Search results for: biosorption capacity.
613 A Comparative Studies on Methanesulfonic and p-Touluene Sulfonic Acid Incorporated Polyacrylamide Gel Polymer Electrolyte for Tin-Air Battery
Authors: S. Sumathi, V. Sethuprakhash, W. J. Basirun
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This study was focused on polymer electrolytes containing methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and p-toluene sulfonic acid (pTSA) mixed with polyacrylamide (PAAm) respectively. Impedance Spectroscopy technique has been employed to compare the ionic conductivity of these polymer electrolytes. The ionic conductivity of the PAAm hydrogel electrolytes increase upon adding the sulfonic acids. Ionic conductivity of PAAm-pTSA is higher than PAAm-MSA. The electrochemical performance evaluations were done with the tin-air cells discharge at zero current for 30minutes and at constant current density of 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15mA/cm2. The tin-air cell of PAAm-MSA produce higher specific discharge capacity compared to PAAm-pTSA. Open-circuit voltage measurement revealed a higher voltage for tin-air cell of PAAm-MSA which is 1.27V.
Keywords: Methane sulfonic acid, polyacrylamide, polymer gel electrolytes, p-toluene sulfonic acid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3644612 Oxidantantioxidant Status in Calves Supplemented with Green Tea Extract
Authors: Ibrahim I. Elshahawy
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The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of green tea extract on serum oxidant and antioxidant profile, liver and kidney function. 40 Friesian calves are included in this study and allocated into two groups: Group I (n=20) clinically healthy calves showing no clinical abnormalities, not receiving any treatment and served as control; group II (n=20) received green tea extract (GTE) for 30 days. Non-significant changes in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were detected between groups, on contrary, serum creatinine and activities of liver enzymes aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were significantly different between two groups. There were significant increases in the mean values of serum antioxidative parameters (total antioxidant capacity, catalase, superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione and glutathione peroxidase) in group II. Whereas, the activity of lipid peroxidase significantly decreased in GTE treated calves when compared to control.
Keywords: Green tea extract, antioxidants, oxidants, calves.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1132611 An Evaluation of a Psychotherapeutic Service for Engineering Students: The Role of Race, Gender and Language
Authors: Nazeema Ahmed
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Mental health in higher education has received increasing attention over the past few decades. The high academic demands of the engineering degree, coupled with students’ mental health challenges, have led to higher education institutions offering psychotherapeutic services to students. This paper discusses an evaluation of the psychotherapy service at the University of Cape Town. The aim was to determine (i) the efficacy of the service; and (ii) the impact of race, gender, and language of the therapist on the students’ therapeutic process. An online survey was sent to 109 students who attended psychotherapy. The majority expressed favorable experiences of psychotherapy, with reports of increased capacity to engage with their academic work. Most students did not experience the gender, race, or language of the psychologists to be barriers to their therapy. The findings point to a need for ongoing psychological support for students.Keywords: Psychotherapy, efficacy, engineering, education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 947610 Effects of used Engine Oil in Reinforced Concrete Beams: The Structural Behaviour
Authors: S.C. Chin, N. Shafiq, M.F. Nuruddin
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In the modern construction practices, industrial wastes or by-products are largely used as raw materials in cement and concrete. These impart many benefits to the environment and bringabout an economic impact because the cost of waste disposal is constantly increasing due to strict environmental regulations. It was reported in literature that the leakage of oil onto concrete element in older cement grinding unit resulted in concrete with greater resistance to freezing and thawing. This effect was thought to be similar to adding an air-entraining chemical admixture to concrete. This paper presents an investigation on the load deflection behaviour and crack patterns of reinforced concrete (RC) beams subjected to four point loading. Ten 120x260x1900 mm beams were cast with 100% ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete, 20% fly ash (FA) and 20% rice husk ash (RHA) blended cement concrete. 0.15% dosage of admixtures (used engine oil, new engine oil, and superplasticizer) was used throughout the experiment. Results show that OPC and OPC/RHA RC beams containing used engine oil and superplasticizer exhibit higher capacity, 18-26% than their corresponding control mix.Keywords: by-products, RC beams, superplasticizer, used engine oil
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3088609 Scheduling for a Reconfigurable Manufacturing System with Multiple Process Plans and Limited Pallets/Fixtures
Authors: Jae-Min Yu, Hyoung-Ho Doh, Ji-Su Kim, Dong-Ho Lee, Sung-Ho Nam
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A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is an advanced system designed at the outset for rapid changes in its hardware and software components in order to quickly adjust its production capacity and functionally. Among various operational decisions, this study considers the scheduling problem that determines the input sequence and schedule at the same time for a given set of parts. In particular, we consider the practical constraints that the numbers of pallets/fixtures are limited and hence a part can be released into the system only when the fixture required for the part is available. To solve the integrated input sequencing and scheduling problems, we suggest a priority rule based approach in which the two sub-problems are solved using a combination of priority rules. To show the effectiveness of various rule combinations, a simulation experiment was done on the data for a real RMS, and the test results are reported.Keywords: Reconfigurable manufacturing system, scheduling, priority rules, multiple process plans, pallets/fixtures
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1896608 Personalized Learning: An Analysis Using Item Response Theory
Authors: A. Yacob, N. Hj. Ali, M. H. Yusoff, M. Y. MohdSaman, W. M. A. F. W. Hamzah
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Personalized learning becomes increasingly popular which not be restricted by time, place or any other barriers. This study proposes an analysis of Personalized Learning using Item Response Theory which considers course material difficulty and learner ability.The study investigates twenty undergraduate students at TATI University College, who are taking programming subject. By using the IRT,it was found that, finding the most appropriate problem levels to each student include high and low level test items together is not a problem. Thus, the student abilities can be asses more accurately and fairly. Learners who experience more anxiety will affect a heavier cognitive load and receive lower test scores.Instructors are encouraged to provide a supportive learning environment to enhance learning effectiveness because Cognitive Load Theory concerns the limited capacity of the brain to absorb new information.
Keywords: Analysis, Cognitive Load Theory, Item Response Theory, Learning, Motivation, Performance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3119607 Concept of Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion Cage Insertion Device
Authors: Sangram A. Sathe, Neha A. Madgulkar, Shruti S. Raut, S. P. Wadkar
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Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgeries have nowadays became popular for treatment of degenerated spinal disorders. The interbody fusion technique like TLIF maintains load bearing capacity of the spine and a suitable disc height. Currently many techniques have been introduced to cure Spondylolisthesis. This surgery provides greater rehabilitation of degenerative spines. While performing this TLIF surgery existing methods use guideway, which is a troublesome surgery technique as the use of two separate instruments is required to perform this surgery. This paper presents a concept which eliminates the use of guideway. This concept also eliminates problems that occur like reverting the cage. The concept discussed in this paper also gives high accuracy while performing surgery.Keywords: Degenerative disc diseases, pedicle screw, spine, spondylolisthesis, transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1378606 Structural Behaviour of Partially Filled Steel Grid Composite Deck
Authors: Hyun-Seop Shin, Chin-Hyung Lee, Ki-Tae Park
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In order to apply partially filled steel grid composite deck as the horizontal supporting structure of various kinds of infrastructures, the variation of its flexural strength according to design parameters such as cross and longitudinal bars constituting the steel grid and the type of shear connection is evaluated and compared experimentally. The result shows that the design sensitivity of the deck to the spacing of the cross bars is insignificant in the case of structure with low risk of punching failure or without load distribution problem. By means of shear connection composed by transverse rebar and longitudinal bar without additional shear stud bolts, the complete interaction between steel grid and concrete slab is able to be achieved and the composite deck can develop its bending resistance capacity.Keywords: bending strength, composite action, shear connection, steel grid composite deck
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1622605 Functionalized PU Foam for Water Filtration
Authors: Nidal H. Abu-Zahra, Subhashini Gunashekar
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Polyurethane foam is functionalized with Sulfonic acid groups to remove lead ions (Pb2+) from drinking water through a cation exchange process. The synthesis is based on addition polymerization of the -NCO groups of an isocyanate with the –OH groups of a polyol to form the urethane. Toluene-diisocyanateis reacted with Polypropylene glycol to form a linear pre-polymer, which is further polymerized using a chain extender, N, N-bis(2-hydorxyethyl)-2-aminoethane-sulfonic acid (BES). BES acts as a functional group site to exchange Pb2+ ions. A set of experiments was designed to study the effect of various processing parameters on the performance of the synthesized foam. The maximum Pb2+ ion exchange capacity of the foam was found to be 47ppb/g from a 100ppb Pb2+ solution over a period of 60 minutes. A multistage batch filtration process increased the lead removal to 50-54ppb/3g of foam over a period of 90 minutes.
Keywords: Adsorption, Functionalized, Ion exchange, Polyurethane, Sulfonic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3096604 In-situ LDH Formation of Sodium Aluminate Activated Slag
Authors: Tao Liu, Qingliang Yu, H. J. H. Brouwers
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Among the reaction products in the alkali activated ground granulated blast furnace slag (AAS), the layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have a remarkable capacity of chloride and heavy metal ions absorption. The promotion of LDH phases in the AAS matrix can increase chloride resistance. The objective of this study is that using the different dosages of sodium aluminate to activate slag, consequently, promoting the formation of in-situ LDH. The hydration kinetics of the sodium aluminate activated slag (SAAS) was tested by the isothermal calorimetry. Meanwhile, the reaction products were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The sodium hydroxide activated slag is selected as the reference. The results of XRD, TGA, and FTIR showed that the formation of LDH in SAAS is governed by the aluminate dosages.
Keywords: ground granulated blast furnace slag, sodium aluminate activated slag, in-situ LDH formation, chloride absorption
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 488603 Complexity of Mathematical Expressions in Adaptive Multimodal Multimedia System Ensuring Access to Mathematics for Visually Impaired Users
Authors: Ali Awde, Yacine Bellik, Chakib Tadj
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Our adaptive multimodal system aims at correctly presenting a mathematical expression to visually impaired users. Given an interaction context (i.e. combination of user, environment and system resources) as well as the complexity of the expression itself and the user-s preferences, the suitability scores of different presentation format are calculated. Unlike the current state-of-the art solutions, our approach takes into account the user-s situation and not imposes a solution that is not suitable to his context and capacity. In this wok, we present our methodology for calculating the mathematical expression complexity and the results of our experiment. Finally, this paper discusses the concepts and principles applied on our system as well as their validation through cases studies. This work is our original contribution to an ongoing research to make informatics more accessible to handicapped users.Keywords: Adaptive system, intelligent multi-agent system, mathematics for visually-impaired users.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1585602 Decentralized Handoff for Microcellular Mobile Communication System using Fuzzy Logic
Authors: G. M. Mir, N. A. Shah, Moinuddin
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Efficient handoff algorithms are a cost-effective way of enhancing the capacity and QoS of cellular system. The higher value of hysteresis effectively prevents unnecessary handoffs but causes undesired cell dragging. This undesired cell dragging causes interference or could lead to dropped calls in microcellular environment. The problems are further exacerbated by the corner effect phenomenon which causes the signal level to drop by 20-30 dB in 10-20 meters. Thus, in order to maintain reliable communication in a microcellular system new and better handoff algorithms must be developed. A fuzzy based handoff algorithm is proposed in this paper as a solution to this problem. Handoff on the basis of ratio of slopes of normal signal loss to the actual signal loss is presented. The fuzzy based solution is supported by comparing its results with the results obtained in analytical solution.Keywords: Slope ratio, handoff, corner effect, fuzzy logic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1514601 Layout Design Optimization of Spars under Multiple Load Cases of the High-Aspect-Ratio Wing
Authors: Yu Li, Jingwu He, Yuexi Xiong
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The spar layout will affect the wing’s stiffness characteristics, and irrational spar arrangement will reduce the overall bending and twisting resistance capacity of the wing. In this paper, the active structural stiffness design theory is used to match the stiffness-center axis position and load-cases under the corresponding multiple flight conditions, in order to achieve better stiffness properties of the wing. The combination of active stiffness method and principle of stiffness distribution is proved to be reasonable supplying an initial reference for wing designing. The optimized layout of spars is eventually obtained, and the high-aspect-ratio wing will have better stiffness characteristics.
Keywords: Active structural stiffness design theory, high-aspect-ratio wing, flight load cases, layout of spars.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1112600 A Framework for the Evaluation of Infrastructures’ Serviceability
Authors: Kyonghoon Kim, Wonyoung Park, Taeil Park
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Aging infrastructures became a serious social problem. This brought out the increased need for the legislation of a new strict guideline for infrastructure management. Although existing guidelines provided basics of how to evaluate and manage the condition of infrastructures, they needed improvements for their evaluation procedures. Most guidelines mainly focused on the structural condition of infrastructures and did not properly reflect service aspects of infrastructures such as performance, public demand, capacity, etc., which were significantly valuable to public. Regardless of the importance, these factors were often neglected in infrastructure evaluations, because they were quite subjective and difficult to quantify in rational manner. Thus, this study proposed a framework to properly identify and evaluate the service indicators. This study showed that service indicators could be grouped into two categories and properly evaluated using AHP and Fuzzy. Overall, proposed framework is expected to assist governmental agency in establishing effective investment strategies for infrastructure improvements.Keywords: Infrastructure, evaluation, serviceability, fuzzy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1662599 Effect of Open Burning on Soil Carbon Stock in Sugarcane Plantation in Thailand
Authors: Wilaiwan Sornpoon, Sébastien Bonnet, Savitri Garivait
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Open burning of sugarcane fields is recognized to have a negative impact on soil by degrading its properties, especially soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Better understating the effect of open burning on soil carbon dynamics is crucial for documenting the carbon sequestration capacity of agricultural soils. In this study, experiments to investigate soil carbon stocks under burned and unburned sugarcane plantation systems in Thailand were conducted. The results showed that cultivation fields without open burning during 5 consecutive years enabled to increase the SOC content at a rate of 1.37 Mg ha-1y-1. Also it was found that sugarcane fields burning led to about 15% reduction of the total carbon stock in the 0-30 cm soil layer. The overall increase in SOC under unburned practice is mainly due to the large input of organic material through the use of sugarcane residues.
Keywords: Soil organic carbon, Soil inorganic carbon, Carbon sequestration, Open burning, Sugarcane.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3385598 Electrospinning and Characterization of Silk Fibroin/Gelatin Nanofibre Mats
Authors: S. Mohammadzadehmoghadam, Y. Dong
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In this study, Bombyx mori silk fibroin/gelatin (SF/GT) nanocomposite with different GT ratio (SF/GT 100/0, 90/10 and 70/30) were prepared by electrospinning process and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) vapor. Properties of crosslinked SF/GT nanocomposites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical test, water uptake capacity (WUC) and porosity. From SEM images, it was found that fiber diameter increased as GT content increased. The results of mechanical test indicated that the SF/GT 70/30 nanocomposites had both the highest Young’s modulus of 342 MPa and the highest tensile strength of about 14 MPa. However, porosity and WUC decreased from 62% and 405% for pristine SF to 47% and 232% for SF/GT 70/30, respectively. This behavior can be related to higher degree of crosslinking as GT ratio increased which altered the structure and physical properties of scaffolds. This study showed that incorporation of GT into SF nanofibers can enhance mechanical properties of resultant nanocomposite, but the GA treatment should be optimized to control and fine-tune other properties to warrant their biomedical application.Keywords: Electrospinning, gelatin, mechanical properties, nanocomposites, silk fibroin.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 892597 Adsorption of Ferrous and Ferric Ions in Aqueous and Industrial Effluent onto Pongamia pinnata Tree Bark
Authors: M. Mamatha, H. B. Aravinda, E. T. Puttaiah, S. Manjappa
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One of the causes of water pollution is the presence of heavy metals in water. In the present study, an adsorbent prepared from the raw bark of the Pongamia pinnata tree is used for the removal of ferrous or ferric ions from aqueous and waste water containing heavy metals. Adsorption studies were conducted at different pH, concentration of metal ion, amount of adsorbent, contact time, agitation and temperature. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were applied for the results. The Langmuir isotherms were best fitted by the equilibrium data. The maximum adsorption was found to 146mg/g in waste water at a temperature of 30°C which is in agreement as comparable to the adsorption capacity of different adsorbents reported in literature. Pseudo second order model best fitted the adsorption of both ferrous and ferric ions.
Keywords: Adsorption, Adsorption isotherms, Heavy metals, Industrial effluents.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3251596 A Study of Recycle Materials to Develop for Auto Part
Authors: Sittichai Kaewkuekool, Vanchai Laemlaksakul
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At the present, auto part industries have become higher challenge in strategy market. As this consequence, manufacturers need to have better response to customers in terms of quality, cost, and delivery time. Moreover, they need to have a good management in factory to comply with international standard maximum capacity and lower cost. This would lead companies to have to order standard part from aboard and become the major cost of inventory. The development of auto part research by recycling materials experiment is to compare the auto parts from recycle materials to international auto parts (CKD). Factors studied in this research were the recycle material ratios of PU-foam, felt, and fabric. Results of recycling materials were considered in terms of qualities and properties on the parameters such as weight, sound absorption, water absorption, tensile strength, elongation, and heat resistance with the CKD. The results were showed that recycling materials would be used to replace for the CKD.
Keywords: International auto parts, recycling materials.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2074595 Thermodynamic Performance of a Combined Power and Ejector Refrigeration Cycle
Authors: Hyung Jong Ko, Kyoung Hoon Kim
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In this study thermodynamic performance analysis of a combined organic Rankine cycle and ejector refrigeration cycle is carried out for use of low-grade heat source in the form of sensible energy. Special attention is paid to the effects of system parameters including the turbine inlet temperature and turbine inlet pressure on the characteristics of the system such as ratios of mass flow rate, net work production, and refrigeration capacity as well as the coefficient of performance and exergy efficiency of the system. Results show that for a given source the coefficient of performance increases with increasing of the turbine inlet pressure. However, the exergy efficiency has an optimal condition with respect to the turbine inlet pressure.
Keywords: Coefficient of performance, ejector refrigeration cycle, exergy efficiency, low-grade energy, organic rankine cycle.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2503594 Physical Properties of Nine Nigerian Staple Food Flours Related to Bulk Handling and Processing
Authors: Ogunsina Babatunde, Aregbesola Omotayo, Adebayo Adewale, Odunlami Johnson
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The physical properties of nine Nigerian staple food flours related to bulk handling and processing were investigated following standard procedures. The results showed that the moisture content, bulk density, angle of repose, water absorption capacity, swelling index, dispersability, pH and wettability of the flours ranged from 9.95 to 11.98%, 0.44 to 0.66 g/cm3, 31.43 to 39.65o, 198.3 to 291.7 g of water/100 g of sample, 5.53 to 7.63, 60.3 to 73.8%, 4.43 to 6.70, and 11 to 150 s. The particle size analysis of the flour samples indicated significant differences (p<0.05). The least gelation concentration of the flour samples ranged from 6 to 14%. The colour of the flours fell between light and saturated, with the exception of cassava, millet and maize flours which appear dark and dull. The properties of food flours depend largely on the inherent property of the food material and may influence their functional behaviour as food materials.
Keywords: Properties, staple food flours, Nigeria, cereals, tuber, root crops, fruits.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2313593 Extinct Ponds: Potential for Increasing Landscape Retention Capacity?
Authors: Vaclav David, Tereza Davidova
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The restoration of extinct ponds is considered as one of ways to gain new retention capacities for water which is getting much more important issue with respect to expected impacts of a climate change. However, there are also other pressures on the landscape which must be all taken into consideration when making a decision on the possible restoration of extinct ponds. The research presented here focuses besides others on the restoration of former ponds which could be important for both the flood protection and drought impacts prevention. The first step of the methodology development for the assessment of such areas is the assessment of their present state. In this paper, the results of land use types assessment for 22 localities are presented. These results confirm the assumption that the most present land use type in such areas is the permanent grassland. However, the spectra of land use types present in extinct pond areas is very diverse and include besides others also airport areas and industry.
Keywords: Extinct pond, land use change, sustainable water resources management, pond restoration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1411592 Rheological Properties of Polysulfone-Sepiolite Nanocomposites
Authors: Nilay Tanrıver, Birgül Benli, Nilgün Kızılcan
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Polysulfone (PSU) is a specialty engineering polymer having various industrial applications. PSU is especially used in waste water treatment membranes due to its good mechanical properties, structural and chemical stability. But it is a hydrophobic material and therefore its surface aim to pollute easily. In order to resolve this problem and extend the properties of membrane, PSU surface is rendered hydrophilic by addition of the sepiolite nanofibers. Sepiolite is one of the natural clays, which is a hydrate magnesium silicate fiber, also one of the well known layered clays of the montmorillonites where has several unique channels and pores within. It has also moisture durability, strength and low price. Sepiolite channels give great capacity of absorption and good surface properties. In this study, nanocomposites of commercial PSU and Sepiolite were prepared by solvent mixing method. Different organic solvents and their mixtures were used. Rheological characteristics of PSU-Sepiolite solvent mixtures were analyzed, the solubility of nanocomposite content in those mixtures were studied.
Keywords: Nanocomposite, polysulfone, rheology, sepiolite, solution mixing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3074591 Assessment of the Energy Balance Method in the Case of Masonry Domes
Authors: M. M. Sadeghi, S. Vahdani
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Masonry dome structures had been widely used for covering large spans in the past. The seismic assessment of these historical structures is very complicated due to the nonlinear behavior of the material, their rigidness, and special stability configuration. The assessment method based on energy balance concept, as well as the standard pushover analysis, is used to evaluate the effectiveness of these methods in the case of masonry dome structures. The Soltanieh dome building is used as an example to which two methods are applied. The performance points are given from superimposing the capacity, and demand curves in Acceleration Displacement Response Spectra (ADRS) and energy coordination are compared with the nonlinear time history analysis as the exact result. The results show a good agreement between the dynamic analysis and the energy balance method, but standard pushover method does not provide an acceptable estimation.
Keywords: Energy balance method, pushover analysis, time history analysis, masonry dome.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 837590 The influence of Local Export Externalities and Firm International Experience on Export Performance
Authors: Isabel Díez Vial, Marta Fernández Olmoss
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This research tries to analyze the role that knowledge about foreign markets has in increasing firms- exports in clustered spaces. We consider two interrelated sources of knowledge: firms- direct experience and indirect experience from other clustered firms – export externalities. In particular, it is proposed that firms would improve their export performance by accessing to export externalities if they have some previous direct experience that allows them to identify, understand and exploit them. Also, we propose that this positive influence of previous direct experience on export externalities keeps only up to a point, where it becomes negative, creating an inverted “U" shape. Empirical evidence gathered among wine producers located in La Rioja tends to confirm that firms enjoy of export externalities if they have export experience along several years and countries increase their export performance. While this relationship becomes less relevant as they develop a higher experience, we could not confirm the existence of a curvilinear relationship in their influence on export externalities and export performance.Keywords: Clusters, curvilinear relationship, absorptive capacity
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1304589 Chelate Enhanced Modified Fenton Treatment for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Contaminated Soils
Authors: Venny, S. Gan, H. K. Ng
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This work focuses on the remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-contaminated soil via Fenton treatment coupled with novel chelating agent (CA). The feasibility of chelated modified Fenton (MF) treatment to promote PAH oxidation in artificially contaminated soils was investigated in laboratory scale batch experiments at natural pH. The effects of adding inorganic and organic CA are discussed. Experiments using different iron catalyst to CA ratios were conducted, resulting in hydrogen peroxide: soil: iron: CA weight ratios that varied from 0.049: 1: 0.072: 0.008 to 0.049: 1: 0.072: 0.067. The results revealed that (1) inorganic CA could provide much higher PAH removal efficiency and (2) most of the proposed CAs were more efficient than commonly utilised CAs even at mild ratio. This work highlights the potential of novel chelating agents in maintaining a suitable environment throughout the Fenton treatment, particularly in soils with high buffer capacity.Keywords: Chelating agent, Fenton, hydroxyl radicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1879588 Removal of Cibacron Brilliant Yellow 3G-P Dye from Aqueous Solutions Using Coffee Husks as Non-Conventional Low-Cost Sorbent
Authors: Ismail I. Fasfous, Nedal Abu Farha
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The purpose of this research is to establish the experimental conditions for removal of Cibacron Brilliant Yellow 3G-P dye (CBY) from aqueous solutions by sorption onto coffee husks as a low-cost sorbent. The effects of various experimental parameters (e.g. initial CBY dye concentration, sorbent mass, pH, temperature) were examined and the optimal experimental conditions were determined. The results indicated that the removal of the dye was pH dependent and at initial pH of 2, the dye was removed effectively. The CBY dye sorption data were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich equilibrium models. The maximum sorption capacity of CBY dye ions onto coffee husks increased from 24.04 to 35.04 mg g-1 when the temperature was increased from 293 to 313 K. The calculated sorption thermodynamic parameters including ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS° indicated that the CBY dye sorption onto coffee husks is a spontaneous, endothermic and mainly physical in nature.
Keywords: Coffee husks, equilibrium, reactive dyes, sorption.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2456587 A Relative Analysis of Carbon and Dust Uptake by Important Tree Species in Tehran, Iran
Authors: Sahar Elkaee Behjati
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Air pollution, particularly with dust, is one of the biggest issues Tehran is dealing with, and the city's green space which consists of trees has a critical role in absorption of it. The question this study aimed to investigate was which tree species the highest uptake capacity of the dust and carbon have suspended in the air. On this basis, 30 samples of trees from two different districts in Tehran were collected, and after washing and centrifuging, the samples were oven dried. The results of the study revealed that Ulmus minor had the highest amount of deposited dust in both districts. In addition, it was found that in Chamran district Ailanthus altissima and in Gandi district Ulmus minor has had the highest absorption of deposited carbon. Therefore, it could be argued that decision making on the selection of species for urban green spaces should take the above-mentioned parameters into account.
Keywords: Dust, leaves, uptake total carbon, tehran, tree species.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 731586 Evaluation of Behavior Factor for Steel Moment-Resisting Frames
Authors: Taïeb Branci, Djamal Yahmi, Abdelhamid Bouchair, Eric Fourneley
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According to current seismic codes the structures are calculated using the capacity design procedure based on the concept of shear at the base depending on several parameters including behavior factor which is considered to be the most important parameter. The behavior factor allows designing the structure when it is at its ultimate limit state taking into account its energy dissipation through its plastic deformation. The aim of the present study is to assess the basic parameters on which is composed the behavior factor among them the reduction factor due to ductility, and those due to redundancy and the overstrength for steel moment-resisting frames of different heights and regular configuration. Analyses are conducted on these frames using the nonlinear static method where the effect of some parameters on the behavior factor, such as the number of stories and the number of spans, are taken into account. The results show that the behavior factor is rather sensitive to the variation of the number of stories and bays.
Keywords: Behavior, code, frame, ductility, overstrength, redundancy, plastic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3334585 Secondary Materials Management in Latvia: Challenges and Possibilities
Authors: N. Kulakova
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Thisresearch paper is dedicated to an actual issue in Latvia and in the whole European Union – development of the secondary materials management. The goal of this paper is to research the development of the secondary materials management in Latvia as a result to point out its main positive aspects and problems. In this research paper the author regards following issues: significance of the secondary materials management, current situation of the waste generation and utilization in Latvia comparing with other EU Member States, main problems and positive aspects of the secondary materials management in Latvia. The research author concludes that in last ten years a great work is done to develop the secondary materials market. Nevertheless following improvements are necessary: implementation of the packaging deposit system, development of the separate waste collection, increasing of the recycling capacity.
Keywords: sustainable development, secondary materials, separate waste collection, packaging deposit system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1537584 Region-Based Image Fusion with Artificial Neural Network
Authors: Shuo-Li Hsu, Peng-Wei Gau, I-Lin Wu, Jyh-Horng Jeng
Abstract:
For most image fusion algorithms separate relationship by pixels in the image and treat them more or less independently. In addition, they have to be adjusted different parameters in different time or weather. In this paper, we propose a region–based image fusion which combines aspects of feature and pixel-level fusion method to replace only by pixel. The basic idea is to segment far infrared image only and to add information of each region from segmented image to visual image respectively. Then we determine different fused parameters according different region. At last, we adopt artificial neural network to deal with the problems of different time or weather, because the relationship between fused parameters and image features are nonlinear. It render the fused parameters can be produce automatically according different states. The experimental results present the method we proposed indeed have good adaptive capacity with automatic determined fused parameters. And the architecture can be used for lots of applications.Keywords: Image fusion, Region-based fusion, Segmentation, Neural network, Multi-sensor.
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