Local strain rate and curvature dependences of scalar dissipation rate transport in turbulent premixed flames: A direct numerical simulation analysis

The statistical behaviours of the instantaneous scalar dissipation rate Nc of reaction progress variable c in turbulent premixed flames have been analysed based on three-dimensional direct numerical simulation data of freely propagating statistically planar flame and V-flame configurations with different turbulent Reynolds number Ret. The statistical behaviours of N c and different terms of its transport equation for planar and V-flames are found to be qualitatively similar. The mean contribution of the density-variation term T1 is positive, whereas the molecular dissipation term (-D2) acts as a leading order sink. The mean contribution of the strain rate term T2 is predominantly negative for the cases considered here. The mean reaction rate contribution T3 is positive (negative) towards the unburned (burned) gas side of the flame, whereas the mean contribution of the diffusivity gradient term (D) assumes negative (positive) values towards the unburned (burned) gas side. The local statistical behaviours of Nc, T1, T2, T 3, (-D2), and f(D) have been analysed in terms of their marginal probability density functions (pdfs) and their joint pdfs with local tangential strain rate aT and curvature km. Detailed physical explanations have been provided for the observed behaviour. © 2014 Y. Gao et al.

Enzymatic activities in constructed wetlands and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) biodegradation

The bioaccumulation of phthalate acid esters (PAEs) from industrial products and their mutagenic action has been suggested to be a potential threat to human health. The effects of the most frequently identified PAE, Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), and its biodegradation, were examined by comparison of two small scale plots (SSP) of integrated vertical-flow constructed wetlands. The influent DBP concentration was 9.84 mg l(-1) in the treatment plot and the control plot received no DBP. Soil enzymatic activities of dehydrogenase, catalase, protease, phosphatase, urease, cellulase, beta-glucosidase, were measured in the two SSP after DBP application for 1 month and 2 months, and 1 month after the final application. Both treatment and control had significantly higher enzyme activity in the surface soil than in the subsurface soil (P < 0.001) and greater enzyme activity in the down-flow chamber than in the up-flow chamber (P < 0.05). In the constructed wetlands, DBP enhanced the activities of dehydrogenase, catalase, protease, phosphatase and inhibited the activities of urease, cellulase and beta-glucosidase. However, urease, cellulase, beta-glucosidase activities were restored 1 month following the final DBP addition. Degradation of DBP was greater in the surface soil and was reduced in sterile soil, indicating that this process may be mediated by aerobic microorgansims. DBP degradation fitted a first-order model, and the kinetic equation showed that the rate constant was 0.50 and 0.17 d(-1), the half-life was 1.39 and 4.02 d, and the r(2) was 0.99 and 0.98, in surface and subsurface soil, respectively. These results indicate that constructed wetlands are able to biodegrade organic PA-Es such as DBP. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Curvature Correction of FWHM in the X-Ray Rocking Curve of Bent Heteroepitaxial Films

A method for accurate determination of the curvature radius of semiconductor thin films is proposed. The curvature-induced broadening of the x-ray rocking curve (XRC) of a heteroepitaxially grown layer can be determined if the dependence of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of XRC is measured as a function of the width of incident x-ray beam. It is found that the curvature radii of two GaN films grown on a sapphire wafer are different when they are grown under similar MOCVD conditions but have different values of layer thickness. At the same time, the dislocation-induced broadening of XRC and thus the dislocation density of the epitaxial film can be well calculated after the curvature correction.

Homogeneous Epitaxial Growth of N,N '-di(n-butyl)quinacridone Thin Films on Ag(110)

The structural evolution of the ordered N-N' dibutyl-substituted quinacridone (QA4C) multilayers (3 MLs) has been monitored in situ and in real time at various substrate temperatures using low energy electron diffraction (LEED) during organic molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Experimental results of LEED patterns clearly reveal that the structure of the multilayer strongly depends on the substrate temperature. Multilayer growth can be achieved at the substrate temperatures below 300 K, while at the higher temperatures we can only get one ordered monolayer of QA4C. Two kinds of structures, the commensurate and incommensurate one, often coexist in the QA4C multilayer. With a method of the two-step substrate temperatures, the incommensurate one can be suppressed, and the commensurate, on the other hand, more similar to the (001) plane of the QA4C bulk crystal, prevails with the layer of QA4C increasing to 3 MLs. The two structures in the multilayers are compressed slightly in comparison to the original ones in the first monolayer.

Di-nuclear systems studied with the velocity filter SHIP

Various nuclear reactions like quasi-fission, fusion-fission or particle and cluster evaporation from excited compound nuclei were studied in heavy-ion reactions at the velocity filter SHIP of GSI. The velocity filter offers the possibility to detect all reaction products under zero degree relative to the beam direction. Together with the measurement of the product velocity distribution this allows for an identification of the underlying reaction mechanism. This article is focussed on reactions of Mg-25 and Ni-64 beams on Pb-206,Pb-207 targets at energies of 5.9 x A MeV and 8.7 x A MeV. Besides evaporation residues from Mg-25 + Pb-206 collisions we found evidence for rotation and quasi-fission of nuclear molecules formed in the entrance channel after the capture stage. The break-up of the systems showed a preferred clustering leading to isotopes in the region 84 <= Z <= 88 and 122 <= N <= 127 of the chart of nuclei.

Crossing the phantom divide in brane cosmology with curvature corrections and brane-bulk energy transfer

We consider the Randall-Sundrum brane-world model with bulk-brane energy transfer where the Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by curvature correction terms: a four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on the brane, and a five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. It is remarkable that these curvature terms will not change the dynamics of the brane universe at low energy. Parameterizing the energy transfer and taking the dark radiation term into account, we find that the phantom divide of the equation of state of effective dark energy could be crossed, without the need of any new dark energy components. Fitting the two most reliable and robust SNIa datasets, the 182 Gold dataset and the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS), our model indeed has a small tendency of phantom divide crossing for the Gold dataset, but not for the SNLS dataset. Furthermore, combining the recent detection of the SDSS baryon acoustic oscillations peak (BAO) with lower matter density parameter prior, we find that the SNLS dataset also mildly favors phantom divide crossing.

Nuclear potential and fusion cross sections for synthesizing super-heavy elements in di-nuclear systems

A double folding method with simplified Skyreme-type nucleon-nucleon interaction is used to calculate the nuclear interaction potential between two nuclei. The calculation is performed in tip-to-tip orientation of the two nuclei if they are deformed. Based on this methods, the potential energy surfaces, the fusion probabilities and the evaporation residue cross sections for some cold fusion reactions leading to super-heavy elements within di-nuclear system model are evaluated. It is indicated that after the improvement, the exponential decreasing systematics of the fusion probability with increasing charge number of projectile on the Pb based target become better and the evaporation residue cross sections are in better agreement with the experimental data.

Azimuthal di-hadron correlations in d plus Au and Au plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV measured at the STAR detector

Yields, correlation shapes, and mean transverse momenta p(T) of charged particles associated with intermediate-to high-p(T) trigger particles (2.5 < p(T) < 10 GeV/c) in d + Au and Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV are presented. For associated particles at higher p(T) greater than or similar to 2.5 GeV/c, narrow correlation peaks are seen in d + Au and Au + Au, indicating that the main production mechanism is jet fragmentation. At lower associated particle pT < 2 GeV/c, a large enhancement of the near- (Delta phi similar to 0) and away-side (Delta phi similar to pi) associated yields is found, together with a strong broadening of the away-side azimuthal distributions in Au + Au collisions compared to d + Au measurements, suggesting that other particle production mechanisms play a role. This is further supported by the observed significant softening of the away-side associated particle yield distribution at Delta phi similar to pi in central Au + Au collisions.

Effect of the nucleating agent 1,3 : 2,4-di(3,4-dimethylbenzylidene) sorbitol on the gamma phase content of propylene/ethylene copolymer

The influence of the concentration of a nucleating agent (NA), namely 1,3:2,4-di(3,4-dimethylbenzylidene) sorbitol (DMDBS), on the gamma phase content in a propylene/ethylene copolymer was investigated by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Wide-Angle X-ray Diffraction (WAXD), Small- Angle X-ray Scatter (SAXS) and Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM).

Synergistic extraction and recovery of Cerium(IV) and Fluorin from sulfuric solutions with Cyanex 923 and di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid

Synergistic extraction and recovery of Cerium(IV) (Ce(IV)) and Fluorin (F) from sulfuric solutions using mixture of Cyanex 923 and di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) in n-heptane have been carried out. in order to investigate the synergistic extraction of Cyanex 923 + D2EHPA, extraction Ce(IV), F, Ce(III) and Ce-F mixture solution using D2EHPA or Cyanex 923 as extractant alone were studied firstly, and then Synergistic extraction of Ce(IV), F and Ce(IV)-F mixture solution with D2EHPA + Cyanex 923 were carried out. The largest synergistic coefficient of Ce(IV) is obtained at the mole fraction X-Cyanex (923) = 0.8. The synergistic enhancement coefficients (R-max) obtained for Ce(IV) are 23.12 in Ce(IV) solution, and in Ce-F mixed solution R-max for Ce(IV) and F are 2.24 and 3.25 respectively.

Tungsten oxide doped N,N-'-di(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N-'-diphenyl-benzidine as hole injection layer for high performance organic light-emitting diodes

By introducing tungsten oxide (WO3) doped N,N-'-di(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N-'-diphenyl-benzidine (NPB) hole injection layer, the great improvement in device efficiency and the organic film morphology stability at high temperature were realized for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The detailed investigations on the improvement mechanism by optical, electric, and film morphology properties were presented. The experimental results clearly demonstrated that using WO3 doped NPB as the hole injection layer in OLEDs not only reduced the hole injection barrier and enhanced the transport property, leading to low operational voltage and high efficiency, but also improved organic film morphology stability, which should be related to the device stability. It could be seen that due to the utilization of WO3 doped NPB hole injection layer in NPB/tris (8-quinolinolato) aluminum (Alq(3))-based device, the maximum efficiency reached 6.1 cd A(-1) and 4.8 lm W-1, which were much higher than 4.5 cd A(-1) and 1.1 lm W-1 of NPB/Alq(3) device without hole injection layer. The device with WO3 doped NPB hole injection layer yet gave high efficiency of 6.1 cd A(-1) (2.9 lm W-1) even though the device was fabricated at substrate temperature of 80 degrees C.