Tuning the mesogenic properties of 5-alkoxy-2-(4-alkoxyphenyl)pyrimidine liquid crystals: the effect of a phenoxy end-group in two sterically equivalent series

Two sterically equivalent series of phenoxy-terminated 5-alkoxy-2-(4-alkoxyphenyl)pyrimidine liquid crystals were synthesised, and their mesogenic properties were characterised by polarised optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The phenoxy end-group causes a significant increase in melting point and inhibits – at least partially – the mesomorphism of these materials relative to the parent isomers; in most cases, the broad enantiotropic SmC phase formed by the parent isomers is suppressed by the addition of the phenoxy end-group. However, detailed analyses by small-angle X-ray scattering and monodomain 2D X-ray scattering suggest that these compounds form a SmA phase with a partially intercalated bilayer structure in which the phenoxy end-groups are nanosegregated. Such an intercalated bilayer structure might enable the tuning of smectogenic properties by appropriate substitution of the phenoxy end-groups.     

EFFECTIVE SPECIFIC HEATS OF MULTI-PHASE THERMOELASTIC COMPOSITES

This paper studies the effective properties of multi-phase thermoelastic composites. Based on the Helmholtz free energy and the Gibbs free energy of individual phases, the effective elastic tensor, thermal-expansion tensor, and specific heats of the multi-phase composites are derived by means of the volume average of free-energies of these phases. Particular emphasis is placed on the derivation of new analytical expressions of effective specific heats at constant-strain and constant-stress situations, in which a modified Eshelby’s micromechanics theory is developed and the interaction between inclusions is considered. As an illustrative example, the analytical expression of the effective specific heat for a three-phase thermoelastic composite is presented.     

灰色Verhulst神经网络组合预测区域空域流量

能够对区域空域的流量做出准确的预测,可以为空中交通管理部门协调航班运行,减缓空域内航路的拥堵提供重要依据.运用灰色Verhulst模型与神经网络的组合模型对区域航班流量进行预测,并结合华东地区飞行流量的数据样本训练并测试模型.结果显示,由组合模型得出的流量预测值与实际值较吻合,说明组合模型比单种预测方法能够更为准确地对区域空域流量做出预测.     

Concurrent combined verification: reducing false positives in automated NMR structure verification through the evaluation of multiple challenge control structures

Automated structure verification using ¹H NMR data or a combination of ¹H and heteronuclear single‐quantum correlation (HSQC) data is gaining more interest as a routine application for qualitative evaluation of large compound libraries produced by synthetic chemistry. The goal of this automated software method is to identify a manageable subset of compounds and data that require human review. In practice, the automated method will flag structure and data combinations that exhibit some inconsistency (i.e. strange chemical shifts, conflicts in multiplicity, or overestimated and underestimated integration values) and validate those that appear consistent. One drawback of this approach is that no automated system can guarantee that all passing structures are indeed correct structures. The major reason for this is that approaches using only ¹H or even ¹H and HSQC spectra often do not provide sufficient information to properly distinguish between similar structures. Therefore, current implementations of automated structure verification systems allow, in principle, false positive results. Presented in this work is a method that greatly reduces the probability of an automated validation system passing incorrect structures (i.e. false positives). This novel method was applied to automatically validate 127 non‐proprietary compounds from several commercial sources. Presented also is the impact of this approach on false positive and false negative results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Methylol‐functional benzoxazines as precursors for high‐performance thermoset polymers: Unique simultaneous addition and condensation polymerization behavior

A new class of high‐performance resins of combined molecular structure of both traditional phenolics and benzoxazines has been developed. The monomers termed as methylol‐functional benzoxazines were synthesized through Mannich condensation reaction of methylol‐functional phenols and aromatic amines, including methylenedianiline (4,4′‐diaminodiphenylmethane) and oxydianiline (4,4′‐diaminodiphenyl ether), in the presence of paraformaldehyde. For comparison, other series of benzoxazine monomers were prepared from phenol, corresponding aromatic amines, and paraformaldehyde. The as‐synthesized monomers are characterized by their high purity as judged from ¹H NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectra. Differential scanning calorimetric thermograms of the novel monomers show two exothermic peaks associated with condensation reaction of methylol groups and ring‐opening polymerization of benzoxazines. The position of methylol group relative to benzoxazine structure plays a significant role in accelerating polymerization. Viscoelastic and thermogravimetric analyses of the crosslinked polymers reveal high T_g (274–343 °C) and excellent thermal stability when compared with the traditional polybenzoxazines. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Reflective mode of deformed-helix ferroelectric liquid crystal cells for sensing applications

We present a detailed theoretical and experimental study of the reflectance response of a deformed-helix ferroelectric (DHF) liquid crystal (LC) cell to an applied voltage under cross-polarisers. Using a model based on the effective dielectric tensor approximation, we derive simple analytical formulas to design a LC cell with maximum modulation depth and optimal linearity of the electro-optical response intensity versus the electric field. Our experimental results show that the cell works at frequencies up to 10 kHz and exhibits excellent linearity, with a total harmonic distortion as low as ?70 dB. These findings suggest that DHF-LCs can be exploited to develop simple and accurate optical sensors.     

Internal radiocesium contamination of adults and children in Fukushima 7 to 20 months after the Fukushima NPP accident as measured by extensive whole-body-counter surveys

The Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP accident contaminated the soil of densely-populated regions in Fukushima Prefecture with radioactive cesium, which poses significant risks of internal and external exposure to the residents. If we apply the knowledge of post-Chernobyl accident studies, internal exposures in excess of a few mSv/y would be expected to be frequent in Fukushima.Extensive whole-body-counter surveys (n = 32,811) carried out at the Hirata Central Hospital between October, 2011 and November, 2012, however show that the internal exposure levels of residents are much lower than estimated. In particular, the first sampling-bias-free assessment of the internal exposure of children in the town of Miharu, Fukushima, shows that the ¹³⁷Cs body burdens of all children (n = 1,383, ages 6–15, covering 95% of children enrolled in town-operated schools) were below the detection limit of 300 Bq/body in the fall of 2012. These results are not conclusive for the prefecture as a whole, but are consistent with results obtained from other municipalities in the prefecture, and with prefectural data.     

Spin polarization and temperature dependence of electron effective mass in quantum wires

The electron effective mass in GaAs quantum wires has been estimated by using a full dynamical random-phase approximation to examine its properties versus spin polarization, temperature, and carrier density. A decrease of mass with spin polarization is seen. The minority mass increases with the polarization while the majority mass decreases and this behaviour is seen for all densities. A maximal enhancement of mass at moderate temperature around 25 K is also presented. These calculations show a qualitative consistence with results in two-dimensional systems and help to control the electronic transport in quantum wires.     

INVESTIGATION OF A QUASI-STEADY LIQUID CRYSTAL TECHNIQUE FOR FILM COOLING HEAT TRANSFER MEASUREMENTS

A quasi-steady technique to simultaneously measure the local heat transfer coefficient and cooling effectiveness on surfaces involving film cooling situations is investigated. The method employs a composite slab consisting of a very thin laminate layer of low-thermal-conductivity material superposed upon a highly conductive metal substrate. The resulting heat transfer in the thin laminate is described by one-dimensional conduction. A very thin coating of thermochromic liquid crystals sprayed onto the surface of the laminate is used in conjunction with a computer image processing procedure to provide local surface temperature data. This information, combined with the substrate and mainstream gas temperatures, provides highly detailed (90 video pixels/cm²) local convection heat transfer distributions. The method is used to conduct flat-plate film cooling experiments consisting of a single row of discrete holes inclined at 35 to the mainstream flow. The local surface temperature is influenced by the combination of two interacting fluid streams at different temperatures. A numerical analysis was performed to assess the assumptions underlying the data reduction procedure. The experimental uncertainty of 7% in the heat transfer coefficient is comparable to prior studies. Furthermore, the uncertainty of 5% in the film cooling effectiveness, coupled with the negligible lateral conduction errors, indicates the present technique offers a unique capability for accurate measurement of the local film cooling effectiveness.