Hybrid reactor for priority pollutant nitrobenzene removal

The performance of a hybrid reactor, comprising of trickling filter and activated sludge process, in treating nitrobenzene wastewater was investigated. Acetate induced cells of mixed consortia was acclimatized with gradual increase of nitrobenzene concentration up to 90 mg/l in 100 days using sodium acetate as co-substrate and considering COD and nitrobenzene concentration as paramount parameters for assessing the growth of biofilm and acclimation. A removal of 60-95.80% COD and 80-90.23% nitrobenzene was observed during acclimation. During hydraulic retention time (HRT) studies, the optimum HRT was found to be 29.55 h at which a maximum of 95.83% COD and 97.93% nitrobenzene removal was observed. Other studies included optimization of C:N ratio, substrate:co-substrate ratio, effect of shock loading and estimation of volatilization losses. The optimum C:N ratio was found to be 100:20 at which maximum 97.93% removal of nitrobenzene was observed. At optimum HRT (29.55 h) and optimum C:N ratio (100:20) optimum substrate:co-substrate ratio was found to be 1:33. From the shock load studies it can be concluded that the system can withstand shock load up to two times of usual nitrobenzene concentration. A loss of 9.44% nitrobenzene was observed due to volatilization and mass balance gave an efficiency of 87.49% biological removal of nitrobenzene.     

A new shape preserving parallel thinning algorithm for 3D digital images

This paper is concerned with a new parallel thinning algorithm for three-dimensional digital images that preserves the topology and maintains their shape. We introduce an approach of selecting shape points and outer-layer used for erosion during each iteration. The approach produces good skeleton for different types of corners. The concept of using two image versions in thinning is introduced and its necessity in parallel thinning is justified. The robustness of the algorithm under pseudo-random noise as well as rotation with respect to shape properties is studied and the results are found to be satisfactory.     

Differential expression of flectin in the extracellular matrix and left-right asymmetry in mouse embryonic heart during looping stages

The characteristics of six different indicators of response distortion on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) were evaluated by having college students complete the PAI under positive impression management, malingering, and honest responding conditions. The six indicators were the PAI Positive Impression (PIM) and Negative Impression (NIM) scales, the Malingering and Defensiveness Indexes, and two discriminant functions, one developed by Cashel and the other by Rogers. Protocols of students asked to malinger were compared with those of actual clinical patients, while protocols of students asked to manage their impression in a positive direction were compared with those of students asked to respond honestly. Comparisons between groups were accomplished through the examination of effect sizes and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. All six indicators demonstrated the ability to distinguish between actual and feigned responding. The Rogers function was particularly effective in identifying malingering. The Cashel function was less effective than other measures in identifying positive impression management, although it appears to also have promise as an indicator of malingering.     

Effect of nonuniform laser FM response on the performance ofmultichannel heterodyne FSK systems using optical amplifiers

A theoretical analysis is provided to evaluate the performance of optical frequency division multiplexed systems taking into considerations the combined effect of receiver noise, laser phase noise and nonuniform FM response characteristic of a practical DFB laser. To overcome the effect of nonuniform frequency modulation characteristic of semiconductor lasers, two different linecoding schemes are used for the laser driving signal. The crosstalk penalty due to the combined effect of nonuniform FM response and phase noise of lasers is evaluated. The improvement in receiver sensitivity due to optical preamplifier is also estimated. The computed results show that the performance of the system is highly degraded due to the effect of laser nonuniform fm response and can be reduced substantially by using linecoding. Further, there is considerable improvement in receiver sensitivity due to the use of an optical preamplifier in the absence of phase noise. In the presence of phase noise there is a reduction in receiver sensitivity     

Digital Spectrum Analysis of Respiratory Sound

The applcation of the fast Fourier transform in the digital analysis of various biological signals in the frequency domain is well-known. In this paper a method is described for spectrum analysis of respiratory sound using the technique of fast Fourier transform. Results of the application of the method to respiratory sounds of six normal subjects and six tuberculosis patients are presented. Such studies may well prove to be a promising noninvasive diagnostic tool for lung diseases and increase the clinical importance of lung auscultation.     

Power line communications

This article overviews the power line communication, which is originally devised to transmit electric power from a small number of sources to a large number of sinks. Initially the first data transmission were over power lines were primarily done only to protect sections of the power distribution system in case of faults. This paper also studies the performance of power lines for high bit rate applications. DMT technology is adopted by the homeplug standard can theoretically provide data rates of 100Mb/s. However, products based on the standard only have achieved data rates up to 14 Mb/s. To protect against the severe noisy conditions and fading in the powerline channel, very high levels of error control coding need to be provided. The efforts of the homeplug alliance and home networking technology's growth in the US portend a very bright future for DMT-based PLC home networking.     

An exploration of nitrate concentrations in groundwater aquifers of central-west region of Bangladesh

Groundwater and river water samples were collected from the study area to investigate the spatial distribution of nitrate (NO(3)(-)) in the central-west region of Bangladesh. The shallow and deep groundwater nitrate concentrations ranged from <0.10 to 75.12 and <0.10 to 40.78 mg/L, respectively. Major river water NO(3)(-) concentrations were ranged from 0.98 to 2.32 mg/L with an average of 1.8 mg/L. The average Cl(-)/NO(3)(-) ratio (4.9) of major river water has been considered as reference point to delineate denitrification processes. The alluvial fan, alluvial, deltaic and coastal deposits shallow groundwater having C1(-)/NO(3)(-) values less than that of the average river water value (4.9), suggested denitrification processes within the aquifers. On the other hand, denitrification processes are insignificant in the Pleistocene terraces area aquifers related to relatively higher concentrations of nitrate. Iron pyrite has been found as insignificant effect on denitrification.     

A probability-based spectroscopic diagnostic algorithm for simultaneous discrimination of brain tumor and tumor margins from normal brain tissue

This paper reports the development of a probability-based spectroscopic diagnostic algorithm capable of simultaneously discriminating tumor core and tumor margins from normal human brain tissues. The algorithm uses a nonlinear method for feature extraction based on maximum representation and discrimination feature (MRDF) and a Bayesian method for classification based on sparse multinomial logistic regression (SMLR). Both the autofluorescence and the diffuse-reflectance spectra acquired in vivo from patients undergoing craniotomy or temporal lobectomy at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center were used to train and validate the algorithm. The classification accuracy was observed to be approximately 96%, 80%, and 97% for the tumor, tumor margin, and normal brain tissues, respectively, for the training data set and approximately 96%, 94%, and 100%, respectively, for the corresponding tissue types in an independent validation data set. The inherently multi-class nature of the algorithm facilitates a rapid and simultaneous classification of tissue spectra into various tissue categories without the need for a hierarchical multi-step binary classification scheme. Further, the probabilistic nature of the algorithm makes it possible to quantitatively assess the certainty of the classification and recheck the samples that are classified with higher relative uncertainty.