Rheological and physical properties of aliphatic hyperbranched polyesters

The effects of the size (pseudo‐generation number) and nature of end groups on physical and rheological properties were investigated for a series of hyperbranched polyesters based on an ethoxylated pentaerythritol core and 2,2‐bis‐(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid repeat units. The observed linear dependence of the melt viscosity on the molar mass in the high pseudo‐generation‐number limit indicated that entanglement effects were substantially absent. Moreover, the marked influence of end capping of the end groups on the physical and rheological properties suggested that intermolecular interactions were dominated by contacts between the outer shells of the molecules, in which the end groups were assumed to be concentrated. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1218–1225, 2004     

Comparative energies of Zn(II) cation localization as a function of the distance between two forming cation position aluminium ions in high-silica zeolites

Periodical calculations of Zn(II) metal cation stabilization in cationic positions with distantly placed aluminium ions has been performed for high-silica ferrierite. It was found that decrease of the stabilization energy at large distances between Al ions (more than 10 Å) is about of 2 eV in comparison with nearest possible position of two Al ions in the zeolite lattice and weekly depended on following increase of the Al-Al distance. Main changes in stabilization energy occured within a 3-Å interval of these distances. Only for the localizations of both Al ions in one zeolite ring zinc cationic form is more stable than hydrogen form.     

Nanostructured Ion-Selective MCM-48 Membranes

Templated MCM-48 silica was prepared using CTAB as surfactant. The MCM-48 powders and thin films were characterized by different techniques. MCM-48 layers were deposited on macroporous α-alumina supports and silicon nitride microsieves. The water permeability of MCM-48 was compared with the permeability of conventional mesoporous γ-alumina membranes. The applicability of MCM-48 as ion-selective electric field-driven switchable interconnect for microfluidic devices was demonstrated.     

On the recognition problem of quasi-homogeneous locally nilpotent derivations in dimension three

We give a criterion to decide if a given w-homogeneous derivation on A?k[X₁,X₂,X₃] is locally nilpotent. We deduce an algorithm which decides if a k-subalgebra of A, which is finitely generated by w-homogeneous elements, is the kernel of some locally nilpotent derivation.     

Cotangent cohomology of Stanley-Reisner rings

Simplicial complexes X provide commutative rings A(X) via the Stanley- Reisner construction. We calculated the cotangent cohomology, i.e., T¹ and T² of A(X) in terms of X. These modules provide information about the deformation theory of the algebro geometric objects assigned to X.     

Approximations for Markovian multi-class queues with preemptive priorities

We discuss the approximation of performance measures in multi-class M/M/k queues with preemptive priorities for large problem instances (many classes and servers) using class aggregation and server reduction. We compared our approximations to exact and simulation results and found that our approach yields small-to-moderate approximation errors.     

Fischer--Tropsch, hydrotreating and superClaus catalysts

In modern society the application of catalysts, and hence, research in the field of catalysis, is becoming more and more important. In the strongly increasing chemical industry most reaction processes are performed with the aid of catalysts. Knowledge about the structure of the active sites present at the surface of catalysts will facilitate the design of new catalysts with better performances. Such knowledge can be obtained by Mössbauer spectroscopy, which is an excellent in-situ characterization technique due to the high penetrating power of the γ-radiation used and the sensitivity of the spectral parameters for the chemical state and local environment of the Mössbauer atoms.