Structure and composition of guanidine acrylate, guanidine methacrylate, their homopolymers, and copolymers with diallyldimethylammonium chloride

Structures and compositions of the monomers guanidine acrylate and guanidine methacrylate, their homopolymers, and copolymers with diallyldimethylammonium chloride enriched in acrylate comonomer units were determined. It was shown that ampholytic copolymers, owing to their ionic nature, contained comonomeric guanidine acrylate or methacrylate units and diallyldimethylammonium chloride units, as well as the acrylate comonomer with the diallyl counterion and polymeric acrylate and diallyl ion pairs. It follows from IR and ¹H NMR data that guanidine methacrylate has the same structure (with two hydrogen bonds) in the solid state and in solutions. Guanidine acrylate structures in the solid state and in dimethylsulfoxide are identical and analogous to guanidine methacrylate structure in this solvent. In water, the guanidine acrylate structure has another type of hydrogen bonding (with one hydrogen bond, where the proton is shifted toward the guanidine group). These features of hydrogen bonding of guanidine acrylate and guanidine methacrylate are also retained in their homopolymers and copolymers with diallyldimethylammonium chloride. It was shown that the thermal stability of the copolymers was higher than that of their homopolymers, confirming the formation of intramolecular ion pairs of oppositely charged units of ampholytic copolymers. Moreover, the thermal stability of guanidine methacrylate-diallyldimethylammonium chloride copolymers is higher than that of guanidine acrylate-diallyldimethylammonium chloride copolymers.     

Experimental Electronuclear Setup at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics

The purpose and current construction status, at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, of an experimental electronuclear setup, combining a pulsed proton linear accelerator (36 MeV, 0.5 mA) and a subcritical blanket thermal-power assembly 100 kW, are discussed. The main equipment is already available or is being built in industry. The setup can be used to investigate the dynamics of the interaction of a linac–driver and a subcritical reactor and problems concerning the accelerator–driver and the target–blanket assembly. The proton beams and neutron fluxes will be used for applied purposes. In the future it will be possible to increase substantially the current and energy of the proton beam.     

Improvement in hydrolytic procedure for GLC determination of non-indolyl glucosinolates in rapeseed as isothiocyanates

Some methods determine the non-indolyl glucosinolates content in rapeseed as their hydrolysates: the isothiocyanates and the oxazolidinethiones. These methods in their present form underestimate the amount of the glucosinolates content. In this investigation, a modified method was developed to give a better quantitative estimate, indicating a glucosinolate level five times that obtained by a typical existing method.     

Modification of platinum surfaces by spontaneous deposition: Methanol oxidation electrocatalysis

The presence of a second metal on platinum surfaces affects the performance of methanol oxidation. However, most of the electrocatalytic reactions are studied by using electrochemically deposited platinum alloys, but in the case of spontaneous deposition the situation is not so clear since the surface distribution, stability and morphology are usually not well documented. The formation of surface decorated samples on mono- and poly-crystalline platinum is followed by electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques and analysis of their performance towards methanol adsorption and oxidation compared with that on pure platinum. Pt/Sn and Pt/Ru are of special interest because of their well-known performance in methanol fuel cells. Methanol oxidation on Pt(111)/Ru, Pt(111)/Sn and Pt(111) shows that ruthenium is the only one able to promote the reaction since the simultaneous dissolution of tin occurs and competes with the process of interest. The in situ infrared spectroscopy is used to compare methanol oxidation on Pt(111)/Ru and Pt(111) in acid media using p-polarized light. The formation of bridge bound carbon monoxide is inhibited in the presence of ruthenium ad-species, whereas on Pt(111) the three adsorption configurations are observed. Linear sweep polarization curves and Tafel slopes (calculated from steady state potentiostatic plots) for methanol oxidation are compared on polycrystalline surfaces modified by tin or ruthenium at different coverages. There is almost no change in the Tafel slopes due to the presence of the foreign metal except for Pt/Ru, where a 0.09 V decade⁻¹ slope was calculated below 0.55 V due to hydroxyl adsorbates on ruthenium islands. The anodic stripping of methanol residues on the three surfaces indicates a lower amount of carbon monoxide-type adsorbates on Pt/Ru, and the simultaneous tin dissolution process leading to residues oxidation on Pt/Sn electrodes.     

Preparation and characterization of chitosan‐based dispersions

Complexation of chitosan in aqueous solutions by low molecular weight electrolytes is one of the simplest methods for the preparation of aqueous chitosan dispersions. In this work, the influence of storage time, sulfate concentration, method of preparation and surfactant content on some properties of the resultant chitosan dispersions (turbidity, viscosity and zeta potential) was analyzed. Turbidimetry was adequate to monitor the formation of particles, while viscometry was suitable to monitor changes in the dispersing phase. An analysis of the properties of these systems, mainly in terms of particle–particle and macromolecule–macromolecule interactions was carried out. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Influence of the ethylene–(methacrylic acid)–Zn2+ ionomer on the thermal and mechanical properties of blends of poly(propylene) (PP)/ethylene–(vinyl alcohol) copolymer (EVOH)

The thermal and mechanical properties and the morphologies of blends of poly(propylene) (PP) and an ethylene–(vinyl alcohol) copolymer (EVOH) and of blends of PP/EVOH/ethylene–(methacrylic acid)–Zn²⁺ ionomer were studied to establish the influence of the ionomer addition on the compatibilization of PP/EVOH blends and on their properties. The oxygen transmission rate (O₂TR) values of the blends were measured as well. PP and EVOH are initially incompatible as was determined by tensile tests and scanning electronic microscopy. Addition of the ionomer Zn²⁺ led to good compatibility and mechanical behaviour was improved in all blends. The mechanical properties on extruded films were studied for 90/10 and 80/20 w/w PP/EVOH blends compatibilized with 10 % of ionomer Zn²⁺. These experiments have shown that the tensile properties are better than in the injection‐moulded samples. The stretching during the extrusion improved the compatibility of the blends, diminishing the size of EVOH domains and enhancing their distribution in the PP matrix. As was to be expected, the EVOH improved the oxygen permeation of the films, even in compatibilized blends. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Rheological and drug‐release behaviour of a scleroglucan gel matrix at different drug loadings

The aim of this study was to investigate the drug‐loading effects on release and mechanical properties of a scleroglucan gel, with the intention of considering them in delivery systems formulations. The rheological and kinetic properties of a 2 % w/w scleroglucan gel matrix loaded with 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.2 and 0.4 % w/w of theophylline (Th, used as a model drug) were investigated. Rheological measurements were performed in a controlled‐stress rotational‐shear rheometer under isothermal conditions. For theophylline release from the gel a flat Franz cell was used and the kinetic parameters were derived applying a semi‐empirical power law. The influence of scleroglucan molar weight on kinetic and rheological behaviour was also studied. Results suggest two possible effects of drug loading on the gel network: in the 0.04–0.06 % w/w Th range a plasticizing effect and in the 0.2–0.4 % w/w Th range a rigidization effect. In the first range mentioned, the changes in the gel structural properties tested by means of rheological measurements are coincident with changes in drug‐release kinetics. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effective VLSI processor architectures for HLL computers: the RISCapproach

The design principles of reduced-instruction-set computer (RISC) architectures as they apply to VLSI implementation for high-level languages (HLLs) are presented. The nature of general-purpose HLL computations is discussed in terms of static and dynamic program measurements, and the HLL features that need efficient support are identified. CISC (complex-instruction-set computer) and RISC approaches to general-purpose HLL computers are outlined, the effects of instruction-set reduction on both code size and execution time are evaluated, and the delayed-jump concept is introduced. The Berkeley RISC architecture is presented as an example     

Optical networks for local loop applications

Some of the options for optical technology within the local loop environment are examined. In particular, passive shared access networks have been considered in some detail. These networks show great promise for delivering existing telephone services to small to medium business customers (4-30 lines) economically by the early 1990s. Extending fiber to the home will also be possible by virtue of a similar passive network infrastructure for customers requiring new broadband services beyond the single telephone line. For one-line plain old telephone service (POTS) customers, an intermediate approach of terminating the fiber network at the final network distribution point, with copper retained for the final leg, may be used prior to the provision of broadband services. A key feature of the passive optical network architecture is the use of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) as an upgrade strategy, allowing graceful upgrading from telephone services to multichannel high-definition television (HDTV) on gigabit/second bearers and full two-way switched broadband services employing wavelength routing across the network