Structure and dynamics of high-spin Ru in aqueous solution: Ab initio QM/MM molecular dynamics simulation

The structural and dynamical properties of high-spin Ru²⁺ in aqueous solution have been theoretically studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The conventional MD simulation based on pair potentials gives the overestimated average first shell coordination number of 9, whereas the value of 5.9 was observed when the three-body corrected function was included. A combined ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) molecular dynamics simulation has been performed to take into account the many-body effects on the hydration shell structure of Ru²⁺. The most important region, the first hydration shell, was treated by ab initio quantum mechanics at UHF level using the SBKJC VDZ ECP basis set for Ru²⁺ and the 6-31G^∗ basis sets for water. An exact coordination number of 6 for the first hydration shell was obtained from the QM/MM simulation. The QM/MM simulation predicts the average Ru²⁺–O distance of 2.42 Å for the first hydration shell, whereas the values of 2.34 and 2.46 Å are resulted from the pair potentials without and with the three-body corrected simulations, respectively. Several other structural properties representing position and orientation of the solvate molecules were evaluated for describing the hydration shell structure of the Ru²⁺ ion in dilute aqueous solution. A mean residence time of 7.1 ps was obtained for water ligands residing in the second hydration shell.     

Effect of concentration on surfactant micelle shapes —A molecular dynamics study

Many aspects of the behavior of surfactants have not been well understood due to the coupling of many different mechanisms. Computer simulation is, therefore, attractive in the sense that it can explore the effect of different mechanisms separately. In this paper, the shapes, structures and sizes of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) micelles under different concentrations in an oil/water mixture were studied via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a simplified atomistic model which basically maintains the hydrophile and lipophile properties of the surfactant molecules. Above the critical micellar concentration (cmc), surfactant molecules aggregate spontaneously to form a wide variety of assemblies, from spherical to rodlike, wormlike and bilayer micelles. Changes in their ratios of the principle moments of inertia (g₁/g₃, g₂/g₃) indicated the transition of micelle shapes at different concentrations. The aggregation number of micelle is found to have a power-law dependence on surfactant concentration.     

SOLVERSTAT: a new utility for multipurpose analysis. An application to the investigation of dioxygenated Co(II) complex formation in dimethylsulfoxide solution

A new utility for multipurpose analysis, SOLVERSTAT, taking advantage of the versatility of spreadsheets is here described. By means of this tool advanced statistical tests have introduced in Microsoft Excel Solver thus allowing regression diagnostic and discrimination between different models. The utility is here applied to the determination, by UV-Vis spectroscopy, of the stability constant for the uptake of molecular dioxygen by the 1:2 complex of Co(II) with N,N′-dimethylethylenediamine (dmen) in the aprotic solvent dimethylsulfoxide (dmso) at 298 K and in a medium adjusted to 0.1 mol dm⁻³ with Et₄NClO₄. The reliability of the model and parameters obtained are discussed and the results compared with those obtained by Dynafit, a different software package, and by independent voltammetric measurements. The validity of SOLVERSTAT has been also examined applying it to the discrimination between different models already discussed in the literature.     

Novel aromatic carboxamides from dehydroabietylamine as potential fungicides: Design,synthesis and antifungal evaluation

The present study was carried out to design and synthesize a number of novel aromatic carboxamide derivatives of dehydroabietylamine. The preliminary antifungal assay indicated that most of title compounds displayed moderate to good antifungal activity toward the six fungal strains in vitro. Compounds 3i, 3q, 4b and 4d showed significant antifungal activity against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, with EC₅₀ values ranging from 0.067 ～ 0.393 mg/L. Compounds 3i, 4b and 4d also showed pronounced mycelial growth inhibition activities against B. cinerea and A. solani. Furthermore, in the in vivo assay, compound 4b exhibited brilliant protective activity against S. sclerotiorum-infected rape leaves. Meanwhile, the in vivo bioassay on tomato plants infected by B. cinerea showed that compound 3i and 4d displayed excellent protective activity at 200 mg/L, which were near to boscalid. Primary mechanistic study revealed that 4b could inhibit sclerotia formation as well as reduce the exopolysaccharide level. SEM and TEM analysis indicated that 4b possessed a strong ability to destroy the surface morphology of mycelia, cell structure and seriously interfere with the growth of the fungal pathogen. In addition, 4b exhibited good inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 23.3 ± 1.6 μM) toward succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). Molecular modeling study confirmed the binding modes between compound 4b and SDH. The above antifungal results and fungicidal mechanism study revealed that this class of dehydroabietylamine derivatives could be potential SDH inhibitors and lead compounds for novel fungicides development.     

Randomly transitional phenomena in the system governed by Duffing's equation

This paper deals with turbulent or chaotic phenomena which occur in the system governed by Duffing's equation, a special type of two-dimensional periodic system. By using analog and digital computers, experiments are carried out with special reference to the change of attractors and of average power spectra of the random processes under the variation of the system parameters. On the basis of the experimental results, an outline of the random process is made clear. The results obtained in this paper will be applied to various physical problems and will also serve as material for the development of a proper mathematics of this phenomenon.     

非线性含磁芯线圈的PSpice模拟

 将感应加速腔的磁芯回路视为一段单匝的非线性电感线圈,利用PSpice的一些通用元器件组成的子电路对含有磁芯的非线性线圈进行模拟，使其具有饱和、磁滞及频率损耗等非线性特征。通过一些直观的参数设置，可使线圈模型适用于不同的频率范围。介绍了利用线圈模型对直线感应加速器加速组元系统的模拟，得到了与实验相符合的结果。     

高能闪光照相中影响光程确定的几个因素

 利用闪光照相基本原理和成像原理，在直接记录法和转换屏记录法的情况下，研究了闪光照相中影响X射线在材料中光程确定的主要因素。结果表明，影响光程确定的几个因素是：散射效应、光源角分布效应、立体角效应和能谱效应。对于高能闪光照相，散射效应是影响光程确定的最主要因素，散射的存在使光程的测量值比实际值降低20%～40%。因此必须在做CT之前，对散射的影响进行修正。     

Using symbolic computation software packages in production of multidimensional finite volume‐based large eddy simulation codes

The numerical simulation of turbulence is one of the most challenging tasks in the field of the modern computational science. At present, the most advanced approach is the large eddy simulation (LES) technique wherein a formal separation between resolved (large) and unresolved (small) scales of the motion is in effect by means of a filtering operation applied onto the governing equations. However, LES requires very sophisticated numerical discretizations in terms of both accuracy and efficiency. Often, the modelling of the unresolved subgrid scale terms adds further computational complexities. This paper illustrates the suitability in using software packages for symbolic computation (in the present case, Maple© for helping in the production of subroutines for a new multidimensional, high‐order accurate finite volume‐based LES code. Specifically, it will be detailed how producing, rapidly and efficiently, the routines for computing convective, diffusive as well as subgrid scale modelling fluxes. It is particularly detailed how exploiting the package for differential calculus and linear algebra for the analytical integration of the flux polynomials over the finite volume faces. The structure of the LES code is illustrated, and an accuracy analysis of the local truncation errors is performed comparing the third‐order accurate multidimensional upwind and the classical second‐order centred reconstruction in the wavenumbers space. Then, some numerical results for the turbulent plane channel and some brief points concerning the parallelization issue are addressed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observation of defect clustering in Gd-doped calcium fluoride

Abstract

Solid solutions Ca_1-xGd_xF_2+x for 3 × 10^?7≤ x ≤10^?1 have been studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and ionic thermal currents (ITC). The EPR experiments show the presence of two single-ion sites a cubic and a tetragonal Gd³⁺ center which co-exist with comparable abundances for intermediate impurity concentrations. The cubic center predominates at very low and high concentrations. Seven different relaxation processes have been identified from the ITC spectra and the variation of their intensity vs. x was measured. The absolute concentrations of the cubic and nn Gd³⁺ dipoles were calculated. The scavenging of interstitial fluorines by the neutral clusters explains both the abundance of cubic sites at high concentration and the variety of orientable clusters detected by ITC.     

Application of DEM modified with enlarged particle model to simulation of bead motion in a bead mill

We applied the discrete element method （DEM） of simulation modified by an enlarged particle model to simulate bead motion in a large bead mill. The stainless-steel bead mill has inner diameter of 102 mm and mill length of 198 mm. The bead diameter and filling ratio were fixed respectively at 0.5 mm and 85%. The agitator rotational speed was changed from 1863 to 3261 rpm. The bead motion was monitored experimentally using a high-speed video camera through a transparent mill body. For the simulation, enlarged particle sizes were set as 3-6 mm in diameter. With the DEM modified by the enlarged particle model, the motion of enlarged particles in a mill was simulated.The velocity data of the simulated enlarged particles were compared with those obtained in the experiment. The simulated velocity of the enlarged particles depends on the virtual frictional coefficient in the DEM model. The optimized value of the virtual frictional coefficient can be determined by considering the accumulated mean value. Results show that the velocity of the enlarged particles simulated increases with an increase in the optimum virtual frictional coefficient, but the simulated velocity agrees well with that determined experimentally by optimizing the virtual frictional coefficient in the simulation. The computing time in the simulation decreases with increased particle size.