Design of an advanced air path test stand for steady and transient evaluation

Different air systems such as turbochargers (TC), hybrid boosting, turbo compounding and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are increasingly used to improve the thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines (ICE). One dimensional (1D) gas dynamic codes supports their development and integration by modelling the engine and air systems and reducing testing time. However, this approach currently relies on steady flow characteristic maps which are inaccurate for simulating transient engine conditions. This is a key weakness of using gas-stand measured maps in engine simulations. Performing TC mapping on an engine would in principle solve this problem, however engine-based mapping is limited by the engine operating range and on these facilities, high-precision measurements are challenging. In addition, simple turbocharging can no longer be constrained to an individual TC supplying boost air to an engine. Instead, modern downsized engines require air-path system making use of multiple components including TCs, mechanical superchargers, electrically driven compressors (EDCs), EGR paths and control valves. Thus studying multiple air systems requires an experimental test facility to understand how they work in synergy. This is also useful in developing empirical models to minimize test time. Therefore the aim of this paper is to present a novel experimental facility that is flexibly designed for evaluating air systems individually and also at the system level representing a complicated air path both in steady and transient condition. The advanced test facility is built around a 2.2 l diesel engine to test the above air systems which can isolate the thermal and load transients from engine pulsating flows. Removing the flow pulsation allows study of the system characteristics in a steady state. Several examples of component and system level tests including a two-stage air path comprising of a VGT (variable geometry turbine) TC and a 48V EDC with typical operating condition (provided by 1D modeling) are discussed.</p

Interaction of a 2-level system with 2D phonons

We report on the non-adiabatic interaction between 2D acoustic phonons and an artificial 2-level system in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. The 2-level system is formed by two discrete energy levels inside a double quantum dot, and monochromatic surface acoustic waves (~2 GHz) are generated by an on-chip interdigital transducer (IDT). An IDT for better performance is proposed

Divalent cation-dependent formation of electrostatic PIP2 clusters in lipid monolayers

Polyphosphoinositides are among the most highly charged molecules in the cell membrane, and the most common polyphosphoinositide, phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), is involved in many mechanical and biochemical processes in the cell membrane. Divalent cations such as calcium can cause clustering of the polyanionic PIP2, but the origin and strength of the effective attractions leading to clustering has been unclear. In addition, the question of whether the ion-mediated attractions could be strong enough to alter the mechanical properties of the membrane, to our knowledge, has not been addressed. We study phase separation in mixed monolayers of neutral and highly negatively charged lipids, induced by the addition of divalent positively charged counterions, both experimentally and numerically. We find good agreement between experiments on mixtures of PIP2 and 1-stearoyl-2-oleoyl phosphatidylcholine and simulations of a simplified model in which only the essential electrostatic interactions are retained. In addition, we find numerically that under certain conditions the effective attractions can rigidify the resulting clusters. Our results support an interpretation of PIP2 clustering as governed primarily by electrostatic interactions. At physiological pH, the simulations suggest that the effective attractions are strong enough to give nearly pure clusters of PIP2 even at small overall concentrations of PIP2

A factor IX variant that functions independently of factor VIII mitigates the hemophilia A phenotype in patient plasma

BackgroundRecombinant factor (F)IX-FIAV has previously been shown to function independently of activated FVIII (FVIIIa) and ameliorate the hemophilia A (HA) phenotype in vitro and in vivo.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of FIX-FIAV in plasma from HA patients using thrombin generation (TG) and intrinsic clotting activity (activated partial thromboplastin time [APTT]) analyses.MethodsPlasma obtained from 21 patients with HA (>18 years; 7 mild, 7 moderate, and 7 severe patients) was spiked with FIX-FIAV. The FXIa-triggered TG lag time and APTT were quantified in terms of FVIII-equivalent activity using FVIII calibration for each patient plasma.ResultsThe linear, dose-dependent improvement in the TG lag time and APTT reached its maximum with approximately 400% to 600% FIX-FIAV in severe HA plasma and with approximately 200% to 250% FIX-FIAV in nonsevere HA plasma. The cofactor-independent contribution of FIX-FIAV was therefore suggested and confirmed by the addition of inhibitory anti-FVIII antibodies to nonsevere HA plasma, resulting in a FIX-FIAV response similar to severe HA plasma. Addition of 100% (5 μg/mL) FIX-FIAV mitigated the HA phenotype from severe to moderate (from ConclusionFIX-FIAV is capable of increasing the FVIII-equivalent activity and coagulation activity in plasma from HA patients, thereby mitigating the HA phenotype. Hence, FIX-FIAV could serve as a potential treatment for HA patients with or without inhibitors.Thrombosis and Hemostasi

Functional diversity of chemokines and chemokine receptors in response to viral infection of the central nervous system.

Encounters with neurotropic viruses result in varied outcomes ranging from encephalitis, paralytic poliomyelitis or other serious consequences to relatively benign infection. One of the principal factors that control the outcome of infection is the localized tissue response and subsequent immune response directed against the invading toxic agent. It is the role of the immune system to contain and control the spread of virus infection in the central nervous system (CNS), and paradoxically, this response may also be pathologic. Chemokines are potent proinflammatory molecules whose expression within virally infected tissues is often associated with protection and/or pathology which correlates with migration and accumulation of immune cells. Indeed, studies with a neurotropic murine coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), have provided important insight into the functional roles of chemokines and chemokine receptors in participating in various aspects of host defense as well as disease development within the CNS. This chapter will highlight recent discoveries that have provided insight into the diverse biologic roles of chemokines and their receptors in coordinating immune responses following viral infection of the CNS

Single-hole properties in the tt-JJ and strong-coupling models

We report numerical results for the single-hole properties in the $t$-$J$ model and the strong-coupling approximation to the Hubbard model in two dimensions. Using the hopping basis with over $10^6$ states we discuss (for an infinite system) the bandwidth, the leading Fourier coefficients in the dispersion, the band masses, and the spin-spin correlations near the hole. We compare our results with those obtained by other methods. The band minimum is found to be at ($\pi/2,\pi/2$) for the $t$-$J$ model for $0.1 \leq t/J \leq 10$, and for the strong-coupling model for $1 \leq t/J \leq 10$. The bandwidth in both models is approximately $2J$ at large $t/J$, in rough agreement with loop-expansion results but in disagreement with other results. The strong-coupling bandwidth for t/J\agt6 can be obtained from the $t$-$J$ model by treating the three-site terms in first-order perturbation theory. The dispersion along the magnetic zone face is flat, giving a large parallel/perpendicular band mass ratio.Comment: 1 RevTeX file with epsf directives to include 8 .eps figures 8 figure files encoded using uufile

Effects of various additives to enhance growth performance, blood profiles, and reduce malodour emissions in growing pigs

Experiment 1 was a feeding trial in which 75 (Landrace ⅹ Yorkshire) ⅹ Duroc pigs with average initial bodyweight (BW) of 26 ± 1 kg were used. It was assigned to three pigs/pen and five pens/treatment. Experiment 2 was a metabolic trial in which 25 (LandraceⅹYorkshire)ⅹDuroc pigs with average initial bodyweight (BW) of 36 ± 1 kg were used. The basal diet consisted of maize (57.71 %), soybean meal (32.45 %), and wheat bran (5 %). Treatments consisted of i) CON (control diet); ii) OE (organic acid + essential oils) (Aviplus-S®), that is, CON + 0.05 % OE; iii) OC (organic charcoal) (Olga Black®), that is, CON + 0.1 % OC; iv) AE (anise extracts) (RESQ®), that is, CON + 0.015 % AE; and v) PB (probiotics) (Bonvital®), that is, CON + 0.1 % PB. Average daily gain (ADG) and gain/feed ratio (G : F) were significantly higher in the OE and AE groups than in the others. Average daily feed intake (ADFI) for OE, OC, and AE treatments was significantly higher than that for CON and PB treatments. Dry matter (DM) digestibility was significantly higher in AE than CON. Crude protein (CP) was significantly higher in OE, AE, and PB than CON. CON and other treatments did not cause significant differences in blood l-density lipoprotein (LDL), and glucose. NH3 emissions were significantly lower in all treated groups than in CON. Among the treatments, NH3 emissions were lowest in OE and AE. H2S emissions were significantly lower in OE, AE, and PB than in CON. Among the treatments, OE and AE were most effective at reducing H2S emissions. The emissions of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) showed no significant difference between treatments and CON. In conclusion, this experiment was shown to be more effective on growth performance, malodour emission, blood profiles, and nutrient digestibility in OE and AE than other additives.Keywords: Digestibility, feed, influence, odour, supplementation, swin

Structure–property relationships of low sintering temperature scheelite-structured (1 − x)BiVO 4 –xLaNbO 4 microwave dielectric ceramics

A series of (1 − x)BiVO4–xLaNbO4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) ceramics were prepared via a solid state reaction method. A scheelite-structured solid solution was formed for x ≤ 0.5 but for x > 0.5, tetragonal scheelite, monoclinic LaNbO4-type and La1/3NbO3 phases co-existed. As x increased from 0 to 0.1, the room temperature crystal structure gradually changed from monoclinic to tetragonal scheelite, associated with a decrease in the ferroelastic phase transition temperature from 255 °C (BiVO4) to room temperature or even below. High sintering temperatures were also found to accelerate this phase transition for compositions with x ≤ 0.08. Temperature independent high quality factor Qf >10 000 GHz in a wide temperature range 25–140 °C and high microwave permittivity εr ∼76.3 ± 0.5 was obtained for the x = 0.06 ceramic sintered at 800 °C. However, small changes in composition resulted in a change in the sign and magnitude of the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (TCF) due to the proximity of the ferroelastic transition to room temperature. If TCF can be controlled and tuned through zero, then (1 − x)BiVO4–xLaNbO4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) is a strong candidate for microwave device applications

Partial wave analysis of J/\psi \to \gamma \phi \phi

Using $5.8 \times 10^7 J/\psi$ events collected in the BESII detector, the radiative decay $J/\psi \to \gamma \phi \phi \to \gamma K^+ K^- K^0_S K^0_L$ is studied. The $\phi\phi$ invariant mass distribution exhibits a near-threshold enhancement that peaks around 2.24 GeV/$c^{2}$. A partial wave analysis shows that the structure is dominated by a $0^{-+}$ state ($\eta(2225)$) with a mass of $2.24^{+0.03}_{-0.02}{}^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$ GeV/$c^{2}$ and a width of $0.19 \pm 0.03^{+0.06}_{-0.04}$ GeV/$c^{2}$. The product branching fraction is: $Br(J/\psi \to \gamma \eta(2225))\cdot Br(\eta(2225)\to \phi\phi) = (4.4 \pm 0.4 \pm 0.8)\times 10^{-4}$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. corrected proof for journa

On the Origin of Entropic Gravity and Inertia

It was recently suggested that quantum field theory is not fundamental but emerges from the loss of phase space information about matter crossing causal horizons. Possible connections between this formalism and Verlinde's entropic gravity and Jacobson's thermodynamic gravity are proposed. The holographic screen in Verlinde's formalism can be identified as local Rindler horizons and its entropy as that of the bulk fields beyond the horizons. This naturally resolves some issues on entropic gravity. The quantum fluctuation of the fields is the origin of the thermodynamic nature of entropic gravity. It is also suggested that inertia is related to dragging Rindler horizons.Comment: 9 pages, revtex4-1, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Foundations of Physic