Design optimization of axial flow hydraulic turbine runner: Part I—an improved Q3D inverse method

With the aim of constructing a comprehensive design optimization procedure of axial flow hydraulic turbine, an improved quasi‐three‐dimensional inverse method has been proposed from the viewpoint of system and a set of rotational flow governing equations as well as a blade geometry design equation has been derived. The computation domain is firstly taken from the inlet of guide vane to the far outlet of runner blade in the inverse method and flows in different regions are solved simultaneously. So the influence of wicket gate parameters on the runner blade design can be considered and the difficulty to define the flow condition at the runner blade inlet is surmounted. As a pre‐computation of initial blade design on S2m surface is newly adopted, the iteration of S1 and S2m surfaces has been reduced greatly and the convergence of inverse computation has been improved. The present model has been applied to the inverse computation of a Kaplan turbine runner. Experimental results and the direct flow analysis have proved the validation of inverse computation. Numerical investigations show that a proper enlargement of guide vane distribution diameter is advantageous to improve the performance of axial hydraulic turbine runner. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Total synthesis of dehydroaltenusin

The first total synthesis of dehydroaltenusin, a natural enzyme inhibitor, is described. The key step involves Suzuki-coupling reaction of an aryl triflate prepared from 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzoic acid with a catechol-derived boronic acid or boronic ester. The synthetic product was evaluated as a potent inhibitor against eukaryotic DNA polymerase α and other DNA polymerases.     

Electroreductive acylation of aromatic imines with acylimidazoles

The intermolecular reductive coupling of aromatic imines with acylimidazoles was effected by electroreduction in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane and gave α-amino-α-aryl ketones. This method was also effective for the synthesis of α-amino-α-aryl esters using methoxycarbonylimidazole as an electrophile.     

Quantitative analysis of 17beta-estradiol in river water by fluorometric enzyme immunoassay using biotinylated estradiol.

A sensitive and simple immunoassay to determine 17beta-estradiol (E2) in fresh water was developed. The method is based on a solid-phase avidin-biotin binding assay and solid phase extraction. The binding event of E2 to the antibody is detected indirectly by the competitive reaction between E2 and biotinylated estradiol (BE) as a tracer for the limited binding sites of antibodies immobilized onto the wall of a microtiter plate. Namely, E2 concentrations are determined from the strong interaction between BE and avidin conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (avidin-HRP). In order to achieve a sensitive measurement for the binding of BE to the antibody immobilized on the microtiter plate substrate, QuantaBlu fluorogenic peroxidase substrate (QFPS) was employed. The detection limit and the linear range of E2 determination were 27 pM and 27 - 7480 pM, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD) for the E2 assay were between 0.3 and 12.0% (n = 3). The cross-reactivities of several other estrogens in this assay system were also investigated. No serious influences from any cross-reaction caused by other estrogens tested in this experiment were observed. The determination of E2 in water samples from eight rivers and a marsh in Hokkaido was performed by the immunoassay combined with solid phase extraction. It was found that the concentration of E2 was in the range between 0.06 and 67 pM.     

Carbon nanotube mode lockers with enhanced nonlinearity via evanescent field interaction in D-shaped fibers

We demonstrate a novel passive mode-locking scheme for pulsed lasers enhanced by the interaction of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with the evanescent field of propagating light in a D-shaped optical fiber. The scheme features all-fiber operation as well as a long lateral interaction length, which guarantees a strong nonlinear effect from the nanotubes. Mode locking is achieved with less than 30% of the CNTs compared with the amount of nanotubes used for conventional schemes. Our method also ensures the preservation of the original morphology of the individual CNTs. The demonstrated pulsed laser with our CNT mode locker has a repetition rate of 5.88 MHz and a temporal pulse width of 470 fs.     

Atropisomers of meso-conjugated uracyl porphyrin derivatives and their assembling structures

[reaction: see text] We have synthesized a 5,15 meso-substituted methyluracyl porphyrin derivative bearing 6-methyluracyl units directly at the meso positions. The atropisomerization was regulated by steric replusion between the methyl substituents. When the atropisomers were mixed with alkylated melamine as a complementary hydrogen-bonding unit, the hydrogen-bonded assemblies were analyzed by diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) in solution, which clarified that the alphabeta isomer formed a face-to-face dimer, whereas the alphabeta isomer took a zigzag structure.     

Development of a silica monolith microbioreactor entrapping highly activated lipase and an experiment toward integration with chromatographic separation of chiral esters

Microbioreactors are effective for high-throughput production of expensive products from small amounts of substrates. Lipases are versatile enzymes for chiral syntheses, and are highly activated when immobilized in alkyl-substituted silicates by the sol-gel method. For practical application of sol-gel immobilized lipases to a flow system, a microbioreactor loaded with a macroporous silica monolith is well suited, because it can be easily integrated with a chromatographic separator for optical resolution. We attempted to develop a microbioreactor containing a silica monolith-immobilized lipase. A nonshrinkable silica monolith was first formed from a 4:1 mixture of methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and tetramethoxysilane (TMOS). It was then coated with silica precipitates entrapping lipase, derived from a 4:1 mixture of n-butyltrimethoxysilane (BTMS) and TMOS. As a result, monolith treated with the BTMS-based silicate entrapping lipase exhibited approximately ten times higher activity than nontreated monolith-immobilized lipase derived from the MTMS-based silicate, in transesterification between glycidol and vinyl n-butyrate in isooctane. A commercially available chiral column was connected in series to the monolith microbioreactor, and a pulse of substrate solution was supplied at the inlet of the reactor. Successful resolution of the racemic ester produced was achieved in the chromatographic column.     

Novel construction of hydro-2-benzazepines based on 7-endo selective Friedel-Crafts-type reaction of vinyloxiranes

The TMSOTf-promoted Friedel-Crafts-type reaction of vinyloxirane 3 having a nitrogen atom at the benzylic position was found to proceed with a highly selective 7-endo mode to afford hydro-2-benzazepine 4 in high yield.     

Instability and mode transition analysis of a hydrogen-rich combustion in a model afterburner

Combustion instabilities were investigated experimentally for a hydrogen-rich combustion in a model afterburner installed at the end of a high-enthalpy wind tunnel. Air was supplied at 0.3 MPa and 950 K. The combustion instabilities were studied with the time-resolved measurements of a near-infrared (NIR) emission from water molecules over 780 nm using a high-speed video camera. Pressure was also measured in the combustor. The pressure and the NIR images were analyzed by data-driven approach, which include the fast Fourier transform (FFT), the wavelet transform, the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) and the Gaussian process latent variable methods (GP-LVM). Thermoacoustic instability was observed under a rich condition, and the amplitude of the pressure oscillation was the maximum at the overall equivalence ratio of approximately 2.4 or 2.7 as a result of the FFT. The combustion dynamics were investigated in detail for an experimental run at the equivalence ratio of 2.4. A pressure spectrogram indicated a flame–vortex interaction with a Strouhal number of 0.5 (2300 Hz), thermoacoustic instability (560 Hz), and their transitions with the wavelet transform. For NIR images, the same tendency was also observed in the spectrogram of the modes obtained by the Gabor-filtered DMD, which could clearly resolve the high-order harmonic modes of the flame–vortex interaction and the thermoacoustic instability. Furthermore, NIR images were analyzed with GP-LVM to study the evolution of the combustion dynamics in a three-dimensional latent space. Recurrence plots with the Euclidean distance function were used to visualize the evolutions of the combustion dynamics. A limit cycle behavior of the flame–vortex interaction was clearly observed, whereas the limit cycle of the thermoacoustic instability showed more complicated behaviors. The transition behaviors of the instabilities were observed in the recurrence plots in detail, indicating that the flame–vortex interaction excited the fourth harmonic mode of the thermoacoustic instability, followed by the basic mode.