Production of biofuels from microalgae

The production of biofuels from microalgae, especially biodiesel, has become a topic of great interest in recent years. However, many of the published papers do not consider the question of scale up and the feasibility of the various processes to be operated at the very large scale required if algal biofuels are to make a meaningful contribution to renewable fuels. All the steps in the process must also be very low cost. This paper discusses the unit processes required for algal biofuels production (i.e., growing the algae, harvesting, dewatering, extraction and conversion to biofuel) and their scalability. In many cases, especially in the lipid extraction step, little is known as yet as to the scalability and economic feasibility of the various processes proposed. We also highlight the key engineering and biological issues which must be resolved for the production of biofuels from microalgae to become an economic reality.     

Artificial intelligence,fetal echocardiography,and congenital heart disease

There has been a recent explosion in the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which is now part of our everyday lives. Uptake in medicine has been more limited, although in several fields there have been encouraging results showing excellent performance when AI is used to assist in a well-defined medical task. Most of this work has been performed using retrospective data, and there have been few clinical trials published using prospective data. This review focuses on the potential uses of AI in the field of fetal cardiology. Ultrasound of the fetal heart is highly specific and sensitive in experienced hands, but despite this there is significant room for improvement in the rates of prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease in most countries. AI may be one way of improving this. Other potential applications in fetal cardiology include the provision of more accurate prognoses for individuals, and automatic quantification of various metrics including cardiac function. However, there are also ethical and governance concerns. These will need to be overcome before AI can be widely accepted in mainstream use. It is likely that a familiarity of the uses, and pitfalls, of AI will soon be mandatory for many healthcare professionals working in fetal cardiology.     

Removal of Cr(VI) Ions from Aqueous Solutions Using Poly 3-Methyl Thiophene Conducting Electroactive Polymers

This paper deals with a new application of poly 3-methyl thiophene synthesized chemically onto sawdust (termed as P3MTh/SD) as an effective adsorbent for removal of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions using column system. Chemical synthesis of poly 3-methyl thiophene was performed by addition of ferric chloride (in chloroform) as oxidant to sawdust which had previously been soaked in monomer solution. All the sorption experiments were conducted using dynamic or column system at room temperature. The effect of important parameters such as pH and initial concentration on uptake of Cr(VI) was investigated. In order to find out the possibility of the regeneration and reuse of the exhausted adsorbent, desorption studies were also performed. The currently introduced adsorbent was found to be an efficient adsorbent for removal of highly toxic and hazardous Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions. As our breakthrough analysis has indicated, each gram of P3MTh/SD is able to remove more than 95% of Cr(VI)ions from 300 mL of Cr(VI) polluted solution with the initial concentration of 25 mg L⁻¹ in column system. Sorption/desorption of Cr(VI) ions was found to be a highly pH dependent processes.     

A time series analysis of environmental and metrological factors impact on cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence in an endemic area of Dehloran,Iran

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the environmental and metrological variables and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) transmission and its prediction in a region susceptible to this disease prevalence using a time series model. The accurate locations of 4437 CL diagnosed from 2011 to 2015 were obtained to be used in the time series model. Temperature, number of days with temperature over 30 °C, and number of earthquake were related to CL incidence using the Seasonal Auto-correlated Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model according to the Box-Jenkins method. In addition, the relationship between land use and surface soil type in 500- and 1000-m radius around the CL patients were investigated. The SARIMA models showed significant associations between environmental and meteorological variables and CL incidence adjusted for seasonality and auto-correlation. The result indicated that there are need more robust preventive programs in earthquake-prone areas with high temperature and inceptisol soil type than other areas. In addition, the region with these characteristics should be considered as high-risk areas for CL prevalence.     

Application of Satellite Microwave Images in Estimating Snow Water Equivalent1

Abstract: Flood forecast and water resource management requires reliable estimates of snow pack properties [snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE)]. This study focuses on application of satellite microwave images to estimate the spatial distribution of snow depth and SWE over the Great Lakes area. To estimate SWE, we have proposed the algorithm which uses microwave brightness temperatures (Tb) measured by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) radiometer along with information on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The algorithm was developed and tested over 19 test sites characterized by different seasonal average snow depth and land cover type. Three spectral signatures derived from SSM/I data, namely T19V‐T37V (GTV), T19H‐T37H (GTH), and T22V‐T85V (SSI), were examined for correlation with the snow depth and SWE. To avoid melting snow conditions, we have used observations taken only during the period from December 1‐February 28. It was found that GTH, and GTV exhibit similar correlation with the snow depth/SWE and are most should be used over deep snowpack. In the same time, SSI is more sensitive to snow depth variations over a shallow snow pack. To account for the effect of dense forests on the scattering signal of snow we established the slope of the regression line between GTV and the snow depth as a function of NDVI. The accuracy of the new technique was evaluated through its comparison with ground‐based measurements and with results of SWE analysis prepared by the National Operational Hydrological Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) of the National Weather Service. The proposed algorithm was found to be superior to previously developed global microwave SWE retrieval techniques.     

Occupational risk assessment in the construction industry in Iran

Occupational accidents in the construction industry are more common compared with other fields and these accidents are more severe compared with the global average in developing countries, especially in Iran. Studies which lead to the source of these accidents and suggest solutions for them are therefore valuable. In this study a combination of the failure mode and effects analysis method and fuzzy theory is used as a semi-qualitative–quantitative method for analyzing risks and failure modes. The main causes of occupational accidents in this field were identified and analyzed based on three factors; severity, detection and occurrence. Based on whether the risks are high or low priority, modifying actions were suggested to reduce the occupational risks. Finally, the results showed that high priority risks had a 40% decrease due to these actions.     

Land Resource Sustainability for Urban Development: Spatial Decision Support System Prototype

Land resource sustainability for urban development characterizes the problem of decision-making with multiplicity and uncertainty. A decision support system prototype aids in the assessment of incremental land development plan proposals put forth within the long-term community priority of a sustainable growth. Facilitating this assessment is the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a multicriteria evaluation and decision support system. The decision support system incorporates multiple sustainability criteria, weighted strategically responsive to local public policy priorities and community–specific situations and values, while gauging and directing desirable future courses of development. Furthermore, the decision support system uses a GIS, which facilitates an assessment of urban form with multiple indicators of sustainability as spatial criteria thematically. The resultant land-use sustainability scores indicate, on the ratio-scale of AHP, whether or not a desirable urban form is likely in the long run, and if so, to what degree. The two alternative modes of synthesis in AHP—ideal and distributive—provide assessments of a land development plan incrementally (short-term) and city-wide pattern comprehensively (long-term), respectively. Thus, the spatial decision support system facilitates proactive and collective public policy determination of land resource for future sustainable urban development.     

Markovian–Octant analysis based stable turbulent shear stresses in near-bed bursting phenomena of vortex settling chamber

The coherent structure in near-bed turbulent boundary layer of vortex chamber, particularly the bursting events and their associated shear stresses play the main role in sediment flushing process and consequently the trap efficiency of the vortex settling chamber. Hence, three-dimensional velocity measurements were made at 48 points near the bed of physical model of vortex chamber by using Micro-ADV. The pattern of sediment deposition at the bed of vortex settling chamber reveals three separate regions formed by three predominant currents of inlet flow, flushing flow and outlet over flow. Additionally, due to the instability and three-dimensional nature of the bursting events near the bed of chamber, the new method of Markovian–Octant analysis was applied to study the different classes of near-bed stable shear stresses of vortex chamber in three dimensions. Moreover, the role of each class of stable shear stresses on Sediment transport mechanism at the bed of vortex chamber is investigated.