A Computational and Experimental Investigation into Radial Injection for Suspension High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (SHVOF) Thermal Spray

Suspension high velocity oxy-fuel thermal spray typically utilizes axial injections of suspension into the combustion chamber. There are certain cases where the oxygen-sensitive nanoparticles benefit from a reduction in the time and temperature spent in the gas flow. Therefore, a radial injection outside of the nozzle can enable deposition of oxygen-sensitive nanomaterials. This study investigated the effect of the suspension flow rate, angle of injection and the injector diameter on the in-flight particle conditions. The combustion reaction is modeled using the eddy dissipation concept model with a robust reaction mechanism and compared to the current approach within the literature. This approach has not been employed within SHVOF thermal spray and provides a robust treatment of the reaction mechanisms. The suspension was modeled using a two-way coupled discrete particle model. Experimental observations were obtained using high-speed imaging, and observations of the liquid jet were compared to the numerical values

Modelling Knudsen number effects in suspension high velocity oxy fuel thermal spray

Suspension high velocity oxy fuel thermal spray is a system characterized by supersonic velocities and length scales of particles of the order of nm – µm. As the effects of rarefication become significant the assumptions within the continuum models begin to collapse, the effects of rarefication can be evaluated through the flow Knudsen number. Modifications to the numerical modelling must be made to incorporate the effects of rarefaction. This study looks to include the effects of rarefication into the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for the suspension high velocity oxy-fuel (SHVOF) thermal spray process. A model for the heat transfer coefficient that take into account the Knudsen and Mach number effects is employed. Finally, the Ranz-Marshall correlation for the Nusselt number is compared to the Kavanau correlation and a compressible Nusselt number correlation. The model is validated through comparisons of particle temperatures which are obtained from two colour pyrometry measurements using a commercially available Accuraspray 4.0 diagnostic system. This study shows that there is a significant improvement in the prediction of inflight particle temperatures when accounting for the effects of compressibility and the effects of rarefication on the Nusselt number

Natural organic matter in sedimentary basins and its relation to arsenic in anoxic ground water: the example of West Bengal and its worldwide implications

In order to investigate the mechanism of As release to anoxic ground water in alluvial aquifers, the authors sampled ground waters from 3 piezometer nests, 79 shallow (80 m) wells, in an area 750 m by 450 m, just north of Barasat, near Kolkata (Calcutta), in southern West Bengal. High concentrations of As (200-1180 mug L-1) are accompanied by high concentrations of Fe (3-13.7 mgL(-1)) and PO4 (1-6.5 mg L-1). Ground water that is rich in Mn (1-5.3 mg L-1) contains <50 mug L-1 of As. The composition of shallow ground water varies at the 100-m scale laterally and the metre-scale vertically, with vertical gradients in As concentration reaching 200 mug L-1 m(-1). The As is supplied by reductive dissolution of FeOOH and release of the sorbed As to solution. The process is driven by natural organic matter in peaty strata both within the aquifer sands and in the overlying confining unit. In well waters, thermotolerant coliforms, a proxy for faecal contamination, are not present in high numbers (<10 cfu/100 ml in 85% of wells) showing that faecally-derived organic matter does not enter the aquifer, does not drive reduction of FeOOH, and so does not release As to ground water.Arsenic concentrations are high (much greater than50 mug L-1) where reduction of FeOOH is complete and its entire load of sorbed As is released to solution, at which point the aquifer sediments become grey in colour as FeOOH vanishes. Where reduction is incomplete, the sediments are brown in colour and resorption of As to residual FeOOH keeps As concentrations below 10 mug L-1 in the presence of dissolved Fe. Sorbed As released by reduction of Mn oxides does not increase As in ground water because the As resorbs to FeOOH. High concentrations of As are common in alluvial aquifers of the Bengal Basin arise because Himalayan erosion supplies immature sediments, with low surface-loadings of FeOOH on mineral grains, to a depositional environment that is rich in organic mater so that complete reduction of FeOOH is common. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Effect of nozzle geometry on the gas dynamics and evaporation rates of Suspension High Velocity Oxy Fuel (SHVOF) thermal spray: a numerical investigation

Thermally sprayed coatings formed from sub-micron or nanoparticles feedstock provide enhanced coating properties and Suspension High Velocity Oxy Fuel (SHVOF) thermal spray is a process that allows the deposition of dense coatings from fine particulates. However, in SHVOF thermal spray, submicron and nanoparticles are significantly influenced by fluctuations in the gas velocity and temperature field due to turbulence and disturbance of the gas fields from the breakup of the suspension due to the small inertia of the particles. In this study, an ethanol suspension containing widely used engineering ceramic particles, TiO2, with four different particle concentrations was considered 0, 10, 15 and 25 wt%. The aim of this paper was to model four nozzle geometries and to investigate the influence the nozzle geometry has on the gas flow and the evaporation rate at four particle concentrations. Comparing four nozzle geometries it is found that the gas exits the longer barrel nozzles at a high velocity; while the velocity in the free jet region beyond the shock diamonds is greater for the shorter nozzles. It is seen that the shorter the nozzle the higher the gas temperature in the free jet; which is due to the lower contact time of the gas with the cooled nozzle walls. This study also considered the effect the nozzle geometry has on the evaporation of the suspension. It was found that the longer the combustion chamber the lower the maximum evaporation rate. Moreover, higher particle concentrations result in evaporation commencing closer to the nozzle inlet due to the lower volatile fraction of the suspension

Evaluation of two mobile health apps in the context of smoking cessation: qualitative study of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) versus non-CBT-based digital solutions.

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps can offer users numerous benefits, representing a feasible and acceptable means of administering health interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is commonly used in the treatment of mental health conditions, where it has a strong evidence base, suggesting that it represents an effective method to elicit health behavior change. More importantly, CBT has proved to be effective in smoking cessation, in the context of smoking-related costs to the National Health Service (NHS) having been estimated to be as high as £2.6bn in 2015. Although the evidence base for computerized CBT in mental health is strong, there is limited literature on its use in smoking cessation. This, combined with the cost-effectiveness of mHealth interventions, advocates a need for research into the effectiveness of CBT-based smoking cessation apps. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was, first, to explore participants' perceptions of 2 mHealth apps, a CBT-based app, Quit Genius, and a non-CBT-based app, NHS Smokefree, over a variety of themes. Second, the study aimed to investigate the perceptions and health behavior of users of each app with respect to smoking cessation. METHODS: A qualitative short-term longitudinal study was conducted, using a sample of 29 smokers allocated to one of the 2 apps, Quit Genius or Smokefree. Each user underwent 2 one-to-one semistructured interviews, 1 week apart. Thematic analysis was carried out, and important themes were identified. Descriptive statistics regarding participants' perceptions and health behavior in relation to smoking cessation are also provided. RESULTS: The thematic analysis resulted in five higher themes and several subthemes. Participants were generally more positive about Quit Genius's features, as well as about its design and information engagement and quality. Quit Genius users reported increased motivation to quit smoking, as well as greater willingness to continue using their allocated app after 1 week. Moreover, these participants demonstrated preliminary changes in their smoking behavior, although this was in the context of our limited sample, not yet allowing for the finding to be generalizable. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the use of CBT in the context of mHealth apps as a feasible and potentially effective smoking cessation tool. mHealth apps must be well developed, preferably with an underlying behavioral change mechanism, to promote positive health behavior change. Digital CBT has the potential to become a powerful tool in overcoming current health care challenges. The present results should be replicated in a wider sample using the apps for a longer period so as to allow for generalizability. Further research is also needed to focus on the effect of greater personalization on behavioral change and on understanding the psychological barriers to the adoption of new mHealth solutions

Hybridization of institutions

Extended version including all proofsModal logics are successfully used as specification logics for reactive systems. However, they are not expressive enough to refer to individual states and reason about the local behaviour of such systems. This limitation is overcome in hybrid logics which introduce special symbols for naming states in models. Actually, hybrid logics have recently regained interest, resulting in a number of new results and techniques as well as applications to software specification. In this context, the first contribution of this paper is an attempt to ‘universalize’ the hybridization idea. Following the lines of [DS07], where a method to modalize arbitrary institutions is presented, the paper introduces a method to hybridize logics at the same institution-independent level. The method extends arbitrary institutions with Kripke semantics (for multi-modalities with arbitrary arities) and hybrid features. This paves the ground for a general result: any encoding (expressed as comorphism) from an arbitrary institution to first order logic (FOL) deter- mines a comorphism from its hybridization to FOL. This second contribution opens the possibility of effective tool support to specification languages based upon logics with hybrid features.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

A condensed matter interpretation of SM fermions and gauge fields

We present the bundle Aff(3) x C x /(R^3), with a geometric Dirac equation on it, as a three-dimensional geometric interpretation of the SM fermions. Each C x /(R^3) describes an electroweak doublet. The Dirac equation has a doubler-free staggered spatial discretization on the lattice space Aff(3) x C (Z^3). This space allows a simple physical interpretation as a phase space of a lattice of cells in R^3. We find the SM SU(3)_c x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y action on Aff(3) x C x /(R^3) to be a maximal anomaly-free special gauge action preserving E(3) symmetry and symplectic structure, which can be constructed using two simple types of gauge-like lattice fields: Wilson gauge fields and correction terms for lattice deformations. The lattice fermion fields we propose to quantize as low energy states of a canonical quantum theory with Z_2-degenerated vacuum state. We construct anticommuting fermion operators for the resulting Z_2-valued (spin) field theory. A metric theory of gravity compatible with this model is presented too.Comment: Minimal modifications in comparison with the published versio

V,W and X in Technicolour Models

Light techni-fermions and pseudo Goldstone bosons that contribute to the electroweak radiative correction parameters V,W and X may relax the constraints on technicolour models from the experimental values of the parameters S and T. Order of magnitude estimates of the contributions to V,W and X from light techni-leptons are made when the the techni-neutrino has a small Dirac mass or a large Majorana mass. The contributions to V,W and X from pseudo Goldstone bosons are calculated in a gauged chiral Lagrangian. Estimates of V,W and X in one family technicolour models suggest that the upper bounds on S and T should be relaxed by between 0.1 and 1 depending upon the precise particle spectrum.Comment: 19 pages + 2 pages of ps figs, SWAT/1

Refinement and validation of an FFQ developed to estimate macro- and micronutrient intakes in a south Indian population

Objective: Potential error sources in nutrient estimation with the FFQ include inaccurate or biased recall and overestimation or underestimation of intake due to too many or too few items on the FFQ, respectively. Here we report the refinement of an FFQ that overestimated nutrient intake and its validation against multiple 24 h recalls. Study Design: Data on 2527 participants in south India (Trivandrum) were available for the original FFQ (OFFQ) that overestimated nutrient intake (132 food items). After excluding participants with implausible energy intake estimates (15.69 MJ/d (\u3e3750 kcal/d)) we ran stepwise regression analyses with selected nutrients as the outcomes and food intake (servings/d) as predictor variables (n 1867). From these results and expert consultation we refined the FFQ (RFFQ), and validated it by comparing intakes obtained with it and the mean of two 24 recalls among 100 participants. Results: The OFFQ overestimated usual daily nutrient intake before and after exclusions [for energy: 1339 (SD 5.46) MJ (3201 (SD 1305) kcal) and 1096 (sD 2.65) MJ (2619 (SD 634) kcal), respectively]. In stepwise analyses, fifty-seven food items explained 90% of the variance in nutrients, we retained thirteen food items because participants consumed them at least twice monthly and twelve food items that local nutritionists recommended. Mean energy intake estimated from the RFFQ (eighty-two food items) was 7.94 (SD 2.05) MJ (1897 (SD 489) kcal). The de-attenuated correlations between mean 24 h recall and RFFQ intakes ranged from 0.25 (vitamin A) to 0.82 (fat). Conclusion: We refined an FFQ that overestimated nutrient intake by shortening and redesigning, and validated it by comparisons with 24 h dietary recall data