Structure,morphology, and crystallization process of isotactic polypropylene/hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin blends

The structure, morphology, and isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization of isotactic polypropylene/low‐molecular‐mass hydrocarbon resin blends (iPP/HR) (up to 20% in weight of HR) have been studied, using optical and electron microscopy, wide‐ and small‐angle X‐ray and differential scanning calorimetry. New structures and morphologies can be activated, using appropriate preparation and crystallization conditions and blend composition. For every composition and crystallization condition, iPP crystallizes in α‐form, with a spherulitic morphology. The size of iPP spherulites increases with resin content, whereas the long period decreases. In the range of crystallization temperatures investigated, HR modifies the birefringence of iPP spherulites, favoring the formation of radial lamellae and changing the ratio between tangential and radial lamellae. Spherulitic radial growth rates, overall crystallization rates, and melting temperatures are strongly affected by resin, monotonically decreasing with resin content. This confirms miscibility in the melt between the two components of the blends. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3368–3379, 2004     

Extractive spectrophotometric determination of Cobalt(II) in synthetic and pharmaceutical samples using Cyanex 923.

Cyanex 923 has been proposed as a sensitive analytical reagent for the direct extractive spectrophotometric determination of cobalt(II). Cobalt(II) forms a blue-colored complex with Cyanex 923 in the organic phase. The maximum absorbance of the complex is measured at 635 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the range 58.9 - 589.0 microg of cobalt. The molar absorptivitiy and Sandell's sensitivity of the complex was calculated to be 6.79 x 10920 l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.088 microg cm(-2), respectively. The nature of the extracted species was found to be Co(SCN)2 x 2S. An excellent linearity with a correlation coefficient value of 0.999 was obtained for the Co(II)-Cyanex 923 complex. Stability and regeneration of the reagent (Cyanex 923) for reuse is the main advantage of the present method. The method was successfully applied to the determination of cobalt in synthetic mixtures and pharmaceutical samples was found to give values close to the actual ones. Standard alloy samples, such as high-speed tool BCS 484 and 485, have been tested for the determination of cobalt for the purpose of validating the present method. The results of the proposed method are comparable with atomic absorption spectrometry and were found to be in good agreement.     

On theL p-bounds for maximal functions associated to convex bodies inR n

The dimension-freeL ²-maximal inequality for convex symmetric bodies obtained in [2] is extended forp>3/2.     

A series active power filter based on a sinusoidalcurrent-controlled voltage-source inverter

A series active power filter working as a sinusoidal current source, in-phase with the mains voltage, has been developed and tested. The amplitude of the fundamental current in the series filter is controlled through the error signal generated between the load voltage and a pre-established reference. The control allows an effective correction of power factor, harmonic distortion and load voltage regulation. Compared with previous methods of control developed for series active filters, this method is simpler to implement because it is only required to generate a sinusoidal current, in-phase with the mains voltage, the amplitude of which is controlled through the error in the load voltage. The proposed system has been studied analytically and tested using computer simulations and experiments. In the experiments, it has been verified that the filter keeps the line current almost sinusoidal and in-phase with the line voltage supply. It also responds very quickly under sudden changes in load conditions, reaching its steady-state in about two cycles of the fundamental     

Monte Carlo simulations of homogeneous upconversion in erbium-dopedsilica glasses

Quenching of Er³⁺ ions by homogeneous energy-transfer upconversion in high-concentration erbium-doped silica glasses has been theoretically investigated, The results indicate that at Er³⁺ concentrations of 1.0-2.0·10²⁶ m^-3 or below, the kinetic limit of strong migration is not reached, and hence the widely accepted quadratic upconversion model is not generally valid. Nevertheless, the results offer an explanation of the experimental observations of quadratic upconversion. Furthermore, it has been shown that at a given population inversion, the quenching rate depends on the rate of exchange of the excited Er³⁺ ions by emission and absorption     

Measurement of PLL phase error caused by power supply noise

The measurement of the accumulated phase error of phase-locked loops (PLLs) in microprocessor systems is discussed. A system which creates controlled power supply noise and measures the PLL response is described. Examples of the use of this technique are shown for a PLL used in a 400 MHz microprocessor     

The constant modulus array for cochannel signal copy and directionfinding

The constant modulus (CM) array is a blind adaptive beamformer capable of recovering a narrowband signal among several cochannel sources without using a pilot or training signal. It is a conventional weight-and-sum adaptive beamformer whose weights are updated by the constant modulus algorithm. An adaptive signal canceller follows the beamformer to remove the captured signal from the array input and to provide an estimate of its direction vector. Based on a Wiener model, we investigate the steady-state properties of the CM array and the signal canceller. For mutually uncorrelated sources and noise, it is shown that the signal canceller exactly removes the source captured by the array. Thus, identical stages of the CM array and signal canceller may be used in a multistage system to recover several cochannel sources. Computer simulations are presented to verify the analytical results and to illustrate the transient behavior of the system     

Optical detection of NO3 and NO2 in “pure” HNO3 vapor,the liquid-phase decomposition of HNO3

Flowing and static gas-phase samples of HNO₃ in O₂ and N₂ were analyzed by long-path ultraviolet/visible (UV/VIS) spectroscopy to reveal the presence of both NO₂ and NO₃, the concentrations of which were calculated using differential absorption cross sections. NO₂ is produced predominantly by the heterogeneous decomposition of HNO₃, whereas NO₃ is generated in the gas phase by the thermal decomposition of N₂O₅, a product of the self-disproportionation of liquid HNO₃. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Enhanced electron emission from phosphorus-doped diamond-cladsilicon field emitter arrays

Undoped and phosphorus (P)-doped diamond-clad Si field emitter arrays have been successfully fabricated using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) technology. The electron emission from the blunt diamond-clad microtips are much higher than those for the pure Si tips with sharp curvature due to a lower work function. Furthermore, the characteristics of emission current against applied voltage for the P-doped diamond-clad tips show superior emission at lower field to the undoped ones. After the examination of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and electrical characteristics of as-grown diamond, such a significant enhancement of the electron emission from the P-doped diamond-clad tips is attributed to a higher electron conductivity and defect densities