Analytical Model of the Time Developing Turbulent Boundary Layer

We present an analytical model for the time-developing turbulent boundary layer (TD-TBL) over a flat plate. The model provides explicit formulae for the temporal behavior of the wall-shear stress and both the temporal and spatial distributions of the mean streamwise velocity, the turbulence kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress. The resulting profiles are in good agreement with the DNS results of spatially-developing turbulent boundary layers at momentum thickness Reynolds number equal to 1430 and 2900. Our analytical model is, to the best of our knowledge, the first of its kind for TD-TBL.Comment: 5pages, 9 figs, JETP Letters, submitte

Steering a quantum system over a Schroedinger bridge

A new approach to the steering problem for quantum systems relying on Nelson's stochastic mechanics and on the theory of Schroedinger bridges is presented. The method is illustrated by working out a simple Gaussian example.Comment: Proc. Intern. Conf. on the Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems, Perpignan, France, June 2000, CD-ROM, paper nr. 268, M. Fliess and A. El Jai Ed

Role of subclinical gut inflammation in the pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis

Subclinical gut inflammation occurring in patients affected by spondyloarthritis (SpA) is correlated with the severity of spine inflammation. Several evidences indicate that dysbiosis occurs in SpA, and that may modulate intestinal permeability and intestinal immune responses. The presence of intestinal dysbiosis is accompanied in SpA patients with the presence of zonulin-dependent alterations of gut-epithelial and gut-vascular barriers. The leakage of epithelial and endothelial surface layers is followed by the translocation of bacterial products, such as lipopolysaccharide and intestinal fatty acid binding protein, in the systemic circulation. These bacterial products may downregulate the expression of CD14 on circulating monocytes leading to an "anergic" phenotype. In the gut, IL-23 may induce the expansion of innate immune cells such as mucosal-associated invariant T cells, γδ T cells, and innate lymphoid cells of group 3 that through the interaction with MAdCAM1 may recirculate form the gut to the sites of SpA active inflammation. On the basis of these findings, gut inflammation observed in SpA patient seems to be not only an epiphenomenon of the on going systemic inflammatory process but may also represent the base camp in which inflammatory cells are activated and from whom they shuttle

Effect of oxygen concentration in ZDP containing oils on surface composition and wear

A pin-on-disk wear study was performed with the lubricants dibutyl sebacate (DBS) and mineral oil (MO) with and without 1 weight percent zinc-dialkyl-dithiophospatee (ZDP) as an additive. The pin was annealed pure iron and the disk was M-2 tool steel. The selected load and speed guaranteed boundary lubrication. The ambient atmospheric oxygen concentration in an oxygen-nitrogen mixture was varied from 0 percent to 20 percent in order to examine its relationship to ZDP effectiveness. Auger electron spectroscopy combined with argon ion bombardment (depth profiling) was used to determine surface elemental composition on the pin when tested in DBS with and without ZDP. The ambient atmosphere was found to cause large variations in wear rate and surface composition. With MO, ZDP reduced wear under all conditions, but had little advantage over oxides formed at 20 percent oxygen atmosphere. With DBS, ZDP reduced wear at 0 percent oxygen, but gave varied results at other oxygen concentrations. Depth profiling revealed sulfuide formation at 0 percent oxygen and probably sulfates at 20 percent oxygen. The results are significant because varied oxygen concentrations can occur under actual lubricating conditions in practical machinery

Evaluation and auger analysis of a zinc-dialkyl-dithiophosphate antiwear additive in several diester lubricants

The wear of pure iron in sliding contact with hardened M-2 tool steel was measured for a series of synthetic diester fluids, both with and without a zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDP) antiwear additive, as test lubricants. Selected wear scars were analyzed by an Auger emission spectroscopy (AES) depth profiling technique in order to assess the surface film elemental composition. The ZDP was an effective antiwear additive for all the diesters except dibutyl oxalate and dibutyl sebacate. The high wear measured for the additive-containing oxalate was related to corrosion; the higher wear measured for the additive-containing sebacate was due to an oxygen interaction. The AES of dibutyl sebacate surfaces run in dry air and in dry nitrogen showed large differences only in the amount of oxygen present. The AES of worn surfaces where the additive was effective showed no zinc, only a little phosphorus, and large amounts of sulfur

Histopathology of the gut in rheumatic diseases

The gastrointestinal tract regulates the trafficking of macromolecules between the environment and the host through an epithelial barrier mechanism and is an important part of the immune system controlling the equilibrium between tolerance and immunity to non-self-antigens. Various evidence indicates that intestinal inflammation occurs in patients with rheumatic diseases. In many rheumatic diseases intestinal inflammation appears to be linked to dysbiosis and possibly represents the common denominator in the pathogenesis of different rheumatic diseases. The continuative interaction between dysbiosis and the intestinal immune system may lead to the aberrant activation of immune cells that can re-circulate from the gut to the sites of extraintestinal inflammation as observed in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. The exact contribution of genetic factors in the development of intestinal inflammation in rheumatic diseases needs to be clarified

Pathogenesis of polymyalgia rheumatica

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a chronic, inflammatory disorder of unknown cause, almost exclusively occurring in people aged over 50 and often associated with giant cell arteritis. The evidence that PMR occurs almost exclusively in individuals aged over 50 may indicate that age-related immune alterations in genetically predisposed subjects contribute to development of the disease. Several infectious agents have been investigated as possible triggers of PMR even though the results are inconclusive. Activation of the innate and adaptive immune systems has been proved in PMR patients as demonstrated by the activation of dendritic cells and monocytes/macrophages and the altered balance between Th17 and Treg cells. Disturbed B cell distribution and function have been also demonstrated in PMR patients suggesting a pathogenesis more complex than previously imagined. In this review we will discuss the recent findings regarding the pathogenesis of PMR

Probing equilibrium glass flow up to exapoise viscosities

Glasses are out-of-equilibrium systems aging under the crystallization threat. During ordinary glass formation, the atomic diffusion slows down rendering its experimental investigation impractically long, to the extent that a timescale divergence is taken for granted by many. We circumvent here these limitations, taking advantage of a wide family of glasses rapidly obtained by physical vapor deposition directly into the solid state, endowed with different "ages" rivaling those reached by standard cooling and waiting for millennia. Isothermally probing the mechanical response of each of these glasses, we infer a correspondence with viscosity along the equilibrium line, up to exapoise values. We find a dependence of the elastic modulus on the glass age, which, traced back to temperature steepness index of the viscosity, tears down one of the cornerstones of several glass transition theories: the dynamical divergence. Critically, our results suggest that the conventional wisdom picture of a glass ceasing to flow at finite temperature could be wrong.Comment: 4 figures and 1 supplementary figur

The role of the generalised continuous algebraic Riccati equation in impulse-free continuous-time singular LQ optimal control

In this paper the role that the continuous-time generalised Riccati equation plays within the context of singular linear-quadratic optimal control is analysed. To date, the importance of the continuous-time generalised Riccati equation in the context of optimal control has not been understood. This note addresses this point. We show in particular that when the continuous-time (constrained) generalised Riccati equation admits a symmetric solution, the corresponding linear-quadratic (LQ) problem admits an impulse-free optimal control