Modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions through integrating titrimetric and off-gas measurements-applied to EBPR systems.

An innovative method for modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions is presented and discussed. The method is based on titrimetric and off-gas measurements. Titrimetric data is recorded as the addition rate of hydroxyl ions or protons that is required to maintain pH in a bioreactor at a constant level. An off-gas analysis arrangement measures, among other things, the transfer rate of carbon dioxide. The integration of these signals results in a continuous signal which is solely related to the biological reactions. When coupled with a mathematical model of the biological reactions, the signal allows a detailed characterisation of these reactions, which would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Two applications of the method to the enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes are presented and discussed to demonstrate the principle and effectiveness of the method.     

Emission of trace toxic metals during pulverized fuel combustion of Czech coals

A study of the trace elements emission (As, Se, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Zn, Hg, Tl, Pb, Ni, Sn, Sb, V, Mn and Fe) from pulverized coal combustion has been made at six heating and power stations situated in the Czech Republic. The amount of chlorine in coal has considerable influence on volatilization of some elements such as Zn, Cu, Pb, Hg and Tl, which is explained by the formation of thermodynamically stable compounds of these elements with chlorine. Generally, the affinities for Cl follows the order Tl > Cu > Zn > Pb > Co > Mn > Sn > Hg. The experimental data indicates enrichment of some of the trace toxic elements in the emissions (Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, Sn, Sb, Hg and Pb) and good agreement was obtained by thermodynamic equilibrium calculations with a few exceptions. In the case of Fe, Mn, Co, Cr and Sn calculated values are overestimated in the bottom ash and there are zero predicted amounts of these elements in the fly ash. In comparison, the results from experiments show up to 80% of these elements retained in fly ash. This implies that there exist additional steps leading to the enrichment by Fe, Mn, Co, Cr and Sn of small particles. Such mechanisms could include the ejection during devolatilization of small inorganic particles from the coal of bottom ash particles, or disintegration of the char containing these metals to small particles of fly ash. On the other hand, there are slightly overestimated or similar values of relative enrichment factors for As, V, Cu, Cd, Sb, Tl and Pb in the fly ashes and zero predicted values for bottom ashes. Our experimental results show about 5% or less of these elements are retained in bottom ashes, so they probably remain in the bottom ash inside unburned parts of coal. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new way for constructing high accuracy shock-capturing generalized compact difference schemes

The generalized compact (GC) schemes and some of their important properties are presented. And a new way for constructing high order accuracy and high-resolution GC schemes is presented. The schemes constructed by using this way could satisfy some principles and demands prescribed in advance to ensure some desired properties to the schemes, such as the principle about suppression of the oscillations, the principle of stability, the order of accuracy and number of scheme points, etc. As two examples, a three-point third-order compact scheme and a three-point fifth-order GC scheme satisfying the principle about suppression of the oscillations and the principle of stability are described in this paper. Numerical results show that these schemes are shock-capturing. The time-dependent boundary conditions proposed by Thompson are well employed when the algorithm is applied to the Euler equations of gas dynamics. Fourier analysis shows that the resolution characteristics are spectral-like.     

Design of sample adaptive product quantizers for noisy channels

Channel-optimized vector quantization (COVQ) has proven to be an effective joint source-channel coding technique that makes the underlying quantizer robust to channel noise. Unfortunately, COVQ retains the high encoding complexity of the standard vector quantizer (VQ) for medium-to-high quantization dimensions and moderate-to-good channel conditions. A technique called sample adaptive product quantization (SAPQ) was recently introduced by Kim and Shroff to reduce the complexity of the VQ while achieving comparable distortions. In this letter, we generalize the design of SAPQ for the case of memoryless noisy channels by optimizing the quantizer with respect to both source and channel statistics. Numerical results demonstrate that the channel-optimized SAPQ (COSAPQ) achieves comparable performance to the COVQ (within 0.2 dB), while maintaining considerably lower encoding complexity (up to half of that of COVQ) and storage requirements. Robustness of the COSAPQ system against channel mismatch is also examined.     

Influence of aminophylline and 8-(p-sulfophenyl)theophylline on the anticonvulsive action of diphenylhydantoin, phenobarbital, and valproate against maximal electroshock-induced convulsions in mice

Time variation of drinking is substantial and has an effect on aggregate estimates of consumption. In this article it is shown that because of a considerable seasonal variation in consumption (+/- 20%) a serious bias in annual consumption estimates can be expected in surveys with a limited time frame. The present study analyzes drinking data collected in the general population of the Netherlands from March 1985 through December 1985 (including Christmas and New Year's Eve). Since it was expected that sensitivity to temporal fluctuations might not be equal for different methods of measurement, several indices of consumption were compared. Although the assessed seasonal effect varies indeed across types of measurement, across male and female subsample and across types of alcoholic beverage, the general tendency is for consumption to be highest in the spring season and lowest in the autumn. Sales figures fluctuate accordingly. It is evident that the risk of biased estimates is larger the shorter the time frame of the survey. Seasonal variation was highest in the frequency domain. Furthermore, exclusion from the time frame of collective holidays, during which people drink more often and more per occasion (viz., Christmas), increases the risk of biased estimates. Even estimates of abstention, but also regular heavy drinking among women, appear to vary considerably over the three seasons in this study. The main conclusion is that results of comparisons of survey data on drinking, particularly those over time, are more or less invalid if the respective time frames of the surveys do not correspond.     

Evaluation of factors influencing platelet aggregation in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN)

Platelets (PLT) play an important role in hemostasis, modulation of immunological and inflammatory processes. There is also evidence that PLT takes part in the development of atherosclerosis and glomerulosclerosis. The aim of presented study was to determine morphological and functional changes of platelets and their relation to the lipid, protein and coagulation factors disturbances in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN). The studies were carried out in 60 patients with CGN diagnosed by renal biopsy: 30 patients without nephrotic syndrome (NS)-CGN and 30 patients with NS-CGN+NS. Protein and lipid disturbances, coagulation factors were estimated using routine laboratory methods. Platelet count (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV) and modal platelet volume (PLT-Mode) were measured using Technicon H1 hematological autoanalyser. Platelet function was assessed by aggregometry using turbidimetric method (inductors: ADP 1-3 microM, collagen 50g/ml, epinephrine 0.25-5 microM). Spontaneous platelet aggregation (SPA) was measured in platelet rich plasma (PRP) without inductors for 15 min, in 1-2 hours after venesection. SPA was observed in 9 of 30 patients with CGN and in 19 of 30 patients with CGN+NS. MPV and PLT Mode were significantly higher in patient showing SPA compared with those without. Significant correlations between SPA and the concentration of plasma albumin (r = -0,70; p < 0.02) TG and CH-LDL (r = 0,61; p < 0.05) were found in CGN+NS patients. APTT was significantly shorter in patients showing SPA compared with those without and negative significant correlation between SPA and APTT was found. Platelet aggregation to inductors in CGN and CGN+NS patients was diminished compared with control group. Lack of second phase aggregation in response to aggregation inducers was observed in patients with SPA. Conclusions. 1. Platelet hyperaggregation play an important role in hypercoagulation state in CGN patients. 2. SPA in vitro was observed in majority of CGN+NS patients and in some without NS. 3. Pathomechanism of SPA is probably multifactorial (hypoalbuminemia, dyslipidemia, changes in concentration of coagulation parameters).     

Evidence for interaction between transmembrane segments in assembly of Kv1.3

Previously, we showed that the N-terminal recognition domain (T1) of Kv1.3 was not required for assembly of functional channels [Tu et al. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 18904-18911]. Moreover, specific Kv1.3 peptide fragments including regions of the central core are able to inhibit expression of current produced from a channel lacking the T1 domain, Kv1.3(T1-). To elucidate the mechanism whereby Kv1.3 peptide fragments suppress Kv1.3(T1-) current, we have studied the ability of peptide fragments containing the transmembrane segments S1, S1-S2, or S1-S2-S3 to physically associate with the Kv1.3(T1-) polypeptide subunit in vitro in microsomal membranes. Using c-myc (9E10) epitope-labeled peptide fragments and anti-myc antibody as well as antisera to the Kv1.3 C-terminus, we now demonstrate specific association of these peptide fragments with Kv1.3(T1-). Association of peptide fragments with Kv1.3(T1-) was correlated with integration of both proteins into the membrane. Furthermore, the relative strength and kinetics of this association directly correlated with the ability of fragments to suppress Kv1.3(T1-) current. The rate-limiting step in the sequential synthesis, integration, and formation of a complex was the association of integrated polypeptides within the plane of the lipid bilayer. These results strongly suggest that the physical association of transmembrane segments provides the basis for suppression of K+ channel function by K+ channel peptide fragments in vivo. Moreover, the S1-S2-S3 peptide fragment potently suppressed full-length Kv1.3, thus implicating a role for the S1-S2-S3 region of Kv1.3 in the assembly of the Kv1.3 channel. We refer to these putative association sites as IMA (intramembrane association) sites.