Three‐dimensional flow of upper‐convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid

An analysis has been carried out for three‐dimensional fluid over a stretching surface. Similarity transformations are invoked for the conversion of nonlinear partial differential equations to the ordinary differential equations. Computations for the series solution are made by using homotopy analysis method. Graphical results are obtained. Attention has been particularly given to the influence of Deborah number. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of heat and mass transfer on peristaltic flow of Williamson fluid in a non‐uniform channel with slip conditions

The combined influence of heat and mass transfer has been explored in a study of peristaltic transport of magnetohydrodynamic Williamson fluid in a non‐uniform channel with flexible walls. The slip conditions are paid due attention and long wavelength and small Reynolds number assumptions are adopted in the problem formulation. The obtained results are valid for small Weissenberg number. A detailed study of involved key parameters in the obtained solutions is made by the sketched graphs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of uranium stress on physiological and biochemical characteristics in seedlings of six common edible vegetables

The large-scale exploitation of uranium (U) not only causes radioactive pollution to the soil, but also has a great adverse effect on human health. However, the current understanding of the effects of U stress on organisms is not deep enough. As food sources of human beings, vegetables can enrich U into the human body along the food chain. Therefore, the effects of soil U on seed germination, seedling growth and physiological and biochemical characteristics of six common edible vegetables (tomato, cucumber, kohlrabi, radish, cabbage, and spinach) were investigated. The results show that the toxicity of U to the six vegetables in sandy loam is cucumber?>?radish?>?spinach?>?cabbage?>?tomato?>?kohlrabi. The lower U concentration in sandy loam has certain promoting effect on seed germination and root growth. The accumulation and tolerance capacity of cucumber and radish to U in sandy loam is stronger than that of other four vegetables, which may be used as candidate species for biological treatment of U pollution. These results provide theoretical basis for clarifying the biological effects and toxicological mechanism of U pollution, and also provide theoretical basis for scientific prevention and control of soil U pollution.     

Stability and Hopf bifurcation analysis for an energy resource system

This paper investigates the dynamical behaviors for a four-dimensional energy resource system with time delay, especially in terms of equilibria analyses and Hopf bifurcation analysis. By setting the time delay as a bifurcation parameter, it is shown that Hopf bifurcation would occur when the time delay exceeds a sequence of critical values. Furthermore, the stability and direction of the Hopf bifurcation are determined via the normal form theory and the center manifold reduction theorem. Numerical examples are given in the end of the paper to verify the theoretical results.     

Interaction of point defects with twin boundaries in Au： A molecular dynamics study

The molecular dynamics simulation technique with many-body and semi-empirical potentials （based on the embedded atom method potentials） has been used to calculate the interactions of point defects with （1 1 1）, （1 1 3）, and （1 2 0） twin boundaries in Au at different temperatures. The interactions of single-, di-, and tri-vacancies （at on- and off-mirror sites） with the twin interfaces at 300 K are calculated. All vacancy clusters are favorable at the on-mirror arrangement near the （1 1 3） twin boundary. Single- and di-vacancies are more favorable at the on-mirror sites near the （1 1 l） twin boundary, while they are favorable at the oft-mirror sites near the （1 2 0） twin boundary. Almost all vacancy clusters energetically prefer to lie in planes closest to the interface rather than away from it, except for tri-vacancies near the （1 2 0） interface at the off-mirror site and for 3.3 and 3.4 vacancy clusters at both sites near the （1 1 1） interface, which are favorable away from the interface. The interaction energy is high at high temperatures.     

CsF-Celite, an Efficient Solid State Reagent for the Syntheses of Thioesters and Thioethers

Coupling reactions of a number of aliphatic, aromatic, and heterocyclic compounds bearing an acidic hydrogen atom attached to sulfur, with alkyl, acyl, benzyl, or benzoyl halides in acetonitrile with cesium fluoride-Celite are described. This procedure is convenient, efficient, and practical for the preparation of thioethers and thioesters.     

Comparison between the HAM and HPM solutions of thin film flows of non-Newtonian fluids on a moving belt

In this paper, we prove in general that the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) proposed in 1998 is only a special case of the homotopy analysis method (HAM) profound in 1992 when ħ = −1. Besides, by using the thin film flows of Sisko and Oldroyd 6-constant fluids on a moving belt as examples, we show that the solutions given by HPM (Siddiqui, A.M., Ahmed, M., Ghori, Q.K.: Chaos Solitons and Fractals (2006) in press) are divergent, and thus useless. However, by choosing a proper value of the auxiliary parameter ħ, we give convergent series solution by means of the HAM. These two examples also show that, different from the HPM and other traditional analytic techniques, the HAM indeed provides us with a simple way to ensure the convergence of the solution.