Microwave frequency shifting using photon acceleration

Using a Bostick Gun as a plasma source, we have been investigating the effects of a moving plasma front on the frequency of an incident R.F. signal. We have been able to measure frequency shifts of 10 MHz frequency with a 2.6 GHz signal. The density is such that the plasma frequency is well above the transmitter frequency 1.3 meters from the plasma source. No magnetic field is used.     

The alternating semigroups: Generators and congruences

The idea of an even permutation has recently been generalized, via path notation, to one-one partial transformations (charts) in the symmetric inverse semigroupsC _n. The even charts form the alternating semigroupA _n ^c ⊂C _n . Generators ofA _n ^c are identified: It then follows that forn≥5,A _n ^c is the collection of restrictions of the even permutations (of rankn). Like theC _n case, the congruences ofA _n ^c form a chain. Part of this research was supported by a Mary Washington College faculty development grant.     

Large-scale computer simulation of fully developed turbulent channel flow with heat transfer

Recently, with the advent of supercomputers, there has been considerable interest in the use of direct numerical simulation to obtain information about turbulent shear flow at low Reynolds number. This paper presents a pseudospectral technique to solve the full three-dimensional time-dependent Navier-Stokes and advection-diffusion equations without the use of subgrid-scale modelling. The technique has not been previously used for fully developed turbulent channel flow simulation and is based on methods applied in other contexts. The emphasis of this paper is to provide a reasonably detailed account of how the simulation is done rather than to present new calculations of turbulence. The details of an algorithm for turbulent channel flow simulation and the grid and time step sizes needed to integrate through transient behaviour to steady state turbulence have not been published before and are presented here. Results from a Cray-2 simulation of fully developed turbulent flow in a channel with heat transfer are presented along with a critical comparison between experiment and computation. The first- and second-order moments agree well with experimental measurements; the agreement is poor for higher-order moments such as the skewness and flatness near the walls of the channel. Detailed information given about the effects of spatial grid resolution on a computed results is important for estimating the size of the computation required to study various aspects of a turbulent flow.     

Determination of the rate of rapid lipid transfer induced by poly(ethylene glycol) using the SLM Fourier transform phase and modulation spectrofluorometer

Rate constants were determined for the transfer of the fluorescent lipid probe 1-palmitoyl-2-[[2-[4-(6-phenyl-trans-1,3,5-hexatrienyl)phenyl]ethyl] oxy]carbonyl]-3-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DPHpPC) between large, unilamellar extrusion vesicles composed either of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) or of DPPC mixed with a small amount (0.5 mol%) of lyso phosphatidylcholine (Lyso PC). Transfer of the lipid probe in the presence of varying concentrations of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was monitored using the SLM 48000-MHF Multi-Harmonic Fourier Transform phase and modulation spectrofluorometer to collect multifrequency phase and modulation fluorescence data sets on a subsecond time scale. The unique ability of this instrument to yield accurate fluorescence lifetime data on this time scale allowed transfer to be detected in terms of a time-dependent change in the fluorescent lifetime distribution associated with the lipid-like DPHpPC probe. This probe demonstrates two short fluoresence decay times (ca. 1.1–1.4 and 4.3–4.8 ns) in a probe-rich environment but a single long lifetime (ca. 7 ns) in a probe-poor environment. A simple two-state model for initial lipid transfer was used to analyze the multifrequency data sets collected over a 4-s time frame to obtain the time rate of change of the concentrations of donor and acceptor probe populations following rapid mixing of vesicles with PEG. The ability to measure fluorescence lifetimes on this time scale has allowed us to show that the of rate of lipid transfer increased dramatically at 35% PEG in both fusing and nonfusing vesicle systems. These results are interpreted in terms of a distinct interbilayer structure associated with intimate bilayer contact induced by high and potentially fusogenic concentrations of PEG.