Study of the thermal degradability of poly(α-methylstyrene) with modified end groups

To induce degradabilities in polymers in response to environmental conditions, endm odification reactions of poly(α-methylstyrene) (PMS) derivatives were carried out. 2-Phenylallyl halide derivatives such as 2-phenylallyl bromide, 2-(p-tolyl)allyl bromide, and α-trifluoromethylstyrene were found to be suitable end-modification agents. For example, the ω-2-phenylallyl-PMS derivative was prepared with almost quantitative functionality by the reaction of the living PMS derivative with 2-phenylallyl bromide. In a similar way, ω-3,3-difluoro-2-phenylallyl- and ω-2-(4-toly)allyl-PMS derivatives were synthesized. Based on thermogravimetric analysis, the onset of the degradation temperature of the endmodified PMS derivatives decreased in the following order: ω-hydrogen- > ω-3,3-difluoro-2-phenylallyl- > ω-2-phenylallyl- > ω-2-(p-tolyl)allyl-PMS. Actually, the onset temperature of ω-2-(p-tolyl)allyl-PMS derivatives was 50°C lower than that of ω-H-PMS derivatives. These results indicate that the active species is produced effectively at the endunsaturated bond, which initiates depolymerization of the polymer at rather low temperatures. Therefore, it is concluded that a 2-phenylallyl substituent at the end of the PMS chain induces effective degradation through a radical mechanism.     

Simultaneous detection of ammonia and humidity using transmission surface plasmon resonance technique

Abstract

Gas sensing by using the transmission surface plasmon resonance (T-SPR) technique was demonstrated. Polyacrylic acid (PAA)/5-nm-thick gold/40-nm-thick silver/polycarbonate grating substrate structure (Sensor A) responded to ammonia; however, it exhibited a strong humidity dependence. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/5-nm-thick gold/40-nm-thick silver/polycarbonate grating substrate structure (Sensor B) as the sensing material was also prepared and it mainly responded to humidity. The T-SPR properties of Sensors A and B were observed simultaneously by a stacking arrangement that enabled us to obtain the responses by using a single spectrophotometer. The ammonia concentration under various humidity conditions could be accurately obtained by simultaneous measurement of Sensors A and B.     

Acceptable range of speech level in noisy sound fields for young adults and elderly persons

The acceptable range of speech level as a function of background noise level was investigated on the basis of word intelligibility scores and listening difficulty ratings. In the present study, the acceptable range is defined as the range that maximizes word intelligibility scores and simultaneously does not cause a significant increase in listening difficulty ratings from the minimum ratings. Listening tests with young adult and elderly listeners demonstrated the following. (1) The acceptable range of speech level for elderly listeners overlapped that for young listeners. (2) The lower limit of the acceptable speech level for both young and elderly listeners was 65 dB (A-weighted) for noise levels of 40 and 45 dB (A-weighted), a level with a speech-to-noise ratio of +15 dB for noise levels of 50 and 55 dB, and a level with a speech-to-noise ratio of +10 dB for noise levels from 60 to 70 dB. (3) The upper limit of the acceptable speech level for both young and elderly listeners was 80 dB for noise levels from 40 to 55 dB and 85 dB or above for noise levels from 55 to 70 dB.     

Remarks on the breakdown of smooth solutions for the 3-D Euler equations

The authors prove that the maximum norm of the vorticity controls the breakdown of smooth solutions of the 3-D Euler equations. In other words, if a solution of the Euler equations is initially smooth and loses its regularity at some later time, then the maximum vorticity necessarily grows without bound as the critical time approaches; equivalently, if the vorticity remains bounded, a smooth solution persists.Partially supported by O.N.R. Contract No. N00014-76-C-0316 and N.S.F. Grant No. MCS-81-01639Partially supported by N.S.F. Grant No. MCS-82-00171Partially supported by N.S.F. Grant No. MCS-81-02360     

Fatigue Crack Nucleation at Σ3(1 1 2) Boundary in a Ferritic Stainless Steel

The effect of a geometrical relationship between a grain boundary (GB) plane and a tensile axis on intergranular fatigue cracking along 3(1 1 2) twin boundaries has been investigated in Fe-30%Cr alloy crystals. Fatigue experiments were carried out on the three kinds of the specimens containing the 3(1 1 2) twin boundary. It was found that the fatigue cracking behavior was sensitive to the geometry of the GB plane. In a specimen where both the GB plane and a slip vector lying in the GB plane in adjacent grains are inclined to the tensile axis at 45°, the fatigue cracks were nucleated preferentially along the twin boundary at a stress amplitude of 170 MPa. The specimen with the GB plane normal to the tensile axis showed that the fatigue crack was initiated from a slip band formed within a constituent grain at a stress amplitude of 300 MPa. When the GB plane was inclined to the tensile axis but the slip vector lying in the GB plane was normal to the tensile axis, development of additional slips formed perpendicular to the GB plane were observed at a specific site of the GB. Initiation of intergranular fatigue cracks at the site was recognized at a stress amplitude of 250 MPa. It can be suggested that the GB plane normal to the tensile axis provides the highest fatigue performance among them. The difference in the cracking property among these specimens could be understood in terms of the effective Schmid factor derived from elastically incompatible stress.     

Biow-up of solutions of some nonlinear hyperbolic equations

We prove that any nontrivial solution of certain nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations of second order blows up in a finite time if the initial data are localized, the initial velocity being on the average non-negative.     

Measurement of polarized target asymmetry in γd → pn in the photon energy region between 0.3 and 0.7 GeV

The target asymmetry in γd → pn has been measured at proton c.m. angles of 70°, 100° and 130° in the photon energies between 0.3 and 0.7 GeV. Results show relatively small asymmetry values in contrast to large proton polarizations. A phenomenological analysis by Ikeda et al. does not reproduce the present data, especially in the lower energy region.     

Electronic structure of the organic conductors based on BMDT-TTF (BIS(methylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene)

In the crystals of the cation radical salts based on the organic donor BMDT-TTF, the charge separation is observed. This comes from (1) nonequivalency of the site potential and (2) the long range electron-electron interaction, which are related to the two-dimensional nature of the molecular arrangement. The effects of the charge separation on the elctronic structure are discussed.     

On strongly almost trivial embeddings of graphs

We present four new classes of graphs, two of which every member has a strongly almost trivial embedding, and the other two of which every member has no strongly almost trivial embeddings. We show that the property that a graph has a strongly almost trivial embedding and the property that a graph has no strongly almost trivial embeddings are not inherited by minors. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

On Weierstrass semigroups and sets: a review with new results

In this work we present a survey of the main results in the theory of Weierstrass semigroups at several points, with special attention to the determination of bounds for the cardinality of its set of gaps. We also review results on applications to the theory of error correcting codes. We then recall a generalization of the concept of Weierstrass semigroup, which is the Weierstrass set associated to a linear system and several points. We finish by presenting new results on this Weierstrass set, including some on the cardinality of its set of gaps.