Fully compressible simulation of low-speed premixed reacting flows

Low speed premixed combustion flows in industrial applications are generally simulated using the "incompressible" Navier-Stokes algorithms, which belong to the family of fractional step methods, or segregated methods. The approximations used for the combustion modelling in the framework of the segregated mathematical formulation, often represent important limitations for applying the combustion numerical simulation to a wider class of problems of engineering interest. Recent developments of preconditioning techniques allow to apply the same complete system of Navier-Stokes equations to a wide variety of fluid flow problems characterized by the whole range of Reynolds, Mach, Grashof, Prandtl and Damkoeler numbers. The present work describes the development of a fully "compressible" mathematical model for the simulation of low-speed turbulent premixed reactive flows. Issues on flow and fluid compressibility as well as on the two mathematical alternative formulations, are discussed. Also discussed are issues related to coupling the flamelet premixed combustion model (based on the solution of a transport equation for the progress variable) with one-equation turbulence models, instead of the classical two-equation K – ε model. In this work the model by Spalart & Allmaras is used. The several advantages brought about by the use of the fully compressible formulation are discussed based on the results obtained on a test case taken from literature

Low-temperature nonequilibrium transport in a Luttinger liquid

The temperature-dependent nonlinear conductance for transport of a Luttinger liquid through a barrier is calculated in the nonperturbative regime for $g=1/2-\epsilon$, where $g$ is the dimensionless interaction constant. To describe the low-energy behavior, we perform a leading-log summation of all diagrams contributing to the conductance which is valid for $|\epsilon| << 1$. With increasing external voltage, the asymptotic low-temperature behavior displays a turnover from the $T^{2/g-2}$ to a universal $T^2$ law.Comment: 13 pages RevTeX 3.0, accepted by Physical Review

An “ultimate partnership”:Older persons’ perspectives on age-stereotypes and intergenerational interaction in co-designing digital technologies

AimThere is often a gap between the ideal of involving older persons iteratively throughout the design process of digital technology, and actual practice. Until now, the lens of ageism has not been applied to address this gap. The goals of this study were: to voice the perspectives and experiences of older persons who participated in co-designing regarding the design process; their perceived role in co-designing and intergenerational interaction with the designers; and apparent manifestations of ageism that potentially influence the design of digital technology.MethodsTwenty-one older persons participated in three focus groups. Five themes were identified using thematic analysis which combined a critical ageism ‘lens’ deductive approach and an inductive approach.ResultsAgeism was experienced by participants in their daily lives and interactions with the designers during the design process. Negative images of ageing were pointed out as a potential influencing factor on design decisions. Nevertheless, positive experiences of inclusive design pointed out the importance of “partnership” in the design process. Participants defined the “ultimate partnership” in co-designing as processes in which they were involved from the beginning, iteratively, in a participatory approach. Such processes were perceived as leading to successful design outcomes, which they would like to use, and reduced intergenerational tension.ConclusionsThis study highlights the potential role of ageism as a detrimental factor in how digital technologies are designed. Viewing older persons as partners in co-designing and aspiring to more inclusive design processes may promote designing technologies that are needed, wanted and used

A new technological procedure using sucrose as porogen compound to manufacture porous biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics of appropriate micro- and macrostructure

In the domain of implantable materials, the porosity and pore size distribution of a material in contact with bone is decisive for bone ingrowth and thus the control of the porosity is of great interest. The use of a new porogen agent, i.e. sucrose is proposed to create a porosity in biphasic calcium phosphate blocks. The technological procedure is as follows: sucrose and mineral powder are mixed, then compressed by isostatic compression and sintering finally eliminates sucrose. Blocks obtained were compared to a manufactured product: Triosite® (Zimmer, Etupes, France) which porosity is created through a naphthalene sublimation process.Results have shown that the incorporation of sucrose allows the preparation of porous blocks with controlled porosity varying from 40 to 80% and with macro-, meso- and microporosity characteristics depending on the percentage of sucrose added as well as on the granulometry of both sucrose and mineral powder

Active-site protonation states in an Acyl-Enzyme intermediate of a Class A β-Lactamase with a Monobactam Substrate

The monobactam antibiotic aztreonam is used to treat cystic fibrosis patients with chronic pulmonary infections colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains expressing CTX-M extended-spectrum β-lactamases. The protonation states of active-site residues that are responsible for hydrolysis have been determined previously for the apo form of a CTX-M β-lactamase but not for a monobactam acyl-enzyme intermediate. Here we used neutron and high-resolution X-ray crystallography to probe the mechanism by which CTX-M extended-spectrum β-lactamases hydrolyze monobactam antibiotics. In these first reported structures of a class A β-lactamase in an acyl-enzyme complex with aztreonam, we directly observed most of the hydrogen atoms (as deuterium) within the active site. Although Lys 234 is fully protonated in the acyl intermediate, we found that Lys 73 is neutral. These findings are consistent with Lys 73 being able to serve as a general base during the acylation part of the catalytic mechanism, as previously proposed

Hydroxy-PCBs, PBDEs, and HBCDDs in serum from an elderly population of Swedish fishermen's wives and associations with bone density

Lack of human exposure data is frequently reported as a critical gap in risk assessments of environmental pollutants, especially regarding "new" pollutants. The objectives of this study were to assess serum levels of the persistent 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153), hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyl metabolites (OH-PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs) in a group of Swedish middle-aged and elderly women expected to be relatively highly exposed, and to evaluate the impact of potential determinants (e.g., fish intake, age) for the inter-individual variation, as well as to investigate the association between these pollutants and bone density. No associations were found between bone mineral density or biochemical markers of bone metabolism and the analyzed environmental pollutants. Relatively high levels of CB-153 (median 260 ng/g fat) and Sigma(3)-OH- PCBs (median 1.7 ng/mL serum), and low concentrations of Sigma 6PBDEs (median 3.6 ng/g fat) were determined. Total level of HBCDDs in serum was quantified by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (median 0.5 ng/g fat). HBCDD diastereomeric and enantiomeric patterns were determined by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. The dominating stereoisomer was (-)alpha-HBCDD, but 1-3% of gamma-HBCDD was also detected in the serum samples

Absence of self-averaging in the complex admittance for transport through random media

A random walk model in a one dimensional disordered medium with an oscillatory input current is presented as a generic model of boundary perturbation methods to investigate properties of a transport process in a disordered medium. It is rigorously shown that an admittance which is equal to the Fourier-Laplace transform of the first-passage time distribution is non-self-averaging when the disorder is strong. The low frequency behavior of the disorder-averaged admittance, $-1 \sim \omega^{\mu}$ where $\mu < 1$, does not coincide with the low frequency behavior of the admittance for any sample, $\chi - 1 \sim \omega$. It implies that the Cole-Cole plot of $$ appears at a different position from the Cole-Cole plots of $\chi$ of any sample. These results are confirmed by Monte-Carlo simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, published in Phys. Rev.

Entanglement and Nonunitary Evolution

We consider a collapsing relativistic spherical shell for a free quantum field. Once the center of the wavefunction of the shell passes a certain radius R, the degrees of freedom inside R are traced over. We show that an observer outside this region will determine that the evolution of the system is nonunitary. We argue that this phenomenon is generic to entangled systems, and discuss a possible relation to black hole physics.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure; Added a clarification regarding the relation with black hole physic

Quantum effects on the BKT phase transition of two-dimensional Josephson arrays

The phase diagram of two dimensional Josephson arrays is studied by means of the mapping to the quantum XY model. The quantum effects onto the thermodynamics of the system can be evaluated with quantitative accuracy by a semiclassical method, the {\em pure-quantum self-consistent harmonic approximation}, and those of dissipation can be included in the same framework by the Caldeira-Leggett model. Within this scheme, the critical temperature of the superconductor-to-insulator transition, which is a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless one, can be calculated in an extremely easy way as a function of the quantum coupling and of the dissipation mechanism. Previous quantum Monte Carlo results for the same model appear to be rather inaccurate, while the comparison with experimental data leads to conclude that the commonly assumed model is not suitable to describe in detail the real system.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

AMPK activation protects from neuronal dysfunction and vulnerability across nematode, cellular and mouse models of Huntington's disease.

The adenosine monophosphate activated kinase protein (AMPK) is an evolutionary-conserved protein important for cell survival and organismal longevity through the modulation of energy homeostasis. Several studies suggested that AMPK activation may improve energy metabolism and protein clearance in the brains of patients with vascular injury or neurodegenerative disease. However, in Huntington's disease (HD), AMPK may be activated in the striatum of HD mice at a late, post-symptomatic phase of the disease, and high-dose regiments of the AMPK activator 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide may worsen neuropathological and behavioural phenotypes. Here, we revisited the role of AMPK in HD using models that recapitulate the early features of the disease, including Caenorhabditis elegans neuron dysfunction before cell death and mouse striatal cell vulnerability. Genetic and pharmacological manipulation of aak-2/AMPKα shows that AMPK activation protects C. elegans neurons from the dysfunction induced by human exon-1 huntingtin (Htt) expression, in a daf-16/forkhead box O-dependent manner. Similarly, AMPK activation using genetic manipulation and low-dose metformin treatment protects mouse striatal cells expressing full-length mutant Htt (mHtt), counteracting their vulnerability to stress, with reduction of soluble mHtt levels by metformin and compensation of cytotoxicity by AMPKα1. Furthermore, AMPK protection is active in the mouse brain as delivery of gain-of-function AMPK-γ1 to mouse striata slows down the neurodegenerative effects of mHtt. Collectively, these data highlight the importance of considering the dynamic of HD for assessing the therapeutic potential of stress-response targets in the disease. We postulate that AMPK activation is a compensatory response and valid approach for protecting dysfunctional and vulnerable neurons in HD