Wind machines

The basic elements of the air/water momentum exchange are described by the environment, the potential, the air and water subsystems, the total system, and the rule. Many of these topics have direct analogues in aerogenerator design. Aspects of optimal sail design and of waveless hulls are briefly outlined. A wind driven vehicle capable of moving directly downwind faster than the wind, is reported. The lecture is illustrated with slides and movie clips showing surfing catamarans, land and water versions of the Bauer vehicle, hang gliding, land sailing, and wind surfing

Development and testing of tip devices for horizontal axis wind turbines

A theoretical and field experimental program has been carried out to investigate the use of tip devices on horizontal axis wind turbine rotors. The objective was to improve performance by the reduction of tip losses. While power output can always be increased by a simple radial tip extension, such a modification also results in an increased gale load both because of the extra projected area and longer moment arm. Tip devices have the potential to increase power output without such a structural penalty. A vortex lattice computer model was used to optimize three basic tip configuration types for a 25 kW stall limited commercial wind turbine. The types were a change in tip planform, and a single-element and double-element nonplanar tip extension (winglets). A complete data acquisition system was developed which recorded three wind speed components, ambient pressure, temperature, and turbine output. The system operated unattended and could perform real-time processing of the data, displaying the measured power curve as data accumulated in either a bin sort mode or polynomial curve fit. Approximately 270 hr of perormance data were collected over a three-month period. The sampling interval was 2.4 sec; thrus over 400,000 raw data points were logged. Results for each of the three new tip devices, compared with the original tip, showed a small decrease (of the order of 1 kW) in power output over the measured range of wind speeds from cut-in at about 4 m/s to over 20 m/s, well into the stall limiting region. Changes in orientation and angle-of-attack of the winglets were not made. For aircraft wing tip devices, favorable tip shapes have been reported and it is likely that the tip devices tested in this program did not improve rotor performance because they were not optimally adjusted

Projective prime ideals and localisation in pi-rings

The results here generalise [2, Proposition 4.3] and [9, Theorem 5.11]. We shall prove the following. THEOREM A. Let R be a Noetherian PI-ring. Let P be a non-idempotent prime ideal of R such that PR is projective. Then P is left localisable and RP is a prime principal left and right ideal ring. We also have the following theorem. THEOREM B. Let R be a Noetherian PI-ring. Let M be a non-idempotent maximal ideal of R such that MR is projective. Then M has the left AR-property and M contains a right regular element of R

Simulation of wind turbine wake interaction using the vorticity transport model

The aerodynamic interactions that can occur within a wind farm can result in the constituent turbines generating a lower power output than would be possible if each of the turbines were operated in isolation. Tightening of the constraints on the siting of wind farms is likely to increase the scale of the problem in the future. The aerodynamic performance of turbine rotors and the mechanisms that couple the fluid dynamics of multiple rotors can be most readily understood by simplifying the problem and considering the interaction between only two rotors. The aerodynamic interaction between two rotors in both co-axial and offset configurations has been simulated using the Vorticity Transport Model. The aerodynamic interaction is a function of the tip speed ratio, and both the streamwise and crosswind separation between the rotors. The simulations show that the momentum deficit at a turbine operating within the wake developed by the rotor of a second turbine is governed by the development of instabilities within the wake of the upwind rotor, and the ensuing structure of the wake as it impinges on the downwind rotor. If the wind farm configuration or wind conditions are such that a turbine rotor is subject to partial impingement by the wake produced by an upstream turbine, then significant unsteadiness in the aerodynamic loading on the rotor blades of the downwind turbine can result, and this unsteadiness can have considerable implications for the fatigue life of the blade structure and rotor hub

Impact of APOE genotype and age on large-scale MTL neurocognitive networks

Research on medial temporal lobe (MTL) function converges on the notion that the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex (PRC) are specialised for different types of representational content: scenes and objects. The evolutionary accretion model advances this further, proposing that these MTL structures constitute key nodes within the extended hippocampal navigation and feature networks, respectively. The former network is considered more vulnerable to the impact of age and age-related neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Additionally, young carriers of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele – an AD risk factor – have been shown to exhibit alterations within this network, supporting lifespan accounts of cognitive decline. Recently, however, this network-selective vulnerability has been challenged by reports of object-related impairments in ageing and AD risk. This thesis therefore investigated the impact of APOE genotype – especially APOE ε4 – and age on these two neurocognitive networks and their representations. To achieve this, web-based cognitive testing (Chapter 2), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based structural covariance analysis (Chapter 3), and diffusion MRI-based tractography (Chapter 4) were used. In middle-aged and older adults, APOE ε4 and APOE ε2 – a risk-reducing allele – were associated with divergent age trends in perceptual discrimination independent of condition (Chapter 2). Conversely, in a sample spanning the adult lifespan, age and gender/sex – but not APOE ε4 – were associated with the structural covariance of the hippocampus and PRC (Chapter 3). Finally, in younger adults, APOE ε4 impacted the lateralisation of inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) microstructure – a key tract in the feature network (Chapter 4). The findings of this thesis provide evidence that APOE genotype and age impact aspects of these networks and their representations, but it remains challenging to interpret them collectively. Nonetheless, this research addresses pre-existing limitations, and provides a foundation for studies that could aid our understanding of age- and APOE-related impact(s) on the brain and cognition

Tract-specific differences in white matter microstructure between young adult APOE ε4 carriers and non-carriers:A replication and extension study

The parahippocampal cingulum bundle (PHCB) interconnects regions known to be vulnerable to early Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, including posteromedial cortex and medial temporal lobe. While AD-related pathology has been robustly associated with alterations in PHCB microstructure, specifically lower fractional anisotropy (FA) and higher mean diffusivity (MD), emerging evidence indicates that the reverse pattern is evident in younger adults at increased risk of AD. In one such study, Hodgetts et al. (2019) reported that healthy young adult carriers of the apolipoprotein-E (APOE) ε4 allele – the strongest common genetic risk factor for AD – showed higher FA and lower MD in the PHCB but not the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). These results are consistent with proposals claiming that heightened neural activity and intrinsic connectivity play a significant role in increasing posteromedial cortex vulnerability to amyloid-β and tau spread beyond the medial temporal lobe. Given the implications for understanding AD risk, here we sought to replicate Hodgetts et al.‘s finding in a larger sample (N = 128; 40 APOE ε4 carriers, 88 APOE ε4 non-carriers) of young adults (age range = 19–33). Extending this work, we also conducted an exploratory analysis using a more advanced measure of white matter microstructure: hindrance modulated orientational anisotropy (HMOA). Contrary to the original study, we did not observe higher FA or lower MD in the PHCB of APOE ε4 carriers relative to non-carriers. Bayes factors (BFs) further revealed moderate-to-strong evidence in support of these null findings. In addition, we observed no APOE ε4-related differences in PHCB HMOA. Our findings indicate that young adult APOE ε4 carriers and non-carriers do not differ in PHCB microstructure, casting some doubt on the notion that early-life variation in PHCB tract microstructure might enhance vulnerability to amyloid-β accumulation and/or tau spread

Dynamics and Energy Extraction of a Surging and Plunging Airfoil at Low Reynolds Number

We investigate the unsteady aerodynamic forces and energy transfer associated with harmonic surging (streamwise) and plunging (transverse) motion of a thin airfoil at low Reynolds number. Two-dimensional unsteady flows are simulated over a large range of amplitude and reduced-frequency of the oscillatory motion using the immersed boundary projection method, and the computational results are compared to inviscid flow models and experiments. At low angle of attack there is reasonable agreement with inviscid theory for the amplitude and phase of lift fluctuations, despite the low Reynolds number. At high angle of attack, the separated flow leads to larger lift and drag fluctuations not captured by inviscid models. At frequencies below the vortex shedding frequency, lift fluctuations are first enhanced and then attenuated depending on the phase between the freestream velocity and the forming leading-edge vortex. Resonance with the vortex shedding frequency also occurs. The time-averaged forces and power supplied by the oscillating airfoil are also evaluated to find frequency ranges that are favorable for the airfoil

Particle swarm optimization with a leader and followers

Referring to the flight mechanism of wild goose flock, we propose a novel version of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with a leader and followers. It is referred to as Goose Team Optimization (GTO). The basic features of goose team flight such as goose role division, parallel principle, aggregate principle and separate principle are implemented in the recommended algorithm. In GTO, a team is formed by the particles with a leader and some followers. The role of the leader is to determine the search direction. The followers decide their flying modes according to their distances to the leader individually. Thus, a wide area can be explored and the particle collision can be really avoided. When GTO is applied to four benchmark examples of complex nonlinear functions, it has a better computation performance than the standard PSO

Tract-specific differences in white matter microstructure between young adult APOE ε4 carriers and non-carriers: A replication and extension study

The parahippocampal cingulum bundle (PHCB) interconnects regions known to be vulnerable to early Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, including posteromedial cortex and medial temporal lobe. While AD-related pathology has been robustly associated with alterations in PHCB microstructure, specifically lower fractional anisotropy (FA) and higher mean diffusivity (MD), emerging evidence indicates that the reverse pattern is evident in younger adults at increased risk of AD. In one such study, Hodgetts et al. (2019) reported that healthy young adult carriers of the apolipoprotein-E (APOE) ε4 allele – the strongest common genetic risk factor for AD – showed higher FA and lower MD in the PHCB but not the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). These results are consistent with proposals claiming that heightened neural activity and intrinsic connectivity play a significant role in increasing posteromedial cortex vulnerability to amyloid-β and tau spread beyond the medial temporal lobe. Given the implications for understanding AD risk, here we sought to replicate Hodgetts et al.‘s finding in a larger sample (N = 128; 40 APOE ε4 carriers, 88 APOE ε4 non-carriers) of young adults (age range = 19–33). Extending this work, we also conducted an exploratory analysis using a more advanced measure of white matter microstructure: hindrance modulated orientational anisotropy (HMOA). Contrary to the original study, we did not observe higher FA or lower MD in the PHCB of APOE ε4 carriers relative to non-carriers. Bayes factors (BFs) further revealed moderate-to-strong evidence in support of these null findings. In addition, we observed no APOE ε4-related differences in PHCB HMOA. Our findings indicate that young adult APOE ε4 carriers and non-carriers do not differ in PHCB microstructure, casting some doubt on the notion that early-life variation in PHCB tract microstructure might enhance vulnerability to amyloid-β accumulation and/or tau spread