Nanophotocatalysis using immobilized titanium dioxide nanoparticle: Degradation and mineralization of water containing organic pollutant: Case study of Butachlor

In this paper, the degradation and mineralization of Butachlor in aqueous solution by nanophotocatalysis using immobilized TiO₂ nanoparticles were investigated. Butachlor (N-butoxymethyl-2-chloro-2′,6′-diethylacetanilide) is a persistent organic pollutant in agricultural soil and watercourses. A simple and effective method was used for immobilization of titanium dioxide nanoparticles. UV-vis and Ion Chromatography (IC) analyses were employed to obtain the details of the photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of Butachlor. The effects of operational parameters such as H₂O₂, inorganic anions (NO₃⁻, Cl⁻ and SO₄²⁻) and pH were investigated. The lack of any absorbance in 254 nm was indicative of the complete degradation of aromatic intermediates. The mineralization of Butachlor was evaluated by monitoring of the formed inorganic anions (NO₃⁻ and Cl⁻). Butachlor is effectively degraded following first order kinetics model. Results show that the immobilized titanium dioxide nanoparticle photocatalysis is an effective method for treatment Butachlor from contaminated water.     

An efficient parallel algorithm for the longest path problem in meshes

The longest path problem is the problem of finding a simple path with the maximum number of vertices in a given graph, and so far it has been solved polynomially only for a few classes of graphs. This problem generalizes the well-known Hamiltonian path problem, hence it is NP-hard in general graphs. In this paper, first we give a sequential linear-time algorithm for the longest path problem in meshes. Then based on this algorithm, we present a constant-time parallel algorithm for the problem, which can be run on every parallel machine.     

A parameterization of reduced stable models and controllers

This note addresses the problem of instability in both model and controller reduction methods based on similarity transformations. For a given model (controller) a general framework is proposed that parameterizes a large set of reduced models (controllers) that preserve the stability of the original model (closed loop system). In addition, a sufficient condition for the existence of such a framework is derived. As an application of the main results, it is shown how different reduction methods can be modified, if they fail to maintain stability.     

A segmentation approach for file broadcast scheduling

We study the broadcast scheduling problem in which clients send their requests to a server in order to receive some files available on the server. The server may be scheduled in a way that several requests are satisfied in one broadcast. When files are transmitted over computer networks, broadcasting the files by fragmenting them provides flexibility in broadcast scheduling that allows the optimization of per user response time. The broadcast scheduling algorithm, then, is in charge of determining the number of segments of each file and their order of transmission in each round of transmission. In this paper, we obtain a closed form approximation formula which approximates the optimal number of segments for each file, aiming at minimizing the total response time of requests. The obtained formula is a function of different parameters including those of underlying network as well as those of requests arrived at the server. Based on the obtained approximation formula we propose an algorithm for file broadcast scheduling which leads to total response time which closely conforms to the optimum one. We use extensive simulation and numerical study in order to evaluate the proposed algorithm which reveals high accuracy of obtained analytical approximation. We also investigate the impact of various headers that different network protocols add to each file segment. Our segmentation approach is examined for scenarios with different file sizes at the range of 100 KB to 1 GB. Our results show that for this range of file sizes the segmentation approach shows on average 13% tolerance from that of optimum in terms of total response time and the accuracy of the proposed approach is growing by increasing file size. Besides, using proposed segmentation in this work leads to a high Goodput of the scheduling algorithm.     

Effects of Fe/SDS and Au nanoparticles on P. aeruginosa bacterial growth and biosurfactant production

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of iron (Fe)/SDS and gold (Au) nanoparticles on growth and biosurfactant production of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PBCC5. The concentrations of the nanoparticles used were 1, 500 and 1000 mg/l. In this research, the surface tension of biosurfactant, dry weight of biosurfactant and biomass, emulsification indexes (E₂₄) were measured and transmission electron microscopy analysis was used to monitor the nanoparticles. The test results showed that the effect of nanoparticles on the bacterial growth and biosurfactant production varied corresponding to the type and concentration of nanoparticles. Fe/SDS nanoparticles showed no bacterial toxicity when the concentration of nanoparticles was 1 mg/ml and increased the growth and biosurfactant production, 23.21 and 20.73%, respectively. While at higher concentrations (500, 1000 mg/l), the nanoparticles suppressed bacterial growth as well as biosurfactant production. Similarly, Au nanoparticles had no bacterial toxicity and also increased bacterial growth and biosurfactant production. The surface tensions of all samples decreased from 72 of distiled water to 32–35 mN/m.Inspec keywords: nanoparticles, iron, gold, nanofabrication, nanomedicine, surfactants, biomedical materials, surface tension, renewable materials, transmission electron microscopy, microorganismsOther keywords: Au nanoparticles, P. aeruginosa bacterial growth, biosurfactant production, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PBCC5, surface tension, biomass, emulsification indexes, dry weight, transmission electron microscopy, Fe‐SDS nanoparticles, distiled water, Fe, Au     

Real-Time Operation of Pumping Systems for Urban Flood Mitigation: Single-Period vs. Multi-Period Optimization

To reduce flood risk in urban regions, it is important to optimize the performance of operational elements such as gates and pumps. This paper compares the performances of two approaches of multi-period and single-period simulation-optimization that are used to derive real-time control policies for operating urban drainage systems. The EPA storm water management model (SWMM), converting real-time rainfall data to surface runoff at network control points, i.e. pump stations, is linked to the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, evaluating the system operation performance measure (objective function) for different sets of control policies. A prototype network in a portion of the Seoul urban drainage system is used to investigate the efficiency of the proposed approaches. Results justify the high efficiency of multi-period optimization, leading to 32 and 29% average reductions in peak water level violations from a pre-defined permissible threshold at target points and the number of pump switches, respectively, in comparison with the online single-period optimization. The myopic policies derived by single-period optimization are not reliable, and in some cases, they even perform worse than ad-hoc policies applied by system operators based on their past experiences.     

Microparticle Transport and Deposition in the Human Oral Airway: Toward the Smart Spacer

A key issue in pulmonary drug delivery is improving the medical delivery device for effective and targeted treatment. Spacers are clear plastic containers attached to inhalers aimed at delivering more drug particles to the respiratory tract. The spacer's one-way valve plays an important role in controlling and initializing the particles into the oral cavity. This article studied particle inhalation and deposition in an idealized oral airway geometry to better optimize the spacer one-way valve shape and design. Three steady flow rates were used 15, 30, and 60 l/min and a Lagrangian, one-way coupling particle tracking model with near-wall turbulence fluctuation correction was used to determine the deposition rates. For all three breathing rates, the velocity field in the midsagittal plane showed similar gross fluid dynamics characteristics, such as the separation and recirculation regions that occur after the larynx. The particle deposition rates compared reasonably well with available experiments. Most particles deposited at the larynx, where the airway has a decreasing cross-sectional area. For different particles sizes, most particles introduced at the lower region of the mouth show higher possibility to pass through upper airway and enter the trachea and lung airways. The particle deposition patterns in the airway were traced back to their initial inlet position at the oral inlet; and this information provides the background for a conceptual and optimized design of the spacer one-way valve.

Copyright 2015 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Thermodynamic and kinetic studies for the adsorption of Hg(II) by nano-TiO2 from aqueous solution

Titanium dioxide nanocrystals were employed, for the first time, for the sorption of Hg(II) ions from aqueous solutions. The effects of varying parameters such as pH, temperature, initial metal concentration, and contact time on the adsorption process were examined. Adsorption equilibrium was established in 420 min and the maximum adsorption of Hg(II) on the TiO₂ was observed to occur at pH 8.0. The adsorption data correlated with Freundlich, Langmuir, Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R), and Temkin isotherms. The Freundlich isotherm showed the best fit to the equilibrium data. The Pseudo-first order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were studied to analyze the kinetic data. A second-order kinetic model fit the data with the (k₂ = 2.8126 × 10^?3 g mg^?1min^?1, 303 K). The intraparticle diffusion models were applied to ascertain the rate-controlling step. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS°) were calculated which showed an endothermic adsorption process. The equilibrium parameter (R_L) indicated that TiO₂ nanocrystals are useful for Hg(II) removal from aqueous solutions.