Category: News

Self-Cleaning HYDRA Nitrate Analyzer System For Water Quality Monitoring Saves Time & Money
Ideal For Wastewater and Large Clean Water Reservoir or Distribution Systems

Featuring a precision nitrate ISE electrode sensor with an integral self-cleaning sprayer, the new HYDRA Nitrate Analyzer System from Electro-Chemical Devices, Inc. (ECD), offers superior measurement, monitoring and control with virtually no maintenance.

The highly intelligent HYDRA Nitrate Analyzer System measures the concentration of dissolved nitrate as nitrogen (NO3–N) in water. The sensor uses two electrodes to determine the NO3–N concentration: a nitrate ion electrode and a chloride ion electrode. An optional electrode is also available for pH measurement.

The system’s HYDRA Analyzer is configured to periodically actuate a cleaning cycle using the integral spray cleaner in the nitrate sensor, minimizing the formation of biofilms or other coatings on the electrodes and keeping maintenance to a minimum. The cleaning cycles feature a user configurable period and duration. During the cleaning cycle the 4-20 mA output is held at either a preset value or the last value.

While useful in all types of water treatment applications, the HYDRA Nitrate Analyzer System is especially well suited for municipal wastewater treatment plants. Nitrogen primarily enters a municipal wastewater system as ammonia/ammonium compounds. Nitrification oxidizes the toxic ammonium ion into a much less toxic nitrate ion using an aerobic activated sludge process.

De-nitrification reduces the nitrate ion (NO3-) to nitrogen gas (N2) through an anoxic reaction in the same treatment basin or in a separate anaerobic digester. The NO3–N measurement helps optimize the methanol being fed to the digester, whichminimizes cost and provides trend measurement of the total nitrogen (TN) in the effluent.

The nitrate ion electrode provides the primary measurement. A second electrode measures the Chloride ions in the sample. The HYDRA Analyzer subtracts the appropriate amount of signal from the nitrate measurement for accurate monitoring. The sensor also detects temperature, and the analyzer provides a temperature-compensation calculation for superior measurement accuracy.

The rugged nitrate sensor offers 1.25-inch NPT rear facing threads for attaching an extension/immersion tube for easy installation from catwalks or handrails. Internal signal conditioning allows the sensor to be mounted up to 200 meters from the analyzer. The sensor is extremely low-maintenance, featuring a movable electrode guard to facilitate easy electrode replacement when necessary.

ECD’s HYDRA Nitrate Analyzer System measures nitrate and chloride in concentrations from 0.1 to 1000 ppm, pH from 0 to 14 and temperature from 0 to 50°C (32 to 122°F). Accuracy is ±3 percent of reading with a response time of T90 1 minute.

Featuring a backlit LCD display that provides up to 4 lines of text and graphics, the HYDRA Analyzer includes two 4-20 mA outputs with two SPDT alarm relays. Input power is 110/220 Vac. It is housed in a rugged NEMA 4X enclosure.

• Numerous applications in Particulate Matter Emission Control of boilers, kilns, and furnaces and Product Recovery in the Chemical, Food and Pharmaceutical industries.

• Can achieve efficiency over 99 %, depending on particulates sizes and distributions. High efficiency for particulates < 10 µm! • Can replace baghouse filters, lower maintenance cost (no replacement parts), higher operating temperature, fire resistance, low pressure drop, aseptic product recovery avoiding cross-contamination, few compressed air consumption. • Can replace ESP, lower power, lower investment costs, indifferent to particle resistivity.

COLUMBIA MARKING TOOLS AND I-MARK™
ADD NEW MANUFACTURING REPRESENTATIVE
Sheffield Companies in Keller,Texas to represent Columbia Marking Tools throughout the Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, & Louisiana

Columbia Marking Tools and its new division, I-Mark™, have added Sheffield Companies to their growing list of distributors and manufacturer’s representatives in an effort to ensure more thorough sales and service coverage to their customer base in Texas and surrounding states.

Sheffield Companies offers the personal service of a well versed representative in the laser marking industry, Brad Sheffield. Brad has over 11 years experience in all aspects of the laser and steel marking industry. Brad’s unique operational experienced combined with his degree in Science Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University makes him a valuable addition to the CMT/I-Mark sales force. He also has owned and operated his own company for 5 years.

Sheffield Companies represents companies who produce equipment and supplies for marking and labeling of various industrial products (plastics, glass, wood & metals.) Companies that manufacture and custom precision fabricated components out of plastics, metals & ceramics.

Columbia Marking Tools and I-Mark™ are a leading designer and manufacturer of metal and plastic marking equipment including stamps, roll marking dies, roll marking and impact marking machines, fully programmable laser, dot peen and scribe marking and UID/2D Square Ù Dot® machines, marking machine software, numbering heads and special marking machines. Columbia Marking Tools, Inc and I-Mark™ are also a Certified Cognex Integrator.

KENNEWICK, Washington – May 14, 2010 – Bruker Elemental announces the winner of our S1 Sorter giveaway contest.

David Londeen of Metal Finishing Co. in Wichita, Kansas USA was the winner of the recent S1 Sorter giveaway contest. Congratulations David!

The S1 Sorter is a handheld XRF analyzer; ideal for Positive Material Identification (PMI) applications involving stainless steel, carbon steel, low allow steel, etc.

A free-standing, self-draining emergency shower and eye/facewash system for outdoor/indoor use. This self-draining emergency shower and eye/facewash prevents hot stagnant water inside the shower. The product is extra suitable in warm climates.

The eye/facewash is activated through a push-plate and the body shower is activated through a pull handle or a pull rod for crawling person. The safety station is delivered with galvanized pipes, green/white striped tape, spray heads made of ABS-plastic and shower head in powder coated stainless steel.

New equipment dedicated to laboratories, research centers, universities and to cure small parts in composite . Manufacturing 100% French , in our workshop near Lyon, according to Europeans legislation DESP 97/23/CE for pressure vessels.
This standard autoclave very economical, will be fully mounted on a platform with all equipments pre wired and with all safety devices. Easy to install.

FEATURES :
Int Diameter : 1000 mm
Working Length: 1500 mm
Pressure max: 10 bar
Temperature max: 220°C
Thermocouples: 4 à 6
Vacuum zone: 2 à 4
20°C à 220°C: 3°C/min
220°C à 60°C: 3°C/min
Supply power: 125 Amp, 410V

Included:
· Control system
· Vacuum pump 17m3/h
· Water tank
· 2 water pumps
· Air Blast Cooler
· Internal trolley
· External trolley
· Silencer

Fully tested in our workshop, a pre commissioning
report will be sent before shipment .

Lasermak Cutting machine, CO2 Flying Optic Laser cutting machine.
Plasma Cutting Machine,
CNC Punch Press,
CNC Synchronized Hydraulic Press Brakes,
Heavy Duty Press Brakes

NC Press Brakes,
Hydraulic Variable Rake Guilotine Shears,
ironworkers,

IBL2401 is a remarkably compact intelligent minidrive based on the Technosoft MotionChip™ DSP Control Technology. IBL2401 measures only 60 x 44 x 16 mm and weighs just 60 grams. This minimal size compact unit embeds motion controller, drive and PLC functionality, and it controls brushless, step, DC or linear motors up to 25 W (24 V, 1 A). The drive can be mounted right beside the motor, all cables and maintenance thus being significantly reduced.

With IBL2401, motion programming can be done from a CANopen master via a PC / PLC using the appropriate motion library, or directly at drive level, using the built-in motion controller and the EasyMotion Studio platform. Its embedded motion controller uses the same high-level motion language for all motor versions, making their technology differences transparent to the user.

Using the powerful TML programming, you can really simplify complex applications by distributing the intelligence between master and drives. Thus, instead of trying to command each step of an axis movement from the master, you can program the drive in TML to execute complex tasks, and to inform the master when these tasks have been completed.

Motion modes as contouring, profiling, gearing, electronic camming, PVT are easily executed in stand-alone or multi-axis operations. IBL2401 is equipped with several sensors: incremental encoders, digital and linear Halls. Communication can be done over CANopen, CAN, RS-232 networks, or Ethernet through an external adapter.

All these features – intelligence, miniature size, easy implementation, compact and cost-effective design – make the Technosoft IBL2401 the perfect motion control solution for all high-precision applications, ranging from medical to factory automation.

The Edwin Smith papyrus is one of the oldest medical texts in the world and is an Ancient Egyptian treatise on surgery, particularly after head injuries. In contains perhaps the first ever recognition that a part of the brain can be linked to a specific function as it describes how someone can be left ‘speechless’ after a penetrating wound to their temple.

The Egyptian tourist board has put the full translation of the document online. It seems to be taken directly from the 1920s translation of James Breasted so the language is a little arcane but case twenty is the one we’re most interested in:

Case Twenty: Instructions concerning a wound in his temple, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his temporal bone.

Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his temple, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his temporal bone, while his two eyes are blood shot, he discharges blood from both his nostrils, and a little drops; if thou puttest thy fingers on the mouth of that wound (and) he shudder exceedingly; if thou ask of him concerning his malady and he speak not to thee; while copious tears fall from both his eyes, so that he thrusts his hand often to his face that he may wipe both his eyes with the back of his hand as a child does, and knows not that he does so…

Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: “One having a wound in his temple, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his temporal bone; while he discharges blood from both his nostrils, he suffers with stiffness in his neck, (and) he is speechless. An ailment not to be treated.”

Treatment: Now when thou findest that man speechless, his [relief] shall be sitting; soften his head with grease, (and) pour [milk] into both his ears.

I’m not sure if I’d be too pleased to wake up after a serious brain injury to find someone pouring milk in my ears, but then again, I’m not an Ancient Egyptian.

However, the case seems to be a clear case of a type of speech impairment, aphasia, caused by damage to the temporal lobe.

If you’re interested in some background on the discovery and significance of the papyrus, one of the most important in the history of medicine, there’s an excellent article from a previous incarnation of Neurophilosophy that you shouldn’t miss.

Link to Wikipedia on the Edwin Smith papyrus.
Link to complete translation.
Link to Neurophilosophy on the papyrus.

Filed under: Advice, Health, Healthy Eating, Eat This

Feeling stressed? Andrea Donsky, co-founder of NaturallySavvy.com, explains how to eat to feel great and fight stress.

Q: How can food affect stress levels?

A: Believe it or not, they can. Certain nutrients such as L-Tryptophan are the building blocks for manufacturing serotonin – the feel good chemical – in our brain. Eating foods high in these amino acids, as well as B vitamins, magnesium and omega-3s, can help minimize the body’s reaction to stress.

Q: Do certain foods contribute to stress while others relieve it? And which foods contribute to stress most and which foods minimize stress most?

A: Yes, the foods we consume definitely can help relieve our feelings of stress – or add to them.

• B vitamins: As the building blocks of our nervous system, B vitamins play an important role in brain functions such as mood and mental performance. Dark leafy greens and eggs are a good source of the vitamin.

The best stress-fighting foods after the jump:

Continue reading Best Stress-Fighting Foods and Ones That Make Things Worse

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In news that will surprise absolutely no one, Jonathan Rhys Meyer is still behaving like a drunken Lohan.

The Tudors star has been banned from flying United Airlines after his boozing caused mayhem on a flight from New York City to Los Angeles earlier this month.

Despite the early AM departure time, airline employees saw Meyer “pounding drinks” in the first class lounge, becoming drunk and disorderly, spywitnesses at John F. Kennedy Airport spilled to RadarOnline.com. Rhys Myers then attempted to board his flight but was prohibited from doing so by airline staff, who worried concerned that the star’s “belligerent” and “disruptive” behavior “was getting out of control.”

An official from United Airlines confirmed the scoop but refused to divulge any details.

Jonathan — as you may recall — has lengthy history of misbehavin’ in the friendly skies. In 2007, the repeat rehabber was arrested at a Dublin airport and charged public drunkeness and disturbing the peace. Both charges were later dismissed. Two years later, in June 2009, he was arrested after allegedly attacking staffers at a bar in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Every now and again, astute Gizmag readers come to the fore to keep us on our toes – and never has this been better demonstrated than with last Friday’s D-Drive Infinitely Variable Transmission article. More than 40 comments and e-mails have flooded in over the weekend questioning the D-Drive’s capabilities as a true IVT, and its potential efficiencies. Furthermore, an engineering report was made available on the D-Drive website that flat-out negates some of the key claims that were made in our interview video. So let’s take another look at this device in the harsh light of engineering scrutiny…
Continue Reading D-Drive redux: about that holy grail thing…

Tags: D-drive,
Durnin,
Gizmag,
Transmission

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Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:

The emerging mobile health industry made a stronger showing last week than it has in past years at its annual Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance Convergence Summit. Get the latest uptick in wireless health and other news now.

—San Diego’s Avalon Ventures founder Kevin Kinsella told me the firm’s investment in San Francisco-based Zynga, which develops multiplayer browser games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, might yield the best returns in Avalon’s 27-year history. Kinsella also told me Avalon Ventures has purchased the La Jolla office building that was previously the corporate headquarters for the Copley Press, the former longtime publisher of the San Diego Union-Tribune and other newspapers.

—A venture financing report released by the Cooley law firm (previously known as Cooley, Godward, Kronish) says there were more “up rounds” than flat or “down rounds” in the first quarter of 2010. That’s the first time that’s happened since the summer of 2008. An up round reflects the increased valuation of a venture-backed company, while a down round means the company is worth less than it was in the previous financing round.

—After gaining experience with its Sorenson 360 online video platform (OVP) with small and medium businesses, Carlsbad, CA-based Sorenson Media introduced an upgraded version of its OVP for big media and enterprise customers. CEO Peter Csathy told me Sorenson is …Next Page »

UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

Filed under: Advice, Happiness, Health

Each week, holistic nutritionist Joy McCarthy tells us about a common health problem she’s seen in her practice and how she came to a solution.

This week’s client: Cindy, 30, a corporate trainer.

The Problem: Cindy had struggled with skin breakouts her whole life and she can’t recall a time throughout her teen years when she had totally clear skin. These days she experiences pimple outbreaks about five times a year.

When Cindy came to me, her skin was really dry from all the washing and scrubbing she put it through in an effort to remove any excess oil. The outbreaks focused around her chin and mouth and as her career often had her presenting and training large groups, she understandably found her pimples an embarrassment. She told me the situation was affecting her self-esteem and that she would even call in sick when a breakout was particularly bad.

Cindy had tried everything from expensive potions and lotions to pharmaceutical drugs, but with no success. As a teen she used to eat a lot of fast food, but had cut this out about 10 years ago. She almost entirely avoids refined sugar.

To start, I evaluated her two-week diet diary. These were the most common foods she ate:

• Cow’s milk, every morning on her breakfast cereal.
• A smoothie with soy protein powder and soy milk after every workout at the gym.
• Thai food take-out at least three times per week.
• Tofu, veggie-burgers

Solution after the jump.

Continue reading Nutrition Solutions for Pimples and Skin Breakouts

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This funny car video comes from the Netherlands and shows a Dodge-branded Fiat 500. The Fiat 500 is the first Fiat model to reach US shores, with plans for a December debut of the small retro model. The marriage between Fiat and Chrysler is well underway with design work already near complete on a series of Fiat-based Chrysler models.

The models were originally expected to be presented in 2012, but CEO Sergio Marchionne has said that some presentations could take place in the fourth quarter of 2011. An overhaul of the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger models will also take place by the end of this year.

Source | Autoblog.it and Autocar

The Thai protest-backing general, ‘Seh Daeng’, died today, from a sniper shot to the head he suffered while being interview by the New York Times. Street battles continue to rage, with a firefight last night at the Dusit Thani hotel remarkably described in quite detail via twitter by the war reporter Michael Yon.

From what I read of his last night, Mr. Yon must be an amazing war correspondent when in Afghanistan.

Monday and Tuesday have been declared holidays and the Thai government has warned protesters that any remaining within their main ‘Ratchprasong’ central bangkok base after 3pm today will be subject to 2 years in prison. NGOs and other organizations are also trying get women protesters and their children out of the protest area. Problem is, many don’t want to leave and have instead set up a refuge in a temple within the protesters’ zone.

Unfortunately, he’ll probably have a lot more to report

It’s been a horrific situation so far, but unfortunately I expect the crackdown to intensify within the next two days. In response, the retaliation from the red shirt protesters could easily intensify as well as increasing numbers of protesters are pushed into radical violent behavior after seeing their fellows shot and killed.

There are only a few ways for the country to avoid a complete bloodbath. One involves the current government accepting the latest offer from the protesters for a ceasefire and UN involvement, which the government has unfortunately rejected. This probably seems like the simplest and most logical solution to most outside observers. In a perfect world it would be possible. The unfortunate thing is that the current established military and political forces in Thailand probably see themselves losing power under any internationally-observed political arrangement. Thus they’d rather keep this a ‘domestic issue’ and have incited sovereignty fears in order to deflect the Thai public from what would most likely be the most peaceful solution.

Another solution of course is for the protest leaders to simply give up immediately and tell their supporters to stand-down. Problem is, the chance of them doing this is slim since they would likely be immediately imprisoned for what could be a very long time due to extremely serious charges already laid against them. Their lives would also be in grave danger, for they’d be exposed to assassination attempts once separated from their crowds of supporters. Backers of the redshirts, which include hidden sympathetic military leaders and most visibly the ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, might also want to continue the struggle since they’ll also all face punishment at the hands of a victorious government. Nobody trusts the legal system to be transparent anymore. New hard-line red shirts may also simply emerge and take over from those who quit.

Thirdly, is for some sort of back-room deal to be struck between the established powers and opposition leaders including the Thaksin Shinawatra (who was ousted in a 2006 coup, and who while not an official leader of the movement, still has substantial influence over the protesters and is at the very least a major backer), whereby both sides accommodate some of the others demands and promise not to come after each others throats in future years. I believe this is the most likely potential peaceful exit from the crisis, but still think it is highly unlikely.

The most likely path is for little dialogue, the barring of foreign oversight, and an extremely hard crackdown on the protesters which most middle and upper class Bangkok residents will welcome as necessary.

Why shooting protesters won’t ‘work’ this time for Thailand

Without getting into what or what isn’t necessary or who’s ‘right’, my fear is that this hard crackdown won’t ‘work’ like it has in the past for Thailand (1992, 1976). The current protest movement is huge, passionate, and sophisticated. This has been shown by their logistics capability whereby the central protest zone has built its own infrastructure including television and radio broadcast facilities plus power generation, defense, and food supplies. Also, technology these days is such that you can’t blind people and hide things as you could in the past. Any crackdown will be very visible no matter what censorship is involved. Already there has been coordinated insurrection in the provinces, blocking army convoys, reportedly blocking the entrance to Thailand’s main port, plus sympathy rallies in many places outside Bangkok. It’s widely know that there is substantial ‘red shirt’ support in Thailand’s large North and Northeast regions. Red shirts in these regions have pledged retaliation for any major crackdown.

Yet, to me, the most striking development in the last two days has been the erection of a second protest base, near the ‘Klong Toey’ slums right after the government sealed the main ‘Ratchprasong’ rally point from direct outside access.

This second staging point has been reported by some as having at least 2,000 people, plus substantial water, food, and power generation supplies set up. All within about two days.

This to me speaks to the widespread strength of the ‘red shirts’ and casts serious doubts as to whether a crackdown will succeed in destroying their will. If anything, the worry is that it will cause them to revolt even harder, with even harder methods than they’ve already used. It’s in nobody’s interests to have random bombs detonating in Bangkok over the next five years. Thus negotiation, not a crackdown, is the only successful long-term solution, for both sides.

Learn more about what’s behind Thailand’s ‘T-shirt wars’ >>

Join the conversation about this story »

This brain-bending invention could be the holy grail of transmission technology – it allows you to smoothly move through gear ratios from top gear all the way through neutral and into reverse without ever disengaging the engine.

Plus, there’s no friction drive component, so the power is always transmitted through gear teeth – there’s never any slip or friction losses.

In fact, the D-Drive’s main difficulty is that it’s so damn hard to understand that people don’t really know what to do with it.

So here’s a close-up look, which will hopefully get a few people thinking.

Eco Factor: Zero-emission vehicle powered by electric drivetrain.

Volkswagen has released official pictures of the upcoming plug-in electric variant of the Golf. Dubbed Golf blue-e-motion, the zero-emission vehicle is powered by lithium-ion batteries. The vehicle is expected to go on sale in 2013. Replacing the Golf’s petrol or diesel engine is an electric motor that generates 115bhp.

Electric power is provided by a lithium-ion battery bank which is rated at 26.5KWh and is claimed to provide a nominal range of 93 miles. The Golf blue-e-motion uses a separate clutch that automatically decouples its electric motor on a trailing throttle to provide a “sailing effect” that minimizes mechanical drag.

The blue-e-motion is expected to hit 62mph in 11.8 seconds with a limited top speed of 87mph. The company intends to produce a fleet of 500 vehicles for internal testing before the final launch in 2013.

Via: AutoCar