A natural chabazite-based silver nanocomposite (AgMC) was synthesized to capture mercury from flue gases of coal-fired power plants. Silver nanoparticles were engineered on zeolite through ion-exchange of sodium ions with silver ions, followed by thermal annealing. Mercury sorption test using AgMC was performed at various temperatures by exposing it to either pulse injection of mercury or continuous mercury flow. A complete capture of mercury by AgMC was achieved up to a capture temperature of 250 degrees C. Nano silver particles were shown to be the main active component for mercury capture by amalgamation mechanism. Compared with activated carbon-based sorbents, the sorbent prepared in this study showed a much higher mercury capture capacity and upper temperature limit for mercury capture. More importantly, the mercury captured by the spent AgMC could be easily released for safe disposal and the sorbent regenerated by simple heating at 400 degrees C. Mercury capture tests performed in real flue gas environment showed a much higher level of mercury capture by AgMC than by other potential mercury sorbents tested. In our mercury capture tests, the AgMC exposed to real flue gases showed an increased mercury capture efficiency than the fresh AgMC.

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We used quality control circles (QCC) followed by the PDCA Deming cycle and analyzed the application of QCC to the sustained improvement of a medical institution in Zhejiang province. Analyses of the tangible and intangible achievements of QCC revealed that the achievement indices for reductions in internal errors, reductions in costs, improvements in the degree of patient satisfaction, improvements in work quality, and improvements in economic performance were 109.84% ± 16.47%, 135.04% ± 50.33%, 126.26% ± 53.69%, 100.58% ± 22.83%, and 104.07% ± 5.45%, respectively. The improvements in these areas were 61.12% ± 13.2%, 60.47% ± 28.91%, 34.41% ± 22.96%, 49.22% ± 25.39%, and 73.70% ± 5.24%, respectively. The intangible achievements were reflected as follows: 5% of QCC members showed an activity growth value of 1–2 points, 83% 1–2 points, 12% more than 2 points. As a result, QCC activity showed prominent results in fostering long-lasting improvement in the quality of medical institutions in terms of both tangible and intangible factors. In short, QCC can be used as an effective tool to improve medical quality.

The beneficial role of combining fiber reinforcement with lime stabilization in altering soil behavior has been established in the literature. However, the coupling effect of their combination still remains unclear in terms of its magnitude and microscopic mechanism, especially for natural fibers with special microstructures. The objective of this study was to investigate the coupling effect of wheat straw fiber reinforcement and lime stabilization on the mechanical behavior of Hefei clayey soil. To achieve this, an experimental program including unconsolidated–undrained (UU) triaxial tests and SEM analysis was implemented. Static compaction test samples were prepared on untreated soil, fiber-reinforced soil, lime-stabilized soil, and lime-stabilized/fiber-reinforced soil at optimum moisture content with determining of the maximum dry density of the untreated soil. The lime was added in three different contents of 2%, 4%, and 6%, and 13 mm long wheat straw fiber slices with a cross section one-quarter that of the intact ones were mixed in at 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6% by dry weight of soil. Analysis of the derived results indicated that the addition of a small amount of wheat straw fibers into lime-stabilized soil improved the intensity of the strain-softening behavior associated with mere lime stabilization. The observed evidence that the shear strength increase brought by a combination of 0.4% fiber reinforcement and 4% lime stabilization was smaller than the summation of the shear strength increases brought by their presence alone in a sample demonstrated a coupling effect between fiber reinforcement and lime stabilization. This coupling effect was also detected in the comparisons of the secant modulus and failure pattern between the combined treatment and the individual treatments. These manifestations of the coupling effect were explained by a microscopic mechanism wherein the fiber reinforcing effect was made more effective by the ways in which lime chemically stabilized the soil and lime stabilization development was quickened by the water channels passing through the surfaces and honeycomb pores of the wheat straw fibers.

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