Optimal operation of batch reactors—a personal view

This paper presents a personal, thus necessarily subjective, view of the operation of batch and semi-batch reactors. The emphasis is on safety, product quality and scale-up. Key characteristics of discontinuous reaction systems are discussed, along with the resulting implications for monitoring, control and optimization. The industrial needs are compared with the research solutions proposed by academia. It is argued that, in industry, measurement and modeling issues are often more important than the algorithmic aspects related to the computation of control and optimization strategies. Major challenges and selected research opportunities are discussed.     

Clinical and therapeutic aspects of spontaneous pneumothorax in human immunodeficiency virus infection: 9 cases

Spontaneous pneumothorax in HIV infected patients are mostly due to a sub-pleural necrotizing pneumonitis most often related to Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. From our experience of nine patients and a review of the literature, we describe the clinical characteristics and therapeutic management and confirm the frequent failure of simple chest tube drainage and the high morbidity and mortality rate despite treatment. An aggressive stepped-care management of thoracoscopic talc poudrage as initial therapy should be evaluated.     

Speckle filtering in SAR images by contrast modification,comparison with a large class of filters

Speckle appearing in synthetic aperture radar (sar) images is generated by coherent processing of radar signals. Basically the speckle has the nature of multiplicative noise. Recently, several methods have been proposed to remove speckle in sar images, among them, Lee’s methods, Frost’s method and Zamperoni’s method. In this paper, we propose an effective method for smoothing speckle-corrupted images. Digital processing is introduced, based on a contrast modification in a multi-resolution pyramid image representation. The contrast modification is realized by a median filter or an adaptive order filter giving a reconstructed image. For assessing this new method, we realized a comparative study with several noise-smoothing algorithms.     

Diffusion-Weighted MRI and Response to Anti-Cancer Therapies

In oncology practice, longitudinal studies are routinely conducted to monitor the size and enhancement of tumors in cancer patients undergoing therapy. Imaging protocols typically use gadolinium-enhanced T₁-weighted images or T₂-weighted images from which tumor size is inferred and tumor response estimated. The past few years have also seen the emergence of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWMRI) as a potential alternative to monitor therapeutic response (Kauppinen, R.A., NMR Biomed. 2002, 15, 6). The attractiveness of DWMRI resides in its ability to detect local microstructural changes associated with treatment long before their effects are translated into effective size changes. Damage to cell membrane integrity, changes in viscosity, and/or relative size of intra- vs. extracellular compartments all translate into changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient of tumor water measured by DWMRI. This dependence makes DWMRI a particularly sensitive method to detect response to a wide variety of chemotherapeutic agents. This review will focus on the emerging role of DWMRI to monitor the response of tumors to anti-cancer chemotherapies.     

A method for automatic design error location and correction in combinational logic circuits

We present a new diagnostic algorithm, based on backward-propagation, for localising design errors in combinational logic circuits. Three hypotheses are considered, that cover all single gate replacement and insertion errors. Diagnosis-oriented test patterns are generated in order to rapidly reduce the suspected area where the error lies. The originality of our method is the use of patterns which do not detect the error, in addition to detecting patterns. A theorem shows that, in favourable cases, only two patterns suffice to get a correction. We have implemented the test generation and diagnosis algorithms. Results obtained on benchmarks show that the error is always found, after the application of a small number of test patterns, with an execution time proportional to the circuit size. This work is partially supported by EUREKA “JESSI-AC3” project and the ESPRIT Basic Research Action CHARME Working Group #6018.     

Animated Times: Critical Transitions and the Maintenance of Field-Configuring Events

Recent research has pointed to the challenge facing recurrent field-configuring events (FCEs) in trying to remain dominant in their fields over sustained periods. Based on a revelatory historical case study of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the leading FCE in its field, this paper explores how a field-configuring role can be maintained over time. We focus specifically on the FCE organization, and highlight the importance of critical transitions, relatively short periods of time when fundamental changes were made to its formal and informal governance rules, which redefined the event's identity and scope, and thus ensured it remained the dominant event for field participants. In terms of the organizational dynamics facilitating critical transitions, we emphasize the importance of conflict as a driver of change, as well as the particular role of local stakeholders in renewing FCEs that are organized recurrently in the same location.     

Hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of latewood cell wall micropillars reveal ultrastructural anisotropy

We document the hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of the central and the thickest secondary cell wall layer of wood (named S2) in response to changes in environmental humidity using synchrotron radiation-based phase contrast X-ray tomographic nanoscopy. The S2 layer is a natural fibre-reinforced nano-composite polymer and is strongly reactive to water. Using focused ion beam, micropillars with a cross section of few micrometres are fabricated from the S2 layer of the latewood cell walls of Norway spruce softwood. The thin neighbouring cell wall layers are removed to prevent hindering or restraining of moisture-induced deformation during swelling or shrinkage. The proposed experiment intended to get further insights into the microscopic origin of the anisotropic hygro-expansion of wood. It is found that the swelling/shrinkage strains are highly anisotropic in the transverse plane of the cell wall, larger in the normal than in the direction parallel to the cell wall''s thickness. This ultrastructural anisotropy may be due to the concentric lamellation of the cellulose microfibrils as the role of the cellulose microfibril angle in the transverse swelling anisotropy is negligible. The volumetric swelling of the cell wall material is found to be substantially larger than the one of wood tissues within the growth ring and wood samples made of several growth rings. The hierarchical configuration in wood optimally increases its dimensional stability in response to a humid environment with higher scales of complexity.