Aqua-Biomant: integrated biological and electrochemical oxidation for industrial wastewater treatment.

An innovative technology for industrial wastewater treatment has been developed. The main focus of the new system is a transformation of persistent organic compounds (biorecalcitrant COD) into a biodegradable fraction, followed by high efficient biological elimination using specialised bacteria's. To fulfill these targets the Aqua-Biomant process integrates two treatment steps: an aerated biological upflow filter and a electrochemical oxidation technique using boron doped-diamond electrodes. The advantages of the process are high efficient COD removal with reduced energy consumption combined with low total residence time.     

Oxidation and mineralisation of substituted phenols by Fenton's reagent and catalytic wet oxidation.

Catalytic abatement of solutions of 1,000 mg/L in phenol, ortho and para nitrophenol and ortho and para cresols was acomplished by using two catalytic systems. Fenton's reagent was used at 50 degrees C by adding 10 mg/L of ferrous cation and different dosages of H2O2. The mixture was reacting isothermically in a batch way during 3 hours. Catalytic wet oxidation (CWO) was carried out by using a commercial Activated Carbon, Industrial React FE01606A, CWO runs were carried out in a fixed bed reactor (FBR) with concurrent upflow. Temperature and oxygen pressure of the reactor were set to 160 degrees C and 16 bar, respectively. While phenols are quicky oxidised by the Fenton reagent higher mineralisation was obtained in the CWO process.     

Estrogenic personal care products in a greywater reuse system.

The occurrence and fate of parabens in a greywater system was assessed. The potential for removal of residual paraben concentrations in effluent greywater with chlorine dioxide was also investigated. The influent to the greywater plant was characterised by considerable variation, with concentrations from below the detection limit to 40 microg/L and the five commonly used parabens in consumer products were frequently detected. After the biological treatment only two paraben were detected with concentration from 65-120 ng/L. Chlorine dioxide treatment of the biologically treated effluent with dosages down to 0.75 mg/L resulted in more than 97% reduction of all parabens. Formation of the by-product chloroform was insignificant from the chlorine dioxide treatment.     

Early evidence of an adverse selection death spiral? The case of Blue Cross and Blue Shield

This paper uses a unique data set from 1957 to examine whether or not Blue Cross and Blue Shield suffered from an adverse selection death spiral after for-profit commercial insurance companies entered the market for health insurance. Results suggest that moving to experience rating may have helped the Blues counteract adverse selection in the group health insurance market. Adverse selection posed a greater problem for the Blues in the market for individual health insurance, possibly because of differences in the way the Blues screened potential enrollees relative to commercial insurance companies.     

Protection versus Promotion: An Empirical Investigation

Using Turkish industry-level data from 1983 to 1990, we find that politically organized industries receive both higher protection and promotion than unorganized ones. Tariff rates are decreasing (increasing) in the import-penetration ratio and the absolute value of the import-demandelasticity for organized (unorganized) industries. Subsidy rates are decreasing (increasing) in the output-supply elasticity for organized (unorganized) industries. The results are consistent with the predictions of the Grossman–Helpman model and its extension in this paper. The mix of protection and promotion is inversely related to the ratio of their respective marginal deadweight cost measures.     

A note on price futures versus revenue futures contracts

Here we consider the hedging roles of a price futures contract versus a revenue futures contract. In the absence of idiosyncratic output risk, the revenue contract almost always dominates the price contract. Idiosyncratic output risk provides conditions under which the price contract should dominate. When production risk is largely idiosyncratic, a producer with an anticipated long actuals position might combine a long revenue futures position with a short price futures position. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 24:503–512, 2004     

SUPPLY CHAIN INFORMATION SHARING IN A VENDOR MANAGED INVENTORY PARTNERSHIP

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) involves the vendor making the replenishment decision for products supplied to a customer based on various inventory and supply chain policies. Information sharing between supply chain members is required in VMI. Sometimes VMI decisions are delayed and/or the information shared is inaccurate. This research examines the effects of information delay and accuracy, and the sharing of sales and forecast information in a VMI environment facing stationary and nonstationary demand. The simulation experiments show the impact of information delay, information inaccuracy, and information sharing on a variety of performance measures, including inventory levels and fill rates.