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-Solid waste (SW) from a biodiesel plant has been successfully used for the removal of the hazardous cationic water soluble dye -methylene blue (MB) -from an aqueous phase. Batch adsorption studies were carried out by monitoring the pH, amount of adsorbent, initial dye concentration and contact time. Attempts have also been made to monitor the adsorption process through Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and D-R adsorption isotherm models. Relevant thermodynamic parameters were calculated and it was found that the adsorption process was exothermic and feasible at low temperatures. The nature and randomness of the adsorption process was determined by calculating the thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy (∆G o ), change in entropy (∆S o ) and heat of adsorption (∆H o ). The kinetics of the adsorption indicates that the process is pseudo-second-order and also reveals the involvement of bulk diffusion and intraparticle diffusion mechanisms.

In this paper we discuss the possibility of improving eye-hand coordination in children diagnosed with this problem, using a robotic mapping from a haptic user interface to a virtual environment. Our goal is to develop an assessment and training procedure that will result in improving handwriting taking advantage of the force feedback provided by the haptic device. We also incorporate inertia and viscosity effects to decrease the tremor in the hand as well as to stimulate the muscles involved in the task of holding a pencil (known as facilitation technique in the Occupational Therapy field). A set of assessment tests, commonly used by occupational therapists, were chosen to implement various functions using force, inertia and viscosity effects. The test bed used for these tasks consisted of a six-degree-of-freedom force-reflecting haptic interface device, PHANToM with the GHOST SDK Software.

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Activated carbon (AC) is well‐known for its unique properties; hence, the search for new precursors and the investigation of new methods for the preparation of AC is still drawing attention of many researchers. In the present work, microporous AC was prepared from Aegle marmelos fruit shell (AMFS) by potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation. The effect of process parameters such as impregnation ratio, carbonisation temperature and holding time on porous characteristics was investigated. The porous characteristics of prepared AC samples were analysed by N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, and it was found that the isotherms obtained resemble typical microporous solids (Type‐I). The Langmuir surface area and total pore volume of the sample prepared at optimum conditions were found to be 937 m2/g and 0.33 cm3/g, respectively. The contribution of micropores to the porous characteristics of the prepared AC is very much appreciable, and about 97% of the total surface area and pore volume is attained by micropores. Pore size distribution (PSD) by Dubinin–Astakhov (DA) and micro‐pore (MP) methods confirmed the presence of micropores to a great extent with insignificant mesoporosity. © 2013 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering

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This paper is the continuation of a work presented at ICORR 05, in which the results of single-subjects studied suggested that the haptic robotic therapy proposed improved eye-hand coordination in children diagnosed with this problem, using a robotic mapping from a haptic user interface to a virtual environment. This paper presents the integration of the aforementioned system with an intelligent decision support system (IDSS) based on fuzzy-logic. Our goal is to develop an assessment and training procedure that will result in improving handwriting taking the advantage of the force feedback provided by the haptic device and the intelligence provided by the IDSS. We also incorporate the inertia and viscosity effects to decrease the tremor in the hand as well as to stimulate the muscles involved in the task of holding a pencil (known as facilitation technique in the Occupational Therapy field).The IDSS is based upon a fuzzy automaton. By using qualitative (fuzzified) data from the previous tests executed by the subject, the system will make a decision on the complexity of the next test to be performed. It is expected that this automated system will reduce the burden and the associated cost of having a trained professional present in all assessment/training sessions