A physical basis for Pauling's definition of bond strength

 The average strength, s, of the bonded interactions comprising a cation containing oxide anion coordination polyhedron and the value of the electron density, ρ(r _c ), at the bond-critical points are inversely correlated with bond length. In each case, the observed bond lengths, R, were modeled with power-law expressions defined in terms of s/r and ρ(r _c )/r, respectively, where r is the Periodic Table row number of the cation involved in the bonded interaction. On the basis of the close connection between bond strength and the value of the electron density at the bond-critical point, we conclude that bond strength is a direct measure of bond type; the greater its value, the greater the localization of electron density in the binding region and the greater the shared–electron covalent character of the bonded interaction. Received: 15 October 2002 / Accepted: 17 February 2003 Present address:G. V. Gibbs in care of M. Spackman Department of Chemistry, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia Acknowledgements The NSF is thanked for supporting this study with grant EAR–9627458. The paper was written while GVG was a Visiting NSF Scholar at The University of Arizona. The faculty and graduate students of the Department of Geosciences and Bob Downs and Marelina Stimpf in particular are thanked for making the visit great fun.     

Understanding Place as ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ through Practices of Bird-watching

Bird-watching is an increasingly popular leisure activity. Previous research has taken for granted the identity of people who watch birds, often categorised by their level of skilled practice as ‘dude’, ‘birder’ or ‘twitcher’. Feminist geographers encourage us to explore identity work as an outcome of the reciprocal relationships between practices and place. Our feminist approach illustrates that the practices of bird-watching are always much more than categorising birds as species. This paper illustrates how the practices of bird-watching are integral to the making and remaking of sense of place as ‘home’ and ‘away’, to sustain identities beyond accepted categories of ‘dude’, ‘birder’ and ‘twitcher’. The creation and application of different types of ‘bird-lists’ helps to explain the ways in which practices of bird-watching facilitate making sense of place as simultaneously ‘home’, ‘away’ and habitat, as well as the identity work of home-maker, citizen-scientist and tourist. Our insights into these leisure practices of bird-watching are drawn from analysis of data gathered from 21 people who actively bird-watch and reside on the South Coast, New South Wales, Australia by combining research methods of talking, walking, drawing and photography.     

Balanced cross-section construction from seismic sections in areas of extensional tectonics

The application of the technique of balanced section construction, initially developed for areas of compressional folding and faulting, is reviewed with reference to extensional tectonics. A number of examples are discussed where these techniques have been successfully applied in the North Sea. The interpretation of geoseismic sections is considered to be greatly assisted by careful application of geometrical balance and a consideration of strain even in areas of low crustal extensions. The nature of seismic sections, however, places limitations on the validity of balancing which must be borne in mind with such interpretations and wherever possible the balancing of a geoseismic section should be confirmed by complete depth conversion. The rapid testing of the integrity of the geoseismic section by attempting to balance the section at the interpretational phase can eliminate many problems as well as allowing the fullest use to be made of the geophysical information.     

ELF isosurface maps for the Al2SiO5 polymorphs

This study examines the electron localization function (ELF) isosurfaces of the Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs kyanite, sillimanite, and andalusite to see how differences in coordination and geometry of the cations and anions affect the ELF isosurfaces. Examination of the ELF isosurfaces indicates that their shapes are dependent on the coordination and geometry of the oxygen atoms and are not sensitive to coordination of the surrounding cations. Of the 18 crystallographically distinct oxygen atoms in the Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs, 13 are bonded to two aluminum atoms and one silicon atom (Al₂–O–Si) and are associated with two different ELF isosurface shapes. The shape of the ELF isosurface is dependent on the distance at which the oxygen atom lies from a plane defined by the three surrounding cations: at a distance greater than 0.2 Å the ELF can be defined as horseshoe-shaped and at a distance less then 0.2 Å it can be described as concave hemispherical. This feature is also seen in the ELF isosurfaces for the oxygens bonded to three aluminum atoms (Al₃–O) where the isosurfaces can be defined as trigonally toroidal and uniaxially trigonally toroidal. The changes in the ELF isosurfaces for the three coordinated oxygens are also indicative of changes in hybridization. The ELF isosurface for the two-fold coordinated oxygen (Al–O–Si) has a large mushroom-shaped isosurface along the Al–O bond and a concave hemispherical isosurface along the Si–O. The four-fold coordinated oxygen (Al₄–O) contains two concave hemispherical isosurfaces along the shorter Al–O bonds and a banana-shaped isosurface, which encompasses the longer Al–O bonds. In addition, this study shows the homeomorphic relationship between the ELF isosurfaces and electron density difference maps with respect to number and arrangement of domains.