Results of dc magnetization study are presented showing interesting thermomagnetic history effects across the antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition in Ce(Fe 0.96 Al 0.04 ) 2 . Specifically, we observe (i)ZFC/FC irreversibility rising with increasing field; (ii) virgin curve lying outside the envelope M-H curve. We argue that these effects are quite different from the characteristics seen in spin-glasses or in hard ferromagnets; they can be understood as metastabilities associated with a first order magnetic phase transition.

Although the term nanotechnology (NT) is relatively new, the underlying technology is old, because the term "submicro" was used in the production of extremely small particles of polymers and copolymers. Today, the technology that deals with the science and engineering of materials at the dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nm (1 billion nm = 1 m) in length is called NT. At the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), NT is defined as the understanding, manipulation, and control of matter at the above stated length scale, such that the physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials (individual atoms, molecules, and bulk matter) can be engineered, synthesized, or altered to develop the next generations of improved materials, devices, structures, and systems [1]. Although, there is no clear indication of when and how the term evolved, Professor Richard Feynman, almost 50 years ago, in a lecture titled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," [2] demonstrated that matter at nanometer dimensions can be exploited to attain considerably improved material properties. Indeed, in the decades following, there have been numerous advances in NT and its many applications in the textile industry. Because of its limitless potential in consumer-oriented applications, the textile industry is one of the premier beneficiaries of advances in NT. Being one of the largest consumer-supported industries, with significant impact on a nation's economy, advances in applications of NT to improve textile properties offer obvious, high economic potential for the industry's growth. 1It was demonstrated in recent years that NT can be used to enhance textile attributes, such as fabric softness, durability, and breathability, water repellency, fire retardancy, antimicrobial properties, and the like in fibers, yarns, and fabrics. In addition to the millions of dollars invested by the private sector, it is estimated that for the year 2003, worldwide government funding for research and developAbstract Nanotechnology (NT) deals with materials 1 to 100 nm in length. At the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), NT is defined as the understanding, manipulation, and control of matter at the above-stated length, such that the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the materials (individual atoms, molecules, and bulk matter) can be engineered, synthesized, and altered to develop the next generation of improved materials, devices, structures, and systems. NT at the molecular level can be used to develop desired textile characteristics, such as high tensile strength, unique surface structure, soft hand, durability, water repellency, fire retardancy, antimicrobial properties, and the like. Indeed, advances in NT have created enormous opportunities and challenges for the textile industry, including the cotton industry. The focus of this paper is to summarize recent applications of NT as they relate to textile fibers, yarns, and fabrics.

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The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode with temporal resolution of less than 5 s and spatial resolution of 150 km has observed the lower solar atmosphere with an unprecedented detail. This has led to many important findings, one of them is the discovery of chromospheric anemone jets in the solar chromosphere. The chromospheric anemone jets are ubiquitous in solar chromosphere and statistical studies show that the typical length, life time and energy of the chromospheric anemone jets are much smaller than the coronal events (e.g. jets/flares/CMEs). Among various observational parameters, the apparent length and maximum velocity shows good correlation. The velocity of chromospheric anemone jets is comparable to the local Alfvén speed in the lower solar chromosphere. Since the discovery of chromospheric anemone jets by Hinode, several evidences of magnetic reconnection in chromospheric anemone jets have been found and these observations are summarized in this paper. These observations clearly suggest that reconnection occurs quite rapidly as well as intermittently in the solar chromosphere. In the solar corona ( λ i > δ SP ), anomalous resistivity arises due to various collisionless processes. Previous MHD simulations show that reconnection becomes fast as well as strongly time-dependent due to anomalous resistivity. Such processes would not arise in the solar chromosphere which is fully collisional and partially-ionized. So, it is unclear how the rapid and strongly time-dependent reconnection would occur in the solar chromosphere. It is quite likely that the Hall and ambipolar diffusion are present in the solar chromosphere and they could play an important role in driving such rapid, strongly time-dependent reconnection in the solar chromosphere.PACS numbers: 96. 96.60.Iv,96.60.Hv,96.60.Na