Morphology and crystallization behavior of poly(l‐lactide)/poly(butylene oxalate) blends

The isothermal crystallization of poly(l ‐lactide) (PLLA) in blends with poly(butylene oxalate) (PBOX) is investigated by time‐resolved small‐angle X‐ray scattering, differential scanning calorimetry, and optical microscopy. We focus on the temperatures at which only PLLA crystallizes while PBOX is amorphous. It is obtained that the addition of PBOX causes a reduction of the melting temperature of PLLA. The lamellar thickness of PLLA crystals decreases whereas the amorphous layer thickness increases with blend composition, suggesting the occurrence of the interlamellar incorporation upon the addition of PBOX. The crystal growth rate and morphology of PLLA/PBOX blends are analyzed by polarized optical microscopy. The spherulite growth rate of PLLA is found to increase with the addition of PBOX. Analysis of the isothermal crystallization in terms of the Lauritzen and Hoffman equation give the reduction of the fold surface free energy upon the addition of PBOX in PLLA, indicating that the mobility of the PLLA chains is significantly improved due to the presence of PBOX. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 192–202     

Thermal Cyclization of Copper Carbenoid of α‐Dizao α‐Phosphorylacetate: Unexpected and Novel Access to Oxaphosphirane

Under the catalysis of Cu(OTf)₂ in refluxing CH₂Cl₂, ethyl α‐dizao α‐(diethylphosphoryl)acetate was shown to undergo a new cyclization reaction to afford a pentacovalent oxaphosphirane product. The reaction is proposed to occur through the addition of the P=O double bond to the copper carbenoid, followed by the hydrolysis of the ylide intermediate. Our finding represents the first example on producing oxaphosphiranes from dizao phosphoryl compounds. On the other hand, the corresponding rhodium carbenoid displayed the different reactivity under the same thermal conditions, to produce the β‐propiolactone through the well‐recognized C‐H insertion pathway.     

Nanoparticle-DNA conjugates bearing a specific number of short DNA strands by enzymatic manipulation of nanoparticle-bound DNA

Self-assembling of metallic nanoparticles to form well-defined nanostructured structures is a field that has been receiving considerable research interest in recent years. In this field, DNA is a commonly used linker molecule to direct the assembly of the nanoscale building blocks because of its unique recognition capabilities, mechanical rigidity, and physicochemical stability. This study reported our novel approach to generate gold nanoparticle-DNA conjugates bearing specially designed DNA linker molecules that can be used as building blocks to construct nanoassemblies with precisely controlled structure or as nanoprobes for quantitative DNA sequence detection analysis. In our approach, gold nanoparticle-DNA conjugates bearing a specific number of long double-stranded DNA strands were prepared by gel electrophoresis. A restriction endonuclease enzyme was then used to manipulate the length of the nanoparticle-bound DNA. This enzymatic cleavage was confirmed by gel electrophoresis, and digestion efficiency of 90% or more was achieved. With this approach, nanoparticle conjugates bearing a specific number of strands of short DNA with less than 20-base can be achieved.     

The scheduling of deliveries in a production-distribution system with multiple buyers

In a real production and distribution business environment with one supplier and multiple heterogeneous buyers, the differences in buyers’ ordering cycles have influence on production arrangements. Consequently, the average inventory level (AIL) at the supplier’s end is affected by both the production policy and the ordering policy, typically by the scheduling of deliveries. Consequently, the average inventory holding cost is most deeply affected. In this paper, it is proposed that the scheduling of deliveries be formulated as a decision problem to determine the time point at which deliveries are made to buyers in order to minimize the supplier’s average inventory. A formulation of the average inventory level (AIL) in a production cycle at the supplier’s end using a lot-for-lot policy is developed. Under the lot-for-lot policy, the scheduling of deliveries (SP) is formulated as a nonlinear programming model used to determine the first delivery point for each buyer with an objective to minimize the sum of the product of the individual demand quantity and the first delivery time for each buyer. Thus, the SP model determines not only the sequence of the first deliveries to individual buyers, but also the time when the deliveries are made. An iterative heuristic procedure (IHP) is developed to solve the SP model assuming a given sequence of buyers. Six sequence rules are considered and evaluated via simulation.     

Molecular thermodynamics approach for polymer-polymer miscibility

We extended the previous lattice model for polymer solution systems to binary polymer blend systems. Based on Müller’s Monte-Carlo simulation data for symmetric system (r₁ = 32 and r₂ = 32), the energy of mixing is correlated as a function of temperature and composition using an empirical expression. In addition, we introduce new universal functions which reflect the characteristics of polymer-polymer miscibility behaviors. In associated blend systems, specific interactions between polymer segments are considered by using a secondary lattice. Using only one or two adjustable parameters, the proposed model satisfactory correlates the experimental data of real polymer blend systems with greater accuracy than those of other models.     

Instanton vacuum in thermal QCD

The effects of instanton-anti-instanton interactions in high-temperature QCD with colour SU(2) are studied with and without quarks. The instanton potential proves to have no repulsive core, thus creating troubles with the definition of nonperturbative contributions to physical quantities. Also the chiral condensate is calculated, and it is shown to vanish if number of quark flavoursN _f≧2, whereas forN _f=1 it is nonzero for the arbitrary high temperature.     

Structural-phase transition and electrical conductivity in tin-modified zirconium titanate

The structural phase transition in tin-modified zirconium titanate was investigated using high-temperature X-ray, DTA, DSC and electrical conductivity. In a dilute solid solution of Sn (x 0.2) in Zr_1−xSn_xTiO₄, we ascribed to the successive phase transition from normal to incommensurate the break of electrical conductivity, thermal anomalies, and specific heat anomalies occurring at temperatures of 1121 °C, 1124 °C and 1125 °C on the heating run, and at temperatures of 1121 °C, 1116 °C and 1117 °C on the cooling run, respectively. Furthermore, the super-lattice reflection intensity was inversely proportional to the Sn content, cooling rate and electrical activation energy. With a composition of Zr_0.8Sn_0.2TiO₄, the phase transition from normal to incommensurate was completely inhibited.     

Application of Preconditioned GMRES Algorithm for Analysis of Millimeter Wave Ferrite Sphere Circulators

The generalized minimal residual (GMRES) iterative method is applied to solve such sparse large non-symmetric system of linear equations resulting from the use of edge-based finite element method. In order to speed up the convergence of GMRES, the symmetric successive overrelaxation (SSOR) preconditioning scheme is applied for the analysis of millimeter wave ferrite circulator. Consequently, this preconditioned GMRES (PGMRES) approach can reach convergence ten times faster than GMRES. The reflection and insertion losses of millimeter wave waveguide circulator are compared with those obtained from literature.     

Investigation of Waveguide Y-Junction Circulator with a Triangular Ferrite Post

An H-plane waveguide Y-junction circulator with a triangular ferrite post is investigated by a modified analysis of jointly resonance theory and simple field theory. Good agreement between the theoretical obtained performances and experimental results is observed. The circulator exhibits a very low insertion loss and a wide bandwidth.