Morphology of Nylon-6 blends with styrenic polymers

The morphology of blends of styrenic polymers in a matrix of 75% Nylon-6 prepared in a Brabender Plasti-Corder was examined by scanning electron microscopy. Styrene/acrylonitrile copolymers (SAN) form smaller particles as the AN level increases owing to the corresponding decrease in the SAN–polyamide interfacial tension. Various styrenic polymers containing functional groups, maleic anhydride or oxazoline type, that can react with Nylon-6 during melt processing were added to the SAN phase which also led to a decrease in the particle size owing to the graft copolymer formed in situ. The effects of functional group type, amount of functional groups per chain, amount of functional polymer added, and the miscibility of the styrene/maleic anhydride (SMA) and SAN copolymers on the morphology of the styrenic phase in the Nylon-6 matrix are described. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Estimating the observation parameters of a switching Poisson stream at random moments

We investigate the properties of maximum likelihood estimators in observation schemes of random variables that arrive at random time moments on a Poisson trajectory defined on some ergodic process.Translated from Vychislitel'naya i Prikladnaya Matematika, No. 59, pp. 98–105, 1986.     

Self-organization in aggregating colloids

Summary The interceluster organization of a two-dimensional colloidal system undergoing diffusion-limited cluster-cluster aggregation is considered. During this process the system evolves into a stationary, scaling state. In this state the organization arises from effective intercluster repulsion due to the mutually exclusive depletion zones surrounding each cluster. It is shown that in the scaling regime the relevant size of the depletion zones is determined by the separation between clusters, rather than the cluster size. Paper presented at the I International Conference on Scaling Concepts and Complex Fluids, Copanello, Italy, July 4–8, 1994.     

Autocorrelation functions of nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations

The European Physical Journal B - We compute autocorrelation functions from nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations that describe nonlinear families of Markov diffusion processes and illustrate this...     

Sticking of carbon nanotube Y junction branches

The coalescence of branches in the Y junctions of single-wall carbon nanotubes (10 nm long) is predicted to occur when the branches approach each other under the action of a load (～10 nN) applied to their ends. A transition to the new state with parallel branches bound by molecular interactions was simulated and the energy characteristics were calculated by the molecular dynamics method. The Y junctions with parallel branches are stable at temperatures up to 2000 K. It is established that there is a threshold distance between the branch ends, below which the branches exhibit spontaneous sticking under the action of molecular attraction forces. If the branches are unloaded before this threshold distance is reached, they oscillate (acting as a nanodimensional “tuning fork”) at a frequency of ～100 GHz.     

Interactions of surface states of copper with transition metals and cesium

The pseudopotential augmented-plane-wave method was used to study the surface structure of thin copper films with monolayers of Co, Ni, and Cs. Local densities of electron states, distributions of charge densities in the layers, and electron energy spectra are analyzed. The effect of adsorbates on the electronic properties of the Cu(001) surface and work function are discussed. Satisfactory agreement with available experimental data has been obtained.     

A Generalization of Men'shov's Theorem on Functions Satisfying Condition K″

Mathematical Notes - We consider functions f(z), z ∈ D ? ?, determining the mappings w = f(z) that, at the points ζ of the domain D, have the same dilatation ratio along the...     

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV: a simulation-based approach for the evaluation of intervention strategies

Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV is the most significant source of HIV infection in children below the age of 15 years. In 2000 alone, about 600 000 new infections occurred, the vast majority from mothers living in developing countries who were not aware of their HIV-positive status. To date, at least 4.3 million children have died from AIDS. In this paper, we discuss the development of an operational model that can be used to evaluate intervention options for the prevention of MTCT of HIV. The problem was approached by defining suitable pregnancy risk groups, prevention options and the required model outputs to evaluate different intervention strategies. The method chosen to approach the problem was a discrete-event, three-phase simulation, built in Visual Basic, with a stochastic semi-Markov structure. The developed model takes individual pregnant women through each stage of their pregnancy, labour and birth. Different intervention strategies may be modelled at any time, including short-course antiretroviral drugs and cessation of breastfeeding. The model is demonstrated with data from Botswana, which has one of the highest HIV-infection rates in the world.