Transfer measurements for the Ti+Ni systems at near barrier energies

Large enhancements have been observed in the sub-barrier fusion cross sections for Ti+Ni systems in our previous studies. Coupled channel calculations incorporating couplings to 2⁺ and 3⁻ states failed to explain these enhancements completely. A possibilty of transfer channels contributing to the residual enhancements had been suggested. In order to investigate the role of relevant transfer channels, measurements of one- and two-nucleon transfer were carried out for ^46,48Ti+⁶¹Ni systems. The present paper gives the results of these studies.     

Oxidation of alkylarenes to the corresponding acids using aqueous potassium permanganate by hydrodynamic cavitation

Oxidation of toluene using aqueous potassium permanganate was studied under heterogeneous condition in the presence of hydrodynamic cavitation and compared with the results of the reaction under acoustic cavitation. Various parameters, such as quantity of potassium permanganate, toluene to aqueous phase ratio, reaction time and cavitation parameters such as orifice plate, and pump discharge pressure were optimized. The reaction was found to be considerably accelerated at ambient temperature in the presence of cavitation. On comparison, it was found that when 1 kJ of energy was passed to the reaction mixture in the case of acoustic cavitation, the product obtained was 4.63 x 10(-6) mol, whereas when 1 kJ of energy was passed to the reaction mixture in the case of hydrodynamic cavitation the product obtained was 2.70 x 10(-5) mol. Hence, about six times more product would be obtained in the case of hydrodynamic cavitation than in the case of acoustic cavitation at same energy dissipation. It has been observed that further optimization is possible.     

Static foam destruction: role of ultrasound

High intensity ultrasonic vibrations were used for destabilizing the static foam structure. Ultrasonic horn as a source of ultrasonic vibration was used for the destruction of the foam. The effect of the ratio of the horn to the column diameter on the drainage and collapse rate of foam has been analyzed. Further, an empirical correlation for the initial foam collapse rate in the presence of ultrasonic horn has been developed in terms of the initial liquid hold-up, surface tension of the surfactant solution and the ratio of horn diameter to the column diameter. Efficiency of the ultrasonic horn is related to the position of the tip of the horn. Periodic supply of ultrasonic vibrations was found to be a more viable option than the continuous supply in terms of saving in energy and operating cost for defoaming using ultrasound.     

Dispersive power and crossover temperature,TCO, of two polar nematic liquid crystals in the visible spectral region

Refractive index studies are carried out on two highly polar liquid crystals: 1. N-(p-n-methoxy benzylidene)-p-amino benzonitrile, PmBAB, 2. N-(p-n-ethoxy benzylidene)-p-amino benzonitrile, PeBAB. The experimental investigations are carried out in the visible region at four different wavelengths, namely, 633, 589, 546 and 436 nm. The two compounds exhibit only the nematic liquid crystalline phase in between the isotropic and crystalline solid. The dispersive power ω is estimated for two consecutive wavelengths for the case of <n>, n_e and n_o for different wavelengths and found to be constant with temperature. Further the temperature gradients of n_e and n_o are estimated, and the crossover temperature is obtained using dn_o/dT for all the wavelengths.     

Steering in computational science: Mesoscale modelling and simulation

This paper outlines the benefits of computational steering for high performance computing applications. Lattice-Boltzmann mesoscale fluid simulations of binary and ternary amphiphilic fluids in two and three dimensions are used to illustrate the substantial improvements which computational steering offers in terms of resource efficiency and time to discover new physics. We discuss details of our current steering implementations and describe their future outlook with the advent of computational grids.     

Isolobal analogy between trivalent boron and divalent silicon

Singlet organosilylenes with a lone pair and an emptyp orbital are isolobal to trivalent borane if a B-H is equated to the lone pair on Si. Using this analogy, a particular isomer of CSi₂H₂ (24) is predicted to be a stable structure. MNDO calculations on24 and many of its possible isomers suggest that24 is at global minimum on the potential energy surface of CSi₂H₂.Ab initio calculations using a, minimal STO-3G basis set, on some selected structures also support these results.     

Low temperature recyclable catalyst for Heck reactions using ultrasound

The Heck reaction of iodobenzene with methyl acrylate in NMP as a solvent has been studied using Pd/C as a catalyst in the presence of ultrasound at room temperature. The ultrasound increased the rate of the reaction. The effect of base, solvent and recyclability of catalyst were studied in the presence of ultrasound and without ultrasound. The reaction only takes place in the presence of ultrasound. The catalyst could be recycled using HCOONa-ultrasound.     

Measurement of the ground state 2n pickup probability for 28Si+68Zn and its role in sub-barrier fusion enhancement

The ground state and excited state transfer yields for the 2-neutron pickup channel in the ²⁸Si+⁶⁸Zn system have been measured explicitly. The recoil mass separator at the nuclear Science Centre, New Delhi was used for the measurement. A NaI(T1) detector was used for detecting the deexcitation γ’s from the transfer products. The kinematic coincidence technique was employed for the transfer measurement. Simplified coupled channels calculations show that out of all transfer channels the major contribution to the sub-barrier enhancement comes from the ground state 2 neutron pickup channel with a ground state Q-value of+1.83 MeV.     

Free Convective Nonaligned Non-Newtonian Flow with Non-linear Thermal Radiation

The present study explores the free convective oblique Casson fluid over a stretching surface with non-linear thermal radiation effects. The governing physical problem is modelled and transformed into a set of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations by suitable similarity transformation, which are solved numerically with the help of shooting method keeping the convergence control of 10^-5 in computations. Influence of pertinent physical parameters on normal, tangential velocity profiles and temperature are expressed through graphs. Physical quantities of interest such as skin friction coefficients and local heat flux are investigated numerically.