Functional Classification of Skeletal Muscle Networks. I. Normal Physiology

Extensive measurements of the parts list of human skeletal muscle through transcriptomics and other phenotypic assays offer the opportunity to reconstruct detailed functional models. Through integration of vast amounts of data present in databases and extant knowledge of muscle function combined with robust analyses that include a clustering approach, we present both a protein parts list and network models for skeletal muscle function. The model comprises the four key functional family networks that coexist within a functional space; namely, excitation-activation family (forward pathways that transmit a motoneuronal command signal into the spatial volume of the cell and then use Ca2+ fluxes to bind Ca2+ to troponin C sites on F-actin filaments, plus transmembrane pumps that maintain transmission capacity); mechanical transmission family (a sophisticated three-dimensional mechanical apparatus that bidirectionally couples the millions of actin-myosin nanomotors with external axial tensile forces at insertion sites); metabolic and bioenergetics family (pathways that supply energy for the skeletal muscle function under widely varying demands and provide for other cellular processes); and signaling-production family (which represents various sensing, signal transduction, and nuclear infrastructure that controls the turn over and structural integrity and regulates the maintenance, regeneration, and remodeling of the muscle). Within each family, we identify subfamilies that function as a unit through analysis of large-scale transcription profiles of muscle and other tissues. This comprehensive network model provides a framework for exploring functional mechanisms of the skeletal muscle in normal and pathophysiology, as well as for quantitative modeling

Acoustic radiation from lifting airfoils in compressible subsonic flow

The far field acoustic radiation from a lifting airfoil in a three-dimensional gust is studied. The acoustic pressure is calculated using the Kirchhoff method, instead of using the classical acoustic analogy approach due to Lighthill. The pressure on the Kirchhoff surface is calculated using an existing numerical solution of the unsteady flow field. The far field acoustic pressure is calculated in terms of these values using Kirchhoff's formula. The method is validated against existing semi-analytical results for a flat plate. The method is then used to study the problem of an airfoil in a harmonic three-dimensional gust, for a wide range of Mach numbers. The effect of variation of the airfoil thickness and angle of attack on the acoustic far field is studied. The changes in the mechanism of sound generation and propagation due to the presence of steady loading and nonuniform mean flow are also studied

A multiscale model for dilute turbulent gas-particle flows based on the equilibration of energy concept

The objective of this study is to improve Eulerian-Eulerian models of particle-laden turbulent flow. We begin by understanding the behavior of two existing models—one proposed by Simonin [von Kármán Institute of Fluid Dynamics Lecture Series, 1996], and the other by Ahmadi [Int. J. Multiphase Flow16, 323 (1990)]—in the limiting case of statistically homogeneous particle-laden turbulent flow. The decay of particle-phase and fluid-phase turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is compared with direct numerical simulation results. Even this simple flow poses a significant challenge to current models, which have difficulty reproducing important physical phenomena such as the variation of turbulent kinetic energy decay with increasing particle Stokes number. The model for the interphase TKE transfer time scale is identified as one source of this difficulty. A new model for the interphase transfer time scale is proposed that accounts for the interaction of particles with a range of fluid turbulence scales. A new multiphase turbulence model—the equilibration of energy model (EEM)—is proposed, which incorporates this multiscale interphase transfer time scale. The model for Reynolds stress in both fluid and particle phases is derived in this work. The new EEM model is validated in decaying homogeneous particle-laden turbulence, and in particle-laden homogeneous shear flow. The particle and fluid TKE evolution predicted by the EEM model correctly reproduce the trends with important nondimensional parameters, such as particle Stokes number