Elimination of organic matter present in wastewaters from the cork industry by membrane filtration

BACKGROUND: The first stage of the cork industrial process generates great volumes of wastewater with moderate to high organic pollutant content that must be purified using different procedures, such as filtration by membranes. RESULTS: The tangential filtration of these wastewaters was studied using two different laboratory equipments. In the first one, three ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were tested, with molecular weight cut‐off (MWCO) 100 kDa and 30 kDa, and two operating modes were used: total recycling of permeate and retentate streams, and in continuous mode, without recycling both streams. In the total recycling UF experiments, the influence of the operating variables on the permeate flux was first established. The effectiveness of the different membranes was determined by evaluating the rejection coefficients for several parameters that measure the global pollutant content of the effluent. The values found for these rejection coefficients were in the following order: ellagic acid and color > absorbance at 254 nm > tannic content > COD (chemical oxygen demand). In the continuous mode experiments, the fouling mechanism for each membrane was established by fitting the experimental data to various filtration fouling models given in the literature. The operating mode in the second equipment was batch concentration, and additional experiments were carried out with an UF membrane (2 kDa), and with a NF membrane (with MWCO in the range 150–300 Da). CONCLUSIONS: The three operating modes tested provided different rejection levels of organic matter; among them, the most effective procedure tested was batch concentration mode using a NF membrane. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Preparation of Ultra—fine Aluminum Nitride in Thermal Plasma

Ultra-fine aluminum nitride has been synthesized by the evaporation of aluminum powder at atmospheric-pressure nitrogen plasma in a hot-wall reactor.The average size of aluminum nitride particle is 0.11μm measured by scanning electric mirror(SEM),and the purity is at least over90% evaluated by X-Ray diffraction(XRD).The conversion of Al powder to aluminum nitride is strongly depended on the injection of NH3.Typical experimental parameters such as the feed rate of raw material,the flow rate of ammonia and the position of injecting aluminum powder into the reactor are given.     

^17O系统的R矩阵分析

采用多道多能级R矩阵理论,全面系统地分析~(17)O系统中10.5 MeV激发能以下有关~(16)O(n,n)~(16)O·~(16)O(n,a)~(13)C和~(13)C(a,a)~(13)C的全部实验数据。有关~(16)O的中子反应截面计算值被收入中国评价数据库CENDL-2和美国的评价数据库ENDF/B-6。对在R矩阵分析中如何确定本底、道半径和边界条件等问题予以讨论。     

Accurate estimation of environment parameters from ultrasonic data

This paper describes a robust and accurate ultrasonic sensing system for a mobile robot. The system continuously updates a local map of the environment in which obstacles are represented by straight lines or points in a robot centered coordinate frame. The presented algorithms use a Kalman filter for the reduction of the noise in the ultrasonic data and use a systematical error correction (‘bundle correction’) to reduce the uncertainty in obstacle direction. Experiments are carried out in simulation and with a real mobile robot system. Results show that the accuracy with which line parameters can be estimated is in the order of 1 degree for the orientation and about 2 cm for the position. The effect of the bundle correction is significant and maximal when the robot approaches walls under a small angle.     

New chemical structural features of coal. The structure of coal products

The object of this paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of the transalkylation reaction for determining chemical structural features of products derived from coal. For example, the method is applied to derivatized coals, coals modified by thermolysis, and materials physically or chemically separated from coals. Data are presented for the pyridine soluble and insoluble parts of two coals, an O-methylated coal, a Birch reduced coal, a solvent refined coal, and a coke. Similarities and differences in chemical make-up of these materials are discussed.     

人类HLA-DRB1基因型与民族和人群的神经网络无监督模式分类

HLA-DRB1等位基因主要参与人类的抗原免疫功能,对其进行比较研究,有助于追溯人类的进化迁移史,开发类群特异性药物.本研究以Matlab为平台,用自组织竞争网络(Self-Organizing Competitive Neural Network),对世界54个民族和人群、14个HLA-DRB1等位基因,进行了无监督模式分类.结果表明,各民族之间存在差异性,同民族的各人群之间有相似性.西伯利亚各人群,澳洲各土著人群,黑人各人群,南美印第安各人群,犹太族各人群,日本各人群,及欧美白人各人群有相对独立性:南美印第安人与西伯利亚人有高度相似性;中国民族在南方人群和北方人群间存在较大差异;中国汉族中,广东汉族地位特殊,与少数民族如拉祜族、瑶族关系密切.     

Effect of surfactant replacement therapy on the outcome of premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome

Lung surfactant replacement has been tested clinically in recent years. In this study the outcome of 31 premature infants with moderate to severe neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) treated with surfactant was compared to that of 74 prematures with RDS treated conventionally by positive pressure ventilation and supportive care. The groups were well matched for gestational age, birthweight, sex, and Apgar scores at 1 and 5 min. Surfactant treatment resulted in a significant decrease in mortality--from 36.6% in the untreated group to 12.9% in the surfactant-treated group (P < 0.04). This improvement in survival was seen also in prematures with a birthweight < 1,000 g; in the untreated group mortality was 57.6% compared to 23.5% in the treated group (P < 0.05). The incidence of pneumothorax was lower in the treated group--42% vs. 13% (P < 0.01). Surfactant treatment resulted in a trend of more survivors without bronchopulmonary dysplasia or intraventricular hemorrhage, even though surfactant therapy did not change the incidence of either.