Reverse Osmosis Saves Energy and Water in Corn Wet Milling

The production of high purity starch from corn by the wet milling process requires the addition of considerable volumes of water, which subsequently must be removed by energy intensive processes including pressing, evaporation and drying. To reduce the process energy requirement, the water added for starch washing should be reduced, since this would result in a corresponding reduction in the steepwater to be evaporated. However, this also lowers starch quality. To overcome this problem, a tubular membrane reverse osmosis system was installed to produce a high purity process water from an intermediate stream (a starch-protein suspension). This permeate replaces a large part of the fresh make-up water added for starch washing. Each liter of water separated via reverse osmosis with a primary energy input of about 100 joule reduces the energy use of the triple effect steepwater evaporator by 1 300 joule.     

A priori values and research on homosexuality.

Argues that S. F. Morin's (see record 1978-11378-001) article on heterosexual bias in psychological research on homosexuality makes the same mistake of confounding values and science, albeit in the opposite direction, as has been made by past researchers. Value-laden terminology (e.g., "homosexual" vs "gay") for variables should not be allowed to prejudge the interpretation of studies before the data are collected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-role stereotypy and professional intervention for childhood gender disturbance.

The treatment of choice for transsexualism and transvestism is early identification and prevention, but the treatment of children with gender disturbances raises potential risks associated with the arbitrary nature of some sex-role distinctions in our culture. Potential risks are weighed against the potential benefits in the treatment of gender-disturbed boys. The psychological profession should promote greater social tolerance for individuals with deviant sex roles and individual tolerance in children for androgyny in their own sex roles. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phase equilibria in ammonia—carbon dioxide systems at and above urea synthesis conditions

A comprehensive temperature-pressure-composition phase model is presented which combines all known phase equilibria relating to the binary ammonia-carbon oxide system (no urea present) at urea synthesis conditions. The bubble-points and critical-points of the ammonia-carbon dioxide section of the ternary ammonia-water-carbon dioxide system at chemical equilibrium (urea present) have been measured up to the values of NH₃/CO₂ = 2, T = 280°C, and p = 2000 atm. The critical temperature and pressure values of a NH₃/CO₂ = 2 mixture, of importance to the theory describing the maximum conversion to urea, have been found to be 276°C and 1250 atm, respectively.     

Five Years of Experience with the Application of Reverse Osmosis on Light Middlings in a Corn Wet Milling Plant

Corn wet milling is a water intensive operation. A modern corn wet milling plant typically uses 1,5 m³ of fresh water per t of corn. Much of this added water must subsequently be removed by processes that are energy intensive to varying degrees. A major breakthrough in reducing the water consumption of the corn wet milling process was made when A. Cicuttini perceived the idea of using reverse osmosis more upstream in the corn wet milling process, to recover pure water from light middlings, the overflow from the hydrocyclone starch washing system, and to re-use this water for starch washing. In doing so the direct relation between the amount of water used for washing the starch, and the amount of light steep water to be evaporated does no longer exist. A full size reverse osmosis system for this service has been installed in one of the CPC corn wet milling plants in 1982. In a first phase a reduction of the load to the steepwater evaporator of 50% has been obtained. Expansion of the reverse osmosis system enabled further reduction of the steepwater evaporator load down to 30% of the original value. The system has demonstrated its ability to operate in conjunction with a 9-stage starch washing section with a wet fresh water intake for starch washing, comparable to that of a 15-stage washing section, at the same high level of starch product quality, and at much lower energy cost. The disappearance of the direct link between fresh water consumption for starch washing and steep water evaporator load creates new possibilities for optimisation and flexibility in design and operation of corn wet milling plants.     

Revisiting the role of selection for the evolution of industries

Despite a growing reliance on evolutionary theories when explaining industrial dynamics, the mechanism of selection has received limited attention. Selection is often taken for granted and conceptualised as product market competition. We go beyond this view and distinguish between different types of selection—formal and social—and consider how these lead to different entities being selected. Formal selection relies on codified selection criteria and often applies in selection environments where processes are standardised and institutions formalised. Social selection relies on reputation, referrals and previous interactions in order to evaluate intangible properties of the entities being selected. We argue that firms compete in multiple selection environments, not limited to product markets, that different selection environments may rely on different types of selection and that this has profound implications for industrial dynamics. This theoretical discussion is inspired by empirical observations of the medical technology industry in Sweden.     

Incremental generation of parsers

An LR-based parser generator for arbitrary context-free grammars that generates parsers by need and handles modifications to its input grammar by updating the parser it has generated so far is described. The need for these techniques is discussed in the context of interactive language definition environments. All required algorithms are presented. Measurements are given comparing their performance with that of conventional techniques     

Oxygen Toxicity to the Immature Lung—Part I: Pathomechanistic Understanding and Preclinical Perspectives

In utero, the fetus and its lungs develop in a hypoxic environment, where HIF-1α and VEGFA signaling constitute major determinants of further development. Disruption of this homeostasis after preterm delivery and extrauterine exposure to high fractions of oxygen are among the key events leading to bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production constitutes the initial driver of pulmonary inflammation and cell death, altered gene expression, and vasoconstriction, leading to the distortion of further lung development. From preclinical studies mainly performed on rodents over the past two decades, the deleterious effects of oxygen toxicity and the injurious insults and downstream cascades arising from ROS production are well recognized. This article provides a concise overview of disease drivers and different therapeutic approaches that have been successfully tested within experimental models. Despite current studies, clinical researchers are still faced with an unmet clinical need, and many of these strategies have not proven to be equally effective in clinical trials. In light of this challenge, adapting experimental models to the complexity of the clinical situation and pursuing new directions constitute appropriate actions to overcome this dilemma. Our review intends to stimulate research activities towards the understanding of an important issue of immature lung injury.