  Nernst and electrical resistivity measurements in superconducting YBCO and
BSCCO with and without columnar defects show a distinctive thermodynamics of
the respective liquid vortex matter. At a field dependent high temperature
region in the phase diagram the Nernst signal is independent of structural
defects in both materials. At lower temperatures, in YBCO, defects contribute
only to the vortex mobility and the transport entropy is that of a system of
vortex lines. The transition to lower temperatures in BSCCO has a different
origin, the maximum in the Nernst signal when decreasing temperature is not
associated with transport properties but with the entropy behavior of pancake
vortices in the presence of structural defects.
