Full Cone Research Articles

Assessment of subjective image quality, contrast to noise ratio and modulation transfer function in the middle ear using a novel full body cone beam computed tomography device

BackgroundMulti slice computed tomography (MSCT) is the most common used method in middle ear imaging. However, MSCT lacks the ability to distinguish the ossicular chain microstructures in detail resulting in poorer diagnostic outcomes. Novel cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) devices’ image resolution is, on the other hand, better than MSCT resolution. The aim of this study was to optimize imaging parameters of a novel full body CBCT device to obtain optimal contrast to noise ratio (CNR) with low effective dose, and to optimize its clinical usability.MethodsImaging of five anonymous excised human cadaver temporal bones, the acquisition of the effective doses and the CNR measurements were performed for images acquired on using Planmed XFI® full body CBCT device (Planmed Oy, Helsinki, Finland) with a voxel size of 75 µm. All images acquired from the specimens using 10 different imaging protocols varying from their tube current exposure time product (mAs) and tube voltage (kVp) were analyzed for eight anatomical landmarks and evaluated by three evaluators.ResultsWith the exception of protocol with 90 kVp 100 mAs, all other protocols used are competent to image the finest structures. With a moderate effective dose (86.5 µSv), protocol with 90 kV 450 mAs was chosen the best protocol used in this study. A significant correlation between CNR and clinical image quality of the protocols was observed in linear regression model. Using the optimized imaging parameters, we were able to distinguish even the most delicate middle ear structures in 2D images and produce accurate 3D reconstructions.ConclusionsIn this ex vivo experiment, the new Planmed XFI® full body CBCT device produced excellent 2D resolution and easily created 3D reconstructions in middle ear imaging with moderate effective doses. This device would be suitable for middle ear diagnostics and for e.g., preoperative planning. Furthermore, the results of this study can be used to optimize the effective dose by selecting appropriate exposure parameters depending on the diagnostic task.

Ultrafast electron dynamics in a topological surface state observed in two-dimensional momentum space

We study ultrafast population dynamics in the topological surface state of Sb_2Te_3 in two-dimensional momentum space with time- and angle-resolved two-photon photoemission spectroscopy. Linearly polarized mid-infrared pump pulses are used to permit a direct optical excitation across the Dirac point. We show that this resonant excitation is strongly enhanced within the Dirac cone along three of the six {bar{Gamma }}–{bar{M}} directions and results in a macroscopic photocurrent when the plane of incidence is aligned along a {bar{Gamma }}–{bar{K}} direction. Our experimental approach makes it possible to disentangle the decay of transiently excited population and photocurent by elastic and inelastic electron scattering within the full Dirac cone in unprecedented detail. This is utilized to show that doping of Sb_2Te_3 by vanadium atoms strongly enhances inelastic electron scattering to lower energies, but only scarcely affects elastic scattering around the Dirac cone.

Повышение энергоэффективности аппарата воздушного охлаждения при утилизации попутного нефтяного газа на нефтяных месторождениях

Associated petroleum gas (APG) is one of the most important raw materials for industrial petrochemistry. APG burning is accompanied by the release of large volumes of harmful substances into the atmosphere, which leads to the environmental degradation, destruction of non-renewable natural resources, and contributes to the development of negative planetary processes that have an extremely negative impact on the global climate. One of the priority tasks in solving the problem of APG utilization is its cooling, which leads to decreasing gas viscosity, reducing wear of equipment, less hydraulic losses, and the greater operation speed and productivity of the pipeline. Air coolers of gas (ACG) are heat exchangers, whose purpose is condensation of liquid and gaseous media, as well as gas cooling. The advantages of using ACG are saving the cooling water and reducing the waste water, as well as decreasing the labor costs for cleaning ACG. There have been considered the types of ACG and their features. In order to optimize and improve the energy efficiency of the associated gas air cooler, a unit was proposed for cleaning the finned surface of the air cooler heat exchange tubes by using hydraulic nozzles with a full spray cone and by spraying the ACG to increase efficiency. The proposed method will make it possible to safely transfer the gas through main pipelines, maintain the correct pressure inside the reservoir during underground injection, and also lead to the least equipment wear.

Pitch Angle Isotropy of Relativistic Electron Microbursts as Observed by SAMPEX/HILT: Statistical and Storm‐Time Properties

AbstractObservations of relativistic electron precipitation events from Earth's inner magnetosphere to the upper atmosphere provide essential information about the source/loss processes and dynamics of Earth's radiation belts. Equatorial electron pitch angle isotropy can be an indicator of electron precipitation into the atmosphere, with isotropic populations resulting in a full bounce loss cone (BLC) and anisotropic populations resulting in an emptier BLC. Here we study electron microbursts, which are ˜100 millisecond duration streams of relativistic electrons thought to be scattered into the BLC by particle‐wave scattering. By measuring the ratios of >1 MeV electron flux across different detector rows in the Heavy Ion Large Telescope (HILT) instrument onboard the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) satellite, we quantify the pitch angle isotropy of an electron population. Applying this calculation to microburst events, we have determined the dependence of microburst pitch angle distributions on burst magnitude, magnetic local time (MLT), L‐Shell, and storm phase. We found that high flux magnitude microbursts are typically highly isotropic, while lower flux magnitude microbursts have varying degrees of anisotropy. Furthermore, microbursts are most isotropic as compared to the background population in the afternoon/evening sector as well as initial and main phases of geomagnetic storms. These results have important implications for microburst scattering mechanisms as well as quantification of precipitation driven by this process.

Assessment of the depressurisation and mixing effects of two spray systems in the PANDA facility, part II – Simulations using GOTHIC8.3(QA)

The spray safety system is one of the most effective solutions to limit the pressure and temperature rise in the containment of a nuclear power plant during a design basis accident. However, its actuation under severe accident conditions may have either a positive effect on the hydrogen risk by mixing the containment atmosphere and avoiding high H2 local concentrations or a negative impact by condensing the steam and de-inerting the atmosphere. The experiments performed during the OECD/NEA HYMERES-2 Project aimed to extend the experimental database dedicated to assessing the capabilities of the codes used to optimise the operation of the safety systems. Specifically, the H2P5 series consisted of two experiments that compared the activation of a central full cone spraying nozzle (H2P5_2) with nine smaller spraying nozzles, eight equally distributed at 0.5 m from the metallic walls of PANDA (H2P5_1). The ninth nozzle was positioned in the vessel vertical axis for the latter configuration. These experiments created a demanding scenario for the computational codes, which need to consider three different fields: three components of the gas phase (air, helium, and steam), the dispersed liquid (droplets), and the continuous liquid accumulated on the walls and at the bottom of the PANDA vessel during the test. Furthermore, the proximity of the nozzles to the walls in H2P5_1 requires considering the strong interaction of the fluid with these metallic structures.In this work, the GOTHIC 3D models were able to qualitatively represent all the relevant phase change phenomena affecting the cooling effect of the spray and provided a reasonable qualitative representation of the depressurization behaviour observed during the experiments. However, the code overestimated the steam condensation on droplets. To achieve quantitative agreement between the experiments and computer models it was necessary to enhance the spatial distribution of the droplets (to compensate for anomalies due to a conical injection in a relatively coarse cartesian mesh) and to diminish the steam condensation on the droplets by decreasing the spray mass flow rate. Regarding the helium mixing, the simulations revealed a potential explanation for the faster mixing observed in the single nozzle (H2P5_2) experiment. Furthermore, the droplet diameter showed to be the parameter inducing the most significant variations in the mixing.

Experimental study on the cleaning effect of discontinuous sprays

Reproducible cleaning of open geometries and vessels in the food industry is usually ensured by Cleaning-in-Place systems, which spray the cleaning fluid onto the surfaces to be cleaned. The discontinuous operation of nozzles is one possibility to improve the efficiency of these operations. Therefore, the influence of various parameters on the cleaning process is investigated in an experimental study for the simplified configuration of a vertical water spray impinging downwards on a horizontal stainless steel surface at a distance of 150 mm. The industrial full cone and flat fan nozzles used in this research delivered volumetric flow rates of 5.5 and 8.0 l/min, respectively, at an operating pressure of 6 bar. Discontinuous flows were generated by switching a pivoted-armature valve upstream of the nozzle with frequencies of 5 and 10 Hz. Vanilla pudding and rice pudding were chosen as model food soils to study the cleaning properties of a homogeneous soil layer and a soil layer with protruding particles, respectively. The use of discontinuous sprays increased the cleaning rate because of altered fluid distribution in the spray and, in case of the inhomogeneous soil layer, due to repetitive load maxima.

Influence of Micro- and Macrostructure of Atomised Water Jets on Ammonia Absorption Efficiency

Ammonia has a very wide range of applications. Its worldwide production exceeds 230 million tonnes per year. Due to its properties, ammonia causes a serious threat to human life and health when released uncontrolled into the environment. Research carried out in the word shows that this substance may be effectively neutralised by absorption in water. The aim of research described in this paper is to determine the influence of key parameters of the micro- and macrostructure of water streams on the course of the ammonia absorption process. During the studies, different types of water nozzles were used, with similar efficiency and supply pressure, but characterised by different parameters of the micro- and macrostructure of the produced stream. The experiments were divided into two stages. In the first one, the macro- and microparameters of the streams were measured, while in the second one, the changes in ammonia concentration were established during delivering spray jet generation by different nozzles. Among the basic parameters of the macrostructure, the spray angle and liquid distribution in the jet (spray intensity) were determined, while for the microstructure, the droplet size distribution and mean droplet diameters were measured. Ammonia concentration was measured by means of a photoionisation detector (PID). In order to evaluate the absorption efficiency of different water spray jets, the apparent absorption rate (kp) and the half-time of concentration reduction (t½) in the kinetic range were established. The study has confirmed that atomised water jets are an effective method for neutralising ammonia released into the environment. The research has a practical aspect and shows that the structure of atomised water streams influence the course of the absorption process. Increasing the spray angle in a conical stream leads to an improvement in the quality of water atomisation and helps increase ammonia absorption. Moreover, it was also observed that for the absorption of spatial ammonia clouds, use should be made of nozzles generating streams with full spray cones and high uniformity of spray and dispersion.

Experimental study on effect of enhanced surfaces and inclined mode on spray cooling heat transfer performance using HFE-649 coolant

ABSTRACT Experiments have been performed to study the effect of enhanced surfaces including micro-finned, micro-/nano-coated (coating thickness of 100 µm and 200 µm) and hybrid surface on heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux using spray cooling. Commercial HFE-649 coolant obtained from 3 M Corporation has been used to spray over copper heater of 10 mm2 cross-sectional area using a full cone pressure swirl nozzle with 0.51-mm orifice diameter. The pressure swirl nozzle squeezed the incoming fluid and dispersed into spray droplets in the volumetric flux range between 1.0 and 4.5 cm3/cm2s. Results have been obtained for various surfaces at optimum distance of nozzle-to-surface and comparison is done with the plain surface. Findings revealed that heat transfer performance improved considerably with hybrid surface, which showed at least 360% enhancement in heat transfer coefficient and 72.9% in critical heat flux in contrast to the plain surface. An improvement of 7.1% in critical heat flux is observed for hybrid surface in comparison with other enhanced surfaces. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to examine the effect of inclination angle (0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°) on heat transfer performance. The heat transfer coefficient, critical heat flux, and cooling efficiency all improved dramatically at 15°C inclination angle. In comparison with horizontal spray, an improvement of 18.9% and 20.1% in heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux, respectively, have been observed. However, heat transfer performance degraded with the further increase of inclination angle. Other experimental parameters remain constant, such as the volumetric flux, spray height, and spray pressure.

Performance characteristics of the direct spray oil cooling system for a driving motor of an electric vehicle

In the present work, the performance characteristics of direct spray oil cooling system with spiral, and two full cone nozzles and three cooling oils of mineral oil, dielectric oil and transmission oil are experimentally investigated. The temperature, temperature uniformity, injection pressure, spray resistance, heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number and spray power consumption are evaluated as the performance characteristics of direct spray oil cooling system. The influences of heating capacities of 1.3 kW and 2.6 kW, nozzle to heating surface distances of 3 cm, 5 cm and 8 cm and cooling oil flow rates of 2 LPM, 3 LPM and 4 LPM are studied on the performance characteristics of direct spray oil cooling system. The lowest maximum surface temperature is obtained for spiral nozzle with 5 cm distance and both full cone nozzles with 8 cm distance. The maximum temperature is maintained within 140 °C at low heating capacity of 1.3 kW and different combinations of nozzles and cooling oils are tested considering flow rate range of 2 LPM to 4 LPM to maintain the maximum temperature within cut-off limit of 200 °C at high heating capacity of 2.6 kW. The maximum performance characteristics are obtained at 4 LPM flow rate followed by 3 LPM and 2 LPM flow rates, respectively in decreasing order. The dielectric oil shows superior performance characteristics compared to mineral oil and transmission oil for all nozzles. Furthermore, in each case of cooling oil, the performance characteristics are excellent for full cone-1 nozzle compared to spiral and full cone-2 nozzles. The combination of dielectric oil and full cone-1 nozzle shows superior performance characteristics of direct spray oil cooling system with heat transfer coefficient of 67420.20 W/m2-K, Nusselt number of 2385.64, spray resistance of 0.0132 K/W and spray power consumption of 29.73 W. The data base generated for a direct spray oil cooling system will be implemented for cooling of an electric vehicle driving motor.

On the exactness of sum-of-squares approximations for the cone of 5 × 5 copositive matrices

We investigate the hierarchy of conic inner approximations Kn(r) (r∈N) for the copositive cone COPn, introduced by Parrilo (2000) [22]. It is known that COP4=K4(0) and that, while the union of the cones Kn(r) covers the interior of COPn, it does not cover the full cone COPn if n≥6. Here we investigate the remaining case n=5, where all extreme rays have been fully characterized by Hildebrand (2012) [12]. We show that the Horn matrix H and its positive diagonal scalings play an exceptional role among the extreme rays of COP5. We show that equality COP5=⋃r≥0K5(r) holds if and only if every positive diagonal scaling of H belongs to K5(r) for some r∈N. As a main ingredient for the proof, we introduce new Lasserre-type conic inner approximations for COPn, based on sums of squares of polynomials. We show their links to the cones Kn(r), and we use an optimization approach that permits to exploit finite convergence results on Lasserre hierarchy to show membership in the new cones.

Parametric study highlighting cooler and spray activation on the transient mixing of a three-gas composition in the PANDA facility

In postulated accident scenarios with the release of steam and hydrogen in the containment, for some nuclear power plant designs it is foreseen that sprays and coolers are activated to condense steam and mitigate the containment pressure build-up. The operation of the sprays and the coolers induce flow with the effect of mixing a stratified atmosphere which reduces local hydrogen concentration. However, steam condensation could lead to the formation of combustible air-hydrogen mixtures. Therefore, for the management of a severe accident, it is crucial to know the overall effect of spray and cooler activation on the containment pressure history and gas-mixture concentration evolution. In this article, the results of a series of five experiments, identified as HP4 (HYMERES PANDA series 4) series, are presented. The HP4 series was part of the OECD/NEA HYMERES project, and the main objective was to investigate the combined effect of a cooler and a spray in the containment atmosphere. The HP4 series was performed in the large-scale thermal-hydraulic facility PANDA facility (PSI, Switzerland). In the HP4 test matrix, the cooler design (with cooling tube partially or fully enclosed in a cooler case) and the spray design (full cone or hollow cone nozzle) were varied. Moreover, the spray water temperature was an additional parameter. The HP4 series revealed that the containment pressure history and the gas mixture composition during the postulated scenarios are strongly affected by spray and cooler safety systems whereas the details of the spray and cooler design are of minor importance.The containment pressure during the experiments increased from atmospheric up to 2.5 bar and maximum power removed by the cooler was about 100 KW. The spray activation induced steam condensation and the highest de-pressurization induced by the combined spray and cooler operation was about 0.7 bar, i.e. from 2.5 bar to 1.8 bar.

Study on water spraying distribution to improve the energy recovery performance of indirect evaporative coolers with nozzle arrangement optimization

In response to the worldwide call for energy conservation and carbon emission reduction, indirect evaporative cooling as a green and environmentally friendly technology has been extensively researched and developed. In the practical application of this technology, the spray nozzle arrangement results in different wettability factors of the wet channel surface, which accordingly has a significant impact on its cooling efficiency. Existing research has discussed indirect evaporative coolers (IECs) in various external shapes, internal configurations, and materials. However, the IEC performance improvement was rarely analyzed from the perspective of the spray nozzle arrangement. This paper developed and validated a numerical model to predict the spray water density distribution of the solid cone nozzles on the impact surface with uniformly divided square grids. The actual water spray density obtained from this model could then be used to correct the wetting factor in the existing IEC numerical model. The control variable method was applied to compare the effect of inclined angle and distance between the nozzles. According to the uniformity coefficient as well as coverage ratio of the water spray, the optimal arrangement scheme, i.e. the nozzles mounted along the centerline with the distance of 160 mm, was determined. Results showed that a uniform coefficient of 0.74 can be obtained in the optimal distribution of the full cone nozzle. Greater air cooling and dehumidification were achieved by the optimized nozzle arrangement scheme compared with the original single-line arrangement scheme of the nozzles. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the IEC system could be increased by 16% under the same operating conditions when the optimized spray nozzle arrangement was adopted, which indicated the benefit and importance of the IEC spray nozzle arrangement optimization.

Analysis and Optimization of an Aftermarket Intercooler Spray‟s Nozzle

Abstract— Nowadays an intercooler is commonly integrated in vehicles to cool the air during induction. However, the intercooler does not perform effectively in countries where the climate is humid and hot as the air temperature is relatively higher. Therefore, this study is focused at developing an aftermarket intercooler spray to combat this predicament. The goal of the study was to improve the performance of a cooling-spray-integrated topmount intercooler via the analysis of nozzle diameter and spraying angles. Experiments were conducted on five nozzle types and three spraying angles: 00 , 150 and 300 . It was observed that the efficiency of the intercooler with the spray cooling unit was improved from 89.7% to 95.33%. A B1/8BX3 Hollow Cone Nozzle gave the highest efficiency, followed by B1/8QPPA+QPHA-5 Standard Full Cone Nozzle, HB1/8VV8007 Flat Fan Nozzle, HB1/8VV-6507 Flat Fan Nozzle and B1/8GG-4.3W Standard Full Cone Nozzle. The highest efficiency was observed at nozzle spray angle of 150 . Nozzle diameter and spraying angle were found critical in ensuring an enhanced overall performance of the intercooler. Keywords —Intercooler; Nozzle; Spray angle; Optimization

CFD modeling and laboratory studies of dust cleaning efficacy of an efficient four stage non-clogging impingement filter for flooded-bed dust scrubbers

Fibrous-type filters are used to capture dust particles in mining and other occupations where personnel are exposed for prolonged periods. Dust cleansing devices including flooded-bed dust scrubbers use these mesh-type multi-layered filters. These filters trap dust particles efficiently on their surface and inside their mesh. However, their continued operation leads to dust build-up and clogging. This results in increased resistance of the filter and lowered airflow rate through the scrubber. This could potentially enhance the exposure of the miners. A non-clogging self-cleaning impingement screen type dust filter was designed by the authors for use in mining and industrial dust cleansing applications. The filter guides dirt-laden air through rapidly turning paths which forces it to shed heavier particles. The particles impact one of the impermeable solid metallic filter surfaces and are removed from the airstream. A full cone water spray installed upstream prevents any surface build-up of dust. This paper summaried the computer models generated to show the filter operations and laboratory experiments including optical particle counting to establish the cleaning efficiency.

Optimisation of drainage performance of the thin-walled core barrel sealing technology for pressure preservation sampling

Pressure preservation sampling technology is a crucial method to assess natural gas hydrates. There are limitations to directly applying conventional pressure preservation technology for seafloor drills, such as large and complex structures. The working and design principle of the thin-walled core barrel sealing technique is introduced. To solve the problem of low core recovery percent during sediment drilling, the flow field characteristics of the valve spool in different working conditions are discussed. The area of the cross-section and the calculation method under the typical position are obtained. The valve spool structural parameters are determined and verified by a laboratory drilling test. The results show that: the larger the cone angle of the spool or the smaller the percentage of valve spool cone height to valve spool full cone height (the following is called P), the smaller the opening value when the cross-section area reaches a stable level. When the cone angle is 30, and the P is 20%, the cross-sectional area reaches stable after the opening is 4.5 mm. When the opening exceeds 3.0 mm, the flow rate changes little. When drilling in the sediment, the average coring recovery percent exceeds 70%.

A Sharp Version of Price\u2019s Law for Wave Decay on Asymptotically Flat Spacetimes

We prove Price’s law with an explicit leading order term for solutions phi (t,x) of the scalar wave equation on a class of stationary asymptotically flat (3+1)-dimensional spacetimes including subextremal Kerr black holes. Our precise asymptotics in the full forward causal cone imply in particular that phi (t,x)=c t^{-3}+{mathcal {O}}(t^{-4+}) for bounded |x|, where cin {mathbb {C}} is an explicit constant. This decay also holds along the event horizon on Kerr spacetimes and thus renders a result by Luk–Sbierski on the linear scalar instability of the Cauchy horizon unconditional. We moreover prove inverse quadratic decay of the radiation field, with explicit leading order term. We establish analogous results for scattering by stationary potentials with inverse cubic spatial decay. On the Schwarzschild spacetime, we prove pointwise t^{-2 l-3} decay for waves with angular frequency at least l, and t^{-2 l-4} decay for waves which are in addition initially static. This definitively settles Price’s law for linear scalar waves in full generality. The heart of the proof is the analysis of the resolvent at low energies. Rather than constructing its Schwartz kernel explicitly, we proceed more directly using the geometric microlocal approach to the limiting absorption principle pioneered by Melrose and recently extended to the zero energy limit by Vasy.

30-year cone production dynamics in Siberian stone pine (Pinus sibirica) in the southern boreal zone: a causal interpretation

Background and aims – Siberian stone pine is a keystone species for Siberia, and numerous studies have analyzed Siberian stone pine seeding dynamics in connection with the dynamics of weather conditions. However, all studies were based on observations before 1990. The aim of the study was to expand our knowledge about the balance of weather and climatic factors in the regulation of cone production to enable conclusions about the current reproductive function in Siberian stone pine.Material and methods – We monitored Siberian stone pine cone production in the southeastern region of the Western Siberian Plain, in association with climatic factors, over a period of 30 years. To analyze the relationship with weather conditions, we used the trait mature cone number per tree and weather data obtained from the weather station in Tomsk.Key results – During this period, cone production decreased by about one-third, mainly caused by the complete absence of high yields. The main factor negatively affecting cone production was late spring frost: severe frost occurring with a large accumulated sum of effective temperatures resulted in full cone loss, and light frost substantially reduced cone number. A less important but significant climatic factor was September temperature: as the temperature increased, the cone number decreased in the following year. Over the last 30 years, the sum of the effective temperatures at which the last spring frost occurs, as well as the average September temperature, increased considerably, resulting in reduced cone production.Conclusion – If the current climatic trend is maintained, and especially if it is strengthened, Siberian stone pine cone production in the southern boreal forest zone on the Western Siberian Plane is unlikely to provide for the effective renewal of the species.

Design of a Nasal Spray Based on Cardiospermum halicacabum Extract Loaded in Phospholipid Vesicles Enriched with Gelatin or Chondroitin Sulfate.

The extract of Cardiospermum halicacabum L. (C. halicacabum) obtained from flower, leaf and vine was loaded into modified phospholipid vesicles aiming at obtaining sprayable, biocompatible and effective nasal spray formulations for the treatment of nasopharyngeal diseases. Penetration enhancer-containing vesicles (PEVs) and hyalurosomes were formulated, and stabilized by adding a commercial gelatin from fish (20 mg/mL) or chondroitin sulfate from catshark cartilages (Scyliorhinus canicula, 20 mg/mL). Cryo-TEM images confirmed the formation of spherical vesicles, while photon correlation spectroscopy analysis disclosed the formation of small and negatively-charged vesicles. PEVs were the smaller vesicles (~100 nm) along with gelatin-hyalurosomes (~120 nm), while chondroitin-PEVs and chondroitin-hyalurosomes were larger (~160 nm). Dispersions prepared with chondroitin sulfate were more homogeneous, as the polydispersity index was ~0.15. The in vitro analysis of the droplet size distribution, average velocity module and spray cone angle suggested a good spray-ability and deposition of formulations in the nasal cavity, as the mean diameter of the droplets was in the range recommended by the Food and Drug Administration for nasal targets. The spray plume analysis confirmed the ability of PEVs, gelatin-PEVs, hyalurosomes and gelatin-hyalurosomes to be atomized in fine droplets homogenously distributed in a full cone plume, with an angle ranging from 25 to 30°. Moreover, vesicles were highly biocompatible and capable of protecting the epithelial cells against oxidative damage, thus preventing the inflammatory state.

Role of the crown in tree resistance against high winds.

Rather than using wooden sticks to simulate the breakage of trees in high winds as in most research, we employ fresh samples from camphor and Formosa gum with branches and leaves to certify the crucial role of the tree crown. By using a blowdown wind tunnel with a maximum wind speed of 50 m/s, we purposely reduce the number of leaves and show that the drag force will drop by as much as two thirds when half pruned. Based on real observations, we model the leaf by an open and full cone in the presence of light and strong winds, and calculate how their corresponding cross-sectional area A and drag force F vary with wind speed v. Different slopes before and after the formation of a full cone are predicted and confirmed when these two quantities are plotted in full-log scale. Compared to the empirical value, our simple model gave α=2/5 and 2/3 for A∝v^{-α} and β=4/5 and 2/3 for F∝v^{β} at low and high winds. Discrepancies can be accounted for by including further details, such as the reorientation of open cones and the movement of branches.

Designing high-power, octave spanning entangled photon sources for quantum spectroscopy.

Entangled photon spectroscopy is a nascent field that has important implications for measurement and imaging across chemical, biology, and materials fields. Entangled photon spectroscopy potentially offers improved spatial and temporal-frequency resolutions, increased cross sections for multiphoton and nonlinear measurements, and new abilities in inducing or measuring quantum correlations. A critical step in enabling entangled photon spectroscopies is the creation of high-flux entangled sources that can use conventional detectors as well as provide redundancy for the losses in realistic samples. Here, we report a periodically poled, chirped, lithium tantalate platform that generates entangled photon pairs with ∼10-7 efficiency. For a near watt level diode laser, this results in a near μW-level flux. The single photon per mode limit that is necessary to maintain non-classical photon behavior is still satisfied by distributing this power over up to an octave-spanning bandwidth. The spectral-temporal photon correlations are observed via a Michelson-type interferometer that measures the broadband Hong-Ou-Mandel two-photon interference. A coherence time of 245fs for a 10nm bandwidth in the collinear case and a coherence time of 62fs for a 125nm bandwidth in the non-collinear case are measured using a CW pump laser and, essentially, collecting the full photon cone. We outline in detail the numerical methods used for designing and tailoring the entangled photons source, such as changing center wavelength or bandwidth, with the ultimate aim of increasing the availability of high-flux UV-Vis entangled photon sources in the optical spectroscopy community.