Miscibility of bisphenol-A polycarbonate with poly(methyl methacrylate)

The miscibility of bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC) with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been reexamined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical indications for phase separation on heating, i.e., lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. Various methods have been used to prepare the blends including methylene chloride (CH₂Cl₂) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution casting, melt mixing, and precipitation of PC and PMMA simultaneously from THF solution by using the nonsolvents methanol and heptane. It is shown that the resulting phase behavior for PC/PMMA blends is strongly affected by the blend preparation method. However, these blends are miscible over the whole blend composition range (unambiguous single composition-dependent T_g's and LCST behavior) when prepared by precipitation from solution using heptane as the nonsolvent. To the contrary, solution-cast and melt-mixed PC/PMMA blends were all phase separated, which may be attributed to the “solvent” effect and LCST behavior, respectively, not discovered in previous reports. Methanol precipitation does not lead to fully mixed blends, which demonstrates the importance of the choice of nonsolvent when using the precipitation method.     

High-temperature expansions to fifteenth order

High-temperature series expansions of the susceptibility and second moment to 15th order are calculated for zero external field on the linear chain (LC), plane square (PSQ), simple cubic (SC), and body-centered cubic (BCC) lattices. Checks for specific models against pertinent work in the literature are detailed.     

Vibrational spectra and ab initio computations of sarcosinium oxalate monohydrate

Single crystals of sarcosinium oxalate monohydrate (SOM) are grown by the slow-evaporation technique at ambient temperature, and vibrational spectroscopic analysis is carried out using NIR-FT Raman, FT-IR, and SERS spectra. The normal mode frequencies and corresponding vibrational analysis of SOM are examined theoretically using the Gaussian’98 set of quantum chemical codes. The two bands present in the SOM ν C=O region, clearly observed in the Raman spectrum, are assigned to “free” and “bonded” carbonyl groups with the hydrogen atom. Vibrational analysis indicates the presence of C-H—O hydrogen bonding interaction producing a blueshift of the C-H stretching frequency.     

Projective geometry and special relativity

Some concepts of real and complex projective geometry are applied to the fundamental physical notions that relate to Minkowski space and the Lorentz group. In particular, it is shown that the transition from an infinite speed of propagation for light waves to a finite one entails the replacement of a hyperplane at infinity with a light cone and the replacement of an affine hyperplane – or rest space – with a proper time hyperboloid. The transition from the metric theory of electromagnetism to the pre‐metric theory is discussed in the context of complex projective geometry, and ultimately, it is proposed that the geometrical issues are more general than electromagnetism, namely, they pertain to the transition from point mechanics to wave mechanics.     

Semi‐analytical integration of the 8‐node plane element stiffness matrix using symbolic computation

The semi‐analytical integration of an 8‐node plane strain finite element stiffness matrix is presented in this work. The element is assumed to be super‐parametric, having straight sides. Before carrying out the integration, the integral expressions are classified into several groups, thus avoiding duplication of calculations. Symbolic manipulation and integration is used to obtain the basic formulae to evaluate the stiffness matrix. Then, the resulting expressions are postprocessed, optimized, and simplified in order to reduce the computation time. Maple symbolic‐manipulation software was used to generate the closed expressions and to develop the corresponding Fortran code. Comparisons between semi‐analytical integration and numerical integration were made. It was demonstrated that semi‐analytical integration required less CPU time than conventional numerical integration (using Gaussian‐Legendre quadrature) to obtain the stiffness matrix. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2006     

Co-Segregation Effects on Boundary Migration

We analyze the effect of co-segregation on the mobility of grain boundaries within the framework of the impurity drag theory originally proposed by Cahn and Lücke and Stüwe for an ideal solution. The new derivation extends this model to the case where there are two types of impurities (or three components in the alloy). Since the resultant expression for the boundary mobility is complicated, numerical solutions were obtained for several cases to show how co-segregation affects the boundary mobility. Depending on the relative diffusivities of the two impurities which are both attracted to the boundary, the mobility may either increase or decrease with increasing concentration of one of the impurities. When one of the impurities is attracted to the boundary and the other repelled from the boundary, increasing the concentration of the attractive impurity can lead to a sharp decrease in the boundary mobility.     

Analytic Properties of the Transition Admittance of an Infinite Plate in a medium and the Regularization of Boundary-Contact Integrals in Acoustics

A condition for regularization of boundary-contact integrals in two-dimensional problems of acoustics is considered. With an example of the simplest boundary-contact problem of acoustics, it is shown that a known sufficient condition for regularization is also a necessary one. The study of analytic properties of the transition admittance of an infinite plate that is in contact with a medium is conducted in order to obtain this statement. The considerations are carried out in general terms. The results obtained may be used in arbitrary models of plate theory, and they also may be adapted to boundary-contact problems of another physical nature. Bibliography: 9 titles.     

High energy asymptotics of the scattering amplitude for the Schrödinger equation

We find an explicit function approximating at high energies the kernel of the scattering matrix with arbitrary accuracy. Moreover, the same function gives all diagonal singularities of the kernel of the scattering matrix in the angular variables. This paper is dedicated to Jean-Michel Combes on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.