Phase transition studies in symmetric dimeric liquid crystals

As a part of the systematic studies on symmetric liquid crystal dimer homologous series, α,ω-bis-(4-n-alkylaniline benzylidene-4′-oxy) alkanes, (referred to as m.OnO.m with m = 3, 4, and 5; and n = 8, 9, and 10), we present in this article the nature of phase transitions across isotropic–nematic and nematic–smectic-A (N–SmA) phases exhibited by the just mentioned compounds. The methods employed are differential scanning calorimetry and dilatometry. The compounds studied were 3.O8O.3, 4.O8O.4, and 5.O8O.5; and 3.O9.03, 5.O9O.5, 3.O10O.3, 4.O10O.4, and 5.O10O.5. Different from the case of their corresponding monomers, all these compounds exhibit a nematic phase only with the exception of 5.O8O.5 which exhibits a SA phase in addition to the nematic phase. The phase transitions viz., isotropic–nematic transitions studied in all these compounds were confirmed to be of first-order nature, whereas the N–SmA transition exhibited by the compound 5.O8O.5 only was found to be of second-order nature. We also report in this article the calculated density jumps, thermal expansion coefficient maxima, and pressure dependence of transition temperatures which are analyzed in the light of the available literature data.     

Mesomorphism of lanthanide-containing Schiff's base complexes with dodecyl sulphate counterions

Liquid crystalline complexes of the formula [Ln(LH)₃(DOS)₃] have been synthesized, where Ln is a trivalent rare earth-ion (Y, La-Lu, except Pm), LH is the ligand N-octadecyl-4-tetradecyloxysalicylaldimine and DOS is the dodecyl sulphate counterion. Although the Schiff 's base ligands do not exhibit mesomorphism, the complexes do (SmA phase). The mesophase behaviour of these compounds has been investigated by polarizing optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, high temperature X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The stoichiometry of the complexes remains constant throughout the lanthanide series.     

Regret aversion and annuity risk in defined contribution pension plans

The high value of the implicit option to choose a retirement date at which interest rates are particularly high and life annuities relatively cheap, leads to the possibility to introduce regret aversion in the retirement investment decision of defined contribution plan participants. As a remedy for regret aversion in retirement investment decisions, this paper develops and prices a lookback option on a life annuity contract. We determine a closed-form option value under the restriction that the option holder invests risklessly during the time to maturity of the option and without the guarantee that the exact amount of retirement wealth is converted into a life annuity at retirement. Thereafter the investment restriction is relaxed and the guarantee of exact conversion is imposed and the option is priced via Monte Carlo simulations in an economic environment with a stochastic discount factor. Option price sensitivities are determined via the pricing of alternative options. We find that the price of a lookback option, with a maturity of three years, amounts to 8%–9% of the wealth at the option issuance date. The option price is highly sensitive to the exercise price of the option, i.e. pricing alternative options (e.g. Asian) substantially lowers the price. Time to maturity and interest rate volatility are other important option price drivers. Asset allocation decisions and initial interest rates hardly affect the option price.     

Mesomorphism of lanthanide-containing Schiff's base complexes with chloride counterions

Liquid crystalline complexes [Ln(LH) 3 Cl 3 ] have been synthesized, where Ln is a trivalent lanthanide ion (Pr-Lu, except Pm) and where LH is the Schiff's base ligand N -octadecyl4-tetradecyloxysalicylaldimine. Although the ligand does not exhibit mesomorphism, the complexes do (SmA phase). The mesophase behaviour of these compounds has been investigated by polarizing optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and high temperature X-ray diffraction. The lanthanide complexes have much higher melting and clearing points than comparable complexes with nitrate or dodecyl sulphate counterions. In addition, the transition temperatures are virtually independent of the type of lanthanide ion. This behaviour is opposite to that observed for similar complexes with nitrate counterions [Ln(LH) 3 (NO 3 ) 3 ]. The differences in temperature dependence can be related to structural differences. Whereas in the nitrate complexes the Schiff's base ligand binds in a zwitterionic form, two-dimensional 1H NMR correlation spectroscopy (COSY) of [Lu(LH) 3 Cl 3 ] gives an indication that in the chloride complexes, besides coordination via the oxygen of molecules in the zwitterionic form, some of the Schiff's base ligands bind in a bidentate fashion (via the phenolic oxygen and the imine nitrogen).     

Advantages of Odd Random Phase Multisine Electrochemical Impedance Measurements

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a powerful technique to study electrochemical processes and to perform screening tasks. Recently an integrated measuring and modeling methodology for EIS based on a multisine excitation signal was developed. A key issue in this methodology is the data analysis, allowing us to rapidly quantify the reliability of the measured data. In this paper, a comparison is made between classical single‐sine and the proposed multisine measurements on the same system. The fitting of the impedance data obtained by single‐or multisine excitation and using different weighting factors is also discussed. In addition to the advantages reported in earlier work, it is concluded that, of all investigated frequencies, the odd random phase multisine excitation yields the highest quality data in the shortest measurement time.     

Squeezing and sub-Poissonian effects up-to fourth order in fifth harmonic generation

The concept of squeezing of the electromagnetic field is investigated in fundamental mode in fifth harmonic generation with the approximation |gt|²?1, where g is coupling constant and t, the interaction time between waves during the process. It has been found that squeezing occurs in amplitude, amplitude-squared, amplitude-cubed and fourth-order amplitude states of the field for selective phase values of field amplitude of fundamental mode. The dependence of squeezing on the photon number has also been investigated and found to be sub-Poissonian in nature. The signal to noise ratio has been studied in different order. It is found that the signal to noise ratio is higher in lower order.     

Acute oral toxicity and brine shrimp lethality of Elaeis guineensis Jacq., (oil palm leaf) methanol extract

Elaeis guineensis (Arecaceae) is widely used in West African traditional medicine for treating various ailments. An evaluation on the toxicity of extracts of this plant is crucial to support the therapeutic claims. The acute oral toxicity and brine shrimp lethality of a methanolic extract of this plant was tested. Oral administration of crude extract at the highest dose of 5,000 mg/kg resulted in no mortalities or evidence of adverse effects, implying that E. guineensis is nontoxic. Normal behavioral pattern, clinical signs and histology of vital organs confirm this evidence. The E. guineensis extracts screened for toxicity against brine shrimp had 50% lethal concentration (LC??) values of more than 1.0 mg/mL (9.00 and 3.87 mg/mL, at 6 and 24 h, respectively), confirming that the extract was not toxic. Maximum mortalities occurred at 100 mg/mL concentration while the least mortalities happened to be at 0.195 mg/mL concentration. The results of both tests confirm that E. guineensis is nontoxic and hence safe for commercial utilization.     

Reactions of terminal polyynes with benzyl azide

Terminal di-, tri-, tetra-, and pentaynes substituted with a variety of functional groups react with benzyl azide in the presence of CuSO(4)·5H(2)O and ascorbic acid to give derivatives of 4-ethynyl-, 4-butadiynyl-, 4-hexatriynyl-, and 4-octatetraynyl-1,2,3-triazoles in moderate to good yields. These reactions appear to proceed regioselectively, and functionalization occurs exclusively at the terminal alkyne moiety. As well, no evidence of multiple azide additions to the polyyne framework is observed. X-ray crystallographic analysis of nine derivatives is used to document the regioselectivity of the reaction as well as outline structural characteristics of the 1,2,3-triazole products.     

A Construction of Almost Steiner Systems

Let n, k, and t be integers satisfying . A Steiner system with parameters t, k, and n is a k‐uniform hypergraph on n vertices in which every set of t distinct vertices is contained in exactly one edge. An outstanding problem in Design Theory is to determine whether a nontrivial Steiner system exists for . In this note we prove that for every and sufficiently large n, there exists an almost Steiner system with parameters t, k, and n; that is, there exists a k‐uniform hypergraph on n vertices such that every set of t distinct vertices is covered by either one or two edges.     

Effective oxidation of alcohols by Iron(III)-Schiff base-triphenylphosphine complexes

Iron(III)-Schiff base-triphenylphosphine complexes catalyze the oxidation of alcohols to their corresponding carbonyl compounds in presence of hydrogen peroxide in good yields.