Hydrogen gas production from electrohydrolysis of industrial wastewater organics by using photovoltaic cells (PVC)

Electrical current generated by a photovoltaic cell (PVC) was supplied to wastewater in a mechanically mixed and sealed reactor using stainless steel electrodes. Hydrogen gas was generated by reaction of protons released from decomposition of organic compounds and electrons provided by electrical current. Gas phase was composed of 75–99% H₂ gas.     

Restructuring of Turkey’s electricity market and the share of hydropower energy: The case of the Eastern Black Sea Basin

This paper presents the historical development of Turkey’s electricity power sector, the efforts for introducing competition in the power industry in Turkey, and the concerns regarding restructuring in Turkey. The contribution of the hydropower energy potential in Turkey to the reconstruction of the electricity structure in Turkey is also investigated. Then, among the 25 hydrological basins in Turkey, the Eastern Black Sea Basin located in the northeast of Turkey, which has great advantages from the view point of small hydropower potential or hydropower potential without storage, is chosen as the case study to carry out some investigations concerning its potential and to analyze the contribution of the private sector (the corporate body) in regard to the development of hydro potential in this basin within the scope of the 4628 Electricity Market Law. With this law, concerning the restructuring of the electricity market, private sector investments in this segment have increased. In total, 1524 hydroelectric power projects with 22 360 MW installed capacity has been implemented until January 22nd, 2009 and this figure is continuously rising.     

Process intensification in wastewater treatment: ferrous iron removal by a sustainable membrane bioreactor system

Biooxidation of ferrous iron (Fe²⁺) from strongly acidic industrial wastewater with a high Fe²⁺ content by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans in a packed bed reactor and subsequent removal of ferric iron (Fe³⁺) by a crossflow microfiltration (membrane) process have been investigated as functions of wastewater flowrate (54–672 cm³ h^?1), Fe²⁺ concentration (1.01–8.06 g dm^?3), and pH (1.5–5.0). A natural (vegetable) sponge, Luffa cylindrica, was used as support matrix material. The fastest kinetic performance achieved was about 40 g Fe²⁺ dm^?3 h^?1 at a true dilution rate of 19 h^?1 corresponding to a hydraulic retention time of 3.16 min. Steady state conversion was observed to be about 10% higher at pH 2.3 than that at pH 1.5. Increasing the flowrate of the inlet wastewater caused a reduction in conversion rate. The oxidation rate reduced along the reactor height as the wastewater moved towards the exit at the top but conversion showed the opposite trend. Increasing Fe²⁺ concentration up to a critical point resulted in an increased oxidation rate but beyond the critical point caused the oxidation rate to decrease. Luffa cylindrica displayed suitable characteristics for use as a support matrix for formation of a Thiobacillus ferrooxidans biofilm and showed promising potential as an ecological and sustainable alternative to existing synthetic support materials. Membrane separation was shown to be a very effective means of Fe³⁺ removal from the wastewater with removal changing from 92% at pH 2.3 to complete removal at pH 5.0. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Acoustically actuated flextensional Si/sub x/N/sub y/ and single-crystal silicon 2-D micromachined ejector arrays

We propose using two-dimensional (2-D) micromachined droplet ejector arrays for environmentally benign deposition of photoresist and other spin-on materials, such as low-k and high-k dielectrics used in IC manufacturing. Direct deposition of these chemicals will reduce waste as well as production cost. The proposed device does not harm heat or pressure sensitive fluids and they are chemically compatible with the materials used in IC manufacturing. Each element of the 2-D ejector array consists of a flexurally vibrating circular membrane on one face of a cylindrical fluid reservoir. The membrane has an orifice at the center. A piezoelectric transducer generating ultrasonic waves, located at the open face of the reservoir, actuates the membranes. As a result of this actuation, droplets are fired through the membrane orifice. Ejector arrays were built with either Si/sub x/N/sub y/ or single-crystal silicon membranes using two different fabrication processes. We show that single-crystal silicon membranes are more uniform in their thickness and material quality than those of Si/sub x/N/sub y/ membranes. The single-crystal silicon membrane-based devices showed thickness and material uniformity across all the membranes of an array. This improvement eliminated nonuniform membrane resonance frequencies across an array as observed with Si/sub x/N/sub y/ membrane-based devices. Therefore, it should be possible to repeatably build devices and to predict their dynamic characteristics. Using the fabricated devices, we demonstrated water ejection at 470 kHz, 1.24 MHz, and 2.26 MHz. The corresponding droplet diameters were 6.5, 5, and 3.5 /spl mu/m, respectively.     

Comparison of a competitive ELISA with an HPLC method for the determination of aflatoxin M1 in Turkish White, Kasar and Tulum cheeses

AFM1 is a hydroxylated metabolite produced when ruminants ingest contaminated feed with AFB1 and transferred to dairy products such as cheese, which represents an important risk factor for consumers. Turkish White, Kashar and Tulum cheeses are traditional cheese types in Turkey. This study was planned to compare the performance of a competitive ELISA for the determination of AFM1 in Turkish White, Kasar and Tulum cheeses against a new HPLC method. For this purpose, different AFM1 concentrations (50–400 ng/kg) were added to the cheese samples and the toxin levels were determined by ELISA and HPLC. Also, both methods were performed in 24 real samples obtained from different markets. In conclusion, the results obtained by ELISA in this study were related to those by HPLC for AFM1.     

Subspace based feature selection for pattern recognition

Feature selection is an essential topic in the field of pattern recognition. The feature selection strategy has a direct influence on the accuracy and processing time of pattern recognition applications. Features can be evaluated with either univariate approaches, which examine features individually, or multivariate approaches, which consider possible feature correlations and examine features as a group. Although univariate approaches do not take the correlation among features into consideration, they can provide the individual discriminatory power of the features, and they are also much faster than multivariate approaches. Since it is crucial to know which features are more or less informative in certain pattern recognition applications, univariate approaches are more useful in these cases. This paper therefore proposes subspace based separability measures to determine the individual discriminatory power of the features. These measures are then employed to sort and select features in a multi-class manner. The feature selection performances of the proposed measures are evaluated and compared with the univariate forms of classic separability measures (Divergence, Bhattacharyya, Transformed Divergence, and Jeffries-Matusita) on several datasets. The experimental results clearly indicate that the new measures yield comparable or even better performance than the classic ones in terms of classification accuracy and dimension reduction rate.     

Effect of different surface treatments on bond strength of recycled brackets to feldspathic porcelain

Aim: The aim of the study was to compare the shear bond strength of three different types of recycled brackets on porcelain facets following different surface treatments. Materials and Methods: Eighty-four porcelain facets were produced by duplication of the labial surface of a maxillary right first premolar. Each porcelain facet was individually embedded in autopolymerizing acrylic resin. A thin coat of sealant was also painted on the bracket base and cured for 15 s before applying the paste. The bracket was then positioned on the porcelain facet, pressed lightly and light-cured. Each specimen was loaded into a universal testing machine using Nexjen software for testing, with the long axis of the specimen perpendicular to the direction of the applied force. Then, the brackets were rebonded following different surface treatments (Laser, hydrofluoric acid, sandblasting with Al₂O₃, and silane treatment). Kruskal–Wallis analysis of variance and post hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were performed to test the differences in shear bond strength values (p < 0.05). The significance of differences in the ARI scores was analyzed with chi-square test (p < 0.05). Results: Statistical analysis indicated significant differences among surface treatment procedures (p < 0.0001). In addition, the effect of the first and second bonding factors on shear bond strength behaviors was shown to be significant for the brackets (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The use of sandblasting, HF treatment and silanization procedure could be used for improving the rebond shear bond strength of zirconia brackets to porcelain surface. However, rebonding the brackets to porcelain surfaces may not be recommended due to the dramatic decrease in bonding values.     

Optical beam-shaping design based on aspherical lenses for circularization, collimation, and expansion of elliptical laser beams

We present two optical system designs using aspherical lenses for beam circularization, collimation, and expansion of semiconductor lasers for possible application in lidar systems. Two different optical lens systems are investigated; namely, two aspherical lens and single aspherical lens systems. Software package programs of ZEMAX and MATLAB to simulate the optical designs are used. The beam reshaping results are presented for one specific laser beam output.     

COD, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) and toxicity removal from synthetic wastewater in a rotating perforated-tubes biofilm reactor

Synthetic wastewater containing different concentrations of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) was biologically treated using a novel rotating perforated-tubes biofilm reactor (RTBR) for chemical oxygen demand (COD), TCP and toxicity removal. Performance of the reactor was investigated as function of major operating variables such as the feed TCP and COD concentrations and A/Q (biofilm surface area/feed flow rate) ratio. A Box-Behnken statistical experiment design method was used by considering the feed TCP (0-400 mg L(-1)), COD (1,000-4,000 mg L(-1)) and A/Q ratio (23-163 m(2)dm(-3)) as the independent variables while percent TCP, COD, and toxicity removals were the objective functions. The results were correlated with the quadratic model since this was found to be the most suitable one. Response function coefficients were determined by correlating the experimental data with the response function. Percent TCP, COD and toxicity removals estimated from the response functions were in good agreement with the experimental results. TCP, COD and toxicity removals increased with increasing A/Q ratio and decreasing feed TCP concentrations. Percent toxicity removals were always lower than TCP removals indicating presence or formation of some toxic by products from TCP biodegradation. For the feed TCP of 400 mg L(-1), the optimum conditions resulting in maximum COD (99%), TCP (100%) and toxicity (93%) removals were A/Q ratio of nearly 165 m(2)dm(-3) and feed COD of 2,985 mg L(-1).     

Assessment of cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of enniatin-A in vitro

Enniatin A (EN-A) is a Fusarium mycotoxin which is a common contaminant in grains and especially in maize and it causes serious loss of product. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effects using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay in human cervix carcinoma (HeLa) cell line, and genotoxic effects of EN-A using chromosome aberrations (CAs), sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), micronuclei (MN) and comet assays in human lymphocytes. The cells were treated with 0.07, 0.14, 0.29, 0.57, 1.15, 2.29, 4.59 and 9.17 μM concentrations of EN-A. It exhibited cytotoxic effects in HeLa cell lines especially when the concentrations were increased. The half-inhibitory value (IC₅₀) was determined as 1.15 μM concentration for 24 h and 0.57 μM concentration for 48 h. However, EN-A failed to affect the frequency of CAs, SCEs and MN in human lymphocytes. Only a slight increase was observed in the frequency of SCEs at 0.57 μM concentration over 48 h. The replication (RI) and nuclear division (NDI) indices were not affected. On the contrary, EN-A decreased the mitotic index (MI) significantly at all concentrations compared to the negative control and solvent control (except at 0.29 μM for 24 h, and except at 0.14, 0.29 and 0.57 μM for 48 h). Treatments over 2.29 μM showed toxic effects in human lymphocytes. EN-A significantly increased comet tail intensity (except at 0.07 and 0.57 μM) in isolated human lymphocytes. The results of this study demonstrate that EN-A has an obvious cytotoxic effect especially when the EN-A concentration was increased. In addition, EN-A could exhibit a mild genotoxic effect.