Community succession in hydrothermal vent habitats of the Eastern Lau Spreading Center and Valu Fa Ridge, Tonga

Patterns of succession in Lau Basin hydrothermal vent communities determined with high-resolution imagery and in situ physico–chemical data collected over 4 yr and analyzed within a Geographic Information System show that Alviniconcha snails are a pioneering group, the snail Ifremeria nautilei is a mid-successional species, and the heat-intolerant mussel Bathymodiolus brevior dominates when venting declines. The associated fauna also changes as communities progress through the successional stages, and eventually non-vent–endemic deep-sea species appear when venting has mostly subsided. This is a unique example of primary succession in which the primary producers form symbiotic associations with mobile animals, resulting in successional patterns not observed in other systems. I. nautilei dominates newly formed substrates or venting sources where both I. nautilei and Alviniconcha spp. are already established (e.g., by migration), while Alviniconcha spp. seem to be better at colonizing newly active vents (e.g., by settlement) that are remote from colonized vents. Thus, on the scale of a 5–39 m2 diffuse flow area or a single edifice, the mid-successional species dominates new substrates instead of the pioneering group. These communities are remarkably stable over long time periods relative to other hydrothermal vent regions. In addition to the sequential replacements of species as sites age and overall conditions change, Lau vent animals track changes in vent fluids and relocate themselves when local hydrothermal plumbing changes over small spatial scales

Linking regional variation of epibiotic bacterial diversity and trophic ecology in a new species of Kiwaidae (Decapoda, Anomura) from East Scotia Ridge (Antarctica) hydrothermal vents

We analyzed the diversity of bacterial epibionts and trophic ecology of a new species of Kiwa yeti crab discovered at two hydrothermal vent fields (E2 and E9) on the East Scotia Ridge (ESR) in the Southern Ocean using a combination of 454 pyrosequencing, Sanger sequencing, and stable isotope analysis. The Kiwa epibiont communities were dominated by Epsilon- and Gammaproteobacteria. About 454 sequencing of the epibionts on 15 individual Kiwa specimen revealed large regional differences between the two hydrothermal vent fields: at E2, the bacterial community on the Kiwa ventral setae was dominated (up to 75%) by Gammaproteobacteria, whereas at E9 Epsilonproteobacteria dominated (up to 98%). Carbon stable isotope analysis of both Kiwa and the bacterial epibionts also showed distinct differences between E2 and E9 in mean and variability. Both stable isotope and sequence data suggest a dominance of different carbon fixation pathways of the epibiont communities at the two vent fields. At E2, epibionts were putatively fixing carbon via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham and reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle, while at E9 the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle dominated. Co-varying epibiont diversity and isotope values at E2 and E9 also present further support for the hypothesis that epibionts serve as a food source for Kiwa

CFD Analysis of Turbulent Flow Phenomena in the Lower Plenum of a Prismatic Gas-Cooled Reactor

This paper is concerned with the implementation of a computational model of turbulent flow in a section of the lower plenum of Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). The proposed model has been encoded in a state-of-the-art CFD code, NPHASE. The results of NPHASE predictions have been compared against the experimental data collected using a scaled model of a sub-region in the lower plenum of a modular prismatic gas-cooled reactor. It has been shown that the NPHASE-based model is capable of predicting a three-dimensional velocity field in a complex geometrical configuration of VHTR lower plenum. The current and future validations of computational predictions are necessary for design and analysis of new reactor concepts, as well as for safety analysis and licensing calculations

A new mechanistic model of critical heat flux in forced-convection subcooled boiling

Because of its practical importance and various industrial applications, the process of subcooled flow boiling has attracted a lot of attention in the research community in the past. However, the existing models are primarily phenomenological and are based on correlating experimental data rather than on a first-principle analysis of the governing physical phenomena. Even though the mechanisms leading to critical heat flux (CHF) are very complex, the recent progress in the understanding of local phenomena of multiphase flow and heat transfer, combined with the development of mathematical models and advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods, makes analytical predictions of CHF quite feasible. Various mechanisms leading to CHF in subcooled boiling have been investigated. A new model for the predictions of the onset of CHF has been developed. This new model has been coupled with the overall boiling channel model, numerically implemented in the CFX 4 computer code, tested and validated against the experimental data of Hino and Ueda. The predicted critical heat flux for various channel operating conditions shows good agreement with the measurements using the aforementioned closure laws for the various local phenomena governing nucleation and bubble departure from the wall. The observed differences are consistent with typical uncertainties associated with CHF data

PrimerBank: a PCR primer database for quantitative gene expression analysis, 2012 update

Optimization of primer sequences for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) and reaction conditions remains an experimental challenge. We have developed a resource, PrimerBank, which contains primers that can be used for PCR and qPCR under stringent and allele-invariant amplification conditions. A distinguishing feature of PrimerBank is the experimental validation of primer pairs covering most known mouse genes. Here, we describe a major update of PrimerBank that includes the design of new primers covering 17 076 and 18 086 genes for the human and mouse species, respectively. As a result of this update, PrimerBank contains 497 156 primers (an increase of 62% from the previous version) that cover 36 928 human and mouse genes, corresponding to around 94% of all known protein-coding gene sequences. An updated algorithm based on our previous approach was used to design new primers using current genomic information available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). PrimerBank primers work under uniform PCR conditions, and can be used for high-throughput or genome-wide qPCR. Because of their broader linear dynamic range and greater sensitivity, qPCR approaches are used to reanalyze changes in expression suggested by exploratory technologies such as microarrays and RNA-Seq. The primers and all experimental validation data can be freely accessed from the PrimerBank website, http://pga.mgh.harvard.edu/primerbank/

REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTAL CAPABILITIES AND HYDRODYNAMIC DATA FOR VALIDATION OF CFD-BASED PREDICTIONS FOR SLURRY BUBBLE COLUMN REACTORS

The purpose of this paper is to document the review of several open-literature sources of both experimental capabilities and published hydrodynamic data to aid in the validation of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based model of a slurry bubble column (SBC). The review included searching the Web of Science, ISI Proceedings, and Inspec databases, internet searches as well as other open literature sources. The goal of this study was to identify available experimental facilities and relevant data. Integral (i.e., pertaining to the SBC system), as well as fundamental (i.e., separate effects are considered), data are included in the scope of this effort. The fundamental data is needed to validate the individual mechanistic models or closure laws used in a Computational Multiphase Fluid Dynamics (CMFD) simulation of a SBC. The fundamental data is generally focused on simple geometries (i.e., flow between parallel plates or cylindrical pipes) or custom-designed tests to focus on selected interfacial phenomena. Integral data covers the operation of a SBC as a system with coupled effects. This work highlights selected experimental capabilities and data for the purpose of SBC model validation, and is not meant to be an exhaustive summary

Clean Coal Power Initiative

This report is the fifth quarterly Technical Progress Report submitted by NeuCo, Incorporated, under Award Identification Number, DE-FC26-04NT41768. This award is part of the Clean Coal Power Initiative (''CCPI''), the ten-year, $2B initiative to demonstrate new clean coal technologies in the field. This report is one of the required reports listed in Attachment B Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist, part of the Cooperative Agreement. The report covers the award period January 1, 2006 - March 31, 2006 and NeuCo's efforts within design, development, and deployment of on-line optimization systems during that period

Short-Lived Trace Gases in the Surface Ocean and the Atmosphere

The two-way exchange of trace gases between the ocean and the atmosphere is important for both the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere and the biogeochemistry of the oceans, including the global cycling of elements. Here we review these exchanges and their importance for a range of gases whose lifetimes are generally short compared to the main greenhouse gases and which are, in most cases, more reactive than them. Gases considered include sulphur and related compounds, organohalogens, non-methane hydrocarbons, ozone, ammonia and related compounds, hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Finally, we stress the interactivity of the system, the importance of process understanding for modeling, the need for more extensive field measurements and their better seasonal coverage, the importance of inter-calibration exercises and finally the need to show the importance of air-sea exchanges for global cycling and how the field fits into the broader context of Earth System Science

Analysis of Developing Gas/liquid Two-Phase Flows

The goal of this work is to develop a mechanistically based CFD model that can be used to simulate process equipment operating in the churn-turbulent regime. The simulations were performed using a state-of-the-art computational multiphase fluid dynamics code, NPHASE–CMFD [Antal et al,2000]. A complete four-field model, including the continuous liquid field and three dispersed gas fields representing bubbles of different sizes, was first carefully tested for numerical convergence and accuracy, and then used to reproduce the experimental results from the TOPFLOW test facility at Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V. Institute of Safety Research [Prasser et al,2007]. Good progress has been made in simulating the churn-turbulent flows and comparison the NPHASE-CMFD simulations with TOPFLOW experimental data. The main objective of the paper is to demonstrate capability to predict the evolution of adiabatic churn-turbulent gas/liquid flows. The proposed modelling concept uses transport equations for the continuous liquid field and for dispersed bubble fields [Tselishcheva et al, 2009]. Along with closure laws based on interaction between bubbles and continuous liquid, the effect of height on air density has been included in the model. The figure below presents the developing flow results of the study, namely total void fraction at different axial locations along the TOPFLOW facility test section. The complete model description, as well as results of simulations and validation will be presented in the full paper