Surface free energies of electroless Ni–P based composite coatings

Surface free energy of a solid surface gives a direct measure of intermolecular interactions at interfaces and has a strong influence on adsorption and adhesion behaviour. However few data are available for the surface free energies of electroless Ni–P based composition coatings. In this paper, the electroless Ni–P, Ni–P-surfactant, Ni–Cu–P, Ni–P–PTFE and Ni–Cu–P–PTFE composite coatings were prepared under various coating conditions. The chemical compositions, surface morphology and thickness of the coatings were measured using an energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a digital micrometer respectively. The contact angles of water, diiodomethane and ethylene glycol on the coatings were measured automatically using dataphysics OCA-20 contact angle analyser. The surface free energy of the coatings and their components (e.g. dispersion, polar or acid/base portions) were calculated using various methods. The experimental results showed that the incorporation of surfactant or PTFE particles into Ni–P matrixes has a significant influence on the surface free energy of the coatings, while the incorporation of copper into Ni–P matrixes has no significant influence on the surface free energy of the coatings.     

Generalized Darboux transform in the Ishimori magnet model on the background of spiral structures

The integration procedure based on the generalized Darboux transform is suggested for the Ishimori magnet model. Exact solutions are constructed for the model on the background of spiral structures. The possibility of phase transition in the system is hypothesized.     

Submanifolds associated with graphs

In this paper we present an interesting relationship between graph theory and differential geometry by defining submanifolds of almost Hermitian manifolds associated with certain kinds of graphs. We show some results about the possibility of a graph being associated with a submanifold and we use them to characterize CR-submanifolds by means of trees. Finally, we characterize submanifolds associated with graphs in a four-dimensional almost Hermitian manifold.

     

Block transitive Steiner systems with more than one point orbit

For all ‘reasonable’ finite t, k, and s, we construct a t‐(?₀, k, 1) design and a group of automorphisms which is transitive on blocks and has s orbits on points. In particular, there is a 2‐(?0, 4, 1) design with a block‐transitive group of automorphisms having two point orbits. This answers a question of P. J. Cameron and C. E. Praeger. The construction is presented in a purely combinatorial way, but is a by‐product of a new way of looking at a model‐theoretic construction of E. Hrushovski. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Recyclization of 2,3-Disubstituted 5-Arylamino-2,5-dihydro-1,2,4-thiadiazoles and Related Salts into Benzothiazole Derivatives

Russian Journal of General Chemistry -     

Norm Series in High-Dimensional Local Fields

In the present paper, the notion of norm series with respect to the norm residue symbol is generalized to high-dimensional local fields. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of norm series are obtained. Bibliography: 12 titles.__________Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 305, 2003, pp. 60–83.     

On the Global Stability of Solutions of Moment Systems in Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics

In this paper, we study the linearization of the Cauchy problem and the mixed problem for the system of Grad--Hermite moments in nonequilibrium thermodynamics in the neighborhood of the equilibrium state. Stability conditions for solutions of the Cauchy problem are proved as a generalization of the classical Hermite--Biller theorem on stable polynomials. For the mixed problem, we prove an analog of the Vishik--Lyusternik theorem on small singular perturbations of general elliptic problems. The last observation allows us to introduce the Shapiro--Lopatinskii condition, which implies the well-posedness of the mixed problem.     

Fabrication and transport properties of multiwall carbon nanotube crossroads

A multiwall carbon nanotube crossroads has been fabricated by a manipulation technique using a glass microcapillary, and the low temperature transport properties investigated. The two-terminal conductance of an individual tube shows Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid behavior G∝T^α at high temperature and dI/dV ∝V ^α at low temperature. However, no evidence of such a power-law behavior is obtained in the four-terminal conductance at the junction, where the conductance shows an almost metallic behavior ‘corrected’ by weak localization. Weak localization would essentially appear in electron states at the junctions of MWNTs.     

On the multidimensional distribution of the subset sum generator of pseudorandom numbers

We show that for a random choice of the parameters, the subset sum pseudorandom number generator produces a sequence of uniformly and independently distributed pseudorandom numbers. The result can be useful for both cryptographic and quasi-Monte Carlo applications and relies on bounds of exponential sums.

     

Essential domains and two conjectures in dimension theory

This note investigates two long-standing conjectures on the Krull dimension of integer-valued polynomial rings and of polynomial rings in the context of (locally) essential domains.