Deformation of a Convex Hydrogel Shell by Parallel Plate and Central Compression

To characterize the materials parameters and deformation of a convex shell of axial symmetry, a hydrogel contact lens is mechanically deformed by two loading configurations: (a) compression between two parallel plates and (b) central load applied by a shaft with a spherical tip. A universal testing machine with nano-Newton and submicron resolutions is used to measure the applied force, F, as a function of vertical displacement of the plate/shaft, w ₀, while a homemade laser aided topography system records the in-situ deformed shell profile and the contact radius or central dimple, a. A nonlinear shell theory and an iterative finite difference method are used to account for the large elastic deformation, the central buckling for the central load compression, and the interrelationship between the measureable quantities (F, w ₀, a).     

The effects of initial perturbation to mixing-layer noise

The far-field noise radiated from mixing layers is determined by the near-field flow dynamics which is sensitive to the initial perturbation of instability introduced physically or numerically. This study focuses on the effects of the phase delay in two initial perturbations, one at the fundamental wave number and the other at its subharmonic both calculated from linear instability analysis, on the sound generation in mixing layers. When different phase delays φ₁ changing from zero to 2π is applied on the fundamental mode, we observe different vortex merging processes (e.g. vortex pairing or tearing). The strong nonlinear interaction in the merging process generates most of the noise from mixing layers. There shows a pattern in a period of 2π for the response of far-field sound to the change of φ₁. Similar effects on the dynamics and acoustics can be achieved by adding different phase delays φ₂ to the subharmonic mode instead, however, the response repeats in a period of only π for φ₂. The effects of the combination of different phase delays to other parameters, including the amplitude and wave number for each perturbations, are also investigated. All the results indicate a critical role of nonlinearity in the sound generation mechanism of mixing layers.     

Pair Production in Chromoelectric Field with Back Reaction

Massless quark pair production in SU(2) gauge chromoelectric field is investigated by solving the Wigner function with back reaction. The temporal evolution of specific field and its current are obtained self consistently. For the quark distribution function, both its time and momentum dependence are studied. In particular, some interesting phenomena are found, for example, the more abundant symmetry or/and antisymmetry characteristics, the existence of the attractive basin structure and the existence of the momentum "gap" in the quark distribution and so on. All the phenomena are associated with the quark-gluon plasma oscillation, which due to the back reaction effect. The study and analysis qualitatively about the components of the Wigner function are expected to be helpful to deepen the understanding of the QCD vacuum.     

Geological influence on the activity concentration of terrestrial radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in the Jos Plateau,Nigeria

The Jos Plateau has been reported to have elevated levels of natural background radiation. A few earlier studies have measured the levels of natural radioactivity for specific locations in the area. Our interest is to investigate how geology of the study area influences the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides. Thus, the activity concentrations of terrestrial radionuclides in soil samples collected across the geological formations of the Jos Plateau were determined by gamma spectrometry technique. The mean activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K were found to exceed their corresponding world reference values of 35, 40 and 400?Bq?kg^?1, respectively. Data were compared using statistical methods, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc tests. The results revealed in some instances significant influences of geological types on the activity concentrations in the area. The spatial distribution maps of activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K were geostatistically interpolated by ordinary Kriging method using ArcGIS software.     

Modelling alkali metal emissions in large-eddy simulation of a preheated pulverised-coal turbulent jet flame using tabulated chemistry

The numerical modelling of alkali metal reacting dynamics in turbulent pulverised-coal combustion is discussed using tabulated sodium chemistry in large eddy simulation (LES). A lookup table is constructed from a detailed sodium chemistry mechanism including five sodium species, i.e. Na, NaO, NaO₂, NaOH and Na₂O₂H₂, and 24 elementary reactions. This sodium chemistry table contains four coordinates, i.e. the equivalence ratio, the mass fraction of the sodium element, the gas-phase temperature, and a progress variable. The table is first validated against the detailed sodium chemistry mechanism by zero-dimensional simulations. Then, LES of a turbulent pulverised-coal jet flame is performed and major coal-flame parameters compared against experiments. The chemical percolation devolatilisation (CPD) model and the partially stirred reactor (PaSR) model are employed to predict coal pyrolysis and gas-phase combustion, respectively. The response of the five sodium species in the pulverised-coal jet flame is subsequently examined. Finally, a systematic global sensitivity analysis of the sodium lookup table is performed and the accuracy of the proposed tabulated sodium chemistry approach has been calibrated.     

MgO/NaY催化剂上葡萄糖水中异构制取果糖的研究

The MgO/NaY catalysts prepared by impregnation method were used for the conversion of glucose to fructose in water medium.The effects of MgO loading,reaction temperature,glucose concentration and reaction time on the catalytic performance for the reaction were studied.The activity testing results indicated that fructose could be generated effectively by controlling the components of the catalyst and reaction conditions.The maximal fructose yield of 33.8% with the selectivity of 67.3% was achieved over the 10% MgO/NaY catalyst at 100 ℃ for 2 h.Moreover,the catalysts were characterized by XRD,BET,and CO₂-TPD techniques.The structural property of NaY with higher surface area facilitated glucose conversion,and the modulated basicity of the catalyst with MgO addition contributed to the formation of fructose in the tautomerization of aldose to ketose.     

Exhaled gas detection by a novel Rh-doped CNT biosensor for prediagnosis of lung cancer: a DFT study

Lung cancer has received considerable attention in recent years due to its high mortality. The difficulty in awareness of such disease can be attributed to its strong insidiousness during the early stage. Therefore, the prognosis of lung cancer becomes significant so as to nip this disease in the bud. In this paper, the Rh-doped CNT-based biosensors were introduced to realise the diagnosis of lung cancer through detecting the exhaled gas of possible patients. The adsorption property and sensing mechanism of Rh-CNT towards two kinds of mainly typical gases of lung cancer, namely, C₆H₆ and C₆H₇N, were analysed based on density functional theory, aiming at evaluating the potential application of such material to be gas sensors. The results indicated that the Rh-CNT not only has good adsorption towards such two gases but also obvious conductivity increase when interacted with any of them, while presents insensitivity upon the common exhaled gas, CO₂. We suggest the Rh-CNT be prepared as biosensors applied in the field of lung cancer pre-diagnosis that can be used in our daily life without pain and complex clinical examination.     

Construction and cosmic-ray test of the new inner drift chamber for BESIII

A new inner drift chamber has been built which can replace the aged part of the BESIII drift chamber when needed. The design of the new inner drift chamber can minimize the ineffective area in the very forward and backward region and hence reduce the background event rate. With this design, the new inner drift chamber is expected to have a longer lifetime and improved performance due to the lower occupancy. The endplates and the cylinder were machined with high precision. Wire stringing was performed after the mechanical structure was assembled, and good quality of wire stringing was ensured by measurement of the tension and leakage current of the wires. After completion of the physical construction of the new chamber, a cosmic-ray test was carried out to test its performance. The results of the cosmic-ray test show that the new inner chamber achieves a spatial resolution of127 μm and a d E/dx resolution of 6.4%, which satisfies the design specifications.     

The synthesis of aligned silicon nanowires under ambient atmospheric pressure

Highly ordered amorphous silicon nanowires were successfully synthesized from single crystalline silicon wafer at the pyrolysis temperature of 1050 °C under ambient atmospheric pressure. Both poly (phenylcarbyne) and nickel nitrate played important roles in the growth of silicon nanowires. The fabrication of ordered silicon nanowires was controllable and repeatable, confirmed by the experimental results. The morphology and microstructure analysis of the as-obtained samples showed the highly ordered amorphous silicon nanowires were obtained, determined by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and FT-infrared spectroscopy. A solid-liquid-solid growing process was proposed.     

Extractive Atmospheric Pressure Photoionization (EAPPI) Mass Spectrometry: Rapid Analysis of Chemicals in Complex Matrices

Extractive atmospheric pressure photoionization (EAPPI) mass spectrometry was designed for rapid qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemicals in complex matrices. In this method, an ultrasonic nebulization system was applied to sample extraction, nebulization, and vaporization. Mixed with a gaseous dopant, vaporized analytes were ionized through ambient photon-induced ion–molecule reactions, and were mass-analyzed by a high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS). After careful optimization and testing with pure sample solution, EAPPI was successfully applied to the fast screening of capsules, soil, natural products, and viscous compounds. Analysis was completed within a few seconds without the need for preseparation. Moreover, the quantification capability of EAPPI for matrices was evaluated by analyzing six polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil. The correlation coefficients (R ² ) for standard curves of all six PAHs were above 0.99, and the detection limits were in the range of 0.16–0.34 ng/mg. In addition, EAPPI could also be used to monitor organic chemical reactions in real time.

Open image in new window

Graphical Abstract ?