Structure and mobility of cyclohexane as a solvent for Trans-Polyisoprene

Solutions of {\it trans}$-$polyisoprene in cyclohexane are investigated in atomistic detail at different compositions at two different temperatures. We investigate the influence of polymer concentration on the dynamics of the solvent molecules and the structure of the solvation shell. The double bonds along the polymer backbone are preferentially approached by the solvent molecules. The mobility of cyclohexane molecules decreases with increasing polymer concentration at ambient conditions. The reorientation of molecules becomes more anisotropic with concentration as the polymer hinders the reorientation of the molecular plane. At elevated temperatures the influence of the polymer is weaker and the reorientation of the solvent is more isotropic. Additionally, a fast and efficient way to set up atomistic simulations is shown in detail in which the initial simulations increase in length and in the simulation time-step. The excess energy from initial overlaps is removed by resetting the velocities at regular intervals.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Automatic interface measurement and analysis

A technique for detecting and measuring the interface between two categories in classified scanner data is described together with two application demonstrations. Measurements were found to be accurate to 1.5% root mean square error on features of known length while comparison of measurements made using the technique on LANDSAT data to opisometer measurements on 1:24,000 scale maps shows excellent agreement. Application of the technique to two frames of LANDSAT data classified using a two channel, two class classifier resulted in a computation of 64 km annual decrease in shoreline length. The tidal shoreline of a portion of Alabama was measured using LANDSAT data. Based on the measurement of this portion, the total tidal shoreline length of Alabama is estimated to be 1313 kilometers

Shoreline as a controlling factor in commercial shrimp production

An ecological model was developed that relates marsh detritus export and shrimp production, based on the hypothesis that the shoreline is a controlling factor in the production of shrimp through regulation of detritus export from the marsh. LANDSAT data were used to develop measurements of shoreline length and area of marsh having more than 5.0 km shoreline/sq km for the coast of Louisiana, demonstrating the capability of remote sensing to provide important geographic information. These factors were combined with published tidal ranges and salinities to develop a mathematical model that predicted shrimp production for nine geographic units of the Louisiana coast, as indicated by the long term average commercial shrimp yield. The mathematical model relating these parameters and the shrimp production is consistent with an energy flow model describing the interaction of detritus producing marshlands with shrimp nursery grounds and inshore shrimping areas. The analysis supports the basic hypothesis and further raises the possibility of applications to coastal zone management requirements

Mellin Amplitudes for Fermionic Conformal Correlators

We define Mellin amplitudes for the fermion-scalar four point function and the fermion four point function. The Mellin amplitude thus defined has multiple components each associated with a tensor structure. In the case of three spacetime dimensions, we explicitly show that each component factorizes on dynamical poles onto components of the Mellin amplitudes for the corresponding three point functions. The novelty here is that for a given exchanged primary, each component of the Mellin amplitude may in general have more than one series of poles. We present a few examples of Mellin amplitudes for tree-level Witten diagrams and tree-level conformal Feynman integrals with fermionic legs, which illustrate the general properties.Comment: 28 pages + Appendices, 8 figure

Local Reorientation Dynamics of Semiflexible Polymers in the Melt

The reorientation dynamics of local tangent vectors of chains in isotropic amorphous melts containing semiflexible model polymers was studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The reorientation is strongly influenced both by the local chain stiffness and by the overall chain length. It takes place by two different subsequent processes: A short-time non-exponential decay and a long-time exponential reorientation arising from the relaxation of medium-size chain segments. Both processes depend on stiffness and chain length. The strong influence of the chain length on the chain dynamics is in marked contrast to its negligible effect on the static structure of the melt. The local structure shows only a small dependence on the stiffness, and is independent of chain length. Calculated correlation functions related to double-quantum NMR experiments are in qualitative agreement with experiments on entangled melts. A plateau is observed in the dependence of segment reorientation on the mean-squared displacement of the corresponding chain segments. This plateau confirms, on one hand, the existence of reptation dynamics. On the other hand, it shows how the reptation picture has to be adapted if, instead of fully flexible chains, semirigid chains are considered.Comment: 29 pages, several figures, accepted by Macromolecule