Inviscid coalescence of drops

We study the coalescence of two drops of an ideal fluid driven by surface tension. The velocity of approach is taken to be zero and the dynamical effect of the outer fluid (usually air) is neglected. Our approximation is expected to be valid on scales larger than $\ell_{\nu} = \rho\nu^2/\sigma$, which is $10 nm$ for water. Using a high-precision boundary integral method, we show that the walls of the thin retracting sheet of air between the drops reconnect in finite time to form a toroidal enclosure. After the initial reconnection, retraction starts again, leading to a rapid sequence of enclosures. Averaging over the discrete events, we find the minimum radius of the liquid bridge connecting the two drops to scale like $r_b \propto t^{1/2}$

Short to long-range charge-transfer excitations in the zincbacteriochlorin-bacteriochlorin complex: a Bethe-Salpeter study

We study using the Bethe-Salpeter formalism the excitation energies of the zincbacteriochlorinbacteriochlorin dyad, a paradigmatic photosynthetic complex. In great contrast with standard timedependent density functional theory calculations with (semi)local kernels, charge transfer excitations are correctly located above the intramolecular Q-bands transitions found to be in excellent agreement with experiment. Further, the asymptotic Coulomb behavior towards the true quasiparticle gap for charge transfer excitations at long distance is correctly reproduced, showing that the present scheme allows to study with the same accuracy intramolecular and charge transfer excitations at various spatial range and screening environment without any adjustable parameter.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Évaluation d'un système de mesure des pertes de contaminants agricoles par ruissellement et drainage souterrain en régions froides

Cette note technique présente un système automatique de mesure des pertes de polluants agricoles par ruissellement et drainage souterrain pouvant opérer durant la période estivale et la fonte nivale. Le système de mesure du ruissellement est composé d'une trappe à sédiments, d'un déversoir en V et d'un système automatique de mesure du débit et de contrôle de l'échantillonnage. Le système de mesure du drainage souterrain consiste en un auget à bascule, relié à un compteur d'impulsions, et un partiteur de débit. Ces systèmes ont été utilisés sur neuf parcelles expérimentales pour mesurer les masses de contaminants agricoles perdues par ruissellement et drainage souterrain. La hauteur totale de ruissellement durant les deux années (4,6 mm an-1) a été faible comparée au drainage (227 mm an-1). Soixante-seize pourcent du ruissellement annuel s'est produit durant la fonte des neiges. Les principaux avantages de ce système sont de pouvoir mesurer simultanément les volumes et les débits de ruissellement tout en prélevant des échantillons d'eau.This technical note presents an automatic measurement system for measuring losses of agricultural pollutants in surface runoff and subsurface drainage outflow. This system can be operated during rainfall events and snowmelt periods. The runoff system was composed of a sediment trap, a V-notch weir and an automatic system for flow measurement and sampling. The subsurface drainage system consisted of a tipping bucket, connected to a pulse counter, and a sampling unit. This system was used on nine experimental plots for the measurement of pollutant losses by surface runoff and subsurface drainage. The total depth of surface runoff measured was low for the two years of measurement (4.6 mm y-1) compared to subsurface drainage (227 mm y-1). Seventy six percent of the annual surface runoff occurred during the snowmelt period. The principal advantage of this system is to measure runoff volume and flow while taking water samples

Two dimensional Leidenfrost Droplets in a Hele Shaw Cell

We experimentally and theoretically investigate the behavior of Leidenfrost droplets inserted in a Hele-Shaw cell. As a result of the confinement from the two surfaces, the droplet has the shape of a flattened disc and is thermally isolated from the surface by the two evaporating vapor layers. An analysis of the evaporation rate using simple scaling arguments is in agreement with the experimental results. Using the lubrication approximation we numerically determine the shape of the droplets as a function of its radius. We furthermore find that the droplet width tends to zero at its center when the radius reaches a critical value. This prediction is corroborated experimentally by the direct observation of the sudden transition from a flattened disc into an expending torus. Below this critical size, the droplets are also displaying capillary azimuthal oscillating modes reminiscent of a hydrodynamic instability

Calibration and validation of the STICS crop model for managing wheat irrigation in the semi-arid Marrakech/Al Haouz Plain

In the first part of this work, the shoot growth module and grain yield of the STICS crop model were calibrated and validated by using field data which was collected from irrigated winter wheat fields in the Haouz plain near Marrakech. The calibration was performed on the thermal units between the four phenological stages that control the dynamics of leaf area index and the thermal unit between emergence and the beginning of grain filling. The plant phenology was calibrated for three fields monitored during the 2002/03 season. Evaluation of the grain yields and the temporal evolution of leaf area index were done for six validation fields during 2003/04. The results showed the significant accuracy of the model in simulating these variables, and also indicated that the plants mainly suffered from lack of nitrogen. The results in the second part show the potential of crop modeling to schedule irrigation water, on the assumption that the plants were growing under optimal conditions of fertilization. In this case, the model was used to manage the time of irrigation according to a threshold for water deficit. Various simulations displayed logical trends in the relationship between the grain yield and both the amount and timing of irrigation water. These results were finally compared with those obtained from real irrigation practices. For the particular climate of 2003/04, the comparison showed that 70 mm and 40 mm of water could be saved in case of early and late sowing, respectively

Derived crop coefficients for winter wheat using different reference evpotranspiration estimates methods

This paper reports the results of using three empirical methods (Makkink, Priestley-Taylor and Hargreaves) for estimating the reference evapotranspiration (ET0) in the semi-arid region of Tensift Al Haouz, Marrakech (center of Morocco). The Penman-Monteith equation, standardized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO-PM), is used to evaluate the three empirical methods. The obtained ET0 data were used to estimate crop water requirement (ET) of winter wheat using the crop coefficient (K-c) approach and results were compared with ET measured by the Eddy Covariance technique. The result showed that using the original empirical coefficients a, alpha and C-m in Hargreaves, Priestley-Taylor and Makkink equations, respectively, the Hargreaves method agreed fairly well with FAO-PM method at the test site. Conversely, the Priestley-Taylor and Makkink methods underestimate the ET by about 20 and 18 %. After adjustment of the original values of two parameters alpha and C-m coefficients in Priestley-Taylor and Makkink equations, the underestimation of ET was reduced to 9% and 4% for the Priestley Taylor and Makkink methods, respectively, which led to an improvement of 55% and 76% of the obtained values compared with the original values

DNA-cellulose: an economical, fully recyclable and highly effective chiral biomaterial for asymmetric catalysis

similarity_check: This document is Similarity Check deposited related_data: Supplementary Information copyright_licence: The Royal Society of Chemistry has an exclusive publication licence for this journal peer_review_method: Single-blind history: Received 20 December 2014; Accepted 11 January 2015; Accepted Manuscript published 14 January 2015; Advance Article published 23 January 2015; Version of Record published 24 March 2015This research was supported by the Ministe`re de l’Enseignement Supe´rieur et de la Recherche and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (NCiS; ANR-2010-JCJC-715-1)