Direct Imaging of Antiferromagnet-Ferromagnet Phase Transition in van der Waals Antiferromagnet CrSBr

The advent of van der Waals (vdW) ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials offers unprecedented opportunities for spintronics and magneto-optic devices. Combining magnetic Kerr microscopy and density functional theory calculations, the AFM-FM transition is investigated and a surprising abnormal magneto-optic anisotropy in vdW CrSBr associated with different magnetic phases (FM, AFM, or paramagnetic state) is discovered. This unique magneto-optic property leads to different anisotropic optical reflectivity from different magnetic states, permitting direct imaging of the AFM Néel vector orientation and the dynamic process of the AFM-FM transition within a magnetic field. Using Kerr microscopy, not only the domain nucleation and propagation process is imaged but also the intermediate spin-flop state in the AFM-FM transition is identified. The unique magneto-optic property and clear identification of the dynamics process of the AFM-FM phase transition in CrSBr demonstrate the promise of vdW magnetic materials for future spintronic technology.     

Cluster-associate viscosity model of tin chloride in comparison with the Frenkel model

Determining the viscosity of inorganic molten compounds like tin chloride is critically important for material processing, chemical synthesis, and energy applications. However, experimental limitations have restricted the development of accurate viscosity models. This study tests a new cluster-associate model for predicting the viscosity of molten tin chloride across a wide temperature range. The model links viscosity to the structure and dynamics of molecular clusters in the melt. The aim of this study is to establish a correlation between viscosity and cluster formation within a liquid, using tin chloride as an example. The data were calculated using a newly developed equation based on the concept of randomized particles. The temperature range studied was from the melting point to the boiling point. To verify the accuracy of the cluster-associate model, it was compared with the Frenkel equation using logarithmic coordinates. Simulations were performed on tin chloride, which yielded results showing a linear relationship between the degree of cluster association and the activation energy of fluidity. The proportionality coefficient reflects the activation energy associated with a single cluster. The Frenkel equation in the logarithmic coordinate scale was compared with the cluster-associate model. The functional dependence and correspondence of these models are indicated by their high coefficient mutual correlation. The proposed viscosity model underwent testing for the entire liquid state range of the substance, and calculations confirmed its validity. This enables reliable use of the suggested model for both high- and low-temperature extrapolation, including the critical point region.     

Domestic Micro-Environments

In the following works, Mathieu Lehanneur readdresses our understanding of domestic spaces through the environmental systems that control and condition them. Such spaces are generally conditioned by centralised heating, cooling and ventilation systems that lump together many sensory qualities, including primary thermal controls as well as by-products of scent and sound, into a singular, mechanical system that fails to engage any of them fully. Lehanneur's projects look to separate these senses into systems distributed throughout the home, engaging each one specifically and locally, in an attempt to redefine the domestic spaces they are located within. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

McLean's Nuggets

The development of a clean, plentiful and low-cost alternative energy source is the holy grail of the 21st century. Ken Yeang looks into his crystal ball and asks whether the future could lie in nanoenergy and the proliferation of numerous personal nanogenerators - attached to buildings, individuals or under bridges. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spaces of Freedom

The predicaments of the current global climate bring a new poignancy and focus to architecture. Emiliano Gandolfi , the curator of the much lauded ‘Experimental Architecture’ exhibition in the Padiglione Italia at the 2008 Venice Biennale, outlines how an emerging group of designers are redefining architecture as they seek to provide solutions that identify people's needs and address the exigencies of global warning, the environmental crisis and migration. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Type? What Type? Further Reflections on the Extended Threshold

Michael Hensel draws a parallel between the present and a moment in the early 1990s when typology seemed poised to come to the fore. He highlights how despite a promising start this interest slipped away and was supplanted by an obsession with topography and highly complex surfaces, leading to a primacy of the individual built form over the urban.     

Stability of polydihydrosilane liquid films on solid substrates

The quality of polydihydrosilane liquid films is a key factor in the fabrication of solution-processed silicon films. This study investigates the stability of polydihydrosilane liquid films with a thickness L of ~ 40 nm on solid substrates by a comparison between the observed optical microscope images and the values of the Hamaker constant A_ALS for the air/liquid (polydihydrosilane)/solid substrate systems. A_ALS values for a series of SiO₂-based substrates were determined by adopting a simple spectrum method. We found that the micrographs of the polydihydrosilane films provide direct evidence of stability in accordance with the sign of A_ALS; a stable liquid film with A_ALS > 0 showed a continuous figure, while an unstable film with A_ALS < 0 exhibited an array of dots caused by the rupture of the film. The array of dots in the unstable liquid films has a slight orderly distribution with a period λ that is in accord with the characteristic wavelength of the undulation related to the spinodal-like decomposition in van der Waals unstable liquid.     

微型汽车发动机排气系统优化设计——基于流体数值模拟的应用研究

为了研究排气系统设计对整机的动力性、经济性及排放性能的影响,通过一维三维的数值模拟方法,分析了原排气歧管存在的排气干涉的问题,对新旧设计进行了一维模拟计算对比。利用CFD/FEM耦合方法,计算了在最大功率点排气歧管的温度分布及热应力分布。通过三维CFD计算,分析了氧传感器位置气流分布及催化转化器前端气流均匀性。制造排气系统实物并进行台架试验,结果表明整机性能有了显著的提高,并且耐久性与排放符合设计要求。     

Condensation: Regionalism and the Room in John Yeon's Watzek House

Mary Anne Beecher's discussion of Aubrey Watzek's house extends traditional notions of regionalism to the domain of the interior. She outlines numerous ways that the local landscape and history figure as condensed renditions within rooms, surfaces and details. It is here that we find evidence of interior atmosphere developed as identity within a specific cultural and geographical context. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.