Silanols cured by borates as lubricants in extrusion of LLDPE. Impact of elasticity of the lubricant on sliding friction

Addition of a viscoelastic material based on silanols cured by boron oxide was used to delay sharkskin and stick–slip instabilities in extrusion of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Delay of flow instabilities to rates of extrusion 25–35 times higher than without additive and about 40% less extrusion pressure at the same throughput are achieved by the use of this material as an additive (∼0.1%) to LLDPE or as a coating of the extrusion die. Mechanical properties of the lubricant were changed by small variations of composition to investigate the impact of elasticity on lubrication and sharkskin delay. Both lubrication and sharkskin delay were considerably improved when more elastic lubricants were used while the chemical composition of the lubricants was nearly the same. Filling the lubricants with powders of metal oxides or especially particulates having plate-like particles (kaolin, mica, BN) helped to delay the flow instabilities further to even higher throughputs. Together with experimental results, we present a tentative explanation for the importance of elasticity of polymer processing aids in the delay of sharkskin and the stabilization of slip. This paper was presented at Annual European Rheology Conference (AERC) held in Hersonisos, Crete, Greece, April 27–29, 2006.     

Order and Pattern Formation in Psychotherapy

In an empirical analysis of the dynamics of psychotherapy processes, concepts and tools from self-organization theory are applied. Our focus is on pattern formation in the therapy system, i.e. the system constituted by the interaction dynamics of therapist and patient. The hypothesis of pattern formation explored is based on data sets of 28 psychotherapy courses (10 behavioral, 3 client-centered, 9 heuristic, 6 schema-oriented; 40 to 90 weekly sessions). Patients' and therapists' therapy session records are analyzed (33 variables addressing various aspects of the therapeutic relationship, of progress within and outside the therapy setting). Multivariate methods are implemented to test the key hypothesis of self-organization theory, namely the reduction of degrees of freedom of a system. Consistent with this hypothesis, a significant reduction of degrees of freedom is found when the initial and final sessions of the therapies are compared. Correspondingly, Landsberg order increased significantly in the course of therapies. Given these findings, the explorative question of how this self-organizing property relates to therapy outcome is investigated. We find a significant positive association with various outcome measures, such as: therapist's and client's evaluations of success (direct change measures), feelings of guilt, anxiety, social potence, depression (pre-post effect sizes), and others. These results suggest that order is related to therapy outcome. In our interpretation, order is a dynamical attribute of the therapeutic alliance to be considered as a promising therapy process variable.     

Surface modification of epoxy‐functionalized acrylate colloids

A synthetic route towards surface modified, monodisperse, spherical particles is presented. The precursor particles exhibit epoxy‐functionalities which can be opened afterwards with an appropriate nucleophile. Via this route, dye labeled particles are obtained. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gadolinium-DTPA-enhanced MRI of intraocular tumors

The value of gadolinium-enhanced MRI in 30 patients with intraocular lesions has been evaluated. Seventeen patients had a uveal melanoma, two a ciliary body melanoma, three had uveal metastases, one lymphoma, four had senile macula degenerations, and three uveal nevi. Twelve of 17 patients with melanoma were followed up by MRI after ruthenium plaque therapy on 2–4 occasions. Melanomas showed high precontrast signal intensities and only a slight enhancement after intravenous Gd-DTPA was given. After ruthenium plaque therapy precontrast signal intensities (SI) decreased while a moderate signal increase on postcontrast scans was noted. Scars or tumor residues were better delineated on enhanced images. All other tumors than melanotic melanomas showed low SI on precontrast scans and a high signal increase after Gd-DTPA administration. Small amelanotic tumors were better delineated on postcontrast scans. In addition Gd-DTPA-enhanced MRI allowed differentiation between tumor and hemorrhage. No signal increase after Gd-DTPA application was seen in subretinal or vitreous hemorrhages of varying ages.