The spray characteristics significantly affected the combustion performance. The injection pressure and fuel properties are factors that affect the spray cone angle, penetration, and droplet distribution. Although substantial research has been conducted on spray attributes, understanding the complex biofuel spray dynamics in real nozzles and injectors is crucial. This study examines hydro-processed esters and fatty acid (HEFA) spray characteristics of used cooking oil and palm oil biodiesel in a constant-volume chamber. The study was performed by varying the injection pressures ranging from 30 to 120psi for pure fuels and Jet A-1 blends. Experiments were conducted at standard sea-level atmospheric pressure and an ambient temperature of ±297K using an airblast fuel injector. The initial fuel temperature was set at ±302K. Jet A-1 was used as the baseline fuel for the comparative analysis. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was employed to visualise the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of the fuel spray. The results revealed a progressive increase in the penetration length corresponding to an increase in the injection pressure. Lower pressures yielded non-uniform particle distributions across the spray area, whereas cone angle augmentation stabilised at elevated pressures. A blend of 60% Jet A-1 and 40% HEFA closely matched Jet A-1 characteristics, indicating alternative aviation fuel potential. These real-time insights into spray behaviour are critical for enhancing the fuel efficiency and mitigating the generation of particulate emissions resulting from spray combustion.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerging infectious disease pandemic developed in Lombardy (northern Italy) during the last week of February 2020 with a progressive increase of patients presenting with serious clinical findings. Despite the efforts of the Central Italian Government, regional resources were rapidly at capacity. The solution was to plan the medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) of 119 critically ill patients (median age 61 years) to in-patient intensive care units in other Italian regions (77) and Germany (42). Once surviving patients were deemed suitable, the repatriation process concluded the assignment. The aim of this report is to underline the importance of a rapid organization and coordination process between different nodes of an effective national and international network during an emerging infectious disease outbreak and draw lessons learned from similar published reports.

We study generalised quasirandom graphs whose vertex set consists of $q$ parts (of not necessarily the same sizes) with edges within each part and between each pair of parts distributed quasirandomly; such graphs correspond to the stochastic block model studied in statistics and network science. Lovász and Sós showed that the structure of such graphs is forced by homomorphism densities of graphs with at most $(10q)^q+q$ vertices; subsequently, Lovász refined the argument to show that graphs with $4(2q+3)^8$ vertices suffice. Our results imply that the structure of generalised quasirandom graphs with $q\ge 2$ parts is forced by homomorphism densities of graphs with at most $4q^2-q$ vertices, and, if vertices in distinct parts have distinct degrees, then $2q+1$ vertices suffice. The latter improves the bound of $8q-4$ due to Spencer.

Pancreatic cancer is the most common medical condition that requires pancreatic resection. Over the last three decades, significant improvements have been made in the conditions and procedures related to pancreatic surgery, resulting in mortality rates lower than 5%. However, it is important to note that the morbidity in pancreatic surgery remains r latively high, with a percentage range of 30–60%. Pre-operative malnutrition is considered to be an independent risk factor for post-operative complications in pancreatic surgery, such as impaired wound healing, higher infection rates, prolonged hospital stay, hospital readmission, poor prognosis, and increased morbidity and mortality. Regarding the post-operative period, it is crucial to provide the best possible management of gastrointestinal dysfunction and to handle the consequences of alterations in food digestion and nutrient absorption for those undergoing pancreatic surgery. The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) suggests that early oral feeding should be the preferred way to initiate nourishing surgical patients as it is associated with lower rates of complications. However, there is ongoing debate about the optimal post-operative feeding approach. Several studies have shown that enteral nutrition is associated with a shorter time to recovery, superior clinical outcomes and biomarkers. On the other hand, recent data suggest that nutritional goals are better achieved with parenteral feeding, either exclusively or as a supplement. The current review highlights recommendations from existing evidence, including nutritional screening and assessment and pre/post-operative nutrition support fundamentals to improve patient outcomes. Key areas for improvement and opportunities to enhance guideline implementation are also highlighted.

The distinction between the personal and the subpersonal is often invoked in philosophy of psychology but remains surrounded by confusion. Building on recent work by Zoe Drayson, this paper aims to help further improve this situation by offering a satisfactory explication of the distinction that remains close to Dennett's original intentions. Reasons are offered for construing the distinction as applying to representational (as opposed to worldly) items, for not building contested theoretical assumptions into it, and for taking it to apply in the first instance to descriptive statements and only derivatively to explanations. An explication of the distinction that accords with these points is then developed, according to which the distinction should be drawn in terms of what personal and subpersonal-level statements are ‘transparently about’. The theoretical role of this explication is discussed, and potential objections are addressed.

Alan Winters was the editor of the World Trade Review (WTR) from December 2008 to mid-2020. Launched in 2002 as a joint initiative of the WTO Secretariat and Cambridge University Press, the WTR has become the leading multidisciplinary journal in the field of international trade broadly defined. In the period during which Alan was editor of the journal, the number of issues grew from three to five, reflecting the significant increase in the number of quality submissions. The impact factor of the journal rose to 1.6 in 2020, an increase by 150%, above that of The World Economy, arguably the incumbent in the field when the WTR was created.

The degree to which firms make use of preferences in exporting to a partner country under a Free Trade Agreement will in good part depend on the restrictiveness of the underlying Rules of Origin (ROOs). Focusing on the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) signed by the United Kingdom and the European Union, we examine how access to zero preferential tariffs has been impacted by ROOs. We do so by constructing a ROO restrictiveness index which varies across products. We find that the TCA has an overall moderate degree of ROO restrictiveness. Using product-country level trade data, we find that preference utilization under the TCA has risen over time, and exhibits a positive correlation at the product level with the EU Common External Tariff. Regressions on the determinants of preference utilization indicate that more restrictive ROOs are associated with a lower degree of preference utilization by UK firms in the EU market and this effect is more evident for consumption goods. Preference utilization is also driven by the size of the preferential margin, the size of the trade flows, and the extent to which exports are undertaken by producers as opposed to distributors, as well as the degree of firms’ engagement in value chains.