Performance analysis of sustainable supply networks with bounded,discrete, and joint factors

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The majority of data envelopment analysis (DEA) research studies evaluate the sustainability of processes with real-valued factors and individual role,...     

Simple Arrhenius-type function accurately predicts dissolved oxygen saturation concentrations in aquatic systems

A sufficient supply of dissolved oxygen (DO) is vital for life in higher organisms. In aquatic systems, oxygen regulates respiratory metabolism, mediates biogeochemical cycles, and is an integral component of water quality. In this work, a simple predictive tool for dissolved oxygen saturation concentrations in aquatic systems as a function of chloride concentration and temperature using a novel Arrhenius-type asymptotic exponential function has been formulated. The proposed method predicts the amount of dissolved oxygen saturation concentrations for temperatures up to 50 °C and chloride concentrations up to 25 g/l. Estimations are found to be in excellent agreement with the reliable data in the literature with average absolute deviation being 3%. The tool developed in this study can be of immense practical value for the engineers and scientists to have a quick check on the oxygen saturation concentrations in aquatic systems at various conditions without opting for any experimental measurements. In particular, environmental science experts would find the proposed approach to be user-friendly with transparent calculations involving no complex expressions.     

Dimensional Stability and Water Uptake Properties of Cement-Bonded Wood Composites

This study was carried out to explore the possibility of making cement-bonded composite building products using eucalypt (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and poplar (Populus deltoides). The experimental design consisted of three treatments—mixture of fibrous materials, cement and calcium chloride (CaCl₂) contents. Some physical properties, vis. water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling (TS), were investigated. The ratio of woodwool : cement was 40:60 and 60:40 by weight. Results showed that, water uptake increased with increasing woodwool content. In addition, boards fully made with poplar woodwools had superior properties compared to the eucalypt and mixed woodwools. The presence of eucalypt woodwools in mixture of fibrous materials typically resulted in increase in TS and WA. It is interesting to note that a dose of 5% of CaCl₂ by weight of cement can enhance the effect of cement. Application of Duncan’s Multiple Range Test for the mean values of the results showed that the effects of all variables and their interactions on the mechanical properties in terms of TS and WA were highly significant.     

Biodegradation of phenol by Ralstonia eutropha in a Kissiris-immobilized cell bioreactor

This study examined the biodegradation of phenol by Ralstonia eutropha in a Kissiris-immobilized cell bioreactor (ICB), operated in a repeated batch recycling mode. The steady biodegradation rate of 23.7 mg/g/h, over a wide range of the initial phenol concentrations up to 1400 mg/L in the ICB, indicated an increased tolerance limit of the Kissiris-immobilized cells towards phenol. Both Haldane and Luong substrate inhibition models were used to describe biodegradation kinetic of free cells system. The Haldane equation gave the following values for the biokinetic parameters: micro(max) = 0.36 h(-1), Ks = 40.48 mg/L, and Ki = 181.9 mg/L. However, according to the Luong model, these parameters were micromax) = 0.23 h(-1), Ks = 24.8 mg/L, Sm = 1018 mg/L, and n = 1.3. By following appropriate operational conditions and use of the ICB, it was found to be possible to extend the efficiency of the highly porous structure of the siliceous mineral Kissiris in cell immobilization. This holds significant promise for pollutant biodegradation issues.     

Correction to: Multivariate modeling of agricultural river water abstraction via novel integrated-wavelet methods in various climatic conditions

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The authors would like to apologize for inadvertent mistakes in this article.     

Fish Bone as a Low-Cost Adsorbent for Dye Removal from Wastewater: Response Surface Methodology and Classical Method

This research studied the application of fish bone as a low-cost adsorbent for the removal of two basic dyes (C.I. Basic Blue 41 and C.I. Basic Yellow 28) from textile wastewaters. The surface morphology and functional groups of the fish bone was studied by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared, respectively. The experiments were designed in two methods: classical method and response surface methodology (RSM). The effect of operating parameters including pH, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, and inorganic salts was investigated by both methods. The optimum conditions to satisfy 75 % of dye removal for both dyes were predicted by RSM method and the results were very close to the experimental values. So, it was concluded that the fish bone can be used as a low-cost adsorbent for dye removal from effluents.     

Habitat suitability for the Caucasian frog <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rana macrocnemis</Emphasis> Boulenger, 1885 (Amphibia:Anura: Ranidae)

Modeling the distribution patterns of species is a generally efficient tool to assess their ecological characteristics. In this study, we compared ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA) and maximum entropy (Maxent) techniques to predict the most suitable distribution range of Rana macrocnemis. The Maxent model predicted potential suitable habitats for R. macrocnemis with high success rates (AUC Training data = 0.877 ± 0.039). According to the map constructed, three important variables had high contribution to species presence: temperature (50.4%), land cover (24.6%) and elevation (14.4%) variables. The ENFA results were relatively similar to Maxent jackknife analysis. The results implied that R. macrocnemis prefers grassland and needle leaf deciduous forest with high elevations, and low temperature.