An important issue in the use of expert sys­ tems is the so-called brittleness problem. Ex­ pert systems model only a limited part of the world. While the explicit management of uncertainty in expert systems mitigates the brittleness problem, it is still possible for a system to be used, unwittingly, in ways that the system is not prepared to address. Such a situation may be detected by the met...

The production of bioethanol, biohydrogen and biogas from wheat straw was investigated within a biorefinery framework. Initially, wheat straw was hydrothermally liberated to a cellulose rich fiber fraction and a hemicellulose rich liquid fraction (hydrolysate). Enzymatic hydrolysis and subsequent fermentation of cellulose yielded 0.41 g-ethanol/g-glucose, while dark fermentation of hydrolysate ...

The mechanical properties and termite decay resistance performance of wood-based panel used in wooden houses were evaluated. physical properties, along with the levels, commonly panels, including oriented strand board, structural particleboard, particleboard for use interior, compared. complied physical, mechanical, formaldehyde emission standards International Organization Standardization Japa...

Bamboo is a potential major bio-energy resource. Tests were carried out to compare and evaluate the property of bamboo and rice straw pellets, rice straw being the other main source of biomass solid fuel in China. All physical properties of untreated bamboo pellets (UBP), untreated rice straw pellets (URP), carbonized bamboo pellets (CBP), and carbonized rice straw pellets (CRP) met the require...

In arid and semi-arid areas, organic matter decomposition is stimulated by ultraviolet radiation. In this paper, the association between straw decomposition and UV-A exposure was evaluated. Oven-dried rice straw samples were chronically exposed to UV-A radiation and examined periodically for up to 90 days at room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that noticeable disintegrat...

In this study, the corn straw after removing the lignin was grafted with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) to prepare sulfonated cellulose. The grafting copolymerization between the sulfonated cellulose and acrylic acid (AA) was performed using potassium persulfate and N,N1-methylenebisacrylamide as the initiator and crosslinking agent, respectively, to prepare corn straw-co-AMPS...

A green house field experiment of rice (Oryza sativa L) with arsenic amended irrigation water was conducted at Institute of Environmental Science of Rajshahi University to observe the trend of arsenic (As) accumulation into rice and soil. Sodium arsenate (Na2HAsO4) amended irrigation water (0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 mg/l As) was used for cultivating a popular HYV-aman rice variety named B...

An important issue in the use of expert systems is the so-called brittleness problem. Expert systems model only a limited part of the world. While the explicit management of uncertainty in expert systems mitigates the brittleness problem, it is still possible for a system to be used, unwittingly, in ways that the system is not prepared to address. Such situation may be detected by the method of...

Wheat straw is an abundant residue of agriculture which is increasingly being considered as feedstock for the production of fuels, energy and chemicals. The acidic decanol-based pre-treatment of wheat straw has been investigated in this work. Wheat straw hemicellulose has been efficiently converted during a single step operation into decyl pentoside surfactants and the remaining material has be...

This work describes an environmentally friendly method for pretreating rice straw by using 1-Allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([AMIM]Cl) as an ionic liquid (IL) assisted by surfactants. The impacts of surfactant type (including nonionic-, anionic-, cationicand bio-surfactant) on the ionic liquid pretreatment were investigated. The bio-surfactant+IL -pretreated rice straw showed significant li...