The use of electrical discharge for ignition and control of combustion of solid propellants

As the first step of the study of the combustion control of solid propellants by electrical discharges, the effects of an arc discharge, which flows along the burning surface, on the burning rate and on the increase of enthalpy of the combustion product were investigated. For specially devised composite propellants, which are composed of Al and Teflon powders, it was shown that the combination can be controlled by an arc discharge; the combustion continues when the arc discharge is applied and is interrupted when the arc discharge breaks. In the present investigation, it was also shown that an arc discharge coupled with a high-frequency electrical discharge has potential as an effective ignition method for solid propellants. For the application of this type of combustion control to an ignitor for a solid propellant rocket motor or to a control rocket motor, this method lacks flexibility in the configuration scale and needs relatively high electric power at the present stage

Investigation of combustion noise generated by an open lean-premixed H₂/air low-swirl flame using the hybrid LES/APE-RF framework

An open lean-premixed hydrogen/air low-swirl (LPHALS) turbulent flame exhibiting a pronounced peak in its combustion noise spectra, is investigated numerically using a hybrid Computational Fluid Dynamics/Computational Aero-Acoustics (CFD/CAA) framework. Under this framework, the reacting flow-field of the flame is computed via Large-Eddy Simulation (LES), while the direct combustion noise it produces is captured by solving the Acoustic Perturbation Equations for Reacting Flows (APE-RF). Flame configuration and simulation conditions correspond to those of an experimental study on an open lean-premixed H₂/air flame stabilized using a Low-Swirl Burner (LSB). LES results are validated against experimental data. The CAA simulation is able to predict a pronounced sharp peak in the computed combustion noise spectra, similar to one of the two characteristic peaks observed in the measured combustion noise spectra. Frequency of this spectral peak predicted by the CAA simulation is 840 Hz, which is close to that of the higher frequency secondary spectral peak at 940 Hz measured in the experiment. Upon examining the hybrid LES/APE-RF results, the noise generation mechanism at 840 Hz is found to be the intense local heat release rate fluctuations, caused by strong interaction between the flame and the periodically generated vortical flow structures in the shear layers, downstream of the LSB exit. Additionally, analysis of the spectral content and directivity of the noise generated by different acoustic source terms is performed, in order to investigate their impact on the radiated acoustic field, and hence the characteristics of direct combustion noise produced by the open LPHALS flame

Pilot study of the optimal protocol of low dose step‐up follicle stimulating hormone therapy for infertile women

Purpose: To evaluate the optimized protocol of low dose follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) therapy that has a starting dose of 50 IU/62.5 IU with a small increment dose (12.5 IU) for women with World Health Organization (WHO) II ovulatory disorder and unexplained infertility. Methods: Anovulatory women with WHO group II ovulatory disorder (ovulation induction [OI] patients, n = 29), and with an unexplained infertility (ovarian stimulation [OS] patients, n = 21) were enrolled. The protocol of low dose step‐up FSH therapy was optimized for the starting dose as 50 IU (body mass index [BMI] < 20 group) and 62.5 IU (BMI ≥ 20 group) with the increment dose of 12.5 IU. Study outcomes were ovulation, monofollicular development and other variables. Results: In the OIpatients, the ovulation rate was 100% (BMI < 20 group) and 90.9% (BMI ≥ 20 group). Monofollicular development was 80.0% (BMI < 20) and 77.3% (BMI ≥ 20). The pregnancy rate was 60% (3/5 BMI < 20) and 18.2% (4/22 BMI ≥ 20). There was no multiple pregnancy. In the OSpatients, the ovulation rate was 100%. Monofollicular development was 85.7% (BMI < 20) and 76.6% (BMI ≥ 20). No pregnancy was achieved in the OSpatients. Conclusion: Optimized protocol of low dose FSH therapy setting a starting dose 50 IU/62.5 IU by BMI with an increment dose of 12.5 IU was safe and highly effective in WHO group II anovulatory patients. However, this protocol seemed uneffective for patients with unexplained infertility

Closed conformal Killing-Yano tensor and Kerr-NUT-de Sitter spacetime uniqueness

We study spacetimes with a closed conformal Killing-Yano tensor. It is shown that the D-dimensional Kerr-NUT-de Sitter spacetime constructed by Chen-Lu-Pope is the only spacetime admitting a rank-2 closed conformal Killing-Yano tensor with a certain symmetry.Comment: 7 pages, LaTe

Generalized Kerr-NUT-de Sitter metrics in all dimensions

We classify all spacetimes with a closed rank-2 conformal Killing-Yano tensor. They give a generalization of Kerr-NUT-de Sitter spacetimes. The Einstein condition is explicitly solved and written as an indefinite integral. It is characterized by a polynomial in the integrand. We briefly discuss the smoothness conditions of the Einstein metrics over compact Riemannian manifolds.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX; v2: Einstein conditions for general type included, with slight modification of text, typos corrected; v3: references added, typos corrected, the version published in Physics Letters

Closed conformal Killing-Yano tensor and geodesic integrability

Assuming the existence of a single rank-2 closed conformal Killing-Yano tensor with a certain symmetry we show that there exist mutually commuting rank-2 Killing tensors and Killing vectors. We also discuss the condition of separation of variables for the geodesic Hamilton-Jacobi equations.Comment: 17 pages, no figure, LaTe

High Glucose Increases Metallothionein Expression in Renal Proximal Tubular Epithelial Cells

Metallothionein (MT) is an intracellular metal-binding, cysteine-rich protein, and is a potent antioxidant that protects cells and tissues from oxidative stress. Although the major isoforms MT-1 and -2 (MT-1/-2) are highly inducible in many tissues, the distribution and role of MT-1/-2 in diabetic nephropathy are poorly understood. In this study, diabetes was induced in adult male rats by streptozotocin, and renal tissues were stained with antibodies for MT-1/-2. MT-1/-2 expression was also evaluated in mProx24 cells, a mouse renal proximal tubular epithelial cell line, stimulated with high glucose medium and pretreated with the antioxidant vitamin E. MT-1/-2 expression was gradually and dramatically increased, mainly in the proximal tubular epithelial cells and to a lesser extent in the podocytes in diabetic rats, but was hardly observed in control rats. MT-1/-2 expression was also increased by high glucose stimulation in mProx24 cells. Because the induction of MT was suppressed by pretreatment with vitamin E, the expression of MT-1/-2 is induced, at least in part, by high glucose-induced oxidative stress. These observations suggest that MT-1/-2 is induced in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells as an antioxidant to protect the kidney from oxidative stress, and may offer a novel therapeutic target against diabetic nephropathy

Biotin levels in blood and follicular fluid

It has been shown that biotin, a water-soluble vitamin (B7), plays roles in reproductive functions, such as oocyte maturation and embryo development, in experimental animals. On the other hand, little is known about the clinical effects of biotin on human reproduction. In this study, serum and follicular fluid biotin levels were measured in patients who underwent in vitro fertilization / intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF / ICSI), and their associations with reproductive outcomes were evaluated. As a result, biotin was detected in follicular fluid, as well as serum, and the biotin levels of follicular fluid were found to be positively correlated with those of serum. The biotin levels of serum were higher than those of follicular fluid, suggesting that biotin may be taken up into the follicular fluid from the blood. Although serum and follicular fluid biotin levels tended to be higher in pregnant patients than in non-pregnant patients, these data did not show the significant statistical difference. These findings indicate that biotin does not contribute to the maintenance of oocyte quality, and hence, it does not increase fertilization and pregnancy rates