Preventing deposition on heat exchange surfaces with ultrasound

Prevention of deposition on heat transfer surfaces has previously been attempted using ultrasonic cavitation induced in the liquid phase. Recent developments have shown direct sonification of the surface to be considerably more efficient. Work has been aimed at developing suitable equipment to reproduce the highly successful laboratory experiments on an industrially significant scale. Initial efforts have concentrated on the particular problem of fouling during crystallization processes. The experimental work has also drawn attention to the potential of controlling crystal size by the regulation of ultrasonic power input during a crystallization process.     

Affine mappings in the geometries of algebras

Modules and algebras over a commutative ring R and the geometry associated with an algebra are studied. The non-homogeneous members of a module, for which no maximal ideal of R contains every co-ordinate, the generators of a module, for which polynomials in the co-ordinates take arbitrary values and the non-singular members of an algebra are investigated in relation to the group G of non-singular R-linear transformations. Particular attention is given to bi-quadratic extensions of fields. Geometrical isomorphisms are proved to be exactly those transformations that can be written as the composition of a translation, a member of G and a co-ordinate-wise extension to the algebra of an automorphism of R.The author gratefully acknowledges the help and advice of Prof. Walter Benz of the University of Waterloo and the financial support of the University of Waterloo and the National Research Council of Canada.     

Chemical reactions of N 2+ ion beams with group IV elements and their oxides

Ion beam studies of the reactions between nitrogen and surfaces of Group IV elements and their oxides resulting in nitride formation are reported. XPS and UPS are used to examine the products induced by 500 eV N ₂⁺ beams on diamond, graphite and elemental Si, Ge, Sn, Pb and their oxides. Nitrogen adds to the graphite in two positions: at the carbon rings and intersitually between the layers of rings. Reaction with Si, Ge and Sn produces nitrides which are similar to those of the type M ₃N ₄. Reaction with oxides forms nitrides with no evidence of nitrate or nitrite formation. The chemical nature of the reaction is supported by identification of the products through energy level shifts and by the agreement with thermodynamic predictions.     

Unsteady flow through helicopter rotors

Zusammenfassung Es wird ein Beitrag geliefert zur Stützung der schon früher ge?usserten überzeugung, dass nichtstation?re Str?mungsanteile das Schwingungsverhalten und die aeroelastische Stabilit?t von Helikopter-Drehflügeln wesentlich beeinflussen k?nnen. Die Untersuchung betont besonders den D?mpfungsverlust, welcher sich aus den entlang der Spannweite eines schwebenden Drehflügels schraubenf?rmig abgehenden Wirbeln ergibt. Gem?ss dem Bedürfnis für verbesserte Mittel zur Behandlung nichtstation?rer aerodynamischer Vorg?nge werden zwei neue theoretische Entwicklungen beschrieben und zum Berechnen von Luftkr?ften auf typische schwingende Drehflügel angewendet. Die erste dieser Arbeiten erfasst auf zweidimensionaler Basis das Vorhandensein einer Bodenebene. Es wird angenommen, dass die Wirbel im Abwinde des schwebenden Drehflügels durch die Bodenebene nicht zurückgeworfen, sondern schnell zerstreut werden. Als Resultat zeigt sich, dass die einer spezifischen Schwingungsform entsprechende aerodynamische D?mpfung durch den Einfluss des Bodens, der praktisch etwa zwei Drehflügel-Durchmesser hinaufreicht, im allgemeinen vergr?ssert wird. Die zweite der vorgelegten Theorien betrifft die dreidimensionale Str?mung über ein schwingendes Flügelblatt, welches als tragende Linie und unter Vernachl?ssigung der Krümmung seines Abwindes untersucht wird. Numerische Rechnungen sind ziemlich mühsam, aber mittels Rechenmaschinen ohne weiteres durchführbar. In einem herausgegriffenen typischen Beispiele zeigte sich, dass die Luftkr?fte bedeutend kleiner sind als die von der Streifentheorie angezeigten, dass aber die Phasendifferenz zwischen Anstellwinkel und Luftkr?ften fast unver?ndert bleibt.

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This investigation was performed under USAF Contract AF33(616)-3270 sponsored jointly by the US Army and Dynamics Branch of the Aircraft Laboratory, Wright Air Development Center.     

The changing information environment for nanotechnology: online audiences and content

The shift toward online communication in all realms, from print newspapers to broadcast television, has implications for how the general public consumes information about nanotechnology. The goal of this study is threefold: to investigate who is using online sources for information and news about science and nanotechnology, to examine what the general public is searching for online with regards to nanotechnology, and to analyze what they find in online content of nanotechnology. Using survey data, we find those who report the Internet as their primary source of science and technology news are diverse in age, more knowledgeable about science and nanotechnology, highly educated, male, and more diverse racially than users of other media. In a comparison of demographic data on actual visits by online users to general news and science Web sites, science sites attracted more male, non-white users from the Western region of the United States than news sites did. News sites, on the other hand, attracted those with a slightly higher level of education. Our analysis of published estimates of keyword searches on nanotechnology reveals people are turning to the Internet to search for keyword searches related to the future, health, and applications of nanotechnology. A content analysis of online content reveals health content dominates overall. Comparisons of content in different types of sites—blogs, government, and general sites—are conducted.     

Effects of hearing loss and spectral shaping on identification and neural response patterns of stop-consonant stimuli

In order to determine the effects of hearing loss and spectral shaping on a dynamic spectral speech cue, behavioral identification and neural response patterns of stop-consonant stimuli varying along the /b-d-g/ place-of-articulation continuum were measured from 11 young adults (mean age = 27 years) and 10 older adults (mean age = 55.2 years) with normal hearing, and compared to those from 10 older adults (mean age = 61.3 years) with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment. Psychometric functions and N1-P2 cortical evoked responses were obtained using consonant-vowel (CV) stimuli with frequency-independent (unshaped) amplification as well as with frequency-dependent (shaped) amplification that enhanced F2 relative to the rest of the stimulus. Results indicated that behavioral identification and neural response patterns of stop-consonant CVs were affected primarily by aging and secondarily by age-related hearing loss. Further, enhancing the audibility of the F2 transition cue with spectrally shaped amplification partially reduced the effects of age-related hearing loss on categorization ability but not neural response patterns of stop-consonant CVs. These findings suggest that aging affects excitatory and inhibitory processes and may contribute to the perceptual differences of dynamic spectral cues seen in older versus young adults. Additionally, age and age-related hearing loss may have separate influences on neural function.     

Synthesis and self-assembly of an amphiphilic poly(phenylene ethynylene) ionomer

We have synthesized a conjugated amphiphilic polyelectrolyte, a poly(phenylene ethynylene) (PPE), and the structurally analogous neutral polymer. The solution-phase aggregation of the uncharged PPE can be reversibly controlled by varying the solvent polarity and concentration, while the charged polymer appears to self-assemble at any concentration in compatible solvents. These conclusions are based on a combination of absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. Photoinduced absorption spectroscopy was also employed to investigate interchain electronic communication and the photoinduced production of free charge carriers. The uncharged PPE had a relatively high polaron yield, indicating pi-stacking of adjacent PPE chains and efficient exciton splitting, while the charged polymer did not produce polarons, indicating that the polymers are not pi-stacked despite their tendency to form aggregates. This is most likely due to the presence of the cationic trimethylammonium side chains which force neighboring polymer chains too far apart to achieve effective pi-orbital overlap. Polarons were observed in both polymers after chemical doping with iodine. The ability to control aggregation and interchain electronic communication could be a useful tool in designing nanostructured electronic materials.     

Effect of residual monomer on the spectroscopic properties of polythiophenes

The addition of some small molecules can red shift UV-Visible absorption and quench the fluorescence of poly(3-octadecylthiophene).     

Electron paramagnetic resonance study of the mononuclear Al species formed in the reaction of Al atoms and cyclopropylamine at 77 k in an adamantane matrix

Ground-state Al atoms have been reacted with cyclopropylamine (CpNH2) in an adamantane matrix at 77 K. The four paramagnetic species generated in the reaction have been studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and their magnetic parameters extracted from the EPR spectra. The isotropic Al hyperfine interactions (hfis) for these radicals vary from 801 to 962 MHz and are consistent with values previously reported for structurally similar Al-centered radicals. The major species formed in the reaction has a highly anisotropic a tensor indicative of an Al-centered radical with a substantial amount of the unpaired spin density residing in the Al 3p orbital. In addition, there is EPR evidence that the insertion products, CpNH(AlH) and CpAlNH2, are formed in the reaction, suggesting that Al atoms can activate the N-H and C-N bonds of amines. It has been shown that a molecule of CpNH2 coordinates to CpNH(AlH), causing the Al, N and H hfi of the N-H insertion product to decrease. The values of the nuclear hfis calculated for the insertion products, using a density functional theory (DFT) method, are comparable to the experimental values.