The effects of mixture preburning on detonation wave propagation

Pressure gain combustion in the form of continuous detonations can provide a significant increase in the efficiency of a variety of propulsion and energy conversion devices. In this regard, rotating detonation engines (RDEs) that utilize an azimuthally-moving detonation wave in annular systems are increasingly seen as a viable approach to realizing pressure gain combustion. However, practical RDEs that employ non-premixed fuel and oxidizer injection need to minimize losses through a number of mechanisms, including turbulence-induced shock-front variations, incomplete fuel-air mixing, and premature deflagration. In this study, a canonical stratified detonation configuration is used to understand the impact of preburning on detonation efficiency. It was found that heat release ahead of the detonation wave leads to weaker shock fronts, delayed combustion of partially-oxidized fuel-air mixture, and non-compact heat release. Furthermore, large variations in wave speeds were observed, which is consistent with wave behavior in full-scale RDEs. Peak pressures in the compression region or near triple points were considerably lower than the theoretically-predicted values for ideal detonations. Analysis of the detonation structure indicates that this deflagration process is parasitic in nature, reducing the detonation efficiency but also leading to heat release far behind the wave that cannot directly strengthen the shock wave. This parasitic combustion leads to commensal combustion (heat release far downstream of the wave), indicating that it is the root cause of combustion efficiency losses.     

Role of aspartic acid in collagen structure and stability: A molecular dynamics investigation

A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study has been carried out to understand the stability of the triple helical collagen models. The calculations show that the presence of the aspartic acid residue in different positions leads to the local variation in the structure. Analyses of root-mean-square deviation (RMSD), radial distribution function (RDF), puckering effect, dihedral angle variation, hydrogen bond (H-bond), and conformational changes during molecular dynamics simulation reveal that the local perturbation in the sequences, increase in chain flexibility due to removal of five membered rings in the collagen by aspartic acid, change of intermolecular H-bonding pattern, and differences in the association of water are mainly influencing the nature of stabilization of collagen by aspartic acid.     

Femtosecond dynamics of electron transfer in a neutral organic mixed-valence compound

In this article we report a femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption study of a neutral organic mixed-valence (MV) compound with the aim to gain insight into its charge-transfer dynamics upon optical excitation. The back-electron transfer was investigated in five different solvents, toluene, dibutyl ether, methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), benzonitrile and n-hexane. In the pump step, the molecule was excited at 760 nm and 850 nm into the intervalence charge-transfer band. The resulting transients can be described by two time constant. We assign one time constant to the rearrangement of solvent molecules in the charge-transfer state and the second time constant to back-electron transfer to the electronic ground state. Back-electron transfer rates range from 1.5 × 10¹² s⁻¹ in benzonitrile through 8.3 × 10¹¹ s⁻¹ in MTBE, around 1.6 × 10¹¹ s⁻¹ in dibutylether and toluene and to 3.8 × 10⁹ s⁻¹ in n-hexane.     

Chemo-enzymatic synthesis and biological evaluation of photolabile nicotinic acid adenine dinuclotide phosphate (NAADP+)

A chemo-enzymatic synthesis of novel caged NAADP+ without the formation of multiple cage compounds has been achieved. The biological activity of the caged NAADP+ was demonstrated by its fast uncaging in intact sea-urchin eggs.     

In situ, on-resin synthesis of 8-Br/NH2 adeninyl peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers and complementation studies with DNA

A new, novel and efficient in situ synthesis of 8-aminoadeninyl PNA oligomers from corresponding 8-bromoadeninyl PNA oligomers is reported. The study of hybridisation properties of (8-Br/8-NH₂) PNA oligomers with cDNA reveals substitution-site dependent stabilization of derived triplexes and duplexes.     

Effect of Temperature and Discharge Rate on Electrochemical Performance of Fiber Nickel–Cadmium Cell

Russian Journal of Electrochemistry - The effect of temperature and discharge rate on the discharge capacity of nickel–cadmium (Ni?Cd) cell is investigated quantitatively. Ni–Cd...     

Aspects of Rich Accessibility User Experiences

We present an approach to providing broad-based accessibility to graphical applications by employing the capabilities of the Eclipse platform and aspect-oriented programming (AOP) in a way that leverages the strengths of each. We first describe the Eclipse platform and the variety of frameworks that can be useful to the effort. We also present the advantages of aspect-oriented programming and contrast aspect-oriented programming with object-oriented programming (OOP). Then, we discuss how to use the Eclipse frameworks and AOP in the design of accessible Eclipse-based applications and share some situations of when to leverage these frameworks and when we do not from the perspective of robustness and efficiency.     

In Vitro and In Silico Screening and Characterization of Antimicrobial Napin Bioactive Protein in Brassica juncea and Moringa oleifera

The study aimed to investigate the antibacterial activity of Mustard (Brassica juncea) and Moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaf extracts and coagulant protein for their potential application in water treatment. Bacterial cell aggregation and growth kinetics studies were employed for thirteen bacterial strains with different concentrations of leaf extracts and coagulant protein. Moringa oleifera leaf extract (MOS) and coagulant protein showed cell aggregation against ten bacterial strains, whereas leaf extract alone showed growth inhibition of five bacterial strains for up to 6 h and five bacterial strains for up to 3 h. Brassica juncea leaf extract (BJS) showed growth inhibition for up to 6 h, and three bacterial strains showed inhibition for up to 3 h. The highest inhibition concentration with 2.5 mg/mL was 19 mm, and furthermore, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) (0.5 mg/mL) and MBC (1.5 mg/mL) were determined to have a higher antibacterial effect for <3 KDa peptides. Based on LCMS analysis, napin was identified in both MOS and BJS; furthermore, the mode of action of napin peptide was determined on lipoprotein X complex (LpxC) and four-chained structured binding protein of bacterial type II topoisomerase (4PLB). The docking analysis has exhibited moderate to potent inhibition with a range of dock score −912.9 Kcal/mol. Thus, it possesses antibacterial-coagulant potential bioactive peptides present in the Moringa oleifera purified protein (MOP) and Brassica juncea purified protein (BJP) that could act as an effective antimicrobial agent to replace currently available antibiotics. The result implies that MOP and Brassica juncea purified coagulant (BJP) proteins may perform a wide degree of antibacterial functions against different pathogens.     

2-(Phenyltelluromethyl)tetrahydrofuran (L) and 2-(2-{4-methoxyphenyl}telluroethyl)-1,3- dioxolane (L) and their palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes

The nucleophile [ArTe⁻] generated in situ borohydride solution of Ar₂Te₂, reacts with 2-(chloromethyl) tetrahydrofuran and 2-(2-bromoethyl)-1,3-dioxolane resulting in L¹ and L², respectively. The complexes of palladium(II) and platinum(II) with L¹/L² having stoichiometries [MCl₂·L₂], [ML₂](ClO₄)₂, [(DPPE)ML₂](ClO)₄)₂, [(PPh₃)₂ML₂](ClO₄)₂ and [(phen)ML₂](ClO₄)₂ (where L = L¹/L² DPPE = Ph₂PC H₂CH₂PPh₂, PHEN = 1,10-phenanthroline and M = Pd/Pt) have been synthesized. IR, ¹H, ¹²⁵Te{¹H} and ³¹P{¹H} NMR and UV-vis spectral data of these species in conjunction with their molar conductance and molecular weight data have been used to authenticate the new species. In all complexes (1–20) the ligands L¹ and L² are coordinated through tellurium and in the complexes of formula [ML₂](ClO₄)₂ (M = Pd, Pt) the ligand is bidentate with the oxygen atom used in complexation. In solution, complexes PtCl₂L₂ exist as a mixture of cis and trans isomers whereas only the trans isomer was observed for the palladium analogues. The [(phen)PdL₂](ClO₄)₂(Q) quenches ¹O₂ readily. The plot of log [Q] vs time is linear. Mechanism compatible with the experimental observations is proposed.