A Structural Investigation of Some Terminally Cyano-Substituted Side Chain Liquid-Crystalline Polysiloxanes

Abstract

A series of terminally cyano substituted side chain polysiloxanes have been characterized using optical microscopy, D.S.C., and X-ray diffraction. Values for the lamellar spacings, d, of the interdigitated smectic A phases were obtained, and the variations in d with temperature and length of the flexible aliphatic spacer are discussed. The spacing for m = 4, 5, and 6 increased regularly with m whereas the short m = 3 spacer gave an anomalously high value.     

Liquid-crystalline polysiloxanes with fluoro-substituted side chains

Sixteen new side chain liquid polysiloxanes, either homopolymers derived from poly(hydrogenmethyl)siloxane or copolymers derived from poly(hydrogenmethyl-dimethylsiloxane), are reported with side chains carrying fluoro-substituents. The known effects of fluoro-substitution in low molar mass liquid crystals are strongly echoed in the polymeric analogues and interesting comparisons are made between homo- and co-polymers carrying the same fluorinated side chains.     

Pseudo-atom phase shifts of liquid metals and alloys

Ziman pseudo-atom phase shifts have been evaluated, as functions of l and k _F, for monovalent ions, using a pseudo-potential technique. The results of their application to a number of physical problems suggest that our data are reasonably accurate.     

Setting targets for surrogate-based optimization

In the context of surrogate-based optimization (SBO), most designers have still very little guidance on when to stop and how to use infill measures with target requirements (e.g., one-stage approach for goal seeking and optimization); the reason: optimum estimates independent of the surrogate and optimization strategy are seldom available. Hence, optimization cycles are typically stopped when resources run out (e.g., number of objective function evaluations/time) or convergence is perceived, and targets are empirically set which may affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the SBO approach. This work presents an approach for estimating the minimum (target) of the objective function using concepts from extreme order statistics which relies only on the training data (sample) outputs. It is assumed that the sample inputs are randomly distributed so the outputs can be considered a random variable, whose density function is bounded (a, b), with the minimum (a) as its lower bound. Specifically, an estimate of the minimum (a) is obtained by: (i) computing the bounds (using training data and the moment matching method) of a selected set of analytical density functions (catalog), and (ii) identifying the density function in the catalog with the best match to the sample outputs distribution and corresponding minimum estimate (a). The proposed approach makes no assumption about the nature of the objective functions, and can be used with any surrogate, and optimization strategy even with high dimensional problems. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was evaluated using a compact catalog of Generalized Beta density functions and well-known analytical optimization test functions, i.e., F2, Hartmann 6D, and Griewangk 10D and in the optimization of a field scale alkali-surfactant-polymer enhanced oil recovery process. The results revealed that: (a) the density function (from a catalog) with the best match to a function outputs distribution, was the same for both large and reduced samples, (b) the true optimum value was always within a 95% confidence interval of the estimated minimum distribution, and (c) the estimated minimum represents a significant improvement over the present best solution and an excellent approximation of the true optimum value.     

Emission of photons by positrons channeled in single crystals near an energy of 100 GeV

Emission by 120-GeV positrons in the channeling regime in the (011) plane of a silicon single crystal has been considered. Trajectories of positrons under different initial conditions have been calculated within the theory of nonlinear oscillations. The amplitude distribution function of channeled particles has been determined taking into account the nonlinearity of their motion. The intensity of radiation under various initial conditions has been calculated by two different methods. These results can be useful for comparison with experimental data at energies of positrons beginning with 100 GeV and higher.     

Correlation Between Autofluorescence Intensity and Tumor Area in Mice Bearing Renal Cell Carcinoma

Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is a porphyrin derivative that is accumulated in cancerous tissue in consequence of the tumor-specific metabolic alterations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accumulation of PpIX in mice bearing renal cell carcinoma by spectroscopy analysis. A total of 24 male Balb/c mice, 6 weeks old, were divided into six groups: Normal (without inoculation of tumor cells) and 4, 8, 13, 16, and 20 days after inoculation of tumor cells. The orthotopic tumor model of renal cancer was used. Murine renal cell carcinoma (Renca cells) were inoculated into the subcapsular space of the kidney. Normal and tumor-bearing kidneys in different progression stages were removed and analyzed by ex-vivo spectroscopy and by microscopy, for tumor histometric analysis. Emission spectra were obtained by exciting the samples at 405 nm. Significant differences between normal and tumor-bearing kidneys in autofluorescence shape occurred in the 600–700 nm spectral region. A good correlation was found between emission band intensity at 635 nm and the tumor area.     

Optical image subtraction through speckle modulated by young fringes

A new method for subtracting images is proposed. It is based on assigning complementary Young's fringes to the speckles of the common parts of two images. In this way, carrier frequency is cancelled, and “a-posteriori” spatial filtering shows only noncommon parts. Suggestions on applications of the method are briefly commented.     

Reconstruction of thermally quenched glow curves in quartz

The experimentally measured thermoluminescence (TL) glow curves of quartz samples are influenced by the presence of the thermal quenching effect, which involves a variation of the luminescence efficiency as a function of temperature. The real shape of the thermally unquenched TL glow curves is completely unknown. In the present work an attempt is made to reconstruct these unquenched glow curves from the quenched experimental data, and for two different types of quartz samples. The reconstruction is based on the values of the thermal quenching parameter W (activation energy) and C (a dimensionless constant), which are known from recent experimental work on these two samples. A computerized glow-curve deconvolution (CGCD) analysis was performed twice for both the reconstructed and the experimental TL glow curves. Special attention was paid to check for consistency between the results of these two independent CGCD analyses. The investigation showed that the reconstruction attempt was successful, and it is concluded that the analysis of reconstructed TL glow curves can provide improved values of the kinetic parameters E, s for the glow peaks of quartz. This also leads to a better evaluation of the half-lives of electron trapping levels used for dosimetry and luminescence dating.     

Synthesis and mass spectra of some 1-aroylamino-5-arylaminomethyl-1,2,3-triazoles

The title compounds 2 are prepared from the reaction of 1-(N, N-diaroyl)amino-5-bromomethyl-1,2,3-triazoles with aromatic amines. The fragmentation pattern upon electron impact at 70 eV of compounds 2 is studied. The molecular ion peak is present in all the spectra examined. Besides the [M-28]⁺⁺, there is also a more abundant [M-29]⁺ peak, corresponding to a N₂H loss of the molecular ion. The ion Ar²NH = CH₂ is the base or the most prominent peak.