Improved biological wastewater treatment and sludge characteristics by applying magnetic field to aerobic granules

Permanent magnets with non-uniform magnetic field and an electromagnet with 3–5 mT uniform magnetic field were applied to investigate their effects on both aerobic granulation and COD and ammonium removal in reactors with less than 7% coverage of magnetic field. It was found that both types of magnets had little influence on the granulation speed and the settling ability of granular sludge at the steady state. However, the maximum specific COD degradation rate and the maximum specific NH4+-N removal rate were increased by 45–54% and 30–50%, respectively, in the magnetic fields. Mean effluent COD with the electromagnet and the permanent magnet field, respectively, at the steady state, was 28 mg l?1 and 6 mg l?1, respectively, lower than the control at a statistical significance level of alpha = 0.05. No statistically significant increase in NH4+-N removal was observed at the steady state probably due to almost complete NH4+-N removal before the end of the cycle. In addition, it was found that extracellular polymeric substances in granular sludge with electromagnet were 77% more while soluble microbial products were much less compared with the control, suggesting a positively changed metabolism of granular sludge at steady state. The results in this study indicated that low-intensity magnetic field has a great potential to be applied in granular sludge for an improved wastewater treatment

Design and Analysis of Long-Stroke Planar Switched Reluctance Motor for Positioning Applications

This paper presents the design, control, and experimental performance evaluation of a long-stroke planar switched reluctance motor (PSRM) for positioning applications. Based on comprehensive consideration of the electromagnetic and mechanical characteristics of the PSRM, a motor design is first developed to reduce the force ripple and deformation. A control scheme with LuGre friction compensation is then proposed to improve the positioning accuracy of the PSRM. Furthermore, this control scheme is proven to ensure the stable motion of the PSRM system. Additionally, the response speed and steady-state error of the PSRM system with this control scheme are theoretically analyzed. Finally, the experimental results are presented and analyzed. The effectiveness of the precision long-stroke motion of the PSRM and its promise for use in precision positioning applications are verified experimentally

Serum Early Prostate Cancer Antigen (EPCA) Level and Its Association with Disease Progression in Prostate Cancer in a Chinese Population

BACKGROUND: Early prostate cancer antigen (EPCA) has been shown a prostate cancer (PCa)-associated nuclear matrix protein, however, its serum status and prognostic power in PCa are unknown. The goals of this study are to measure serum EPCA levels in a cohort of patients with PCa prior to the treatment, and to evaluate the clinical value of serum EPCA. METHODS: Pretreatment serum EPCA levels were determined with an ELISA in 77 patients with clinically localized PCa who underwent radical prostatectomy and 51 patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease who received primary androgen deprivation therapy, and were correlated with clinicopathological variables and disease progression. Serum EPCA levels were also examined in 40 healthy controls. RESULTS: Pretreatment mean serum EPCA levels were significantly higher in PCa patients than in controls (16.84 ± 7.60 ng/ml vs. 4.12 ± 2.05 ng/ml, P<0.001). Patients with locally advanced and metastatic PCa had significantly higher serum EPCA level than those with clinically localized PCa (22.93 ± 5.28 ng/ml and 29.41 ± 8.47 ng/ml vs. 15.17 ± 6.03 ng/ml, P = 0.014 and P<0.001, respectively). Significantly elevated EPCA level was also found in metastatic PCa compared with locally advanced disease (P < 0.001). Increased serum EPCA levels were significantly and positively correlated with Gleason score and clinical stage, but not with PSA levels and age. On multivariate analysis, pretreatment serum EPCA level held the most significantly predictive value for the biochemical recurrence and androgen-independent progression among pretreatment variables (HR = 4.860, P<0.001 and HR = 5.418, P<0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Serum EPCA level is markedly elevated in PCa. Pretreatment serum EPCA level correlates significantly with the poor prognosis, showing prediction potential for PCa progression

Advances in structure elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry

The structural elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry plays an important role in modern life sciences and bioanalytical approaches. This review covers different soft and hard ionization techniques and figures of merit for modern mass spectrometers, such as mass resolving power, mass accuracy, isotopic abundance accuracy, accurate mass multiple-stage MS(n) capability, as well as hybrid mass spectrometric and orthogonal chromatographic approaches. The latter part discusses mass spectral data handling strategies, which includes background and noise subtraction, adduct formation and detection, charge state determination, accurate mass measurements, elemental composition determinations, and complex data-dependent setups with ion maps and ion trees. The importance of mass spectral library search algorithms for tandem mass spectra and multiple-stage MS(n) mass spectra as well as mass spectral tree libraries that combine multiple-stage mass spectra are outlined. The successive chapter discusses mass spectral fragmentation pathways, biotransformation reactions and drug metabolism studies, the mass spectral simulation and generation of in silico mass spectra, expert systems for mass spectral interpretation, and the use of computational chemistry to explain gas-phase phenomena. A single chapter discusses data handling for hyphenated approaches including mass spectral deconvolution for clean mass spectra, cheminformatics approaches and structure retention relationships, and retention index predictions for gas and liquid chromatography. The last section reviews the current state of electronic data sharing of mass spectra and discusses the importance of software development for the advancement of structure elucidation of small molecules

static analysis of a class of memory leaks in trustedbsd mac framework

Xidian Univ, Xidian Univ, Sch Telecommun Engn, Key Lab Comp Networks & Informat Security, Minist EducSecurity labels of subjects and objects are crucial for some security policies and are an essential part of the TrustedBSD MAC framework. We find that security labels not being destroyed properly will result in memory leaks. This paper analyzes the security labels management of the TrustedBSD MAC framework and presents a path-sensitive static analysis approach to detect potential memory leaks caused by the security label management. This approach verifies complete destruction of security labels through compiler-integrated checking rules at compile-time. It achieves complete coverage of execution paths and has low false positive rate

Statics Analyses of a Riveting Robot based on 6-SPU Parallel Mechanism

A new walking riveting robot based on 6-SPU parallel mechanism is designed to meet the needs of high precision and high efficiency machining for large, thin-walled and complex curved surface workpieces in aviation industry and automotive industry. After modeling and solving the position inverse solution of the robot, the riveting trajectory planning is carried out, and the correct positions and orientations of riveting holes are determined. For the workpiece with large thin-walled cylindrical surface, the riveting hole process of the robot is simulated by finite element analysis software, the maximum deformations in all orientations and the maximum equivalent stresses of the moving platform corresponding to riveting points are obtained. The above results provide the necessary theoretical basis for the structure optimization and performance analyses of the automatic riveting robot

static scheduling of synchronous data flow onto multiprocessors for embedded dsp systems

IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society; Shanghai University of Engineering Science; City University of Hongkong; Changsha University of Science and Technology; Hunan University of Science and TechnologyA method of scheduling onto multiprocessors for embedded DSP system applications is proposed. This method basing on SDF (Synchronous Data Flow) performs all of the scheduling at compile time by methods of periodic schedules. And it uses a Hierarchical Priority Scheduling algorithm, which first schedules the module of highest priority, to solve the problem, static scheduling of SDF onto Multiprocessors. Compared to other algorithms, it has better Time and Space Complexity because the conversion from SDF to APG (Acyclic Precedence Graphs) is unnecessary. Experimental results prove the validity of the proposed method. &copy; 2011 IEEE

Statics Analyses of a Riveting Robot based on 6-SPU Parallel Mechanism

A new walking riveting robot based on 6-SPU parallel mechanism is designed to meet the needs of high precision and high efficiency machining for large, thin-walled and complex curved surface workpieces in aviation industry and automotive industry. After modeling and solving the position inverse solution of the robot, the riveting trajectory planning is carried out, and the correct positions and orientations of riveting holes are determined. For the workpiece with large thin-walled cylindrical surface, the riveting hole process of the robot is simulated by finite element analysis software, the maximum deformations in all orientations and the maximum equivalent stresses of the moving platform corresponding to riveting points are obtained. The above results provide the necessary theoretical basis for the structure optimization and performance analyses of the automatic riveting robot

Improved biological wastewater treatment and sludge characteristics by applying magnetic field to aerobic granules

Permanent magnets with non-uniform magnetic field and an electromagnet with 3–5 mT uniform magnetic field were applied to investigate their effects on both aerobic granulation and COD and ammonium removal in reactors with less than 7% coverage of magnetic field. It was found that both types of magnets had little influence on the granulation speed and the settling ability of granular sludge at the steady state. However, the maximum specific COD degradation rate and the maximum specific NH4+-N removal rate were increased by 45–54% and 30–50%, respectively, in the magnetic fields. Mean effluent COD with the electromagnet and the permanent magnet field, respectively, at the steady state, was 28 mg l−1 and 6 mg l−1, respectively, lower than the control at a statistical significance level of alpha = 0.05. No statistically significant increase in NH4+-N removal was observed at the steady state probably due to almost complete NH4+-N removal before the end of the cycle. In addition, it was found that extracellular polymeric substances in granular sludge with electromagnet were 77% more while soluble microbial products were much less compared with the control, suggesting a positively changed metabolism of granular sludge at steady state. The results in this study indicated that low-intensity magnetic field has a great potential to be applied in granular sludge for an improved wastewater treatment

Research on Multi-interval Coupling Optimization of Ship Main Dimensions for minimum EEDI

In order to improve energy-saving effect of the YUKUN ship, minimize the value of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), while considering the impact of uncertain factors. In this research, interval analysis method is used in uncertain optimization, and main dimensions of interval optimization research for EEDI are carried out. First, multiisland genetic algorithm (MIGA), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and adaptive simulated annealing algorithm (ASA) optimization methods are used for deterministic optimization, to analyze the influence of different optimization algorithms on the optimization results and to obtain the best deterministic optimization scheme. Second, considering uncertain factors—flow velocity, ship's wet surface area and total resistance coefficient—the interval analysis method is used to determine the main dimensions of the optimization problem and to analyze the influence of single interval and multi-interval coupling on the EEDI. Analysis shows that an increased number of uncertain factors will increase EEDI while decrease the energy saving effect, as will the coupling effect between uncertain factors. Final value of EEDI obtained by multiinterval coupling optimization, however, can be more realistic and guarantees the reliability of the scheme of the ship’s main dimensions, and also be feasible as is still below the required baseline