The Drying of Pyridine Hydrobromide

1 INTRODUCTIONThe drying of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals is dominated by a number of special factorscompared to the drying of bulk chemicals.These include:very high value of product;lowthroughputs(typically,100 kg·h~(-1));materials that frequently possess toxic properties andare often sticky,pasty and difficult to handle when wet;the moisture to be evaporated ofteninvolves solvents;and multipurpose processing plants.     

Realization of complex digital filters based on the LBC two-pair extraction procedure

The synthesis of real digital filters based on the lossless bounded real (LBR) two-pair extraction procedure is extended to the complex domain. the only component then required is a first-order reciprocal lossless bounded complex (LBC) two-pair. This two-pair permits the synthesis of any bounded complex (BC) or lossless bounded complex (LBC) digital transfer function. Lastly, a unitary implementation in terms of Givens (planar) rotation modules is given for the proposed two-pair.     

SEM study of water activity and temperature effects on the initial growth of Aspergillus ochraceus,Alternaria alternata and Fusarium verticillioides on maize grain. Scanning electron microscopy

A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study of the effect of water activity (a(w)), temperature and fungal interactions on the very early phases of Aspergillus ochraceus, Alternaria alternata and Fusarium verticillioides development on maize grains was carried out. Germination and growth of individual fungal strains were assayed at 0.92, 0.95 and 0.98 a(w), and 20 and 30 degrees C. Hyphal lengths were measured on micrographs taken by SEM at different periods of incubation. A. alternata had the highest linear growth at 0.98 a(w), and was the only species able to grow under all conditions tested, whereas A. ochraceus was not able to germinate at 0.92 a(w) at any temperature assayed. F. verticillioides demonstrated a different behaviour depending on growth temperature. Fungal interactions were studied at 0.95a(w) and 30 degrees C. A. ochraceus germination was inhibited when it was co-inoculated with one or two of the other species. A. alternata showed an increased growth rate when growing together with the other fungi, whereas growth of F. verticillioides was significantly inhibited when paired with A. ochraceus.     

Sensor data integration for indoor human tracking

A human tracking system based on the integration of the measurements from an inertial motion capture system and a UWB (Ultra-Wide Band) location system has been developed. On the one hand, the rotational measurements from the inertial system are used to track precisely all limbs of the body of the human. On the other hand, the translational measurements from both systems are combined by three different fusion algorithms (a Kalman filter, a particle filter and a combination of both) in order to obtain a precise global localization of the human in the environment. Several experiments have been performed to compare their accuracy and computational efficiency.     

An Application of a Neural Self-Tuning Controller to an Overhead Crane

A neural network-based self-tuning controller is presented. The scheme of the controller is based on using a multilayer perceptron, or a set of them, as a self-tuner for a controller. The method proposed has the advantage that it is not necessary to use a combined structure of identification and decision, common in a standard self-tuning controller. The paper explains the algorithm for a general case, and then a specific application on a nonlinear plant is presented. The plant is an overhead crane which involves an interesting control problem related to the oscillations of the load mass. The method proposed is tested by simulation in different conditions. A comparison was made with a conventional controller to evaluate the efficiency of the algorithm.     

A Far Infrared Super Radiant FEL

The basic physics, results of 3–D simulations, and relevant parameters for the design of a far infrared FEL, which operates in the SASE superradiant short bunch regime, are presented. It is shown that a quite interesting device can be easily developed, with rather new features, producing coherent laser pulses with ～10 psec duration and around 7 MW peak power.     

Guest Editorial: Special issue on computer vision and machine learning for healthcare applications

Pattern Analysis and Applications -     

Concentration of some toxic elements in Oryctolagus cuniculus and in its intestinal cestode Mosgovoyia ctenoides, in Dunas de Mira (Portugal)

The need for sentinel organisms reflecting small-scale changes in heavy metal pollution of different habitats has been previously stated and the role of terrestrial mammalian parasites has been pointed out as an important field of research aiming at the potential use of parasitic models as bioindicators. The scope of the present study was to assess the concentration of some toxic (Cd, Pb, As and Hg) elements in Dunas de Mira (Natura 2000 PTCON055) while testing the model constituted by the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus Linnaeus, 1758) and its intestinal cestode parasite Mosgovoyia ctenoides Railliet, 1890 as potential bioindicators. Wild rabbits were harvested by hunters and analysed for intestinal cestodes. Samples of kidney, liver, intestinal mucosa, muscle of host and also M. ctenoides were taken and deep-frozen for posterior element analysis by ICP-MS. In general, levels of contamination in rabbit tissues were found to be low although some of the elements were detected in higher quantities when compared to other previous reports for wildlife in Europe. The highest quantity of Pb was found in rabbit muscle (3.81 ppm) while highest Cd and Hg values were found in kidney (1.02 and 0.08 ppm). Significant linear relationships were found between Pb concentration in the parasite and Pb concentration in kidney (P=0.0047), muscle (P=0.0002) and intestinal mucosa (P=0.0181) and between As concentration in the parasite and As concentration in liver (P=0.0024), kidney (P=0.0010), muscle (P=0.0003) and intestinal mucosa (P=0.0047). The most significant relationships for Pb and As were detected between element concentration in the cestode and in host muscle. However, maximum Pb and As concentrations in M. ctenoides were only twice as high as those found for rabbit kidney and therefore it is not possible to confirm the role of the model O. cuniculus/M. ctenoides as a promising bioindicator system unlike other mammalian host/cestode models tested in other studies. The contrasting results might be due to differences in the absorption processes in the tegument of different cestode families. Furthermore, the large size of the cestodes used in the present study might also explain the relatively low element concentration values obtained.