Acidogenic fermentation of blended food‐waste in combination with primary sludge for the production of volatile fatty acids

The performance of a laboratory‐scale anaerobic acidogenic fermenter fed with a mixture of blended kitchen food‐waste and primary sludge from a sewage treatment plant was investigated for the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA). The operating variables for acidogenic fermentation were kitchen food‐waste content (10 and 25 wt %), hydraulic retention time (HRT: 1, 3 and 5 days), temperature (ambient: 18 ± 2 °C, and mesophilic: 35 ± 2 °C) and pH (varied from 5.2 to 6.7). The experimental results indicated that effluent VFA concentrations and VFA production rates were higher at ambient temperature than at mesophilic conditions. The net amount of VFA with 10 wt % food‐waste increased up to 920 mg dm^?3 with an increase of HRT, but contrasting results (a decrease of 2610 mg dm^?3) were found due to the conversion of VFA into biogas in the case of 25 wt % food‐waste, which increased significantly at HRT of 3–5 days. In terms of biogas composition (CO₂ and CH₄), the organic matter was converted into CO₂ through the oxidative pathway by facultative species at low temperature while mesophilic temperature and optimum pH (6.3–7.8) played a pivotal role in increasing rate of conversion of VFA into biogas by methanogenesis. Rates of VFA production and their conversion are dependent on the food‐waste content in the mixture. Yet, the higher concentration of food‐waste (25% compared with 10%) did not produce VFA proportionally due to the increased rate of conversion of VFA into gaseous products. The maximum VFA production rate (0.318 g VFA_produced g^?1 VS_fed day^?1) was achieved in the 10 wt % food‐waste at ambient temperature and at a 5‐day HRT. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Experimental evaluation of velocity and power estimation forultrasound blood flow imaging, by means of a two-dimensionalautocorrelation approach

This paper evaluates experimentally the performance of a novel axial velocity estimator, the 2D autocorrelator, and its Doppler power estimation counterpart, the 2D zero-lag autocorrelator, in the context of ultrasound color flow mapping. The evaluation also encompasses the well-established 1D autocorrelation technique for velocity estimation and its corresponding power estimator (1D zero-lag autocorrelator), to allow performance comparisons under identical conditions. Clutter-suppressed in vitro data sets from a steady-flow system are used to document the effect of the range gate and ensemble length, noise level and angle of insonation on the precision of the velocity estimates. The same data sets are used to examine issues related to the estimation of the Doppler signal's power. The first-order statistics of power estimates from regions corresponding to flow and noise are determined experimentally and the ability of power-based thresholding to separate flow signals from noise is characterized by means of ROC analysis. In summary, the results of the in vitro evaluation show that the proposed 2D-autocorrelation form of processing is consistently better than the corresponding 1D-autocorrelation techniques, in terms of both velocity and power estimation. Therefore, given their relatively modest implementation requirements, the 2D-autocorrelation algorithms for velocity and power estimation appear to represent a superior, yet realistic, alternative to conventional Doppler processing for color flow mapping     

SURFACE TENSION AND BUOYANCY DRIVEN INSTABILITIES IN A LAYER OF LIQUID TIN HEATED FROM BELOW

The linear theory of Pearson (1958) and Nield (1964) is modified here to study liquid tin and include the finite thermal resistances of the bounding layers of boron nitride, copper and air (∼10^-2 torr) in the experiments of Ginde et al. (1989). The magnitude of the ΔT_c across the layer of liquid tin required for the onset of convection depends on the ratios of the thermal conductivities and thicknesses of the supporting layers of boron nitride and copper to those of the tin.

According to our theory surface tension contributes more than buoyancy to the instability observed experimentally. The critical ΔT_c observed required for the onset of convection in the layer of tin, is up to 25% lower than that predicted, which shows the layer is less stable than the theory indicates. Thus the surface of the tin was uncontaminated, or a significantly larger observed critical ΔT_c would be expected.

The boundary condition on the thermal fluctuations at the base of the supporting layer of copper does not appear to be important in these experiments. However, the thermal resistance of the boron nitride would have to be assumed to be unrealistically large to obtain agreement within experimental error with the theory.     

Evaluation of a commercial process for collection and cooling of beef offals by a temperature function integration technique.

The hygienic adequacy of a commercial process for the collection and cooling of beef offals was assessed by a temperature function integration technique. The diverse operations for collection of offals were inspected. The rates of product movement through those operations, and the temperatures of products at the time of their being packed, were determined. From that information, four of the nine product types were selected for examination of their temperature histories during the assembly and cooling of the cartoned products. The products selected encompassed product at near-body and near-air-ambient temperatures at the time of packaging, product in the largest and smallest cartons used in the process, and product with relatively short and long residence times in an unchilled carton stack assembly area. Twenty-one temperature histories were collected for each of the products, and the possible proliferation of an indicator organism, Escherichia coli, calculated for each temperature history. The results were assessed against a temperature function integration criterion derived from studies of beef carcass and cartoned meat cooling processes. Products packaged at near-ambient temperature readily met with the criterion, but products packed at near-body temperatures did not comply. The latter non-compliance was extreme for product packaged in large cartons. However, the principal cause of non-compliance was identified as highly variable cooling conditions in the carton freezing facility. A brief survey of air speeds and temperatures within that facility indicated means by which product cooling could be better controlled.     

Evaluation of absorption and emission cross sections of Er-dopedLiNbO3 for application to integrated optic amplifiers

The polarization-dependent absorption and emission spectra of the ⁴I_13/2-⁴I_15/2 transition (λ~1.5 μm) in single crystal bulk Er:LiNbO₃ have been measured. Low-temperature (10 K) measurements of the Stark split energy levels of these two manifolds indicate at least two Er³⁺ sites. McCumber theory is applied to determine the Er:LiNbO₃ absorption and emission cross sections. These values are used to calculate the gain characteristics of Er:LiNbO₃ channel waveguides. Calculations indicate that a gain of 10 dB is achievable in a waveguide of several centimeters using ~20-mW pump power     

Clinical investigation of traumatic injuries of permanent incisors in Izmir, Turkey

470 injured teeth of 370 patients who consulted the Dental Clinic of Ege University, Izmir, Turkey for examination or treatment between 1981-1993 were evaluated. Information concerning sex, age of patients at the time of injury, cause of trauma, number of injured teeth, type of tooth and type of trauma were recorded. More boys suffered traumatic injuries (64.8%) than girls (35.2%). Patients aged 11-15 years old exhibited the highest number of injuries (34.4%) followed by the 6-10 years old group (24.5%). Most injuries involved one tooth (60%) and maxillary central incisors were the most often affected teeth (66.2%). The leading cause of injury was undefined falls (45.1%). At the initial examination, cases seen after a long posttraumatic period showed more complications than those presented within a short time period. Educational programs about the importance of dental trauma, the benefits of immediate attendance and conservation of avulsed and fractured teeth would be very helpful for patients. Additionally improving the knowledge of the dental practitioner about trauma would be another important point in solving the problem.     

On system design

The general, multiple attribute system design problem is formulated in total quality space which includes all of the microeconomic factors that influence the net value of a product to society. A hypothetical system design task—the development of improved system specifications and new subsystem requirements for the redesign of an automobile—is used to illustrate the approach. A new format is also given for describing design of experiment arrays which facilitates their use in spreadsheet calculations.     

Further studies of the mixed acetals of nucleosides

We reported in 1988 on a new nucleoside modification reaction: the exocyclic amino groups of (d)adenosine and (d)cytidine react rapidly at ambient temperature with acetaldehyde and alcohols to give stable mixed acetals (N-ethylethoxy-acetal). NH2 + O = CH(CH3) + ROH-->NH-CH(CH3)-O-R + H2O. Here we report in detail on the occurrence of this reaction in very dilute aqueous solution (ie under biological conditions), on its mechanism and kinetics, on the mixed acetal formation with other aldehydes and other nucleic acid components, and on the question of whether these adducts are mutagenic.