Stochastic resonance in circadian rhythms

The effect of fluctuations in the two-variable discrete delay model proposed earlier by us [1] for the circadian rhythm of the fungal species Neurospora Crassa is studied. We have investigated the effect of parametric and additive noise in two different regimes namely, steady-state and Period-1 regimes. It is found that under the influence of noise coherent oscillations are generated in the steady-state. Oscillations are preserved and robust to a wide range of noise intensity in the Period-1 regime. The oscillations in both these regimes are always found to be close to the circadian period (21.5 h). Coherence resonance is observed when parametric or velocity additive noise is added near the Hopf bifurcation. Finally, the implications of fluctuations in circadian rhythms are discussed. This article is dedicated to Professor Karl Jug on the occassion of his sixtyfifth birthday.     

Hybrid passive/active absorbers for flow ducts

A new type of acoustic liner developed for broadband noise reduction in flow ducts is considered in this paper. It combines passive absorbent properties of a porous layer and active control at its rear face. The complete design procedure of this hybrid passive/active liner is developed here. The passive part is first considered with the determination of a suitable porous material and the cut-off frequency separating the active low frequency regime from the passive high frequency one. The control system is then presented: a digital adaptive feedback control is performed independently cell by cell, allowing an easy subsequent increase of the liner surface. The entire optimization process has been successfully applied to a laboratory flow duct: both predictions and measurements show the interest of the hybrid liner to reduce the noise radiation.     

A theoretical study of some problems on low-noise pyroelectric detector-amplifier systems

The configurations of the coupling network, which can effectively aecrease the effect of the noise sources within the amplifier on the equivalent input noise of the whole pyroelectric detector-amplifier system, are studied. The influences of feedback upon the noise properties of the basic amplifiers are analyzed. The procedures of designing low-noise pyroelectric detector-amplifier systems are followed.     

Intermittency at critical transitions and aging dynamics at the onset of chaos

We recall that at both the intermittency transitions and the Feigenbaum attractor, in unimodal maps of non-linearity of order ζ > 1, the dynamics rigorously obeys the Tsallis statistics. We account for theq-indices and the generalized Lyapunov coefficients λ^q that characterize the universality classes of the pitchfork and tangent bifurcations. We identify the Mori singularities in the Lyapunov spectrum at the onset of chaos with the appearance of a special value for the entropic indexq. The physical area of the Tsallis statistics is further probed by considering the dynamics near criticality and glass formation in thermal systems. In both cases a close connection is made with states in unimodal maps with vanishing Lyapunov coefficients.     

Flow past a cylinder: shear layer instability and drag crisis

Flow past a circular cylinder for Re=100 to 10⁷ is studied numerically by solving the unsteady incompressible two‐dimensional Navier–Stokes equations via a stabilized finite element formulation. It is well known that beyond Re ～ 200 the flow develops significant three‐dimensional features. Therefore, two‐dimensional computations are expected to fall well short of predicting the flow accurately at high Re. It is fairly well accepted that the shear layer instability is primarily a two‐dimensional phenomenon. The frequency of the shear layer vortices, from the present computations, agree quite well with the Re^0.67 variation observed by other researchers from experimental measurements. The main objective of this paper is to investigate a possible relationship between the drag crisis (sudden loss of drag at Re ～ 2 × 10⁵) and the instability of the separated shear layer. As Re is increased the transition point of shear layer, beyond which it is unstable, moves upstream. At the critical Reynolds number the transition point is located very close to the point of flow separation. As a result, the shear layer eddies cause mixing of the flow in the boundary layer. This energizes the boundary layer and leads to its reattachment. The delay in flow separation is associated with narrowing of wake, increase in Reynolds shear stress near the shoulder of the cylinder and a significant reduction in the drag and base suction coefficients. The spatial and temporal power spectra for the kinetic energy of the Re=10⁶ flow are computed. As in two‐dimensional isotropic turbulence, E(k) varies as k^?5/3 for wavenumbers higher than energy injection scale and as k^?3 for lower wavenumbers. The present computations suggest that the shear layer vortices play a major role in the transition of boundary layer from laminar to turbulent state. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On Efficient Computation of the Optimization Problem Arising in the Inverse Modeling of Non-Stationary Multiphase Multicomponent Flow Through Porous Media

In this paper we discuss a method of solving inverse problems in non-isothermal multiphase multicomponent flow through porous media. The conceptual model is described by a system of non-linear partial differential equations which involve unknown parameters. These parameters are to be determined using a set of observations at discrete points in space and time by an optimization method. It is based on a reduced Gauss-Newton iteration in combination with an efficient gradient computation which takes advantage of a recently developed efficient numerical simulation technique. A sensitivity analysis is carried out for the optimum parameter set. Numerical experiments are performed for a one dimensional column experiment carried out at the VEGAS, University of Stuttgart, Germany.     

Copper-mediated N- and O-arylations with arylboronic acids in a continuous flow microreactor: a new avenue for efficient scalability

A continuous flow procedure has been elaborated for the copper(II)-mediated N- and O-arylation of a range of compounds with arylboronic acids using a commercial microreactor setup. The compounds could be continuously generated in good yields paving the way for efficient scalability.     

基于分时原理的多相流体比例分配方法

提出了从“时间”上对多相流进行分配的新思路,分析了分时分配的基本原理,并设计了具体的实现方式。在空气-水实验回路上对分时分配装置进行了实验研究和验证。分时分配的基本原理就是通过“分时”的方法,使整个分配器“空间”内的多相流都能按照给定的时间份额周期性地交替流向对应的支路,从而保证各支路内的多相流具有高度一致的相含量和确定的流量比例。实验研究证明,分时分配法具有切实的可行性,分流比等于分时比且与流量和流体的物性无关,仅取决于分配器的几何参数。