CHARACTERIZATION AND USE OF IN NATURA AND CALCINED RICE HUSKS FOR BIOSORPTION OF HEAVY METALS IONS FROM AQUEOUS EFFLUENTS

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Heavy metal removal by adsorption using rice husks as a bioadsorbent was evaluated as an alternative for wastewater treatment. Batch equilibrium experiments and kinetic sorption studies were performed using monocoinponent solutions of Ni(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), Pb(II) and Cu(I I) in surface samples of in natura (RH) and calcined rice husks (RHA). RHA showed higher potential for removing lead and copper. Experimental data for adsorption isotherms of lead and copper were adjusted by Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevick (D-R) models, being better represented by the Langmuir model. The calcination of RI-I increased its surface area, improving its adsorption properties. From a morphological analysis obtained by SEM and diffraction patterns (XRD), a longitudinal fibrous and amorphous structure was observed for RI-I. TGA results indicated a total mass loss of around 60% for RH and 24.5% for RNA.293619633Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

3D Activity Recognition using Motion History and Binary Shape Templates

This paper presents our work on activity recognition in 3D depth images. We propose a global descriptor that is accurate, compact and easy to compute as compared to the state-of-the-art for characterizing depth sequences. Activity enactment video is divided into temporally overlapping blocks. Each block (set of image frames) is used to generate Motion History Templates (MHTs) and Binary Shape Templates (BSTs) over three different views - front, side and top. The three views are obtained by projecting each video frame onto three mutually orthogonal Cartesian planes. MHTs are assembled by stacking the difference of consecutive frame projections in a weighted manner separately for each view. Histograms of oriented gradients are computed and concatenated to represent the motion content. Shape information is obtained through a similar gradient analysis over BSTs. These templates are built by overlaying all the body silhouettes in a block, separately for each view. To effectively trace shape-growth, BSTs are built additively along the blocks. Consequently, the complete ensemble of gradient features carries both 3D shape and motion information to effectively model the dynamics of an articulated body movement. Experimental results on 4 standard depth databases (MSR 3D Hand Gesture, MSR Action, Action-Pairs, and UT-Kinect) prove the efficacy as well as the generality of our compact descriptor. Further, we successfully demonstrate the robustness of our approach to (impulsive) noise and occlusion errors that commonly affect depth data

Incidence of oral cancer in relation to nickel and arsenic concentrations in farm soils of patients' residential areas in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To explore if exposures to specific heavy metals in the environment is a new risk factor of oral cancer, one of the fastest growing malignancies in Taiwan, in addition to the two established risk factors, cigarette smoking and betel quid chewing.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is an observational study utilized the age-standardized incidence rates of oral cancer in the 316 townships and precincts of Taiwan, local prevalence rates of cigarette smoking and betel quid chewing, demographic factors, socio-economic conditions, and concentrations in farm soils of the eight kinds of heavy metal. Spatial regression and GIS (Geographic Information System) were used. The registration contained 22,083 patients, who were diagnosed with oral cancer between 1982 and 2002. The concentrations of metal in the soils were retrieved from a nation-wide survey in the 1980s.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The incidence rate of oral cancer is geographically related to the concentrations of arsenic and nickel in the patients' residential areas, with the prevalence of cigarette smoking and betel quid chewing as controlled variables.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Beside the two established risk factors, cigarette smoking and betel quid chewing, arsenic and nickel in farm soils may be new risk factors for oral cancer. These two kinds of metal may involve in the development of oral cancer. Further studies are required to understand the pathways via which metal in the farm soils exerts its effects on human health.</p