The Influence of geometrical and operational parameters on internal flow characteristics of Internally Mixing Twin-Fluid Y-Jet Atomizers

Internally mixing twin-fluid Y-jet atomizers are widely used in coal fired thermal power plants for start-up, oil-fired thermal power plants and industrial boilers. The flow through internally mixing Y-jet atomizers is numerically modeled using the compressible Navier-Stokes equations; Wall Modeled Large Eddy Simulations (WMLES) is used to resolve the turbulence with Large Eddy Simulations whereas the Prandtl Mixing Length Model is used for modeling the subgrid scale structures, which are affected by geometric and operational parameters. Moreover, the Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method is used to capture the development and fragmentation of the liquid-gas interface within the Y-jet atomizer. The numerical results are compared with correlations available in open literature for the pressure drop; further results are presented for the multiphase flow regime maps available for vertical pipes. The results show that the mixing point pressure is strongly dependent on the mixing port diameter to airport diameter ratio, specifically for gas to liquid mass flowrate ratio (GLR) in the range 0.1 < GLR < 0.4; the mixing port length moderately affects the mixing point pressure while the angle between mixing and liquid ports is found not to have an appreciable effect. Moreover, it is found that the vertical pipe multiphase flow regime maps in the literature could be applied to the flow through the mixing port of the twin-fluid Y-jet atomizer. The main flow regimes found under the studied operational conditions are annular and wispy annular flow

Heavy Quark Fluorescence

Heavy hadrons containing heavy quarks (for example, Upsilon-mesons) feature a scale separation between the heavy quark mass (about 4.5 GeV for the b-quark) and the QCD scale (about 0.3 GeV}) that controls effective masses of lighter constituents. Therefore, as in ordinary molecules, the de-excitation of the lighter, faster degrees of freedom leaves the velocity distribution of the heavy quarks unchanged, populating the available decay channels in qualitatively predictable ways. Automatically an application of the Franck-Condon principle of molecular physics explains several puzzling results of Upsilon(5S) decays as measured by the Belle collaboration, such as the high rate of Bs*-anti Bs* versus Bs*-anti Bs production, the strength of three-body B-anti B + pion decays, or the dip in B momentum shown in these decays. We argue that the data is showing the first Sturm-Liouville zero of the Upsilon(5S) quantum mechanical squared wavefunction, and providing evidence for a largely b-anti b composition of this meson.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Figure 2 updated and some typos corrected. To be published in Physical Review Letter

Atomization Mechanism of Internally Mixing Twin-Fluid Y-Jet Atomizer

The atomization mechanism of the gas-liquid multiphase flow through an internally mixing twin-fluid Y-jet atomizer has been studied by examining both the internal and external flow patterns. Superheated steam and light fuel oil (LFO) are used as working fluids. The flow is numerically modeled using the compressible Navier-Stokes equations; the hybrid large eddy simulation approach through wall-modeled large eddy simulations (WMLES) is used to resolve the turbulence with the large eddy simulations, whereas the Prandtl mixing length model is used for modeling the subgrid-scale structures, which are affected by operational parameters. A volume-of-fluid to discrete phase model (VOF-to-DPM) transition mechanism is utilized along with dynamic solution-adaptive mesh refinement to predict the initial development and fragmentation of the gas-liquid interface through VOF formulations on a sufficiently fine mesh, while DPM is used to predict the dispersed part of the spray on the coarser grid. Two operational parameters, namely, gas-to-liquid mass flow rate ratio (GLR) and liquid-to-gas momentum ratio, are compared; the latter is found to be an appropriate operational parameter to describe both the internal flow and atomization characteristics. It is confirmed that the variation in the flow patterns within the mixing port of the atomizer coincides with the variation of the spatial distribution of the spray drops

Charmonium spectroscopy and mixing with light quark and open charm states from nF=2 lattice QCD

We study the charmonium spectrum including higher spin and gluonic excitations. We determine an upper limit on the mixing of the eta_c ground state with light pseudoscalar flavour-singlet mesons and investigate the mixing of charmonia near open charm thresholds with pairs of (excited) D and anti-D mesons. For charm and light valence quarks and nF=2 sea quarks, we employ the non-perturbatively improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert (clover) action. Excited states are accessed using the variational technique, starting from a basis of suitably optimised operators. For some aspects of this study, the use of improved stochastic all-to-all propagators was essential.Comment: 23 pages, v2: references updated, correction of an ambiguous statement, minor typos corrected, some figures update

Mine Injury Casualties Report from the Iraq-Kuwait DMZ

After the implementation of the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) at the end of the first Gulf War in 1990, a medical team was set up in 1991 to support the UN troops in their difficult tasks in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), a remote desert area between Kuwait and Iraq. The medical team was designed to take care of the medical treatment for the UNIKOM members and the nomadic people living in the DMZ as pointed out in UN Secretary-General reports S/2001/287 and S/2001/913 on the official UN website

Charm quark system at the physical point of 2+1 flavor lattice QCD

We investigate the charm quark system using the relativistic heavy quark action on 2+1 flavor PACS-CS configurations previously generated on $32^3 \times 64$ lattice. The dynamical up-down and strange quark masses are set to the physical values by using the technique of reweighting to shift the quark hopping parameters from the values employed in the configuration generation. At the physical point, the lattice spacing equals $a^{-1}=2.194(10)$ GeV and the spatial extent $L=2.88(1)$ fm. The charm quark mass is determined by the spin-averaged mass of the 1S charmonium state, from which we obtain m_{\rm charm}^{\msbar}(\mu = m_{\rm charm}^{\msbar}) = 1.260(1)(6)(35) GeV, where the errors are due to our statistics, scale determination and renormalization factor. An additional systematic error from the heavy quark is of order $\alpha_s^2 f(m_Q a)(a \Lambda_{QCD})$, which is estimated to be a percent level if the factor $f(m_Q a)$ analytic in $m_Q a$ is of order unity. Our results for the charmed and charmed-strange meson decay constants are $f_D=226(6)(1)(5)$ MeV, $f_{D_s}=257(2)(1)(5)$ MeV, again up to the heavy quark errors of order $\alpha_s^2 f(m_Q a)(a \Lambda_{QCD})$. Combined with the CLEO values for the leptonic decay widths, these values yield $|V_{cd}| = 0.205(6)(1)(5)(9)$, $|V_{cs}| = 1.00(1)(1)(3)(3)$, where the last error is on account of the experimental uncertainty of the decay widths.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure

Biomarker qualification at the European Medicines Agency: a review of biomarker qualification procedures from 2008 to 2020

Regulatory qualification of biomarkers facilitates their harmonised use across drug developers, enabling more personalised medicine. This study reviews various aspects of the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) biomarker qualification procedure, including frequency and outcome, common challenges, and biomarker characteristics. Our findings provide insights into EMA's biomarker qualification process and will thereby support future applications. All biomarker-related "Qualification of Novel Methodologies for Medicine Development" procedures that started from 2008 to 2020 were included. Procedural data were extracted from relevant documents and analysed descriptively. In total, 86 biomarker qualification procedures were identified, of which 13 resulted in qualified biomarkers. Whereas initially many biomarker qualification procedures were linked to a single company and specific drug development program, a shift was observed to qualification efforts by consortia. Most biomarkers were proposed (n=45) and qualified (n=9) for use in patient selection, stratification, and enrichment, followed by efficacy biomarkers (37 proposed, 4 qualified). Overall, many issues were raised during qualification procedures, mostly related to biomarker properties and assay validation (in 79% and 77% of all procedures, respectively). Issues related to the proposed context of use and rationale were least common, yet, were still raised in 54% of all procedures. While few qualified biomarkers are currently available, procedures focus increasingly on biomarkers for general use instead of those linked to specific drug compounds. The issues raised during qualification procedures illustrate the thorough discussions taking place between applicants and regulators - highlighting aspects that need careful consideration and underlining the importance of an appropriate validation strategy

Synthetic Light-Activated Ion Channels for Optogenetic Activation and Inhibition

Optogenetic manipulation of cells or living organisms became widely used in neuroscience following the introduction of the light-gated ion channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). ChR2 is a non-selective cation channel, ideally suited to depolarize and evoke action potentials in neurons. However, its calcium (Ca2+) permeability and single channel conductance are low and for some applications longer-lasting increases in intracellular Ca2+ might be desirable. Moreover, there is need for an efficient light-gated potassium (K+) channel that can rapidly inhibit spiking in targeted neurons. Considering the importance of Ca2+ and K+ in cell physiology, light-activated Ca2+-permeant and K+-specific channels would be welcome additions to the optogenetic toolbox. Here we describe the engineering of novel light-gated Ca2+-permeant and K+-specific channels by fusing a bacterial photoactivated adenylyl cyclase to cyclic nucleotide-gated channels with high permeability for Ca2+ or for K+, respectively. Optimized fusion constructs showed strong light-gated conductance in Xenopus laevis oocytes and in rat hippocampal neurons. These constructs could also be used to control the motility of Drosophila melanogaster larvae, when expressed in motoneurons. Illumination led to body contraction when motoneurons expressed the light-sensitive Ca2+-permeant channel, and to body extension when expressing the light-sensitive K+ channel, both effectively and reversibly paralyzing the larvae. Further optimization of these constructs will be required for application in adult flies since both constructs led to eclosion failure when expressed in motoneurons