Biosorption of mercury from aqueous solutions by powdered leaves of castor tree (Ricinus communis L.)

A new biosorbent produced from castor leaves powder [Ricinus communis L.] was used to remove mercury(II) from aqueous solutions. The initial mercury concentrations, contact time and initial pH were evaluated. The ability of castor leaves to remove mercury at various pH (2-8) was studied. The maximum capacity (Qmax) of biomass was found to be 37.2mg Hg(II)/g at pH 5.5. Biosorption equilibrium was established in approximately 1h. The equilibrium data were described well by Langmuir and Freundlich models. The adsorbed mercury on biomass was desorbed using 10 ml of 4M HCl solution. The biomass could be reused for other biosorption assays. The ability of biomass to adsorb mercury(II) in a column was investigated. These studies consider the possibility of using leaves of castor tree as an inexpensive adsorbent for the removal of Hg(II) from contaminated chemical and mining industry wastewaters. It is also suggested that the dried biomass might be simply kept and used in a very low cost metal ion removal system.     

Thermomechanical response of LNG concrete tank to cryogenic temperatures

The reinforced concrete tanks for liquefied natural gas storage, which have many advantages over steel tanks (high resistance to cryogenic temperatures and thermal shock, fatigue and buckling, fire resistance, etc.), are analyzed. Since the main drawback of concrete tanks is their poor resistance to tensile stresses, in order to investigate the thermally induced tensile stresses, a numerical model of a transient thermal analysis is presented for the evaluation of thermomechanical response of concrete tank to the cryogenic temperature, taking into account the temperature dependence of the thermophysical properties of the concrete tank thermal conductivity and specific heat.     

Nanoindentation technique for measuring residual stress field around a laser-induced crack in fused silica

A nanometre scale indentation technique using microprobe indentations to measure residual stresses at selected positions near u.v.-laser-induced cracks in fused silica is presented. The approach is based on the observation that the nanoindentations' penetration depths are affected by the residual stress field emanating from the laser-induced crack. A simple theoretical model based on the change of the nanoindentation penetration depth as well as the change in Young's modulus and hardness of the material is derived. The results show good agreement with the inclusion model [15] suggesting that the residual stress field around a laser-induced crack in fused silica is of shear nature. An exploratory test made on an unstressed sample (free of a laser-induced crack), yielding values for Young's modulus and hardness in accordance with handbook values, shows the high accuracy of this nanoindentation diagnostic.     

A dual-layered model for web services representation and composition

Nowadays more and more companies and organizations implement their business services in the Internet due to the tremendous progress made recently in the field of Web services. It becomes possible to publish, locate and invoke applications across the Web. Thus, the ability to select efficiently and integrate at runtime services located in different sites on the Web is an important issue. In some situations, if no single Web service can satisfy the request of the user, there should be a possibility to combine existing services together in order to meet the user’s request. This paper provides a dual-layered model for web services, where the first model layer captures the high-level functional specifications (namely goals, achievement contexts, and external behaviours), and the second model layer captures the low-level functional specifications (namely interfaces). This model allows the service composition process to be performed on both high-level and low-level specifications. We also introduce the composition operators (both high-level and low-level) to allow composition of virtual services.     

Antioxidant Activity of the Essential Oil and Oleoresin of Zingiber Officinale Roscoe as Affected by Chemical Environment

Three different biochemical test systems were chosen based on their solubility to study the antioxidant activity of ginger extracts. Reducing power and DPPH^. scavenging activity tests were considered to produce hydrophilic environments and the H₂O₂ test was considered as creating a lipophilic environment. The average yields were 10.23 ± 1.02% and 0.48 ± 0.19% for oleoresin and essential oil, respectively. The content of total phenols was 67.6 ± 1.08 mg GAE/g of dry extract. In terms of EC₅₀, in hydrophilic environment standards, it showed the highest effects compared to ginger extracts, with oleoresin presenting more activity than essential oil. In contrast, except for quercetin, essential oil showed the best scavenging activity in inhibiting H₂O₂ compared to all other antioxidants. The present work demonstrated that, when using reducing power, DPPH· free radical scavenging and H₂O₂ scavenging assays, the same ginger extracts exhibit different antioxidant activities, which were affected not only by the extract itself but also by the chemical environment (hydrophilic/lipophilic).     

Dependence of birefringence and residual stress near laser-induced cracks in fused silica on laser fluence and on laser-pulse number

Measurements of birefringence induced in fused-silica specimens by a crack produced by a 351-nm/500-ps Nd:glass laser as a function of laser fluence F(L) and of number of laser shots N are presented. The varying dimensional parameter is found to be the crack depth a and can be put in the form a(mm) = (0.0096 ? 0.0021)N[(F(L)/F(exit/th)) - 1](2/3) with F(L) >/= F(exit/th)(F(exit/th) is the exit-surface damage threshold). The retardance data are converted into units of stress, thus permitting the estimation of residual stress near the crack. The results of the measured residual stress can be cast in the form varsigma(r)(MPa) approximately (. ? .)[(F(L)/F(exit/th)) - 1](1/2) N(2/3) with F(L)>/= F(exit/th). A theoretical model giving the stress field around a crack is developed for comparison and shows reasonable agreement with the experiment. Good agreement with experimental data of others is also obtained. The effect of residual stresses on fracture strength is pointed out. The results obtained show that the presence of birefringence/residual stress in a fused-silica specimen with a crack on its surface has a strong effect on fracture and should be taken into account in any formulation that involves the failure strength of optical components used in inertial-confinement-fusion experiments.     

Effects of advance ratio on elytra-hindwing interaction in forward flying Coleopteran beetle

In the present study, numerical simulations are performed to explore the significance of elytron-hindwing interaction in the forward flying Coleopteran beetle. The study investigates the effects of hindwing stroke amplitude (A/c) and advance ratio (J), (which is defined as the ratio of the incoming air velocity to the wing flapping velocity), on the aerodynamic forces. The wing kinematics of a Coleopteran beetle is constructed by using a combination of translation and rotation motion. The elytron is modeled by using a cambered airfoil that mimics the real geometry of the beetle wing, and the hindwing is modeled by using an elliptical profile. The results indicate that the beetle cruises with a constant velocity at approximately J = 0.3 in the tandem wing arrangement. It is observed that the angle of the net force vector relative to the stroke plane tilts systematically according to the flying speed. The influence of vortex structures on the beetle aerodynamic forces is analyzed. The elytron-hindwing interaction is found to be beneficial to the vertical force generation of hindwing as well as for the elytron when J > 0.0. The vortices interaction is observed during the downstroke period, and the leading edge vortex (LEV) of the elytron is captured by LEV of the hindwing that enhances the total vertical force. During the upstroke translation phase, the combined trailing edge vortex of elytron interacts/merges with the LEV of the hindwing and increases the horizontal force.