A comparison of the determination of macromolecular orientation in polypropylene by attenuated total-reflection fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction

Attenuated total reflection-infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy and wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD) were used to determine the macromolecular orientation of a series of six uniaxially oriented polypropylene sheets with elongations of 0% to 500%. The orientation functions were expressed as fractions of chains oriented along the machine, trasverse, and normal directions in the sheets. Good agreement was found between the orientation functions for the two techniques. Sources of potential difference between the two techniques were discussed. The ATR-IR technique is surface sensitive to a depth of about 5 or 10 μm into the surface while the WAXD technique is bulk sensitive. The ATR-IR technique is sensitive to both the crystalline and noncrystalline material while the XRD technique is sensitive only to the crystalline material.     

BOT融资在我国基础设施建设中的应用

基础设施是一国经济发展的基础,是发挥社会经济各个部门各项功能所必不可少的基本条件,往往需要大额、长期的资金投入.项目融资作为国际金融的一个重要分支,近30年来已经发展成为一种为大型工程项目建设开发筹集资金的卓有成效并且日趋成熟的手段.在20世纪80年代中期,项目融资被介绍到了我国,并且在一些大型的国内和国外的投资项目中得到了成功的运用.对我国基础设施项目融资结构的形成原因进行了分析,结合对中国基础设施融资环境的分析,对我国基础设施融资体制提出建议方案.     

Social media and political partisanship – A subaltern public sphere’s role in democracy

Social media, as a subaltern public sphere (Fraser, 1990), have a democratic function in providing an alternative platform for minorities and marginalized to defy mainstream discourses in the public sphere. However, social media have been found to have an echo chamber effect, which may be detrimental to democracy. They may help to accelerate the ascendancy of a “post-truth” era in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. A study on political polarization, however, showed that selective exposure and avoidance in social media are weak indicators of polarization (Johnson et al., 2017). This study examines the role of social media in democracy and partisan politics. The authors considered that despite the echo chamber effect, social media have a limited part to play in the formation of polarized stances compared with other factors, such as demographics, political orientation, and mass media use. The study tested two main hypotheses: H1: Social media use is associated with political stance that is marginalized in the mainstream media; H2: Political orientation has a stronger relationship than social media use with the stance toward political values and social issues.The results supported both hypotheses. Social media are associated with political stance that is marginalized in the mainstream media. However, when compared with other factors, the relationship between social media and stance becomes less obvious. Although the echo chamber effect may reinforce the original stance, social media do not exhibit a strong relationship with the stance toward political values and social issues. Partisan orientation and use of partisan mass media are found to have stronger links with variations in stance. Social media, however, provide a subaltern public sphere for those excluded from the dominant public sphere, thus extending the public sphere to accommodate multiple opinions and perspectives.     

Comparative study of the conditions required to image live human epithelial and fibroblast cells using atomic force microscopy

Successful imaging of living human cells using atomic force microscopy (AFM) is influenced by many variables including cell culture conditions, cell morphology, surface topography, scan parameters, and cantilever choice. In this study, these variables were investigated while imaging two morphologically distinct human cell lines, namely LL24 (fibroblasts) and NCI H727 (epithelial) cells. The cell types used in this study were found to require different parameter settings to produce images showing the greatest detail. In contact mode, optimal loading forces ranged between 2-2.8 x 10(-9) and 0.1-0.7 x 10(-9) (N) for LL24 and NCI H727 cells respectively. In tapping (AC) mode, images of LL24 cells were obtained using cantilevers with a spring constant of at least 0.32 N/m, while NCI H727 cells required a greater spring constant of at least 0.58 N/m. To obtain tapping mode images, cantilevers needed to be tuned to resonate at higher frequencies than their resonance frequencies to obtain images. For NCI H727 cells, contact mode imaging produced the clearest images. For LL24 cells, contact and tapping mode AFM produced images of comparable quality. Overall, this study shows that cells with different morphologies and surface topography require different scanning approaches and optimal conditions must be determined empirically to achieve images of high quality.     

Robustness of bioprocess feedback control to biodiversity

The design of control laws for bioprocesses is generally based on simplified single‐species models. Biodiversity is nonetheless inherent in any bioreactor where contamination leads to a mixture of different species or strains. This paper proposes to define and study the robustness to biodiversity of bioprocess control laws: given a control law designed for one species, what happens when additional species are present? is the approach is illustrated with a well‐used control law which regulates substrate concentration using measurement of growth activity. Depending on the properties of the additional species, the control law can lead to the required objective, but also to an undesired monospecies equilibrium point, coexistence, or even a failure point. Finally, for this case, the robustness can be improved by a saturation of the control. Robustness to biodiversity is a difficult issue which should be better understood and accounted for in the control design. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 2742–2750, 2017     

Predicting faecal indicator fluxes using digital land use data in the UK's sentinel Water Framework Directive catchment: the Ribble study

The Ribble drainage basin is the single UK sentinel study area chosen for examining the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD 20/60/EC). The study which has generated the data for this paper was initiated to quantify 'catchment-derived' fluxes of faecal indicators originating from both point and diffuse sources to inform the competent authorities on the potential for, and prioritization of, further options for reducing the faecal indicator loadings to this crucial coastal environment. It represents the first UK drainage basin-scale 'profile' of faecal indicator sources as recommended by WHO [1999. Health Based Monitoring of Recreational Waters: The Feasibility of a New Approach; the "Annapolis Protocol". World Health Organisation Geneva, Switzerland; 2003. Guidelines for Safe Recreational-Water Environments Volume 1: Coastal and Fresh-Waters. World Health Organisation Geneva, Switzerland] and incorporated into current drafts of the revised Bathing Water Directive [Anon, 2004. Council of the European Communities Amended proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the management of bathing water quality. Brussels 23rd June]. This paper focuses on the relationships between land use and faecal indicator organism concentrations in surface waters within this very large drainage basin (1583 km2) containing some extensive urban areas. A geographical information system comprising readily available digital elevation, remotely sensed land cover and digital map data was used to generate the land use variables for subcatchments draining to 41 locations across the study area. Presumptive concentrations of coliforms, Escherichia coli and enterococci (colony forming unit (cfu) 100 ml(-1)) were measured at each location on at least 20 occasions over a 44-day period within the 2002 bathing season. The sampling programme targeted hydrograph events. Hydrometric records were used to allocate results as either base flow or high flow. At each site, geometric mean faecal indicator organism concentrations were significantly elevated at high flow compared to base flow. Stepwise regression modelling produced statistically significant models predicting geometric mean base and high-flow faecal indicator organism concentrations from land use variables (r2: 49.5-68.1%). The dominant predictor variable in each case was the proportion of built-up land in subcatchments, suggesting that this land use type, with associated sewage-related inputs, is a critical source of faecal indicator organisms in this drainage basin.     

Gas chromatographic determination of aliphatic amines and quantitative analysis of small amounts of dimethylamine in wastewater

A gas chromatographic procedure has been developed for the determination of small amounts of aliphatic amines in wastewater. Pennwalt 223 was employed as a liquid phase which is selective to amines. Kováts' retention indices are presented for C₁---C₄ mono-, di-, and trialkylamines. Response factors for dialkylamines using the FID detector are given. The linearity of the FID detector over the concentration range 10–4000 mg 1⁻¹ for dimethylamine was also established.     

Faecal indicator organism concentrations in sewage and treated effluents

The importance of faecal indicator organism (FIO) fluxes within drainage basins is increasing as the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive and the United States Clean Water Act place requirements on regulators to manage point and diffuse sources of microbial pollution causing non-compliance (EU) or impairment (US) of receiving waters. Central to this management task is knowledge of the likely FIO concentrations in raw sewage and treated effluents, but few empirical data have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. Accordingly, this paper presents results for 1933 samples from 162 different sewage discharge sites in the UK and Jersey, which encompass 12 types of sewage-related discharge, representative of untreated sewage and primary-, secondary- and tertiary-treated effluents. Geometric means (GMs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) have been used to characterise base- and high-flow FIO concentrations. The data sets and sub-sets are mostly quite large (n 40) and may therefore be applied with some confidence to comparable discharge sites in similar geographical regions. Very marked, statistically significant reductions in GM FIO concentrations result from secondary and tertiary treatment, and there are statistically significant differences between some secondary and some tertiary treatments. Flow conditions are also shown to be important: untreated sewage and effluent from primary treatment plant have lower concentrations at high flow, due to dilution within combined sewerage systems, whereas some treated effluents (e.g. from activated sludge plant) have higher concentrations at high flow because of the shorter residence time within the plant. Under base-flow conditions, secondary treatments result in estimated GM FIO reductions of 95.22-99.29% (cf. primary-treated effluent). Corresponding figures for tertiary treatment plants (cf. secondary-treated effluent) are 93.24-96.59% for reedbed/grass plots and 99.71-99.92% for UV disinfection. Results suggest that secondary and tertiary treatment plants are less effective under high-flow conditions, but further high-flow sampling is required to confirm this.