GPU‐accelerated direct numerical simulations of decaying compressible turbulence employing a GKM‐based solver

Gas Kinetic Method‐based flow solvers have become popular in recent years owing to their robustness in simulating high Mach number compressible flows. We evaluate the performance of the newly developed analytical gas kinetic method (AGKM) by Xuan et al. in performing direct numerical simulation of canonical compressible turbulent flow on graphical processing unit (GPU)s. We find that for a range of turbulent Mach numbers, AGKM results shows excellent agreement with high order accurate results obtained with traditional Navier–Stokes solvers in terms of key turbulence statistics. Further, AGKM is found to be more efficient as compared with the traditional gas kinetic method for GPU implementation. We present a brief overview of the optimizations performed on NVIDIA K20 GPU and show that GPU optimizations boost the speedup up‐to 40x as compared with single core CPU computations. Hence, AGKM can be used as an efficient method for performing fast and accurate direct numerical simulations of compressible turbulent flows on simple GPU‐based workstations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Binary collision simulations of ion transmission through silicon single crystal films

Abstract

Computer simulation studies of the energy distribution of transmitted ions such as alpha-particles, He-, and B-ions through crystalline silicon, using the enhanced binary-collision cascade simulator MARLOWE, will be reviewed. The enhancement includes an additional electronic-energy loss (EEL) model which takes into account explicitly both the target electron density variation via the structure factors and the electron density of the projectile. Investigations of the stopping power for He ions and protons in silicon, at intermediate- and high-energies, based on the adapted EEL model and a velocity-dependent effective charge will be presented. The overall agreement between the calculated and experimentally determined stopping power data and the simulated and measured transmission spectra will be demonstrated. Effects of energy-loss straggling, core-electron contribution to the energy loss at high-energies and charge-state effects at low energies on the transmission spectra will also be discussed.     

Fabrication of anti-poisoning core-shell TiO2 photocatalytic system through a 4-methoxycalix[7]arene film

TiO₂ nanoparticles with unique crystalline-core/disordered-shell structures were synthesized in a one step process by employing 4-methoxycalix[7]arene nanoreactors. The nanoparticles were anchored on the surface of quartz beads as a monolayer and showed high visible-light driven photocatalytic activity, excellent long term durability and anti-poisoning property. Photocatalytic performance of the TiO₂ nanoparticles was tested in a packed bed and complete decolorization of methyl orange was achieved under ultraviolet light or visible light. The decolorization process followed first-order kinetics and showed different behaviors for ultraviolet and visible radiation, while the overall rates of degradation were the same.     

Stuffed Tridymite Structures: Synthesis,Structure, Second Harmonic Generation,Optical, and Multiferroic Properties

The stuffed tridymite structure Ba(Zn/Co)_1−xSi_1−xM_2xO₄ (M=Al³⁺ and Fe³⁺) is explored for the possible multiferroic behavior and to develop new inorganic colored materials. The compounds were synthesized by employing conventional solid-state chemistry methods in the temperature range 1100–1175 °C for 24 h. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and Rietveld refinement studies indicate that the compounds stabilize in the P63 space group (no. 173). The refinement results were also rationalized by employing Raman spectroscopic studies. The compounds were found to be second harmonic generation (SHG) active and show weak ferroelectric behavior. The co-substitution of Co²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in the structure gives rise to a weak ferromagnetic behavior to the compound, BaCo_0.75Si_0.75Fe_0.5O₄, making it a multiferroic material. The optical studies on the prepared compounds exhibited blue color (Co²⁺ in T_d geometry), purple color (Ni²⁺ in T_d geometry), and simultaneous substitution of Co²⁺ and Fe³⁺ gives rise to blue-green color owing to metal-to-metal charge transfer (MMCT) effect.     

Operations of online advertising services and publisher's option

We analyse the use of options for online advertisement publishers. By providing a discount or rewards to advertisers, publishers can utilise their uncertain service capacity, page-views, more efficiently. We use Generalised Nash Bargaining to study the feasibility of the option contract and solve for an optimal value for the option price. We compare the revenues and benefits from advertisements under the option contract, with those without the options using numerical studies. We also study the impact of pricing and other components in the game on the optimal option price, the publisher's revenues, and the advertiser's benefits from the advertisements.     

FUNCTIONALIZED PHOSPHINES: SYNTHESIS,REACTIVITY AND TRANSITION METAL CHEMISTRY

Ten-membered heterocycles of the type PhN(PCl₂){OC₆H₂(R)₂ (μ-S(CH₂))((R)₂─C₆H₂O─)} (R = Me, ⁱPr or ^tBu) have been prepared and their transition metal chemistry is explored. Functionalised phosphines react with transition metals to give interesting metallacycles. Several Group 6, ruthenium, platinum metals and novel titanium(IV) metallacycles have been structurally characterized.     

Characterization of a Polymer-Bound Palladium Acetate Catalyst and Studies on the Selective Hydrogenation of Dienes and Alkynes

Abstract

Palladium(II) acetate has been anchored onto a copolymer support containing pyridyl and carboxyl groups. XPS studies showed the Pd 3d binding energies for the recovered catalyst to be less by 1 eV after being used in hydrogenation studies. However, x-ray studies and a chemical test based on KCN treatment failed to reveal any palladium oxide or palladium metal formation in the recovered catalyst. It is presumed that an acetate ligand is lost during hydrogenation, which could be the reason for the lowering of the palladium 3d binding energies in the recovered catalyst. Results of investigations of the hydrogenation of olefins and selectivity of the catalyst toward the hydrogenation of dienes and alkynes are presented. The loss of palladium due to leaching under the reaction conditions employed was found to be very low (<1%/cycle).     

One-Step Hydroxylation of Benzene to Phenol Over Layered Double Hydroxides and their Derived Forms

Phenol, an important bulk organic compound, has diverse applications encompassing both industry and society. Commercially, it is produced through energy intensive three-step cumene process operating at relatively low yield with the co-production of acetone. Several attempts were made for producing phenol through challenging one-step direct hydroxylation of benzene using different oxidants like O₂, N₂O and H₂O₂. Liquid phase hydroxylation of benzene using H₂O₂ found to be more attractive due to its low reaction temperature and environmentally friendly nature (as water is only formed as by-product). The hydroxylation reaction occurs through Fenton’s mechanism; however along with phenol several other products are also formed due to higher reactivity of phenol compared to benzene. Our research group has been working on this reaction for nearly a decade using layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and their derived forms as heterogeneous selective oxidation catalyst. Screening of different LDHs having different metal ions in the layers revealed the necessity of copper for hydroxylation in pyridine. Addition of co-bivalent metal ion along with copper was made in an endeavour to improve the activity that revealed the promising results for CuZnAl LDHs. Efforts were then made to shift from pyridine to environmentally benign solvent, water, for this reaction that showed reasonably good yields with very high selectivity of phenol. Addition of small amount of sulfolane as a co-solvent increased the selectivity for phenol further. The reusability difficulty faced while using as-synthesized LDHs was overcome when calcined LDHs were used. Structure–property-activity relationships were deduced to understand the results observed. The present review besides covering our work also provides the state-of-art on this reaction using different oxidants with emphasis on H₂O₂.