Modèle de référence pour évaluer différentes stratégies de contrôle dans des usines de traitement des eaux usées

Dans la majorité des pays, il existe des lois strictes pour réglementer la qualité de l'eau provenant des systèmes de traitement d'eaux usées. Ces spécifications légales sont essentiellement influencées par des questions telles que la santé publique, l'environnement et les facteurs économiques.Les objectifs fondamentaux des procédés de traitement des eaux usées sont d'atteindre, avec l'utilisation d'énergie et à des coûts opérationnels minimaux, une concentration de matière biodégradable et de nutriments suffisamment basse dans les effluents et une production minimale de boues.Les systèmes de traitement des eaux usées sont de grandes dimensions et complexes. Ils sont aussi sujets à des variations importantes dans le flux d'entrée et dans la composition de l'eau à l'entrée, qui ne sont pas bien connues. Le procédé est multivariable, avec beaucoup de couplages croisés et nonlinéarités importantes. La dynamique dépend de la variabilité des flux d'entrée et de la complexité des phénomènes physico-chimiques et biochimiques. Le comportement dynamique démontre une énorme variation de temps de réponse (de quelques minutes jusqu'à plusieurs jours). Ces problèmes, combinés aux objectifs les plus importants du traitement des eaux usées, donnent lieu à une demande de techniques de commande avancées, qui peuvent conduire à une réduction du volume à traiter, une diminution importante dans l'utilisation des produits chimiques, et une possibilité d'économie d'énergie et une diminution des coûts d'opération.Dans ce travail, un " benchmark " (modèle de référence) d'un système complet de traitement des eaux usées a été développé, pour évaluer, à partir de simulations, la performance des différentes stratégies de commande proposées, y compris les techniques de respirométrie ("respirometry"). Ce travail s'aparente au Programme Européen d'Action COST (COST 624), et au projet "Respirometry in Control of the Activated Sludge Process (IWA Respirometry Task Group").Le "Benchmark" représente un procédé de prédénitrification de la boue activée pour éliminer la matière organique et l'azote des effluents domestiques. Le simulateur est basé sur des modèles largement acceptés par la communauté internationale et il a été implanté dans un environnement Matlab/Simulink. La topologie du système et le développement complet du simulateur sont présentés dans ce travail. L'effet des conditions initiales et des caractéristiques du flux d'entrée (valeurs moyennes) sont analysés, aussi bien qu'un test en boucle ouverte. Les stratégies suivantes ont été sélectionnées en guise d'illustration de l'application de la commande automatique dans le "benchmark" (seulement avec commande proportionnel-intégral monovariable): commande basée sur la concentration d'oxygène dissous ("DO concentration-based control"), commande par respirométrie (commande par biomasse active et commande par taux de respiration bactérienne), et commande par concentration de nitrate (commande par dosage externe de carbone et recyclage du flux interne). Le "benchmark" est continuellement mis a jour et sa prochaine version va incorporer des fonctions d'optimisation en temps réel (on line) pour le procédé.This paper presents a benchmark for a plant for biological treatment of wastewater, in order to evaluate, through simulations, different strategies of control. The benchmark represents the process of activated sludge in a configuration with pre-denitrification, for the treatment of domestic effluents, by removal of organic matter and nitrogen. It is based on models widely accepted by the international community and it is implemented in the Matlab/Simulink environment. The techniques of control here presented are typically used to control the process, such as: dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration-based control, respirometry-sbased control and nitrate concentration-based control, employing the classical proportional-integral (PI) controller

Lifetimes of Confined Acoustic Phonons in Ultra-Thin Silicon Membranes

We study the relaxation of coherent acoustic phonon modes with frequencies up to 500 GHz in ultra-thin free-standing silicon membranes. Using an ultrafast pump-probe technique of asynchronous optical sampling, we observe that the decay time of the first-order dilatational mode decreases significantly from \sim 4.7 ns to 5 ps with decreasing membrane thickness from \sim 194 to 8 nm. The experimental results are compared with theories considering both intrinsic phonon-phonon interactions and extrinsic surface roughness scattering including a wavelength-dependent specularity. Our results provide insight to understand some of the limits of nanomechanical resonators and thermal transport in nanostructures

Group Strategyproof Pareto-Stable Marriage with Indifferences via the Generalized Assignment Game

We study the variant of the stable marriage problem in which the preferences of the agents are allowed to include indifferences. We present a mechanism for producing Pareto-stable matchings in stable marriage markets with indifferences that is group strategyproof for one side of the market. Our key technique involves modeling the stable marriage market as a generalized assignment game. We also show that our mechanism can be implemented efficiently. These results can be extended to the college admissions problem with indifferences

Efecto de los hongos micorrícicos arbusculares en un cultivo ecológico de ají (Capsicum annuum L.) cacho de cabra

Mapuche farmers in southern Chile have been cultivating local ecotypes of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), called locally "Cacho de cabra", for many decades. It is used to make "merkén", a condiment that is consumed locally and exported. This vegetable requires a nursery stage and can obtain nutritional benefits from symbiotic associations such as mycorrhizal fungi, achieving a better adaptation to transplanting. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are obligate biotrophes appearing in abundance in agroecosystems with conservation management. The aim of this study was to compare effectiveness of two AMF, a commercial mycorrhizal inoculant (IC, Glomus intraradices) and another native (IN, Glomus claroideum) with a control without inoculation (-I) on the production and quality of "Cacho de cabra". At 45 days after sowing (DAS) transplanting was carried out and at 90 and 216 DAS fruit quality, fungal and edaphic parameters were evaluated. The harvest was at four stages. With IN inoculation plants and with greater foliar area were obtained. Also, precocity of fruit production was observed. The harvest started 49 days earlier and fresh weight was 177% higher than that of the control. Root colonization was low, showing significant differences between IN and IC, while a large number of spores was produced in the substrate. It was concluded that inoculation with native fungi decreased transplanting stress thus accelerating the maturation stage of plants and resulting in higher and better yield quality

Comparison of Zn_{1-x}Mn_xTe/ZnTe multiple-quantum wells and quantum dots by below-bandgap photomodulated reflectivity

Large-area high density patterns of quantum dots with a diameter of 200 nm have been prepared from a series of four Zn_{0.93}Mn_{0.07}Te/ZnTe multiple quantum well structures of different well width (4 nm, 6 nm, 8 nm and 10 nm) by electron beam lithography followed by Ar+ ion beam etching. Below-bandgap photomodulated reflectivity spectra of the quantum dot samples and the parent heterostructures were then recorded at 10 K and the spectra were fitted to extract the linewidths and the energy positions of the excitonic transitions in each sample. The fitted results are compared to calculations of the transition energies in which the different strain states in the samples are taken into account. We show that the main effect of the nanofabrication process is a change in the strain state of the quantum dot samples compared to the parent heterostructures. The quantum dot pillars turn out to be freestanding, whereas the heterostructures are in a good approximation strained to the ZnTe lattice constant. The lateral size of the dots is such that extra confinement effects are not expected or observed.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX2e (amsmath, epsfig), 7 EPS figure

Engineering nanoscale hypersonic phonon transport

Controlling the vibrations in solids is crucial to tailor their mechanical properties and their interaction with light. Thermal vibrations represent a source of noise and dephasing for many physical processes at the quantum level. One strategy to avoid these vibrations is to structure a solid such that it possesses a phononic stop band, i.e., a frequency range over which there are no available mechanical modes. Here, we demonstrate the complete absence of mechanical vibrations at room temperature over a broad spectral window, with a 5.3 GHz wide band gap centered at 8.4 GHz in a patterned silicon nanostructure membrane measured using Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy. By constructing a line-defect waveguide, we directly measure GHz localized modes at room temperature. Our experimental results of thermally excited guided mechanical modes at GHz frequencies provides an eficient platform for photon-phonon integration with applications in optomechanics and signal processing transduction

Urinary Epidermal Growth Factor/Creatinine Ratio and Graft Failure in Renal Transplant Recipients:A Prospective Cohort Study

Graft failure (GF) remains a significant limitation to improve long-term outcomes in renal transplant recipients (RTR). Urinary epidermal growth factor (uEGF) is involved in kidney tissue integrity, with a reduction of its urinary excretion being associated with fibrotic processes and a wide range of renal pathologies. We aimed to investigate whether, in RTR, uEGF is prospectively associated with GF. In this prospective cohort study, RTR with a functioning allograft >= 1-year were recruited and followed-up for three years. uEGF was measured in 24-hours urine samples and normalized by urinary creatinine (Cr). Its association with risk of GF was assessed by Cox-regression analyses and its predictive ability by C-statistic. In 706 patients, uEGF/Cr at enrollment was 6.43 [IQR 4.07-10.77] ng/mg. During follow-up, 41(6%) RTR developed GF. uEGF/Cr was inversely associated with the risk of GF (HR 0.68 [95% CI 0.59-0.78]; P <0.001), which remained significant after adjustment for immunosuppressive therapy, estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate, and proteinuria. C-statistic of uEGF/Cr for GF was 0.81 (P <0.001). We concluded that uEGF/Cr is independently and inversely associated with the risk of GF and depicts strong prediction ability for this outcome. Further studies seem warranted to elucidate whether uEGF might be a promising marker for use in clinical practice

Surfactant-mediated variation of band-edge emission in CdS nanocomposites

The optical-structural characteristics of the direct optical band-gap semiconducting series of surfactant template-mediated laminar (CdS)x(CdCl2)y(CnH2n+4N)z nanocomposites are reported. X-ray diffraction measurements of the nanocomposites exhibited interlaminar distances in the range 2.9-3.6 nm with observations of eighth order {0 0 l} diffraction planes indicative of a high degree of laminarity and crystallographic order. Diffuse reflectance measurements have determined that the profile of their emission spectrum is that of a direct band-gap with absorption edges in the range 2.11-2.40 eV, depending on the CdS mole fraction in the nanocomposite. Photoluminescence (PL) excitation and time-resolved PL spectroscopies give an estimate of the maximum relative absorbance of the nanocomposites at ∼420 nm while the minimum was observed at ∼560 nm. The main emission was observed at ∼700 nm with emission from doubly ionized sulphur vacancies observed at ∼615 nm at room temperature. The CdS-containing nanocomposite is thus a surfactant-mediated modular system with variable band-gap energy emission

Studying boundary layer methane isotopy and vertical mixing processes at a rewetted peatland site using an unmanned aircraft system

The combination of two well-established methods, of quadrocopter-borne air sampling and methane isotopic analyses, is applied to determine the source process of methane at different altitudes and to study mixing processes. A proof-of-concept study was performed to demonstrate the capabilities of quadrocopter air sampling for subsequently analysing the methane isotopic composition δ13C in the laboratory. The advantage of the system compared to classical sampling on the ground and at tall towers is the flexibility concerning sampling location, and in particular the flexible choice of sampling altitude, allowing the study of the layering and mixing of air masses with potentially different spatial origin of air masses and methane. Boundary layer mixing processes and the methane isotopic composition were studied at Polder Zarnekow in Mecklenburg–West Pomerania in the north-east of Germany, which has become a strong source of biogenically produced methane after rewetting the drained and degraded peatland. Methane fluxes are measured continuously at the site. They show high emissions from May to September, and a strong diurnal variability. For two case studies on 23 May and 5 September 2018, vertical profiles of temperature and humidity were recorded up to an altitude of 650 and 1000 m, respectively, during the morning transition. Air samples were taken at different altitudes and analysed in the laboratory for methane isotopic composition. The values showed a different isotopic composition in the vertical distribution during stable conditions in the morning (delta values of −51.5 ‰ below the temperature inversion at an altitude of 150 m on 23 May 2018 and at an altitude of 50 m on 5 September 2018, delta values of −50.1 ‰ above). After the onset of turbulent mixing, the isotopic composition was the same throughout the vertical column with a mean delta value of −49.9 ± 0.45 ‰. The systematically more negative delta values occurred only as long as the nocturnal temperature inversion was present. During the September study, water samples were analysed as well for methane concentration and isotopic composition in order to provide a link between surface and atmosphere. The water samples reveal high variability on horizontal scales of a few tens of metres for this particular case. The airborne sampling system and consecutive analysis chain were shown to provide reliable and reproducible results for two samples obtained simultaneously. The method presents a powerful tool for distinguishing the source process of methane at different altitudes. The isotopic composition showed clearly depleted delta values directly above a biological methane source when vertical mixing was hampered by a temperature inversion, and different delta values above, where the air masses originate from a different footprint area. The vertical distribution of methane isotopic composition can serve as tracer for mixing processes of methane within the atmospheric boundary layer

Ferromagnetic resonance assisted optomechanical magnetometer

The resonant enhancement of mechanical and optical interaction in optomechanical cavities enables their use as extremely sensitive displacement and force detectors. In this work we demonstrate a hybrid magnetometer that exploits the coupling between the resonant excitation of spin waves in a ferromagnetic insulator and the resonant excitation of the breathing mechanical modes of a glass microsphere deposited on top. The interaction is mediated by magnetostriction in the ferromagnetic material and the consequent mechanical driving of the microsphere. The magnetometer response thus relies on the spectral overlap between the ferromagnetic resonance and the mechanical modes of the sphere, leading to a peak sensitivity better than 900 pT Hz$^{-1/2}$ at 206 MHz when the overlap is maximized. By externally tuning the ferromagnetic resonance frequency with a static magnetic field we demonstrate sensitivity values at resonance around a few nT Hz$^{-1/2}$ up to the GHz range. Our results show that our hybrid system can be used to build high-speed sensor of oscillating magnetic fields