Fundamental aspects of initiated oxidation of tridecane and polyethylene in solutions

Specific features of the initiated oxidation of polyethylene and its low-molecular-weight analogue tridecane, associated with the occurrence of the process in the short-chain mode, were studied.     

Integrated Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Receivers

We overview recent achievements in the field of cryogenic submillimeter-wave receivers based on superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) tunnel junctions. The main attention is paid to the novel superconducting integrated receivers (SIRs) with an on-chip superconducting local oscillator. The single-chip microcircuit of the receiver, which integrates a quantum mixer based on the nonlinearity of a quasi-particle current in the SIS junction, a planar superconducting receiving antenna, and a cryogenic local oscillator, is described. Being dc-powered only by batteries, such a microcircuit operates as a submillimeter-wave superheterodyne receiver without any additional microwave equipment. Such receivers are very attractive for radioastronomical research, space communication systems, and monitoring of the environment from satellites, balloons, and special aircraft. A breadboard of a superconducting spectrometer with a phase-locked flux-flow oscillator (FFO) has been developed and tested. A frequency resolution better than 10 kHz was reached at a frequency of 365 GHz. We describe a balloon-borne 500-650 GHz integrated spectrometer for oblique atmospheric sounding, developed for the international Terahertz Limb Sounder (TELIS) project. The first flight is scheduled for 2005.     

Reactivity of Arylhydrazones toward Molecular Oxygen

The kinetics and mechanism of reaction of arylhydrazones with molecular oxygen were studied by gas volumetry. The reaction rate was studied in relation to the structure of arylhydrazone and kind of the solvent. The inhibiting power of the compounds toward initiated oxidation of ethylbenzene was evaluated, and the most effective compounds were found, judging from the ratio of the rate constants of the reactions with molecular oxygen and with peroxy radicals arising in the course of ethylbenzene oxidation.     

Invariance of the non-vanishing specializations of polynomials

This paper resolves a recent conjecture of I. Kaplansky concerning the nonsingularity of linear maps that preserve the set of nonzero specializations of polynomials.     

Vibrations of an elastic plate partially immersed in a liquid

The free vibrations of an elastic plate, placed orthogonally at the bottom of an unbounded open reservoir of constant depth, are considered. The reservoir is filled with a compressible liquid, the plate protrudes above the free surface and its rigidly fastened to the bottom. Gravitational effects are ignored. An analytical representation of the acoustic field in the liquid and the vibrational field in the plate is obtained. The natural frequencies and natural forms of vibration are calculated as a function of the height of the liquid level. An approximate approach to calculating the vibrations of the plate is considered.     

Comparative study of the properties of silver hydrosols prepared by “citrate” and “citrate-sulfate” procedures

Comparative study of the properties of silver hydrosols prepared with the use of two classical procedures (“citrate” and “citrate-sulfate”) is performed. The possibility of using these procedures for the synthesis of stable monodisperse silver hydrosols with particle diameters of 20 nm and more is studied. The effect of the main parameters of synthesis (the ratio of initial components, the rate of their mixing, etc) on the hydrosol characteristics is investigated. It is revealed that, in the case of “citrate” synthesis, it is quite impossible to realize conditions ensuring the reproducible preparation of colloidal solutions with particles having sufficiently uniform size and shape. The procedure for the one-stage preparation of “citrate-sulfate” hydrosol (without multiple precipitation-redispersion of nanoparticles) is elaborated and it is shown that the thus prepared hydrosol is greatly superior in both the optical characteristics and the morphological uniformity of particles to the citrate sol. An increase in synthesis temperature to 100°C leads to a substantial enhancement of the stability of colloidal solution. The possibility of using “citrate-sulfate” hydrosol for the design of two-dimensional ensembles of silver nanoparticles on the quartz and silicon surfaces modified with poly(2-vinylpyridine) is demonstrated. It is shown that such ensembles possess optical properties that allow to use them in designing “two-dimensional” polymer-metal nanocomposites potentially suitable for using as active media in devices working on the principle of surface plasmon resonance.     

Linear operators preserving the decomposable numerical range

Multilinear techniques are used to characterize unitary matrices in terms of a generalized numerical range. This characterization is then applied to analyze the structure of all linear operators on matrices which preserve this numerical range. The results generalize V. J. Pellegrini's determination of all linear operators preserving the classical numerical range.