Uncertainty Quantification in Helicopter Performance Using Monte Carlo Simulations

The effect of structural and aerodynamic uncertainties on the performance predictions of a helicopter is investigated. An aerodynamic model based on blade element and momentum theory is used to predict the helicopter performance. The aeroelastic parameters, such as blade chord, rotor radius, two-dimensional lift-curve slope, blade profile drag coefficient, rotor angular velocity, blade pitch angle, and blade twist rate per radius of the rotor, are considered as random variables. The propagation of these uncertainties to the performance parameters, such as thrust coefficient and power coefficient, are studied using Monte Carlo Simulations. The simulations are performed with 100,000 samples of structural and aerodynamic uncertain variables with a coefficient of variation ranging from 1 to 5%. The scatter in power predictions in hover, axial climb, and forward flight for the untwisted and linearly twisted blades is studied. It is found that about 20-25% excess power can be required by the helicopter relative to the determination predictions due to uncertainties.

Low-Complexity Detection in Large-Dimension MIMO-ISI Channels Using Graphical Models

In this paper, we deal with low-complexity near-optimal detection/equalization in large-dimension multiple-input multiple-output inter-symbol interference (MIMO-ISI) channels using message passing on graphical models. A key contribution in the paper is the demonstration that near-optimal performance in MIMO-ISI channels with large dimensions can be achieved at low complexities through simple yet effective simplifications/approximations, although the graphical models that represent MIMO-ISI channels are fully/densely connected (loopy graphs). These include 1) use of Markov random field (MRF)-based graphical model with pairwise interaction, in conjunction with message damping, and 2) use of factor graph (FG)-based graphical model with Gaussian approximation of interference (GAI). The per-symbol complexities are O(K(2)n(t)(2)) and O(Kn(t)) for the MRF and the FG with GAI approaches, respectively, where K and n(t) denote the number of channel uses per frame, and number of transmit antennas, respectively. These low-complexities are quite attractive for large dimensions, i.e., for large Kn(t). From a performance perspective, these algorithms are even more interesting in large-dimensions since they achieve increasingly closer to optimum detection performance for increasing Kn(t). Also, we show that these message passing algorithms can be used in an iterative manner with local neighborhood search algorithms to improve the reliability/performance of M-QAM symbol detection.

Interstitial Defects Induced Ferroelectricity in Undoped ZnO Nanorods at Room Temperature

A simple approach for obtaining room temperature ferroelectricity in ZnO rod structures at the nanoscale is reported. A systematic comparative study between two kinds of nanorods prepared by different processes reveals the physics behind it. It is observed that ZnO nanorods grown (in-situ) by a sol gel method on platinum substrate show ferroelectric behaviour. On the contrary, ZnO nanorods first grown by a sol gel method and then spin-coated on a platinum substrate (ex-situ) do not demonstrate this kind of feature. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms partially (002) and (100) plane oriented growth of both samples. From photoluminescence (PL) spectral analysis it is interpreted that oxygen vacancies/zinc interstitial defects, which arises from the large lattice mismatch between the Pt substrate and the ZnO nanorods grown thereon, and preferential ZnO growth along 002], can be causes of this type of phenomena. C-V characterization, P-E hysteresis loop along with piezoelectric force microscopy support this observation.

Image deconvolution research: its scope and importance in live cell microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy has become an indispensable tool in cell biology research due its exceptional specificity and ability to visualize subcellular structures with high contrast. It has highest impact when applied in 4D mode, i.e. when applied to record 3D image information as a function of time, since it allows the study of dynamic cellular processes in their native environment. The main issue in 4D fluorescence microscopy is that the phototoxic effect of fluorescence excitation gets accumulated during 4D image acquisition to the extent that normal cell functions are altered. Hence to avoid the alteration of normal cell functioning, it is required to minimize the excitation dose used for individual 2D images constituting a 4D image. Consequently, the noise level becomes very high degrading the resolution. According to the current status of technology, there is a minimum required excitation dose to ensure a resolution that is adequate for biological investigations. This minimum is sufficient to damage light-sensitive cells such as yeast if 4D imaging is performed for an extended period of time, for example, imaging for a complete cell cycle. Nevertheless, our recently developed deconvolution method resolves this conflict forming an enabling technology for visualization of dynamical processes of light-sensitive cells for durations longer than ever without perturbing normal cell functioning. The main goal of this article is to emphasize that there are still possibilities for enabling newer kinds of experiment in cell biology research involving even longer 4D imaging, by only improving deconvolution methods without any new optical technologies.

Conditional silencing of topoisomerase I gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis validates its essentiality for cell survival

Topoisomerases are an important class of enzymes for regulating the DNA transaction processes. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is one of the most formidable pathogens also posing serious challenges for therapeutic interventions. The organism contains only one type IA topoisomerase (Rv3646c), offering an opportunity to test its potential as a candidate drug target. To validate the essentiality of M.tuberculosis topoisomerase I (TopoI(Mt)) for bacterial growth and survival, we have generated a conditionally regulated strain of topoI in Mtb. The conditional knockdown mutant exhibited delayed growth on agar plate. In liquid culture, the growth was drastically impaired when TopoI expression was suppressed. Additionally, novobiocin and isoniazid showed enhanced inhibitory potential against the conditional mutant. Analysis of the nucleoid revealed its altered architecture upon TopoI depletion. These studies establish the essentiality of TopoI for the M.tuberculosis growth and open up new avenues for targeting the enzyme.

Off-site impacts of agricultural composting: role of terrestrially derived organic matter in structuring aquatic microbial communities and their metabolic potential

While considered as sustainable and low-cost agricultural amendments, the impacts of organic fertilizers on downstream aquatic microbial communities remain poorly documented. We investigated the quantity and quality of the dissolved organic matter leaching from agricultural soil amended with compost, vermicompost or biochar and assessed their effects on lake microbial communities, in terms of viral and bacterial abundances, community structure and metabolic potential. The addition of compost and vermicompost significantly increased the amount of dissolved organic carbon in the leachate compared with soil alone. Leachates from these additions, either with or without biochar, were highly bioavailable to aquatic microbial communities, although reducing the metabolic potential of the community and harbouring more specific communities. Although not affecting bacterial richness or taxonomic distributions, the specific addition of biochar affected the original lake bacterial communities, resulting in a strongly different community. This could be partly explained by viral burst and converging bacterial abundances throughout the samples. These results underline the necessity to include off-site impacts of agricultural amendments when considering their cascading effect on downstream aquatic ecosystems.

A Generalization of Gravity

I consider theories of gravity built not just from the metric and affine connection, but also other (possibly higher rank) symmetric tensor(s). The Lagrangian densities are scalars built from them, and the volume forms are related to Cayley's hyperdeterminants. The resulting diff-invariant actions give rise to geometric theories that go beyond the metric paradigm (even metric-less theories are possible), and contain Einstein gravity as a special case. Examples contain theories with generalizeations of Riemannian geometry. The 0-tensor case is related to dilaton gravity. These theories can give rise to new types of spontaneous Lorentz breaking and might be relevant for ``dark'' sector cosmology.

生物模式的元胞自动机模型(I):盘基网柄菌的聚集模式

对生物模式的形成机制的探讨一直是生命科学特别是发育生物学的重要课题.目前已经积累了大量的多学科的研究数据并提出了一些的理论,但生物模式形成的真正机制仍然很不清楚而需更深入的探索.本文试图运用元胞自动机方法建立一个从单细胞及其行为到细胞与细胞、细胞与胞外环境相互作用下生物模式形成的模型.并应用此模型,基于"诱导开关"概念,提出一种新的离散模型来模拟盘基网柄菌(Dictyostelium discoideum)的聚集模式.

Estudio de tres líneas promisorias de arroz (Oryza sativa L.) en comparación con cinco variedades comerciales en condiciones de secano medianamente favorecido

El presente estudio se realizó en fincas de productores privados en tres localidades del departamento de Chinandega. El propósito fue evaluar tres líneas promisorias de Arroz en comparación con cinco variedades comerciales en condiciones de secano medianamente favorecido. El diseño experimental utilizado fue el de bloques completos al azar con tres repeticiones, utilizando una distancia entre surcos de 30 cm con siembra a chorrillo. En base a los resultados obtenidos se llegó a las conclusiones siguientes: el mejor material con respecto a características agronómicas, componentes de rendimiento y rendimiento agrícola fue Altamira-9; la línea CT-5754 es un material muy promisorio debido principalmente a su precocidad, característica muy importante para las zonas en que las precipitaciones son muy erráticas; En Ameya una de las localidades evaluadas, todos los materiales mostraron un mejor comportamiento.

The scattering of general SH plane wave by interface crack between two dissimilar viscoelastic bodies

The scattering of general SH plane wave by an interface crack between two dissimilar viscoelastic bodies is studied and the dynamic stress,intensity factor at the crack-tip is computed. The scattering problem can be decomposed into two problems: one is the reflection and refraction problem of general SH plane waves at perfect interface (with no crack); another is the scattering problem due to the existence of crack. For the first problem, the viscoelastic wave equation, displacement and stress continuity conditions across the interface are used to obtain the shear stress distribution at the interface. For the second problem, the integral transformation method is used to reduce the scattering problem into dual integral equations. Then, the dual integral equations are transformed into the Cauchy singular integral equation of first kind by introduction of the crack dislocation density function. Finally, the singular integral equation is solved by Kurtz's piecewise continuous function method. As a consequence, the crack opening displacement and dynamic stress intensity factor are obtained. At the end of the paper, a numerical example is given. The effects of incident angle, incident frequency and viscoelastic material parameters are analyzed. It is found that there is a frequency region for viscoelastic material within which the viscoelastic effects cannot be ignored.

Influencia de rotación de cultivos y métodos de control en malezas sobre la cenosis de las malezas y el crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento de los cultivos de sorgo (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench), maíz (Zea mays L.) y pepino (Cucumis sativus L.)

En éste trabajo se estudió la influencia de diferentes rotaciones de cultivos y métodos de control de malezas sobre la dinámica de la cenósis de malezas y el crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento de los cultivos sorgo, maíz y pepino. El ensayo se inició en primera de 1991 en el centro experimental de "Campos Azules" Masatepe. La siembra se realizó el 29 de Mayo concluyendo el 30 de Agosto del mismo año. Se utilizó un diseño de parcelas divididas, arregladas en bloque completo al azar. Siendo el factor A: rotación de cultivo (sorgo-sorgo, sorgo-maíz, soya-maíz, soya- pepino, sorgo-pepino) y el factor B: control de malezas (control químico, control período crítico, control limpia periódica). Los resultados nos reflejan que el cultivo antecedente sorgo y el control limpia periódica tenía los mejores efectos de control de malezas en el cultivo de maíz. De igual forma la soya como cultivo previo y el control limpia periódica, mostraron efectos positivos sobre la reducción de malezas en el cultivo de pepino, mientras que en el monocultivo de sorgo y el control en período crítico presentaron mayor enmalezamiento. El nivel de enmalezamiento fue menor en las rotaciones sorgo-maíz y soya-pepino que en las demás rotaciones. En todos estas predominaron las especies C. fimbristulatus, R. scabra, I. unicetum y M. divaricatum. En cuanto a rendimiento, la rotación sorgo-sorgo presentó los mayores rendimientos y el control químico como medio de lucha contra las malezas. En los cultivos de maíz y pepino los mayores rendimientos se obtuvieron cuando se utilizó sorgo corno cultivo antecesor y cuando el control de malezas se realizó durante la limpia periódica para el maíz y el control químico para el pepino.

Prudentia Iuris, 2000, n° 53 (número completo)

Contenido: Editorial – Derecho Penal y Procesal Penal: Presentación – Jornadas de Derecho Procesal Penal: Los distintos proyectos de reforma al Código Procesal Penal de la Nación / Ricardo Gil Lavedra – Diferentes perfiles del ejercicio de la acción penal / Francisco D’Albora – El Ministerio Público Fiscal / José Cafferata Nores – El Ministerio Público Fiscal en Italia / Giorgio Cherubini – El Ministerio Público Fiscal en la provincia de Buenos Aires / Eduardo D’Empaire – El recurso extraordinario / Jorge Reynaldo Vanossi – La situación del imputado / Hernán Munilla Lacasa – Incorporación de prueba al debate / Roberto Raúl Daray – El recurso de casación en el nuevo Código Procesal Penal de la provincia de Buenos Aires / Carlos A. Mahiques – El procesado en estado de cautividad / Jorge Kent – Jornadas Internacionales de Derecho Penal: El derecho penal y el orden social / Alfredo Battaglia – Del Comité Especial a la Conferencia de Roma / Juan Manuel Gramajo – La protección de la vida inocente en vísperas del siglo veintiuno / Alberto Rodríguez Varela – Derecho Laboral : nuevas normas y doctrinas: Reformas laborales. Leyes 25.013, 25.165 y 25.250 / Jorge Rodríguez Mancini ; Juan A. Confalonieri (h), comentario de Héctor César Guisado – Recargos en indemnizaciones por despido : Ley 25.323 / Hugo Roberto Mansueti – In Memoriam – Recensiones

Una zoología monstruosa: los leones del Palmerín de Olivia

Resumen: A simple vista, la zoología monstruosa podría verse como una fauna de carácter real, en oposición a otros seres que evidencian su monstruosidad. Sin embargo, bajo ese manto aparente de realismo, se esconde el principio mágico que ha movido a esos animales a un desplazamiento de la más pura realidad a la otredad monstruosa, sea a causa de la metamorfosis, de las profecías o de cualquier otro elemento que no se corresponda directamente con su naturaleza animal, sino que provenga de un principio exterior —la magia— o interior —su propia naturaleza monstruosa/prodigiosa—. Es el caso de los leones del Palmerín de Olivia (Salamanca, Juan de Porras, 1511), que debe enfrentar el héroe en tierras de moros

Kinetics of the chemical looping oxidation of H2 by a co-precipitated mixture of CuO and Al2O3

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) has the inherent property of separating CO2 from flue gases. Instead of air, it uses an oxygen-carrier, usually in the form of a metal oxide, to provide oxygen for combustion. When used for the combustion of gaseous fuels, such as natural gas, or synthesis gas from the gasification of coal, the technique gives a stream of CO2 which, on an industrial scale, would be sufficiently pure for geological sequestration. An important issue is the form of the metal oxide, since it must retain its reactivity through many cycles of complete reduction and oxidation. Here, we report on the rates of oxidation of one constituent of synthesis gas, H2, by co-precipitated mixtures of CuO+Al2O3 using a laboratory-scale fluidised bed. To minimise the influence of external mass transfer, and also of errors in the measurement of [H2], particles sized to 355-500μm were used at low [H2], with the temperature ranging from 450 to 900°C. Under such conditions, the reaction was slow enough for meaningful measurements of the intrinsic kinetics to be made. The reaction was found to be first order with respect to H2. Above ∼800°C, the reaction of CuO was fast and conformed to the shrinking core mechanism, proceeding via the intermediate, Cu2O, in: 2CuO+H2→Cu2O+H2O, ΔH1073 K0=- 116.8 kJ/mol; Cu2O+H2→2Cu+H2O, ΔH1073 K0-80.9 kJ/mol. After oxidation of the products Cu and Cu2O back to CuO, the kinetics in subsequent cycles of chemical looping oxidation of H2 could be approximated by those in the first. Interestingly, the carrier was found to react at temperatures as low as 300°C. The influence of the number of cycles of reduction and oxidation is explored. Comparisons are drawn with previous work using reduction by CO. Finally, these results indicate that the kinetics of reaction of the oxygen carrier with gasifier synthesis gases is very much faster than rates of gasification of the original fuel. © 2010 The Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Anuario Argentino de Derecho Canónico, 1998, Vol. V (número completo)

Contenido: Abreviaturas y citas – Artículos: Los sacramentales de la Iglesia, el matrimonio y la familia / J. Bonet Alcón – Los consejos de asuntos económicos / A. W. Bunge – I beni culturali di interesse religioso in Italia : la collaborazione tra autorità ecclesiastiche e autorità civil / G. Feliciani – El Opus Dei y sus tribunales / C. I. Heredia – Errore e simulazione circa la sacramentalità del matrimonio nella realtà dell’odierna società postcristiana / M. F. Pompedda – Notas – Jurisprudencia – Actualidad – Legislación particular argentina -- Recensiones