Collective behaviors of suprachiasm nucleus neurons under different light–dark cycles

The principal circadian clock in the suprachiasm nucleus(SCN) regulates the circadian rhythm of physiological and behavioral activities of mammals. Except for the normal function of the circadian rhythm, the ensemble of SCN neurons may show two collective behaviors, i.e., a free running period in the absence of a light–dark cycle and an entrainment ability to an external T cycle. Experiments show that both the free running periods and the entrainment ranges may vary from one species to another and can be seriously influenced by the coupling among the SCN neurons. We here review the recent progress on how the heterogeneous couplings influence these two collective behaviors. We will show that in the case of homogeneous coupling, the free running period increases monotonically while the entrainment range decreases monotonically with the increase of the coupling strength. While in the case of heterogenous coupling, the dispersion of the coupling strength plays a crucial role. It has been found that the free running period decreases with the increase of the dispersion while the entrainment ability is enhanced by the dispersion. These findings provide new insights into the mechanism of the circadian clock in the SCN.     

Periodic Perturbation of Chemical Oscillators: Entrainment and Induced Synchronization

It is well known that a large number of catalyst‐carrying beads immersed in an oscillatory chemical medium (Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction) display collective oscillatory behavior. Using a light sensitive version of BZ, we show that this collective behavior can be entrained to an external light source with an oscillatory intensity. Thus, the emerging collective behavior can be controlled by an external perturbation.     

Self-synchronization of coupled oscillators with hysteretic responses

We analyze a large system of nonlinear phase oscillators with sinusoidal nonlinearity, uniformly distributed natural frequencies and global all-to-all coupling, which is an extension of Kuramoto's model to second-order systems. For small coupling, the system evolves to an incoherent state with the phases of all the oscillators distributed uniformly. As the coupling is increased, the system exhibits a discontinuous transition to the coherently synchronized state at a pinning threshold.of the coupling strength, or to a partially synchronized oscillation coherent state at a certain threshold below the pinning threshold. If the coupling is decreased from a strong coupling with all the oscillators synchronized coherently, this coherence can persist until the depinning threshold which is less than the pinning threshold, resulting in hysteretic synchrony depending on the initial configuration of the oscillators. We obtain analytically both the pinning and depinning threshold and also expalin the discontinuous transition at the thresholds for the underdamped case in the large system size limit. Numerical exploration shows the oscillatory partially coherent state bifurcates at the depinning threshold and also suggests that this state persists independent of the system size. The system studied here provides a simple model for collective behaviour in damped driven high-dimensional Hamiltonian systems which can explain the synchronous firing of certain fireflies or neural oscillators with frequency adaptation and may also be applicable to interconnected power systems.     

Particle removal from a surface by a bounded vortex flow

A bounded vortex flow consists of an axisymmetric vortex that is confined top and bottom between two plates (the “confinement plate” and “impingement plate”, respectively) and surrounded laterally by a swirling annular slot jet. The bottom of the vortex terminates on the boundary layer along the impingement plate and the top of the vortex is drawn into a suction port positioned at the center of the confinement plate. The circumferential flow within the annular jet is important for supplying circulation to the central wall-normal vortex. This flow field is proposed as a method for mitigation of dust build-up on a surface, where the vortex–jet combination supplements the more traditional vacuum port by enhancing the surface shear stress and related particle transport rate. The paper reports on a computational study of the velocity field and particle transport by a bounded vortex flow. Fluid flow computations are performed using a finite-volume approach for an incompressible fluid and particle transport is simulated using a discrete-element method. Computations are performed for different values of two dimensionless parameters – the ratio of the plate separation distance and the average radial location of the jet inlet (the dimensionless confinement height) and the ratio of flow rate withdrawn at the suction outlet and that injected by the jet (the flow rate ratio). For small values of the flow rate ratio, the impinging jet streamlines pass down to the boundary layer along the bottom surface and then travel up the vortex core. By contrast, for large values of flow rate ratio, the annular jet is quickly entrained into the suction outlet and no wall-normal vortex is formed. Particles are observed to roll along the impingement surface in a direction determined by the fluid shear stress lines. Particles roll outward when they lie beyond a separatrix curve of the surface shear stress lines, where particles within this separatrix curve roll inward, piling up at the center of the flow field. A toroidal vortex ring forms for the small confinement height case with flow rate ratio equal to unity, which yields double separatrix curves in the shear stress lines. The inward rolling particles intermittently lift up due to collision forces and burst away from the impingement surface, eventually to become entrained into the flow out the suction port or resettling back onto the impingement surface.     

Characterization of plunging liquid jets: A combined experimental and numerical investigation

This paper presents a combined experimental and numerical study of the flow characteristics of round vertical liquid jets plunging into a cylindrical liquid bath. The main objective of the experimental work consists in determining the plunging jet flow patterns, entrained air bubble sizes and the influence of the jet velocity and variations of jet falling lengths on the jet penetration depth. The instability of the jet influenced by the jet velocity and falling length is also probed. On the numerical side, two different approaches were used, namely the mixture model approach and interface-tracking approach using the level-set technique with the standard two-equation turbulence model. The numerical results are contrasted with the experimental data. Good agreements were found between experiments and the two modelling approaches on the jet penetration depth and entraining flow characteristics, with interface tracking rendering better predictions. However, visible differences are observed as to the jet instability, free surface deformation and subsequent air bubble entrainment, where interface tracking is seen to be more accurate. The CFD results support the notion that the jet with the higher flow rate thus more susceptible to surface instabilities, entrains more bubbles, reflecting in turn a smaller penetration depth as a result of momentum diffusion due to bubble concentration and generated fluctuations. The liquid average velocity field and air concentration under tank water surface were compared to existing semi-analytical correlations. Noticeable differences were revealed as to the maximum velocity at the jet centreline and associated bubble concentration. The mixture model predicts a higher velocity than the level-set and the theory at the early stage of jet penetration, due to a higher concentration of air that cannot rise to the surface and remain trapped around the jet head. The location of the maximum air content and the peak value of air holdup are also predicted differently.     

垂直上升气液环状流流动参数的数值计算

提出了一个新的气核-液膜耦合模型来求解垂直上升气液环状流在充分发展段的流动参数.本模型考虑了液膜、气核以及它们之间的相互影响和作用.模型中基本的气核区域和液膜区域的质量和动量方程由Fluent6.3.26进行求解,而液滴方程以及相界面上的夹带和沉积作用通过用户自定义接口函数UDF(User Defined Functi...     

湍流空气自由射流引射特性的比较研究

对商用CFD软件中的四种湍流模型给出的湍流空气自由射流引射特性计算结果进行了比较,并将采用四种湍流模型计算获得的射流引射量计算数据与文献报道的采用多孔壁技术获得的射流引射量实验数据进行了对比,结果表明：在四种湍流模型中,标准K—ε湍流模型给出的湍流空气自由射流引射规律与实验数据较好符合。本文还选用标准K—ε湍流模型对欠...     

Study of gas-sheared liquid film in horizontal rectangular duct using high-speed LIF technique: Three-dimensional wavy structure and its relation to liquid entrainment

The flow of a liquid film sheared by high velocity gas stream in a horizontal rectangular duct was investigated using a high-speed laser-induced fluorescence technique. Measurements of local film thickness were resolved in both longitudinal and transverse coordinates with high spatial and temporal resolution. It was found that the generation of fast and slow ripples by the disturbance waves was qualitatively the same as it was observed earlier in completely different conditions. The transverse size and curvature of the disturbance waves and ripples were measured. A relationship between the three-dimensional structure of ripples on top of disturbance waves and the two mechanisms of liquid entrainment, known as ‘bag break-up’ and ‘ligament break-up’, is proposed.     

The Influence of Air Entrainment on the Fluid Pressure Transients in a Pumping Installation

A four-equation, two-fluid model of two-component flow has been developed to study the effects of air entrainment on the pressure transients in a pumping installation. A semi-implicit hydrodynamic numerical scheme is applied. Free and dissolved gases in the fluid and cavitation at the gas saturation pressure are modeled. The mechanism and behaviors of the pressure transients are discussed. Numerical experiments show that the first pressure peak is mainly dominated by two factors: one is the delay in wave reflection from the reservoir; the other is the change of wave speed in the mixture, which directly cause changes in wave speed. The magnitude of the first pressure peak depends on the overlapping of the effects of these two factors. The air volume at the check valve is mainly controlled by the local pressure there and the initial air void fraction. Comparably, the air volume at peak level is dependent on the local pressure and air release with initial air entrainment less than 10^-2, but dependent on the local pressure, air release and initial air void fraction together with initial air entrainment greater than 10^-2.     

Ratio Between Sensitive Strength to Light Information and Coupling Strength Affects Entrainment Range of Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), an endogenous clock in the brain of the mammals, regulates the physiological and behavioral activities according to the natural 24 h light-darkness cycle. Animals can also entrain themselves to non 24 h light-darkness cycles. The range of the periods which the animal can entrain to is called entrainment range. Previous studies have found that the entrainment range depends on the coupling strength and the sensitive strength to the light for the SCN neurons. However, the effect of the interplay between these two strengths on the entrainment range has not been examined. In the present study, we examine the effect of the ratio of the sensitive strength to the coupling strength on the entrainment range. We find that there is a parabolic-like relationship between the entrainment range and the ratio, and the largest entrainment range is obtained with a suitable ratio. Interestingly, the value of this suitable ratio is related to the comparison in the intrinsic amplitudes between the light information sensitive neurons and the light information insensitive neurons. Our finding will shed light on the interplay between the sensitive strength to the light information and the coupling strength, and the understanding for the diversity of the entrainment range among various species.