Reactive nitrogen species produced in water by non-equilibrium plasma increase plant growth rate and nutritional yield

Water quality, mineralization, and chemical composition, particularly pH and nitrogen compounds each, play a crucial role in plant development and growth. Treatment of water with non-equilibrium discharges results in the change of its properties and chemical composition, which in turn may affect plant growth process and subsequently agriculture produce quality. Both thermal and non-thermal discharges generated in air or in water produce a number of reactive neutral and charged species, electric fields, and ultraviolet radiation. Plasma treatment of water results in significant change of its properties like pH, oxidation–reduction potential (ORP), conductivity, and concentration of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species (ROS and RNS). Here we report the results of an experimental study of the effect of water treated with different atmospheric plasmas on germination, growth rates, and overall nutritional value of various plants. In the study we have used three types of plasmas: thermal spark discharge, gliding arc discharge, and transferred arc discharge. It is shown that the effects of these plasmas on chemical composition of various types of water are qualitatively different. Non-thermal gliding arc discharge plasma results in lower (acidic) pH, and production of significant amount of oxidizing species (e.g. H₂O₂). Gliding arc discharge also causes significant acidification of water, but it is accompanied by production of reactive nitrogen species (NO, NO₂^? and NO₃^?). Spark discharge treatment results in neutral or higher (basic) pH depending on initial water composition, and production of RNS.     

Exponent for Hall–Petch behaviour of ultra-hard multilayers

Elastically inhomogeneous multilayer films are being exploited for use as ultra-hard coatings. These films exhibit a strong dependence between the compositional wavelength of the film, Λ, and the hardness, H=KΛ^?a+H₀ where the scaling exponent a depends on the elastic properties of the individual layers (shear moduli and Poisson ratios). The dislocation pileup model can explain this trend and form a bridge between the microscopic strength of multilayer interfaces and the macroscopic strength of the multilayer. A semianalytic solution to the pileup model of multilayer strength is presented. All parameter dependencies are solved analytically except a single dimensionless coefficient which is found from numerical simulation. The predictions are compared to data from a 2D discrete dislocation model and to experimental Cu/Ni data. Coefficients and exponents are given for some additional material systems.     

Fusion and large cardinal preservation

In this paper we introduce some fusion properties of forcing notions which guarantee that an iteration with supports of size ?κ   not only does not collapse κ⁺${\kappa }^{+}$ but also preserves the strength of κ (after a suitable preparatory forcing). This provides a general theory covering the known cases of tree iterations which preserve large cardinals (cf. Dobrinen and Friedman (2010) [3], Friedman and Halilovi? (2011) [5], Friedman and Honzik (2008) [6], Friedman and Magidor (2009) [8], Friedman and Zdomskyy (2010) [10], Honzik (2010) [12]).     

Imprisoned lightning: charge transport in trehalose-derived sugar glasses

Trehalose is a naturally occurring disaccharide noted for its ability to preserve the biological function of proteins and cell membranes during periods of stress—such as water deprivation or extreme temperature—by stabilizing the conformations of the macromolecules within a glassy matrix. This phenomenon makes use of the propensity for trehalose to interact strongly with protein functional groups and solvent water molecules via hydrogen bonding. Previously, it has been shown that trehalose sugar glasses also support long-range charge transport in oxidation-reduction reactions occurring between spatially separated donors and acceptors. Here, through the use of bulk Arrhenius DC-conductivity measurements, we infer that this anomalously high carrier mobility is due to proton hopping along a hydrogen bonding network formed by sorbed “water wires,” a process known as the Grotthuss mechanism. Additionally, we find that the apparent activation energy of the conductivity depends non-monotonically on the bias voltage. The possibility is raised for novel photovoltaic devices based on the entrapment of photosynthetic proteins within these glasses.     

Geometric dynamic recrystallization of austenitic stainless steel through linear plane-strain machining

ABSTRACT

Type 316L austenitic stainless steel was severely plastically deformed at room temperature using linear plane-strain machining in a single pass that imparted shear strains up to 2.2 at strain rates up to 2?×?10³ s^?1. The resulting microstructures exhibited significant grain size refinement and improved mechanical strength where geometric dynamic recrystallization was identified as the primary microstructural recrystallization mechanism active at high strain rates. This mechanism is rarely observed in low to medium stacking fault energy materials. The critical stress required for twin initiation is raised by the combined effects of refined grain size and the increase in stacking fault energy due to the adiabatic heating of the chip, thus permitting geometric dynamic recrystallization. The suppression of martensite formation was observed and is correlated to the significant adiabatic heating and mechanical stabilisation of the austenitic stainless steel. A gradient of the amount of strain induced martensite formed from the surface towards the interior of the chip. As the strain rate is increased from 4?×?10² s^?1–2?×?10³ s^?1, a grain morphology change was observed from a population of grains with a high fraction of irregular shaped grains to one dominated by elongated grain shapes with a microstructure characterised by an enhanced density of intragranular sub-cell structure, serrated grain boundaries, and no observable twins. As strain rates were increased, the combination of reduction in strain induced martensite and non-uniform intragranular strain led to grain softening where a Hall-Petch relationship was observed with a negative strengthening coefficient of ?0.08?MPa m^1/2.     

Middle-atmospheric Doppler lidar using an iodine-vapor edge filter

We present both modeled capabilities of and experimental data from a Doppler lidar for the stratosphere and the lower mesosphere that uses the edge of a molecular iodine filter in a differential measurement to provide frequency discrimination. Modeled results show a capability for wind measurements to an altitude of 55 km with 1.5-km resolution in 30 min. Experimentally, wind-vector components from 18 to 45 km are measured every 20 min. The molecular-vapor filter provides great advantages with regard to system stability, operation in less-than-optimum weather conditions, and simplicity of data analysis.     

Time-dependent coating flows in a strip, Part I: The linearized problem

This work is concerned with time-dependent coating flow in a strip . The Navier-Stokes equations are satisfied in the fluid region, the bottom substrate is moving with fixed velocity , and fluid is entering the strip through the upper boundary . The free boundary has the form for , where is the moving contact point. Our objective is to prove that if the initial data are close to those of a stationary solution (the existence of such a solution was established by the authors in an earlier paper) then the time-dependent problem has a unique solution with smooth free boundary, at least for a small time interval. In this Part I we study the linearized problem, about the stationary solution, and obtain sharp estimates for the solution and its derivatives. These estimates will be used in Part II to establish existence and uniqueness for the full nonlinear problem.

     

Small generators of the ideal class group

Assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, Bach has shown that the ideal class group of a number field can be generated by the prime ideals of having norm smaller than . This result is essential for the computation of the class group and units of by Buchmann's algorithm, currently the fastest known. However, once has been computed, one notices that this bound could have been replaced by a much smaller value, and so much work could have been saved. We introduce here a short algorithm which allows us to reduce Bach's bound substantially, usually by a factor 20 or so. The bound produced by the algorithm is asymptotically worse than Bach's, but favorable constants make it useful in practice.

     

Iron in typical and atypical parkinsonism – Mössbauer spectroscopy and MRI studies

Iron may play important role in neurodegeneration. The results of comparative studies of human brain areas (control and pathological) performed by Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques are presented. Mössbauer spectroscopy demonstrated a higher concentration of iron in atypical parkinsonism (progressive supranuclear palsy PSP) in the brain areas Substantia Nigra (SN) and Globus Pallidus (GP) involved in this pathological process, compared to control, while the concentration of iron in pathological tissues in typical parkinsonism (Parkinson’s disease - PD) did not differ from that in control. These results were compared with the changes in 1/T1 and 1/T2 (T1 and T2 being the relaxation times determined by MRI). A good linear correlation curve was found between the concentration of iron as determined by MS in different areas of control human brains and between 1/T1 and 1/T2. Whereas the finding in PSP-GP (the brain area involved in PSP) also fitted to such a correlation, this was not so for the correlation between pathological SN – the brain area involved in both diseases – and 1/T2, indicating a dependence of T2 on other factors than just the concentration of iron.