9,107 research outputs found
Statistical analysis of the velocity and scalar fields in reacting turbulent wall-jets
The concept of local isotropy in a chemically reacting turbulent wall-jet
flow is addressed using direct numerical simulation (DNS) data. Different DNS
databases with isothermal and exothermic reactions are examined. The chemical
reaction and heat release effects on the turbulent velocity, passive scalar and
reactive species fields are studied using their probability density functions
(PDF) and higher order moments for velocities and scalar fields, as well as
their gradients. With the aid of the anisotropy invariant maps for the Reynolds
stress tensor the heat release effects on the anisotropy level at different
wall-normal locations are evaluated and found to be most accentuated in the
near-wall region. It is observed that the small-scale anisotropies are
persistent both in the near-wall region and inside the jet flame. Two
exothermic cases with different Damkohler number are examined and the
comparison revealed that the Damkohler number effects are most dominant in the
near-wall region, where the wall cooling effects are influential. In addition,
with the aid of PDFs conditioned on the mixture fraction, the significance of
the reactive scalar characteristics in the reaction zone is illustrated. We
argue that the combined effects of strong intermittency and strong persistency
of anisotropy at the small scales in the entire domain can affect mixing and
ultimately the combustion characteristics of the reacting flow
Experimental f-value and isotopic structure for the Ni I line blended with [OI] at 6300A
We have measured the oscillator strength of the Ni I line at 6300.34 \AA,
which is known to be blended with the forbidden [O I] 6300 line, used
for determination of the oxygen abundance in cool stars. We give also
wavelengths of the two isotopic line components of Ni and Ni
derived from the asymmetric laboratory line profile. These two line components
of Ni I have to be considered when calculating a line profile of the 6300 \AA\
feature observed in stellar and solar spectra. We also discuss the labelling of
the energy levels involved in the Ni I line, as level mixing makes the
theoretical predictions uncertain.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJLetter
The neutral silicon-vacancy center in diamond: spin polarization and lifetimes
We demonstrate optical spin polarization of the neutrally-charged
silicon-vacancy defect in diamond (), an defect which
emits with a zero-phonon line at 946 nm. The spin polarization is found to be
most efficient under resonant excitation, but non-zero at below-resonant
energies. We measure an ensemble spin coherence time
at low-temperature, and a spin relaxation limit of . Optical
spin state initialization around 946 nm allows independent initialization of
and within the same optically-addressed
volume, and emits within the telecoms downconversion band to
1550 nm: when combined with its high Debye-Waller factor, our initial results
suggest that is a promising candidate for a long-range
quantum communication technology
Oscillator Strengths and Damping Constants for Atomic Lines in the J and H Bands
We have built a line list in the near-infrared J and H bands (1.00-1.34,
1.49-1.80 um) by gathering a series of laboratory and computed line lists.
Oscillator strengths and damping constants were computed or obtained by fitting
the solar spectrum.
The line list presented in this paper is, to our knowledge, the most complete
one now available, and supersedes previous lists.Comment: Accepted, Astrophysical Journal Supplement, tentatively scheduled for
the Sep. 1999 Vol. 124 #1 issue. Text and tables also available at
http://www.iagusp.usp.br/~jorge
Identification of Vascularised Carotid Plaques Using a Standardised and Reproducible Technique to Measure Ultrasound Contrast Uptake
ObjectivesContrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) has been used to assess the vascularisation of carotid plaques. Our aim was to develop and validate a standardised semi-automated method for CEUS examination of plaques, and test if the technique could be used to identify vulnerable plaques.MethodsStudy participants were a mixed population of symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects, selected if they had a plaque with height >2.5 mm and <10% acoustic shadowing. Participants received a bolus of ultrasound contrast agent and a 90-s cine-loop was captured. A Contrast Quantification Program (CQP) was developed and trained to identify extent of contrast uptake after motion correction and application of a noise reduction algorithm. The technique was validated by comparing CQP values with visual assessment of contrast uptake. CQP values were also compared with plaque echogenicity and history of clinical events.ResultsCQP values correlated with a visual, 5-scale classification of contrast uptake by two blinded, experienced sonographers. Repeated contrast injections showed high reproducibility. Participants with a history of ipsilateral stroke/TIA had significantly higher CQP values than asymptomatic participants.ConclusionWe present a reproducible, semi-automatic method to identify vascularisation of carotid plaques, which could be used in prospective studies to determine the clinical value of plaque vascularisation
A System-Performance-Based Comparison of Sparse Regular and Irregular Antenna Arrays for Millimeter-Wave Multi-User MIMO Base Stations
A system-level study was conducted that evaluated the system performance of various dense and sparse antenna array configurations for application in millimeter-wave multi-user multiple-input multiple-output base stations. The performance was evaluated by investigating the probability that a user experiences an outage when a zero-forcing pre-coder is used in a random line of sight scenario. This paper shows that the outage probability significantly decreased when irregular sparse arrays were used rather than regular sparse or regular dense arrays. A re-configurable linear array was designed and realized as a demonstrator. It used 3D-printed aluminum box horn antenna elements that had wide scanning range in the azimuthal plane and a small scanning range in the elevation plane. For the demonstrator, it was shown that the outage probability was reduced from 3.85% to 0.64% by moving from a sparse regularly spaced array to a sparse randomly spaced array. This amounted to an improvement of a factor of six. The sparse topology allowed for the usage of large antenna elements that had an increased gain and still achieved wide-angle scanning, while reducing mutual coupling to a minimum
Delayed Intrathoracic Gastric Perforation After Obesity Surgery: A Severe Complication
We describe a case of a patient with an intrathoracic gastric perforation, 6 months after she underwent a gastric banding procedure for the treatment of morbid obesity. After an urgent laparotomy during which the stomach was replaced and oversewn, she recovered uneventfully. The possible mechanism of this severe complication is discussed
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