A new insight into the understanding of the collapsed form of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules

Possible collapsed forms of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules are reviewed on the basis of first principle calculations. Various configurations and associated conformations are detailed. The calculated optimized structures exhibit different possibilities of creating networks of intra-molecular bonds of the hydrogen type. We show that the most remarkable one is able to form a local, self-saturated and well ordered helix. We also indicate in which direction the synthesis of the molecule should be oriented to improve its global behavior in term of hydrophobic/hydrophilic behavior.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Monoazo N‐Ester‐1,8‐Naphthalimide Disperse Dyestuffs

Five novel monoazo disperse dyestuffs based on N‐ester‐1,8‐naphthalimide were synthesized. Acenaphthene was nitrated, then oxidized to 4‐nitro‐1,8‐naphthalic anhydride. 4‐Nitro‐1,8‐naphthalic anhydride was reacted with methyl and ethyl glycinate in alcoholic media, followed with reduction. 4‐Amino‐N‐methyl and ethyl glycinate‐1,8‐naphthalimide were obtained. These products were diazotized and coupled with appropriate aromatic amines to give bluish‐red or violet dyestuffs. All intermediates and dyestuffs were purified and characterized by ¹H‐NMR, FTIR, DSC, UV‐VIS and Elemental Analysis. Dispersion of dyestuffs was prepared in water and applied to polyester fabrics. The dyed fabrics showed that four of the synthesized dyestuffs were suitable for coloring polyester fibers, producing deep bluish red with very good build up properties.     

Novel PVC-based coated graphite electrode for selective determination of quinoline yellow

Novel coated graphite electrode (CGE) for the determination of quinoline yellow (QY), an artificial food colorant, was evaluated based on the use of tetraphenylphosponium-QY ion-pair complex as the electroactive substance. The electrode revealed linear emf-pQY response over wide concentration ranges (1.0 × 10^?1 ～ 5.0 × 10^?5 M) with a slope ?30.1 ± 0.2 mV decade^?1 and a limit of detection of 4.0 × 10^?5 M. The electrode showed good stability, reproducibility and fast response (<5 s). It can be used in wide pH range (4.7–10.7) and was successfully applied to determination of quinoline yellow in artificial mixtures and commercial soft drinks. The results obtained with the electrode were in good agreement with the value obtained by using HPLC measurements, as an official method.     

Effective dielectric and photoelastic tensor components in thin layered superlattices

The effective photoelastic constants of a superlattice composed of thin alternating layers of orthorhombic symmetry are calculated as functions of dielectric, elastic and photoelastic constants of the constituents. In a preliminary step to this calculation, we also obtain the effective dielectric tensor for any symmetry of the layers. It is shown that appropriate combinations of these effective constants are arithmetic averages of the corresponding quantities in the constituents, each layer having a weight equal to its relative thickness.     

Power Spectrum in Krein Space Quantization

The power spectrum of scalar field and space-time metric perturbations produced in the process of inflation of universe, have been presented in this paper by an alternative approach to field quantization namely, Krein space quantization (Gazeau et al. in Class. Quantum Gravity 17:1415, 2000; Takook in Int. J. Mod. Phys. E 11:509, 2002; Rouhani and Takook in ). Auxiliary negative norm states, the modes of which do not interact with the physical world, have been utilized in this method. Presence of negative norm states play the role of an automatic renormalization device for the theory.     

On the early stage of aluminum oxidation: An extraction mechanism via oxygen cooperation

We propose a barrierless mechanism for describing the oxidation of Al(111) in which oxygen atoms located on the outer surface extract aluminum atoms of the surface layers through local cooperation of other pre-adsorbed oxygen atoms. We show the details of this complex chemical process that kinetically competes with the non-destructive formation of an oxygen monolayer onto the Al surface, thus elucidating the initial aluminum oxidation regime. We demonstrate that further stripping of the complete surface Al layer is consistent with both (i) the formation of a defective alumina structure and (ii) an oxide capping layer preventing further oxidation at low temperature.     

Diffusion of oxygen atom in the topmost layer of the Si(1 0 0) surface: Structures and oxidation kinetics

The incorporations and migrations of the atomic oxygen in the topmost layer Si(1 0 0)-p(2 × 2) silicon surface, are investigated theoretically using density functional theory. We show that the diffusion is dependent on the starting and the final surrounding environment and does not simply consist in hops from one silicon-silicon bond to another. The activation energies range from 0.11 eV to 2.59 eV.     

Asymptotic Behavior of Quasi-Autonomous Expansive Type Evolution Systems in a Hilbert Space

We introduce the notion of almost expansive sequences and curves and study their ergodic and asymptotic properties in a Hilbert space H. We apply our results to study the asymptotic behavior of solutions to the quasi-autonomous expansive type evolution system (du/dt)(t) + f(t) ∈ Au(t) on [0, ∞).