LES-based Study of the Roughness Effects on the Wake of a Circular Cylinder from Subcritical to Transcritical Reynolds Numbers

This paper investigates the effects of surface roughness on the flow past a circular cylinder at subcritical to transcritical Reynolds numbers. Large eddy simulations of the flow for sand grain roughness of size k/D = 0.02 are performed (D is the cylinder diameter). Results show that surface roughness triggers the transition to turbulence in the boundary layer at all Reynolds numbers, thus leading to an early separation caused by the increased momentum deficit, especially at transcritical Reynolds numbers. Even at subcritical Reynolds numbers, boundary layer instabilities are triggered in the roughness sublayer and eventually lead to the transition to turbulence. The early separation at transcritical Reynolds numbers leads to a wake topology similar to that of the subcritical regime, resulting in an increased drag coefficient and lower Strouhal number. Turbulent statistics in the wake are also affected by roughness; the Reynolds stresses are larger due to the increased turbulent kinetic energy production in the boundary layer and separated shear layers close to the cylinder shoulders.We acknowledge “Red Española de Surpercomputación” (RES) for awarding us access to the MareNostrum III machine based in Barcelona, Spain (Ref. FI-2015-2-0026 and FI-2015-3-0011). We also acknowledge PRACE for awarding us access to Fermi and Marconi Supercomputers at Cineca, Italy (Ref. 2015133120). Oriol Lehmkuhl acknowledges a PDJ 2014 Grant by AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya). Ugo Piomelli acknowledges the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada under the Discovery Grant Programme (Grant No. RGPIN-2016-04391). Ricard Borrell acknowledges a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral grant (IJCI-2014-21034). Ivette Rodriguez, Oriol Lehmkuhl, Ricard Borrell and Assensi Oliva acknowledge Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, Spain (ref. ENE2014-60577-R).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Impact of Financing Terms on Farm Real Estate Market Prices, Brookings County, South Dakota, 1978-1987

The overall objective of this research paper is to examine the relationships between farmland financing terms and and their effect on market prices of farmland sales transactions that occurred in Brookings County during the time period January 1978 to December 1987. Specific objectives are: (1) To identify, compare and contrast specific financing terms of contract for deeds, mortgages and equity (cash) financed farmland sales transactions from 1978 - 1987. (2) To determine the number and proportion of farmland sales transactions from 1978 - 1983 that have included reversions to lender or seller (release from deed or repossessions) since the time the transaction was made to the present. (3) To determine the significance and impact of financing terms on farmland sales price from 1978 - 1987 and determine the value of the contract in seller financed sales

Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated Gene (FTO) in Eating Disorders: Evidence for Association of the rs9939609 Obesity Risk Allele with Bulimia nervosa and Anorexia nervosa

Objective: The common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9939609 in the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) is associated with obesity. As genetic variants associated with weight regulation might also be implicated in the etiology of eating disorders, we evaluated whether SNP rs9939609 is associated with bulimia nervosa (BN) and anorexia nervosa (AN). Methods: Association of rs9939609 with BN and AN was assessed in 689 patients with AN, 477 patients with BN, 984 healthy non-population-based controls, and 3,951 population-based controls (KORA-S4). Based on the familial and premorbid occurrence of obesity in patients with BN, we hypothesized an association of the obesity risk A-allele with BN. Results: In accordance with our hypothesis, we observed evidence for association of the rs9939609 A-allele with BN when compared to the non-population-based controls (unadjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.142, one-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.001-infinity; one-sided p = 0.049) and a trend in the population-based controls (OR = 1.124, one-sided 95% CI 0.932-infinity; one-sided p = 0.056). Interestingly, compared to both control groups, we further detected a nominal association of the rs9939609 A-allele to AN (OR = 1.181, 95% CI 1.027-1.359, two-sided p = 0.020 or OR = 1.673, 95% CI 1.101-2.541, two-sided p = 0.015,). Conclusion: Our data suggest that the obesity-predisposing FTO allele might be relevant in both AN and BN. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger GmbH, Freibur

The unexpected resurgence of Weyl geometry in late 20-th century physics

Weyl's original scale geometry of 1918 ("purely infinitesimal geometry") was withdrawn by its author from physical theorizing in the early 1920s. It had a comeback in the last third of the 20th century in different contexts: scalar tensor theories of gravity, foundations of gravity, foundations of quantum mechanics, elementary particle physics, and cosmology. It seems that Weyl geometry continues to offer an open research potential for the foundations of physics even after the turn to the new millennium.Comment: Completely rewritten conference paper 'Beyond Einstein', Mainz Sep 2008. Preprint ELHC (Epistemology of the LHC) 2017-02, 92 pages, 1 figur

Impact Factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?

A review of Garfield's journal impact factor and its specific implementation as the Thomson Reuters Impact Factor reveals several weaknesses in this commonly-used indicator of journal standing. Key limitations include the mismatch between citing and cited documents, the deceptive display of three decimals that belies the real precision, and the absence of confidence intervals. These are minor issues that are easily amended and should be corrected, but more substantive improvements are needed. There are indications that the scientific community seeks and needs better certification of journal procedures to improve the quality of published science. Comprehensive certification of editorial and review procedures could help ensure adequate procedures to detect duplicate and fraudulent submissions.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 6 table

Rangelands, conflicts, and society in the Upper Mustang Region, Nepal

Rangelands are considered critical ecosystems in the Nepal Himalayas and provide multiple ecosystem services that support local livelihoods. However, these rangelands are under threat from various anthropogenic stresses. This study analyzes an example of conflict over the use of rangeland, involving two villages in the Mustang district of Nepal. This prolonged conflict over the use of rangeland rests on how use rights are defined by the parties, that is, whether they are based on traditional use or property ownership. Traditionally, such conflicts in remote areas were managed under the Mukhiya (village chief) system, but this became dysfunctional after the political change of 1990. The continuing conflict suggests that excessive demand for limited rangelands motivates local villagers to gain absolute control of the resources. In such contexts, external support should focus on enhancing the management and production of forage resources locally, which requires the establishment of local common property institutions to facilitate sustainable rangeland management.<br /

Use of a Low-Mach Model On a CFD&HT Solver for the Elements of An Object Oriented Program to Numerically Simulate Hermetic Refrigeration Compressors

A powerful object oriented approach for the simulation of generic thermal systems (Damle et al., 2008) is used as a framework to numerically simulate the thermal and fluid behavior of hermetic reciprocating compressors. A physical abstraction of the compressor system provides a vertex-edge graph, defining the elements and the neighborhood relations of the system to be solved. Each one of these resulting elements is modeled in order to be solved by itself by giving their respective boundary conditions. Since each element provides its own solver tool, the coupled system can be solved in an integrated form. Into previous works, an unstructured and parallel object oriented Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer code (from now on CFD&HT) for accurate and reliable solving of turbulent industrial flow, called TermoFluids (Lehmkuhl et al., 2007), was used to provide with CFD&HT capability the system elements (López et al., 2010). In this work, a Low-Mach based CFD&HT module (Chiva et al., 2011) implemented within the TermoFluids software has been used solve the fluid domain existing inside the shell of a reciprocating compressor, which is identified as one of the compressor elements in the abstraction stage. This improvement allows us to numerically simulate the recirculation flow inside the shell of a reciprocating compressor, providing detailed information about suction area of the compressor and allowing study of new geometric configurations of such part. Furthermore, in comparison with previously tested CFD&HT modules, the Low-Mach model allows better treatment of the compressibility effects generated at the inner elements of the compressor such as chambers, tubes and undoubtedly the compression chamber

PREVALENCE RATE DIFFERENCES BASED ON HERDMATE COMPARISONS

A non-random survey of ovine progressive pneumonia (OPP) seropositive prevalence rates among 16,827 sheep in 29 states in the United states revealed large breed differences, a higher prevalence rate among older sheep and an unexplainable female rate that was more that three times the male rate. The herdmate comparison procedure, successfully used in evaluating dairy bulls, was adapted to compare the prevalence of a breed to the rate of its herdmates within herds. Likewise, sex and age differences in OPP prevalence were compared within herds that contained animals of both sexes and several ages. Using herdmate comparisons, breed and age differences in OPP prevalence remained but the sex difference disappeared