Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate detergency behavior in water containing magnesium ions

Detergency performance of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) in water containing magnesium ions has been investigated. LAS showed the same behavior with magnesium as with calcium, on a qualitative basis. However, the detergency performance with magnesium is significantly higher than with calcium.     

Catalytic oxidation with Al-Ce-Fe-PILC as a post-treatment system for coffee wet processing wastewater

The effluent from the anaerobic biological treatment of coffee wet processing wastewater (CWPW) contains a non-biodegradable compound that must be treated before it is discharged into a water source. In this paper, the wet hydrogen peroxide catalytic oxidation (WHPCO) process using Al-Ce-Fe-PILC catalysts was researched as a post-treatment system for CWPW and tested in a semi-batch reactor at atmospheric pressure and 25 °C. The Al-Ce-Fe-PILC achieved a high conversion rate of total phenolic compounds (70%) and mineralization to CO(2) (50%) after 5 h reaction time. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) of coffee processing wastewater after wet hydrogen peroxide catalytic oxidation was reduced in 66%. The combination of the two treatment methods, biological (developed by Cenicafé) and catalytic oxidation with Al-Ce-Fe-PILC, achieved a 97% reduction of COD in CWPW. Therefore, the WHPCO using Al-Ce-Fe-PILC catalysts is a viable alternative for the post-treatment of coffee processing wastewater.     

The contribution of a bacterially isolated environment to the prevention of infection in seriously burned patients

A new system of patient protection from bacterial crossinfection called the Bacteria Controlled Nursing Unit (BCNU) is described, based on strict environmental control of a 6 x 10 foot area surrounding the patient's bed rather than the entire patient room or isolation ward, plus the ability to deliver all medical care without entering the protective environment and maintaining all monitoring, life support, and i.v. equipment outside the controlled environment. The clinical effectiveness of this system in the treatment of burn patients has been studied and compared with the effectiveness of single room isolation on a burn isolation ward and conventional isolation techniques on an open burn ward. The studies show that the BCNU is significantly more effective in preventing bacterial cross-contamination than conventional precautions (3.8% vs. 13.1%, P < 0.001; and 8% vs. 22.8%, P < 0.001) over a two and four week period. The studies also indicate that there was a significant increase in the probability of infection occurring following cross-contamination than occurring after auto-contamination (65% vs. 39%, P < 0.005), emphasizing the importance of preventing cross-contamination in reducing the overall infection rate in seriously burned patients. Clinical evaluation of the unit proved it to be compatible with intensive nursing and medical care without increasing the nurse to patient ratio. The unit provided sufficient control of bacterial cross-infection to allow reduction in mortality and improvement in the effectiveness of burn care through routine prompt excision of burn eschar and immediate wound closure to be carried out in severe and massively burned patients without a limiting threat of bacterial burn wound sepsis.     

Comparative Study of Monoclonal and Recombinant Antibody-Based Immunoassays for Fungicide Analysis in Fruit Juices

A comparative study of the analytical performance of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), based on monoclonal and recombinant antibodies, for the determination of fungicide residues in fruit juices has been carried out. To this aim, three murine hybridoma cell lines secreting specific monoclonal antibodies against (RS)-2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-3-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propyl-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl ether (tetraconazole), 2-(4-triazolyl)benzimidazole (thiabendazole), and (RS)-1-(β-allyloxy-2,4-dichlorophenylethyl)imidazole (imazalil) were used as a source of immunoglobulin gene fragments for the production of single-chain variable fragment (scFv) and fusion scFv-pIII recombinant antibodies in Escherichia coli. Selected recombinant antibodies displayed cross-reactivity profiles very similar to those of the parent monoclonal antibodies. Imazalil and tetraconazole recombinant antibodies showed one order of magnitude lower affinity than their respective monoclonal antibodies, whereas the thiabendazole recombinant antibodies showed an affinity similar to that of their parent monoclonal antibody. On the other hand, scFv-pIII fusion fragments showed similar analytical properties as, and occasionally better than, scFv recombinant antibodies. Finally, ELISAs developed from each antibody type showed similar analytical performance when applied to the analysis of the target fungicides in fruit juices.     

Removing gluconic acid by using different treatments with a Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutant: Effect on fermentation byproducts

Three different treatments involving inoculation with Schizosaccharomyces pombe YGS-5 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae G1 strains were tested with a view to reducing the amount of gluconic acid in synthetic medium. The treatments involved (a) simultaneous inoculation with S. cerevisiae and S. pombe (SpSc); (b) depletion of gluconic acid with S. pombe and subsequent inoculation with S. cerevisiae following removal of S. pombe from the medium (Sp − Sp + Sc); and (c) as (b) but without removing S. pombe from the medium (Sp + Sc). The results thus obtained were compared with those for a control treatment involving fermentation with S. cerevisiae alone (Sc). The amounts of volatile compounds quantified in the fermented media were similar with the treatments where gluconic acid was previously depleted (viz.Sp − Sp + Sc and Sp + Sc). Amino acids were used in large amounts by S. pombe during removal of gluconic acid; this affected subsequent fermentation by S. cerevisiae and the formation of byproducts. Based on the gluconic acid uptake, fermentation kinetics, volatile composition and absence of off-flavours in the fermented media, both treatments (Sp − Sp + Sc and Sp + Sc) can be effectively used in winemaking processes to remove gluconic acid from must prior to fermentation.     

Antioxidant activity, browning and volatile Maillard compounds in Pedro Ximénez sweet wines under accelerated oxidative aging

Pedro Ximénez wine, aged by thermal treatment during 10, 20 and 30 days in the presence or absence of oak chips, was studied in terms of antioxidant activity, browning and volatile Maillard compounds. The phenolic fractions obtained by the SepPack tC-18 column revealed that the antioxidant activity after 10 days of thermal treatment was due to the presence of phenols and polar compounds possibly formed by the Maillard reaction. After 30 days, however, the antioxidant activity was also due to high-molecular weight procyanidins. Volatile Maillard compounds increased throughout the thermal treatment. It should be noted that there was an increase in the 5-ethoxymethylfurfural content and the presence of 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-2-one, which was recently shown to inhibit growth of colon tumor cells. The presence of oak chips had a substantial effect on the contents in volatile Maillard compounds after the thermal treatment with the exception of corylon. The wine obtained after 10 days of thermal treatment was judged to be the best in terms of sensory properties. In fact, it exhibited the optimum balance between varietal and aging aromas due to Maillard compounds.     

Centralized Modular Diagnosis and the Phenomenon of Coupling

This paper studies modular decomposition as an approach for failure diagnosis based on Discrete Event Systems. This paper also analyses the problem of coupling produced in the implementation of centralized modular diagnosers, as coupled diagnosers cannot carry out their own diagnosis task, when there is a failure in another subsystem sharing a common energy or material flow. In addition, we propose a method to avoid diagnoser coupling, by means of decoupling functions using non-local information with respect to the coupled diagnoser and generated in the diagnoser where the failure has been isolated.     

A MAS IMPLEMENTATION FOR SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION AND PROCESS CONTROL

In this paper, a MAS for system identification and process control is presented. In particular, this MAS implements a self‐tuning regulator (STR) scheme. It has adopted FIPA specifications because they have become a stronger standard in MAS development and they involve not only agent language specifications but also agent management and conversations. In this work, an Ontology Agent (OA) is included, using DAML + OIL as ontology language. The obtained results validate this approach in the implementation of well‐known algorithms for control process.     

Encoding amplitude information onto phase-only filters

We report a new, to our knowledge, technique for encoding amplitude information onto a phase-only filter with a single liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. In our approach we spatially modulate the phase that is encoded onto the filter and, consequently, spatially modify the diffraction efficiency of the filter. Light that is not diffracted into the first order is sent into the zero order, effectively allowing for amplitude modulation of either the first-order or the zero-order diffracted light. This technique has several applications in both optical pattern recognition and image processing, including amplitude modulation and inverse filters. Experimental results are included for the new technique.