Welfare assessment: correlations and integration between a Qualitative Behavioural Assessment and a clinical/health protocol applied in veal calves farms

This study is aimed at finding correlations and possible integration among Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) and a specific protocol of clinical/health evaluation. Both welfare assessment methods were based on direct animal observation and were applied in 24 Italian veal calves farms at 3 weeks (wks) of rearing. Principal component analysis (PCA) summarized 20 QBA descriptors on two main components (PC1 and PC2) with eigenvalues above 4 and explaining 29.6 and 20.3% of the variation respectively. PCA on residuals obtained after correcting for housing condition yielded highly similar results, indicating that the rearing environment of the calves was not an important determinant of the observer reliability of QBA. A relationship was found between QBA PC2 and the presence of signs of cross-sucking recorded during the clinical visit (presence PC2=1.11 vs. absence PC2=-1.55,

Plasma-exchange in the treatment of systemic rheumatic diseases: past and present experience

La terapia con plasma-exchange (PEx) e stata utilizzata sin dagli anni Settanta per la cura di molteplici malattie, nella cui patogenesi fattori umorali si riteneva potessero giocare un ruolo di rilievo. Questa modalita di trattamento comporta la rimozione di autoanticorpi, immunocomplessi circolanti, molecole di adesione, citochine, chemochine ed altri mediatori solubili implicati nello sviluppo del danno tissutale (1). Nel 1993 l'American Society of Apheresis (ASFA) ha per la prima volta pubblicato un elenco di applicazioni cliniche delle diverse tecniche di aferesi terapeutica, fra le quali di gran lunga la piu utilizzata era, allora come oggi, il PEx (2). Questo elenco comprendeva malattie autoimmuni, malattie ematologiche ed oncologiche, disordini metabolici, malattie neurologiche e malattie renali. Fra le malattie autoimmuni figuravano molte forme morbose di pertinenza reumatologica..

Mixture composition influence on schlieren images for simulated premixed -air flame

Schlieren techniques are widely utilized for flame characterization, and ongoing research at Politecnico di Milano focuses on employing tomographic Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) technique to measure temperature distribution in an axis-symmetric H2-air premixed flame. The initial step in this process involves tomographic reconstruction of the refractive index distribution from the ray deflection measured from the BOS images. However, due to the unknown exact composition of the mixture, an assumption of constant composition (i.e., uniform Gladstone-Dale constant) must be made, which can significantly affect temperature accuracy. The primary objective of this study is to analyze the dependency of refractive index and deflection on composition and how these parameters vary with changing equivalence ratios. This analysis is conducted through a 1-D planar simulation of an H2-air laminar premixed flame. Additionally, the study aims to assess whether similar outcomes can be achieved with an axis-symmetric refractive index field simulating a Bunsen-type burner flame. The flame simulation employs the CANTERA Python suite with the FreeSolver tool and a kinetic mechanism model for H2 combustion. Refractive index computation in both 1D and axis-symmetric cases considers the real mixture composition, and three different scenarios assuming Gladstone-Dale constants for fresh mixture, exhaust gases, and air, applied uniformly. For deflection estimation, a ray tracing algorithm is utilized, involving integration of a simplified form of the ray equation. Analysis of the 1D-case reveals that assuming a constant fresh mixture composition yields the most accurate results, with similar trends observed in the axis-symmetric case. Differences in results are lower for lean mixtures and increase for rich mixtures. These findings deepen the understanding of composition's impact on deflections in Schlieren techniques and will facilitate accurate temperature estimation of the H2-air premixed flame through tomographic BOS

Phase-averaged characterization of turbulent isothermal free swirling jet after vortex breakdown

This work mainly focused on the near-exit region of a round isothermal free swirling jet to characterize the effect of swirl on the flow field and to identify large coherent structures. 3C-2D PIV was employed to capture the instantaneous flow field close to the nozzle exit for non-swirling (S=0) and a high swirling jets (S=1.26) both with a Reynolds number of 21800. At swirl level of 1.26 the pressure fluctuations measured by a capacitive microphone indicate the existence of periodic instability, the so called precessing vortex core (PVC). A three-component proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) applied to the instantaneous velocity fields allow to identify the dominant flow structure associated to the PVC. The time coefficients of the two first most energetic POD modes were used to reconstruct the phase of the oscillatory motion in the swirling flow. The phase information was then used to conditionally average the instantaneous velocity field s, this allowed the 3D structure of the PVC to be reconstructed. The instantaneous minima of negative swirling strength values calculated from the instantaneous velocity field revealed the presence of two helical structures located in the inner and outer shear layers. By phase averaging the instantaneous swirling strength maps, the 3D helical vortex structure was reconstructed . The two co-winding counter-rotating helical structure fade out at an axial location of approximately z/ D = 1.5. The findings evidence that the combined application of PIV, POD and frequency analysis using capacitive microphone can provide detailed observations of coherent fluctuations ind uced by vortex precession

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON ISOTHERMAL FREE SWIRLING JET

This paper reports an experimental investigation on the dynamics of turbulent unconfined swirling flows. Isothermal free swirling jets with five different swirl numbers (S) and fixed Reynolds number (Re = 21800) are investigated to analyze the effect of swirl intensity on the recirculation, vortex breakdown and the occurrence of the precession vortex core (PVC) by means of 3C-2D Stereoscopic Particle image velocimetry (PIV). The contours and radial profiles of mean axial velocity confirmed the central recirculation zone (CRZ) for high swirl number. The importance of central recirculation zone is to ensure a good mixing of air/ fuel and combustion products and to generate a low velocity region for flame stabilization. Results shows that swirl intensity increases the backflow rate in the recirculation zone and jet spreads almost linearly with a higher spread rate as compared to non swirling flow. The frequency characteristics have been measured with a capacitive microphone. The frequency spectrum indicates the presence of periodic oscillation related to the existence of PVC. The Strouhal number associated with the frequency of the PVC vary almost linearly with swirl intensity

Clinicians need to be careful that they do not confuse mental health issues and long COVID in children and adolescents

No abstract available

Investigation of injector geometry effects on flow dynamics in hydrogen double-swirl burners

In present days, hydrogen represents a possible substitute in combustion applications, since it burns with no CO2 release in the ambient. Due to its high reactivity and high temperatures with respect to traditional fuels, hydrogen increases the flashback propensity and enhances NOx emissions. The aim of this study is to design an atmospheric double-swirl burner fed by hydrogen characterized by low NOx emissions and study the influence of the injector geometry on the flow field structure in isothermal conditions. The burner consists of a central premixed swirled injector, placed inside an annular co-rotating swirled air flow. These streams are injected into an octagonal combustion chamber. The chamber is equipped with quartz windows to facilitate camera access for performing isothermal Stereo-PIV measurements. Due to this requirement, an equivalent airflow rate is used instead of hydrogen. The tests are conducted considering an equivalent thermal power of 12 kW, a secondary air split ratio of 0.6 and a global equivalence ratio of 0.45. The average flow field is analysed for various injector geometries, investigating the impact of axial holes presence and injector diameter on the flow characteristics. From Stereo-PIV measurements emerges that the geometry has a limited impact on the swirl number. The presence of corner recirculation vortex CRV and central reverse flow zone CRFZ emerges in all the examined geometries, nevertheless it is reduced by a decrease of the injector diameter. The current findings represent an initial phase preceding the evaluation of the burner in reactive scenarios. Furthermore, these results will be useful for validating and enhancing a numerical simulation, thereby enabling a more profound comprehension of how injector geometry and operating parameters impact the flow dynamics

Effectiveness of a commercial lure to attract red fox

In camera trap studies, attractants may be used to increase detection probabilities of wildlife, which may help to improve estimates of abundance and occupancy. Using a semi-experimental approach, we investigated if a commercial, strawberry scented lure increased detection probability and visiting time duration in red fox Vulpes vulpes, and the potential reasons for variation in these parameters. In September 2020, within the Stelvio National Park, central Italian Alps, 32 camera sites were randomly assigned to 4 different treatments: 8 to commercial lure, the target of our investigation; 8 to orange aroma, to test for the "curiosity" effect; 8 to cat kibble, to test for the "likability" effect; 8 to camera trap only, the control test. Detection probability and duration of visiting time were estimated using hurdle negative binomial regression models. Daily detection probability was significantly higher with lure (0.078), orange aroma (0.086), kibble (0.075) than with camera trap only (0.031); in the first day after treatment, the time an animal spent in front of the cameras significantly increased with orange aroma (16.61 s) and kibble (33.78 s) compared to lure (9.97 s) and camera trap only (0.38 s). Our results support the use of lures to improve detection probability and visit duration in red fox, but we could not disentangle the drivers of increased parameter estimates. When consumable costs are considered, the use of the commercial strawberry scented lure does not appear justified for both detection probability and visit duration, and cheaper alternatives may be preferable

Numbering of Fullerenes (IUPAC Recommendations 2004)

Rules for numbering (C60-Ih)[5,6]fullerene and (C70-D5h(6))[5,6]fullerene were codified in a publication "Nomenclature for the (C60-Ih)[5,6] and (C70-D5h(6))[5,6]fullerenes” published in Pure Appl. Chem.74 (4), 629-695 (2002). The current publication contains recommendations for numbering a wide variety of fullerenes of different sizes, with rings of different sizes, from C20 to C120, and of various point group symmetries, including low symmetries such as Cs, Ci, and C1, as well as many fullerenes that have been isolated and well characterized as pristine carbon allotropes or as derivatives. These recommendations are based on the principles established in the earlier publication and aim at the identification of a well-defined and preferably contiguous helical pathway for numbering. Rules for systematically completing the numbering of fullerene structures for which a contiguous numbering pathway becomes discontiguous are presente

Comparison of wide field optical coherence tomography angiography with extended field imaging and fluorescein angiography in retinal vascular disorders

Purpose To compare swept source OCTA device, with and without the extended field imaging (EFI) technique, to standard fluorescein angiography (FA) in the clinical practice. Methods Consecutive patients with vascular disorder patients underwent FA with 55-degree lens (Spectralis Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) and OCTA with the prototype PlexElite (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA) using a 12 mm x 12 mm volume scan pattern centered on the fovea and a prototype of + 20.00-diopter designed specifically by Zeiss. The imaging methods were compared for visible field of view, extension of non-perfused areas, presence and number of neovessels, vessel density (VD) and fractal dimension (FD). Results Forty-three eyes of 27 patients were included. The mean extension ratio of EFI SS-OCTA compared to SS-OCTA without EFI and FA were 1.97 \ub1 0.02 and 0.85 \ub1 0.01. The mean extension of non-perfused areas with EFI SS-OCTA (34.22 \ub1 33.4 mm 2 ) was significantly higher than SS-OCTA without EFI (20.46 \ub1 18.70 mm 2 ), and with FA (27.55 \ub1 4.4 mm 2 ). The mean VD and FD of EFI SS-OCTA were significantly different compared to SS-OCT without EFI. Conclusions EFI SS-OCTA captured larger areas than SS-OCTA without EFI and FA. OCTA in a single shot is able to obtain more information of the retina without the use of montage techniques. Despite the determination of retinal ischemia seems to be easier and more accurate using EFI SS-OCTA, FA offers more details of the perfusion status of the retina