Addition–fragmentation chain transfer: Molecular weight distributions and retardation in the system methyl methacrylate/methyl α‐(bromomethyl)acrylate

A detailed investigation of addition–fragmentation chain transfer (AFCT) in the free‐radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of methyl α‐(bromomethyl)acrylate (MBMA) was carried out to elucidate mechanistic details with efficient macromonomer synthesis as an underlying goal. Advanced modeling techniques were used in connection with the experimental work. Curve fitting of simulated and experimental molecular weight distributions with respect to the rate coefficient for addition of propagating radicals to MBMA (k_add) over 60–120 °C resulted in E_add = 21.7 kJ mol^?1 and A_add = 2.18 × 10⁶ M^?1 s^?1 and a very weak temperature dependence of the chain‐transfer constant (E_add ≈ E_p). The rate coefficient for fragmentation of adduct radicals at 60 °C was estimated as k_f ≈ 39 s^?1 on the basis of experimental data of the MMA conversion and the concentration of 2‐carbomethoxy‐2‐propenyl end groups. The approach developed is generic and can be applied to any AFCT system in which copolymerization does not occur and in which the resulting unsaturated end groups do not undergo further reactions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2640–2650, 2004     

Radioactive Tracer Study of the Displacement of Iodine Adatoms from Platinized Platinum Electrode by Carbon Monoxide

Radioactive tracer studies confirm the earlier electrochemical results that carbon monoxide can virtually completely displace iodine adatoms. For the first time, it is found that iodine adatoms are not displaced by carbon monoxide when iodide anions are adsorbed in the presence of an upd silver monolayer. The possible reasons for the effect observed are discussed.     

Peculiarities of Adsorption of Some Polar Substances from Vapor Phase on a Microporous Clay Adsorbent

The adsorption of polar organic substances (methanol, pyridine, and acetonitrile) and water was studied from the vapor phase on microporous adsorbent prepared by the substitution of polyhydroxyaluminum ions for the sodium ions of natural montmorillonite clay. The differential isosteric heats of adsorption of these substances were calculated and analyzed in a wide range of fillings.     

Optimization of Mass Transfer Processes in the Zone of the Air Electrode of a Fuel Cell with a Solid Polymer Electrolyte

A two-dimensional mathematical model for the transport of reactants in a fuel cell with a solid polymer electrolyte is developed. The model is used for analyzing spatial distributions of the concentration of reactants and current density over the cell. The effect of the catalytic-layer activity, reactant speed, bipolar-plate geometry, thickness and porosity of current collector and/or gas-diffusion sublayer, and the reaction mixture composition on the fuel cell efficiency is estimated theoretically and experimentally.     

Augmented Lagrangian Algorithms Based on the Spectral Projected Gradient Method for Solving Nonlinear Programming Problems

The spectral projected gradient method SPG is an algorithm for large-scale bound-constrained optimization introduced recently by Birgin, Martínez, and Raydan. It is based on the Raydan unconstrained generalization of the Barzilai-Borwein method for quadratics. The SPG algorithm turned out to be surprisingly effective for solving many large-scale minimization problems with box constraints. Therefore, it is natural to test its perfomance for solving the sub-problems that appear in nonlinear programming methods based on augmented Lagrangians. In this work, augmented Lagrangian methods which use SPG as the underlying convex-constraint solver are introduced (ALSPG) and the methods are tested in two sets of problems. First, a meaningful subset of large-scale nonlinearly constrained problems of the CUTE collection is solved and compared with the perfomance of LANCELOT. Second, a family of location problems in the minimax formulation is solved against the package FFSQP.     

Optimality Conditions and Geometric Properties of a Linear Multilevel Programming Problem with Dominated Objective Functions

In this paper, a model of a linear multilevel programming problem with dominated objective functions (LMPPD(l)) is proposed, where multiple reactions of the lower levels do not lead to any uncertainty in the upper-level decision making. Under the assumption that the constrained set is nonempty and bounded, a necessary optimality condition is obtained. Two types of geometric properties of the solution sets are studied. It is demonstrated that the feasible set of LMPPD(l) is neither necessarily composed of faces of the constrained set nor necessarily connected. These properties are different from the existing theoretical results for linear multilevel programming problems.     

John Hawkes (1944-2001)

In his curriculum vitae, John Hawkes lists his research interestsas geometric measure theory, probability (Lévy processes),and potential theory (probabilistic). In fact, he made significantcontributions to all three areas, and there are strong relationshipsbetween them. He used both geometric measure theory and potentialtheory as tools for his study of the trajectories of particularLévy processes, but in many cases he needed to developthe tool before it was ready to be used. We will summarise hisresearch later, but first we discuss what is known of his lifehistory.     

A note on a generalized Douglas space

Periodica Mathematica Hungarica -