Solutions to a combined problem of excessive hydrogen sulfide in biogas and struvite scaling.

The Woodman Point Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Western Australia has experienced two separate problems causing avoidable maintenance costs: the build-up of massive struvite (MgNH4PO4. 6H2O) scaling downstream of the anaerobic digester and the formation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels in the digester gas to levels that compromised gas engine operation and caused high operating costs on the gas scrubber. As both problems hang together with a chemical imbalance in the anaerobic digester, we decided to investigate whether both problems could be (feasibly and economically) addressed by a common solution (such as dosing of iron solutions to precipitate both sulfide and phosphate), or by using separate approaches. Laboratory results showed that, the hydrogen sulfide emission in digesters could be effectively and economically controlled by the addition of iron dosing. Slightly higher than the theoretical value of 1.5 mol of FeCl3 was required to precipitate 1 mol of dissolved sulfide inside the digester. Due to the high concentration of PO4(3-) in the digested sludge liquor, significantly higher iron is required for struvite precipitation. Iron dosing did not appear an economic solution for struvite control via iron phosphate formation. By taking advantage of the natural tendency of struvite formation in the digester liquid, it is possible to reduce the risk of struvite precipitation in and around the sludge-dewatering centrifuge by increasing the pH to precipitate struvite out before passing through the centrifuge. However, as the Mg2+/PO4(3-) molar ratio in digested sludge was low, by increasing the pH alone (using NaOH) the precipitation of PO4(3-) was limited by the amount of cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+) available in the sludge. Although this would reduce struvite precipitation in the centrifuge, it could not significantly reduce PO4(3-) recycling back to the plant. For long-term operation, maximum PO4(3-) reduction should be the ultimate aim to minimise PO4(3-) accumulation in the plant. Magnesium hydroxide liquid (MHL) was found to be the most cost-effective chemical to achieve this goal. It enhanced struvite precipitation from both, digested sludge and centrate to the point where more than 95% PO4(3-) reduction in the digested sludge was achieved.     

Heavy Metals Bioremediation from Polluted Water by Glass-Ceramic Materials

The objective of this research was to study the removal of cadmium and lead from an aqueous solution through a biological treatment. For this purpose a glass-ceramic material was manufactured from industrial and urban wastes. Biofilms of microorganisms found in wastewater were developed on its surface, and continuous tests were conducted in the presence and absence of the biofilm to analyze the glass-ceramic's ability to remove the heavy metals from an aqueous environment. The results suggest that this bioremediation process, developed on an industrial scale, could represent an alternative to the chemical processes currently used.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy and relationship therapy in the treatment of children referred for antisocial behavior.

112 children (aged 7-13 yrs) were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: problem-solving skills training (PSST), problem-solving skills training with in vivo practice (PSST-P), which included therapeutically planned activities to extend training to settings outside of treatment, or client-centered relationship therapy (RT). PSST and PSST-P children showed significantly greater reductions in antisocial behavior and overall behavior problems, and greater increases in prosocial behavior than RT children. These effects were evident on measures obtained immediately after treatment and at a 1-year follow-up, and on measures of child performance at home and at school. PSST-P children showed greater changes than PSST children on measures of functioning at school at posttreatment, but these differences were no longer evident at follow-up. Children in both PSST conditions showed significant reductions in deviant behavior and improvements in prosocial behavior from pretreatment to follow-up, whereas RT children tended to remain at their pretreatment level of functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative study of the colorants monascus and cochineal used in the preparation of gels made with various gelling agents

The possibilities of using monascus to colour gels were studied by comparing it with cochineal. Gels were prepared with four gelling agents—carrageenan, gellan, gelatine and xanthan—and their colour was measured with a Hunter Lab colorimeter. The equations relating L^* and h with the concentrations of sugar [SU] and colorant [COL] were deduced, and it was found that [COL] had more influence on colour than [SU]. In general, for these four gelling agents the colour of monascus gels is orange-red and the colour of cochineal gels is purplish red. The gels made with xanthan were always the lightest, whether they were made with cochineal or with monascus.     

Managing logical channel configurations in complex satellite architectures

As a result of the increased switching complexity of many communications satellites, often transponders are available with a variety of configuration options offering flexibility in power, bandwidth, and coverage. Many of these configurations share resources that prevent them from being simultaneously active, making it a challenge to understand and manage the satellite capacity inventory. In this paper we define the logical channel configuration (LCC) as an unambiguous unit of the inventory and present a novel method of modelling the interdependencies between these LCCs using linear algebra. In particular, a projector matrix is defined which can be used to update the activation state of all LCCs when the state of one or more of these is changed. As a result, a number of valid LCC scenarios can be easily generated and evaluated for optimal use of the satellite resources. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi-functional biochip for medical diagnostics and pathogen detection

We describe a multi-functional biochip (MFB), which uses two different types of bioreceptors, including nucleic acid and antibody probes, on a single platform. The multi-functional capability of the MFB device for biomedical diagnostics is illustrated by measurements of DNA probes specific to gene fragments of Bacillus anthracis and antibody probes targeted to Escherichia coli. Calibration curves for monitoring pathogenic species using antibody probes against E. coli and DNA probes for B. anthracis illustrate the capability of the device for medical diagnostics and for quantitative detection of pathogenic agents.     

Microstructure and fatigue properties of hydroformed aluminum alloys 6063 and 5754

This study investigated the microstructure and fatigue properties of hydroformed sections of the 5754 and 6063 aluminum alloys. The second-phase particles in 6063-T7 are identified as a mixture of Al₁₂Fe₃Si and Al₉Fe₂Si₂, with a slightly higher fraction of the former. The constituent particles in the 5754 alloy are Al₄Mn-type hexagonal compounds, where Mn is partially substituted by various other elements, resulting in Al₄(Fe,Mn,Si,Cr). The results show that despite its lower yield strength, the hydroformed 5754 alloy has higher ultimate tensile strength, ductility, and, more importantly, higher fatigue resistance than the 6063 material. Both crystallographic stage I and noncrystallographic stage II cracking are found in the 6063-T7 samples, but only stage II cracking is observed in the 5754 alloy. This implies that the low fatigue strength of 6063-T7 is related to its relatively large grain size, resulting in rapid stage I crack propagation. The higher fatigue lives of the 5754 alloy compared to the 6063 alloy in both the low- and high-cycle life regimes are due to the increased fatigue-crack-initiation and propagation resistance of the 5754 alloy and its probable cyclic strain-hardening behavior.