Turbomachinery is a challenging and diverse field, with applications for professionals and students in many subsets of the mechanical engineering discipline, including fluid mechanics, combustion and ...heat transfer, dynamics and vibrations, as well as structural mechanics and materials engineering. Originally published more than 40 years ago, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Turbomachinery is the leading turbomachinery textbook. Used as a core text in senior undergraduate and graduate level courses this book will also appeal to professional engineers in the aerospace, global power, oil & amp; gas and other industries who are involved in the design and operation of turbomachines. For this new edition, author S. Larry Dixon is joined by Cesare Hall from the University of Cambridge, whose diverse background of teaching, research and work experience in the area of turbomachines is well suited to the task of reorganizing and updating this classic text.
Non-apoptotic regulated cell death (RCD) is essential to maintain organismal homeostasis and may be aberrantly activated during certain pathological states. Lipids are emerging as key components of ...several non-apoptotic RCD pathways. For example, a direct interaction between membrane phospholipids and the pore-forming protein mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) is needed for the execution of necroptosis, while the oxidative destruction of membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), following the inactivation of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), is a requisite gateway to ferroptosis. Here, we review the roles of lipids in the initiation and execution of these and other forms of non-apoptotic cell death. We also consider new technologies that are allowing for the roles of lipids and lipid metabolism in RCD to be probed in increasingly sophisticated ways. In certain cases, this new knowledge may enable the development of therapies that target lipids and lipid metabolic processes to enhance or suppress specific non-apoptotic RCD pathways.
Austenitic welds are inspected using PPM EMAT generated shear horizontal (SH) waves. Results are compared to measurements taken using a 1D piezoelectric phased array using the total focusing method ...(TFM). For the first time there is clear experimental evidence of the SH wave method demonstrating higher sensitivity to defect detection. SH waves suffer less beam steering in a weld than either compression or SV waves, which can miss defects due to weld microstructure anisotropy and attenuation. All defects were identified from every side of the weld/plate using the SH waves, but this was not possible using the piezoelectric transducer.
•PPM EMAT generated shear horizontal waves are used for austenitic weld inspection.•The EMATs are placed adjacent to each other and moved parallel to the weld.•All defects in an austenitic weld were detected from every side of the weld/plate.•A piezoelectric phased array using TFM did not detect the defects from all positions.
Protein-fragment complementation assays (PCAs) are widely used for investigating protein interactions. However, the fragments used are structurally compromised and have not been optimized nor ...thoroughly characterized for accurately assessing these interactions. We took advantage of the small size and bright luminescence of NanoLuc to engineer a new complementation reporter (NanoBiT). By design, the NanoBiT subunits (i.e., 1.3 kDa peptide, 18 kDa polypeptide) weakly associate so that their assembly into a luminescent complex is dictated by the interaction characteristics of the target proteins onto which they are appended. To ascertain their general suitability for measuring interaction affinities and kinetics, we determined that their intrinsic affinity (K D = 190 μM) and association constants (k on = 500 M–1 s–1, k off = 0.2 s–1) are outside of the ranges typical for protein interactions. The accuracy of NanoBiT was verified under defined biochemical conditions using the previously characterized interaction between SME-1 β-lactamase and a set of inhibitor binding proteins. In cells, NanoBiT fusions to FRB/FKBP produced luminescence consistent with the linear characteristics of NanoLuc. Response dynamics, evaluated using both protein kinase A and β-arrestin-2, were rapid, reversible, and robust to temperature (21–37 °C). Finally, NanoBiT provided a means to measure pharmacology of kinase inhibitors known to induce the interaction between BRAF and CRAF. Our results demonstrate that the intrinsic properties of NanoBiT allow accurate representation of protein interactions and that the reporter responds reliably and dynamically in cells.
Magnetically soft and malleable magnetostrictive (MS) alloys are highly promising as low-cost solutions for high-efficiency generation of guided waves in industrial applications and a variety of ...magnetostrictive patch transducers (MPTs) have been described in the literature. This work
focuses on understanding the mechanisms and behaviour of soft MPTs used in the Wiedemann effect geometry, generating shear horizontal (SH) guided waves using FeCo alloy patches. MPT operation is explored in relation to patch geometry, size, magnetic field directions and guided wave wavelength.
MPTs are compared with electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) and EMATs are also placed on MS and copper foil patches bonded to large glass plates for some of the measurements. Periodic permanent magnet (PPM) array EMATs operating on MPTs bonded to ferritic steel samples produced significant
enhancements in the generated wave amplitude and the detected signal amplitude when compared to directly generating on the steel substrate, which primarily operates through the Lorentz mechanism. This enhanced performance was investigated and was found to be due to the magnetic fringing fields
at the magnet edges. Moreover, EMAT lift-off behaviour was significantly improved when an EMAT was placed above a magnetostrictive patch, with 50 mm lift-off between the EMAT and the patch demonstrated for SH wave generation at a 22 mm nominal wavelength at a 170 kHz excitation frequency on
a glass plate sample.
Fistula maturation requires a compliant and responsive vasculature capable of dilating in response to the increased velocity of blood flowing into the newly created low-resistance circuit. Successful ...maturation to a high volume flow circuit capable of sustaining hemodialysis typically occurs within the first few weeks after creation. Failure to achieve maturation within 4–8 weeks should prompt a search for reversible etiologies; however, an accepted definition of maturation, particularly for patients not yet on dialysis remains elusive. The most commonly identified etiology is neointimal hyperplasia typically occurring in the juxta-anastomotic vein. However, failed maturation has also been reported secondary to impaired arterial and venous dilation and accessory veins. The exact frequency of each of these etiologies is unclear. Understanding the etiologies of impaired fistula maturation will focus future studies of targeted interventions to improve the rate of fistula maturation and increase the number of dialysis patients with a functioning autogenous fistula.
Abstract The behavior of bone cells is influenced by the surface chemistry and topography of implants and scaffolds. Our purpose was to investigate how the topography of biomimetic hydroxyapatite ...(HA) coatings influences the attachment and differentiation of osteoblasts, and the resorptive activity of osteoclasts. Using strategies reported previously, we directly controlled the surface topography of HA coatings on polycaprolactone discs. Osteoblasts and osteoclasts were incubated on HA coatings having distinct isotropic topographies with submicrometer and micro-scale features. Osteoblast attachment and differentiation were greater on more complex, micro-rough HA surfaces (Ra ∼2 μm) than on smoother topographies (Ra ∼1 μm). In contrast, activity of the osteoclast marker tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase was greater on smoother than on micro-rough surfaces. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of resorption lacunae exclusively on smoother HA coatings. Inhibition of resorption on micro-rough surfaces was associated with disruption of filamentous actin sealing zones. In conclusion, HA coatings can be prepared with distinct topographies, which differentially regulate responses of osteoblasts, as well as osteoclastic activity and hence susceptibility to resorption. Thus, it may be possible to design HA coatings that induce optimal rates of bone formation and degradation specifically tailored for different applications in orthopedics and dentistry.
Nanoscale hydroxyapatite (HA) is an optimal candidate biomaterial for bone tissue engineering because of its bioactive and osteoconductive properties. In this study, micro- and nanoscale HA particles ...with rod- and wirelike morphology were synthesized by a novel sol–gel–hydrothermal process. Sol–gel chemistry was used to produce a dry gel containing amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP), which was used as a precursor material in a hydrothermal process. The sol–gel–hydrothermal products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine particle morphology, crystal structure, and the presence of chemical functional groups. A pure HA crystal was synthesized, which underwent both one- and three-dimensional growth, resulting in tunable microrod and nanorod, and wire morphologies. The effects of solution pH and reaction time on particle diameter and length were assessed. Particle diameter ranged from 25 to 800 nm and decreased with an increase in solution pH, whereas both particle length and diameter increased as the hydrothermal process was prolonged. Nanowire HA powders (10–50 wt %) were mixed with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) to produce PCL/HA composites. Fracture surfaces of PCL/HA composites showed a well-dispersed and homogeneous distribution of HA nanowires within the PCL matrix. Mechanical testing revealed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the Young’s and compressive moduli of PCL/HA composites compared to PCL alone, with 50 wt % HA producing a 3-fold increase in Young’s modulus from 193 to 665 MPa and 2-fold increase in compressive modulus from 230 to 487 MPa. These HA nanowires can be used to reinforce polymer composites and are excellent biomaterials for tissue engineering of bone.
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are powerful standardizable candles for constraining cosmological models and provided the first evidence of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Their precision ...derives from empirical correlations, now measured from >1000 SNe Ia, between their luminosities, light-curve shapes, colors, and most recently with the stellar mass of their host galaxy. As mass correlates with other galaxy properties, alternative parameters have been investigated to improve SN Ia standardization though none have been shown to significantly alter the determination of cosmological parameters. We re-examine a recent claim, based on 34 SN Ia in nearby passive host galaxies, of a 0.05 mag Gyr−1 dependence of standardized SN Ia luminosity on host age, which, if extrapolated to higher redshifts, would be a bias up to 0.25 mag, challenging the inference of dark energy. We reanalyze this sample of hosts using both the original method and a Bayesian hierarchical model and find after a fuller accounting of the uncertainties the significance of a dependence on age to be ≤2 and ∼1 after the removal of a single poorly sampled SN Ia. To test the claim that a trend seen in old stellar populations can be applied to younger ages, we extend our analysis to a larger sample that includes young hosts. We find the residual dependence of host age (after all standardization typically employed for cosmological measurements) to be consistent with zero for 254 SNe Ia from the Pantheon sample, ruling out the large but low significance trend seen in passive hosts.