Influence of freestream turbulence on the near-field growth of a turbulent cylinder wake: Turbulent entrainment and wake meandering

he effect of freestream turbulence on the spreading of the near wake of a circular cylinder (<11 cylinder diameters from the rear face of the cylinder) is investigated through particle image velocimetry data. Different “flavors” of freestream turbulence, in which the turbulence intensity and integral length scale are independently varied, are subjected to the cylinder. The time-averaged spreading of the near wake is decoupled into the growth through entrainment of background fluid and the envelope of the spatial extent of the instantaneous wake due to wake “meandering,” induced by the presence of large-scale vortical coherent structures, i.e., the von Kármán vortex street. Unlike for the far-field of a turbulent wake, examined by Kankanwadi and Buxton [J. Fluid Mech. 905, A35 (2020)], it is shown that freestream turbulence enhances the entrainment rate into the wake in comparison to a nonturbulent background. Furthermore, both the turbulence intensity and the integral length scale of the background turbulence are important in this regard, further contrasting to the far wake where only the turbulence intensity is important. Additionally, wake meandering is enhanced by the presence of background turbulence, and here the integral length scale is the dominant parameter. Combining these findings yields the oft-reported result that background turbulence enhances the time-averaged near-wake growth rate. The influence of wake meandering is isolated by conducting similar experiments in which a splitter plate is mounted to the rear face of the cylinder, thereby eliminating the von Kármán vortex street. These results show that when large-scale vortices are not present within the turbulent wake then freestream turbulence actually suppresses the entrainment rate, relative to a nonturbulent background, in results that mirror Kankanwadi and Buxton [J. Fluid Mech. 905, A35 (2020)]. We therefore postulate that freestream turbulence has the effect to enhance large-scale entrainment via engulfment, but suppress entrainment via small-scale nibbling. Finally, we observe that the presence of freestream turbulence occasionally leads to a transient elimination of vortex shedding, an effect that is bound to have consequences on the instantaneous entrainment rate as outlined above

Turbulent entrainment into a cylinder wake from a turbulent background

The effects of background turbulence on the entrainment process, as well as the nature of the interfacial region between two bodies of turbulent fluid, was examined through an investigation of the far-wake of a circular cylinder that is subjected to free-stream turbulence. Simultaneous particle image velocimetry and planar laser induced fluorescence measurements were conducted 40 diameters downstream of the cylinder. Despite the availability of turbulent, rotational fluid in the background, the outer interface between the wake and the ambient fluid exhibits an enstrophy jump akin to the classical result of a turbulent/non-turbulent interface. This jump at the wake boundary persists even when the intensity of the background turbulence is greater than the turbulence intensity of the wake itself. Analysis on the structure of the wake boundary reveals that an increase in background turbulence intensity, results in an increased interfacial surface area relative to the non-turbulent case. However, instead of the intuitive result of increased entrainment as a result of increased surface area, a reduction in mean entrainment mass flux is observed with increased background turbulence intensity. Through the analysis of the flux probability density functions, the reduction in mean entrainment can be attributed to a tip in balance of extreme entrainment and detrainment events to the detrainment side in the presence of background turbulence. Lastly, a scale by scale analysis of entrainment behaviour revealed that free-stream turbulence affects entrainment behaviour across all length scales and isn’t just limited to the energy containing scales

Nutriepigenetics and cardiovascular disease

Purpose of review: We present a current perspective of epigenetic alterations that can lead to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the potential of dietary factors to counteract their actions. In addition, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of dietary treatments as epigenetic modifiers for disease prevention and therapy. Recent findings: Recent epigenome-wide association studies along with candidate gene approaches and functional studies in cell culture and animal models have delineated mechanisms through which nutrients, food compounds and dietary patterns may affect the epigenome. Several risk factors for CVD, including adiposity, inflammation and oxidative stress, have been associated with changes in histone acetylation, lower global DNA methylation levels and shorter telomere length. A surplus of macronutrients such as in a high-fat diet or deficiencies of specific nutrients such as folate and other B-vitamins can affect the activity of DNA methyltransferases and histone-modifying enzymes, affecting foetal growth, glucose/lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation and atherosclerosis. Bioactive compounds such as polyphenols (resveratrol, curcumin) or epigallocatechin may activate deacetylases Sirtuins (SIRTs), histone deacetylases or acetyltransferases and in turn the response of inflammatory mediators. Adherence to cardioprotective dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), has been associated with altered methylation and expression of genes related to inflammation and immuno-competence. Summary: The mechanisms through which nutrients and dietary patterns may alter the cardiovascular epigenome remain elusive. The research challenge is to determine which of these nutriepigenetic effects are rev

Kondo physics in a dissipative environment

We report nonperturbative results for the interacting quantum-critical behavior in a Bose-Fermi Kondo model describing a spin-1/2 coupled both to a fermionic band with a pseudogap density of states and to a dissipative bosonic bath. The model serves as a paradigm for studying the interplay between Kondo physics and low-energy dissipative modes in strongly correlated systems.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings of The International Conference on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems (SCES'07), accepted for publication in Physica

Understanding the fidelity effect when evaluating games with children

There have been a number of studies that have compared evaluation results from prototypes of different fidelities but very few of these are with children. This paper reports a comparative study of three prototypes ranging from low fidelity to high fidelity within the context of mobile games, using a between subject design with 37 participants aged 7 to 9. The children played a matching game on either an iPad, a paper prototype using screen shots of the actual game or a sketched version. Observational data was captured to establish the usability problems, and two tools from the Fun Toolkit were used to measure user experience. The results showed that there was little difference for user experience between the three prototypes and very few usability problems were unique to a specific prototype. The contribution of this paper is that children using low-fidelity prototypes can effectively evaluate games of this genre and style

An ABC transporter containing a forkhead-associated domain interacts with a serine-threonine protein kinase and is required for growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice

Forkhead-associated (FHA) domains are modular phosphopeptide recognition motifs with a striking preference for phosphothreonine-containing epitopes. FHA domains have been best characterized in eukaryotic signaling pathways but have been identified in six proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative organism of tuberculosis. One of these, coded by gene Rv1747, is an ABC transporter and the only one to contain two such modules. A deletion mutant of Rv1747 is attenuated in a mouse intravenous injection model of tuberculosis where the bacterial load of the mutant is 10-fold lower than that of the wild type in both lungs and spleen. In addition, growth of the mutant in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages and dendritic cells is significantly impaired. In contrast, growth of this mutant in vitro was indistinguishable from that of the wild type. The mutant phenotype was lost when the mutation was complemented by the wild-type allele, confirming that it was due to mutation of Rv1747. Using yeast two-hybrid analysis, we have shown that the Rv1747 protein interacts with the serine-threonine protein kinase PknF. This interaction appears to be phospho-dependent since it is abrogated in a kinase-dead mutant and by mutations in the presumed activation loop of PknF and in the first FHA domain of Rv1747. These results demonstrate that the protein coded by Rv1747 is required for normal virulent infection by M. tuberculosis in mice and, since it interacts with a serine-threonine protein kinase in a kinase-dependent manner, indicate that it forms part of an important phospho-dependent signaling pathway

Large-N limit of a magnetic impurity in unconventional density waves

We investigate the effect of unconventional density wave (UDW) condensate on an Anderson impurity using large-N technique at T=0. In accordance with previous treatments of a Kondo impurity in pseudogap phases, we find that Kondo effect occurs only in a certain range of parameters. The f-electron density of states reflects the influence of UDW at low energies and around the maximum of the density wave gap. The static spin susceptibility diverges at the critical coupling, indicating the transition from strong to weak coupling. In the dynamic spin susceptibility an additional peak appears showing the presence the UDW gap. Predictions concerning non-linear density of states are made. Our results apply to other unconventional condensates such as d-wave superconductors and d-density waves as well.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

The "universal" radio/X-ray flux correlation : the case study of the black hole GX 339-4

The existing radio and X-ray flux correlation for Galactic black holes in the hard and quiescent states relies on a sample which is mostly dominated by two sources (GX 339-4 and V404 Cyg) observed in a single outburst. In this paper, we report on a series of radio and X-ray observations of the recurrent black hole GX 339-4 with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and the Swift satellites. With our new long term campaign, we now have a total of 88 quasi-simultaneous radio and X-ray observations of GX 339-4 during its hard state, covering a total of seven outbursts over a 15--year period. Our new measurements represent the largest sample for a stellar mass black hole, without any bias from distance uncertainties, over the largest flux variations and down to a level that could be close to quiescence, making GX 339-4 the reference source for comparison with other accreting sources (black holes, neutrons stars, white dwarfs and active galactic nuclei). Our results demonstrate a very strong and stable coupling between radio and X-ray emission, despite several outbursts of different nature and separated by a period of quiescence. The radio and X-ray luminosity correlation of the form L_X ~L_Rad^0.62 +/-0.01 confirms the non-linear coupling between the jet and the inner accretion flow powers and better defines the standard correlation track in the radio-X-ray diagram for stellar mass black holes. We further note epochs of deviations from the fit that significantly exceed the measurement uncertainties, especially during the formation and destruction of the compact jets ...[abridged]. We incorporated our new data in a more global study of black hole candidates strongly supporting a scale invariance in the jet-accretion coupling of accreting black holes, and confirms the existence of two populations of sources in the radio/X-ray diagram.Comment: Paper accepted in MNRAS. 18 pages, 9 figure

Ground State Properties of Anderson Impurity in a Gapless Host

Using the Bethe ansatz method, we study the ground state properties of a $U\to\infty$ Anderson impurity in a ``gapless'' host, where a density of band states vanishes at the Fermi level $\epsilon_F$ as $|\epsilon-\epsilon_F|$. As in metals, the impurity spin is proven to be screened at arbitrary parameters of the system. However, the impurity occupancy as a function of the bare impurity energy is shown to acquire novel qualitative features which demonstrate a nonuniversal behavior of the system. The latter explains why the Kondo screening is absent (or exists only at quite a large electron-impurity coupling) in earlier studies based on scaling arguments.Comment: 5 pages, no figure, RevTe