A new insight into the understanding of the collapsed form of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules

Possible collapsed forms of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules are reviewed on the basis of first principle calculations. Various configurations and associated conformations are detailed. The calculated optimized structures exhibit different possibilities of creating networks of intra-molecular bonds of the hydrogen type. We show that the most remarkable one is able to form a local, self-saturated and well ordered helix. We also indicate in which direction the synthesis of the molecule should be oriented to improve its global behavior in term of hydrophobic/hydrophilic behavior.     

Semigroups of matrices of intermediate growth

Finitely generated linear semigroups over a field K that have intermediate growth are considered. New classes of such semigroups are found and a conjecture on the equivalence of the subexponential growth of a finitely generated linear semigroup S and the nonexistence of free noncommutative subsemigroups in S, or equivalently the existence of a nontrivial identity satisfied in S, is stated. This ‘growth alternative’ conjecture is proved for linear semigroups of degree 2, 3 or 4. Certain results supporting the general conjecture are obtained. As the main tool, a new combinatorial property of groups is introduced and studied.     

Two crystals of doubly protonated melaminium salts: melaminium bis­(trifluoro­acetate) trihydrate and melaminium bis­(trichloro­acetate) dihydrate

Crystals of 2,4,6‐triamino‐1,3,5‐triazine‐1,3‐dium bis­(trifluoro­acetate) trihydrate, C₃H₈N₆²⁺·2CF₃COO⁻·3H₂O, and 2,4,6‐triamino‐1,3,5‐triazine‐1,3‐dium bis­(trichloro­acetate) dihydrate, C₃H₈N₆²⁺·2CCl₃COO⁻·2H₂O, both contain doubly protonated melamine rings that lie on crystallographic twofold axes. In the former structure, one water mol­ecule also lies on a twofold axis. While the trifluoro­acetate compound crystallizes in a centrosymmetric space group, the trichloro­acetate is non‐centrosymmetric, so it is useful as a material for non‐linear optics. The efficiency of second harmonic generation is about three times greater than that of KDP (KH₂PO₄). A combination of ionic and donor–acceptor hydrogen‐bond inter­actions link the melaminium(2+) residues with trifluoro­acetate or trichloro­acetate ions and water mol­ecules to form a three‐dimensional network.     

“Slow” active control of combustion instabilities by modification of liquid fuel spray properties

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the feasibility of using “slow” active control approaches, which “instantaneously” change liquid fuel spray properties, to suppress combustion instabilities. The objective of this control approach was to break up the feedback between the combustion process heat release and combustor pressure oscillations that drive the instability by changing the characteristics of the combustion process (e.g., the characteristic combustion time). To demonstrate the feasibility of such control, this study used a proprietary fuel injector (Nanomiser^TM), which can vary its fuel spray properties, to investigate the dependence of acoustics–combustion process coupling, i.e., the driving of combustion instabilities, upon the fuel spray properties. This study showed that by changing the spray characteristics it is possible to significantly damp combustion instabilities. Furthermore, using combustion zone chemiluminescence distributions, which were obtained by Abel’s deconvolution synchronized with measured acoustic data, it has been shown that the instabilities were mostly driven midway between the combustor centerline and wall, a short distance downstream from the flame holder, where the mean axial flow velocity is approximately zero in the vortex near the flame holder. The results of this study strongly suggest that a “slow” active control system that employs controllable fuel injectors could be effectively used to prevent the onset of detrimental combustion instabilities.     

Risk management of a bond portfolio using options

In this paper, we elaborate a formula for determining the optimal strike price for a bond put option, used to hedge a position in a bond. This strike price is optimal in the sense that it minimizes, for a given budget, either Value-at-Risk or Tail Value-at-Risk. Formulas are derived for both zero-coupon and coupon bonds, which can also be understood as a portfolio of bonds. These formulas are valid for any short rate model that implies an affine term structure model and in particular that implies a lognormal distribution of future zero-coupon bond prices. As an application, we focus on the Hull-White one-factor model, which is calibrated to a set of cap prices. We illustrate our procedure by hedging a Belgian government bond, and take into account the possibility of divergence between theoretical option prices and real option prices. This paper can be seen as an extension of the work of Ahn and co-workers [Ahn, D., Boudoukh, J., Richardson, M., Whitelaw, R., 1999. Optimal risk management using options. J. Financ. 54, 359-375], who consider the same problem for an investment in a share.     

Dynamic response of permalloy/Cu/Co magnetoresistive sandwiches

The dynamic response of trilayer magnetoresistive permalloy/Cu/Co films was studied by high-frequency permeability spectra measurements. The resonance frequency is shown to depend on the interlayer copper thickness. This dependence is related to exchange coupling between permalloy and cobalt and the interaction field is estimated using the Landau–Lifschitz–Gilbert model.     

Photoreactions of benzonitrile with cyclic enol ethers

Upon irradiation, cyclic enol ethers such as 1-methoxy-cyclopentene (4) mainly add across the cyano group of benzonitrile (1), under formation of 2-azabutadienes of an imidoester type. This is in agreement with the so-called Δ G-correlation which was reported earlier (ref. 5 and 6). 4-Phenyloxazole (9) is formed from 1 and 1,3-dioxole (5) probably by a similar photochemical process followed by electrocyclic ring opening and hydrolysis. The low yield of the latter photoreaction and the almost exergonic electron transfer between 5 and 1 may point to back electron transfer as the main energy wasting process. From 1 and 2,3-dihydrido-furan (2) only the ortho cycloadduct 6 has been isolated in low yields.