CPM-Related Mechanisms Could Play a Key Role in the Effects on Pain Sensitivity Induced by Manual Therapy: Three Crossover Trials Investigating the Effects of Manual Pressure.

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess whether pain-inducing manual pressure (PIMP) leads to effects on pressure pain threshold (PPT) mediated by conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and whether these effects are influenced by the intensity and repetition of the stimulus. Additionally, the influence of psychological factors and physical activity on the response to PIMP was explored. Methods: A total of 72 pain-free students were randomly assigned to three crossover trials. Trial 1 compared the effects of PIMP with the cold pressor task and pain-inducing electrostimulation. Trial 2 compared the effects of manual pressure that elicited moderate pain, mild pain, and no pain. Trial 3 compared a single PIMP stimulation with four stimuli applied at the same site or at different sites. Results: PIMP produced a lower increase in PPT than cold pressor task and no difference with electrostimulation. Manual pressure that caused moderate pain led to a greater increase in PPT compared to mild pain and pain-free application. Repetition of PIMP stimulus, whether at the same or different sites, did not significantly increase PPT compared to a single stimulation. No association with psychological factors or physical activity was found. Conclusions: PIMP produces an increase in PPT, suggesting the involvement of CPM-related mechanisms.

Automated active fault detection in fouled dissolved oxygen sensors.

Biofilm formation causes bias in dissolved oxygen (DO) sensors, which hamper their usage for automatic control and thereby balancing energy- and treatment efficiency. We analysed if a dataset that was generated with deliberate perturbations, can automatically be interpreted to detect bias caused by biofilm formation. We used a challenging set-up with realistic conditions that are required for a full-scale application. This included automated training (adapting to changing normal conditions) and automated tuning (setting an alarm threshold) to assure that the fault detection (FD)-methods are accessible to the operators. The results showed that automatic usage of FD-methods is difficult, especially in terms of automatic tuning of alarm thresholds when small training datasets only represent the normal conditions, i.e. clean sensors. Despite the challenging set-up, two FD-methods successfully improved the detection limit to 0.5 mg DO/L bias caused by biofilm formation. We showed that the studied dataset could be interpreted equally well by simpler FD-methods, as by advanced machine learning algorithms. This in turn indicates that the information contained in the actively generated data was more vital than its interpretation by advanced algorithms.

Boron Removal from Aqueous Solutions by Using a Novel Alginate-Based Sorbent: Comparison with Al2O3 Particles.

Boron removal was evaluated in the present work by using calcium alginate beads (CA) and a novel composite based on alginate-alumina (CAAl) as sorbents in a batch system. The effects of different parameters such as pH, temperature, contact time, and composition of alginate (at different concentrations of guluronic and mannuronic acids) on boron sorption were investigated. The results confirm that calcium alginate beads (CA) exhibited a better adsorption capacity in a slightly basic medium, and the composite alginate-alumina (CAAl) exhibited improved boron removal at neutral pH. Sorption isotherm studies were performed and the Langmuir isotherm model was found to fit the experimental data. The maximum sorption capacities were 4.5 mmol g-1 and 5.2 mmol g-1, using CA and CAAl, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters such as change in free energy (ΔG0), enthalpy (ΔH0), and entropy (ΔS0) were also determined. The pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order rate equations (PFORE and PSORE, respectively) were tested to fit the kinetic data; the experimental results can be better described with PSORE. The regeneration of the loaded sorbents was demonstrated by using dilute HCl solution (distilled water at pH 3) as eluent for metal recovery.

Eco-Efficient Biosorbent Based on Leucaena leucocephala Residues for the Simultaneous Removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) Ions from Water System: Sorption and Mechanism.

Leucaena leucocephala is a potential source of polyphenols widely available in southern Mexico. This work highlights the extraction of polyphenols from Leucaena leucocephala leaves waste (LLEPs) and the evaluation of their efficiency to remove the single and multicomponent Pb(II) and Cd(II) metal ions from aqueous solutions. Batch test conditions were carried out to examine the effects of contact time, initial metal ion concentration, and adsorbent dosage on the biosorption process. The surface textures and the composition of the LLEP biosorbent was characterized using pH of point of zero charge (pHPZC), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, respectively. Further analysis using ATR-FTIR after adsorption contact of biosorbent was also investigated. The highest Langmuir saturation monolayer adsorption capacity, q m, for the removal of Pb(II) by LLEPs was obtained as 25.51 and 21.55 mg/g in mono- and bimetal solutions, respectively. The pseudo-second-order model provided the best fit for the kinetic data obtained for the removal of Pb(II), Cd(II), and their mixture, and the k2 values depend on the adsorbent mass. This implied that the chemisorption process might be the mechanism of the solute ions-LLEPs interaction in this study. Furthermore, nearly 100% removal of lead and cadmium individually and 95% of their mixture was found using 0.9 g of LLEPs.

Fault signatures and bias progression in dissolved oxygen sensors.

Biofilm fouling is known to impact the data quality of sensors, but little is known about the exact effects. We studied the effects of artificial and real biofilm fouling on dissolved oxygen (DO) sensors in full-scale water resource recovery facilities, and how this can automatically be detected. Biofilm fouling resulted in different drift direction and bias magnitudes for optical (OPT) and electrochemical (MEC) DO sensors. The OPT-sensor was more affected by biofilm fouling compared to the MEC-sensor, especially during summer conditions. A bias of 1 mg/L was detected by analysing the impulse response (IR) of the automatic air cleaning system in the DO sensor. The IR is an effect of a temporal increase in DO concentration during the automatic air cleaning. The IRs received distinct pattern changes that were matched with faults including: biofilm fouling, disturbances in the air supply to the cleaning system, and damaged sensor membrane, which can be used for fault diagnosis. The results highlight the importance of a condition-based sensor maintenance schedule in contrast to fixed cleaning intervals. Further, the results stress the importance of understanding and detecting bias due to biofilm fouling, in order to maintain a robust and resource-efficient process control.

Analysis of photobioreactors in series.

A photobioreactor (PBR) contains microalgae which under illumination consume carbon dioxide and substrate dissolved in water, and produce oxygen. The process is used in water recovery resource facilities with a continuous flow of wastewaster through the PBR. With several PBRs in series the reduction of substrate can be improved. This paper contains a thorough analysis of a model of PBRs in series, where each PBR is modelled with a system of three ordinary differential equations for the concentrations of dissolved substrate and biomass (algae), and the internal cell quota of substrate to biomass. Each PBR has a certain volume and irradiation. The absorption rate of substrate into the cells is modelled with Monod kinetics, whereas the biomass growth rate is modelled with Droop kinetics, in which both a minimum and a maximum internal cell quota are assumed. The main result is that the model has a unique stable steady-state solution with algae in all PBRs. Another stable steady-state solution is the wash-out solution with no algae in the system. Other steady-state solutions are combinations of these two with no algae in some of the first PBRs and algae in the rest of the PBRs in the series. Conditions on the illumination, volumetric flow and volumes of the PBRs are given for the respective solution. Numerical solutions illustrate the theoretical results and indicate further properties.

Gaussian process regression for monitoring and fault detection of wastewater treatment processes.

Monitoring and fault detection methods are increasingly important to achieve a robust and resource efficient operation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The purpose of this paper was to evaluate a promising machine learning method, Gaussian process regression (GPR), for WWTP monitoring applications. We evaluated GPR at two WWTP monitoring problems: estimate missing data in a flow rate signal (simulated data), and detect a drift in an ammonium sensor (real data). We showed that GPR with the standard estimation method, maximum likelihood estimation (GPR-MLE), suffered from local optima during estimation of kernel parameters, and did not give satisfactory results in a simulated case study. However, GPR with a state-of-the-art estimation method based on sequential Monte Carlo estimation (GPR-SMC) gave good predictions and did not suffer from local optima. Comparisons with simple standard methods revealed that GPR-SMC performed better than linear interpolation in estimating missing data in a noisy flow rate signal. We conclude that GPR-SMC is both a general and powerful method for monitoring full-scale WWTPs. However, this paper also shows that it does not always pay off to use more sophisticated methods. New methods should be critically compared against simpler methods, which might be good enough for some scenarios.

Fault detection and isolation of sensors in aeration control systems.

In this paper, we consider the problem of fault detection (FD) and isolation in the aeration system of an activated sludge process. For this study, the dissolved oxygen in each aerated zone is assumed to be controlled automatically. As the basis for an FD method we use the ratio of air flow rates into different zones. The method is evaluated in two scenarios: using the Benchmark Simulation Model no. 1 (BSM1) by Monte Carlo simulations and using data from a wastewater treatment plant. The FD method shows good results for a correct and early FD and isolation.

Boron removal from aqueous solutions using alginate gel beads in fixed-bed systems.

BACKGROUND: A column sorption study was carried out using calcium alginate gel beads as adsorbent for the removal of boron from aqueous solutions. The breakthrough curve was obtained as a function of pH, initial concentration of boron, feed flow rate, adsorbent mass and column diameter. The breakthrough capacity values and adsorption percentage of calcium alginate gel for boron were calculated. Column data obtained at different conditions were described using the Adams-Bohart model and bed-depth service time (BDST), derived from the Adams-Bohart equation to predict breakthrough curves and to determine the characteristic column parameters required for process design. RESULTS: The maximum adsorption percentage of boron on calcium alginate gel beads using an initial concentration of boron of 50 mg L-1 at pH 11 and room temperature (20±1°C) was calculated to be 55.14%. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that calcium alginate can be used in a continuous packed-bed column for boron adsorption. The optimal conditions for boron adsorption were obtained at high pH, higher initial boron concentration, increased column depth and lower flow velocity. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Biosorption of Reactive Black 5 from aqueous solutions by chitosan: column studies.

Fixed-bed column studies were carried out to investigate the dynamic sorption of Reactive Black 5 (RB5) onto chitosan. The effect of operating parameters such as initial dye concentration, superficial flow velocity, bed height and particle size on the sorption of RB5 onto chitosan was studied. Column regeneration, dye recovery and the possibility of reusing the regenerated chitosan were also investigated. The results show that both the breakthrough curves and the adsorption parameters of the column were strongly affected by the operating parameters studied. An analysis of the breakthrough curves indicated that adsorption was affected by mass transfer limitations, probably due to intraparticle diffusion. An empirical model was applied to describe the breakthrough curves, while the Bohart-Adams and BDST models were used to determine the operating parameters useful in the process design. Elution of the column with 0.01 mol L(-1) NaOH allowed the chitosan to be regenerated and the dye to be recovered and concentrated. The concentration factor was 10. Several cycles of adsorption-elution showed that the regenerated chitosan retained good adsorption efficiency and the elution efficiency was always higher than 80%.

Plastia prepucial Vs circuncisión / Preputial platy Vs circumcision

Para obtener información sobre las ventajas y desventajas de la técnica de Plastia Prepucial en caso de fimosis, se estudiaron 25 pacientes con edad promedio de 3.54 + 2.01 años, atendidos en consulta externa del servicio de cirugía pediátrica del Departamento de Pediatría del Hospital Central "Antonio María Pineda", en el lapso de Febrero de 1995 a Febrero de 1996. La intervención se realizó en la región dorsal del pene, siguiendo una modificación de la técnica descrita por Holmlund en 1973. Se tomaron en cuenta para el análisis del presente estudio los siguientes parámetros Clínicos: tiempo operatorio, material utilizado, tiempo de hospitalización complicaciones de la técnica y estética. El promedio del tiempo operatorio fue 5.36 ñ 2.06 minutos (IC 95 por ciento 4.51-6.21) y el promedio de estadia hospitalaria fue 3.75 ñ 1.4 horas (IC95 por ciento 3.17-4.34). En cuanto a la estética el proceso cicratizal resultó poco notorio. Después de la intervención, se reportó dolor (60 por ciento de los pacientes) y edema prepucial (16 por ciento de los pacientes). Se concluye que la plastia prepucial es una buena alternativa quirúrgica que pueda ser utilizada en pacientes con fimosis