Modelling of a dynamic multiphase flash: the positive flash. Application to the calculation of ternary diagrams

A general and polyvalent model for the dynamic simulation of a vapor, liquid, liquid-liquid, vapor-liquid or vapor-liquid-liquid stage is proposed. This model is based on the -method introduced as a minimization problem by Han & Rangaiah (1998) for steady-state simulation. They suggested modifying the mole fraction summation such that the same set of governing equations becomes valid for all phase regions. Thanks to judicious additional switch equations, the -formulation is extended to dynamic simulation and the minimization problem is transformed into a set of differential algebraic equations (DAE). Validation of the model consists in testing its capacity to overcome phase number changes and to be able to solve several problems with the same set of equations: calculation of heterogeneous residue curves, azeotropic points and distillation boundaries in ternary diagrams

Utilizing the micron sized non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma inside the animal body for the tumor treatment application

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of micron sized non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma inside the animal body on breast cancer tumor. The μ-plasma jet consists of micron sized hollow tube in which pure helium gas is ionized by high voltage (4 kV) and high frequency (6 kHz). The efficiency of the plasma treatment in killing cancer cells was first investigated by cell viability measurements of treated 4T1 cells using flow cytometry and cell cycle analysis. For exploration of the in vivo effects of the plasma treatment, the BALB/c mice inoculated by 4T1 cell lines were exposed subcutaneously to plasma for 3 minutes. In addition, H&E staining, TUNEL and Western blotting assays were performed in order to observed the effects of the non-thermal plasma on the tumor cells. The results showed that the efficiency of the plasma in suppression of the tumor growth is comparable to that of a typical chemotherapy drug. Moreover, the results indicated that the plasma induces apoptosis in the tumor tissue and increases the ratio of the apoptotic to anti-apoptotic protein expression. We believe that these findings presented herein may extend our knowledge of the mechanisms by which the plasma exerts its promising anti-cancer effects