Evolution and properties of antiphase boundaries in silicate minerals

Experimental and observational evidence is reviewed for the mechanisms and kinetics of antiphase domain coarsening in silicate minerals. The expected rate law has the form (domain size)ⁿ ≈ annealing time, but the ideal value of n=2 has been observed in only one of three cases. Values of n≈8 or 10 are interpreted as implying adsorption of impurity atoms onto the antiphase boundaries. Diffusion of these impurities can then provide the rate determining step for boundary migration. Local ordering at the boundaries can also provide some stabilising influence, though this does not appear to affect the coarsening rate law. If the stabilisation is sufficient it might result in the development of an incommensurate superstructure, either as a stable phase or as a metastable phase under non-equilibrium conditions. The effective width of these boundaries appears to be ～ 25°, or approximately two unit cells, and their maximum effective interaction length appears to be ～ 4 times this width.     

Concentration Dependence of NMR T1 in Agar Solutions

In this study, in order to explain solvent proton relaxation mechanism, the spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) of agar solutions was measured as a function of agar concentration. Relaxation measurements were carried out by a FT-NMR spectrometer operating at 60 MHz and inversion recovery pulse squence was used. Relaxation rate(1/T1a) was linearly proportional to concentration of agar solution (C), and the T1 mechanism of solvent water protons in agar solutions should be caused by the chemical exchange of water protons between free and bound water.     

Super-resolution in time-reversal focusing on a moving source

This paper presents a detailed analysis of time-reversal experiments involving a moving point source that emits a pulse. Different configurations are addressed with full-aperture or partial-aperture time-reversal mirrors and with subsonic or supersonic sources. Doppler effects and lack of source-receiver reciprocity significantly affect the time-reversal refocusing when the velocity of the source becomes comparable as or larger than the speed of propagation. The main result is that refocusing can be enhanced when the velocity of the source becomes close to the speed of propagation compared to the classical diffraction-limited refocusing properties when the source does not move, and this super-resolution effect can be quantified by simple and explicit formulas.     

Time domain simulation of vortex-induced vibrations in stationary and oscillating flows

This paper focuses on the further development of a previously published semi-empirical method for time domain simulation of vortex-induced vibrations (VIV). A new hydrodynamic damping formulation is given, and the necessary coefficients are found from experimental data. It is shown that the new model predicts the observed hydrodynamic damping in still water and for cross-flow oscillations in stationary incoming flow with high accuracy. Next, the excitation force model, which is one component of the total hydrodynamic force model, is optimized by simulating the VIV response of an elastic cylinder in a series of experiments with stationary flow. The optimization is performed by repeating the simulations until the best possible agreement with the experiments is found. The optimized model is then applied to simulate the cross-flow VIV of an elastic cylinder in oscillating flow, without introducing any changes to the hydrodynamic force modeling. By comparison with experiment, it is shown that the model predicts the frequency content, mode and amplitude of vibration with a high level of realism, and the amplitude modulations occurring at high Keulegan–Carpenter numbers are well captured. The model is also utilized to investigate the effect of increasing the maximum reduced velocity and the mass ratio of the elastic cylinder in oscillating flow. Simulations show that complex response patterns with multiple modes and frequencies appear when the maximum reduced velocity is increased. If, however, the mass ratio is increased by a factor of 5, a single mode dominates. This illustrates that, in oscillating flows, the mass ratio is important in determining the mode participation at high maximum reduced velocities.     

Detection on micro-Doppler effect based on 1550 nm laser coherent radar

A laser coherent detection system of 1550 nm wavelength was presented, and experimental research on detecting micro-Doppler effect in a dynamic target was developed. In this paper, the return signal in the time domain is decomposed into a set of components in different wavelet-scales by multi-resolution analysis, and the components are associated with the vibrational motions in a target. The micro-Doppler signatures are extracted by applying the reconstruction (inverse wavelet transform). During the course of the final data processing frequency analysis and time–frequency analysis are applied to analyze the vibrational signals and estimate the motion parameters successfully. The experimental results indicate that the micro-Doppler information in a moving can be effectively detected, and tiny vibrational signatures also can be acquired effectively by wavelet multi-resolution analysis and time–frequency analysis.     

Phosphoinositide-binding interface proteins involved in shaping cell membranes

The mechanism by which cell and cell membrane shapes are created has long been a subject of great interest. Among the phosphoinositide-binding proteins, a group of proteins that can change the shape of membranes, in addition to the phosphoinositide-binding ability, has been found. These proteins, which contain membrane-deforming domains such as the BAR, EFC/F-BAR, and the IMD/I-BAR domains, led to inward-invaginated tubes or outward protrusions of the membrane, resulting in a variety of membrane shapes. Furthermore, these proteins not only bind to phosphoinositide, but also to the N-WASP/WAVE complex and the actin polymerization machinery, which generates a driving force to shape the membranes.     

On the inclusion of collisional correlations in quantum dynamics

We present a formalism to describe collisional correlations responsible for thermalization effects in finite quantum systems. The approach consists in a stochastic extension of time dependent mean field theory. Correlations are treated in time dependent perturbation theory and loss of coherence is assumed at some time intervals allowing a stochastic reduction of the correlated dynamics in terms of a stochastic ensemble of time dependent mean-fields. This theory was formulated long ago in terms of density matrices but never applied in practical cases because of its complexity. We propose here a reformulation of the theory in terms of wave functions and use a simplified 1D model of cluster and molecules allowing to test the theory in a schematic but realistic manner. We illustrate the performance in terms of several observables, in particular global moments of the density matrix and single particle entropy built on occupation numbers. The occupation numbers remain fixed in time dependent mean-field propagation and change when evaluating the correlations, then taking fractional values. They converge asymptotically towards Fermi distributions which is a clear indication of thermalization.     

Semiclassical matrix model for quantum chaotic transport with time-reversal symmetry

We show that the semiclassical approach to chaotic quantum transport in the presence of time-reversal symmetry can be described by a matrix model. In other words, we construct a matrix integral whose perturbative expansion satisfies the semiclassical diagrammatic rules for the calculation of transport statistics. One of the virtues of this approach is that it leads very naturally to the semiclassical derivation of universal predictions from random matrix theory.     

Stability analysis of a class of uncertain switched systems on time scale using Lyapunov functions

This paper deals with the stability analysis of a class of uncertain switched systems on non-uniform time domains. The considered class consists of dynamical systems which commute between an uncertain continuous-time subsystem and an uncertain discrete-time subsystem during a certain period of time. The theory of dynamic equations on time scale is used to study the stability of these systems on non-uniform time domains formed by a union of disjoint intervals with variable length and variable gap. Using the concept of common Lyapunov function, sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the asymptotic stability of this class of systems on time scale with bounded graininess function. The proposed scheme is used to study the leader–follower consensus problem under intermittent information transmissions.     

Sulfur-Containing Vinyl Monomers. XV. Kinetic Study of Radical Polymerization of Vinyl Mercaptobenzothiazole and Its Copolymerization

A kinetic study of radical polymerization of vinyl mercaptobenzothiazole (VMBT) with α,α′-azobisisobutyonitrile (AIBN) at 60°C was carried out. The rate of polymerization (R_p) was found to be expressed by the rate equation: R_p = k[AIBN]^0.5 [VMBT]^1.0, indicating that the polymerization of this monomer proceeds via an ordinary radical mechanism. The apparent activation energy for overall polymerization was calculated to be 20.9 kcal/mole. Moreover, this monomer was copolymerized with methyl methacrylate, acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate, phenyl vinyl sulfide, maleic anhydride, and fumaronitrile at 60°C. From the results obtained, the copolymerization parameters were determined and discussed.