Magnus Effect in Duct Flow

The following research paper details the preliminary research carried out by this team. The project was originally conceived to determine if Magnus Lift could be utilized in an unconventional way to assist rockets during takeoff. Several conceptual designs were proposed, but the idea was scrapped when it became apparent that the team would not be able to generate the desired lift without inducing significant amounts of drag and additional weight on a rocket. Instead, the team focused on researching an interesting topic that hasn’t been previously explored: Magnus lift on a cylinder within a duct. An experimental procedure that could be carried out in a wind tunnel at the University of Akron was designed along with several models for a test fixture. In order to predict the results of the experiment, several preliminary CFD simulations were performed. Unfortunately, due to limited time and resources, the test fixture was not built and the experiment was not carried out. However, more detailed simulations were performed. Unfortunately, the results suggested that minimal lift is generated on a duct/cylinder system compared to a spinning cylinder in open air. Several potential applications for utilizing the Magnus effect were suggested, such as assisting rockets during takeoff, or allowing trains to enter curves at higher speeds without derailing. Although Magnus effect in duct flow would likely provide negligible benefits, the potential uses for Magnus lift in open air are promising

Magnus Effect in Duct Flow

The following research paper details the preliminary research carried out by this team. The project was originally conceived to determine if Magnus Lift could be utilized in an unconventional way to assist rockets during takeoff. Several conceptual designs were proposed, but the idea was scrapped when it became apparent that the team would not be able to generate the desired lift without inducing significant amounts of drag and additional weight on a rocket. Instead, the team focused on researching an interesting topic that hasn’t been previously explored: Magnus lift on a cylinder within a duct. An experimental procedure that could be carried out in a wind tunnel at the University of Akron was designed along with several models for a test fixture. In order to predict the results of the experiment, several preliminary CFD simulations were performed. Unfortunately, due to limited time and resources, the test fixture was not built and the experiment was not carried out. However, more detailed simulations were performed. Unfortunately, the results suggested that minimal lift is generated on a duct/cylinder system compared to a spinning cylinder in open air. Several potential applications for utilizing the Magnus effect were suggested, such as assisting rockets during takeoff, or allowing trains to enter curves at higher speeds without derailing. Although Magnus effect in duct flow would likely provide negligible benefits, the potential uses for Magnus lift in open air are promising

Signatures of pressure-enhanced helimagnetic order in van der Waals multiferroic NiI2_2

The van der Waals (vdW) type-II multiferroic NiI$_2$ has emerged as a candidate for exploring non-collinear magnetism and magnetoelectric effects in the 2D limit. Frustrated intralayer exchange interactions on a triangular lattice result in a helimagnetic ground state, with spin-induced improper ferroelectricity stabilized by the interlayer interactions. Here we investigate the magnetic and structural phase transitions in bulk NiI$_2$, using high-pressure Raman spectroscopy, optical linear dichroism, and x-ray diffraction. We obtain evidence for a significant pressure enhancement of the antiferromagnetic and helimagnetic transition temperatures, at rates of $\sim15.3/14.4$ K/GPa, respectively. These enhancements are attributed to a cooperative effect of pressure-enhanced interlayer and third-nearest-neighbor intralayer exchange. These results reveal a general path for obtaining high-temperature type-II multiferroicity via high pressures in vdW materials

Phenylbutyric Acid Rescues Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Suppression of APP Proteolysis and Prevents Apoptosis in Neuronal Cells

BACKGROUND: The familial and sporadic forms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have an identical pathology with a severe disparity in the time of onset [1]. The pathological similarity suggests that epigenetic processes may phenocopy the Familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) mutations within sporadic AD. Numerous groups have demonstrated that FAD mutations in presenilin result in 'loss of function' of gamma-secretase mediated APP cleavage [2], [3], [4], [5]. Accordingly, ER stress is prominent within the pathologically impacted brain regions in AD patients [6] and is reported to inhibit APP trafficking through the secretory pathway [7], [8]. As the maturation of APP and the cleaving secretases requires trafficking through the secretory pathway [9], [10], [11], we hypothesized that ER stress may block trafficking requisite for normal levels of APP cleavage and that the small molecular chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) may rescue the proteolytic deficit. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The APP-Gal4VP16/Gal4-reporter screen was stably incorporated into neuroblastoma cells in order to assay gamma-secretase mediated APP proteolysis under normal and pharmacologically induced ER stress conditions. Three unrelated pharmacological agents (tunicamycin, thapsigargin and brefeldin A) all repressed APP proteolysis in parallel with activation of unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling-a biochemical marker of ER stress. Co-treatment of the gamma-secretase reporter cells with PBA blocked the repressive effects of tunicamycin and thapsigargin upon APP proteolysis, UPR activation, and apoptosis. In unstressed cells, PBA stimulated gamma-secretase mediated cleavage of APP by 8-10 fold, in the absence of any significant effects upon amyloid production, by promoting APP trafficking through the secretory pathway and the stimulation of the non-pathogenic alpha/gamma-cleavage. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: ER stress represses gamma-secretase mediated APP proteolysis, which replicates some of the proteolytic deficits associated with the FAD mutations. The small molecular chaperone PBA can reverse ER stress induced effects upon APP proteolysis, trafficking and cellular viability. Pharmaceutical agents, such as PBA, that stimulate alpha/gamma-cleavage of APP by modifying intracellular trafficking should be explored as AD therapeutics

An open-source, wireless vest for measuring autonomic function in infants

Infant behavior, like all behavior, is the aggregate product of many nested processes operating and interacting over multiple time scales; the result of a tangle of inter-related causes and effects. Efforts in identifying the mechanisms supporting infant behavior require the development and advancement of new technologies that can accurately and densely capture behavior's multiple branches. The present study describes an open-source, wireless autonomic vest specifically designed for use in infants 8-24 months of age in order to measure cardiac activity, respiration, and movement. The schematics of the vest, instructions for its construction, and a suite of software designed for its use are made freely available. While the use of such autonomic measures has many applications across the field of developmental psychology, the present article will present evidence for the validity of the vest in three ways: (1) by demonstrating known clinical landmarks of a heartbeat, (2) by demonstrating an infant in a period of sustained attention, a well-documented behavior in the developmental psychology literature, and (3) relating changes in accelerometer output to infant behavior

Ahrensite, γ-Fe_2SiO_4, a new shock-metamorphic mineral from the Tissint meteorite: Implications for the Tissint shock event on Mars

Ahrensite (IMA 2013-028), γ-Fe_2SiO_4, is the natural Fe-analog of the silicate-spinel ringwoodite (γ-Mg_2SiO_4). It occurs in the Tissint Martian meteorite, where it forms through the transformation of the fayalite-rich rims of olivine megacrysts or Fe-rich microphenocrysts in contact with shock melt pockets. The typical sequence of phase assemblages traversing across a Tissint melt pocket into olivine is: quenched melt or fayalite-pigeonite intergrowth ⇒ bridgmanite + wüstite ⇒ ahrensite and/or ringwoodite ⇒ highly-deformed olivine + nanocrystalline ringwoodite ⇒ deformed olivine. We report the first comprehensive set of crystallographic, spectroscopic, and quantitative chemical analysis of type ahrensite, and show that concentrations of ferric iron and inversion in the type material of this newly approved mineral are negligible. We also report the occurrence of nanocrystalline ringwoodite in strained olivine and establish correlations between grain size and distance from melt pockets. The ahrensite and ringwoodite crystals show no preferred orientation, consistent with random nucleation and incoherent growth within a highly strained matrix of olivine. Grain sizes of ahrensite immediately adjacent to melt pockets are consistent with growth during a shock of moderate duration (1–10 ms)