Decolourisation of leather dye by ozonation

Sewage and industrial effluent treatment plants are installed with primary and secondary biological treatment units to reduce the discharge of pollution load into the environment. These treatment plants normally reduce the organic load in terms of BOD but not the pollution load in terms of inorganic salts (total dissolved solids—TDS) and colour in the effluent. To eliminate the contamination of ground and surface water bodies and to conserve water sources, the regulatory authorities have taken very stringent regulations to implement zero liquid discharge (ZLD) for industrial effluents, i.e., water recovery from wastewater and reuse. It is difficult to recover water from secondary treated wastewater directly, as it does not meet the reverse osmosis feed requirements. In order to achieve the feed requirements, different tertiary treatment methods are being tried. In this study, removal of colour due to residual dyes has been attempted using ozone. The main purpose of this study is to decolourise the dye used in leather processing. Also, the effect of pH and dye concentration on dye decolourisation has been investigated. From the study it has been observed that maximum decolourisation efficiency up to 97% could be achieved for the pH values (4,7, 9 and 11) and dye concentrations (30, 65, 180 and 360 mg/L) studied.     

VSWR reduction for large millimeter-wave cassegrain radiotelescopes

Multiple reflections in large radiotelescopes used for astronomical spectroscopy cause characteristic modulations of the observed spectrum (“baseline ripple”). For a given mechanism, the magnitude of the effect depends primarily on the reflection coefficient, which for the most important paths is proportional to λ. Although ripple is thus generally negligible at mm-wavelengths, there are some instances where it may still be significant, and a recent experiment at the15 m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope was severely affected. We describe a technique which has proved effective in reducing the ripple to an acceptable level. The purpose of this research note is to draw this technique to the attention of the astronomical community. We calculate the reflection coefficient for a typical instrument and show that it can be greatly reduced over a very broad bandwidth by means of a tapered absorber in the centre of the secondary mirror. The graphical analysis of the tapered absorber also demonstrates that the scattering cones and circular absorbers widely used in radioastronomy donot in fact reduce the reflection coefficient significantly.     

Reflection and cross-polarization properties of grooved dielectric panels

The cross-polarization and reflection properties of grooved dielectric windows are calculated. Measurements on two windows in the range 8-12 GHz are found to be in good agreement with the theory. It is shown that cross-polarization is substantially reduced if the grooves on the front and back faces of the window are orthogonal to each other.     

Adoption of Rainwater Harvesting: a Dual-factor Approach by Integrating Theory of Planned Behaviour and Norm Activation Model

The objective of the study is to identify the factors that lead to the adoption of rainwater harvesting in enabling sustainable ground water. The Theory of Planned Behavior and Norm Activation Model has been adopted. The sample consists of 400 participants who were either constructing and likely to construct houses have been considered for the study. Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyze the data. The study results exhibited the adoption of rainwater harvesting, and the moderation effect of intention to acquire rainwater harvesting knowledge on the relationship between environmental concern; environmental responsibility and rainwater harvesting. Based on the results, significant theoretical and practical implications have been made.

     

Visuospatial deficits predict rate of cognitive decline in autopsy-verified dementia with Lewy bodies.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is often characterized by pronounced impairment in visuospatial skills, attention, and executive functions. However, the strength of the phenotypic expression of DLB varies and may be weaker in patients with extensive concomitant Alzheimer's disease (AD). To determine whether strength of the DLB clinical phenotype impacts cognitive decline, visuospatial and language tests were retrospectively used to predict 2-year rate of global cognitive decline in 22 autopsy-confirmed DLB patients (21 with concomitant AD) and 44 autopsy-confirmed "pure" AD patients. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) revealed a significant interaction such that poor baseline performances on tests of visuospatial skills were strongly associated with a rapid rate of cognitive decline in DLB but not AD (p     

Effects of dietary n−3/n−6 ratio on lipid metabolism of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various dietary n?3/n?6 ratio on growth and lipid metabolism in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) juveniles. The fish were fed ad libitum on three isoproteic (52%), isolipidic (14%), and isoenergetic diets (21 MJ/kg), formulated to contain three different n?3/n?6 ratios: a high (3.8), medium (2.5), or low (0.9) ratio. Fish grew from 9.5 ± 0.1 g to 54.2 ± 0.7 g in 12 weeks. Growth rate (2.2% BW/day), voluntary feed intake (2.4 ± 0.1% BM/day), feed conversion ratio (1.38 ± 0.05), and net protein utilization (27.5 ± 1.0%) did not vary among treatments. In contrast, body lipid content and lipid deposition efficiency were significantly reduced in fish fed low n?3/n?6 ratio. Fish fed the highest n?3/n?6 ratio showed the lowest hepatic glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity (p = 0.02). The n?3/n?6 ratio decreased, while DHA/eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) ratio increased significantly with decreasing dietary n?3/n?6 content. Among n?3 PUFA, the DHA and, particularly, the docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) showed the highest deposition rate both in muscle and liver. The lower deposition rate (<1) of linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LNA) suggests that a reduction in dietary n?3/n?6 ratio may stimulate their transport to the intermediary metabolism for energy production.     

An experimental submillimetre heterodyne array receiver

We describe an experimental array receiver intended for radioastronomical observations of the J=3→2 line of carbon monoxide. It consists of six indium antimonide mixers cooled to ～2K in a pumped helium cryostat, with rectangular feed horns arranged on a 3×2 grid at the f/9 focus of the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). Each detector is mounted in a length of fundamental mode waveguide and has an independently tunable backshort. Local oscillator power is provided by a frequency tripler pumped by a klystron, and is coupled to the array via a “lossless” quasi-optical coupler which is described in detail. The beam patterns and performance of the coupler have been measured and are in good agreement with theory.     

A dual-polarization InSb receiver for 461/492 GHz

A dual-polarization InSb hot-electron bolometer-mixer receiver has been built for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, for operation at 461 and 492 GHz (the frequencies of theJ=4→3 rotational transition of CO and of the³ P ₁→³ P ₀ transition of neutral carbon). Receiver noise temperatures of 500K have been obtained at 461 GHz, in observing bandwidths of 3 MHz. The receiver was designed as a “common-user” or facility instrument. Here we describe those aspects of the design and construction which enabled this goal to be realized.