Search results for "Science and technology"
showing 10 items of 1592 documents
Assessment of the Entropy of Spatial and Time Distributions of Rooms Daylighting: A Possible Tool for a Sustainable Design
2015
The indoor visual comfort of subjects faced with indoor ambient lighting varies with the position of the subject and is not constant over time. Average performance indexes, such as the mean value of Daylight Factor and Daylight Autonomy, are commonly used to analyse lighting distribution. These indexes, however, don’t properly take into account either the spatial or the time distribution of values affecting the non-uniformity of environmental lighting. Indeed, these are limited to the definition of a mean value or to the assessment of time availability of daylighting. This paper examines spatial and temporal non-uniformities in indoor lighting as possible causes of discomfort for occupants.…
Daytime sensible heat flux estimation over heterogeneous surfaces using multitemporal land-surface temperature observations
2016
Equations based on surface renewal (SR) analysis to estimate the sensible heat flux (H) require as input the mean ramp amplitude and period observed in the ramp-like pattern of the air temperature measured at high frequency. A SR-based method to estimate sensible heat flux (HSR-LST) requiring only low-frequency measurements of the air temperature, horizontal mean wind speed, and land-surface temperature as input was derived and tested under unstable conditions over a heterogeneous canopy (olive grove). HSR-LST assumes that the mean ramp amplitude can be inferred from the difference between land-surface temperature and mean air temperature through a linear relationship and that the ramp freq…
Microbial microstratification, inorganic carbon photoassimilation and dark carbon fixation at the chemocline of the meromictic Lake Cadagno (Switzerl…
2001
The microstratification of the microbial community at the chemocline of Lake Cadagno and the associated inorganic carbon fixation activity was studied by fine layer sampling. A deep chlorophyll maximum caused by diatoms overlying Cryptomonas was found at the upper edge of the chemocline. A high population density of phototrophic sulphur bacteria, mainly Amoebobacter cf. purpureus, occurred closely below the oxic-anoxic boundary. Despite the small fraction of total lake volume represented by the chemocline, half of the total carbon photoassimilation of the lake occurred within the chemocline with approximately equal contributions by oxygenic and anoxygenic phototrophs. Rates of dark carbon f…
Rainwater harvesting in urban areas of developed countries. The state of the art (1980-2017)
2020
Many urban areas suffer from water scarcity although paradoxically, a local source such as rainwater is mostly treated as a risk rather than a valuable resource. This change of paradigm is included in the 'integrated water resources management' and 'demand management' approach. The aim of this research is to identify and analyse studies that explore subject matters concerning rainwater in the integrated management systems of water resources into developed countries. The research methodology consisted in a literature review (from the 1980s to 2017) of territorial studies that examine rainwater harvesting in urban areas of the developed countries. To this end, a bibliometric analysis has been…
Eulerian–Lagrangian modeling and computational fluid dynamics simulation of wire mesh demisters in MSF plants
2016
Abstract This study focuses on computational fluid dynamics model (CFD) for simulation of demisters in multistage flash desalination (MSF). The Eulerian–Lagrangian model (steady-state and two-dimensional) was developed to simulate the demister. The model was used to simulate the flow of water vapor and brine droplets in the demister. The computational domain includes the following three zones: the vapor space above the demister, the vapor space below the demister, and the demister. The demister zone was modeled as tube banks. A sensitivity analysis of the model revealed that vapor velocity is the main parameter that affects demister performance. Additionally, the analysis indicated that vap…
Subsurface nitrate reduction under wetlands takes place in narrow superficial zones
2017
This study aims to investigate the depth distribution of the Nitrate Reduction Potential (NRP) on a natural and a re-established wetland. The obtained NRP provides a valuable data of the driving factors affecting denitrification, the Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction to Ammonium (DNRA) process and the performance of a re-established wetland. Intact soil cores were collected and divided in slices for the determination of Organic Matter (OM) through Loss of Ignition (LOI) as well as Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and NRP spiking nitrate in batch tests. The Nitrate Reduction (NR) was fitted as a pseudo-first order rate constant (k) from where NRPs were obtained. NR took place in a narrow superfi…
Desalination of oilfield produced waters via reverse electrodialysis: A techno-economical assessment
2023
Produced waters (PWs) are oilfield waste streams rich in minerals and hydrocarbons whose production rate is largely increased in last decades following the corresponding increase of energy demand. The high salinity level of PWs inhibits the adoption of cheap biological treatments. Also, desalination techniques based on osmotic membranes would require severe pre-treatments. As an alternative, Reverse ElectroDialysis (RED) and Assisted Reverse ElectroDialysis (ARED) are here proposed for the first time to reduce the salinity level of PWs. RED may also guarantee an operation cost reduction thanks to its energy generation. An ad-hoc model for RED and ARED is here developed in order to deal suit…
Spectrophotometric determination of phenols in water samples by the GHPSAM method
2001
Abstract The generalized H-point standard-additions method (GHPSAM) is proposed in order to obtain the phenol concentration in water samples when the matrix is completely unknown. The procedure involves solid-phase extraction in BondElut PPL cartridges and data handling of the UV-visible spectrophotometry measurements. The spectral regions where the unknown interferent behaviour can be considered as linear are found and the analyte concentration free from bias error is estimated. The percentages of recovery of phenols in spiked samples were similar to those obtained by HPLC. Cresols or chlorophenols can be also determined in real samples by this method. The concentration range tested was 0.…
Determination of Concentration Profiles of Methyl Mercury Compounds in Surface Waters of Polar and other Remote Oceans by GC-AFD
1998
Abstract The concentration of monomethyl mercury (MeHg+) and dimethyl mercury (Me2Hg) was determined in surface sea-water samples of the Antarctic and Arctic Ocean as well as of other remote areas (South Atlantic and South Pacific) during expeditions of the German research vessel “Polarstern”. A purge and trap/gas chromatographic system, equipped with an atomic fluorescence detector (AFD), was used. For the analysis of MeHg+ conversion into the volatile methylethyl mercury by reaction with tetraethyloborate prior to the purging process was carried out. The detection limit for both methylated mercury compounds was 5 pg Hg/L, which allowed their determination in most ocean water samples even …
Resin and fatty-acid analysis by solid-phase extraction coupled to atmospheric pressure chemical ionization–mass spectrometry
2007
Using gas-chromatographic analysis, the suitability of liquid–liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction (SPE) methods was studied for the rapid separation of resin and fatty-acid fractions from papermaking process waters. In the second phase of this study, a novel procedure (correlation coefficient >0.99 and repeatability RSD <8%) for on-line monitoring of selected individual acid components (limits of detection 11–78 µg L−1) by SPE combined with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization–mass spectrometry was developed. The suitability of this technique for quality control of papermaking process waters was tested by means of industrial samples. The method was also found suitable for the a…