A Tool for the Spectral Analysis of the Laser Doppler Anemometer Data of the Cambridge Stratified Swirl Burner

A series of flow fields generated by a turbulent methane/air stratified swirl burner are investigated using laser Doppler anemometer (LDA). The LDA provides flow field measurements with comparatively high temporal resolutions. However, processing of the power spectral energy density (PSD) and autocorrelation functions (ACF) of the flow velocity by LDA is complicated by the random, intermittent nature of the LDA signal caused by random arrival of particles at the measuring volume. A tool is developed to overcome this difficulty and the preliminary results are presented in the present report.This work was supported by the China Scholarship Council and Cambridge Overseas Trust

Favre- and Reynolds-averaged velocity measurements: Interpreting PIV and LDA measurements in combustion

Previous studies using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) have raised the question of how these measurements should be compared. This study reports on the difference between Favre-averaged and Reynolds-averaged velocity statistics for a turbulent burner using PIV and LDA for unconditional and conditional velocity measurements. The experimental characterization of flow fields of premixed and stratified methane/air flames is carried out under globally turbulent lean conditions (global equivalence ratio at 0.75), over a range of stratifications and swirl numbers. Unconditioned velocity data was acquired using aluminium oxide to seed the flow field. Conditioned measurements were performed using vegetable oil aerosol as seed, which burns through the flame front, thus allowing only the non-reacting flow velocities to be obtained. A critical comparison of unconditioned velocity profiles measured using both PIV and LDA, including axial, radial, and tangential components is made against conditioned and reconstructed mean velocities at different cross-sections of the flame. The comparison reveals how the differences between the Favre-averaged (unconditioned) and the Reynolds-averaged (conditioned) velocity measurements in the flame brush region can be accounted for using the mean progress of reaction, and highlights the limits of the accuracy and agreement between PIV and LDA measurements.The authors would like to thank the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar (Pakistan) and the University of Cambridge for their financial contributions to this workThis is the author accepted manuscript. The advanced access article on the publisher's website can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1540748914002193# © 2014 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Immobilization of gold nanoclusters inside porous electrospun fibers for selective detection of Cu(II): A strategic approach to shielding pristine performance

Here, a distinct demonstration of highly sensitive and selective detection of copper (Cu2+) in a vastly porous cellulose acetate fibers (pCAF) has been carried out using dithiothreitol capped gold nanocluster (DTT.AuNC) as fluorescent probe. A careful optimization of all potential factors affecting the performance of the probe for effective detection of Cu2+ were studied and the resultant sensor strip exhibiting unique features including high stability, retained parent fluorescence nature and reproducibility. The visual colorimetric detection of Cu2+ in water, presenting the selective sensing performance towards Cu2+ ions over Zn2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+ under UV light in naked eye, contrast to other metal ions that didn't significantly produce such a change. The comparative sensing performance of DTT.AuNC@pCAF, keeping the nonporous CA fiber (DTT.AuNC@nCAF) as a support matrix has been demonstrated. The resulting weak response of DTT.AuNC@nCAF denotes the lack of ligand protection leading to the poor coordination ability with Cu2+. The determined detection limit (50 ppb) is far lower than the maximum level of Cu2+ in drinking water (1.3 ppm) set by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An interesting find from this study has been the specific oxidation nature between Cu2+ and DTT.AuNC, offering solid evidence for selective sensors

Toxicity of lanthanum oxide (La2O3) nanoparticles in aquatic environments

This study demonstrates the acute toxicity of lanthanum oxide nanoparticles (La2O3 NP) on two sentinel aquatic species, fresh-water microalgae Chlorella sp. and the crustacean Daphnia magna. The morphology, size and charge of the nanoparticles were systematically studied. The algal growth inhibition assay confirmed absence of toxic effects of La2O3 NP on Chlorella sp., even at higher concentration (1000 mg L-1) after 72 h exposure. Similarly, no significant toxic effects were observed on D. magna at concentrations of 250 mg L-1 or less, and considerable toxic effects were noted in higher concentrations (effective concentration [EC50] 500 mg L-1; lethal dose [LD50] 1000 mg L-1). In addition, attachment of La2O3 NP on aquatic species was demonstrated using microscopy analysis. This study proved to be beneficial in understanding acute toxicity in order to provide environmental protection as part of risk assessment strategies. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015

Laser diagnostics of pulverized coal combustion in O<inf>2</inf>/N<inf>2</inf> and O<inf>2</inf>/CO<inf>2</inf> conditions: velocity and scalar field measurements

Optical diagnostic techniques are applied to a 21 kW laboratory-scale pulverized coal–methane burner to map the reaction zone during combustion, in mixtures with varying fractions of O_2, N_2 and CO_2. Simultaneous Mie scatter and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurements have been carried out to study the effect of the oxidizer/diluent concentrations as well as the coal-loading rate. The spatial distribution of soot is captured using laser-induced incandescence (LII). Additionally, velocity profiles at selected axial locations are measured using the pairwise two-dimensional laser Doppler velocimetry technique. The OH PLIF images capture the reaction zones of pilot methane–air flames and the variation of the coal flame structure under various O_2/CO_2 compositions. Coal particles devolatilize immediately upon crossing the flame interface, so that the Mie scatter signal almost vanishes. Increasing coal-loading rates leads to higher reaction rates and shorter flames. LII measurements show that soot is formed primarily in the wake of remaining coal particles in the product regions. Finally, differences in the mean and RMS velocity field are explained by the combined action of thermal expansion and the changes in particle diameter between reacting and non-reacting flows.This work is supported by EPSRC research Grant (#EP/G062153/1). Yi Gao is supported by EPSRC Grant (#EP/K02924X/1), S. Lowe acknowledges support through an EPSRC DTA grant, M. Kamal is supported by University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar (Pakistan), and Bo Tian acknowledges support from CSC.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00348-015-1965-

High spatial resolution laser cavity extinction and laser-induced incandescence in low-soot-producing flames

Abstract Accurate measurement techniques for in situ determination of soot are necessary to understand and monitor the process of soot particle production. One of these techniques is line-of-sight extinction, which is a fast, low-cost and quantitative method to investigate the soot volume fraction in flames. However, the extinction-based technique suffers from relatively high measurement uncertainty due to low signal-to-noise ratio, as the single-pass attenuation of the laser beam intensity is often insufficient. Multi-pass techniques can increase the sensitivity, but may suffer from low spatial resolution. To overcome this problem, we have developed a high spatial resolution laser cavity extinction technique to measure the soot volume fraction from low-soot-producing flames. A laser beam cavity is realised by placing two partially reflective concave mirrors on either side of the laminar diffusion flame under investigation. This configuration makes the beam convergent inside the cavity, allowing a spatial resolution within 200 μm, whilst increasing the absorption by an order of magnitude. Three different hydrocarbon fuels are tested: methane, propane and ethylene. The measurements of soot distribution across the flame show good agreement with results using laser-induced incandescence (LII) in the range from around 20 ppb to 15 ppm.B. Tian is funded through a fellowship provided by China Scholarship Council. Y. Gao and S. Balusamy are funded through a grant from EPSRC EP/K02924X/1 and EP/G035784/1, respectively.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00340-015-6156-

Comprehensive Genome Analysis on the Novel Species Sphingomonas panacis DCY99(T) Reveals Insights into Iron Tolerance of Ginseng

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria play vital roles not only in plant growth, but also in reducing biotic/abiotic stress. Sphingomonas panacis DCY99(T) is isolated from soil and root of Panax ginseng with rusty root disease, characterized by raised reddish-brown root and this is seriously affects ginseng cultivation. To investigate the relationship between 159 sequenced Sphingomonas strains, pan-genome analysis was carried out, which suggested genomic diversity of the Sphingomonas genus. Comparative analysis of S. panacis DCY99(T) with Sphingomonas sp. LK11 revealed plant growth-promoting potential of S. panacis DCY99(T) through indole acetic acid production, phosphate solubilizing, and antifungal abilities. Detailed genomic analysis has shown that S. panacis DCY99(T) contain various heavy metals resistance genes in its genome and the plasmid. Functional analysis with Sphingomonas paucimobilis EPA505 predicted that S. panacis DCY99(T) possess genes for degradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbon and phenolic compounds in rusty-ginseng root. Interestingly, when primed ginseng with S. panacis DCY99(T) during high concentration of iron exposure, iron stress of ginseng was suppressed. In order to detect S. panacis DCY99(T) in soil, biomarker was designed using spt gene. This study brings new insights into the role of S. panacis DCY99(T) as a microbial inoculant to protect ginseng plants against rusty root disease

Large-eddy simulation of pulverized coal jet flame - Effect of oxygen concentration on NO<inf>x</inf> formation

Large-eddy simulation is applied to a laboratory-scale open-type pulverized coal flame generated by a triple stream burner, and the NO production and reduction in oxy- fuel condition are investigated for the first time. Pulverized Cerrejon coal which is classified as bituminous coal is used as a fuel. The results show that regardless of the equivalence ratio, as the O2 concentration increases from 21% to 40%, O2 consumption becomes marked because gas temperature rises and oxidation reaction is enhanced by the higher concentration of O2. Also, NO is formed rapidly due to the oxidation reaction of nitrogen from volatile matter of coal, and its concentration reaches a few hundred ppm further downstream. After the rapid formation, in the case of equivalence ratio larger than unity, NO decreases, because the reducing atmosphere becomes dominant due to the lack of O2. The trend becomes signi cant as the O2 concentration in the carrier gas increases from 21% to 40%. In the case of equivalence ratio less than unity, on the other hand, NO does not decrease clearly, because the oxidizing atmosphere contributes to the further formation of NO. Present study shows the usefulness of the large-eddy simulations for predicting the characteristics of pulverized coal flames.This research was partially supported by \Strategic Programs for Innovative Research (SPIRE) - Field No. 4: Industrial Innovations" from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) using computational resources of the HPCI sys- tem provided by RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science through the HPCI System Research Project (Project ID: hp120294, hp130018). See also (http:// www. uid.me.kyoto-u.ac.jp/members/kurose/hpci.html). Experiments at Cambridge were supported by EPSRC, within the Oxycap Oxyfuels Grant EP/G062153/1.This is the final version of the article. It was first published by Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001623611401064

A Growth-Promoting Bacteria, Paenibacillus yonginensis DCY84T Enhanced Salt Stress Tolerance by Activating Defense-Related Systems in Panax ginseng

Panax ginseng (C.A. Mayer) is a well-known medicinal plant used in traditional medicine in Korea that experiences serious salinity stress related to weather changes or incorrect fertilizer application. In ginseng, the use of Paenibacillus yonginensis DCY84T to improve salt stress tolerance has not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, we studied the role of P. yonginensis DCY84T under short-term and long-term salinity stress conditions in a controlled environment. In vitro testing of DCY84T revealed high indole acetic acid (IAA) production, siderophore formation, phosphate solubilization and anti-bacterial activity. We determined that 10-min dip in 1010 CFU/ml DCY84T was sufficient to protect ginseng against short-term salinity stress (osmotic stress) upon exposure to 300mM NaCl treatment by enhancing nutrient availability, synthesizing hydrolyzing enzymes and inducing osmolyte production. Upon exposure to salinity stress (oxidative and ionic stress), strain DCY84T-primed ginseng seedlings were protected by the induction of defense-related systems such as ion transport, ROS scavenging enzymes, proline content, total sugars, and ABA biosynthetic genes, as well as genes involved in root hair formation. Additionally, ginseng primed with DCY84T and exposed to 300mM NaCl showed the same metabolite profile as control ginseng plants, suggesting that DCY84T effectively reduced salt stress. These results indicated that DCY84T can be widely used as a microbial inoculant to protect ginseng plants against salinity stress conditions

Transfer Learning Based Deep Neural Network for Detecting Artefacts in Endoscopic Images

Endoscopy is typically used to visualize various parts of the digestive tract. The technique is well suited to detect abnormalities like cancer/polyp, taking sample tissue called a biopsy, or cauterizing a bleeding vessel. During the procedure, video/ images are generated. It is affected by eight different artefacts: saturation, specularity, blood, blur, bubbles, contrast, instrument and miscellaneous artefacts like floating debris, chromatic aberration etc. The frames affected by artefacts are mostly discarded as the clinician could extract no valuable information from them. It affects post-processing steps. Based on the transfer learning approach, three state-of-the-art deep learning models, namely YOLOv3, YOLOv4 and Faster R-CNN, were trained with images from EAD public datasets and a custom dataset of endoscopic images of Indian patients annotated for artefacts mentioned above. The training set of images are data augmented and used to train all the three-artefact detectors. The predictions of the artefact detectors are combined to form an ensemble model whose results outperformed well compared to existing literature works by obtaining a mAP score of 0.561 and an IoU score of 0.682. The inference time of 80.4ms was recorded, which stands out best in the literature