Energizing tomorrow: unleashing spirulina's potential in engine performance optimization and emission reduction.

Dwindling of fossil fuels and the global climate change has prompted civilization to look into alternate energy sources. This has led to explore inexhaustible and sustainable resources in the domain of renewable energy. Among all sources renewable energy, biofuel produced from biomass has great prospect for energy security as well as environmental safety over fossil fuels. The present work tries to explore the performance attributes and emission characteristics of a CI engine utilizing spirulina microalgae biodiesel blend comprising of 20% algae biodiesel blended with 80% diesel. This blend is tested in a diesel engine at varying engine load conditions of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% at variable injection timing of 20°, 23°, 25°, and 28° bTDC, respectively at compression ratio of 18. Based on experimental results, the peak brake thermal efficiency for injection timing of 20°, 23°, 25°, and 28° bTDC at 100% engine load were observed to be 26.79%, 23.77%, 24.77%, and 25.09%, respectively for the biodiesel blend in comparison to 27.76% of diesel mode whereas the emissions levels were found to minimum at 20° bTDC. On the part of emission, the average drop in CO emissions for injection timing of 20°, 23°, 25°, and 28° bTDC were found to be 53.46%, 43.71%, 44.34%, and 50.31%, respectively for biodiesel blend as compared to diesel mode. For the same setting, in comparison diesel mode, the average fall in HC emissions were found to be 42.32%, 34.13%, 30.37%, and 37.54%, respectively, and the rise of NOx emissions were found to be 8.06%, 5.55%, 3.51%, and 3.04%, respectively. Response surface methodology was applied for optimization of operating parameters of the algae biodiesel blend run diesel engine. The desirability based study revealed that at 85.19% engine load and injection timing of 20° bTDC were optimal operation settings which resulted in engine performance of 25.44% brake thermal efficiency. The emission level at this setting was observed to be reduced to 27.68 ppm CO, 1.60% CO2, 24.65 ppm HC, and 182.15 ppm NOx.

Comparison of Ga-PSMA PET MRI with mpMRI in localization and regional staging of prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: To compare diagnostic accuracy in localization and detection of extraprostatic extension (EPE), seminal vesicle invasion (SVI), lymph node involvement (LNI) between PSMA PET MRI and multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) in carcinoma prostate. METHODS: We did a prospective study of consecutive men with biopsy-proven prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy between July'2020 and Dec'2021 at our institution. Patients underwent PSMA PET MRI imaging. MpMRI findings were inferred separately by another radiologist who was blinded to the PSMA PET findings. PIRADS > 2 and any standardized uptake value (SUV) were considered positive. Findings were mapped to a 30-region anatomical grid and compared with pathology. The uro-pathologist also marked the presence of the tumor onto the same anatomical grid. The presence of EPE, SVI, and LVI was noted. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The significance in difference: McNemar test. SUVmax and Gleason score: Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: Seventy-five men (mean age 65) with an average PSA of 21.5 ng/ml were included. The sensitivity of PSMA PET MRI for localization was higher [63.6 vs 41.9] (p < 0.001) while specificity was similar [81.5 vs 83.2] (p 0.103). The former had a higher sensitivity to detect SVI [85.7 vs 57.10] (p = 0.03). No difference in the detection of EPE or LNI was noted. SUVmax > 7 was associated with high-risk disease (Gleason score >/= 7). LIMITATIONS: non-randomized nature, higher risk population. CONCLUSION: Ga-PSMA PET MRI improved the localization of prostate cancer and better detection of SVI. Further studies are required. It can act as a single-stop investigation for the primary staging of prostate cancer.

Head-On Collision of Dissimilar Viscosity Drops.

The head-on collision of drops is governed by the interfacial tension, viscosity, and inertia of the impacting drops. Earlier studies show that depending on the relative magnitude of these forces, the outcome of a head-on collision of two identical drops of the same liquid is likely to culminate in coalescence or reflexive separation. In this study, the head-on collision of drops of miscible liquids having dissimilar viscosity has been investigated numerically. As the two drop liquids are miscible, it is anticipated that the average viscosity of the two liquids will replicate the transition boundaries of coalescence and reflexive separation for a single fluid. However, numerical simulations reveal that this is true only for low-viscosity ratios. A high-viscosity ratio creates asymmetric flow; hence, the average viscosity does not accurately represent the local viscous effect. The asymmetric flow also facilitates the pinch-off of a thread without the separation of a satellite. The present investigation reveals that viscosity contrast leads to two additional outcomes of the head-on collision of drops: encapsulation and crossing separation. We have built a phase diagram identifying the outcome of a head-on collision of dissimilar viscosity drops on the viscosity ratio (µr)-Weber number (We) plane based on the results of approximately 450 simulations.