Mineralization of salicylic acid in acidic aqueous medium by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes using platinum and boron-doped diamond as anode and cathodically generated hydrogen peroxide

Solutions containing 164 mg L(-1) salicylic acid of pH 3.0 have been degraded by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes such as anodic oxidation, anodic oxidation with electrogenerated H(2)O(2), electro-Fenton, photoelectro-Fenton and solar photoelectro-Fenton at constant current density. Their oxidation power has been comparatively studied in a one-compartment cell with a Pt or boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode and a graphite or O(2)-diffusion cathode. In the three latter procedures, 0.5mM Fe(2+) is added to the solution to form hydroxyl radical (()OH) from Fenton's reaction between Fe(2+) and H(2)O(2) generated at the O(2)-diffusion cathode. Total mineralization is attained for all methods with BDD and for photoelectro-Fenton and solar photoelectro-Fenton with Pt. The poor decontamination achieved in anodic oxidation and electro-Fenton with Pt is explained by the slow removal of most pollutants by ()OH formed from water oxidation at the Pt anode in comparison to their quick destruction with ()OH produced at BDD. ()OH generated from Fenton's reaction oxidizes rapidly all aromatic pollutants, but it cannot destroy final Fe(III)-oxalate complexes. Solar photoelectro-Fenton treatments always yield quicker degradation rate due to the very fast photodecarboxylation of these complexes by UVA irradiation supplied by solar light. The effect of current density on the degradation rate, efficiency and energy cost of all methods is examined. The salicylic acid decay always follows a pseudo-first-order kinetics. 2,3-Dihydroxybenzoic, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic, 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic, alpha-ketoglutaric, glycolic, glyoxylic, maleic, fumaric, malic, tartronic and oxalic acids are detected as oxidation products. A general reaction sequence for salicylic acid mineralization considering all these intermediates is proposed.     

A state-based multi-agent system model of taxi fleets

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Management and control of transportation systems benefit from simulation modeling. The design of the corresponding models is difficult because of their...     

Performance of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)-lipid edible coatings with antifungal food additives during cold storage of ‘Clemenules’ mandarins

The performance of edible composite coatings containing hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), hydrophobic components (beeswax and shellac), and food preservatives as antifungal ingredients was evaluated on ‘Clemenules’ clementine mandarins. Tested preservatives included potassium sorbate (PS), sodium benzoate (SB), sodium propionate (SP), and their mixtures. Intact fruit or fruit artificially inoculated with Penicillium digitatum or Penicillium italicum, the causal agents of citrus postharvest green (GM) and blue (BM) molds, respectively, were coated and stored up to 30 d at 5 °C plus 7 d at 20 °C of shelf-life. During cold storage, all HPMC-lipid coatings containing food additives significantly reduced the development of both GM and BM, although the performance was better against GM. When coated fruit were transferred to 20 °C, all coatings lost effectiveness. SB + PS-based coating was the most effective to reduce disease severity. All the coatings effectively reduced weight loss and maintained rind firmness of coated ‘Clemenules’ mandarins. The coatings did not adversely affect the ethanol content of the juice, sensory flavor, and fruit appearance. Although the internal gas concentration of coated fruit was modified, the coatings did not induce off-flavor.     

Fueling Open‐Source Drug Discovery: 177 Small‐Molecule Leads against Tuberculosis

With the aim of fuelling open‐source, translational, early‐stage drug discovery activities, the results of the recently completed antimycobacterial phenotypic screening campaign against Mycobacterium bovis BCG with hit confirmation in M. tuberculosis H37Rv were made publicly accessible. A set of 177 potent non‐cytotoxic H37Rv hits was identified and will be made available to maximize the potential impact of the compounds toward a chemical genetics/proteomics exercise, while at the same time providing a plethora of potential starting points for new synthetic lead‐generation activities. Two additional drug‐discovery‐relevant datasets are included: a) a drug‐like property analysis reflecting the latest lead‐like guidelines and b) an early lead‐generation package of the most promising hits within the clusters identified.     

Earthworks

In historic towns and villages, topography layered by the detritus of previous structures mark out and continue to inform the identity and design of new buildings and streets. Spanish architect Josep Lluís Mateo describes two projects in his native Catalonia – one from the early 1980s for the redevelopment the medieval town of Ullastret, near Girona, and another from 2011 for a film theatre in Barcelona – that were influenced from the bottom up by the earth beneath his feet.     

Factors governing the atmospheric deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to remote areas

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were measured in bulk atmospheric deposition collected in three remote areas of Europe during 1997-1998. Mean total PAH fluxes over a period of 18 months were 1560 +/- 750 and 1150 +/- 630 ng m(-2) mo(-1) in the Pyrenees and the Alps, respectively. In the Caledonian mountains (Scandinavia) the observed mean fluxes were 1900 +/- 940 ng m(-2) mo(-1) (6 month collection). Similar qualitative PAH compositions (p values <0.05) in the bulk atmospheric deposition have been observed between sites, which are dominated by the more volatile parent compounds. The main differences between lakes are related to the high molecular weight compounds. Atmospheric deposition of PAH to these remote sites appears to be independent of their concentrations in the atmosphere, which are similar between sites (in the range of 1.8-3.0 ng x m(-3)), being controlled mainly by particle deposition, followed by precipitation and air temperature. A multilevel regression model including these three variables accounted for 74% of the total variability in total PAH bulk deposition; however, the contribution of each variable in the model is compound and site-dependent. The deposition of high molecular weight PAH depends more on particle deposition and precipitation, whereas air temperature is the main factor controlling the deposition fluxes of the low molecular weight PAH.     

Filtering-Ranking Perceptron Learning for Partial Parsing

This work introduces a general phrase recognition system based on perceptrons, and a global online learning algorithm to train them together. The method applies to complex domains in which some structure has to be recognized. This global problem is broken down into two layers of local subproblems: a filtering layer, which reduces the search space by identifying plausible phrase candidates; and a ranking layer, which builds the optimal phrase structure by discriminating among competing phrases. A recognition-based feedback rule is presented which reflects to each local function its committed errors from a global point of view, and allows to train them together online as perceptrons. As a result, the learned functions automatically behave as filters and rankers, rather than binary classifiers, which we argue to be better for this type of problems. Extensive experimentation on partial parsing tasks gives state-of-the-art results and evinces the advantages of the global training method over optimizing each function locally and independently.Editors: Dan Roth and Pascale Fung     

Laboratory characterization of a GPR antenna for high-resolution testing: Radiation pattern and vertical resolution

High-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) evaluations of structures are usually carried out using antennas with high nominal centre frequencies (between 1 and 2 GHz). A comprehensive characterization of such an antenna would make it possible to determine the capabilities of a system and obtain accurate data interpretations. This paper describes the experimental determination of the radiation pattern of a commercial 1.6 GHz antenna, which forms part of a comprehensive experimental characterization. Radiation patterns are closely related to spatial resolution, so the horizontal and vertical resolutions are evaluated first. The footprint of the antenna is then measured in air using simple devices at different distances. The final result is the approximate spatial radiation pattern of the emitted energy, measured in air. Finally, these measurements are also taken in sand to obtain the radiation pattern and footprint of the antenna in this medium.     

A Methodology to Model Water Demand based on the Identification of Homogenous Client Segments. Application to the City of Barcelona

Water management has become a vital concern for both water supply companies and public administrations due to the importance of water for life and current scarcity in many areas. Studies exist that attempt to explain which factors influence water demand. In general, these studies are based on a small sample of consumers and they predict domestic water consumption using ordinary least squares regression models with a small number of socioeconomic variables as predictors, usually: price, population, population density, age, and nationality. We have followed a different approach in two ways; one, in the scope of the study: we have included in the study all consumers of the Barcelona area and as many socioeconomic variables as possible (all the available data from official statistics institutions); and also in the methodology: first, we have segmented clients into homogeneous socioeconomic groups that, as we show later in the Barcelona case, also have homogeneous water consumption habits. This allows for a better understanding of water consumption behaviours and also for better predictions through modeling water consumption in each segment. This is so because the segments’ inner variability is smaller than the general one; thus, the models have a smaller residual variance and allow for more accurate forecasts of water consumption. The methodology was applied to the Barcelona metropolitan area, where it was possible to construct a database including both water consumption and socioeconomic information with more than one million observations. Data quality was a primary concern, and thus a careful exploratory data analysis procedure led to a careful treatment of missing observations and to the detection and correction or removal of anomalies. This has resulted in a stable division of the one million water consumers into 6 homogeneous groups and models for each of the groups. Although the methodology has been developed and applied to the Barcelona area, it is general and thus can be applied to any other region or metropolitan area.     

鞍钢半连轧改造工程中基建部分新技术的应用

介绍鞍钢半连轧１７８０轧机基础混凝土施工中应用的新技术，包括ＢＷ－Ⅱ橡胶止水条，短角钢熔槽帮条焊技术及后落带的施工，并对大体积混凝土的养护提出几点看法。