Energy and Momentum Velocity Coefficients for Calibrating Submerged Sluice Gates in Irrigation Canals

There is renewed interest in developing calibration methods for gates operating in submerged conditions in irrigation canals. In the present study, a new method based on a generalization of the standard energy-momentum method that accounts for variations in the energy and momentum velocity coefficients is proposed, for the following reasons. First, it was found that the assumption of uniform submerged jet velocity to account for the kinetic energy head and momentum flux is in reality equivalent to assuming a parabolic relationship between the Coriolis and Boussinesq coefficients. Second, literature investigations showed that the coefficients for the downstream side of submerged gates are notably greater than unity, and the implicit parabolic relationship between these coefficients in the standard energy-momentum method is inadequate, at least for high submergence conditions. The proposed energy-momentum method was evaluated using the data obtained from four gates operating in an irrigation canal in Southern Spain. Improvements in accuracy compared to the standard energy-momentum method (with a constant contraction coefficient Cc = 0.61) were obtained. The results indicate that the calibration of coefficient approach provides a means to improve the energy-momentum method by (indirectly) accounting more accurately for nonuniform velocity effects in the energy-momentum equations.     

RAR Claus尾气处理工艺——能够满足最苛刻的炼厂环境要求的技术

由Technip KTI公司开发的RAR尾气处理技术是一种广为采用的还原型尾气处理技术,能够将炼厂的硫回收率提高到99.9%以上。基于RAR工艺改进的RAR MULTIPURPOSE技术将酸气富集技术与Claus尾气处理技术相结合,适用于处理硫化氢含量极低或含有Claus装置无法处理的杂质的原料。RAR MULTIPURPOSE技术能够提高贫酸气的硫化氢浓度,经富集后的气体便可用常规配置的Claus装置进行处理。重点描述了该工艺的主要特点、优点及在炼厂中的应用,并就如何将该工艺与现有的炼厂设备进行整合以优化投资和运营成本进行了探讨。     

Human monoclonal antibodies to domain C of tenascin-C selectively target solid tumors in vivo

We had previously reported that splice isoforms of tenascin-C containing the extra-domain C are virtually absent in normal adult tissues but are highly abundant in high-grade astrocytomas, with a prominent peri-vascular pattern of expression. We now report that the extra-domain C of tenascin-C is strongly expressed in the majority of lung cancers, with a vascular and stromal pattern of expression. Using antibody phage technology, we have generated a human monoclonal antibody (G11), with a dissociation constant K(D) = 4.2 nM for the human domain C. The G11 antibody, expressed in scFv and in mini-antibody (SIP) format, as well as a scFv-interleukin-2 fusion protein, was then characterized in quantitative biodistribution studies using mice grafted subcutaneously with U87 gliomas, revealing a selective tumor uptake, with tumor/blood ratios up to 11.8:1 at 24 h. A radioiodinated preparation of SIP(G11) was also investigated in a double tracer study using an orthotopic rat glioma model, confirming the antibody's ability to preferentially localize at the tumor site, with tumor/brain ratios superior to the ones observed with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose. These tumor-targeting properties, together with the strong immunohistochemical staining of human tumor sections, indicate that the G11 antibody may be used as a portable targeting moiety for the selective delivery of imaging and therapeutic agents to gliomas and lung tumors.     

Isolation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains producing higher levels of flavoring compounds for production of "cachaça" the Brazilian sugarcane spirit

In Brazil, spontaneous fermentation and open vessels are still used to produce cacha?a (the Brazilian sugarcane spirit) and this fermentation is characterized by mixed cultures with continuous succession of yeast species. This work shows the development of a methodology for isolation of yeasts, particularly Saccharomyces cerevisiae, used in the production of cacha?a. According to the proposed strategy, the strains were selected for their ability to adapt to stress conditions encountered during fermentation of the sugarcane juice such as high sucrose concentration; high temperatures and high alcohol concentration; for their capacity to flocculate; and for their higher fermentative ability. For strains with such characteristics, specific procedures were employed to select for 5,5,5-trifluoro-DL-leucine (TFL) and cerulenin-resistant strains, since these characteristics are related to a higher capacity of production of the flavoring compounds isoamyl alcohol and caproic acid, respectively. The effectiveness of such a selection strategy was documented. Taken together, the results obtained present the development of a new strategy to isolate yeast strains with appropriated characteristics to be used in the cacha?a industry. Moreover, the results obtained offer an explanation for the great variability in terms of chemical composition found in products obtained even in a single distillery.     

Multiphoton single-molecule localization by sequential excitation with light minima

Using sequential excitation with a minimum of light to localize single fluorescent molecules represented a breakthrough because it delivers 1-2 nm precision wit...     

Different Approaches for Digestion,Performance Assessment and Measurement Uncertainty for the Analysis of Cadmium and Lead in Feeds

Certain feedingstuffs are sources of contamination for animals with cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). Different approaches for sample digestion, performance assessment, and measurement uncertainty for the analysis of Pb and Cd by flame atomic absorption spectrometry were compared. Full method validation, including matrix effect and analytical limits, were assessed. Despite having a lower performance compared to the microwave digestion, dry ashing was a viable alternative for sample digestion, leading to lower operating costs. Interlaboratory validation proved to be a cheaper alternative, instead of the long traditional in-house approach. The method was suitable for routine analysis of several feed samples. There was a greater amount of quantifiable results for Pb, ranging from traces up to high concentrations (7430 ± 930 mg kg^-1). Cd was also quantified in some samples, ranging from 0.11 ± 0.01 to 8.71 ± 0.90 mg kg^?1. The higher concentrations of both metals were found in mineral mixtures and fish meal.     

A BMC-based formulation for the scheduling problem of hardware systems

Hardware scheduling is a well-known and well-studied problem. This paper defines a new SAT-based formulation of automata-based scheduling and proposes for the first time a completely new resolution algorithm based on SAT solvers and bounded model checking (BMC).The new formulation is specifically suited to control-dominated applications. Alternative executions are modeled as concurrency, where alternative behaviors are followed in parallel. This approach produces single-path scheduling traces instead of standard treelike solutions, thus enabling the use of BMC. This choice, however, creates the problem that resource bounds are treated incorrectly, due to the artificial concurrency modeling alternative behaviors. We then discuss how to take this into account, either by modifying the SAT solver or by adding extra clauses. Thus we are able to exploit SAT-based BMC to find the desired minimum latency schedule.Our method shows significant improvements in terms of both computational efficiency and modeling power, when compared to the BDD-based approach, and in terms of the optimality of the results when compared to heuristic methods.     

Precision range image registration using a robust surface interpenetration measure and enhanced genetic algorithms

This paper addresses the range image registration problem for views having low overlap and which may include substantial noise. The current state of the art in range image registration is best represented by the well-known iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm and numerous variations on it. Although this method is effective in many domains, it nevertheless suffers from two key limitations: it requires prealignment of the range surfaces to a reasonable starting point; and it is not robust to outliers arising either from noise or low surface overlap. This paper proposes a new approach that avoids these problems. To that end, there are two key, novel contributions in this work: a new, hybrid genetic algorithm (GA) technique, including hill climbing and parallel-migration, combined with a new, robust evaluation metric based on surface interpenetration. Up to now, interpenetration has been evaluated only qualitatively; we define the first quantitative measure for it. Because they search in a space of transformations, GA are capable of registering surfaces even when there is low overlap between them and without need for prealignment. The novel GA search algorithm we present offers much faster convergence than prior GA methods, while the new robust evaluation metric ensures more precise alignments, even in the presence of significant noise, than mean squared error or other well-known robust cost functions. The paper presents thorough experimental results to show the improvements realized by these two contributions.     

Hydrophilic matrices to be used as bioactive and degradable bone cements

Two different hydrophilic systems were investigated regarding their suitability to be used as enzymatically degradable and highly bioactive bone cements. They contained either acrylic acid (AA) or 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as the hydrophilic monomer. Swelling, degradation, mechanical and bioactivity tests were employed to characterise their behaviour. Although both of the systems were very hydrophilic, only the one containing HEMA was able to form an apatite-like layer on its surface. Moreover, this system could be degraded by amylolytic enzymes at a rate easily controlled by the incorporation of different amounts of enzyme to the formulation, as shown by the evolution of the mechanical properties, weight loss and glucose concentration in the solution. These results show these novel systems have a great potential to induce bone ingrowth inside the pores created during the degradation of the material, therefore establishing a strong interface with the tissue.     

Fluorescence anisotropy in the frequency domain by an optical microscope

Fluorescence anisotropy decay spectroscopy is a suitable tool for investigating the size and the shape of biological molecules. We coupled this technique to an optical microscope in order to reduce the excitation volume and to allow its application to spatially inhomogeneous samples. Phase modulated measurements of the fluorescence anisotropy decay were performed by feeding an intensity modulated linearly polarized laser beam to the epifluorescence port of a microscope. Here we report the test of the dynamic response of the microscope by comparing the lifetime and fluorescence polarization anisotropy decays obtained in cuvettes in a standard phase modulation fluorometer and on tiny drops on the microscope stage. We show that once a correction factor for the objective depolarization is introduced in the best-fit functions for the data analysis of the decays, the results obtained on the two setups are comparable. Some applications are reported here on long DNA tracts as well on short DNA fragments containing structural anomalies.