2,4,6‐Trichlorophenol and phenol removal in methanogenic and partially‐aerated methanogenic conditions in a fluidized bed bioreactor

A fluidized bed bioreactor (FBBR) was operated for more than 575 days to remove 2,4,6‐trichlorophenol (TCP) and phenol (Phe) from a synthetic toxic wastewater containing 80 mg L^?1 of TCP and 20 mg L^?1 of Phe under two regimes: Methanogenic (M) and Partially‐Aerated Methanogenic (PAM). The mesophilic, laboratory‐scale FBBR consisted of a glass column (3 L capacity) loaded with 1 L of 1 mm diameter granular activated carbon colonized by an anaerobic consortium. Sucrose (1 g COD L^?1) was used as co‐substrate in the two conditions. The hydraulic residence time was kept constant at 1 day. Both conditions showed similar TCP and Phe removal (99.9 + %); nevertheless, in the Methanogenic regime, the accumulation of 4‐chlorophenol (4CP) up to 16 mg L^?1 and phenol up to 4 mg L^?1 was observed, whereas in PAM conditions 4CP and other intermediates were not detected. The specific methanogenic activity of biomass decreased from 1.01 ± 0.14 in M conditions to 0.19 ± 0.06 mmolCH₄ h^?1 gTKN^?1 in PAM conditions whereas the specific oxygen uptake rate increased from 0.039 ± 0.008 in M conditions to 0.054 ± 0.012 mmolO₂ h^?1 gTKN^?1, which suggested the co‐existence of both methanogenic archaea and aerobic bacteria in the undefined consortium. The advantage of the PAM condition over the M regime is that it provides for the thorough removal of less‐substituted chlorophenols produced by the reductive dehalogenation of TCP rather than the removal of the parent compound itself. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Electrospun fibers based on porcine plasma: a rheological and morphological study

Iranian Polymer Journal - The present work focuses on the assessment of the ability of porcine plasma protein (PPP) to be electrospun satisfactorily to form fibre mats, and their rheological and...     

QuickBird and Hyperion data analysis of an invasive plant species in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador: Implications for control and land use management

In the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, one of the greatest threats to the terrestrial ecosystem is the increasing number and areal extent of invasive species. Increased human presence on the islands has hastened the introduction of plant and animal species that threaten the native and endemic flora and fauna. Considerable research on invasive species in the Galapagos Islands has been conducted by the Charles Darwin Foundation. We complement that work through a spatially- and spectrally-explicit satellite assessment of an important invasive plant species (Psidium guajava — guava) on Isabela Island that integrates diverse remote sensing systems, data types, spatial and spectral resolutions, and analytical and image processing approaches. QuickBird and Hyperion satellite data are processed to characterize the areal extent and spatial structure of guava through the following approaches: (1) QuickBird data are classified through a traditional pixel-based approach (i.e., an unsupervised classification approach using the ISODATA algorithm), as well as an Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) approach; (2) multiple approaches for spectral “unmixing” of the Hyperion hyper-spectral data are assessed to construct spectral end-members from QuickBird data using linear and non-linear mixture modeling approaches; and (3) landscape pattern metrics are calculated and compared for the pixel-based, object-based, and spectral unmixing approaches. The spectral–spatial characteristics of guava are interpreted relative to management strategies for the control of guava and the restoration of natural ecosystems in the Galapagos National Park.     

OBSERVER: An Approach for Query Processing in Global Information Systems Based on Interoperation Across Pre-Existing Ontologies

There has been an explosion in the types, availability and volume of data accessible in an information system, thanks to the World Wide Web (the Web) and related inter-networking technologies. In this environment, there is a critical need to replace or complement earlier database integration approaches and current browsing and keyword-based techniques with concept-based approaches. Ontologies are increasingly becoming accepted as an important part of any concept or semantics based solution, and there is increasing realization that any viable solution will need to support multiple ontologies that may be independently developed and managed. In particular, we consider the use of concepts from pre-existing real world domain ontologies for describing the content of the underlying data repositories. The most challenging issue in this approach is that of vocabulary sharing, which involves dealing with the use of different terms or concepts to describe similar information. In this paper, we describe the architecture, design and implementation of the OBSERVER system. Brokering across the domain ontologies is enabled by representing and utilizing interontology relationships such as (but not limited to) synonyms, hyponyms and hypernyms across terms in different ontologies. User queries are rewritten by using these relationships to obtain translations across ontologies. Well established metrics like precision and recall based on the extensions underlying the concepts are used to estimate the loss of information, if any.     

Improvement of emulsifying properties of milk proteins with κ or λ carrageenan: effect of pH and ionic strength

The objective of this work was to determine the effect of λ‐carrageenan or κ‐carrageenan on the emulsion capacity, emulsion work and emulsion stability of milk proteins concentrate (MP) or sodium caseinate (SC) emulsions at different levels of pH and ionic strength. Incorporation of carrageenans to proteins emulsions resulted in an improvement of emulsifying properties at pH 6.0 and low ionic strength (0.2 m NaCl). Although emulsion capacity was high in MP than for SC, irrespectively of carrageenan employed, addition of λ‐carrageenan increased twofold emulsion work values (15 327 Ω s^?1 for MP and 11 455 Ω s^?1 for SC; around 6000 Ω s^?1 in the other treatments). Emulsion stability was high with λ‐carrageenan (9.8 s) than MP‐κ‐carrageenan or MP (7.45 and 7.40 s, respectively). Carrageenan improving of emulsion properties was because of the complex formation with MP, characteristic of this type of food system when pH was above of isoelectric point.     

The effects of varying gossypol intake from whole cottonseed and cottonseed meal on lactation and blood parameters in lactating dairy cows

Effects of varying amounts of gossypol from whole Upland cottonseed (WCS) and cottonseed meal (CSM) were evaluated in 40 midlactation Holstein cows. After 14 d of pretreatment, cows were assigned to 1 of the 5 treatments for 84 d: control (no gossypol), 931 mg/kg total gossypol (TG) and 850 mg/kg free gossypol (FG) from WCS (moderate TG and high FG); 924 mg/kg TG and 91 mg/kg FG from CSM (moderate TG and low FG), 945 mg/kg TG and 479 mg/kg FG with equal amounts of TG from WCS and CSM (moderate TG and FG), or 1894 mg/kg TG and 960 mg/kg FG with equal amounts of TG from WCS and CSM (high TG and FG). Concentrations of plasma gossypol (PG) and its isomers were directly proportional to FG intake. Concentrations of PG reached a plateau after 28 d on treatment, and they were highest in cows receiving a diet with high TG and FG. Erythrocyte fragility differed among treatments and increased with increasing FG intake. Plasma gossypol returned to negligible concentrations 28 d after withdrawal of cottonseed products from the high TG and FG diet. Serum vitamin A was similar among treatments, but vitamin E increased with increasing FG intake. Serum enzymes were generally unaffected by treatments, but urea N increased in diets higher in TG and FG. Intake of dry matter was higher for the diet high in TG and FG than for the control diet, but was similar for other treatments. Cows receiving the high TG and FG diet produced more milk and 3.5% fat-corrected milk, with no changes in milk composition. Feeding a diet containing 1894 mg/kg TG and 960 mg/kg FG for 84 d increased PG concentrations and erythrocyte fragility and resulted in minor changes in blood metabolites and enzymes, but no detrimental effect on lactation performance was observed. Indicators of liver, kidney, and muscle cell viability suggest that the higher amounts of gossypol consumed in this study had only minor effects on those tissues in lactating dairy cows.     

Flexible active-matrix displays and shift registers based on solution-processed organic transistors

At present, flexible displays are an important focus of research. Further development of large, flexible displays requires a cost-effective manufacturing process for the active-matrix backplane, which contains one transistor per pixel. One way to further reduce costs is to integrate (part of) the display drive circuitry, such as row shift registers, directly on the display substrate. Here, we demonstrate flexible active-matrix monochrome electrophoretic displays based on solution-processed organic transistors on 25-microm-thick polyimide substrates. The displays can be bent to a radius of 1 cm without significant loss in performance. Using the same process flow we prepared row shift registers. With 1,888 transistors, these are the largest organic integrated circuits reported to date. More importantly, the operating frequency of 5 kHz is sufficiently high to allow integration with the display operating at video speed. This work therefore represents a major step towards 'system-on-plastic'.