The term biosolids refers to the nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of domestic sewage at a wastewater treatment facility. It is a widely acceptable term for sewage sludge that has been treated at a wastewater treatment plant and is beneficially recycled. Biosolids inherently come from sewage sludge, so they have the same origin and biological nature, but a different applicability. The quantity of municipal biosolids produced increases annually in the United States. The production of biosolids has increased because of both the advance of sanitation and wastewater treatment and the growth of population. Sludge or biosolids are contaminated by varying amounts of heavy metals or hazardous organic compounds from industrial and commercial wastewater. Therefore, society has to face the potential for increased negative impacts on the environment from the increasing volume of biosolids being produced. Public concerns about applied biosolids treatment or reuse methods are potential health, environmental, or aesthetic impacts (such things as disease, odors), because of the pollutants in the biosolids. The most commonly used methods for biosolids treatment and recycling are briefly reviewed in the first two chapters of this thesis. However, the current biosolids treatment or recycling options have their own defects. A new and innovative technology, deep biosolids injection, is proposed for the treatment of biosolids and is to be implemented by Los Angeles where the City has been granted underground solids injection control permits under Class V wells by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Deep biosolids injection is a process referred to as one type of several deep underground injection techniques. It shares many similarities with slurried solids injection above the fracture pressure, which has been successfully used for the treatment of slurried non-hazardous solid materials produced in the oil industry such as drill cuttings, viscous emulsions with clay, oily sand, NORMs (naturally occurring radioactive materials), pipe scale, tank bottoms, soil from spill clean-up, and so on. The distinctive biosolids properties result in injection mechanisms different from other slurry injection processes. Filtration and consolidation processes occur simultaneously along with injection of biosolids, and these must be understood in order to properly design and manage a biosolids injection operation. Hydraulic fracture mechanisms, filtration theory and consolidation principles provide the basis for the interpretation of biosolids injection process. A semi-analytical hydraulic fracture model for injection of a compressible substance (biosolids) is developed as a modification of the Perkins-Kern-Nordgren (PKN) hydraulic fracture model. The PKN model is modified with a pseudo-dynamic leak-off function that describes the deposition of biosolids (filtration) and plugging effect of biosolids on the fracture wall in a porous medium. The pseudo-dynamic leak-off function is given in terms of the net pressure and the resistance of the filter cake to flow. The hydraulic fracture model is employed to compute the volume of biosolids slurry remaining in an open induced fracture. The consolidation process in the closure phase of deep biosolids injection is described using the biosolids properties under different stress conditions. A Terzaghi-type relationship is used to compute the volume change in the closure phase using compressibility data available from published literature. In contrast to the conventional PKN leak-off model, simulation results using the new model show that the induced fracture volume is much larger because of the impaired leak-off and because of the volumetric effects and consolidation of the biosolids in the fracture. Solids contents and biosolids compaction behavior have significant impacts on the geometry of fracture (width, length, volume) over time. The model was developed to help guide large-scale injection of municipal and animal biosolids as an environmentally more secure method of treatment than surface approaches.

Chronic painful tendinopathy is a common cause for elite- and recreational athletes to stop or decrease the level of their sports activity. Recent research on innervation patterns, histopathology and possible pain mechanisms in tendons has led to an increased knowledge about the chronic painful tendon. Ultrasound (US) and colourDoppler (CD) examination showing localized high blood flow, inside and outside regions with structural tendon abnormalities, has been shown to be of importance for tendon pain. Immuno-histochemical analyses of biopsies have shown sensory and sympathetic nerves in close relation to the high blood flow outside the tendon. These findings have led to new ideas about development of new treatment methods for chronic painful tendinopathy. In study I, we evaluated the already in use, US-guided sclerosing polidocanol injection treatment of midportion Achilles tendinopathy, using two different concentrations of the substance. This study aimed to find out if there was a faster return to pain-free activity by using the concentration 10 mg/ml compared to the formerly used 5 mg/ml. There were no significant differences in the clinical results between the groups. In study II - Technical note, we aimed to develop a new one-stage surgical treatment method for patellar tendinopathy. This method was based on research concerning the innervation patterns and US and CD findings in patellar tendinopathy/ “jumper’s knee”. Technically we added ultrasound guidance to knee arthroscopy to identify and visualize the region of interest during a surgical shaving procedure. In study III, we tested the newly invented US and CD-guided arthroscopic shaving technique in a pilot study. The short-term clinical results were promising and the majority of the patients returned to pain-free activity after a short rehabilitation period. In study IV, we compared the US and CD-guided artrhroscopic shaving method with the already in use sclerosing polidocanol injection treatment in a randomized study. At short-term follow-up, the patients treated with US and CD-guided arthroscopic shaving had significantly less pain during rest and activity, were significantly more satisfied with the treatment, and had a faster return to sports, compared to the patients in the sclerosing injection group. There were no complications. In study V, at longer-term followup (endpoint 46 months) there was a significant decrease in pain during activity in both groups. There were no remaining significant differences in the pain levels during activity between the groups. The tendon structure had improved significantly in both groups. There was a significant decrease in the antero-posterior thickness of the proximal patellar tendon in patients treated with US and CD-guided arthroscopic shaving, but not in the sclerosing injection group. The CD flow had diminished significantly in both groups, and there was a correlation between low CD flow and high patient satisfaction in both groups, The CD flow decreased faster in the surgical group than in the injection group. In conclusion, this newly invented US and CD-guided arthroscopic shaving treatment, focusing on treatment outside the tendon, has shown good clinical results with pain relief and a fast return to sports activity, in patients with patellar tendinopathy.

The term biosolids refers to the nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of domestic sewage at a wastewater treatment facility. It is a widely acceptable term for sewage sludge that has been treated at a wastewater treatment plant and is beneficially recycled. Biosolids inherently come from sewage sludge, so they have the same origin and biological nature, but a different applicability. The quantity of municipal biosolids produced increases annually in the United States. The production of biosolids has increased because of both the advance of sanitation and wastewater treatment and the growth of population. Sludge or biosolids are contaminated by varying amounts of heavy metals or hazardous organic compounds from industrial and commercial wastewater. Therefore, society has to face the potential for increased negative impacts on the environment from the increasing volume of biosolids being produced. Public concerns about applied biosolids treatment or reuse methods are potential health, environmental, or aesthetic impacts (such things as disease, odors), because of the pollutants in the biosolids. The most commonly used methods for biosolids treatment and recycling are briefly reviewed in the first two chapters of this thesis. However, the current biosolids treatment or recycling options have their own defects. A new and innovative technology, deep biosolids injection, is proposed for the treatment of biosolids and is to be implemented by Los Angeles where the City has been granted underground solids injection control permits under Class V wells by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Deep biosolids injection is a process referred to as one type of several deep underground injection techniques. It shares many similarities with slurried solids injection above the fracture pressure, which has been successfully used for the treatment of slurried non-hazardous solid materials produced in the oil industry such as drill cuttings, viscous emulsions with clay, oily sand, NORMs (naturally occurring radioactive materials), pipe scale, tank bottoms, soil from spill clean-up, and so on. The distinctive biosolids properties result in injection mechanisms different from other slurry injection processes. Filtration and consolidation processes occur simultaneously along with injection of biosolids, and these must be understood in order to properly design and manage a biosolids injection operation. Hydraulic fracture mechanisms, filtration theory and consolidation principles provide the basis for the interpretation of biosolids injection process. A semi-analytical hydraulic fracture model for injection of a compressible substance (biosolids) is developed as a modification of the Perkins-Kern-Nordgren (PKN) hydraulic fracture model. The PKN model is modified with a pseudo-dynamic leak-off function that describes the deposition of biosolids (filtration) and plugging effect of biosolids on the fracture wall in a porous medium. The pseudo-dynamic leak-off function is given in terms of the net pressure and the resistance of the filter cake to flow. The hydraulic fracture model is employed to compute the volume of biosolids slurry remaining in an open induced fracture. The consolidation process in the closure phase of deep biosolids injection is described using the biosolids properties under different stress conditions. A Terzaghi-type relationship is used to compute the volume change in the closure phase using compressibility data available from published literature. In contrast to the conventional PKN leak-off model, simulation results using the new model show that the induced fracture volume is much larger because of the impaired leak-off and because of the volumetric effects and consolidation of the biosolids in the fracture. Solids contents and biosolids compaction behavior have significant impacts on the geometry of fracture (width, length, volume) over time. The model was developed to help guide large-scale injection of municipal and animal biosolids as an environmentally more secure method of treatment than surface approaches.

Flax fiber-reinforced plastic composites have attracted increasing interest because of the advantages of flax fibers, such as low density, relatively high toughness, high strength and stiffness, and biodegradability. Thus, oilseed flax fiber derived from flax straw, a renewable resource available in Western Canada, is recognized as a potential replacement for glass fiber in composites. Among plastics, polyethylene is a suitable material for use as a matrix in composites. However, there are not many studies in this area. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to develop flax fiber-polyethylene (PE) biocomposites via injection molding and investigate the effect of material properties and processing parameters on their properties. <p>Alkali, silane, potassium permanganate, sodium chlorite, and acrylic acid treatments were employed to flax fiber to decrease the hydrophilic of fiber and improve the adhesion between the fiber and the matrix. All chemically treated fiber-HDPE biocomposites had higher tensile strength and lower water absorption compared with non-chemically treated ones. Acrylic acid treatment of the fiber resulted in slight increase in its degradation temperature; using this treated fiber resulted in biocomposites with the best performance. Therefore, the morphological, chemical, and thermal properties of acrylic acid treated fiber were also studied. <p>Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) were the main matrices investigated in this research. Showing a high tensile strength and similar water absorption, HDPE was used as the matrix in further research. Flax fiber with 98-99% purity was chosen as reinforcement since the flax shive mixed with the fiber decreased the tensile and flexural properties but increased the water absorption of the biocomposite. <p>Acrylic acid-treated fiber-HDPE biocomposites had been developed through injection molding under different processing conditions. Increasing the fiber content of biocomposite increased its tensile and flexural strengths, especially flexural modulus, but its water absorption capacity also increased. It was possible to improve the mechanical properties of biocomposites and decrease the water absorption by adjusting injection temperature and pressure. Injection temperature had more influence on the quality of the biocomposite than injection pressure. Injection temperature lower than 195°C was recommended to achieve good composite quality. <p>Melts of HDPE and flax fiber-HDPE biocomposites were categorized as power-law fluids. Apparent viscosity, consistency coefficient, and flow behavior index of biocomposites were determined to study their flow behavior. The statistical relationship of these parameters with temperature and fiber content were modeled using the SAS and SPSS softwares. The injection filling time was related to the material rheological properties: biocomposites required longer filling time than pure HDPE. Low injection temperature also resulted in long filling time.<p>The thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat of biocomposites containing 10, 20, and 30% fiber by mass were determined in the processing temperature range of 170 to 200°C. Fiber content showed a significant influence on the thermal properties of the biocomposites. The predicted minimum cooling time increased with the thickness of the molded material, mold temperature, and injection temperature, but it decreased with the ejection temperature.

In this paper, there are three policy scenarios that are explored and discussed. The first scenario comes from a dataset where little information is known about individual nodes and connection weights are placed based on the economic theory of increasing or constant returns. The second dataset was derived by taking a group of academic researchers (without any knowledge beyond co authorship alliances) working on a joint venture and exploring what combined research ventures would be most beneficial for future research outputs. More information concerning individual nodes and connections is given in this dataset, but the weights on connections are still developed according to rules of economic theory. The final set of data is developed by viewing the same co-authorship alliances as in the second scenario, but instead the data is examined more thoroughly and more accurate maps of authors connection weights are generated.

This thesis explores the analysis and fabrication of plastic hypodermic needles. The hypotheses for this work are that replacing metal hypodermic needles with plastic ones will reduce or eliminate the possibility of the second-hand infections from needle sticks and unsterlized reuse and will be more cost and time efficient to recycle. The most critical structural failure mode for plastic needles is buckling due to their shape (thin walled hollow column). The consideration of buckling is critical to avoid structural failure and to ensure reliability for medical applications. The buckling strength of a cannula is analyzed by analytic (Euler buckling theory) and finite element analysis (FEA) methods. A 22 gage needle model (OD 0.7mm, ID 0.4mm, Length 12.7mm) was analyzed. Euler buckling theory was used to calculate the critical buckling load. Numerical approaches using finite element analyses showed very similar results with analytic results. A skin model was introduced to simulate boundary conditions in the numerical approaches. To verify the results of the analyses, cannulas with the same cross-sectional dimensions were fabricated using a micro injection molding technique. To make the parts hollow, a core assembly of straightened wire was used. Using the tip of a 22 gage needle, cannulas with the inverse shape of an actual hypodermic needle were made. The structural (buckling) characteristics of cannulas were measured by a force-displacement testing machine. When buckling occurred, an arch shape was visible and there was an abrupt change in the load plot. Test results showed the relation between the needles length and the buckling load, which was similar to that predicted by Euler buckling theory. However, test values were 60% of the theoretical or analytical results. Several reasons to explain these discrepancies can be found. The first is that an unexpected bending moment resulted from an eccentric loading due to installation off-center to the center of the testing machine or to the oblique insertion. A cannula that was initially bent during ejection from the mold can add an unexpected bending moment. The quality control of cannulas can be another reason. Bent or misaligned core wires produce eccentric cannulas, and the thinner wall section can buckle or initiate fracture more easily. The last reason may be that Euler buckling theory is not fully valid in short cannula, because the axial stress reaches yield stress before buckling occurs. Inelastic deformation occurs (i.e., the modulus is reduced) during compression in short cannula. The Johnson column formula is introduced to explain this situation. Especially for the nylon nanocomposite material tested, a loss in modulus due to moisture absorption may be another explanation for the discrepancies.

The distributions of pore pressure and stresses around a fracture are of interest in conventional hydraulic fracturing operations, fracturing during water-flooding of petroleum reservoirs, shale gas, and injection/extraction operations in a geothermal reservoir. During the operations, the pore pressure will increase with fluid injection into the fracture and leak off to surround the formation. The pore pressure increase will induce the stress variations around the fracture surface. This can cause the slip of weakness planes in the formation and cause the variation of the permeability in the reservoir. Therefore, the investigation on the pore pressure and stress variations around a hydraulic fracture in petroleum and geothermal reservoirs has practical applications. The stress and pore pressure fields around a fracture are affected by: poroelastic, thermoelastic phenomena as well as by fracture opening under the combined action of applied pressure and in-situ stress. In our study, we built up two models. One is a model (WFPSD model) of water-flood induced fracturing from a single well in an infinite reservoir. WFPSD model calculates the length of a water flood fracture and the extent of the cooled and flooded zones. The second model (FracJStim model) calculates the stress and pore pressure distribution around a fracture of a given length under the action of applied internal pressure and in-situ stresses as well as their variation due to cooling and pore pressure changes. In our FracJStim model, the Structural Permeability Diagram is used to estimate the required additional pore pressure to reactivate the joints in the rock formations of the reservoir. By estimating the failed reservoir volume and comparing with the actual stimulated reservoir volume, the enhanced reservoir permeability in the stimulated zone can be estimated. In our research, the traditional two dimensional hydraulic fracturing propagation models are reviewed, the propagation and recession of a poroelastic PKN hydraulic fracturing model are studied, and the pore pressure and stress distributions around a hydraulically induced fracture are calculated and plotted at a specific time. The pore pressure and stress distributions are used to estimate the failure potentials of the joints in rock formations around the hydraulic fracture. The joint slips and rock failure result in permeability change which can be calculated under certain conditions. As a case study and verification step, the failure of rock mass around a hydraulic fracture for the stimulation of Barnett Shale is considered. With the simulations using our models, the pore pressure and poro-induced stresses around a hydraulic fracture are elliptically distributed near the fracture. From the case study on Barnett Shale, the required additional pore pressure is about 0.06 psi/ft. With the given treatment pressure, the enhanced permeability after the stimulation of hydraulic fracture is calculated and plotted. And the results can be verified by previous work by Palmer, Moschovidis and Cameron in 2007.

With the development of urban areas and the constant need to change or improve the existing structures, a need for creative and less destructive soil reinforcement processes has occurred. Jet-grouting is one possible ground improvement technique. The behavior of the soil improved by jet-grouting is still not well understood. In this thesis, the mechanical behavior of the injected soil is modeled in order to determine the different parameters needed for the engineering design of a soil reinforcement based on jet-grouting. At first several models are presented in order to determine the extent of the injected zone within the soil mass, based on engineering parameters (cement poroelastic properties, injection rate). A model based on an energetic balance is proposed to compute the lower bound of the injection radius. The second part of the thesis focuses on the characterization of the uniaxial compressive strength of the soilcrete created in the injected area determined in the first part. Three different methods have been adapted to the problem. A hollow sphere model has been calibrated against published data. After calibration, both Eshelby's and averaging methods proved to provide results close to the reference data. The last part of this report presents numerical studies of the pile and of a group of piles. The study of the group of piles focuses on the effect of arching between soilcrete columns to reduce the vertical settlements due to urban tunneling at the surface. It appears that the values obtained for settlements in the presence of jet-grouted columns are much less important than in usual tunneling problems (with no reinforcement).

Amperometric dectection of heparin and glucosamine in flow injection analysis

This research shows an experimental set-up of measuring forces acting on single cylinder in cross flow provided by a water tunnel. Water was also released at various directions from the cylinder surface to study the effect of momentum injection on cylinder forces. The fluid forces on the cylinder was measured by a strain gauge bonded on long-thin plat which is connected to the cylinder. The drag and lift coefficients of the cylinder were measured with momentum injection of various direction and magnitude. Experimental results show that the drag coefficient is effectively reduced with momentum injection at streamwise direction. Negative drag coefficient (propulsion) can be obtained if the magnitude of momentum inject is large enough. When the momentum injection has cross-stream component, lift force is obtained with its value depending on the magnitude of momentum injection. For higher Reynolds number, the magnitude of momentum injection has to be increased to maintain the effectiveness of momentum injection.