Optimization of the design of ducted-fan hovering micro air vehicles using finite element simulation and orthogonal design

The structural design and flight stability characteristics of micro air vehicles have received much attention due to its low Reynolds number. Compared with fixed-wing aircraft, hovering ducted-fan micro air vehicles with vertical takeoff and landing and hovering capabilities have promising prospect. In this article, a flexible membrane and inflatable structure has been used as the aerodynamic shape of an aircraft model. Its advantages have been analyzed and verified by fluid-structure interaction based on finite element method. The flight stability of hovering micro air vehicles has also been investigated based on the theory of motion of structure. In order to improve the flight stability of the designed hovering micro air vehicle model, the effects of geometrical parameters and materials have been analyzed through an orthogonal experimental design. Based on the optimized results, the aircraft prototype has been manufactured for experimental test. The elastic deformation produced on its flexible membrane structure is obtained by stroboscopic stereo imaging method and a purpose-built experimental environment. The numerical simulation results indicated that the thickness of membrane and material of vertical duct have significant effects on the micro air vehicle flight stability and disturbance resistance ability. The results have confirmed that the flexible aerodynamic mechanisms produced by the aeroelastic deformation of spherical membrane can enhance the micro air vehicle stability.This work was financially supported by Support Program of National Ministry of Education of China (No. 625010110), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61179043), and Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program (SRFDP) of Higher Education (No. 20070056085)

Kinetic modelling of competition and depletion of shared miRNAs by competing endogenous RNAs

Non-conding RNAs play a key role in the post-transcriptional regulation of mRNA translation and turnover in eukaryotes. miRNAs, in particular, interact with their target RNAs through protein-mediated, sequence-specific binding, giving rise to extended and highly heterogeneous miRNA-RNA interaction networks. Within such networks, competition to bind miRNAs can generate an effective positive coupling between their targets. Competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) can in turn regulate each other through miRNA-mediated crosstalk. Albeit potentially weak, ceRNA interactions can occur both dynamically, affecting e.g. the regulatory clock, and at stationarity, in which case ceRNA networks as a whole can be implicated in the composition of the cell's proteome. Many features of ceRNA interactions, including the conditions under which they become significant, can be unraveled by mathematical and in silico models. We review the understanding of the ceRNA effect obtained within such frameworks, focusing on the methods employed to quantify it, its role in the processing of gene expression noise, and how network topology can determine its reach.Comment: review article, 29 pages, 7 figure

Measurement of Λ (1520) production in pp collisions at √s=7TeV and p–Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02TeV

The production of the Λ (1520) baryonic resonance has been measured at midrapidity in inelastic pp collisions at s=7TeV and in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV for non-single diffractive events and in multiplicity classes. The resonance is reconstructed through its hadronic decay channel Λ (1520) → pK - and the charge conjugate with the ALICE detector. The integrated yields and mean transverse momenta are calculated from the measured transverse momentum distributions in pp and p–Pb collisions. The mean transverse momenta follow mass ordering as previously observed for other hyperons in the same collision systems. A Blast-Wave function constrained by other light hadrons (π, K, KS0, p, Λ) describes the shape of the Λ (1520) transverse momentum distribution up to 3.5GeV/c in p–Pb collisions. In the framework of this model, this observation suggests that the Λ (1520) resonance participates in the same collective radial flow as other light hadrons. The ratio of the yield of Λ (1520) to the yield of the ground state particle Λ remains constant as a function of charged-particle multiplicity, suggesting that there is no net effect of the hadronic phase in p–Pb collisions on the Λ (1520) yield

Measurement of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays as a function of multiplicity in p-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The multiplicity dependence of electron production from heavy-flavour hadron decays as a function of transverse momentum was measured in p-Pb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. The measurement was performed in the centre-of-mass rapidity interval −1.07 < ycms< 0.14 and transverse momentum interval 2 < pT< 16 GeV/c. The multiplicity dependence of the production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays was studied by comparing the pT spectra measured for different multiplicity classes with those measured in pp collisions (QpPb) and in peripheral p-Pb collisions (Qcp). The QpPb results obtained are consistent with unity within uncertainties in the measured pT interval and event classes. This indicates that heavy-flavour decay electron production is consistent with binary scaling and independent of the geometry of the collision system. Additionally, the results suggest that cold nuclear matter effects are negligible within uncertainties, in the production of heavy-flavour decay electrons at midrapidity in p-Pb collisions. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Measurement of prompt D0, D+, D*+, and DS+ production in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The measurement of the production of prompt D0, D+, D*+, and DS+ mesons in proton–lead (p–Pb) collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of sNN = 5.02 TeV, with an integrated luminosity of 292 ± 11 μb−1, are reported. Differential production cross sections are measured at mid-rapidity (−0.96 < ycms< 0.04) as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in the intervals 0 < pT< 36 GeV/c for D0, 1 < pT< 36 GeV/c for D+ and D*+, and 2 < pT< 24 GeV/c for D+ mesons. For each species, the nuclear modification factor RpPb is calculated as a function of pT using a proton-proton (pp) ref- erence measured at the same collision energy. The results are compatible with unity in the whole pT range. The average of the non-strange D mesons RpPb is compared with theoretical model predictions that include initial-state effects and parton transport model predictions. The pT dependence of the D0, D+, and D*+ nuclear modification factors is also reported in the interval 1 < pT< 36 GeV/c as a function of the collision centrality, and the central-to-peripheral ratios are computed from the D-meson yields measured in different centrality classes. The results are further compared with charged-particle measurements and a similar trend is observed in all the centrality classes. The ratios of the pT-differential cross sections of D0, D+, D*+, and DS+ mesons are also reported. The DS+ and D+ yields are compared as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity for several pT intervals. No modification in the relative abundances of the four species is observed with respect to pp collisions within the statistical and systematic uncertainties. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Less-simplified models of dark matter for direct detection and the LHC

We construct models of dark matter with suppressed spin-independent scattering cross section utilizing the existing simplified model framework. Even simple combinations of simplified models can exhibit interference effects that cause the tree level contribution to the scattering cross section to vanish, thus demonstrating that direct detection limits on simplified models are not robust when embedded in a more complicated and realistic framework. In general for fermionic WIMP masses ≳ 10 GeV direct detection limits on the spin-independent scattering cross section are much stronger than those coming from the LHC. However these model combinations, which we call less-simplified models, represent situations where LHC searches become more competitive than direct detection experiments even for moderate dark matter mass. We show that a complementary use of several searches at the LHC can strongly constrain the direct detection blind spots by setting limits on the coupling constants and mediators’ mass. We derive the strongest limits for combinations of vector + scalar, vector + “squark”, and “squark” + scalar mediator, and present the corresponding projections for the LHC 14 TeV for a number of searches: mono-jet, jets + missing energy, and searches for heavy vector resonances

Effective Rheology of Bubbles Moving in a Capillary Tube

We calculate the average volumetric flux versus pressure drop of bubbles moving in a single capillary tube with varying diameter, finding a square-root relation from mapping the flow equations onto that of a driven overdamped pendulum. The calculation is based on a derivation of the equation of motion of a bubble train from considering the capillary forces and the entropy production associated with the viscous flow. We also calculate the configurational probability of the positions of the bubbles.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Inclusive J/ψ production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV

Inclusive J/ψ production is studied in minimum-bias proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 5.02 TeV by ALICE at the CERN LHC. The measurement is performed at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.9) in the dielectron decay channel down to zero transverse momentum pT, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of Lint = 19.4 ± 0.4 nb−1. The measured pT-integrated inclusive J/ψ production cross sec- tion is dσ/dy = 5.64 ± 0.22(stat.) ± 0.33(syst.) ± 0.12(lumi.) μb. The pT-differential cross section d2σ/dpTdy is measured in the pT range 0–10 GeV/c and compared with state-of- the-art QCD calculations. The J/ψ 〈pT〉 and 〈pT2〉 are extracted and compared with results obtained at other collision energies. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Mammalian microRNAs predominantly act to decrease target mRNA levels

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous ~22-nucleotide RNAs that mediate important gene-regulatory events by pairing to the mRNAs of protein-coding genes to direct their repression. Repression of these regulatory targets leads to decreased translational efficiency and/or decreased mRNA levels, but the relative contributions of these two outcomes have been largely unknown, particularly for endogenous targets expressed at low-to-moderate levels. Here, we use ribosome profiling to measure the overall effects on protein production and compare these to simultaneously measured effects on mRNA levels. For both ectopic and endogenous miRNA regulatory interactions, lowered mRNA levels account for most (≥84%) of the decreased protein production. These results show that changes in mRNA levels closely reflect the impact of miRNAs on gene expression and indicate that destabilization of target mRNAs is the predominant reason for reduced protein output.National Institutes of Health (U.S.

Efficient Organic Photovoltaics Utilizing Nanoscale Heterojunctions in Sequentially Deposited Polymer/fullerene Bilayer

A highly efficient sequentially deposited bilayer (SD-bilayer) of polymer/fullerene organic photovoltaic (OPV) device is developed via the solution process. Herein, we resolve two essential problems regarding the construction of an efficient SD-bilayer OPV. First, the solution process fabrication of the SD-bilayer is resolved by incorporating an ordering agent (OA) to the polymer solution, which improves the ordering of the polymer chain and prevents the bottom-layer from dissolving into the top-layer solution. Second, a non-planar heterojunction with a large surface area is formed by the incorporation of a heterojunction agent (HA) to the top-layer solution. Poly[[9-(1-octylnonyl)-9H-carbazole-2,7-diyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole- 4,7-diyl-2,5-thiophenediyl] (PCDTBT) is used for the bottom-layer and phenyl-C71-butyric-acid-methyl ester (PC70BM) is used for the top-layer. The SD-bilayer OPV produced utilizing both an OA and HA exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.12% with a high internal quantum efficiency (IQE). We believe our bilayer system affords a new way of forming OPVs distinct from bulk heterojunction (BHJ) systems and offers a chance to reconsider the polymers that have thus far shown unsatisfactory performance in BHJ systemsope