En busca de nuevas matemáticas

Los matemáticos interesados en mantenerse al día en la investigación matemática contemporánea enfrentan desalentadores obstáculos. El alto nivel de abstracción, la nada clarificante notación y la presentación acostumbrada de los artículos en las revistas conspiran conjuntamente para hacer de toda incursión en la literatura matemática una experiencia frustrante e ingrata. Los matemáticos pueden hacer más para que sus investigaciones sean accesibles a una mayor audiencia. &nbsp

Fouling mechanisms of ultrafiltration membranes fouled with whey model solutions

In this work, three ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with different molecular weight cut-offs (MWCOs) and made of different materials were fouled with several whey model solutions that consisted of bovine serum albumin (BSA) (1% w/w), BSA (1% w/w) and CaCl2 (0.06% w/w in calcium) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) with a total protein content of 45% w/w at three different concentrations (22.2, 33.3 and 44.4 g·L− 1). The influence of MWCO and membrane material on the fouling mechanism dominating the UF process was investigated. Experiments were performed using two flat-sheet organic membranes and a ceramic monotubular membrane whose MWCOs were 5, 30 and 15 kDa, respectively. Hermia's models adapted to crossflow UF, a combined model based on complete blocking and cake formation equations and a resistance-in-series model were fitted to permeate flux decline curves. The results demonstrated that permeate flux decline was accurately predicted by all the models studied. However, the models that fitted the best to permeate flux decline experimental data were the combined model and the resistance-in-series model. Therefore, complete blocking and cake formation were the predominant mechanisms for all the membranes and feed solutions tested.The authors of this work wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project CTM2010-20186.Corbatón Báguena, MJ.; Alvarez Blanco, S.; Vincent Vela, MC. (2015). Fouling mechanisms of ultrafiltration membranes fouled with whey model solutions. Desalination. 360:87-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2015.01.019S879636

Quantum Games

Scientists studying quantum computation offer new perspectives on coin tossing, chess, and game theory. Theorists intend to apply the peculiarities of quantum behavior to game theory, two previously unrelated fields. These researchers propose that the possibility of a mixed state permits quantum-game strategies that in theory can be more successful than conventional ones. This new type of modeling using quantum computers could greatly affect fields such as economics, international relations, and computer science

En busca de nuevas matemáticas

Los matemáticos interesados en mantenerse al día en la investigación matemática contemporánea enfrentan desalentadores obstáculos. El alto nivel de abstracción, la nada clarificante notación y la presentación acostumbrada de los artículos en las revistas conspiran conjuntamente para hacer de toda incursión en la literatura matemática una experiencia frustrante e ingrata. Los matemáticos pueden hacer más para que sus investigaciones sean accesibles a una mayor audiencia. &nbsp