Feasibility studies on using microwave-heating techniques for recycling lead waste

Lead is present everywhere in the environment and has been defined as one of the greatest threats to the human health. In this paper, attempts have been made to study a way of recycling the lead produced from waste usage and disposed of in such a way as to avoid degrading the surrounding environment. In order to contain the waste, recycled asphalt material is mixed with the lead and then heated with microwave energy. This is an attempt to solidify and reduce the lead contaminants and use the final product as sub-base material in road pavement construction. The microwave heating of the specimens is carried out with 30%, 50%, 80% and 100% of power at 800W. The optimum power mode is used to compare with the conventional heating of asphalt with sulfur additive. The results are characterized by compact density, permeability, and subjected to toxicity test with regards to lead concentration. A mechanical test to evaluate the stability is also performed on the three methods of solidification and to prove that microwave zapping method allow to convert into an environmentally stable material for recycling without having to be deposited in a landfill site.

Using ontology for the representational analysis of process modelling techniques

Selecting an appropriate business process modelling technique forms an important task within the methodological challenges of a business process management project. While a plethora of available techniques has been developed over the last decades, there is an obvious shortage of well-accepted reference frameworks that can be used to evaluate and compare the capabilities of the different techniques. Academic progress has been made at least in the area of representational analyses that use ontology as a benchmark for such evaluations. This paper reflects on the comprehensive experiences with the application of a model based on the Bunge ontology in this context. A brief overview of the underlying research model characterizes the different steps in such a research project. A comparative summary of previous representational analyses of process modelling techniques over time gives insights into the relative maturity of selected process modelling techniques. Based on these experiences suggestions are made as to where ontology-based representational analyses could be further developed and what limitations are inherent to such analyses.