From Computational Fluid Dynamics to Structure Interpretation via Neural Networks: An Application to Flow and Transport in Porous Media

The modeling of flow and transport in porous media is of the utmost importance in many chemical engineering applications, including catalytic reactors, batteries, and CO2 storage. The aim of this study is to test the use of fully connected (FCNN) and convolutional neural networks (CNN) for the prediction of crucial properties in porous media systems: The permeability and the filtration rate. The data-driven models are trained on a dataset of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. To this end, the porous media geometries are created in silico by a discrete element method, and a rigorous setup of the CFD simulations is presented. The models trained have as input both geometrical and operating conditions features so that they could find application in multiscale modeling, optimization problems, and in-line control. The average error on the prediction of the permeability is lower than 2.5%, and that on the prediction of the filtration rate is lower than 5% in all the neural networks models. These results are achieved with at least a dataset of ~ 100 CFD simulations

Strategies for rock slope failure early warning using acoustic emission monitoring

Research over the last two decades has led to development of a system for soil slopes monitoring based on the concept of measuring Acoustic Emission (AE). A feature of the system is the use of waveguides installed within unstable soil slopes. It has been demonstrated that the AE measured through this technique are proportional to soil displacement rate. Attention has now been focused on the prospect of using the system within rock materials. The different nature of the slope material to be monitored and its setting means that different acoustic trends are measured, and development of new approaches for their interpretation are required. A total of six sensors have been installed in two pilot sites, firstly in Italy, for monitoring of a stratified limestone slope which can threaten a nationally important road, and secondly in Austria, for monitoring of a conglomerate slope that can endanger a section of the local railway. In this paper an outline of the two trial sites is given and AE data collected are compared with other physical measurements (i.e. rainfall and temperature) and traditional geotechnical instrumentation, to give an overview of recurring AE trends. These include clear AE signatures generated by stress changes linked to increased ground water levels and high energy events generated by freeze-thaw of the rock mass. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

In Vitro Cytotoxicity Assays Of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles In Epithelial And Dermal Cells

In recent years, the interest in nanostructured systems to drug delivery has increased because they offer several advantages over conventional dosage forms. Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) have been highlighted among these systems because they have advantages such as high physical stability, protection against drug degradation and ease of scale-up and manufacturing, without using organic solvent. The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential of SLN, by in vitro cytotoxicity assays, for dermal drug delivery. SLN of three different lipids were prepared by hot high pressure homogenization and the cytotoxicity was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test in mouse 3T3 fibroblasts and human HaCaT keratinocytes. SLN showed no cytotoxic potential suggesting a great potential for dermal application.3041Mishra, B., Patel, B.B., Tiwari, S., (2010) Nanomed.-Nanotechnol. Biol. Med., 6, p. 9Mehnert, W., Mäder, K., (2001) Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev., 47, p. 165Pardeike, J., Hommoss, A., Müller, R.H., (2009) Int. J. Pharm., 366, p. 170Lewinski, N., Colvin, V., Drezek, R., (2008) Small, 4, p. 26Schöler, N., Hahn, H., Müller, R.H., Liesenfeld, O., (2002) Int. J. Pharm., 231, p. 167Müller, R.H., Maassen, S., Schwarz, C., Mehnert, W., (1997) J. Control. Release, 47, p. 261Shöler, N., Hahn, H., Müller, R.H., Liesenfeld, O., (2002) Int. J. Pharm., 231, p. 167Weyenberg, W., Filev, P., Plas, D.V., Vandervoort, J., Smet, K.D., Sollie, P., Ludwig, A., (2007) Int. J. Pharm., 337, p. 291Kristl, J., Teskac, K., Milek, M., Rascan, I.M., (2008) Toxicol. Appl.Pharmacol., 232, p. 218Mosmann, T., (1983) J. Immunol. Methods, 65, p. 55Marcato, P.D., Caverzan, J., Rossi-Bergmann, B., Pinto, E.F., MacHado, D., Silva, R.A., Justos, G.Z., Durán, N., (2011) J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol

Fiber opticsensors for precursory acoustic signals detection in rockfall events

Two fiber optic sensors (FOSs) for detection of precursory acoustic emissions in rockfall events are addressed and experimentally characterized. Both sensors are based on interferometric schemes, with the first one consisting of a fiber coil used as sensing element and the second one exploiting a micro-machined cantilever carved on the top of a ferrule. Preliminary comparisons with standard piezo-electric transducers shows the viability of such FOSs for acoustic emission monitoring in rock masses

Mechanistic aspects of biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by several Fusarium oxysporum strains

Extracellular production of metal nanoparticles by several strains of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum was carried out. It was found that aqueous silver ions when exposed to several Fusarium oxysporum strains are reduced in solution, thereby leading to the formation of silver hydrosol. The silver nanoparticles were in the range of 20–50 nm in dimensions. The reduction of the metal ions occurs by a nitrate-dependent reductase and a shuttle quinone extracellular process. The potentialities of this nanotechnological design based in fugal biosynthesis of nanoparticles for several technical applications are important, including their high potential as antibacterial material

Evaluation of the Australian first few X household transmission project for COVID-19

Background: The Australian First Few X (FFX) Household Transmission Project for COVID-19 was the first prospective, multi-jurisdictional study of its kind in Australia. The project was undertaken as a partnership between federal and state health departments and the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE) and was active from April to October 2020. Methods: We aimed to identify and explore the challenges and strengths of the Australian FFX Project to inform future FFX study development and integration into pandemic preparedness plans. We asked key stakeholders and partners involved with implementation to identify and rank factors relating to the strengths and challenges of project implementation in two rounds of modified Delphi surveys. Key representatives from jurisdictional health departments were then interviewed to contextualise findings within public health processes and information needs to develop a final set of recommendations for FFX study development in Australia. Results: Four clear recommendations emerged from the evaluation. Future preparedness planning should aim to formalise and embed partnerships between health departments and researchers to help better integrate project data collection into core public health surveillance activities. The development of functional, adaptable protocols with pre-established ethics and governance approvals and investment in national data infrastructure were additional priority areas noted by evaluation participants. Conclusion: The evaluation provided a great opportunity to consolidate lessons learnt from the Australian FFX Household Transmission Project. The developed recommendations should be incorporated into future pandemic preparedness plans in Australia to enable effective implementation and increase local utility and value of the FFX platform within emergency public health response

Nanoparticle systems for cancer phototherapy: An overview

465687/2014-8). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) are photo-mediated treatments with different mechanisms of action that can be addressed for cancer treatment. Both phototherapies are highly successful and barely or non-invasive types of treatment that have gained attention in the past few years. The death of cancer cells because of the application of these therapies is caused by the formation of reactive oxygen species, that leads to oxidative stress for the case of photodynamic therapy and the generation of heat for the case of photothermal therapies. The advancement of nanotechnology allowed significant benefit to these therapies using nanoparticles, allowing both tuning of the process and an increase of effectiveness. The encapsulation of drugs, development of the most different organic and inorganic nanoparticles as well as the possibility of surfaces’ functionalization are some strategies used to combine phototherapy and nanotechnology, with the aim of an effective treatment with minimal side effects. This article presents an overview on the use of nanostructures in association with phototherapy, in the view of cancer treatment.publishersversionpublishe

Automated phenotype pattern recognition of zebrafish for high-throughput screening

Over the last years, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a key model organism in genetic and chemical screenings. A growing number of experiments and an expanding interest in zebrafish research makes it increasingly essential to automatize the distribution of embryos and larvae into standard microtiter plates or other sample holders for screening, often according to phenotypical features. Until now, such sorting processes have been carried out by manually handling the larvae and manual feature detection. Here, a prototype platform for image acquisition together with a classification software is presented. Zebrafish embryos and larvae and their features such as pigmentation are detected automatically from the image. Zebrafish of 4 different phenotypes can be classified through pattern recognition at 72 h post fertilization (hpf), allowing the software to classify an embryo into 2 distinct phenotypic classes: wild-type versus variant. The zebrafish phenotypes are classified with an accuracy of 79–99% without any user interaction. A description of the prototype platform and of the algorithms for image processing and pattern recognition is presented

In Vivo Evaluation Of Complex Biogenic Silver Nanoparticle And Enoxaparin In Wound Healing

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)The burns treatment is difficult, uncomfortable for the patient, and expensive for health system. Due to antimicrobial properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNP), these particles can avoid bacterial infection in wound and accelerate the wound healing. Furthermore, the complexation of AgNP with enoxaparin (low molecular weight heparin) may improve the healing process of lesions due to anti-inflammatory and angiogenic activity of enoxaparin (Enox). The aim of this study was evaluated the activity and toxicity of biogenic AgNP and AgNP complexed with Enox in in vivo burn wound model. AgNP was produced by biosynthesis method using Fusarium oxysporum. AgNP (20-40 nm) exhibited high stability due to protein capping around the particles that was confirmed by TEM, fluorescence spectroscopy, and FTIR. The wound contraction in in vivo model, after 28 days of treatment, was 55, 89, 91, and 95% for control, Enox, AgNP, and AgNP-Enox groups, respectively. No clear toxic effects in the biochemistry and hematological parameters were verified in all treated groups. However, in the AgNP-Enox group, a statistically significant increase in the urea levels was observed indicating increased proteolysis due to inflammation process. The results demonstrated that the complex AgNP-Enox is interesting for wound healing decreasing the time of lesions healing.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP