Kinetic parameters,collision rates,energy exchanges and transport coefficients of non-thermal electrons in premixed flames at sub-breakdown electric field strengths

The effects of an electric field on the collision rates, energy exchanges and transport properties of electrons in premixed flames are investigated via solutions to the Boltzmann kinetic equation. The case of high electric field strength, which results in high-energy, non-thermal electrons, is analysed in detail at sub-breakdown conditions. The rates of inelastic collisions and the energy exchange between electrons and neutrals in the reaction zone of the flame are characterised quantitatively. The analysis includes attachment, ionisation, impact dissociation, and vibrational and electronic excitation processes. Our results suggest that Townsend breakdown occurs for E/N = 140 Td. Vibrational excitation is the dominant process up to breakdown, despite important rates of electronic excitation of CO, CO₂ and N₂ as well as impact dissociation of O₂ being apparent from 50 Td onwards. Ohmic heating in the reaction zone is found to be negligible (less than 2% of peak heat release rate) up to breakdown field strengths for realistic electron densities equal to 10¹⁰ cm^?3. The observed trends are largely independent of equivalence ratio. In the non-thermal regime, electron transport coefficients are insensitive to mixture composition and approximately constant across the flame, but are highly dependent on the electric field strength. In the thermal limit, kinetic parameters and transport coefficients vary substantially across the flame due to the spatially inhomogeneous concentration of water vapour. A practical approach for identifying the plasma regime (thermal versus non-thermal) in studies of electric field effects on flames is proposed.     

Instant controlled pressure drop technology and ultrasound assisted extraction for sequential extraction of essential oil and antioxidants

The instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) technology enabled both the extraction of essential oil and the expansion of the matrix itself which improved solvent extraction. The sequential use of DIC and Ultrasound Assisted Extraction (UAE) triggered complementary actions materialized by supplementary effects. We visualized these combination impacts by comparing them to standard techniques: Hydrodistillation (HD) and Solvent Extraction (SE). First, the extraction of orange peel Essential Oils (EO) was achieved by HD during 4 h and DIC process (after optimization) during 2 min; EO yields was 1.97 mg/g dry material (dm) with HD compared to 16.57 mg/g dm with DIC. Second, the solid residue was recovered to extract antioxidant compounds (naringin and hesperidin) by SE and UAE. Scanning electron microscope showed that after HD the recovered solid shriveled as opposite to DIC treatment which expanded the product structure. HPLC analyses showed that the best kinetics and yields of naringin and hesperidin extraction was when DIC and UAE are combined. Indeed, after 1 h of extraction, DIC treated orange peels with UAE were 0.825 ± 1.6 × 10^?2 g/g of dry material (dm) for hesperidin and 6.45 × 10^?2 ± 2.3 × 10^?4 g/g dm for naringin compared to 0.64 ± 2.7 × 10^?2 g/g of dry material (dm) and 5.7 × 10^?2 ± 1.6 × 10^?3 g/g dm, respectively with SE. By combining DIC to UAE, it was possible to enhance kinetics and yields of antioxidant extraction.     

EPR on Medically Relevant NO Adsorbed to Zn-LTA

For medical purposes, materials are required that store and target specifically deliver exogenous nitric oxide (NO). Partially zinc-exchanged Na-LTA (Linde type A) zeolite (Zn-LTA) has high potential in this respect due to its non-toxicity and adsorption capacity for NO. In contrast to NO adsorbed to LTA zeolites prepared for catalytic purposes, lower dehydration temperature prior to NO adsorption is used to achieve a balance between production cost and high activity. In order to study the interaction of NO with the metal sites in the samples prepared under these medical conditions, continuous-wave X-band electron paramagnetic resonance has been applied. In contrast to Na-LTA with only one weakly interacting NO monomer, three different monomers, having stronger interaction to the metal sites than in Na-LTA, were observed in Zn-LTA. To improve the storage capacity of Zn-LTA, higher dehydration temperatures would be necessary.     

Lateral electric field effects on quantum size confinement in cylindrical quantum dot under parabolic potential

Within the effective mass approximation, we investigated theoretically the ground-state energy of a single particle and the binding energy of the neutral donor impurity (D⁰) affected by a lateral electric field in a parabolic quantum dot (QD). The results show that the electron and the hole ground-state energy and the band to band transition energies shift to lower values (red shift) by increasing the field intensity. The quantum Stark shift (QSS) for the electron increases rapidly in the quasi spherical QD (QSQD) by increasing the lateral field, whereas for the hole it increases monotony. In the cylindrical QDs (CQDs), we found that the QSS for electron and hole increase monotonically. The quantum size, lateral electric field and impurity position effect on the binding energy of neutral donor (D⁰) is studied. Unexpected behavior of D⁰ in quantum well limit (QW), the binding energy of D⁰ is increasing (blue shift) with increasing QD radius R$R$ at the presence of a lateral electric field. It appears that for a fixed size of the QD, the off-center binding energy decreases when the impurity ion is displaced from the center to the QD borders, while it is shifted to lower energy with increasing the field.     

The Significance of Mobilization and Immobilization of Specific Radionuclides for Optimum Bioleaching Conditions Using Aspergillus lentulus

Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters - Gamma spectrometry is applied for measurement of natural radioactivity by Hyper-pure germanium (HPGe) systems during the application of bioleaching optimum...     

Extended Weyl-Heisenberg algebra, phase operator, unitary depolarizers and generalized Bell states

Finite dimensional representations of extended Weyl-Heisenberg algebra are studied both from mathematical and applied viewpoints. They are used to define unitary phase operator and the corresponding eigenstates (phase states). It is also shown that the unitary depolarizers can be constructed in a general setting in terms of phase operators. Generation of generalized Bell states using the phase operator is presented and their expressions in terms of the elements of mutually unbiased bases are given.     

Influence of strain/stress on the nonlinear-optical properties of sprayed deposited ZnO:Al thin films

Nanocrystalline ZnO:Al thin films were deposited by reactive chemical pulverization spray pyrolysis technique on heated glass substrates at 450 °C to study their crystalline structure, composition, strain, stress, roughness characteristics and nonlinear optical susceptibility as a function of Al concentration (0, 2, 3, 5 at.%). The films were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), EDAX 9100 analyser, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and third harmonic generation (THG). The Al (3 at.%) doped ZnO thin films exhibited the lower strain/stress than undoped films. The nonlinear properties of the ZnO:Al thin films have been found to be influenced by the films strain/stress.