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The anaerobic co-digestion process in a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) was carried out under mesophilic conditions (37 ± 0.2 °C). All the trials were performed at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 15 days and the AD reactor was daily fed with a mixture of sewage sludge (SS) and elephant grass hydrolyzate (EGH). In this study, three different trials were assessed, with different mixture proportions of SSSS and EGH: F0 (100:0,v/v), F1 (75:25, v/v) and F2 (50:50, v/v), during 90 days each trial, keeping the organic loading rate (OLR) in a range of 0.94–1.16 g VS L −1 day −1 . The experimental results obtained showed that the soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removal efficiency was around 77% and 86% for trials F1 and F2, respectively. SS co-digestion with EGH enhanced methane yield, leading to an increment between 23% and 38%, in comparison with the reference scenario (F0). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Higher fracture energy and toughness were observed for a higher displacement rate. [•] Lowering temperature fracture energy and toughness increment. [•] A power law well describes the cross-head displacement rate influence. [•] A linear equation represents with good accuracy the temperature influence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The determination of some inherent optical properties can be addressed by estimating the ocean chlorophyll concentration, if bio-optical models can be applied - such as for the offshore sea water. This inverse problem can be formulated as an optimization problem and iteratively solved, where the radiative transfer equation is the direct model. An objective function is given by the square difference between computed and in situ experimental radiances at every iteration. In the standard ant colony optimization (ACO), the pheromone is reinforced only on the best ant of the population. The fuzzy strategy consists in including additional pheromone quantity on the best ant, but a small pheromone quantity is also spread over the other solutions close to the best one. Test results show that the fuzzy-ACO produces better inverse solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, rapid, sensitive, reproducible, and accurate reversed-phase HPLC procedure is proposed for the determination of sodium benzoate in quince jam samples. The sample preparation was simple, involving only extraction with methanol. The chromatographic separation was achieved using a reversed-phase column Spherisorb ODS2 (5μm; 25.0 × 0.46 cm). Gradient elution was carried out using water-formic acid (19:1) (A) and methanol (B). The effluent was monitored by a diode-array detector and chromatograms were recorded at 280 nm. The detection limit value of the method for sodium benzoate was 0.5 μg/mL and the method was precise (SD=0.003; CV%=2.76; n=6). Recovery values of sodium benzoate from spiked quince jam samples were between 94.7 and 100 %. This technique can also be useful for the simultaneous definition of the phenolic profile (phenolic acids, flavonoids, and glycosides of procyanidin polymers) of quince jam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the effects of Nordic walking training ( NW) and Free walk ( FW) on functional parameters (motor symptoms, balance) and functional mobility (Timed Up and Go at Self-selected Speed - TUGSS, and at forced speed, TUGFS; Self-selected Walking Speed, SSW; locomotor rehabilitation index, LRI) of Parkinson's disease ( PD) patients. The study included 33 patients with clinical diagnosis of idiopathic PD, and staging between 1 and 4 in the Hoehn and Yahr scale (H&Y) randomized into two groups: NW ( N = 16) and FW ( N = 17) for 6 weeks. Baseline characteristics were compared trough a one-way ANOVA. Outcomes were analyzed using the Generalized Estimation Equations ( GEE) with a Bonferroni post-hoc. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.20.0. Improvements in UPDRS III ( P < 0.001), balance scores ( P < 0.035), TUGSS distance ( P < 0.001), TUGFS distance ( P < 0.001), SSW ( P < 0.001), and LRI ( P < 0.001) were found for both groups. However, the NW group showed significant differences ( P < 0.001) when compared to the FW group for the functional mobility. We conclude the NW improves functional parameters and walking mobility demonstrating that NW is as effective as the FW, including benefits for FW on the functional mobility of people with PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]