Coagulation-flocculation-decantation of dye house effluents: concentrated effluents

The treatment and valorization (recycling of water and mineral salts) of dyeing effluents constitutes a major economic and environmental issue. Cotton dyeing using reactive dyes is actually the most polluting in terms of discharge. In order to treat and valorize the effluent from a dyeing process using reactive dyes, the firm Clariant and the LPPE have developed and patented a process allowing the recovery of most of the water and salts present in the effluent and also of a concentrate containing the hydrolyzed reactive dyes and the highly concentrated auxiliaries. This paper describes the coagulation-flocculation-decantation process used to optimize water recovery from the concentrate. Coagulants and flocculants are used in the industry for the treatment of effluents produced by the synthesis of dyes in general (acid, disperse, reactive). Although the settling velocity is relatively low, the results show that it is possible to recycle a great volume of water using a small decanter area, since the concentrate flow rate is low. These effluents are substantially discolored, it possible to envisage recycling them.     

A gas-liquid chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of quinidine in blood

A gas-liquid chromatographic method, using chloroquine as internal standard, for quinidine evaluation in serum is described. Prior to acidic delipidation, chloroquine is added to the serum sample and an alkaline extraction is used. Direct gas-liquid chromatographic analysis of unaltered forms using a nitrogen detector is performed. The sensitivity limit of this method is 0.5 microng/ml, i.e. sufficient for therapeutic quinidine blood level determinatin (1 to 5 microng/ml).     

Electromagnetic MEMS microspeaker for portable electronic devices

This work presents the conception, the microfabrication, and the electroacoustic characterization of a new electromagnetic microspeaker based on silicon. The objectives are to get improved sound quality compared to that of conventional microspeakers, while keeping the electroacoustic efficiency as high as possible. An optimized stiffening silicon microstructure let the sound radiator be extremely light and rigid. The mobile part is suspended to the fixed part by silicon suspension springs, which enable large out-of-plane displacement. The acoustic radiator is actuated by an electromagnetic motor, composed of a fixed permanent magnet and a planar coil located on top of the silicon radiator. The piston-like motion of the radiator favored by this structure is very beneficial for the sound quality. Electro–mechano–acoustic characterization of the microfabricated microspeaker showed that the radiator surface could run out-of-plane with displacements higher than ±400 μm, with no mechanical and electrical failure. For an electrical power of 0.5 W, the microspeaker was capable to generate a sound pressure level of 80 dB at 10 cm, from 330 Hz up to 20 kHz frequency. The efficiency reaches 3 × 10^?5, that is to say three times more than typical efficiency of conventional microspeakers. Moreover, as characterization results showed, the existence of very few structural modes and the low electroacoustic distortions evidence the high sound quality of the microspeaker.     

A framework to support qualitative reasoning about COAs in a dynamic spatial environment

We propose a framework to reason qualitatively about courses of action (COAs) which need to be executed in a realistic geographic space that may change. Particularly, the framework aims to support human mental ‘What-If’ analysis by simulating the execution of COAs in a virtual geographic environment, which can change during the simulation, and by allowing the user to explore various scenarios (different COAs) and to analyse their outcomes using causal reasoning techniques. In this article, we first present a framework which is based on a conceptual model of spatio-temporal situations, a multi-agent geosimulation platform and qualitative spatio-temporal causal reasoning techniques. Then, we illustrate the framework using a case study.     

Congenital eccrine angiomatous hamartoma

BACKGROUND: Eccrine angiomatous hamartoma is an uncommon skin disease with vascular and sudoral components: less than thirty cases have been reported in the literature. CASE REPORT: A 3.5 month-old female infant developed a painful angiomatous plaque on the abdomen which was first seen 15 days after birth. Histology showed numerous vessels and eccrine sudoral glands in the dermis. Exeresis could not be complete and was followed for 15 years. There has been a slight hyperpigmentation with localized hyperhidrosis over the plaque. This hypersudation confirms the diagnosis which could not be confirmed on the initial biopsies. DISCUSSION: This case of congenital eccrine angiomatous hamartoma could only be diagnosed late in the clinical course. This is the first case report on the abdomen, 80 p. 100 of the previous reports were on the limbs. After a 15 year follow-up, there was no progression of the hamartoma and pain regressed gradually. Without secondary development of localized hyperhidrosis, the diagnosis could not have been made. Careful comparison of pathology findings and clinical expression are essential for the diagnosis of eccrine angiomatous hamartoma.     

Isolation and characterization of a hexokinase mutant of Schwanniomyces castellii: Consequences on cell production in continuous culture

A mutant of Schwanniomyces castellii with reduced glucose phosphorylation and with practically no phosphorylation of fructose was investigated. Carbon catabolite represion of α-glucosidase and amylases was reduced. Repression of β-galactosidase was normal. We have compared in continuous culture this mutant strain with wild type and another previously described mutant. The relationship between the specific rate of glucose consumption (Qs) and residual glucose concentration (s) in an inverse mode, suggests that there may be two types of transport of glucose. Mutation at the phosphorylation level causes apparent modification of the kinetic parameters of glucose uptake rate. The consequence of mutation at the phosphorylation level on biomass production was discussed.     

Separation of particles from hot gases using metallic foams

One of the most complicated tasks in the field of hot gas cleaning is the removal of particles from a complex mixture of degradation products formed during thermal treatment. A robust and completely reliable technology is still to be developed to achieve high efficiencies. In the past few years, significant improvements have been brought to gas cleaning technologies. Nevertheless, none of the existing processes has proved fully successful.The aim of this work is to perform the filtration of particles generated in fluidized bed gasification experiments using metallic foams. The gasified material used is dried sewage sludge. Nickel–chromium metallic foams are likely to have inherent properties that would make them suitable for use in structures where strength, high temperature-resistance and corrosion resistance are required. Moreover, metallic foams are characterized structurally by their cell topology, relative density, high porosity (? = 0.95) and cell size. In hot gas filtration, high temperature-resistance and low pressure drop to specific area ratio are essential characteristics. In the present work, several experimental operating conditions (heating time, temperature, washing method and metallic foam thickness) are investigated. The pressure drops in the metallic foams during filtration are calculated. The experimental results obtained are compared with numerical simulation results and a good agreement is obtained. The metallic foams are simulated from tomography results and a model is created.     

Indoor Power-Line Communications Channel Characterization Up to 100 MHz—Part I: One-Parameter Deterministic Model

Advanced communication technologies have allowed the power-line-communication (PLC) channel to be a transmission medium that enables the transfer of high-speed digital data over the classical indoor electrical wires. The development of PLC systems for Internet, voice, and data services requires measurement-based models of the transfer characteristics of the mains network suitable for performance analysis by simulation. This paper presents a deterministic model describing the magnitude and phase of complex transfer functions of power-line networks using only one parameter. First, a PLC channel classification is realized, and an average magnitude and phase channel model by class is proposed. Second, the multipath characteristic of PLC channels is introduced. A statistical-based channel magnitude generator is built, and a group delay-based phase model is suggested.     

Low-pressure membrane integrity tests for drinking water treatment: A review

Low-pressure membrane systems, including microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes, are being increasingly used in drinking water treatments due to their high level of pathogen removal. However, the pathogen will pass through the membrane and contaminate the product if the membrane integrity is compromised. Therefore, an effective on-line integrity monitoring method for MF and UF membrane systems is essential to guarantee the regulatory requirements for pathogen removal. A lot of works on low-pressure membrane integrity tests have been conducted by many researchers. This paper provides a literature review about different low-pressure membrane integrity monitoring methods for the drinking water treatment, including direct methods (pressure-based tests, acoustic sensor test, liquid porosimetry, etc.) and indirect methods (particle counting, particle monitoring, turbidity monitoring, surrogate challenge tests). Additionally, some information about the operation of membrane integrity tests is presented here. It can be realized from this review that it remains urgent to develop an alternative on-line detection technique for a quick, accurate, simple, continuous and relatively inexpensive evaluation of low-pressure membrane integrity. To better satisfy regulatory requirements for drinking water treatments, the characteristic of this ideal membrane integrity test is proposed at the end of this paper.     

Superconducting Multistack Inductor for Synchronous Motors Using the Diamagnetism Property of Bulk Material

An original superconducting synchronous motor topology is presented. The inductor combines both bulk materials and wires to create an alternating magnetic field in the air gap of the motor. A prototype that uses NbTi superconducting wires and YBCO bulks has successfully been designed and constructed. Test results are presented. In the second part of this paper, the possibility of higher power motor is discussed. To do so, the active length needs to be increased. In this paper, a multistack structure is proposed, and computation results show the effectiveness of the suggested approach.