Determination of the evacuation time pertinent to the projected area factor in the event of total evacuation of high-rise office buildings via Staircases

This paper provides predictions of the time required for the total evacuation of high-rise office buildings via staircases. It refers to evacuation drills carried out in three high-rise administration buildings in October, 1976, by the Research Institute for Fire Protection at Karlsruhe (Forschungsstelle für Branschutz-technik an der Universität Karlsruhe). Total evacuation times pertinent to the projected area factor, which correspond to a certain flow density on the means of escape, are determined based on a mathematical method developed by Predtetschenski and Milinski. Equations and graphs are derived for the evacuation time in terms of the projected area factor and the number of persons per floor, as well as for the corresponding change of crowd movement on stairs. The values for the predicted evacuation times are compared with the values measured during the evacuation tests, and the limits of the projected area factor are estimated for buildings of similar geometric configurations.     

Designing escape routes in buildings

This paper discusses a design method for calculating pedestrian movement developed by Predtechenskii and Milinski and provides an egress model based upon this work for the evacuation of multistory buildings via staircases with regard to real evacuation tests in high rise office buildings. Furthermore, it briefly compares its predictions with regulatory requirements on means of escape. Reference: Ezel Kendik, Designing Escape Routes in Buildings,Fire Technology, Vol. 22, November 1986, p. 272.     

Amphiphilic Fullerene-BODIPY Photosensitizers for Targeted Photodynamic Therapy

Nanotheranostic tailor-made carriers are potent platforms for the treatment of cancer that propound a number of advantages over conventional agents for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Herein, four new heavy atom free amphiphilic glucose-BODIPY-fullerene dyads ( 14 – 17 ) endowed with carbohydrate units in the styryl units, which can also form nanomicelles ( 14 – 17NM) with Tween 80 for PDT are reported. Glucose-BODIPY-fullerene systems ( 14 – 17 ) and related nanomicelles ( 14 - 17NM ) have been prepared to emcee efficient singlet oxygen generation upon light irradiation. In vitro anti-tumor effects of the compounds 14 – 17 and 14 – 17NM in the presence of light and in darkness have been investigated with K562 human chronic myelogenous leukemia suspension cells. Anti-tumor toxicity upon light irradiation was due to the formation of singlet oxygen and reactive oxygen species (ROS). This study may provide an accomplished example of efficient PDT applications based on nanovehicles fabricated with universal spin converter, fullerene, light harvesting unit, BODIPY dyes conjugated with targeting units to fight against cancer.     

Means of escape - 1988. How close are we to modelling egress from buildings in fire?

During the last twenty years a number design methods for calculating the movement of people in buildings have been developed. This presentation briefly reviews some of these modelling efforts. Furthermore, it discusses some aspects of the pedestrian movement and addresses an egress model based on the data provided by Predtechenskii and Milinski. This model is applicable to the evacuation of multi-storey buildings via staircases and predicts the flow movement in terms of time with regard to the building's layout and the interdependencies between adjacent egress way on this model, written in GWBasic language for any IBM-compatible personal computer. The program is built up as a dialogue between the user and the computer, where the escape route configurations (the width and the length of each section) as well as the number of the persons are put gradually during the course of the computation. The program enables the user to change the dimensions of the building's means of escape and the occupant load easily and work out the influence of the variation on the complete circulation system. Recently, the program also calculates the flow movement under decreased visibility conditions on smoke filled escape routes based on japanese measurements about the walking speed of pedestrians in fire smoke.