Maximum Spreading of Urea Water Solution during Drop Impingement

Droplet impingement of urea water solution (UWS) is a common source for liquid film and solid deposits formed in the tailpipe of diesel engines. In order to better understand and predict wetting phenomena on the tailpipe wall, this study focuses on droplet spreading dynamics of urea water solution. Impingement of single droplets is investigated under defined conditions by high‐speed imaging using shadowgraphy technique. The experimental studies are complemented by numerical simulations with a phase‐field method. Computational results are in good agreement with experimental data for the advancing phase of spreading and the maximum and terminal spreading radius, whereas for the receding phase notable differences occur. For the maximum spreading radius, an empirical correlation derived for glycerol‐water‐ethanol mixtures is found to be valid for millimeter‐sized UWS droplets as well. A numerical simulation for a much smaller droplet however indicates that this correlation is not valid for the tiny droplets of UWS sprays in technical applications.     

Gas/liquid oxygen-transfer to flowing lead alloys

For the application of liquid lead or lead-bismuth eutectic as coolant in nuclear reactors, the concentration of dissolved oxygen, determining the compatibility with steels used as construction materials, is of critical importance. In general, oxygen has to be added continuously to the liquid metal, so as to compensate for consumption by oxide formation on the surface of the reactor components. A potential method of keeping the oxygen concentration in a favourable range is transferring oxygen from an oxygen-containing gas, which is investigated on the basis of the experience from operating a gas/liquid transfer device in the CORRIDA loop. Conclusions on oxygen transfer in industrial-scale systems are drawn.     

Entwicklung eines optisch zugänglichen Reaktors zur Thermographiemessung in einer Katalysatorschüttung

To measure the microkinetics in heterogeneously catalyzed strongly exothermic gas phase reaction heat and mass transfer limitations should be excluded. Also an unequal distribution of temperature in the catalyst fixed bed, like a hot spot, distorts the results of microkinetic investigations. A promising approach to measure the temperature contactless is thermography. For this work, an optically accessible reactor is developed to measure the temperature in a catalytically powder fixed bed. In the scope of this work, this technique is used to investigate the temperature development and distribution during the exothermal CO₂ methanation depending on the bed and gas dilution and the reactor performance.     

Artificial Maturation of the Highly Active Heterodimeric [FeFe] Hydrogenase from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 7757

Hydrogenases catalyze the reduction of protons and oxidation of molecular hydrogen with high turnover frequencies and low overpotentials under ambient conditions. The heterodimeric [FeFe] hydrogenase from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans has an exceptionally high activity, and can be purified aerobically in an oxygen-stable inactive state. Recently, it was demonstrated that monomeric [FeFe] hydrogenases produced recombinantly in Escherichia coli can be artificially maturated by simply incubating the inactive “apo” enzymes with the synthetic [2Fe] cofactor mimic [Fe₂(adt)(CO)₄(CN)₂]²⁻. Here, we use the same technique to produce the heterodimeric “apo” hydrogenase from D. desulfuricans in E. coli with a high yield and purity, and maturate the “apo” enzyme with [Fe₂(adt)(CO)₄(CN)₂]²⁻ to generate fully active “holo” enzyme. Interestingly, the rate of the artificial maturation process with D. desulfuricans is significantly slower than that for all other hydrogenases tested so far. The artificially maturated enzyme is spectroscopically and electrochemically identical to the native enzyme and shows high rates of hydrogen production (3700 s⁻¹) and hydrogen oxidation (63,000 s⁻¹). We expect that our highly efficient production method will facilitate future studies of this enzyme and other related [FeFe] hydrogenases from Desulfovibrio species.     

Subdynamics as a mechanism for objective description

Abstract

The relationship between microsystems and macrosystems is considered in the context of quantum field formulation of statistical mechanics: it is argued that problems on foundations of quantum mechanics can be solved relying on this relationship. This discussion requires some improvement of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics which is briefly presented.     

Modern breaking of Enigma ciphertexts

“Breaking German Army Ciphers” is the title of a Cryptologia article from 2005, describing the lucky survival of several hundred authentic Enigma messages of World War II, and an account of a ciphertext-only cryptanalysis of a large number of these messages, leaving only a few (mostly short messages) unbroken. After reviewing the work done, and investigating the reasons for both lucky breaks and close misses, the modern ciphertext-only attack on Enigma messages is improved, especially on genuine ones with short lengths and/or many garbles. The difficulties of a proper measure for the candidate’s closeness to a plaintext are clarified. The influence on the decryption process of an empty plugboard and one with only a few correct plugs is examined. The method is extended by a partial exhaustion of the plugboard combined with an optimized hillclimbing strategy. The newly designed software succeeds in breaking formerly unbroken messages.     

Changes in the perceived duration of a narrowband sound induced by a preceding stimulus.

The authors show that a narrowband noise (NBN) is perceived as longer when presented immediately after a wideband noise (WBN), compared to when the WBN is absent. This effect depended on the WBN’s frequency spectrum overlapping that of the NBN, and it increased as the duration of the WBN increased up to 300 ms. It decreased when a silent gap was introduced between the WBN and NBN, but remained significant for an easily detectable gap of 40 ms. A correlate of the effect was observed in the mismatch negativity (MMN) to a deviant stimulus, consisting of a WBN + NBN, presented in a sequence of more common isolated WBNs. The MMN latency was longer for an on-frequency than for an off-frequency WBN; and, more importantly, the size of this difference correlated across participants with the difference in perceived duration. A rhythm-adjustment experiment showed that the presence of an on-frequency WBN immediately preceding a tone caused that tone to be heard as starting earlier than when the WBN was absent. The results are discussed in relation to the continuity illusion and models of duration encoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Upward-looking ground-penetrating radar for monitoring snowpack stratigraphy

Operational remote monitoring of snowpack stratigraphy, melt water intrusions and their evolution with time for forecasting snowpack stability is not possible to date. Determination of the spatial variability of snowpack conditions on various scales requires a number of point measurements with various methods. These methods are either destructive or do not provide information about the internal structure of the snowpack. The application of a remotely controlled non-destructive sensor system would help to gain a higher spatio-temporal resolution about information of the snowpack. In this study we present results from upward-looking ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys from horizontal caves dug in the front wall of snow pits at the bottom of the snowpack. GPR data are compared with vertical profiles of snow hardness and density, obtained in the snow pit. Data were acquired in different areas with varying snow conditions with various GPR impulse systems, frequencies and polarizations. Radar experiments with high frequencies (> 1 GHz) detect internal layers in the snowpack in dry snow, but fail to provide clear reflections at the upper snow-air transition because of attenuation. In wet snow, the radar signals < 1 GHz are capable to penetrate a meter-thick snowpack and detect the snow surface, although the signal is strongly attenuated. Analysis of reflection phases and magnitudes allows interpretation of their physical origin in terms of changes in electrical permittivity. Varying antenna polarization causes a strongly different signal response, likely caused by the snow-pit wall present in our set-up. Forward calculation of density-based reflection coefficients between neighboring layers of varying hardness yields ambiguous results in terms of correspondence with observed radar reflections apart except for interferences of neighboring reflections. Moreover, we identify several pitfalls for future applications. The system set-up used here represents a basis for further developments towards a system, which is capable of improving information on the spatial and temporal snowpack characteristics.