Selective solvation of polystyrene in tetralin/cyclohexane mixtures

Refractive index increments and density increments have been measured at 307.6K for polystyrene in binary solvents of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene (tetralin, TET) and cyclohexane over the whole range of solvent composition. Comparison of these increments with the corresponding values obtained at dialysis equilibrium (i.e. at constant chemical potential of low molecular weight species) yielded the coefficients of selective adsorption (γ₁) of TET by the polymer. Positive values of γ₁ were exhibited at solvent compositions up to 78% (v/v) of the thermodynamically better solvent, TET. Theoretical curves of γ₁ vs. composition were calculated on the basis of, firstly, relevant interaction parameters and, secondly, interaction parameters in conjunction with solubility parameters. Both procedures afforded self-consistent results, which were, however, uniformly lower than the experimental values of γ₁.     

Styryl Dyes for Synthetic-polymer Fibres.

The synthesis of a series of dyes derived from reaction of 2-methyl-4-(N-ethyl-N-hydroxyethyl)amino, lidicyano-styrene with acid chlorides, chloroformates, isocyanates and isothiocyanates is described. Data relevant to dye characterization by electron-impact induced fragmentation is reported. Dyeing and fastness properties of the dyes on cellulose secondary acetate, cellulose triacetate, nylon 6.6 and polyester fibres are discussed in terms of dye structure. Comparison is made between some related dyes derived from 2-methyl-4-(N-ethyl-N-β-aminoethyljamino-β,βdicyanostyrene.     

Free and esterified sterols of cotton buds and anthers

Capillary gas liquid chromatography analyses were conducted on free and esterified sterol fractions of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum cv. Stoneville 213) floral buds and anthers. The free sterols of both cotton buds and anthers consist mainly of the common plant sterols sitosterol, stigmasterol and 24ζ-methylcholest-5-en-3β-ol. The composition of esterified sterols of cotton buds and anthers were similar, and consisted of pollinastanol, 31-norcycloartanol, cycloartenol, 31-norcycloartenol, 24-dehydropolinastanol and sitosterol. Desmosterol was also present in both the free and esterified sterols of anthers. The identities of the sterols were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses. Esterified sterols accounted for 46.7 and 88.7% of total sterols of cotton bud and anthers, respectively. The ratio of esterified sterol to free sterol per gram of tissue is about 8∶1 in anthers. The Δ⁵-sterols of the esterified sterols of cotton buds and anthers account for only 17 and 9.2% of the total sterols, respectively.     

Development of optical anisotropy in vitrains during carbonization

The purpose of this work was to examine the possible significance in the formation of metallurgical coke of the anisotropic spherical mesophase exemplified by that found during the carbonization of pitch-like materials, and to ascertain if the various types of optical anisotropy found in coke could form a basis for the characterization of cokes produced from different coals. Vitrains from a wide range of coals were carbonized at temperatures from 370 to 1000 °C and the types and amounts of optical anisotropy in the resulting semi-cokes and cokes were determined from microscopic examination, the anisotropic components being classified according to grain size of the granular mosaics and appearance. The anisotropy developed directly from the isotropic phase, appearing initially as a fine-grained mosaic. With increasing carbonization temperature, this fine-grained mosaic was transformed into progressively coarser-grained anisotropy, the extent of this transformation depending on the rank of the vitrain. It is therefore concluded that the formation, growth and coalescence of anisotropic spherical bodies, such as occurs during the carbonization of pitch, is not a necessary precursor of the mosaic anisotropy in coke. The type and amount of anisotropy developed provide a quantitative means of characterising different cokes.     

Discrete-Time Expectation Maximization Algorithms for Markov-Modulated Poisson Processes

In this paper, we consider parameter estimation Markov-modulated Poisson processes via robust filtering and smoothing techniques. Using the expectation maximization algorithm framework, our filters and smoothers can be applied to estimate the parameters of our model in either an online configuration or an offline configuration. Further, our estimator dynamics do not involve stochastic integrals and our new formulas, in terms of time integrals, are easily discretized, and are written in numerically stable forms in W. P. Malcolm, R. J. Elliott, and J. van der Hoek, “On the numerical stability of time-discretized state estimation via clark transformations,” presented at the IEEE Conf. Decision Control, Mauii, HI, Dec. 2003.