Electroosmosis law via homogenization of electrolyte flow equations in porous media

By the homogenization approach we justify a two-scale model of ion transport in porous media for one-dimensional horizontal steady flows driven by a pressure gradient and an external horizontal electrical field. By up-scaling, the electroosmotic flow equations in horizontal nanoslits separated by thin solid layers are approximated by a homogenized system of macroscale equations in the form of the Poisson equation for induced vertical electrical field and Onsager's reciprocity relations between global fluxes (hydrodynamic and electric) and forces (horizontal pressure gradient and external electrical field). In addition, the two-scale approach provides macroscopic mobility coefficients in the Onsager relations.     

Temperature, H2 loading and ultra violet irradiation effects in germanosilicate optical fibers: laser spectroscopy measurements

The effects of heat-treatment and ultraviolet (UV) light at 325 nm on virgin and hydrogen loaded germanosilicate optical fibers have been investigated by using laser spectroscopy technique. The luminescence band around 650 nm is sensitive to heat treatment. The hydrogen reloading of the hydrogen loaded fibers subsequent to heat treatment showed a new emission band around 570 nm. The irradiated fibers have an emission band around 383 nm which was not detected in hydrogen loaded fibers.     

Production of activated carbons from pine nutshells

Optimal conditions for obtaining activated carbons from pine nutshells were determined. Their sorption properties were studied.     

A theoretical study of the hydrogen bond donor capability and co-operative effects in the hydrogen bond complexes of the diaza-aromatic betacarbolines

In this work, we present a quantum mechanical investigation on the hydrogen bond interactions of N(9)-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole, MBC, and N(2)-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole, BCA, with different hydrogen bond donors. Thus, it has been analysed the influence that the hydrogen bond donor strength and the co-operative effect of the increasing number of donor molecules have on the shape of the potential energy surfaces versus the N···H distances, r(N–H). To rationalize the nature of the interactions, the Bader theory has been applied and the characteristics of the bond critical points analysed. The results show that two different hydrogen bond complexes can be formed depending on the donor capabilities or the number of donor molecules included in the calculations. The topological parameters from the Bader theory are used to justify the statement that the analysed interactions can be classified as weak or partially covalent hydrogen bond interactions, respectively. As experimentally observed, weak hydrogen bond donors form weak hydrogen bond complexes, called HBC. Upon the increase of the donor strength the N···H proton is shifted nearest to the nitrogen atom giving rise to the observation of a stronger hydrogen bond complex, the proton transfer complex, PTC. The most outstanding result of these studies is the fact that the formation of the PTC can also be managed just by changing the number of donor molecules, that is, by a co-operative effect of the hydrogen bonds.     

High-accuracy theoretical study on the thermochemistry of several formaldehyde derivatives

In the case of several formaldehyde derivatives, with importance in atmospheric and combustion chemistry, the currently available thermochemical values suffer from considerably large uncertainties. In this study a high-accuracy theoretical model chemistry has been used to provide accurate thermochemical data including heats of formation at 0 and 298 K and standard molar entropies at 298 K for CF(2)O, FCO, HFCO, HClCO, FClCO, HOCO, and NH(2)CO. For most of the thermochemical quantities studied here, this investigation delivers the best available estimate.     

A neutral zwitterionic molecular solid

We report on the acid ethylenedithiotetrathiafulvaleneamidoglycine (EDT-TTF-CO-NH-CH(2)-CO(2)H; 1; EDT-TTF=ethylenedithiotetrathiafulvalene) and the 1:1 adduct [(EDT-TTF)(·+)-CO-NH-CH(2)-(CO(2))(-)][(EDT-TTF)-CO-NH-CH(2)-(CO(2)H)]·CH(3)OH (2), a new type of hydrogen-bonded, 1:1 acid/zwitterion hybrid embrace of redox peptidics into a two-dimensional architecture, an example of a system deliberately fashioned so that oxidation of π-conjugated cores toward the radical-cation form would interfere with the activity of the appended ionizable residues in the presence of a templating base during crystal growth. First-principles calculations demonstrate that, notwithstanding preconceived ideas, a metallic state is more stable than the hole-localized alternatives for a neat 1:1 neutral acid/zwitterion hybrid. The inhomogeneous Coulomb field associated with proton-shared, interstacks O-H···O hydrogen bonds between the ionizable residues distributed on both sides of the two-dimensional π-conjugated framework leads, however, to a weak hole localization responsible for the activated but high conductivity of 1 S cm(-1). This situation is reminiscent of the role of the environment on electron transfer in tetraheme cytochrome c, in which the protonation state of a heme propionate becomes paramount, or ion-gated transport phenomena in biology. These observations open rather intriguing opportunities for the construction of electronic systems at the interface of chemistry and biology.     

A common repressor pool results in indeterminacy of extrinsic noise

For just over a decade, stochastic gene expression has been the focus of many experimental and theoretical studies. It is now widely accepted that noise in gene expression can be decomposed into extrinsic and intrinsic components, which have orthogonal contributions to the total noise. Intrinsic noise stems from the random occurrence of biochemical reactions and is inherent to gene expression. Extrinsic noise originates from fluctuations in the concentrations of regulatory components or random transitions in the cell's state and is imposed to the gene of interest by the intra- and extra-cellular environment. The basic assumption has been that extrinsic noise acts as a pure input on the gene of interest, which exerts no feedback on the extrinsic noise source. Thus, multiple copies of a gene would be uniformly influenced by an extrinsic noise source. Here, we report that this assumption falls short when multiple genes share a common pool of a regulatory molecule. Due to the competitive utilization of the molecules existing in this pool, genes are no longer uniformly influenced by the extrinsic noise source. Rather, they exert negative regulation on each other and thus extrinsic noise cannot be determined by the currently established method.     

Crossover from adiabatic to sudden interaction quench in a Luttinger liquid

Motivated by recent experiments on interacting cold atoms, we analyze interaction quenches in Luttinger liquids (LLs), where the interaction is ramped from zero to a finite value within a finite time. The fermionic single particle density matrix reveals several regions of spatial and temporal coordinates relative to the quench time, termed as Fermi liquid, sudden quench LL, adiabatic LL regime, and a LL regime with a time-dependent exponent. The various regimes can also be observed in the momentum distribution of the fermions, directly accessible through time of flight experiments. Most of our results apply to arbitrary quench protocols.