  We consider nonequilibrium transport in a simple chain of identical
mechanical cells in which particles move around. In each cell, there is a
rotating disc, with which these particles interact, and this is the only
interaction in the model. It was shown in \cite{eckmann-young} that when the
cells are weakly coupled, to a good approximation, the jump rates of particles
and the energy-exchange rates from cell to cell follow linear profiles. Here,
we refine that study by analyzing higher-order effects which are induced by the
presence of external gradients for situations in which memory effects, typical
of Hamiltonian dynamics, cannot be neglected. For the steady state we propose a
set of balance equations for the particle number and energy in terms of the
reflection probabilities of the cell and solve it phenomenologically. Using
this approximate theory we explain how these asymmetries affect various aspects
of heat and particle transport in systems of the general type described above
and obtain in the infinite volume limit the deviation from the theory in
\cite{eckmann-young} to first-order. We verify our assumptions with extensive
numerical simulations.
