Elimination of organic matter present in wastewaters from the cork industry by membrane filtration

BACKGROUND: The first stage of the cork industrial process generates great volumes of wastewater with moderate to high organic pollutant content that must be purified using different procedures, such as filtration by membranes. RESULTS: The tangential filtration of these wastewaters was studied using two different laboratory equipments. In the first one, three ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were tested, with molecular weight cut‐off (MWCO) 100 kDa and 30 kDa, and two operating modes were used: total recycling of permeate and retentate streams, and in continuous mode, without recycling both streams. In the total recycling UF experiments, the influence of the operating variables on the permeate flux was first established. The effectiveness of the different membranes was determined by evaluating the rejection coefficients for several parameters that measure the global pollutant content of the effluent. The values found for these rejection coefficients were in the following order: ellagic acid and color > absorbance at 254 nm > tannic content > COD (chemical oxygen demand). In the continuous mode experiments, the fouling mechanism for each membrane was established by fitting the experimental data to various filtration fouling models given in the literature. The operating mode in the second equipment was batch concentration, and additional experiments were carried out with an UF membrane (2 kDa), and with a NF membrane (with MWCO in the range 150–300 Da). CONCLUSIONS: The three operating modes tested provided different rejection levels of organic matter; among them, the most effective procedure tested was batch concentration mode using a NF membrane. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Immunoelectron localization of mitochondrial F1 factor in cryosections of heart muscle cells

Immunocytochemistry was used to investigate the localization of F1 ATPase in mitochondria of cryosections of adult mouse heart muscle cells. The initial aldehyde fixation was the only denaturation step for antigens. The fine structure was preserved with contrast enhancement as the sections were maintained hydrated, with the advantage that the entire procedure is completed in one working day. The reaction was highly specific, and entire mitochondria were labeled with the Protein A-gold complex. A new analytical technique, electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI), contributed to a better visualization of the localization of the F1 factor.     

Purification of Ellagic Acid by UF Membranes

Ellagic acid (2, 3, 7, 8‐tetrahydroxy(1)benzopyrano(5, 4, 3‐cde)(1)benzopyran‐5, 10‐dione) was selected as a model pollutant which is present in the tannic fraction of cork processing wastewater. The ultrafiltration of aqueous ellagic acid solutions through three membranes was studied in tangential UF laboratory equipment. Two of the membranes were polyethersulfone (Biomax10K and Biomax5K, with MWCO of 10000 and 5000 Da, respectively), and the third made of regenerated cellulose (Ultracel5K, with MWCO of 5000 Da). The water hydraulic permeability was evaluated for each membrane. The evolution of the permeate flow rate with processing time was followed, and the influence of the main operating variables (feed flow rate, trans‐membrane pressure and nature of the membranes) on the permeate flux was also established. According to the hypothesis of the film theory, the intrinsic and apparent rejection coefficients, as well as the mass transfer coefficients, were also determined, and the values obtained were discussed as a function of the operating conditions used.     

Development of early expressive and communicative action: Reinterpreting the evidence from a dynamic systems perspective.

A systems approach is introduced and applied to the development of expressive and communicative action of infants in the first year of life. In this approach, expressive and communicative actions are organized, as part of cooperative systems with other elements of the infants' physiology, cognition, behavior, and social environment. A systems approach presumes that order arises dynamically as a result of the interaction between the cooperating elements that are changing asynchronously, rather than as the result of centrally coordinated developmental change that is synchronous across domains. The systems approach further assumes that the control parameter responsible for eliciting developmental change may be different depending on age, context, and task. It offers a means to understand previously unexplained developmental phenomena: the appearance of mature forms of expression before mature functon has been achieved, the asynchronous rates of development of communicative-action components, discontinuous developmental shifts arising from continuous processes, and the process by which adults influence communicative development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct validity of WAIS—R factors: Neuropsychological test correlates in adults referred for evaluation of possible head injury.

A 3-factor solution of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R; Wechsler, 1981) in 260 adults with suspected head injury suggested relatively good construct validity for the factors, based on correlations with neuropsychological tests purported to measure similar abilities. The Verbal Comprehension factor was related to verbal ability, verbal memory, and executive functioning. The Perceptual Organization factor, although measuring primarily visual–spatial perception and visual constructional ability, was related to visual–spatial memory, visual attention, and executive functioning. The Freedom From Distractibility factor was correlated with two attention measures and was not associated with memory measures. Its association with executive functioning was inconsistent. The findings are discussed in terms of the multidimensional nature of neuropsychological tests and WAIS—R factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlation between synthesis conditions, coherently diffracting domain size and cubic phase stabilization in barium titanate

The Constant Rate Thermal Analysis method has been used under different experimental conditions to obtain barium titanate powder of very small grain size. Both a crystallographic and a dielectric study ham been carried out on samples sintered at different temperatures. It is deduced that the formation of small coherently diffracting domains is improved by the generation of oxygen vacancies and the cubic phase stabilization depends on the coherently diffracting domain size rather than on the particle size.     

Multi-plant production scheduling in SMEs

Traditionally, companies used to view themselves as separate entities and did not devote efforts to collaborate with other echelons of the extended enterprise. This even happened at multi-site companies owning different plants that belonged to the same supply chain. However, manufacturing facilities of the same supply chain should intensively share information and coordinate planning and scheduling tasks in order to get a globally optimized solution. This paper discusses some specific characteristics of the planning and scheduling problem in the extended enterprise including an analysis of a case study, and reviews the available state-of-the-art research studies in this field. Most studies suggest that integrated approaches can have a significant impact on the system performance, in terms of lower production costs, and less inventory levels. The paper provides some conclusions and suggestions of future works.     

Volatile constituents of palm wine and palm sap

Palm wine and pasteurised palm sap volatiles were collected, concentrated on a Tenax GC and analysed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Eighty-two components were identified: 47 esters, 9 alcohols, 5 acids, 6 carbonyls, 2 acetals, 4 terpenes and 9 hydrocarbons. These had all been found previously in conventional wines. Odour evaluation of the separated palm wine components as they eluted suggested that no one compound is responsible for the characteristic palm wine odour. The acetates of higher alcohols and the ethyl esters of straight-chain aliphatic C₆-C₁₀ acids seemed to be important and may play a big role in imparting the fruity nuances of characteristic palm wine odour. Their association with alcohols seemed also to be necessary for the expression of typical palm wine odour. The qualitative difference between palm sap aroma and palm wine aroma appeared to be due mainly to the presence of these esters and alcohols in palm wine and their apparent absence from palm sap, as well as to the presence of some low-boiling esters and alcohols in palm sap and their apparent absence from palm wine.