Assessment of CO2 and NOx emissions in intercooled pulsed detonation turbofan engines

In the present paper, the synergistic combination of intercooling with pulsed detonation combustion is analyzed concerning its contribution to NOx and CO2 emissions. CO2 is directly proportional to fuel burn and can, therefore, be reduced by improving specific fuel consumption and reducing engine weight and nacelle drag. A model predicting NOx generation per unit of fuel for pulsed detonation combustors, operating with jet-A fuel, is developed and integrated within Chalmers University\u27s gas turbine simulation tool GESTPAN. The model is constructed using CFD data obtained for different combustor inlet pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio levels. The NOx model supports the quantification of the trade-off between CO2 and NOx emissions in a 2050 geared turbofan architecture incorporating intercooling and pulsed detonation combustion and operating at pressures and temperatures of interest in gas turbine technology for aero-engine civil applications

The Efficiency of a Pulsed Detonation Combustor-Axial Turbine Integration

The paper presents a detailed numerical investigation of a pulsed detonation combustor (PDC) coupled with a transonic axial turbine stage. The time-resolved numerical analysis includes detailed chemistry to replicate detonation combustion in a stoichiometric hydrogen–air mixture, and it is fully coupled with the turbine stage flow simulation. The PDC–turbine performance and flow variations are analyzed for different power input conditions, by varying the system purge fraction. Such analysis allows for the establishment of cycle averaged performance data and also to identify key unsteady gas dynamic interactions occurring in the system. The results obtained allow for a better insight on the source and effect of different loss mechanisms occurring in the coupled PDC–turbine system. One key aspect arises from the interaction between the non-stationary PDC outflow and the constant rotor blade speed. Such interaction results in pronounced variations of rotor incidence angle, penalizing the turbine efficiency and capability of generating a quasi-steady shaft torque

Numerical Simulation of Nacelle Flowfield for Counter-Rotating Open Rotor Propellers

This paper summarizes the development of a tool for designing axisymmetric nacelles for counter-rotating open rotor (CROR) engines, based on predefined geometries, global input relations and one-dimensional perfect gas equations. A nacelle geometry was generated to match the flight conditions and base dimensions of the Airbus AI-PX7 CROR propeller. Furthermore, the 3D turbulent flowfield around the nacelle was evaluated via Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for four different angles of attack: 0\ub0, 4\ub0, 6\ub0 and 8\ub0. The computations were performed for the nacelle without the propellers as a first analysis. The formation of shock waves, boundary layer separation and inlet flow distortion were the main parameters of the CFD study. The nacelle design was considered to be successful as a preliminary approach, since, even for the highest angle of attack, no critical conditions for the engine performance were detected

Recent changes of water discharge and sediment load in the Yellow River basin, China

The Yellow River basin contributes approximately 6% of the sediment load from all river systems globally, and the annual runoff directly supports 12% of the Chinese population. As a result, describing and understanding recent variations of water discharge and sediment load under global change scenarios are of considerable importance. The present study considers the annual hydrologic series of the water discharge and sediment load of the Yellow River basin obtained from 15 gauging stations (10 mainstream, 5 tributaries). The Mann-Kendall test method was adopted to detect both gradual and abrupt change of hydrological series since the 1950s. With the exception of the area draining to the Upper Tangnaihai station, results indicate that both water discharge and sediment load have decreased significantly (p<0.05). The declining trend is greater with distance downstream, and drainage area has a significant positive effect on the rate of decline. It is suggested that the abrupt change of the water discharge from the late 1980s to the early 1990s arose from human extraction, and that the abrupt change in sediment load was linked to disturbance from reservoir construction.Geography, PhysicalGeosciences, MultidisciplinarySCI(E)43ARTICLE4541-5613

Karyology of three evolutionarily hexaploid southern African species of yellowfish, Labeobarbus Rüppel, 1836 (Cyprinidae)

The karyotypes of three species of yellowfish, namely Labeobarbus marequensis (A. Smith, 1841), L. capensis (A. Smith, 1841) and L. polylepis (Boulenger, 1907), were examined by Giemsa staining using an approach improved for the description of high chromosome numbers. In each case, 2n = 150; no heteromorphic chromosomes were detected; chromosomes in all morphological categories ranged smoothly from large to small, with no distinctly large submetacentric pairs; and metacentric chromosomes showed little variation in size. Labeobarbus marequensis had 26 metacentric (m), 44 submetacentric (sm), 42 subtelocentric (st) and 38 acrocentric (a) chromosomes and a fundamental number (FN) of 262; L. capensis had 16 m, 58 sm, 42 st and 34 a chromosomes and FN = 266; and L. polylepis had 18 m, 60 sm, 42 st and 30 a chromosomes and FN = 270. These results, combined with published literature, imply that Labeobarbus Rüppel, 1836 is an evolutionarily hexaploid African lineage and support its removal from synonymy with the evolutionarily tetraploid Asian genus Tor Gray, 1834. A review of fundamental numbers for conspecific Labeobarbus species examined in different studies implicated karyological technique as a confounding factor in assessing details of karyotypes, leading to recommendations for future karyological studies of barbine fishes. Potential synapomorphies are pointed out in karyological characters of species within Labeobarbus

High genetic diversity at the extreme range edge: nucleotide variation at nuclear loci in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Scotland

Nucleotide polymorphism at 12 nuclear loci was studied in Scots pine populations across an environmental gradient in Scotland, to evaluate the impacts of demographic history and selection on genetic diversity. At eight loci, diversity patterns were compared between Scottish and continental European populations. At these loci, a similar level of diversity (θsil=~0.01) was found in Scottish vs mainland European populations, contrary to expectations for recent colonization, however, less rapid decay of linkage disequilibrium was observed in the former (ρ=0.0086±0.0009, ρ=0.0245±0.0022, respectively). Scottish populations also showed a deficit of rare nucleotide variants (multi-locus Tajima's D=0.316 vs D=−0.379) and differed significantly from mainland populations in allelic frequency and/or haplotype structure at several loci. Within Scotland, western populations showed slightly reduced nucleotide diversity (πtot=0.0068) compared with those from the south and east (0.0079 and 0.0083, respectively) and about three times higher recombination to diversity ratio (ρ/θ=0.71 vs 0.15 and 0.18, respectively). By comparison with results from coalescent simulations, the observed allelic frequency spectrum in the western populations was compatible with a relatively recent bottleneck (0.00175 × 4Ne generations) that reduced the population to about 2% of the present size. However, heterogeneity in the allelic frequency distribution among geographical regions in Scotland suggests that subsequent admixture of populations with different demographic histories may also have played a role

X-Ray Spectroscopy of Stars

(abridged) Non-degenerate stars of essentially all spectral classes are soft X-ray sources. Low-mass stars on the cooler part of the main sequence and their pre-main sequence predecessors define the dominant stellar population in the galaxy by number. Their X-ray spectra are reminiscent, in the broadest sense, of X-ray spectra from the solar corona. X-ray emission from cool stars is indeed ascribed to magnetically trapped hot gas analogous to the solar coronal plasma. Coronal structure, its thermal stratification and geometric extent can be interpreted based on various spectral diagnostics. New features have been identified in pre-main sequence stars; some of these may be related to accretion shocks on the stellar surface, fluorescence on circumstellar disks due to X-ray irradiation, or shock heating in stellar outflows. Massive, hot stars clearly dominate the interaction with the galactic interstellar medium: they are the main sources of ionizing radiation, mechanical energy and chemical enrichment in galaxies. High-energy emission permits to probe some of the most important processes at work in these stars, and put constraints on their most peculiar feature: the stellar wind. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of cool and hot stars through the study of X-ray spectra, in particular high-resolution spectra now available from XMM-Newton and Chandra. We address issues related to coronal structure, flares, the composition of coronal plasma, X-ray production in accretion streams and outflows, X-rays from single OB-type stars, massive binaries, magnetic hot objects and evolved WR stars.Comment: accepted for Astron. Astrophys. Rev., 98 journal pages, 30 figures (partly multiple); some corrections made after proof stag

Phylogenetic Distribution of Fungal Sterols

BACKGROUND: Ergosterol has been considered the "fungal sterol" for almost 125 years; however, additional sterol data superimposed on a recent molecular phylogeny of kingdom Fungi reveals a different and more complex situation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The interpretation of sterol distribution data in a modern phylogenetic context indicates that there is a clear trend from cholesterol and other Delta(5) sterols in the earliest diverging fungal species to ergosterol in later diverging fungi. There are, however, deviations from this pattern in certain clades. Sterols of the diverse zoosporic and zygosporic forms exhibit structural diversity with cholesterol and 24-ethyl -Delta(5) sterols in zoosporic taxa, and 24-methyl sterols in zygosporic fungi. For example, each of the three monophyletic lineages of zygosporic fungi has distinctive major sterols, ergosterol in Mucorales, 22-dihydroergosterol in Dimargaritales, Harpellales, and Kickxellales (DHK clade), and 24-methyl cholesterol in Entomophthorales. Other departures from ergosterol as the dominant sterol include: 24-ethyl cholesterol in Glomeromycota, 24-ethyl cholest-7-enol and 24-ethyl-cholesta-7,24(28)-dienol in rust fungi, brassicasterol in Taphrinales and hypogeous pezizalean species, and cholesterol in Pneumocystis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Five dominant end products of sterol biosynthesis (cholesterol, ergosterol, 24-methyl cholesterol, 24-ethyl cholesterol, brassicasterol), and intermediates in the formation of 24-ethyl cholesterol, are major sterols in 175 species of Fungi. Although most fungi in the most speciose clades have ergosterol as a major sterol, sterols are more varied than currently understood, and their distribution supports certain clades of Fungi in current fungal phylogenies. In addition to the intellectual importance of understanding evolution of sterol synthesis in fungi, there is practical importance because certain antifungal drugs (e.g., azoles) target reactions in the synthesis of ergosterol. These findings also invalidate use of ergosterol as an indicator of biomass of certain fungal taxa (e.g., Glomeromycota). Data from this study are available from the Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life (AFTOL) Structural and Biochemical Database: http://aftol.umn.edu

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente