Accuracy assessment of moderate resolution image spectroradiometer products for dust storms in semiarid environment

Dust storms are strongly and negatively associated with the annual cycle of rainfall and coincide with the west and southwesterly winds in west and south west of Iran. Accuracy assessment of particulate matter products of moderate resolution image spectroradiometer was studied in this research. Moderate resolution image spectroradiometer products consist of aerosol optical thickness, its corresponding image red, green and blue and moderate resolution image spectroradiometer/ terra calibrated radiances 5 minutes L1B swath 1 km, which shows the environmental information at terrestrial, atmospheric and ocean phenomenology. Daily aerosol optical thickness data retrieved from moderate resolution image spectroradiometer from May 2009 to May 2010 were compared with the amount of particulate matter measured at ground in Sanandaj, Iran, using non-linear correlation coefficient. Results showed that the moderate resolution image spectroradiometer image / terra calibrated radiances 5 minutes L1B swath 1 km is able to detect dust storms distribution and their blowing direction over study area clearly. The air quality conditions obtained in with dust storm period were unhealthy and correlation coefficients between moderate resolution image spectroradiometer aerosol optical thickness and particulate matter concentration in this period were higher than without dust storm period. The moderate resolution image spectroradiometer aerosol optical thickness values lower than 0.1 were acquired uncertainty level. Comparison of moderate resolution image spectroradiometer images/ terra calibrated radiances 5 minutes L1B swath 1 km and image red, green and blue showed that moderate resolution image spectroradiometer has limitation in retrieval of aerosol optical thickness from the dust storm with high concentration of particulate matter. This study reveals that the algorithm which is applied to refine the aerosol optical thickness is not able to recognize the amount of particulate matter in low and very high concentrations sensitively. No study has previously been conducted to investigate the accuracy of the moderate resolution image spectroradiometer particulate matter products.     

Assessment of airborne bacteria and fungi in an indoor and outdoor environment

Airborne indoor and outdoor bacteria and fungi were assessed during the spring season using conventional methods to investigate the enumeration and identification of airborne micro-organisms. This was determined through air quality sampling using the ‘open plate technique’. The air samples were collected during the spring season (March-May) from four different locations. Conventional enumeration of airborne micro-organisms relies on culture-based or microscopic methods. Although a culture-based analysis is most widely used for bio-aerosol, four public places located in urban residential areas were selected for indoor/outdoor air bio-pollutant measurement. The public places included kitchens, classrooms, recreational areas, laboratories. Public parks are an important facility associated with the environmental exposure of children. Cultivation and total microscopic enumeration methods were employed for the sample analysis. 26 groups of bacteria and fungi, either of human or environmental origin were detected. Environmental agents generally predominated while significantly higher counts were detected as the level of hygiene or standard of housing dropped. Seven genera of fungi, mainly members of the genus Aspergillum, were isolated from all residents. Bacteria shows higher growth numbers as opposed to the slow growing fungi. Sample collection and pretreatment, determination techniques and performance results are summarized and discussed.     

Potential of natural bed soil in adsorption of heavy metals in industrial waste landfill

Development of higher welfare could not be realized unless by energy consumption and other natural resources. Growth of industrial complexes has shown an unprecedented trend during recent years. Many of these towns have no treatment systems for the industrial wastes leachates. Besides, the chemical composition of wastes in such complexes varies considerably due to the different kinds of industries. It is endeavored in the present work to study the natural potential of soil to treat leachate of such industrial wastes. For this purpose, the Aliabad industrial complex in Tehran — Garmsar road was selected as the study area. The potential of adsorption of elements such as nickel, copper, cadmium, zinc, chromium, lead and manganese was investigated. The results indicated that the soil potential to adsorb heavy metals (except for manganese) was very high (95 %) in the adsorption of heavy metals (except for manganese). Further, chemical partitioning studies revealed that heavy metals are associated with various soil phases such as loosely bonded ions, sulfide and organics to various extents. Among the mentioned soil phases, one can deduce that major portion of metal contaminants is absorbed as loosely bonded ions. Organic bond and sulfide bond are in the 2^nd and 3^rd positions of metal contaminants adsorption, respectively. The results of the present study apparently showed that soil column had ample capacity to adsorb metal contaminants. Thus, determination of soil potential in adsorption of heavy metals during site selection is as important criteria.     

Study of mango biomass (Mangifera indica L) as a cationic biosorbent

Unfertilizable fruiting buds of mango plant Mangifera Indica L, an agrowaste, is used as a biomass in this study. The efficacy of the biosorbent was tested for the removal of lead, copper, zinc and nickel metal ions using batch experiments in single and binary metal solution under controlled experimental conditions. It is found that metal sorption increases when the equilibrium metal concentration rises. At highest experimental solution concentration used (150 mg/L), the removal of metal ions were 82.76 % for lead, 76.60 % for copper, 63.35 % for zinc and 59.35 % for nickel while at lowest experimental solution concentration (25 mg/L), the removal of metal ions were 92.00% for lead, 86.84 % for copper, 83.96 % for zinc and 82.29 % for nickel. Biosorption equilibrium isotherms were plotted for metal uptake capacity (q) against residual metal concentrations (C_f) in solution. The q versus C_f sorption isotherm relationship was mathematically expressed by Langmuir and Freundlich models. The values of separation factor were between zero and one indicating favourable sorption for four tested metals on the biosorbent. The surface coverage values were approaching unity with increasing solution concentration indicating effectiveness of biosorbent under investigation. The non-living biomass of Mangifera indica L present comparable biosorption capacity for lead, copper, zinc and nickel metal ions with other types of biosorbent materials found in literature and is effective to remove metal ions from single metal solutions as well as in the presence of other co-ions with the main metal of solution.     

Removal of chromium (VI) from aqueous solutions using Lewatit FO36 nano ion exchange resin

The removal of the chromium (VI) ion from aqueous solutions with the Lewatit FO36 ion-exchange resin is described at different conditions. The effects of adsorbent dose, initial metal concentration, contact time and pH on the removal of chromium (VI) were investigated. The batch ion exchange process was relatively fast and it reached equilibrium after about 90 min of contact. The ion exchange process, which is pH dependent showed maximum removal of chromium (VI) in the pH range 5.0–8.0 for an initial chromium (VI) concentration of 0.5 mg/dm³. The equilibrium related to Lewatit FO36 ion- exchange capacity and the amounts of the ion exchange were obtained using the plots of the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. It was observed that the maximum ion exchange capacity of 0.29 mmol of chromium (VLVg for Lewatit FO36 was achieved at optimum pH value of 6.0. The ion exchange of chromium (VI) on this cation-exchange resin followed first-order reversible kinetics.     

Thermodynamic and environmental consideration of advanced gas turbine cycles with reheat and recuperator

The role of gas turbine power plants in electrical energy production has been considerably increased in the last two to three decades. Various methods have been proposed to improve the performance of gas turbine cycles. In this research, two methods, a reheat cycle and a cycle with a reheat and a recuperator, were investigated and compared with a simple cycle. The main objective of this paper is to study the performance of an simple cycle and reheat cycle under actual conditions. In this regard, all processes are treated as actual, and in particular a relatively simple and reliable approach is used to predict the amount of cooling air. The results obtained on the basis of a model developed for this research show that reheating in the context of a realistic study may lead to an improvement both in efficiency and in specific net work using recuperator cause to decrease NOx emission.     

Intercomparison of NO column measurements during MAP/GLOBUS 1985

Column measurements of nitric oxide were made using several techniques during the MAP/GLOBUS campaign in France in September 1985. The data sets are nearly co-located and simultaneous, therefore allowing a valid intercomparison of the various measurement methods. The range of altitudes sampled differs from instrument to instrument. This complicates the comparison because the data sets are to some extent complementary. The NO distributions apparently vary significantly from day to day, and possibly over shorter timescales. Changes in dynamics may be responsible for these variations. The results from the instruments which measure in the infrared and the ultraviolet are self-consistent, and show good agreement with photochemical predictions. On 19 September, when the intercomparison was made, the profile measured by the in-situ chemiluminescent instrument differed significantly from the predicted profile, and the measured columns were generally higher.     

Flow splitting at the bifurcation between two valleys: idealized simulations in comparison with Mesoscale Alpine Programme observations

Summary This paper investigates the characteristics of channelled airflow in the vicinity of a junction of three idealized valleys (one valley carrying the incoming flow and two tributaries carrying the outflow), using a two-dimensional single-layer shallow water model. Particular attention is given to the flow splitting occurring at the junction. Nondimensionalized, the model depends on the valley geometry, the Reynolds number, which is related to the eddy viscosity, and on the difference of the hydrostatic pressure imposed at the exit of the tributaries. At the spatial scale considered in this study, the Rossby number relating the inertial and Coriolis forces is always larger than 1, implying that the effect of earth rotation can be neglected to a first approximation. The analysis of the flow structure within the three valleys as well as the calculation of the split ratio (fraction of the air flow diverted into one of the two downstream valleys with respect to the total mass flux in the upstream valley) show that (i) the flow pattern depends strongly on the Reynolds number while the split ratio is comparatively insensitive; (ii) the valley geometry and the difference between the upstream and downstream hydrostatic pressures affect the flow pattern, the location of the split point and the split ratio; (iii) the relative contribution of flow deflection by the sidewalls and the blocking/splitting mechanism differs between the settings of a “Y-shape” valley and a “T-shape” valley. Quantitative comparison of the present results with numerical simulations of realistic cases and with observations collected in the region of the Rhine and Seez valleys (Switzerland) (“Y-shape” valley) and in the region of the Inn and Wipp valleys (Austria) (“T-shape” valley) during the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP) field experiment shows good agreement provided that the normalized valley depth NΔH/U_u significantly exceeds 1, i.e., when “flow around” is expected. A structural disagreement between the idealized simulations and the observed wind field is found only when NΔH/U_u ≃ 1, that is, in the “flow over” regime. This shows that the dimensionless valley depth is indeed a good indicator for flow splitting, implying that the stratification is a key player in reality.     

3D viscous-spring artificial boundary in time domain

After a brief review of studies on artificial boundaries in dynamic soil-structure interaction, a three-dimensional viscous-spring artificial boundary （VSAB） in the time domain is developed in this paper. First, the 3D VSAB equations in the normal and tangential directions are derived based on the elastic wave motion theory. Secondly, a numerical simulation technique of wave motion equations along with the VSAB condition in the time domain is studied. Finally, numerical examples of some classical elastic wave motion problems are presented and the results are compared with the associated theoretical solutions, demonstrating that high precision and adequate stability can be achieved by using the proposed 3D VSAB. The proposed 3D VSAB can be conveniently incorporated in the general finite element program, which is commonly used to study dynamic soil-structure interaction problems.     

A theoretical approach to the kinetics of calcite ⇌ aragonite transition: application to laboratory experiments

A theoretical approach to the calcite ? aragonite transformation is presented for the case of a dislocation glide mechanism obeying first-order kinetics. The kinetic parameters are determined from recent experimental data from the literature; the sensitivity of the model to these and other parameters like the grain size and the deviatoric stresses are discussed.The model results in the definition of what could be the actual transformation domains of the CaCO₃ polymorphs in the (P,T) plane. These domains are different from the classical ones, i.e. different from the stability fields defined with respect to Clapeyron's curve; they can evolve in the (P,T) plane when a deviatoric stress is applied to the system. In this case, we can define a domain in which the two senses of the calcite ? aragonite transition are activated simultaneously.The application of the model to laboratory experiments needs the integration of the kinetic differential equation (K varying withP andT). Using this method, we demonstrate the role of (P,T,t) path on reaction rate and the role of experimental uncertainties on the reaction parametersK andn.Finally, we discuss the problem of the synthesis of polymorphs out of their stability field and of their formation by grinding; these problems, difficult to tackle in terms of diffusion, can be approached with the proposed dislocation transformation kinetic model.