Curvature and velocity of methane-air Bunsen flame tips

PIV and photographic recording are used to measure the velocity of the fresh gas and the shape of the reaction layer in a region around the tip of a methane- air Bunsen flame attached to a cylindrical burner. The results compare well with numerical simulations carried out with an infinite activation energy reaction model. The experimental and numerical results confirm that the well-known linear relation between flame velocity and flame stretch derived from asymptotic theory for weakly curved and strained flames is valid for small and moderate values of the flame stretch if the modified definition of stretch introduced by Echekki and Mungal (Proc Combust Inst 23:455–461,1990) and Poinsot et al. (Combust Sci Technol 81:45–73,1992) is used. However, the relation between flame velocity and modified stretch ceases to be linear and approaches a square root law for large values of the stretch, when the curvature of the flame tip becomes large compared to the inverse of the thickness of a planar flam

Measurement of the burning velocity of strongly curved methane-air flames

An experimental and numerical study has been carried out of the region around the tip of a methane-air premixed flame attached to a circular laminar jet burner. On the experimental side, photographic records and PIV have been used to measure the shape of the reaction layer and the velocity of the gas around the tip of the flame. The numerical part of the study includes simulations of stationary axisymmetric flames with infinitely high activation energy reactions. The experimental and numerical results compare well with each other and allow to determine the curvature of the reaction layer at the tip and the velocity and strain rate of the fresh gas flow along the axis of the burner. These data, together with the planar flame velocity determined by extrapolating the velocity of the flame at the tip to the limit of zero stretch, are used to assess the well-known linear flame-velocity/flame-stretch relationship originally proposed by Markstein and later derived in the asymptotic limit of weakly curved and strained flames [1, 2], as well as the phenomenological modification proposed more recently by Mungal and coworker

Curvature and burning velocity of Bunsen Flame tips.

The burning velocity of a premixed flame propagating in a given flammable mixture is known to depend on the difference between the curvature of the flame and the so-called curvature of the flow, which is the strain rate of the flow of fresh gas along the normal to the flame divided by the burning velocity of the planar flame. The difference between the local burning velocity and the burning velocity of a planar flame in a gas at rest is proportional to the difference of the flame and flow curvatures. The proportionality factor is the product of the burning velocity of the planar flame and the Markstein length, which is an intrinsic property of the flame that characterizes its dynamics. The Markstein length can be determined experimentally by simultaneously measuring the curvature of the flame and the strain rate of the flow. To achieve this goal, we have set up a laminar jet burner and used two PIV systems to measure the gas flow velocity in two perpendicular planes normal to the flame. Each PIV system is composed by two Q-switched Nd: YAG pulse lasers (New Wave, maximum 120 mJ/pulse at 532 nm wavelength), a double-shuttered cross-correlation camera (PCO, 1392 × 1040 pixels) and a pulse generator (ILA GmbH) to synchronize all the components as well as the two PIV systems. Oil droplets are used for tracking the flow and the flame. They are formed by condensation after oil evaporation in a seeding chamber placed in the air line. Seeded air and fuel gas (CO,H2, CH4) are mixed in a settling chamber upstream of the burner and burned in a stationary Bunsen flame. The oil droplets evaporate in the flame preheating region, thereby allowing a dual tomography of the front

Local burning velocity in a Bunsen jet flame

A PIV-based system has been set-up for the simultaneous measurement of the local burning velocity of premixed flames and the flame stretch due to the flame front curvature and the incoming flow strain rate. For moderately short jet flames, these measurements allow an indirect determination of the Markstein length, according to Clavin and Joulin (C–J) theory. For tall flames, the flame curvature becomes relatively large in a region around the tip where the C–J theory breaks down. However, our experiments confirm the appearance of a new linear relation between burning velocity and curvature at the flame tip. This relation defines a new proportionality factor which is probably associated to the evolution from rounded tips to slender tips when the jet velocity is increased

Reproductive and nutritional management on ovarian response and embryo quality on rabbit does

Rabbit does in modern rabbitries are under intensive reproductive rhythms. Females are high milk producers with high energetic expenses due to the extensive overlap between lactation and gestation. This situation leads to a negative energy balance with a mobilization of body fat especially in primiparous rabbit does. Poor body condition and poor health status severely affect the reproductive features (fertility rate and lifespan of the doe as well as ovarian physiology). This paper reviews some reproductive and nutritional approaches used in the last years to improve the reproductive performance of rabbit females, mainly focusing on the influence on ovarian response and embryo quality and with emphasis on epigenetic modifications in pre-implantation embryos and offspring consequences

In vitro maturation of guinea pig oocytes supplemented with Epidermal Growth Factor and Insulin-Like Growth Factor I

Insights in oocyte maturation process in guinea pigs are essential for the development of in vitro culture systems in this species, since it represents an interesting animal model in reproduction field (Suzuki et al. Mol Reprod Dev 2003; 64, 219–25). The goal of this study was to elucidate the influence of both Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) and Insulin-like Growth Factor I (IGF-I) on in vitro oocyte maturation (IVM) medium of guinea pig. We assessed meiotic and cytoplasmic oocyte maturation, in terms of cortical granules (CG) and mitochondrial distribution, apoptotic rate and steroidogenic response of cumulus-oocyte-complexes (COCs) after IVM. A pool of 500 COCs from adult guinea pigs were cultured in groups of 40 COCs in four replicates in TCM-199 with 2 mM/mL glutamine, 0.1 mg/mL sodium pyruvate and 0.003% BSA for 17h (38ºC, 5%CO2) (Sigma Chemical Company)

In vivo and in vitro maturation of rabbit oocyte affects gene expression, mitochondrial distribution and apoptosis

In vivo-matured cumulus–oocyte complexes are valuable models in which to assess potential biomarkers of rabbit oocyte quality that contribute to enhanced IVM systems. In the present study we compared some gene markers of oocytes and cumulus cells (CCs) from immature, in vivo-matured and IVM oocytes. Moreover, apoptosis in CCs, nuclear maturation, mitochondrial reallocation and the developmental potential of oocytes after IVF were assessed. In relation to cumulus expansion, gene expression of gap junction protein, alpha 1, 43 kDa (Gja1) and prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (Ptgs2) was significantly lower in CCs after in vivo maturation than IVM. In addition, there were differences in gene expression after in vivo maturation versus IVM in both oocytes and CCs for genes related to cell cycle regulation and apoptosis (V-Akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homologue 1 (Akt1), tumour protein 53 (Tp53), caspase 3, apoptosis-related cysteine protease (Casp3)), oxidative response (superoxide dismutase 2, mitochondrial (Sod2)) and metabolism (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6pd), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (Gapdh)). In vivo-matured CCs had a lower apoptosis rate than IVM and immature CCs. Meiotic progression, mitochondrial migration to the periphery and developmental competence were higher for in vivo-matured than IVM oocytes. In conclusion, differences in oocyte developmental capacity after IVM or in vivo maturation are accompanied by significant changes in transcript abundance in oocytes and their surrounding CCs, meiotic rate, mitochondrial distribution and apoptotic index. Some of the genes investigated, such as Gja1, could be potential biomarkers for oocyte developmental competence in the rabbit model, helping improve in vitro culture systems in these species

Predistorsión Digital mediante Señales Enventanadas Tipo Chirp para la Linealización de Amplificadores de Potencia

Digital PreDistortion (DPD) is a well-known method to reduce nonlinear distortion in power amplifiers (PA). In a LTE uplink transmission, the modulation schemes are adaptive. Thus, the DPD function will have to be re-calibrated once the modulation changes. This fact increases the DPD computational cost and the required memory. If the DPD is not re-trained its linearity performance will decrease. This effect can be reduced using a suitable training signal. We propose several novel non-stationary calibration signals based on a windowed-chirp waveform. The envelope of these sequences is bounded by different windows used in signal processing such as Bartlett, Blackman, Hamming or Welch. Bartlett and Blackman windows generate calibration sequences with higher peak to average power ratio values than Welch. Welch envelope creates a signal with a more uniform probability density function (pdf) than the Hamming-window, whose pdf is similar to a Rayleigh distribution. The linearization strategy is based on capturing the described sequences at the PA input and output to extract the predistortion parameters. Once the predistorter functions are computed, we apply them on various LTE-transmissions and perform linearity measurements in terms of the adjacent channel leakage ratio to compare with the standard requirements. In all cases the maximum nonlinear distortion reduction is accomplished with the Chirp-Bartlett sequence (up to 37dBc when transmitting a QPSK-LTE-signal). Thus, good DPD performance is achieved when using the proposed Bartlett-Chirp in the DPD-training-stage. This avoids generating specific DPDs for each modulation scheme, saving computational cost, required memory, and increasing the system efficiency

Control del déficit energético y actividad ovárica de conejas primíparas sometidas a destete temprano

El objetivo de este estudio fue estudiar el efecto de un destete temprano, realizado a los 25 días post-parto (dpp), con el fin de reducir el déficit energético de las conejas primíparas y mejorar su eficacia reproductiva. Para ello, se estudió el efecto sobre las reservas corporales y la actividad ovárica de 34 conejas primíparas lactantes. Se sacrificó un grupo (n=10) a los 25 dpp (L25), otro (n=13) se destetó a los 25 dpp y se sacrificó a los 32 dpp (NL32) y un tercero (n=11), no se destetó y se sacrificó a los 32 dpp (L32). El peso vivo de los animales, las concentraciones de ácidos grasos no esterificados (AGNE) y de proteínas plasmáticas totales en el suero fueron similares en todos los grupos. Aunque el grupo NL32, después del destete, consumió menos alimento que el grupo L32 (122±23,5 vs. 402±26,7g/d, respectivamente; P < 0,001), sus contenidos estimados de lípidos (16,9±1,09%; P < 0,008), proteína (19,7±0,07%; P < 0,0001) y energía corporales (1147±42,7 MJ/kg; P < 0,006) fueron mayores, y sus concentraciones plasmáticas de glucosa (158±24,5mg/dl; P < 0,04) fueron menores que las del grupo L25 (11,9±1,3%, 18,5±0,08%, 942±51,3 MJ/kg y 212±27,9 mg/dl ) y que las del grupo L32, (13,4±1,03%, 18,5±0,1%, 993±40,4 MJ/kg and 259±29,5 mg/dl), respectivamente. El recuento de la población folicular en los ovarios fue similar en los tres grupos. La maduración nuclear (% de oocitos en metafase II) y la citoplásmica (% de gránulos corticales total o parcialmente migrados) fue significativamente menor en el grupo sacrificado a los 25 dpp (L25), que en los grupos NL32 y L32 (67 vs. 79,7 y 78,3%; P < 0,05; 16 vs. 38,3 y 60,0%; P<0,05, respectivamente). En conclusión, las reservas energéticas de la coneja primípara aumentan si es destetada a 25 dpp. Sin embargo, esta estrategia no es suficiente desde el punto de vista reproductivo, ya que a los 32 dpp, la actividad ovárica de las conejas es similar independientemente de si han sido destetadas previamente o no