Heat exchanger/reactors (HEX reactors): Concepts, technologies: State-of-the-art

Process intensification is a chemical engineering field which has truly emerged in the past few years and is currently rapidly growing. It consists in looking for safer operating conditions, lower waste in terms of costs and energy and higher productivity; and away to reach such objectives is to develop multifunctional devices such as heat exchanger/reactors for instance. This review is focused on the latter and makes a point on heat exchanger/reactors. After a brief presentation of requirements due to transposition from batch to continuous apparatuses, heat exchangers/reactors at industrial or pilot scales and their applications are described

Vortex phase diagram in BSCCO with damage tracks created by 30 MeV fullerene irradiation

Using 30 MeV C60 fullerene irradiation, we have produced latent tracks of diameter 20 nm and length 200 nm, near the surface of single crystalline BSCCO. A preliminary transmission electron microscopy study shows evidence for a very high density of deposited energy, and the ejection of material from the track core in very thin specimens. The latent tracks reveal themselves to be exceptionally strong pinning centers for vortices in the superconducting mixed state. Both the critical current density and magnetic irreversibility line are significantly enhanced. The irradiated crystals present salient features of the (B,T) phase diagram of vortex matter both of pristine crystals, such as the first order vortex phase transition, and the exponential Bose-glass line characteristic of heavy ion-irradiated crystals. We show that the latter is manifestly independent of the pinning potential.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure

Long-range correlation properties in timing of skilled piano performance: the influence of auditory feedback and deep brain stimulation

Unintentional timing deviations during musical performance can be conceived of as timing errors. However, recent research on humanizing computer-generated music has demonstrated that timing fluctuations that exhibit long-range temporal correlations (LRTC) are preferred by human listeners. This preference can be accounted for by the ubiquitous presence of LRTC in human tapping and rhythmic performances. Interestingly, the manifestation of LRTC in tapping behavior seems to be driven in a subject-specific manner by the LRTC properties of resting-state background cortical oscillatory activity. In this framework, the current study aimed to investigate whether propagation of timing deviations during the skilled, memorized piano performance (without metronome) of 17 professional pianists exhibits LRTC and whether the structure of the correlations is influenced by the presence or absence of auditory feedback. As an additional goal, we set out to investigate the influence of altering the dynamics along the cortico-basal-ganglia-thalamo-cortical network via deep brain stimulation (DBS) on the LRTC properties of musical performance. Specifically, we investigated temporal deviations during the skilled piano performance of a non-professional pianist who was treated with subthalamic-deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) due to severe Parkinson's disease, with predominant tremor affecting his right upper extremity. In the tremor-affected right hand, the timing fluctuations of the performance exhibited random correlations with DBS OFF. By contrast, DBS restored long-range dependency in the temporal fluctuations, corresponding with the general motor improvement on DBS. Overall, the present investigations demonstrate the presence of LRTC in skilled piano performances, indicating that unintentional temporal deviations are correlated over a wide range of time scales. This phenomenon is stable after removal of the auditory feedback, but is altered by STN-DBS, which suggests that cortico-basal ganglia thalamocortical circuits play a role in the modulation of the serial correlations of timing fluctuations exhibited in skilled musical performance

Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease

Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1β innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.

Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland

peer reviewedAlong with Arctic warming, climate models project a strong increase in Arctic precipitation in the 21st century as well as an increase in the ratio of liquid to total precipitation. In the precipitation-rich region of south-east Greenland, precipitation changes could locally have significant impacts on runoff. However, climate data are sparse in this remote region. This study focuses on improving our understanding of the past precipitation changes on Ammassalik island in south-east Greenland between 1958 and 2021. To assess past changes in air temperature at 2-meter and precipitation, output from a regional polar climate model (RACMO2.3p2) is evaluated with measurements from automatic weather stations in Tasiilaq and on Mittivakkat glacier. In addition, RACMO2.3p2 is used to assess past seasonal changes in air temperature at 2-meter, precipitation amount, precipitation phase and the altitude of the rain/snow boundary. We find that the climate model accurately represents the monthly average observed air temperature at 2-meter. While total precipitation is overestimated, interannual variability of precipitation is properly captured. We report a significant increase of summer temperature at 2-meter of +0.3°C/decade (p<0.01) at Mittivakkat glacier and +0.2°C/decade (p<0.01) in Tasiilaq in 1958–2021. For the subperiod 1990–2019, the trend in annual averages of temperature at 2-meter in Tasiilaq (+0.8°C/decade, p=0.02) corresponds well to known temperature trends on the Greenland Ice Sheet within the same period. On Mittivakkat glacier a significant trend is not detected within this subperiod (+0.2°C/decade, p=0.25). The modelled liquid precipitation ratio on Ammassalik island increased in all summer months (1958–2015) by +2.0/+1.9/+1.8%/decade in June/July/August respectively. In July and August, these trends were stronger at higher elevations. No statistical evidence is found for trends in other seasons. We also identify monthly increases in the altitude of the rain-to-snow boundary (+25/+23/+20 m/decade in July/August/September respectively)

Corrigendum: Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland(Front. Earth Sci., (2023), 10, (1085499), 10.3389/feart.2022.1085499)

peer reviewedIn the published article, there was an error in the Funding statement. The financial support of the University of Graz was not addressed. The correct Funding statement appears below. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated