Cavitation: a technology on the horizon

An overview of the application of cavitation phenomenon for the intensification of chemical/physical processing applications has been presented here, discussing the causes for the observed enhancement and highlighting some of the typical examples. The important considerations required for efficient scale-up of the cavitational reactors and subsequent industrial applications have been depicted based on the work carried out as a result of sponsored projects at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. Overall, it appears that the combined efforts of physicists, chemists and chemical engineers are required to effectively use cavitational reactors for industrial applications. Some recommendations for further work to be carried out in this area have also been mentioned, which should allow the exploitation of this technology on an industrial scale

Efficacy of Manual Hemostasis for Percutaneous Axillary Artery Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump Removal

Background. The prevalence of peripheral vascular disease has led to the re-emergence of percutaneous axillary vascular access as a suitable alternative access site to femoral artery. We sought to investigate the efficacy and safety of manual hemostasis in the axillary artery. Methods. Data were collected from a prospective internal registry of patients who had a Maquet® (Rastatt, Germany) Mega 50 cc intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABP) placed in the axillary artery position. They were anticoagulated with weight-based intravenous heparin to maintain an activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) of 50-80 seconds. Anticoagulation was discontinued 2 hours prior to the device explantation. Manual compression was used to achieve the hemostasis of the axillary artery. Vascular and bleeding complications attributable to manual hemostasis were classified based on the Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 (VARC-2) and Bleeding Academic Research Consortium-2 (BARC-2) classifications, respectively. Results. 29 of 46 patients (63%) achieved axillary artery homeostasis via manual compression. The median duration of IABP implantation was 12 days (range 1-54 days). Median compression time was 20 minutes (range 5-60 minutes). There were no major vascular or bleeding complications as defined by the VARC-2 and BARC-2 criteria, respectively. Conclusion. Manual compression of the axillary artery appears to be an effective and safe method for achieving hemostasis. Large prospective randomized control trials may be needed to corroborate these findings

An intelligent interface for integrating climate, hydrology, agriculture, and socioeconomic models

Understanding the interactions between natural processes and human activities poses major challenges as it requires the integration of models and data across disparate disciplines. It typically takes many months and even years to create valid end-to-end simulations as different models need to be configured in consistent ways and generate data that is usable by other models. MINT is a novel framework for model integration that captures extensive knowledge about models and data and aims to automatically compose them together. MINT guides a user to pose a well-formed modeling question, select and configure appropriate models, find and prepare appropriate datasets, compose data and models into end-to-end workflows, run the simulations, and visualize the results. MINT currently includes hydrology, agriculture, and socioeconomic models.Office of the VP for Researc

Influence of different types of co-solvents on the bonding abilities of one step self-etching adhesives: An Ex vivo Study

Aim: To evaluate the tensile bond strength of three one step self-etch adhesives: Adper easy Bond, G-Bond, Tetric N bond self etch to dentin which contained ethanol and water, acetone and water and only water as a solvent respectively. Materials and Methods: Freshly extracted intact sixty permanent molars were collected for the study. To standardize the depth of cavity, 1.5 mm hole was drilled in the deepest part of the central fossa. All the teeth were ground and polished to expose the flat dentinal surface. All the teeth were embedded in the autopolymerising acrylic resin in separate moulds and were divided into three equal groups of twenty teeth each. Group 1: Twenty samples restored with composite and Adper easy one as bonding agent. Group 2: Twenty samples restored with composite and G-Bond as bonding agent. Group 3: Twenty samples restored with composite and Tetric N Bond as bonding agent. A wire loop was placed over the predesigned locationin the composite held with the split brass mold. Tensile loading was done using UTM and statistical analysis was done using one step ANOVA and Tukey's HSD test. Results: The mean bond strengths of ethanol containing, acetone containing and water containing adhesives were 12.57 MPa, 10.16 MPa and 11.46 MPa. Conclusion: Comparison of contemporary adhesives in this ex-vivo study revealed that in self-etch adhesives, the type of solvent may be one of the factors that affects the bond strength. The adhesives containing ethanol based solvent showed better bonding than acetone and water based self etch adhesives

Dry Field Closure of Large-Bore Access With Iliac Artery Angioplasty Through the Ipsilateral Sheath: The Single-Access Dry-Closure Technique.

The use of large-bore sheaths has risen exponentially in the last decade partly due to the growth of structural heart interventions and various mechanical circulatory support options. Meanwhile, the interventional community has gradually shifted from an open surgical to endovascular closure. However, vascular access complications and bleeding still remain a significant risk. Various techniques involving an additional access site have been described to allow for endovascular bailout of potential complications. However, these by themselves create an additional burden to procedural morbidity. Furthermore, the weight of additional procedural time, contrast, radiation and the need for advanced peripheral endovascular skills constitute considerable downsides to the second arterial access strategy. For that reason, we propose an alternative strategy, the single-access dry-closure technique, which provides vascular access control without the additional burden and risk of a second arterial access. This involves the use of low-pressure iliac artery occlusive angioplasty, delivered through the ipsilateral sheath during the endovascular closure. We hereby describe the steps, advantages and disadvantages of this novel technique. We also include the description of multiple technical variations depending on the use of one or two preclosed Proglide devices. This novel approach seems to be a safe, effective, simple, fast and economical technique that has the potential to decrease procedural morbidity by avoiding an additional arterial access. It also lowers contrast volume and radiation exposure while improving the overall set-up and operator ergonomics

Design of housing for faculty and staff: an overview. Gandhinagar

by Rajiv Kathpalia, Sonke Hoof, Sudhir K. Jain, Shobhit Tayal, Harish Palanthandalam-Madapusi, Marjorie Greene, and Mouli Kethineed