Active flow control systems architectures for civil transport aircraft

Copyright @ 2010 American Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsThis paper considers the effect of choice of actuator technology and associated power systems architecture on the mass cost and power consumption of implementing active flow control systems on civil transport aircraft. The research method is based on the use of a mass model that includes a mass due to systems hardware and a mass due to the system energy usage. An Airbus A320 aircraft wing is used as a case-study application. The mass model parameters are based on first-principle physical analysis of electric and pneumatic power systems combined with empirical data on system hardware from existing equipment suppliers. Flow control methods include direct fluidic, electromechanical-fluidic, and electrofluidic actuator technologies. The mass cost of electrical power distribution is shown to be considerably less than that for pneumatic systems; however, this advantage is reduced by the requirement for relatively heavy electrical power management and conversion systems. A tradeoff exists between system power efficiency and the system hardware mass required to achieve this efficiency. For short-duration operation the flow control solution is driven toward lighter but less power-efficient systems, whereas for long-duration operation there is benefit in considering heavier but more efficient systems. It is estimated that a practical electromechanical-fluidic system for flow separation control may have a mass up to 40% of the slat mass for a leading-edge application and 5% of flap mass for a trailing-edge application.This work is funded by the Sixth European Union Framework Programme as part of the AVERT project (Contract No. AST5-CT-2006-030914

Direct observation of a Fermi surface and superconducting gap in LuNi2B2C

We measured the Fermi surface (FS), band dispersion and superconducting gap in LuNi2B2C using Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy. Experimental data were compared with the tight-binding version of the Linear Muffin-Tin Orbital (LMTO) method and Linearized Augmented Plane-Wave (LAPW) calculations. We found reasonable agreement between the two calculations and experimental data. The measured FS exhibits large parallel regions with a nesting vector that agrees with a previous positron annihilation study and calculations of the generalized susceptibility. The measured dispersion curves also agree reasonably well with the TB-LMTO calculations, albeit with some differences in the strength of the hybridization. In addition, the spectrum in the superconducting state revealed a 2meV superconducting gap. The data also clearly shows the presence of a coherent peak above the chemical potential, that originates from thermally excited electrons above the energy of 2 delta. This feature was not previously observed in the Lu-based material.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Body iron metabolism and pathophysiology of iron overload

Iron is an essential metal for the body, while excess iron accumulation causes organ dysfunction through the production of reactive oxygen species. There is a sophisticated balance of body iron metabolism of storage and transport, which is regulated by several factors including the newly identified peptide hepcidin. As there is no passive excretory mechanism of iron, iron is easily accumulated when exogenous iron is loaded by hereditary factors, repeated transfusions, and other diseased conditions. The free irons, non-transferrin-bound iron, and labile plasma iron in the circulation, and the labile iron pool within the cells, are responsible for iron toxicity. The characteristic features of advanced iron overload are failure of vital organs such as liver and heart in addition to endocrine dysfunctions. For the estimation of body iron, there are direct and indirect methods available. Serum ferritin is the most convenient and widely available modality, even though its specificity is sometimes problematic. Recently, new physical detection methods using magnetic resonance imaging and superconducting quantum interference devices have become available to estimate iron concentration in liver and myocardium. The widely used application of iron chelators with high compliance will resolve the problems of organ dysfunction by excess iron and improve patient outcomes

Therapeutic Hemoglobin Levels after Gene Transfer in β-Thalassemia Mice and in Hematopoietic Cells of β-Thalassemia and Sickle Cells Disease Patients

Preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate the feasibility of treating β-thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) by lentiviral-mediated transfer of the human β-globin gene. However, previous studies have not addressed whether the ability of lentiviral vectors to increase hemoglobin synthesis might vary in different patients

The European Solar Telescope

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Télescope Héliographique pour l'Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems

The European Solar Telescope

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Télescope Héliographique pour l’Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems

UMview: View-OS implemented as a System Call Virtual Machine

see: http://www.usenix.org/events/osdi06/posters/davoli.pd

Oxatomide in the treatment of atopic dermatitis

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of oxatomide in patients with atopic dermatitis, caused by alimentary allergy established by prick test and/or Rast and/or challenge test. METHODS: In the study, carried out in a paediatric clinic, 40 children (24 males, 16 females), aged between 6 months and 12 years, were randomized in two groups. Twenty children were treated with oxatomide (1 mg/kg/day) in one evening dose and the other 20 were treated at the same dosage, divided into two administrations. In the case of poor therapeutic response, 15 days after the start of treatment, it was possible to double the dosage. The skin symptoms were monitored for the efficacy. RESULTS: For all symptoms there was a significant reduction of severity within the fifteenth day (p < 0.01). Twenty eight children showed significant improvement with the disappearance of both cutaneous lesions and itching; to achieve these results in four cases (3 BID, 1 UID) it was necessary to double the dose (2 mg/kg/day). Eight children achieved a fair control of itching, with a slight improvement of eczema, while five children, despite the increase in dosage of the drug, did not get any substantial benefit. Three children were lost in follow-up, while in another case treatment was suspended because of the onset of an urticarious rash. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the efficacy of oxatomide in the control of itching connected with alimentary allergy independently of the posological scheme. Tolerability was excellent in both groups and no important side-effects were recorded

Recent advances in molecular diagnosis using surface plasmon resonance and biosensor technology for detection of beta-thalassemia mutations

In the present review we describe a new methodology employing surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and biosensor technology to detect point mutations, including those causing a severe form of betadegreesIVSI-1 thalassemia. The data presented allow to conclude that biospecific interaction analysis (BIA) is a fast and automatable approach for detecting mutations of the beta-globin gene by the real-time monitoring of hybridization between oligonucleotide (ODN) probes and target biotinylated polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) products generated from genomic DNA of normal, heterozygous subjects and homozygous betadegrees-thalassemia patients and immobilized on streptavidin coated sensor chips. During the association phase, discrimination between mismatched and full matched ODN/PCR product hybrids is readily and reproducibly observed