Optical study of a light diaphragm rupture process in an expansion tube

Abstract. Rupture of a light cellophane diaphragm in an expansion tube has been studied by an optical method. The influence of the light diaphragm on test flow generation has long been recognised, however the diaphragm rupture mechanism is less well known. It has been previously postulated that the diaphragm ruptures around its periphery due to the dynamic pressure loading of the shock wave, with the diaphragm material at some stage being removed from the flow to allow the shock to accelerate to the measured speeds downstream. The images obtained in this series of experiments are the first to show the mechanism of diaphragm rupture and mass removal in an expansion tube. A light diaphragm was impulsively loaded via a shock wave and a series of images was recorded holographically throughout the rupture process, showing gradual destruction of the diaphragm. Features such as the diaphragm material, the interface between gases, and a reflected shock were clearly visualised. Both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the rupture dynamics were derived from the images and compared with existing one-dimensional theory. Received 10 April 1999 / Accepted 17 April 2000     

Photodegradable Hydrogels for Capture,Detection, and Release of Live Cells

Cells may be captured and released using a photodegradable hydrogel (photogel) functionalized with antibodies. Photogel substrates were used to first isolate human CD4 or CD8 T‐cells from a heterogeneous cell suspension and then to release desired cells or groups of cells by UV‐induced photodegradation. Flow cytometry analysis of the retrieved cells revealed approximately 95 % purity of CD4 and CD8 T‐cells, suggesting that this substrate had excellent specificity. To demonstrate the possibility of sorting cells according to their function, photogel substrates that were functionalized with anti‐CD4 and anti‐TNF‐α antibodies were prepared. Single cells captured and stimulated on such substrates were identified by the fluorescence “halo” after immunofluorescent staining and could be retrieved by site‐specific exposure to UV light through a microscope objective. Overall, it was demonstrated that functional photodegradable hydrogels enable the capture, analysis, and sorting of live cells.     

The convergence properties of direct energy minimisation with respect to linear coefficients in the MC-LCAO-MO-SCF approach

It is shown that in the LCAO-MO-MC-SCF problem, if the molecular orbital orthonormality constraints are introduced in the manner suggested by Kari and Sutcliffe or indeed by any similar method then the Hessian of the problem with respect to the linear coefficients is singular. The nature of this singularity is analysed and it is shown that in general it is possible to remove it in a level-shifting-like scheme, but that only in certain special cases is this procedure likely to be quickly convergent.     

A general treatment of vibration-rotation coordinates for triatomic molecules

An exact, within the Born–Oppenheimer approximation, body-fixed Hamiltonian for the nuclear motions of a triatomic system is presented. This Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of two arbitrarily defined internal distances and the angle between them. The body-fixed axis system is related to these coordinates in a general fashion. Problems with singularities and the domain of the Hamiltonian are discussed using specific examples of axis embedding. A number of commonly used coordinate systems including Jacobi, bond-length-bond-angle, and Radau coordinates are special cases of this Hamiltonian. Sample calculations on the H₂S molecule are presented using all these and other coordinate systems. The possibility of using this Hamiltonian for reactive scattering calculations is also discussed.     

Wrinkling of elastoplastic circular plates during stamping

Circular plates that are stamped into a shallow, biaxially curved die by a matching punch develop radial wrinkles near the periphery when the edge is not clamped. Thin ductile metal plates develop these wrinkles after some plastic deformation occurs at the center of the plate. In comparison with elastic wrinkling, the center deflection to thickness ratio for wrinkling is increased as a consequence of the plastic deformation. In elastoplastic plates, this critical deflection ratio is a decreasing function of the plate thickness parameter ξ_o     

Yang-Mills-Higgs soliton dynamics in 2+1 dimensions

Dimensional reduction of the self-dual Yang-Mills equation in 2+2 dimensions produces an integrable Yang-Mills-Higgs-Bogomolnyi equation in 2+1 dimensions. For theSU(1,1) gauge group, a t'Hooft-like ansatz is used to construct a monopole-like solution and an N-soliton-type solution, which describes both the static deformed monopoles and the exotic monopole dynamics including a transmutation. How the monopole solution results from the twistor formalism is shown. Multimonopole solutions are commented on. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 117, No. 3, pp. 339–350, December, 1998.     

Direct formation of the CI Hamiltonian matrix from an expansion of Bonded Functions

A method of forming the CI Hamiltonian matrix directly from a list of Bonded Functions and the MO-SCF wavefunction is proposed. For small expansions (circa 500 members) this method is definitely more efficient than the normal symbolic techniques and can be more efficient than iterative energy construction techniques.     

Claisen rearrangements—VII : Novel reactions of the coumarin,tomentin

The structure of tomentin has been confirmed as 5-hydroxy-6,7-dimethoxycoumarin (2), the derived 3,3-dimethylallyl ether giving a para-Claisen rearrangement product. Relief of strain in the corresponding 1,1-dimethylallyl ether has been found to result in a novel regiospecific ortho-Claisen rearrangement occurring on silica at room temperature. The structure 18 of the stable ortho-dienone formed has been confirmed by conversion of the corresponding dehydrodienone (15), obtained from the rearrangement of tomentin 1,1-dimethylpropargyl ether, to alloxanthoxyletin (25).