Photocatalytic degradation of methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE) in contaminated water by ZnO nanoparticles

BACKGROUND: Over the past several decades methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE) as additive to gasoline, intended to either boost ratings of fuel or to reduce air pollution, has been accepted worldwide. Since MTBE has high water solubility, the occurrence of fuel spills or leaks from underground storage tanks or transferring pipeline has led to the contamination of natural waters. In this study the degradation of aqueous MTBE at relatively high concentrations was investigated by a UV‐visible/ZnO/H₂O₂ photocatalytic process. The effects of important operational parameters such as pH, amount of H₂O₂, catalyst loading and irradiation time were also investigated. Concentration of MTBE and intermediates such as tert‐butyl formate and tert‐butyl alcohol were measured. RESULTS: Time required for complete degradation increased from 20 to 150 min when the initial concentration was increased from 10 to 500 mg L^?1. The first‐order rate constants for degradation of MTBE were estimated to be 0.183–0.022 min^?1 as the concentration increased from 10 to 500 mg L^?1. Study of the overall mineralization monitored by total organic carbon analysis showed that at an initial concentration of 100 mg L^?1 MTBE complete mineralization was obtained after 100 min under UV‐visible/ZnO/H₂O₂ photocatalysis. CONCLUSION: The data presented in this paper clearly indicated that UV‐visible/ZnO/O₂ as an advanced oxidation process provides an efficient treatment alternative for the remediation of MTBE‐contaminated waters. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

On the path and efficiency of two micromachines with rigid tails

This paper reports on the results of investigation of the swimming of two different micro-machines. Mechanically each of these micro-machines consists of a head (containing an electromechanical power source) and a tail which moves relative to the head as a rigid body. The problem is approached theoretically by considering the types of movement which can occur for these micro-machines immersed in a viscous medium. The first micro-machine has a tail which oscillates in vertical plane, therefore the trajectory of this machine is in that plane too. The tail of the second micro-machine roates conically, so it produces a three dimensional helical path in space with its axis approximately along the direction of tail centreline.Using the boundary element method for solving the traction equations on the surface of the tail, and a time-dependent Euler kinematic scheme to plot the path, the net propulsive force and torque, the translational velocity, angular velocity and the trajectory of each machine are calculated. Evaluation of the path and the direction of motion for each micro-machine using different dimensional parameters can give an idea of the efficiency for such machines with rigid tails.     

Comparing the Effects of Different Daily and Sub-Daily Downscaling Approaches on the Response of Urban Stormwater Collection Systems

Water Resources Management - Change in the spatiotemporal pattern of precipitation is one the most important effects of climate change. This may result in considerable changes in urban flooding and...     

Optimized scenario for rainfall forecasting using genetic algorithm coupled with artificial neural network

Rainfall forecasting plays many important role in water resources studies such as river training works and design of flood warning systems. Recent advancement in artificial intelligence and in particular techniques aimed at converting input to output for highly nonlinear, non-convex and dimensionalized processes such as rainfall field, provide an alternative approach for developing rainfall forecasting model. Artificial neural networks (ANNs), which perform a nonlinear mapping between inputs and outputs, are such a technique. Current literatures on artificial neural networks show that the selection of network architecture and its efficient training procedure are major obstacles for their daily usage. In this paper, feed-forward type networks will be developed to simulate the rainfall field and a so-called back propagation (BP) algorithm coupled with genetic algorithm (GA) will be used to train and optimize the networks. The technique will be implemented to forecast rainfall for a number of times using rainfall hyetograph of recording rain gauges in the Upper Parramatta catchment in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Results of the study showed the structuring of ANN network with the input parameter selection, when coupled with GA, performed better compared to similar work of using ANN alone.     

Penetration Depth in Nanoparticles Incorporated Radiofrequency Hyperthermia into the Tissue: Comprehensive Study with Histology and Pathology Observations

In present study, the effective penetration of radiofrequency (RF) induced gold decorated iron oxide nanoparticles (GS@IONPs) hyperthermia was investigated. The effective penetration depth of RF also the damage potency of hyperthermia was evaluated during histopathology observations which were done on the chicken breast tissue and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) models. The thermal damages are well‐ documented in our previous cellular study which was engaged with potency of RF hyperthermia in Epithelial adenocarcinoma (MCF‐7) and fibroblast (L‐929) cells deaths [1]. In recent work, PEGylated iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were used as base platform for gold magnetic nanoparticles (GS@IONPs) formation. The 144.00015 MHz, 180W RF generator was applied for stimulating the nanoparticles. The chicken breast tissue and the hepatocellular tumor model was considered in the experimental section. In histology studies, the structural changes also the effective penetration depth of RF induced nanoparticles was observed through microscopic monitoring of the tissue slices in histology observations (Gazi medical school). The highest damage level was seen in 8.0 µm tissue slices where lower damages were seen in depth of 1.0 cm and more inside tissue. The histology observations clarified the effective penetration depth of RF waves and irreversible damages in the 2.0 cm inside the tissue.Inspec keywords: nanomedicine, tumours, biomedical materials, cellular biophysics, nanoparticles, gold, cancer, hyperthermia, magnetic particles, iron compounds, radiation therapyOther keywords: Au‐Fe₃ O₄ , depth 1.0 cm, depth 8.0 mum, power 180.0 W, size 2.0 cm, frequency 144.00015 MHz, microscopic monitoring, structural changes, hepatocellular tumour model, standing wave ratio, propylene glycol, thermal damages, hepatocellular carcinoma models, radiofrequency hyperthermia, nanoparticle dispersion, tissue alterations, modified tissues, gold shell magnetic nanoparticles, chicken breast tissue, gold‐coated iron oxide nanoparticles, pathology observations, effective penetration depth, histology observations, tissue slices     

Thermal expansion and magnetostriction of Nd16Fe76B8 alloy

The spontaneous magnetization variation in the temperature range from room temperature to 500 °C was examined by correlation with thermal expansion measurement. Unaligned and aligned sintered specimens were examined to study the temperature dependencies of their dimensions resulting from spontaneous magnetostriction and thermal expansion. Above the Curie temperature (315 °C) all specimens showed the same normal thermal expansion, whilst below this temperature their thermal expansions were quite different and anomalous.     

Spatial Scale Resolution of Prognostic Hydrological Models: Simulation Performance and Application in Climate Change Impact Assessment

Water Resources Management - In this paper, long-term hydrological response of a watershed to climate change was investigated taking into account the spatial scale effect on the performance of...     

Effects of microstructures on dynamic compression of Barre granite

The distribution and characteristics of microstructures (microcrack and grain) of Barre granite (BG) were investigated, and three orthogonal weak planes associated with the preferred orientations of microcracks were identified. It has been demonstrated that both the fracture toughness and the longitudinal wave speed depend on the direction of these weak planes. In this study, disk samples cut from one BG block are prepared for split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) test. The axial directions of the samples are chosen to be parallel to the preferred direction of microcracks and the samples are grouped and denoted by Y (lowest P-wave velocity), Z (highest P-wave velocity), and X (intermediate P-wave velocity). Pulse-shaper technique is adopted to achieve equilibrium of dynamic stresses on both ends of the sample and constant strain rate during the dynamic loading. For samples within the same orientation group, the maximum stress achieved shows clear strain-rate sensitivity. The effect of microcracks on the dynamic compressive response of BG depends on the strain rate for a fixed loading duration (230 μs). For low strain-rate loading (70 s⁻¹) and high strain-rate loading (130 s⁻¹), the maximum dynamic stress achieved is not sensitive to the microcrack orientation; for intermediate strain rate (100 s⁻¹) loading, the maximum achieved stress for Y-samples is the largest. In addition, three dynamic compressive rock failure modes are identified: quasi-elastic, cracked, and fragmented. The correlation between the failure modes and the shape of the stress–strain curves is discussed.     

闪烁光纤阵列用于高能射线成像的可行性研究

本文通过对塑料闪烁光纤阵列在高能X或γ射线下的特性研究,分析了利用闪烁光纤阵列作为高能成像探测器的可能性。采用了基于蒙特卡罗的模拟方法,分析了闪烁光纤在高能射线下所成图像的质量,并且模拟计算了表征图像质量的信噪比(SNR),探测量子效率(DQE)以及调制传递函数(MTF)。通过这些计算得到闪烁光纤阵列有着传统闪烁屏所不具有的一些特性,把闪烁光纤的这些特点应用于高能成像中是完全可行的。     

CT探测器的设计与最新技术

介绍了X射线CT的基本原理．着重讨论了CT探测器的设计方法、CT最新技术及未来的发展趋势．