Search results for: thyristor controlled series capacitor (TCSC)

Authors: Pranjal Johri, Misbah Ul-Islam

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Power Transformers are one of the most critical and failure prone entities in an electrical power system. It is an established practice that each design of a power transformer has to undergo numerous type tests for design validation and routine tests are performed on each and every power transformer before dispatch from manufacturer’s works. Different countries follow different standards for testing the transformers. Most common and widely followed standard for Power Transformers is IEC 60076 series. Though these standards put up a strict testing requirements for power transformers, however, few aspects of transformer characteristics and guaranteed parameters can be ensured by some additional tests. Based on certain observations during routine test of a transformer and analyzing the data of a large fleet of transformers, three propositions have been discussed and put forward to be included in test schedules and standards. The observations in the routine test raised questions on design flux density of transformer. In order to ensure that flux density in any part of the core & yoke does not exceed 1.9 tesla at 1.1 pu as well, following propositions need to be followed during testing:  From the data studied, it was evident that generally NLC at 1.1 pu is apporx. 3 times of No Load Current at 1 pu voltage.  During testing the power factor at 1.1 pu excitation, it must be comparable to calculated values from the Cold Rolled Grain Oriented steel material curves, including building factor.  A limit of 3 % to be extended for higher than rated voltages on difference in Vavg and Vrms, during no load testing.  Extended over excitation test to be done in case above propositions are observed to be violated during testing.

Keywords: power transfoemrs, no load current, DGA, power factor

Procedia PDF Downloads 94

Authors: Saule Mussabekova

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Forensic investigation of human teeth plays an important role in detection of crime, particularly in cases of personal identification of dead bodies changed by putrefactive processes or skeletonized bodies as well as when finding bodies of unknown persons. 152 teeth have been investigated; 85 of them belonged to men and 67 belonged to women taken from alive people of different age. Teeth have been investigated after extraction. Two types of teeth have been investigated: teeth without integrity violation of dental crown and teeth with different degrees of its violation. Additionally, 517 teeth have been investigated that were collected from dead bodies, 252 of which belonged to women and 265 belonged to men, whatever the cause of death with death limitation from 1 month to 20 years. Isohemagglutinating serums and Coliclons of different series have been used for the research of tooth-group specificity by serological methods according to the AB0 system. Standard protocols of different techniques have been used for DNA purification from teeth (by reagent Chelex 100 produced by Bio-Rad using reagent kit 'DNA IQTM System' produced by Promega company (USA) and using columns 'QIAamp DNA Investigator Kit' produced by Qiagen company). Results of comparative forensic investigation of human teeth using serological and molecular genetic methods have shown that use of serological methods for forensic identification is sensible only in cases of preselection prior to the next molecular genetic investigation as well as in cases of impossibility of corresponding genetic investigation for different objective reasons. A number of advantages of methods of molecular genetics in the dental investigation have been marked, particularly in putrefactive changes, in personal identification. Key moments of modern condition of personal identification have been reflected according to dental state. Prospective directions of advance preparation of material have been emphasized for identification of teeth in forensic practice.

Keywords: dental state, forensic identification, molecular genetic analysis, teeth

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Sevda Ddras, Fariba Mehrkhou, Remzi Atlihan, Maryam Fourouzan

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The greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is one of the most important pest on vegetables and ornamental host plants. In this research, the sub-lethal concentration (LC30) of thiamethoxam-lambda cyhalothrin (TLC) on the biological properties, life table parameters and population projection of T. vaporarium and its parasitoid, Encarsia formosa Gahan, were studied at controlled condition (25 ±5 ℃, R.H. 60 ±10 % and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (L:D). Bioassays were conducted by dipping tomato leaves containing third instar nymphs of the whitefly T. vaporariorum, in the obtained LC30 concentration of eforia. The life table data were analyzed using the computer program TWOSEX–MSChart based on the age-stage, two-sex life table theory. The results showed that, usage of sublethal concentration of TLC effected the biological properties and population growth parameters of greenhouse whitefly by shortening the developmentl time, adult longevity, decreasing the fecundity and population growth paramters. Also, the LC30 concentration of TLC had negative effects on life history and life table parameters of E.formosa. The obtained results illustrated that the sublethal concentration of TLC resulted in prolonging of developmental time, decreasing of adult longevity, survival rate and population growth parameters of E.formosa. Additionally, the population projection results were accordance with the population growth rate of either greenhouse whitefly or E.formosa. We conclude that, TLC should not be used in integrated pest management programs where E. formosa exists.

Keywords: greenhouse whitefly, Encarsia formosa, thiamethoxam-lambda cyhalothrin, population projection, life table parameters

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Prem Bahadur Giri, Trilochana Pokhrel

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The nationalization of forest during early 1960s had become a counterproductive for the conservation of forest in Nepal. Realizing this fact, the Government of Nepal initiated a paradigm shift from government-controlled forestry system to people’s direct participation for managing forestry, conceptualizing community forest approach in the early 1980s. The community forestry approach is expected to promote sustainable forest management, restoring degraded forests for enhancing the forest condition on one hand, and on the other, improvement of livelihoods, particularly of low-income people and forest dependent communities, as well as promoting community ownership to forest. As a result, establishment of community forests started and had taken faster momentum in Nepal. Of the total land in Nepal, forest occupies 6.5 million hectares which is around 45 percent of the forest area. Of the total forest area 1.8 million hectarehas been handed-over to community management. A total of 19,361 ‘community forest users groups’ are already created to manage the community forest.Tostreamlinethe governance of community forest, the enactment of ‘Forest Act 1993’ provides a clear legal basis for managing community forest in Nepal. This article is based on an in-depth study taking a case of Tarpakha Community Forest (TCF) located in Siranchok Rural Municipality of Gorkha District in Nepal. It mainly discusses on to extent the TCF able to achieve twin objectives of this community forest for catalyzing socio-economic improvement of the targeted community and conservation of forest. The primary information was generated through in-depth interviews along with group discussion with members, management committee, and other relevant stakeholders. The findings reveal that there is significant improvement of regeneration of forest and also changes in the socio-economic status of local community. However, coordination with local municipality and forest governing entities is still weak.

Keywords: community forest, nepal, socio-economic benefit, sustainable forest management

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Peng Zhang, Cai Liang

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The non-biodegradable plastic wastes have posed severe environmental and ecological contaminations. Numerous technologies, such as pyrolysis, incineration, and landfilling, have already been employed for the treatment of plastic waste. Compared with conventional methods, microwave has displayed unique advantages in the rapid production of hydrogen from plastic wastes. Understanding the interaction between microwave radiation and materials would promote the optimization of several parameters for the microwave reaction system. In this work, various carbon materials have been investigated to reveal microwave heating performance and the ensuing catalytic activity. Results showed that the diversity in the heating characteristic was mainly due to the dielectric properties and the individual microstructures. Furthermore, the gaps and steps among the surface of carbon materials would lead to the distortion of the electromagnetic field, which correspondingly induced plasma discharging. The intensity and location of local plasma were also studied. For high-yield H₂ production, iron nanoparticles were selected as the active sites, and a series of iron/carbon bifunctional catalysts were synthesized. Apart from the high catalytic activity, the iron particles in nano-size close to the microwave skin depth would transfer microwave irradiation to the heat, intensifying the decomposition of plastics. Under microwave radiation, iron is supported on activated carbon material with 10wt.% loading exhibited the best catalytic activity for H₂ production. Specifically, the plastics were rapidly heated up and subsequently converted into H₂ with a hydrogen efficiency of 85%. This work demonstrated a deep understanding of microwave reaction systems and provided the optimization for plastic treatment.

Keywords: plastic waste, recycling, hydrogen, microwave

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Meng Su

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High-dimensional data analysis often presents challenges in capturing the complex, nonlinear relationships and manifold structures inherent to the data. This article presents a novel approach that leverages the strengths of two powerful techniques, Diffusion Maps and Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DPMs), to address these challenges. By integrating the dimensionality reduction capability of Diffusion Maps with the data modeling ability of DPMs, the proposed method aims to provide a comprehensive solution for analyzing and generating high-dimensional data. The Diffusion Map technique preserves the nonlinear relationships and manifold structure of the data by mapping it to a lower-dimensional space using the eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian matrix. Meanwhile, DPMs capture the dependencies within the data, enabling effective modeling and generation of new data points in the low-dimensional space. The generated data points can then be mapped back to the original high-dimensional space, ensuring consistency with the underlying manifold structure. Through a detailed example implementation, the article demonstrates the potential of the proposed hybrid approach to achieve more accurate and effective modeling and generation of complex, high-dimensional data. Furthermore, it discusses possible applications in various domains, such as image synthesis, time-series forecasting, and anomaly detection, and outlines future research directions for enhancing the scalability, performance, and integration with other machine learning techniques. By combining the strengths of Diffusion Maps and DPMs, this work paves the way for more advanced and robust data analysis methods.

Keywords: diffusion maps, diffusion probabilistic models (DPMs), manifold learning, high-dimensional data analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Svetlana Cojocaru, Mircea Petic, Inga Titchiev

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Humanity faces more and more often with different social disasters, which in turn can generate new accidents and catastrophes. To mitigate their consequences, it is important to obtain early possible signals about the events which are or can occur and to prepare the corresponding scenarios that could be applied. Our research is focused on solving two problems in this domain: identifying signals related that an accident occurred or may occur and mitigation of some consequences of disasters. To solve the first problem, methods of selecting and processing texts from global network Internet are developed. Information in Romanian is of special interest for us. In order to obtain the mentioned tools, we should follow several steps, divided into preparatory stage and processing stage. Throughout the first stage, we manually collected over 724 news articles and classified them into 10 categories of social disasters. It constitutes more than 150 thousand words. Using this information, a controlled vocabulary of more than 300 keywords was elaborated, that will help in the process of classification and identification of the texts related to the field of social disasters. To solve the second problem, the formalism of Petri net has been used. We deal with the problem of inhabitants’ evacuation in useful time. The analysis methods such as reachability or coverability tree and invariants technique to determine dynamic properties of the modeled systems will be used. To perform a case study of properties of extended evacuation system by adding time, the analysis modules of PIPE such as Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets (GSPN) Analysis, Simulation, State Space Analysis, and Invariant Analysis have been used. These modules helped us to obtain the average number of persons situated in the rooms and the other quantitative properties and characteristics related to its dynamics.

Keywords: lexicon of disasters, modelling, Petri nets, text annotation, social disasters

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Driouiche Ali, Karmal Ilham

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The Agadir region is characterized by a dry climate, ranging from arid attenuated by oceanic influences to hyper-arid. The water mobilized in the agricultural sector of greater Agadir is 95% of underground origin and comes from the water table of Chtouka. The rest represents the surface waters of the Youssef Ben Tachfine dam. These waters are intended for the irrigation of 26880 hectares of modern agriculture. More than 120 boreholes and wells are currently exploited. Their depth varies between 10 m and 200 m and the unit flow rates of the boreholes are 5 to 50 l/s. A drop in the level of the water table of about 1.5 m/year, on average, has been observed during the last five years. Farmers are thus called upon to improve irrigation methods. Thus, localized or drip irrigation is adopted to allow rational use of water. The importance of this irrigation system is due to the fact that water is applied directly to the root zone and its compatibility with fertilization. However, this irrigation system faces a thorny problem which is the clogging of pipes and drippers. This leads to a lack of uniformity of irrigation over time. This so-called scaling phenomenon, the consequences of which are harmful (cleaning or replacement of pipes), leads to considerable unproductive expenditure. The objective set by this work is the search for green inhibitors likely to prevent this phenomenon of scaling. This study requires a better knowledge of these waters, their physico-chemical characteristics and their scaling power. Thus, using the "LCGE" controlled degassing technique, we initially evaluated, on pure calco-carbonic water at 30°F, the scaling-inhibiting power of some available plant extracts in our region of Souss-Massa. We then carried out a comparative study of the efficacy of these green inhibitors. The action of the most effective green inhibitor on real agricultural waters was then studied.

Keywords: green inhibitors, localized irrigation, plant extracts, scaling inhibition

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Ahmed Ismail, Mustafa Baysal

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Although the energy source in the world is mainly based on fossil fuels today, there is a need for alternative energy generation systems, which are more economic and environmentally friendly, due to continuously increasing demand of electric energy and lacking power resources and networks. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as fuel cells, wind and solar power have recently become widespread as alternative generation. In order to solve several problems that might be encountered when integrating DERs to power system, the microgrid concept has been proposed. A microgrid can operate both grid connected and island mode to benefit both utility and customers. For most distributed energy resources (DER) which are connected in parallel in LV-grid like micro-turbines, wind plants, fuel cells and PV cells electrical power is generated as a direct current (DC) and converted to an alternative currents (AC) by inverters. So the inverters are assumed to be primary components in a microgrid. There are many control techniques of parallel inverters to manage active and reactive sharing of the loads. Some of them are based on droop method. In literature, the studies are usually focused on improving the transient performance of inverters. In this study, the performance of two different controllers based on droop control method is compared for the inverters operated in parallel without any communication feedback. For this aim, a microgrid in which inverters are controlled by conventional droop controller and modified droop controller is designed. Modified controller is obtained by adding PID into conventional droop control. Active and reactive power sharing performance, voltage and frequency responses of those control methods are measured in several operational cases. Study cases have been simulated by MATLAB-SIMULINK.

Keywords: active and reactive power sharing, distributed generation, droop control, microgrid

Procedia PDF Downloads 590

Authors: Cristian Pauna

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Trading the financial markets is a widespread activity today. A large number of investors, companies, public of private funds are buying and selling every day in order to make profit. Algorithmic trading is the prevalent method to make the trade decisions after the electronic trading release. The orders are sent almost instantly by computers using mathematical models. This paper will present a price prediction methodology based on a multi-dimensional neural network. Using the Fisher transform, the neural network will be instructed for a low-latency auto-adaptive process in order to predict the price evolution for the next period of time. The model is designed especially for algorithmic trading and uses the real-time price series. It was found that the characteristics of the Fisher function applied at the nodes scale level can generate reliable trading signals using the neural network methodology. After real time tests it was found that this method can be applied in any timeframe to trade the financial markets. The paper will also include the steps to implement the presented methodology into an automated trading system. Real trading results will be displayed and analyzed in order to qualify the model. As conclusion, the compared results will reveal that the neural network methodology applied together with the Fisher transform at the nodes level can generate a good price prediction and can build reliable trading signals for algorithmic trading.

Keywords: algorithmic trading, automated trading systems, financial markets, high-frequency trading, neural network

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Fatima Achouri, Kaddour Chouicha, Abdelwahab Khatir

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It is clear that concrete of quality must be made with selected materials chosen in optimum proportions that remain after implementation, a minimum of voids in the material produced. The different methods of formulations what we use, are based for the most part on a granular curve which describes an ‘optimal granularity’. Many authors have engaged in fundamental research on granular arrangements. A comparison of mathematical models reproducing these granular arrangements with experimental measurements of compactness have to verify that the minimum porosity P according to the following extent granular exactly a power law. So the best compactness in the finite medium are obtained with power laws, such as Furnas, Fuller or Talbot, each preferring a particular setting between 0.20 and 0.50. These considerations converge on the assumption that the optimal granularity Caquot approximates by a power law. By analogy, it can then be analyzed as a granular structure of fractal-type since the properties that characterize the internal similarity fractal objects are reflected also by a power law. Optimized mixtures may be described as a series of installments falling granular stuff to better the tank on a regular hierarchical distribution which would give at different scales, by cascading effects, the same structure to the mix. Likely this model may be appropriate for the entire extent of the size distribution of the components, since the cement particles (and silica fume) correctly deflocculated, micrometric dimensions, to chippings sometimes several tens of millimeters. As part of this research, the aim is to give an illustration of the application of fractal analysis to characterize the granular concrete mixtures optimized for a so-called fractal dimension where different concretes were studying that we proved a fractal structure of their granular mixtures regardless of the method of formulation or the type of concrete.

Keywords: concrete formulation, fractal character, granular packing, method of formulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: Samuel Munaf, Kevin Swingler, Franz Brülisauer, Anthony O’Hare, George Gunn, Aaron Reeves

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Web scraping and text mining are popular computer science methods deployed by public health researchers to augment traditional epidemiological surveillance. However, within veterinary disease surveillance, such techniques are still in the early stages of development and have not yet been fully utilised. This study presents an exploration into the utility of incorporating internet-based data to better understand the smallholder farming communities within Scotland by using online text extraction and the subsequent mining of this data. Web scraping of the livestock fora was conducted in conjunction with text mining of the data in search of common themes, words, and topics found within the text. Results from bi-grams and topic modelling uncover four main topics of interest within the data pertaining to aspects of livestock husbandry: feeding, breeding, slaughter, and disposal. These topics were found amongst both the poultry and pig sub-forums. Topic modeling appears to be a useful method of unsupervised classification regarding this form of data, as it has produced clusters that relate to biosecurity and animal welfare. Internet data can be a very effective tool in aiding traditional veterinary surveillance methods, but the requirement for human validation of said data is crucial. This opens avenues of research via the incorporation of other dynamic social media data, namely Twitter and Facebook/Meta, in addition to time series analysis to highlight temporal patterns.

Keywords: veterinary epidemiology, disease surveillance, infodemiology, infoveillance, smallholding, social media, web scraping, sentiment analysis, geolocation, text mining, NLP

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: David Tanujaya Kurniawan

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Background: Liver injury caused by paracetamol is marked by increased serum transaminase levels. Turmeric is a local herb that is available in large quantities and inexpensive in contradiction to its substantial benefits, including its potency to increase glutathione production and regenerate hepatocyte into normal condition. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the potencial treatment effect of turmeric rhizome extract to reduce serum transaminase level on paracetamol induced liver toxicity in rats. Methods: This study was a laboratory experimental research with post-test only controlled group design. A group of 24 Wistar white male rats was induced with paracetamol 360 mg/kg body weight for 10 days. The group was then separated into four groups: the first and the second was treated with 100 mg/kg body weight and 150 mg/kg body weight of turmeric rhizome extract, subsequently, the third as positive control was given 27 mg/kg body weight of lesichol, while the fourth as negative control was given CMC-Na 1%. Each of this treatment was given for seven days. At the end of the study, the blood samples were taken to measure SGOT and SGPT levels. The one-way Anova test revealed significant difference in mean of SGPT level (p=0,001). The LSD test showed significant differences of SGPT levels in both treatment groups and negative control group. However, there was no sgnificant difference between positive control and both treatment groups. Conclusion: Curcuma domestica Val. rhizome extract could not reduce SGOT level, but it reduced SGPT level significantly.

Keywords: Curcuma domestica val., SGOT, SGPT, paracetamol, liver toxicity

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Barış Ozluoymak, Emin Guzel, Ahmet İnce

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Since chemical fertilizers are used for meeting the deficiency of plant nutrients, its many harmful effects are not taken into consideration for the structure of the earth. These fertilizers are hampering the work of the organisms in the soil immediately after thrown to the ground. This interference is first started with a change of the soil pH and micro organismic balance is disrupted by reaction in the soil. Since there can be no fragmentation of plant residues, organic matter in the soil will be increasingly impoverished in the absence of micro organismic living. Biological activity reduction brings about a deterioration of the soil structure. If the chemical fertilization continues intensively, soils will get worse every year; plant growth will slow down and stop due to the intensity of chemical fertilizers, yield decline will be experienced and farmer will not receive an adequate return on his investment. In this research, a prototype of automatic farm manure spreading machine for orange orchards that not just manufactured in Turkey was designed, constructed, tested and eliminate the human drudgery involved in spreading of farm manure in the field. The machine comprised several components as a 5 m3 volume hopper, automatic controlled hydraulically driven chain conveyor device and side delivery conveyor belts. To spread the solid farm manure automatically, the machine was equipped with an electronic control system. The hopper and side delivery conveyor designs fitted between orange orchard tree row spacing. Test results showed that the control system has significant effects on reduction in the amount of unnecessary solid farm manure use and avoiding inefficient manual labor.

Keywords: automatic control system, conveyor belt application, orchard, solid farm manure

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: Sebnem Canikli Engin, Mutlu Sevinc, Hasan Guzelbektes

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In this study, we aim to define the effects of erythromycin and bethanechol which are prokinetic agents, on the value of abomasal discharge in healthy, diarrhea and premature calves. In the work, 5 healty calves, 12 diarrheaic calves and 12 premature calves, amounting to a total of 29 calves. In healty calves work; the same 5 calves were used for controlled, erythromycin and bethanechol studies (there was a 48-hour waiting period between each work). In diarrheic calves work; 12 diarrheic calves were used during the study (4 of them for control group, 4 of them bethanechol group and last 4 calves erythromycin group). In premature calves works; 12 premature calves were used during the study (4 of them for control group, 4 of them bethanechol group and last 4 calves erythromycin group). 10 mg/kg IM dose of erythromycin were applied to each erythromycin group, 0,07 mg/kg IM dose of bethanechol were applied on bethanechol group. No drugs were applied to the control group and substitution milk was given to all calves. 50 mg/kg acetominophen and 25 gram/L glucose have been added into the substitution milk to evaluate the speed of gastrointestinal motility with the test results of absorptions of acetominophen and glucose. The blood samples have been taken before substitution milk application and 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 300 minutes after substitution milk application. Respiratory rates and number of heartbeats were also recorded during the test time. No changes were observed in the number of heartbeats, respiratory rates and general conditions for all groups after drug application. It is observed that, the feces of some calves became slightly watery and viscous and premature calves generaly defecated after 180 minutes. When Cmax, Tmax and AUC values of acetaminophen and glucose are compared with control group’s after applying erythromycin on the calves in the premature group, we obtain higher Cmax (P<0,05), shorter Tmax and greather AUC (P>0,05) values. In conclusion, according to clinical and laboratory findings, it may be stated that the application of 10 mg/kg doze of erythromycin IM has provided faster abomazal emptying in premature calves.

Keywords: abomazal emptying, bethanechol, calf, erythromycin

Procedia PDF Downloads 334

Authors: Hamidreza Joudaki, Yousefali Ziari

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The appearance of city and urbanism is one of the important processes which have affected social communities. Being industrialized urbanism developed along with each other in the history. In addition, they have had simple relationship for more than six thousand years, that is, from the appearance of the first cities. In 18th century by coming out of industrial capitalism, progressive development took place in urbanism in the world. In Iran, the city of each region made its decision by itself and the capital of region (downtown) was the only central part and also the regional city without any hierarchy, controlled its realm. However, this method of ruling during these three decays, because of changing in political, social and economic issues that have caused changes in rural and urban relationship. Moreover, it has changed the variety of performance of cities and systematic urban network in Iran. Today, urban system has very vast imbalanced apace and performance. In Isfahan, the trend of urbanism is like the other part of Iran and systematic urban hierarchy is not suitable and normal. This article is a quantitative and analytical. The statistical communities are Isfahan Province cities and the changes in urban network and its hierarchy during the period of fifty years (1956 -2006) has been surveyed. In addition, those data have been analyzed by model of Rank and size and Entropy index. In this article Iran cities and also the factor of entropy of primate city and urban hierarchy of Isfahan Province have been introduced. Urban residents of this Province have been reached from 55 percent to 83% (2006). As we see the analytical data reflects that there is mismatching and imbalance between cities. Because the entropy index was.91 in 1956.And it decreased to.63 in 2006. Isfahan city is the primate city in the whole of these periods. Moreover, the second and the third cities have population gap with regard to the other cities and finally, they do not follow the system of rank-size.

Keywords: urban network, urban hierarchy, primate city, Isfahan province, urbanism, first cities

Procedia PDF Downloads 251

Authors: Mariam Alsharifi, Hussein Znad, Ming Ang

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Considering the environmental issues and the shortage in the conventional fossil fuel sources, biodiesel has gained a promising solution to shift away from fossil based fuel as one of the sustainable and renewable energy. It is synthesized by transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats with alcohol (methanol or ethanol) in the presence of a catalyst. This study focuses on synthesizing a high efficient Li/TiO2 heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production from canola oil. In this work, lithium immobilized onto TiO2 by the simple impregnation method. The catalyst was evaluated by transesterification reaction in a batch reactor under moderate reaction conditions. To study the effect of Li concentrations, a series of LiNO3 concentrations (20, 30, 40 wt. %) at different calcination temperatures (450, 600, 750 ºC) were evaluated. The Li/TiO2 catalysts are characterized by several spectroscopic and analytical techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, BET, TG-DSC and FESEM. The optimum values of impregnated Lithium nitrate on TiO2 and calcination temperature are 30 wt. % and 600 ºC, respectively, along with a high conversion to be 98 %. The XRD study revealed that the insertion of Li improved the catalyst efficiency without any alteration in structure of TiO2 The best performance of the catalyst was achieved when using a methanol to oil ratio of 24:1, 5 wt. % of catalyst loading, at 65◦C reaction temperature for 3 hours of reaction time. Moreover, the experimental kinetic data were compatible with the pseudo-first order model and the activation energy was (39.366) kJ/mol. The synthesized catalyst Li/TiO2 was applied to trans- esterify used cooking oil and exhibited a 91.73% conversion. The prepared catalyst has shown a high catalytic activity to produce biodiesel from fresh and used oil within mild reaction conditions.

Keywords: biodiesel, canola oil, environment, heterogeneous catalyst, impregnation method, renewable energy, transesterification

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: C. Xavier Mendieta, J. J McArthur

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Governments are playing an increasingly active role in reducing carbon emissions, and a key strategy has been the introduction of mandatory energy disclosure policies. These policies have resulted in a significant amount of publicly available data, providing researchers with a unique opportunity to develop location-specific energy and carbon emission benchmarks from this data set, which can then be used to develop building archetypes and used to inform urban energy models. This study presents the development of such a benchmark using the public reporting data. The data from Ontario’s Ministry of Energy for Post-Secondary Educational Institutions are being used to develop a series of building archetype dynamic building loads and energy benchmarks to fill a gap in the currently available building database. This paper presents the development of a benchmark for college and university residences within ASHRAE climate zone 6 areas in Ontario using the mandatory disclosure energy and greenhouse gas emissions data. The methodology presented includes data cleaning, statistical analysis, and benchmark development, and lessons learned from this investigation are presented and discussed to inform the development of future energy benchmarks from this larger data set. The key findings from this initial benchmarking study are: (1) the importance of careful data screening and outlier identification to develop a valid dataset; (2) the key features used to develop a model of the data are building age, size, and occupancy schedules and these can be used to estimate energy consumption; and (3) policy changes affecting the primary energy generation significantly affected greenhouse gas emissions, and consideration of these factors was critical to evaluate the validity of the reported data.

Keywords: building archetypes, data analysis, energy benchmarks, GHG emissions

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: Ashit Syngle, Inderjit Verma, Pawan Krishan

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Therapeutic approaches used previously relied on disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) that had only partial clinical benefit and were associated with significant toxicity. Spironolactone, an oral aldosterone antagonist, suppresses inflammatory mediators. Clinical efficacy of spironolactone compared with placebo in patients with active psoriatic arthritis despite treatment with prior traditional DMARDs. In the 24-week, placebo-controlled study patients (n=31) were randomized to placebo and spironolactone (2 m/kg/day). Patients on background concurrent DMARDs continued stable doses (methotrexate, leflunomide, and/or sulfasalazine). Primary outcome measures were the assessment of disease activity measures i.e. 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) and diseases activity in psoriatic arthritis (DAPSA) at week 24. The key secondary endpoint was change from baseline in Health Assessment Questionnaire–Disability Index (HAQ-DI) at week 24. Additional efficacy outcome measures at week 24 included improvements in the markers of inflammation (ESR and CRP) and pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1. At week 24, spironolactone significantly reduced disease activity measure DAS-28 (p<0.001) and DAPSA (p=0.001) compared with placebo. Significant improvements in key secondary measures HAQ-DI (disability index) were evident with spironolactone (p=0.02) versus placebo. After week 24, there was significant reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokines level TNF-α, IL-6 (p<0.01) as compared with placebo group. However, there was no significant improvement in IL-1 in both treatment and placebo groups. There were minor side effects which did not mandate stopping of spironolactone. No change in any biochemical profile was noted after spironolactone treatment. Spironolactone was effective in the treatment of PsA, improving disease activity, physical function and suppressing the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Spironolactone demonstrated an acceptable safety profile and was well tolerated.

Keywords: spironolactone, inflammation, inflammatory cytokine, psoriatic arthritis

Procedia PDF Downloads 332

Authors: Ivan Yudianto

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The research objectives are to analyze the factors that impede the Parking Tax and Parking Retribution collection in Bekasi City Government, analyzing the factors that can increase local own revenue from the tax sector of parking tax and parking retribution, analyze monitoring the parking retribution collection by the Bekasi City Government, analyze strategies Bekasi City Government through the preparation of a roadmap and action plan to increase parking tax and parking retribution revenues. The approach used in this research is a qualitative approach. Qualitative research is used because the problem is not yet clear and the object to be studied will be holistic, complex, and dynamic, and the relationship will be interactive symptoms. Methods of data collection and technical analysis of the data was in-depth interviews, participant observation, documentary materials, literature, and triangulation, as well as new methods such as the methods of visual materials and internet browsing. The results showed that there are several factors that become an obstacle such as the parking taxpayer does not disclose the actual parking revenue, the parking taxpayer are late or do not pay Parking Tax, many parking locations controlled by illegal organizations, shortage of human resources in charge levy and supervise the parking tax and parking retribution collection in the Bekasi City Government, surveillance parking tax and parking retribution are not scheduled on a regular basis. Several strategic priorities in order to develop the potential of the Parking Tax and Parking Retribution in the Bekasi City Government, namely through increased controling and monitoring of the Parking Taxpayer, forming a team of auditors to audit the Parking Taxpayer, seek law enforcement persuasive and educative to reduce Parking Taxpayer wayward, providing strict sanctions against the Parking Taxpayer disobedient, revised regulations mayors about locations of parking in Bekasi City, rationalize revenues target of Parking Retribution, conducting takeover attempts parking location on the roadside of the individual or specific group, and drafting regional regulations on parking subscribe.

Keywords: local own revenue, parking retribution, parking tax, parking taxpayer

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Ziqu Ouyang, Kun Su

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A novel efficient and clean coal combustion system, namely the purification-combustion system, was designed by the Institute of Engineering Thermal Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, in 2022. Among them, the purification system was composed of a mesothermal activating unit and a hyperthermal reductive unit, and the combustion system was composed of a mild combustion system. In the purification-combustion system, the deep in-situ removal of coal-N could be realized by matching the temperature and atmosphere in each unit, and thus the NOx emission was controlled effectively. To acquire the methods for realizing the efficient and clean coal combustion, this study investigated the effect of the activating temperature (including 822 °C, 858 °C, 933 °C, 991 °C), which was the key factor affecting the system operation, on combustion and NOx emission characteristics of pulverized coal in a 30 kW purification-combustion test bench. The research result turned out that the activating temperature affected the combustion and NOx emission characteristics significantly. As the activating temperature increased, the temperature increased first and then decreased in the mild combustion unit, and the temperature change in the lower part was much higher than that in the upper part. Moreover, the main combustion region was always located at the top of the unit under different activating temperatures, and the combustion intensity along the unit was weakened gradually. Increasing the activating temperature excessively could destroy the reductive atmosphere early in the upper part of the unit, which wasn’t conducive to the full removal of coal-N in the reductive coal char. As the activating temperature increased, the combustion efficiency increased first and then decreased, while the NOx emission decreased first and then increased, illustrating that increasing the activating temperature properly promoted the efficient and clean coal combustion, but there was a limit to its growth. In this study, the optimal activating temperature was 858 °C. Hence, this research illustrated that increasing the activating temperature properly could realize the mutual matching of improving the combustion efficiency and reducing the NOx emission, and thus guaranteed the clean and efficient coal combustion well.

Keywords: activating temperature, combustion characteristics, nox emission, purification-combustion system

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Authors: Nusaiba Al-Nemrawi, Belal Al-Husein

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Methotrexate (MTX) is a stoichiometric inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase, which is essential for DNA synthesis. MTX is a chemotherapeutic agent used for treating many types of cancer cells. However, cells’ resistant to MTX is very common and its pharmacokinetic behavior is highly problematic. of MTX within tumor cells, we propose encapsulation of antitumor drugs in nanoparticulated systems. Chitosan (CS) is a naturally occurring polymer that is biocompatibe, biodegradable, non-toxic, cationic and bioadhesive. CS nanoparticles (CS-NPs) have been used as drug carrier for targeted delivery. Titanium dioxide (TiO2), a natural mineral oxide, which is used in biomaterials due to its high stability and antimicrobial and anticorrosive properties. TiO2 showed a potential as a tumor suppressor. In this study a new formulation of MTX loaded in CS NPs (CS-MTX NPs) and coated with Titanium oxide (TiO2) was prepared. The mean particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index were measured. The interaction between CS NPs and TiO2 NPs was confirmed using FTIR and XRD. CS-MTX NPs was studied in vitro using the tumor cell line MCF-7 (human breast cancer). The results showed that CS-MTX has a size around 169 nm and as they were coated with TiO2, the size ranged between and depending on the ratio of CS-MTX to TiO2 ratio used in the preparation. All NPs (uncoated and coated carried positive charges and were monodispersed. The entrapment efficacy was around 65%. Both FTIR and XRD proved that TiO2 interacted with CS-MTX NPs. The drug invitro release was controlled and sustained over days. Finally, the studied in vitro using the tumor cell line MCF-7 suggested that combining nanomaterials with anticancer drugs CS-MTX NPs may be more effective than free MTX for cancer treatment. In conclusion, the combination of CS-MTX NPs and TiO2 NPs showed excellent time-dependent in vitro antitumor behavior, therefore, can be employed as a promising anticancer agent to attain efficient results towards MCF-7 cells.

Keywords: Methotrexate, Titanium dioxide, Chitosan nanoparticles, cancer

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Authors: Azusa Katsumata

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Several universities in Japan have introduced activities aimed at the mutual enlightenment of a diversity of people in career education. However, several programs emphasize on delivering results, and on practicing the prepared materials as planned. Few programs focus on unexpected failures and setbacks. This way of learning is important in career education so that classmates can help each other, overcome difficulties, draw out each other’s strengths, and learn from them. Seijo University in Tokyo offered excursion focusing Various Problems of Society, as second year career education course, Students will learn about contraception, infertility, homeless people, LGBT, and they will discuss based on the excursion. This paper aims to study the ‘learning platform’ created by a series of processes such as the excursion, the discussion, and the presentation. In this course, students looked back on their lives and imagined the future in concrete terms, performing tasks in groups. The students came across a range of values through lectures and conversations, thereby developing feelings of self-efficacy. We conducted a questionnaire to measure the development of career in class. From the results of the questionnaire, we can see, in the example of this class, that students respected diversity and understood the importance of uncertainty and discontinuity. Whereas the students developed career awareness, they actually did not come across that scene and would do so only in the future when it became necessary. In this class, students consciously considered social problems, but did not develop the practical skills necessary to deal with these. This is appropriate for one of project, but we need to consider how this can be incorporated into future courses. University constitutes only a single period in life-long career formation. Thus, further research may be indicated to determine whether the positive effects of career education at university continue to contribute to individual careers going forward.

Keywords: career education of university, excursion, learning platform, problems of society

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Authors: Semayat Fanta, P.M. Mohite, C.S. Upadhyay

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Damage meso-model for laminates is one of the most widely applicable approaches for the analysis of damage induced in laminated fiber-reinforced polymeric composites. Damage meso-model for laminates has been developed over the last three decades by many researchers in experimental, theoretical, and analytical methods that have been carried out in micromechanics as well as meso-mechanics analysis approaches. It has been fundamentally developed based on the micromechanical description that aims to predict the damage initiation and evolution until the failure of structure in various loading conditions. The current damage meso-model for laminates aimed to act as a bridge between micromechanics and macro-mechanics of the laminated composite structure. This model considers two meso-constituents for the analysis of damage in ply and interface that imparted from low-velocity impact. The damages considered in this study include fiber breakage, matrix cracking, and diffused damage of the lamina, and delamination of the interface. The damage initiation and evolution in laminae can be modeled in terms of damaged strain energy density using damage parameters and the thermodynamic irreversible forces. Interface damage can be modeled with a new concept of spherical micro-void in the resin-rich zone of interface material. The damage evolution is controlled by the damage parameter (d) and the radius of micro-void (r) from the point of damage nucleation to its saturation. The constitutive martial model for meso-constituents is defined in a user material subroutine VUMAT and implemented in ABAQUS/Explicit finite element modeling tool. The model predicts the damages in the meso-constituents level very accurately and is considered the most effective technique of modeling low-velocity impact simulation for laminated composite structures.

Keywords: mesomodel, laminate, low-energy impact, micromechanics

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Authors: K. Vrinda

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Coastal ecosystems across the world are facing a lot of challenges due to natural phenomena as well as from uncontrolled human interventions. Here, Alappad, a coastal island situated in Kerala, India is undergoing significant damage and is gradually losing its environmental and social sustainability. The area is blessed with very rare and precious black mineral sand deposits. Sand mining for these minerals started in 1911 and is still continuing. But, unfortunately all the problems that Alappad faces now, have its root on mining of this mineral sand. The land area is continuously diminishing due to sea erosion. The mining has also caused displacement of people and environmental degradation. Marine life also is getting affected by mining on beach and pollution. The inhabitants are fishermen who are largely dependent on the eco-system for a living. So loss of environmental sustainability subsequently affects social sustainability too. Now the damage has reached a point beyond which our actions may not be able to make any impact. This was one of the most affected areas of the 2004 tsunami and the environmental degradation has further increased the vulnerability. So this study focuses on understanding the concerns related to the resource utilization, environment and the indigenous community staying there, and on formulating suitable strategies to restore the sustainability of the area. An extensive study was conducted on site, to find out the physical, social, and economical characteristics of the area. A focus group discussion with the inhabitants shed light on different issues they face in their day-to-day life. The analysis of all these data, led to the formation of a new development vision for the area which focuses on environmental restoration and socio-economic development while allowing controlled exploitation of resources. A participatory approach is formulated which enables these three aspects through community based programs.

Keywords: Community development, Disaster resilience, Ecological restoration, Environmental sustainability, Social-environmental planning, Social Sustainability

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Authors: S. H. Jang

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Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is characterized by acute neurologic symptoms (visual loss, headache, altered mentality and seizures) and by typical imaging findings (bilateral subcortical and cortical edema with predominatly posterior distribution). Nephrotic syndrome is a syndrome comprising signs of proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, and edema. It is well known that hypertension predispose patient with nephrotic syndrome to PRES. A 45-year old male was referred for suddenly developed vertigo, disequilibrium. He had previous history of nephrotic syndrome. His medical history included diabetes controlled with medication. He was hospitalized because of generalized edema a few days ago. His vital signs were stable. On neurologic examination, his mental state was alert. Horizontal nystagmus to right side on return to primary position was observed. He showed good grade motor weakness and ataxia in right upper and lower limbs without other sensory abnormality. Brain MRI showed increased signal intensity in FLAIR image, decreased signal intensity in T1 image and focal enhanced lesion in T1 contrast image at whole midbrain, pons and cerebellar peduncle symmetrically, which was compatible with vasogenic edema. Laboratory findings showed severe proteinuria and hypoalbuminemia. He was given intravenous dexamethasone and diuretics to reduce vasogenic edema and raise the intra-vascular osmotic pressure. Nystagmus, motor weakness and limb ataxia improved gradually over 2 weeks; He recovered without any neurologic symptom and sign. Follow-up MRI showed decreased vasogenic edema fairly. We report a case of brain stem PRES in normotensive, nephrotic syndrome patient.

Keywords: posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, MRI, nephrotic syndrome, vasogenic brain edema

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Authors: Ying-Yi Laio, Yea-Ru Yang, Yih-Ru Wu, Ray-Yau Wang

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Background: Virtual reality (VR) systems are proved to increase motor performance in stroke and elderly. However, the effects have not been established in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Purpose: To examine the effects of VR based training in improving muscle strength, sensory integration ability and walking abilities in patients with PD by a randomized controlled trial. Method: Thirty six participants with diagnosis of PD were randomly assigned to one of the three groups (n=12 for each group). Participants received VR-based Wii Fit exercise (VRWii group) or traditional exercise (TE group) for 45 minutes, followed by treadmill training for another 15 minutes for 12 sessions in 6 weeks. Participants in the control group received no structured exercise program but fall-prevention education. Outcomes included lower extremity muscle strength, sensory integration ability, walking velocity, stride length, and functional gait assessment (FGA). All outcomes were assessed at baseline, after training and at 1-month follow-up. Results: Both VRWii and TE groups showed more improvement in level walking velocity, stride length, FGA, muscle strength and vestibular system integration than control group after training and at 1-month follow-up. The VRWii training, but not the TE training, resulted in more improvement in visual system integration than the control. Conclusions: VRWii training is as beneficial as traditional exercise in improving walking abilities, sensory integration ability and muscle strength in patients with PD, and such improvements persisted at least for 1 month. The VRWii training is then suggested to be implemented in patients with PD.

Keywords: virtual reality, walking, sensory integration, muscle strength, Parkinson’s disease

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Authors: David Ryan, Martin Breugst, Turlough Downes, Peter A. Byrne, Gerard P. McGlacken

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An ambident nucleophile is a nucleophile that possesses two or more distinct nucleophilic sites that are linked through resonance and are effectively “in competition” for reaction with an electrophile. Examples include enolates, pyridone anions, and nitrite anions, among many others. Reactions of ambident nucleophiles and electrophiles are extremely prevalent at all levels of organic synthesis. The principle of hard and soft acids and bases (the “HSAB principle”) is most commonly cited in the explanation of selectivities in such reactions. Although this rationale is pervasive in any discussion on ambident reactivity, the HSAB principle has received considerable criticism. As a result, the principle’s supplantation has become an area of active interest in recent years. This project focuses on developing a model for rationalizing ambident reactivity. Presented here is an approach that incorporates computational calculations and experimental kinetic data to construct Gibbs energy profile diagrams. The preferred site of alkylation of nitrite anion with a range of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ alkylating agents was established by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Pseudo-first-order rate constants were measured directly by ¹H NMR reaction monitoring, and the corresponding second-order constants and Gibbs energies of activation were derived. These, in combination with computationally derived standard Gibbs energies of reaction, were sufficient to construct Gibbs energy wells. By representing the ambident system as a series of overlapping Gibbs energy wells, a more intuitive picture of ambident reactivity emerges. Here, previously unexplained switches in reactivity in reactions involving closely related electrophiles are elucidated.

Keywords: ambident, Gibbs, nucleophile, rates

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Authors: Salma E. Ahmed

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Since the mid 50’s, enormous attention has been paid towards nanocarriers and their applications in drug and gene delivery. Among these vesicles, liposomes and micelles have been heavily investigated due to their many advantages over other types. Liposomes, for instance, are mostly distinguished by their ability to encapsulate hydrophobic, hydrophilic and amphiphilic drugs. Micelles, on the other hand, are self-assembled shells of lipids, amphiphilic or oppositely charged block copolymers that, once exposed to aqueous media, can entrap hydrophobic agents, and possess prolonged circulation in the bloodstream. Both carriers are considered compatible and biodegradable. Nevertheless, they have limited stabilities, chemical versatilities, and drug encapsulation efficiencies. In order to overcome these downsides, strategies for optimizing a novel drug delivery system that has the architecture of liposomes and polymeric characteristics of micelles have been evolved. Polymersomes are vehicles with fluidic cores and hydrophobic shells that are protected and isolated from the aqueous media by the hydrated hydrophilic brushes which give the carrier its distinctive polymeric bilayer shape. Similar to liposomes, this merit enables the carrier to encapsulate a wide range of agents, despite their affinities and solubilities in water. Adding to this, the high molecular weight of the amphiphiles that build the body of the polymersomes increases their colloidal and chemical stabilities and reduces the permeability of the polymeric membranes, which makes the vesicles more protective to the encapsulated drug. These carriers can also be modified in ways that make them responsive when targeted or triggered, by manipulating their composition and attaching moieties and conjugates to the body of the carriers. These appealing characteristics, in addition to the ease of synthesis, gave the polymersomes greater potentials in the area of drug delivery. Thus, their design and characterization, in comparison with liposomes and micelles, are briefly reviewed in this work.

Keywords: controlled release, liposomes, micelles, polymersomes, targeting

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Authors: B. Niez, B. Moulia, J. Dlouha, E. Badel

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Trees adjust their development to the environmental conditions they experience. Storms events of last decades showed that acclimation of trees to mechanical stresses due to wind is a very important process that allows the trees to sustain for long years. In the future, trees will experience new wind patterns, namely, more often strong winds and fewer daily moderate winds. Moreover, these patterns will go along with drought periods that may interact with the capacity of trees to adjust their growth to mechanical stresses due to wind. It is necessary to understand the mechanisms of wood functional acclimations to environmental conditions in order to predict their behaviour and in order to give foresters and breeders the relevant tools to adapt their forest management. This work aims to study how trees adjust the mechanical and hydraulic functions of their wood to environmental stresses and how this acclimation may be beneficial for the tree to resist to future stresses. In this work, young poplars were grown under controlled climatic conditions that include permanent environmental stress (daily mechanical stress of the stem by bending and/or hydric stress). Then, the properties of wood formed under these stressed conditions were characterized. First, hydraulic conductivity and sensibility to cavitation were measured at the tissue level in order to evaluate the changes in water transport capacity. Secondly, bending tests and Charpy impact tests were carried out at the millimetric scale to locally measure mechanical parameters such as elastic modulus, elastic limit or rupture energy. These experimental data allow evaluating the impacts of mechanical and water stress on the wood material. At the stem level, they will be merged in an integrative model in order to evaluate the beneficial aspect of wood acclimation for trees.

Keywords: acclimation, environmental stresses, hydraulics, mechanics, wood

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