As origens dos elementos residuais (trace element) nas ligas à base de Ni provém basicamente de duas fontes: (1) minérios e (2) sucatas. O controle da concentração destes elementos residuais é muito importante, pois afetam as propriedades mecânicas dessas ligas. Alguns estudos mostram que os elementos Pb e Bi têm um sério impacto negativo nos resultados dos ensaios de fluência das ligas a base de Ni. A presença dessas impurezas causa o aumento da quantidade de cavidades nos contornos de grão que resultam em fracasso prematuro na vida útil desse material. Dessa forma, este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a cinética da remoção de elementos residuais, tais como Pb e Bi da liga VAT32 através da aplicação de vácuo durante a elaboração da liga. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que a taxa de remoção dos residuais Pb e Bi no refino a vácuo atingiram percentuais de 99,6% e 96,1% respectivamente. Fatores como volume do cadinho, elevação de temperatura, níveis de vácuo abaixo de 10-4 mbar, limpeza do sistema que compreende câmara e cadinho (residuais de corridas anteriores), contribuem significativamente para as taxas acima descritas. Por outro lado, quanto maior o volume de liga fundida, diminuição de temperatura, vácuo deficiente ou contaminação do sistema, a taxa de remoção de Pb e Bi são prejudicadas. / The origins of trace elements in Ni-based alloys come basically from two sources: (1) minerals and (2) scrap. Control of the concentration of trace elements is very important because they affect the mechanical properties of these alloys. Some studies show that the elements Pb and Bi have a serious negative impact on the results of creep tests of Ni based alloys. The presences of these impurities cause the increase of the number of cavities at grain boundaries that result in premature failure of this material. Thus, this work aims to study the kinetics of removal of trace elements such as Pb and Bi in alloy VAT32 by applying vacuum during the preparation of the alloy. The results showed that the rate of removal of residual Pb and Bi in the vacuum refining reached 99.6% and 96.1% respectively. Parameters such as the crucible volume, high temperature, vacuum levels below 10-4 mbar, cleaning of the system which comprises chamber and crucible (residual from previous races), contribute significantly to the rates described above. Moreover, the higher the volume of molten alloy, low temperature, vacuum system contamination and low vacuum pressure decrease, refining degree of Pb and Bi.

Dams fragment streams and rivers, with >14,000 in New England alone, and have the potential to significantly alter the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of lotic systems. For example, dams can alter temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) regimes, which can, in turn, affect species distributions, whole system metabolism, and nutrient processing rates. Moreover, changes in temperature signal life history cues (e.g., emergence, egg-hatching, migration) for many species of aquatic organisms, and present another avenue for dams to alter biotic communities. Despite the prevalence of small dams in the landscape and their potential significant impacts on temperature and DO, dams have not been well-studied and published impacts vary widely across sites. Given the variation in impact, I sought to quantify the impacts of small dams to stream temperature and DO, and to determine the drivers of inter- and intra-site variation in response. To accomplish this, I deployed 160 continuous temperature data loggers at 30 small, surface-release dams in Massachusetts. The majority of sites (61%) had higher temperatures downstream of the dam compared to upstream and most (85%) experienced decreasing temperatures with increasing distance downstream of the dam, such that the warmest temperatures were located closest to the dam. At approximately half of the temperature sites, flow had a homogenizing effect on temperatures throughout the study reach, whereby impacts were more pronounced (e.g., more warming, faster decay rates) under periods of low flow than under high flow conditions. Magnitude of warming varied greatly among sites, and this variation was explained best by landscape position and reservoir volume, with dams in smaller watersheds and with larger reservoir volumes experiencing greater warming magnitudes. Forest cover, dam height, and the presence of an auxiliary spillway best predicted the downstream temperature decay rate, with temperatures cooling fastest downstream of shorter dams in forested basins that did not have an auxiliary spillway. I used continuous DO loggers upstream, within the impoundment, and downstream of 12 dams to identify dam impacts to DO. Most sites experienced lower DO (66%) within the impoundment compared to upstream; however, 58% of the sites showed no difference in diel ranges between these reaches. The effect of dams on downstream DO was mixed, with increases, no change, and decreases relative to upstream condition; however, the majority of sites (58%) experienced a suppressed downstream diel range relative to upstream. The upstream slope, basin size, and dam height drove the impoundment response, such that dams with steeper upstream reach slopes, located in smaller basins, and with shorter dam heights experienced the greatest decreases in impoundment DO relative to upstream. Differences between downstream and upstream DO were best explained by upstream slope and impoundment volume, whereby sites with steeper upstream reaches and larger volumes of water within the impoundment experienced the largest decreases in downstream DO when compared to upstream reaches. These results may help managers prioritize dam removal at sites where a dam is having larger and more negative (e.g., elevated temperatures, decreased DO) impacts, and therefore where the greatest benefits should occur following restoration.

This thesis examines the effect of solids recycling on nitrification, organic carbon removal, and algal-bacterial productivity in bench-scale photobioreactors (PBRs) simulating winter pond conditions in San Luis Obispo, California and a 6-acre raceway system in Delhi, California. Two sets of duplicate photobioreactors operated with or without solids recycling were fed primary clarifier effluent (1oEff) for the first experiment, and facultative pond effluent (FAC) for the second experiment. In both experiments mean productivity was lower in solids recycled PBRs (3.67 and 2.3 g/m2-day), than in controls without solids recycling (4.15 and 3.9 g/m2-day). When fed 1oEff which contained a high amount of readily biodegradable COD, solids recycled PBRs had 30% less VSS in supernatant than controls after 1 hour of settling in Imhoff cones. However, when fed facultative pond water with no readily biodegradable COD there was little difference in supernatant VSS after settling. The type of wastewater influenced COD removal. PBRs had 40-50% soluble COD removal when fed 1oEff, and 10-20% removal when fed FAC. Mean PBR effluent COD was the same in both treatments and controls in when fed 1oEff (42 mg/L). When fed FAC mean effluent COD was marginally lower in solids recycled PBRs (61 mg/L) then in controls (68 mg/L). Most of the COD in 1oEff was readily biodegradable, while most of the COD in FAC was degraded while in facultative ponds leaving mostly recalcitrant and slowly biodegradable COD in FAC. Nitrification occurred more quickly and more reliably in solids recycled PBRs. The difference in nitrification was seen most notably when using FAC as PBR influent, where solids recycled PBRs had complete nitrification, but controls did not. When fed 1oEff all PBRs had complete nitrification, but solids recycled did so sooner. Overall, PBRs with solids recycling were also more resilient to changes in influent wastewater characteristics and had more consistent effluent water quality when fed wastewater that had occasional spikes in nitrogen and organic carbon. The difference between the two wastewaters indicates a possible inhibitory effect of FAC on nitrification. Microscopy data from both studies, though mostly qualitative, seems to indicate that solids recycling promotes biodiversity in algal-bacterial cultures, which may be part of the reason why solids recycling promoted more resilient and reliable treatment.

No description available.

Heavy metals in wastewater can cause serious environmental problems and could beharmful to the human body. Therefore, heavy metals need to be removed from thewastewater. Coagulation based methods are popularly used nowadays with provedeffects. New methods such as the application of nanomaterials have brought morepossibilities to increase the removal effects for certain heavy metals. Among thesenanomaterials, graphene oxide has gained a lot of interest because of its large surfacearea and unique structure. Moreover, graphene oxide is an environmentally friendlymaterial. However, most of the reported studies did not use real wastewater samplesbut simulated ones prepared in labs. Therefore, the removal effects need to beexperimentally evidenced by using real wastewater samples. In this project, I studiedthe removal effects of pristine and modified graphene oxide using wastewatercollected at the wastewater treatment plant in Sundsvall (Fillan wastewater treatmentplant). Moreover, I have also studied the heavy metal removal effects of combinedcoagulation method and graphene oxide. Results have shown that graphene oxide hassimilar removal effects to the coagulation method, indicating the enormous potentialof graphene oxide in wastewater treatment. / <p>2021-09-19</p>

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第22764号 / 工博第4763号 / 新制||工||1745(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市環境工学専攻 / (主査)教授 米田 稔, 教授 橋本 訓, 准教授 福谷 哲 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Remote monitoring through the use of cameras is widely utilized for traffic operation, but has not been utilized widely for roadway maintenance operations. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has implemented a new remote monitoring system, referred to as a Cloud-enabled Remote Video Streaming (CRVS) camera system for snow removal-related maintenance operations in the winter. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of the CRVS camera system in snow removal-related maintenance operations. This study was conducted in two parts: opinion surveys of maintenance station supervisors and an analysis on snow removal-related maintenance costs. The opinion surveys were performed in two methods: direct interviews and an online questionnaire. The responses to the opinion surveys mostly displayed positive reviews of the use of the CRVS cameras. On a scale of 1 (least effective) to 5 (most effective), the average overall effectiveness given by the station supervisors was 4.3 for both direct interviews and online questionnaire. On the online questionnaire, supervisors were asked to give an estimate of the reduction in expedition trips after having the CRVS camera installed. An expedition trip for this study was defined as a trip that was made to just check the roadways if snow-removal was necessary. The average of the responses received was calculated to be a 33 percent reduction in expedition trips. For the second part of this study, an analysis was performed on the snow removal-related maintenance cost data provided by UDOT to see if the installation of a CRVS camera had an effect in reducing expedition trips. Weather data of precipitation was also collected and analyzed; the analysis showed a close relation between precipitation patterns and patterns of snow removal-related maintenance costs of pairs of adjacent maintenance stations selected for analysis. This close relation in precipitation pattern and snow removal-related costs allowed a comparison of expedition cost of a maintenance station with a CRVS camera and a station without one. This expedition cost comparison was performed for 10 sets of maintenance stations within Utah. It was difficult to make any definitive inferences from the comparison of expedition costs over the years for which precipitation and expedition cost data were available; hence a statistical analysis was performed using the Mixed Model ANOVA. This analysis resulted in an average of 14 percent higher ratio of expedition costs at maintenance stations with a CRVS camera before the installation of the camera compared to the ratio of expedition costs after the installation of the camera. This difference was not proven to be statistically significant at the 95 percent confident level, but indicated that the installation of CRVS cameras was on the average helpful in reducing expedition costs and may be considered practically significant. It is recommended that more detailed and consistent maintenance cost records be prepared for accurate analysis of cost records for this type of study in the future.

The retromolar foramen represents a little known anatomical variation in the posterior mandible of uncertain clinical importance. It has been the subject of limited study. Findings and conclusions of these studies have been placed under little scrutiny. Suggested clinical consequences associated with the presence of the retromolar foramen include local anaesthetic failure, local haemorrhage during surgery, perineural spread of infectious and invasive pathology, and loss of sensation in the normal distribution of the buccal nerve due to surgical intervention. Reports of the possibility of these complications seem to suggest that the retromolar foramen, canal and its associated neurovascular bundle are structures of great clinical importance. Case reports seem to have, however, only included reports of loss of gingival and buccal sensation as a consequence of third molar surgery in the presence of this anomaly. This study therefore aimed to report the prevalence of the retromolar foramen and canal in the South African population, describe its course and structure, and produce a clinical framework in which to approach the presence of the retromolar foramen. Comparisons between the present and existing studies were made and conclusions concerning the clinical importance of this structure were drawn. Inspection of a sample containing 946 mandibles was performed. Of these, 885 were regarded as suitable for inclusion. These mandibles were inspected for the presence of a retromolar foramen in which a 1 mm diameter needle could pass through without resistance. The distance from the last tooth in the arch to the retromolar foramen was also measured. Fifty of these mandibles were then randomly selected and scanned using microfocus computed tomography. Seventy mandibles were found to have at least one retromolar foramen (7.9% of the total sample). No statistically significant differences were found when the presence of the retromolar foramen was correlated with race, sex or age. The finding that sex and age played no significant role in the presence of the retromolar foramen is in agreement with available literature. Detected prevalence seemed to be heavily influenced by the method used to determine the presence of the retromolar foramen. The average distance between the second mandibular molar and the retromolar foramen was 16.83 ± 5.57 mm and the average distance between the third mandibular molar and the retromolar foramen was 10.47 ± 3.77 mm. These findings were found to be in agreement with most other reports. Fifty retromolar canals were selected at random and scanned using microfocus computed tomography. Analysis revealed four basic patterns. These were type A, a vertical canal between the inferior alveolar canal and the retromolar area of the mandible, type B, a curved canal taking a recurrent course between the inferior alveolar canal and the retromolar area, type C, a canal with an approximately horizontal path between the inferior alveolar canal and the retromolar area, and the temporal crest canal (TCC, not designated as type D to create a distinction between it and types A, B and C), a canal terminating on either side of the temporal crest. Type B was the most common presentation (68% of retromolar canals in the study), a finding contrary to that of other studies. The presence of the retromolar neurovascular bundle is of uncertain clinical importance and requires further anatomical and pharmacological study to determine its effect on local anaesthetic failure. A model in which the retromolar canal branches from the inferior alveolar canal does not seem to support a conclusion in which local anaesthetic failure may be directly attributable the presence of this anatomical variation alone. Classification of the retromolar canal is of limited clinical use and may require a revised scheme if clinical application is sought. Complications associated with the presence of the retromolar foramen are poorly documented and seem to be of little consequence. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Anatomy / MSc / Unrestricted

Overcrowding of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) region is a growing problem. Decades of treating this part of space like a scrap yard has caused it to become a hazardous environment for operating satellites. At present, the largest pieces of debris are being continuously tracked and satellite operators avoid them by maneuvering their spacecrafts out of the way. This approach is not possible for pieces that are smaller than 10 cm, since they are hard to detect and track as well as numerous. The exact number is not known but it is believed to be around 190 000. A number of different mitigation methods have been suggested. In this project the Laser Orbital Debris Removal (LODR) has been investigated and a basic simulation model has been developed. Though many aspects have been studied, only a few have been implemented in this first version of the simulation program. The thesis has uncovered some limiting factors of the models and data that have been used to describe the physical phenomena that relate to this problem. These factors, and other suggestions, are mentioned in chapter 5. Though the model is far from perfected, it shows the technical feasibility of the suggested method, as well as some of the problems that need to be solved before it can be implemented. The fact that it would be possible to build a ground based LODR system, in no way assures that it is likely to occur. The political aspects of such a facility are too problematic at this day in age. How should it be operated? Could we trust that it would not be used as a weapon? The questions are many and the answers are uncertain. For now, it seems best to focus on improving the understanding of the phenomena, the precision of the model and hope that there will come a time when this research will lead to an implementable solution.

Water contaminations by many pollutants, especially heavy metals such as Pb(II), Hg(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Cr(VI) pose many public health and environmental concerns as reported in the list of hazardous substances compiled by the US Environmental Protection Agency due to their high toxicity, refractory degradation, and ease of entering food chain. Adsorption by chelating resins is proven to be the most effective method for the extraction of metal ions from polluted and wastewater. However, traditional absorbents such as activated carbon, activated alumina, clay, zeolite, etc., show limited adsorption abilities for these heavy metal ions. The major goal of this thesis is to develop efficient and cost-effective adsorbents for the extraction of heavy metals from wastewater. This dissertation will focus on the development of four chemically modified high surface area adsorbents with accessible chelating sites for capturing and retaining toxic metal ions from polluted water. The first adsorbent, Nitrogen Doped Carboxylated Activated Carbon (ND-CAC), is prepared by a polymerization reaction between melamine and formaldehyde to form the melamine formaldehyde resin (MF-R) followed by carbonization at 800 oC under nitrogen atmosphere to form nitrogen doped carbon (ND-C), and finally oxidation to form the ND-CAC adsorbent. The ND-CAC adsorbent shows high adsorption capacities of 750.5, 250.5, 98.2 mg/g for the extraction of Pb(II), Hg(II), and Cr(VI), respectively from aqueous solutions with a high selectivity to Pb(II). The second adsorbent, Melamine Zirconium Phosphate (M-ZrP) is prepared by a precipitation reaction between Melamine Phosphate (MP) and ZrCl4 in an aqueous solution. The M-ZrP adsorbent is used for the removal of Pb(II), Hg(II), and Cd(II) with maximum adsorption capacities of 680.4, 119.0, and 60.0 mg/g, respectively with a high selectivity to Pb(II). The third adsorbent is chemically functionalized metal organic framework (UIO-66-IT) was prepared by post-synthetic modification using the chelating ligand 2-Imino-4-Thioburit. The adsorbent was used to extract Hg(II) and (HPO4)- ions from aqueous solutions and the results revealed exceptionally high adsorption capacities toward mercury and phosphate ions of 700 and 160 mg/g, placing it among the top functionalized MOF known for the high capacity of Hg(II) removal from aqueous solutions. The fourth adsorbent, Melamine Thiourea Partially Reduced Graphene Oxide (MT-PRGO) prepared by the amidation reaction between chemically modified graphene oxide and melamine thiourea, is used for the effective extraction of Hg(II), Co(II) and Cu(II) from polluted water. The MT-PRGO adsorbent shows exceptional selectivity for the extraction of Hg(II) with a capacity of 651 mg/g, placing it among the top of carbon-based materials known for the high capacity of Hg(II) removal from aqueous solutions. Desorption studies demonstrate that the new adsorbents ND-CAC, M-ZrP, UIO-66-IT, and MT-PRGO are easily regenerated with the desorption of the heavy metal ions Hg(II), Pb(II), Cd(II), and Cr(VI) reaching 99 % - 100 % recovery from their maximum sorption capacities using different eluents. Moreover, all prepared adsorbents showed tremendous abilities to clean contaminated water from toxic heavy metals at trace concentrations. That prove the ability of using them at water contamination level when the concentration of heavy metals is very low. The new adsorbents ND-CAC, M-ZrP, UIO-66-IT, and MT-PRGO are proposed as top performing remediation adsorbents for the extraction of the heavy metals Pb(II), Hg(II), Cd(II), Cr(VI), and (HPO4)- from waste and polluted water.