Energy dissipation of rockfalls by coppice structures Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 993-1001,

Abstract. The objective of this work is to develop elements to improve understanding of the behaviour of a coppice in relation to the phenomenon of falling boulders. The first section proposes an amendment to the equation for calculating the index which describes the probability of impact between a rock and plants in managed coppice forests. A study was carried out, using models to calculate the kinetic energy of a falling boulder along a slope considering the kinetic energy dissipated during the impact with the structure of forest plants managed by coppice. The output of the simulation models were then compared with the real dynamics of falling boulders in field tests using digital video. It emerged from an analysis of the results of this comparison that a modification to the 1989 Gsteiger equation was required, in order to calculate the “Average Distance between Contacts” (ADC). To this purpose, the concept of “Structure of Interception”, proposed in this paper, was developed, valid as a first approach for describing the differences in the spatial distribution of stems between coppice and forest. This study also aims to provide suggestions for forestry management, in order to maintain or increase the protective capacity of a coppice managed with conventional techniques for the area studied, modifying the dendrometric characteristics

Electrochemistry of TiO2-iron hexacyanocobaltate composite electrodes

In this paper we investigate the electrochemical behavior of iron hexacyanocobaltate (FeHCC) in comparison to the cobalt hexacyanoferrate (CoHCF). The best results were achieved on electrochemical synthesized film of FeHCC on the TiO2 modified electrodes. The chemical and physical characterizations confirm the formation of the FeHCC with the classical cubic crystal structure of the Prussian blue analogs, with cell parameter a very close to 10 Å, as well as the formation of micro aggregates of TiO2 covered by FeHCC. The synthesis was performed on various substrates such as glassy carbon (GC), graphite foil (GF) and indium tin oxide (ITO) in order to develop new technological application

Physicochemical characterization of metal hexacyanometallate–TiO2 composite materials

The paper describes the synthesis and characterization of novel TiO2–metal hexacyanometallates (MHCMs) composite materials. The starting material, TiO2, was modified by addition of cobalt-hexacyanoferrate (CoHCF) or iron-hexacyanocobaltate (FeHCC) at various concentrations. The resulting composites were characterized as follows: cyclic voltammetry (CV) followed the formation of TiO2–MHCM clusters, TEM micrographs studied their morphology, XAS and XPS data indicated that MHCM bonds to TiO2 through the nitrogen atom of its –CN group and modifies the environment of Ti compared to that of pure anatase. As expected, and confirmed by UV-Vis and XP-valence band data, the electronic properties of TiO2 were substantially modified: the edge in the composite materials shifted by about −2.0 eV relative to TiO2

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of iron-hexacyanocobaltate nanoparticles

This paper deals with the synthesis and characterization of iron-hexacyanocobaltate (FeHCC) and its antibacterial properties. The nanoparticles were prepared by a facile co-precipitation technique. Crystal structure, particle morphology, and elemental composition were determined using X-ray Powder Diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Infrared Spectroscopy (IR). The antibacterial activity of the FeHCC nanoparticles was tested against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as models for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively, by bacterial counting method and microscopic visualization (TEM, FEG-SEM, and fluorescence microscopy). The results showed that the FeHCC nanoparticles bind to the bacterial cells, inhibit bacterial growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner, inducing a loss of the membrane potential, the production of reactive oxygen species and the release of macromolecules (nucleic acids and proteins) in the extracellular environment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the antimicrobial effects of metal-hexacyanometallates suggesting practical uses of these materials in different areas, such as self-cleaning surfaces or food packaging

Efficient chemical stabilization of tannery wastewater pollutants in a single step process: Geopolymerization

The treatment of tannery wastewaters is a complex task due to the complexity of the waste: a mixture of several pollutants, both anionic and cationic as well as organic macromolecules which are very hard to treat for disposal all together. Geopolymers are a class of inorganic binders obtained by alkali activation of aluminosilicate powders at room temperature. Such activation process leads to a cement like matrix that drastically decreases mobility of several components via entrapment. This process taking place in the matrix can be hypothesized to be the in-situ formation of zeolite structures. In this work we use a metakaolin based geopolymer to tackle the problem directly in an actual industrial environment. To obtain a geopolymer, the metakaolin was mixed with 10 wt% of wastewater added with sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate as activating solutions. This process allowed a rapid consolidation at room temperature, the average compressive strength was between 14 and 43 MPa. Leaching tests performed at different aging times confirm a high immobilization efficiency close to 100%. In particular, only the 0.008 and 2.31% of Chromium and Chlorides respectively are released in the leaching test after 7 months of aging

Efficient chemical stabilization of tannery wastewater pollutants in a single step process: Geopolymerization

The treatment of tannery wastewaters is a complex task due to the complexity of the waste: a mixture of several pollutants, both anionic and cationic as well as organic macromolecules which are very hard to treat for disposal all together. Geopolymers are a class of inorganic binders obtained by alkali activation of aluminosilicate powders at room temperature. Such activation process leads to a cement like matrix that drastically decreases mobility of several components via entrapment. This process taking place in the matrix can be hypothesized to be the in-situ formation of zeolite structures. In this work we use a metakaolin based geopolymer to tackle the problem directly in an actual industrial environment. To obtain a geopolymer, the metakaolin was mixed with 10 wt% of wastewater added with sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate as activating solutions. This process allowed a rapid consolidation at room temperature, the average compressive strength was between 14 and 43 MPa. Leaching tests performed at different aging times confirm a high immobilization efficiency close to 100%. In particular, only the 0.008 and 2.31% of Chromium and Chlorides respectively are released in the leaching test after 7 months of aging