Modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions through integrating titrimetric and off-gas measurements-applied to EBPR systems.

An innovative method for modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions is presented and discussed. The method is based on titrimetric and off-gas measurements. Titrimetric data is recorded as the addition rate of hydroxyl ions or protons that is required to maintain pH in a bioreactor at a constant level. An off-gas analysis arrangement measures, among other things, the transfer rate of carbon dioxide. The integration of these signals results in a continuous signal which is solely related to the biological reactions. When coupled with a mathematical model of the biological reactions, the signal allows a detailed characterisation of these reactions, which would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Two applications of the method to the enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes are presented and discussed to demonstrate the principle and effectiveness of the method.     

Kinetic model for water/oil absorption of mesquite gum (Prosopis juliflora) and gum arabic (Acacia senegal)

The water and oil uptake of mesquite and arabic gums in powdered form was studied at temperatures of 23, 35 and 45°C. A previously proposed equation to predict osmotic equilibrium was tested using the experimental data with both gums and a good statistical fit was obtained. Mesquite gum showed the highest water and oil absorption at all temperatures studied. Temperature dependence of the reciprocal of the S₁ and WL_∞ were determined using an Arrhenius equation. The activation energy for water and oil absorption for gum arabic was 21.98 and 39.57 kJ mol⁻¹, compared to that of mesquite gum having values of 15.79 and 46.16 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively. A second order kinetic model was obtained for water and oil absorption for both gums.     

A fuzzy logic rule-based automatic target recognizer

Methods for modeling and managing uncertainty in computer vision systems have received increased attention in recent years. Automatic target recognition is one application area of computer vision where the demands are particularly acute. In this article, fuzzy logic is proposed as a means of handling uncertainty in an expert system structure for automatic target recognition. A new technique for logical inference is described which is well-suited for this type of application. A prototype system has been developed and tested on multisensor and temporal images. the results are compared to a similar expert system which used a numeric uncertainty calculus.     

Improving manufacturing by cost-effective process modeling

Computer-aided engineering tools are routinely used to simulate forging and heat-treatment operations and to perform thermal and stress analyses. This review gives a few examples of the current uses of process modeling tools and outlines some developing capabilities and near-term applications.     

Electrical conductivity in iodine-doped ethyl cellulose

The electrical conductivity of solution-grown ethyl cellulose (EC) films, 5–30 μm thick, has been studied in the sandwich configuration (metal–EC–metal) as a function of iodine concentration from 0.5 to 5.0 wt% ratio. The studies were conducted in the temperature range 333–383 K, while the field was varied over the range (3.0–5.5) × 10⁴V/cm. Aluminium was used as the lower electrode, while the upper electrode was of Al, Ag, Cu, Au or Sn. Certain transient effects such as a large burst of current immediately after the application of field were observed. An attempt was made to identify the nature of the current by comparing the observed dependence on electric field, electrode material and temperature with the respective characteristic features of the existing theories of electrical conduction. The results show that the electrical conduction follows Ohm's law at lower fields, while at higher fields, space-charge limited current (SCLC) was observed. It was also found that Richardson–Schottky emission was responsible, to some extent, for the transport of charge carriers in the polymer. The conductivity of the films increased on doping with iodine. The dopant molecules are considered to act as additional trapping centes and provide links between the polymer molecules in the amorphous region, thus resulting in the formation of charge transfer complexes.     

Novel algorithm for time division multiple access in broadband ISDN passive optical networks

For shared access to a broadband communication network using the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) a passive optical network (PON) has previously been proposed. A novel algorithm to evaluate the time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol which controls the traffic from the various subscribers towards the shared access equipment (upstream direction) is proposed. It uses counters to estimate the moment of a data packet arrival at the subscriber side. By this ‘look-ahead’ technique no extra upstream channels are needed to initiate the polling by the subscriber. The algorithm guarantees fair access for all subscribers and minimizes the necessary overhead. Both the maximum access delay and overhead may be readily calculated, and the obtained results were supported by numerical simulation. Applicability in the standard broadband network environment has been proved by hardware design simulation.     

A two-wavelength, passively self-injection locked, CW Ti3+:Al2O3 laser

We have demonstrated that passive self-injection control is very effective in a CW Ti³⁺:Al₂O₃ laser to produce high efficiency (η~15%), narrow-line, two-wavelength emission. Light reinjection is achieved with an original high-resolution two-wavelength selector combining an interference wedge and a grazing incidence grating. The device operates outside the main nonselective laser cavity; thus avoiding insertion losses and optical damage problems. A 1.5 W, background free, total output power has been obtained simultaneously at two narrow laser lines (fwhm: 8 pm), independently tunable over 50 mn. The two laser lines can be emitted in a single beam or in two separated beams. Self-injection wavelength control has been demonstrated both for linear and for ring laser cavities. In the latter case, unidirectional behavior is also obtained in the same way. Single-step (5s²S_1/2-5P²P_1/2,3/2 ) and two-step (5s²S_1/2-5p²P_3/2-5d² D_3/2,5/2) excitation of atomic rubidium vapor has been performed with our original laser device     

Convergence of Broadcast and New Telecom Networks

The demand of the new telecom industry for cost efficient provision of mobile multimedia services is faced with the reality of scarce radio resources. The requirement of spectrum efficiency has driven the development of various digital radio technologies that have been optimized for specific services, namely for broadcast or for mobile communication. However, existing and emerging multimedia services exhibit challenging requirements in terms of asymmetry, interactivity, real-time, and multicast communication. This paper describes an IP based multi-radio infrastructure that enables the co-operation of existing radio networks to combine their capabilities to ensure a spectrum efficient provision of high-quality mobile multimedia services. Further the need for a dynamic allocation of spectrum to radio services is motivated. The basic functionality and the architecture of a multi-radio system is outlined, with a special emphasis on the cooperation between different radio systems. Further an evolution path for the convergence of broadcast and new telecom is desribed, starting from today's systems and leading to a fully coordinated system.     

Cleaved and etched facet nitride laser diodes

Room-temperature (RT) pulsed operation of blue (420 nm) nitride-based multiquantum-well laser diodes grown on a-plane and c-plane sapphire substrates has been demonstrated. Structures investigated include etched and cleaved facets as well as doped and undoped quantum wells. A combination of atmospheric and low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition using a modified two-flow horizontal reactor was employed. Threshold current densities as low as 12.6 kA/cm² were observed for 10×1200 μm lasers with uncoated reactive ion etched facets on c-plane sapphire. Cleaved facet lasers were also demonstrated with similar performance on a-plane sapphire. Laser diodes tested under pulsed conditions operated up to 6 h at RT. Lasing was achieved up to 95°C and up to a 150-ns pulselength (RT). Threshold current increased with temperature with a characteristic temperature T₀ of 114 K