WorldWideScience

Sample records for precipitation method effect

  1. Effects of the Forecasting Methods, Precipitation Character, and Satellite Resolution on the Predictability of Short-Term Quantitative Precipitation Nowcasting (QPN from a Geostationary Satellite.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Liu

    Full Text Available The prediction of the short-term quantitative precipitation nowcasting (QPN from consecutive gestational satellite images has important implications for hydro-meteorological modeling and forecasting. However, the systematic analysis of the predictability of QPN is limited. The objective of this study is to evaluate effects of the forecasting model, precipitation character, and satellite resolution on the predictability of QPN using images of a Chinese geostationary meteorological satellite Fengyun-2F (FY-2F which covered all intensive observation since its launch despite of only a total of approximately 10 days. In the first step, three methods were compared to evaluate the performance of the QPN methods: a pixel-based QPN using the maximum correlation method (PMC; the Horn-Schunck optical-flow scheme (PHS; and the Pyramid Lucas-Kanade Optical Flow method (PPLK, which is newly proposed here. Subsequently, the effect of the precipitation systems was indicated by 2338 imageries of 8 precipitation periods. Then, the resolution dependence was demonstrated by analyzing the QPN with six spatial resolutions (0.1atial, 0.3a, 0.4atial rand 0.6. The results show that the PPLK improves the predictability of QPN with better performance than the other comparison methods. The predictability of the QPN is significantly determined by the precipitation system, and a coarse spatial resolution of the satellite reduces the predictability of QPN.

  2. Effects of the Forecasting Methods, Precipitation Character, and Satellite Resolution on the Predictability of Short-Term Quantitative Precipitation Nowcasting (QPN) from a Geostationary Satellite.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yu; Xi, Du-Gang; Li, Zhao-Liang; Ji, Wei

    2015-01-01

    The prediction of the short-term quantitative precipitation nowcasting (QPN) from consecutive gestational satellite images has important implications for hydro-meteorological modeling and forecasting. However, the systematic analysis of the predictability of QPN is limited. The objective of this study is to evaluate effects of the forecasting model, precipitation character, and satellite resolution on the predictability of QPN using images of a Chinese geostationary meteorological satellite Fengyun-2F (FY-2F) which covered all intensive observation since its launch despite of only a total of approximately 10 days. In the first step, three methods were compared to evaluate the performance of the QPN methods: a pixel-based QPN using the maximum correlation method (PMC); the Horn-Schunck optical-flow scheme (PHS); and the Pyramid Lucas-Kanade Optical Flow method (PPLK), which is newly proposed here. Subsequently, the effect of the precipitation systems was indicated by 2338 imageries of 8 precipitation periods. Then, the resolution dependence was demonstrated by analyzing the QPN with six spatial resolutions (0.1atial, 0.3a, 0.4atial rand 0.6). The results show that the PPLK improves the predictability of QPN with better performance than the other comparison methods. The predictability of the QPN is significantly determined by the precipitation system, and a coarse spatial resolution of the satellite reduces the predictability of QPN.

  3. Laboratory-scale evaluations of alternative plutonium precipitation methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martella, L.L.; Saba, M.T.; Campbell, G.K.

    1984-01-01

    Plutonium(III), (IV), and (VI) carbonate; plutonium(III) fluoride; plutonium(III) and (IV) oxalate; and plutonium(IV) and (VI) hydroxide precipitation methods were evaluated for conversion of plutonium nitrate anion-exchange eluate to a solid, and compared with the current plutonium peroxide precipitation method used at Rocky Flats. Plutonium(III) and (IV) oxalate, plutonium(III) fluoride, and plutonium(IV) hydroxide precipitations were the most effective of the alternative conversion methods tested because of the larger particle-size formation, faster filtration rates, and the low plutonium loss to the filtrate. These were found to be as efficient as, and in some cases more efficient than, the peroxide method. 18 references, 14 figures, 3 tables

  4. Effect of the precipitation interpolation method on the performance of a snowmelt runoff model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacquin, Alexandra

    2014-05-01

    Uncertainties on the spatial distribution of precipitation seriously affect the reliability of the discharge estimates produced by watershed models. Although there is abundant research evaluating the goodness of fit of precipitation estimates obtained with different gauge interpolation methods, few studies have focused on the influence of the interpolation strategy on the response of watershed models. The relevance of this choice may be even greater in the case of mountain catchments, because of the influence of orography on precipitation. This study evaluates the effect of the precipitation interpolation method on the performance of conceptual type snowmelt runoff models. The HBV Light model version 4.0.0.2, operating at daily time steps, is used as a case study. The model is applied in Aconcagua at Chacabuquito catchment, located in the Andes Mountains of Central Chile. The catchment's area is 2110[Km2] and elevation ranges from 950[m.a.s.l.] to 5930[m.a.s.l.] The local meteorological network is sparse, with all precipitation gauges located below 3000[m.a.s.l.] Precipitation amounts corresponding to different elevation zones are estimated through areal averaging of precipitation fields interpolated from gauge data. Interpolation methods applied include kriging with external drift (KED), optimal interpolation method (OIM), Thiessen polygons (TP), multiquadratic functions fitting (MFF) and inverse distance weighting (IDW). Both KED and OIM are able to account for the existence of a spatial trend in the expectation of precipitation. By contrast, TP, MFF and IDW, traditional methods widely used in engineering hydrology, cannot explicitly incorporate this information. Preliminary analysis confirmed that these methods notably underestimate precipitation in the study catchment, while KED and OIM are able to reduce the bias; this analysis also revealed that OIM provides more reliable estimations than KED in this region. Using input precipitation obtained by each method

  5. Effective Assimilation of Global Precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lien, G.; Kalnay, E.; Miyoshi, T.; Huffman, G. J.

    2012-12-01

    Assimilating precipitation observations by modifying the moisture and sometimes temperature profiles has been shown successful in forcing the model precipitation to be close to the observed precipitation, but only while the assimilation is taking place. After the forecast start, the model tends to "forget" the assimilation changes and lose their extra skill after few forecast hours. This suggests that this approach is not an efficient way to modify the potential vorticity field, since this is the variable that the model would remember. In this study, the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) method is used to effectively change the potential vorticity field by allowing ensemble members with better precipitation to receive higher weights. In addition to using an EnKF, two other changes in the precipitation assimilation process are proposed to solve the problems related to the highly non-Gaussian nature of the precipitation variable: a) transform precipitation into a Gaussian distribution based on its climatological distribution, and b) only assimilate precipitation at the location where some ensemble members have positive precipitation. The idea is first tested by the observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) using SPEEDY, a simplified but realistic general circulation model. When the global precipitation is assimilated in addition to conventional rawinsonde observations, both the analyses and the medium range forecasts are significantly improved as compared to only having rawinsonde observations. The improvement is much reduced when only modifying the moisture field with the same approach, which shows the importance of the error covariance between precipitation and all other model variables. The effect of precipitation assimilation is larger in the Southern Hemisphere than that in the Northern Hemisphere because the Northern Hemisphere analyses are already accurate as a result of denser rawinsonde stations. Assimilation of precipitation using a more comprehensive

  6. Effective assimilation of global precipitation: simulation experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guo-Yuan Lien

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Past attempts to assimilate precipitation by nudging or variational methods have succeeded in forcing the model precipitation to be close to the observed values. However, the model forecasts tend to lose their additional skill after a few forecast hours. In this study, a local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF is used to effectively assimilate precipitation by allowing ensemble members with better precipitation to receive higher weights in the analysis. In addition, two other changes in the precipitation assimilation process are found to alleviate the problems related to the non-Gaussianity of the precipitation variable: (a transform the precipitation variable into a Gaussian distribution based on its climatological distribution (an approach that could also be used in the assimilation of other non-Gaussian observations and (b only assimilate precipitation at the location where at least some ensemble members have precipitation. Unlike many current approaches, both positive and zero rain observations are assimilated effectively. Observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs are conducted using the Simplified Parametrisations, primitivE-Equation DYnamics (SPEEDY model, a simplified but realistic general circulation model. When uniformly and globally distributed observations of precipitation are assimilated in addition to rawinsonde observations, both the analyses and the medium-range forecasts of all model variables, including precipitation, are significantly improved as compared to only assimilating rawinsonde observations. The effect of precipitation assimilation on the analyses is retained on the medium-range forecasts and is larger in the Southern Hemisphere (SH than that in the Northern Hemisphere (NH because the NH analyses are already made more accurate by the denser rawinsonde stations. These improvements are much reduced when only the moisture field is modified by the precipitation observations. Both the Gaussian transformation and

  7. A simple and effective method for detecting precipitated proteins in MALDI-TOF MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oshikane, Hiroyuki; Watabe, Masahiko; Nakaki, Toshio

    2018-04-01

    MALDI-TOF MS has developed rapidly into an essential analytical tool for the life sciences. Cinnamic acid derivatives are generally employed in routine molecular weight determinations of intact proteins using MALDI-TOF MS. However, a protein of interest may precipitate when mixed with matrix solution, perhaps preventing MS detection. We herein provide a simple approach to enable the MS detection of such precipitated protein species by means of a "direct deposition method" -- loading the precipitant directly onto the sample plate. It is thus expected to improve routine MS analysis of intact proteins. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  8. Effect of indifferent anions on reactions of cadmium ferrocyanide precipitation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gyunner, Eh A; Mel' nichenko, L M; Vel' mozhnyj, I S [Simferopol' skij Gosudarstvennyj Univ. (Ukrainian SSR)

    1982-08-01

    To clarify the effect of indifferent anions on the processes of cadmium ferrocyanide precipitation the interaction in six systems of the type CdXsub(m)-Msub(4)R-Hsub(2)O (X-Cl/sup -/, CH/sub 3/COO/sup -/, SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/; M-K/sup +/, NH/sub 4//sup +/; R-(Fe(CN)/sub 6/)/sup 4 -/) is studied using the methods of physicochemical analysis (the method of residual concentrations, refractometry). Composition and formation regions of low-soluble interaction products are determined. Effect of anion X nature on interaction character is stated in the series Cl/sup -/, CH/sub 3/COO/sup -/, SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ in mixtures with incomplete Cd/sup 2 +/ precipitation a tendency for the increase of Cd/sup 2 +/:R/sup 4 -/ ratios in precipitates formed is observed.

  9. Effects of Rare Earth on Behavior of Precipitation and Properties in Microalloyed Steels

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    林勤; 陈邦文; 唐历; 李联生; 朱兴元; 王怀斌

    2003-01-01

    The influence of rare earths on the behavior of precipitation of 14MnNb,X60 and 10MnV steels was studied by STEM, XRD, ICP and thermal simulation method. The main carbonitride precipitates are Nb(C, N),(Nb, Ti)(C, N)and V(C, N). In austenite RE delays the beginning of precipitation, and decreases the rate of precipitation. In ferrite RE promotes precipitation and increases the amount of equilibrium carbonitride precipitation. RE can make precipitates fine, globular and dispersed in the microalloyed steels. With the increase of the amount of RE in steel, the amount of precipitation increases. The promotion effect is weakened with excessive RE. RE has only little influence on the strength of microalloyed steel, but it can improve impact toughness effectively.

  10. Preparation and Sintering Behaviour of Alumina Powder by Ammonia Precipitation Method

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    Wang Liuyan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, alumina precursor was prepared by the ammonia precipitation method which used Al (NO3 3 9H2O as aluminum source and NH4OH as a precipitator, adding a small amount of PEG4000 as the surface active agent. Finally γ-Al2O3 was obtained at 900° for 2h. The stable alumina crystal form of α-Al2O3 was got at 1100° for 2h. The influence of precipitation agent on the precursor was studied by means of TG / DTA and Tem, XRD etc. The effects of the synthesis temperature and time on the phase composition and morphology of the alumina powder were also analysed.

  11. Comparison of direct and precipitation methods for the estimation of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: There is increase in use of direct assays for analysis of high and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by clinical laboratories despite differences in performance characteristics with conventional precipitation methods. Calculation of low density lipoprotein cholesterol in precipitation methods is based on total ...

  12. Effect of humic substances on the precipitation of calcium phosphate

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    SONG Yong-hui; Hermann H. HAHN; Erhard HOFFMANN; Peter G. WEIDLER

    2006-01-01

    For phosphorus (P) recovery from wastewater, the effect of humic substances (HS) on the precipitation of calcium phosphate was studied. Batch experiments of calcium phosphate precipitation were undertaken with synthetic water that contained 20 mg/L phosphate (as P) and 20 mg/L HS (as dissolved organic carbon, DOC) at a constant pH value in the range of 8.0-10.0. The concentration variations of phosphate, calcium (Ca) and HS were measured in the precipitation process; the crystalline state and compositions of the precipitates were analysed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and chemical methods, respectively. It showed that at solution pH 8.0, the precipitation rate and removal efficiency of phosphate were greatly reduced by HS, but at solution pH ≥9.0,the effect of HS was very small. The Ca consumption for the precipitation of phosphate increased when HS was added; HS was also removed from solution with the precipitation of calcium phosphate. At solution pH 8.0 and HS concentrations ≤ 3.5 mg/L, and at pH ≥ 9.0 and HS concentrations ≤ 10 mg/L, the final precipitates were proved to be hydroxyapatite (HAP) by XRD. The increases of solution pH value and initial Ca/P ratio helped reduce the influence of HS on the precipitation of phosphate.

  13. Method of precipitating uranium from an aqueous solution and/or sediment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tokunaga, Tetsu K; Kim, Yongman; Wan, Jiamin

    2013-08-20

    A method for precipitating uranium from an aqueous solution and/or sediment comprising uranium and/or vanadium is presented. The method includes precipitating uranium as a uranyl vanadate through mixing an aqueous solution and/or sediment comprising uranium and/or vanadium and a solution comprising a monovalent or divalent cation to form the corresponding cation uranyl vanadate precipitate. The method also provides a pathway for extraction of uranium and vanadium from an aqueous solution and/or sediment.

  14. Sonochemical preparation of magnetite nanoparticles by reverse precipitation method

    OpenAIRE

    Shuto, Tatsuya; Nakagoe, Osamu; Tanabe, Shuji

    2008-01-01

    Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were successfully prepared by reverse precipitation method with the assistance of ultrasound. Obtained nanoparticles were identified as magnetite (Fe_3O_4) by XRD measurement. It was found that obtained magnetite nanoparticles have small sizes (about 10.7 ±2.9 nm in diameter) and spherical shape by TEM observations. In reverse precipitation method, the dropping conditions of aqueous FeSO_4 solution affect on the sizes and uniformity of the products.

  15. Geographically weighted regression based methods for merging satellite and gauge precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Lijun; Zhang, Ke; Li, Zhijia; Zhu, Yuelong; Wang, Jingfeng; Yu, Zhongbo

    2018-03-01

    Real-time precipitation data with high spatiotemporal resolutions are crucial for accurate hydrological forecasting. To improve the spatial resolution and quality of satellite precipitation, a three-step satellite and gauge precipitation merging method was formulated in this study: (1) bilinear interpolation is first applied to downscale coarser satellite precipitation to a finer resolution (PS); (2) the (mixed) geographically weighted regression methods coupled with a weighting function are then used to estimate biases of PS as functions of gauge observations (PO) and PS; and (3) biases of PS are finally corrected to produce a merged precipitation product. Based on the above framework, eight algorithms, a combination of two geographically weighted regression methods and four weighting functions, are developed to merge CMORPH (CPC MORPHing technique) precipitation with station observations on a daily scale in the Ziwuhe Basin of China. The geographical variables (elevation, slope, aspect, surface roughness, and distance to the coastline) and a meteorological variable (wind speed) were used for merging precipitation to avoid the artificial spatial autocorrelation resulting from traditional interpolation methods. The results show that the combination of the MGWR and BI-square function (MGWR-BI) has the best performance (R = 0.863 and RMSE = 7.273 mm/day) among the eight algorithms. The MGWR-BI algorithm was then applied to produce hourly merged precipitation product. Compared to the original CMORPH product (R = 0.208 and RMSE = 1.208 mm/hr), the quality of the merged data is significantly higher (R = 0.724 and RMSE = 0.706 mm/hr). The developed merging method not only improves the spatial resolution and quality of the satellite product but also is easy to implement, which is valuable for hydrological modeling and other applications.

  16. Precipitation kinetics in binary Fe–Cu and ternary Fe–Cu–Ni alloys via kMC method

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    Yi Wang

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The precipitation kinetics of coherent Cu rich precipitates (CRPs in binary Fe–Cu and ternary Fe–Cu–Ni alloys during thermal aging was modelled by the kinetic Monte Carlo method (kMC. A good agreement of the precipitation kinetics of Fe–Cu was found between the simulation and experimental results, as observed by means of advancement factor and cluster number density. This agreement was obtained owing to the correct description of the fast cluster mobility. The simulation results indicate that the effects of Ni are two-fold: Ni promotes the nucleation of Cu clusters; while the precipitation kinetics appears to be delayed by Ni addition during the coarsening stage. The apparent delayed precipitation kinetics is revealed to be related with the cluster mobility, which are reduced by Ni addition. The reduction effect of the cluster mobility weakens when the CRPs sizes increase. The results provide a view angle on the effects of solute elements upon Cu precipitation kinetics through the consideration of the non-conventional cluster growth mechanism, and kMC is verified to be a powerful approach on that.

  17. Synthesis and Characterization of Anatase TiO_2 Powder using a Homogeneous Precipitation Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Soon Ok; Cho, Jee Hee; Lim, Sung Hwan; Chung, Eun Young

    2011-01-01

    This paper studies the experimental method that uses the homogeneous precipitation method to prepare mica flakes coated with anatase-type titania pearlescent pigment with urea as precipitant. The optimum technology parameters, the chemical composition, the microstructure, and the color property of resulting pigments are discussed. The coating principle of mica coated titania with various coating thickness is analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and tested by spectrophotometer analysis. The colored nanocrystalline pigments with different morphology and coating thickness 45-170 nm were prepared by homogeneous precipitation treatment of TiOSO_4(titanum oxysulfate) aqueous solutions. Characterizations on the pigments show that the pearlescent effects of the pigments depend mainly on mica size, thickness of the metal oxide deposit, its chemical composition, and crystal structure.

  18. Effect of Calcination at Synthesis of Mg-Al Hydrotalcite Using co-Precipitation Method

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    Niar Kurnia Julianti

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The use of hydrotalcite in catalysis has wide attention in academic research and industrial parties. Based on its utilization, hydrotalcite can be active catalyst or support. This research is focused on the investigation of characteristic like spesific surface area of Mg-Al hydrotalcite which is prepared with different temperature of calcination. Synthesis of Mg-Al hydrotalcites with Mg/Al molar ratio 3:1 were prepared by co-precipitation method. Mg(NO33.6H2O and Al(NO33.9H2O as precursors of Mg-Al hydrotalcite. Na2CO3 was used as precipitant agent and NaOH was used as buffer solution. The solution was mixed and aging for 5 hours at 650oC. The dried precipitate was calcined at 2500oC, 3500oC, 4500oC, 5500oC and 6500oC. The characterization of functional group was determined by Fourier Transform Infra Red (FT-IR. The Identical peaks diffractogram were analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD. The spesific surface area was determined by adsorption-desorption of nitrogen. The largest surface area that obtained from the calcination temperature of 650oC is 156.252 m2/g.

  19. Modelling the operation of precipitator with vortex effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eysseric-Emile, C.

    1994-01-01

    In the Purex process which is implemented for the processing of irradiated fuels to eliminate fission products and to recover and valorise uranium and plutonium under the form of end products, a precipitation operation occurs to prepare the plutonium oxalate. This research thesis aims at analysing hydrodynamic characteristics of a specific apparatus used for this precipitation, the precipitator with vortex effect. In a first part, the author presents the problems associated with precipitation operations, their implementation in the processing of irradiated fuels, and compares the considered precipitator with other devices used for the precipitation of radioactive compounds. He proposes a review of literature on the vortex effect in agitated vessel, highlights the key parameter (the forced vortex radius), and reports some preliminary measurements performed on the precipitator. The author then reports the study of liquid phase flows in the precipitator, measurements of rate of suspension, and the study of micro-mixing with reactants. He finally reports attempts to validate trends noticed during flow analysis and a first simple modelling of the precipitator [fr

  20. Wastewater parameters after the process of phosphorus compounds removal by the metal dissolution method in comparison with precipitation and electrocoagulation methods

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    Wysocka Izabela

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Precipitation methods are commonly used for removing phosphorus compounds from wastewater. Chemical precipitation method, based on adding iron, aluminium or calcium salts to the treated wastewater, is often used. Another possible way of precipitating phosphates is metal dissolution method, which is presented in this paper. The main difference between these two methods is how the phosphate precipitating ions are introduced to the wastewater.

  1. Effects of Na4EDTA and EDTA on seeded precipitation of sodium aluminate solution

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    吕保林; 陈启元; 尹周澜; 胡慧萍

    2010-01-01

    Na4EDTA and EDTA were adopted as new additives to intensify the seeded precipitation process of sodium aluminate solution. The effects of the two additives at certain concentrations on the seeded precipitation rate of sodium aluminate solution, particle size distribution (PSD) and morphology of precipitated gibbsite were investigated using titration method, particle size analyzer and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The results show that the two additives can accelerate the seeded precipitation rate of sodium aluminate solution. At relatively high concentration, the facilitative effect of EDTA on sodium aluminate solution is more obvious than that of Na4EDTA. EDTA makes gibbsite particles thinner than Na4EDTA. The Na+ and H+ result in the different effects on the seeded precipitation rate of sodium aluminate solution in spite of the same EDTA anion in the two additives.

  2. Interannual variation of annual precipitation and urban effect on precipitation in the Beijing region

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2007-01-01

    The large scale character of the interannual variation of precipitation and the urban effect on local annual precipitation anomaly are investigated in this paper based on the 1960-2000 annual precipitation observations at 20 stations in the Beijing region. The results show that: the annual precipitation in the Beijing region possesses the large scale variation character with the linear trend of - 1.197/10 yr, which corresponds to a total reduction of 27.82 mm in annual precipitation in the 41 years; the local annual precipitation anomalies (percent of the normal 1960-2000) show a positive center near the urban area, i.e. urban precipitation island (UPI), whose intensity increases with the linear trend of 0. 6621%/10 yr, opposite to the interannual trend of large scale precipitation over the Beijing region; changes in the UPI are also associated with the intensity of synoptic processes of precipitation, and when the synoptic processes are strong (wet years), the intensity of UPI strengthens, while the synoptic processes are weak (dry years), and the UPI disappears in the Beijing region.

  3. Precipitation behavior and effect of new precipitated β phase in AZ80 magnesium alloy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    TANG Wei; HAN En-hou; XU Yong-bo; LIU Lu

    2006-01-01

    Granular precipitate that was a new kind of β-Mg17Al12 phase found in aged AZ80 wrought Mg alloy at all aging temperature was studied. The structure and precipitation behavior of this granular β-Mg17Al12 precipitate were studied by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effect of the granular precipitate on mechanical properties of AZ80 alloy was also studied. The new precipitate that was granular and nucleated both on grain boundaries (GBs) and twin boundaries, has the same crystal structure and lattice parameter as those of the continuous or discontinuous precipitated β-Mg17Al12. And the nucleation and growth of the granular precipitate are faster than those of the other two precipitates at higher temperatures (above 583 K), but are suppressed at lower temperatures (below 423 K). At lower temperatures, the discontinuous β-Mg17Al12 precipitates firstly and the granular β-Mg17Al12 precipitates after aged more than 40 h. The crack is easily nucleated on the phase boundaries of granular phase and matrix because of the weak binding force. As a result, the strength and ductility of AZ80 Mg alloy are decreased by the granular β-Mg17Al12 precipitate.

  4. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye by zinc oxide nanoparticles obtained from precipitation and sol-gel methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balcha, Abebe; Yadav, Om Prakash; Dey, Tania

    2016-12-01

    Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized by precipitation and sol-gel methods. The aim of this study was to understand how different synthetic methods can affect the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles. As-synthesized ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Visible spectroscopic techniques. XRD patterns of ZnO powders synthesized by precipitation and sol-gel methods revealed their hexagonal wurtzite structure with crystallite sizes of 30 and 28 nm, respectively. Their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue, a common water pollutant, under UV radiation. The effects of operational parameters such as photocatalyst load and initial concentration of the dye on photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue were investigated. While the degradation of dye decreased over the studied dye concentration range of 20 to 100 mg/L, an optimum photocatalyst load of 250 mg/L was needed to achieve dye degradation as high as 81 and 92.5 % for ZnO prepared by precipitation and sol-gel methods, respectively. Assuming pseudo first-order reaction kinetics, this corresponded to rate constants of 8.4 × 10 -3 and 12.4 × 10 -3  min -1 , respectively. Hence, sol-gel method is preferred over precipitation method in order to achieve higher photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanostructures. Photocatalytic activity is further augmented by better choice of capping ligand for colloidal stabilization, starch being more effective than polyethylene glycol (PEG).

  5. Correction of Excessive Precipitation over Steep and High Mountains in a GCM: A Simple Method of Parameterizing the Thermal Effects of Subgrid Topographic Variation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Winston C.

    2015-01-01

    The excessive precipitation over steep and high mountains (EPSM) in GCMs and meso-scale models is due to a lack of parameterization of the thermal effects of the subgrid-scale topographic variation. These thermal effects drive subgrid-scale heated slope induced vertical circulations (SHVC). SHVC provide a ventilation effect of removing heat from the boundary layer of resolvable-scale mountain slopes and depositing it higher up. The lack of SHVC parameterization is the cause of EPSM. The author has previously proposed a method of parameterizing SHVC, here termed SHVC.1. Although this has been successful in avoiding EPSM, the drawback of SHVC.1 is that it suppresses convective type precipitation in the regions where it is applied. In this article we propose a new method of parameterizing SHVC, here termed SHVC.2. In SHVC.2 the potential temperature and mixing ratio of the boundary layer are changed when used as input to the cumulus parameterization scheme over mountainous regions. This allows the cumulus parameterization to assume the additional function of SHVC parameterization. SHVC.2 has been tested in NASA Goddard's GEOS-5 GCM. It achieves the primary goal of avoiding EPSM while also avoiding the suppression of convective-type precipitation in regions where it is applied.

  6. A new computational method for studies of 3-D dislocation-precipitate interactions in reactor steels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, A.; Gohniem, N.M.

    2008-01-01

    To enable computational design of advanced steels for reactor pressure vessels and core structural components, we present a new computational method for studies of the interaction between dislocations and precipitates. The method is based on three-dimensional parametric dislocation dynamics, Eshelby's inclusion and inhomogeneity solutions, and boundary and volume element numerical models. Results from this new method are successfully compared to recent molecular dynamics (MD) simulation results, and show good agreement with atomistic simulations. Then the method is first applied to the investigation of the critical shear stress (CSS) of precipitates sheared by successive dislocation cuttings. The simulations reveal that the CSS is reduced when dislocations cut precipitates, and that it can be as low as half the original value for a completely sheared precipitate. The influence of precipitate geometry and the ratio of precipitate-to-matrix elastic shear modulus on the CSS is presented, and the dependence of the interaction stress between dislocations and precipitates on their relative geometry is discussed. Finally an extension of the method to incorporate the dislocation core contribution to the CSS is highlighted. (author)

  7. Inter-comparison of statistical downscaling methods for projection of extreme precipitation in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sunyer Pinya, Maria Antonia; Hundecha, Y.; Lawrence, D.

    2015-01-01

    Information on extreme precipitation for future climate is needed to assess the changes in the frequency and intensity of flooding. The primary source of information in climate change impact studies is climate model projections. However, due to the coarse resolution and biases of these models......), three are bias correction (BC) methods, and one is a perfect prognosis method. The eight methods are used to downscale precipitation output from 15 regional climate models (RCMs) from the ENSEMBLES project for 11 catchments in Europe. The overall results point to an increase in extreme precipitation...... that at least 30% and up to approximately half of the total variance is derived from the SDMs. This study illustrates the large variability in the expected changes in extreme precipitation and highlights the need for considering an ensemble of both SDMs and climate models. Recommendations are provided...

  8. Inter-comparison of statistical downscaling methods for projection of extreme precipitation in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sunyer Pinya, Maria Antonia; Hundecha, Y.; Lawrence, D.

    impact studies. Four methods are based on change factors and four are bias correction methods. The change factor methods perturb the observations according to changes in precipitation properties estimated from the Regional Climate Models (RCMs). The bias correction methods correct the output from...... the RCMs. The eight methods are used to downscale precipitation output from fifteen RCMs from the ENSEMBLES project for eleven catchments in Europe. The performance of the bias correction methods depends on the catchment, but in all cases they represent an improvement compared to RCM output. The overall...... results point to an increase in extreme precipitation in all the catchments in winter and in most catchments in summer. For each catchment, the results tend to agree on the direction of the change but differ in the magnitude. These differences can be mainly explained due to differences in the RCMs....

  9. Effect of Aqueous Media on the Recovery of Scandium by Selective Precipitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bengi Yagmurlu

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This research presents a novel precipitation method for scandium (Sc concentrate refining from bauxite residue leachates and the effect of aqueous media on this triple-stage successive precipitation process. The precipitation pattern and the precipitation behavior of the constituent elements was investigated using different precipitation agents in three major mineral acid media, namely, H2SO4, HNO3, and HCl in a comparative manner. Experimental investigations showed behavioral similarities between HNO3 and HCl media, while H2SO4 media was different from them because of the nature of the formed complexes. NH4OH was found to be the best precipitation agent in every leaching media to remove Fe(III with low Sc co-precipitation. To limit Sc loss from the system, Fe(III removal was divided into two steps, leading to more than 90% of Fe(III removal at the end of the process. Phosphate concentrates were produced in the final step of the precipitation process with dibasic phosphates which have a strong affinity towards Sc. Concentrates containing more than 50% of ScPO4 were produced in each case from the solutions after Fe(III removal, as described. A flow diagram of the selective precipitation process is proposed for these three mineral acid media with their characteristic parameters.

  10. Effect of precipitation route on the properties of antimony trioxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdullah, Abdul Halim; Noor, Nor Hayati Mohd; Ramli, Irmawati; Hashim, Mansor

    2008-01-01

    Antimony trioxide was prepared, using antimony potassium tartarate as starting material, via forward and reverse precipitation technique. The characteristics of the resulting antimony oxides were determined by BET surface area method, differential thermogravimetry analysis (DTG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and SEM. The DTG curves for all uncalcined samples showed only a single endothermic peak which indicated that the sample is antimony trioxide. Unlike forward precipitation technique which resulted in a single antimony trioxide phase which is senarmontite, reverse precipitation technique produced antimony trioxide with both senarmontite and valentinite phase. Upon calcinations at 723 K, a small amount of Sb 2 O 4 with cervantite phase was formed at the expense of Sb 2 O 3 senarmontite phase as detected from the XRD pattern and infrared spectrum of RSb. The effect of preparation route on the properties of the antimony trioxide produced was clearly demonstrated

  11. Preparation of magnesium hydroxide nanoflowers from boron mud via anti-drop precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, Xi [School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083 (China); Blue Sky Technology Corporation, Beijing 100083 (China); Ma, Hongwen, E-mail: mahw@cugb.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083 (China); Jiang, Xiaoqian [School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083 (China); Jiang, Zhouqing [School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083 (China); Blue Sky Technology Corporation, Beijing 100083 (China)

    2014-08-15

    Highlights: • We use the anti-drop precipitation method for synthesis of magnesium hydroxide. • Boron mud which is solid waste from a borax factory is used as the magnesium source. • The magnesium hydroxide nanoflowers are prepared in a short time. • The as-prepared magnesium hydroxide can be used as an effective flame retardant. - Abstract: Using boron mud as the starting material, the flower-like magnesium hydroxide (MH) has been successfully prepared via anti-drop precipitation method. The effect of NH{sub 3}·H{sub 2}O concentration, aging time, and surfactant on the morphology of MH was investigated. The optimum precipitation conditions are dropping MgSO{sub 4} solution in 5% NH{sub 3}·H{sub 2}O solution, with 3% polyethylene glycol as surfactant, aging for 30 min. XRD, SEM, FI-IR, and TG/DTA have been employed to characterize the as-prepared samples. XRD reveals that MH with high purity has the brucite structure. SEM images show that the flower-like MH exists in the form of mono-disperse well uniform spherical aggregation with diameter of 3–5 μm. TG/DTA shows a total percentage of weight loss 33.6% with a well-defined endothermic peak near 381.3 °C corresponding to the decomposition of MH. Furthermore, it reports that the extremely fast primary nucleation is of significance for crystal growth of MH.

  12. Germanium recovery from gasification fly ash: evaluation of end-products obtained by precipitation methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arroyo, Fátima; Font, Oriol; Fernández-Pereira, Constantino; Querol, Xavier; Juan, Roberto; Ruiz, Carmen; Coca, Pilar

    2009-08-15

    In this study the purity of the germanium end-products obtained by two different precipitation methods carried out on germanium-bearing solutions was evaluated as a last step of a hydrometallurgy process for the recovery of this valuable element from the Puertollano Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) fly ash. Since H(2)S is produced as a by-product in the gas cleaning system of the Puertollano IGCC plant, precipitation of germanium as GeS(2) was tested by sulfiding the Ge-bearing solutions. The technological and hazardous issues that surround H(2)S handling conducted to investigate a novel precipitation procedure: precipitation as an organic complex by adding 1,2-dihydroxy benzene pyrocatechol (CAT) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to the Ge-bearing solutions. Relatively high purity Ge end-products (90 and 93% hexagonal-GeO(2) purity, respectively) were obtained by precipitating Ge from enriched solutions, as GeS(2) sulfiding the solutions with H(2)S, or as organic complex with CAT/CTAB mixtures and subsequent roasting of the precipitates. Both methods showed high efficiency (>99%) to precipitate selectively Ge using a single precipitation stage from germanium-bearing solutions.

  13. A test for Improvement of high resolution Quantitative Precipitation Estimation for localized heavy precipitation events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jung-Hoon; Roh, Joon-Woo; Park, Jeong-Gyun

    2017-04-01

    Accurate estimation of precipitation is one of the most difficult and significant tasks in the area of weather diagnostic and forecasting. In the Korean Peninsula, heavy precipitations are caused by various physical mechanisms, which are affected by shortwave trough, quasi-stationary moisture convergence zone among varying air masses, and a direct/indirect effect of tropical cyclone. In addition to, various geographical and topographical elements make production of temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation is very complicated. Especially, localized heavy rainfall events in South Korea generally arise from mesoscale convective systems embedded in these synoptic scale disturbances. In weather radar data with high temporal and spatial resolution, accurate estimation of rain rate from radar reflectivity data is too difficult. Z-R relationship (Marshal and Palmer 1948) have adapted representatively. In addition to, several methods such as support vector machine (SVM), neural network, Fuzzy logic, Kriging were utilized in order to improve the accuracy of rain rate. These methods show the different quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and the performances of accuracy are different for heavy precipitation cases. In this study, in order to improve the accuracy of QPE for localized heavy precipitation, ensemble method for Z-R relationship and various techniques was tested. This QPE ensemble method was developed by a concept based on utilizing each advantage of precipitation calibration methods. The ensemble members were produced for a combination of different Z-R coefficient and calibration method.

  14. Precipitation-strengthening effects in iron-aluminides

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maziasz, P.J.; McKamey, C.G.; Goodwin, G.M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN (United States)] [and others

    1995-05-01

    The purpose of this work is to produce precipitation to improve both high-temperature strength and room-temperature ductibility in FeAl-type(B2 phase) iron-aluminides. Previous work has focused on primarily wrought products, but stable precipitates can also refine the grain size and affect the properties of as-cast and/or welded material as well. New work began in FY 1994 on the properties of these weldable, strong FeAl alloys in the as-cast condition. Because the end product of this project is components for industry testing, simpler and better (cheaper, near-net-shape) processing methods must be developed for industrial applications of FeAl alloys.

  15. Synthesis of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite by using precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mobasherpour, I.; Heshajin, M. Soulati; Kazemzadeh, A.; Zakeri, M.

    2007-01-01

    In this investigation, hydroxyapatite powder has been synthesized from the calcium nitrate hydrated and di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate solution by precipitation method and heat treatment of hydroxyapatite powders. In order to study the structural evolution, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) were used. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to estimate the particle size of the powder and observe the morphology and agglomeration state of the powder. Results show that hydroxyapatite nanocrystalline can successfully be produced by precipitation technique from raw materials. Hydroxyapatite grain gradually increased in size when temperature increased from 100 to 1200 o C, and the hydroxyapatite hexagonal-dipyramidal phase was not transformed to the other calcium phosphates phases up to 1200 o C

  16. Effect of creep-aging on precipitates of 7075 aluminum alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Y.C., E-mail: yclin@csu.edu.cn [School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Changsha 410083 (China); State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die and Mould Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Jiang, Yu-Qiang; Chen, Xiao-Min; Wen, Dong-Xu [School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Changsha 410083 (China); Zhou, Hua-Min [State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die and Mould Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

    2013-12-20

    The creep-aging behaviors of 7075 aluminum alloy are studied by uniaxial tensile creep experiments under elevated temperatures. The effects of creep-aging temperature and applied stress on the precipitates of 7075-T651 aluminum alloy are investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Results show that (1) coarse insoluble precipitates (Al{sub 7}Cu{sub 2}Fe and Mg{sub 2}Si) and intermediate precipitates (Al{sub 18}Mg{sub 3}Cr{sub 2} and Al{sub 3}Zr) are found in the aluminum matrix, and the effects of creep-aging treatment on these precipitates are not obvious; (2) the main aging precipitates are η′ and η phases, and the amount of aging precipitates increase with the increase of creep-aging temperature and applied stress; (3) with the increase of creep-aging temperature and applied stress, the precipitates are discontinuously distributed on the grain boundary, and the width of precipitate free zone increases with the increase of creep-aging temperature and applied stress and (4) compared with the microstructure in the traditional stress-free aged sample, the creep-aging process can refine the precipitates and narrow the width of the precipitate free zone.

  17. Direct synthesis of Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanoparticles via hydrolysis-precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu, Yuehua [Department of Inorganic Materials, School of Resources Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Zhang, Huihui [Department of Inorganic Materials, School of Resources Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Yang, Huaming [Department of Inorganic Materials, School of Resources Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China)]. E-mail: hmyang@mail.csu.edu.cn

    2007-01-31

    Antimony oxide (Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3}) has wide applications as conductive materials, effective catalyst, functional filler and optical materials. Nanocrystalline Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} has been successfully synthesized by hydrolysis-precipitation method. The samples were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) images, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The average crystal size of the Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanoparticles increases with increasing the reaction temperature. TEM image of the as-synthesized nanocrystalline Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} shows rod-like structure. HRTEM images indicate a preferred directional growth of the Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanoparticles. The electrochemical behaviors of Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} electrodes have been primarily investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF{sub 6}) solution. Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanocrystallite phase has prominent effect on the electrochemical properties. The results indicate that nanocrystalline Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} synthesized by hydrolysis-precipitation method shows potential application in the field of the electrode materials.

  18. Transferability in the future climate of a statistical downscaling method for precipitation in France

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dayon, G.; Boé, J.; Martin, E.

    2015-02-01

    A statistical downscaling approach for precipitation in France based on the analog method and its evaluation for different combinations of predictors is described, with focus on the transferability of the method to the future climate. First, the realism of downscaled present-day precipitation climatology and interannual variability for different combinations of predictors from four reanalyses is assessed. Satisfactory results are obtained, but elaborated predictors do not lead to major and consistent across-reanalyses improvements. The downscaling method is then evaluated on its capacity to capture precipitation trends in the last decades. As uncertainties in downscaled trends due to the choice of the reanalysis are large and observed trends are weak, this analysis does not lead to strong conclusions on the applicability of the method to a changing climate. The temporal transferability is then assessed thanks to a perfect model framework. The statistical downscaling relationship is built using present-day predictors and precipitation simulated by 12 regional climate models. The entire projections are then downscaled, and future downscaled and simulated precipitation changes are compared. A good temporal transferability is obtained only with a specific combination of predictors. Finally, the regional climate models are downscaled, thanks to the relationship built with reanalyses and observations, for the best combination of predictors. Results are similar to the changes simulated by the models, which reinforces our confidence in the realism of the models and of the downscaling method. Uncertainties in precipitation change due to reanalyses are found to be limited compared to those due to regional simulations.

  19. Long-Term Precipitation Analysis and Estimation of Precipitation Concentration Index Using Three Support Vector Machine Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milan Gocic

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The monthly precipitation data from 29 stations in Serbia during the period of 1946–2012 were considered. Precipitation trends were calculated using linear regression method. Three CLINO periods (1961–1990, 1971–2000, and 1981–2010 in three subregions were analysed. The CLINO 1981–2010 period had a significant increasing trend. Spatial pattern of the precipitation concentration index (PCI was presented. For the purpose of PCI prediction, three Support Vector Machine (SVM models, namely, SVM coupled with the discrete wavelet transform (SVM-Wavelet, the firefly algorithm (SVM-FFA, and using the radial basis function (SVM-RBF, were developed and used. The estimation and prediction results of these models were compared with each other using three statistical indicators, that is, root mean square error, coefficient of determination, and coefficient of efficiency. The experimental results showed that an improvement in predictive accuracy and capability of generalization can be achieved by the SVM-Wavelet approach. Moreover, the results indicated the proposed SVM-Wavelet model can adequately predict the PCI.

  20. THE EFFECT OF SALICYLATES ON THE PRECIPITATION OF ANTIGEN WITH ANTIBODY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coburn, A F; Kapp, E M

    1943-02-01

    1. Sodium salicylate modifies the precipitation of normal rabbit serum protein by sodium tungstate, and partially inhibits the precipitation of horse serum euglobulin by rabbit antiserum. Sodium salicylate added to a system containing crystalline egg albumin and its antibody partly prevents the formation of precipitate, the degree of inhibition being related to the concentration of salicylate. 2. Precipitation in the equivalence zone is more readily prevented by salicylate than precipitation in the region of antibody excess, the immune system becoming progressively less sensitive to the action of salicylate as the excess of antibody becomes larger. 3. Formed precipitates were partly dissolved following resuspension in the presence of salicylate. 4. The salicylate effect on immune precipitation is reversible, and appears to be due to inactivation of antibody. 5. Salicylate was more effective in preventing specific precipitation than other anions of a lyotropic series tested.

  1. Optical investigations on indium oxide nano-particles prepared through precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seetha, M.; Bharathi, S.; Dhayal Raj, A.; Mangalaraj, D.; Nataraj, D.

    2009-01-01

    Visible light emitting indium oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by precipitation method. Sodium hydroxide dissolved in ethanol was used as a precipitating agent to obtain indium hydroxide precipitates. Precipitates, thus formed were calcined at 600 deg. C for 1 h to obtain indium oxide nanoparticles. The structure of the particles as determined from the X-Ray diffraction pattern was found to be body centered cubic. The phase transformation of the prepared nanoparticles was analyzed using thermogravimetry. Surface morphology of the prepared nanoparticles was analyzed using high resolution-scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results of the analysis show cube-like aggregates of size around 50 nm. It was found that the nanoparticles have a strong emission at 427 nm and a weak emission at 530 nm. These emissions were due to the presence of singly ionized oxygen vacancies and the nature of the defect was confirmed through Electron paramagnetic resonance analysis.

  2. Nanostructured barium titanate thin films from nanoparticles obtained by an emulsion precipitation method

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Woudenberg, F.C.M.; Sager, W.F.C.; ten Elshof, Johan E.; Verweij, H.

    2005-01-01

    Spherical non-agglomerated BaTiO3 precursor particles of 3–5 nm size were prepared by an emulsion precipitation method that consisted of the complexation of Ba- and Ti-precursors in separate water-in-decane emulsions, followed by mixing and controlled precipitation upon reactive decomposition of

  3. An Optimized Trichloroacetic Acid/Acetone Precipitation Method for Two-Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis Analysis of Qinchuan Cattle Longissimus Dorsi Muscle Containing High Proportion of Marbling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Ruijie; Adoligbe, Camus; Jiang, Bijie; Zhao, Xianlin; Gui, Linsheng; Qu, Kaixing; Wu, Sen; Zan, Linsen

    2015-01-01

    Longissimus dorsi muscle (LD) proteomics provides a novel opportunity to reveal the molecular mechanism behind intramuscular fat deposition. Unfortunately, the vast amounts of lipids and nucleic acids in this tissue hampered LD proteomics analysis. Trichloroacetic acid (TCA)/acetone precipitation is a widely used method to remove contaminants from protein samples. However, the high speed centrifugation employed in this method produces hard precipitates, which restrict contaminant elimination and protein re-dissolution. To address the problem, the centrifugation precipitates were first grinded with a glass tissue grinder and then washed with 90% acetone (TCA/acetone-G-W) in the present study. According to our result, the treatment for solid precipitate facilitated non-protein contaminant removal and protein re-dissolution, ultimately improving two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) analysis. Additionally, we also evaluated the effect of sample drying on 2-DE profile as well as protein yield. It was found that 30 min air-drying did not result in significant protein loss, but reduced horizontal streaking and smearing on 2-DE gel compared to 10 min. In summary, we developed an optimized TCA/acetone precipitation method for protein extraction of LD, in which the modifications improved the effectiveness of TCA/acetone method.

  4. Effect of Ni4Ti3 precipitation on martensitic transformation in Ti-Ni

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, N.; Shen, C.; Wagner, M.F.-X.; Eggeler, G.; Mills, M.J.; Wang, Y.

    2010-01-01

    Precipitation of Ni 4 Ti 3 plays a critical role in determining the martensitic transformation path and temperature in Ni-Ti shape memory alloys. In this study, the equilibrium shape of a coherent Ni 4 Ti 3 precipitate and the concentration and stress fields around it are determined quantitatively using the phase field method. Most recent experimental data on lattice parameters, elastic constants, precipitate-matrix orientation relationship and thermodynamic database are used as model inputs. The effects of the concentration and stress fields on subsequent martensitic transformations are analyzed through interaction energy between a nucleating martensitic particle and the existing microstructure. Results indicate that R-phase formation prior to B19' phase could be attributed to both direct elastic interaction and stress-induced spatial variation in concentration near Ni 4 Ti 3 precipitates. The preferred nucleation sites for the R-phase are close to the broad side of the lenticular-shaped Ni 4 Ti 3 precipitates, where tension normal to the habit plane is highest, and Ni concentration is lowest.

  5. Joint distribution of temperature and precipitation in the Mediterranean, using the Copula method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazoglou, Georgia; Anagnostopoulou, Christina

    2018-03-01

    This study analyses the temperature and precipitation dependence among stations in the Mediterranean. The first station group is located in the eastern Mediterranean (EM) and includes two stations, Athens and Thessaloniki, while the western (WM) one includes Malaga and Barcelona. The data was organized in two time periods, the hot-dry period and the cold-wet one, composed of 5 months, respectively. The analysis is based on a new statistical technique in climatology: the Copula method. Firstly, the calculation of the Kendall tau correlation index showed that temperatures among stations are dependant during both time periods whereas precipitation presents dependency only between the stations located in EM or WM and only during the cold-wet period. Accordingly, the marginal distributions were calculated for each studied station, as they are further used by the copula method. Finally, several copula families, both Archimedean and Elliptical, were tested in order to choose the most appropriate one to model the relation of the studied data sets. Consequently, this study achieves to model the dependence of the main climate parameters (temperature and precipitation) with the Copula method. The Frank copula was identified as the best family to describe the joint distribution of temperature, for the majority of station groups. For precipitation, the best copula families are BB1 and Survival Gumbel. Using the probability distribution diagrams, the probability of a combination of temperature and precipitation values between stations is estimated.

  6. Influence of precipitation on the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect in Al-Mg alloys

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    In the alloy with solute content higher than the limiting solubility,the solute atoms that have failed to dissolve will precipitate from the solid solution and form precipitations.In this study, the Portevin-Le Chatelier(PLC) effects in annealed 5456 and 5052 aluminum alloys with different precipitation contents have been investigated under different applied strain rates.The results suggest that precipitations have significant effect on the PLC effect and the more the precipitations are, the greater the ...

  7. The precipitation and effect of nano nitrides in HSLC steel

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    The existing forms of N and Al in HSLC (high strength low carbon) steel produced by TSCR (thin slab casting and rolling process), the precipitation thermodynamics and kinetics of AlN, and its effects on structure and mechanical property are studied. The experimental results show that only a small quantity of nitrogen is com- bined into AlN in HSLC steel produced by TSCR and most of the nitrogen in steel is still free nitrogen. Aluminum-nitride is mainly precipitated during the period of slow air cooling after coiling, but not during rolling and water cooling. The acid-soluble aluminum has no obvious effect on the grain size and mechanical property of HSLC steel produced by TSCR whose acid-soluble aluminum content is 0.005%―0.043%. The precipitation of AlN is not the main cause of grain refinement of HSLC steel produced by TSCR, nor is AlN the dominating precipitate that has precipitation strengthening effect. The nano nitrides are not pure AlN, but have complex compositions.

  8. Precipitation of stoichiometric hydroxyapatite by a continuous method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gomez-Morales, J.; Boix, T.; Fraile, J.; Rodriguez-Clemente, R. [Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Barcelona (Spain). Inst. de Ciencia de Materiales; Torrent-Burgues, J. [UPC, Barcelona (Spain). Dept. d' Enginyeria Quimica

    2001-07-01

    In this paper we present the precipitation of hydroxyapatite (HA), Ca{sub 5}(OH)(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}, from highly concentrated CaCl{sub 2} and K{sub 2}HPO{sub 4} solutions, carried out by a continuous method in a MSMPR reactor. The procedure consists of adding the reagents in a ratio Ca to P equal to 1.67, maintaining a temperature of 85 C, inert N{sub 2} atmosphere inside the reactor, and monitoring and adjusting automatically the pH by means of a pH-stat system (pH = 9.0 {+-} 0.1). Under these conditions HA with a Ca to P ratio equal or close to the stoichiometric composition (Ca/P=1.667), with a high yield (up to 99%) and a high production rate (up to 1.17 g/l.min) is obtained at steady state. The CSD, morphology, crystallinity of the precipitates and impurities present fit the requirement for its biomedical applications. (orig.)

  9. Characterization of ZnS nanoparticles synthesized by co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iranmanesh Parvaneh; Nourzpoor Mohsen; Saeednia Samira

    2015-01-01

    ZnS nanoparticles are prepared by homogeneous chemical co-precipitation method using EDTA as a stabilizer and capping agent. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of as-synthesized nanoparticles are investigated using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The x-ray diffraction pattern exhibits a zinc-blended crystal structure at room temperature. The average particle size of the nanoparticles from the scanning electron microscopy image is about 50 nm. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum shows the blue shift in the band gap due to the quantum confinement effect. The photoluminescence spectrum of ZnS nanoparticles shows a blue visible spectrum. (paper)

  10. Effects of large-scale deforestation on precipitation in the monsoon regions: remote versus local effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devaraju, N; Bala, Govindasamy; Modak, Angshuman

    2015-03-17

    In this paper, using idealized climate model simulations, we investigate the biogeophysical effects of large-scale deforestation on monsoon regions. We find that the remote forcing from large-scale deforestation in the northern middle and high latitudes shifts the Intertropical Convergence Zone southward. This results in a significant decrease in precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere monsoon regions (East Asia, North America, North Africa, and South Asia) and moderate precipitation increases in the Southern Hemisphere monsoon regions (South Africa, South America, and Australia). The magnitude of the monsoonal precipitation changes depends on the location of deforestation, with remote effects showing a larger influence than local effects. The South Asian Monsoon region is affected the most, with 18% decline in precipitation over India. Our results indicate that any comprehensive assessment of afforestation/reforestation as climate change mitigation strategies should carefully evaluate the remote effects on monsoonal precipitation alongside the large local impacts on temperatures.

  11. Precipitation effects on microbial pollution in a river: lag structures and seasonal effect modification.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Tornevi

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The river Göta Älv is a source of freshwater for 0.7 million swedes. The river is subject to contamination from sewer systems discharge and runoff from agricultural lands. Climate models projects an increase in precipitation and heavy rainfall in this region. This study aimed to determine how daily rainfall causes variation in indicators of pathogen loads, to increase knowledge of variations in river water quality and discuss implications for risk management. METHODS: Data covering 7 years of daily monitoring of river water turbidity and concentrations of E. coli, Clostridium and coliforms were obtained, and their short-term variations in relation with precipitation were analyzed with time series regression and non-linear distributed lag models. We studied how precipitation effects varied with season and compared different weather stations for predictive ability. RESULTS: Generally, the lowest raw water quality occurs 2 days after rainfall, with poor raw water quality continuing for several more days. A rainfall event of >15 mm/24-h (local 95 percentile was associated with a three-fold higher concentration of E. coli and 30% higher turbidity levels (lag 2. Rainfall was associated with exponential increases in concentrations of indicator bacteria while the effect on turbidity attenuated with very heavy rainfall. Clear associations were also observed between consecutive days of wet weather and decreased water quality. The precipitation effect on increased levels of indicator bacteria was significant in all seasons. CONCLUSIONS: Rainfall elevates microbial risks year-round in this river and freshwater source and acts as the main driver of varying water quality. Heavy rainfall appears to be a better predictor of fecal pollution than water turbidity. An increase of wet weather and extreme events with climate change will lower river water quality even more, indicating greater challenges for drinking water producers, and suggesting better

  12. Synthesis of layered double hydroxides containing Mg2+, Zn2+, Ca2+ and Al3+ layer cations by co-precipitation methods-A review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theiss, Frederick L.; Ayoko, Godwin A.; Frost, Ray L.

    2016-10-01

    Co-precipitation is a common method for the preparation of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and related materials. This review article is aimed at providing newcomers to the field with some examples of the types of co-precipitation reactions that have been reported previously and to briefly investigate some of the properties of the products of these reactions. Due to the sheer volume of literature on the subject, the authors have had to limit this article to the synthesis of Mg/Al, Zn/Al and Ca/Al LDHs by co-precipitation and directly related methods. LDHs have been synthesised from various reagents including metal salts, oxides and hydroxides. Co-precipitation is also useful for the direct synthesis of LDHs with a wide range of interlayer anions and various bases have been successfully employed to prepare LDHs. Examples of other synthesis techniques including the urea method, hydrothermal synthesis and various mechanochemical methods that are undoubtedly related to co-precipitation have also been included in this review. The effect of post synthesis hydrothermal has also been summarised.

  13. The synthesis of hydroxyapatite through the precipitation method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Rizal K; Fahmi, M N; Mat, Akil H; Zainal, Arifin A

    2004-05-01

    Hydroxyapatite (HA) has been earmarked as suitable for implantation within the human of its chemical makeup to human bone. In this paper, HA powders were synthesized via the precipitation method where phosphoric acid (H3PO4) was titrated into calcium hydroxide solution [Ca(OH)2]. Two parameters such as temperature and stirring rate were identified as factors that influenced the amount and purity of HA powder. Phase identification of the synthesized powder was done using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The results show that HA phase can be synthesized from this titration process of Ca(OH)2 and H3PO4 with yield amount of HA powder around 45 - 61 grams but with less than hundred percent purity. In order to study the effect of heat treatment to HA crystals structure, HA powder was calcined at 850 degrees C for 2 hours. It's found that the degree of crystallinity increases after calcination because of lattice expansion when the materials were heated at higher temperature

  14. The effect of precipitation on contaminant dissolution and transport: Analytic solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Light, W.B.; Chambre, P.L.; Pigford, T.H.; Lee, W.W.L.

    1988-09-01

    We analysed the effect of precipitation on the dissolution and transport rates of a nondecaying contaminant. Precipitation near the waste surface can have a profound effect on dissolution and transport rates. The mass-transfer rate at the waste surface is controlled by the solid-liquid reaction rate to an extent determined by the modified reaction-rate modulus, α. At later times extending to steady state, the mass-transfer rate depends on the location of the precipitation front r/sub p/ and on the solubility ratio C/sub o//C/sub p/. A precipitation front very near the waste surface can change the dissolution mechanism from solubility-diffusion-controlled to chemical-reaction-rate controlled. Precipitation limits the concentration of the contaminant at r > r/sub p/ to C/sub p/, steepening the concentration gradient for dissolution on the waste package side of the front and flattening the gradient for transport in the region outside the front. This increases the rate of contaminant transport from the waste to the front while decreasing the rate of transport away from the front, when compared to the situation without precipitation. The difference in the transport rates at the front is the rate of precipitation. For large changes in solubility, most of the contaminant is immobilized by precipitation, as was observed in a parallel study. The effect of a precipitation front located nearby in surrounding rock is to increase the release rate at the waste surface/rock interface. The increase in release rate at the waste surface is greater the closer the precipitation and the larger the ratio C/sub o//C/sub p/, also observed by others. The release rates of other waste constituents that dissolve congruently with the solubility-controlling matrix can be increased by a local high-solubility region between the waste surface and the precipitation front. 10 refs., 5 figs

  15. Improvement of humidity resistance of water soluble core by precipitation method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Long

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Water soluble core has been widely used in manufacturing complex metal components with hollow configurations or internal channels; however, the soluble core can absorb water easily from the air at room temperature. To improve the humidity resistance of the water soluble core and optimize the process parameters applied in manufacturing of the water soluble core, a precipitation method and a two-level-three-full factorial central composite design were used, respectively. The properties of the cores treated by the precipitation method were compared with that without any treatment. Through a systematical study by means of both an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM and an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX analyzer, the results indicate that the hygroscopicity can be reduced by 20% and the obtained optimal process conditions for three critical control factors affecting the hygroscopicity are 0.2 g·mL-1 calcium chloride concentration, 4% water concentration and 0 min ignition time. The porous surface coated by calcium chloride and the high humidity resistance products generated in the precipitation reaction between calcium chloride and potassium carbonate may contribute to the lower hygroscopicity.

  16. Predictability of monthly temperature and precipitation using automatic time series forecasting methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papacharalampous, Georgia; Tyralis, Hristos; Koutsoyiannis, Demetris

    2018-02-01

    We investigate the predictability of monthly temperature and precipitation by applying automatic univariate time series forecasting methods to a sample of 985 40-year-long monthly temperature and 1552 40-year-long monthly precipitation time series. The methods include a naïve one based on the monthly values of the last year, as well as the random walk (with drift), AutoRegressive Fractionally Integrated Moving Average (ARFIMA), exponential smoothing state-space model with Box-Cox transformation, ARMA errors, Trend and Seasonal components (BATS), simple exponential smoothing, Theta and Prophet methods. Prophet is a recently introduced model inspired by the nature of time series forecasted at Facebook and has not been applied to hydrometeorological time series before, while the use of random walk, BATS, simple exponential smoothing and Theta is rare in hydrology. The methods are tested in performing multi-step ahead forecasts for the last 48 months of the data. We further investigate how different choices of handling the seasonality and non-normality affect the performance of the models. The results indicate that: (a) all the examined methods apart from the naïve and random walk ones are accurate enough to be used in long-term applications; (b) monthly temperature and precipitation can be forecasted to a level of accuracy which can barely be improved using other methods; (c) the externally applied classical seasonal decomposition results mostly in better forecasts compared to the automatic seasonal decomposition used by the BATS and Prophet methods; and (d) Prophet is competitive, especially when it is combined with externally applied classical seasonal decomposition.

  17. Development of Hydrotalcite Based Cobalt Catalyst by Hydrothermal and Co-precipitation Method for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Faizan Shareef

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the effect of a synthesis method for cobalt catalyst supported on hydrotalcite material for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The hydrotalcite supported cobalt (HT-Co catalysts were synthesized by co-precipitation and hydrothermal method. The prepared catalysts were characterized by using various techniques like BET (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy, TGA (Thermal Gravimetric Analysis, XRD (X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, and FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Fixed bed micro reactor was used to test the catalytic activity of prepared catalysts. The catalytic testing results demonstrated the performance of hydrotalcite based cobalt catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis with high selectivity for liquid products. The effect of synthesis method on the activity and selectivity of catalyst was also discussed. Copyright © 2017 BCREC Group. All rights reserved Received: 3rd November 2016; Revised: 26th February 2017; Accepted: 9th March 2017; Available online: 27th October 2017; Published regularly: December 2017 How to Cite: Sharif, M.S., Arslan, M., Iqbal, N., Ahmad, N., Noor, T. (2017. Development of Hydrotalcite Based Cobalt Catalyst by Hydrothermal and Co-precipitation Method for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, 12(3: 357-363 (doi:10.9767/bcrec.12.3.762.357-363

  18. Rough Precipitation Forecasts based on Analogue Method: an Operational System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raffa, Mario; Mercogliano, Paola; Lacressonnière, Gwendoline; Guillaume, Bruno; Deandreis, Céline; Castanier, Pierre

    2017-04-01

    In the framework of the Climate KIC partnership, has been funded the project Wat-Ener-Cast (WEC), coordinated by ARIA Technologies, having the goal to adapt, through tailored weather-related forecast, the water and energy operations to the increased weather fluctuation and to climate change. The WEC products allow providing high quality forecast suited in risk and opportunities assessment dashboard for water and energy operational decisions and addressing the needs of sewage/water distribution operators, energy transport & distribution system operators, energy manager and wind energy producers. A common "energy water" web platform, able to interface with newest smart water-energy IT network have been developed. The main benefit by sharing resources through the "WEC platform" is the possibility to optimize the cost and the procedures of safety and maintenance team, in case of alerts and, finally to reduce overflows. Among the different services implemented on the WEC platform, ARIA have developed a product having the goal to support sewage/water distribution operators, based on a gradual forecast information system ( at 48hrs/24hrs/12hrs horizons) of heavy precipitation. For each fixed deadline different type of operation are implemented: 1) 48hour horizon, organisation of "on call team", 2) 24 hour horizon, update and confirm the "on call team", 3) 12 hour horizon, secure human resources and equipment (emptying storage basins, pipes manipulations …). More specifically CMCC have provided a statistical downscaling method in order to provide a "rough" daily local precipitation at 24 hours, especially when high precipitation values are expected. This statistical technique consists of an adaptation of analogue method based on ECMWF data (analysis and forecast at 24 hours). One of the most advantages of this technique concerns a lower computational burden and budget compared to running a Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model, also if, of course it provides only this

  19. Structural characterization of FeVO{sub 4} synthesized by co-precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bera, Ganesh; Sinha, Sourav; Rambabu, P.; Das, P.; Gupta, A. K.; Turpu, G. R., E-mail: dr.tgreddy@gmail.com [Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Koni, Bilaspur 495 009 (India)

    2016-05-06

    A Low temperature method for synthesizing triclinic FeVO{sub 4} nanoparticles is manifested through co-precipitation method. Three precursor materials taken for the synthesis are Iron Nitrate, Ammonium Metavanadate and NaOH along with DI water. The attained precipitate was dried at 100°C for overnight and calcined at different temperatures ranging from 400°C - 650°C. The achieved powdered materials are studied through X-ray diffraction and found to be in pure single phase of P-1 space group symmetry. The crystallite size measured through Scherrer’s method is in found to be in the range of 40-60 nm. Raman spectroscopic studies were carried out at room temperature. Raman spectra is in agreement with the reported structural data of FeVO{sub 4}.

  20. Effect of urbanization on the winter precipitation distribution in Beijing area

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2009-01-01

    According to the urbanization extent of Beijing area, and with 1980 as a turning point, the duration from 1961 to 2000 is divided into two periods: one is defined as the slow urbanization period from 1961 to 1980, and other one as the fast urbanization period from 1981 to 2000. Based on the 40-year’s precipi-tation data of 14 standard weather stations in Beijing area, the effect of urbanization on precipitation distribution is studied. It is found that there has been a noticeable and systematic change of winter precipitation distribution pattern between these two periods in Beijing area: in the slow urbanization period, the precipitation in the southern part of Beijing is more than that in the northern part; but in the fast urbanization period, the precipitation distribution pattern is reverse, i.e. the precipitation in the southern part is less than that in the northern part; But in other seasons, the precipitation distribution pattern did not change remarkably in general. The possible cause resulting in the change of winter precipitation distribution pattern, might be that with urban area extension, the effects of "urban heat island" and "urban dry island" become more and more intensified, and increase hydrometeors evapo-ration below precipitable cloud, and then cause less precipitation received on the ground surface in the downtown and the southern part. It is also noteworthy to further research why the precipitation distri-bution pattern does not change systematically in other seasons except winter after intense urbaniza-tion in Beijing area.

  1. Effect of synthesis conditions on the preparation of YIG powders via co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rashad, M.M.; Hessien, M.M.; El-Midany, A.; Ibrahim, I.A.

    2009-01-01

    Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) (Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 ) powders have been synthesized through a co-precipitation method in the presence of sodium bis(2-ethylhexylsulfosuccinate), AOT as an anionic surfactant. The garnet precursors produced were obtained from aqueous iron and yttrium nitrates mixtures using 5 M sodium hydroxide at pH 10. A statistical Box-Behnken experimental design was used to investigate the effect of the main parameters (i.e. AOT surfactant concentration, annealing time and temperature) on YIG powder formation, crystallite size, morphology and magnetic properties. YIG particles were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer. XRD revealed that the formation of single cubic phase of YIG was temperature dependent and increased by increasing the annealing temperature from 800 to 1200 o C. SEM micrographs showed that the addition of AOT surfactant promoted the microstructure of YIG in crystalline cubic-like structure. The magnetic properties were sensitive to the synthesis variables of annealing temperature, time and AOT surfactant concentration. The maximum saturation magnetization (28.13 emu/g), remanence magnetization (21.57 emu/g) and coercive force (703 Oe) were achieved at an annealing temperature of 1200 o C, time 2 h and 500 ppm of AOT surfactant concentration.

  2. The Effectiveness of Using Limited Gauge Measurements for Bias Adjustment of Satellite-Based Precipitation Estimation over Saudi Arabia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alharbi, Raied; Hsu, Kuolin; Sorooshian, Soroosh; Braithwaite, Dan

    2018-01-01

    Precipitation is a key input variable for hydrological and climate studies. Rain gauges are capable of providing reliable precipitation measurements at point scale. However, the uncertainty of rain measurements increases when the rain gauge network is sparse. Satellite -based precipitation estimations appear to be an alternative source of precipitation measurements, but they are influenced by systematic bias. In this study, a method for removing the bias from the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS) over a region where the rain gauge is sparse is investigated. The method consists of monthly empirical quantile mapping, climate classification, and inverse-weighted distance method. Daily PERSIANN-CCS is selected to test the capability of the method for removing the bias over Saudi Arabia during the period of 2010 to 2016. The first six years (2010 - 2015) are calibrated years and 2016 is used for validation. The results show that the yearly correlation coefficient was enhanced by 12%, the yearly mean bias was reduced by 93% during validated year. Root mean square error was reduced by 73% during validated year. The correlation coefficient, the mean bias, and the root mean square error show that the proposed method removes the bias on PERSIANN-CCS effectively that the method can be applied to other regions where the rain gauge network is sparse.

  3. Statistical Optimization of Synthesis of Manganese Carbonates Nanoparticles by Precipitation Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Javidan, A.; Rahimi-Nasrabadi, M.; Davoudi, A.A.

    2011-01-01

    In this study, an orthogonal array design (OAD), OA9, was employed as a statistical experimental method for the controllable, simple and fast synthesis of manganese carbonate nanoparticle. Ultrafine manganese carbonate nanoparticles were synthesized by a precipitation method involving the addition of manganese ion solution to the carbonate reagent. The effects of reaction conditions, for example, manganese and carbonate concentrations, flow rate of reagent addition and temperature, on the diameter of the synthesized manganese carbonate nanoparticle were investigated. The effects of these factors on the width of the manganese carbonate nanoparticle were quantitatively evaluated by the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that manganese carbonate nanoparticle can be synthesized by controlling the manganese concentration, flow rate and temperature. Finally, the optimum conditions for the synthesis of manganese carbonate nanoparticle by this simple and fast method were proposed. The results of ANOVA showed that 0.001 mol/ L manganese ion and carbonate reagents concentrations, 2.5 mL/ min flow rate for the addition of the manganese reagent to the carbonate solution and 0 degree Celsius temperature are the optimum conditions for producing manganese carbonate nanoparticle with 75 ± 25 nm width. (author)

  4. Gridded precipitation dataset for the Rhine basin made with the genRE interpolation method

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Osnabrugge, van B.; Uijlenhoet, R.

    2017-01-01

    A high resolution (1.2x1.2km) gridded precipitation dataset with hourly time step that covers the whole Rhine basin for the period 1997-2015. Made from gauge data with the genRE interpolation scheme. See "genRE: A method to extend gridded precipitation climatology datasets in near real-time for

  5. Effects of natural organic matter on calcium and phosphorus co-precipitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sindelar, Hugo R; Brown, Mark T; Boyer, Treavor H

    2015-11-01

    Phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca) and natural organic matter (NOM) naturally occur in all aquatic ecosystems. However, excessive P loads can cause eutrophic or hyper-eutrophic conditions in these waters. As a result, P regulation is important for these impaired aquatic systems, and Ca-P co-precipitation is a vital mechanism of natural P removal in many alkaline systems, such as the Florida Everglades. The interaction of P, Ca, and NOM is also an important factor in lime softening and corrosion control, both critical processes of drinking water treatment. Determining the role of NOM in Ca-P co-precipitation is important for identifying mechanisms that may limit P removal in both natural and engineered systems. The main goal of this research is to assess the role of NOM in inhibiting Ca and P co-precipitation by: (1) measuring how Ca, NOM, and P concentrations affect NOM's potential inhibition of co-precipitation; (2) determining the effect of pH; and (3) evaluating the precipitated solids. Results showed that Ca-P co-precipitation occurs at pH 9.5 in the presence of high natural organic matter (NOM) (≈30 mg L(-1)). The supersaturation of calcite overcomes the inhibitory effect of NOM seen at lower pH values. Higher initial P concentrations lead to both higher P precipitation rates and densities of P on the calcite surface. The maximum surface density of co-precipitated P on the precipitated calcite surface increases with increasing NOM levels, suggesting that NOM does prevent the co-precipitation of Ca and P. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. The effect of the precipitation of coherent and incoherent precipitates on the ductility and toughness of high-strength steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamano, R.

    1993-01-01

    The effect of the coexistence of coherent and incoherent precipitates, such as M 2 C and NiAl, on the ductility and plane strain fracture toughness of 5 wt pct Ni-2 wt pct Al-based high-strength steels was studied. In order to disperse coherent and incoherent precipitates, the heat treatments were carried out as follows: (a) austenitizing at 1373 K, (b) tempering at 1023 or 923 K for dispersing the incoherent precipitates of M 2 C and NiAl, and then (c) aging at 843 K for 2.4 ks to disperse the coherent precipitate of NiAl into the matrix, which contains incoherent precipitates, such as M 2 C and NiAl. The results were obtained as follows: (a) when the strengthening precipitates consist of coherent ones, such as M 2 C and/or NiAl, the ductility and toughness are extremely low, and (b) when the strengthening precipitates consist of coherent and incoherent precipitates, such as M 2 C and NiAl, the ductility and fracture toughness significantly increase with no loss in strength. It is shown that the coexistence of coherent and incoherent precipitates increases homogeneous deformation, thus preventing local strain concentration and early cleavage cracking. Accordingly, the actions of coherent precipitates in strengthening the matrix and of incoherent precipitates in promoting, homogeneous deformation can be expected to increase both the strength and toughness of the material

  7. Dose and dose rate effects on coherent-to-incoherent transition of precipitates upon irradiation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LI Zhengchao

    2006-01-01

    A typical precipitation hardened alloy, Cu-Co dilute alloy was selected to study the precipitation behavior and irradiation effect on precipitates. It is found that the principal effect of ion irradiation on the coherent precipitates is loss of coherency, and TEM cross-section observations show that the fraction of the incoherent precipitates is dependent on dose but not on dose rate during heavy ion irradiation.

  8. River flooding due to intense precipitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, James C.

    2014-01-01

    River stage can rise and cause site flooding due to local intense precipitation (LIP), dam failures, snow melt in conjunction with precipitation or dam failures, etc. As part of the re-evaluation of the design basis as well as the PRA analysis of other external events, the likelihood and consequence of river flooding leading to the site flooding need to be examined more rigorously. To evaluate the effects of intense precipitation on site structures, the site watershed hydrology and pond storage are calculated. To determine if river flooding can cause damage to risk-significant systems, structures, and components (SSC), water surface elevations are analyzed. Typically, the amount and rate of the input water is determined first. For intense precipitation, the fraction of the rainfall in the watershed drainage area not infiltrated into the ground is collected in the river and contributes to the rise of river water elevation. For design basis analysis, the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) is evaluated using the Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) based on the site topography/configuration. The peak runoff flow rate and water surface elevations resulting from the precipitation induced flooding can then be estimated. The runoff flow hydrograph and peak discharge flows can be developed using the synthetic hydrograph method. The standard step method can then be used to determine the water surface elevations along the river channel. Thus, the flood water from the local intense precipitation storm and excess runoff from the nearby river can be evaluated to calculate the water surface elevations, which can be compared with the station grade floor elevation to determine the effects of site flooding on risk-significant SSCs. The analysis needs to consider any possible diversion flow and the effects of changes to the site configurations. Typically, the analysis is performed based on conservative peak rainfall intensity and the assumptions of failure of the site drainage facilities

  9. Preparation of nanoparticles of poorly water-soluble antioxidant curcumin by antisolvent precipitation methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kakran, Mitali; Sahoo, Nanda Gopal; Tan, I-Lin; Li Lin, E-mail: mlli@ntu.edu.sg [Nanyang Technological University, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Singapore)

    2012-03-15

    The objective of this study was to enhance the solubility and dissolution rate of a poorly water-soluble antioxidant, curcumin, by fabricating its nanoparticles with two methods: antisolvent precipitation with a syringe pump (APSP) and evaporative precipitation of nanosuspension (EPN). For APSP, process parameters like flow rate, stirring speed, solvent to antisolvent (SAS) ratio, and drug concentration were investigated to obtain the smallest particle size. For EPN, factors like drug concentration and the SAS ratio were examined. The effects of these process parameters on the supersaturation, nucleation, and growth rate were studied and optimized to obtain the smallest particle size of curcumin by both the methods. The average particle size of the original drug was about 10-12 {mu}m and it was decreased to a mean diameter of 330 nm for the APSP method and to 150 nm for the EPN method. Overall, decreasing the drug concentration or increasing the flow rate, stirring rate, and antisolvent amount resulted in smaller particle sizes. Differential scanning calorimetry studies suggested lower crystallinity of curcumin particles fabricated. The solubility and dissolution rates of the prepared curcumin particles were significantly higher than those the original curcumin. The antioxidant activity, studied by the DPPH free radical-scavenging assay, was greater for the curcumin nanoparticles than the original curcumin. This study demonstrated that both the methods can successfully prepare curcumin into submicro to nanoparticles. However, drug particles prepared by EPN were smaller than those by APSP and hence, showed the slightly better solubility, dissolution rate, and antioxidant activity than the latter.

  10. Preparation of nanoparticles of poorly water-soluble antioxidant curcumin by antisolvent precipitation methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kakran, Mitali; Sahoo, Nanda Gopal; Tan, I-Lin; Li Lin

    2012-01-01

    The objective of this study was to enhance the solubility and dissolution rate of a poorly water-soluble antioxidant, curcumin, by fabricating its nanoparticles with two methods: antisolvent precipitation with a syringe pump (APSP) and evaporative precipitation of nanosuspension (EPN). For APSP, process parameters like flow rate, stirring speed, solvent to antisolvent (SAS) ratio, and drug concentration were investigated to obtain the smallest particle size. For EPN, factors like drug concentration and the SAS ratio were examined. The effects of these process parameters on the supersaturation, nucleation, and growth rate were studied and optimized to obtain the smallest particle size of curcumin by both the methods. The average particle size of the original drug was about 10–12 μm and it was decreased to a mean diameter of 330 nm for the APSP method and to 150 nm for the EPN method. Overall, decreasing the drug concentration or increasing the flow rate, stirring rate, and antisolvent amount resulted in smaller particle sizes. Differential scanning calorimetry studies suggested lower crystallinity of curcumin particles fabricated. The solubility and dissolution rates of the prepared curcumin particles were significantly higher than those the original curcumin. The antioxidant activity, studied by the DPPH free radical-scavenging assay, was greater for the curcumin nanoparticles than the original curcumin. This study demonstrated that both the methods can successfully prepare curcumin into submicro to nanoparticles. However, drug particles prepared by EPN were smaller than those by APSP and hence, showed the slightly better solubility, dissolution rate, and antioxidant activity than the latter.

  11. Preparation of nanoparticles of poorly water-soluble antioxidant curcumin by antisolvent precipitation methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kakran, Mitali; Sahoo, Nanda Gopal; Tan, I.-Lin; Li, Lin

    2012-03-01

    The objective of this study was to enhance the solubility and dissolution rate of a poorly water-soluble antioxidant, curcumin, by fabricating its nanoparticles with two methods: antisolvent precipitation with a syringe pump (APSP) and evaporative precipitation of nanosuspension (EPN). For APSP, process parameters like flow rate, stirring speed, solvent to antisolvent (SAS) ratio, and drug concentration were investigated to obtain the smallest particle size. For EPN, factors like drug concentration and the SAS ratio were examined. The effects of these process parameters on the supersaturation, nucleation, and growth rate were studied and optimized to obtain the smallest particle size of curcumin by both the methods. The average particle size of the original drug was about 10-12 μm and it was decreased to a mean diameter of 330 nm for the APSP method and to 150 nm for the EPN method. Overall, decreasing the drug concentration or increasing the flow rate, stirring rate, and antisolvent amount resulted in smaller particle sizes. Differential scanning calorimetry studies suggested lower crystallinity of curcumin particles fabricated. The solubility and dissolution rates of the prepared curcumin particles were significantly higher than those the original curcumin. The antioxidant activity, studied by the DPPH free radical-scavenging assay, was greater for the curcumin nanoparticles than the original curcumin. This study demonstrated that both the methods can successfully prepare curcumin into submicro to nanoparticles. However, drug particles prepared by EPN were smaller than those by APSP and hence, showed the slightly better solubility, dissolution rate, and antioxidant activity than the latter.

  12. The synthesis of hydroxyapatite through the precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shah Rizal, K.; Fahmi, M.N.; Mat Akil, H.; Zainal Arifin, A.

    2004-01-01

    Hydroxyapatite (HA) has been earmarked as suitable for implantation within the human body due to the similarity of its chemical makeup to human bone, In this paper, HA powders were synthesized via the precipitation method where phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ) was titrated into calcium hydroxide solution [Ca(OH) 2 ]. Two parameters such as temperature and stirring rate were identified as factors that influenced the amount and purity of HA powder, Phase identification of the synthesized powder was done using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The results show that HA phase can be synthesized from this titration process of Ca(OH) 2 and H 3 PO 4 with yield amount of HA powder around 45-61 grams but with less than hundred percent purity. In order to study the effect of heat treatment to RA crystals structure, HA powder was calcined at 850 degree C for 2 hours. Its found that the degree of crystallinity increases after calcination because of lattice expansion when the materials were heated at higher temperature. (Author)

  13. Estimating Probable Maximum Precipitation by Considering Combined Effect of Typhoon and Southwesterly Air Flow

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng-Chin Liu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Typhoon Morakot hit southern Taiwan in 2009, bringing 48-hr of heavy rainfall [close to the Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP] to the Tsengwen Reservoir catchment. This extreme rainfall event resulted from the combined (co-movement effect of two climate systems (i.e., typhoon and southwesterly air flow. Based on the traditional PMP estimation method (i.e., the storm transposition method, STM, two PMP estimation approaches, i.e., Amplification Index (AI and Independent System (IS approaches, which consider the combined effect are proposed in this work. The AI approach assumes that the southwesterly air flow precipitation in a typhoon event could reach its maximum value. The IS approach assumes that the typhoon and southwesterly air flow are independent weather systems. Based on these assumptions, calculation procedures for the two approaches were constructed for a case study on the Tsengwen Reservoir catchment. The results show that the PMP estimates for 6- to 60-hr durations using the two approaches are approximately 30% larger than the PMP estimates using the traditional STM without considering the combined effect. This work is a pioneer PMP estimation method that considers the combined effect of a typhoon and southwesterly air flow. Further studies on this issue are essential and encouraged.

  14. Measurement of precipitation using lysimeters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fank, Johann; Klammler, Gernot

    2013-04-01

    Austria's alpine foothill aquifers contain important drinking water resources, but are also used intensively for agricultural production. These groundwater bodies are generally recharged by infiltrating precipitation. A sustainable water resources management of these aquifers requires quantifying real evapotranspiration (ET), groundwater recharge (GR), precipitation (P) and soil water storage change (ΔS). While GR and ΔS can be directly measured by weighable lysimeters and P by separate precipitation gauges, ET is determined by solving the climatic water balance ET = P GR ± ΔS. According to WMO (2008) measurement of rainfall is strongly influenced by precipitation gauge errors. Most significant errors result from wind loss, wetting loss, evaporation loss, and due to in- and out-splashing of water. Measuring errors can be reduced by a larger area of the measuring gaugés surface and positioning the collecting vessel at ground level. Modern weighable lysimeters commonly have a surface of 1 m², are integrated into their typical surroundings of vegetation cover (to avoid oasis effects) and allow scaling the mass change of monolithic soil columns in high measuring accuracy (0.01 mm water equivalent) and high temporal resolution. Thus, also precipitation can be quantified by measuring the positive mass changes of the lysimeter. According to Meissner et al. (2007) also dew, fog and rime can be determined by means of highly precise weighable lysimeters. Furthermore, measuring precipitation using lysimeters avoid common measuring errors (WMO 2008) at point scale. Though, this method implicates external effects (background noise, influence of vegetation and wind) which affect the mass time series. While the background noise of the weighing is rather well known and can be filtered out of the mass time series, the influence of wind, which blows through the vegetation and affects measured lysimeter mass, cannot be corrected easily since there is no clear relation between

  15. Topography and Data Mining Based Methods for Improving Satellite Precipitation in Mountainous Areas of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting Xia

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Topography is a significant factor influencing the spatial distribution of precipitation. This study developed a new methodology to evaluate and calibrate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA products by merging geographic and topographic information. In the proposed method, firstly, the consistency rule was introduced to evaluate the fitness of satellite rainfall with measurements on the grids with and without ground gauges. Secondly, in order to improve the consistency rate of satellite rainfall, genetic programming was introduced to mine the relationship between the gauge rainfall and location, elevation and TMPA rainfall. The proof experiment and analysis for the mean annual satellite precipitation from 2001–2012, 3B43 (V7 of TMPA rainfall product, was carried out in eight mountainous areas of China. The result shows that the proposed method is significant and efficient both for the assessment and improvement of satellite precipitation. It is found that the satellite rainfall consistency rates in the gauged and ungauged grids are different in the study area. In addition, the mined correlation of location-elevation-TMPA rainfall can noticeably improve the satellite precipitation, both in the context of the new criterion of the consistency rate and the existing criteria such as Bias and RMSD. The proposed method is also efficient for correcting the monthly and mean monthly rainfall of 3B43 and 3B42RT.

  16. Effect of precipitation on internal friction of AZ91 magnesium alloy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    刘树伟; 姜海昌; 李秀艳; 戎利建

    2010-01-01

    The effect of precipitation on the internal friction(IF)of AZ91 magnesium alloy was investigated by using X-ray diffraction(XRD)analysis,scanning electron microscope(SEM)observation,and dynamic mechanical analysis(DMA).Six different states of alloy were prepared by applying different heat treatment processes:as-cast,in-complete solid solution,complete solid solution,micro-precipitation,continuous precipitation and continuous-discontinuous precipitation.It was found that the internal friction of in-completely solid-solutionized,completely solid-solutionized and micro-precipitated specimens showed a similar characteristic,and the grain boundary relaxation is completed depressed due to the Al atoms supersaturated in theα-Mg solution.However,a thermal relaxation internal friction peak was observed for continuously precipitated and continuously-discontinuously precipitated specimens at around 438 K and frequency of about 1 Hz,which was attributed to the grain boundaries relaxation.Furthermore,it was found that the relaxation of theβ-Mg17Al12/α-Mg phase interfaces should give its contribution to the background internal friction in the as-cast,continuously precipitated and continuously-discontinuously precipitated specimens.

  17. Can bias correction and statistical downscaling methods improve the skill of seasonal precipitation forecasts?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manzanas, R.; Lucero, A.; Weisheimer, A.; Gutiérrez, J. M.

    2018-02-01

    Statistical downscaling methods are popular post-processing tools which are widely used in many sectors to adapt the coarse-resolution biased outputs from global climate simulations to the regional-to-local scale typically required by users. They range from simple and pragmatic Bias Correction (BC) methods, which directly adjust the model outputs of interest (e.g. precipitation) according to the available local observations, to more complex Perfect Prognosis (PP) ones, which indirectly derive local predictions (e.g. precipitation) from appropriate upper-air large-scale model variables (predictors). Statistical downscaling methods have been extensively used and critically assessed in climate change applications; however, their advantages and limitations in seasonal forecasting are not well understood yet. In particular, a key problem in this context is whether they serve to improve the forecast quality/skill of raw model outputs beyond the adjustment of their systematic biases. In this paper we analyze this issue by applying two state-of-the-art BC and two PP methods to downscale precipitation from a multimodel seasonal hindcast in a challenging tropical region, the Philippines. To properly assess the potential added value beyond the reduction of model biases, we consider two validation scores which are not sensitive to changes in the mean (correlation and reliability categories). Our results show that, whereas BC methods maintain or worsen the skill of the raw model forecasts, PP methods can yield significant skill improvement (worsening) in cases for which the large-scale predictor variables considered are better (worse) predicted by the model than precipitation. For instance, PP methods are found to increase (decrease) model reliability in nearly 40% of the stations considered in boreal summer (autumn). Therefore, the choice of a convenient downscaling approach (either BC or PP) depends on the region and the season.

  18. Application of physical scaling towards downscaling climate model precipitation data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaur, Abhishek; Simonovic, Slobodan P.

    2018-04-01

    Physical scaling (SP) method downscales climate model data to local or regional scales taking into consideration physical characteristics of the area under analysis. In this study, multiple SP method based models are tested for their effectiveness towards downscaling North American regional reanalysis (NARR) daily precipitation data. Model performance is compared with two state-of-the-art downscaling methods: statistical downscaling model (SDSM) and generalized linear modeling (GLM). The downscaled precipitation is evaluated with reference to recorded precipitation at 57 gauging stations located within the study region. The spatial and temporal robustness of the downscaling methods is evaluated using seven precipitation based indices. Results indicate that SP method-based models perform best in downscaling precipitation followed by GLM, followed by the SDSM model. Best performing models are thereafter used to downscale future precipitations made by three global circulation models (GCMs) following two emission scenarios: representative concentration pathway (RCP) 2.6 and RCP 8.5 over the twenty-first century. The downscaled future precipitation projections indicate an increase in mean and maximum precipitation intensity as well as a decrease in the total number of dry days. Further an increase in the frequency of short (1-day), moderately long (2-4 day), and long (more than 5-day) precipitation events is projected.

  19. Kriging and local polynomial methods for blending satellite-derived and gauge precipitation estimates to support hydrologic early warning systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdin, Andrew; Funk, Christopher C.; Rajagopalan, Balaji; Kleiber, William

    2016-01-01

    Robust estimates of precipitation in space and time are important for efficient natural resource management and for mitigating natural hazards. This is particularly true in regions with developing infrastructure and regions that are frequently exposed to extreme events. Gauge observations of rainfall are sparse but capture the precipitation process with high fidelity. Due to its high resolution and complete spatial coverage, satellite-derived rainfall data are an attractive alternative in data-sparse regions and are often used to support hydrometeorological early warning systems. Satellite-derived precipitation data, however, tend to underrepresent extreme precipitation events. Thus, it is often desirable to blend spatially extensive satellite-derived rainfall estimates with high-fidelity rain gauge observations to obtain more accurate precipitation estimates. In this research, we use two different methods, namely, ordinary kriging and κ-nearest neighbor local polynomials, to blend rain gauge observations with the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation satellite-derived precipitation estimates in data-sparse Central America and Colombia. The utility of these methods in producing blended precipitation estimates at pentadal (five-day) and monthly time scales is demonstrated. We find that these blending methods significantly improve the satellite-derived estimates and are competitive in their ability to capture extreme precipitation.

  20. Effect of preparation conditions on Nickel Zinc Ferrite nanoparticles: A comparison between sol–gel auto combustion and co-precipitation methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manju Kurian

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The experimental conditions used in the preparation of nano crystalline mixed ferrite materials play an important role in the particle size of the product. In the present work a comparison is made on sol–gel auto combustion methods and co-precipitation methods by preparing Nickel Zinc Ferrite (Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 nano particles. The prepared ferrite samples were calcined at different temperatures and characterized by using standard methods. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated the formation of single phase ferrite nanoparticles for samples calcined at 500 °C. The lattice parameter range of 8.32–8.49 Å confirmed the cubic spinel structure. Average crystallite size estimated from X-ray diffractogram was found to be between 17 and 40 nm. The IR spectra showed two main absorption bands, the high frequency band ν1 around 600 cm−1 and the low frequency band ν2 around 400 cm−1 arising from tetrahedral (A and octahedral (B interstitial sites in the spinel lattice. TEM pictures showed particles in the nanometric range confirming the XRD data. The studies revealed that the sol–gel auto combustion method was superior to the co-precipitation method for producing single phase nano particles with smaller crystallite size.

  1. Obtaining ZnO nanocrystalline through methods of combustion and precipitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia, A.P.; Guaglianoni, W.C.; Cunha, M.A.; Basegio, T.M.; Bergmann, C.P.

    2012-01-01

    Zinc oxide is important technological applications in rubber and industrial paints. The chemical properties and microstructure of ZnO powder depends on the synthesis method employed. In this work, it was obtained nanosized ZnO using different synthesis processes, such as solution combustion and precipitation, varying the concentrations of reactants and the working temperature. The obtained powders were characterized by SEM, BET, XRD, crystallite size determination and thermal analysis (TGA and DTA). It was possible to obtain nanosized ZnO with the methods used. (author)

  2. Meteorological effects of heat and moisture releases from large power stations (precipitation modification)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patrinos, A.A.N.; Eissenberg, D.M.

    1978-01-01

    The Bowen Electric Generating Plant (Plant Bowen) in Northwest Georgia has been chosen as a test site to investigate the atmospheric effects of cooling towers. This 3,200-MWe coal-fired power plant uses four natural-draft cooling towers and is the largest of U.S. power plants having cooling towers as the sole cooling method. Results are reported from both climatological and field studies. Extensive use has been made of the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) data accumulated over several decades in Northwest Georgia. Apart from providing preliminary indications of precipitation modification effects, these data have aided in the general understanding of the climatology in the vicinity of Plant Bowen and have paved the way for the field studies currently underway. These field studies, employing a dense network of rain gauges and windsets, are expected to provide the statistical data base necessary to estimate the plant's effect (if any) on precipitation

  3. Effect of wine dilution on the reliability of tannin analysis by protein precipitation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jacob Skibsted; Werge, Hans Henrik Malmborg; Egebo, Max

    2008-01-01

    A reported analytical method for tannin quantification relies on selective precipitation of tannins with bovine serum albumin. The reliability of tannin analysis by protein precipitation on wines having variable tannin levels was evaluated by measuring the tannin concentration of various dilutions...... of five commercial red wines. Tannin concentrations of both very diluted and concentrated samples were systematically underestimated, which could be explained by a precipitation threshold and insufficient protein for precipitation, respectively. Based on these findings, we have defined a valid range...... of the tannin response in the protein precipitation-tannin assay, which suffers minimally from these problems....

  4. Effects of turbulence on warm clouds and precipitation with various aerosol concentrations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hyunho; Baik, Jong-Jin; Han, Ji-Young

    2015-02-01

    This study investigates the effects of turbulence-induced collision enhancement (TICE) on warm clouds and precipitation by changing the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration using a two-dimensional dynamic model with bin microphysics. TICE is determined according to the Taylor microscale Reynolds number and the turbulent dissipation rate. The thermodynamic sounding used in this study is characterized by a warm and humid atmosphere with a capping inversion layer, which is suitable for simulating warm clouds. For all CCN concentrations, TICE slightly reduces the liquid water path during the early stage of cloud development and accelerates the onset of surface precipitation. However, changes in the rainwater path and in the amount of surface precipitation that are caused by TICE depend on the CCN concentrations. For high CCN concentrations, the mean cloud drop number concentration (CDNC) decreases and the mean effective radius increases due to TICE. These changes cause an increase in the amount of surface precipitation. However, for low CCN concentrations, changes in the mean CDNC and in the mean effective radius induced by TICE are small and the amount of surface precipitation decreases slightly due to TICE. A decrease in condensation due to the accelerated coalescence between droplets explains the surface precipitation decrease. In addition, an increase in the CCN concentration can lead to an increase in the amount of surface precipitation, and the relationship between the CCN concentration and the amount of surface precipitation is affected by TICE. It is shown that these results depend on the atmospheric relative humidity.

  5. Synthesis of highly sinterable YAG nanopowders by a modified co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Zhi-Hui; Yang, Yun; Hu, Zhang-Gui; Li, Jiang-Tao; He, Shu-Li

    2007-01-01

    A hydrate precursor of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) was synthesized by a modified co-precipitation method, in which n-butanol was employed as a low-cost recyclable dehydration solvent. A mixed solution of ethanol and ammonia were used as precipitant. Pure YAG phase appeared after the as-prepared precursors being calcined at 850 o C for 2 h. The nanocrystalline YAG particles calcined at 1100 o C were well dispersed with average diameter of about 40 nm, which can be densified to transparency under vacuum sintering at 1700 o C for 5 h with TEOS as sintering additive

  6. Post-Digestion Liquor Treatment in the Method Combining Chemical Precipitation with Reverse Osmosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuglarz Mariusz

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to develop an effective treatment of post-digestion liquors highly-loaded with biogenic and organic substances. The scope of the research project encompassed: mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS as well as the treatment of post-digestion liquors, coming from the most appropriate HRT value of 25 days, in the process of ammonium magnesium phosphate (struvite precipitation targeted at ammonia nitrogen binding and a subsequent reverse osmosis (RO process. It was established that the method combining chemical precipitation and high-pressure filtration ensures a high degree of contaminants removal allowing for a direct release of treated liquors into the natural reservoir. However, in order to decrease the residual NH4+ concentration (6.1 mg NH4+/dm3 in the purified post-digestion liquors below the level allowing for a direct release to the natural reservoir, it turned out to be necessary to apply increased molar ratio of magnesium and phosphates (Mg:NH4+: PO43-= 1.5:1:1.5.

  7. Responses of switchgrass to precipitation changes: Nonlinear and asymmetric?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Background/Question/Methods: Climate changes, including chronic changes in precipitation amounts, will influence plant physiology, biomass and productivity, and soil respiration. However, such precipitation effects on switchgrass, a major bioenergy crop, have not been well investigated. Two preci...

  8. Application of a precipitation method for uranium recovery from abu-zaabal phosphoric acid plant, Egypt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-hazek, N.M.T.; Hussein, E.M.

    1995-01-01

    Current industrial recovery of uranium from 30% phosphoric acid-produced by the dihydrate process-is based on solvent extraction method. Uranium recovery from concentrated phosphoric acid (45-52% p o5 ) produced by evaporation of the 30% acid or directly produced by the hemihydrate process, by solvent extraction is difficult to apply in practice. In addition to possible contamination of the acid by the organic solvents and/or their deterioration. This paper investigates the possibility of applying a precipitation method (Weterings and Janssen, 1985) for uranium recovery from both low (28% P 2 O 5 ) and high (48% P 2 O 5 ) concentration phosphoric acids produced by abu-zaabal phosphoric acid plant (Abuzaabal fertilizers and chemicals Co., Egypt). The 28% acid produced by H 2 SO 4 dihydrate method and the 48% acid produced by evaporation of the 28% acid The applied precipitation method depends on using NH 4 F as a uranium precipitant from both low and high concentration phosphoric acids in presence of acetone as a dispersing agent. All the relevant factors have been studied

  9. An Assessment of Mean Areal Precipitation Methods on Simulated Stream Flow: A SWAT Model Performance Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sean Zeiger

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Accurate mean areal precipitation (MAP estimates are essential input forcings for hydrologic models. However, the selection of the most accurate method to estimate MAP can be daunting because there are numerous methods to choose from (e.g., proximate gauge, direct weighted average, surface-fitting, and remotely sensed methods. Multiple methods (n = 19 were used to estimate MAP with precipitation data from 11 distributed monitoring sites, and 4 remotely sensed data sets. Each method was validated against the hydrologic model simulated stream flow using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT. SWAT was validated using a split-site method and the observed stream flow data from five nested-scale gauging sites in a mixed-land-use watershed of the central USA. Cross-validation results showed the error associated with surface-fitting and remotely sensed methods ranging from −4.5 to −5.1%, and −9.8 to −14.7%, respectively. Split-site validation results showed the percent bias (PBIAS values that ranged from −4.5 to −160%. Second order polynomial functions especially overestimated precipitation and subsequent stream flow simulations (PBIAS = −160 in the headwaters. The results indicated that using an inverse-distance weighted, linear polynomial interpolation or multiquadric function method to estimate MAP may improve SWAT model simulations. Collectively, the results highlight the importance of spatially distributed observed hydroclimate data for precipitation and subsequent steam flow estimations. The MAP methods demonstrated in the current work can be used to reduce hydrologic model uncertainty caused by watershed physiographic differences.

  10. Effect of humic substances on phosphorus removal by struvite precipitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhen; Hu, Dalong; Ren, Weichao; Zhao, Yuzeng; Jiang, Lu-Man; Wang, Luochun

    2015-12-01

    Humic substances (HS) are a major fraction of dissolved organic matters in wastewater. The effect of HS on phosphorus removal by struvite precipitation was investigated using synthetic wastewater under different initial pH values, Mg/P molar ratios and HS concentrations. The composition, morphology and thermal properties of harvested precipitates were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. It showed that inhibition effect of HS reached its maximum value of 48.9% at pH 8.0, and decreased to below 10% at pH>9.0. The increase of Mg/P ratio enhanced phosphorus removal efficiency, and thus reduced the influence of HS on struvite precipitation. At pH 9.0, the inhibitory effect of initial HS concentration matched the modified Monod model with half maximum inhibition concentration of 356mgL(-1), and 29% HS was removed in conjunction with struvite crystallisation. XRD analysis revealed that the crystal form of struvite precipitates was changed in the presence of HS. The morphology of harvested struvite was transformed from prismatic to pyramid owing to the coprecipitation of HS on crystal surface. TGA results revealed that the presence of HS could compromise struvite purity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Cumulative effects of Te precipitates in CdZnTe radiation detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bolotnikov, A.E.; Camarda, G.S.; Carini, G.A.; Cui, Y.; Li, L.; James, R.B.

    2007-01-01

    High-quality radiation detector-grade CdZnTe material is free from large-scale defects, such as grain boundaries, twins, and large Te or Cd inclusions (>50 μm), although it usually contains high concentrations of uniformly distributed Te inclusions and precipitates, typically of ∼20-μm-diameter size or smaller. We address the effects of the small-size Te precipitates on charge collection in CZT detectors, the significance of which is not yet well characterized. The strong correlation that we earlier found between the high-resolution X-ray maps and IR images proved that even small Te precipitates can trap substantial fractions of charge from the electron cloud. In this work, we modeled the transport of an electron cloud across idealized CZT devices containing Te precipitates to demonstrate that their cumulative effect can explain the degradation of energy resolution and the detection efficiency losses observed in actual CZT devices. Due to lack of experimental data on how the Te precipitates interact with an electron cloud, we developed a simplified (phenomenological) model based on the geometrical aspects of the problem. Despite its simplicity, the model correctly reproduced many experimental facts and gave quantitative predictions on the extent to which the presence of Te precipitates and inclusions can be tolerated. The broadening of the electron cloud due to repulsion and diffusion is at the core of the problem, making even low concentrations of small precipitates important in the device's performance

  12. Effects of precipitation changes on switchgrass photosynthesis, growth, and biomass: A mesocosm experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Climate changes, including chronic changes in precipitation amounts, will influence plant physiology and growth. However, such precipitation effects on switchgrass, a major bioenergy crop, have not been well investigated. We conducted a two-year precipitation simulation experiment using large pots...

  13. Effect of Temperature on Precipitation Rate of Calcium Carbonate Produced through Microbial Metabolic Process of Bio Materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prima Yane Putri

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Concrete is the most widely used construction material in civil engineering. But plain concrete is a brittle material and has little resistance to cracking. The cracking in concrete promotes deterioration such as the corrosion of reinforcing rebar, therefore, repair in filling the crack is often carried out. Recently, repair methods using bio-based materials associated with microbial metabolic processes leading to precipitation of calcium carbonate have been intensively studied. In this study, influencing factors on the precipitation rate depending on the constituents of bio-based material comprising yeast, glucose and calcium acetate mixed in tris buffer solution was examined for improving the rate of initial reactions. In addition, effect of temperature change on the amount of calcium carbonate precipitation was also investigated. The precipitates were identified by X-ray diffraction. It was shown that the increase of temperature lead to a change on calcium carbonate precipitation and caused the pH decrease under 7.0.

  14. Room temperature ductility of NiAl-strengthened ferritic steels: Effects of precipitate microstructure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teng, Z.K.; Liu, C.T.; Miller, M.K.; Ghosh, G.; Kenik, E.A.; Huang, S.; Liaw, P.K.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Effects of precipitate microstructure on the ductility were investigated. ► The NiAl precipitates can be systematically characterized by TEM, APT, and USAXS. ► Ductility is a function of the precipitate volume fraction. ► Ductility is closely related to the Al and Ni solubilities in the Fe matrix. ► Ductility is independent of precipitate size and inter-particle spacing. - Abstract: The effects of precipitate microstructure on the room temperature ductility of a series of carefully designed Fe–Al–Ni–Cr–Mo steels were investigated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultra small angle X-ray scattering (USAXS), and atom probe tomography (APT) were conducted to quantify the nano-scaled precipitates. The accuracy of the characterization results was verified by a numerical analysis. Three point bending tests results demonstrated that ductility was a function of the precipitate volume fraction and the Al and Ni concentrations in the Fe matrix, these relationships were discussed in terms of possible mechanisms. The ductility was also found to be independent of the precipitate size and inter-particle spacing in the studied range, which was validated by a theoretical model.

  15. Comparison of the method of classes and the quadrature of moment for the modelling of neodymium oxalate precipitation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gaillard, J.P.; Lalleman, S.; Bertrand, M. [CEA, Centre de Marcoule, Nuclear Energy Division, RadioChemistry and Process Department, F-30207 Bagnols sur Ceze (France); Plasari, E. [Ecole Nationale Superieure des Industries Chimiques, Laboratoire Reactions et Genie des Procedes, Universite de Lorraine - CNRS,1 rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001, Nancy Cedex (France)

    2016-07-01

    Oxalic precipitation is generally used in the nuclear industry to deal with radioactive waste and recover the actinides from a multicomponent solution. To facilitate the development of experimental methods and data acquisitions, actinides are often simulated using lanthanides, gaining experience more easily. The purpose of this article is to compare the results achieved by two methods for solving the population balance during neodymium oxalate precipitation in a continuous MSMPR (Mixed Suspension Mixed Product Removal). The method of classes, also called discretized population balance, used in this study is based on the method of Litster. Whereas, the Quadrature Method of Moment (QMOM) is written in terms of the transport equations of the moments of the number density function. All the integrals are solved through a quadrature approximation thanks to the product-difference algorithm or the Chebyshev algorithm. Primary nucleation, crystal growth and agglomeration are taken into account. Agglomeration phenomena have been found to be represented by a loose agglomerates model. Thermodynamic effects are modeled by activity coefficients which are calculated using the Bromley model. The sizes of particles predicted by the two methods are in good agreement with experimental measurements. (authors)

  16. Gas sensing properties of magnesium ferrite prepared by co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hankare, P.P.; Jadhav, S.D.; Sankpal, U.B.; Patil, R.P.; Sasikala, R.; Mulla, I.S.

    2009-01-01

    Polycrystalline magnesium ferrite (MgFe 2 O 4 ) was prepared by the co-precipitation method. The synthesized compound was characterized for their phase and morphology by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Conductance responses of the (MgFe 2 O 4 ) were measured towards gases like hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethanol vapors (C 2 H 5 OH), SO x , H 2 , NO x , NH 3, methanol, acetone and petrol. The gas sensing characterstics were obtained by measuring the sensitivity as a function of various controlling factors like operating temperatures and concentrations of gases. It was found that the sensor exhibited various responses towards these gases at different operating temperatures. Furthermore; the MgFe 2 O 4 based sensor exhibited a fast response and a good recovery towards petrol at temperature 250 deg. C. The results of the response towards petrol reveal that (MgFe 2 O 4 ) synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method, would be a suitable material for the fabrication of the petrol sensor.

  17. Salts-based size-selective precipitation: toward mass precipitation of aqueous nanoparticles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chun-Lei; Fang, Min; Xu, Shu-Hong; Cui, Yi-Ping

    2010-01-19

    Purification is a necessary step before the application of nanocrystals (NCs), since the excess matter in nanoparticles solution usually causes a disadvantage to their subsequent coupling or assembling with other materials. In this work, a novel salts-based precipitation technique is originally developed for the precipitation and size-selective precipitation of aqueous NCs. Simply by addition of salts, NCs can be precipitated from the solution. After decantation of the supernatant solution, the precipitates can be dispersed in water again. By means of adjusting the addition amount of salt, size-selective precipitation of aqueous NCs can be achieved. Namely, the NCs with large size are precipitated preferentially, leaving small NCs in solution. Compared with the traditional nonsolvents-based precipitation technique, the current one is simpler and more rapid due to the avoidance of condensation and heating manipulations used in the traditional precipitation process. Moreover, the salts-based precipitation technique was generally available for the precipitation of aqueous nanoparticles, no matter if there were semiconductor NCs or metal nanoparticles. Simultaneously, the cost of the current method is also much lower than that of the traditional nonsolvents-based precipitation technique, making it applicable for mass purification of aqueous NCs.

  18. Preparation of CaSO4:Dy by precipitation method to gamma radiation dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rivera, T.; Roman, J.; Azorin, J.; Sosa, R.; Guzman, J.; Serrano, A.K.; Garcia, M.; Alarcon, G.

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents the results of the preparation and characterization of dysprosium-doped calcium sulfate (CaSO 4 :Dy) phosphor, which was obtained by homogeneous precipitation from calcium acetate Ca(CH 3 COO - ) 2 . Structural and morphological characteristics were studied using a scanning electronic microscope (SEM). The structure of all compounds was determined by X-ray diffraction method too. Thermoluminescence (TL) emission properties of CaSO 4 :Dy under gamma radiation effects were studied. This phosphor powder presented a TL glow curve with two peaks (Tmax) centered at around of 180 and 300 deg. C, respectively. The TL response of CaSO 4 :Dy as a function of gamma absorbed dose was linear in a wide range. Both emission and excitation spectra were also obtained. Results showed that this new preparation method of CaSO 4 :Dy TL phosphor is less expensive, cleaner and safer than the conventional preparation method.

  19. Co-precipitation synthesis and luminescence behavior of Ce-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG:Ce) phosphor: The effect of precipitant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Kai; Liu Hezhou; Wu Yating; Hu Wenbin

    2008-01-01

    YAG:Ce precursors were co-precipitated using ammonia water and ammonium hydrogen carbonate as precipitants, respectively. Phase transition of the precursors during sintering was compared between the two precipitants. The precursors synthesized with ammonia water transformed to YAG at about 1000 deg. C via YAlO 3 phase. The precursors synthesized with ammonium hydrogen carbonate directly converted to pure YAG at about 900 deg. C. Comparing the powders produced with the two precipitants, the powders produced with ammonia hydrogen carbonate showed good dispersity. When sintered at 1600 deg. C, aggregation of the powders synthesized with the two precipitants both became severe. With increase the sintering temperature, the maximum wavelength of excitation and emission spectra of the phosphors synthesized with ammonium water hardly varied. While the maximum wavelength of excitation spectra of the phosphors synthesized with ammonium hydrogen carbonate unchanged, and the emission spectra showed red shift. Because of size effect and higher loss of cerium content, the emission intensity of phosphors prepared with ammonium hydrogen carbonate was lower than the phosphors prepared with ammonium water, when sintered at the same temperature

  20. How do the multiple large-scale climate oscillations trigger extreme precipitation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Pengfei; Yang, Tao; Xu, Chong-Yu; Yong, Bin; Shao, Quanxi; Li, Zhenya; Wang, Xiaoyan; Zhou, Xudong; Li, Shu

    2017-10-01

    Identifying the links between variations in large-scale climate patterns and precipitation is of tremendous assistance in characterizing surplus or deficit of precipitation, which is especially important for evaluation of local water resources and ecosystems in semi-humid and semi-arid regions. Restricted by current limited knowledge on underlying mechanisms, statistical correlation methods are often used rather than physical based model to characterize the connections. Nevertheless, available correlation methods are generally unable to reveal the interactions among a wide range of climate oscillations and associated effects on precipitation, especially on extreme precipitation. In this work, a probabilistic analysis approach by means of a state-of-the-art Copula-based joint probability distribution is developed to characterize the aggregated behaviors for large-scale climate patterns and their connections to precipitation. This method is employed to identify the complex connections between climate patterns (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)) and seasonal precipitation over a typical semi-humid and semi-arid region, the Haihe River Basin in China. Results show that the interactions among multiple climate oscillations are non-uniform in most seasons and phases. Certain joint extreme phases can significantly trigger extreme precipitation (flood and drought) owing to the amplification effect among climate oscillations.

  1. Comparison of column chromatographic and precipitation methods for the purification of a macrocyclic polyether extractant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dietz, M.L.; Felinto, C.; Rhoads, S.; Clapper, M.; Finch, J.W.; Hay, B.P.

    1999-11-01

    Column chromatography on aminopropyl-derivatized silica and precipitation of a complex with perchloric acid have been evaluated as methods for the purification of di-tert-butylcyclohexano-18-crown-6 (DtBuCH18C6), a compound frequently employed for the selective extraction of strontium from acidic nitrate media. Both methods are shown to provide a simple and effective means of eliminating inactive sample components (i.e., impurities or stereoisomers incapable of extracting strontium) from the crown ether and enriching the material in 4(z),4{prime}(z) cis-syn-cis DtBuCH18C6, a stereoisomer capable of highly efficient strontium extraction.

  2. Comparison of column chromatographic and precipitation methods for the purification of a macrocyclic polyether extractant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dietz, M.L.; Felinto, C.; Rhoads, S.; Clapper, M.; Finch, J.W.; Hay, B.P.

    1999-01-01

    Column chromatography on aminopropyl-derivatized silica and precipitation of a complex with perchloric acid have been evaluated as methods for the purification of di-tert-butylcyclohexano-18-crown-6 (DtBuCH18C6), a compound frequently employed for the selective extraction of strontium from acidic nitrate media. Both methods are shown to provide a simple and effective means of eliminating inactive sample components (i.e., impurities or stereoisomers incapable of extracting strontium) from the crown ether and enriching the material in 4(z),4 prime(z) cis-syn-cis DtBuCH18C6, a stereoisomer capable of highly efficient strontium extraction

  3. Interaction of bovine gallbladder mucin and calcium-binding protein: effects on calcium phosphate precipitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afdhal, N H; Ostrow, J D; Koehler, R; Niu, N; Groen, A K; Veis, A; Nunes, D P; Offner, G D

    1995-11-01

    Gallstones consist of calcium salts and cholesterol crystals, arrayed on a matrix of gallbladder mucin (GBM), and regulatory proteins like calcium-binding protein (CBP). To determine if interactions between CBP and GBM follow a biomineralization scheme, their mutual binding and effects on CaHPO4 precipitation were studied. Binding of CBP to GBM was assessed by inhibition of the fluorescence of the complex of GBM with bis-1,8-anilinonaphthalene sulfonic acid (bis-ANS). The effects of the proteins on precipitation of CaHPO4 were assessed by nephelometry and gravimetry. Precipitates were analyzed for calcium, phosphate, and protein. CBP and bis-ANS competitively displaced each other from 30 binding sites on mucin, with a 1:1 stoichiometry and similar affinity. The rate of precipitation of CaHPO4 was retarded by mucin and CBP. Precipitate mass was unaffected by GBM alone but decreased with the addition of CBP. Complexing CBP with GBM abolished or moderated this latter effect, altered precipitate morphology, and changed the stoichiometric ratios of Ca to PO4 in the precipitates from 1:1 to 3:2. Mucin and CBP were incorporated into the precipitates. These studies suggest that the formation of calcium-containing gallstones is a biomineralization process regulated by both GBM and CBP.

  4. Effect of quenching rate on precipitation kinetics in AA2219 DC cast alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elgallad, E.M., E-mail: eelgalla@uqac.ca; Zhang, Z.; Chen, X.-G.

    2017-06-01

    Slow quenching of direct chill (DC) cast aluminum ingot plates used in large mold applications is often used to decrease quench-induced residual stresses, which can deteriorate the machining performance of these plates. Slow quenching may negatively affect the mechanical properties of the cast plates when using highly quench-sensitive aluminum alloys because of its negative effect on the precipitation hardening behavior of such alloys. The effect of the quenching rate on precipitation kinetics in AA2219 DC cast alloy was systematically studied under water and air quenching conditions using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also used to characterize the precipitate microstructure. The results showed that the precipitation kinetics of the θ′ phase in the air-quenched condition was mostly slower than that in the water-quenched one. Air quenching continuously increased the precipitation kinetics of the θ phase compared to water quenching. These results revealed the contributions of the inadequate precipitation of the strengthening θ′ phase and the increased precipitation of the equilibrium θ phase to the deterioration of the mechanical properties of air-quenched AA2219 DC cast plates. The preexisting GP zones and quenched-in dislocations affected the kinetics of the θ′ phase, whereas the preceding precipitation of the θ′ phase affected the kinetics of the θ phase by controlling its precipitation mechanism.

  5. A new method for the homogeneous precipitative separation of trace level lanthanides as oxalates: application to different types of geological samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Premadas, A.; Cyriac, Bincy; Kesavan, V.S.

    2013-01-01

    Oxalate precipitation of lanthanides in acidic medium is a widely used selective group separation method at percentage to trace level in different types of geological samples. Most of the procedures are based on the heterogeneous oxalate precipitation of lanthanides using calcium as carrier. In the heterogeneous precipitation, the co-precipitated impurities from the matrix elements are more, besides if the pH at the time of precipitation is not monitored carefully there is a chance of losing some of the lanthanides. In this report, we present a new homogeneous oxalate precipitation of trace level lanthanides from different types of geological samples using calcium as carrier. In the present method pH is getting adjusted (pH ∼1) on its own, after the hydrolysis of urea added to the sample solution. This acidic pH is essential for the complete precipitation of the lanthanides. Therefore, no critical parameter adjustment for the precipitation is involved in the proposed method. The oxalate precipitate obtained was in crystalline nature which facilitates the fast settlement, easy filtration; besides the co-precipitated matrix elements are very less as compared to normal heterogeneous oxalate precipitation of lanthanides. Another advantage is more quantity of the sample can be taken for the separation of lanthanides which is a limitation for other separation methods reported. Accuracy of the method was checked by analyzing nine international reference materials comprising different types of geological samples obtained from Canadian Certified Reference Project Materials such as syenite samples SY-2, SY-3 and SY-4; gabro sample MRG-1; soil samples SO-1 and SO-2; iron formation sample FeR-2; lake sediments LKSD-2 and LKSD-4. The values of the lanthanides obtained for these reference materials are comparable with recommended values, indicating that the method is accurate. The reproducibility is characterized by a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1 to 6% (n=4). (author)

  6. Influence of aerosol on regional precipitation in North China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    DUAN Jing; MAO JieTai

    2009-01-01

    The possible anthropogenic aerosol effect on regional precipitation is analyzed based on the historical data of precipitation and visibility of North China. At first, the precipitation amounts from 1960 to 1979 are considered as natural background values in our study for relatively less intensive industrial activi-ties and light air pollution during that period of time, then the region is divided into different subregions by applying the clustering method including the significance test of station rainfall correlations to the time series of 10-day mean rainfall amounts in this period. Based on the rule that the precipitation characteristics are similar in the same clustering region, the correlation of precipitation amounts among all stations in each region is thus established. Secondly, for the period from 1990 to 2005, during which, the economy had experienced a rapid development in this region, the variations of visibility at each station are analyzed. The stations with the absolute change in visibility less than 0.1 km/a are used as the reference stations, at which it is assumed that precipitation has not been seriously influ-enced by anthropogenic aerosols. Then the rainfall amounts of reference stations are used to estimate the natural precipitation values of the other stations in each clustering region. The difference between estimated precipitation and measured precipitation amount is thought to result from changes in an-thropogenic aerosols. These changes in precipitation amounts caused by anthropogenic aerosols at each station are calculated using the 10-day mean rainfall values from 1990 to 2005. The analysis re-suits obtained with this method are remarkable if it passes the significance test, and therefore, the suppression of regional precipitation over the region by anthropogenic aerosol is proved. It is found that this effect is most remarkable in summer. The influence of anthropogenic aerosols on convective precipitation possibly plays an important

  7. A method for deterministic statistical downscaling of daily precipitation at a monsoonal site in Eastern China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yonghe; Feng, Jinming; Liu, Xiu; Zhao, Yadi

    2017-12-01

    Statistical downscaling (SD) is a method that acquires the local information required for hydrological impact assessment from large-scale atmospheric variables. Very few statistical and deterministic downscaling models for daily precipitation have been conducted for local sites influenced by the East Asian monsoon. In this study, SD models were constructed by selecting the best predictors and using generalized linear models (GLMs) for Feixian, a site in the Yishu River Basin and Shandong Province. By calculating and mapping Spearman rank correlation coefficients between the gridded standardized values of five large-scale variables and daily observed precipitation, different cyclonic circulation patterns were found for monsoonal precipitation in summer (June-September) and winter (November-December and January-March); the values of the gridded boxes with the highest absolute correlations for observed precipitation were selected as predictors. Data for predictors and predictands covered the period 1979-2015, and different calibration and validation periods were divided when fitting and validating the models. Meanwhile, the bootstrap method was also used to fit the GLM. All the above thorough validations indicated that the models were robust and not sensitive to different samples or different periods. Pearson's correlations between downscaled and observed precipitation (logarithmically transformed) on a daily scale reached 0.54-0.57 in summer and 0.56-0.61 in winter, and the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency between downscaled and observed precipitation reached 0.1 in summer and 0.41 in winter. The downscaled precipitation partially reflected exact variations in winter and main trends in summer for total interannual precipitation. For the number of wet days, both winter and summer models were able to reflect interannual variations. Other comparisons were also made in this study. These results demonstrated that when downscaling, it is appropriate to combine a correlation

  8. Confounding factors in determining causal soil moisture-precipitation feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuttle, Samuel E.; Salvucci, Guido D.

    2017-07-01

    Identification of causal links in the land-atmosphere system is important for construction and testing of land surface and general circulation models. However, the land and atmosphere are highly coupled and linked by a vast number of complex, interdependent processes. Statistical methods, such as Granger causality, can help to identify feedbacks from observational data, independent of the different parameterizations of physical processes and spatiotemporal resolution effects that influence feedbacks in models. However, statistical causal identification methods can easily be misapplied, leading to erroneous conclusions about feedback strength and sign. Here, we discuss three factors that must be accounted for in determination of causal soil moisture-precipitation feedback in observations and model output: seasonal and interannual variability, precipitation persistence, and endogeneity. The effect of neglecting these factors is demonstrated in simulated and observational data. The results show that long-timescale variability and precipitation persistence can have a substantial effect on detected soil moisture-precipitation feedback strength, while endogeneity has a smaller effect that is often masked by measurement error and thus is more likely to be an issue when analyzing model data or highly accurate observational data.

  9. Effect of precipitate-matrix interface sinks on the growth of voids in the matrix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brailsford, A.D.; Mansur, L.K.

    1981-01-01

    A qualitative discussion of the differing roles played by coherent and incoherent precipitates as point defect sinks is presented. Rate theory is used to obtain semiquantitative estimates of the growth of cavities in the matrix when either type of precipitate is present. Methods for deriving the sink strengths of precipitates of arbitrary shape are developed. In three materials where available microstructural information allows an analysis, precipitates are found to cause only a small relative suppression of cavity growth via the mechanisms here considered

  10. Effects of Convective Aggregation on Radiative Cooling and Precipitation in a CRM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naegele, A. C.; Randall, D. A.

    2017-12-01

    In the global energy budget, the atmospheric radiative cooling (ARC) is approximately balanced by latent heating, but on regional scales, the ARC and precipitation rates are inversely related. We use a cloud-resolving model to explore how the relationship between precipitation and the ARC is affected by convective aggregation, in which the convective activity is confined to a small portion of the domain that is surrounded by a much larger region of dry, subsiding air. Sensitivity tests show that the precipitation rate and ARC are highly sensitive to both SST and microphysics; a higher SST and 1-moment microphysics both act to increase the domain-averaged ARC and precipitation rates. In all simulations, both the domain-averaged ARC and precipitation rates increased due to convective aggregation, resulting in a positive temporal correlation. Furthermore, the radiative effect of clouds in these simulations is to decrease the ARC. This finding is consistent with our observational results of the cloud effect on the ARC, and has implications for convective aggregation and the geographic extent in which it can occur.

  11. Scaling and clustering effects of extreme precipitation distributions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qiang; Zhou, Yu; Singh, Vijay P.; Li, Jianfeng

    2012-08-01

    SummaryOne of the impacts of climate change and human activities on the hydrological cycle is the change in the precipitation structure. Closely related to the precipitation structure are two characteristics: the volume (m) of wet periods (WPs) and the time interval between WPs or waiting time (t). Using daily precipitation data for a period of 1960-2005 from 590 rain gauge stations in China, these two characteristics are analyzed, involving scaling and clustering of precipitation episodes. Our findings indicate that m and t follow similar probability distribution curves, implying that precipitation processes are controlled by similar underlying thermo-dynamics. Analysis of conditional probability distributions shows a significant dependence of m and t on their previous values of similar volumes, and the dependence tends to be stronger when m is larger or t is longer. It indicates that a higher probability can be expected when high-intensity precipitation is followed by precipitation episodes with similar precipitation intensity and longer waiting time between WPs is followed by the waiting time of similar duration. This result indicates the clustering of extreme precipitation episodes and severe droughts or floods are apt to occur in groups.

  12. Effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles synthesized by a precipitation

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by a precipitation method in aqueous media from zinc nitrate hexahydrate and sodium hydroxide. The synthesized ZnO nanoparticles exhibited a crystalline structure with hexagonal structure of the wurtzite. The morphology of the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles presented a spherical ...

  13. Self-organizing map network-based precipitation regionalization for the Tibetan Plateau and regional precipitation variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Nini; Yin, Jianchuan

    2017-12-01

    A precipitation-based regionalization for the Tibetan Plateau (TP) was investigated for regional precipitation trend analysis and frequency analysis using data from 1113 grid points covering the period 1900-2014. The results utilizing self-organizing map (SOM) network suggest that four clusters of precipitation coherent zones can be identified, including the southwestern edge, the southern edge, the southeastern region, and the north central region. Regionalization results of the SOM network satisfactorily represent the influences of the atmospheric circulation systems such as the East Asian summer monsoon, the south Asian summer monsoon, and the mid-latitude westerlies. Regionalization results also well display the direct impacts of physical geographical features of the TP such as orography, topography, and land-sea distribution. Regional-scale annual precipitation trend as well as regional differences of annual and seasonal total precipitation were investigated by precipitation index such as precipitation concentration index (PCI) and Standardized Anomaly Index (SAI). Results demonstrate significant negative long-term linear trends in southeastern TP and the north central part of the TP, indicating arid and semi-arid regions in the TP are getting drier. The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method shows an evolution of the main cycle with 4 and 12 months for all the representative grids of four sub-regions. The cross-wavelet analysis suggests that predominant and effective period of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on monthly precipitation is around ˜12 months, except for the representative grid of the northwestern region.

  14. Nano-scaled iron-carbon precipitates in HSLC and HSLA steels

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2007-01-01

    This paper studies the composition, quantity and particle size distribution of nano-scaled precipitates with size less than 20 nm in high strength low carbon (HSLC) steel and their effects on mechanical properties of HSLC steel by means of mass balance calculation of nano-scaled precipitates measured by chemical phase analysis plus SAXS method, high-resolution TEM analysis and thermodynamics calculation, as well as temper rapid cooling treatment of ZJ330. It is found that there existed a large quantity of nano-scaled iron-carbon precipitates with size less than 18 nm in low carbon steel produced by CSP and they are mainly Fe-O-C and Fe-Ti-O-C precipitates formed below temperature A1. These precipitates have ob- vious precipitation strengthening effect on HSLC steel and this may be regarded as one of the main reasons why HSLC steel has higher strength. There also existed a lot of iron-carbon precipitates with size less than 36 nm in HSLA steels.

  15. Nano-scaled iron-carbon precipitates in HSLC and HSLA steels

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    FU Jie; WU HuaJie; LIU YangChun; KANG YongLin

    2007-01-01

    This paper studies the composition, quantity and particle size distribution of nano-scaled precipitates with size less than 20 nm in high strength Iow carbon (HSLC) steel and their effects on mechanical properties of HSLC steel by means of mass balance calculation of nano-scaled precipitates measured by chemical phase analysis plus SAXS method, high-resolution TEM analysis and thermodynamics calculation, as well as temper rapid cooling treatment of ZJ330. It is found that there existed a large quantity of nano-scaled iron-carbon precipitates with size less than 18 nm in Iow carbon steel produced by CSP and they are mainly Fe-O-C and Fe-Ti-O-C precipitates formed below temperature A1. These precipitates have obvious precipitation strengthening effect on HSLC steel and this may be regarded as one of the main reasons why HSLC steel has higher strength. There also existed a lot of iron-carbon precipitates with size less than 36 nm in HSLA steels.

  16. Effect of strain-induced precipitation on dynamic recrystallization in Mg–Al–Sn alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kabir, Abu Syed Humaun; Sanjari, Mehdi; Su, Jing; Jung, In-Ho; Yue, Stephen

    2014-01-01

    Two different amounts of tin (Sn) were added to a Mg–3 wt% Al binary alloy to form different amounts of precipitates during hot deformation. The thermodynamic modeling software, FactSage ™ , was used to calculate the amounts of Sn to generate the desired relative levels of precipitation. The alloys were deformed at four different temperatures and three different strain rates to generate different amounts of precipitates. The objective was to study the effect of these precipitates on dynamic recrystallization. The results indicated that the formation of strain-induced precipitates is a function of deformation temperature, strain, and strain rate. The findings also revealed that higher amounts of precipitates reduced the volume fraction of dynamic recrystallization and refined the dynamically recrystallized grain size

  17. Synthesis of Lead Sulfide Nanoparticles by Chemical Precipitation Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chongad, L S; Sharma, A; Banerjee, M; Jain, A

    2016-01-01

    Lead sulfide (PbS) nanoparticles were prepared by chemical precipitation method (CPM) with the assistance of H 2 S gas. The microstructure and morphology of the synthesized nanoparticles have been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The XRD patterns of the PbS nanoparticles reveal formation of cubic phase. To investigate the quality of prepared nanoparticles, the particles size, lattice constant, strain, dislocation density etc. have been determined using XRD. TEM images reveal formation of cubic nanoparticles and the particle size determined from TEM images agree well with those from XRD. (paper)

  18. A Numerical Method to Generate High Temporal Resolution Precipitation Time Series by Combining Weather Radar Measurements with a Nowcast Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jesper Ellerbæk; Thorndahl, Søren Liedtke; Rasmussen, Michael R.

    2014-01-01

    The topic of this paper is temporal interpolation of precipitation observed by weather radars. Precipitation measurements with high spatial and temporal resolution are, in general, desired for urban drainage applications. An advection-based interpolation method is developed which uses methods...

  19. Synthesis and performance of cerium oxide as anode materials for lithium ion batteries by a chemical precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Haowen; Le, Qi

    2016-01-01

    In this present work, chemical precipitation method was employed for preparing cerium oxide. XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA/DTA and BET were used to investigate the structure, shape and formation mechanism, respectively. No impurities were detected. It was found that alcohol had obvious effection on the growth of the final sample. The shape of the precursor was retained after calcined at 500 °C. This result led to the possibility of an easy scale up to a commercial process. EIS and charge–discharge tests were carried out by using the as-prepared CeO_2 as an anode material for lithium ion batteries. Specially, the initial discharge specific capacity of the rhombus CeO_2 was about 529 mAh g"−"1 and stabilized reversibly at about 374 mAh g"−"1 after 50 cycles. It showed a promising usage as anode materials in lithium ion battery. - Highlights: • Chemical precipitation method was employed for the synthesis of cerium oxide. • Alcohol has obvious effection on the growth of the final sample. • The rhombus CeO_2 showed the better electrochemical properties as anode of lithium ion batteries.

  20. Synthesis and performance of cerium oxide as anode materials for lithium ion batteries by a chemical precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Haowen, E-mail: liuhwchem@hotmail.com; Le, Qi

    2016-06-05

    In this present work, chemical precipitation method was employed for preparing cerium oxide. XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA/DTA and BET were used to investigate the structure, shape and formation mechanism, respectively. No impurities were detected. It was found that alcohol had obvious effection on the growth of the final sample. The shape of the precursor was retained after calcined at 500 °C. This result led to the possibility of an easy scale up to a commercial process. EIS and charge–discharge tests were carried out by using the as-prepared CeO{sub 2} as an anode material for lithium ion batteries. Specially, the initial discharge specific capacity of the rhombus CeO{sub 2} was about 529 mAh g{sup −1} and stabilized reversibly at about 374 mAh g{sup −1} after 50 cycles. It showed a promising usage as anode materials in lithium ion battery. - Highlights: • Chemical precipitation method was employed for the synthesis of cerium oxide. • Alcohol has obvious effection on the growth of the final sample. • The rhombus CeO{sub 2} showed the better electrochemical properties as anode of lithium ion batteries.

  1. Effect of Gallium and Indium Co-Substituting on Upconversion Properties of Er/Yb:Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Powders Prepared by the Co-Precipitation Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; Liang, Yun-Ling; Hu, Zheng-Fa; Feng, Zu-Yong; Lun, Ma; Zhang, Xiu-ping; Sheng, Xia; Liu, Qian; Luo, Jie

    2016-04-01

    Gallium and Indium co-substituted Yb, Er:YAG was fabricated through the chemical co-precipitation method. The formation process and structure of the Ga3+ and In3+ substituted phosphor powders were characterized by the X-ray diffraction, thermo-gravimetry analyzer, infrared spectra, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the effects of Ga3+ and In3+ concentration on the luminescence properties were investigated by spectrum. The results showed that the blue shift occurred after the substitution of Ga3+ and In3+ for Al3+ in matrix, and the intensity of emission spectrum was affected by the concentration of Ga3+ and In3+.

  2. FIA-FAAS method for tannin determination based on a precipitation reaction with hemoglobin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ferreira Edilene C.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available A flow system, coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FIA-FAAS, was developed for tannin determination in pigeon pea samples, exploring the precipitation reaction between tannins and proteins. Sample extracts obtained by sonication with a 50% (v/v methanol solution were introduced into the system and induced to react with a hemoglobin solution. The precipitate produced was retained on a filter located in the analytical flow. A reversed flow of 1% (w/v sodium dodecyl sulfate solution was used for solubilization of the precipitate from the filter and to conduct the tannin-hemoglobin complex to the FAAS, to quantify the iron ions present in the hemoglobin structure. A tannic acid solution was used to prepare the analytical curve. The proposed method allowed determination of 30 samples per hour, a standard deviation of 9.7% (n=10, and a quantification limit of 0.27 mg L-1 for tannic acid.

  3. Effect of austenite deformation temperature on Nb clustering and precipitation in microalloyed steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pereloma, E.V.; Kostryzhev, A.G.; AlShahrani, A.; Zhu, C.; Cairney, J.M.; Killmore, C.R.; Ringer, S.P.

    2014-01-01

    The effect of thermomechanical processing conditions on Nb clustering and precipitation in both austenite and ferrite in a Nb–Ti microalloyed steel was studied using electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. A decrease in the deformation temperature increased the Nb-rich precipitation in austenite and decreased the extent of precipitation in ferrite. Microstructural mechanisms that explain this variation are discussed

  4. Precipitous Birth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer Yee

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Audience: This scenario was developed to educate emergency medicine residents on the management of a precipitous birth in the emergency department (ED. The case is also appropriate for teaching of medical students and advanced practice providers, as well as reviewing the principles of crisis resource management, teamwork, and communication. Introduction: Patients with precipitous birth require providers to manage two patients simultaneously with limited time and resources. Crisis resource management skills will be tested once baby is delivered, and the neonate will require assessment for potential neonatal resuscitation. Objectives: At the conclusion of the simulation session, learners will be able to manage women who have precipitous deliveries, as well as perform neonatal assessment and management. Method: This session was conducted using high-fidelity simulation, followed by a debriefing session and lecture on precipitous birth management and neonatal evaluation.

  5. Effect of solution annealing temperature on precipitation in 2205 duplex stainless steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kashiwar, A.; Vennela, N. Phani; Kamath, S.L.; Khatirkar, R.K.

    2012-01-01

    In the present study, effect of solution annealing temperature (1050 °C and 1100 °C) and isothermal ageing (700 °C: 15 min to 6 h) on the microstructural changes in 2205 duplex stainless steel has been investigated systematically. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were adopted to follow the microstructural evolution, while an energy dispersive spectrometer attached to scanning electron microscope was used to obtain localised chemical information of various phases. The ferritic matrix of the two phase 2205 duplex stainless steel (∼ 45% ferrite and ∼ 55% austenite) undergoes a series of metallurgical transformations during ageing—formation of secondary austenite (γ 2 ) and precipitation of Cr and Mo rich intermetallic (chi-χ and sigma-σ) phases. For solution annealing at 1050 °C, significant amount of carbides were observed in the ferrite grains after 1 h of ageing at 700 °C. χ Phase precipitated after the precipitation of carbides—preferentially at the ferrite–ferrite and also at the ferrite–austenite boundaries. σ Phase was not observed in significant quantity even after 6 h of ageing. The sequence of precipitation in samples solution annealed at 1050 °C was found to be carbides → χ → σ. On the contrary, for samples solution annealed at 1100 °C, the precipitation of χ phase was negligible. χ Phase precipitated before σ phase, preferentially along the ferrite–ferrite grain boundaries and was later consumed in the σ phase precipitation. The σ phase precipitated via the eutectoid transformation of ferrite to yield secondary austenite γ 2 and σ phase in the ferrite and along the ferrite–austenite grain boundaries. An increase in the volume fraction of γ 2 and σ phase with simultaneous decrease in the ferrite was evidenced with ageing. - Highlights: ► Effect of solution annealing temperature on microstructural evolution is studied. ► χ Phase precipitated preferentially in the samples solution annealed at

  6. Effect of solution annealing temperature on precipitation in 2205 duplex stainless steel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kashiwar, A., E-mail: akashiwar@gmail.com [Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), South Ambazari Road, Nagpur-440010, Maharashtra (India); Vennela, N. Phani, E-mail: phanivennela@gmail.com [Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), South Ambazari Road, Nagpur-440010, Maharashtra (India); Kamath, S.L., E-mail: kamath@iitb.ac.in [Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Powai, Mumbai-400076, Maharashtra (India); Khatirkar, R.K., E-mail: rajesh.khatirkar@gmail.com [Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), South Ambazari Road, Nagpur-440010, Maharashtra (India)

    2012-12-15

    In the present study, effect of solution annealing temperature (1050 Degree-Sign C and 1100 Degree-Sign C) and isothermal ageing (700 Degree-Sign C: 15 min to 6 h) on the microstructural changes in 2205 duplex stainless steel has been investigated systematically. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were adopted to follow the microstructural evolution, while an energy dispersive spectrometer attached to scanning electron microscope was used to obtain localised chemical information of various phases. The ferritic matrix of the two phase 2205 duplex stainless steel ({approx} 45% ferrite and {approx} 55% austenite) undergoes a series of metallurgical transformations during ageing-formation of secondary austenite ({gamma}{sub 2}) and precipitation of Cr and Mo rich intermetallic (chi-{chi} and sigma-{sigma}) phases. For solution annealing at 1050 Degree-Sign C, significant amount of carbides were observed in the ferrite grains after 1 h of ageing at 700 Degree-Sign C. {chi} Phase precipitated after the precipitation of carbides-preferentially at the ferrite-ferrite and also at the ferrite-austenite boundaries. {sigma} Phase was not observed in significant quantity even after 6 h of ageing. The sequence of precipitation in samples solution annealed at 1050 Degree-Sign C was found to be carbides {yields} {chi} {yields} {sigma}. On the contrary, for samples solution annealed at 1100 Degree-Sign C, the precipitation of {chi} phase was negligible. {chi} Phase precipitated before {sigma} phase, preferentially along the ferrite-ferrite grain boundaries and was later consumed in the {sigma} phase precipitation. The {sigma} phase precipitated via the eutectoid transformation of ferrite to yield secondary austenite {gamma}{sub 2} and {sigma} phase in the ferrite and along the ferrite-austenite grain boundaries. An increase in the volume fraction of {gamma}{sub 2} and {sigma} phase with simultaneous decrease in the ferrite was evidenced with ageing. - Highlights

  7. Effect of high-temperature pre-precipitation on microstructure and properties of 7055 aluminum alloy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    陈康华; 黄兰萍

    2003-01-01

    The near-solvus pre-precipitation following higher temperature solution treatment was performed on 7055 aluminum alloy. The effect of the pre-precipitation on the microstructure, age hardening and stress corrosion cracking of 7055 alloy was investigated. The optical and transmission electron microscopy results show that the near-solvus pre-precipitation can be limited to grain boundary and enhance the discontinuity of grain boundary precipitates in the sequent age. The stress corrosion cracking resistance of aged 7055 alloys could be improved with non-deteriorated strength and plasticity via the pre-precipitation.

  8. A statistical method to get surface level air-temperature from satellite observations of precipitable water

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Pankajakshan, T.; Shikauchi, A; Sugimori, Y.; Kubota, M.

    -T a and precipitable water. The rms errors of the SSMI-T a , in this case are found to be reduced to 1.0°C. 1. Introduction Satellite derived surface-level meteorological parameters are considered to be a better alternative to sparse ship... Vol. 49, pp. 551 to 558. 1993 A Statistical Method to Get Surface Level Air-Temperature from Satellite Observations of Precipitable Water PANKAJAKSHAN THADATHIL*, AKIRA SHIKAUCHI, YASUHIRO SUGIMORI and MASAHISA KUBOTA School of Marine Science...

  9. MEASUREMENTS OF STRAIN FIELDS DUE TO NANOSCALE PRECIPITATES USING THE PHASE IMAGE METHOD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia Donnadieu

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Owing the phase image method (Hytch, 1998, strain fields can be derived from HREM images. The method is here applied to the nanoscale precipitates responsible for hardening in Aluminum alloys. Since the method is a very sensitive one, we have examined the impact of several aspects of the image quality (noise, fluctuations, distortion. The strain field information derived from the HREM image analysis is further introduced in a simulation of the dislocation motion in the matrix.

  10. Physical method to assess a probable maximum precipitation, using CRCM datas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beauchamp, J.

    2009-01-01

    'Full text:' For Nordic hydropower facilities, spillways are designed with a peak discharge based on extreme conditions. This peak discharge is generally derived using the concept of a probable maximum flood (PMF), which results from the combined effect of abundant downpours (probable maximum precipitation - PMP) and rapid snowmelt. On a gauged basin, the weather data record allows for the computation of the PMF. However, uncertainty in the future climate raises questions as to the accuracy of current PMP estimates for existing and future hydropower facilities. This project looks at the potential use of the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM) data to compute the PMF in ungauged basins and to assess potential changes to the PMF in a changing climate. Several steps will be needed to accomplish this task. This paper presents the first step that aims at applying/adapting to CRCM data the in situ moisture maximization technique developed by the World Meteorological Organization, in order to compute the PMP at the watershed scale. The CRCM provides output data on a 45km grid at a six hour time step. All of the needed atmospheric data is available at sixteen different pressure levels. The methodology consists in first identifying extreme precipitation events under current climate conditions. Then, a maximum persisting twelve hours dew point is determined at each grid point and pressure level for the storm duration. Afterwards, the maximization ratio is approximated by merging the effective temperature with dew point and relative humidity values. The variables and maximization ratio are four-dimensional (x, y, z, t) values. Consequently, two different approaches are explored: a partial ratio at each step and a global ratio for the storm duration. For every identified extreme precipitation event, a maximized hyetograph is computed from the application of this ratio, either partial or global, on CRCM precipitation rates. Ultimately, the PMP is the depth of the

  11. Physical method to assess a probable maximum precipitation, using CRCM datas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beauchamp, J. [Univ. de Quebec, Ecole de technologie superior, Quebec (Canada)

    2009-07-01

    'Full text:' For Nordic hydropower facilities, spillways are designed with a peak discharge based on extreme conditions. This peak discharge is generally derived using the concept of a probable maximum flood (PMF), which results from the combined effect of abundant downpours (probable maximum precipitation - PMP) and rapid snowmelt. On a gauged basin, the weather data record allows for the computation of the PMF. However, uncertainty in the future climate raises questions as to the accuracy of current PMP estimates for existing and future hydropower facilities. This project looks at the potential use of the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM) data to compute the PMF in ungauged basins and to assess potential changes to the PMF in a changing climate. Several steps will be needed to accomplish this task. This paper presents the first step that aims at applying/adapting to CRCM data the in situ moisture maximization technique developed by the World Meteorological Organization, in order to compute the PMP at the watershed scale. The CRCM provides output data on a 45km grid at a six hour time step. All of the needed atmospheric data is available at sixteen different pressure levels. The methodology consists in first identifying extreme precipitation events under current climate conditions. Then, a maximum persisting twelve hours dew point is determined at each grid point and pressure level for the storm duration. Afterwards, the maximization ratio is approximated by merging the effective temperature with dew point and relative humidity values. The variables and maximization ratio are four-dimensional (x, y, z, t) values. Consequently, two different approaches are explored: a partial ratio at each step and a global ratio for the storm duration. For every identified extreme precipitation event, a maximized hyetograph is computed from the application of this ratio, either partial or global, on CRCM precipitation rates. Ultimately, the PMP is the depth of the

  12. Rainfall estimation in SWAT: An alternative method to simulate orographic precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galván, L.; Olías, M.; Izquierdo, T.; Cerón, J. C.; Fernández de Villarán, R.

    2014-02-01

    The input of water from precipitation is one of the most important aspects of a hydrologic model because it controls the basin's water budget. The model should reproduce the amount and distribution of rainfall in the basin, spatially and temporally. SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is one of the most widely used hydrologic models. In this paper the rainfall estimation in SWAT is revised, focusing on the treatment of orographic precipitation. SWAT was applied to the Odiel river basin (SW Spain), with a surface of 2300 km2. Results show that SWAT does not reflect reallisticaly the spatial distribution of rainfall in the basin. In relation to orographic precipitation, SWAT estimates the daily precipitation in elevation bands by adding a constant amount to the recorded precipitation in the rain gauge, which depends on the increase in precipitation with altitude and the difference between the mean elevation of each band and the elevation of the recording gauge. This does not reflect rainfall in the subbasin because the increase in precipitation with altitude actually it is not constant, but depends on the amount of rainfall. An alternative methodology to represent the temporal distribution of orographic precipitation is proposed. After simulation, the deviation of runoff volume using the SWAT elevation bands was appreciably higher than that obtained with the proposed methodology.

  13. Theory of precipitation effects on dead cylindrical fuels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael A. Fosberg

    1972-01-01

    Numerical and analytical solutions of the Fickian diffusion equation were used to determine the effects of precipitation on dead cylindrical forest fuels. The analytical solution provided a physical framework. The numerical solutions were then used to refine the analytical solution through a similarity argument. The theoretical solutions predicted realistic rates of...

  14. Asphaltene precipitation and its effects on the vapour extraction (VAPEX) heavy oil recovery process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luo, P.; Wang, X.; Gu, Y. [Society of Petroleum Engineers, Canadian Section, Calgary, AB (Canada)]|[Regina Univ., SK (Canada). Petroleum Technology Research Centre; Zhang, H. [Society of Petroleum Engineers, Canadian Section, Calgary, AB (Canada)]|[Core Laboratories Canada Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada); Moghadam, L. [Fekete Associates Inc., Calgary, AB (Canada)

    2008-10-15

    One of the most important physical phenomena during the solvent vapour extraction (VAPEX) of heavy oil recovery is asphaltene precipitation. After the asphaltene precipitation occurs, the produced heavy oil is deasphalted in-situ, resulting in a lower viscosity and better quality. However, precipitated asphaltenes may plug some small pores of the reservoir formation, thus reducing its permeability. This paper examined the effects of three operating factors on the asphaltene precipitation during the VAPEX process, notably solvent type; operating pressure; and sand-pack permeability. Eight VAPEX tests were conducted to recover two different Lloydminster heavy oil samples from a rectangular sand-packed physical model with a butane mixture and propane as the respective solvents. The accumulative heavy oil and solvent production from the physical model were measured in the entire VAPEX process. The paper described the materials, experimental set-up, and experimental preparation. The VAPEX test was also explained. Results were presented for sand consolidation; solvent effect; pressure effect; and permeability effect. It was concluded that when the extracting solvent is in a liquid-gas state, asphaltene precipitation occurs and leads to in-situ deasphalting. 15 refs., 3 tabs., 6 figs.

  15. Micro and colloidal stickie pacification with precipitated calcium carbonate

    Science.gov (United States)

    John H. Klungness; Roland L. Gleisner; Marguerite S. Sykes

    2002-01-01

    Colloidal stickies that build up in mill process water during pulping are problematic and difficult to remove. We examined precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) as a means to ameliorate process water stickies. The effectiveness of PCC added directly into a slurry of deinked pulp was compared with in situ precipitation of PCC by the fiber loading method. We found that...

  16. Precipitation Effect on Mechanical Properties and Phase Stability of High Manganese Steel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bae, Cheoljun; Kim, Rosa; Lee, Un-Hae; Kim, Jongryoul

    2017-09-01

    High manganese (Mn) steels are attractive for automotive applications due to their excellent tensile strength and superior elongation. However, the relatively low yield strength of Mn steels compared to other advanced high-strength steels is a critical problem limiting their use in structural parts. In order to increase the yield strength, the precipitation hardening effect of Mn steels was investigated by the addition of carbide-forming elements. Changes in the austenite phase stability were also evaluated in terms of stacking fault energy (SFE). As a result, fine V(C,N) precipitates were found to increase the yield strength effectively but to lower the SFE by the consumption of matrix carbons. For achieving precipitation hardening without sacrificing austenite stability, the soluble carbon content was discussed.

  17. Disentangling the Effects of Precipitation Amount and Frequency on the Performance of 14 Grassland Species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Didiano, Teresa J.; Johnson, Marc T. J.; Duval, Tim P.

    2016-01-01

    Climate change is causing shifts in the amount and frequency of precipitation in many regions, which is expected to have implications for plant performance. Most research has examined the impacts of the amount of precipitation on plants rather than the effects of both the amount and frequency of precipitation. To understand how climate-driven changes in precipitation can affect grassland plants, we asked: (i) How does the amount and frequency of precipitation affect plant performance? (ii) Do plant functional groups vary in their response to variable precipitation? To answer these questions we grew 14 monocot and eudicot grassland species and conducted a factorial manipulation of the amount (70 vs 90mm/month) and frequency (every 3, 15, or 30 days) of precipitation under rainout shelters. Our results show that both the amount and frequency of precipitation impact plant performance, with larger effects on eudicots than monocots. Above- and below-ground biomass were affected by the amount of precipitation and/or the interaction between the amount and frequency of precipitation. Above-ground biomass increased by 21–30% when the amount of precipitation was increased. When event frequency was decreased from 3 to 15 or 30 days, below-ground biomass generally decreased by 18–34% in the 70 mm treatment, but increased by 33–40% in the 90 mm treatment. Changes in stomatal conductance were largely driven by changes in event frequency. Our results show that it is important to consider changes in both the amount and frequency of precipitation when predicting how plant communities will respond to variable precipitation. PMID:27622497

  18. On the Precipitation and Precipitation Change in Alaska

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerd Wendler

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Alaska observes very large differences in precipitation throughout the state; southeast Alaska experiences consistently wet conditions, while northern Arctic Alaska observes very dry conditions. The maximum mean annual precipitation of 5727 mm is observed in the southeastern panhandle at Little Port Arthur, while the minimum of 92 mm occurs on the North Slope at Kuparuk. Besides explaining these large differences due to geographic and orographic location, we discuss the changes in precipitation with time. Analyzing the 18 first-order National Weather Service stations, we found that the total average precipitation in the state increased by 17% over the last 67 years. The observed changes in precipitation are furthermore discussed as a function of the observed temperature increase of 2.1 °C, the mean temperature change of the 18 stations over the same period. This observed warming of Alaska is about three times the magnitude of the mean global warming and allows the air to hold more water vapor. Furthermore, we discuss the effect of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO, which has a strong influence on both the temperature and precipitation in Alaska.

  19. New method for the determination of precipitation kinetics using a laminar jet reactor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Al Tarazi, M.Y.M.; Heesink, Albertus B.M.; Versteeg, Geert

    2005-01-01

    In this paper a new experimental method for determining the kinetics of fast precipitation reactions is introduced. Use is made of a laminar jet reactor, which is also frequently applied to determine the kinetics of homogeneous gas–liquid reactions. The liquid containing one or more of the

  20. New method for the determination of precipitation kinetics using a laminar jet reactor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Al-Tarazi, Mousa; Heesink, A. Bert M.; Versteeg, Geert F.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper a new experimental method for determining the kinetics of fast precipitation reactions is introduced. Use is made of a laminar jet reactor, which is also frequently applied to determine the kinetics of homogeneous gas-liquid reactions. The liquid containing one or more of the

  1. Synchrotron X-ray induced solution precipitation of nanoparticles

    CERN Document Server

    Lee, H J; Hwu, Y; Tsai, W L

    2003-01-01

    By irradiating a solution in electroless Ni deposition using synchrotron X-rays, Ni composite was found to nucleate homogeneously and eventually precipitate in the form of nanoparticles. The size of the nanoparticles precipitated is rather uniform (100-300 nm depending on the applied temperature). By the addition of an organic acid, well-dispersed nanoparticles could be effectively deposited on glass substrate. The hydrated electrons (e sub a sub q sup -), products of radiolysis of water molecules by synchrotron X-rays, may be responsible for the effective reduction of the metal ions, resulting in homogeneous nucleation and nanoparticle formation. Our results suggest that synchrotron X-ray can be used to induce solution precipitation of nanoparticles and therefore lead to a new method of producing nanostructured particles and coating.

  2. Identification and root cause analysis of cell culture media precipitates in the viral deactivation treatment with high-temperature/short-time method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Xiaolin; Stimpfl, Gregory; Wen, Zai-Qing; Frank, Gregory; Hunter, Glenn

    2013-01-01

    High-temperature/short-time (HTST) treatment of cell culture media is one of the proven techniques used in the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry for the prevention and mitigation of media viral contamination. With the HTST method, the formulated media is pasteurized (virus-deactivated) by heating and pumping the media continuously through the preset high-temperature holding tubes to achieve a specified period of time at a specific temperature. Recently, during the evaluation and implementation of HTST method in multiple Amgen, Inc. manufacturing facilities, media precipitates were observed in the tests of HTST treatments. The media precipitates may have adverse consequences such as clogging the HTST system, altering operating conditions and compromising the efficacy of viral deactivation, and ultimately affecting the media composition and cell growth. In this study, we report the identification of the composition of media precipitates from multiple media HTST runs using combined microspectroscopic methods including Raman, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The major composition in the precipitates was determined to be metal phosphates, including calcium phosphate, magnesium phosphate, and iron (III) phosphate. Based on the composition, stoichiometry, and root-cause study of media precipitations, methods were implemented for the mitigation and prevention of the occurrence of the media precipitation. Viral contamination in cell culture media is an important issue in the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry and may have serious consequences on product quality, efficacy, and safety. High-temperature/short-time (HTST) treatment of cell culture media is one of the proven techniques used in the industry for the prevention and mitigation of media viral contamination. With the HTST method, the formulated media is pasteurized (virus-deactivated) by heating at preset conditions. This

  3. Effect of precipitation pattern on leaching of preservative from treated wood and implications for accelerated testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stan Lebow

    2014-01-01

    There is a need to develop improved accelerated test methods for evaluating the leaching of wood preservatives from treated wood exposed to precipitation. In this study the effects of rate of rainfall and length of intervals between rainfall events on leaching was evaluated by exposing specimens to varying patterns of simulated rainfall under controlled laboratory...

  4. Spatial interpolation schemes of daily precipitation for hydrologic modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Y.; Clark, M.R.; Rajagopalan, B.; Leavesley, G.

    2012-01-01

    Distributed hydrologic models typically require spatial estimates of precipitation interpolated from sparsely located observational points to the specific grid points. We compare and contrast the performance of regression-based statistical methods for the spatial estimation of precipitation in two hydrologically different basins and confirmed that widely used regression-based estimation schemes fail to describe the realistic spatial variability of daily precipitation field. The methods assessed are: (1) inverse distance weighted average; (2) multiple linear regression (MLR); (3) climatological MLR; and (4) locally weighted polynomial regression (LWP). In order to improve the performance of the interpolations, the authors propose a two-step regression technique for effective daily precipitation estimation. In this simple two-step estimation process, precipitation occurrence is first generated via a logistic regression model before estimate the amount of precipitation separately on wet days. This process generated the precipitation occurrence, amount, and spatial correlation effectively. A distributed hydrologic model (PRMS) was used for the impact analysis in daily time step simulation. Multiple simulations suggested noticeable differences between the input alternatives generated by three different interpolation schemes. Differences are shown in overall simulation error against the observations, degree of explained variability, and seasonal volumes. Simulated streamflows also showed different characteristics in mean, maximum, minimum, and peak flows. Given the same parameter optimization technique, LWP input showed least streamflow error in Alapaha basin and CMLR input showed least error (still very close to LWP) in Animas basin. All of the two-step interpolation inputs resulted in lower streamflow error compared to the directly interpolated inputs. ?? 2011 Springer-Verlag.

  5. Time-frequency energy density precipitation method for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Y; Huang, S L; Wang, S; Zhao, W

    2016-05-01

    The time-of-flight of the Lamb wave provides an important basis for defect evaluation in metal plates and is the input signal for Lamb wave tomographic imaging. However, the time-of-flight can be difficult to acquire because of the Lamb wave dispersion characteristics. This work proposes a time-frequency energy density precipitation method to accurately extract the time-of-flight of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals in metal plates. In the proposed method, a discrete short-time Fourier transform is performed on the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals to obtain the corresponding discrete time-frequency energy density distribution. The energy density values at the center frequency for all discrete time points are then calculated by linear interpolation. Next, the time-domain energy density curve focused on that center frequency is precipitated by least squares fitting of the calculated energy density values. Finally, the peak times of the energy density curve obtained relative to the initial pulse signal are extracted as the time-of-flight for the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals. An experimental platform is established for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals, and sensitivity analysis of the proposed time-frequency energy density precipitation method is performed in terms of propagation distance, dispersion characteristics, center frequency, and plate thickness. For comparison, the widely used Hilbert-Huang transform method is also implemented for time-of-flight extraction. The results show that the time-frequency energy density precipitation method can accurately extract the time-of-flight with relative error of wave detection signals.

  6. Time-frequency energy density precipitation method for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Y., E-mail: thuzhangyu@foxmail.com; Huang, S. L., E-mail: huangsling@tsinghua.edu.cn; Wang, S.; Zhao, W. [State Key Laboratory of Power Systems, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

    2016-05-15

    The time-of-flight of the Lamb wave provides an important basis for defect evaluation in metal plates and is the input signal for Lamb wave tomographic imaging. However, the time-of-flight can be difficult to acquire because of the Lamb wave dispersion characteristics. This work proposes a time-frequency energy density precipitation method to accurately extract the time-of-flight of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals in metal plates. In the proposed method, a discrete short-time Fourier transform is performed on the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals to obtain the corresponding discrete time-frequency energy density distribution. The energy density values at the center frequency for all discrete time points are then calculated by linear interpolation. Next, the time-domain energy density curve focused on that center frequency is precipitated by least squares fitting of the calculated energy density values. Finally, the peak times of the energy density curve obtained relative to the initial pulse signal are extracted as the time-of-flight for the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals. An experimental platform is established for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals, and sensitivity analysis of the proposed time-frequency energy density precipitation method is performed in terms of propagation distance, dispersion characteristics, center frequency, and plate thickness. For comparison, the widely used Hilbert–Huang transform method is also implemented for time-of-flight extraction. The results show that the time-frequency energy density precipitation method can accurately extract the time-of-flight with relative error of <1% and thus can act as a universal time-of-flight extraction method for narrowband Lamb wave detection signals.

  7. Time-frequency energy density precipitation method for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Y.; Huang, S. L.; Wang, S.; Zhao, W.

    2016-01-01

    The time-of-flight of the Lamb wave provides an important basis for defect evaluation in metal plates and is the input signal for Lamb wave tomographic imaging. However, the time-of-flight can be difficult to acquire because of the Lamb wave dispersion characteristics. This work proposes a time-frequency energy density precipitation method to accurately extract the time-of-flight of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals in metal plates. In the proposed method, a discrete short-time Fourier transform is performed on the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals to obtain the corresponding discrete time-frequency energy density distribution. The energy density values at the center frequency for all discrete time points are then calculated by linear interpolation. Next, the time-domain energy density curve focused on that center frequency is precipitated by least squares fitting of the calculated energy density values. Finally, the peak times of the energy density curve obtained relative to the initial pulse signal are extracted as the time-of-flight for the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals. An experimental platform is established for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals, and sensitivity analysis of the proposed time-frequency energy density precipitation method is performed in terms of propagation distance, dispersion characteristics, center frequency, and plate thickness. For comparison, the widely used Hilbert–Huang transform method is also implemented for time-of-flight extraction. The results show that the time-frequency energy density precipitation method can accurately extract the time-of-flight with relative error of <1% and thus can act as a universal time-of-flight extraction method for narrowband Lamb wave detection signals.

  8. Development, evaluation and optimization of superparamagnetite nanoparticles prepared by co-precipitation method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montaseri, Hashem; Alipour, Shohreh; Vakilinezhad, Molood Alsadat

    2017-08-01

    Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are of high interest due to their application in medical fields, in particular for theranostics. Specific properties required for such particles include high magnetization, appropriate size and stability. Biocompatible magnetically soft magnetite particles (Fe 3 O 4 ) have been investigated for biological purposes. The intrinsic instability of these nanoparticles and their susceptibility to the oxidization in air, are limitations for their applications. Various methods have been described for synthesis of these nanoparticles among which co-precipitation method is widely experimented. In order to illustrate the synthesis of MNPs elaborately, the effect of different factors on particle formation were studied. The particles morphology, stability, paramagnetic effect, chemical structure and cytotoxicity were evaluated. Particles of 58 and 60 nm obtained by oleic acid coated (OMNPs) and citric acid coated (CMNPs) magnetite nanoparticles respectively. Transmission electron microscopy images exhibited the real sizes are 15 and 13 nm. Magnetic saturations of these nanoparticles were 72 and 68 emu/g which is suitable for medical applications. Both OMNPs and CMNPs were non-toxic to the SK-Br-3 and MCF-7 cells in the concentrations of <2.5 μg/mL. Since these particles exhibit relatively high magnetic saturation, low dose of such material would be required; therefore, these NPs seem to be suitable for theranostics.

  9. [Effects of precipitation intensity on soil organic carbon fractions and their distribution under subtropical forests of South China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xiao-mei; Liu, Ju-xiu; Deng, Qi; Chu, Guo-wei; Zhou, Guo-yi; Zhang, De-qiang

    2010-05-01

    From December 2006 to June 2008, a field experiment was conducted to study the effects of natural precipitation, doubled precipitation, and no precipitation on the soil organic carbon fractions and their distribution under a successional series of monsoon evergreen broad-leaf forest, pine and broad-leaf mixed forest, and pine forest in Dinghushan Mountain of Southern China. Different precipitation treatments had no significant effects on the total organic carbon (TOC) concentration in the same soil layer under the same forest type (P > 0.05). In treatment no precipitation, particulate organic carbon (POC) and light fraction organic carbon (LFOC) were mainly accumulated in surface soil layer (0-10 cm); but in treatments natural precipitation and doubled precipitation, the two fractions were infiltrated to deeper soil layers. Under pine forest, soil readily oxidizable organic carbon (ROC) was significantly higher in treatment no precipitation than in treatments natural precipitation and doubled precipitation (P organic carbon storage. Precipitation intensity less affected TOC, but had greater effects on the labile components POC, ROC, and LFOC.

  10. Investigation of Neptunium Precipitator Cleanout Options

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, B.C.

    2003-01-01

    Oxalate precipitation followed by filtration is used to prepare plutonium oxalate. Historically, plutonium oxalate has tended to accumulate in the precipitation tanks. These solids are periodically removed by flushing with concentrated (64 percent) nitric acid. The same precipitation tanks will now be used in the processing of neptunium. Literature values indicate that neptunium oxalate may not be as soluble as plutonium oxalate in nitric acid. Although a wide variety of options is available to improve neptunium oxalate solubility for precipitator flushing, most of these options are not practical for use. Many of these options require the use of incompatible or difficult to handle chemicals. Other options would require expensive equipment modifications or are likely to lead to product contamination. Based on review of literature and experimental results, the two best options for flushing the precipitator are (1) 64 percent nitric acid and (2) addition of sodium permanganate follow ed by sodium nitrite. Nitric acid is the easiest option to implement. It is already used in the facility and will not lead to product contamination. Experimental results indicate that neptunium oxalate can be dissolved in concentrated nitric acid (64 percent) at 60 degree C to a concentration of 2.6 to 5.6 grams of Np/liter after at least three hours of heating. A lower concentration (1.1 grams of Np/liter) was measured at 60 degree C after less than two hours of heating. These concentrations are acceptable for flushing if precipitator holdup is low (approximately 100-250 grams), but a second method is required for effective flushing if precipitator holdup is high (approximately 2 kilograms). The most effective method for obtaining higher neptunium concentrations is the use of sodium permanganate followed by the addition of sodium nitrite. There is concern that residual manganese from these flushes could impact product purity. Gas generation during permanganate addition is also a concern

  11. Formulating and testing a method for perturbing precipitation time series to reflect anticipated climatic changes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørup, Hjalte Jomo Danielsen; Georgiadis, Stylianos; Gregersen, Ida Bülow

    2017-01-01

    Urban water infrastructure has very long planning horizons, and planning is thus very dependent on reliable estimates of the impacts of climate change. Many urban water systems are designed using time series with a high temporal resolution. To assess the impact of climate change on these systems......, similarly high-resolution precipitation time series for future climate are necessary. Climate models cannot at their current resolutions provide these time series at the relevant scales. Known methods for stochastic downscaling of climate change to urban hydrological scales have known shortcomings...... in constructing realistic climate-changed precipitation time series at the sub-hourly scale. In the present study we present a deterministic methodology to perturb historical precipitation time series at the minute scale to reflect non-linear expectations to climate change. The methodology shows good skill...

  12. Precipitation in as-solidified undercooled Ni-Si hypoeutectic alloy: Effect of non-equilibrium solidification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fan Kai [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710072 (China); Liu Feng, E-mail: liufeng@nwpu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710072 (China); Yang Gencang; Zhou Yaohe [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710072 (China)

    2011-08-25

    Highlights: {yields} The solid solubility of Si atom in {alpha}-Ni matrix increased with undercooling in the as-solidified sample. {yields} The effect of non-equilibrium solidification on precipitation has been theoretically described. {yields} The nucleation density, the real-time particle size and the precipitation rate are all increased upon annealing. {yields} The precipitate process can be artificially controlled by modifying the initial melt undercooling and the annealing time. - Abstract: Applying glass fluxing and cyclic superheating, high undercooling up to {approx}350 K was achieved for Ni-Si hypoeutectic alloy melt. By isothermally annealing the as-solidified alloy subjected to different undercoolings, precipitation behavior of Ni{sub 3}Si particle, at 973 K, was systematically studied. It was found that, the nucleation density and the real-time particle size, as well as the precipitation rate, were all increased, provided the sample was solidified subjected to higher undercooling. This was ascribed mainly to the increased solid solubility of Si atom in {alpha}-Ni matrix upon non-equilibrium solidification. On this basis, the non-equilibrium dendrite growth upon solidification and the soft impingement prevailing upon solid-state precipitation have been quantitatively connected. As such, the effect of liquid/solid transformation on subsequent precipitation was described.

  13. Precipitation in as-solidified undercooled Ni-Si hypoeutectic alloy: Effect of non-equilibrium solidification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fan Kai; Liu Feng; Yang Gencang; Zhou Yaohe

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → The solid solubility of Si atom in α-Ni matrix increased with undercooling in the as-solidified sample. → The effect of non-equilibrium solidification on precipitation has been theoretically described. → The nucleation density, the real-time particle size and the precipitation rate are all increased upon annealing. → The precipitate process can be artificially controlled by modifying the initial melt undercooling and the annealing time. - Abstract: Applying glass fluxing and cyclic superheating, high undercooling up to ∼350 K was achieved for Ni-Si hypoeutectic alloy melt. By isothermally annealing the as-solidified alloy subjected to different undercoolings, precipitation behavior of Ni 3 Si particle, at 973 K, was systematically studied. It was found that, the nucleation density and the real-time particle size, as well as the precipitation rate, were all increased, provided the sample was solidified subjected to higher undercooling. This was ascribed mainly to the increased solid solubility of Si atom in α-Ni matrix upon non-equilibrium solidification. On this basis, the non-equilibrium dendrite growth upon solidification and the soft impingement prevailing upon solid-state precipitation have been quantitatively connected. As such, the effect of liquid/solid transformation on subsequent precipitation was described.

  14. The effect of acid precipitation on tree growth in eastern North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charles V. Cogbill

    1976-01-01

    Detailed study of the history of forest tree growth by tree-ring analysis is used to assess the effect of acid precipitation. The pattern and historical trends of acid precipitation deposition are compared with growth trends from mature forest stands in New Hampshire and Tennessee. No clear indication of a regional, synchronized decrease in tree growth was found. The...

  15. Synthesis of CuO-NiO core-shell nanoparticles by homogeneous precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bayal, Nisha; Jeevanandam, P.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► CuO-NiO core-shell nanoparticles have been synthesized using a simple homogeneous precipitation method for the first time. ► Mechanism of the formation of core-shell nanoparticles has been investigated. ► The synthesis route may be extended for the synthesis of other mixed metal oxide core-shell nanoparticles. - Abstract: Core-shell CuO–NiO mixed metal oxide nanoparticles in which CuO is the core and NiO is the shell have been successfully synthesized using homogeneous precipitation method. This is a simple synthetic method which produces first a layered double hydroxide precursor with core-shell morphology which on calcination at 350 °C yields the mixed metal oxide nanoparticles with the retention of core-shell morphology. The CuO–NiO mixed metal oxide precursor and the core-shell nanoparticles were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The chemical reactivity of the core-shell nanoparticles was tested using catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol with NaBH 4 . The possible growth mechanism of the particles with core-shell morphology has also been investigated.

  16. The Effect of Hurricanes on Annual Precipitation in Maryland and the Connection to Global Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jackie; Liu, Zhong

    2015-01-01

    Precipitation is a vital aspect of our lives droughts, floods and other related disasters that involve precipitation can cause costly damage in the economic system and general society. Purpose of this project is to determine what, if any effect do hurricanes have on annual precipitation in Maryland Research will be conducted on Marylands terrain, climatology, annual precipitation, and precipitation contributed from hurricanes Possible connections to climate change

  17. Errors and Correction of Precipitation Measurements in China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    REN Zhihua; LI Mingqin

    2007-01-01

    In order to discover the range of various errors in Chinese precipitation measurements and seek a correction method, 30 precipitation evaluation stations were set up countrywide before 1993. All the stations are reference stations in China. To seek a correction method for wind-induced error, a precipitation correction instrument called the "horizontal precipitation gauge" was devised beforehand. Field intercomparison observations regarding 29,000 precipitation events have been conducted using one pit gauge, two elevated operational gauges and one horizontal gauge at the above 30 stations. The range of precipitation measurement errors in China is obtained by analysis of intercomparison measurement results. The distribution of random errors and systematic errors in precipitation measurements are studied in this paper.A correction method, especially for wind-induced errors, is developed. The results prove that a correlation of power function exists between the precipitation amount caught by the horizontal gauge and the absolute difference of observations implemented by the operational gauge and pit gauge. The correlation coefficient is 0.99. For operational observations, precipitation correction can be carried out only by parallel observation with a horizontal precipitation gauge. The precipitation accuracy after correction approaches that of the pit gauge. The correction method developed is simple and feasible.

  18. Carrageenan :the difference between PNG and KCL gel precipitation method as Lactobacillus acidophilus encapsulation material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setijawati, D.; Nursyam, H.; Salis, H.

    2018-04-01

    The study on the effects of using of materials and methods in the preparation of the microcapsules Lactobacillus acidophilus towards the viability has been done. The research method used is experimental laboratory design. Variable research was kind of material (A) as the first factor with sub factor (A1 = Eucheuma cottonii) (A2 = Eucheuma spinosum) (A3 = mixture of Eucheuma cottonii and Eucheuma spinosum 1:1 ratio), while the second factor is a method of extraction to produce caragenan (B) with sub factor (B1 = Philipine Natural Grade modification) (B2 = KCl gel Press Precipitation). Analysis of different influences uses Analysis Of Varians followed by Fisher’s test. Analysis of data uses Mini tab 16. The results shows that the kind of extraction factors and methods gave significantly different effects on the viability of Lactobacillus acidophilus. The highest mean of Viablity obtained in the treatment of materials with a mixture of Eucheuma cottonii and Eucheuma spinosum and used KCl Gel Press method is equal to 7.14 log (CFU / mL). It is ssuggested using of kappa-iota carrageenanmixture asencapsulation material with KCl Gel Press method on Lactobacillus acidophilus microencapsulation process because it treatment gavethe highest average of Lactobacillus acidophilus viability.

  19. Analysis of Zr++++ dan ZrO++ cations through their Hydroxide precipitate with thermal differential analysis method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simbolon, Sahat; Ratmi-Herlani

    1996-01-01

    Hydroxide of zirconyl and zirconium, made by reacting zirconium and zirconyl solution with NH 4 OH 25 % solution, were analysed by thermal differential analysis (TDA). It was also done TDA method for hydroxide of zirconyl and zirconium, made by reacting zirconyl chloride and zirconium chloride solid with NH 4 OH 25 % solution directly. It was found that TDA of hydroxide precipitate made through solution had a clear TDA counter, meanwhile TDA thermogram of hydroxide precipitate made by direct adding NH 4 OH 25 % solution to zirconyl and zirconium hydroxide had no clear TDA thermogram. Precipitate Zr O(OH) 2 and Zr(OH) 4 found through solution could be differentiated each other based on their TDA thermograms

  20. Urbanization effect on precipitation over the Pearl River Delta based on CMORPH data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheng Chen

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Based on the satellite data from the Climate Prediction Center morphing (CMORPH at very high spatial and temporal resolution, the effects of urbanization on precipitation were assessed over the Pearl River Delta (PRD metropolitan regions of China. CMORPH data well estimates the precipitation features over the PRD. Compared to the surrounding rural areas, the PRD urban areas experience fewer and shorter precipitation events with a lower precipitation frequency (ratio of rainy hours, about 3 days per year less; however, short-duration heavy rain events play a more significant role over the PRD urban areas. Afternoon precipitation is much more pronounced over the PRD urban areas than the surrounding rural areas, which is probably because of the increase in short-duration heavy rain over urban areas.

  1. Impact of Precipitating Ice Hydrometeors on Longwave Radiative Effect Estimated by a Global Cloud-System Resolving Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ying-Wen; Seiki, Tatsuya; Kodama, Chihiro; Satoh, Masaki; Noda, Akira T.

    2018-02-01

    Satellite observation and general circulation model (GCM) studies suggest that precipitating ice makes nonnegligible contributions to the radiation balance of the Earth. However, in most GCMs, precipitating ice is diagnosed and its radiative effects are not taken into account. Here we examine the longwave radiative impact of precipitating ice using a global nonhydrostatic atmospheric model with a double-moment cloud microphysics scheme. An off-line radiation model is employed to determine cloud radiative effects according to the amount and altitude of each type of ice hydrometeor. Results show that the snow radiative effect reaches 2 W m-2 in the tropics, which is about half the value estimated by previous studies. This effect is strongly dependent on the vertical separation of ice categories and is partially generated by differences in terminal velocities, which are not represented in GCMs with diagnostic precipitating ice. Results from sensitivity experiments that artificially change the categories and altitudes of precipitating ice show that the simulated longwave heating profile and longwave radiation field are sensitive to the treatment of precipitating ice in models. This study emphasizes the importance of incorporating appropriate treatments for the radiative effects of precipitating ice in cloud and radiation schemes in GCMs in order to capture the cloud radiative effects of upper level clouds.

  2. Apparatus and methods for regeneration of precipitating solvent

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Guohai; Vimalchand, Pannalal; Peng, Wan Wang; Bonsu, Alexander

    2015-08-25

    A regenerator that can handle rich loaded chemical solvent containing precipitated absorption reaction products is disclosed. The invention is particularly suitable for separating CO.sub.2 from large gas streams that are typical of power plant processes. The internally circulating liquid stream in the regenerator (ICLS regenerator) rapidly heats-up the in-coming rich solvent stream in a downcomer standpipe as well as decreases the overall concentration of CO.sub.2 in the mixed stream. Both these actions lead to dissolution of precipitates. Any remaining precipitate further dissolves as heat is transferred to the mixed solution with an inverted bayonet tube heat exchanger in the riser portion of the regenerator. The evolving CO.sub.2 bubbles in the riser portion of the regenerator lead to substantial gas hold-up and the large density difference between the solutions in the downcomer standpipe and riser portions promotes internal circulation of the liquid stream in the regenerator. As minor amounts of solvent components present in the exit gas stream are condensed and returned back to the regenerator, pure CO.sub.2 gas stream exits the disclosed regenerator and condenser system.

  3. Fabrication of ITO particles using a combination of a homogeneous precipitation method and a seeding technique and their electrical conductivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshio Kobayashi

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The present work proposes a method to fabricate indium tin oxide (ITO particles using precursor particles synthesized with a combination of a homogeneous precipitation method and a seeding technique, and it also describes their electronic conductivity properties. Seed nanoparticles were produced using a co-precipitation method with aqueous solutions of indium (III chloride, tin (IV chloride aqueous solution and sodium hydroxide. Three types of ITO nanoparticles were fabricated. The first type was fabricated using the co-precipitation method (c-ITO. The second and third types were fabricated using a homogeneous precipitation method with the seed nanoparticles (s-ITO and without seeds (n-ITO. The as-prepared precursor particles were annealed in air at 500 °C, and their crystal structures were cubic ITO. The c-ITO nanoparticles formed irregular-shaped agglomerates of nanoparticles. The n-ITO nanoparticles had a rectangular-parallelepiped or quasi-cubic structure. Most s-ITO nanoparticles had a quasi-cubic structure, and their size was larger than the n-ITO particles. The volume resistivities of the c-ITO, n-ITO and s-ITO powders decreased in that order because the regular-shaped particles were made to strongly contact with each other.

  4. Optimization of thorium oxalate precipitation conditions relative to thorium oxide sinterability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, G.D.; Bray, L.A.; Hart, P.E.

    1980-01-01

    The effect of thorium oxalate precipitation conditions on derived oxide sinterability was investigated with the objective of producing ThO 2 powder that could be sintered to high density without premilling. Precipitation conditions examined were temperature, digestion time and agitation method which were employed in a two-level factorial experimental design to delineate their effects. The two levels for each of the factors, respectively, were 10 0 C and 70 0 C, 15 min and 360 min, and mechanical stirrer and a homogenizer that imparted both mechanical and ultrasonic agitation. The ThO 2 derived from each of the precipitation trials was characterized with respect to morphology, surface area, and crystallite size as well as sinterability. Only precipitation temperature had a significant effect upon all the properties of the derived oxide powders

  5. PTFE Additive and Re-annealing Effect on Thermoluminescence Response of CaSO4:Dy Derived from Co-precipitation Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuraeni, Nunung; Dwi Septianto, Ricky; Iskandar, Ferry; Haryanto, Freddy; Waris, Abdul; Hiswara, Eri

    2017-07-01

    Effect of re-annealing treatment in thermoluminescence response of thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) CaSO4:Dy and CaSO4:Dy with PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) addition was investigated. CaSO4:Dy was prepared by a co-precipitation method. The PTFE was added before re-annealing treatment which the mass ratio of CaSO4:Dy and PTFE was fixed to 2:3. The re-annealing treatments of the samples were done at temperature 700 °C for 1 hr. The obtained samples were characterized using a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to observe the molecule bonding in sample and crystal properties, respectively. From the experimental results, it was observed that the thermoluminescence intensity of CaSO4:Dy, CaSO4:Dy re-annealed at 700 °C, and CaSO4:Dy + PTFE re-annealed at 700 °C are 57.03, 75.15, and 1191.11 nC, respectively. The intensity of 700 °C-re-annealed CaSO4:Dy increased significantly after PTFE addition.

  6. Development of a numerical simulation method for melting/solidification and dissolution/precipitation phenomena. 1. Literature survey for computer program design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uchibori, Akihiro; Ohshima, Hiroyuki

    2004-04-01

    Survey research of numerical methods for melting/solidification and dissolution/precipitation phenomena was performed to determine the policy for a simulation program development. Melting/solidification and dissolution/ precipitation have been key issues for feasibility evaluation of several techniques applied in the nuclear fuel cycle processes. Physical models for single-component melting/solidification, two-component solution solidification or precipitation by cooling and precipitation by electrolysis, which are moving boundary problems, were made clear from the literature survey. The transport equations are used for thermal hydraulic analysis in the solid and the liquid regions. Behavior of the solid-liquid interface is described by the heat and mass transfer model. These physical models need to be introduced into the simulation program. The numerical methods for the moving boundary problems are categorized into two types: interface tracking method and interface capturing method. Based on the classification, performance of each numerical method was evaluated. The interface tracking method using the Lagrangian moving mesh requires relatively complicated algorithm. The algorithm has high accuracy for predicting the moving interface. On the other hand, the interface capturing method uses the Eulerian fixing mesh, leading to simple algorithm. Prediction accuracy of the method is relatively low. The extended finite element method classified as the interface capturing method can predict the interface behavior accurately even though the Eulerian fixing mesh is used. We decided to apply the extended finite element method to the simulation program. (author)

  7. Effects of solution concentration and capping agents on the properties of potassium titanyl phosphate noparticles synthesized using a co-precipitation method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gharibshahian, E.; Jafar Tafershi, M.; Fazli, M.

    2018-05-01

    In this study, KTiOPO4 (KTP) nanoparticles were synthesized using a co-precipitation method. The effects of the solution concentration (M) and capping agents, such as PVA, oxalic acid, glycine, triethanolamine, and L-alanine, on the structural, microstructural, and optical properties of the products were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Decreasing the solution concentration decreased the crystallite size from 53.07 nm (for M = 2) to 39.42 nm (for M = 0.5). After applying different capping agents to the sample at the optimum concentration (M = 0.5), the crystallite size decreased again and grains as small as 10.61 nm were obtained. XRD and FTIR analyses indicated the formation of KTP nanoparticles with an orthorhombic structure in all of the samples. The optical band gap increased as the crystallite size decreased. Different morphological patterns such as spherical, needle shaped, polyhedron, and tablet forms were observed in the nanoparticles, which were correlated with the effects of the capping agents employed.

  8. Centrifugal precipitation chromatography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Yoichiro; Lin, Qi

    2009-01-01

    Centrifugal precipitation chromatography separates analytes according their solubility in ammonium sulfate (AS) solution and other precipitants. The separation column is made from a pair of long spiral channels partitioned with a semipermeable membrane. In a typical separation, concentrated ammonium sulfate is eluted through one channel while water is eluted through the other channel in the opposite direction. The countercurrent process forms an exponential AS concentration gradient through the water channel. Consequently, protein samples injected into the water channel is subjected to a steadily increasing AS concentration and at the critical AS concentration they are precipitated and deposited in the channel bed by the centrifugal force. Then the chromatographic separation is started by gradually reducing the AS concentration in the AS channel which lowers the AS gradient concentration in the water channel. This results in dissolution of deposited proteins which are again precipitated at an advanced critical point as they move through the channel. Consequently, proteins repeat precipitation and dissolution through a long channel and finally eluted out from the column in the order of their solubility in the AS solution. The present method has been successfully applied to a number of analytes including human serum proteins, recombinant ketosteroid isomerase, carotenoid cleavage enzymes, plasmid DNA, polysaccharide, polymerized pigments, PEG-protein conjugates, etc. The method is capable to single out the target species of proteins by affinity ligand or immunoaffinity separation. PMID:19541553

  9. Advances on reverse strike co-precipitation method of uranium-plutonium mixed solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menghini, Jorge E.; Marchi, Daniel E.; Orosco, Edgardo H.; Greco, Luis

    2000-01-01

    The reverse strike coprecipitation of uranium-plutonium mixed solutions, is an alternative way to obtain MOX fuel pellets. Previous tests, carried out in the Alpha Laboratory, included a stabilization step for transforming 100 % of plutonium into Pu +4 . Therefore, the plutonium precipitated as Pu(OH) 4 . In this second step, the stabilization process was suppressed. In this way, besides Pu(OH) 4 , a part of the precipitated is composed of a mixed salt: AD(U,Pu). Then, a homogeneous solid solution is formed in the early steps of the process. The powders showed higher tap density, better performance during the pressing and lower sinterability than the powders obtained in previous tests. The advantageous and disadvantageous effects of the stabilization step are analyzed in this paper. (author)

  10. Fe-based soft magnetic composites coated with NiZn ferrite prepared by a co-precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peng, Yuandong; Yi, Yi; Li, Liya; Ai, Hengyu; Wang, Xiaoxu [State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Chen, Lulu [Jiangsu Eagle-globe Group Co., Ltd., Nantong 226600 (China)

    2017-04-15

    Fe powder was coated with NiZn ferrite by a co-precipitation method using chlorate as the raw material. Soft magnetic composites were manufactured via compaction and heat treatment of the coated powder. The coated powder and heat treated powder were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Their magnetic properties were determined using a Quantum Design-Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (QD-VSM). The composites were analysed with SEM and EDS. The permeability and magnetic loss of the composites were measured with a B-H curve analyzer. The results show that, using the co-precipitation method, the raw precipitate was successfully prepared and coated the pure Fe powder and turned into spinel NiZn ferrite treated at 600 ℃ for 1 h. After heat treatment at 500 ℃ under air, the insulation coating layer of soft magnetic composite (SMC) was not destroyed and containing Fe, Ni, Zn and oxygen. The permeabilities of the SMC are stable at edge of the 2–200 kHz frequency range and the total loss was lower. - Graphical abstract: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of Fe/(NiZn)Fe{sub 2}O{sub 4} composite powder heated at 600 ℃ for 1 h. - Highlights: • Fe particles were coated with (NiZn)Fe{sub 2}O{sub 4} via a co-precipitation and calcined method. • Coating layers were uniform and dense. • The permeabilities of the SMC are stable at edge of the 2–200 kHz frequency range.

  11. Synthesis, Characterization, and Atenolol Delivery Application of Functionalized Mesoporous Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles Prepared by Microwave-Assisted Co-precipitation Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mortazavi-Derazkola, Sobhan; Naimi-Jamal, Mohammad Reza; Ghoreishi, Seyedeh Masoumeh

    2016-01-01

    Atenolol has been used to treat angina and hypertension, either alone or with other antihypertensives. Despite its usefulness, it shows some side effects such as diarrhea and nausea in some patients. A method for slow release of atenolol in intestine is helpful to prevent such side effects. A facile co-precipitation microwave-assisted method was used to fabricate mesoporous hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (mHAp). It was then functionalized to have SO3H groups. The synthesized material was used for storage/slow release study of atenolol. Atenolol loaded mHAp shows immediate release of atenolol in pH 8, whileafter functionalizing shows up to ca. 30% release at the beginning. In pH 1, 50% of drug was released after 10 h from AT@mHAp and after 18h the drug was almost completely released.The drug release profiles of functionalized HAp at pH value 1 and 8reveals the complete release of atenolol in intestine pH, while no complete release is observed in stomach environment. The aims of this work were synthesis and characterization of mesoporous HAp through the microwave-assisted co-precipitation method and elucidate the underlying drug release capability of mesoporous HAp nanoparticles. The SO3H group was incorporated into the mesoporous HAp and then used as drug delivery carriers using atenolol as a model drug to investigate their drug storage/release properties in simulated body fluid (SBF). Increasing pH value to 8 causes increase in the drug release.

  12. Schottky effect model of electrical activity of metallic precipitates in silicon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Plekhanov, P. S.; Tan, T. Y.

    2000-01-01

    A quantitative model of the electrical activity of metallic precipitates in Si is formulated with an emphasis on the Schottky junction effects of the precipitate-Si system. Carrier diffusion and carrier drift in the Si space charge region are accounted for. Carrier recombination is attributed to the thermionic emission mechanism of charge transport across the Schottky junction rather than the surface recombination. It is shown that the precipitates can have a very large minority carrier capture cross-section. Under weak carrier generation conditions, the supply of minority carriers is found to be the limiting factor of the recombination process. The plausibility of the model is demonstrated by a comparison of calculated and available experimental results. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics

  13. Interpolative mapping of mean precipitation in the Baltic countries by using landscape characteristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kalle Remm

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Maps of the long-term mean precipitation involving local landscape variables were generated for the Baltic countries, and the effectiveness of seven modelling methods was compared. The precipitation data were recorded in 245 meteorological stations in 1966–2005, and 51 location-related explanatory variables were used. The similarity-based reasoning in the Constud software system outperformed other methods according to the validation fit, except for spring. The multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS was another effective method on average. The inclusion of landscape variables, compared to reverse distance-weighted interpolation, highlights the effect of uplands, larger water bodies and forested areas. The long-term mean amount of precipitation, calculated as the station average, probably underestimates the real value for Estonia and overestimates it for Lithuania due to the uneven distribution of observation stations.

  14. The effect of precipitated carbides on the pitting corrosion of 304 stainless steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kwak, Jai-Hyun; Kim, Kwan-Hun

    1985-01-01

    In order to investigate the relation between the pitting corrosion and precipitated carbides, the heat treatment of specimens was carried out in two ways: Solution treatment and carbides precipitation treatment. The experiment was focused on the polarization curves of specimens immersed in HCL solution and on the microscopic analysis of the corroded specimens through a potentiodynamic method. It was found out that the intergranular and pitting corrosion occurred remarkably in 0.1N and 1N KCL solution when carbides were precipitated around the grain boundary of the 304 stain steel. The intergranular corrosion was noticed in the region of passivation and the pitting was prominent in the region of passivation break-down. The distribution of pits on the solution treated 304 stainless steel was random, while that of pits on carbides precipitated specimen was concentrated around the grain boundary in 0.1N and 1N HCL solution. It was ascertained that the pitting resistance of the solution treated 304 stainless steel was better than that of carbides precipitated specimen. (Author)

  15. Barrier Effect of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Continent on the MJO: Perspectives from Tracking MJO Precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, C.; Ling, J.

    2016-12-01

    To advance the study of the barrier effect of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Continent (MC) on the MJO, we propose two criteria to judge explanations for this phenomenon. The first one is that such explanations should include specific features of the MC, namely, its intricate land-sea distributions and elevated terrains. The second is that they should include mechanisms for some MJO events to overcome the barrier effect as well as the barrier effect itself. Guided by these criteria, we have used a precipitation-tracking method to identify MJO events, distinguish those that propagate across the MC (MJO-C) from those that are blocked by the MC (MJO-B), and compare these two types of MJO events and their large-scale environments. The barrier effect cannot be explained in terms of the strength and horizontal scale or distributions of MJO convection as it approaches the MC from the Indian Ocean. A distinction between MJO-B and MJO-C is their ratios of precipitation over the sea vs. land in the MC. MJO events may propagate through the MC when their convection over the sea of the MC is sufficiently developed and dominates that over land. This may happen for two reasons. One is stronger precipitation over land that occurs before the arrival of MJO convection centers, which is assisted by greater low-level moisture flux convergence over the MC. This stronger "vanguard of precipitation" for MJO-C would make the ground wetter and thus reduce land-locked diurnal convection that has been proposed to be detrimental to MJO propagation through the MC. Another possible reason for the more vigorous development of MJO-C convection over the sea is higher SST in the MC before MJO convection centers enter the region.

  16. Evaluation of spatial and spatiotemporal estimation methods in simulation of precipitation variability patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayat, Bardia; Zahraie, Banafsheh; Taghavi, Farahnaz; Nasseri, Mohsen

    2013-08-01

    Identification of spatial and spatiotemporal precipitation variations plays an important role in different hydrological applications such as missing data estimation. In this paper, the results of Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) and ordinary kriging (OK) are compared for modeling spatial and spatiotemporal variations of annual precipitation with and without incorporating elevation variations. The study area of this research is Namak Lake watershed located in the central part of Iran with an area of approximately 90,000 km2. The BME and OK methods have been used to model the spatial and spatiotemporal variations of precipitation in this watershed, and their performances have been evaluated using cross-validation statistics. The results of the case study have shown the superiority of BME over OK in both spatial and spatiotemporal modes. The results have shown that BME estimates are less biased and more accurate than OK. The improvements in the BME estimates are mostly related to incorporating hard and soft data in the estimation process, which resulted in more detailed and reliable results. Estimation error variance for BME results is less than OK estimations in the study area in both spatial and spatiotemporal modes.

  17. Precipitation behavior of uranium in multicomponent solution by oxalic acid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, Y.J.; Kim, I.S.; Lee, W.K.; Shin, H.S.; Ro, S.G.

    1996-01-01

    A study on the precipitation of uranium by oxalic acid was carried out in a multicomponent solution. The precipitation method is usually applied to the treatment of radioactive waste and the recovery of uranium from a uranium-scrap contaminated with impurities. In these cases, the problem is how to increase the precipitation yield of target element and to prevent impurities from coprecipitation. The multicomponent solution in the present experiment was prepared by dissolving U, Nd, Cs and Sr in nitric acid. The effects of concentrations of oxalic acid and ascorbic acid on the precipitation yield and purity of uranium were observed. As results of the study, the maximum precipitation yield of uranium is revealed to be about 96.5% and the relative precipitation ratio of Nd, Cs and Sr versus uranium are discussed at the condition of the maximum precipitation yield of uranium, respectively. (author). 11 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab

  18. A multi-source precipitation approach to fill gaps over a radar precipitation field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tesfagiorgis, K. B.; Mahani, S. E.; Khanbilvardi, R.

    2012-12-01

    Satellite Precipitation Estimates (SPEs) may be the only available source of information for operational hydrologic and flash flood prediction due to spatial limitations of radar and gauge products. The present work develops an approach to seamlessly blend satellite, radar, climatological and gauge precipitation products to fill gaps over ground-based radar precipitation fields. To mix different precipitation products, the bias of any of the products relative to each other should be removed. For bias correction, the study used an ensemble-based method which aims to estimate spatially varying multiplicative biases in SPEs using a radar rainfall product. Bias factors were calculated for a randomly selected sample of rainy pixels in the study area. Spatial fields of estimated bias were generated taking into account spatial variation and random errors in the sampled values. A weighted Successive Correction Method (SCM) is proposed to make the merging between error corrected satellite and radar rainfall estimates. In addition to SCM, we use a Bayesian spatial method for merging the gap free radar with rain gauges, climatological rainfall sources and SPEs. We demonstrate the method using SPE Hydro-Estimator (HE), radar- based Stage-II, a climatological product PRISM and rain gauge dataset for several rain events from 2006 to 2008 over three different geographical locations of the United States. Results show that: the SCM method in combination with the Bayesian spatial model produced a precipitation product in good agreement with independent measurements. The study implies that using the available radar pixels surrounding the gap area, rain gauge, PRISM and satellite products, a radar like product is achievable over radar gap areas that benefits the scientific community.

  19. a Study of Oxygen Precipitation in Heavily Doped Silicon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graupner, Robert Kurt

    Gettering of impurities with oxygen precipitates is widely used during the fabrication of semiconductors to improve the performance and yield of the devices. Since the effectiveness of the gettering process is largely dependent on the initial interstitial oxygen concentration, accurate measurements of this parameter are of considerable importance. Measurements of interstitial oxygen following thermal cycles are required for development of semiconductor fabrication processes and for research into the mechanisms of oxygen precipitate nucleation and growth. Efforts by industrial associations have led to the development of standard procedures for the measurement of interstitial oxygen in wafers. However practical oxygen measurements often do not satisfy the requirements of such standard procedures. An additional difficulty arises when the silicon wafer has a low resitivity (high dopant concentration). In such cases the infrared light used for the measurement is severely attenuated by the electrons of holes introduced by the dopant. Since such wafers are the substrates used for the production of widely used epitaxial wafers, this measurement problem is economically important. Alternative methods such as Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy or Gas Fusion Analysis have been developed to measure oxygen in these cases. However, neither of these methods is capable of distinguishing interstitial oxygen from precipitated oxygen as required for precipitation studies. In addition to the commercial interest in heavily doped silicon substrates, they are also of interest for research into the role of point defects in nucleation and precipitation processes. Despite considerable research effort, there is still disagreement concerning the type of point defect and its role in semiconductor processes. Studies of changes in the interstitial oxygen concentration of heavily doped and lightly doped silicon wafers could help clarify the role of point defects in oxygen nucleation and precipitation

  20. Comparison of precipitation nowcasting by extrapolation and statistical-advection methods

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Sokol, Zbyněk; Kitzmiller, D.; Pešice, Petr; Mejsnar, Jan

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 123, 1 April (2013), s. 17-30 ISSN 0169-8095 R&D Projects: GA MŠk ME09033 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : Precipitation forecast * Statistical models * Regression * Quantitative precipitation forecast * Extrapolation forecast Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 2.421, year: 2013 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169809512003390

  1. Relative importance of precipitation frequency and intensity in inter-annual variation of precipitation in Singapore during 1980-2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xin; Babovic, Vladan

    2017-04-01

    Observed studies on inter-annual variation of precipitation provide insight into the response of precipitation to anthropogenic climate change and natural climate variability. Inter-annual variation of precipitation results from the concurrent variations of precipitation frequency and intensity, understanding of the relative importance of frequency and intensity in the variability of precipitation can help fathom its changing properties. Investigation of the long-term changes of precipitation schemes has been extensively carried out in many regions across the world, however, detailed studies of the relative importance of precipitation frequency and intensity in inter-annual variation of precipitation are still limited, especially in the tropics. Therefore, this study presents a comprehensive framework to investigate the inter-annual variation of precipitation and the dominance of precipitation frequency and intensity in a tropical urban city-state, Singapore, based on long-term (1980-2013) daily precipitation series from 22 rain gauges. First, an iterative Mann-Kendall trend test method is applied to detect long-term trends in precipitation total, frequency and intensity at both annual and seasonal time scales. Then, the relative importance of precipitation frequency and intensity in inducing the inter-annual variation of wet-day precipitation total is analyzed using a dominance analysis method based on linear regression. The results show statistically significant upward trends in wet-day precipitation total, frequency and intensity at annual time scale, however, these trends are not evident during the monsoon seasons. The inter-annual variation of wet-day precipitation is mainly dominated by precipitation intensity for most of the stations at annual time scale and during the Northeast monsoon season. However, during the Southwest monsoon season, the inter-annual variation of wet-day precipitation is mainly dominated by precipitation frequency. These results have

  2. Extraction of rare earth elements from low-grade Bauxite via precipitation reaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kusrini, E.; Nurani, Y.; Bahari, ZJ

    2018-03-01

    The aim of this research was to determine the optimum hydrometallurgical parameters to extract the rare earth elements (REE) from low-grade bauxite through acid leaching and precipitation reaction. REE or lanthanide recovery by a precipitation method with sodium sulphate and sodium phosphate as precipitation agents is reported where the effect of pH and recovery of REE are described. The metal composition of REE in low-grade bauxite after treatment were analyzed by ICP-OES. The total recovery values of REE elements at the first precipitation reaction using sodium sulphate as the precipitation agent at pH 3.5 showed ~68.2% of lanthanum, ~18.9% cerium, and ~7.8% yttrium. Lanthanum was the rare-earth element present at the highest concentration in the low-grade bauxite after the series treatments. An optimum pH of 3.5 for precipitation of rare-earth elements using sodium sulphate was demonstrated where this method is recommended for the extraction of REE elements from low-grade bauxite.

  3. Evaluation of Various Synthesis Methods for Calcite-Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) Formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramakrishna, Chilakala; Thenepalli, Thriveni; Ahn, Ji Whan

    2017-01-01

    This review paper evaluates different kinds of synthesis methods for calcite precipitated calcium carbonates by using different materials. The various processing routes of calcite with different compositions are reported and the possible optimum conditions required to synthesize a desired particle sizes of calcite are predicted. This paper mainly focuses on that the calcite morphology and size of the particles by carbonation process using loop reactors. In this regard, we have investigated various parameters such as CO 2 flow rate, Ca (OH) 2 concentration, temperature, pH effect, reaction time and loop reactor mechanism with orifice diameter. The research results illustrate the formation of well-defined and pure calcite crystals with controlled crystal growth and particle size, without additives or organic solvents. The crystal growth and particle size can be controlled, and smaller sizes are obtained by decreasing the Ca (OH) 2 concentration and increasing the CO 2 flow rate at lower temperatures with suitable pH. The crystal structure of obtained calcite was characterized by using X-ray diffraction method and the morphology by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The result of x-ray diffraction recognized that the calcite phase of calcium carbonate was the dominating crystalline structure.

  4. Evaluation of the light scattering and the turbidity microtiter plate-based methods for the detection of the excipient-mediated drug precipitation inhibition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petruševska, Marija; Urleb, Uroš; Peternel, Luka

    2013-11-01

    The excipient-mediated precipitation inhibition is classically determined by the quantification of the dissolved compound in the solution. In this study, two alternative approaches were evaluated, one is the light scattering (nephelometer) and other is the turbidity (plate reader) microtiter plate-based methods which are based on the quantification of the compound precipitate. Following the optimization of the nephelometer settings (beam focus, laser gain) and the experimental conditions, the screening of 23 excipients on the precipitation inhibition of poorly soluble fenofibrate and dipyridamole was performed. The light scattering method resulted in excellent correlation (r>0.91) between the calculated precipitation inhibitor parameters (PIPs) and the precipitation inhibition index (PI(classical)) obtained by the classical approach for fenofibrate and dipyridamole. Among the evaluated PIPs AUC100 (nephelometer) resulted in only four false positives and lack of false negatives. In the case of the turbidity-based method a good correlation of the PI(classical) was obtained for the PIP maximal optical density (OD(max), r=0.91), however, only for fenofibrate. In the case of the OD(max) (plate reader) five false positives and two false negatives were identified. In conclusion, the light scattering-based method outperformed the turbidity-based one and could be reliably used for identification of novel precipitation inhibitors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Effect of precipitation bias correction on water budget calculation in Upper Yellow River, China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ye Baisheng; Yang Daqing; Ma Lijuan

    2012-01-01

    This study quantifies the effect of precipitation bias corrections on basin water balance calculations for the Yellow River Source region (YRS). We analyse long-term (1959–2001) monthly and yearly data of precipitation, runoff, and ERA-40 water budget variables and define a water balance regime. Basin precipitation, evapotranspiration and runoff are high in summer and low in winter. The basin water storage change is positive in summer and negative in winter. Monthly precipitation bias corrections, ranging from 2 to 16 mm, do not significantly alter the pattern of the seasonal water budget. The annual bias correction of precipitation is about 98 mm (19%); this increase leads to the same amount of evapotranspiration increase, since yearly runoff remains unchanged and the long-term storage change is assumed to be zero. Annual runoff and evapotranspiration coefficients change, due to precipitation bias corrections, from 0.33 and 0.67 to 0.28 and 0.72, respectively. These changes will impact the parameterization and calibration of land surface and hydrological models. The bias corrections of precipitation data also improve the relationship between annual precipitation and runoff. (letter)

  6. The effect of a giant wind farm on precipitation in a regional climate model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiedler, B H; Bukovsky, M S

    2011-01-01

    The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is employed as a nested regional climate model to study the effect of a giant wind farm on warm-season precipitation in the eastern two-thirds of the USA. The boundary conditions for WRF are supplied by 62 years of NCEP/NCAR (National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research) global reanalysis. In the model, the presence of a mid-west wind farm, either giant or small, can have an enormous impact on the weather and the amount of precipitation for one season, which is consistent with the known sensitivity of long-term weather forecasts to initial conditions. The effect on climate is less strong. In the average precipitation of 62 warm seasons, there is a statistically significant 1.0% enhancement of precipitation in a multi-state area surrounding and to the south-east of the wind farm.

  7. Preparation of LuAG Powders with Single Phase and Good Dispersion for Transparent Ceramics Using Co-Precipitation Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Liangjie; Jiang, Benxue; Fan, Jintai; Yang, Qiuhong; Zhou, Chunlin; Zhang, Pande; Mao, Xiaojian; Zhang, Long

    2015-01-01

    The synthesis of pure and well dispersed lutetium aluminum garnet (LuAG) powder is crucial and important for the preparation of LuAG transparent ceramics. In this paper, high purity and well dispersed LuAG powders have been synthesized via co-precipitation method with lutetium nitrate and aluminum nitrate as raw materials. Ammonium hydrogen carbonate (AHC) was used as the precipitant. The influence of aging time, pH value, and dripping speed on the prepared LuAG powders were investigated. It showed that long aging duration (>15 h) with high terminal pH value (>7.80) resulted in segregation of rhombus Lu precipitate and Al precipitate. By decreasing the initial pH value or accelerating the dripping speed, rhombus Lu precipitate was eliminated and pure LuAG nano powders were synthesized. High quality LuAG transparent ceramics with transmission >75% at 1064 nm were fabricated using these well dispersed nano LuAG powders. PMID:28793510

  8. Preparation of LuAG Powders with Single Phase and Good Dispersion for Transparent Ceramics Using Co-Precipitation Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liangjie Pan

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The synthesis of pure and well dispersed lutetium aluminum garnet (LuAG powder is crucial and important for the preparation of LuAG transparent ceramics. In this paper, high purity and well dispersed LuAG powders have been synthesized via co-precipitation method with lutetium nitrate and aluminum nitrate as raw materials. Ammonium hydrogen carbonate (AHC was used as the precipitant. The influence of aging time, pH value, and dripping speed on the prepared LuAG powders were investigated. It showed that long aging duration (>15 h with high terminal pH value (>7.80 resulted in segregation of rhombus Lu precipitate and Al precipitate. By decreasing the initial pH value or accelerating the dripping speed, rhombus Lu precipitate was eliminated and pure LuAG nano powders were synthesized. High quality LuAG transparent ceramics with transmission >75% at 1064 nm were fabricated using these well dispersed nano LuAG powders.

  9. Effects of Calcium Source on Biochemical Properties of Microbial CaCO3 Precipitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jing; Du, Yali; Jiang, Zhengwu; She, Anming

    2015-01-01

    The biochemical properties of CaCO3 precipitation induced by Sporosarcina pasteurii, an ureolytic type microorganism, were investigated. Effects of calcium source on the precipitation process were examined, since calcium source plays a key role in microbiologically induced mineralization. Regardless of the calcium source type, three distinct stages in the precipitation process were identified by Ca(2+), NH4 (+), pH and cell density monitoring. Compared with stage 1 and 3, stage 2 was considered as the most critical part since biotic CaCO3 precipitation occurs during this stage. Kinetics studies showed that the microbial CaCO3 precipitation rate for calcium lactate was over twice of that for calcium nitrate, indicating that calcium lactate is more beneficial for the cell activity, which in turn determines urease production and CaCO3 precipitation. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the CaCO3 crystal as calcite, although scanning electron microscopy revealed a difference in crystal size and morphology if calcium source was different. The findings of this paper further suggest a promising application of microbiologically induced CaCO3 precipitation in remediation of surface and cracks of porous media, e.g., cement-based composites, particularly by using organic source of calcium lactate.

  10. Annual Precipitation Fluctuation and Spatial Differentiation Characteristics of the Horqin Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liangxu Liu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Precipitation is the main water source for vegetation survival in arid and semi-arid areas. However, previous studies always focus on the effects of precipitation in different time scales, but ignore the effects of precipitation in different spatial scales. To further study the effects of precipitation fluctuation in different spatial scales, we used the wavelet analysis method to analyze its temporal and spatial change based on data from eighteen meteorological stations during 1961–2015 in Horqin region. Results showed that: (1 from the overall tendency of precipitation changes, the precipitation inter-annual variations in Horqin region had the tendency of gradually decreasing from the southeast (District IV to the northwest; (2 the precipitation anomalies of District I–IV between 1960 and 1980 were small and approximate to the normal value; (3 in the time scale of 23–32 years, the cyclical fluctuations were very significant and the annual precipitation underwent two cyclical fluctuations from a period of low precipitation to a period of high precipitation; and (4 as results of analyzing the spatial wavelet variance of sub-region, the main cycle of precipitation in District I, District II and District III was between 10 and 11 years, while the main cycle of precipitation in District IV was 25 years. The main conclusions include the following. (1 This region tended to be arid, and the precipitation gradually decreased from the southeast (District IV to northwest (District I. (2 The influence of spatial differentiation characteristics on precipitation fluctuation in this region was cyclical fluctuation, which gradually decreased from the southeast to the northwest. The length of the cyclical change period gradually shortened. In the first main cycle, whose annual precipitation changes were most significant, the changing characteristic was District IV and District I decreased from 25 years to 10 years. (3 Predicated from the cyclical

  11. Short-range quantitative precipitation forecasting using Deep Learning approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbari Asanjan, A.; Yang, T.; Gao, X.; Hsu, K. L.; Sorooshian, S.

    2017-12-01

    Predicting short-range quantitative precipitation is very important for flood forecasting, early flood warning and other hydrometeorological purposes. This study aims to improve the precipitation forecasting skills using a recently developed and advanced machine learning technique named Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). The proposed LSTM learns the changing patterns of clouds from Cloud-Top Brightness Temperature (CTBT) images, retrieved from the infrared channel of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), using a sophisticated and effective learning method. After learning the dynamics of clouds, the LSTM model predicts the upcoming rainy CTBT events. The proposed model is then merged with a precipitation estimation algorithm termed Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN) to provide precipitation forecasts. The results of merged LSTM with PERSIANN are compared to the results of an Elman-type Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) merged with PERSIANN and Final Analysis of Global Forecast System model over the states of Oklahoma, Florida and Oregon. The performance of each model is investigated during 3 storm events each located over one of the study regions. The results indicate the outperformance of merged LSTM forecasts comparing to the numerical and statistical baselines in terms of Probability of Detection (POD), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), Critical Success Index (CSI), RMSE and correlation coefficient especially in convective systems. The proposed method shows superior capabilities in short-term forecasting over compared methods.

  12. Climate change and precipitation: Detecting changes Climate change and precipitation: Detecting changes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Boxel, John H

    2001-01-01

    Precipitation is one of the most, if not the most important climate parameter In most studies on climate change the emphasis is on temperature and sea level rise. Often too little attention is given to precipitation. For a large part this is due to the large spatial en temporal variability of precipitation, which makes the detection of changes difficult. This paper describes methods to detect changes in precipitation. In order to arrive at statistically significant changes one must use long time series and spatial averages containing the information from several stations. In the Netherlands the average yearly precipitation increased by 11% during the 20th century .In the temperate latitudes on the Northern Hemisphere (40-60QN) the average increase was about 7% over the 20th century and the globally averaged precipitation increased by about 3%. During the 20th century 38% of the land surface of the earth became wetter, 42% experienced little change (less than 5% change) and 20% became dryer. More important than the average precipitation is the occurrence of extremes. In the Netherlands there is a tendency to more extreme precipitations, whereas the occurrence of relatively dry months has not changed. Also in many other countries increases in heavy precipitation events are observed. All climate models predict a further increase of mean global precipitation if the carbon dioxide concentration doubles. Nevertheless some areas get dryer, others have little change and consequently there are also areas where the increase is much more than the global average. On a regional scale however there are large differences between the models. Climate models do not yet provide adequate information on changes in extreme precipitations

  13. The effect of a stationary precipitation front on nuclide dissolution and transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Light, W.B.; Chambre, P.L.; Lee, W.W.L.; Pigford, T.H.

    1988-01-01

    Waste material in a geologic repository will dissolve and migrate away. For many waste components, this process will be limited by the solubility of the waste matrix and species involved. In this paper the authors deal with a single contaminant species and analyze the effect of a precipitation front caused by a discontinuity in the solubility of the contaminant at some distance from the waste package. The precipitation front may be due to local geochemical changes such as changes in temperature, pH or redox potential, caused by nearby geologic features or the waste itself. The authors provide analytic solutions to the problem of precipitation at a stationary front. Numerical illustrations of these solutions are also presented

  14. Urban effects on convective precipitation in Mexico city

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jauregui, Ernesto; Romales, Ernesto

    This paper reports on urban-related convective precipitation anomalies in a tropical city. Wet season (May-October) rainfall for an urban site (Tacubaya) shows a significant trend for the period 1941-1985 suggesting an urban effect that has been increasing as the city grew. On the other hand, rainfall at a suburban (upwind) station apparently unaffected by urbanization, has remained unchanged. Analysis of historical records of hourly precipitation for an urban station shows that the frequency of intense (> 20 mm h -1) rain showers has increased in recent decades. Using a network of automatic rainfall stations, areal distribution of 24 h isoyets show a series of maxima within the urban perimeter which may be associated to the heat island phenomenon. Isochrones of the beginning of rain are used to estimate direction and speed of movement of the rain cloud cells. The daytime heat island seems to be associated with the intensification of rain showers.

  15. Characteristics of people with self-reported stress-precipitated seizures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Privitera, Michael; Walters, Michael; Lee, Ikjae; Polak, Emily; Fleck, Adrienne; Schwieterman, Donna; Haut, Sheryl R

    2014-12-01

    Stress is the most common patient-reported seizure precipitant. We aimed to determine mood and epilepsy characteristics of people who report stress-precipitated seizures. Sequential patients at a tertiary epilepsy center were surveyed about stress as a seizure precipitant. We asked whether acute (lasting minutes-hours) or chronic (lasting days-months) stress was a seizure precipitant, whether stress reduction had been tried, and what effect stress reduction had on seizure frequency. We collected information on antiepileptic drugs, history of depression and anxiety disorder, prior or current treatment for depression or anxiety, and scores on the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory (NDDI-E) and Generalized Anxiety Disorders-7 (GAD-7) instruments, which are administered at every visit in our Epilepsy Center. We also asked whether respondents thought that they could predict their seizures to determine if stress as a seizure precipitant was correlated with seizure self-prediction. Two hundred sixty-six subjects were included: 219 endorsed stress as a seizure precipitant [STRESS (+)] and 47 did not [STRESS (-)]. Among STRESS (+) subjects, 85% endorsed chronic stress as a seizure precipitant, and 68% endorsed acute stress as a seizure precipitant. In STRESS (+) subjects, 57% had used some type of relaxation or stress reduction method (most commonly yoga, exercise and meditation), and, of those who tried, 88% thought that these methods improved seizures. Among STRESS (-) subjects, 25% had tried relaxation or stress reduction, and 71% thought that seizures improved. Although univariate analysis showed multiple associations with stress as a seizure precipitant, in the multivariable logistic regression, only the GAD-7 score was associated with STRESS (+) (OR = 1.18 [1.03-1.35], p = 0.017). Subjects who reported stress as a seizure precipitant were more likely to report an ability to self-predict seizures (p < 0.001). Stress-precipitated seizures are commonly reported

  16. Synthesis of Barium Titanate from Titanyl Acylate Precursor by Sol-precipitate Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thandar Win; Kyaw Naing; Khin Mar Tun

    2008-03-01

    Nanometersize barium titanates (BaTiO3:BT) powders can be obtained by sol-precipitate method in the presence of polyoxyethylene (20) sorbiton monooleate (Tween-80) as a polymeric surface modifier in a strong alkaline solution (pH > 13). FT-IR, TG/DTA, SEM and XRD were used to investigate the effects of the surfactant influence on the morphology of the obtained BaTiO3 powders. With adding surfactant, a slower rate of hydrolyzation is observed and the rate of condensation is slower. The addition of Tween-80 surfactant in general leads to the formation of smaller particle size of BaTi)3 (70-100 nm). Without adding surfactant, larger particle size of BaTiO3 (100-200 nm) was obtained. The nanometersize BaTiO3 powders were readily sintered at 1000-1200C. Raman-active modes of tetragonal phase BT were detected from Raman spectra of BaTiO3 between 800 0 C to 1200 0 C.

  17. Polyamide 6/clay membranes: effect of precipitation bath in morphology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, Rodholfo da S.B.; Pereira, Caio H. do O; Leite, Amanda M.D.; Araujo, Edcleide M.; Lira, Helio L.

    2015-01-01

    Polyamide 6 membranes and their nanocomposites with 5% clay were obtained by the phase inversion method and the precipitation was made in distilled water bath and also in the mixture of solvent and distilled water. The nanocomposites were characterized by XRD and membranes by SEM. By XRD analysis, it was found that the obtained nanocomposite presents a structure probably exfoliated and / or partially exfoliated, it was also possible to observe the presence of two characteristic peaks (α and γ) of the polyamide 6 phases. In the SEM micrographs it was seen that the presence of clay promote alterations in morphology, size and distribution of pores. The presence of acid in the precipitation bath leads to a significant decrease in the filter layer, but also an increase in the quantity of pore size. (author)

  18. Synthesis of InGaZnO4 nanoparticles using low temperature multistep co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Ming-Chung; Hsiao, Kai-Chi; Lu, Hsin-Chun

    2015-01-01

    Indium gallium zinc oxide (InGaZnO 4 , IGZO) has attracted explosive growth in investigations over the last decades as an important material in the thin-film transistor. In this study, the various nitrate precursors, including indium nitrate, gallium nitrate, and zinc nitrate, were prepared from the various metals dissolved in nitric acid. Then, we used these nitrate precursors to synthesize the IGZO precursor powder by the multistep co-precipitation method. The synthesis parameters of the co-precipitation method, such as reaction temperature, pH value and reaction time, were controlled precisely to prepare the high quality IGZO precursor powder. Finally, IGZO precursor powder was calcined at 900 °C. Then, the microstructure, the crystalline structure, the particle size distribution and specific surface area of calcined IGZO precursor powder were characterized by electron transmission microscopy, X-ray diffraction technique, dynamic light scattering method and the surface area and porosimetry analyzer, respectively. The relative density of IGZO tablet sintered at 1200 °C for 12 h is as high as 97.30%, and it showed highly InGaZnO 4 crystalline structure and the large grain size. The IGZO nanoparticles developed in our study has the potential for the high quality target materials used in the application of electronic devices. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • InGaZnO 4 (IGZO) nanoparticle was synthesized by multistep co-precipitation method. • The synthesis parameters were controlled precisely to prepare high quality powder. • The relative density of highly crystalline IGZO tablet is as high as 97.30%. • IGZO tablet exhibited highly crystalline structure and the large grain size

  19. The effect of pH on the properties of ammonium uranate precipitated with gaseous ammonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woolfrey, J.L.

    1976-11-01

    Ammonium uranate (AU) powders were precipitated from a uranyl nitrate solution using gaseous ammonia to determine the effect of pH of precipitation on their composition and morphology. Increasing pH of precipitation increased the ammonia and nitrate contents and the specific surface area but decreased the crystallite size of the AU powders. The specific surface area was also increased by increasing the ammonia content of the powder. The composition and morphology of the powders were similar to those reported in the literature for AU precipitated with NH 4 OH. (author)

  20. Aerosol radiative effects on mesoscale cloud-precipitation variables over Northeast Asia during the MAPS-Seoul 2015 campaign

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Shin-Young; Lee, Hyo-Jung; Kang, Jeong-Eon; Lee, Taehyoung; Kim, Cheol-Hee

    2018-01-01

    The online model, Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) is employed to interpret the effects of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction on mesoscale meteorological fields over Northeast Asia during the Megacity Air Pollution Study-Seoul (MAPS-Seoul) 2015 campaign. The MAPS-Seoul campaign is a pre-campaign of the Korea-United States Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) campaign conducted over the Korean Peninsula. We validated the WRF-Chem simulations during the campaign period, and analyzed aerosol-warm cloud interactions by diagnosing both aerosol direct, indirect, and total effects. The results demonstrated that aerosol directly decreased downward shortwave radiation up to -44% (-282 W m-2) for this period and subsequently increased downward longwave radiation up to +15% (∼52 W m-2) in the presence of low-level clouds along the thematic area. Aerosol increased cloud fraction indirectly up to ∼24% with the increases of both liquid water path and the droplet number mixing ratio. Precipitation properties were altered both directly and indirectly. Direct effects simply changed cloud-precipitation quantities via simple updraft process associated with perturbed radiation and temperature, while indirect effects mainly suppressed precipitation, but sometimes increased precipitation in the higher relative humidity atmosphere or near vapor-saturated condition. The total aerosol effects caused a time lag of the precipitation rate with the delayed onset time of up to 9 h. This implies the importance of aerosol effects in improving mesoscale precipitation rate prediction in the online approach in the presence of non-linear warm cloud.

  1. Effects of extreme precipitation to the distribution of infectious diseases in Taiwan, 1994-2008.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mu-Jean Chen

    Full Text Available The incidence of extreme precipitation has increased with the exacerbation of worldwide climate disruption. We hypothesize an association between precipitation and the distribution patterns that would affect the endemic burden of 8 infectious diseases in Taiwan, including water- and vector-borne infectious diseases. A database integrating daily precipitation and temperature, along with the infectious disease case registry for all 352 townships in the main island of Taiwan was analysed for the period from 1994 to 2008. Four precipitation levels, 350 mm, were categorized to represent quantitative differences, and their associations with each specific disease was investigated using the Generalized Additive Mixed Model and afterwards mapped on to the Geographical Information System. Daily precipitation levels were significantly correlated with all 8 mandatory-notified infectious diseases in Taiwan. For water-borne infections, extreme torrential precipitation (>350 mm/day was found to result in the highest relative risk for bacillary dysentery and enterovirus infections when compared to ordinary rain (<130 mm/day. Yet, for vector-borne diseases, the relative risk of dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis increased with greater precipitation only up to 350 mm. Differential lag effects following precipitation were statistically associated with increased risk for contracting individual infectious diseases. This study's findings can help health resource sector management better allocate medical resources and be better prepared to deal with infectious disease outbreaks following future extreme precipitation events.

  2. Estimating Tropical Cyclone Precipitation from Station Observations

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    REN Fumin; WANG Yongmei; WANG Xiaoling; LI Weijing

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, an objective technique for estimating the tropical cyclone (TC) precipitation from station observations is proposed. Based on a comparison between the Original Objective Method (OOM) and the Expert Subjective Method (ESM), the Objective Synoptic Analysis Technique (OSAT) for partitioning TC precipitation was developed by analyzing the western North Pacific (WNP) TC historical track and the daily precipitation datasets. Being an objective way of the ESM, OSAT overcomes the main problems in OOM,by changing two fixed parameters in OOM, the thresholds for the distance of the absolute TC precipitation (D0) and the TC size (D1), into variable parameters.Case verification for OSAT was also carried out by applying CMORPH (Climate Prediction Center MORPHing technique) daily precipitation measurements, which is NOAA's combined satellite precipitation measurement system. This indicates that OSAT is capable of distinguishing simultaneous TC precipitation rain-belts from those associated with different TCs or with middle-latitude weather systems.

  3. Computer simulation for the effect of coherent strain on the precipitation progress of binary alloy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2007-01-01

    Based on the microscopic elasticity theory and microscopic diffusion equation, the precipitation progress of the binary alloys including coherent strain energy was studied. The results show that coherent strain has obvious effect on the coherent two-phase morphology and precipitation mechanism. With the increase of coherent strain energy, the particles shape changes from the randomly distributed equiaxed particels to elliptical precipitate shapes, their arrangement orientation increases; in the late stage of precipitation, the particle arrangement presents obvious directionality along the [10] and [01] directions, and the precipitation mechanism of alloy changes from typical spinodal decomposition mechanism to the mixture process which possesses the characteristics of both non-classical nucleation growth and spinodal decomposition mechanisms.

  4. Combination of the method of basic precipitation of lanthanons with the ion exchange distribution method by means of ammonium acetate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hubicki, W.; Hubicka, H.

    1980-01-01

    The method of basic precipitation of lanthanons was combined with the ion exchange distribution method using ammonium acetate. As a result of chromatogram development 1:2 the good results of distribution of Sm -Nd, the fractions 99,9% Nd 2 O 3 and Pr 6 O 11 and 99,5% La 2 O 3 were obtained. It was found that the way of packing the column influenced greatly the efficiency of ion distribution. (author)

  5. Thermoluminescence and photoluminescence properties of NaCl:Mn, NaCL:Cu nano-particles produced using co-precipitation and sono-chemistry methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mehrabi, M. [Faculty of Physics, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Zahedifar, M. [Faculty of Physics, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Institute of Nanosince and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Saeidi-Sogh, Z. [Institute of Nanosince and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Ramazani-Moghaddam-Arani, A., E-mail: ramazmo@kashanu.ac.ir [Institute of Nanosince and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Sadeghi, E. [Faculty of Physics, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Institute of Nanosince and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Harooni, S. [Institute of Nanosince and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2017-02-21

    The NaCl: Cu and NaCl: Mn nanoparticles (NPs) were produced by co-precipitation and sono-chemistry methods and their thermoluminescence (TL) and photoluminescence (PL) properties were studied. By decreasing the particles size a considerable increase in sensitivity of the samples to high dose gamma radiation was observed. The NPs produced by sono-chemistry method have smaller size, homogeneous structure, more sensitivity to high gamma radiation and less fading than of those produced by co-precipitation method.

  6. Aerosol indirect effects on summer precipitation in a regional climate model for the Euro-Mediterranean region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Da Silva, Nicolas; Mailler, Sylvain; Drobinski, Philippe

    2018-03-01

    Aerosols affect atmospheric dynamics through their direct and semi-direct effects as well as through their effects on cloud microphysics (indirect effects). The present study investigates the indirect effects of aerosols on summer precipitation in the Euro-Mediterranean region, which is located at the crossroads of air masses carrying both natural and anthropogenic aerosols. While it is difficult to disentangle the indirect effects of aerosols from the direct and semi-direct effects in reality, a numerical sensitivity experiment is carried out using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which allows us to isolate indirect effects, all other effects being equal. The Mediterranean hydrological cycle has often been studied using regional climate model (RCM) simulations with parameterized convection, which is the approach we adopt in the present study. For this purpose, the Thompson aerosol-aware microphysics scheme is used in a pair of simulations run at 50 km resolution with extremely high and low aerosol concentrations. An additional pair of simulations has been performed at a convection-permitting resolution (3.3 km) to examine these effects without the use of parameterized convection. While the reduced radiative flux due to the direct effects of the aerosols is already known to reduce precipitation amounts, there is still no general agreement on the sign and magnitude of the aerosol indirect forcing effect on precipitation, with various processes competing with each other. Although some processes tend to enhance precipitation amounts, some others tend to reduce them. In these simulations, increased aerosol loads lead to weaker precipitation in the parameterized (low-resolution) configuration. The fact that a similar result is obtained for a selected area in the convection-permitting (high-resolution) configuration allows for physical interpretations. By examining the key variables in the model outputs, we propose a causal chain that links the aerosol

  7. Effects of Static Recrystallization and Precipitation on Mechanical Properties of 00Cr12 Ferritic Stainless Steel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Yi; Liu, Chenxi; Yue, Tengxiao; Liu, Yongchang; Yan, Zesheng; Li, Huijun

    2018-05-01

    The 00Cr12 ferritic stainless steel samples were isothermally held at different temperatures in the range of 700 °C to 1000 °C to investigate the effect of static recrystallization and precipitation on mechanical properties, such as microhardness, tensile strength, and yield strength. The results show that the formation of the fine recrystallized grain, as well as precipitation, coarsening, and dissolution of the second-phase particles, influences the mechanical properties remarkably. The fine recrystallized grain can provide a positive grain boundary-strengthening effect in the sample under a relatively high holding temperature. Coarsening and dissolution of M23C6 result in partial depletion of precipitate hardening. In contrast, the size and number density of MX particles are almost constant, regardless of the holding temperature; therefore, it can provide a better precipitation-hardening effect.

  8. Precipitation alters interactions in a grassland ecological community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deguines, Nicolas; Brashares, Justin S; Prugh, Laura R

    2017-03-01

    Climate change is transforming precipitation regimes world-wide. Changes in precipitation regimes are known to have powerful effects on plant productivity, but the consequences of these shifts for the dynamics of ecological communities are poorly understood. This knowledge gap hinders our ability to anticipate and mitigate the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Precipitation may affect fauna through direct effects on physiology, behaviour or demography, through plant-mediated indirect effects, or by modifying interactions among species. In this paper, we examined the response of a semi-arid ecological community to a fivefold change in precipitation over 7 years. We examined the effects of precipitation on the dynamics of a grassland ecosystem in central California from 2007 to 2013. We conducted vegetation surveys, pitfall trapping of invertebrates, visual surveys of lizards and capture-mark-recapture surveys of rodents on 30 plots each year. We used structural equation modelling to evaluate the direct, indirect and modifying effects of precipitation on plants, ants, beetles, orthopterans, kangaroo rats, ground squirrels and lizards. We found pervasive effects of precipitation on the ecological community. Although precipitation increased plant biomass, direct effects on fauna were often stronger than plant-mediated effects. In addition, precipitation altered the sign or strength of consumer-resource and facilitative interactions among the faunal community such that negative or neutral interactions became positive or vice versa with increasing precipitation. These findings indicate that precipitation influences ecological communities in multiple ways beyond its recognized effects on primary productivity. Stochastic variation in precipitation may weaken the average strength of biotic interactions over time, thereby increasing ecosystem stability and resilience to climate change. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2016 British Ecological

  9. Effects of alteration product precipitation on glass dissolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Strachan, Denis M.; Neeway, James J.

    2014-06-01

    Understanding the mechanisms that control the durability of nuclear waste glass is paramount if reliable models are to be constructed so that the glass dissolution rate in a given geological repository can be calculated. Presently, it is agreed that (boro)silicate glasses dissolve in water at a rate dependent on the solution concentration of orthosilicic acid (H4SiO4) with higher [H4SiO4] leading to lower dissolution rates. Once the reaction has slowed as a result of the buildup of H4SiO4, another increase in the rate has been observed that corresponds to the precipitation of certain silica-bearing alteration products. However, it has also been observed that the concentration of silica-bearing solution species does not significantly decrease, indicating saturation, while other glass tracer elements concentrations continue to increase, indicating that the glass is still dissolving. In this study, we have used the Geochemist’s Workbench code to investigate the relationship between glass dissolution rates and the precipitation rate of a representative zeolitic silica-bearing alteration product, analcime [Na(AlSi2O6)∙H2O]. To simplify the calculations, we suppressed all alteration products except analcime, gibbsite (Al(OH)3), and amorphous silica. The pseudo-equilibrium-constant matrix for amorphous silica was substituted for the glass pseudo-equilibrium-constant matrix because it has been shown that silicate glasses act as a silica-only solid with respect to kinetic considerations. In this article, we present the results of our calculations of the glass dissolution rate at different values for the analcime precipitation rate constant and the effects of varying the glass dissolution rate constant at a constant analcime precipitation rate constant. From the simulations we conclude, firstly, that the rate of glass dissolution is dependent on the kinetics of

  10. How consistent are precipitation patterns predicted by GCMs in the absence of cloud radiative effects?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popke, Dagmar; Bony, Sandrine; Mauritsen, Thorsten; Stevens, Bjorn

    2015-04-01

    Model simulations with state-of-the-art general circulation models reveal a strong disagreement concerning the simulated regional precipitation patterns and their changes with warming. The deviating precipitation response even persists when reducing the model experiment complexity to aquaplanet simulation with forced sea surface temperatures (Stevens and Bony, 2013). To assess feedbacks between clouds and radiation on precipitation responses we analyze data from 5 models performing the aquaplanet simulations of the Clouds On Off Klima Intercomparison Experiment (COOKIE), where the interaction of clouds and radiation is inhibited. Although cloud radiative effects are then disabled, the precipitation patterns among models are as diverse as with cloud radiative effects switched on. Disentangling differing model responses in such simplified experiments thus appears to be key to better understanding the simulated regional precipitation in more standard configurations. By analyzing the local moisture and moist static energy budgets in the COOKIE experiments we investigate likely causes for the disagreement among models. References Stevens, B. & S. Bony: What Are Climate Models Missing?, Science, 2013, 340, 1053-1054

  11. Cloud vertical structure, precipitation, and cloud radiative effects over Tibetan Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Y.; Yan, Y.; Lu, J.

    2017-12-01

    The vertical structure of clouds and its connection with precipitation and cloud radiative effects (CRE) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are analyzed and compared with its neighboring land and tropical oceans based on CloudSat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) products and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation data. Unique characteristics of cloud vertical structure and CRE over the TP are found. The cloud amount shows seasonal variation over the TP, which presents a single peak (located in 7-11 km) during January to April and two peaks (located in 5-8 km and 11-17 km separately) after mid-June, and then resumes to one peak (located in 5-10 km) after mid-August. Topography-induced restriction on moisture supply leads to a compression effect on clouds, i.e., the reduction in both cloud thickness and number of cloud layers, over the TP. The topography-induced compression effect is also shown in the range in the variation of cloud thickness and cloud-top height corresponding to different precipitation intensity, which is much smaller over the TP than its neighboring regions. In summer, cloud ice particles over the TP are mostly located at lower altitude (5-10 km) with richer variety of sizes and aggregation in no rain conditions compared to other regions. Ice water content becomes abundant and the number concentration tends to be dense at higher levels when precipitation is enhanced. The longwave CRE in the atmosphere over the TP is a net cooling effect. The vertical structure of CRE over the TP is unique compared to other regions: there exists a strong cooling layer of net CRE at the altitude of 8 km, from June to the beginning of October; the net radiative heating layer above the surface is shallower but stronger underneath 7 km and with a stronger seasonal variation over the TP.

  12. Effective removal of coordinated copper from wastewater using a new dithiocarbamate-type supramolecular heavy metal precipitant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Fenglian; Zeng, Haiyan; Cai, Qinhong; Qiu, Rongliang; Yu, Jimmy; Xiong, Ya

    2007-11-01

    A new dithiocarbamate-type heavy metal precipitant, sodium 1,3,5-hexahydrotriazinedithiocarbamate (HTDC), was prepared and used to remove coordinated copper from wastewater. In the reported dithiocarbamate-type precipitants, HTDC possesses the highest percentage of the effective functional groups. It could effectively precipitate copper to less than 0.5mgl(-1) from both synthetic and actual industrial wastewater containing CuEDTA in the range of pH 3-9. UV-vis spectral investigation and elemental analysis suggested that the precipitate was a kind of coordination supramolecular compound, [Cu(3)(HTDC)(2)](n). The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and semi-dynamic leaching test (SDLT) indicated that the supramolecular precipitate was non-hazardous and stable in weak acid and alkaline conditions. Tests of an anion exchange resin D231 provided a clue to simultaneously remove excess HTDC and residual CuEDTA in practical process of wastewater treatment.

  13. Electrochemical performance of multi-element doped α-nickel hydroxide prepared by supersonic co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Z.J.; Zhu, Y.J.; Bao, J.; Lin, X.R.; Zheng, H.Z.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → The α-nickel hydroxides doped with several elements were prepared by supersonic co-precipitation method. → Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy show sample C has the best electrochemical performance. → The charge/discharge tests show that the 0.5 C discharge capacity (346 mAh/g) of sample C is even larger than that (337 mAh/g) at 0.1 C rate, while the discharge capacity at 0.5 C rate is much lower than that at 0.1 C rate for samples A and B. - Abstract: The multi-element doped α-nickel hydroxides have been prepared by supersonic co-precipitation method. Three kinds of samples A, B, C were prepared by chemically coprecipitating Ni, Al, Co, Y, Zn. It was found that sample C produced better performance than the others. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements indicated that sample C has better electrochemical performance, such as better reaction reversibility, higher proton diffusion coefficient and lower charge-transfer resistance, than those of samples A and B. The charge-discharge tests showed that the discharge capacity (346 mA h/g) of sample C is even larger at 0.5 C rate than that (337mAh/g) at 0.1 C rate, while the discharge capacity at 0.5 C rate is much lower than that at 0.1 C rate for samples A and B. It indicates that all doped elements can produce the synergic effect and further improve the electrochemical properties of the active materials.

  14. Effect of precipitation on the shape memory effect of Ti50Ni25Cu25 melt-spun ribbon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tong Yunxiang; Liu Yong; Xie Zeliang; Zarinejad, Mehrdad

    2008-01-01

    The present research aims to provide accurate understanding of the relation between precipitation (volume fraction, morphology, type) and shape memory effect of Ti 50 Ni 25 Cu 25 melt-spun ribbon. Rapid thermal annealing was used to control the microstructural development while the shape memory effect of the ribbon was determined under constraint thermal cycling. The results show that the precipitation process takes the following sequence: B11 TiCu → B11 TiCu + Ti 2 (Ni, Cu) → Ti 2 (Ni, Cu) with increasing annealing temperature or duration. The shape memory effect is found to depend on both the volume fraction and the distribution of the precipitates. The former affects the shape recovery strain through reduction of the transformation volume participating the shape recovery. The latter affects the shape recovery strain through strengthening the matrix thus reducing the martensite strain which is more predominant under low constraint stresses. Precipitation strengthening, on the other hand, reduces the tendency of dislocation generation/movement, thus reducing the irreversible strain and improving shape recovery strain. This understanding provides guidelines on the optimization of the shape memory properties of the Ti 50 Ni 25 Cu 25 melt-spun ribbon via post-processing annealing

  15. Synthesis and characterization of magnetite nanoparticles via the chemical co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petcharoen, K.; Sirivat, A.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Size-controlled magnetite nanoparticles were prepared via the chemical co-precipitation method in the range of 10–40 nm. ► The electrical conductivity of the smallest particle size is 1.3 × 10 −3 S/cm which belongs to the semiconductor material group. ► The surface modification of magnetite nanoparticles can provide the suspension stability over 1 week. - Abstract: Magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized via the chemical co-precipitation method using ammonium hydroxide as the precipitating agent. The size of the magnetite nanoparticles was carefully controlled by varying the reaction temperature and through the surface modification. Herein, the hexanoic acid and oleic acid were introduced as the coating agents during the initial crystallization phase of the magnetite. Their structure and morphology were characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Moreover, the electrical and magnetic properties were studied by using a conductivity meter and a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. Both of the bare magnetite and the coated magnetite were of the cubic spinel structure and the spherical-shaped morphology. The reaction temperature and the surface modification critically affected the particle size, the electrical conductivity, and the magnetic properties of these particles. The particle size of the magnetite was increased through the surface modification and reaction temperature. In this study, the particle size of the magnetite nanoparticles was successfully controlled to be in the range of 10–40 nm, suitable for various biomedical applications. The electrical conductivity of the smallest particle size was 1.3 × 10 −3 S/cm, within the semi-conductive materials range, which was higher than that of the largest particle by about 5 times. All of the magnetite nanoparticles showed the superparamagnetic behavior with

  16. Precipitation Intensity Effects on Groundwater Recharge in the Southwestern United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brian F. Thomas

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Episodic recharge as a result of infrequent, high intensity precipitation events comprises the bulk of groundwater recharge in arid environments. Climate change and shifts in precipitation intensity will affect groundwater continuity, thus altering groundwater recharge. This study aims to identify changes in the ratio of groundwater recharge and precipitation, the R:P ratio, in the arid southwestern United States to characterize observed changes in groundwater recharge attributed to variations in precipitation intensity. Our precipitation metric, precipitation intensity magnification, was used to investigate the relationship between the R:P ratio and precipitation intensity. Our analysis identified significant changes in the R:P ratio concurrent with decreases in precipitation intensity. The results illustrate the importance of precipitation intensity in relation to groundwater recharge in arid regions and provide further insights for groundwater management in nonrenewable groundwater systems and in a changing climate.

  17. Determination of trace uranium in atmospheric precipitation of the Xiangjiang river valley by fission track method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhai Pengji; Kang Tiesheng

    1986-01-01

    In this work the uranium contents in atmospheric precipitations in the region of the Xiangjiang River valley have been measured by fission track method, which range from 0.008 to 1.5 ppb. The majority of them are below 0.1 ppb. The uranium contents in the samples form different geographical positions are obviously different. Sometimes the differences in uranium contents of the samples from the same area collected at different times are also great. A preliminary discussion is given on the sources of uranium in atmospheric precipitation and on the reason of the difference in contents

  18. Effects of different oxyanions in solution on the precipitation of jarosite at room temperature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeongkyoo, Kim

    2018-04-09

    The effects of five different oxyanions, AsO 4 , SeO 3 , SeO 4 , MoO 4 , and CrO 4 , on the precipitation of jarosite at room temperature were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and chemical analysis. Different amounts (2, 5, and 10 mol%) of oxyanions in the starting solution and different aging times (1 h-40 days) were used for the experiment. In the initial stage, only the amorphous phase appears for all samples. With increasing aging time, jarosite and jarosite with oxyanions start precipitating at room temperature with different precipitation rates and crystallinities. Jarosite with AsO 4 shows the lowest precipitation rate and lowest crystallinity. With increasing amounts of oxyanions, the crystallization rate decreases, especially for jarosite with AsO 4 . The jarosite samples with CrO 4 and SeO 4 show the fastest precipitation and highest crystallinities. For the jarosite samples with a low precipitation rate and low crystallinity, the amorphous phase contains high concentrations of oxyanions, probably because of the fast precipitation of the amorphous iron oxyanion phase; however, the phase with fast jarosite precipitation contains fewer oxyanions. The results show that coprecipitation of jarosite can play a more important role in controlling the behavior of CrO 4 than AsO 4 in acid mine drainage. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Evaluation of Various Synthesis Methods for Calcite-Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) Formation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramakrishna, Chilakala [Hanil Cement Corporation, Danyang (Korea, Republic of); Thenepalli, Thriveni; Ahn, Ji Whan [Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-06-15

    This review paper evaluates different kinds of synthesis methods for calcite precipitated calcium carbonates by using different materials. The various processing routes of calcite with different compositions are reported and the possible optimum conditions required to synthesize a desired particle sizes of calcite are predicted. This paper mainly focuses on that the calcite morphology and size of the particles by carbonation process using loop reactors. In this regard, we have investigated various parameters such as CO{sub 2} flow rate, Ca (OH){sub 2} concentration, temperature, pH effect, reaction time and loop reactor mechanism with orifice diameter. The research results illustrate the formation of well-defined and pure calcite crystals with controlled crystal growth and particle size, without additives or organic solvents. The crystal growth and particle size can be controlled, and smaller sizes are obtained by decreasing the Ca (OH){sub 2} concentration and increasing the CO{sub 2} flow rate at lower temperatures with suitable pH. The crystal structure of obtained calcite was characterized by using X-ray diffraction method and the morphology by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The result of x-ray diffraction recognized that the calcite phase of calcium carbonate was the dominating crystalline structure.

  20. Synthesis and characterization of Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanoparticles by simple precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sankadiya, Siyaram, E-mail: siyaramsankdiya@gmail.com; Oswal, Nidhi, E-mail: oswal03nidhi@gmail.com [Dept. of Applied Physics, Shri Govindram Sakseria Inst. of Tech. and Sci., 23 Park Road, Indore(MP) 452003 (India); Jain, Pranat, E-mail: pranatjain@gmail.com [Dept. of Material Sc. & Metallurgical Eng., Maulana Azad National Inst. of Tech., Bhopal (MP) 4620003 (India); Gupta, Nitish, E-mail: nitish.nidhi75@gmail.com [Dept. of Applied Chemistry, Shri Govindram Sakseria Inst. of Tech. and Sci., 23 Park Road, Indore (MP) 452003 (India)

    2016-04-13

    A simple and efficient synthesis of Iron-oxide nanoparticles was carried out by precipitation method using ferric chloride as precursor and ammonium hydroxide as a stabilizing agent at different calcination temperatures. The synthesized powder was characterized by powder X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). X-ray diffraction indicated the formation hematite Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} structure. FTIR showed various functional groups of particles and absorption bands related to metal oxygen vibration modes. The heating temperatures were varied at 100 °C, 200°C, and 300°C. The Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanostructures with the average particle size of about 36.22 nm were prepared at 300°C for 4h. TEM study is also confirming the nanosize of Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} particle. This aqueous precipitation method gives a large scale production of Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanoparticles easily.

  1. Effect of land cover, stream discharge, and precipitation on water quality in Puerto Rico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, J. S.; Uriarte, M.

    2017-12-01

    In 2015, Puerto Rico experienced one of the worst droughts in its history, causing widespread water rationing and sparking concerns for future resources. The drought represents precipitation extremes that provide valuable insight into the effects of land cover (LC), on modulating discharge and water quality indices at varying spatial scales. We used data collected from 38 water quality and 55 precipitation monitoring stations in Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2016, paired with a 2010 land cover map to (1) determine whether temporal variability in discharge, precipitation, or antecedent precipitation was a better predictor of water quality, (2) find the spatial scale where LC has the greatest impact on water quality, and (3) quantify impacts of LC on water quality indices, including dissolved oxygen (mg/L), total nitrogen (mg/L), phosphorous (mg/L), turbidity (NTRU), fecal coliforms (colony units/100mL) and instantaneous discharge (ft3/s). The resulting linear mixed effects models account for between 36-68% of the variance in water quality. Preliminary results indicate that phosphorous and nitrogen were best predicted from instantaneous stream discharge, the log of discharge was the better predictor for turbidity and fecal coliforms, and summed 2 and 14-day antecedent precipitation indices were better predictors for dissolved oxygen and discharge, respectively. Increased urban and pasture area reliably decreased water quality in relation to forest cover, while agriculture and wetlands had little or mixed effects. Turbidity and nitrogen responded to a watershed level LC, while phosphorous, fecal coliforms, and discharge responded to LC in 60 m riparian buffers at the watershed scale. Our results indicate that LC modulates changing precipitation regimes and the ensuing impacts on water quality at a range of spatial scales.

  2. Effects of precipitation changes on switchgrass photosynthesis, growth, and biomass: A mesocosm experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hui, Dafeng; Yu, Chih-Li; Deng, Qi; Dzantor, E Kudjo; Zhou, Suping; Dennis, Sam; Sauve, Roger; Johnson, Terrance L; Fay, Philip A; Shen, Weijun; Luo, Yiqi

    2018-01-01

    Climate changes, including chronic changes in precipitation amounts, will influence plant physiology and growth. However, such precipitation effects on switchgrass, a major bioenergy crop, have not been well investigated. We conducted a two-year precipitation simulation experiment using large pots (95 L) in an environmentally controlled greenhouse in Nashville, TN. Five precipitation treatments (ambient precipitation, and -50%, -33%, +33%, and +50% of ambient) were applied in a randomized complete block design with lowland "Alamo" switchgrass plants one year after they were established from tillers. The growing season progression of leaf physiology, tiller number, height, and aboveground biomass were determined each growing season. Precipitation treatments significantly affected leaf physiology, growth, and aboveground biomass. The photosynthetic rates in the wet (+50% and +33%) treatments were significantly enhanced by 15.9% and 8.1%, respectively, than the ambient treatment. Both leaf biomass and plant height were largely increased, resulting in dramatically increases in aboveground biomass by 56.5% and 49.6% in the +50% and +33% treatments, respectively. Compared to the ambient treatment, the drought (-33% and -50%) treatments did not influence leaf physiology, but the -50% treatment significantly reduced leaf biomass by 37.8%, plant height by 16.3%, and aboveground biomass by 38.9%. This study demonstrated that while switchgrass in general is a drought tolerant grass, severe drought significantly reduces Alamo's growth and biomass, and that high precipitation stimulates its photosynthesis and growth.

  3. Few multiyear precipitation-reduction experiments find a shift in the productivity-precipitation relationship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estiarte, Marc; Vicca, Sara; Peñuelas, Josep; Bahn, Michael; Beier, Claus; Emmett, Bridget A; Fay, Philip A; Hanson, Paul J; Hasibeder, Roland; Kigel, Jaime; Kröel-Dulay, Gyorgy; Larsen, Klaus Steenberg; Lellei-Kovács, Eszter; Limousin, Jean-Marc; Ogaya, Romà; Ourcival, Jean-Marc; Reinsch, Sabine; Sala, Osvaldo E; Schmidt, Inger Kappel; Sternberg, Marcelo; Tielbörger, Katja; Tietema, Albert; Janssens, Ivan A

    2016-07-01

    Well-defined productivity-precipitation relationships of ecosystems are needed as benchmarks for the validation of land models used for future projections. The productivity-precipitation relationship may be studied in two ways: the spatial approach relates differences in productivity to those in precipitation among sites along a precipitation gradient (the spatial fit, with a steeper slope); the temporal approach relates interannual productivity changes to variation in precipitation within sites (the temporal fits, with flatter slopes). Precipitation-reduction experiments in natural ecosystems represent a complement to the fits, because they can reduce precipitation below the natural range and are thus well suited to study potential effects of climate drying. Here, we analyse the effects of dry treatments in eleven multiyear precipitation-manipulation experiments, focusing on changes in the temporal fit. We expected that structural changes in the dry treatments would occur in some experiments, thereby reducing the intercept of the temporal fit and displacing the productivity-precipitation relationship downward the spatial fit. The majority of experiments (72%) showed that dry treatments did not alter the temporal fit. This implies that current temporal fits are to be preferred over the spatial fit to benchmark land-model projections of productivity under future climate within the precipitation ranges covered by the experiments. Moreover, in two experiments, the intercept of the temporal fit unexpectedly increased due to mechanisms that reduced either water loss or nutrient loss. The expected decrease of the intercept was observed in only one experiment, and only when distinguishing between the late and the early phases of the experiment. This implies that we currently do not know at which precipitation-reduction level or at which experimental duration structural changes will start to alter ecosystem productivity. Our study highlights the need for experiments with

  4. Precipitation stripping of neodymium from carboxylate extractant with aqueous oxalic acid solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Konishi, Yasuhiro; Asai, Satoru; Murai, Tetuya

    1993-01-01

    This paper describes a precipitation stripping method in which neodymium ions are stripped from carboxylate extractant in organic solvent and simultaneously precipitated with aqueous oxalic acid solution. For the single-stage process, a quantitative criterion for precipitating oxalate powders was derived theoretically, and stripping experiments were done under the precipitation conditions. The resultant precipitates were neodymium oxalate, which is completely free from contamination by the carboxylate extractant and the organic solvent. The overall rate of stripping was controlled by the transfer of neodymium carboxylate in the organic solution, indicating that the presence of oxalic acid in the aqueous phase has no effect on the stripping rate. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of combining the conventional stripping and precipitation stages in a solvent extraction process for separation and purification of rare earths

  5. Production of crystalline refractory metal oxides containing colloidal metal precipitates and useful as solar-effective absorbers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narayan, Jagdish; Chen, Yok

    1983-01-01

    This invention is a new process for producing refractory crystalline oxides having improved or unusual properties. The process comprises the steps of forming a doped-metal crystal of the oxide; exposing the doped crystal in a bomb to a reducing atmosphere at superatmospheric pressure and a temperature effecting precipitation of the dopant metal in the crystal lattice of the oxide but insufficient to effect net diffusion of the metal out of the lattice; and then cooling the crystal. Preferably, the cooling step is effected by quenching. The process forms colloidal precipitates of the metal in the oxide lattice. The process may be used, for example, to produce thermally stable black MgO crystalline bodies containing magnetic colloidal precipitates consisting of about 99% Ni. The Ni-containing bodies are solar-selective absorbers, having a room-temperature absorptivity of about 0.96 over virtually all of the solar-energy spectrum and exhibiting an absorption edge in the region of 2 .mu.m. The process parameters can be varied to control the average size of the precipitates. The process can produce a black MgO crystalline body containing colloidal Ni precipitates, some of which have the face-centered-cubic structure and others of which have the body-centered cubic structure. The products of the process are metal-precipitate-containing refractory crystalline oxides which have improved or unique optical, mechanical, magnetic, and/or electronic properties.

  6. Precipitation of ammonium diuranate : a study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krishnamoorthy, T.S.; Mahadevan, N.; Sankar Das, M.

    1991-01-01

    The precipitation of ammonium diuranate (ADU) forms the first step in the production of UO 2 fuel for reactors, and hence the quality and consistency of the ADU precipitate is very important in industrial operations. An investigation, on the precipitation of ADU, was carried out under conditions similar to those in industrial production, to evaluate the effect of various variables on the consistency and the quality of ADU. The variables studied were concentration of uranium and ammonia, pH, temperature and form of ammonia (gas or solution). The properties studied were the settling rate of the precipitates, surface area of the ADUs and calcined oxides and compositional characteristics of the ADUs. Multifactorial experiments and ruggedness tests were applied to identify the parameters to which the precipitation process is most vulnerable, so that such parameters may be controlled effectively. Besides, the effect and the importance of equilibrium conditions during the precipitation process, on the quality of the final ADU, was also established. The paper presents the results of these studies. (author). 6 refs., 3 figs., 7 tabs

  7. On preparation of nanocrystalline chromites by co-precipitation and autocombustion methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matulkova, Irena [Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 8, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Department of Radiation and Chemical Physics, Institute of Physics of the ASCR, v.v.i., Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8 (Czech Republic); Holec, Petr [Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 8, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Department of Materials Chemistry, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the ASCR, v.v i., Husinec-Rez 1001, 250 68 Rez (Czech Republic); Pacakova, Barbara; Kubickova, Simona; Mantlikova, Alice [Department of Magnetic Nanosystems, Institute of Physics of the ASCR, v.v.i., Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8 (Czech Republic); Plocek, Jiri [Department of Materials Chemistry, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the ASCR, v.v i., Husinec-Rez 1001, 250 68 Rez (Czech Republic); Nemec, Ivan; Niznansky, Daniel [Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 8, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Vejpravova, Jana, E-mail: vejpravo@fzu.cz [Department of Magnetic Nanosystems, Institute of Physics of the ASCR, v.v.i., Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8 (Czech Republic)

    2015-05-15

    Highlights: • ACr{sub 2}O{sub 4} nanopowders, A = Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn and Mg were obtained in high yield. • Co-precipitation and autocombustion routes were optimized for single-phase product. • The nanopowders were examined by X-ray diffraction and vibrational spectroscopy. • Formation of cubic or tetragonal phase in Jahn–Teller NiCr{sub 2}O{sub 4} can be controlled. - Abstract: We present a comprehensive study on optimization of wet preparation routes yielding well-crystalline spinel chromite, ACr{sub 2}O{sub 4} nanoparticles (A = Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn and Mg). The auto-combustion and co-precipitation methods in the presence of nitrate or chloride ions and under different atmospheres, followed by annealing of final products at different temperatures were tested. All samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and vibrational spectroscopy in order to evaluate their phase composition, particle size and micro-strain. Selected samples were subjected to investigation by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The degree of the particle crystallinity was estimated by relating the apparent crystallite size obtained from the PXRD analysis to the physical grain size observed by the TEM. Optimal conditions leading to single-phase and highly-crystalline chromite nanoparticles are proposed.

  8. Quantifying the temperature-independent effect of stratospheric aerosol geoengineering on global-mean precipitation in a multi-model ensemble

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferraro, Angus J; Griffiths, Hannah G

    2016-01-01

    The reduction in global-mean precipitation when stratospheric aerosol geoengineering is used to counterbalance global warming from increasing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations has been mainly attributed to the temperature-independent effect of CO 2 on atmospheric radiative cooling. We demonstrate here that stratospheric sulphate aerosol itself also acts to reduce global-mean precipitation independent of its effects on temperature. The temperature-independent effect of stratospheric aerosol geoenginering on global-mean precipitation is calculated by removing temperature-dependent effects from climate model simulations of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP). When sulphate aerosol is injected into the stratosphere at a rate of 5 Tg SO 2 per year the aerosol reduces global-mean precipitation by approximately 0.2 %, though multiple ensemble members are required to separate this effect from internal variability. For comparison, the precipitation reduction from the temperature-independent effect of increasing CO 2 concentrations under the RCP4.5 scenario of the future is approximately 0.5 %. The temperature-independent effect of stratospheric sulphate aerosol arises from the aerosol’s effect on tropospheric radiative cooling. Radiative transfer calculations show this is mainly due to increasing downward emission of infrared radiation by the aerosol, but there is also a contribution from the stratospheric warming the aerosol causes. Our results suggest climate model simulations of solar dimming can capture the main features of the global-mean precipitation response to stratospheric aerosol geoengineering. (letter)

  9. Precipitation behavior of carbides in high-carbon martensitic stainless steel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, Qin-tian; Li, Jing; Shi, Cheng-bin; Yu, Wen-tao; Shi, Chang-min [University of Science and Technology, Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy; Li, Ji-hui [Yang Jiang Shi Ba Zi Group Co., Ltd, Guangdong (China)

    2017-01-15

    A fundamental study on the precipitation behavior of carbides was carried out. Thermo-calc software, scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and high-temperature confocal laser scanning microscopy were used to study the precipitation and transformation behaviors of carbides. Carbide precipitation was of a specific order. Primary carbides (M7C3) tended to be generated from liquid steel when the solid fraction reached 84 mol.%. Secondary carbides (M7C3) precipitated from austenite and can hardly transformed into M23C6 carbides with decreasing temperature in air. Primary carbides hardly changed once they were generated, whereas secondary carbides were sensitive to heat treatment and thermal deformation. Carbide precipitation had a certain effect on steel-matrix phase transitions. The segregation ability of carbon in liquid steel was 4.6 times greater that of chromium. A new method for controlling primary carbides is proposed.

  10. Physical retrieval of precipitation water contents from Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) data. Part 2: Retrieval method and applications (report version)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, William S.

    1990-01-01

    A physical retrieval method for estimating precipitating water distributions and other geophysical parameters based upon measurements from the DMSP-F8 SSM/I is developed. Three unique features of the retrieval method are (1) sensor antenna patterns are explicitly included to accommodate varying channel resolution; (2) precipitation-brightness temperature relationships are quantified using the cloud ensemble/radiative parameterization; and (3) spatial constraints are imposed for certain background parameters, such as humidity, which vary more slowly in the horizontal than the cloud and precipitation water contents. The general framework of the method will facilitate the incorporation of measurements from the SSMJT, SSM/T-2 and geostationary infrared measurements, as well as information from conventional sources (e.g., radiosondes) or numerical forecast model fields.

  11. The removal of sulphate from mine water by precipitation as ettringite and the utilisation of the precipitate as a sorbent for arsenate removal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tolonen, Emma-Tuulia; Hu, Tao; Rämö, Jaakko; Lassi, Ulla

    2016-10-01

    The aim of this research was to investigate sulphate removal from mine water by precipitation as ettringite (Ca6Al2(SO4)3(OH)12·26H2O) and the utilisation of the precipitate as a sorbent for arsenate removal. The mine water sulphate concentration was reduced by 85-90% from the initial 1400 mg/L during ettringite precipitation depending on the treatment method. The precipitation conditions were also simulated with MINEQL + software, and the computational results were compared with the experimental results. The precipitated solids were characterised with X-ray diffraction and a scanning electron microscope. The precipitated solids were tested as sorbents for arsenate removal from the model solution. The arsenic(V) model solution concentration reduced 86-96% from the initial 1.5 mg/L with a 1 g/L sorbent dosage. The effect of initial arsenate concentration on the sorption of arsenate on the precipitate was studied and Langmuir, Freundlich, and Langmuir-Freundlich sorption isotherm models were fitted to the experimental data. The maximum arsenate sorption capacity (qm = 11.2 ± 4.7 mg/g) of the precipitate was obtained from the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm. The results indicate that the precipitate produced during sulphate removal from mine water by precipitation as ettringite could be further used as a sorbent for arsenate removal. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Spatio-temporal characteristics of the extreme precipitation by L-moment-based index-flood method in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Yixing; Chen, Haishan; Xu, Chong-Yu; Xu, Wucheng; Chen, Changchun; Sun, Shanlei

    2016-05-01

    The regionalization methods, which "trade space for time" by pooling information from different locations in the frequency analysis, are efficient tools to enhance the reliability of extreme quantile estimates. This paper aims at improving the understanding of the regional frequency of extreme precipitation by using regionalization methods, and providing scientific background and practical assistance in formulating the regional development strategies for water resources management in one of the most developed and flood-prone regions in China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. To achieve the main goals, L-moment-based index-flood (LMIF) method, one of the most popular regionalization methods, is used in the regional frequency analysis of extreme precipitation with special attention paid to inter-site dependence and its influence on the accuracy of quantile estimates, which has not been considered by most of the studies using LMIF method. Extensive data screening of stationarity, serial dependence, and inter-site dependence was carried out first. The entire YRD region was then categorized into four homogeneous regions through cluster analysis and homogenous analysis. Based on goodness-of-fit statistic and L-moment ratio diagrams, generalized extreme-value (GEV) and generalized normal (GNO) distributions were identified as the best fitted distributions for most of the sub-regions, and estimated quantiles for each region were obtained. Monte Carlo simulation was used to evaluate the accuracy of the quantile estimates taking inter-site dependence into consideration. The results showed that the root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) were bigger and the 90 % error bounds were wider with inter-site dependence than those without inter-site dependence for both the regional growth curve and quantile curve. The spatial patterns of extreme precipitation with a return period of 100 years were finally obtained which indicated that there are two regions with highest precipitation

  13. Method of removing clogging materials due to ruthenium precipitates and sealing them in device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoshikawa, Tadahiro; Sasahira, Akira.

    1994-01-01

    In a facility, such as a reprocessing facility, for processing a solution containing a great amount of ruthenium, precipitates due to evaporated ruthenium and cooled NO x are brought into contact with each other to decompose the precipitates due to the evaporated ruthenium. Precipitates due to ruthenium evaporated from the solution are reacted with cooled NO x , and the precipitates of ruthenium are decomposed and returned to the solution in the form of extremely fine particles together with recycling flow from the inner wall of the device. Since the precipitates of ruthenium returned to the solution are stable, they are no more evaporated and precipitated on the inner wall of the device. In the solution processing device having a possibility of clogging, clogging can be prevented and the precipitates of ruthenium can be sealed by decomposing them. (T.M.)

  14. DISSOLUTION OF LANTHANUM FLUORIDE PRECIPITATES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fries, B.A.

    1959-11-10

    A plutonium separatory ore concentration procedure involving the use of a fluoride type of carrier is presented. An improvement is given in the derivation step in the process for plutonium recovery by carrier precipitation of plutonium values from solution with a lanthanum fluoride carrier precipitate and subsequent derivation from the resulting plutonium bearing carrier precipitate of an aqueous acidic plutonium-containing solution. The carrier precipitate is contacted with a concentrated aqueous solution of potassium carbonate to effect dissolution therein of at least a part of the precipitate, including the plutonium values. Any remaining precipitate is separated from the resulting solution and dissolves in an aqueous solution containing at least 20% by weight of potassium carbonate. The reacting solutions are combined, and an alkali metal hydroxide added to a concentration of at least 2N to precipitate lanthanum hydroxide concomitantly carrying plutonium values.

  15. Tailoring particle size and morphology of colloidal Ag particles via chemical precipitation for Ag-BSCCO composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Medendorp, N.W. Jr.; Bowman, K.J.; Trumble, K.P.

    1996-01-01

    The chemical precipitation of silver particles is an effective method for tailoring the particle size and morphology. This article investigates a chemical precipitation method for producing silver colloids, and how processing parameters affected particle size, morphology and adherence. Decreasing the silver nitrate concentration during precipitation with sodium borohydride decreased the colloidal silver particle size. Decreasing the addition rate of the reducing agent produced faceted particles. Reversing the reactant addition order also changed the particle size and the morphology. Precipitated colloids demonstrated a difference between the growth-dominated and the equilibrium structures. Co-dispersing Bi-based superconducting platelets during precipitation allowed Ag colloids to preferentially nucleate on the platelets and to remain adhered even after the additional processing. (orig.)

  16. Spatial Distribution of Stable Isotopes of Precipitation in Kumamoto, Japan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anoue, M. T.; Shimada, J. [Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University (Japan); Ichiyanagi, K. [Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University and Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (Japan)

    2013-07-15

    To understand the spatial distribution of stable isotopic compositions in precipitation, precipitation samples were collected every two weeks from november 2009 to december 2010 at 6 points in Kumamoto, Japan. The {delta}{sup 18}O and {delta}{sup 2}H of precipitation samples were measured by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (Delta-S) with CO{sub 2}/H2{sub O} equivalent method for {delta}{sup 18}O and the chromium reduction method for {delta}2H. The range of {delta}{sup 18}O and d-excess (= {delta}{sup 2}H - 8 {delta}{sup 18}O) in precipitation is from -13.4 per mille to -3.5 per mille and from 2.6 per mille to 35.6 per mille , respectively. Seasonal variability of {delta}{sup 18}O (d-excess) in precipitation was low (high) in winter and high (low) in summer. The seasonal wind of this study area was dominated by south-westerly in summer (from June to August) and north-westerly in winter (from December to February). These wind regimes indicate seasonal variabilities of the water vapour pathway from the origin. In this paper the trend of inland effect to the {delta}{sup 18}O for both south-westerly and north-westerly are also considered. As a result, significant correlation between distances from the coastal line at south-westerly or north-westerly and {delta}{sup 18}O in precipitation was recognized, particularly from 18 February to 7 March and from 29 September to 19 October in 2010 (statistically significant with 5% level). Furthermore, in order to evaluate the course of precipitation, the column total of water vapour flux was considered in the whole period by using JRA-25 and JCDAS. It is interesting that the inland effect corresponded to the column total of water vapour flux at south-westerly (north-westerly). Hence, it is conceivable that the spatial distribution of {delta}{sup 18}O in precipitation was controlled by a column total of water vapour flux in this area. (author)

  17. Effect of magnetic field on the carbide precipitation during tempering of a molybdenum-containing steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hou, T.P.; Li, Y.; Zhang, J.J.; Wu, K.M.

    2012-01-01

    The influence of a high magnetic field on the carbide precipitation during the tempering of an Fe–2.8C–3.0Mo(wt%) steel was investigated. As-quenched steels were tempered at 200 °C for various times with and without the presence of 12-T magnetic field. The applied field effectively promoted the precipitation of the relatively high-temperature monoclinic χ-Fe 5 C 2 carbide, compared to the usual ε-Fe 2 C and η-Fe 2 C carbides precipitated without magnetic field. It is believed that the effect of applying a magnetic field is due to the reduction in the Gibbs free energy of the relatively higher magnetization phase. The denser distributions of the metastable carbides are attributed to the increased nucleation rate due to additional transformation force. The dispersed precipitation strengthening compensated for the decrease of hardness due to the loss of supersaturation of carbon atoms in the matrix. - Highlights: ► Applied field promoted the precipitation of χ-Fe 5 C 2 carbide. ► Promotion of the transition carbide was attributed to its higher magnetization. ► Increase in hardness was counterbalanced by the reduction in carbon content.

  18. Synthesis of InGaZnO{sub 4} nanoparticles using low temperature multistep co-precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Ming-Chung, E-mail: mingchungwu@mail.cgu.edu.tw; Hsiao, Kai-Chi; Lu, Hsin-Chun

    2015-07-15

    Indium gallium zinc oxide (InGaZnO{sub 4}, IGZO) has attracted explosive growth in investigations over the last decades as an important material in the thin-film transistor. In this study, the various nitrate precursors, including indium nitrate, gallium nitrate, and zinc nitrate, were prepared from the various metals dissolved in nitric acid. Then, we used these nitrate precursors to synthesize the IGZO precursor powder by the multistep co-precipitation method. The synthesis parameters of the co-precipitation method, such as reaction temperature, pH value and reaction time, were controlled precisely to prepare the high quality IGZO precursor powder. Finally, IGZO precursor powder was calcined at 900 °C. Then, the microstructure, the crystalline structure, the particle size distribution and specific surface area of calcined IGZO precursor powder were characterized by electron transmission microscopy, X-ray diffraction technique, dynamic light scattering method and the surface area and porosimetry analyzer, respectively. The relative density of IGZO tablet sintered at 1200 °C for 12 h is as high as 97.30%, and it showed highly InGaZnO{sub 4} crystalline structure and the large grain size. The IGZO nanoparticles developed in our study has the potential for the high quality target materials used in the application of electronic devices. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • InGaZnO{sub 4} (IGZO) nanoparticle was synthesized by multistep co-precipitation method. • The synthesis parameters were controlled precisely to prepare high quality powder. • The relative density of highly crystalline IGZO tablet is as high as 97.30%. • IGZO tablet exhibited highly crystalline structure and the large grain size.

  19. Bayesian networks precipitation model based on hidden Markov analysis and its application

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2010-01-01

    Surface precipitation estimation is very important in hydrologic forecast. To account for the influence of the neighbors on the precipitation of an arbitrary grid in the network, Bayesian networks and Markov random field were adopted to estimate surface precipitation. Spherical coordinates and the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm were used for region interpolation, and for estimation of the precipitation of arbitrary point in the region. Surface precipitation estimation of seven precipitation stations in Qinghai Lake region was performed. By comparing with other surface precipitation methods such as Thiessen polygon method, distance weighted mean method and arithmetic mean method, it is shown that the proposed method can judge the relationship of precipitation among different points in the area under complicated circumstances and the simulation results are more accurate and rational.

  20. The effect of scale in daily precipitation hazard assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. J. Egozcue

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Daily precipitation is recorded as the total amount of water collected by a rain-gauge in 24 h. Events are modelled as a Poisson process and the 24 h precipitation by a Generalised Pareto Distribution (GPD of excesses. Hazard assessment is complete when estimates of the Poisson rate and the distribution parameters, together with a measure of their uncertainty, are obtained. The shape parameter of the GPD determines the support of the variable: Weibull domain of attraction (DA corresponds to finite support variables as should be for natural phenomena. However, Fréchet DA has been reported for daily precipitation, which implies an infinite support and a heavy-tailed distribution. Bayesian techniques are used to estimate the parameters. The approach is illustrated with precipitation data from the Eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula affected by severe convective precipitation. The estimated GPD is mainly in the Fréchet DA, something incompatible with the common sense assumption of that precipitation is a bounded phenomenon. The bounded character of precipitation is then taken as a priori hypothesis. Consistency of this hypothesis with the data is checked in two cases: using the raw-data (in mm and using log-transformed data. As expected, a Bayesian model checking clearly rejects the model in the raw-data case. However, log-transformed data seem to be consistent with the model. This fact may be due to the adequacy of the log-scale to represent positive measurements for which differences are better relative than absolute.

  1. Effect of heat treatments on precipitate microstructure and mechanical properties of a CuCrZr alloy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Edwards, D.J.; Singh, Bachu Narain; Tähtinen, S.

    2007-01-01

    The precipitate microstructure of prime aged CuCrZr was coarsened by overaging to see if the larger precipitates could prevent the initiation of plastic flow localization in irradiated CuCrZr. A number of tensile and fracture toughness specimens of prime aged CuCrZr alloy were given overaging...... carried out at 293, 333 and 573 K. Transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the effects of overaging, subsequent irradiation and the effect of deformation. The results indicate that the overaging treatment of 873 K for 1 h produced a precipitate microstructure that improved the plastic...

  2. Enhanced luminescent properties of long-persistent Sr{sub 2}MgSi{sub 2}O{sub 7}:Eu{sup 2+}, Dy{sup 3+} phosphor prepared by the co-precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pan Wen [State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Zhongshan Road 158-43, Dalian Liaoning 116012 (China); Ning Guiling [State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Zhongshan Road 158-43, Dalian Liaoning 116012 (China)], E-mail: ninggl@dlut.edu.cn; Zhang Xu; Wang Jing; Lin Yuan; Ye Junwei [State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Zhongshan Road 158-43, Dalian Liaoning 116012 (China)

    2008-12-15

    Sr{sub 2}MgSi{sub 2}O{sub 7}:Eu{sup 2+}, Dy{sup 3+} phosphors were prepared by the (aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (APTES) co-precipitation method. Effects of synthesis temperature on the crystal characteristics, luminescent properties and afterglow performance of Sr{sub 2}MgSi{sub 2}O{sub 7}:Eu{sup 2+}, Dy{sup 3+} phosphors have been discussed in detail and compared with the corresponding commercial product. The experimental results indicated that the sample could be synthesized at a relatively lower temperature and had better performance on the above-mentioned properties using the co-precipitation method.

  3. Radar-Derived Quantitative Precipitation Estimation Based on Precipitation Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lili Yang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A method for improving radar-derived quantitative precipitation estimation is proposed. Tropical vertical profiles of reflectivity (VPRs are first determined from multiple VPRs. Upon identifying a tropical VPR, the event can be further classified as either tropical-stratiform or tropical-convective rainfall by a fuzzy logic (FL algorithm. Based on the precipitation-type fields, the reflectivity values are converted into rainfall rate using a Z-R relationship. In order to evaluate the performance of this rainfall classification scheme, three experiments were conducted using three months of data and two study cases. In Experiment I, the Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D default Z-R relationship was applied. In Experiment II, the precipitation regime was separated into convective and stratiform rainfall using the FL algorithm, and corresponding Z-R relationships were used. In Experiment III, the precipitation regime was separated into convective, stratiform, and tropical rainfall, and the corresponding Z-R relationships were applied. The results show that the rainfall rates obtained from all three experiments match closely with the gauge observations, although Experiment II could solve the underestimation, when compared to Experiment I. Experiment III significantly reduced this underestimation and generated the most accurate radar estimates of rain rate among the three experiments.

  4. Spatio-temporal changes in precipitation over Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Na; Yue, Tianxiang; Li, Han; Zhang, Lili; Yin, Xiaozhe; Liu, Yi

    2018-04-01

    Changes in precipitation have a large effect on human society and are of primary importance for many scientific fields such as hydrology, agriculture and eco-environmental sciences. The present study intended to investigate the spatio-temporal characteristics of precipitation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region by using 316 meteorological stations during the period 1965-2014. Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR) method and High Accuracy Surface Modeling (HASM) method were applied to produce the precipitation patterns at different time scales. Mann-Kendall (MK) statistical test was applied to analyze the precipitation temporal variations. Results indicated that annual precipitation over the past 50 years appeared to be a non-periodic oscillation phenomenon; the number of wet years was approximately the same as that of dry years; significant positive trends were observed in spring during 1978-2014 and summer during 1996-2014; on the whole, precipitation in May, June, September, and December showed increasing trends at the 95% confidence level; and significant positive trends were also identified in July during 2000-2013 and August during 1997-2010, while slight decreasing trends were observed in February and November. Summer (June, July, and August) was the wettest season, accounting for 68.73% of annual totals in BTH. In general, northeastern BTH received the highest range of precipitation while northwestern area had the lowest. It was found that precipitation variation in this region had been closely linked to latitude, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), distance to the sea, and urbanization rate. In addition, land use played an important role in the decadal precipitation changes in BTH.

  5. Electrical operation of electrostatic precipitators

    CERN Document Server

    Parker, Ken

    2003-01-01

    The electrostatic precipitator remains on of the most cost effective means of controlling the emission of particulates from most industrial processes. This book will be of interest to both users and suppliers of electrostatic precipitators as well as advanced students on environmental based courses. The author identifies the physical and engineering basis for the development of electrical equipment for electrostatic precipitators and thoroughly explores the technological factors which optimize the efficiency of the precipitator and hence minimize emissions, as well as future developments in th

  6. Precipitation Sedimentation and Advection in GFS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, R.; Tallapragada, V.

    2016-12-01

    Zhao and Carr microphysics scheme as implemented in the NCEP Global Forecasting System (GFS) predicts only the total cloud condensate (cloud water or ice). The precipitation generated in the column fall to the ground instantly. This mean precipitation sedimentation and advection are not considered. As resolution increases the lack of the two physical processes creates problems. The slowly falling precipitation (snow) falls to the wrong surface grid box, which may have led to the observed spotty-precipitation pattern. To solve the problem two prognositic variables, snow and rain, are added. Addition of the two precipitation variable allows their advection. The corresponding sedimentation process are also added. In this study we examine the effect of precipitation advection and sedimentation on the precipitation pattern, associated precipitation skills and clouds.

  7. Study of UO2-10WT%Gd2O3 fuel pellets obtained by seeding method using AUC co-precipitation and mechanical mixing processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lima, M.M.F.; Ferraz, W.B.A.; Santos, M.M. dos; Pinto, L.C.M.; Santos, A.

    2008-01-01

    The use of gadolinium and uranium mixed oxide as a nuclear fuel aims to obtain a fuel with a performance better than that of UO 2 fuel. In this work, seeding method was used to improve ionic diffusivity during sintering to produce high density pellets containing coarse grains by co-precipitation and mechanical mixing processes. Sintered UO 2 -10 wt% Gd 2 O 3 pellets were obtained using the reference processes with 2 wt% and 5 wt% UO 2 seeds with two granulometries, less than 20 μm and between 20 and 38 μm. Characterisation was carried out by chemical analysis, surface area, X-ray diffraction, SEM, WDS, image analysis, and densitometry. The seeding method using mechanical mixing process was more effective than the co-precipitation method. Furthermore, mechanical mixing process resulted in an increase in density of UO 2 -10wt% Gd 2 O 3 with seeds in relation to that of UO 2 -10wt% Gd 2 O 3 without seeds. (author)

  8. Method for modeling the deposition of sulfur by precipitation over regional scales

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hicks, B.B.; Shannon, J.D.

    1979-01-01

    Radioactive fallout data suggest that the concentration of pollutants in rainfall, while highly variable, might be described on the average by about an inverse half-power dependence on the amount of precipitation. Recent measurements of sulfur concentrations in summer rainfall collected at Argonne National Laboratory tend to support this contention, as do preliminary results derived from operations of the DOE precipitation chemistry network. The concept is extended to develop a bulk removal rate for airborne total sulfur by precipitation for use in regional dispersion modeling

  9. Toxicity effects on metal sequestration by microbially-induced carbonate precipitation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mugwar, Ahmed J. [Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Queen’s Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom); College of Engineering, Al-Muthanna University, Samawah (Iraq); Harbottle, Michael J., E-mail: harbottlem@cardiff.ac.uk [Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Queen’s Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)

    2016-08-15

    Highlights: • Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) are determined for S. pasteurii with a range of metals. • Zinc & cadmium bioprecipitation is strongly linked to microbial carbonate generation. • Lead & copper carbonate bioprecipitation is limited & abiotic processes may be significant. • Bioprecipitation allows survival at & remediation of higher metal concentrations than expected. - Abstract: Biological precipitation of metallic contaminants has been explored as a remedial technology for contaminated groundwater systems. However, metal toxicity and availability limit the activity and remedial potential of bacteria. We report the ability of a bacterium, Sporosarcina pasteurii, to remove metals in aerobic aqueous systems through carbonate formation. Its ability to survive and grow in increasingly concentrated aqueous solutions of zinc, cadmium, lead and copper is explored, with and without a metal precipitation mechanism. In the presence of metal ions alone, bacterial growth was inhibited at a range of concentrations depending on the metal. Microbial activity in a urea-amended medium caused carbonate ion generation and pH elevation, providing conditions suitable for calcium carbonate bioprecipitation, and consequent removal of metal ions. Elevation of pH and calcium precipitation are shown to be strongly linked to removal of zinc and cadmium, but only partially linked to removal of lead and copper. The dependence of these effects on interactions between the respective metal and precipitated calcium carbonate are discussed. Finally, it is shown that the bacterium operates at higher metal concentrations in the presence of the urea-amended medium, suggesting that the metal removal mechanism offers a defence against metal toxicity.

  10. Precipitation of calcium sulphate on hot walls - influence of impurities, thermal and hydraulic effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guillermin, Roger

    1973-01-01

    After some generalities on desalination by distillation processes and on problems due to scaling, this research thesis aims at a better understanding of the formation of deposits and their effects in the case of precipitation of calcium sulphate hemihydrate which precipitates above 100 C in pure solution and between 100 and 300 C in brine. Deposit growth, influence of impurities, and influence of the deposit on heat exchange and loss of load are the main issues of this research. The author addresses general principles of salt crystallization and the thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of calcium sulphate precipitation, studies the growth kinetics of the calcium sulphate hemihydrate in a transient concentration regime, reports the study of thermal and hydraulic effects of the formation of a hemihydrate deposit, notably by discussing the different phases involved in the covering of a metallic surface

  11. Dislocation pinning effects induced by nano-precipitates during warm laser shock peening: Dislocation dynamic simulation and experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Yiliang; Ye, Chang; Gao, Huang; Kim, Bong-Joong; Suslov, Sergey; Stach, Eric A.; Cheng, Gary J.

    2011-07-01

    Warm laser shock peening (WLSP) is a new high strain rate surface strengthening process that has been demonstrated to significantly improve the fatigue performance of metallic components. This improvement is mainly due to the interaction of dislocations with highly dense nanoscale precipitates, which are generated by dynamic precipitation during the WLSP process. In this paper, the dislocation pinning effects induced by the nanoscale precipitates during WLSP are systematically studied. Aluminum alloy 6061 and AISI 4140 steel are selected as the materials with which to conduct WLSP experiments. Multiscale discrete dislocation dynamics (MDDD) simulation is conducted in order to investigate the interaction of dislocations and precipitates during the shock wave propagation. The evolution of dislocation structures during the shock wave propagation is studied. The dislocation structures after WLSP are characterized via transmission electron microscopy and are compared with the results of the MDDD simulation. The results show that nano-precipitates facilitate the generation of highly dense and uniformly distributed dislocation structures. The dislocation pinning effect is strongly affected by the density, size, and space distribution of nano-precipitates.

  12. CONCENTRATION OF Pu USING AN IODATE PRECIPITATE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fries, B.A.

    1960-02-23

    A method is given for separating plutonium from lanthanum in a lanthanum fluoride carrier precipitation process for the recovery of plutonium values from an aqueous solution. The carrier precipitation process includes the steps of forming a lanthanum fluoride precipi- . tate, thereby carrying plutonium out of solution, metathesizing the fluoride precipitate to a hydroxide precipitate, and then dissolving the hydroxide precipitate in nitric acid. In accordance with the invention, the nitric acid solution, which contains plutonium and lanthanum, is made 0.05 to 0.15 molar in potassium iodate. thereby precipitating plutonium as plutonous iodate and the plutonous iodate is separated from the lanthanum- containing supernatant solution.

  13. Effect of akermanite morphology on precipitation of bone-like apatite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hou Xiaoni; Yin Guangfu; Chen Xianchun; Liao Xiaoming; Yao Yadong; Huang Zhongbin

    2011-01-01

    Bioactivity in vivo of ceramic materials has been related to their surface micro-topography and may be estimated by means of simulated body fluid method in vitro. In order to investigate the effect of surface topographies of akermanite ceramics on bioactivity in vitro, akermanite ceramics were synthesized by sol-gel method and different surface topographies of disc-shaped akermanite ceramics were prepared by polishing with different SiC sandpapers. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to evaluate the surface morphology and roughness. The bioactivity in vitro of ceramics with different surface states was evaluated by soaking the ceramics in simulated body fluid (SBF). And the samples after being soaked were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The results showed that the amounts of precipitated apatite on the ceramics with different surface roughness after being soaked in SBF were different and the bioactivity in vitro of ceramic with rough surface was significantly higher than that of ceramic with smooth surface. The study suggested that suitable surface roughness may improve the bioactivity in vitro of akermanite ceramics.

  14. Analysis of Intergranular Precipitation in Isothermally Aged Nitrogen-Containing Austenitic Stainless Steels by an Electrochemical Method and Its Relation to Cryogenic Toughness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maribel L. Saucedo-Muñoz

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The precipitation process in two N-containing austenitic stainless steels, aged at temperatures between 873 and 1173 K for times from 10 to 1000 min, was analyzed by an electrochemical method based on the anodic polarization test with an electrolyte of 1 N KOH solution. The anodic polarization curves showed the following intergranular precipitation sequence: austenite → austenite + Cr23C6→ austenite + Cr23C6 + Cr2N. Besides, the fastest precipitation kinetics was detected in the aged steel with the highest content of nitrogen and carbon due to its higher driving force for precipitation. The higher the aging temperature, the higher volume fraction of precipitates. The precipitation fraction can be associated with the current density of the dissolution peaks of each phase. The Charpy-V-Notch impact energy of the aged specimens decreased with the increase in the volume fraction of precipitates.

  15. Synthesis of YAG nanopowder by the co-precipitation method: Influence of pH and study of the reaction mechanisms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marlot, Caroline; Barraud, Elodie; Le Gallet, Sophie; Eichhorn, Marc; Bernard, Frédéric

    2012-07-01

    YAG nanopowders with an average grain size of 30 nm have been successfully synthesized by the co-precipitation method using nitrates with precipitant of ammonium hydrogen carbonate. The influence of precipitation conditions such as pH, aging time and calcination temperature on the formation of secondary phases has been studied. The accurate control of pH value at every stage of precipitation process is crucial to avoid the presence of YAM (Yttrium Aluminium Monoclinic, Y4Al2O9) and yttrium oxide (Y2O3) after calcination. The reaction mechanisms have been investigated using different techniques such as infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and thermal analyses. The YAG phase is formed around 1050 °C passing through an intermediate phase called YAP (Yttrium Aluminium Perovskite, YAlO3). Local chemical heterogeneities are responsible for the deviation of the Y:Al ratio and the formation of YAP during heat treatment.

  16. Benchmarking a geostatistical procedure for the homogenisation of annual precipitation series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caineta, Júlio; Ribeiro, Sara; Henriques, Roberto; Soares, Amílcar; Costa, Ana Cristina

    2014-05-01

    The European project COST Action ES0601, Advances in homogenisation methods of climate series: an integrated approach (HOME), has brought to attention the importance of establishing reliable homogenisation methods for climate data. In order to achieve that, a benchmark data set, containing monthly and daily temperature and precipitation data, was created to be used as a comparison basis for the effectiveness of those methods. Several contributions were submitted and evaluated by a number of performance metrics, validating the results against realistic inhomogeneous data. HOME also led to the development of new homogenisation software packages, which included feedback and lessons learned during the project. Preliminary studies have suggested a geostatistical stochastic approach, which uses Direct Sequential Simulation (DSS), as a promising methodology for the homogenisation of precipitation data series. Based on the spatial and temporal correlation between the neighbouring stations, DSS calculates local probability density functions at a candidate station to detect inhomogeneities. The purpose of the current study is to test and compare this geostatistical approach with the methods previously presented in the HOME project, using surrogate precipitation series from the HOME benchmark data set. The benchmark data set contains monthly precipitation surrogate series, from which annual precipitation data series were derived. These annual precipitation series were subject to exploratory analysis and to a thorough variography study. The geostatistical approach was then applied to the data set, based on different scenarios for the spatial continuity. Implementing this procedure also promoted the development of a computer program that aims to assist on the homogenisation of climate data, while minimising user interaction. Finally, in order to compare the effectiveness of this methodology with the homogenisation methods submitted during the HOME project, the obtained results

  17. Combined Effects of Synoptic-Scale Teleconnection Patterns on Summer Precipitation in Southern China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chao Wang

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Using ERA-Interim daily reanalysis and precipitation data, the combined effects of East Asia-Pacific (EAP and Silk Road (SR teleconnection patterns on summer precipitation in Southern China were investigated on synoptic to sub-monthly timescales. Combined EAP and SR patterns lead to more persistent and extreme precipitation in the Yangtze River Valley (YRV and exhibit an obvious zonal advance between the South Asia High (SAH and Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH prior to its onset. During typical combined events, an overlap between the SAH and WPSH remains in a favorable position for Persistent Extreme Precipitation (PEP. Furthermore, SR-induced acceleration of the westerly jet stream and extra positive vorticity advection provide persistent upper-level divergence for YRV precipitation. An anomalous EAP-related cyclone/anticyclone pair over East Asia induces enhanced low-level southwesterlies to the northern anticyclone flank and northerlies from the mid-latitudes, advecting anomalously abundant moisture toward the YRV, resulting in clear moisture convergence. Moreover, the strong ascent of warmer/moister air along a quasi-stationary front may be crucial for PEP. During decay, the SAH and WPSH diverge from each other and retreat to their normal positions, and the strong ascent of warmer/moister air rapidly weakens to dissipation, terminating PEP in the YRV.

  18. Preparation of Fe3O4/Bentonite Nanocomposite from Natural Iron Sand by Co-precipitation Method for Adsorbents Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebayang, Perdamean; Kurniawan, Candra; Aryanto, Didik; Arief Setiadi, Eko; Tamba, Konni; Djuhana; Sudiro, Toto

    2018-03-01

    An adsorption method is one of the effective ways to filter the heavy metals wastes in aqueous system. In this paper, the Fe3O4/bentonite nanocomposites were successfully prepared from natural iron sand by co-precipitation method. The chemical process was carried out by dissolving and hot stirring the milled iron sand and bentonite in acid solution and precipitating it by NH4OH. The sediment was then washed using distilled water to neutralize pH and dried at 100 °C for 5 hours to produce Fe3O4/bentonite powders. The samples were characterized by XRD, FTIR, BET, TEM, VSM and AAS. All samples were composed by Fe3O4 single phase with a spinnel structure and lattice parameter of 8.373 Å. The transmittance peak of FTIR curve proved that the Fe3O4 particles and bentonite had a molecular bonding. The addition of bentonite to Fe3O4 nanoparticles generally reduced the magnetic properties of Fe3O4/bentonite nanocomposites. The optimum condition of 30 wt% bentonite resulted 105.9 m2/g in surface area, 14 nm in an average particle size and 3.2 nm in pore size. It can be used as Cu and Pb adsorbent materials.

  19. On the effects of wildfires on precipitation in Southern Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Sales, Fernando; Okin, Gregory S.; Xue, Yongkang; Dintwe, Kebonye

    2018-03-01

    This study investigates the impact of wildfire on the climate of Southern Africa. Moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer derived burned area fraction data was implemented in a set of simulations to assess primarily the role of wildfire-induced surface changes on monthly precipitation. Two post-fire scenarios are examined namely non-recovering and recovering vegetation scenarios. In the former, burned vegetation fraction remains burned until the end of the simulations, whereas in the latter it is allowed to regrow following a recovery period. Control simulations revealed that the model can dependably capture the monthly precipitation and surface temperature averages in Southern Africa thus providing a reasonable basis against which to assess the impacts of wildfire. In general, both wildfire scenarios have a negative impact on springtime precipitation. September and October were the only months with statistically significant precipitation changes. During these months, precipitation in the region decreases by approximately 13 and 9% in the non-recovering vegetation scenario, and by about 10 and 6% in the recovering vegetation wildfire scenario, respectively. The primary cause of precipitation deficit is the decrease in evapotranspiration resulting from a reduction in surface net radiation. Areas impacted by the precipitation reduction includes the Luanda, Kinshasa, and Brazzaville metropolitan areas, The Angolan Highlands, which are the source of the Okavango Rive, and the Okavango Delta region. This study suggests that a probable intensification in wildfire frequency and extent resulting from projected population increase and global warming in Southern Africa could potentially exacerbate the impacts of wildfires in the region's seasonal precipitation.

  20. Effects of La on the age hardening behavior and precipitation kinetics in the cast Al–Cu alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yao Dongming; Bai Zhihao; Qiu Feng; Li Yanjun; Jiang Qichuan

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► La addition enhances the hardness of the Al–Cu alloy. ► La addition facilitates the formation of the θ′ precipitates. ► La addition decreases the nucleation activation energy of the θ′ precipitates. - Abstract: The hardness and thermal stability are the important problems of the cast Al–Cu alloy related to the microstructural changes. In order to increase the possibilities of high temperature applications of the cast Al–Cu alloy, it is necessary to gain a more detail understanding of the correlation between the age hardening and the microstructure in the cast Al–Cu alloy, and the thermal stability of the θ′ precipitates at elevated temperatures. The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of La addition on the age hardening behavior and precipitation kinetics in the Al–Cu alloy in the temperature range from 435 to 523 K. The results indicated that La addition considerably increases the number of the θ′ precipitates and decreases their sizes, which results in the enhanced age hardening effect. The precipitation kinetics analysis showed that the activation energy (13 kJ/mol) of the θ′ precipitate nucleation of the modified alloy is smaller than that (19 kJ/mol) of the unmodified alloy. The decrease in the activation energy of the θ′ precipitate nucleation can be explained with both the enhanced nucleation process due to La/Cu/vacancy aggregating and the increased interaction between Al and Cu atoms.

  1. Reference values assessment in a Mediterranean population for small dense low-density lipoprotein concentration isolated by an optimized precipitation method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernández-Cidón B

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Bárbara Fernández-Cidón,1–3 Ariadna Padró-Miquel,1 Pedro Alía-Ramos,1 María José Castro-Castro,1 Marta Fanlo-Maresma,4 Dolors Dot-Bach,1 José Valero-Politi,1 Xavier Pintó-Sala,4 Beatriz Candás-Estébanez1 1Clinical Laboratory, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain; 2Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB, Barcelona, Spain; 3Department of Pharmacotherapy, Pharmacogenetics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain; 4Cardiovascular Risk Unit, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain Background: High serum concentrations of small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sd-LDL-c particles are associated with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD. Their clinical application has been hindered as a consequence of the laborious current method used for their quantification. Objective: Optimize a simple and fast precipitation method to isolate sd-LDL particles and establish a reference interval in a Mediterranean population. Materials and methods: Forty-five serum samples were collected, and sd-LDL particles were isolated using a modified heparin-Mg2+ precipitation method. sd-LDL-c concentration was calculated by subtracting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c from the total cholesterol measured in the supernatant. This method was compared with the reference method (ultracentrifugation. Reference values were estimated according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine recommendations. sd-LDL-c concentration was measured in serums from 79 subjects with no lipid metabolism abnormalities. Results: The Passing–Bablok regression equation is y = 1.52 (0.72 to 1.73 + 0.07x (−0.1 to 0.13, demonstrating no significant statistical differences

  2. Influence of γ' precipitates on Portevin–Le Chatelier effect of Ni-based superalloys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cai, Yulong [Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China); CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 (China); Tian, Chenggang [Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China); Fu, Shihua, E-mail: fushihua@ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 (China); Han, Guoming [Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China); Cui, Chuanyong, E-mail: chycui@imr.ac.cn [Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China); Zhang, Qingchuan, E-mail: zhangqc@ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 (China)

    2015-06-25

    The γ′ precipitate plays a critical role in improving the mechanical properties of Ni-based superalloys. An undesirable phenomenon referred to as the Portevin–Le Chatelier (PLC) effect always appears in Ni-based superalloys deformed within specific ranges of strain rate and temperature. In order to systematically investigate the influence of the γ′ precipitates on the PLC effect, four Ni-based superalloys with various γ′ contents were designed and fabricated. Microscopic observations from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the volume fraction of the γ′ phase was consistent with the designed value. Furthermore, analysis of energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) results revealed that the γ matrix of all the alloys consisted of the same components. Uniaxial tensile tests were performed at strain rates and temperatures ranging from 1×10{sup −4} to 3×10{sup −3} s{sup −1} and 300–500 °C, respectively. We found that the ultimate strength increased while the elongation decreased with increasing γ′ content. In addition, the serration changed from type A to type B and to type C with increasing temperature, decreasing strain rate or increasing γ′ content; the amplitude of type B serrations was described by unimodal or bimodal distributions. Increasing volume fraction of γ′ precipitates shifted the region in which the PLC effect occurred, to the range of low temperatures and high strain rates. Moreover, the serration amplitude increased with increasing γ′ content at a given temperature, which indicated that the γ′ precipitate increases the dynamic strain ageing (DSA) effect.

  3. A savanna response to precipitation intensity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ryan S Berry

    Full Text Available As the atmosphere warms, precipitation events are becoming less frequent but more intense. A three-year experiment in Kruger National Park, South Africa, found that fewer, more intense precipitation events encouraged woody plant encroachment. To test whether or not these treatment responses persisted over time, here, we report results from all five years of that experiment. Grass growth, woody plant growth, total fine root number and area and hydrologic tracer uptake by grasses and woody plants were measured in six treated plots (8 m by 8 m and six control plots. Treatment effects on soil moisture were measured continuously in one treated and one control plot. During the fourth year, increased precipitation intensity treatments continued to decrease water flux in surface soils (0-10 cm, increase water flux in deeper soils (20+ cm, decrease grass growth and increase woody plant growth. Greater root numbers at 20-40 cm and greater woody plant uptake of a hydrological tracer from 45-60 cm suggested that woody plants increased growth by increasing root number and activity (but not root area in deeper soils. During the fifth year, natural precipitation events were large and intense so treatments had little effect on precipitation intensity or plant available water. Consistent with this effective treatment removal, there was no difference in grass or woody growth rates between control and treated plots, although woody plant biomass remained higher in treated than control plots due to treatment effects in the previous four years. Across the five years of this experiment, we found that 1 small increases in precipitation intensity can result in large increases in deep (20-130 cm soil water availability, 2 plant growth responses to precipitation intensity are rapid and disappear quickly, and 3 because woody plants accumulate biomass, occasional increases in precipitation intensity can result in long-term increases in woody plant biomass (i.e., shrub

  4. Thermoluminescent properties of CaSO4:Dy prepared by precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roman, J.; Rivera, T.; Azorin, J.

    2009-10-01

    This paper reports the synthesis and thermoluminescent (Tl) characterization of CaSO 4 :Dy obtained by the precipitation method. Thermoluminescent CaSO 4 :Dy powder and Teflon (PTFE) were mixed in order to obtain samples in pellets form. Samples of CaSO 4 :Dy were exposed to a radiation gamma source of 60 Co and 90 Sr beta particles. Tl response of CaSO 4 :Dy showed a glow curve with two peaks centered at around 164 and 302 C. Tl phosphor showed a good linearity in the range from 0.5 to 30 Gy. Fading of the Tl information was 5.19 % in 37 days and presented a standard deviation of 4% for reproducibility. (Author)

  5. Synergistic alloying effect on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of Cu precipitation-strengthened ferritic alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wen, Y.R.; Li, Y.P.; Hirata, A.; Zhang, Y.; Fujita, T.; Furuhara, T.; Liu, C.T.; Chiba, A.; Chen, M.W.

    2013-01-01

    We report the influence of alloying elements (Ni, Al and Mn) on the microstructural evolution of Cu-rich nanoprecipitates and the mechanical properties of Fe–Cu-based ferritic alloys. It was found that individual additions of Ni and Al do not give rise to an obvious strengthening effect, compared with the binary Fe–Cu parent alloy, although Ni segregates at the precipitate/matrix interface and Al partitions into Cu-rich precipitates. In contrast, the co-addition of Ni and Al results in the formation of core–shell nanoprecipitates with a Cu-rich core and a B2 Ni–Al shell, leading to a dramatic improvement in strength. The coarsening rate of the core–shell precipitates is about two orders of magnitude lower than that of monolithic Cu-rich precipitates in the binary and ternary Fe–Cu alloys. Reinforcement of the B2 Ni–Al shells by Mn partitioning further improves the strength of the precipitation-strengthened alloys by forming ultrastable and high number density core–shell nanoprecipitates

  6. Enhanced precipitation variability decreases grass- and increases shrub-productivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gherardi, Laureano A.; Sala, Osvaldo E.

    2015-01-01

    Although projections of precipitation change indicate increases in variability, most studies of impacts of climate change on ecosystems focused on effects of changes in amount of precipitation, overlooking precipitation variability effects, especially at the interannual scale. Here, we present results from a 6-y field experiment, where we applied sequences of wet and dry years, increasing interannual precipitation coefficient of variation while maintaining a precipitation amount constant. Increased precipitation variability significantly reduced ecosystem primary production. Dominant plant-functional types showed opposite responses: perennial-grass productivity decreased by 81%, whereas shrub productivity increased by 67%. This pattern was explained by different nonlinear responses to precipitation. Grass productivity presented a saturating response to precipitation where dry years had a larger negative effect than the positive effects of wet years. In contrast, shrubs showed an increasing response to precipitation that resulted in an increase in average productivity with increasing precipitation variability. In addition, the effects of precipitation variation increased through time. We argue that the differential responses of grasses and shrubs to precipitation variability and the amplification of this phenomenon through time result from contrasting root distributions of grasses and shrubs and competitive interactions among plant types, confirmed by structural equation analysis. Under drought conditions, grasses reduce their abundance and their ability to absorb water that then is transferred to deep soil layers that are exclusively explored by shrubs. Our work addresses an understudied dimension of climate change that might lead to widespread shrub encroachment reducing the provisioning of ecosystem services to society. PMID:26417095

  7. The effects of secondary mineral precipitates on {sup 90}Sr mobility at the Hanford Site, USA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Um, Wooyong [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd., MSIN P7-54, Richland, WA 99354 (United States); Division of Advanced Nuclear Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology - POSTECH (Korea, Republic of); Wang, Guohui; Serne, R. Jeffrey [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd., MSIN P7-54, Richland, WA 99354 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    The effects of secondary precipitates on {sup 90}Sr transport at the Hanford Site were investigated using quartz column experiments with simulated caustic tank waste leachates (STWL). Significantly enhanced retardation of Sr transport was observed in the column contacted with STWL due to Sr sorption and co-precipitation with neo-formed nitrate cancrinite. However, the column results also suggest that neo-formed secondary precipitates could behave like native mobile colloids that can enhance Sr transport. Initially immobilized Sr within secondary precipitates could re-mobilize given a change in the pore water background conditions. The mobility of the neo-formed Sr-bearing precipitates increased with increased solution flow rate. In the field, pore water contents and flow rates can be changed by snow-melt (or storm water) events or artificial infiltration. The increased pore water flow rate caused by these events could affect the mobility of {sup 90}Sr-containing secondary precipitates, which can be a potential source for facilitated Sr transport in Hanford Site subsurface environments. (authors)

  8. Effects of variability in probable maximum precipitation patterns on flood losses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zischg, Andreas Paul; Felder, Guido; Weingartner, Rolf; Quinn, Niall; Coxon, Gemma; Neal, Jeffrey; Freer, Jim; Bates, Paul

    2018-05-01

    The assessment of the impacts of extreme floods is important for dealing with residual risk, particularly for critical infrastructure management and for insurance purposes. Thus, modelling of the probable maximum flood (PMF) from probable maximum precipitation (PMP) by coupling hydrological and hydraulic models has gained interest in recent years. Herein, we examine whether variability in precipitation patterns exceeds or is below selected uncertainty factors in flood loss estimation and if the flood losses within a river basin are related to the probable maximum discharge at the basin outlet. We developed a model experiment with an ensemble of probable maximum precipitation scenarios created by Monte Carlo simulations. For each rainfall pattern, we computed the flood losses with a model chain and benchmarked the effects of variability in rainfall distribution with other model uncertainties. The results show that flood losses vary considerably within the river basin and depend on the timing and superimposition of the flood peaks from the basin's sub-catchments. In addition to the flood hazard component, the other components of flood risk, exposure, and vulnerability contribute remarkably to the overall variability. This leads to the conclusion that the estimation of the probable maximum expectable flood losses in a river basin should not be based exclusively on the PMF. Consequently, the basin-specific sensitivities to different precipitation patterns and the spatial organization of the settlements within the river basin need to be considered in the analyses of probable maximum flood losses.

  9. Effect of precipitates on mechanical properties of AA2195

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jae-Hee; Jeun, Jeong-Hoon; Chun, Hyun-Jin; Lee, Ye Rim; Yoo, Joon-Tae; Yoon, Jong-Hoon; Lee, Ho-Sung

    2016-01-01

    Addition of 1–4 wt.% lithium into a conventional Al–Cu–Mg alloy allows lower density and higher mechanical properties, which are attractive for aerospace applications. In this study, fundamental investigations including phase and microstructure evolution, resulting in strengthening, of the AA2195 are conducted to observe a possibility of production with commercial level. Precipitation sequence and kinetics during post-annealing were evaluated with variations of temperature and holding time. Microstructures revealed formation and evolution in representative precipitates including θ (Al_2Cu), ß′ (Al_3Zr), and T (Al_xLi_yCu) series. Aluminum alloys have low hardness, modulus, and strength before aging, but precipitates such as θ′ (Al_2Cu), ß′ (Al_3Zr), and T_1 (Al_2LiCu) show enhanced mechanical properties of AA2195 tempered because of their interaction with dislocation. However, longer holding time and higher annealing temperature result in significant decreases in mechanical properties due to the presence of incoherent precipitates (θ phase) and coarsening of the precipitates via grain-boundary diffusion. In the current study, the tensile strength of 560 MPa was obtained with post-heat treatment without work hardening. This value has never been achieved in other studies. The maximum strength was reported as 500 MPa without a work hardening process. - Highlights: • A relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties to post annealing AA2195. • A formation and dissolution of the precipitates were observed for various treatment. • An optimum post-annealing condition was obtained.

  10. Effect of precipitates on mechanical properties of AA2195

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jae-Hee [Launcher Structure and Materials Team, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Jeun, Jeong-Hoon [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chun, Hyun-Jin [Southeast University, Nanjing (China); Lee, Ye Rim [Department of Aerospace System Engineering, University of Science & Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Yoo, Joon-Tae [Launcher Structure and Materials Team, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Yoon, Jong-Hoon [Launcher Structure and Materials Team, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Department of Aerospace System Engineering, University of Science & Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Ho-Sung, E-mail: hslee@kari.re.kr [Launcher Structure and Materials Team, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Department of Aerospace System Engineering, University of Science & Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-06-05

    Addition of 1–4 wt.% lithium into a conventional Al–Cu–Mg alloy allows lower density and higher mechanical properties, which are attractive for aerospace applications. In this study, fundamental investigations including phase and microstructure evolution, resulting in strengthening, of the AA2195 are conducted to observe a possibility of production with commercial level. Precipitation sequence and kinetics during post-annealing were evaluated with variations of temperature and holding time. Microstructures revealed formation and evolution in representative precipitates including θ (Al{sub 2}Cu), ß′ (Al{sub 3}Zr), and T (Al{sub x}Li{sub y}Cu) series. Aluminum alloys have low hardness, modulus, and strength before aging, but precipitates such as θ′ (Al{sub 2}Cu), ß′ (Al{sub 3}Zr), and T{sub 1} (Al{sub 2}LiCu) show enhanced mechanical properties of AA2195 tempered because of their interaction with dislocation. However, longer holding time and higher annealing temperature result in significant decreases in mechanical properties due to the presence of incoherent precipitates (θ phase) and coarsening of the precipitates via grain-boundary diffusion. In the current study, the tensile strength of 560 MPa was obtained with post-heat treatment without work hardening. This value has never been achieved in other studies. The maximum strength was reported as 500 MPa without a work hardening process. - Highlights: • A relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties to post annealing AA2195. • A formation and dissolution of the precipitates were observed for various treatment. • An optimum post-annealing condition was obtained.

  11. On the effect of stress on nucleation and growth of precipitates in an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skrotzki, B.; Shiflet, G. J.; Starke, E. A.

    1996-11-01

    A study has been made of the effect of an externally applied tensile stress on Ω and Θ' precipitate nucleation and growth in an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy and a binary Al-Cu alloy which was used as a model system. Both solutionized and solutionized and aged conditions were studied. The mechanical properties have been measured and the microstructures have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The volume fraction and number density, as well as the precipitate size, have been experimentally determined. It was found that for as-solutionized samples aged under stress, precipitation occurs preferentially parallel to the stress axis. A threshold stress has to be exceeded before this effect can be observed. The critical stress for influencing the precipitate habit plane is between 120 and 140 MPa for Ω and between 16 and 19 MPa for Θ' for the aging temperature of 160 °C. The major effect of the applied stress is on the nucleation process. The results are discussed in terms of the role of the lattice misfit between the matrix and the precipitate nucleus.

  12. Similarities and Improvements of GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR upon TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR in Global Precipitation Rate Estimation, Type Classification and Vertical Profiling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinyu Gao

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Spaceborne precipitation radars are powerful tools used to acquire adequate and high-quality precipitation estimates with high spatial resolution for a variety of applications in hydrological research. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM mission, which deployed the first spaceborne Ka- and Ku-dual frequency radar (DPR, was launched in February 2014 as the upgraded successor of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM. This study matches the swath data of TRMM PR and GPM DPR Level 2 products during their overlapping periods at the global scale to investigate their similarities and DPR’s improvements concerning precipitation amount estimation and type classification of GPM DPR over TRMM PR. Results show that PR and DPR agree very well with each other in the global distribution of precipitation, while DPR improves the detectability of precipitation events significantly, particularly for light precipitation. The occurrences of total precipitation and the light precipitation (rain rates < 1 mm/h detected by GPM DPR are ~1.7 and ~2.53 times more than that of PR. With regard to type classification, the dual-frequency (Ka/Ku and single frequency (Ku methods performed similarly. In both inner (the central 25 beams and outer swaths (1–12 beams and 38–49 beams of DPR, the results are consistent. GPM DPR improves precipitation type classification remarkably, reducing the misclassification of clouds and noise signals as precipitation type “other” from 10.14% of TRMM PR to 0.5%. Generally, GPM DPR exhibits the same type division for around 82.89% (71.02% of stratiform (convective precipitation events recognized by TRMM PR. With regard to the freezing level height and bright band (BB height, both radars correspond with each other very well, contributing to the consistency in stratiform precipitation classification. Both heights show clear latitudinal dependence. Results in this study shall contribute to future development of spaceborne

  13. Magnetic Properties of Copper Doped Nickel Ferrite Nanoparticles Synthesized by Co Precipitation Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anjana, V.; John, Sara; Prakash, Pooja; Nair, Amritha M.; Nair, Aravind R.; Sambhudevan, Sreedha; Shankar, Balakrishnan

    2018-02-01

    Nickel ferrite nanoparticles with copper atoms as dopant have been prepared using co-precipitation method with general formula Ni1-xCuxFe2O4 (x=0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1) and are sintered at quite ambient temperature. Structural and magnetic properties were examined using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction method (XRD) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) to study the influence of copper doping in nickel ferrite magnetic nanoparticles. X-ray studies proves that the particles are possessing single phase spinel structure with an average particle size calculated using Debye Scherer formula. Magnetic measurements reveal that saturation magnetization value (Ms) decreases while magnetic coercivity (Hc) increases upon doping.

  14. Simulated effects of a seasonal precipitation change on the vegetation in tropical Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. S. Gritti

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Pollen data collected in Africa at high (Kuruyange, valley swamp, Burundi and low altitude (Victoria, lake, Uganda; Ngamakala, pond, Congo showed that after 6 ky before present (BP, pollen of deciduous trees increase their relative percentage, suggesting thus the reduction of the annual amount of precipitation and/or an increase of in the length of the dry season. Until now, pollen-climate transfer functions only investigated mean annual precipitation, due to the absence of modern pollen-assemblage analogs under diversified precipitation regimes. Hence these functions omit the potential effect of a change in precipitation seasonality modifying thus the length of the dry season. In the present study, we use an equilibrium biosphere model (i.e. BIOME3.5 to estimate the sensitivity of equatorial African vegetation, at specific sites, to such changes. Climatic scenarios, differing only in the monthly distribution of the current annual amount of precipitation, are examined at the above three locations in equatorial Africa. Soil characteristics, monthly temperatures and cloudiness are kept constant at their present-day values. Good agreement is shown between model simulations and current biomes assemblages, as inferred from pollen data. To date, the increase of the deciduous forest component in the palaeodata around 6 ky BP has been interpreted as the beginning of a drier climate period. However, our results demonstrate that a change in the seasonal distribution of precipitation could also induce the observed changes in vegetation types. This study confirms the importance of taking into account seasonal changes in the hydrological balance. Palaeoecologists can greatly benefit from the use of dynamic process based vegetation models to acccount for modification of the length of the dry season when they wish to reconstruct vegetation composition or to infer quantitative climate parameters, such as temperature and precipitation, from pollen or vegetation

  15. Effect of solution treatment on precipitation behaviors and age hardening response of Al–Cu alloys with Sc addition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, B.A.; Pan, L.; Wang, R.H.; Liu, G.; Cheng, P.M.; Xiao, L.; Sun, J.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: ► Effects of Sc addition on the precipitation and age hardening of Al–Cu alloy were investigated. ► The critical influence of solution treatment on the Sc effect was revealed. ► A significant enhancement in age hardening response was experimentally found and quantitatively assessed. - Abstract: Influences of solution treatment on precipitation behaviors and age hardening response of Al–2.5 wt% Cu–0.3 wt% Sc alloys were investigated, in comparison with Sc-free one. The Al 3 Sc dispersoids, formed during homogenization, were either survived or dissolved to become Sc solute atoms in solution treatment, depending on the solution temperature. When the temperature for solution treatment is 873 K, most of the Al 3 Sc dispersoids were dissolved and a significant enhancement in the uniform precipitation of finer θ′-Al 2 Cu particles was achieved in following aging treatment, causing a noticeable increase in peak-aging hardness by about 90% compared to Sc-free alloys. The enhanced age hardening effect was quantitatively related to the remarkable reduction in effective inter-particle spacing of the plate-shaped θ′-Al 2 Cu precipitates. When the temperature for solution treatment is 793 K, however, most of the Al 3 Sc dispersoids were survived after solution treatment and facilitated the heterogeneous precipitation of θ′-Al 2 Cu plates directly on the {1 0 0} facets of dispersoids in following aging treatment. Concomitantly, the uniform precipitation of θ′-Al 2 Cu plates was greatly suppressed, resulting in a reduced age hardening response. The age hardening responses were quantitatively assessed by using a modified strengthening model that is applicable to the plate-shaped precipitates. The calculations were in good agreement with experimental results. The present results show the importance of controlling solution treatments to achieve significant promotion effect of Sc addition on the precipitation hardening in heat-treatable aluminum

  16. Effect of precipitating agent on the catalytic behaviour of precipitated iron catalysts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Motjope, T.R.; Dlamini, H.T.; Pollak, H.; Coville, N.J.

    1999-01-01

    Iron precipitated catalysts have been prepared using different precipitating agents (NH 4 OH, K 2 CO 3 ) at different pH values. In situ Moessbauer (MES) study of the reduced catalyst prepared using NH 4 OH revealed the presence of superparamagnetic Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ and magnetically split α-Fe only, whereas the catalyst prepared with K 2 CO 3 also showed an extra magnetic sextuplet of Fe 3 O 4 . For both catalyst systems, in situ MES revealed that during Fischer-Tropsch synthesis α-Fe was converted into ε'-Fe 2,2 C and finally into χ-Fe 2,5 C when the synthesis time was increased. The rate of formation of hydrocarbons was observed to increase with the increase in the degree of carburisation with the NH 4 OH catalyst showing a higher rate of reaction. The K 2 CO 3 catalyst exhibited higher olefin selectivity than the NH 4 OH catalyst under similar pH conditions

  17. Effect of solution cooling rate on the γ' precipitation behaviors of a Ni-base P/M superalloy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    The effect of cooling rate on the cooling "/' precipitation behaviors was investigated in a Ni-base powder/metallurgy (P/M)superalioy (FGH4096).The empirical equations were established between the cooling rate and the average sizes of secondary and tertiary γ' precipitates within grains and tertiary γ' precipitates at grain boundaries,as well as the apparent width of grain boundaries.The results show that the average sizes of secondary or tertiary γ' precipitates are inversely correlated with the cooling rate.The shape of secondary γ' precipitates within grains changes from butterfly-like to spherical with the increase of cooling rate,but all the tertiary γ' precipitates formed are spherical in shape.It is also found that tertiary γ' may be precipitated in the latter part of the cooling cycle only if the cooling rate is not faster than 4.3℃/s,and the apparent width of grain boundaries decreases linearly with the increase of cooling rate.

  18. Multiscale modeling of θ' precipitation in Al-Cu binary alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaithyanathan, V.; Wolverton, C.; Chen, L.Q.

    2004-01-01

    We present a multiscale model for studying the growth and coarsening of θ' precipitates in Al-Cu alloys. Our approach utilizes a novel combination of the mesoscale phase-field method with atomistic approaches such as first-principles total energy and linear response calculations, as well as a mixed-space cluster expansion coupled with Monte Carlo simulations. We give quantitative first-principles predictions of: (i) bulk energetics of the Al-Cu solid solution and θ ' precipitate phases, (ii) interfacial energies of the coherent and semi-coherent θ ' /Al interfaces, and (iii) stress-free misfit strains and coherency strain energies of the θ ' /Al system. These first-principles data comprise all the necessary energetic information to construct our phase-field model of microstructural evolution. Using our multiscale approach, we elucidate the effects of various energetic contributions on the equilibrium shape of θ ' precipitates, finding that both the elastic energy and interfacial energy anisotropy contributions play critical roles in determining the aspect ratio of θ ' precipitates. Additionally, we have performed a quantitative study of the morphology of two-dimensional multi-precipitate microstructures during growth and coarsening, and compared the calculated results with experimentally observed morphologies. Our multiscale first-principles/phase-field method is completely general and should therefore be applicable to a wide variety of problems in microstructural evolution

  19. Analysis of the Nonlinear Trends and Non-Stationary Oscillations of Regional Precipitation in Xinjiang, Northwestern China, Using Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Guo

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Changes in precipitation could have crucial influences on the regional water resources in arid regions such as Xinjiang. It is necessary to understand the intrinsic multi-scale variations of precipitation in different parts of Xinjiang in the context of climate change. In this study, based on precipitation data from 53 meteorological stations in Xinjiang during 1960–2012, we investigated the intrinsic multi-scale characteristics of precipitation variability using an adaptive method named ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD. Obvious non-linear upward trends in precipitation were found in the north, south, east and the entire Xinjiang. Changes in precipitation in Xinjiang exhibited significant inter-annual scale (quasi-2 and quasi-6 years and inter-decadal scale (quasi-12 and quasi-23 years. Moreover, the 2–3-year quasi-periodic fluctuation was dominant in regional precipitation and the inter-annual variation had a considerable effect on the regional-scale precipitation variation in Xinjiang. We also found that there were distinctive spatial differences in variation trends and turning points of precipitation in Xinjiang. The results of this study indicated that compared to traditional decomposition methods, the EEMD method, without using any a priori determined basis functions, could effectively extract the reliable multi-scale fluctuations and reveal the intrinsic oscillation properties of climate elements.

  20. Analysis of the Nonlinear Trends and Non-Stationary Oscillations of Regional Precipitation in Xinjiang, Northwestern China, Using Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Bin; Chen, Zhongsheng; Guo, Jinyun; Liu, Feng; Chen, Chuanfa; Liu, Kangli

    2016-03-21

    Changes in precipitation could have crucial influences on the regional water resources in arid regions such as Xinjiang. It is necessary to understand the intrinsic multi-scale variations of precipitation in different parts of Xinjiang in the context of climate change. In this study, based on precipitation data from 53 meteorological stations in Xinjiang during 1960-2012, we investigated the intrinsic multi-scale characteristics of precipitation variability using an adaptive method named ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD). Obvious non-linear upward trends in precipitation were found in the north, south, east and the entire Xinjiang. Changes in precipitation in Xinjiang exhibited significant inter-annual scale (quasi-2 and quasi-6 years) and inter-decadal scale (quasi-12 and quasi-23 years). Moreover, the 2-3-year quasi-periodic fluctuation was dominant in regional precipitation and the inter-annual variation had a considerable effect on the regional-scale precipitation variation in Xinjiang. We also found that there were distinctive spatial differences in variation trends and turning points of precipitation in Xinjiang. The results of this study indicated that compared to traditional decomposition methods, the EEMD method, without using any a priori determined basis functions, could effectively extract the reliable multi-scale fluctuations and reveal the intrinsic oscillation properties of climate elements.

  1. The Use of Convolutional Neural Network in Relating Precipitation to Circulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, B.; Hsu, K. L.; AghaKouchak, A.; Sorooshian, S.

    2017-12-01

    Precipitation prediction in dynamical weather and climate models depends on 1) the predictability of pressure or geopotential height for the forecasting period and 2) the successive work of interpreting the pressure field in terms of precipitation events. The later task is represented as parameterization schemes in numerical models, where detailed computing inevitably blurs the hidden cause-and-effect relationship in precipitation generation. The "big data" provided by numerical simulation, reanalysis and observation networks requires better causation analysis for people to digest and realize their use. While classic synoptical analysis methods are very-often insufficient for spatially distributed high dimensional data, a Convolutional Neural Network(CNN) is developed here to directly relate precipitation with circulation. Case study carried over west coast United States during boreal winter showed that CNN can locate and capture key pressure zones of different structures to project precipitation spatial distribution with high accuracy across hourly to monthly scales. This direct connection between atmospheric circulation and precipitation offers a probe for attributing precipitation to the coverage, location, intensity and spatial structure of characteristic pressure zones, which can be used for model diagnosis and improvement.

  2. Experimental study of diffuse auroral precipitations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mouaia, K.

    1983-01-01

    First chapter is devoted to low energy electron precipitation in the evening sector of the auroral magnetosphere, during quiet and disturbed magnetic periods. Four subjects are studied in detail: the latitude distribution of the varied auroral forms and their relations to external magnetosphere; the time coefficients related to precipitations, the form and the dynamic of the diffuse precipitation equatorial frontier; the precipitation effect on the ionosphere concentration. The last part of the chapter shows that the plasma convection in the magnetosphere, associated to wave-particle interactions near the equatorial accounts for the principal characteristics of the evening sector diffuse electronic precipitations. The second chapter deals with subauroral precipitations of low energy ions, after the magnetospheric substorms, in the high latitude regions of the morning sector [fr

  3. Compound effects of temperature and precipitation in making droughts more frequent in Marathwada, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mondal, A.; Zachariah, M.; Achutarao, K. M.; Otto, F. E. L.

    2017-12-01

    The Marathwada region in Maharashtra, India is known to suffer significantly from agrarian crisis including farmer suicides resulting from persistent droughts. Drought monitoring in India is commonly based on univariate indicators that consider the deficiency in precipitation alone. However, droughts may involve complex interplay of multiple physical variables, necessitating an integrated, multivariate approach to analyse their behaviour. In this study, we compare the behaviour of drought characteristics in Marathwada in the recent years as compared to the first half of the twentieth century, using a joint precipitation and temperature-based Multivariate Standardized Drought Index (MSDI). Drought events in the recent times are found to exhibit exceptional simultaneous anomalies of high temperature and precipitation deficits in this region, though studies on precipitation alone show that these events are within the range of historically observed variability. Additionally, we also develop multivariate copula-based Severity-Duration-Frequency (SDF) relationships for droughts in this region and compare their natures pre- and post- 1950. Based on multivariate return periods considering both temperature and precipitation anomalies, as well as the severity and duration of droughts, it is found that droughts have become more frequent in the post-1950 period. Based on precipitation alone, such an observation cannot be made. This emphasizes the sensitivity of droughts to temperature and underlines the importance of considering compound effects of temperature and precipitation in order to avoid an underestimation of drought risk. This observation-based analysis is the first step towards investigating the causal mechanisms of droughts, their evolutions and impacts in this region, particularly those influenced by anthropogenic climate change.

  4. Simulation of effects of redox and precipitation on diffusion of uranium solution species in backfill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carnahan, C.L.

    1987-12-01

    This investigation addresses the problem of prediction of the rate of migration of redox-sensitive solution species within packing and backfill materials under conditions of variable oxidation potential. Effects of changes of oxidation potential and precipitation of stable uranium compounds during diffusion of uranium from a region of high oxidation potential into a region of low oxidation potential were simulated numerically. Questions of particular interest addressed in the investigation were the existence of a moving ''redox front'' and the influence of precipitation-dissolution processes on uranium migration. The simulations showed that no expanding redox fronts existed at any simulated time up to 3.2 x 10 5 years (10 13 s). In simulations where precipitation of stable solids was not allowed, variations of oxidation potential did not affect total uranium concentrations in solution. Concentration profiles could be predicted simply by diffusion of the (constant) source concentrations. In simulations where precipitation of stable solids was allowed, uraninite and calcium uranate accumulated at the source-transport domain interface, while coffinite penetrated further into the transport domain. Total uranium concentrations in regions of precipitation were determined by solubilities of the precipitated solids, and were six to seven orders of magnitude lower than those in the simulations without precipitation, throughout the domain of transport. 14 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs

  5. Effectiveness of Arsenic Co-Precipitation with Fe-Al Hydroxides for Treatment of Contaminated Water

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaime Wilson Vargas de Mello

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Wastewater treatment is a challenging problem faced by the mining industry, especially when mine effluents include acid mine drainage with elevated arsenic levels. Iron (hydroxides are known to be effective in removal of As from wastewater, and although the resulting compounds are relatively unstable, the presence of structural Al enhances their stability, particularly under reducing conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Al-Fe (hydroxide co-precipitates for the removal of As from wastewater and to assess the chemical stability of the products. Different Al-Fe (hydroxides were synthesized at room temperature from ferrous and aluminum salts using three different Fe:Al molar ratios (1:0.0, 1:0.3, and 1:0.7 and aged for 90 days (sulfate experiments or 120 days (chloride experiments in the presence of arsenic. At the end of the aging periods, the precipitated sludges were dried and characterized in order to evaluate their stability and therefore potential As mobility. All treatments were effective in reducing As levels in the water to below 10 µg L-1, but the presence of Al impaired the effectiveness of the treatment. Aluminum decreased the chemical stability of the precipitated sludge and hence its ability to retain As under natural environmental conditions.

  6. Precipitate strengthening of nanostructured aluminium alloy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wawer, Kinga; Lewandowska, Malgorzata; Kurzydlowski, Krzysztof J

    2012-11-01

    Grain boundaries and precipitates are the major microstructural features influencing the mechanical properties of metals and alloys. Refinement of the grain size to the nanometre scale brings about a significant increase in the mechanical strength of the materials because of the increased number of grain boundaries which act as obstacles to sliding dislocations. A similar effect is obtained if nanoscale precipitates are uniformly distributed in coarse grained matrix. The development of nanograin sized alloys raises the important question of whether or not these two mechanisms are "additive" and precipitate strengthening is effective in nanostructured materials. In the reported work, hydrostatic extrusion (HE) was used to obtain nanostructured 7475 aluminium alloy. Nanosized precipitates were obtained by post-HE annealing. It was found that such annealing at the low temperatures (100 degrees C) results in a significant increase in the microhardness (HV0.2) and strength of the nanostructured 7475 aluminium alloy. These results are discussed in terms of the interplay between the precipitation and deformation of nanocrystalline metals.

  7. Effect of solution heat treatment on the precipitation behavior and strengthening mechanisms of electron beam smelted Inconel 718 superalloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    You, Xiaogang [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023 (China); Laboratory for New Energy Material Energetic Beam Metallurgical Equipment Engineering of Liaoning Province, Dalian 116024 (China); Tan, Yi, E-mail: tanyi@dlut.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023 (China); Laboratory for New Energy Material Energetic Beam Metallurgical Equipment Engineering of Liaoning Province, Dalian 116024 (China); Shi, Shuang [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023 (China); Laboratory for New Energy Material Energetic Beam Metallurgical Equipment Engineering of Liaoning Province, Dalian 116024 (China); Yang, Jenn-Ming [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Wang, Yinong [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023 (China); Li, Jiayan; You, Qifan [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023 (China); Laboratory for New Energy Material Energetic Beam Metallurgical Equipment Engineering of Liaoning Province, Dalian 116024 (China)

    2017-03-24

    Inconel 718 superalloy was fabricated by electron beam smelting (EBS) technique. The effect of solution heat treatment on the precipitation behavior and mechanical properties of EBS 718 superalloys were studied, the strengthening mechanisms were analyzed and related to the mechanical properties. The results indicate that the optimized microstructures can be acquired by means of EBS, which is attributed to the rapid cooling rate of approximately 280 ℃/min. The solution heat treatment shows a great impact on the microstructures, precipitation behavior and mechanical properties of EBS 718 superalloy. The γ'' phase shows an apt to precipitate at relatively lower solution temperatures followed by aging, while the γ' precipitates are prone to precipitate at higher temperatures. When solution treated at 1150 ℃, the γ' precipitates are dispersively distributed in the matrix with size and volume fraction of 8.43 nm and 21.66%, respectively, a Vickers hardness of approximately 489 HV{sub 0.1} is observed for the aged superalloy. The precipitation strengthening effect of EBS 718 superalloy could be elucidated by considering the interaction between the dislocations and γ''/γ' precipitates. The shearing of γ' is resisted by the coherency strengthening and formation of antiphase boundary (APB), which shows equal effect as weakly coupled dislocation (WCD) model. And for γ'', the strengthening effect is much more prominent with the primary strengthening mechanism of ordering. Moreover, it is interestingly found that the strengthening mechanism of stacking fault (SF) shearing coexists with APB shearing, and SF shearing plays a major role in strengthening of EBS 718 superalloy.

  8. Multiresolution comparison of precipitation datasets for large-scale models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chun, K. P.; Sapriza Azuri, G.; Davison, B.; DeBeer, C. M.; Wheater, H. S.

    2014-12-01

    Gridded precipitation datasets are crucial for driving large-scale models which are related to weather forecast and climate research. However, the quality of precipitation products is usually validated individually. Comparisons between gridded precipitation products along with ground observations provide another avenue for investigating how the precipitation uncertainty would affect the performance of large-scale models. In this study, using data from a set of precipitation gauges over British Columbia and Alberta, we evaluate several widely used North America gridded products including the Canadian Gridded Precipitation Anomalies (CANGRD), the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis, the Water and Global Change (WATCH) project, the thin plate spline smoothing algorithms (ANUSPLIN) and Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA). Based on verification criteria for various temporal and spatial scales, results provide an assessment of possible applications for various precipitation datasets. For long-term climate variation studies (~100 years), CANGRD, NCEP, WATCH and ANUSPLIN have different comparative advantages in terms of their resolution and accuracy. For synoptic and mesoscale precipitation patterns, CaPA provides appealing performance of spatial coherence. In addition to the products comparison, various downscaling methods are also surveyed to explore new verification and bias-reduction methods for improving gridded precipitation outputs for large-scale models.

  9. Effect of amino acids on the precipitation kinetics and Ca isotopic composition of gypsum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harouaka, Khadouja; Kubicki, James D.; Fantle, Matthew S.

    2017-12-01

    Stirred gypsum (CaSO4 · 2H2O) precipitation experiments (initial Ωgypsum = 2.4 ± 0.14, duration ≈ 1.0-1.5 h) were conducted in the presence of the amino acids glycine (190 μM), L-alanine (190 μM), D- and L-arginine (45 μM), and L-tyrosine (200 μM) to investigate the effect of simple organic compounds on both the precipitation kinetics and Ca isotopic composition of gypsum. Relative to abiotic controls, glycine, tyrosine, and alanine inhibited precipitation rates by ∼22%, 27%, and 29%, respectively, while L- and D-arginine accelerated crystal growth by ∼8% and 48%, respectively. With the exception of tyrosine, amino acid induced inhibition resulted in fractionation factors (αs-f) associated with precipitation that were no more than 0.3‰ lower than amino acid-free controls. In contrast, the tyrosine and D- and L-arginine experiments had αs-f values associated with precipitation that were similar to the controls. Our experimental results indicate that Ca isotopic fractionation associated with gypsum precipitation is impacted by growth inhibition in the presence of amino acids. Specifically, we propose that the surface-specific binding of amino acids to gypsum can change the equilibrium fractionation factor of the bulk mineral. We investigate the hypothesis that amino acids can influence the growth of gypsum at specific crystal faces via adsorption and that different faces have distinct fractionation factors (αface-fluid). Accordingly, preferential sorption of amino acids at particular faces changes the relative, face-specific mass fluxes of Ca during growth, which influences the bulk isotopic composition of the mineral. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the energetic favorability of glycine sorption onto gypsum crystal faces occurs in the order: (1 1 0) > (0 1 0) > (1 2 0) > (0 1 1), while glycine sorption onto the (-1 1 1) face was found to be energetically unfavorable. Face-specific fractionation factors constrained by

  10. Rheology of tetraphenylborate precipitate slurry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goren, I.D.; Martin, H.D.; McLain, M.A.

    1985-01-01

    The rheological properties of tetraphenylborate precipitate slurry were determined. This nonradioactive slurry simulates the radioactive tetraphenylborate precipitate generated at the Savannah River Plant by the In-Tank Precipitation Process. The data obtained in this study was applied in the design of slurry pumps, transfer pumps, transfer lines, and vessel agitation for the Defense Waste Processing Facility and other High Level Waste treatment projects. The precipitate slurry behaves as a Bingham plastic. The yield stress is directly proportional to the concentration of insoluble solids over the range of concentrations studied. The consistency is also a linear function of insoluble solids over the same concentration range. Neither the yield stress nor the consistency was observed to be affected by the presence of the soluble solids. Temperature effects on flow properties of the slurry were also examined: the yield stress is inversely proportional to temperature, but the consistency of the slurry is independent of temperature. No significant time-dependent effects were found. 4 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs

  11. Combinative hardening effects of precipitation in a commercial aged Al–Cu–Li–X alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Zhongwei, E-mail: chzw@nwpu.edu.cn; Zhao, Kai; Fan, Li

    2013-12-20

    The combinative effects of precipitates on microstructure and hardness of an Al–Cu–Li–X alloy (X=Mg, Zn, Mn, Zr) in artificial ageing of 165 °C were investigated by a transmission electron microscopy and hardness test. Results show that the hardness appears at regression in early ageing stage and increases rapidly during subsequent ageing of 16 h. Hardening effects of as-quenched sample are mainly attributed to β′ (Al{sub 3}Zr) dispersoids, quenched-in vacancies and dislocations. Though most of the fine and uniform precipitates θ′ (Al{sub 2}Cu), δ′ (Al{sub 3}Li), σ (Al{sub 5}Cu{sub 6}Mg{sub 2}) and GP zone came into being in ageing of 0.5 h, annihilation of quenched-in vacancies and reduction of dislocation were ascribed to the hardening regression at early stages of ageing. As further ageing is in progress, all precipitates including T{sub 1} (Al{sub 2}CuLi), σ, δ′ and θ′ have appeared during the ageing of 16 h that follows, and their combinative hardening effects are responsible for the rapid hardness increase at peak-ageing.

  12. Modeling the effects of ion dose and crystallographic symmetry on the morphological evolution of embedded precipitates under thermal annealing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Kun-Dar

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: •We model the faceted precipitates formation by post-implantation annealing. •The anisotropic interfacial energy and diffusion kinetics play crucial roles. •The evolutions of faceted precipitates, including Ostwald ripening, are revealed. •The mechanism of the nucleation and growth is based on the atomic diffusion. •The effects of ion dose and crystallographic symmetry are also investigated. -- Abstract: Thermal annealing is one of the most common techniques to synthesize embedded precipitates by ion implantation process. In this study, an anisotropic phase field model is presented to investigate the effects of ion dose and crystallographic symmetry on the morphological formation and evolution of embedded precipitates during post-implantation thermal annealing process. This theoretical model provides an efficient numerical approach to understand the phenomenon of faceted precipitates formation by ion implantation. As a theoretical analysis, the interfacial energy and diffusion kinetics play prominent roles in the mechanism of atomic diffusion for the precipitates formation. With a low ion dose, faceted precipitates are developed by virtue of the anisotropic interfacial energy. As an increase of ion dose, connected precipitates with crystallographic characters on the edge are appeared. For a high ion dose, labyrinth-like nanostructures of precipitates are produced and the characteristic morphology of crystallographic symmetry becomes faint. These simulation results for the morphological evolutions of embedded precipitates by ion implantation are corresponded with many experimental observations in the literatures. The quantitative analyses of the simulations are also well described the consequence of precipitates formation under different conditions

  13. Method for linearizing the potentiometric curves of precipitation titration in nonaqueous and aqueous-organic solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bykova, L.N.; Chesnokova, O.Ya.; Orlova, M.V.

    1995-01-01

    The method for linearizing the potentiometric curves of precipitation titration is studied for its application in the determination of halide ions (Cl - , Br - , I - ) in dimethylacetamide, dimethylformamide, in which titration is complicated by additional equilibrium processes. It is found that the method of linearization permits the determination of the titrant volume at the end point of titration to high accuracy in the case of titration curves without a potential jump in the proximity of the equivalent point (5 x 10 -5 M). 3 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs

  14. Regional climate scenarios - A study on precipitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hesselbjerg Christensen, J.; Boessing Christensen, O.

    2001-01-01

    A set of nested climate change simulations for the Nordic region and Denmark has been revisited. In the present work we have re-examined the results of CCMB and MBC with special emphasis on precipitation intensity frequencies, in particular the more extreme part of the frequency distribution. It has been demonstrated that the role of extreme precipitation events appears to be more realistically described in a high-resolution model, in terms of numerical agreement as well as seasonal variation. This is mainly due to a better simulation of deep low-pressure systems and mesoscale circulation. Generally, the analysis has confirmed the results from CCMB, but furthermore a resolution effect has been identified which seems essential to the understanding of climate change effects on the extreme end of the precipitation intensity distribution. In order to analyse the role of the model resolution we have aggregated both the nested model data and observational records to the GCM grid from the driving AOGCM. It was found that, in spite of changes in absolute numbers, the seasonal behaviour of decay constants does not change appreciably because of the aggregation. The RCM results show a seasonal behaviour very similar to an observed data set. It is therefore concluded that the GCM has an unrealistic simulation of the dependence of heavy precipitation on climate, as manifested in seasonal variation. In contrast, the regional simulations remain close to observation in this respect. Furthermore, they agree on a conclusion that extreme precipitation generally scales with average precipitation (no significant change in decay constants were detected), but that crucial summer season may be an exception, exhibiting an anomalous increase in heavy precipitation due to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. The analysis has only been performed over Denmark due to lack of daily observational data for other regions. It is, however, necessary to extend the work to other areas, for instance

  15. Precipitation and measurements of precipitation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schmidt, F.H.; Bruin, H.A.R. de; Attmannspacher, W.; Harrold, T.W.; Kraijenhoff van de Leur, D.A.

    1977-01-01

    In Western Europe, precipitation is normal phenomenon; it is of importance to all aspects of society, particularly to agriculture, in cattle breeding and, of course, it is a subject of hydrological research. Precipitation is an essential part in the hydrological cycle. How disastrous local

  16. Synthesis of Zn{sub 0.95}Cr{sub 0.05}O DMS by co-precipitation and ceramic methods: Structural and magnetization studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paul Joseph, D. [Materials Science Centre, Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600025 (India); Naveenkumar, S. [Materials Science Centre, Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600025 (India); Sivakumar, N. [Materials Science Centre, Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600025 (India); Venkateswaran, C. [Materials Science Centre, Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600025 (India)]. E-mail: cvunom@hotmail.com

    2006-05-10

    Transitional metal ions-substituted ZnO are recently explored for SPINTRONICS applications. Synthesis of single-phase oxide 'diluted magnetic semiconductors' (DMS) is a must to explore the magnetic properties arising due to the strong sp-d exchange interaction. The synthesis route plays a vital role in this aspect. In this work, we have prepared Zn{sub 0.95}Cr{sub 0.05}O by using the co-precipitation method and also the standard ceramic method and optimized the conditions to obtain the single-phase compound. X-ray diffraction measurements were done on Zn{sub 0.95}Cr{sub 0.05}O annealed and sintered at various temperatures. Comparing these results, we conclude that the co-precipitation method is more convenient for obtaining single-phase compound by the relatively low temperature processing of the precipitated hydroxides. Pelleted sample examined for its magnetic property using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) indicated ferromagnetic-like behavior at 300 K and a spin-glass state at 77 K.

  17. "Cool" vs. "warm" winter precipitation and its effect on streamflow in California

    OpenAIRE

    Cayan, Daniel R.

    1991-01-01

    Precipitation is a difficult variable to understand and predict. In this study, monthly precipitation in California is divided into two classes according to the monthly temperature to better diagnose the atmospheric circulation that causes precipitation, and to illustrate how temperature compounds the precipitation to runoff process.

  18. Stable Isotopic Variations in Precipitation in Southwest China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2006-01-01

    This study analyzes the relationships of stable isotopes in precipitation with temperature, air pressure and humidity at different altitudes, and the potential influencing mechanisms of control factors on the stable isotopes in precipitation in Southwest China. There appear marked negative correlations of the δ18O in precipitation with precipitation amount, vapor pressure and atmospheric precipitable water (PW)at the Mengzi, Simao and Tengchong stations on the synoptic timescale; the marked negative correlations between the δ18O in precipitation and the diurnal mean temperature at 400 hPa, 500 hPa, 700 hPa and 850hPa are different from the temperature effect in middle-high-latitude inland areas. In addition, the notable positive correlation between the δ18O in precipitation and the dew-point deficit △Td at different altitudes is found at the three stations. Precipitation is not the only factor generating an amount effect. Probably,the amount effect is related to the variations of atmospheric circulation and vapor origins. On the annual timescale, the annual precipitation amount weighted-mean δ18O displays negative correlations not only with annual precipitation but also with annual mean temperature at 500 hPa. It can be deduced that, in the years with an abnormally strong summer monsoon, more warm and wet air from low-latitude oceans is transported northward along the vapor channel located in Southwest China and generates abnormally strong rainfall on the way. Meanwhile, the abnormally strong condensation process will release more condensed latent heat in the atmosphere, and this will lead to a rise of atmospheric temperature during rainfall but a decline of δ18O in the precipitation. On the other hand, in the years with an abnormally weak summer monsoon, the precipitation and the atmospheric temperature during rainfalls decrease abnormally but the δ18O in precipitation increases.

  19. A comparison of monthly precipitation point estimates at 6 locations in Iran using integration of soft computing methods and GARCH time series model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehdizadeh, Saeid; Behmanesh, Javad; Khalili, Keivan

    2017-11-01

    Precipitation plays an important role in determining the climate of a region. Precise estimation of precipitation is required to manage and plan water resources, as well as other related applications such as hydrology, climatology, meteorology and agriculture. Time series of hydrologic variables such as precipitation are composed of deterministic and stochastic parts. Despite this fact, the stochastic part of the precipitation data is not usually considered in modeling of precipitation process. As an innovation, the present study introduces three new hybrid models by integrating soft computing methods including multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), Bayesian networks (BN) and gene expression programming (GEP) with a time series model, namely generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) for modeling of the monthly precipitation. For this purpose, the deterministic (obtained by soft computing methods) and stochastic (obtained by GARCH time series model) parts are combined with each other. To carry out this research, monthly precipitation data of Babolsar, Bandar Anzali, Gorgan, Ramsar, Tehran and Urmia stations with different climates in Iran were used during the period of 1965-2014. Root mean square error (RMSE), relative root mean square error (RRMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and determination coefficient (R2) were employed to evaluate the performance of conventional/single MARS, BN and GEP, as well as the proposed MARS-GARCH, BN-GARCH and GEP-GARCH hybrid models. It was found that the proposed novel models are more precise than single MARS, BN and GEP models. Overall, MARS-GARCH and BN-GARCH models yielded better accuracy than GEP-GARCH. The results of the present study confirmed the suitability of proposed methodology for precise modeling of precipitation.

  20. Effect of external stress on deuteride (hydride) precipitation in Zircaloy-4 using in situ neutron diffraction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Jun-li [Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); An, Ke; Stoica, Alexandru D. [Chemical and Engineering Materials Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Heuser, Brent J., E-mail: bheuser@illinois.edu [Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)

    2017-04-15

    In situ neutron diffraction is utilized to study the deuteride (hydride) precipitation behavior in a cold-worked stress-relieved (CWSR) Zircaloy-4 material upon cooling from 420 °C to room temperature with a 78 MPa external stress applied along the rolling direction (RD) of the material. Two banks detector capture the diffraction signal from two principal directions of the specimen, the normal direction (ND) and the rolling direction (RD). The evolution of deuterium concentration in zirconium solid solution along the two specimen directions is measured by studying the δ-(220) peak intensity, applying the Rietveld refinement method to the diffraction data and using the measured zirconium c-axis lattice distortion. The deuterium concentration is observed to be higher for zirconium grains in the ND than the RD. The terminal solid solubility of precipitation (TSSp) for deuterium in the solution is then described using the Arrhenius equation. It is observed that the applied stress reduces the energy term Q in the Arrhenius equation when compared with the unstressed Q values from the work of others. A model by Puls is applied to study the effect of stress on deuterium solubility, with polycrystalline hydride precipitation strain calculated using the Kearns factor representative of the studied material. The experimental result does not agree with the model prediction of Puls.

  1. On the complex conductivity signatures of calcite precipitation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Yuxin; Hubbard, Susan; Williams, Kenneth Hurst; Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan

    2009-11-01

    Calcite is a mineral phase that frequently precipitates during subsurface remediation or geotechnical engineering processes. This precipitation can lead to changes in the overall behavior of the system, such as flow alternation and soil strengthening. Because induced calcite precipitation is typically quite variable in space and time, monitoring its distribution in the subsurface is a challenge. In this research, we conducted a laboratory column experiment to investigate the potential of complex conductivity as a mean to remotely monitor calcite precipitation. Calcite precipitation was induced in a glass bead (3 mm) packed column through abiotic mixing of CaCl{sub 2} and Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} solutions. The experiment continued for 12 days with a constant precipitation rate of {approx}0.6 milimole/d. Visual observations and scanning electron microscopy imaging revealed two distinct phases of precipitation: an earlier phase dominated by well distributed, discrete precipitates and a later phase characterized by localized precipitate aggregation and associated pore clogging. Complex conductivity measurements exhibited polarization signals that were characteristic of both phases of calcite precipitation, with the precipitation volume and crystal size controlling the overall polarization magnitude and relaxation time constant. We attribute the observed responses to polarization at the electrical double layer surrounding calcite crystals. Our experiment illustrates the potential of electrical methods for characterizing the distribution and aggregation state of nonconductive minerals like calcite. Advancing our ability to quantify geochemical transformations using such noninvasive methods is expected to facilitate our understanding of complex processes associated with natural subsurface systems as well as processes induced through engineered treatments (such as environmental remediation and carbon sequestration).

  2. On the Isotopic Altitude Effect of Precipitation in the Northern Adriatic (Croatia)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roller-Lutz, Z.; Mance, D.; Hunjak, T., E-mail: Roller@medri.hr [Stable Isotope Laboratory, Medical Faculty, University of Rijeka, Rijeka (Croatia); Lutz, H. O. [Stable Isotope Laboratory, Medical Faculty, University of Rijeka, Rijeka (Croatia); Physics Faculty, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld (Germany)

    2013-07-15

    The upper (northern) Adriatic is very rich in precipitation. This input into the water system and its stable isotope composition is a basic factor, knowledge of which is required for proper use and management of water resources. The geomorphology of the region (e.g., mountains of 1400 m next to the sea) can cause specific local conditions. The isotopic composition of precipitation has been measured in various locations at different altitudes. For {delta}{sup 18}O this 'altitude effect' is found to lie around -0.2 per mille /100 m; its exact value depends on the specific location and the season. The {delta}{sup 2}H values and the d-excess vary correspondingly. (author)

  3. P-phase precipitation and its effect on martensitic transformation in (Ni,Pt)Ti shape memory alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao, Y.; Zhou, N.; Yang, F.; Cui, Y.; Kovarik, L.; Hatcher, N.; Noebe, R.; Mills, M.J.; Wang, Y.

    2012-01-01

    A new precipitate phase named P-phase has recently been identified in (Ni,Pt)Ti high temperature shape memory alloys. In order to understand the roles played by the fine coherent P-phase precipitates in determining the martensitic transformation temperature (M s ), strength of the B2 matrix phase, dimensional stability and shape memory effect of the alloys, a phase field model of P-phase precipitation is developed. Model inputs, including lattice parameters, precipitate–matrix orientation relationship, elastic constants and free energy data, are obtained from experimental characterization, ab initio calculations and thermodynamic databases. Through computer simulations, the shape and spatial distribution of the P-phase precipitates, as well as the compositional and stress fields around them, are quantitatively determined. On this basis, the elastic interaction energy between the P-phase precipitates and a martenstic nucleus is calculated. It is found that both the chemical non-uniformity and stress field associated with the P-phase precipitates are in favor of the martensitic transformation. Their relative contributions to the increase in M s temperature are quantified as a function of aging time and the result seems to agree with the experimental measurements. The shape and spatial distribution of the P-phase precipitates predicted by the simulations also agree well with experimental observations.

  4. The role of intermetallic precipitates in Ti-62222S

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, D J [US Air Force Mater. Directorate Wright Lab., Wright Patterson AFB, OH (United States); Broderick, T F [US Air Force Mater. Directorate Wright Lab., Wright Patterson AFB, OH (United States); Woodhouse, J B [UES Inc, Dayton, OH (United States); Hoenigman, J R [Wright State Univ., Dayton, OH (United States). Research Inst.

    1996-08-15

    Samples of Ti-62222-0.23wt.%Si were heat treated and aged at temperatures ranging from 1150 F to 1500 F with the view of effecting selective precipitation of {alpha}{sub 2} precipitates and silicides (i.e. Ti{sub x}Zr{sub 5-x}Si{sub 3}). The effect of these intermetallic precipitates on the mechanical properties and fracture morphology was assessed via three separate microstructural conditions: Ti-62222S with {alpha}{sub 2} precipitates, Ti-62222S with {alpha}{sub 2} and silicide precipitates, and Ti-62222S with silicide precipitates. Both types of intermetallic precipitate appear to lower the fracture toughness, however {alpha}{sub 2} promotes intergranular fracture while silicides lead to transgranular failure and dimpling. The combined presence of the {alpha}{sub 2} and silicides leads to mixed mode failure. Further, since {alpha}{sub 2} is present in the {alpha} phase and silicides precipitate out in the {beta} phase, it appears that the effect of each of these intermetallics in Ti-62222S is additive rather than synergistic. (orig.)

  5. Effect of Various Retrogression Regimes on Aging Behavior and Precipitates Characterization of a High Zn-Containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Kai; Xiong, Baiqing; Zhang, Yongan; Li, Zhihui; Li, Xiwu; Huang, Shuhui; Yan, Lizhen; Yan, Hongwei; Liu, Hongwei

    2018-03-01

    In the present work, the influence of various retrogression treatments on hardness, electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of a high Zn-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy is investigated and several retrogression regimes subjected to a same strength level are proposed. The precipitates are qualitatively investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy techniques. Based on the matrix precipitate observations, the distributions of precipitate size and nearest inter-precipitate distance are extracted from bright-field TEM images projected along Al orientation with the aid of an imaging analysis and an arithmetic method. The results show that GP zones and η' precipitates are the major precipitates and the precipitate size and its distribution range continuously enlarge with the retrogression regime expands to an extent of high temperature. The nearest inter-precipitate distance ranges obtained are quite the same and the average distance of nearest inter-precipitates show a slight increase. The influence of precipitates on mechanical properties is discussed through the interaction relationship between precipitates and dislocations.

  6. Effect of Various Retrogression Regimes on Aging Behavior and Precipitates Characterization of a High Zn-Containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Kai; Xiong, Baiqing; Zhang, Yongan; Li, Zhihui; Li, Xiwu; Huang, Shuhui; Yan, Lizhen; Yan, Hongwei; Liu, Hongwei

    2018-05-01

    In the present work, the influence of various retrogression treatments on hardness, electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of a high Zn-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy is investigated and several retrogression regimes subjected to a same strength level are proposed. The precipitates are qualitatively investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy techniques. Based on the matrix precipitate observations, the distributions of precipitate size and nearest inter-precipitate distance are extracted from bright-field TEM images projected along Al orientation with the aid of an imaging analysis and an arithmetic method. The results show that GP zones and η' precipitates are the major precipitates and the precipitate size and its distribution range continuously enlarge with the retrogression regime expands to an extent of high temperature. The nearest inter-precipitate distance ranges obtained are quite the same and the average distance of nearest inter-precipitates show a slight increase. The influence of precipitates on mechanical properties is discussed through the interaction relationship between precipitates and dislocations.

  7. The effect of Si on precipitation in Al–Cu–Mg alloy with a high Cu/Mg ratio

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, L.; Chen, J.H.; Wang, S.B.; Liu, C.H.; Yang, S.S.; Wu, C.L.

    2014-01-01

    The precipitations in an Al–5.0Cu–0.3Mg (wt%) alloy and an Al–5.0Cu–0.3Mg–0.3Si (wt%) alloy have been systematically investigated by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy. The results are compared to clarify the effect of Si addition. The nucleation and growth process of θ′ (Al 2 Cu) phase in Si-containing alloy during isothermal ageing at 180 °C is revealed in detail. The formation of Q″-type precipitates, on which the θ′ precursors nucleate heterogeneously, contributes to the considerable increase in the ageing kinetics and higher strength at the early ageing stage. The thickening of the θ′ precipitate is largely confined due to the rather small size of fine Q″-type precipitate. As a result, a large proportion of θ′ phase precipitates possess a specific thickness of 2c θ′ and change slightly during the entire observed duration of ageing. The θ′ growth mechanism distinct from the Al–Cu–Mg alloy finally leads to a refined θ′ morphology regarding the thickness and aspect ratio (diameter/thickness). As is counterintuitive, the θ′ precipitate thickness distribution is demonstrated to have little effect on the mechanical property steadiness at the late ageing stage of the Al–Cu–Mg–(Si) alloys

  8. New method to estimate paleoprecipitation using fossil amphibians and reptiles and the middle and late Miocene precipitation gradients in Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Böhme, M.; Ilg, A.; Ossig, A.; Küchenhoff, H.

    2006-06-01

    Existing methods for determining paleoprecipitation are subject to large errors (±350 400 mm or more using mammalian proxies), or are restricted to wet climate systems due to their strong facies dependence (paleobotanical proxies). Here we describe a new paleoprecipitation tool based on an indexing of ecophysiological groups within herpetological communities. In recent communities these indices show a highly significant correlation to annual precipitation (r2 = 0.88), and yield paleoprecipitation estimates with average errors of ±250 280 mm. The approach was validated by comparison with published paleoprecipitation estimates from other methods. The method expands the application of paleoprecipitation tools to dry climate systems and in this way contributes to the establishment of a more comprehensive paleoprecipitation database. This method is applied to two high-resolution time intervals from the European Neogene: the early middle Miocene (early Langhian) and the early late Miocene (early Tortonian). The results indicate that both periods show significant meridional precipitation gradients in Europe, these being stronger in the early Langhian (threefold decrease toward the south) than in the early Tortonian (twofold decrease toward the south). This pattern indicates a strengthening of climatic belts during the middle Miocene climatic optimum due to Southern Hemisphere cooling and an increased contribution of Arctic low-pressure cells to the precipitation from the late Miocene onward due to Northern Hemisphere cooling.

  9. The Contribution of Extreme Precipitation to the Total Precipitation in China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    SUN Jian-Qi

    2012-01-01

    Using daily precipitation data from weather stations in China, the variations in the contribution of extreme precipitation to the total precipitation are analyzed. It is found that extreme precipitation accounts for approximately one third of the total precipitation based on the overall mean for China. Over the past half century, extreme precipitation has played a dominant role in the year-to-year variability of the total precipitation. On the decadal time scale, the extreme precipitation makes different contributions to the wetting and drying regions of China. The wetting trends of particular regions are mainly attributed to increases in extreme precipitation; in contrast, the drying trends of other regions are mainly due to decreases in non-extreme precipitation.

  10. a Study of Precipitation Using Dual-Frequency and Interferometric Doppler Radars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chilson, Phillip Bruce

    The primary focus of this dissertation involves the investigation of precipitation using Doppler radar but using distinctly different methods. Each method will be treated separately. The first part describes an investigation of a tropical thunderstorm that occurred in the summer of 1991 over the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Observations were made using a vertically pointing, dual-wavelength, collinear beam Doppler radar which permits virtually simultaneous observations of the same pulse volume using transmission and reception of coherent UHF and VHF signals on alternate pulses. This made it possible to measure directly the vertical wind within the sampling volume using the VHF signal while using the UHF signal to study the nature of the precipitation. The observed storm showed strong similarities with systems observed in the Global Atmospheric Research Program's (GARP) Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) study. The experiment provided a means of determining various parameters associated with the storm, such as the vertical air velocity, the mean fall speeds of the precipitation, and the reflectivity. Rogers proposed a means of deducing the mean fall speed of precipitation particles using the radar reflectivity factor. Using the data from our experiment, the mean precipitation fall speeds were calculated and compared with those that would be inferred from Rogers' method. The results suggest the Rogers method of estimating mean precipitation fall speeds to be unreliable in turbulent environments. The second part reports observations made with the 50 MHz Middle and Upper Atmosphere (MU) radar located at Shigaraki, Japan during May of 1992. The facility was operated in a spatial interferometry (SI) mode while observing frontal precipitation. The data suggest that the presence of precipitation can produce a bias in the SI cross-spectral phase that in turn creates an overestimation of the horizontal wind. The process is likened to

  11. Independent effects of temperature and precipitation on modeled runoff in the conterminous United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCabe, G.J.; Wolock, D.M.

    2011-01-01

    A water-balance model is used to simulate time series of water-year runoff for 4 km ?? 4 km grid cells for the conterminous United States during the 1900-2008 period. Model outputs are used to examine the separate effects of precipitation and temperature on runoff variability. Overall, water-year runoff has increased in the conterminous United States and precipitation has accounted for almost all of the variability in water-year runoff during the past century. In contrast, temperature effects on runoff have been small for most locations in the United States even during periods when temperatures for most of the United States increased significantly. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

  12. Evaluating the Role and Effects of Precipitation on Relativistic Electron Losses during Storms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Y.; Fu, X.

    2016-12-01

    Theoretic studies have suggested that during storm times various waves (e.g., whistler-mode chorus and electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves) can cause significant precipitation of relativistic ( MeV) electrons that are originally trapped inside the outer radiation belt. However, the role of precipitation and its quantitative contribution to the losses of outer-belt electrons remain open questions. In this study, we tackle these questions by systemically examining the latest wave and electron in-situ, simultaneous observations made at different altitudes by Van Allen Probes from near equator, NOAA POES at low Earth orbits near/across electron loss cone, and BARREL under the mesosphere. After calibrating with DEMTER observations, we first confirm and quantify the response of POES MEPED proton channels to MeV electrons. Next, we identify a list of precipitation events from BARREL and POES measurements, examine the temporal adn spatial relation between the two data sets, and estimate the intensities of electron precipitation with ascertained uncertainties. Then, from Van Allen Probes data, we select another list of dropout events during storms. By cross checking the above two lists, we are able to determine the causal relation between precipitation and dropouts through individual case as well as statistical studies so as to quantify the contributions from precipitation. This study mainly focuses on the relatively small L-shells with positive phase space density radial gradient in order to alleviate the impacts from outward radial diffusion and adiabatic effects. Based upon the recent discovery of cross-energy cross-pitch angle coherence, we pay particular attention to the cross-term diffusions which may account for the extra "loss" needed by observed MeV electron dropouts. Results from this observational study will advance our knowledge on the loss mechanism of outer-belt electrons, and thus lay down another stepping stone towards high-fidelity physics-based models for

  13. Effects of δ-hydride precipitation at a crack tip on crack propagation in delayed hydride cracking of Zircaloy-2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kubo, T., E-mail: kubo@nfd.co.jp [Nippon Nuclear Fuel Development Co., Ltd., 2163 Narita-cho, Oarai-machi, Ibaraki 311-1313 (Japan); Kobayashi, Y. [M.O.X. Co., Ltd., 1828-520 Hirasu-cho, Mito, Ibaraki 311-0853 (Japan)

    2013-08-15

    Highlights: • Steady state crack velocity of delayed hydride cracking in Zircaloy-2 was analyzed. • A large stress peak is induced at an end of hydride by volume expansion of hydride. • Hydrogen diffuses to the stress peak, thereby accelerating steady hydride growth. • Crack velocity was estimated from the calculated hydrogen flux into the stress peak. • There was good agreement between calculation results and experimental data. -- Abstract: Delayed hydride cracking (DHC) of Zircaloy-2 is one possible mechanism for the failure of boiling water reactor fuel rods in ramp tests at high burnup. Analyses were made for hydrogen diffusion around a crack tip to estimate the crack velocity of DHC in zirconium alloys, placing importance on effects of precipitation of δ-hydride. The stress distribution around the crack tip is significantly altered by precipitation of hydride, which was strictly analyzed using a finite element computer code. Then, stress-driven hydrogen diffusion under the altered stress distribution was analyzed by a differential method. Overlapping of external stress and hydride precipitation at a crack tip induces two stress peaks; one at a crack tip and the other at the front end of the hydride precipitate. Since the latter is larger than the former, more hydrogen diffuses to the front end of the hydride precipitate, thereby accelerating hydride growth compared with that in the absence of the hydride. These results indicated that, after hydride was formed in front of the crack tip, it grew almost steadily accompanying the interaction of hydrogen diffusion, hydride growth and the stress alteration by hydride precipitation. Finally, crack velocity was estimated from the calculated hydrogen flux into the crack tip as a function of temperature, stress intensity factor and material strength. There was qualitatively good agreement between calculation results and experimental data.

  14. [Effects of precipitation and interspecific competition on Quercus mongolica and pinus koraiensis seedlings growth].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jing-Lian; Wang, Miao; Lin, Fei; Hao, Zhan-Qing; Ji, Lan-Zhu; Liu, Ya-Qin

    2009-02-01

    Aiming at the variation of precipitation pattern caused by global warming, a field simulation experiment was conducted to study the effects of 30% increase (+W) and decrease (-W) of precipitation on the morphology, growth, and biomass partitioning of mono- and mixed cultured seedlings of Quercus mongolica and Pinus koraiensis, the two dominant tree species in temperate broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest in Changbai Mountains. Comparing with monoculture, mixed culture increased the canopy width and main root length of Q. mongolica seedlings, but decreased the basal diameter, plant height, leaf number, and dry masses of root, stem, leaf and whole plant of P. koraiensis seedlings significantly. Treatment (-W) increased the stem/mass ratio while decreased the main root length of Q. mongolica seedlings, and decreased the main root length, leaf number, dry masses of leaf and whole plant, and leaf/mass ratio, while increased the stem/mass ratio of P. koraiensis seedlings significantly, compared with treatment CK. Treatment (+W) had no significant effect on these indices of the two species. At early growth stage, interspecific competition and precipitation pattern had significant effects on the morphology and growth of the seedlings, and the responses were much stronger for P. koraiensis than for Q. mongolica.

  15. Precipitation Dynamical Downscaling Over the Great Plains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Xiao-Ming; Xue, Ming; McPherson, Renee A.; Martin, Elinor; Rosendahl, Derek H.; Qiao, Lei

    2018-02-01

    Detailed, regional climate projections, particularly for precipitation, are critical for many applications. Accurate precipitation downscaling in the United States Great Plains remains a great challenge for most Regional Climate Models, particularly for warm months. Most previous dynamic downscaling simulations significantly underestimate warm-season precipitation in the region. This study aims to achieve a better precipitation downscaling in the Great Plains with the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. To this end, WRF simulations with different physics schemes and nudging strategies are first conducted for a representative warm season. Results show that different cumulus schemes lead to more pronounced difference in simulated precipitation than other tested physics schemes. Simply choosing different physics schemes is not enough to alleviate the dry bias over the southern Great Plains, which is related to an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over the central and western parts of continental U.S. in the simulations. Spectral nudging emerges as an effective solution for alleviating the precipitation bias. Spectral nudging ensures that large and synoptic-scale circulations are faithfully reproduced while still allowing WRF to develop small-scale dynamics, thus effectively suppressing the large-scale circulation anomaly in the downscaling. As a result, a better precipitation downscaling is achieved. With the carefully validated configurations, WRF downscaling is conducted for 1980-2015. The downscaling captures well the spatial distribution of monthly climatology precipitation and the monthly/yearly variability, showing improvement over at least two previously published precipitation downscaling studies. With the improved precipitation downscaling, a better hydrological simulation over the trans-state Oologah watershed is also achieved.

  16. Detecting Variation Trends of Temperature and Precipitation for the Dadu River Basin, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Wu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study analyzes the variation trends of temperature and precipitation in the Dadu River Basin of China based on observed records from fourteen meteorological stations. The magnitude of trends was estimated using Sen’s linear method while its statistical significance was evaluated using Mann-Kendall’s test. The results of analysis depict increase change from northwest to southeast of annual temperature and precipitation in space. In temporal scale, the annual temperature showed significant increase trend and the annual precipitation showed increase trend. For extreme indices, the trends for temperature are more consistent in the region compared to precipitation. This paper has practical meanings for an effective management of climate risk and provides a foundation for further study of hydrological situation in this river basin.

  17. Statistical simulation of ensembles of precipitation fields for data assimilation applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haese, Barbara; Hörning, Sebastian; Chwala, Christian; Bárdossy, András; Schalge, Bernd; Kunstmann, Harald

    2017-04-01

    The simulation of the hydrological cycle by models is an indispensable tool for a variety of environmental challenges such as climate prediction, water resources management, or flood forecasting. One of the crucial variables within the hydrological system, and accordingly one of the main drivers for terrestrial hydrological processes, is precipitation. A correct reproduction of the spatio-temporal distribution of precipitation is crucial for the quality and performance of hydrological applications. In our approach we stochastically generate precipitation fields conditioned on various precipitation observations. Rain gauges provide high-quality information for a specific measurement point, but their spatial representativeness is often rare. Microwave links, e. g. from commercial cellular operators, on the other hand can be used to estimate line integrals of near-surface rainfall information. They provide a very dense observational system compared to rain gauges. A further prevalent source of precipitation information are weather radars, which provide rainfall pattern informations. In our approach we derive precipitation fields, which are conditioned on combinations of these different observation types. As method to generate precipitation fields we use the random mixing method. Following this method a precipitation field is received as a linear combination of unconditional spatial random fields, where the spatial dependence structure is described by copulas. The weights of the linear combination are chosen in the way that the observations and the spatial structure of precipitation are reproduced. One main advantage of the random mixing method is the opportunity to consider linear and non-linear constraints. For a demonstration of the method we use virtual observations generated from a virtual reality of the Neckar catchment. These virtual observations mimic advantages and disadvantages of real observations. This virtual data set allows us to evaluate simulated

  18. Mathematical modelling of brittle phase precipitation in complex ruthenium containing nickel-based superalloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rettig, Ralf

    2010-01-01

    A new model has been developed in this work which is capable of simulating the precipitation kinetics of brittle phases, especially TCP-phases (topologically close packed phases) in ruthenium containing superalloys. The model simultaneously simulates the nucleation and the growth stage of precipitation for any number of precipitating phases. The CALPHAD method (Calculation of Phase Diagrams) is employed to calculate thermodynamic properties, such as the driving force or phase compositions in equilibrium. For calculation of diffusion coefficients, kinetic mobility databases which are also based on the CALPHAD-method are used. The model is fully capable of handling multicomponent effects, which are common in complex superalloys. Metastable phases can be treated and will automatically be dissolved if they get unstable. As the model is based on the general CALPHAD method, it can be applied to a broad range of precipitation processes in different alloys as long as the relevant thermodynamic and kinetic databases are available. The developed model proves that the TCP-phases precipitate in a sequence of phases. The first phase that is often formed is the metastable σ-phase because it has the lowest interface energy due to low-energy planes at the interface between matrix and precipitate. After several hundred hours the stable μ- and P-phases start to precipitate by nucleating at the σ-phase which is energetically favourable. During the growth of these stable phases the sigma-phase is continuously dissolved. It can be shown by thermodynamic CALPHAD calculations that the sigma-phase has a lower Gibbs free enthalpy than the μ- and P-phase. All required parameters of the model, such as interface energy and nucleate densities, have been estimated. The mechanisms of suppression of TCP-phase precipitation in the presence of ruthenium in superalloys were investigated with the newly developed model. It is shown by the simulations that ruthenium mostly affects the nucleation

  19. Computation of rainfall erosivity from daily precipitation amounts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beguería, Santiago; Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto; Tomas-Burguera, Miquel

    2018-10-01

    Rainfall erosivity is an important parameter in many erosion models, and the EI30 defined by the Universal Soil Loss Equation is one of the best known erosivity indices. One issue with this and other erosivity indices is that they require continuous breakpoint, or high frequency time interval, precipitation data. These data are rare, in comparison to more common medium-frequency data, such as daily precipitation data commonly recorded by many national and regional weather services. Devising methods for computing estimates of rainfall erosivity from daily precipitation data that are comparable to those obtained by using high-frequency data is, therefore, highly desired. Here we present a method for producing such estimates, based on optimal regression tools such as the Gamma Generalised Linear Model and universal kriging. Unlike other methods, this approach produces unbiased and very close to observed EI30, especially when these are aggregated at the annual level. We illustrate the method with a case study comprising more than 1500 high-frequency precipitation records across Spain. Although the original records have a short span (the mean length is around 10 years), computation of spatially-distributed upscaling parameters offers the possibility to compute high-resolution climatologies of the EI30 index based on currently available, long-span, daily precipitation databases. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Comparison of the properties of simulated synroc synthesized by sol-gel and a novel co - precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Potdar, H.S.; Vijayanand, S.; Khaja Mohaideen, K.; Joy, P.A.; Raja Madhavan, R.; Kutty, K.V.G.; Ambashta, R.D.; Wattal, P.K.

    2009-01-01

    Synroc is a multiphase dense titanate based ceramic designed for the incorporation of high-level waste (HLW) from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Synroc or synthetic rock consists of four main titanate phases - zirconolite (CaZrTi 2 O 7 ), hollandite (BaAlO 2 Ti 6 O 16 ), perovskite (CaTiO 3 ) and rutile (TiO 2 ), with the matrix composition as shown in Table 1. It is known that these phases have the capacity to incorporate most of the elements into their crystal structures which are present in the HLW derived from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from power reactors. Synroc is considered as the most effective and durable means of immobilising various forms of high-level radioactive wastes for disposal. Synroc is also considered as a low-risk, tailored waste form, offering higher waste loading and over all cost savings. Simulated synroc precursor powders are typically produced by advanced wet chemical methods such as alkoxide hydrolysis and sol-gel routes. These routes were developed to produce powders with well defined physical and chemical characteristics such as correct chemical composition, high degree of homogeneity, reactivity and readily densifiable material to 99% of theoretical density during hot isostatic pressing. However, the reported alkoxide hydrolysis and hydroxide routes suffer from several disadvantages such as use of large quantities of organic solvents and their disposal as effluent, difficulty in maintaining exact chemical composition, use of costly alkoxide precursors which are moisture sensitive and require critical processing conditions to control their rate of hydrolysis, etc. In the present work we report a comparative study the characteristics of synroc-C (14% waste loading) powders and sintered pellets synthesized by the known alkoxide hydrolysis method and a simple chemical co-precipitation route developed by us. The advantages of the co-precipitation route are its simplicity, ease of handling and utilization of cheaper raw

  1. Impact of Precipitation Fluctuation on Desert-Grassland ANPP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liangxu Liu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Precipitation change has significantly influenced annual net primary productivity (ANPP at either annual or seasonal scales in desert steppes in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to reveal the process of precipitation driving ANPP at different time scales, responses of different ANPP levels to the inter-annual and intra-annual precipitation fluctuations were analyzed. ANPP was reversed by building a ground reflectance spectrum model, from 2000 to 2015, using the normalized differential vegetation index of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS-NDVI data at 250 m × 250 m spatial resolution. Since the description of the differently expressing forms of precipitation are not sufficient in former studies in order to overcome the deficiency of former studies, in this study, intra-annual precipitation fluctuations were analyzed not only with precipitation of May–August, June–August, July–August, and August, respectively, which have direct influence on vegetation productivity within the year, but quantitative description, vector precipitation (R, concentration ratio (Cd, and concentration period (D, were also used to describe the overall characteristics of intra-annual precipitation fluctuations. The concentration ratio and the maximum precipitation period of the intra-annual precipitation were represented by using monthly precipitation. The results showed that: (1 in the period from 1971 to 2015, the maximum annual precipitation is 3.76 times that of the minimum in the Urat desert steppe; (2 vector precipitation is more significantly related to ANPP (r = 0.7724, p = 0.000 compared to meteorological annual precipitation and real annual precipitation influence; and (3 annual precipitation is almost concentrated in 5–8 months and monthly precipitation accumulation has significantly effected ANPP, especially in the period of June–August, since the vegetation composition in the study area was mainly sub-shrubs and perennial

  2. Precipitating and relieving factors of migraine versus tension type headache

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haque Badrul

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To determine the differences of precipitating and relieving factors between migraine and tension type headache. Methods This is a cross sectional study. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 250 migraine patients and 250 patients diagnosed as tension type headache from the specialized headache clinic in Dept. of Neurology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Data were collected through a predesigned questionnaire containing information on age, sex, social status and a predetermined list of precipitating and relieving factors. Results In this study, the female patients predominated (67%. Most of the patients were within 21–30 years age group (58.6%. About 58% of them belonged to middle class families. The common precipitating factors like stress, anxiety, activity, journey, reading, cold and warm were well distributed among both the migraine and tension type headache (TTH patients. But significant difference was demonstrated for fatigue (p  Conclusion The most frequent precipitating factors for headache appear to be identical for both migraine and TTH patients. Even though some factors like fatigue, sleep deprivation, sunlight and food significantly precipitate migraine and drug, massage are effective maneuver for relieving pain among migrianeurs.

  3. Precipitation of uranium concentrates by hydrogen peroxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barbosa Filho, O.; Teixeira, L.A.C.

    1987-01-01

    An experimental study on the precipitation of uranyl peroxide (UO 4 x H 2 O) has been carried out in a laboratory scale. The objective was to assess the possibility of the peroxide route as an alternative to a conventional ammonium diuranate process. A factorial design was used to evaluate the effects of the initial pH, precipitation pH and H 2 O 2 /UO 2 2+ ratio upon the process. The responses were measured in terms of: efficiency of U precipitation, content of U in the precipitates, and distribution of impurities in the precipitates. (Author) [pt

  4. Effects on Storm-Water Management for Three Major US Cities Using Location Specific Extreme Precipitation Dynamical Downscaling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelle, A.; Allen, M.; Fu, J. S.

    2013-12-01

    With rising population and increasing urban density, it is of pivotal importance for urban planners to plan for increasing extreme precipitation events. Climate models indicate that an increase in global mean temperature will lead to increased frequency and intensity of storms of a variety of types. Analysis of results from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5 (CMIP5) has demonstrated that global climate models severely underestimate precipitation, however. Preliminary results from dynamical downscaling indicate that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is expected to experience the greatest increase of precipitation due to an increase in annual extreme events in the US. New York City, New York and Chicago, Illinois are anticipated to have similarly large increases in annual extreme precipitation events. In order to produce more accurate results, we downscale Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). We analyze historical precipitation data and WRF output utilizing a Log Pearson Type III (LP3) distribution for frequency of extreme precipitation events. This study aims to determine the likelihood of extreme precipitation in future years and its effect on the of cost of stormwater management for these three cities.

  5. Study on effect of precipitation conditions on the properties of ammonium diuranate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kraikaew, J.; Yacumpai, O.; Pruantonsai, P.

    1994-01-01

    This study was carried out in order to select the optimum conditions for ammonium diuranate (ADU) precipitation to obtain high density uranium dioxide. The data were collected for ADU precipitation reactor design. The precipitation temperature was controlled at 50 0 C. The stirrer speeds are 5.9 and 7.1 Hz. The properties namely : specific filtration resistance, initial settling rate and agglomerate size of ADU precipitates obtained at various pH were investigated. The results indicated that when the pH of precipitation increases, specific filtration resistance increases but ADU agglomerate size decreases and causing difficulty in filtration

  6. Superior Photocatalytic Performance of CeO₂ Nanoparticles and Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite Prepared by Low Cost Co-Precipitation Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayanthi, Mani; Lavanya, Thirugnanam; Saradha, Nagarajan Anbil; Satheesh, Kaveri; Chenthamarai, SriRangarajan; Jayavel, Ramasamy

    2018-05-01

    In this article, cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) and reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite have been fabricated through simple, easy and cost effective co-precipitation method. The structural, optical and morphological characterization provides the evidence of successful synthesis of CeO2 NPs and nanocomposite. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic characterization provides useful information about the concentrations and proportions of Ce3+ and Ce4+ ions in nanoparticles as well as in nanocomposite. These studies provide an insight to understand enhanced photocatalytic activity of nanocomposite. The nanocomposite produces 81% photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange compared to only 45% degradation by CeO2 NPs alone.

  7. Precipitation and Hardening in Magnesium Alloys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Jian-Feng

    2012-11-01

    Magnesium alloys have received an increasing interest in the past 12 years for potential applications in the automotive, aircraft, aerospace, and electronic industries. Many of these alloys are strong because of solid-state precipitates that are produced by an age-hardening process. Although some strength improvements of existing magnesium alloys have been made and some novel alloys with improved strength have been developed, the strength level that has been achieved so far is still substantially lower than that obtained in counterpart aluminum alloys. Further improvements in the alloy strength require a better understanding of the structure, morphology, orientation of precipitates, effects of precipitate morphology, and orientation on the strengthening and microstructural factors that are important in controlling the nucleation and growth of these precipitates. In this review, precipitation in most precipitation-hardenable magnesium alloys is reviewed, and its relationship with strengthening is examined. It is demonstrated that the precipitation phenomena in these alloys, especially in the very early stage of the precipitation process, are still far from being well understood, and many fundamental issues remain unsolved even after some extensive and concerted efforts made in the past 12 years. The challenges associated with precipitation hardening and age hardening are identified and discussed, and guidelines are outlined for the rational design and development of higher strength, and ultimately ultrahigh strength, magnesium alloys via precipitation hardening.

  8. PbO networks composed of single crystalline nanosheets synthesized by a facile chemical precipitation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samberg, Joshua P. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way, Engineering Building I, Raleigh, NC 27695-7907 (United States); Kajbafvala, Amir, E-mail: amir.kajbafvala@gmail.com [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way, Engineering Building I, Raleigh, NC 27695-7907 (United States); Koolivand, Amir [Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, 2620 Yarbrough Drive, Raleigh, NC 27695 (United States)

    2014-03-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Synthesis of PbO networks through a simple chemical precipitation route. • The synthesis method is rapid and low-cost. • Each network is composed of single crystalline PbO nanosheets. • A possible growth mechanism is proposed for synthesized PbO networks. - Abstract: For the field of energy storage, nanostructured lead oxide (PbO) shows immense potential for increased specific energy and deep discharge for lead acid battery technologies. In this work, PbO networks composed of single crystalline nanosheets were synthesized utilizing a simple, low cost and rapid chemical precipitation method. The PbO networks were prepared in a single reaction vessel from starting reagents of lead acetate dehydrate, ammonium hydroxide and deionized water. Lead acetate dehydrate was chosen as a reagent, as opposed to lead nitrate, to eliminate the possibility of nitrate contamination of the final product. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis were used to characterize the synthesized PbO networks. The reproducible method described herein synthesized pure β-PbO (massicot) powders, with no byproducts. A possible formation mechanism for these PbO networks is proposed. The growth is found to proceed predominately in the 〈1 1 1〉 and 〈2 0 0〉 directions while being limited in the 〈0 1 1〉 direction.

  9. PbO networks composed of single crystalline nanosheets synthesized by a facile chemical precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samberg, Joshua P.; Kajbafvala, Amir; Koolivand, Amir

    2014-01-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Synthesis of PbO networks through a simple chemical precipitation route. • The synthesis method is rapid and low-cost. • Each network is composed of single crystalline PbO nanosheets. • A possible growth mechanism is proposed for synthesized PbO networks. - Abstract: For the field of energy storage, nanostructured lead oxide (PbO) shows immense potential for increased specific energy and deep discharge for lead acid battery technologies. In this work, PbO networks composed of single crystalline nanosheets were synthesized utilizing a simple, low cost and rapid chemical precipitation method. The PbO networks were prepared in a single reaction vessel from starting reagents of lead acetate dehydrate, ammonium hydroxide and deionized water. Lead acetate dehydrate was chosen as a reagent, as opposed to lead nitrate, to eliminate the possibility of nitrate contamination of the final product. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis were used to characterize the synthesized PbO networks. The reproducible method described herein synthesized pure β-PbO (massicot) powders, with no byproducts. A possible formation mechanism for these PbO networks is proposed. The growth is found to proceed predominately in the 〈1 1 1〉 and 〈2 0 0〉 directions while being limited in the 〈0 1 1〉 direction

  10. Oxygen-18 in present-day precipitation on the Tibetan Plateau

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    章新平; 姚檀栋; 中尾正义

    2001-01-01

    The temporal and spatial variations of the δ18O in precipitation on the Tibetan Plateau are analyzed. There is no temperature effect in the southern Tibetan Plateau. Amount effect has been observed at Lhasa station. However, the seasonal variations of the δ18O in precipitation are different from that of precipitation intensity, showing that the precipitation intensity is not a main controlling factor on the stable isotopic compositions in precipitation in the southern Tibetan Plateau. There is notable temperature effect in the middle and northern Tibetan Plateau. The seasonal variations of the δ18O in precipitation are almost consistent with those of air temperature there, indicating that temperature is a main factor controlling the stable isotopic variations in precipitation. A meridional cross-section shows that a notable depletion of the stable isotopic ratio in precipitation takes place in the Himalayas due to very strong rainout of vapor as it rises over the Himalayas, then the δ18O remains basi

  11. Effects of temperature and precipitation on grassland bird nesting success as mediated by patch size.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuckerberg, Benjamin; Ribic, Christine A; McCauley, Lisa A

    2018-02-06

    Grassland birds are declining faster than any other bird guild across North America. Shrinking ranges and population declines are attributed to widespread habitat loss and increasingly fragmented landscapes of agriculture and other land uses that are misaligned with grassland bird conservation. Concurrent with habitat loss and degradation, temperate grasslands have been disproportionally affected by climate change relative to most other terrestrial biomes. Distributions of grassland birds often correlate with gradients in climate, but few researchers have explored the consequences of weather on the demography of grassland birds inhabiting a range of grassland fragments. To do so, we modeled the effects of temperature and precipitation on nesting success rates of 12 grassland bird species inhabiting a range of grassland patches across North America (21,000 nests from 81 individual studies). Higher amounts of precipitation in the preceding year were associated with higher nesting success, but wetter conditions during the active breeding season reduced nesting success. Extremely cold or hot conditions during the early breeding season were associated with lower rates of nesting success. The direct and indirect influence of temperature and precipitation on nesting success was moderated by grassland patch size. The positive effects of precipitation in the preceding year on nesting success were strongest in relatively small grassland patches and had little effect in large patches. Conversely, warm temperatures reduced nesting success in small grassland patches but increased nesting success in large patches. Mechanisms underlying these differences may be patch-size-induced variation in microclimates and predator activity. Although the exact cause is unclear, large grassland patches, the most common metric of grassland conservation, appears to moderate the effects of weather on grassland-bird demography and could be an effective component of climate-change adaptation.

  12. Precipitation Processes during Non-Isothermal Ageing of Fine-Grained 2024 Alloy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kozieł J.

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Mechanical alloying and powder metallurgy procedures were used to manufacture very fine-grained bulk material made from chips of the 2024 aluminum alloy. Studies of solution treatment and precipitation hardening of as-received material were based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC tests and TEM/STEM/EDX structural observations. Structural observations complemented by literature data lead to the conclusion that in the case of highly refined structure of commercial 2024 alloys prepared by severe plastic deformation, typical multi-step G-P-B →θ” →θ’ →θ precipitation mechanism accompanied with G-P-B →S” →S’ →S precipitation sequences result in skipping the formation of metastable phases and direct growth of the stable phases. Exothermic effects on DSC characteristics, which are reported for precipitation sequences in commercial materials, were found to be reduced with increased milling time. Moreover, prolonged milling of 2024 chips was found to shift the exothermic peak to lower temperature with respect to the material produced by means of common metallurgy methods. This effect was concluded to result from preferred heterogeneous nucleation of particles at subboundaries and grain boundaries, enhanced by the boundary diffusion in highly refined structures.

  13. Evaluation of precipitates used in strainer head loss testing. Part I. Chemically generated precipitates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bahn, Chi Bum; Kasza, Ken E.; Shack, William J.; Natesan, Ken; Klein, Paul

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of the current program was to evaluate the properties of chemical precipitates proposed by industry that have been used in sump strainer head loss testing. Specific precipitates that were evaluated included aluminum oxyhydroxide (AlOOH) and sodium aluminum silicate (SAS) prepared according to the procedures in WCAP-16530-NP, along with precipitates formed from injecting chemicals into the test loop according to the procedure used by one sump strainer test vendor for U.S. pressurized water reactors. The settling rates of the surrogate precipitates are strongly dependent on their particle size and are reasonably consistent with those expected from Stokes' Law or colloid aggregation models. Head loss tests showed that AlOOH and SAS surrogates are quite effective in increasing the head loss across a perforated pump inlet strainer that has an accumulated fibrous debris bed. The characteristics of aluminum hydroxide precipitate using sodium aluminate were dependent on whether it was formed in high-purity or ordinary tap water and whether excess silicate was present or not.

  14. Effect of organic complexing compounds and surfactants on coprecipitation of cesium radionuclides with nickel ferrocyanide precipitate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milyutin, V.V.; Gelis, V.M.; Ershov, B.G.; Seliverstov, A.F.

    2008-01-01

    One studied the effect of the organic complexing compounds and of the surfactants on the coprecipitation of Cs trace amounts with the nickel ferrocyanide precipitate. The presence of the oxalate- and ethylenediamin-tetraacetate-ions in the solutions is shown to result in the abrupt reduction of Cs coprecipitation degree. The effect of the various surfactants manifested itself not so explicitly. To reduce the negative effect of the organic compounds on the intimacy of Cs coprecipitation one tried out the procedure of their chemical destruction by ozon. Pre-ozonization of the solutions enabled to prevent the negative effect of the organic complexing compounds and of the surfactants on Cs coprecipitation with nickel ferrocyanide precipitate [ru

  15. Two case studies on NARCCAP precipitation extremes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weller, Grant B.; Cooley, Daniel; Sain, Stephan R.; Bukovsky, Melissa S.; Mearns, Linda O.

    2013-09-01

    We introduce novel methodology to examine the ability of six regional climate models (RCMs) in the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) ensemble to simulate past extreme precipitation events seen in the observational record over two different regions and seasons. Our primary objective is to examine the strength of daily correspondence of extreme precipitation events between observations and the output of both the RCMs and the driving reanalysis product. To explore this correspondence, we employ methods from multivariate extreme value theory. These methods require that we account for marginal behavior, and we first model and compare climatological quantities which describe tail behavior of daily precipitation for both the observations and model output before turning attention to quantifying the correspondence of the extreme events. Daily precipitation in a West Coast region of North America is analyzed in two seasons, and it is found that the simulated extreme events from the reanalysis-driven NARCCAP models exhibit strong daily correspondence to extreme events in the observational record. Precipitation over a central region of the United States is examined, and we find some daily correspondence between winter extremes simulated by reanalysis-driven NARCCAP models and those seen in observations, but no such correspondence is found for summer extremes. Furthermore, we find greater discrepancies among the NARCCAP models in the tail characteristics of the distribution of daily summer precipitation over this region than seen in precipitation over the West Coast region. We find that the models which employ spectral nudging exhibit stronger tail dependence to observations in the central region.

  16. Effect of Low Cu Amounts and Pre-Deformation on the Precipitation in Al-Mg-Si Alloys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saito, Takeshi; Muraishi, Shinji; Marioara, Calin D.; Holmestad, Randi

    Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies were performed on two Al-Mg-Si alloys with low Cu additions (0.01 and 0.10 wt%) in order to investigate the effect of Cu and 10% pre-deformation on precipitate microstructure and its connection to mechanical properties. After 300 minutes aging at 190°C, fine microstructures associated with high hardness were observed in the alloy with 0.10% Cu. Pre-deformation led to heterogeneous distributions of precipitates along dislocations, causing microstructure coarsening. This effect was less pronounced in the alloy with the higher Cu amount.

  17. An integrated modeling study on the effects of mineral dust and sea salt particles on clouds and precipitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Solomos

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This report addresses the effects of pollution on the development of precipitation in clean ("pristine" and polluted ("hazy" environments in the Eastern Mediterranean by using the Integrated Community Limited Area Modeling System (ICLAMS (an extended version of the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System, RAMS. The use of this model allows one to investigate the interactions of the aerosols with cloud development. The simulations show that the onset of precipitation in hazy clouds is delayed compared to pristine conditions. Adding small concentrations of GCCN to polluted clouds promotes early-stage rain. The addition of GCCN to pristine clouds has no effect on precipitation amounts. Topography was found to be more important for the distribution of precipitation than aerosol properties. Increasing by 15% the concentration of hygroscopic dust particles for a case study over the Eastern Mediterranean resulted in more vigorous convection and more intense updrafts. The clouds that were formed extended about three kilometers higher, delaying the initiation of precipitation by one hour. Prognostic treatment of the aerosol concentrations in the explicit cloud droplet nucleation scheme of the model, improved the model performance for the twenty-four hour accumulated precipitation. The spatial distribution and the amounts of precipitation were found to vary greatly between the different aerosol scenarios. These results indicate the large uncertainty that remains and the need for more accurate description of aerosol feedbacks in atmospheric models and climate change predictions.

  18. Comparison of different statistical downscaling methods to estimate changes in hourly extreme precipitation using RCM projections from ENSEMBLES

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sunyer Pinya, Maria Antonia; Gregersen, Ida Bülow; Rosbjerg, Dan

    2015-01-01

    change method for extreme events, a weather generator combined with a disaggregation method and a climate analogue method. All three methods rely on different assumptions and use different outputs from the regional climate models (RCMs). The results of the three methods point towards an increase...... in extreme precipitation but the magnitude of the change varies depending on the RCM used and the spatial location. In general, a similar mean change is obtained for the three methods. This adds confidence in the results as each method uses different information from the RCMs. The results of this study...

  19. Modeling winter precipitation over the Juneau Icefield, Alaska, using a linear model of orographic precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, Aurora; Hock, Regine; Schuler, Thomas V.; Bieniek, Peter A.; Pelto, Mauri; Aschwanden, Andy

    2018-03-01

    Assessing and modeling precipitation in mountainous areas remains a major challenge in glacier mass balance modeling. Observations are typically scarce and reanalysis data and similar climate products are too coarse to accurately capture orographic effects. Here we use the linear theory of orographic precipitation model (LT model) to downscale winter precipitation from a regional climate model over the Juneau Icefield, one of the largest ice masses in North America (>4000 km2), for the period 1979-2013. The LT model is physically-based yet computationally efficient, combining airflow dynamics and simple cloud microphysics. The resulting 1 km resolution precipitation fields show substantially reduced precipitation on the northeastern portion of the icefield compared to the southwestern side, a pattern that is not well captured in the coarse resolution (20 km) WRF data. Net snow accumulation derived from the LT model precipitation agrees well with point observations across the icefield. To investigate the robustness of the LT model results, we perform a series of sensitivity experiments varying hydrometeor fall speeds, the horizontal resolution of the underlying grid, and the source of the meteorological forcing data. The resulting normalized spatial precipitation pattern is similar for all sensitivity experiments, but local precipitation amounts vary strongly, with greatest sensitivity to variations in snow fall speed. Results indicate that the LT model has great potential to provide improved spatial patterns of winter precipitation for glacier mass balance modeling purposes in complex terrain, but ground observations are necessary to constrain model parameters to match total amounts.

  20. Preplastic strain effect on chromium carbides precipitation of type 316 stainless steel during high-temperature ageing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mao, X.; Zhao, W.

    1992-01-01

    Long exposure of Type 316 stainless steel to elevated temperature (400-900 o C) is known to cause high-temperature embrittlement due to chromium carbides and σ-phase precipitating in grain boundaries. Numerous investigations have been published on the mechanical properties and microstructure changes occurring during such exposure. However, no investigations exist on the preplastic deformation effect on chromium carbide precipitation in the grain matrix and grain boundary during high-temperature ageing of Type 316 stainless steel and then its effects on the room-temperature tensile properties. Since the stainless steel sometimes is deformed before use at high temperatures, it is necessary to study the preplastic strain effect of the stainless steel on the microstructure change and mechanical property change during high-temperature exposure. The purpose of the present investigation was to carry out such a study. The conclusions reached are as follows. First, chromium carbides are precipitated in deformation lines (slip lines) and then the amount of chromium carbides precipitation in the grain boundary is relatively reduced in predeformed stainless steel after ageing. Secondly, plastic strain pretreatments of and subsequent ageing treatments of Type 316 stainless steel can improve its tensile ductility. Finally, secondary cracking of aged stainless steel occurs in a normal tensile test. The secondary cracking can be reduced by adding preplastic strain into the material. (Author)

  1. Length-scale dependent microalloying effects on precipitation behaviors and mechanical properties of Al–Cu alloys with minor Sc addition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiang, L.; Li, J.K.; Liu, G.; Wang, R.H.; Chen, B.A.; Zhang, J.Y.; Sun, J.; Yang, M.X.; Yang, G.; Yang, J.; Cao, X.Z.

    2015-01-01

    Heat-treatable Al alloys containing Al–2.5 wt% Cu (Al–Cu) and Al–2.5 wt% Cu–0.3 wt% Sc (Al–Cu–Sc) with different grain length scales, i.e., average grain size >10 μm ( defined coarse grained, CG), 1–2 μm (fine grained, FG), and <1 μm (ultrafine grained, UFG), were prepared by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP). The length scale and Sc microalloying effects and their interplay on the precipitation behavior and mechanical properties of the Al–Cu alloys were systematically investigated. In the Al–Cu alloys, intergranular θ-Al 2 Cu precipitation gradually dominated by sacrificing the intragranular θ′-Al 2 Cu precipitation with reducing the length scale. Especially in the UFG regime, only intergranular θ-Al 2 Cu particles were precipitated and intragranular θ′-Al 2 Cu precipitation was completely disappeared. This led to a remarkable reduction in yield strength and ductility due to insufficient dislocation storage capacity. The minor Sc addition resulted in a microalloying effect in the Al–Cu alloy, which, however, is strongly dependent on the length scale. The smaller is the grain size, the more active is the microalloying effect that promotes the intragranular precipitation while reduces the intergranular precipitation. Correspondingly, compared with their Sc-free counterparts, the yield strength of post-aged CG, FG, and UFG Al–Cu alloys with Sc addition increased by ~36 MPa, ~56 MPa, and ~150 MPa, simultaneously in tensile elongation by ~20%, ~30%, and 280%, respectively. The grain size-induced evolutions in vacancy concentration/distribution and number density of vacancy-solute/solute–solute clusters and their influences on precipitation nucleation and kinetics have been comprehensively considered to rationalize the length scale-dependent Sc microalloying mechanisms using positron annihilation lifetime spectrum and three dimension atom probe. The increase in ductility was analyzed in the light of Sc microalloying effect and the

  2. Length-scale dependent microalloying effects on precipitation behaviors and mechanical properties of Al–Cu alloys with minor Sc addition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jiang, L.; Li, J.K. [State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China); Liu, G., E-mail: lgsammer@mail.xjtu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China); Wang, R.H. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi' an University of Technology, Xi' an 710048 (China); Chen, B.A.; Zhang, J.Y. [State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China); Sun, J., E-mail: junsun@mail.xjtu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China); Yang, M.X.; Yang, G. [Central Iron and Steel Research Institute, Beijing 100081 (China); Yang, J.; Cao, X.Z. [Key Laboratory of Nuclear Radiation and Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)

    2015-06-18

    Heat-treatable Al alloys containing Al–2.5 wt% Cu (Al–Cu) and Al–2.5 wt% Cu–0.3 wt% Sc (Al–Cu–Sc) with different grain length scales, i.e., average grain size >10 μm ( defined coarse grained, CG), 1–2 μm (fine grained, FG), and <1 μm (ultrafine grained, UFG), were prepared by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP). The length scale and Sc microalloying effects and their interplay on the precipitation behavior and mechanical properties of the Al–Cu alloys were systematically investigated. In the Al–Cu alloys, intergranular θ-Al{sub 2}Cu precipitation gradually dominated by sacrificing the intragranular θ′-Al{sub 2}Cu precipitation with reducing the length scale. Especially in the UFG regime, only intergranular θ-Al{sub 2}Cu particles were precipitated and intragranular θ′-Al{sub 2}Cu precipitation was completely disappeared. This led to a remarkable reduction in yield strength and ductility due to insufficient dislocation storage capacity. The minor Sc addition resulted in a microalloying effect in the Al–Cu alloy, which, however, is strongly dependent on the length scale. The smaller is the grain size, the more active is the microalloying effect that promotes the intragranular precipitation while reduces the intergranular precipitation. Correspondingly, compared with their Sc-free counterparts, the yield strength of post-aged CG, FG, and UFG Al–Cu alloys with Sc addition increased by ~36 MPa, ~56 MPa, and ~150 MPa, simultaneously in tensile elongation by ~20%, ~30%, and 280%, respectively. The grain size-induced evolutions in vacancy concentration/distribution and number density of vacancy-solute/solute–solute clusters and their influences on precipitation nucleation and kinetics have been comprehensively considered to rationalize the length scale-dependent Sc microalloying mechanisms using positron annihilation lifetime spectrum and three dimension atom probe. The increase in ductility was analyzed in the light of Sc microalloying

  3. The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Combined Precipitation Dataset

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huffman, George J.; Adler, Robert F.; Arkin, Philip; Chang, Alfred; Ferraro, Ralph; Gruber, Arnold; Janowiak, John; McNab, Alan; Rudolf, Bruno; Schneider, Udo

    1997-01-01

    The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) has released the GPCP Version 1 Combined Precipitation Data Set, a global, monthly precipitation dataset covering the period July 1987 through December 1995. The primary product in the dataset is a merged analysis incorporating precipitation estimates from low-orbit-satellite microwave data, geosynchronous-orbit -satellite infrared data, and rain gauge observations. The dataset also contains the individual input fields, a combination of the microwave and infrared satellite estimates, and error estimates for each field. The data are provided on 2.5 deg x 2.5 deg latitude-longitude global grids. Preliminary analyses show general agreement with prior studies of global precipitation and extends prior studies of El Nino-Southern Oscillation precipitation patterns. At the regional scale there are systematic differences with standard climatologies.

  4. Biogrout, ground improvement by microbial induced carbonate precipitation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Paassen, L.A.

    2009-01-01

    Biogrout is a new ground improvement method based on microbially induced precipitation of calcium carbonate (MICP). When supplied with suitable substrates, micro-organisms can catalyze biochemical conversions in the subsurface resulting in precipitation of inorganic minerals, which change the

  5. STAMMEX high resolution gridded daily precipitation dataset over Germany: a new potential for regional precipitation climate research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zolina, Olga; Simmer, Clemens; Kapala, Alice; Mächel, Hermann; Gulev, Sergey; Groisman, Pavel

    2014-05-01

    We present new high resolution precipitation daily grids developed at Meteorological Institute, University of Bonn and German Weather Service (DWD) under the STAMMEX project (Spatial and Temporal Scales and Mechanisms of Extreme Precipitation Events over Central Europe). Daily precipitation grids have been developed from the daily-observing precipitation network of DWD, which runs one of the World's densest rain gauge networks comprising more than 7500 stations. Several quality-controlled daily gridded products with homogenized sampling were developed covering the periods 1931-onwards (with 0.5 degree resolution), 1951-onwards (0.25 degree and 0.5 degree), and 1971-2000 (0.1 degree). Different methods were tested to select the best gridding methodology that minimizes errors of integral grid estimates over hilly terrain. Besides daily precipitation values with uncertainty estimates (which include standard estimates of the kriging uncertainty as well as error estimates derived by a bootstrapping algorithm), the STAMMEX data sets include a variety of statistics that characterize temporal and spatial dynamics of the precipitation distribution (quantiles, extremes, wet/dry spells, etc.). Comparisons with existing continental-scale daily precipitation grids (e.g., CRU, ECA E-OBS, GCOS) which include considerably less observations compared to those used in STAMMEX, demonstrate the added value of high-resolution grids for extreme rainfall analyses. These data exhibit spatial variability pattern and trends in precipitation extremes, which are missed or incorrectly reproduced over Central Europe from coarser resolution grids based on sparser networks. The STAMMEX dataset can be used for high-quality climate diagnostics of precipitation variability, as a reference for reanalyses and remotely-sensed precipitation products (including the upcoming Global Precipitation Mission products), and for input into regional climate and operational weather forecast models. We will present

  6. Synthesis of alumina powders by precipitation method and solvothermal treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Politchuk, J.O.; Lima, N.B.; Lazar, D.R.R.; Ussui, V.; Yoshito, W.K.

    2012-01-01

    The improvement of alumina powders synthesis processes has been focused on the preparation of ceramic powders with well defined crystalline structure and with high specific surface area and nanometric particle size without formation of hard agglomerates. For this purpose the precipitation step should be studied and and also the temperature of alumina crystallization should be reduced. The aim of this study was to obtain alumina powders by hydroxide precipitation with ammonia in the presence of cationic surfactant, followed by solvothermal treatment and calcination. The powders were characterized by TG/DTA, X-ray diffraction, surface area measurements by gas adsorption (BET) and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that powders produced by solvothermal treatment without surfactant have higher crystallinity. However the presence of CTAB enhances 240% the specific surface area compared with powders produced without this reagent (author)

  7. Economic Effects of Precipitation Enhancement in the Corn Belt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gapcia, Philip; Changnon, Stanley; Pinar, Musa

    1990-01-01

    Policy formulation in weather modification requires an understanding of the economic effects from altered weather. The focus of this study is to provide insight into the beneficiaries of a functioning weather modification technology when applied at various spatial and temporal levels. An econometric model which links the corn/scybean production to U.S. cattle, hog and poultry sectors is used to determine the effects of precipitation enhancement in the U.S. Corn Belt, a humid climatic region. A regional supply formulation permits assessment of weather modification on production, prices, revenues to producers, and savings in consumers expenditures on meat. The results provide insight into the distribution of economic effects, emphasize the importance of careful planning in the use of weather modification technology, and provide useful information on the roles of local, state, and federal governments in the support of weather modification.

  8. Effect of precipitation spatial distribution uncertainty on the uncertainty bounds of a snowmelt runoff model output

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacquin, A. P.

    2012-04-01

    This study analyses the effect of precipitation spatial distribution uncertainty on the uncertainty bounds of a snowmelt runoff model's discharge estimates. Prediction uncertainty bounds are derived using the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology. The model analysed is a conceptual watershed model operating at a monthly time step. The model divides the catchment into five elevation zones, where the fifth zone corresponds to the catchment glaciers. Precipitation amounts at each elevation zone i are estimated as the product between observed precipitation (at a single station within the catchment) and a precipitation factor FPi. Thus, these factors provide a simplified representation of the spatial variation of precipitation, specifically the shape of the functional relationship between precipitation and height. In the absence of information about appropriate values of the precipitation factors FPi, these are estimated through standard calibration procedures. The catchment case study is Aconcagua River at Chacabuquito, located in the Andean region of Central Chile. Monte Carlo samples of the model output are obtained by randomly varying the model parameters within their feasible ranges. In the first experiment, the precipitation factors FPi are considered unknown and thus included in the sampling process. The total number of unknown parameters in this case is 16. In the second experiment, precipitation factors FPi are estimated a priori, by means of a long term water balance between observed discharge at the catchment outlet, evapotranspiration estimates and observed precipitation. In this case, the number of unknown parameters reduces to 11. The feasible ranges assigned to the precipitation factors in the first experiment are slightly wider than the range of fixed precipitation factors used in the second experiment. The mean squared error of the Box-Cox transformed discharge during the calibration period is used for the evaluation of the

  9. Precipitation Nowcast using Deep Recurrent Neural Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbari Asanjan, A.; Yang, T.; Gao, X.; Hsu, K. L.; Sorooshian, S.

    2016-12-01

    An accurate precipitation nowcast (0-6 hours) with a fine temporal and spatial resolution has always been an important prerequisite for flood warning, streamflow prediction and risk management. Most of the popular approaches used for forecasting precipitation can be categorized into two groups. One type of precipitation forecast relies on numerical modeling of the physical dynamics of atmosphere and another is based on empirical and statistical regression models derived by local hydrologists or meteorologists. Given the recent advances in artificial intelligence, in this study a powerful Deep Recurrent Neural Network, termed as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model, is creatively used to extract the patterns and forecast the spatial and temporal variability of Cloud Top Brightness Temperature (CTBT) observed from GOES satellite. Then, a 0-6 hours precipitation nowcast is produced using a Precipitation Estimation from Remote Sensing Information using Artificial Neural Network (PERSIANN) algorithm, in which the CTBT nowcast is used as the PERSIANN algorithm's raw inputs. Two case studies over the continental U.S. have been conducted that demonstrate the improvement of proposed approach as compared to a classical Feed Forward Neural Network and a couple simple regression models. The advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method are summarized with regard to its capability of pattern recognition through time, handling of vanishing gradient during model learning, and working with sparse data. The studies show that the LSTM model performs better than other methods, and it is able to learn the temporal evolution of the precipitation events through over 1000 time lags. The uniqueness of PERSIANN's algorithm enables an alternative precipitation nowcast approach as demonstrated in this study, in which the CTBT prediction is produced and used as the inputs for generating precipitation nowcast.

  10. Effect of electrical pulse on the precipitates and material strength of 2024 aluminum alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Weichao, E-mail: weichao127@gmail.com; Wang, Yongjun, E-mail: t.s.wu@163.com; Wang, Junbiao, E-mail: wangjunb@nwpu.edu.cn; Wei, Shengmin, E-mail: weism@nwpu.edu.cn

    2014-07-01

    The effect of electrical pulse on the metastable precipitates and material strength of Al–Cu–Mg based 2024 aluminum alloy was investigated by means of tensile tests, hardness measurement, transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The experimental results show that the electrical pulse passing through the naturally aged 2024 alloy can cause an electrical pulse retrogression effect which is characterized by the decrease of material strength and the appearance of Portevin–Le Chatelier (PLC) effect. More electrical pulses under higher current densities are more efficient in causing the electrical pulse retrogression effect. TEM and DSC experimental results reveal that, the electrical pulse retrogression effect is owing to the dissolution of the metastable precipitates in naturally aged 2024 alloy. Compared with the traditional retrogression heat treatment that heats the aluminum alloys through bulk heating in furnace for short time to reduce their material strength, the electrical pulse retrogression effect occurs at a much lower temperature and the pulse treated alloy can nearly restore to its original strength at a faster speed at room temperature.

  11. Precipitates/Salts Model Sensitivity Calculation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mariner, P.

    2001-01-01

    The objective and scope of this calculation is to assist Performance Assessment Operations and the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) Department in modeling the geochemical effects of evaporation on potential seepage waters within a potential repository drift. This work is developed and documented using procedure AP-3.12Q, ''Calculations'', in support of ''Technical Work Plan For Engineered Barrier System Department Modeling and Testing FY 02 Work Activities'' (BSC 2001a). The specific objective of this calculation is to examine the sensitivity and uncertainties of the Precipitates/Salts model. The Precipitates/Salts model is documented in an Analysis/Model Report (AMR), ''In-Drift Precipitates/Salts Analysis'' (BSC 2001b). The calculation in the current document examines the effects of starting water composition, mineral suppressions, and the fugacity of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) on the chemical evolution of water in the drift

  12. Synthesis and Characterization of Rice Straw/Fe3O4 Nanocomposites by a Quick Precipitation Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katayoon Kalantari

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Small sized magnetite iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs with were successfully synthesized on the surface of rice straw using the quick precipitation method in the absence of any heat treatment. Ferric chloride (FeCl3·6H2O, ferrous chloride (FeCl2·4H2O, sodium hydroxide (NaOH and urea (CH4N2O were used as Fe3O4-NPs precursors, reducing agent and stabilizer, respectively. The rice straw fibers were dispersed in deionized water, and then urea was added to the suspension, after that ferric and ferrous chloride were added to this mixture and stirred. After the absorption of iron ions on the surface layer of the fibers, the ions were reduced with NaOH by a quick precipitation method. The reaction was carried out under N2 gas. The mean diameter and standard deviation of metal oxide NPs synthesized in rice straw/Fe3O4 nanocomposites (NCs were 9.93 ± 2.42 nm. The prepared rice straw/Fe3O4-NCS were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD, transmission electron microscopy (TEM, scanning electron microscopy (SEM, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXF and Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT‒IR. The rice straw/Fe3O4-NCs prepared by this method have magnetic properties.

  13. Hydrothermal alteration of deep fractured granite: Effects of dissolution and precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishimoto, Shoji; Yoshida, Hidekazu

    2010-03-01

    This paper investigates the mineralogical effects of hydrothermal alteration at depth in fractures in granite. A fracture accompanied by an alteration halo and filled with clay was found at a depth of 200 m in a drill core through Toki granite, Gifu, central Japan. Microscopic observation, XRD, XRF, EPMA and SXAM investigations revealed that the microcrystalline clays consist of illite, quartz and pyrite and that the halo round the fracture can be subdivided into a phyllic zone adjacent to the fracture, surrounded by a propylitic zone in which Fe-phyllosilicates are present, and a distinctive outer alteration front characterized by plagioclase breakdown. The processes that result in these changes took place in three successive stages: 1) partial dissolution of plagioclase with partial chloritization of biotite; 2) biotite dissolution and precipitation of Fe-phyllosilicate in the dissolution pores; 3) dissolution of K-feldspar and Fe-phyllosilicate, and illite precipitation associated with development of microcracks. These hydrothermal alterations of the granite proceed mainly by a dissolution-precipitation process resulting from the infiltration of hydrothermal fluid along microcracks. Such infiltration causes locally high mobility of Al and increases the ratio of fluid to rock in the alteration halo. These results contribute to an understanding of how granitic rock becomes altered in orogenic fields such as the Japanese island arc.

  14. Short-Term Effects of Changing Precipitation Patterns on Shrub-Steppe Grasslands: Seasonal Watering Is More Important than Frequency of Watering Events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Densmore-McCulloch, Justine A; Thompson, Donald L; Fraser, Lauchlan H

    2016-01-01

    Climate change is expected to alter precipitation patterns. Droughts may become longer and more frequent, and the timing and intensity of precipitation may change. We tested how shifting precipitation patterns, both seasonally and by frequency of events, affects soil nitrogen availability, plant biomass and diversity in a shrub-steppe temperate grassland along a natural productivity gradient in Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area near Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. We manipulated seasonal watering patterns by either exclusively watering in the spring or the fall. To simulate spring precipitation we restricted precipitation inputs in the fall, then added 50% more water than the long term average in the spring, and vice-versa for the fall precipitation treatment. Overall, the amount of precipitation remained roughly the same. We manipulated the frequency of rainfall events by either applying water weekly (frequent) or monthly (intensive). After 2 years, changes in the seasonality of watering had greater effects on plant biomass and diversity than changes in the frequency of watering. Fall watering reduced biomass and increased species diversity, while spring watering had little effect. The reduction in biomass in fall watered treatments was due to a decline in grasses, but not forbs. Plant available N, measured by Plant Root Simulator (PRS)-probes, increased from spring to summer to fall, and was higher in fall watered treatments compared to spring watered treatments when measured in the fall. The only effect observed due to frequency of watering events was greater extractable soil N in monthly applied treatments compared to weekly watering treatments. Understanding the effects of changing precipitation patterns on grasslands will allow improved grassland conservation and management in the face of global climatic change, and here we show that if precipitation is more abundant in the fall, compared to the spring, grassland primary productivity will likely be

  15. Validation of an semi-automated multi component method using protein precipitation LC-MS-MS for the analysis of whole blood samples

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Slots, Tina

    BACKGROUND: Solid phase extraction (SPE) are one of many multi-component methods, but can be very time-consuming and labour-intensive. Protein precipitation is, on the other hand, a much simpler and faster sample pre-treatment than SPE, and protein precipitation also has the ability to cover a wi......-mortem whole blood sample preparation for toxicological analysis; from the primary sample tube to a 96-deepwell plate ready for injection on the liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)....

  16. [Removal of high-abundance proteins in plasma of the obese by improved TCA/acetone precipitation method].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jun; Feng, Liru; Yu, Wei; Xu, Jian; Yang, Hui; Liu, Xiaoli

    2013-09-01

    To develop an improved trichloroacetic acid (TCA)/acetone precipitation method for removal of high-abundance proteins in plasma of the obese. Volumes of TCA/acetone solution (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 20 times of the sample) and concentrations of TCA (10%, 30%, 50%, 60%, 70% TCA/acetone solution) have been investigated to optimize the conditions of sample preparation. SDS-PAGE were used to separate and tested proteins in the supernatant and sediment. The best concentration of the TCA/acetone solution was first determined by SDS-PAGE. The protein in precipitation from 10% TCA/acetone solution processing and the new determined concentration TCA/acetone solution processing were verified by 2-D-SDS-PAGE. And then the digested products of the protein in precipitation and supernatant by trypsin were analyzed by nano HPLC-Chip-MS/MS to verify which is the best concentration to process the plasma. The best volume of TCA/acetone is four times to sample, which less or more TCA/acetone would reduce the removal efficiency of high-abundance proteins. The concentration of TCA in acetone solution should be 60%, which may remove more high-abundance proteins in plasma than 10%, 30%, 50% TCA in acetone solution. If the TCA concentration is more than 60%, the reproducibility will be much poorer due to fast precipitation of proteins. The results of mass identification showed that human plasma prepared with 60% TCA/acetone (4 times sample volume) could be verified more low-abundance proteins than 10%. The most desirable conditions for removal of high-abundance proteins in plasma is 60% TCA/acetone (4 times sample volume), especially for the plasma of obesity.

  17. Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Accuracy of Tropical Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis 3B42 Precipitation Data in Mid-High Latitudes of China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Yancong; Jin, Changjie; Wang, Anzhi; Guan, Dexin; Wu, Jiabing; Yuan, Fenghui; Xu, Leilei

    2015-01-01

    Satellite-based precipitation data have contributed greatly to quantitatively forecasting precipitation, and provides a potential alternative source for precipitation data allowing researchers to better understand patterns of precipitation over ungauged basins. However, the absence of calibration satellite data creates considerable uncertainties for The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42 product over high latitude areas beyond the TRMM satellites latitude band (38°NS). This study attempts to statistically assess TMPA V7 data over the region beyond 40°NS using data obtained from numerous weather stations in 1998–2012. Comparative analysis at three timescales (daily, monthly and annual scale) indicates that adoption of a monthly adjustment significantly improved correlation at a larger timescale increasing from 0.63 to 0.95; TMPA data always exhibits a slight overestimation that is most serious at a daily scale (the absolute bias is 103.54%). Moreover, the performance of TMPA data varies across all seasons. Generally, TMPA data performs best in summer, but worst in winter, which is likely to be associated with the effects of snow/ice-covered surfaces and shortcomings of precipitation retrieval algorithms. Temporal and spatial analysis of accuracy indices suggest that the performance of TMPA data has gradually improved and has benefited from upgrades; the data are more reliable in humid areas than in arid regions. Special attention should be paid to its application in arid areas and in winter with poor scores of accuracy indices. Also, it is clear that the calibration can significantly improve precipitation estimates, the overestimation by TMPA in TRMM-covered area is about a third as much as that in no-TRMM area for monthly and annual precipitation. The systematic evaluation of TMPA over mid-high latitudes provides a broader understanding of satellite-based precipitation estimates, and these data are

  18. Spatio-temporal analysis of the accuracy of tropical multisatellite precipitation analysis 3B42 precipitation data in mid-high latitudes of China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yancong Cai

    Full Text Available Satellite-based precipitation data have contributed greatly to quantitatively forecasting precipitation, and provides a potential alternative source for precipitation data allowing researchers to better understand patterns of precipitation over ungauged basins. However, the absence of calibration satellite data creates considerable uncertainties for The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA 3B42 product over high latitude areas beyond the TRMM satellites latitude band (38°NS. This study attempts to statistically assess TMPA V7 data over the region beyond 40°NS using data obtained from numerous weather stations in 1998-2012. Comparative analysis at three timescales (daily, monthly and annual scale indicates that adoption of a monthly adjustment significantly improved correlation at a larger timescale increasing from 0.63 to 0.95; TMPA data always exhibits a slight overestimation that is most serious at a daily scale (the absolute bias is 103.54%. Moreover, the performance of TMPA data varies across all seasons. Generally, TMPA data performs best in summer, but worst in winter, which is likely to be associated with the effects of snow/ice-covered surfaces and shortcomings of precipitation retrieval algorithms. Temporal and spatial analysis of accuracy indices suggest that the performance of TMPA data has gradually improved and has benefited from upgrades; the data are more reliable in humid areas than in arid regions. Special attention should be paid to its application in arid areas and in winter with poor scores of accuracy indices. Also, it is clear that the calibration can significantly improve precipitation estimates, the overestimation by TMPA in TRMM-covered area is about a third as much as that in no-TRMM area for monthly and annual precipitation. The systematic evaluation of TMPA over mid-high latitudes provides a broader understanding of satellite-based precipitation estimates, and these

  19. Effect of hydraulic retention time on metal precipitation in sulfate reducing inverse fluidized bed reactors

    KAUST Repository

    Villa-Gómez, Denys Kristalia

    2014-02-13

    BACKGROUND: Metal sulfide recovery in sulfate reducing bioreactors is a challenge due to the formation of small precipitates with poor settling properties. The size of the metal sulfide precipitates with the change in operational parameters such as pH, sulfide concentration and reactor configuration has been previously studied. The effect of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the metal precipitate characteristics such as particle size for settling has not yet been addressed. RESULTS: The change in size of the metal (Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd) sulfide precipitates as a function of the HRT was studied in two sulfate reducing inversed fluidized bed (IFB) reactors operating at different chemical oxygen demand concentrations to produce high and low sulfide concentrations. The decrease of the HRT from 24 to 9h in both IFB reactors affected the contact time of the precipitates formed, thus making differences in aggregation and particle growth regardless of the differences in sulfide concentration. Further HRT decrease to 4.5h affected the sulfate reducing activity for sulfide production and hence, the supersaturation level and solid phase speciation. Metal sulfide precipitates affected the sulfate reducing activity and community in the biofilm, probably because of the stronger local supersaturation causing metal sulfides accumulation in the biofilm. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the HRT is an important factor determining the size and thus the settling rate of the metal sulfides formed in bioreactors.

  20. CCN and IN Effects on Cloud Properties and Precipitation - Case Studies from CalWater 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, J.; Leung, L.; Comstock, J. M.; Tomlinson, J. M.

    2011-12-01

    Aerosols in the atmosphere can serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) to modify cloud microphysical processes, which could potentially change the location, intensity, and type of precipitation. Dust aerosols are often observed over California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in winter/spring, associated with long-range transport from Asia. Although anthropogenic pollution has been postulated to contribute to reduction of precipitation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the effects of dust aerosols on the winter clouds and precipitation has not been examined in detail particularly with model simulations. We incorporate recent progress in ice nucleation parameterizations to link dust with ice crystal formation in a spectral-bin cloud microphysical model coupled with WRF, to exclusively look into how dust can possibly affect cloud properties and precipitation type and intensity. Simulations are carried out for two cases under different environmental conditions with atmospheric river (AR) and Sierra barrier jet (SBJ) from the CalWater 2011 field campaign. It is shown that increasing IN concentrations or adding a dust layer at 4-6 km as IN enhances surface rain and snow due to enhanced production of ice and snow in clouds. However, increasing CCN suppresses surface rain and snow, and significantly redistributes surface precipitation upwind and downwind of the mountains, with important implication to improving our understanding of the impacts of aerosols on orographic precipitation and water supply in the region.

  1. Centrifugal washing and recovery as an improved method for obtaining lignin precipitated from South African kraft mill black liquor

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Namane, M

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This study describes centrifugal recovery as an improved method for collection of lignin isolated from black liquor obtained from a South African kraft mill. Precipitation of lignin was achieved by utilising 6 M sulphuric acid. Recovery...

  2. Spatio-temporal interpolation of precipitation during monsoon periods in Pakistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hussain, Ijaz; Spöck, Gunter; Pilz, Jürgen; Yu, Hwa-Lung

    2010-08-01

    Spatio-temporal estimation of precipitation over a region is essential to the modeling of hydrologic processes for water resources management. The changes of magnitude and space-time heterogeneity of rainfall observations make space-time estimation of precipitation a challenging task. In this paper we propose a Box-Cox transformed hierarchical Bayesian multivariate spatio-temporal interpolation method for the skewed response variable. The proposed method is applied to estimate space-time monthly precipitation in the monsoon periods during 1974-2000, and 27-year monthly average precipitation data are obtained from 51 stations in Pakistan. The results of transformed hierarchical Bayesian multivariate spatio-temporal interpolation are compared to those of non-transformed hierarchical Bayesian interpolation by using cross-validation. The software developed by [11] is used for Bayesian non-stationary multivariate space-time interpolation. It is observed that the transformed hierarchical Bayesian method provides more accuracy than the non-transformed hierarchical Bayesian method.

  3. Effect of Aging on Precipitation Behavior and Pitting Corrosion Resistance of SAF2906 Super Duplex Stainless Steel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jianchun; Li, Guoping; Liang, Wei; Han, Peide; Wang, Hongxia

    2017-09-01

    The effect of aging temperature and holding time on the precipitation of secondary phases and pitting corrosion resistance of SAF2906 super duplex stainless steel was examined. Chromium nitride and σ phase were observed to preferentially precipitate at the ferrite/austenite interface. An amount of nitrides was also observed within the ferrite grain. The precipitation of chromium nitride occurred before the σ phase. The increase in aging temperature and holding time did not affect the concentration of the nitrides but increased the area fraction of the σ phase at a faster rate. The Cr2N precipitation in SAF2906 is more evident than that of the other duplex stainless steels. The variation tendency of the precipitation concentrations is primarily consistent with the prediction results of Thermo-Calc software. The electrochemical results showed that Cr2N and σ phase significantly reduced the pitting potential. Scanning electron microscope observations revealed that pits appear mainly in regions adjacent to sigma phase and Cr2N.

  4. Precipitation Regime Shift Enhanced the Rain Pulse Effect on Soil Respiration in a Semi-Arid Steppe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Liming; Chen, Shiping; Xia, Jianyang; Luo, Yiqi

    2014-01-01

    The effect of resource pulses, such as rainfall events, on soil respiration plays an important role in controlling grassland carbon balance, but how shifts in long-term precipitation regime regulate rain pulse effect on soil respiration is still unclear. We first quantified the influence of rainfall event on soil respiration based on a two-year (2006 and 2009) continuously measured soil respiration data set in a temperate steppe in northern China. In 2006 and 2009, soil carbon release induced by rainfall events contributed about 44.5% (83.3 g C m−2) and 39.6% (61.7 g C m−2) to the growing-season total soil respiration, respectively. The pulse effect of rainfall event on soil respiration can be accurately predicted by a water status index (WSI), which is the product of rainfall event size and the ratio between antecedent soil temperature to moisture at the depth of 10 cm (r 2 = 0.92, Psoil temperature/moisture ratio which is usually associated with longer dry spells. We then analyzed a long-term (1953–2009) precipitation record in the experimental area. We found both the extreme heavy rainfall events (>40 mm per event) and the long dry-spells (>5 days) during the growing seasons increased from 1953–2009. It suggests the shift in precipitation regime has increased the contribution of rain pulse effect to growing-season total soil respiration in this region. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating precipitation regime shift and its impacts on the rain pulse effect into the future predictions of grassland carbon cycle under climate change. PMID:25093573

  5. Risk assessment of precipitation extremes in northern Xinjiang, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jun; Pei, Ying; Zhang, Yanwei; Ge, Quansheng

    2018-05-01

    This study was conducted using daily precipitation records gathered at 37 meteorological stations in northern Xinjiang, China, from 1961 to 2010. We used the extreme value theory model, generalized extreme value (GEV) and generalized Pareto distribution (GPD), statistical distribution function to fit outputs of precipitation extremes with different return periods to estimate risks of precipitation extremes and diagnose aridity-humidity environmental variation and corresponding spatial patterns in northern Xinjiang. Spatiotemporal patterns of daily maximum precipitation showed that aridity-humidity conditions of northern Xinjiang could be well represented by the return periods of the precipitation data. Indices of daily maximum precipitation were effective in the prediction of floods in the study area. By analyzing future projections of daily maximum precipitation (2, 5, 10, 30, 50, and 100 years), we conclude that the flood risk will gradually increase in northern Xinjiang. GEV extreme value modeling yielded the best results, proving to be extremely valuable. Through example analysis for extreme precipitation models, the GEV statistical model was superior in terms of favorable analog extreme precipitation. The GPD model calculation results reflect annual precipitation. For most of the estimated sites' 2 and 5-year T for precipitation levels, GPD results were slightly greater than GEV results. The study found that extreme precipitation reaching a certain limit value level will cause a flood disaster. Therefore, predicting future extreme precipitation may aid warnings of flood disaster. A suitable policy concerning effective water resource management is thus urgently required.

  6. Nanoscale observations of the effect of citrate on calcium oxalate precipitation on calcite surfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgos-Cara, Alejandro; Ruiz-Agudo, Encarnacion; Putnis, Christine V.

    2016-04-01

    Calcium oxalate (CaC2O4ṡxH2O) minerals are naturally occurring minerals found in fossils, plants, kidney stones and is a by-product in some processes such as paper, food and beverage production [1,2]. In particular, calcium oxalate monohydrate phase (COM) also known as whewellite (CaC2O4ṡH2O), is the most frequently reported mineral phase found in urinary and kidney stones together with phosphates. Organic additives are well known to play a key role in the formation of minerals in both biotic and abiotic systems, either facilitating their precipitation or hindering it. In this regard, recent studies have provided direct evidence demonstrating that citrate species could enhance dissolution of COM and inhibit their precipitation. [3,4] The present work aims at evauate the influence of pH, citrate and oxalic acid concentrations in calcium oxalate precipitation on calcite surfaces (Island Spar, Chihuahua, Mexico) through in-situ nanoscale observation using in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM, Multimode, Bruker) in flow-through experiments. Changes in calcium oxalate morphologies and precipitated phases were observed, as well as the inhibitory effect of citrate on calcium oxalate precipitation, which also lead to stabilization an the amorphous calcium oxalate phase. [1] K.D. Demadis, M. Öner, Inhibitory effects of "green"additives on the crystal growth of sparingly soluble salts, in: J.T. Pearlman (Ed.), Green Chemistry Research Trends, Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York, 2009, pp. 265-287. [2] M. Masár, M. Zuborová, D. Kaniansky, B. Stanislawski, Determination of oxalate in beer by zone electrophoresis on a chip with conductivity detection, J. Sep. Sci. 26 (2003) 647-652. [3] Chutipongtanate S, Chaiyarit S, Thongboonkerd V. Citrate, not phosphate, can dissolve calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals and detach these crystals from renal tubular cells. Eur J Pharmacol 2012;689:219-25. [4] Weaver ML, Qiu SR, Hoyer JR, Casey WH, Nancollas GH, De Yoreo JJ

  7. Precipitation from Space: Advancing Earth System Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucera, Paul A.; Ebert, Elizabeth E.; Turk, F. Joseph; Levizzani, Vicenzo; Kirschbaum, Dalia; Tapiador, Francisco J.; Loew, Alexander; Borsche, M.

    2012-01-01

    Of the three primary sources of spatially contiguous precipitation observations (surface networks, ground-based radar, and satellite-based radar/radiometers), only the last is a viable source over ocean and much of the Earth's land. As recently as 15 years ago, users needing quantitative detail of precipitation on anything under a monthly time scale relied upon products derived from geostationary satellite thermal infrared (IR) indices. The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) passive microwave (PMW) imagers originated in 1987 and continue today with the SSMI sounder (SSMIS) sensor. The fortunate longevity of the joint National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is providing the environmental science community a nearly unbroken data record (as of April 2012, over 14 years) of tropical and sub-tropical precipitation processes. TRMM was originally conceived in the mid-1980s as a climate mission with relatively modest goals, including monthly averaged precipitation. TRMM data were quickly exploited for model data assimilation and, beginning in 1999 with the availability of near real time data, for tropical cyclone warnings. To overcome the intermittently spaced revisit from these and other low Earth-orbiting satellites, many methods to merge PMW-based precipitation data and geostationary satellite observations have been developed, such as the TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Product and the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) morphing method (CMORPH. The purpose of this article is not to provide a survey or assessment of these and other satellite-based precipitation datasets, which are well summarized in several recent articles. Rather, the intent is to demonstrate how the availability and continuity of satellite-based precipitation data records is transforming the ways that scientific and societal issues related to precipitation are addressed, in ways that would not be

  8. Low interannual precipitation has a greater negative effect than seedling herbivory on the population dynamics of a short-lived shrub, Schiedea obovata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bialic-Murphy, Lalasia; Gaoue, Orou G

    2018-01-01

    Climate projections forecast more extreme interannual climate variability over time, with an increase in the severity and duration of extreme drought and rainfall events. Based on bioclimatic envelope models, it is projected that changing precipitation patterns will drastically alter the spatial distributions and density of plants and be a primary driver of biodiversity loss. However, many other underlying mechanisms can impact plant vital rates (i.e., survival, growth, and reproduction) and population dynamics. In this study, we developed a size-dependent integral projection model (IPM) to evaluate how interannual precipitation and mollusk herbivory influence the dynamics of a Hawaii endemic short-lived shrub, Schiedea obovata (Caryophyllaceae). Assessing how wet season precipitation effects population dynamics it critical, as it is the timeframe when most of the foliar growth occurs, plants flower and fruit, and seedlings establish. Temporal variation in wet season precipitation had a greater effect than mollusk herbivory on S . obovata population growth rate λ, and the impact of interannual precipitation on vital rates shifted across plant ontogeny. Furthermore, wet season precipitation influenced multiple vital rates in contrasting ways and the effect of precipitation on the survival of larger vegetative and reproductively mature individuals contributed the most to variation in the population growth rate. Among all combination of wet season precipitation and herbivory intensities, the only scenario that led to a growing population was when high wet precipitation was associated with low herbivory. Our study highlights the importance of evaluating how abiotic factors and plant-consumer interactions influence an organism across its life cycle to fully understand the underpinning mechanisms that structure its spatial and temporal distribution and abundance. Our results also illustrate that for short-lived species, like S. obovata , seedling herbivory can have

  9. Dose-response functions for effects of acidic precipitation on vegetation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jacobson, J S; Troiano, J J

    1983-01-01

    Research on the effect of sulfuric and nitric acids, as well as other substances, in rain on plant growth has focused on quantifying the relationship between doses of acids in precipitation and plant response. After eight years, there has been no direct demonstration of harmful effects to plants by ambient acidic rain in North America, and there remains considerable uncertainty about the potential risk to cultivated and native plants. Current efforts to describe the relationships between dose of acidity and effects on plants need better experimental approaches if the results are to be more relevant to actual field situations. Mechanistic models that describe the physiological and biochemical basis for effects of acidic rain on plants will be needed to provide confidence in the predictions of plant response. 34 references, 1 figure.

  10. Towards deriving Ni-rich cathode and oxide-based anode materials from hydroxides by sharing a facile co-precipitation method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Haifa; Du, Tengfei; Wu, Junfeng; Wang, Yonglong; Liu, Jian; Ye, Shihai; Liu, Sheng

    2018-05-22

    Although intensive studies have been conducted on layered transition metal oxide(TMO)-based cathode materials and metal oxide-based anode materials for Li-ion batteries, their precursors generally follow different or even complex synthesis routes. To share one route for preparing precursors of the cathode and anode materials, herein, we demonstrate a facile co-precipitation method to fabricate Ni-rich hydroxide precursors of Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1(OH)2. Ni-rich layered oxide of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 is obtained by lithiation of the precursor in air. An NiO-based anode material is prepared by calcining the precursor or multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) incorporated precursors. The pre-addition of ammonia solution can simplify the co-precipitation procedures and the use of an air atmosphere can also make the heat treatment facile. LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 as the cathode material delivers a reversible capacity of 194 mA h g-1 at 40 mA g-1 and a notable cycling retention of 88.8% after 100 cycles at 200 mA g-1. This noticeable performance of the cathode arises from a decent particle morphology and high crystallinity of the layered oxides. As the anode material, the MWCNTs-incorporated oxides deliver a much higher reversible capacity of 811.1 mA h g-1 after 200 cycles compared to the pristine oxides without MWCNTs. The improvement on electrochemical performance can be attributed to synergistic effects from MWCNTs incorporation, including reinforced electronic conductivity, rich meso-pores and an alleviated volume effect. This facile and sharing method may offer an integrated and economical approach for commercial production of Ni-rich electrode materials for Li-ion batteries.

  11. Enhancing the Effectiveness of Carbon Dioxide Flooding by Managing Asphaltene Precipitation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deo, M.D.

    2001-01-12

    The objective of this project was to identify conditions at which carbon dioxide induced precipitation occurred in crude oils. Establishing compositions of the relevant liquid and solid phases was planned. Other goals of the project were to determine if precipitation occurred in cores and to implement thermodynamic and compositional models to examine the phenomenon. Exploring kinetics of precipitation was also one of the project goals. Crude oil from the Rangely Field (eastern Colorado) was used as a prototype.

  12. Creep resistant, precipitation-dispersion-strengthened, martensitic stainless steel and method thereof

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buck, R.F.

    1994-05-10

    An iron-based, corrosion-resistant, precipitation strengthened, martensitic steel essentially free of delta ferrite for use at high temperatures has a nominal composition of 0.05--0.1 C, 8--12 Cr, 1--5 Co, 0.5--2.0 Ni, 0.41--1.0 Mo, 0.1--0.5 Ti, and the balance iron. This steel is different from other corrosion-resistant martensitic steels because its microstructure consists of a uniform dispersion of fine particles, which are very closely spaced, and which do not coarsen at high temperatures. Thus at high temperatures this steel combines the excellent creep strength of dispersion-strengthened steels, with the ease of fabricability afforded by precipitation hardenable steels. 2 figures.

  13. Creep resistant, precipitation-dispersion-strengthened, martensitic stainless steel and method thereof

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buck, Robert F.

    1994-01-01

    An iron-based, corrosion-resistant, precipitation strengthened, martensitic steel essentially free of delta ferrite for use at high temperatures has a nominal composition of 0.05-0.1 C, 8-12 Cr, 1-5 Co, 0.5-2.0 Ni, 0.41-1.0 Mo, 0.1-0.5 Ti, and the balance iron. This steel is different from other corrosion-resistant martensitic steels because its microstructure consists of a uniform dispersion of fine particles, which are very closely spaced, and which do not coarsen at high temperatures. Thus at high temperatures this steel combines the excellent creep strength of dispersion-strengthened steels, with the ease of fabricability afforded by precipitation hardenable steels.

  14. Effect of Zr Additions on Thermal Stability of Al-Cu Precipitates in As-Cast and Cold Worked Samples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyle Deane

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available While Zr is frequently added to Al alloys to control grain size with the formation of large (>1 μm primary precipitates, little research has been conducted on the effect of nanoscale Al3Zr precipitates on Al alloys. By comparing the precipitation and corresponding strength evolution between Al-Cu-Zr alloys with different Zr concentrations, the effects of Zr on Al-Cu precipitation with and without primary Al3Zr precipitates can be observed. In the absence of these large precipitates, all Al3Zr phases can be formed, through high temperature aging treatments, as a dispersion of nanoprecipaites inside the Al grains. In this study, Al-Cu-Zr ternary alloys were produced and heat treated to determine whether an increase in the coarsening resistance of Al-Cu precipitate phases would be observed with a distribution of the more thermally stable Al3Zr nanoprecipitates. Generally, properly aged Al-Cu alloys will coarsen when encountering elevated temperatures higher than ~473 K (~200 °C. Diluted Al-Zr alloys (<0.07 at % Zr resist coarsening behavior until the significantly higher temperatures of ~673 K (~400 °C, but are comparatively limited in strength because of a limited solubility of Zr in the Al matrix. Hardness testing and transmission electron microscope (TEM results are discussed, in which it is found that even very small additions of Zr, when properly accounted for during heat treating, produce a finer microstructure and higher strength than in similar Al-Cu binary alloys. No significant change in the thermal stability of strengthening was observed, indicating that the finer precipitate microstructure is resultant from a higher nucleation density, as opposed to a decrease in coarsening behavior.

  15. Variation of precipitation in Langtang Valley,Himalayas

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2001-01-01

    The variation of the δ 18O in precipitation and the relationship with precipitation amountat Kyangjin Base House and Yala Glacier Camp in Langtang Valley, Nepal Himalayas were ana-lyzed. The variations of the δ 18O with precipitation had great scatter, and the correlations betweenthe δ18O and precipitation changed with time on the synoptic scale. On the seasonal scale, therewas marked amount effect at Kyangjin Base House. However, the δ18O-precipitation gradient wassmaller than that on the synoptic scale. Because of the maintenance of the basic equilibrium be-tween stable isotopic compositions in atmospheric vapor and precipitation, the evaporation en-richment was light during the rainy season. Therefore, the variation of stable isotopic compositionsin precipitation was independent on the sampling intervals. Simulations show that the rainfall inLangtang Valley was not the outcome of the initial condensation of ocean vapor that originatedfrom low latitudes. The stable isotopic compositions in precipitation were greatly depleted due tothe strong rainout of the vapor from oceans as the vapor was raised over the Himalayas

  16. Waste and Simulant Precipitation Issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steele, W.V.

    2000-01-01

    As Savannah River Site (SRS) personnel have studied methods of preparing high-level waste for vitrification in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), questions have arisen with regard to the formation of insoluble waste precipitates at inopportune times. One option for decontamination of the SRS waste streams employs the use of an engineered form of crystalline silicotitanate (CST). Testing of the process during FY 1999 identified problems associated with the formation of precipitates during cesium sorption tests using CST. These precipitates may, under some circumstances, obstruct the pores of the CST particles and, hence, interfere with the sorption process. In addition, earlier results from the DWPF recycle stream compatibility testing have shown that leaching occurs from the CST when it is stored at 80 C in a high-pH environment. Evidence was established that some level of components of the CST, such as silica, was leached from the CST. This report describes the results of equilibrium modeling and precipitation studies associated with the overall stability of the waste streams, CST component leaching, and the presence of minor components in the waste streams

  17. Optimization of precipitation conditions of thorium oxalate precipitate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pazukhin, Eh.M.; Smirnova, E.A.; Krivokhatskij, A.S.; Pazukhina, Yu.L.; Kiselev, P.P.

    1986-01-01

    Thorium precipitation in the form of difficultly soluble oxalate has been investigated. The equation binding the concentration of metal with the nitric acid in the initial solution and quantity of a precipitator necessary for minimization of desired product losses is derived. The graphical solution of this equation for a case, when the oxalic acid with 0.78 mol/l concentration is the precipitator, is presented

  18. Synthesis, structural, optical and morphological characterization of hematite through the precipitation method: Effect of varying the nature of the base

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lassoued, Abdelmajid; Lassoued, Mohamed Saber; Dkhil, Brahim; Gadri, Abdellatif; Ammar, Salah

    2017-08-01

    Iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized using the precipitation synthesis method focusing only on (FeCl3, 6H2O), NaOH, KOH and NH4OH as raw materials. The impact of varying the nature of the base on the crystalline phase, size and morphology of α-Fe2O3 products was explored. XRD spectra revealed that samples crystallize in the rhombohedral (hexagonal) system at 800 °C.The Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to detect the morphology of synthesized nanoparticles and specify their sizes. However, the Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FT-IR) spectroscopy has permitted the observation of vibration band Fe-O. Raman spectroscopy was used not only to prove that we have synthesized hematite but also to identify their phonon modes. The Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) findings allow the thermal cycle determination of samples whereas Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) findings allow the phase transition temperature identification. Besides, the optical investigation revealed that samples have an optical gap of about 2.1 eV. Findings highlight that the nature of the agent precipitant plays a significant role in the morphology of the products and the formation of the crystalline phase. Hematite synthesis with the base NH4OH brought about much stronger, sharper and wider diffraction peaks of α-Fe2O3. The morphology of samples are spherical with a size of about 61 nm while the size of the nanoparticles of hematite which we have synthesized with NaOH and KOH is respectively of the order of 82 and 79 nm.

  19. The effect of energetic electron precipitation on the nitric oxide density in the lower thermosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saetre, Camilla

    2006-12-01

    The objective of this thesis has been the study of the chemical effects of the electron precipitation in the upper atmosphere, and mainly the increase of thermospheric nitric oxide (NO). NO plays an important role in the temperature balance for the mesosphere and thermosphere.In this project auroral electron precipitation data, derived from the Polar Ionospheric X-ray Imaging Experiment (PIXIE) and the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) on board the Polar satellite, have been used together with NO density measurements from the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE)

  20. Analysis of precipitation characteristics of South and North China based on the power-law tail exponents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Guolin; Zhang Daquan; Gong Zhiqiang; Zhi Rong

    2008-01-01

    Precipitation sequence is a typical nonlinear and chaotic observational series, and studies on precipitation forecasts are restricted to the use of traditional linear statistical methods, especially when analysing the regional characteristics of precipitation. In the context of 20 stations' daily precipitation series (from 1956 to 2000) in South China (SC) and North China (NC), we divide each precipitation series into many self-stationary segments by using the heuristic segmentation algorithm (briefly BG algorithm). For each station's precipitation series, we calculate the exponent of power-law tail (EPT) of the cumulative probability distribution of segments with a length larger than l for precipitation and temperature series. Our results show that the power-law decay of the cumulative probability distribution of stationary segments might be a common attribution for precipitation and other nonstationary time series; the EPT somewhat indicates the precipitation duration and its spatial distribution that might be different from area to area. The EPT in NC is larger than in SC; Meanwhile, EPT might be another effective way to study the abrupt changes in nonlinear and nonstationary time series. (geophysics, astronomy and astrophysics)

  1. Effect of deformation temperature on niobium clustering, precipitation and austenite recrystallisation in a Nb–Ti microalloyed steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kostryzhev, Andrii G.; Al Shahrani, Abdullah; Zhu, Chen; Ringer, Simon P.; Pereloma, Elena V.

    2013-01-01

    The effect of deformation temperature on Nb solute clustering, precipitation and the kinetics of austenite recrystallisation were studied in a steel containing 0.081C–0.021Ti–0.064 Nb (wt%). Thermo-mechanical processing was carried out using a Gleeble 3500 simulator. The austenite microstructure was studied using a combination of optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atom probe microscopy, enabling a careful characterisation of grain size, as well as Nb-rich clustering and precipitation processes. A correlation between the austenite recrystallisation kinetics and the chemistry, size and number density of Nb-rich solute atom clusters, and NbTi(C,N) precipitates was established via the austenite deformation temperature. Specifically, we have determined thresholds for the onset of recrystallisation: for deformation levels above 75% and temperatures above 825 °C, Nb atom clusters <8 nm effectively suppressed austenite recrystallisation

  2. Effect of sulfide concentration on the location of the metal precipitates in inversed fluidized bed reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Villa-Gomez, D., E-mail: d.villagomez@unesco-ihe.org [Core Pollution Prevention and Control, UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education, PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft (Netherlands); Ababneh, H.; Papirio, S.; Rousseau, D.P.L.; Lens, P.N.L. [Core Pollution Prevention and Control, UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education, PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft (Netherlands)

    2011-08-15

    Highlights: {yields} Sulfide concentration governs the location of metal precipitates in sulfate reducing bioreactors. {yields} High dissolved sulfide induces metal precipitation in the bulk liquid as fines. {yields} Low dissolved sulfide concentrations yield local supersaturation and thus metal precipitation in the biofilm. -- Abstract: The effect of the sulfide concentration on the location of the metal precipitates within sulfate-reducing inversed fluidized bed (IFB) reactors was evaluated. Two mesophilic IFB reactors were operated for over 100 days at the same operational conditions, but with different chemical oxygen demand (COD) to SO{sub 4}{sup 2-} ratio (5 and 1, respectively). After a start up phase, 10 mg/L of Cu, Pb, Cd and Zn each were added to the influent. The sulfide concentration in one IFB reactor reached 648 mg/L, while it reached only 59 mg/L in the other one. In the high sulfide IFB reactor, the precipitated metals were mainly located in the bulk liquid (as fines), whereas in the low sulfide IFB reactor the metal preciptiates were mainly present in the biofilm. The latter can be explained by local supersaturation due to sulfide production in the biofilm. This paper demonstrates that the sulfide concentration needs to be controlled in sulfate reducing IFB reactors to steer the location of the metal precipitates for recovery.

  3. Spatio-temporal analysis of the extreme precipitation by the L-moment-based index-flood method in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Yixing; Chen, Haishan; Xu, Chongyu; Xu, Wucheng; Chen, Changchun

    2014-05-01

    The regionalization methods which 'trade space for time' by including several at-site data records in the frequency analysis are an efficient tool to improve the reliability of extreme quantile estimates. With the main aims of improving the understanding of the regional frequency of extreme precipitation and providing scientific and practical background and assistance in formulating the regional development strategies for water resources management in one of the most developed and flood-prone regions in China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, in this paper, L-moment-based index-flood (LMIF) method, one of the popular regionalization methods, is used in the regional frequency analysis of extreme precipitation; attention was paid to inter-site dependence and its influence on the accuracy of quantile estimates, which hasn't been considered for most of the studies using LMIF method. Extensive data screening of stationarity, serial dependence and inter-site dependence was carried out first. The entire YRD region was then categorized into four homogeneous regions through cluster analysis and homogenous analysis. Based on goodness-of-fit statistic and L-moment ratio diagrams, Generalized extreme-value (GEV) and Generalized Normal (GNO) distributions were identified as the best-fit distributions for most of the sub regions. Estimated quantiles for each region were further obtained. Monte-Carlo simulation was used to evaluate the accuracy of the quantile estimates taking inter-site dependence into consideration. The results showed that the root mean square errors (RMSEs) were bigger and the 90% error bounds were wider with inter-site dependence than those with no inter-site dependence for both the regional growth curve and quantile curve. The spatial patterns of extreme precipitation with return period of 100 years were obtained which indicated that there are two regions with the highest precipitation extremes (southeastern coastal area of Zhejiang Province and the

  4. The effect of Cu on mechanical and precipitation properties of Al-Zn-Mg alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chinh, N.Q.; Lendvai, J.; Ping, D.H.; Hono, K.

    2004-01-01

    The effect of Cu on the mechanical and precipitation properties of a high strength Al-2.4 at.% Zn-2.1 at.% Mg alloy was investigated by compression and indentation tests, as well as by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and three-dimensional atom probe field ion microscopy (3DAPFIM). The addition of 0.5 at.% Cu introduces significant changes in the precipitation process and consequently in the age-hardening behavior of the alloy. Microstructural measurements reveal that the addition of Cu changes the density of GP zones, but it also changes partly the shape and composition of the particles. Mechanical and microstructural results together lead to the conclusion that clustering of solute atoms and vacancies during or immediately after water quenching plays an important role in the nucleation of intermediate phase precipitates in one-step aging and the addition of Cu to ternary Al-Zn-Mg leads to changes also in the initial clustering process

  5. Control of calcium carbonate precipitation in anaerobic reactors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Langerak, van E.P.A.

    1998-01-01

    Anaerobic treatment of waste waters with a high calcium content may lead to excessive precipitation of calcium carbonate. So far, no proper methods were available to predict or reduce the extent of precipitation in an anaerobic treatment system. Moreover, it also was not clear to what

  6. Stability investigations of zinc and cobalt precipitates immobilized by in situ bioprecipitation (ISBP) process

    KAUST Repository

    Satyawali, Yamini; Schols, Edo; Van Roy, Sandra; Dejonghe, Winnie; Diels, Ludo; Vanbroekhoven, Karolien

    2010-01-01

    In situ bioprecipitation (ISBP), which involves immobilizing the metals as precipitates (mainly sulphides) in the solid phase, is an effective method of metal removal from contaminated groundwater. This study investigated the stability of metal precipitates formed after ISBP in two different solid-liquid matrices (artificial and natural). The artificial matrix consisted of sand, Zn (200mgL-1), artificial groundwater and a carbon source (electron donor). Here the stability of the Zn precipitates was evaluated by manipulation of redox and pH. The natural system matrices included aquifer material and groundwater samples collected from three different metal (Zn and Co) contaminated sites and different carbon sources were provided as electron donors. In the natural matrices, metal precipitates stability was assessed by changing aquifer redox conditions, sequential extraction, and BIOMET® assay. The results indicated that, in the artificial matrix, redox manipulation did not impact the Zn precipitates. However the sequential pH change proved detrimental, releasing 58% of the precipitated Zn back into liquid phase. In natural matrices, the applied carbon source largely affected the stability of metal precipitates. Elemental analysis performed on the precipitates formed in natural matrix showed that the main elements of the precipitates were sulphur with Zn and Co. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

  7. Stability investigations of zinc and cobalt precipitates immobilized by in situ bioprecipitation (ISBP) process

    KAUST Repository

    Satyawali, Yamini

    2010-09-01

    In situ bioprecipitation (ISBP), which involves immobilizing the metals as precipitates (mainly sulphides) in the solid phase, is an effective method of metal removal from contaminated groundwater. This study investigated the stability of metal precipitates formed after ISBP in two different solid-liquid matrices (artificial and natural). The artificial matrix consisted of sand, Zn (200mgL-1), artificial groundwater and a carbon source (electron donor). Here the stability of the Zn precipitates was evaluated by manipulation of redox and pH. The natural system matrices included aquifer material and groundwater samples collected from three different metal (Zn and Co) contaminated sites and different carbon sources were provided as electron donors. In the natural matrices, metal precipitates stability was assessed by changing aquifer redox conditions, sequential extraction, and BIOMET® assay. The results indicated that, in the artificial matrix, redox manipulation did not impact the Zn precipitates. However the sequential pH change proved detrimental, releasing 58% of the precipitated Zn back into liquid phase. In natural matrices, the applied carbon source largely affected the stability of metal precipitates. Elemental analysis performed on the precipitates formed in natural matrix showed that the main elements of the precipitates were sulphur with Zn and Co. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

  8. Synthesis and Characterization of Hydroxyapatite Powder by Wet Precipitation Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahyaningrum, S. E.; Herdyastuty, N.; Devina, B.; Supangat, D.

    2018-01-01

    Hydroxyapatite is main inorganic component of the bone with formula Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2. Hydroxyapatite can be used as substituted bone biomaterial because biocompatible, non toxic, and osteoconductive. In this study, hydroxyapatite is synthesized using wet precipitation method from egg shell. The product was sintered at different temperatures of 800°C to 1000°C to improve its crystallinity. The hydroxyapatite was characterized by X-ray analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to reveal its phase content, morphology and types of bond present within it. The analytical results showed hydroxyapatite had range in crystallinity from 85.527 to 98.753%. The analytical functional groups showed that presence of functional groups such as OH, (PO4)3 2-, and CO3 2- that indicated as hydroxyapatite. The result of characterization SEM indicated that hydroxyapatite without sintering and HAp sintering at 800 °C were irregular shape without pore. The best hydroxyapatite with temperature sintering at 900 °C showed oval shaped with pores without agglomerated.

  9. Effects of El Nino Modoki on winter precipitation in Korea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Do-Woo [Korea Meteorological Administration, National Institute of Meteorological Research, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Ki-Seon [Korea Meteorological Administration, National Typhoon Center, Jeju (Korea, Republic of); Byun, Hi-Ryong [Pukyong National University, Department of Environmental Atmospheric Sciences, Nam-gu, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-04-15

    This study compares the impacts of El Nino Modoki and El Nino on precipitation over Korea during the boreal winters from 1954 to 2009. Precipitation in Korea tends to be equal to or greater than the normal level during an El Nino Modoki winter, whereas there is no significant change during an El Nino winter. Greater than normal precipitation during El Nino Modoki was also found over the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China and much of southern Japan. The latitudes of these regions are 5-10 further north than in southern China, where precipitation increases during El Nino. The following two anomalous atmospheric circulations were found to be causes that led to different precipitation distributions over East Asia. First, an atmospheric wave train in the lower troposphere, which propagated from the central tropical Pacific (cyclonic) through the southern Philippine Sea (anticyclonic) to East Asia (cyclonic), reached the southern China and northern Philippine Sea during El Nino, whereas it reached Korea and southern Japan during El Nino Modoki. Second, an anomalous local meridional circulation, which consists of air sinking in the tropics, flowing poleward in the lower troposphere, and rising in the subtropics, developed between the southern Philippine Sea and northern Philippine Sea during El Nino. During El Nino Modoki, however, this circulation expanded further to the north and was formed between the southern Philippine Sea and regions of Korea and southern Japan. (orig.)

  10. Quantification of the impact of precipitation spatial distribution uncertainty on predictive uncertainty of a snowmelt runoff model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacquin, A. P.

    2012-04-01

    This study is intended to quantify the impact of uncertainty about precipitation spatial distribution on predictive uncertainty of a snowmelt runoff model. This problem is especially relevant in mountain catchments with a sparse precipitation observation network and relative short precipitation records. The model analysed is a conceptual watershed model operating at a monthly time step. The model divides the catchment into five elevation zones, where the fifth zone corresponds to the catchment's glaciers. Precipitation amounts at each elevation zone i are estimated as the product between observed precipitation at a station and a precipitation factor FPi. If other precipitation data are not available, these precipitation factors must be adjusted during the calibration process and are thus seen as parameters of the model. In the case of the fifth zone, glaciers are seen as an inexhaustible source of water that melts when the snow cover is depleted.The catchment case study is Aconcagua River at Chacabuquito, located in the Andean region of Central Chile. The model's predictive uncertainty is measured in terms of the output variance of the mean squared error of the Box-Cox transformed discharge, the relative volumetric error, and the weighted average of snow water equivalent in the elevation zones at the end of the simulation period. Sobol's variance decomposition (SVD) method is used for assessing the impact of precipitation spatial distribution, represented by the precipitation factors FPi, on the models' predictive uncertainty. In the SVD method, the first order effect of a parameter (or group of parameters) indicates the fraction of predictive uncertainty that could be reduced if the true value of this parameter (or group) was known. Similarly, the total effect of a parameter (or group) measures the fraction of predictive uncertainty that would remain if the true value of this parameter (or group) was unknown, but all the remaining model parameters could be fixed

  11. Effect of Mg/Ca ratios on microbially induced carbonate precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balci, Nurgul; Demirel, Cansu; Seref Sonmez, M.; Kurt, M. Ali

    2016-04-01

    Influence of Mg/Ca ratios on microbially induced carbonate mineralogy were investigated by series of experiments carried out under various environmental conditions (Mg/Ca ratio, temperature and salinity). Halophilic bacterial cultures used for biomineralization experiments were isolated from hypersaline Lake Acıgöl (Denizli, SW Turkey), displaying extreme water chemistry with an average pH around 8.6 (Balci eta l.,2015). Enriched bacterial culture used in the experiments consisted of Halomonas saccharevitans strain AJ275, Halomonas alimentaria strain L7B; Idiomarina sp. TBZ29, 98% Idiomarina seosensis strain CL-SP19. Biomineralization experiments were set up using above enriched culture with Mg/Ca ratios of 0.05, 1, 4 and 15 and salinity of 8% and 15% experiments at 30oC and 10oC. Additionally, long-term biomineralization experiments were set up to last for a year, for Mg/Ca=4 and Mg/Ca=15 experiments at 30oC. For each experimental condition abiotic experiments were also conducted. Solution chemistry throughout incubation was monitored for Na, K, Mg, Ca, bicarbonate, carbonate, ammonium and phosphate for a month. At the end of the experiments, precipitates were collected and morphology and mineralogy of the biominerals were investigated and results were evaluated using the software DIFFRAC.SUITE EVA. Overall the preliminary results showed chemical precipitation of calcite, halite, hydromagnesite and sylvite. Results obtained from biological experiments indicate that, low Mg/Ca ratios (0.05 and 1) favor chlorapatite precipitation, whereas higher Mg/Ca ratios favor struvite precipitation. Biomineralization of dolomite, huntite and magnesite is favorable at high Mg/Ca ratios (4 and 15), in the presence of halophilic bacteria. Moreover, results indicate that supersaturation with respect to Mg (Mg/Ca=15) combined with NaCl (15%) inhibits biomineralization and forms chemical precipitates. 15% salinity is shown to favor chemical precipitation of mineral phases more than

  12. The Precipitation Behavior of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs with an Emphasis on the Digestion of Lipid Based Formulations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khan, Jamal; Rades, Thomas; Boyd, Ben

    2016-01-01

    digestion and drug solubilisation during gastrointestinal transit have been explored in detail, but the implications of drug precipitation beyond the potential adverse effect on bioavailability have received attention only in recent years. Specifically, these implications are that different solid forms...... the events that lead to drug precipitation during the dispersion and digestion of lipid based formulations, common methods used to inhibit precipitation, as well as conventional and newly emerging characterization techniques for studying the solid state form of the precipitated drug. Moreover, selected case...... studies are discussed where drug precipitation has ensued from the digestion of lipid based formulations, as well as the apparent link between drug ionisability and altered solid forms on precipitation, culminating in a discussion about the importance of the solid form on precipitation with relevance...

  13. Effect of pH on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Magnetite Nanoparticles Synthesised by Co-Precipitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramadan, W.; Kareem, M.; Hannoyer, B.; Saha, Sh.

    2011-01-01

    Magnetite, Fe3O4, nanoparticles were synthesized using co-precipitation aqueous method at room temperature and at different pH, from 8 to 12.5. The pH value was found to influence greatly the resulting phases and has no significant effect on the particle size. In all cases, magnetite was found to be the main phase but the contribution of Goethite phase was identified clearly with the increase in pH. Significant reduction in saturation magnetization was evident. Structural and magnetic properties of the nanoparticles were examined using; XRD, TEM, Raman Spectroscopy and SQUID. (author)

  14. Characterization of the evolution of the volume fraction of precipitates in aged AlMgSiCu alloys using DSC technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Esmaeili, Shahrzad; Lloyd, David J.

    2005-01-01

    Differential scanning calorimetry is used to quantify the evolution of the volume fraction of precipitates during age hardening in AlMgSiCu alloys. The calorimetry tests are run on alloy samples after aging for various times at 180 deg. C and the change in the collective heat effects from the major precipitation and dissolution processes in each run are used to determine the precipitation state of the samples. The method is implemented on alloys with various thermal histories prior to artificial aging, including commercial pre-aging histories. The estimated values for the relative volume fraction of precipitates are compared with the results from a newly developed analytical method using isothermal calorimetry and a related quantitative transmission electron microscopy work. Excellent agreement is obtained between the results from various methods

  15. Precipitation and ultimate pH effect on chemical and gelation properties of protein prepared by isoelectric solubilization/precipitation process from pale, soft, exudative (PSE)-like chicken breast meat1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, X; Xing, T; Chen, X; Han, M-Y; Li, X; Xu, X-L; Zhou, G-H

    2017-05-01

    Pale, soft, exudative (PSE)-like chicken breast is considered deteriorated raw material in the poultry meat industry that has inferior processing ability. The chemical and gelation properties of PSE-like chicken breast meat paste were studied. These pastes were prepared by the pH adjustment method and protein isolation using the isoelectric solubilization/precipitation (ISP) process from PSE-like chicken meat. The ISP-isolated samples were solubilized at pH 11.0 and recovered at pH 5.5 and 6.2. The ultimate pH of the ISP-isolated protein and meat paste was adjusted to 6.2 and 7.0. The ultimate pH in this article referred to the final pH of the extracted protein and meat paste. Higher reactive sulfhydryl content and surface hydrophobicity were found in the precipitation at pH 6.2 than at pH 5.5. However, various ultimate pH values showed no significant influence on the surface hydrophobicity. The hardness of gel, as measured by textural profile analysis, was improved using 6.2 as the precipitation pH compared with pH 5.5. The viscoelastic modulus (G΄) of gel pastes prior to the thermal gelation was higher with ISP treatment. However, lower G΄ was seen after thermal gelation compared with the control. Dynamic rheological measurement demonstrated a different gel-forming mechanism for protein precipitated at pH values of 5.5 and 6.2 compared with the meat paste. The cooking loss showed that the recovered protein failed to form a gel with good water-retention capacity unless the ultimate pH was adjusted to 7.0. Gels made from protein extracted by the ISP method had higher yellowness and lower redness values, probably due to protein denaturation. Precipitation at pH 6.2 formed a harder gel with lower water-retention ability than that at pH 5.5, and this result was possibly due to higher surface hydrophobicity and S-S bridge formation. Overall, network characteristics of ISP-treated protein gels were strongly dependent on precipitation pH and ultimate pH. © 2016

  16. Statistical-Dynamical Seasonal Forecasts of Central-Southwest Asian Winter Precipitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tippett, Michael K.; Goddard, Lisa; Barnston, Anthony G.

    2005-06-01

    Interannual precipitation variability in central-southwest (CSW) Asia has been associated with East Asian jet stream variability and western Pacific tropical convection. However, atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) forced by observed sea surface temperature (SST) poorly simulate the region's interannual precipitation variability. The statistical-dynamical approach uses statistical methods to correct systematic deficiencies in the response of AGCMs to SST forcing. Statistical correction methods linking model-simulated Indo-west Pacific precipitation and observed CSW Asia precipitation result in modest, but statistically significant, cross-validated simulation skill in the northeast part of the domain for the period from 1951 to 1998. The statistical-dynamical method is also applied to recent (winter 1998/99 to 2002/03) multimodel, two-tier December-March precipitation forecasts initiated in October. This period includes 4 yr (winter of 1998/99 to 2001/02) of severe drought. Tercile probability forecasts are produced using ensemble-mean forecasts and forecast error estimates. The statistical-dynamical forecasts show enhanced probability of below-normal precipitation for the four drought years and capture the return to normal conditions in part of the region during the winter of 2002/03.May Kabul be without gold, but not without snow.—Traditional Afghan proverb

  17. Precipitates/Salts Model Sensitivity Calculation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    P. Mariner

    2001-12-20

    The objective and scope of this calculation is to assist Performance Assessment Operations and the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) Department in modeling the geochemical effects of evaporation on potential seepage waters within a potential repository drift. This work is developed and documented using procedure AP-3.12Q, ''Calculations'', in support of ''Technical Work Plan For Engineered Barrier System Department Modeling and Testing FY 02 Work Activities'' (BSC 2001a). The specific objective of this calculation is to examine the sensitivity and uncertainties of the Precipitates/Salts model. The Precipitates/Salts model is documented in an Analysis/Model Report (AMR), ''In-Drift Precipitates/Salts Analysis'' (BSC 2001b). The calculation in the current document examines the effects of starting water composition, mineral suppressions, and the fugacity of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) on the chemical evolution of water in the drift.

  18. Chemical precipitation processes for the treatment of aqueous radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    Chemical precipitation by coagulation-flocculation and sedimentation has been commonly used for many years to treat liquid (aqueous) radioactive waste. This method allows the volume of waste to be substantially reduced for further treatment or conditioning and the bulk of the waste to de discharged. Chemical precipitation is usually applied in combination with other methods as part of a comprehensive waste management scheme. As with any other technology, chemical precipitation is constantly being improved to reduce cost to increase the effectiveness and safety on the entire waste management system. The purpose of this report is to review and update the information provided in Technical Reports Series No. 89, Chemical Treatment of Radioactive Wastes, published in 1968. In this report the chemical methods currently in use for the treatment of low and intermediate level aqueous radioactive wastes are described and illustrated. Comparisons are given of the advantages and limitations of the processes, and it is noted that good decontamination and volume reduction are not the only criteria according to which a particular process should be selected. Emphasis has been placed on the need to carefully characterize each waste stream, to examine fully the effect of segregation and the importance of looking at the entire operation and not just the treatment process when planning a liquid waste treatment facility. This general approach includes local requirements and possibilities, discharge authorization, management of the concentrates, ICRP recommendations and economics. It appears that chemical precipitation process and solid-liquid separation techniques will continue to be widely used in liquid radioactive waste treatment. Current research and development is showing that combining different processes in one treatment plant can provide higher decontamination factors and smaller secondary waste arisings. Some of these processes are already being incorporated into new and

  19. Characteristics of Spatial Structural Patterns and Temporal Variability of Annual Precipitation in Ningxia

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    [Objective] The aim was to study the characteristics of the spatial structural patterns and temporal variability of annual precipitation in Ningxia.[Method] Using rotated empirical orthogonal function,the precipitation concentration index,wavelet analysis and Mann-Kendall rank statistic method,the characteristics of precipitation on the spatial-temporal variability and trend were analyzed by the monthly precipitation series in Ningxia during 1951-2008.[Result] In Ningxia,the spatial structural patterns of a...

  20. Assessing the applicability of WRF optimal parameters under the different precipitation simulations in the Greater Beijing Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di, Zhenhua; Duan, Qingyun; Wang, Chen; Ye, Aizhong; Miao, Chiyuan; Gong, Wei

    2018-03-01

    Forecasting skills of the complex weather and climate models have been improved by tuning the sensitive parameters that exert the greatest impact on simulated results based on more effective optimization methods. However, whether the optimal parameter values are still work when the model simulation conditions vary, which is a scientific problem deserving of study. In this study, a highly-effective optimization method, adaptive surrogate model-based optimization (ASMO), was firstly used to tune nine sensitive parameters from four physical parameterization schemes of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to obtain better summer precipitation forecasting over the Greater Beijing Area in China. Then, to assess the applicability of the optimal parameter values, simulation results from the WRF model with default and optimal parameter values were compared across precipitation events, boundary conditions, spatial scales, and physical processes in the Greater Beijing Area. The summer precipitation events from 6 years were used to calibrate and evaluate the optimal parameter values of WRF model. Three boundary data and two spatial resolutions were adopted to evaluate the superiority of the calibrated optimal parameters to default parameters under the WRF simulations with different boundary conditions and spatial resolutions, respectively. Physical interpretations of the optimal parameters indicating how to improve precipitation simulation results were also examined. All the results showed that the optimal parameters obtained by ASMO are superior to the default parameters for WRF simulations for predicting summer precipitation in the Greater Beijing Area because the optimal parameters are not constrained by specific precipitation events, boundary conditions, and spatial resolutions. The optimal values of the nine parameters were determined from 127 parameter samples using the ASMO method, which showed that the ASMO method is very highly-efficient for optimizing WRF

  1. Projected Response of Low-Level Convergence and Associated Precipitation to Greenhouse Warming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weller, Evan; Jakob, Christian; Reeder, Michael J.

    2017-10-01

    The parameterization of convection in climate models is a large source of uncertainty in projecting future precipitation changes. Here an objective method to identify organized low-level convergence lines has been used to better understand how atmospheric convection is organized and projected to change, as low-level convergence plays an important role in the processes leading to precipitation. The frequency and strength of convergence lines over both ocean and land in current climate simulations is too low compared to reanalysis data. Projections show a further reduction in the frequency and strength of convergence lines over the midlatitudes. In the tropics, the largest changes in frequency are generally associated with shifts in major low-latitude convergence zones, consistent with changes in the precipitation. Further, examining convergence lines when in the presence or absence of precipitation results in large spatial contrasts, providing a better understanding of regional changes in terms of thermodynamic and dynamic effects.

  2. Structure and properties of nanosize NiFe2O4 prepared by template and precipitation methods

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Ćosović, A.; Ćosović, B.; Žák, Tomáš; David, Bohumil; Talijan, N.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 49, č. 3 (2013), s. 271-277 ISSN 1450-5339 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP108/11/1350; GA MŠk(CZ) ED1.1.00/02.0068 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z2041904 Institutional support: RVO:68081723 Keywords : nanosized NiFe2O4 * template method * precipitation route * microstructure * phase composition * magnetic properties Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 1.135, year: 2013

  3. Detection of the relationship between peak temperature and extreme precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Y.; Liu, J.; Zhiyong, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Under the background of climate change and human activities, the characteristics and pattern of precipitation have changed significantly in many regions. As the political and cultural center of China, the structure and character of precipitation in Jingjinji District has varied dramatically in recent years. In this paper, the daily precipitation data throughout the period 1960-2013 are selected for analyzing the spatial-temporal variability of precipitation. The results indicate that the frequency and intensity of precipitation presents an increasing trend. Based on the precipitation data, the maximum, minimum and mean precipitation in different temporal and spatial scales is calculated respectively. The temporal and spatial variation of temperature is obtained by using statistical methods. The relationship between temperature and precipitation in different range is analyzed. The curve relates daily precipitation extremes with local temperatures has a peak structure, increasing at the low-medium range of temperature variations but decreasing at high temperatures. The relationship between extreme precipitation is stronger in downtown than that in suburbs.

  4. An Approach for Generating Precipitation Input for Worst-Case Flood Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felder, Guido; Weingartner, Rolf

    2015-04-01

    There is a lack of suitable methods for creating precipitation scenarios that can be used to realistically estimate peak discharges with very low probabilities. On the one hand, existing methods are methodically questionable when it comes to physical system boundaries. On the other hand, the spatio-temporal representativeness of precipitation patterns as system input is limited. In response, this study proposes a method of deriving representative spatio-temporal precipitation patterns and presents a step towards making methodically correct estimations of infrequent floods by using a worst-case approach. A Monte-Carlo rainfall-runoff model allows for the testing of a wide range of different spatio-temporal distributions of an extreme precipitation event and therefore for the generation of a hydrograph for each of these distributions. Out of these numerous hydrographs and their corresponding peak discharges, the worst-case catchment reactions on the system input can be derived. The spatio-temporal distributions leading to the highest peak discharges are identified and can eventually be used for further investigations.

  5. Addressing the issue of precipitates in maraging steels – Unambiguous answer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moshka, O.; Pinkas, M.; Brosh, E.; Ezersky, V.; Meshi, L.

    2015-01-01

    Despite several decades' long study, the identity of the precipitating phases responsible for the strengthening of maraging steels is still not clear. In the current work, this issue was extensively investigated using experimental and theoretical approaches. First, in-depth characterization of the precipitates in C250 steel and the precipitation order were performed through a combination of various Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) methods. In parallel, thermodynamic calculations were used for the prediction of the phase content at equilibrium. Then, in order to isolate the effects of the different precipitates, model alloys were cast and aged. It was shown that the phases responsible for the strengthening during the initial stages of aging are Ni 3 Mo and Ni 3 Ti. In the over-aged (close to equilibrium) condition, the steel consists of martensite, reverted austenite, Ni 3 Ti, and Fe–Mo phases. This conclusion was found to be in perfect agreement with thermodynamic calculations. The formation of Ni 3 Mo at early stages of aging, despite its calculated lowest driving force for formation, was attributed to a low barrier for formation

  6. Improvement of Hydrological Simulations by Applying Daily Precipitation Interpolation Schemes in Meso-Scale Catchments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mateusz Szcześniak

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Ground-based precipitation data are still the dominant input type for hydrological models. Spatial variability in precipitation can be represented by spatially interpolating gauge data using various techniques. In this study, the effect of daily precipitation interpolation methods on discharge simulations using the semi-distributed SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool model over a 30-year period is examined. The study was carried out in 11 meso-scale (119–3935 km2 sub-catchments lying in the Sulejów reservoir catchment in central Poland. Four methods were tested: the default SWAT method (Def based on the Nearest Neighbour technique, Thiessen Polygons (TP, Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW and Ordinary Kriging (OK. =The evaluation of methods was performed using a semi-automated calibration program SUFI-2 (Sequential Uncertainty Fitting Procedure Version 2 with two objective functions: Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE and the adjusted R2 coefficient (bR2. The results show that: (1 the most complex OK method outperformed other methods in terms of NSE; and (2 OK, IDW, and TP outperformed Def in terms of bR2. The median difference in daily/monthly NSE between OK and Def/TP/IDW calculated across all catchments ranged between 0.05 and 0.15, while the median difference between TP/IDW/OK and Def ranged between 0.05 and 0.07. The differences between pairs of interpolation methods were, however, spatially variable and a part of this variability was attributed to catchment properties: catchments characterised by low station density and low coefficient of variation of daily flows experienced more pronounced improvement resulting from using interpolation methods. Methods providing higher precipitation estimates often resulted in a better model performance. The implication from this study is that appropriate consideration of spatial precipitation variability (often neglected by model users that can be achieved using relatively simple interpolation methods can

  7. Do competitors modulate rare plant response to precipitation change?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levine, J.M.; Kathryn, Mceachern A.; Cowan, C.

    2010-01-01

    Ecologists increasingly suspect that climate change will directly impact species physiology, demography, and phenology, but also indirectly affect these measures via changes to the surrounding community. Unfortunately, few studies examine both the direct and indirect pathways of impact. Doing so is important because altered competitive pressures can reduce or magnify the direct responses of a focal species to climate change. Here, we examine the effects of changing rainfall on three rare annual plant species in the presence and absence of competition on the California Channel Islands. We used rain-out shelters and hand watering to exclude and augment early, late, and season-long rainfall, spanning the wide range of precipitation change forecast for the region. In the absence of competition, droughts reduced the population growth rates of two of three focal annuals, while increased rainfall was only sometimes beneficial, As compared to the focal species, the dominant competitors were more sensitive to the precipitation treatments, benefiting from increased season-long precipitation and harmed by droughts. Importantly, the response of two of three competitors to the precipitation treatments tended to be positively correlated with those of the focal annuals. Although this leads to the expectation that increased competition will counter the direct benefits of favorable conditions, such indirect effects of precipitation change proved weak to nonexistent in our experiment. Competitors had little influence on the precipitation response of two focal species, due to their low sensitivity to competition and highly variable precipitation responses. Competition did affect how our third focal species responded to precipitation change, but this effect only approached significance, and whether it truly resulted from competitor response to precipitation change was unclear. Our work suggests that even when competitors respond to climate change, these responses may have little

  8. Effects of bacterially produced precipitates on the metabolism of sulfate reducing bacteria during the bio-treatment process of copper-containing wastewater

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2010-01-01

    A large volume of bacterially produced precipitates are generated during the bio-treatment of heavy metal wastewater.The composition of the bacterially produced precipitates and its effects on sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) in copper-containing waste stream were evaluated in this study.The elemental composition of the microbial precipitate was studied using electrodispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX),and it was found that the ratio of S:Cu was 1.12.Combining with the results of copper distribution in the SRB metabolism culture,which was analyzed by the sequential extraction procedure,copper in the precipitates was determined as covellite (CuS).The bacterially produced precipitates caused a decrease of the sulfate reduction rate,and the more precipitates were generated,the lower the sulfate reduction rate was.The particle sizes of bacterially generated covellite were ranging from 0.03 to 2 m by particles size distribution (PSD) analysis,which was smaller than that of the SRB cells.Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed that the microbial covellite was deposited on the surface of the cell.The effects of the microbial precipitate on SRB metabolism were found to be weakened by increasing the precipitation time and adding microbial polymeric substances in later experiments.These results provided direct evidence that the SRB activity was inhibited by the bacterially produced covellite,which enveloped the bacterium and thus affected the metabolism of SRB on mass transfer.

  9. Spatial resolution of precipitation and radiation: the effect on regional crop yield forecasts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wit, de A.J.W.; Boogaard, H.L.; Diepen, van C.A.

    2005-01-01

    This paper explores the effect of uncertainty in precipitation and radiation on crop simulation results at local (50 × 50 km grids) and regional scale (NUTS1 regions) and on the crop yield forecasts for Germany and France. Two experiments were carried out where crop yields for winter-wheat and grain

  10. Spatial and temporal relationships between precipitation and ANPP of four types of grasslands in northern China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    GUO Ran; WANG Xiao-ke; OUYANG Zhi-yun; LI Ying-nian

    2006-01-01

    Precipitation is considered to be the primary resource limiting terrestrial biological activity in water-limited regions. Its overriding effect on the production of grassland is complex. In this paper, field data of 48 sites (including temperate meadow steppe,temperate steppe, temperate desert steppe and alpine meadow) were gathered from 31 published papers and monographs to analyze the relationship between above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and precipitation by the method of regression analysis. The results indicated that there was a great difference between spatial pattern and temporal pattern by which precipitation influenced grassland ANPP. Mean annual precipitation (MAP) was the main factor determining spatial distribution of grassland ANPP (r2 = 0.61,P < 0.01); while temporally, no significant relationship was found between the variance of AN PP and inter-annual precipitation for the four types of grassland. However, after dividing annual precipitation into monthly value and taking time lag effect into account, the study found significant relationships between ANPP and precipitation. For the temperate meadow steppe, the key variable determining inter-annual change of ANPP was last August-May precipitation (r2= 0.47, P = 0.01); for the temperate steppe, the key variable was July precipitation (r2= 0.36, P = 0.02); for the temperate desert steppe, the key variable was April-June precipitation (r2= 0.51, P <0.01); for the alpine meadow, the key variable was last September-May precipitation (r2 = 0.29, P < 0.05). In comparison with analogous research, the study demonstrated that the key factor determining inter-annual changes of grassland ANPP was the cumulative precipitation in certain periods of that year or the previous year.

  11. Recover of some rare earth elements from leach liquor of the Saghand uranium ore using combined precipitation and cation exchange methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khanchi, A. R.; Rafati, H.; Rezvaniyanzadeh, M. R.

    2008-01-01

    In this research work, the recovery and separation of La(III), Ce(III), Sm(III), Dy(III) and Nd(III) from Saghand uranium ore have been studied by precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography methods using Dowex 50 W-X 8 cation exchanger. At first, some preliminary and preconcentration experiments such as comminution, sieve analysis, gravity table and electrostatic in preconcentration of lanthanides were performed. Then, acidic digesting and leaching procedure were used. The results of experiments showed that rare earth elements, along with interfering ions such as Al(III), Fe(III), Mg(II) and Mn(II) present in the leach liquor solution. The investigation of separation process by precipitation method revealed that precipitation and then fast separation using centrifugal technique had the best results in the elimination of interference elements. In order to separate the lanthanides and to obtain their elution curves, the chromatographic column containing Dowex 50 W-X 8 resin was employed. For efficient separation of lanthanides from interference elements the hydrochloric acid with concentration of two and six molar was used respectively. Recovery of lanthanides from the leach liquor solution was achieved more than 85%

  12. Characterization of γ- Al2O3 nanopowders synthesized by Co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jbara, Ahmed S.; Othaman, Zulkafli; Ati, Ali A.; Saeed, M.A.

    2017-01-01

    Co-precipitation technique has been used to synthesize gamma-Al 2 O 3 (γ-Al 2 O 3 ) nanopowders under annealing temperature effect. The crystalline phase and purity for the prepared powder were characterized by different spectroscopy techniques. XRD analysis confirms the gamma phase of alumina nanopowders with particle diameter ranging from 6 to 24 nm, which confirms the quantum dots formation, which is also supported by the BET measurement. The surface area of the prepared nanopowders is in the range of 109–367 m 2 /g. Morphology analysis indicates that γ-Al 2 O 3 nanopowders are consisted of grains almost spherical in shape. Some agglomeration of nanoparticles occurs, which become more regular hexagonal shaped with the increasing annealing temperature. The small nanoparticles size and the high surface area from a simple procedure for preparing γ-Al 2 O 3 may make it more suitable for use as an adsorbent for malachite green. - Highlights: • Co-precipitation technique is used to synthesize gamma- Al 2 O 3 nanopowders. • Pure gamma- Al 2 O 3 phase was obtained having maximum nanoparticle size is 24 nm. • The quantum dots were formed inside powder. • High surface area of nanopowders at the low annealing temperature. • Increasing annealing temperature causes the hexagonal agglomeration shape.

  13. Radar-derived quantitative precipitation estimation in complex terrain over the eastern Tibetan Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gou, Yabin; Ma, Yingzhao; Chen, Haonan; Wen, Yixin

    2018-05-01

    Quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) is one of the important applications of weather radars. However, in complex terrain such as Tibetan Plateau, it is a challenging task to obtain an optimal Z-R relation due to the complex spatial and temporal variability in precipitation microphysics. This paper develops two radar QPE schemes respectively based on Reflectivity Threshold (RT) and Storm Cell Identification and Tracking (SCIT) algorithms using observations from 11 Doppler weather radars and 3264 rain gauges over the Eastern Tibetan Plateau (ETP). These two QPE methodologies are evaluated extensively using four precipitation events that are characterized by different meteorological features. Precipitation characteristics of independent storm cells associated with these four events, as well as the storm-scale differences, are investigated using short-term vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR) clusters. Evaluation results show that the SCIT-based rainfall approach performs better than the simple RT-based method for all precipitation events in terms of score comparison using validation gauge measurements as references. It is also found that the SCIT-based approach can effectively mitigate the local error of radar QPE and represent the precipitation spatiotemporal variability better than the RT-based scheme.

  14. Spatiotemporal analysis the precipitation extremes affecting rice yield in Jiangsu province, southeast China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jin; Islam, A. R. M. Towfiqul; Zhang, Fangmin; Hu, Zhenghua

    2017-10-01

    With the increasing risk of meteorological disasters, it is of great importance to analyze the spatiotemporal changes of precipitation extremes and its possible impact on rice productivity, especially in Jiangsu province, southeast China. In this study, we explored the relationships between rice yield and extreme precipitation indices using Mann-Kendall trend test, Pettitt's test, and K-means clustering methods. This study used 10 extreme precipitation indices of the rice growing season (May to October) based on the daily precipitation records and rice yield data at 52 meteorological stations during 1961-2012 in Jiangsu province. The main findings were as follows: (1) correlation results indicated that precipitation extremes occurred in the months of July, August, and October, which had noticeable adverse effects on rice yield; (2) the maximum 7-day precipitation of July and the number of rainy days of August and October should be considered as three key indicators for the precipitation-induced rice meteorological disasters; and (3) most of the stations showed an increasing trends for the maximum 7-day precipitation of July and the number of rainy days of August, while the number of rainy days of October in all the stations demonstrated a decreasing trend. Moreover, Jiangsu province could be divided into two major sub-regions such as north and south areas with different temporal variations in the three key indicators.

  15. Spatiotemporal analysis the precipitation extremes affecting rice yield in Jiangsu province, southeast China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jin; Islam, A R M Towfiqul; Zhang, Fangmin; Hu, Zhenghua

    2017-10-01

    With the increasing risk of meteorological disasters, it is of great importance to analyze the spatiotemporal changes of precipitation extremes and its possible impact on rice productivity, especially in Jiangsu province, southeast China. In this study, we explored the relationships between rice yield and extreme precipitation indices using Mann-Kendall trend test, Pettitt's test, and K-means clustering methods. This study used 10 extreme precipitation indices of the rice growing season (May to October) based on the daily precipitation records and rice yield data at 52 meteorological stations during 1961-2012 in Jiangsu province. The main findings were as follows: (1) correlation results indicated that precipitation extremes occurred in the months of July, August, and October, which had noticeable adverse effects on rice yield; (2) the maximum 7-day precipitation of July and the number of rainy days of August and October should be considered as three key indicators for the precipitation-induced rice meteorological disasters; and (3) most of the stations showed an increasing trends for the maximum 7-day precipitation of July and the number of rainy days of August, while the number of rainy days of October in all the stations demonstrated a decreasing trend. Moreover, Jiangsu province could be divided into two major sub-regions such as north and south areas with different temporal variations in the three key indicators.

  16. Potential influences of neglecting aerosol effects on the NCEP GFS precipitation forecast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Mengjiao; Feng, Jinqin; Li, Zhanqing; Sun, Ruiyu; Hou, Yu-Tai; Zhu, Yuejian; Wan, Bingcheng; Guo, Jianping; Cribb, Maureen

    2017-11-01

    Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACIs) have been widely recognized as a factor affecting precipitation. However, they have not been considered in the operational National Centers for Environmental Predictions Global Forecast System model. We evaluated the potential impact of neglecting ACI on the operational rainfall forecast using ground-based and satellite observations and model reanalysis. The Climate Prediction Center unified gauge-based precipitation analysis and the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 aerosol reanalysis were used to evaluate the forecast in three countries for the year 2015. The overestimation of light rain (47.84 %) and underestimation of heavier rain (31.83, 52.94, and 65.74 % for moderate rain, heavy rain, and very heavy rain, respectively) from the model are qualitatively consistent with the potential errors arising from not accounting for ACI, although other factors cannot be totally ruled out. The standard deviation of the forecast bias was significantly correlated with aerosol optical depth in Australia, the US, and China. To gain further insight, we chose the province of Fujian in China to pursue a more insightful investigation using a suite of variables from gauge-based observations of precipitation, visibility, water vapor, convective available potential energy (CAPE), and satellite datasets. Similar forecast biases were found: over-forecasted light rain and under-forecasted heavy rain. Long-term analyses revealed an increasing trend in heavy rain in summer and a decreasing trend in light rain in other seasons, accompanied by a decreasing trend in visibility, no trend in water vapor, and a slight increasing trend in summertime CAPE. More aerosols decreased cloud effective radii for cases where the liquid water path was greater than 100 g m-2. All findings are consistent with the effects of ACI, i.e., where aerosols inhibit the development of shallow liquid clouds and invigorate warm-base mixed

  17. Potential influences of neglecting aerosol effects on the NCEP GFS precipitation forecast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Jiang

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Aerosol–cloud interactions (ACIs have been widely recognized as a factor affecting precipitation. However, they have not been considered in the operational National Centers for Environmental Predictions Global Forecast System model. We evaluated the potential impact of neglecting ACI on the operational rainfall forecast using ground-based and satellite observations and model reanalysis. The Climate Prediction Center unified gauge-based precipitation analysis and the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 aerosol reanalysis were used to evaluate the forecast in three countries for the year 2015. The overestimation of light rain (47.84 % and underestimation of heavier rain (31.83, 52.94, and 65.74 % for moderate rain, heavy rain, and very heavy rain, respectively from the model are qualitatively consistent with the potential errors arising from not accounting for ACI, although other factors cannot be totally ruled out. The standard deviation of the forecast bias was significantly correlated with aerosol optical depth in Australia, the US, and China. To gain further insight, we chose the province of Fujian in China to pursue a more insightful investigation using a suite of variables from gauge-based observations of precipitation, visibility, water vapor, convective available potential energy (CAPE, and satellite datasets. Similar forecast biases were found: over-forecasted light rain and under-forecasted heavy rain. Long-term analyses revealed an increasing trend in heavy rain in summer and a decreasing trend in light rain in other seasons, accompanied by a decreasing trend in visibility, no trend in water vapor, and a slight increasing trend in summertime CAPE. More aerosols decreased cloud effective radii for cases where the liquid water path was greater than 100 g m−2. All findings are consistent with the effects of ACI, i.e., where aerosols inhibit the development of shallow liquid clouds and

  18. Precipitation interpolation in mountainous areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolberg, Sjur

    2015-04-01

    Different precipitation interpolation techniques as well as external drift covariates are tested and compared in a 26000 km2 mountainous area in Norway, using daily data from 60 stations. The main method of assessment is cross-validation. Annual precipitation in the area varies from below 500 mm to more than 2000 mm. The data were corrected for wind-driven undercatch according to operational standards. While temporal evaluation produce seemingly acceptable at-station correlation values (on average around 0.6), the average daily spatial correlation is less than 0.1. Penalising also bias, Nash-Sutcliffe R2 values are negative for spatial correspondence, and around 0.15 for temporal. Despite largely violated assumptions, plain Kriging produces better results than simple inverse distance weighting. More surprisingly, the presumably 'worst-case' benchmark of no interpolation at all, simply averaging all 60 stations for each day, actually outperformed the standard interpolation techniques. For logistic reasons, high altitudes are under-represented in the gauge network. The possible effect of this was investigated by a) fitting a precipitation lapse rate as an external drift, and b) applying a linear model of orographic enhancement (Smith and Barstad, 2004). These techniques improved the results only marginally. The gauge density in the region is one for each 433 km2; higher than the overall density of the Norwegian national network. Admittedly the cross-validation technique reduces the gauge density, still the results suggest that we are far from able to provide hydrological models with adequate data for the main driving force.

  19. A study on selective precipitation of U(VI) by hydrophilic cyclic urea derivatives for development of a reprocessing system based on precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Tomoya; Takao, Koichiro; Kawasaki, Takeshi; Harada, Masayuki; Ikeda, Yasuhisa; Nogami, Masanobu

    2014-01-01

    Selective precipitation ability of 2-imidazolidone (EU) and tetrahydro-2-pyrimidinone (PU) for U(VI) species in HNO 3 solutions containing U(VI), U(IV) (simulant of Pu(IV)), and simulated fission products (FPs) was investigated. As a result, it was found that these compounds precipitate almost quantitatively U(VI) as UO 2 (NO 3 ) 2 L 2 (L = EU, PU) from 3.0 M HNO 3 solution. In contrast, these urea derivatives form neither solid precipitates nor oily products with U(IV) in HNO 3 solutions containing only U(IV) species and even in U(VI)-U(IV) admixture system. Therefore, the separation of U(VI) from U(IV) was demonstrated to be achieved in use of EU and PU. Furthermore, EU and PU are capable to remove most of simulated FPs[Sr(II), Ru(III), Rh(III), Re(VII) La(III), Ce(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), and Sm(III)] from U(VI) to give their decontamination factors (DFs) higher than 100, while those values of Zr(IV), Mo(VI), Pd(II), and Ba(II) are necessary to be improved in both systems. From these results, it is expected that EU and PU are the promising precipitants for selective separation of U(VI) from HNO 3 solutions dissolving spent FBR fuels. (author)

  20. The Influence of Conditions on Synthesis Hydroxyapatite By Chemical Precipitation Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Jianping; Kong, Deshuang; Zhang, Yin; Yao, Nengjian; Tao, Yaqiu; Qiu, Tai

    2011-10-01

    Particles of Hydroxyapatite (HAp) were synthesized by means of chemical precipitation method, under atmosphere pressure. The starting solution with the Ca/P ratio of 1.67 was prepared by mixing 0.167 mol·dm-3 Ca(NO3)2·4H2O, 0.100 mol·dm-3 (NH4)2HPO4, 0.500 mol·dm-3 (NH2)2CO and 0.10 mol·dm-3 HNO3 aqueous solutions. The hydroxyapatite were prepared by heating the solution at 80 °C for 24 hour and then at 90°C for 72 hour. Then followed, the dry powers were heat treatment at 660°C temperatures for 8 hour. The obtained powder was analyzed using XRD, XRF, FT-IR, SEM, TG-DTA. The results showed that obtained HAp powers were greatly influenced by synthetic conditions. HAp powders with various morphologies, such as sphere, rod, layered, dumbbell, fibre, scaly, were obtained by controlling the synthetic conditions.

  1. The Influence of Conditions on Synthesis Hydroxyapatite By Chemical Precipitation Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu Jianping; Zhang Yin; Yao Nengjian; Tao Yaqiu; Qiu Tai; Kong Deshuang

    2011-01-01

    Particles of Hydroxyapatite (HAp) were synthesized by means of chemical precipitation method, under atmosphere pressure. The starting solution with the Ca/P ratio of 1.67 was prepared by mixing 0.167 mol·dm −3 Ca(NO 3 ) 2 ·4H 2 O, 0.100 mol·dm −3 (NH 4 ) 2 HPO 4 , 0.500 mol·dm −3 (NH 2 ) 2 CO and 0.10 mol·dm −3 HNO3 aqueous solutions. The hydroxyapatite were prepared by heating the solution at 80 °C for 24 hour and then at 90°C for 72 hour. Then followed, the dry powers were heat treatment at 660°C temperatures for 8 hour. The obtained powder was analyzed using XRD, XRF, FT-IR, SEM, TG-DTA. The results showed that obtained HAp powers were greatly influenced by synthetic conditions. HAp powders with various morphologies, such as sphere, rod, layered, dumbbell, fibre, scaly, were obtained by controlling the synthetic conditions.

  2. Validation of mechanistic models for gas precipitation in solids during postirradiation annealing experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rest, J.

    1989-12-01

    A number of different phenomenological models for gas precipitation in solids during postirradiation annealing experiments have been proposed. Validation of such mechanistic models for gas release and swelling is complicated by the use of data containing large systematic errors, and phenomena characterized by synergistic effects as well as uncertainties in materials properties. Statistical regression analysis is recommended for the selection of a reasonably well characterized data base for gas release from irradiated fuel under transient heating conditions. It is demonstrated that an appropriate data selection method is required in order to realistically examine the impact of differing descriptions of the phenomena, and uncertainties in selected materials properties, on the validation results. The results of the analysis show that the kinetics of gas precipitation in solids depend on bubble overpressurization effects and need to be accounted for during the heatup phase of isothermal heating experiments. It is shown that if only the total gas release values (as opposed to time-dependent data) were available, differentiation between different gas precipitation models would be ambiguous. The observed sustained increase in the fractional release curve at relatively high temperatures after the total precipitation of intragranular gas in fission gas bubbles is ascribed to the effects of a grain-growth/grain-boundary sweeping mechanism.

  3. Validation of mechanistic models for gas precipitation in solids during postirradiation annealing experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rest, J.

    1989-01-01

    A number of different phenomenological models for gas precipitation in solids during postirradiation annealing experiments have been proposed. Validation of such mechanistic models for gas release and swelling is complicated by the use of data containing large systematic errors, and phenomena characterized by synergistic effects as well as uncertainties in materials properties. Statistical regression analysis is recommended for the selection of a reasonably well characterized data base for gas release from irradiated fuel under transient heating conditions. It is demonstrated that an appropriate data selection method is required in order to realistically examine the impact of differing descriptions of the phenomena, and uncertainties in selected materials properties, on the validation results. The results of the analysis show that the kinetics of gas precipitation in solid depend on bubble overpressurization effects and need to be accounted for during the heatup phase of isothermal heating experiments. It is shown that if only the total gas release values (as opposed to time-dependent data) were available, differentiation between different gas precipitation models would be ambiguous. The observed sustained increase in the fractional release curve at relatively high temperatures after the total precipitation of intragranular gas in fission gas bubbles is ascribed to the effects of a grain-growth/grain-boundary sweeping mechanism. (orig.)

  4. Predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating factors and the common sense model of illness

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carstensen, Tina; Kasch, Helge; Frostholm, Lisbeth

    2017-01-01

    Background: Various predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating factors are found to be associated with development of persistent symptoms and disability after whiplash trauma. According to the commonsense model of illness, people use commonsense knowledge to develop individual illness models when...... facing health threat. Question: Can we use the common-sense model as a unifying model to encompass the impact of predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors in the development of chronic whiplash? Looking into specific factors and their interaction: Do illness perceptions mediate the effect...... of precollision sick leave on chronic whiplash? Methods: This presentation will integrate findings from research on predisposing, precipitating, perpetuating factors that are associated with poor outcome after whiplash trauma and propose the common-sense model as a unifying model. Data from a study including 740...

  5. Synthesis and characterization of superparamagnetic nanoparticles obtained by precipitation in inverse microemulsion for biomedical applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Puca Pacheco, Mercedes; Guerrero Aquino, Marco; Tacuri Calanchi, Enrique; Lopez Campos, Raul G.

    2013-01-01

    In this work the preparation of nanoparticles of magnetite by methods of precipitation in inverse microemulsions and the conventional method 'Chemical Co-precipitation' is reported. Magnetite nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Moessbauer spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results showed that the nanoparticles obtained by the method of precipitation in inverse microemulsion showed a superparamagnetic behavior and had a particle average diameter of 9 nm, while by the conventional method 'Chemical Co-precipitation' were 17 nm. In addition, other benefits observed in the application of the method of precipitation in inverse microemulsion with regard to the conventional method is that it allowed obtaining spheroidal magnetite nanoparticles, monodisperse and with magnetic and chemical properties which might have better results in medical applications. (author)

  6. Antecedent precipitation index evaluation at chosen climatological stations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvie Kozlovská

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The water retention capacity of a landscape, usually measured for a catchment basin, is a very important and decisive characteristic to identify the runoff amount from the catchment area and, in consequence, for antierosion and flood protection measures. Besides, creating water reserves in the landscape and keeping the water in them is also rather important.Soil humidity contributes to the calculation of potential water retention through modelling the runoff amount and peak discharge from the catchment basin within an area not larger than 5–10 km2. This method is based on curve number values (CN, which are tabulated according to hydrological characteristics of soils, land use, vegetation cover, tillage, antierosion measures and soil humidity, estimated as a 5-day sum of preceding precipitation values. This estimation is known as the antecedent precipitation index and it is divided into 3 degrees – I, II, III. Degree I indicates dry soil but still moist enough to till, whereas degree III means that the soil is oversaturated by water from preceding rainfall. Degree II is commonly used in this context as the antecedent precipitation index. The aim of this paper is to obtain real antecedent precipitation index values in given climatological stations (Brno, Dačice, Holešov, Náměšť nad Oslavou, Strážnice, Telč – Kostelní Myslová, Velké Meziříčí, Znojmo – Kuchařovice for the period of years 1961 – 2009. Daily precipitation sums higher than 30 mm were considered to be the best candidate for such precipitation value since this occurs approximately once a year in studied areas. The occurence of these sums was also analysed for each month within the growing season (April to October. The analysed data was tabulated by climatological stations in order to check the real occurence of all antecedent precipitation index degrees within the studied period.Finally, the effects of different antecedent precipitation index values on the

  7. Precipitation of fluticasone propionate microparticles using supercritical antisolvent

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A Vatanara

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Background: The ability of supercritical fluids (SCFs, such as carbon dioxide, to dissolve and expand or extract organic solvents and as result lower their solvation power, makes it possible the use of SCFs for the precipitation of solids from organic solutions. The process could be the injection of a solution of the substrate in an organic solvent into a vessel which is swept by a supercritical fluid. The aim of this study was to ascertain the feasibility of supercritical processing to prepare different particulate forms of fluticasone propionate (FP, and to evaluate the influence of different liquid solvents and precipitation temperatures on the morphology, size and crystal habit of particles. Method: The solution of FP in organic solvents, was precipitated by supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2 at two pressure and temperature levels. Effects of process parameters on the physicochemical characteristics of harvested microparticles were evaluated. Results: Particle formation was observed only at the lower selected pressure, whilst at the higher pressure, no precipitation of particles was occurred due to dissolution of FP in supercritical antisolvent. The micrographs of the produced particles showed different morphologies for FP obtained from different conditions. The results of thermal analysis of the resulted particles showed that changes in the processing conditions didn't influence thermal behavior of the precipitated particles. Evaluation of the effect of temperature on the size distribution of particles showed that increase in the temperature from 40 oC to 50 oC, resulted in reduction of the mean particle size from about 30 µm to about 12 μm. ‍Conclusion: From the results of this study it may be concluded that, processing of FP by supercritical antisolvent could be an approach for production of diverse forms of the drug and drastic changes in the physical characteristics of microparticles could be achieved by changing the

  8. The role of Ag precipitates in Cu-12 wt% Ag

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yao, D.W.; Song, L.N. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Zheda Road No.38, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027 (China); Dong, A.P.; Wang, L.T. [China Railway Construction Electrification Bureau Group Co.,Ltd., Beijing 100036 (China); Zhang, L. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Meng, L., E-mail: mengliang@zju.edu.cn [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Zheda Road No.38, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027 (China)

    2012-12-15

    The Cu-12 wt% Ag was prepared to investigate the role of Ag precipitates on the properties of the alloy. Two kinds of heat treatment procedures were adopted to produce different amount of Ag precipitates in the Cu-12 wt% Ag. The microstructure of Ag precipitates was systematically observed by optical microscopy and electron microscopy. The Cu-12 wt% Ag with more Ag precipitates exhibits higher strength and lower electrical conductivity. More Ag precipitates results in more phase interface and less Ag atoms dissolved in Cu matrix. By comparing the strengthening effect and electron scattering effect of phase interface and dissolved Ag atoms, it is conclude that the interface between Cu matrix and Ag precipitates could significantly block dislocation movement and enhance electron scattering in Cu-Ag alloys.

  9. The characterisation of precipitated magnetites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rush, D.F.; Segal, D.L.

    1982-06-01

    Methods are described for the preparation of magnetite by precipitation from aqueous solutions of iron(II) and iron(III) salts. The magnetites have been characterised by transmission electron microscopy, chemical analysis and X-ray diffraction. Transmission Moessbauer spectroscopy has also been used to characterise precipitated magnetites and a comparison of the spectra has been made with those obtained from nickel ferrite and hydrated ferric oxides. The hydrothermal stability of magnetite at 573 K has also been investigated. This work is relevant to corrosion processes that can occur in the water coolant circuits of nuclear reactors. (author)

  10. Application of a precipitation method for uranium recovery from Abu-Zaabal phosphoric acid plant, egypt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-Hazek, N.M.T.; Hussein, E.M.

    1997-01-01

    Current industrial recovery of uranium from 30% phosphoric acid-produced by the dihydrate process-is based on solvent extraction method. Uranium recovery from concentrated phosphoric acid (45-52% P 2 O 5 ) produced by evaporation of the 30% acid or directly produced by the hemihydrate process, by solvent extraction is difficult to apply in practice. In addition to possible contamination of the acid by the organic solvents and/or their deterioration. This paper investigates the possibility of applying a precipitation method (Weterings and Janssen, 1985) for uranium recovery from both low (28% P 2 O 2 ) and high (48% P 2 O 5 ) concentration phosphoric acids produced by abu-Zaabal phosphoric acid plant (abu-Zaabal fertilizers and chemicals Co., Egypt). The 28% acid produced by H 2 SO 4 dihydrate method and the 48% acid produced by evaporation of the 28% acid

  11. Precipitation process for supernate decontamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, L.M.; Kilpatrick, L.L.

    1982-11-01

    A precipitation and adsorption process has been developed to remove cesium, strontium, and plutonium from water-soluble, high-level radioactive waste. An existing waste tank serves as the reaction vessel and the process begins with the addition of a solution of sodium tetraphenylborate and a slurry of sodium titanate to the contained waste salt solution. Sodium tetraphenylborate precipitates the cesium and sodium titanate adsorbs the strontium and plutonium. The precipitate/adsorbate is then separated from the decontaminated salt solution by crossflow filtration. This new process offers significant capital savings over an earlier ion exchange process for salt decontamination. Chemical and small-scale engineering studies with actual waste are reported. The effect of many variables on the decontamination factors and filter performance are defined

  12. Atmospheric tides and periodic variations in the precipitation field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cevolani, G.; Bacci, P.; Bonelli, P.; Isnardi, C.

    1986-01-01

    The analysis of daily precipitations data at many weather stations in Alpes and Po Valley gives evidence of a ''tidal'' influence from luni-solar gravitational fields. The tidal influence does not appear to be strictly constant with time, as the possible results of a modulation effect of luni-solar cycles having similar periods. Time variations of daily precipitation data as a function of some particular cycles show that gravitational tides effect heavy rainfalls more than mean precipitation values

  13. Merging Satellite Precipitation Products for Improved Streamflow Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maggioni, V.; Massari, C.; Barbetta, S.; Camici, S.; Brocca, L.

    2017-12-01

    Accurate quantitative precipitation estimation is of great importance for water resources management, agricultural planning and forecasting and monitoring of natural hazards such as flash floods and landslides. In situ observations are limited around the Earth, especially in remote areas (e.g., complex terrain, dense vegetation), but currently available satellite precipitation products are able to provide global precipitation estimates with an accuracy that depends upon many factors (e.g., type of storms, temporal sampling, season, etc.). The recent SM2RAIN approach proposes to estimate rainfall by using satellite soil moisture observations. As opposed to traditional satellite precipitation methods, which sense cloud properties to retrieve instantaneous estimates, this new bottom-up approach makes use of two consecutive soil moisture measurements for obtaining an estimate of the fallen precipitation within the interval between two satellite overpasses. As a result, the nature of the measurement is different and complementary to the one of classical precipitation products and could provide a different valid perspective to substitute or improve current rainfall estimates. Therefore, we propose to merge SM2RAIN and the widely used TMPA 3B42RT product across Italy for a 6-year period (2010-2015) at daily/0.25deg temporal/spatial scale. Two conceptually different merging techniques are compared to each other and evaluated in terms of different statistical metrics, including hit bias, threat score, false alarm rates, and missed rainfall volumes. The first is based on the maximization of the temporal correlation with a reference dataset, while the second is based on a Bayesian approach, which provides a probabilistic satellite precipitation estimate derived from the joint probability distribution of observations and satellite estimates. The merged precipitation products show a better performance with respect to the parental satellite-based products in terms of categorical

  14. Temperature Effects on the Tensile Properties of Precipitation-Hardened Al-Mg-Cu-Si Alloys

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.B. Ferguson

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Because the mechanical performance of precipitation-hardened alloys can be significantly altered with temperature changes, understanding and predicting the effects of temperatures on various mechanical properties for these alloys are important. In the present work, an analytical model has been developed to predict the elastic modulus, the yield stress, the failure stress, and the failure strain taking into consideration the effect of temperatures for precipitation-hardenable Al-Mg-Cu-Si Alloys (Al-A319 alloys. In addition, other important mechanical properties of Al-A319 alloys including the strain hardening exponent, the strength coefficient, and the ductility parameter can be estimated using the current model. It is demonstrated that the prediction results based on the proposed model are in good agreement with those obtained experimentally in Al-A319 alloys in the as-cast condition and after W and T7 heat treatments.

  15. Analysis of the Effects of ENSO and Atmospheric Rivers on Precipitation in Los Angeles County

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santacruz, A.; Lamb, K.

    2017-12-01

    The Winter 2016-2017 season in California was marked by substantial amounts of precipitation; this resulted in critically-low reservoirs filling up and the removal of most of California from drought status. The year prior was characterized by one of the strongest El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, though it did not produce nearly enough precipitation as the 2016-2017 season. The major contributors to the increased rainfall during the 2016-2017 season were climactic phenomenon known as atmospheric rivers (ARs), which transport water vapor through the atmosphere in narrow bands, and are known to produce extreme rain events. Determining the exact timing, landfall areas, and total precipitation amounts of ARs is currently of great interest; a recent study showed that extreme weather events are likely to increase in California in the coming years, which motivates research into how phenomenon such as ENSO and ARs play a role. Using long-term daily rain gauge data provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, we compute the precipitation volume and storm count for various locations in Los Angeles County and identify anomalies. These data will then be compared with the occurrence and intensity of AR and ENSO events by using NOAA's NOI and ESRL AR data. The results can be used to provide a better grasp of extreme climactic patterns and their effects on the amount of precipitation in the region.

  16. GPS-based PWV for precipitation forecasting and its application to a typhoon event

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Qingzhi; Yao, Yibin; Yao, Wanqiang

    2018-01-01

    The temporal variability of precipitable water vapour (PWV) derived from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations can be used to forecast precipitation events. A number of case studies of precipitation events have been analysed in Zhejiang Province, and a forecasting method for precipitation events was proposed. The PWV time series retrieved from the Global Positioning System (GPS) observations was processed by using a least-squares fitting method, so as to obtain the line tendency of ascents and descents over PWV. The increment of PWV for a short time (two to six hours) and PWV slope for a longer time (a few hours to more than ten hours) during the PWV ascending period are considered as predictive factors with which to forecast the precipitation event. The numerical results show that about 80%-90% of precipitation events and more than 90% of heavy rain events can be forecasted two to six hours in advance of the precipitation event based on the proposed method. 5-minute PWV data derived from GPS observations based on real-time precise point positioning (RT-PPP) were used for the typhoon event that passed over Zhejiang Province between 10 and 12 July, 2015. A good result was acquired using the proposed method and about 74% of precipitation events were predicted at some ten to thirty minutes earlier than their onset with a false alarm rate of 18%. This study shows that the GPS-based PWV was promising for short-term and now-casting precipitation forecasting.

  17. Evaluation of effects of changes in canal management and precipitation patterns on salinity in Biscayne Bay, Florida, using an integrated surface-water/groundwater model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohmann, Melinda A.; Swain, Eric D.; Wang, John D.; Dixon, Joann

    2012-01-01

    -and-error method to fit observed groundwater heads, estimated base flow, and measured bay salinity and temperatures from 1996 to 2004, as well as the location of the freshwater-saltwater interface in the aquifer, by adjusting ET rate limiters, canal vertical hydraulic conductance, leakage rate coefficients (transition-layer thickness and hydraulic conductivity), Manning's n value, and delineation of rainfall zones. Although flow budget calculations indicate that precipitation, ET, and groundwater flux into the bay represent a small portion of the overall budget, these factors may be important in controlling salinity in some parts of the bay, for example the southern parts of the bay where the canal system is not extensively developed or controlled. The balance of precipitation and ET during the wet season generally results in a reduction of bay salinity, whereas the balance of precipitation and ET during the dry season generally results in an increase in bay salinity. During years when wet season precipitation is lower than average, for example less than 70 percent total precipitation for an average year, ET could outweigh precipitation over the bay for essentially the entire year. Hypersaline conditions are prone to occur near the end of the dry season because precipitation rates are generally lower, canal discharge rates (which are strongly correlated to precipitation rates) are also generally lower, and ET rates are higher than during the rest of the year. The hypersalinity event of 2004 followed several years of relatively low precipitation and correspondingly reduced canal structure releases and was unusually extensive, continuing into July. Thus, hypersalinity is ultimately the result of a cumulative deficit of precipitation. The model was used to test the effects of possible changes in canal flux and precipitation. Simulation results showed that by increasing, reducing, or modifying canal discharge rates, the effects on salinity in the bay were more pronounced in the

  18. Interpolating precipitation and its relation to runoff and non-point source pollution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chia-Ling; Lo, Shang-Lien; Yu, Shaw-L

    2005-01-01

    When rainfall spatially varies, complete rainfall data for each region with different rainfall characteristics are very important. Numerous interpolation methods have been developed for estimating unknown spatial characteristics. However, no interpolation method is suitable for all circumstances. In this study, several methods, including the arithmetic average method, the Thiessen Polygons method, the traditional inverse distance method, and the modified inverse distance method, were used to interpolate precipitation. The modified inverse distance method considers not only horizontal distances but also differences between the elevations of the region with no rainfall records and of its surrounding rainfall stations. The results show that when the spatial variation of rainfall is strong, choosing a suitable interpolation method is very important. If the rainfall is uniform, the precipitation estimated using any interpolation method would be quite close to the actual precipitation. When rainfall is heavy in locations with high elevation, the rainfall changes with the elevation. In this situation, the modified inverse distance method is much more effective than any other method discussed herein for estimating the rainfall input for WinVAST to estimate runoff and non-point source pollution (NPSP). When the spatial variation of rainfall is random, regardless of the interpolation method used to yield rainfall input, the estimation errors of runoff and NPSP are large. Moreover, the relationship between the relative error of the predicted runoff and predicted pollutant loading of SS is high. However, the pollutant concentration is affected by both runoff and pollutant export, so the relationship between the relative error of the predicted runoff and the predicted pollutant concentration of SS may be unstable.

  19. Effect of Continuous Cooling on Secondary Phase Precipitation in the Super Duplex Stainless Steel ZERON-100

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calliari, Irene; Bassani, Paola; Brunelli, Katya; Breda, Marco; Ramous, Emilio

    2013-12-01

    The precipitation of secondary phases in super duplex stainless steels (SDSS) is a subject of great relevance owing to their dangerous effects on both mechanical and corrosion-resistance properties. This paper examines the effect of continuous cooling after solution annealing treatment on secondary phase precipitation in the ZERON-100 SDSS. It considers the influence of cooling rate on volume fraction, morphology and chemical composition. It has been found that the formation of sigma and chi phases can be avoided only at cooling rates higher than 0.7 °C/s. In addition, at the lowest cooling rate the sigma phase amount approaches the equilibrium value, but the chi phase amount remains significantly low.

  20. Stability and precipitation of diverse nanoparticles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desai, Chintal

    nanotubes. Formation of colloidal dispersions via precipitation processes has been widely used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The synthesis of micro- particles for hydrophobic drugs is effectively carried out via anti-solvent precipitation method. The formation of small particles in the precipitation method is strongly influenced by colloidal interactions, and therefore, dependent on the properties of the particles and the liquid. The effect of solvent on the colloidal stability of the micro-drug particles is studied in detail. It is found that the organic solvent plays an important role on particle formation, polymorphism and stability of micron scale drug particles in aqueous media. Also, the supersaturation can be varied by using different solvents and the physicochemical characteristics of the suspension can be altered, which affects stability. Understanding of the colloidal stability and the aggregation kinetics has great importance not only for fundamental researches, but also for their applications.

  1. Properties of Extreme Precipitation and Their Uncertainties in 3-year GPM Precipitation Radar Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, N.; Liu, C.

    2017-12-01

    Extreme high precipitation rates are often related to flash floods and have devastating impacts on human society and the environments. To better understand these rare events, 3-year Precipitation Features (PFs) are defined by grouping the contiguous areas with nonzero near-surface precipitation derived using Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Ku band Precipitation Radar (KuPR). The properties of PFs with extreme precipitation rates greater than 20, 50, 100 mm/hr, such as the geographical distribution, volumetric precipitation contribution, seasonal and diurnal variations, are examined. In addition to the large seasonal and regional variations, the rare extreme precipitation rates often have a larger contribution to the local total precipitation. Extreme precipitation rates occur more often over land than over ocean. The challenges in the retrieval of extreme precipitation might be from the attenuation correction and large uncertainties in the Z-R relationships from near-surface radar reflectivity to precipitation rates. These potential uncertainties are examined by using collocated ground based radar reflectivity and precipitation retrievals.

  2. Synthesis of Nano-Structured La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 Perovskite by Co-Precipitation Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ebrahim Mostafavi

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Nano-structured lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite, La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (LSCF, was successfully synthesized via co-precipitation method using metal nitrates as starting materials. Effects of precipitating agent and calcination temperature on the phase composition and morphology of synthesized powders were systematically studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM, respectively. XRD analysis revealed that a single phase La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 perovskite was obtained in the processed sample using ammonium carbonate as precipitating agent with a NH4+/NO3-molar ratio of 2 after calcination at 1000C for 1 h. The phase composition of products was also affected by changing pH values. Moreover, using sodium hydroxide as a precipitant resulted in a mixture of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 and cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4 phases. Careless washing of the precursors can also led to the formation of mixed phase after calcination of final powders. Mean crystallite size of the obtained powders was not noticeably affected by varying calcination temperature from 900 to 1050C and remained almost the same at 10 nm, however increasing calcination temperature to 1100C resulted in sharp structural coarsening. FESEM studies demonstrate that relatively uniform particles with mean particle size of 90 nm were obtained in the sample processed with a NH4+/NO3- molar ratio of 2 after calcination at 1000C for 1 h.

  3. The inhibiting effect of dislocation helices on the stress-induced orientation of S' precipitates in Al–Cu–Mg alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guo, Xiaobin [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha (China); Deng, Yunlai, E-mail: luckdeng@csu.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha (China); State Key Laboratory of High Performance and Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, Changsha (China); Zhang, Jin [State Key Laboratory of High Performance and Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, Changsha (China); Light Alloy Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha (China); Zhang, Xinming [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha (China); State Key Laboratory of High Performance and Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, Changsha (China)

    2015-09-15

    The phenomenon of restrained stress-induced preferential orientation of S′ precipitates is investigated using a single-crystal of Al–1.23Cu–0.43 Mg alloy. Al–1.23Cu–0.43 Mg single-crystal specimens are subjected to stress aging, and the microstructure is analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is found that the stress-induced preferential orientation of S′ precipitates is restrained owing to the dislocations produced by a higher stress. The effect of dislocations on the oriented precipitates depends on the total length of the intersection lines for precipitate habit planes and dislocation glide planes. This investigation not only provides important insight into solving the anisotropy problem attributed to precipitation strengthening, but also offers a benchmark for choosing the appropriate stress range in manufacturing of Al–Cu–Mg alloys. - Highlights: • Single crystals of an Al–Cu–Mg alloy were prepared for the investigations. • A phenomenon of restrained stress-induced preferential orientation of S′ precipitates was found. • The influence of dislocation helices on precipitation during stress-aging was studied. • Difference of orientation degree of S′ precipitates and θ′ precipitates was explained. • A basis for choosing the appropriate stress range in manufacturing of Al–Cu–Mg alloys is provided.

  4. MODELING OF ISOTHERMAL PRECIPITATION KINETICS IN HSLA STEELS AND ITS APPLICATION

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    X.M. Zhao; D. Wu; L.Z. Zhang; Z.Y. Liu

    2004-01-01

    Microalloying elements in high-strength low-alloy steels, such as Nb, Ti and V, precipitate during hot-rolling processes. On the basis of classical theory of nucleation and growth, quantitative modeling of isothermal precipitation was developed, which was tested by the stress relaxation method, the calculated precipitation-time-temperature curve is in good agreements with the measured results, then the model was applied to predict the precipitation behavior during continuous cooling.

  5. Analysis of two precipitation methods on the yield, structural features and activity of sulfated polysaccharides from Gracilaria cornea (Rhodophyta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo Basto Souza

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The global demand for natural products from seaweeds has increased worldwide; however, no description of the use of isoamly alcohol (IAA for obtaining of sulfated polysaccharides (SPs has been reported. We investigated the efficiency of two precipitation methods (M in obtaining SPs from the red seaweed Gracilaria cornea. SPs enzymatically isolated were concentrated with cetylpyridinium chloride (M I or IAA (M II and extracts were examined with regard to their yield, structural features and in vitro effects on the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT using normal human plasma and standard heparin (193 IU mg-1. Yield difference reached 12.99%. Quantitative determination of sulfate was similar between the two methods (̴ 26%, but extracts revealed different pattern on charge density by agarose gel electrophoresis. Whereas both extracts revealed as agarocolloids, alternative M II was also efficient for lipids, proteins and nucleic acids according to the infrared analysis. Extracts had virtually no effect on APPT (1.95 and 2 IU mg-1 for M I and M II, respectively. The results revealed IAA as an alternative solvent for obtaining SPs from the red seaweed G. cornea, depending on the industry’ usage criterion.

  6. Describing the interannual variability of precipitation with the derived distribution approach: effects of record length and resolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. I. Meier

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Interannual variability of precipitation is traditionally described by fitting a probability model to yearly precipitation totals. There are three potential problems with this approach: a long record (at least 25–30 years is required in order to fit the model, years with missing rainfall data cannot be used, and the data need to be homogeneous, i.e., one has to assume stationarity. To overcome some of these limitations, we test an alternative methodology proposed by Eagleson (1978, based on the derived distribution (DD approach. It allows estimation of the probability density function (pdf of annual rainfall without requiring long records, provided that continuously gauged precipitation data are available to derive external storm properties. The DD approach combines marginal pdfs for storm depths and inter-arrival times to obtain an analytical formulation of the distribution of annual precipitation, under the simplifying assumptions of independence between events and independence between storm depth and time to the next storm. Because it is based on information about storms and not on annual totals, the DD can make use of information from years with incomplete data; more importantly, only a few years of rainfall measurements should suffice to estimate the parameters of the marginal pdfs, at least at locations where it rains with some regularity. For two temperate locations in different climates (Concepción, Chile, and Lugano, Switzerland, we randomly resample shortened time series to evaluate in detail the effects of record length on the DD, comparing the results with the traditional approach of fitting a normal (or lognormal distribution. Then, at the same two stations, we assess the biases introduced in the DD when using daily totalized rainfall, instead of continuously gauged data. Finally, for randomly selected periods between 3 and 15 years in length, we conduct full blind tests at 52 high-quality gauging stations in Switzerland

  7. Precipitation kinetics of a continuous precipitator, with application to the precipitation of ammonium polyuranate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoyt, R.C.

    1978-04-01

    A mathematical model describing the kinetics of continuous precipitation was developed which accounts for crystal nucleation, crystal growth, primary coagulation, and secondary coagulation. Population density distributions, average particle sizes, dominant particle sizes, and suspension density fractions of the crystallites, primary agglomerates, and secondary agglomerates leaving the continuous precipitator can be determined. This kinetic model was applied to the continuous precipitation of ammonium polyuranate, which consists of: (1) elementary crystals, (2) clusters or primary coagulated particles, and (3) agglomerates or secondary coagulated particles. The crystallites are thin, submicron, hexagonal platelets. The clusters had an upper size limit of about 7 μ in diameter and contained numerous small voids (less than 0.3 μm) due to the packing of the crystallites. The agglomerates had an upper size limit of about 40 μm in diameter and contained large voids (approximately 1 μm). The particle size distribution and particle structure of the ammonium polyuranate precipitate can be controlled through proper regulation of the precipitation conditions. The ratio of clusters to agglomerates can be best controlled through the uranium concentration, and the cohesiveness or internal bonding strength of the particles can be controlled with the ammonium to uranium reacting feed mole ratio. These two conditions, in conjunction with the residence time, will determine the nucleation rates, growth rates, and size distributions of the particles leaving the continuous precipitator. With proper control of these physical particle characteristics, the use of pore formers, ball-milling, and powder blending can probably be eliminated from the nuclear fuel fabrication process, substantially reducing the cost

  8. Precipitation kinetics of a continuous precipitator, with application to the precipitation of ammonium polyuranate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoyt, R.C.

    1978-04-01

    A mathematical model describing the kinetics of continuous precipitation was developed which accounts for crystal nucleation, crystal growth, primary coagulation, and secondary coagulation. Population density distributions, average particle sizes, dominant particle sizes, and suspension density fractions of the crystallites, primary agglomerates, and secondary agglomerates leaving the continuous precipitator can be determined. This kinetic model was applied to the continuous precipitation of ammonium polyuranate, which consists of: (1) elementary crystals, (2) clusters or primary coagulated particles, and (3) agglomerates or secondary coagulated particles. The crystallites are thin, submicron, hexagonal platelets. The clusters had an upper size limit of about 7 ..mu.. in diameter and contained numerous small voids (less than 0.3 ..mu..m) due to the packing of the crystallites. The agglomerates had an upper size limit of about 40 ..mu..m in diameter and contained large voids (approximately 1 ..mu..m). The particle size distribution and particle structure of the ammonium polyuranate precipitate can be controlled through proper regulation of the precipitation conditions. The ratio of clusters to agglomerates can be best controlled through the uranium concentration, and the cohesiveness or internal bonding strength of the particles can be controlled with the ammonium to uranium reacting feed mole ratio. These two conditions, in conjunction with the residence time, will determine the nucleation rates, growth rates, and size distributions of the particles leaving the continuous precipitator. With proper control of these physical particle characteristics, the use of pore formers, ball-milling, and powder blending can probably be eliminated from the nuclear fuel fabrication process, substantially reducing the cost.

  9. An increase in precipitation exacerbates negative effects of nitrogen deposition on soil cations and soil microbial communities in a temperate forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Leilei; Zhang, Hongzhi; Liu, Tao; Mao, Peng; Zhang, Weixin; Shao, Yuanhu; Fu, Shenglei

    2018-04-01

    World soils are subjected to a number of anthropogenic global change factors. Although many previous studies contributed to understand how single global change factors affect soil properties, there have been few studies aimed at understanding how two naturally co-occurring global change drivers, nitrogen (N) deposition and increased precipitation, affect critical soil properties. In addition, most atmospheric N deposition and precipitation increase studies have been simulated by directly adding N solution or water to the forest floor, and thus largely neglect some key canopy processes in natural conditions. These previous studies, therefore, may not realistically simulate natural atmospheric N deposition and precipitation increase in forest ecosystems. In a field experiment, we used novel canopy applications to investigate the effects of N deposition, increased precipitation, and their combination on soil chemical properties and the microbial community in a temperate deciduous forest. We found that both soil chemistry and microorganisms were sensitive to these global change factors, especially when they were simultaneously applied. These effects were evident within 2 years of treatment initiation. Canopy N deposition immediately accelerated soil acidification, base cation depletion, and toxic metal accumulation. Although increased precipitation only promoted base cation leaching, this exacerbated the effects of N deposition. Increased precipitation decreased soil fungal biomass, possible due to wetting/re-drying stress or to the depletion of Na. When N deposition and increased precipitation occurred together, soil gram-negative bacteria decreased significantly, and the community structure of soil bacteria was altered. The reduction of gram-negative bacterial biomass was closely linked to the accumulation of the toxic metals Al and Fe. These results suggested that short-term responses in soil cations following N deposition and increased precipitation could change

  10. Effects of Reduced Summer Precipitation on Productivity and Forage Quality of Floodplain Meadows at the Elbe and the Rhine River

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludewig, Kristin; Donath, Tobias W.; Zelle, Bianka; Eckstein, R. Lutz; Mosner, Eva; Otte, Annette; Jensen, Kai

    2015-01-01

    Background Floodplain meadows along rivers are semi-natural habitats and depend on regular land use. When used non-intensively, they offer suitable habitats for many plant species including rare ones. Floodplains are hydrologically dynamic ecosystems with both periods of flooding and of dry conditions. In German floodplains, dry periods may increase due to reduced summer precipitation as projected by climate change scenarios. Against this background, the question arises, how the forage quantity and quality of these meadows might change in future. Methods We report results of two field trials that investigated effects of experimentally reduced summer precipitation on hay quantity and quality of floodplain meadows at the Rhine River (2011-2012) and at two Elbe tributaries (2009-2011). We measured annual yield, the amount of hay biomass, and contents of crude protein, crude fibre, energy, fructan, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Results The annual yield decreased under precipitation reduction at the Rhine River. This was due to reduced productivity in the second cut hay at the Rhine River in which, interestingly, the contents of nitrogen and crude protein increased. The first cut at the Rhine River was unaffected by the treatments. At the Elbe tributaries, the annual yield and the hay quantity and quality of both cuts were only marginally affected by the treatments. Conclusion We conclude that the yield of floodplain meadows may become less reliable in future since the annual yield decreased under precipitation reduction at the Rhine River. However, the first and agriculturally more important cut was almost unaffected by the precipitation reduction, which is probably due to sufficient soil moisture from winter/spring. As long as future water levels of the rivers will not decrease during spring, at least the use of the hay from the first cut of floodplain meadows appears reliable under climate change. PMID:25950730

  11. Synthesis of Bi2O3 architectures in DMF–H2O solution by precipitation method and their photocatalytic activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Li-Li; Han, Qiao-Feng; Zhao, Jin; Zhu, Jun-Wu; Wang, Xin; Ma, Wei-Hua

    2014-01-01

    Graphical abstract: Flowerlike α-Bi 2 O 3 architectures assembled by nanobrick-based petals with pineapple surface were firstly synthesized by precipitation method at room temperature in DMF–H 2 O solution. - Highlights: • Nanobrick-based flowerlike Bi 2 O 3 crystals with pineapple surface were synthesized by precipitation method. • Good solubility of Bi(NO 3 ) 3 in DMF played a crucial role in the growth of flowerlike Bi 2 O 3 . • The growth mechanism of Bi 2 O 3 microcrystallites has been explained in detail. - Abstract: Well-crystalline flowerlike α-Bi 2 O 3 hierarchical architectures with pineapple-shaped petals have been synthesized by precipitation method at a volume ratio of DMF/H 2 O of 5, where DMF and H 2 O were used to dissolve Bi(NO 3 ) 3 and KOH, respectively. If the DMF/H 2 O ratio was decreased to 2:1, 1:1 and 0:30, flower-, bundle- and dendrite-shaped α-Bi 2 O 3 microcrystallites aggregated by nanorods were formed, respectively. The simple synthetic route and thus obtained Bi 2 O 3 architectures of various morphologies provide a basis insight for their formation mechanism. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared Bi 2 O 3 particles for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation was obviously influenced by their morphologies. Bi 2 O 3 of nanorod-based microstructures exhibited higher photodegradation activity than nanobrick-based ones, owing to higher light absorption and carrier separation efficiency in one-dimensional (1D) nanostructured materials

  12. Correlation and SVD Analysis of Anomalous Spring Precipitation in Northwest China and Sea Surface Temperature in Key Region in Recent 50 Years

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    [Objective] The aim was to study the relationship between spring precipitation anomaly in Northwest China and sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in Key region in recent 50 years. [Method] Based on monthly average precipitation in Northwest China and global monthly sea surface temperature (SST) grid data, the effects of SSTA in equatorial central and eastern Pacific on spring precipitation in Northwest China were discussed by means of correlation and SVD analysis. [Result] For spring precipitation in Nor...

  13. Mineral Precipitation in Fractures: Multiscale Imaging and Geochemical Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajirezaie, S.; Peters, C. A.; Swift, A.; Sheets, J. M.; Cole, D. R.; Crandall, D.; Cheshire, M.; Stack, A. G.; Anovitz, L. M.

    2017-12-01

    For subsurface energy technologies such as geologic carbon sequestration, fractures are potential pathways for fluid migration from target formations. Highly permeable fractures may become sealed by mineral precipitation. In this study, we examined shale specimens with existing cemented fractures as natural analogues, using an array of imaging methods to characterize mineralogy and porosity at several spatial scales. In addition, we used reactive transport modeling to investigate geochemical conditions that can lead to extensive mineral precipitation and to simulate the impacts on fracture hydraulic properties. The naturally-cemented fractured rock specimens were from the Upper Wolfcamp formation in Texas, at 10,000 ft depth. The specimens were scanned using x-ray computed tomography (xCT) at resolution of 13 microns. The xCT images revealed an original fracture aperture of 1.9 mm filled with several distinct mineral phases and vuggy void regions, and the mineral phase volumes and surface areas were quantified and mapped in 3D. Specimens were thin-sectioned and examined at micron- and submicron-scales using petrographic microscopy (PM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Collectively these methods revealed crystals of dolomite as large as 900 microns in length overlain with a heterogeneous mixture of carbonate minerals including calcite, dolomite, and Fe-rich dolomite, interspersed at spatial scales as small as 5 microns. In addition, secondary precipitation of SiO2 was found to fill some of the void space. This multiscale imaging was used to inform the reactive transport modeling employed to examine the conditions that can cause the observed mineral precipitation in fractures at a larger scale. Two brines containing solutions that when mixed would lead to precipitation of various carbonate minerals were simulated as injectants into a fracture domain. In particular, the competing

  14. Experimental and numerical simulation the effect of distribution plates in a mobile electrostatic precipitator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noorpoor, A. R.; Sadeghi, M.

    2003-01-01

    In this investigation, behaviour of airflow inside an electrostatic precipitator with three different distribution plates has been considered by means of numerical and experimental methods and results have been compared together. This device has been designed and produced in this center for the first time in Iran, and its ability to absorb particles, haze and soot is good. But for increasing the efficiency there must be some changes to an miscellaneous sections. Therefore, here we consider the effect of distribution plates to increase performance, because when distribution flow at cross sections of precipitator is uniform, the efficiency will increase. To have a numerical simulation, fluent software version 5.3 was and for modeling turbulence the RNG k-Σ turbulent model applied. This program after discretization governing equations on a body fitted coordinate system, that is produced in preprocessor, integrates this equations on control volumes and determines the rate of quantities on control volume faces using order two (upwind)approximations. Finally by means of a pitot tube velocity magnitude of fluid in two sections of domain was measured and compared with numerical results which shows a good agreement. After simulation the three model, e.g. without distribution plate, with a distribution plate after inlet duct and with two distribution plates (one after inlet duct and before outlet duct), and taking some results and by comparing them, we conclude that use of combined distribution plate can give a good result

  15. Effect of boreal spring precipitation anomaly pattern change in the late 1990s over tropical Pacific on the atmospheric teleconnection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Yuanyuan; Wen, Zhiping; Chen, Ruidan; Li, Xiuzhen; Yang, Xiu-Qun

    2018-02-01

    Observational evidence showed that the leading mode of precipitation variability over the tropical Pacific during boreal spring experienced a pronounced interdecadal change around the late 1990s, characterized by a precipitation pattern shift from an eastern Pacific (EP) type to a central Pacific (CP) type. The distinct impacts of such a precipitation pattern shift on the extratropical atmospheric teleconnection were examined. An apparent poleward teleconnection extending from the tropics to the North Atlantic region was observed after 1998, while, there was no significant teleconnection before 1998. To understand why only the CP-type precipitation mode is associated with a striking atmospheric teleconnection after 1998, diagnostic analyses with the Eliassen-Palm flux and Rossby wave source (RWS) based on the barotropic vorticity equation were performed. The results show that for the EP-type precipitation mode, no significant RWS anomalies appeared over the subtropical Pacific due to the opposite effect of the vortex stretching and absolute vorticity advection processes. For the CP-type precipitation mode, however, there are both significant vorticity forcing source over the subtropical CP and clear poleward-propagation of Rossby wave. The spatial distribution of the CP-type precipitation pattern tends to excite a conspicuous anomalous southerly and a well-organized negative vorticity center over the subtropical CP where both the mean absolute vorticity gradient and mean divergence flow are large, hence, the interaction between the heating-induced anomalous circulation and the basic state made the generation of Rossby waves conceivable and effective. Such corresponding teleconnection responses to the prescribed heating were also examined by using a Linear Baroclinic Model (LBM). It turned out that significant poleward teleconnection pattern is only caused by the CP-type precipitation mode, rather than by the EP-type precipitation mode. Further sensitive experiments

  16. The impact of precipitation on land interfacility transport times.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giang, Wayne C W; Donmez, Birsen; Ahghari, Mahvareh; MacDonald, Russell D

    2014-12-01

    Timely transfer of patients among facilities within a regionalized critical-care system remains a large obstacle to effective patient care. For medical transport systems where dispatchers are responsible for planning these interfacility transfers, accurate estimates of interfacility transfer times play a large role in planning and resource-allocation decisions. However, the impact of adverse weather conditions on transfer times is not well understood. Precipitation negatively impacts driving conditions and can decrease free-flow speeds and increase travel times. The objective of this research was to quantify and model the effects of different precipitation types on land travel times for interfacility patient transfers. It was hypothesized that the effects of precipitation would accumulate as the distance of the transfer increased, and they would differ based on the type of precipitation. Urgent and emergent interfacility transfers carried out by the medical transport system in Ontario from 2005 through 2011 were linked to Environment Canada's (Gatineau, Quebec, Canada) climate data. Two linear models were built to estimate travel times based on precipitation type and driving distance: one for transfers between cities (intercity) and another for transfers within a city (intracity). Precipitation affected both transfer types. For intercity transfers, the magnitude of the delays increased as driving distance increased. For median-distance intercity transfers (48 km), snow produced delays of approximately 9.1% (3.1 minutes), while rain produced delays of 8.4% (2.9 minutes). For intracity transfers, the magnitude of delays attributed to precipitation did not depend on distance driven. Transfers in rain were 8.6% longer (1.7 minutes) compared to no precipitation, whereas only statistically marginal effects were observed for snow. Precipitation increases the duration of interfacility land ambulance travel times by eight percent to ten percent. For transfers between cities

  17. Observation of the movement of the precipitation by using tritium tracer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiao, Yurong; Ishida, Sayuri; Takada, Kayoko; Imaizumi, Hiroshi; Kano, Naoki; Saito, Masaaki

    2011-01-01

    Tracer techniques have proven to be one of the most powerful tools to characterize the movement of air mass and pollutant transport in hydrological systems. In order to clarify the behavior of low-level tritium in the rain water, we have employed the measuring method of tritium applying a distillation process and an electrolytic enrichment process. The activity of tritium (T specific activity) in the obtained water was measured by liquid scintillation counter. This procedure was applied to bulk precipitation, imitative ground infiltrated precipitation and short term precipitation collected in Niigata City. Moreover, we investigated the concentrations of cations (Na + , K + , Ca 2+ , and Mg 2+ ) in the precipitation to associate with air mass transport patterns arriving at the place. From the above mentioned, next matters have been clarified: (1) T specific activity in precipitation was found to have a strong dependence on location and season. (2) The chemical components in precipitation during typhoon have notable character of marine air mass. (3) Associated ions in monthly precipitation showed seasonal variation, in fact, the seasonal variation of Ca 2+ and tritium were very similar. (4) Backward trajectory analysis method is useful for the analysis of the behavior of T specific activity and several ions in short-term precipitation. (author)

  18. Calcite precipitates in Slovenian bottled waters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanič, Tamara Ferjan; Miler, Miloš; Brenčič, Mihael; Gosar, Mateja

    2017-06-01

    Storage of bottled waters in varying ambient conditions affects its characteristics. Different storage conditions cause changes in the initial chemical composition of bottled water which lead to the occurrence of precipitates with various morphologies. In order to assess the relationship between water composition, storage conditions and precipitate morphology, a study of four brands of Slovenian bottled water stored in PET bottles was carried out. Chemical analyses of the main ions and measurements of the physical properties of water samples were performed before and after storage of water samples at different ambient conditions. SEM/EDS analysis of precipitates was performed after elapsed storage time. The results show that the presence of Mg 2+ , SO 4 2- , SiO 2 , Al, Mn and other impurities such as K + , Na + , Ba and Sr in the water controlled precipitate morphology by inhibiting crystal growth and leading to elongated rhombohedral calcite crystal forms which exhibit furrowed surfaces and calcite rosettes. Different storage conditions, however, affected the number of crystallization nuclei and size of calcite crystals. Hollow calcite spheres composed of cleavage rhombohedrons formed in the water with variable storage conditions by a combination of evaporation and precipitation of water droplets during high temperatures or by the bubble templating method.

  19. Photodegradation of Acid Black 1 and Removing Heavy Metals from the Water by an Inorganic Nanocomposite Synthesized via Simple Co-Precipitation Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marziyeh Mohammadi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available In this experimental work, PbS/ZnS/ZnO nanocomposite was synthesized via a simple co-precipitation method. The effect of Zn2+/Pb2+ mole ratio was investigated on the product size and morphology. The products were characterized via scanning electron microscopy to obtain product size and morphology. The optical properties of the nanocomposites were studied by ultra violet-visible spectroscopy. Photocatalytic activity of the product was examine by decomposition of acid black 1 as dye. To investigation of the effect of as synthesized nanocomposite on the water treatment, the influences of the nanocomposite to remove heavy ions was studied by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results showed that the synthesized nanocomposite has well optical properties, photocatalytic and water treatment activities.

  20. Novel method for concentrating and drying polymeric nanoparticles: hydrogen bonding coacervate precipitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Addio, Suzanne M; Kafka, Concepcion; Akbulut, Mustafa; Beattie, Patrick; Saad, Walid; Herrera, Margarita; Kennedy, Michael T; Prud'homme, Robert K

    2010-04-05

    Nanoparticles have significant potential in therapeutic applications to improve the bioavailability and efficacy of active drug compounds. However, the retention of nanometer sizes during concentrating or drying steps presents a significant problem. We report on a new concentrating and drying process for poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) stabilized nanoparticles, which relies upon the unique pH sensitive hydrogen bonding interaction between PEG and polyacid species. In the hydrogen bonding coacervate precipitation (HBCP) process, PEG protected nanoparticles rapidly aggregate into an easily filterable precipitate upon the addition various polyacids. When the resulting solid is neutralized, the ionization of the acid groups eliminates the hydrogen bonded structure and the approximately 100 nm particles redisperse back to within 10% of their original size when poly(acrylic acid) and citric acid are used and 45% when poly(aspartic acid) is used. While polyacid concentrations of 1-5 wt % were used to form the precipitates, the incorporation of the acid into the PEG layer is approximately 1:1 (acid residue):(ethylene oxide unit) in the final dried precipitate. The redispersion of dried beta-carotene nanoparticles protected with PEG-b-poly(lactide-co-glycolide) polymers dried by HBCP was compared with the redispersion of particles dried by freeze-drying with sucrose as a cryprotectant, spray freeze-drying, and normal drying. Freeze-drying with 0, 2, and 12 wt % sucrose solutions resulted in size increases of 350%, 50%, and 6%, respectively. Spray freeze-drying resulted in particles with increased sizes of 50%, but no cryoprotectant and only moderate redispersion energy was required. Conventional drying resulted in solids that could not be redispersed back to nanometer size. The new HBCP process offers a promising and efficient way to concentrate or convert nanoparticle dispersions into a stable dry powder form.

  1. How is climate change impacting precipitation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heidari, A.; Houser, P. R.

    2015-12-01

    Water is an integrating component of the climate, energy and geochemical cycles, regulating biological and ecological activities at all spatial and temporal scales. The most significant climate warming manifestation would be a change in the distribution of precipitation and evaporation, and the exacerbation of extreme hydrologic events. Due to this phenomenon and the fact that precipitation is the most important component of the water cycle, the assumption of its stationarity for water management and engineering design should be examined closely. The precipitation Annual Maximum Series (AMS) over some stations in Virginia based on in situ data were been used as a starting point to examine this important issue. We analyzed the AMS precipitation on NOAA data for the stations close to Fairfax VA, looked for trends in extreme values, and applied our new method of Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) theory based on quadratic forms to address changes in those extreme values and to quantify non-stationarities. It is very important to address the extreme values of precipitation based on several statistical tests to have better understanding of climate change impact on the extreme water cycle events. In our study we compared our results with the conclusion on NOAA atlas 14 Ap.3 which found no sign of precipitation non-stationarity. We then assessed the impact of this uncertainty in IDF curves on the flood map of Fairfax and compared the results with the classic IDF curves.

  2. Altered precipitation patterns and simulated nitrogen deposition effects on phenology of common plant species in a Tibetan Plateau alpine meadow

    Science.gov (United States)

    The interactive effects of five seasonal precipitation distribution patterns and two levels of N deposition (ambient and doubled) on phenological traits of six dominant plant species were studied in an alpine meadow of the Tibetan Plateau for two consecutive years. Seasonal precipitation patterns i...

  3. Solids precipitation in crude oils, gas-to-liquids and their blends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramanathan, Karthik

    Gas-to-liquids (GTL) liquids are obtained from syngas by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The blending of GTL liquids produced from natural gas/coal reserves and crude oils is a possibility in the near future for multiple reasons. Solids precipitation is a major problem in pipelines and refineries leading to significant additional operating costs. The effect of the addition of a paraffinic GTL liquid to crude oils on solids precipitation was investigated in this study. A Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic technique was used to obtain solid-liquid equilibria (SLE) data for the various samples. The SLE of multiple systems of model oils composed of n-alkanes was investigated preliminarily. Blends of a model oil simulating a GTL liquid composition and a crude oil showed that the wax precipitation temperature (WPT) decreased upon blending. Three crude oils from different geographic regions (Alaskan North Slope, Colorado and Venezuela) and a laboratory-produced GTL liquid were used in the preparation of blends with five different concentrations of the GTL liquid. The wax precipitation temperatures of the blends were found to decrease with the increasing addition of the GTL liquid for all the oils. This effect was attributed to the solvent effect of the low molecular weight-paraffinic GTL liquid on the crude oils. The weight percent solid precipitated that was estimated as a function of temperature did not show a uniform trend for the set of crude oils. The asphaltene onset studies done on the blends with near-infrared spectroscopy indicated that the addition of GTL liquid could have a stabilizing effect on the asphaltenes in some oils. Analytical techniques such as distillation, solvent separation, HPLC, GC, and GPC were used to obtain detailed composition data on the samples. Two sets of compositional data with 49 and 86 pseudo-components were used to describe the three crude oils used in the blending work. The wax precipitation was calculated using a

  4. Aerosol Effects on Instability, Circulations, Clouds, and Precipitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seoung-Soo Lee

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available It is well known that increasing aerosol and associated changes in aerosol-cloud interactions and precipitation since industrialization have been playing an important role in climate change, but this role has not been well understood. This prevents us from predicting future climate with a good confidence. This review paper presents recent studies on the changes in the aerosol-cloud interactions and precipitation particularly in deep convective clouds. In addition, this review paper discusses how to improve our understanding of these changes by considering feedbacks among aerosol, cloud dynamics, cloud and its embedded circulations, and microphysics. Environmental instability basically determines the dynamic intensity of clouds and thus acts as one of the most important controls on these feedbacks. As a first step to the improvement of the understanding, this paper specifically elaborates on how to link the instability to the feedbacks.

  5. Interactive effects of warming and increased precipitation on community structure and composition in an annual forb dominated desert steppe.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanhui Hou

    Full Text Available To better understand how warming, increased precipitation and their interactions influence community structure and composition, a field experiment simulating hydrothermal interactions was conducted at an annual forb dominated desert steppe in northern China over 2 years. Increased precipitation increased species richness while warming significantly decreased species richness, and their effects were additive rather than interactive. Although interannual variations in weather conditions may have a major affect on plant community composition on short term experiments, warming and precipitation treatments affected individual species and functional group composition. Warming caused C4 grasses such as Cleistogenes squarrosa to increase while increased precipitation caused the proportions of non-perennial C3 plants like Artemisia capillaris to decrease and perennial C4 plants to increase.

  6. Validation of non-stationary precipitation series for site-specific impact assessment: comparison of two statistical downscaling techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mullan, Donal; Chen, Jie; Zhang, Xunchang John

    2016-02-01

    Statistical downscaling (SD) methods have become a popular, low-cost and accessible means of bridging the gap between the coarse spatial resolution at which climate models output climate scenarios and the finer spatial scale at which impact modellers require these scenarios, with various different SD techniques used for a wide range of applications across the world. This paper compares the Generator for Point Climate Change (GPCC) model and the Statistical DownScaling Model (SDSM)—two contrasting SD methods—in terms of their ability to generate precipitation series under non-stationary conditions across ten contrasting global climates. The mean, maximum and a selection of distribution statistics as well as the cumulative frequencies of dry and wet spells for four different temporal resolutions were compared between the models and the observed series for a validation period. Results indicate that both methods can generate daily precipitation series that generally closely mirror observed series for a wide range of non-stationary climates. However, GPCC tends to overestimate higher precipitation amounts, whilst SDSM tends to underestimate these. This infers that GPCC is more likely to overestimate the effects of precipitation on a given impact sector, whilst SDSM is likely to underestimate the effects. GPCC performs better than SDSM in reproducing wet and dry day frequency, which is a key advantage for many impact sectors. Overall, the mixed performance of the two methods illustrates the importance of users performing a thorough validation in order to determine the influence of simulated precipitation on their chosen impact sector.

  7. Experimental observations of boric acid precipitation scenarios

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vaghetto, R., E-mail: r.vaghetto@tamu.edu; Childs, M., E-mail: masonchilds@tamu.edu; Jones, P., E-mail: pgjones87@tamu.edu; Lee, S., E-mail: sayalee@tamu.edu; Kee, E., E-mail: erniekee@gmail.com; Hassan, Y.A., E-mail: y-hassan@tamu.edu

    2017-02-15

    During a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) in Light Water Reactors (LWR), borated water is injected into the core through the safety injection system. The continuous vaporization of the water from the core may increase the concentration of boric acid in the core that, under certain conditions may reach the solubility limit and precipitate. This includes scenarios where the liquid water supply to the core is affected by possible blockages due to debris accumulation. Questions have been raised on the effects of the precipitate in the core on the flow behavior, including the possibility of additional blockages produced by precipitate accumulation. A simple experimental facility was constructed to perform experimental observations of the behavior of borated water under the combined effects of the boiling and the boric acid precipitation (BAP). The facility consists of a transparent polycarbonate vertical pipe where forty-five heated rods have been installed to supply the power to the water to reach the saturation temperature, and maintain a desired boil-off rate. The layout and geometry of the experimental apparatus were conceived to emulate a simplified core of a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). Experimental observations have been conducted under two different conditions. Preliminary tests were conducted to observe the behavior of the water and the boric acid precipitate during a boil-off scenario without borated water addition (decreasing water level). During the main test runs, borated water was constantly injected from the top of the test section to maintain a constant mixture level in the test section. Both tests assumed no flow from the bottom of the test section which may be the case of PWR LOCA scenarios in presence of debris-generated core blockage. The observations performed with a set of cameras installed around the test section showed interesting effects of the vapor bubbles on the boric acid precipitate migration and accumulation in the test section. The

  8. Acid precipitation; an annotated bibliography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiltshire, Denise A.; Evans, Margaret L.

    1984-01-01

    This collection of 1660 bibliographies references on the causes and environmental effects of acidic atmospheric deposition was compiled from computerized literature searches of earth-science and chemistry data bases. Categories of information are (1) atmospheric chemistry (gases and aerosols), (2) precipitation chemistry, (3) transport and deposition (wet and dry), (4) aquatic environments (biological and hydrological), (5) terrestrial environments, (6) effects on materials and structures, (7) air and precipitation monitoring and data collection, and (8) modeling studies. References date from the late 1800 's through December 1981. The bibliography includes short summaries of most documents. Omitted are unpublished manuscripts, publications in press, master 's theses and doctoral dissertations, newspaper articles, and book reviews. Coauthors and subject indexes are included. (USGS)

  9. The Precipitation Behavior of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs with an Emphasis on the Digestion of Lipid Based Formulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Jamal; Rades, Thomas; Boyd, Ben

    2016-03-01

    An increasing number of newly discovered drugs are poorly water-soluble and the use of natural and synthetic lipids to improve the oral bioavailability of these drugs by utilizing the digestion pathway in-vivo has proved an effective formulation strategy. The mechanisms responsible for lipid digestion and drug solubilisation during gastrointestinal transit have been explored in detail, but the implications of drug precipitation beyond the potential adverse effect on bioavailability have received attention only in recent years. Specifically, these implications are that different solid forms of drug on precipitation may affect the total amount of drug absorbed in-vivo through their different physico-chemical properties, and the possibility that the dynamic environment of the small intestine may afford re-dissolution of precipitated drug if present in a high-energy form. This review describes the events that lead to drug precipitation during the dispersion and digestion of lipid based formulations, common methods used to inhibit precipitation, as well as conventional and newly emerging characterization techniques for studying the solid state form of the precipitated drug. Moreover, selected case studies are discussed where drug precipitation has ensued from the digestion of lipid based formulations, as well as the apparent link between drug ionisability and altered solid forms on precipitation, culminating in a discussion about the importance of the solid form on precipitation with relevance to the total drug absorbed.

  10. Study of calcium carbonate and sulfate co-precipitation

    KAUST Repository

    Zarga, Y.; Ben Boubaker, H.; Ghaffour, NorEddine; Elfil, Hamza

    2013-01-01

    of CaCO3 nucleation and lead to its precipitation by activating heterogeneous germination. However, the presence of CaCO3 crystals does not seem to have any significant effect on gypsum precipitation. IR spectroscopy and the Scanning Electronic

  11. Precipitable water and vapor flux between Belem and Manaus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marques, J.

    1977-01-01

    The water vapor flux and precipitable water was computated over the natural Amazon forest in the stretch between Belem and Manaus for 1972. The atmospheric branch of hidrological cycle theory was applied and the most significant conclusions on an annual basis are: Atlantic Ocean water vapor contributes 52% to the regional precipitation and is significant the role played by local evapotranspiration in the precipitation in the area; there were signs of the phenomenon of water vapor recycling nearly throughout the year. Evapotranspiration contributes to 48% of the precipitations in the area studied. The real evapotranspiration estimated by this method was 1,000mm year - 1 [pt

  12. THE STUDIES OF METAL CONTENT IN PRECIPITATION WATER IN LUBELSKIE AND LUBUSKIE VOIVODESHIPS IN 2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnieszka Malec

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the results of the studies of metal content in precipitation water in 2013, recorded at measuring points within Lubelskie and Lubuskie Voivodeships. It provides a detailed description of the method of collecting and analysing water samples in respect of light- and heavy-metal determination. Based on the results, a general assessment was made of the condition of the environment in the areas in question. Also, the sources of pollution in wet precipitation, and the effects of their introduction into the environment, were determined. It was found that the main pollution elements of precipitation water were linked to anthropogenic sources. The study also established that precipitation water, especially in the sparsely industrialised Włodawa region in the Lubelskie Voivodeship, had generally low pollution levels. It was also noted that in 2013, due to low total precipitation, the environmental impact of metal content was lower than in the preceding years.

  13. Comparison of methods of zeta potential and residual turbidity of pectin solutions using calcium sulphate/aluminium sulphate as a precipitant

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuljanin Tatjana A.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The affinity of calcium ion binding from CaO used in the most common process of purification of sugar beet juice is relatively low. Therefore, large amounts of this compound are required. This paper presents the theoretical basis of a novel sugar beet juice purification method based on the application of the binary system CaSO4/Al2(SO4 . In order to monitor the process of coagulation and precipitation of pectin in the presence of CaSO4/Al2(SO43, two methods were compared: measurement of the zeta potential and of residual solution turbidity. The zeta potential of pectin solution was determined by electrophoretic method, while the residual turbidity was determined by spectrophotometry. Two model solutions of pectin (0.1 % w/w were investigated. Studies were performed with 10 different concentrations of the binary solution CaSO4/Al2(SO43 (50 - 500 g dm-3. The amount of the precipitant CaSO4/Al2(SO43 (1:1 w/w needed to achieve the minimum solution turbidity and charge neutralization of pectin particles (zero zeta potential were measured and compared. Colloidal destabilization occurred before a complete neutralization of the surface charge of pectin particles (zeta potential ~ 0 mV. Optimal quantities (490 - 705 mg g-1 pectin of the applied binary mixture, were obtained using both methods. This is much lower than the amount of CaO that is commonly used in the conventional process of sugar beet juice purification (about 9 g• g-1 pectin. The use of these precipitants could be important from both economic and environmental point of view. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. TR 31055

  14. Changes of precipitation and extremes and the possible effect of urbanization in the Beijing metropolitan region during 1960-2012 based on homogenized observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhen; Yan, Zhongwei; Tu, Kai; Wu, Hongyi

    2015-09-01

    Daily precipitation series at 15 stations in the Beijing metropolitan region (BMR) during 1960-2012 were homogenized using the multiple analysis of series for homogenization method, with additional adjustments based on analysis of empirical cumulative density function (ECDF) regarding climate extremes. The cumulative density functions of daily precipitation series, the trends of annual and seasonal precipitation, and summer extreme events during 1960-2012 in the original and final adjusted series at Beijing station were comparatively analyzed to show the necessity and efficiency of the new method. Results indicate that the ECDF adjustments can improve the homogeneity of high-order moments of daily series and the estimation of climate trends in extremes. The linear trends of the regional-mean annual and seasonal (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) precipitation series are -10.16, 4.97, -20.04, 5.02, and -0.11 mm (10 yr)-1, respectively. The trends over the BMR increase consistently for spring/autumn and decrease for the whole year/summer; however, the trends for winter decrease in southern parts and increase in northern parts. Urbanization affects local trends of precipitation amount, frequency, and intensity and their geographical patterns. For the urban-influenced sites, urbanization tends to slow down the magnitude of decrease in the precipitation and extreme amount series by approximately -10.4% and -6.0%, respectively; enhance the magnitude of decrease in precipitation frequency series by approximately 5.7%; reduce that of extremes by approximately -8.9%; and promote the decreasing trends in the summer intensity series of both precipitation and extremes by approximately 6.8% and 51.5%, respectively.

  15. Study on the Variation Characteristic of Precipitation in Liaoning Province in Recent 48 Years

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    [Objective] The aim was to study the variation characteristic of precipitation in Liaoning Province in recent 48 years. [Method] According to monthly precipitation data from meteorological observation station in Liaoning Province from 1961 to 2008, the variation characteristic of precipitation in Liaoning was analyzed by means of one-dimensional linear estimation, 5-year moving average and wavelet transform method in our paper. [Result] Annual mean precipitation in Liaoning from 1961 to 2008 showed decrease...

  16. Application of Carrier Element-Free Co-precipitation Method for Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) Ions Determination in Water Samples Using Chrysin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Layth Imad Abd Ali; Wan Aini Wan Ibrahim; Azli Sulaiman; Mohd Marsin Sanagi

    2015-01-01

    A co-precipitation method was developed to separate and pre-concentrate Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions using an organic co precipitant, chrysin without adding any carrier element termed as carrier element-free co-precipitation (CEFC). Analytes were determined using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The influence of analytical conditions, such as pH of the solution, quantity of co-precipitant, standing time, centrifugation rate and time, sample volume, and interference of concomitant ions were investigated over the recovery yields of the trace metals. The limit of detection, the limit of quantification and linearity range obtained from the FAAS measurements were found to be in the range of 0.64 to 0.86 μg L -1 , 2.13 to 2.86 μg L -1 and 0.9972 to 0.9989 for Ni(II), Cu(III) and Zn(II) ions, respectively. The precision of the method, evaluated as the relative standard deviation (RSD) obtained after analyzing a series of 10 replicates, was between 2.6 % to 3.9 % for the trace metal ions. The proposed procedure was applied and validated by analyzing river water reference material for trace metals (SLRS-5) and spiking trace metal ions in some water samples. The recoveries of the analyte metal ions were between 94.7-101.2 %. (author)

  17. Seasonal Precipitation Variability Effects on Carbon Exchange in a Tropical Dry Forest of Northwest Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verduzco, V.; Garatuza-Payan, J.; Yépez, E. A.; Watts, C. J.; Rodriguez, J. C.; Robles-Morua, A.; Vivoni, E. R.

    2015-12-01

    The Tropical Dry Forest (TDF) cover a large area in tropical and subtropical regions in the Americas and its productivity is thought to have an important contribution to the atmospheric carbon fluxes. However, due to this ecosystem complex dynamics, our understanding about the mechanisms controlling net ecosystem exchange is limited. In this study, five years of continue water and carbon fluxes measurements from eddy covariance complemented with remotely sensed vegetation greenness were used to investigate the ecosystem carbon balance of a TDF in the North American Monsoon region under different hydro climatic conditions. We identified a large CO2 efflux at the start of the summer season that is strongly related to the preceding winter precipitation and greenness. Since this CO2 efflux occurs prior to vegetation green-up, we infer a predominant heterotrophic control owed to high decomposition of accumulated labile soil organic matter from prior growing season. Overall, ecosystem respiration has an important effect on the net ecosystem production over the year, but can be overwhelmed by the strength of the primary productivity during the monsoon season. Precipitation characteristics during the monsoon have significant controls on sustaining carbon fixation in the TDF ecosystem into the fall season. A threshold of ~350 to 400 mm of summer precipitation was identify to switch the annual carbon balance in the TDF ecosystem from a net source (+102 g C/m2/yr) to a net sink (-249 g C/m2/yr). This research points at the needs for understanding the potential effects of changing seasonal precipitation patterns on ecosystem dynamics and carbon sequestration in subtropical regions.

  18. Effect of precipitation conditions on the magnetic and sorption properties of zeolite-maghemite composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matik, M.; Pechousek, J.; Zboril, R.; Sepelak, V.

    2006-01-01

    Natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) from Nizny Hrabovec (Slovakia) has been magnetically modified through maghemite (γ-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles by precipitation route at various reaction conditions. An effect of the precipitation temperature, weight ratio of Fe/zeolite and interaction time on the magnetic and surface properties of maghemite-zeolite composites was monitored by Moessbauer spectroscopy, TEM and BET surface area measurements. A decrease in reaction time and the Fe/zeolite ratio leads to smaller particles of γ-Fe 2 O 3 while lowering the precipitation temperature results in the larger crystallites. The reflection of the precipitation temperature being the key variable in the sorption properties of composites was tested with selected heavy metal ions. The sample prepared at highest temperature of 85 grad C reveals much higher maximum sorption capacity for Pb 2+ than commonly observed for magnetically modified natural zeolites. Good ability for sorption of anions was demonstrated with AsO 4 3- , which offers new applications of such modified zeolites. The sample with the best sorption properties was characterized by SEM, XRD, in-field Moessbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements. Following these data, maghemite nanoparticles form aggregates, which are sorbed on zeolite inhomogeneously with some free active surface of zeolite. The particles are about 15 nm in size and reveal the partial vacancies ordering as documented through the increased ratio of tetrahedral and octahedral positions being of 1/3. FC/ZFC curves confirm strongly interacting superparamagnetic particles with a blocking temperature of 230 K. (authors)

  19. Precipitation of uranium concentrates by hydrogen peroxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barbosa Filho, O.

    1986-12-01

    An experimental study on the (UO 4 .xH 2 ) uranyl peroxide precipitation from a uranium process strip solution is presented. The runs were performed in a batch reactor, in laboratory scale. The main objective was to assess the possibility of the peroxide route as an alternative to a conventional ammonium diuranate process. The chemical composition of process solution was obtained. The experiments were conducted according to a factorial design, aiming to evaluate the effects of initial pH, precipitation pH and H 2 O 2 /UO 2 2+ ratio upon the process. The responses were measured in terms of the efficiency of U precipitation, the content of U in the precipitates and the distribution of impurities in the precipitates. The results indicated that the process works is satisfactory on the studied conditions and depending on conditions, it is possible to achieve levels of U precipitation efficiency greater than 99.9% in reaction times of 2 hours. The precipitates reach grades around 99% U 3 O 8 after calcination (900 0 C) and impurities fall below the limit for penalties established by the ASTM and the Allied Chemical Standards. The precipitates are composed of large aggregates of crystals of 1-4 μm, are fast settling and filtering, and are free-flowing when dry. (Author) [pt

  20. Matrix precipitation: a general strategy to eliminate matrix interference for pharmaceutical toxic impurities analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiaojing; Xiong, Xuewu; Cao, Ji; Luan, Baolei; Liu, Yongjun; Liu, Guozhu; Zhang, Lei

    2015-01-30

    Matrix interference, which can lead to false positive/negative results, contamination of injector or separation column, incompatibility between sample solution and the selected analytical instrument, and response inhibition or even quenching, is commonly suffered for the analysis of trace level toxic impurities in drug substance. In this study, a simple matrix precipitation strategy is proposed to eliminate or minimize the above stated matrix interference problems. Generally, a sample of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is dissolved in an appropriate solvent to achieve the desired high concentration and then an anti-solvent is added to precipitate the matrix substance. As a result, the target analyte is extracted into the mixed solution with very less residual of APIs. This strategy has the characteristics of simple manipulation, high recovery and excellent anti-interference capability. It was found that the precipitation ratio (R, representing the ability to remove matrix substance) and the proportion of solvent (the one used to dissolve APIs) in final solution (P, affecting R and also affecting the method sensitivity) are two important factors of the precipitation process. The correlation between R and P was investigated by performing precipitation with various APIs in different solvent/anti-solvent systems. After a detailed mathematical reasoning process, P=20% was proved to be an effective and robust condition to perform the precipitation strategy. The precipitation method with P=20% can be used as a general strategy for toxic impurity analysis in APIs. Finally, several typical examples are described in this article, where the challenging matrix interference issues have been resolved successfully. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. A study of precipitation from pure solutions of uranyl nitrate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Decrop, J.; Holder, J.; Sauteron, J.

    1961-01-01

    After its purification by extraction of the uranyl nitrate from the organic solvent, uranium has to be converted into solid form again: uranium trioxide (UO 3 ). It can be done either by thermal decomposition of uranyl nitrate or by precipitation of uranium, followed by filtration and calcination. Only the second method has been studied for now at the Bouchet plant. This paper reports the bench-scale and pilot-scale experiments of the studies of the precipitation of pure solutions of uranyl nitrate using ammonia (gaseous or in solution) or ammonium carbonate. These have been carried out at the Bouchet plant. It investigates the chemical aspect (pH, precipitates chemical composition) and the technical aspect of the different ways of precipitation (conditions of precipitation, decantation and filtration of precipitates). (M.P.)

  2. Enhanced interannual precipitation variability increases plant functional diversity that in turn ameliorates negative impact on productivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gherardi, Laureano A; Sala, Osvaldo E

    2015-12-01

    Although precipitation interannual variability is projected to increase due to climate change, effects of changes in precipitation variance have received considerable less attention than effects of changes in the mean state of climate. Interannual precipitation variability effects on functional diversity and its consequences for ecosystem functioning are assessed here using a 6-year rainfall manipulation experiment. Five precipitation treatments were switched annually resulting in increased levels of precipitation variability while maintaining average precipitation constant. Functional diversity showed a positive response to increased variability due to increased evenness. Dominant grasses decreased and rare plant functional types increased in abundance because grasses showed a hump-shaped response to precipitation with a maximum around modal precipitation, whereas rare species peaked at high precipitation values. Increased functional diversity ameliorated negative effects of precipitation variability on primary production. Rare species buffered the effect of precipitation variability on the variability in total productivity because their variance decreases with increasing precipitation variance. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  3. PEG capped CaS nanoparticles synthesized by wet chemical co-precipitation method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rekha, S.; Anila, E. I.

    2018-04-01

    Calcium sulfide (CaS) nanoparticles capped with polyethyleneglycol (PEG) were synthesized using wet chemical co-precipitation method. The structural and optical properties of the prepared sample were studied by X-ray diffractogram (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), diffuse reflectance spectrum (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. The structure of CaS nanoparticles is cubic as demonstrated by the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. TEMimage revealed the spherical morphology of the particles with diameter in the range 15-20 nm. The optical band gap of the prepared sample was determined from the DRS and its value was found to be 4.1 eV. The PL studies showed that the relative intensity of the PEG capped CaS nanoparticles was higher than that of uncapped CaS nanoparticles. The presence of various functional groups in the capped samples were examined by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.

  4. Inhibition of calcium phosphate precipitation under environmentally-relevant conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao Xinde; Harris, Willie G.; Josan, Manohardeep S.; Nair, Vimala D.

    2007-01-01

    Precipitation of Ca phosphates plays an important role in controlling P activity and availability in environmental systems. The purpose of this study was to determine inhibitory effects on Ca phosphate precipitation by Mg 2+ , SO 4 2- , CO 3 2- , humic acid, oxalic acid, biogenic Si, and Si-rich soil clay commonly found in soils, sediments, and waste streams. Precipitation rates were determined by measuring decrease of P concentration in solutions during the first 60 min; and precipitated solid phases identified using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Poorly-crystalline hydroxyapatite (HAP: Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 OH) formed in control solutions over the experiment period of 24 h, following a second-order dependence on P concentration. Humic acid and Mg 2+ significantly inhibited formation of HAP, allowing formation of a more soluble amorphous Ca phosphate phase (ACP), and thus reducing the precipitation rate constants by 94-96%. Inhibition caused by Mg 2+ results from its incorporation into Ca phosphate precipitates, preventing formation of a well-crystalline phase. Humic acid likely suppressed Ca phosphate precipitation by adsorbing onto the newly-formed nuclei. Presence of oxalic acid resulted in almost complete inhibition of HAP precipitation due to preemptive Ca-oxalate formation. Carbonate substituted for phosphate, decreasing the crystallinity of HAP and thus reducing precipitation rate constant by 44%. Sulfate and Si-rich solids had less impact on formation of HAP; while they reduced precipitation in the early stage, they did not differ from the control after 24 h. Results indicate that components (e.g., Mg 2+ , humic acid) producing relatively soluble ACP are more likely to reduce P stability and precipitation rate of Ca phosphate in soils and sediments than are components (e.g., SO 4 2- , Si) that have less effect on the crystallinity

  5. Activities and results of the terrestrial effects program: acid precipitation in Ontario study (Apios)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linzon, S N

    1986-11-01

    Studies on the terrestrial effects of acidic precipitation in Ontario involve determining the effects on soils, crops, forests, lichens, mosses and biogeochemical systems. In the soils program, a baseline study was started in 1980 to establish a reliable and uniform data base for soils across the province, in order to identify future trends. Soil sensitivity criteria are being derived for mapping purposes. Starting in 1982, a complex, sophisticated mobile rain exclusion canopy system was constructed outdoors for controlled acid rain studies to determine the dose-response relationships of field crops. In response to numerous complaints a program was designed to determine the role that acidic precipitation is playing in the decline of sugar maple trees in Ontario. At 8 sites, tree conditions were noted, samples of foliage, bark, roots and soil were collected for chemical analysis, and increment cores and discs (from felled trees) were taken for radial growth patterns. Results from this study indicated that acidic precipitation was an additional stress to insect outbreaks and spring droughts. Intensive surveys have been conducted in selected areas in Ontario to identify the current viability and distribution of common denominator lichens and mosses. Biogeochemical studies are being conducted at four watersheds in Ontario. The different watersheds are located in progressively decreasing atmospheric deposition loadings from east to west across the province. The studies are attempting to document the role of contrasting terrestrial ecosystems in the process of lake acidification by atmospheric deposition. 9 references.

  6. Development of partitioning method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Tsutomu; Shirahashi, Koichi; Kubota, Masumitsu

    1989-11-01

    Precipitation behavior of elements in a high-level liquid waste (HLW) was studied by using the simulated liquid waste, when the transuranic elements group was precipitated and separated as oxalate from HLW generated from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. The results showed that over 90 % of strontium and barium were precipitated when oxalic acid was directly added to HLW to precipitate the transuranic elements group, and the percentages of these elements precipitated were affected by molybdenum and or zirconium. Therefore, a method of adding oxalic acid into the filtrate was studied after removing previously molybdenum and zirconium as precipitate by denitrating HLW, and it was found that precipitated fractions of strontium and barium could be suppressed about 10 %. Adding oxalic acid under the co-existance of ascorbic acid is effective for quantitative precipitation of neptunium in HLW. In this case, it was found that adding ascorbic acid had little influence on precipitation behavior of the other elements except palladium. (author)

  7. Precipitation data in a mountainous catchment in Honduras: quality assessment and spatiotemporal characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerberg, I.; Walther, A.; Guerrero, J.-L.; Coello, Z.; Halldin, S.; Xu, C.-Y.; Chen, D.; Lundin, L.-C.

    2010-08-01

    An accurate description of temporal and spatial precipitation variability in Central America is important for local farming, water supply and flood management. Data quality problems and lack of consistent precipitation data impede hydrometeorological analysis in the 7,500 km2 Choluteca River basin in central Honduras, encompassing the capital Tegucigalpa. We used precipitation data from 60 daily and 13 monthly stations in 1913-2006 from five local authorities and NOAA's Global Historical Climatology Network. Quality control routines were developed to tackle the specific data quality problems. The quality-controlled data were characterised spatially and temporally, and compared with regional and larger-scale studies. Two gap-filling methods for daily data and three interpolation methods for monthly and mean annual precipitation were compared. The coefficient-of-correlation-weighting method provided the best results for gap-filling and the universal kriging method for spatial interpolation. In-homogeneity in the time series was the main quality problem, and 22% of the daily precipitation data were too poor to be used. Spatial autocorrelation for monthly precipitation was low during the dry season, and correlation increased markedly when data were temporally aggregated from a daily time scale to 4-5 days. The analysis manifested the high spatial and temporal variability caused by the diverse precipitation-generating mechanisms and the need for an improved monitoring network.

  8. Effect of iron II on hydroxyapatite dissolution and precipitation in vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delbem, A C B; Alves, K M R P; Sassaki, K T; Moraes, J C S

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of iron II on the dissolution and precipitation of synthetic hydroxyapatite (HA). HA powder was suspended in solutions of iron (0.84 µg/ml, Fe0.84; 18.0 µg/ml, Fe18; 70.0 µg/ml, Fe70), fluoride (1,100 µg/ml, F1,100), and deionized water and submitted to pH cycling. After pH cycling, the samples were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The concentrations of fluoride, calcium, phosphorus, and iron were also analyzed. The data were submitted to ANOVA, and analyzed by Tukey's test (p iron. The intensity of the phosphate bands increased and that of the hydroxyl bands decreased in the group F1,100. It was observed that there was a higher concentration of Ca in the group F1,100, with no significant difference between the groups Fe18 and Fe70 (p > 0.05). There was an increase in Fe concentration in the HA directly related to the Fe concentration of the treatment solutions. Results show that the presence of Fe causes the precipitation of apatite with high solubility. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  9. Neutron irradiation effects on intermetallic precipitates in Zircaloy as a function of fluence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Etoh, Y.; Shimada, S.

    1993-01-01

    Intermetallic precipitates in Zircaloy-2 and -4, recrystallized at the α-phase temperature, have been examined using analytical electron microscopy. The specimens were irradiated in BWRs up to a fast neutron fluence of 1.4x10 26 n/m 2 (E>1 MeV). Neutron irradiation induces a crystalline-to-amorphous transition, depleting Fe in the amorphous phase of Zr(Fe, Cr) 2 precipitates in the alloys. Amorphization starts from the periphery of the precipitates and all of them are totally amorphized at higher fluences than 1.2x10 26 n/m 2 . The width of the Fe-depleted zone increases in proportion to the 0.45 power of fluence. This result indicates that diffusion of Fe is the rate-controlling process for Fe depletion in Zr(Fe, Cr) 2 precipitates. Dissolution of Zr 2 (Fe, Ni) precipitates in Zircaloy-2 occurs during neutron irradiation. At a high fluence, such as 1.2x10 26 n/m 2 , Zr 2 (Fe, Ni) precipitates are almost completely dissolved into the matrix and the dissolution rate of Fe is faster than that of Ni. (orig.)

  10. Precipitation isoscapes for New Zealand: enhanced temporal detail using precipitation-weighted daily climatology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baisden, W Troy; Keller, Elizabeth D; Van Hale, Robert; Frew, Russell D; Wassenaar, Leonard I

    2016-01-01

    Predictive understanding of precipitation δ(2)H and δ(18)O in New Zealand faces unique challenges, including high spatial variability in precipitation amounts, alternation between subtropical and sub-Antarctic precipitation sources, and a compressed latitudinal range of 34 to 47 °S. To map the precipitation isotope ratios across New Zealand, three years of integrated monthly precipitation samples were acquired from >50 stations. Conventional mean-annual precipitation δ(2)H and δ(18)O maps were produced by regressions using geographic and annual climate variables. Incomplete data and short-term variation in climate and precipitation sources limited the utility of this approach. We overcome these difficulties by calculating precipitation-weighted monthly climate parameters using national 5-km-gridded daily climate data. This data plus geographic variables were regressed to predict δ(2)H, δ(18)O, and d-excess at all sites. The procedure yields statistically-valid predictions of the isotope composition of precipitation (long-term average root mean square error (RMSE) for δ(18)O = 0.6 ‰; δ(2)H = 5.5 ‰); and monthly RMSE δ(18)O = 1.9 ‰, δ(2)H = 16 ‰. This approach has substantial benefits for studies that require the isotope composition of precipitation during specific time intervals, and may be further improved by comparison to daily and event-based precipitation samples as well as the use of back-trajectory calculations.

  11. The precipitation in annealing and its effect on permittivity of Fe–Si–Al powders

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Gang; Cui, Yin; Zhang, Nan; Wang, Xin; Xie, Jian Liang

    2016-01-01

    SEM images show that some precipitates distributed on the surface of as-annealed Fe–Si–Al powders. Subsequent experimental results indicate that both morphology and microstructure of as-annealed Fe–Si–Al powders change with increasing annealing temperature. Meanwhile, dielectric properties analysis suggesting that both real part ε′ and imaginary part ε″ of the Fe–Si–Al powders decrease significantly after annealed at 450 °C or higher temperature. We assume that it’s the precipitates with low electrical conductivity developed on the surface of powders that increase the surface resistivity of as-annealed powders and leading to a lower imagine part of permittivity. The drop of real part ε′ ascribed to the weakened interfacial polarization which resulted from the decrease of structural defects such as grain boundaries and interfaces during annealing process. - Highlights: • As-milled Fe–Si–Al powders were annealed at various temperature. • The change of morphology and microstructure of as-annealed Fe–Si–Al was examined. • Complex permittivity decrease significantly after annealed over 400 °C and permeability increase as annealing temperature rises. • The precipitation process in annealing and its effect on permittivity were analyzed.

  12. Cerium oxalate precipitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, T.P.

    1987-02-01

    Cerium, a nonradioactive, common stand-in for plutonium in development work, has been used to simulate several plutonium precipitation processes at the Savannah River Laboratory. There are similarities between the plutonium trifluoride and the cerium oxalate precipitations in particle size and extent of plating, but not particle morphology. The equilibrium solubility, precipitation kinetics, particle size, extent of plating, and dissolution characteristics of cerium oxalate have been investigated. Interpretations of particle size and plating based on precipitation kinetics (i.e., nucleation and crystal growth) are presented. 16 refs., 7 figs., 6 tabs

  13. Synthesis of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cathode material by chloride co-precipitation method

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    李灵均; 李新海; 王志兴; 伍凌; 郑俊超; 李金辉

    2010-01-01

    LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 was prepared by a chloride co-precipitation method and characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffractometry with Rietveld refinement,electron scanning microscopy and electrochemical measurements.Effects of lithium ion content and sintering temperature on physical and electrochemical performance of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 were also investigated. The results show that the sample synthesized at 750℃with 105%lithium content has fine particle sizes around 200 nm and homogenous sizes distribution.The initial discharge capacity for the powder is 184 mA·h/g between 2.7 and 4.3 V at 0.1C and room temperature.

  14. Environmental Radioactivity, Temperature, and Precipitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riland, Carson A.

    1996-01-01

    Reports that environmental radioactivity levels vary with temperature and precipitation and these effects are due to radon. Discusses the measurement of this environmental radioactivity and the theory behind it. (JRH)

  15. Global auroral conductance distribution due to electron and proton precipitation from IMAGE-FUV observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Coumans

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available The Far Ultraviolet (FUV imaging system on board the IMAGE satellite provides a global view of the north auroral region in three spectral channels, including the SI12 camera sensitive to Doppler shifted Lyman-α emission. FUV images are used to produce instantaneous maps of electron mean energy and energy fluxes for precipitated protons and electrons. We describe a method to calculate ionospheric Hall and Pedersen conductivities induced by auroral proton and electron ionization based on a model of interaction of auroral particles with the atmosphere. Different assumptions on the energy spectral distribution for electrons and protons are compared. Global maps of ionospheric conductances due to instantaneous observation of precipitating protons are calculated. The contribution of auroral protons in the total conductance induced by both types of auroral particles is also evaluated and the importance of proton precipitation is evaluated. This method is well adapted to analyze the time evolution of ionospheric conductances due to precipitating particles over the auroral region or in particular sectors. Results are illustrated with conductance maps of the north polar region obtained during four periods with different activity levels. It is found that the proton contribution to conductance is relatively higher during quiet periods than during substorms. The proton contribution is higher in the period before the onset and strongly decreases during the expansion phase of substorms. During a substorm which occurred on 28 April 2001, a region of strong proton precipitation is observed with SI12 around 14:00MLT at ~75° MLAT. Calculation of conductances in this sector shows that neglecting the protons contribution would produce a large error. We discuss possible effects of the proton precipitation on electron precipitation in auroral arcs. The increase in the ionospheric conductivity, induced by a former proton precipitation can reduce the potential drop

  16. Global auroral conductance distribution due to electron and proton precipitation from IMAGE-FUV observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Coumans

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available The Far Ultraviolet (FUV imaging system on board the IMAGE satellite provides a global view of the north auroral region in three spectral channels, including the SI12 camera sensitive to Doppler shifted Lyman-α emission. FUV images are used to produce instantaneous maps of electron mean energy and energy fluxes for precipitated protons and electrons. We describe a method to calculate ionospheric Hall and Pedersen conductivities induced by auroral proton and electron ionization based on a model of interaction of auroral particles with the atmosphere. Different assumptions on the energy spectral distribution for electrons and protons are compared. Global maps of ionospheric conductances due to instantaneous observation of precipitating protons are calculated. The contribution of auroral protons in the total conductance induced by both types of auroral particles is also evaluated and the importance of proton precipitation is evaluated. This method is well adapted to analyze the time evolution of ionospheric conductances due to precipitating particles over the auroral region or in particular sectors. Results are illustrated with conductance maps of the north polar region obtained during four periods with different activity levels. It is found that the proton contribution to conductance is relatively higher during quiet periods than during substorms. The proton contribution is higher in the period before the onset and strongly decreases during the expansion phase of substorms. During a substorm which occurred on 28 April 2001, a region of strong proton precipitation is observed with SI12 around 14:00MLT at ~75° MLAT. Calculation of conductances in this sector shows that neglecting the protons contribution would produce a large error. We discuss possible effects of the proton precipitation on electron precipitation in auroral arcs. The increase in the ionospheric conductivity, induced by a former proton precipitation can reduce the potential drop

  17. Development of a Video-Microscopic Tool To Evaluate the Precipitation Kinetics of Poorly Water Soluble Drugs: A Case Study with Tadalafil and HPMC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christfort, Juliane Fjelrad; Plum, Jakob; Madsen, Cecilie Maria; Nielsen, Line Hagner; Sandau, Martin; Andersen, Klaus; Müllertz, Anette; Rades, Thomas

    2017-12-04

    Many drug candidates today have a low aqueous solubility and, hence, may show a low oral bioavailability, presenting a major formulation and drug delivery challenge. One way to increase the bioavailability of these drugs is to use a supersaturating drug delivery strategy. The aim of this study was to develop a video-microscopic method, to evaluate the effect of a precipitation inhibitor on supersaturated solutions of the poorly soluble drug tadalafil, using a novel video-microscopic small scale setup. Based on preliminary studies, a degree of supersaturation of 29 was chosen for the supersaturation studies with tadalafil in FaSSIF. Different amounts of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) were predissolved in FaSSIF to give four different concentrations, and the supersaturated system was then created using a solvent shift method. Precipitation of tadalafil from the supersaturated solutions was monitored by video-microscopy as a function of time. Single-particle analysis was possible using commercially available software; however, to investigate the entire population of precipitating particles (i.e., their number and area covered in the field of view), an image analysis algorithm was developed (multiparticle analysis). The induction time for precipitation of tadalafil in FaSSIF was significantly prolonged by adding 0.01% (w/v) HPMC to FaSSIF, and the maximum inhibition was reached at 0.1% (w/v) HPMC, after which additional HPMC did not further increase the induction time. The single-particle and multiparticle analyses yielded the same ranking of the HPMC concentrations, regarding the inhibitory effect on precipitation. The developed small scale method to assess the effect of precipitation inhibitors can speed up the process of choosing the right precipitation inhibitor and the concentration to be used.

  18. Precipitated iron. A limit on gettering efficacy in multicrystalline silicon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fenning, D.P.; Hofstetter, J.; Bertoni, M.I.; Buonassisi, T. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States); Coletti, G. [ECN Solar Energy, Westerduinweg 3, NL-1755 LE Petten (Netherlands); Lai, B. [Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Del Canizo, C. [Instituto de Energia Solar, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid (Spain)

    2013-01-31

    A phosphorus diffusion gettering model is used to examine the efficacy of a standard gettering process on interstitial and precipitated iron in multicrystalline silicon. The model predicts a large concentration of precipitated iron remaining after standard gettering for most as-grown iron distributions. Although changes in the precipitated iron distribution are predicted to be small, the simulated post-processing interstitial iron concentration is predicted to depend strongly on the as-grown distribution of precipitates, indicating that precipitates must be considered as internal sources of contamination during processing. To inform and validate the model, the iron distributions before and after a standard phosphorus diffusion step are studied in samples from the bottom, middle, and top of an intentionally Fe-contaminated laboratory ingot. A census of iron-silicide precipitates taken by synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy confirms the presence of a high density of iron-silicide precipitates both before and after phosphorus diffusion. A comparable precipitated iron distribution was measured in a sister wafer after hydrogenation during a firing step. The similar distributions of precipitated iron seen after each step in the solar cell process confirm that the effect of standard gettering on precipitated iron is strongly limited as predicted by simulation. Good agreement between the experimental and simulated data supports the hypothesis that gettering kinetics is governed by not only the total iron concentration but also by the distribution of precipitated iron. Finally, future directions based on the modeling are suggested for the improvement of effective minority carrier lifetime in multicrystalline silicon solar cells.

  19. Analysis of precipitation teleconnections in CMIP models as a measure of model fidelity in simulating precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langenbrunner, B.; Neelin, J.; Meyerson, J.

    2011-12-01

    The accurate representation of precipitation is a recurring issue in global climate models, especially in the tropics. Poor skill in modeling the variability and climate teleconnections associated with El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) also persisted in the latest Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) campaigns. Observed ENSO precipitation teleconnections provide a standard by which we can judge a given model's ability to reproduce precipitation and dynamic feedback processes originating in the tropical Pacific. Using CMIP3 Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) runs as a baseline, we compare precipitation teleconnections between models and observations, and we evaluate these results against available CMIP5 historical and AMIP runs. Using AMIP simulations restricts evaluation to the atmospheric response, as sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in AMIP are prescribed by observations. We use a rank correlation between ENSO SST indices and precipitation to define teleconnections, since this method is robust to outliers and appropriate for non-Gaussian data. Spatial correlations of the modeled and observed teleconnections are then evaluated. We look at these correlations in regions of strong precipitation teleconnections, including equatorial S. America, the "horseshoe" region in the western tropical Pacific, and southern N. America. For each region and season, we create a "normalized projection" of a given model's teleconnection pattern onto that of the observations, a metric that assesses the quality of regional pattern simulations while rewarding signals of correct sign over the region. Comparing this to an area-averaged (i.e., more generous) metric suggests models do better when restrictions on exact spatial dependence are loosened and conservation constraints apply. Model fidelity in regional measures remains far from perfect, suggesting intrinsic issues with the models' regional sensitivities in moist processes.

  20. Phase pure synthesis of BiFeO3 nanopowders using diverse precursor via co-precipitation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shami, M. Yasin; Awan, M.S.; Anis-ur-Rehman, M.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Synthesized phase pure BiFeO 3 using diverse precursor by co-precipitation method. → Optimized synthesis and processing parameters. → Thermal behavior, structure and microstructure were analyzed. → Resistivity vs temperature and dielectric constant vs frequency were measured. → Multiferroicity at room temperature was confirmed by M-H and P-E loops. - Abstract: Amorphous powder of BiFeO 3 (BFO) was synthesized at low-temperature (80 deg. C) by co-precipitation method. Optimal synthesis conditions for phase pure BFO were obtained. Powders were calcined in the temperature range from 400 to 600 deg. C for 1 h. Iso-statically pressed powder was sintered at 500 deg. C for 2 h. Differential scanning calorimetric thermo-gram guided for phase transition, crystallization and melting temperatures. X-ray diffraction confirmed the amorphous nature of as synthesized powder and phase formation of calcined powders. Calcination at temperature ≥400 deg. C resulted in nano crystalline powders with perovskite structure. Average crystallite size increased with the increase in calcination temperature. Scanning electron microscopic studies revealed dense granular microstructure of the sintered samples. The sintered samples exhibited high dc resistivity at room temperature which decreased with the increase in temperature. Dielectric constant, dielectric loss tangent and ac conductivity measurements were carried out in the frequency range (10 Hz to 2 MHz). The samples responded weak electric and magnetic polarization at room temperature with unsaturated and hysteresis free loops, respectively.