Micro Balloon Actuators for Aerodynamic Control

A robust, large-force, large-deflection micro balloon actuator for aerodynamic (manoeuvring) control of transonic aircraft has been developed. Using a novel process, high yield linear arrays of silicone balloons on a robust silicon substrate have been fabricated that can deflect vertically in excess of one mm. Balloon actuators have been tested under cyclic conditions to assess reliability. The actuators have been characterized in a wind tunnel to assess their suitability as aerodynamic control surfaces and flight-tested on a jet fighter to assess their resistance to varied temperatures and pressures at high velocity

Expression of aquaporin 5 in primary carcinoma and lymph node metastatic carcinoma of non‑small cell lung cancer

Aquaporin 5 (AQP5), a water channel protein, is highly expressed in non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. AQP5 expression in lung cancer tissues is associated with a poor prognosis. The present study aimed to analyze the expression of AQP5 and investigate its role in primary and lymph node metastatic NSCLCs. An immunohistochemical labeled streptavidin-biotin method was used to determine the expression of AQP5 in 94 cases of NSCLC primary carcinoma, which included 51 cases accompanied by lymph node metastasis. The results revealed that the expression of AQP5 was significantly higher in adenocarcinomas compared with squamous cell carcinomas (P=0.002). In addition, the percentage of AQP5 expression in the primary carcinomas with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher compared with those without lymph node metastasis (P=0.024). However, no statistically significant difference in the percentage of AQP5 expression was observed between the metastatic and the primary carcinomas (P=0.377). The expression of AQP5 exhibited a correlation with the tumor‑node‑metastasis staging of NSCLC (P=0.027). The percentage of AQP5 expression in stage III and IV tumors was higher than that in stage I and II tumors. In addition, AQP5 expression was correlated with the survival rate of NSCLC patients (P=0.051). In conclusion, the results of the present study provide evidence for the AQP5‑facilitated incidence, progression and metastasis of NSCLC.published_or_final_versio

Effects of an On-Board Safety Device on the Emissions and Fuel Consumption of a Light Duty Vehicle

© 2018 SAE International. All Rights Reserved. Vehicle emissions and fuel consumption are significantly affected by driving behavior. Many studies of eco-driving technology such as eco-driving training, driving simulators and on-board eco-driving devices have reported potential reductions in emissions and fuel consumption. Use of on-board safety devices is mainly for safety, but also affects vehicle emissions and fuel consumption. In this study, an on-board safety device was installed to alert the driver and provide several types of warning to the driver (e.g. headway monitoring warning, lane collision warning, speed limit warning, etc.) to improve driving behavior. A portable emissions measurement system (PEMS) was used to measure vehicle exhaust concentrations, including hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The driving parameters including vehicle speed, acceleration and position were also recorded. A specific test route was designed for the experiment to investigate both urban and highway conditions. The driving parameters and emissions data were compared before and after the installation of the on-board safety device with the same driver. The Vehicle Specific Power (VSP) methodology was applied to evaluate the effects of the on-board safety device on driving behavior. The results indicated that the device had a positive effect on the driver's driving behavior. The percentage of time spent on excessive speeding and strong acceleration decreased from 22.2% to 14.7%. As a result, an average reduction of 25% in fuel consumption was observed. In addition, HC, CO2 and NOx emissions showed a reduction of 57%, 25% and 9% respectively. However, CO emission was increased and the time spent on idling showed no change with the installation of the device

The relative roles of upper and lower tropospheric thermal contrasts and tropical influences in driving Asian summer monsoons

Summer thermal structure and winds over Asia show a larger land-ocean thermal gradient in the upper than in the lower troposphere, implying a bigger role of the upper troposphere in driving the Asian summer monsoon circulation. Using data from atmospheric re-analyses and model simulations, we show that the land-ocean thermal contrast in the mid-upper (200-500 hPa) troposphere (TCupper) contributes about three times as much as the thermal contrast in the mid-lower (500-850 hPa) troposphere (TClower) in determining both the strength and variations of Asian summer monsoon circulations. Tropical sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the annual cycle, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, decadal changes, and global warming all are accompanied with much larger variations and changes in TCupper than in TClower, partly due to enhanced latent heating aloft from convection. The variations and changes in TCupper and TClower are highly correlated with the strength of the South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) and the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) in their respective sectors during the past 50-60 years. In particular, the weakening of the EASM since the 1950s is caused by the weakening mainly in TCupper and secondarily in TClower induced mainly by recent tropical surface warming, although spurious cooling over East Asia seen in reanalysis data may have enhanced this weakening. However, the strength of the SASM and EASM monsoons follows TCupper but decouples with TClower in the global warming case in the 21st century. The results suggest that the TCupper plays a dominant role and provides an efficient mechanism through which tropical oceans can influence extratropical monsoons. Key Points The land-sea T gradient is more important in the upper than in lower troposphere Tropical oceans influence extra-tropical monsoons through the upper troposphere Monsoon response to global warming depends on tropospheric warming patterns ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

Observation of correlated-photon statistics using a single detector

We report experimental observations of correlated-photon statistics in the single-photon detection rate. The usual quantum interference in a two-photon polarization interferometer always accompanies a dip in the single detector counting rate, regardless of whether a dip or peak is seen in the coincidence rate. This effect is explained by taking into account all possible photon number states that reach the detector, rather than considering just the state post-selected by the coincidence measurement. We also report an interferometeric scheme in which the interference peak or dip in coincidence corresponds directly to a peak or dip in the single-photon detection rate.Comment: 4 pages, two-column (minor errors corrected.

KK6 from M2 in BLG

We study the possibility that the Kaluza-Klein monopole (KK6) world-volume action may be obtained from the multiple membranes (M2) action which is described by BLG theory. We first point out that the infinite dimensional Lie 3-algebra based on the Nambu-Poisson structure could not only provide three dimensional manifolds to allow M5 from M2, which was studied by previous authors, but also provide five dimensional manifolds to allow KK6 from M2. We next present a possible way that the U(1) field on KK6 world-volume action could be produced form the gauge potential in BLG theory.Comment: Latex, 15 pages. V3: Add theorem 2 to complete proof. V4: Detail physical interpretations and calculations in section

Effective Potential on Fuzzy Sphere

The effective potential of quantized scalar field on fuzzy sphere is evaluated to the two-loop level. We see that one-loop potential behaves like that in the commutative sphere and the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism of the radiatively symmetry breaking could be also shown in the fuzzy sphere system. In the two-loop level, we use the heavy-mass approximation and the high-temperature approximation to perform the evaluations. The results show that both of the planar and nonplanar Feynman diagrams have inclinations to restore the symmetry breaking in the tree level. However, the contributions from planar diagrams will dominate over those from nonplanar diagrams by a factor N^2. Thus, at heavy-mass limit or high-temperature system the quantum field on the fuzzy sphere will behave like those on the commutative sphere. We also see that there is a drastic reduction of the degrees of freedom in the nonplanar diagrams when the particle wavelength is smaller than the noncommutativity scale.Comment: Latex 18 pages, some typos correcte

Working with the homeless: The case of a non-profit organisation in Shanghai

This article addresses a two-pronged objective, namely to bring to the fore a much neglected social issue of homelessness, and to explore the dynamics of state-society relations in contemporary China, through a case study of a non-profit organisation (NPO) working with the homeless in Shanghai. It shows that the largely invisible homelessness in Chinese cities was substantially due to exclusionary institutions, such as the combined household registration and 'detention and deportation' systems. Official policy has become much more supportive since 2003 when the latter was replaced with government-run shelters, but we argue that the NPO case demonstrates the potential for enhanced longer-term support and enabling active citizenship for homeless people. By analysing the ways in which the NPO offers services through collaboration and partnership with the public (and private) actors, we also argue that the transformations in postreform China and the changes within the state and civil society have significantly blurred their boundaries, rendering state-society relations much more complex, dynamic, fluid and mutually embedded

Quantum interference with beamlike type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We implement experimentally a method to generate photon-number$-$path and polarization entangled photon pairs using ``beamlike'' type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), in which the signal-idler photon pairs are emitted as two separate circular beams with small emission angles rather than as two diverging cones.Comment: 4 pages, two-colum