Peat filter performance under changing environmental conditions

Peat is a candidate filter material for in situ treatment of urban runoff, contaminated groundwater and landfill leachates. Until now research has focused on peat sorption in batch experiments and there is a lack of knowledge on peat performance in filter beds. In this project column tests were carried out to evaluate the capacity of peat to remove As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn in multi-metal solution under a range of environmental conditions that may be encountered in real-life applications (draining, water stagnation, freezing, change in pH and metal concentrations, input of NaCl and elevated DOC). The removal capacity was 91–98% for Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni and Pb and the efficiency was unaffected by the changes of physical factors, but temporarily inhibited for solutions containing NaCl. Leaching of DOC from peat was detected in the initial samples and temporarily decreased metal removal. The peat filters showed high removal rates for Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni and Pb under all experimental conditions and are recommended for treatment of waters containing these elements. In contrast, peat was not found to be efficient for treatment of As and Cr in the multi-metal contaminated water at the pH range (6.7–8.0) studied.     

Effective components of TORDIA cognitive–behavioral therapy for adolescent depression: Preliminary findings.

In this report, we conducted a secondary analysis of the Treatment of SSRI-Resistant Depression in Adolescents (TORDIA) study to explore the impact of specific cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment components on outcome. In TORDIA, 334 youths (ages 12 to 18 years) with major depressive disorder who had failed to respond to an adequate course of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication were randomized to a medication switch (either to an alternative SSRI or venlafaxine) with or without 12 weeks of adjunctive CBT. Participants who had more than 9 CBT sessions were 2.5 times more likely to have adequate treatment response than those who had 9 or fewer sessions. CBT participants who received problem-solving and social skills treatment components, controlling for number of sessions and other confounding variables, were 2.3 and 2.6 times, respectively, more likely to have a positive response. These preliminary findings underscore the importance of receiving an adequate number of sessions to attain an adequate clinical response. Finally, social skills and problem solving may be active elements in CBT for adolescent depression and should be considered in treatment by those working with seriously depressed youths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Creative leadership: Skills that drive change.

Reviews the book, Creative leadership: Skills that drive change by Gerard J. Puccio, Mary C. Murdock, and Marie Mance (2007). The introduction and opening chapter provide the overarching theme of the book, which is to connect the constructs of creativity and leadership and to make a case why the two go hand-in-hand. Both constructs involve dealing with change. The main focus of the book is the creative problem solving (CPS) approach to generating optimal problem solutions. Much of the book is spent illustrating the benefits of applying divergent and convergent thinking skills to each of the six process steps in the CPS model. The book is an easy, enjoyable read with plenty of empirical support for many of the propositions and tenets put forth. Puccio, Murdock, and Mance do a good job of pointing out that creative leadership is not just for the chosen few, but rather can be practiced by anyone. Plenty of practical advice is offered with numerous real-world examples. The book is a good choice even for individuals without any formal education in creativity or leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

超越转换器的背光效率

长电池寿命是便携式电子产品市场的关键指标。LCD显示器的LED背光驱动器占了总有效系统功耗的25%至40%。在过去,设计师尽量减少背光显示器功耗的工具仅限于降低LED驱动电流,同时提高转换器的效率。今天,高达50%的电力节省是通过采用优化的转换器利用LED驱动器、环境光传感器,以及内容调整背光控制(CABC)方法来实现的。这些技术可以在严重降低显示信息(网站、     

A MYSTERY SOLVED

A note about a cipherer related to a one who could cipher.     

Implicit Riquier Bases for PDAE and their semi-discretizations

Complicated nonlinear systems of pde with constraints (called pdae) arise frequently in applications. Missing constraints arising by prolongation (differentiation) of the pdae need to be determined to consistently initialize and stabilize their numerical solution. In this article we review a fast prolongation method, a development of (explicit) symbolic Riquier Bases, suitable for such numerical applications. Our symbolic-numeric method to determine Riquier Bases in implicit form, without the unstable eliminations of the exact approaches, applies to square systems which are dominated by pure derivatives in one of the independent variables.     

Reliability of thin ZrO2 gate dielectric layers

In this work we examine the positive bias temperature instability (PBTI) and stress induced leakage current (SILC) reliability of nFET devices with thin (2.5 nm) ZrO₂ gate dielectric layers. nFET devices show anomalous PBTI behavior in the form of a negative threshold voltage (V_t) shift during positive bias stress with little temperature dependence and it is not ‘frozen out’ at lower temperatures, indicating a single non-diffusion based mechanism. Correlations between the PBTI and the stress induced leakage current (SILC) suggest that the PBTI effect originates from trapping into empty defects which are initially detected as SILC and located just below the silicon conduction band. These defects also appear to be linked to the time dependent dielectric breakdown behavior.     

The Oregon Land Use Act Implications for Farmland and Open Space Protection

In 1973, Oregon adopted a statewide comprehensive land use management program. It represents an important new approach in land use control and merits careful consideration and examination by land use analysts, policy makers, and the public. By providing statewide standards for land use planning and implementation carried out through an ongoing local administrative process, an important state land use management role has been established and, many argue, without a substantial erosion of local flexibility.

Rural land use management, particularly farmland protection, is an important component of the Oregon program. The combination of state mandated, locally implemented urban growth boundary designations and exclusive farm use zoning represents a unique case in farmland protection policy. The performance of the program is evaluated, and economic trade-offs in the selection of minimum lot size standards are discussed. This program offers the promise of substantially improving rural land use management in Oregon at a modest cost to the public sector.     

High resolution time integration for SN radiation transport

First-order, second-order, and high resolution time discretization schemes are implemented and studied for the discrete ordinates (S_N) equations. The high resolution method employs a rate of convergence better than first-order, but also suppresses artificial oscillations introduced by second-order schemes in hyperbolic partial differential equations. The high resolution method achieves these properties by nonlinearly adapting the time stencil to use a first-order method in regions where oscillations could be created. We employ a quasi-linear solution scheme to solve the nonlinear equations that arise from the high resolution method. All three methods were compared for accuracy and convergence rates. For non-absorbing problems, both second-order and high resolution converged to the same solution as the first-order with better convergence rates. High resolution is more accurate than first-order and matches or exceeds the second-order method.