International Journal of Modern Physics B

This review focuses on the interrelation between the influences of polymeric structure on the optical properties of polythiophene — a versatile polymer for opto-electronic applications. From the application's point of view, the polymer should either be melt- or solution-processible. Functionalization of polythiophenes really helps for the above. On the other hand, the functionalization at the 3 and/or 4 position of the thiophene ring modifies the band gap of the polymer, which in turn, modifies photo absorption, photo- and electro-emission characteristics of polythiophenes. The present work reviews the influence of the optical properties of polythiophene on the different functional groups present in the thiophene ring.

The dynamic behaviors of the new soliton in the improved Davydov model in the protein molecules at biological temperature have been numerically simulated by utilizing the dynamic equations for the bio-energy transport and the Runge–Kutta way. In this simulation the influences of the temperature and structure disorders of the protein molecules on the soliton transporting the bio-energy have been completely considered. We find that the new soliton is quite stable in the cases of motion of a long time of 300 ps and of disorders of the structures of the proteins at biological temperatures of 300 K–320 K. The disorders of the structures contain the disorder of mass sequence of amino acids and the fluctuations of the coupling constant, force constant and dipole- dipole interaction constant and ground state energy of the proteins, designating the features of its structure and interactions between the particles in it. However, the soliton disperses in the cases of higher temperature of 325 K and larger structure disorders. The numerical results show that the new soliton is very robust against the influences of the thermal perturbation and structure disorders at biological temperature 300 K, its lifetime and critical temperature are at least 300 ps at 300 K and 320 K, respectively. These results are also consistent with analytical data.

A theoretical formalism which can be combined with any hard sphere density functional approximations (DFA) to construct DFA for non-hard sphere fluids with a hard or soft core subjected to diverse external potentials is proposed. To show validity and power of the present formalism, we employ a simple weighted density approximation as an illustrating example. It is found that the resultant DFA for Lennard–Jones fluid under influences of diverse extenal potentials is in generally satisfactory agreement with corresponding simulational results even though the co-existence bulk fluid in the particle reservoir with which the non-uniform fluid under consideration is connected, is situated at "dangerous" regions. The significance of the present formalism lies in that it can be combined with any other hard sphere DFAs to construct DFAs for any non-hard sphere fluids with a hard or soft core.

The effect of metal particles (Mo) inclusion in an insulating matrix (Al₂O₃) has been investigated. The conducting phase (Mo) is dispersed in alumina in different amounts (00%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 25% in volume). Two types of Mo particles have been used: the first with an average particle size ≅0.56 μm, the other with an average particle size ≅10.0 μm. All specimens were fabricated by hot pressing. The bulk conductivities have been measured over temperatures ranging from 500°C to 900°C using two-probe impedance spectroscopy within the available frequency range (5 Hz–13 MHz). From the interpretation of the impedance spectra, it has been observed that the bulk conductivity for fine particles of Mo inclusion in alumina is higher than that for large particles of Mo inclusion in alumina. A microstructural study revealed that below 15 vol% of Mo inclusion in Al₂O₃ samples had no-contact random patterns. Samples with metal contents higher than 20 vol% of Mo consistently showed metallic conductivity due to percolation effect.

Positioning accuracies of the robot arms are important at fast maneuvering speeds of the manipulators. In the past, many researchers had investigated the precisions of the robotic arms. They reported that these robotic positioning errors are caused by the dynamic inefficiencies of the robotic actuators; DC servomotors. Therefore, in order to resolve this actuator's issue, a twin electro-rheological (ER) clutch mechanism that consists of two counter-rotating ER clutches is employed. This is due to its output dynamics being unaffected by the output cogging torque of the driving motors. Also, this clutch mechanism can perform rapid reversal responses in bi-directional mode. In this present paper, two kinematics models that describe the output angular velocity and displacement behaviors of this clutch mechanism undergone validations. Next, the trend studies of these angular kinematics responses are conducted in order to determine the methodology to generate the fastest reversal motions of the clutch mechanism.

Dynamical phase transition in the Ising model on a Barabási–Albert network under the influence of periodic magnetic field is studied using Monte-Carlo simulations. For a wide range of the system sizes N and the field frequencies, approximate phase borders between dynamically ordered and disordered phases are obtained on a plane h (field amplitude) versus T/T_c (temperature normalized to the static critical temperature without external field, T_c∝lnN). On these borders, second- or first-order transitions occur, for parameter ranges separated by a tricritical point. For all frequencies of the magnetic field, position of the tricritical point is shifted toward higher values of T/T_c and lower values of h with increasing system size, i.e. the range of critical parameters corresponding to the first-order transition is broadened.