When public opposition defeats alternative water projects - The case of Toowoomba Australia

Located approximately 100 km west of Brisbane, Toowoomba is home to approximately 95,000 people. Surface water from dams is the main source of water for the city. In 2006 the residents of Toowoomba were invited to vote in a referendum (plebiscite) concerning whether or not an indirect potable wastewater reuse scheme should be constructed to supply additional water to the area. At that stage dam levels in Toowoomba were at approximately twenty percent of capacity. Toowoomba residents, after intense campaigning on both sides of the referendum debate, voted against the proposal. In July 2008 dam levels dropped to eleven percent. Stage 5 water restrictions have been in place since September 2006, subsequently mains water must not be used for any outdoor uses. This paper describes in detail how public opposition in the case of Toowoomba's referendum, defeated the proposal for a water augmentation solution. Reasons for the failure are analysed. In so doing, the paper provides valuable insights with respect to public participation in indirect potable reuse proposals, and discusses factors including politics, vested interest and information manipulation. This paper is significant because of the lack of detailed information published about failed water infrastructure projects.     

Critical aspects of sinter-hardening of prealloyed Cr–Mo steel

In recent years, growing demand for greater mechanical properties of PM steel components with competitive fabrication cost has led to significant innovations in different fields of powder metallurgy. Recent research has been focused on reaching higher performance with lower cost. To this end, the possibility of combining the conventional sintering and post-sintering processes for a particular powder composition has been introduced. Sinter-hardening is a result of the research conducted along this line. Elimination of any secondary operation such as quench-hardening by incorporating it in the sintering process (i.e. sinter-hardening) is of great interest, as it will lead to lower processing costs and equal, if not higher mechanical performance. However, to ensure the desired mechanical properties of the final component and robustness of the performance, critical aspects of the sinter-hardening process should be rigorously studied.Hence with specific attention to a Cr–Mo steel powder (FL-5305), this study deals with the influence of density on cooling rate, the effect of different sintering temperatures (e.g. 1120 °C and 1250 °C) on austenite grain size and consequently, hardenability. The microstructure development in sinter-hardened FL-5305 material has been analyzed and predicted by means of the available literature for solid steel and also using the commercial software (JMatPro 5.0) for materials assessment based on thermodynamic and kinetics modeling. Finally, inaccurate carbon control and its adverse impact on excessive formation of cementite have been addressed.     

Improving the performance of linear inverse solutions by inverting the resolution matrix

This paper proposes a new strategy for improving the localization capabilities of linear inverse solutions, based on the relationship between the real solution and the estimated solution as described by the resolution matrix equation. Specifically, we present two alternatives based on either the partial or total inversion of the resolution matrix and applied them to the minimum norm solution, which is known for its poor performance in three-dimensional (3-D) localization problems. The minimum norm transformed inverse showed a clear improvement in 3-D localization. The strong dependence of localization errors with the eccentricity of the sources, characteristic of this solution, disappears after the proposed transformation. A similar effect is illustrated, using a realistic example where multiple generators at striate areas are active. While the original minimum norm incorrectly places the generators at extrastriate cortex, the transformed minimum norm localizes, for the example considered, the sources at their correct eccentricity with very low spatial blurring.     

Introducing an Efficient Statistical Model for Automatic Modulation Classification

Journal of Signal Processing Systems - Nowadays, Automatic Modulation Classification (AMC) plays an important role in many applications of cooperative and non-cooperative communication such as...     

Catalyst Design by NH4OH Treatment of USY Zeolite

Hierarchical zeolites are a class of superior catalysts which couples the intrinsic zeolitic properties to enhanced accessibility and intracrystalline mass transport to and from the active sites. The design of hierarchical USY (Ultra‐Stable Y) catalysts is achieved using a sustainable postsynthetic room temperature treatment with mildly alkaline NH₄OH (0.02 m ) solutions. Starting from a commercial dealuminated USY zeolite (Si/Al = 47), a hierarchical material is obtained by selective and tuneable creation of interconnected and accessible small mesopores (2–6 nm). In addition, the treatment immediately yields the NH₄⁺ form without the need for additional ion exchange. After NH₄OH modification, the crystal morphology is retained, whereas the microporosity and relative crystallinity are decreased. The gradual formation of dense amorphous phases throughout the crystal without significant framework atom leaching rationalizes the very high material yields (>90%). The superior catalytic performance of the developed hierarchical zeolites is demonstrated in the acid‐catalyzed isomerization of α‐pinene and the metal‐catalyzed conjugation of safflower oil. Significant improvements in activity and selectivity are attained, as well as a lowered susceptibility to deactivation. The catalytic performance is intimately related to the introduced mesopores, hence enhanced mass transport capacity, and the retained intrinsic zeolitic properties.     

Green Biocomposites for Thermoelectric Wearable Applications

The materials commonly used to fabricate thermoelectric devices are tellurium, lead, and germanium. These materials ensure the best thermoelectric performance, but exhibit drawbacks in terms of availability, sustainability, cost, and manufacturing complexity. Moreover, they do not guarantee a safe and cheap implementation in wearable thermoelectric applications. Here, p‐Type and n‐type flexible thermoelectric textiles are produced with sustainable and low‐cost materials through green and scalable processes. Cotton is functionalized with inks made with biopolyester and carbon nanomaterials. Depending on the nanofiller, i.e., graphene nanoplatelets, carbon nanotubes, or carbon nanofibers, positive or negative Seebeck coefficient values are obtained, resulting in a remarkable electrical conductivity value of 55 S cm^?1 using carbon nanotubes. The best bending and washing stability are registered for the carbon nanofiber‐based biocomposites, which increase their electrical resistance by 5 times after repeated bending cycles and only by 30% after washing. Finally, in‐plane flexible thermoelectric generators coupling the best p‐ and n‐type materials are fabricated and analysed, resulting in an output voltage of ≈1.65 mV and a maximum output power of ≈1.0 nW by connecting only 2 p/n thermocouples at a temperature difference of 70 °C.     

3D Localization for Launch Vehicle Using Virtual TOA and AOA of Ground Stations

Wireless Personal Communications - Generally, a ground telemetry station for a launch vehicle (LV) includes a tracking function only; therefore, position measurements for LV depend on received...     

Engineering DNA-Grafted Quatsomes as Stable Nucleic Acid-Responsive Fluorescent Nanovesicles

The development of artificial vesicles into responsive architectures capable of sensing the biological environment and simultaneously signaling the presence of a specific target molecule is a key challenge in a range of biomedical applications from drug delivery to diagnostic tools. Herein, the rational design of biomimetic DNA-grafted quatsome (QS) nanovesicles capable of translating the binding of a target molecule to amphiphilic DNA probes into an optical output is presented. QSs are synthetic lipid-based nanovesicles able to confine multiple organic dyes at the nanoscale, resulting in ultra-bright soft materials with attractiveness for sensing applications. Dye-loaded QS nanovesicles of different composition and surface charge are grafted with fluorescent amphiphilic nucleic acid-based probes to produce programmable FRET-active nanovesicles that operate as highly sensitive signal transducers. The photophysical properties of the DNA-grafted nanovesicles are characterized and the highly selective, ratiometric detection of clinically relevant microRNAs with sensitivity in the low nanomolar range are demonstrated. The potential applications of responsive QS nanovesicles for biosensing applications but also as functional nanodevices for targeted biomedical applications is envisaged.