Impact absorbing blade mounts for variable pitch blades

A variable pitch blade and blade mount are reported that are suitable for propellers, fans and the like and which have improved impact resistance. Composite fan blades and blade mounting arrangements permit the blades to pivot relative to a turbine hub about an axis generally parallel to the centerline of the engine upon impact of a large foreign object, such as a bird. Centrifugal force recovery becomes the principal energy absorbing mechanism and a blade having improved impact strength is obtained

Kinetics of Surfactant Adsorption at Fluid/Fluid Interfaces: Non-ionic Surfactants

We present a model treating the kinetics of adsorption of soluble surface-active molecules at the interface between an aqueous solution and another fluid phase. The model accounts for both the diffusive transport inside the solution and the kinetics taking place at the interface using a free-energy formulation. In addition, it offers a general method of calculating dynamic surface tensions. Non-ionic surfactants are shown, in general, to undergo a diffusion-limited adsorption, in accord with experimental findings.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, see also cond-mat/960814

Quantum tomography via equidistant states

We study the possibility of performing quantum state tomography via equidistant states. This class of states allows us to propose a non-symmetric informationally complete POVM based tomographic scheme. The scheme is defined for odd dimensions and involves an inversion which can be analytically carried out by Fourier transform

Shock waves in transonic channel flows at moderate Reynolds numbers

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76375/1/AIAA-9312-844.pd

Deformation of a nearly hemispherical conducting drop due to an electric field: theory and experiment

We consider, both theoretically and experimentally, the deformation due to an electric field of a pinned nearly-hemispherical static sessile drop of an ionic fluid with a high conductivity resting on the lower substrate of a parallel plate capacitor. Using both numerical and asymptotic approaches we find solutions to the coupled electrostatic and augmented Young–Laplace equations which agree very well with the experimental results. Our asymptotic solution for the drop interface extends previous work in two ways, namely to drops that have zero-field contact angles that are not exactly π/2 and to higher order in the applied electric field, and provides useful predictive equations for the changes in the height, contact angle and pressure as functions of the zero-field contact angle, drop radius, surface tension and applied electric field. The asymptotic solution requires some numerical computations, and so a surprisingly accurate approximate analytical asymptotic solution is also obtained

Higher Physiotherapy Frequency Is Associated with Shorter Length of Stay and Greater Functional Recovery in Hospitalized Frail Older Adults: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Extra physiotherapy has been associated with better outcomes in hospitalized patients, but this remains an under-researched area in geriatric medicine wards. We retrospectively studied the association between average physiotherapy frequency and outcomes in hospitalized geriatric patients. High frequency physiotherapy (HFP) was defined as ≥0.5 contacts/day. Of 358 eligible patients, 131 (36.6%) received low, and 227 (63.4%) HFP. Functional improvement (discharge versus admission) in the modified Rankin scale was greater in the HFP group (1.1 versus 0.7 points, P<0.001). The mean length of stay (LOS) of the HFP group was 6 days shorter (7 versus 13 days, P<0.001). After adjusting for age, gender, comorbidity (Charlson index), frailty (Clinical Frailty Scale), dementia and acute illness severity, HFP was an independent predictor of functional improvement, shorter LOS and likelihood of being discharged without a formal care package. Prospective research is needed to examine the effect of physiotherapy frequency and intensity in geriatric wards.Funding was not required for this study

Transonic small-disturbance theory for lightly loaded cascades

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76863/1/AIAA-7841-736.pd

Goserelin, as an ovarian protector during (neo)adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy, prevents long term altered bone turnover

Background: The Ovarian Protection Trial In Premenopausal Breast Cancer Patients “OPTION” trial (NCT00427245) was a prospective, multicenter, randomised, open label study evaluating the frequency of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) at 12 months in women randomised to 6–8 cycles of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) þ/ goserelin (G). Here we report the results of a secondary endpoint analysis of the effects of CTþ/-G on markers of bone turnover. Methods: Serum for bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP) and urine for N-terminal telopeptide (NTX) were collected at baseline, 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. Changes in median levels of bone turnover markers were evaluated for the overall population, according to age stratification at randomisation (r40 vs 440 years) and with exploratory analysis according to POI rates at 12 months. Results: In the overall population, there was a significant increase in NTX at 6 months compared to baseline in patients treated with CTþG (40.81 vs 57.82 p¼0.0074) with normalisation of levels thereafter. BALP was significantly increased compared to baseline at 6 months and 12 months in those receiving CTþG, but normalised thereafter. BALP remained significantly higher compared to baseline at 12, 24 and 36 months in patients receiving CT, resulting in a significant difference between treatment groups at 36 months (CTþG 5.845 vs CT 8.5 p¼0.0006). These changes were predominantly seen in women 440 years. Women with POI at 12 months showed altered bone formation compared to baseline levels for a longer duration than women who maintained menses. Conclusion: Addition of G to CT increases bone turnover during treatment with normalisation after cessation of treatment suggesting G may offer sufficient ovarian protection against CT induced POI to negate longstanding altered bone turnover associated with POI