Remarks on relations between penalty and mixed finite element methods for a class of variational inequalities

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50090/1/1620151010_ftp.pd

Impact of thixotropy on flow patterns induced in a stirred tank : numerical and experimental studies

Agitation of a thixotropic shear-thinning fluid exhibiting a yield stress is investigated both experimentally and via simulations. Steady-state experiments are conducted at three impeller rotation rates (1, 2 and 8 s−1) for a tank stirred with an axial-impeller and flow-field measurements are made using particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. Threedimensional numerical simulations are also performed using the commercial CFD code ANSYS CFX10.0. The viscosity of the suspension is determined experimentally and is modelled using two shear-dependant laws, one of which takes into account the flow instabilities of such fluids at low shear rates. At the highest impeller speed, the flow exhibits the familiar outward pumping action associated with axial-flow impellers. However, as the impeller speed decreases, a cavern is formed around the impeller, the flow generated in the vicinity of the agitator reorganizes and its pumping capacity vanishes. An unusual flow pattern, where the radial velocity dominates, is observed experimentally at the lowest stirring speed. It is found to result from wall slip effects. Using blades with rough surfaces prevents this peculiar behaviour and mainly resolves the discrepancies between the experimental and computational results

The vortex method with finite elements

summar

Cloning of the koi herpesvirus (KHV) gene encoding thymidine kinase and its use for a highly sensitive PCR based diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Outbreaks with mass mortality among common carp Cyprinus carpio carpio and koi Cyprinus carpio koi have occurred worldwide since 1998. The herpes-like virus isolated from diseased fish is different from Herpesvirus cyprini and channel catfish virus and was accordingly designated koi herpesvirus (KHV). Diagnosis of KHV infection based on viral isolation and current PCR assays has a limited sensitivity and therefore new tools for the diagnosis of KHV infections are necessary. RESULTS: A robust and sensitive PCR assay based on a defined gene sequence of KHV was developed to improve the diagnosis of KHV infection. From a KHV genomic library, a hypothetical thymidine kinase gene (TK) was identified, subcloned and expressed as a recombinant protein. Preliminary characterization of the recombinant TK showed that it has a kinase activity using dTTP but not dCTP as a substrate. A PCR assay based on primers selected from the defined DNA sequence of the TK gene was developed and resulted in a 409 bp amplified fragment. The TK based PCR assay did not amplify the DNAs of other fish herpesviruses such as Herpesvirus cyprini (CHV) and the channel catfish virus (CCV). The TK based PCR assay was specific for the detection of KHV and was able to detect as little as 10 fentograms of KHV DNA corresponding to 30 virions. The TK based PCR was compared to previously described PCR assays and to viral culture in diseased fish and was shown to be the most sensitive method of diagnosis of KHV infection. CONCLUSION: The TK based PCR assay developed in this work was shown to be specific for the detection of KHV. The TK based PCR assay was more sensitive for the detection of KHV than previously described PCR assays; it was as sensitive as virus isolation which is the golden standard method for KHV diagnosis and was able to detect as little as 10 fentograms of KHV DNA corresponding to 30 virions

Dimension and bases for geometrically continuous splines on surfaces of arbitrary topology

We analyze the space of geometrically continuous piecewise polynomial functions, or splines, for rectangular and triangular patches with arbitrary topology and general rational transition maps. To define these spaces of G 1 spline functions, we introduce the concept of topological surface with gluing data attached to the edges shared by faces. The framework does not require manifold constructions and is general enough to allow non-orientable surfaces. We describe compatibility conditions on the transition maps so that the space of differentiable functions is ample and show that these conditions are necessary and sufficient to construct ample spline spaces. We determine the dimension of the space of G1 spline functions which are of degree less than or equal to k on triangular pieces and of bi-degree less than or equal to (k, k) on rectangular pieces, for k big enough. A separability property on the edges is involved to obtain the dimension formula. An explicit construction of basis functions attached resspectively to vertices, edges and faces is proposed; examples of bases of G1 splines of small degree for topological surfaces with boundary and without boundary are detailed