Dynamic mechanical properties of a gel of cellulose nitrate in diethyl phthalate: Reduced variable analysis in terms of amorphous and crystalline phases

A phenomenological theory is presented to extend the method of reduced variables for the effects of both temperature and changing degree of crystallinity on the linear viscoelastic properties of solutions of crystalline polymers. The vertical and the horizontal shift factors, which are both obtainable in the course of analysis of the experimental data, are correlated with the concentration of the solution and the volume fraction of the crystalline phase, and the fractional free volume of the system, respectively. Dynamic mechanical properties of a gel of cellulose nitrate (nitrogen content, 12.6%) in diethyl phthalate with a nominal concentration of 18% by weight were obtained in the transition region from glasslike to rubberlike consistency and also in the rubbery plateau region by employing the Fitzgerald apparatus and a freely oscillating torsion pendulum over the temperature range from ?49 to 65°C. Application of the new reduction method to the experimental data was found to be quite successful, and it was shown that in general the degree of crystallinity in the system (and hence also the concentration of polymer in the amorphous phase) can depend on both temperature and thermal history. The dynamic mechanical data of a gel of different nominal concentration (23% by weight) previously obtained by Plazek were reanalyzed in terms of the method herein given.     

Doppler-limited dye laser excitation spectroscopy of the DSO radical

The $\text{A}\text{?}{}^2\text{A′(003) ←}\text{X}\text{?}{}^2\text{A″(000)}$ vibronic transition (16 370 to 16 425 cm^?1) of the DSO radical in studied by Doppler-limited dye laser excitation spectroscopy. DSO is produced in a flow system by reacting the products of a microwave discharge in O₂ with D₂S. About 637 observed lines are assigned to 987 transitions of the 19 subbands: K′_a ← K″_a = 6 ← 5, 5 ← 4, 4 ← 3, 3 ← 2, 2 ← 1, 1 ← 0, 0 ← 1, 1 ← 2, 2 ← 3, 3 ← 4, 0 ← 0, 1 ← 1, 2 ← 2, 3 ← 3, 4 ← 4, 3 ← 1, 2 ← 0, 0 ← 2, and 1 ← 3. They are analyzed to determine rotational constants, centrifugal distortion constants, and spin-rotation constants for both the ground and the excited electronic states. The band origin obtained is 16 413.874 (2.5σ = 0.002) cm^?1. The rotational constants determined are combined with the previous result on HSO (M. Kakimoto et al., J. Mol. Spectrosc.80, 334–350 (1980)) to calculate the structural parameters for this radical in both the states: $\text{r(}\text{SO}\text{) = 1.494(5)}\text{A}\text{?}$, $\text{r(}\text{SH}\text{) = 1.389(5)}\text{A}\text{?}$, and ∠HSO = 106.6(5)° for the $\text{X}\text{?}{}^2\text{A″}$ state, and $\text{r(}\text{SO}\text{) = 1.661(10)}\text{A}\text{?}$, $\text{r(}\text{SH}\text{) = 1.342(8)}\text{A}\text{?}$, and ∠HSO = 95.7(21)° for the $\text{A}\text{?}{}^2\text{A′(003)}$ state, where values in parentheses denote 2.5σ.     

1.3-μm GaInAsP/InP Multi-Quantum-Well Surface-Emitting Lasers

A multi-quantum-well (MQW) active layer has been introduced to 1.3-μm GaInAsP/InP surface-emitting (SE) lasers. Room temperature pulsed operation of a 1.3-μm MQW SE laser was obtained for the first time and its threshold current was 15 mA. CW (continuous wave) operation up to 7°C (threshold current 1_th=7.6 mA at 7°C) was achieved.     

Pest control may make the pest population explode

We present an example of a predator-prey-like system with a prey-only state as a global attractor, and with the additional property that an attempt to control the prey by harvesting or poisoning both species produces solutions in which both populations blow up in finite time.     

Flow-injection determination of glutathione with amperometric monitoring of the enzymatic reaction

Glutathione sulfhydryl oxidase is immobilized on oxirane-acrylic beads (Eupegit-C) and packed in a small column. The simple system for glutathione comprises the immobilized enzyme column and a flow-through membrane-covered platinum/silver/silver chloride electrode pair for detection of hydrogen peroxide. The calibration graph for glutathione was linear from 0.05 to 1.0 mM for 200-μl samples. The assay took 3 min. The relative standard deviation for 0.5 mM glutathione was 2% (n=10).     

Dilute solutions of poly(vinyl alcohol) derived from vinyl trifluoroacetate

The dilute-solution behavior of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA_VTFA), derived from vinyl trifluoroacetate, in water-dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) mixtures was investigated. With solvent mixtures ranging from 10 to 20 vol % DMSO, the relation between the reduced viscosity η_sp/C and the polymer concentration C was linear for polymer concentrations above 0.2 g/dL, whereas in solutions in mixed solvents of other compositions the dependence was linear for polymer concentrations above 0.1 g/dL. The relation between the intrinsic viscosity [η] obtained for aqueous solutions of PVA_VTFA and the molecular weight M estimated from viscosity measurements in solutions of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVA_VTFA), obtained by acetylation of PVA_VTFA, was given by [η] = 7.34 × 10^?4 M^0.63. The value of [η] was greatest for the solvent mixture with 10 vol % DMSO and smallest for about 50 vol % DMSO, and Huggins constants k were smallest and greatest for these two cases, respectively. The turbidity of the solutions of low-molecular-weight PVA_VTFA, was higher than that of high-molecular-weight PVA_VTFA up to 30 vol % DMSO, and the reverse relation held for 40-70 vol % DMSO.