Letter: Some Remarks on Standing Gravitational Waves

An intuitive definition of standing gravitational waves is proposed. Some main classes of exact vacuum solutions are searched for standing gravitational waves, in most cases with a negative result. Only some Einstein–Rosen waves meet the conditions.     

Thickness decrease of a grafted polyelectrolyte membrane exposed to shear flow

The effect of the shear flow on the thickness change of a polyelectrolyte membrane grafted onto a glass substrate was directly investigated with a flow cell combined with a confocal laser scanning microscope. The membrane thickness decreased proportionally to an increase in the shear stress of the flow when the shear rate exceeded a critical value of 1 s^?1. The higher the ionic strength was of the fluid, the greater the thinning effect was. The correlation between the critical shear rate and the relaxation of the polymer in the gel membrane was examined. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2808–2815, 2003     

Determining L-functions by twists

Suppose that L₁(s) and L₂(s) are two L-functions whose twists by a set of Dirichlet characters simultaneously vanish (vanish mod p) at a critical point. We examine the extent to which this property determines the L-functions in the cases of L-functions of elliptic curves, of number fields, and of curves over finite fields.     

Dispersion modeling by kinematic simulation: Cloud dispersion model

A new technique has been developed to compute mean and fluctuating concentrations in complex turbulent flows (tidal current near a coast and deep ocean). An initial distribution of material is discretized into any small clouds which are advected by a combination of the mean flow and large scale turbulence. The turbulence can be simulated either by kinematic simulation (KS) or direct numerical simulation. The clouds also diffuse relative to their centroids; the statistics for this are obtained from a separate calculation of the growth of individual clouds in small scale turbulence, generated by KS. The ensemble of discrete clouds is periodically re-discretized, to limit the size of the small clouds and prevent overlapping. The model is illustrated with simulations of dispersion in uniform flow, and the results are compared with analytic, steady state solutions. The aim of this study is to understand how pollutants disperses in a turbulent flow through a numerical simulation of fluid particle motion in a random flow field generated by Fourier modes. Although this homogeneous turbulent is rather a “simple” flow, it represents a building block toward understanding pollutant dispersion in more complex flow. The results presented here are preliminary in nature, but we expect that similar qualitative results should be observed in a genuine turbulent flow.     

A brief review on structural concepts of novel supramolecular proton transfer compounds and their metal complexes

Our research group has been interested in synthesis of proton transfer compounds as new supramolecular synthons for the onepot preparation of self-assembled transition metal complex-organo-networks since 2000. We have focused on the proton delivery from acids, which are considered as suitable proton donors, to amines as proton acceptors. The results were production of several proton transfer ion pairs possessing some remaining donor sites applied for coordination to metallic centers in preparation of metal-organic structures. Some of the complexes showed contributions of both cationic and anionic fragments of the starting ion pair, while some others contained only one of these species as ligand. Much of the investigations on reviewed compounds focused on the concept of supramolecular systems, co-crystallization, stereochemically active lone pairs, coordination polyhedron and mainly on various interactions involve including van der Waals, ion pairing, hydrogen bondings, face to face π-π stackings and edge to face C-H...π, C-O...π, N-H...π, S-O...π, Ti...π and Hg-Cl...π interactions. The mentioned interactions are the most commonly used strategies in the extension of supramolecular structures.     

Synthesis and structure of nanocrystalline La0.50Ba0.50MnO3

Nanocrystalline manganite La_0.50Ba_0.50MnO₃ was synthesized by the soft-chemical method. For this purpose, the sol-gel method was modified and improved. A trihydric saturated alcohol, e.g., glycerol, was suggested as a new organic matrix. The crystal structure of the composite was studied by X-ray powder diffraction at room temperature. A La_0.50Ba_0.50MnO₃ powder annealed in air at T = 500°C is characterized by a perovskite-like cubic structure with the unit-cell parameter a = 3.869 Å. The chemical composition of the sample was studied by electron-probe X-ray microanalysis. The La: Ba: Mn cation ratio in the material was 1: 1: 2. The surface topography was examined with a scanning electron microscope. The crystallite size was ～30 nm. The dependence of the crystal structure and the surface topology on the annealing temperature was studied. The high-temperature treatment in air resulted in the growth of larger, micrometer-size, crystallites.     

Rheological properties of polyacrylates used as synthetic road binders

Most adhesives and binders, including bitumen for asphalt mixture production, are presently produced from petrochemicals after the refining of crude oil. The fact that crude oil reserves are a finite resource means that in the future, it may become necessary to produce these materials from alternative and probably renewable sources. Suitable resources of this kind may include polysaccharides, plant oils and proteins. This paper deals with the synthesis of polymer binders from monomers that could, in future, be derived from renewable resources. These binders consist of polyethyl acrylate (PEA) of different molecular weight, polymethyl acrylate (PMA) and polybutyl acrylate (PBA), which were synthesised from ethyl acrylate, methyl acrylate and butyl acrylate, respectively, by atom transfer radical polymerisation. The rheological properties of these binders were determined by means of oscillatory testing using a dynamic shear rheometer and combinations of stress/strain, temperature and frequency sweeps. The results indicate that PEA can be produced to have rheological properties similar to that of ‘soft’ 100/150 penetration grade bitumen, PMA with similar rheological properties to that of ‘hard’ 10/20 penetration grade bitumen, while PBA, due to its highly viscous nature and low dynamic moduli, cannot be used on its own as a binder. The synthetic polymers were found to be thermo-rheologically simple, and the shift factors, used to produce the dynamic moduli master curves, were found to fit an Arrhenius function.     

Rapid and accurate amperometric determination of acetaminophen in pharmaceutical preparations and spiked human blood serum samples at cadmium pentacyanonitrosylferrate modified glassy carbon electrode

The present work describes a rapid and accurate amperometric technique for the determination of acetaminophen (ACT) in pharmaceutical preparations and human blood serum, based on electrocatalytic oxidation of ACT at a glassy carbon electrode modified by cadmium pentacyanonitrosylferrate (CdPCNF) film. The electrocatalytic response of the modified GC electrode was linear over the concentration of 1.64-52.90 μM. The limit of detection was found to be 2.04 μM by amperometric technique. The method was successfully utilized for the determination of ACT in various pharmaceutical preparations and the results have been statistically compared with those obtained by the official method. The interference of some pharmaceutical and biological compounds was investigated. The results of interference study showed that the Nafion-coated CdPCNF|GC electrode can be utilized as a selective amperometric sensor for acetaminophen determination in human blood serum. The mean value of rate constant k for catalytic reaction, and the diffusion coefficient of ACT (D) in the phosphate buffer solution of pH 7.2 were found to be 4.27 × 10² M?¹ s?¹, and (4.25 ± 0.33) × 10^?6 cm² s^?1, respectively.