Desalination by distillation and by reverse osmosis — trends towards the future

As the requirement for fresh water increases worldwide, there is a need for more and more plants that are able to treat non-conventional water sources. Sea water has become an important source of fresh water in many arid regions. This feature provides an overview of recent process improvements in sea water desalination using reverse osmosis, multi-stage flash, multi-effect distillation and electrodialysis. Areas discussed include the use of alternative energy sources (wind energy, solar energy and nuclear energy) for reverse osmosis or distillation processes, and the impact of the different desalination process on the environment. Also covered are the implementation of hybrid processes in sea water desalination, and the pretreatment of desalination plants by pressure-driven membrane processes.     

Insertional re-activation of a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase misfolding mutant protein

The deletion of nine residues from the C-terminus of the bacterialchloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) results in depositionof the mutant protein in cytoplasmic inclusion bodies and lossof chloramphenicol resistance in Escherichia coli. This foldingdefect is relieved by C-terminal fusion of the polypeptide withas few as two residues. Based on these observations, efficientpositive selection for the cloning of DNA fragments has beendemonstrated. The cloning vector encodes a C-terminally truncatedCAT protein. Restriction sites in front of the stop codon allowthe insertion of target DNA, resulting in the production ofproperly folded CAT fusion proteins and regained chloramphenicolresistance. The positive selection of recombinants is accomplishedby growth of transformants on chloramphenicol-containing agarplates. The method appears particularly convenient for the cloningof DNA fragments amplified by the PCR because minimal informationto restore CAT folding can be included in the primers. The cloningof random sequences shows that the folding defect can be relievedby fusion to a wide variety of peptides, providing great flexibilityto the positive selection system. This vector may also contributeto the determination of the role of the C-terminus in CAT folding.     

Editorial: Special Issue on “Texture Analysis and Synthesi”

International Journal of Computer Vision -     

Passive-Based Walking Robot

In this article, we presented our passive-based biped Denise. Using only two foot contact switches as sensors and simple on/off pneumatic muscle action, it walks at 0.4 m/s and can handle floor disturbances up to 6 mm (leg length is 0.7 m). Its simplicity, efficiency, and die natural look of its motions make it a promising lead for the development of commercially viable humanoid robots. The aim of this article is to provide other researchers enough details so that they can reproduce the work or use it as a basis for future research.     

Optimal Massing Liquid Volume Determination by Energy Consumption Measurement: Study of the Influence of Some Physical Properties of Solvents and Products Used

This study tried to investigate, by the power comsumption technique, the influence of the powder's and solvent's properties on wet granulation.

It could be shown that the required amount of granulation liquid decreases when the particle size of the powder to be granulated increases. This relationship is however only true when the particle size distribution of the powder to be granulated is rather narrow.

Powders having the same solubility in different solvents require the same optimal liquid quantity for granulation, but the properties of resulting granules depend on surface tension and wetting properties of the solvent.

When the powder to be granulated contains crystallisation water, the temperature rising in the mixer can be sufficient to liberate this water, which must be taken into account in the optimal granulation liquid requirement.

The effect of a macromolecular binder (PVP, HPMC) has also been studied: the optimal liquid quantity required changes with the kind of binder used and the manufacturing process (binder used in solution or added as dry powder).

It was also shown that in the case of lactose, the optimal quantity of PVP or HPMC can be determined from the power consumption records and from the granules friability studies     

Microprocessor testability

As the level of microprocessor complexity increases to several hundred thousand transistors for a single-chip machine, it is becoming very difficult to test commercially available designs to the level of fault coverage desired by some customers. In order to achieve near 100-percent coverage of single stuck-at faults, future microprocessors must be designed with special testing features (designed for testability). The authors describe the testing problem for microprocessors, including the various methods of generating test sets and their application by the user. A survey of the testability features of some of today's commercially available microprocessors is presented. Suggestions for testability features for future-generation microprocessors are also discussed     

IPv6 delay and loss performance evolution

Although packet delay and loss are two important parameters of the Internet performance, to the best of our knowledge, the evolution of large‐scale IPv6 delay and loss performance has previously not been studied. In this paper, we analyze more than 600 end‐to‐end IPv6 paths between about 26 testboxes of RIPE Network Coordination Centre over two years, and compare the delay and loss performance over time with their IPv4 counterparts. We present and discuss the measurement methodologies and show that IPv6 paths have a higher delay and loss than their IPv4 counterparts. The main reason for the worse performance stems from IPv6‐in‐IPv4 tunnels rather than from native IPv6 paths and such tunnels are still widely used today. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Systems that Should Have Failed: Critical Infrastructure Protection in an Institutionally Fragmented Environment

Recent years have witnessed major governmental initiatives regarding critical infrastructure protection (CIP). During that same time, critical infrastructures (CIs) have undergone massive institutional restructuring under the headings of privatization, deregulation and liberalization. Little research has gone into understanding the interactions between these two developments. In this article, we outline the consequences of institutional restructuring for the changing ways in which CIs ensure the reliability and security of their networks and services. Neither Normal Accident Theory nor High‐Reliability Theory can account for reliability under these conditions. We then investigate the implications of these findings for CIP.     

Screening and characterization of microorganisms with glutaryl-7ADCA acylase activity

A screening of microorganisms producing glutaryl-7ADCA acylase, an enzyme able to hydrolyse glutaric acid selectively from glutaryl-3-deacetoxy-7-aminocephalosporanic acid (glutaryl-7ADCA), has been carried out in soil samples. Five microorganisms expressing acylase activity were isolated and classified as Bacillus cereus, Achromobacter xylosooxidans, Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Pseudomonas paucimobilis. The screening was carried out by preparing enrichment cultures containing glutaryl-7-ADCA or cephalosporin C as the selective carbon source. Four model compounds (adipoyl-, glutamyl- and glutaryl-p-nitroanilide and glutarylcoumarin), mimicking the glutaryl-7ADCA beta-lactam moiety, were synthesized as substrates suitable for the rapid screening of the microorganisms (2500) isolated from the enrichment cultures. A total of 300 strains were active on the model substrates and only 5 displayed acylase activity on glutaryl-7ADCA. The fermentation parameters, such as pH and inducer concentration, for the optimal acylase expression and acylase specificity towards the model substrates were different for each strain.     

MEASUREMENT OF THE SPECIFIC SURFACE AREA OF POWDERS BY THIN LAYER WICKING

The specific surface areas (A) of different clay mineral powders were measured by both the BET method and by thin layer wicking. The values of A for the BET and the wicking experiments coincided within a few percent. Thus, the simple and inexpensive thin layer wicking approach may well suffice to obtain reliable specific surface area values for most powders. From the wicking data it is also possible to obtain a rough estimate of the average particle size.