Velocity and mass diffusivity effects on the linear and nonlinear phenomena of the Burke-Schumann flame with acoustic excitation

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - The dynamics of the Burke-Schumann flame in terms of the Péclet number variation were investigated. The effect of the Péclet number on the...     

Numerical analysis of the thermal characteristics of a gas-dynamic ignition system

As a multiple-start ignition method for liquid-fuel rocket engines, the gas-dynamic igniter has many advantages, such as a simple configuration, low weight and high structural strength. However, because of the complexity of the flow of the working fluid, the details of the thermal processes involved are not clearly understood. In this study, the thermal and flow characteristics of a gas-dynamic igniter are investigated through numerical simulations using the software OpenFOAM. The simulation results show that the pressure within the igniter undergoes oscillations. The axial flow velocity decreases across the pressure wave front so that the kinetic energy of the flow is converted to thermal energy. The temperature increase within the oscillation tube of the igniter is strongly correlated with the entry mass flow. Therefore, the tube inlet area should be designed according to the igniter nozzle flow to achieve the best performance from a gasdynamic igniter.

     

Pipelining with common operands for power-efficient linear systems

We propose a systematic pipelining method for a linear system to minimize power and maximize throughput, given a constraint on the number of pipeline stages and a set of resource constraints. Unlike most existing pipelining approaches, our method takes the number of pipeline stages as one of the constraints and considers the pipelining as an aspect of power minimization. Operations are retimed so that as many operations as possible take common operands as their inputs, using a novel technique called force-directed retiming; operand sharing is then determined, based on list scheduling. Experimental results show that the proposed approach reduces the power consumption of functional units by 27.8% on average and by more than 50% in some cases, compared to the state-of-the-art pipelining and operand sharing techniques.     

A multifunctional core-shell nanoparticle for dendritic cell-based cancer immunotherapy

Dendritic cell-based cancer immunotherapy requires tumour antigens to be delivered efficiently into dendritic cells and their migration to be monitored in vivo. Nanoparticles have been explored as carriers for antigen delivery, but applications have been limited by the toxicity of the solvents used to make nanoparticles, and by the need to use transfection agents to deliver nanoparticles into cells. Here we show that an iron oxide-zinc oxide core-shell nanoparticle can deliver carcinoembryonic antigen into dendritic cells while simultaneously acting as an imaging agent. The nanoparticle-antigen complex is efficiently taken up by dendritic cells within one hour and can be detected in vitro by confocal microscopy and in vivo by magnetic resonance imaging. Mice immunized with dendritic cells containing the nanoparticle-antigen complex showed enhanced tumour antigen specific T-cell responses, delayed tumour growth and better survival than controls.