Green and Eco‐Friendly Removal of Mycotoxins with Organo‐Bentonites; Isothermal,Kinetic, and Thermodynamic Studies

In the current study the application of organo‐modified bentonite for the adsorption of mycotoxins (aflatoxin B1, citrinin, patulin, and zearalenone) is presented. The modification of clays is carried out using benzyl‐tri‐n‐butyl ammonium bromide (BTB), benzethonium chloride (BTC), and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DSS). Various experimental parameters such as pH, time, adsorbent dose, and mycotoxins concentration are thoroughly studied. The modified clays (B‐BTB, B‐BTC and B‐DSS) are characterized by X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results depicted the high detoxification efficiency (≈99%) of modified clays for the removal of mycotoxins under optimized conditions (pH 5, time: 30 min, adsorbent amount: 50 mg). The adsorption capacities of modified clays are found in the order of: B‐BTC (AFB1: 18.02, CIT: 18.35, PAT: 18.21, ZEA: 18.09 mg g^?1) > B‐BTB (AFB1: 17.7, CIT: 18.11, PAT: 17.95, ZEA: 17.90 mg g^?1) > B‐DSS (AFB1: 17.5, CIT: 18.02, PAT: 17.86, ZEA: 17.80 mg g^?1). The obtained results fitted well with thermodynamic, isothermal (Langmuir) and pseudo‐second order kinetics. Low cost organo‐modified bentonite shows the promise in mitigating mycotoxin contamination, which could improve food safety and reduce environmental contamination.     

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Flow Hydraulic in Gradual Transition Open Channels

Channel expansions are common in both natural and artificial open channels. With increasing cross-sectional dimensions in an expansion, the flow decelerates. Due to separation of flow and subsequent eddy formation, a significant head loss is occurred along the transition. This study presents the results of experimental investigations on subcritical flow along the expansive transition of rectangular to trapezoidal channels. Also, a numerical simulation was developed using the finite volume method with Reynolds Stress turbulent model. Water surface profiles and velocity distributions of flow through the transition were measured experimentally and compared with the numerical results. Also, hydraulic efficiency of the transition and coefficient of energy head loss were calculated. The results show that with increasing the upstream Froude number, hydraulic efficiency of the transition and coefficient of energy head loss are decreased and increased, respectively. The results also showed the ability of numerical simulation for simulating the flow separation zones and bed shear stress along the transition for different inlet discharges and inflow Froude numbers.     

Turbulence Study Around Bar in a Braided River Model

Water Resources - Turbulent flow is a flow regime which is described by the anarchic property changes. This includes the rapid variation of pressure, high momentum convection and flow velocity in...     

Dietary pattern recognition on Twitter: a case example of before,during, and after four natural disasters

Natural Hazards - Little is known about what foods/beverages (F&B) are common during natural disasters. The goal of this study was to track high-frequency F&B mentions during four...     

Smooth particle hydrodynamics studies of wet granular column collapses

Acta Geotechnica - Dry granular materials have been the subject of many investigations, while wet granular materials, which widely exist in many real-world applications, have only received limited...     

Spatial Modeling of Geotechnical Information Using GML

Geotechnical data characterizes the geometry and physical properties of soil deposits, which are determined from field observations, in-situ and laboratory tests, and engineering analyses. Until now, geotechnical information was mainly described and exchanged as relational data, which occasionally included spatial characteristics. Hereafter, the spatial features of geotechnical data are investigated by invoking the geotechnical data model of the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS), which is widely used in the United Kingdom to exchange geotechnical data in engineering practice. The basic geometric objects in AGS geotechnical data are first identified. These geometric objects are mapped to basic geometric features of the Geography Markup Language (GML). AGS data can therefore be fully rendered using GML-conformant schemas, which make geotechnical data readily importable into GML-aware applications. The data can be also imported to mainstream GIS applications using Extensible Markup Language (XML) transformations. This article demonstrates the rendition of AGS data format to a GML-conformant schema and illustrates the implementation of the new format through a few geotechnical examples.     

Estimating wave crest distributions using the method of L-moments

The design of fixed or floating offshore structures requires accurate information of the met-ocean data at the intended offshore site. In the design process it is recognized that this environmental data is modified in the near-field by the interaction with the particular geometrical configuration of the offshore structure. This transformation of the incident wave field around and beneath an offshore structure presents a challenge for ocean engineers when specifying the wave gap elevation to avoid impact loads on the underside of the deck and inundation of the topsides. Thus, the accurate estimation of the wave crest distributions from measurements at various locations near and under the offshore structure during model test studies is essential. A semi-empirical approach is presented herein that builds upon the findings of previous studies and introduces the Method of L-moments. A three parameter model for a wave crest probability distribution function is presented and explicit relationships between the parameters of the distribution and its’ first three L-Moments are established. Furthermore, three narrow-band models from earlier research studies are reviewed and compared with the new model. Wave measurements from a mini-TLP model test program are used as the basis for comparison of the four distributions. The root-mean-square error is used as a metric to quantify the overall fit of the data and its accuracy in the high end tail of the data. The L-Moment model is shown to be more robust in representing the data in both the far-field and beneath the deck of the mini-TLP where the wave field demonstrates increased non-linear behavior.     

Analytical‐numerical solution for stress distribution around tunnel reinforced by radial fully grouted rockbolts

This paper presents an analytical‐numerical approach to obtain the distribution of stresses and deformations around a reinforced tunnel. The increase in the radial stress of the reinforced tunnel, based on the performance of a bolt, is modeled by a function, which its maximum value is in the vicinity of the bolt periphery and it exponentially decreases in the far distance from the bolt. On the basis of this approach, the shear stiffness between the bolt and the rock mass and the shear stress distribution around the bolt within the rock mass are also analytically obtained. The results are compared with those obtained by the assumption of ‘uniform increase of radial stress’ method, which is made by the previous studies. The analyses show when the bolts' spacing is large, the safety factor must be increased if the ‘uniform increase of radial stress’ method is used for the design. Finally, a procedure is introduced to calculate the non‐equal deformation of the rock mass between the bolts at any radius that can be useful to compute the bending moment in shotcrete layer in New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) approach. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.