Droplet combustion at reduced gravity

The current work involves theoretical analyses of the effects identified, experiments in the NASA Lewis drop towers performed in the middeck areas of the Space Shuttle. In addition, there is laboratory work associated with the design of the flight apparatus. Calculations have shown that some of the test-matrix data can be obtained in drop towers, and some are achievable only in the space experiments. The apparatus consists of a droplet dispensing device (syringes), a droplet positioning device (opposing, retractable, hollow needles), a droplet ignition device (two matched pairs of retractable spark electrodes), gas and liquid handling systems, a data acquisition system (mainly giving motion-picture records of the combustion in two orthogonal views, one with backlighting for droplet resolution), and associated electronics

Transient Numerical Modeling of the Combustion of Bi-Component Liquid Droplets: Methanol/Water Mixture

This study shows that liquid mixtures of methanol and water are attractive candidates for microgravity droplet combustion experiments and associated numerical modeling. The gas phase chemistry for these droplet mixtures is conceptually simple, well understood and substantially validated. In addition, the thermodynamic and transport properties of the liquid mixture have also been well characterized. Furthermore, the results obtained in this study predict that the extinction of these droplets may be observable in ground-based drop to tower experiments. Such experiments will be conducted shortly followed by space-based experiments utilizing the NASA FSDC and DCE experiments

Alternator and voltage regulator-exciter for a Brayton cycle space power system. Volume 1 - Design and development

Alternator and voltage regulator for Brayton cycle space power syste

Three Stage Cool Flame Droplet Burning Behavior of n-Alkane Droplets at Elevated Pressure Conditions: Hot, Warm and Cool Flame

Transient, isolated n-alkane droplet combustion is simulated at elevated pressure for helium-diluent substituted-air mixtures. We report the presence of unique quasi-steady, three-stage burning behavior of large sphero-symmetric n-alkane droplets at these elevated pressures and helium substituted ambient fractions. Upon initiation of reaction, hot-flame diffusive burning of large droplets is initiated that radiatively extinguishes to establish cool flame burning conditions in nitrogen/oxygen air at atmospheric and elevated pressures. However, at elevated pressure and moderate helium substitution for nitrogen ( X He > 20%), the initiated cool flame burning proceeds through two distinct, quasi-steady-state, cool flame burning conditions. The classical Hot flame ( 1500 K) radiatively extinguishes into a Warm flame burning mode at a moderate maximum reaction zone temperature ( 970 K), followed by a transition to a lower temperature ( 765 K), quasi-steady Cool flame burning condition. The reaction zone (flame) temperatures are associated with distinctly different yields in intermediate reaction products within the reaction zones and surrounding near-field, and the flame-standoff ratios characterizing each burning mode progressively decrease. The presence of all three stages first appears with helium substitution near 20%, and the duration of each stage is observed to be strongly dependent on helium substitutions level between 2060%. For helium substitution greater than 60%, the hot flame extinction is followed by only the lower temperature cool flame burning mode. In addition to the strong coupling between the diffusive loss of both energy and species and the slowly evolving degenerate branching in the low and negative temperature coefficient (NTC) kinetic regimes, the competition between the low-temperature chain branching and intermediate-temperature chain termination reactions control the Warm and Cool flame quasi-steady conditions and transitioning dynamics

Food of Lake Trout in Lake Superior

Stomachs were examined from 1,492 lake trout and 83 siscowets collected from Lake Superior. Data are given on the food of lake trout of legal size (17 inches or longer) by year, season, and depth of water, and on the relation between food and size among smaller lake trout.Fish contributed 96.7 to 99.9 per cent of the total volume of food in the annual samples. Ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) were most common (52.2 to 87.5 per cent of the volume) in 1950 to 1953 and American smelt ranked first (65.6 per cent of the volume) in 1963. Cottids were in 8.9 to 12.3 per cent of the stomachs in 1950 to 1953 but in only 4.3 per cent in 1963. Insects ranked second to fish in occurrence (9.6 per cent for the combined samples) and crustaceans followed at 3.9 per cent.The greatest seasonal changes in the food of lake trout were among fish caught at 35 fathoms and shallower. The occurrence of Coregonus increased from 34.6 per cent in February‐March to 71.1 per cent in October‐December. Smelt were in 76.9 per cent of the stomachs in February‐March but in only 2.2 per cent in October‐December. Cottids, Mysis relicta, and insects were most common in the July‐September collections.Lake trout taken at depths greater than 35 fathoms had eaten a higher percentage of Cottidae and Coregonus than had those captured in shallower water. Smelt, ninespine sticklebacks, Mysis, and insects were more frequent in stomachs of lake trout from less than 35 fathoms.Crustaceans comprised more than 70 per cent of the total volume of food for 4.0‐ to 7.9‐inch lake trout but their importance decreased as the lake trout grew larger. Pontoporeia affinis was the most common in the stomachs of 4.0‐ to 6.9‐inch lake trout and Mysis held first rank at 7.0 to 12.9 inches. Ostracods were important only to 4.0‐ to 4.9‐inch lake trout. As the lake trout became larger, the importance of fish grew from 4.4‐per cent occurrence at 5.0 to 5.9 inches to 93.9 per cent at 16.0 to 16.9 inches. Smelt were most commonly eaten by undersize (less than 17 inches) lake trout.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141203/1/tafs0169.pd

Oxidation of automotive primary reference fuels at elevated pressures

Automotive engine knock limits the maximum operating compression ratio and ultimate thermodynamic efficiency of spark-ignition (SI) engines. In compression-ignition (CI) or diesel cycle engines, the premixed burn phase, which occurs shortly after injection, determines the time it takes for autoignition to occur. In order to improve engine efficiency and to recommend more efficient, cleaner-burning alternative fuels, they must understand the chemical kinetic processes that lead to autoignition in both SI and CI engines. These engines burn large molecular-weight blended fuels, a class to which the primary reference fuels (PRF) n-heptane and iso-octane belong. In this study, experiments were performed under engine like conditions in a high-pressure flow reactor using both the pure PRF fuels and their mixtures in the temperature range 550-880 K and 12.5 atm pressure. These experiments not only provide information on the reactivity of each fuel but also identify the major intermediate products formed during the oxidation process. A detailed chemical kinetic mechanism is used to simulate these experiments, and comparisons of experimentally measured and model predicted profiles for O{sub 2}, CO, CO{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O and temperature rise are presented. Intermediates identified in the flow reactor are compared with those present in the computations, and the kinetic pathways leading to their formation are discussed. In addition, autoignition delay times measured in a shock tube over the temperature range 690-1220 K and at 40 atm pressure were simulated. Good agreement between experiment and simulation was obtained for both the pure fuels and their mixtures. Finally, quantitative values of major intermediates measured in the exhaust gas of a cooperative fuels research engine operating under motored engine conditions are presented together with those predicted by the detailed model

Oxidation of automotive primary reference fuels in a high pressure flow reactor

Automotive engine knock limits the maximum operating compression ratio and ultimate thermodynamic efficiency of spark-ignition (SI) engines. In compression-ignition (CI) or diesel cycle engines the premixed urn phase, which occurs shortly after injection, determines the time it takes for autoignition to occur. In order to improve engine efficiency and to recommend more efficient, cleaner-burning alternative fuels, we must understand the chemical kinetic processes which lead to autoignition in both SI and CI engines. These engines burn large molecular-weight blended fuels, a class to which the primary reference fuels (PRF), n-heptane and isooctane belong. In this study, experiments were performed under engine-like conditions in a high pressure flow reactor using both the pure PRF fuels and their mixtures in the temperature range 550-880 K and at 12.5 atm pressure. These experiments not only provide information on the reactivity of each fuel but also identify the major intermediate products formed during the oxidation process. A detailed chemical kinetic mechanism is used to simulate these experiments and comparisons of experimentally measures and model predicted profiles for O{sub 2}, CO, CO{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O and temperature rise are presented. Intermediates identified in the flow reactor are compared with those present in the computations, and the kinetic pathways leading to their formation are discussed. In addition, autoignition delay times measured in a shock tube over the temperature range 690- 1220 K and at 40 atm pressure were simulated. Good agreement between experiment and simulation was obtained for both the pure fuels and their mixtures. Finally, quantitative values of major intermediates measured in the exhaust gas of a cooperative fuels research engine operating under motored engine conditions are presented together with those predicted by the detailed method

Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections: A Statistically Determined Flare Flux-CME Mass Correlation

In an effort to examine the relationship between flare flux and corresponding CME mass, we temporally and spatially correlate all X-ray flares and CMEs in the LASCO and GOES archives from 1996 to 2006. We cross-reference 6,733 CMEs having well-measured masses against 12,050 X-ray flares having position information as determined from their optical counterparts. For a given flare, we search in time for CMEs which occur 10-80 minutes afterward, and we further require the flare and CME to occur within +/-45 degrees in position angle on the solar disk. There are 826 CME/flare pairs which fit these criteria. Comparing the flare fluxes with CME masses of these paired events, we find CME mass increases with flare flux, following an approximately log-linear, broken relationship: in the limit of lower flare fluxes, log(CME mass)~0.68*log(flare flux), and in the limit of higher flare fluxes, log(CME mass)~0.33*log(flare flux). We show that this broken power-law, and in particular the flatter slope at higher flare fluxes, may be due to an observational bias against CMEs associated with the most energetic flares: halo CMEs. Correcting for this bias yields a single power-law relationship of the form log(CME mass)~0.70*log(flare flux). This function describes the relationship between CME mass and flare flux over at least 3 dex in flare flux, from ~10^-7 to 10^-4 W m^-2.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures, accepted to Solar Physic

Src Dependent Pancreatic Acinar Injury Can Be Initiated Independent of an Increase in Cytosolic Calcium

Several deleterious intra-acinar phenomena are simultaneously triggered on initiating acute pancreatitis. These culminate in acinar injury or inflammatory mediator generation in vitro and parenchymal damage in vivo. Supraphysiologic caerulein is one such initiator which simultaneously activates numerous signaling pathways including non-receptor tyrosine kinases such as of the Src family. It also causes a sustained increase in cytosolic calcium- a player thought to be crucial in regulating deleterious phenomena. We have shown Src to be involved in caerulein induced actin remodeling, and caerulein induced changes in the Golgi and post-Golgi trafficking to be involved in trypsinogen activation, which initiates acinar cell injury. However, it remains unclear whether an increase in cytosolic calcium is necessary to initiate acinar injury or if injury can be initiated at basal cytosolic calcium levels by an alternate pathway. To study the interplay between tyrosine kinase signaling and calcium, we treated mouse pancreatic acinar cells with the tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor pervanadate. We studied the effect of the clinically used Src inhibitor Dasatinib (BMS-354825) on pervanadate or caerulein induced changes in Src activation, trypsinogen activation, cell injury, upstream cytosolic calcium, actin and Golgi morphology. Pervanadate, like supraphysiologic caerulein, induced Src activation, redistribution of the F-actin from its normal location in the sub-apical area to the basolateral areas, and caused antegrade fragmentation of the Golgi. These changes, like those induced by supraphysiologic caerulein, were associated with trypsinogen activation and acinar injury, all of which were prevented by Dasatinib. Interestingly, however, pervanadate did not cause an increase in cytosolic calcium, and the caerulein induced increase in cytosolic calcium was not affected by Dasatinib. These findings suggest that intra-acinar deleterious phenomena may be initiated independent of an increase in cytosolic calcium. Other players resulting in acinar injury along with the Src family of tyrosine kinases remain to be explored. © 2013 Mishra et al

The Organophosphate Chlorpyrifos Interferes with the Responses to 17β-Estradiol in the Digestive Gland of the Marine Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis

BACKGROUND: Many pesticides have been shown to act as endocrine disrupters. Although the potencies of currently used pesticides as hormone agonists/antagonists are low compared with those of natural ligands, their ability to act via multiple mechanisms might enhance the biological effect. The organophosphate Chlorpyrifos (CHP) has been shown to be weakly estrogenic and cause adverse neurodevelopmental effects in mammals. However, no information is available on the endocrine effects of CHP in aquatic organisms. In the digestive gland of the bivalve Mytilus galloprovincialis, a target tissue of both estrogens and pesticides, the possible effects of CHP on the responses to the natural estrogen 17β-estradiol (E(2)) were investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Mussels were exposed to CHP (4.5 mg/l, 72 hrs) and subsequently injected with E(2) (6.75 ng/g dw). Responses were evaluated in CHP, E(2) and CHP/E(2) treatment groups at 24 h p.i. by a biomarker/transcriptomic approach. CHP and E(2) induced additive, synergistic, and antagonistic effects on lysosomal biomarkers (lysosomal membrane stability, lysosome/cytoplasm volume ratio, lipofuscin and neutral lipid accumulation). Additive and synergistic effects were also observed on the expression of estrogen-responsive genes (GSTπ, catalase, 5-HTR) evaluated by RT-Q-PCR. The use of a 1.7K cDNA Mytilus microarray showed that CHP, E(2) and CHP/E(2), induced 81, 44, and 65 Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs), respectively. 24 genes were exclusively shared between CHP and CHP/E(2), only 2 genes between E(2) and CHP/E(2). Moreover, 36 genes were uniquely modulated by CHP/E(2). Gene ontology annotation was used to elucidate the putative mechanisms involved in the responses elicited by different treatments. CONCLUSIONS: The results show complex interactions between CHP and E(2) in the digestive gland, indicating that the combination of certain pesticides and hormones may give rise to unexpected effects at the molecular/cellular level. Overall, these data demonstrate that CHP can interfere with the mussel responses to natural estrogens