Response of a small-turboshaft-engine compression system to inlet temperature distortion

An experimental investigation was conducted into the response of a small-turboshaft-engine compression system to steady-state and transient inlet temperature distortions. Transient temperature ramps range from less than 100 K/sec to above 610 K/sec and generated instantaneous temperatures to 420 K above ambient. Steady-state temperature distortion levels were limited by the engine hardware temperature list. Simple analysis of the steady-state distortion data indicated that a particle separator at the engine inlet permitted higher levels of temperature distortion before onset of compressor surge than would be expected without the separator

Assessment of alternative power sources for mobile mining machinery

Alternative mobile power sources for mining applications were assessed. A wide variety of heat engines and energy systems was examined as potential alternatives to presently used power systems. The present mobile power systems are electrical trailing cable, electrical battery, and diesel - with diesel being largely limited in the United States to noncoal mines. Each candidate power source was evaluated for the following requirements: (1) ability to achieve the duty cycle; (2) ability to meet Government regulations; (3) availability (production readiness); (4) market availability; and (5) packaging capability. Screening reduced the list of candidates to the following power sources: diesel, stirling, gas turbine, rankine (steam), advanced electric (batteries), mechanical energy storage (flywheel), and use of hydrogen evolved from metal hydrides. This list of candidates is divided into two classes of alternative power sources for mining applications, heat engines and energy storage systems

Experimental study of ceramic coated tip seals for turbojet engines

Ceramic gas-path seals were fabricated and successfully operated over 1000 cycles from flight idle to maximum power in a small turboshaft engine. The seals were fabricated by plasma spraying zirconia over a NiCoCrAlX bond boat on the Haynes 25 substrate. Coolant-side substrate temperatures and related engine parameters were recorded. Post-test inspection revealed mudflat surface cracking with penetration to the ceramic bond-coat interface

Coarse-grained brownian dynamics simulation of rule-based models

International audienceStudying spatial effects in signal transduction, such as co-localization along scaffold molecules, comes at a cost of complexity. In this paper, we propose a coarse-grained, particle-based spatial simulator, suited for large signal transduction models. Our approach is to combine the particle-based reaction and diffusion method, and (non-spatial) rule-based modeling: the location of each molecular complex is abstracted by a spheric particle, while its internal structure in terms of a site-graph is maintained explicit. The particles diffuse inside the cellular compartment and the colliding complexes stochastically interact according to a rule-based scheme. Since rules operate over molecular motifs (instead of full complexes), the rule set compactly describes a combinatorial or even infinite number of reactions. The method is tested on a model of Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) cascade of yeast pheromone response signaling. Results demonstrate that the molecules of the MAPK cascade co-localize along scaffold molecules, while the scaffold binds to a plasma membrane bound upstream component, localizing the whole signaling complex to the plasma membrane. Especially we show, how rings stabilize the resulting molecular complexes and derive the effective dissociation rate constant for it

Coated Gallium Arsenide Neutron Detectors : Results of Characterization Measurements.

Effective detection of special nuclear materials (SNM) is essential for reducing the threat associated with stolen or improvised nuclear devices. Passive radiation detection technologies are primarily based on gamma-ray detection and subsequent isotope identification or neutron detection (specific to neutron sources and SNM). One major effort supported by the Department of Homeland Security in the area of advanced passive detection is handheld or portable neutron detectors for search and localization tasks in emergency response and interdiction settings. A successful SNM search detector will not only be able to confirm the presence of fissionable materials but also establish the location of the source in as short of time as possible while trying to minimize false alarms due to varying background or naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). For instruments based on neutron detectors, this translates to detecting neutrons from spontaneous fission or alpha-n reactions and being able to determine the direction of the source (or localizing the source through subsequent measurements). Polyethylene-coated gallium arsenide detectors were studied because the detection scheme is based on measuring the signal in the gallium arsenide wafers from the electrical charge of the recoil protons produced from the scattering of neutrons from the hydrogen nucleus. The inherent reaction has a directional dependence because the neutron and hydrogen nucleus have equivalent masses. The assessment and measurement of polyethylene-coated gallium arsenide detector properties and characteristics was the first phase of a project being performed for the Department of Homeland Security and the results of these tests are reported in this report. The ultimate goal of the project was to develop a man-portable neutron detection system that has the ability to determine the direction of the source from the detector. The efficiency of GaAs detectors for different sizes of polyethylene layers and different angles between the detector and the neutron source were determined. Preliminary measurements with a neutron generator based on a deuterium-tritium reaction ({approx}14 MeV neutrons) were performed and the results are discussed. This report presents the results of these measurements in terms of efficiency and angular efficiency and compares them to Monte Carlo calculations to validate the calculation scheme in view of further applications. Based on the results of this study, the polyethylene-coated gallium arsenide detectors provide adequate angular resolution based on proton recoil detection from the neutron scattering reaction from hydrogen. However, the intrinsic efficiency for an individual detector is extremely low. Because of this low efficiency, large surface area detectors ( or a large total surface area from many small detectors) would be required to generate adequate statistics to perform directional detection in near-real time. Large surface areas could be created by stacking the detector wafers with only a negligible attenuation of source neutrons. However, the cost of creating such a large array of GaAs is cost-prohibitive at this time

NADPH oxidase mediates β-amyloid peptide-induced activation of ERK in hippocampal organotypic cultures

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have shown that beta amyloid (Aβ) peptide triggers the activation of several signal transduction cascades in the hippocampus, including the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) cascade. In this study we sought to characterize the cellular localization of phosphorylated, active ERK in organotypic hippocampal cultures after acute exposure to either Aβ (1-42) or nicotine.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed that Aβ and nicotine increased the levels of active ERK in distinct cellular localizations. We also examined whether phospho-ERK was regulated by redox signaling mechanisms and found that increases in active ERK induced by Aβ and nicotine were blocked by inhibitors of NADPH oxidase.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings indicate that NADPH oxidase-dependent redox signaling is required for Aβ-induced activation of ERK, and suggest a similar mechanism may occur during early stages of Alzheimer's disease.</p

Experimental and analytical study of ceramic-coated turbine-tip shroud seals for small turbine engines

The results of an experimental and analytical evaluation of ceramic turbine tip shrouds within a small turbine engine operating environment are presented. The ceramic shrouds were subjected to 1001 cycles between idle and high power and steady-state conditions for a total of 57.8 engine hr. Posttest engine inspection revealed mud-flat surface cracking, which was attributed to microcracking under tension with crack penetration to the ceramic and bond coat interface. Sections and micrographs tend to corroborate the thesis. The engine test data provided input to a thermomechanical analysis to predict temperature and stress profiles throughout the ceramic gas-path seal. The analysis predicts cyclic thermal stresses large enough to cause the seal to fail. These stresses are, however, mitigated by inelastic behavior of the shroud materials and by the microfracturing that tensile stresses produce. Microfracturing enhances shroud longevity during early life but provides the failure mechanism during life but provides the failure mechanism during extended life when coupled with the time dependent inelastic materials effects

Annual Report of the International Nuclear Research Initiative Osmose Project (FY05).

The goal of the OSMOSE program is to measure the reactivity effect of minor actinides in known neutron spectra of interest to the Generation-IV reactor program and other programs and to create a database of these results for use as an international benchmark for the minor actinides. The results are then compared to calculational models to verify and validate integral absorption cross-sections for the minor actinides. The OSMOSE program includes all aspects of the experimental program -- including the fabrication of fuel pellets and samples, the oscillation of the samples in the MINERVE reactor for the measurement of the reactivity effect, reactor physics modeling of the MINERVE reactor, and the data analysis and interpretation of the experimental results

Spatial Modeling of Vesicle Transport and the Cytoskeleton: The Challenge of Hitting the Right Road

The membrane trafficking machinery provides a transport and sorting system for many cellular proteins. We propose a mechanistic agent-based computer simulation to integrate and test the hypothesis of vesicle transport embedded into a detailed model cell. The method tracks both the number and location of the vesicles. Thus both the stochastic properties due to the low numbers and the spatial aspects are preserved. The underlying molecular interactions that control the vesicle actions are included in a multi-scale manner based on the model of Heinrich and Rapoport (2005). By adding motor proteins we can improve the recycling process of SNAREs and model cell polarization. Our model also predicts that coat molecules should have a high turnover at the compartment membranes, while the turnover of motor proteins has to be slow. The modular structure of the underlying model keeps it tractable despite the overall complexity of the vesicle system. We apply our model to receptor-mediated endocytosis and show how a polarized cytoskeleton structure leads to polarized distributions in the plasma membrane both of SNAREs and the Ste2p receptor in yeast. In addition, we can couple signal transduction and membrane trafficking steps in one simulation, which enables analyzing the effect of receptor-mediated endocytosis on signaling

A new multicompartmental reaction-diffusion modeling method links transient membrane attachment of E. coli MinE to E-ring formation

Many important cellular processes are regulated by reaction-diffusion (RD) of molecules that takes place both in the cytoplasm and on the membrane. To model and analyze such multicompartmental processes, we developed a lattice-based Monte Carlo method, Spatiocyte that supports RD in volume and surface compartments at single molecule resolution. Stochasticity in RD and the excluded volume effect brought by intracellular molecular crowding, both of which can significantly affect RD and thus, cellular processes, are also supported. We verified the method by comparing simulation results of diffusion, irreversible and reversible reactions with the predicted analytical and best available numerical solutions. Moreover, to directly compare the localization patterns of molecules in fluorescence microscopy images with simulation, we devised a visualization method that mimics the microphotography process by showing the trajectory of simulated molecules averaged according to the camera exposure time. In the rod-shaped bacterium _Escherichia coli_, the division site is suppressed at the cell poles by periodic pole-to-pole oscillations of the Min proteins (MinC, MinD and MinE) arising from carefully orchestrated RD in both cytoplasm and membrane compartments. Using Spatiocyte we could model and reproduce the _in vivo_ MinDE localization dynamics by accounting for the established properties of MinE. Our results suggest that the MinE ring, which is essential in preventing polar septation, is largely composed of MinE that is transiently attached to the membrane independently after recruited by MinD. Overall, Spatiocyte allows simulation and visualization of complex spatial and reaction-diffusion mediated cellular processes in volumes and surfaces. As we showed, it can potentially provide mechanistic insights otherwise difficult to obtain experimentally