Development of an Energy Efficient Stern Flap for Improved EEDI of a Typical High speed Displacement Vessel

The surge in maritime trade is leading to large scale deployment of high-speed displacement ships by all nations. Cargo vessels are designed for a voyage in pre-determined routes at consistent speeds. On the other hand, high-speed displacement vessel engines designed with a capability to cater for top speeds are under-utilised during their normal course of operation. This sub-optimal utilisation impacts efficiency and increases emissions. In this study, a most favourable stern flap is designed for reducing the energy efficiency design index of a typical high-speed displacement vessel with a slender hull. CFD simulations and experimental model testing were conducted for 12 different stern flap configurations for determining most favourable flap design in the Froude no of 0.17-0.48. Performance of the most favourable stern flap was established by calculating, energy efficiency design index (EEDI) and fuel consumption based on typical operating profile. NOx, VOC and PM emissions were estimated in with and without flap condition. Studies demonstrated that the stern flap reduced effective power demand, average fuel consumption and emissions by about 8 per cent, which when considered for the ship’s operating life cycle, are significant. The most favourable stern flap reduced EEDI by 3.74 units and 1.98 units as compared to the bare hull condition and the required EEDI respectively, thereby demonstrating that EEDI could be used as an index to indicate stern flap efficiency

Implementation of MPPT Algorithm for Solar Photovoltaic Cell by Comparing Short-circuit Method and Incremental Conductance Method

AbstractThis paper presents simulation of incremental conductance (IncCond) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm used in solar array power systems with direct control method. The main difference between the proposed system to that of the existing MPPT systems includes the elimination of the proportional–integral control loop and investigation of the effect of simplifying the control circuit. Contributions are made in several aspects of the whole system, including converter design, system simulation and controller programming. The resultant system is capable of tracking MPPs accurately and rapidly without steady-state oscillation, and also, its dynamic performance is satisfactory. The IncCond algorithm is used to track MPPs because it performs precise control under rapidly changing atmospheric conditions. MATLAB and Simulink were employed for simulation studies

Control of bow shock induced three-dimensional separation using bleed through holes

The unsteady three-dimensional separated flow on a wall induced by a square protrusion (approximately twice the local boundary layer thickness in width and height), and its control by means of passive suction through holes, is investigated using wind tunnel experiments at Mach $2.87$. The baseline flow without any control was characterized and compared against the cases with bleed. A bow-shaped separation line on the wall with a mid-span separation length of $5.57\delta$ from protrusion face was traced from oil-flow visualization. The averaged pressure distribution surveyed using static pressure ports placed on the wall has mapped plateau, high-pressure, and a low-pressure region in the separated flow, distinctive to three-dimensional interactions. Ten control configurations were tested with suction holes placed along mid-span in the different pressure zones. Significant spanwise `Mean Reduction in Separation Length' of up to $0.93\delta$ was observed from oil-flow visualization. A comparison of observations from various control configurations suggested that bleeding the flow from the high-pressure region could in general delay the separation and reduce the bubble size. Further, time-resolved schlieren visualizations have confirmed reduction in both `mid-span separation length' and `shock-intermittent-region' with the introduction of suction in high-pressure region. Fourier and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition analysis done on the schlieren data has confirmed the presence of low-frequency separation-shock oscillations at Strouhal Numbers of order $10^{-2}$, both with and without control. Furthermore, the amplitudes of separation-shock oscillations in the spectrum were reduced with the introduction of suction simultaneously from two holes placed in high and low-pressure regions

Top-down and bottom-up propagation of disease in the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses.

BACKGROUND: The Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCLs) may be considered distinct neurodegenerative disorders with separate underlying molecular causes resulting from monogenetic mutations. An alternative hypothesis is to consider the NCLs as related diseases that share lipofuscin pathobiology as the common core feature, but otherwise distinguished by different a) initial anatomic location, and b) disease propagation. METHODS: We have tested this hypothesis by comparing known differences in symptomatology and pathology of the CLN1 phenotype caused by complete loss of PPT1 function (i.e., the classical infantile form) and of the classical juvenile CLN3 phenotype. These two forms of NCL represent early onset and rapidly progressing vs. late onset and slowly progressing disease modalities respectively. RESULTS: Despite displaying similar pathological endpoints, the clinical phenotypes and the evidence of imaging and postmortem studies reveal strikingly different time courses and distributions of disease propagation. Data from CLN1 disease are indicative of disease propagation from the body, with early effects within the spinal cord and subsequently within the brainstem, the cerebral hemispheres, cerebellum and retina. In contrast, the retina appears to be the most vulnerable organ in CLN3, and the site where pathology is first present. Pathology subsequently is present in the occipital connectome of the CLN3 brain, followed by a top-down propagation in which cerebral and cerebellar atrophy in early adolescence is followed by involvement of the peripheral nerves in later adolescence/early twenties, with the extrapyramidal system also affected during this time course. DISCUSSION: The propagation of disease in these two NCLs therefore has much in common with the "Brain-first" vs. "Body-first" models of alpha-synuclein propagation in Parkinson's disease. CLN1 disease represents a "Body-first" or bottom-up disease propagation and CLN3 disease having a "Brain-first" and top-down propagation. It is noteworthy that the varied phenotypes of CLN1 disease, whether it starts in infancy (infantile form) or later in childhood (juvenile form), still fit with our proposed hypothesis of a bottom-up disease propagation in CLN1. Likewise, in protracted CLN3 disease, where both cognitive and motor declines are delayed, the initial manifestations of disease are also seen in the outer retinal layers, i.e., identical to classical Juvenile NCL disease

The alternate GNB3 splice variant, Gβ3s, exhibits an altered signalling response to EGF stimulation, which leads to enhanced cell migration

It has recently been reported that the duplication of the GNB3 gene has been shown to be directly linked to an obesity phenotype, both in humans and also in a humanised mouse model. Moreover, the common human GNB3 c.825C>T polymorphism (rs5443) causes this ubiquitously expressed gene to be aberrantly spliced approximately 50% of the time leading to the production of both a normal Gβ3 protein and a truncated, possibly less stable subunit, known as Gβ3s. The presence of the GNB3 825T allele has previously been shown to be associated with predisposition to hypertension, obesity, various cancers, Alzheimers, age related cognitive function, erectile dysfunction as well as a marker for pharmacogenetic drug action. Great controversy, however, currently exists as to whether these phenotypes associated with the 825T allele are a) mainly due to the presence of the smaller, possibly more active, Gβ3s subunit or b) merely down to the haploinsufficiency of the normal GNB3 transcript, due to its frequent aberrant splicing. In order to try and address these two conflicting hypothesis, we report on the identification and characterisation of signalling alterations unique to the presence of Gβ3s protein subunit. Moreover we also show the physiological consequences associated with altered signalling, directly induced by the Gβ3s subunit. For this, we used both an EBV transformed lymphoblast cell line homozygote for GNB3 825T/825T (TT) and a stable Gβ3s expressing recombinant COS-7 clone. In both of these cell lines that express the Gβ3s subunit, we found enhanced cytosolic calcium influx upon stimulation with EGF, TGFα and VEGF ligands, as compared to “normal” GNB3 controls with the 825C/825C (CC) genotype. This aberrant calcium influx also led to an increase in ERK, but not AKT1, phosphorylation. Despite the lack of AKT1 activation, we paradoxically observed a significant increase in phosphorylation of its downstream substrates, namely mTOR and p70S6k (KS6B2). Moreover we observed a decrease in phospho FoxO3a only in Gβ3s expressing cells, but not in the “normal” GNB3 (CC) control cell line. The presence of the Gβ3s subunit also appeared to alter the distinct localisation patterns of both Foxo3a and AKT1, while also increasing the colocalisation of mTOR and p70S6K. Subsequent growth factor stimulation studies revealed that EGF treatment, of Gβ3s expressing cells, appeared to cause a significant decrease in cAMP levels, which, in turn resulted in both enhanced caveolin-1a phosphorylation, and an increase in actin stress fibre formation. The identification of these distinct Gβ3s specific signalling alterations were indicative of a more aggressive migratory phenotype. This led us to further investigate and confirm that the presence of the Gβ3s subunit also appears to cause significantly enhanced migration and robust scratch wound healing kinetics, as compared to cells harbouring only the normal copy of the gene. These data therefore present convincing evidence that the Gβ3s subunit is stable, functional and its presence can significantly alter signalling pathways, in different cell types