Wind flow patterns about buildings

A knowledge of building wake characteristics is useful in a variety of applications including dispersion of pollutants downwind of conventional or nuclear power plants, airport runway interference effect, take-off/landing limitations at heliports, pedestrian wind comfort, and wind loads on structures. Recent investigations have advanced both understanding of physical flow processes occurring in the near and far wake regions and theoretical predictive capability for flow and diffusion in the far wake region. These studies have shown, for example, that separation cavities immediately downwind are not enclosed by free streamlines as in two-dimensional separation/reattachment, that organized vortices can play an important role in wake development, and that theoretical solutions for some wake regions are possible.     

沉默的文化——妇女的住房和土地权利

我们即将对第四届妇女大会（北京）召开十年以来的妇女发展状况进行回顾，并且要对千年发展目标的执行情况进行中期评估。因此，我们有必要对那些影响妇女日常生活的关键问题进行审视并采取相应的行动，这些问题一直被各国政府和国际社会所忽视。     

Coagulation Signaling through PAR1 as a Therapeutic Target in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly fatal disease with a 5-year survival rate of less than 10% following diagnosis. The aggressive and invasive properties of pancreatic cancer tumors coupled with poor diagnostic options contribute to the high mortality rate since most patients present with late-stage disease. Accordingly, PDAC is linked to the highest rate of cancer-associated venous thromboembolic disease of all solid tumor malignancies. However, in addition to promoting clot formation, recent studies suggest that the coagulation system in PDAC mediates a reciprocal relationship, whereby coagulation proteases and receptors promote PDAC tumor progression and dissemination. Here, upregulation of tissue factor (TF) by tumor cells can drive local generation of the central coagulation protease thrombin that promotes cell signaling activity through protease-activated receptors (PARs) expressed by both tumor cells and multiple stromal cell subsets. Moreover, the TF-thrombin-PAR1 signaling axis appears to be a major mechanism of cancer progression in general and PDAC in particular. Here, we summarize the current literature regarding the role of PAR1 in PDAC and review possibilities for pharmacologically targeting PAR1 as a PDAC therapeutic approach.     

Solution to profit based unit commitment problem using particle swarm optimization

In this paper, an algorithm to solve the profit based unit commitment problem (PBUCP) under deregulated environment has been proposed using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) intelligent technique to maximize the GENCOs profit. Deregulation in power sector increases the efficiency of electricity production and distribution, offer lower prices, higher quality, a secure and a more reliable product. The proposed algorithm has been developed from the view point of a generation company wishing to maximize its profit in the deregulated power and reserve markets. UC schedule depends on the market price in the deregulated market. In deregulated environment utilities are not required to meet the demand. GENCO can consider a schedule that produce less than the predicted load demand and reserve but creates maximum profit. More number of units are committed when the market price is higher. When more number of generating units are brought online more power is generated and participated in the deregulated market to get maximum profit. This paper presents a new approach of GENCOs profit based unit commitment using PSO technique in a day ahead competitive electricity markets. The profit based unit commitment problem is solved using various PSO techniques such as Chaotic PSO (CPSO), New PSO (NPSO) and Dispersed PSO (DPSO) and the results are compared. Generation, spinning reserve, non-spinning reserve, and system constraints are considered in proposed formulation. The proposed approach has been tested on IEEE-30 bus system with 6 generating units as an individual GENCO. The results obtained are quite encouraging and useful in deregulated market. The algorithm and simulation are carried out using Matlab software.     

Fractional-step dimensionality reduction

Linear projections for dimensionality reduction, computed using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), are commonly based on optimization of certain separability criteria in the output space. The resulting optimization problem is linear, but these separability criteria are not directly related to the classification accuracy in the output space. Consequently, a trial and error procedure has to be invoked, experimenting with different separability criteria that differ in the weighting function used and selecting the one that performed best on the training set. Often, even the best weighting function among the trial choices results in poor classification of data in the subspace. In this short paper, we introduce the concept of fractional dimensionality and develop an incremental procedure, called the fractional-step LDA (F-LDA) to reduce the dimensionality in fractional steps. The F-LDA algorithm is more robust to the selection of weighting function and for any given weighting function, it finds a subspace in which the classification accuracy is higher than that obtained using LDA     

Look-ahead based fuzzy decision tree induction

Decision tree induction is typically based on a top-down greedy algorithm that makes locally optimal decisions at each node. Due to the greedy and local nature of the decisions made at each node, there is considerable possibility of instances at the node being split along branches such that instances along some or all of the branches require a large number of additional nodes for classification. In this paper, we present a computationally efficient way of incorporating look-ahead into fuzzy decision tree induction. Our algorithm is based on establishing the decision at each internal node by jointly optimizing the node splitting criterion (information gain or gain ratio) and the classifiability of instances along each branch of the node. Simulations results confirm that the use of the proposed look-ahead method leads to smaller decision trees and as a consequence better test performance     

Isocyanurate based fluorinated polyurethane dispersion for anti-graffiti coatings

Fluorinated polyurethane dispersions (FPUDs) were synthesized using HDI isocyanurate, polyester polyol and DMPA with varying concentrations of trifluoro ethanol (TFE) in the range of 0–9 wt%. Further FPUDs were characterized by FT-IR and ¹H NMR for structural elucidation. Effects of trifluoro ethanol on the dispersion were evaluated by particle size analyzer. It was observed that with increase in TFE, particle size increases. Topography and contact angle were studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and goniometer, respectively. To gain more insight into the formation of roughness, power spectral density (PSD) analysis was carried out. It was found that with increase in TFE content, surface roughness increases due to migration of fluorinating agent on the coating substrate and consequently water repellency increases. Nano indentation of coating revealed that fluorinated coating possesses less stiffness and elastic modulus, due to the presence of fluorine on the coating. Further, coatings were analyzed for thermal properties by thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) which shows the enhancement in thermal stability and glass transition temperature with increase in TFE content. Anti-graffiti test was carried out which showed improved resistance with increasing fluorine content.     

Flow and temperature patterns in an inductively coupled plasma reactor: Experimental measurements and CFD simulations

Measurements of temperature patterns in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) have been carried out experimentally. Plasma torch was operated at different RF powers in the range of 3–14 kW at near atmospheric pressure and over a wide range of sheath gas flow rate (3–25 lpm). Measurements were made at five different axial positions in ICP torch. The chordal intensities were converted into a radial intensity profile by Abel Inversion technique. Typical radial temperature profile shows an off‐axis temperature peak, which shifts toward the wall as the power increases. Temperatures in the range of 6000–14,000 K were recorded by this method. The temperature profiles in the plasma reactor were simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A good agreement was found between the CFD predictions of the flow and temperature pattern with those published in the literature as well as the temperature profiles measured in the present work. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 3647–3664, 2014     

Enhanced fracture toughness in carbon-nanotube-reinforced amorphous silicon nitride nanocomposite coatings

Multiwalled-carbon-nanotube (MWCNT)-reinforced silicon nitride coatings were grown to evaluate the toughness contribution of nanotubes in a ceramic coating. An MWCNT array was first grown using catalytic chemical vapor deposition of acetylene on a silicon substrate. This aligned MWCNT preform was then infiltrated with an amorphous silicon nitride matrix by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition of dichlorosilane (DCS) and ammonia (NH₃). The fracture toughness of this material was determined by generating cracks using nanoindentation and then employing finite-element analysis to estimate the bridging toughness contribution of the MWCNTs. The MWCNT bridging toughness of the composites is determined to be ～5.6 MPa m^1/2, which is seven times higher than that of the matrix. The interfacial frictional stress is also estimated and ranges from 7 to 20 MPa.     

Enalapril-induced renal artery thrombosis in unilateral renal artery stenosis

Intravascular adhesion of leucocytes plays a role in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic vascular disease. Regular aerobic exercise seems to protect against vascular disease. Since leucocyte adhesion is mediated by integrins, we tested the hypothesis that surface expression of the integrin adhesive receptors LFA-1 (cd11a/cd18), MAC-1 (cd11b/cd18), gp 150/95 (cd11c/cd18), and VLA-4 (cd29/cd49) is decreased by moderate endurance exercise. Surface expression of integrins was measured by FACS analysis in 19 healthy subjects (16 males, 3 females, 36.6 +/- 8.7 years, 177.1 +/- 7.5 cm, 70.3 +/- 8.1 kg) before and after submaximal exercise (3 h run) using monoclonal antibodies against cd11a, cd11b, cd11c, cd18, cd29 and cd49. In addition, we compared resting integrin expression in this group with a group of sedentary subjects (19 males, 6 females, 29.3 +/- 5.3 years). White blood cell count increased from 5300 ml(-1) to 9740 ml(-1) during exercise (P < 0.001). Nevertheless, the expression (indicated by the mean log fluorescence) of cd11a (94 +/- 24 vs. 78 +/- 14) and cd18 (128 +/- 31 vs. 102 +/- 21) on lymphocytes and of cd11a (104 +/- 25 vs. 85 +/- 16), cd11c (497 +/- 171 vs. 408 +/- 126) cd29 (109 +/- 16 vs. 89 +/- 16), cd49 (69 +/- 8 vs. 54 +/- 11) on monocytes was decreased after exercise (all P < 0.05). In contrast, integrin expression on granulocytes was not altered by exercise. Comparison of exercising and sedentary subjects showed a significantly decreased expression of integrins in exercising subjects. Our results demonstrate that moderate exercise leads to decreased expression of integrin receptors on leucocytes. This decreased expression of adhesion molecules may result in decreased adhesion and infiltration of leucocytes into the vessel wall. This phenomenon may play a role in the beneficial effect of moderate exercise in prevention of acute and chronic vascular disease.