Élimination des cations métalliques divalents : complexation par l'alginate de sodium et ultrafiltration

Depuis quelques années la pollution par les métaux lourds et devenue un problème important pour la protection de l'environnement et de nombreuses méthodes ont été développées pour éliminer les métaux toxiques présents dans l'eau.Parmi les différents procédés utilisés, la complexation-ultrafiltration est bien connue et de nombreuses études sur ce sujet sont décrites dans la littérature. Cependant, le choix de nouveaux macroligands hydrosolubles demeure important pour développer cette technologie.L'un des objectifs de ce travail était de montrer que dans ce procédé un biopolymère peut remplacer un macroligand de synthèse. Les expériences ont été menées avec de l'alginate de sodium, polysaccharide extrait des algues brunes, et porteur de groupements carboxyliques et hydroxydes capables de complexer les cations.Notre étude se divise en trois parties. Après avoir décrit, dans la première, le matériau et les méthodes utilisées, nous étudions dans la seconde les conditions de l'ultrafiltration (seuil de coupure, pression appliquée, pH, concentration ), avant de discuter dans la troisième les résultats obtenus dans le traitement de solutions contenant Cd2+, Cu2+, Mn2+ and Pb2+.For some years past, pollution by heavy metals has become one of the main problems for environmental protection. A number of methods have been developed to remove toxic metals from water. Among the various processes used, complexation-ultrafiltration is well known and numerous studies on this subject are described in the literature. However, the choice of new water-soluble macroligands remains important for developing this technology.One aim of the present work was to prove that biopolymers can replace synthetic macroligands in the process. The experiments have been conducted with sodium alginate, a polysaccharide extracted from brown seaweeds and containing carboxylic and hydroxyl groups able to complex heavy cations. Filtration experiments were performed with a frontal system, equipped with a polysulfone membrane with a 20000 Daltons cut-off . The solutions studied were prepared by diluting in demineralized water either sodium alginate or "Titrisol Merck" for cations. Before filtration the two solutions were mixed and stirred for 20 min. The pH of the feed solutions was adjusted with HCl (or HNO3 for Pb) or NaOH and determined accurately using a calibrated probe.The molecular weight of sodium alginate was determined by liquid chromatography and the viscosity was measured with either a viscosimeter for low values or a capillary method for concentrated solutions. Cation concentrations were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometryBoth permeate and retentate macroligands concentrations were estimated from measurements of total organic carbon (TOC). Following each experiment, chemical cleaning was performed by filtration of HCl, NaOH and water. This procedure was followed by demineralized water filtration, to ensure that the initial permeability was restored.In the first part of the work the ultrafiltration of sodium alginate solutions for different concentrations and various pressures was studied. Experimental results for macroligand retention, deduced from the TOC values, show a total rejection. All the curves, permeate flux versus time, present the same profile which indicates a significant concentration polarization. According to the obtained results we chose the value of 5 10-2 g L-1 for the ligand concentration and one bar for the applied pressure.In the second part of the study, the retention of cations (Cd2+, Cu2+, Mn2+ and Pb2+) was investigated. The observed results show that the removal rates are close to 100%. These values depend both on the total concentration of cation and on the pH value. The retention of cations is shown to depend strongly on pH: a variation of pH between 3 and 5 leads to changes in retention efficiency from 0 to 100%. This can be explained by the dissociation of alginic acid as a function of pH. For lower pH values the macroligand is in a molecular form and the metallic cation remains free; for higher values metal complexation is possible, increasing the rejection. If coordination number, rejection rate and pH are known, the various association constants can be determined using a graphical method. It can be seen from the results that the stability of the complexes formed decreases in the sequence Pb>Cu>Mn>Cd.In order to investigate the retention of these cations in a fresh water, the influence of calcium hardness was studied. The results indicate that cation removal decreases when the calcium concentration increases. This observation is an important restriction for fresh water treatment but does not affect the elimination of metals from a solution or an industrial waste containing cations

The Use of Cream in the Investigation of Human Error in Aviation Events: a Case Study

To investigate Human Factors issues of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), a part-task simulation has been conducted. The analysis method employed was based on the CREAM principles and included the following steps: Predictive analysis, Simulations, Data analysis, Retrospective analysis. The project called ARCADES , presented in this paper, concerns the errors identification and research of causes. The collective work based on CREAM is composed of four steps alternating between work in pairs and plenary session: the events identification and classification, consensus on the events to be analyzed, the retrospective analysis, and the mutual analysis. The work group was composed of pilots, controllers, investigators and Human Factors experts. The analysis was based on the data collected during the simulations: video recordings, questionnaires, audio recording of debriefing. Concerning the identification step, results show the interest of the clear distinction between causes and consequences, as it exists in CREAM. Indeed, it enables to bind the analysts to objectivity in the identification and the calling of the events. Inter-pairs variability remains important for the three scenarios studied. Participants agreed on the interest of the method concerning the search of causes. The method enables to pursue analyses more deeply and more exhaustively, results show that the method guides towards systemic causes. Results also emphasize the complementarity of different points of view and the interest of a collective approach

Nanofiltration de solutions de nitrate d'ammonium. Etude des paramètres influents

Cet article propose une étude de la rétention du nitrate d'ammonium par une membrane commerciale de nanofiltration (Nanomax 50). Les effets de la pression, de la concentration et de la vitesse d'écoulement tangentiel ont été étudiés avec le souci d'une meilleure compréhension du mécanisme de transport des ions nitrate et en vue d'une optimisation de la rétention. Le taux de rétention des ions nitrate augmente dans un premier temps avec la pression, atteint un maximum puis diminue. La rétention, pour des pressions élevées, peut cependant être améliorée en augmentant la vitesse d'écoulement tangentiel. La séparation résulterait d'un rapport de différentes forces : une force d'entraînement radial dans le pore (illustrée par l'effet de la pression transmembranaire), une force d'entraînement tangentiel vers le rétentat (illustrée par l'effet de la vitesse d'écoulement tangentiel) et une force de surface traduisant les interactions membrane-soluté (illustrée par l'effet de la concentration). L'équation de Spiegler et Kedem est proposée en première approche de modélisation pour une valeur limite de pression.Many water sources deal with the problem of increasing nitrate concentrations above authorised levels for drinking water. In order to minimise this amount of pollution and to achieve high quality of water and reused water in the distribution system, membrane processes are becoming a promising technology. Indeed, they present the major advantages of a small land area requirement, low temperature operation, continuous separation, better effluent quality, little or no sludge production and a large reduction in the quantities of chemical additives. Reverse osmosis has already been used to remove most of the nitrates together with the other solutes, but the disadvantage is that this technique induces a total demineralisation of the treated water. Another possible filtration process, nanofiltration, has been investigated in this study while no extensive research has been carried out on its nitrate removal potential. Theories cannot adequately predict the influence of operating parameters on membrane performance. Consequently, new membranes and modules must be experimentally evaluated for each new application. The main objective of this study was to provide fundamental data for designing an operation of nanofiltration under various operating conditions such as transmembrane pressure, cross-flow velocity and initial feed concentration for drinking water and water reuse purposes.The retention rate rises with an increase of the applied pressure, reaches a maximum and then decreases. Such a result is quite different from those usually mentioned in the literature where the retention increases and reaches a plateau when the pressure grows. The singular decrease of the retention rate observed in this study could be explained in terms of a concentration polarization phenomenon. However, since the volumetric flux increased linearly with the pressure and remained close to the pure water flux, it might be thought that such an assumption is not valid in the case of this work. Therefore, another hypothesis has to be provided to explain the variation of the retention with transmembrane pressure. As the size of NH4+ ion (ionic radius=0.148 nm) is lower than that of the pore of membrane (diameter=1 nm), cations can enter the pores where they are partially retained due to surface forces (electrostatic and friction forces). When the pressure increases, these forces remain constant while drag forces increase due to the flux in the pore. At low pressure (∆P < 5 bars), the surface forces are stronger than the drag forces. Therefore, the solute flux remains low while the solvent flux increases with the pressure, leading to an increase in the solute retention. Above a given pressure (≅ 5 bars), the drag forces become higher than the surface forces. Consequently, the retention rate decreases.As can be observed in the obtained results, the retention rate decreased when the feed concentration was increased regardless of the operating pressure. This effect is mainly attributed to the cation shielding of the effective charge of the membrane. This characteristic can be explained by the fact that the electric repulsion becomes less efficient at higher concentration. It has been recognized that the effective charge density of the membrane decreases with an increase in the feed concentration of an ionic solution. Consequently, the retention rate of the co-ion due to charge effect is reduced. It follows that a greater amount of nitrate ions could permeate when feed solutions of higher concentration are applied.The effect of cross-flow velocity on the fluxes is insignificant since the permeate flux depends only on transmembrane pressure. However, the retention performance increases with velocity. The lower the cross-flow velocity, the higher the interaction between the solute and the membrane. Therefore, at low cross-flow rate, the solute amount that enters the membrane pores is high. When the drag forces become stronger than the surface forces, as explained above, the retention sharply decreases. At high cross-flow velocity, the feed circulation transports a large solute amount and therefore, the solute amount that enters the pores is reduced and is less sensitive to operating pressure. In consequence, the sensitivity of the retention to transmembrane pressure is not so marked. It might be thought that for a very high cross-flow velocity, the retention increases and then remains constant.It was demonstrated in this work that nanofiltration can be successfully used to remove nitrates from water. The retention was shown to depend strongly on operating parameters such as feed solution concentration, applied pressure and circulation cross-flow rate. In fact, the retention is mainly determined by the intensity of the solute / membrane interaction. This interaction comes from two main forces: a tangential one due to the feed solute flow (illustrated by the cross-flow velocity effect) and a radial one in the pores due to drag forces (illustrated by the transmembrane pressure effect). Moreover, it was observed that the valence of the associated ions is an important factor that can affect nitrate retention. It can be expected that the optimization of the separation performance will result of the best combination of all these parameters. Therefore, with a view to a future industrial application, it will be necessary to take into consideration the chemical composition of the resource and to adapt the operating conditions to the desired objectives

Implementing resilience engineering for healthcare quality improvement using the CARE model: a feasibility study protocol

BACKGROUND: Resilience engineering (RE) is an emerging perspective on safety in complex adaptive systems that emphasises how outcomes emerge from the complexity of the clinical environment. Complexity creates the need for flexible adaptation to achieve outcomes. RE focuses on understanding the nature of adaptations, learning from success and increasing adaptive capacity. Although the philosophy is clear, progress in applying the ideas to quality improvement has been slow. The aim of this study is to test the feasibility of translating RE concepts into practical methods to improve quality by designing, implementing and evaluating interventions based on RE theory. The CARE model operationalises the key concepts and their relationships to guide the empirical investigation. METHODS: The settings are the Emergency Department and the Older Person's Unit in a large London teaching hospital. Phases 1 and 2 of our work, leading to the development of interventions to improve the quality of care, are described in this paper. Ethical approval has been granted for these phases. Phase 1 will use ethnographic methods, including observation of work practices and interviews with staff, to understand adaptations and outcomes. The findings will be used to collaboratively design, with clinical staff in interactive design workshops, interventions to improve the quality of care. The evaluation phase will be designed and submitted for ethical approval when the outcomes of phases 1 and 2 are known. DISCUSSION: Study outcomes will be knowledge about the feasibility of applying RE to improve quality, the development of RE theory and a validated model of resilience in clinical work which can be used to guide other applications. Tools, methods and practical guidance for practitioners will also be produced, as well as specific knowledge of the potential effectiveness of the implemented interventions in emergency and older people's care. Further studies to test the application of RE at a larger scale will be required, including studies of other healthcare settings, organisational contexts and different interventions

SIRNA-Directed In Vivo Silencing of Androgen Receptor Inhibits the Growth of Castration-Resistant Prostate Carcinomas

BACKGROUND: Prostate carcinomas are initially dependent on androgens, and castration or androgen antagonists inhibit their growth. After some time though, tumors become resistant and recur with a poor prognosis. The majority of resistant tumors still expresses a functional androgen receptor (AR), frequently amplified or mutated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To test the hypothesis that AR is not only expressed, but is still a key therapeutic target in advanced carcinomas, we injected siRNA targeting AR into mice bearing exponentially growing castration-resistant tumors. Quantification of siRNA into tumors and mouse tissues demonstrated their efficient uptake. This uptake silenced AR in the prostate, testes and tumors. AR silencing in tumors strongly inhibited their growth, and importantly, also markedly repressed the VEGF production and angiogenesis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results demonstrate that carcinomas resistant to hormonal manipulations still depend on the expression of the androgen receptor for their development in vivo. The siRNA-directed silencing of AR, which allows targeting overexpressed as well as mutated isoforms, triggers a strong antitumoral and antiangiogenic effect. siRNA-directed silencing of this key gene in advanced and resistant prostate tumors opens promising new therapeutic perspectives and tools

Fungal planet description sheets: 951–1041

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Antarctica , Apenidiella antarctica from permafrost, Cladosporium fildesense fromanunidentifiedmarinesponge. Argentina , Geastrum wrightii onhumusinmixedforest. Australia , Golovinomyces glandulariae on Glandularia aristigera, Neoanungitea eucalyptorum on leaves of Eucalyptus grandis, Teratosphaeria corymbiicola on leaves of Corymbia ficifolia, Xylaria eucalypti on leaves of Eucalyptus radiata. Brazil, Bovista psammophila on soil, Fusarium awaxy on rotten stalks of Zea mays, Geastrum lanuginosum on leaf litter covered soil, Hermetothecium mikaniae-micranthae (incl. Hermetothecium gen. nov.)on Mikania micrantha, Penicillium reconvexovelosoi in soil, Stagonosporopsis vannaccii from pod of Glycine max. British Virgin Isles , Lactifluus guanensis onsoil. Canada , Sorocybe oblongispora on resin of Picea rubens. Chile, Colletotrichum roseum on leaves of Lapageria rosea. China, Setophoma caverna fromcarbonatiteinKarstcave. Colombia , Lareunionomyces eucalypticola on leaves of Eucalyptus grandis. Costa Rica, Psathyrella pivae onwood. Cyprus , Clavulina iris oncalcareoussubstrate. France , Chromosera ambigua and Clavulina iris var. occidentalis onsoil. French West Indies , Helminthosphaeria hispidissima ondeadwood. Guatemala , Talaromyces guatemalensis insoil. Malaysia , Neotracylla pini (incl. Tracyllales ord. nov. and Neotra- cylla gen. nov.)and Vermiculariopsiella pini on needles of Pinus tecunumanii. New Zealand, Neoconiothyrium viticola on stems of Vitis vinifera, Parafenestella pittospori on Pittosporum tenuifolium, Pilidium novae-zelandiae on Phoenix sp. Pakistan , Russula quercus-floribundae onforestfloor. Portugal , Trichoderma aestuarinum from salinewater. Russia , Pluteus liliputianus on fallen branch of deciduous tree, Pluteus spurius on decaying deciduouswoodorsoil. South Africa , Alloconiothyrium encephalarti, Phyllosticta encephalarticola and Neothyrostroma encephalarti (incl. Neothyrostroma gen. nov.)onleavesof Encephalartos sp., Chalara eucalypticola on leaf spots of Eucalyptus grandis × urophylla, Clypeosphaeria oleae on leaves of Olea capensis, Cylindrocladiella postalofficium on leaf litter of Sideroxylon inerme , Cylindromonium eugeniicola (incl. Cylindromonium gen. nov.)onleaflitterof Eugenia capensis , Cyphellophora goniomatis on leaves of Gonioma kamassi , Nothodactylaria nephrolepidis (incl. Nothodactylaria gen. nov. and Nothodactylariaceae fam. nov.)onleavesof Nephrolepis exaltata , Falcocladium eucalypti and Gyrothrix eucalypti on leaves of Eucalyptus sp., Gyrothrix oleae on leaves of Olea capensis subsp. macrocarpa , Harzia metro sideri on leaf litter of Metrosideros sp., Hippopotamyces phragmitis (incl. Hippopota- myces gen. nov.)onleavesof Phragmites australis , Lectera philenopterae on Philenoptera violacea , Leptosillia mayteni on leaves of Maytenus heterophylla , Lithohypha aloicola and Neoplatysporoides aloes on leaves of Aloe sp., Millesimomyces rhoicissi (incl. Millesimomyces gen. nov.) on leaves of Rhoicissus digitata , Neodevriesia strelitziicola on leaf litter of Strelitzia nicolai , Neokirramyces syzygii (incl. Neokirramyces gen. nov.)onleafspots o