The influence of electromagnetic fields from two commercially available water-treatment devices on calcium carbonate precipitation

CaCO3 precipitation profiles, tracked by absorbance at 350 nm, showing accelerated precipitation upon exposure of the parent solutions to a pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) from a commercially available device.</p

Risk assessment in non-standard forms of civil engineering consulting services

Although a large body of research exists on risk assessment in civil engineering projects and of owners, contractors, concessionaires and financiers of such projects, there is a lacuna in such research on engineering consultants, particularly those associated with non-standard forms of consulting services. This paper seeks to explore the genesis of the underlying risks in non-standard forms of engineering consulting services, systematically classify the risks, and develop a Risk Breakdown Structure and a generic Framework for efficient assessment of these risks, which is a prerequisite for sound risk management in the engineering consulting industry. The research adopts a mixed method approach, synthesising exploratory type multiple-case studies and questionnaire surveys, carried out in 14 engineering consulting firms having extensive experience in the delivery of non-standard consulting services. This paper provides empirical insights of the genetic makeup of risks associated with non-standard forms of consulting services. Such risks are found to be predominantly linked to design office based activities that underline the importance of design function in engineering consulting practice. Loss of reputation and/or goodwill is rated as the most severe potential impact on consultants. Proposed Risk Assessment Framework provides the engineering consulting industry with a functional tool for efficient risk management

An investigation of the effectiveness of locally available materials as oil spill sorbents for Sri Lanka

The effectiveness of seven locally avai lable natural organ ic materials as oi I spi II sorbents was tested.The study specifically focused on determining, the behaviour of loose material on a layer of oil, oilsorption capacity of different types of materials and the viability of using them under actual fieldconditions. The seven natural organic materials were chosen based on their availability and cost. Theamount of oi I sorption by each was determined by the gravimetric method and the rate of sorption wasdetermined. A commercially available synthetic oil sorbent, polyurethane. was used as the positivecontrol. Out of the seven natural organic materials tested, human hair was found to be the mosteffective sorbent. Compared to the positive control, Polyurethane, there was no significant differencewith respect to the oil sorption capacity of human hair. Therefore, all the subsequent experimentswere carried out using human hair only. As hair has a tendency to sink in sea water after oil sorption,hair was compacted in to pillows to facilitate the recovery after sorption. First, the affect of the pillowthickness on the oil sorption capacity was tested. Oil sorption capacity increased significantly as thethickness of the pillow increased and a thickness of Iern was found to yield the most efficient sorption.Then sorption capacity of oil by pillows was compared on a sea water oil interphase. only on oil and oilon sand. No significant difference was detected in the oil sorption capacity of hair filled pillows underthese three conditions. Finally, a field trial was conducted where pillows were developed up to the sizeof commercially avai lable synthetic pi llows and placed on an artificially created oil spi II and tested theoil sorption capacity under actual field conditions. A total offour pillows were used for the field trialand the pillows were removed at different time intervals after placing it on the artificial oil slick. Theresults of th is experiment were not conclusive as amount of oi I absorbed by all four pi llows did notreach the expected value calculated based on results obtained during laboratory experiments. due toseveral shortcomings in the experimental design. The results of this study clearly demonstrate thathuman hair can be used as an effective oil sorption material. As waste human hair is cheap andreadily available, it is a much more viable alternative to expensive synthetic organic material availablein the market

A Baseline for the Multivariate Comparison of Resting-State Networks

As the size of functional and structural MRI datasets expands, it becomes increasingly important to establish a baseline from which diagnostic relevance may be determined, a processing strategy that efficiently prepares data for analysis, and a statistical approach that identifies important effects in a manner that is both robust and reproducible. In this paper, we introduce a multivariate analytic approach that optimizes sensitivity and reduces unnecessary testing. We demonstrate the utility of this mega-analytic approach by identifying the effects of age and gender on the resting-state networks (RSNs) of 603 healthy adolescents and adults (mean age: 23.4 years, range: 12–71 years). Data were collected on the same scanner, preprocessed using an automated analysis pipeline based in SPM, and studied using group independent component analysis. RSNs were identified and evaluated in terms of three primary outcome measures: time course spectral power, spatial map intensity, and functional network connectivity. Results revealed robust effects of age on all three outcome measures, largely indicating decreases in network coherence and connectivity with increasing age. Gender effects were of smaller magnitude but suggested stronger intra-network connectivity in females and more inter-network connectivity in males, particularly with regard to sensorimotor networks. These findings, along with the analysis approach and statistical framework described here, provide a useful baseline for future investigations of brain networks in health and disease

Antigravity, an Answer to Nature’s Phenomena including the Expansion of the Universe

The gravitational attraction force being proportional to the mass has been experimentally shown for several hundred years now, but no gravitational repulsion has been identified within the accepted scientific reasoning. Here, we show that the gravitational repulsion force, similar to the gravitational attraction among particles has also been in existence in nature but, yet to be recognized. The results of experiments are shown in detail and are discussed in the recent series of-publications. It is also shown here that this gravitational repulsion force is proportional to the temperature which is an indicator of thermal energy of the particle, similar to the gravitational attraction that is proportional to the mass of the particle. The situations where heavy particles such as iodine, tungsten, and thorium in vacuum move against gravitational force have already been shown qualitatively. The increase in time-of-fall of water droplets (slowing down of fall) with rise in temperature is also quantitatively discussed. This article discusses two major phenomena observable in nature, clouds and the expansion of universe, which could be more preciously explained by the concept of antigravity

Redistribution of Energy in Electromagnetic Wave Interactions Interference of electromagnetic waves; a different approach

One of the well-known effects of electromagnetic waves is interference. Redistribution of energy in interference is well documented in literature but the mechanism has not been discussed in detail. A set of new experiments has been designed and conducted to observe the actual redistribution of the energy of the electromagnetic waves while being interfered and after leaving the region of interference. In this paper, it is shown that the redistribution of energy in interference of electromagnetic waves maintains the energy distribution prevailed at the moment they leave the disturbance (interference) area. Modified wave fronts which separated after intersection of two coherent waves in microwave frequency is demonstrated. Results are presented in pictorial and graphical models in order to understand the phenomena,. Further experiments are underway and possible mechanism will be discussed later. 1