On the role played by turbulence closures in hull shape optimization at model and full scale

 The practical use of automated computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based design tools in the ship-building industry requires powerful flow solvers which are able to take into account realistic geometries as well as complex physical phenomena, such as turbulence. A shape optimization tool is developed in this framework. A derivative-free optimizer, yielding both flexibility and robustness, is preferred to the classical gradient-based method, which is more difficult to implement and is still limited to only moderately complex problems. The flow solver included in the design procedure solves the incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations on unstructured grids using a finite-volume formulation involving several near-wall low-Reynolds-number turbulence models. The design tool is used to optimize the stern of a modern hull shape at model and full scale, with different purposes being considered. More precisely, the drag reduction and the homogenization of the flow in the wake are expected by controlling the longitudinal vortex generated. Our interest is particularly focused on the influence of turbulence modeling in the design process. The effects of a two-equation model based on the eddy-viscosity assumption and a second-order closure relying on the Reynolds stress transport equations are compared. Received: September 24, 2002 / Accepted: April 14, 2003 RID="*" Acknowledgment. The authors thank the scientific committee of CINES (project dmn2050) for the attribution of CPU time.     

免疫抑制因子对宫颈癌患者来源的树突状细胞的体外作用

目的　观察白细胞介素 10 (IL 10 )及血管内皮生长因子 (VEGF)对宫颈癌患者来源的树突状细胞 (DC)的体外抑制作用。方法　培养宫颈癌患者自体DC的小牛血清体系中加入粒 -巨噬细胞集落刺激因子 (GM CSF)、IL 4和肿瘤坏死因子 α(TNF α) ;流式细胞术检测免疫表型 ;甲基噻唑蓝法 (MTT)法检测异体混和淋巴细胞反应 (MLR)和细胞毒实验 ;酶联免疫吸附实验 (ELISA)法检测培养细胞上清液中IL 10和VEGF含量。结果　 10例宫颈癌患者外周血单个核细胞培养 10d后 ,获得 (40± 2 0 ) %的DC ,此类DC共刺激分子的表达减低 ,刺激自体T细胞杀伤癌细胞能力不足 ,分泌IL 10及VEGF的含量却升高。结论　IL 10和VEGF抑制了宫颈癌患者自体DC的功能。     

Modelling bicycle use intention: the role of perceptions

Users’ perceptions are identified as key elements to understand bicycle use, whose election cannot be explained with usual mobility variables and socio-economic characteristics. A hybrid model is proposed to model the intention of bicycle use; it combines a structural equations model that captures intentions and a choice model. The framework is applied to a case of a university campus in Madrid that is studying a new internal bike system. Results show that four latent variables (convenience, pro-bike, physical determinants and external restrictions) help explaining intention to use bike, representing a number of factors that are linked to individual perceptions.     

Modeling bus bunching using massive location and fare collection data

Bus bunching is a well-known phenomenon for operators, users and regulators of high-frequency bus services. Bus operations are usually affected by increasing differences in the time intervals (headways) between consecutive buses. The effect of this variability is that buses tend to group into bunches of two or more, which severely affects the quality of service and the operational efficiency. The aim of this paper is to analyze which factors are associated to the phenomenon, using massive data from high-frequency services available in Santiago (Chile) and common-route services in Gatineau (Canada). The data is obtained from the bus GPS and AFC systems and are processed to obtain headways between buses. Using data from one week, we develop models to explain the variation of the continuous and discrete indicators of bus bunching as a function of variables related to the operation, variables related to the demand structure, and variables related to the infrastructure. Some of the factors that contribute to increase bus bunching are: stops located toward the end of the route, high scheduled frequency, irregular bus dispatch headways, non-homogeneous fleet, high demand, and high variability of demand. The results are useful for the design of quality indexes to measure bunching in bus operations, and for the design and operation of bus routes, taking into consideration the potential bus bunching problems.     

Numerical Study of the Transition Between Reentrant Jet and Twin Vortex Flow Regimes in Ventilated Cavitation

Contrary to natural cavitation, ventilated cavitation is controllable and is not harmful. It is particularly used to reduce the drag of the hydraulic vehicles. The ventilated cavitation is characterized by various gas regimes. The mechanisms of ventilated cavitation are investigated in the present work with CFD based on a 2D solver. The attention is especially focused on the transition between the reentrant jet and twin vortex regimes. The results confirm that the product of ventilated cavitation number and Froude number is lower than 1 (σ_cFr?<?1) in the twin vortex regime, while it is higher than 1 (σ_cFr?>?1) in the reentrant jet regime, as reported in the literature. Further analysis shows that ventilated cavitation is significantly influenced by the natural cavitation number.     

Across the waves: a bibliometric analysis of container shipping research since the 1960s

The paper investigates collaborative and semantic patterns that emerged between 1967 and 2013 about the theme of container shipping based on a corpus of 294 articles published in scholarly journals within the fields of transportation, supply chain, economics, geography, regional planning and development, and operations research. An analysis based on the co-occurrence of title words allows identifying dominant sub-themes and their evolution. Main results point to the gradual diversification of container shipping research, from the dominance of economics towards a more trans-disciplinary set of approaches which integrate port-related activities and multimodal networks. Yet, disciplinary specialization remains strong up to nowadays so that container shipping research remains rather fragmented. While co-authorships have increased over time, they remain polarized by few, weakly connected research battalions. Our study suggests that research on container shipping would benefit from more frequent contacts between such communities to foster in-depth cross-disciplinary studies and fundamental cooperation.     

Using best–worst scaling to identify barriers to walkability: a study of Porto Alegre,Brazil

This paper pursues three goals: (1) determining the relative importance of built environment barriers limiting walkability, (2) analyzing the existence of an asymmetry in the way people evaluate positive and negative built environment characteristics, and (3) identifying solutions to tackle the main barriers and quantify their impact in walkability. A best–worst scaling survey was developed to compare the importance of eight different attributes of the built environment regarding walkability. Model results show an asymmetry negative–positive in the judgment and choice of built environment characteristics that promote and impede walkability. The most important barriers, obtained from worst responses, are connectivity, topography, sidewalk surface and absence of policemen. Walkability scores were computed for different neighbourhoods and different policy scenarios were forecasted. Simulation results from the worst responses indicate that improvements in sidewalk quality, along with an increase in the number of police officers, lead to an 85% increase in the walkability score for the lower income neighbourhoods.

     

Revisiting urban hierarchy and specialization from a maritime perspective

ABSTRACT

Port–city relationships have attracted paramount attention from a variety of scientific disciplines for several decades, such as geography, history, planning, regional science, sociology, and economics to name but a few. Yet, the extent to which maritime traffic specialization obeys the same spatial distribution than other economic activities remains underexplored today. This article tackles these lacunae head-on by proposing an empirical analysis of the way vessel tonnage per main categories of flows (e.g. containers, bulks, passengers) coincides with the demographic size of the world’s coastal and inland city-regions, using novel data on global inter-port vessel movements and harmonized population data over the period 1977–2008. Our main results confirm that such traffic is far from being randomly distributed, as its volume, value, and diversity concentrate at the top of the urban hierarchy. This research motivates the need to further integrate physical connectivity into the study of cities and their development mechanisms.     

State-owned Spanish Port System oversizing: an analysis of maximum operational capacity

The State-owned Spanish Port System (SPS) includes 46 ports for general use that are managed by the 28 port authorities distributed along the 8000 km of Spanish coast. SPS has not grown at a rate comparable to that of international maritime transportation. In our paper, we start from the hypothesis of a port system that appears to be oversized, subsidized, with regard to container traffic. Quantifying the maximum operational capacity of the different container terminals along the Spanish coast and their mooring capacities will provide the available dimensions for this type of traffic. In a second step, we will analyse whether SPS are sufficient (according to the perspective of international standards) to meet Spain’s needs, which is related to Spain’s strategic geographic location and its need to move containerized cargo for the domestic market. The paper concludes SPS has an oversized that limits competitiveness, which is indicated by the average transshipment ratio of approximately 50% and an average unweighted idle ratio of port facilities designed for container traffic of over 60% in the eight main ports.     

Enrichment, concentration and retention processes in relation to anchovy (Engraulis ringens) eggs and larvae distributions in the northern Humboldt upwelling ecosystem

A Lagrangian model is used to simulate and quantify in the northern Humboldt upwelling ecosystem the processes of enrichment, concentration and retention, identified by Bakun [Bakun, A., 1996. Patterns in the ocean. Ocean processes and marine population dynamics. University of California Sea Grant, California, USA, in cooperation with Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas de Noroeste, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, 323 pp.] as being important for the survival and recruitment of early life stages of pelagic fish. The method relies on tracking the positions of particles within water velocity fields generated by a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. Simple criteria for considering particles as participating to enrichment, concentration or retention are used to derive indices of the three processes. We analyse the spatial distribution of and seasonal variability in these indices. The results are discussed in relation to anchovy (Engraulis ringens) eggs and larvae distributions off Peru, and to a comparable study conducted in the southern Benguela upwelling ecosystem.