287 research outputs found
1,3-Butadiene: linking metabolism, dosimetry, and mutation induction.
There is increasing concern for the potential adverse health effects of human exposures to chemical mixtures. To better understand the complex interactions of chemicals within a mixture, it is essential to develop a research strategy which provides the basis for extrapolating data from single chemicals to their behavior within the chemical mixture. 1,3-Butadiene (BD) represents an interesting case study in which new data are emerging that are critical for understanding interspecies differences in carcinogenic/genotoxic response to BD. Knowledge regarding mechanisms of BD-induced carcinogenicity provides the basis for assessing the potential effects of mixtures containing BD. BD is a multisite carcinogen in B6C3F1 mice and Sprague-Dawley rats. Mice exhibit high sensitivity relative to the rat to BD-induced tumorigenesis. Since it is likely that BD requires metabolic activation to mutagenic reactive epoxides that ultimately play a role in carcinogenicity of the chemical, a quantitative understanding of the balance of activation and inactivation is essential for improving our understanding and assessment of human risk following exposure to BD and chemical mixtures containing BD. Transgenic mice exposed to 625 ppm BD for 6 hr/day for 5 days exhibited significant mutagenicity in the lung, a target organ for the carcinogenic effect of BD in mice. In vitro studies designed to assess interspecies differences in the activation of BD and inactivation of BD epoxides reveal that significant differences exist among mice, rats, and humans. In general, the overall activation/detoxication ratio for BD metabolism was approximately 10-fold higher in mice compared to rats or humans.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
Tangling clustering of inertial particles in stably stratified turbulence
We have predicted theoretically and detected in laboratory experiments a new
type of particle clustering (tangling clustering of inertial particles) in a
stably stratified turbulence with imposed mean vertical temperature gradient.
In this stratified turbulence a spatial distribution of the mean particle
number density is nonuniform due to the phenomenon of turbulent thermal
diffusion, that results in formation of a gradient of the mean particle number
density, \nabla N, and generation of fluctuations of the particle number
density by tangling of the gradient, \nabla N, by velocity fluctuations. The
mean temperature gradient, \nabla T, produces the temperature fluctuations by
tangling of the gradient, \nabla T, by velocity fluctuations. These
fluctuations increase the rate of formation of the particle clusters in small
scales. In the laboratory stratified turbulence this tangling clustering is
much more effective than a pure inertial clustering that has been observed in
isothermal turbulence. In particular, in our experiments in oscillating grid
isothermal turbulence in air without imposed mean temperature gradient, the
inertial clustering is very weak for solid particles with the diameter 10
microns and Reynolds numbers Re =250. Our theoretical predictions are in a good
agreement with the obtained experimental results.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, REVTEX4, revised versio
Dynamics and statistics of heavy particles in turbulent flows
We present the results of Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of turbulent
flows seeded with millions of passive inertial particles. The maximum Taylor's
Reynolds number is around 200. We consider particles much heavier than the
carrier flow in the limit when the Stokes drag force dominates their dynamical
evolution. We discuss both the transient and the stationary regimes. In the
transient regime, we study the growt of inhomogeneities in the particle spatial
distribution driven by the preferential concentration out of intense vortex
filaments. In the stationary regime, we study the acceleration fluctuations as
a function of the Stokes number in the range [0.16:3.3]. We also compare our
results with those of pure fluid tracers (St=0) and we find a critical behavior
of inertia for small Stokes values. Starting from the pure monodisperse
statistics we also characterize polydisperse suspensions with a given mean
Stokes.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 2 table
Statistical conservation laws in turbulent transport
We address the statistical theory of fields that are transported by a
turbulent velocity field, both in forced and in unforced (decaying)
experiments. We propose that with very few provisos on the transporting
velocity field, correlation functions of the transported field in the forced
case are dominated by statistically preserved structures. In decaying
experiments (without forcing the transported fields) we identify infinitely
many statistical constants of the motion, which are obtained by projecting the
decaying correlation functions on the statistically preserved functions. We
exemplify these ideas and provide numerical evidence using a simple model of
turbulent transport. This example is chosen for its lack of Lagrangian
structure, to stress the generality of the ideas
Turbulent thermal diffusion in a multi-fan turbulence generator with the imposed mean temperature gradient
We studied experimentally the effect of turbulent thermal diffusion in a
multi-fan turbulence generator which produces a nearly homogeneous and
isotropic flow with a small mean velocity. Using Particle Image Velocimetry and
Image Processing techniques we showed that in a turbulent flow with an imposed
mean vertical temperature gradient (stably stratified flow) particles
accumulate in the regions with the mean temperature minimum. These experiments
detected the effect of turbulent thermal diffusion in a multi-fan turbulence
generator for relatively high Reynolds numbers. The experimental results are in
compliance with the results of the previous experimental studies of turbulent
thermal diffusion in oscillating grids turbulence (Buchholz et al. 2004;
Eidelman et al. 2004). We demonstrated that turbulent thermal diffusion is an
universal phenomenon. It occurs independently of the method of turbulence
generation, and the qualitative behavior of particle spatial distribution in
these very different turbulent flows is similar. Competition between turbulent
fluxes caused by turbulent thermal diffusion and turbulent diffusion determines
the formation of particle inhomogeneities.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure, REVTEX4, Experiments in Fluids, in pres
Turbulent Diffusion and Turbulent Thermal Diffusion of Aerosols in Stratified Atmospheric Flows
The paper analyzes the phenomenon of turbulent thermal diffusion in the Earth
atmosphere, its relation to the turbulent diffusion and its potential impact on
aerosol distribution. This phenomenon was predicted theoretically more than 10
years ago and detected recently in the laboratory experiments. This effect
causes a non-diffusive flux of aerosols in the direction of the heat flux and
results in formation of long-living aerosol layers in the vicinity of
temperature inversions. We demonstrated that the theory of turbulent thermal
diffusion explains the GOMOS aerosol observations near the tropopause (i.e.,
the observed shape of aerosol vertical profiles with elevated concentrations
located almost symmetrically with respect to temperature profile). In
combination with the derived expression for the dependence of the turbulent
thermal diffusion ratio on the turbulent diffusion, these measurements yield an
independent method for determining the coefficient of turbulent diffusion at
the tropopause. We evaluated the impact of turbulent thermal diffusion to the
lower-troposphere vertical profiles of aerosol concentration by means of
numerical dispersion modelling, and found a regular upward forcing of aerosols
with coarse particles affected stronger than fine aerosols.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure
Zonal circulation across 52°W in the North Atlantic
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 109 (2004): C11008, doi:10.1029/2003JC002103.In July–August 1997, a hydrographic/Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)/tracer section was occupied along 52°W in the North Atlantic as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment Hydrographic Program. Underway and lowered ADCP (LADCP) data have been used to reference geostrophic velocities calculated from the hydrographic data; additional (small) velocity adjustments provided by an inverse model, constraining mass and silicate transports in 17 neutral density layers, yield the absolute zonal velocity field for 52°W. We find a vigorous circulation throughout the entire section, with an unusually strong Gulf Stream (169 Sv) and southern Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC; 64 Sv) at the time of the cruise. At the northern boundary, on the west side of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, we find the westward flowing Labrador Current (8.6 Sv), whose continuity from the Labrador Sea, east of our section, has been disputed. Directly to the south we identify the slopewater current (12.5 Sv eastward) and northern DWBC (12.5 Sv westward). Strong departures from strictly zonal flow in the interior, which are found in the LADCP data, make it difficult to diagnose the circulation there. Isolated deep property extrema in the southern portion, associated with alternating bands of eastward and westward flow, are consistent with the idea that the rough topography of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, directly east of our section, causes enhanced mixing of Antarctic Bottom Water properties into overlying waters with distinctly different properties. We calculate heat and freshwater fluxes crossing 52°W that exceed estimates based on air-sea exchanges by a factor of 1.7.This work was supported by NSF grants
OCE95-29607, OCE 95-31864, OCE98-18266, and OCE-0219644
Coherent Structures at the Ocean Surface in Convectively Unstable Conditions
The turbulent boundary layer at the ocean surface has some dynamical similarities to the atmospheric boundary layer. The atmospheric turbulent boundary layer may exhibit not only random fluctuations but also spatially coherent, organized motion. Thorpe conjectured that such organized motion should also be found in the upper ocean boundary layer in convectively unstable conditions. Here I report on observations made in the tropical Atlantic Ocean which confirm this view. Horizontal temperature profiles obtained at a depth of 2m at night revealed ramp-like structures. Vertical velocity profiles in the upper few metres of the ocean was determined using a free-rising profiler, and exhibited abrupt changes corresponding to sudden changes in temperature. These features are known to be characteristic of spatially coherent, organized motions in turbulent boundary layers
Perturbation theory for large Stokes number particles in random velocity fields
We derive a perturbative approach to study, in the large inertia limit, the
dynamics of solid particles in a smooth, incompressible and finite-time
correlated random velocity field. We carry on an expansion in powers of the
inverse square root of the Stokes number, defined as the ratio of the
relaxation time for the particle velocities and the correlation time of the
velocity field. We describe in this limit the residual concentration
fluctuations of the particle suspension, and determine the contribution to the
collision statistics produced by clustering. For both concentration
fluctuations and collision velocities, we analyze the differences with the
compressible one-dimensional case.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 2 eps figures include
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