12 research outputs found
Spectral contents readout of birefringent sensors
The objective of the research performed was to establish the feasibility of using spectral contents analysis to measure accurately, strains and retardation in birefringent sensors, and more generally, on transparent materials
Spectral contents readout of birefringent sensor
The technical objective of this research program was to develop a birefringent sensor, capable of measuring strain/stress up to 2000 F and a readout system based on Spectral Contents analysis. As a result of the research work, a data acquisition system was developed, capable of measuring strain birefringence in a sensor at 2000 F, with multi-point static and dynamic capabilities. The system uses a dedicated spectral analyzer for evaluation of stress-birefringence and a PC-based readout. Several sensor methods were evaluated. Fused silica was found most satisfactory. In the final evaluation, measurements were performed up to 2000 F and the system performance exceeded expectations
Cluster evolution in steady-state two-phase flow in porous media
We report numerical studies of the cluster development of two-phase flow in a
steady-state environment of porous media. This is done by including biperiodic
boundary conditions in a two-dimensional flow simulator. Initial transients of
wetting and non-wetting phases that evolve before steady-state has occurred,
undergo a cross-over where every initial patterns are broken up. For flow
dominated by capillary effects with capillary numbers in order of , we
find that around a critical saturation of non-wetting fluid the non-wetting
clusters of size have a power-law distribution with
the exponent for large clusters. This is a lower value
than the result for ordinary percolation. We also present scaling relation and
time evolution of the structure and global pressure.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Minor corrections. Accepted for publication in
Phys. Rev.
Temperature variability and early clustering of record-breaking events
As the number of climatological studies using record-breaking statistics is growing rapidly, understanding the sensitivity of the chosen time period becomes essential. To that end, here we examine the evolving variability of monthly mean temperatures and its dependence on beginning and final year. Specifically, we use an index, α, based on record-breaking statistics and employing reversibility such that ăαă=0 indicates no trend in variability. Generally, ăαă has decreased between 1900 and 2013, indicating decreasing variability relative to early decades for stations from the contiguous USA (United States Historical Climatology Network, version 2.5). We find, somewhat surprisingly, that the observed decrease is due to an early excess of records beginning in 1917 (record low value) and 1921 (record high value). While detailed results depend on whether the data is gridded, detrended, etc., the general finding appears remarkably robust and holds globally as well
Modeling of Virion Collisions in Cervicovaginal Mucus Reveals Limits on Agglutination as the Protective Mechanism of Secretory Immunoglobulin A
<div><p>Secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), a dimeric antibody found in high quantities in the gastrointestinal mucosa, is broadly associated with mucosal immune protection. A distinguishing feature of sIgA is its ability to crosslink pathogens, thereby creating pathogen/sIgA aggregates that are too large to traverse the dense matrix of mucin fibers in mucus layers overlying epithelial cells and consequently reducing infectivity. Here, we use modeling to investigate this mechanism of âimmune exclusionâ based on sIgA-mediated agglutination, in particular the potential use of sIgA to agglutinate HIV in cervicovaginal mucus (CVM) and prevent HIV transmission. Utilizing reported data on HIV diffusion in CVM and semen, we simulate HIV collision kinetics in physiologically-thick mucus layersâa necessary first step for sIgA-induced aggregation. We find that even at the median HIV load in semen of acutely infected individuals possessing high viral titers, over 99% of HIV virions will penetrate CVM and reach the vaginal epithelium without colliding with another virion. These findings imply that agglutination is unlikely to be the dominant mechanism of sIgA-mediated protection against HIV or other sexually transmitted pathogens. Rather, we surmise that agglutination is most effective against pathogens either present at exceedingly high concentrations or that possess motility mechanisms other than Brownian diffusion that significantly enhance encounter rates.</p></div