Search

The proliferation of ride-hailing platforms in the last decade has been challenged by workers’ mobilization around the world. In order to complement the existing research on successful organizing, in this article the authors investigate the lack of collective resistance in two cases. By comparing the ride-hailing industry in Berlin (Germany) and Tallinn (Estonia), the authors explain the absence of collective mobilization in these different contexts. While ride-hailing in Berlin is more regulated than in Tallinn, drivers in both cities are structurally located in the weakest position within labour relations. Their isolation presents common features found in the business model and the work process, but also within wider societal structures and ideological landscape.

We have studied the electronic structure of liquid water using x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the oxygen K edge. Since the x-ray absorption process takes less than a femtosecond, it allows probing of the molecular orbital structure of frozen, local geometries of water molecules at a timescale that has not previously been accessible. Our results indicate that the electronic structure of liquid water is significantly different from that of the solid and gaseous forms, resulting in a pronounced pre-edge feature below the main absorption edge in the spectrum. Theoretical calculations of these spectra suggest that this feature originates from specific configurations of water, for which the H-bond is broken on the H-donating site of the water molecule. This study provides a fingerprint for identifying broken donating H-bonds in the liquid and shows that an unsaturated H-bonding environment exists for a dominating fraction of the water molecules., QC 20100525

A closely integrated theoretical and experimental effort to understand chemical bonding using X-ray spectroscopic probes is presented. Theoretical techniques to simulate XAS (X-ray absorption spectroscopy), XES (X-ray emission spectroscopy), RIXS (resonant inelastic X-ray scattering) and XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) spectra have been developed and implemented within a density functional theory (DFT) framework. In combination with new experimental techniques, such as high-resolution XAS on liquid water under ambient conditions and XES on complicated surface adsorbates, new insight into e.g. hydrogen-bonded systems is obtained. For the (3 x 2) overlayer structure of glycine/Cu(110), earlier work has been extended to include adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. Structures are optimized for large cluster models and for periodic boundary conditions. It is found that specific features in the spectra arise from hydrogen-bonding interactions, which thus have important effects at the molecular-orbital level. XAS on liquid water shows a pronounced pre-edge feature with significant intensity, while the spectrum of ice shows only little intensity in this region. Theoretical spectrum calculations, based on instantaneous structures obtained from molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations, show that the pre-edge feature in the liquid is caused by water molecules with unsaturated hydrogen bonding. Some aspects of the theoretical simulations will be briefly discussed., QC 20100525

Adsorption of formic acid (HCOOH) on ZnO(10 (1) over bar 0) surfaces has been investigated by means of quantum-chemical ab initio periodic Hartree-Fock calculations. One 'bridging' structure, characterized by a formate anion symmetrically bonded via its t, Addresses: Ojamae L, Univ Stockholm, Arrhenius Lab, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Univ Stockholm, Arrhenius Lab, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Univ Uppsala, Dept Quantum Chem, S-75120 Uppsala, Sweden. Univ Coll Gavle, S-80176 Gavle, Sweden.

Diffusion of Li and Na ions in TiO2, anatase, has been studied using theoretical (quantum chemical nb initio periodic Hartree-Fock and a modified semiempirical INDO) as well as electrochemical (chronocoloumetry) methods. On the basis of the theoretical ca, Lunell S, UNIV UPPSALA, DEPT QUANTUM CHEM, BOX 518, S-75120 UPPSALA, SWEDEN. UNIV STOCKHOLM, ARRHENIUS LAB, DEPT PHYS INORGAN & STRUCT CHEM, S-10691 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN. UNIV UPPSALA, DEPT PHYS CHEM, S-75121 UPPSALA, SWEDEN.

The influence of uniform and non-uniform electric fields on one-dimensional proton transfer curves for (H2O)(2), H5O2+ and H3O2- has been examined using quantum-mechanical ab initio calculations. Both liquid-state and solid-state environments are discuss, Addresses: HERMANSSON K, UNIV UPPSALA, DEPT CHEM, BOX 531, S-75121 UPPSALA, SWEDEN.