Influence of Ground on Jet Fire Extension

A common accident in the industrial process industry is the puncturing of storage tanks or rupture of process pipelines containing gases. In these scenarios, the gas will escape the piece of equipment producing a single-phase gas jet. If the fluid is flammable, an ignition source is most probably encountered during the accidental scenario and a jet-fire can follow the leak. Free jets of hazardous gases and free jet-fires have been extensively analyzed in the past literature to assess their shape and extension for safety purposes. Similar analyses have been conducted to observe the effect on shape/extension of neutral jets if obstacles were present. Also, the effect of the ground proximity to the jet source has been studied. In general, the presence of obstacles and the proximity to the ground lead to enlarged hazardous areas, mainly because of the Coandă effect. In this work, flammable jets igniting and forming a jet-fire were considered. The effect of the ground proximity was analyzed, to observe the extension of the flame. Two opposed phenomena were supposed to act on the fire, differently from non-ignited jets: the Coandă effect having an attractive nature towards the ground and the buoyancy effect on the opposite direction. The relevant methane jet-fires case study was considered carrying out computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using the Fire Dynamics Simulator software. The study considered both the jet source height from the ground and the gas relief flowrate effects. CFD results were summarized basing on simple dimensionless parameters to determine the eventual variation of jet-fire extension for preliminary safety analyses

Refrán y comedia palaciega: los ejemplos de “El Perro del Hortelano” y de “El Vergonzoso en Palacio”

Partiendo del hecho de que Lope de Vega y Tirso de Molina crean dos comedias palaciegas, El Perro del Hortelano y El Vergonzoso en Palacio, que toman su título de dos refranes muy conocidos en la España del Siglo de Oro, el presente artículo pretende analizar la acción teatral de ambas piezas con el propósito de mostrar el juego amoroso protagonizado por damas astutas y caballeros confundidos por el comportamiento cortesano y equívoco de sus amadas. Starting from the fact that Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina make two «comedias palaciegas», El perro del Hortelano y El Vergonzoso en Palacio, that take their from two well-kown proverbs in the Spain of the Golden Age, the aim of the present article is to analyse the theatre action in both plays in order to show the amorous game played by witty ladies and confused mans before the ambiguous and courtizan behaviour of their beloved

Process intensification for the production of cyclic macrolactones: identification of safe operating conditions in tubular reactors

In this work, the possibility to shift from a batch to a continuous production of 16-hexadecanolide, one of the main components of the white musk essence, was theoretically studied. The selected synthesis was an upgraded version of that proposed by Story in 1968, who obtained macrocyclic compounds from the decomposition of ketone peroxides (in this case the involved peroxide was tricyclohexylidene triperoxide). But such reaction presents some huge criticalities: 1) high exothermicity and, 2) production of carbon dioxide, which are known to both modify the kinetics of the desired reaction and lead to a pressure increase inside the reactor whether the gases are not vented. For such reasons, to implement any safe continuous production of this chemical compound, two main points must be addressed: 1) determination of the system runaway boundaries and 2) identification of the optimal operating conditions to make sustainable the production of 16-hexadecanolide (that is, the theoretical design of a tubular reactor capable of continuously discharging the produced incoercible gases). For what concerns the first point, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the safe operating range of the most important operating variables (that is, coolant temperature and reactant inlet temperature) possibly taking into account the effect of radial dispersion; for the second point, as carbon dioxide is produced over the decomposition and needs to be continuously vented to avoid reactor pressurization, a Teflon tube, highly permeable with respect to carbon dioxide, was proposed and its theoretical performances was investigated trying to maximize 16-hexadecanolide productivity also maintaining safe operating conditions. Results showed the theoretical possibility of developing a continuous production process capable of being also commercially sustainable

Effects of the equilibrium atmosphere on Taleggio cheese storage in micro perforated packaging

Taleggio is an Italian smear-ripened cheese, whose complex microbiota demands the optimisation of the packaging system to avoid excessive changes during storage. Metabolic processes of the cheese rind microbiota can be usefully exploited in equilibrium modified atmosphere packaging (EMAP) by balancing microbiota respiration and film permeation. Here, we present the application of three different micro perforated EMAPs as models for smear-ripened cheese compared to two control packaging configurations. Analyses of the main microbial groups, headspace gas, textural profile, and sensory properties were performed to find the best packaging for storage. Results showed that two of the alternative micro perforated packaging systems were able to control the excessive changes during storage, thus limiting fungal overgrowth and allowing the typical development of smear microbiota with minor changes to hardness and cohesiveness. Finally, the sensory evaluation positively favoured one of the alternatively packed cheeses based on its compactness, typical dairy traits, and minor off-flavours. These findings showed that EMAP can be a valid alternative solution to control the storage of Taleggio cheese. Further studies could be conducted to evaluate this system on other smear cheeses

Writing 3D In vitro models of human tendon within a biomimetic fibrillar support platform

Tendinopathies are poorly understood diseases for which treatment remains challenging. Relevant in vitro models to study human tendon physiology and pathophysiology are therefore highly needed. Here we propose the automated 3D writing of tendon microphysiological systems (MPSs) embedded in a biomimetic fibrillar support platform based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) self-assembly. Tendon decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) was used to formulate bioinks that closely recapitulate the biochemical signature of tendon niche. A monoculture system recreating the cellular patterns and phenotype of the tendon core was first developed and characterized. This system was then incorporated with a vascular compartment to study the crosstalk between the two cell populations. The combined biophysical and biochemical cues of the printed pattern and dECM hydrogel were revealed to be effective in inducing human-adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) differentiation toward the tenogenic lineage. In the multicellular system, chemotactic effects promoted endothelial cells migration toward the direction of the tendon core compartment, while the established cellular crosstalk boosted hASCs tenogenesis, emulating the tendon development stages. Overall, the proposed concept is a promising strategy for the automated fabrication of humanized organotypic tendon-on-chip models that will be a valuable new tool for the study of tendon physiology and pathogenesis mechanisms and for testing new tendinopathy treatments.The authors thank Hospital da Prelada (Porto, Portugal) for providing adipose tissue samples. The authors acknowledge the financial support from Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER 000021 supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020, under the Twinning Grant Agreement 810850-Achilles, and European Research Council Grant Agreement 772817 and 101069302, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for the Ph.D. grant PD/BD/129403/2017 (to S.M.B.) financed through the doctoral program in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells (TERM&SC), for Contract 2020.03410.CEECIND and 2022.05526.PTDC (to R.M.A.D.). The authors acknowledge Doctor Alberto Pardo for performing the rheology measurements of the PL bioink. The schematics in Figures 1, 2A, 4A, and 6A and Table of Contents graphic were created with BioRender.com

Social weaknesses versus environmental conservation of Extractive Reserves in the Amazon.

As Reservas Extrativistas (RESEXs) na Amazônia foram criadas visando melhorar as condições de vida de seus habitantes e proteger os recursos naturais. Buscando observar esta realidade, este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar as políticas sociais e produtivas na perspectiva da sustentabilidade socioambiental de duas RESEXs da Amazônia brasileira. Os dados e informações foram gerados por meio de observações, entrevistas e uso de questionário com 150 moradores de 29 comunidades das RESEXs Alto Juruá (Acre) e Rio Ouro Preto (Rondônia) localizadas na Amazônia Ocidental brasileira. Os resultados indicam que o distanciamento entre políticas sociais, econômicas e políticas de proteção florestal conduziu as RESEXs ao declínio. A conclusão é que a sustentabilidade dessas áreas depende de políticas sociais associadas às políticas econômicas, ecológicas e parcerias que valorizemos recursos ambientais e garantam a manutenção d e condições de vida dos habitantes

Prevalencia de patología disfuncional masticatoria en una muestra de pacientes de la clínica odontológica universitaria

El objetivo de este trabajo es valorar los signos y síntomas más frecuentes relativos a la patología temporomandibular, en una muestra de pacientes. Para ello se estudian las respuestas a un cuestionario y los resultados obtenidos en un protocolo de exploración aplicado a 63 pacientes visitados en la clínica odontológica universitaria de la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad de Barcelona. La semiología más prevalente hallada incluye la que se asocia al apretamiento diurno de los dientes, seguida de clics, apretamiento nocturno de los dientes y los desgastes oclusales, cuya repercusión física parece afectar con mayor frecuencia al disco o menisco articular

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly