Self-recording portable soil penetrometer

A lightweight portable penetrometer for testing soil characteristics is described. The penetrometer is composed of a handle, data recording, and probe components detachably joined together. The data recording component has an easily removed recording drum which rotates according to the downward force applied on the handle, and a stylus means for marking the drum along its height according to the penetration depth of probe into the soil

Oxydation humide des polluants organiques par l'oxygène moléculaire activée par le couple H²O²/Fe²+: Optimisation des paramètres opératoires

L'oxydation humide par l'oxygène moléculaire (procédé WAO) activée par le couple (H202/Fe2+) a été mise en oeuvre pour l'oxydation de la pollution organique aqueuse à travers deux composés modèles: l'acide succinique, normalement oxydable, et l'acide acétique, réputé réfractaire. L'influence des différents facteurs a été étudiée par la planification d'expériences. Après leur recensement, une étape préliminaire de criblage a été menée à bien en utilisant une matrice de Plackett et Burman. Seuls les paramètres les plus influents ont été gardés pour l'étape ultérieure d'établissement de modèles prévisionnels à partir d'une matrice composite centrée orthogonale. Les modèles établis ont été validés et ont permis de déterminer les conditions optimales de fonctionnement. L'effet de la température fait apparaître un optimum, à environ 200 °C, au-delà duquel la décomposition du peroxyde devient trop rapide. L'effet de la quantité de peroxyde d'hydrogène introduit est déterminant et l'ajout de moins de 20 % de la quantité stoechiomé- trique permet d'obtenir à 200 °C, avec environ 10 ppm de sels de fer, une efficacité de traitement d'environ 70% pour un composé normalement oxydable. Dans des conditions analogues, le procédé conventionnel sans promoteur conduit à une efficacité inférieure à 5 %.Wet air oxidation (WAO) is a liquid phase oxidation process using molecular oxygen at high temperature (250-300°C) and high pressure (50-150 bar). It can help treating toxic organic aqueous wastes from chemical industries with efficiencies up to 98% after 1 hour. The process can also help treating sludges from domestic sewage treatment facilities. It is usually very cost effective because of the very high operating pressure.This paper deals with the promoted wet air oxidation of acetic acid, rnodel compound for refractory wastes, and succinic acid, model for readily oxidized wastes. The study was conducted in order to determine the promoting effect when adding small dosages of hydrogen peroxide (with iron salts) during oxidation by molecular oxygen. It was previously shown that the initiating step is very temperature dependent (Reaction I) and limits the overall oxidation process The addition of small amounts of H2O2/Fe2+ (Fenton's reagent) can promote the forrnation of very reactive OH• radicals able to develop R• radicals (Reaction IV), even at a low temperature. Then, the oxidation (Reactions VI and VII) continues using molecular oxygen, but the peroxide should be added continuously during a batch test in order to maintain the initiating step.An optimal design methodology was used in order to assess the dependency of the oxidation effrciency on the various parameters and mainly on the promotors. At frrst, a Plackett and Burman design of experiments (PE1) was used to screen the most important variables among those likely to have an effect. The design of experiments, the conditions of the runs and the results (tables 1 to 3) allowed the determination of a new experimental domain and the selection of the four most important variables for the further design of experiments. At the same time, the effect of an addition of phenol (able to reduce iron to the ferrous species, more efficient) was considered. For succinic acid oxidation, a central composite optimal design (PE2) was used (tables 4 and 5). The results allowed us to establish a predictive model (Relationship lX, table 6 and figure 2) and typical results are presented in figures 3 and 4. Approximately 50% oxidation efficiencies could be obtained at 200°C; without peroxide addition, only 5% efficiency is obtained under similar conditions. Moreover, it was observed that the optimum temperature is around 205°C and that phenol is not compatible with peroxide as a promotor. A third optimal design (PE3) was used to predict the efficiency of the method for the treatrnent of acetic acid, a model for a refractory waste. It is composed only of a fractional factorial design (table 7 and 8) and the bias corresponds to the main quadratic effect of temperature (Relationship XIII and table 10). The optimum temperâture is also 205°C and greater than 20% oxidation efficiencies are obtained; at such a temperature, acetic acid cannot be oxidized with the conventional process.The results obtained for the two model compounds validate this oxidation technique. The addition of about 10 ppm of ferrous iron and of less than 20% of the stoichiometric amount in hydrogen peroxide can turn a high pressure WAO process into a medium pressure one

The CloudSME Simulation Platform and its Applications: A Generic Multi-cloud Platform for Developing and Executing Commercial Cloud-based Simulations

Simulation is used in industry to study a large variety of problems ranging from increasing the productivity of a manufacturing system to optimizing the design of a wind turbine. However, some simulation models can be computationally demanding and some simulation projects require time consuming experimentation. High performance computing infrastructures such as clusters can be used to speed up the execution of large models or multiple experiments but at a cost that is often too much for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Cloud computing presents an attractive, lower cost alternative. However, developing a cloud-based simulation application can again be costly for an SME due to training and development needs, especially if software vendors need to use resources of different heterogeneous clouds to avoid being locked-in to one particular cloud provider. In an attempt to reduce the cost of development of commercial cloud-based simulations, the CloudSME Simulation Platform (CSSP) has been developed as a generic approach that combines an AppCenter with the workflow of the WS-PGRADE/gUSE science gateway framework and the multi-cloud-based capabilities of the CloudBroker Platform. The paper presents the CSSP and two representative case studies from distinctly different areas that illustrate how commercial multi-cloud-based simulations can be created

Whole slide image registration for the study of tumor heterogeneity

Consecutive thin sections of tissue samples make it possible to study local variation in e.g. protein expression and tumor heterogeneity by staining for a new protein in each section. In order to compare and correlate patterns of different proteins, the images have to be registered with high accuracy. The problem we want to solve is registration of gigapixel whole slide images (WSI). This presents 3 challenges: (i) Images are very large; (ii) Thin sections result in artifacts that make global affine registration prone to very large local errors; (iii) Local affine registration is required to preserve correct tissue morphology (local size, shape and texture). In our approach we compare WSI registration based on automatic and manual feature selection on either the full image or natural sub-regions (as opposed to square tiles). Working with natural sub-regions, in an interactive tool makes it possible to exclude regions containing scientifically irrelevant information. We also present a new way to visualize local registration quality by a Registration Confidence Map (RCM). With this method, intra-tumor heterogeneity and charateristics of the tumor microenvironment can be observed and quantified.Comment: MICCAI2018 - Computational Pathology and Ophthalmic Medical Image Analysis - COMPA

Enabling Cloud-based Computational Fluid Dynamics with a Platform-as-a-Service Solution

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is widely used in manufacturing and engineering from product design to testing. CFD requires intensive computational power and typically needs high performance computing to reduce potentially long experimentation times. Dedicated high performance computing systems are often expensive for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Cloud computing claims to enable low cost access to high performance computing without the need for capital investment. The CloudSME Simulation Platform aims to provide a flexible and easy to use cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) technology that can enable SMEs to realize the benefits of high performance computing. Our Platform incorporates workflow management and multi-cloud implementation across various cloud resources. Here we present the components of our technology and experiences in using it to create a cloud-based version of the TransAT CFD software. Three case studies favourably compare the performance of a local cluster and two different clouds and demonstrate the viability of our cloud-based approach

Supramolecular assemblies involving metal organic ring interactions: Heterometallic Cu(II)-Ln(III) two dimensional coordination polymers

Three isostructural two-dimensional coordination polymers of the general formula [Ln2(CuL)3(H2O)9]$5.5H2O, where Ln is La (1), Nd (2), and Gd (3), have been synthesized and isolated from aqueous solutions and their single-crystal structures determined by X-ray diffraction. The supramolecular interaction between the non-aromatic metallorings plays an important role in stabilizing the structure of these compounds. The thermal stability, reversible solvent uptake, electronic properties and magnetic studies of these compounds are also reported

Time Correlation Functions of Three Classical Heisenberg Spins on an Isosceles Triangle and on a Chain: Strong Effects of Broken Symmetry

At arbitrary temperature $T$, we solve for the dynamics of single molecule magnets composed of three classical Heisenberg spins either on a chain with two equal exchange constants $J_1$, or on an isosceles triangle with a third, different exchange constant $J_2$. As T\rightrarrow\infty, the Fourier transforms and long-time asymptotic behaviors of the two-spin time correlation functions are evaluated exactly. The lack of translational symmetry on a chain or an isosceles triangle yields time correlation functions that differ strikingly from those on an equilateral trinagle with $J_1=J_2$. At low $T$, the Fourier transforms of the two autocorrelation functions with $J_1\ne J_2$ show one and four modes, respectively. For a semi-infinite $J_2/J_1$ range, one mode is a central peak. At the origin of this range, this mode has a novel scaling form.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Abundances in bulge stars from high-resolution, near-IR spectra I. The CNO elements observed during the science verification of CRIRES at VLT

The formation and evolution of the Milky Way bulge is not yet well understood and its classification is ambiguous. Constraints can, however, be obtained by studying the abundances of key elements in bulge stars. The aim of this study is to determine the chemical evolution of CNO, and a few other elements in stars in the Galactic bulge, and to discuss the sensitivities of the derived abundances from molecular lines. High-resolution, near-IR spectra in the H band were recorded using VLT/CRIRES. Due to the high and variable visual extinction in the line-of-sight towards the bulge, an analysis in the near-IR is preferred. The CNO abundances can all be determined simultaneously from the numerous molecular lines in the wavelength range observed. The three giant stars in Baade's window presented here are the first bulge stars observed with CRIRES. We have especially determined the CNO abundances, with uncertainties of less than 0.20 dex, from CO, CN, and OH lines. Since the systematic uncertainties in the derived CNO abundances due to uncertainties in the stellar fundamental parameters, notably Teff, are significant, a detailed discussion of the sensitivities of the derived abundances is included. We find good agreement between near-IR and optically determined O, Ti, Fe, and Si abundances. Two of our stars show a solar [C+N/Fe], suggesting that these giants have experienced the first dredge-up and that the oxygen abundance should reflect the original abundance of the giants. The two giants fit into the picture, in which there is no significant difference between the O abundance in bulge and thick-disk stars. Our determination of the S abundances is the first for bulge stars. The high [S/Fe] values for all the stars indicate a high star-formation rate in an early phase of the bulge evolution.Comment: Accepted by A&

Apollo 12 Soil Mechanics Investigation

During the sojourn of the second manned spacecraft on the moon in November 1969, the astronauts C. Conrad and A. Beau performed a number of tasks of interest from a soil mechanics point of view. They crossed the lunar surface, penetrating it with a variety of objects including core tube sampling devices, and visited an unmanned Surveyor spacecraft which had landed on and communicated from the moon 31 months previously. The mechanical behaviour of the lunar soil during these activities bas been analysed and is found to be consistent with the properties of a slightly cohesive medium dense granular soil (under lunar gravity) as deduced from previous Surveyor experiments. The grain size distribution and mechanical behaviour of the lunar soil samples which were brought back to Earth are also examined

High-field magnetization study of the S = 1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain [PM Cu(NO3_3)2_2(H2_2O)2_2]n_n with a field-induced gap

We present a high-field magnetization study of the $S$ = 1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain [PM Cu(NO$_3$)$_2$(H$_2$O)$_2$]$_n$. For this material, as result of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and a staggered $g$ tensor, the ground state is characterized by an anisotropic field-induced spin excitation gap and a staggered magnetization. Our data reveal the qualitatively different behavior in the directions of maximum and zero spin excitation gap. The data are analyzed via exact diagonalization of a linear spin chain with up to 20 sites and on basis of the Bethe ansatz equations, respectively. For both directions we find very good agreement between experimental data and theoretical calculations. We extract the magnetic coupling strength $J/k_B$ along the chain direction to 36.3(5) K and determine the field dependence of the staggered magnetization component $m_s$.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures (minor changes to manuscript and figures