Hazardous gas dispersion: a CFD model accounting for atmospheric stability classes.

Nowadays, thanks to the increasing CPU power the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is rapidly imposing also in the industrial risk assessment area, replacing integral models when particular situations, such as those involving complex terrains or large obstacles, are involved. Nevertheless, commercial CFD codes usually do not provide specific turbulence model for simulating atmospheric stratification effects, which are accounted of by the integral models through the well-known stability-class approach. In this work, a new approach able to take account of atmospheric features in CFD simulations has been developed and validated by comparison with available experimental data.

A new chemical etching process to improve endosseous implant osseointegration: in vitro evaluation on human osteoblast-like cells.

The development of novel mechanical and chemical surface modification treatments to improve the osteointegration properties of osseointegrated dental implants is nowadays a topic of great applicative interest. The aim of the present study was to analyse the role of surface topography and chemistry of four different surface treatments on titanium by an in vitro human osteosarcoma immortalised cell line model (MG63). The surface treatments considered were (a) machined titanium, (b) chemical etched on machined titanium, (c) sandblasted titanium and (d) chemical etching on sandblasted titanium. Chemical and physical surface properties were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy, Thin Film-X ray Diffraction and by Laser Profilometry. The in vitro biological response was characterised using the MG63 cell line by elution cytotoxicity tests, cell morphology, adhesion, proliferation activity, alkaline phosphatase activity and total DNA content in order to show a relationship between osteoblast response and surface features. Chemical and physical characterisation showed that the considered treatments differently modify the surface morphology in the micro and sub-micrometric scale. Although some differences in alkaline phosphatase activity were observed in the biological characterisation, depending on the specific material's surface finishing, the results showed that cells were well responsive on all the tested materials and grew and differentiated with similar proliferation rate.