BRIQUETTES PRODUCTION FROM LIGNOCELLULOSIC WASTE FOR ENERGY PURPOSES AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL

The briquetting process was developed seeking to reuse the waste generated both in forestry production and in industrial processes. The compression of lignocellulosic waste concentrates the available energy in terms of volume and facilitates the handling and storage of these materials. The present work aims to verify the influence on the quality of briquettes of different compositions between the residues of coffee grounds, pine sawdust and cambará sawdust by evaluating the physical, chemical and mechanical characteristics of the briquettes generated from the compaction of these waste. For this, several tests were carried out with the briquettes, analyzing the properties of particle size, resistance to diametrical compression, moisture and ash for each composition of the briquette. The briquettes were produced on a 12-tonne hydraulic press. The waste used showed a high concentration of fine particles, with pine sawdust being 50.5% of particles with a diameter of 0.425mm. Coffee beans have moisture content above 50%, positively impacting the ash content and negatively impacting briquetting and tensile strength by diametral compression. In the production of briquettes, material with up to 60% addition of coffee grounds was obtained. The compression tests showed good results for the treatments, highlighting the treatments with a high concentration of pine. It is also concluded that the coffee grounds can be used in the production of briquettes with sawdust, however, it is suggested for future articles, the correction of moisture in the briquettes for better compaction

INFLUENCE OF ASPECT RATIO IN THE TURBULENT CONVECTION IN CAVITIES

The purpose of this study is to know the air distribution in a conditioned room, through the numerical investigation of the influence of aspect ratio in the thermal and fluid dynamics behavior of a turbulent flow. To achieve that objective, some simulations were done of the flow inside a rectangular room, where the air enters through an opening in the top of one wall and leaves the room through an opening in the bottom of the opposite wall. The Reynolds mean equations are used, with the turbulence model RSM BSL (Reynolds Stress Model - Baseline) to solve four cases, with different geometries. It was concluded that, in general, the turbulence model used in this work is capable to predict quite well the fluid dynamics behavior of the flow, which is influenced by the room length, but not by its width

DIFFERENTIAL EVOLUTION ALGORITHM APPLIED IN A NUMERICAL COST OPTIMIZATION DESIGN OF A SHELL AND-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER

Shell-and-tube heat exchangers are the most common heat exchangers that can be found in several industrial applications. The reduction of the investment cost and the operation of this equipment it’s one of main industrial designers and entrepreneurs aim. With the intention of reducing total costs of a shell-and-tube heat exchangers, as proposed by Caputo et al. (2008), employed in this present study the optimization technique called Differential Evolution (DE), which basically consists in a calculation mechanism, supported on operators of “crossing” and “mutation” differential, through mathematical and heuristics arguments that indicate your adequacy for function optimization. This study is defined as a mono-objective optimization problem and the total cost of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger is the objective function. To this, it was taken as a design variable intern diameter tube, the outer diameter of the shell and the spacing between baffles or deflectors. The results reached in this work were compared with the same problem when used GA (Genetics Algorithms), PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization), QPSO (Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization) and QPSOZ (Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization by Zaslavskii). Regarding the literature, the capital investment in the heat exchange reduces corresponding in 15.2% and consequently the depreciation charge of the equipment decrease approximately 12.5%. In general, the total cost of the shell-and-tube heat exchange in analysis, presented a reduction of 15%, showing the potential of applied method in this study, the technique DE

Plasma pharmacokinetics, faecal excretion and efficacy of pyrantel pamoate paste and granule formulations following per os administration in donkeys naturally infected with intestinal strongylidae

The plasma disposition, faecal excretion and efficacy of two formulations of pyrantel pamoate in donkeys were examined in a controlled trial. Three groups of seven donkeys received either no medication (control) or pyrantel paste or granule formulations at horse dosage of 20mg/kg B.W. (equals 6.94 mg/kg PYR base) of body weight. Heparinized blood and faecal samples were collected at various times between 1 and 144 h after treatment. The samples were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The last detectable plasma concentration (tmax) of paste formulation was significantly earlier (36.00 h) compared with granule formulation (46.29 h). Although, there was no significant difference on terminal half lives (t1/2: 12.39 h vs. 14.86 h), tmax (14.86 h vs. 14.00) and MRT (24.80 h vs. 25.44 h) values; the Cmax (0.09 ??g/ml) AUC (2.65 ??gh/ml) values of paste formulation were significantly lower and smaller compared with those of granule formulation (0.21 ??g/ml and 5.60 ??gh/ml), respectively. The highest dry faecal concentrations were 710.46 ??g/g and 537.21 ??g/g and were determined at 48 h for both paste and granule formulation of PYR in donkeys, respectively. Pre-treatment EPG of 1104, 1061 and 1139 were observed for the control, PYR paste and PYR granule groups, respectively. Pre-treatment EPG were not significantly different (P>0.1) between groups. Post-treatment EPG for both PYR treatment groups were significantly different (P95% efficacy) until day 28. In all studied donkeys, coprocultures performed at day-3 revealed the presence of Cyathostomes, S. vulgaris. Faecal cultures performed on different days from C-group confirmed the presence of the same genera. Coprocultures from treated animals revealed the presence of few larvae of Cyathostomes

Delayed efficacy of radiofrequency catheter ablation on arrhythmias originating in the interventricular basal septum

Delayed efficacy of radiofrequency energy can suppress ventricular arrhythmias after a failed ablation procedure. The implant of cardiac defibrillator for arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy should be procrastinated after a period of follow-up. Waiting for delayed efficacy is a reasonable choice to reduce the risk of complications associated with aggressive ablative approaches

Machine learning-based identification strategy of fuel surrogates for the CFD simulation of stratified operations in low temperature combustion modes

Many researchers in industry and academia are showing an increasing interest in the definition of fuel surrogates for Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation applications. This need is mainly driven by the necessity of the engine research community to anticipate the effects of new gasoline formulations and combustion modes (e.g., Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition, Spark Assisted Compression Ignition) to meet future emission regulations. Since those solutions strongly rely on the tailored mixture distribution, the simulation and accurate prediction of the mixture formation will be mandatory. Focusing purely on the definition of surrogates to emulate liquid phase and liquid-vapor equilibrium of gasolines, the following target properties are considered in this work: density, Reid vapor pressure, chemical macro-composition and volatility. A set of robust algorithms has been developed for the prediction of volatility and Reid vapor pressure. A Bayesian optimization algorithm based on a customized merit function has been developed to allow for the efficient definition of surrogate formulations from a palette of 15 pure compounds. The developed methodology has been applied on different real gasolines from literature in order to identify their optima surrogates. Furthermore, the ‘unicity’ of the surrogate composition is discussed by comparing the optimum solution with the most different one available in the pool of equivalent-valuable solutions. The proposed methodology has proven the potential to formulate surrogates characterized by an overall good agreement with the target properties of the experimental gasolines (max relative error below 10%, average relative error around 3%). In particular, the shape and the end-tails of the distillation curve are well captured. Furthermore, an accurate prediction of key chemical macro-components such as ethanol and aromatics and their influence on evaporative behavior is achieved. The study of the ‘unicity’ of the surrogate composition has revealed that (i) the unicity is strongly correlated with the accuracy and that (ii) both ‘unicity’ and accuracy of the prediction are very sensitive to the high presence of aromatics

Deep structure of the Baikal rift zone revealed by joint inversion of gravity and seismology

International audience[1] The question of plate boundary forces and deep versus shallow asthenospheric uplift has long been debated in intracontinental rift areas, particularly in the Baikal rift zone, Asia, which is colder than other continental rifts. As previous gravity and teleseismic studies support the dominance of opposing mechanisms in the Baikal rift, we reconsidered both data sets and jointly inverted them. This more effective approach brings insight into location of the perturbing bodies related to the extension in this region. Our new joint inversion method allows for inverting the velocity-density relationship with independent model parametrization. We obtain velocity and density models that consistently show (1) crustal heterogeneities that coincide with the main tectonic features at the surface, (2) a faster and denser cratonic mantle NW of Lake Baikal that we relate to the thermal contrast between old and depleted Archean (Siberian platform) and Paleozoic orogenic belt (Sayan-Baikal belt), (3) three-dimensional topographic variations of the crust-mantle boundary with well-located upwarpings, and (4) the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary uplift up to 70 km depth with a NW dip. Our resulting velocity and density models support the idea of a combined influence of lithospheric extension and inherited lithospheric heterogeneities for the origin of the Baikal rift zone. INDEX TERMS: 1234 Geodesy and Gravity: Regional and global gravity anomalies and Earth structure; 7218 Seismology: Lithosphere and upper mantle; 8122 Citation: Tiberi, C., M. Diament, J. Déverchère, C. Petit-Mariani, V. Mikhailov, S. Tikhotsky, and U. Achauer, Deep structure of the Baikal rift zone revealed by joint inversion of gravity and seismology

Mesoscopic phase separation in Nax_xCoO2_2 (0.65≤x≤0.750.65\leq x\leq 0.75)

NMR, EPR and magnetization measurements in Na$_x$CoO$_2$ for $0.65\leq x\leq 0.75$ are presented. While the EPR signal arises from Co$^{4+}$ magnetic moments ordering at $T_c\simeq 26$ K, $^{59}$Co NMR signal originates from cobalt nuclei in metallic regions with no long range magnetic order and characterized by a generalized susceptibility typical of strongly correlated metallic systems. This phase separation in metallic and magnetic insulating regions is argued to occur below $T^*(x)$ ($220 - 270$ K). Above $T^*$ an anomalous decrease in the intensity of the EPR signal is observed and associated with the delocalization of the electrons which for $T<T^*$ were localized on Co$^{4+}$ $d_{z^2}$ orbitals. It is pointed out that the in-plane antiferromagnetic coupling $J\ll T^*$ cannot be the driving force for the phase separation.Comment: 14 figure

Neoadjuvant eribulin mesylate following anthracycline and taxane in triple negative breast cancer: Results from the HOPE study

Background Eribulin mesylate (E) is indicated for metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with anthracycline and taxane. We argued that E could also benefit patients eligible for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods Patients with primary triple negative breast cancer 2 cm received doxorubicin 60 mg/m2 and paclitaxel 200 mg/m2 x 4 cycles (AT) followed by E 1.4 mg/m2 x 4 cycles. Primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) rate; secondary and explorative endpoints included clinical/metabolic response rates and safety, and biomarker analysis, respectively. Using a two-stage Simon design, 43 patients were to be included provided that 4 of 13 patients had achieved pCR in the first stage of the study. Results In stage I of the study 13 women were enrolled, median age 43 years, tumor size 2–5 cm in 9/13 (69%), positive nodal status in 8/13 (61%). Main grade 3 adverse event was neutropenia (related to AT and E in 4 and 2 cases, respectively). AT followed by E induced clinical complete + partial responses in 11/13 patients (85%), pCR in 3/13 (23%). Median measurements of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) resulted 13, 3, and 1.9 at baseline, after AT and E, respectively. Complete metabolic response (CMR) occurred after AT and after E in 2 and 3 cases, respectively. Notably, 2 of the 5 (40%) patients with CMR achieved pCR at surgery. Immunostaining of paired pre-/post-treatment tumor specimens showed a reduction of β-catenin, CyclinD1, Zeb-1, and c-myc expression, in the absence of N-cadherin modulation. The study was interrupted at stage I due to the lack of the required patients with pCR. Conclusions Despite the early study closure, preoperative E following AT showed clinical and biological activity in triple negative breast cancer patients. Furthermore, the modulation of β-catenin pathway core proteins, supposedly outside the domain of epithelial–mesenchymal transition, claims for further investigation. Trial registration EU Clinical Trial Register, EudraCT number 2012-004956-12