Retention and selectivity effects caused by bonding of a polar urea-type ligand to silica: a study on mixed-mode retention mechanisms and the pivotal role of solute-silanol interactions in the hydrophilic interaction chromatography elution mode

The separation properties of five silica packings bonded with 1-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]urea in the range of 0–3.67 μmol m⁻² were investigated in the hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) elution mode. An increase of the ligand surface density promoted retention of non-charged polar compounds and even more so for acids. An opposite trend was observed for bases, while the amphoteric compound tyrosine exhibited a U-shaped response profile. An overall partitioning retention mechanism was incompatible with these observations; rather, the substantial involvement of adsorptive interactions was implicated. Support for the latter was provided by column-specific changes in analyte retention and concomitant selectivity effects due to variations of salt concentration, type of salt, pH value, organic modifier content, and column temperature. Silica was more selective for separating compounds differing in charge state (e.g. tyramine vs. 4-hydroxybenzoic acid), while in cases where structural differences of solutes resided in non-charged polar groups (e.g. tyramine vs. 5-hydroxydopamine, nucleoside vs. nucleobase) more selective separations were obtained on bonded phases. Hierarchical cluster analysis of the home-made urea-type and three commercial amide-type bonded packings evinced considerable differences in separation properties. The present data emphasise that the role of the packing material under HILIC elution conditions is hardly just the polar support for a dynamic coating with a water-enriched layer. Three major retention mechanisms are claimed to be relevant on bare silica and the urea-type bonded packings: (i) HILIC-type partitioning, (ii) HILIC-type weak adsorption such as hydrogen bonding between solutes and ligands or solutes and silanols (potentially influenced by individual degrees of solvation, salt bridging, etc.), (iii) strong electrostatic (ionic) solute–silanol interactions (attractive/repulsive). Even when non-charged polar bonded phases are used, solute–silanol interactions should not be discounted, which makes them a prime parameter to be characterised by HILIC column tests. Multi/mixed-mode type separations seem to be common under HILIC elution conditions, associated with a great deal of selectivity increments. They are accessible and controllable by a careful choice of the type of packing, the mobile phase composition, and the temperature.     

Accurate 3-D finite element simulation of elastic wave propagation with the combination of explicit and implicit time-integration methods

One of the big issues in finite element solutions of wave propagation problems is the presence of spurious high-frequency oscillations that may lead to divergent results at mesh refinement. The paper deals with the extension of the new two-stage time-integration technique developed in our previous papers to the solution of wave propagation problems with explicit time-integration methods.The explicit central difference method is used for accurate time-integration of the semi-discrete system of elastodynamics at the stage of basic computations and allows spurious high-frequency oscillations. To filter these oscillations, pre- or/and post-processing (the filtering stage) is applied using a few time increments of the implicit time-continuous Galerkin method with large numerical dissipation.A special calibration procedure is used for the selection of the minimum necessary amount of numerical dissipation (in terms of a time increment) at the filtering stage. In contrast to existing approaches that use a time-integration method with the same dissipation (or artificial viscosity) for all time increments, the new technique yields accurate and non-oscillatory results for wave propagation problems without interaction between user and computer code. The solutions of 3-D wave propagation and impact problems show the effectiveness of the new approach.     

Frequency lock-in phenomenon for oscillating airfoils in buffeting flows

Navier-Stokes based computer simulations are conducted to determine the aerodynamic flow field response that is observed for a NACA0012 airfoil that undergoes prescribed harmonic oscillation in transonic buffeting flows, and also in pre-buffet flow conditions. Shock buffet is the term for the self-sustained shock oscillations that are observed for certain combinations of Mach number and steady mean flow angle of attack even in the absence of structural motion. The shock buffet frequencies are typically on the order of the elastic structural frequencies, and therefore may be a contributor to transonic aeroelastic response phenomena, including limit-cycle oscillations. Numerical simulations indicate that the pre-shock-buffet flow natural frequency increases with mean angle of attack, while the flow damping decreases and approaches zero at the onset of buffet. Airfoil harmonic heave motions are prescribed to study the interaction between the flow fields induced by the shock buffet and airfoil motion, respectively. At pre-shock-buffet conditions the flow response is predominantly at the airfoil motion frequency, with some smaller response at multiplies of this frequency. At shock buffet conditions, a key effect of prescribed airfoil motions on the buffeting flow is to create the possibility of a lock-in phenomenon, in which the shock buffet frequency is synchronized to the prescribed airfoil motion frequency for certain combinations of airfoil motion frequencies and amplitudes. Aerodynamic gain-phase models for the lock-in region, as well as for the pre-shock-buffet conditions are suggested, and also a possible relationship between the lock-in mechanism and limit-cycle oscillation is discussed.     

Complex dynamics of epidemic models on adaptive networks

There has been a substantial amount of well mixing epidemic models devoted to characterizing the observed complex phenomena (such as bistability, hysteresis, oscillations, etc.) during the transmission of many infectious diseases. A comprehensive explanation of these phenomena by epidemic models on complex networks is still lacking. In this paper we study epidemic dynamics in an adaptive network proposed by Gross et al., where the susceptibles are able to avoid contact with the infectious by rewiring their network connections. Such rewiring of the local connections changes the topology of the network, and inevitably has a profound effect on the transmission of the disease, which in turn influences the rewiring process. We rigorously prove that the adaptive epidemic model investigated in this paper exhibits degenerate Hopf bifurcation, homoclinic bifurcation and Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation. Our study shows that adaptive behaviors during an epidemic may induce complex dynamics of disease transmission, including bistability, transient and sustained oscillations, which contrast sharply to the dynamics of classical network models. Our results yield deeper insights into the interplay between topology of networks and the dynamics of disease transmission on networks.     

一种新的可调频等离子体辐射源

本文介绍了一种频率连续可调的等离子体辐射源。它是利用波与相对论等离子体前沿相互作用产生多普勒频移来产生辐射的。针对ＴＥ波与圆波导内低密度等离子体前沿相互作用，本文推导了所产生的辐射脉冲的上移频率、反射效率、传输效率和脉冲长度等计算公式。     

Regular Twists: Replicating Coulomb’s Wire-Torsion Experiments

I discuss our replication of the wire-torsion experiments that Charles Augustin Coulomb (1736–1806) reported in a session of the Paris Académie des Sciences in 1784. I first explain the nature and purpose of the replication method and then apply it to an analysis of Coulomb’s experiments. I conclude by placing Coulomb’s presentation of his memoir into its specific historical contest.     

同时发射和接收纵波和横波的压电复合材料换能器

通过控制压电复合材料中压电相的分布形式，本文具有在百度模振动的１－３型压电复合材料和具有扭转模振动的拼接２－２型压电复合材料组合在一起，构成一种混俣模式压电材料，并测试了这种压电材料晶片的性能参数，使用这种晶片作的换能器可以根据使用者的要求，单独产生纵波或横波，也可同时产生这两种波。     

Subtraction-free renormalization of the quantum-field vacuum energy in the presence of nontrivial boundary conditions

We propose a subtraction-free method for calculating the quantum-field vacuum energy in the presence of nontrivial boundary conditions and logarithmically divergent terms caused by them. The method can also be used in the case where the energy levels of a system are known only numerically. Moreover, its use requires neither knowledge of the analytic form of equations for certain levels or a detailed analysis of their asymptotic behavior.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 143, No. 1, pp. 49–63, April, 2005.     

India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

We present some physics possibilities with an iron calorimeter detector (ICAL) and a status report on the feasibility study to construct such a detector at a future possible India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). This talk was given at the workshop on high energy physics phenomenology, WHEPP-8, in Jan. 2004, at IIT Bombay.     

The effect of the counter-rotating terms on the Rabi oscillations and squeezing in the Dicke model with cavity losses

The effect of the counter-rotating terms in the Dicke model with cavity losses is examined. Numerical results for the time evolutions of the atomic population inversion, dipole moment, mean-photon number and atomic and field squeezing parameters for an initial coherent field are presented for various numbers of atoms and different cavity dampings. As a consequence of the counter-rotating terms, the appearance of new steady states for atomic population inversion and the mean-photon number is pointed out.