The aim of this study is to utilize the electromembrane extraction (EME) system as a manner for effective removal of zinc from aqueous solutions. A novel and distinctive electrochemical cell design was adopted consisting of two glass chambers, a supported liquid membrane (SLM) housing a polypropylene flat membrane infused with 1-octanol and a carrier. Two electrodes were used, a graphite as anode and a stainless steel as cathode. A comprehensive examination of several influential factors including the choice of carrier, the applied voltage magnitude, the initial pH of the donor solution, and the initial concentration of zinc was performed, all in a concerted effort to ascertain their respective impacts on the efficiency of zinc elimination. Two distinct carriers, namely tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (DEHP) were evaluated, in a tandem with utilization of 1-octanol. The results revealed essential role played by the applied voltage in augmenting the rate of mass transfer of zinc across the membrane. The best operating conditions were utilized for 1-octanol enriched with 1.0 vol.% bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate as a carrier, applied voltage of 60 V, initial pH of 5, initial zinc concentration of 15 mg L-1, extraction duration of 6 hours, and stirring rate of 1000 rpm. Surprisingly, operating under these meticulously devised conditions culminated in the outstanding removal efficiency of 87.3 %. In comparison with no applied voltage, a substantial enhancement in removal efficiency was observed, transcending from a meager 36.67 % to an impressive 87.3 % at 60 V, suggesting thus a tremendous potential of EME as an efficacious technique for the elimination of heavy metals.
One of the most essential components of asphalt pavements is the filler. It serves two purposes. First, this fine-grained material (diameter less than 0.075 mm) improves the cohesiveness of aggregate with bitumen. Second, produce a dense mixture by filling the voids between the particles. Aluminum dross (AD), which is a by-product of aluminum re-melting, is formed all over the world. This material causes damage to humans and the environment; stockpiling AD in landfills is not the best solution. This research studies the possibility of replacing part of the conventional filler with aluminum dross. Three percent of dross was used, 10, 20, and 30% by filler weight. The MarshallMix design method was adopted to obtain the op
... Show MoreTo date, comprehensive reviews and discussions of the strengths and limitations of Remote Sensing (RS) standalone and combination approaches, and Deep Learning (DL)-based RS datasets in archaeology have been limited. The objective of this paper is, therefore, to review and critically discuss existing studies that have applied these advanced approaches in archaeology, with a specific focus on digital preservation and object detection. RS standalone approaches including range-based and image-based modelling (e.g., laser scanning and SfM photogrammetry) have several disadvantages in terms of spatial resolution, penetrations, textures, colours, and accuracy. These limitations have led some archaeological studies to fuse/integrate multip
... Show MoreA ‘locking-bolt’ demountable shear connector (LBDSC) is proposed to facilitate the deconstruction and reuse of steel-concrete composite structures, in line with achieving a more sustainable construction design paradigm. The LBDSC is comprised of a grout-filled steel tube and a geometrically compatible partially threaded bolt. The latter has a geometry that ‘locks’ the bolt in compatible holes predrilled on the steel flange and eliminates initial slip and construction tolerance issues. The structural behaviour of the LBDSC is evaluated through nine pushout tests using a horizontal test setup. The effects of the tube thickness, strength of concrete slab, and strength of infilled grout on the shear resistance, initial stiffness, and du
... Show Moreplanning is among the most significant in the field of robotics research. As it is linked to finding a safe and efficient route in a cluttered environment for wheeled mobile robots and is considered a significant prerequisite for any such mobile robot project to be a success. This paper proposes the optimal path planning of the wheeled mobile robot with collision avoidance by using an algorithm called grey wolf optimization (GWO) as a method for finding the shortest and safe. The research goals in this study for identify the best path while taking into account the effect of the number of obstacles and design parameters on performance for the algorithm to find the best path. The simulations are run in the MATLAB environment to test the
... Show MoreA substantial portion of today’s multimedia data exists in the form of unstructured text. However, the unstructured nature of text poses a significant task in meeting users’ information requirements. Text classification (TC) has been extensively employed in text mining to facilitate multimedia data processing. However, accurately categorizing texts becomes challenging due to the increasing presence of non-informative features within the corpus. Several reviews on TC, encompassing various feature selection (FS) approaches to eliminate non-informative features, have been previously published. However, these reviews do not adequately cover the recently explored approaches to TC problem-solving utilizing FS, such as optimization techniques.
... Show MoreHomomorphic encryption became popular and powerful cryptographic primitive for various cloud computing applications. In the recent decades several developments has been made. Few schemes based on coding theory have been proposed but none of them support unlimited operations with security. We propose a modified Reed-Muller Code based symmetric key fully homomorphic encryption to improve its security by using message expansion technique. Message expansion with prepended random fixed length string provides one-to-many mapping between message and codeword, thus one-to many mapping between plaintext and ciphertext. The proposed scheme supports both (MOD 2) additive and multiplication operations unlimitedly. We make an effort to prove
... Show MoreRecent years have witnessed an increase in the use of composite coatings for numerous applications, including aerospace, aircraft, and maritime vessels. These materials owe this popularity surge to the superior strength, weight, stiffness, and electrical insulation they exhibit over conventional substances, such as metals. The growing demand for such materials is accompanied by the inevitable need for fast, accurate, and affordable nondestructive testing techniques to reveal any possible defects within the coatings or any defects under coating. However, typical nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques such as ultrasonic testing (UT), infrared thermography (IRT), eddy current testing (ECT), and laser shearography (LS) have failed to p
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