Geometrical design of stand pipe air distributors for the combustion of municipal solid waste in a fluidised bed

The new geometrical design of stand-pipe air distributor for the combustion of the municipal solid waste was presented. The new design of the air distributors enables penetration of incombustible and unburnt carbon through opening between the air distributors, thus providing easy maintenance work. The fluidized bed experimental rig was constructed using Perspex column in which air was supplied through the distributors below it. In order to establish the final geometrical design of the air distributors, several design parameters were investigated. The effect of orifice size, distance between orifice and distance between distributor pipes on the fluidization behaviour were studied. Investigation on the effects of various orifice sizes of 1.5 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm and 5 mm showed that the 3 mm orifice size exhibited the most stable fluidization behaviour. Investigation on some selected orifice distances of 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm also found that the 10 mm orifice distance exhibited stable growths of bubbles. Various pipe distances of 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm and 70 mm were also investigated and the most suitable pipe distance was 70 mm

UTHM water quality classification based on sub index

River or stream at their source is unpolluted, but as water flow downstream, the river or lake is receiving point and non-point pollutant source. Ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3- N) and suspended solids (SS) strongly influences the dynamics of the dissolved oxygen in the water. Studies on monitoring this parameter were conducted for a river or lake but limited to the small man-made lake. This study is initiate to determine the changes in water quality of UTHM watershed as the water flows from upstream to downstream. The monitoring of NH3-N and TSS were monitored at two sampling schemes, 1) at the two-week interval and, 2) at a daily basis followed by the determination of the water quality sub-index particularly SIAN and SISS. The results showed that the two lakes in UTHM watershed were classified as polluted. In conclusion, the remedial action should be implemented to improve the water quality to meet the requirements at least to meet the recreational purpose

Effect of soil water stress on yield and proline content of four wheat lines

This field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of drought stress after anthesis on proline accumulation and wheat yield during 2008 at Moghan region. Four lines of bread wheat (N-82-9, N-83-5, N-84-12 and N-85-20) were evaluated into contrasting water regimes (well-watered and drought stressed after anthesis). The trial was carried out in a 4 × 2 factorial experiment based on complete block design with 3 replications. Proline content, total soluble sugar (TSS), seed yield, straw yield, harvest index (HI), 1000 kernel weight, ear length, plant height and tiller number were studied. The SAS software package was used to analyze all the data and means were separated by the least significant difference (LSD) testat P < 0.01. Results showed that proline content and TSS increased by water stress. Seed and straw yield decreased 25% approximately, if water stress occurred after anthesis stage. The highest seed yield observed in line N-82-9 and lowest observed in line N-85-20 under water stress. Under control condition (None stress), line N-82-9 had high seed yield, straw yield, HI and 1000 kernel weight

Absence of molecular mobility on nano-second time scales in amorphous ice phases

High-resolution neutron backscattering techniques are exploited to study the elastic and quasi-elastic response of the high-density amorphous (HDA), the low-density amorphous (LDA) and the crystalline ice Ic upon temperature changes. Within the temperature ranges of their structural stability (HDA at T > 80 K, LDA at T > 135 K, ice Ic at T < 200 K) the Debye-Waller factors and mean-square displacements characterise all states as harmonic solids. During the transformations HDA->LDA (T ~ 100 K), LDA->Ic (T ~ 150K) and the supposed glass transition with Tg ~ 135 K no relaxation processes can be detected on a time scale t < 4 ns. It can be concluded from coherent scattering measurements (D_2O) that LDA starts to recrystallise into ice Ic at T ~ 135 K, i.e. at the supposed Tg. In the framework of the Debye model of harmonic solids HDA reveals the highest Debye temperature among the studied ice phases, which is in full agreement with the lowest Debye level in the generalised density of states derived from time-of-flight neutron scattering experiments. The elastic results at low T indicate the presence of an excess of modes in HDA, which do not obey the Bose statistics

Minimal model for beta relaxation in viscous liquids

Contrasts between beta relaxation in equilibrium viscous liquids and glasses are rationalized in terms of a double-well potential model with structure-dependent asymmetry, assuming structure is described by a single order parameter. The model is tested for tripropylene glycol where it accounts for the hysteresis of the dielectric beta loss peak frequency and magnitude during cooling and reheating through the glass transition.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press

Metode Sayyid Quthb dalam Menafsirkan Ayat-ayat Mengenai Kepemilikan dan Harta (Pembacaan terhadap Tafsir Fî Zhilâl Al-qur'ân)

Wahyu yang berupa kitab (al-Qur'an) ini pada umumnya ditujukan kepada manusia secara umum dengan berbagai kondisi dan pola pikir yang berbeda. Sehingga sangat mungkin bahkan menjadi sebuah keharusan akan munculnya berbagai macam penafsiran yang beragam. Satu jawaban singkat dan logis dari penafsiran yang beragam ini adalah ketidaksamaan kemampuan manusia dalam memahami substansi wahyu. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa pemikiran Sayyid Quthb tidak dapat dipahami dengan mudah kecuali bagi mereka yang mau membacanya dengan teliti disamping memiliki kemampuan bahasa yang baik. Metode yang digunakan oleh Sayyid Quthb adalah metode tafsîr bi ar-ra'yi, Sayyid Quthb memaknai harta sebagai segala sesuatu yang dapat dimanfaatkan oleh manusia dalam rangka melaksanakan tugasnya sebagai makhluk Allah, harta adalah milik Allah swt. sepenuhnya, apapun bentuknya. Sayyid Quthb berpandangan bahwa jihad adalah perang ofensif melawan musuh Islam secara fisik dengan cara pemisahan secara total hubungan muslim dan nonmuslim. Berdasarkan pemahaman jihad di atas, Sayyid Quthb beranggapan bahwa harta hanyalah sarana yang harus dimanfaatkan dalam rangka jihad di jalan Allah

Evaluation of 10 wheat cultivars under water stress at Moghan (Iran) condition

Water deficit is one of the main abiotic factors that affect yield and yield component of wheat planted in arid and semi-arid regions. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of water stress on wheat yield and yield component during 2008 at Moghan conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of water stress on seed yield and yield components of ten wheat cultivars and lines that differ in adoption to drought stress. Ten bread wheat lines and cultivars were evaluated with contrasting water regimes {well-watered (as control) and water stress}. The trial was carried out in a complete block design based on factorial arrangement with three replications. Grain yield, ear number/m2, seed number per ear, 1000 kernel weight, ear length and plant height were studied. Analysis of variance showed that seed yield, ear number, grain number per ear, 1000 kernel weight and plant height was affected significantly by water stress, but ear length was not affected by water stress. The highest seed yield was observed in Chamran cultivar. Seed yield has a positive-significant correlation with ear number/m2, 1000 kernel weight, grain number/ear and plant height.Key words: Water stress, wheat, yield, yield component

An analytical solution for reliability assessment of pseudo-static stability of rock slopes using jointly distributed random variables method

PublishedReliability analysis of rock slope stability has received considerable attention in the literature. It has been used as an effective tool to evaluate uncertainty so prevalent in variables. In this research the application of the jointly distributed random variables method for probabilistic analysis and reliability assessment of rock slope stability with plane sliding is investigated. In a recently published paper, the authors showed the dependency of the numerator and denominator of the safety factor relationship and argued that, as a result of this dependency, the method could not assess the reliability correctly. In the current research the authors present a new approach to solve this problem. In this approach, using the basic relations in this method, the safety factor relationship is obtained directly without separation of its numerator and denominator. Furthermore, in addition to friction angle of sliding surface, apparent cohesion, depth of water in tension crack, and earthquake acceleration ratio, in the present work the unit weight of rock is also considered as a stochastic parameter. The results are compared with the Monte Carlo simulation. Comparison of the results indicates good performance of the proposed approach for assessment of reliability. The new results of parametric analysis using the jointly distributed random variables method show that the friction angle of sliding surface is the most effective parameter in rock slope stability with plane sliding

An Approach to Correlate the Statistical-Based Lorenz Method, as a Way of Measuring Heterogeneity, with Kozeny-Carman Equation

Dealing with carbonate reservoirs can be mind-boggling for the reservoir engineers due to various digenetic processes that cause a variety of properties through the reservoir. A good estimation of the reservoir heterogeneity which is defined as the quality of variation in rock properties with location in a reservoir or formation, can better help modeling the reservoir and thus can offer better understanding of the behavior of that reservoir. Most of reservoirs are heterogeneous formations whose mineralogy, organic content, natural fractures, and other properties vary from place to place. Over years, reservoir engineers have tried to establish methods to describe the heterogeneity, because heterogeneity is important in modeling the reservoir flow and in well testing. Geological methods are used to describe the variations in the rock properties because of the similarities of environments in which different beds have deposited in. To illustrate the heterogeneity of a reservoir vertically, two methods are generally used in petroleum work: Dykstra-Parsons permeability variations (V) and Lorenz coefficient (L) that are reviewed briefly in this paper. The concept of Lorenz is based on statistics and has been used in petroleum from that point of view. In this paper, we correlated the statistical-based Lorenz method to a petroleum concept, i.e. Kozeny-Carman equation and derived the straight line plot of Lorenz graph for a homogeneous system. Finally, we applied the two methods on a heterogeneous field in South Iran and discussed each, separately, with numbers and figures. As expected, these methods show great departure from homogeneity. Therefore, for future investment, the reservoir needs to be treated carefully