Electrochemical regeneration of partially ethoxylated polyethylenimine used in the polymer-supported ultrafiltration of copper

This work is focussed on the application of an electrochemical technology to regenerate the bonding agent of a polymer-supported ultrafiltration process, technique commonly used to remove metal ions from wastewaters. To do this, a batch rotating-electrode electrochemical cell has been set up to recover the copper bind to partially ethoxylated polyethyleneimine by electrodeposition. The influence of the main parameters (current efficiency, stirring rate, pH, electrode material and nature of the counterion) on the performance of the process has been studied. Current efficiency is clearly enhanced with the stirring rate, reaching values as high as 0.93 for the optimum working conditions. Regarding pH, this variable has been observed to play an important role in process efficiency. Thus, it has been found that the reactor can operate at pH 4 without affecting process performance. This is a clear advantage with respect to other regeneration techniques and also to previous works of electrochemical regeneration. The electrode material seems to have a clear influence on process behaviour and especially on the appearance of a first transitory stage with lower current efficiency. Finally, the electrolyte salt also influences significantly on the results and the presence of sulphate as counterion leads to the best system performance.     

Lexicographic Decomposition of k-Valued Transducers

We give a new, and hopefully more easily understandable, structural proof of the decomposition of a k-valued transducer into k unambiguous functional ones, a result established by A. Weber in 1996. Our construction is based on a lexicographic ordering of computations of automata and on two coverings that can be build by means of this ordering. The complexity of the construction, measured as the number of states of the transducers involved in the decomposition, improves the original one by one exponential.     

Fundamental Parameters for the Stiffness and Strength Control of Artificially Cemented Sand

The treatment of soils with cement is an attractive technique when the project requires improvement of the local soil for the construction of subgrades for rail tracks, as a support layer for shallow foundations and to prevent sand liquefaction. As reported by Consoli et al. in 2007, a unique dosage methodology has been established based on rational criteria where the voids/cement ratio plays a fundamental role in the assessment of the target unconfined compressive strength. The present study broadened the research carried out by Consoli et al. in 2007 through quantifying quantifies the influence of voids/cement ratio on the initial shear modulus (G0) and Mohr-Coulomb effective strength parameters (c′,?′) of an artificially cemented sand. A number of unconfined compression and triaxial compression tests with bender elements measurements were carried out. It was shown that the void/cement ratio defined as the ratio between the volume of voids of the compacted mixture and the volume of cement is an appropriate parameter to assess both initial stiffness and effective strength of the sand-cement mixture studied.     

Partial user-supplied information and user modeling for improving QoS

The incorporation of user-supplied information has become mandatory for the improvement of QoS in network systems. There is the question about accommodation of new users of a service, given that information about former users of a service is available. In the present work, we followed two approaches to derive information about new users in the network design and control processes, where both are based on prototype generation for the answers of former users to a QoS related questionnaire. In the first approach, attempts were made to map user attributes to prototypes. The second approach used a mapping from partial answers to a prototype. As a result, the first approach appeared to be infeasible, while the second showed good results. In the resulting trade-off between number of prototypes and classification accuracy, it is possible, for example, with 8 prototypes for around 1000 users to predict the answers of new users by using only 30% of the answers of former users, while reducing accuracy by only 13% at the same time.     

The state of solar energy resource assessment in Chile

The Chilean government has determined that a renewable energy quota of up to 10% of the electrical energy generated must be met by 2024. This plan has already sparked interest in wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass power plants in order to introduce renewable energy systems to the country. Solar energy is being considered only for demonstration, small-scale CSP plants and for domestic water heating applications. This apparent lack of interest in solar energy is partly due to the absence of a valid solar energy database, adequate for energy system simulation and planning activities. One of the available solar radiation databases is 20–40 years old, with measurements taken by pyranographs and Campbell–Stokes devices. A second database from the Chilean Meteorological Service is composed by pyranometer readings, sparsely distributed along the country and available from 1988, with a number of these stations operating intermittently. The Chilean government through its National Energy Commission (CNE) has contracted the formulation of a simulation model and also the deployment of network of measurement stations in northern Chile. Recent efforts by the authors have resulted in a preliminary assessment by satellite image processing. Here, we compare the existing databases of solar radiation in Chile. Monthly mean solar energy maps are created from ground measurements and satellite estimations and compared. It is found that significant deviation exists between sources, and that all ground-station measurements display unknown uncertainty levels, thus highlighting the need for a proper, country-wide long-term resource assessment initiative. However, the solar energy levels throughout the country can be considered as high, and it is thought that they are adequate for energy planning activities – although not yet for proper power plant design and dimensioning.