Removal of carbon monoxide. Physical adsorption on natural and synthetic zeolites

The utilization of natural zeolite materials in the elimination of polluting gases is investigated. Carbon monoxide pollution is emphasized because its concentration may reach dangerous levels in places such as vehicle tunnels, underground parking lots, etc. The elimination of carbon monoxide is also of interest in some industrial processes relating to the production of pure gases

Off-design of a CO2-based mixture transcritical cycle for CSP applications: Analysis at part load and variable ambient temperature

This work focuses on the off-design analysis of a simple recuperative transcritical power cycle working with the CO2 + C6F6 mixture as working fluid. The cycle is aircooled and proposed for a state-of-the-art concentrated solar plant with solar salts as heat transfer fluid in a hot region, with a cycle minimum and maximum temperature of 51 degrees C and 550 degrees C at design conditions. The design of each cycle heat exchanger (primary, recuperator and condenser) is carried out in MATLAB with referenced models and the turbine designed in CFD, providing performance maps adopted by the cycle operating in sliding pressure. The off-design of the cycle is developed with a routine simulating the thermodynamic conditions of the cycle at variable ambient temperature and thermal inputs down to 40 % of the nominal value. The results show that the cycle can efficiently run in a wide range of part load conditions and ambient temperatures, from around 0 degrees C to over 40 degrees C, with net electric cycle efficiencies from 45 % to 36 %: according to the control philosophy proposed, the condenser fans are fixed at design speed, while the cycle operates in sliding pressure, when is possible. The results evidence the flexibility and good performances of the proposed system in various operating conditions

Global and Regional Population Growth if European Demographic Transition Patterns Had Been Universal

This study provides simulations showing what global and regional population sizes would be if the rest of the world would have experienced similar population growth patterns as what was observed in Europe during the demographic transition. In 1820-2010, slower growth was observed in Europe & North America where population increased by 4.6 times to a level of 1,088 million. The population of Asia increased from 720 million to 4,165 million. However, the biggest change from 1820 to 2010 was observed in regions that had relatively small populations in 1820 -- Latin America (which increased by 38 times to 597 million) and Africa (which increased by 14 times to 1,031 million). Our simulations show that if the French pattern of population growth had been followed (French population size increasing by 2.5 1820-2010), the global population would have merely doubled during the demographic transition (increasing to 2.02 times its original size) over the 1820-2010 period. All regions would have had a significantly lower population size: Europe & North America would have increased to 474 million and Asia to 1,453 million, while Africa would have grown to 150 million, which is just 15% of its current population. Projections suggest that population implications of following the in the coming decades would have been much lower -- e.g., if Nigeria would have followed the French population growth trajectory, it would grow to 72 million in 2100, while UN median variant projections suggest it would reach 914 million people by 2100

MULTIPLE ORGAN HARVESTING: EVOLUTION OF SURGICAL TECHNIQUE. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

SINCE 1950, kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplantations have dramatically improved, emerging as the elective treatment modality for organ failure. Nevertheless, the indications to pancreas and bowel grafting are stili controversial. Several factors have contributed such results, namely the introduction of cyclosporine (CyA) in 1981, the use of new solutions for solid organ preservation (eg, the University of Wisconsin solution), the improvement in donor selection criteria, intensive care, as well as improvement management of transplant operation and harvesting surgical technique

The Italian Response to the COVID-19 Crisis: Lessons Learned and Future Direction in Social Development:

Against the backdrop of a continuously changing situation, the aim of this paper is to discuss the impact of COVID-19 crisis in Italy, the government response to cope with the crisis and the major lessons learned during its management. The analysis shows how Italy's response has been characterised by some rapid measures to tackle the health crisis, but few plans in the mitigation stage and a lack of community involvement. This contribution stress the importance of a cultural shift, through the effort to apply in practice the principles already indicated in the main global policy frameworks to guide disaster management. A community social development approach can help to build concrete actions in this direction

The growing number of given names as a clue to the beginning of the demographic transition in Europe

BACKGROUND Cultural factors are usually considered to have played a crucial role in the reduction in neonatal and infant mortality during the demographic transition; however, so far historical demographers have failed to produce precise measurements of their impact. This article introduces a new measure: the number of given names. We show the existence of a connection between the number of names given to a newborn and neonatal survival in 19th-century Europe. METHODS The article makes use of information from the CHILD database, focusing on six urban parishes in northeastern Italy, 1816-1865. We carried out a continuous-time event history analysis looking at neonatal transition to death. RESULTS We show that the habit of assigning to the newborn a growing number of names spreads over time. Among the children with a single name neonatal mortality remains high and constant throughout the fifty years analyzed, while it halves among the children with two names and it decreases three times among children with three or more names. The kind of information we use is available also for other world areas, and we provide some evidence for this trend in France. CONTRIBUTION We interpret this as evidence of the spread of greater attention to children. We argue that it is possible to use the number of given names as an indicator of the spread of new practices and of the timing of their initial emergence, and as a measure of the ability of cultural factors to shape neonatal and infant mortality