Search results for "Bust"

Influence of the methodology of inoculation in the performance of air-breathing microbial fuel cells

2017

In this work, four air-breathing microbial fuel cells (AB-MFC) were operated for 1 month in order to determine if the methodology of inoculation affects the steady-state performance of this type of MFCs. For this purpose, anaerobic and aerobic sludge were fed to two identical AB-MFCs without any external carbon source into a tight sealed environment during the first three days of start-up. For comparison purposes, other two AB-MFCs were operated mixing the initial sludge and an amount of sodium acetate as substrate. Results point out that the inoculation procedure does not affect the steady-state treatment capacity of the cells but it affects very seriously the production of electricity. On…

Influence of the initial sludge characteristics and acclimation on the longterm performance of double-compartment acetate-fed microbial fuel cells

2018

Abstract In this work, three double-compartment MFCs (DC-MFC) were operated for 1 month in order to compare their performances in terms of wastewater treatment capacity and electricity production and to get information about how this performance is influenced by the start-up procedure. To do this, they underwent different start-up procedures. One of them (aerobic-starved MFC) was inoculated with 100% fresh aerobic sludge, another (anaerobic-starved MFC) using 100% fresh anaerobic sludge, and finally a third one (aerobic-fed MFC) was inoculated using a mixture 10% fresh aerobic sludge and 90% synthetic wastewater (based on acetate). Then, from this start-up, the cells were operated exactly u…

Development of a module of stacks of air-breathing microbial fuel cells to light-up a strip of LEDs

2018

Abstract This work focuses on scaling-up of the microbial fuel cells technology according to the principle of miniaturization and multiplication. Seven stacks of 16 mini-MFCs (electrodic area of 0.866 cm2) were built up leading to a big module of 112 MFCs. The electrical connection among the MFCs in the stacks and among the stacks into the modules was optimized in order to implement this technology. Results show that 1 MFC generates 1.22 mW while the optimization of the electric connection in order to achieve the maximum power results in 6.62 mW compared to the theoretical 182 mW, indicating the existence of large energy losses in the system. However, to light a LED there is not a threshold…

On the staking of miniaturized air-breathing microbial fuel cells

2018

Abstract This work focuses on the scale-up of the MFCs by miniaturization and multiplication strategy. Performances of five stacks containing 1, 2, 5, 8 and 16 MFCs were compared. Each stack was evaluated under individual, parallel and series electrical connection as well as for cascade or individual hydraulic connection. Cascade feeding mode with a tank per stack favours the COD removal when the number of MFCs in the stack increases. However, despite operating without COD limitations, the energy production was disadvantaged. By changing the feeding system of a tank per stack into an individual tank per MFC, the performance of the whole stack enhances considerably. Stacking in series can in…

2020

Anaerobic digestion is a technology known for its potential in terms of methane production. During the digestion process, multiple metabolites of high value are synthesized. However, recent works have demonstrated the high robustness and resilience of the involved microbiomes; these attributes make it difficult to manipulate them in such a way that a specific metabolite is predominantly produced. Therefore, an exact understanding of the manipulability of anaerobic microbiomes may open up a treasure box for bio-based industries. In the present work, the effect of nalidixic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and sodium phosphate on the microbiome of digested sewage sludge from a water treatmen…

Asset Markets and Equilibrium Selection in Public Goods Games with Provision Points: An Experimental Study

2001

This paper reports the experimental results of implicit pre-play communication on the equilibrium selection in threshold public goods game experiments. The existence of an asset market in which the right to participate in a public goods game with a provision point is auctioned off among a larger group in a first stage is found to enhance significantly the contribution to the provision of the public good in a subsequent second stage. Though, contributions declined on average in the repeated public goods game when subjects were endowed with the right to play, they increased when subjects purchased the right to play. Once reached the Pareto-dominant equilibrium in the second stage, the auction…

Dynamic Portfolio Optimization with Stochastic Programming

2010

Correlation-Based Cell Degradation Detection for Operational Fault Detection in Cellular Wireless Base-Stations

2013

The management and troubleshooting of faults in mobile radio networks are challenging as the complexity of radio networks is increasing. A proactive approach to system failures is needed to reduce the number of outages and to reduce the duration of outages in the operational network in order to meet operator’s requirements on network availability, robustness, coverage, capacity and service quality. Automation is needed to protect the operational expenses of t he network. Through a good performance of the network element and a low failure probability the network can operate more efficiently reducing the necessity for equipment investments. We present a new method that utilizes the correlatio…

Geometric Calculus Applications to Medical Imaging: Status and Perspectives

2021

Medical imaging data coming from different acquisition modalities requires automatic tools to extract useful information and support clinicians in the formulation of accurate diagnoses. Geometric Calculus (GC) offers a powerful mathematical and computational model for the development of effective medical imaging algorithms. The practical use of GC-based methods in medical imaging requires fast and efficient implementations to meet real-time processing constraints as well as accuracy and robustness requirements. The purpose of this article is to present the state of the art of the GC-based techniques for medical image analysis and processing. The use of GC-based paradigms in Radiomics and De…

Extended Horizon Adaptive Model Algorithmic Control

1997

Abstract A new, original, robust adaptive control strategy termed Extended Horizon Adaptive Model Algorithmic Control is presented. In EHAMAC, a new, combined, ’single-loop’/’cascade’ adaptive least-squares parameter estimator is coupled with a new, simple but powerful Extended Horizon Model Algorithmic Control so that open-loop stable non-minimum phase systems can be effectively controlled in the time-varying environment. In the new, cascade structure of the ALS estimator, the covariance windup and blowup are totally eliminated. Moreover, the sacramental square-root update of the covariance matrix is no longer needed On the other hand, employing EHMAC facilitates robustness design so that …