Anaerobic Digestion Of Mixed Chemical Pulping And Palm Oil Mill Effluent In Suspended Growth Anaerobic Digester.

The feasibility of anaerobic digestion treating palm oil mill effluent (POME) with addition of chemical pulping wastewater (black liquor) was studied in semi-continuous fed digesters under thermophilic (55°C) condition. The anaerobic digestibility of POME with and without addition of black liquor (2.5% and 5% by volume) was compared. Black liquor is an effluent obtained from pulping processes and it has high toxicity level and poor biodegradability. The digesters contained POME without black liquor functioned as a control in this study. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction for hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 5 days and 10 days were examined to evaluate the effect of HRT on the performance of the digesters. The results depicted that COD reduction could be achieved up to 87% in the digester without black liquor and 79% reduction in COD with black liquor added. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to identify the functional group of POME operated under thermophilic temperatures and with or without addition of black liquor. Differences in the functional group were depicted within ten days HRT for both conditions. The results of this work could be used as a basis to enhance the possibility of anaerobic digestion in treating the chemical pulping wastewater which is initially known difficult to degrade biologically

The normal ranges of cardiovascular parameters measured using the ultrasonic cardiac output monitor

The ultrasonic cardiac output monitor (USCOM) is a noninvasive transcutaneous continuous wave Doppler method for assessing hemodynamics. There are no published reference ranges for normal values in adults (aged 18– 60 years) for this device. This study aimed to (1) measure cardiovascular indices using USCOM in healthy adults aged 18–60 years; (2) combine these data with those for healthy children (aged 0–12), adolescents (aged 12–18), and the elderly (aged over 60) from our previously published studies in order to present normal ranges for all ages, and (3) establish normal ranges of USCOM-derived variables according to both weight and age. This was a population- based cross-sectional observational study of healthy Chinese subjects aged 0.5–89 years in Hong Kong. USCOM scans were performed on all subjects, to produce measurements including stroke volume, cardiac output, and systemic vascular resistance. Data from previously published studies (children, adolescents, and the elderly) were included. Normal ranges were defined as lying between the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles. A total of 2218 subjects were studied (mean age = 16.4, range = 0.5–89; 52% male). From previous studies, 1197 children (aged 0–12, 55% male), 590 adolescents (aged 12–18, 49% male), and 77 elderly (aged 60–89, 55% male) were included. New data were collected from 354 adults aged 18–60 (47% male). Normal ranges are presented according to age and weight. We present comprehensive normal ranges for hemodynamic parameters obtained with USCOM in healthy subjects of all ages from infancy to the elderly

Bandgap properties of two-dimensional low-index photonic crystals

We study the bandgap properties of two-dimensional photonic crystals created by a lattice of rods or holes conformed in a symmetric or asymmetric triangular structure. Using the plane-wave analysis, we calculate a minimum value of the refractive index contrast for opening both partial and full two-dimensional spectral gaps for both TM and TE polarized waves. We also analyze the effect of ellipticity of rods and holes and their orientation on the threshold value and the relative size of the bandgap.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, App. Phys. B. styl

Manifestation of photonic band structure in small clusters of spherical particles

We study the formation of the photonic band structure in small clusters of dielectric spheres. The first signs of the band structure, an attribute of an infinite crystal, can appear for clusters of 5 particles. Density of resonant states of a cluster of 32 spheres may exhibit a well defined structure similar to the density of electromagnetic states of the infinite photonic crystal. The resonant mode structure of finite-size aggregates is shown to be insensitive to random displacements of particles off the perfect lattice positions as large as half-radius of the particle. The results were obtained by an efficient numerical method, which relates the density of resonant states to the the scattering coefficients of the electromagnetic scattering problem. Generalized multisphere Mie (GMM) solution was used to obtain scattering matrix elements. These results are important to miniature photonic crystal design as well as understanding of light localization in dense random media.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

(Sub)mm Interferometry Applications in Star Formation Research

This contribution gives an overview about various applications of (sub)mm interferometry in star formation research. The topics covered are molecular outflows, accretion disks, fragmentation and chemical properties of low- and high-mass star-forming regions. A short outlook on the capabilities of ALMA is given as well.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, in proceedings to "2nd European School on Jets from Young Star: High Angular Resolution Observations". A high-resolution version of the paper can be found at http://www.mpia.de/homes/beuther/papers.htm

Thirty-Day Clinical Outcome of Primary Percutaneous Intervention Versus Fibrinolysis Followed by Coronary Angiography in ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Background: Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)is the preferred reperfusion strategy in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, timely PCI cannot be offered to many patients. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the 30-day clinical outcome of primary PCI strategy and fibrinolysis followed by coronary angiography strategy in STEMI patients. Methods: This was a prospective, observational, single center study. All patients admitted for STEMI from 1 January 2016 to 30 November 2016 were screened for the study. Patients were divided into 2 reperfusion strategies: primary PCI or fibrinolysis followed by coronary angiography. Primary outcome was composite of all-cause mortality at 30 days. Results: A total of 178 patients were identified: 33 (18.5%) underwent primary PCI and 145 (81.5%) underwent fibrinolysis first. The median door-to-balloon time in the primary PCI group was 161.0 minutes (IQR 84.5). The median time from fibrinolysis-to-arrival at catheterization lab was 1738 minutes (IQR 901). The median total ischaemic time was 369 min (IQR 524) and 210 (IQR 247) for the primary PCI and fibrinolysis first group respectively (p=0.002). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for 30-day all-cause mortality was 24.2% vs 9.7% respectively in primary PCI and fibrinolysis group p=0.018). Multivariate Linear Regression showed that Killip Class and LVEF were independent predictors of 30-day all-cause mortality. Reperfusion strategy was not associated with 30-day all-cause mortality (p=0.216). Conclusions: The clinical outcome of primary PCI strategy in STEMI is not better than fibrinolysis followed by coronary angiography strategy when timely PCI cannot be performed

MHD computation of feedback of resistive-shell instabilities in the reversed field pinch

MHD computation demonstrates that feedback can sustain reversal and reduce loop voltage in resistive-shell reversed field pinch (RFP) plasmas. Edge feedback on {approximately}2R/a tearing modes resonant near axis is found to restore plasma parameters to nearly their levels with a close-fitting conducting shell. When original dynamo modes are stabilized, neighboring tearing modes grow to maintain the RFP dynamo more efficiently. This suggests that experimentally observed limits on RFP pulselengths to the order of the shell time can be overcome by applying feedback to a few helical modes

Measurement of Cosmic-ray Muon-induced Spallation Neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory

AbstractMuon-induced neutrons are one of the major backgrounds to various underground experiments, such as dark matter searches, low-energy neutrino oscillation experiments and neutrino-less double beta-decay experiments. Previous experiments on the underground production rate of muon-induced neutrons were mostly carried out either at shallow sites or at very deep sites. The Aberdeen Tunnel experiment aims to measure the neutron production rate at a moderate depth of 611 meters water equivalent. Our apparatus comprises of six layers of plastic-scintillator hodoscopes for tracking the incident cosmic-ray muons, and 760 L of gadolinium-doped liquid-scintillator for both neutron production and detection targets. In this paper, we describe the design and the performance of the apparatus. The preliminary result on the measurement of neutron production rate is also presented

Comparison of Resting PD/PA with Fractional Flow Reserve Using a Monorail Pressure Catheter

Background: The RXi™ system (ACIST Medical Systems, MN, USA) is a new Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) technology utilising an ultrathinmonorail microcatheter (Navvus®; ACIST Medical Systems) with an optical pressure sensor located close to the distal catheter tip. FFR measurement using monorail microcatheter is comparable to the conventional pressure wires. However, the predictive value of resting distal coronary artery pressure/aortic pressure (Pd/Pa) on hyperemic FFR value in the real world practice is unknown. Objective: To explore the diagnostic accuracy of resting Pd/Pa in relation to hyperemic FFR using the monorail pressure catheter. Methods: Resting Pd/Pa and FFR were measured using monorail pressure catheter in 67 consecutive patients with intermediate coronary artery lesions (30% to 80% diameter stenoses) between 01-03-2016 to 17-01-2017. Of 121 studied lesions, 29 (23.97%) were excluded because of no hyperemic FFR due to postive resting Pd/Pa (n=17), severe or non-critical stenosis (n=11) and suboptimal acquisition (n=1), leaving 92 lesions for final analysis. Hyperemic FFR was induced with intracoronary adenosine. The selection of coronary wire and the dose of intracoronary nitroglycerine were at the operators’ discretions. Results: Bland-Altman plots showed a moderate degree of scatter between Pd/Pa and FFR value. On average, Pd/Pa exceeded FFR by 0.066 (-0.09 to +0.22). Receiver-operating characteristic curves of the resting Pd/Pa with FFR≤0.80 as the reference variable showed an area under the curve of 0.78 (95% confidence intervals 0.680 to 0.881, pb0.001), with a diagnostic accuracy of 79.3% when the resting Pd/Pa was ≤0.86. Certain cutoff values of Pd/Pa can reliably predict whether hyperemic FFR was positive or negative (FFR cutoff≤0.80). Resting Pd/Pa value of N0.96 had a negative predictive value (NPV) of 100% and sensitivity of 100%; the resting Pd/Pa value of ≤0.82 had a positive predictive value (PPV) of 100% and specificity of 98.3%. These were consistent regardless of coronary vessel, location of lesion or degree of diameter stenosis. Conclusions: Certain range of resting Pd/Pa measured by monorail pressure catheter had excellent NPV and sensitivity or excellent PPV and specificity to predict hyperemic FFR. Clinical outcome studies are required to determine whether the results might obviate the need for hyperemia in selected patients