The formation and characterisation of Ni — an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic investigation of potassium-doped Ni(110)–O

The interaction of potassium with an oxidised Ni(110) single-crystal surface has been investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Incorporation of the alkali metal at room temperature results in suppression of the Ni(2p) satellite structure of NiO and is explained on the basis of a recent theoretical model. Unambiguous evidence is provided for the formation of Ni³⁺ after annealing this surface, and at 600 K it is the majority species in the surface region.     

Branched immersions and braids

Branch points of a real 2-surface Σ in a 4-manifold M generalize branch points of complex curves in complex surfaces: for example, they can occur as singularities of minimal surfaces. We investigate such a branch point p when Σ is topologically embedded. It defines a link L(p), the components of which are closed braids with the same axis up to orientation. If Σ is closed without boundary, the contribution of p to the degree of the normal bundle of Σ in M can be computed on the link L(p), in terms of the algebraic crossing numbers of its components and of their linking numbers with one another.      

Dynamic stability ratio of a colloidal dispersion

The stability ratio of a dispersed system containing colloidal particles having amphoteric surfaces is estimated theoretically. We consider the case where the degree of dissociation of the functional groups on particle surface as a response to the variation in the conditions of the surrounding liquid phase is a function of time. The dynamic nature of the distributions of ions in the electrical double layer near a particle is also taken into account. The result of numerical simulation reveals that the dynamic nature of the system under consideration has the effect of increasing its stability. Due to the fact that the diffusivity of protons in the aqueous solution is much larger than that of other ion species, the level of increase in the stability ratio is less than 40%. However, if the rates of surface reactions are slow, the dynamic stability ratio can exceeds ten times the corresponding equilibrium value. Also, the smaller the particle and/or the thicker the double layer, the more significant the dynamic behavior of the system under consideration.     

Local and pointwise error estimates of the local discontinuous Galerkin method applied to the Stokes problem

We prove local and pointwise error estimates for the local discontinuous Galerkin method applied to the Stokes problem in two and three dimensions. By using techniques originally developed by A. Schatz [Math. Comp., 67 (1998), 877-899] to prove pointwise estimates for the Laplace equation, we prove optimal weighted pointwise estimates for both the velocity and the pressure for domains with smooth boundaries.

     

Practical aspects of p‐multigrid discontinuous Galerkin solver for steady and unsteady RANS simulations

Efficient and robust p‐multigrid solvers are presented for solving the system arising from high‐order discontinuous Galerkin discretizations of the compressible Reynolds‐Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. Two types of multigrid methods and a multigrid preconditioned Newton–Krylov method are investigated, and both steady and unsteady algorithms are considered in this paper. For steady algorithms, a new strategy is introduced to determine the CFL number, which has been proved to be critical in achieving the effective and stable convergence for p‐multigrid methods. We also suggest a modified smoothing technique to further improve the efficiency of the algorithms. For unsteady algorithms, special attention has been paid to the cycling strategy and the full multigrid technique, and we point out a significant difference on the parameter selection for unsteady computations. The capabilities of the resulted solvers have been examined by performing steady and unsteady RANS simulations. Comparative assessment in terms of efficiency, robustness, and memory consumption are carried out for all solvers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Substituted naphthoquinones as novel amino acid sensitive reagents for the detection of latent fingermarks on paper surfaces

In this paper, we present our preliminary studies into naphthoquinones as novel reagents for the detection of latent fingermarks on paper. Latent fingermarks deposited on paper substrates were treated with solutions of selected naphthoquinones in ethyl acetate/HFE-7100, with subsequent heating. The selected compounds were 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonate, 2-methoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone. All of the tested compounds yielded purple-brown visible fingermarks, which also exhibited photoluminescence when illuminated with a high intensity filtered light source at 555 nm and viewed through red goggles. Indirect heat using an oven at 150 °C for 1 h was found to be superior to direct heat with an iron, which while providing faster development lead to increased levels of background colouration. Luminescence spectrophotometry revealed differences in photoluminescence characteristics for fingermarks developed with the different naphthoquinones, with excitation over the range 530-590 nm. Luminescence spectrophotometry of developed lysine, glycine and serine spots on paper was used to confirm that the naphthoquinones were reacting with amino acids in the latent fingermark.     

High‐order semi‐implicit time‐integrators for a triangular discontinuous Galerkin oceanic shallow water model

We extend the explicit in time high‐order triangular discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method to semi‐implicit (SI) and then apply the algorithm to the two‐dimensional oceanic shallow water equations; we implement high‐order SI time‐integrators using the backward difference formulas from orders one to six. The reason for changing the time‐integration method from explicit to SI is that explicit methods require a very small time step in order to maintain stability, especially for high‐order DG methods. Changing the time‐integration method to SI allows one to circumvent the stability criterion due to the gravity waves, which for most shallow water applications are the fastest waves in the system (the exception being supercritical flow where the Froude number is greater than one). The challenge of constructing a SI method for a DG model is that the DG machinery requires not only the standard finite element‐type area integrals, but also the finite volume‐type boundary integrals as well. These boundary integrals pose the biggest challenge in a SI discretization because they require the construction of a Riemann solver that is the true linear representation of the nonlinear Riemann problem; if this condition is not satisfied then the resulting numerical method will not be consistent with the continuous equations. In this paper we couple the SI time‐integrators with the DG method while maintaining most of the usual attributes associated with DG methods such as: high‐order accuracy (in both space and time), parallel efficiency, excellent stability, and conservation. The only property lost is that of a compact communication stencil typical of time‐explicit DG methods; implicit methods will always require a much larger communication stencil. We apply the new high‐order SI DG method to the shallow water equations and show results for many standard test cases of oceanic interest such as: standing, Kelvin and Rossby soliton waves, and the Stommel problem. The results show that the new high‐order SI DG model, that has already been shown to yield exponentially convergent solutions in space for smooth problems, results in a more efficient model than its explicit counterpart. Furthermore, for those problems where the spatial resolution is sufficiently high compared with the length scales of the flow, the capacity to use high‐order (HO) time‐integrators is a necessary complement to the employment of HO space discretizations, since the total numerical error would be otherwise dominated by the time discretization error. In fact, in the limit of increasing spatial resolution, it makes little sense to use HO spatial discretizations coupled with low‐order time discretizations. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antibacterial poly(ethylene terephthalate) surfaces obtained from thymyl methacrylate polymerization

Thymol, an antibacterial agent was used for the preparation of a methacrylic monomer. The conventional and atom transfer radical (ATRP) polymerizations of this monomer were studied using different conditions. Then, the functionalization of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films by “grafting from” ATRP using this monomer was investigated. In this aim, a three steps procedure was developed. The surfaces were first treated by NH₃ plasma treatment to incorporate primary amino functions. Then, in a second step, ATRP initiator was grafted by reaction with bromoisobutyryl bromide. Surface initiated ATRP of thymyl methacrylate was performed in solution in the presence of a sacrificial initiator. The efficiency of these reactions was confirmed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Wetting properties and surface energy were found to vary systematically depending to the type of functionalization and grafting. The poly(thymyl methacrylate)‐grafted PET surfaces exhibit resistance to bacterial adhesion toward Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus strains. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 1975–1985     

On fundamental groups related to the Hirzebruch surface F_1

Given a projective surface and a generic projection to the plane,the braid monodromy factorization(and thus,the braid monodromy type)of the complement of its branch curve is one of the most important topological invariants,stable on deformations.From this factorization,one can compute the fundamental group of the complement of the branch curve,either in C~2 or in CP~2.In this article,we show that these groups,for the Hirzebruch surface F_1,(a,b),are almost-solvable.That is, they are an extension of a solvable group,which strengthen the conjecture on degeneratable surfaces.