Effects of flux enhancing polymer on the characteristics of sludge in membrane bioreactor process.

A newly developed membrane performance enhancer (MPE) was used to prevent membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process. It transpired that 1,000 mg/l of MPE reduced polysaccharide levels from 41 mg/I to 21 mg/I on average under the experimental condition. Repeated experiments also confirmed that 50-1,000 mg/l of MPE could reduce membrane fouling significantly and increase the intervals between membrane cleanings. Depending on MPE dosages and experimental conditions, trans-membrane pressure (TMP) increase was suppressed for 20-30 days, while baseline TMP surged within a few days. In addition, MPE allowed MBR operation even at 50,000 mg/l of total solid and reduced permeate COD. However, no evidence of toxicity for sludge was found from respiratory works.     

Ionothermal synthesis of a three-dimensional zinc phosphate with DFT topology using unstable deep-eutectic solvent as template-delivery agent

A three-dimensional zinc phosphate compound with DFT topology, designated as ZnPO₄-EU1, has been synthesized by an ionothermal approach from the system HF-ZnO–P₂O₅-choline chloride-imidazolidone. Ethylenediamine, derived from decomposition of the imidazolidone component of the deep-eutectic solvent (DES) itself, is delivered to the synthesis and serves as an appropriate template for ZnPO₄-EU1. Experiments in which the synthesis conditions were varied showed that ZnPO₄-EU1 may be prepared over a wide molar ratio of P/Zn = 0.55–13.0. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns have been obtained at intervals to track the crystallization process of this material. The experimental data show that Zn₃(PO₄)₂ · 4H₂O (a dense phase) was first isolated from the DES after reaction for 1 h. Subsequently, the pure phase of ZnPO₄-EU1 was obtained with increasing crystallization time from 12 h to 72 h. The experimental results show that the nucleation and crystallization take place with relatively low levels of solvent degradation, demonstrating that zinc phosphate with a three-dimensional framework can be synthesized by in situ generation of an appropriate template using an unstable DES at high temperatures (150–200 °C).     

广东省大型工程建设中天然放射性核素引起的环境问题

本文介绍了广东省境内几个大型基本建设工程项目中天然放射性核素引起的环境问题及有关治理对策，并就今后类似建设项目的辐射环境保护工作提出了建议。     

Intravitreal tolerance of a new perfluorocarbon vitreous replacement, Multifluor APF-144

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the intravitreal tolerance of a new perfluorocarbon vitreous replacement, Multifluor APF-144 (perfluorotetramethylcyclohexane). DESIGN: Ten New Zealand albino rabbits (one eye from each) underwent vitrectomy. The vitreous was replaced in five eyes with Multifluor APF-144 and in five eyes with saline (control group). OUTCOME MEASURES: Appearance on indirect ophthalmoscopy, electroretinography recordings before and 2, 4 and 8 weeks after vitrectomy, findings on electron and light microscopy at 8 weeks. RESULTS: Endophthalmitis did not develop in any of the eyes. There was no significant change in electroretinography values for the experimental eyes after vitrectomy. No evidence of retinal toxicity was found on light or electron microscopic examination. CONCLUSIONS: Multifluor APF-144 shows promise as a short-term postoperative retinal tamponading agent.     

Differential competitive learning for centroid estimation and phoneme recognition.

A comparison is made of a differential-competitive-learning (DCL) system with two supervised competitive-learning (SCL) systems for centroid estimation and for phoneme recognition. DCL provides a form of unsupervised adaptive vector quantization. Standard stochastic competitive-learning systems learn only if neurons win a competition for activation induced by randomly sampled patterns. DCL systems learn only if the competing neurons change their competitive signal. Signal-velocity information provides unsupervised local reinforcement during learning. The sign of the neuronal signal derivative rewards winners and punishes losers. Standard competitive learning ignores instantaneous win-rate information. Synaptic fan-in vectors adaptively quantize the randomly sampled pattern space into nearest-neighbor decision classes. More generally, the synaptic-vector distribution estimates the unknown sampled probability density function p( x). Simulations showed that unsupervised DCL-trained synaptic vectors converged to class centroids at least as fast as, and wandered less about these centroids than, SCL-trained synaptic vectors did. Simulations on a small set of English phonemes favored DCL over SCL for classification accuracy.     

Speed–accuracy tradeoff in Fitts’ law tasks—on the equivalency of actual and nominal pointing precision

Pointing tasks in human–computer interaction obey certain speed–accuracy tradeoff rules. In general, the more accurate the task to be accomplished, the longer it takes and vice versa. Fitts’ law models the speed–accuracy tradeoff effect in pointing as imposed by the task parameters, through Fitts’ index of difficulty (I_d) based on the ratio of the nominal movement distance and the size of the target. Operating with different speed or accuracy biases, performers may utilize more or less area than the target specifies, introducing another subjective layer of speed–accuracy tradeoff relative to the task specification. A conventional approach to overcome the impact of the subjective layer of speed–accuracy tradeoff is to use the a posteriori “effective” pointing precision W_e in lieu of the nominal target width W. Such an approach has lacked a theoretical or empirical foundation. This study investigates the nature and the relationship of the two layers of speed–accuracy tradeoff by systematically controlling both I_d and the index of target utilization I_u in a set of four experiments. Their results show that the impacts of the two layers of speed–accuracy tradeoff are not fundamentally equivalent. The use of W_e could indeed compensate for the difference in target utilization, but not completely. More logical Fitts’ law parameter estimates can be obtained by the W_e adjustment, although its use also lowers the correlation between pointing time and the index of difficulty. The study also shows the complex interaction effect between I_d and I_u, suggesting that a simple and complete model accommodating both layers of speed–accuracy tradeoff may not exist.     

Flame retardant and the degradation mechanism of high impact polystyrene/Fe-montmorillonite nanocomposites

High impact polystyrene/Fe-montmorillonite (HIPS/Fe-MMT) nanocomposites were successfully prepared by melting intercalation. The nanostructures of HIPS/Fe-MMT were testified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Corresponding to pure HIPS, the thermal stability of HIPS/Fe-MMT nanocomposites was notably improved. The peaks of heat release rate (PHRR) and the mass loss rate (MLR) were significantly reduced after the formation of the HIPS/Fe-MMT nanocomposites from cone calorimetry. And nanocomposites PHRR was further lower with the increase of Fe-MMT content in the range of 1 to 5 wt%. The degradation mechanism of HIPS and HIPS/Fe-MMT nanocomposites was conducted by pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). And the reason of the enhancement of thermal stability maybe is that structural iron is the operative site for radical trapping in the Fe-MMT and the nanostructure enhances the interaction of the chains of the HIPS.     

西气东输工程用X70热轧板卷屈服强度检测值波动大的探讨

对西气东输工程用X70热轧板卷检验过程中出的屈服强度σ0.5波动大的情况进行了分析，认为拉伸试样弯曲是主要原因。这一问题可通过反复压平试样，确保试样的平直度以及适当提高钢的强度的方法加以解决。     

Dual recognition of lipid A and DNA by human antibodies encoded by the VH4-21 gene: a possible link between infection and lupus

The VH4-21 (V4-34) gene segment, a member of the VH4 family, is expressed early in B-cell maturation and is utilized by approximately 6% of normal adult B lymphocytes. This prevalence indicates an importance of VH4-21 in the B-cell repertoire. The gene also encodes certain autoantibodies being mandatory for pathological IgM anti-red cell antibodies directed against the I/i antigen, and also capable of encoding anti-DNA antibodies. Recognition of I/i antigen or DNA appears to be via two distinct sites on VH, with I/i binding mediated by sequences in the framework region, and DNA binding correlating with the presence of positively charged amino acids in complementarity-determining region 3. However, these positively charged residues appear to suppress the ability of the framework region to interact with I/i, rendering a single sequence monospecific for I/i or DNA. The IgM anti-DNA antibodies also recognize bacterial lipid A, whereas the anti-I/i antibodies do not, indicating that CDR3 may be involved in binding the negatively charged lipid A. Structural similarities between the DNA backbone and lipid A provide a possible explanation for this cross-reactivity. This dual recognition of bacterial antigen and autoantigen provides a potential link between infection and autoimmunity.