Comparison of Adsorptive Removal of Total Nitrogen (T-N) and Total Phosphorous (T-P) in Aqueous Solution using Granular Activated Charcoal (GAC)

The present study is to explore the possibility of utilizing granular activated charcoal (GAC) for the removal of total phosphorous (T-P) and total nitrogen (T-N) in aqueous solution. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to determine the influences of various factors like initial concentration, contact time and temperature. The adsorption data showed that GAC has a similar adsorption capacity for both T-N and T-P. The adsorption degree of T-N and T-P on GAC was highly concentration dependent. It was found that the adsorption capacity of GAC is quite favorable at a low concentration. At concentrations of 1.0 mg L-1 of T-P and 2.0 mg L-1 of T-N, approximately 97 % of adsorption was achieved by GAC. The equilibrium data were fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm model. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model appeared to be the better-fitting model because it has higher R2 compared with the pseudo-first-order and intra-particle kinetic model. The theoretical adsorption equilibrium qe,cal from pseudo-second-order kinetic model were relatively similar to the experimental adsorption equilibrium qe,exp. To evaluate the effect of thermodynamic parameters at different temperatures, the change in free energy ΔG, the enthalpy ΔH and the entropy ΔS were estimated. Except for adsorption of T-P at 278 K, the ΔG values obtained were all negative at the investigated temperatures. It indicates that the present adsorption system occurs spontaneously. The adsorption process of T-N by GAC was exothermic in nature, whereas T-P showed endothermic behavior. In addition, the positive values of ΔS imply that there was the increase in the randomness of adsorption of T-N and T-P at GAC-solution interface. Â

Acupuncture for the treatment of tinnitus: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials

BACKGROUND: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has frequently been used to treat tinnitus, and acupuncture is a particularly popular option. The objective of this review was to assess the evidence concerning the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for tinnitus. METHODS: Fourteen databases were searched from the dates of their creation to July 4th, 2012. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were included if acupuncture was used as the sole treatment. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias. RESULTS: A total of 9 RCTs met all the inclusion criteria. Their methodological quality was mostly poor. Five RCTs compared the effectiveness of acupuncture or electroacupuncture with sham acupuncture for treating tinnitus. The results failed to show statistically significant improvements. Two RCTs compared a short one-time scalp acupuncture treatment with the use of penetrating sham acupuncture at non-acupoints in achieving subjective symptom relief on a visual analog scale; these RCTs demonstrated significant positive effects with scalp acupuncture. Two RCTs compared acupuncture with conventional drug treatments. One of these RCTs demonstrated that acupuncture had statistically significant effects on the response rate in patients with nervous tinnitus, but the other RCT did not demonstrate significant effects in patients with senile tinnitus. CONCLUSIONS: The number, size and quality of the RCTs on the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of tinnitus are not sufficient for drawing definitive conclusions. Further rigorous RCTs that overcome the many limitations of the current evidence are warranted

A new design of Doherty amplifiers using defected ground structure

In this letter, a new Doherty power amplifier having the ideal harmonic termination condition that has been usually ignored is proposed. A defected ground structure (DGS) is adopted on the ground pattern of the output lambda/4 impedance inverter of the carrier amplifier and output offset transmission line of the peaking amplifier that are essential for proper load modulation operation of a conventional Doherty amplifier. As a result of the second and third harmonic termination, excellent improvement in power added efficiency (PAE), gain, maximum output power as well as linearity is obtained. The acquired improvements in gain, maximum output power (P1 dB), PAE, and adjacent channel leakage ratio to wideband code division multiple access 2FA signal are 0.33 dB, 0.42 dB, 12.7%, and 5.1 dB, respectively. Moreover, physical length of microstrip line is shortened fairly by DGS, therefore the whole amplifier circuit size is considerably reduce