4,049 research outputs found
Miscible displacement fronts of shear thinning fluids inside rough fractures
The miscible displacement of a shear-thinning fluid by another of same
rheological properties is studied experimentally in a transparent fracture by
an optical technique imaging relative concentration distributions. The fracture
walls have complementary self-affine geometries and are shifted laterally in
the direction perpendicular to the mean flow velocity {\bf U} : the flow field
is strongly channelized and macro dispersion controls the front structure for
P\'{e}clet numbers above a few units. The global front width increases then
linearly with time and reflects the velocity distribution between the different
channels. In contrast, at the local scale, front spreading is similar to Taylor
dispersion between plane parallel surfaces. Both dispersion mechanisms depend
strongly on the fluid rheology which shifts from Newtonian to shear-thinning
when the flow rate increases. In the latter domain, increasing the
concentration enhances the global front width but reduces both Taylor
dispersion (due to the flattening of the velocity profile in the gap of the
fracture) and the size of medium scale front structures
The Frequency of Fire in East Texas Forests
The debate over the use of fire by Native Americans has been a lively one for many years. Did they or did they not set fires? If they did, how frequently and for what purpose? If not, did they take advantage of naturally occurring fires for the same purposes? If so, how frequently and to what intensity did those natural fires occur? These seem like relatively simple questions that should elicit focused, directed research that would, in tum, produce straightforward answers. In some parts of North America, this has indeed been the case. Ethnographic documentation, corroborated by archaeological research, has produced unequivocal evidence that the first Americans used fire extensively to manipulate the environment in which they lived.
This article examines early historic accounts of Native American use of fire in Texas, and the frequency of natural fires. These data are important not only to our understanding of the extent to which humans altered the landscape, but also how plant communities adapted to fires. Often, we interpret paleoenvironmental data to reflect climatic changes. However, we must also understand the factors that may have contributed to these changes in pollen sequences and soil formation processes
Influence of the disorder on tracer dispersion in a flow channel
Tracer dispersion is studied experimentally in periodic or disordered arrays
of beads in a capillary tube. Dispersion is measured from light absorption
variations near the outlet following a steplike injection of dye at the inlet.
Visualizations using dye and pure glycerol are also performed in similar
geometries. Taylor dispersion is dominant both in an empty tube and for a
periodic array of beads: the dispersivity increases with the P\'eclet
number respectively as and and is larger by a factor of 8
in the second case. In a disordered packing of smaller beads (1/3 of the tube
diameter) geometrical dispersion associated to the disorder of the flow field
is dominant with a constant value of reached at high P\'eclet numbers.
The minimum dispersivity is slightly higher than in homogeneous nonconsolidated
packings of small grains, likely due heterogeneities resulting from wall
effects. In a disordered packing with the same beads as in the periodic
configuration, is up to 20 times lower than in the latter and varies as
with or (depending on the fluid viscosity).
A simple model accounting for this latter result is suggested.Comment: available online at
http://www.edpsciences.org/journal/index.cfm?edpsname=epjap&niv1=contents&niv2=archive
On attributes of a Rotating Neutron star with a Hyperon core
We study the effect of rotation on global properties of neutron star with a
hyperon core in an effective chiral model with varying nucleon effective mass
within a mean field approach. The resulting gross properties of the rotating
compact star sequences are then compared and analyzed with other theoretical
predictions and observations from neutron stars. The maximum mass of the
compact star predicted by the model lies in the range at
Kepler frequency , which is consistant with recent observation of
high mass stars thereby reflecting the sensitivity of the underlying nucleon
effective mass in the dense matter EoS. We also discuss the implications of the
experimental constraints from the flow data from heavy-ion collisions on the
global properties of the rotating neutron stars.Comment: 11 Pages, 10 Figures and 2 Table
First Report of Anthracnose Disease Caused by Colletotrichum acutatum on Lupinus albus in Italy.
Diagnostic issues and capabilities in 48 isolation facilities in 16 European countries: data from EuroNHID surveys
Background: Highly infectious diseases (HIDs) are defined as being transmissible from person to person, causing life-threatening illnesses and presenting a serious public health hazard. The sampling, handling and transport of specimens from patients with HIDs present specific bio-safety concerns. Findings The European Network for HID project aimed to record, in a cross-sectional study, the infection control capabilities of referral centers for HIDs across Europe and assesses the level of achievement to previously published guidelines. In this paper, we report the current diagnostic capabilities and bio-safety measures applied to diagnostic procedures in these referral centers. Overall, 48 isolation facilities in 16 European countries were evaluated. Although 81% of these referral centers are located near a biosafety level 3 laboratory, 11% and 31% of them still performed their microbiological and routine diagnostic analyses, respectively, without bio-safety measures.
Conclusions: The discrepancies among the referral centers surveyed between the level of practices and the European Network of Infectious Diseases (EUNID) recommendations have multiple reasons of which the interest of the individuals in charge and the investment they put in preparedness to emerging outbreaks. Despite the fact that the less prepared centers can improve by just updating their practice and policies any support to help them to achieve an acceptable level of biosecurity is welcome
Characterization of fracture aperture field heterogeneity by electrical resistance measurement
We use electrical resistance measurements to characterize the aperture field in a rough fracture. This is done by performing displacement xperiments using two miscible fluids of different electrical resistivity and monitoring the time variation of the overall fracture resistance. Two fractures have been used: their complementary rough walls are identical but have different relative shear displacements which create âchannelâ or âbarrierâ structures in the aperture field, respectively parallel or perpendicular to the mean flow velocity âU. In the âchannelâ geometry, the resistance displays an initial linear variation followed by a tail part which reïŹects the velocity contrast between slow and fast ïŹow channels. In the âbarrierâ geometry, a change in the slope between two linear zones suggests the existence of domains of different characteristic aperture along the fracture. These variations are well reproduced analytically and numerically using simple ïŹow models. For each geometry, we present then a data inversion procedure that allows one to extract the key features of the heterogeneity from the resistance measurement.Fil: Boschan, Alejandro. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de IngenierĂa. Departamento de FĂsica. Grupo de Medios Porosos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ippolito, Irene Paula. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de IngenierĂa. Departamento de FĂsica. Grupo de Medios Porosos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Chertcoff, Ricardo HĂ©ctor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de IngenierĂa. Departamento de FĂsica. Grupo de Medios Porosos; ArgentinaFil: Hulin, J. P.. Universite de Paris Xi. Laboratoire Automatiques et Systeme Thermiques; FranciaFil: Auradou, H.. Universite de Paris Xi. Laboratoire Automatiques et Systeme Thermiques; Franci
A feasibility study for a circular approach in oil refining: Metals recovery from hydrodesulphurization catalysts
The paper deals with a profitability analysis developed for a plant that recycles spent hydrodesulphurization (HDS) catalysts. Such catalysts contain molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), and vanadium (V), supported by an alumina (Al2O3) carrier. The recycling process is based on a double thermal pre-treatment stage, followed by a series of hydrometallurgical steps that allow recovering Mo and V and a Ni concentrate that need further refining for separation and recovery of the metals. The economic analysis is based on the discounted cash flow method, and the baseline case analyses show that the net present value (NPV) is 14,877 thousand EUR. The selling price of vanadium pentoxide strongly influences the results. Alternative scenarios are also studied to strengthen the results obtained, considering the sensitivity, scenario and risk analyses. Profitability is confirmed in 87% of the considered scenarios, and in about 81.5%, the NPV of the baseline scenario is achieved. Circular economy models can be realized if products are recovered and if there are technologies that can recover metals. This study confirms that an example of a circular economy is met from the proposed viability analysis, and the economic benefits can be significant
Permeability of self-affine rough fractures
The permeability of two-dimensional fractures with self-affine fractal
roughness is studied via analytic arguments and numerical simulations. The
limit where the roughness amplitude is small compared with average fracture
aperture is analyzed by a perturbation method, while in the opposite case of
narrow aperture, we use heuristic arguments based on lubrication theory.
Numerical simulations, using the lattice Boltzmann method, are used to examine
the complete range of aperture sizes, and confirm the analytic arguments.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
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