Progress and recent trend in MILD combustion

Moderate or intense low oxygen dilution(MILD)combustion plays a significant role in the mitigation of combustion-generated pollutants and greenhouse gases whilst meeting thermal efficiency needs.However,due to the lack of the fundamental knowledge on this combustion,there is a misconception that MILD combustion should be established by high preheating of the air,which has limited its application.Our research and development on this combustion has been performed for several years. We have found that the requ...     

General purpose software for probability computations—A virtual machine approach

The application of probability techniques in structural engineering has seen ample development in the last decade. Yet, the software used for engineering probability computations often lacks generality. The functional needs to be satisfied by general purpose software for engineering applications of probability methods are presented. An analysis of these needs suggests a software design philosophy based on the concept of a software virtual machine for probability computations. The virtual machine architecture and software design are explained. An example problem, in seismic risk analysis, solved with software based on this design is described.     

Freeze drying process: real time model and optimization

Freeze drying is a separation process based on the sublimation phenomenon. This process has the following advantages compared to the conventional drying process: the material structure is maintained, moisture is removed at low temperature (reduced transport rates), product stability during the storage is increased, the fast transition of the moisturized product to be dehydrated minimizes several degradation reactions. Freeze drying process has not been studied well enough. In order to put it to practice, a mathematical model based on fundamental mass and energy balance equations has been developed, based on a deterministic mathematical model proposed by Liapis and Sadikoglu [Drying Technol. 15 (3–4) (1997) 791], and used to calculate the amount of removed water and amount of residual water. The proposed model contains the freeze drying equations, which are solved by the orthogonal collocation and polynomial approximation—Jacobi method. The results show that the dynamic mathematical model represents well the process and is especially well suited for real time optimization. As a case study to illustrate the model utilization in a real time optimization procedure, the freeze drying process was optimized by the method of Successive Quadratic Programming (SQP) used for solution of non-linear equations, for skimmed milk and soluble coffee. The optimization procedure showed to be an important tool to improve the process performance since lower energy consumption and hence lower cost has been achieved to obtain the product with the same quality.     

Detection of Germline Variants in 450 Breast/Ovarian Cancer Families with a Multi-Gene Panel Including Coding and Regulatory Regions

With the progress of sequencing technologies, an ever-increasing number of variants of unknown functional and clinical significance (VUS) have been identified in both coding and non-coding regions of the main Breast Cancer (BC) predisposition genes. The aim of this study is to identify a mutational profile of coding and intron-exon junction regions of 12 moderate penetrance genes (ATM, BRIP1, CDH1, CHEK2, NBN, PALB2, PTEN, RAD50, RAD51C, RAD51D, STK11, TP53) in a cohort of 450 Italian patients with Hereditary Breast/Ovarian Cancer Syndrome, wild type for germline mutation in BRCA1/2 genes. The analysis was extended to 5′UTR and 3′UTR of all the genes listed above and to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 known regulatory regions in a subset of 120 patients. The screening was performed through NGS target resequencing on the Illumina platform MiSeq. 8.7% of the patients analyzed is carriers of class 5/4 coding variants in the ATM (3.6%), BRIP1 (1.6%), CHEK2 (1.8%), PALB2 (0.7%), RAD51C (0.4%), RAD51D (0.4%), and TP53 (0.2%) genes, while variants of uncertain pathological significance (VUSs)/class 3 were identified in 9.1% of the samples. In intron-exon junctions and in regulatory regions, variants were detected respectively in 5.1% and in 32.5% of the cases analyzed. The average age of disease onset of 44.4 in non-coding variant carriers is absolutely similar to the average age of disease onset in coding variant carriers for each proband’s group with the same cancer type. Furthermore, there is not a statistically significant difference in the proportion of cases with a tumor onset under age of 40 between the two groups, but the presence of multiple non-coding variants in the same patient may affect the aggressiveness of the tumor and it is worth underlining that 25% of patients with an aggressive tumor are carriers of a PTEN 3′UTR-variant. This data provides initial information on how important it might be to extend mutational screening to the regulatory regions in clinical practice.     

Extracellular Vesicles in Blood: Sources,Effects, and Applications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are important players for intercellular communication. EVs are secreted by almost all cell types; they can transfer information between nearby or distant cells, and they are highly abundant in body fluids. In this review, we describe the general characteristics of EVs, as well as isolation and characterization approaches. Then, we focus on one of the most relevant sources of EVs: the blood. Indeed, apart from EVs secreted by blood cells, EVs of diverse origins travel in the bloodstream. We present the numerous types of EVs that have been found in circulation. Besides, the implications of blood-derived EVs in both physiological and pathological processes are summarized, highlighting their potential as biomarkers for the diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and prognosis of several diseases, and also as indicators of physiological modifications. Finally, the applications of EVs introduced in the circulatory system are discussed. We describe the use of EVs from distinct origins, naturally produced or engineered, autologous, allogeneic, or even from different species and the effects they have when introduced in circulation. Therefore, the present work provides a comprehensive overview of the components, effects, and applications of EVs in blood.     

Trends in nanotechnology patents applied to the health sector

The aim of the article is to present a method for identifying trends in patent applications for nanotechnology applied to the health sector around the world, based on the International Patent Classification. This classification divides the sector into: dental care, drugs, diagnostic kits, and medical apparatus & medical care. The Derwent database was mined for patent documents using nanotechnology terms associated with the IPC subclasses from the health subsectors. The number of patents was found to be rising, led by the United States, particularly universities and R centers. In the dental care subsector, nanotechnology was found to be used in composite material for manufacturing dental appliances. In drugs, the focus is on the use of nanoparticulate compositions comprising agents that are useful for a variety of diseases. In diagnostic kits, nanostructures have been patented that are capable of detecting target analytes. Meanwhile, in medical apparatus & medical care, patent applications have been made for nanocapsules and/or nanocomposite materials inserted in devices and guide catheters. A study was also made of patents in Brazil, where the same assignees and the same country (United States) as in the survey of global patents were found to be the leading patent applicants / holders.     

Isotropic continuum damage mechanics for concrete under cyclic loading: Stiffness recovery, inelastic strains and frictional sliding

A three dimensional set of constitutive equations for modelling quasi-brittle materials such as concrete is presented. It is formulated within the framework of irreversible processes thermodynamics in order to fulfill physical consistency. A single scalar damage variable has been introduced in order to take into account nonlinearities due to micro-cracking. The sliding influence and the partial stiffness recovery have been considered for cyclic loadings. Related numerical aspects are presented. Both plain and reinforced concrete structures are computed up to failure in order to show the efficiency and the robustness of the proposed model. Numerical results are both quantitatively and qualitatively compared to experimental data and highlight good agreement. The proposed constitutive equations seem accurate and robust enough for computing large scale structure subject not only to monotonic loadings but also to cyclic ones.