Physicochemical studies on hydrophobic PEO‐PPO‐PEO triblock copolymer micelles in SDS micellar environment

The shape, size, aggregation, hydration, and correlation times of water insoluble PEO‐PPO‐PEO triblock copolymer micelles with sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) micelles were investigated using transport studies and dynamic light scattering technique. From the conductance of micellar solutions of the polymer in 25 mM SDS and 5 mM NaCl, the hydration of polymer micelles were determined using the principle of obstruction of electrolyte migration by the polymer. The asymmetry of the micellar particles of polymer and polymer‐SDS mixed micellar systems in 5 mM NaCl and their average axial ratios were calculated using intrinsic viscosity and hydration data obeying Simha–Einstein equation. Hydration number and micellar sizes were variable with temperature. The shape of the polymer micelles has been ellipsoidal rather than spherical. The micellar volume, hydrodynamic radius, radius of gyration, diffusional coefficients as well as translational, rotational and effective correlation times have been calculated from the absolute values of the axes. The partial molal volume of polymer micelles has also been determined and its comparison with the molar volume of pure polymer suggested a volume contraction due to immobilization of the water phase by the hydrophilic head groups of the polymer. The thermodynamic activation parameters for viscous flow favor a more ordered water structure around polymer micelles at higher temperatures. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2410–2420, 2007     

Mittlere Schwingungsamplituden von OTeF 5 −

Summary Mean amplitudes of vibration for OTeF ₅ ^– have been calculated from known spectroscopic and structural data in a wide temperature range. The results are briefly discussed in comparison with those of related species.

     

Time dependent analysis of finite buffer fluid flows and risk models with a dividend barrier

Based on the matrix-analytic approach to fluid flows initiated by Ramaswami, we develop an efficient time dependent analysis for a general Markov modulated fluid flow model with a finite buffer and an arbitrary initial fluid level at time 0. We also apply this to an insurance risk model with a dividend barrier and a general Markovian arrival process of claims with possible dependencies in successive inter-claim intervals and in claim sizes. We demonstrate the implementability and accuracy of our algorithms through a set of numerical examples that could also serve as test cases for comparing other solution approaches.      

Sur quelques problèmes de probabilités géométriques pour des réseaux irréguliers dans l'espace euclidienE 2 etE n

Dans ce travail on détermine quelques probabilités géométriques concernant des réseaux irréguliers dans le plan euclidienE ₂ et dans l'espace euclidienE _n . Les propriétés généralisent certains résultats de Buffon, Deltheil et Stoka. Travail effectué avec l'aide du MURST (40%, 60%).     

DTA and X-ray diffraction investigations of laser-irradiated CeO2 powders

The TG and DTA curves and diffractograms of powdered CeO₂ samples irradiated with a CO₂ laser beam with powers of 0.41–1.39 kW/cm² are presented. The laser treatment induced structural changes and probably generation of a metastable phase. X-ray diffraction coupled with thermal analysis was used to establish the structural modifications in the irradiated samples after heating.     

A bicontinuous structure in some systems with cubic mesophases

A cubic structure of polymer colloid complexes is studied. The technique of the research includes i) an analysis of well-known literature SAXS data; on this basis, ii) constructing a simple model to estimate geometric structure parameters and to obtain a simulated scattering curve; and iii) comparing the model with the real structure obtained from the SAXS data, using the reconstruction of electron density distribution. A bicontinuous structure in cubic mesophases is formed. Dedicated to the memory of Alexander T. Dembo     

Simple vertices of maximal minor polytopes

Themaximal minor polytope Π _{m, n} is the Newton polytope of the product of all maximal minors of anm×n matrix of indeterminates. The family of polytopes {Π _{m, n} } interpolates between the symmetric transportation polytope (form=n−1) and the permutohedron (form=2). Both transportation polytope and the permutohedron aresimple polytopes but in general Π _{m, n} is not simple. The main result of this paper is an explicit construction of a class of simple vertices of Π _{m, n} for generalm andn. We call themvertices of diagonal type. For every such vertexv we explicitly describe all the edges and facets of Π _{m, n} which containv. Simple vertices of Π _{m, n} have an interesting algebro-geometric application: they correspond tononsingular extreme toric degenerations of the determinantal variety ofm×n matrices not of full rank. Andrei Zelevinsky was partially supported by the NSF under Grant DMS-9104867.     

The high‐pressure form of cadmium vanadate,CdV2O6

The crystal structure of a new high‐pressure modification of cadmium divanadium hexaoxide, CdV₂O₆, was refined from X‐ray single‐crystal data. It contains zigzag chains of edge‐sharing VO₆ octahedra. Octahedra in adjacent chains share corners and form corrugated layers. Octahedrally coordinated Cd atoms, which lie on twofold axes, are situated between the layers. The columbite‐like structure results in a strong distortion of the CdO₆ octahedra which may be stabilized only at high pressure.