Effect of Alumina Reactivity on the Densification and Properties of Al2O3–Cr2O3 Refractories

Alumina‐chrome (Al₂O₃–Cr₂O₃) refractories with Al₂O₃:Cr₂O₃ molar ratio 1:1 were synthesized in the temperature range of 1400–1700°C by conventional solid–oxide reaction route. The effect of different aluminas (viz., hydrated and calcined) on the densification, microstructure, and properties of Al₂O₃–Cr₂O₃ refractories was investigated without changing the Cr₂O₃ source. The starting materials were analyzed to determine the chemical composition, mineralogy, density, surface area, and particle size. Sintered materials were characterized in terms of densification, phase assemblage, and mechanical strength at room temperature and at higher temperatures. Microstructural evolution at different sintering temperature was correlated with sintering characteristics. It can be concluded that the Al₂O₃–Cr₂O₃ refractories prepared with hydrated alumina as Al₂O₃ source show better densification and hot mechanical strength than corresponding calcined variety.     

Attenuation of methylene blue dye during riverbank filtration through sandy aquifers

Although several studies have focused on the removal of organics and pathogens during riverbank filtration (RBF), no study has been carried out on the attenuation of dyes during RBF. In the present work, removal of methylene blue (MB) through aquifer materials collected from five RBF sites in India has been investigated. Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET) surface areas of the aquifer materials were 1.2–6.5 m²/g. Adsorption followed the pseudo‐second‐order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm, suggesting monolayer adsorption. Column results showed saturation capacity of 0.467–1.234 mg MB/g for different aquifer materials. Retardation factors for MB were found to be very high ranging from 430 to 987, due to its high hydrophobicity (octanol/water partition coefficient = 5.85). Results showed that BET surface area or the roughness played a very important role in the retardation of MB. Results suggest that the breakthrough of MB in a RBF well in sandy aquifers will take several years.     

Characterization of roadway stormwater system residuals for reuse and disposal options

The chemical characterization of sediments accumulated in catch basins and stormwater ponds provides important information for assessing risks associated with management of these residuals upon removal of accumulated deposits in stormwater systems. In this study, over a period of 15 months, more than 150 residual samples were collected from 77 catch basin units and 22 stormwater ponds from 16 municipalities throughout the state of Florida. Concentrations (mg/kg) of metals and metalloids (arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, silver, and zinc) and trace organics (volatile organics, semi-volatile organics, herbicides, and pesticides) in the sediments were measured. In addition, the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) was utilized to evaluate pollutant leachability risk for a subset of the samples collected. Measured pollutant concentrations were compared to corresponding risk-based guidelines in Florida (i.e., Florida soil cleanup target levels) to assess potential human health risks of beneficial use of these residuals through land application. Leached concentrations were compared to risk-based water quality guidelines (i.e., Florida groundwater cleanup target levels) to examine the potential for groundwater contamination. Although several metals (arsenic, barium, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, and zinc) were routinely detected in the catch basin and stormwater pond sediments, their concentrations were generally lower than the Florida's risk-based cleanup target levels for soils. A small number of organochlorine compounds (e.g., 4,4′-DDE, 4,4′-DDT) were detected, but only in a limited number of the samples (less than 10%); leaching of trace organic pollutants above the Florida risk-based groundwater thresholds was rare. The results suggest that when land-applied or beneficially used, these residuals are not expected to pose a significant threat to human health or the environment and the results of this research will provide stormwater managers and environmental management authorities with a useful resource to examine proper disposal and beneficial use of catch basin and stormwater pond sediments.     

Phosphotungstic Acid: An Efficient Catalyst for the Aqueous Phase Synthesis of Bis-(4-hydroxycoumarin-3-yl)methanes

In this present work, we report that phosphotungstic acid provides a simple, efficient and environmentally benign route is a two-component one-pot domino Knoevenagel-type condensation/Michael reaction between 4-coumarin derivative and an aldehyde in water as a solvent in shorter duration with high yields.      

A Simple Conceptual Model of Sediment Yield

The sediment graphs (time distribution of sediment yield) are very essential if the sediment transports the pollutants that are toxic at high concentrations, requiring determination of peak, rather than average sediment flow rate. In this paper, an effort has been made to develop a simple conceptual model of sediment yield based on Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) method, instantaneous unit sediment graph (IUSG) method, and Power law and the performance is tested using real field data of Chaukhutia watershed of Ramganga river catchment (area = 452.25 km²). The proposed model is found to provide realistic estimates of temporal variation of sediment yield as well as total sediment yield during a storm event. The model is found to be most sensitive to parameter β followed by k, \upalpha\upalpha, A, and n_s. A comparison is made with the existing IUSG based models of Kumar and Rastogi (J Hydrol 95:155–163, 1987) and Raghuwanshi et al. (J Hydraul Eng ASCE 120(4):495–503, 1994) for developing sediment graphs.     

High Thermal Conductivity Polymer Composites Fabrication through Conventional and 3D Printing Processes: State-of-the-Art and Future Trends

The lifespan and the performance of flexible electronic devices and components are affected by the large accumulation of heat, and this problem must be addressed by thermally conductive polymer composite films. Therefore, the need for the development of high thermal conductivity nanocomposites has a strong role in various applications. In this article, the effect of different particle reinforcements such as single and hybrid form, coated and uncoated particles, and chemically treated particles on the thermal conductivity of various polymers are reviewed and the mechanism behind the improvement of the required properties are discussed. Furthermore, the role of manufacturing processes such as injection molding, compression molding, and 3D printing techniques in the production of high thermal conductivity polymer composites is detailed. Finally, the potential for future research is discussed, which can help researchers to work on the thermal properties enhancement for polymeric materials.     

Polyphosphazenes—A Promising Candidate for Drug Delivery,Bioimaging, and Tissue Engineering: A Review

Synthetic polymer materials have been surged to the forefront of research in the fields of tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biomonitoring in recent years. Biodegradable synthetic polymers are increasingly needed as transient substrates for tissue regeneration and medicine delivery. In contrast to commonly used polymers including polyesters, polylactones, polyanhydrides, poly(propylene fumarates), polyorthoesters, and polyurethanes, biodegradable polyphosphazenes (PPZs) hold great potential for the purposes indicated above. PPZ's versatility in the synthetic process has enabled the production of a variety of polymers with various physico-chemical, and biological properties have been produced, making them appropriate for biomedical applications. Biocompatible PPZs are often used as scaffolds in the regeneration of skeleton, bones, and other tissues. PPZs have also received special attention as potential drug vehicles of high-value biopharmaceuticals such as anticancer drugs. Additionally, by incorporating fluorophores into the PPZ backbone to produce photoluminescent biodegradable PPZs, the utility of polyphosphazenes is further expanded as they are used in tracking the regeneration of the target tissue as well as the fate of PPZ based scaffolds or drug delivery vehicles. This review provides a summary of the evolution of PPZ applications in the fields of tissue engineering, drug delivery, and bioimaging in recent 5 years.     

Comparative evaluation of nutritional compositions between transgenic rice harboring the <Emphasis Type="Italic">CaMsrB2</Emphasis> gene and the conventional counterpart

As a part of a safety assessment of new transgenic crops, compositional equivalence studies between transgenic crops with non-transgenic comparators are almost universally required. This study was conducted to compare nutritional profiles of proximate composition, and fatty acid, amino acid, mineral, and vitamin contents, and anti-nutrients, between transgenic drought-tolerant Agb0103 rice harboring the pepper methionine sulfoxide reductase B2 gene CaMsrB2 and the parental rice cultivar, ‘Ilmi’ as a non-transgenic control. Both transgenic and non-transgenic rice were grown and harvested in 2 different locations. Proximate compositions of moisture, starch, protein, lipid, and ash content of Agb0103 rice were similar to parental non-transgenic rice. There were no differences between transgenic and non-transgenic rice with respect to the whole nutritional composition, except for minor locality differences for a few nutritional components. Agb0103 rice with improved resistance to drought is nutritionally equivalent to the parental rice cultivar.     

Tuning and Assessment of Proportional–Integral–Derivative Controller for an Automatic Voltage Regulator System Employing Local Unimodal Sampling Algorithm

Abstract—This article presents an approach for obtaining proportional–integral–derivative controller parameters for an automatic voltage regulator system based on a local unimodal sampling optimization algorithm. A conventional integral time of squared error objective function and modified objective functions in terms of integral time of absolute error, integral of absolute error, integral of squared error, peak overshoot, and settling time with appropriate weighting factors are employed to tune the controller parameters. Different objective functions are employed to obtain optimized proportional–integral–derivative controller gains. Superiority of proposed technique over some recently published modern heuristic optimization techniques, such as artificial bee colony algorithm, particle swarm optimization algorithm, and differential evolution algorithm, for the same automatic voltage regulator system is demonstrated. Simulation results reveal that the proposed proportional–integral–derivative controlled automatic voltage regulator system tuned by the local unimodal sampling algorithm with modified objective function exhibits better performance in terms of settling time, peak overshoot, and stability. The robustness of the system tuned by the proposed algorithm is also studied satisfactorily by varying the time constants of the automatic voltage regulator system in the range of –50% to +50% in steps of 25%.     

EFFECT OF INTERPHASE MASS TRANSFER ON UNSTEADY CONVECTIVE DIFFUSION:PART I, PLANE-POISEUELLE FLOW OF A POWER-LAW FLUID IN A CHANNEL

The paper presents an all-time analysis of unsteady convective diffusion of solute undergoing an irreversible first-order chemical reaction at the bounding walls of a parallel-plate channel. The heterogeneous chemical reaction significantly influences the convective and diffusive coefficients. A new coefficient arises exclusively due to the incorporation of wall reaction. The effects of wall-catalysed reaction and power-law index 'N' on dispersion are investigated against the background of the no-reaction problem. The analytical result on dispersion of solute with wall catalysed reaction at long times is compared with the analytical solution when.reaction is absent. The Taylor [1 ] and Ans [2] regimes of dispersion for the present problem are obtained as limiting cases from the study. The graphical results of the study serve as a jury on any numerical study that might be undertaken considering non-asymptotic all-time analysis.