THERMODYNAMIC AND PARTICLE-DYNAMIC STUDIES ON SYNTHESIS OF SILICA NANOPARTICLES USING MICROWAVE-INDUCED PLASMA CVD

1. Introduction1.1 Silica nanoparticles and synthesis methods Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles are widely used in industry asan active filler for polymer reinforcement, a rheologicaladditive in fluids, a free flow agent in powders, and anagent for chemical mechanical polishing during IC (inte-grated circuit) fabrication (Sniegowski & de Boer, 2000).Silica powder is also used for producing silicon carbide(Koc & Cattamanchi, 1998) or opaque silica aerosols (Leeet al., 1995). Many methods can …     

1JNH values show that N1...N3 hydrogen bonds are stronger in dsRNA A:U than dsDNA A:T base pairs

Here, we show that 1JNH values are on average 0.4 Hz less negative for double-stranded RNA A:U than for DNA A:T base pairs, which, according to existing theory, suggests that RNA N1...N3 hydrogen bond distances are about 0.02 A shorter than those of DNA. Also, there is a statistically relevant trend between 1JNH and 2hDelta13C2 values, which supports the original hypothesis that 2hDelta13C2 values are also sensitive to hydrogen bond distances. Finally, a context dependence is observed for these values, which suggests that hydrogen-bonding and base-stacking interactions are coupled.     

Analysis of a typical railway turnout sleeper system using grillage beam analogy

A simplified grillage beam analogy was performed to investigate the behaviour of railway turnout sleeper system with a low value of elastic modulus on different support moduli. This study aimed at determining an optimum modulus of elasticity for an emerging technology for railway turnout application - fibre composites sleeper. The finite element simulation suggests that the changes in modulus of elasticity of sleeper, E_sleeper and the sleeper support modulus, U_s have a significant influence on the behaviour of turnout sleepers. The increase in U_s from 10 to 40 MPa resulted in a 15% reduction in the bending moment while the increase in E_sleeper from 1 GPa to 10 GPa has resulted in almost 75% increase in the bending moment. The shear forces in turnout sleepers is not sensitive to both the changes of the E_sleeper and U_s while the sleeper with low E_sleeper tend to undergo greater settlement into the ballast. An E_sleeper of 4 GPa was found optimal for an alternative fibre composite turnout sleeper provided that the U_s is at least 20 MPa from the consideration of sleeper ballast pressure and maximum vertical deflection. It was established that the turnout sleeper has a maximum bending moment of 19 kN-m and a shear force of 158 kN under service conditions.     

Nonlinear compression of optical solitons

In this paper, we consider nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations, both in the anomalous and normal dispersive regimes, which govern the propagation of a single field in a fiber medium with phase modulation and fibre gain (or loss). The integrability conditions are arrived from linear eigen value problem. The variable transformations which connect the integrable form of modified NLS equations are presented. We succeed in Hirota bilinearzing the equations and on solving, exact bright and dark soliton solutions are obtained. From the results, we show that the soliton is alive, i.e. pulse area can be conserved by the inclusion of gain (or loss) and phase modulation effects.     

Symplectic supercuspidal representations and related problems

In this paper, we summarize the basic structures and properties of irreducible symplectic supercuspidal representations of GLn(F) over a p-adic local field F with characteristic zero, and explore possible topics for further investigation.     

Decomposition of malonic anhydrides

Malonic anhydrides decompose at or below room temperature, to form a ketene and carbon dioxide. Rate constants for the thermal decomposition of malonic, methylmalonic, and dimethylmalonic anhydrides were measured by NMR spectroscopy at various temperatures, and activation parameters were evaluated from the temperature dependence of the rate constants. Methylmalonic anhydride is the fastest, with the lowest ΔH(?), and dimethylmalonic anhydride is the slowest. The nonlinear dependence on the number of methyl groups is discussed in terms of a concerted [2(s) + (2(s) + 2(s))] or [2(s) + 2(a)] cycloreversion that proceeds via a twisted transition-state structure, supported by computations.     

Ultra-low-frequency dust-electromagnetic modes in self-gravitating magnetized dusty plasmas

Obliquely propagating altra-low-frequency dust-electromagnetic waves in a self-gravitating, warm, magnetized, two fluid dusty plasma system have been investigated. Two special cases, namely, dust-Alfvén mode propagating parallel to the external magnetic field and dustmagnetosonic mode propagating perpendicular to the external magnetic field have also been considered. It has been shown that effects of self-gravitational field, dust fluid temperature, and obliqueness significantly modify the dispersion properties of these ultra-low-frequency dust-electromagnetic modes. It is also found that in parallel propagating dust-Alfvén mode these effects play no role, but in obliquely propagating dust-Alfvén mode or perpendicular propagating dust-magnetosonic mode the effect of self-gravitational field plays destabilizing role whereas the effect of dust/ion fluid temperature plays stabilizing role.     

The interstitial volume of ion-exchange columns

The relative interstitial volumes of ion-exchange columns were measured by equilibrating the columns with a standard solution, rinsing out the interstitial solution and determining the amount of solute in the rinsings. Solutions of three polyelectrolytes and of hydrochloric acid were used for this purpose. When hydrochloric acid was used, corrections were generally necessary because of the penetration of the acid into the resin. Satisfactory agreement was obtained among the various methods. Within the experimental error, the relative interstitial volume is independent of the exchangeable ion of the resin and of the mesh size. The interstitial volume decreases with decreasing crosslinkage.