Variational solutions for some steady and non-steady laminar viscous flows with stagnation points

Recently, Lebon and Lambermont proposed a general variational principle for fluid mechanics. In this paper, the criterion is applied to steady and non-steady stagnation flows; the plane and the axisymmetrical cases are considered. By using Glansdorff-Prigogine self consistent method, approximate analytic solutions are derived. It is shown that the steady solution is rather quickly reached. For this latter case, the present solutions are compared with previous ones obtained by direct integration of the Navier-Stokes equations.     

Analysis of buoyancy-aided convection heat transfer from a horizontal cylinder in a vertical duct at low Reynolds number

This paper reports a numerical study on buoyancy-aided steady convection heat transfer from a horizontal cylinder situated in a vertical adiabatic duct. Numerical results have been generated forH ₁/D=2.5, 4, 8,H/D=8, 16, 24,S/D=2, 4, 6, 20Re60, andRi up to 4. The placing of a horizontal cylinder in a vertical duct of smaller width results in significantly enhanced pure forced convection due to the blockage effect, but degrades appreciably the extent of buoyancy-aided enhancement in the heat transfer rate. Nevertheless, the presence of a vertical duct leads to an overall enhancement of mixed convection heat transfer coefficient relative to that without the confining duct. Moreover, the average Nusselt number is rather insensitive to the variation of either the position of the cylinder in the duct or the duct height in the investigated ranges of these geometric parameters.Dieser Artikel beschreibt eine numerische Studie über auftriebsunterstützte konvektive Wärmeübertragung von einem horizontalen Zylinder der in einem vertikalen adiabaten Kanal positioniert ist. Die numerischen Ergebnisse sind fürH ₁/D=2, 5, 4, 8,H/D=8, 16, 24,S/D=2, 4, 6 sowie 20Re60 undRi bis 4 berechnet worden. Die Anordnung des horizontalen Zylinders in einem schmaleren vertikalen Kanal führt auf Grund des Blockierungs-effektes zu einem deutlichen Anstieg der reinen Zwangskonvektion. Aber sie verschlechtert deutlich den Betrag der auftriebsbedingten Steigerung in der Wärmeübergangsrate. Trotzdem führt die Anwesenheit des vertikalen Kanals insgesamt zu einer Steigerung des Wärmeübergangskoeffizienten bei Mischkonvektion im Vergleich zur Abwesenheit des begrenzenden Kanals. Des weiteren ist die durchschnittliche Nusseltzahl von der Variation der Zylinderposition im Kanal oder der Kanalhöhe abhängig.     

Diagnosing the miR-141 prostate cancer biomarker using nucleic acid-functionalized CdSe/ZnS QDs and telomerase

The microRNA, miR-141, is a promising biomarker for prostate cancer. We implement here a two-step sensing platform for the sensitive detection of miR-141. The first step involves the use of semiconductor CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) modified by FRET quencher-functionalized nucleic acids, that include the recognition sequence for miR-141 and a telomerase primer sequence for the second step of the analytical platform. Subjecting the probe-modified QDs to miR-141, in the presence of duplex specific nuclease, DSN, leads to the formation of a miR-141/probe duplex and to its DSN-mediated cleavage, while regenerating the miR-141. The DSN-induced cleavage of the quencher units leads to the activation of the fluorescence of the QDs, thus allowing the optical detection of miR-141 with a sensitivity corresponding to 1.0 × 10^–12 M. The nucleic acid residues associated with the QDs after cleavage of the probe nucleic acids by DSN act as primers for telomerase. The subsequent telomerase/dNTPs-stimulated elongation of the primer units forms G-quadruplex telomer chains. Incorporation of hemin in the resulting G-quadruplex telomer chains yields horseradish peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme units, that catalyze the generation of chemiluminescence in the presence of luminol/H₂O₂. The resulting chemiluminescence intensities provide a readout signal for miR-141, DL = 2.8 × 10^–13 M. The first step of the sensing platform is non-selective toward miR-141 and the resulting fluorescence may be considered only as an indicator for the existence of miR-141. The second step in the sensing protocol, involving telomerase, provides a selective chemiluminescence signal for the existence of miR-141. The two-step sensing platform is implemented for the analysis of miR-141 in serum samples from healthy individuals and prostate cancer carriers. Impressive discrimination between healthy individuals and prostate cancer carriers is demonstrated.     

Pyrenoimidazole‐Based Deep‐Blue‐Emitting Materials: Optical,Electrochemical, and Electroluminescent Characteristics

A series of pyrenoimidazoles that contained various functional chromophores, such as anthracene, pyrene, triphenylamine, carbazole, and fluorene, were synthesized and characterized by optical, electrochemical, and theoretical studies. The absorption spectra of the dyes are dominated by electronic transitions that arise from the pyrenoimidazole core and the additional chromophore. All of the dyes exhibited blue‐light photoluminescence with moderate‐to‐high quantum efficiencies. They also displayed high thermal stability and their thermal‐decomposition temperatures fell within the range 462–512 °C; the highest decomposition temperature was recorded for a carbazole‐containing dye. The oxidation propensity of the dyes increased on the introduction of electron‐rich chromophores, such as triphenylamine or carbazole. The application of selected dyes that featured additional chromophores such as pyrene, carbazole, and triphenylamine as blue‐emissive dopants into multilayered organic light‐emitting diodes with a 4,4′‐bis(9H‐carbazol‐9‐yl)biphenyl (CBP) host was investigated. Devices that were based on triphenylamine‐ and carbazole‐containing dyes exhibited deep‐blue emission (CIE 0.157, 0.054 and 0.163, 0.041), whereas a device that was based on a pyrene‐containing dye showed a bright‐blue emission (CIE 0.156, 0.135).     

Self‐assembly of H‐bonded side‐chain and cross‐linking copolymers containing diblock‐copolymeric donors and single/double H‐bonded light‐emitting acceptors

A series of diblock‐copolymers were synthesized through anionic polymerization of styrene and tert‐butyl methacrylate (tBuA) with different monomer ratios, and analogous block‐copolymeric derivatives (PS‐b‐PAA)s with monofunctional carboxylic acid groups were obtained by further hydrolyzation as hydrogen‐bonded (H‐bonded) proton donors. Via H‐bonded interaction, these diblock‐coplymeric donors (PS‐b‐PAA)s were incorporated with luminescent mono‐pyridyl/bis‐pyridyl acceptors to form single/double H‐bonded supramolecules, that is, H‐bonded side‐chain/cross‐linking copolymers, respectively. The supramolecular architectures formed by donor polymers and light‐emitting acceptors were influenced by the ratio of acid blocks in the diblock copolymeric donors and the type of single/double H‐bonded light‐emitting acceptors. Their thermal and luminescent properties can be adjusted by H‐bonds, and more than 100 nm of red‐shifted photoluminescence (PL) emissions were observed, which depend on the degrees of the H‐bonding interactions. Self‐assembled phenomena of amphiphilic dibolck copolymers and their H‐bonded complexes were confirmed by TEM micrographs, and supramolecular microphase separation of spherical micelle‐like morphology was demonstrated to affect the photophysical properties. Polymer light‐emitting diode (PLED) devices containing H‐bonded complexes showed electroluminescence (EL) emissions of 503–560 nm under turn‐on voltages of 7.5–9.0 V, maximum power efficiencies of 0.23–0.37 cd/A (at 100 mA/cm²), and maximum luminances of 318–519 cd/m² (around 25 V). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 4685–4702, 2009     

A VIF-based optimization model to alleviate collinearity problems in multiple linear regression

In this paper, we address data collinearity problems in multiple linear regression from an optimization perspective. We propose a novel linearly constrained quadratic programming model, based on the concept of the variance inflation factor (VIF). We employ the perturbation method that involves imposing a general symmetric non-diagonal perturbation matrix on the correlation matrix. The proposed VIF-based model reduces the largest VIF by minimizing the resulting biases. The VIF-based model can mitigate the harm from data collinearity through the reduction in both the condition number and VIFs, meanwhile improving the statistical significance. The resulting estimator has bounded biases under an iterative framework and hence is termed the least accumulative bias estimator. Certain potential statistical properties can be further considered as the side constraints for the proposed model. Various numerical examples validate the proposed approach.     

Mesoscopic transport equations and contemporary thermodynamics: an introduction

The local equilibrium hypothesis is a very successful basis for non-equilibrium thermodynamics over a wide range of phenomena and physical situations. However, the increasing interest in small systems in nanotechnology, in rarefied gases in high-altitude aeronautics, in high-frequency behaviour in information processing, or the search for new materials with sophisticated internal microstructures and tailored thermal properties have led one to ask about the limits of validity of this hypothesis, and to go beyond it. Here we do so in a constructive way, i.e. not only pointing out at these limits, but also embedding the local-equilibrium theory in a more general framework which explicitly exhibits these limits and suggests how to go beyond them, in search for a wider range of applications and a deeper understanding of the foundations.     

Vapor–liquid equilibrium in the system ethane + ethylene glycol

The solubility of ethane in ethylene glycol (EG) has been determined at temperatures in the range 298–398 K at pressures up to 20 MPa. The experimental results were correlated by the Peng–Robinson equation of state, and interaction parameters have been obtained for this system. The parameters in the Krichevsky–Ilinskaya equation were calculated from these interaction parameters.     

Varactor-tuned gunn diode voltage controlled oscillator antenna array

A simple varactor tuned X-band Gunn diode VCO antenna array which is strongly coupled has been demonstrated. These arrays have the advantages of simple biasing circuit, no resistors required to eliminate multimode problem and suitable for monolithic integration circuit. Preliminary results show a maximum tuning range of 47MHz for 1×1 array and 170MHz for 2×2 array. In order to solve power combining heating problem, we move the backside metal forward and it becomes a microstrip form. The measured frequency and radiation patterns of these grid arrays agree very well with theoretical calculations.     

Photoemission from diamond and fullerene films for advancedaccelerator applications

The photoemission properties of thin diamond and fullerene films were investigated for advanced accelerator applications, using subpicosecond laser pulses at three different wavelengths (650, 325, and 217 nm). The quantum efficiency (QE) obtained at 217 nm with a boron-doped, p-type, (111) polycrystalline diamond film (2.6·10 ^-4) was only five times smaller than the QE obtained with a mirror polished copper sample (1.3·10^-3) but more than nine times larger than the QE obtained with a pure diamond film or with natural diamond monocrystals. Similar results were obtained for the two-photon electron yields at 325 mm. The electron yields obtained with pure fullerene films were small and comparable to the ones observed with the pure diamond samples. With 650 mn pulses, the damage threshold of the (110) Type IIa natural diamond monocrystal (9.38·10⁴ μJ cm^-2), defined here as the fluence leading to an onset of ion emission, was 25 times larger than the damage threshold for a copper sample (3.75·10³ μJ cm^-2). The damage threshold of the boron-doped sample at the same wavelength was two times larger than that of copper. Damage thresholds with 325 nm pulses were lower, and with 217 mn pulses ion emission was observed at all fluences probably attributed to ablation of surface hydrocarbon contaminants. Results show that high-quality high-boron concentration diamond films could be a good candidate for high-RF electron guns