Thiol‐ene clickable hyperscaffolds bearing peripheral allyl groups

Radical catalyzed thiol‐ene reaction has become a useful alternative to the Huisgen‐type click reaction as it helps to expand the variability in reaction conditions as well as the range of clickable entities. Thus, direct generation of hyperbranched polymers bearing peripheral allyl groups that could be clicked using a variety of functional thiols would be of immense value. A specifically designed AB₂ type monomer, that carries two allyl benzyl ethers groups and one alcohol functionality, was shown to undergo self‐condensation under acid‐catalyzed melt‐transetherification to yield a hyperbranched polyether that carries numerous allyl end‐groups. Importantly, it was shown that the kinetics of polymerization is not dramatically affected by the change of the ether unit from previously studied methyl benzyl ether to an allyl benzyl ether. The peripheral allyl groups were readily clicked quantitatively, using a variety of thiols, to generate an hydrocarbon‐soluble octadecyl‐derivative, amphiphilic systems using 2‐mercaptoethanol and chiral amino acid (N‐benzoyl cystine) derivatized hyperbranched structures; thus demonstrating the versatility of this novel class of clickable hyperscaffolds. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Novel effects of localization due to intrinsic disorder in manganites

We discuss the effects of a novel ‘intrinsic’ disorder in hole-doped rare-earth manganites. Using effective field theory as well as direct numerical simulations, we show that this disorder can have dramatic effects in terms of the transition from ferromagnetic insulator to ferromagnetic metal upon hole-doping, including an Anderson localized regime where variable range hopping may be observed.     

Multi-fuzzy sets: An extension of fuzzy sets

In this paper we propose a method to construct more general fuzzy sets using ordinary fuzzy sets as building blocks. We introduce the concept of multi-fuzzy sets in terms of ordered sequences of membership functions. The family of operations T, S, M of multi-fuzzy sets are introduced by coordinate wise t-norms, s-norms and aggregation operations. We define the notion of coordinate wise conjugation of multifuzzy sets, a method for obtaining Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy operations from multi-fuzzy sets. We show that various binary operations in Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy sets are equivalent to some operations in multi-fuzzy sets like M operations, 2-conjugates of the T and S operations. It is concluded that multi-fuzzy set theory is an extension of Zadeh’s fuzzy set theory, Atanassov’s intuitionsitic fuzzy set theory and L-fuzzy set theory.     

Stability criteria with less LMI variables for linear system with additive time-delays

In this technical note, equivalent stability criterion with minimal number of variables for three recently reported stability criteria is proposed for a class of linear systems with additive time-varying delays. The existing delay-dependent stability criteria for additive time-delay systems have more number of matrix variables in the LMI; and hence, they require more computational cost. The proposed equivalent criteria, unlike the original ones, encompass only the matrix variables that are associated in the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, making the criteria mathematically less complex and computationally more attractive. The complexity involved in the existing stability criteria is attributed to the fact the cross-terms that emanate from the time-derivative of the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional are dealt with free-weighting matrices. Hence, apart from the matrix variables that are associated in the corresponding Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, the existing criteria also have additional matrix variables in them. In this paper, we have devised techniques to eliminate the free-weighting matrices in the existing stability criteria without sacrificing the conservatism. The resulting equivalent stability criteria, therefore, have least possible number of variables in the LMI; and hence, have minimum computational burden. The effectiveness of the proposed equivalent criteria is validated on a numerical example.     

Adsorption Characteristics of Activated Carbon for the Reclamation of Eosin Y and Indigo Carmine Colored Effluents and New Isotherm Model

The adsorption response of eosin Y and indigo carmine acid dyes on activated carbon as a function of system temperature for a fixed concentration was investigated at various temperatures via adsorption isotherms and their thermodynamic quantities such as enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy changes. The adsorption data were exploited to develop a new adsorption isotherm. The new isotherm was developed with the spirit of solid–liquid phase equilibrium and regular solution theory. The proposed model has four adjustable constants and correlates adsorption isotherm in terms of the system temperature and melting temperature of the dye. The effect of pH on the removal of acid dyes was reported. The pH variation was observed to affect the adsorption efficiency. The removal of eosin Y and indigo carmine decreased from 99.4% to 82.6% and 92.38% to 79.48%, respectively, when the pH of the solution varied from 2 to 12. The thermodynamic analysis of the process reveals that the process of the removal of acid dyes is exothermic and spontaneous. Moreover, the kinetics parameters of the batch process are reported.     

Stochastic dynamics of parametrically excited two d.o.f. systems with symmetry

In this paper we investigate the non-linear dynamics of a two-degree-of-freedom system with symmetries subject to random parametric excitation. The study of this non-linear near-Hamiltonian system is simplified by using the symmetry and separation of scales present in the problem. To this end, we study the equations as a random perturbation of a four-dimensional weakly dissipative Hamiltonian system. We achieve the model-reduction through stochastic averaging and the reduced process is simply a Markov process on a line. Examination of the reduced Markov process on the line yields many important results, namely, probability density functions, and stochastic bifurcations. The steady state dynamics is computed explicitly. Phenomenological and dynamical bifurcations are investigated. The approach adopted in this paper can in principle, be applied to any four-dimensional integrable system.     

Normal state resistivity and Tç studies of superconducting Ti1−xSbx system

The superconducting transition temperature (T_c) and the temperature dependence of the normal state resistivity of the Ti_1?xSb_x system between T_c and 300 K have been studied. The T_c values are found to depend on the heat treatment of the samples. Below 40 K, all alloys show a T² dependence of the resistivity. However, the sample with x = 0.53 is not superconducting and shows a different behaviour of the resistivity.