A quality criterion for visual tracking during nystagmus

The aim of this study is to construct a quantitative characteristic for the degree of gaze stabilization on a visual target with consideration of physiological constraints. A quality criterion for visual tracking during optokinetic vestibulocervical nystagmus is proposed. The index of imaginary tracking during rotation in the dark allows one to speak of a difference in the image stabilization quality between a healthy person and a patient. Experimental nystagmus data are used to calculate the quality index of visual tracking and the index of imaginary tracking.     

Buckling of a stiff thin film on a compliant substrate in large deformation

A finite-deformation theory is developed to study the mechanics of thin buckled films on compliant substrates. Perturbation analysis is performed for this highly nonlinear system to obtain the analytical solution. The results agree well with experiments and finite element analysis in wavelength and amplitude. In particular, it is found that the wavelength depends on the strain. Based on the accurate wavelength and amplitude, the membrane and peak strains in thin films, and stretchability and compressibility of the system are also obtained analytically.     

Structural hierarchy of rock masses and the mechanisms of its formation

The formation mechanisms for the structural hierarchy in geological media are discussed. It is shown that the formation of such a hierarchy is caused by certain external and internal circumstances. The first ones consist in the fact that, because of external actions, the Earth’s poles continuously execute the translational and rotational motions responsible for a regular structure of rock fracture and for the appearance of the scale factor √2. The second ones consist in the fact that, under the action of many random factors and because of external actions, during the formation of geological media there appear dissipative structures and, hence, some self-similar fractal structures are formed.     

Chlorination of aromatic substrates catalyzed by the phthalocyanine complexes

The chlorination of benzene, toluene, and o-xylene with molecular chlorine in the presence of the phthalocyanine complexes of different structures was studied. The transformations of the catalysts during the reaction were investigated. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1644–1647, August, 2008.     

New approach to processing of chlorine-containing wastes: Synthesis of 2,3-dichloropropene from 1,2,3-trichloropropane

Possibilities of utilization of by-products formed in manufacture of epichlorohydrin are considered. A promising way to utilize wastes from production of epichlorohydrin by synthesis of 2,3-dichloropropene from 1,2,3-trichloropropane is suggested.     

Influence of the composition of the polymer matrix on the electrooptical properties of films with a dispersed liquid crystal

Polymer films with a dispersed liquid crystal were prepared by photopolymerization of (meth)acrylic monomers. The electrooptical properties of these films were studied. The influence exerted by the composition of the monomer mixture, cross-linking agents, and chain-transfer agent on the liquid crystal drop size and on the transmission of the polymer-liquid crystal films was examined.     

Study of the dynamic structure factor of strong glasses

The dynamic structure factors (DSFs) of several strong glasses (SF6, SF10, BK7, SUPRASIL) measured by Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy are reported. Spectra have been collected, at and above room temperature, at two scattering angles, θ=90° and θ=180° corresponding to exchanged wavevector q values ranging from 0.0256 to 0.0448 nm⁻¹. In particular we find that the isotropic spectral lineshapes are in all cases well described by the simple hydrodynamic theory of an amorphous solid. The width of the Brillouin peaks are found to be consistent with the predicted q² dependence at both investigated temperatures. This damping is however found to account only partially for the strong asymmetry of the Brillouin line clearly visible on a logarithmic intensity scale. As a matter of fact there is an excess intensity in the very low frequency plateau underlying the central component. The height of this plateau and hence the entire lineshape is well reproduced if a relaxation process is taken into account in the hydrodynamic equations. Owing to the intense elastic scattering we are able to determine unambiguously only the ratio between amplitude and characteristic time of this process which quantifies the sound dispersion to be of the order of a few percent in all samples. The temperature dependence of the parameters indicates that this relaxation cannot be attributed to thermally activated relaxation phenomena. These general findings favorably compare with molecular dynamics simulation results on similar systems.     

Electrohydrodynamic instability in some nematic cyanobiphenyls in an a.c. electric field

Electrohydrodynamic instability in homeotropically oriented nematic samples of 4'-n-octyl-4-cyano-biphenyl and 4'n-alkyloxy-4-cyanobiphenyl, (n = 8.9) have been studied in an a.c. electric field. The domain patterns during the instability in these compounds in a very low frequency a.c. field are very similar to those in a d.c. field. The domain patterns observed at higher frequencies have been identified as 'maltese crosses' or 'crossed isogyres'. The electro-convective 'isotropic' flows near the electrode play an important role in the observed instability.     

Combined supercritical-fluid chromatography/mass spectrometry in the analysis of diuron in plasma using on-line phase-system switching

On-line sample pretreatment by means of the phase-system switching approach is an interesting technique for the analysis of aqueous samples, e.g., plasma, by means of supercritical-fluid chromatography. In order to analyse plasma samples the following analytical procedure is used. The plasma sample is injected on to a short precolumn, which is washed with water and subsequently dried with nitrogen. Next, the solutes are desorbed with the supercritical mobile phase, analysed with packed-column supercritical-fluid chromatography and detected with either a UV detector or a mass spectrometer, equipped with a moving-belt interface. The herbicide diuron is selected as a test compound to study the feasibility of this approach. Using a selective detector the procedure is sufficiently sensitive to detect diuron in plasma, but not appropriate to detect the diuron metabolites in a post-mortem plasma sample. These have been identified with liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The detection limit of diuron in plasma using the procedure described is about 30 ng/mL.