Poly(iminoborane)s: An Elusive Class of Main‐Group Polymers?

The significance of inorganic main‐group polymers is demonstrated most clearly by the commercial relevance of polysiloxanes (silicones). Organoboron‐based materials such as π‐conjugated organoborane polymers and BN‐doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are currently attracting considerable attention. Surprisingly, poly(iminoborane)s (PIBs; [BRNR′]_n), that is, the parent unsaturated BN polymers, which are formally isoelectronic to polyacetylene, have not been convincingly characterized thus far. Herein, we present the synthesis and comprehensive characterization of a linear oligo(iminoborane), which comprises a chain of 12–14 BN units on average. With our synthetic approach, unwanted side reactions that result in borazine formation are effectively suppressed. Supporting DFT and TD‐DFT calculations provide deeper insight into the microstructure and the electronic structure of the oligomer.     

[N,N′‐Bis(5‐bromo­salicyl­idene)‐1,3‐di­amino­propane]­nickel(II) and [N,N′‐­bis(5‐chloro­salicyl­idene)‐1,3‐­di­amino­propane]copper(II)

The title compounds, {4,4′‐di­bromo‐2,2′‐[1,3‐propane­diyl­bis(nitrilo­methyl­idyne‐N)]­diphenolato‐O,O′}nickel(II), [Ni(C₁₇­H₁₄­Br₂­N₂O₂)], and {4,4′‐di­chloro‐2,2′‐[1,3‐pro­pane­diyl­bis­(ni­trilo­methyl­idyne‐N)]­di­phen­ol­ato‐O,O′}­copper(II), [Cu­(C₁₇­H₁₄­Cl₂­N₂O₂)], lie on crystallographic twofold axes. In both structures, the metal coordination sphere is a tetrahedrally distorted square plane formed by the four‐coordinate N₂O₂ donor set of the Schiff base imine–phenol ligands. In the Ni compound, the Ni—O and Ni—N distances are 1.908 (3) and 1.959 (4) Å, respectively, while in the Cu compound, the Cu—O and Cu—N distances are 1.907 (2) and 1.960 (2) Å, respectively. The two Schiff base moieties, which themselves are nearly planar, are inclined at an angle of 29.26 (7)° for the Ni compound and 29.26 (5)° for the Cu compound.     

Finite element analysis of interface cracking in semiconductorpackages

The application of enriched crack tip finite elements for the prediction of interface fracture parameters, e.g., strain energy release rate and mixed mode stress intensity factors, is presented. Of particular interest, is the comparison between fracture results obtained from two-dimensional (2-D) models and related three-dimensional (3-D) (generalized plane strain) calculations. These results show that for thermal cycling problems, one cannot anticipate 3-D fracture results based on 2-D calculations alone, i.e., plane stress, plane strain, and axisymmetric models. On the other hand, it is shown that the 2-D models are quite adequate for modeling interface fracture in the case of pressure loading on the interface, e.g., pressure due to water vapor expansion during solder reflow. The fracture results presented in this paper were obtained using special enriched crack tip elements that contain the analytic asymptotic displacement and stress field. Enriched crack tip elements for 2-D and 3-D elements are shown to provide highly accurate results for simulating debonding in semiconductor packages subjected to thermal cycling and/or moisture absorption     

Experimental study and large Eddy simulation of a coaxial jet with perforated obstacles to control thermal mixing characteristics

Thermal mixing phenomena of a coaxial jet with perforated obstacles are analyzed both experimentally and numerically. Perforated obstacles are used in front of a coaxial jet that has different temperatures of the fluid to control the thermal mixing behavior. An experimental set-up was constructed to perform several cases and all cases are simulated by using large eddy simulation (LES) turbulence model. Results of the study presented that inserting perforated obstacle affects the mixing performance positively and the best mixing performance is obtained in the case that the obstacle has the highest permeability. Experimental and computational results were compared and a good agreement was obtained.     

Plasma treatment of polypropylene fabric for improved dyeability with soluble textile dyestuff

The impact of plasma treatment parameters on the surface morphology, physical-chemical, and dyeing properties of polypropylene (PP) using anionic and cationic dyestuffs were investigated in this study. Argon plasma treatment was used to activate PP fabric surfaces. Activated surfaces were grafted different compounds: 6-aminohexanoic acid (6-AHA), acrylic acid (AA), ethylendiamine (EDA), acryl amide (AAMID) and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS). Compounds were applied after the plasma treatment and the acid and basic dyeing result that was then observed, were quite encouraging in certain conditions. The possible formed oxidizing groups were emphasized by FTIR and ATR and the surface morphology of plasma treated PP fibers was also investigated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM).PP fabric could be dyed with acid and basic dyestuffs after only plasma treatment and plasma induced grafting, and fastnesses of the dyed samples were satisfactory.     

On values of the Riemann zeta function at positive integers

Lithuanian Mathematical Journal - We give new proofs of some known results on the values of the Riemann zeta function at positive integers and obtain some new theorems related to these values....     

Admission control strategies for tandem Markovian loss systems

Motivated by communication networks, we study an admission control problem for a Markovian loss system comprised of two finite capacity service stations in tandem. Customers arrive to station 1 according to a Poisson process, and a gatekeeper, who has complete knowledge of the number of customers at both stations, decides whether to accept or reject each arriving customer. If a customer is rejected, a rejection cost is incurred. If an admitted customer finds that station 2 is full at the time of his service completion at station 1, he leaves the system and a loss cost is incurred. The goal is to find easy-to-implement policies that minimize long-run average cost per unit time. We formulate two intuitive, extremal policies and provide analytical results on their performances. We also present necessary and/or sufficient conditions under which each of these policies is optimal. Next, we show that for some states of the system it is always optimal to admit new arrivals. We also fully characterize the optimal policy when the capacity of each station is two and discuss some characteristics of optimal policies in general. Finally, we design heuristic admission control policies using these insights. Numerical experiments indicate that these heuristic policies yield near-optimal long-run average cost performance.     

Refractive index changes and absorption coefficients in a spherical quantum dot with parabolic potential

In this study, we have calculated the linear, nonlinear and total refractive index changes and absorption coefficients for the transitions 1s–1p, 1p–1d and 1d–1f in a spherical quantum dot with parabolic potential. Quantum Genetic Algorithm (QGA) and Hartree–Fock–Roothaan (HFR) method have been employed to calculate the wavefuctions and energy eigenvalues. The results show that impurity, dot radius, stoichiometric ratio, incident optical intensity and carrier density of the system have important effects on the optical refractive index changes and absorption coefficients. Also, we find that as the transitions between orbitals with big l value move to lower energy region in case with parabolic potential, in case without parabolic potential these transitions move to higher energy region.     

Hyperharmonic series involving Hurwitz zeta function

We show that the sum of the series formed by the so-called hyperharmonic numbers can be expressed in terms of the Riemann zeta function. These results enable us to reformulate Euler's formula involving the Hurwitz zeta function. In additon, we improve Conway and Guy's formula for hyperharmonic numbers.     

Immobilization of urease in poly(1-vinyl imidazole)/poly(acrylic acid) network

In this study, urease was immobilized in a polymer network obtained by complexation of poly(1-vinyl imidazole) (PVI) with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). Preparation of the polymer network was monitored by FT-IR spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that enzyme immobilization had a strong effect on film morphology. Proton conductivity of the PVI/PAA network was measured via impedance spectroscopy under humidified conditions. Values of the Michaelis-Menten constant (K _M) for immobilized urease were higher than for the free enzyme, indicating a decreased affinity of the enzyme to its substrate. The basic characteristics (pH_opt, pH_stability, T _opt, T _stability, reusability, and storage stability) of immobilized urease were determined. The results show that the PAA/PVI polymer network is suitable for enzyme immobilization.