Laminar–Turbulent Intermittency in Annular Couette–Poiseuille Flow: Whether a Puff Splits or Not

Direct numerical simulations were carried out with an emphasis on the intermittency and localized turbulence structure occurring within the subcritical transitional regime of a concentric annular Couette–Poiseuille flow. In the annular system, the ratio of the inner to outer cylinder radius is an important geometrical parameter affecting the large-scale nature of the intermittency. We chose a low radius ratio of 0.1 and imposed a constant pressure gradient providing practically zero shear on the inner cylinder such that the base flow was approximated to that of a circular pipe flow. Localized turbulent puffs, that is, axial uni-directional intermittencies similar to those observed in the transitional circular pipe flow, were observed in the annular Couette–Poiseuille flow. Puff splitting events were clearly observed rather far from the global critical Reynolds number, near which given puffs survived without a splitting event throughout the observation period, which was as long as 104 outer time units. The characterization as a directed-percolation universal class was also discussed.     

Force field parameters for rotation around chi torsion axis in nucleic acids

To raise the accuracy of the force field for nucleic acids, several parameters were elaborated, focusing on the rotation around chi torsion axis. The reliability of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was significantly increased by improving the torsion parameters at C8--N9--C1'--X (X = H1', C2', O4') in A, G and those at C6--N1--C1'--X in C, T, and U. In this work, we constructed small models representing the chemical structure of A, G, C, T, and U, and estimated energy profile for chi-axis rotation by executing numerous quantum mechanical (QM) calculations. The parameters were derived by discrete Fourier transformation of the calculated QM data. A comparison in energy profile between molecular mechanical (MM) calculation and QM one shows that our presently derived parameters well reproduce the energy surface of QM calculation for all the above torsion terms. Furthermore, our parameters show a good performance in MD simulations of some nucleic acids. Hence, the present refinement of parameters will enable us to perform more accurate simulations for various types of nucleic acids.     

Average electron tunneling route of the electron transfer in protein media

We present a new theoretical method to determine and visualize the average tunneling route of the electron transfer (ET) in protein media. In this, we properly took into account the fluctuation of the tunneling currents and the quantum-interference effect. The route was correlated with the electronic factor in the case of ET by the elastic tunneling mechanism. We expanded by the interatomic tunneling currents 's. Incorporating the quantum-interference effect into the mean-square interatomic tunneling currents, denoted as , we could express as a sum of variant Planck's over 2pi(2). Drawing the distribution of on the protein structure, we obtain the map which visually represents which parts of bonds and spaces most significantly contribute to . We applied this method to the ET from the bacteriopheophytin anion to the primary quinone in the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. We obtained 's by a combined method of molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemical calculations. In calculating , we found that much destructive interference works among the interatomic tunneling currents even after taking the average. We drew the map by a pipe model where atoms a and b are connected by a pipe with width proportional to the magnitude of . We found that two groups of 's, which are mutually coupled with high correlation in each group, have broad pipes and form the average tunneling routes, called Trp route and Met route. Each of the two average tunneling routes is composed of a few major pathways in the Pathways model which are fused at considerable part to each other. We also analyzed the average tunneling route for the ET by the inelastic tunneling mechanism.     

Theoretical Modelling and Facile Synthesis of a Highly Active Boron‐Doped Palladium Catalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

A highly active alternative to Pt electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which is the cathode‐electrode reaction of fuel cells, is sought for higher fuel‐cell performance. Our theoretical modelling reveals that B‐doped Pd (Pd‐B) weakens the absorption of ORR intermediates with nearly optimal binding energy by lowering the barrier associated with O₂ dissociation, suggesting Pd‐B should be highly active for ORR. In fact, Pd‐B, facile synthesized by an electroless deposition process, exhibits 2.2 times and 8.8 times higher specific activity and 14 times and 35 times less costly than commercial pure Pd and Pt catalysts, respectively. Another computational result is that the surface core level of Pd is negatively shifted by B doping, as confirmed by XPS, and implies that filling the density of states related to the anti‐bonding of oxygen to Pd surfaces with excess electrons from B doping, weakens the O bonding to Pd and boosts the catalytic activity.     

Functional organogel based on a salicylideneaniline derivative with enhanced fluorescence emission and photochromism

A new organogelator based on a salicylideneaniline derivative with cholesterol moieties was synthesized, and it was proposed that it could gelate various organic solvents, such as 1-butanol, 1-octanol, butyl acetate, tetrachloromethane, benzene, toluene through combination with a gelation test. From the results of analysis by UV/Vis absorption, circular dichroism (CD), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies and semiempirical (AM1) calculations, we believed that the gelator molecules could self-assemble into left-handed helical nanofibers through unimolecular layer packing, which further twisted into the thicker fibers and constructed 3D networks in the gel phase. Interestingly, the organogel exhibited strong fluorescence enhancement relative to a solution of the same concentration because of the formation of J aggregations. Meanwhile, photochromism of the organogel could take place under UV-light irradiation. Both strong fluorescence emission and photochromism properties were concurrent in one system based on a salicylideneaniline derivative. It was suggested that the self-assembly of the functional organogelator could lead to unique photophysical properties.     

Ru(PPh3)(OH)-salen complex: a designer catalyst for chemoselective aerobic oxidation of primary alcohols

Based on the analysis of the mechanism of aerobic oxidation of alcohols using Ru(NO)-salen catalyst, we designed a new complex, Ru(PPh₃)(OH)-salen 3, which was proved to be an excellent catalyst for chemoselective aerobic oxidation of primary alcohols to the aldehydes in the presence of secondary alcohols under ambient and non-irradiated conditions. Complex 3 was also successfully applied to the oxidation of 1-phenyl-1,n-diols to the lactols or the n-hydroxy aldehyde. It is of note that selective oxidation of primary alcohols was achieved even in the presence of activated secondary alcohols.     

Zeta Mahler measures

We introduce the zeta Mahler measure with a complex parameter, whose derivative is a generalization of the classical Mahler measure. We study a fundamental theory of the zeta Mahler measure, including holomorphic regions and transformation formulas. We also express some specific examples of zeta Mahler measures in terms of hypergeometric functions.     

Enhancement of molecular-shape selectivity in high-performance liquid chromatography through multi-anchoring of comb-shaped polymer on silica

Poly(octadecylacrylate) having plural trimethoxysilyl groups in the side chain (co-ODA(n)) was newly synthesized and immobilized onto silica through these groups. The liquid chromatographic behavior of silica-supported co-ODA(n) (Sil-co-ODA(n)) was investigated and compared with that of Sil-ODA(n), in which poly(octadecylacrylate) was immobilized through a terminal trimethoxy group at one side of the polymer main chain. Sil-co-ODA(n) showed higher selectivity for molecular shape, especially molecular planarity of PAHs than Sil-ODA(n).