Trialing a Smart Face-recognition Computer System to Recognize Lost People Visiting the Two Holy Mosques

This paper describes an integrated recognition system for identifying faces of the people. The work is intended to help recognizing lost, missing, dead, and found unknown people visiting the Grand Mosques during Hajj and Umrah seasons in the two Holy cities of Makkah and Medina in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The importance of this work is assumed increasing as the number of visitors will increase aiming to reach the total estimated number of pilgrims around 30 million as planned by the Saudi government in year 2030. The proposed technique is tested by studying faces of 100 Hajj visiting people taken randomly from 25 countries where every person is pictured from different angles and in different situations and behaviors. The different pictures built a new testing database specialized for the changes expected on faces due to Hajj & Umrah situations, which was named HUFRD (Hajj & Umrah Face Recognition Database). The study gave interesting results. It is just in its beginning phase where more accuracy as well as sophisticated image processing techniques would be involved for the promising future

Electrochemical Activation of Graphene at Low Temperature: The Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Nanoarchitectures for High Performance Supercapacitors and Capacitive Deionization

An electrochemical technique is developed to activate graphene oxide (GO) at relatively low temperature and assemble it into porous electrodes. The activation process is carried out in molten KOH by switching the polarity between 2 symmetrical GO electrodes. The electrochemically activated graphene (ECAG) showed a specific surface area as high as 2170 m² g^–1 and nanometer-sized pore created at a temperature as low as 450 °C. The ECAG electrode shows a significant enhancement in the electrochemical activity and thus improved electrochemical performance when being used as electrodes in supercapacitors and capacitive deionization (CDI) cells. A specific capacitance of 275 F g^–1 is obtained in 6 M KOH electrolyte, and 189 F g^–1 in 1 M NaCl electrolyte, which maintains 95% after 5000 cycles. The desalination capacity of the electrodes was evaluated by a batch mode electrosorption experiment. The ECAG electrode was able to remove 14.25 mg of salts per gram of the active materials and satisfy a high adsorption rate of 2.01 mg g^–1 min^–1. The low energy consumption of the CDI system is demonstrated by its high charge efficiency, which is estimated to be 0.83

Usuwanie Fe++ ze ścieków przy użyciu hybrydowych adsorbentów osadowo-polimerowych

Removal of Fe++ by adsorption on sludge-polymer hybrid adsorbents was studied. Sludge was collected from domestic disposal wastewater. Thermal treatment of sludge particles was carriedout at 200, 400 and 600°C to improve adsorption capacity. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) commercial polymer was mixed with the sludge in different mass ratios. Surface morphology and chemical structure of treated sludge were investigated using SEM and FTIR. Parameters studied are initial concentration of Fe++, contact time, sludge dose, heat treatment of the sludge, and sludge/polymer mixing ratio. Within the present range of studied parameters the removal efficiency of Fe++increases with in-creasing sludge dose. Increasing initial concentration of Fe++from 50 to 100 ppm increases the removal efficiency by a factor of maximum of 1.73. Fur-ther increasing in concentration from 100 to 150 ppm leads to decrease in removal efficiency up to 43%. Sludge-PVDF hybrid adsorbent improved removal efficiency up to 63.6%. Experimental data fits to Freundlich linear model. The mechanism of adsorption of Fe++ by sludge adsorbent was found to take place through a monolayer and heterogeneous surface. Potential applications of the present data in removing heavy metals from industrial waste solutions were highlighted.W pracy badano usuwanie Fe++ za pomocą adsorpcji na osadowo-polimerowych adsorbentach hybrydowych. Osady pobrano z oczyszczalni ścieków komunalnych. Obróbkę termiczną osadu prowadzono w temperaturze 200, 400 i 600°C, w celu poprawy zdolności adsorpcyjnych. Fluorek poliwinylidenu (PVDF) – handlowy polimer – mieszano z osadami w różnych stosunkach masowych. Morfologia powierzchni i struktura chemiczna przetworzonego osadu była badana za pomocą SEM i FTIR. Badane parametry niezależne to: początkowe stężenie Fe++, czas kontaktu, dawka osadu, obróbka termiczna osadu, udział osadu/polimeru w mieszance. W badanych zakresach zmienności parametrów niezależnych, efektywność usuwania Fe++ wzrasta wraz ze wzrostem dawki osadu. Zwiększenie początkowego stężenia Fe++ z 50 do 100 ppm zwiększa skuteczność usuwania o współczynnik wynoszący maksymalnie 1,73. Dalsze zwiększanie stężenia od 100 do 150 ppm, prowadzi do zmniejszenia skuteczności usuwania do 43%. Hybrydowy adsorbent poprawił skuteczność usuwania aż do 63,6%. Dane doświadczalne odpowiadają liniowej izotermie Freundlicha. Adsorpcja Fe++ przez adsorbent osadowy zachodzi poprzez monowarstwę i heterogeniczną powierzchnię. Podkreślono możliwość zastosowania uzyskanych wyników do usuwaniu metali ciężkich ze ścieków przemysłowych

Usuwanie Fe++ ze ścieków przy użyciu hybrydowych adsorbentów osadowo-polimerowych

Removal of Fe++ by adsorption on sludge-polymer hybrid adsorbents was studied. Sludge was collected from domestic disposal wastewater. Thermal treatment of sludge particles was carriedout at 200, 400 and 600°C to improve adsorption capacity. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) commercial polymer was mixed with the sludge in different mass ratios. Surface morphology and chemical structure of treated sludge were investigated using SEM and FTIR. Parameters studied are initial concentration of Fe++, contact time, sludge dose, heat treatment of the sludge, and sludge/polymer mixing ratio. Within the present range of studied parameters the removal efficiency of Fe++increases with in-creasing sludge dose. Increasing initial concentration of Fe++from 50 to 100 ppm increases the removal efficiency by a factor of maximum of 1.73. Fur-ther increasing in concentration from 100 to 150 ppm leads to decrease in removal efficiency up to 43%. Sludge-PVDF hybrid adsorbent improved removal efficiency up to 63.6%. Experimental data fits to Freundlich linear model. The mechanism of adsorption of Fe++ by sludge adsorbent was found to take place through a monolayer and heterogeneous surface. Potential applications of the present data in removing heavy metals from industrial waste solutions were highlighted.W pracy badano usuwanie Fe++ za pomocą adsorpcji na osadowo-polimerowych adsorbentach hybrydowych. Osady pobrano z oczyszczalni ścieków komunalnych. Obróbkę termiczną osadu prowadzono w temperaturze 200, 400 i 600°C, w celu poprawy zdolności adsorpcyjnych. Fluorek poliwinylidenu (PVDF) – handlowy polimer – mieszano z osadami w różnych stosunkach masowych. Morfologia powierzchni i struktura chemiczna przetworzonego osadu była badana za pomocą SEM i FTIR. Badane parametry niezależne to: początkowe stężenie Fe++, czas kontaktu, dawka osadu, obróbka termiczna osadu, udział osadu/polimeru w mieszance. W badanych zakresach zmienności parametrów niezależnych, efektywność usuwania Fe++ wzrasta wraz ze wzrostem dawki osadu. Zwiększenie początkowego stężenia Fe++ z 50 do 100 ppm zwiększa skuteczność usuwania o współczynnik wynoszący maksymalnie 1,73. Dalsze zwiększanie stężenia od 100 do 150 ppm, prowadzi do zmniejszenia skuteczności usuwania do 43%. Hybrydowy adsorbent poprawił skuteczność usuwania aż do 63,6%. Dane doświadczalne odpowiadają liniowej izotermie Freundlicha. Adsorpcja Fe++ przez adsorbent osadowy zachodzi poprzez monowarstwę i heterogeniczną powierzchnię. Podkreślono możliwość zastosowania uzyskanych wyników do usuwaniu metali ciężkich ze ścieków przemysłowych