Investigations of three dimensional flow characteristics in a three bladed rocket pump inducer

Because of the long and narrow passages between the blades of a rocket pump inducer, major effects from turbulence and viscosity make the flow through such a device truly three-dimensional and therefore difficult to measure or predict. To investigate the flow characteristics, conventional and three-dimensional hot-wire probe measurements were conducted in a model inducer 3 ft in diameter. Blade-to-blade variation of the three components of velocity at the exit and the corresponding turbulence intensities were obtained by means of hotwire probes aligned in the three coordinate directions. Analysis of the three-dimensional inviscid flow field led to qualitative prediction of the flow characteristics. Extensive measurements and theoretical analyses of the flow field showed that blade blockage, viscosity, and blade boundary layer interactions are the dominant influences on flow in this type of turbomachinery

Three dimensional analysis and measurement of the flow in a three bladed rocket pump inducer

Three dimensional analysis and measurement of flow in three bladed pump inducer for liquid rocket engin

Investigations and analysis of flow phenomena in axial flow inducers Semiannual progress report

Three bladed inducer and boundary layer measurements inside rotating helical blad

Copper Heat Exchanger for the External Auxiliary Bus-Bars Routing Line in the LHC Insertion Regions

The corrector magnets and the main quadrupoles of the LHC dispersion suppressors are powered by a special superconducting line (called auxiliary bus-bars line N), external to the cold mass and housed in a 50 mm diameter stainless steel tube fixed to the cold mass. As the line is periodically connected to the cold mass, the same gaseous and liquid helium cools both the magnets and the line. The final sub-cooling process (from around 4.5 K down to 1.9 K) consists in the phase transformation from liquid to superfluid helium. Heat is extracted from the line through the magnets via their point of junction. In dispersion suppressor zones, approximately 40 m long, the sub-cooling of the line is slightly delayed with respect to the magnets. This might have an impact on the readiness of the accelerator for operation. In order to accelerate the process, a special heat exchanger has been designed. It is located in the middle of the dispersion suppressor portion of the line. Its main function consists in providing a local point of heat extraction, creating two additional lambda fronts that propagate in opposite directions towards the extremities of the line. Both the numerical model and the sub-cooling analysis are presented in the paper for different configurations of the line. The design, manufacturing and integration aspects of the heat exchanger are described

Core genome multilocus sequence typing of Clostridioides difficile to investigate transmission in the hospital setting.

Traditional epidemiological investigations of healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile infection (HA-CDI) are often insufficient. This study aimed to evaluate a procedure that includes secondary isolation and genomic typing of single toxigenic colonies using core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) for the investigation of C. difficile transmission. We analyzed retrospectively all toxigenic C. difficile-positive stool samples stored at the Lausanne University Hospital over 6 consecutive months. All isolates were initially typed and classified using a modified double-locus sequence typing (DLST) method. Genome comparison of isolates with the same DLST and clustering were subsequently performed using cgMLST. The electronic administrative records of patients with CDI were investigated for spatiotemporal epidemiological links supporting hospital transmission. A comparative descriptive analysis between genomic and epidemiological data was then performed. From January to June 2021, 86 C. difficile isolates were recovered from thawed samples of 71 patients. Thirteen different DLST types were shared by > 1 patient, and 13 were observed in single patients. A genomic cluster was defined as a set of isolates from different patients with ≤ 3 locus differences, determined by cgMLST. Seven genomic clusters were identified, among which plausible epidemiological links were identified in only 4/7 clusters. Among clusters determined by cgMLST analysis, roughly 40% included unexplained HA-CDI acquisitions, which may be explained by unidentified epidemiological links, asymptomatic colonization, and/or shared common community reservoirs. The use of DLST, followed by whole genome sequencing analysis, is a promising and cost-effective stepwise approach for the investigation of CDI transmission in the hospital setting

Molecular typing of Clostridioides difficile from frozen stool samples to investigate cross-transmissions: A proof of concept.

Toxigenic Clostridioides difficile is responsible for up to one third of post antibiotic diarrhea and for more than 95% of pseudomembranous colitis. Nowadays, diagnosis relies on the documentation of the presence of the toxin in stools by specific antigenic or PCR tests. Stool cultures have been mostly abandoned, leading to the absence of isolates for further epidemiological analyses. Aliquots of stool samples, frozen for up to two years, were thawed and inoculated onto commercial C. difficile media. Eighteen stools were recovered from patients hospitalized in the pediatric ward where at that time a chain of transmission was suspected. Eleven stools were recovered from patients hospitalized in a medical ward over a three months period with no suspected transmission event. Up to 16 characteristic colonies were isolates per culture. PCR of toxins genes and molecular typing by Double Locus Sequence Typing (DLST) were performed on these colonies. Whole genome multi locus sequence typing (wgMLST) was performed on selected isolates. Among the 29 stool specimens, no growth was observed for four stools and only one colony grew for one stool. Except the latter, all 16 colonies of the 24 stools showed identical toxin genes profiles than the original stool. However, variant DLST genotypes was observed within 20% of investigated stools. The majority of variants were single locus variant due to an IN/DEL of the repeat in one of the two DLST locus. Despite this variation, results of molecular typing overrule the putative transmission chain in the pediatric ward and revealed undetected chains of transmission in the medical ward. These results were confirmed with wgMLST. The developed protocol allows prospective and retrospective molecular and genomic epidemiological investigation of C. difficile infections for infection control purpose

Phylogeography of Rattus norvegicus in the South Atlantic Ocean

Acknowledgments Funding for sample collection was provided by the Shackleton Scholarship Fund, Antarctic Research Trust, the Wyoming Biodiversity Institute, PVE/CAPES (Proposal 235453) and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/88854/2012). Thanks to Martin Collins, Andy Black, Darren Christie and the Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands for the provision of samples from South Georgia, Annalea Beard for providing the rat sample from St Helena Island, Joaquim Tapisso, Rita Monarca and Ana Cerveira for samples from Portugal, and Emily Puckett for help validating South American SNP haplotypes. Funding for DNA sequencing was provided by Island LandCare, the University of Auckland. Thanks to two anonymous reviewers for the constructive comments.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Burnout in the ICU : potential consequences for staff and patient well-being

Peer reviewedAuthor versio