Sort Of Mechanism Research Articles

Integrated municipal solid waste scenario model using advanced pretreatment and waste to energy processes

In this paper an Integrated Municipal Solid Waste scenario model (IMSW-SM) with a potential practical application in the waste management sector is analyzed. The model takes into account quantification and characterization of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) streams from different sources, selective collection (SC), advanced mechanical sorting, material recovery and advanced thermal treatment. The paper provides a unique chain of advanced waste pretreatment stages of fully commingled waste streams, leading to an original set of suggestions and future contributions to a sustainable IMSWS, taking into account real data and EU principles. The selection of the input data was made on MSW management real case studies from two European regions. Four scenarios were developed varying mainly SC strategies and thermal treatment options. The results offer useful directions for decision makers in order to calibrate modern strategies in different realities.

Direct analysis in real time—a critical review on DART-MS

Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) has become an established technique for rapid mass spectral analysis of a large variety of samples. DART-MS is capable of analyzing the sample at atmospheric pressure, essentially in the open laboratory environment. DART-MS can be applied to compounds that have been deposited or adsorbed on to surfaces or that are being desorbed therefrom into the atmosphere. This makes DART-MS suitable and well-known for analysis of ingredients of plant materials, pesticide monitoring on vegetables, forensic and safety applications such as screening for traces of explosives, warfare agents, or illicit drugs on luggage, clothes, or bank notes, etc. DART can also be used for analysis of either solid or liquid bulk materials, as may be required in quality control, or to quickly investigate the identity of a compound from chemical synthesis. Even living organisms can be subjected to DART-MS. Driven by different needs in analytical practice, the combination of the DART ionization source and interface can be configured in multiple geometries and with various accessories to adapt the setup as required. Analysis by DART-MS relies on some sort of gas-phase ionization mechanism. In DART, initial generation of the ionizing species is by use of a corona discharge in a pure helium atmosphere which delivers excited helium atoms that, upon their release into the atmosphere, will initiate a cascade of gas-phase reactions. In the end, this results in reagent ions created from atmospheric water or (solvent) vapor in the vicinity of the surface subject to analysis where they effect a chemical ionization process. DART ionization processes may generate positive or negative ions, predominantly even-electron species, but odd-electron species do also occur. The prevailing process of analyte ion formation from a given sample is highly dependent on analyte properties.

Urban Mining: Quality and quantity of recyclable and recoverable material mechanically and physically extractable from residual waste

The mechanically sorted dry fraction (MSDF) and Fines (<20mm) arising from the mechanical biological treatment of residual municipal solid waste (RMSW) contains respectively about 11% w/w each of recyclable and recoverable materials. Processing a large sample of MSDF in an existing full-scale mechanical sorting facility equipped with near infrared and 2-3 dimensional selectors led to the extraction of about 6% w/w of recyclables with respect to the RMSW weight. Maximum selection efficiency was achieved for metals, about 98% w/w, whereas it was lower for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), about 2% w/w. After a simulated lab scale soil washing treatment it was possible to extract about 2% w/w of inert exploitable substances recoverable as construction materials, with respect to the amount of RMSW. The passing curve showed that inert materials were mainly sand with a particle size ranging from 0.063 to 2mm. Leaching tests showed quite low heavy metal concentrations with the exception of the particles retained by the 0.5mm sieve. A minimum pollutant concentration was in the leachate from the 10 and 20mm particle size fractions.

Characterizing the superparamagnetic grain distribution of Chinese red-clay sequences by thermal fluctuation tomography

Although magnetic susceptibility (χ) is a widely accepted East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) intensity proxy for Quaternary loess, debates exist about whether χ can be used to indicate EASM intensity for the red-clay sequence. In order to use χ of the red-clay sediments to indicate EASM intensity, χ should have the same sort of enhancement mechanisms as in Quaternary loess. However, this similarity has not been rigorously demonstrated. Previous estimates of magnetic grain size distribution of Chinese loess and red-clay are based on out-of-phase magnetic susceptibility inversion technique. This technique assumes that the coercivity of pedogenic magnetic grains is independent of temperature, and at any temperature, only a single grain size contributes to frequency-dependent or quadrature susceptibility, rather than a distribution of sizes. Thermal fluctuation tomography is a recently developed more rigorous inversion technique for characterizing the grain-size distribution of superparamagnetic (SP) and single domain grains with fewer assumptions. Here we apply this technique to the Chinese red-clay sequence of the Chaona section, central Chinese Loess Plateau, and the overlying loess–paleosol sequence to better characterize the size distribution of SP grains of the Chinese red-clay sequence. We found that SP grain-size distributions of both paleosol and red-clay from the Chaona section are similar. The results reinforce a previous conclusion supporting the idea that magnetic susceptibility (χ) can be used to indicate the intensity of the EASM in the red-clay sequence.

Prevalence, incidence, impairment, and course of the proposed DSM-5 eating disorder diagnoses in an 8-year prospective community study of young women.

We examined prevalence, incidence, impairment, duration, and course for the proposed DSM-5 eating disorders in a community sample of 496 adolescent females who completed annual diagnostic interviews over 8 years. Lifetime prevalence by age 20 was 0.8% for anorexia nervosa (AN), 2.6% for bulimia nervosa (BN), 3.0% for binge eating disorder (BED), 2.8% for atypical AN, 4.4% for subthreshold BN, 3.6% for subthreshold BED, 3.4% for purging disorder (PD), and combined prevalence of 13.1% (5.2% had AN, BN, or BED; 11.5% had feeding and eating disorders not elsewhere classified; FED-NEC). Peak onset age was 19-20 for AN, 16-20 for BN, and 18-20 for BED, PD, and FED-NEC. Youth with these eating disorders typically reported greater functional impairment, distress, suicidality, mental health treatment, and unhealthy body mass index, though effect sizes were relatively smaller for atypical AN, subthreshold BN, and PD. Average episode duration in months ranged from 2.9 for BN to 11.2 for atypical AN. One-year remission rates ranged from 71% for atypical AN to 100% for BN, subthreshold BN, and BED. Recurrence rates ranged from 6% for PD to 33% for BED and subthrehold BED. Diagnostic progression from subthreshold to threshold eating disorders was higher for BN and BED (32% and 28%) than for AN (0%), suggesting some sort of escalation mechanism for binge eating. Diagnostic crossover was greatest from BED to BN. Results imply that the new DSM-5 eating disorder criteria capture clinically significant psychopathology and usefully assign eating disordered individuals to homogeneous diagnostic categories.

Municipal solid waste management and landfill site selection in Greece: irrationality versus efficiency

Municipal solid waste (MSW) collection and disposal is a major problem of urban environment in the world today. MSW management solutions have to be technologically feasible, legally and socially acceptable and environmentally and financially sustainable. European policy is pushing to a rational management of natural resources; a promising technological perspective today is waste valorization, a process that becomes possible through sorting at the source, combined with material recycling and waste-to-energy methods. On the other hand, technologies like mechanical sorting, or disposal of MSW in landfills do not really improve MSW management efficiency. Landfills should become the ultimate disposal site of a few inert residuals from MSW valorization. Despite all this, conventional landfills for disposal of mixed MSW are still being constructed, with landfill site selection being a major social problem due to the lack of public acceptance; objectivity in landfill site selection is therefore extremely important. In Greece, we find several examples of inefficient MSW management and curious landfill site selection. In this paper, we criticize environmental policy issues for MSW management in Greece and identify weak points in the criteria used for the selection of landfill sites. We conclude that there is a real need for rational MSW management based on high quality scientific input.

A critical review on waste paper sorting techniques

Efficient waste paper recycling has a significant role in the sustainable environment. Recyclable waste paper as a fundamental ingredient of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) is indeed an “urban ore”. Waste papers are considered as the solid recovered fuel which is recovered from MSW. Recyclable waste papers are segregated into various grades to produce high-quality products. Moreover, sorted paper streams save energy, chemicals, and water, as well as reduce sludge and rejects. Information technology is widely integrated with the waste management industry into its operations such as recycling, reuse, segregating based on categories and so on. This review article focuses on the life cycle of waste paper and existing waste paper sorting techniques. In the paper industry, many types of sensors are used in different mechanical and optical waste paper sorting systems. Such sensors include lignin, gloss, stiffness, mid-infrared, infrared, and color sensors. In this review, also described the effectiveness of different waste paper sorting systems, and finally, recommended appropriate waste paper sorting techniques based on effectiveness and low-cost implementation.

Mercury Intrusion Effects Modelled in Pores with Axial Symmetry and Attenuated Cross Section

The study of Hg intrusion in axially symmetric pores modelled from a circular function, including a cross-sectional attenuation, unveils or ratifies some interesting effects. One of them is the influence of the pore-wall angle of inclination on the intrusion pressure and meniscus radius of curvature. Another one is that Hg penetration in pores of this sort cannot proceed gradually but only in a jump-like manner. Virtual penetration curves indicate Laplace stable or unstable states as well as the virulence of the irreversible penetration of pores with a varying cross section. It is also important to point out that, in structures depicting a sinuous cavity to throat inter-connections, a single meniscus can be transformed into more than one meniscus by a sort of snap-off mechanism. Hysteresis in these structures can be expected to be more intense as the pore entities become more sinuous. Finally, it is also important to mention that the onset of liquid penetration is not always occurring at the minimum cross...

Effects of different kinds of recycled fine aggregate on properties of rendering mortar

This study investigated the properties of rendering cement mortars prepared with three different types of recycled fine aggregates (RAs). Type I was a fine RA obtained from a recycling plant in which mixed demolition wastes were suitably treated by mechanical crushing, sieving, and sorting operations. Types II and III were fine RAs obtained from crushing two different size fractions (50–150 and 150–250 mm) of construction and demolition waste rubbles collected from a sorting facility. Two series of rendering mortar mixes were prepared with a constant water/cement and a constant aggregate/cement ratios of 0.55 and 3, respectively. River sand and natural crushed rock fines were originally used as aggregates in the two series separately, and they were consistently replaced by 25, 50, 75, and 100% by each of the three types of recycled aggregates. The experimental results showed that mechanical properties such as compressive strength, flexural strength, and modulus of elasticity of the mortars prepared with the RA were lower than the mortars made with the natural aggregates. Nevertheless, the bond strength at the interface between the mortar and masonry bricks determined by the Triplet test was found to be higher for the mortars prepared with the RAs.

Promoting change in medical practice

It’s often held that innovations come to the Canadian health care system at an absolute snail’s pace. Certainly the nation’s health ministers were of that opinion when they asked the Health Council of Canada to create some sort of mechanism to disseminate information about new developments and

中日間における林産物貿易構造の決定要因

China is one of the main consumers of forest products, its trade with developed countries having expanded after it joined the WTO and abolished tariffs. The structure of China’s trade imports and exports for forest products has also changed greatly with rapid economic growth. This study focused on China’s forest products trade with Japan and the aspects such as what sort of mechanism and pattern of trade progresses in making an analysis related to international trade. Analyzing these trade patterns using the international input-output table between China and Japan, this study results show that for forest products the interindustry and intra-industry trade are making progress. I use a gravity model and a general regression model to analyze and identify the factors that contribute to trade expansion and influence the structure of the forest products.

Train Control System for Efficient Track Usage and Reduce Road Traffic

Automatic Train Control (ATC) is the term for a general class of train protection systems for railways that involves some sort of speed control mechanism in response to external inputs. ATC systems continuously monitor all movements of the trains on lines and at stations and provide safe signaling. A large number of automatic functions support the high speeds possible and enabling the line and network resources to be utilized to maximum capacity. ATC use to schedule multiple trains between two stations with small meter gap between adjutant trains. So the railway department can run more train by using the same track without accident problem. Population explosion has resulted in a series of problems, such as traffic jam, environment pollution, and energy crisis. This project focus on channel estimation errors and the tradeoff between MIMO multiplexing gain and diversity gain in making handoff decisions. The handoff problem is formulated as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP), and the optimal handoff policy can be derived to minimize the handoff latency. Keywords- Green computing, railway communication, wireless local area network (LAN), train scheduling

The Imperative of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Present-Day Governance

There is a surging demand on the corporate sector to conduct sustainable business practices and this has led to the emergence of a new consciousness, which has come to be known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It is a sort of built-in and self-regulating mechanism by which a company monitors and ensures its dedication and commitment for complying with the spirit of law, ethical standards, and national and international norms. It enables the integration of business interests with that of the communities. Its ultimate aim is to contribute to sustainable development. The key drivers for CSR are enlightened self-interest, social investment, transparency and trust, and increased public expectations of business. An organisation's performance in a socially responsible manner can influence its competitive advantage; reputation; capability to attract and keep hold of workers, members, customers, clients, users; maintenance of morale, commitment and productivity of employees; view of investors, owners, donors, sponsors and the financial community; and relationship with companies, governments, media, suppliers, customers and the community in which it operates. Numerous CSR initiatives have been taken up at global and national levels. These include United Nations Global Compact, Principles for Responsible Investment, Global Corporate Citizen Initiative, ISO 26000: 2010 – Guidance on Social Responsibility, SA 8000 Standard, Global Business Coalition on Health, Roundtable on Sustainable Development, Global Reporting Initiative, Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines 2009, and National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business. However, it has been argued that the corporate sector is still not doing enough in this direction and due to which gaps are being observed in the fulfillment of the promises being made by the companies in their corporate social responsibility policies.

Recycling-oriented characterization of polyolefin packaging waste

Packaging waste is one of the main sources of secondary polyolefins. It is essential to characterize polyolefins derived from this waste stream in such way, that not only mechanical sorting methods can effectively separate, but also that on-line sensor systems can quantitatively assess their distribution. The characterization methodology is hierarchical, relating all properties of waste particles in any phase of the processing ultimately to the input End-Of-Life products. The present paper documents a pre-concentrate obtained by hand picking of mixed Romanian household waste. Investigations have been addressed to identify the composition of this polyolefin waste stream, to study the polyolefin density distribution, to distinguish the polymer manufacturing methods (i.e. injection molding and blow molding) by flake physical properties and finally to perform all the required characterization and identification by hyperspectral imaging. On the basis of these analyses, polyolefins from packaging wastes can be recycled by density separation and their rheological properties and wall thickness indicate the molding procedures. Hyperspectral imaging based procedures have been also applied to set up quality control actions for recycled products.

Toward a Biological Understanding of Mortality Salience (And Other Threat Compensation Processes)

Terror management theorists have proposed explanations of why death anxiety has a special status beyond other anxieties and furthermore argue that awareness of death elicits a defense mechanism that is qualitatively different from other sorts of threat-defense mechanisms. Our review suggests that the biological mechanisms through which thoughts of mortality motivate defensive behavior are not unique. Rather, we propose that an evolutionarily primitive, biologically based anxiety system underlies mortality salience (MS) effects. Death anxiety may well be a mainspring of human activity, yet we suggest that a fundamental set of biological responses to uncertainty—and the processes associated with them—lie at the root of MS defenses. Our proposed motivational account of mortality salience provides a biologically informed, mechanistic elucidation of threat-compensation processes that may be applied to a wide range of social psychological phenomena.

Solid state anaerobic digestion as a possible solution for managing existing mechanical biological treatment plants in a more efficient way: a real case analysis

The exploitation of Mechanical Biological Treatment is quite diffused for treating fractions of Non-Differentiated Waste. A large part of the Italian Mechanical Biological Treatment facilities operate mainly by reducing and stabilizing the Non-Differentiated Waste mass before landfilling. This way of managing Mechanical Biological Treatment can be improved by the adopting a new treatment section, based on the Solid State Anaerobic Digestion process. In this way, the Waste Organic Fraction arising from the mechanical sorting of the Non-Differentiated Waste can be treated before the aerobic stabilization section of the existing Mechanical Biological Treatment. In Italy more than 40% of the working Mechanical Biological Treatment facilities have features suitable for being upgraded with a new Solid State Anaerobic Digestion section. In these plants the amount of the rapidly biodegradable fraction is about 1,100,000 tonnes per year, leading to the production of about 300 GWh of renewable energy. The results concerning a real case study show that, with the adoption of a new Solid State Anaerobic Digestion section, about 150 kWh of electric energy would be able to be produced per each tonne of Waste Organic Fraction. Furthermore, there would be a significant reduction in the Organic Load Rate [kgVS/m3*day] for the existing aerobic section of the plant, leading to additional savings of 160-320 kWh per day, depending on the amount of Waste Organic Fraction diverted from the Solid State Anaerobic Digestion. Results from the economic analysis show that the Solid State Anaerobic Digestion treatment cost ranges from about 6 up to 23 € per each tonne of Non-Differentiated Waste entering the existing Mechanical Biological Treatment plant.

The biodiversity of Aspergillus section Flavi in brazil nuts: From rainforest to consumer

A total of 288 brazil nut samples (173 kernel and 115 shell) from the Amazon rainforest region and São Paulo State, Brazil were collected at different stages of brazil nut production. Samples were analysed for: percentages of aflatoxigenic fungal species and potential for aflatoxin production and presence of aflatoxins. Aspergillusnomius was the most common species found (1235 isolates) which amounted to 30% of the total species with potential to produce aflatoxins. This species is of concern since 100% of all isolates produced aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2. Aspergillusflavus was almost equally common (1212 isolates) although only 46% produced aflatoxins under laboratory conditions, and only aflatoxins B1 and B2. Low number of other species with the potential to produce aflatoxins was isolated: Aspergillusarachidicola and Aspergillus bombycis produced B and G aflatoxins whilst Aspergilluspseudotamarii produced only aflatoxin B1. The total aflatoxin levels found in samples taken from the rainforests was 0.7μg/kg, from processing plants before and after sorting 8.0 and 0.1μg/kg respectively, from street markets in the Amazon region 6.3μg/kg and from supermarkets in São Paulo State 0.2μg/kg. Processing, which included manual or mechanical sorting and drying at 60°C for 30 to 36h, eliminated on average more than 98% of total aflatoxins. These results showed that sorting is a very effective way to decrease aflatoxin content in brazil nuts.

Selective feeding on nutrient-rich particles by gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum does not involve mechanical sorting

Previous field and laboratory studies have concluded that suspension-feeding detriti - vorous fish such as gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum selectively ingest nutrient-rich particles using either mechanical sorting within the oropharyngeal cavity or behavioral selectivity within the environment, but none have distinguished between these hypothesized selection mecha- nisms. To determine whether mechanical selectivity occurs within the oropharyngeal cavity, giz- zard shad were fed particles of standardized size but different carbon and nitrogen content in homogeneous particle suspensions vs. non-homogeneous particle distributions. By comparing foregut and epibranchial organ contents with the particles available in a homogeneous suspen- sion, we demonstrated that the fish did not use mechanical selection for nutrient-rich particles. Previously published hypotheses for intraoral selection of nutrient-rich particles in gizzard shad using crossflow filtration or gustatory receptors were not supported. However, when particles with different nutrient content were allowed to settle in a heterogeneous distribution, the nutrients in the foregut and epibranchial organs were 1.5 times higher than those of particles in the water and 2.5 times higher than those of settled particles (p ≤ 0.0001). As a test of one potential behavioral mechanism of particle selection, disturbance of the sedimentwater interface resulted in signifi- cantly higher organic carbon (p = 0.01) and nitrogen (p = 0.001) within 1 to 2 cm of the bottom com- pared to the overlying water and the bottom sediment. Thus, future laboratory and field studies should focus on potential behavioral mechanisms of particle selectivity in detritivorous fish sus- pension feeding on non-homogeneous distributions of small particles (<< 1 mm).

Filth and Lucre: The Dirty Money Complex as a Taxation Regime

This review essay takes a synoptic view of the ethnographic record concerning the long-standing and cross-cultural associations between money and dirt. In questioning why this association crops up as often as it does, I turn to the anthropological literature on the study of metaphor and metonym. By doing so, I offer a reinterpretation of the money form, pointing out that dirt—as a transgressive mediator between discrete realms—is itself a cross-cultural trope that is often intimately tied to ideas and rituals of social reproduction and fertility. I suggest that the widespread denigration of money as dirty may serve as a sort of economic regulatory mechanism, which aims to reinvigorate money’s potential fertility when this latter has become sterile due to alleged acts of anti-social exchange or non-exchange.

Mechanisms of Grains Refining in Adiabatic Shear Band of Titanium Alloy

Dynamic shearing high strain-rate experiments on three types of titanium alloy have been carried out by using a modified split Hopkinson bar. Microstructure and mechanism for grains refining in adiabatic shear band formed under the condition of high strain-rate were investigated by means of optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). It is shown that the mechanisms for grains refining in adiabatic shear band of titanium alloy mostly consist of three sorts. They are the mechanism of breakdown of elongated grains which due to action of dislocations,and the mechanism of rupture of twins and the mechanism of dynamic recrystallization, respectively. The mechanism of dynamic recrystallization is the universal one for grains refining in adiabatic shear band of titanium alloy. The formation of refining grains is usually a result of combined action of several sorts of mechanisms.