Paddling mode of forward flight in insects

By analyzing high-speed video of the fruit fly, we discover a swimminglike mode of forward flight characterized by paddling wing motions. We develop a new aerodynamic analysis procedure to show that these insects generate drag-based thrust by slicing their wings forward at low angle of attack and pushing backwards at a higher angle. Reduced-order models and simulations reveal that the law for flight speed is determined by these wing motions but is insensitive to material properties of the fluid. Thus, paddling is as effective in air as in water and represents a common strategy for propulsion through aquatic and aerial environments.     

Poisson asymptotics for random projections of points on a high-dimensional sphere

Project a collection of points on the high-dimensional sphere onto a random direction. If most of the points are sufficiently far from one another in an appropriate sense, the projection is locally close in distribution to the Poisson point process.     

KPZ in One Dimensional Random Geometry of Multiplicative Cascades

We prove a formula relating the Hausdorff dimension of a subset of the unit interval and the Hausdorff dimension of the same set with respect to a random path matric on the interval, which is generated using a multiplicative cascade. When the random variables generating the cascade are exponentials of Gaussians, the well known KPZ formula of Knizhnik, Polyakov and Zamolodchikov from quantum gravity [KPZ88] appears. This note was inspired by the recent work of Duplantier and Sheffield [DS08] proving a somewhat different version of the KPZ formula for Liouville gravity. In contrast with the Liouville gravity setting, the one dimensional multiplicative cascade framework facilitates the determination of the Hausdorff dimension, rather than some expected box count dimension.     

Breakage mechanics—Part I: Theory

Different measures have been suggested for quantifying the amount of fragmentation in randomly compacted crushable aggregates. A most effective and popular measure is to adopt variants of Hardin's [1985. Crushing of soil particles. J. Geotech. Eng. ASCE 111(10), 1177-1192] definition of relative breakage ‘B_r’. In this paper we further develop the concept of breakage to formulate a new continuum mechanics theory for crushable granular materials based on statistical and thermomechanical principles. Analogous to the damage internal variable ‘D’ which is used in continuum damage mechanics (CDM), here the breakage internal variable ‘B’ is adopted. This internal variable represents a particular form of the relative breakage ‘B_r’ and measures the relative distance of the current grain size distribution from the initial and ultimate distributions. Similar to ‘D’, ‘B’ varies from zero to one and describes processes of micro-fractures and the growth of surface area. However, unlike damage that is most suitable to tensioned solid-like materials, the breakage is aimed towards compressed granular matter. While damage effectively represents the opening of micro-cavities and cracks, breakage represents comminution of particles. We term the new theory continuum breakage mechanics (CBM), reflecting the analogy with CDM. A focus is given to developing fundamental concepts and postulates, and identifying the physical meaning of the various variables. In this part of the paper we limit the study to describe an ideal dissipative process that includes breakage without plasticity. Plastic strains are essential, however, in representing aspects that relate to frictional dissipation, and this is covered in Part II of this paper together with model examples.     

Single atom hot-spots at Au-Pd nanoalloys for electrocatalytic H2O2 production

A novel strategy to direct the oxygen reduction reaction to preferentially produce H(2)O(2) is formulated and evaluated. The approach combines the inertness of Au nanoparticles toward oxidation, with the improved O(2) sticking probability of isolated transition metal "guest" atoms embedded in the Au "host". DFT modeling was employed to screen for the best alloy candidates. Modeling indicates that isolated alloying atoms of Pd, Pt, or Rh placed within the Au surface should enhance the H(2)O(2) production relative to pure Au. Consequently, Au(1-x)Pd(x) nanoalloys with variable Pd content supported on Vulcan XC-72 were prepared to investigate the predicted selectivity toward H(2)O(2) production for Au alloyed with Pd. It is demonstrated that increasing the Pd concentration to 8% leads to an increase of the electrocatalytic H(2)O(2) production selectivity up to nearly 95%, when the nanoparticles are placed in an environment compatible with that of a proton exchange membrane. Further increase of Pd content leads to a drop in H(2)O(2) selectivity, to below 10% for x = 0.5. It is proposed that the enhancement in H(2)O(2) selectivity is caused by the presence of individual surface Pd atoms surrounded by gold, whereas surface ensembles of contiguous Pd atoms support H(2)O formation. The results are discussed in the context of exergonic electrocatalytic H(2)O(2) synthesis in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells for the simultaneous cogeneration of chemicals and electricity, the latter a credit to production costs.     

Stabilization mechanism of clarithromycin tablets under gastric pH conditions

It has been reported that tablets of clarithromycin (CAM), a 14-membered macrolide antibiotic, are especially stable under low pH conditions such as in gastric fluid, and showed excellent antibacterial efficiency even though CAM molecules themselves are rapidly decomposed. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the stabilization mechanism of CAM tablets under low pH conditions. From the results of stability and dissolution tests, the optimal decomposition rate constant (K(dec)) and dissolution rate constant (K(dis)) at various pH values were calculated by curve-fitting to consecutive reactions. Consequently, log(K(dec)) increased as pH decreased. On the other hand, log(K(dis)) increased as pH decreased from 3.0 to 1.5, but decreased as pH decreased from 1.5 to 1.0. In addition, the disintegration time of commercially available tablets at pH 1.0 and 1.2 was found to be delayed, resulting in a decrease of K(dis). Furthermore, from powder X-ray diffraction, HPLC and elemental analysis, the delay in disintegration time might be attributable to the formation of a transparent gel, formed by the reaction between CAM molecule and hydrochloric acid under low pH conditions, on the surface of CAM tablet. On the basis of these results, this report can be considered the first case where a transparent gel prevents gastric fluid from penetrating the tablet, resulting in reduced decomposition of CAM following oral administrating.     

Loop-Erased Random Walk on a Torus in Dimensions 4 and Above

We show that the statistics of loop erased random walks above the upper critical dimension, 4, are different between the torus and the full space. The typical length of the path connecting a pair of sites at distance L, which scales as L² in the full space, changes under the periodic boundary conditions to L^d/2. The results are precise for dimensions ≥5; for the dimension d=4 we prove an upper bound, conjecturally sharp up to subpolyonmial factors.     

Exceptional planes of percolation

Consider the standard continuous percolation in ℝ⁴, and choose the parameters so that the induced percolation on a fixed two dimensional linear subspace is critical. Although two dimensional critical percolation dies, we show that there are exceptional two dimensional linear subspaces, in which percolation occurs. Received: 1 April 1997 / Revised version: 20 January 1998     

Formation and stability of a nitric oxide donor: S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine

The formation, reaction dynamics, and detailed kinetics and mechanism of the reaction between nitrous acid and N-acetylpenicillamine (NAP) to produce S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) was studied in acidic medium. The nitrous acid was prepared in situ by the rapid reaction between sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid. The reaction is first order in nitrite and NAP. It is also first order in acid in pH conditions at or slightly higher than the pK(a) of nitrous acid. In lower pH conditions, the catalytic effect of acid quickly saturates. Higher acid concentrations also induce a faster decomposition rate of the SNAP, thus precluding the quantitative formation of SNAP from HNO2 and NAP. Both HPLC and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry techniques proved that SNAP was the sole product produced. No nitrosation occurred on the secondary amine center in NAP, and only the thiol group reacted to form the nitrosothiol. Cu(I) ions were found to be effective SNAP-decomposition catalysts. Cu(II) ions had no effect on the stability of SNAP. Ambient oxygen in reaction solutions was found to have no effect on initial rates of formation of SNAP, products obtained, and stability of SNAP. The formation of SNAP occurs through two distinct pathways. One involves the direct reaction of NAP and HNO2 to form SNAP and eliminate water, and the second pathway involved the initial formation of the nitrosyl cation, NO+, which then nitrosates the thiol. The bimolecular rate constant for the reaction of NAP and HNO2 was derived as 2.69 M(-1) s(-1), while that of direct nitrosation by the nitrosyl cation was 3.00 x 10(4) M(-1) s(-1). A simple reaction network made up of four reactions was found to be sufficient in simulating the formation kinetics and acid-induced decomposition of SNAP.