Stability analysis of erbium-doped fibre laser dynamics with spontaneous emission

A linear stability analysis of erbium-doped fibre laser dynamics including spontaneous emission is presented. It is shown that spontaneous emission favours the CW solution near threshold and pushes the unstable steady states towards higher values of the ion pair concentration in the case of a bad cavity.     

Monitoring of residual stresses in injection-molded plastics with holographic interferometry

Residual stresses are often trapped in injection-molded plastic parts due to the rapid cooling of the material in this manufacturing process. These stresses are a common source of failure in plastic components in automobiles, appliances and computers and are difficult to measure with conventional residual-stress experimental methods. Real-time holographic interferometry appears to be a viable technique to identify and monitor these stresses in plastic parts. In this investigation, holographic interferometry was used to monitor the relaxation of residual stresses in the plastic-molded actuator arm of a computer hard drive. In the first phase of this study, the relaxation of these residual stresses as a function of temperature was observed. In the second phase, the time to completely relax the residual stresses in the plastic part at an elevated temperature, the annealing temperature, was determined. In the third phase of this investigation, the rate of relaxation of these residual stresses as a function of time at various operating temperatures, was studied. Based on the results of this study, holographic interferometry appears to be a powerful research tool in the study of residual stresses in plastic parts. It also has the potential to be a practical tool for the inspection of manufactured plastic parts for the presence of residual stress.     

Pseudo‐reflection phenomena for singularities in thin elastic shells

We consider problems of statics of thin elastic shells with hyperbolic middle surface subjected to boundary conditions ensuring the geometric rigidity of the surface. The asymptotic behaviour of the solutions when the relative thickness tends to zero is then given by the membrane approximation. It is a hyperbolic problem propagating singularities along the characteristics. We address here the reflection phenomena when the propagated singularities arrive to a boundary. As the boundary conditions are not the classical ones for a hyperbolic system, there are various cases of reflection. Roughly speaking, singularities provoked elsewhere are not reflected at all at a free boundary, whereas at a fixed (or clamped) boundary the reflected singularity is less singular than the incident one. Reflection of singularities provoked along a non‐characteristic curve C are also considered. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Miscibility behavior and hydrogen bonding in blends of poly(vinyl phenyl ketone hydrogenated) and poly(2‐ethyl‐2‐oxazoline)

The miscibility behavior of poly(2‐ethyl‐2‐oxazoline) (PEOx)/poly(vinyl phenyl ketone hydrogenated) (PVPhKH) blends was studied for the entire range of compositions. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermomechanical analysis measurements showed that all the PEOx/PVPhKH blends studied had a single glass‐transition temperature (T_g). The natural tendency of PVPhKH to self‐associate through hydrogen bonding was modified by the presence of PEOx. Partial IR spectra of these blends suggested that amide groups in PEOx and hydroxyl groups in PVPhKH interacted through hydrogen bonding. This physical interaction had a positive influence on the phase behavior of PEOx/PVPhKH blends. The Kwei equation for T_g as a function of the blend composition was satisfactorily used to describe the experimental data. Pure‐component pressure–volume–temperature data were also reported for both PEOx and PVPhKH. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 636–645, 2004     

Oversampling and preservation of tightness in affine frames

The problem of how an oversampling of translations affects the bounds of an affine frame has been proposed by Chui and Shi. In particular, they proved that tightness is preserved if the oversampling factor is coprime with the dilation factor. In this paper we study, in the dyadic dilation case, oversampling of translation by factors which do not satisfy the above condition, and prove that tightness is preserved only in the case of affine frames generated by wavelets having frequency support with very particular properties.

     

Regioselective symmetrical bromination of protected 2,2′‐biimidazole

Treatment of the benzyl and (trimethylsilylethoxymethyl) SEM protected 2,2′‐biimidazoles, 2a and 2b , with 2 equivalents of N‐bromosuccinimide (NBS) allows obtaining the 5,5′‐dibromo and 4,4′‐dibromo substituted biimidazoles, 3a and 5b respectively. The use of 4 equivalents of NBS, followed by treatment of the corresponding tetrabromoderivatives 4a and 5b with butyl lithium (BuLi), yields the 4,4′‐dibromoderiva‐tives 5a (G=Bn) and 5b (G=SEM).     

Structure and texture of AlPO4-cesium oxide (20 wt.%) catalysts obtained by impregnation with cesium chloride

Crystalline and amorphous vanadyl polyphosphates (VO(PO₃)₂) with a P/V ratio=2 were used as catalysts in the ammoxidation of toluene. The crystalline specimens exhibit a rather low activity compared with the amorphous solid. The benzonitrile selectivities always reached nearly 90%. Noticeable benzaldehyde amounts were detected that could be due to an inadequate ammonia activation on the solid surface.     

Gelatinization properties of native starches and their Näegeli dextrins

Cassava, potato, sweet potato, and Peruvian carrot starches were hydrolyzed with 15% v/v sulfuric acid solution for up to 30 days. Näegeli dextrins obtained from 1, 3, 6, 12, and 30 days were evaluated using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Two phases of hydrolysis were found. The first phase was attributed to faster degradation of amorphous areas of granules, whereas the second phase corresponded to slower degradation of crystalline regions. Peruvian carrot starch was the most susceptible to acid, whereas potato and sweet potato starches were the most resistant. From DSC, it was observed a progressive reduction in peak height and a broadening of peaks with increasing hydrolysis time. The peaks shifted to higher temperatures. Onset temperature decreased on first day of hydrolysis for cassava and Peruvian carrot starches, and on third day for potato and sweet potato. Enthalpy decreased during first stage of hydrolysis in cassava and Peruvian carrot starches, and during second phase, it reduced in all starches. SEM showed that the granule surfaces were degraded by erosion on the first day of treatment, followed by degradation of amorphous areas. On third day, potato and sweet potato starches still displayed some granules almost intact, whereas cassava and Peruvian carrot starch granules were totally degraded, confirming their high susceptibility to acid attack. On sixth day of hydrolysis, starch granules had faceted structures, characteristic of crystalline material. The effect that acid hydrolysis had on thermal properties of starches depended on both hydrolysis stage and starch source.     

Antimicrobial evaluation of diterpenes from Copaifera langsdorffii oleoresin against periodontal anaerobic bacteria

The antimicrobial activity of four labdane-type diterpenes isolated from the oleoresin of Copaifera langsdorffii as well as of two commercially available diterpenes (sclareol and manool) was investigated against a representative panel of microorganisms responsible for periodontitis. Among all the evaluated compounds, (-)-copalic acid (CA) was the most active, displaying a very promising MIC value (3.1 μg mL-1; 10.2 μM) against the key pathogen (Porphyromonas gingivalis) involved in this infectious disease. Moreover, CA did not exhibit cytotoxicity when tested in human fibroblasts. Time-kill curve assays performed with CA against P. gingivalis revealed that this compound only inhibited the growth of the inoculums in the first 12 h (bacteriostatic effect). However, its bactericidal effect was clearly noted thereafter (between 12 and 24 h). It was also possible to verify an additive effect when CA and chlorhexidine dihydrochloride (CHD, positive control) were associated at their MBC values. The time curve profile resulting from this combination showed that this association needed only six hours for the bactericidal effect to be noted. In summary, CA has shown to be an important metabolite for the control of periodontal diseases. Moreover, the use of standardized extracts based on copaiba oleoresin with high CA contents can be an important strategy in the development of novel oral care products.