High-throughput screening of fuel cell electrocatalysts

The drawbacks of our earlier report of preparing fuel cell catalyst arrays by borohydride reduction of inkjet prepared arrays of metal salts are discussed along with the need for inclusion of state-of-the-art metrics in all array screening. An alternative method for screening of hydrogen/air cathode catalysts, direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) anode catalysts, and catalyst loading studies is provided. State-of-the-art Johnson Matthey catalysts were used in control experiments to demonstrate the utility of the array fuel cell for high throughput screening of fuel cell catalysts in the 3-4 mg/cm² range. This report lays out hard learned rules for high throughput screening and demonstrates that the array fuel cell can be used for very precise screening of libraries of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) components without the pitfalls discussed in the introduction.     

“Slow” active control of combustion instabilities by modification of liquid fuel spray properties

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the feasibility of using “slow” active control approaches, which “instantaneously” change liquid fuel spray properties, to suppress combustion instabilities. The objective of this control approach was to break up the feedback between the combustion process heat release and combustor pressure oscillations that drive the instability by changing the characteristics of the combustion process (e.g., the characteristic combustion time). To demonstrate the feasibility of such control, this study used a proprietary fuel injector (Nanomiser^TM), which can vary its fuel spray properties, to investigate the dependence of acoustics–combustion process coupling, i.e., the driving of combustion instabilities, upon the fuel spray properties. This study showed that by changing the spray characteristics it is possible to significantly damp combustion instabilities. Furthermore, using combustion zone chemiluminescence distributions, which were obtained by Abel’s deconvolution synchronized with measured acoustic data, it has been shown that the instabilities were mostly driven midway between the combustor centerline and wall, a short distance downstream from the flame holder, where the mean axial flow velocity is approximately zero in the vortex near the flame holder. The results of this study strongly suggest that a “slow” active control system that employs controllable fuel injectors could be effectively used to prevent the onset of detrimental combustion instabilities.     

Dynamic fractal unifying interaction confirmed with magnetospheric behavior and orbital data

The solar wind makes the magnetosphere to expand and contract as indicated by the expansions and contractions of the auroral oval due to balancing of the dynamic pressure of the ambient space plasma at inner and outer magnetic lines. This self‐similar magnetospheric behavior elucidates the controversial magnetic storm‐substorm relationship and reveals the 3D‐spiral structure of magnetic interaction. The found self‐similarly evolving structure of one seen as fundamental interaction suggests dynamic fractal unifying interaction that builds a firework universe having 3D‐spiral code. The unifying interaction is described with equation drawn in new fundamental dynamic fractal framework. The equation of unifying interaction converges to the inverse square laws and the principle of uncertainty at laboratory scales. The dynamic fractal fundamental framework is made of one 3D‐spirally‐faster‐inward contracting and expanding, oscillating, basic matter. It simply accounts for observed constant speed of light and for the creation of bright and dark bands on a screen behind a tiny slit. The dynamic fractal framework is quantitatively confirmed with the orbital data for the Milky Way Galaxy, the Sun, the Earth, and the triple asteroid system 87 Sylvia. Many testable predictions are also made. The presented new fundamental dynamic fractal framework allows qualitative and quantitative modeling and simplification. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 12: 61–76, 2007     

Analytic evaluation of the weighting functions for remote sensing of blackbody planetary atmospheres: a general linearization approach

An analytic approach is proposed for the evaluation of weighting functions for remote sensing of a blackbody planetary atmosphere based on straightforward, general linearization. In the present paper, this approach is applied to the case of remote sensing with the nadir (down-looking) geometry. Expressions for weighting functions for various atmospheric parameters are derived. It is demonstrated that in a realistic case of temperature-dependent atmospheric absorption, an additional term appears in the expression for the temperature weighting function which contains the temperature derivative of the atmospheric absorption coefficient. The approach is applied to the case of a semi-infinite atmosphere and then, to the atmosphere of a finite optical depth with the underlying surface. In this, latter case, the expressions are also obtained for partial derivatives of observed radiances with respect to surface parameters: surface pressure, temperature and emissivity.     

Formulation of N- and ν-representable density functional theory. V. Exchange-only self-consistent field

The concept of a self-consistent field is developed within the version of density functional theory based on local-scaling transformations. It is shown that in this context there arise two types of consistency: one relating to the charge-consistency within an orbit and another to “orbit jumping.” The latter is analyzed in terms of one-particle equations. The connection with other methods is discussed. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

2,12‐Dichloro‐10,20‐diphenyl‐5,7,15,17‐tetrahydro‐6H,16H‐dibenzo[d,l][1,9,2,6,10,14]dioxotetraazacyclohexadecine‐6,16‐dione dioxane solvate as a potential macrocyclic hexadentate ligand

The macrocyclic title compound crystallizes as a dioxane solvate, C₃₀H₂₂Cl₂N₄O₄·C₄H₈O₂, with two independent formula units in the unit cell. The observed syn conformation is controlled by both intramolecular N—H...O hydrogen bonds and intermolecular C—H...π interactions. The relative macrocyclic inner bore is estimated to be 4.19 Å. In the crystal structure, molecules form dimers via intermolecular C—H...π interactions, and these dimers are, in turn, linked to form columns along the a axis by intermolecular C—H...O hydrogen bonds. Both X‐ray diffraction analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the macrocycle possesses very high flexibility. This property, as well as the presence of six donor atoms accessible for coordination, makes the title macrocycle a very promising ligand for complexation with the majority of transition metals.     

Periodic and quasi-periodic solutions of nonlinear wave equations via KAM theory

In this paper the nonlinear wave equation $$u_u - u_{xx} + v(x)u(x,t) + \varepsilon u^3 (x,t) = 0$$ is studied. It is shown that for a large class of potentials,v(x), one can use KAM methods to construct periodic and quasi-periodic solutions (in time) for this equation.     

Statistical mechanics of probabilistic cellular automata

We investigate the behavior of discrete-time probabilistic cellular automata (PCA), which are Markov processes on spin configurations on ad-dimensional lattice, from a rigorous statistical mechanics point of view. In particular, we exploit, whenever possible, the correspondence between stationary measures on the space-time histories of PCAs on ^d and translation-invariant Gibbs states for a related Hamiltonian on ( ^d+1). This leads to a simple large-deviation formula for the space-time histories of the PCA and a proof that in a high-temperature regime the stationary states of the PCA are Gibbsian. We also obtain results about entropy, fluctuations, and correlation inequalities, and demonstrate uniqueness of the invariant state and exponential decay of correlations in a high-noise regime. We discuss phase transitions in the low-noise (or low-temperature) regime and review Toom's proof of nonergodicity of a certain class of PCAs.