Hydrogel composition based on carboxymethylcellulose and agar-agar

The results are given of a study of the rheological properties of concentrated solutions of CNC and agar-agar and the influence of their quantitative ratio on the anomalous flow behavior of their solutions. A hypothesis is put forward of the formation of intermolecular associates from CMC and agar-agar which leads to the formation of a stronger structural network of solutions of the initial polysaccharides.Institute of the Physics and Chemistry of Polymers, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, fax (371) 1 44 26 61. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 357–361, May–June, 1998.     

Modeling of heat transfer in a melt in growing single crystals by the stockbarger method using the accelerated crucible rotation technique (ACRT)

In model experiments, the layer of melt bounded by the crystallization front and the heater for heating the diaphragm in a growing furnace is shown to determine crystal growth by the Stockbarger method under conditions of induced convection and also to control the crystallization process. The free volume of the melt exerts no effect on its hydrodynamic and thermal structures. Optimum values of the exposure time are estimated for constant maximum and minimum velocities of modulated rotation of the growing ampoule. Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 98–104, January–February, 1998.     

A new interpretation of quantum mechanics and its consequences in epistemology

A rather recent interpretation of quantum mechanics, known under the various names of consistent histories, decohering histories, or logical interpretation, has brought interpretation into a standard deductive theory and is now investigated in many places. A key difference with the Copenhagen interpretation is the status of classical physics, now derived completely from quantum principles in both its dynamical and logical aspects. After describing briefly this new interpretation in its essentials, leaving aside technical details, it is shown how its consequences in epistemology differ drastically from the familiar outcomes of the Copenhagen interpretation, leading in particular to a well-defined theory of knowledge. Some more speculative philosophical consequences associated with the unsolved problem of actuality are also mentioned.     

Circulatory flow in the inter-jet zone of a system of free turbulent jets

Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, No. 4, pp. 97–99, July–August, 1993.     

Simulation of attenuation of millimeter radio waves in dry snowfalls

Attenuation of millimeter waves in dry snowfalls is numerically simulated with allowance for the actual shape of snowflakes. It is shown that for moderate-intensity snowfalls the values of attenuation cross-sections averaged over the snowflake orientations are well approximated by power-law function depending on the equivalent diameter of the snowflakes. This allows us to obtain an analytical expression for the attenuation coefficient of a plane electromagnetic wave by snowfall for size distributions of particles of the gamma-distribution type and its modifications. Radiophysical Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 446–455, April, 1998.     

Chaotic synchronization as an information process

The chaotic synchronization phenomenon is studied from the information point of view. Synchronization of a chaos receiver by a chaos source is considered as copy recovery of the chaotic signal transmitted by the source. The main idea of this paper is to show that the necessary condition of chaotic synchronization is not the level of physical action of one system on another but the transmission of a certain volume of information on the chaotic process and, therefore, the capacity of the “communication channel” between the source and the receiver. This work was presented at the Summer Workshop “Dynamic Days” (Nizhny Novgorod, June 30–July 2, 1998). Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 41, No. 12, pp. 1497–1509, December, 1998.     

Critical thickness and stress relaxation in YBaCuO (123) strained epitaxial layers and YBaCuO based strained superlattices

An energy model has been used to calculate the critical thickness h _c of YBaCuO thin films and YBaCuO based superlattices within an isotropic or anisotropic approximation. The critical thickness of single layers calculated from the anisotropic model (16 nm) is in good agreement with the previously published experimental values which are spread out from 4 to 20 nm. In the case of superlattices, relaxation appears to be governed by the critical thickness of the elementary sub-layers and is then better evaluated through the calculation performed for YBaCuO single layers. XRD measurements on YBa₂Cu₃O₇/PrBa₂Cu_3?xGa_xO₇ superlattices grown on {100{ SrTiO₃ have evidenced a tetragonal stress in the YBaCuO ab plane which remains expanded when the YBaCuO elementary layer thickness is lower than 4.8 nm (4 YBaCuO cells). However the critical temperature of the shortest period superlattices is only slightly affected by this expanded stress in contrast to the effect of an elastic stress externally applied along the ab plane of YBaCuO thin films.