Engineering Commons^™

Performance Of A Catch Basin Filter And Leachate From Biocidal Media For Stormwater Treatment, Ryan Scott Maclure

Master's Theses

The feasibility of installing biocidal beads into a catch basin filter insert for simultaneous stormwater disinfection and contaminant removal was tested. The catch basin filter insert (DrainPac®) was tested for its sediment, oil and grease, and coliform bacteria removal efficiency in conjunction with bench-scale testing of biocidal polymer beads. DrainPac® catch basin filters are composed of a metal frame, polypropylene filter fabric, and a high-density polymer support basket, and are installed below storm drains. A 12 x 41 in. DrainPac® filter (United Stormwater, Inc.) insert was set in a flume that simulated a large-scale catchment basin. Pond water was gravity …

Phytoremediation Of Weathered Petroleum In Groundwater By Arroyo Willows In Nutrient Amended On-Site Mesocosms, Sarah E. Bragg-Flavan

Master's Theses

PHYTOREMEDIATION OF WEATHERED PETROLEUM IN GROUNDWATER BY ARROYO WILLOWS IN NUTRIENT AMENDED ON-SITE MESOCOSMS

SARAH BRAGG-FLAVAN

A large-scale mesocosm study was conducted to determine if vegetation with willow trees enhances biodegradation and to evaluate the mechanisms of natural biodegradation of weathered petroleum compounds under field conditions. The mesocosms were designed to model conditions at a former oil field where mid-range petroleum distillates were used as a diluent for pumping crude oil contaminated the soil and groundwater at the site with petroleum compounds. Ten mesocosms were constructed at the field site using un-impacted soil and diluent-impacted groundwater from the site. Five …

Potential Migration Of Ε-Caprolactam To Water And Wine As Affected By Transportation And Storage, Joseph C. Ianneo

Master's Theses

Abstract: Under normal sealing and storage conditions, Nylon-6, poly-caprolactam-based plastic laminates may release impurities to packaged foods and liquids and the application of heat for cooking often increases the rate of migration. Epsilon-caprolactam is one of the main contaminates found to migrate from a Nylon-6 poly-caprolactam plastic film. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of solvent, transportation and storage time on the migration of ε-caprolactam from a Nylon-6-based lidding material into water or a white wine substitute (12% ethanol). Polypropylene plastic cups were filled, sealed, packaged, stacked and exposed to a simulated 3-day cross-country shipment. Cups …

Impacts Of Delayed Drawdown On Water Quality And Aquatic Biota In Seasonal Wetlands Of The Grassland Ecological Area, Los Banos, California, Kyle Nathan Poole

Master's Theses

The 178,000-acre Grassland Ecological Area in California’s San Joaquin Valley is managed to provide overwintering habitat to waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway. The major management activity is the fall flooding and spring drawdown of wetlands, timed to optimize the availability of forage vegetation and invertebrates for ducks and shorebirds. Wetland drainage contains salt, boron, and trace elements that are, in part, derived from imported surface water but also concentrate during storage in the wetland impoundments. The spring drawdown drainage contributes to occasional water quality violations in the San Joaquin River (SJR) during dry years. Compliance with water quality objectives may …

Optimization Of Gan Laser Diodes Using 1d And 2d Optical Simulations, Sean Richard Keali'i Jobe

Master's Theses

This paper studies the optical properties of a GaN Laser Diode (LD). Through simulation, the GaN LD is optimized for the best optical confinement factor. It is found that there are optimal thicknesses of each layer in the diode that yield the highest optical confinement factor. There is a strong relationship between the optical confinement factor and lasing threshold—a higher optical confinement factor results in a lower lasing threshold. Increasing optical confinement improves lasing efficiency. Blue LDs are important to the future of lighting sources as they represent the final color in the RGB spectrum that does not have a …

Simulated Scatter Performance Of An Inverse-Geometry Dedicated Breast Ct System, Reema Bhagtani, Taly Gilat Schmidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this work was to quantify the effects of scatter for inverse-geometry dedicated breast CT compared to cone-beam breast CT through simulations. The inverse geometry was previously proposed as an alternative to cone-beam acquisition for volumetric CT. The inverse geometry consists of a large-area scanned-source opposite a detector array that is smaller in the transverse direction. While the gantry rotates, the x-ray beam is rapidly sequenced through an array of positions, acquiring a truncated projection image at each position. Inverse-geometry CT (IGCT) is expected to detect less scatter than cone-beam methods because only a fraction of the object …

Short-Term Osteoclastic Activity Induced By Locally High Concentrations Of Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein–2 In A Cancellous Bone Environment, Jeffrey M. Toth, Scott D. Boden, J. Kenneth Burkus, Jeffrey Badura, Steve M. Peckham, William Mckay

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Study Design. An experimental study investigating osteoclastic activity induced by rhBMP-2 in sheep.

Objective. To examine the effects of increasing local rhBMP-2 concentration on osteoclastic response and peri-implant bone resorption.

Summary of Background Data. Level I clinical studies have established the safe and effective volume and concentration of rhBMP-2 delivered on an absorbable collagen sponge. However, peri-implant bone resorption appearing as decreased mineral density has been observed radiographically in rare instances after implantation of rhBMP-2 on an absorbable collagen sponge (rhBMP-2/ACS).

Methods. Bilateral corticocancellous defects were created in the distal femora of 30 adult sheep. Combinations of rhBMP-2/ACS implant volume …

Visual Word Proximity And Linguistics For Semantic Video Indexing And Near-Duplicate Retrieval, Yu-Gang Jiang, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Bag-of-visual-words (BoW) has recently become a popular representation to describe video and image content. Most existing approaches, nevertheless, neglect inter-word relatedness and measure similarity by bin-to-bin comparison of visual words in histograms. In this paper, we explore the linguistic and ontological aspects of visual words for video analysis. Two approaches, soft-weighting and constraint-based earth mover’s distance (CEMD), are proposed to model different aspects of visual word linguistics and proximity. In soft-weighting, visual words are cleverly weighted such that the linguistic meaning of words is taken into account for bin-to-bin histogram comparison. In CEMD, a cross-bin matching algorithm is formulated such …

The Effect Of Sintering Time On The Performance Of Spherical And Nano-Sized Lifepo4 Cathode Material, Zhong-Qiang Shan, Guo-Zeng Wang, Di Tian, Jian-Hua Tian

Journal of Electrochemistry

The spherical LiFePO₄ with nano-size is expected as an important direction for LiFePO₄ cathode materia1.With the method of liquid co-deposited-carbonthermal reduction,we prepared spherical LiFePO₄ cathode material with nano-size and we put our emphasis on the effect of sintering time on the material.By XRD,SEM,TEM and charge & discharge analysis,we found the sample sintered at 550 ℃ for 10 hours showed the best electrochemical properties and good degree of sphericity,with the size of 40～100 nm.

Preparation And Performance Of Co And La Co-Doped Li-Rich Lithium Manganate, Da-Qiao Zhou

Journal of Electrochemistry

The cathode material of Li_1.1Co_0.02La_0.01Mn₂O₄ was successfully synthesized by the method of co-precipitation followed by a solid state reaction.In the sintering temperature range of 700～850 ℃,X-ray diffraction(XRD) results showed a single phase of each material and the increase of crystallization degree,and scanning electron microscopic(SEM) images indicated that the particle size increased and the specific surface area decreased,respectively,with increasing the sintering temperature.Due to its lower polarization resistance,the Co and La co-doped lithium-rich lithium manganate(sintered at 800 ℃) positive electrodes showed the most promising electrochemical performance.The capacity retention after 50 cycles reached 98.5%.

Electrochemical Properties Of Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes And Their Applications In Analysis Of 6-Mercaptopurine, Bao-Yi Lu, Yan-Yan Lai, Hong Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical behaviors and adsorption properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes such as SWNT,SWNT-COOH,and SWNT-OH and multi-walled carbon nanotubes including MWNT,MWNT-COOH,and MWNT-OH modified at a graphite electrode have been investigated by using [Fe(CN)₆]^3-anion and [Co(phen)₃]³⁺ cation.It was shown that shows good redox reversibility of [Fe(CN)₆]^3-/4-reactions on the existed carbon nanotubes(CNT) modified electrode.Based on the strong adsorptive property of [Co(phen)₃]³⁺ on the CNT surface,the [Co(phen)₃]³⁺/CNT modified graphite electrode can be obtained by progressive potential sweeping and developed to monitor quantitatively 6-mercaptopurine(6-MP).The adsorption capacity of …

Preparation And Electrochemical Performance Of Li3V2(Po4)3, Hou-Gang Fan, Tao Jiang, Chun-Zhong Wang, Gang Chen, Ying-Jin Wei

Journal of Electrochemistry

The carbon coating Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃ powder samples were synthesized by carbon incorporation solid state reaction.The structure,morphology and electrochemical properties have been studied by X-ray powder diffraction,scanning electron microscopy and automatic battery tester system,respectively.Carbon coating on Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃ would prevent the particles from agglomerating,reduce the particle size,raise the conductivity and improve the samples′ electrochemical performance.

Silicon Nanowires As Anode Materials For Lithium Ion Batteries, Yan-Peng Fu, Hui-Xin Chen, Yong Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The SiNWs electrodes were fabricated by coating and direct growth methods,respectively.The structure,morphology and electrochemical performance of such materials were characterized by XRD,SEM and charge-discharge tests.The results show that the electrodes prepared by direct growth method had higher capacity,better battery life and also displayed and excellent cyclability at higher currents.During the process of lithiation,the initial crystalline Si transformed to amorphous LixSi,and the average diameter of the SiNWs increased.Despite the large volume changed,the SiNWs remained intact and did not break into smaller particles.

Electrocatalytic Reduction Of Oxygen On Tungsten Carbide Electrode, Chun-An Ma, Yun Huang, Ying-Hong Zhu, Zhao-Yang Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Tungsten carbide(WC) catalysts were prepared by gas-solid reaction using ammonium metatungstate as precursors which were pretreated with spray drying sphere miniaturation,carbon monoxide as carrier gas and hydrogen as deoxidizing gas.The WC electrode was fabricated using WC catalyst powders and PTFE as binding agent,and characterized by XRD and SEM.Electrocatalyst behavior of WC for oxygen reduction reaction in the sulphuric acid solution was studied by steady-state voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry.The results show that the WC powders obtained were in spheric particles and the prepared WC electrode had a good electrocatalyst activity to the oxygen reduction reaction.The electrode reaction was controlled by adsorption.The …

Nano-Sn/Hard Carbon Composite As Anode Material For Lithium Ion Batteries, Bing-Kun Guo, Jie Shu, Kun Tang, Ying Bai, Zhao-Xiang Wang, Li-Quan Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

The tin(Sn) nano particles were embedded into the mesopores of hard carbon spherules(HCS) to form a composite anode material for lithium ion batteries.The structure of the obtained composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) while its electrochemical performances were evaluated with galvanostatic cycling.It is found that the embedding Sn nanoparticles into porous HCS not only result in a composite material with high lithium storage capacity and capacity retention,but also increase the initial coulombic efficiency of the composite.Based on the infrared spectroscopic analysis,the enhanced initial coulombic efficiency is attributed to the inductive decomposition of the ROCO₂Li species in the solid …

19th International Symposium Of Fine Chemistry And Functional Polymers (Fcfp-Xix) & Iupac 5th Internaitonal Symoposium On Novel Materials And Synthesis (Nms-V), Editorial Office Of J.Electrochem.

Journal of Electrochemistry

No abstract provided.

Preparation Of The Protic Ionic Liquid/Pvdf-Hfp Composite Membranes And Its Performance For Dmfc, Rui-Ying Miao, Jian-Ling Li, Yong Fang, Xin-Dong Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The protic ionic liquid(PIL) α-methyl pyridinium trifluoroacetate([α-MPyH]Tfa) was synthesized by acid & alkali neutralization.Then PIL/PVDF-HFP composite membranes were prepared by means of phase inversion method using acetone as solvent.The conductivities of the composite membrane increased with the temperature and reached 8×10^-3 S/cm,1×10^-2 S/cm and 3×10^-2 S/cm at room-temperature,30 ℃ and 80 ℃,respectively,by electrochemical impedance method.The properties of the methanol-rejecting of the membranes were measured by chronoamperometry as well.The results indicate that the properties of methanol-resistance of the membranes before and after IL combination were equivalent approximately.

Mesoporous Carbon For High Power Supercapacitors, Bin Xu, Lu Peng, Guo-Qing Wang, Gao-Ping Cao, Feng Wu, Yu-Sheng Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Mesoporous carbon for supercapacitors was prepared from sucrose using nano-CaCO₃ as template.The microstructure of the carbon was characterized with N₂ adsorption and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) observation.The electrochemical performances were evaluated in 6mol·L^-1 KOH aqueous electrolyte with galvanostatic charge/discharge,cyclic voltammetry,and ac impedance spectroscopy.The sucrose-based mesoporous carbon had a surface area of 606 m²/g and enriched mesopores in the range of 10～30 nm.The mesoporous carbon presented a specific capacitance of 125 F/g at a current density of 50 mA/g and outstanding excellent rate performance.As the current density increased to 20 000 mA/g,its capacitance remained at 88 F/g,much …

Preparation And Performance Of The Thin-Film Libpon Electrolyte, Feng Wu, Ya-Dong Liu, Ren-Jie Chen, Shi Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

The LiBPON thin-film electrolyte was prepared by magnetron sputtering,and the relationship between the performance and the deposition condition was investigated.As seen in the SEM images,the thin films are dense and uniform without cracks,and according to the XRD patterns they have an amorphous structure.The electrochemical performance of the electrolyte was characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS).The ionic conductivities of the thin film decreased with the RF power,but increased with the N₂ pressure.The an ionic conductivity of 3.5×10^-6 S/cm at room temperature was found from the electrochemical measurement.While the deposition rate increased with the RF power,but decreased with the N_{2 …}

Hydrothermal Preparation And Electrochemical Characterizations Of Vanadate Compound Nav2O5 Crystals, Fang Hu, Xing Ming, Fei Du, Ying-Jin Wei, Gang Chen, Chun-Zhong Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The NaV₂O₅ was prepared by a low temperature hydrothermal process. The material crystallized in the layered orthorhombic structure with space group Pmmn. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the material was pure and the scanning electron microscopy showed that the material was composed of needle crystals with 20 μm in length and 200 nm in width. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated the co-existence of V⁴⁺ and V⁵⁺ in the material,which results in an average V^4.5+ oxidation state of the material. The observed Raman bands were ascribed to different V-O vibrations. The first specific capacity about 120 mAh/g …

Photoelectrochemical Properties Of Tio2 Nanoparticles, Jie Qu, Ying Li, Qi-Wei Jiang, Xue-Ping Gao

Journal of Electrochemistry

The protonated titanate nanoparticles were obtained at room temperature and subsequently calcined at different temperatures(300 ℃,400 ℃,500 ℃,600 ℃ and 700 ℃) in air.The obtained products were characterized by XRD,TEM and UV-Vis.It is found that the grain sizes of TiO₂ nanoparticles calcined at 300 ℃ were about 20 nm,and increased gradually with the temperature rise.Photoelectric performance was measured with I～V curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS).The TiO₂ nanoparticles obtained at 500 ℃ showed the best photoelectrochemical properties with a photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 6.39%,which is much higher than those at other temperatures.In addition,it is also demonstrated that the charge …

Electrooxidation Behaviors Of Tib2 As High Capacity Anodic Material In Neutral Aqueous Electrolytes, Ya-Dong Wang, Xian-Yong Guang, Zhi-Xin Wang, Xin-Ping Ai, Han-Xi Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Titanium diborides were investigated as an anodic material for neutral aqueous batteries. It is revealed that this material shows superiorly high electrochemical activities in the neutral electrolytes. The discharge capacities observed for TiB₂ reached 1300 mAh/g at the constant current density of 50 mA/g, exceeding all the metal electrodes reported so far. The electrooxidation of this compound was found to proceed via the electrochemical dissolution of boron to form borofluoride, while titanium remained unchanged at the electrode. These results suggest a possible use of the boride compounds as a new material for constructing neutral aqueous batteries with high electrochemical …

The Electrochemical Performance Of Ncf-Sulfur Cathode, Chun-Rong Zhao, Zhong-Bao Yu, Wei-Kun Wang, Yu-Sheng Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical performance of NCF-sulfur cathode, with different NCF contents, was investigated by constant current discharge, cyclic voltammetry and AC impedance methods. The morphologies of the cathodes were observed using scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that the cycle life and rate capability of NCF-sulfur cathode increased. Better performance of sulfur cathode was obtained by 3% and 5% NCF conductive addition. When the current density was 0.4 mA/cm², the 3% NCF-sulfur cathode had an initial capacity of 880 mAh/g and a reversible capacity of 630 mAh/g after 20 cycles.

Preparation And Characterization Of Tin-Nickel Alloy Electromagnetic Shielding Fabric, Ke-Jing Chu, Wei Wang, Bin Sun, Mei-Fang Zhu

Journal of Electrochemistry

A soft electromagnetic shielding fabric was successfully prepared by electroplating tin-nickel alloy on the Cu-plated PET fabric in potassium pyrophosphate system. Results show that the different tin content and different colour can be obtained by changing the ratio of metals in bath. Better corrosion resistance and anti-tarnishing were achieved with the fabric consisting of 68.96% Sn. The tin-nickel alloy surface for the electromagnetic shielding fabric had excellent conductivity, softness, permeability and soft luster, non-sensitized to the human body. Thereby it has broad prospect in EMI field and shielding clothing.

Electrosynthesis Of 2,2-Dimethylolpropionic Acid, Hong-Yan Sun, Zhen-Hai Liang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The Ti/SnO₂+Sb₂O₄/PbO₂ electrode was prepared.The structure phase and valent state were characterized by means of XRD and XPS.The 2,2-dimethylolpropionic acid was synthesized on the Ti/SnO₂+Sb₂O₄/PbO₂ anode by direct electro-oxidation of 2,2-dimethylolpropionaldehyde.The product and crude material were analyzed by HPLC,the effects of the concentration of 2,2-dimethylolpropionaldehyde,pH,potential and reaction temperature were studied.The results showed that the optimum conditions were anode potential 1.8 V,pH=1,reaction temperature 15 ℃ and 2,2-dimethylolpropionaldehyde concentration 0.10mol/L.Under the optimum conditions,the selectivity of 36%,the current efficiency of 28% and the conversion of 58% were reached.The reported …

The Electrochemical Behavior And Determination Of Carbendazim On Iron Montmorillonite Modified Electrode, Xiao-Li Jiang, Rong Li, Xiao-Ying He, Jiang Li, Ying Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

The FeCl₃ modified clay electrode was made.The electrochemical behavior of carbendazim(BCM) on the modified electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry.The impacts of pH,scan rate and dosages of modifier were discussed and the important kinetic parameters of the electrochemical process were determined.The results indicated that the process was controlled by diffusion.The effective area of FeMM-CMC/GCE(A)=0.027 cm²,the transfer electron numbers(n)=2 and the diffusion coefficient(D)=5.115×10^-6cm²/s.Under the optimized conditions,a good linearity was found between the first order derivative of peak current and concentration of BCM in the range of 2.00×10^-5～8.00×10^-4mol/L,with i′p=-8.045×10^-7-0.0237c,correlation …

Voltage Delay On Li/Socl2 And Bcx Cells During Discharge, Shu-Tao Liu, Yi-Ping Wu, Hong-Hua Ge, Guo-Ding Zhou

Journal of Electrochemistry

The impedance change of both lithium and carbon electrodes during the process of discharge was studied by AC impedance spectroscopy.It shows that the impedance of lithium electrode at initial stage was reduced by 80%～90% and kept nearly unchanged after wards;the carbon electrode impedance initially did not change much but quickly increased just before the end of discharge.The improvement of voltage delay might be related with the higher open-circuit voltage of BCX cell.It is suggested that the voltage delay problem may be solved by the application of supercapacitor.

Synthesis,Characteristics And Electrochemical Performance Of Nano-Sized Snco/Graphite Composites As Anode For Lithium Ion Batteries, Jin-Shu Cai, Ling Huang, Fu-Sheng Ke, Shi-Gang Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

The nano-structural Sn-Co/graphite composites were prepared by chemical reduction of the alloy electroless deposition solution in graphite suspensions, and the composites were annealed at 500 ℃. The phase structure and surface morphology of the composites were measured by XRD, SEM and Raman. The results indicate that there were high dispersions and high loadings of Sn-Co nanoparticles on graphite by thermal treatment. Electrochemical lithium storage performance was studied preliminarily on the obtained samples. The graphite modified with the Sn-Co nanoparticles possessed a higher electrochemical reversible capacity than that of graphite during the charge and discharge process. The appetency between the Sn-Co …

Corrosion Research On Rock Bolts And Steel Sets For Sub-Surface Reinforcement Of The Yucca Mountain Repository, Dhanesh Chandra, Jaak J.K. Daemen

Publications (YM)

Underground nuclear waste storage repositories generally use steels and super alloys for various structural members and storage containers. These materials are susceptible to corrosion due to seepage of water. We studied rock bolt materials for reinforcing tunnels and containment materials for storing nuclear waste materials. In general, the design of underground support materials for tunnels are mainly based on mechanical behavior of the materials, but not much was known about the interaction of the seepage YM waters with the structural members under various conditions in the tunnels. The sources of water in the Yucca Mountain (YM) repository are due to …

High Utilization Aupt Nanoparticles Supported On Mwcnts For Methanol Electro-Oxidation In Alkaline Medium, Xun Guo, Dao-Jun Guo, Xin-Ping Qiu, Li-Quan Chen, Wen-Tao Zhu

Journal of Electrochemistry

We synthesized gold-platinum electrocatalysts supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) with high utilization by a simple one-step method.A high Pt loading series of bimetallic AuPt/MWCNTs catalysts were prepared by the improved ethylene glycol reduction method,and then were compared in terms of the electrocatalytic activity for methanol electro-oxidation using cyclic voltammetry(CV) and chronoamperometry in alkaline solutions.The structure of AuPt/MWCNTs was characterized by the transmission electron microscopy(TEM),X-ray diffraction(XRD) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDS).The results showed that the AuPt/MWCNTs catalysts had high Pt utilization,uniform AuPt nanoparticles size and good electrocatalytic activity for methanol electro-oxidation.The effect of Au/Pt mass ratio on electrocatalytic activity was also investigated.The …