Laura Tolosa - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Laura Tolosa

The integration of product-based learning strategies in Materials in Chemical Engineering educati... more The integration of product-based learning strategies in Materials in Chemical Engineering education is crucial for students to gain the skills and competencies required to thrive in the emerging circular bioeconomy. Traditional materials engineering education has often relied on a transmission teaching approach, in which students are expected to passively receive information from instructors. However, this approach has shown to be inadequate under the current circumstances, in which information is readily available and innovative tools such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality environments are becoming widespread (e.g., metaverse). Instead, we consider that a critical goal of education should be to develop aptitudes and abilities that enable students to generate solutions and products that address societal demands. In this work, we propose innovative strategies, such as product-based learning methods and GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) artificial intelligence text...

Ciencia e Ingeniería

La presencia de burbujas en el interior de los fluidos con frecuencia es un fenómeno no deseado q... more La presencia de burbujas en el interior de los fluidos con frecuencia es un fenómeno no deseado que repercute en la calidad del producto final, como es el caso del chocolate sólido, en el que las burbujas se producen durante su fabricación en estado líquido siendo necesario eliminarlas por agitación y/o vibración antes de que solidifique. La expulsión de las burbujas fuera del fluido viene determinada por las fuerzas que actúan sobre ellas, principalmente las de flotabilidad y de arrastre, ampliamente estudiadas y calculadas en fluidos Newtonianos como no Newtonianos. Debido a que se conoce que el chocolate fundido tiene un comportamiento no Newtoniano y que su naturaleza opaca impide la observación directa de las burbujas en su interior, en este trabajo se planteó como hipótesis la posibilidad de determinar las fuerzas de flotabilidad y de arrastre utilizando formulaciones matemáticas desarrolladas en la literatura con fluidos transparentes no Newtonianos, junto con datos de las ob...

Nanoparticles and essential oils with antiviral activity on packaging and surfaces: An overview of their selection and application

Journal of Surfactants and Detergents

Until recently, food packaging has been used as a barrier to unfavorable environmental and microb... more Until recently, food packaging has been used as a barrier to unfavorable environmental and microbial conditions, but new technologies are arising aimed at upgrading the protective nature of these materials. Cases of bacterial and viral transmission through food and surfaces have shown the vulnerabilities of the food packaging distribution systems over the years, creating awareness about new methods to prevent the proliferation of pathogens. This has been highlighted by safety concerns due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. This work reviews the state‐of‐the‐art biobased technologies tailored for antiviral applications on surfaces, focusing on packaging materials. A survey and selection tool of essential oils (EOs) and nanoparticles that have been proven effective in reducing the proliferation or transmission of viruses through surfaces is presented. Additionally, the use of essential oil formulations or nanoparticle‐functionalized biobased materials that can be deployed to prevent virus tran...

Ciencia e Ingeniería, Dec 3, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated disruptions in supply chains, traveling, businesses, and a lo... more The COVID-19 pandemic has generated disruptions in supply chains, traveling, businesses, and a loss of human lives that is being accounted in at least one million diseased. When the pandemic started, uncertainties, the lockdown of countries, and stay-at-home orders generated that millions of people made runs to grocery stores to buy essential products, the most distinctive being hygiene tissue, antibacterial formulations, and hand sanitizers. Then workers in essential processes in the medical, food, and manufacturing industries had to restart work to keep supply chains running. That generated further repercussions due to the infection of workers in multiple facilities, which created bigger uncertainties. Universities and schools were mandated to close, and work-from-home orders were enacted in the majority of sectors. In this work, we make a review of events and a summary of the important factors, current situation, and future perspective regarding the effect generated by COVID-19 on the disruptions of supply chains. The strategic sectors summarized are food and produce, transportation, paper products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, automobiles, minerals and technology companies. At six months since the WHO declaration, there are still shockwaves that show some unpredictability. Hence, companies and governments should look for strategical plans for preparing for this kind of event, making supply chains resilient or even immune to pandemics, natural disasters and trade wars.

Encyclopedia of Surface and Colloid Science, Third Edition, 2016

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf ... more Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

Ciencia E Ingenieria, 2021

Emulsion Formulation Engineering for the Practitioner

The formulation and formation of emulsions imply a very large number of variables; hence, attaini... more The formulation and formation of emulsions imply a very large number of variables; hence, attaining the sought properties is usually long and tedious because of the large number of experiments to be carried out. The current state-of-the-art of physicochemical formulation may be thoroughly used to considerably reduce the number of required experiments and to indicate to the formulator the relation between the kind of properties to expect and the generalized formulation expression. After these first-order formulation factors are dealt with, several second-order factors are shown to be available to adjust the emulsion properties upward or downward in order to satisfy the specifications, either directly or by means of a multistep process. can change considerably) and in a lesser measure on the oil and aqueous phase nature, and other variable such as temperature. The characteristics of the components, particularly, the surfactant, have been represented by various parameters introduced ov...

An ointment is a semisolid preparation consisting of a single external phase in which liquid or s... more An ointment is a semisolid preparation consisting of a single external phase in which liquid or solid substance(s) can be dispersed. In the case of beeswax ointments, there are several studies that confirm their antibiotic and healing power over injuries, especially in those caused by burns. Beeswax can be used also as an oil phase for the production of soaps by saponification. Soaps that contain beeswax have many advantages: they solidify quickly, provide detergency and cleaning properties, give a solid and pleasant texture and their aroma can be improved by adding natural essences. In this work, dermocosmetic ointments and soaps based on beeswax and sesame oil were formulated implementing the “Reproducing an Innovation Environment in the Classroom” (RAIS) strategy at the Chemical Engineering School at Universidad de Los Andes. Beeswax purification procedures were applied and sesame oil - beeswax formulations were obtained. In this sense, soaps were manufactured at the same concent...

Educación Química, 2016

Este es un artículo de acceso abierto distribuido bajo los términos de la Licencia Creative Commo... more Este es un artículo de acceso abierto distribuido bajo los términos de la Licencia Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Aplicación de la Reproducción de un Ambiente Industrial en el Salón de clase en el Proceso Enseñanza-Aprendizaje de Estudiantes de Ingeniería Química

Journal of Surfactants and Detergents, 2005

Along a formulation scan, solubilization is maximal when a bicontinuous microemulsion is in equil... more Along a formulation scan, solubilization is maximal when a bicontinuous microemulsion is in equilibrium with both oil and water excess phases in a so-called Winsor III system. The logical way to enhance solubilization is to increase the interaction of the surfactant for both the oil and water phases, which can be easily attained by increasing the size of both the head and tail groups. However, this approach is limited by solubility constraints. Additional solubilization enhancement can be attained by introducing a molecule(s) that bridge the bulk phase and the adsorbed surfactant layer; this can be accomplished by using the so-called lipophilic and hydrophilic "linker effect" or by using block copolymer additives. In either case, the goal is to modify an extended zone in the oil and water domains close to their boundary. The intramolecular grafting of a linker group between the hydrophilic and lipophilic moieties in a surfactant results in a so-called "extended" surfactant structure, which produces enhanced solubilization, as does the surfactant/linker combination, but with the added benefit that the self-contained extended surfactant structure does not undergo selective partitioning. We conclude that an improvement in solubilization is directly related to the presence of a smooth, blurred, and expanded transition across the interfacial region from polar to apolar bulk phases.

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2006

The effect of Fenton's reagent (FR) on surface and dispersion properties of black liquor (BL) was... more The effect of Fenton's reagent (FR) on surface and dispersion properties of black liquor (BL) was investigated. These properties were compared to those of indulin C (IC), a commercial lignin, and egg lecithin (Le). FR was applied at two different bulk concentrations of H 2 O 2 (160 and 320 mM). At pH 8, a minimum in surface tension for the Fenton treated BL was observed. The dispersant ability of BL, IC and Le in oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions was studied by measuring emulsion stability and drop size. It was found that the surface activity and emulsifying capability of BL were higher than those of IC. The emulsifying capability of Le was improved by the FR treatment at low H 2 O 2 concentration.

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2006

As surfactant-oil-water systems approach Winsor III phase behavior, at the so-called optimum form... more As surfactant-oil-water systems approach Winsor III phase behavior, at the so-called optimum formulation, the interfacial tension decreases, thus allowing the generation of smaller drops upon stirring. On the other hand, the coalescence rate increases, thus favoring the formation of larger drops. The two opposite effects do not alter the drop size in the same way and result in a minimum drop size. Such a minimum drop size is found on both sides (for O/W and W/O emulsions) of optimum formulation, whatever the variable used to produce the scan. The location of these minima, which correspond to the most efficient use of the stirring energy to make small droplets, is found to be slightly shifted by a change in stirring energy.

Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 2006

bioDiVErsiDaD y ConsErVaCión Se realizó un estudio sobre la diversidad de hepáticas y musgos en c... more bioDiVErsiDaD y ConsErVaCión Se realizó un estudio sobre la diversidad de hepáticas y musgos en cuatro turberas en la cara norte, laderas oriental y occidental, del nevado del Tolima, diferenciadas por sus regímenes hídricos. Se registraron 54 especies, 30 de musgos y 24 de hepáticas, pertenecientes a 35 géneros y 29 familias. Con los datos de cobertura e incidencia obtenidos se realizaron diferentes mediciones y cálculos de índices de diversidad. La turbera cuatro presentó el más alto índice de riqueza específica con un total de 24 especies, seguida por la turbera tres con 18 especies y la uno y dos con 16 especies cada una; también se usó el estimador de diversidad Bootstrap y su representatividad para cada turbera, la representatividad estuvo por encima del 82% lo que permitió la comparación entre las turberas. Aunque las cuatro turberas presentaban diferentes regímenes hídricos, este estudio muestra que estas son indiferenciables en cuanto a abundancia, diversidad y riqueza de especies, y solo diferentes en cuanto a la composición de especies.

Educación Química, 2018

This paper builds on a project-based engineering learning strategy called RAIS 'Reproducing an In... more This paper builds on a project-based engineering learning strategy called RAIS 'Reproducing an Innovation Environment in the Classroom' applied in courses in the Chemical Engineering curriculum at the Universidad de Los Andes (ULA). It follows a previous investigation where the practical implementation of RAIS strategy is presented (Marquez et al., 2016), and in this occasion the theoretical fundamentals of the RAIS strategy are outlined. Authors take the common project-based learning to a new level by directly involving the students in the common start-up company practice, where the final product to be formulated and manufactured is not a requirement from an external client, but comes from real entrepreneurship students' interests. In previous work it has been shown that this strategy allows interconnecting the course objectives with the development of a product. RAIS strategy has reported successful outcomes in the accomplishment of this goal for Chemical Engineering students at ULA.