19 research outputs found

    Development of gas turbine combustor preliminary design methodologies and preliminary assessments of advanced low emission combustor concepts

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    It is widely accepted that climate change is a very serious environmental concern. Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other emissions in the global atmosphere have increased substantially since the industrial revolution and now increasing faster than ever before. There is a thought that this has already led to dangerous warming in the Earth’s atmosphere and relevant changes around. Emissions legislations are going to be stringent as the years will pass. Hydro carbon fuel cost is also increasing substantially; more over this is non- renewable source of energy. There is an urgent need for novel combustor technologies for reducing emission as well as exploring alternative renewable fuels without effecting combustor performance. Development of novel combustors needs comprehensive understanding of conventional combustors. The design and development of gas turbine combustors is a crucial but uncertain part of an engine development process. At present, the design process relies upon a wealth of experimental data and correlations. Some major engine manufacturers have addressed the above problem by developing computer programs based on tests and empirical data to assist combustor designers, but such programs are proprietary. There is a need of developing design methodologies for combustors which would lead to substantial contribution to knowledge in field of combustors. Developed design methodologies would be useful for researchers for preliminary design assessments of a gas turbine combustor. In this study, step by step design methodologies of dual annular radial and axial combustor, triple annular combustor and reverse flow combustor have been developed. Design methodologies developed could be used to carry out preliminary design along with performance analysis for conventional combustion chambers. In this study the author has also proposed and undertaken preliminary studies of some novel combustor concepts. A novel concept of a dilution zone less combustor has been proposed in this study. According to this concept dilution air would be introduced through nozzle guide vanes to provide an optimum temperature traverse for turbine blades. Preliminary study on novel dilution zone less combustor predicts that the length of this combustor would be shorter compared to conventional case, resulting in reduced weight, fuel burn and vibrations. Reduced fuel burn eventually leads to lower emissions. Another novel concept of combustor with hydrogen synthesis from kerosene reformation has been proposed and a preliminary studies has been undertaken in this work. Addition of hydrogen as an additive in gas turbine combustor shows large benefits to the performance of gas turbine engines in addition to reduction in NOx levels. The novel combustor would have two stages, combustion of ~5% of the hydrocarbon fuel would occur in the first stage at higher equivalence ratios in the presence of a catalyst, which would eventually lead to the formation of hydrogen rich flue gases. In the subsequent stage the hydrogen rich flue gases from the first stage would act as an additive to combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel. It has been preliminary estimated that the mixture of the hydrocarbon fuel and air could subsequently be burned at much lower equivalence ratios than conventional cases, giving better temperature profiles, flame stability limits and lower NOx emissions. The effect of different geometrical parameters on the performance of vortex controlled hybrid diffuser has also been studied. It has been predicted that vortex chamber in vortex controlled hybrid diffuser does not play any role in altering the performance of diffuser. The overall contribution to knowledge of this study is development of combustor preliminary design methodologies with different variants. The other contribution to knowledge is related to novel combustors with a capability to produce low emissions. Study on novel combustor and diffuser has yielded application of two patent applications with several other publications which has resulted in a contribution to knowledge. A list of research articles, two patents, awards and achievements are presented in Appendix C

    Boron nitride nanoscrolls: structure, synthesis, and applications

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    This is the author accepted manuscriptBoron nitride nanoscrolls (BNS) are open-ended, one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures made by the process of rolling boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) into a scroll-like morphology. BNS offer a high surface area to volume ratio and possess many unique properties (similar to carbon nanotubes (CNT), carbon nanoscrolls (CNS) and boron nitride nanotubes (BNT)) such as high resistance to oxidation, chemical stability, increased lubrication, high-temperature resistance, electrical insulation, the ability to cap molecules inside and at the ends,and a wide band gap regardless of chirality. Despite these attractive featuresand properties well suited for applications in biotechnology, energy storage, and electronics, the true potential of boron nitride, and BNS as the next ‘miracle material’ is yet to be fully explored. In this critical review, we assess, for the first time, various studies published on the formation, structural and dynamic characteristics of BNS, potential routes for BNS synthesis, and the toxicology of BNS. Finally, the future perspectives of BNS are discussed in view of its unique and exceptional candidacy for many (real-world) applications

    Measurement Error of Cardiac Output Determined by Nitrous Oxide Rebreathing and Impedance Cardiography in Healthy Adults

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    Cardiac output (Q̇) is a fundamental physiological variable but remains challenging to measure. Exercise Q̇ is commonly measured by inert gas rebreathing using acetylene or nitrous oxide (Q̇N2O-IGR) and impedance cardiography (Q̇IC), but device measurement error has not been assessed at different workloads, or in females. This study determined the precision of Q̇N2O-IGR (Innocor, COSMED Inc., USA) and Q̇IC (Physioflow Enduro, Manatec Biomedical, France) in duplicate in sixty adults (30 females; 22±5 years; V̇O2max: 41.2±8.6 mL.kg-1.min-1) during upright rest and cycling at 50W and 90% peak power output (PPO) (277±71W). Measurement variance was higher for Q̇N2O-IGR vs. Q̇IC (pThe presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author

    What predicts citation counts and translational impact in headache research? A machine learning analysis

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    BACKGROUND: We aimed to develop the first machine learning models to predict citation counts and the translational impact, defined as inclusion in guidelines or policy documents, of headache research, and assess which factors are most predictive. METHODS: Bibliometric data and the titles, abstracts, and keywords from 8600 publications in three headache-oriented journals from their inception to 31 December 2017 were used. A series of machine learning models were implemented to predict three classes of 5-year citation count intervals (0-5, 6-14 and, >14 citations); and the translational impact of a publication. Models were evaluated out-of-sample with area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC). RESULTS: The top performing gradient boosting model predicted correct citation count class with an out-of-sample AUC of 0.81. Bibliometric data such as page count, number of references, first and last author citation counts and h-index were among the most important predictors. Prediction of translational impact worked optimally when including both bibliometric data and information from the title, abstract and keywords, reaching an out-of-sample AUC of 0.71 for the top performing random forest model. CONCLUSION: Citation counts are best predicted by bibliometric data, while models incorporating both bibliometric data and publication content identifies the translational impact of headache research

    Correction to: European headache federation guideline on the use of monoclonal antibodies acting on the calcitonin gene related peptide or its receptor for migraine prevention (Journal of Headache and Pain (2019) 20:6 DOI: 10.1186/s10194-018-0955-y)

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    Following publication of the original article [1], the authors notified us of some misreported data due to the publication of the EVOLVE-2 trial (Cephalalgia. 2018;38:1442-1454), which substantially changed the level of evidence of galcanezumab for the prevention of episodic migraine. All changes are marked in bold and with red in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Please note that the final recommendations remain unchanged. Reference #51 was added: Skljarevski V, Matharu M, Millen BA, Ossipov MH, Kim B-K, Yang JY. Efficacy and safety of galcanezumab for the prevention of episodic migraine: Results of the EVOLVE-2 Phase 3 randomized controlled clinical trial. Cephalalgia. 2018;38:1442-1454. Please find below the updated text, tables, and figures. Results We identified 29 studies eligible to be considered in the present guidelines (Fig. 1) [23-51]. Fifteen of the selected studies (Tables 1 and 2) were phase II or III randomized clinical trials (RCTs) reporting data on safety or efficacy of the CGRP mAbs [26,27,31-36,41-45,50,51]; 14 additional studies were post-hoc or pooled analyses from the RCTs, open label-extension of the RCTs, or open label studies [23-25,28-30,37-40,46-49]. Risk of bias summary for the selected studies is reported in Fig. 2. Certainty assessment of outcomes for studies in EM and CM is reported in Tables 3 and 4. Recommendations related to the use of CGRP mAbs for prevention of EM and CM are reported in Table 5. PICO question 1: In patients with EM, is preventive treatment with CGRP mAbs as compared to placebo, effective and safe? Population: patients with EM Intervention: any preventive CGRP mAb Comparison: placebo Outcome: reduction in days of migraine or headache, reduction in the use of acute attack medication, improvement in function, responder ratio (patients with > 50% reduction in migraine or headache days), serious adverse events (SAEs), mortality (grade of importance: critical) Analysis of evidence We found 15 eligible studies which evaluated whether treatment with CGRP mAbs as compared to placebo is effective and safe [26,27,31-36,41-45,50,51]. Among the eligible studies one was on eptinezumab [32], five studies on erenumab [35,36,44,45,50], four studies on fremanezumab [26,27,34,41], and five studies on galcanezumab [31,33,42,43]. One phase IIIb study on erenumab was not included in the PICO question 1 because it included only patients with previous drug failure [50]. Eptinezumab Summary of findings for treatment with eptinezumab quarterly injection compared with placebo for prevention of EM is provided in Table 6. (Figure presented). © 2019 The Author(s)

    What predicts citation counts and translational impact in headache research? A machine learning analysis

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    Background We aimed to develop the first machine learning models to predict citation counts and the translational impact, defined as inclusion in guidelines or policy documents, of headache research, and assess which factors are most predictive. Methods Bibliometric data and the titles, abstracts, and keywords from 8600 publications in three headache-oriented journals from their inception to 31 December 2017 were used. A series of machine learning models were implemented to predict three classes of 5-year citation count intervals (0–5, 6–14 and, >14 citations); and the translational impact of a publication. Models were evaluated out-of-sample with area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC). Results The top performing gradient boosting model predicted correct citation count class with an out-of-sample AUC of 0.81. Bibliometric data such as page count, number of references, first and last author citation counts and h-index were among the most important predictors. Prediction of translational impact worked optimally when including both bibliometric data and information from the title, abstract and keywords, reaching an out-of-sample AUC of 0.71 for the top performing random forest model. Conclusion Citation counts are best predicted by bibliometric data, while models incorporating both bibliometric data and publication content identifies the translational impact of headache research.publishedVersio

    CLEAR: The Ionization and Chemical-enrichment Properties of Galaxies at 1.1 < z < 2.3

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    We use deep spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field-Camera 3 IR grisms combined with broadband photometry to study the stellar populations, gas ionization and chemical abundances in star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1.1-2.3. The data stem from the CANDELS Lyα Emission At Reionization (CLEAR) survey. At these redshifts, the grism spectroscopy measure the [O II] λ λ3727, 3729, [O III]λ λ4959, 5008, and Hβ strong emission features, which constrain the ionization parameter and oxygen abundance of the nebular gas. We compare the line-flux measurements to predictions from updated photoionization models (MAPPINGS V; Kewley et al.), which include an updated treatment of nebular gas pressure, log P / k = n e T e . Compared to low-redshift samples (z ∼ 0.2) at fixed stellar mass, log M * / M ⊙ = 9.4-9.8, the CLEAR galaxies at z = 1.35 (1.90) have lower gas-phase metallicity, Δ ( log Z ) = 0.25 (0.35) dex, and higher ionization parameters, Δ ( log q ) = 0.25 (0.35) dex, where U ≡ q/c. We provide updated analytic calibrations between the [O III], [O II], and Hβ emission-line ratios, metallicity, and ionization parameter. The CLEAR galaxies show that at fixed stellar mass, the gas ionization parameter is correlated with the galaxy specific star formation rates, where Δ log q ≃ 0.4 × Δ ( log sSFR ) , derived from changes in the strength of galaxy Hβ equivalent width. We interpret this as a consequence of higher gas densities, lower gas covering fractions, combined with a higher escape fraction of H-ionizing photons. We discuss both tests to confirm these assertions and implications this has for future observations of galaxies at higher redshifts. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

    Facilitating the transition from hospital to home after hip fracture surgery: a qualitative study from the HIP HELPER trial

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    &lt;jats:title&gt;Abstract&lt;/jats:title&gt;&lt;jats:sec&gt; &lt;jats:title&gt;Background&lt;/jats:title&gt; &lt;jats:p&gt;People post-hip fracture have reported experiences of fragmented care and poor discharge planning, therefore improvements in patient flow are required. This study reports the challenges people face during the discharge process and offers potential solutions for improving the transition from hospital to home from the perspectives of patients, carers, and health professionals.&lt;/jats:p&gt; &lt;/jats:sec&gt;&lt;jats:sec&gt; &lt;jats:title&gt;Methods&lt;/jats:title&gt; &lt;jats:p&gt;This was a qualitative study embedded within a multi-centre, feasibility randomised controlled trial (HIP HELPER). We undertook semi-structured interviews with 10 patient-carer dyads (10 people with hip fracture; 10 unpaid carers) and eight health professionals (four physiotherapists, two occupational therapists, one nurse and one physiotherapy researcher) between November 2021 and March 2022. Data were analysed using the principles of Framework Analysis.&lt;/jats:p&gt; &lt;/jats:sec&gt;&lt;jats:sec&gt; &lt;jats:title&gt;Results&lt;/jats:title&gt; &lt;jats:p&gt;Participants identified challenges in the transition from hospital to home post-hip fracture surgery: ineffective communication, disjointed systems, untimely services and ‘&lt;jats:italic&gt;it’s more than just the hip&lt;/jats:italic&gt;’. Possible solutions and insights to facilitate this transition included the need for reassurance, collaborative planning, and individualisation.&lt;/jats:p&gt; &lt;/jats:sec&gt;&lt;jats:sec&gt; &lt;jats:title&gt;Conclusion&lt;/jats:title&gt; &lt;jats:p&gt;The transition from hospital to home following hip fracture surgery can be a challenging experience for patients, and for friends and family who support them as carers, making them feel vulnerable, frustrated and uncertain. Enabling a coordinated, collaborative approach to discharge planning and early recovery provision is considered a positive approach to improving NHS care.&lt;/jats:p&gt; &lt;/jats:sec&gt;&lt;jats:sec&gt; &lt;jats:title&gt;Trial registration&lt;/jats:title&gt; &lt;jats:p&gt;ISRCTN13270387. Registered 29th October 2020.&lt;/jats:p&gt; &lt;/jats:sec&gt
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