13,739 research outputs found
Mechanism of margination in confined flows of blood and other multicomponent suspensions
Flowing blood displays a phenomenon called margination, in which leukocytes
and platelets are preferentially found near blood vessel walls, while
erythrocytes are depleted from these regions. Here margination is investigated
using direct hydrodynamic simulations of a binary suspension of stiff (s) and
floppy (f) capsules, as well as a stochastic model that incorporates the key
particle transport mechanisms in suspensions -- wall-induced hydrodynamic
migration and shear-induced pair collisions. The stochastic model allows the
relative importance of these two mechanisms to be directly evaluated and
thereby indicates that margination, at least in the dilute case, is largely due
to the differential dynamics of homogeneous (e.g. s-s) and heterogeneous (s-f)
collisionsComment: 5 Pages, 4 figure
Dosage compensation in birds
AbstractThe Z and W sex chromosomes of birds have evolved independently from the mammalian X and Y chromosomes [1]. Unlike mammals, female birds are heterogametic (ZW), while males are homogametic (ZZ). Therefore male birds, like female mammals, carry a double dose of sex-linked genes relative to the other sex. Other animals with nonhomologous sex chromosomes possess “dosage compensation” systems to equalize the expression of sex-linked genes. Dosage compensation occurs in animals as diverse as mammals, insects, and nematodes, although the mechanisms involved differ profoundly [2]. In birds, however, it is widely accepted that dosage compensation does not occur [3–5], and the differential expression of Z-linked genes has been suggested to underlie the avian sex-determination mechanism [6]. Here we show equivalent expression of at least six of nine Z chromosome genes in male and female chick embryos by using real-time quantitative PCR [7]. Only the Z-linked ScII gene, whose ortholog in Caenorhabditis elegans plays a crucial role in dosage compensation [8], escapes compensation by this assay. Our results imply that the majority of Z-linked genes in the chicken are dosage compensated
Deep shower interpretation of the cosmic ray events observed in excess of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin energy
We consider the possibility that the ultra-high-energy cosmic ray flux has a
small component of exotic particles which create showers much deeper in the
atmosphere than ordinary hadronic primaries. It is shown that applying the
conventional AGASA/HiRes/Auger data analysis procedures to such exotic events
results in large systematic biases in the energy spectrum measurement. SubGZK
exotic showers may be mis-reconstructed with much higher energies and mimick
superGZK events. Alternatively, superGZK exotic showers may elude detection by
conventional fluorescence analysis techniques.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Spurious diffusion in particle simulations of the Kolmogorov flow
Particle simulations of the Kolmogorov flow are analyzed by the
Landau-Lifshitz fluctuating hydrodynamics. It is shown that a spurious
diffusion of the center of mass corrupts the statistical properties of the
flow. The analytical expression for the corresponding diffusion coefficient is
derived.Comment: 10 pages, no figure
Multi-particle-collision dynamics: Flow around a circular and a square cylinder
A particle-based model for mesoscopic fluid dynamics is used to simulate
steady and unsteady flows around a circular and a square cylinder in a
two-dimensional channel for a range of Reynolds number between 10 and 130.
Numerical results for the recirculation length, the drag coefficient, and the
Strouhal number are reported and compared with previous experimental
measurements and computational fluid dynamics data. The good agreement
demonstrates the potential of this method for the investigation of complex
flows.Comment: 6 pages, separated figures in .jpg format, to be published in
Europhysics Letter
Lattice-Boltzmann Method for Non-Newtonian Fluid Flows
We study an ad hoc extension of the Lattice-Boltzmann method that allows the
simulation of non-Newtonian fluids described by generalized Newtonian models.
We extensively test the accuracy of the method for the case of shear-thinning
and shear-thickening truncated power-law fluids in the parallel plate geometry,
and show that the relative error compared to analytical solutions decays
approximately linear with the lattice resolution. Finally, we also tested the
method in the reentrant-flow geometry, in which the shear-rate is no-longer a
scalar and the presence of two singular points requires high accuracy in order
to obtain satisfactory resolution in the local stress near these points. In
this geometry, we also found excellent agreement with the solutions obtained by
standard finite-element methods, and the agreement improves with higher lattice
resolution
Signature of elasticity in the Faraday instability
We investigate the onset of the Faraday instability in a vertically vibrated
wormlike micelle solution. In this strongly viscoelastic fluid, the critical
acceleration and wavenumber are shown to present oscillations as a function of
driving frequency and fluid height. This effect, unseen neither in simple
fluids nor in previous experiments on polymeric fluids, is interpreted in terms
of standing elastic waves between the disturbed surface and the container
bottom. It is shown that the model of S. Kumar [Phys. Rev. E, {\bf 65}, 026305
(2002)] for a viscoelastic fluid accounts qualitatively for our experimental
observations. Explanations for quantitative discrepancies are proposed, such as
the influence of the nonlinear rheological behaviour of this complex fluid.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Resident perception of volcanic hazards and evacuation procedures
Katla volcano, located beneath the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap in southern Iceland, is capable of producing catastrophic jökulhlaup. The Icelandic Civil Protection (ICP), in conjunction with scientists, local police and emergency managers, developed mitigation strategies for possible jökulhlaup produced during future Katla eruptions. These strategies were tested during a full-scale evacuation exercise in March 2006. A positive public response during a volcanic crisis not only depends upon the public's knowledge of the evacuation plan but also their knowledge and perception of the possible hazards. To improve the effectiveness of residents' compliance with warning and evacuation messages it is important that emergency management officials understand how the public interpret their situation in relation to volcanic hazards and their potential response during a crisis and apply this information to the ongoing development of risk mitigation strategies. We adopted a mixed methods approach in order to gain a broad understanding of residents' knowledge and perception of the Katla volcano in general, jökulhlaup hazards specifically and the regional emergency evacuation plan. This entailed field observations during the major evacuation exercise, interviews with key emergency management officials and questionnaire survey interviews with local residents. Our survey shows that despite living within the hazard zone, many residents do not perceive that their homes could be affected by a jökulhlaup, and many participants who perceive that their homes are safe, stated that they would not evacuate if an evacuation warning was issued. Alarmingly, most participants did not receive an evacuation message during the exercise. However, the majority of participants who took part in the exercise were positive about its implementation. This assessment of resident knowledge and perception of volcanic hazards and the evacuation plan is the first of its kind in this region. Our data can be used as a baseline by the ICP for more detailed studies in Iceland's volcanic regions
Dynamic correlations in stochastic rotation dynamics
The dynamic structure factor, vorticity and entropy density dynamic
correlation functions are measured for Stochastic Rotation Dynamics (SRD), a
particle based algorithm for fluctuating fluids. This allows us to obtain
unbiased values for the longitudinal transport coefficients such as thermal
diffusivity and bulk viscosity. The results are in good agreement with earlier
numerical and theoretical results, and it is shown for the first time that the
bulk viscosity is indeed zero for this algorithm. In addition, corrections to
the self-diffusion coefficient and shear viscosity arising from the breakdown
of the molecular chaos approximation at small mean free paths are analyzed. In
addition to deriving the form of the leading correlation corrections to these
transport coefficients, the probabilities that two and three particles remain
collision partners for consecutive time steps are derived analytically in the
limit of small mean free path. The results of this paper verify that we have an
excellent understanding of the SRD algorithm at the kinetic level and that
analytic expressions for the transport coefficients derived elsewhere do indeed
provide a very accurate description of the SRD fluid.Comment: 33 pages including 16 figure
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