Ferrocene Containing Polyimides as a Route to Low-κ Dielectric Materials

Polyimides incorporating the ferrocene unit were prepared by in situ curing of poly (amic acid) macromolecules with ferrocene, for the molecular-level design of low dielectric constant (low-κ) materials. The effects of ferrocene on dielectric properties of polyimide are investigated in detail in this study. Ferrocene containing polyimides exhibit a number of desirable properties including low-water absorption and admirable thermal stability. Systematic studies demonstrate that proper insertion of ferrocene into a polyimide backbone can give rise to a reduction in the material's dielectric constant. All composites were subjected to DSC measurements for the purpose of examining Tg from all composition. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the other conventional techniques were used for structural characterization.     

A spectroscopical measure for the exploration of phase space

Many nonintegrable systems have eigenstates that typically require numerous basis states to represent them. We develop a criterion to judge the extent to which phase space is explored by the spectrum of such a Hamiltonian. Our criterion uses the eigenvalues rather than the eigenfunctions and is based on identifying a direct relation between the intensity of Shnirelman's peak and the localization length. We illustrate our procedure by applying it to the spectrum of two prototypical nonintegrable systems, the kicked rotor and the kicked top. (c) 1998 American Institute of Physics.     

Sol-Gel Derived Thin Films for Hydrogen Sulphide Gas Sensing

Utilizing the sol-gel fabrication route, we have successfully modified and tailored the optical absorption in the visible spectrum of thionine dye trapped in an MTMS gel-matrix to coincide with the emission of a red diode laser operating at 660 nm. These thionine-doped MTMS thin films coated onto transparent substrates have shown a remarkable change in optical absorption in the presence of gaseous hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) diluted in air and in the absence of any buffer gas. The rapid response, sensitivity, reversibility and durability shown by this material can be exploited in developing absorption-based optical H₂S sensors in either an integrated optics or all-optical fiber approach using a red diode laser source.     

Electrokinetic and electrorheological properties of poly(vinyl chloride)/polyindole conducting composites

In this study, poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), polyindole (PIN), and PVC/PIN conducting composites having five different compositions were used. Particle sizes, densities, dielectric constants, and sedimentation ratios of the materials were determined. The zeta‐potentials of the samples were measured in aqueous and nonaqueous (silicone oil [SO]) media. The dispersions prepared in SO were subjected to external electric field strength, and their electrorheological properties were investigated. Then the effects of dispersed particle volume fraction, shear rate, external electric field strength, frequency, and temperature onto electrorheological activities of the dispersions were examined. Further, creep and creep‐recovery tests were applied to the PIN/SO and PVC/PIN/SO dispersions, and reversible viscoelastic deformations were observed. Finally, the vibration damping capacity of PVC (66%)/PIN (34%)/SO dispersion system was tested by using an automobile shock absorber. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transition-state theory rate calculations with a recrossing-free moving dividing surface

Two different methods for transition-state theory (TST) rate calculations are presented that use the recently developed notions of the moving dividing surface and the associated moving separatrices: one is based on the flux-over-population approach and the other on the calculation of the reactive flux. The flux-over-population rate can be calculated in two ways by averaging the flux first over the noise and then over the initial conditions or vice versa. The former entails the calculation of reaction probabilities and is closely related to previous TST rate derivations. The latter results in an expression for the transmission factor as the noise average of a stochastic variable that is given explicitly as a function of the moving separatrices. Both the reactive-flux and flux-over-population methods suggest possible new ways of calculating approximate rates in anharmonic systems. In particular, numerical simulations of harmonic and anharmonic systems have been used to calculate reaction rates based on the reactive flux calculation using the fixed and moving dividing surfaces so as to illustrate the computational advantages of the latter.     

RAFT made methacrylate copolymers for reversible pH‐responsive nanoparticles

In this study, we designed and investigated pH‐responsive nanoparticles based on different ratios of monomers with primary, secondary or tertiary amino groups. For this purpose, copolymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with different compositions of amino methacrylates (2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), 2‐(tert‐butylamino)ethyl methacrylate (tBAEMA) and 2‐aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride (AEMA·HCI)) were synthesized using the reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization process. The controlled nature of the radical polymerization was demonstrated by kinetic studies. All copolymers show low dispersities (?_M < 1.2) with amino contents between 9 and 21 mol %. For the nanoparticle formation, nanoprecipitation with subsequent solvent evaporation was used. All suspensions were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Different initial conditions of the formulations resulted in differently sized nanoparticles that have monomodal size distributions, relatively narrow polydispersity index (PDI) values and positive zeta potential values. The pH‐stability test results demonstrated that, depending on the structure and amount of the amino content, the obtained nanoparticles reveal a reversible pH‐response, such as dissolution at acidic pH values. The ability of the nanoparticles to encapsulate guest molecules was confirmed by pyrene fluorescence studies. The cytotoxicity assay results showed that the nanoparticles did not have any significant cytotoxic effect. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 2711–2721     

Besov spaces and Bergman projections on the ballLes espaces de Besov et les projections de Bergman dans la boule

A class of radial differential operators are investigated yielding a natural classification of diagonal Besov spaces on the unit ball of $\text{C}{}^{\mathrm{N}}$. Precise conditions are given for the boundedness of Bergman projections from certain L^p spaces onto Besov spaces. Right inverses for these projections are also provided. Applications to complex interpolation are presented. To cite this article: H.T. Kaptano?lu, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 335 (2002) 729–732.