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The effect of various pretreatments for efficient hydrolysis of waste office paper and newspaper into fermentable sugars and subsequent production of bioethanol through fermentation was investigated. Pretreatment with H2O2 (0.5% v/v) at 121 °C for 30 min was considered as the most effective method for this kind of soft biomass like waste paper due to the considerable increase in available cellulose and sugar yield in addition to efficient delignification. Under optimized conditions, enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated office paper and newspaper resulted the sugar yield of 24.5 and 13.26 g/L with hydrolysis efficiency of 91.8 and 79.6%, respectively. Further, ethanol production using the hydrolysate by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was about 11.15 and 6.65 g/L with the productivity of 0.32 and 0.28 (g ethanol/L/h), respectively. The improved yields achieved through the pretreatment and subsequent ethanol production suggested that the waste paper could be a potential feedstock for the production of bioethanol.

The present study investigates the effect on methane production from waste paper when co-digested with macroalgal biomass. Both feedstocks were previously mechanically pretreated to reduce their particle size. The study was planned according two factors: the feedstock to inoculum (F/I) ratio and the waste paper to macroalgae (WP/MA) ratio. The F/I ratios checked were 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 and the WP/MA ratios were 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 and 100:0. The highest methane yield (386 L kg−1 VSadded) was achieved at an F/I ratio of 0.2 and a WP/MA ratio of 50:50. A biodegradability index of 0.87 obtained in this study indicates complete conversion of feedstock at an optimum C/N ratio of 26. Synergistic effect was found for WP/MA 25:75, 50:50 and 75:25 mixing ratios compared with the substrates mono-digestion.

Proportional–Integral–Derivative controller technique continues to provide the easiest and effective solutions to most of the industrial applications in recent years. However PID controller is poorly tuned in practice compared to most other tuning methods and is complicated with poor performance. This research presents a multi objective optimization approach involving Genetic Algorithm, Evolutionary Programming, Particle Swarm Optimization and Bacterial foraging optimization. The proposed multi objective optimization algorithm is used to tune the PID controller parameters and their performances have been compared with the conventional methodologies like Ziegler Nichols method. The results proved that the use of multi objective optimization approach based controller tuning improves the performance of process in terms of time domain specifications and performance index, set point tracking and regulatory changes and also provides stability. This paper describes the various multi objective optimization algorithms and its implementation to tune the PID Controller used in paper machine DCS as real time processing of a Pulp and paper industry processes.

The Swedish pulp and paper industry (PPI) must increase energy efficiency to remain competitive on the global market, which has experienced entries from countries with cheaper energy and raw material supplies. Interactions among variables for energy use, production, energy management, electricity price and firm characteristics (FC), in different types of mills, i.e., pulp, paper and integrated mills, in Sweden from 2006 to 2015 indicate that correlations among the studied variables were different in different types of mills. This difference between types of mills seemed to originate partly from varying accessibility to production residue that could be used for energy. For all types of mills, variation of electricity prices did not correlate significantly with energy efficiency during the study period. The studied FC were firm's age, number of employees, number of companies in company group, net sales and profit for the year. Energy efficiency was more affected by the variables characterizing energy and production compared to the variables representing FC. This study also suggested presence of possible discrepancies between FC that were perceived as barriers to energy management towards energy efficiency, according to previous studies, and what was shown by the data combining variables representing energy use, production and FC.

Breakdown (BD) and partial discharge (PD) characteristics of insulating paper and transformer board materials are investigated as cost-effective alternatives to high-price materials like polyimide (PI) or polytetrafluoroethylene and fiber reinforced plastic materials typically used in superconducting devices based on high temperature superconductors cooled with liquid nitrogen (LN 2 ). Three different cotton and cellulose based insulating papers are tested in LN 2 at atmospheric pressure and compared to synthetic sheet materials and polypropylene laminated paper (PPLP). Additionally, the BD performance and PD characteristics of three different transformer board materials are investigated in LN 2 . The results reveal that the paper and board materials have nearly the same or even slightly higher BD voltages in LN 2 in comparison to the values in insulating oil. The pure paper materials with thicknesses of 130 μm have a dielectric strength of 70-90 kV/mm, whereas values of 130-140 kV/mm are measured for PPLP and PI with nearly the same thickness. The dielectric strength of the board materials has a maximum value of 76 kV/mm. In the frame of the investigations, the BD performance of the pure paper materials in LN 2 is not influenced by the water content of the materials, dried and undried specimens have nearly the same BD voltage. Only the PPLP material has a 15% higher BD voltage in the dried state in comparison to the undried state.

The increasing pressure on natural resources and the climate has been noted by businesses and governments worldwide, who now face the difficult task of integrating paths of environmental sustainability and economic growth. One promising approach to sustainable development, reducing the pressure on natural resources and solving waste problems is circular economy. From different ways of implementing circular economy, this study focuses on the productization of industrial side streams, which carry a great deal of underutilized potential. In this article, the productization of pulp and paper industry side stream, fiber sludge, for commercial use as a dust-binding agent is studied via a descriptive, in-depth case study. Apart from inconsistent quality, fluctuating supply, cost of storage and logistics, what makes industrial side stream utilization challenging is the lack of knowledge that stakeholders have about side streams and their utilization and the lack of new value chain development for their commercial use. Therefore, it is essential for all parties involved to have a clearer vision of what is being sold for what purposes, through productization. This study found that the productization of side streams follows the same steps as the productization of any other traditional product, and the productized side streams can be added to the company&rsquo, s product portfolio as by-products.

In power transformers in which is dominated the oil-paper insulation system, it is the effort to use innovative insulating materials to achieve greater quality, reliability and longer service life of the transformer. In this paper, we present the results of research into the insulating properties of an oil-paper insulation system in a DC and AC electric field. In the experiments MOL TO 40A transformer oil and two types of paper used in transformers, KREMPEL DPP and insulating paper used in BEZ transformers, were used. The results from the experiments show that KREMPEL insulating paper has a higher electrical strength and the electrical strength of both oil-impregnated insulating papers is greater when applying DC voltage.

The assessment of the aging condition is becoming increasingly important for operators of high voltage assets. Power transformers are especially one of the most important units in the electrical power grid. Due to the fact that oil-paper insulation is still the most economical form of insulation, and is therefore found in the majority of transformers, the condition assessment of the paper insulation is decisive for estimating the remaining service life. Since the determination of the condition via furans is associated with certain fluctuations, several other aging parameters are investigated. Therefore, this study intends to determine how those aging markers of the insulating liquid behave in the absence of insulating paper and how the values change with insulating paper; thus, from the difference between important parameters, indicating the paper aging might be possible. For the investigation, a non-inhibited and an inhibited insulating oil as well as a further inhibited oil with a different composition, are tested as the most common insulating liquids. For this purpose, an open system is reproduced, which has permanent contact with the environment air. Accordingly, the study is carried out for long-term thermal stress to obtain samples with a wide spectrum of aging status. The entire study extended over a period of 14–15 weeks at a temperature of 130 °C with performing the measurements of the parameters at various aging times. The study reveals that the results can be used for an improved condition assessment of transformers.

This paper presents a novel, low cost flexible paper substrate suitable for biosensing applications. A microstrip patch antenna consisting of copper tape foil and a cellulose filter paper as a substrate with thickness of 180 μm is fabricated and tested. The substrate has measured dielectric constant (e r ) of 1.9 and losses (tan δ ) of 0.025. For 3.8 GHz resonance, the antenna has size of 29.5 mm x 38 mm on a ground plane of 50 mm x 60 mm. Measurements of the final design are in excellent agreement with simulations. Moreover, measurements of the patch antenna on the proposed substrate (cellulose filter paper) collected at different bending radii and folding angles demonstrate performance consistency.

The article presents the results of comparative investigations of partial discharges in two insulation systems, aramid-enhanced cellulose paper-mineral oil, and pure cellulose paper-mineral oil. Partial discharges were investigated in a diagonal electric field with vertical and horizontal components. This field is treated as the most dangerous for insulation. The research was carried out on Nomex&reg, 910 paper and cellulose paper samples, each paper being 0.25 mm thick. Samples of the two materials were tested at four levels of moisture. The inception voltage of partial discharges of all samples tested decreased as their moisture content increases. It was also proved that Nomex&reg, 910 has a significantly higher partial discharge inception voltage than the cellulose paper, although this difference decreased with increasing moisture content.

The security of critical infrastructures is of paramount importance nowadays due to the growing complexity of components and applications. This paper collects the contributions to the industry dissemination session within the 14th International Conference on Critical Information Infrastructures Security (CRITIS 2019). As such, it provides an overview of recent practical experience reports in the field of critical infrastructure protection (CIP), involving major industry players. The set of cases reported in this paper includes the usage of serious gaming for training infrastructure operators, integrated safety and security management in the chemical/process industry, risks related to the cyber-economy for energy suppliers, smart troubleshooting in the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as intrusion detection in power distribution Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA). The session has been organized to stimulate an open scientific discussion about industry challenges, open issues and future opportunities in CIP research.

Electryo is a paper-based voting protocol that implements the Selene mechanism for individual verifiability. This short paper aims to provide the first formal model of Electryo, with security proofs for vote-privacy and individual verifiability. In general, voting protocols are complex constructs, involving advanced cryptographic primitives and strong security guarantees, posing a serious challenge when wanting to analyse and prove security with formal verification tools. Here we choose to use the \({{\,\mathrm{\textsc {Tamarin}}\,}}\) prover since it is one of the more advanced tools and is able to handle many of the primitives we encounter in the design and analysis of voting protocols.

One of the most common methods used to reinforce damaged paper is to apply a lining, using Japanese paper (JP). The reinforcing material must consolidate the paper without modifying its visual appearance. The unique properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) suggest that it could be efficiently used to reinforce degraded paper documents. The changes in the visual appearances of the printed commercial papers lined with BC and JP were examined in this study. Four commercial papers, coated and uncoated, were printed with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black offset inks. The printed samples were lined with BC and JP sheets. Print density, gloss, and CIELab coordinates were tested in the lined and unlined samples before and after aging. Lining with JP notably affected the print density and CIELab coordinates. The lining with BC resulted in lower decrements in color intensity. The gloss values of samples lined with BC differed widely amongst the papers, whereas in papers reinforced with JP these values never exceeded 6%. Subjecting the samples to an aging process did not markedly modify the results except for the BC-lined samples, in which color differences increased.

One of the benefits of Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is improved traffic safety and efficiency, for example due to the capability to share vehicular messages in real-time. While most of the vehicular messages only need to be shared by nearby vehicles, some messages (e.g., announcement messages) may need to be more broadly distributed, for example to vehicles in a wider region. Finding a single trusted entity to store and distribute such messages can be challenging, and vehicles may not be inclined to participate (e.g., generation and distribution of announcement messages) unless they can benefit from such participation. In addition, achieving both security and privacy can be challenging. In this paper, we propose a blockchain based secure data sharing system to address the above challenges in an IoV setting. Specifically, in our system, announcement messages are stored using blockchain. To encourage/incentivize participation, vehicles that faithfully broadcast the announcement messages and/or contribute to the block generation will be rewarded by some cryptocurrency. Our system is also designed to be privacy-preserving and realizes both priori and posteriori countermeasures.

Energy recovery from small and medium scale waste thermal treatment facilities in the municipalities of Japan is challenging, owing to low power generation efficiency and high economic demands. Gas Engine (GE) generation is considered an efficient resource utilization method in these facilities. In this study, new and consistent feedstock, Refuse Paper and Plastic Fuel (RPF), and wood pellets were tested in an air-blown Fluidized Bed Gasifier (FBG) for syngas utilization in a GE. With temperatures ranging from 700 to 940 °C and varying Equivalence Ratios (ER) of 0.3–0.5, some of the most important product gas characteristics were analyzed, including the Lower Heating Value (LHV) and tar concentration levels. Gas composition results revealed that the concentration tendencies varied for the product gases CO, H2, and hydrocarbons, depending on the feedstock type, whereas the same tendencies were observed for CH4 and tar concentrations. Through the ER range, the LHV of product gas for RPF and wood pellets was 3.4–5.9 MJ/Nm3. Tar concentrations decreased to 2.5–14.0 g/Nm3-dry as the ER was raised. The optimal ER for LHV performance in GE generation was approximately 0.4 for RPF and wood pellets, and remaining tar concentrations were about 5.0 g/Nm3-dry at the gasifier exit.

Graphene paper (GP) is more feasible to be integrated as a heat spreader than monolayer graphene due to its controllable size and moderate reduction in thermal transport properties. In this work, we fabricated and characterized GP to understand its thermal transport properties based on thermal bridge method combined with transient electro-thermal technique. The thermal conductivity of GP exhibits a highly temperature dependent property from 637 W/mK at room temperature to 757 W/mK at 80 °C, which is contrary to the trend of monolayer graphene. The increasing thermal property can be partially ascribed to the morphological and inner-structural change of the composite at elevated temperatures. Surface roughness is found to be reduced by 30% from atomic force microscope imaging. This feature is beneficial for many industrial applications such as the cooling film in smartphones. The implementation of GP is further verified in a smartphone to simulate the heat-dissipation performance. The results show that GP with temperature dependent properties exhibits much better cooling performance than conventional cooling films such as copper film.

Success management can bring valuable contributions to improve project results and stakeholders’ relationships. However, the success management process must be explicitly integrated into project management approaches, guides and methodologies (such as PMBOK, PRINCE2 or PM2), which is not currently happening. The purpose of this position paper is to discuss the need and importance for this integration and to present a first proposal on how this can be operationalized. To support the position, the methodology of the European Union PM2 was used. The result of the integration demonstrates that it is possible to advance management and raise the level of project success.

The ash condensation ability of the cigarette paper is an important factor affecting the cigarette grades. In this study, we put forward an effective method of improving this ability. Xanthan gum was successfully synthesized, applied as an ash integrator in the dip-coating process of cigarette paper production, and showed good performance. Cationic guar gum, cellulose phosphate and Hydroxyapatite (HAP) have been added in the pulp and showed better performance of the ash condensation property. The ash become much whiter and the scatter of the ash have been suppressed. Moreover, the further addition of HAP would result in a worse combustion efficiency, leading to the burning out of the cigarette in early time.

Purpose This study aims to provide control of liquids, especially against water-based ink on the paper and paperboard surface with natural substances, in also practical and greenway. Design/methodology/approach The paper surface was treated with natural rosin and its derivatives to obtain a hydrophobic effect and to improve printing properties. The oleoresin samples collected from Pinus nigra Arnold and Pinus pinaster Aiton trees in the controlled area and turpentine content removed was by hydrodistillation. The gum rosin (GR), fortified 10% with maleic anhydride (MGR) and esterified with 10% pentaerythritol (PMGR) samples solved in a simply alcohol and sprayed the base paper surface directly with a spray gun. Base paper samples were paperboard, bleached paper and test liner paper. Then, flexo printing was applied and printability properties were measured. Findings The treatment weights of these paper samples were 1.8 ± 0.5, 1.3 ± 0.5 and 0.7 ± 0.2 g/m2, respectively, compared to the base paper. Greater Cobb60 results were obtained from modified rosin samples than unmodified gum rosin-sized paperboards and the PMGR surface treatment reduces Cobb60 values by 20% and MGR treatment reduces 15% comparing to the base sheet. Then, the printing procedure was applied to the surface of the treated materials using a flexo printing system. As a result of the treatment better print density, chroma and print lightness value consumed a less hydrophobic agent and controlling water-based flexo ink on the base paper surface. Originality/value The unique aspect of this work was improving the hydrophobicity of the paper surfaces was achieved by spraying with natural rosin and derivatives.

PurposeThe industry is relying on the preventive maintenance techniques that can minimize failures and provide industrial plants with effective equipment, but in many companies the maintenance tasks are performed very frequently and not as per plan and do not take into consideration the conditions of the plant and equipments. The failure of each and every component needs to be studied in order to choose the best maintenance strategy. This paper presents a fuzzy VIKOR (Multicriteria Optimization and Compromise Solution) technique which is used in developing a comprehensive approach for maintenance strategy selection in the Deinking plant of the paper industry to choose the appropriate maintenance strategy thereby reducing the unnecessary cost incurred on the maintenance.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the Fuzzy VIKOR based methodology was applied for determining the maintenance criticality index of the deinking plant of the paper industry. The effect of failure of components were evaluated by three maintenance experts on five performance criteria that is chance of failure, chance of non-detection, downtime length, severity, spare part criticality. The components were ranked according to the maintenance criticality index and thereby implementing the appropriate maintenance strategy.FindingsThe Fuzzy VIKOR technique was applied to calculate the ranking of various components of paper industry based on the views and judgment of three maintenance experts. The proposed technique suggested the appropriate maintenance strategy for various components taking into consideration the maintenance criticality index of the components.Originality/valueThe proposed technique will help the maintenance managers to solve a discrete problem with non-commensurable and conflicting criteria. The study will help the industries to reduce the unnecessary maintenance tasks and thereby reduce the maintenance cost. This will help the maintenance practitioners in choosing the best and most effective strategy for the organization with regard to the market and company situation especially in the changing business requirement of Industry 4.0.

The use of online learning and subsequent online testing has expanded rapidly in pharmacy programs across the United States. Numerous published studies have compared online learning with traditional methods in pharmacy. However, no such studies have been published in pharmacy. This study's objective is to compare first-professional year student preferences for computer-based vs. traditional paper-and-pencil testing for a required social and administrative pharmacy class.All students enrolled in the class were invited to complete one brief survey at the end of the semester to determine their testing preference.Of the 138 first-professional year students completing the survey, 79% (109 of 138) preferred computer-based testing, 9% had no preference, 6% (8 of 138) preferred paper-and-pencil testing, and the remainder (8 of 138) stated it depended on what was being tested. Ninety-one percent of students did not perceive the testing method to impact their grades. Students preferred computer-based testing over traditional paper-and-pencil as a convenient testing method (mean 4.73 vs. 3.4, P.001), providing immediate feedback (mean 4.87 vs. 1.91, P.001), and as a more effective testing method (mean 4.57 vs. 3.96, P.001).First-professional year students preferred computer-based over traditional paper-and-pencil testing for a social and administrative science class, with the method of testing not perceived to impact grade. This finding is timely, given the recent required transitioning of all pharmacy classes and subsequent testing to an online format due to the coronavirus disease of 2019 pandemic.

The authors of the title paper (Journal of Optics 49:181–186, 2020) claim to have grown a so-called urea potassium dichromate (UPDC) by slow evaporation of an aqueous solution containing equimolar amounts of urea and potassium dichromate and characterized it based on a unit cell study. A critical analysis reveals that the claims in the title paper are erroneous. Hence, we reinvestigated the crystal growth reaction and determined the structure of the product crystal. Based on these studies, we prove that due to no chemical reaction between the reagents fractional crystallization of potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) occurs and not formation of any so-called UPDC crystal. Taking the title crystal as an example we show the importance of reporting single-crystal structure for new compound characterization.

The applicability of using 2-furfural (2-FAL) and methanol as aging markers for synthetic ester impregnated paper insulation was investigated through laboratory aging experiments at temperatures of 80, 100 and 120 °C. Methanol in the synthetic ester increased linearly with paper aging until degree of polymerisation (DP) reached 400. During this period concentration of methanol in oil was higher than that of 2-FAL, which proved the concept of using methanol to indicate early paper aging in the synthetic ester. However, the rate of methanol increase against the reduction of DP in the synthetic ester was about three times higher than that seen in mineral oil. This is due to a difference in the partitioning of the marker between oil and paper. Since the synthetic ester is more polar than the mineral oil, it attracted more methanol molecules from the paper, resulting in a higher concentration of methanol in oil for the same reduction of DP. In addition, a reduction in methanol was observed at the later stage of paper aging at 120 °C. This could be due to either a change in the partitioning between oil and paper, or an esterification reaction which consumes methanol in the system.

Background In Software Engineering (SE), conference publications have high importance both in effective communication and in academic careers. Researchers actively discuss how a paper should be organized to be accepted in mainstream conferences. Aiming This work tackles the problem of generalizing and characterizing the type of papers accepted at SE conferences. Method The paper offers a new perspective in the analysis of SE literature: a categorization scheme for SE papers is obtained by merging, extending and revising related proposals from a few existing studies. The categorization scheme is used to classify the papers accepted at three top-tier SE conferences during five years (2012–2016). Results While a broader experience is certainly needed for validation and fine-tuning, preliminary outcomes can be observed relative to what problems and topics are addressed, what types of contributions are presented and how they are validated. Conclusions The results provide insights to paper writers, paper reviewers and conference organizers in focusing their future efforts, without any intent to provide judgments or authoritative guidelines.

This paper presents the effect of the impact of moisture in paper insulation used as insulation of transformer windings on its thermal conductivity. Various types of paper (cellulose and aramid) and impregnated (mineral oil, synthetic ester, and natural ester) were tested. The impact of paper and impregnated types on the changes in thermal conductivity of paper insulation caused by an increase in moisture were analyzed. A linear equation, describing the changes in thermal conductivity due to moisture, for various types of paper and impregnated, was developed. The results of measuring the thermal conductivity of paper insulation depending on the temperature are presented. The aim of the study is to develop an experimental database to better understand the heat transport inside transformers to assess aging and optimize their performance.

Globally, the recommendation services have become important due to the fact that they support e-commerce applications and different research communities. Recommender systems have a large number of applications in many fields, including economic, education, and scientific research. Different empirical studies have shown that the recommender systems are more effective and reliable than the keyword-based search engines for extracting useful knowledge from massive amounts of data. The problem of recommending similar scientific articles in scientific community is called scientific paper recommendation. Scientific paper recommendation aims to recommend new articles or classical articles that match researchers' interests. It has become an attractive area of study since the number of scholarly papers increases exponentially. In this paper, we first introduce the importance and advantages of the paper recommender systems. Second, we review the recommendation algorithms and methods, such as Content-based, collaborative filtering, graph-based, and hybrid methods. Then, we introduce the evaluation methods of different recommender systems. Finally, we summarize the open issues in the paper recommender systems, including cold start, sparsity, scalability, privacy, serendipity, and unified scholarly data standards. The purpose of this survey is to provide comprehensive reviews on the scholarly paper recommendation. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The degree of polymerization is a useful technique to monitor insulation capabilities of oil impregnated paper. In present work, accelerated thermal ageing experiments have been conducted by taking Kraft and thermal upgraded papers along with two types of dielectric oil (mineral oil and vegetable oil) at different temperatures $(90^{\circ}C, 110^{\circ}C$ and $130^{\circ}C)$. An improved 2nd order kinetic model has been developed based on experimental results which utilized to develop a relationship between temperature and final degree of polymerization. The proposed model can be used to analyze and monitor thermal deterioration of oil paper insulation at any temperature. Moreover, the proposed novel mathematical modelling can be employed to predict premature failure as well as end of life criteria of power transformers.

We present a mixed reality-based assistive system for shading paper sketches. Given a paper sketch made by an artist, our interface helps inexperienced users to shade it appropriately. Initially, using a simple Delaunay-triangulation based inflation algorithm, an approximate depth map is computed. The system then highlights areas (to assist shading) based on a rendering of the 2.5-dimensional inflated model of the input contour. With the help of a mixed reality system, we project the highlighted areas back to aid users. The hints given by the system are used for shading and are smudged appropriately to apply an artistic shading to the sketch. The user is given flexibility at various levels to simulate conditions such as height and light position. Experiments show that the proposed system aids novice users in creating sketches with impressive shading.

Bacterial remediation of heavy metal polluted soil and effluent from paper mill was investigated using standard analytical methods. The paper mill was visited for 6 months at interval of 30 days to collect soil and effluent samples for the analysis. The pH of soil was slightly alkaline while effluent was acidic. There was a significant increase (P < 0.05) in total organic carbon (TOC) of soil; and turbidity, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and TOC of effluent when compared to control. Bacteria isolated from the samples were grouped into two and used to remediate eight heavy metals. The remediation experiment consists of three treatments; Treatment 1 (treated with proteobacteria), Treatment 2 (treated with non-proteobacteria) and Treatment 3 (without bacteria) (control experiment). Result of the remediation study showed that there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in Treatment 1 and Treatment 2 of all the heavy metals in soil and effluent samples from day 30-180 when compared to day 0. The rate of removal of heavy metals in soil was highest in Treatment 1 for chromium (Cr; 0.00846 day-1) and lowest in Treatment 1 for cadmium (Cd; 0.00403 day-1) while the rate of removal in effluent was highest in Treatment 1 for zinc (Zn; 0.01207 day-1) and lowest in Treatment 1 for Cd (0.00391 day-1). It was concluded that bacteria isolated from soil and effluent samples were capable of remediating the concentration of Pb, arsenic (As), Cr, Zn and nickel (Ni) heavy metals.

With this position paper, we want to draw the attention of the community toward theoretical work and practical opportunities that have been overlooked so far regarding concepts, principles, and design knowledge for the user experience of Augmented and Mixed Reality content, I/O devices, interactions, applications, and systems. Despite considerable innovations in commercial products and research prototypes enabling Augmented and Mixed Reality worlds, how to design great user experiences in such worlds has been overall neglected at core, while the information and knowledge currently available to practitioners cover usability aspects mostly. Therefore, we advocate for theoretical foundations of the user experience in Augmented and Mixed Reality and propose several directions for more scientific research in this regard.

Paper-based digital microfluidic biochip (PB-DMFB) technology provides a promising solution to many biochemical applications. However, PB-DMFB manufacturing process may suffer from potential security threats. For example, both Trojan insertion and man-in-the-middle attack may affect the functionality of PB-DMFBs. To ensure the correct functionality of PB-DMFBs, we propose a watermarking scheme to hides information in the PB-DMFB layout, which allows users to check design integrity and authenticate the source of the PB-DMFB design. As a result, it serves as a first countermeasure against both Trojan insertion and man-in-the-middle attacks for PB-DMFBs.

In the age of Evidence-Based Medicine, Clinical Guidelines (CGs) are recognized to be an indispensable tool to support physicians in their daily clinical practice. Medical Informatics is expected to play a relevant role in facilitating diffusion and adoption of CGs. However, the past pioneering approaches, often fragmented in many disciplines, did not lead to solutions that are actually exploited in hospitals. Process Mining for Healthcare (PM4HC) is an emerging discipline gaining the interest of healthcare experts, and seems able to deal with many important issues in representing CGs. In this position paper, we briefly describe the story and the state-of-the-art of CGs, and the efforts and results of the past approaches of medical informatics. Then, we describe PM4HC, and we answer questions like how can PM4HC cope with this challenge? Which role does PM4HC play and which rules should be employed for the PM4HC scientific community? This research received no external funding

Background Roadside observational studies play a fundamental role in designing evidence-informed strategies to address the pressing global health problem of road traffic injuries. Paper-based data collection has been the standard method for such studies, although digital methods are gaining popularity in all types of primary data collection. Objective This study aims to understand the reliability, productivity, and efficiency of paper vs digital data collection based on three different road user behaviors: helmet use, seatbelt use, and speeding. It also aims to understand the cost and time efficiency of each method and to evaluate potential trade-offs among reliability, productivity, and efficiency. Methods A total of 150 observational sessions were conducted simultaneously for each risk factor in Mumbai, India, across two rounds of data collection. We matched the simultaneous digital and paper observation periods by date, time, and location, and compared the reliability by subgroups and the productivity using Pearson correlations (r). We also conducted logistic regressions separately by method to understand how similar results of inferential analyses would be. The time to complete an observation and the time to obtain a complete dataset were also compared, as were the total costs in US dollars for fieldwork, data entry, management, and cleaning. Results Productivity was higher in paper than digital methods in each round for each risk factor. However, the sample sizes across both methods provided a precision of 0.7 percentage points or smaller. The gap between digital and paper data collection productivity narrowed across rounds, with correlations improving from r=0.27-0.49 to 0.89-0.96. Reliability in risk factor proportions was between 0.61 and 0.99, improving between the two rounds for each risk factor. The results of the logistic regressions were also largely comparable between the two methods. Differences in regression results were largely attributable to small sample sizes in some variable levels or random error in variables where the prevalence of the outcome was similar among variable levels. Although data collectors were able to complete an observation using paper more quickly, the digital dataset was available approximately 9 days sooner. Although fixed costs were higher for digital data collection, variable costs were much lower, resulting in a 7.73% (US $3011/38,947) lower overall cost. Conclusions Our study did not face trade-offs among time efficiency, cost efficiency, statistical reliability, and descriptive comparability when deciding between digital and paper, as digital data collection proved equivalent or superior on these domains in the context of our project. As trade-offs among cost, timeliness, and comparability—and the relative importance of each—could be unique to every data collection project, researchers should carefully consider the questionnaire complexity, target sample size, implementation plan, cost and logistical constraints, and geographical contexts when making the decision between digital and paper.

Paper and pulp industries produce effluents with high phosphorus concentrations, which need to be treated before their discharge in watercourses. The use of microalgae for this purpose has attracted the attention of researchers because: (i) microalgae can assimilate phosphorus (one of the main nutrients for their growth), and (ii) growing on effluents can significantly reduce the costs and environmental impact of microalgal biomass production. This study evaluated the growth and ability of Chlorella vulgaris to remove the phosphorus from a secondary-treated effluent of a Portuguese paper company. Batch experiments were performed for 11 days using different dilutions of the effluent to evaluate its inhibitory effect on microalgae. Results showed that the non-diluted effluent inhibited microalgal growth, indicating that this bioremediation process is possible after a previous dilution of the effluent. Regarding phosphorus removal, promising results were achieved, especially in the experiments conducted with the most diluted effluent: removal efficiencies obtained in these conditions were (54 &plusmn, 1)%. Another interesting finding of this study was microalgal growth in flakes&rsquo, form (mainly due to the compounds present in the effluent and to the pH values achieved), which can be an important economic advantage for biomass recovery after the remediation step.

Pulp and paper wastewater ozonation was tested at pilot-scale in a medium-potentiality wastewater treatment plant (143,000 population equivalent). Single wastewater lines (bleaching and process water), as well as wastewater mixture (before and after secondary biological treatment) were investigated to evaluate the best ozonation conditions. The aim of the work was to evaluate the feasibility of substituting current tertiary physicochemical treatment with an ozonation unit, reducing operating costs and improving management operations. The tests were useful to identify the ozone dosage required to achieve the desired COD abatement. Ozone effectiveness was more pronounced in process water (60% COD removal), rather than bleaching water (28% COD removal); ozone showed a significantly higher efficiency on pulp and paper wastewater mixture after biological treatment (up to 81% COD removal) rather than before biological process (46% mean COD abatement). COD removal efficiency at a dosage of 100 mg O3/L was comparable to existing physicochemical treatment (mean 50%); a good TSS abatement (up to 20–30 mg/L) was observed as well. Toxicity analysis revealed that ozonation treatment did not modify treated effluent toxicity characteristics (mean Daphnia Magna mortality of 23.3%). Economic analysis proved that ozonation installation cost would be 1.5–2.0 M€, for total flowrate to be treated of 1200 m3/h. Ozonation would lead to an economic saving of about 300,000 €/y compared to actual physicochemical treatment and the investment cost could be recovered in about 7 years. The proposed innovative approach, including plant analysis, pilot-ozonation tests, data regression, respirometric fractionation, toxicity and economic analysis, could be exported to other industrial wastewater treatment plants to allow an increased advanced oxidation processes diffusion.

The furfural analysis is an effective method to evaluate the aging state of transformer cellulose insulation. However, the existing research on the furfural analysis mainly focuses on ‘oil-paper’ system, without considering the oil-paper-pressboard system. In fact, the mass of insulating pressboard occupies a large proportion in the transformer, and there are obvious differences in the mass ratio of oil-paper-pressboard among transformers with different voltage levels, which will affect the effectiveness of furfural analysis. In addition, oil replacement is an oil treatment method to improve the insulation performance of oil, which will lead to the loss of furfural content in oil. In view of this, a series of experiments and studies were carried out to obtain the modified equation between furfural and degree of polymerization (DP) of paper/pressboard insulation with different oil-paper-pressboard mass ratios under oil replacement condition. Firstly, accelerated thermal aging experiment of insulation samples with various oil-paper-pressboard mass ratios was conducted in the lab, and the effect of oil-paper-pressboard mass ratio on furfural was analyzed. Then, the oil replacement experiments were performed, and the oil replacement compensation factor was proposed. Finally, a modified furfural-DP equation was established. This paper attempts to report a method for analyzing the effect of oil-paper-pressboard mass ratio and oil replacement on furfural-DP equation. These findings are expected to improve the application of furfural analysis in field transformers.

Membrane heat exchangers were used for moisture and heat recovery from a hot and humid natural gas stream in indirect contact with an air stream. A plate membrane module with spiral channels on each side was designed to configure gas and air streams in co-current and counter-current flow. Two types of membranes, a commercial kraft paper, and a laboratory-made thin-film composite membrane, were used as the module core. The thermal efficiency and the water recovery from the humid gas were calculated and compared under different operating conditions. At a unit flow ratio of air/gas, the greatest effectiveness was achieved at a methane flow of 100 cm3/min, but water recovery increased at higher gas flows. For the counterflow configuration, an air/methane flow ratio of 2 was sufficient to achieve the highest total effectiveness and water recovery; however, larger air/gas ratios were beneficial to improve heat and moisture transfer for the co-current configuration. The highest water recovery by the kraft paper and composite membrane was achieved (approximately 15 mgH2O/cm2.h) for the input gas with the highest humidity. The dehumidification performance of kraft paper as a porous and hydrophilic membrane was slightly better than that of the composite membrane containing a dense hydrophilic polymer thin film in most cases. A relatively low heat transfer coefficient was found for the module, which was increased by using higher gas flow rates at higher humidity conditions.

Fly-ash is a by-product of various thermal power plants. The utilization of fly-ash is a big concern in the current scenario as its production rate is much higher than its consumption rate. Cenosph...

Thermal switches control thermal circuits and are widely used in electronics and engineering. Shape-memory alloys can be deformed by heating, which is widely used as a driving part for ther...

The furfural concentration in oil is a well-accepted chemical marker indicating the aging condition of power transformers. However, recent researches suggest that the furfural concentration in oil ...

Waste paper, one of the major components of municipal and industrial wastes, has considerable potential as a low-cost inductive feedstock for enzyme production. In this study, four kinds of waste papers were used for simultaneous production of cellulase and xylanase by Trichoderma longiflorum. The highest FPase activities (3.21 IU/mL and 2.97 IU/mL) were achieved using waste office paper (WOP) and corrugated board (CB), respectively, followed by magazine paper (MP, 2.51 IU/mL) and tissue paper (TP, 2.34 IU/mL). The maximum β-glucosidase activities (0.51 IU/mL) and xylanase activities (382.59 IU/mL) were obtained from CB substrates, which were higher than that in the reported literature using waste paper. Correspondingly, the soluble protein concentrations and SDS-PAGE profiles from CB fermentation revealed that more enzymes were secreted during fermentation compared with other waste paper. Moreover, the structural features of different waste paper were characterized by using SEM and XRD technique and revealed that the structural variations were mainly caused by the raw wood sources and papermaking processes, and further affected the fermentation capacity. In addition, a higher β-glucosidase activity of 0.80 IU/mL were obtained from the mixed carbon source of CB and wheat bran (WB), which were significantly improved and increased by 56.86% when compared with the CB as single carbon source. This study confirmed that the waste paper without pretreatment could be efficiently utilized as an inductive feedstock for simultaneous production of cellulase and xylanase by T. longiflorum. Therefore, these findings obtained from this study will provide a more widely insight into investigating the low-cost inductive feedstock for enzyme production, which were of great benefit both for the economy and environment.

As a part of our research in the field of thermochemical energy storage, this study aims to investigate the potential of three fly ash samples derived from the fluidized bed reactors of three different pulp and paper plants in Austria for their use as thermochemical energy (TCES) and CO2 storage materials. The selected samples were analyzed by different physical and chemical analytical techniques such as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size distribution (PSD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) under different atmospheres (N2, CO2, and H2O/CO2). To evaluate the environmental impact, leaching tests were also performed. The amount of CaO as a promising candidate for TCES was verified by XRF analysis, which was in the range of 25–63% (w/w). XRD results indicate that the CaO lies as free lime (3–32%), calcite (21–29%), and silicate in all fly ash samples. The results of STA show that all fly ash samples could fulfill the requirements for TCES (i.e., charging and discharging). A cycling stability test of three cycles was demonstrated for all samples which indicates a reduction of conversion in the first three reaction cycles. The energy content of the examined samples was up to 504 kJ/kg according to the STA results. More energy (~1090 kJ/kg) in the first discharging step in the CO2/H2O atmosphere could be released through two kinds of fly ash samples due to the already existing free lime (CaO) in those samples. The CO2 storage capacity of these fly ash samples ranged between 18 and 110 kg per ton of fly ash, based on the direct and dry method. The leaching tests showed that all heavy metals were below the limit values of the Austrian landfill ordinance. It is viable to say that the valorization of fly ash from the pulp and paper industries via TCES and CO2 storage is plausible. However, further investigations such as cycling stability improvement, system integration and a life cycle assessment (LCA) still need to be conducted.

Even today, oil-paper insulation is one of the most important insulation systems for high-voltage components, which is mainly used in transformers. Due to an increase of regulations and obligations for transformer operators, alternative insulating liquids are becoming more and more important, especially esters, as these liquids are characterized as an environmentally friendly and low flammability substitute. So far there is only little experience on the ageing behaviour of ester-paper insulations and on the formation of ageing products with this mixed dielectric. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of a synthetic based ester, a rapeseed-based and a soya-based natural ester on the ageing behaviour of a Kraft paper insulation. In this context, the correlation of ageing markers, such as the acid value, the moisture content etc., is measured in the liquid and the current condition of the paper insulation is investigated. It could be observed that the ageing behaviour of studied samples is different to mineral oil based liquids and also differences between synthetic and natural esters could be seen.

Banana fibre is a natural fibre with high strength, which can be blended easily with cotton fibre or synthetic fibre to produce composite material. In the fiber extraction process, a substantial amount of lignocellulosic wastes are generated, disposal of which creates problem in the adjacent area. In this paper, extracted banana fiber (EBF) and waste banana fiber (WBF) were characterized in terms of chemical and morphological properties to produce handmade paper. WBF was characterized with lower α–cellulose, lignin content and longer fiber length. Pulping of EBF and WBF was carried out with varying active alkali and cooking time at boiling temperature. Pulp yield of WBF was 35.9% after 120 min of cooking with 8% alkali charge. In the unbeaten state the degrees of drainage resistance i.e. SR values were 65 and 71 for EBF and WBF, respectively. The tensile, burst and tear indices of WBF were 23.7 N.m/g, 2.2 kPa.m2/g and 5.0 mN.m2/g, respectively; these were much lower as compared to EBF. These values however, meet the requirement for handmade paper.Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res.53(2), 83-88, 2018

The need to view innovation policy through the lens of policy mixes has gained momentum given the growing complexity, the dynamics of real-world policy and the wide array of difficulties to address the current great societal challenges, notably the increasing pressure on the ecosystems that support our society. One of the main challenges concerning the transition towards bioeconomy, is to gain a more in-depth understanding on the policy mix to stimulate innovation in sustainability transitions. Our paper aims at enriching the portfolio of empirical case studies on policy mixes for innovation and sustainable transitions, by investigating the development of the policy mix underpinning the sustainability transition of the pulp and paper industry in Sweden. We apply a case study approach which draws on event history analysis, semi-structured interviews with industry and policy makers, literature reviews, a participative workshop with stakeholders from the pulp and paper industry, as well as on the IEA databases on climate change and energy efficiency policies and measures. Our analysis emphasises coordination, timing and scale in policy mixes as important elements to understand how instruments interact to accelerate sustainability transitions. The mapping of the policy mix shows that destabilising policies were crucial for accelerating the transition process of the industry. Prior to novelty creation policies, destabilising policies (e.g. environmental policies) were needed for 'innovation policy instruments' to be effective. More specific instruments (e.g. carbon tax), targeting particular functions of the innovation systems, require 'on-the-ground' policy intelligence and benefit from close interaction with industry.

The pulp and paper industry, one of Canada’s largest and most important industries, produces many by-products, some of which are used to produce electricity and steam for mill operations; however, the by-products are not used economically. The industry has been facing financial challenges and, therefore, an appropriate means of converting by-products to value-added products is highly desired. In this study, we explore nine pathways for the conversion of black liquor, the major by-product of the industry, to different value-added final products. These include steam, electricity, dimethyl ether, Fischer-Tropsch liquids, mixed alcohols, methanol, acetone, butanol, ethanol, and lignin. The most economical conversion pathway is selected based on the internal rate of return (IRR) calculated through a techno-economic assessment. Lignin production through the fractionation of black liquor is the most attractive scenario. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were performed on the IRR for the lignin production scenario to evaluate the effect of different parameters on overall performance and assess the accuracy of the results. The sensitivity analysis shows that lignin price and operating costs are the most influential parameters on IRR. This study offers insights into options of revenue generation for the pulp and paper industry through the innovative use of its by-products.

Aim of study: It was aimed to rank financial performance of companies in the paper industrytraded at BIST.Material and methods: The financial performances of sevencompanies in the paper industry which are tradedon the Borsa İstanbul (BIST) were determinedby using financial data in 2016. For this purpose, ten financial ratios were obtainedfrom the financial data of companies, each of which had its own superiority. The datawere conducted by the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity toIdeal Solution) method which is the "Multi Criteria Decision Making"(MCDM) method to interpret.Main results: The results indicated that the companies were rankedfollows; ALKA, KARTN, VKING, BAKAB, TIRE, OLMIP and KAPLM based on thefinancial performance scores.Research highlights: In Turkey, production in paper industry meets nearly half of the consumption and paper demand are met by imports.The high prices of energy and initial investment costs encourage imports ofpaper products and they prevent newinvestments. From this perspective, growth, development and high performance ofpaper companies will keep this industry alive., BİST’deişlem gören kağıt sektöründeki firmaların TOPSIS yöntemiyle finansalperformanslarının değerlendirilmesiÖzetÇalışmanın amacı: BİST’de işlem gören kağıtsektöründeki firmaların finansal performanslarına göre sıralanmasıamaçlanmıştır.Materyal ve yöntem: Borsa İstanbul’da (BIST) işlemgören kağıt sektöründeki 7 firmanın 2016 yılına ait verileri kullanılarakfinansal performansları belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Bu amaçla, şirketlere aitfinansal verilerden 10 finansal oran elde edilmiştir ve bu finansal oranlarınher biri diğerlerine göre üstünlüğe sahiptir. Bütünleşik bir değerlendirmeyapılması amacıyla, veriler “Çok Kriterli Karar Verme” (ÇKKV) yöntemlerindenolan TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution)yöntemi ile değerlendirilmiştir.Sonuçlar: Şirketler finansal performanslarına göreALKA, KARTN, VKING, BAKAB, TIRE, OLMIP ve KAPLM olarak sıralanmıştır..Araştırma vurguları: Ülkemiz kağıt sektöründegerçekleştirilen üretim ile tüketimin yarısı karşılanabilmekte ve kağıtihtiyacı ithalatla karşılanmaktadır. Enerji fiyatlarının ve ilk yatırımmaliyetlerinin yüksek olması yeni yatırımları engellerken ithalata teşviketmektedir. Bu bakımdan sektörde var olan firmaların gelişmesi, büyümesi veperformanslarının yüksek olması sektörü canlı tutacaktır.

The activated sludge process within the pulp and paper industry is generally run to minimize the production of waste activated sludge (WAS), leading to high electricity costs from aeration and relatively large basin volumes. In this study, a pilot-scale activated sludge process was run to evaluate the concept of treating the wastewater at high rate with a low sludge age. Two 150 L containers were used, one for aeration and one for sedimentation and sludge return. The hydraulic retention time was decreased from 24 hours to 7 hours, and the sludge age was lowered from 12 days to 2–4 days. The methane potential of the WAS was evaluated using batch tests, as well as continuous anaerobic digestion (AD) in 4 L reactors in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Wastewater treatment capacity was increased almost four-fold at maintained degradation efficiency. The lower sludge age greatly improved the methane potential of the WAS in batch tests, reaching 170 NmL CH4/g VS at a sludge age of 2 days. In addition, the continuous AD showed a higher methane production at thermophilic conditions. Thus, the combination of high-rate wastewater treatment and AD of WAS is a promising option for the pulp and paper industry. Funding agencies: Swedish Energy Agency [32802-2]; Scan-dinavian Biogas Fuels AB; Poyry AB; BillerudKorsnas AB; SCA; Fiskeby Board AB; Purac AB

At present, the tissue paper manufacturing is mostly based on the dry crepe technology. During the last decade, the manufacturers have introduced new tissue machines concepts that increase the softness, bulk, and absorption capacity. Such machines produce a strong regular three-dimensional (3D) structure to the sheet before the Yankee cylinder. At present, the quality of the 3D structure is not evaluated, or it is evaluated only subjectively at the mill. This is mostly because of the difficulties to separate reliably the regular 3D pattern from other variations. This paper introduces a frequency analysis based method which separates the surface profile variances in tissue paper to the creping, to the regular 3D pattern and to the residual variation. The 3D surface profiles and their variances were determined online with the photometric stereo method. We show that the introduced analysis method evaluates the variance portions reliably and the results are consistent with the visual perception of the 3D surfaces. In one particular product, the regular 3D pattern explains 74 % of total surface variance; the creping explains 10 % and residual variations 16 %. Furthermore, the creping and residual variances are quite stable over time whereas the variance of the regular 3D pattern fluctuates significantly.

This article presents a comparative study of two types of transformer solid insulation: standard Kraft and thermally upgraded Kraft papers. The paper samples were impregnated with two different fluids, namely a synthetic dielectric ester fluid, Midel 7131, and a synthesized mineral oil, Luminol Tri. The impregnated papers were submitted to, accelerated aging at 150°C, temperature higher than the temperatures found inside transformers, for extended periods. The results show that for the first hours of aging, the cellulose depolymerization was similar for all the four studied cases. At a specific point, the paper samples aged in the ester fluid exhibited a lower depolymerization exceeding the 8000 hours of aging without reaching the levelling-off degree of polymerization (LODP). A similar trend was observed through the decrease of mechanical properties of papers in the ester-based oil. However, the difference in performance of both fluids was amplified due to the temperature used; at lower temperatures the difference should be smaller. Additionally, a relationship between the degree of polymerization and the mechanical properties accessed by the tensile testing was obtained regardless of the type of paper or oil. The total acidity in the ester fluid was higher than in mineral oil. Methanol, a chemical marker that is closely linked to the rupture of 1,4-s-glycosidic bonds of cellulose, showed a partial sensitivity to the cellulose aging in the ester fluid. Furan (C 4 H 4 O) content was monitored during the aging and its concentration was found to be sensitive to the depolymerization along with the decrease in the mechanical properties of cellulose papers regardless of the type of paper. More importantly, its concentration was found to be dependent on the type of oil. More investigations are needed to further confirm the importance of furan as an indirect indicator of the mechanical performance along with its correlation with the depolymerization of paper aged in ester fluids.