Influence of Surfactants on Degradation of 1‐(2‐Chlorobenzoyl)‐3‐(4‐chlorophenyl) Urea by Nanoscale Zerovalent Iron

Nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) has been proved to be effective in the degradation of environmental pollutants and exhibits advantages in the removal of 1‐(2‐chlorobenzoyl)‐3‐(4‐chlorophenyl) urea (CCU), an analog of diflubenzuron. This present study focused on the influence of surfactants in the degradation procedure with NZVI in order to provide a simple and rapid removal method for CCU. Triton X‐100, Tween 20, Tween 80, sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS), and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were investigated under anaerobic conditions. The experimental results demonstrated that the degradation rate increased sharply with the presence of SD during the first 15 min, up to 99.97% with addition of 0.01 g L^?1 SDS, whereas the presence of Triton X‐100, Tween 80, and Tween 20 resulted in a slight enhancement of the degradation of CCU. The enhancement strength of them was in the order Tween 20, Triton X‐100, and Tween 80. However, addition of the cationic surfactant CTAB resulted in a significant inhibitive effect. In contrast, the mixed surfactants did not result in the expected performance, and the performance was lower than that using some certain single surfactant among the mixed surfactants.     

Earthquake soil‐structure interaction of nuclear power plants,differences in response to 3‐D, 3 × 1‐D,and 1‐D excitations

In soil‐structure interaction modeling of systems subjected to earthquake motions, it is classically assumed that the incoming wave field, produced by an earthquake, is unidimensional and vertically propagating. This work explores the validity of this assumption by performing earthquake soil‐structure interaction modeling, including explicit modeling of sources, seismic wave propagation, site, and structure. The domain reduction method is used to couple seismic (near‐field) simulations with local soil‐structure interaction response. The response of a generic nuclear power plant model computed using full earthquake soil‐structure interaction simulations is compared with the current state‐of‐the‐art method of deconvolving in depth the (simulated) free‐field motions, recorded at the site of interest, and assuming that the earthquake wave field is spatially unidimensional. Results show that the 1‐D wave‐field assumption does not hold in general. It is shown that the way in which full 3‐D analysis results differ from those which assume a 1‐D wave field is dependent on fault‐to‐site geometry and motion frequency content. It is argued that this is especially important for certain classes of soil‐structure systems of which nuclear power plants subjected to near‐field earthquakes are an example.     

Probabilistic evaluation of seismic performance of 3‐story 3D one‐ and two‐way steel moment‐frame structures

This paper presents the results of a probabilistic evaluation of the seismic performance of 3D steel moment‐frame structures. Two types of framing system are considered: one‐way frames typical of construction in the United States and two‐way frames typical of construction in Japan. For each framing system, four types of beam–column connections are considered: pre‐Northridge welded‐flange bolted‐web, post‐Northridge welded‐flange welded‐web, reduced‐beam‐section, and bolted‐flange‐plate connections. A suite of earthquake ground motions is used to compute the annual probability of exceedence (APE) for a series of drift demand levels and for member plastic‐rotation capacity. Results are compared for the different framing systems and connection details. It is found that the two‐way frames, which have a larger initial stiffness and strength than the one‐way frames for the same beam and column volumes, have a smaller APE for small drift demands for which members exhibit no or minimal yielding, but have a larger APE for large drift demands for which members exhibit large plastic rotations. However, the one‐way frames, which typically comprise a few seismic frames with large‐sized members that have relatively small rotation capacities, may have a larger APE for member failure. The probabilistic approach presented in this study may be used to determine the most appropriate frame configuration to meet an owner's performance objectives. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of surface‐wave attenuation on 3‐D seismic survey design

Three‐dimensional seismic survey design should provide an acquisition geometry that enables imaging and amplitude‐versus‐offset applications of target reflectors with sufficient data quality under given economical and operational constraints. However, in land or shallow‐water environments, surface waves are often dominant in the seismic data. The effectiveness of surface‐wave separation or attenuation significantly affects the quality of the final result. Therefore, the need for surface‐wave attenuation imposes additional constraints on the acquisition geometry. Recently, we have proposed a method for surface‐wave attenuation that can better deal with aliased seismic data than classic methods such as slowness/velocity‐based filtering. Here, we investigate how surface‐wave attenuation affects the selection of survey parameters and the resulting data quality. To quantify the latter, we introduce a measure that represents the estimated signal‐to‐noise ratio between the desired subsurface signal and the surface waves that are deemed to be noise. In a case study, we applied surface‐wave attenuation and signal‐to‐noise ratio estimation to several data sets with different survey parameters. The spatial sampling intervals of the basic subset are the survey parameters that affect the performance of surface‐wave attenuation methods the most. Finer spatial sampling will reduce aliasing and make surface‐wave attenuation easier, resulting in better data quality until no further improvement is obtained. We observed this behaviour as a main trend that levels off at increasingly denser sampling. With our method, this trend curve lies at a considerably higher signal‐to‐noise ratio than with a classic filtering method. This means that we can obtain a much better data quality for given survey effort or the same data quality as with a conventional method at a lower cost.     

Adsorption Characteristics of β‐Ionone in Water on Granular Activated Carbon

The adsorption performance of β‐ionone on four types of granular activated carbon (GAC) in water was investigated through batch experiments. The effect of initial β‐ionone concentrations and natural organic matter (NOM) adsorbed on GAC, adsorption kinetic and isothermal models were also studied. The results showed that four types of GAC all had good adsorption performance for β‐ionone, the equilibrium adsorption amount of the GAC employed was in the order of YK > GK > MZ‐A > MZ‐B. The adsorption amount increased with increasing initial concentrations. The presence of NOM could reduce adsorption of β‐ionone to a certain extent, and small molecular weight (MW) fractions (particularly <1000 Da) exhibited a remarkably competitive effect on the adsorption of β‐ionone. The experimental data showed good correlation with pseudo‐first‐order model. Furthermore, adsorption of β‐ionone on GAC fitted Freundlich, Langmuir, and Tempkin isotherms in the range of experimental concentrations, but followed Freundlich isothermal model most appropriate. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated by the results of the experiment, which showed adsorption of β‐ionone on GAC as being endothermic and spontaneous.     

Seismic performance of a 1 : 15‐scale 25‐story RC flat‐plate core‐wall building model

Earthquake simulation tests were conducted on a 1 : 15‐scale 25‐story building model to verify the seismic performance of high‐rise reinforced‐concrete flat‐plate core‐wall building structures designed per the recent seismic code KBC 2009 or IBC 2006. The following conclusions can be drawn from the test results: (1) The vertical distribution of acceleration during the table excitations revealed the effect of the higher modes, whereas free vibration after the termination of the table excitations was governed by the first mode. The maximum values of base shear and roof drift during the free vibration are either similar to or larger than the values of the maximum responses during the table excitation. (2) With a maximum roof drift ratio of 0.7% under the maximum considered earthquake in Korea, the lateral stiffness degraded to approximately 50% of the initial stiffness. (3) The crack modes appear to be a combination of flexure and shear in the slab around the peripheral columns and in the coupling beam. Energy dissipation via inelastic deformation was predominant during free vibration after the termination of table excitation rather than during table excitation. Finally, (4) the walls with special boundary elements in the first story did not exhibit any significant inelastic behavior, with a maximum curvature of only 21% of the ultimate curvature, corresponding to an ultimate concrete compressive strain of 0.00638 m/m intended in the displacement‐based design approach. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generalized‐α methods for seismic structural testing

This paper presents novel predictor–corrector time‐integration algorithms based on the Generalized‐α method to perform pseudo‐dynamic tests with substructuring. The implicit Generalized‐α algorithm was implemented in a predictor–one corrector form giving rise to the implicit IPC–ρ∞ method, able to avoid expensive iterative corrections in view of high‐speed applications. Moreover, the scheme embodies a secant stiffness formula that can closely approximate the actual stiffness of a structure. Also an explicit algorithm endowed with user‐controlled dissipation properties, the EPC–ρb method, was implemented. The resulting schemes were tested experimentally both on a two‐ and on a six‐degrees‐of‐freedom system, using substructuring. The tests indicated that the numerical strategies enhance the fidelity of the pseudo‐dynamic test results even in an environment characterized by considerable experimental errors. Moreover, the schemes were tested numerically on severe non‐linear substructured multiple‐degrees‐of‐freedom systems reproduced with the Bouc–Wen model, showing the reliability of the seismic tests under these conditions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of implicit HHT‐α integration algorithm for real‐time hybrid simulation

Real‐time hybrid simulation is a viable experiment technique to evaluate the performance of structures equipped with rate‐dependent seismic devices when subject to dynamic loading. The integration algorithm used to solve the equations of motion has to be stable and accurate to achieve a successful real‐time hybrid simulation. The implicit HHT α‐algorithm is a popular integration algorithm for conducting structural dynamic time history analysis because of its desirable properties of unconditional stability for linear elastic structures and controllable numerical damping for high frequencies. The implicit form of the algorithm, however, requires iterations for nonlinear structures, which is undesirable for real‐time hybrid simulation. Consequently, the HHT α‐algorithm has been implemented for real‐time hybrid simulation using a fixed number of substep iterations. The resulting HHT α‐algorithm with a fixed number of substep iterations is believed to be unconditionally stable for linear elastic structures, but research on its stability and accuracy for nonlinear structures is quite limited. In this paper, a discrete transfer function approach is utilized to analyze the HHT α‐algorithm with a fixed number of substep iterations. The algorithm is shown to be unconditionally stable for linear elastic structures, but only conditionally stable for nonlinear softening or hardening structures. The equivalent damping of the algorithm is shown to be almost the same as that of the original HHT α‐algorithm, while the period elongation varies depending on the structural nonlinearity and the size of the integration time‐step. A modified form of the algorithm is proposed to improve its stability for use in nonlinear structures. The stability of the modified algorithm is demonstrated to be enhanced and have an accuracy that is comparable to that of the existing HHT α‐algorithm with a fixed number of substep iterations. Both numerical and real‐time hybrid simulations are conducted to verify the modified algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the modified algorithm for real‐time testing. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photocatalytic Degradation of 17α‐Ethinylestradiol and Inactivation of Escherichia coli Using Ag‐Modified TiO2 Nanotube Arrays

Ag‐modified TiO₂ nanotube arrays (Ag/TiO₂ NAs) were prepared and employed as a photocatalyst for degradation of 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) and inactivation of Escherichia coli. The as‐synthesized Ag/TiO₂ NAs were characterized by field‐emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that metallic Ag nanoparticles were firmly deposited on the TiO₂ NAs with the pore diameter of 100 nm and the length of 550 nm. Photocatalytic degradation of EE2 and inactivation of E. coli were enhanced effectively in an analogical trend using Ag/TiO₂ NAs. In particular, Ag/TiO₂ NAs exhibited the antimicrobial activity even in the absence of light. The Ag acted as a disinfection agent as well as the dopant of the modified TiO₂ NAs photocatalysis by forming a Schottky barrier on the surface of TiO₂ NAs. Inorganic ions suppressed the rates of photocatalytic degradation of EE2, with HCO having a more pronounced effect than NO or SO. Humic acid (HA) was found to increase the rate of EE2 degradation.     

Effects of Anthropogenic Estrogens Nonylphenol and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Aquatic Model Ecosystems

Microcosm tests were conducted to investigate the effects of the estrogenic substances nonylphenol (NP) and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE) on aquatic ecosystems. Maximum concentrations of 9 to 120 μg L^—1 NP resp. 49 to 724 ng L^—1 EE were induced by controlled release. The controlled release method allows the establishment of a continuous concentration course. The microcosms proved to run robustly with abiotic conditions close to natural. They developed biocenosis with similar characteristics as in natural ecosystems and, considering their given level of complexity, they can be used to describe possible risks for the environment. Both tested chemicals unveiled the potential to affect the plankton communities in the tested concentration range. NP exposure caused a reduction of Cladocera and Copepoda abundances and disturbed the phytoplankton structure. A NOEC_community of 30 μg L^—1 was calculated. In the first EE study, a flood in the lake where the microcosm water was collected caused additional stress and thereby a high variability, both between the microcosms and in each microcosm over time. Probably therefore the only effect found was a reduction of Copepoda abundance. In a second EE study Cladocera and Copepoda abundances were reduced, from which the phytoplankton benefited. Although a final interpretation is difficult for results of microcosm tests, there are indications that the found effects of EE and perhaps also NP may be caused at least partially by endocrine disruptive activity.     

Sulfur and carbon isotopic systematics of Guadalupian‐Lopingian (Permian) mid‐Panthalassa: δ34S and δ13C profiles in accreted paleo‐atoll carbonates in Japan

Immediately before the extinction of the end‐Guadalupian (Middle Permian; ca 260 Ma), a significant change to the global carbon cycle occurred in the superocean Panthalassa, as indicated by a prominent positive δ¹³C excursion called the Kamura event. However, the causes of this event and its connection to the major extinction of marine invertebrates remain unclear. To understand the mutual relationships between these changes, we analyzed the sulfur isotope ratio of the carbonate‐associated sulfate (CAS) and HCl‐insoluble residue, as well as the carbon isotope ratio of bulk organic matter, for the Middle‐Upper Permian carbonates of an accreted mid‐oceanic paleo‐atoll complex from Japan, where the Kamura event was first documented. We detected the following unique aspects of the stable carbon and sulfur isotope records. First, the extremely high δ¹³C values of carbonate (δ¹³C_carb) over +5 ‰ during the Capitanian (late Guadalupian) were associated with large isotopic differences between carbonate and organic matter (Δ¹³C = δ¹³C_carb ? δ¹³C_org). We infer that the Capitanian Kamura event reflected an unusually large amount of dissolved organic matter in the expanded oxygen minimum zone at mid‐depth. Second, the δ³⁴S values of CAS (δ³⁴S_CAS) were inversely correlated with the δ¹³C_carb values during the Capitanian to early Wuchiapingian (early Late Permian) interval. The Capitanian trend may have appeared under increased oceanic sulfate conditions, which were accelerated by intense volcanic outgassing. Bacterial sulfate reduction with increased sulfate concentrations in seawater may have stimulated the production of pyrite that may have incorporated iron in pre‐existing iron hydroxide/oxide. This stimulated phosphorus release, which enhanced organic matter production and resulted in high δ¹³C_carb. Low δ³⁴S_CAS values under high sulfate concentrations were maintained and the continuous supply of sulfate cannot by explained only by the volcanic eruption of the Emeishan Trap, which has been proposed as a cause of the extinction. The Wuchiapingian δ³⁴S_CAS–δ¹³C_carb correlation, likely related to low sulfate concentration, may have been caused by the removal of oceanic sulfate through the massive evaporite deposition.     

SOFIE project – 3D shaking table test on a seven‐storey full‐scale cross‐laminated timber building

Multi‐storey buildings made of cross‐laminated timber panels (X‐lam) are becoming a stronger and economically valid alternative in Europe compared with traditional masonry or concrete buildings. During the design process of these multi‐storey buildings, also their earthquake behaviour has to be addressed, especially in seismic‐prone areas such as Italy. However, limited knowledge on the seismic performance is available for this innovative massive timber product. On the basis of extensive testing series comprising monotonic and reversed cyclic tests on X‐lam panels, a pseudodynamic test on a one‐storey X‐lam specimen and 1D shaking table tests on a full‐scale three‐storey specimen, a full‐scale seven‐storey building was designed according to the European seismic standard Eurocode 8 and subjected to earthquake loading on a 3D shaking table. The building was designed with a preliminary action reduction factor of three that had been derived from the experimental results on the three‐storey building. The outcomes of this comprehensive research project called ‘SOFIE – Sistema Costruttivo Fiemme’ proved the suitability of multi‐storey X‐lam structures for earthquake‐prone regions. The buildings demonstrated self‐centring capabilities and high stiffness combined with sufficient ductility to avoid brittle failures. The tests provided useful information for the seismic design with force‐based methods as defined in Eurocode 8, that is, a preliminary experimentally based action reduction factor of three was confirmed. Valid, ductile joint assemblies were developed, and their importance for the energy dissipation in buildings with rigid X‐lam panels became evident. The seven‐storey building showed relatively high accelerations in the upper storeys, which could lead to secondary damage and which have to be addressed in future research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electro‐Catalytic Degradation of Phenol Organics with SnO2‐Sb2O3/Ti Electrodes

The effect of extraordinary degradation of phenol organics on the SnO₂‐Sb₂O₃/Ti electrode is investigated through experimental research and theoretical analysis. The phenol organics contained 4‐chloro‐phenol, 4‐bromo‐phenol, and 2‐iodo‐phenol. At a current density of 4 mA cm^–2 and an electrolysis time of 12 h, the degradation efficiency of the phenols was over 98% with a relatively short degradation time, whereas the degradation time of the PbO₂/Ti electrode surpassed 40 h while delivering 100% disposal efficiency. Therefore, the effectiveness of electrochemical (EC) oxidation by the SnO₂‐Sb₂O₃/Ti was superior to that of the PbO₂/Ti electrode. At the same time, the SnO₂‐Sb₂O₃/Ti had higher oxygen generation potential and lower electron consumption than the other electrodes. This was mainly due to the effect of the middle Sb₂O₃ layer, which due to its high porosity and good catalytic effect, contributed to a better catalysis than the SnO₂ part.     

A comparison of continuous mass‐lumped finite elements with finite differences for 3‐D wave propagation

The finite‐difference method on rectangular meshes is widely used for time‐domain modelling of the wave equation. It is relatively easy to implement high‐order spatial discretization schemes and parallelization. Also, the method is computationally efficient. However, the use of finite elements on tetrahedral unstructured meshes is more accurate in complex geometries near sharp interfaces. We compared the standard eighth‐order finite‐difference method to fourth‐order continuous mass‐lumped finite elements in terms of accuracy and computational cost. The results show that, for simple models like a cube with constant density and velocity, the finite‐difference method outperforms the finite‐element method by at least an order of magnitude. Outside the application area of rectangular meshes, i.e., for a model with interior complexity and topography well described by tetrahedra, however, finite‐element methods are about two orders of magnitude faster than finite‐difference methods, for a given accuracy.