2023 Impact factor 2.6
Special Topics

News

EPJ E Highlight - Heterogeneous nanoblocks give polymers an edge

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Examples of different nanoscale patterns that block copolymers can adopt.

Study uncovers the effects of size variation in nanoscale blocks used in polymer mixes on their underlying architecture and inherent characteristics

Building structures by mixing lego bricks of two different sizes is child’s play. However, studying polymers endowed with an alternating nanostructure made of heterogeneous blocks is anything but straightforward. Theoretical physicist Mark Matsen, based at the University of Reading, UK, studies polymer mixes consisting of two-fold (AB) and three-fold (BAB) combinations of two types of nanoscale blocks. He has shown, in a study published in EPJ E, that the underlying heterogeneity of the blocks can cause polymers to switch to different nanoscale patterns and therefore display different properties. Numerous applications based on etching patterns on substrates, such as electronics, computer chips, and membranes endowed with a specific function, can benefit from such research.

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EPJ E Highlight - Cells move as concentration shifts

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Schematic representation of a top-view of the cell containing the colony.

Sheets of biological cells move along the organs they cover by altering the external concentrations of specific molecules, thanks to an absorption mechanism on the cells’ surface

What do wound healing, cancer metastasis, and bacteria colonies have in common? They all involve the collective displacement of biological cells. New research sheds some new light on the physical mechanisms provoking the displacement of a sheet of cell, known as an epithelium. It typically covers our organs including the stomach and intestine, as well as our epidermis. In a paper which appeared in EPJ E, Martine Ben Amar from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris explains the importance of understanding the displacement of the epithelium as a means of influencing the biological process involved in healing. And, ultimately, of helping to minimise scars.

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EPJ C Highlight - Removing complexity layers from the universe’s creation

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A schematic depiction of the combined motion that a Brownian particle executes in a background polycrystalline space. © The authors

Understanding complexity in the early universe may require combining simpler models to interpret cosmological observations

Complicated statistical behaviour observed in complex systems such as early universe can often be understood if it is broken down into simpler ones. Two physicists, Petr Jizba (currently affiliated with the Czech Technical University in Prague), and Fabio Scardigli (now working at Kyoto University in Japan), have just published results in EPJ C pertaining to theoretical predictions of such cosmological systems’ dynamics.

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EPJ D Highlight - The key to ion beams’ polarisability

Ion beams are used as a source for dopant atoms in semiconductor manufacturing. © Hornpipe, Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

Polarisability for series of multi-electron ions is now available

Polarisability determines the force with which an inhomogeneous external electric field acts on the ions of an ion beam. However, it can be quite tricky to obtain accurate values for this force. Now, two German theoretical chemists, Volker Koch from Bielefeld University and Dirk Andrae from the Free University Berlin, have devised formulas providing the polarisability of atomic ions as a function of their total charge number. Their findings, about to be published in EPJ D, have implications for many applications, ranging from the use of ion beams for research purposes or as a source for dopant atoms in semiconductor manufacturing to the modelling of planetary and stellar atmospheres.

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EPJ B Highlight - When diffusion depends on chronology

Motorways are an example of nodes connected by edges studied as complex networks.
© Highways Agency

Study shows that the order of events taking place in complex networks may dramatically alter the way diffusion occurs

The Internet, motorways and other transport systems, and many social and biological systems are composed of nodes connected by edges. They can therefore be represented as networks. Scientists studying diffusion over such networks over time have now identified the temporal characteristics that affect their diffusion pathways. In a paper just published in EPJ B, Renaud Lambiotte and Lionel Tabourier from the University of Namur, Belgium, together with Jean-Charles Delvenne from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, show that one key factor that can dramatically change a diffusion process is the order in which events take place in complex networks.

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EPJ B Highlight - Semantics on the basis of words’ connectivity

Illustration of a tourist walk.

It is now possible to identify the meaning of words with multiple meanings, without using their semantic context

Two Brazilian physicists have now devised a method to automatically elucidate the meaning of words with several senses, based solely on their patterns of connectivity with nearby words in a given sentence – and not on semantics. Thiago Silva and Diego Amancio from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, reveal, in a paper just published in EPJ B, how they modelled classics texts as complex networks in order to derive their meaning. This type of model plays a key role in several natural processing language tasks such as machine translation, information retrieval, content analysis and text processing.

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EPJ B Highlight - Averting worse economic collapses

The local separation of one equilibrium surface from another.

A new study shows how specific parameters can help us steer clear of tipping points in dynamic systems, such as entire economies.

By managing macro-economic parameters, scientists believe that—unlike previously thought—it is possible to steer an economy around irreversible changes in its complex dynamics and avert potential economic disasters. These findings, just published in EPJ B, stem from the theoretical work of Michael Harré and colleagues at the Complex Systems Group at the University of Sydney, Australia.

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2012 Impact Factors

Abbreviated Journal Title ISSN 2012
Total Cites
Impact
Factor
5-Year
Impact
Factor
Immediacy
Index
2012
Articles
Cited
Half-life
Eigenfactor®
Score
Article Influence®
Score
EUR PHYS J A 1434-6001 3930 2.043 1.890 0.522 180 6.1 0.01385 0.807
EUR PHYS J B 1434-6028 7103 1.282 1.493 0.370 411 7.1 0.02194 0.638
EUR PHYS J C 1434-6044 11003 5.247 3.603 2.222 406 4.0 0.04614 1.521
EUR PHYS J D 1434-6060 4312 1.513 1.366 0.301 322 5.6 0.01691 0.597
EUR PHYS J E 1292-8941 3262 1.824 1.991 0.275 131 6.9 0.01008 0.863
EUR PHYS J H 2102-6459 77 2.375 2.375 0.594 32   0.00074 1.761
EUR PHYS J PLUS 2190-5444 262 1.302 1.302 0.624 149 1.2 0.00107 0.472
EUR PHYS J-APPL PHYS 1286-0042 1343 0.710 0.766 0.176 170 5.3 0.00455 0.266
EUR PHYS J-SPEC TOP 1951-6355 1684 1.796 1.096 1.049 162 3.6 0.01304 0.539

More News

EPJ Plus awarded its first Impact Factor

The release of the journal Impact Factors (IF) by Thomson Reuters confirms once more the position of EPJ as a premium provider of relevant and strictly peer-reviewed research in the physical sciences and beyond. We are especially proud of the fast-paced development of our newer journals: EPJ Plus, launched only in 2011, was already awarded its first IF (1.302) and EPJ H – Historical Perspectives in Contemporary Physics, launched in 2010, progressed from an IF of 1.182 in 2011 to an impressive 2.375 for 2012.

The full overview of 2012 EPJ Impact Factors is given here.

EPJ E Colloquium - Glassy dynamics and irreversible adsorption in thin films of soft matter

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Thin films of liquids and polymers are interesting systems for those seeking to test glass transition theories and their prediction of a characteristic transition length scale of a few nanometers. The anomalous phenomena observed in some of these nano-confined films has greatly advanced our understanding of theoretical and experimental soft matter physics.

These films are treated as equilibrium systems where surfaces and interfaces introduce monotonous long-range mobility gradients. Considering finite size and interfacial effects provides an intuitive but oversimplifies picture that falls short of explaining many phenomena, such as enhancement of segmental mobility near an absorbing surface or long-lasting metastable states in the liquid.

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Managing Editors
Sandrine Karpe and Vijala Kiruvanayagam (EDP Sciences) and Sabine Lehr (Springer-Verlag)
Thank you very much, Isabelle! Very timely. And the cover looks fantastic! We are grateful for the great collaboration! Best wishes.

Dirk Helbing, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Editor EPJ Special Topics 214, 2012

ISSN: 1951-6355 (Print Edition)
ISSN: 1951-6401 (Electronic Edition)

© EDP Sciences and Springer-Verlag