General base catalysis in the decomposition of N-Cl-Valine in aqueous solution

This article analyzes the kinetics of the decomposition of N-Cl-Valine in aqueous solution, which is formed rapidly by chlorination of Valine with sodium hypochlorite. A general-base catalyzed process not yet described is reported. The experimental evidence shows two competitive decomposition paths: an unimolecular concerted fragmentation process (k = (1.8 ± 0.1) · 10^?4 s^?1 at 298 K) and the other one is an E2 elimination process whose importance increases with pH and depends on the nature and the concentration of the bases present in the medium. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Large Sample Properties of Mixture Models with Covariates for Competing Risks

We study the large-sample properties of a class of parametric mixture models with covariates for competing risks. The models allow general distributions for the survival times and incorporate the idea of long-term survivors. Asymptotic results are obtained under a commonly assumed independent censoring mechanism and some modest regularity conditions on the survival distributions. The existence, consistency, and asymptotic normality of maximum likelihood estimators for the parameters of the model are rigorously derived under general sufficient conditions. Specific conditions for particular models can be derived from the general conditions for ready check. In addition, a likelihood-ratio statistic is proposed to test various hypotheses of practical interest, and its asymptotic distribution is provided.     

An efficient lasing action from pyrromethene 556 dye-doped organically modified silicates

Organically modified solid-state silicates (ORMOSILS) doped with a new laser dye 1,3,5,7,8-pentamethylpyrromethene-2,6-disulfonate-BF₂ complex (pyrromethene 556) have been synthesized by a sol-gel method and the compositional effects on pore characteristics, fluorescence and lasing properties have been investigated. It is found that the use of dimethylsulfoxide and γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane could greatly change the structure properties of sol-gel derived ORMOSILS cage, and thus the fluorescence and lasing properties of the materials could improve significantly. A successful laser oscillation from this dye-doped ORMOSILS sample has been achieved upon pumping with a Q-switched frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. A slope efficiency of 54% with a useful lifetime greater than 10,000 shots has been demonstrated at a pump repetition rate of 1 Hz and a pump intensity of 1 J/cm² by using the new ORMOSILS cage on our newly designed laser system. Our results have shown that it is possible to obtain a high-efficiency with a long-lifetime for a compact new laser device by low cost dye-doped solid-state ORMOSILS.     

Temperature dependence of excitonic luminescence from nanocrystalline ZnO films

The properties of the excitonic luminescence for nanocrystalline ZnO thin films are investigated by using the dependence of excitonic photoluminescence (PL) spectra on temperature. The ZnO thin films are prepared by thermal oxidation of ZnS films prepared by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) technique. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicates that ZnO thin films have a polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure with a preferred (0 0 2) orientation. A strong ultraviolet (UV) emission peak at 3.26 eV is observed, while the deep-level emission band is barely observable at room temperature. The strength of the exciton-longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon coupling is deduced from the temperature dependence of the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the fundamental excitonic peak, decrease in exciton-longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon coupling strength is due to the quantum confinement effect.     

Influence of preparation method on SrMoO4 impurity content and magnetotransport properties of double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 polycrystals

The magnetic and electric properties of the Sr₂FeMoO₆ compound produced under different preparation conditions were studied. Depending on the preparation condition, a strong variation in the nonmagnetic SrMoO₄ impurity content was found, which in turn determined the metallic or semiconducting behavior of the resistivity of the Sr₂FeMoO₆ compound. There was also evidence that SrMoO₄ played a crucial role in modifying the low magnetic field intergrain tunneling magnetoresistance in Sr₂FeMoO₆. In addition, we have established a simple method to prepare the single phase Sr₂FeMoO₆ polycrystals.     

铸膜液溶剂体系的物理参数与BCA不对称膜的透气性

铸膜液的溶剂体系（溶剂和非溶剂）对不对称膜形态的形成有重要作用。为了探索溶剂和透气性间的关系，本文考虑到了制备ＢＣＡ梯度密度不对称膜的各种溶剂的一系列物理参数，得到了一些定性结果，并指出了更全面、明确、解释两者关系的研究方向。     

Linear Ramsey numbers of sparse graphs

The Ramsey number R(G₁,G₂) of two graphs G₁ and G₂ is the least integer p so that either a graph G of order p contains a copy of G₁ or its complement G^c contains a copy of G₂. In 1973, Burr and Erd?s offered a total of $25 for settling the conjecture that there is a constant c = c(d) so that R(G,G)≤ c|V(G)| for all d‐degenerate graphs G, i.e., the Ramsey numbers grow linearly for d‐degenerate graphs. We show in this paper that the Ramsey numbers grow linearly for degenerate graphs versus some sparser graphs, arrangeable graphs, and crowns for example. This implies that the Ramsey numbers grow linearly for degenerate graphs versus graphs with bounded maximum degree, planar graphs, or graphs without containing any topological minor of a fixed clique, etc. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Parity violation at neutron p-wave resonances of238U and232Th and related questions

Parity violation effects have been studied at 40 neutron p-wave resonances of the even-even nuclei²³⁸U and²³²Th. Of these 11 show parity violation effects larger than 2 standard deviations, making parity violation a rather common phenomenon. Parity mixing up to 10% has been found. The root-mean squared matrix elements for parity violation derived from these resonances are M=0.58 (+0.50/-0.25) meV for²³⁸U, respectively 1.39 (+0.35/-0.38) meV for²³²Th.     

Theory of main chain nematic polymers with spacers of varying degree of flexibility

Main chain liquid crystal polymers are modelled as either worms or jointed rods. In reality they are composed of mesogenic units (rods) linked by spacers with varying degrees of flexibility. We present a molecular model to describe non-homogeneous nematic polymers. The model takes account of molecular parameters, such as the lengths of the mesogenic group and the spacer units, and the interactions between them. The spacers are found to have an order differing from the mesogenic units. If the spacer is not very long and thus in effect is inflexible, one end of the spacer can retain to some extent the orientation of the other end, allowing orientational correlation between spacers mediated by the intermediate mesogenic unit. This is important in giving the chain a global rod-like behaviour as the nematic field becomes strong or the temperature low. The nematic order of the two components (mesogens and spacers), the nematic-isotropic transition as well as the latent entropy are examined. Furthermore, the anisotropic conformations of the polymers are investigated, which show either rod-like or random walk behaviour. Comparison of our results with experiment is found to be satisfactory.