242 research outputs found
Dynamics of a spherical capsule in a planar hyperbolic flow: influence of bending resistance
International audienceWe consider an initially spherical capsule freely suspended in a planar hyperbolic flow and study the influence of the wall bending resistance on the capsule dynamics. The capsule wall is assumed to be made of a three-dimensional homogeneous elastic material. The fluid-structure interaction between the capsule and the external flow is modeled numerically by coupling a boundary integral method with a shell finite element method. It is found that, for given three-dimensional wall mechanical properties, the capsule deformability is drastically reduced as the bending resistance is increased. But, if one expresses the same results as a function of the two-dimensional mechanical properties of the mid-surface, which is how the capsule wall is modeled in the thin-shell model, the capsule deformed shape is identical to the one predicted for a capsule devoid of bending resistance. The bending rigidity is found to have a negligible influence on the shape and deformation: the capsule main deformation mode is thus solely a function of the elastic stretching of the mid-surface. The wall bending resistance still plays a role locally in the regions where buckling occurs. Its influence is studied in the low flow strength regime, for which wrinkling of the wall is observed to persist at steady state. We show that the wrinkle wavelength only depends on the bending number, which compares the relative importance of bending and shearing phenomena, and provide the correlation law. This result is interesting as it allows bending resistance to be estimated from experiments on capsules in a planar hyperbolic flow at low flow strength
Sharp interface limits of phase-field models
The use of continuum phase-field models to describe the motion of
well-defined interfaces is discussed for a class of phenomena, that includes
order/disorder transitions, spinodal decomposition and Ostwald ripening,
dendritic growth, and the solidification of eutectic alloys. The projection
operator method is used to extract the ``sharp interface limit'' from phase
field models which have interfaces that are diffuse on a length scale . In
particular,phase-field equations are mapped onto sharp interface equations in
the limits and , where and are
respectively the interface curvature and velocity and is the diffusion
constant in the bulk. The calculations provide one general set of sharp
interface equations that incorporate the Gibbs-Thomson condition, the
Allen-Cahn equation and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure
The Moment Guided Monte Carlo method for the Boltzmann equation
In this work we propose a generalization of the Moment Guided Monte Carlo
method developed in [11]. This approach permits to reduce the variance of the
particle methods through a matching with a set of suitable macroscopic moment
equations. In order to guarantee that the moment equations provide the correct
solutions, they are coupled to the kinetic equation through a non equilibrium
term. Here, at the contrary to the previous work in which we considered the
simplified BGK operator, we deal with the full Boltzmann operator. Moreover, we
introduce an hybrid setting which permits to entirely remove the resolution of
the kinetic equation in the limit of infinite number of collisions and to
consider only the solution of the compressible Euler equation. This
modification additionally reduce the statistical error with respect to our
previous work and permits to perform simulations of non equilibrium gases using
only a few number of particles. We show at the end of the paper several
numerical tests which prove the efficiency and the low level of numerical noise
of the method.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0908.026
The combination of a blood test and Fibroscan improves the non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis
Background and aims: Blood tests and liver stiffness evaluation (LSE) by ultrasonographic elastometry are accurate tools for diagnosing liver fibrosis. We evaluated whether their synchronous combination in new scores could improve the diagnostic accuracy and reduce liver biopsy requirement in algorithm. Methods: Three hundred and ninety patients with chronic liver disease of miscellaneous causes were included. Five blood fibrosis tests were evaluated: APRI, FIB-4, Hepascore, Fibrotest and FibroMeter. The reference was fibrosis Metavir staging. Results: Diagnosis of significant fibrosis (Metavir F≥2). The most accurate synchronous combination was FibroMeter+LSE, which provided a significantly higher area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.892) than LSE alone (0.867, P=0.011) or Fibrometer (0.834, P<10−3). An algorithm using the FibroMeter+LSE combination and then a liver biopsy in indeterminate cases had 91.9% diagnostic accuracy and required significantly fewer biopsies (20.2%) than previously published Bordeaux algorithm (28.6%, P=0.02) or sequential algorithm for fibrosis evaluation (SAFE) (55.7%, P<10−3). The Angers algorithm performance was not significantly different between viral hepatitis and other causes. Diagnosis of cirrhosis. The most accurate synchronous combination was LSE+FibroMeter, which provided ≥90% predictive values for cirrhosis in 90.6% of patients vs 87.4% for LSE (P=0.02) and 57.9% for FibroMeter (P<10−3). An algorithm including the LSE+FibroMeter combination, and then a liver biopsy in indeterminate cases, had a significantly higher diagnostic accuracy than the SAFE algorithm (91.0 vs 79.8%, P<10−3), and required significantly fewer biopsies than the Bordeaux algorithm (9.3 vs 25.3%, P<10−3). Conclusion: The synchronous combination of a blood test plus LSE improves the accuracy of the non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis and, consequently, markedly decreases the biopsy requirement in the diagnostic algorithm, notably to <10% in cirrhosis diagnosis
A partitioned model order reduction approach to rationalise computational expenses in multiscale fracture mechanics
We propose in this paper an adaptive reduced order modelling technique based
on domain partitioning for parametric problems of fracture. We show that
coupling domain decomposition and projection-based model order reduction
permits to focus the numerical effort where it is most needed: around the zones
where damage propagates. No \textit{a priori} knowledge of the damage pattern
is required, the extraction of the corresponding spatial regions being based
solely on algebra. The efficiency of the proposed approach is demonstrated
numerically with an example relevant to engineering fracture.Comment: Submitted for publication in CMAM
RECQL5 controls transcript elongation and suppresses genome instability associated with transcription stress
RECQL5 is the sole member of the RECQ family of helicases associated with RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). We now show that RECQL5 is a general elongation factor that is important for preserving genome stability during transcription. Depletion or overexpression of RECQL5 results in corresponding shifts in the genome-wide RNAPII density profile. Elongation is particularly affected, with RECQL5 depletion causing a striking increase in the average rate, concurrent with increased stalling, pausing, arrest, and/or backtracking (transcription stress). RECQL5 therefore controls the movement of RNAPII across genes. Loss of RECQL5 also results in the loss or gain of genomic regions, with the breakpoints of lost regions located in genes and common fragile sites. The chromosomal breakpoints overlap with areas of elevated transcription stress, suggesting that RECQL5 suppresses such stress and its detrimental effects, and thereby prevents genome instability in the transcribed region of genes
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