Removal of methyl tert-butyl ether from water by pervaporation: bench- and pilot-scale evaluations

The ability of pervaporation to remove methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) from water was evaluated at bench and pilot scales. Process parameters studied included flow rate, temperature, MTBE concentration, membrane module type, and permeate pressure. Pervaporation performance was assessed based on the calculated mass transport coefficient of MTBE, the single-pass removal of MTBE (only at the pilot scale), and the fluxes of water and MTBE. The observations for MTBE are compared to results for toluene and 1,1,1-trichloroethane, compounds for which removal by pervaporation has been demonstrated. MTBE removal and mass transfer coefficients were lower than for toluene and trichloroethane. However, MTBE removal efficiency improved significantly with increasing process temperatures from 40 to 80 degrees C. With one of the pilot-scale systems, MTBE removal efficiency approached that of the other VOCs. The observed response of pervaporation performance to temperature was attributed to the strong effect of temperature on the Henry's law constant of MTBE.     

The Line of Descent in the Intergenerational Transmission of Domestic Property

Although there has been a growing interest over recent years in the intergenerational transmission of Western domestic property, and specifically housing inheritance, the line of descent in this transmission has been ignored. We do not know whether domestic property goes disproportionately to the next generations(s) of men, or to women, or equally to men and women as the Western cognatic system of descent would dictate. This paper explores the line of descent through an argument proffered by two European sociologists, Delphy and Leonard. They maintain that domestic property goes disproportionately to the next generation(s) of men because of the power of patriarchy. However, neither available information, nor data from an Australian case study, confirms this claim. Indeed, there is a suggestion that domestic property goes roughly equally to the next generations of men and women. The implications of these findings are explored.     

Medical treatment of heart failure at a tertiary hospital of S?o Paulo]

The clinical hemostatic effect of tranexamic acid mouthwash after oral surgery was evaluated in 47 patients receiving oral anticoagulant therapy. Surgery was performed after the anticoagulant medication was reduced in 15 patients (control group) and with no change in anticoagulant therapy in 32 patients (test group). The only statistical difference between the two treatment groups at baseline was the level of anticoagulation, which was significantly higher in the test group. There was no significant difference between the two treatment groups in the incidence of bleeding after oral surgery. The results indicated that a combination of local antifibrinolytic therapy and a local hemostatic agent is effective in preventing postoperative bleeding after oral surgery in patients treated with anticoagulants.     

Multiplication by eye and by ear for Chinese-speaking and English-speaking adults.

Under two conditions, 32 English-speaking and 32 Chinese-speaking adults solved single-digit multiplication problems. In one condition, problems were presented as visual digits (e.g., 8×9). In the other condition, problems were presented as auditory number words in the participant's first language (e.g., /eit/ /taimz/ /nain/). Chinese-speaking adults made proportionately more operand-intrusion errors (e.g., 4×8=24) than English-speaking adults. Both groups made more operand-intrusion errors with auditory than with visual presentation. These findings are similar to those found when participants solve problems presented as visual number words (e.g., eight×nine), suggesting that in both cases the activation of phonological codes interferes with processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Capillary rise in porous,fibrous media during liquid immersion

The modified Washburn equation has been further developed in this work, to examine capillary rise in porous media which are being immersed in liquid at a continuous rate. The capillary rise rate and/or properties of the media can be determined by a series of differential equations which govern the processes. The model was applied to oleophillic and oleophobic porous, fibrous media with generally good results, however it was found that the model needed to be fitted separately to the initial rise phase and to the longer-term (near-constant slope) phase. It was also found that a good agreement between the theory and experiment could be found if the porous media was contained inside a glass tube so that inflow could only occur from below and not from the sides of the filter. In order to model the insertion of media without this tube, a combination of a horizontal and a vertical capillary model was needed. The model could not be easily fitted to very thin, oleophillic media, and reasons for this are discussed; one likely reason being the inflow of liquid from the sides of the media. However, good agreement between the model and experiment could be found for equivalent media with an oleophobic coating and the same oil.     

Nucleation Barrier for Volume-Conserving Shape Changes of Faceted Crystals

This paper considers volume-conserving shape changes of small faceted particles or cavities; these changes are driven by surface-energy reduction. If these changes require normal motion of the facets (singular surfaces), and if the perimeter free energy σ_p (per unit area) of a nucleus of a new facet layer is comparable to a typical surface free energy (σ∼ 1 J/m²), the energy barrier is prohibitively large for facets larger than a limiting size of approximately a nanometer unless they are intersected by dislocations that provide a source of steps. In the absence of such dislocations, particles that contain these facets are immobilized in their initial shapes. If σ_p < σ, the limiting facet size is increased by a factor of approximately σ/σ_p.     

Antibody responses of cows during an outbreak of neosporosis evaluated by indirect fluorescent antibody test and different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays

Hairpin ribozymes with high cleavage activities were designed. An extra sequence was introduced at the 3'-end of the hairpin ribozyme to increase the binding to the substrate RNA, as compared to the wild-type hairpin ribozyme. A three-way junction (TWJ) was formed between the newly designed ribozyme and the substrate RNA. The complex with a solid TWJ showed less RNA cleavage activity than the wild-type hairpin ribozyme. However, the ribozyme with a TWJ with five unpaired bases or propandiol phosphate linkers had higher cleavage activity than the parent ribozyme without the TWJ. When a cis-cleavage system, in which the 5'-end of the substrate RNA was conjugated to the 3'-end of the ribozyme, was employed, the complex with the TWJ containing unpaired bases was also cleaved faster than the complex with the solid TWJ. This suggested that these differences in the cleavage activities were derived from the confirmation, and this was proven by nondenaturing gel electrophoresis. The TWJ hairpin ribozyme containing unpaired bases is able to bind strongly with substrate RNAs and to cleave them efficiently. Since the three-way ribozyme presented here is more active than the wild-type ribozyme, this type of ribozyme can serve as a more efficient tool to control RNA activities in vitro and in vivo.