Abstract: The present study attempted to improve the Mercury
(Hg) sorption capacity of kanuma volcanic ash soil (KVAS) by
impregnating the cupper (Cu). Impregnation was executed by 1 and
5% Cu powder and sorption characterization of optimum Hg
removing Cu impregnated KVAS was performed under different
operational conditions, contact time, solution pH, sorbent dosage and
Hg concentration using the batch operation studies. The 1% Cu
impregnated KVAS pronounced optimum improvement (79%) in
removing Hg from water compare to control. The present
investigation determined the equilibrium state of maximum Hg
adsorption at 6 h contact period. The adsorption revealed a pH
dependent response and pH 3.5 showed maximum sorption capacity
of Hg. Freundlich isotherm model is well fitted with the experimental
data than that of Langmuir isotherm. It can be concluded that the Cu
impregnation improves the Hg sorption capacity of KVAS and 1%
Cu impregnated KVAS could be employed as cost-effective
adsorbent media for treating Hg contaminated water.
Abstract: In this paper a novel high output impedance, low input impedance, wide bandwidth, very simple current mirror with input and output voltage requirements less than that of a simple current mirror is presented. These features are achieved with very simple structure avoiding extra large node impedances to ensure high bandwidth operation. The circuit's principle of operation is discussed and compared to simple and low voltage cascode (LVC) current mirrors. Such outstanding features of this current mirror as high output impedance ~384K, low input impedance~6.4, wide bandwidth~178MHz, low input voltage ~ 362mV, low output voltage ~ 38mV and low current transfer error ~4% (all at 50μA) makes it an outstanding choice for high performance applications. Simulation results in BSIM 0.35μm CMOS technology with HSPICE are given in comparison with simple, and LVC current mirrors to verify and validate the performance of the proposed current mirror.
Abstract: Offset Double-Disk Opener (DDO) is a popular
furrow opener in conservation tillage. It has some limitations such as
negative suction to penetrate in the soil, hair pinning and mixing seed
and fertilizer in the slot. Because of importance of separation of seed
and fertilizer in the slot, by adding two horizontal mini disks to DDO
a modified opener was made (MDO) which placed the fertilizer
between and under two rows of seed. To consider performance of
novel opener an indoor comparison test between DDO and MDO was
performed at soil bin. The experiment was conducted with three
working speeds (3, 6 and 8 km h-1), two bulk densities of soil (1.1
and 1.4 Mg m-3) and two levels of residues (1 and 2 ton ha-1). The
experimental design consisted in a (3×2×2) complete randomized
factorial with three replicates for each test. Moisture of seed furrow,
separation of seed and fertilizer, hair pinning and resultant forces
acting on the openers were used as assessing indexes. There was no
significant difference between soil moisture content in slots created
by DDO and MDO at 0-4 cm depth, but at 4-8 cm the in the slot
created by MDO moisture content was higher about 9%. Horizontal
force for both openers increased with increasing speed and soil bulk
density. Vertical force for DDO was negative so it needed additional
weight for penetrating in the soil, but vertical force for MDO was
positive and, which can solve the challenge of penetration in the soil
in DDO. In soft soil with heavy residues some trash was pushed by
DDO into seed furrow (hair pinning) but at MDO seed were placed at
clean groove. Lateral and vertical separation of seed and fertilizer
was performed effectively by MDO (4.5 and 5 cm, respectively)
while DDO put seed and fertilizer close to each other. Overall, the
Modified Offset Double-disks (MDO) had better performance. So by
adapting this opener with no-tillage drillers it would possible to have
higher yield in conservation tillage where the most appropriate
opener is disk type.
Abstract: The fractal-shaped orifices are assumed to have a
significant effect on the pressure drop downstream pipe flow due to
their edge self-similarity shape which enhances the mixing
properties. Here, we investigate the pressure drop after these fractals
using a digital micro-manometer at different stations downstream a
turbulent flow pipe then a direct comparison has been made with the
pressure drop measured from regular orifices with the same flow
area. Our results showed that the fractal-shaped orifices have a
significant effect on the pressure drop downstream the flow. Also
the pressure drop measured across the fractal-shaped orifices is
noticed to be lower that that from ordinary orifices of the same flow
areas. This result could be important in designing piping systems
from point of view of losses consideration with the same flow
control area. This is promising to use the fractal-shaped orifices as
flowmeters as they can sense the pressure drop across them
accurately with minimum losses than the regular ones.
Abstract: For a long time as a result of accommodating car
traffic, planning ideologies in the past put a low priority on public
space, pedestrianism and the role of city space as a meeting place for
urban dwellers. In addition, according to authors such as Jan Gehl,
market forces and changing architectural perceptions began to shift
the focus of planning practice from the integration of public space in
various pockets around the contemporary city to individual buildings.
Eventually, these buildings have become increasingly more isolated
and introverted and have turned their backs to the realm of the public
space adjoining them. As a result of this practice, the traditional
function of public space as a social forum for city dwellers has in
many cases been reduced or even phased out. Author Jane Jacobs
published her seminal book “The Death and Life of Great American
Cities" more than fifty years ago, but her observations and
predictions at the time still ring true today, where she pointed out
how the dramatic increase in car traffic and its accommodation by the
urban planning ideology that was brought about by the Modern
movement has prompted a separation of the uses of the city. At the
same time it emphasizes free standing buildings that threaten urban
space and city life and result in underutilized and lifeless urban cores.
In this discussion context, the aim of this paper is to showcase a
reversal of just such a situation in the case of the Dasoupolis
neighborhood in Strovolos, Cyprus, where enlightened urban design
practice has see the reclamation of pedestrian space in a car
dominated area.
Abstract: Anti-allergic effects of royal jelly were evaluated in a human-like mouse model of atopic dermatitis. NC/Nga mice were cutaneously applied with royal jelly for 6 weeks. Royal jelly-treated mice exhibited lower levels of serum total immunoglobulin E in comparison with controls. We found that the treatment decreased (11% to the control) expression of mRNA for aquaporin-3, which is involved in the modulation of epidermal hydration. Microarray analysis revealed more than 10-fold changes in the expression of several genes, such as transglutaminase 2, repetin, and keratins. In normal human epidermal keratinocytes, royal jelly extract suppressed interleukin-8 elevation induced by TNF-α and interferon-γ, suggesting direct anti-inflammatory activity in keratinocytes. Collectively, topical application of royal jelly may be useful for amelioration of lesions and inflammation in atopic dermatitis.
Abstract: This study investigates the in-situ regeneration of deactivated Pt-Pd catalyst in a laboratory-scale catalysis reactor. Different regeneration conditions are tested and the activity and characteristics of regenerated catalysts are analyzed. Experimental results show that the conversion efficiencies of C3H6 by different regenerated Pt-Pd catalysts were significantly improved from 77%, 55% and 41% to 86%, 98% and 99%, respectively. The best regeneration conditions was 52ppm ozone, 500oC, and 10min. Regeneration temperature has more influences than ozone concentration and regeneration time. With the comparisons of characteristics of deactivated catalyst and regenerated catalyst, the major poison species (carbon, metals, chloride, and sulfate) on the spent catalysts can be effectively removed by ozone regeneration.
Abstract: A simple microstructure optical fiber design based on an octagonal cladding structure is presented for simultaneously controlling dispersion and leakage properties. The finite difference method with anisotropic perfectly matched boundary layer is used to investigate the guiding properties. It is demonstrated that octagonal photonic crystal fibers with four rings can assume negative ultra-flattened dispersion of -19 + 0.23 ps/nm/km in the wavelength range of 1.275 μm to 1.68 μm, nearly zero ultra-flattened dispersion of 0 ± 0.40 ps/nm/km in a 1.38 to 1.64 μm, and low confinement losses less than 10-3 dB/km in the entire band of interest.
Abstract: In the traditional buckling analysis of rectangular
plates the classical thin plate theory is generally applied, so
neglecting the plating shear deformation. It seems quite clear that this
method is not totally appropriate for the analysis of thick plates, so
that in the following the two variable refined plate theory proposed
by Shimpi (2006), that permits to take into account the transverse
shear effects, is applied for the buckling analysis of simply supported
isotropic rectangular plates, compressed in one and two orthogonal
directions.
The relevant results are compared with the classical ones and, for
rectangular plates under uniaxial compression, a new direct
expression, similar to the classical Bryan-s formula, is proposed for
the Euler buckling stress.
As the buckling analysis is a widely diffused topic for a variety of
structures, such as ship ones, some applications for plates uniformly
compressed in one and two orthogonal directions are presented and
the relevant theoretical results are compared with those ones obtained
by a FEM analysis, carried out by ANSYS, to show the feasibility of
the presented method.
Abstract: Neoclassical and functionalist explanations of self
organization in multiagent systems have been criticized on several accounts including unrealistic explication of overadapted agents and
failure to resolve problems of externality. The paper outlines a more
elaborate and dynamic model that is capable of resolving these dilemmas. An illustrative example where behavioral diversity is
cobred in a repeated nonzero sum task via evolutionary computing is
presented.
Abstract: In this paper, we present the preconditioned mixed-type
splitting iterative method for solving the linear systems, Ax = b,
where A is a Z-matrix. And we give some comparison theorems
to show that the convergence rate of the preconditioned mixed-type
splitting iterative method is faster than that of the mixed-type splitting
iterative method. Finally, we give a numerical example to illustrate
our results.
Abstract: Liquid-liquid extraction is a process using two immiscible
liquids to extract compounds from one phase without high
temperature requirement. Mostly, the technical implementation of
this process is carried out in mixer-settlers or extraction columns. In
real chemical processes, chemicals may have high viscosity and
contain impurities. These impurities may change the settling behavior
of the process without measurably changing the physical properties
of the phases. In the current study, the settling behavior and the affected
parameters in a high-viscosity system were observed. Batchsettling
experiments were performed to experimentally quantify the
settling behavior and the mixer-settler model of Henschke [1] was
used to evaluate the behavior of the toluene + water system. The
viscosity of the system was increased by adding polyethylene glycol
4000 to the aqueous phase. NaCl and Na2SO4 were used to study the
influence of electrolytes. The results from this study show that increasing
the viscosity of water has a higher influence on the settling
behavior in comparison to the effects of the electrolytes. It can be
seen from the experiments that at high salt concentrations, there was
no effect on the settling behavior.
Abstract: An accurate procedure to determine free vibrations of
beams and plates is presented.
The natural frequencies are exact solutions of governing vibration
equations witch load to a nonlinear homogeny system.
The bilinear and linear structures considered simulate a bridge.
The dynamic behavior of this one is analyzed by using the theory of
the orthotropic plate simply supported on two sides and free on the
two others. The plate can be excited by a convoy of constant or
harmonic loads. The determination of the dynamic response of the
structures considered requires knowledge of the free frequencies and
the shape modes of vibrations. Our work is in this context. Indeed,
we are interested to develop a self-consistent calculation of the Eigen
frequencies.
The formulation is based on the determination of the solution of
the differential equations of vibrations. The boundary conditions
corresponding to the shape modes permit to lead to a homogeneous
system. Determination of the noncommonplace solutions of this
system led to a nonlinear problem in Eigen frequencies.
We thus, develop a computer code for the determination of the
eigenvalues. It is based on a method of bisection with interpolation
whose precision reaches 10 -12. Moreover, to determine the
corresponding modes, the calculation algorithm that we develop uses
the method of Gauss with a partial optimization of the "pivots"
combined with an inverse power procedure. The Eigen frequencies
of a plate simply supported along two opposite sides while
considering the two other free sides are thus analyzed. The results
could be generalized with the case of a beam by regarding it as a
plate with low width.
We give, in this paper, some examples of treated cases. The
comparison with results presented in the literature is completely
satisfactory.
Abstract: Four phenylurea herbicides (isoproturon, chlortoluron, diuron and linuron) were dissolved in different water matrices in order to study their chemical degradation by using UV radiation, ozone and some advanced oxidation processes (UV/H2O2, O3/H2O2, Fenton reagent and the photo- Fenton system). The waters used were: ultra-pure water, a commercial mineral water, a groundwater and a surface water taken from a reservoir. Elimination levels were established for each herbicide and for several global quality parameters, and a kinetic study was performed in order to determine basic kinetic parameters of each reaction between the target phenylureas and these oxidizing systems.
Abstract: This paper shows the results obtained in the analysis
of the impact of distributed generation (DG) on distribution losses
and presents a new algorithm to the optimal allocation of distributed
generation resources in distribution networks. The optimization is
based on a Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm
Optimization (HGAPSO) aiming to optimal DG allocation in
distribution network. Through this algorithm a significant
improvement in the optimization goal is achieved. With a numerical
example the superiority of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated in
comparison with the simple genetic algorithm.
Abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the
chemical and biological properties of local cowpea seed protein
cultivated in Gizan region. The results showed that the cowpea and
its products contain high level of protein (22.9-77.6%), high
carbohydrates (9.4-64.3%) and low fats (0.1-0.3%). The trypsin and
chymotrypsin activities were found to be 32.2 and 15.2 units,
respectively. These activities were not affected in both defatted and
protein concentrate whereas they were significantly reduced in
isolated protein and cooked samples. The phytate content of cooked
and concentrated cowpea samples varied from 0.25% -0.32%,
respectively. Tannin content was found to be 0.4% and 0.23% for
cooked and raw samples, respectively. The in vitro protein
digestibility was very high in cowpea seeds (75.04-78.76%). The
biological evaluation using rats showed that the group fed with
animal feed containing casein gain more weight than those fed with
that containing cowpea. However, the group fed with cooked cowpea
gain more weight than those fed with uncooked cowpea. On the
other hand, in vivo digestion showed high value (98.33%) among the
group consumed casein compared to other groups those consumed
cowpea contains feed. This could be attributed to low antinutritional
factors in casein contains feed compared to those of cowpea contains
feed because cooking significantly increased the digestion rate
(80.8% to 83.5%) of cowpea contains feed. Furthermore, the
biological evaluation was high (91.67%) of casein containing feed
compared to that of cowpea containing feed (80.83%-87.5%). The
net protein utilization (NPU) was higher (89.67%) in the group fed
with casein containing feed than that of cowpea containing feed
(56.33%-69.67%).
Abstract: The State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will hold two important events in the nearby future. In 2014 it will have the final game of the Football World Cup, and in 2016 it will be holding the Olympic Games. Therefore, the public transportation system (mainly buses) is of a major concern to the Rio de Janeiro State authorities-. The main objective of this work is to compare the quality of service of the bus companies operating in the cities of ItaperunaandCampos, both cities situated in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The outcome of thiscomparison, based on the opinion of the bus users, has shownthemdispleased with the quality of the service provided by the bus companies operating in both cities. It is urgent the need to find possible practical alternatives to minimize the consequences of the main problems detected in this work. With these practical alternatives available, we will be able to offer to the Rio de Janeiro State authorities- suggestions about possible solutions to the main problems identified in this survey, as well as the time of implantation and costs of these solutions.
Abstract: The flow field over a flat roof model building has been numerically investigated in order to determine threedimensional CFD guidelines for the calculation of the turbulent flow over a structure immersed in an atmospheric boundary layer. To this purpose, a complete validation campaign has been performed through a systematic comparison of numerical simulations with wind tunnel experimental data. Wind tunnel measurements and numerical predictions have been compared for five different vertical positions, respectively from the upstream leading edge to the downstream bottom edge of the analyzed model. Flow field characteristics in the neighborhood of the building model have been numerically investigated, allowing a quantification of the capabilities of the CFD code to predict the flow separation and the extension of the recirculation regions. The proposed calculations have allowed the development of a preliminary procedure to be used as guidance in selecting the appropriate grid configuration and corresponding turbulence model for the prediction of the flow field over a three-dimensional roof architecture dominated by flow separation.
Abstract: All climate models agree that the temperature in
Greece will increase in the range of 1° to 2°C by the year 2030 and
mean sea level in Mediterranean is expected to rise at the rate of 5
cm/decade. The aim of the present paper is the estimation of the
coastline displacement driven by the climate change and sea level
rise. In order to achieve that, all known statistical and non-statistical
computational methods are employed on some Greek coastal areas.
Furthermore, Kalman filtering techniques are for the first time
introduced, formulated and tested. Based on all the above, shoreline
change signals and noises are computed and an inter-comparison
between the different methods can be deduced to help evaluating
which method is most promising as far as the retrieve of shoreline
change rate is concerned.
Abstract: Phytases (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate
phosphohydrolases; EC 3.1.3.8) catalyze the hydrolysis of phytic acid
(myoinositol hexakisphosphate) to the mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, and
pentaphosphates of myo-inositol and inorganic phosphate.
Therrmophilic bacteria isolated from water sampled from hot spring.
About 120 isolates of bacteria were successfully isolated form hot
spring water sample and tested for extracellular phytase producing.
After 5 passages of the screening on the PSM media, 4 isolates were
found stable in producing phytase enzyme. The 16s RDNA
sequencing for identification of bacteria using molecular technique
revealed that all isolates those positive in phytase producing are
belong to Geobacillus spp. And Anoxybacillus spp. Anoxybacillus
rupiensis UniSZA-7 were identified for their carbon source utilization
using Phenotype Microarray Plate of Biolog and found they utilize
several kind of carbon source provided.