Fluorescence and topological gap of conjugated phenylene polymers

We propose that strong fluorescence in conjugated polymers requires a dipole-allowed state to be the lowest singlet. Hückel theory for para-conjugated phenyl rings yields an extended, topologically one-dimensional ?-system with increased alternation, states localized on each ring, and charge-transfer excitations between them. Exact Pariser�Parr�Pople results and molecular spectra for oligomers support a topological contribution and a lowest dipole-allowed singlet in phenylene polymers.

Behavior of Ca(OH)2/CaO pellet under dehydration and hydration

With construction of a thermochemical energy conversion prototype system to store solar heat, thermal dissociation of pellets of Ca(OH)2 and hydration of CaO have been investigated in some detail for its application to the system. The inorganic substance is very attractive as a material for long term heat storage, but molar density changes associated with the reaction are fairly large. Therefore, this factor has been taken into account in the kinetic equation. The importance of additives and pellet size has been discussed considering reactivity and strength of pellets. An analysis has been attempted when chemical reaction is important. The deformation of pellets was observed during hydration.

Collapse Behavior of an Artificially Cemented Clayey Silt

The present study examines the role of interparticle cementation in the collapse behavior of two partly saturated (S-r = 4 to 12%) and very highly porous (initial void ratio = 1.5 to 2) laboratory-desiccated clayey silt specimens containing varying amounts (5 and 15% by dry weight of the respective specimens) of the cementitious iron oxides hematite and goethite, which are generally encountered in tropical residual soils. Kaolinite is the representative clay mineral of the soil matrix used for this research. Interparticle cementation by the crystalline iron oxides was generated in the laboratory by repeated (six times) wetting and drying of the iron-hydroxide-admixed clayey silt specimens under ambient conditions of temperature and humidity. Results showed that, for a given laboratory-desiccated clayey silt specimen (i.e., a specimen containing 5 or 15% of iron oxide on a dry weight basis), the amount of collapse (represented by Delta epsilon, the change in vertical strain upon wetting under constant pressure) increases with an increase in the experimental loading under which the specimen is inundated. The laboratory results also show that the desiccated specimen with a higher iron oxide content (containing 15% iron oxide by dry weight of the desiccated specimen) in spite of a lower dry unit weight (gamma(d) = 8.8 kN/m(3)) undergoes a lesser amount of collapse on soaking under a constant external stress (50 or 100 kPa) than the desiccated specimen with a lower iron oxide content (i.e., containing 5% iron oxide by dry weight of the desiccated specimen, gamma(d) = 10.4 KN/m(3)). Based on the X-ray diffraction results and the stress-strain relationships obtained from isotropically consolidated undrained triaxial tests, it is suggested that the laboratory-desiccated specimens are characterized by a metastable bonding provided by capillary suction and the crystalline iron oxides. On soaking under load owing to the loss of the metastable bonding, collapse of the laboratory-desiccated specimens occurs. Also, in the case of the laboratory-desiccated specimen with a higher iron oxide content, the presence of a stronger interparticle cementation (due to a greater abundance of crystalline iron oxides) and a higher initial moisture content are considered responsible for the specimen exhibiting a lower amount of collapse in comparison to that exhibited by the desiccated specimen with a lesser iron oxide content.

The effect of low intra-sublattice repulsion on phase diagram of YBa2Cu3O6+x: A Monte Carlo simulation study

We report the results of Monte Carlo simulation of the phase diagram and oxygen ordering in YBa2Cu3O6+x for low intra-sublattice repulsion. At low temperatures, apart from tetragonal (T), orthorhombic (OI) and 'double cell' ortho II phases, there is evidence for two additional orthorhombic phases labelled here as OIBAR and OIII. At high temperatures, there was no evidence for the decomposition of the OI phase into the T and OI phases. We find qualitative agreement with experimental observations and cluster-variation method results.

Spectroscopic Observation of Oscillations in the Corona During the Total Solar Eclipse of 22 July 2009

We performed high resolution spectroscopy of the solar corona during the total solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 in two emission lines: the green line at 5303 due to Fe xiv and the red line at 6374 due to Fe x, simultaneously from Anji (latitude 30A degrees 28.1' N; longitude 119A degrees 35.4' E; elevation 890 m), China. A two-mirror coelostat with 100 cm focal length lens produced a 9.2 mm image of the Sun. The spectrograph using 140 cm focal length lens in Littrow mode and a grating with 600 lines per millimeter blazed at 2 mu m provided a dispersion of 30 m and 43 m per pixel in the fourth order around the green line and third order around the red line, respectively. Two Peltier cooled 1k x 1k CCD cameras, with a pixel size of 13 mu m square and 14-bit readout at 10 MHz operated in frame transfer mode, were used to obtain the time sequence spectra in two emission lines simultaneously. The duration of totality was 341 s, but we could get spectra for 270 s after a trial exposure at an interval of 5 s. We report here on the detection of intensity, velocity, and line width oscillations with periodicity in the range of 25 -50 s. These oscillations can be interpreted in terms of the presence of fast magnetoacoustic waves or torsional Alfv,n waves. The intensity ratios of green to red emission lines indicate the temperature of the corona to be 1.65 MK in the equatorial region and 1.40 MK in the polar region, relatively higher than the expected temperature during the low activity period. The width variation of the emission lines in different coronal structures suggests different physical conditions in different structures.

Velocity distribution function for a dilute granular material in shear flow

The velocity distribution function for the steady shear flow of disks (in two dimensions) and spheres (in three dimensions) in a channel is determined in the limit where the frequency of particle-wall collisions is large compared to particle-particle collisions. An asymptotic analysis is used in the small parameter epsilon, which is naL in two dimensions and na(2)L in three dimensions, where; n is the number density of particles (per unit area in two dimensions and per unit volume in three dimensions), L is the separation of the walls of the channel and a is the particle diameter. The particle-wall collisions are inelastic, and are described by simple relations which involve coefficients of restitution e(t) and e(n) in the tangential and normal directions, and both elastic and inelastic binary collisions between particles are considered. In the absence of binary collisions between particles, it is found that the particle velocities converge to two constant values (u(x), u(y)) = (+/-V, O) after repeated collisions with the wall, where u(x) and u(y) are the velocities tangential and normal to the wall, V = (1 - e(t))V-w/(1 + e(t)), and V-w and -V-w, are the tangential velocities of the walls of the channel. The effect of binary collisions is included using a self-consistent calculation, and the distribution function is determined using the condition that the net collisional flux of particles at any point in velocity space is zero at steady state. Certain approximations are made regarding the velocities of particles undergoing binary collisions :in order to obtain analytical results for the distribution function, and these approximations are justified analytically by showing that the error incurred decreases proportional to epsilon(1/2) in the limit epsilon --> 0. A numerical calculation of the mean square of the difference between the exact flux and the approximate flux confirms that the error decreases proportional to epsilon(1/2) in the limit epsilon --> 0. The moments of the velocity distribution function are evaluated, and it is found that [u(x)(2)] --> V-2, [u(y)(2)] similar to V-2 epsilon and -[u(x)u(y)] similar to V-2 epsilon log(epsilon(-1)) in the limit epsilon --> 0. It is found that the distribution function and the scaling laws for the velocity moments are similar for both two- and three-dimensional systems.

Role of oxygen transients in the facile scission of C-O bonds of alcohols on Zn surfaces

The alkoxy species produced by the interaction of alcohols with Zn surfaces undergoes C-O bond scission at 150 K giving hydrocarbon species, but this transformation occurs even at 80 K when alcohol-oxygen mixtures are coadsorbed, due to the oxygen transients.

Microstructural Studies of Ferroelectric Bi2VO5.5 Thin Films With LaNiO3 Electrodes

Thin films of Bi2VO5.5 (BVO), a vanadium analog of the n = I member of the Aurivillius family, have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The BVO films grow along the [001] direction on LaNiO3(LNO) and YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) electrode buffer layers on LaA- IO3(LAO) substrates as obtained from X-ray diffraction studies. The microstructure of the films and of the interfaces within the film and between the film and the substrate were characterized using transmission electron microscopy. The in-plane epitaxial relationship of the rhombohedral LNO on perovskite LAO was [100] LNO // [100] LAO and [001] LNO // [001] LAO. High resolution lattice images showed a sharp interface between LNO and LAO. However, the LNO film is twinned with a preferred orientation along the growth direction. The BVO layer is single crystalline on both LNO/LAO and YBCO/LAO with the caxis parallel to the growth direction except for a thin layer of about 400 Å at the interface which is polycrystalline.

Effect of spinel second phase on high temperature deformation in alumina

Constant stress compression creep experiments were carried out on high purity alumina composites with spinel contents of 8 and 30%, corresponding to a situation with isolated and interconnected second phases. The creep experiments were conducted over a stress and temperature range of 10 to 150 MPa and 1623 to 1723 K, respectively. Analysis of the experimental data indicated that the variation in spinel content did not have any influence on high temperature deformation in the composite. The spinel phase retards grain growth, and this may enhance superplasticity in alumina-spinel composites.

Gibbs energy of formation of CuCrO4 and phase relations in the system Cu-Cr-O below 735 K

A solid state galvanic cell incorporating yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte and ruthenium(IV) oxide electrodes has been used to measure the equilibrium chemical potential of oxygen corresponding to the decomposition of CuCrO4 in the range 590–760 K. For the reaction CuO(tenorite) + CuCr2O4(spinel) + 1.5O2(g)→2CuCrO4(orth), ΔGXXX = −183540 + 249.6T(±900) J mol−1. The decomposition temperature of CuCrO4 in pure oxygen at a pressure of 1.01 × 105 Pa is 735(±1) K. By combining the results obtained in this study with data on the Gibbs energy of formation of CuCr2O4 and CuCrO2 reported earlier, the standard Gibbs energy of formation of CuCrO4 and the phase relations in the system Cu-Cr-O at temperatures below 735 K have been deduced. Electron microscopic studies have indicated that the decomposition of CuCrO4 to CuCr2O4 is topotactic.

Force measurements on hypersonic waveriders in the IISc hypersonic shock tunnel HST2

The drag and lift coefficients for a viscous optimized Mach 6 conical waverider has been measured using an accelerometer force balance system in the IISc hypersonic shock tunnel. A rubber bush placed in between the waverider model and the steel sting ensures unrestrained motion to the model during shock tunnel testing (500 mu s). Two accelerometers mounted on the model are used to measure the model accelerations in the axial and normal directions. The measured value of lift to drag ratio at zero angle of incidence for the IISc conical waverider with viscous optimized leading edge is 2.149, which compares well with the value reported in the open literature (Anderson et al 1991) for similar class of waveriders designed for a flight Mach number of 6. The details of the experimental study along with illustrative numerical results are discussed in this paper.

Criticality guided energy aware speculation for speculative multithreaded processors

Unending quest for performance improvement coupled with the advancements in integrated circuit technology have led to the development of new architectural paradigm. Speculative multithreaded architecture (SpMT) philosophy relies on aggressive speculative execution for improved performance. However, aggressive speculative execution comes with a mixed flavor of improving performance, when successful, and adversely affecting the energy consumption (and performance) because of useless computation in the event of mis-speculation. Dynamic instruction criticality information can be usefully applied to control and guide such an aggressive speculative execution. In this paper, we present a model of micro-execution for SpMT architecture that we have developed to determine the dynamic instruction criticality. We have also developed two novel techniques utilizing the criticality information namely delaying the non-critical loads and the criticality based thread-prediction for reducing useless computations and energy consumption. Experimental results showing break-up of critical instructions and effectiveness of proposed techniques in reducing energy consumption are presented in the context of multiscalar processor that implements SpMT architecture. Our experiments show 17.7% and 11.6% reduction in dynamic energy for criticality based thread prediction and criticality based delayed load scheme respectively while the improvement in dynamic energy delay product is 13.9% and 5.5%, respectively. (c) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.