THERMOCHROMIC EFFECTS OF LEUCO DYES STUDIED IN POLYPROPYLENE

A series of thermochromic polypropylene foils were prepared by embedding various leuco dye-developer-solvent systems in the polymer matrix. Bisphenol A, laurylgallate, ethylgallate and p-hydroxybenzoic acid methyl ester were used as developers, crystal violet lactone and 3,3-bis-（1-n-butyl-2-methyl-3-indolyl）-phthalide as dyes and l-octanoic acid methyl ester as solvent. The molar ratio between the three components of the investigated leuco dye-developer-solvent systems was kept constant. All obtained polypropylene foils exhibit an excellent thermochromic behavior. The foils, prepared by extrusion technology, switch from color to colorless with increasing temperature. The influence of molecular structure of the developer on the intensity of the colored state and the influence of a developer-surfactant complex on the resulting thermochromic properties were investigated. The results are presented and discussed in detail according to a molecular model suggesting that the ring-opening process of the leuco dye is triggered by the formation of dye-developer complexes via H-bondings.     

A note on the perron root of a weighted t-th Order mean of nonnegative matrices

In this paper we compare the spectral radius of a weighted additive mean L of order t involving Hadamard powers of nonnegative matrices with the corresponding mean R of the respective spectral radii especially, when all matrices are row stochastic, we obtain L≥R for t≥1 and L≤R for 0 ≤ t ≤ 1.     

An improved LCAO interpolation scheme for energy band structures. Application to four compounds (ScN,ScP, TiN,ZrN) crystallizing in the sodium chloride structure

An improved version of the LCAO interpolation scheme using metal s-, p-, d-, and non metal s-, and p-basis functions is presented for transition metal compounds with sodium chloride structure. This method enables us to interpolate with reasonable accuracy occupied bands as well as unoccupied energy bands up to 0.9 Rydberg above the Fermi level for the compounds ScN, ScP, TiN and ZrN. Due to the limited basis, problems arise however with bands of predominantly transition metal f or non metal d character lying in this energy range - as is the case for ScP.Optimized parameter sets are presented for the compounds ScN, ScP, TiN and ZrN. They were used for the calculation of the imaginary part of the complex dielectric function, ₂(), as will be shown in two forthcoming papers.     

On reasons of Si NMR chemical shift/structure relations for silicon oxides, nitrides, and carbides: An individual-gauge-for-localized-orbitals study

For -quartz, monoclinic ZSM-5, -and β-Si₃N₄ and SiC---6H polytype, the silicon chemical shifts have been calculated using the IGLO (individual gauge for localized orbitals) method and models of different size in real crystal geometry. The result is a theoretical chemical shift scale, which is very similar to the corresponding experimental scale from ²⁹Si MAS NMR experiments. It is shown that the assignment of isotropic silicon chemical shifts of crystallized solids based on theory is a method of practical applicability, also in cases where experimental methods or empirical relations fail. The two NMR spectral lines of -Si₃N₄ are for the first time assigned to the crystallographic positions. The partition of the silicon chemical shifts into localized contributions from different parts of the model allows insight into the interactions around the resonance nucleus due to substituent and geometry variations leading to silicon chemical shifts.     

Symbolic dynamics of jejunal motility in the irritable bowel

Different studies of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by conventional analysis of jejunal motility report conflicting results. Therefore, our aim is to quantify the jejunal contraction activity by symbolic dynamics in order to discriminate between IBS and control subjects. Contraction amplitudes during fasting motility (phase II) are analyzed for 30 IBS and 30 healthy subjects. On the basis of a particular scale-independent discretization of the contraction amplitudes with respect to the median, IBS patients are characterized by increased block entropy as well as increased mean contraction amplitude. In a further more elementary level of analysis these differences can be reduced to specific contraction patterns within the time series, namely the fact that successive large contraction amplitudes are less ordered in IBS than in controls. These significant differences in jejunal motility may point to an altered control of the gut in IBS, although further studies on a representative number of patients have to be done for a validation of these findings. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.