Search results for "SEPARATION"

Numerical modeling of blood flow in the internal jugular vein with the use of computational fluid mechanics software.

2021

ObjectivesTo determine the site and nature of altered hemodynamics in pathological internal jugular veins.MethodWith the use of computational fluid mechanics software we simulated blood flow in 3 D models of the internal jugular veins that exhibited different morphologies, including nozzle-like strictures in their upper parts and valves in the lower parts.ResultsIn a majority of models with nozzle-like strictures, especially those positioned asymmetrically, abnormal flow pattern was revealed, with significant flow separation and regions with reversed flow. Abnormal valves had no significant impact on flow in a case of already altered flow evoked by stricture in upper part of the vein.Conclu…

Intraperitoneal adhesions-an ongoing challenge between biomedical engineering and the life sciences

2011

Peritoneal adhesions remain a relevant clinical problem despite the currently available prophylactic barrier materials. So far, the physical separation of traumatized serosa areas using barriers represents the most important clinical strategy for adhesion prevention. However, the optimal material has not yet been found. Further optimization or pharmacological functionalization of these barriers could give an innovative input for peritoneal adhesion prevention. Therefore, a more complete understanding of pathogenesis is required. On the basis of the pathophysiology of adhesion formation the main barriers currently in clinical practice as well as new innovations are discussed in the present r…

Towards interpretable classifiers with blind signal separation

2012

Blind signal separation (BSS) is a powerful tool to open-up complex signals into component sources that are often interpretable. However, BSS methods are generally unsupervised, therefore the assignment of class membership from the elements of the mixing matrix may be sub-optimal. This paper proposes a three-stage approach using Fisher information metric to define a natural metric for the data, from which a Euclidean approximation can then be used to drive BSS. Results with synthetic data models of real-world high-dimensional data show that the classification accuracy of the method is good for challenging problems, while retaining interpretability.

Checks and balances and international openness

1991

In the course of a long digression within his famous inspection of Plato’s political philosophy, Karl Popper (1945: 121) argues that “the problem of politics” is the following: “How can we so organize political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing too much damage?” Popper’s answer is: “the theory of checks and balances”, which he defines as the striving to establish “institutional control of the rulers by balancing their powers against other powers” (122). From that general approach to “the problem of politics”, it follows that democracy is definitely not the rule of the majority, or the sovereignty of the people (a conception that entails various paradoxe…

Slide electrification: charging of surfaces by moving water drops.

2019

We investigate the charge separation caused by the motion of a water drop across a hydrophobic, insulating solid surface. Although the phenomenon of liquid charging has been consistently reported, these reports are primarily observational, results are difficult to reproduce, and no quantitative theory has been developed. In this work, we address both the experimental and theoretical sides of this problem. We reproducibly measure the charge gained by water drops sliding down a substrate, and we outline an analytical theory to describe this charging process. As an experimental system, we choose water drops moving down an inclined plane of glass hydrophobized with perfluoro octadecyltrichloros…

Chemical design of coordination polymers and functional materials: from pore control in MOFs through spin dynamics in nanomagnets to rotaxanes in mol…

2022

El trabajo de esta tesis se enmarca en el diseño químico de polímeros de coordinación y de materiales funcionales para poder ser utilizados en el campo de los materiales moleculares. El capítulo 1 ofrece una visión de los avances más significativos en la química de coordinación, así como una introducción general de los materiales moleculares más relevantes en la actualidad. El objetivo es proporcionar al lector el conocimiento necesario para establecer las bases sobre los campos a tratar. El resto de capítulos está organizado de acuerdo con un aumento de la dimensionalidad, empezando con moléculas discretas y terminando con polímeros de coordinación. El capítulo dos describe dos estructuras…

Effect of the junction angle on turbulent flow at a hydraulic confluence

2018

Despite the existing knowledge concerning the hydrodynamic processes at river junctions, there is still a lack of information regarding the particular case of low width and discharge ratios, which are the typical conditions of mountain river confluences. Aiming at filling this gap, laboratory and numerical experiments were conducted, comparing the results with literature findings. Ten different confluences from 45 ∘ to 90 ∘ were simulated to study the effects of the junction angle on the flow structure, using a numerical code that solves the 3D Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the k- ϵ turbulence closure model. The results showed that the higher the junction angle, the …

2021

Amino acids with small side chains and motifs of small residues in a distance of four are rather abundant in human single-span transmembrane helices. While interaction of such helices appears to be common, the role of the small residues in mediating and/or stabilizing transmembrane helix oligomers remains mostly elusive. Yet, the mere existence of (small)xxx(small) motifs in transmembrane helices is frequently used to model dimeric TM helix structures. The single transmembrane helix of the human carbonic anhydrases XII contains a large number of amino acids with small side chains, and critical involvement of these small amino acids in dimerization of the transmembrane domain has been sugges…

Transport mechanism of peptides through supported liquid membranes

2007

Abstract The transport of selected dipeptides through supported liquid membranes impregnated with di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid in n-dihexylether has been investigated. The fluxes depend on the side chain of amino acids, presence in the peptide structure. The highest fluxes were obtained for the peptides extracted with the highest efficiency. It has been found that the hydrophobicity of investigated peptides, was not the major factor, influences their SLM permeation. In the conditions studied, it has been observed that the transport of peptide–carrier complex was depending on the acidic–basic properties of the analyte. The linearly least-square fittings of log {K1 + [H+]D} and log[(HR)2]…

Electrochemically triggered iodide-vacancy BiOI film for selective extraction of iodide ion from aqueous solutions

2021

Abstract The effective extraction and regeneration of radioactive iodide remains an urgent concern for safe nuclear energy utilization. Herein, we developed a novel electrochemically triggered iodide-vacancy BiOI film, which exhibited excellent I− ion extraction capacity of 328.3 mg·g−1. Especially, due to the ion vacancy trap effect, the film showed high selectivity towards I− ions in the existence of a large number of competitive anions. Additionally, the electrochemically switched ion extraction (ESIE) process with this iodide-vacancy BiOI film possessed fast extraction kinetics and high stability. More importantly, the trapped I− ions were easily desorbed from the film without the secon…