Photodecomposition of several compounds commonly used as sunscreen agents

The photolysis reactions of three compounds commonly used as a sunscreen agents, Parsol 1789 (1-[4-(1,1-dimethylethyl)phenyl]-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,3- propanedione), Oxybenzone ((2-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)phenyl-methanone) and Padimate O (2-ethylhexyl-4-(dimethylamino)benzoate), were investigated to provide a chemical background to aid in the understanding of the photosensitization of the sunscreen agents. Photolysis was carried out in cyclohexane for 70–140 h using a mercury vapor lamp (450W) without excluding oxygen.

Irradation of Parsol 1789 in cyclohexane yielded tert-butylbenzene, p-tert-butylbenzoic acid and p-methoxybenzoic acid; products obtained from the combination of the sunscreen with the solvent included the cyclohexyl esters of p-methoxybenzoic acid, p-tert-butylbenzoic acid and methanoic acid; products obtained from the solvent included cyclohexanol, cyclohexanone and dicyclohexyl ether.

Irradiation of Oxybenzone in the cyclohexane for 100 h produced no detectable products by either gas or liquid chromatographic analysis. Oxybenzone was recovered unchanged and no products were observed from the photoinitiated reaction of oxygen with the solvent.

Irradiation of Padimate O in cyclohexane yielded the ethylhexyl esters of p-aminobenzoic acid, p-monomethylaminobenzoic acid and p-dimethylamino (o/m)-methylbenzoic acid, as well as products from the photoinitiated reaction of oxygen with the solvent.     

Kinetic model for hydrocarbon-assisted particulate boron combustion

A kinetic model is presented to describe the high temperature (1800 K < T < 3000 K) surface oxidation of particulate boron in a hydrocarbon combustion environment. The model includes a homogeneous gas-phase B/O/H/C oxidation mechanism consisting of 19 chemical species and 58 forward and reverse elementary reactions, multi-component gas-phase diffusion, and a heterogeneous surface oxidation mechanism consisting of ‘elementary’ adsorption and desorption reaction steps. Thermochemical and kinetic parameters for the surface reactions are estimated from available experimental data and/or elementary transition state arguments. The kinetic processes are treated using a generalized kinetics code, with embedded sensitivity analysis, for the combustion of a one-dimensional (particle radius), spherical particle. Model results are presented for the oxidation of a 200 μm boron particle in a JP-4/air mixture at ambient temperatures of 1400 K and 2000 K. These results include temperature and gas-phase species profiles as a function of radial distance and particle burning rates. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A simulated annealing algorithm for resource constrained project scheduling problems

This paper presents a simulated annealing algorithm for resource constrained project scheduling problems with the objective of minimising makespan. In the search algorithm, a solution is represented with a priority list, a vector of numbers each of which denotes the priority of each activity. In the algorithm, a priority scheduling method is used for making a complete schedule from a given priority list (and hence a project schedule is defined by a priority list). The search algorithm is applied to find a priority list which corresponds to a good project schedule. Unlike most of priority scheduling methods, in the suggested algorithm some activities are delayed on purpose so as to extend search space. Solutions can be further improved by delaying certain activities, since non-delay schedules are not dominant in the problem (the set of non-delay schedules does not always include an optimal solution). The suggested algorithm is flexible in that it can be easily applied to problems with an objective function of a general form and/or complex constraints. The performance of the simulated annealing algorithm is compared with existing heuristics on problems prepared by Patterson and randomly generated test problems. Computational results showed that the suggested algorithm outperformed existing ones.     

A viscoelastic constitutive model of rubber under small oscillatory load superimposed on large static deformation considering the Payne effect

The viscoelastic behavior of carbon-black-filled rubber under small oscillatory loads superimposed on large static deformation is dealt with. In this class of problems, as the strain amplitudes of the load increase, the dynamic stiffness decreases, and this phenomenon is known as the Payne effect. Besides the effects of the static deformation and the frequencies of the superimposed dynamic load, the Payne effect is considered in this study. Influence factors are introduced in this model in order to consider the influence of static predeformation, the dynamic-strain-dependent properties, and frequency-dependent properties. For simplicity, separation of the three dominant variables, frequency, prestatic deformation, and dynamic amplitude of strain, is assumed. The Kraus model is used for describing the Payne effect. Dynamic tension tests are executed to obtain the model parameters and also for the verification of the proposed model. The suggested constitutive equation shows reasonable agreement with test data.     

Catalytic allylic transfer reactions of functionalized aldehydes promoted by BINOL-Ti(IV) with synergistic reagent

Practical and efficient catalytic asymmetric allylic transfer reactions of tin reagents promoted by BINOL-Ti[OCH(CF₃)₂]₂ complex by the utilization of t-BuSBEt₂ are successful with a variety of functionalized aldehydes containing ketone, aldehyde, ester, amide, or carbamoyl functionality and affords products in high levels of enantioselectivity.     

Reduction of dislocation density and improvement of optical quality in ZnO layers by MgO-buffer annealing

Optical properties of ZnO thin films with/without MgO-buffer annealing were investigated by low and room temperature photoluminescence measurements. The ZnO films were grown on c-sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy employing a thin MgO-buffer layer. Dislocation density of ZnO layer was reduced from 5.3 × 10⁹ to 1.9 × 10⁹ cm⁻² by annealing MgO-buffer prior to the growth of ZnO. The intensity of free exciton emission from the sample with MgO-buffer annealing was almost twice of that from the sample without annealing, while the deep level emission from the sample with MgO-buffer annealing was about 1/3 of that without annealing. The MgO-buffer annealing improves optical quality of overgrown ZnO films.     

Optical characterization of CdTe/ZnSe fractional monolayer structures grown by atomic layer epitaxy

Luminescence properties of CdTe/ZnSe fractional monolayer grown by atomic layer epitaxy have been investigated. To investigate the origin of the highly efficient luminescence, various optical spectroscopic methods such as, photoluminescence (PL), temporal/spatial resolved PL, temperature dependence PL, and excitation power dependence PL have been used. It is found that structural inhomogeneities affect dominant influence on the line width and line shape of luminescence. The luminescence intensity greatly enhanced by the localization of exciton at the disorder induced localized states.     

Investigation of chemometric calibration performance based on different chemical matrix and signal-to-noise ratio.

The chemometric calibration performance was systematically investigated by two parameters (changing the chemical matrix as well as the signal-to-noise ratio) of the NIR (near-infrared) spectrum. Three different analytes (hexane, cyclohexane, toluene) were selected and heptane was used as a solvent. The degree of spectral difference significantly affected the calibration performance. The largest structural difference between the analyte and the solvent provided the best calibration result for a given signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra also directly influenced the calibration performance. Overall, the spectral difference and signal-to-noise ratio were the major factors for governing the chemometric calibration performance, especially in the low-concentration range.     

Low-order modeling and dynamic characterization of rapid thermal processing

A low-order model of rapid thermal processing (RTP) of semiconductor wafers is derived. The first-principles nonlinear model describes the static and dynamic thermal behavior of a wafer with approximate spatial temperature uniformity undergoing rapid heating and cooling in a multilamp RTP chamber. The model is verified experimentally for a range of operating temperatures from 400° C to 900° C and pressures of 1 Torr and 1 atmosphere in an inert N₂ environment. Theoretical predictions suggest model validity over a still wider range of operating conditions. One advantage of the low-order model over previous high-order and statistical models is that the proposed model contains a small number of fundamental parameters and functions that, if necessary, are easily identifiable. Furthermore, because of reduced computational complexity, the low-order model can be used in real-time predictive applications including signal processing and process control design. In studying and verifying the model, the dynamic behavior of a semiconductor wafer undergoing rapid temperature changes is characterized. Close comparison between theory and experiment in terms of the wafer eigenvalue and dc gain is demonstrated; the strong nonlinear effects of temperature are shown. Convective heat transfer losses are also examined and are shown to increase with radial position on the wafer.     

Irradiation-induced reduction and luminescence properties of Sm doped in BaBPO5

Usually, Sm²⁺ ions could be reduced by heating the materials in reducing atmospheres. Exposure to ionizing radiations is also known to cause Sm³⁺→Sm²⁺ conversion. In this work, BaBPO₅ doped with the samarium ion was prepared by high temperature solid-state reaction. Sm²⁺ ions were obtained by two different reduction methods, i.e., heating in H₂ reduced atmosphere and X-ray irradiation. The measurements of X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were investigated. It is found that the conversion of Sm³⁺→Sm²⁺ is very efficient in BaBPO₅ hosts after X-ray irradiation. Sm²⁺ ions under these two reduction methods exhibit different characteristics that were studied by measurements of luminescence and decay. The results showed that the luminescence properties of Sm²⁺ ions in BaBPO₅ were highly dependent on the sample preparation conditions.