Effects of BNO 1016 on ciliary transport velocity and cell culture surface liquid height of sinonasal epithelial cultures

Background BNO 1016 is an ethanolic extract of a mixture of five herbs that has been sold in different formulations for decades in the European market and more recently, in the United States market as an over-the-counter treatment for rhinosinusitis. Previous studies indicated activation of chloride secretion and increase in ciliary beat frequency by BNO 1016 but the functional consequences on mucociliary transport velocity and airway surface liquid homeostasis are unknown. This study intends to examine the effects of BNO 1016 on these properties in vitro. Results Human sinonasal epithelial cells were grown at an air-liquid interface, with addition of BNO 1016 basolaterally in each experiment. Polystyrene fluorescent microspheres were added to the apical surface of the culture, and distance traveled across the surface of the culture over a fixed time period was measured using live imaging. BNO 1016 concentrations of 50 μg/ml and 500 μg/ml were tested. Basolateral application of compound resulted in a non-dose-dependent increase in culture surface liquid height compared to controls at 30 min, and this effect persisted through the one-hour duration of the experiment (p < 0.01). Basolateral application of BNO 1016 also resulted in a non-dose-dependent increase in microsphere transport velocity at 45 and 60 min following compound application (p < 0.01). Conclusions Basolateral application of BNO 1016 at a concentration mimicking post-ingestion serum levels appears to elicit increases in cell culture surface liquid height and mucociliary clearance, as assessed by microsphere transport velocity. These properties can potentially be leveraged for therapeutic efficacy in diseases affecting mucus production and mucociliary transport.

Fatigue Evaluation of API 12F Shop-Welded Tanks With a New Roof-to-Shell Junction Detail

The American Petroleum Institute (API) provides a series of standards and specifications on storage tanks, in which the API 12F specification provides 12 tank designs that can be fabricated in the shop and transported to the field. The nominal capacity of the 12 API 12F tank designs ranges from 90 bbl (14.3 m3) to 1000 bbl (158.99 m3). The minimum required thickness and operational pressure levels that each tank case can sustain are given in Table 1 of the current 13th edition of API 12F (API, 2019, “API 12F Specification for Shop-Welded Tanks for Storage of Production Liquids,” 13th ed., API Publishing Services, Washington, DC, Standard No. API 12F). The objective of this study is to estimate the fatigue life of API 12F tanks under normal operation pressure cycles following the procedure presented in ASME VIII-2. The stored liquid product specific gravity is assumed to be 1.2 when the liquid height is half of the tank height, while the specific gravity is assumed to be 0.7 when the stored liquid height is 18 in. (460 mm). Meanwhile, a new roof–shell attachment detail is proposed in this study, the new rectangular cleanout junction detail presented in the 13th edition of API 12F is modeled, and various component thickness combinations are considered to investigate the effect of component thickness on fatigue life. The roof–shell joint (top junction) and shell–bottom plate (bottom junction) are studied by axisymmetric models under axisymmetric idealization as they are away from the cleanout junction, while the cleanout junction is studied by applying a submodeling technique. Stress classification is performed at each location of interest to obtain the stress components to calculate the stress range within each loading cycle that is needed to perform fatigue evaluation. The results and discussion about fatigue evaluation of API 12F tanks are presented in this report.

A shaking table substructure testing method for the structural seismic evaluation considering soil-structure interactions

A novel shaking table substructure testing method that includes interaction forces determined by actuator forces and shaking table dynamic parameters is proposed and validated. The seismic performance of a storage tank that incorporates soil-structure interactions is investigated by the method proposed in this article. The experimental results show that the proposed shaking table substructure testing method is an efficient alternative method of evaluating the seismic performance of a storage tank that incorporates soil-structure interactions. The experimental results show that the influence of the soil-structure interactions increases as the stiffness of the foundation soil decreases, which was demonstrated by the results showing that the displacement and acceleration responses of the storage tank decrease as the stiffness of the foundation soil decreases. Moreover, the influence of the soil-structure interactions increases as the liquid height increases, which was illustrated by the decreased displacement responses of the storage tank with increases in the liquid height. The maximum acceleration response of the storage tank occurred at the liquid surface height.

Effect of Scrubbing Liquid height on the performance of Self Priming Venturi Scrubber

The Containment Filtered Venting System (CFVS) is used to scrub the Particle matter & gaseous pollutants that are liberated during the severe accidents in nuclear power plants (NPP). This research work aims to an experimental study of the fluid dynamics of gas-liquid interaction of the circular cross-sectional self- priming VS at different experimental inputs. The performance of self-priming VS is indicated by the Pressure drop, Liquid to gas ratio & Collection efficiency. The effect of Scrubbing liquid height on these performance indicators is studied at different gas flow rates. The experimental result shows that the scrubbing liquid height greatly influences the performance of self-priming VS. It improves the Liquid to Gas ratio which is helpful to improve the collection efficiency.

Effect of the Growth Conditions on the Crystal Quality in Solution Growth of SiC Using Cr Solvent without Molten Si

We have succeeded in solution growth of SiC from Cr solvent without Si using ceramic SiC as the SiC source. The effect of the growth conditions, such as the liquid height in the crucible, on the crystal quality in solution growth of SiC from Cr solvent was investigated. For a liquid height in the crucible of up to 10 mm, the growth rate increases with increasing liquid height and the SiC crystals are a single polytype, while the growth rate decreases and the crystals are polycrystalline for a liquid height above 10 mm. In the former case, the balance between dissolution and transportation of the solute are comparable. The latter case is expected to be transportation limited because transportation of free C and Si atoms is inhibited by excrescent crystals in solution and the increase in the distance for solute transportation. In addition, a higher growth temperature leads to growth of only 4H-SiC.