Hydrogen-rich gas generator

A process and apparatus are described for producing hydrogen-rich product gases. A spray of liquid hydrocarbon is mixed with a stream of air in a startup procedure and the mixture is ignited for partial oxidation. The stream of air is then heated by the resulting combustion to reach a temperature such that a signal is produced. The signal triggers a two way valve which directs liquid hydrocarbon from a spraying mechanism to a vaporizing mechanism with which a vaporized hydrocarbon is formed. The vaporized hydrocarbon is subsequently mixed with the heated air in the combustion chamber where partial oxidation takes place and hydrogen-rich product gases are produced

Start up system for hydrogen generator used with an internal combustion engine

A hydrogen generator provides hydrogen rich product gases which are mixed with the fuel being supplied to an internal combustion engine for the purpose of enabling a very lean mixture of that fuel to be used, whereby nitrous oxides emitted by the engine are minimized. The hydrogen generator contains a catalyst which must be heated to a pre-determined temperature before it can react properly. To simplify the process of heating up the catalyst at start-up time, either some of the energy produced by the engine such as engine exhaust gas, or electrical energy produced by the engine, or the engine exhaust gas may be used to heat up air which is then used to heat the catalyst

Taoist Principles in Walt Whitman\u27s Song of Myself

One of the most influential and well recognized writers of the 19th century is Walt Whitman. He created works that changed the way that individuals saw the world around them and themselves. Walt Whitman was vocal about the absolut originality of his work and that he never took ideas from outside influence, but regardless of his own claims, his work presents a clear allusion to Eastern thought that particularly resembles that of the Tao te Ching. Some of the concepts that he underlines in his own work include but are not limited to simplicity, compassion, and patience. These aren’t the only principles he relates to, as he also has a clear understanding of the universe and the divine. Walt Whitman was an extremely well read individual, meaning that even though he claimed to never have read the Tao te Ching, it’s influence for “Song of Myself” is plausible. This essay seeks to reveal the underlying Taoist concepts and ideals that are present in Walt Whitman’s 1855 publication “Song of Myself.” Whitman tended to write in ways that forced the reader to come to their own conclusions, and discussing the similarities of these two works helps critics to better understand him. Knowing these similarities allows readers to understand where the ideas could have come from

EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION: FIRM'S ACTIVITIES AND PERFORMANCE

How do firms acquire new knowledge to improve their innovation performance? To answer this important research question, we focus on two aspects of knowledge acquisition: employees training and stakeholder management. From one side, we are interested in providing insights on internal practices that may enhance the benefits from the relationship and acquisition of external knowledge sources, focusing on training. From the other side, we investigate whether different firms' stakeholder engagement practices influence employees' relations and commitment and external knowledge sources. This thesis explores macro and micro-level factors that may increase or hamper innovation and job performance. Accordingly, we will use distinct methodologies that provide adequate data levels and measures to test our theories. The first part of this thesis examines how strategic human capital practices interact with external knowledge. Specifically, I examine how adopting training practices interacts with how much firm benefits from external knowledge. I argue that firms that adopt training practices should be more able to extract value from new knowledge, including the knowledge gained from external sources. In turn, investments in human capital may amplify external knowledge's benefits to enable firms to be more likely to develop new products. I examine how training influences innovation performance using an updated sample of multi-country, multi-year, and multi-industry data from the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS). Granting access to the CIS microdata across European countries requires an application process at Eurostat. Typically, researchers obtain single or few countries' microdata. We have been granted access to microdata of multiple European countries that have participated in the survey in the last four available waves (2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014). I focus this study on small firms because small firms cannot implement costly high investments in R&D strategies but should benefit from even some investments in their human capital. The second part examines whether a firm's stakeholder engagement may positively or negatively affect individuals' job performance. Informing individuals about a firm's CSR initiatives towards distinct external stakeholders induces individuals to react accordingly. I want to investigate whether CSR initiatives through employees' organizational identity may limit the negative attitude of NIH and limit the negative consequences of this attitude on individual performance. The common belief is that individuals within firms are reluctant to use knowledge from external sources since they prefer to develop the knowledge they need internally. Limiting the benefits coming from the cooperation with external knowledge sources. Employees in successful firms show greater NIH attitudes since they feel more attached to the organization and value their internal resources more than external ones. This paper explores individuals' responsiveness to firms' corporate social responsibility initiatives using external knowledge and the effect on individual performance. I use randomized online experiments to provide causal evidence that receiving information about a firm's CSR initiatives may influence NIH and individual performance

The seismological correspondence at the Observatory of the Alberoni College in Piacenza

The Observatory of Collegio Alberoni in Piacenza boasts a long tradition of observations in the field of the Earth Sciences. Founded first of all as an astronomical observatory in 1751 it gradually specialized also in meteorological observation starting in 1802 and that of instrumental seismology starting in 1861. The instrumental observation of earthquakes in the modern sense started in the 1920s and is documented by an epistolary archive of some 200 letters (1913-1972) described here in brief. The Observatory has a broad-ranging initiative ongoing for the recovery of the historical scientific wealth of its long tradition in which the letters themselves play a very important role

Therapeutic approaches with intravitreal injections in geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration: current drugs and potential molecules

The present review focuses on recent clinical trials that analyze the efficacy of intravitreal therapeutic agents for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), such as neuroprotective drugs, and complement inhibitors, also called immunomodulatory or anti-inflammatory agents. A systematic literature search was performed to identify randomized controlled trials published prior to January 2019. Patients affected by dry AMD treated with intravitreal therapeutic agents were included. Changes in the correct visual acuity and reduction in geographic atrophy progression were evaluated. Several new drugs have shown promising results, including those targeting the complement cascade and neuroprotective agents. The potential action of the two groups of drugs is to block complement cascade upregulation of immunomodulating agents, and to prevent the degeneration and apoptosis of ganglion cells for the neuroprotectors, respectively. Our analysis indicates that finding treatments for dry AMD will require continued collaboration among researchers to identify additional molecular targets and to fully interrogate the utility of pluripotent stem cells for personalized therapy

Toxic urban waste's assault on cardiovascular risk

Abstract A cardiovascular health survey of 1203 persons in households located near the hazardous waste disposal sites and in a reference community, was conducted from 2009 until today to assess whether rates of adverse cardiovascular health outcomes were elevated among persons living near the sites. Data included medical records of reported cardiovascular disease certificates and hospital admission for cardiovascular diseases from hospital database. The study areas appeared similar with respect to mortality, cancer incidence, and pregnancy outcomes. In contrast, rate ratios were greater than 1.5 for 2 of 19 reported diseases, i.e., angina pectoris, and strokes. The apparent broad-based elevation in reported diseases and symptoms may reflect increased perception or recall of conditions by respondents living near the sites. Our study found that cardiovascular risk is associated only with PM 2.5 concentrations, derived from uncontrolled burning of municipal solid waste in particular sites of our country. Their analysis demonstrated a relationship between increased levels of eventual fine particulate pollution and higher rates of death and complications from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Management of solid waste releases a number of toxic substances, most in small quantities and at extremely low levels. Because of the wide range of pollutants, the different pathways of exposure, long-term low-level exposure, and the potential for synergism among the pollutants, concerns remain about potential health effects but there are many uncertainties involved in the assessment. Future community-based health studies should include medical and psychosocial assessment instruments sufficient to distinguish between changes in health status and effects of resident reporting tendency

New metrics to probe the dynamical state of galaxy clusters

We present new diagnostic metrics to probe the dynamical state of galaxy clusters. These novel metrics rely on the computation of the power spectra of the matter and gas distributions and their cross-correlation derived from cluster observations. This analysis permits us to cross-correlate the fluctuations in the matter distribution, inferred from high-resolution lensing mass maps derived from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, with those derived from the emitted X-ray surface brightness distribution of the hot Intra-Cluster medium (ICM) from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO). These methodological tools allow us to quantify with unprecedented resolution the coherence with which the gas traces the mass and interrogate the assumption that the gas is in hydro-static equilibrium with the underlying gravitational potential. We characterize departures from equilibrium as a function of scale with a new gas-mass coherence parameter. The efficacy of these metrics is demonstrated by applying them to the analysis of two representative clusters known to be in different dynamical states: the massive merging cluster Abell 2744, from the HST Frontier Fields (HSTFF) sample, and the dynamically relaxed cluster Abell 383, from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova Survey with Hubble (CLASH) sample. Using lensing mass maps in combination with archival Chandra data, and simulated cluster analogs available from the OMEGA500 suite, we quantify the fluctuations in the mass and X-ray surface brightness and show that new insights into the dynamical state of the clusters can be obtained from our gas-mass coherence analysis.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Ap