History of Polymer Education-USA

Prior to 1940 there was little or no education directed toward polymer chemistry. With the contributions of Carothers and others that transformed the practice of polymers into a science-and the leadership of Herman Mark and others in formal graduate and postgraduate education-polymer education took root but rapid expansion and general acceptance by more traditionally oriented academic institutions was slowed by many barriers. Only since 1974 has there been a concerted effort to include education in the basic concepts of polymer chemistry into the undergraduate curriculum. Emphasis is on the development of polymer education in the United States.     

Melting Point and Composition Distribution of Polyolefins by Fractionation

The fractionation technique described in this paper was used to characterize the melting-point, monomer, and blocking distributions for polymers and copolymers. It is different from the molecular-weight fractionation technique in that the fractions are obtained by using a single solvent to extract the solid polymer below its melting point at stepwise-increasing temperatures. The reproducibility of this technique is excellent, and the technique is sufficient to distinguish pellet-to-pellet variation in a commercially available polypropylene. It was used to show the influence of preparation variables on the melting-point distributions of polyethylene and polypropylene and on the monomer and blocking distribution of copolymers, and to distinguish copolymers from blends.     

Application and assessment of laser Doppler velocimetry for underwater acoustic measurements

The majority of traditional methods for making underwater acoustic pressure measurements involve placing all or part of a measurement transducer in the acoustic field. A variety of optical metrology techniques have been developed in an attempt to reduce or remove any perturbing effects. An example of this is the use of laser interferometry which has been developed as the primary method of calibrating hydrophones in the frequency range - at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). This technique involves suspending a thin Mylar pellicle in the acoustic field and recording the displacement of the pellicle surface using a Michelson Interferometer. This study details a comparison of a Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) with the NPL Laser Interferometer, which gives a good correlation where agreement is within approximately 4% and 7% for two different power levels from a plane piston transducer and within 2.5% and 1% for the same power levels from a plane piston transducer. A novel, non-perturbing method of recording temporally resolved acoustic pressure distributions in water using an LDV is also described. The technique is shown to benefit from the consistent frequency response of the LDV detection system, such that the measured output resembles the drive voltage input to the transducer more closely than a similar hydrophone measurement. For the experimental arrangement described, the LDV system is shown to be sensitive to minimum pressure amplitudes of nominally .     

Long-term retention of ice-nucleating active Pseudomonas fluorescens by overwintering colorado potato beetles

Ice nucleating-active Pseudomonas fluorescens F264C was fed to Colorado potato beetles to determine bacterial retentioin in the beetle gut and its effect on the cold hardiness of this insect pest. The bacrterium was present in beetles recovered after overwintering in the field, seven months after their exposure to P. fluorescens. Retention was evident not only in the detection of the P. fluorescens ice nucleating gene, inaW, in bacterial cultures from beetle guts but also in the elevated supercooling points of some treated beetles.     

Breakdown of stabilization of atoms interacting with intense, high-frequency laser pulses

An analysis of the influence of the magnetic field of an intense, high-frequency laser pulse on the stabilization of an atomic system is presented. We demonstrate that at relatively modest intensities the magnetic field can significantly alter the dynamics of the system. In particular, a breakdown of stabilization occurs, thereby restricting the intensity regime in which the atom is relatively stable against ionization. Counterpropagating pulses do not negate the detrimental effects of the magnetic field. We compare our quantum mechanical results with classical Monte Carlo simulations.     

Phase-stepped ESPI and moiré interferometry for measuring stress-intensity factor andJ integral

Electronic-speckle-pattern interferometry and moiré interferometry have been used to calculateK ₁ andJ for compact tension specimens. Automated-fringe-pattern analysis enables the full-field of data to be used with the minimum of operator intervention. Measurements are shown to be accurate to within 10 percent. TheJ-measurement procedure employed could form the basis of an automatic-fault detection system.     

An improved maximum permissible exposure meter for safety assessments of laser radiation

Current interest in laser radiation safety requires demonstration that a laser system has been designed to prevent exposure to levels of laser radiation exceeding the Maximum Permissible Exposure. In some simple systems it is possible to prove this by calculation, but in most cases it is preferable to confirm calculated results with a measurement. This measurement may be made with commercially available equipment, but there are limitations with this approach. A custom designed instrument is presented in which the full range of measurement issues have been addressed. Important features of the instrument are the design and optimisation of detector heads for the measurement task, and consideration of user interface requirements. Three designs for detector head are presented, these cover the majority of common laser types. Detector heads are designed to optimise the performance of relatively low cost detector elements for this measurement task. The three detector head designs are suitable for interfacing to photodiodes, low power thermopiles and pyroelectric detectors.

Design of the user interface was an important aspect of the work. A user interface which is designed for the specific application minimises the risk of user error or misinterpretation of the measurement results. A palmtop computer was used to provide an advanced user interface. User requirements were considered in order that the final implement was well matched to the task of laser radiation hazard audits.     

Lasers and laser applications in the 1990s: A survey of laser safety schemes

A survey of the status of laser safety in UK laser companies is reported. UK laser manufacturers/suppliers were questioned on the types of laser sold, their application and about their laser safety schemes. Nearly two-thirds of suppliers produce lasers in the Class IIIB and IV categories, i.e. those requiring the highest level of safety precautions. However, just under half the companies had difficulties in implementing the current UK laser safety standards (BS 7192/IEC 825). A case is demonstrated for a mechanism providing practical advice on implementation of these standards. This is further strengthened by comparison of a survey carried out five years ago indicating a similar number of manufacturers with difficulties.