Impact of the addition of an enzyme pool on an activated sludge system treating dairy wastewater under fat shock loads

BACKGROUND: The application of lipase‐rich enzyme pools (such as the crude solid enzymatic preparation (SEP) obtained from Penicillium restrictum solid‐state fermentation of agro‐industrial wastes) to activated sludge systems may be an effective strategy for preventing various operational problems. The continuous addition of SEP to the treatment system can become cost‐prohibitive when in situ production and/or storage are factored in. The application of SEP to high‐fat wastewater treatment would only be justified as an emergency measure, such as a sudden increase in the fat content of the bioreactor influent. Therefore, the primary objective of this work was to investigate the efficiency of a crude SEP during fat shock loads, simulated through the periodic addition of dairy industry waste containing high fat concentrations to the feed stock of an activated sludge system, operated in continuous mode. RESULTS: The test bioreactor exhibited a higher average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency than the control bioreactor (83% for control and 90% for test) and the fat accumulation in the biological flocs of the test bioreactor was 3.2 times lower than that in the control bioreactor. Turbidity was also lower in the effluent of the test bioreactor (123 and 66 FTU in control and test, respectively) and it had a shorter recovery time between shock loads, especially when the interval between loads was shorter than one month (biweekly and weekly shock loads). CONCLUSION: The addition of SEP during fat overloads in the reactor feed maintained efficient COD removal in the test bioreactor for 270 days without any operational problems. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effective factors on synthesis of the hematite–silica red inclusion pigment

The work focuses on the synthesis of a red ceramic pigment by inclusion of hematite in a fumed silica matrix with different specific surface areas. Iron(II) sulfate was used as hematite precursor. Mixtures of iron(II) sulfate and fumed silica with different mole ratios were heated at different temperatures from 1000 to 1300 °C for 4 h.     

Identification of the temperature field and stresses in a thermosensitive cylinder according to the surface strains

We identify the time dependence of temperature of a surface of a long hollow thermosensitive cylinder and its thermal and thermal stressed states according to the known temperature and strains on the other surface. The posed problem is reduced to the inverse problem of thermoelasticity. By using the solution of the direct problem of thermoelasticity, we perform the numerical verification of the proposed procedure of solution of the inverse problem. __________ Translated from Fizyko-Khimichna Mekhanika Materialiv, Vol. 43, No. 6, pp. 55–61, November–December, 2007.     

Pre-Attentive and Attentive Detection of Humans in Wide-Field Scenes

We address the problem of localizing and obtaining high-resolution footage of the people present in a scene. We propose a biologically-inspired solution combining pre-attentive, low-resolution sensing for detection with shiftable, high-resolution, attentive sensing for confirmation and further analysis. The detection problem is made difficult by the unconstrained nature of realistic environments and human behaviour, and the low resolution of pre-attentive sensing. Analysis of human peripheral vision suggests a solution based on integration of relatively simple but complementary cues. We develop a Bayesian approach involving layered probabilistic modeling and spatial integration using a flexible norm that maximizes the statistical power of both dense and sparse cues. We compare the statistical power of several cues and demonstrate the advantage of cue integration. We evaluate the Bayesian cue integration method for human detection on a labelled surveillance database and find that it outperforms several competing methods based on conjunctive combinations of classifiers (e.g., Adaboost). We have developed a real-time version of our pre-attentive human activity sensor that generates saccadic targets for an attentive foveated vision system. Output from high-resolution attentive detection algorithms and gaze state parameters are fed back as statistical priors and combined with pre-attentive cues to determine saccadic behaviour. The result is a closed-loop system that fixates faces over a 130 deg field of view, allowing high-resolution capture of facial video over a large dynamic scene.     

Sensitometric characteristics of an all‐solid‐state photoelectrochromic pixel for an electrochromic light‐addressable display

Abstract— An all solid‐state photoelectrochromic element (PECE) was developed on the basis of electrochromic layers of WO₃ and polyaniline with a layer of polymer electrolyte placed on a base of polyamidosulfoacid, in which a thin‐film CdS_xSe_1?x photoresistor was used as an electronic key. The dependence of the sensitometric characteristics of the PECE on the applied voltage was studied.     

镍氢电池负极用低成本储氢合金的研究

研究了ABS型储氢合金在低Co含量条件下，随B组元替代元素Co，Al，Si等含量的变化对合金电化学性能的影响规律，同时研究了A组元中不同La／Ce比对合金电化学性能的影响情况。结果表明，随合金中Co含量的降低，合金的活化性能和放电容量得以改善，但合金的循环寿命下降也比较明显；在试验范围内，随Al元素的加入，合金的循环寿命得以改善，但材料的放电容量和活化性能均有所下降；随合金La／Ce比的降低，合金的放电容量略有下降，但其循环寿命和放电电压平台有较大提高。     

钢包钢水保温覆盖剂的开发

研制了钢包钢水新型保温覆盖剂，主要成分为（%）；15-25C，20-35SiO2,10-20Al2O3,2-5Fe2O3,15-25CaO,2-5MgO，新覆盖剂铺展性与保温性能良好。经转炉钢水160t钢包生产使用，统计数据表明，镇静15min后钢水降温速度由原碳化稻壳覆盖剂1.33℃/min降低到0.93℃/min。     

Aging response of the young’s modulus and mechanical properties of Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr for biomedical applications

Alloys for implant devices require improved strength but a reduced Young’s modulus, in order to become mechanically more compatible with adjacent bone tissues. In this study, a new metastable β-type titanium alloy, Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr (wt pct), was subjected to aging treatment to produce different microstructures, and the resulting mechanical properties, including the Young’s modulus, were measured. The Young’s modulus of this alloy is found to be sensitive to microstructures generated by various heat treatments. For microstructures varying from (α + β) to (α + β + ω) and (β + ω), the Young’s modulus increases with an accompanying increase in tensile strength and hardness, but decreases in ductility. The (β + ω) microstructure has a low strength, high modulus, and poor ductility and cannot be used for biomedical applications. For an (α + β) microstructure, the volume fraction of the phases is shown to be the main factor that determines the mechanical properties.     

Oxides Catalysts of Rare Earth and Transient Metal for Catalytic Oxidation of Benzene

The catalysts of CeO2 and the mixture of CeO2 and CuO were prepared, and the activities of these catalysts for completely oxidizing benzene were studied.The results show that the optimal proportion of CeO2/CuO is 6: 4.The highest temperature at which benzene was completely oxidized on these catalysts at different airspeed was measured.Compared these catalysts with the noble metal used, our catalysts had superiority in the resources and the industrial cost besides good activities.