There are many aims of this book: The first aim is to develop a model equation that describes the spread of contamination through soils which can be used to determine the rate of environmental contamination by estimate the concentration of heavy metals (HMs) in soil. The developed model equation can be considered as a good representation for a problem of environmental contamination. The second aim of this work is to design two feed forward neural networks (FFNN) as an alternative accurate technique to determine the rate of environmental contamination which can be used to solve the model equation. The first network is to simulate the soil parameters which can be used as input data in the second suggested network, while the second network simulates to estimate the concentration of heavy metals. The third aim is to develop a conceptual theory of training stage of neural networks from the perspective of functional analysis and optimization methods. Within this formulation, learning means to solve a variational problem by minimizing a performance function associated to the neural network. The choice of the objective functional depends on the particular application. On the other side, we suggest modification of the performance function to improve the generalization of the suggested networks and to treat the early stopping and local minima problems. The fourth aim is to compare the performance of aforementioned algorithms with regard to predicting ability. Then applied the suggested technique to estimate the concentration of heavy metals such as: Copper(Cu), Lead(Pb), Cadmium(Cd), Cobalt(Co), Zinc(Zn) and Nickel(Ni) in Baghdad soils. First, sixty four soil samples were selected from a phytoremediated contaminated site located in some zones in Baghdad city (residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural and main roads). Second, a series of measurements were performed on the soil samples and analyzed measuring of concentrations for heavy metals using devices such as : Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP- MS) to get initial concentrations for those heavy metals. Third, simulate and train the suggested networks to get the concentration of heavy metals. The performance of the suggested networks was compared with the traditional laboratory inspecting using the training and test data sets. The results of this book show that the suggested networks trained on experimental measurements can be successfully applied to the rapid and accuracy estimation of concentration of heavy metals. Finally, we suggest some methods for the treatment of contaminated soil by using some herbal plants
Pharmaceuticals have been widely remaining contaminants in wastewater, and diclofenac is the most common pharmaceutical pollutant. Therefore, the removal of diclofenac from aqueous solutions using activated carbon produced by pyrocarbonic acid and microwaves was investigated in this research. Apricot seed powder and pyrophosphoric acid (45 wt%) were selected as raw material and activator respectively, and microwave irradiation technique was used to prepare the activated carbon. The raw material was impregnated in pyrophosphoric acid at 80◦C with an impregnation ratio of 1: 3 (apricot seeds to phosphoric acid), the impregnation time was 4 h, whereas the power of the microwave was 700 watts with a radiation time of 20 min. A series o
... Show MoreSpectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of copper(II) ion. Synthesized (2,2[O-Tolidine-4,4-bis azo]bis[4,5-diphenyl imidazole]) (MBBAI) was used as chromogenic reagent at pH=5. Various factors affecting complex formation, such as, pH effect, reagent concentration, time effect and temperature effect, have been considered and studied. Under optimum conditions concentration ranged from (5.00-80.00) µg/mL of copper(II) obeyed Beer`s Low. Maximum absorption of the complex was 409nm with molar absorpitivity 0.127x104 L mol-1 cm-1. Limit of detection(LOD) and Limit of quantification were 1.924 and 6.42 μg/mL, respectively.
... Show MoreAlpha shape theory for 3D visualization and volumetric measurement of brain tumor progression using magnetic resonance images
In this work, a vertical pulsating heat pipe heat exchanger (PHPHE) was designed for waste heat recovery, exchanging thermal energy between two air streams in a counterflow configuration. The heat exchanger consists of six rows, each row consists of one pulsating heat pipe (PHP), and each PHP has six turns. The working fluid used in the heat pipe was acetone with fill ratios of 50%, 60%, and 70%. The effect of evaporator inlet temperature at 40, 45, and 50°C and air velocity at 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 m/s on the pulsating heat pipes consisting of three sections- evaporator, condenser, and adiabatic, whose dimensions were 25 x 25 x 10 cm, was studied. At the same time, the condenser temperature was maintained at 26°C. The system’s th
... Show MoreAs a result of rapid industrialization and population development, toxic chemicals have been introduced into water systems in recent decades. Because of its excellent efficiency and simple design, the three-dimensional (3D) electro-Fenton method has been used for the treatment of wastewater. The goal of the current study is to explore the efficiency of phenol removal by the 3D electro-Fenton process, which is one of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). In the present work, the effect of the addition of granular activated carbon (GAC) particles to the electro-Fenton system as the third electrode would be investigated in the presence of graphite as the anode and nickel foam as the cathode, which is the source of electro-generated hydrogen
... Show MoreThe rapid sprawl in urban areas caused by excessive production and consumption of goods (as driven by local poor social choices) has inevitably resulted in a major burden due to environmental degradation worldwide. Unfortunately, these traditional models of urban planning fail to properly account for the intricacies that permeate a modern city and are deficient in terms of their approach as they shape themselves within an environment largely divorced from natural systems, resulting in vast mismanagement of resources, guiding cities down trajectories where growth destroys both physical and cultural landscapes. As cities suffer from increasing scarcity, we advocate for regeneration and resilience to be embedded in advanced urban design approa
... Show MoreGlass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement provides an effective alternative to conventional steel in concrete structures due to its corrosion resistance. Nevertheless, the lower elastic modulus of GFRP necessitates careful consideration of serviceability behavior in GFRP-reinforced concrete members. This study presents a numerical sectional analysis model for predicting the flexural response and ultimate capacity of hybrid reinforced concrete beams incorporating embedded GFRP profiles in combination with either mild steel or GFRP reinforcement bars under monotonic static loading. The proposed model employs realistic nonlinear stress–strain relationships for concrete and steel, together with secant moduli of elasticity
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