Environmental life-cycle inventory of detergent-grade surfactant sourcing and production

Life-cycle inventories were compiled to characterize natural resource requirements and environmental emissions associated with the sourcing and production of selected, detergent-grade surfactants and surfactant feedstocks. Petrochemical surfactant types examined were linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, alcohol sulfate (AS), alcohol ethoxylate (AE) and alcohol ethoxylate sulfate (AES). Oleochemical surfactants derived from palm oil, palm kernel oil and inedible tallow were AS, AE, AES and (for palm oil and tallow) methyl ester sulfonate. It was determined that natural resource requirements were primarily related to the source of feedstock and secondarily to surfactant type. Likewise, the composition and mass of atmospheric, aqueous and solid emissions were principally determined by feedstock source. Energy requirements varied as a function of both feedstock and surfactant type. The inventories do not support fundamental shifts in surfactant usage or feedstock sourcing on the basis of environmental concerns, as no single surfactant or feedstock was identified as superior across all resource and emissions criteria examined. The data provide baselines for evaluating opportunities for resource optimization, pollution prevention and waste minimization within each production technology surveyed.     

The fate of nitrogen in agroecosystems: An illustration using Canadian estimates

Agroecosystems rely on inputs of nitrogen (N) to sustain productivity. But added N can leak into adjacent environments, affecting the health of other ecosystems and their inhabitants. Worries about global warming have cast further attention on the N cycle in farmlands because farms are a main source of N₂O, and because carbon sequestration, proposed to help reduce CO₂ loads, requires a build-up of N. Our objective was to estimate, as an illustrative example, the net N balance of Canadian agroecosystems in 1996 and then infer some hypotheses about the routes of N loss, their magnitude, and ways of reducing them. We defined agroecosystems as all agricultural lands in Canada including soil to 1 m depth and all biota, except humans. Only net flows of N across those boundaries were counted in our balance – all others represent internal cycling. Based on our estimates, about 2.35 Tg N entered Canadian agroecosystems from biological fixation, fertilizers, and atmospheric deposition (excluding re-deposited NH₃). In the same year, about 1.03 Tg N were exported in crop products and 0.19 Tg were exported in animals and animal products. Consequently, N inputs exceed exports in products by about 1.13 Tg, a surplus that is either accumulating in agroecosystems or lost to the environment. Because potential soil organic matter gains can account for only a small part of the surplus N, most is probably lost to air or groundwater. Our finding, that N losses amount to almost half of N added, concurs with field experiments that show crop recovery of added N in a given year is often not more than 60%. Better management may reduce the fraction lost somewhat but, because N in ecosystems eventually cycles back to N₂, substantive gains in efficiency may not come easily. As well as trying to reduce losses, research might also focus on steering losses directly to N₂, away from more harmful intermediates. If some of the `missing N' can be assimilated into organic matter, agricultural soils in Canada may need little added N to achieve C sequestration targets.     

Über die Verwendung von Glyoxal-bis(tert.-butylnitron) als Spin-Trap

On the Use of Glyoxal Bis (t-Butyl Nitron) as a Spin Trap Nitroxides derived from glyoxal bis(t-butyl nitrone), GBBN , have been studied by e.s.r. spectroscopy. Well resolved e.s.r. spectra exhibiting extra hyperfine splitting by magnetic active nuclei in γ-position have been recorded for the spin adducts of alkyl, as well as ^.N₃ and ^.CH₂Cl radicals. Enhanced stability was found for the spin adducts of halogen atoms. However, a wider application of this spin trap is limited by the strong superposition of the e.s.r. signals of different radical spin adducts which is directly related to almost identical conformations of these nitroxides.     

Albert Renger—Patzsch's early work: Object and abstraction

Abstract

In photography, one should surely proceed from the essence of the object and attempt to represent it through purely photographic means, regardless of whether it is a human being, a landscape, architecture or something else; whereas today a rape of the object for the sake of formal play is more often the norm. Because the German word Sachlichkeit has taken on practically the opposite meaning today, I have to use a foreign word to properly characterize the position of servitude I maintain before the motif: ‘objectivity’.¹     

Human Motion Planning Based on Recursive Dynamics and Optimal Control Techniques

This paper presents an efficient optimal control and recursive dynamics-based computer animation system for simulating and controlling themotion of articulated figures. A quasi-Newton nonlinear programmingtechnique (super-linear convergence) is implemented to solve minimumtorque-based human motion-planning problems. The explicit analyticalgradients needed in the dynamics are derived using a matrix exponentialformulation and Lie algebra. Cubic spline functions are used to make thesearch space for an optimal solution finite. Based on our formulations,our method is well conditioned and robust, in addition to beingcomputationally efficient. To better illustrate the efficiency of ourmethod, we present results of natural looking and physically correcthuman motions for a variety of human motion tasks involving open andclosed loop kinematic chains.     

Clarification of the relationship between free radical spin trapping and carbon tetrachloride metabolism in microsomal systems

It has been proposed that the C-phenyl-N-tert-butylnitrone/trichloromethyl radical adduct (PBN/.CCl3) is metabolized to either the C-phenyl-N-tert-butylnitrone/carbon dioxide anion radical adduct (PBN/.CO2-) or the glutathione (GSH) and CCl4-dependent PBN radical adduct (PBN/[GSH-.CCl3]). Inclusion of PBN/.CCl3 in microsomal incubations containing GSH, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), or GSH plus NADPH produced no electron spin resonance (ESR) spectral data indicative of the formation of either the PBN/[GSH-.CCl3] or PBN/.CO2- radical adducts. Microsomes alone or with GSH had no effect on the PBN/.CCl3 radical adduct. Addition of NADPH to a microsomal system containing PBN/.CCl3 presumably reduced the radical adduct to its ESR-silent hydroxylamine because no ESR signal was observed. The Folch extract of this system produced an ESR spectrum that was a composite of two radicals, one of which had hyperfine coupling constants identical to those of PBN/.CCl3. We conclude that PBN/.CCl3 is not metabolized into either PBN/[GSH-.CCl3] or PBN/.CO2- in microsomal systems.     

Sensitivities to antibiotics and seasonal occurrence of mastitis pathogens

In a 2-yr survey of the Clemson University's dairy herd, each sample of mastitic milk was cultured, and mastitis pathogens were isolated. Causative organisms then were subjected to disc assay of sensitivity to antibiotics. Antibiotics were penicillin, streptomycin, erythromycin, oxytetracycline, cephalothin (cephalosporin), ampicillin and novobiocin. The more widely used antibiotics--penicillin, streptomycin, and erythromycin--were relatively ineffective for bacterial sensitivity in vitro, whereas bacterial sensitivity in vitro for oxytetracycline and cephalothin was considerably more. These results also were true in vivo in treatment of animals in the University herd. Incidence of mastitis under our conditions of weather, housing, and management increased greatly during summer months with less increase during winter months.     

Estimation of mass transfer velocity based on measured turbulence parameters

The aim of this study is to quantify the mass transfer velocity using turbulence parameters from simultaneous measurements of oxygen concentration fields and velocity fields. The surface divergence model was considered in more detail, using data obtained for the lower range of β (surface divergence). It is shown that the existing models that use the divergence concept furnish good predictions for the transfer velocity also for low values of β, in the range of this study. Additionally, traditional conceptual models, such as the film model, the penetration‐renewal model, and the large eddy model, were tested using the simultaneous information of concentration and velocity fields. It is shown that the film and the surface divergence models predicted the mass transfer velocity for all the range of the equipment Reynolds number used here. The velocity measurements showed viscosity effects close to the surface, which indicates that the surface was contaminated with some surfactant. Considering the results, this contamination can be considered slight for the mass transfer predictions. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010     

Elastic moduli of semicrystalline polyethylenes compared with theoretical micromechanical models for composites

A large collection of data on Young's modulus and density of unfilled polyethylenes at ambient conditions has been compared with various competing theoretical mixing rules developed for composite micromechanics. The objective was to see if such theories usefully predict the dependence of stiffness on crystalline content in an archetypal isotropic semicrystalline thermoplastic polymer above its glass trnsition temperature. It was found that the self-consistent scheme derived by Hill and Budiansky from continuum micromechanics appears to have valid application to this system. The scheme naturally and coherently incorporates information on bulk and shear moduli and Poisson's ratios, while giving a good account of the main trend in the Young's modulus data. Conversely, other theoretical models frequently invoked in the polymer literature were explicitly found to be unsuitable for representing principal features of modulus-density relationships dectated by the data.