270 research outputs found

    The required aerodynamic simulation fidelity to usefully support a gas turbine digital twin for manufacturing

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    With the imminent digitalisation of the manufacturing processes of gas turbine components, a large volume of geometric data of as-manufactured parts is being generated. This geometric data can be used in aerodynamic simulations to predict component performance. Both the cost and accuracy of these simulations increase with their fidelity. To efficiently exploit Digital Twin technology, one must therefore understand how realistic the aerodynamic simulations need to be to give useful performance predictions. This paper considers this issue for a sample of scrapped high-pressure turbine rotor blades from a civil aero engine. The measured geometric data was used to build aerodynamic models of varying degrees of realism, ranging from quasi-three-dimensional blade sections for an Euler solver to three-dimensional, multi-passage and multi-stage Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes models. The flow near the tip of these shrouded blades is sensitive to manufacturing variability and can switch between two quasi-stable horseshoe vortex modes. In general, capacity and exit flow angle can be adequately predicted by three-dimensional, single-passage calcula-tions: averaging single-passage calculations gives a good prediction of the multi-passage behaviour. For efficiency and stage loading, the approach of averaging single-passage calculations is less accurate as the multi-passage behaviour requires an accurate prediction of the horseshoe vortex modes

    Isolation purification and properties of a mammalian glucosidase and a bacterial fructosidase

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    The enzyme acid a-D-glucosidase has been isolated from three batches of pig's liver, and purified by molecular gel filtration. Disc gelelectrophoresis of the purified enzyme established homogeneity. An isoenzyme of acid a-D-glucosidase, purified to homogeneity, was isolated from one batch. Sodium dodecyl sulphate electrophoresis indicated that the enzyme existed in subunits with a molecular weight of 126,000, 101,500, and 87,500 for each. A study of the enzymic properties of the enzyme was carried out. The enzyme liberated D-glucose in a exo-manner from cibrachon blue amylose. The enzymic hydrolysis of phenyl a-D-glucopyranoside yielded the a-anomer of D-glucose, as confirmed by nmr spectroscopy. A series of rate equations were derived and applied to describe the reaction. The enzyme hydrolysed a variety of a-linked glucosyl oligosaccharides, glycosides and polysaccharides. Maltose was the preferred substrate with a K of 4.0 to 4.4 mM. Glycogen was completely hydrolysed to D-glucose. A comparison of the properties of the two isoenzymes showed that they both had similar pH optima, thermal stabilities, and subunit structures. The isoenzymes could be separated by cellulose acetate electrophoresis. One isoenzyme had a diminished affinity for glycogen and dextran T10. PART 2: The extracellular levanase of Streptococcus salivarius strain '51' was isolated from a culture grown on a levan containing medium, gel filtration, ion-exchange and affinity chromatography were used in an attempt to purify the enzyme to homogeneity. A partially purified enzyme preparation was used to study the properties of the enzyme. Heat denaturation studies indicated that two enzymes were present in the preparation, one of which was thermally unstable. Both enzymes had the ability to hydrolyse both levan and inulin. The preparation was also able to hydrolyse raffinose, sucrose, inulin- and levan-oligosaccharides and methyl [beta]-D-fructofuranoside.<p

    REE minerals at the Songwe Hill carbonatite, Malawi: HREE-enrichment in late-stage apatite

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    Compared to all published data from carbonatites and granitoids, the fluorapatite compositions in the Songwe Hill carbonatite, determined by EPMA and LA ICP-MS, have the highest heavy (H)REE concentration of any carbonatite apatite described so far. A combination of this fluorapatite and the REE fluorocarbonates, synchysite-(Ce) and parisite-(Ce), which are the other principal REE bearing minerals at Songwe, gives a REE deposit with a high proportion of Nd and a higher proportion of HREE (Eu–Lu including Y) than most other carbonatites. Since Nd and HREE are currently the most sought REE for commercial applications, the conditions that give rise to this REE profile are particularly important to understand. Multiple apatite crystallisation stages have been differentiated texturally and geochemically at Songwe and fluorapatite is divided into five different types (Ap-0–4). While Ap-0 and Ap-1 are typical of apatite found in fenite and calcite-carbonatite, Ap-2, -3 and -4 are texturally atypical of apatite from carbonatite and are progressively HREE-enriched in later paragenetic stages. Ap-3 and Ap-4 exhibit anhedral, stringer-like textures and their REE distributions display an Y anomaly. These features attest to formation in a hydrothermal environment and fluid inclusion homogenisation temperatures indicate crystallisation occurred between 200–350 °C. Ap-3 crystallisation is succeeded by a light (L)REE mineral assemblage of synchysite-(Ce), strontianite and baryte. Finally, late-stage Ap-4 is associated with minor xenotime-(Y) mineralisation and HREE-enriched fluorite. Fluid inclusions in the fluorite constrain the minimum HREE mineralisation temperature to approximately 160 °C. A model is suggested where sub-solidus, carbonatite-derived, (carbo)-hydrothermal fluids remobilise and fractionate the REE. Chloride or fluoride complexes retain LREE in solution while rapid precipitation of apatite, owing to its low solubility, leads to destabilisation of HREE complexes and substitution into the apatite structure. The LREE are retained in solution, subsequently forming synchysite-(Ce). This model will be applicable to help guide exploration in other carbonatite complexes

    Genes, psychological traits and civic engagement

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    Civic engagement is a classic example of a collective action problem: while civic participation improves life in the community as a whole, it is individually costly and thus there is an incentive to free ride on the actions of others. Yet, we observe significant inter-individual variation in the degree to which people are in fact civically engaged. Early accounts reconciling the theoretical prediction with empirical reality focused either on variation in individuals\u27 material resources or their attitudes, but recent work has turned to genetic differences between individuals. We show an underlying genetic contribution to an index of civic engagement (0.41), as well as for the individual acts of engagement of volunteering for community or public service activities (0.33), regularly contributing to charitable causes (0.28) and voting in elections (0.27). There are closer genetic relationships between donating and the other two activities; volunteering and voting are not genetically correlated. Further, we show that most of the correlation between civic engagement and both positive emotionality and verbal IQ can be attributed to genes that affect both traits. These results enrich our understanding of the way in which genetic variation may influence the wide range of collective action problems that individuals face in modern community life

    Effects of Sex and Load Carried per Kilogram of Body Mass on Landing Technique

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    International Journal of Exercise Science 14(1): 633-643, 2021. Sex differences and heavy load carriage may contribute to the high rate of musculoskeletal injury in military recruits, particularly within the female population. Thus, the purposes of this study were to determine if load influenced landing quality differently in females compared to males and if load carried per kg body mass was associated to quality of landing. Twenty-eight participants were recruited for this study (males: n = 14; females: n = 14). Participants were grouped by sex. All twenty-eight participants performed three drop-jumps (DJ) under unloaded and loaded conditions. The loaded condition included a combat helmet, tactical vest, and rucksack (22 kg). Two cameras recorded in the frontal and sagittal directions during the three DJ trials. DJ trials were scored using the LESS. There was no significant difference in LESS difference scores between males and females, t(26) = -1.014, p = 0.320, 95% CI = -2.01 to 0.68. Load carried per kg body mass (rs= 0.401, p = 0.034) was significantly correlated to LESS rank order. The results suggest load does not significantly alter landing quality as measured by the LESS. However, participant body mass and load per kg of body may play a role in a person’s ability to adapt to heavy loads

    DETC2002 / DTM-34015 IMPROVING TURBOMACHINERY DESIGN PROCESS MANAGEMENT

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    ABSTRACT It is widely acknowledged that a company&apos;s ability to aquire market share, and hence its profitability, is very closely linked to the speed with which it can produce a new design. Indeed, a study by the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry has shown that the critical factor which determines profitability is the timely delivery of the new product. Late entry to market or high production costs dramatically reduce profits whilst an overrun on development cost has little significant effect. This paper describes a method which aims to assist the designer in producing higher performance turbomachinery designs more quickly by accelerating the process by which they are produced. The adopted approach combines an enhanced version of the &apos;Signposting&apos; design process management methodology [1] with industry-standard analysis codes and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It has been specifically configured to enable process-wide iteration, near instantaneous generation of guidance data for the designer and fully automatic data handling. A successful laboratory experiment based on the design of a large High Pressure Steam Turbine is described and this leads on to current work which incorporates the extension of the proven concept to a full industrial application for the design of Aeroengine Compressors with Rolls-Royce plc

    Epigenome-wide profiling identifies significant differences in DNA methylation between matched-pairs of T- and B-lymphocytes from healthy individuals

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    Multiple reports now describe changes to the DNA methylome in rheumatoid arthritis and in many cases have analyzed methylation in mixed cell populations from whole blood. However, these approaches may preclude the identification of cell type-specific methylation, which may subsequently bias identification of disease-specific changes. To address this possibility, we conducted genome-wide DNA methylation profiling using HumanMethylation450 BeadChips to identify differences within matched pairs of T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes isolated from the peripheral blood of 10 healthy females. Array data were processed and differential methylation identified using NIMBL software. Validation of array data was performed by bisulfite Pyrosequencing. Genome-wide DNA methylation was initially determined by analysis of LINE-1 sequences and was higher in B-lymphocytes than matched T-lymphocytes (69.8 vs. 65.2%, p ≤ 0.01). Pairwise analysis identified 679 CpGs, representing 250 genes, which were differentially methylated between T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes. The majority of sites (76.6%) were hypermethylated in B-lymphocytes. Pyrosequencing of selected candidates confirmed the array data in all cases. Hierarchical clustering revealed perfect segregation of samples into two distinct clusters based on cell type. Differentially methylated genes showed enrichment for biological functions/pathways associated with leukocytes and T-lymphocytes. Our work for the first time shows that T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes possess intrinsic differences in DNA methylation within a restricted set of functionally-related genes. These data provide a foundation for investigating DNA methylation in diseases in which these cell types play important and distinct roles
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