Buoyancy-driven convective motion in a thermal diffusion cloud chamber using a water/helium mixture

This work is focused on a 2D numerical simulation of a thermal diffusion cloud chamber (TDCC) operating with water–helium mixture. We particularly address the impact of the stability of the vapor–gas mixture with respect to buoyancy-driven convective motion on homogeneous water nucleation rates. A comparison of our model results with Heist and Reiss results of nucleation of water in helium is first proposed. So, no convective fluxes are assumed within the TDCC and the critical supersaturation of water vapor is in agreement as obtained from numerical predictions. However, the influence of wall heating on the critical supersaturation results is found to be significant as obtained when convective transfers is accounted for within the TDCC and the results deviate significantly from those provided by Heist and Reiss. Their approach may lead large differences in terms of temperature, saturation ratio and nucleation profiles as it oversimplifies heat and mass transfer in TDCC compared to a 2D mass, heat and momentum model.     

Non-invasive assessment of oestrous cycles and evaluation of reproductive seasonality in the female wild black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis minor)

Female wild black rhinoceroses in Zimbabwe were monitored non-invasively using faecal progesterone metabolite analysis and observation of reproductive behaviour. A postpartum period of reproductive inactivity of at least 4 months, followed by a period of 4-7 months of oestrous cyclicity, was detected in six multiparous females. Three-quarters of the oestrous cycles (n = 21) had a total duration (mean +/- SEM) of 26.8 +/- 1 days. Other types of cycle were characterized either by an extended luteal phase, lasting on average twice as long as the normal cycle, or by an extended follicular phase. These extended cycles may have resulted from early embryo loss and heat stress. Female rhinoceroses did not conceive before 8 months after giving birth and some females (n = 2) most likely aborted after 3.0-3.5 months of gestation. The detected period of cyclic oestrus occurred between May and March in females (n = 9), and there was a 3 month extended interoestrous interval in nulliparous females during the period of decreasing daylengths that can be presumed to be the period of poorest fertility for the black rhinoceros under tropical latitudes. In contrast, the period of optimum fertility in the Southern hemisphere coincided with the late spring and early summer, and corresponded to the early rainy season. As a result, a higher incidence of births was detected in the late rainy season, providing the lactating female with the most suitable environment in terms of nutritional requirements.     

Secondary structure prediction: combination of three different methods

A combination of three complementary secondary structure predictionmethods is presented. The methods used are the GOR III method,the Homologue method and a new method, the bit pattern method,which is based on hydrophilic/hydrophobic residue patterns.For this purpose a hydropathy scale was developed and is presentedhere. The combination algorithm (Combine method) was designedto take the best results of each method and use their differencesin order to improve the prediction. The combination yields 65.5%correctly predicted residues in three states: -helix (H), ß-strand(E) and aperiodic structure (C) which is an improvement rangingfrom 2.5 to 6.5% compared with the individual methods when testedwith a 67-polypeptide chain database. Seventy-five per centof the regular secondary structure (H and E) runs are correctlylocated and ß-sheet runs are much better located bythe Combine method in comparison to the other methods.     

CAST3M/ARCTURUS: A coupled heat transfer CFD code for thermal–hydraulic analyzes of gas cooled reactors

The safety of gas cooled reactors (High Temperature Reactors (HTR), Very High Temperature Reactors (VHTR) or Gas Cooled Fast Reactors (GFR)) must be ensured by systems (active or passive) which maintain loads on component (fuel) and structures (vessel, containment) within acceptable limits under accidental conditions. To achieve this objective, thermal–hydraulics computer codes are necessary tools to design, enhance the performance and ensure a high safety level of the different reactors. Some key safety questions are related to the evaluation of decay heat removal and containment pressure and thermal loads. This requires accurate simulations of conduction, convection, thermal radiation transfers and energy storage. Coupling with neutronics is also an important modeling aspect for the determination of representative parameters such as neutronics coefficient (Doppler coefficient, Moderator coeffcient, …), critical position of control rods, reactivity insertion aspects, …. For GFR, the high power density of the core and its necessary reduced dimension cannot rely only on passive systems for decay heat removal. Therefore, forced convection using active safety systems (gas blowers, heat exchangers, …) are highly recommended. Nevertheless, in case of station black-out, the safety demonstration of the concept should be guaranteed by natural circulation heat removal. This could be performed by keeping a relatively high back-up pressure for pure helium convection and also by heavy gas injection. So, it is also necessary to model mixing of different gases, the on-set of natural convection and the pressure and thermal loads onto the proximate or guard containment. In this paper, we report on the developments of the CAST3M/ARCTURUS thermal–hydraulics (Lumped Parameter and CFD) code developed at CEA, including its coupling to the neutronics code CRONOS2 and the system code CATHARE. Elementary validation cases are detailed, as well as application of the code to benchmark problems such as the HTR-10 thermal–hydraulic exercise. Examples of containment thermal–hydraulics calculations for fast reactor design (GFR) are also detailed.     

Experimental determination of the carbon solubility limit in ferritic steels

Despite the existence of a number of published results, the data on the solubility of carbon in alpha iron are still inaccurate. An analysis of published experimental results shows that available values vary greatly (between 50 and 100 ppm by wt, for example, at 600 °C). These discrepancies make it difficult to optimize the metallurgical processes of low-carbon or ultralow-carbon alloys. An experimental methodology, using the measurement of the thermo-electric power (TEP) of the alloy, was set up. This enabled us to deduce the quantity of free interstitials in the matrix by measuring the amount of interstitials which segregate on dislocations after a deformation of the sample. This technique was used in the case of an Al-killed steel containing 0.2 pct Mn. The limit of solubility of carbon was determined with a precision of ±2 ppm between 550 °C and 730 °C. This limit of solubility can be analytically described by the relation C_{(wt pct)}=6.63 exp (−11.8_kcal·mol ⁻¹/RT), which is shown to be valid only for temperatures above 400 °C. We show experimentally that the residual concentration of carbon at low temperature is much greater than the value predicted by the extrapolation of this relation. Complementary studies on steels with various C and Mn contents allow us to verify the validity of the proposed methodology.     

Technical note: High-throughput method for antifungal activity screening in a cheese-mimicking model

In this study, we developed a high-throughput antifungal activity screening method using a cheese-mimicking matrix distributed in 24-well plates. This method allowed rapid screening of a large variety of antifungal agent candidates: bacterial fermented ingredients, bacterial isolates, and preservatives. Using the proposed method, we characterized the antifungal activity of 44 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermented milk-based ingredients and 23 LAB isolates used as protective cultures against 4 fungal targets (Mucor racemosus, Penicillium commune, Galactomyces geotrichum, and Yarrowia lipolytica). We also used this method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration of a preservative, natamycin, against 9 fungal targets. The results underlined the strain-dependency of LAB antifungal activity, the strong effect of fermentation substrate on this activity, and the effect of the screening medium on natamycin minimum inhibitory concentration. Our method could achieved a screening rate of 1,600 assays per week and can be implemented to evaluate antifungal activity of microorganisms, fermentation products, or purified compounds compatible with dairy technology.     

Fast advancement and hardening acceleration of low‐condensation alkaline PF resins by esters and copolymerized urea

Low‐condensation phenol‐formaldehyde (PF) resins coreacted under alkaline conditions with up to 42% molar urea on phenol during resin preparation yielded PUF resins capable of faster hardening times than equivalent pure PF resins prepared under identical conditions and presented better performance than the latter. The water resistance of the PUF resins prepared seemed comparable to pure PF resins when used as adhesives for wood particleboard. Part of the urea was found by ¹³C‐NMR to be copolymerized to yield the alkaline PUF resin; whereas, especially at the higher levels of urea addition, unreacted urea was still present in the resin. Increase of the initial formaldehyde to phenol molar ratio decreased considerably the proportion of unreacted urea and increased the proportion of PUF resin. A coreaction scheme of phenolic and aminoplastic methylol groups with reactive phenol and urea sites based on previous model compounds work has been proposed, copolymerized urea functioning as a prebranching molecule in the forming, hardened resin network. The PUF resins prepared were capable of further noticeable curing acceleration by addition of ester accelerators; namely, glycerol triacetate (triacetin), to reach gel times as fast as those characteristic of catalyzed aminoplastic resins, but at wet strength values characteristic of exterior PF resins. Synergy between the relative amounts of copolymerized urea and ester accelerator was very noticeable at the lower levels of the two parameters, but this effect decreased in intensity toward the higher percentages of urea and triacetin. ¹³C‐NMR assignements of the relevant peaks of the PUF resins are reported and compared with what has been reported in the literature for mixed, coreacted model compounds and pure PF and urea‐formaldehyde (UF) resins. The relative performance of the different PUF resins prepared was checked under different conditions by thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and by preparation of wood particleboard, and the capability of the accelerated PUF resins to achieve press times as fast as those of aminoplastic (UF and others) resins was confirmed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 359–378, 1999