The environmental cost of processing cotton

For generations Lancashire has been synonomous with the cotton processing industry. Cheap fuel and a plentiful supply of high-quality water has been the foundation for numerous success stories. However, years of production have left its mark on the environment and the industry today has been left to pay the bill. Peter Lockett highlights current problems facing cotton processors.     

An on-line respirographic biosensor for the characterization of load and toxicity of wastewaters

A respirographic biosensor is presented that is capable of monitoring the waste load and potential toxicity of wastewaters, both off-line in a laboratory or on-line at the wastewater treatment plant. The principles of the sensors' operation have been developed and implications of the design choices evaluated. Short term BOD values were obtained every 30 min. The linear dynamic range spanned concentrations differing by a factor of 5000. This range could be expanded by a factor of 10 by adjusting the aeration rate of the bioreactor in the sensor. The response time for toxicity detection was approximately 1 h. The use in the sensor of activated sludge from the plant concerned ensured relevant toxicity information was obtained. To check the condition of the sludge, an independent respiration measurement is proposed. When a siginificant activity change is observed, the sludge in the sensor must be replaced. The presence of oxidoreduction chemicals can cause interferences that may lead to measurement errors. Based on a difference in reaction kinetics, their presence can be assessed and the effect eliminated. Both on-line and laboratory applications in the chemical industry are presented. Special emphasis is given to the usefulness of the sensor data for waste management of production divisions. On-line assessment of load variations and hydrogen peroxide spills are given as illustrations of the implementation of the sensor on the treatment plant. Attention is drawn to the potential application of the data for process control and improved performance of the treatment plant.     

Optimal control and geodesic flows

In this paper we analyze and generalize, from the point of view of the maximum principle, a class of nonlinear optimal control problems originally introduced in Brockett (1994). The optimal control problems discussed here lie on the adjoint orbits of compact Lie groups or on Grassmann manifolds and the structure of the equations that arise depends on the metric used - the so-called normal metric. We consider some special cases of the general problem and their meaning from the point of view of Riemannian geometry and Hamiltonian mechanics.     

Human aging and duration judgments: A meta-analytic review.

Differences in duration judgments made by younger and older adults were reviewed. Previous research is unclear about whether such differences exist and, if so, how they may be explained. The meta-analyses revealed substantial age-related differences. Older adults gave larger verbal estimates and made shorter productions of duration than did younger adults. There were no age-related differences in reproduction of duration or in psychophysical slope relating judged and target duration. Older adults' duration estimates were more variable than were those of younger ones. Findings are discussed in terms of pacemaker rate and attentional resources. An explanation regarding divided attention between nontemporal and temporal information processing best explains the findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A theoretical investigation of the column behaviour of cold-formed square hollow sections

An experimental programme investigating the column behaviour of four sizes of square hollow section was undertaken at the University of Sydney using Australian produced cold-formed square hollow sections. Stub and pinended column tests were performed and detailed measurements of the yield stress and residual stress taken around the sections.

A large deflection elastic—plastic finite strip analysis including the measured distributions of yield stress and residual stress is used to investigate the behaviour of the stub and pin-ended columns. In particular, the influence of the measured through thickness residual stress components on the ultimate load and behaviour of the square hollow section columns is demonstrated. The analysis accounts for plate geometric imperfections, the variation of yield stress around a section, the stress—strain characteristics of the material forming the section and the highly complex patterns of residual stress produced by the cold-forming process. Comparison of the analytical results with the test results is provided.     

Elektrochemische und werkstoffphysikalische Untersuchungen von Laserstrahl-umgeschmolzenen Eisenwerkstoffen

Electrochemical and material-physical investigations of laser melted iron materials The surfaces of pure iron, St 38 and KT 45 samples were melted by a CO₂-cw laser. Electrochemical and material-physical properties of the generated surface layers were investigated. There exist significant differences between untreated and laser melted samples, whose possible causes are discussed.     

A framework for application systems engineering

Interactive Application Systems (IAS) attend to the information needs of application experts, i.e. problem-solving end-users within particular application environments. As such, IAS must be customized functionally and behaviourally toward both user and environment. Such customizing must be feasible in an economical fashion. The study claims that this objective is met by appropriate IAS development tools and by a basic IAS architecture that consists of the following main building blocks: a general-purpose dialogue processor that is controlled by a particular user interface specification, called information net; a library of software modules and packages for providing system functions on the basis of reusable software; and a data management system that may, just like the library elements, be procured from outside, perhaps even including an already existing information base. The paper discusses the approach in detail with particular emphasis on information nets and on the integration of reusable software into a total system. The paper argues that the approach is flexible enough to accommodate (rapid) prototyping, i.e. procuring of first versions of an IAS, that may be used during requirements analysis to refine the user wishes, or operationally during an interim period until the final system becomes available.     

Mapping of Ras-related GTP-binding proteins by GTP overlay following two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

For identification of Rab, Rac, Rho, Ral, Rap, and Arf proteins on two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels, we have expressed full-length cDNAs of members of these protein families with the T7 RNA polymerase-recombinant vaccinia virus expression system. Membrane preparations from cells expressing the cDNAs were subjected to high-resolution two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by [alpha-32P]GTP ligand blotting. We have mapped 28 small GTP-binding proteins relative to their isoelectric points and according to their molecular weights and by immunoblotting with specific antibodies. Rab and Rho proteins could be specifically identified by extraction of streptolysin O-permeabilized Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells with Rab- and Rho-GDP dissociation inhibitor. We applied the reference mapping to analyze the GTP-binding patterns of synaptosome fractions from rat brain. The purified synaptosomes exhibited specific enrichment of Rab3a, Rab5a, Ral, and several other GTPases. This approach and the map we have produced should provide a useful aid for the analysis of the expression and localization of members of all families of small GTP-binding proteins in various cell types and subcellular fractions.