Performance of a small air-lift pump

Pumping of liquids using two-phase flow has been examined experimentally in small air-lift pumps with 12—19 mm bore plexiglass tubes. An air injection system was devised to create and maintain ‘perfect’ slug flow in the vertical riser tube. An equation has been derived, based on momentum conservation considerations, which correlates well with the measurements obtained. Slip variation, or liuid holdup, between the two phases and the formation of the ‘entrance’ section part of the pump (suction pipe) were taken into consideration. Unlike its predecessors, this equation predicts the reversal in the pump performance curve observed experimentally.     

Photopyroelectric spectroscopy (P2ES) of electronic defect centers in crystalline n-CdS

The electrical and dielectric properties of mercuric iodide were studied at room temperature under various intensities and colours of light in the frequency range 1 Hz–10 kHz. In the high-frequency region (>40 Hz), the real part of the dielectric constant () is almost constant with frequency (f), colour and intensity of light. At lower frequencies, varies nearly as 1/f and monotonically increases with intensity (I) of the yellow (or green) light, whereas it is almost constant with red light intensity. This behaviour is discussed in the view of the different polarization contributions. The imaginary part of the dielectric constant () was found to vary as 1/f over the frequency range studied. This behaviour was observed whether the crystal was in dark or illuminated implying that the roomtemperature ac dark- or photo-conductivity () is independent of frequency. The observed variation of with intensity of yellow (or green) light was found to follow anI ^1/2 dependence and a weaker dependence for the red light. the red light. The conductivity behaviour is discussed in the view of the current theories.     

Preparation and basic physical properties of BiTeI single crystals

A modified Bridgman method is described, which makes it possible to prepare homogeneous BiTeI crystals using excess iodine. At room temperature the values of the electrical conductivity of the crystals range around 2000 ^–1 cm^–1, the Hall constant value about 0·09 cm^–3 coul^–1, the Seebeck coefficient about 50 V K^–1. In connection with the assumption of super-stoichiometric iodine content we expect there exist point defects in the crystals, where Te atoms are replaced with I atoms, which gives rise to electric conductivity. On the basis of the temperature dependence of the electron mobility one can suppose a mixed mechanism of the scattering of the free carriers by the acoustic branch of lattice vibrations and by ionized impurities.     

Scattering of low energy Na+ ions from a clean polycrystalline Ag surface

The energy distributions of low energy (E₀ = 0.4–3.2 keV) Na⁺ ions scattered from a clean polycrystalline Ag surface were measured. The angle between the incident beam and the surface was fixed at ψ = 45° while the scattering angle (θ) ranged from 50 to 130°. The cleanliness of the surface during the measurement was maintained by simultaneous deposition of Ag atoms from an effusion source. The obtained distributions considerably differ from the corresponding distributions of noble ions. Firstly, for all measured values of E₀ and θ, an intensive hump is observed in the high energy part of the distribution. In certain cases this hump is transformed into a peak. Secondly, the low energy part of the distribution is very pronounced, especially for higher values of E₀ and θ.     

Stability of strongly continuous representations of abelian semigroups

Part of this work was carried out while the authors were visiting the University of Franche-Comté, Besan?on, and Hokkaido University, Sapporo, respectively     

A Robust and Efficient Method for Steady State Patterns in Reaction-Diffusion Systems

An inhomogeneous steady state pattern of nonlinear reaction-diffusion equations with no-flux boundary conditions is usually computed by solving the corresponding time-dependent reaction-diffusion equations using temporal schemes. Nonlinear solvers (e.g., Newton's method) take less CPU time in direct computation for the steady state; however, their convergence is sensitive to the initial guess, often leading to divergence or convergence to spatially homogeneous solution. Systematically numerical exploration of spatial patterns of reaction-diffusion equations under different parameter regimes requires that the numerical method be efficient and robust to initial condition or initial guess, with better likelihood of convergence to an inhomogeneous pattern. Here, a new approach that combines the advantages of temporal schemes in robustness and Newton's method in fast convergence in solving steady states of reaction-diffusion equations is proposed. In particular, an adaptive implicit Euler with inexact solver (AIIE) method is found to be much more efficient than temporal schemes and more robust in convergence than typical nonlinear solvers (e.g., Newton's method) in finding the inhomogeneous pattern. Application of this new approach to two reaction-diffusion equations in one, two, and three spatial dimensions, along with direct comparisons to several other existing methods, demonstrates that AIIE is a more desirable method for searching inhomogeneous spatial patterns of reaction-diffusion equations in a large parameter space.     

Spectroscopy of XY(5)Z (C(4v)) Molecules: A Tensorial Formalism Adapted to the O(3) superset O(h) superset C(4v) Chain

A tensorial formalism adapted to the case of XY(5)Z symmetric tops has been developed as an extension of the usual one for the octahedral molecules. We use the O(3) superset O(h) superset C(4&v) group chain. All the coupling coefficients and formulas for the computation of matrix elements are given for this chain. Such relations are also deduced in the C(4v) group itself. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Magnetic field control of absorption coefficient and group index in an impurity doped quantum disc

The electronic properties and optical characteristics – absorption coefficient, refractive index and group index – in an impurity doped pseudo-harmonic quantum disc subjected to an applied magnetic field are investigated. Numerical calculations are performed using the exact diagonalization technique and the compact density-matrix formalism. It is found that the chosen structure could be switched between a lambda-type and a ladder-type configuration by a proper tailoring of the magnetic field strength. Furthermore, the absorption profile and the associated slow light frequency range can be controlled not only by varying the control field amplitude and its detuning but also by changing the impurity position and the magnetic field strength.