The thermal diffusivity of natural rubber

Measurements of thermal diffusivities of peroxide-cured and sulfur-cured rubbers, over the range 0–100°C and 0–75 phr of carbon, are described. They are based on the asymptotic time dependences of heating and cooling curves, recorded following quenching of the samples into baths at various temperatures. The diffusivities are shown to depend linearly on both temperature and carbon content, to reasonable accuracies over the ranges studied. Some theory bearing on measurement techniques is presented.     

Mechanism and substrate stereochemistry of 2-amino-3-oxobutyrate CoA ligase: implications for 5-aminolevulinate synthase and related enzymes

The condensation process catalysed by 2-amino-3-oxobutyrate CoA ligase (KBL; also known as 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate ligase) involves the loss of the pro-R hydrogen atom of glycine and occurs with the inversion of stereochemistry; a similar scenario is envisaged for the condensation step of other alpha-oxoamine synthases.     

Propagation factors of Hermite–Gaussian beams in turbulent atmosphere

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral and the second-order moments of the Wigner distribution function, an analytical formulae for the propagation factors (M²-factors) of coherent and partially coherent one-dimensional Hermite–Gaussian beams in a turbulent atmosphere are derived. Evolution properties of the M²-factor of the Hermite–Gaussian beam in a turbulent atmosphere are studied numerically in detail. Our results show that the M²-factor of the Hermite–Gaussian beam increases upon propagation in a turbulent atmosphere. The M²-factor of the Hermite–Gaussian beam with larger beam order (or lower coherence) increases slower that of the Hermite–Gaussian beam with smaller beam order (or higher coherence) in a turbulent atmosphere, which means that the Hermite–Gaussian beam with a larger beam order and lower coherence is less affected by a turbulent atmosphere. Our results will be useful in long-distance free-space optical communications.     

Inequalities Concerning The Maximum Modulus of Polynomials

Let P(z) be a polynomial of degree n having all its zeros in |z|≤k, k ≤1, then for every real or complex number β, with |β|≤ 1 and R ≥ 1, it was shown by A.Zireh et al. [7] that for |z|=1,min|z|=1|P(Rz)+β((R+k)/(1+k))~nP(z)|≥k~(-n)|R~n+β((R+k)/(1+k))~n|min|z|=k|P(z)|.In this paper, we shall present a refinement of the above inequality. Besides, we shall also generalize some well-known results.     

Penalized multinomial mixture logit model

Normal distribution based discriminant methods have been used for the classification of new entities into different groups based on a discriminant rule constructed from the learning set. In practice if the groups are not homogeneous, then mixture discriminant analysis of Hastie and Tibshirani (J R Stat Soc Ser B 58(1):155–176, 1996) is a useful approach, assuming that the distribution of the feature vectors is a mixture of multivariate normals. In this paper a new logistic regression model for heterogenous group structure of the learning set is proposed based on penalized multinomial mixture logit models. This approach is shown through simulation studies to be more effective. The results were compared with the standard mixture discriminant analysis approach using the probability of misclassification criterion. This comparison showed a slight reduction in the average probability of misclassification using this penalized multinomial mixture logit model as compared to the classical discriminant rules. It also showed better results when applied to practical life data problems producing smaller errors.     

SEM and Raman spectroscopy analyses of laser-induced periodic surface structures grown by ethanol-assisted femtosecond laser ablation of chromium

The effect of fluence and pulse duration on the growth of nanostructures on chromium (Cr) surfaces has been investigated upon irradiation of femtosecond (fs) laser pulses in a liquid confined environment of ethanol. In order to explore the effect of fluence, targets were exposed to 1000 pulses at various peak fluences ranging from 4.7 to 11.8?J?cm^–2 for pulse duration of ～25?fs. In order to explore the effect of pulse duration, targets were exposed to fs laser pulses of various pulse durations ranging from 25 to 100?fs, for a constant fluence of 11.8?J?cm^–2. Surface morphology and structural transformations have been analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. After laser irradiation, disordered sputtered surface with intense melting and cracking is obtained at the central ablated areas, which are augmented with increasing laser fluence due to enhanced thermal effects. At the peripheral ablated areas, where local fluence is approximately in the range of 1.4–4?mJ?cm^–2, very well-defined laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) with periodicity ranging from 270 to 370?nm along with dot-like structures are formed. As far as the pulse duration is concerned, a significant effect on the surface modification of Cr has been revealed. In the central ablated areas, for the shortest pulse duration (25?fs), only melting has been observed. However, LIPSS with dot-like structures and droplets have been grown for longer pulse durations. The periodicity of LIPSS increases and density of dot-like structures decreases with increasing pulse duration. The chemical and structural modifications of irradiated Cr have been revealed by Raman spectroscopy. It confirms the formation of new bands of chromium oxides and enol complexes or Cr-carbonyl compounds. The peak intensities of identified bands are dependent upon laser fluence and pulse duration.     

Relations between kinetic parameters of different column models for liquid chromatography applying core-shell particles

This article presents analytical solutions of the general rate model (GRM), the lumped kinetic model (LKM), and the simpler equilibrium dispersive model (EDM) for core-shell particles and linear adsorption isotherms. The solutions in the Laplace domain are applied to derive analytical expressions for the temporal moments of these models. The results provide relations between the model specific kinetic parameters by matching one or more of the temporal moments. Several case studies are considered for illustration. The results show that simpler models are in many cases as good as the most detailed GRM if their kinetic parameters fulfill the matching relations. Thus, it is possible to reliably predict elution profiles using the simpler models. The derived analytical expressions can also be utilized to efficiently estimate model parameters from experimentally observed elution profiles to further optimize core-shell particles and to identify suitable column sizes and operating conditions.