Effect of polyaluminium chloride on phosphorus removal in constructed wetlands treated with swine wastewater

Total phosphorus (TP) removal in aged constructed wetlands poses a challenge, especially when treated with swine wastewater with high concentrations of phosphorus (P). Our earlier studies with anaerobic lagoon swine wastewater treatment in constructed wetlands showed a decline in P removal (45-22%) with increased years of operation. These particular wetlands have been treated with swine wastewater every year since the first application in 1997. Preliminary lab-scale studies were conducted to evaluate the efficiency of polyaluminium chloride (PAC) in the removal of phosphate-P (PO4-P) from swine wastewater. The experimental objective was to increase the phosphorus treatment efficiency in constructed wetland by adding PAC as a precipitating agent. PAC was added by continuous injection to each wetland system at a rate of 3 L day(-1) (1:5 dilution of concentrated PAC). Swine wastewater was added from an anaerobic lagoon to four constructed wetland cells (11m wide x 40m long) at TP loads of 5.4-6.1 kg ha(-1) day(-1) in two experimental periods, September to November of 2008 and 2009. Treatment efficiency of two wetland systems: marsh-pond-marsh (M-P-M) and continuous marsh (CM) was compared. The wetlands were planted with cattails (Typha latifolia L.) and bulrushes (Scirpus americanus). In 2008, PAC treatment showed an increase of 27.5 and 40.8% of TP removal over control in M-P-M and CM respectively. Similar trend was also observed in the following year. PAC as a flocculant and precipitating agent showed potential to enhance TP removal in constructed wetlands treated with swine wastewater.     

Semiconcurrent Online Testing of Transition Faults through Output Response Comparison of Identical Circuits

We describe a method for online testing of delay faults based on the comparison of output responses of identical circuits. The method allows one of the circuits to participate in useful computations during the testing process, while the other circuit must be idle. We refer to this method as semiconcurrent online testing. While unknown input vectors are applied to the circuit that participates in useful computations, the proposed method applies modified vectors to the idle circuit. In this way, different conditions are created for the detection of delay faults, allowing identical delay faults that affect both circuits to be detected. In designing the modified vectors, we ensure that the expected fault-free responses of the two circuits are identical. We also ensure that the hardware for modifying the vectors applied to the idle circuit will be easy to implement on-chip.     

Risk of benzene-induced leukemia: a sensitivity analysis of the pliofilm cohort with additional follow-up and new exposure estimates

This report updates the risk assessment by Crump and Allen (1984) for benzene-induced leukemia that was used by OSHA (1987) to support its reduction of the permissible exposure limit (PEL) to 1 ppm and that also was the basis for EPA's (1985) interim "unit risk" for benzene. The present study derives new risk estimates using data from follow-up through 1987 (whereas the earlier assessment only had follow-up available through 1978), and using new exposure estimates for this cohort developed by Paustenbach et al. (1992) that account for a number of factors that were unknown or not fully evaluated in earlier exposure assessments. There was a significant excess of acute myelocytic or acute monocytic leukemia (AMML, the only forms of acute nonlymphatic leukemia observed) in this cohort, and this end point also exhibited a strong dose-response trend. AMML was the only hematopoietic or lymphatic cancer that was clearly linked to benzene exposure. However, quantitative estimates of risk based on modeling either AMML or all leukemia differed by only 20%. Differences between the two Pliofilm plant locations in the occurrence of AMML were not statistically significant (.12 < or = p < or = .21) after differences in levels of benzene exposure were taken into account. The Paustenbach et al. exposures predicted a quadratic dose response, based on a measure of exposure that weighted intensity of exposure more heavily than duration of exposure. The best-fitting quadratic models predicted an additional lifetime risk of a benzene-related death from 45 yr of exposure to 1 ppm of between 0.020 and 0.036 per thousand. Statistical confidence intervals (90%) on these estimates were barely wide enough to include risk estimates based on linear dose response models. These linear models predicted risks of between 1.6 and 3.1 per thousand.     

Interaction of transport resistances with biochemical reaction in packed-bed solid-state fermentors: effect of temperature gradients

Subdermal superficial liposuction, first presented by the authors at the ISAPS Congress at Zurich in 1989, is performed with thin three-hole Mercedes cannulas (diameter ranges from 1.8 to 2 mm) to treat small and secondary adiposities and to allow better skin retraction. Suction of the subdermal layer of fat reduces the thickness and consistency of the superficial fat and enhances the possibility of skin retraction. In cases where there is a large adiposity of the abdomen, arms, or inner thighs, there is a conspicuous volume of fat whose weight tends to overstretch and to carry the overlying skin downward. In these cases we need to reduce the large fat volume to permit effective skin retraction. Therefore, we apply the principles of traditional liposuction with those of subdermal superficial liposuction to aspirate large amounts of fat from all the adipose layers. We call this technique Massive All Layer Liposuction (MALL). The amount of skin shrinkage after this "defatting" procedure is remarkable and the clinical results are very good. The MALL technique can be applied to other areas as well. In our experience this new liposuction technique has dramatically reduced the indications of abdominoplasties and dermolipectomies of inner thighs and arms.     

Epidemiology and ethics: the perspective of the Third World

The relation of epidemiology and ethics is discussed from a Third World perspective, including the following issues: the structure and dynamics of a Third World Society; the nature of the relationship between the First World "islanders" in the Third World and their counterparts in the First World, and between the "islanders" and their fellow citizens; the inner dynamics of Third World researchers; the different knowledge systems; and the role of institutions in the Third World and the First World.     

Solubility and thermodynamic properties of Y2O3 in LiF-YF3 melts

A systematic investigation was undertaken to measure the solubility of Y₂O₃ in several LiF-YF₂ melts, with the YF₃ composition ranging from 20 to 50 mole pct, in the temperature range of 998 to 1273 K. Experimental results showed that the solubility of Y₂O₄ in the melts increased with increase in temperature and also with increased YF₃ content. The activity of Y₂O₃ was calculated using the free energy of fusion of Y₂O₃, . The was deduced from the values of enthalpy, heat of fusion, and melting point of Y₂O₃. From the known values of activity, the activity coefficients of Y₂O₃ as a function of temperature and melt composition were calculated. Considering the ionic nature of the melt, activity coefficients were also calculated using Temkin’s ideal mixing and electrically equivalent fraction methods. The thermodynamic data, such as integral molar enthalpy, entropy, and free energy of formation, were calculated as a function of composition and temperature. The calculated thermodynamic data showed that the melt exhibited a negative deviation from ideal conditions.     

Evolution of gypsy-group retrotransposons: phylogenetic analysis of domains included in the pol-polyprotein

Transposons of gypsy group are assigned to LTR-containing retrotransposons present in the genomes of invertebrates, fungi, and plants. In this work, a theoretical analysis of the potential products of ORFs of these retrotranposons was conducted. Alignments were obtained and trees of similarity were constructed for domains of the POL region. On the basis of the obtained data, two hypothetically monophyletic subgroups of transposons were distinguished within the framework of the gypsy group, settling the genomes of taxonomically related organisms (the subgroup of "true" gypsy of insects and the subgroup of gypsy-like transposons of plants and fungi). A number of peculiarities of the topology of these trees hypothetically indicate cases of genetic conversion and recombination of domains accompanying the evolution of this group. The amino acid substitution fixation rate was evaluated on the basis of comparison of sequences of the protein products of ORFs. Estimates of the time of divergence of subgroups of gypsy-group transposons are significantly less than estimates of the times of divergence of their host species. One explanation for this discrepancy might be the hypothesis of settlement by transposons of the genomes of isolated host species.     

Circular Fractal Antenna Design with Inscribed Square for Ultra Wide Band Applications

Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics - In this article, an ultra-wide band circular fractal antenna inscribed with square is presented. The prototype of the antenna is fabricated on...     

Image super resolution model enabled by wavelet lifting with optimized deep convolutional neural network

This paper plans to develop an intelligent super resolution model with the linkage of Wavelet lifting scheme and Deep learning algorithm. Before initiating the resolution procedure, the entire HR images are converted into Low Resolution (LR) images using bicubic interpolation-based downsampling and upsampling. Further, the Wavelet lifting scheme helps to generate the four subbands of each image like LR wavelet Sub-Bands for LR images, and High Resolution (HR) wavelet Sub-Bands for HR images. The residual image is generated by taking the difference between the LR wavelet Sub-Bands and HR wavelet Sub-Bands images. The proposed model involves two main phases: Training phase and Testing. The training phase trains the residual image of all images by Deep Convolutional Neural Network with LR wavelet Sub-Bands as input and residual image as target. On the other hand, in testing phase, the LR wavelet Sub-Bands query image is subjected to Deep Convolutional Neural Network, which outputs the concerned residual image. This generated residual image is summed with LR wavelet Sub-Bands image, followed by inverse wavelet lifting scheme to obtain the final super resolution image. The main contribution of this paper is to improve the conventional Deep Convolutional Neural Network by optimizing the number of hidden layer, and hidden neurons using modified Whale Optimization Algorithm called Average Fitness Enabled Whale Optimization Algorithm by considering the objective of maximizing the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Finally, the proposed method achieves an improved quality of the results which is comparable the existing models.     

Microstructure and Magnetic Properties of Sn<Subscript>1 − <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Ni<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript> Thin Films Prepared by Flash Evaporation Technique

An effort was made to develop semiconductor oxide-based room temperature dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) thin films based on wide band gap and transparent host lattice with transition metal substitution. The Sn\(_{\mathrm {1}-x}\)Ni\(_{x}\textit {O}_{\mathrm {2}}\) (\(x\,= \mathrm {0.00, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.10, and \,0.15}\)) thin film samples were prepared on glass substrates by flash evaporation technique. All the samples were shown single phase crystalline rutile structure of host SnO\(_{\mathrm {2}}\) with dominant (110) orientation. The Ni substitution promotes reduction of average crystallite size in SnO\(_{\mathrm {2}}\) as evidenced from the reduction of crystallite size from 40 (SnO\(_{\mathrm {2}}\)) to 20 nm (Sn\(_{\mathrm {0.85}}\)Ni\(_{\mathrm {0.15}}\textit {O}_{\mathrm {2}}\)). In the energy dispersive spectra as well as X-ray photoelectron spectra of all the samples show, the chemical compositions are close to stoichiometric with noticeable oxygen deficiency. The crystalline films were formed by coalescence of oval-shaped polycrystalline particles of 100 nm size as evidenced from the electron micrographs. The energy band gap of DMS films decreases from 4 (SnO\(_{\mathrm {2}}\)) to 3.8 eV (x \(=\) 0.05) with increase of Ni content. The magnetic hysteresis loops of all the samples at room temperature show soft ferromagnetic nature except for SnO\(_{\mathrm {2}}\) film. The SnO\(_{\mathrm {2}}\) films show diamagnetic nature and it converts into ferromagnetic upon substitution of 3 % Sn\(^{\mathrm {4+}}\) by Ni\(^{\mathrm {2+}}\). The robust intrinsic ferromagnetism (saturation magnetization, 21 emu/cm\(^{\mathrm {3}}\)). Further increase of Ni content weakens ferromagnetic strength due to Ni-O antiferromagnetic interactions among the nearest neighbour Ni ions via O\(^{\mathrm {2-}}\) ions. The observed magnetic properties were best described by bound magnetic polarons model.