A short communication on growing Jatropha in Oman

A stripping technique has been used to cencentrate selected hydrocarbons present in water samples at the parts per billion level for analysis by gas chromatography. The chromatograms of hydrocarbons thus stripped from several different water samples show similarities. Washing out of atmospheric pollutants by rainfall is postulated as an explanation of these results. This hypothesis is supported by a comparison of the data with those for trace atmospheric analysis. The comparison shows that the same compounds are present in similar relative amounts both in water samples and the atmosphere. After a period of rain the atmospheric concentrations decrease whilst the water bound concentrations increase.     

飞屋改造记 厄瓜多尔某住宅

<正>本住宅建于18世纪末,乍一看会让人觉得这是座一无是处的破房子。住宅仅有一层,砖地已经破败不堪,黑暗和寒冷充斥着整个房子,木质的屋顶结构也已经腐坏。只有土墙看上去还有翻新的可能,毕竟它们好像并没有那么糟糕。住宅的业主并不强调私密性:厨房、起居室、餐厅和卫生间都是公用的。这样设计的原因是业主经常在这里接待来访者和朋友。在这所房子里,私人空间被压缩成每位家庭成员的床位。     

Thermal inactivation of Campylobacter jejuni in broth

New Zealand has a high rate of reported campylobacteriosis compared with other developed countries. One possible reason is that local strains have greater heat tolerance and thus are better able to survive undercooking; this hypothesis is supported by the remarkably high D-values reported for Campylobacter jejuni in The Netherlands. The objective of this study was to investigate the thermal inactivation of isolates from New Zealand in broth, using strains that are commonly found in human cases and food samples in New Zealand. Typed Campylobacter strains were heated to a predetermined temperature using a submerged-coil heating apparatus. The first-order kinetic model has been used extensively in the calculation of the thermal inactivation parameters, D and z; however, nonlinear survival curves have been reported, and a number of models have been proposed to describe the patterns observed. Therefore, this study compared the conventional first-order model with eight nonlinear models for survival curves. Kinetic parameters were estimated using both one- and two-step regression techniques. In general, nonlinear models fit the individual inactivation data sets better than the log-linear model. However, the log-linear and the (nonlinear) Weibull models were the only models that could be successfully fitted to all data sets. For seven relevant New Zealand C. jejuni strains, at temperatures from 51.5 to 60°C, D- and z-values were obtained, ranging from 1.5 to 228 s and 4 to 5.2°C, respectively. These values are in broad agreement with published international data and do not indicate that the studied New Zealand C. jejuni strains are more heat resistant than other strains, in contrast with some reports from The Netherlands.     

Cloaking a receiving antenna or a sensor with plasmonic metamaterials

In this contribution, we discuss the possibility of applying the scattering-cancellation-based plasmonic cloaking technique to reduce the scattering from a sensing device, lowering its disturbance on sensing without affecting its ability to measure and “sense” the external world. The plasmonic cloak, while allowing the external fields to penetrate into the cover, may be able to suppress the scattering without necessarily shielding its interiors from the impinging light, which may be of great use if we wish to “sense” the external world, or receive an external signal, from inside the cloak. Our results may provide a unique sensing system that may receive and transmit signals, while its presence may not be perceived by the surrounding. This may be of great importance in a wide range of biological, optical, physical and engineering applications.     

Numerical estimation of pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics in annular‐finned channel heat exchangers with different channel configurations

In this numerical investigation, three‐dimensional analysis has been used to study the effect of finned channels configuration of (circular, square, and triangular shape) and fin spacing with four rows in staggered arrangements. The finite volume method with k‐ ω turbulent model is applied to estimate the heat transfer and flow characteristics. The results illustrate that the development of the boundary layer between the fins surfaces is credited to the finned channels configuration, fin spacing, and Reynolds number. Moreover, the results of pressure drop and heat transfer with various channel configuration and different fin spacings (1.6, 2, and 4 mm) are presented and validated with the available correlations. The triangular‐finned channel with 1.6 mm fin spacing offered higher heat transfer enhancement followed by square‐ and circular‐finned channels. A considerable agreement was observed when the current findings and the existing correlations were compared, with a maximum deviation of 15% for all the cases.     

Organic solvent pretreatment to enhance enzymic saccharification of straw

Enzymic saccharification of wheat straw in the absence of any pretreatment was only about 20 %. Acid hydrolysis did not improve the overall cellulose enzymic breakdown, nor did pretreatment by flash autohydrolysis under pressure or sodium chlorite delignification. When wheat straw was treated with N-methyl-morpholine-N-oxide (MMNO) at J20°C for 20–30 min, this treatment and subsequent enzymic hydrolysis produced carbohydrate conversion of 73%. Similar results could be obtained by treating straw with 0·1 M sodium hydroxide. When MMNO treatment was combined with any other pretreatment, the saccharification yield was greatly enhanced. Nearly quantitative conversion was obtained by swelling straw in 0·1 M sodium hydroxide followed by MMNO treatment. The results show that lignin content of plant material does not represent the limiting factor to enzymic saccharification.     

Composite right/left handed artificial transmission line structures in CMOS for controlled insertion phase at 30 GHz

Two CMOS integrated circuits are presented that utilize metamaterial composite right/left handed (CRLH) transmission lines (TLs) for zero insertion phase at 30 GHz. Specifically, 2 and 3 unit cell structures are presented with controlled insertion phase that is achieved by cascading lumped element capacitors and spiral inductors in an LC network configuration defining the TL unit cells. Furthermore, the fixed TL structures suggest the possibility of zero, advanced or delayed insertion phases by element variation, or by the use of simple active components. Simulation and measured results are in good agreement with CRLH TL theory, and display a linear insertion phase and flat group delay values that are dependent on the number of unit cells with an insertion loss of ～0.8 dB per cell. These findings suggest that such high speed CRLH TLs structures can be implemented for linear array feeding networks and compact antenna designs in CMOS at millimeter wave frequencies. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2009.     

Syngas from sugarcane pyrolysis: An experimental study for fuel cell applications

The use of biomass for the production of electrical energy is a promising technological solution for those countries where there are problems with the disposal of agricultural waste and/or the production of low-cost energy. The gasification and/or pyrolysis of the biomass produces a gas rich in hydrogen that can be used in a fuel cell system to produce electrical energy with reduced environmental impact and significant energy recovery.In this work, a study of the pyrolysis of Brazilian sugarcane bagasse was carried out. The experimental process consisted of the pyrolysis of the biomass material in a batch pyrolysis reactor. In some runs the biomass was dry, while in others it was pre-treated by the addition of water. It was noted that the water added to the biomass before the pyrolysis process resulted in a decrease in the quantity of steam added to the fuel cell feeding gas, necessary to avoid carbon deposition, and in an increase in cell power, but, at the same time, caused a decrease in the quantity of syngas produced.Then, the composition of the gas obtained from the experimental pyrolysis of the sugarcane was inserted in a simulation tool of a molten carbonate fuel cell system in order to estimate the feasibility of the entire process in terms of operating conditions and electrical performance.The present study indicates that the syngas obtained from the sugarcane biomass (about 40%) can be converted into electricity using a fuel cell system with a high efficiency.     

Study of three‐dimensional natural convection and entropy generation in an inclined solar collector equipped with partitions

Three‐dimensional natural convection in an inclined solar collector equipped with partitions has been investigated numerically. The presence of partitions improves the performances of the collector by increasing the heat transfer near the absorber. A parametric study was done for various partitions length and Rayleigh numbers, while Prandtl number and inclination angle were fixed at 0.71 and 45°, respectively. Results are reported in terms of isosurfaces of temperature, isotherms, particles trajectories, velocity vector projection, average Nusselt number along the absorber plate and entropies generation contours.