A simple method for the assessment of electrophoretic mobility in porous media.

Developing paper-based electrophoretic methods involve dealing with significant uncertainty levels when compared to their capillary counterparts. Critical information for developing these kinds of methods are the electrophoretic mobility of background electrolytes and samples. This work presents the design and characterization of a device for measuring the electrophoretic mobilities of dyes in porous media. The device was developed with the aim of validating a previously presented model and also proposing a protocol for the straightforward determination of electrophoretic mobilities in porous media when open-channel values are already known. Whatman #1 paper was used as a model substrate as far as it is the most common porous medium substrate for paper-based electrophoresis. The device was designed using a numerical simulation-assisted approach, utilizing OpenFOAM® and specific solvers for capillary transport and electromigration, namely porousMicroTransport and electroMicroTransport, respectively. The electrophoretic mobilities of five dyes were analyzed experimentally with the proposed device. To establish appropriate comparative values at different pHs, experiments in fused silica capillaries were also performed. An effective parameter model for describing the electrophoretic behavior of dyes in porous media, that is, the constriction factor, was found consistent with previous reports for the Whatman #1 paper. This consistency was found after considering (via direct measurements) the chromatographic effect of the medium over each dye. Consequently, the recorded values hold significant worth due to their potential for direct application in designing new experiments or devices in Whatman #1 paper. With the validation of the model through the experiments with the proposed device, those researchers interested on developing electrophoretic methods in porous substrates can make use of the open-channel electrophoretic mobilities reported in the literature, or in the well-known software databases, and correct them for the media of interest just by performing two simple characterization steps.

Pandemic fatigue impact on COVID-19 spread: A mathematical modelling answer to the Italian scenario.

The COVID-19 outbreak has generated, in addition to the dramatic sanitary consequences, severe psychological repercussions for the populations affected by the pandemic. Simultaneously, these consequences can have related effects on the spread of the virus. Pandemic fatigue occurs when stress rises beyond a threshold, leading a person to feel demotivated to follow recommended behaviours to protect themselves and others. In the present paper, we introduce a new susceptible-infected-quarantined-recovered-dead (SIQRD) model in terms of a system of ordinary differential equations (ODE). The model considers the countermeasures taken by sanitary authorities and the effect of pandemic fatigue. The latter can be mitigated by fear of the disease's consequences modelled with the death rate in mind. The mathematical well-posedness of the model is proved. We show the numerical results to be consistent with the transmission dynamics data characterising the epidemic of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy in 2020. We provide a measure of the possible pandemic fatigue impact. The model can be used to evaluate the public health interventions and prevent with specific actions the possible damages resulting from the social phenomenon of relaxation concerning the observance of the preventive rules imposed.

Environmental vulnerability to oil spills in Itapuã State Park, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: An approach using two-dimensional numerical simulation.

The growing use of coastal areas for different economic purposes is responsible for increasing pollution by hydrocarbons in marine environments. As a consequence of these activities, accidents during fuel extraction, transport, and storage can occur, causing intense environmental degradation. Numerical modeling of the trajectory of oil stains becomes an important tool with low operational costs, providing powerful support to the government agencies in charge of risk management associated with possible oil accidents, by helping to generate scenarios and strategies for containment and cleaning of affected environments. In this sense, the aim of this study is to estimate environmental vulnerability to oil at beaches located in the Itapuã State Park (PEI), a Protection Conservation Unit. This work focused on describing a methodology to estimate the vulnerability of coastal areas, with emphasis on the fact that the study was carried out in a closed environment. For that, an approach was used based on the integration of: (1) an intrinsic variable to the environment; (2) a dynamic variable determined through diesel oil surface dispersion scenarios. Four hypothetical accident scenarios with 20 m³ of diesel oil were simulated in 2018, during five days of simulations with instant dumping in the navigation channel of the local waterway near the PEI. The results suggest the forcing of the field of intensity and direction of the local winds as preponderant for the dynamics of movement and structure of the spots, with the zonal and meridional components of the fields of superficial currents acting in this process as a secondary factor. The study showed that all beaches in the park are susceptible to contact with oil throughout the simulated year, with Pombas Beach, Pedreira Beach, and Onça Beach being affected in all simulated scenarios, which classifies them as very high vulnerability and defines them as priority protection areas.

Numerical simulations of paper-based electrophoretic separations with open-source tools.

A new tool for the solution of electromigrative separations in paper-based microfluidics devices is presented. The implementation is based on a recently published complete mathematical model for describing these types of separations, and was developed on top of the open-source toolbox electroMicroTransport, based on OpenFOAM® , inheriting all its features as native 3D problem handling, support for parallel computation, and a GNU GPL license. The presented tool includes full support for paper-based electromigrative separations (including EOF and the novel mechanical and electrical dispersion effects), compatibility with a well-recognized electrolyte database, and a novel algorithm for computing and controlling the electric current in arbitrary geometries. Additionally, the installation on any operating system is available due to its novel installation option in the form of a Docker image. A validation example with data from literature is included, and two extra application examples are provided, including a 2D free-flow IEF problem, which demonstrates the capabilities of the toolbox for dealing with computational and physicochemical modeling challenges simultaneously. This tool will enable efficient and reliable numerical prototypes of paper-based electrophoretic devices to accompany the contemporary fast growth in paper-based microfluidics.

Modeling the transmission of the new coronavirus in São Paulo State, Brazil-assessing the epidemiological impacts of isolating young and elder persons.

We developed a mathematical model to describe the new coronavirus transmission in São Paulo State, Brazil. The model divided a community into subpopulations composed of young and elder persons considering a higher risk of fatality among elder persons with severe CoViD-19. From the data collected in São Paulo State, we estimated the transmission and additional mortality rates. Based on the estimated model parameters, we calculated the basic reproduction number $R_{0}$, and we retrieved the number of deaths due to CoViD-19, which was three times lower than those found in the literature. Considering isolation as a control mechanism, we varied the isolation rates in the young and elder subpopulations to assess the epidemiological impacts. The epidemiological scenarios focused mainly on evaluating the reduction in the number of severe CoViD-19 cases and deaths due to this disease when isolation is introduced in a population.

Quantum relaxation in a system of harmonic oscillators with time-dependent coupling.

In the context of the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory, numerical simulations for simple systems have shown that states that are initially out of quantum equilibrium-thus violating the Born rule-usually relax over time to the expected |ψ|2 distribution on a coarse-grained level. We analyse the relaxation of non-equilibrium initial distributions for a system of coupled one-dimensional harmonic oscillators in which the coupling depends explicitly on time through numerical simulations, focusing on the influence of different parameters such as the number of modes, the coarse-graining length and the coupling constant. We show that in general the system studied here tends to equilibrium, but the relaxation can be retarded depending on the values of the parameters, particularly to the one related to the strength of the interaction. Possible implications on the detection of relic non-equilibrium systems are discussed.

Rhinomanometry Versus Computational Fluid Dynamics: Correlated, but Different Techniques.

BACKGROUND: Past studies reported a low correlation between rhinomanometry and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), but the source of the discrepancy was unclear. Low correlation or lack of correlation has also been reported between subjective and objective measures of nasal patency. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates (1) the correlation and agreement between nasal resistance derived from CFD (RCFD) and rhinomanometry (RRMN), and (2) the correlation between objective and subjective measures of nasal patency. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with nasal obstruction underwent anterior rhinomanometry before and after mucosal decongestion with oxymetazoline. Subjective nasal patency was assessed with a 0-10 visual analog scale (VAS). CFD simulations were performed based on computed tomography scans obtained after mucosal decongestion. To validate the CFD methods, nasal resistance was measured in vitro (REXPERIMENT) by performing pressure-flow experiments in anatomically accurate plastic nasal replicas from 6 individuals. RESULTS: Mucosal decongestion was associated with a reduction in bilateral nasal resistance (0.34 ± 0.23 Pa.s/ml to 0.19 ± 0.24 Pa.s/ml, p = 0.003) and improved sensation of nasal airflow (bilateral VAS decreased from 5.2 ± 1.9 to 2.6 ± 1.9, p < 0.001). A statistically significant correlation was found between VAS in the most obstructed cavity and unilateral airflow before and after mucosal decongestion (r = -0.42, p = 0.003). Excellent correlation was found between RCFD and REXPERIMENT (r = 0.96, p < 0.001) with good agreement between the numerical and in vitro values (RCFD/REXPERIMENT = 0.93 ± 0.08). A weak correlation was found between RCFD and RRMN (r = 0.41, p = 0.003) with CFD underpredicting nasal resistance derived from rhinomanometry (RCFD/RRMN = 0.65 ± 0.63). A stronger correlation was found when unilateral airflow at a pressure drop of 75 Pa was used to compare CFD with rhinomanometry (r = 0.76, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: CFD and rhinomanometry are moderately correlated, but CFD underpredicts nasal resistance measured in vivo due in part to the assumption of rigid nasal walls. Our results confirm previous reports that subjective nasal patency correlates better with unilateral than with bilateral measurements and in the context of an intervention.

The development of a fully integrated 3D printed electrochemical platform and its application to investigate the chemical reaction between carbon dioxide and hydrazine.

The combination of computer assisted design and 3D printing has recently enabled fast and inexpensive manufacture of customized 'reactionware' for broad range of electrochemical applications. In this work bi-material fused deposition modeling 3D printing is utilized to construct an integrated platform based on a polyamide electrochemical cell and electrodes manufactured from a polylactic acid-carbon nanotube conductive composite. The cell contains separated compartments for the reference and counter electrode and enables reactants to be introduced and inspected under oxygen-free conditions. The developed platform was employed in a study investigating the electrochemical oxidation of aqueous hydrazine coupled to its bulk reaction with carbon dioxide. The analysis of cyclic voltammograms obtained in reaction mixtures with systematically varied composition confirmed that the reaction between hydrazine and carbon dioxide follows 1/1 stoichiometry and the corresponding equilibrium constant amounts to (2.8 ± 0.6) × 103. Experimental characteristics were verified by results of numerical simulations based on the finite-element-method.

Mathematical model describing CoViD-19 in São Paulo, Brazil - evaluating isolation as control mechanism and forecasting epidemiological scenarios of release.

In São Paulo, Brazil, the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (CoViD-19) was confirmed on 26 February, the first death due to CoViD-19 was registered on 16 March, and on 24 March, São Paulo implemented the isolation of persons in non-essential activities. A mathematical model was formulated based on non-linear ordinary differential equations considering young (60 years old or less) and elder (60 years old or more) subpopulations, aiming to describe the introduction and dissemination of the new coronavirus in São Paulo. This deterministic model used the data collected from São Paulo to estimate the model parameters, obtaining R0 = 6.8 for the basic reproduction number. The model also allowed to estimate that 50% of the population of São Paulo was in isolation, which permitted to describe the current epidemiological status. The goal of isolation implemented in São Paulo to control the rapid increase of the new coronavirus epidemic was partially succeeded, concluding that if isolation of at least 80% of the population had been implemented, the collapse in the health care system could be avoided. Nevertheless, the isolated persons must be released one day. Based on this model, we studied the potential epidemiological scenarios of release by varying the proportions of the release of young and elder persons. We also evaluated three different strategies of release: All isolated persons are released simultaneously, two and three releases divided in equal proportions. The better scenarios occurred when young persons are released, but maintaining elder persons isolated for a while. When compared with the epidemic without isolation, all strategies of release did not attain the goal of reducing substantially the number of hospitalisations due to severe CoViD-19. Hence, we concluded that the best decision must be postponing the beginning of the release.

Subtropical cyclones over the oceanic basins: a review.

Subtropical cyclones are hybrid systems presenting a warm core at low levels, as tropical cyclones, and a cold core at upper levels, as extratropical cyclones. Their genesis can be as proper subtropical system or from the transitions (extratropical to subtropical or tropical to subtropical). Subtropical cyclones occur mostly over the sea and generate intense near surface winds with great impacts on human activities and ecosystems. We present a review of the main features, as obtained from observations and numerical simulations, for subtropical cyclone development over the major oceanic basins.

Capturing the flow beneath water waves.

Recently, the authors presented two numerical studies for capturing the flow structure beneath water waves (Nachbin and Ribeiro-Junior 2014 Disc. Cont. Dyn. Syst. A34, 3135-3153 (doi:10.3934/dcds.2014.34.3135); Ribeiro-Junior et al. 2017 J. Fluid Mech.812, 792-814 (doi:10.1017/jfm.2016.820)). Closed orbits for irrotational waves with an opposing current and stagnation points for rotational waves were some of the issues addressed. This paper summarizes the numerical strategies adopted for capturing the flow beneath irrotational and rotational water waves. It also presents new preliminary results for particle trajectories, due to irrotational waves, in the presence of a bottom topography.This article is part of the theme issue 'Nonlinear water waves'.

Transition from non-periodic to periodic explosions.

We show the existence of periodic exploding dissipative solitons. These non-chaotic explosions appear when higher-order nonlinear and dispersive effects are added to the complex cubic-quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation modelling soliton transmission lines. This counterintuitive phenomenon is the result of period-halving bifurcations leading to order (periodic explosions), followed by period-doubling bifurcations (or intermittency) leading to chaos (non-periodic explosions).

Effect of the vibration profile on shallow granular systems.

We describe the collective behaviour of a system of many inelastic spherical particles inside a box which is being periodically vibrated. The box is shallow, with large horizontal dimensions, while the height is less than two particle diameters. The vibrations are not symmetric: the time the box is moving up is, in general, different from the time it is moving down. The limit cycles of isolated grains are largely affected by the asymmetry of the vibration mode, increasing the size in phase space of the chaotic regions. When many grains are placed in the box, the phase separation between dense, solid-like regions, coexisting with fluid-like regions takes place at smaller global densities for asymmetric vibration profiles. Besides, the order parameter of the transition takes larger values when asymmetric forcing is used.

Effect of wearing a swimsuit on hydrodynamic drag of swimmer

The purpose of this study was to analyse the effect of wearing a swimsuit on swimmer's passive drag. A computational fluid dynamics analysis was carried out to determine the hydrodynamic drag of a female swimmer's model (i) wearing a standard swimsuit; (ii) wearing a last generation swimsuit and; (iii) with no swimsuit, wearing light underwear. The three-dimensional surface geometry of a female swimmer's model with different swimsuit/underwear was acquired through standard commercial laser scanner. Passive drag force and drag coefficient were computed with the swimmer in a prone position. Higher hydrodynamic drag values were determined when the swimmer was with no swimsuit in comparison with the situation when the swimmer was wearing a swimsuit. The last generation swimsuit presented lower hydrodynamic drag values, although very similar to standard swimsuit. In conclusion, wearing a swimsuit could positively influence the swimmer's hydrodynamics, especially reducing the pressure drag component.

On the integration of the baroreflex control mechanism in a heterogeneous model of the cardiovascular system.

The aim of the present work is to describe the integration of a mathematical model for the baroreceptor reflex mechanism to provide regulatory action into a dimensionally heterogeneous (3D-1D-0D) closed-loop model of the cardiovascular system. Such heterogeneous model comprises a 1D description of the arterial tree, a 0D network for the venous, cardiac and pulmonary circulations and 3D patient-specific geometries for vascular districts of interest. Thus, the detailed topological description of the arterial network allows us to perform vasomotor control actions in a differentiated way, while gaining insight about the effects of the baroreflex regulation over hemodynamic quantities of interest throughout the entire network. Two examples of application are presented. Firstly, we simulate the hemorrhage in the abdominal aorta artery and analyze the action of the baroreflex over the system. Secondly, the self-regulated closed-loop model is applied to study the influence of the control action in the hemodynamic environment that determines the blood flow pattern in a cerebral aneurism in the presence of a regurgitating aortic valve.