In this work magnetic properties of copper(II) complexes on N-(hydroxyalkyl) pyrrole-2-aldimines were investigated by various techniques, one of which was magnetic susceptibility. Magnetic moments are not directly determined experimentally, but magnetic susceptibilities are.

Propriedades ópticas, magnéticas e elásticas de duas liomesofases nemáticas tipo I (decilsulfato de sódio/água/ n-decanol e laurato de potássio/água/cloreto de potássio) e urna tipo II (decilsulfato de sódio/água/n-decanol /sulfato de sódio) são estudadas. Nas investigações de tais propriedades as medidas realizadas e instrumentação/meios utilizados foram os seguintes: medidas de sinais ópticos, texturas e temperaturas de transições de fases foram obtidas com auxilio de um microscópio petrográfico com temperatura controlada na platina; medidas de índices de refração e birrefringências obtiveram- se com adaptações do refratômetro de Pulfrich; medidas de susceptibilidades diamagnéticas direcionais foram realizadas com adaptações ao magnetômetro de amostra vibrante; medidas de constantes elásticas foram obtidas com auxilio de uma montagem especial. São realizados cálculos para as susceptibilidades diamagnéticas direcionais e respectivas anisotropias moleculares para alcanos, álcoois e anfifilicos de interesse em liornesofases . Da comparação entre as anisotropias moleculares calculadas e as medidas em liomesofases correspondentes, infere-se que o ordenamento molecular de anfifilicos, nas mesofases, deve ser alto. O método de Kirkwood, que permite correlacionar polarizabilidade elétrica com a susceptibilidade diamagnética molecular média em substâncias puras, é estendido e adaptado a misturas complexas, criando assim urna promissora perspectiva de correlação entre as medidas ópticas e magnéticas em liomesofases. Evidências experimentais diretas, da aplicabilidade da teoria do continuo para termo trópicos às liomesofases, são apresentadas. / The optical, magnetic and elastic properties of three nematic lyomesophases are studied. Two are type I (Na decyl sulfate/ water/n- decanol and K laurate/water/K chloride) and one type II (Na decyl sulfate/water/n- decano l/Na sulfate). To measure these properties we used the following equipment : texture and optical sign were observed by optical microscopy with temperature controlled, hot and cold, stages; refractive indices were measured in an adapted Pulfrich refratometer; the individual elements of the diamagnetic susceptibility tensor were measured with a vibrating sample magnetometer; the elastic constants were measured using the Frederikzs transition in a special experimental set-up. Starting from the concept of localized magnetic susceptibilities, molecular anisotropies were calculated for saturated hydrocarbons , alcohols and amphiphilic compounds, which are of interest for lyomesophases. Comparing these results with the experimentally measured anisotropies of the lyomesophases it is possible to conclude that a high degree of molecular order is present in the nematic amphiphilic systems. The Kirkwood method is extended and adapted for complex mixtures. The use of this method opens new perspectives for exploring the correlation between the molecular polarizability and the mean diamagnetic susceptibility.

Propriedades ópticas, magnéticas e elásticas de duas liomesofases nemáticas tipo I (decilsulfato de sódio/água/ n-decanol e laurato de potássio/água/cloreto de potássio) e urna tipo II (decilsulfato de sódio/água/n-decanol /sulfato de sódio) são estudadas. Nas investigações de tais propriedades as medidas realizadas e instrumentação/meios utilizados foram os seguintes: medidas de sinais ópticos, texturas e temperaturas de transições de fases foram obtidas com auxilio de um microscópio petrográfico com temperatura controlada na platina; medidas de índices de refração e birrefringências obtiveram- se com adaptações do refratômetro de Pulfrich; medidas de susceptibilidades diamagnéticas direcionais foram realizadas com adaptações ao magnetômetro de amostra vibrante; medidas de constantes elásticas foram obtidas com auxilio de uma montagem especial. São realizados cálculos para as susceptibilidades diamagnéticas direcionais e respectivas anisotropias moleculares para alcanos, álcoois e anfifilicos de interesse em liornesofases . Da comparação entre as anisotropias moleculares calculadas e as medidas em liomesofases correspondentes, infere-se que o ordenamento molecular de anfifilicos, nas mesofases, deve ser alto. O método de Kirkwood, que permite correlacionar polarizabilidade elétrica com a susceptibilidade diamagnética molecular média em substâncias puras, é estendido e adaptado a misturas complexas, criando assim urna promissora perspectiva de correlação entre as medidas ópticas e magnéticas em liomesofases. Evidências experimentais diretas, da aplicabilidade da teoria do continuo para termo trópicos às liomesofases, são apresentadas. / The optical, magnetic and elastic properties of three nematic lyomesophases are studied. Two are type I (Na decyl sulfate/ water/n- decanol and K laurate/water/K chloride) and one type II (Na decyl sulfate/water/n- decano l/Na sulfate). To measure these properties we used the following equipment : texture and optical sign were observed by optical microscopy with temperature controlled, hot and cold, stages; refractive indices were measured in an adapted Pulfrich refratometer; the individual elements of the diamagnetic susceptibility tensor were measured with a vibrating sample magnetometer; the elastic constants were measured using the Frederikzs transition in a special experimental set-up. Starting from the concept of localized magnetic susceptibilities, molecular anisotropies were calculated for saturated hydrocarbons , alcohols and amphiphilic compounds, which are of interest for lyomesophases. Comparing these results with the experimentally measured anisotropies of the lyomesophases it is possible to conclude that a high degree of molecular order is present in the nematic amphiphilic systems. The Kirkwood method is extended and adapted for complex mixtures. The use of this method opens new perspectives for exploring the correlation between the molecular polarizability and the mean diamagnetic susceptibility.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate some methods for quantitative analysis of bone structure, particularly techniques which might ultimately be applied post-operatively following orthopaedic reconstruction operations. Initially it was decided to explore the efficacy of MRI in quantifying the bone structure at high resolution by comparing high resolution MRI against 'gold standards' such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and optical histology. This basic study provided a measure of the distortions in the morphological bone parameters derived from MR images due to susceptibility artefacts and partial volume effects. The study of bone architecture was then extended to a model of advanced renal osteodystrophy in a growing rat. For this study, high-resolution micro computed tomography (microCT) was used and as a result of the high resolution images obtained, three new bone morphological parameters were introduced to characterise the bone structure. The desire to study bone architecture post-operatively in hip replacements led to a preliminary study on ex-vivo sheep acetabulae following total hip replacement, to determine the extent that the bone architecture could be investigated around the acetabulum. The motivation for studying the acetabulum was based on the high occurrence of debonding at the bone / prosthesis interface. This study demonstrated the superior nature of 3D MRI over conventional x-ray radiographs in early quantitation of fibrous membranes located between the host bone and the non-metallic implant and/or the bone cement. The presence of such fibrous membranes is strongly indicative of failure of the prosthesis. When using clinical MRI to image post-operative hip replacement, the image quality is severely affected by the presence of the metallic implant. The head of the prosthesis is shaped like a metal sphere and is located in the acetabular cup. This problem was investigated by performing simulations of MR images in the presence of the field perturbation induced by the presence of a metal sphere, with the effects of slice excitation and frequency encoding incorporated into the simulations. The simulations were compared with experimental data obtained by imaging a phantom comprising a stainless steel ball bearing immersed in agarose gel. The simulations were used to predict the effects of changing imaging parameters that influence artefact size and also to show how current metal artefact reduction techniques such as view angle tilting (VAT) work and to identify their limitations. It was shown that 2D SE and VAT imaging techniques should not be used when metallic prosthesis are present due to extreme slice distortion, whereas 3D MRI provided a method that has no slice distortion, although the effects of using a frequency encoding gradient still remain.

The subject of this work subscribes to the international preoccupation regarding the elucidation of magnetic properties of solids. The crystallographic, electronic and magnetic structures of Al-Mn-Ni alloys and compounds have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, magnetization and magnetic susceptibility measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and band structure calculations. The thesis is organized in 6 Chapters, followed by the summary. Chapter 1 contains a brief theoretical introduction into the magnetism of metallic systems, as well the principles of XPS. The sample preparation details and all the techniques employed in the characterization of the systems are described in Chapter 2. The next 4 Chapters contain the experimental results for Mn1-xAlxNi3, Mn1-xAlxNi, Ni1-xMnxAl, Ni0.7-xAlxMn0.3 systems.