484 research outputs found

    AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT: APPLICATION OF TURBULENCE PROMOTERS

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    This work presents an experimental study addressing the effects of turbulence promoters on heat transfer rate at circular cylinder in external cross flow. Within this framework, the work focuses on assessing the effects of three kind of turbulence promoters (with circular, square and hexagonal cross sections) on convective heat transfer enhancement. The distance from turbulence promoters to the circular cylinder (50, 100 and 150mm upstream), as well as the free stream velocity inside the wind tunnel (Reynolds number) were the parameters investigated. The validation of the experimental methodology was performed by comparing the present results with empiric correlations available in the literature. The main results indicate that the convective heat transfer coefficient was enhanced when using turbulence promoters. The highest heat transfer enhancement obtained was around 25% correponding to the case of square turbulence promoter placed closely (50mm) to the circular cylinder. Finally, it is worth mentioning that all the experimental results for the convective coefficient were condensed in a new empirical correlation with good accuracy

    Negotiating topic changes:native and non-native English speakers in conversation

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    There is a tendency to view conversations involving non‐native speakers (NNSs) as inevitably fraught with problems, including an inability to handle topic management. This article, in contrast, will focus on effective topic changes made by non‐native speakers during informal conversations with native speakers of English. A micro‐analysis of ten conversations revealed several ways of shifting conversational topics; however, the article concentrates on those strategies which the participants used to effect a particular type of topic move, namely ‘marked topic changes’, where there is no connection at all with previous talk. The findings show how these topic changes were jointly negotiated, and that the non‐native speakers’ contributions to initiating new topics were competently managed

    Hydrogen bond rotations as a uniform structural tool for analyzing protein architecture

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    Proteins fold into three-dimensional structures, which determine their diverse functions. The conformation of the backbone of each structure is locally at each Cα effectively described by conformational angles resulting in Ramachandran plots. These, however, do not describe the conformations around hydrogen bonds, which can be non-local along the backbone and are of major importance for protein structure. Here, we introduce the spatial rotation between hydrogen bonded peptide planes as a new descriptor for protein structure locally around a hydrogen bond. Strikingly, this rotational descriptor sampled over high-quality structures from the protein data base (PDB) concentrates into 30 localized clusters, some of which correlate to the common secondary structures and others to more special motifs, yet generally providing a unifying systematic classification of local structure around protein hydrogen bonds. It further provides a uniform vocabulary for comparison of protein structure near hydrogen bonds even between bonds in different proteins without alignment

    Evolution of Linear Absorption and Nonlinear Optical Properties in V-Shaped Ruthenium(II)-Based Chromophores

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    In this article, we describe a series of complexes with electron-rich cis-{Ru^(II)(NH_3)_4}^(2+) centers coordinated to two pyridyl ligands bearing N-methyl/arylpyridinium electron-acceptor groups. These V-shaped dipolar species are new, extended members of a class of chromophores first reported by us (Coe, B. J. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 4845−4859). They have been isolated as their PF_6− salts and characterized by using various techniques including ^1H NMR and electronic absorption spectroscopies and cyclic voltammetry. Reversible Ru^(III/II) waves show that the new complexes are potentially redox-switchable chromophores. Single crystal X-ray structures have been obtained for four complex salts; three of these crystallize noncentrosymmetrically, but with the individual molecular dipoles aligned largely antiparallel. Very large molecular first hyperpolarizabilities β have been determined by using hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) with an 800 nm laser and also via Stark (electroabsorption) spectroscopic studies on the intense, visible d → π^* metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) and π → π^* intraligand charge-transfer (ILCT) bands. The latter measurements afford total nonresonant β_0 responses as high as ca. 600 × 10^(−30) esu. These pseudo-C_(2v) chromophores show two substantial components of the β tensor, β_(zzz) and β_(zyy), although the relative significance of these varies with the physical method applied. According to HRS, β_(zzz) dominates in all cases, whereas the Stark analyses indicate that β_(zyy) is dominant in the shorter chromophores, but β_(zzz) and β_(zyy) are similar for the extended species. In contrast, finite field calculations predict that β_(zyy) is always the major component. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations predict increasing ILCT character for the nominally MLCT transitions and accompanying blue-shifts of the visible absorptions, as the ligand π-systems are extended. Such unusual behavior has also been observed with related 1D complexes (Coe, B. J. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 3880−3891)

    Diquat Derivatives: Highly Active, Two-Dimensional Nonlinear Optical Chromophores with Potential Redox Switchability

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    In this article, we present a detailed study of structure−activity relationships in diquaternized 2,2′-bipyridyl (diquat) derivatives. Sixteen new chromophores have been synthesized, with variations in the amino electron donor substituents, π-conjugated bridge, and alkyl diquaternizing unit. Our aim is to combine very large, two-dimensional (2D) quadratic nonlinear optical (NLO) responses with reversible redox chemistry. The chromophores have been characterized as their PF_6^− salts by using various techniques including electronic absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Their visible absorption spectra are dominated by intense π → π^* intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) bands, and all show two reversible diquat-based reductions. First hyperpolarizabilities β have been measured by using hyper-Rayleigh scattering with an 800 nm laser, and Stark spectroscopy of the ICT bands affords estimated static first hyperpolarizabilities β_0. The directly and indirectly derived β values are large and increase with the extent of π-conjugation and electron donor strength. Extending the quaternizing alkyl linkage always increases the ICT energy and decreases the E_(1/2) values for diquat reduction, but a compensating increase in the ICT intensity prevents significant decreases in Stark-based β_0 responses. Nine single-crystal X-ray structures have also been obtained. Time-dependent density functional theory clarifies the molecular electronic/optical properties, and finite field calculations agree with polarized HRS data in that the NLO responses of the disubstituted species are dominated by ‘off-diagonal’ β_(zyy) components. The most significant findings of these studies are: (i) β_0 values as much as 6 times that of the chromophore in the technologically important material (E)-4′-(dimethylamino)-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate; (ii) reversible electrochemistry that offers potential for redox-switching of optical properties over multiple states; (iii) strongly 2D NLO responses that may be exploited for novel practical applications; (iv) a new polar material, suitable for bulk NLO behavior

    Birth outcomes in Colorado's undocumented immigrant population

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    BACKGROUND: The birth outcomes of undocumented women have not been systematically studied on a large scale. The growing number of undocumented women giving birth in the United States has important implications for clinical care and public health policy. The objective of this study was to describe birth outcomes of undocumented immigrants in Colorado. METHODS: Retrospective descriptive study of singleton births to 5961 undocumented women using birth certificate data for 1998–1999. RESULTS: Undocumented mothers were younger, less educated, and more likely to be single. They had higher rates of anemia, were less likely to gain enough weight, and less likely to receive early prenatal care. They were much less likely to use alcohol or tobacco. Undocumented women had a lower rate of low birth weight (5.3% v 6.5%, P < .001) or preterm infants (12.9% v 14.5%; p = .001). Undocumented women experienced higher rates of labor complications including excessive bleeding (2.3% v 0.8%, p < .001) and fetal distress (8.7% v 3.6%, p < .001). CONCLUSION: Undocumented women have lower rates of preterm delivery and low birth weight infants, but higher rates of pregnancy related risk factors. Higher prevalence of some risk factors which are amenable to medical intervention reveals the need for improved prenatal care in this group

    Light-induced spiral mass transport in azo-polymer films under vortex-beam illumination

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    When an azobenzene-containing polymer film is exposed to a non-uniform illumination, a light-induced mass migration process may be induced, leading to the formation of relief patterns on the polymer free surface. Despite a research effort of many years and several proposed models many aspects of this phenomenon remain not well understood. Here we report the appearance of spiral-shaped relief patterns on the polymer under the illumination of focused Laguerre-Gauss beams, having helical wavefront and an optical vortex at their axis. The induced spiral reliefs are sensitive to the vortex topological charge and to the wavefront handedness. These findings are unexpected, because the "doughnut"-shaped intensity profile of Laguerre- Gauss beams contains no information about the wavefront handedness. We propose a model that explains the main features of this phenomenon from the surface-mediated interference of the longitudinal and the transverse components of the optical field. These results may find applications in optical micro- and nanolithography and optical-field.Comment: Open Access at Journal Reference homepag

    Promoting positive change: Advancing the food well-being paradigm ☆

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    a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Food well-being (FWB) is defined as &quot;a positive psychological, physical, emotional, and social relationship with food at both the individual and societal levels&quot; (Block et al., 2011, p. 6). This article seeks to advance our understanding of FWB along two dimensions. First, we discuss how awareness of consumer goals, as well as motivation and readiness to change, may help us to understand consumer preparedness to advance FWB. Second, we deconstruct the automatic and deliberative influences on food decision making into cognitive and emotional information that guide food choices and can be used by consumers to advance their own FWB. We close with a discussion of how measurement and strategies to influence FWB may allow researchers, policymakers, and industry to help consumers advance FWB

    Peptidoglycan Production by an Insect-Bacterial Mosaic

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    Peptidoglycan (PG) is a defining feature of bacteria, involved in cell division, shape, and integrity. We previously reported that several genes related to PG biosynthesis were horizontally transferred from bacteria to the nuclear genome of mealybugs. Mealybugs are notable for containing a nested bacteria-within-bacterium endosymbiotic structure in specialized insect cells, where one bacterium, Moranella, lives in the cytoplasm of another bacterium, Tremblaya. Here we show that horizontally transferred genes on the mealybug genome work together with genes retained on the Moranella genome to produce a PG layer exclusively at the Moranella cell periphery. Furthermore, we show that an insect protein encoded by a horizontally transferred gene of bacterial origin is transported into the Moranella cytoplasm. These results provide a striking parallel to the genetic and biochemical mosaicism found in organelles, and prove that multiple horizontally transferred genes can become integrated into a functional pathway distributed between animal and bacterial endosymbiont genomes
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