Processing presence: how users develop spatial presence through an immersive virtual reality game

Virtual Reality - A primary affordance of virtual reality (VR) headsets is to give the user spatial presence or the illusion of being in the virtual environment. Although considerable research...     

Characterization of soluble organic matter of waste activated sludge before and after thermal pretreatment

Microwave (MW) irradiation and conventional heating (CH) at 96 °C was successful in disrupting the complex waste activated sludge (WAS) floc structure and releasing extra- and intra-cellular biopolymers, such as protein and sugars from activated sludge flocs into soluble phase along with solubilization of particulate chemical oxygen demand (COD). Soluble CODs of CH and MW-irradiated WAS were 361±45% and 143±34% higher and resulted in 475±3% and 211±2% higher cumulative biogas productions (CBP) relative to the control at the end of 23 days of mesophilic anaerobic digestion, respectively. Ultrafiltration (UF) was used to characterize the soluble molecular weight (Mw) distributions of control (unpretreated), CH and MW-irradiated WAS. Depending on the Mw fraction, the range of substrate volumetric utilization rate increases from anaerobic digesters was between 94% and 84% for CH and 26–113% for MW compared to the control for the first nine days of the digestion. Digesters treating high Mw (>300 kDa) materials resulted in smaller biodegradation rate constants, k, indicating that microorganisms require a longer time to utilize high Mw fractions which are most likely cell wall fragments and exopolymers.     

The Influences of Natural Zeolite (cliptinolite) on Ammonia and Biogenic Amine Formation by Foodborne Pathogen

The influence of natural zeolite on biogenic amines (BAs) and ammonia (AMN) production by eight common gram negative and positive foodborne pathogens (FBP) were investigated in histidine decarboxylase broth (HDB). Presence of 1% zeolite in the HDB resulted in significantly higher AMN production. Histamine (HIS) production by gram positive bacteria was as low as 0.5 mg/L, whereas Escherichia coli produced 18.96 mg/L of HIS. The use of zeolite also significantly suppressed HIS accumulation by E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, S. paratyphi A (P < 0.05), although zeolite addition stimulated HIS production by K. pneumonia and Aeromonas hydrophila. The range of tyramine (TYR) production by gram positive bacteria was 1.19 and 4.06 mg/L for Enteroccus faecalis and Listeria monocytogenes respectively. The results of study showed that the effect of zeolite on BAs and AMN production was dependent on bacterial strains, as well as zeolite concentrations used. Practical Application: Natural zeolites are the main absorptive, low-cost material used in agriculture and industry. Although the effect of zeolite on ammonia formation in some industrial systems is well known, there is limited information regarding the impact of zeolite on biogenic amine (BA) production by foodborne pathogens. The data presented in this article will help us to understand the impact of natural zeolite on BA and ammonia production by eight common foodborne pathogens.     

Effect of microwave hydrolysis on transformation of steroidal hormones during anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge cake

Fate and removal of 16 steroidal (estrogenic, androgenic and progestogenic) hormones were studied during advanced anaerobic digestion of sludge cake using microwave (MW) pretreatment. Effect of pretreatment temperature (80, 120, 160 °C), operating temperature (mesophilic at 35 ± 2 °C, thermophilic at 55 ± 2 °C) and sludge retention time (SRT: 20, 10, 5 days) were studied employing eight lab-scale semi-continuously fed digesters. To determine the potential effect of MW hydrolysis, hormones were quantified in total (sorbed + soluble) and supernatant (soluble) phases of the digester influent and effluent streams. Seven of 16 hormones were above the method reporting limit (RL) in one or more of the samples. Hormone concentrations in total phase of un-pretreated (control) and pretreated digester feeds ranged in <157–2491 ng/L and <157–749 ng/L, respectively. The three studied factors were found to be statistically significant (95% confidence level) in removal of one or more hormones from soluble and/or total phase. MW hydrolysis of the influent resulted in both release (from sludge matrix) and attenuation of hormones in the soluble phase. Accumulation of estrone (E1) as well as progesterone (Pr) and androstenedione (Ad) in most of the digesters indicated possible microbial transformations among the hormones. Compared to controls, all pretreated digesters had lower total hormone concentrations in their influent streams. At 20 days SRT, highest total removal (E1+E2+Ad +Pr) was observed for the thermophilic control digester (56%), followed by pretreated mesophilic digesters at 120 °C and 160 °C with around 48% efficiency. In terms of conventional performance parameters, relative (to control) improvements of MW pretreated digesters at a 5-d SRT ranged in 98–163% and 57–121%, for volatile solids removal and methane production, respectively.     

An overview of construction and demolition waste management in Canada: a lifecycle analysis approach to sustainability

The construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated by the Canadian construction industry accounts for 27 % of the total municipal solid waste disposed in landfills. However, it is evident that over 75 % of what the construction industry generates as waste has a residual value, and therefore could be recycled, salvaged and/or reused. The need for comprehensive and integrated waste management mechanisms, technologies, rating systems and policies is widely recognized. Owing to increasing C&D waste volumes, shortage of landfills and long-term adverse environmental, economic and social impacts of the disposed C&D waste, sustainable C&D waste management is becoming increasingly essential to protect public health and natural ecosystems. This paper proposes a conceptual C&D waste management framework to maximise the 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) and minimise the disposal of construction waste by implementing sustainable and comprehensive strategy throughout the lifecycle of construction projects. In addition, a life cycle based C&D waste sustainability index is developed. This approach can be used to make decisions related to selection of material, sorting, recycle/reuse and treatment or disposal options for C&D waste.     

The synthesis and characterization of 2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazole heteroleptic ruthenium complex: Efficient sensitizer for molecular photovoltaics

The novel ligand 1-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzyl)-2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazole and its heteroleptic ruthenium (II) complex were synthesized. The complex was characterized using spectroscopic methods and cyclic voltammetry. Charge-separation was investigated within nanoporous titanium dioxide employing surface photovoltage spectroscopy. The performance of the ruthenium complex as a charge transfer photosensitizer in nanocrystalline, titanium dioxide-based, dye sensitized solar cells was studied under standard AM 1.5 sunlight using an electrolyte consisting of 0.6 M 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium iodide, 0.1 M lithium iodide, 0.05 M iodine and 0.5 M 4-tert-butyl pyridine in 3-methoxy propyonitrile. The novel complex had a photocurrent density of 9.47 mA cm⁻², 600 mV open circuit potential and 0.60 fill factor yielding an efficiency of 3.4%. The photovoltaic performance of the colorant was compared with that of cis-bis(isothiocyanato)(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylato) (2,2’-bipyridyl-4,4’-di-nonyl) ruthenium(II); both compounds exhibited similar efficiency, while the fill factor value was higher for the novel dye.     

Microtensile bond strength of composite-to-composite repair with different surface treatments and adhesive systems

Objectives: The purpose was to investigate the effect of different surface treatments and bonding agents on the repair bond strength of different resin-based restorative materials by microtensile bond strength (μTBS) testing protocol. Materials and Methods: 24 Grandio SO(VOCO) and 24 Filtek Z250(3?M) resin composite blocks were prepared. Half of the samples (N?=?12) were diamond bur-roughened and the other half (N?=?12) were sandblasted by 50?μm aluminum oxide particles. They were further divided into four sub-groups (n?=?3) and received the following: Sub-Group1: Adper Single Bond2 (Etch&Rinse) (3?M); Sub-Group2: Clearfil SE (Self-etch) (Kuraray); Sub-Group3: Beauty Bond (HEMA-free all-in-one) (Shofu); Sub-Group4: All Bond3 (HEMA-free, hydrophobic, etch&rinse) (Bisco). The samples were repaired by Filtek Z250 to form a block. All of the resultant sub-groups combinations consisted of one of the composite type, surface treatment type, and adhesive systems. A total of 18 groups were prepared including 2 homogeneous blocks. They were thermocycled and μTBS measurements were performed. Data were statistically analyzed with Kruskall–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests. Results: The experimental regroups’ μTBS reached to 34.67–66.36% and 43.44–95.52% of the cohesive bond strength for Grandio SO and Z250, respectively. The pre-existing composite type is found to be statistically important. When the surface is bur-finished Grandio performed better; when air-abrasion is considered Z250 showed higher bond strength. All-in-one adhesive system produced the weakest bond strength at all parameters. Conclusion: It may be suggested that when the pre-existing composite is unknown, air-abrasion may be performed with etch&rinse or two-step self-etch adhesives.     

Multilevel segmentation of histopathological images using cooccurrence of tissue objects

This paper presents a new approach for unsupervised segmentation of histopathological tissue images. This approach has two main contributions. First, it introduces a new set of high-level texture features to represent the prior knowledge of spatial organization of the tissue components. These texture features are defined on the tissue components, which are approximately represented by tissue objects, and quantify the frequency of two component types being cooccurred in a particular spatial relationship. As they are defined on components, rather than on image pixels, these object cooccurrence features are expected to be less vulnerable to noise and variations that are typically observed at the pixel level of tissue images. Second, it proposes to obtain multiple segmentations by multilevel partitioning of a graph constructed on the tissue objects and combine them by an ensemble function. This multilevel graph partitioning algorithm introduces randomization in graph construction and refinements in its multilevel scheme to increase diversity of individual segmentations, and thus, improve the final result. The experiments on 200 colon tissue images reveal that the proposed approach--the object cooccurrence features together with the multilevel segmentation algorithm--is effective to obtain high-quality results. The experiments also show that it improves the segmentation results compared to the previous approaches.     

Effects of electrolyte pattern on mechanical and electrochemical properties of solid oxide fuel cells

In order to enhance the electrochemical performance and reduce the operation temperature of a conventional electrolyte supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), a three layered electrolyte with various geometry is designed and fabricated. Novel three layered electrolytes comprise a dense and thin scandia alumina stabilized zirconia (ScAlSZ) electrolyte layer sandwiched between two hallow ScAlSZ electrolyte layers each having the same thickness as the support but machined into a filter like architecture in the active region with circular, rectangular and triangular cut off patterns. The percent of thin electrolyte layer in the active region is kept constant as 30% for all designs in order to investigate the effect of pattern geometry on the mechanical properties and the performance of the electrolytes. Single cells based on novel electrolytes are manufactured and electrochemical properties are evaluated. A standard electrolyte and electrolyte supported cell are also fabricated as a base case for comparison. Although the electrolyte having triangular patterns has the highest peak power at all operation temperatures considered, it exhibits the lowest flexural strength.