensions, as well. The purpose of this paper is to give a formal mathematical proof for the original formulas with nonlinear antecedent fuzzy sets and thus to end this limitation     

Research on dynamic micro-deformation under laser point source

The dynamic micro-deformation of the specimen under laser point source is measured using a laser beam reflex amplifier system and numerically simulated by Msc.Marc software. Compared with experimental result and calculated result, the final deformation direction of the specimen depends on the result of the thermal strain and the phase transformation strain cooperation, away from the laser beam or towards the laser beam, the final deformation angle depends on temperature gradient in the thickness direction and the geometry constraint of the specimen. The conclusion lays the foundation for further research on the mechanism of laser bending. At the same time, it is proposed that the model of calculation based on classical Fourier heat transfer theory cannot be enough to simulate the dynamic micro-deformation of the specimen under laser point source, the model of calculation should be modified in the future.