A CFD approach to the atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides in the vicinity of NPPs

Most studies of atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides released from Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) are based on Gaussian plume models or on the use of a convection–diffusion equation. Such methods, which do not involve solving the flow problem, are useful in the atmospheric mesoscale, of the order of 2–2000 km from the NPP. However, they do not account for the turbulence generated by the interaction of the wind with obstacles and with the released material stream, which are the dominant factors in the local scale, of the order of 0–2 km from the source of emission. Here, the authors advocate the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to study the dispersion problem. The physical model comprises the Navier–Stokes equations, a convection–diffusion energy equation, and transport equations for the radionuclides. The paper details the stabilized finite element formulation used, stressing its connection with the variational multiscale/large eddy simulation approach. Adaptive techniques combining error estimation and remeshing are also employed. The method is implemented on a Beowulf parallel computing system using domain decomposition and the message passing interface (MPI). Controlled emissions from a chimney and release from severe accidents have been simulated, showing the importance of the local phenomena on the dispersion problem.     

Scheduling in sports: An annotated bibliography

Sports have worldwide appeal. Professional sport leagues involve significant investments in players. Events such as the Olympics Games, the Football World Cup and the major golf and tennis tournaments generate huge worldwide television audiences and many sports are multi-million dollar industries. A key aspect of sporting events is the ability to generate schedules that optimize logistic issues and that are seen as fair to all those who have an interest. This is not just restricted to generating the fixtures, but also to other areas such as assigning officials to the games in the competitions. This paper provides an annotated bibliography for sports scheduling articles. This area can be traced back over 40 years. It is noticeable that the number of papers has risen in recent years, demonstrating that scientific interest is increasing in this area.     

Long-Term Behavior of Precast Segmental Cantilever Bridges

An investigation is conducted to quantify long-term effects on a family of four precast segmental bridges. Segments are prefabricated, transported, and set into place with an appropriate lifting device and a launching gantry. Attention has been paid to the effects of long-term deformations of concrete, to avoid noticeable geometrical variations in its shape but also to account for redistribution of stresses, which creates a difficult analytical problem to solve. An attempt is made to provide a practical treatment of serviceability analyses of this type of concrete structure, having an evolutive process of erection, presenting: (1) an “exact” incremental step-by-step time approach; (2) a simplified approach for the inclusion of time dependent effects of creep and shrinkage; and (3) a comparison of both approaches, in order to treat these kinds of problems by means of a simplified approach.     

Optimization of RO desalination systems powered by renewable energies. Part I: Wind energy

Operation of an experimental RO plant connected directly to a wind system without energy storage was studied. The data obtained confirm the wide spectrum of operation of the plant with respect to the power available and the operation of the system.     

Structural and Molecular Modeling Features of P2X Receptors

Currently, adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) is recognized as the extracellular messenger that acts through P2 receptors. P2 receptors are divided into two subtypes: P2Y metabotropic receptors and P2X ionotropic receptors, both of which are found in virtually all mammalian cell types studied. Due to the difficulty in studying membrane protein structures by X-ray crystallography or NMR techniques, there is little information about these structures available in the literature. Two structures of the P2X4 receptor in truncated form have been solved by crystallography. Molecular modeling has proven to be an excellent tool for studying ionotropic receptors. Recently, modeling studies carried out on P2X receptors have advanced our knowledge of the P2X receptor structure-function relationships. This review presents a brief history of ion channel structural studies and shows how modeling approaches can be used to address relevant questions about P2X receptors.     

Apatite bone cement reinforced with calcium silicate fibers

Several research efforts have been made in the attempt to reinforce calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) with polymeric and carbon fibers. Due to their low compatibility with the cement matrix, results were not satisfactory. In this context, calcium silicate fibers (CaSiO₃) may be an alternative material to overcome the main drawback of reinforced CPCs since, despite of their good mechanical properties, they may interact chemically with the CPC matrix. In this work CaSiO₃ fibers, with aspect ratio of 9.6, were synthesized by a reactive molten salt synthesis and used as reinforcement in apatite cement. 5 wt.% of reinforcement addition has increased the compressive strength of the CPC by 250 % (from 14.5 to 50.4 MPa) without preventing the cement to set. Ca and Si release in samples containing fibers could be explained by CaSiO₃ partial hydrolysis which leads to a quick increase in Ca concentration and in silica gel precipitation. The latter may be responsible for apatite precipitation in needle like form during cement setting reaction. The material developed presents potential properties to be employed in bone repair treatment.     

Automatic Calibration of the SHETRAN Hydrological Modelling System Using MSCE

Automatic calibration is preferred because it provides an objective and extensive searching in the feasible parameter space. In this study, the Modified Shuffled Complex Evolution (MSCE) optimization algorithm is applied to automatically calibrate the physically-based spatially-distributed hydrological model SHETRAN in the 705-km² semi-arid Cobres basin in southern Portugal, with a spatial resolution of 2 km and a temporal resolution of 1 h. Twenty-two parameters are calibrated for the main types of land-use and soil. Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) is 0.86 for calibration and 0.74 for validation for basin outlet; NSE is respectively 0.65 and 0.82 for calibration, 0.69 and 0.63 for validation of internal gauging stations Albernoa and Entradas. As for storm events, NSE is 0.87 and 0.64 respectively for Storms No.1 (during the calibration period) and No.4 (during the validation period) at basin outlet; it is 0.69 and 0.65 for Storm No.4 respectively at Albernoa and Entradas. The results are satisfactory not only for basin outlet but also for internal gauging stations.     

A comparative investigation between poly(1-ethynylpyrene) and poly(1,6-(3-ethynylpyrenylene)): Influence of the structure on the thermal,optical, electrochemical properties and conductivity

A comparative investigation between trans-poly(1-ethynylpyrene) (trans-PEP) obtained chemically and poly(1,6-(3-ethynylpyrenylene) (E-PEP) prepared electrochemically was carried out. Thermal and optical properties of the polymers were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and absorption spectroscopy. Electrochemical properties were evaluated by cyclic voltamperometry, in a 0.1 M Et₄NClO₄/THF solution at 10 mV/s, using a Pt disc as working electrode and Ag/AgCl as reference electrode. On the other hand, the conductivity of both polymers was measured in pressed pellet. Trans-PEP (T₁₀ = 369 °C) showed a higher thermal stability than its homologue E-PEP (T₁₀ = 256 °C). DSC of the polymers showed that trans-PEP exhibits a softening point at 330 °C, whereas E-PEP does it at 117 °C. Absorption spectra of the polymers revealed that trans-PEP exhibits two absorption bands at λ = 336 nm and λ = 580 nm due to the pyrene moieties and the highly conjugated polyacetylene main chain, respectively. By contrast, E-PEP showed only an absorption band at λ = 358 nm followed by a tail, which reveals that this polymer possesses a lower degree of conjugation. Molecular modelling performed in short segments of these polymers confirmed this hypothesis. Regarding the electrochemical properties, trans-PEP showed an anodic peak at 1500 mV and a conductivity value σ = 2.7 × 10^?2 S/cm, whereas E-PEP exhibited an anodic oxidation peak at 1670 mV and σ = 8.4 × 10^?2 S/cm.     

Infrared Optoacoustic Spectroscopy of 13CD3OD Around 9P CO2 Laser Lines

In this work we present the results of an investigation about Doppler limited infrared absorbing transitions of the in-plane methyl-rocking and the asymmetric methyl deformation modes of ¹³CD₃OD by means of optoacoustic detection. This is an alternative and attractive technique to be applied to this methanol isotopomer, in comparison to Fourier transform spectroscopy. In fact the contamination problem associated with the fast exchange of OD by OH in the molecule limits the use of the Fourier transform technique. Using a waveguide CO₂ laser of 290 MHz tunability on each line we were able to observe 20 IR absorptions, most of them of large offset. The data will be useful in theoretical analysis of this molecule, as well as in the generation of FIR laser radiation in optically pumped molecular laser.