Properties of polystyrene-poly(methylmethacrylate) random and diblock copolymers in dilute and semidilute solutions

Solution properties for random and diblock copolymers of polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) have been measured by dynamic and total intensity light scattering in solvents of differing quality. The results are compared with the corresponding properties for PS and PMMA homopolymers of similar molecular weight, in order to determine if interactions between unlike monomers are significant. The hydrodynamic radius (R_h) and diffusion second virial coefficient (k_d) for the random copolymer are found to be larger than the corresponding values for the homopolymers in a solvent which is near-theta for the two homopolymers, whereas no such effect is observed for the block copolymer. This suggests that most intrachain interactions occur a relatively short distance along the chain backbone. In a mutual good solvent R_h and k_d of the random copolymer are comparable to the average of the values for the homopolymers, indicating that in a good solvent monomer/solvent interactions dominate over monomer/monomer interactions. For an isolated diblock copolymer in a mutual good solvent, there is no evidence that interactions between unlike monomers lead to additional expansion of the entire molecule, as measured by R_h, nor expansion of the individual blocks as probed by light scattering with one block optically masked. However, at low but finite concentration there is evidence (the coefficients of the binary interaction terms in the viscosity and the mutual diffusion coefficient, and the second and third virial coefficients) that a weak ordering effect may exist in block copolymer solutions, far from the conditions where microphase separation occurs. Finally, measurements of ternary polymer-polymer-solvent solutions show no dependence on monomer composition or monomer distribution for the tracer diffusion of probe PS-PMMA copolymers in a PMMA/toluene matrix. This indicate that the frictional interaction is largely unaffected by interactions between unlike monomers. However, there is evidence that the thermodynamic interaction is more unfavorable between a random copolymer and the homopolymer matrix than between a diblock and the matrix. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-Schur Subalgebras

In Fayers and Martin [J. Algebra 240 (2001), 859–873], the author and Martin constructed embeddings of Schur algebras S(2,r)↪S(2,R). Here, we generalise to the q-Schur algebras S_q(2,r). Presented by A. Verschoren Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000) 20G05, 20C33.     

Coupled lubrication and Stokes flow finite elements

A method is developed for performing a local reduction of the governing physics for fluid problems with domains that contain a combination of narrow and non‐narrow regions, and the computational accuracy and performance of the method are measured. In the narrow regions of the domain, where the fluid is assumed to have no inertia and the domain height and curvature are assumed small, lubrication, or Reynolds, theory is used locally to reduce the two‐dimensional Navier–Stokes equations to the one‐dimensional Reynolds equation while retaining a high degree of accuracy in the overall solution. The Reynolds equation is coupled to the governing momentum and mass equations of the non‐narrow region with boundary conditions on the mass and momentum flux. The localized reduction technique, termed ‘stitching,’ is demonstrated on Stokes flow for various geometries of the hydrodynamic journal bearing—a non‐trivial test problem for which a known analytical solution is available. The computational advantage of the coupled Stokes–Reynolds method is illustrated on an industrially applicable fully‐flooded deformable‐roll coating example. The examples in this paper are limited to two‐dimensional Stokes flow, but extension to three‐dimensional and Navier–Stokes flow is possible. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The six semifield planes associated with a semifield flock

In 1965 Knuth (J. Algebra 2 (1965) 182) noticed that a finite semifield was determined by a 3-cube array (a_ijk) and that any permutation of the indices would give another semifield. In this article we explain the geometrical significance of these permutations. It is known that a pair of functions (f,g) where f and g are functions from GF(q) to GF(q) with the property that f and g are linear over some subfield and g(x)²+4xf(x) is a non-square for all x∈GF(q)∗, q odd, give rise to certain semifields, one of which is commutative of rank 2 over its middle nucleus, one of which arises from a semifield flock of the quadratic cone, and another that comes from a translation ovoid of Q(4,q). We show that there are in fact six non-isotopic semifields that can be constructed from such a pair of functions, which will give rise to six non-isomorphic semifield planes, unless (f,g) are of linear type or of Dickson-Kantor-Knuth type. These six semifields fall into two sets of three semifields related by Knuth operations.     

Volume comparison and the σk-Yamabe problem

In this paper we study the problem of finding a conformal metric with the property that the kth elementary symmetric polynomial of the eigenvalues of its Weyl-Schouten tensor is constant. A new conformal invariant involving maximal volumes is defined, and this invariant is then used in several cases to prove existence of a solution, and compactness of the space of solutions (provided the conformal class admits an admissible metric). In particular, the problem is completely solved in dimension four, and in dimension three if the manifold is not simply connected.     

Regularity, partial elimination ideals and the canonical bundle

We present partial elimination ideals, which set-theoretically cut out the multiple point loci of a generic projection of a projective variety, as a way to bound the regularity of a variety in projective space. To do this, we utilize a combination of initial ideal methods and geometric methods. We first define partial elimination ideals and establish through initial ideal methods the way in which, for a given ideal, the regularity of the partial elimination ideals bounds the regularity of the given ideal. Then we explore the partial elimination ideals as a way to compute the canonical bundle of the generic projection of a variety and the canonical bundles of the multiple point loci of the projection, and we use Kodaira Vanishing to bound the regularity of the partial elimination ideals.