Increasing Surface Height Research Articles

Effect of surface topology on the galloping instability of rectangular cylinders

The effect of geometry on the transverse galloping instability of rectangular cylinders was studied experimentally for Reynolds numbers between 1,000 and 10,000. In particular, a comparison was made between a rectangular cylinder with rounded corners and a smooth surface, and the same baseline geometry with added surface topology synthesized from two-dimensional Fourier-modes. The effects of the topology amplitude and wavelength were investigated. From measurements of the normal (galloping direction) force coefficient variation with angle-of-attack, it was found that the added surface topology generally had a destabilizing effect relative to the smooth cylinder. At the lowest Reynolds number, the smooth cylinder was stable, while the cylinders with added topology were unstable with respect to galloping. For Reynolds numbers from 5,000 to 10,000, the added topology did not cause a similar instability. However, there was a monotonic increase in the slope of the normal force coefficient at zero angle-of-attack with increasing surface height amplitude, thus moving the geometry closer to the instability threshold. This effect diminished as Reynolds number increased. Overall, for the range of parameters investigated herein, whenever the cylinders with topology were unstable to soft or hard galloping, the larger topology exhibited more favorable galloping resistance characteristics than the one with smaller topology. Topology wavelength was found to have no effect on the galloping behavior of the cylinder for Reynolds numbers below 7500, and a moderate increase in the normal force slope at zero angle of attack with decreasing wavelength for larger Reynolds numbers. The latter effect was associated with an increase in the angle of attack at which the cylinder could become unstable to hard galloping.

Antarctic clouds, supercooled liquid water and mixed phase, investigated with DARDAR: geographical and seasonal variations

Abstract. Antarctic tropospheric clouds are investigated using the DARDAR (raDAR/liDAR)-MASK products between 60 and 82∘ S. The cloud fraction (occurrence frequency) is divided into the supercooled liquid-water-containing cloud (SLC) fraction and its complementary part called the all-ice cloud fraction. A further distinction is made between SLC involving ice (mixed-phase clouds, MPC) or not (USLC, for unglaciated SLC). The low-level (<3 km above surface level) SLC fraction is larger over seas (20 %–60 %), where it varies according to sea ice fraction, than over continental regions (0 %–35 %). The total SLC fraction is much larger over West Antarctica (10 %–40 %) than it is over the Antarctic Plateau (0 %–10 %). In East Antarctica the total SLC fraction – in summer for instance – decreases sharply polewards with increasing surface height (decreasing temperatures) from 40 % at the coast to <5% at 82∘ S on the plateau. The geographical distribution of the continental total all-ice fraction is shaped by the interaction of the main low-pressure systems surrounding the continent and the orography, with little association with the sea ice fraction. Opportunistic comparisons with published ground-based supercooled liquid-water observations at the South Pole in 2009 are made with our SLC fractions at 82∘ S in terms of seasonal variability, showing good agreement. We demonstrate that the largest impact of sea ice on the low-level SLC fraction (and mostly through the MPC) occurs in autumn and winter (22 % and 18 % absolute decrease in the fraction between open water and sea ice-covered regions, respectively), while it is almost null in summer and intermediate in spring (11 %). Monthly variability of the MPC fraction over seas shows a maximum at the end of summer and a minimum in winter. Conversely, the USLC fraction has a maximum at the beginning of summer. However, monthly evolutions of MPC and USLC fractions do not differ on the continent. This suggests a seasonality in the glaciation process in marine liquid-bearing clouds. From the literature, we identify the pattern of the monthly evolution of the MPC fraction as being similar to that of the aerosols in coastal regions, which is related to marine biological activity. Marine bioaerosols are known to be efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs). The emission of these INPs into the atmosphere from open waters would add to the temperature and sea ice fraction seasonalities as factors explaining the MPC fraction monthly evolution.

Chinese herb medicine matrine induce apoptosis in human esophageal squamous cancer KYSE-150 cells through increasing reactive oxygen species and inhibiting mitochondrial function

Matrine, as a natural alkaloid isolated from the traditional herb medicine sophora flavescens, has been proved to possess excellent biological activities, including anticancer effects. Now, this research aims to assess the anticancer activities and the mechanism of matrine against esophageal cancer cells, we investigated the proliferative inhibition, apoptosis induction, as well as the underlying mechanism of matrine on esophageal cancer KYSE-150 cells. It was found that matrine could suppress KYSE-150 cell proliferation and significantly mediate cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent relation by increasing intracellular reactive oxygen species level and triggering mitochondrial membrane potential disruption. More precise mechanism studies demonstrated that matrine could up-regulate the expression of Bax proteins and down-regulate the expression of Bcl-2 proteins, as well as the activation about caspase-3, 8 and 9 in KYSE-150 cells. The morphological analysis of KYSE-150 cells exhibited that matrine could destroy the F-actin and nuclei structures and induce morphological damage with increased surface height distribution and roughness of cell membrane. These results not only demonstrated the potential anticancer activity mechanism of matrine at nanoscale, but also provide preliminary guidance for the treatment of esophageal cancer using matrine.

Increased gain of vestibulospinal potentials evoked in neck and leg muscles when standing under height-induced postural threat

ObjectiveTo measure changes in amplitudes of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) elicited from neck, upper and lower limb muscles during a quiet standing task with increased postural threat achieved by manipulating surface height. Methods: Twenty eight subjects were tested while standing on a platform raised to 0.8m and 3.2m from the ground. Surface electromyography was recorded from the ipsilateral sternocleidomastoid (SCM), biceps brachii (BB), flexor carpi radialis (FCR), soleus (SOL) and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles. Stimulation was with air-conducted short tone bursts (4ms). After controlling for background muscle activity, VEMP amplitudes were compared between heights and correlated with changes in state anxiety, fear and arousal. Results: VEMP amplitude significantly increased in SCM (9%) and SOL (12.7%) with increased surface height (p<0.05). These modest increases in SCM VEMP amplitude were significantly correlated with anxiety (Rho=0.57, p=0.004) and confidence (Rho=−0.38, p=0.047) and those for SOL were significantly correlated with anxiety (Rho=0.33, p=0.049) and fear (Rho=0.36, p=0.037). Conclusion: Postural threat significantly increased vestibulospinal reflex (VSR) gains. Results demonstrate that VEMPs can be used to test different VSR pathways simultaneously during stance. Since fear and anxiety are prevalent with vestibular disorders, they should be considered as potential contributing factors for clinical vestibular outcome measures.

Microtexture development during equibiaxial tensile deformation in monolithic and dual phase steels

Subgrain texture and microstructure evolution in individual ferrite grains in single (so called interstitial-free) and dual phase (DP) steel sheets with various martensitic fractions during stepwise equibiaxial deformation was observed by high resolution electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurement on a special deformation stage positioned inside a scanning electron microscope chamber. The micromechanical effect of hard martensite islands on adjacent ferrite grains in DP steels was analyzed by comparing the microstructural changes in the two steels. The strain partitioning between ferrite and martensite in DP steel, the development of orientation gradients in ferrite grains near martensite islands, and the surface height variation were observed via a combination of high resolution transmission electron microscopy, EBSD, and atomic force microscopy. From these microstructural and geometrical observations the main effect of the hard martensite islands was to shed strain into the adjacent ferrite, thus inducing strain gradients, orientation spread, geometrically necessary dislocations and increased surface height variation.

Smoothness of Titan's Ontario Lacus: Constraints from Cassini RADAR specular reflection data

Cassini RADAR altimetry data collected on the 49th flyby of Titan (2008 December 21) over Ontario Lacus in Titan's south polar region provides strong evidence for an extremely smooth surface, with less than 3 mm rms surface height variation over the 100m‐wide Fresnel zone. Histograms of the raw radar echoes imply a mirror‐like specular reflection of the transmitted signal. Such an echo is possible only if the surface is extremely flat relative to our 2.2‐cm wavelength. The 3 mm upper bound follows from analyzing the strength of the specular return, which declines exponentially with increasing surface height variance. In this experiment, the strength of the echo was larger than expected, severely saturating the receiver. We developed a method to partially correct the echoes for the distortion incurred. While the implied mm‐scale smoothness is not proof that the surface is liquid, it is unlikely that a solid surface is so smooth.