Identification of the adverse effect of nitrate on the phosphate release rate and improvement of EBPR process models.

The adverse effect of nitrate on the phosphate release rate in the anaerobic phase was observed and was hardly explainable with conventional EBPR process models. Four possible mechanisms were proposed including substrate competition, reduced fermentation, parallel reaction and sequential reaction. Batch experiments were designed and conducted to identify the dominant mechanism. Results showed that the sequential reaction was the only possible mechanism where only denitrification occurred if any nitrate existed in the anaerobic phase. Then the phosphate release following after the nitrate was completely removed. Nitrate inhibition effect was added into the PHA storage rate to incorporate the sequential reaction in the conventional ASM3 plus EAWAG bio-P module (ASM3 + P). Nitrate inhibition coefficient, K(I,NO,PAO) was found to be as low as 0.05 mg/L. This correlated well with experimental observation where no also meant that the anaerobic compartment of a continuous flow reactor could be seriously affected by the residual nitrate contained in the sludge recycle flow. This phenomenon caused overestimation of the phosphate uptake rate and consequently underestimation of PO4(3-) -P concentration. This problem was resolved by incorporation of a nitrate inhibition term in the ASM3 + P for more accurate simulation of the EBPR process.     

Inhibition of microbial growth in ready‐to‐eat food stored at ambient temperature by modified atmosphere packaging

This study was undertaken to develop a modified atmosphere package to control microbial growth in ready‐to‐eat (RTE) products stored at ambient temperature. Ethanol and/or limonene associated with modified atmosphere (CO₂ : O₂ : N₂ = 30% : 5% : 65%) was used to inhibit the growth of total air‐borne microorganisms and Escherichia coli in RTE products stored at 25°C. The results indicated that 0.05% ethanol vapour in the headspace was effective to inhibit the growth of air‐borne microorganisms and E. coli at 25°C for 72 h in a model study, and the effectiveness was related to ethanol content. Both 73 ppm limonene and 0.05% ethanol vapour enhanced the bacteriostatic effect of modified atmosphere in RTE sushi roll products, and no off‐flavour was detected using this formulated gas; however, no significant inhibitory effect was observed for RTE cold noodle products. This study concludes that combinations of carbon dioxide, ethanol or limonene vapours are effective to inhibit microbial growth in RTE food at ambient temperature, and the outcome may be due to the hurdle effect. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Least Squares Approach to Escalator Algorithms for Adaptive Filtering

In this paper, we introduce an escalator (ESC) algorithm based on the least squares (LS) criterion. The proposed algorithm is relatively insensitive to the eigenvalue spread ratio (ESR) of an input signal and has a faster convergence speed than the conventional ESC algorithms. This algorithm exploits the fast adaptation ability of least squares methods and the orthogonalization property of the ESC structure. From the simulation results, the proposed algorithm shows superior convergence performance.     

Effects of surface charge, micro-bubble size and particle size on removal efficiency of electro-flotation.

Flotation is a water treatment alternative to sedimentation, and uses small bubbles to remove low-density particles from potable water and wastewater. The effect of zeta potential, bubble size and particle size on removal efficiency of the electro-flotation process was investigated because previous model-simulations indicated that these attributes are critical for high collision efficiency between micro-bubbles and particles. Solutions containing Al3+ as the metal ion were subjected to various conditions. The zeta potentials of bubbles and particles were similar under identical conditions, and their charges were influenced by metal ion concentration and pH. Maximum removal efficiency was 98 and 12% in the presence and absence of flocculation, respectively. Removal efficiency was higher when particle size was similar to bubble size. These results agree with modelling simulations and indicate that collision efficiency is greater when the zeta potential of one is negative and that of the other is positive and when their sizes are similar.     

乌江索风营水电站地下厂房岩锚梁镜面混凝土施工技术

镜面混凝土是水电工程建设中新兴的一门施工技术,在乌江索风营水电站地下厂房岩锚梁混凝土施工中采用了镜面混凝土,这在技术上是一次大胆的尝试和创新,既满足了功能上的要求,同时也达到了美观和装饰地下厂房的效果,为今后水电工程施工中广泛采用镜面混凝土技术提供了样本和宝贵经验。     

Synthesis of amphiphilic magnetic microspheres by dispersion copolymerization of styrene and poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomer

Amphiphilic magnetic microspheres ranging in diameter from 5 to 100 µm were prepared by dispersion copolymerization of styrene and poly(ethylene oxide) vinylbenzyl (PEO‐VB) macromonomer (MPEO) in the presence of Fe₃O₄ magnetic fluid. The effects of various polymerization parameters on the average particle size were systematically investigated. The average particle size was found to increase with increasing styrene concentration and initiator concentration. It also increased with decreasing stabilizer concentration and molecular weight of MPEO. The content of the hydroxyl groups localized in the microspheres ranged from 0.01 to 0.2 mmol g^?1. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

关于天然气水合物钻采工艺技术进展的研究

目前全球正面临着前所未有的能源危机，天然气水合物由于储量大、能量密度高而将成为一种诱人的新型能源。天然气水合物主要存在于冻土带和海洋，在地下处于低温和高压状态，以现有的技术，钻井和开采都存在很大的困难。简要介绍了天然气水合物的性质及储量，阐述了天然气水合物钻井的六个挑战及目前国外天然气水合物的两种钻探方法；同时阐述了以热力法、降压法和化学试剂注入法为主的天然气水合物开采方法，并针对天然气水合物钻采技术现状指出了下一步的研究方向。     

Degree-of-polarization and eye-closure penalty associated with optical signals with orthogonal polarizations

We perform a systematic measurement of the degree-of-polarization (DOP) and eye-closure penalty for optical signals with orthogonal polarizations. We find that the symmetry of DOP is maintained for the orthogonal polarizations under both first and higher order polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), whereas the symmetry of eye-closure penalty is broken under second-order PMD. An orthogonal polarization pair can have large disparity of eye-closure penalty despite an identical DOP. We also demonstrate a novel approach to estimate the maximum eye-closure penalty asymmetry with three orthogonal polarizations on the Poincare/spl acute/ sphere.     

Knowledge-based control and case-based diagnosis based upon empirical knowledge and fuzzy logic for the SBR plant.

Because biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) involve a long time-delay and various disturbances, in general, skilled operators manually control the plant based on empirical knowledge. And operators usually diagnose the plant using similar cases experienced in the past. For the effective management of the plant, system automation has to be accomplished based upon operating recipes. This paper introduces automatic control and diagnosis based upon the operator's knowledge. Fuzzy logic was employed to design this knowledge-based controller because fuzzy logic can convert the linguistic information to rules. The controller can manage the influent and external carbon in considering the loading rate. The input of the controller is not the loading rate but the dissolved oxygen (DO) lag-time, which has a strong relation to the loading rate. This approach can replace an expensive sensor, which measures the loading rate and ammonia concentration in the reactor, with a cheaper DO sensor. The proposed controller can assure optimal operation and prevent the over-feeding problem. Case-based diagnosis was achieved by the analysis of profile patterns collected from the past. A new test profile was diagnosed by comparing it with template patterns containing normal and abnormal cases. The proposed control and diagnostic system will guarantee the effective and stable operation of WWTPs.     

Effect of modified atmosphere packaging on the shelf-life of coated, whole and sliced mushrooms

Whole and sliced fresh mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) were packaged with PVC wrap or two polyolefins (PD-941 and PD-961) films after coating with CaCl₂ and chitosan. Package gas composition, color, weight loss and maturity were measured during storage at 12 °C and 80%RH. For PD-961, the highest in-package concentration occurred during the first day of storage regardless of treatments, while wrap and PD-941 showed varying degrees in-package concentration with different processes and coatings. The whiteness of whole mushrooms varied significantly with the type of coating, but not with the type of films. The extent of darkening was greater in coated whole mushrooms than in sliced ones. Weight loss occurred in all packages and varied from 3 (g/100 g) to about 7 (g/100 g) after 6 days of storage. Due to a lower permeability, PD-961 packages had the lowest weight loss. The type of packaging films significantly affected the maturity index, where PD-961 most effectively lowered maturity index for both whole and sliced mushrooms, thus extending the shelf-life. The type of coating did not appear to affect maturity index except for the wrap package where chitosan coating markedly lowered the maturity index of sliced mushrooms.