Structural and proton conductivity study of BaZr1-xRExO3-δ(RE = Dy,Sm) ceramics for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell electrolyte

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Proton-conducting BaZr1-xRExO3-δ (RE = Dy, Sm) (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) ceramics were synthesized via a conventional mixed...     

Effect of thermal radiation on MHD flow of blood and heat transfer in a permeable capillary in stretching motion

In this paper, a theoretical analysis is presented for magnetohydrodynamic flow of blood in a capillary, its lumen being porous and wall permeable. The unsteadiness in the flow and temperature fields is caused by the time-dependence of the stretching velocity and the surface temperature. Thermal radiation, velocity slip and thermal slip conditions are taken into account. In order to study the flow field as well as the temperature field, the problem is formulated as a boundary value problem consisting of a system of nonlinear coupled partial differential equations. The problem is analysed by using similarity transformation and boundary layer approximation. Solution of the problem is achieved by developing a suitable numerical method and using high speed computers. Computational results for the variation in velocity, temperature, skin-friction co-efficient and Nusselt number are presented in graphical/tabular form. Effects of different parameters are adequately discussed. Since the study takes care of thermal radiation in blood flow, the results reported here are likely to have an important bearing on the therapeutic procedure of hyperthermia, particularly in understanding/regulating blood flow and heat transfer in capillaries.     

Reduced-order modeling of high-speed jets controlled by arc filament plasma actuators

Arc filament plasma actuators applied to high-speed and high Reynolds number jets have demonstrated significant mixing enhancement when operated near the jet column mode (JCM) frequency. A feedback-oriented reduced-order model is developed for this flow from experimental data. The existent toolkit of stochastic estimation, proper orthogonal decomposition, and Galerkin projection is adapted to yield a 35-dimensional model for the unforced jet. Explicit inclusion of a "shift mode" stabilizes the model. The short-term predictive capability of instantaneous flow fields is found to degrade beyond a single flow time step, but this horizon may be adequate for feedback control. Statistical results from long-term simulations agree well with experimental observations. The model of the unforced jet is augmented to incorporate the effects of plasma actuation. Periodic forcing is modeled as a deterministic pressure wave specified on the inflow boundary of the modeling domain. Simulations of the forced model capture the nonlinear response that leads to optimal mixing enhancement in a small range of frequencies near the JCM.     

pH‐dependent Interaction of Rhodopsin with Cyanidin‐3‐glucoside. 2. Functional Aspects†

Anthocyanins are a class of phytochemicals that confer color to flowers, fruits, vegetables and leaves. They are part of our regular diet and serve as dietary supplements because of numerous health benefits, including improved vision. Recent studies have shown that the anthocyanin cyanidin‐3‐O‐glucoside (C3G) increased regeneration of the dim‐light photoreceptor rhodopsin (Matsumoto et al. [2003] J. Agric. Food Chem., 51 , 3560–3563). In an accompanying study (Yanamala et al. [2009] Photochem. Photobiol.), we show that C3G directly binds to rhodopsin in a pH‐dependent manner. In this study, we investigated the functional consequences of C3G binding to rhodopsin. As observed previously in rod outer segments, regeneration of purified rhodopsin in detergent micelles is also accelerated in the presence of C3G. Thermal denaturation and stability studies using circular dichroism, fluorescence and UV/visible absorbance spectroscopy show that C3G exerts a destabilizing effect on rhodopsin structure while it only modestly alters G‐protein activation and the rates at which the light‐activated Metarhodopsin II state decays to opsin and free retinal. These results indicate that the mechanism of C3G‐enhanced regeneration may be based on changes in opsin structure promoting access to the retinal binding pocket.     

Synthesis and mesomorphic behaviour of new mesogenic compounds possessing a cholesteryl ester moiety connected to a pyrimidine core

New mesogenic compounds containing a cholesteryl ester and a pyrimidine moiety connected through a polymethylene spacer have been prepared. The mode of linkage has been made via -CC- and -CN- to understand the structure-property relationship. Only two compounds with a pentamethylene spacer show mesomorphic behaviour. The mesomorphic behaviour has been investigated by polarizing optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and HRXRD studies. Enantiotropic smectic A, twist grain boundary (TGB) and chiral nematic mesophases are exhibited by the newly synthesized compounds.     

Flow of a biomagnetic viscoelastic fluid: application to estimation of blood flow in arteries during electromagnetic hyperthermia,a therapeutic procedure for cancer treatment

The paper deals with the theoretical investigation of a fundamental problem of biomaguetic fluid flow through a porous medium subject to a magnetic field by using the principles of biomagnetic fluid dynamics （BFD）. The study pertains to a situation where magnetization of the fluid varies with temperature. The fluid is considered to be non-Newtonian, whose flow is governed by the equation of a second-grade viscoelastic fluid. The walls of the channel are assumed to be stretchable, where the surface velocity is proportional to the longitudinal distance from the origin of coordinates. The problem is first reduced to solving a system of coupled nonlinear differential equations involving seven parameters. Considering blood as a biomagnetic fluid and using the present analysis, an attempt is made to compute some parameters of the blood flow by developing a suitable numerical method and by devising an appropriate finite difference scheme. The computational results are presented in graphical form, and thereby some theoretical predictions are made with respect to the hemodynamical flow of the blood in a hyperthermal state under the action of a magnetic field. The results clearly indicate that the presence of a magnetic dipole bears the potential so as to affect the characteristics of the blood flow in arteries to a significant extent during the therapeutic procedure of electromagnetic hyperthermia. The study will attract the attention of clinicians, to whom the results would be useful in the treatment of cancer patients by the method of electromagnetic hyperthermia.     

Large-eddy simulation of shock-turbulence interaction in supersonic diffuser flows

LES based on explicit filtering is used to study the shock train phenomenon in turbulent supersonic diffuser flows with circular cross-section and isothermal wall with an incoming pipe flow at friction Reynolds number 245 and centerline Mach number 1.7. Alternate regions of compression and expansion are found in the shock train which is followed by a shock-free ‘mixing’ region as observed in experiments and simulations in the literature. Turbulence amplification and local peaks in pressure-dilatation correlation are observed in the vicinity of the shocks. Low-frequency oscillations of the shock train are also observed.     

Irradiation effect of low-energy ion on polyurethane nanocoating containing metal oxide nanoparticles

Irradiation effect of low-energy ion beam has been investigated on nanocoating developed with silica, titania and silica–titania core–shell nanoparticles embedded in an organic binder for nanopaint application. In this work, we have taken polyurethane as a model organic binder. Silica nanoparticles have been prepared through sol–gel synthesis with a particle size of 85?nm. Titania and core–shell nanoparticles have been prepared through both sol–gel and peptization process. Particle sizes obtained were 107?nm for titania and 240?nm for core–shell nanoparticles prepared through sol–gel process and 75?nm for TiO₂ and 144?nm for core–shell nanoparticles prepared through peptization process. The coating formulations were developed with the above nanoparticles individually and nanoparticle concentration was varied from 1 to 6?wt% and the best performance in terms of hydrophobicity was obtained with 4?wt % of the nanoparticles in polyurethane coating formulation. All the coating formulations prepared were applied on a glass substrate and dried at 100°C. The dry film thickness obtained was around 100?µm in each case. These films dried on glass substrate were irradiated by nitrogen and argon ion beam with energy of 26?keV at fluences of 10¹⁴ to 10¹⁶?ions/cm². The anti-algal property of the irradiated samples was improved and hydrophobicity was reduced.     

Inter-molecular physiochemical characterization for etodolac-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin polymeric systems in solid and liquid state

The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) systems in forming inclusion complexes with the anti-rheumatic or anti-arthritic drug, etodolac (EDC), in order to overcome the limitation of its poor aqueous solubility. This inclusion system achieved high solubility for the hydrophobic molecule. The physical and chemical properties of each inclusion compound were investigated. Complexes of EDC with HP-β-CD were obtained using the kneading and co-evaporation techniques. Solid state characterization of the products was carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Studies in the solution state were performed using UV-Vis spectrophotometry and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. Phase solubility profiles with HP-β-CD employed was found to be A_L type. Stability constants (K_c) from the phase solubility diagrams were calculated indicating the formation of 1:1 inclusion complex. Stability studies in the solid state and in liquid state were performed; the possible degradation by RP-HPLC was monitored. The dissolution studies revealed that EDC dissolution rate was improved by the formation of inclusion complexes.