Relationship between structure parameters and chemical properties in some MPS3 layered phases

Cationic thermal motions in the MPS₃ have been related to substitution abilities in this layer family. They have also been correlated to the crystal field stabilization energy. These considerations explain why some MPS₃ materials may or may not undergo a low temperature substitution intercalation reaction. From interatomic distances comparisons, the bond between (PS₃) groups in the anionic (P₂S₆)^4? octahedra, is found to be easily stretched upon cation substitution. Cationic radii follows the expected variation according to their high spin configuration in octahedral sulfur environment.     

Evaluating the application of a decision support system in identifying adequate wastewater treatment for small communities. A case study: the Fluvia River Basin.

The identification of adequate wastewater treatment for small communities is a complex problem since it demands a combination of data from different sources, such as aspects of the community and landscape, the receiving environment and the available wastewater treatment technologies. The Catalan Water Agency (Agència Catalana de l'Aigua) considered using an EDSS (Environmental Decision Support System) as a tool to help water managers select the most adequate treatment for the urban wastewater of nearly 3,500 small communities in Catalonia (Spain). From that moment, EDSS was applied to all the river basins in Catalonia. In this paper the authors present the results obtained for the 76 small communities located in one of these river basins: the Fluvia River Basin. The characteristics of the community used in the reasoning process of the EDSS, the list of selected wastewater treatment alternatives, the technical environmental justification for the selected treatments and the reasons for discarding, favouring or disadvantaging them are presented. Finally, some results for the Fluvia River Basin are compared with those obtained in other Catalan river basins with different characteristics in order to evaluate which are the significant features in identifying adequate wastewater treatments.     

Hydrologic regionalisation impacts on wet-weather control selection.

Continuous simulation is performed using the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to evaluate regional differences around the United States in hydrologic and water quality performance of wet-weather controls. Controls are characterised as being limited by peak inflow rate (i.e. any device with little or no storage, such as screens, filters and some proprietary devices) or by storage capacity (e.g., ponds, tanks). For flow-limited devices, results are presented in the form of percentage of annual runoff volume captured (passing through the device) for a given inflow capacity. For storage-limited devices, results are presented in two forms: percentage of annual runoff volume captured as a function of unit basin size and drawdown (drain) time, and as a percentage of total suspended solids captured, for the same two variables. Regional differences are apparent, driven mainly by variations in rainfall patterns around the country.     

Methodologies for the optimal design of parallel manipulators

In this paper the problem of determining a manipulator design so that its workspace corresponds to a prescribed workspace is considered. Two different strategies, resulting in two different types of optimization problem are considered. The first strategy attempts to obtain a good overall approximation to the prescribed workspace and results in an unconstrained optimization problem. The second strategy entails designing a manipulator so that its workspace fully encloses the prescribed workspace and results in a constrained optimization problem. Two specific formulations of the constrained problem are proposed. The first constrained problem simply aims to fit the manipulator workspace as exactly as possible to the prescribed workspace, while still ensuring that the prescribed workspace is fully enclosed. The second constrained optimization formulation is used to design a manipulator, the workspace of which fully encloses the prescribed workspace, but which is also well‐conditioned throughout the workspace with respect to some performance measure. The particular manipulator used to illustrate and evaluate these formulations is a simple 2‐dof planar parallel manipulator, and the final formulation is also applied to a 3‐dof planar parallel manipulator. Although the manipulators studied here are simple, the objective of this study is to obtain a robust numerical methodology which can be extended to more practical and complex manipulators. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-gain pseudomorphic InGaAs base ballistic hot-electron device

A high-gain ballistic hot-electron device is described. The GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure device, with a 21-mm-thick pseudomorphic In _0.12Ga_0.88As base, had a current gain of 27 at 77 K and 41 at 4.2 K. As characteristically seen in ballistic devices, transfer into the L valley limited the maximum gain. The Γ-L valley separation in the strained In_0.12Ga_0.88As was estimated to be about 380 meV     

Simulation of the initial stages of nucleation and growth of Au/NaCl(100)

The results of a computer simulation of the initial stages of the nucleation and growth of gold on NaCl(100) are presented. A potential energy scaling Monte Carlo model employing a 50 × 50 array, mobile monomers, dimers and trimers, and gold atom vertical “roll up” was used. The parameters in the model were obtained from the work of Robinson and Robins, other published sources and/or found by calculation. Simulations of the migration of single gold adatoms over the surface permitted the determination of the diffusion coefficient as a function of the reciprocal temperature which returned the same activation energy given by the potential field, thus indicating the consistency of the model. Initial cluster densities were determined using deposition rates of R_d = 10¹⁵cm^-2s^-1 and R_d = 10¹⁴cm^-2s^-1 over the temperature range T=200–425 K. Initial cluster growth was found to occur primarily by surface phase transport and resulted in clusters that were shaped like very thin disks. Using the equations from the work of Velfe and coworkers, calculations were made to extrapolate the computer simulation data in order to permit an indirect comparison with the data of Robinson and Robins. Good agreement was achieved. Initial condensation coefficients determined over a 250 ms interval showed that α ≈ 0 at T > 425 K and α ≈ 1 at T < 325 K for a deposition rate of R_d=10¹⁵ cm^-2 s^-1.     

Effects of flux enhancing polymer on the characteristics of sludge in membrane bioreactor process.

A newly developed membrane performance enhancer (MPE) was used to prevent membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process. It transpired that 1,000 mg/l of MPE reduced polysaccharide levels from 41 mg/I to 21 mg/I on average under the experimental condition. Repeated experiments also confirmed that 50-1,000 mg/l of MPE could reduce membrane fouling significantly and increase the intervals between membrane cleanings. Depending on MPE dosages and experimental conditions, trans-membrane pressure (TMP) increase was suppressed for 20-30 days, while baseline TMP surged within a few days. In addition, MPE allowed MBR operation even at 50,000 mg/l of total solid and reduced permeate COD. However, no evidence of toxicity for sludge was found from respiratory works.     

High performance biofilm process for treating wastewater discharged from coal refining plants containing nitrogen, cyanide and thiocyanate.

Wastewater discharge from coal refining plants contains a number of biologically toxic compounds; 2000-2500 mg/l of COD of which 40% is composed of phenol, 100-400 mg/l of thiocyanate, 10-40 mg/l of cyanide, 100-250 mg/l of NH4+-N and 150-300 mg/l of total nitrogen. In order to treat this kind of high strength wastewater, we have developed a high performance biofilm process using fluidizing bio-carriers of the tube chip type. The fluidizing biofilm carriers are made of a composite of polyethylene and several inorganic materials, whose density is controlled at 0.97-0.98 g/ml. The fluidizing biofilm carriers show sound fluidization characteristics inside bioreactors. The wastewater is treated using three consecutive series reactors in oxic-anoxic-oxic arrangement. Each reactor is charged with the fluidizing biofilm carriers of 50 vol%. Furthermore, newly cultured active microorganisms for the thiocyanate biodegradation are added in the biofilm process. At total hydraulic retention time of 2.2 days, this process can achieve steady state removal efficiencies: COD, 99%; thiocyanate, 99%; NH4+-N, 99% and total nitrogen, 90%.