Differentiation of species of the Baccharis genus by HPLC and chemometric methods.

Phytochemical investigation of the aerial parts of three Baccharis species (Asteraceae family) was performed using HPLC and chemometric methods, with the objective of distinguishing between three morphologically very similar species: Baccharis genistelloides Persoon var. trimera (Less.) DC, B. milleflora (Less.) DC and B. articulata (Lam.) Persoon. With the help of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and variance weights, it was possible to characterize the chromatographic profiles of the alcoholic extracts of the three species. Application of Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) methods on a training set of 74 extracts resulted in models that correctly classified all eight samples in an independent test set.     

Diffuse x-ray scattering study of the formation of microdefects in heat-treated dislocation-free large-diameter silicon wafers

Diffuse x-ray scattering (DXS) is used to study the formation of microdefects (MDs) in heat-treated dislocation-free large-diameter silicon wafers with vacancies. The DXS method is shown to be efficient for investigating MDs in silicon single crystals. Specific defects, such as impurity clouds, are found to form in the silicon wafers during low-temperature annealing at 450°C. These defects are oxygen-rich regions in the solid solution with diffuse coherent interfaces. In the following stages of decomposition of the supersaturated solid solution, oxide precipitates form inside these regions and the impurity clouds disappear. As a result of the decomposition of the supersaturated solid solution of oxygen, interstitial MDs form in the silicon wafers during multistep heat treatment. These MDs lie in the {110} planes and have nonspherical displacement fields. The volume density and size of MDs forming in the silicon wafers at various stages of the decomposition are determined.     

Convergence of optimal controls in some optimization problems

We consider the behavior of bundles of optimal controls when the initial state of the system goes to some given vector. We investigate three types of optimization problems: problems with fixed process length and a free right endpoint; problems with fixed process length and a fixed right endpoint; time-optimal problems. The article is a review of recent results obtained by the author. __________ Translated from Nelineinaya Dinamika i Upravlenie, No. 4, pp. 301–314, 2004.     

Fano direct products as rationally connected fibrations

Combining the connectedness principle of Shokurov and Kollár, we develop a new technique of studying birational maps of natural Fano fiber spaces. We prove that the only structures of a rationally connected fibration on direct products of typical Fano varieties are projections onto the factors. In particular, the groups of biregular and birational self-maps of Fano direct products coincide. __________ Translated from Fundamentalnaya i Prikladnaya Matematika, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 183–206, 2004.     

Calculation of the bond ionicity in complex oxides

A technique for calculating the bond ionicity of crystalline materials using electronegativities of elements and taking into account the structure of polyhedra of the complex-oxide structure is proposed.     

The effect of technological microdefects of structure on service life of polymer materials

Within the framework of the kinetic theory of strength, relations for estimation of durability of thermoplastic materials under stationary and non-stationary thermomechanical impacts are obtained It is shown that durability decreases linearly with increase in the natural (Napierian) logarithm of the mean size of microcracks formed during manufacturing of polymer products. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 3–6, July, 2007.     

Graphitic nanofillers in PMMA nanocomposites—An investigation of particle size and dispersion and their influence on nanocomposite properties

Mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of graphite/PMMA composites have been evaluated as functions of particle size and dispersion of the graphitic nanofiller components via the use of three different graphitic nanofillers: “as received graphite” (ARG), “expanded graphite,” (EG) and “graphite nanoplatelets” (GNPs) EG, a graphitic materials with much lower density than ARG, was prepared from ARG flakes via an acid intercalation and thermal expansion. Subsequent sonication of EG in a liquid yielded GNPs as thin stacks of graphitic platelets with thicknesses of ～10 nm. Solution‐based processing was used to prepare PMMA composites with these three fillers. Dynamic mechanical analysis, thermal analysis, and electrical impedance measurements were carried out on the resulting composites, demonstrating that reduced particle size, high surface area, and increased surface roughness can significantly alter the graphite/polymer interface and enhance the mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of the polymer matrix. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2097–2112, 2007