Morphometric analysis of the lumbar vertebrae in the Turkish population using three-dimensional computed tomography: correlation with sex, age, and height

Background: Morphometric measurements of lumbar vertebrae are different in European and Asian populations. Transpedicular screws are candidates for the ideal method to treat instability of lumbar vertebrae and provide very strong stabilisation. Our study reflects the variation of morphometric measurements of lumbar vertebrae in the Turkish population according to sex, age, and height. The aim of our study was to measure the transverse pedicle diameter (TPD), vertical pedicle diameter (VPD), pedicle axis length (PAL), and transverse pedicle angle (TPA) of the lumbar vertebrae, using three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT), and assess variations according to sex, age, and height. Materials and methods: Prospective cohort, Therapeutic Level III, Urban Level III Trauma Centre. The study design adopted a morphometric analysis using 3D-CT of the lumbar vertebrae in the Turkish population, with variation in terms of sex, age, and height and comparison with previous studies. In 240 cases, measurements of TPC, VPD, PAL, and TPA with 3D-CT were performed on a total of 1200 lumbar vertebrae. The values at each lumbar level were compared in groups based on sex, age, and height. Results: The results of our study determined the normal values of TPD, VPD, PAL, and TPA of lumbar vertebrae in the Turkish population using 3D-CT. Additionally there were variations in TPD, VPD, and PAL according to sex, age, and height. TPA varied according to age, while no difference was found in terms of sex or height. Conclusions: The morphometric measurements of lumbar vertebrae in the Turkish population are similar to western populations. Sex, age, and height are factors affecting reliable screw choice

Generalizability of empirical correlations for predicting higher heating values of biomass

Designing efficient biomass energy systems requires a thorough understanding of the physicochemical, thermodynamic, and physical properties of biomass. One crucial parameter in assessing biomass energy potential is the higher heating value (HHV), which quantifies its energy content. Conventionally, HHV is determined through bomb calorimetry, but this method is limited by factors such as time, accessibility, and cost. To overcome these limitations, researchers have proposed a diverse range of empirical correlations and machine-learning approaches to predict the HHV of biomass based on proximate and ultimate analysis results. The novelty of this research is to explore the universal applicability of the developed empirical correlations for predicting the Higher Heating Value (HHV) of biomass. To identify the best empirical correlations, nearly 400 different biomass feedstocks were comprehensively tested with 45 different empirical correlations developed to use ultimate analysis (21 different empirical correlations), proximate analysis (16 different empirical correlations) and combined ultimate-proximate analysis (8 different empirical correlations) data of these biomass feedstocks. A quantitative and statistical analysis was conducted to assess the performance of these empirical correlations and their applicability to diverse biomass types. The results demonstrated that the empirical correlations utilizing ultimate analysis data provided more accurate predictions of HHV compared to those based on proximate analysis or combined data. Two specific empirical correlations including coefficients for each element (C, H, N) and their interactions (C*H) demonstrate the best HHV prediction with the lowest MAE (~0.49), RMSE (~0.64), and MAPE (~2.70%). Furthermore, some other empirical correlations with carbon content being the major determinant also provide good HHV prediction from a statistical point of view; MAE (~0.5–0.8), RMSE (~0.6–0.9), and MAPE (~2.8–3.8%)

Biofuel characteristics of chars produced from rapeseed, whitewood, and seaweed via thermal conversion technologies – Impacts of feedstocks and process conditions

Understanding the suitability of different conversion technologies for different types of biomass feedstocks is crucial in delivering the full valorisation of different types of biomass feedstocks. Optimal valorisation pathways can be identified by investigating the formation of products and the most efficient application technologies of these products. This is therefore novel research reporting an extensive comparative study on the biomass processing pathways (hydrothermal conversion, pyrolysis, and torrefaction) for three distinct biomass feedstocks (Rapeseed residue, Whitewood, Seaweed–Laminaria Digitata) to optimise char formation under a wide range of processing conditions and their biofuel characteristics in the bioenergy applications. The results demonstrates that Whitewood gradually decomposes during all three conversion processes to produce chars (hydrochars/biochars) that have a lower O/C-H/C ratio as process temperature increases. The char formation from Whitewood follows the dehydration process in the Van Krevelen diagram. Char formation from Rapeseed residue and L. digitata via pyrolysis also follows a similar dehydration and demethanation pathway at higher temperatures (550 °C for Rapeseed residue and 400 °C for L. digitata). However, char formation from Rapeseed residue and L. digitata via hydrothermal conversion predominantly follows the decarboxylation pathway producing structures with a higher H/C ratio and lower O/C ratio. The intrinsic reactivity analysis of these chars showed that the temperature of initial weight loss and the onset of ignition for the raw biomass sample was shifted to a higher temperature for the chars produced by hydrothermal conversion or pyrolysis, regardless of biomass feedstocks. The chars produced from Whitewood (with hydrothermal conversion, pyrolysis and torrefaction) and Rapeseed residue (with pyrolysis) have a potential application in bioenergy production due to the significant enhancement of char products. However, the chars produced from L. digitata appear less promising for bioenergy applications due to relatively low energy yield, carbon recovery, inferior char structures and a high inherent ash content

Exploring the utilisation of natural biosorbents for effective methylene blue removal

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the adsorbent capacity of five distinctly different biosorbents derived from untreated biomasses. The optimal adsorption capacity of seaweed (Laminaria digitata), horse chestnut husk, hazelnut husk, rapeseed residue, and whitewood to remove methylene blue (MB) dye was assessed by analysing the effects of particle size, pH, temperature, and initial dye concentrations. Furthermore, the adsorption kinetics, isotherms, and adsorption thermodynamics were investigated. The results showed that relatively high MB adsorption capacity was achieved by Laminaria digitata (~180 mg/g), in addition to a reasonable MB adsorption capacity of horse chestnut husk (~130 mg/g), hazelnut husk (~110 mg/g), and rapeseed residue (~80 mg/g). However, whitewood provides a relatively low adsorption capacity of below 20 mg/g. The best fit with experimental results regardless of biosorbent type was a pseudo-second-order kinetic model with the lowest mean absolute percentage error (ε, MAPE 0.99). Although the pseudo-second-order kinetic model is often associated with chemisorption, the low enthalpy values (<29.30 kJ/mol) typically suggest that the adsorption process is more characteristic of physisorption, which involves weaker van der Waals forces rather than the stronger covalent bonds of chemisorption. This proposed a multi-step adsorption process involving both physisorption and chemisorption. The adsorption isotherm of Langmuir showed superior fitting results for Laminaria digitata and hazelnut husk. In contrast, rapeseed residue and horse chestnut husk fit better with the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The Langmuir adsorption isotherms showed a maximum adsorption capacity of ~500 mg/g for Laminaria digitata, followed by horse chestnut husk (~137 mg/g), hazelnut husk (~120 mg/g), and rapeseed residue (~85 mg/g). The Gibbs free energy was negative for Laminaria digitata < horse chestnut husk < hazelnut husk < 0, which suggests that the removal of MB is thermodynamically favourable, as the adsorption process occurs spontaneously. The results of the study indicate that MB dye removal using untreated biomasses has the potential to be a low-cost valorisation option in the holistic whole life cycle valorisation pathway for Laminaria digitata, horse chestnut husk, and hazelnut husk

AERIAL PLATFORMS (UAV) SURVEYS IN THE VIS AND TIR RANGE. APPLICATIONS ON ARCHAEOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE

The paper presents multi-sensor applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on three different cases of study, belonging to the wide category of Cultural Heritage (CH). The contribution aims to examine the efficacy of different methodological approach of surveys made in VIS and TIR range with aerial platforms. The use of UAV on two archaeological areas, Çatalhöyük site (Konya, Turkey) and the Medicean Villa of Pratolino (Florence, Italy) and an application of precision agriculture in Lamole (Greve in Chianti, Italy) will be presented. In particular, the analysis will focus on the accuracy of the obtained data, in terms of both metric and image quality, the possible information to extract from the IR imaging, the relationship between costs and benefits and the total amount of information that can be gained. The two different fields of research (archaeological and agricultural one) show that there are some similarities in the approaches and which could be the improving to obtain using the aerial survey in the visual and IR bands

Exploring the Utilisation of Natural Biosorbents for Effective Methylene Blue Removal

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the adsorbent capacity of five distinctly different biosorbents derived from untreated biomasses. The optimal adsorption capacity of seaweed (Laminaria digitata), horse chestnut husk, hazelnut husk, rapeseed residue, and whitewood to remove methylene blue (MB) dye was assessed by analysing the effects of particle size, pH, temperature, and initial dye concentrations. Furthermore, the adsorption kinetics, isotherms, and adsorption thermodynamics were investigated. The results showed that relatively high MB adsorption capacity was achieved by Laminaria digitata (~180 mg/g), in addition to a reasonable MB adsorption capacity of horse chestnut husk (~130 mg/g), hazelnut husk (~110 mg/g), and rapeseed residue (~80 mg/g). However, whitewood provides a relatively low adsorption capacity of below 20 mg/g. The best fit with experimental results regardless of biosorbent type was a pseudo-second-order kinetic model with the lowest mean absolute percentage error (ε, MAPE &lt; 2.5%) and the highest correlation coefficients (R2 &gt; 0.99). Although the pseudo-second-order kinetic model is often associated with chemisorption, the low enthalpy values (&lt;29.30 kJ/mol) typically suggest that the adsorption process is more characteristic of physisorption, which involves weaker van der Waals forces rather than the stronger covalent bonds of chemisorption. This proposed a multi-step adsorption process involving both physisorption and chemisorption. The adsorption isotherm of Langmuir showed superior fitting results for Laminaria digitata and hazelnut husk. In contrast, rapeseed residue and horse chestnut husk fit better with the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The Langmuir adsorption isotherms showed a maximum adsorption capacity of ~500 mg/g for Laminaria digitata, followed by horse chestnut husk (~137 mg/g), hazelnut husk (~120 mg/g), and rapeseed residue (~85 mg/g). The Gibbs free energy was negative for Laminaria digitata &lt; horse chestnut husk &lt; hazelnut husk &lt; 0, which suggests that the removal of MB is thermodynamically favourable, as the adsorption process occurs spontaneously. The results of the study indicate that MB dye removal using untreated biomasses has the potential to be a low-cost valorisation option in the holistic whole life cycle valorisation pathway for Laminaria digitata, horse chestnut husk, and hazelnut husk

A comprehensive comparative study on methylene blue removal from aqueous solution using biochars produced from rapeseed, whitewood, and seaweed via different thermal conversion technologies

This paper presents, for the first time, a comprehensive comparative analysis of the potential of using biochars from three distinctly different UK-sourced biomass feedstocks, produced via three different thermal processing techniques, to adsorb methylene blue dye. Biochars were made from rapeseed, whitewood, and seaweed (Laminaria Digitata), produced via hydrothermal conversion, pyrolysis, and torrefaction. Adsorption kinetic models were developed for each biochar at different temperatures, pH and initial dye concentrations. Relatively high levels of methylene blue adsorption capacity were achieved by seaweed-based biochars (∼150 mg/g), with reasonable levels for rapeseed-based biochars (∼60 mg/g), whilst adsorption levels were found to be relatively low for whitewood-based biochars (<30 mg/g). A Pseudo-second-order kinetic model provided the best fit with experimental results. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm showed a better fit for seaweed biochars, while the Freundlich adsorption isotherm was a better fit for the rapeseed-based biochars. The Langmuir adsorption isotherms showed relatively high maximum adsorption capacity (Qo) for seaweed-based biochars; ∼175 mg/g for seaweed-Torrefaction and ∼ 117 mg/g for seaweed-Pyrolysis. Negative Gibbs free energy (ΔG°) values were observed for the seaweed-Torrefaction < seaweed-Pyrolysis < 0, which indicates that the methylene blue removal could be a thermodynamically favourable process due to the spontaneous nature of the adsorption. Our investigation has shown that the removal of methylene blue from wastewater could be a potential application for seaweed-based biochars as part of a holistic whole life cycle valorisation pathway. However, it is not suitable for all types of biomasses which emphasises the need for tailoring unique valorisation pathways for different types of biomasses

Süphan stratovolkanı'nın volkanostratigrafisi ve jeokimyasal evrimi

TÜBİTAK MAG01.09.2009Doğu Anadolu Bölgesinde yer alan çarpışma kökenli volkanizma kuzeydoğuda Erzurum-Kars Platosundan güneyde Karacadağ’a kadar uzanan geniş bir alanda yüzeylenmektedir. Bölgenin yaklaşık olarak 2/3 sini kaplayan volkanizma irili ufaklı çıkış merkezleri ile büyük hacimlere sahip kalkan ve stratovolkanlar ile karakterize edilir. Van Gölü’nün kuzeyinde yer alan Süphan Stratovolkanı 4050 m yüksekliği ile Doğu Anadolu’da yer alan Kuvaterner yaşlı volkanların en önemli üyelerinden biridir. Neojen-Kuvaterner yaşlı sedimanter birimler üzerine yerleşen Süphan volkanizmasının ilk ürünleri debris avalanche, I. evre piroklastik ürünler ve riyolitik obsidiyen lavlarıdır. Bu birimlerin üzerine ise bazalttan riyolite kadar uzanan lav akışları, riyolitik/dasitik domlar, piroklastik birimler gelmektedir. Volkanizmanın en son ürünleri ise Aygır Maarı’na ait piroklastik birimlerdir. Mineralojik-Petrografik çalışmalar ve lavların major-iz element karakteristikleri volkanizmanın gelişiminde plajiyoklaz + olivin + klinopiroksen + ortopiroksen + amfibol + biyotit + K-felsdpat fraksiyonel kristalleşmesinin etkin olduğunu göstermektedir. Süphan volkanikleri genel olarak subalkali ve alkali karakterler arasında geçiş göstermektedir. İz element içerikleri ele alındığında HFS elemetler LIL elementlere oranla, LRE elementler HRE elementlere oranla zenginleşme göstermiştir. Volkanikler içerisinde yeralan anklavların jeokimyasal özellikleri Süphan volkanizmasının genel karakteri ile uyum göstermektedir. Th/Y-Nb/Y ve izotop korelasyon diyagramları (87Sr/86Sr -143Nd/144Nd, 87Sr/86Sr – Pb206/Pb204, Pb207/204-Pb206/204) volkanizmanın kaynağının dalma-batma bileşeni ile zenginleşmiş bir manto kaynağı olduğunu işaret etmektedir. Bununla birlikte Ba/Nb - Ce/ Nb diyagramı üzerindeki karışım eğrisi de Süphan volkaniklerinin zenginleşmiş bir manto kaynağı ile dalma-batma bileşeni içeren bir kaynağın karışımından oluştuğunu göstermektedir. Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi’nde kabuk kalınlığı ile ilgili jeofizik tabanlı çalışmalar da göz önüne alındığında bu manto kaynağının, dalan levhanın krılması (slab breakoff) yoluyla yitim bileşeni kazanmış astenosferik bir kaynak olabileceği öngörülmüştür. Volkanikler üzerinde gerçekleştirilen Ar-Ar yaş analizleri trakitik lavlar için 0.55±0.34 ile 0.037±0.020 my arasında riyolitik lavlar için ise 0.040±0.022 my yaş vermiştir.Collision-related volcanics in Eastern Anatolia are exposed in a broad zone from the Erzurum-Kars Plateau in the northeast to Karacadağ in the south. Volcanic rocks covered two thirds of the plateau and are characterized by secondary eruption centers and huge shield and stratovolcanoes. Süphan Stratovolcano, located to the north of the Lake Van is one of the most important Quaternary volcanos in Eastern Anatolia with its 4050 m high elevation. Initial products of the Süphan stratovolcano which overly the Neogene-Quaternary sedimentary rocks are the debris avalanche, Ist cycle pyroclastic rocks and rhyolitic obsidian flows. These units are overlain by lava flows with compositions ranging from basalt to rhyolite, rhyolit-dasidic domes and pyroclastic rocks. Aygır maar deposits are the last products of the volcano. Mineralogical-petrographical and major-trace element compositions of the volcanic products point to the effects of plagioclase + olivine + clinopyroxene + ortopyroxene + amphibole + biotite + K-feldspar fractionation in the evolution of the volcanics. Süphan volcanics are transitional between subalkaline and alkaline character. LIL and LRE elements are enriched over HFS and HRE elements respectively. Most of the Süphan enclaves show similar geochemical properties with the Süphan volcanics. Th/Y-Nb/Y and isotope correlation (87Sr/86Sr -143Nd/144Nd, 87Sr/86Sr – Pb206/Pb204, Pb207/204-Pb206/204) diagrams point out a subduction modified enriched mantle source for the source of the volcanics. Mixing curves on Ba/Nb - Ce/ Nb diagrams further suggest that the Süphan volcanics are formed by mixing of an enriched mantle and a source bearing effects of subduction. In the light of geochemical constraints and recent geophysical data regarding lithospheric structure of eastern Anatolia, the source of the Suphan volcanics is interpreted as an astenospheric mantle bearing the effects of previous subduction events via slab breakoff. Ar-Ar ages of the trachytes and rhyolites range between 55±0.34 - 0.037±0.020, 0.040±0.022 ma respectively

Low-temperature chemical looping oxidation of hydrogen for space heating

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an advanced combustion process in which the combustion reaction splits into two parts; in the first reaction metal oxides are used as oxygen suppliers for fuel combustion and then in the second reaction, reduced metal oxides are re-oxidised in an air reactor. Although this technology could be applicable for the safe implication of “low-temperature oxidation of hydrogen”, there is limited understanding of oxygen carrier reduction stages and the oxidation mechanism of hydrogen throughout the process. The novelty of this research lies in its pioneering investigation of low-temperature oxidation of hydrogen through chemical looping technology as a safe and alternative heating system, using three distinct metal oxide oxygen carriers: CuO, Co3O4, and Mn2O3. The oxidation of hydrogen over these oxygen carriers was comprehensively studied in a fixed-bed reactor operating at 200–450 °C. XRD analysis demonstrates that CuO directly reduced to metallic Cu at 200–450 °C, instead of following a sequential reduction step CuO→Cu4O3→Cu2O→Cu throughout the temperature. Co3O4 was reduced to a mixture CoO and Co at 450 °C, which may refer to a sequential reduction step Co3O4→CoO→Co with increasing the temperature. Decreasing the reduction temperature led to an elevation in CoO formation. Mn2O3 can also reduce to a mixture of Mn3O4 and MnO at temperatures between 250 and 400 °C. Compared to temperature, the increase in the residence time did not show any further reduction in Mn2O3. SEM results showed that most of the metal oxide particles were evenly dispersed on the supports. Based on the experimental results, a potential reduction stage of CuO, Co3O4 and Mn2O3 was proposed for low-temperature hydrogen oxidation, which could be a potential application for space heating using safe hydrogen combustion