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In 1981 the Giprokhimmash suggested organizing the wide introduction of full secondary power source use at the Sumsk Severno industrial unit plants, including a considerable number of existing, under construction, and planned undertakings from various departments and services and predominantly the very large plants and production associations of Minkhimmash in the Sumsk Severuo industrial unit having large unused secondary power source reserves.

Dried, milled perennial ryegrass samples were processed using chemical and physical treatments and the extracted cellulose products were analysed for yield, crystallinity by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and for purity using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Extraction protocols examined the use of chemical chelation, acid and alkaline hydrolysis, along with physical degradation methods. Highest product yields were obtained using single step chemical protocols followed by physical processing, however, these products had low crystallinity and higher amorphous fraction content. Multistep chemical processing to completely remove hemicellulose and lignin with an alkali refluxing step, delivered lower yielding cellulose products of greater crystallinity and purity. In combination, the four instrumental techniques highlighted removal of amorphous fractions, providing rapid, accurate compositional data on the extracted cellulose products.

This edited volume examines the opportunities to think, do, and/or create jointly afforded by digital storytelling. The contributors discuss digital storytelling in the context of educational programs, teaching anthropology, and ethnographic research involving a variety of populations and subjects that will appeal to researchers and practitioners engaged with qualitative methods and pedagogies that rely on media technology.

Abstract The reverse flat-plate collector is a non-concentrating collector. It can collect solar heat at high temperatures which cannot be achieved by conventional non-concentrating collectors. In this paper, the authors have proposed a number of modified versions of the originally proposed reverse flat-plate collector. The new designs are of single, as well as double, absorber type. The thermal performance of these modified reverse flat-plate collectors is compared with that of a single absorber reverse flat-plate collector, as well as with the corresponding normal flat-plate collector. It is found that the new design having two absorbers gives the best thermal performance as compared with other configurations. The analytical models presented in this paper very well describe the experimental results.

Abstract Levee systems are an important part of California’s water infrastructure, engineered to provide resilience against flooding and reduce flood losses. The growth in California is partly associated with costly infrastructure developments that led to population expansion in the levee protected areas. Therefore, potential changes in the flood hazard could have significant socioeconomic consequences over levee protected areas, especially in the face of a changing climate. In this study, we examine the possible impacts of a warming climate on flood hazard over levee protected land in California. We use gridded maximum daily runoff from global circulation models (GCMs) that represent a wide range of variability among the climate projections, and are recommended by the California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment Report, to investigate possible climate-induced changes. We also quantify the exposure of several critical infrastructure protected by the levee systems (e.g. roads, electric power transmission lines, natural gas pipelines, petroleum pipelines, and railroads) to flooding. Our results provide a detailed picture of change in flood risk for different levees and the potential societal consequences (e.g. exposure of people and critical infrastructure). Levee systems in the northern part of the Central Valley and coastal counties of Southern California are likely to observe the highest increase in flood hazard relative to the past. The most evident change is projected for the northern region of the Central Valley, including Butte, Glenn, Yuba, Sutter, Sacramento, and San Joaquin counties. In the leveed regions of these counties, based on the model simulations of the future, the historical 100-year runoff can potentially increase up to threefold under RCP8.5. We argue that levee operation and maintenance along with emergency preparation plans should take into account the changes in frequencies and intensities of flood hazard in a changing climate to ensure safety of levee systems and their protected infrastructure.

Abstract Dimethyl ether appears to be a better choice among various diesel alternatives due to its high cetane number and sootless combustion. However, the physical and chemical properties of dimethyl ether are very different from those of diesel. The physical properties influence spray formation and atomization characteristics, while chemical properties determine combustion and emission formation characteristics. Thus, fuel's physical and chemical properties significantly determine engine performance and emissions. In the present work, spray combustion and emission formation characteristics of n-heptane, dimethyl ether, and their blends (10, 25, and 50% dimethyl ether in n-heptane) were numerically studied in a constant volume chamber. Results show that the n-heptane spray combustion has the highest heat release rate with an intense premix combustion phase, whereas dimethyl ether spray combustion has the lowest heat release rate and shortest premix combustion phase. The magnitude of the premixed phase and heat release rate decreases with the increase in dimethyl ether mass fraction in the blends. Soot, carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon (UHC), and nitric oxide (NO) emissions decreased with the increase in the dimethyl ether mass fraction in the blends and were lowest for the dimethyl ether.

In recent years, the rapid development of the rare earth industry has had a serious impact on the environment. Some enterprises have taken measures to improve the production process. In order to explore the sustainability of this industry and these improvements’ environmental benefits, this paper combines emergy analysis and lifecycle assessment to evaluate and compare the production process of rare-earth oxides considering the three aspects of emergy flow, pollutant emissions, and emergy-based indicators. Changes in the emergy of pollutant emissions before and after improvement of the production process are discussed. The results show that the greatest inputs in the mining and beneficiation stage and smelting separation stage are labor force and service and non-renewable resources, respectively. These two production stages are highly dependent on external input and have weak competitiveness. Both stages place great pressure on the environment, so the bastnasite production process would be unsustainable in the long term. After the improvement, the environmental impact of the production process for bastnaesite changed significantly, indicating that the improvement effect of the wastewater treatment facilities and the change of fuel from coal to natural gas is remarkable.

Abstract The ability of the Distributed Generation (DG) to solve problems such as power system deregulation and power demand problems appropriate to its purpose, which is to inject electricity in a distributed manner at a point close to the load, causes the distributed generation to become the latest trend in electricity generation technology. Proper position of distributed generation is necessary in order to achieved maximum benefit from DG, which could be due to an incorrect allocation of DG sources to the power network would not only result in increased power losses, but could also jeopardize the operation of the system. This paper introduces an ACO-algorithm for optimal location of DGs using a real network in one of a rural area of Malaysia. The method is used to determine the effectiveness of DG by comparing the losses of power and the improvement of the voltage profile. As for the confirmation to the ACO method, another method known as brute force method is use to compare the data gain as validation purposes.