Aerodynamic Noise Prediction for a Rod-Airfoil Configuration using Large Eddy Simulations

Aerodynamic noise produced by aerodynamic interaction between a cylinder (rod) and an airfoil in tandem arrangement is investigated using large eddy simulations. Wake from the rod convects with the flow, impinges of the airfoil to produce unsteady force which acts as a sound source. This rod-airfoil interaction problem is a model problem for noise generation due to inflow or upstream-generated turbulence interacting with a turbomachine bladerow or a wind turbine rotor. The OpenFoam and Charles (developed by Cascade Technologies) solvers are chosen to carry out the numerical simulations. The airfoil is set at zero angle of attack for the simulations. The flow conditions are specified by the Reynolds number (based on the rod diameter), Red = 48 K, and the flow Mach number, M = 0.2. Comparisons with measured data are made for (a) mean and root-mean-squared velocity profiles in the rod and airfoil wakes, (b) velocity spectra in the near field, and (c) far-field pressure spectra and directivity. Near-field flow data (on- and off-surface) is used with the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) acoustic analogy as well as Amiet’s theory to predict far-field sound

Dynamical simulations of an electronically induced solid-solid phase transformation in tungsten

The rearrangement of a material's electron density during laser irradiation leads to modified nonthermal forces on the atoms that may lead to coherent atomic motions and structural phase transformation on very short time scales. We present ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of a martensitic solid-solid phase transformation in tungsten under conditions of strong electronic excitation. The transformation is ultrafast, taking just over a picosecond, and follows the tetragonal Bain path. To examine whether a solid-solid bcc-fcc phase transformation could occur during laser irradiation, we use two-temperature molecular dynamics (2T-MD) simulations with a specially developed potential dependent on the electronic temperature. Our simulations show that the occurrence of the solid-solid phase transformation is in competition with ultrafast nonthermally assisted melting with the strength of the electron-phonon coupling determining the lifetime of the new solid phase. In tungsten the melting transition is predicted to occur too rapidly for the fcc phase to be detectable during laser irradiation

Entropy Driven Atomic Motion in Laser-Excited Bismuth

We introduce a thermodynamical model based on the two-temperature approach in order to fully understand the dynamics of the coherent A(1g) phonon in laser-excited bismuth. Using this model, we simulate the time evolution of (111) Bragg peak intensities measured by Fritz et al. [Science 315, 633 (2007)] in femtosecond x-ray diffraction experiments performed on a bismuth film for different laser fluences. The agreement between theoretical and experimental results is striking not only because we use fluences very close to the experimental ones but also because most of the model parameters are obtained from ab initio calculations performed for different electron temperatures

Prevalence, Incidence Density, and Genotype Distribution of GB Virus C Infection in a Cohort of Recently HIV-1-Infected Subjects in São Paulo, Brazil

Background: the results of previous studies elsewhere have indicated that GB virus C (GBV-C) infection is frequent in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) due to similar transmission routes of both viruses. the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, incidence density and genotypic characteristics of GBV-C in this population.Methodology/Principal Findings: the study population included 233 patients from a cohort primarily comprised of homosexual men recently infected with HIV-1 in São Paulo, Brazil. the presence of GBV-C RNA was determined in plasma samples by reverse transcriptase-nested polymerase chain reaction and quantified by real-time PCR. GBV-C genotypes were determined by direct sequencing. HIV viral load, CD4+ T lymphocyte and CD8+ T lymphocyte count were also tested in all patients. the overall prevalence of GBV-C infection was 0.23 (95% CI: 0.18 to 0.29) in the study group. There was no significant difference between patients with and without GBV-C infection and Glycoprotein E2 antibody presence regarding age, sex, HIV-1 viral load, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts and treatment with antiretroviral drugs. An inverse correlation was observed between GBV-C and HIV-1 loads at enrollment and after one year. Also, a positive but not significant correlation was observed between GBV-C load and CD4+ T lymphocyte. Phylogenetic analysis of the GBV-C isolates revealed the presence of genotype 1 and genotype 2, these sub classified into subtype 2a and 2b.Conclusion/Significance: GBV-C infection is common in recently HIV -1 infected patients in São Paulo, Brazil and the predominant genotype is 2b. This study provides the first report of the GBV-C prevalence at the time of diagnosis of HIV-1 and the incidence density of GBV-C infection in one year.Ministry of HealthSão Paulo City Health DepartmentFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Univ São Paulo, Div Clin Immunol & Allergy, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Infect Dis, São Paulo, BrazilSão Paulo Blood Bank, São Paulo, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Inst Trop Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Infect Dis, São Paulo, BrazilMinistry of Health: 914/BRA/3014-UNESCO/KallasSão Paulo City Health Department: 2004-0.168.922-7/KallasFAPESP: 04/15856-9/Diaz, Sabino KallasFAPESP: 05/01072-9/LeviWeb of Scienc

Ultrafast electronic and lattice dynamics in laser-excited crystalline bismuth

Femtosecond spectroscopy is applied to study transient electronic and lattice processes in bismuth. Components with relaxation times of 1 ps, 7 ps and ~ 1 ns are detected in the photoinduced reflectivity response of the crystal. To facilitate the assignment of the observed relaxation to the decay of particular excited electronic states we use pump pulses with central wavelengths ranging from 400 nm to 2.3 mum. Additionally, we examine the variation of parameters of coherent A1g phonons upon the change of excitation and probing conditions. Data analysis reveals a significant wavevector dependence of electron-hole and electron- phonon coupling strength along \Gamma--T direction of the Brillouin zone.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

High Human Herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) Prevalence, Clinical Correlates and High Incidence among Recently HIV-1-Infected Subjects in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Background: Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is the etiological agent for Kaposi Sarcoma, which occurs especially in HIV-infected subjects. HHV-8 infection and its clinical correlates have not been well characterized in recently HIV-1-infected subjects, especially men who have sex with men (MSM).Methodology/Principal Findings: We assessed the HHV-8 seroprevalence, clinical correlates, and incidence after one year of follow-up in a cohort of 228 recently HIV-1-infected individuals, of whom 83.6% were MSM, using indirect immunofluorescence assay. the prevalence of HHV-8 infection at the time of cohort enrollment was 25.9% (59/228). in the univariate model, there were significant associations with male gender, black ethnicity, MSM practice, and previous hepatitis B virus and syphilis infections. in the multivariate model we could still demonstrate association with MSM, hepatitis B, and black ethnicity. No differences in mean CD4+ cell counts or HIV viral load according to HHV-8 status were found. in terms of incidence, there were 23/127 (18.1%) seroconversions in the cohort after 1 year.Conclusions: HHV-8 is highly prevalent among recently HIV-1-infected subjects. Correlations with other sexually transmitted infections suggest common transmission routes.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Infect Dis, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Infect Dis, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Smart and sustainable urban logistic applications aided by intelligent techniques

[EN] CO2-free urban logistics is one of the 10 objectives to reach by 2030 as part of transport policy. What technologies can help to accomplish it? In this paper, we discuss the very complex situation that today¿s big and modern cities are facing with a tremendous environment of many urban logistics companies running in the same city. In the majority of cases, there is less or none coordination among them worsening traffic congestions. We believe that intelligent techniques are one of the key approaches that can aid to support smart and sustainable urban logistic applications. There are large open problems in the field of cooperative urban logistics that can greatly improve with the help of artificial intelligence. Some solutions are cited in this paper, but the overall conclusion is that there is still much work to be done.Giret Boggino, AS. (2019). Smart and sustainable urban logistic applications aided by intelligent techniques. Service Oriented Computing and Applications (Online). 13(3):185-186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11761-019-00271-zS185186133Market reports (2019) Global last mile delivery market size, status and forecast 2019–2025. The Market reports. Report code : 1362721, pp 1–114Xiao Z, Wang JJ, Lenzer J, Sun Y (2017) Understanding the diversity of final delivery solutions for online retailing: a case of Shenzhen, China. In: World conference on transport research—WCTR 2016 Shanghai. Transportation Research Procedia, vol 25, pp 985–998, 2017. 10–15 July 2016Gonzalez-Feliu J, Semet F, Routhier JL (2014) Sustainable urban logistics: concepts, methods and information systems. Springer, BerlinMacharis C, Melo S (2011) City distribution and urban freight transport: multiple perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing, CheltenhamPagell M, Wu Z (2009) Building a more complete theory of sustainable supply chain management using case studies of 10 exemplars. J Supply Chain Manag 45:37–56Morana J, Gonzalez-Feliu J (2015) A sustainable urban logistics dashboard from the perspective of a group of operational managers. Manag Res Rev 38(10):1068–1085Gunasekaran A, Kobu B (2007) Performance measures and metrics in logistics and supply chain management: a review of recent literature (1995–2004) for research and applications. Int J Prod Res 45:2819–2840Griffis SE, Goldsby TJ, Cooper M, Closs DJ (2007) Aligning logistics performance measures to the information needs of the firm. J Bus Logist 48:35–56Alonso-Mora J, Samaranayake S, Wallar A, Frazzoli E, Rus D (2017) On-demand high-capacity ride-sharing via dynamic trip-vehicle assignment. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114(3):462–467Gentile G, Noekel K (2016) Modeling public transport passenger flows in the era of intelligent transport systems. Springer, BerlinNeirotti P, De Marco A, Cagliano AC, Mangano G, Scorrano F (2014) Current trends in smart city initiatives: some stylised facts. Cities 38:25–36Chatterjee R (2016) Optimizing last mile delivery using public transport with multiagent based control. Master thesis, pp 1–59Skiver RL, Godfrey M (2017) Crowdserving: a last mile delivery method for brickand—mortar retailers. Glob J Bus Res 11(2):67–77Brüning M, Schönewolf W (2011) Freight transport system for urban shipment and delivery. In: IEEE forum on integrated and sustainable transportation systems, Vienna, pp 136–14

Designing normative open virtual enterprises

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Enterprise Information Systems on 23/03/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17517575.2015.1036927.[EN] There is an increasing interest on developing virtual enterprises in order to deal with the globalisation of the economy, the rapid growth of information technologies and the increase of competitiveness. In this paper we deal with the development of normative open virtual enterprises (NOVEs). They are systems with a global objective that are composed of a set of heterogeneous entities and enterprises that exchange services following a specific normative context. In order to analyse and design systems of this kind the multi-agent paradigm seems suitable because it offers a specific solution for supporting the social and contractual relationships between enterprises and for formalising their business processes. This paper presents how the Regulated Open Multiagent systems (ROMAS) methodology, an agent-oriented software methodology, can be used to analyse and design NOVEs. ROMAS offers a complete development process that allows identifying and formalising of the structure of NOVEs, their normative context and the interactions among their members. The use of ROMAS is exemplified by means of a case study that represents an automotive supply chain.This work was partially supported by the projects [PROMETEOII/2013/019], [TIN2012-36586-C03-01], [FP7-29493], [TIN2011-27652-C03-00] and [CSD2007-00022], and the CASES project within the 7th European Community Framework Programme [grant agreement number 294931].Garcia Marques, ME.; Giret Boggino, AS.; Botti Navarro, VJ. (2016). Designing normative open virtual enterprises. Enterprise Information Systems. 10(3):303-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2015.1036927S303324103Cardoso, H. L., Urbano, J., Brandão, P., Rocha, A. P., & Oliveira, E. (2012). 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Faster HIV-1 Disease Progression among Brazilian Individuals Recently Infected with CXCR4-Utilizing Strains

Introduction: Primary HIV infection is usually caused by R5 viruses, and there is an association between the emergence of CCXR4-utilizing strains and faster disease progression. We characterized HIV-1 from a cohort of recently infected individuals in Brazil, predicted the virus's co-receptor use based on the env genotype and attempted to correlate virus profiles with disease progression. Methods: A total of 72 recently infected HIV patients were recruited based on the Serologic Testing Algorithm for Recent HIV Seroconversion and were followed every three to four months for up to 78 weeks. The HIV-1 V3 region was characterized by sequencing nine to twelve weeks after enrollment. Disease progression was characterized by CD4+ T-cell count decline to levels consistently below 350 cells/mu L. Results: Twelve out of 72 individuals (17%) were predicted to harbor CXCR4-utilizing strains; a baseline CD4,350 was more frequent among these individuals (p = 0.03). Fifty-seven individuals that were predicted to have CCR5-utilizing viruses and 10 individuals having CXCR4-utilizing strains presented with baseline CD4.350; after 78 weeks, 33 individuals with CCR5 strains and one individual with CXCR4 strains had CD4.350 (p = 0.001). There was no association between CD4 decline and demographic characteristics or HIV-1 subtype. Conclusions: Our findings confirm the presence of strains with higher in vitro pathogenicity during early HIV infection, suggesting that even among recently infected individuals, rapid progression may be a consequence of the early emergence of CXCR4-utilizing strains. Characterizing the HIV-1 V3 region by sequencing may be useful in predicting disease progression and guiding treatment initiation decisions.Brazilian Program for STD and AIDSBrazilian Program for STD and AIDSMinistry of Health [914/BRA/3014-UNESCO/Kallas]Ministry of HealthSao Paulo City Health DepartmentSao Paulo City Health Department [2004-0.168.922-7/Kallas]Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao PauloFundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo [04/15856-9/Diaz]Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Brazilian Ministry of EducationBrazilian Ministry of Educatio