Search results for: retrieval augmented generation

Authors: Maria Luisa de la Torre, Javier Aroba, Jose Miguel Davila, Aguasanta M. Sarmiento

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Steel is one of the most widely used materials in polymetallic sulfide mining installations. One of the main problems suffered by these facilities is the economic losses due to the corrosion of this material, which is accelerated and aggravated by the contact with acid waters generated in these mines when sulfides come into contact with oxygen and water. This generation of acidic water, in turn, is accelerated by the presence of acidophilic bacteria. In order to gain a more detailed understanding of this corrosion process and the interaction between steel and acidic water, a laboratory experiment was carried out in which carbon steel plates were introduced into four different solutions for 27 days: distilled water (BK), which tried to assimilate the effect produced by rain on this material, an acid solution from a mine with a high Fe2+/Fe3+ (PO) content, another acid solution of water from another mine with a high Fe3+/Fe2+ (PH) content and, finally, one that reproduced the acid mine water with a high Fe2+/Fe3+ content but in which there were no bacteria (ST). Every 24 hours, physicochemical parameters were measured, and water samples were taken to carry out an analysis of the dissolved elements. The results of these measurements were processed using an explainable AI model based on fuzzy logic. It could be seen that, in all cases, there was an increase in pH, as well as in the concentrations of Fe and, in particular, Fe(II), as a consequence of the oxidation of the steel plates. Proportionally, the increase in Fe concentration was higher in PO and ST than in PH because Fe precipitates were produced in the latter. The rise of Fe(II) was proportionally much higher in PH, especially in the first hours of exposure, because it started from a lower initial concentration of this ion. Although to a lesser extent than in PH, the greater increase in Fe(II) also occurred faster in PO than in ST, a consequence of the action of the catalytic bacteria. On the other hand, Cu concentrations decreased throughout the experiment (with the exception of distilled water, which initially had no Cu, as a result of an electrochemical process that generates a precipitation of Cu together with Fe hydroxides. This decrease is lower in PH because the high total acidity keeps it in solution for a longer time. With the application of an artificial intelligence tool, it has been possible to evaluate the effects of steel corrosion in mining environments, corroborating and extending what was obtained by means of classical statistics.

Keywords: acid mine drainage, artificial intelligence, carbon steel, corrosion, fuzzy logic

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Authors: George Leventakis, George Kokkinis, Nikos Moustakidis, George Papalexandratos, Ioanna Vasiliadou

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Enhancing the feeling of public safety and crime prevention are tasks customarily assigned to the Police. Police departments have, however, recognized that traditional ways of policing methods are becoming obsolete; Community Policing (CP) philosophy; however, when applied appropriately, leads to seamless collaboration between various stakeholders like the Police, NGOs and the general public and provides the opportunity to identify risks, assist in solving problems of crime, disorder, safety and crucially contribute to improving the quality of life for everyone in a community. Social Media, on the other hand, due to its high level of infiltration in modern life, constitutes a powerful mechanism which offers additional and direct communication channels to reach individuals or communities. These channels can be utilized to improve the citizens’ perception of the Police and to capture individual and community needs, when their feedback is taken into account by Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in a structured and coordinated manner. This paper presents research conducted under INSPEC²T (Inspiring CitizeNS Participation for Enhanced Community PoliCing AcTions), a project funded by the European Commission’s research agenda to bridge the gap between CP as a philosophy and as an organizational strategy, capitalizing on the use of Social Media. The project aims to increase transparency, trust, police accountability, and the role of civil society. It aspires to build strong, trusting relationships between LEAs and the public, supporting two-way, contemporary communication while at the same time respecting anonymity of all affected parties. Results presented herein summarize the outcomes of four online multilingual surveys, focus group interviews, desktop research and interviews with experts in the field of CP practices. The above research activities were conducted in various EU countries aiming to capture requirements of end users from diverse backgrounds (social, cultural, legal and ethical) and determine public expectations regarding CP, community safety and crime prevention.

Keywords: community partnerships, next generation community policing, social media, public safety

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Authors: Mario J. Meco-Gutierrez, Francisco Perez-Hidalgo, Juan R. Heredia-Larrubia, Antonio Ruiz-Gonzalez, Francisco Vargas-Merino

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More and more applications power inverters connected to transformers, for example, the connection facilities to the power grid renewable generation. It is well known that the quality of signal power inverters it is not a pure sine. The harmonic content produced negative effects, one of which is the heating of electrical machines and therefore, affects the life of the machines. The decrease of life of transformers can be calculated by Arrhenius or Montsinger equation. Analyzing this expression any (long-term) decrease of a transformer temperature for 6º C - 7º C means doubles its life-expectancy. Methodologies: This work presents the technique of pulse width modulation (PWM) with an injection of harmonic and triangular frequency carrier modulated in frequency. This technique is used to improve the quality of the output voltage signal of the power inverters controlled PWM. The proposed technique increases in the fundamental term and a significant reduction in low order harmonics with the same commutations per time that control sine PWM. To achieve this, the modulating wave is compared to a triangular carrier with variable frequency over the period of the modulator. Therefore, it is, advantageous for the modulating signal to have a large amount of sinusoidal “information” in the areas of greater sampling. A triangular signal with a frequency that varies over the modulator’s period is used as a carrier, for obtaining more samples in the area with the greatest slope. A power inverter controlled by PWM proposed technique is connected to a transformer. Results: In order to verify the derived thermal parameters under different operation conditions, another ambient and loading scenario is involved for a further verification, which was sampled from the same power transformer. Temperatures of different parts of the transformer will be exposed for each PWM control technique analyzed. An assessment of the temperature be done with different techniques PWM control and hence the life of the transformer is calculated for each technique. Conclusion: This paper analyzes such as transformer heating produced by this technique and compared with other forms of PWM control. In it can be seen as a reduction the harmonic content produces less heat transformer and therefore, an increase in the life of the transformer.

Keywords: heating, power-inverter, PWM, transformer

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Authors: Leila H. Khiabani, Mohammadreza Vafaee, Farshad Hashemzadeh

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Industrial waste management regulates different stages of production, storage, transfer, recycling and waste disposal. There are several common practices for industrial waste management. However, due to various local health, economic, social, environmental and aesthetic considerations, the most optimal principles and measures often vary at each specific industrial zone. In addition, waste management strategies are heavily impacted by local administrative, legal, and financial regulations. In this study, a hybrid qualitative and quantitative research methodology has been designed for waste management planning in an industrial city. Firstly, following a qualitative research methodology, the most relevant waste management strategies for the specific industrial city were identified through interviews with environmental planning and waste management experts. Forty experts participated in this study. Alborz industrial city in Iran, which hosts more than one thousand industrial units in nine hundred acres, was chosen as the sample industrial city in this study. The findings from the expert interviews at the first phase were then used to design a quantitative questionnaire for the second phase of the study. The aim of the questionnaire was to quantify the relative impact of different waste management strategies in the sample industrial city. Eight waste management strategies and three implementation policies were included in the questionnaire. The experts were asked to rank the relative effectiveness of each strategy for environmental planning of the sample industrial city. They were also asked to rank the relative effectiveness of each planning policy on each of the waste management strategies. In the end, the weighted average of all the responses was calculated to identify the most effective waste management strategy and planning policies for the sample industrial city. The results suggested that among the eight suggested waste management strategies, industrial composting is the most effective (31%) strategy based on the collective evaluation of the local expert. Additionally, the results suggested that the most effective policy (58%) in the city’s environmental planning is to reduce waste generation by prolonging the effective life of industrial products using higher quality and recyclable materials. These findings can provide useful expert guidelines for prioritization between different waste management strategies in the city’s overall environmental planning roadmap. The findings may also be applicable to similar industrial cities. In addition, a similar methodology can be utilized in the environmental planning of other industrial cities.

Keywords: environmental planning, industrial city, quantitative research, waste management

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Esmaili

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One of the most important parts of the restoration process of a power network is the synchronizing of its subsystems. In this situation, the biggest concern of the system operators will be the reduction of the standing phase angle (SPA) between the endpoints of the two islands. In this regard, the system operators perform various actions and maneuvers so that the synchronization operation of the subsystems is successfully carried out and the system finally reaches acceptable stability. The most common of these actions include load control, generation control and, in some cases, changing the network topology. Although these maneuvers are simple and common, due to the weak network and extreme load changes, the restoration will be associated with low speed. One of the best ways to control the SPA is to use FACTS devices. By applying a soft control signal, these tools can reduce the SPA between two subsystems with more speed and accuracy, and the synchronization process can be done in less time. Meanwhile, the unified power controller (UPFC), a series-parallel compensator device with the change of transmission line power and proper adjustment of the phase angle, will be the proposed option in order to realize the subject of this research. Therefore, with the optimal placement of UPFC in a power system, in addition to improving the normal conditions of the system, it is expected to be effective in reducing the SPA during power system restoration. Therefore, the presented paper provides an optimal structure to coordinate the three problems of improving the division of subsystems, reducing the SPA and optimal power flow with the aim of determining the optimal location of UPFC and optimal subsystems. The proposed objective functions in this paper include maximizing the quality of the subsystems, reducing the SPA at the endpoints of the subsystems, and reducing the losses of the power system. Since there will be a possibility of creating contradictions in the simultaneous optimization of the proposed objective functions, the structure of the proposed optimization problem is introduced as a non-linear multi-objective problem, and the Pareto optimization method is used to solve it. The innovative technique proposed to implement the optimization process of the mentioned problem is an optimization algorithm called the water cycle (WCA). To evaluate the proposed method, the IEEE 39 bus power system will be used.

Keywords: UPFC, SPA, water cycle algorithm, multi-objective problem, pareto

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Authors: Laura Salvia Diaz Silvarrey, Anh Phan

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Municipal Plastic Waste (MPW) comprises a mixture of thermoplastics such as high and low density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Recycling rate of these plastics is low, e.g. only 27% in 2013. The remains were incinerated or disposed in landfills. As MPW generation increases approximately 5% per annum, MPW management technologies have to be developed to comply with legislation . Pyrolysis, thermochemical decomposition, provides an excellent alternative to convert MPW into valuable resources like fuels and chemicals. Most studies on waste plastic kinetics only focused on HDPE and LDPE with a simple assumption of first order decomposition, which is not the real reaction mechanism. The aim of this study was to develop a kinetic study for each of the polymers in the MPW mixture using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) over a range of heating rates (5, 10, 20 and 40°C/min) in N2 atmosphere and sample size of 1 – 4mm. A model-free kinetic method was applied to quantify the activation energy at each level of conversion. Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS) and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) equations jointly with Master Plots confirmed that the activation energy was not constant along all the reaction for all the five plastic studied, showing that MPW decomposed through a complex mechanism and not by first-order kinetics. Master plots confirmed that MPW decomposed following a random scission mechanism at conversions above 40%. According to the random scission mechanism, different radicals are formed along the backbone producing the cleavage of bonds by chain scission into molecules of different lengths. The cleavage of bonds during random scission follows first-order kinetics and it is related with the conversion. When a bond is broken one part of the initial molecule becomes an unsaturated one and the other a terminal free radical. The latter can react with hydrogen from and adjacent carbon releasing another free radical and a saturated molecule or reacting with another free radical and forming an alkane. Not every time a bonds is broken a molecule is evaporated. At early stages of the reaction (conversion and temperature below 40% and 300°C), most products are not short enough to evaporate. Only at higher degrees of conversion most of cleavage of bonds releases molecules small enough to evaporate.

Keywords: kinetic, municipal plastic waste, pyrolysis, random scission

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Authors: Madia Safdar, G. Amjad Hussain, Mashhood Ahmad

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One of the major challenges of today’s era is peak demand which causes stress on the transmission lines and also raises the cost of energy generation and ultimately higher electricity bills to the end users, and it was used to be managed by the supply side management. However, nowadays this has been withdrawn because of existence of potential in the demand side management (DSM) having its economic and- environmental advantages. DSM in domestic load can play a vital role in reducing the peak load demand on the network provides a significant cost saving. In this paper the potential of demand response (DR) in reducing the peak load demands and electricity bills to the electric users is elaborated. For this purpose the domestic appliances are modeled in MATLAB Simulink and controlled by a module called energy management controller. The devices are categorized into controllable and uncontrollable loads and are operated according to real-time tariff pricing pattern instead of fixed time pricing or variable pricing. Energy management controller decides the switching instants of the controllable appliances based on the results from optimization algorithms. In GAMS software, the MILP (mixed integer linear programming) algorithm is used for optimization. In different cases, different constraints are used for optimization, considering the comforts, needs and priorities of the end users. Results are compared and the savings in electricity bills are discussed in this paper considering real time pricing and fixed tariff pricing, which exhibits the existence of potential to reduce electricity bills and peak loads in demand side management. It is seen that using real time pricing tariff instead of fixed tariff pricing helps to save in the electricity bills. Moreover the simulation results of the proposed energy management system show that the gained power savings lie in high range. It is anticipated that the result of this research will prove to be highly effective to the utility companies as well as in the improvement of domestic DR.

Keywords: controllable and uncontrollable domestic loads, demand response, demand side management, optimization, MILP (mixed integer linear programming)

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Authors: Rawia M. Khalil, Ghada Abd-Elbary, Mona Basha, Ghada E. A. Awad, Hadeer A. Elhashemy

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Background: Bacterial infections of the eye are the clinical conditions responsible for ocular morbidity and blindness. Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, due to Staphylococcus aureus. Lomefloxacin HCl (LXN) is a third generation flouroquinolone antibiotic with a broad spectrum against wide range of bacteria and very effective against Staph infections especially in conjunctiva (conjunctivitis). The present study aims to develop and evaluate novel ocular proniosomal gels of Lomefloxacin Hcl (LXN); in order to improve its ocular bioavailability for the management of bacterial conjunctivitis. Materials and methods: Proniosomes were prepared by coacervation phase separation method using different types of nonionic surfactants (Span 60,40,20,Tween 20,40,60,80,Brij 35,98,72) solely and as mixtures with Span® 60. The formed gels were characterized for entrapment efficiency, vesicle size and in vitro drug release. The optimum proniosomal gel; P-LXN 7 were characterized for pH measurement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as well as Stability study and microbiological evaluation .The results revealed that only Span 60 was able to form stable LXN proniosomal gel when used individually while the other nonionic surfactants formed gels only in combination with Span 60 at different ratios. The optimum proniosomal gel; P-LXN 7 (Span60:Tween60, 9:1) appeared as spherical shaped vesicles having high entrapment efficiency (>80 %), appropriate vesicle size (187 nm) as well as controlled drug release over 12h. DSC confirmed the amorphous nature and the uniformity of LXN inclusion within the vesicles. Physical stability study did not show any significant changes in appearance or entrapment efficiency or vesicle size after storage for 3 months at 4°C. Ocular irritancy test revealed that P-LXN 7 was safe, well tolerable and suitable for ocular delivery. In vivo antibacterial activity of P-LXN 7 evaluated using the susceptibility test and topical therapy of induced ocular conjunctivitis confirmed the enhanced antibacterial therapeutic efficacy of the LXN-proniosomal gel compared to the commercially available LXN eye drops; Orchacin®. Conclusions: Our results suggest that proniosomal gels could provide a promising carrier of LXN for efficient ocular treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis.

Keywords: bacterial conjunctivitis, lomefloxacin HCl, ocular drug delivery, proniosomes

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Authors: Kishor Prasad Bhatta, Suman Ghimire, Durga Prasad Joshi

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Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are considered waste forest resources in Nepal. The rapid expansion of IAS is one of the nine main drivers of forest degradation, though the extent and distribution of this species are not well known. Further, the knowledge of the impact of IAS removal on forest plant diversity is hardly known, and the possibilities of income generation from them at the grass-root communities are rarely documented. Systematic sampling of 1% with nested circular plots of 500 square meters was performed in IAS removed and non-removed area, each of 30 hectares in Udayapur Community Forest User Group (CFUG), Chitwan, central Nepal to observe whether the removal of IAS contributed to an increase in plant diversity. In addition, ten entrepreneurs of Udaypur CFUG, involved in the charcoal production, briquette making and marketing were interviewed and interacted as well as their record keeping booklets were reviewed to understand if the charcoal production contributed to their income and employment. The average annual precipitation and temperature of the study area is 2100 mm and 34 degree Celsius respectively with Shorea robusta as main tree species and Eupatorium odoratum as dominant IAS. All the interviewed households were from the ̔below-poverty-line’ category as per Community Forestry Guidelines. A higher Shannon-Weiner plant diversity index at regeneration level was observed in IAS removed areas (2.43) than in control site (1.95). Furthermore, the number of tree seedlings and saplings in the IAS harvested blocks were significantly higher (p < 0.005) compared to the unharvested one. The sale of charcoal produced through the pyrolysis of IAS in ̔ Bio-energy kilns’ contributed for an average increased income of 30.95 % (Nepalese rupees 31,000) of the involved households. Despite above factors, some operational policy hurdles related to charcoal transport and taxation existed at field level. This study suggests that plant diversity could be increased through the removal of IAS, and considerable economic benefits could be achieved if charcoal is substantially produced and utilized.

Keywords: briquette, economic benefits, pyrolysis, regeneration

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Authors: Haolun Sun, Ping Wang, Mei Wu, Meng Zhang, Bin Hou, Ling Yang, Xiaohua Ma, Yue Hao

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Gallium nitride (GaN) is an attractive material for next-generation power devices. It is noted that the performance of GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) is always limited by the self-heating effect. In response to the problem, integrating devices with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) has been demonstrated to be an efficient way to alleviate the self-heating issue of the GaN-based HEMTs. Among all the heat-spreading schemes, using PCD to cap the epitaxial layer before the HEMTs process is one of the most effective schemes. Now, the mainstream method of fabricating the PCD-capped HEMTs is to deposit the diamond heat-spreading layer on the AlGaN surface, which is covered by a thin nucleation dielectric/passivation layer. To achieve the pattern etching of the diamond heat spreader and device preparation, we selected SiN as the hard mask for diamond etching, which was deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The conventional diamond etching method first uses F-based etching to remove the SiN from the special window region, followed by using O₂/Ar plasma to etch the diamond. However, the results of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and focused ion beam microscopy (FIB) show that there are lots of diamond pillars on the etched diamond surface. Through our study, we found that it was caused by the high roughness of the diamond surface and the existence of the overlap between the diamond grains, which makes the etching of the SiN hard mask insufficient and leaves micro-masks on the diamond surface. Thus, a cyclic etching method was proposed to solve the problem of the residual SiN, which was left in the F-based etching. We used F-based etching during the first step to remove the SiN hard mask in the specific region; then, the O₂/Ar plasma was introduced to etch the diamond in the corresponding region. These two etching steps were set as one cycle. After the first cycle, we further used cyclic etching to clear the pillars, in which the F-based etching was used to remove the residual SiN, and then the O₂/Ar plasma was used to etch the diamond. Whether to take the next cyclic etching depends on whether there are still SiN micro-masks left. By using this method, we eventually achieved the self-terminated etching of the diamond and the smooth surface after the etching. These results demonstrate that the cyclic etching method can be successfully applied to the integrated preparation of polycrystalline diamond thin films and GaN HEMTs.

Keywords: AlGaN/GaN heterojunction, O₂/Ar plasma, cyclic etching, polycrystalline diamond

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Authors: M. Nadeem, S. Nasir, K. A. Moazzam, R. Kashif

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The remarkable growth and evolution in information and communication technology (ICT) in the past few decades has transformed modern society in almost every aspect of life. The impact and application of ICT have been observed in almost all walks of life including science, arts, business, health, management, engineering, sports, and education. ICT in education is being used extensively for student learning, creativity, interaction, and knowledge sharing and as a valuable source of teaching instrument. Apart from the student’s perspective, it plays a vital role for teacher education, instructional methods and curriculum development. There is a significant difference in growth of ICT enabled education in developing countries compared to developed nations and according to research, this gap is widening. ICT gradually infiltrate in almost every aspect of life. It has a deep and profound impact on our social, economic, health, environment, development, work, learning, and education environments. ICT provides very effective and dominant tools for information and knowledge processing. It is firmly believed that the coming generation should be proficient and confident in the use of ICT to cope with the existing international standards. This is only possible if schools can provide basic ICT infrastructure to students and to develop an ICT-integrated curriculum which covers all aspects of learning and creativity in students. However, there is a digital divide and steps must be taken to reduce this digital divide considerably to have the profound impact of ICT in education all around the globe. This study is based on theoretical approach and an extensive literature review is being conducted to see the successful implementations of ICT integration in education and to identify technologies and models which have been used in education in developed countries. This paper deals with the modern applications of ICT in schools for both teachers and students to uplift the learning and creativity amongst the students. A brief history of technology in education is presented and discussed are some important ICT tools for both student and teacher’s perspective. Basic ICT-based infrastructure for academic institutions is presented. The overall conclusion leads to the positive impact of ICT in education by providing an interactive, collaborative and challenging environment to students and teachers for knowledge sharing, learning and critical thinking.

Keywords: information and communication technology, ICT, education, ICT infrastructure, learning

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Authors: Nizar Chaira

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Dates, main products of the oases, due to their therapeutic interests, are considered highly nutritious fruit. Several studies on the valuation biotechnology and technology of dates are made, and several products are already prepared. Isolation of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, naturally presents in a scrap of date, optimization of growth in the medium based on date syrup and production biomass can potentially expand the range of secondary products of dates. To this end, this paper tries to study the suitability for processing dates technology and biotechnology to use the date pulp as a carbon source for biological transformation. Two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from date syrup (S1, S2) and a commercial strain have used for this study. After optimization of culture conditions, production in a fermenter on two different media (date syrup and beet molasses) was performed. This is followed by studying the kinetics of growth, protein production and consumption of sugars in crops strain 1, 2 and the commercial strain and on both media. The results obtained showed that a concentration of 2% sugar, 2.5 g/l yeast extract, pH 4.5 and a temperature between 25 and 35°C are the optimal conditions for cultivation in a bioreactor. The exponential phase of the specific growth rate of a strain on both media showed that it is about 0.3625 h-1 for the production of a medium based on date syrup and 0.3521 h-1 on beet molasses with a generation time equal to 1.912 h and on the medium based on date syrup, yeast consumes preferentially the reducing sugars. For the production of protein, we showed that this latter presents an exponential phase when the medium starts to run out of reducing sugars. For strain 2, the specific growth rate is about 0.261h-1 for the production on a medium based on date syrup and 0207 h-1 on beet molasses and the base medium syrup date of the yeast consumes preferentially reducing sugars. For the invertase and other metabolits, these increases rapidly after exhaustion of reducing sugars. The comparison of productivity between the three strains on the medium based on date syrup showed that the maximum value is obtained with the second strain: p = 1072 g/l/h as it is about of 0923 g/l/h for strain 1 and 0644 g/l/h for the commercial strain. Thus, isolates of date syrup are more competitive than the commercial strain and can give the same performance in a shorter time with energy gain.

Keywords: date palm, fermentation, molasses, Saccharomyces, syrup

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Authors: Hussam Ashwi, Magbool Oraiby, Ali Muyidi, Hamad Al-Oufi, Mohammed Al-Oufi, Adel Al-Juhani, Salman Al-Zemaa, Saeed Al-Shahrani, Amal Abuallah, Wedad Sherwani, Mohammed Alattas, Ibraheem Attafi

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Ethanol must be accurately identified and quantified to establish their use and contribution in criminal cases and forensic medicine. In some situations, it may be necessary to reanalyze an old specimen; therefore, it is essential to comprehend the effect of storage conditions and how long the result of a reanalyzed specimen can be reliable and reproducible. Additionally, ethanol can be produced via multiple in vivo and in vitro processes, particularly in diabetic patients, and the results can be affected by storage conditions and time. In order to distinguish between in vivo and in vitro alcohol generation in diabetes patient urine samples, various factors should be considered. This study identifies and quantifies ethanol and EtG in diabetic patients' urine samples stored in two different settings over time. Ethanol levels were determined using gas chromatography-headspace (GC-HS), and ethyl glucuronide (EtG) levels were determined using the immunoassay (RANDOX) technique. Ten urine specimens were collected and placed in a standard container. Each specimen was separated into two containers. The specimens were divided into two groups: those kept at room temperature (25 °C) and those kept cold (2-8 °C). Ethanol and EtG levels were determined serially over a two-week period. Initial results showed that none of the specimens tested positive for ethanol or EtG. At room temperature (15-25 °C), 7 and 14 days after the sample was taken, the average concentration of ethanol increased from 1.7 mg/dL to 2 mg/dL, and the average concentration of EtG increased from 108 ng/mL to 186 ng/mL. At 2–8 °C, the average ethanol concentration was 0.4 and 0.5 mg/dL, and the average EtG concentration was 138 and 124 ng/mL seven and fourteen days after the sample was collected, respectively. When ethanol and EtG levels were determined 14 days post collection, they were considerably lower than when stored at room temperature. A considerable increase in EtG concentrations (14-day range 0–186 ng/mL) is produced during room-temperature storage, although negative initial results for all specimens. Because EtG might be produced after a sampling collection, it is not a reliable indicator of recent alcohol consumption. Given the possibility of misleading EtG results due to in vitro EtG production in the urine of diabetic patients.

Keywords: ethyl glucuronide, ethanol, forensic toxicology, diabetic

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Authors: Mehdi Piri Ouchtapeh, Fariba Mehrkhou, Maryam Fourouzan

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The cabbage aphid, Bravicoryne brassicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is known as an economically important and oligophagous pest of different cole crops. The polyvolitine characteristics of B. brassicae resulted in resistance to insecticides. For this purpose, in this study, the sub-lethal concentration (LC25) of two insecticides, clothianidin and summer oil, on the life table parameters and population projection of cabbage aphid were studied at controlled condition (20±1 ℃, R.H. 60 ±5 % and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (L:D). The dipping method was used in bioassay and life table studies. Briefly, the leaves of cabbage containing 15 the same-aged (24h) adults of cabbage aphid (four replicates) were dipped into the related concentrations of insecticides for 10 s. The sub-lethal (LC25) obtained concentration were used 5.822 and 108.741 p.p.m for clothianidin and summer oil, respectively. The biological and life table studies were done using at least 100, 93 and 82 the same age of eggs for control, summer oil and clothianidin treatments respectively. The life history data of the greenhouse whitefly cohorts exposed to sublethal concentration of the aforementioned insecticides were analyzed using the computer program TWOSEX–MSChart based on the age-stage, two-sex life table theory. The results of this study showed that the used insecticides affected the developmental time, survival rate, adult longevity, and fecundity of the F1 generation. The developmental time on control, clothianidin and summer oil treatments was obtained (5.91 ± 0.10 days), (7.64 ± 0.12 days) and (6.66 ± 0.10 days), respectively. The sublethal concentration of clothianidin resulted in decreasing of adult longevity (8.63 ± 0.30 days), fecundity (14.14 ± 87 nymphs), survival rate (71%) and the life expectancy (10.26 days) of B. brassicae, as well. Additionally, usage of LC25 insecticides led to decreasing of the net reproductive rate (R0) of the cabbage aphid compared to summer oil and control treatments. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) (day-1) was decreased in F1 adults of cabbage aphid compared with other treatments. Additionally, the population projection results were accordance with the population growth rate of cabbage aphid. Therefore, the findings of this research showed that, however, both of the insecticides were effective on cabbage aphid population, but clothianidin was more effective and could be consider in the management of aforementioned pest.

Keywords: the cabbage aphid, sublethal effects, survival rate, population projection, life expectancy

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Authors: K. P. Valdés García, E. I. Rodríguez Fonseca, L. G. Juárez Cantú

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Suicide is a global, multidimensional and dynamic problem of mental health, which requires a constant study for its understanding and prevention. When research of this phenomenon is done, it is necessary to consider the different characteristics it may have because of the individual and sociocultural variables, the importance of this consideration is related to the generation of effective treatments and interventions. Adolescents are a vulnerable population due to the characteristics of the development stage. The investigation was carried out with the objective of identifying and describing the conceptualization of adolescents of suicide, and in this process, we find possible differences between men and women. The study was carried out in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. The sample was composed of 418 volunteer students aged between 11 and 18 years. The ethical aspects of the research were reviewed and considered in all the processes of the investigation with the participants, their parents and the schools to which they belonged, psychological attention was offered to the participants and preventive workshops were carried in the educational institutions. Natural semantic networks were the instrument used, since this hybrid method allows to find and analyze the social concept of a phenomenon; in this case, the word suicide was used as an evocative stimulus and participants were asked to evoke at least five words and a maximum 10 that they thought were related to suicide, and then hierarchize them according to the closeness with the construct. The subsequent analysis was carried with Excel, yielding the semantic weights, affective loads and the distances between each of the semantic fields established according to the words reported by the subjects. The results showed similarities in the conceptualization of suicide in adolescents, men and women. Seven semantic fields were generated; the words were related in the discourse analysis: 1) death, 2) possible triggering factors, 3) associated moods, 4) methods used to carry it out, 5) psychological symptomatology that could affect, 6) words associated with a rejection of suicide, and finally, 7) specific objects to carry it out. One of the necessary aspects to consider in the investigations of complex issues such as suicide is to have a diversity of instruments and techniques that adjust to the characteristics of the population and that allow to understand the phenomena from the social constructs and not only theoretical. The constant study of suicide is a pressing need, the loss of a life from emotional difficulties that can be solved through psychiatry and psychological methods requires governments and professionals to pay attention and work with the risk population.

Keywords: adolescents, psychological construct, semantic networks, suicide

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Authors: Tesfaye Mengistu

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Power cables play a crucial role in the transmission and distribution of electrical energy. As the electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and storage systems become smarter, there is a growing emphasis on incorporating intelligent approaches to ensure the reliability of power cables. Various types of electrical cables are employed for transmitting and distributing electrical energy, with cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables being widely utilized due to their exceptional electrical and mechanical properties. However, insulation defects can occur in XLPE cables due to subpar manufacturing techniques during production and cable joint installation. To address this issue, experts have proposed different methods for monitoring XLPE cables. Some suggest the use of interdigital capacitive (IDC) technology for online monitoring, while others propose employing continuous wave (CW) terahertz (THz) imaging systems to detect internal defects in XLPE plates used for power cable insulation. In this study, we have developed models that employ a custom dataset collected locally to classify the physical safety status of individual power cables. Our models aim to replace physical inspections with computer vision and image processing techniques to classify defective power cables from non-defective ones. The implementation of our project utilized the Python programming language along with the TensorFlow package and a convolutional neural network (CNN). The CNN-based algorithm was specifically chosen for power cable defect classification. The results of our project demonstrate the effectiveness of CNNs in accurately classifying power cable defects. We recommend the utilization of similar or additional datasets to further enhance and refine our models. Additionally, we believe that our models could be used to develop methodologies for detecting power cable defects from live video feeds. We firmly believe that our work makes a significant contribution to the field of power cable inspection and maintenance. Our models offer a more efficient and cost-effective approach to detecting power cable defects, thereby improving the reliability and safety of power grids.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, computer vision, defect detection, convolutional neural net

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Ola A. Nassr, Ali M. Abd Alridha, Rua A. Naser, Rasha S. Abbas

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Background: Excessive and inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents among hospitalized patients remains an important patient safety and public health issue worldwide. Not only does this behavior incur unnecessary cost but it is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to obtain an insight into the prescribing patterns of antibiotics in surgical and medical wards, to help identify a scope for improvement in service delivery. Method: A simple point prevalence survey included a convenience sample of 200 patients admitted to medical and surgical wards in a government teaching hospital in Baghdad between October 2017 and April 2018. Data were collected by a trained pharmacy intern using a standardized form. Patient’s demographics and details of the prescribed antibiotics, including dose, frequency of dosing and route of administration, were reported. Patients were included if they had been admitted at least 24 hours before the survey. Patients under 18 years of age, having a diagnosis of cancer or shock, or being admitted to the intensive care unit, were excluded. Data were checked and entered by the authors into Excel and were subjected to frequency analysis, which was carried out on anonymized data to protect patient confidentiality. Results: Overall, 88.5% of patients (n=177) received 293 antibiotics during their hospital admission, with a small variation between wards (80%-97%). The average number of antibiotics prescribed per patient was 1.65, ranging from 1.3 for medical patients to 1.95 for surgical patients. Parenteral third-generation cephalosporins were the most commonly prescribed at a rate of 54.3% (n=159) followed by nitroimidazole 29.4% (n=86), quinolones 7.5% (n=22) and macrolides 4.4% (n=13), while carbapenems and aminoglycosides were the least prescribed together accounting for only 4.4% (n=13). The intravenous route was the most common route of administration, used for 96.6% of patients (n=171). Indications were reported in only 63.8% of cases. Culture to identify pathogenic organisms was employed in only 0.5% of cases. Conclusion: Broad-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed at an alarming rate. This practice may provoke antibiotic resistance and adversely affect the patient outcome. Implementation of an antibiotic stewardship program is warranted to enhance the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of antimicrobial agents.

Keywords: Acute care, Antibiotic misuse, Iraq, Prescribing

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Ujjawal Kumar Bhagat, Kamaluddin, Rama Krishna Peddinti

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The Huisgen’s 1,3-dipolar [3+2] cycloaddition of organic azides and alkynes often give the mixtures of both the regioisomers 1,4- and 1,5- disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles. Later, in presence of metal salts (click chemistry) such as copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) was used for the synthesis of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles as a sole products regioselectively. Also, the ‘click reactions’ of Ruthenium-catalyzed azides-alkynes cycloaddition (RuAAC) is used for the synthesis of 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles as a single isomer. The synthesis of 1,4- and 1.5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles has become the gold standard of ‘click chemistry’ due to its reliability, specificity, and biocompatibility. The 1,4- and 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles have emerged as one of the most powerful entities in the varieties of biological properties like antibacterial, antitubercular, antitumor, antifungal and antiprotozoal activities. Some of the 1,4,5-trisubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles exhibit Hsp90 inhibiting properties. The 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles also play a big role in the area of material sciences. The triazole-derived oligomeric, polymeric structures are the potential materials for the preparation of organic optoelectronics, silicon elastomers and unimolecular block copolymers. By the virtue of hydrogen bonding and dipole interactions, the 1,2,3-triazole moiety readily associates with the biological targets. Since, the 4-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles are stable entities, they are chemically robust and very less reactive. In this regard, the addition of 4-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles as nucleophiles to α,β-unsaturated carbonyls and nucleophilic substitution with the epoxides constitutes a powerful and challenging synthetic approach for the generation of disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles. Herein, we have developed aza-Michael addition of 4-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles to 2-cycloalken-1-ones in the presence of an organic base (DABCO) in acetonotrile solvent leading to the formation of disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles. The reaction provides 1,4-disubstituted triazoles, 3-(4-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)cycloalkanones in major amount along with 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles, minor regioisomers with excellent combined chemical yields (upto99%). The nucleophilic behavior of 4-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles was also tested in the ring opening of meso-epoxides in the presence of organic bases (DABCO/Et3N) in acetonotrile solvent furnishing the two regioisomers1,4- and 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles. Thus, the novelty of this methodology is synthesis of diversified disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles under metal free condition.The results will be presented in detail.

Keywords: aza-Michael addition, cycloalkenones, epoxides, triazoles

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Authors: Vaibhav Rathi, Soumen Maity, Achu R. Sekhar, Abhijit Banerjee

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Construction sector in India is extremely resource and carbon intensive. It contributes to significantly to national greenhouse emissions. At the resource end the industry consumes significant portions of the output from mining. Resources such as sand and soil are most exploited and their rampant extraction is becoming constant source of impact on environment and society. Cement is another resource that is used in abundance in building and construction and has a direct impact on limestone resources. Though India is rich in cement grade limestone resource, efforts have to be made for sustainable consumption of this resource to ensure future availability. Use of these resources in high volumes in India is a result of rapid urbanization. More cities have grown to a population of million plus in the last decade and million plus cities are growing further. To cater to needs of growing urban population of construction activities are inevitable in the coming future thereby increasing material consumption. Increased construction will also lead to substantial increase in end of life waste generation from Construction and Demolition (C&D). Therefore proper management of C&D waste has the potential to reduce environmental pollution as well as contribute to the resource efficiency in the construction sector. The present study deals with estimation, characterisation and documenting current management practices of C&D waste in 10 Indian cities of different geographies and classes. Based on primary data the study draws conclusions on the potential of C&D waste to be used as an alternative to primary raw materials. The estimation results show that India generates 716 million tons of C&D waste annually, placing the country as second largest C&D waste generator in the world after China. The study also aimed at utilization of C&D waste in to building materials. The waste samples collected from various cities have been used to replace 100% stone aggregates in paver blocks without any decrease in strength. However, management practices of C&D waste in cities still remains poor instead of notification of rules and regulations notified for C&D waste management. Only a few cities have managed to install processing plant and set up management systems for C&D waste. Therefore there is immense opportunity for management and reuse of C&D waste in Indian cities.

Keywords: building materials, construction and demolition waste, cities, environmental pollution, resource efficiency

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Authors: Lien Gysens, Bert Vanmechelen, Maarten Haspeslagh, Piet Maes, Ann Martens

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Bovine papillomavirus (BPV) types 1 and 2 play a central role in the etiology of the most common neoplasm in horses, the equine sarcoid. The unknown mechanism behind the unique variety in a clinical presentation on the one hand and the host-dependent clinical outcome of BPV-1 infection, on the other hand, indicate the involvement of additional factors. Earlier studies have reported the potential functional significance of intratypic sequence variants, along with the existence of sarcoid-sourced BPV variants. Therefore, intratypic sequence variation seems to be an important emerging viral factor. This study aimed to give a broad insight in sarcoid-sourced BPV variation and explore its potential association with disease presentation. In order to do this, a nanopore sequencing approach was successfully optimized for screening a wide spectrum of clinical samples. Specimens of each tumour were initially screened for BPV-1/-2 by quantitative real-time PCR. A custom-designed primer set was used on BPV-positive samples to amplify the complete viral genome in two multiplex PCR reactions, resulting in a set of overlapping amplicons. For phylogenetic analysis, separate alignments were made of all available complete genome sequences for BPV-1/-2. The resulting alignments were used to infer Bayesian phylogenetic trees. We found substantial genetic variation among sarcoid-derived BPV-1, although this variation could not be linked to disease severity. Several of the BPV-1 genomes had multiple major deletions. Remarkably, the majority of the cluster within the region coding for late viral genes. Together with the extensiveness (up to 603 nucleotides) of the described deletions, this suggests an altered function of L1/L2 in disease pathogenesis. By generating a significant amount of complete-length BPV genomes, we succeeded in introducing next-generation sequencing into veterinary research focusing on the equine sarcoid, thus facilitating the first report of both nanopore-based sequencing of complete sarcoid-sourced BPV-1/-2 and the simultaneous nanopore sequencing of multiple complete genomes originating from a single clinical sample.

Keywords: Bovine papillomavirus, equine sarcoid, horse, nanopore sequencing, phylogenetic analysis

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Authors: Ramon Alberto Paredes Camacho, Li Lu

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Sustainable batteries are possible through the development of cheaper and greener alternatives whose most feasible option is epitomized by Sodium-Ion Batteries (SIB). Na₃V₂(PO₄)₂F₃ (NVPF) an important member of the Na-superionic-conductor (NASICON) materials, has recently been in the spotlight due to its interesting electrochemical properties when used as cathode namely, high specific capacity of 128 mA h g-¹, high energy density of 507 W h Kg-¹, increased working potential at which vanadium redox couples can be activated (with an average value around 3.9 V), and small volume variation of less than 2%. These traits grant NVPF an excellent perspective as a cathode material for the next generation of sodium batteries. Unfortunately, because of its low inherent electrical conductivity and a high energy barrier that impedes the mobilization of all the available Na ions per formula, the overall electrochemical performance suffers substantial degradation, finally obstructing its industrial use. Many approaches have been developed to remediate these issues where nanostructural design, carbon coating, and ion doping are the most effective ones. This investigation is focused on enhancing the electrochemical response of NVPF by doping metal ions in the crystal lattice, substituting vanadium atoms. A facile sol-gel process is employed, with citric acid as the chelator and the carbon source. The optimized conditions circumvent fluorine sublimation, ratifying the material’s purity. One of the reasons behind the large ionic improvement is the attraction of extra Na ions into the crystalline structure due to a charge imbalance produced by the valence of the doped ions (+2), which is lower than the one of vanadium (+3). Superior stability (higher than 90% at a current density of 20C) and capacity retention at an extremely high current density of 50C are demonstrated by our doped NVPF. This material continues to retain high capacity values at low and high temperatures. In addition, full cell NVPF//Hard Carbon shows capacity values and high stability at -20 and 60ºC. Our doping strategy proves to significantly increase the ionic and electronic conductivity of NVPF even at extreme conditions, delivering outstanding electrochemical performance and paving the way for advanced high-potential cathode materials.

Keywords: sodium-ion batteries, cathode materials, NASICON, Na3V2(PO4)2F3, Ion doping

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Authors: Ione Loots, Marco van Dijk, Jay Bhagwan

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Historically, South Africa had various small-scale hydropower installations in remote areas that were not incorporated in the national electricity grid. Unfortunately, in the 1960s most of these plants were decommissioned when Eskom, the national power utility, rapidly expanded its grid and capability to produce cheap, reliable, coal-fired electricity. This situation persisted until 2008, when rolling power cuts started to affect all citizens. This, together with the rising monetary and environmental cost of coal-based power generation, has sparked new interest in small-scale hydropower development, especially in remote areas or at locations (like wastewater treatment works) that could not afford to be without electricity for long periods at a time. Even though South Africa does not have the same, large-scale, hydropower potential as some other African countries, significant potential for micro- and small-scale hydropower is hidden in various places. As an example, large quantities of raw and potable water are conveyed daily under either pressurized or gravity conditions over large distances and elevations. Due to the relative water scarcity in the country, South Africa also has more than 4900 registered dams of varying capacities. However, institutional capacity and skills have not been maintained in recent years and therefore the identification of hydropower potential, as well as the development of micro- and small-scale hydropower plants has not gained significant momentum. An assessment model and decision support system for low head hydropower development has been developed to assist designers and decision makers with first-order potential analysis. As a result, various potential sites were identified and many of these sites were situated at existing infrastructure like weirs, barrages or pipelines. One reason for the specific interest in existing infrastructure is the fact that capital expenditure could be minimized and another is the reduced negative environmental impact compared to greenfield sites. This paper will explore the case study of retrofitting an unconventional and innovative hydropower plant to the outlet of a wastewater treatment works in South Africa.

Keywords: low head hydropower, retrofitting, small-scale hydropower, wastewater treatment works

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Naveen Porika, Snigdho Majumdar, Niraj Sethi

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Water, food and energy securities are emerging as increasingly important and vital issues for India and the world. Hyderabad urban agglomeration (HUA), the capital city of Andhra Pradesh State in India, is the sixth largest city has a population of about 8.2 million. The Musi River, which is a tributary of Krishna river flows from west to east right through the heart of Hyderabad, about 80% of the water used by people is released back as sewage, which flows back into Musi every day with detrimental effects on the environment and people downstream of the city. The average daily sewage generated in Hyderabad city is 950 MLD, however, treatment capacity exists only for 541 Million Liters per Day (MLD) but only 407 MLD of sewage is treated. As a result, 543 MLD of sewage daily flows into Musi river. Hyderabad’s current estimated water demand stands at 320 Million Gallons per Day (MGD). However, its installed capacity is merely 270 MGD; by 2020 estimated demand will grow to 400 MGD. There is huge gap between current supply and demand, and this is likely to widen by 2021. Developing new fresh water sources is a challenge for Hyderabad, as the fresh water sources are few and far from the City (about 150-200 km) and requires excessive pumping. The constraints presented above make the conventional alternatives for supply augmentation unsustainable and unattractive .One such dependable and captive source of easily available water is the treated sewage. With proper treatment, water of desired quality can be recovered from the waste water (sewage) for recycle and reuse. Hyderabad Amberpet sewage treatment of capacity 339 MLD is Asia’s largest sewage treatment plant. Tertiary sewage treatment Standard basic engineering modules of 30 MLD,60 MLD, 120MLD & 180 MLD for sewage treatment plants has been developed which are utilized for developing Sewage Reclamation & Reuse model in Asia’s largest sewage treatment plant. This paper will focus on Hyderabad Water Supply & Demand, Sewage Generation & Treatment, Technical aspects of Tertiary Sewage Treatment and Utilization of developed standard modules for reclamation & reuse of treated sewage to overcome the deficit of 130 MGD as projected by 2021.

Keywords: water reclamation, reuse, Andhra Pradesh, hyderabad, musi river, sewage, demand and supply, recycle, Amberpet, 339 MLD, engineering modules, tertiary treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 617

Authors: Sweta Pandey, Samridhi Dhyani, Susmita Chaudhuri

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Klebsiella pneumoniae causes a wide range of infections, including urinary tract infections, sepsis, bacteremia, pneumonia, and liver abscesses. The emergence of multi-drug resistance in this bacterium led to a major setback for clinical management. WHO also endorsed a need for finding alternative therapy to antibiotics for the treatment of these infections. Development of vaccines and passive antibody therapy has been proven as a potent alternative to antibiotics in the case of MDR, XDR, and PDR Klebsiella infections. Siderophore receptors have been demonstrated to be overexpressed for the internalization of iron siderophore complexes during infections in most Gram-negative bacteria. For the present study, immune response to siderophore receptors to establish this protein as a potential immunogen for the development of therapeutic leads was explored. Clinical strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae were grown in iron-deficient conditions, and the iron-regulated outer membrane proteins were extracted and characterized through mass spectrometry for specific identification. The gene for identified protein was cloned in pET- 28a vector and expressed in E. coli. The native protein and the recombinant protein were isolated and purified and used as antigens for the generation of immune response in BALB/c mice. The native protein of Klebsiella pneumoniae grown in iron-deficient conditions was identified as FepA (Ferrienterobactin receptor) and other siderophore receptors. This 80 kDa protein generated an immune response in BALB/c mice. The antiserum from mice after subsequent booster doses was collected and showed binding with FepA protein in western blot and phagocytic uptake of the K. pneumoniae in the presence antiserum from immunized mice also observed from the animal studies after bacterial challenge post immunisation in mice have shown bacterial clearance. The antiserum from mice showed binding and clearance of the Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria in vitro and in vivo. These antigens used for generating an active immune response in mice can further be used for therapeutic monoclonal antibody development against Klebsiella pneumoniae infections.

Keywords: antiserum, FepA, Klebsiella pneumoniae, multi drug resistance, siderophore receptor

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Sahar Navabakhsh, Rokia Raslan, Yair Schwartz

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Decision-making on regeneration of housing estates, whether to refurbish or re-build, has been mostly triggered by economic factors. To enable sustainable growth, it is vital that environmental and social impacts of different scenarios are also taken into account. The methodology used to include all the three sustainable development pillars is called Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), which comprises of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the assessment of environmental impacts of buildings. Current practice of LCA is regularly conducted post design stage and by sustainability experts. Not only is undertaking an LCA at this stage less effective, but issues such as the limited scope for the definition and assessment of environmental impacts, the implication of changes in the system boundary and the alteration of each of the variable metrics, employment of different Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods and use of various inventory data for Life Cycle Inventory Analysis can result in considerably contrasting results. Given the niche nature and scarce specialist domain of LCA of buildings, the majority of the stakeholders do not contribute to the generation or interpretation of the impact assessment, and the results can be generated and interpreted subjectively due to the mentioned uncertainties. For an effective and democratic assessment of environmental impacts, different stakeholders, and in particular the community and design team should collaborate in the process of data collection, assessment and analysis. This paper examines and evaluates a participatory approach to LCSA through the analysis of a case study of a housing estate in South West London. The study has been conducted throughout tier-based collaborative methods to collect and share data through surveys and co-design workshops with the community members and the design team as the main stakeholders. The assessment of lifecycle impacts is conducted throughout the process and has influenced the decision-making on the design of the Community Plan. The evaluation concludes better assessment transparency and outcome, alongside other socio-economic benefits of identifying and engaging the most contributive stakeholders in the process of conducting LCSA.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, participatory LCA, life cycle sustainability assessment, participatory processes, decision-making, housing estate regeneration

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Authors: Ogbonna Anyanwu

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Language attrition describes the non-pathological decrease in language that had previously been acquired by an individual. It can affect some aspects of a language use or all aspects of a language use. The Igbo language, (despite its status as one of the major Nigerian languages) based on recent studies is fast losing its population of first generation speakers and therefore, increasingly becoming endangered and may be heading to extinction as warned by UNESCO if there are no conscious efforts to reverse the situation. The present paper, which contributes to the Igbo endangerment studies, examines the attrition of an aspect of the Igbo language use and practice: the indigenous Igbo wives’ pet names. It surveys the level of attrition of indigenous Igbo wives’ pet names; names which Igbo married men christen their wives upon marriage. The wives’ pet names under investigation here are specifically those which a husband traditionally christens his wife to reflect the intimate marital bond between them and also to extol his wife as an integral part of him. These pet names morphologically, are always suffixed with the compound morpheme diya which is translated as 'her husband' as in enyidiya 'her husband’s friend', obidiya 'her husband’s heart', ahudiya 'her husband’s body', ugwudiya 'her husband’s honour’, etc. The data for the study were collected through questionnaire, and oral interview from 300 male and 100 female respondents of different age groups who are married, indigenous Igbo speakers and are resident in the study areas (two Local Government Areas from two different Senatorial Zones in Abia and Imo States, south-eastern, Nigeria). Findings from the study show almost a total attrition of the Igbo indigenous wives’ pet names under study across the different age groups. For the respondents within the age group of 25-54 years, there is no more christening and bearing of the indigenous Igbo wives’ pet names by men and women respectively. This age group gives and bears pet names which the group members feel are contemporary and in line with modernity. This is a piece of evidence that the Igbo indigenous pet names’ use and practice are no longer part of the lifestyle of this group of respondents and therefore, they cannot transmit such names to their own children. For the respondents within the age group of 55-74 years, the indigenous Igbo wives’ pet names are also fading fast with less than 20% retention within the age group of 65-74 years with very few traces within the group of 55-64 years. These findings are further evidence that this aspect of Igbo language use and culture is severely threatened and may be on the verge of being lost. The loss of this aspect of the Igbo language or any aspect of the language has huge implications for the gradual and steady endangerment of the language as predicted by UNESCO.

Keywords: attrition, endangerment, practice, Igbo

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Authors: Mohd Harun, Cini Varghese, Eldho Varghese, Seema Jaggi

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Hybridization crosses find a vital role in breeding experiments to evaluate the combining abilities of individual parental lines or crosses for creation of lines with desirable qualities. There are various ways of obtaining progenies and further studying the combining ability effects of the lines taken in a breeding programme. Some of the most common methods are diallel or two-way cross, triallel or three-way cross, tetra-allele or four-way cross. These techniques help the breeders to improve the quantitative traits which are of economical as well as nutritional importance in crops and animals. Amongst these methods, tetra-allele cross provides extra information in terms of the higher specific combining ability (sca) effects and the hybrids thus produced exhibit individual as well as population buffering mechanism because of the broad genetic base. Most of the common commercial hybrids in corn are either three-way or four-way cross hybrids. Tetra-allele cross came out as the most practical and acceptable scheme for the production of slaughter pigs having fast growth rate, good feed efficiency, and carcass quality. Tetra-allele crosses are mostly used for exploitation of heterosis in case of commercial silkworm production. Experimental designs involving tetra-allele crosses have been studied extensively in literature. Optimality of designs has also been considered as a researchable issue. In practical situations, it is advisable to include sca effects in the model as this information is needed by the breeder to improve economically and nutritionally important quantitative traits. Thus, a model that provides information regarding the specific traits by utilizing sca effects along with general combining ability (gca) effects may help the breeders to deal with the problem of various stresses. In this paper, a model for experimental designs involving tetra-allele crosses that incorporates both gca and sca has been defined. Optimality aspects of such designs have been discussed incorporating sca effects in the model. Orthogonality conditions have been derived for block designs ensuring estimation of contrasts among the gca effects, after eliminating the nuisance factors, independently from sca effects. User friendly SAS macro and web solution (webPTC) have been developed for the generation and analysis of such designs.

Keywords: general combining ability, optimality, specific combining ability, tetra-allele cross, webPTC

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Salamatu Shaibu, Jan Hernning Sommer

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Integrating biodiversity conservation practices in mining landscapes ensures the continual provision of various ecosystem services to the dependent communities whilst serving as ecological insurance for corporate mining when purchasing reclamation security bonds. Climate hazards such as long dry seasons, erratic rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events contribute to biodiversity loss in addition to the impact due to mining. Both corporate mining and mine-fringe communities perceive the effect of climate on biodiversity from the context of the benefits they accrue, which motivate their conservation practices. In this study, pragmatic approaches including semi-structured interviews, field visual observation, and review were used to collect data on corporate mining employees and households of fringing communities in the southwestern mining hub. The perceived changes in the local climatic conditions and the consequences on environmental management practices that promote biodiversity conservation were examined. Using a thematic content analysis tool, the result shows that best practices such as concurrent land rehabilitation, reclamation ponds, artificial wetlands, land clearance, and topsoil management are directly affected by prolonging long dry seasons and erratic rainfall patterns. Excessive dust and noise generation directly affect both floral and faunal diversity coupled with excessive fire outbreaks in rehabilitated lands and nearby forest reserves. Proposed adaptive measures include engaging national conservation authorities to promote reforestation projects around forest reserves. National government to desist from using permit for mining concessions in forest reserves, engaging local communities through educational campaigns to control forest encroachment and burning, promoting community-based resource management to promote community ownership, and provision of stricter environmental legislation to compel corporate, artisanal, and small scale mining companies to promote biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, climate hazards, corporate mining, mining landscapes

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Authors: Swati Minz, Pradeep Munda, Ranchi Jharkhand

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Women of today’s era are well educated and they are best and proficient at their skills that are key to success anywhere. Government played a major role in uplifting women in Indian society. Through all these efforts Indian women decided to move forward and started choosing career path which was itself a challenge in their life. The people in the society had a very hatred feeling for the women who chose a career and moved forward. Women in today’s times have achieved a lot but in reality they have to still travel a long way. Women started leaving the secured domains of their home and moved out, but a harsh, cruel, exploitative world awaits them, where women have to prove their talent against the world who see women as merely vassals of producing children. In spite all modernisation, a woman has her limits and emerges to claim traditional male space, juggling with many family problems and multiple roles to excel at a level that would have been perceived as impossible a generation ago. Still a woman in India is storming traditional male fields. Even the occupation which had male monopoly life defense services, merchant navy, administrative or police services, these are the best examples for women now. If these women are taken under consideration they never had any issues while fighting a battle ,or trying to encroach into the men’s world ,but rather, they adopts themselves in the situation and are good ,trying to justify their roles and proving themselves. The last few decades there have been noticed an enormous growth in levels of education, confidence and the most importantly, ambition noticed towards in women, who all are striving their rights and claiming a dignified place in the society. Previously women were educated for the sake to get married and start new family but nowadays they utilize their skill productively. Since the time after independence, considering both women in India in general and women in Jharkhand in particular has played a very prominent role in all walks of life including the professions. Any success and achievement in any organisation depends on their contribution as well. Due to these consequences, there has always been a need to study and focus light on issues affecting women professionals, empowerment and their work life balance.

Keywords: women, work life balance, work empowerment, career, struggle, society, challenges, family, society, achievement

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Authors: Aldona Kluczek

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Energy efficient process have become a pressing research field in manufacturing. The arguments for having an effective industrial energy efficiency processes are interacted with factors: economic and environmental impact, and energy security. Improvements in energy efficiency are most often achieved by implementation of more efficient technology or manufacturing process. Current processes of electricity production represents the biggest consumption of energy and the greatest amount of emissions to the environment. The goal of this study is to improve the potential energy-savings and reduce greenhouse emissions related to improvement scenarios for the treatment of hardwood lumber produced by an industrial plant operating in the U.S. through the application of green balancing procedure, in order to find the preferable efficient technology. The green procedure for energy is based on analysis of energy efficiency data. Three alternative scenarios of the cogeneration systems plant (CHP) construction are considered: generation of fresh steam, the purchase of a new boiler with the operating pressure 300 pounds per square inch gauge (PSIG), an installation of a new boiler with a 600 PSIG pressure. In this paper, the application of a bottom-down modelling for energy flow to devise a streamlined Energy and Emission Flow Analyze method for the technology of producing electricity is illustrated. It will identify efficiency or technology of a given process to be reached, through the effective use of energy, or energy management. Results have shown that the third scenario seem to be the efficient alternative scenario considered from the environmental and economic concerns for treating hardwood lumber. The energy conservation evaluation options could save an estimated 6,215.78 MMBtu/yr in each year, which represents 9.5% of the total annual energy usage. The total annual potential cost savings from all recommendations is $143,523/yr, which represents 30.1% of the total annual energy costs. Estimation have presented that energy cost savings are possible up to 43% (US$ 143,337.85), representing 18.6% of the total annual energy costs.

Keywords: alternative scenario improvements, cogeneration system, energy and emission flow analyze, energy balancing, green procedure, hardwood lumber manufacturing process

Procedia PDF Downloads 208