Wall Shear Rates in Taylor Vortex Flow

Wall shear rate and its axial and azimuthal components were evaluated in stable Taylor vortices. The measurements were carried out in a broad interval of Taylor numbers (52-725) and several gap width (R1/R2 = 0.5 – 0.8) by two three-segment electrodiffusion probes and three single probes flush mounted in the wall of the outer fixed cylinder. The axial distribution of wall shear rate components was obtained by sweeping the vortices along the probes using a slow axial flow. The experimental results were verified by CFD simulations. The knowledge of local wall shear rates and its fluctuations is of primordial interest for industrial applications like tangential filtration, membrane reactors and bioreactors containing shear sensitive cells

Pedagogical Agents for Fostering Question-Asking Skills in Children

Question asking is an important tool for constructing academic knowledge, and a self-reinforcing driver of curiosity. However, research has found that question asking is infrequent in the classroom and children's questions are often superficial, lacking deep reasoning. In this work, we developed a pedagogical agent that encourages children to ask divergent-thinking questions, a more complex form of questions that is associated with curiosity. We conducted a study with 95 fifth grade students, who interacted with an agent that encourages either convergent-thinking or divergent-thinking questions. Results showed that both interventions increased the number of divergent-thinking questions and the fluency of question asking, while they did not significantly alter children's perception of curiosity despite their high intrinsic motivation scores. In addition, children's curiosity trait has a mediating effect on question asking under the divergent-thinking agent, suggesting that question-asking interventions must be personalized to each student based on their tendency to be curious.Comment: Accepted at CHI 202

MicroRNA-22 and promoter motif polymorphisms at the Chga locus in genetic hypertension: functional and therapeutic implications for gene expression and the pathogenesis of hypertension

Hypertension is a common hereditary syndrome with unclear pathogenesis. Chromogranin A (Chga), which catalyzes formation and cargo storage of regulated secretory granules in neuroendocrine cells, contributes to blood pressure homeostasis centrally and peripherally. Elevated Chga occurs in spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) adrenal glands and plasma, but central expression is unexplored. In this report, we measured SHR and Wistar–Kyoto rat (control) Chga expression in central and peripheral nervous systems, and found Chga protein to be decreased in the SHR brainstem, yet increased in the adrenal and the plasma. By re-sequencing, we systematically identified five promoter, two coding and one 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) polymorphism at the SHR (versus WKY or BN) Chga locus. Using HXB/BXH recombinant inbred (RI) strain linkage and correlations, we demonstrated genetic determination of Chga expression in SHR, including a cis-quantitative trait loci (QTLs) (i.e. at the Chga locus), and such expression influenced biochemical determinants of blood pressure, including a cascade of catecholamine biosynthetic enzymes, catecholamines themselves and steroids. Luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that the 3′-UTR polymorphism (which disrupts a microRNA miR-22 motif) and promoter polymorphisms altered gene expression consistent with the decline in SHR central Chga expression. Coding region polymorphisms did not account for changes in Chga expression or function. Thus, we hypothesized that the 3′-UTR and promoter mutations lead to dysregulation (diminution) of Chga in brainstem cardiovascular control nuclei, ultimately contributing to the pathogenesis of hypertension in SHR. Accordingly, we demonstrated that in vivo administration of miR-22 antagomir to SHR causes substantial (∼18 mmHg) reductions in blood pressure, opening a novel therapeutic avenue for hypertension

Process account of curiosity and interest: a reward-learning perspective

Previous studies suggested roles for curiosity and interest in knowledge acquisition and exploration, but there has been a long-standing debate about how to define these concepts and whether they are related or different. In this paper, we address the definition issue by arguing that there is inherent difficulty in defining curiosity and interest, because both curiosity and interest are naïve concepts, which are not supposed to have a priori scientific definitions. We present a reward-learning framework of autonomous knowledge acquisition and use this framework to illustrate the importance of process account as an alternative to advance our understanding of curiosity and interest without being troubled by their definitions. The framework centers on the role of rewarding experience associated with knowledge acquisition and learning and posits that the acquisition of new knowledge strengthens the value of further information. Critically, we argue that curiosity and interest are the concepts that they subjectively construe through this knowledge-acquisition process. Finally, we discuss the implications of the reward-learning framework for education and empirical research in educational psychology

Exploring to learn: Curiosity, breadth and depth of exploration, and recall in young children

Curiosity relates to learning and recent work shows robust associations between curiosity and recall of information in adults and children over age 10. The current study tested a similar association in younger children and explored children’s information-seeking behaviors. Children (n=90, 4-10-year-olds) played a free-exploration game in which they clicked shapes to learn different facts about different topics. They then recalled what they remembered learning on the task (recall) and asked questions about what they were curious to know more about (curiosity). We observed a positive association between children’s curiosity and recall of information, even when controlling for amount of information seeking and children’s age. This association was seen for recall with and without memory cues. There was no association between children’s curiosity and information seeking behavior, and children showed a strong tendency of breadth exploration over exploring in depth with indication of an association between exploring more depth with age

Hydrodynamics in a tank equipped with the impeller with helically rolled ribbon blades

Przedstawiono wyniki pomiarów prędkości i naprężeń Reynoldsa dla mieszadła ze zwiniętymi śrubowo łopatkami wstęgowymi. Mieszadło tego typu wytwarza obwodową cyrkulację cieczy w mieszalniku. Zainstalowanie przegród w zbiorniku w znaczącym stopniu wpływa na osiowy przepływ cieczy. Maksymalne wartości naprężeń Reynoldsa dla tego typu mieszadła są porównywalne z takimi naprężeniami generowanymi przez turbinę Rushtona.The paper presents measurement results of velocity and Reynolds stresses for an impeller with helically rolled ribbon blades. The impeller of this type generates tangential circulation of liquid in the tank. The baffles mounted in a tank significantly affect the axial flow of liquid. The maximum values of Reynolds stresses for this type of impeller are comparable to those of the Rushton turbine

Pomiary lepkości zawiesin gipsowych

The paper presents results of rheological experiments dealing with gypsum suspensions of different concentration of solids. A nonstandard method of measurement using a vessel equipped with the agitator was used. It was proved that the method can be used for determining rheological properties of suspensions because it prevents the settlement of solids during measurements. The power characteristics of the anchor agitator presented in previous works was verified using new experimental data extending the old characteristic to a wider range of Reynolds numbers.Przedstawiono wyniki badań reologicznych zawiesin gipsowych różnym stężeniu ciała stałego. Zastosowano niestandardowy sposób pomiaru za pomocą mieszadła w zbiorniku. Udowodniono, że metoda ta może być wykorzystana do określenia właściwości reologicznych zawiesiny, ponieważ zapobiega osiadaniu cząstek ciała stałego podczas pomiarów. Charakterystykę zapotrzebowania mocy przez mieszadło kotwicowe zaprezentowaną w poprzednich pracach zweryfikowana za pomocą nowych danych doświadczalnych, które poszerzyły poprzednią charakterystykę zwiększając zakres liczb Reynoldsa

A study of CFD simulations of the flow pattern in an agitated system with a pitched blade worn turbine

This paper presents a numerical analysis of an agitated fully baffled cylindrical vessel with a down pumping four blade worn or unworn pitched blade impeller (= 45[degrees] and 30[degrees]) under a turbulent flow regime. CFD simulations predict the pumping capacity of the system equipped by worn and unworn pitched blade impeller. Experimental data were taken from the authors’ previous work and compared with results of numerical computations. A good agreement with experimental data was obtained. The ensemble-average mean velocity field with worn and unworn impellers was computed. It follows from the simulation results that the wear rate of the impeller blade has a significantly negative effect on the velocity distribution in an agitated liquid. The greater the destruction of the worn blade, the higher is the deformation of the velocity field around the rotating impeller, with a simultaneous decrease in impeller pumping capacity