Analysis of heat transfer and entropy generation for a thermally developing Brinkman–Brinkman forced convection problem in a rectangular duct with isoflux walls

Heat transfer and entropy generation analysis of the thermally developing forced convection in a porous-saturated duct of rectangular cross-section, with walls maintained at a constant and uniform heat flux, is investigated based on the Brinkman flow model. The classical Galerkin method is used to obtain the fully developed velocity distribution. To solve the thermal energy equation, with the effects of viscous dissipation being included, the Extended Weighted Residuals Method (EWRM) is applied. The local (three dimensional) temperature field is solved by utilizing the Green’s function solution based on the EWRM where symbolic algebra is being used for convenience in presentation. Following the computation of the temperature field, expressions are presented for the local Nusselt number and the bulk temperature as a function of the dimensionless longitudinal coordinate, the aspect ratio, the Darcy number, the viscosity ratio, and the Brinkman number. With the velocity and temperature field being determined, the Second Law (of Thermodynamics) aspect of the problem is also investigated. Approximate closed form solutions are also presented for two limiting cases of MDa values. It is observed that decreasing the aspect ratio and MDa values increases the entropy generation rate.

Assessment of regional long-axis function during dobutamine echocardiography

Echocardiographic analysis of regional left ventricular function is based upon the assessment of radial motion. Long-axis motion is an important contributor to overall function. but has been difficult to evaluate clinically until the recent development of tissue Doppler techniques. We sought to compare the standard visual assessment of radial motion with quantitative tissue Doppler measurement of peak systolic velocity. timing and strain rate (SRI) in 104 patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease undergoing dobutamine stress echocardiography (DbE). A standard DbE protocol was used with colour tissue Doppler images acquired in digital cine-loop format. peak systolic velocity (PSV), time to peak velocity (TPV) and SRI were assessed off-line by an independent operator. Wall motion was assessed by an experienced reader. Mean PSV, TPV and SRI values were compared with wall motion and the presence of coronary artery disease by angiography. A further analysis included assessing the extent of jeopardized myocardium by comparing average values of PSV, TPV and SRI against the previously validated angiographic score. Segments identified as having normal and abnormal radial wall motion showed significant differences in mean PSV (7.9 +/- 3.8 and 5.9 +/- 3.3 cm/s respectively; P < 0.001), TPV (84 40 and 95 +/- 48 ms respectively; P = 0.005) and SRI (- 1.45 +/- 0.5 and - 1.1 +/- 0.9 s(-1) respectively; P < 0.001). The presence of a stenosed subtending coronary artery was also associated with significant differences from normally perfused segments for mean PSV (8.1 3.4 compared with 5.7 +/- 3.7 cm/s; P < 0.001), TPV (78 50 compared with 92 +/- 45 ms; P < 0.001) and SRI (- 1.35 0.5 compared with - 1.20 +/- 0.4 s(-1); P = 0.05). PSV, TPV and SRI also varied significantly according to the extent of jeopardized myocardium within a vascular territory. These results suggest that peak systolic velocity, timing of contraction and SRI reflect the underlying physiological characteristics of the regional myocardium during DbE, and may potentially allow objective analysis of wall motion.

Characterization of activated carbons using liquid phase adsorption

A modification of the Dubinin-Radushkevich pore filling model by incorporation of the repulsive contribution to the pore potential, and of bulk non-ideality, is proposed in this paper for characterization of activated carbon using liquid phase adsorption. For this purpose experiments have been performed using ethyl propionate, ethyl butyrate, and ethyl isovalerate as adsorbates and the microporous-mesoporous activated carbons Filtrasorb 400, Norit ROW 0.8 and Norit ROX 0.8 as adsorbents. The repulsive contribution to the pore potential is incorporated through a Lennard-Jones intermolecular potential model, and the bulk-liquid phase non-ideality through the UNIFAC activity coefficient model. For the characterization of activated carbons, the generalized adsorption isotherm is utilized with a bimodal gamma function as the pore size distribution function. It is found that the model can represent the experimental data very well, and significantly better than when the classical energy-size relationship is used, or when bulk non-ideality is neglected. Excellent agreement between the bimodal gamma pore size distribution and DFT-cum-regularization based pore size distribution is also observed, supporting the validity of the proposed model. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Activation energy distribution of thermal annealing of a bituminous coal

A bituminous coal was pyrolyzed in a nitrogen stream in an entrained flow reactor at various temperatures from 700 to 1475 degreesC. Char samples were collected at different positions along the reactor. Each collected sample was oxidized nonisothermally in a TGA for reactivity determination. The reactivity of the coal char was found to decrease rapidly with residence time until 0.5 s, after which it decreased only slightly. On the bases of the reactivity data at various temperatures, a new approach was utilized to obtaining the true activation energy distribution function for thermal annealing without the assumption of any distribution function form or a constant preexponential factor. It appears that the true activation energy distribution function consists of two separate parts corresponding to different temperature ranges, suggesting different mechanisms in different temperature ranges. Partially burnt coal chars were also collected along the reactor when the coal was oxidized in air at various temperatures from 700 to 1475 degreesC. The collected samples were analyzed for the residual carbon content and the specific reaction rate was estimated. The characteristic time of thermal deactivation was compared with that of oxidation under realistic conditions. The characteristic times were found to be close to each other, indicating the importance of thermal deactivation during combustion of the coal studied.

ATCA HI observations of the peculiar galaxy IC 2554

ATCA H I and radio continuum observations of the peculiar southern galaxy IC 2554 and its surroundings reveal typical signatures of an interacting galaxy group. We detected a large H I cloud between IC 2554 and the elliptical galaxy NGC 3136B. The gas dynamics in IC 2554 itself, which is sometimes described as a colliding pair, are surprisingly regular, whereas NGC 3136B was not detected. The H I cloud, which emerges from IC 2554 as a large arc-shaped plume, has a size of similar to30 kpc, larger than that of IC 2554. The total H I mass of the IC 2554 system is similar to2 x 10(9) M., one-third of which resides in the H I cloud. It is possible that tidal interaction between IC 2554 and NGC 3136B caused this spectacular H I cloud, but the possibility of IC 2554 being a merger remnant is also discussed. We also detected H I gas in the nearby galaxies ESO 092-G009 and RKK 1959 and an associated H I cloud, ATCA J1006-6710. Together they have an H I mass of similar to4.6 x 10(8) M-.. Another new H I source, ATCA J1007-6659, with an H I mass of only similar to2.2 x 10(7) M. was detected roughly between IC 2554 and ESO 092-G009 and corresponds to a face-on low surface brightness dwarf galaxy. Star formation is evident only in the galaxy IC 2554 with a rate of similar to4 M. yr(-1).

Australia Telescope Compact Array H I observations of the NGC 6845 galaxy group

We present the results of Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) H i line and 20-cm radio continuum observations of the galaxy quartet NGC 6845. The H i emission extends over all four galaxies but can only be associated clearly with the two spiral galaxies, NGC 6845A and B, which show signs of strong tidal interaction. We derive a total H i mass of at least 1.8 x 10(10) M-., most of which is associated with NGC 6845A, the largest galaxy of the group. We investigate the tidal interaction between NGC 6845A and B by studying the kinematics of distinct H i components and their relation to the known H ii regions. No H i emission is detected from the two lenticular galaxies, NGC 6845C and D. A previously uncatalogued dwarf galaxy, ATCA J2001-4659, was detected 4.4 arcmin NE from NGC 6845B and has an H i mass of similar to5 x 10(8) M-.. No H i bridge is visible between the group and its newly detected companion. Extended 20-cm radio continuum emission is detected in NGC 6845A and B as well as in the tidal bridge between the two galaxies. We derive star formation rates of 15-40 M-. yr(-1).

Electromagnetic fields inside a lossy, multilayered spherical head phantom excited by MRI coils: models and methods

The precise evaluation of electromagnetic field (EMF) distributions inside biological samples is becoming an increasingly important design requirement for high field MRI systems. In evaluating the induced fields caused by magnetic field gradients and RF transmitter coils, a multilayered dielectric spherical head model is proposed to provide a better understanding of electromagnetic interactions when compared to a traditional homogeneous head phantom. This paper presents Debye potential (DP) and Dyadic Green's function (DGF)-based solutions of the EMFs inside a head-sized, stratified sphere with similar radial conductivity and permittivity profiles as a human head. The DP approach is formulated for the symmetric case in which the source is a circular loop carrying a harmonic-formed current over a wide frequency range. The DGF method is developed for generic cases in which the source may be any kind of RF coil whose current distribution can be evaluated using the method of moments. The calculated EMFs can then be used to deduce MRI imaging parameters. The proposed methods, while not representing the full complexity of a head model, offer advantages in rapid prototyping as the computation times are much lower than a full finite difference time domain calculation using a complex head model. Test examples demonstrate the capability of the proposed models/methods. It is anticipated that this model will be of particular value for high field MRI applications, especially the rapid evaluation of RF resonator (surface and volume coils) and high performance gradient set designs.

Multicomponent adsorption on activated carbons under supercritical conditions

Adsorption of binary mixtures onto activated carbon Norit R1 for the system nitrogen-methane-carbon dioxide was investigated over the pressure range up to 15 MPa. A new model is proposed to describe the experimental data. It is based on the assumption that an activated carbon can be characterized by the distribution function of elements of adsorption volume (EAV) over the solid-fluid potential. This function may be evaluated from pure component isotherms using the equality of the chemical potentials in the adsorbed phase and in the bulk phase for each EAV. In the case of mixture adsorption a simple combining rule is proposed, which allows determining the adsorbed phase density and its composition in the EAV at given pressure and compositions of the bulk phase. The adsorbed concentration of each adsorbate is the integral of its density over the set of EAV. The comparison with experimental data on binary mixtures has shown that the approach works reasonably well. In the case of high-pressure binary mixture adsorption, when only total amount adsorbed was measured, the proposed model allows reliably determining partial amounts of the adsorbed components. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A mathematical modelling technique for the analysis of the dynamics of a simple continuous EDA

This paper presents some initial attempts to mathematically model the dynamics of a continuous estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) based on a Gaussian distribution and truncation selection. Case studies are conducted on both unimodal and multimodal problems to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed technique and explore some important properties of the EDA. With some general assumptions, we show that, for ID unimodal problems and with the (mu, lambda) scheme: (1). The behaviour of the EDA is dependent only on the general shape of the test function, rather than its specific form; (2). When initialized far from the global optimum, the EDA has a tendency to converge prematurely; (3). Given a certain selection pressure, there is a unique value for the proposed amplification parameter that could help the EDA achieve desirable performance; for ID multimodal problems: (1). The EDA could get stuck with the (mu, lambda) scheme; (2). The EDA will never get stuck with the (mu, lambda) scheme.

Genetic algorithm based distance spectrum technique for performance union bound of space-time trellis coded OFDM

This paper derives the performance union bound of space-time trellis codes in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system (STTC-OFDM) over quasi-static frequency selective fading channels based on the distance spectrum technique. The distance spectrum is the enumeration of the codeword difference measures and their multiplicities by exhausted searching through all the possible error event paths. Exhaustive search approach can be used for low memory order STTC with small frame size. However with moderate memory order STTC and moderate frame size the computational cost of exhaustive search increases exponentially, and may become impractical for high memory order STTCs. This requires advanced computational techniques such as Genetic Algorithms (GAS). In this paper, a GA with sharing function method is used to locate the multiple solutions of the distance spectrum for high memory order STTCs. Simulation evaluates the performance union bound and the complexity comparison of non-GA aided and GA aided distance spectrum techniques. It shows that the union bound give a close performance measure at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). It also shows that GA sharing function method based distance spectrum technique requires much less computational time as compared with exhaustive search approach but with satisfactory accuracy.

Thermally developing Brinkman–Brinkman forced convection in rectangular ducts with isothermal walls

The Extended Weighted Residuals Method (EWRM) is applied to investigate the effects of viscous dissipation on the thermal development of forced convection in a porous-saturated duct of rectangular cross-section with isothermal boundary condition. The Brinkman flow model is employed for determination of the velocity field. The temperature in the flow field was computed by utilizing the Green’s function solution based on the EWRM. Following the computation of the temperature field, expressions are presented for the local Nusselt number and the bulk temperature as a function of the dimensionless longitudinal coordinate. In addition to the aspect ratio, the other parameters included in this computation are the Darcy number, viscosity ratio, and the Brinkman number.

Gender and age-at-first-admission for schizophrenia: Data from Australia and Brazil

In order to examine whether different populations show the same pattern of onset in the Southern Hemisphere, we examined the age-at-first-admission distribution for schizophrenia based on mental health registers from Australia and Brazil. Data on age-at-first-admission for individuals with schizophrenia were extracted from two names-linked registers, (1) the Queensland Mental Health Statistics System, Australia (N=7651, F= 3293, M=4358), and (2) a psychiatric hospital register in Pelotas, Brazil (N=4428, F=2220, M=2208). Age distributions were derived for males and females for both datasets. The general population structure tbr both countries was also obtained. There were significantly more males in the Queensland dataset (gz = 56.9, df3, p < 0.0001 ). Both dataset distributions were skewed to the right. Onset rose steeply after puberty to reach a modal age group of 20-29 for men and women, with a more gradual tail toward the older age groups. In Queensland 68% of women with schizophrenia had their first admissions after age 30, while the proportion from Brazil was 58%. Compared to the Australian dataset, the Brazilian dataset had a slightly greater proportion of first admissions under the age 30 and a slightly smaller proportion over the age of 60 years. This reflects the underlying age distributions of the two populations. This study confirms the wide age range and gender differences in age-at-first-admission distributions for schizophrenia and identified a significant difference in the gender ratio between the two datasets. Given widely differing health services, cultural practices, ethic variability, and the different underlying population distributions, the age-at-first-admission in Queensland and Brazil showed more similarities than differences. Acknowledgments: The Stanley Foundation supported this project.

An extragalactic HI cloud with no optical counterpart?

We report the discovery, from the H I Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS), of an isolated cloud of neutral hydrogen, which we believe to be extragalactic. The H I mass of the cloud (HIPASS J1712-64) is very low, 1.7 x 10(7) M-circle dot, using an estimated distance of similar to 3.2 Mpc. Most significantly, we have found no optical companion to this object to very faint limits [mu(B) similar to 27 mag arcsec(-2)]. HIPASS J1712-64 appears to be a binary system similar to, but much less massive than, H I 1225 + 01 (the Virgo H. I cloud) and has a size of at least 15 kpc. The mean velocity dispersion measured with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) is only 4 km s(-1) for the main component and, because of the weak or nonexistent star formation, possibly reflects the thermal line width (T < 2000 K) rather than bulk motion or turbulence. The peak column density for HIPASS J1712-64, from the combined Parkes and ATCA data, is only 3.5 x 1019 cm(-2), which is estimated to be a factor of 2 below the critical threshold for star formation. Apart from its significantly higher velocity, the properties of HIPASS J1712-64 are similar to the recently recognized class of compact high-velocity clouds. We therefore consider the evidence for a Local Group or Galactic origin, although a more plausible alternative is that HIPASS J1712-64 was ejected from the interacting Magellanic Cloud-Galaxy system at perigalacticon similar to 2 x 10(8) yr ago.

Bi-directional reflectance of corals

An assessment of the bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of corals with different morphologies was undertaken using hyperspectral reflectance measurements. The highest variance in reflectance obtained at different viewing angles was found for the open branching Acropora colony, possibly attributed to branch orientation and internal shadow distribution. Spectral separation within and between features at the nominated sensor-viewing angles was greatest in the near infrared portion of the spectrum. The analysis of coral reef bi-directional reflectance properties and degree of internal shadowing holds potential for future assessment and information extraction relating to coral structural characteristics.

Movement trajectories in the presence of a distracting stimulus: Evidence for a response activation model of selective reaching

Consistent with action-based theories of attention, the presence of a nontarget stimulus in the environment has been shown to alter the characteristics of goal-directed movements. Specifically, it has been reported that movement trajectories veer away from (Howard & Tipper, 1997) or towards (Welsh, Elliott, & Weeks, 1999) the location of a nontarget stimulus. The purpose of the experiments reported in this paper was to test a response activation model of selective reaching conceived to account for these variable results. In agreement with the model, the trajectory changes in the movements appear to be determined by the activation levels of each competing response at the moment of response initiation. The results of the present work, as well as those of previous studies, are discussed within the framework of the model of response activation.