Numerical simulation of the interaction between an external flow, laminar or turbulent, and liquid/vapor phase change

In a launcher tank, the cryogenic fuel can suffer a liquid/vapor phase change due to a thermal gradient induced by solar radiation or by engines residual thermal diffusion. The quantity of vapor released by the phase change process can highly increase the internal pressure. Due to a poor knowledge of these phenomena, at present, the operations led to regulate the internal pressure induce fuel loss. It is therefore of great importance to investigate the liquid/vapor phase and the physical processes taking place at the interface. This is the context of the present thesis, thattakes place in an effort to extract better understanding of the above underlined phenomena by means of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). The work is split into three studies : the interaction between a liquid pool at saturation and an external flow of subcooled or superheated vapor, both in laminar and turbulent regime flows, and the interaction between natural convection mouvements and liquid/vapor phase change. Firstly, the laminar regime flow is investigated. In this framework, a parametric study is conducted with the objective of finding behaviour laws for the heat transfer and the friction coefficient at the interface between a static liquid pool at saturation temperature and a laminar boundary layer flow of vapor. Both vaporization and condensation are studied. The second project was on the numerical simulation of a turbulent boundary layer flow of superheated vapor interacting with the velocity field induced by vaporization. To this extent, a turbulent fluctuations injector is implemented and validated for the spatial development of a boundary layer flow over a flat plate with heat transfer. A study on the influence of the velocity field induced by vaporization on the Nusselt number, the friction coefficient, the Stanton number and the turbulent quantities is conducted. Finally, we lead a preliminary numerical study on a configuration describing the interaction between natural convection flow and liquid/vapor phase change in a cryogenic tank. A new solver is implemented in the in house code to account for the density variations in the liquid. Preliminary results are obtained on the influence of the Grashof number on the thermal flux at the liquid/vapor interfac

Foreign Direct Investment and Consumer Finance Companies: What Are the Determinants?

In the context of the globalization of the financial sector, notably of the non-banking sector within the European Union member states of the last decades, the assets of the non-bank sector have increased in the last years considerably. Taking into account that the regulatory requirements for consumer finance companies are more permissive than for banking financial institutions and that the financials of the sector are not available for almost half of the sector this paper tries to explain the main determinants of foreign direct investments in consumer finance companies for a panel of European Union member states over the period 2006-2013. My approach is using the panel methodology but testing different panel specifications in order to choose the model that will better explain FDI – fixed effects. Findings show that the percentage of people with internet connection, the quality of the regulatory environment, the trade to GDP, the cost of business start-up procedures, the time required to start a business, the government final spending and the labour costs are the major determinants of foreign investments in consumer finance companies. Keywords: consumer finance companies, foreign direct investment, non-bank financial sector, multinationals, panel data

METABOLIC AND BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PROBIOTIC CULTURE IN MILK SUPPLEMENTED WITH RYE FLAKES AND MALT EXTRACT

Rye flakes and malt extract were added to milk in order to stimulate growth and fermentative activity of probioticbacteria and to obtain a probiotic product with pleasant sensory attributes. Probiotic culture used in this study containsbifidobacteria, Lb. acidophilus, Lactobacilus lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus.Rye flakes have a stimulating effect more pronounced than malt extract on acidification capacity of the probioticculture, and to achieve an increase of the milk acidity of 7g lactic acid /dm3 (in 6h at 39oC) the two ingredients must beadded in concentration of 2% and, respectively, 0.2%..The probiotic culture reach the greatest proteolytic activity when rye flakes are added in the proportion of 3% andmalt extract in the proportion of 0.1% and the amino acids released rate was 764.6 μg%. The lactose bioconversionrate was greater in the milk supplemented with rye flakes 3% and malt extract 0.1% and residual lactose was 3.84%

Fiscal and Accounting Issues Concerning the Flat-Rate Tax and its Implications on the Business Environment in Romania

The introduction of flat-rate tax for companies is a novelty in the Romanian tax system, which is why businessmen' reactions were different, most of them criticizing harshly the opportunity for such a measure, arguing that during this crisis period for Romania, it may lead to the bankruptcy of tens of thousands of firms, consequently to an increase of the number of unemployed with several hundred thousands. Although the flat tax for natural persons has been applied for several decades, no legislation which has regulated this type of tax has given a definition of the flat-rate tax. Based on these considerations, in this paper we intend to address the theoretical and practical issues concerning the flat tax, in fiscal and accounting terms, together with its implications on the Romanian business environment.flat-rate tax, minimum tax, taxpayers, income, fiscal issues, accounting issues

Clinical tools in diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis in primary care

Family medicine, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, The 6th International Medical Congress for Students and Young Doctors, May 12-14, 2016Introduction: The knee osteoarthritis (OA), the most common chronic illness, has the potential to compromise the health and quality of life of not only in the patient but also affect family members and is challenging through the need to develop tools for diagnosis. The aim was to assess the applicability of osteoarthritis index WOMAC and 30s Chair Stand Test (30s-CST) in patients with knee osteoarthritis in primary care. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed according to the disease severity based on functional limitation in the absence of joint prosthesis. There were recruited patients from primary care that fulfilled the ACR classification criteria for knee OA (1991). All subjects completed the Osteoarthritis index WOMAC (Western Ontario McMaster Universities Questionnaire), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain and performed 30s-CST. Discussion results: In the study were included 36 patients and 30 (83.3%) of which were females. The mean age of the study group (M ± SD) was 58.6±10.3 (range 37 to 65) years and disease duration (M±SD) 5.6±4.0 (range 1-21) years. The pain was present in 94.4% cases; the level of knee pain assessed by VAS (M±SD) was 66.9 ±21.2mm. The WOMAC index, showed a better result on the stiffness scale (1.43±2.46) and the worsted on physical function (M±SD) 33.2±2.54 points. The result from 30s-CST test in the group was 11.4±0.45s. The result of CST didn’t correlate with pain intensity (r = -0.09); meanwhile, we found a strong correlation with physical function (r = 0.7). WOMAC index values from group were moderate influenced by radiographic severity (r = 0.5). The duration of the medical consultation with utilization of these tools was (M±SD) 20.2±3.4 minutes. Conclusion: The results of the test 30s-CST and WOMAC index correlated insignificantly with the severity of radiographic changes. Meantime, we observed trend of increase for test’s screening power along with disease progression. The application of additional tools increases the duration of medical consultation, an option could be implemented some of them in triage room