Development of an apparatus for obtaining molecular beams in the energy range from 2 to 200 eV

The formation and detection of molecular beams obtained by charge exchange from a low-energy ion source is discussed. Dispersion in energy of the ion source was measured and problems concerning detection of neutral beams were studied. Various methods were used, specifically secondary electron emissivity of a metallic surface and ionization of a gas target with a low ionization voltage. The intensities of neutral beams as low as 10 eV are measured by a tubular electron multiplier and a lock-in amplifier

Étude expérimentale et modélisation de la désinfection par le chlore des eaux usées épurées

Pour étudier la désinfection d'une eau usée épurée au stade secondaire, traitée à l'hypochlorite de sodium, des essais en réacteur fermé ont été effectués en utilisant des doses variant entre 1 et 10 mg de chlore par litre. Les résultats obtenus montrent que la cinétique de désinfection est loin d'être uniforme. L'utilisation du modèle de Chick et Watson n'est en effet possible que si on l'adapte pour tenir compte de la modification de la vitesse de désinfection au cours du processus. Le modèle de Collins et Selleck permet de rendre compte de façon satisfaisante de l'évolution de la vitesse d'élimination des germes au cours du temps. La faible valeur du paramètre t trouvée (0.26 min.mg/l pour les coliformes totaux et 0.58 min.mg/l pour les coliformes fécaux) semble cependant démontrer que la période de latence est relativement peut importante surtout lorsqu'on utilise des dose de chlore élevées. Il s'avère d'autre part que la demande en chlore de ce type d'eau est très importante. La concentration en chlore résiduel dans le réacteur décroît très rapidement pour atteindre environs 10 % de la dose de chlore injectée et cela quelle que soit la dose utilisée (de 1 à 10 mg/l). Le dimensionnement des réacteurs de désinfection fonctionnant en continu nécessite de prendre en compte le comportement hydrodynamique de l'eau dans le réacteur. Sachant qu'un abattement de 3 U-Log est nécessaire, dans le cas de la réutilisation de l'eau pour l'irrigation, un modèle intégrant l'expression de la cinétique de désinfection et l'hydrodynamique du contacteur a été proposé. Les résultats mettent en évidence l'intérêt de concevoir des réacteurs se rapprochant le plus possible de l'écoulement piston.Secondary wastewater is considered as an important additional resource of water in a country, which has a semiarid climate as Tunisia. On quality basis, the use of water for irrigation is governed by chemical parameters of the water that affect plant, soils conditions and the underlying groundwater. Treated urban wastewater is susceptible to be used in irrigation without major risks (see table 1). However, the use of such a water can represent a risk of contamination of edible crops, pasture lands, and feed crops by direct contact with disease agent carried in reclaimed water or aerosols from spray irrigation. These sanitary risks can be considerably reduced with the practice of an efficient disinfection. Chlorinating is one of the simplest and less expensive disinfection processes. The objectives of this work are the study of the disinfection kinetics and the rate of exertion of chlorine demand of water, when the sodium hypochlorite is used for treating a secondary wastewater. for this, a batch reactor tests have been done. After applying a dose of chlorine (between 1 and 10 mg/l), we have determined the evolution with time of chlorine residual concentration and rate of inactivation of the total and fecal coliform. Chlorine demandTo describe chlorine decay in the complex milieu of water, like wastewater, Haas and Karra (1984) have developed followed equation:C=C0[XE-k1t+(1-X)e]-k2twhere:C : concentration of residual chlorine, mg/lC0 : dose of chlorine, mg/lX : empirical constantt : contact time, mink1and k2 : rate constants, min-1In the case of wastewater chlorinating, we can ascertain that the chlorine concentration in the batch reactor decrease rapidly, in the beginning of the reaction, and very moderately after satisfaction of the initial chlorine demand. This initial chlorine demand is very important. It represents near 90% of the dose injected in the reactor. The chlorine concentration decay can be described by Haas and Karra equation with X=0.9, k1=3 min-1 and k2=0.001 min-1. After some minutes of contact time, we can notes, see figure 2, that the chlorine concentration decay is susceptible to be approximate by a first order equation:t ≥ 2min ⇒ C ≅ 0.1e-0.001 tThe concentration of residual chlorine becomes practically constant in the reactor, once initial chlorine demand has been satisfied, with C ≅ 0.1 C0.Disinfection kineticsUsing a pseudo first order Chick and Watson model reveals that the rate of inactivation of coliform bacteria is not uniform. We can employ this model to fit experimental data only when we subdivide the process in two stages characterised by different kinetics. for example, the logarithm of fecal coliform survival rate can be expressed by the relationships:for C ∙ t ≤ 2.85 min ∙ mg/L Ln(N/N0)= -1.65C ∙ tfor C ∙ t ≥ 2.85 min ∙ mg/L Ln(N/N0)= -3.89-0.29C⋄tCollins and Selleck (1972) developed a general kinetic expression for the effect of combined chlorine residual on both total and fecal coliform. Combining the work of chick and Gard (Gard, 1957) they developed the following formula describing the survival of these bacteria:for C∙tτ (N/N0)=(τ/C∙t)nwhere C : the combined chlorine residual, mg/lt : contact time, minutet : an environmental coefficient or induction timen : Constant In this formula, we have assumed that the concentration of chlorine remains constant. We can apply this model when we consider that C is the chlorine concentration after the immediate wastewater demand had been satisfied. Using Collins and Selleck disinfection model to plot the survival rate of total and fecal coliform in chlorinated secondary effluent, we have obtained the coefficients below: for total coliform : n=1.94 t=0.26 min∙mg/lfor fecal coliform : n=3.1 t=0.58 min∙mg/lThe constant τ represents the time required for the disinfectant to diffuse through the cell wall and begin its disinfectant activity. we can see that this initial lag time is very short. The disinfectant becomes rapidly efficacious to inactivate coliform bacteria.Design of disinfectant contact facilitiesSo as to estimate the influence of the hydraulic efficiency of chlorine contact chambers on disinfection process performance, we have compared efficiency of two ideals reactors: the completely stirred tank reactor and plug flow reactor. The kinetic equations presented above had been established in a batch reactor. To obtain the mean conversion in the entire contactor, one has to apply the segregated flow model. Using the concept of segregated flow system, the survival ratio will be the sum of the batch reactions of all small aggregates, or:           ∞(N/N0)=∫(N/N0)batchE(Ɵ)dƟ           0Ɵ : normalized contact time (contact time/hydraulic residence time)E(Ɵ) : normalized frequency distribution of agesIn completely mixed regime, fluid particles are exponentially distributed throughout a tank until the fluid properties exhibited by the effluent leaving the unit are identical to those within the unit. Using Collins and Selleck model, the survival ratio corresponding to hydraulic residence time Ts and to the residual chlorine concentration C is expressed by equation:           ∞                      (τ/C∙Ts)           ∞(N/N0)=∫(N/N0)batche-ƟdƟ = ∫ e-ƟdƟ + ∫ (τ/C∙t)me-ƟdƟ           0                            0         (τ/C∙Ts)The survival ratio for a hydraulic residence times between 5 min and 60 min and a residual chlorine concentration between 0.2 mg/l and 1 mg/l are reported in table 3 and table 4.In a plug flow regime all particles entering in a basin have equal velocity values, travel on parallel flow paths, and remain in the unit for an identical period known as the hydraulic residence time. the performance of such a reactor is identical at the batch reactor performance. In table 5 and table 6 we have reported the survival ratio given by plug flow reactor with residence time until 60 min and residual chlorine concentration between 0.2 mg/l and 1 mg/l. Knowing that the secondary wastewater reuse necessitates a 3 U-Log fecal coliform inactivation, we can see clearly the importance of reactor design on his performance. Indeed, to reach a 3 U-log inactivation, it is sufficient (see table 6) to use a dose of 2 mg/l of chlorine and a hydraulic residence time of 30 minutes, in plug flow reactor. Such dose and the same residence time given only a 1 U -Log inactivation (see table 4) when the reactor is completely mixed

Tendencias actuales de la biotecnología en Nicaragua

Este trabajo aborda las tendencias de la investigación biotecnológica en Nicaragua. Se destaca el reciente auge de esta área del conocimiento basándose en información obtenida de los tres Congresos Nicaragüenses de Biotecnología (2002, 2004 y 2006). Se describen, en particular, las actividades y temáticas abordadas en el tercer Congreso, resaltando las ponencias más sobresalientes. Al mismo tiempo, se discute la potencialidad de este sector para la economía nacional. Esta revisión del tema, a manera de diagnóstico de la situación actual, podría contribuir a la toma de decisiones sobre el desarrollo de políticas de promoción de la investigación científica

Changes in Grape Maturity Induced by Spraying Ethanol

Three different ethanol solutions were sprayed onto Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L.) clusters during the ripening period: 2.5, 5 and 10% by volume in water. Controls were sprayed with water alone. Three different times of spraying were also tested: 8, 10 and 13 weeks post-flowering. One of the observed changes was a lower titratable acidity in grape samples at harvest, when the clusters were sprayed with ethanol at 10 weeks, in comparison with controls. The wines made with grapes treated with ethanol after mid-veraison, had higher ODs at 520 nm than did the controls. This may due to a combined effect of red pigment levels and acidity. In addition, following malolactic fermentation, the acidity levels of wines made with ethanoltreated grapes were slightly higher than those made with the control grapes. Spraying ethanol at 13 weeks post-flowering increased the berry weight by 10% at harvest without decreasing the °Brix value. The corresponding wines had similar degrees of alcohol. This observation was made for the first time in 2001

Transoral glossoepiglottopexy in the treatment of adult obstructive sleep apnoea: A surgical approach [Glossoepiglottoplastica con approccio trans-orale nel trattamento delle apnee ostruttive notturne nell\u2019adulto]

The treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is still a matter of debate; among the different therapeutic alternatives, both surgical and conservative, treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is considered the \u201cgold standard\u201d. The recent scientific literature reports that even if CPAP represents an effective solution for sleep apnoeas, 12% of patients do not benefit from its use. In most cases, primary collapse of the epiglottis is responsible for failure. We developed a surgical technique that provides a stable support to the epiglottis without influencing its function during swallowing while preserving laryngeal anatomy and physiology. The procedure we propose is based on that conceived by Monnier for children affected by laryngomalacia. We analysed a group of 20 patients who underwent glossoepiglottopexy between January 2015 and September 2016 and compared data (AHI, ODI, t90, ESS, EAT10, etc.) collected before and 6 months after surgery to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of our glossoepiglottopexy (GEP). The results allow us to consider GEP as a valid choice to treat adults who suffer from sleep apnoeas

Ethanol application at veraison decreases acidity in Cabernet Sauvignon grapes

Research NoteSpraying ethanol (5 % v/v in water) onto grape clusters at mid-veraison led to a 30 % drop in the malic acid concentration at harvest. As a consequence, titratable acidity also dropped by 10 %. The concentration of tartaric acid did not change significantly. The mode of action of ethanol on malic acid metabolism is discussed.

Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA

Drosophila Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) proteins are responsible for the maintenance of stable transcription patterns of many developmental regulators, such as the homeotic genes. We have used ChIP-on-chip to compare the distribution of several PcG/TrxG proteins, as well as histone modifications in active and repressed genes across the two homeotic complexes ANT-C and BX-C. Our data indicate the colocalization of the Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) with Trx and the DNA binding protein Pleiohomeotic (Pho) at discrete sequence elements as well as significant chromatin assembly differences in active and inactive regions. Trx binds to the promoters of active genes and noncoding transcripts. Most strikingly, in the active state, Pho covers extended chromatin domains over many kilobases. This feature of Pho, observed on many polytene chromosome puffs, reflects a previously undescribed function. At the hsp70 gene, we demonstrate in mutants that Pho is required for transcriptional recovery after heat shock. Besides its presumptive function in recruiting PcG complexes to their site of action, our results now uncover that Pho plays an additional role in the repression of already induced genes

Technical Note: The air quality modeling system Polyphemus

International audiencePolyphemus is an air quality modeling platform which aims at covering the scope and the abilities of modern air quality systems. It deals with applications from local scale to continental scale, using two Gaussian models and two Eulerian models. It manages passive tracers, radioactive decay, photochemistry and aerosol dynamics. The structure of the system includes four independent levels with data management, physical parameterizations, numerical solvers and high-level methods such as data assimilation. This enables sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, primarily through multimodel approaches. On top of the models, drivers implement advanced methods such as model coupling or data assimilation

Tendencias actuales de la biotecnología en Nicaragua

ESTE TRABAJO ABORDA LAS TENDENCIAS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN biotecnológica en Nicaragua. Se destaca el reciente auge de esta área del conocimiento basándose en información obtenida de los tres Congresos Nicaragüenses de Biotecnología (2002, 2004 y 2006). Se describen, en particular, las actividades y temáticas abordadas en el tercer Congreso, resaltando las ponencias más sobresalientes. Al mismo tiempo, se discute la potencialidad de este sector para la economía nacional. Esta revisión del tema, a manera de diagnóstico de la situación actual, podría contribuir a la toma de decisiones sobre el desarrollo de políticas de promoción de la investigación científic

Tendencias actuales de la biotecnología en Nicaragua

ESTE TRABAJO ABORDA LAS TENDENCIAS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN biotecnológica en Nicaragua. Se destaca el reciente auge de esta área del conocimiento basándose en información obtenida de los tres Congresos Nicaragüenses de Biotecnología (2002, 2004 y 2006). Se describen, en particular, las actividades y temáticas abordadas en el tercer Congreso, resaltando las ponencias más sobresalientes. Al mismo tiempo, se discute la potencialidad de este sector para la economía nacional. Esta revisión del tema, a manera de diagnóstico de la situación actual, podría contribuir a la toma de decisiones sobre el desarrollo de políticas de promoción de la investigación científica