Orientational ordering of liquid crystals containing a difluoro-substituted phenyl ring

The orientational ordering of several liquid crystals containing a difluorosubstituted phenyl ring has been studied through the use of C-13 NMR. The fluorinated phenyl ring of these liquid crystals have C_s symmetry, so three order parameters are required to completely describe the ordering of this ring. All three of these order parameters have been calculated from carbon-fluorine dipolar coupling constants obtained from the carbon-fluorine splittings in the C-13 NMR spectra. Because of the complexity of the fluorine-coupled spectra, variable angle spinning (VAS) was used to resolve the carbon-fluorine splittings. In order to study the orientational ordering over wide ranges of temperature, we have developed an empirical correlation between the order parameter and the value of a carbon-fluorine dipolar coupling constant. This enabled us to study the change in the order parameter with temperature. The results of applying this method to several structurally similar liquid crystals containing the same type of difluorinated phenyl ring are presented. A comparison is made to a similar mono-fluorinated liquid crystal.     

Computational experience with general equilibrium problems

We report on computational experience with an implementation of three algorithms for the general economic equilibrium problem. As a result we get that the projection algorithm for variational inequalities increases the size of solvable models by a factor of 5–10 in comparison with the classical homotopy method. As a third approach we implemented a simulated annealing heuristic which might be suitable to estimate equilibria for very large models.Supported by the German Research Association (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 303).     

Lattices of processes for graphs

The structure of the lattice of processes of a finite digraph with entries is investigated. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the isomorphism of a given lattice to the lattice of processes of a certain digraph are obtained. Bibliography: 5 titles. Translated by K. V. Shakhbazyan. Translated fromZapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 202, 1992, pp. 135–153.     

Intermittency for coherent and incoherent current ensemble model

We investigate the origin of intermittency for multiparticle distribution in momentum space, following the idea that there is a kind of power law distribution of the space-time region of hadron emission. Using the formalism of current ensamble model to describe boson sources we discuss intermittency exponents for the coherent and incoherent (chaotic) particle production scheme.     

Thermally stimulated current and DSC studies of the broadened glass transition in liquid crystalline polymers

The high sensitivity of the thermally stimulated current, thermal sampling (TS) method is emphasized in a study of the breadth of the glass transition in several liquid-crystalline polymers (LCPs). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was performed on all samples to further quantify the glass transition regions. For “random” copolyester LCPs with widely varying degrees of crystallinity, including highly amorphous samples, very broad glass tran-sition regions were observed. One semicrystalline alternating copolyester and a series of semicrystalline azomethine LCPs were studied as examples of structurally regular polymers. These exhibited relatively sharp glass transitions more comparable to ordinary isotropic amorphous or semicrystalline polymers. The broad glass transitions in the random copolyesters are attributed to structural heterogeneity of the chains. In one example of a moderate-crystallinity random copolyester LCP (Vectra), glass transitions ranging up to ca. 150°C in breadth were determined by the thermal sampling (TS) method and DSC. In other lower crystallinity copolyester LCPs, the main glass transition temperature as determined by DSC was comparable to that determined by TSC although cooperative relaxations of a minor fraction of the overall relaxing species were detected well below the main T_g, by the TS method and not by DSC. Rapid quenches from the isotropic melt to an isotropic glass were possible with one LCP. The anisotropic and isotropic glassy states for this LCP were found to have the same breadth of the glass transition as was determined by the TS method, although TSC and DSC show that T_g is shifted downward by ca. 15°C in the anisotropic glass as compared to the isotropic glass. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Separation of spiral contacts and the motion of vacuum arcs at highAC currents

A framing camera is used to photograph the vacuum arc between separating spiral-petal vacuum interrupter contacts. The rupture of the molten bridge between the contacts first leads to a high-pressure, transient arc column. This arc motion can become constricted for several milliseconds before it goes diffuse as the current decreases to zero. The current through the spiral contacts produces a magnetic field perpendicular to the arc column, which forces the arc to move outward and run along the periphery of the petals. Several vacuum arc modes occur during the half-cycle of high current arcing. Movies, gap-current curves, and arc voltage traces are used to study the development of the arc motion and how it is affected by the contact structure. This information is used to generate arc appearance diagrams in which the arc form and motion are correlated to instantaneous values of current and gap for a wide range of peak currents. Appearance diagrams are shown for two ranges of opening delay from current onset     

Determination of temperature by stimulated raman scattering of molecular nitrogen,oxygen, and carbon dioxide

We have determined the temperature from SRS spectra of N₂-N₂, N₂-CO₂, O₂-O₂, and CO₂-CO₂ recorded in wide pressure and temperature ranges. The fitting procedure takes simultaneously into account the Dicke effect and motional narrowing. We have quantified the accuracy of the MEG and ECS-P models for rotational relaxation. The temperature extracted from each model is compared with thermocouple measurements. The influence of vibrational broadening and shifting is discussed in detail.     

A review of otoacoustic emissions

Otoacoustic emissions measured in the external ear canal describe responses that the cochlea generates in the form of acoustic energy. For the convenience of discussing their principal features, emitted responses can be classified into several categories according to the type of stimulation used to evoke them. On this basis, four distinct but interrelated classes can be distinguished including spontaneous, transiently evoked, stimulus-frequency, and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions. The present review details the findings that have been described for each emission type according to this classification schema. Additionally, the known features of emitted responses are discussed for both normally hearing and hearing-impaired humans and experimental animals, and with respect to their potential clinical applications. The findings reviewed here clearly indicate that future studies of otoacoustic emissions will significantly increase our understanding of the basic mechanisms of cochlear function while, at the same time, provide a new and important clinical tool.     

Sulfonation of substituted azoles with sulfur trioxide in dichloroethane

A novel method has been developed for the synthesis of sulfonic acids of five-membered heterocycles containing two heteroatoms, with a solution of sulfur trioxide in 1,2-dichloroethane. High yields of the required products are obtained, under conditions which are mild in comparison with those used in earlier methods. The mechanism of sulfonation is discussed, and some azole·SO₃ complexes have been obtained and described.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 10, pp. 1353–1359, October, 1987.