Simulation of an Advanced Geothermal Energy Conversion Plant in Perú

This investigation aims to simulate an efficient plant that generates energy through a solar-geothermal hybrid energy conversion system with supercritical steam, Therminol VP1, geothermal fluid and R134a refrigerant. The goal is to exemplify a hybrid solution that optimizes and takes advantage of the existing properties of the solar and geothermal power cycles. The geothermal part of the process, the primary cycle, is augmented by the solar thermal cycle to obtain a high-efficiency result. In addition, it allows the reader to understand the ideal process of this type of plant and a thermodynamic analysis represented by creating a detailed model block flow diagram, which is then turned into a dynamic one used to examine the selected parameters such as temperature, flow rate, and pressure variations. The dynamic model approximated the thermal values of the heat exchangers and the working fluids in the exchangers, solar collectors, piping and in the storage tanks.

Reducing Length of Stay for Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia Receiving Inpatient High-Dose Cytarabine Consolidation Chemotherapy

Background For patients receiving high dose cytarabine (HiDAC) at the University of Virginia Health System between 10/2019 and 10/2020, median length of stay (LOS) from time of clinic appointment to hospital discharge exceeded the expected standard treatment time (119.4 hours vs 112 hours). Despite the final dose of chemotherapy being scheduled for completion by 9:00 am on the planned day of discharge, only 50% of patients receiving HiDAC were successfully discharged by 12:00 pm (3 hours post-chemotherapy completion). Though there are no national standards for duration of inpatient stay for planned chemotherapy, LOS that extends beyond the standard treatment time results in increased cost, overutilization of hospital resources, delayed admissions for future patients, and patient dissatisfaction. Methods A multidisciplinary team of licensed providers, pharmacists, and nurses was formed. Due to inconsistency in admission times, the team focused on the percentage of patients discharged by 12:00 pm as a surrogate marker for LOS. The aim was to increase the percentage of patients discharged by 12:00 pm to 65%. Reviewing the baseline data revealed an unstable process with a 3-sigma XmR statistical process control chart. The team developed current and ideal process state maps, a Pareto chart, and a priority matrix to determine an action plan. The most common identified causes for delay in discharge included: lack of standardized discharge checklist, discharge order placed after 10:00 am, medications dispensed from the outpatient pharmacy after 11:00 am, licensed providers not prioritizing patients who were pending discharge, and medication reconciliation not completed prior to day of discharge. Results From 10/2020 to 5/2021, the first PDSA cycle focused on standardizing the discharge process to correct the instability in the process. A discharge checklist was created based on the ideal process map, which allowed providers to have a consistent process at discharge. A 3-sigma XmR chart demonstrated a newly stable process and an increase in percentage of patients discharged by 12:00 pm to 58% (14 of 24). The second PDSA cycle from 6/2021 to 8/2021 addressed the high impact/easy effort interventions identified in the priority matrix: providers completed medication reconciliation the day before discharge, prioritized seeing HiDAC discharge patients first during morning rounds, and ensured discharge orders were placed prior to completion of the last chemotherapy infusion. Following these interventions, the percentage of patients discharged by 12:00 pm increased to 66% (4 of 6). Conclusions Using quality improvement methodology, a multidisciplinary team developed an action plan for patients receiving HiDAC that has increased the percentage of patients discharged by 12:00 pm. This outcome may lead to decreased length of stay, reduced hospitalization costs, and increased bed availability for other hematology/oncology patients. Further PDSA cycles are planned and will focus on the pharmacy medication delivery service, and continuous evaluation of the process is ongoing. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures El Chaer: Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding.

Reducing length of stay for patients with acute myeloid leukemia receiving inpatient high-dose cytarabine consolidation chemotherapy.

257 Background: For patients receiving high dose cytarabine (HiDAC) at University of Virginia (UVA) Health between 10/2019 and 10/2020, median length of stay (LOS) from time of clinic appointment to hospital discharge was 119.35 hours. Standard treatment time should be 112 hours from premedication to end of chemotherapy. There are no national standards for duration of inpatient stay for planned chemotherapy, but only 50% of these patients were discharged after noon (over 3 hours post-chemotherapy completion). LOS that extends beyond the standard treatment time results in increased cost, overutilization of hospital resources, delayed admissions for future patients, and patient dissatisfaction. Methods: A multidisciplinary team comprised of licensed providers, pharmacists, and nurses was formed. The team focused on percentage of patients discharged by noon as a surrogate marker for LOS due to inconsistency of admission times; the aim was to increase patients discharged by noon to 65%. Reviewing the baseline data revealed an unstable process with a 3-sigma X-bar statistical process control chart. The team developed current and ideal process state maps, a Pareto chart, and a priority matrix to determine an action plan. The most common identified causes for delay in discharge included: lack of standardized discharge checklist, discharge order placed after 10 am, medications dispensed from the outpatient pharmacy after 11 am, licensed providers not prioritizing discharge patients, and medication reconciliation not completed prior to day of discharge. Results: From 10/2020 to 5/2021, the first PDSA cycle focused on standardizing the discharge process to correct the instability in the process. A discharge checklist was created based on the ideal process map, which allowed the providers to have a consistent process at discharge. 3-sigma Xbar chart demonstrated a now stable process and an increase of patients discharged by noon to 58%. During the second PDSA cycle starting in 6/2021, providers completed medication reconciliation the day before discharge, prioritized HiDAC discharges first during rounds, and ensured discharge orders were placed by completion of the last chemotherapy bag. Data collection is ongoing, and will be analyzed by August 2021. Future tests of change are planned to focus on the pharmacy medication delivery service. Hospital LOS has also decreased after the first PDSA cycle. Conclusions: Using quality improvement methodology, a multidisciplinary team developed an action plan for patients receiving HiDAC which to date has increased the percentage of patients discharging by noon and decreased length of stay. This outcome may lead to reduce hospitalization costs and increase bed availability for other oncology patients. Further PDSA cycles are scheduled and continuous evaluation of the process is ongoing.

Research on MEMS multi-point exploding metal foil synchronous array

Based on MEMS technology, this paper realized the chip preparation of the synchronous initiation array and obtained the ideal process parameters. The MEMS multi-point exploding metal foil synchronous array chip replaces the traditional initiation array composed of electric detonators, and has a greatly reduced volume and could be prepared in batches. By testing the electrical explosion parameters of the array chip, the peak voltage, peak current, peak time and other data of different ignition voltages are obtained. At the same time, we proposed a method to test the synchronization of the array using multi-channel photonic doppler velocimetry, and obtained the synchronization data when the firing voltage was 2500 V and 2800 V, which provided help for the subsequent optimization design.

Linalool Essential Oil/Nanocellulose-Based Pickering Emulsions: An In-Depth Investigation of Processing Parameters

This study aims to prepare nanocellulose-based emulsions using linalool essential oil using different processing parameters and correlating them with emulsions' stability and particle size. The investigated parameters were cellulose morphology (CNC or CNF) and concentration (0.5 or 1 wt%), essential oil concentration (20 or 30% v/v), homogenization speed (10,000 or 12,000 rpm), and time (3 or 7 minutes). The emulsions were tested by droplet size, morphology, and storage stability. The Design of Experiments (DoE) was used to understand each parameter's effects in the emulsions' characteristics and the statistical results. Each nanocellulose morphology presented a type of stabilization in emulsions and different ideal process parameters. CNC-emulsions showed as optimum parameters 30% essential oil and 7 minutes preparation, reflecting the higher necessary energy for the efficient CNCs adsorption in the O/W interface, and the maximum stability was ~ 50% by electrostatic interactions. CNF-emulsions showed optimum parameters 1% CNF and 12,000 rpm homogenization speed, reflecting the necessary parameters to convert the suspensions into gels where the droplets are well-coated by the fibers. This study is a pioneer in an in-depth understanding of the processing parameters' impact on emulsion stability and will be a guideline for future studies with different solid particles and oil phases.

Effect of Laser Rescanning on the Characteristics and Residual Stress of Selective Laser Melted Titanium Ti6Al4V Alloy

The titanium Ti6Al4V alloy has excellent properties, and is one of the most important and widely used metal materials in the field of modern high-tech. Selective laser melting (SLM) is an ideal process for the rapid prototyping of Ti6Al4V alloy components with complex structures, but the performances need to be further improved. In this paper, the relative density, hardness, and microstructure under different scanning conditions were first analyzed in order to clarify the role of rescanning process in improving the performances. Then, the effects of different scanning strategies on the residual stress were analyzed. The results show that the strategy of partition rescanning has the most significant effect on residual stress. Finally, the SLM experiments of aviation nozzle rings were carried out. The results show that the average residual stress of the Re-SLMed sample was reduced from 322 MPa to 254 MPa.