A Distributed Mesh Generation Study Case through a Customizable Platform as a Service Framework

Conferencia presentada en 11th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications - SIMULTECH 2021The quality of a mesh can determine the accuracy of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. In fact, meshing is not only a user highly time-consuming endeavor but also demands a lot of computational power. The need for powerful and useful tools for meshing can have a real impact on productivity and the final result. In this paper, a customizable platform as a service for meshing, named Evoker, is presented and evaluated to assist users to work over different types of geometries and accelerate the generation of meshes. Evoker is a zero-installation tool with a web Graphical User Interface (Web-GUI), which cloud-server runs OpenFOAM in order to provide a friendly interface to its meshing utilities. Evoker also manages cloud computing resources to distribute the mesh generation among different processors. Through the presented use case, Evoker demonstrates to be a versatile meshing solution that can help to save a lot of time for their users

A study on the performance of distributed training of data-driven CFD simulations

Data-driven methods for computer simulations are blooming in many scientific areas. The traditional approach to simulating physical behaviors relies on solving partial differential equations (PDEs). Since calculating these iterative equations is highly both computationally demanding and time-consuming, data-driven methods leverage artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to alleviate that workload. Data-driven methods have to be trained in advance to provide their subsequent fast predictions; however, the cost of the training stage is non-negligible. This article presents a predictive model for inferencing future states of a specific fluid simulation that serves as a use case for evaluating different training alternatives. Particularly, this study compares the performance of only CPU, multi-GPU, and distributed approaches for training a time series forecasting deep learning model. With some slight code adaptations, results show and compare, in different implementations, the benefits of distributed GPU-enabled training for predicting high-accuracy states in a fraction of the time needed by the computational fluid dynamics solver

Sintonización de controladores para regulación de oxígeno disuelto en biorreactores

En este trabajo se analizan distintos métodos de sintonización de controladores PID para su aplicación en el control de DO en biorreactores. La elección de controladores PID se fundamenta en la búsqueda de soluciones fácilmente implementables en sistemas de control comerciales existentes en plantas biotecnologías, ya sea mediante su reconfiguración o mediante modificaciones menores. El resto del artículo se organiza de la siguiente manera: en la Sección se describe en mas profundidad el problema de control de oxígeno disuelto y se describen los métodos sintonización de controladores. En la Sección se muestran y discuten los resultados de simulación de las estrategias propuestas. Finalmente, en la Sección se dan conclusiones finales y líneas de trabajo futuras.Facultad de Ingenierí

Modeling of wastewater treatment processes with hydrosludge

The pressure for Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRF) operators to efficiently treat wastewater is greater than ever because of the water crisis, produced by the climate change effects and more restrictive regulations. Technicians and researchers need to evaluate WRRF performance to ensure maximum efficiency. For this purpose, numerical techniques, such as CFD, have been widely applied to the wastewater sector to model biological reactors and secondary settling tanks with high spatial and temporal accuracy. However, limitations such as complexity and learning curve prevent extending CFD usage among wastewater modeling experts. This paper presents HydroSludge, a framework that provides a series of tools that simplify the implementation of the processes and workflows in a WRRF. This work leverages HydroSludge to preprocess existing data, aid the meshing process, and perform CFD simulations. Its intuitive interface proves itself as an effective tool to increase the efficiency of wastewater treatment. Practitioner points This paper introduces a software platform specifically oriented to WRRF, named HydroSludge, which provides easy access to the most widespread and leading CFD simulation software, OpenFOAM. Hydrosludge is intended to be used by WRRF operators, bringing a more wizard-like, automatic, and intuitive usage. Meshing assistance, submersible mixers, biological models, and distributed parallel computing are the most remarkable features included in HydroSludge. With the provided study cases, HydroSludge has proven to be a crucial tool for operators, managers, and researchers in WRRF

The economic burden of localized prostate cancer and insights derived from cost-effectiveness studies of the different treatments

Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent and impacting malignant neoplasms for men. In particular, localized prostate cancer has a notably high incidence and prevalence, despite which a solid consensus on treatment and procedure of care has not yet been reached. This article aims to shed light on this challenge by characterizing the economic burden and cost-effectiveness of different treatment strategies for localized prostate cancer after analyzing published comparable data from studies conducted in OECD countries

Mejora del funcionamiento de un decantador secundario circular dinámico con flujo bifásico mediante su modelización a escala real en CFD

Treball Final de Grau en Enginyeria en Tecnologies Industrials. Codi: ET1040. Curs acadèmic: 2017-201

Estudio del funcionamiento de un decantador secundario rectangular pulsator con flujo bifásico mediante su modelización a escala real en CFD

Treball final de Màster Universitari en Enginyeria Industrial. Codi: SJA020. Curs acadèmic: 2019/2020Con el presente TFM se pretenden conseguir los objetivos que se enuncian a continuación: Consecución de un estudio que permita conocer con mayor detalle el funcionamiento del decantador mediante su modelización a escala real en CFD. Obtención de un coeficiente de determinación cercano a la unidad para el ajuste exponencial de la velocidad de sedimentación mediante el modelo de Vesilind a partir de los ensayos realizados en el laboratorio. Consecución de unos resultados de caudales másicos a través de las tuberías de distribución del primer submodelo con errores menores del 5% respecto a los caudales experimentales calculados a partir de los registros en planta. Análisis de la influencia de los pulsos de carga y descarga de la cámara de vacío, así como de la alimentación con caudal mínimo o máximo sobre el funcionamiento general del decantador y su distribución de concentración másica de sólidos suspendidos, velocidades y altura del manto de fango. Elaboración de una propuesta de mejora sobre la bomba de vacío que conlleve una optimización en el funcionamiento del decantador, de forma que se asegure el cumplimiento de los parámetros óptimos de altura del manto de fangos y concentraciones de sólidos suspendidos totales en el interior del decantador de estudio

Kidney transplant outcome of expanded criteria donors after circulatory death

El incremento en el número de pacientes en lista de espera de trasplante renal ha llevado a intentar aumentar el número de posibles donantes incorporando candidatos que anteriormente no se habrían considerado óptimos, incluyendo entre estos a los donantes de pacientes de asistolia (DA) y aquellos con criterios «expandidos» (DCE). Los receptores de injertos de DA controlada (DAc) sufren más función retrasada del injerto, pero presentan una evolución a largo plazo equiparable a los de donantes de muerte encefálica, lo que ha permitido un aumento en el número de trasplantes de DAc en distintos países en los últimos años. De forma paralela, el uso de DAc con criterios expandidos (DAc/DCE) se ha incrementado en los últimos años en diferentes países, permitiendo acortar la lista de espera del trasplante renal. El uso de estos injertos, aunque se relaciona con una mayor frecuencia de función retrasada del injerto, ofrece supervivencias del injerto a largo plazo similares o solo ligeramente inferiores a las de los donantes de muerte encefálica con criterios expandidos. Distintos estudios han observado que los receptores de injertos DAc/DCE tienen peor función renal que los DAc/estándar y que los donantes de muerte encefálica/DCE. La mortalidad asociada al trasplante de injertos de DAc/DCE se relaciona principalmente con la elevada edad del receptor. Los pacientes que reciben un trasplante renal de DAc/? 60 años presentan mejor supervivencia que los que continúan en la lista de espera, aunque este hecho no se ha demostrado en los receptores de DAc/> 65 años. La utilización de este tipo de órganos debe llevar pareja la optimización de los tiempos quirúrgicos y el menor tiempo de isquemia fría posible.The increase in the number of patients on the kidney transplant waiting list has led to an attempt to increase the number of potential donors by incorporating candidates that previously would not have been considered optimal, including donors after cardiac death (DCD) and those with ?expanded? criteria (ECD). Recipients of controlled DCD (cDCD) grafts suffer more delayed graft function (DGF), but have a long-term evolution comparable to those of brain-dead donors, which has allowed an increase in the number of cDCD transplants in different countries in recent years. In parallel, the use of cDCD with expanded criteria (cDCD/ECD) has increased in recent years in different countries, allowing the waiting list for kidney transplantation to be shortened. The use of these grafts, although associated with a higher frequency of DGF, offers similar or only slightly lower long-term graft survival than those of brain death donors with expanded criteria. Different studies have observed that cDCD/ECD graft recipients have worse kidney function than cDCD/standard and brain death/ECD. Mortality associated with cDCD/ECD graft transplantation mostly relates to the recipient age. Patients who receive a cDCD/?60 graft have better survival than those who continue on the waiting list, although this fact has not been demonstrated in recipients of cDCD/>65 years. The use of this type of organ should be accompanied by the optimization of surgical times and the shortest possible cold ischemia

Tau as a molecular marker of development, aging and neurodegenerative disorders

The purpose of this work is to review the changes that take place in the microtubule associated protein tau during neuronal development, aging and neurodegeneration. Human tau protein is expressed from a single gene located on chromosome 17. The DNA is transcribed into nuclear RNA and this RNA, by alternative splicing, yields different mRNA species which are developmentally regulated. In aging, or in neurodegenerative disorders, post translational modifications of tau, such as phosphorylation, could take place, and new tau isoforms may appear. Thus, tau isoforms can be used as markers to follow neuronal development, aging or neurodegeneration.Peer reviewe