Physically and chemically bound H2O in the α-C2S hydrate structure

In this paper, a fundamental practical unit, namely the wedge-shaped enclosure, is proposed as a novel and efficient latent heat storage unit for thermal energy storage. The enthalpy–porosity method that treats the solid and liquid zones as a single domain is employed. Effect of the mushy zone constant C on melting is analyzed and a suitable value is obtained by comparing the numerical results with experimental data in the literature. A series of simulations are conducted to analyze the transient melting coupled with natural convection as well as the heat transfer process. Fourteen units those have different length ratios between top and bottom of the enclosures are investigated and compared by the analysis of transient temperature fields, vertical velocity distributions, and evolution of the melting fronts. It is found that the length ratio n dramatically affects the full melting time and heat transfer intensity. An enclosure of n = 5.5, which has the shortest completion time and the highest heat transfer intensity, is determined as the optimal unit. Compared with the base geometry (n = 1), charging time of the optimal unit (n = 5.5) decreased by 32.8 %, while the heat transfer intensity increased by 45.7 %. This is a significant improvement in the field of latent heat storage.     

Evaluation of Redox Activity of Human Myocardium‐derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

In this study the redox activity of human myocardium‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (hmMSC) were investigated by redox‐competition (RC‐SECM) and generation‐collection (GC‐SECM) modes of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), using 2‐methylnaphthalene‐1,4‐dione (menadione, MD) as a redox mediator. The redox activity of human healthy and dilated hmMSCs was evaluated by measuring reduction of MD. Measurements were performed by approaching and retracting the UME from the surface of growing hmMSC cells. The current study shows that the RC‐SECM mode can be applied to investigate integrity of cell membranes, whereas the most promising results were observed by using the GC‐SECM mode and applying the Hill's equation for the calculation/fitting of dependencies of electrical current vs menadione concentration. The calculated apparent Michaelis constant (K_M) for the production of menadiol (MDH₂) in the pathological hmMSC cells was 14.4 folds higher compared to that of the healthy hmMSC revealing the lover redox activity of pathological cells. Moreover, the calculated Hill's coefficient n shows a negative cooperative binding between MD and healthy hmMSC and positive cooperative binding between MD and pathological hmMSC. It means that healthy hmMSC is of lower affinity to MD, which is also related to the better membrane integrity of healthy cells. Data of this study demonstrate that SECM can be applied to investigate intracellular redox and membrane changes ongoing in human dilated myocardium‐derived hmMSC in order to improve their functioning and further regenerative potential.     

Broad angle phase matching in subdiffractive photonic crystals

We show that photonic crystals made of materials with normal dispersion allow broad angular range phase matching in nonlinear wave mixing processes if tuned to the subdiffractive (or equivalently self-collimated) beam propagation regimes for the frequencies of both interacting waves. This allows efficient parametric mixing of narrow beams. We demonstrate this idea by numerical simulation of the second harmonic generation in two-dimensional photonic crystal in particular nonlinear material (AlGaAs) in planar waveguide geometry.     

Bloch cavity solitons in nonlinear resonators with intracavity photonic crystals

We predict a novel type of cavity solitons, Bloch cavity solitons, existing in nonlinear resonators with the refractive index modulated in both longitudinal and transverse directions and for both focusing (at normal diffraction) and defocusing (at anomalous diffraction) nonlinearities. We develop a modified mean-field theory and analyze the properties of these novel cavity solitons demonstrating, in particular, their substantial narrowing in the zero-diffraction regime.     

Computation of phase response curves via a direct method adapted to infinitesimal perturbations

A new numerical algorithm for computation of phase response curves of stable limit cycle oscillators is proposed. The idea of the algorithm originates from a direct method that is based on computation of the oscillator response to short finite pulses delivered at different phases of oscillations. Here we adapt the direct method to the case of infinitesimal perturbations and compare our algorithm with the standard algorithm based on the backward integration of the adjoint equations. In contrast to the standard algorithm, our algorithm does not require any backward integration and it is easier to program since a necessity of numerical interpolation for the Jacobian matrix is avoided. In addition, we demonstrate by examples that our algorithm is faster than the standard algorithm and this advantage is especially notable for weakly stable limit cycle oscillators.     

The influence of different additives on the early-stage hydration of calcium aluminate cement

The thermal decomposition behaviors of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 1-methoxy-2,4-dinitro-benzene (DNAN) were studied by using a NETSCH company accelerating rate calorimetry. Hazard indicators such as onset temperature, adiabatic temperature rise, initial self-heat temperature, maximum self-heating rate, and time-to-maximum temperature rise rate have been determined directly. The kinetic parameters, such as the activation energy (E _a) and the pre-exponential factor (A) were studied from the measured self-heating rate data by assuming order reaction.     

1H NMR and DFT study of proton exchange in heterogeneous structures of pyridine-N-oxide/HCl/DCl/H2O

Moderately narrow 1H NMR signals were observed in the solid-phase obtained from pyridine-N-oxide (PyO)...HCl solutions in acetonitrile/H2O after heterogeneous phase separation. High-resolution 1H NMR spectra are compared with those of crystalline PyO...HCl and PyO...DCl. It is concluded that partially resolved peaks in 1H NMR spectra of solids are related with heterogeneity of the spin system and the presence of different mobile H-bond clusters containing PyO, HCl, DCl and water molecules. Some part of non-bonded water or HCl molecules is captured in the cavities of crystalline samples. The attribution of the 1H NMR signals was based on the density functional theory calculation of proton magnetic screening tensor of the most expected H-bond structures in the 6-311G** basis taking into account the solvent effect by the polarized continuum model.