The phenolic resin, which is an environmentally friendly and economically beneficial material, has been widely applied as various building materials and veneers. To assure that a phenolic resin product meets specifications, the upper and lower limits of the specifications and relevant processing capability indices are first defined in this paper for five “the-larger-the-better” and four “the-smaller-the-better” resins products. A better and more versatile model for evaluating the whole capability for processing the products with multiple-quality characteristics is proposed based on the concept of 6-sigma standard deviations and control chart. Applying this model will assist in discovering insufficient or excessive production capability and quality characteristics such that quality control engineers may prioritize the process improvements based on the control boundary and related position of processing capability coordinates. This will bring about the most efficient improvement and a rapid elevation of the whole production capability with limited resources. Using this model to continually evaluate, analyze, and improve the process, the quality of the phenolic product will be made flawless.

When fire breaks out in a building, smoke poses the most serious threat to the inhabitants. Hence, the fireproof quality of a building interior decorative material is a major concern of the fire fighting and safety of the whole building, especially when recycled materials are applied as interior components of a fireproof building. Current architectural technology regulations require that fireproof materials be used in buildings; the Bureau of Standards, Metrology, and Inspection, Taiwan provides a set of examination procedures. However, the fireproof quality of building interior decorative materials has not been specified, and there is no model that is simple but effective for evaluating the material fireproof quality. In this paper, the specifications published by the Bureau in CNS 6532 A3113, and the define, measurement, analysis, and do model are applied to define, evaluate, and analyze the fireproof performance. The results can be referenced by building supplier for selecting appropriate materials. In this method, the smoking coefficient $\left(C_A\right)$ , fireproof index $\left({\overline{X}}_{\mathrm{err}U}\right)$ , fireproof stability index $\left(S_{\mathrm{err}U}\right)$ , fireproof quality index (CFU), and unbiased estimation coefficient $\left(b_{n-1}\right)$ are first specified prior to defining the procedure for evaluating the quality performance. After the evaluation is completed, the-larger-the-better and the-smaller-the-better performance matrices along with the quality performance evaluation model are implemented as evaluation tools to determine the improvement needs, or adopt a procurement policy. The definition, evaluation, analysis, and decision making model proposed in this paper can be implemented by industries to evaluate and analyze the fireproof quality of building material and to identify the best suppliers and companies that need guidance and assistance. This will allow the industry to effectively elevate the product quality and competitiveness such that the enterprise management can be strengthened.

The present study deals with the analysis of virus transport in groundwater and estimation of transport parameters. The parameter estimation is formulated as a least-squares minimization problem in which the parameters are estimated by minimizing the deviations between the model predicted and experimentally observed virus concentrations. A parameter estimation procedure is developed by coupling a hybrid finite volume numerical model simulating one-dimensional virus transport with the Levenberg-Marquadart algorithm. The numerical model employs a globally second order accurate explicit finite volume method for the advective transport and an implicit finite difference method for the dispersive transport. The comparison of model prediction with analytical solution shows that the numerical model accurately predicts virus movement in both advective and dispersive dominated transport. The parameter estimation indicates that for the case of estimating more than three unknown parameters, the inverse procedure results in nonunique optimal estimates. Further, for the case of estimating two or three unknown parameters, the presence of inactivation coefficients of liquid and sorbed phases also results in nonunique estimates. It is concluded that a priori estimation of one of the inactivation coefficient is necessary for unique estimation of other unknown parameters. A detailed statistical analysis is carried out to study the effect of bias induced by the objective function on the estimated parameters when the data contains the errors. It is found that in the presence of noise in the virus concentration data, the objective function does not induce any bias on the parameter estimates as the true value falls within 95% confidence levels at all noise levels.

Applications of nanomaterials in environmental protection have created conditions to improve environment and control pollution, which will bring breakthrough progress to environmental science and engineering. Using nanomaterials to solve environmental issues will become an inexorable trend in the future. Applications of nanomaterials in green chemistry, photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, remediation of polluted soils or water, pollutant sensing and detection, and so on, have been introduced. Besides, the potential risks of nanomaterials were also briefly discussed.

This study evaluated the performance of a system that combines UV and ${\mathrm{O}}_3$ , referred to as $\mathrm{UV}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ , to mineralize N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) in an aqueous solution. As a photoresist stripper, NMP is used in the optoelectronics industry, and difficult to degrade by biotreatment of wastewater. The concentration of total organic carbon was selected as a mineralization index of the decomposition of NMP by the $\mathrm{UV}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ process. Results of this study indicate that UV irradiation $37.2\mathrm{mW}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$ UV $\left(254\mathrm{nm}\right)$ and ${\mathrm{O}}_3$ doses of $5\times {10}^{-4}\mathrm{mol}∕\min$ causes 89% mineralization of NMP $(20\mathrm{mg}∕\mathrm{L})$ over a reaction time of $60\min$ . Adding ${\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_2$ and ferrous ions to the $\mathrm{UV}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ process reduces the mineralization efficiency. The ionic strength and variable pH value (from 3 to 10) of the aqueous solution do not affect the mineralization efficiency of the $\mathrm{UV}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ process.

Seventy-four bacterial isolates were recovered from 10 protein rich soil and water samples collected from Quebec City. On the basis of colony size, texture, and microscopic characteristics, the isolates were categorized into 33 types. Among these, five isolates showed good proteolytic activity $(>5)$ , eight isolates showed moderate activity (between $>3.0$ and $<5.0$ ), 12 isolates showed poor activity (between $>2.0$ and $<3.0$ ), and eight isolates exhibited very poor activity (below 2.0). The five promising isolates were identified as Bacillus strains, which produced higher amount of protease and maximum cell concentration in fermentor than a shake flask in a shorter time. The enzyme produced by five strains of Bacillus showed similar thermal activity and stability. The proteases retained 31 and 10% of their original activity after $2\mathrm{h}$ at 50° and $60°\mathrm{C}$ , respectively, but lost all activity at $70°\mathrm{C}$ . However, the optimum pH and pH stability of proteases was from 6.0 to 9.0 and 6.0 to 8.0, respectively. The enzyme activities were accelerated by the addition of ${\mathrm{Mg}}^{2+}$ , ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{2+}$ , ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{2+}$ , ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ , ${\mathrm{Co}}^{2+}$ , ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{2+}$ , and ${\mathrm{Na}}^{+}$ , whereas these were inhibited by ${\mathrm{Hg}}^{2+}$ and EDTA. Thus, all evaluated isolates were suitable for the production of protease.

Due to widespread use in industrial applications, chromium compounds are often considered one of the most serious heavy metal pollutants found at environmental sites. Stabilization/solidification has been studied as a means of immobilizing chromium within a solid matrix. Reduction to a lower valence state is an effective treatment option when coupled with a stabilization/solidification treatment, so that any chromium subsequently leached from the treated soil into groundwater is the less toxic and less mobile trivalent form of chromium. Some studies also indicate that reduction from Cr(VI) to Cr(III) is a necessary preliminary step to effective immobilization. Recent studies have reported the use of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate as an effective reducing agent. However, the possibility of chromium release after such treatment has also been called into question. This technical note presents an alternative to ferrous sulfate heptahydrate, the less-expensive sodium thiosulfate, to reduce hexavalent-chromium contaminated soil and compares the results with the use of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate. The most effective ratio of chemical reagent to hexavalent chromium is reported for the purpose of reducing the chromium to the trivalent form in an artificial, contaminated soil for both reductants. The effectiveness of reduction to trivalent chromium was measured using a modified TCLP test. Based on the results reported in this technical note and possible cost savings over the use of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate, further study in the use of sodium thiosulfate for treatment of Cr(VI) contaminated soil is suggested.

In this study, the emission data from the Taiwan Emission Data System (TEDS 6.1) and the Comprehensive Air Quality Model Extensions (CAMx) model was used to measure the source contribution of ozone $\left({\mathrm{O}}_3\right)$ formation at Nantou and Yunlin Counties in middle Taiwan. In addition, the data of ambient air quality monitoring stations of Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency were used to validate the simulation of CAMx. Results indicated that the ozone formation contribution from local emissions was less than 4% at Nantou County and 39–49% at Yunlin County. At Nantou, over 75% of ozone formation precursors were emitted from other air basins. Nitrogen oxide $\left(\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{O}}_2\right)$ contributed about 60–75% and 57–75% of ozone formation at Nantou and Yunlin Counties, respectively. Therefore, nitrogen oxide reduction is an important issue for ozone formation reduction. Stricter regulations and cleaner manufacturing processes are potential approaches to improve air quality.