Experimental investigation on the effect of MgO and TiO2 nanoparticles in stepped solar still

This work aims at augmenting the amount of potable water using MgO and TiO₂ in stepped solar still. Experiments were carried out for the climatic conditions of Chennai, India, with two different concentrations of nanofluids inside a stepped basin under three different cases. Results show that there is an improvement in yield of fresh water from stepped solar still by 33.18% and 41.05% using 0.1% and 0.2% volume concentration of TiO₂ nanofluid, respectively, whereas the freshwater yield from stepped still with MgO nanofluids improved by 51.7% and 61.89%. Furthermore, the economic analysis revealed that the cost of potable water from the modified solar still reduced from 0.029 to 0.016 $/kg. Similarly, the useful annual energy, yearly cost per kilogram, and annual cost per kilowatt hour are significantly profitable with the use of MgO nanofluid in the stepped basin and found as 512.46 kWh, 0.025 $/kg, and 0.026 $/kWh, respectively. It is also found that the cost of potable water from the modified still significantly increases as the amount of fresh water produced is decreased with increased fabrication cost of the solar still.     

The uptake of chemical elements from coal ash and settling basin effluent by primary producers II. Relation between concentrations in ash deposits and tissues of grasses growing on the ash

A number of reports of biomagnification of trace metals by plants indicate that elements are selectively concentrated within certain tissues when plants grow on coal ash. This study determined the uptake by, and tissue bioaccumulation of, 15 chemical elements within broom sedge and nut grass growing in the drainage system of a coal ash basin. Biomagnification of these elements by the grasses was compared to concentrations of these elements found in duckweed within the same system.Aluminium, arsenic, barium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, titanium, and zinc were measured by neutron activation analysis in roots, stems, leaves and fruit of the grasses which grew in sediments within the effluent. Mercury and zinc were biomagnified in both grasses and duckweed to a level exceeding the concentration in sediment. All elements were biomagnified above the water concentration in all parts of the plants. Bioaccumulation of elements in the leaves and fruit of these plants provides a concentrated source of potentially toxic chemical elements for passage to animals which may consume these plants. The mechanisms of movement of potentially toxic elements from coal ash or water into food webs need additional study as utilization of coal is increased.     

Simultaneous hyperaccumulation of nickel, manganese, and calcium in Alyssum leaf trichomes

We have developed commercially viable phytoremediation/phytomining technologies employing Alyssum Ni-hyperaccumulator species to quantitatively extract Ni from soils. The majority of Ni is stored either in Alyssum leaf epidermal cell vacuoles or in the basal portions only of the numerous stellate trichomes. Here, we report simultaneous and region-specific localization of high levels of Ni, Mn, and Ca within Alyssum trichomes as determined by scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM/EDX). Plants were grown in high Ni soil, achieving up to 48 400 microg g(-1) Ni in total leaf concentration; however, Ca and Mn were not enriched in the experimental soils. The region-specific localization of hyperaccumulated Ca, Mn, and Ni occurred in three soil types, five Alyssum species/ecotypes, and over a wide range of soil Ni concentrations. The metal concentration in the trichome basal compartment was approximately 15-20% dry weight, the highest ever reported for healthy vascular plant tissue.     

Performance analysis of brain tissues and tumor detection and grading system using ANFIS classifier

Abnormal growth of cells in brain leads to the formation of tumors, which are categorized into benign and malignant. In this article, Co‐Active Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (CANFIS) classification based brain tumor detection and its grading system is proposed. It has two phases as brain tumor segmentation and brain tissue segmentation. In brain tumor segmentation, CANFIS classifier is used to classify the test brain image into benign or malignant. Then, morphological operations are applied over the malignant image in order to segment the tumor regions in brain image. The K‐means classifier is used to classify the brain tissues into Grey Matter (GM), White Matter (WM) and Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF) regions as three different classes. Next, the segmented tumor is graded as mild, moderate or severe based on the presence of segmented tumor region in brain tissues.     

德国ASP建筑事务所（阿尔特、斯格尔及合伙人）

1.历史 位于德国斯图加特的ASP（Arat,Siegel and Pamer）建筑设计事务所,由两位创始人斯图加特的建筑师密特·阿尔特先生和赫尔纳·斯格尔先生将各自的事务所在1991年台并而成。在这一时间之前,创始人之一阿尔特先生的事务所已经完成了位于法兰克福的德国国家图书馆的设计工作,而事务所另位创始人斯格尔先生的事务所也完成了很多著名的建筑项目,如斯图加特自然历史博物馆等。     

Joint optimization of phase diversity and adaptive optics: demonstration of potential

We study different possibilities to use adaptive optics (AO) and phase diversity (PD) together in a jointly optimized system. The potential of the joint system is demonstrated through numerical simulations. We find that the most significant benefits are obtained from the improved deconvolution of AO-corrected wavefronts and the additional wavefront sensor (WFS) information that reduces the computational demands of PD algorithms. When applied together, it is seen that the image error can be reduced by 20% compared to traditional PD, working with one focused and one defocused camera image, and the computational load is reduced by a factor of 20 compared to a more reliable PD algorithm requiring more camera images. In addition, we find that the system performance can be optimized by adjusting the magnitude of the applied diversity wavefronts.     

Numerical Simulation Software for Oil Sand Slurry Flow in Flexible Pipelines

In order to optimize the hydraulic transportation system efficiency and cost in the surface extraction of Athabasca oil sand deposits in Canada, there is a desire to extend the hydraulic transport system to production faces in oil sands mines using mobile train of Flex-Rite-based flexible pipelines. Hydraulic transportation system based on flexible-pipe arrangement has been shown to be more competitive than the dump-truck transportation system. This flexible arrangement introduces a unique set of hydraulic transport problems which needs rigorous modeling, experimentation, and analysis to understand the system production capacities and efficiency. Part of the work presented here is an attempt to provide multiphase oil sand slurry simulation and modeling by developing a slurry flow simulator, a graphical user interface-based software, for Flex-Rite flexible-pipe train, a form of hydraulic transportation system. Such software provides a tool/platform for rigorous experimentation and analysis of flow and production capacities.     

Energy performance of wood-burning cookstoves in Michoacan, Mexico

There have been few detailed assessments of the actual impacts of improved stove interventions in rural communities, although many improved stove projects have reported overall efficiencies from tests in simulated kitchens using water-boiling tests (WBTs). This paper presents an integrated energy evaluation of the Patsari cookstove, an efficient wood-burning cookstove developed in Mexico that has recently obtained international recognition, in comparison to traditional cookstoves in rural communities of Michoacan, Mexico. The evaluation uses three standard protocols: the WBT, which quantifies thermal efficiency and firepower; the controlled cooking test (CCT), which measures specific energy consumption associated with local cooking tasks, and the kitchen performance test (KPT), which evaluates the behavior of the stoves in-field conditions and estimates fuel savings. The results showed that the WBT gave little indication of the overall performance of the stove in rural communities. Field testing in rural communities is of critical importance, therefore, in estimating the benefits of improved stoves. In the CCT for tortilla making, the main cooking task in Mexican rural households, Patsari stoves showed fuelwood savings ranging from 44% to 65% in relation to traditional open fires (n=6; P<0.05). These savings were similar in magnitude to the average energy savings from KPT before and after Patsari adoption of 67% (n=23; P<0.05) in rural households exclusively using fuelwood. Similar energy savings of 66% for fuelwood and 64% for LPG, respectively, were also observed in households using mixed fuels. With sound technical design, critical input from local users and proper dissemination strategies, therefore, improved stoves can significantly contribute to improvements in the quality of life of rural people with potential benefits to the surrounding environment.