Special Issue "Advances in Applied Thermodynamics"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Brian Agnew
School of the Built and Natural Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK
Website: http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/academic/bne/study/aec/acestaff/brianagnew
E-Mail: brian.agnew@northumbria.ac.uk
Phone: +44 191 227 3779
Fax: +44 191 227 3066
Interests: turbomachinery; thermal systems; CHP; finite time thermodynamics; entropy generation; exergy analysis of complex systems; combined cycles

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of entropy originated in the period when thermodynamics was concerned with the conditions under which heat can be converted to work. It was formalized and named (from the Greek εντροπία, transformation) by Rudolf Clausius from considerations of reversible processes. Usually today an irreversible transformation is identified by the Clausius Inequality. In his later work Clausius included irreversible process to derive the Second Law of Thermodynamics as an equality and included a term to account for entropy generation by dissipative processes. A more generalized formulation of the entropy concept, developed by Boltzmann, is associated with disorder or the destruction of the coherence of an initial state. This has been widely adopted in many diverse fields of study including chemistry, biology, cosmology and information science. An indication of the importance of the Second Law of Thermodynamics can be gauged by the following statement made by Sir Arthur Eddington "If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations- then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation-well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the Second Law of Thermodynamics I can offer you no hope". The Second Law played a key role in the development of Classical Thermodynamics in the 20th century with entropy revealing some essential characteristics of the behavior of matter and energy. In moving away from equilibrium states and adopting mathematical techniques from other branches of science the analysis of Carnot has been extended to include thermodynamic systems with fixed rates or durations and constraints on heat or mass transfer surfaces. This exciting development has established the conditions appropriate to time or rate constrained processes and the conditions for optimal configurations of heat and mass exchange processes. It is clear that such techniques will play an important part in energy saving technologies that are so important today.

Prof. Dr. Brian Agnew
Guest Editor

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• finite time thermodynamics
• entropy generation minimization
• optimization
• thermodynamic systems

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Entropy of a Free Quantum Particle
Author: Jian-Ping Peng
Affiliation: Department of Physics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; E-Mail: jppeng@sjtu.edu.cn
Abstract: The time-dependent entropy of a single free quantum particle in the non-relativistic regime is studied in detail for the process started from a fully coherent quantum state to thermodynamic equilibrium with its surroundings at a constant temperature. As a result of thermal interaction, the entropy at the end of the process converges to a universal constant.
Keywords: entropy generation; thermodynamic systems

Type of Paper: Review
Title: The Nature of Phase Transitions in Strong Correlated Systems
Author: José Antonio Souza
Affiliations: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, CEP 09210-170, Santo André – SP, Brazil; E-Mail: joseantonio.souza@ufabc.edu.br
Abstract: The theory of phase transitions and critical phenomena is one of the most important topics of condensed matter physics. In general, phase transitions are brought about by cooperative interaction between spins, charge, and phonons and they range from magnetization of ferromagnets, electrical polarization of ferroelectrics, and boiling of water to superconductivity. A change in the order parameter, defining a phase transition, can be induced by thermodynamic parameters such as temperature, pressure, or magnetic/electric fields, and leads to a long-range ordering of the system. The general understanding of the physical properties in the vicinity of a phase transition, along with its nature, is very important not only from the fundamental point of view, but also for technological applications. In this review article, we discuss criteria and definitions that determine the order of a phase transition, which can be the discontinuous (first order) or continuous (second order). After a general discussion, we focus attention on strong correlated systems that inhibit pronounced magnetoelastic, magnetocaloric, and colossal magnetoresistance effects close to both metal-insulator and magnetic phase transitions. The complex order parameter observed in these systems is the result of strong correlation between charge, spin, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom.
Keywords: order parameter; phase transitions; magnetism; strong correlated system; critical exponent; thermodynamic parameters

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Application of Hydration Thermodynamics for Evaluating Protein Structures and Protein-Ligand Binding Sites
Author: Yuichi Harano
Affiliation: Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, 3-2 Yamadaoka, Suita-shi, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; E-Mail: yharano@protein.osaka-u.ac.jp
Abstract: Unrevealing the mechanism that controls the three-dimensional structure of proteins, which is closely related to their biological functions, remains challenging even for a small protein in modern biological science. From a viewpoint of thermodynamics, the native structure of a protein can be constructed as the global minimum of the free energy surface of the protein-water system. However, it is still difficult to describe the energetics of protein stability in an effective manner. Recently, we have developed a free energy function in all-atomic description for a protein, which is focusing on hydration thermodynamics of proteins. The validity of the function was examined by using structural decoy sets, which provide numerous misfolded “non-native” structures. For all the targeted sets, the function is able to identify the experimentally determined native structure as the best structure. The energy function also can be applicable for calculating the binding free energy of a protein and ligands as well. I review physicochemical theories employed for developing the free energy function and the recent studies of evaluating protein structure stabilities and protein-ligand binding affinities by using the function.
Keywords: protein structure stability; binding free energy; hydration thermodynamics; hydration entropy