Glass transitions in hydrogen-bonded polymer complexes

Mutual precipitates of poly (N, N-dimethyl acrylamide) and poly (4-hydroxystyrene) were collected from dioxane, methanol, or acetone. The glass transition (T_g) temperatures of the precipitates are higher than the weight-average values. Clear films cast from dimethylformamide solutions have lower T_g values. Complexation also occurred between poly (ethyl oxazoline) and poly (4-hydroxystyrene) in dioxane and between poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) and poly (4-hydroxystyrene) in methanol. Again, the glass transition temperatures of the precipitates are higher than the values for the blend films. The ΔC_p values associated with the glass transitions of the complexes are smaller than those of the blends having the same compositions. Negative excess heat capacities of mixing have been observed for several precipitates.     

Specific high performance liquid chromatographic determination of the molecular weight and concentration of hyaluronic acid in complex mixtures by labelled hyaluronate binding proteins.

A simple High performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the specific determination of the molecular weight and concentration of hyaluronic acid (HA) in complex mixtures has been developed. Hyaluronate-binding proteins isolated from bovine cartilage labelled by 125I or fluoresceinisothiocyanate were used as specific markers. The specific binding affinities of the markers were compared and were found to have association constants of 1.6 x 10(7) M-1 and 1.2 x 10(7) M-1 respectively. The HA levels and molecular weight distributions can be easily determined in the range 10-500 ng/mL in complex mixtures by the use of markers, molecular sieving HPLC columns and appropriate detectors. It has been demonstrated clearly that the method is useful for the highly specific determination of the parameters in complex biological samples such as serum and synovial fluids and is recommended for clinical applications.     

Three-phase model of a chiral quark bag

A three-phase model of a hybrid chiral quark bag is proposed. In addition to the phases of asymptotically free current quarks and of totally colorless mesons, the model contains the intermediate phase of massive constituent quarks. A self-consistent solution with an account for the “Dirac sea” contribution is found in the (1+1)-dimensional case. The dependence of the bag parameters on the parameters of the theory is investigated analytically and numerically. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 117, No. 2, pp. 263–299, November, 1998.     

Dynamics of a polymer chain in an array of obstacles

On the basis of the model “polymer chain in an array of obstacles” the influence of the topology effects on the dynamics of concentrated polymer systems is investigated theoretically. The 1/z-expansion (where z is the coordinational number of the lattice of obstacles) is proposed for this problem. By means of this expansion the diffusion coefficient of a linear unclosed polymer chain is calculated. The equilibrium properties of linear closed chain (i.e. ring) unentangled with either of the edges of the lattice are investigated in detail. In particular, it is shown that the diffusion coefficient D of the center of mass of closed chain consisting of N links is proportional to N^−5/2.     

A multigrid method for predicting periodically fully developed flow

The use of multigrid methods in complex fluid flow problems is still under development. In this paper a full multigrid procedure has been incorporated in a finite volume solution for predicting fully developed fluid flow in a streamwise periodic geometry. Steady computations in two-dimensional body fitted co-ordinates have shown considerable savings in computation time by this multigrid method.     

Raman spectroscopy of carbon fibres

Investigations of coated carbon fibres are reported using Raman spectroscopy. Relationships between different process parameters (for example precursor concentration, reactor temperature and various precursors) and the resulting types of carbon fibres are discussed.     

Raman spectroscopic investigations of the structure and phase transitions of liquid crystalline lead(II) alkanoates

Lead(II) alkanoates with even chain lengths from octanoate to octadecanoate have been investigated by Raman spectroscopy. In the low frequency region, transverse and longitudinal acoustical modes (TAM, LAM) have been assigned. It was shown that LAM-1 is the vibration of the double chain with the node of the vibration in the Pb²⁺ layer. A fully extended conformation of the chains in the low temperature phase was confirmed. The frequencies and intensities of the LAMs as compared with those of the alkanes and the fatty acids led to an estimate of the force constant and polarizability of the Pb²⁺ -COO^- bond relative to the C-C bond. The defects at the chain ends were investigated in the ρ(CH₃) and v(CC) region. For the intermediate (CM) phase, both the Pb²⁺ layer distance reduction and the chain length independent enthalpy contributions can be attributed mainly to defects at the chain ends.     

Surface heating and energy transfer in pulsed microwave catalytic systems: A microwave-induced acoustic study

Since the early demonstrations of our concept of pulsed microwave catalysis in chemistry, we have witnessed the coming of age of the technique as an enabling technology in the industrial world, despite the inadequate understanding of the basic mechanisms of how microwaves interact with metallic surface sites and the subsequent energy transfer. We shall present here some very recent developments of the microwave-induced acoustic technique and its applications to a better understanding of the basic surface heating and energy transfer phenomena in pulsed microwave catalytic systems.