An integrated system to remote monitor and control anaerobic wastewater treatment plants through the internet.

The TELEMAC project brings new methodologies from the Information and Science Technologies field to the world of water treatment. TELEMAC offers an advanced remote management system which adapts to most of the anaerobic wastewater treatment plants that do not benefit from a local expert in wastewater treatment. The TELEMAC system takes advantage of new sensors to better monitor the process dynamics and to run automatic controllers that stabilise the treatment plant, meet the depollution requirements and provide a biogas quality suitable for cogeneration. If the automatic system detects a failure which cannot be solved automatically or locally by a technician, then an expert from the TELEMAC Control Centre is contacted via the internet and manages the problem.     

Computing solenoidal fields in micromagnetic simulations

In finite-difference micromagnetic simulations, the electric field originated from time variations of magnetic induction is evaluated by means of a discrete version of Faraday's law. The electric field can be then calculated as the convolution of a tensor and the time derivative of the magnetic induction. This paper presents an analytical expression for the tensor. The paper also reports on a quantitative test of the tensor that simulates the electric field of an oscillating magnetic point dipole.     

Evidence for a synergistic interaction between isoprenaline and timolol on intraocular pressure in conscious rabbits

1. Interaction between topical isoprenaline and timolol on intraocular pressure was studied in conscious rabbits through changes of the dose-response curves. 2. Both drugs caused a dose-dependent fall of intraocular pressure mainly by reducing the aqueous humour formation. 3. When combined, timolol increased the response to submaximal concentrations of isoprenaline as well as EC50 (from 2.06 x 10(-3) M to 3.63 x 10(-3) M) and slope (from 1.21 to 1.89), but peak response to isoprenaline remained unchanged. 4. Discordance between experimental and theoretical additive curves as well as an interaction index smaller than 1 show that the interaction between both drugs is synergistic.     

DynMo-TE: Dynamic simulation model of space reactor power system with thermoelectric converters

A space reactor power system (SRPS) has been developed for avoidance of single point failures in reactor cooling and energy conversion. The sectored compact reactor (SCoRe) in this system is lithium-cooled and the reactor core is divided into six equal sectors with liquid metal heat pipes dividers. These reactor sectors are neutronically, but not thermal-hydraulically, coupled. Each sector has its own primary and secondary circulating lithium loops, which are thermally coupled both in a SiGe thermoelectric (TE) power conversion assembly (PCA) and a thermoelectric conversion assembly (TAC) that powers the electromagnetic pumps in the primary and secondary loops. Each secondary loop also has a separate, segmented radiator panel that is optimized for low specific mass and low liquid lithium inventory. The primary loops transport the thermal power generated in the reactor to six PCAs that nominally supply a total of 111.5 kW_e to the load at 450 V DC. Each of the 12 primary and secondary loops has its own bellows-type accumulator that is designed to regulate the lithium pressures in the loops. A dynamic simulation model of this thermoelectric SRPS (DynMo-TE) has been developed and used to investigate the transient operation of the system during a startup from a fully-thawed condition at 600 K, to nominal steady-state operation at which the lithium coolant exits the reactor at only 1179 K. Also investigated is the load-following characteristic of the SCoRe-TE SRPS, following a change in the electrical load demand.     

Kinetics of catalyzed and non-catalyzed oxidation of soot from a diesel engine

To comply with the new regulations on particulate matter, car manufacturers more and more commonly use diesel particulate filters (DPF). The working of these systems needs to periodically burn soot that has been accumulated during the loading of the DPF. This paper describes the kinetics of the non-catalytic and catalytic oxidation of real diesel soot with oxygen. From these experiments, mechanisms for catalyzed and non-catalyzed soot oxidation have been proposed.     

Floor free 10-Gb/s transmission with directly modulated GaInNAs-GaAs 1.35-/spl mu/m laser for metropolitan applications

Among the new semiconductor materials for telecom devices, the GaInNAs-GaAs structure presents interesting properties for low-cost applications, like high differential gain and high T/sub 0/. Another key aspect of the performance is the behavior of the GaInNAs-GaAs based lasers under high bit rate direct modulation. Here, we demonstrate the dynamic capabilities of GaInNAs-GaAs three-quantum-well ridge structure through 2.5-Gb/s directly modulated laser emission and transmission on standard fiber, in the temperature range 25/spl deg/C-85/spl deg/C. Besides transmission is demonstrated up to 10 Gb/s at 25/spl deg/C on the same fiber, without penalty and bit-error-rate floor.     

Synthesis of oleyl oleate as a jojoba oil analog

Synthesis of a wax ester analog of jojoba oil was accomplished from oleic acid and oleyl alcohol with a zeolite as catalyst. A full 2³ factorial design at two levels has been used in the synthesis. The variables selected were temperature, reduced pressure and initial catalyst concentration. The most important variable within the range studied was temperature. Reduced pressure had a negative influence, and initial catalyst concentration showed a positive influence on the process. A response equation has been determined for the yield of ester. The properties of the synthesized product are similar to those of natural jojoba oil.     

Effects of sympathetic stimulation on microcirculatory dynamics in patients with essential acrocyanosis. A study using mental stress

Cytokines are central to the development of effective immunity against microbial pathogens and their beneficial effects in the control of a variety of infections of man and animals are well-documented. However, it appears that cytokines may also have detrimental effects in infections by actually enhancing microbial growth. These observations emphasise the fact that many successful pathogens possess mechanisms enabling them to evade the immune response and that caution needs to be exercised in using cytokines as therapeutic agents to control infections in various human diseases.     

Services and applications: requirements and realizations in theUMTS era

The ACTS program is moving the results of the R&D of the parent RACE program nearer to realization through technology and user trials. Particularly in the mobile domain of ACTS, several projects have been investigating the user dimension in the context of the third-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service. Results so far suggest many opportunities to broaden participation, exploit the inherent benefits of the mobile environment, and take advantage of the enormous improvements in wireless communications to realize the potential of global multimedia mobility. This article considers the needs of users for mobile multimedia applications and the consequences of those needs on the equipment, supporting services and teleservices, and communications bearers