894 research outputs found
A study of the structure, properties and synthesis of block copolymers
The mechanical properties of a styrene–butadiene–styrene
block copolymer (Shell Cariflex K101) have been found to be
dependent upon the morphology of the polymer, which could be altered
by thermal or solvent treatments. Films cast from toluene, methylene
chloride and methyl cyclohexane and moulded samples are compared. Small-angle X-ray scattering, electron microscopic and swelling
techniques have been used to determine the morphology of the
samples. Macro-lattice models based on the microphase separation
of the two chemical species into domains and matrix have been
proposed for the toluene and methylene chloride cast samples.
Properties which have been found to differ are the dynamic
mechanical spectra, stress-strain behaviour, stress relaxation and
creep. The dynamic mechanical apparatus as described by Bowman has been improved and modified and has been used to measure
the Young's temperature
moduli and loss tangent of the
(-150°C to +120°C) and frequency
samples over a wide
range (0.01Hz to 1000Hz).
The network characteristic of this system has been attributed
to the entanglements of the polybutadiene chains, the physical
adsorption of the polybutadiene chains onto the domain surface and
the polybutadiene–polystyrene junctions. The ultimate properties
have been shown to be those of the rubbery matrix but are highly enhanced by the polystyrene domains acting as reinforcing fillers.
Preliminary work has been carried out in the synthesis of the XYX type of block copolymer where X is a crystalline segment (poly 3,3-bis(chloromethyl) oxetane) and Y is an elastomeric segment (tetrahydrofuran/3,3-bis(chloromethyl) oxetane copolymer)
Rate-distortion optimization for stereoscopic video streaming with unequal error protection
We consider an error-resilient stereoscopic streaming system that uses an H.264-based multiview video codec and a rateless Raptor code for recovery from packet losses. One aim of the present work is to suggest a heuristic methodology for modeling the end-to-end rate-distortion (RD) characteristic of such a system. Another aim is to show how to make use of such a model to optimally select the parameters of the video codec and the Raptor code to minimize the overall distortion. Specifically, the proposed system models the RD curve of video encoder and performance of channel codec to jointly derive the optimal encoder bit rates and unequal error protection (UEP) rates specific to the layered stereoscopic video streaming. We define analytical RD curve modeling for each layer that includes the interdependency of these layers. A heuristic analytical model of the performance of Raptor codes is also defined. Furthermore, the distortion on the stereoscopic video quality caused by packet losses is estimated. Finally, analytical models and estimated single-packet loss distortions are used to minimize the end-to-end distortion and to obtain optimal encoder bit rates and UEP rates. The simulation results clearly demonstrate the significant quality gain against the nonoptimized schemes
Thermal reaction norms and the scale of temperature variation: latitudinal vulnerability of intertidal Nacellid limpets to climate change
The thermal reaction norms of 4 closely related intertidal Nacellid limpets, Antarctic (Nacella concinna), New Zealand (Cellana ornata), Australia (C. tramoserica) and Singapore (C. radiata), were compared across environments with different temperature magnitude, variability and predictability, to test their relative vulnerability to different scales of climate warming. Lethal limits were measured alongside a newly developed metric of “duration tenacity”, which was tested at different temperatures to calculate the thermal reaction norm of limpet adductor muscle fatigue. Except in C. tramoserica which had a wide optimum range with two break points, duration tenacity did not follow a typical aerobic capacity curve but was best described by a single break point at an optimum temperature. Thermal reaction norms were shifted to warmer temperatures in warmer environments; the optimum temperature for tenacity (Topt) increased from 1.0°C (N. concinna) to 14.3°C (C. ornata) to 18.0°C (an average for the optimum range of C. tramoserica) to 27.6°C (C. radiata). The temperature limits for duration tenacity of the 4 species were most consistently correlated with both maximum sea surface temperature and summer maximum in situ habitat logger temperature. Tropical C. radiata, which lives in the least variable and most predictable environment, generally had the lowest warming tolerance and thermal safety margin (WT and TSM; respectively the thermal buffer of CTmax and Topt over habitat temperature). However, the two temperate species, C. ornata and C. tramoserica, which live in a variable and seasonally unpredictable microhabitat, had the lowest TSM relative to in situ logger temperature. N. concinna which lives in the most variable, but seasonally predictable microhabitat, generally had the highest TSMs. Intertidal animals live at the highly variable interface between terrestrial and marine biomes and even small changes in the magnitude and predictability of their environment could markedly influence their future distributions
Mass Parameterizations and Predictions of Isotopic Observables
We discuss the accuracy of mass models for extrapolating to very asymmetric
nuclei and the impact of such extrapolations on the predictions of isotopic
observables in multifragmentation. We obtain improved mass predictions by
incorporating measured masses and extrapolating to unmeasured masses with a
mass formula that includes surface symmetry and Coulomb terms. We find that
using accurate masses has a significant impact on the predicted isotopic
observables.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Evidence of functional cell-mediated immune responses to nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae in otitis-prone children
Otitis media (OM) remains a common paediatric disease, despite advances in vaccinology. Susceptibility to recurrent acute OM (rAOM) has been postulated to involve defective cell-mediated immune responses to common otopathogenic bacteria. We compared the composition of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 20 children with a history of rAOM (otitis-prone) and 20 healthy non-otitis-prone controls, and assessed innate and cell-mediated immune responses to the major otopathogen nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi). NTHi was a potent stimulator of inflammatory cytokine secretion from PBMC within 4 hours, with no difference in cytokine levels produced between PBMC from cases or controls. In the absence of antigen stimulation, otitis-prone children had more circulating Natural Killer (NK) cells (p<0.01), particularly NKdim (CD56lo) cells (p<0.01), but fewer CD4+ T cells (p<0.01) than healthy controls. NTHi challenge significantly increased the proportion of activated (CD107a+) NK cells in otitis-prone and non-otitis-prone children (p<0.01), suggesting that NK cells from otitis-prone children are functional and respond to NTHi. CD8+ T cells and NK cells from both cases and controls produced IFNγ in response to polyclonal stimulus (Staphylococcal enterotoxin B; SEB), with more IFNγ+ CD8+ T cells present in cases than controls (p<0.05) but similar proportions of IFNγ+ NK cells. Otitis-prone children had more circulating IFNγ-producing NK cells (p<0.05) and more IFNγ-producing CD4+ (p<0.01) or CD8+ T-cells (p<0.05) than healthy controls. In response to SEB, more CD107a-expressing CD8+ T cells were present in cases than controls (p<0.01). Despite differences in PBMC composition, PBMC from otitis-prone children mounted innate and T cell-mediated responses to NTHi challenge that were comparable to healthy children. These data provide evidence that otitis-prone children do not have impaired functional cell mediated immunity
Isotopic composition of fragments in multifragmentation of very large nuclear systems: effects of the chemical equilibrium
Studies on the isospin of fragments resulting from the disassembly of highly
excited large thermal-like nuclear emitting sources, formed in the ^{197}Au +
^{197}Au reaction at 35 MeV/nucleon beam energy, are presented. Two different
decay systems (the quasiprojectile formed in midperipheral reactions and the
unique source coming from the incomplete fusion of projectile and target in the
most central collisions) were considered; these emitting sources have the same
initial N/Z ratio and excitation energy (E^* ~= 5--6 MeV/nucleon), but
different size. Their charge yields and isotopic content of the fragments show
different distributions. It is observed that the neutron content of
intermediate mass fragments increases with the size of the source. These
evidences are consistent with chemical equilibrium reached in the systems. This
fact is confirmed by the analysis with the statistical multifragmentation
model.Comment: 9 pages, 4 ps figure
Comparisons of Statistical Multifragmentation and Evaporation Models for Heavy Ion Collisions
The results from ten statistical multifragmentation models have been compared
with each other using selected experimental observables. Even though details in
any single observable may differ, the general trends among models are similar.
Thus these models and similar ones are very good in providing important physics
insights especially for general properties of the primary fragments and the
multifragmentation process. Mean values and ratios of observables are also less
sensitive to individual differences in the models. In addition to
multifragmentation models, we have compared results from five commonly used
evaporation codes. The fluctuations in isotope yield ratios are found to be a
good indicator to evaluate the sequential decay implementation in the code. The
systems and the observables studied here can be used as benchmarks for the
development of statistical multifragmentation models and evaporation codes.Comment: To appear on Euorpean Physics Journal A as part of the Topical Volume
"Dynamics and Thermodynamics with Nuclear Degrees of Freedo
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