Aspect Ratio Effects on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Biomimetic Hummingbird Wing in Flapping.

Hummingbirds are flapping winged creatures with unique flight mechanisms. Their flight pattern is more similar to insects than other birds. Because their flight pattern provides a large lift force at a very small scale, hummingbirds can remain hovering while flapping.

Short-range repulsive force model for near-contact interactions of bubbles.

We introduce a short-range repulsive force model to tackle near-contact interactions when the collision occurs between bubbles. In contrast to the previous numerical method adopting the adaptive mesh refinement technique, such a mesoscale model can be applied to a relatively coarse mesh, which can prevent the nonphysical coalescence between bubbles without excessive mesh refinement. We assume that the repulsive force is inversely proportional to the third power of distance, as a reasonable approximation to the short-range phase interactions.

Circadian rhythm resynchronization improved isoflurane-induced cognitive dysfunction in aged mice.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a common clinical phenomenon characterized by cognitive deficits in patients after anesthesia and surgery. Advanced age is a significant independent risk factor for POCD. We previously reported that in young mice, sleep-wake rhythm is involved in the isoflurane-induced memory impairment.

Three-dimensional instabilities for the flow around a heaving foil.

This paper investigates the three-dimensional instabilities of the flow past a periodically heaving airfoil. By comparison with a pitching foil [Deng et al., Phys.

Effects of particle-fluid density ratio on the interactions between the turbulent channel flow and finite-size particles.

A parallel direct-forcing fictitious domain method is employed to perform fully resolved numerical simulations of turbulent channel flow laden with finite-size particles. The effects of the particle-fluid density ratio on the turbulence modulation in the channel flow are investigated at the friction Reynolds number of 180, the particle volume fraction of 0.84%, and the particle-fluid density ratio ranging from 1 to 104.

Misaligned Feeding May Aggravate Pain by Disruption of Sleep-Awake Rhythm.

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that patients with eating disorders are more likely to develop chronic pain. A misaligned diet has been reported to disrupt the sleep-awake rhythms. Combined with our previous investigation on circadian pain, we aimed to investigate the role of misaligned diet in the pain sensitivity and the underlying mechanisms.

Perturbing NR2B-PSD-95 interaction relieves neuropathic pain by inactivating CaMKII-CREB signaling.

Neuropathic pain is characterized by central sensitization. The interaction between N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) and postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95) plays a major role in central sensitization. Here, we aimed to investigate the analgesic effect of disruption of the interaction between NMDAR and PSD-95.

Application of Berendsen barostat in dissipative particle dynamics for nonequilibrium dynamic simulation.

The Berendsen barostat from molecular dynamics simulation is applied in both standard dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and many-body dissipative particle dynamics (MDPD) simulations. The original Berendsen barostat works well in (M)DPD simulation of a single-component system under constant pressure condition and in nonequilibrium dynamic processes. The partial Berendsen barostat is proposed for multi-component system simulation with (M)DPD.

The Role of NR2B-CREB-miR212/132-CRTC1-CREB Signal Network in Pain Regulation In Vitro and In Vivo.

Background: Chronic pain is a debilitating threat to human health, and its molecular mechanism remains undefined. Previous studies have illustrated a key role of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) in pain regulation; CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 1 (CRTC1) and microRNA212/132 (miR212/132) are also vital in synaptic plasticity. However, little is known about the interaction among these factors in pain condition.

Dynamical features of the wake behind a pitching foil.

As an extension of the previous study on the three-dimensional transition of the wake behind a pitching foil [Deng and Caulfield, Phys. Rev. E 91, 043017 (2015)], this investigation draws a comprehensive map on the pitching frequency-amplitude phase space.

Effects of Atomization Injection on Nanoparticle Processing in Suspension Plasma Spray.

Liquid atomization is applied in nanostructure dense coating technology to inject suspended nano-size powder materials into a suspension plasma spray (SPS) torch. This paper presents the effects of the atomization parameters on the nanoparticle processing. A numerical model was developed to simulate the dynamic behaviors of the suspension droplets, the solid nanoparticles or agglomerates, as well as the interactions between them and the plasma gas.

[Effects of flow diverter with low porosity on cerebral aneurysms: a numerical stimulative study].

Objective: To examine the influence of flow diverter on the alterations of cerebral intra-aneurysmal hemodynamics.

Methods: One wide-necked and one narrow-necked sidewall aneurysm in curved vessels were virtually reconstructed. Pulsatile computational fluid simulations were performed on each model for hemodynamic analysis.

Sedimentation of a single particle between two parallel walls.

The sedimentation of a single circular particle between two parallel walls was studied by means of direct numerical simulation (DNS) and experiment. The improved implementation of distributed Lagrange multiplier/fictitious domain method used in our DNS is a promising new way for simulation of particulate flows. The settling behaviors of the particle are presented ranging in Reynolds number from 0 to about 700, which showed that our results for low Reynolds numbers agreed well with that reported before.

Direct numerical simulation of the motion of circular pollutant particles in Newtonian fluid.

An improved implementation of distributed multiplier/fictitious domain method is presented for the direct numerical simulation of particulate flow. The key improvement is to replace a finite-element triangulation for the velocity and a "twice-coarser" triangulation for the pressure with a rectangular discretization for the velocity and pressure. For code validation, the sedimentation of a single particle in a two-dimensional channel was simulated.