Comparative studies on the pyrolysis of N‐arylideneaminoamides: Kinetic and mechanistic studies

Rates of thermal decomposition of title compounds have been measured using a static reaction system. They undergo a unimolecular first‐order elimination to give arylnitrile and the corresponding substituted amides. The decomposition parallels that of N‐arylidenamino cyclic amide. The relative elimination rates at 600 K were calculated. The kinetic data reveal that the electronic effects of substituents, such as methyl, phenyl, benzyl, and allyl groups, are associated with the opposing directions in which the lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atom of the arylidene moiety is being delocalized. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 39: 59–66, 2007     

Evolution of growth modes for polyelectrolyte bundles

Multivalent ions induce attractions between polyelectrolytes, but lead to finite-sized bundles rather than macroscopic phase separation. The kinetics of aggregation and bundle formation of actin is tracked using two different fluorescently labeled populations of F-actin. It is found that the growth mode of these bundles evolves with time and salt concentration, varying from an initial lateral growth to a longitudinal one at later stages. The results suggest that kinetics play a role in bundle growth, but not in the lateral size of bundles, which is constant for linear and branched topologies.     

Flash vacuum pyrolysis of 1‐azolyl‐1‐phenylhydrazono‐2‐propanones

Flash vacuum pyrolysis (FVP) of 1‐(2‐arylhydrazono)‐1‐(1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl)acetone 8a‐c at 650 °C and 2.67 Pa yielded 5‐substituted 1‐(1H‐indazol‐3‐yl)ethanone 14a‐c and 4,6‐disubstituted cinnoline 18a‐c . Similarly FVP of 1‐(1H‐benzo[d]imidazol‐1‐yl)‐1‐(2‐phenylhydrazono)acetone 9a‐c gave 8H‐benzo[4′,5′]imidazo[2′,1′:5,1]pyrrolo[2,3‐c]cinnoline derivatives 23a‐c . A plausible mechanism is suggested to account for their transformation based on the kinetics and products of reaction.     

Asymptotic expansions for the voltage potentials with two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional thin interfaces

We derive asymptotic formulae for two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional steady state voltage potentials associated with thin conductivity imperfections having no uniform thickness. These formulae recover highly conducting inclusions and those with interfacial resistance. Our calculations are rigorous and based on layer potential techniques. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synchronization of the unified chaotic systems using a sliding mode controller

The unified chaotic system incorporates the behaviors of the Lorenz, the Chen and the Lü chaotic systems. This paper deals with the synchronization of two identical unified chaotic systems where the slave system is assumed to have a single input. A sliding mode controller is proposed to synchronize the two systems. The asymptotic convergence to zero of the errors between the states of the master and the slave systems is shown. Simulations results are presented to illustrate the proposed controller; they indicate that the designed controller is able to synchronize the unified chaotic systems. Also, simulation results show that the proposed control scheme is robust to random bounded disturbances acting on the master system. Moreover, the proposed scheme is applied to the secure communications field, where simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme is effective.     

On the twist-bend nematic phase formed directly from the isotropic phase

The intriguing twist-bend nematic (N_TB) phase is formed, primarily, by liquid crystal dimers having odd spacers. Typically, the phase is preceded by a nematic (N) phase via a weak first-order transition. Our aim is to obtain dimers where the N_TB phase is formed directly from the isotropic (I) phase via a strong first-order phase transition. The analogy between such behaviour and that of the smectic A (SmA)–N–I sequence suggests that this new dimer will require a short spacer. This expectation is consistent with the prediction of a molecular field theory, since the decrease in the spacer length results in an increase in the molecular curvature. A vector of odd dimers based on benzoyloxybenzylidene mesogenic groups with terminal ethoxy groups has been synthesised with spacers composed of odd numbers of methylene groups. Spacers having 5, 7, 9 and 11 methylene groups are found to possess the conventional phase sequence N_TB–N–I; surprisingly, for the propane spacer, the N_TB phase is formed directly from the I phase. The properties of these dimers have been studied with care to ensure that the identification of the N_TB phase is reliable.     

H∞-Controllers for Time-Delay Systems Using Linear Matrix Inequalities

In this paper, H -control design is developed for nominally linear systems with input as well as state delays. Both stability and H -norm bound conditions are established for asymptotically stable controlled systems. Necessary and sufficient conditions for feedback control synthesis are established first by using two forms; the first has one term representing pure state feedback, and the second has two terms comprising pure state feedback plus delayed state feedback. Then, the corresponding synthesis conditions for the cases of static-output feedback and observer-based feedback controllers are developed. The results are cast conveniently into a linear matrix inequality (LMI) framework, which can be solved numerically by efficient interior-point methods. With the aid of the LMI control toolbox software, the theoretical work is illustrated by computer simulation of numerous examples.     

Enhancing battery performance by nano Si addition to Li<Subscript>4</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>5</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> as anode material on lithium-ion battery

The lithium-ion battery is a battery that is being developed to become a repository of energy, particularly for electric vehicles. Lithium titanate (Li₄Ti₅O₁₂) anodes are quite promising for this application because of its zero-strain properties so it can withstand the high rate. However, the capacity of LTO (Li₄Ti₅O₁₂) is still relatively low. Therefore, the LTO needs to be combined with other materials that have high capacity such as Si. Silicon has a very high capacity which is 4200 mAh/g, but it has a high volume of the expansion. Nano-size can also help increase the capacity. Therefore composite of LTO/nano Si is made to create an anode with a high capacity and also stability. Nano Si is added with a variation of 1, 5, and 10%. LTO/nano Si composite is characterized using XRD, SEM-EDX, and TEM-EDX. Then, to determine the battery performance, EIS, CV, and CD tests were conducted. From those tests, it is studied that Si improves the conductivity of the anode, but not significantly. The addition of Si results a greater battery capacity which is 262.54 mAh/g in the LTO-10% Si. Stability of composite LTO/nano Si is good, evidenced by the coulomb efficiency at the high rate of close to 100%.     

Nonlinear boundary control of the unforced generalized Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers equation

In this paper, we consider the boundary control problem of the unforced generalized Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers (GKdVB) equation when the spatial domain is [0,1]. Three control laws are derived for this equation and the L ²-global exponential stability of the solution is proved analytically. Numerical results using the finite element method (FEM) are presented to illustrate the developed control schemes.     

Hyperbranched aramids by direct polyamidation of two reactant systems: Synthesis and properties

Some A₂ + B₃ and A₃ + B₃ reagent pairs have been used for the direct polyamidation reaction leading, besides the network formation, to hyperbranched aramid structures. Depending on the chosen experimental conditions, variable amounts of a sol fraction having close similarities with the hyperbranched aramid structures derived from the polyamidation of AB₂ monomers, have indeed been obtained. Solubility of the sol fraction in various organic solvents, as well as its thermal properties and its capability of enzyme fixation, have been determined for the various systems under investigation. Future developments are envisaged.