Viscoelastic properties of nanostructured natural rubber/polystyrene interpenetrating polymer networks

The effects of the blend ratio and initiating system on the viscoelastic properties of nanostructured natural rubber/polystyrene‐based interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) were investigated in the temperature range of ?80 to 150 °C. The studies were carried out at different frequencies (100, 50, 10, 1, and 0.1 Hz), and their effects on the damping and storage and loss moduli were analyzed. In all cases, tan δ and the storage and loss moduli showed two distinct transitions corresponding to natural rubber and polystyrene phases, which indicated that the system was not miscible on the molecular level. However, a slight inward shift was observed in the IPNs, with respect to the glass‐transition temperatures (T_g's) of the virgin polymers, showing a certain degree of miscibility or intermixing between the two phases. When the frequency increased from 0.1 to 100 Hz, the T_g values showed a positive shift in all cases. In a comparison of the three initiating systems (dicumyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, and azobisisobutyronitrile), the dicumyl peroxide system showed the highest modulus. The morphology of the IPNs was analyzed with transmission electron microscopy. The micrographs indicated that the system was nanostructured. An attempt was made to relate the viscoelastic behavior to the morphology of the IPNs. Various models, such as the series, parallel, Halpin–Tsai, Kerner, Coran, Takayanagi, and Davies models, were used to model the viscoelastic data. The area under the linear loss modulus curve was larger than that obtained by group contribution analysis; this showed that the damping was influenced by the phase morphology, dual‐phase continuity, and crosslinking of the phases. Finally, the homogeneity of the system was further evaluated with Cole–Cole analysis. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1680–1696, 2003     

Branes,Quantum Nambu Brackets and the Hydrogen Atom

The Nambu-bracket quantization of the hydrogen atom is worked out as an illustration of the general method. The dynamics of topological open branes is controlled classically by Nambu brackets. Such branes then may be quantized through the consistent quantization of the underlying Nambu brackets: properly defined, the quantum Nambu-brackets comprise an associative structure, although the naive derivation property is mooted through operator entwinement. For superintegrable systems, such as the hydrogen atom, the results coincide with those furnished by Hamiltonian quantization - but the method is not limited to Hamiltonian systems.     

Effect of maltodextrins on the surface activity of small-molecule surfactants

We report on the effect of commercially important polysaccharides (maltodextrins with variable dextrose equivalent (Paselli SA-2, MD-6 and MD-10) on the surface activity at the air–water interface of small-molecule surfactants (sms), possessing different hydrophobic–lipophilic balance ((SSL (Na⁺), the main component is a sodium salt of stearol–lactoyl lactic acid, and PGE (080), polyglycerol ester of C18 fatty acid), and widely used in food products. A marked change of the surface activity of sms was found in the presence of maltodextrins by tensiometry. The combined data of laser multiangle light scattering and mixing calorimetry have suggested that this result is governed by specific complex formation between maltodextrins and sms in aqueous medium. Measurements have been made of the molar mass, the second virial coefficient and the enthalpy of intermolecular interactions in aqueous solutions. The implication of a degree of polymerization of maltodextrins in this phenomenon was shown. The interrelation between the molecular parameters of the formed complexes and their surface activity at the air–water interface has been revealed and discussed.     

Generation of slanted gas-filled icicles

A procedure for the generation of slanted gas-filled icicles by freezing, using a domestic refrigerator, is described. The freezing vessel was a plastic ice-cube tray, which was filled both with tap and deionized water and was frozen successively from the outer to the inner compartments of the tray. Icicles having slanted elevations grew out of the surface of the deionized water of the innermost compartments. The erection angle of the icicles to the horizontal lay between 30° and 60°, for the three longest and thinnest specimens it was almost exactly 30°. All icicles have gas inclusions. Their shape varies between an irregular distribution of circular bubbles and a nearly uninterrupted axial gas channel together with dendrite-like, radially distorted bubbles. If a cold (-18°C) specimen comes into contact with warm and humid room-air, then hoarfrost is observed at the bottom and the top of the icicle, while the area in between remains transparent.     

Separating points of measures on effect algebras

We prove the existence of separating points for every countable family of nonatomic σ-additive modular measures on a σ-complete lattice ordered effect algebra.      

Bodies of constant width in arbitrary dimension

We give a number of characterizations of bodies of constant width in arbitrary dimension. As an application, we describe a way to construct a body of constant width in dimension n, one of its (n – 1)‐dimensional projection being given. We give a number of examples, like a four‐dimensional body of constant width whose 3D‐projection is the classical Meissner's body. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Ambient connections realising conformal Tractor holonomy

For a conformal manifold we introduce the notion of an ambient connection, an affine connection on an ambient manifold of the conformal manifold, possibly with torsion, and with conditions relating it to the conformal structure. The purpose of this construction is to realise the normal conformal Tractor holonomy as affine holonomy of such a connection. We give an example of an ambient connection for which this is the case, and which is torsion free if we start the construction with a C-space, and in addition Ricci-flat if we start with an Einstein manifold. Thus, for a C-space this example leads to an ambient metric in the weaker sense of Čap and Gover, and for an Einstein space to a Ricci-flat ambient metric in the sense of Fefferman and Graham. Current address for first author: Erwin Schr?dinger International Institute for Mathematical Physics (ESI), Boltzmanngasse 9, 1090 Vienna, Austria Current address for second author: Department of Mathematics, University of Hamburg, Bundesstra?e 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany     

Studies on Rare-Earth/Iron and Actinide/Iron Multilayers

Hyperfine Interactions - Multilayers of Ce/Fe and U/Fe were fabricated by sputtering and studied by X-ray diffraction and reflectivity, Mössbauer spectroscopy and polarised neutron...     

A priori bounds in weighted spaces

In unbounded domains we state some a priori bounds for solutions of the Dirichlet problem for linear second order elliptic differential equations in nondivergence form with discontinuous coefficients in weighted spaces. The weight function is related to the distance function from a fixed subset S of ∂Ω.     

Combined-modality treatment of adductor spasmodic dysphonia with botulinum toxin and voice therapy

A combined-modality treatment program consisting of botulinum toxin injection (Botox) and voice therapy was used to treat 17 subjects diagnosed with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADD SD). Ten subjects with ADD SD served as the control and were given Botox only. Voice therapy after Botox injection was directed toward reducing the hyperfunctional vocal behaviors, primarily glottal overpressure at voice onset and anterior-posterior squeezing. The results indicated that subjects who underwent combined-modality treatment maintained significantly higher mean airflow rates for significantly longer periods. Moreover, there was a carryover effect in these patients when they received Botox only. Adductor spasmodic dysphonia is treated most effectively when intrinsic laryngeal muscle spasms are reduced or eliminated by Botox injection and extrinsic hyperfunctional vocal behaviors are treated with voice therapy