Prototype of highly efficient liquid electrode pulsating corona plasma reactor for degradation of organics in water

Prototype of atmospheric pressure non-thermal corona plasma reactor, developed for degradation of organics in water, operates at significantly higher frequency than other reactors for that purpose, and without sparks. Its construction provides the umbrella shaped, sustained pulsating corona discharge, with defined discharge oscillations on a given pulse frequency above the water surface. Dye degradation rate decreases with the decrease of discharge current density. Plasmaformed H2O2 is consumed in dye degradation. The energy yield of dye degradation is 2.45 g k Wh^-1 for 50 ppm solution, which is higher than in other publications for comparable experimental conditions.

Sustainability of Wind Energy under Changing Wind Regimes—A Case Study

A method was introduced to assess the sustainability of energy production over the lifetime (~20 y) of wind turbines. Community Earth System Model simulations were downscaled for the tourist seasons (mid-May to mid-September) of 2006 to 2012 (CESM-P1) and 2026 to 2032 (CESM-P2) to obtain a reference and projected wind-speed climatology, respectively. The wind speeds served to calculate the potential power output and capacity factors of seven turbine types. CESM-P1 wind-speed climatology, power output, and capacity factors were compared to those derived from wind speeds obtained by numerical weather forecasts for reference to known standard to wind-farm managers. Juneau, Alaska served as a virtual testbed as this region is known to experience changes in wind speeds in response to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. CESM-P2 suggested about 2% decrease for wind speeds between the speeds at cut-in and rated power, and about 8% - 10% decrease in potential wind-power output. This means that in regions of decadal climate variations, the sustainability of wind-energy production should be part of the decision-making process. The study demonstrated that using mean values of wind-speeds can provide qualitative knowledge about decreases/increases in potential energy production, but not about the magnitude. Using the total individual wind-speed data of all seasons provided the same amount of total power output than summing up the power outputs of individual seasons. The main advantage of calculating individual seasonal wind-power outputs, however, is that it theoretically permits assessment of interannual variability in power output and capacity factors. Comparison to a known standard may help stakeholders in understanding of uncertainty and interpretation of projected changes.

A NOTE ON THE DRAZIN INVERSE OF A MODIFIED MATRIX

In this article, the expression for the Drazin inverse of a modified matrix is considered and some interesting results are established. This contributes to certain recent results obtained by Y.Wei [9].

Clustering： from Clusters to Knowledge

Data analysis and automatic processing is often interpreted as knowledge acquisition. In many cases it is necessary to somehow classify data or find regularities in them. Results obtained in the search of regularities in intelligent data analyzing applications are mostly represented with the help of IF-THEN rules. With the help of these rules the following tasks are solved： prediction, classification, pattern recognition and others. Using different approaches---clustering algorithms, neural network methods, fuzzy rule processing methods--we can extract rules that in an understandable language characterize the data. This allows interpreting the data, finding relationships in the data and extracting new rules that characterize them. Knowledge acquisition in this paper is defined as the process of extracting knowledge from numerical data in the form of rules. Extraction of rules in this context is based on clustering methods K-means and fuzzy C-means. With the assistance of K-means, clustering algorithm rules are derived from trained neural networks. Fuzzy C-means is used in fuzzy rule based design method. Rule extraction methodology is demonstrated in the Fisher＇s Iris flower data set samples. The effectiveness of the extracted rules is evaluated. Clustering and rule extraction methodology can be widely used in evaluating and analyzing various economic and financial processes.

Catalytic Kinetic Spectrophotometric Method for Determination of Phosphate Ion

The kinetic method for the determination of phosphate microamounts was described. The developed method is based on catalytic effect of phosphate on sodium pyrogallol-5-sulphonate （PS） by dissolved oxygen. The reaction was followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the rate of change in the values of the absorbance of the oxidation product at 437 nm. The optimum reaction conditions are PS （0.44×10^-3 mol·L^-1） and HClO4 （3.6×10^-6 mol·L^-1） at 25 ℃. Following this procedure, phosphate can be determined with a linear calibration graph up to 0.23 μg·mL^-1. The interference effect of several species was also investigated and it was found that the most common cations and anions did not interfere with the determination. The developed procedure was successfully applied to the determination of phosphate in natural waters and soil.

A modified version of free orbit-dimension of von Neumann algebras

Based on the notion of free orbit-dimension of Hadwin-Shen (2007) we introduce a new invariant for finite von Neumann algebras with arbitrarily large generating sets and acting on Hilbert spaces of arbitrary dimension. We show that this invariant is independent of the generating set, and we extend results in Hadwin-Shen (2007) to this larger class of algebras.

Bracken-induced increase in soil P availability, along with its high P acquisition efficiency, enables it to invade P-deficient meadows

Changes in soil chemistry after invasion by bracken(Pteridium aquilinum)have been studied in heathlands,but comparable studies in meadows are lacking.We investigated if bracken invasion into P-deficient meadows alters the soil nutrient-resource pool,as well as the mechanisms behind it linked to soil processes and bracken nutrition.Furthermore,we investigated how community composition responds to differences in soil chemistry before and after the invasion.Soil and plant material sampling,along with vegetation survey,were performed during bracken peak biomass.Data analyses included analysis of variance and canonical correspondence analysis(CCA).Bracken invasion increased soil P availability,soil organic C concentration,as well as C:N,C:S and N:S ratios,while decreasing Fe and Co concentrations.Bracken pinnae were rich in P,and its rhizomes were rich in K,whereas N:P of pinnae and rhizomes was low.CCA showed contrasting abundance patterns of frequent meadow species related to P and K availability.Holcus lanatus exhibited competitive advantage under extremely low P availability.Increase in P availability under bracken may have occurred through promoting the leaching of Fe and Al.By increasing P availability for its growth and increasing N limitation for other species,bracken can gain a competitive advantage from the soil resource-niche perspective.Its ability to increase soil P availability,along with the physiological mechanisms behind its high P acquisition efficiency,seem to differentiate bracken from other species of competitive ecological strategy,which are mainly confined to nutrient-rich environments.This enabled bracken to invade P-deficient meadows.