Anaerobic membrane bioreactors: Are membranes really necessary?

Membranes themselves represent a significant cost for the full scale application of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR). The possibility of operating an AnMBR with a self-forming dynamic membrane generated by the substances present in the reactor liquor would translate into an important saving. A self-forming dynamic membrane only requires a support material over which a cake layer is formed, which determines the rejection properties of the system. The present research studies the application of self-forming dynamic membranes in AnMBRs. An AnMBR was operated under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions, using woven and non woven materials as support for the dynamic membranes. Results showed that the formation of a cake layer over the support materials enables the retention of more than 99% of the solids present in the reactor. However, only low levels of flux were achieved, up to 3 L/m2 x h, and reactor operation was unstable, with sudden increases in filtration resistance, due to excessive cake layer formation. Further fine-tuning of the proposed technology involves looking for conditions that can control effectively cake layer formatio

Estudios de acoplamiento molecular de nuevos análogos de quinolonas a la ADN girasa de Escherichia coli

Indexación: Scopus.Chemicals and CAS Registry Numbers: amino acid, 65072-01-7; ciprofloxacin, 85721-33-1; DNA topoisomerase (ATP hydrolysing); gatifloxacin, 112811-59-3, 180200-66-2; levofloxacin, 100986-85-4, 138199-71-0; lomefloxacin, 98079-51-7; moxifloxacin, 151096-09-2; nalidixic acid, 389-08-2; oxolinic acid, 14698-29-4; pipemidic acid, 51940-44-4; rufloxacin, 101363-10-4; sitafloxacin, 127254-12-0, 163253-35-8Context: Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is the inevitable consequence of the use of antimicrobial agents. Thus, quinolones are an important class of antibacterials; these agents generally consist of a 1-subtituted-1,4-dihydro-4-oxopyridine-3-carboxylic acid moiety combined with an aromatic or heteroaromatic ring fused at the 5- and 6-position. Aims: To determine the binding of quinolones to DNA gyrase of Escherichia coli. Methods: An analysis was performed using an in silico approach to determine, by docking calculations and energy descriptors, the conformer of 4‐oxo‐1,4‐dihydroquinoline skeleton that forms the most stable complex with DNA gyrase of E. coli. Results: The complex shows that the pose of the quinolones coincides with the amino acid residues Asp87, Thr88, Arg91 and Met92, which is expected to be critical in the binding of quinolones to DNA gyrase of E. coli. A series of quinolones were computationally designed, and the interactions between the quinolones and the amino acid residues of the DNA gyrase were calculated. Conclusions: Among the designed compounds, compounds 105 and 115 exhibit higher binding energy values and interact with amino acids Asp87, Thr88, Arg91 and Met92. © 2018 Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacognosy Research.http://jppres.com/jppres/pdf/vol6/jppres18.368_6.5.386.pd

Nonsurgical Outpatient Therapies for the Management of Female Stress Urinary Incontinence: Long-Term Effectiveness and Durability

Objective. To evaluate long-term effectiveness and safety of conservative and minimally invasive outpatient treatments for female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) through a review of the literature. Methods. PubMed was searched for reports on prospective clinical trials with at least 12-month follow-up of minimally invasive treatments, pelvic floor rehabilitation, or pharmacotherapy in women with SUI. Each report was examined for long-term rates of effectiveness and safety. Results. Thirty-two clinical trial reports were included. Prospective long-term studies of pelvic floor rehabilitation were limited but indicated significant improvements with treatment adherence for at least 12 months. Poor initial tolerability with duloxetine resulted in substantial discontinuation. Most patients receiving transurethral radiofrequency collagen denaturation or urethral bulking agents reported significant long-term improvements, generally good tolerability, and safety. Conclusions. Conservative therapy is an appropriate initial approach for female SUI, but if therapy fails, radiofrequency collagen denaturation or bulking agents may be an attractive intermediate management step or alternative to surgery

From S-N to the Paris Law with a New Mixed-Mode Cohesive Fatigue Model

The relationship between fatigue life and fatigue crack propagation rate is explored with a new cohesive damage model. The parameters of the model are obtained from idealizations of S-N diagrams used in engineering design. The model is based on the hypothesis that both stable tearing damage and damage due to cyclic loading are representations of a density of microcracks and, therefore, a single damage variable can describe the state of damage. This assumption implies that the quasi-static cohesive law that describes tearing is also the envelope of the fatigue damage. Fatigue damage within the cohesive envelope is assumed to accumulate at a rate that depends on the displacement jumps. The fatigue model was implemented as a UMAT subroutine for Abaqus cohesive elements by adding fatigue damage accumulation to a cohesive model based on the Turon mixed-mode cohesive laws. The analyses were conducted using a simplified cyclic loading procedure in which the maximum applied load is kept constant and the computational expense of cycling the load is avoided. The predicted propagation rates in mode I and mixed mode were compared to experimental results for IM7/8552 graphite/epoxy tape. Several aspects of the results were investigated, including the effect of R-curves, the stress ratio R, and the difference between displacement control and force control

Dolor y Angustia: Creative Practice and Arts-Based Advocacy and Activism

This practice to press article discusses how arts-based advocacy and activism can be used to raise awareness about human rights violations. Inspired by the work of my mother, Dr. Morella Davilla, a physician of obstetrics and gynecology in Venezuela, and the arts-based activist work of London-based artist, Aida Silvestri, my arts-based advocacy and activism work, Dolor y Angustia [Pain and Anguish], illustrates the creative process of a visual representation of Female Genital Mutilation, one of the most oppressive and horrific acts enforced upon women and girls

Evaluation of the geotechnical behaviour of a volcanic soil wall with additions of lime and cement against landslides

The construction of earth walls can be a significant response to prevent the next landslides from reaching the road and avoid accidents. Therefore, a material of the same slope was used and reinforced with mixtures of lime and cement, with this same reinforced material a mechanically stabilized hypothetical earth wall (MSE) was developed. An analysis of the original slope was developed to check if there was a possible failure through its safety factor. Then, a hypothetical wall was developed with a floor reinforced with mixtures, in order to assess its overall safety factor and its maximum landslides. According to the results, in principle it was determined that the dosage M-3 / C-4-4 improves in a range of 30% to 37% the friction angle. In addition, it was found that a reinforced wall, that is to say with Lime and cement additions, presents a better behaviour. In its effect, its displacements are about 8 mm and have a global factor of 1.23

The First Ground Level Enhancement Event of Solar Cycle 24: Direct Observation of Shock Formation and Particle Release Heights

We report on the 2012 May 17 Ground Level Enhancement (GLE) event, which is the first of its kind in Solar Cycle 24. This is the first GLE event to be fully observed close to the surface by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission. We determine the coronal mass ejection (CME) height at the start of the associated metric type II radio burst (i.e., shock formation height) as 1.38 Rs (from the Sun center). The CME height at the time of GLE particle release was directly measured from a STEREO image as 2.32 Rs, which agrees well with the estimation from CME kinematics. These heights are consistent with those obtained for cycle-23 GLEs using back-extrapolation. By contrasting the 2012 May 17 GLE with six other non-GLE eruptions from well-connected regions with similar or larger flare size and CME speed, we find that the latitudinal distance from the ecliptic is rather large for the non-GLE events due to a combination of non-radial CME motion and unfavorable solar B0 angle, making the connectivity to Earth poorer. We also find that the coronal environment may play a role in deciding the shock strength.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Assessment of the Damage Tolerance of Postbuckled Hat-Stiffened Panels Using Single-Stringer Specimens

A procedure is proposed for the assessment of the damage tolerance and collapse of stiffened composite panels using a single-stringer compression specimen. The dimensions of the specimen are determined such that the specimen s nonlinear response and collapse are representative of an equivalent multi-stringer panel in compression. Experimental tests are conducted on specimens with and without an embedded delamination. A shell-based finite element model with intralaminar and interlaminar damage capabilities is developed to predict the postbuckling response as well as the damage evolution from initiation to collapse