Relationship Between Perceived In-Cabin Air Quality and Truck Drivers' Self-Reported Health and Alertness

This study surveyed 253 truck drivers and found that many drivers scored poorly on the Stanford and Epworth sleepiness scales indicating that they may not be as alert as they should be while driving. Moreover, those who rated the air in their truck cabins as fresh reported less irritation to their eyes, noses, throats, and skin, scored better in both sleepiness scales, and reported fewer sleep-related medical symptoms. Finally, the results of the ordinal logistic model indicate that drivers' perceptions of the air quality in their truck cabins are significantly related to their alertness during a trip

Relationship Between Perceived In-Cabin Air Quality and Truck Drivers' Self-Reported Health and Alertness

This study surveyed 253 truck drivers and found that many drivers scored poorly on the Stanford and Epworth sleepiness scales indicating that they may not be as alert as they should be while driving. Moreover, those who rated the air in their truck cabins as fresh reported less irritation to their eyes, noses, throats, and skin, scored better in both sleepiness scales, and reported fewer sleep-related medical symptoms. Finally, the results of the ordinal logistic model indicate that drivers' perceptions of the air quality in their truck cabins are significantly related to their alertness during a trip

Enhanced photocatalytic oxidation of SO2 on TiO2 surface by Na2CO3 modification

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.05.128 © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The effects of Na2CO3 on the photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) of SO2 with UV irradiated TiO2 (P25) were studied using a fixed bed reactor. Na2CO3 was loaded onto P25 using a wet coating method. The PCO efficiency for SO2 with P25 was enhanced by 1.6 and 10.6 times using 0.05 M and 0.2 M Na2CO3 modified P25, respectively. The enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of P25 by Na2CO3 was observed only with the presence of water vapor. Low temperature (113 K) electron spinning resonance (ESR) analysis showed that Na2CO3 promoted the photoinduced electron-hole separation by trapping valance band holes and forming carbonate radicals (CO3−). The ESR spin trapping analyses showed a remarkable increase in the intensity of [DMPO-OH] adducts with the addition of Na2CO3. This increase phenomena indicates that more reactive species were formed on the P25 surface. The deposited Na2CO3 inhibited the recombination of electron-hole pairs and promoted the generation of hydroxyl radicals (OH), most likely through the photo-reduction of O2 adsorbed by the conduction band electrons. The generated •OH radicals reacted with SO2 rapidly and improved the PCO effectiveness of P25.National Key Research and Development Program of China ["2017YFB0603903"

A wet process for oxidation-absorption of nitric oxide by persulfate/calcium peroxide

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.05.145 © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This study develops and evaluates a novel wet method for NO removal using a Na2S2O8/CaO2 solution. The effects of these two components both and alone in solution, Na2S2O8 concentration, CaO2 concentration, initial pH, reaction temperature, and the concentrations of NO and O2 on NO removal efficiency were evaluated using a bubbling reactor. The combination of Na2S2O8 and CaO2 had a synergistic effect on NO removal efficiency. NO removal was effected by CaO2 concentration, reaction temperature and the initial solution pH, while Na2S2O8 concentration and O2 concentration had little effect. The NO removal efficiency decreased linearly from 94.5 % to 75.1 % when the NO concentration increased from 139 to 559 ppm. The products were characterized using XRD, XPS and IC, and CaSO4·2H2O, NO3− and SO42− were found to be the main products. The EPR analysis showed that free radicals of O2−, SO4− and OH were the key species involved in the NO removal process. Finally, the corresponding reaction mechanisms were proposed.International S&T Cooperation Program of China [Grant No. 2015DFG61910

On the validity of the local Fourier analysis

Local Fourier analysis (LFA) is a useful tool in predicting the convergence factors of geometric multigrid methods (GMG). As is well known, on rectangular domains with periodic boundary conditions this analysis gives the exact convergence factors of such methods. In this work, using the Fourier method, we extend these results by proving that such analysis yields the exact convergence factors for a wider class of problems

Catalytic isomerization of glucose to fructose using heterogeneous solid Base catalysts in a continuous-flow tubular reactor: Catalyst screening study

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2018.03.056 © 2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Isomerization reactions of glucose into fructose in aqueous media were studied in a continuous-flow tubular reactor using different heterogeneous solid base catalysts, including calcined-rehydrated hydrotalcite, magnesium oxide, Amberlyst A21 ion exchange resin and two commercial hydrotalcite catalysts. The catalysts were characterized and their activities for glucose isomerization were compared. The most active catalyst was found to be magnesium oxide, which showed the highest glucose conversion (36.3%) and highest fructose yield (22.8%) at 100 °C. Among all catalysts, the calcined-rehydrated hydrotalcite showed the highest selectivity towards fructose, reaching 78% at 100 °C. It was also found that increasing the reaction temperature had positive effects on glucose conversion and fructose yield for both activated hydrotalcite and MgO catalysts. The fructose yield at 120 °C attained 19.5% and 25.1% with the activated hydrotalcite and MgO catalysts, respectively. The catalytic activity of hydrotalcite calcined at 450 °C for glucose isomerization reaction was found to be greater that calcined at 350 °C. The hyrdotalcite and magnesium oxide catalysts were observed to be stable in the four hours of continuous tests on stream. TGA analyses of the used catalysts proved the formation of undesired insoluble by-products, mainly humins, on the surface of the used catalysts.NSERC Discovery Program, Ontario governmen

Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases From Basic Concepts to Engineering Applications for Air Emission Control

Air emissions include air pollution emissions and greenhouse gas emissions. Effective air emission control requires multidisciplinary expertise in engineering, education, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medical science, psychology, agriculture, architecture, business management, economics, and politics. It is a dif?cult task for the author(s) of any single book to address all aspects of air emissions. The focus of this book is on engineering science and technology, upon which effective air emission control program must be built. It does not prescribe social, economic, and political factors that lie outside the scope of this book. This book aims at senior undergraduate and graduate students with educational backgrounds in mechanical, chemical, and/or environmental engineering. It can also be used by professionals with similar training background. It focuses on the basic concepts and engineering applications of technologies for the control of air emissions resulted from fossil fuel combustion. This book is divided into three parts. The general basic concepts introduced in Part I are necessary to the understanding of air emission engineering topics in Parts II and III. Part II presents the engineering applications of the principles introduced in Part I. Part III covers some emerging topics related to air emission engineering and they include carbon capture and storage, nanoaerosol, indoor air quality