Emerging risks in smart process industry cranes survey: SAF€RA research project SPRINCE

Savremene teorije fokusirane na istraživanje incidenata pokazuju da smanjenje udela ljudskih grešaka ne može da se postigne isključivo korekcijom ponašanja zaposlenih već zahteva izvesne inovacije koje im mogu pomoći u tom cilju. Kako veći broj istraživanja pokazuje, dizalice predstavljaju izvor opasnosti kako u industriji tako i u građevinarstvu, dok je ljudska greška najčešći uzrok incidenata. Shodno tome, implementacija inovativnog sistema za navigaciju može imati veliki potencijal za unapređenje bezbednosti rada dizalica. Međutim, brzi razvoj novih tehnologija usmerenih ka unapređenju radnih uslova i okruženja, takođe predstavlja izvor rizika, koje treba uzeti u obzir i kojima treba ovladati. Projekat 'SPRINCE' (Pametne dizalice u procesnoj industriji) ima za cilj primenu rešenja za praćenje objekta u realnom vremenu sa vizuelnim povratnim informacijama i razvoj i primenu inovativnog alata koji podrazumeva definisanje i proveru indikatora za procenu uticaja organizacionih i ljudskih (vezanih za rukovaoca) faktora primenom metode studije slučaja.Current accident theories show that the solution to avoid human error cannot be based on focusing only on the correction of operators' behavior, but needs certain innovation that will help to keep an error away. Since, as evidenced by several incident surveys, cranes are the most dangerous equipment in industrial and construction sites and human error is the most frequent cause of accidents, in this frame the crane navigation system is an important and challenging component, with a great potential for safety improvement. However, as the emerging and rapid development of new technologies aims improving the working conditions and environment through solutions regarding existing well-known problems in occupational safety, their implementation also could lead to emerging hazards and risks that must be taken into account and managed. Based on these facts, SPRINCE (Smart PRocess INdustry CranEs) project aims implementing a real-time object detection solution, which deals with cranes' tracking systems and incorporates visual feedback, developing and implementing an innovative tool for evaluation of organizational and human (operator-specific) factors. These factors will be included in the risk indicators of the implemented real-time object detection solution using case studies approach

Ageing and creeping management in major accident plants according to seveso III directive

The focus of this paper is the management of critical equipment ageing within the context of lower and upper tier Seveso process plants, with a peculiar insight into the effectiveness of safety management systems in setting-up reliable procedure for critical element identification. Recent research studies in fact evidenced that in Europe nearly 50% of major 'loss of containment' events, arising from technical plant failures, were primarily due to ageing plant mechanisms such as erosion, corrosion and fatigue. The critical ageing elements should be included in maintenance, inspection and periodic monitoring programs in relation to their reliability, as assumed in the risk assessment and their lifetime or frequency ranges, based on their operational experience. This paper will accurately discuss how the issue of ageing is currently handled in the process industry. The methodology builds on the critical results of actual findings from the inspections on the safety management systems of major accident plants, which were performed by a working group. The primary objective is to stimulate the introduction of effective ageing management changes into the safety management of companies, by taking advantages of findings of the previous assessment and establishing proper and effective audits

Monitoring Equipment Corrosion due to Sour Crude Oils: a Bayesian Approach

Sour crude oils, featuring high sulphur content and high acidity, have low costs and high availability. Although processing is more difficult, these oils represent a good opportunity for many refineries, but their treatment causes accelerated equipment deterioration due to corrosion. This work focuses on the control of corrosion due to sulphur, which is one of the most important damage mechanisms triggering random ruptures. A Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) has been developed to control the risk of release due to random ruptures. The rules used in developing the BBN are the relationships amongst parameters described in the API guidelines for the calculation of the corrosion rate. The temperature, sulphur content and acidity for a set of online hangers have been measured for a month. The BBN provides a stress indicator for the equipment, which is updated by the last-minute changes, according to the characteristics of the feed and the operating parameters. The indicator allows updating the residual useful lifetime (RUL) and can be used for immediate choices to mitigate the effects of the aggressive feeds and is also essential to address decisions about inspections and maintenance in order to manage corrosion and prevent ruptures. The indicator could be, furthermore, used in the evaluation of the additional costs deriving from the choice of processing sour crude oils to adequately support the decision-making of the typologies of crude to be treated

Key role of MEK/ERK pathway in sustaining tumorigenicity and in vitro radioresistance of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma stem-like cell population

The identification of signaling pathways that affect the cancer stem-like phenotype may provide insights into therapeutic targets for combating embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the MEK/ERK pathway in controlling the cancer stem-like phenotype using a model of rhabdospheres derived from the embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma cell line (RD)

Definition of an Experimental Set-up for Studying the Safety of Hydrogen Transport Systems

The required energy transition, unavoidable for the decarbonisation of industrial processes and economic sectors, is increasing the attention in Europe and around the world towards hydrogen. Hydrogen is an energy carrier, globally trusted to meet climate challenges, as it can store and deliver large amounts of energy per unit mass, reducing CO2 emissions. Hydrogen can be used as a feedstock, a fuel or an energy carrier and storage and it has many possible applications in the industrial, transport, energy and construction sectors. These properties make hydrogen essential to support the EU's commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and for the global effort to implement the Paris Agreement while working towards zero pollution. For the purpose of facilitate this process, it is necessary to have a network capable of making this resource usable in a capillary, efficient and safe way. Gas pipelines, used to transport natural gas, can be exploited for the transport of pure or mixed hydrogen. It is therefore necessary to understand how hydrogen can affect the integrity and safety of gas pipelines, in order to establish whether the hydrogen/natural gas mixture is a viable and safe solution and within what ratios. Hydrogen embrittlement manifests in a loss of mechanical properties such as decreased ductility and toughness, increasing failure likelihood and gas releases, which are very dangerous, due to hydrogen ability to catch fire very easily and to the explosion hazard. The purpose of this work is the design and demonstration of a test setup for pipeline steel in a high-pressure gaseous hydrogen environment, by means of miniature hollow pipe-like specimen working at high-pressure hydrogen, in a safe and easily accessible manner with the basic laboratory equipment

On the use of the ‘Return Of Safety Investments’ (ROSI) measure for decision-making in the chemical processing industry

Due to the high potential of chemical and process industry to damage people, as well as to cause environmental contamination, there is a need of objective criteria and methods supporting plant operators to make decisions and optimise investments in safety measures. Currently, the use of risk-based approaches is popular in order to prioritize criticalities, based on the results of risk assessments; this approach is usually combined with cost-benefit analyses that provide criterions in the decision-making process. A commonly used framework to prioritise safety measures is based on the calculation of the return of safety investments (ROSI), which quantifies the expected return of the investment in safety with respect to the invested resources. In this paper the usefulness of such a framework is discussed and the need for an extension is shown using a case-study from the chemical processing industry. The study concluded that the ROSI should be used with caution, because it does not give a sufficient weight to uncertainties as it is based on the use of expected values. Some improvements to the framework are suggested, i.e. the assessment of ROSI given an accidental event and to highlight the importance of reflecting the strength of knowledge on which the ROSI metric is based.publishedVersio

Antibody drug conjugates with hydroxamic acid cargos for histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition.

The bioconjugation of hydroxamic acids to antibodies has been made possible through a non-cleavable linker based on the p-mercaptobenzyl alcohol structure that releases hydroxamates in the cells

3D vs. 2D MRI radiomics in skeletal Ewing sarcoma: Feature reproducibility and preliminary machine learning analysis on neoadjuvant chemotherapy response prediction

ObjectiveThe extent of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy predicts survival in Ewing sarcoma. This study focuses on MRI radiomics of skeletal Ewing sarcoma and aims to investigate feature reproducibility and machine learning prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Materials and methodsThis retrospective study included thirty patients with biopsy-proven skeletal Ewing sarcoma, who were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery at two tertiary sarcoma centres. 7 patients were poor responders and 23 were good responders based on pathological assessment of the surgical specimen. On pre-treatment T1-weighted and T2-weighted MRI, 2D and 3D tumour segmentations were manually performed. Features were extracted from original and wavelet-transformed images. Feature reproducibility was assessed through small geometrical transformations of the regions of interest mimicking multiple manual delineations, and intraclass correlation coefficient >0.75 defined feature reproducibility. Feature selection also consisted of collinearity and significance analysis. After class balancing in the training cohort, three machine learning classifiers were trained and tested on unseen data using hold-out cross-validation. Results1303 (77%) 3D and 620 (65%) 2D radiomic features were reproducible. 4 3D and 4 2D features passed feature selection. Logistic regression built upon 3D features achieved the best performance with 85% accuracy (AUC=0.9) in predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. ConclusionCompared to 2D approach, 3D MRI radiomics of Ewing sarcoma had superior reproducibility and higher accuracy in predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, particularly when using logistic regression classifier

Chronic constipation diagnosis and treatment evaluation: The "CHRO.CO.DI.T.E." study

Background: According to Rome criteria, chronic constipation (CC) includes functional constipation (FC) and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C). Some patients do not meet these criteria (No Rome Constipation, NRC). The aim of the study was is to evaluate the various clinical presentation and management of FC, IBS-C and NRC in Italy. Methods: During a 2-month period, 52 Italian gastroenterologists recorded clinical data of FC, IBS-C and NRC patients, using Bristol scale, PAC-SYM and PAC-QoL questionnaires. In addition, gastroenterologists were also asked to record whether the patients were clinically assessed for CC for the first time or were in follow up. Diagnostic tests and prescribed therapies were also recorded. Results: Eight hundred seventy-eight consecutive CC patients (706 F) were enrolled (FC 62.5%, IBS-C 31.3%, NRC 6.2%). PAC-SYM and PAC-QoL scores were higher in IBS-C than in FC and NRC. 49.5% were at their first gastroenterological evaluation for CC. In 48.5% CC duration was longer than 10 years. A specialist consultation was requested in 31.6%, more frequently in IBS-C than in NRC. Digital rectal examination was performed in only 56.4%. Diagnostic tests were prescribed to 80.0%. Faecal calprotectin, thyroid tests, celiac serology, breath tests were more frequently suggested in IBS-C and anorectal manometry in FC. More than 90% had at least one treatment suggested on chronic constipation, most frequently dietary changes, macrogol and fibers. Antispasmodics and psychotherapy were more frequently prescribed in IBS-C, prucalopride and pelvic floor rehabilitation in FC. Conclusions: Patients with IBS-C reported more severe symptoms and worse quality of life than FC and NRC. Digital rectal examination was often not performed but at least one diagnostic test was prescribed to most patients. Colonoscopy and blood tests were the "first line" diagnostic tools. Macrogol was the most prescribed laxative, and prucalopride and pelvic floor rehabilitation represented a "second line" approach. Diagnostic tests and prescribed therapies increased by increasing CC severity