Film breakers prevent migration of aqueous potassium hydroxide in fuel cells

Electrolyte film breakers made from polytetrafluoroethylene are installed in the reactant and water vapor removal outlets of each cell and sealed by elastomers. Use of these devices in the water vapor removal cavity outlets prevents loss of KOH solution through film migration during water removal

Vent subsystem - development plan

Vent subsystem design specifications for use in fuel cell assembl

Shear-stress controlled dynamics of nematic complex fluids

Based on a mesoscopic theory we investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of a sheared nematic liquid, with the control parameter being the shear stress $\sigma_{\mathrm{xy}}$ (rather than the usual shear rate, $\dot\gamma$). To this end we supplement the equations of motion for the orientational order parameters by an equation for $\dot\gamma$, which then becomes time-dependent. Shearing the system from an isotropic state, the stress- controlled flow properties turn out to be essentially identical to those at fixed $\dot\gamma$. Pronounced differences when the equilibrium state is nematic. Here, shearing at controlled $\dot\gamma$ yields several non-equilibrium transitions between different dynamic states, including chaotic regimes. The corresponding stress-controlled system has only one transition from a regular periodic into a stationary (shear-aligned) state. The position of this transition in the $\sigma_{\mathrm{xy}}$-$\dot\gamma$ plane turns out to be tunable by the delay time entering our control scheme for $\sigma_{\mathrm{xy}}$. Moreover, a sudden change of the control method can {\it stabilize} the chaotic states appearing at fixed $\dot\gamma$.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Fuel cell module development plan - Activity 145 - 205

Development plan for fuel cell modules consisting of 35 two-cell sections and incorporating static moisture control subsystems as integral part of modul

Calcium channel selectivity for divalent and monovalent cations. Voltage and concentration dependence of single channel current in ventricular heart cells.

Single channel and whole cell recordings were used to study ion permeation through Ca channels in isolated ventricular heart cells of guinea pigs. We evaluated the permeability to various divalent and monovalent cations in two ways, by measuring either unitary current amplitude or reversal potential (Erev). According to whole cell measurements of Erev, the relative permeability sequence is Ca2+ greater than Sr2+ greater than Ba2+ for divalent ions; Mg2+ is not measurably permeant. Monovalent ions follow the sequence Li+ greater than Na+ greater than K+ greater than Cs+, and are much less permeant than the divalents. These whole cell measurements were supported by single channel recordings, which showed clear outward currents through single Ca channels at strong depolarizations, similar values of Erev, and similar inflections in the current-voltage relation near Erev. Information from Erev measurements stands in contrast to estimates of open channel flux or single channel conductance, which give the sequence Na+ (85 pS) greater than Li+ (45 pS) greater than Ba2+ (20 pS) greater than Ca2+ (9 pS) near 0 mV with 110-150 mM charge carrier. Thus, ions with a higher permeability, judged by Erev, have lower ion transfer rates. In another comparison, whole cell Na currents through Ca channels are halved by less than 2 microM [Ca]o, but greater than 10 mM [Ca]o is required to produce half-maximal unitary Ca current. All of these observations seem consistent with a recent hypothesis for the mechanism of Ca channel permeation, which proposes that: ions pass through the pore in single file, interacting with multiple binding sites along the way; selectivity is largely determined by ion affinity to the binding sites rather than by exclusion by a selectivity filter; occupancy by only one Ca ion is sufficient to block the pore's high conductance for monovalent ions like Na+; rapid permeation by Ca ions depends upon double occupancy, which only becomes significant at millimolar [Ca]o, because of electrostatic repulsion or some other interaction between ions; and once double occupancy occurs, the ion-ion interaction helps promote a quick exit of Ca ions from the pore into the cell

Superlattices and NiPi structures in new forms of cascade solar cells

The activity in the field of photovoltaic semiconductor superstructures is described. Progress was accomplished in the two principal directions previously defined in our initial proposal, i.e.: (1) Theoretical investigation of the optical properties of superlattices; and (2) New solar cell concepts and device modeling. Although important information concerning the optical constants of superlattices and multiple quantum well structures was obtained from our computer model, most of the theoretical efforts have progressively shifted from the former to the latter aspect of the project because of the discovery of a new kind of photovoltaic device which may exhibit improved performances with respect to conventional solar cells

The diversity of a distributed genome in bacterial populations

The distributed genome hypothesis states that the set of genes in a population of bacteria is distributed over all individuals that belong to the specific taxon. It implies that certain genes can be gained and lost from generation to generation. We use the random genealogy given by a Kingman coalescent in order to superimpose events of gene gain and loss along ancestral lines. Gene gains occur at a constant rate along ancestral lines. We assume that gained genes have never been present in the population before. Gene losses occur at a rate proportional to the number of genes present along the ancestral line. In this infinitely many genes model we derive moments for several statistics within a sample: the average number of genes per individual, the average number of genes differing between individuals, the number of incongruent pairs of genes, the total number of different genes in the sample and the gene frequency spectrum. We demonstrate that the model gives a reasonable fit with gene frequency data from marine cyanobacteria.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AAP657 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org