This study reports a preparation method of a new moisture swing sorbent for CO₂ capture from air. The new sorbent components include ion exchange resin (IER) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as a binder. The IER can absorb CO₂ when surrounding is dry and release CO₂ when surrounding is wet. The manuscript presents the studies of membrane structure, kinetic model of absorption process, performance of desorption process and the diffusivity of water molecules in the CO₂ absorbent. It has been proved that the kinetic performance of CO₂ absorption/desorption can be improved by using thin binder and hot water treatment. The fast kinetics of P-100-90C absorbent is due to the thin PVC binder, and high diffusion rate of H[subscript 2]O molecules in the sample. The impressive is this new CO₂ absorbent has the fastest CO₂ absorption rate among all absorbents which have been reported by other up-to-date literatures.

The objective of this study was to find out the impact of environmental conditions on the survival of intestinal parasites on environmental surfaces commonly implicated in the transmission of these parasites. The study was performed by incubating Cryptosporidium and Giardia (oo)cysts on environmentally relevant surfaces such as brushed stainless steel, formica, ceramic, fabric, and skin. Parallel experiments were conducted using clean and soiled coupons incubated under three temperatures. The die-off coefficient rates (K) were calculated using first-order exponential formula. For both parasites, the fastest die-off was recorded on fabric, followed by ceramic, formica, skin, and steel. Die-off rates were directly correlated to the incubation temperatures and surface porosity. The presence of organic matter enhanced the survivability of the resting stages of test parasites. The decay rates calculated in this study can be used in models for public health decision-making process and highlights the mitigation role of hand hygiene agents in their prevention and control.

Ferromagnetic Heusler Co₂FeAl_0.5Si_0.5 epitaxial thin-films have been fabricated in the L2₁ structure with saturation magnetizations over 1200 emu/cm³. Andreev reflection measurements show that the spin polarization is as high as 80% in samples sputtered on unheated MgO (100) substrates and annealed at high temperatures. However, the spin polarization is considerably smaller in samples deposited on heated substrates.

Throughout history, various civilizations developed methodologies for the collection and disposal of human waste. The methodologies throughout the centuries have been characterized by technological peaks on the one hand, and by the disappearance of the technologies and their reappearance on the other. The purpose of this article is to trace the development of sewage collection and transport with an emphasis on toilets in ancient civilizations. Evolution of the major achievements in the scientific fields of sanitation with emphasis on the lavatory (or toilets) technologies through the centuries up to the present are presented. Valuable insights into ancient wastewater technologies and management with their apparent characteristics of durability, adaptability to the environment, and sustainability are provided. Gradual steps improved the engineering results until the establishment of the contemporary toilet system, which provides a combined solution for flushing, odor control, and the sanitation of sewerage. Even though the lack of proper toilet facilities for a great percentage of the present day global population is an embarrassing fact, the worldwide efforts through millennia for the acquisition of a well-engineered toilet were connected to the cultural level of each period.

Urban land–atmosphere interactions can be captured by numerical modeling framework with coupled land surface and atmospheric processes, while the model performance depends largely on accurate input parameters. In this study, we use an advanced stochastic approach to quantify parameter uncertainty and model sensitivity of a coupled numerical framework for urban land–atmosphere interactions. It is found that the development of urban boundary layer is highly sensitive to surface characteristics of built terrains. Changes of both urban land use and geometry impose significant impact on the overlying urban boundary layer dynamics through modification on bottom boundary conditions, i.e., by altering surface energy partitioning and surface aerodynamic resistance, respectively. Hydrothermal properties of conventional and green roofs have different impacts on atmospheric dynamics due to different surface energy partitioning mechanisms. Urban geometry (represented by the canyon aspect ratio), however, has a significant nonlinear impact on boundary layer structure and temperature. Besides, managing rooftop roughness provides an alternative option to change the boundary layer thermal state through modification of the vertical turbulent transport. The sensitivity analysis deepens our insight into the fundamental physics of urban land–atmosphere interactions and provides useful guidance for urban planning under challenges of changing climate and continuous global urbanization.

Physical fitness has been long associated with maintenance and improvement of motor performance as we age. In particular, measures of psychomotor speed and motor dexterity tend to be higher in physically fit aging adults as compared to their sedentary counterparts. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we explored the patterns of neural activity that may, in part, account for differences between individuals of varying physical fitness levels. In this study, we enrolled both sedentary and physically fit middle age (40–60) and younger (18–30) adults and measured upper extremity motor performance during behavioral testing. In a follow-up session, we employed TMS and fMRI to assess levels of interhemispheric communication during unimanual tasks. Results show that increased physical fitness is associated with better upper extremity motor performance on distal dexterity assessments and increased levels of interhemispheric inhibition in middle age adults. Further, the functional correlates of changes of ipsilateral activity appears to be restricted to the aging process as younger adults of varying fitness levels do not differ in hemispheric patterns of activity or motor performance. We conclude that sedentary aging confers a loss of interhemispheric inhibition that is deleterious to some aspects of motor function, as early as midlife, but these changes can be mediated by chronic engagement in aerobic exercise.

Enhancement algorithms are typically applied to video content to increase their appeal to viewers. Such algorithms are readily available in the literature and are already widely applied in, for example, commercially available TVs. On the contrary, not much research has been done on enhancing stereoscopic 3D video content. In this paper, we present research focused on the effect of applying enhancement algorithms used for 2D content on 3D side-by-side content. We evaluate both offline enhancement of video content based on proprietary enhancement algorithms and real-time enhancement in the TVs. This is done using stereoscopic TVs with active shutter glasses, viewed both in their 2D and 3D viewing mode. The results of this research show that 2D enhancement algorithms are a viable first approach to enhance 3D content. In addition to video quality degradation due to the loss of spatial resolution as a consequence of the 3D video format, brightness reduction inherent to polarized or shutter glasses similarly degrades video quality. We illustrate the benefit of providing brightness enhancement for stereoscopic displays.

A number of emerging dynamic traffic analysis applications, such as regional or statewide traffic assignment, require a theoretically rigorous and computationally efficient model to describe the propagation and dissipation of system congestion with bottleneck capacity constraints. An open-source light-weight dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) package, namely DTALite, has been developed to allow a rapid utilization of advanced dynamic traffic analysis capabilities. This paper describes its three major modeling components: (1) a light-weight dynamic network loading simulator that embeds Newell’s simplified kinematic wave model; (2) a mesoscopic agent-based DTA procedure to incorporate driver’s heterogeneity; and (3) an integrated traffic assignment and origin–destination demand calibration system that can iteratively adjust path flow volume and distribution to match the observed traffic counts. A number of real-world test cases are described to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed models under different network and data availability conditions.