Comprehensive Characterization of Chain End Groups of Vinylidene Fluoride Based Polymers

Summary: In this work an investigation of the chain end groups produced in the free radical copolymerization of vinilydene fluoride (VDF) and hexafluoropropylene (HFP) is performed. Type and amount of chain end groups are evaluated by a meticulous analytical characterization of VDF/HFP copolymer. At first pulsed gradient spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance (spin-echo NMR) is used to identify all the chain end groups also at very low concentration (equal to 0.1 mmol · Kg⁻¹). The instrument sensitivity is increased of an order of magnitude in comparison with the traditional NMR. Moreover potentiometric titration and ion chromatography (IC) are also used to study the chain end groups and, as a consequence, the nature and the amount of the acidity showed by the polymer chains. In details two intensity of acidity are detected by potentiometric titration, namely strong and weak. The strong acidity is associated to the presence of residual surfactant and can be removed washing the polymer, while the weak acidity is due to free molecules of fluoride acid (HF). The standard ion chromatography facility is properly modified to quantify the fluoride in the polymer matrix without any pre extraction in water. Thanks to this the HF concentration in the polymer is evaluated with high accuracy. A detailed kinetic scheme for the VDF/HFP polymerization is also proposed taking into account all the findings obtained studying the chain end groups.     

Universality for the Focusing Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation at the Gradient Catastrophe Point: Rational Breathers and Poles of the Tritronquée Solution to Painlevé I

The semiclassical (zero‐dispersion) limit of solutions $q=q(x,t,\epsilon)$ to the one‐dimensional focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) is studied in a scaling neighborhood D of a point of gradient catastrophe ($x_0,t_0$) . We consider a class of solutions, specified in the text, that decay as $|x| \rightarrow \infty$ . The neighborhood D contains the region of modulated plane wave (with rapid phase oscillations), as well as the region of fast‐amplitude oscillations (spikes). In this paper we establish the following universal behaviors of the NLS solutions q near the point of gradient catastrophe: (i) each spike has height $3|q{_0}(x_0,t_0)|$ and uniform shape of the rational breather solution to the NLS, scaled to the size ${\cal O}(\epsilon)$ ; (ii) the location of the spikes is determined by the poles of the tritronquée solution of the Painlevé I (P1) equation through an explicit map between D and a region of the Painlevé independent variable; (iii) if $(x,t)\in D$ but lies away from the spikes, the asymptotics of the NLS solution $q(x,t, \epsilon)$ is given by the plane wave approximation $q_0(x,t, \epsilon)$ , with the correction term being expressed in terms of the tritronquée solution of P1. The relation with the conjecture of Dubrovin, Grava, and Klein about the behavior of solutions to the focusing NLS near a point of gradient catastrophe is discussed. We conjecture that the P1 hierarchy occurs at higher degenerate catastrophe points and that the amplitudes of the spikes are odd multiples of the amplitude at the corresponding catastrophe point. Our technique is based on the nonlinear steepest‐descent method for matrix Riemann‐Hilbert problems and discrete Schlesinger isomonodromic transformations. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Driving student-centred calculus: results of a comprehensive case study for Kaizen learning in the Sultanate of Oman

The art of teaching freshmen students is undergoing a rapid paradigm change. Classical forms of teaching are not applicable any more and an unmanageable offer of new multimedia tools and concepts is glutting the market. Moreover, compared to previous courses, the class size triples. In view of these challenges, we implemented a new teaching concept best described as Kaizen learning. By Kaizen learning, we define a teaching philosophy that is based on a concise mix of short learning units (with feedback loops and tests) and of carefully chosen repetitions (also with feedback loops and tests) to calibrate a course for the students. Here, this intensive blended, student-centred learning paradigm is analysed together with its direct impact on the students’ performance. This case study leads to easy-to-implement key drivers for successfully teaching science in Oman, such as (1) human–human interaction, (2) clearly communicated expectations, (3) avoidance of a short-term learning attitude, (4) a no-calculator policy, (5) continuous Kaizen learning, and (6) balanced combination of traditional teaching and e-learning.     

Recovering plane curves of low degree from their inflection lines and inflection points

In this paper we consider the following problem: is it possible to recover a smooth plane curve of degree d ≥ 3 from its inflection lines? We answer the posed question positively for a general smooth plane quartic curve, making the additional assumption that also one inflection point is given, and for any smooth plane cubic curve.     

A 3-Slope Theorem for the infinite relaxation in the plane

In this paper we consider the infinite relaxation of the corner polyhedron with 2 rows. For the 1-row case, Gomory and Johnson proved in their seminal paper a sufficient condition for a minimal function to be extreme, the celebrated 2-Slope Theorem. Despite increased interest in understanding the multiple row setting, no generalization of this theorem was known for this case. We present an extension of the 2-Slope Theorem for the case of 2 rows by showing that minimal 3-slope functions satisfying an additional regularity condition are facets (and hence extreme). Moreover, we show that this regularity condition is necessary, unveiling a structure which is only present in the multi-row setting.     

Symplectically degenerate maxima via generating functions

We provide a simple proof of a theorem due to Nancy Hingston, asserting that symplectically degenerate maxima of any Hamiltonian diffeomorphism $\phi $ of the standard symplectic $2d$ -torus are non-isolated contractible periodic points or their action is a non-isolated point of the average-action spectrum of $\phi $ . Our argument is based on generating functions.     

Smoothness of holonomy covers for singular foliations and essential isotropy

Given a singular foliation, we attach an “essential isotropy” group to each of its leaves, and show that its discreteness is the integrability obstruction of a natural Lie algebroid over the leaf. We show that a condition ensuring discreteness is the local surjectivity of a transversal exponential map associated with the maximal ideal of vector fields prescribed to be tangent to the foliation. The essential isotropy group is also shown to control the smoothness of the holonomy cover of the leaf (the associated fiber of the holonomy groupoid), as well as the smoothness of the associated isotropy group. Namely, the (topological) closeness of the essential isotropy group is a necessary and sufficient condition for the holonomy cover to be a smooth (finite-dimensional) manifold and the isotropy group to be a Lie group. These results are useful towards understanding the normal form of a singular foliation around a compact leaf. At the end of this article we briefly outline work of ours on this normal form, to be presented in a subsequent paper.     

On v-Domains and Star Operations

Let * be a star operation on an integral domain D. Let f (D) be the set of all nonzero finitely generated fractional ideals of D. Call D a *-Prüfer (respectively, (*, v)-Prüfer) domain if (FF ^?1)* = D (respectively, (F ^v F ^?1)* = D) for all F ∈  f (D). We establish that *-Prüfer domains (and (*, v)-Prüfer domains) for various star operations * span a major portion of the known generalizations of Prüfer domains inside the class of v-domains. We also use Theorem 6.6 of the Larsen and McCarthy book [30 Larsen , M. D. , McCarthy , P. J. ( 1971 ). Multiplicative Theory of Ideals . New York : Academic Press . [Google Scholar]], which gives several equivalent conditions for an integral domain to be a Prüfer domain, as a model, and we show which statements of that theorem on Prüfer domains can be generalized in a natural way and proved for *-Prüfer domains, and which cannot be. We also show that in a *-Prüfer domain, each pair of *-invertible *-ideals admits a GCD in the set of *-invertible *-ideals, obtaining a remarkable generalization of a property holding for the “classical” class of Prüfer v-multiplication domains. We also link D being *-Prüfer (or (*, v)-Prüfer) with the group Inv*(D) of *-invertible *-ideals (under *-multiplication) being lattice-ordered.