Electrochemical processing of solid waste

The investigation into electrolysis as a means of waste treatment and recycling on manned space missions is described. The electrochemical reactions of an artificial fecal waste mixture was examined. Waste electrolysis experiments were performed in a single compartment reactor, on platinum electrodes, to determine conditions likely to maximize the efficiency of oxidation of fecal waste material to CO2. The maximum current efficiencies for artificial fecal waste electrolysis to CO2 was found to be around 50 percent in the test apparatus. Experiments involving fecal waste oxidation on platinum indicates that electrodes with a higher overvoltage for oxygen evolution such as lead dioxide will give a larger effective potential range for organic oxidation reactions. An electrochemical packed column reactor was constructed with lead dioxide as electrode material. Preliminary experiments were performed using a packed-bed reactor and continuous flow techniques showing this system may be effective in complete oxidation of fecal material. The addition of redox mediator Ce(3+)/Ce(4+) enhances the oxidation process of biomass components. Scientific literature relevant to biomass and fecal waste electrolysis were reviewed

Electrochemical incineration of wastes

The disposal of domestic organic waste in its raw state is a matter of increasing public concern. Earlier, it was regarded as permissible to reject wastes into the apparently infinite sink of the sea but, during the last 20 years, it has become clear that this is environmentally unacceptable. On the other hand, sewage farms and drainage systems for cities and for new housing developments are cumbersome and expensive to build and operate. New technology whereby waste is converted to acceptable chemicals and pollution-free gases at site is desirable. The problems posed by wastes are particularly demanding in space vehicles where it is desirable to utilize treatments that will convert wastes into chemicals that can be recycled. In this situation, the combustion of waste is undesirable due to the inevitable presence of oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide in the effluent gases. Here, in particular, electrochemical techniques offer several advantages including the low temperatures which may be used and the absence of any NO and CO in the evolved gases. Work done in this area was restricted to technological papers, and the present report is an attempt to give a more fundamental basis to the early stages of a potentially valuable technology

Clinical Research - Past, Present & Future

Clinical pharmacology/research has a very interesting history. It started in the 40’s of the 20th century through the pioneering work of Harry Gold at Cornell University New York. Clinical research is an integral part of drug development. Drug development can be hastened by a number of new techniques with reduction in cost. In addition reverse pharmacology approaches for drug discovery have come to occupy a special place. 85% of the neutral antagonists act as inverse agonists. Inverse agonists have a distinct effect on receptor regulation as opposed to neutral antagonists.Orphan receptors constitute about 50% of the GPCRs. It is estimated that now there are nearly 175 orphan receptors after 125 having been deorphanised. Targeting these orphan receptors can lead to about the same number of ligands and antagonists thereof. Polymorphism of cytochrome P450 provides the basis for the use of predictive pharmacogenomics to yield drug therapies that are more efficient and safer. It is estimated that such personalized P450 gene-based treatment would be relevant for 10-20% of all drug therapy.Key Words:  Clinical Pharmacology (a facet of clinical research) - Human experiments for safety and efficacy; G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) – some orphan receptors ;Strategies for drug discovery – Deorphanisation of orphan receptors, allosteric receptor sites, in-silico drug screenin

Electrochemical incineration of wastes

The novel technology of waste removal in space vehicles by electrochemical methods is presented to convert wastes into chemicals that can be eventually recycled. The important consideration for waste oxidation is to select a right kind of electrode (anode) material that should be stable under anodic conditions and also a poor electrocatalyst for oxygen and chlorine evolution. On the basis of long term electrolysis experiments on seven different electrodes and on the basis of total organic carbon reduced, two best electrodes were identified. The effect of redox ions on the electrolyte was studied. Though most of the experiments were done in mixtures of urine and waste, the experiments with redox couples involved 2.5 M sulfuric acid in order to avoid the precipitation of redox ions by urea. Two methods for long term electrolysis of waste were investigated: (1) the oxidation on Pt and lead dioxide electrodes using the galvanostatic methods; and (2) potentiostatic method on other electrodes. The advantage of the first method is the faster rate of oxidation. The chlorine evolution in the second method is ten times less then in the first. The accomplished research has shown that urine/feces mixtures can be oxidized to carbon dioxide and water, but current densities are low and must be improved. The perovskite and Ti4O7 coated with RuO2 are the best electrode materials found. Recent experiment with the redox agent improves the current density, however, sulphuric acid is required to keep the redox agent in solution to enhance oxidation effectively. It is desirable to reduce the use of acid and/or find substitutes

Parental Perceptions about Pain and Pain Management Practices in Neonatal Units: A Review

Background: Pain management in neonates remains sub-optimal in sub-Saharan countries like Kenya due to lack of resources to procure pharmacological analgesics. There, however, exist low-cost, mother-driven pain management strategies such as breastfeeding and kangaroo care that can be used for pain relief in neonates in Kenya. Successful use of these interventions is depended on parents’ perception about neonatal pain and how well pain in neonates is managed during hospitalisation.Objective: To determine parents’ perception about pain and pain management practices in neonatal units.Data sources: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase and PsycINFO databases were searched  using the following key words: parent(s), perception(s), view(s), neonate, newborn, pain, procedural pain, management, and practices.Study selection : Studies published in peer-reviewed English journals that focused on acute procedural pain or acute persistent pain on neonates were included in the review.Data extraction : Two independent authors critically reviewed retrieved articles and extracted data on study sample, setting, design as well as key findings on parental perceptions about pain and pain  management practices.Data synthesis: A meta-synthesis approach involving a critical evaluation of convergences and  divergences of participants’ views about pain and pain management practices.Results: Of the 101 articles generated through the databases search, four met the inclusion criteria. Parents believe that neonates experienced a lot of pain during hospitalisation that is often not adequately treated and desire to be involved in the pain care of their neonates.Conclusion: The high frequency of pain experienced by neonates in the course of hospitalisation should serve as an impetus to involve parents in procedural pain management in neonatal units

Collective effects at frictional interfaces

We discuss the role of the long-range elastic interaction between the contacts inside an inhomogeneous frictional interface. The interaction produces a characteristic elastic correlation length $\lambda_c = a^2 E / k_c$ (where $a$ is the distance between the contacts, $k_c$ is the elastic constant of a contact, and $E$ is the Young modulus of the sliding body), below which the slider may be considered as a rigid body. The strong inter-contact interaction leads to a narrowing of the effective threshold distribution for contact breaking and enhances the chances for an elastic instability to appear. Above the correlation length, $r > \lambda_c$, the interaction leads to screening of local perturbations in the interface, or to appearance of collective modes --- frictional cracks propagating as solitary waves

On conformal measures and harmonic functions for group extensions

We prove a Perron-Frobenius-Ruelle theorem for group extensions of topological Markov chains based on a construction of $\sigma$-finite conformal measures and give applications to the construction of harmonic functions.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of "New Trends in Onedimensional Dynamics, celebrating the 70th birthday of Welington de Melo

An enterprising phoenix: materiality, affect and learning

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how workers experience planned and unplanned change(s), how the effects of change endure in organizations and the entanglement (Gherardi, 2015) of materiality, affect and learning. Design/methodology/approach: Research design is ethnographic in nature and draws from 30 semi-structured interviews of workers in an Australian organization. Interviews were designed to elicit narrative accounts (stories) of challenges and change faced by the workers. Desktop research of organizational documents and material artefacts complemented interview data. Analysis is informed by socio-material understandings and, in particular, the ideas of materiality, affect and learning. Findings: Change, in the form of a fire, triggered spontaneous and surprisingly positive affectual and organizational outcomes that exceeded earlier attempts at restructuring work. In the wake of the material tragedy of the fire in one organization, what emerged was a shift in the workers and the practices of the organization. Their accounts emphasized challenges, excitement and renewal, which prompt reconsideration of learning at work, in particular the entanglement of affect, materiality and learning in times of change. Originality/value: Much workplace learning research identifies change as conducive to learning. This paper builds on this research by providing new understandings of, and insights into, the enduring effects of change