Search results for: Water stress
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3321

Search results for: Water stress

921 Application Reliability Method for Concrete Dams

Authors: Mustapha Kamel Mihoubi, Mohamed Essadik Kerkar

Abstract:

Probabilistic risk analysis models are used to provide a better understanding of the reliability and structural failure of works, including when calculating the stability of large structures to a major risk in the event of an accident or breakdown. This work is interested in the study of the probability of failure of concrete dams through the application of reliability analysis methods including the methods used in engineering. It is in our case, the use of level 2 methods via the study limit state. Hence, the probability of product failures is estimated by analytical methods of the type first order risk method (FORM) and the second order risk method (SORM). By way of comparison, a level three method was used which generates a full analysis of the problem and involves an integration of the probability density function of random variables extended to the field of security using the Monte Carlo simulation method. Taking into account the change in stress following load combinations: normal, exceptional and extreme acting on the dam, calculation of the results obtained have provided acceptable failure probability values which largely corroborate the theory, in fact, the probability of failure tends to increase with increasing load intensities, thus causing a significant decrease in strength, shear forces then induce a shift that threatens the reliability of the structure by intolerable values of the probability of product failures. Especially, in case the increase of uplift in a hypothetical default of the drainage system.

Keywords: Dam, failure, limit-state, Monte Carlo simulation, reliability, probability, simulation, sliding, Taylor.

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920 Comparison of Chemical Coagulation and Electrocoagulation for Boron Removal from Synthetic Wastewater Using Aluminium

Authors: Kartikaningsih Danis, Yao-Hui Huang

Abstract:

Various techniques including conventional and advanced have been employed for the boron treatment from water and wastewater. The electrocoagulation involves an electrolytic reactor for coagulation/flotation with aluminium as anode and cathode. There is aluminium as coagulant to be used for removal which may induce secondary pollution in chemical coagulation. The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the performance between electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation on boron removal from synthetic wastewater. The effect of different parameters, such as pH reaction, coagulant dosage, and initial boron concentration were examined. The results show that the boron removal using chemical coagulation was lower. At the optimum condition (e.g. pH 8 and 0.8 mol coagulant dosage), boron removal efficiencies for chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation were 61% and 91%, respectively. In addition, the electrocoagulation needs no chemical reagents and makes the boron treatment easy for application.

Keywords: Electrocoagulation, chemical coagulation, aluminum electrode, boron removal.

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919 Fractal - Wavelet Based Techniques for Improving the Artificial Neural Network Models

Authors: Reza Bazargan Lari, Mohammad H. Fattahi

Abstract:

Natural resources management including water resources requires reliable estimations of time variant environmental parameters. Small improvements in the estimation of environmental parameters would result in grate effects on managing decisions. Noise reduction using wavelet techniques is an effective approach for preprocessing of practical data sets. Predictability enhancement of the river flow time series are assessed using fractal approaches before and after applying wavelet based preprocessing. Time series correlation and persistency, the minimum sufficient length for training the predicting model and the maximum valid length of predictions were also investigated through a fractal assessment.

Keywords: Wavelet, de-noising, predictability, time series fractal analysis, valid length, ANN.

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918 Effect of Synthetic Queen Mandibular Pheromone on Pollination of Cotton by Honey Bees, Apis mellifera

Authors: M. Keshlaf, R. Mensah, O. Nicetic, R. Spooner-Hart

Abstract:

The effectiveness of a commercial bee attractant, synthetic honey bee queen mandibular pheromone (Fruit Boost®) for enhancing pollination of Gossypium hirsutum was evaluated in a transgenic (Bt) cotton crop. The study assessed the number of bee visitations to blossoms of plants treated with Fruit Boost® as well, as effects on fruit set, yield, and lint quality. Bee activity on plots sprayed with pheromone concentrations of 50 and 500 queen equivalents (QEQ) /ha did not differ significantly from water-only control, on the day of application or the subsequent day. Application of the pheromone did not increase fruit set, yield, or lint quality. Two consecutive pheromone applications, applied two days apart, were not significantly different from a single application for any parameter.

Keywords: Apis mellifera, cotton, pollination, QMP pheromone

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917 Streamflow Modeling for a Small Watershed Using Limited Hydrological Data

Authors: S. Chuenchooklin

Abstract:

This research was conducted in the Pua Watershed whereas located in the Upper Nan River Basin in Nan province, Thailand. Nan River basin originated in Nan province that comprises of many tributary streams to produce as inflow to the Sirikit dam provided huge reservoir with the storage capacity of 9510 million cubic meters. The common problems of most watersheds were found i.e. shortage water supply for consumption and agriculture utilizations, deteriorate of water quality, flood and landslide including debris flow, and unstable of riverbank. The Pua Watershed is one of several small river basins that flow through the Nan River Basin. The watershed includes 404 km2 representing the Pua District, the Upper Nan Basin, or the whole Nan River Basin, of 61.5%, 18.2% or 1.2% respectively. The Pua River is a main stream producing all year streamflow supplying the Pua District and an inflow to the Upper Nan Basin. Its length approximately 56.3 kilometers with an average slope of the channel by 1.9% measured. A diversion weir namely Pua weir bound the plain and mountainous areas with a very steep slope of the riverbed to 2.9% and drainage area of 149 km2 as upstream watershed while a mild slope of the riverbed to 0.2% found in a river reach of 20.3 km downstream of this weir, which considered as a gauged basin. However, the major branch streams of the Pua River are ungauged catchments namely: Nam Kwang and Nam Koon with the drainage area of 86 and 35 km2 respectively. These upstream watersheds produce runoff through the 3-streams downstream of Pua weir, Jao weir, and Kang weir, with an averaged annual runoff of 578 million cubic meters. They were analyzed using both statistical data at Pua weir and simulated data resulted from the hydrologic modeling system (HEC–HMS) which applied for the remaining ungauged basins. Since the Kwang and Koon catchments were limited with lack of hydrological data included streamflow and rainfall. Therefore, the mathematical modeling: HEC-HMS with the Snyder-s hydrograph synthesized and transposed methods were applied for those areas using calibrated hydrological parameters from the upstream of Pua weir with continuously daily recorded of streamflow and rainfall data during 2008-2011. The results showed that the simulated daily streamflow and sum up as annual runoff in 2008, 2010, and 2011 were fitted with observed annual runoff at Pua weir using the simple linear regression with the satisfied correlation R2 of 0.64, 062, and 0.59, respectively. The sensitivity of simulation results were come from difficulty using calibrated parameters i.e. lag-time, coefficient of peak flow, initial losses, uniform loss rates, and missing some daily observed data. These calibrated parameters were used to apply for the other 2-ungauged catchments and downstream catchments simulated.

Keywords: Streamflow, hydrological model, ungauged catchments.

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916 Predicting Groundwater Areas Using Data Mining Techniques: Groundwater in Jordan as Case Study

Authors: Faisal Aburub, Wael Hadi

Abstract:

Data mining is the process of extracting useful or hidden information from a large database. Extracted information can be used to discover relationships among features, where data objects are grouped according to logical relationships; or to predict unseen objects to one of the predefined groups. In this paper, we aim to investigate four well-known data mining algorithms in order to predict groundwater areas in Jordan. These algorithms are Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Naïve Bayes (NB), K-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) and Classification Based on Association Rule (CBA). The experimental results indicate that the SVMs algorithm outperformed other algorithms in terms of classification accuracy, precision and F1 evaluation measures using the datasets of groundwater areas that were collected from Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

Keywords: Classification, data mining, evaluation measures, groundwater.

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915 Optical Characterization of a Microwave Plasma Torch for Hydrogen Production

Authors: Babajide O. Ogungbesan, Rajneesh Kumar, Mohamed Sassi

Abstract:

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a very toxic gas that is produced in very large quantities in the oil and gas industry. It cannot be flared to the atmosphere and Claus process based gas plants are used to recover the sulfur and convert the hydrogen to water. In this paper, we present optical characterization of an atmospheric pressure microwave plasma torch for H2S dissociation into hydrogen and sulfur. The torch is operated at 2.45 GHz with power up to 2 kW. Three different gases can simultaneously be injected in the plasma torch. Visual imaging and optical emission spectroscopy are used to characterize the plasma for varying gas flow rates and microwave power. The plasma length, emission spectra and temperature are presented. The obtained experimental results validate our earlier published simulation results of plasma torch.

Keywords: Atmospheric pressure microwave plasma, gas dissociation, optical emission spectroscopy.

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914 Analysis of Air-Water Two-Phase Flow in a 3x3 Rod Bundle

Authors: Pei-Syuan Ruan, Ya-Chi Yu, Shao-Wen Chen, Jin-Der Lee, Jong-Rong Wang, Chunkuan Shih

Abstract:

This study investigated the void fraction characteristics under low superficial gas velocity (Jg) and low superficial fluid velocity (Jf) conditions in a 3x3 rod bundle geometry. Three arrangements of conductivity probes were set to measure the void fraction at various cross-sectional regions, including rod-gap, sub-channel and rod-wall regions. The experimental tests were performed under the flow conditions of Jg = 0-0.236 m/s and Jf = 0-0.142 m/s, and the time-averaged void fractions were recorded at each flow condition. It was observed that while the superficial gas velocity increases, the small bubbles started to cluster together and become big bubbles. As the superficial fluid velocity increases, the local void fractions of the three test regions will get closer and the bubble distribution will be more uniform across the cross section.

Keywords: Conductivity probes, rod bundles, two-phase flow, void fraction.

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913 Social Interaction Dynamics Exploration: The Case Study of El Sherouk City

Authors: Nardine El Bardisy, Wolf Reuter, Ayat Ismail

Abstract:

In Egypt, there is continuous housing demand as a result of rapid population growth. In 1979, this forced the government to establish new urban communities in order to decrease stress around delta. New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) was formulated to take the responsibly of this new policy. These communities suffer from social life deficiency due to their typology, which is separated island with barriers. New urban communities’ typology results from the influence of neoliberalism movement and modern city planning forms. The lack of social interaction in these communities at present should be enhanced in the future. On a global perspective, sustainable development calls for creating more sustainable communities which include social, economic and environmental aspects. From 1960, planners were highly focusing on the promotion of the social dimension in urban development plans. The research hypothesis states: “It is possible to promote social interaction in new urban communities through a set of socio-spatial recommended strategies that are tailored for Greater Cairo Region context”. In order to test this hypothesis, the case of El-Sherouk city is selected, which represents the typical NUCA development plans. Social interaction indicators were derived from literature and used to explore different social dynamics in the selected case. The tools used for exploring case study are online questionnaires, face to face questionnaires, interviews, and observations. These investigations were analyzed, conclusions and recommendations were set to improve social interaction.

Keywords: New urban communities, modern planning, social Interaction, Social life.

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912 Effect of Different Treatments on the Periphyton Quantity and Quality in Experimental Fishponds

Authors: T. Kosáros, D. Gál, F. Pekár, Gy. Lakatos

Abstract:

Periphyton development and composition were studied in three different treatments: (i) two fishpond units of wetland-type wastewater treatment pond systems, (ii) two fishponds in combined intensive-extensive fish farming systems and (iii) three traditional polyculture fishponds. Results showed that amounts of periphyton developed in traditional polyculture fishponds (iii) were different compared to the other treatments (i and ii), where the main function of ponds was stated wastewater treatment. Negative correlation was also observable between water quality parameters and periphyton production. The lower trophity, halobity and saprobity level of ponds indicated higher amount of periphyton. The dry matter content of periphyton was significantly higher in the samples, which were developed in traditional polyculture fishponds (2.84±3.02 g m-2 day-1, whereby the ash content in dry matter 74%), than samples taken from (i) (1.60±2.32 g m-2 day-1, 61%) and (ii) fishponds (0.65±0.45 g m-2 day-1, 81%).

Keywords: Artificial substrate, fishpond, periphyton, waterquality

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911 Nile Red, an Alternative Fluorescence Method for Quantification of Neutral Lipids in Microalgae

Authors: P. Rattanapoltee, P. Kaewkannetra

Abstract:

According to biodiesel from microalgae is an attractive fuel for several reasons such as renewable, biodegradable and environmental friendly. Thus, this study, green microalgae Scenedesmus acutus PPNK1 isolated from natural water, was selected based on high growth rates, easy cultivation and high lipid content. The Nile red fluorescence method has been successfully applied to the determination of lipids in S. acutus PPNK1. The combination of the method to the lipid composition in algal cells showed the yellow fluorescence under fluorescent microscope. Interestingly, maximum cell numbers and biomass concentration were obtained at 5.44´107 cells/mL and 1.60 g/L when it was cultivated in BG-11 medium while in case of BG-11 with nitrogen deprivation (N 0.25 g/L), accumulated lipid content in cells (44.67%) was achieved that was higher than that found in case of BG-11 medium at about 2 times (22.63%).

Keywords: Biodiesel, Lipid, Microalgae, Nile red.

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910 Linear Instability of Wake-Shear Layers in Two-Phase Shallow Flows

Authors: Inta Volodko, Valentina Koliskina

Abstract:

Linear stability analysis of wake-shear layers in twophase shallow flows is performed in the present paper. Twodimensional shallow water equations are used in the analysis. It is assumed that the fluid contains uniformly distributed solid particles. No dynamic interaction between the carrier fluid and particles is expected in the initial moment. The stability calculations are performed for different values of the particle loading parameter and two other parameters which characterize the velocity ratio and the velocity deficit. The results show that the particle loading parameter has a stabilizing effect on the flow while the increase in the velocity ratio or in the velocity deficit destabilizes the flow.

Keywords: Linear stability, Shallow flows, Wake-shear flows.

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909 Heterophase Polymerization of Pyrrole and Thienyl End Capped Ethoxylated Nonyl Phenol by Iron (III) Chloride

Authors: Görkem Ülkü, Esin A. Güvel, Nesrin Köken, Nilgün Kızılcan

Abstract:

This study presents synthesis of novel block copolymers of thienyl end capped ethoxylated nonyl phenol and pyrrole via chemical oxidative polymerization. Ethoxylated nonyl phenol (ENP) was reacted with 2-thiophenecarbonyl chloride in order to synthesize a macromonomer containing thienyl end-group (ENPThC). Then copolymers of ENP-ThC and pyrrole were synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization using iron (III) chloride as an oxidant. ENP-ThC served both as a macromonomer and an emulsifier for pyrrole with poor solubility in water. The synthesized block copolymers (ENP-ThC-b-PPy) were characterized by spectroscopic analysis and the electrical conductivities were investigated with 4-point probe technique.

Keywords: End capped polymer, ethoxylated nonyl phenol, heterophase polymerization, polypyrrole.

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908 Gas Detonation Forming by a Mixture of H2+O2 Detonation

Authors: Morteza Khaleghi Meybodi, Hossein Bisadi

Abstract:

Explosive forming is one of the unconventional techniques in which, most commonly, the water is used as the pressure transmission medium. One of the newest methods in explosive forming is gas detonation forming which uses a normal shock wave derived of gas detonation, to form sheet metals. For this purpose a detonation is developed from the reaction of H2+O2 mixture in a long cylindrical detonation tube. The detonation wave goes through the detonation tube and acts as a blast load on the steel blank and forms it. Experimental results are compared with a finite element model; and the comparison of the experimental and numerical results obtained from strain, thickness variation and deformed geometry is carried out. Numerical and experimental results showed approximately 75 – 90 % similarity in formability of desired shape. Also optimum percent of gas mixture obtained when we mix 68% H2 with 32% O2.

Keywords: Explosive forming, High strain rate, Gas detonation, Finite element analysis.

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907 The Role of Physically Adsorbing Species of Oxyhydryl Reagents in Flotation Aggregate Formation

Authors: S. A. Kondratyev, O. I. Ibragimova

Abstract:

The authors discuss the collecting abilities of desorbable species (DS) of saturated fatty acids. The DS species of the reagent are understood as species capable of moving from the surface of the mineral particle to the bubble at the moment of the rupture of the interlayer of liquid separating these objects of interaction. DS species of carboxylic acids (molecules and ionic-molecular complexes) have the ability to spread over the surface of the bubble. The rate of their spreading at pH 7 and 10 over the water surface is determined. The collectibility criterion of saturated fatty acids is proposed. The values of forces exerted by the spreading DS species of reagents on liquid in the interlayer and the liquid flow rate from the interlayer are determined.

Keywords: Criterion of action of physically adsorbed reagent, flotation, saturated fatty acids, surface pressure.

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906 Life Estimation of Induction Motor Insulation under Non-Sinusoidal Voltage and Current Waveforms Using Fuzzy Logic

Authors: Triloksingh G. Arora, Mohan V. Aware, Dhananjay R. Tutakne

Abstract:

Thyristor based firing angle controlled voltage regulators are extensively used for speed control of single phase induction motors. This leads to power saving but the applied voltage and current waveforms become non-sinusoidal. These non-sinusoidal waveforms increase voltage and thermal stresses which result into accelerated insulation aging, thus reducing the motor life. Life models that allow predicting the capability of insulation under such multi-stress situations tend to be very complex and somewhat impractical. This paper presents the fuzzy logic application to investigate the synergic effect of voltage and thermal stresses on intrinsic aging of induction motor insulation. A fuzzy expert system is developed to estimate the life of induction motor insulation under multiple stresses. Three insulation degradation parameters, viz. peak modification factor, wave shape modification factor and thermal loss are experimentally obtained for different firing angles. Fuzzy expert system consists of fuzzyfication of the insulation degradation parameters, algorithms based on inverse power law to estimate the life and defuzzyficaton process to output the life. An electro-thermal life model is developed from the results of fuzzy expert system. This fuzzy logic based electro-thermal life model can be used for life estimation of induction motors operated with non-sinusoidal voltage and current waveforms.

Keywords: Aging, Dielectric losses, Insulation and Life Estimation.

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905 On the Oil Repellency of Nanotextured Aluminum Surface

Authors: G. Momen, R. Jafari, M. Farzaneh

Abstract:

Two different superhydrophobic surfaces were elaborated and their oil repellency behavior was evaluated using several liquid with different surface tension. A silicone rubber/SiO2 nanocomposite coated (A) on aluminum substrate by “spin-coating" and the sample B was an anodized aluminum surface covered by Teflon-like coating. A high static contact angle about ∼162° was measured for two prepared surfaces on which the water droplet rolloff. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the presence of micro/nanostructures for both sample A and B similar to that of lotus leaf. However the sample A presented significantly different behaviour of wettability against the low surface tension liquid. Sample A has been wetted totally by oil (dodecan) droplet while sample B showed oleophobic behaviour. Oleophobic property of Teflon like coating can be contributed to the presence of CF2 and CF3 functional group which was shown by XPS analysis.

Keywords: Oleophobic, Superhydrophobic, Aluminum surface, Nano-texture.

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904 Variable Responses of Leaf C, N and P to Climatic Factors in Different Regions and Growth Forms

Authors: Li Wu

Abstract:

Plant ecological stoichiometry, which is one of the most important tools to connect the components among different levels of ecosystem, has obtained increasingly extensive concern, especially on its responses to the environmental gradients. Based on the published literatures and datasets, this article focused on reviewing the variable responses of plant foliar ecological stoichiometry to the climatic factors, such as temperature, water, elevated CO2, and found that foliar ecological stoichiometry responded dynamically to climatic variations among different regions and different growth forms. Then, research status and deficiency were summarized and the expectation on studying the relationships between plant C, N and P ecological stoichiometry and environmental variations which can provide a reference to understand how plants will respond to global change in the future was pointed out.

Keywords: Climatic variations, terrestrial plant, foliar ecological stoichiometry, temperature, precipitation, drought, elevated CO2.

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903 Evaluation of Performance Requirements for Seismic Design of Piping System

Authors: Bu Seog Ju, Woo Young Jung

Abstract:

The cost of damage to the non-structural systems in critical facilities like nuclear power plants and hospitals can exceed 80% of the total cost of damage during an earthquake. The failure of nonstructural components, especially, piping systems led to leakage of water and subsequent shut-down of hospitals immediately after the event. Consequently, the evaluation of performance of these types of structural configurations has become necessary to mitigate the risk and to achieve reliable designs. This paper focuses on a methodology to evaluate the static and dynamic characteristics of complex actual piping system based on NFPA-13 and SMACNA guidelines. The result of this study revealed that current piping system subjected to design lateral force and design spectrum based on UBC-97 was failed in both cases and mode shapes between piping system and building structure were very different

Keywords: Nonstructural component, piping, hospital, seismic, bracing.

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902 Analytical and Numerical Results for Free Vibration of Laminated Composites Plates

Authors: Mohamed Amine Ben Henni, Taher Hassaine Daouadji, Boussad Abbes, Yu Ming Li, Fazilay Abbes

Abstract:

The reinforcement and repair of concrete structures by bonding composite materials have become relatively common operations. Different types of composite materials can be used: carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) as well as functionally graded material (FGM). The development of analytical and numerical models describing the mechanical behavior of structures in civil engineering reinforced by composite materials is necessary. These models will enable engineers to select, design, and size adequate reinforcements for the various types of damaged structures. This study focuses on the free vibration behavior of orthotropic laminated composite plates using a refined shear deformation theory. In these models, the distribution of transverse shear stresses is considered as parabolic satisfying the zero-shear stress condition on the top and bottom surfaces of the plates without using shear correction factors. In this analysis, the equation of motion for simply supported thick laminated rectangular plates is obtained by using the Hamilton’s principle. The accuracy of the developed model is demonstrated by comparing our results with solutions derived from other higher order models and with data found in the literature. Besides, a finite-element analysis is used to calculate the natural frequencies of laminated composite plates and is compared with those obtained by the analytical approach.

Keywords: Composites materials, laminated composite plate, shear deformation theory of plates, finite element analysis, free vibration.

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901 Application of SDS/LABS in Recovery Improvement from Fractured Models

Authors: Rasool Razmi, Mohammad Hossein Sedaghat, Reza Janamiri, Amir Hatampou

Abstract:

This work concerns on experimentally investigation of surfactant flooding in fractured porous media. In this study a series of water and surfactant injection processes were performed on micromodels initially saturated with a heavy crude oil. Eight fractured glass micromodels were used to illustrate effects of surfactant types and concentrations on oil recovery efficiency in presence of fractures with different properties i.e. fracture orientation, length and number of fractures. Two different surfactants with different concentrations were tested. The results showed that surfactant flooding would be more efficient by using SDS surfactant aqueous solution and also by locating injection well in a proper position respect to fracture properties. This study demonstrates different physical and chemical conditions that affect the efficiency of this method of enhanced oil recovery.

Keywords: Displacement, Fractured five-spot systems, Heavy oil, Surfactant flooding.

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900 Experimental Correlation for Erythrocyte Aggregation Rate in Population Balance Modeling

Authors: Erfan Niazi, Marianne Fenech

Abstract:

Red Blood Cells (RBCs) or erythrocytes tend to form chain-like aggregates under low shear rate called rouleaux. This is a reversible process and rouleaux disaggregate in high shear rates. Therefore, RBCs aggregation occurs in the microcirculation where low shear rates are present but does not occur under normal physiological conditions in large arteries. Numerical modeling of RBCs interactions is fundamental in analytical models of a blood flow in microcirculation. Population Balance Modeling (PBM) is particularly useful for studying problems where particles agglomerate and break in a two phase flow systems to find flow characteristics. In this method, the elementary particles lose their individual identity due to continuous destructions and recreations by break-up and agglomeration. The aim of this study is to find RBCs aggregation in a dynamic situation. Simplified PBM was used previously to find the aggregation rate on a static observation of the RBCs aggregation in a drop of blood under the microscope. To find aggregation rate in a dynamic situation we propose an experimental set up testing RBCs sedimentation. In this test, RBCs interact and aggregate to form rouleaux. In this configuration, disaggregation can be neglected due to low shear stress. A high-speed camera is used to acquire video-microscopic pictures of the process. The sizes of the aggregates and velocity of sedimentation are extracted using an image processing techniques. Based on the data collection from 5 healthy human blood samples, the aggregation rate was estimated as 2.7x103(±0.3 x103) 1/s.

Keywords: Red blood cell, Rouleaux, microfluidics, image processing, population balance modeling.

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899 Removal of Chromium from Aqueous Solution using Synthesized Polyaniline in Acetonitrile

Authors: Majid Riahi Samani, Seyed Mehdi Borghei

Abstract:

Absorptive characteristics of polyaniline synthesized in mixture of water and acetonitrile in 50/50 volume ratio was studied. Synthesized polyaniline in powder shape is used as an adsorbent to remove toxic hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions. Experiments were conducted in batch mode with different variables such as agitation time, solution pH and initial concentration of hexavalent chromium. Removal mechanism is the combination of surface adsorption and reduction. The equilibrium time for removal of Cr(T) and Cr(VI) was about 2 and 10 minutes respectively. The optimum pH for total chromium removal occurred at pH 7 and maximum hexavalent chromium removal took place under acidic condition at pH 3. Investigating the isothermal characteristics showed that the equilibrium adsorption data fitted both Freundlich-s and Langmuir-s isotherms. The maximum adsorption of chromium was calculated 36.1 mg/g for polyaniline

Keywords: Polyaniline, Chromium, acetonitrile, Adsorption

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898 The Effect of CaO Addition on Mechanical Properties of Ceramic Tiles

Authors: Lucie Vodova, Radomir Sokolar, Jitka Hroudova

Abstract:

Stoneware clay, fired clay (as a grog), calcite waste and class C fly ash in various mixing rations were the basic raw materials for the mixture for production of dry pressed ceramic tiles. Mechanical properties (water absorption, bulk density, apparent porosity, flexural strength) as well as mineralogical composition were studied on samples with different source of calcium oxide after firing at 900, 1000, 1100 and 1200°C. It was found that samples with addition of calcite waste contain dmisteinbergit and anorthite. This minerals help to improve the strength of the body and reduce porosity fired at lower temperatures. Class C fly ash has not significantly influence on properties of the fired body as calcite waste.

Keywords: Ceramic tiles, class C fly ash, calcite waste, calcium oxide, anorthite.

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897 Genome-Wide Analysis of BES1/BZR1 Gene Family in Five Plant Species

Authors: Jafar Ahmadi, Zhohreh Asiaban, Sedigheh Fabriki Ourang

Abstract:

Brassinosteroids (BRs) regulate cell elongation, vascular differentiation, senescence, and stress responses. BRs signal through the BES1/BZR1 family of transcription factors, which regulate hundreds of target genes involved in this pathway. In this research a comprehensive genome-wide analysis was carried out in BES1/BZR1 gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana, Cucumis sativus, Vitis vinifera, Glycin max and Brachypodium distachyon. Specifications of the desired sequences, dot plot and hydropathy plot were analyzed in the protein and genome sequences of five plant species. The maximum amino acid length was attributed to protein sequence Brdic3g with 374aa and the minimum amino acid length was attributed to protein sequence Gm7g with 163aa. The maximum Instability index was attributed to protein sequence AT1G19350 equal with 79.99 and the minimum Instability index was attributed to protein sequence Gm5g equal with 33.22. Aliphatic index of these protein sequences ranged from 47.82 to 78.79 in Arabidopsis thaliana, 49.91 to 57.50 in Vitis vinifera, 55.09 to 82.43 in Glycin max, 54.09 to 54.28 in Brachypodium distachyon 55.36 to 56.83 in Cucumis sativus. Overall, data obtained from our investigation contributes a better understanding of the complexity of the BES1/BZR1 gene family and provides the first step towards directing future experimental designs to perform systematic analysis of the functions of the BES1/BZR1 gene family.

Keywords: BES1/BZR1, Brassinosteroids, Phylogenetic analysis, Transcription factor.

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896 Review of Scouring on Integral Bridge and its Possible Protection

Authors: Shatirah Akib, Teuku K. Syamsura, S.M. Shirazi, Moatasem M. Fayyadh, Budhi Primasari

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the following protection of scouring countermeasures by using Bentonite-Enhanced Sand (BES) mixtures. The concept of underground improvement is being used in this study to reduce the void of the sand. The sand bentonite mixture was used to bond the ground soil conditions surrounding the pile of integral bridge. The right composition of sand bentonite mixture was proposed based on previous findings. The swelling effect of bentonite also was investigated to ensure there is no adverse impact to the structure of the integral bridge. ScourScour, another name for severe erosion, occurs when the erosive capacity of water resulting from natural and manmade events exceeds the ability of earth materials to resist its effects. According to AASHTO LRFD Specifications (Section C3.7.5), scour is the most common reason for the collapse of highway bridges in the United States

Keywords: bentonite, integral bridge, possible protection, scouring

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895 Effect of Body Size and Condition Factor on Whole Body Composition of Hybrid (Catla catla ♂x Labeo rohita ♀) from Pakistan

Authors: Muhammad Naeem, Abdus Salam, Muhammad Asghar Bashir, Abir Ishtiaq, Qurat-ul-Ane Gillani and Asma Salam

Abstract:

In the present study, 49 Hybrid (Catla catla ♂ x Labeo rohita ♀) were sampled from Al-Raheem Fish Hatchery, Village Ali Pure Shamali, Jhang Road, 18 Km from Muzaffar Garh using a cast net and Live fishes were transported to research laboratory. Mean percentage for water found 79.13 %, ash 6.58 %, fat 2.22 % and protein content 12.06 % in whole wet body weight. It was observed that body constituents were found increasing in the same proportion with an increase in body weight while significant proportional increase was observed with total length. However, condition factor remained insignificant (P>0.05) with body constituents.

Keywords: Hybrid fish, Body composition, Condition factor, Predictive equations

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894 Effects of Engine Parameters and Fuel Compositions on Ignition Timing and Emission Characteristics of HCCI Engine

Authors: Fridhi Hadia, Soua Wadhah, Hidouri Ammar, Omri Ahmed

Abstract:

In this research, the effects of the engine parameters like compression ratios and steam injection on igniting timing and emission characteristics have been investigated numerically. The in-cylinder temperature and pressure at four different compression ratios have been compared with numerical results, and they show a good agreement with the published data. Two different fuels have been used in this study: Isooctane (IC8H18), and ethanol (C2H5OH). The increasing of the compression ratio (CR) advances the ignition timing, decreases the burn duration and increases the temperature and the pressure. The injection of water vapor lower than 40% decreased the peak temperature and slowed the combustion rate which leads to a lower NOx emission.

Keywords: Compression ratio, emission, HCCI engine, ignition timing, steam injection.

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893 Hydrological Modeling of Watersheds Using the Only Corresponding Competitor Method: The Case of M’Zab Basin, South East Algeria

Authors: Oulad Naoui Noureddine, Cherif ELAmine, Djehiche Abdelkader

Abstract:

Water resources management includes several disciplines; the modeling of rainfall-runoff relationship is the most important discipline to prevent natural risks. There are several models to study rainfall-runoff relationship in watersheds. However, the majority of these models are not applicable in all basins of the world.  In this study, a new stochastic method called The Only Corresponding Competitor method (OCC) was used for the hydrological modeling of M’ZAB   Watershed (South East of Algeria) to adapt a few empirical models for any hydrological regime.  The results obtained allow to authorize a certain number of visions, in which it would be interesting to experiment with hydrological models that improve collectively or separately the data of a catchment by the OCC method.

Keywords: Empirical model, modeling, OCC, rainfall-runoff relationship.

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892 Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Lutein Esters from Marigold Flowers and their Hydrolysis by Improved Saponification and Enzyme Biocatalysis

Authors: A. Peter Amala Sujith, T.V. Hymavathi, P. Yasoda Devi

Abstract:

Lutein is a dietary oxycarotenoid which is found to reduce the risks of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Supercritical fluid extraction of lutein esters from marigold petals was carried out and was found to be much effective than conventional solvent extraction. The saponification of pre-concentrated lutein esters to produce free lutein was studied which showed a composition of about 88% total carotenoids (UV-VIS spectrophotometry) and 90.7% lutein (HPLC). The lipase catalyzed hydrolysis of lutein esters in conventional medium was investigated. The optimal temperature, pH, enzyme concentration and water activity were found to be 50°C, 7, 15% and 0.33 respectively and the activity loss of lipase was about 25% after 8 times re-use in at 50°C for 12 days. However, the lipase catalyzed hydrolysis of lutein esters in conventional media resulted in poor conversions (16.4%).

Keywords: lutein, preconcentration, saponification, lipase

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