bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Peaceful, powerful you!
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge,” as Dr. Phil McGraw said. “When we know better, we do better,” said Maya Angelou. Tenets such as these remind us that knowing paves a path toward personal power. That doing furnishes opportunities for personal peacefulness. Tempers rise. Feelings hurt. Resilience flees. When these things happen in schools, it’s time to inhale, stand tall, and get to work . . . on ourselves! This book has reminded us that there are peaceful ways to intervene. It has also informed us that there is power in our choice of words and behaviors. With the balance of peace and power, we can help mend the turmoil. We need not give up personal peace for power or personal power for peace. Peace and power reside in our ability to be generous of spirit, to recast meanings, and to minimize fear. We see others’ troubles as their own, even as we care about them. We problem- solve ways to alleviate difficulties, even as we know the quest is likely infinite and “letting go” can be a wise choice. Teaching with Vitality reminds us that we are powerful in shap­ing our lives and the quality of our relationships. We recognize our always- growing, always- changing internal resources for reconnecting with students, co- workers, and parents. If we don’t know what to do, we search for ways to understand and act. We resolve to do better, one step at a time. You now have many options for considering your course. You have many perspectives from which to make your choices. Though it may appear that we are working to fix others’ behaviors, we are the beneficiaries: we change our minds to change our perspectives, to change our relationships, to change ourselves. And through it all, we can revive. We can thrive. We can find ourselves on the path to health and wellness in our schools and in our communities. And, we can see vitality return to our teaching.
Drinking the Wine
Authors: Dalton David R.
Published: November 2020

The bottled beverage before you is to be opened. This work has already described the bottle (colorless or not), the closure (screw cap, synthetic cork and cork), and the contents (the wine). If the wine is not a table wine (vin ordinaire or vin de pays) which is simply enjoyed in a family or informal surrounding where the details of the container into which it is poured are less important, then it is generally found that: (a) clear colorless glass or crystal is used so that the visual appeal of the beverage can be enjoyed; (b) the bowls of wine glasses (except for sparkling wines and dessert wines) will be tapered upward from the stem into a bulbous shape which diminishes again at the top; and (c) the rim of the glass will be thin enough to allow it to be unnoticed when the wine is sipped. It is held that these are important, and in particular, the shape of the glass helps retain the more volatile constituents for the consumer’s enjoyment. Bowls used in glasses for red wines are more rounded so that when half full, the surface area is large. For white wines, this is considered less important, and of course, for Champagne and other sparkling wines, where conical flutes are used, a small surface area is avoided to enhance the flow of bubbles. As the wine briefly stands, perhaps having been swirled, it is often found that “legs” or “tears” of wine are seen to form on the wall above the surface. Their appearance is, in part, a function of temperature as well as the alcohol content of the wine and the resulting surface tension of the liquid. Then, using capillary action, the liquid climbs the side of the glass. Both alcohol and water evaporate, but the alcohol evaporates faster, so more liquid is drawn up from the bulk. The wine thus moves up the side of the glass and forms droplets that run back down the glass.
From Sweetness to Structure
Authors: Kelly Alan
Published: November 2020

When we refer to food as containing “sugar,” we tend to picture white crystals we buy in bags or pour from sachets into our coffee, but to a food scientist sugar is not a single thing, but a type of thing. While, most commonly, when we say sugar we refer to sucrose, in reality there are many sugars that can be found in (or added to) food. They all have in common the chemical characteristic that they are carbohydrates, which means, as the name suggests, that they are based on carbon and water (giving hydrated carbon), and indeed the three core elements found in all sugars are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. One of the simplest sugars, molecularly speaking, is glucose, in which there are 6 carbon atoms, 6 oxygen atoms and 12 hydrogen atoms (so it is like 6 carbons plus 6 water molecules, as each water molecule has two hydrogens to one oxygen). These are arranged, not in a long chain, as in the proteins we discussed in the previous chapter, but rather in a ring structure (not technically round, but more like a hexagon might appear if you gave it a good twist). Glucose is the main sugar found in biology, being found in our bodies and also produced by plants by photosynthesis. Another simple sugar is fructose, found widely in fruit and honey, which has an even simpler structure, a pentagon structure, but again has 6 carbon atoms bound together with 6 oxygens and 12 hydrogens, while a rarer one (at least in its unbound state) is galactose, again with the same number of the core atoms but arranged in yet another slightly different state. Here is a wonderful example of the significance of chemistry for food, where the exact same number of atoms of the same three elements can naturally be found in (at least) three different arrangements, which reflect subtly different molecular shapes but yet give compounds that differ greatly in their sweetness, solubility, reaction with other components in food, and many other properties.
Fats, Oils, and the Uneasy Truces of Emulsions and Foams
Authors: Kelly Alan
Published: November 2020

Of all food constituents, perhaps that which receives the worst press is fat. The merest mention of fat in food tends to be regarded as a negative thing, and for years the advice of nutritionists has tended to uniformly focus on its avoidance or reduction in our diet. While recent years have perhaps seen a reevaluation of the relative importance of fat, and its reputation may be undergoing a gradual thawing, my focus in this chapter is not on the controversies of its merits or otherwise from a nutritional perspective. As should be clear by now to anyone reading this book, neither my expertise nor my focus is in such realms, and so, for now, without fear or favor, I consider the properties of fats from an impartial perch, in their own regard as key constituents or ingredients of many food products, whether we like it or not. The picture of fat I want to paint here is one of a material that, before it enters our bodies to exert whatever physiological effects it may, hugely affects the properties of many food products, and in some cases can have effects on food texture even more significant than those of proteins and polysaccharides described in earlier chapters, where the level of fat present is sufficient to allow it to dominate the properties of the food. Why is this? Imagine for a moment a hypothetical magic material that determined texture and consistency of food in a way that was dependent on temperature such that it changed its properties dramatically when exposed to different temperatures regularly encountered by food. Maybe such a material would be solid, or almost so, at refrigeration temperatures, but melt at almost exactly the temperature of our mouths when we consumed the food, to soften and make our food easier to chew, while, at higher temperatures yet, as it might encounter during processing or cooking, it became a liquid, which could flow and move and be molded and reshaped, or even divided up, as we saw fit.
A Word on the Wonderful Weirdness of Water
Authors: Kelly Alan
Published: November 2020

Before we move forward from our previous chapters’ exploration of the importance of the microbiology of food from its many different angles to start to focus on how we process food to, among other effects, control that microbiology, we need to consider one more basic constituent of food. This is because, even after several earlier chapters in which the key functions of proteins, sugars, lipids, and other rather high-profile food constituents were discussed, we have yet to discuss explicitly the one that is perhaps the most significant of all. It was mentioned many times of course, lurking in the background like a supporting character actor in a movie who doesn’t dominate the foreground activity but is a key part of the scene. This magically powerful ingredient is water, yes water, that represents the majority of most food products, and without which most of their properties and characteristics would not exist. We have seen already how water can appear in food in many guises, depending on whether it deigns to interact with the other constituents present, leading to apparent logical surprises like the fact that a melon (a solid?) has actually more water per gram of its weight than milk (a liquid?), just because in one case the water is absorbed and robbed of its innate fluidity, while in the other no such restrictions apply. Besides influencing texture in a completely fundamental way, though, water influences behavior of just about every other molecule in food, from the structure of a protein (and hence the texture we perceive) to the suspension of oil droplets in the many food products that are emulsions. As well as this, almost all the dynamic changes we encounter in food, for better or for worse, depend on water. Microbes require water to live, as we can see when we preserve food by removing it (in drying), or else denying it more subtly by adding substances such as sugar or salt, which can suck the very water out of bacterial cells like molecular vampires.
Welcoming Younger Students
Authors: Astor Ron Avi , Jacobson Linda , Wrabel Stephanie L. , Benbenishty Rami , Pineda Diana
Published: November 2020

There has been a growing movement over the past decade or more to make a child’s entrance into kindergarten less of an abrupt experience. Transition programs and prekindergarten-to-3rd grade efforts across the country focus on bridging the gaps between what children experience before kindergarten and the routines and expectations of elementary school. These initiatives range from bringing greater alignment between preschool curriculum, teaching practices, and assessment to giving young children ample opportunities to visit kindergarten classrooms and experience the learn­ing environment before school starts. Even if a child has attended preschool, moving into an elementary school can feel intimidating for a 5-year-old. The hallways are bigger, the other children in the school are bigger, and there are many more adults involved in the whole process (Figure 6.1). Relationships among schools and the child care centers, preschools, and other community organizations that interact with parents who have young children can lead to more opportunities for young children to feel less anxiety about starting school. Several organizations, including the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the Massachusetts-based Community Advocates for Young Children, provide training and guidance to principals on adapting their schools to serve younger children. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation has also made large investments across the country aimed at creating stronger links between schools and the early-childhood community. Many of these efforts also target families whose children have not been in any formal early learning program because these children often lack the early academic and social-emotional skills needed to do well in today’s more academically focused kinder­garten classrooms. Schools of education can better prepare future teachers and administrators by including training on young children’s development and on strategies for supporting their transition into school. Children with disabilities and their parents may experience additional stress in transitioning into school. Rules and regulations regarding eligibility requirements, services provided, and community resources can be confusing and are not always readily available to parents.
Lessons from Business
Authors: Astor Ron Avi , Jacobson Linda , Wrabel Stephanie L. , Benbenishty Rami , Pineda Diana
Published: November 2020

As noted in the Hanover Research report mentioned in Chapter 3, an increase in competition among schools has led to many administrators thinking more about students and parents as customers—and not simply as people who are required by certain geographical boundaries to attend a particular school. As a result, some educators have turned to companies that are known for outstanding customer service in order to improve the culture of their schools. Others have found inspiration in the work of Stephen Covey or other experts on leadership and effective business practices. In the Tulsa Public Schools, for example, leaders recognized inconsistencies in how people were treated when they went into a school’s front office, which can sometimes become like what one district official described as a “three- ring circus.” They’ve since taken several approaches to improving how secretaries and other office staff members in the district receive new parents and students. “When we enroll a child in our schools, we’re engaging with the whole family,” says Jane Barnes, the director of staff development and leadership training for the district. Some schools have received training from local Chick-fil-A and QuikTrip franchises in Tulsa. And now the district is providing additional professional development to school office staff members on how to be more attentive to families who walk in the door and leave a “positive, memorable impression.” Barnes says receptionists and other office employees need opportunities to practice various scenarios in which they interact with families. The training also focuses on strengthening the collegial relationships among those working in a school office and improving their skills in communicating with Hispanic families. Other districts across the country have taken lessons from “the happiest place on earth” on how to make schools more inviting and improve relationships with families. In a piece for Forbes.com, contributor Carmine Gallo wrote about how Disney employees have a way of making everyone feel that they are special. “Disney employees are trained to be ‘Assertively Friendly.’ Disney team members are encouraged to actively seek contact with guests,” he wrote.
Preparing for the Next Move
Authors: Astor Ron Avi , Jacobson Linda , Wrabel Stephanie L. , Benbenishty Rami , Pineda Diana
Published: November 2020

School transitions sometimes happen with little time for the family or the teachers to prepare. A teacher might walk into the classroom one morning to find that a student withdrew the previous afternoon and there was no opportunity to say goodbye or tell the child that he or she will be missed. These situations should not keep teachers or counselors from contacting the family and offering support through the process of transferring to a new school. If the child is relocating to another school in the district, a process can be created for teachers from the sending and receiving schools to communicate about the student if any questions arise—perhaps informally through an email or more formally by filling out a form. If the district has a transition team, as described in Chapter 9, these individuals can make suggestions and create procedures to follow when a student transfers within a district. For example, a teacher or counselor at the sending school might fill out a form that accompanies the student’s academic records and gives more descriptive informa­tion about the child’s strengths, needs, and interests. Or a checklist could be created for families to remind them what documents and other information they should gather if their child is changing schools. The Military Child Education Coalition created such a checklist for military families, which could be used as a guide. If a teacher or other school staff member is aware in advance that a child is transferring—whether it’s within the district or across the country—a variety of strategies are available for helping the family prepare for the change. A discussion with the child and family before a move is a chance for everyone involved to review the student’s academic progress and address any important issues that might need attention when the child moves into a new school. Similar to a parent–teacher conference, these meetings can help answer “what next” questions for both the parents and the child.
Student Voice
Authors: Astor Ron , Benbenishty Rami
Published: November 2020

Even those who agree with the idea of creating a monitoring system might still need to be convinced that what students have to say should be considered valuable input in the effort to improve schools, whether it pertains to raising academic performance or to safety, security, and behavior. Some argue that students are so disinterested in surveys that they answer randomly or give the first answer that comes to mind. Others are concerned that students respond deliberately in ways intended to harm staff members they do not like. Still others are not sure that students really understand the true meaning of the questions and, therefore, that their answers are not usable. Students, however, are often the best sources of providing detailed information on what is happening in schools and may even provide realistic suggestions on how adults can intervene. Looking at the ways students’ perceptions are already being used in schools can help policymakers and educators see how they can be part of improving school climate. This issue, for example, has been debated in recent years as some states and school districts have moved to include students’ opinions on their experiences in the classroom as one component of new teacher evaluation systems. For example, the Tripod survey,1 developed by Harvard University’s Ron Ferguson, asks students how much they agree with statements such as “My teacher explains diffcult things clearly” and “Our class stays busy and doesn’t waste time.” The Tripod was used as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching project and is being used in districts across the United States, in Canada, and in China. In a 2013 report, Hanover Research reviewed the literature on using student perception surveys in teacher evaluation and professional development: “Given the consistent findings of the research reviewed for this report, it is reasonable to conclude that student perception surveys can provide accurate measures of teacher effectiveness,” they write. “When the proper instrument, or survey, is utilized, student feedback can be more accurate than alternative, more widely- used instruments at predicting achievement gains.
Critical Service Learning and Group
Authors: Johnson Annette , McKay-Jackson Cassandra , Grumbach Giesela
Published: November 2020

Critical service learning (CSL) emphasizes that youth become empowered to see themselves as partners with others to bring about change in their environments (Muscott, 2000). The nature of CSL evokes youth voice and choice in the application of cognitive, social, and emotional skills to everyday situations. This is especially true when conducting CSL in a group modality. Groups are ideal therapeutic intervention settings where CSL can be incorporated. Group work provides a smaller arena in which members may receive feedback, support, and guidance from peers. In fact, membership may allow youth to practice new behaviors or roles (Greenberg, 2003).Furthermore, CSL offers a natural fit for groups geared toward social and emotional learning (SEL) skill development (e.g., social skill groups, anger management, bullying prevention, confliction resolution). Within the multitier system of support (MTSS) framework, different tiers are designated for the provision of academic and social and emotional support to students where needed. CSL is beneficial within all tiers, but is especially effective at the Tier 2 (tar¬geted) and Tier 1 (universal) levels. On average, 5%– 15% of students in a school setting are in jeopardy of disengaging from the school environment (Scott & Eber, 2003). These students do not necessarily have an individual educational plan (IEP) but may have come to the attention of school- based practitioners as a result of office discipline referrals, suspensions, or truancies (Lindsey & White, 2009). Targeted group interventions provide additional support to these students for learning and practicing prosocial skills in a smaller and more insulated arena. For students who also receive special educa¬tion services, Klienert et al. (2004) contended that students receiving those services can benefit from interventions in the form of CSL. The benefits of CSL projects among the high- risk youth population may provide them with a way of building many of the developmental assets (such as positive experiences, resources, and other healthy characteristics) that help them make informed decisions and that are all protective factors for youth successes (Nelson & Eckstein, 2008).
Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks
Authors: Maltman Alex
Published: November 2020

We are on more familiar ground in this chapter, looking at processes and materials found in the world all around us. Even the names of sedimentary rocks are well known—sandstone, shale, limestone, and so on. Clearly, these materials are highly relevant to vineyard geology because more than three-quarters of the land surface is sedimentary in origin: most of the world’s vineyard areas are underlain by sedimentary rocks. Sediment is the detritus produced from the weathering of already existing rocks. (I explore the process in Chapter 9.) Usually, wind, ice, or water soon moves the debris away, eventually to be deposited and then buried beneath further sediment and with time hardened into sedimentary rock. Weathering can also dissolve material, later to be precipitated. And, needless to say, all the sediment in question here is of geological origin; it has nothing to do with the organic sediment that is thrown, say, in a bottle of vintage port! Wind and flowing water may be able to pick up sediment and move it, depending on the size of the fragments. Faster-moving currents can carry bigger particles: it’s to do with energy, as discussed in the context of rivers in Chapter 8 (see Figure 8.8). The result is sediment sorting. We can easily see the results on a beach—a sandy spot here, a pebbly patch there—because the tides and shore currents have moved the sediment around and sorted it. Thus, most detrital sediments have a characteristic grain size, and we use this to classify the material. The terms for the different sizes are pretty much in line with everyday language: sand, silt, clay, and so on (Figure 5.1). Clay is the finest sediment. It’s composed mainly of the tiny clay minerals that we met in Chapter 3 and has the smooth, slippery feel and handling properties we’re all familiar with; the individual constituent particles are far too fine to see, even with a powerful hand lens. Imagine: if we scaled up a grain of sand to the size of a wine cask, then an individual clay flake would be smaller than a coin.
Introduction: Subnational Hydropolitics
Authors: Moore Scott M.
Published: November 2020

One of the lesser-known insurrections in American history occurred in 1934, when Arizona Governor B. B. Moeur declared martial law and deployed National Guardsmen armed with machine guns to prevent construction of Parker Dam, a project supported by both Congress and the Roosevelt administration. Arizona’s troops ashore were accompanied by a specially assembled group of small boats, quickly termed the “Arizona Navy,” that patrolled the waters of the Colorado River near the proposed dam’s construction site. The threat posed by the dam appeared to be crystal clear to Moeur and his fellow rebels: if Parker Dam was to be completed, California, Arizona’s downstream neighbor on the Colorado River, might secure in perpetuity preferential rights to the river’s waters, leaving too little for Arizona to satisfy its own growing needs. Moeur’s rebellion is one of the more dramatic illustrations of conflict over water that occurs within countries instead of between them. Most writing and thinking about water conflict concerns the prospect of warfare between nation-states. But while the difficulties of securing cooperation on international transboundary rivers are relatively well known and understood, Moeur’s rebellion highlights the distinctly different problem of preventing conflict on rivers shared by multiple subnational political jurisdictions, including states, provinces, prefectures, and governorates. Indeed, the problem of subnational cooperation is even more pervasive than that of international cooperation, for while many rivers are shared between countries, nearly all are shared between multiple subnational units. At the same time, even as scholars and policymakers devote growing attention to improving cooperation between countries that share common water resources, many waterways remain mired in protracted, acrimonious disputes between lower-level jurisdictions. This state of contention, which I call “subnational hydropolitics,” is often thought of as an isolated phenomenon—the result of unique historical tensions between the states of the Colorado or Murray-Darling River basin, for example. But it is in fact a systemic challenge for waterways across the globe, with common sources of conflict—as well as common solutions.
Schools as Systems
Authors: Detterman Robin , Ventura Jenny , Rosenthal Lihi , Berrick Ken
Published: November 2020

The work of changing schools means acknowledging that we are, in fact, changing systems. Often, these are long-established systems enacted by multiple stakeholders invested in their preservation. Many efforts to promote educational equity attempt to tackle a single problematic aspect of the school in the hope that addressing an identified need in one area will improve the system as a whole. Some schools adopt a new math curriculum, hoping it will yield higher 4-year graduation rates. Other schools introduce computer-based learning, believing it will improve the ability of teachers to differentiate content. Still others practice mindfulness with students to reduce suspension rates. Efforts such as these are praiseworthy, but the piecemeal approach often fails to translate into meaningful change. At the other extreme, many schools choose to implement various reform efforts simultaneously—a new math curriculum, for instance, supplemented by computer-based learning and followed by a schoolwide mindfulness exercise. The result, generally, is mile-wide and inch-deep efforts that leave already overtaxed schools and principals with the challenge of running multiple initiatives at once, very likely without the resources to implement any one of them successfully (Cuban, 1990). Piecemeal or duplicative approaches to school transformation are particularly troubling as they rarely produce the systemic transformation required to reduce broadscale inequities within the system. When problems are identified in isolation, solutions tend to address symptoms rather than the underlying causes of the most acute or prevalent manifestations. More often than not, addressing the root cause requires some level of attention to the system itself. When these systems-level changes are ignored, similar problems are likely to occur again in the future. Nowhere is this more true than in the systems designed to address learning and mental health challenges in schools. Special education services rely largely on pull-out approaches to service delivery only after students have shown substantial deficits in their learning. The words mental health are often synonymous with clinicians providing closed-door therapy to specific students or supporting young people with disabilities who have been placed in specialized, segregated settings.
Unconditional Education Framework
Authors: Detterman Robin , Ventura Jenny , Rosenthal Lihi , Berrick Ken
Published: November 2020

The first half of this book has helped lay the theoretical foundation on which the unconditional education (UE) model stands. Building off of the three pillars of unconditional care (systems theory, relational theory, and behavioral learning theory), the second half of this book transitions to providing an overview of what it concretely takes to implement this model in schools. The following chapters will provide insight into the architectural framework, the data-informed processes for ongoing assessment and evaluation, the stages of implementation, the funding mechanisms that support such work, and the challenges that inevitably arise when promoting complex change of this nature. We begin in this chapter with an overview of the model itself. UE functions as a unifying framework in which to consider an array of interventions designed for students and schools. This framework incorporates a set of systems and processes that leverage needed expertise and resources, align funding sources, and articulate a strategy for serving all students. By implementing this framework, schools are better prepared to promote equitable access to quality education for all students, with the greatest impact experienced by the most marginalized youth—those whose achievement is hindered by complex stressors including disability, trauma, poverty, and institutionalized racism. UE concerns itself less with the particulars of intervention type, instead assuming that many sorts of intervention programs have the potential to be effective so long as they are based on research, are well implemented, and are chosen to meet the particular needs of a student, family, school, or community context. In other words, UE is centered on the belief that the effectiveness of specific interventions is enhanced when implemented within a cohesive framework that promotes four central enablers for school transformation: increased efficiency, intentional relationship building, cross-sector responsibility, and local decision-making. The essential structure behind UE draws heavily from other multi-tiered frameworks. UE articulates three levels of service, described in greater detail in the next sections: universal (Tier 1), targeted (Tier 2), and intensive (Tier 3) (Figure 5.1).
Prediction and Accommodation: The Acceptance of Mendeleev’s Periodic System
Authors: Scerri Eric
Published: November 2020

Although periodic systems were produced independently by six codiscoverers in the space of a decade, Dmitri Mendeleev’s system is the one that has had the greatest impact by far. Not only was Mendeleev’s system more complete than the others, but he also worked much harder and longer for its acceptance. He also went much further than the other codiscoverers in publicly demonstrating the validity of his system by using it to predict the existence of a number of hitherto unknown elements. According to the popular story, it was Mendeleev’s many successful predictions that were directly responsible for the widespread acceptance of the periodic system, while his competitors either failed to make predictions or did so in a rather feeble manner. Several of his predictions were indeed widely celebrated, especially those of the elements germanium, gallium, and scandium, and many historians have argued that it was such spectacular feats that assured the acceptance of Mendeleev’s periodic system by the scientific community. The notion that scientific theories are accepted primarily if they make successful predictions seems to be rather well ingrained into scientific culture, and the history of the periodic table has been one of the episodes through which this notion has been propagated. However, philosophers and some scientists have long debated the extent to which predictions influence the acceptance of scientific theories, and it is by no means a foregone conclusion that successful predictions are more telling than other factors. In looking closely at the bulk of Mendeleev’s predictions in this chapter, it becomes clear that, at best, only half of them proved to be correct. This raises a number of questions. First of all, why is it that history has been so kind to Mendeleev as a maker of predictions? As historian of chemistry William Brock has pointed out, “Not all of Mendeleev’s predictions had such a happy outcome; like astrologers’ failures, they are commonly forgotten.”
Water and Metal Cations in Solution
Authors: Jolivet Jean-Pierre
Published: November 2020

Water has an exceptional ability to dissolve minerals. It is safe and chemically stable, and it remains liquid over a wide temperature range. Thus, it is the best solvent and reaction medium for both laboratory and industrial purposes. Water is able to dissolve ionic and ionocovalent solids because of the high polarity of the molecule (dipole moment μ = 1.84 Debye) as well as the high dielectric constant of the liquid (ε = 78.5 at 25°C). This high polarity allows water to exhibit a strong solvating power: that is, the ability to fix onto ions as a result of electrical dipolar interactions. Water is also an ionizing liquid able to polarize an ionocovalent molecule. For example, the solvolysis phenomenon increases the polarization of the HCl molecule in aqueous solution. Finally, owing to the high dielectric constant of the liquid, water is a dissociating solvent that can decrease the electrostatic forces between solvated cations and anions, allowing their dispersion as H+solvated and Cl−solvated through the liquid. (The attractive force F between charges q and q′ separated by the distance r is given by Coulomb’s law, F = qq′/εr2.) These characteristics are rarely found together in common liquids. The dipole moment of the ethanol molecule (μ = 1.69 Debye) is close to that of water, but the dielectric constant of ethanol is much lower (ε = 24.3). Ethanol is a good solvating liquid, but a poor dissociating one; consequently, it is considered a bad solvent of ionic compounds. Dissolution in water of an ionic solid such as sodium chloride is limited to dipolar interactions with Na+ and Cl− ions and their dispersion in the liquid as solvated ions, regardless of the pH of the solution. Cations with higher charge, especially cations of transition metals, retain a fixed number of water molecules, thereby forming a true coordination complex [M(OH2)N]z+ with a well-defined geometry. In addition to the dipolar interactions, water molecules behave as true ligands because they are Lewis bases exerting an electron σ-donor effect on the empty orbitals of the cation.
Condensation in Solution: Polycations and Polyanions
Authors: Jolivet Jean-Pierre
Published: November 2020

Condensation of metal complexes in solution forms entities in which the cations are linked by hydroxo (HO−) or oxo (O2−) bridges. The reaction is initiated by the addition of a base to an aquocomplex: . . . 2[Cr(OH2)6]3++ 2HO- → [Cr2(OH)2(OH2)8]4+ + 2 H2O . . . or by the addition of an acid to an anionic complex: . . . 2 [CrO4]2- + 2H+ → [Cr2O7]2- + H2O . . . Thus, purely aquo- and purely oxocomplexes are stable in solution, and the condensation of cations is initiated by hydroxylation. With regard to electrically charged hydroxylated complexes, the reaction forms discrete and soluble entities—polycations and polyanions with a molecular complexity which depends on acidity conditions. This chapter presents a detailed study of their formation and structure. With regard to noncharged hydroxylated complexes, the condensation reaction is no longer limited and leads to the formation of a solid (a subject that is examined in the following chapters). The hydroxylation reaction is the key stage to initiate the condensation of cations in solution. It is thus important to precise the mechanism of the successive steps of the process, in order to understand why the behavior of a cation is closely related to its oxidation state, and why the reaction product may be a discrete molecular species or a solid. As a cation generally exhibits its maximum coordination number in the initial monomeric complex and in condensed species, the condensation reaction is a substitution that proceeds according to one of three basic mechanisms: dissocia­tion, association, and interchange or direct displacement [1, 2]. Dissociative substitution is a two-step process involving the formation of a reduced-coordination intermediate: In the first step, a labile ligand, the leaving group, breaks its bond in the starting complex before a nucleophilic entering group completes, in the second step, the cation coordination (Fig. 3.1 a). Associative substitution is also a two-step process in which the intermediate temporarily has increased coordination. The bond with the nucleophilic entering group (first step) occurs prior to the release of the leaving group (second step) (Fig. 3.1 b).
Titanium, Manganese, and Zirconium Dioxides
Authors: Jolivet Jean-Pierre
Published: November 2020

The dioxides of titanium (TiO2), manganese (MnO2), and zirconium (ZrO2) are important materials because of their technological uses. TiO2 is used mainly as white pigment. Because of its semiconducting properties, TiO2, in its nanomaterial form, is also used as an active component of photocells and photocatalysis for self-cleaning glasses and cements . MnO2 is used primarily in electrode materials. ZrO2 is used in refractory ceramics, abrasive materials, and stabilized zirconia as ionic conductive materials stable at high temperature. Many of these properties are, of course, dependent on particle size and shape (§ Chap. 1). Dioxides of other tetravalent elements with interesting properties have been studied elsewhere in this book, especially VO2, which exhibits a metal–isolator transition at 68°C, used, for instance, in optoelectronics (§ 4.1.5), and silica, SiO2 (§ 4.1.4), which is likely the most ubiquitous solid for many applications and uses. Aqueous chemistry is of major interest in synthesizing these oxides in the form of nanoparticles from inorganic salts and under simple, cheap, and envi­ronmental friendly conditions. However, as the tetravalent elements have re­stricted solubility in water (§ 2.2), metal–organic compounds such as titanium and zirconium alkoxides are frequently used in alcoholic solution as precursors for the synthesis of TiO2 and ZrO2 nanoparticles. An overview of the conversion of alkoxides into oxides is indicated about silica formation (§ 4.1.4), and since well-documented works have already been published, these compounds are not considered here. The crystal structures of most MO2 dioxides are of TiO2 rutile type for hexacoordinated cations (e.g., Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Mo, W, Sn, Pb) and CaF2 fluorite type for octacoordinated, larger cations (e.g., Zr, Ce), but polymorphism is common. Some dioxides of elements such as chromium and tin form only one crystal­line phase. So, hydrolysis of SnCl4 or acidification of stannate [Sn(OH)6]2− leads both to the same rutile-type phase, cassiterite, SnO2. Many other dioxides are polymorphic, especially TiO2, which exists in three main crystal phases: anatase, brookite, and rutile; and MnO2, which gives rise to a largely diversified crystal chemistry.
Insidious arsenic
Authors: Emsley John
Published: November 2020

The journal of the Royal Society of 1671 carried a review of a paper by a Dr Caroli de la Font entitled ‘The nature and causes of the plague’ in which he put forward the theory that it was due to ‘arsenic exhalations’ that were polluting the air. Of course he was wrong, but the idea that such emissions could pollute the atmosphere was not wrong and 150 years later, in 1821, they may well have contributed to the death of one of the great figures of history: Napoleon. Arsenic had, and still has, its uses as we saw in the previous chapter but it is an insidious element and is much more mobile than earlier generations appreciated. When it diffuses into the air we breathe, and gets into the water we drink it causes problems and in this chapter we will look at two ways that it led to – and is still leading to – mass poisonings. The historical story concerns its leakage from wallpaper, the modern story concerns its leakage from underground rocks. The first of these leakages contaminated the air of millions of homes in the Victorian age, the second contaminates the drinking water of millions of people in Bangladesh and neighbouring states of India today. The first of these tragedies was eventually controlled, the second one remains to be dealt with. In days gone by the palette of a painter might well have held three arsenic compounds because they could provide brilliant shades of yellow, red, and especially green. The first two of these came from the natural pigments yellow orpiment and red realgar, both of which are arsenic sulphides; orpiment has the formula As2S3, and realgar has the formula As4S4. Orpiment got its name from the Latin words auri (gold) and pigmentum (paint) and was popular in the ancient world, especially in the Middle East. Its association with gold is probably what made it attractive to alchemists. Orpiment only became widely used in Europe when synthetic orpiment was manufactured and then it was known as royal yellow or king’s yellow and was the preferred source of yellow until it was displaced by chrome yellow (lead chromate) and cadmium yellow (cadmium sulphide).
Introduction
Authors: Copeland Jack
Published: November 2020

The story of the Enigma cipher machine and its defeat by the Bletchley Park codebreakers astounded the world. This book describes Bletchley’s success against a later and more advanced German cipher machine that the British codenamed Tunny (see photograph 28). How Bletchley Park broke Tunny has been a closely guarded secret since the end of the war. Unlike Enigma, which dated from 1923 and was marketed openly throughout Europe, the ultra-secret Tunny was created by scientists of Hitler’s Third Reich for use by the German Wehrmacht. Tunny was technologically more sophisticated than Enigma and—theoretically—more secure. From 1942 Hitler and the German High Command in Berlin relied increasingly on Tunny to protect their communications with Army Group commanders across Europe. The Tunny network carried the highest grade of intelligence. Tunny messages sent by radio were first intercepted by the British in June 1941. After a year-long struggle with the new cipher, Bletchley Park had its first successes against Tunny in 1942. Broken Tunny messages contained intelligence that changed the course of the war, saving an incalculable number of lives. Central to the Bletchley attack on Tunny was Colossus, the world’s first large-scale electronic digital computer. The first Colossus was built during 1943 by Thomas H. Flowers and his team of engineers and wiremen, a tight-knit group who worked in utmost secrecy and at terrific speed. The construction of the machine took them ten months, working day and night, pushing themselves until (as Flowers said) their ‘eyes dropped out’. The racks of complex electronic equipment were transferred from Flowers’ laboratory at Dollis Hill in London to Bletchley Park, where Colossus was reassembled. Despite the fact that no such machine had previously been attempted, the computer was in working order almost straight away and ready to begin its fast-paced attack on the German messages. The name ‘Colossus’ was certainly apt. Colossus was the size of a room and weighed approximately a ton. By the end of the war in Europe there were ten Colossi. The computers were housed in two vast steel-framed buildings—a factory dedicated to breaking Tunny. There are photographs of some of the Colossi in the centre of the book.
How It Began: Bletchley Park Goes to War
Authors: Smith Michael
Published: November 2020

The breaking of the German teleprinter cipher that led to the construction of the Colossus computer was the culmination of a series of triumphs for British codebreakers. British interception of other countries’ radio communications had begun in earnest during the First World War. The War Office ‘censored’ diplomatic communications passing through the hands of the international telegraph companies, setting up a codebreaking operation to decipher the secret messages. The British Army intercepted German military wireless communications with a great deal of success. E. W. B. Gill, one of the army officers involved in decoding the messages, recalled that ‘the orderly Teutonic mind was especially suited for devising schemes which any child could unravel’. One of the most notable successes for the British cryptanalysts came in December 1916 when the commander of the German Middle-East signals operation sent a drunken message to all his operators wishing them a Merry Christmas. With little other activity taking place over the Christmas period, the same isolated and clearly identical message was sent out in six different codes, only one of which, until this point, the British had managed to break. The army codebreaking operation became known as MI1b and was commanded by Major Malcolm Hay, a noted historian and eminent academic. It enjoyed a somewhat fractious relationship with its junior counterpart in the Admiralty, formally the Naval Intelligence Department 25 (NID25) but much better known as Room 40, after the office in the Old Admiralty Buildings in Whitehall that it occupied. The navy codebreaking organisation had an even more successful war than MI1b, recruiting a number of the future employees of Britain’s Second World War codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park, including Dillwyn ‘Dilly’ Knox, Frank Birch, Nigel de Grey, and Alastair Denniston, who by the end of the war was head of Room 40. Among the many successes of the Royal Navy codebreakers was the breaking of the Zimmermann telegram, which showed that Germany had asked Mexico to join an alliance against the United States, offering Mexico’s ‘lost territory’ in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in return, and brought the United States into the war.
Colossus
Authors: Flowers Thomas H.
Published: November 2020

Machines such as counters, computers, and Colossus process information. Items of information are given a physical identity which can be recognised and transmitted over distance. The identity is transmitted by what is called a signal and the relationship between the signals and the information they represent is called a code (as distinct from a cipher). Certain types of numbers are commonly used to identify items of information, because they are universally known and endless in quantity: the information, processors, and processing are then said to be digital. Processing consists of logical operations carried out serially on the numbers until a conclusion has been reached, expressed in numbers which can be converted to information by the code. Automatic number processors may be wholly or in part mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic. For the present purpose, electromechanical operation is the easiest to describe and to understand and so will be used as the starting point of this exposition. Electromechanical processors comprise electrical circuits consisting of switches interconnected by wire conductors. A switch is a device which can be set into one of two states, the unoperated or OFF state and the operated or ON state. The earliest switches used movable metal elements called contacts which could be pressed together to connect, or separated to disconnect, two wires that were attached to the contacts. Some metal contact switches used electric motors to operate them. All switches are stable in their OFF states. In their ON states, they may be stable only so long as the operating force is maintained. When this force is removed, they may remain in the ON state or revert to the OFF state. An electric light switch is an example of a manually operated switch which is stable in both the OFF and the ON states. A bell ‘push-button to ring’ switch reverts to the OFF state when the operating force is removed. Electromechanical (i.e. electromagnetically operated) switches usually take the form of relays, each of which consists of a U-shaped iron structure, as shown in Figure 1, around part of which a coil of wire has been wound. A hinged iron armature bridges the open end of the U.