Acoustic source location in a jet-blown flap using a cross-correlation technique

The acoustic source strength distribution in a turbulent flow field was measured for two far field microphones at 45 deg above and below the plane of the flap surface. A processed signal from an inclined hot-film anemometry probe was cross correlated with the signal from the appropriate far field microphone. The contribution made by the sources associated with the fluctuating pressure on the flap surface to the sound received at far field microphone was estimated by cross correlating the processed signals of microphones which were embedded in the flap surface with the far field microphone signals. In addition, detailed fluid dynamic measurements were made in the flow field of the jet flap using dual sensor hot-film anemometry probes

Noise characteristics of jet flap type exhaust flows

An experimental investigation of the aerodynamic noise and flow field characteristics of internal-flow jet-augmented flap configurations (abbreviated by the term jet flap throughout the study) is presented. The first part is a parametric study of the influence of the Mach number (subsonic range only), the slot nozzle aspect ratio and the flap length on the overall radiated sound power and the spectral composition of the jet noise, as measured in a reverberation chamber. In the second part, mean and fluctuating velocity profiles, spectra of the fluctuating velocity and space correlograms were measured in the flow field of jet flaps by means of hot-wire anemometry. Using an expression derived by Lilley, an attempt was made to estimate the overall sound power radiated by the free mixing region that originates at the orifice of the slot nozzle (primary mixing region) relative to the overall sound power generated by the free mixing region that originates at the trailing edge of the flap (secondary mixing region). It is concluded that at least as much noise is generated in the secondary mixing region as in the primary mixing region. Furthermore, the noise generation of the primary mixing region appears to be unaffected by the presence of a flap

Biology and ecology of deployed shellfish habitats in the Swan-Canning Estuary

Large extents of shellfish reefs have become degraded around the world as a result of anthropogenic activities to the point where such reefs are functionally extinct in some regions. Due to the ecosystem services provided by these biogenic habitats, there has recently been a concerted effort to restore shellfish reefs, particularly in Australia. While oysters have traditionally been used as a candidate species, the Mediterranean Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is gaining popularity and provides a similar suite of ecosystem services to oysters. As part of a pilot program, shellfish habitats, each comprising translocated M. galloprovincialis seeded onto 100 wooden stakes, were deployed at three sites in Melville Water in the Swan-Canning Estuary (Western Australia). The aims of this study where to; 1) investigate the mortality, body condition and growth of the translocated M. galloprovincialis; 2) compare the characteristics of fish fauna at the shellfish reef habitats and nearby unstructured (control) habitats and 3) determine the benthic macroinvertebrate and tunicate species associated with the shellfish habitat. The mortality of M. galloprovincialis was high at all three sites. This was attributed to poor environmental conditions in offshore waters of Melville Water, compounded by stress associated with translocation, their spawning activity, and fouling by ascidians. Seasonally adjusted von Bertalanffy growth models best explained the growth of M. galloprovincialis and growth was rapid, with individuals attaining ~50 mm within their first year. This is likely due to the high phytoplankton availability in the Swan-Canning Estuary. The shellfish habitats harboured a significantly different fish faunal composition compared to nearby unstructured habitats (sandy areas), with many species observed only at shellfish sites or in greater densities. The increased abundances of zoobenthivores on the shellfish habitats suggest they are utilising the invertebrate prey communities associated with the structure as a food source. The invertebrate community varied spatially among the three sites and over time. A suite of non-native ascidians rapidly colonised the stakes along with the mussels, which, in turn, supported many small crustaceans. Given the importance of shellfish restoration globally, and the aim to undertake large-scale projects to provide such habitats in south-western Australian estuaries, the results of this study will increase the understanding of the biology of M. galloprovincialis and help elucidate how faunal communities respond and utilise shellfish habitats. The results of this pilot study will assist in the planning of future mussel reef restoration projects, in particularly those under development in southern Australia

Endotoxin induced peritonitis elicits monocyte immigration into the lung: implications on alveolar space inflammatory responsiveness

BACKGROUND: Acute peritonitis developing in response to gram-negative bacterial infection is known to act as a trigger for the development of acute lung injury which is often complicated by the development of nosocomial pneumonia. We hypothesized that endotoxin-induced peritonitis provokes recruitment of monocytes into the lungs, which amplifies lung inflammatory responses to a second hit intra-alveolar challenge with endotoxin. METHODS: Serum and lavage cytokines as well as bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells were analyzed at different time points after intraperitoneal or intratracheal application of LPS. RESULTS: We observed that mice challenged with intraperitoneal endotoxin developed rapidly increasing serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cytokine and chemokine levels (TNFα, MIP-2, CCL2) and a nearly two-fold expansion of the alveolar macrophage population by 96 h, but this was not associated with the development of neutrophilic alveolitis. In contrast, expansion of the alveolar macrophage pool was not observed in CCR2-deficient mice and in wild-type mice systemically pretreated with the anti-CD18 antibody GAME-46. An intentional two-fold expansion of alveolar macrophage numbers by intratracheal CCL2 following intraperitoneal endotoxin did not exacerbate the development of acute lung inflammation in response to intratracheal endotoxin compared to mice challenged only with intratracheal endotoxin. CONCLUSION: These data, taken together, show that intraperitoneal endotoxin triggers a CCR2-dependent de novo recruitment of monocytes into the lungs of mice but this does not result in an accentuation of neutrophilic lung inflammation. This finding represents a previously unrecognized novel inflammatory component of lung inflammation that results from endotoxin-induced peritonitis

The Mythmaker of the Sabbat: Pierre de Lancre’s Tableau des mauvais anges et demons (1612)

The witch-hunt De Lancre conducted, together with his colleague Jean d’Espaignet (1564–after 1643), during the summer and autumn of 1609 in the Pays de Labourd, a Basque-speaking territory on France’s border with Spain, is justly ranked among the most famous and notorious of the early modern period. De Lancre's sensationalist 1612 account of his experiences one historian has described it as a work of 'scholarly pornography' includes the most detailed description of the witches' sabbat of the early modern period. The Tableau offered perhaps the most detailed and explicit account of the sabbat in early modern literature, and was one of the very first printed works to describe the sabbat in such detail as a Black Mass that is, as a systematic inversion and parody of the Catholic Mass. De Lancre also devoted an entire chapter to the 'incestuous' Spanish dances that were performed with 'even more liberty and insolence' at the sabbat

Charge induced stability of water droplets in subsaturated environment

Atmospheric liquid and solid water particles are stabilized if they are coated with either negative or positive electric charge. The surface charge causes an increase of the partial pressure of water vapour close to the surface of each particle, effectively allowing the particles to remain in their condensed phase even if the environmental relative humidity drops below unity. The theory, briefly presented in this paper, predicts a zero parameter relation between surface charge density and water vapour pressure. This relation was tested in a series of Electrodynamic Balance experiments. The measurements were performed by stabilizing charged droplets of pure water near an ice-surface. We observed a divergence in radius as the temperature approached the freezing point from below. We find that the measurements confirm the theory within the experimental uncertainty. In some cases this generally overlooked effect may have impact on cloud processes and on results produced by Electrodynamic Balance experiments

MCKAT: a multi-dimensional copy number variant kernel association test.

BACKGROUND: Copy number variants (CNVs) are the gain or loss of DNA segments in the genome. Studies have shown that CNVs are linked to various disorders, including autism, intellectual disability, and schizophrenia. Consequently, the interest in studying a possible association of CNVs to specific disease traits is growing. However, due to the specific multi-dimensional characteristics of the CNVs, methods for testing the association between CNVs and the disease-related traits are still underdeveloped. We propose a novel multi-dimensional CNV kernel association test (MCKAT) in this paper. We aim to find significant associations between CNVs and disease-related traits using kernel-based methods. RESULTS: We address the multi-dimensionality in CNV characteristics. We first design a single pair CNV kernel, which contains three sub-kernels to summarize the similarity between two CNVs considering all CNV characteristics. Then, aggregate single pair CNV kernel to the whole chromosome CNV kernel, which summarizes the similarity between CNVs in two or more chromosomes. Finally, the association between the CNVs and disease-related traits is evaluated by comparing the similarity in the trait with kernel-based similarity using a score test in a random effect model. We apply MCKAT on genome-wide CNV datasets to examine the association between CNVs and disease-related traits, which demonstrates the potential usefulness the proposed method has for the CNV association tests. We compare the performance of MCKAT with CKAT, a uni-dimensional kernel method. Based on the results, MCKAT indicates stronger evidence, smaller p-value, in detecting significant associations between CNVs and disease-related traits in both rare and common CNV datasets. CONCLUSION: A multi-dimensional copy number variant kernel association test can detect statistically significant associated CNV regions with any disease-related trait. MCKAT can provide biologists with CNV hot spots at the cytogenetic band level that CNVs on them may have a significant association with disease-related traits. Using MCKAT, biologists can narrow their investigation from the whole genome, including many genes and CNVs, to more specific cytogenetic bands that MCKAT identifies. Furthermore, MCKAT can help biologists detect significantly associated CNVs with disease-related traits across a patient group instead of examining each subject's CNVs case by case

Greedy Routing and the Algorithmic Small-World Phenomenom

The algorithmic small-world phenomenon, empirically established by Milgram's letter forwarding experiments from the 60s, was theoretically explained by Kleinberg in 2000. However, from today's perspective his model has several severe shortcomings that limit the applicability to real-world networks. In order to give a more convincing explanation of the algorithmic small-world phenomenon, we study greedy routing in a more realistic random graph model (geometric inhomogeneous random graphs), which overcomes the previous shortcomings. Apart from exhibiting good properties in theory, it has also been extensively experimentally validated that this model reasonably captures real-world networks. In this model, we show that greedy routing succeeds with constant probability, and in case of success almost surely finds a path that is an almost shortest path. Our results are robust to changes in the model parameters and the routing objective. Moreover, since constant success probability is too low for technical applications, we study natural local patching methods augmenting greedy routing by backtracking and we show that such methods can ensure success probability 1 in a number of steps that is close to the shortest path length. These results also address the question of Krioukov et al. whether there are efficient local routing protocols for the internet graph. There were promising experimental studies, but the question remained unsolved theoretically. Our results give for the first time a rigorous and analytical answer, assuming our random graph model

CAR-Based Approaches to Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma

Cutaneous T cell lymphomas (CTCL) are a heterogeneous group of malignancies characterized by the expansion of a malignant T cell clone. Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has shown impressive results for the treatment of B-cell tumors, but several challenges have prevented this approach in the context of T cell lymphoma. These challenges include the possibilities of fratricide due to shared T-cell antigens, T cell immunodeficiency, and CAR transduction of malignant cells if CAR T are manufactured in the autologous setting. In this review, we discuss these and other challenges in detail and summarize the approaches currently in development to overcome these challenges and offer cellular targeting of T cell lymphomas