Investigation of the effect of drying and refining on the fiber–fiber shear bond strength measured using tensile fracture line analysis of sheets weakened by acid gas exposure

No reliable method exists for measuring the cellulose fiber–fiber shear bond strength in paper. This paper reports a simple method for measuring the fiber–fiber shear bond strength by weakening the fibers independently of the bonds in a sheet of paper, using acid vapor, until all the fibers break across the fracture line. The bond strength is then calculated from the fiber strength, as measured by the zero span test, at the point where the fibers first are weakened such that they all break. The method was used to calculate the average bond strength of handsheets made out of two different pulps. The first pulp was a never dried, 60% yield, unbleached radiata pine. The bond strength was 25.0 ± 3.3 MPa. Drying the fibers before reslushing and making sheets reduced the bond strength by up to 33%, with the reduction depending on the severity of the drying treatment. The second pulp was a bleached dried softwood kraft and was used to investigate the effect of low consistency refining on bond strength. The bond strength increased from 13.7 ± 1.0 MPa for the sheets made from the unrefined pulp to 37.0 ± 1.0 MPa, for the sheets made from the most heavily refined pulp. The bond strength measurements are considerably higher than previous literature estimates for the shear bond strength. The causes for the discrepancy include stress concentrations in tests of single fiber–fiber bonds.     

New Tchebyshev‐Galerkin operational matrix method for solving linear and nonlinear hyperbolic telegraph type equations

The telegraph equation describes various phenomena in many applied sciences. We propose two new efficient spectral algorithms for handling this equation. The principal idea behind these algorithms is to convert the linear/nonlinear telegraph problems (with their initial and boundary conditions) into a system of linear/nonlinear equations in the expansion coefficients, which can be efficiently solved. The main advantage of our algorithm in the linear case is that the resulting linear systems have special structures that reduce the computational effort required for solving them. The numerical algorithms are supported by a careful convergence analysis for the suggested Chebyshev expansion. Some illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the wide applicability and high accuracy of the proposed algorithms. © 2016Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 32: 1553–1571, 2016     

Treatment of the emission and absorption spectra for a Λ-type three-level atom driven by a single-mode field with nonlinearities

The treatment of a Λ-type three-level atom interacting with a single mode field in a cavity, explicitly taking the existence of forms of nonlinearities of both the field and the intensity-dependent atom-field coupling into account. Analytical expressions of the emission and absorption spectra are presented using the dressed states of the system. The characteristics of the emission and absorption spectra for binomial state and squeezedcoherent state inputs are exhibited. The effects of the mean number of photons, the detuning, and the nonlinearities on the spectra are investigated. It is shown that the features of the fluorescence and absorption spectra are influenced significantly by the kinds of nonlinearities.     

A note on optimal foldover four-level factorials

The foldover is a quick and useful technique in construction of fractional factorial designs, which typically releases aliased factors or interactions. The issue of employing the uniformity criterion measured by the centered L ₂-discrepancy to assess the optimal foldover plans was studied for four-level design. A new analytical expression and a new lower bound of the centered L ₂-discrepancy for fourlevel combined design under a general foldover plan are respectively obtained. A necessary condition for the existence of an optimal foldover plan meeting this lower bound was described. An algorithm for searching the optimal four-level foldover plans is also developed. Illustrative examples are provided, where numerical studies lend further support to our theoretical results. These results may help to provide some powerful and efficient algorithms for searching the optimal four-level foldover plans.     

Nonlinear stability of an axial electric field: Effect of interfacial charge relaxation

We introduce a nonlinear perturbation technique to third order, to study the stability between two cylindrical inviscid fluids, subjected to an axial electric field. The study takes into account the relaxation of electrical charges at the interface between the two fluids. At first order, a linear dispersion relation is obtained. Analytical and numerical results for the overstability and incipient instability conditions are given. For perfect dielectric fluids, the electric field has a stabilizing influence, while for leaky dielectric fluids, the electric field can have either a stabilizing or a destabilizing influence depending on the conductivity and permittivity ratios of the two fluids. At higher order, a nonlinear dispersion relation (nonlinear Ginzburg–Landau equation) is derived, describing the evolution of wave packets of the problem. For leaky dielectric fluids near the marginal state, a nonlinear diffusion equation (nonlinear incipient instability) is obtained. For perfect dielectric fluids, two cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equations are obtained. One of these equations to determine a nonlinear cutoff electric field separating stable and unstable disturbance, whereas the other is used to analyze the stability of the system. It is found that the nonlinear stability criterion depending on the ratio of permittivity, Such effects can only be explained successfully in the nonlinear sense, as the linear analysis unsuccessful to inform about them.     

Achieving the Reforms Vision: The Effectiveness of a Specialists‐Led Elementary Science Program

This report describes an evaluation project that aimed to assess the potential of two elementary science specialists, as compared to elementary classroom teachers, to realize the reforms vision for science instruction in elementary classrooms. Participant science specialist background, views of elementary science teaching, and planning and assessment practices were compared to those of regular elementary classroom teachers in the specialist district, as well as in a comparable district not employing specialists. Specialists' views and practices were better aligned with those envisioned by current national reform documents in science education. Despite the constraints imposed by the nature of a program evaluation, the present report provides evidence to suggest that students taught by the science specialists (a) were engaged in open‐ended, inquiry‐oriented, science‐based activities of the kind often advocated, but mostly absent, in elementary school, and (b) demonstrated problem solving and higher order and critical thinking skills. This report is the first to provide empirical support for the advocated “effectiveness” of elementary science specialists in achieving the visions espoused by current reform efforts.     

Multiplicative linear search for a brownian target motion

This paper investigates a search problem for a brownian target motion on one of n-intersected real lines in which any information of the target position is not available to the searchers all the time. We have n-searchers start searching for the target from the origin that is the intersection point of these lines. Each of the searchers moves continuously along his line in both directions of the starting point. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a search model and find the condition under which the expected value of the first meeting time between one of the searchers and the target is finite. Also, we show the existence of the optimal search plan which minimizes the expected value of the first meeting time and find it.     

Non-linear peristaltic transport of a second-order fluid through a porous medium

The present paper investigates phenomena brought about into the classic peristaltic mechanism by inclusion of non-Newtonian effects through a porous space in a channel. The peristaltic motion of a second-order fluid through a porous medium was studied for the case of a planar channel with harmonically undulating extensible walls. The system of the governing nonlinear PDE is solved by using the perturbation method to second-order in dimensionless wavenumber. The analytic solution has been obtained in the form of a stream function from which the axial pressure gradient has been derived. The flow is investigated in a wave frame of reference moving with velocity of the wave. Numerical calculations are carried out for the pressure rise and frictional force. The features of the flow characteristics are analyzed by plotting graphs and discussed in detail.     

Nonlinear electrohydrodynamic instability of a finitely conducting cylinder: Effect of interfacial surface charges

The nonlinear electrohydrodynamic stability of cylindrical interface, supporting surface charge, among two conducting fluids is investigated. The two fluids are subjected to a radial electric field. The analysis based on the multiple scale technique. It is shown that the evolution of the amplitude is governed by two partial differential equations. These equations are combined to yield two alternate Schrödinger equations with cubic nonlinearity. One of which calculates the nonlinear cutoff electric field, separating stable and unstable disturbances, while the other is used to analyze the stability of the system. The stability criteria are analytically discussed and numerically confirmed. Numerical calculations resulted in set of graphs to indicate the stability picture of the considered system.