Despite the growing influence of the “material” turn within childhood studies and education, scholarship related to teaching and learning within the early childhood classroom remains a largely humanistic endeavour. By applying relational and multispecies onto-epistomologies to both children’s classroom relations and our own teacher subjectivities, this work aims to highlight what other possibilities emerge when the dominant hierarchies of teacher-researcher-child-non-human are destabilised. Taking the idea of destabilisation literally, we diffractively map our own experiences as teacher-researchers within early years educational contexts, utilising diffractive methods to narrow-in on the mutually constituted conditions of movement. These more-than-human movements emerged during improvised classroom encounters between young children, animals and plants and varied in intensity and duration, as these constructed cuts and data (re)presentations continue to “move” us years later. Building upon research that explores the relationalities of children and non-human others, as well as “how movement does relationships’’ in early childhood educational contexts (Riley & Proctor, 2023, p. 663), we argue that a complex meta/physics of more-than-human movement affords literal and conceptual turning, enmeshing, decentering, connecting and rupturing, producing a less certain but more attuned early years teacher.

Clay samples from shales and bentonites in the Mancos Shale (Cretaceous) and its stratigraphic equivalents in the southern Rocky Mountain and Colorado Plateau have been analyzed by X-ray powder diffraction methods. The major clay in the shales is mixed layered illite/smectite, with 20–60% illite layers. The regional distribution of ordered vs. random interstratification in the illite/smectite is consistent with the concept of burial metamorphism in which smectite interlayers are converted to illite, resulting finally in ordered interstratification. The interstratification data correlate with other geologic information, including rank of coal and Laramide tectonic activity. In addition, contact metamorphism of the shale by Tertiary igneous intrusions produced a similar clay suite. Chemical variation within these shales (particularly the presence or absence of carbonate) affected the clay conversion reactions in the interbedded bentonites and the shale itself during the early stages of transformation. In extreme cases, shales and bentonites from a single outcrop may contain clays that range from pure smectite (calcareous shales) to ordered illite/smectite containing ⩾50% illite layers (noncalcareous shales). The use of mixed-layered illite/smectite compositions to infer thermal regimes, therefore, may be misleading unless allowance is made for local chemical controls.

The hydrated form of tubular halloysite [halloysite (10 Å)] was observed by a conventional electron microscope equipped with an environmental cell (E.C.), by which the “natural” form was revealed without dehydration of the interlayer water. This study mainly reports the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis of the halloysite (10 Å) and its morphological changes by dehydration. The SAED pattern showed halloysite (10 Å) has two-layer periodicity in a monoclinic structure with the unit cell parameters of a = 5.14 Å, b = 8.90 Å, c = 20.7 Å, β = 99.7°, in space group Cc, and almost the same structure as the dehydrated form of halloysite [halloysite (7 Å)]. This means that the dehydration of the interlayer water did not greatly change or affect the structure of halloysite (10 Å). Accompanying the dehydration of the interlayer water, there appeared along the halloysite tube axis clear stripes that were about 50–100 Å in width. The diameters of the tubular particles also increased about 10%. From the results of various experiments, such as a focussing series, observation of the surface structure by the replica method, observation of end-views of the tubular particles, and others, these two phenomena were explained as follows: Halloysite crystals have “domains” along the c-axis direction, the thicknesses of the “domains” vary ca. 50–100 Å. They are tightly connected with each other when the halloysite is hydrated, but are separated from each other by the dehydration of the interlayer water, whereupon the stripes come into existence along the tube axis. Taking these considerations into account, a model of dehydration is proposed. Moreover, a new method of calculating the β-angle is proposed in the Appendix.

Understanding the structure of materials is crucial for engineering devices and materials with enhanced performance. Four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) is capable of mapping nanometer-scale local crystallographic structure over micron-scale field of views. However, 4D-STEM datasets can contain tens of thousands of images from a wide variety of material structures, making it difficult to automate detection and classification of structures. Traditional automated analysis pipelines for 4D-STEM focus on supervised approaches, which require prior knowledge of the material structure and cannot describe anomalous or deviant structures. In this article, a pipeline for engineering 4D-STEM feature representations for unsupervised clustering using non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is introduced. Each feature is evaluated using NMF and results are presented for both simulated and experimental data. It is shown that some data representations more reliably identify overlapping grains. Additionally, real space refinement is applied to identify spatially distinct sample regions, allowing for size and shape analysis to be performed. This work lays the foundation for improved analysis of nanoscale structural features in materials that deviate from expected crystallographic arrangement using 4D-STEM.

The synthesis and structure of the title compound, 1, is presented, refined using Rietveld against powder X-ray diffraction data. 1 crystallises dominantly in a pseudotetragonal C-centred orthorhombic lattice with dimensions a = 6.6791(6) Å, b = 15.5006(6) Å, c = 6.6811(6) Å and V = 691.70(10) Å3. The structural model proposed here refined by Rietveld is Sr0.928(8)Cu4(OH)8Cl2⋅3.60(21)H2O in space group Cmcm (63), with Z = 2. The chemistry and diffraction pattern of 1 are similar to that for the known Ca analogue, calumetite. The copper sites are arranged with square planar coordination at ¼ and ¾ height and are bonded to four (protonated) oxygens at an average of 1.966 Å (effective coordination of 3.82 Å). The more distant Cl sites (at Cu−Cl = 3.190(6) Å) complete the heavily Jahn–Teller distorted Cu[(OH)4,Cl2] polyhedra. The ½-occupied Sr sites are 8 coordinated to four protonated oxygens shared with the Cu-layer (at 2 × 2.438(8) Å, 2 × 2.566(15) Å) and by 4 bonds to the proposed water sites (Sr−Ow = 2.760(9) Å). The structure of 1 is predisposed towards defects, based on a notional tetragonal, P4/nmm, substructure with asub ≈ a1, csub = b½ dimensions. Average diffraction models have been further elaborated in order to resolve additional peaks (and peak-shapes) using DIFFaX+.

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows for imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy of materials on length scales ranging from microns to atoms. By using a high-speed, direct electron detector, it is now possible to record a full two-dimensional (2D) image of the diffracted electron beam at each probe position, typically a 2D grid of probe positions. These 4D-STEM datasets are rich in information, including signatures of the local structure, orientation, deformation, electromagnetic fields, and other sample-dependent properties. However, extracting this information requires complex analysis pipelines that include data wrangling, calibration, analysis, and visualization, all while maintaining robustness against imaging distortions and artifacts. In this paper, we present py4DSTEM, an analysis toolkit for measuring material properties from 4D-STEM datasets, written in the Python language and released with an open-source license. We describe the algorithmic steps for dataset calibration and various 4D-STEM property measurements in detail and present results from several experimental datasets. We also implement a simple and universal file format appropriate for electron microscopy data in py4DSTEM, which uses the open-source HDF5 standard. We hope this tool will benefit the research community and help improve the standards for data and computational methods in electron microscopy, and we invite the community to contribute to this ongoing project.

One of the primary uses for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is to measure diffraction pattern images in order to determine a crystal structure and orientation. In nanobeam electron diffraction (NBED), we scan a moderately converged electron probe over the sample to acquire thousands or even millions of sequential diffraction images, a technique that is especially appropriate for polycrystalline samples. However, due to the large Ewald sphere of TEM, excitation of Bragg peaks can be extremely sensitive to sample tilt, varying strongly for even a few degrees of sample tilt for crystalline samples. In this paper, we present multibeam electron diffraction (MBED), where multiple probe-forming apertures are used to create multiple scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) probes, all of which interact with the sample simultaneously. We detail designs for MBED experiments, and a method for using a focused ion beam to produce MBED apertures. We show the efficacy of the MBED technique for crystalline orientation mapping using both simulations and proof-of-principle experiments. We also show how the angular information in MBED can be used to perform 3D tomographic reconstruction of samples without needing to tilt or scan the sample multiple times. Finally, we also discuss future opportunities for the MBED method.

In environmental education research (EER), love is revered as a way to heal or mend the human relationship with nature. However, this interpretation of love rests in a humanist paradigm that considers nonhuman nature as external to the human being. To this end, love has generally been considered as an outward emotion, towards nature, and is less considered an inner movement, towards the human as nature. We were interested in exploring this conceptualisation of nature and love of/as nature and question: Is there potential to locate the concept of love in EER through different theoretical positions to explore the possibilities for its (re)conceptualisation? We aim to stretch academic thinking to (re)consider love through identifying where our own research in environmental education has involved love through the intersection of our journeys at the Australian Association of Environmental Education Research Symposium workshop. In response to the context of this workshop, which explored the concept of diffraction as described by Barad, we have chosen to adopt a diffractive analysis as the methodology to analyse our theoretical perspectives of love in EER. We explore the word love in this article using diffraction to understand the relationality of human and nonhuman nature through our research interests in Steiner, ecosomaesthetics and biophilia. This process cracked our theoretical silos to more openly consider: Where is the love in EER?

The plane wave diffraction by a planar junction consisting of a thick metallic sheet and a lossy double-negative metamaterial slab is studied by using the Uniform Asymptotic Physical Optics approach. This approach assumes the radiation integral as a starting point and uses the physical optics surface currents as sources to be integrated. The integral is manipulated by taking advantage of useful approximations and evaluations, and re-formulated in order to apply an asymptotic procedure able to generate a closed-form approximate solution in the framework of the Uniform Geometrical Theory of Diffraction. Accordingly, advantages and drawbacks result from the application of the proposed solution. The jumps of the geometrical optics field are compensated. Implementation and handling of the computer code are facilitated by the evaluation of well-known functions and parameters. No differential/integral equations or special functions must be computed.

The rich and innovative ideas of quantum physicist and feminist theorist Karen Barad have much to offer environmental educators in terms of practical theories for teaching and learning. This article shares insights gained from a facilitated conversation at the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) Conference Research Symposium, and offers an introduction to Barad’s theories for environmental educators. At this time of challenging planetary imperatives, environmental education is increasingly called upon to contribute to students’ understanding of connectedness, and Barad’s theory of agential realism provides a way to think about, articulate and engage with connectedness as inherent within the world rather than something we need to create. By considering entanglement as a fundamental state, we understand that separateness is not the original state of being. This shift in perspective supports a subtle yet powerful approach to knowledge, communication and collaboration, understanding difference as integral within the world’s entangled becoming. The convened conversation sought to explore Barad’s thinking by defining and discussing the concepts of agential realism, intra-action, material-discursivity, phenomena and diffraction. Barad’s ideas were used to collectively explore what it means to be intraconnected and entangled in today’s world, and specifically how these concepts and experiences relate to our work and lives as environmental educators and researchers.

This article considers the ethico-aesthetic potential of British choreographic practices that respond to questions raised by the current sociopolitical moment by staging im/possibilities and dis/orientation and by envisioning alternative understandings of the present. It embraces Karen Barad's new materialist onto-epistemology as an inspiring framework to discuss the significance of choreography that troubles accepted patterns of relationality and engages in a creative-critical remapping of experience.

A novel series of nanocrystalline AlCuCrFeMnWx (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5) high-entropy alloys (HEAs) were synthesized by mechanical alloying followed by spark plasma sintering. The phase evolution of the current HEAs was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction. The XRD of the AlCuCrFeMn sintered HEA shows evolution of ordered B2 phase (AlFe type), sigma phase (Cr rich), and FeMn phase. AlCuCrFeMnWx (x = 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 mol) shows formation of ordered B2 phases, sigma phases, FeMn phases, and BCC phases. Micro-hardness of the AlCuCrFeMnWx samples was measured by Vickers microindentation and the maximum value observed is 780 ± 12 HV. As the tungsten content increases, the fracture strength under compression increases from 1010 to 1510 MPa. Thermodynamic parameters of present alloys confirm the crystalline phase formation, and finally structure–property relationship was proposed by conventional strengthening mechanisms.

Small deviations from higher symmetry can be established by single-crystal diffraction methods by (1) measuring the metric of the unit cell with high, non-routine precision; (2) measuring a full reflection sphere of diffraction data and testing it for the presence or absence of symmetry elements in the dataset; (3) refining the structure in both the higher and the lower symmetry and comparing the results; (4) checking the refined crystal structures for the presence or absence of hidden symmetry elements. By these criteria it is not established that the v{120} growth sector of yugawaralite really has triclinic symmetry (Tanaka et al., 2002). On the contrary, the refined metrical parameters and the atomic positions conform to monoclinic symmetry within the margins of experimental error.