Lighter Ones Research Articles

BIOENSAIOS COM OLIGOQUETAS EDÁFICOS PARA AVALIAÇÃO DA EFICÁCIA DO TRATAMENTO DE RESÍDUOS DE MINERAÇÃO DE CARVÃO EM CENÁRIO DE DISPOSIÇÃO TERRESTRE

A oxidação da pirita presente nos rejeitos e estéreis da mineração de carvão pode desencadear uma drenagem ácida, induzindo uma redução drástica do pH dos solos e sistemas aquáticos vizinhos. O presente trabalho trata da avaliação da eficácia do processo de tratamento de um resíduo de mineração de carvão coletado na região carbonífera sul catarinense. O tratamento aplicado consistiu na separação das partículas conforme sua densidade, gerando três frações: pesada, mista e leve; com alto, intermediário e baixo teor de pirita, respectivamente. A eficácia do tratamento foi avaliada com base na quantificação de metais pesados e execução de bioensaios agudos e crônicos com oligoquetas edáficos (Eisenia andrei), conforme protocolos padrão (ISO). Os bioensaios foram somente aplicados à fração mista do resíduo, devido ao volume de material gerado com necessidade eventual de disposição terrestre. Misturas desta fração mista com um solo artificial foram preparadas nas seguintes proporções: 0, 6, 12, 24 e 50%. Os resultados revelaram, de forma geral, uma redução das concentrações de metais pesados e atenuação do pH para as frações mista e leve, em comparação ao resíduo in natura, sugerindo que, do ponto de vista químico, o tratamento foi eficiente. As concentrações de metais nas misturas de solo com a fração mista do resíduo estavam em concordância com os valores do CONAMA para qualidade de solos. Os bioensaios agudos com oligoquetas revelaram ausência de mortalidade e de perda de biomassa dos animais, indicando baixa ecotoxicidade aguda. Contudo, os animais sobreviventes foram capazes de bioacumular elevadas quantidades de níquel na maior testada (50%), um metal reconhecidamente tóxico aos oligoquetas. O bioensaio crônico indicou perda significativa de biomassa para a dose de 50%, bem como redução significativa da reprodução para as doses de 24 e 50%. Tendo em vista a ocorrência de toxicidade somente para altas dosagens de resíduo no solo, o tratamento aplicado parece ser eficiente.

Microbial-Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery under Laboratory Conditions by Bacillus firmus BG4 and Bacillus halodurans BG5 Isolated from Heavy Oil Fields

Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) is one of the tertiary recovery methods. The high viscosity and low flow characteristics of heavy oil makes it difficult for the extraction from oil reservoirs. Many spore-forming bacteria were isolated from Oman oil fields, which can biotransform heavy crude oil by changing its viscosity by converting heavier components into lighter ones. Two of the isolates, Bacillus firmus BG4 and Bacillus halodurans BG5, which showed maximum growth in higher concentrations of heavy crude oil were selected for the study. Gas chromatography analysis of the heavy crude oil treated with the isolates for nine days showed 81.4% biotransformation for B. firmus and 81.9% for B. halodurans. In both cases, it was found that the aromatic components in the heavy crude oil were utilized by the isolates, converting them to aliphatic species. Core flooding experiments conducted at 50 °C, mimicking reservoir conditions to prove the efficiency of the isolates in MEOR, resulted in 10.4% and 7.7% for B. firmus and B. halodurans, respectively, after the nine-day shut-in period. These investigations demonstrated the potential of B. firmus BG4 and B. halodurans BG5 as an environmentally attractive approach for heavy oil recovery.

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum and chemical composition in the 1015-1018 eV energy range

Cosmic ray in the 1015–1018 eV energy range can only be detected with ground based experiments, sampling Extensive Air Showers (EAS) particles. The interest in this energetic interval is related to the search of the knee of the iron component of cosmic ray and to the study of the transition between galactic and extra-galactic primaries. The energy and mass calibration of these arrays can only be performed with complete EAS simulations as no sources are available for an absolute calibration. The systematic error on the energy assignment can be estimated around 30 ± 10%. The all particle spectrum measured in this energy range is more structured than previously thought, showing some faint features: a hardening slightly above 1016 eV and a steepening below 1017 eV. The studies of the primary chemical composition are quickly evolving towards the measurements of the primary spectra of different mass groups: up to now we are able to separate (on a event by event basis) light and heavy primaries. Above the knee a steepening of the heavy primary spectrum and a hardening of the light ones have been detected.

Plumage colour predicts dispersal propensity in male pied flycatchers

Melanin-based colouration of tegument structures may be related to variability in the expression of certain strategies or behaviours within a species, including the propensity to disperse. This is because melanin synthesis may be physiologically linked to certain behaviours and personality traits, as proposed by the hypothesis of the pleiotropy in the melanocortin system (HPMS). During a 28-year period (1988–2015), we studied the melanin-based dorsal colouration of male pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) in relation to natal dispersal movements between contrasting (pine and oak) habitats. In addition, the relationship between tonic immobility (TI), a measure of individual fearfulness towards predators, and plumage colour was examined using a shorter time series. Consistent with HPMS, males’ dispersal propensity was related to their plumage colour, with the blackest individuals being more likely to disperse into a new habitat to breed. Blacker males remained for longer in TI than lighter ones. The positive relationship between plumage melanisation and TI might result from the pleiotropic effect of the melanocortin system on glucocorticoid-mediated stress and fearfulness responses as well as on eumelanin synthesis. This study provides solid empirical support for the HPMS in relation to natal dispersal behaviour. Individual behaviour can be integrated with other phenotypic traits via the pleiotropic effects of some biochemical pathways. Recent research has shown connections between melanin-based colouration, personality and certain life history traits. However, the relationship between colouration and natal dispersal—a critical phase of life—has received comparatively little attention. We studied this link in the pied flycatcher, a small bird in which males exhibit considerable variation in dorsal plumage colour, ranging from brown to black. By following individuals from fledging to settlement, we show that males with a higher percentage of black feathers are more likely to disperse into novel environments than lighter males. Furthermore, we found an association between plumage melanisation and individual fearfulness to predators, possibly due to the shared pathways of melanin synthesis and stress responses. Our results highlight the potential of the interplay between melanin production and individual behaviour to explain the maintenance of colour variability in natural populations.

Neuronal mechanisms underlying differences in spatial resolution between darks and lights in human vision.

Artists and astronomers noticed centuries ago that humans perceive dark features in an image differently from light ones; however, the neuronal mechanisms underlying these dark/light asymmetries remained unknown. Based on computational modeling of neuronal responses, we have previously proposed that such perceptual dark/light asymmetries originate from a luminance/response saturation within the ON retinal pathway. Consistent with this prediction, here we show that stimulus conditions that increase ON luminance/response saturation (e.g., dark backgrounds) or its effect on light stimuli (e.g., optical blur) impair the perceptual discrimination and salience of light targets more than dark targets in human vision. We also show that, in cat visual cortex, the magnitude of the ON luminance/response saturation remains relatively constant under a wide range of luminance conditions that are common indoors, and only shifts away from the lowest luminance contrasts under low mesopic light. Finally, we show that the ON luminance/response saturation affects visual salience mostly when the high spatial frequencies of the image are reduced by poor illumination or optical blur. Because both low luminance and optical blur are risk factors in myopia, our results suggest a possible neuronal mechanism linking myopia progression with the function of the ON visual pathway.

Numerical study of the thermal behavior of a novel Composite PCM/concrete wall

The main aim of the paper is to investigate the possibility of substituting the thick and heavy thermal mass external walls used in Mediterranean countries by thin and light thermal mass ones whilst maintaining similar comfort levels throughout the year. To make this substitution the use of PCM (phase change materials) panels incorporated into external wall structure are considered. The results show that inner temperature swings decreases remarkably in the wall with PCM. On the other hand, there is time shift between PCM wall temperature oscillations and those of the standard heavy concrete wall. This shows the ability of PCM to increase the thermal comfort of buildings.

Biodesulfurization of Petroleum Distillates—Current Status, Opportunities and Future Challenges

Sulfur oxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are considered as one of the major air pollutants in the world today. In addition, high sulfur levels in petroleum distillates can promote the deactivation of catalysts through poisoning in fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) during hydrocracking of the heavy distillates to lighter ones. The presence of high sulfur-containing compounds in the process streams could cause corrosion of piping and fittings and equipment, thereby damaging the pipelines and leading to air emissions of sulfur-containing compounds, which are undesirable for mankind and his environment. In many cases, a large quantity of SOx is released into the atmosphere when petroleum distillates that contain substantial amount of sulphur-containing compounds are used as fuel and combust. In this article, a short overview of different desulfurization methods that are employed to remove sulfur from petroleum distillates is provided. In particular, the review concentrates on biodesulfurization technique. In addition, this article intends to provide its readers current status of biodesulfurization (BDS). It critically analyses the trend in the development of the technology to showcase its strength and weakness that could pave a way for future opportunities. Approaches that are suitable to remediate sulfur-contaminated environment are discussed as well. Lastly, speculations on future directions or opportunities that require exploration are provided as a way of provoking the thoughts of researchers in this field.

Strong decays of exotic and nonexotic heavy baryons in the chiral quark-soliton model

In the large $N_c$ limit both heavy and light baryons are described by the universal mean field, which allows us to relate the properties of heavy baryons to light ones. With the only input from the decays of light octet baryons (due to the universality of the chiral mean field), excellent description of strong decays of both charm and bottom sextets is obtained. The parameter-free prediction for the widths of exotic anti-decapentaplet ($\overline{\boldsymbol{15}}$) baryons is also made. The exotic heavy baryons should be anomalously narrow despite of large phase space available. In particular, the widths of $\Omega_c(3050)$ and $\Omega_c(3119)$, interpreted as members of $\overline{\boldsymbol{15}}$-plet, are very small: 0.48~MeV and 1.12~MeV respectivly. This result is in very good agreement with the measurements of the LHCb Collaboration and provides natural and parameter free explanation of the LHCb observation that $\Omega_c(3050)$ and $\Omega_c(3119)$ have anomalously small widths among five recently observed states.

Darker eggs of mosquitoes resist more to dry conditions: Melanin enhances serosal cuticle contribution in egg resistance to desiccation in Aedes, Anopheles and Culex vectors.

Mosquito vectors lay their white eggs in the aquatic milieu. During early embryogenesis water passes freely through the transparent eggshell, which at this moment is composed of exochorion and endochorion. Within two hours the endochorion darkens via melanization but even so eggs shrink and perish if removed from moisture. However, during mid-embryogenesis, cells of the extraembryonic serosa secrete the serosal cuticle, localized right below the endochorion, becoming the third and innermost eggshell layer. Serosal cuticle formation greatly reduces water flow and allows egg survival outside the water. The degree of egg resistance to desiccation (ERD) at late embryogenesis varies among different species: Aedes aegypti, Anopheles aquasalis and Culex quinquefasciatus eggs can survive in a dry environment for ≥ 72, 24 and 5 hours, respectively. In some adult insects, darker-body individuals show greater resistance to desiccation than lighter ones. We asked if egg melanization enhances mosquito serosal cuticle-dependent ERD. Species with higher ERD at late embryogenesis exhibit more melanized eggshells. The melanization-ERD hypothesis was confirmed employing two Anopheles quadrimaculatus strains, the wild type and the mutant GORO, with a dark-brown and a golden eggshell, respectively. In all cases, serosal cuticle formation is fundamental for the establishment of an efficient ERD but egg viability outside the water is much higher in mosquitoes with darker eggshells than in those with lighter ones. The finding that pigmentation influences egg water balance is relevant to understand the evolutionary history of insect egg coloration. Since eggshell and adult cuticle pigmentation ensure insect survivorship in some cases, they should be considered regarding species fitness and novel approaches for vector or pest insects control.

Complex Interplay between Absorber Composition and Alkali Doping in High‐Efficiency Kesterite Solar Cells

AbstractSodium treatment of kesterite layers is a widely used and efficient method to boost solar cell efficiency. However, first experiments employing other alkali elements cause confusion as reported results contradict each other. In this comprehensive investigation, the effects of absorber composition, alkali element, and concentration on optoelectronic properties and device performance are investigated. Experimental results show that in the row Li–Na–K–Rb–Cs the nominal Sn content should be reduced by more than 20% (relative) to achieve the highest conversion efficiency. The alkali concentration resulting in highest device efficiencies is lower by an order of magnitude for the heavy alkali elements (Rb, Cs) compared to the lighter ones (Li, Na, K). Utilization of a wide range of characterization techniques helps to unveil the complex interplay between absorber composition and alkali doping. A ranking of alkali for best device performances, when employing alkali treatment, resulted in the order of Li > Na > K > Rb > Cs based on the statistics of more than 700 individual cells. Finally, a champion device with 11.5% efficiency (12.3% active area) is achieved using a high Li concentration with an optimized Sn content.

Signal of NMSSM at the LHC

In the next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), a pure singlet-like light pseudoscalar ( $$A_1$$ ) can dominantly decay to diphoton mode. In the chargino–neutralino associated production, followed by decays of heavier neutralinos to the lighter ones along with $$A_1$$ leads to a final-state . In this talk, the enhancement mechanism of diphoton mode of $$A_1$$ and its detection possibility in the final-state ( ) at the LHC run-2 are briefly summarized.

Influence of ripening stage on bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity in nine fig (Ficus carica L.) varieties grown in Extremadura, Spain

The aim of this study was to characterise nine commercial fig (Ficus carica L.) varieties differing in colour (dark-purple, brown, green, and yellow-green) at three different ripening stages in regards to the health-promoting compounds of their fruits and to identify and quantify the bioactive compounds as well as total antioxidant activity (TAA) in the skin and flesh of each variety. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found between varieties and ripening stages. Dark-coloured varieties showed the highest levels of total phenolic compounds (from 26.7 to 169.5mg gallic acid equivalents/100g), quercetin-3-O-rutinoside (between 4.6 and 11.9mg/100g), and anthocyanins, specially cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside (from 3.03 to 97.4mg/100g), while brown-, green-, and yellow-green-coloured varieties contained the highest levels of chlorogenic acid (between 0.7 and 2.1mg/100g), total Vitamin C (from 0.8 to 9.0mg/100g), and (+)-catechin as proanthocyanin cleavage products (from 3.1 to 17.3mg/100g). Levels of TAA were measured by 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) total radical scavenging capacity both in hydrophilic (H-TAA) and lipophilic (L-TAA) fractions. The darker varieties exhibited higher H-TAA values, ranging from 16.3 to 177.4mmol Trolox equivalents/100g, than the lighter ones. In the case of L-TAA, its concentration also depended directly on the genotype and less on the ripening stage. We found higher concentrations of bioactive compounds and a higher antioxidant capacity in the skin compared to the flesh; moreover, their content increased during the ripening process, reaching the maximum level of phenolic compounds at stage three, although these changes were deeper in the dark-coloured varieties and in the brown-coloured variety ‘San Antonio’ Based on our results, it is advisable to consume unpeeled, fully ripe, dark figs in order to optimally benefit from the health-promoting properties.

Climate, female traits and population features as drivers of breeding timing in Mediterranean red deer populations.

Understanding the factors that lead to variation in the timing of breeding in widespread species such as red deer (Cervus elaphus) is crucial to predict possible responses of wild populations to different climate scenarios. Here, we sought to further understand the causes of inter-annual variation in the reproduction timing of female deer in Mediterranean environments. An integrative approach was used to identify the relative importance of individual, population and climate traits in the date of conception of free-ranging deer, based on a dataset of 829 hinds culled during 12 years. We found that a population trait, density, was the most important factor explaining the variation in conception dates, with greater densities causing later conception dates. Body mass was the second in importance, with heavier females conceiving earlier than lighter ones. Almost equally important was the spring real bioclimatic index, a measure of plant productivity, causing later conception dates in the least productive springs (drier and hotter). Another climatic component, the end of summer drought, showed that the sooner the autumn arrives (greater rainfalls and cooler temperatures) the earlier the conception dates. Interestingly, age class was found to be a minor factor in determining conception date. Only older females (≥10 years old) conceived significantly later, suggesting reproductive senescence. This study highlights not only the importance of population and individual traits but also the influence of climatic parameters on the deer reproductive cycle in Mediterranean environments, giving valuable insight into how reproductive phenology may respond to seasonality and global climate changes.

Processes of noble gas elemental and isotopic fractionations in plasma-produced organic solids: Cosmochemical implications

The main carrier of primordial heavy noble gases in chondrites is thought to be an organic phase, known as phase Q, whose precise characterization has resisted decades of investigation. The Q noble gas component shows elemental and isotopic fractionation relative to the Solar, in favor of heavy elements and isotopes. These noble gas characteristics were experimentally simulated using a plasma device called the “Nebulotron”. In this study, we synthesized thirteen solid organic samples by electron-dissociation of CO, in which a noble gas mixture was added. The analysis of their heavy noble gas (Ar, Kr and Xe) contents and isotopic compositions reveals enrichment in the heavy noble gas isotopes and elements relative to the light ones. The isotope fractionation is mass-dependent and is consistent with a mn-type law, where n≥1. Based on a plasma model, we propose that the ambipolar diffusion of ions in the ionized CO gas medium is at the origin of the noble gas isotopic fractionation. In addition, the elemental fractionation of experimental and chondritic samples can be accounted for by the Saha law of plasma equilibrium, which does not depend on the respective noble gas masses but rather on their ionization potentials. Our results suggest that the Q noble gases were trapped into growing organic particles starting from solar gases that were fractionated in an ionized medium by ambipolar diffusion and Saha processes. This would imply that both the formation of chondritic organic matter and the trapping of noble gases took place simultaneously in the ionized areas of the protoplanetary disk.

Large scale separation and hadronic resonances from a new strongly interacting sector

Many theories describing physics beyond the Standard Model rely on a large separation of scales. Large scale separation arises in models with mass-split flavors if the system is conformal in the ultraviolet but chirally broken in the infrared. Because of the conformal fixed point, these systems exhibit hyperscaling and a highly constrained resonance spectrum. We derive hyperscaling relations and investigate the realization of one such system with four light and eight heavy flavors. Our numerical simulations confirm that both light–light and heavy–heavy resonance masses show hyperscaling and depend only on the ratio of the light and heavy flavor masses. The heavy–heavy spectrum is qualitatively different from QCD and exhibits quarkonia with masses not proportional to the constituent quark mass. These resonances are only a few times heavier than the light–light ones, which would put them within reach of the LHC.

Chlorine and bromine isotope fractionation of halogenated organic pollutants on gas chromatography columns

Compound-specific chlorine/bromine isotope analysis (CSIA-Cl/Br) has become a powerful approach to investigate degradation pathways and apportion sources of halogenated organic pollutants (HOPs) in the environment. CSIA-Cl/Br is usually conducted by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), which could be negatively impacted by isotope fractionation on GC columns. In this study, on-column Cl/Br isotope fractionation of 31 organochlorines and 4 organobromines was explored using GC-double focus magnetic-sector high resolution MS (GC-DFS-HRMS). Twenty-nine HOPs exhibited inverse Cl/Br isotope fractionation for which the heavier isotopologues eluted faster than the lighter ones on GC columns, and two polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB-138 and PCB-153) showed normal isotope fractionation, whereas the rest four HOPs did not show observable isotope fractionation. The isotope fractionation extents varied from −13.0‰ to 73.1‰. Mechanisms of the on-column Cl/Br isotope fractionation were tentatively elucidated with a modified two-film model. The results demonstrate that integrating peak area as complete as possible for separable chromatographic peaks and integrating the middle retention-time segments for the inseparable peaks are helpful to improve precision and accuracy of the CSIA-Cl/Br data. The findings of this study will shed light on development of CSIA-Cl/Br methods with respect to improving precision and accuracy.

MULTI-CLASS DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS AMONG ALZHEIMER’S, PARKINSON’S, CORTICOBASAL SYNDROME AND PROGRESSIVE SUPRANUCLEAR PALSY

The majority of previous computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) research focused on binary classification to discriminate a single neurodegenerative disorder (NDD) from healthy controls (CN). Given overlap among NDDs (e.g. AD, Frontotemporal dementia, Dementia with Lewy bodies, Corticobasal syndrome(CBS), Parkinson's (PARK) and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)) in symptoms and atrophy, binary classification can lead to costly misdiagnosis. We have published early attempts on multi-class differential diagnosis among AD, FTD and CN [2]. In this study, we extend it to study 4 different NDDs (AD, PARK, CBS and PSP) from 3 datasets: Alzheimer disease neuroimaging initiative (ADNI) [5], the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) [6] and the 4 Repeat Tauopathy Neuroimaging Initiative (4RTNI) [7]. Baseline structural T1 MRI scans have been processed through Freesurfer (FS) pipeline. The cortical reconstructions were visually quality controlled to exclude erroneous segmentations. This provided 604 subjects (188 AD from ADNI, 39 PSP and 33 CBS from 4RTNI along with 243 PARK and 101 CN from PPMI), whose cortical thickness (CT) features were smoothed (FWHM=10mm) and resampled onto the fsaverage template. The 68 FS cortical labels were adaptively subdivided into smaller patches of approx. equal size (controlled by number of vertices) [3,4]. Patch-wise median CT served as input to the multi-class random forest (RF) classifier. Accuracy is evaluated using repeated holdout cross-validation (80% training) stratifying the training set [RHsT, 3] for different patch sizes (m=500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000 and 10000). The distribution of balanced accuracies for different m (200 trials of RHsT) are shown in Fig. 1. A non-parametric Wilcoxon Ranksum test comparing their performance revealed 1) they are significantly better than a chance classifier (20% accuracy in a 5-class experiment) and 2) they are not statistically significantly different from each other. The confusion matrix is shown in Fig. 2. The most discriminative patches for the RF classifier for m=1000 are shown in Fig. 3. Patch-wise CT from a single baseline MRI scan demonstrates differential diagnostic utility (balanced accuracy of 45%) in a challenging 5-class task among AD, PARK, CSB, PSP and CN. Distribution of the classification performance of the random forest classifier for different patch sizes m. The baseline performance of a random chance classifier (20% in a 5-class experiment) is indicated with a dashed line. A non-parametric Wilcoxon Ranksum test comparing their performance revealed 1) they are significantly better than a chance classifier and 2) they are not statistically significantly different from each other. The confusion matrix of the random forest classifier (derived from the predictions on the test set) for patch size m=1000, illustrates the challenge involved in a 5-class differential diagnosis task. Panel A on the left presents the confusion matrix in percentage (averaged from the 200 repetitions of RHsT), and panel B on the right presents raw average number (from 200 trials of RHsT) of test subjects in each class. We notice significant confusion among different NDDs, esp. between ALZ and PARK as well as PSP and CBS. Visualization of the importance (measured by their impact in the accuracy of RF classifier if removed from training) for cortical thickness features from different patches. Only areas with impact greater than 10% are highlighted, with their actual values displayed according to the colorbar. Darker pink patches are more discriminative than the lighter ones. This visualization reveals expected areas such as superior temporal, superior parietal, pericalcarine and insula (affected in AD, CBS) as well as postcentral (affected in Parkinsonian syndromes).

Production of light hydrocarbons from pyrolysis of heavy gas oil and high density polyethylene using pillared clays as catalysts

Mesoporous catalysts are currently used in the petroleum and petrochemical industry to convert heavy hydrocarbons into light ones. There is a few papers on iron-pillared clays are available. In the catalytic pyrolysis, it was used a commercial clay fractionated to remove sand and silt and treated to remove soluble salts and the organic fraction. That clay was intercalated with iron or aluminum oligomers and calcined at specific temperatures to form pillars in the layers. The main advantage of the use of pillared clays in catalytic pyrolysis is that their cost is much more reduced than that of zeolite catalysts. All thermal pyrolysis at 500°C have high pyrolysis oil yield (>80%), except for the pyrolysis of high density polyethylene (HDPE) using zeolite as catalyst. It was observed significant difference in the catalytic pyrolysis of the HDPE at 450°C as the following: zeolite > Al-PILC–450≈Fe-PILC–450> Fe-PILC–300> Al-PILC-Fe-450. The presence of heavy gas oil (HGO) improves the oil yield from both thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of HDPE, which can be attributed to the solvency effect of HGO. Pyrolysis oils were analyzed by GCAR-MS and their profiles were compared to the standard diesel. The oil from the HGO/HDPE pyrolysis using the catalyst Fe-PILC-Fe-300 was the more similar to the GC–MS homologous series of standard diesel. That catalyst produced a light linear hydrocarbon content 63% higher than that produced with zeolite.

A priority supposition for estimation of time‐dependent changes in thickness and weight of polymeric flat sheet membranes fabricated by the nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technique

AbstractDuring the fabrication procedure of polymeric membranes using nonsolvent induced phase inversion technique, thickness and weight of the polymeric cast film change rapidly. The only available guideline just presents a qualitative criterion for thickness change in which “penetration of the denser species into the film and the elimination of the lighter ones from film to coagulation bath” have been related to the densification of the cast solution and its thickness reduction. While it is well‐suited for cellulose acetate/acetone/water ternary system, it is not applicable to our investigated systems, that is, polyethersulfone/n‐methyl‐pyrolidine/water and polysulfone/N‐methylpyrrolidone/water. Thus, here the thermo‐kinetic behavior of NIPS process was discussed, and then a thermodynamic model was developed, in which only initial cast film and final membrane properties were used as inputs. Two new simple suppositions were derived and examined. The use of thermodynamic modeling approach results in desirable estimation of overall changes, and the proposed suppositions also can be reliably used for prediction of changes in mass and thickness experienced by cast film NIPS process. It was shown that without the implication of some serious assumptions, it is impossible to derive the old supposition from theoretical concepts. It was also found that the interpretation of film thickness reduction in literatures cannot be validated. Using the presented theoretical concept, one can obtain an overview of the decrease and/or increase in thickness and/or weight of final fabricated membrane prior to any experimental investigation.

Impact of demographic and clinical variables on the oral health-related quality of life among five-year-old children: a population-based study using self-reports.

Although SOHO-5 has been validated, there is no study testing this instrument in population-based samples. To evaluate the impact of demographic and oral clinical variables on the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in 5-year-old children from a socially deprived Brazilian area using selfreports. Data from 588 children were analyzed. Examinations included untreated dental caries and occlusal deviations. Children answered the Brazilian SOHO-5 version and interviewers collected demographic characteristics of the child (sex and skin color). Robust Poisson regression associated outcome and exposures. General, the oral impacts were reported by 71.1% of children. The mean and standard deviation total score of the Brazilian SOHO-5 were 3.51 and 3.82, respectively. Children with untreated dental caries (PR = 1.28; P = 0.004) and increased overjet (PR = 1.35; P = 0.002) experienced a worse OHRQoL. Dark and mixed skin color children did not have a good impact on their OHRQoL (PR = 1.53; P = 0.006 and PR = 1.44; P < 0.000, respectively) compared to light ones. Untreated dental caries and increased overjet were independently associated with worst OHRQoL in 5-year-old children. As an indication of social deprivation, dark and mixed skin color children compared to light ones presented higher probability for reporting worst OHRQoL independently of the oral clinical conditions.