Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis transitions of partially and fully substituted cellulose fatty esters

The main transitions of cellulose fatty esters with different degrees of substitution (DSs) were investigated with dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. Two distinct main relaxations were observed in partially substituted cellulose esters (PSCEs). They were attributed to the glass‐transition temperature and to the chain local motion of the aliphatic substituents. The temperatures of both transitions decreased when DS or the number of carbon atoms (n) of the acyl substituent increased. Conversely, all the transitions of fully substituted cellulose esters occurred within a narrow temperature range, and they did not vary significantly with n. This phenomenon was explained by the formation of a crystalline phase of the fatty substituents. The presence of few residual OH groups in PSCEs was responsible for a large increase in the storage bending modulus, and it eliminated the effect of n on damping. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 281–288, 2003     

2‐connected 7‐coverings of 3‐connected graphs on surfaces

An m‐covering of a graph G is a spanning subgraph of G with maximum degree at most m. In this paper, we shall show that every 3‐connected graph on a surface with Euler genus k ≥ 2 with sufficiently large representativity has a 2‐connected 7‐covering with at most 6k ? 12 vertices of degree 7. We also construct, for every surface F² with Euler genus k ≥ 2, a 3‐connected graph G on F² with arbitrarily large representativity each of whose 2‐connected 7‐coverings contains at least 6k ? 12 vertices of degree 7. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 26–36, 2003     

Transition‐metal‐catalyzed reactions of 5‐methylene‐2‐oxazolidinone and 5‐methylene‐1,3‐thiazolidine‐2‐thione with isocyanates

5‐Methylene‐2‐oxazolidinone (1) and 5‐methylene‐1,3‐thiazolidine‐2‐thione (4) react with various isocyanates to give the corresponding urethanes 3 and 5 in high yields in the presence of palladium(0) or palladium(II) catalyst under mild reaction conditions. A mechanism is proposed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Near-Optimal Controls of Discrete-Time Dynamic Systems Driven by Singularly-Perturbed Markov Chains

This work is devoted to near-optimal controls of large-scale discrete-time nonlinear dynamic systems driven by Markov chains; the underlying problem is to minimize an expected cost function. Our main goal is to reduce the complexity of the underlying systems. To achieve this goal, discrete-time control models under singularly-perturbed Markov chains are introduced. Using a relaxed control representation, our effort is devoted to finding near-optimal controls. Lumping the states in each irreducible class into a single state gives rise to a limit system. Applying near-optimal controls of the limit system to the original system, near-optimal controls of the original system are derived.     

Synthesis and adsorption properties of gold nanoparticles within pores of surface‐functional porous polymer microspheres

Mesoporous polymer microspheres with gold (Au) nanoparticles inside their pores were prepared considering their surface functionality and porosity. The Au/polymer composite microspheres prepared were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The results showed that the adsorption of Au nanoparticles could be increased by imparting the pore structure and surface‐functional groups into the supporting polymer microspheres (in this study, poly (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate‐co‐acrylonitrile) and poly (EGDMA‐co‐AN) system). Above all, from this study, it was established that the porosity of the polymer microspheres is the most important factor that determines the distribution and adsorption amount of face‐centered cubic (fcc) Au nanoparticles in the final products. Our study showed that the continuous adsorption of Au nanoparticles with the aid of the large surface area and surface interaction sites formed more favorably the Au/polymer composite microspheres. The BET measurements of Au/poly(EGDMA‐co‐AN) composite microspheres reveals that the adsorption of Au nanoparticles into the pores kept the pore structure intact and made it more porous. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5627–5635, 2004     

Dihalodimethyltin(IV) complexes of 2‐(pyrazol‐1‐ylmethyl)pyridine

Reaction of dichloro‐ and dibromodimethyltin(IV) with 2‐(pyrazol‐1‐ylmethyl)pyridine (PMP) afforded [SnMe₂Cl₂(PMP)] and [SnMe₂Br₂(PMP)] respectively. The new complexes were characterized by elemental analysis and mass spectrometry and by IR, Raman and NMR (¹H, ¹³C) spectroscopies. Structural studies by X‐ray diffraction techniques show that the compounds consist of discrete units with the tin atom octahedrally coordinated to the carbon atoms of the two methyl groups in a trans disposition (Sn? C = 2.097(5), 2.120(5) Å and 2.110(6), 2.121(6) Å in the chloro and in the bromo compounds respectively), two cis halogen atoms (Sn? Cl = 2.4908(16), 2.5447(17) Å; Sn? Br = 2.6875(11), 2.7464(9) Å) and the two donor atoms of the ligand (Sn? N = 2.407(4), 2.471(4) Å and 2.360(5), 2.455(5) Å). In both cases, the Sn? N(pyridine) bond length is markedly longer than the Sn? N(pyrazole) distance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bodies of constant width in arbitrary dimension

We give a number of characterizations of bodies of constant width in arbitrary dimension. As an application, we describe a way to construct a body of constant width in dimension n, one of its (n – 1)‐dimensional projection being given. We give a number of examples, like a four‐dimensional body of constant width whose 3D‐projection is the classical Meissner's body. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

An inverse spectral problem for a nonsymmetric differential operator: Reconstruction of eigenvalue problem

In this paper, an algorithm is established to reconstruct an eigenvalue problem from the given data satisfying certain conditions. These conditions are proved to be not only necessary but also sufficient for the given data to coincide with the spectral characteristics corresponding to the reconstructed eigenvalue problem.     

Temperature‐modulated differential scanning calorimetry studies on the origin of double melting peaks in isothermally melt‐crystallized poly(L‐lactic acid)

In this work, the melting behaviors of nonisothermally and isothermally melt‐crystallized poly(L ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) from the melt were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and temperature‐modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC). The isothermal melt crystallizations of PLLA at a temperature in the range of 100–110 °C for 120 min or at 110 °C for a time in the range of 10–180 min appeared to exhibit double melting peaks in the DSC heating curves of 10 °C/min. TMDSC analysis revealed that the melting–recrystallization mechanism dominated the formation of the double melting peaks in PLLA samples following melt crystallizations at 110 °C for a shorter time (≤30 min) or at a lower temperature (100, 103, or 105 °C) for 120 min, whereas the double lamellar thickness model dominated the formation of the double melting peaks in those PLLA samples crystallized at a higher temperature (108 or 110 °C) for 120 min or at 110 °C for a longer time (≥45 min). © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 466–474, 2007     

Crystallographic report: Bis(norfloxacin)dilead(II) tetranitrate, [Pb2(H‐Norf)2(ONO2)4]

The centrosymmetric binuclear structure of [Pb₂(H‐Norf)₂(ONO₂)₄]shows the geometry around each lead(II) atom to be distorted trigonal bipyramidal with Pb–O distances ranging from 2.357(3) to 2.769(4) Å. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.