An integrated system to remote monitor and control anaerobic wastewater treatment plants through the internet.

The TELEMAC project brings new methodologies from the Information and Science Technologies field to the world of water treatment. TELEMAC offers an advanced remote management system which adapts to most of the anaerobic wastewater treatment plants that do not benefit from a local expert in wastewater treatment. The TELEMAC system takes advantage of new sensors to better monitor the process dynamics and to run automatic controllers that stabilise the treatment plant, meet the depollution requirements and provide a biogas quality suitable for cogeneration. If the automatic system detects a failure which cannot be solved automatically or locally by a technician, then an expert from the TELEMAC Control Centre is contacted via the internet and manages the problem.     

Evidence of High Vertical Wave-Number Behavior in a Continuously Stratified Reservoir: Boadella, Spain

High vertical wave-number modes clearly dominate the internal wave field during the stratification period in Boadella reservoir in northeast Spain. In this period, the extraction of hypolimnetic water, due to summer irrigation, brought the surface level down by 6 m in one month and the epilimnetic water progressively occupied the whole water column. The temperature profile, with the exception of a few meters at the surface layer, presented an almost constant temperature gradient of about 0.7°C/m. The period of the main vertical mode is 24 h with an amplitude of around 1 m. Thermistor chain records and meteorological data allow us to deduce that this mode is, at least, a third vertical mode forced by the wind, which normally has a typical periodicity of 24 h. However, when the wind changes direction from south to north, the circulation cells developed due to this forced nonstationary oscillation are destroyed. When this occurs, the Bulk Richardson number is Rib ～ 1. Similar vertical structures as a response to wind forcing should be expected in similar systems, although this has not been reported in the literature.     

Nanocrystalline TiO2 photosensitized with natural polymers with enhanced efficiency from 400 to 600 nm

TiO₂ sensitization for solar applications requires not only efficient but also stable and inexpensive sensitizers. Different condensed tannins extracted from bark wastes of tropical wood trees were studied as possible sensitizers of TiO₂. These natural polymers adhere strongly to the TiO₂ even from aqueous solutions. Absorption spectra are presented for 1 mM aqueous sensitizing solutions prepared with lyophilized condensed tannins which absorb light in the visible range. Spectral photocurrent measurements and I–V characterization show that no bias is required for electron injection to the TiO₂ from all studied condensed tannins. Incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) analysis indicates that surface complexation originates absorption bands with different electron injection efficiencies. These play a dominant role in determining IPCE spectral shape. We propose that surface modification by the sensitizer changes the surface trap density, thereby decreasing recombination losses.     

Infrequent association: massive inguinoscrotal bladder hernia, multiple scrotal lithiasis, and bilateral obstructive uropathy]

BACKGROUND AND AIMS OF THE STUDY: Surgical treatment of functional tricuspid regurgitation associated with advanced valvular disease remains controversial, mainly due to the difficulty in choosing between valve replacement or reconstructive surgery. Failure to correct tricuspid regurgitation during valvular surgery carries a poor prognosis, as reoperation may represent a significant risk to the patient. Thus correct tricuspid valve surgery is vital to achieve improved early and long-term clinical results. METHODS: A total of 142 patients underwent concomitant tricuspid annuloplasty with mitral valve replacement and their clinical outcome was assessed. RESULTS: Overall hospital mortality rate was 11.3%. Seven patients died during follow up. The overall actuarial survival rate for 10 years was 74.1 +/- 14.2%. Postoperatively, 75.8% of the patients had no residual tricuspid insufficiency, while 24.2% had first- or second-degree tricuspid insufficiency and were treated medically. All patients were in NHYA functional class I or II postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Clinically, it is important to assess the severity of functional tricuspid insufficiency before and/or during the operation. Bicuspidalization annuloplasty for functional tricuspid insufficiency has provided good results, with a low incidence of reoperation and significant clinical improvement. The technique could be used in most patients with functional tricuspid regurgitation.     

Maintenance strategy based on a multicriterion classification of equipments

In an industrial plant, the level of maintenance provided to individual equipment is directly related to the availability that is expected from it. Thus, it is hoped that the most critical equipments will not fail or, at least, that any failure will be rapidly detected and corrected in the minimum time possible. Since resources are limited, it is necessary to determine how they should be distributed, so that no important equipment remains neglected while more resources are concentrated on the most critical items. Therefore, it is necessary to classify equipment in an objective way according to its importance. The method of multicriterion classification of critical equipments (MCCE)², which is described in the present work, allows systematic and detailed quantification of the criticality of all equipment, that is to say, it provides an evaluation of the importance that its correct operation has for the plant. To provide this information, the consequences for a company of any failure in the equipment concerned are analysed. Finally, a real case example of an urban wastewater treatment plant is described, in which the MCCE method is applied.     

Kinetics of chlorination of tantalum pentoxide in mixture with sucrose carbon by chlorine gas

The mechanism and kinetics of β-Ta₂O₅ chlorination, mixed with sucrose carbon, have been studied by a thermogravimetric technique. The investigated temperature range was 500 °C to 850 °C. The reactants and reaction residues were analyzed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method for surface area (BET). The effect of various experimental parameters was studied, such as carbon percentage, temperature, chlorine partial pressure, and flow, use of the multiple sample method, and carbon previous oxidation. The carbon percentage and previous treatment have an effect on the system reactivity. The temperature has a marked effect on the reaction rate. In the 500 °C to 600 °C temperature interval, the apparent activation energy is 144 kJ/mol of oxide, while at higher temperatures, the activation energy decreases. With high chorine partial pressures, the order of reaction is near zero. The kinetic contractile plate model, X=kt, considering carbon oxidation as the controlling stage, is the one with the best fit to the experimental data. A probable mechanism for the carbochlorination of β-Ta₂O₅ is proposed: (1) activation of chlorine on the carbon surface, (2) chlorination of Ta₂O₅, (3) oxidation of carbon, and (4) recrystallization of β-Ta₂O₅.     

Fluctuation conductivity in Li-doped YBa2Cu3O7−x

The paraconductivity of Li-doped YBa₂Cu₃O_7?x was measured. We have found that the character of the fluctuation changes as lithium content increases: instead of a crossover from 2D to 3D behavior (D is the dimensionality), as we have observed for a low doping level, a double crossover to the 2D percolative and 3D percolative regimes becomes manifest by increasing the lithium content.