Nanocomposites of Cellulose Acetate Butyrate Reinforced with Cellulose Nanocrystals

Nanocrystals were prepared by acid hydrolysis of bacterial cellulose microfibrils. These were topochemically trimethylsilylated, in an attempt to reduce their hydrophilicity. Composites were made by dispersing either native or silylated crystals in cellulose acetatebutyrate matrixes and solution casting of the dispersions. Particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The composites were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. The unmodified cellulose crystals exhibited better reinforcement characteristics than the trimethylsilated crystals.     

不同热力背景对城市降雨（暴雨）的影响（Ⅰ）—降雨分布的空间差异

如何准确描述和预测降雨（暴雨）的空间分布,已成为城市减灾防灾的重要内容,本文探讨了利用热信息研究城市降雨空间分布差异的方法。在遥感、GIS技术支持下,利用对没的期夏、冬季热图像的主成分析和图像分割,将上海市1958－1998年热环境划分为自然、低温、高温3种不同的热力背景。在此基础上,就不同热力背景对城市降雨（暴雨）分布空间差异的影响规律进行了研究,为建立城市降雨空间差异预报模型奠定了基础。     

Mercury pollution in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh,India, and its health impacts

The Sonbhadra district in the Singrauli area of Uttar Pradesh, India, has many coal mines and thermal power plants and is a critically polluted area. Many residents of this area reported adverse health conditions which may be linked to metal pollution, especially of mercury investigated here.

In May 2012, samples of water (23), soil (7), blood, hair, and nails from persons showing adverse health conditions selected at random were collected and analyzed for total mercury by atomic absorption spectrometry.

Twenty percent drinking water samples contained mercury from 3 to 26 μg L^?1 (3–26 times the permissible limit). Soil samples had 0.5–10.1 mg kg^?1 Hg.

The average concentrations of mercury in human blood, hair, and nails were found to be 34 μg L^?1, 7.4 mg kg^?1, and 0.8 mg kg^?1, respectively. Mercury concentrations in the blood of these persons were 45 and 28 μg L^?1 on average in the case of men and women. This is much higher than the safe level of 5.8 μg L^?1 set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

It was concluded that all residents of Sonbhadra sampled could be suffering from mercury toxicity as the area is polluted by Hg released from the coal-fired thermal power plants.     

Experimental analysis of thermal performance of evacuated tube and flat-plate solar air collectors at different air flow rates

The thermal performances of an evacuated tube collector (ETC) and flat-plate solar air collector (FPC) are experimentally investigated at different air flow rates. To investigate the performance of the ETC and FPC, experimental set-ups were fabricated. Air was used as a working fluid and tested at the same climatic conditions. The ETC had 15 evacuated tubes with a surface area of 1.66 m². The experimental set-up consisted of a header with a hollow pipe (square pipe) in the centre through which the air flowed. The flat-plate collector had a surface area of 1.35 m². The FPC had a black painted absorber sheet which divides the collector into two sections. The air flowed through the upper and the lower sections parallel to the collector to minimize the overall heat loss. The temperature of the outlet air depends on several factors along with the airflow rate and the intensity of the solar radiation. It was found that during the day at high flow rates, the efficiency of the ETC varies from 0.12 to 0.5, and for the flat plate it was from 0.29 to 0.68. The maximum temperature of the air was 56.7°C for the ETC and 25.7°C for the FPC.     

热电厂再生水回用工艺分析

介绍一套日处理量14 400 t的再生水回用工艺,该工艺应用预处理+反渗透工艺深度处理二级城市污水并将产水回用于热电厂的循环冷却水及锅炉补给水的源水,分析了该工艺关键单元的特点。运行结果表明:该工艺可行,产水各项指标满足该热电厂对回用水的要求。最后,对工艺运行过程中出现的问题提出解决办法和改进建议。     

火焰温度场红外热像动态测试的试验研究

红外热像仪可以测量被测目标的温度场分布,并以图像的形式表示,可以利用计算机图像处理的方法进行燃烧火焰温度的重建.另外,红外热像仪采用非接触式测量且反应速度快,可进行火焰动态测量.本文采用红外热像仪对火焰温度场进行测试,并分析了测量过程中产生误差的因素及一些修正方法.     

Effect of Sweating on Insulation of Footwear

The study aimed to find out the influence of sweating on footwear insulation with a thermal foot model. Simultaneously, the influence of applied weight (35 kg), sock, and steel toe cap were studied. Water to 3 sweat glands was supplied with a pump at the rate of 10 g/hr in total. Four models of boots with steel toe caps were tested. The same models were manufactured also without steel toe. Sweating reduced footwear insulation 19–25% (30–37% in toes). During static conditions, only a minimal amount of sweat evaporated from boots. Weight affected sole insulation: Reduction depended on compressibility of sole material. The influence of steel toe varied with insulation. The method of thermal foot model appears to be a practical tool for footwear evaluation.     

Determination of Heat Loss from the Feet and Insulation of the Footwear

This study compared the methods of determining footwear insulation on human participants and a thermal foot model. Another purpose was to find the minimal number of measurement points on the human foot that is needed for insulation calculation. A bare foot was tested at 3 ambient temperatures on 6 participants. Three types of footwear were tested on 2 participants. The mean insulation for a bare foot obtained on the participant and model were similar. The insulation of warm footwear measured by the 2 methods was also similar. For thin footwear the insulation values from the participants were higher than those from the thermal model. The differences could be related to undefined physiological factors. Two points on the foot can be enough to measure the insulation of footwear on human participants (r = .98). However, due to the big individual differences of humans, and good repeatability and simplicity of thermal foot method, the latter should be preferred for testing.     

A Comparison of Two Methods of Determining Thermal Properties of Footwear

The present European Standard for footwear testing (Standard No. EN 344:1992; European Committee for Standardization [CEN], 1992) classifies footwear thermally by a temperature drop inside the footwear during 30 min at defined conditions. Today, other methods for footwear thermal testing are also available. The aim of this study was to compare EN 344:1992 with a thermal foot method. Six boots were tested according to both methods. Additional tests with modified standard tests were also carried out. The methods ranked the footwear in a similar way. However, the test according to standard EN 344:1992 is a pass-or-fail test, whereas data that is gained from the thermal foot method gives more information and allows further use in research and product development. A change of the present standard method is suggested.     

A Study of Computer-Based Task Performance Under Thermal Stress

A visual-visual dual computer task was designed to test the effect of the thermal environment on dual task performance. The temperatures selected for testing were 20 and 35 °C Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). 34 volunteers were randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 temperature conditions. Individual differences in single task performance were controlled by equating the baselines of single task performance. Once individual differences in single task capacity were controlled, statistically significant differences in performance were demonstrated. Mean accuracy was computed over a 1-hr testing period in each temperature condition. Participants’ mean accuracy in the 35° condition (38.18%) was substantially lower than in the 20° condition (50.88%).