Use of electrochemical oxidation process as post-treatment for the effluents of a UASB reactor treating cellulose pulp mill wastewater.

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the electrochemical oxidation process as a post-treatment for the effluents of a bench-scale UASB reactor treating simulated wastewater from an unbleached pulp plant. The oxidation process was performed using a single compartment cell with two plates as electrodes. The anode was made of Ti/Ru0.3Ti0.7O2 and the cathode of stainless steel. The following variables were evaluated: current density (75, 150 and 225 mA cm(-2)) and recirculation flow rate in the electrochemical cell (0.22, 0.45 and 0.90 L h(-1)). The increase in current density from 75 to 225 mA cm(-2) did not increased the color removal efficiency for the tested flow rates, 0.22, 0.45 and 0.90 L h(-1), however the energy consumption increased significantly. The results indicated the technical feasibility of the electrochemical treatment as post-treatment for UASB reactors treating wastewaters from pulp and paper plants.     

Improving the Public Health Information Network through Semantic Modeling

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the Public Health Information Network to advance fully capable, interoperable information systems in public health organizations. PHIN prioritizes public health information systems' functional requirements, capabilities, performance measures, and operational characteristics while letting the architects of those systems choose enabling approaches, methods, and concepts to meet the requirements. PHIN also provides a certification process for public health administrators to evaluate their information infrastructure's quality. The certification process is important because affected organizations often depend on certification for continued funding.     

IBM RISC System/6000: architecture and performance

The IBM RISC System/6000, a superscalar microprocessor, is presented. The architecture of this processor has its instruction set specifically designed for a superscalar machine containing three independent units-branch, fixed-point, and floating-point. The design also emphasizes high-performance floating-point operations. The design principles are to offer maximum overlap of the three functional units, avoid dead cycles, and define instructions that can (for the most part) be completed at a rate of one per cycle. The branch cycle, fixed- and floating-point units, cache management, and performance are described. Benchmark results are given     

Intravaginal Controlled Administration of Flurogestone Acetate: (III) Development of Rate-Control Vaginal Devices

A Rate-Control vaginal device was developed which overcomes the low bioavailability and unpredictable Q - t^1/2 type release and absorption rate profiles of flurogestone acetate delivered by the currently marketed Syncro-Mate pessary.

The in vitro release and vaginal absorption profiles from the Rate-Control vaginal device were run simultaneously, a linear Q - t relationship was obtained with a significant improvement in bioavailability. A mathematical model was developed to correlate the in vitro drug release and the vaginal absorption profiles of flurogestone acetate from the vaginal devices.

The design, development and the simultaneous release and absorption profiles of flurogestone acetate from this new vaginal device were outlined and discussed.     

FMR and EXAFS modeling of heat-treated Fe-rich and Co-rich TM-M thin films

Ion-beam sputter-deposited alloy films of Co/sub 74/Fe/sub 6/B/sub 15/Si/sub 5/ and Fe/sub 75/Ni/sub 5/B/sub 15/Si/sub 5/ were examined for their magnetic and structural properties. Films were characterized by ferromagnetic resonance, vibrating sample magnetometry, and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis. Using atomic parameters deduced from EXAFS modeling and fitting procedures, magnetic properties were calculated with no adjustable parameters. Correlation between perpendicular FMR measurements and EXAFS first-shell modeling suggests a low-temperature formation of cobalt-borides in the Co/sub 74/Fe/sub 6/B/sub 15/Si/sub 5/ alloy. Annealed Fe/sub 75/Ni/sub 5/B/sub 15/Si/sub 5/ samples did not display evidence of structural and/or magnetic instabilities until the onset of long-range crystallization near T/sub ann/=400 degrees C.<>     

Ozonation of CI Reactive Black 5 using rotating packed bed and stirred tank reactor

This study investigates the ozonation of CI Reactive Black 5 (RB5) by using the rotating packed bed (RPB) and completely stirred tank reactor (CSTR) as ozone contactors. The RPB, which provides high gravitational force by adjusting the rotational speed, was employed as a novel ozone contactor. The same ozone dosage was separately introduced into either the RPB or the CSTR for the investigation, while the experimental solution was continuously circulated within the apparatus consisting of the RPB and CSTR. The decolorization and mineralization efficiencies of RB5 in the course of ozonation are compared for these two methods. Moreover, the dissolved and off‐gas ozone concentrations were simultaneously monitored for the further analysis. As a result, the ozone mass transfer rate per unit volume of the RPB was significantly higher because of its higher mass transfer coefficient and gas–liquid concentration driving force. Furthermore, ozonation kinetics was found to be independent of the gravitational magnitude of an ozone gas–liquid contactor. Therefore, the results suggest employing RPBs as ozone‐contacting devices with the advantage of volume reduction. The experimental results, which can be used for further modeling of the ozonation process in the RPB, also show the requirement of correct design for the RPB. Consequently, the present study is useful for the understanding of practical application of RPBs. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Study of the nutrient distribution in root tips of the tropical forage Brachiaria

A Brachiaria breeding project is being conducted at CIAT, Colombia to combine acid soil adaptation of B. decumbens with other favourable traits of Brachiaria species that are less adapted to acid soils. Micro-PIXE was applied to investigate nutrient uptake and distribution in root tips of different species grown in hydroponic culture under control and simulated acid soil stress conditions. Different sample measurement approaches were evaluated, including: (1) linear scans with single point measurements along the root axis; (2) mapping of whole root tips; and (3) mapping of root cross sections. Different tissue types could be distinguished on the base of differences in nutrient concentrations and/or Al stress. Al, if supplied under nutrient stress conditions, increased P accumulation in the central vascular tissue of the meristematic and elongation zone of B. decumbens and B. brizantha. Furthermore, a negative correlation was found between Al and Cl accumulation in the root cap of B. decumbens.     

Linear output feedback compensation of rank-one systems

A new method is presented for arbitrarily assigning the closed-loop poles of a linear multi-input/multi-output system using linear output feedback. The method employs a new notion of rank-one system representations and involves the use of state transformation matrices which preserve such representations while reducing the degree of the feedforward matrix     

Reminiscence: diffraction and the mountains of Alaska

Discusses, from a personal point of view, experiments carried out to study the diffraction and propagation of VHF, HF and MF radio waves in the early-mid 1950s in the mountains of Alaska