Flow over the Mid Adriatic Pit

The influence of the Mid Adriatic Pit (MAP) on the general circulation of the Adriatic is explored through numerical simulations. The numerical code used is the DieCAST model specifically modified for application to the Adriatic Sea. A ten-year simulation is performed and the ability of the model to capture important features of the Adriatic circulation is demonstrated. A series of numerical experiments on the importance of the MAP on the general circulation is performed. It is demonstrated that the current over the northern flank of the MAP, which flows from the Croatian toward the Italian coast, is primarily a topographic current and that such a current would reverse direction if the gradient of the bathymetry were reversed

Flow over the Mid Adriatic Pit

The influence of the Mid Adriatic Pit (MAP) on the general circulation of the Adriatic is explored through numerical simulations. The numerical code used is the DieCAST model specifically modified for application to the Adriatic Sea. A ten-year simulation is performed and the ability of the model to capture important features of the Adriatic circulation is demonstrated. A series of numerical experiments on the importance of the MAP on the general circulation is performed. It is demonstrated that the current over the northern flank of the MAP, which flows from the Croatian toward the Italian coast, is primarily a topographic current and that such a current would reverse direction if the gradient of the bathymetry were reversed

Celiac vagus nerve stimulation recapitulates angiotensin II-induced splenic noradrenergic activation, driving egress of CD8 effector cells

Angiotensin II (AngII) is a peptide hormone that affects the cardiovascular system, not only through typical effects on the vasculature, kidneys, and heart, but also through less understood roles mediated by the brain and the immune system. Here, we address the hard-wired neural connections within the autonomic nervous system that modulate splenic immunity. Chronic AngII infusion triggers burst firing of the vagus nerve celiac efferent, an effect correlated with noradrenergic activation in the spleen and T cell egress. Bioelectronic stimulation of the celiac vagus nerve, in the absence of other challenges and independently from afferent signals to the brain, evokes the noradrenergic splenic pathway to promote release of a growth factor mediating neuroimmune crosstalk, placental growth factor (PlGF), and egress of CD8 effector T cells. Our findings also indicate that the neuroimmune interface mediated by PlGF and necessary for transducing the neural signal into an effective immune response is dependent on α-adrenergic receptor signaling

Generation of non-synchronous accelerograms for evaluate the seismic bridge response, including local site amplification.

Non-synchronous seismic actions particularly affect the behaviour of infrastructures with significant longitudinal extension, as bridges, interacting with the soil at surface or below ground level. Some authors state that non synchronism may increase by a large amount the structural response. Several acceleration records relative to different points of the ground with different soil profiles at distances meaningful for bridge analyses, are not available in data banks. The objective of this work is the generation of arrays of asynchronous signals at different points in space, starting from natural accelerograms related to a given seismic event, to increase the number of the available data. The computer code GAS has been modified to use natural accelerograms. The procedure has been applied to a real case, L’Aquila main-shock, for which records in different points of the free field are known

Production of Gaseous Carriers Via Biomass Gasification for Energy Purposes

AbstractIt is under development a biomass gasification plant based on a 1 MWth bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) reactor with internal recirculation. Compared to conventional BFB design, the mechanism of internal circulation of solids can give beneficial effect to the process in terms of biomass conversion efficiency into gaseous product and gas quality. A model describing the process of biomass gasification in the two reaction chambers was developed. Expected results were preliminarily validated by experimental results obtained at a bench scale facility working on the same gasification concept

Mechanistic Insights into the Modulation of Voltage-Gated Ion Channels by Inhalational Anesthetics

AbstractGeneral anesthesia is a relatively safe medical procedure, which for nearly 170 years has allowed life saving surgical interventions in animals and people. However, the molecular mechanism of general anesthesia continues to be a matter of importance and debate. A favored hypothesis proposes that general anesthesia results from direct multisite interactions with multiple and diverse ion channels in the brain. Neurotransmitter-gated ion channels and two-pore K+ channels are key players in the mechanism of anesthesia; however, new studies have also implicated voltage-gated ion channels. Recent biophysical and structural studies of Na+ and K+ channels strongly suggest that halogenated inhalational general anesthetics interact with gates and pore regions of these ion channels to modulate function. Here, we review these studies and provide a perspective to stimulate further advances

Nontrivial Polydispersity Exponents in Aggregation Models

We consider the scaling solutions of Smoluchowski's equation of irreversible aggregation, for a non gelling collision kernel. The scaling mass distribution f(s) diverges as s^{-tau} when s->0. tau is non trivial and could, until now, only be computed by numerical simulations. We develop here new general methods to obtain exact bounds and good approximations of $\tau$. For the specific kernel KdD(x,y)=(x^{1/D}+y^{1/D})^d, describing a mean-field model of particles moving in d dimensions and aggregating with conservation of ``mass'' s=R^D (R is the particle radius), perturbative and nonperturbative expansions are derived. For a general kernel, we find exact inequalities for tau and develop a variational approximation which is used to carry out the first systematic study of tau(d,D) for KdD. The agreement is excellent both with the expansions we derived and with existing numerical values. Finally, we discuss a possible application to 2d decaying turbulence.Comment: 16 pages (multicol.sty), 6 eps figures (uses epsfig), Minor corrections. Notations improved, as published in Phys. Rev. E 55, 546

Exploring volatile general anesthetic binding to a closed membrane-bound bacterial voltage-gated sodium channel via computation.

Despite the clinical ubiquity of anesthesia, the molecular basis of anesthetic action is poorly understood. Amongst the many molecular targets proposed to contribute to anesthetic effects, the voltage gated sodium channels (VGSCs) should also be considered relevant, as they have been shown to be sensitive to all general anesthetics tested thus far. However, binding sites for VGSCs have not been identified. Moreover, the mechanism of inhibition is still largely unknown. The recently reported atomic structures of several members of the bacterial VGSC family offer the opportunity to shed light on the mechanism of action of anesthetics on these important ion channels. To this end, we have performed a molecular dynamics flooding simulation on a membrane-bound structural model of the archetypal bacterial VGSC, NaChBac in a closed pore conformation. This computation allowed us to identify binding sites and access pathways for the commonly used volatile general anesthetic, isoflurane. Three sites have been characterized with binding affinities in a physiologically relevant range. Interestingly, one of the most favorable sites is in the pore of the channel, suggesting that the binding sites of local and general anesthetics may overlap. Surprisingly, even though the activation gate of the channel is closed, and therefore the pore and the aqueous compartment at the intracellular side are disconnected, we observe binding of isoflurane in the central cavity. Several sampled association and dissociation events in the central cavity provide consistent support to the hypothesis that the fenestrations present in the membrane-embedded region of the channel act as the long-hypothesized hydrophobic drug access pathway

Air/methane mixture ignition with Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) and comparison with spark ignition

The possibility to ignite the single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) containing impurities of iron in atmosphere once exposed to the radiation of a flash camera was observed for the first time in 2002. Afterwards, it was proposed to exploit this property in order to use nanostructured materials as ignition agents for fuel mixtures. Finally, in 2011 it was shown that SWCNTs can be effectively used as ignition source for an air/ethylene mixture filling a constant volume combustion chamber; the observed combustion presented the characteristics of a homogeneous-like combustion. In this paper a system for the ignition of an air/methane mixture is proposed, based on the exposition of multi wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to a low consumption flash camera. Namely, several experiments have been run in which 20 mg of MWCNTs, containing 75% in weight of ferrocene, have been added to an air/methane fuel mixture inside a constant volume combustion chamber. The mixture has been heated up to 373 K and the onset pressure was set equal to 3 bar. The experiments have been run varying the equivalence ratio in the range 1–2. The combustion process so realized has been compared to that obtained igniting the mixture with a traditional spark as in spark ignition engines. The comparison has been based on chamber pressure measurement as well as combustion process images, both sampled at a frequency equal to 2,5 kHz for an overall duration of 1.8 s. Results confirm that the ignition triggered with MWCNTs leads to a homogeneous-like combustion, without observing a well-defined flame front propagation. The contrary is observed, as expected, with the spark assisted ignition. Moreover, dynamic pressure measurements show that, compared to spark assisted ignition, the MWCNTs photo-ignition determines a more rapid pressure gradient and a higher peak pressure which corresponds to a higher energy release rate