Forced response predictions in modern centrifugal compressor design

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-120).A computational interrogation of the time-averaged and time-unsteady flow fields of two centrifugal compressors of nearly identical design (the enhanced, which encountered aeromechanical difficulty, and production, which did not encounter any such difficulty) is undertaken in an effort to establish a causal link between impeller-diffuser interactions and the forced response behavior of the impeller blades. Through comparison of time- averaged flow variable and performance estimates with test rig data, the three- dimensional, unsteady, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes flow solver (MSU Turbo) used in this interrogation is found to be adequate to the task of distinguishing the flow fields of the two centrifugal compressor designs. Thus, it is found that MSU Turbo can be a useful tool in comparing the unsteady flow fields in different centrifugal compressors. In addition, through comparisons of MSU Turbo/ ANSYS® estimates of strain with measured peak strain, MSU Turbo is also found to have the potential, as part of a CFD/ ANSYS® system, for serving as a predictive tool for forced response behavior in centrifugal compressors. Differences are found in the unsteady flow fields of the two compressors. The fluctuations over time of the unsteady blade loading on the enhanced impeller blades are greater than those on the production impeller blades. In the vaneless space, on each annular plane (from the impeller exit to the diffuser inlet), at a given spanwise location, the enhanced compressor has both a greater spatial variation in pressure and a higher average static pressure than the production compressor. At the diffuser inlet, there are differences in the time-averaged incidence angle distributions of the two compressors.(cont.) Based on the observations delineated above, it is hypothesized that the differences in the time-averaged incidence angle distributions are the source of the differences in the pressure field that propagates upstream into the impeller passage, where these differences affect the unsteady blade loading. The differences in the unsteady blade loading then lead to the observed forced response behavior in the two designs.by Caitlin J. Smythe.S.M

Prenatal Excess Glucocorticoid Exposure and Adult Affective Disorders:A Role for Serotonergic and Catecholamine Pathways

Fetal glucocorticoid exposure is a key mechanism proposed to underlie prenatal ‘programming’ of adult affective behaviours such as depression and anxiety. Indeed, the glucocorticoid metabolising enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2), which is highly expressed in the placenta and the developing fetus, acts as a protective barrier from the high maternal glucocorticoids which may alter developmental trajectories. The programmed changes resulting from maternal stress or bypass or from the inhibition of 11β-HSD2 are frequently associated with alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Hence, circulating glucocorticoid levels are increased either basally or in response to stress accompanied by CNS region-specific modulations in the expression of both corticosteroid receptors (mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors). Furthermore, early-life glucocorticoid exposure also affects serotonergic and catecholamine pathways within the brain, with changes in both associated neurotransmitters and receptors. Indeed, global removal of 11β-HSD2, an enzyme that inactivates glucocorticoids, increases anxiety‐ and depressive-like behaviour in mice; however, in this case the phenotype is not accompanied by overt perturbation in the HPA axis but, intriguingly, alterations in serotonergic and catecholamine pathways are maintained in this programming model. This review addresses one of the potential adverse effects of glucocorticoid overexposure in utero, i.e. increased incidence of affective behaviours, and the mechanisms underlying these behaviours including alteration of the HPA axis and serotonergic and catecholamine pathways

DO PROFIT MAXIMISERS TAKE COLD SHOWERS? ANOTHER LOOK AT PROTECTION AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY

In this paper we consider whether a 'cold shower' is possible if the firm we are analysing is a conventional neoclassical profit-maximising firm facing competitively determined prices. In the context of this analysis, the term 'cold shower' refers to a situation where the removal of a protective subsidy induces investment in a cost-reducing technology. First we show that if the investment lowers marginal cost everywhere, then our firm will never respond to the removal of the subsidy by making the investment. We then use this result to carefully construct examples where the investment does not lower marginal cost everywhere. These examples are devised to illustrate a cold shower scenario where, with no protection in place, the firm makes the investment, that would have been rejected, if the protection had have been in place. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/ University of Adelaide and Flinders University 2005..

A combined genetic-morphometric analysis unravels the complex biogeographical history of Polyommatus icarus and Polyommatus celina Common Blue butterflies

Widespread species have the potential to reveal large-scale biogeographical patterns, as well as responses to environmental changes possibly unique to habitat generalists. This study presents a continental-scale phylogeographical analysis of Polyommatus icarus, one of the most common Palaearctic butterflies, and the morphologically and ecologically similar Polyommatus celina, a recently discovered cryptic species. By combining data from mitochondrial [cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI)] and nuclear [internal transcribed spacer (ITS2)] molecular markers with geometric morphometrics, we document a complex phylogeographical history for the two species. Despite morphological similarities, the genetic divergence between these two species is high (more than 5% at COI) and they are not sister species.For the first time, we show that P. celina occurs not only in North Africa but also in Europe, where it inhabits several west Mediterranean islands, as well as large parts of Iberia, where it occurs in parapatry with P. icarus. The two species appear to completely exclude each other on islands, but we provide morphological and molecular evidence that introgression occurred in the Iberian Peninsula. We discovered strongly diverged lineages that seem to represent relict populations produced by past range expansions and contractions: Crete and Iberian isolates for P. icarus, Balearics–Sardinia and Sicily–Lipari for P. celina. This study shows that a combined genetic-morphometric approach can shed light on cryptic diversity while providing the necessary resolution to reconstruct a fine-scale phylogeographical history of species at both spatial and temporal levels.Peer reviewe