Determination of Required Ion Exchange Solution for Stabilizing Clayey Soils with Various PI

Soil stabilization has been widely used to improve soil strength and durability or to prevent erosion and dust generation. Generally to reduce problems of clayey soils in engineering work and to stabilize these soils additional materials are used. The most common materials are lime, fly ash and cement. Using this materials, although improve soil property , but in some cases due to financial problems and the need to use special equipment are limited .One of the best methods for stabilization clayey soils is neutralization the clay particles. For this purpose we can use ion exchange materials. Ion exchange solution like CBR plus can be used for soil stabilization. One of the most important things in using CBR plus is determination the amount of this solution for various soils with different properties. In this study a laboratory experiment is conduct to evaluate the ion exchange capacity of three soils with various plasticity index (PI) to determine amount or required CBR plus solution for soil stabilization.

Bioprocess Intelligent Control: A Case Study

Bioprocesses are appreciated as difficult to control because their dynamic behavior is highly nonlinear and time varying, in particular, when they are operating in fed batch mode. The research objective of this study was to develop an appropriate control method for a complex bioprocess and to implement it on a laboratory plant. Hence, an intelligent control structure has been designed in order to produce biomass and to maximize the specific growth rate.

Development of Cellulose Panels with Porous Structure for Sustainable Building Insulation

The study and development of an innovative material for building insulation is really important for a sustainable society in order to improve comfort and reducing energy consumption. The aim of this work is the development of insulating panels for sustainable buildings based on an innovative material made by cardboard and Phase Change Materials (PCMs). The research has consisted in laboratory tests whose purpose has been the obtaining of the required properties for insulation panels: lightweight, porous structures and mechanical resistance. PCMs have been used for many years in the building industry as smart insulation technology because of their properties of storage and release high quantity of latent heat at useful specific temperatures [1]- [2]. The integration of PCMs into cellulose matrix during the waste paper recycling process has been developed in order to obtain a composite material. Experiments on the productive process for the realization of insulating panels were done in order to make the new material suitable for building application. The addition of rising agents demonstrated the possibility to obtain a lighter structure with better insulation properties. Several tests were conducted to verify the new panel properties. The results obtained have shown the possibility to realize an innovative and sustainable material suitable to replace insulating panels currently used.

Effect of Lime on the California Bearing Ratio Behaviour of Fly Ash - mine Overburden Mixes

Typically thermal power plants are located near to surface coal mines that produce huge amount of fly ash as a waste byproduct. Disposal of fly ash causes significant economic and environmental problems. Now-a-days, research is going on for bulk utilization of fly ash. In order to increase its percentage utilization, an investigation was carried out to evaluate its potential for haul road construction. This paper presents the laboratory California bearing ratio (CBR) tests and evaluates the effect of lime on CBR behavior of fly ash - mine overburden mixes. Tests were performed with different percentages of lime (2%, 3%, 6%, and 9%). The results show that the increase in bearing ratio of fly ash-overburden mixes was achieved by lime treatment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were conducted on 28 days cured specimens. The SEM study showed that the bearing ratio development is related to the microstructural development.

Determine of Constant Coefficients to RelateTotal Dissolved Solids to Electrical Conductivity

Salinity is a measure of the amount of salts in the water. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) as salinity parameter are often determined using laborious and time consuming laboratory tests, but it may be more appropriate and economical to develop a method which uses a more simple soil salinity index. Because dissolved ions increase salinity as well as conductivity, the two measures are related. The aim of this research was determine of constant coefficients for predicting of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) based on Electrical Conductivity (EC) with Statistics of Correlation coefficient, Root mean square error, Maximum error, Mean Bias error, Mean absolute error, Relative error and Coefficient of residual mass. For this purpose, two experimental areas (S1, S2) of Khuzestan province-IRAN were selected and four treatments with three replications by series of double rings were applied. The treatments were included 25cm, 50cm, 75cm and 100cm water application. The results showed the values 16.3 & 12.4 were the best constant coefficients for predicting of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) based on EC in Pilot S1 and S2 with correlation coefficient 0.977 & 0.997 and 191.1 & 106.1 Root mean square errors (RMSE) respectively.

Removal of Heavy Metals from Rainwater in Batch Reactors with Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB)

The main objective of this research was to investigate the biosorption capacity for biofilms of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) to remove heavy metals, such as Zn, Pb and Cd from rainwater using laboratory-scale reactors containing mixed support media. Evidence showed that biosorption had contributed to removal of heavy metals including Zn, Pb and Cd in presence of SRB and SRB were also found in the aqueous samples from reactors. However, the SRB and specific families (Desulfobacteriaceae and Desulfovibrionaceae) were found mainly in the biomass samples taken from all reactors at the end of the experiment. EDX-analysis of reactor solids at end of experiment showed that heavy metals Zn, Pb and Cd had also accumulated in these precipitates.

Increase Energy Savings with Lighting Automation Using Light Pipes and Power LEDs

Using of natural lighting has come into prominence in constructed buildings, especially in last ten years, under scope of energy efficiency. Natural lighting methods are one of the methods that aim to take advantage of day light in maximum level and decrease using of artificial lighting. Increasing of day light amount in buildings by using suitable methods will give optimum result in terms of comfort and energy saving when the daylight-artificial light integration is ensured with a suitable control system. Using of natural light in places that require lighting will ensure energy saving in great extent. With this study, it is aimed to save energy used for purpose of lighting. Under this scope, lighting of a scanning laboratory of a hospital was realized by using a lighting automation containing natural and artificial lighting. In natural lighting, light pipes were used and in artificial lighting, dimmable power LED modules were used. Necessity of lighting was followed with motion sensors. The lighting automation containing natural and artificial light was ensured with fuzzy logic control. At the scanning laboratory where this application was realized, energy saving in lighting was obtained.

Performance Evaluation of Compression Algorithms for Developing and Testing Industrial Imaging Systems

The development of many measurement and inspection systems of products based on real-time image processing can not be carried out totally in a laboratory due to the size or the temperature of the manufactured products. Those systems must be developed in successive phases. Firstly, the system is installed in the production line with only an operational service to acquire images of the products and other complementary signals. Next, a recording service of the image and signals must be developed and integrated in the system. Only after a large set of images of products is available, the development of the real-time image processing algorithms for measurement or inspection of the products can be accomplished under realistic conditions. Finally, the recording service is turned off or eliminated and the system operates only with the real-time services for the acquisition and processing of the images. This article presents a systematic performance evaluation of the image compression algorithms currently available to implement a real-time recording service. The results allow establishing a trade off between the reduction or compression of the image size and the CPU time required to get that compression level.

Different Teaching Methods for Program Design and Algorithmic Language

This paper covers the present situation and problem of experimental teaching of mathematics specialty in recent years, puts forward and demonstrates experimental teaching methods for different education. From the aspects of content and experimental teaching approach, uses as an example the course “Experiment for Program Designing & Algorithmic Language" and discusses teaching practice and laboratory course work. In addition a series of successful methods and measures are introduced in experimental teaching.

The Effect of Combining Real Experimentation With Virtual Experimentation on Students-Success

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of combining Real Experimentation (RE) With Virtual Experimentation (VE) on students- conceptual understanding of photo electric effect. To achieve this, a pre–post comparison study design was used that involved 46 undergraduate students. Two groups were set up for this study. Participants in the control group used RE to learn photo electric effect, whereas, participants in the experimental group used RE in the first part of the curriculum and VE in another part. Achievement test was given to the groups before and after the application as pre-test and post test. The independent samples t- test, one way Anova and Tukey HSD test were used for testing the data obtained from the study. According to the results of analyzes, the experimental group was found more successful than the control group.

Survey Gamma Radiation Measurements in Commercially-used Natural Tiling Rocks in Iran

The gamma radiation in samples of a variety of natural tiling rocks (granites) produced and imported in Iran use in the building industry was measured, employing high-resolution Gamma-ray spectroscopy. The rock samples were pulverized, sealed in 0.5 liter plastic Marinelli beakers, and measured in the laboratory with an accumulating time between 50000 and 80000 second each. From the measured Gamma-ray spectra, activity concentrations were determined for 232Th (range from 6.5 to 172.2 Bq kg-1), 238U (from 7.5 to 178.1 Bq kg-1 ),226Ra( from 3.8 to 94.2 Bq kg-1 ) 40K (from 556.9 to 1539.2 Bq kg-1). From the 29 samples measured in this study, “Nehbndan ( Berjand )" appears to present the highest concentrations for 232Th,“Big Red Flower (China) "for 238U , “ Khoram dareh" for 226 Ra and “ Peranshahr" for 40K , respectively.

How Prior Knowledge Affects User's Understanding of System Requirements?

Requirements are critical to system validation as they guide all subsequent stages of systems development. Inadequately specified requirements generate systems that require major revisions or cause system failure entirely. Use Cases have become the main vehicle for requirements capture in many current Object Oriented (OO) development methodologies, and a means for developers to communicate with different stakeholders. In this paper we present the results of a laboratory experiment that explored whether different types of use case format are equally effective in facilitating high knowledge user-s understanding. Results showed that the provision of diagrams along with the textual use case descriptions significantly improved user comprehension of system requirements in both familiar and unfamiliar application domains. However, when comparing groups that received models of textual description accompanied with diagrams of different level of details (simple and detailed) we found no significant difference in performance.

Delay Analysis of Sampled-Data Systems in Hard RTOS

In this paper, we have presented the effect of varying time-delays on performance and stability in the single-channel multirate sampled-data system in hard real-time (RT-Linux) environment. The sampling task require response time that might exceed the capacity of RT-Linux. So a straight implementation with RT-Linux is not feasible, because of the latency of the systems and hence, sampling period should be less to handle this task. The best sampling rate is chosen for the sampled-data system, which is the slowest rate meets all performance requirements. RT-Linux is consistent with its specifications and the resolution of the real-time is considered 0.01 seconds to achieve an efficient result. The test results of our laboratory experiment shows that the multi-rate control technique in hard real-time operating system (RTOS) can improve the stability problem caused by the random access delays and asynchronization.

Force Analysis of an Automated Rapid Maxillary Expansion (ARME) Appliance

An Automated Rapid Maxillary Expander (ARME) is a specially designed microcontroller-based orthodontic appliance to overcome the shortcomings imposed by the traditional maxillary expansion appliances. This new device is operates by automatically widening the maxilla (upper jaw) by expanding the midpalatal suture [1]. The ARME appliance that has been developed is a combination of modified butterfly expander appliance, micro gear, micro motor, and microcontroller to automatically produce light and continuous pressure to expand the maxilla. For this study, the functionality of the system is verified through laboratory tests by measure the forced applied to the teeth each time the maxilla expands. The laboratory test results show that the developed appliance meets the desired performance specifications consistently.

Sediment Transport Experiments: The Influence of the Furrow Geometry

In this experimental work, we have shown that the geometric shape of the grooves (furrows) plays an important role in sediment dynamics. In addition, the rheological behaviour of solid discharge does not depend only on the velocity discharge but also on the geometric shape.

Effect of Isfahan Refinery, Power Plant and Petrochemical on Borkhar District Soil

This study aimed to evaluate regional soil Borkhar of the metals Lead has been made. In this field study fires visits to the regions. The limit of this study located in the East refineries, petrochemical and power plant to 20 km was selected. The 41 soil samples from depths of 0 to 10 cm in area and were randomized. Soil samples were transported to the laboratory and by air was dry and passed through 2-mil thickness sieve. In the laboratory of physical and chemical characteristics and concentrations of total absorption was measured. The results showed that the amount of lead in soil in many parts of the range higher than the standard limit. Survey maps show that the lead spatial distribution of the region does not special pattern.

Prediction Method of Extenics Theory for Assessment of Bearing Capacity of Lateritic Soil Foundation

Base on extenics theory, the statistical physical and mechanical properties from laboratory experiments are used to evaluate the bearing capacity of lateritic soil foundation. The properties include water content, bulk density, liquid limit, cohesion, and so on. The matter-element and the dependent function are defined. Then the synthesis dependent degree and the final grade index are calculated. The results show that predicted outcomes can be matched with the in-situ test data, and a evaluate grade associate with bearing capacity can be deduced. The results provide guidance to assess and determine the bearing capacity grade of lateritic soil foundation.

Cooling of Fresh Vegetable Farm Produce: Experimental and Numerical Studies

Following harvest, fresh produce needs to be cooled immediately in a room where the air temperature and the relative air humidity are controlled to maintain the produce quality. In this paper, an experimental study for forced air cooling of fresh produce (cauliflower) is performed using a pilot developed within our laboratory. Furthermore, a numerical simulation of spherical produces, taking into account the aerodynamic aspect and also the heat transfer in the produce and in the air, was carried out using a finite element method. At the end of this communication, experimental results are presented and compared with the simulation.

Wastewater Treatment in Moving-Bed Biofilm Reactor operated by Flow Reversal Intermittent Aeration System

Intermittent aeration process can be easily applied on the existing activated sludge system and is highly reliable against the loading changes. It can be operated in a relatively simple way as well. Since the moving-bed biofilm reactor method processes pollutants by attaching and securing the microorganisms on the media, the process efficiency can be higher compared to the suspended growth biological treatment process, and can reduce the return of sludge. In this study, the existing intermittent aeration process with alternating flow being applied on the oxidation ditch is applied on the continuous flow stirred tank reactor with advantages from both processes, and we would like to develop the process to significantly reduce the return of sludge in the clarifier and to secure the reliable quality of treated water by adding the moving media. Corresponding process has the appropriate form as an infrastructure based on u- environment in future u- City and is expected to accelerate the implementation of u-Eco city in conjunction with city based services. The system being conducted in a laboratory scale has been operated in HRT 8hours except for the final clarifier and showed the removal efficiency of 97.7 %, 73.1 % and 9.4 % in organic matters, TN and TP, respectively with operating range of 4hour cycle on system SRT 10days. After adding the media, the removal efficiency of phosphorus showed a similar level compared to that before the addition, but the removal efficiency of nitrogen was improved by 7~10 %. In addition, the solids which were maintained in MLSS 1200~1400 at 25 % of media packing were attached all onto the media, which produced no sludge entering the clarifier. Therefore, the return of sludge is not needed any longer.

Study of Microbial Critical Points of Saffron from Farm to Factory in Iran

In this research saffron samples were prepared from farms and sampling was done in four states contain : sampling from fresh saffron of petal with forceps , sampling from fresh saffron of petal by hands, sampling from dried sample by warm air in shadow, sampling from dried sample which dried by dryer. Samples collected and kept in sterile tubes and containers and carried to laboratory and maintained until experiment. Microbial experiments were performed to determine microbial load such as total count, Staphylococcus aureus, coli form, E.coli, mold and yeast. Results showed that in picking and drying stages the contamination amount increases in saffron samples. There was a significant difference between the microbial load of picked up saffron by forceps and by hands, and also between dried saffron by warm air in shadow and by dryer.