Coagulation dynamics of fractal flocs induced by enmeshment and electrostatic patch mechanisms

The size and structure of flocs during floc formation were monitored for various coagulation mechanisms. Two distinctive mechanisms, namely, enmeshment and electrostatic patch, govern the dynamics of kaolin particles coagulation by polyaluminum chloride (PACl). They were investigated by small angle static light scattering (SASLS) and solid-state ²⁷Al NMR. In addition, a novel wet SEM (WSEM) was used in-situ to image the morphology of the aggregate in aqueous solution. Synthetic suspended particles were coagulated by two PACl products, a commercial product (PACl) and one laboratory product (PACl-E). The PACl-E contained more than 60% Al₁₃ while the PACl contained only 7% Al₁₃, with large percentage of colloidal Al. For coagulation by PACl at neutral pH and high dosage where the strong repulsion between particles occurs, the enmeshment ruled by reaction-limited aggregation (RLA) results in larger sweep flocs as well as higher fractal dimensional structure. For coagulation by PACl-E at alkaline pH and low dosage, the flocs were coagulated predominately by electrostatic patch with Al₁₃ aggregates. At such condition, it is likely that diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) predominately rule PACl-E coagulation. The fractal dimension (D_s) values of PACl and PACl-E flocs formed at enmeshment and electrostatic patch increased with dosage, respectively. When breakage of flocs occurs, the breakage rate of PACl-E flocs is slower than that of sweep flocs. By WSEM imaging, the adsorption of spherical Al precipitates onto the particles was observed to form sweep flocs with a rough and ragged contour, while the PACl-E flocs were formed with a smooth and glossy structure.     

Fire detector systems with ‘distributed intelligence’ the pulse polling system

Well over a million fire detectors are currently in use in the Federal Republic of Germany. Provided they are correctly installed and efficiently maintained, they detect fires reliably at a very early stage. At the present time, the false alarm rate equals about 1% of the number of installed detectors per annum. This false alarm rate must be at least proportionately reduced as further detectors are installed.

Since it is scarcely possible to improve tried-and-tested detector designs, the employment of higher-grade detector signal processing methods suggests itself.

However, ‘more intelligent’ detector signal processing using microprocessors calls for an entirely new fire detection system structure: detectors which independently ‘decide’ whether an alarm criterion is met and then initiate an alarm are replaced by sensors which continuously transmit their measured values to the ‘intelligence’ panel for evaluation. Passive panels which simply receive alarm signals from activated detectors and indicate these or transmit them to the fire brigade are replaced by active processors using permanently improved algorithms for the detection of real fires.

A structural change of this type is possible provided the positive — and the customary — characteristics of the conventional technique are not lost, viz. two-wire lines between detector and panel, simple installation and handling, easy detector replaceability, low cost, etc.

The pulse detector technology is described in detail; it combines the simplicity of conventional fire detection systems with new characteristics, e.g. identification of individual detectors, permanent functional check of all connected detectors, automatic notification of maintenance requirement prior to a slowly developing fault (e.g. such as that caused by corrosion or contamination), uniform response sensitivity unaffected by drifting from the operating points of the detectors and, above all, greater protection against false alarms.     

A Microcomputer Model for Flood Prediction with Applications

Abstract: A generally applicable mathematical model, tailored for use on a Personal Computer, as the design tool to simulate unsteady flood flow in a network of interconnected rivers has been developed and applied to the Sham Chun River along the border between Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China. The effect on the improved Sham Chun River due to the proposed river training in the River Indus, one of its tributaries, is evaluated. The one-dimensional unsteady flow model itself is broadly applicable to a wide range of hydrologic conditions and varying field situations. It incorporates real hydraulic features including branched channels and 'tidal flats' flooding and drying. The time history of water stages and discharges are computed at any desired location throughout the connected essentially one-dimensional channel network subject to initial and boundary conditions. Details are given of techniques adapted in using the computational scheme to quantify the unsteady flow condition and the means to assure an efficient numerical solution as well as to verify the accuracy of the computed outputs by subjection to carefully selected schematic simplified test cases and real prototype cases with numerical solution method is a useful predictive engineering tool in river design.     

Interaction effects of multiple pool fires

What are the effects of flame behavior of a number of fires burning in close proximity to one another? The results of measurements of burning rates, heat feedback, flame height, and flame trailing are reported for fires involving liquid pools.     

Landscape scale vegetation-type conversion and fire hazard in the San Francisco bay area open spaces

Successional pressures resulting from fire suppression and reduced grazing have resulted in vegetation-type conversion in the open spaces surrounding the urbanized areas of the San Francisco bay area. Coverage of various vegetation types were sampled on seven sites using a chronosequence of remote images in order to measure change over time. Results suggest a significant conversion of grassland to shrubland dominated by Baccharis pilularison five of the seven sites sampled. An increase in Pseudotsuga menziesii coverage was also measured on the sites where it was present. Increases fuel and fire hazard were determined through field sampling and use of the FARSITE fire area simulator. A significant increase in biomass resulting from succession of grass-dominated to shrub-dominated communities was evident. In addition, results from the FARSITE simulations indicated significantly higher fire-line intensity, and flame length associated with shrublands over all other vegetation types sampled. These results indicate that the replacement of grass dominated with shrub-dominated landscapes has increased the probability of high intensity fires.     

Studies on oxidation of benzo [a] pyrene by sunlight and ozone

The destruction of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) by light is well known; laboratory workers are routinely advised to cover fluorescent lamps with yellow filters while treating samples containing BaP. However until recently the mechanism of oxidation by sunlight and ozone had not been studied in detail. Concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene in urban air are in the range of 5–10 μg/1000 m³. Oxidant concentrations (predominantly in the form of ozone) are reported to be in the range of 0.01 ppm (22 μg per m³). Thus a sampling system with a filter paper would filter about 22,000 μg of ozone passing through and collect about 5 μg of BaP for analysis. The effect of interactions of such large ozone concentrations with BaP deposited on the filter paper is reported; data for the oxidation rates for benzo[a]pyrene coated on quartz surface and exposed to ozone or sunlight are presented. The oxidation products were analysed by thin-layer chromatography and highpressure liquid chromatography. From about eight products detected in these experiments, three have been identified as quinones based on UV-absorption spectrometry and mass spectrometry. Oxidation rates as high as 100% per hour of exposure are observed when less than 0.1 μg of BaP is coated inside the quartz tubes and exposed to ozone or sunlight. Oxidation rates for benzo[a]pyrene (using tritiated BaP) were determined for two types of experimental conditions. In the first set, tritiated BaP was spotted onto a glass fibre paper and sampling continued for 24 h; the loss of BaP was found to be 88%. In the second set tritiated BaP was spotted at intervals of one hour, for eight hours, while sampling is being carried out and the loss of BaP during the period was estimated to be 50%.     

A digital wind gust recorder

The instrument was a byproduct of an undergraduate final year project on wind power which was carried out by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Liverpool.The windmill test site was on an exposed, rocky island where there was no history of weather recording but a long tradition of violent winds.Field experience during the winter months suggested that corrosion fatigue arising from wind buffeting and salt spray would rank equally with maximum wind pressure as criteria of failure and if modern materials, so convenient for forming aerodynamic surfaces, were to be used then limited life concepts would need to be considered. This called for more knowledge of wind variations at the test site. A complete wind spectrum taken on chart recording instruments would have been ideal but since such such refined devices were not available the instrument to be described was designed.The only wind measuring instrument which was available was a rotating cup anemometer. This supplied an alternating voltage proportional to its rotational speed. It also operated a gear driven microswitch which could give an integrated “miles of wind” reading on an electromagnetic counter.Briefly the e.m.f. generated by the anemometer (Fig. 1) was matched against a pre-set voltage corresponding to the required gust velocity. When this was exceeded an appropriate counter was operated. Only the rising e.m.f. was significant. The subsequent fall was ignored. Initially three stages were incorporated which reported the gusts rising through forty, fifty and sixty knots, respectively. These recorded on separate counters. All basic settings were based on pitot-static speed determinations in a wind tunnel.     

Enhancement of bond strength for epoxy-coated rebar using river sand

In this paper, improvement of bond strength for epoxy-coated rebars is studied. Although the epoxy-coated rebar is well accepted as an alternative corrosion prevention method in engineering practice, it still suffers from its poor bond performance, which requires modification of design parameters such as development length and splice length. Following our previous study [Proceedings of the Third Structure Engineering Conference (1996) 651–659], it is proposed to mix the river sand in the epoxy to improve the bond strength of epoxy-coated rebar. Specimens of several sizes of river sand and sand/epoxy weight ratios were studied. The single-rebar pullout test was performed to examine the bond strength. The open circuit potential method and the linear DC polarization method were conducted for corrosion rate measurements to ensure for keeping the merit of epoxy-coated rebar, i.e. the ability of corrosion. Experimental results show that the proposed method is very promising.     

Heavy metals in maternal and cord blood

Heavy metal concentrations have been determined in maternal and cord blood samples collected from mothers in the age group 20-25 years with full-term neonates (37-40 weeks). The concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn were found to be low in cord blood as compared to mother's blood and the ratio between cord blood and maternal blood for the respective elements was found to be approximately 0.80, 0.86, 0.47 and 0.40. On the other hand, the concentrations of Fe and Mg in the mother's blood were found to be lower than those in the cord blood. Prenatal exposure to lead in Mumbai, though low (5.1 microg/dl), is approximately 2-3 times higher than that observed in Canada or Italy. A strong correlation (r = 0.79) between the maternal and cord blood lead levels has been observed during the present study.     

Organochlorines in egg samples from Norwegian birds of prey: congener-, isomer- and enantiomer specific considerations

The content of chlorinated persistent organic pollutants was determined in a total of 44 egg samples from 8 different raptor species collected throughout Norway in the period 1991-1997. The content of 8 chlorinated bornanes, 9 chlorinated pesticides, and 15 polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (PCB) were determined. The highest average concentrations for PCB were found for eggs from White-tailed Sea Eagle and Peregrine Falcon (average sum PCB concentration: 8.9 and 9.1 microg/g wet weight (w.w.), respectively). Merlin and Sparrowhawk eggs were the highest contaminated with chlorinated pesticides (average sum pesticide concentration: 3.0 and 4.3 microg/g w.w.). For the first time, the content of chlorobornanes was determined in Norwegian birds of prey eggs. However, only minor contamination compared to PCBs and conventional chlorinated pesticides was found. The highest sum concentration was determined for White-tailed Sea Eagle eggs (0.09 microg/g w.w.). No chlorobornane contamination was found in Osprey and Merlin eggs. No spatial and regional specific trends or pattern distribution were found for organochlorine contamination in the egg samples analysed. In order to gain information about enantiomer specific bioaccumulation and biotransformation capacity of the organism, enantioselective analyses was performed for the chiral contaminants trans-chlordane, oxy-chlordane and the chlorobornane B9-1679 (Parlar #50). Indications for species-dependent deviation from the racemic distribution (enantiomeric ratio = 1) were found. Peregrine Falcon and Merlin eggs were characterised with an extremely high enantiomeric excess of the (-)-trans-chlordane (enantiomeric ratio (ER) <0.01). For Golden Eagle, Goshawk and Sparrowhawk eggs, the ERs were between 0.1 and 0.22 demonstrating also here that the (-)-trans-chlordane was the most abundant enantiomer. For the distribution of oxy-chlordane and B9-1679 enantiomers no species-dependent differences were found. For all species the ER values between 0.3 and 0.8 were determined. Thus, also for oxy-chlordane and B9-1679, the (-)-enantiomers are the most dominating stereoisomers in the birds of prey eggs analysed.