Response of low land rice to nitrogen fertilization under different irrigation regimes.

The objective of this study was to evaluate response of irrigated rice to nitrogen fertilization under different irrigation regimes.IRC14-154

AUTOMATED COLLECTION OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE DATA: TOUCH-SCREEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN PATIENTS WITH IMMUNE DISEASES

AUTOMATED COLLECTION OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE DATA: TOUCH-SCREEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN PATIENTS WITH IMMUNE DISEASES Claúdia Ribeiro1,2,3, Augusta Silveira4,3, Isabel Silva4, Catarina Ribeiro4, Carlos Vasconcelos2,3 1UCP, 2HSA/CHP, 3ICBAS/UP, 4UFP e 5HSMF. Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), Porto. Hospital de Santo António, Centro Hospitalar do Porto (HSA/CHP), Porto. Instituto Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto (ICBAS/UP), Porto. Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto. Hospital Santa Maria da Feira (HSMF), Porto. Background The increase of technological knowledge and methodology has allowed the practice of redirecting epidemiological research, particularly in the field of chronic disease. Although capable of controlling the accumulation of events and constraints imposed by the treatment can lead to a drastic change in quality of life (QoL) of subjects progressed to varying degrees of disability and death. In this perspective the Quality of Life Related to Health (HRQOL) has taken a leading role and its evaluation is indispensable in Medicine. Aim The aims of this study were (1) analyze the importance of HRQOL assessment as a tool for health promotion and a way of measuring the effectiveness of interventions in daily practice in patients with coexisting chronic immune system (PCSI), (2) evaluation of alternative methods for the automated collection of data on HRQOL and development of an electronic interface in sample of 320 patients, (3) creating a database to ascertain the epidemiological profile of PCSI, and identification of socio-economic, demographic and clinical data of these individuals, (4) using the QoL indicator as a predictor in decision treatment and use the preferences of patients. Methods A total of 473 patients with chronic diseases of the immune system, which were applied Graffar Index, SF-36v2, a demographic questionnaire and identification of clinical variables. Results The results of this investigation suggest that the demographic, socio-economic and clinics are associated with significant differences in QoL cumulative and chronic complications associated with different pathologies. The results verified the existence of significant correlations between the different diagnoses, duration of disease and therapy. In general, patients who have chronic diseases of the immune system such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, Bechet's disease, Sjögren's syndrome or infection with human immunodeficiency virus 1 or 2 showed a worse QoL than the general population. The derivations of preferences from the SF-36v2 exhibit strong correlations with the preferences measured with the SF-6D. Conclusions This suggests that both the application of the SF-36v2 as the SF-6D can be important sources of preferences to implement measures in economic evaluation in healthcare. HRQL can and should be integrated into immune clinical practice. The translation of graphical results given to the clinician at the beginning of the consultation, favors the rapid analysis of global values of the patient's HRQL. This assessment can be an excellent diagnostic tool to be used routinely in clinical practice or assisting in disease management and therapeutic decision making. Apresentador: Cláudia Ribeiro, Médica Dentista. Doutoranda, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

AUTOMATED COLLECTION OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE DATA: TOUCH-SCREEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN PATIENTS WITH IMMUNE DISEASES

AUTOMATED COLLECTION OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE DATA: TOUCH-SCREEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN PATIENTS WITH IMMUNE DISEASES Claúdia Ribeiro1,2,3, Augusta Silveira4,3, Isabel Silva4, Catarina Ribeiro4, Carlos Vasconcelos2,3 1UCP, 2HSA/CHP, 3ICBAS/UP, 4UFP e 5HSMF. Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), Porto. Hospital de Santo António, Centro Hospitalar do Porto (HSA/CHP), Porto. Instituto Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto (ICBAS/UP), Porto. Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto. Hospital Santa Maria da Feira (HSMF), Porto. Background The increase of technological knowledge and methodology has allowed the practice of redirecting epidemiological research, particularly in the field of chronic disease. Although capable of controlling the accumulation of events and constraints imposed by the treatment can lead to a drastic change in quality of life (QoL) of subjects progressed to varying degrees of disability and death. In this perspective the Quality of Life Related to Health (HRQOL) has taken a leading role and its evaluation is indispensable in Medicine. Aim The aims of this study were (1) analyze the importance of HRQOL assessment as a tool for health promotion and a way of measuring the effectiveness of interventions in daily practice in patients with coexisting chronic immune system (PCSI), (2) evaluation of alternative methods for the automated collection of data on HRQOL and development of an electronic interface in sample of 320 patients, (3) creating a database to ascertain the epidemiological profile of PCSI, and identification of socio-economic, demographic and clinical data of these individuals, (4) using the QoL indicator as a predictor in decision treatment and use the preferences of patients. Methods A total of 473 patients with chronic diseases of the immune system, which were applied Graffar Index, SF-36v2, a demographic questionnaire and identification of clinical variables. Results The results of this investigation suggest that the demographic, socio-economic and clinics are associated with significant differences in QoL cumulative and chronic complications associated with different pathologies. The results verified the existence of significant correlations between the different diagnoses, duration of disease and therapy. In general, patients who have chronic diseases of the immune system such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, Bechet's disease, Sjögren's syndrome or infection with human immunodeficiency virus 1 or 2 showed a worse QoL than the general population. The derivations of preferences from the SF-36v2 exhibit strong correlations with the preferences measured with the SF-6D. Conclusions This suggests that both the application of the SF-36v2 as the SF-6D can be important sources of preferences to implement measures in economic evaluation in healthcare. HRQL can and should be integrated into immune clinical practice. The translation of graphical results given to the clinician at the beginning of the consultation, favors the rapid analysis of global values of the patient's HRQL. This assessment can be an excellent diagnostic tool to be used routinely in clinical practice or assisting in disease management and therapeutic decision making. Apresentador: Cláudia Ribeiro, Médica Dentista. Doutoranda, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

Effect of Vapour Bubble Initial Displacement on Droplet Impact onto Liquid Films

Heat and mass transfer mechanisms regarding droplet impact have been extensively studied for dry surfaces, and in terms of droplet evaporation/combustion during free-fall. On the contrary, the droplet impact phenomena onto heated liquid films is a topic overlooked in the literature and requires further understanding in terms of hydrodynamics and phase change. Therefore, this work focuses on numerically simulating droplet impact onto liquid films in the presence of vapour bubbles. The crown height, diameter and overall development are analysed as a function of the position of the bubble related to the axis of symmetry. Results show that the crown overall growth is affected if the vapour bubbles detach and contact the crown wall. The size of the vapour bubbles also influences the detachment from the surface.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of Dimensionless Temperature on Droplet Impact onto Heated Liquid Films for Subcooled Boiling Regimes

Heat and mass transfer mechanisms related to multiphase flows occur in several applications such as spray cooling, quenching, internal combustion engines and plasma spraying. These mechanisms have become increasingly important due to the need of achieving higher heat rate coefficients associated with phase-change processes, such as evaporation and condensation. Specifically, the phenomenon of droplet impact onto non-heated liquid films has been extensively researched, both experimentally and numerically. However, the influence of temperature on droplet impact and liquid film stability has been overlooked in the literature, which is a focal point in understanding interfacial phenomena. The main objective of this work is to experimentally study droplet impact onto heated liquid films. Therefore, an experimental facility was designed for this purpose. A borosilicate glass surface is used to contain the liquid film. This surface is placed above an aluminium block with four embedded cartridge heaters of 250W each, heating the liquid film by conduction. Immersion type-k thermocouples are employed for liquid film temperature measurements. Liquid film evaporation rates are calculated in order to ensure the liquid film thickness prior to the droplet impact. Water and n-decane are the fluids adopted due to their differences in thermophysical properties and saturation temperature. The impact conditions are 100 < W e < 300, 0.5 < h* < 1.5, and a dimensionless temperature of θ < 0.6. Qualitative analysis is performed regarding crater and central jet evolution, and quantitative data regarding evaporation rate and central jet height are measured. The dimensionless temperature affects the droplet impact phenomena, creating recirculation zones near the crater and the impact surface, and affecting the crater formation. The central jet height increases with increasing values of θ for h* = 1.0 and h* = 1.5, whereas for h* = 0.5, the measurements do not follow a similar tendency. The emerging time of the central jet is delayed for higher values of θ, meaning that future studies regarding crater evolution should be considered. The dimensionless temperature also promotes central jet breakup, as well increasing the number of secondary droplets originated from the breakup.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of Vapour Bubbles Size and Spacing on Droplet Impact Outcomes under Subcooled Boiling Regimes

Multiphase flows are characterised as heterogeneous mixtures of two or more phases, such as gas-liquid or solid-liquid. These are extremely complex due to the underlying dynamics that may occur, which include interfacial phenomena, such as boiling and evaporation, and interactions between phases. Specifically, droplet impact onto heated wetted surfaces has been overlooked in the literature, which involves heat and mass transfer mechanisms related to sensible heating, condensation and evaporation. The droplet impact phenomenon occurs in several industrial applications, such as internal combustion engines, electronics cooling devices, heat exchangers, among others. In numerical terms, improving efficiency and reliability of simulations is of interest to understand the behaviour of mathematical models for complex physical systems. The main objective of this work is to numerically simulate droplet impact onto a heated liquid film in the presence of vapour bubbles in a 2D-axisymmetric assumption. The numerical model solves the incompressible mass, momentum and energy equations coupled with the VOF method and height functions for accurately capturing the interface. Phase-change processes such as evaporation and condensation are neglected for the current simulations. Water and n-decane are the fluids adopted for the simulation. The impact conditions are D0 = 3.0 mm, h* = 0.5, and U0 = 3.0 m/s. Different vapour bubble sizes, (Dv), and spacings, (xv), are studied to evaluate the vapour bubble phenomena and crown geometrical parameters. An initial vapour bubble is positioned on the axis of symmetry, xs = 0, and, therefore, in the droplet trajectory. Results indicate that vapour bubbles have a lower influence on crown diameter, and a higher influence on crown height. Increasing the size of vapour bubbles leads to a decrease in both crown diameter and height, whereas an increase in the vapour bubbles spacing causes an increase in the crown height and diameter. The initial vapour bubble positioning in relation to the axis of symmetry is a factor that should also be considered in future studies.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of temperature on heated liquid films: Crater and jetting impact dynamics

The droplet impact phenomena onto liquid films are a field extensively researched for over a century, which are driven by many practical applications such as heat exchangers, internal combustion engines and spray cooling. Despite the extensive work on wetted surfaces, the influence of temperature on droplet outcome, local evaporation/boiling effects, and liquid film stability has been overlooked in the literature. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to evaluate the influence of the liquid film temperature on the crater and jet dynamics. The experimental setup was designed for this purpose, in which a borosilicate glass surface that contains the liquid film is placed over an aluminium block with embedded cartridge heaters, heating it by conduction. Water, n-decane and n-heptane are the fluids adopted for the experiments due to their differences in thermophysical properties and saturation temperature. Different conditions are considered, which include two dimensionless thicknesses, h*= 1.0 and h*=1.5, and a range of dimensionless temperatures, theta = 0, theta = 0.2, theta = 0.4 and theta = 0.6. Qualitative and quantitative analyses are performed regarding crater evolution, and central jet height and breakup measurements, respectively. Evaporation rate measurements are required due to the influence on the liquid film thickness variation. Qualitative results show that temperature differences promote the formation of recirculation zones near the impact surface and the crater boundaries, as well as the influence on the crater shape and curvature. In terms of the quantitative analysis, the central jet height measurements for the n-heptane and n-decane reveal that higher values of the dimensionless temperature lead to an increase in the jet height, as well as promoting and increasing the occurrence and number of secondary droplets, respectively. Water follows a similar trend with the exception of theta = 0.2, which can be explained by a time scale analysis.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio