Pulsating flow and convective heat transfer in a cavity with inlet and outlet sections

This paper deals with the study of 2-D, laminar, pulsating flow inside a heated rectangular cavity with different aspect ratios. The cooling liquid (water with temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity) comes and leaves the cavity via inlet and outlet ports. The flow topology is characterised by the large recirculation regions that exist at inner corners of the cavity. These low velocity regions cause the heat transfer to be small when compared, for instance, to that of a straight channel. We study the effect that a prescribed pulsation at the inlet port has on the cavity heat transfer. This pulsating boundary condition, of the unsteady Poiseuille type, is described by its frequency and the amplitude of the pressure gradient. The time averaged Reynolds number of the flow, based on the hydraulic diameter of the inlet channel, is 100 and we consider that the dimensionless pulsation frequency (Strouhal number) varies in the range from 0.0 to 0.4. We show that the prescribed pulsation enhances heat transfer in the cavity and that the mechanism that causes this enhancement appears to be the periodic change in the recirculation flow pattern generated by the pulsation. Regarding the quantitative extent of heat transfer recovery, we find that appropriate selection of the pulsation parameters allows for the cavity to behave like a straight channel that is the configuration with the highest Nusselt number

Estudio Integral sobre la Evaluación del Recurso Eólico en Entornos Urbanos. Estación Anemométrica Adaptable

Como consecuencia de un intenso proceso de trabajo, coordinado con Investigadores del CIEMAT (Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas), se pretende comunicar el estado del trabajo de Investigación relacionado con la Evaluación del Potencial Eólico en entornos urbanos, con vistas a la posible generación de energía eléctrica limpia

Aprendizaje de los números (del 0 al 9) en alumnos con discapacidad intelectual leve

Este artículo es fruto, por un lado, de la observación constante de la discapacidad intelectual en niños 1º y 2º curso de Primaria, y por otro, del aprendizaje de las matemáticas. El resultado es una intervención educativa para tratar el aprendizaje del conteo de los números naturales hasta el 9

Experimental study of heat transfer and pressure drop in micro-channel based heat sinks with tip clearance

This article presents an experimental study on the optimisation of micro-heat sink configurations when both thermal effects and pressure drop are accounted for. The interest of the latter is that the practical engineering viability of some of these systems also depends on the required pumping power. The working fluid was water and, according to typical power dissipation and system size requirements, the considered fluid regime was either laminar or transitional, and not fully developed from the hydrodynamics point of view. Five configurations were considered: a reference geometry (selected for comparison purposes) made up of square section micro-channels, and four alternative configurations that involved the presence of a variable tip clearance in the design. The performance of the different configurations was compared with regard to both cooling efficiency and pressure drop. Finally, we also provide some practical guidelines for the engineering design of these types of systems

Laminar heat transfer enhancement downstream of a backward facing step by using a pulsating flow

This study is motivated by the need to devise means to enhance heat transfer in configurations, like the back step, that appear in certain types of MEMS that involve fluid flow and that are not very efficient from the thermal transfer point of view. In particular, the work described in this paper studies the effect that a prescribed flow pulsation (defined by two control parameters: velocity pulsation frequency and pressure gradient amplitude at the inlet section) has on the heat transfer rate behind a backward facing step in the unsteady laminar 2-D regime. The working fluid that we have considered is water with temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity. We have found that, for inlet pressure gradients that avoid flow reversal at both the upstream and downstream boundary conditions, the timeaveraged Nusselt number behind the step depends on the two above mentioned control parameters and is always larger than in the steady-state case. At Reynolds 100 and pulsating at the resonance frequency, the maximum time-averaged Nusselt number in the horizontal wall region located behind the step whose length is four times the step height is 55% larger than in the steady-case. Away from the resonant pulsation frequency, the time-averaged Nusselt number smoothly decreases and approaches its steady-state value

Estrellas variables en NGC 5286

NGC 5286 es un cúmulo globular pobre en metales y por consiguiente rico en estrellas variables RR Lyrae (L. Rosino, 1972). Los autores han descubierto en este cúmulo 13 estrellas variables, de las cuales, 6 se han estudiado en el presente trabajo en forma preliminar ya que las observaciones son escasas.Asociación Argentina de Astronomí

The globular cluster NGC 5286

NGC 5286 is a very interesting globular cluster of the southern hemisphere because of its photometric and spectroscopic characteristics. The cluster is located in the direction of the galactic centre rather than in the anticentre (1" = 311°, 57; b" = +10°,58) and at a small altitude over tha galactic plane. The cluster is seen through the Sagitarius Arm of our Galaxy and therefore the stellar field studied shows a strong component of Population I. The reddening of the cluster is E(B-V)=0.47 magnitudes and its distance is of about 6982 pc while the Population I stars projected into the field are located at about 1600 pc which agrees quite well with the Sagitarius arm in this direction (1"= 311°,57). The color-magnitude diagram of NGC 5286 imitates the diagram of clusters with very low metallic content formed in the Halo of our Galaxy. There is a marked predominance of blue stars in the horizontal branch. These stars are located at large projects distances from the cluster center.Asociación Argentina de Astronomí

Fauna de flebotomíneos (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) em terra firme e planície fluvial na área de influência do gasoduto Coari-Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil

The object of this work was to make a preliminary survey of the entomofauna sandflies in the areas under the influence of the Coari-Manaus (AM) gas pipeline. The collections were made from 4 to 8 August 2003, in five of the seven municipal districts under the influence of the gas pipeline, using light traps of the type CDC. We captured 205 individuals, distributed in 25 species, belonging to eight subgenera (151 - 73.7%) and four groups (54 - 26.3%). The Lutzomyia umbratilis was the most numerous species found (43 - 21.0%). The species Lutzomyia preclara, collected in the municipal districts of Caapiranga and Manacupuru, was registered for the first time in the state of Amazonas, and the second time in Brasil.Este trabalho teve como objetivo realizar um levantamento preliminar da entomofauna de flebotomíneos nas áreas de influência do gasoduto Coari-Manaus (AM). As coletas foram realizadas no período de 4 a 8 de agosto (2003), em cinco dos sete municípios da área de influência do gasoduto, utilizando-se de armadilhas de luz do tipo CDC. Foram capturados 205 indivíduos, distribuídos em 25 espécies, pertencentes a oito subgêneros (151 - 73,7%) e quatro grupos (54 - 26,3%). A espécie Lutzomyia umbratilis foi a mais numerosa encontrando-se 21,0% (43) do total coletado. Nestas coletas foi registrada pela primeira vez no Amazonas e segunda no Brasil a espécie Lutzomyia preclara, coletada nos municípios de Caapiranga e Manacapuru

Role of mTOR-regulated autophagy in spine pruning defects and memory impairments induced by binge-like ethanol treatment in adolescent mice

Adolescence is a brain maturation developmental period during which remodeling and changes in synaptic plasticity and neural connectivity take place in some brain regions. Different mechanism participates in adolescent brain maturation, including autophagy that plays a role in synaptic development and plasticity. Alcohol is a neurotoxic compound and its abuse in adolescence induces neuroinflammation, synaptic and myelin alterations, neural damage and behavioral impairments. Changes in synaptic plasticity and its regulation by mTOR have also been suggested to play a role in the behavioral dysfunction of binge ethanol drinking in adolescence. Therefore, by considering the critical role of mTOR in both autophagy and synaptic plasticity in the developing brain, the present study aims to evaluate whether binge ethanol treatment in adolescence would induce dysfunctions in synaptic plasticity and cognitive functions and if mTOR inhibition with rapamycin is capable of restoring both effects. Using C57BL/6 adolescent female and male mice (PND30) treated with ethanol (3 g/kg) on two consecutive days at 48-hour intervals over 2 weeks, we show that binge ethanol treatment alters the density and morphology of dendritic spines, effects that are associated with learning and memory impairments and changes in the levels of both transcription factor CREB phosphorylation and miRNAs. Rapamycin administration (3 mg/kg) prior to ethanol administration restores ethanol-induced changes in both plasticity and behavior dysfunctions in adolescent mice. These results support the critical role of mTOR/autophagy dysfunctions in the dendritic spines alterations and cognitive alterations induced by binge alcohol in adolescence

Soda-lime glass as biocompatible material to fabricate capillary-model devices by laser technologies

Microfluidic devices have been widely developed in the last decades because of the huge number of fields where they can be applied. Among all the different fabrication techniques available, laser direct writing stands out since it is a fast, accurate, versatile and non-contact method. It is particularly well-suited when working with glass, a robust and cost-efficient material. These laser advantages allow the direct fabrication of not only high quality single microchannel devices but also complex and bifurcated structures. This work establishes a roadmap for manufacturing capillary-model devices with good biocompability in soda-lime glass substrates with pulsed lasers operating in the nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond temporal range. We determine the optimal laser parameters required for fabricating channels with a diameter:depth rate of 2:1, keeping a semi-circular section. The presence of tin doping (∼2%) in the soda-lime glass is shown to enable the fabrication with nanosecond pulses, and to improve the quality of the channels, reducing the cracking at the sides, when picosecond or femtosecond pulses were used. On the other hand, two regimes of surface roughness are found: a low roughness regime for channels fabricated with nanosecond lasers and a high roughness regime for those fabricated with pico and femtosecond lasers. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) are employed for cell culturing for evaluating the biocompatibility of the channels. Structures manufactured with the nanosecond laser resulted more suitable in terms of cell adhesion than those fabricated with the picosecond and femtosecond lasers, due to the different surface roughness regimes obtained. In order to increase the biocompatibility of the channels fabricated with pico and femtosecond lasers and to improve the cell growth, a controlled post-thermal treatment is carried out for smoothing the surface