There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS. By Oscar Kempthorne. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1952. 631 pp. $8.50. This book by a teacher of statistics (as well as a consultant for \"experimenters\") is a comprehensive study of the philosophical background for the statistical design of experiment. It is necessary to have some facility with algebraic notation and manipulation to be able to use the volume intelligently. The problems are presented from the theoretical point of view, without such practical examples as would be helpful for those not acquainted with mathematics. The mathematical justification for the techniques is given. As a somewhat advanced treatment of the design and analysis of experiments, this volume will be interesting and helpful for many who approach statistics theoretically as well as practically. With emphasis on the \"why,\" and with description given broadly, the author relates the subject matter to the general theory of statistics and to the general problem of experimental inference. MARGARET J. ROBERTSON

The Design and Analysis of Experiments

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is an independent organization devoted to the development of standards.

American Society for Testing and Materials

介绍了Kirk—Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology（化工技术百科全书）（第五版）电子图书网络版数据库，并对该数据库使用方法和检索途径作出了说明，且结合实例简单地介绍了该数据库的检索方法。

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology数据库介绍及实例

Pretreatment technologies are aimed to increase enzyme accessibility to biomass and yields of fermentable sugars. In general, pretreatment methods fall into four different categories including physical, chemical, physico-chemical, and biological. This paper comprehensively reviews the lignocellulosic wastes to bioethanol process with a focus on pretreatment methods, their mechanisms, advantages and disadvantages as well as the combinations of different pretreatment technologies. Moreover, the new advances in plant “omics” and genetic engineering approaches to increase cellulose composition, reduce cellulose crystallinity, produce hydrolases and protein modules disrupting plant cell wall substrates, and modify lignin structure in plants have also been expansively presented.

Lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol, a comprehensive review with a focus on pretreatment

http://saetaequina.com/files/1-s2_0-S0261306908001751-main.pdf

Effect of fiber length on thermomechanical properties of short carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene composites

Characterization of empty fruit bunch for microwave-assisted pyrolysis

Calcium-based mixed oxides catalysts (CaMgO and CaZnO) have been investigated for the transesterification of Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) with methanol, in order to evaluate their potential as heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production Both CaMgO and CaZnO catalysts were prepared by coprecipitation method of the corresponding mixed metal nitrate solution in the presence of a soluble carbonate salt at similar to pH 8-9 The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed desorption of CO(2) (CO(2)-TPD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and N(2) adsorption (BET) The conversion of JCO by CaMgO and CaZnO were studied and compared with calcium oxide (CaO), magnesium oxide (MgO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) catalysts Both CaMgO and CaZnO catalysts showed high activity as CaO and were easily separated from the product CaMgO was found more active than CaZnO in the transesterification of JCO with methanol Under the suitable transesterification conditions at 338 K (catalyst amount = 4 wt %, methanol/oil molar ratio = 15, reaction time = 6 h), the JCO conversion of more than 80% can be achieved over CaMgO and CaZnO catalysts Even though CaO gave the highest activity, the conversion of JCO decreased significantly after reused for forth run whereas the conversion was only slightly lowered for CaMgO and CaZnO after sixth run (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

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Calcium-based mixed oxide catalysts for methanolysis of Jatropha curcas oil to biodiesel.

Problem statement: Jatropha curcas is a wonder plant with a variety of applications and enormous economic potentials. Oil from the seeds can be used as alternative fuel and for making biodiesel which aims to overcome energy crisis problems. In this study, extraction of Jatropha oil from seeds was optimized using organic solvent based on the amount of the extracted oil. The kinetics of extraction was also investigated and its parameters were determined based on a second order model. Approach: The effects of five operating parameters on the oil extraction namely type of solvents, temperature, solvent to solid ratio, processing time and particle size of the meal were investigated to optimize the processing conditions for achieving maximum oil yield. The kinetics of extraction was assumed based on a second order mechanism. The initial extraction rate, the saturated extraction capacity, the rate constant of extraction and the activation energy were calculated using the model. Results: The optimum conditions were found at 8 h reaction time, temperature of around 68°C, coarse particle size (0.5-0.75 mm), solvent to solid ratio of 6:1 and hexane as solvent. The activation energy was found to be 8021.9 J moL−1. Conclusion: Hexane was found to be the best solvent for the process as compared to petroleum ether, the kinetics of extraction conforms well to the second order model and the extraction of Jatropha seeds was an endothermic process.

/pdf/extraction-of-oil-from-jatropha-seeds-optimization-and-45lwxj8k5q.pdf

Robiah Yunus

Papers

Effect of fiber length on thermomechanical properties of short carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene composites

Characterization of empty fruit bunch for microwave-assisted pyrolysis

Calcium-based mixed oxide catalysts for methanolysis of Jatropha curcas oil to biodiesel.

Extraction of Oil from Jatropha Seeds-Optimization and Kinetics

Process optimization design for jatropha-based biodiesel production using response surface methodology