Compound effect of EHD and surface roughness in pool boiling and CHF with R-123

This article is a post-print version of the fianl published article which may be accessed at the link below.Saturated pool boiling of R-123 at 1 bar, including the critical heat flux (CHF), was enhanced by modifying the surface characteristics and applying a high intensity electrostatic field, the latter termed electrohydrodynamic (and abbreviated EHD) enhancement. The heat flux was varied from very low values in the natural convection regime up to CHF. Experiments were performed with increasing and decreasing heat flux to study boiling hysteresis without and with EHD. Boiling occurred on the sand blasted surface of a cylindrical copper block with embedded electrical heating elements, with standardized surface parameter Pa = 3.5 μm. The electric field was generated by a potential of 5 kV to 25 kV, applied through a 40 mm diameter circular electrode of ss-304 wire mesh, aperture size 5.1 mm, located at distances of 5 - 60 mm from the surface, with most of the data obtained for 20 mm. The data for the rough surface were compared with earlier data for a smooth surface and indicated a significant increase in the heat transfer rates. EHD produced a further increase in the heat transfer rates, particularly at low heat flux values and near the CHF. Boiling hysteresis was reduced progressively by EHD and eliminated at high field strength.This work was supported by Government of Pakistan under a scholarship programme

Pediatric Mesothelioma Tumors: The European Expert Group Contribution.

Background and Aims: In adults with mesothelioma, cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRSHIPEC) is a standard of care in limited tumor, but long-term survival is very uncommon. Very little is known about the characteristics of this tumor in the pediatric population. Methods: The EXPeRT group of very rare pediatric tumors reviewed retrospectively children and youths ( 6421 year) diagnosed in Europe with mesothelioma tumors treated between 1987 and 2018. Results: Thirty three patients were identified, 14 males and 18 females. Only one exposure to asbestos was documented. Primary tumor was located into the peritoneum (23 patients), pleura (2), vagina (2), pericardium (1), and in multiple sites (5). Histology was multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma (MCPM; 6 patients; median age 14.1year, range 2.2-21.1) or malignant (27 patients; median age 13.4 year, range 0.2- 18.7): epithelioid (21), biphasic (4) and unspecified (2). All patients with MCPM are alive despite 4 peritoneal relapses, after surgery (5 patients) and CRS-HIPEC (1pt). Metastasis at diagnosis were present in 9/27 patients with malignant mesothelioma. Among them, first line treatment was heterogeneous: preoperative chemotherapy (14 cases), exclusive surgery (3 cases), exclusive chemotherapy (5 cases), adjuvant chemotherapy (3 cases) or palliative (2 cases). Response rate to cisplatin-pemetrexed was 50% (6/12 cases) with no response to other regimens (0/12 cases). Two patients have long term tumor controlwith targeted therapy. CRS-HIPEC was performed in 19 patients (upfront 3 cases, after neoadjuvant therapy 12 patients, or after tumor progression 6 cases, including 3 twice). After a median follow-up of 6.7y (range, 0-20), 5 year overall and event free survivals are respectively 82.3% (95%IC 67.8-99.9) and 45.1% (95%IC 28.4-71.7). Conclusions: Pediatric Mesothelioma is exceptional and seems to be different from its adult counterpart with few asbestos exposures and a better outcome. Cisplatin-pemetrexed regimen showed some efficacy. Relapses could be salvaged with active therapy including CRS-HIPEC. Targeted therapy should be considered

Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture: Effects on Soil-Plant System Properties

The use of non-conventional water resources can help to mitigate water stress and can support the agricultural sector. Treated municipal wastewater is one of the most readily available alternative water resources and its use in ag-riculture has been adopted to reduce fresh water usage in several countries, under their respective water quality regulations. This chapter reviews the re-sults of past and current research on the reuse of treated wastewater (munici-pal and agro-industrial) for irrigation and the corresponding effects on soil and plant systems. Particular attention has been given to research efforts high-lighting the effects of chemical-physical wastewater characteristics (e.g., ni-trogen, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and heavy metals) and the corre-sponding microbiological indicators (e.g., Escherichia coli and Salmonella) on irrigated crops and soils. The selection of irrigation methods is another topic discussed in this chapter. Drip and subsurface irrigation methods are considered the more suitable irrigation techniques to be used with treated wastewater; they minimise toxicity hazards for plants, reduce the contamina-tion of edible crop products, and mitigate human health risks by minimising direct contact between wastewater and plant