Linear Increase In Temperature Research Articles

Polypyrrole-wool composite with electrical heating properties fabricated via layer-by-layer method

This study presents the development of conductive polymer-textile composites with outstanding electric heating properties achieved through the in-situ polymerization of polypyrrole on wool-felt fabrics, renowned for their superior thermal insulation. Employing successive layer-by-layer (LBL) cycles facilitated precise control over the uniform deposition of polypyrrole with the fabrics. The investigation focused on the interaction between wool fiber and polypyrrole, evaluating appearance, add-on, and electrical heating performance with varying LBL cycles. The polymerization process resulted in the formation of spherical polypyrrole particles on the wool-felt, with deposition increasing alongside LBL cycle numbers. Mechanical properties, including tensile strength and bending rigidity, exhibited enhancement with polypyrrole deposition, while strain reduction was noted, with minimal influence from LBL cycles. Electrical properties, particularly surface resistance, displayed a rapid decrease up to the second LBL cycle. Concerning electrical heating performance, the application of a 12 V voltage resulted in a linear increase in surface temperature with increasing LBL cycles, peaking at 15.5 ℃. Notably, this sustained electrical heating effect persisted even after voltage removal, attributed to the low thermal conductivity of wool fiber. Moreover, the polypyrrole conductive layer maintained exceptional conductivity following repeated abrasion and washing, credited to improved uniformity through LBL cycles. The synergy of wool's insulating properties and polypyrrole's conductivity, as confirmed in this study, presents the potential for a highly efficient heating fabric. These developed materials exhibited improved heating performance, energy conservation, and minimal change in mechanical properties, making them suitable for applications such as electrical heating smart clothing.

Exploring the evolution of dust temperature using spectral energy distribution fitting in a large photometric survey

ABSTRACT Panchromatic analysis of galaxy spectral energy distributions, spanning from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared, probes not only the stellar population but also the properties of interstellar dust through its extinction and long-wavelength re-emission. However, little work has exploited the full power of such fitting to constrain the redshift evolution of dust temperature in galaxies. To do so, we simultaneously fit ultraviolet, optical, and infrared observations of stacked galaxy subsamples at a range of stellar masses and photometric redshifts at 0 < z < 5, using an energy-balance formalism. However, we find UV-emission beyond the Lyman limit in some photometric redshift selected galaxy subsamples, giving rise to the possibility of contaminated observations. We carefully define a robust clean subsample which extends to no further than z ∼ 2. This has consistently lower derived temperatures by $4.0^{+5.0}_{-1.9}$ K, relative to the full sample. We find a linear increase in dust temperature with redshift, with Td (z) = (4.8 ± 1.5) × z + (26.2 ± 1.5) K. Our inferred temperature evolution is consistent with a modest rise in dust temperature with redshift, but inconsistent with some previous analyses. We also find a majority of photometrically selected subsamples at z > 4.5 underpredict the IR emission while giving reasonable fits to the UV-optical. This could be due to a spatial disconnect in the locations of the UV and IR emission peaks, suggesting that an energy-balance formalism may not always be applicable in the distant Universe.

Electrophysical Parameters and Emission Spectra of the Glow Discharge of Difluorodichloromethane

The effect of the external discharge parameters on the electrophysical parameters and emission spectra of difluorodichloromethane plasma is analyzed. Data on the reduced electric field strength and gas temperature are obtained. It is established that the reduced electric field strength in difluorodichloromethane plasma decreases markedly with increasing gas pressure (at a constant discharge current). It is shown that a linear increase in the gas temperature with increasing pressure is due to the increase in the specific power deposited in the discharge. Atomic and molecular components are found in the emission spectra of the glow discharge of difluorodichloromethane. It is established that, with increasing current, a linear increase in the radiation intensity occurs, which corresponds to the mechanism of the direct excitation of the radiating states upon electron impact and indicates the absence of secondary processes.

Heat-avoidance behavior associates with thermal sensitivity rather than tolerance in aphid assemblages

How to predict animals’ heat-avoidance behaviors is critical since behavior stands the first line for animals dealing with frequent heat events under ongoing climate warming. However, the discrepancy between the scarcity of research on heat-avoidance behaviors and the commonness of eco-physiological data for thermal tolerance and for thermal sensitivity such as the temperature-dependent survival time makes it difficult to link physiological thermal traits to heat-avoidance behavior. Aphids usually suck plant sap on a fixed site on the host plants at moderate temperatures, but they will leave and seek cooler feeding sites under stressful temperatures. Here we take the cereal aphid assemblages comprising different species with various development stages as a model system. We tested the hypotheses that heat tolerance (critical thermal maximum, CTmax) or heat sensitivity (temperature-dependent declining rate of survival time, similarly hereinafter) would associate with the temperature at which aphid activate heat-avoidance behavior. Specifically, we hypothesized the aphids with less heat tolerance or greater heat sensitivity would take a lower heat risk by leaving the host plant earlier. By mimicking the linear increase in ambient temperature during the daytime, we measured the CTmax and the heat-avoidance temperature (HAT, at which aphids leave the host plant to find cooler places) to understand their heat tolerance and heat-avoidance behavior. Then, we tested the survival time of aphids at different temperatures and calculated the slope of survival time declining with temperature to assess their heat sensitivity (HS). Finally, we examined the relationships between CTmax and HAT and between HS and HAT to understand if the heat-avoidance behavior associates with heat tolerance or with heat sensitivity. The results showed that HS and HAT had a strong correlation, with more heat sensitive individuals displayed lower HAT. By contrast, CTmax and HAT had a weak correlation. Our results thus provide evidence that heat sensitivity is a more reliable indicator than thermal tolerance linking with the heat-avoidance behavior in the aphid assemblages. Most existing studies use the indexes related to thermal tolerance to predict warming impacts. Our findings highlight the urgency to incorporate thermal sensitivity when predicting animal responses to climate change.

Evaluation of cooking characteristics, textural, structural and bioactive properties of button mushroom and chickpea starch enriched noodles.

The present study was conducted out to develop nutritionally enriched noodles by supplementing wheat flour with mushroom and chickpea starch at different concentrations and its effect on physico-chemical, bioactive, cooking, microbial and sensory properties, morphological and textural properties has been investigated. The prepared noodles contained high levels of protein, and low levels of carbohydrate, energy with the incorporation of mushroom flour and chickpea starch concentration. The lightness (L*) (71.79-53.84) decreased and yellowness (b*) (19.33-31.36) and redness (a*) (1.91-5.35) increased with the incorporation of mushroom flour and chickpea starch. The optimum cooking time decreased while as the water absorption capacity and cooking loss increased with increase in mushroom flour and chickpea starch concentration. The microstructure study and textural properties depicted the clear picture of protein network, with smooth outer surface, and the decrease in hardness with increased concentration of mushroom flour and chickpea starch. XRD and DSC results revealed that the prepared noodles contained more complete crystallites and high fraction of crystalline region and the linear increase in the gelatinization temperature with increase in composite flour concentration. The microbial analysis of noodles showed the decrease in microbial growth with the incorporation of composite flour.

156 Effect of Increasing Levels of Ergot Alkaloids in the Diet of Feedlot Cattle

Abstract This study evaluated the effects of feeding ergot alkaloids (EA) at increasing levels (0, 0.75, 1.5, and 3.0 ppm) to feedlot beef cattle over backgrounding (BG) and finishing (FS) phases on growth performance and carcass quality. Steers (n=240; 280±32 kg) were blocked by weight and randomly allocated to 16 pens (4 pens/treatment; 15 steers/pen). Treatments included: no added EA (CTL); or EA added at 0.75 (EA075); 1.50 (EA150); and 3.0 ppm (EA300). Steers were fed barley-based BG diets containing 40% concentrate:60% silage (DM basis) for 84 d, then stepped up over 28 d to a 90% concentrate:10% silage (DM basis) FS diet for 119 d. Steers fed EA300 received CTL in FS after 77 days on feed (DOF). In the BG phase, a quadratic decrease (P=0.05) in ADG and a linear decrease in final BW (P=0.03) and total BW gain (P=0.02) were observed with increasing EA. In the FS phase, up to 77 DOF, there was a linear decrease in steers DMI (P=0.04), ADG (P=0.01), and total BW gain (P=0.01) with increasing levels of EA. Over the full FS phase (119 DOF), a quadratic response was observed for ADG (P=0.05), final BW (P=0.05), total BW gain (P=0.02) and carcass weight (P=0.05) with steers fed EA150 showing the lowest performance. Gain:feed was not affected (P>0.20) by EA in the BG or FS phase. Dressing percentage (P=0.02) showed a quadratic effect with EA300 being the lowest. Additionally, a linear increase in lean meat yield (P< 0.001) was observed with increasing EA. Including EA in the diet promoted a linear increase in rectal temperature (P< 0.01). In conclusion, increasing levels of EA in the diet reduced growth performance, but when EA was removed, steers showed compensatory weight gain.

Ionic strength and buffering capacity of emulsifying salts determine denaturation and gelation temperatures of whey proteins

Ionic conditions affect the denaturation and gelling of whey proteins, affecting the physical properties of foods in which proteins are used as ingredients. We comprehensively investigated the effect of the presence of commonly used emulsifying salts on the denaturation and gelling properties of concentrated solutions of β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) and whey protein isolate (WPI). The denaturation temperature in water was 73.5°C [coefficient of variation (CV) 0.49%], 71.8°C (CV 0.38%), and 69.9°C (CV 0.41%) for β-LG (14% wt/wt), β-LG (30% wt/wt), and WPI (30% wt/wt), respectively. Increasing the concentration of salts, except for sodium hexametaphosphate, resulted in a linear increase in the denaturation temperature of WPI (kosmotropic behavior) and an acceleration in its gelling rate. Sodium chloride and tartrate salts exhibited the strongest effect in protecting WPI against thermal denaturation. Despite the constant initial pH of all solutions, salts having buffering capacity (e.g., phosphate and citrate salts) prevented a decrease in pH as the temperature increased above 70°C, resulting in a decline in denaturation temperature at low salt concentrations (≤0.2 mol/g). When pH was kept constant at denaturation temperature, all salts except sodium hexametaphosphate, which exhibited chaotropic behavior, exhibited similar effects on denaturation temperature. At low salt concentration, gelation was the controlling step, occurring up to 10°C above denaturation temperature. At high salt concentration (>3% wt/wt), thermal denaturation was the controlling step, with gelation occurring immediately after. These results indicate that the ionic and buffering properties of salts added to milk will determine the native versus denatured state and gelation of whey proteins in systems subjected to high temperature, short time processing (72°C for 15 s).

A Rare Cause of Fever in a Term Neonate.

A Rare Cause of Fever in a Term Neonate.

제강공정 래들 버너의 COG 대체를 위한 천연가스의 적정 연소 조건 및 NOx 배출 영향에 대한 전산해석 연구

Because of increasing demand to utilize the coke oven gas (COG) for hydrogen production, there is a need to replace COG with natural gas (NG) in the steel making industry. In this study, ideal combustion condition and impact on NOx emission were evaluated in a burner to preheat a ladle used for transport of molten iron. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were employed to analyze the distribution of temperature and heat flux in the refractories of an existing ladle. Then, different combustion conditions were assessed for the burner introducing NG. It was found that the same thermal condition of the refractories with the reference case can be achieved for NG combustion by reducing the excess air ratio to match the adiabatic flame temperature. A major NOx reduction was expected by the fuel switching because of lower peak temperatures and reduced contribution of NNH mechanism, which agreed with the field data. Increasing the thermal input of the burner led to a linear increase in the wall temperature and decrease in the thermal efficiency while NOx emission remained steady. Further investigations are required to improve the thermal efficiency by utilizing the enthalpy of the hot flue gas.

Supercooled melt structure and dynamics of single-chain nanoparticles: A computer simulation study.

By using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the structure and dynamics of supercooled single-chain cross-linked nanoparticle (SCNP) melts having a range of cross-linking degrees ϕ. We find a nearly linear increase in glass-transition temperature (Tg) with increasing ϕ. Correspondingly, we have also experimentally synthesized a series of polystyrene-based SCNPs and have found that the measured Tg estimated from differential scanning calorimetry is qualitatively consistent with the trend predicted by our simulation estimates. Experimentally, an increase in Tg as large as ΔTg = 61K for ϕ = 0.36 is found compared with their linear chain counterparts, indicating that the changes in dynamics with cross-links are quite appreciable. We attribute the increase in Tg to the enlarged effective hard-core volume and the corresponding reduction in the free volume of the polymer segments. Topological constraints evidently frustrate the local packing. In addition, the introduction of intra-molecular cross-linking bonds slows down the structural relaxation and simultaneously enhances the local coupling motion on the length scales within SCNPs. Consequently, a more pronounced dynamical heterogeneity (DH) is observed for larger ϕ, as quantified by measuring the dynamical correlation length through the four-point susceptibility parameter, χ4. The increase in DH is directly related to the enhanced local cooperative motion derived from intra-molecular cross-linking bonds and structural heterogeneity derived from the cross-linking process. These results shed new light on the influence of intra-molecular topological constraints on the segmental dynamics of polymer melts.

Diffusion of strontium implanted in glassy carbon

Glassy carbon has properties making it attractive as a containment material for radioactive waste. In this study, the diffusivity of the radiological important fission product, strontium, is measured. Two hundred kiloelectronvolt strontium ions were implanted at room temperature. The implanted samples were either annealed isochronally for 1 h up to 900°C or by increasing the temperature linearly up to 648°C. The Sr profiles were determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The isochronally annealed samples showed Fickian diffusion at 300°C ( D = 6.7 × 10 −19 m 2 s −1 ) with segregation occurring at the higher temperatures. Raman spectroscopy indicated a link between damage annealing and the onset of segregation. During increasing temperature, the system is dynamic with diffusion taking place. An equation to determine diffusion coefficients for ramped heating was derived. Fickian diffusion occurred with an activation energy of 1.97 eV for 414–454°C, and from 458 to 558°C, it was 0.184 eV. At higher temperatures, a segregation of the strontium towards the surface was observed. A calculation of the heat of segregation of Sr in carbon supports this segregation. The results show that the in situ RBS measurements with a linear increase in temperature give additional information compared with the conventional isochronal annealing.

Thermal and mechanical evaluation on integration of GFRP and thin-film flexible PV cells for building applications

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are multifunctional building components using exterior surfaces not subjected to structural loads to generate electricity by solar cells; while a few types of PV cells with higher flexibility have shown potentials to extend the application of BIPV components to load-carrying scenarios. In this paper thin-film flexible amorphous silicon (a-Si) PV cells and organic PV cells are adhesively bonded to glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) sections to develop BIPV integrations. Such integrations and GFRP sections are then exposed to artificial sunlight with various intensities from 200 to 1000 W/m 2 . An approximate linear increase in the surface temperature with the sunlight intensity is observed and quantified, and such thermal responses are also explained by thermomechanical analysis. Open-circuit voltage (V OC ) of the integrated a-Si PV cell decreases almost linearly at 0.40% for an increase of 1 °C until the maximum temperature (91.5 °C) in the experiments; while V OC of the integrated organic PV cells decreases at 0.12% for an increase of 1 °C first until a significant degradation occurred at 78 °C. Such GFRP sections with PV cells are further examined under tensile or compressive loadings . The tensile results show that both types of PV cells can normally function up to GFRP breakage at about 1% strain. However, in compression, obvious decreases in V OC are witnessed when a compressive strain of 0.23% on average is reached for the integrated a-Si PV cells. Such a critical compressive strain for the integrated organic PV cells is 0.25% on average.

Análise da Variabilidade Climática dos Oceanos Atlântico e Pacífico

O objetivo desse estudo é compreender melhor a variabilidade da temperatura da superfície do mar dos Oceanos Atlântico e Pacífico, buscando informações sobre causas da sua variabilidade, como as tendências climáticas da TSM se comportam e buscar novas informações comparativas entre os oceanos. Para isso, os dados da anomalia da temperatura da superfície do mar foram obtidos através da NOAA com período de 1955-2018, para os Oceanos Atlântico e Pacífico, dividido em setores e foram utilizadas algumas análises estatísticas. Utilizando o método de análises de ondaletas, foi possível observar os fenômenos El Niño Oscilação Sul, Dipolo do Atlântico, Manchas solares e Oscilação Decadal do Pacífico, atuando sobre as séries temporais estudadas; no entanto, a Oscilação Decadal do Pacífico, que ocorre no Oceano Pacífico, mostrou-se como fenômeno de escala temporal dominante nos Oceanos Atlântico e Pacífico. O teste de tendência de Mann-Kendall apontou aumento linear da anomalia da temperatura da superfície do mar para os dois Oceanos estudados, sendo que em ambos, o setor Sul possui um aumento maior do que o setor Norte. As tendências climáticas indicam que Oceano Pacífico está aquecendo mais do que o Oceano Atlântico. Também é possível concluir que o setor Sul dos dois Oceanos (SA, SP) estão aquecendo mais do que setor Norte (NA, NP). Os sinais dos intervalos de limites para as médias dos setores sul demonstram maior variabilidade das anomalias no AS e SP que no setor norte, possivelmente devido maior área continental no NA. O setor Norte teve maior semelhança com bacia geral, tanto no Atlântico como no Pacífico, comprovando a importância das áreas continentais para o aquecimento dos oceanos. Esses resultados foram fortalecidos com os encontrados pelos “boxs plots” e distribuição de frequências. O aquecimento do Pacífico também foi reforçado em todas estatísticas realizadas. Analysis of climate variability of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans A B S T R A C TThe sea surface temperature is one of the main variables for analyzing the global climate, and with that, it is essential to know its behavior. Thus, the objective of this study is to understand the best temperature variability of the sea surface of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, through information on the causes of its variability using Wavelet analysis, and also using the climatic trends of the TSM of the oceans. Sea surface temperature anomaly data obtained through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with period of 1955-2018, for the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, divided into sectors and some statistical analyzes were used. Using the wavelet analysis method, it was possible to observe the phenomena El Niño South Oscillation, Atlantic Dipole, sunspots and Pacific Decadal Oscillation, acting on the studied time series; however, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which occurs in the Pacific Ocean, proved to be a phenomenon of dominant time scale in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Mann-Kendall trend test showed a linear increase in the sea surface temperature anomaly for the two studied Oceans, and in both, the South sector has a greater increase than the North sector. Climate trends indicate that the Pacific Ocean is warming more than the Atlantic Ocean. It is also possible to conclude that the Southern sector of the two Oceans is heating up more than the Northern sector. The signs of the limit ranges for the averages of the southern sectors demonstrate greater variability of the anomalies at the South Atlantic and South Pacific. The Northern sector was more similar to the general basin, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific, proving the importance of continental areas for warming the oceans. These results were strengthened with those found by box plots and frequency distribution. The warming of the Pacific was also reinforced in all statistics mad.Keywords: SST, Wavelet Analysis, Mann-Kendall, ENSO e PDO.

Magnetic Properties of a Bi-Layer Borophene Structure with Mixed Spins: Monte Carlo Study

Our aim of this work is to study the magnetic properties of a bi-layer borophene structure, using Monte Carlo simulations under the Metropolis algorithm. Such a system is formed by two layers. The first one contains 126 atoms with spin σ = ± 3/2, ± 1/2 and 84 atoms with spins S = ± 1, 0 while the second one contains 84 atoms with spin σ = ± 3/2, ± 1/2 and 126 atoms with spins S = ± 1, 0. We establish, in various planes, the ground-state phase diagrams. Furthermore, we present the thermal variation of the total magnetization and total susceptibility for several values of exchange coupling interactions and crystal field. It is found that the increase in both exchange coupling interactions leads to an almost linear increase in transition temperature in one hand and, on the other hand, to a decrease in the corresponding crystal field transition.

Signatures for torque variation in wheat dough structure are affected by enzymatic treatments and heating

Molecular interactions in dough are poorly defined but affect final product usage. By monitoring changes in torque as dough is formed, we identified 80–85 °C as a gateway stage determining dough collapse during the mixing/heating process. We propose that this phenomenon is a diagnostic signature linked to integral features of dough complexes formed by some wheat varieties but not others. We found the dough at 80–85 °C was stabilized by increasing the starting bowl temperature (before a standard linear increase in temperature) of the mixing process and demonstrated the significance of specific macromolecular interactions that are formed early in the mixing process. Enzymes including papain, alpha-amylase, glucose oxidase and phytase stabilized dough structure to facilitate transition through the gateway temperatures between 80 and 85 °C. Our results show that if the dough initially formed a protein-starch complex that was too large, instability and collapse of the structure can occur later.

Rate of Formation and Decomposition of Gas Hydrate Formed in the Natural Coal

The paper presents experimental research on physical processes occurring in the black coal – natural gas system when external parameters change. It was shown that when thermobaric conditions corresponding to the area of stable hydrate existence are created, methane hydrate and carbon dioxide hydrate are formed in the internal space of the natural coal. Decomposition of methane hydrate in the coal occurs near the equilibrium curve, and the process of hydrate formation begins in the case of overcooling by 3–7°С and lasts several dozen hours. For the examined cases, the rate of gas hydrate decomposition in the coal is determined by the rate of change in external parameters during linear increase in temperature from 1 to 6°С/h.

Contactless Thermal Diagnostics of Acoustically Levitated Biomass under Uniform High Flux Radiation

This study reports a contactless optical system developed for investigating the fast-thermal processes of biomass under high-flux radiation, particularly for understanding the synergy of renewable biomass and concentrated solar energy. A biomass tablet was successfully suspended using a home-built acoustic levitator in a well-controlled oxygen-lean atmosphere and was irradiated under uniform radiation with a high flux of approximately 1 MW/m², i.e., ∼1000 suns. The biomass temperature profile was spatio and temporally recorded using an infrared thermographic camera. Several key thermal parameters of the biomass were determined, including the time-resolved heating rate and the ignition temperature. Three different thermal processes were identified from the temperature profiles. These are an initial fast-heating process, a following slow-heating process, and a final biomass ignition depending on the flux of radiation. At high flux, these three processes are merged, and only a steep linear increase in temperature was observed. The contactless apparatus provides the high-fidelity data of the heating rates of biomass and can benefit the understanding of the fast-thermal process associated with biomass under high flux concentrated solar radiation.

Investigation of energy consumption reduction in multistage compression process and its solutions

During hot seasons the inlet temperature of Nitrogen increases, as a result compressor consumes more power for compressing a specific mass ratio of fluid and consequently total energy consumption of the compressor increases as well. In this research, a three stage centrifugal compressor with intercooler was modeled thermodynamically in order to decreases the energy consumption of the compressor. In each compressor, isentropic efficiency, outlet temperature of the Nitrogen gas and power compression was investigated. The effect of inlet Nitrogen temperature and cooling water temperature on intercoolers’ efficiency were investigated. In this study, Nitrogen gas is considered as an ideal gas. It is found that, in each compressor any growth in inlet temperature of the Nitrogen gas will result in linear increase in the outlet temperature of the Nitrogen gas and power compression furthermore, it is observed that increasing the temperature of Nitrogen gas has the most negative effect on efficiency and power compression of the first compressor in comparison to the second and the third compressor consequently, it will result in a 10 percent decrease in special power compression specially during summer time. According to the results, it is figured out that any growth in inlet Nitrogen temperature causes a smooth decline in isentropic and Power Compression of the first, second and third compressors besides increasing the temperature of the Nitrogen gas increases the isentropic efficiency up to 3 Percent and increasing the cooling water temperature decreases the intercooler efficiency up to 7 Percent.

Aqueous solution behavior of thermoresponsive polyzwitterionic microgels based on poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) synthesized via RAFT precipitation polymerization

A new route to synthesize stimuli-responsive poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PNVCL) microgels decorated with zwitterionic poly(sulfobetaine) (PSB) chains was developed, using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) precipitation polymerization. The polyzwitterionic PSB macro-RAFTs of controlled molecular weight were synthesized by RAFT polymerization of sulfobetaine (SB). Using this method, macro-RAFTs with good control over the molecular weight could be achieved. The PSB macro-RAFTs, having different molecular weights (1000, 5000, 10,000 g/mol) and concentrations (1, 2, 2.5 mol%), were used along with different amount of the cross-linker N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS) (1.5 and 2.5 mol%) in the precipitation polymerization of PNVCL microgels to obtain varying amounts of surface-grafted polyzwitterionic chains of controlled length and variable cross-linking degrees. The successful incorporation of PSB macro-RAFTs into PNVCL microgels was characterized by FTIR and 1H NMR studies. Increasing the PSB concentration and BIS content in the PNVCL microgels resulted in a linear increase in electrophoretic mobility (µe) and volume phase transition temperature (VPTT). However, increasing the molecular chain length of the zwitterionic macro-RAFT resulted in a shift of VPTT towards lower temperatures. This kind of stimuli-responsive, polyzwitterion decorated PNVCL microgels can be a potential material for biomedical applications.

High Pressure Thermodynamic Properties of Some Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbons

We have measured the thermal behavior of four poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using high pressure gas flow DSC methods up to ∼7000 kPa. We have shown that there is a linear increase in melting temperature (T m) and heat of fusion () with increasing pressure for all materials studied (naphthalene, anthracene, pyrene, and phenanthrene). As part of the study we have developed in-house protocols to perform these rigorous measurements and we make recommendations to others who will utilize similar equipment which will ensure reliability and repeatability for the measurements performed using high pressure DSC methods.