Preparation of high molecular weight polybenzoxazine prepolymers containing siloxane unites and properties of their thermosets

High‐molecular‐weight polybenzoxazine prepolymers containing polydimethylsiloane unit in the main‐chain have been synthesized from α,ω‐bis(aminopropyl)polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) (molecular weight = 248, 850, and 1622) and bisphenol‐A with formaldehyde. Moreover, another type of prepolymers was prepared using methylenedianiline (MDA) as codiamine with PDMS. The weight average molecular weight of the obtained prepolymers was estimated from size exclusion chromatography to be in the range of 8000–11,000. The chemical structures of the prepolymers were investigated by ¹H NMR and IR analyses. The prepolymers gave transparent free standing films by casting their dioxane solution. The prepolymer films after thermally cured up to 240 °C gave brown colored transparent and flexible polybenzoxazine films. Tensile test of the films revealed that the elongation at break increased with increasing the molecular weight of PDMS unit. Dynamic mechanical analysis of the thermosets showed that the T_gs were as high as 238–270 °C. The thermosets also revealed high thermal stability as evidenced by the 5% weight loss temperatures in the range of 324–384 °C from thermogravimetic analysis. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

Low temperature deposition of zinc oxide nanoparticles via zinc-rich vapor phase transport and condensation

ZnO nanoparticles as small as 80 nm were successfully synthesized using a modified vapor phase transport (VPT) process at substrate temperatures as low as 222 °C. Particle size distribution and morphology were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate the synthesis of high quality crystalline ZnO structures. Low temperature (4.2 K) photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy was used to characterize the optical quality of the nanoparticles. Ultraviolet emission and a nanostructure specific feature at 3.366 eV are strong in the PL spectra. The 3.366 eV feature is observed to predominate the spectrum with decrease in particle size. This size effect corroborates the luminescence as a nanostructure-specific surface related exciton feature as previously speculated in the literature. In addition, self-assembled ZnO mesoparticles (>100 nm) were realized by increasing the growth time. Low growth temperatures of the particles allow for their potential utilization in flexible organic hybrid optoelectronics. However, this work focuses mainly on the modified synthesis and optical characterization of nanoparticles.     

Free Mutual Information for Two Projections

The present paper provides a proof of \(i^*(\mathbb {C}P+\mathbb {C}(I-P); \mathbb {C}Q+\mathbb {C}(I-Q))=-\chi _{{ orb}}(P,Q)\) for two projections P, Q without any extra assumptions. An analytic approach is adopted to the proof, based on a subordination result for the liberation process of symmetries associated with P, Q.     

Some results about neat reducts

This is a survey article on the concept of neat reducts. An old venerable idea in algebraic logic, in this paper we show why it is regaining momentum.     

Structural,DFT/B3LYP and molecular docking studies of binuclear thiosemicarbazide Copper (II) complexes and their biological investigations

Thiosemicarbazide copper (II) complexes; [Cu₂(HL¹)₂(H₂O)₂Cl₂].H₂O (1) and [Cu₂(HL²)₂(H₂O)₂Cl₂].2H₂O (2) (where H₂L¹ = 2-picolinoyl-N-(pyridin-2-yl)hydrazine-1-carbothioamide and H₂L² = 2-(2-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)acetyl)-N-(pyridin-2-yl)hydrazine-1-carbothioamide) have been synthesized and characterized. Analytical and spectroscopic data revealed that ligands behaves as monobasic tetradentate with octahedral geometry. In addition, the optimized geometry of the ligands and their complexes was approved with the Jaguar 9.1 program in the Schrödinger set using DFT (density functional theory) to predict chemical processes and to estimate the properties of the material made by the hybrid functional density system B3LYP. Furthermore, the thermal degradation curves of complexes were discussed in order to determine the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters by various approaches. Additionally, the antioxidant (using the DPPH and SOD methods) and the antibacterial potency of the compounds were examined. Also, docking study of ligands and their complexes was carried out against Staphylococcus aureus gram +ve, gram -ve bacterial strains of Escherichia coli and Candida albicans using the XP glide protocol of Schrödinger suite.     

Electronic Simulation of Neutronic Transient Studies for PWR-900 MW(e)

To study different functionalities of the PWR-900 MW(e) reactor core, an electronic model of Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Enfesied (PSPICE) for electronic circuit design was adopted to model the mathematical models. A classical breadboard electronically simulates the physical terminal characteristics of each network. The electronic simulator, parity simulator, for reactor core can simulate six-delayed neutron groups, single prompt neutron, neutron source, fuel channel, the coolant, reactor poisons, temperature feedback, control rods, safety rods, and boron injection. Positive/negative step or sin reactivity functions are two case studies were analyzed. The obtained results were found to be in a good agreement with the available data of El-Dabaa PWR 900 MW(e) basic simulator.     

On pricing and reserving with-profits life insurance contracts

As a first approximation, asset and liability management issues faced by life insurance companies originate from the sale of with-profits contracts. These contracts are bond-type products with several rate guarantees and other interestsensitive embedded options. Benefits paid out to policyholders mostly depend on the investment performance of a given asset portfolio in which premiums are invested. Thus, guarantees and options granted to policyholders may become effective when the investment performance of the asset portfolio is poor. Issuing a with-profits contract is therefore not equivalent to issuing plain-vanilla debt. The purpose of this paper is to value with-profits liabilities in a consistent option-pricing framework and to develop efficient asset or liability strategies to manage profitability and variability of shareholder value.     

Strategic workforce planning for the Australian Defence Force

This paper presents a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to aid in planning a large, hierarchically structured workforce. The workforce (eg, all Army commissioned officers) is classified by occupational group and rank and modelled in yearly intervals. Personnel and their movements are modelled as stocks and flows, subject to constraints representing employment conditions and resource limitations. The task is to estimate personnel numbers and flows so as to minimize a composite cost function. The model’s detailed fidelity to actual conditions, and hence its value in practice, clearly exceed previous efforts in the workforce planning domain. To overcome computational challenges that arose when an MILP solver was applied directly, the authors developed an iterative solution approach, which has yielded an attractive combination of solution quality and computational performance.     

Weakly representable atom structures that are not strongly representable,with an application to first order logic

Letn > 2. A weakly representable relation algebra that is not strongly representable is constructed. It is proved that the set of all n by n basic matrices forms a cylindric basis that is also a weakly but not a strongly representable atom structure. This gives an example of a binary generated atomic representable cylindric algebra with no complete representation. An application to first order logic is given. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

High‐molecular‐weight AB‐type benzoxazines as new precursors for high‐performance thermosets

Novel high‐molecular‐weight polybenzoxazine precursors, namely AB‐type benzoxazine precursors, were synthesized from aminophenols and formaldehyde. Both ¹H NMR and IR confirmed the structure of the precursors, indicating the presence of a cyclic benzoxazine structure in the backbone of the precursors. The weight‐average molecular weight was estimated by size exclusion chromatography to be to in the range of 1300–4500. The precursors gave self‐standing thin films when their solutions were cast in dioxane over glass plates and dried, and upon a gradual thermal cure up to 250 °C, they afforded polybenzoxazine films. The viscoelastic analyses showed that the glass transition temperatures of the polybenzoxazine films obtained from these novel precursors were as high as 260–300 °C. Thermogravimetric analysis results indicated that the onset of decomposition and the char yield of the thermosets derived from these AB‐type precursors were higher than those of traditional polybenzoxazine. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 1878–1888, 2007.