Maximizing Polypropylene Recovery from Waste Carpet Feedstock: A Solvent-Driven Pathway Towards Circular Economy

Here we propose a novel approach for the efficient recovery of polypropylene from waste carpet feedstock utilising a solvent based method operating at 160 °C. The findings contribute to advancing sustainable recycling practices for waste carpet materials and offer valuable insight into the recovery of PP which can also be utilised for other complex waste streams

Clinical, imaging and genetic analysis of double bilateral radix entomolaris

Background: Anatomy describes that first mandibular molars have two roots: 1 mesial, with 2 root canals, and 1 distal, with 1 root canal. The presence of three roots in these teeth is uncommon. Root anatomical variations have an impact, especially in endodontic, where the highest rates of nonsurgical treatment failures are due to the inability to identify and access roots and/or accessory canals. The aim of this research is to report a case of double three-rooted mandibular first molar through clinical, imaging and genetic analysis. Materials and methods: Using a panoramic radiography, the presence of three roots in teeth 36 and 46 was diagnosed in a female patient. Additionally, it was indicated a cone beam computed tomography. Moreover, leukocyte genomic DNA was obtained from a blood sample of the patient to determine her ethnicity through analysis of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups using polymerase chain reaction-length restriction fragment polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: Both molars had three roots, 1 mesial (M), 1 distolingual (DL), also known as radix entomolaris (RE), and a distovestibular (DV). For both teeth, M root had 2 canals, and DV and DL roots presented just 1 canal. Mitochondrial DNA analysis determined presence of haplogroup C, corresponding to Amerindian ethnicity. Conclusions: The presence of RE is uncommon. This case report contributes to describe this rare anatomical variation. To our knowledge, this is the first molecular-genetic study applied to dental anatomy and gives basis to develop future research in the area

Fully Automatic Expression-Invariant Face Correspondence

We consider the problem of computing accurate point-to-point correspondences among a set of human face scans with varying expressions. Our fully automatic approach does not require any manually placed markers on the scan. Instead, the approach learns the locations of a set of landmarks present in a database and uses this knowledge to automatically predict the locations of these landmarks on a newly available scan. The predicted landmarks are then used to compute point-to-point correspondences between a template model and the newly available scan. To accurately fit the expression of the template to the expression of the scan, we use as template a blendshape model. Our algorithm was tested on a database of human faces of different ethnic groups with strongly varying expressions. Experimental results show that the obtained point-to-point correspondence is both highly accurate and consistent for most of the tested 3D face models

Regular Magnetic Black Holes and Monopoles from Nonlinear Electrodynamics

It is shown that general relativity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) with the Lagrangian $L(F)$, $F = F_mn F^mn$ having a correct weak field limit, leads to nontrivial static, spherically symmetric solutions with a globally regular metric if and only if the electric charge is zero and $L(F)$ tends to a finite limit as $F \to \infty$. Properties and examples of such solutions, which include magnetic black holes and soliton-like objects (monopoles), are discussed. Magnetic solutions are compared with their electric counterparts. A duality between solutions of different theories specified in two alternative formulations of NED (called $FP$ duality) is used as a tool for this comparison.Comment: 6 pages, Latex2e. One more theorem, some comments and two references have been added. Final journal versio

A branch-and-cut algorithm for the hub location and routing problem

We study the hub location and routing problem where we decide on the location of hubs, the allocation of nodes to hubs, and the routing among the nodes allocated to the same hubs, with the aim of minimizing the total transportation cost. Each hub has one vehicle that visits all the nodes assigned to it on a cycle. We propose a mixed integer programming formulation for this problem and strengthen it with valid inequalities. We devise separation routines for these inequalities and develop a branch-and-cut algorithm which is tested on CAB and AP instances from the literature. The results show that the formulation is strong and the branch-and-cut algorithm is able to solve instances with up to 50 nodes. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

Hierarchical Survivable Network Design Problems

We address the problem of designing two-level networks protected against single edge failures. A set of nodes must be partitioned into terminals and hubs, hubs must be connected through a backbone network, and terminals must be assigned to hubs and connected to them through access networks, being the objective to minimize the total cost. We consider two survivable structures, two-edge connected (2EC) networks and rings, in both levels of the network. We present an integer programming formulation for these problems, solve them using a branch-and-cut algorithm, and show some computational results. © 2016 Elsevier B.V

The ring/κ-rings network design problem: Model and branch-and-cut algorithm

This article considers the problem of designing a two-level network where the upper level consists of a backbone ring network connecting the so-called hub nodes, and the lower level is formed by access ring networks that connect the non-hub nodes to the hub nodes. There is a fixed cost for each type of link, and a facility opening cost associated to each hub. The number of nodes in each access ring is bounded, and the number of access rings connected to a hub is limited to κ, thus resulting in a ring/κ-rings topology. The aim is to decide the hubs to open and to design the backbone and access rings to minimize the installation cost. We propose a mathematical model, give valid inequalities, and describe a branch-and-cut algorithm to solve the problem. Computational results show the algorithm is able to find optimal solutions on instances involving up to 40 nodes within a reasonable time. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 68(2), 130–140 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc