Removal of Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions using waste of tea factory: adsorption on a fixed-bed column

The removal efficiency of waste tea from nickel containing aqueous solutions was investigated. All experiments were conducted fixed-bed columns. Experiments were carried out as a function of liquid flow rate (5-20 mL/min), initial Ni(II) concentration (50-200 mg/L), bed height (10-30 cm), pH of feed solution (2.0-5.0) and particle size (0.15-0.25 to 1.0-3.0 mm) of adsorbent. The total adsorbed quantities, equilibrium uptakes and total removal percents of Ni(II) related to the effluent volumes were determined by evaluating the breakthrough curves obtained at different flow rates, different inlet Ni(II) concentrations, different pH value, different bed height and different particle size for waste tea. The longest breakthrough time and maximum of Ni(II) adsorption is obtained at pH 4.0. Decrease in the particle size from 1.0-3.0 to 0.15-0.25 mm resulted in significant increase in the treated volume, breakthrough time and bed capacity. The results show that the column performed well at lowest flow rate. Also, column bed capacity and exhaustion time increased with increasing bed height. When the initial Ni(II) concentration is increased from 50 to 200 mg/L, the corresponding adsorption bed capacity appears to increase from 7.31 to 11.17 mg/g. The bed depth service time (BDST) model and the Thomas model were used to analyze the experimental data and the model parameters were evaluated. Good agreement of the experimental breakthrough curves with the model predictions was observed.     

Discharge Characteristics of Polydisperse Powders through Conical Hoppers. Part 2: Predictions for Coarse, Granular, Free Flowing Powders

Discharge characteristics of coarse polydisperse granular powders through a conical hopper are experimentally investigated. The average discharge rates of four different powder types are systematically measured for seven different diameters of hopper orifice under gravity flow conditions. Each powder type is a mixture of some sub-sizes (smaller than 3 mm) of same powder material. Effects of orifice diameter of hopper and size distribution of polydisperse powders on discharge characteristics are experimentally determined. The measured discharge data are compared with discharge values predicted by using modified forms of the well-known Beverloo correlation. The volume-moment-mean diameter, d_VM, and the 50% weight fraction diameter, d₅₀, cited in available literature are both checked to characterize the coarse polydisperse powders and used throughout the predictions. Comparisons implied that both d_VM and d₅₀ diameters can be successfully used to characterize polydisperse test powders, and discharge rate predictions are in good agreement with experimental data, with mean deviations lower than ±4.04%.     

On three intelligent systems: dynamic neural,fuzzy, and wavelet networks for training trajectory

Intelligent systems cover a wide range of technologies related to hard sciences, such as modeling and control theory, and soft sciences, such as the artificial intelligence (AI). Intelligent systems, including neural networks (NNs), fuzzy logic (FL), and wavelet techniques, utilize the concepts of biological systems and human cognitive capabilities. These three systems have been recognized as a robust and attractive alternative to the some of the classical modeling and control methods. The application of classical NNs, FL, and wavelet technology to dynamic system modeling and control has been constrained by the non-dynamic nature of their popular architectures. The major drawbacks of these architectures are the curse of dimensionality, such as the requirement of too many parameters in NNs, the use of large rule bases in FL, the large number of wavelets, and the long training times, etc. These problems can be overcome with dynamic network structures, referred to as dynamic neural networks (DNNs), dynamic fuzzy networks (DFNs), and dynamic wavelet networks (DWNs), which have unconstrained connectivity and dynamic neural, fuzzy, and wavelet processing units, called neurons, feurons, and wavelons, respectively. The structure of dynamic networks are based on Hopfield networks. Here, we present a comparative study of DNNs, DFNs, and DWNs for non-linear dynamical system modeling. All three dynamic networks have a lag dynamic, an activation function, and interconnection weights. The network weights are adjusted using fast training (optimization) algorithms (quasi-Newton methods). Also, it has been shown that all dynamic networks can be effectively used in non-linear system modeling, and that DWNs result in the best capacity. But all networks have non-linearity properties in non-linear systems. In this study, all dynamic networks are considered as a non-linear optimization with dynamic equality constraints for non-linear system modeling. They encapsulate and generalize the target trajectories. The adjoint theory, whose computational complexity is significantly less than the direct method, has been used in the training of the networks. The updating of weights (identification of network parameters) is based on Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno method. First, phase portrait examples are given. From this, it has been shown that they have oscillatory and chaotic properties. A dynamical system with discrete events is modeled using the above network structure. There is a localization property at discrete event instants for time and frequency in this example.     

Interaction of robot with humans by communicating simulated emotional states through expressive movements

This paper presents a non-verbal and non-facial method for effective communication of a “mechanoid robot” by conveying the emotions through gestures. This research focuses on human–robot interaction using a mechanoid robot that does not possess any anthropomorphic facial features for conveying gestures. Another feature of this research is the use of human-like smooth motion of this mechanoid robot in contrast to the traditional trapezoidal velocity profile for its communication. For conveying gestures, the connection between motion of robot and perceived emotions is established by varying the velocity and acceleration of the mechanoid structure. The selected motion parameters are changed systematically to observe the variation in perceived emotions. The perceived emotions have been further investigated using three different emotional behavior models: Russell’s circumplex model of affect, Tellegen–Watson–Clark model and PAD model. Results obtained show that the designated motion parameters are linked with the change of emotions. Moreover, the emotions perceived by the user are same through all three models, validating the reliability of all the three emotional scale models and also of the emotions perceived by the user.     

Potential functions based sampling heuristic for optimal path planning

Rapidly-exploring Random Tree star (RRT*) is a recently proposed extension of Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm that provides a collision-free, asymptotically optimal path regardless of obstacles geometry in a given environment. However, one of the limitation in the RRT* algorithm is slow convergence to optimal path solution. As a result it consumes high memory as well as time due to the large number of iterations utilised in achieving optimal path solution. To overcome these limitations, we propose the potential function based-RRT* that incorporates the artificial potential field algorithm in RRT*. The proposed algorithm allows a considerable decrease in the number of iterations and thus leads to more efficient memory utilization and an accelerated convergence rate. In order to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed algorithm in terms of space execution and convergence rate, this paper presents rigorous simulation based comparisons between the proposed techniques and RRT* under different environmental conditions. Moreover, both algorithms are also tested and compared under non-holonomic differential constraints.     

Validation of methods for CYP2C9 genotyping: frequencies of mutant alleles in a Swedish population

Cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) catalysis the metabolism of important drugs such as phenytoin, S-warfarin, tolbutamide, losartan, torasemide, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. A functional polymorphism of the CYP2C9 gene has been described. The variant alleles include CYP2C9*2 having a point mutation in exon 3 causing an Arg144Cys exchange, and CYP2C9*3 with a point mutation in exon 7 resulting in an Ile359Leu exchange. Genotyping of these variant forms was carried out in 430 Swedish healthy volunteers and three different methods were compared. Sequence analysis of the different PCR products revealed that other genes in the CYP2C locus were co-amplified in one of the methods applied, whereas the other two methods were specific for CYP2C9. The frequencies of the CYP2C9*1, CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 alleles in the population examined were found to be 0.819, 0.107, and 0.074, respectively. The need for careful evaluation of the genotyping procedure by sequence analysis of PCR products is emphasised.     

Pathogen Re-Growth in UASB Effluent Disinfected By UV,O3, H2O2, and Advanced Oxidation Processes

Disinfection of anaerobically treated effluent (UASB) was carried out to eliminate the enteric pathogens by using UV irradiation, peracetic acid, H₂O₂, O₃ and advanced oxidation processes (O₃/H₂O₂, O₃/UV and H₂O₂/UV). Re-growth potential of these pathogens was monitored in terms of time and temperature. Inactivation of pathogens by ozone at the rate of 300 mg/h for 20 minutes approached 99%. UV irradiation resulted in 99% pathogen removal at irradiation time of 120 seconds. A dose of 170 mg/L H₂O₂ eliminated more than 99% pathogens. Samples disinfected with UV, H₂O₂ and O₃ showed gradual re-growth with an increase in time and temperature (from 20 to 35°C). However, disinfection with AOPs proved to be the most effective tool resulting in reduction of treatment time taken by individual processes, also the disinfected samples showed minimal re-growth revealing the superiority of their combined effects.     

Effect of Si on austenite stabilization,martensite morphology,and magnetic properties in Fe-26%Ni-x%Si alloys

The effect of Si on the austenite stabilization, martensite morphology, and magnetic properties in Fe-26%Ni-x%Si (x=3.5, 5, and 6) alloys have been studied by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and M?ssbauer spectroscopy techniques. TEM observations reveal that the martensite morphology is closely dependent on the Si content. The volume fraction changes of martensite and austenite phases, the hyperfine magnetic field, and isomer shift values have been determined by Mssbauer spectroscopy. The M...     

Evaluation of adhesion and fatigue of MoS2-Nb solid-lubricant films deposited by pulsed-dc magnetron sputtering

The thin film deposition for tribological applications becomes more and more widespread. The tribological performance of the overlay coatings correlates with coating-substrate adhesion. Hence, it is important to measure adhesive strength. The scratch adhesion test for thin films is extensively used. In this work, MoS₂-Nb coatings deposited by closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering (CFUBMS) have been scratch tested in two modes. A multi-mode operation was used as sliding-fatigue, like multi-pass scratching in the same track at different fractions of critical load (unidirectional sliding) and a standard mode using progressive load operation. Failure mechanisms are discussed according to examination of response of very dense microstructure and the adhesion value. The critical load to the first failure (L_C1) was 15 N but the final adhesion value from the film and substrate interface was 120 N (L_C2) as function of the coating thinning. The coefficient of friction (COF) from the multi-scratch for MoS₂-Nb started at a very high value of around 0.067, 0.073, and 0.093 under 5, 8, and 15 N loads respectively and then drops to 0.006, 0.035, and 0.065 at the end of the 1000 cycles. The most significant finding in the test is that when the multi-scratch passes reached to 1000 cycles, micro scale fatigue failures disappeared.