Drops with non-circular footprints

In this paper we study the morphology of drops formed on partially wetting substrates, whose footprint is not circular. This type of drops is a consequence of the breakup processes occurring in thin films when anisotropic contact line motions take place. The anisotropy is basically due to hysteresis effects of the contact angle since some parts of the contact line are wetting, while others are dewetting. Here, we obtain a peculiar drop shape from the rupture of a long liquid filament sitting on a solid substrate, and analyze its shape and contact angles by means of goniometric and refractive techniques. We also find a non--trivial steady state solution for the drop shape within the long wave approximation (lubrication theory), and compare most of its features with experimental data. This solution is presented both in Cartesian and polar coordinates, whose constants must be determined by a certain group of measured parameters. Besides, we obtain the dynamics of the drop generation from numerical simulations of the full Navier--Stokes equation, where we emulate the hysteretic effects with an appropriate spatial distribution of the static contact angle over the substrate

CAPILLARY IMBIBITION TECHNIQUES USED TO CHARACTERIZE THESTRUCTURAL CHANGES IN MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE DUE TO WET AND DRY PROCESS

In this work we study the change on the wettability and solid properties of microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel PH101)after it was wet and dried, through drop penetration experiments in slightly compacted porous beds. We perform these experiments with water and a silicone oil, (Polidimethilsyloxane–PDMS) and we determine a dimensionless parameter that takes into account all the water penetration factors, including wettability and swelling. We consider three different scenarios, original MCC, and after one and two wetting and drying cycles. For each case we study the particle size effects by considering two subset samples SiA)25<φ<75μm and SiB)75<φ<125μm. We were able to determine, as it was expected, that PDMS penetration dynamics is not affected by the wetting–drying cycles but water is. The penetration rate goes down after cellulose was wet. Finally, we discuss how these behavior may affect the different processes where microcrystalline cellulose is used

PULSATILE FLOW OF VISCOELASTIC FLUIDS IN TUBES

In this study, we present an experimental investigation of the flow structure changes in non-Newtonian fluids subjected to periodic variable fluxes inside rigid-walled tubes. We employ a liquid mixture composed of water and polyacrylamide to account for various rheological properties. We obtain the velocity fields for each experimental case using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique and we analyze their variations based on different properties of the pulsatile input signal. Reynolds numbers between 200 and 350 are considered, with a 10 % variation in amplitude

Set of methods to assess SI implications at different levels: instructions for WPs 5 and 6. Deliverable D4.2, Social Innovation in Marginalized Rural Areas Project (SIMRA), Demonstrator to the European Commission.

The report (Deliverable 4.2 of SIMRA project) presents a preliminary set of integrated methods for measuring social innovation and its impacts on the components of territorial capital for use in Work Package 5 (case studies), and evaluating the policy implications of social innovation at different levels for use in Work Package 6 (policy analysis). It provides the framework to guide evaluation of social innovation in the case studies, explaining the various elements and components of social innovation in marginalised rural areas; it provides an overview of the approach to evaluation, in terms of scale of application, focus of the analysis, criteria of evaluation, methods and tools; it provides the list of questions to be used in structured and semi-structured interviews and other data collection tools; and, finally, it provides instructions for testing the use of the proposed methods and tools in a few, selected pioneer case studies and policy analysis (i.e. it provides guidance to SIMRA Work Packages 5 and 6)

Reconstructive social innovation cycles in women-led initiatives in rural areas

Abstract Social innovations can tackle various challenges related to gender equity in rural areas, especially when such innovations are initiated and developed by women themselves. We examine cases located in rural areas of Canada, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, and Serbia, where women are marginalized by gender roles, patriarchal values, male dominated economy and policy, and lack of opportunities for education and employment. Our objective is to analyze five case studies on how women-led social innovation processes can tackle gender equity related challenges manifested at the levels of everyday practice, institutions, and cognitive frames. The analyses are based on interviews, workshops, literature screening, and are examined via the qualitative abductive method. Results summarize challenges that rural women are facing, explore social innovation initiatives as promising solutions, and analyze their implications on gender equity in the five case studies. Based on our results we propose a new concept: reconstructive social innovation cycle. It refers to is defined as cyclical innovation processes that engage women via civil society initiatives. These initiatives reconstruct the existing state of affairs, by questioning marginalizing and discriminative practices, institutions, and cognitive frames that are often perceived as normal. The new concept helps with to assessing the implications that women-led social innovations have for gender equity