Molecular structure and dynamics at the interfaces within bulk heterojunction materials for solar cells

The molecular structures within the interfaces of the bulk heterojunction material comprising regioregular-poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl), rrP3HT, and C(60) or its soluble derivative, [6,6]-phenyl-C(61)butyric acid methyl ester, PCBM, have been studied by one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The local structure within the interface was inferred from chemical shift (CS) data obtained from composite films (CFs) fabricated at room temperature (PCBMCF-RT and C(60)CF-RT) and from CFs that had been subsequently annealed at 150 degrees C for 30 min (PCBMCF-A150 and C(60)CF-150A). In PCBMCF-RT, the alkyl side chains of rrP3HT are close to the C(60) ball; C(60) is essentially 'wrapped' by the alkyl side chains. In PCBMCF-A150, the alkyl side chains self-assemble such that rrP3HT and PCBM are separated. The observation of well-defined splittings in the CS spectrum of the (13)C of C(60) in C(60)CF-A150 indicates a distortion from spherical symmetry. Measurements of the spin-lattice relaxation rate, 1/T(1), of C(60) imply local magnetic field fluctuations that arise from the dynamics of the C(60) distortion.     

Double-quantum NMR spectroscopy based on finite pulse RFDR

We demonstrate that the finite pulse RFDR sequence (J. Chem. Phys. 114 (2001) 8473) can be used effectively for ³¹P double-quantum NMR spectroscopy at a spinning frequency of 10 kHz. The ³¹P NMR data measured for hydroxyapatite and octacalcium phosphate show that sizable double-quantum excitation efficiency can be obtained with the ratio of the recoupling field to spinning frequency set equal to 1.67.     

The range of validity of the Rayleigh limit for computing mie scattering and extinction efficiencies

For the small particle limit for scattering by either absorbing or dielectric spheres, values of the size parameter are determined below which various approximate expressions for the scattering and extinction efficiencies are accurate to within 1%. Simple, analytical criteria for ensuring 1% accuracy are given in terms of the size parameter and the complex refractive index. A much broader range of refractive indices is considered than has been studied previously.     

The synthetic teammate project

The main objective of the Synthetic Teammate project is to develop language and task enabled synthetic agents capable of being integrated into team training simulations. To achieve this goal, the agents must be able to closely match human behavior. The initial application for the synthetic teammate research is creation of an agent able to perform the functions of a pilot for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) simulation as part of a three-person team. The agent, or synthetic teammate, is being developed in the ACT-R cognitive architecture. The major components include: language comprehension and generation, dialog management, agent-environment interaction, and situation assessment. Initial empirical results suggest that the agent-environment interaction is a good approximation to human behavior in the UAV environment, and we are planning further empirical tests of the synthetic teammate operating with human teammates. This paper covers the project’s modeling approach, challenges faced, progress made toward an integrated synthetic teammate, and lessons learned during development.     

Global existence of smooth solutions and stability of solitary waves for a generalized Boussinesq equation

Certain generalizations of one of the classical Boussinesq-type equations, $$u_{tt} = u_{xx} - (u^2 + u_{xx} )_{xx} $$ are considered. It is shown that the initial-value problem for this type of equation is always locally well posed. It is also determined that the special, solitary-wave solutions of these equations are nonlinearly stable for a range of their phase speeds. These two facts lead to the conclusion that initial data lying relatively close to a stable solitary wave evolves into a global solution of these equations. This contrasts with the results of blow-up obtained recently by Kalantarov and Ladyzhenskaya for the same type of equation, and casts additional light upon the results for the original version (*) of this class of equations obtained via inverse-scattering theory by Deift, Tomei and Trubowitz.