Search results for: irrigational suitability

Authors: Rajrupa Ghosh, Abhijit Mitra

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Future use of animal protein sources in prawn feeds is expected to be considerably reduced as a consequence of increasing economical, environmental and safety issues. Of main concern has been the use of expensive marine protein sources, such as fish meal which often results in fouling of water quality and disease outbreak in cultured species. To determine prawn capacity to use practical feeds with plant proteins as replacement ingredients to animal protein sources, 8-months growth trial was conducted in two sets of ponds using juvenile (0.02 gm) Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Among the two sets, one set (comprising of three ponds) is experimental pond included formulated feed prepared with 30% Porteresia coarctata dust along with other general ingredients and another set (comprising of another three ponds) is control pond with commercial feed. Mean final weight, percent weight gain, final net yield, feed conversion ratio and survival were evaluated. Higher condition index values, survival rate and gain in prawn weight were observed in experimental pond compared to control pond. Low FCR values were observed in the experimental pond than the control pond. Evaluation of production parameters at the end of the study demonstrated significant differences (P ≥ 0.05) among two ponds. The variation may be attributed to specially formulated plant based feed that not only boosted up the growth of prawns, but also upgraded the ambient aquatic health. These results indicate that fish meal can be replaced with algal protein sources in diets without affecting prawn growth and production.

Keywords: macrobrachium rosenbergii, porteresia coarctata, Indian sundarbans, feed

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Authors: K. D. Rajatha, S. Rajendra Prasad, N. Nethra

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Aeroponics is one of the advanced techniques to cultivate plants without soil with minimal water and nutrient consumption. This is the technology which could bring the vertical growth in agriculture. It is an eco-friendly approach widely used for commercial cultivation of vegetables to obtain the supreme quality and yield. In this context, to harvest potentiality of the technology, an experiment was designed to evaluate the suitability of the aeroponics method over the conventional method for hybrid seed production of tomato. The experiment was carried out under Completely Randomized Design with Factorial (FCRD) concept with three replications during the year 2017-18 at UAS, GKVK Bengaluru. Nutrients and pH were standardized; among the six different nutrient solutions, the crop performance was better in Hoagland’s solution with pH between 5.5-7. The results of the present study revealed that between TAG1F and TAG2F parental lines, TAG1F performed better in both the methods of seed production. Among the methods, aeroponics showed better performance for the quality parameters except for plant spread, due to better availability of nutrients and aeration, huge root biomass in aeroponics. Aeroponics method showed significantly higher plant length (124.9 cm), plant growth rate (0.669), seedling survival rate (100%), early flowering (27.5 days), highest fruit weight (121.5 g), 100 seed weight (0.373 g) and total seed yield plant⁻¹ (11.68 g) compared to the conventional method. By providing the best environment for plant growth, the genetically best possible plant could be grown, thus complete potentiality of the plant could be harvested. Hence, aeroponics could be a promising tool for quality and healthy hybrid seed production throughout the year within protected cultivation.

Keywords: aeroponics, Hoagland’s solution, hybrid seed production, Lycopersicon esculentum

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Authors: Tomasz Smolinski, Irena Herdzik-Koniecko, Marta Pyszynska, M. Rogowski

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Old electronic components can be easily found nowadays. Significant quantities of valuable metals such as gold, silver or copper are used for the production of advanced electronic devices. Old useless electronic device slowly became a new source of precious metals, very often more efficient than natural. For example, it is possible to recover more gold from 1-ton personal computers than seventeen tons of gold ore. It makes urban mining industry very profitable and necessary for sustainable development. For the recovery of metals from waste of electronic equipment, various treatment options based on conventional physical, hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes are available. In this group hydrometallurgy processes with their relatively low capital cost, low environmental impact, potential for high metal recoveries and suitability for small scale applications, are very promising options. Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology has great experience in hydrometallurgy processes especially focused on recovery metals from industrial and agricultural wastes. At the moment, urban mining project is carried out. The method of effective recovery of valuable metals from central processing units (CPU) components has been developed. The principal processes such as acidic leaching and solvent extraction were used for precious metals recovery from old processors and graphic cards. Electronic components were treated by acidic solution at various conditions. Optimal acid concentration, time of the process and temperature were selected. Precious metals have been extracted to the aqueous phase. At the next step, metals were selectively extracted by organic solvents such as oximes or tributyl phosphate (TBP) etc. Multistage mixer-settler equipment was used. The process was optimized.

Keywords: electronic waste, leaching, hydrometallurgy, metal recovery, solvent extraction

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Authors: William L. Whitehouse, Louisa H. Y. Lo, Andrew B. Kinghorn, Simon C. C. Shiu, Julian. A. Tanner

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C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase reactant and sensitive indicator for sepsis and other life-threatening pathologies, including systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Currently, clinical turn-around times for established CRP detection methods take between 30 minutes to hours or even days from centralized laboratories. Here, we report the development of an electrochemical biosensor using redox probe-tagged DNA aptamers functionalized onto cheap, commercially available screen-printed electrodes. Binding-induced conformational switching of the CRP-targeting aptamer induces a specific and selective signal-ON event, which enables single-step and reagentless detection of CRP in as little as 1 minute. The aptasensor dynamic range spans 5-1000nM (R=0.97) or 5-500nM (R=0.99) in 50% diluted human serum, with a LOD of 3nM, corresponding to 2-orders of magnitude sensitivity under the clinically relevant cut-off for CRP. The sensor is stable for up to one week and can be reused numerous times, as judged from repeated real-time dosing and dose-response assays. By decoupling binding events from the signal induction mechanism, structure-switching electrochemical aptamer-based sensors (SS-EABs) provide considerable advantages over their adsorption-based counterparts. Our work expands on the retinue of such sensors reported in the literature and is the first instance of an SS-EAB for reagentless CRP detection. We hope this study can inspire further investigations into the suitability of SS-EABs for diagnostics, which will aid translational R&D toward fully realized devices aimed at point-of-care applications or for use more broadly by the public.

Keywords: structure-switching, C-reactive protein, electrochemical, biosensor, aptasensor.

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Authors: Charles Amoo, Joshua New, Bill Eckman

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Buildings in the United States account for a significant proportion of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and this trend is expected to continue as well as rise in the near future. Low-income households, in particular, bear a disproportionate burden of high building energy consumption and spending due to high energy costs. Energy efficiency improvements need to reach an average of 4% per year in this decade in order to meet global net zero emissions target by 2050, but less than 1 % of U.S. buildings are improved each year. The government has recognized the importance of technology in addressing this issue, and energy efficiency programs have been developed to tackle the problem. The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), the largest residential whole-house energy efficiency program in the U.S., is specifically designed to reduce energy costs for low-income households. Under the WAP, energy auditors must follow specific audit procedures and use Department of Energy (DOE) approved energy audit tools or software. This article proposes an expanded framework of factors that should be considered in energy audit software that is approved for use in energy efficiency programs, particularly for low-income households. The framework includes more than 50 factors organized under 14 assessment criteria and can be used to qualitatively and quantitatively score different energy audit software to determine their suitability for specific energy efficiency programs. While the tool can be useful for developers to build new tools and improve existing software, as well as for energy efficiency program administrators to approve or certify tools for use, there are limitations to the model, such as the lack of flexibility that allows continuous scoring to accommodate variability and subjectivity. These limitations can be addressed by using aggregate scores of each criterion as weights that could be combined with value function and direct rating scores in a multicriteria decision analysis for a more flexible scoring.

Keywords: buildings, energy efficiency, energy audit, software

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Authors: Mohammad Ebrahim Kianifar, Ehsan Ahmadi

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Reinforced concrete structures experience local defects such as cracks over their lifetime under various environmental loadings. Consequently, they are repaired by mortars to avoid detrimental effects such as corrosion of reinforcement, which in long-term may lead to strength loss of a member or collapse of structures. However, repaired structures may need multiple repairs due to changes in load distribution, and thus, lack of compatibility between mortar and substrate concrete. On the other hand, waste tire rubber alkali-activated (WTRAA)-based materials have very high potential to be used as repair mortars because of their ductility and flexibility, which may delay the failure of repair mortar and thus, provide sufficient compatibility. Hence, this work presents a pioneering study on suitability of WTRAA-based materials as mortars for the repair of concrete structures through an experimental program. To this end, WTRAA mortars with 15% aggregate replacement, alkali-activated (AA) mortars, and ordinary mortars are made to repair a number of concrete beams. The WTRAA mortars are composed of slag as base material, sodium hydroxide as an alkaline activator, and different gradations of waste tire rubber (fine and coarse gradations). Flexural tests are conducted on the concrete beams repaired by the ordinary, AA, and WTRAA mortars. It is found that, despite having lower compressive strength and modulus of elasticity, the WTRAA and AA mortars increase the flexural strength of the repaired beams, give compatible failures, and provide sufficient mortar-concrete interface bondings. The ordinary mortars, however, show incompatible failure modes. This study demonstrates the promising application of WTRAA mortars in the practical repairs of concrete structures.

Keywords: alkali-activated mortars, concrete repair, mortar compatibility, flexural strength, waste tire rubber

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Authors: Asibor Godwin, Adeniyi Funsho

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This study was carried out to investigate the impact of biological treated effluent on the physico-chemical properties of receiving waterbodies and also to establish its suitability for other purposes. It focused on the changes of some physic-chemical variables as one move away from the point of discharge downstream of the waterbodies. Water samples were collected from 14 sampling stations made up of the untreated effluent, treated effluent and receiving streams (before and after treated effluent discharge) over a period of 6 months spanning the dry and rainy seasons. Analyses were carried out on the following: temperature, turbidity, pH, conductivity, major anions and cation, dissolved oxygen, percentage oxygen Saturation, biological oxygen demand (BOD), solids (total solids, suspended solids and dissolved solids), nitrates, phosphates, organic matter and flow discharge using standard analytical methods. The relationships between investigated sites with regards to their physico-chemical properties were analyzed using student-t statistics. Also changes in the treated effluent receiving streams after treated effluent outfall was discussed fully. The physico-chemical water quality of the receiving water bodies meets most of the general water requirements for both domestic and industrial uses. The untreated effluent quality was shown to be of biological origin based on the biological oxygen demand, chloride, dissolved oxygen, total solids, pH and organic matter. The treated effluent showed significant improvement over the raw untreated effluent based on most parameters assessed. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the physico-chemical quality of untreated effluent and the treated effluent for the most of the investigated physico-chemical quality. The difference between the discharged treated effluent and the unimpacted section of the receiving waterbodies was also significant (p<0.05) for the most of the physico-chemical parameters.

Keywords: eflluent, Opa River, physico-chemical, waterbody

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Authors: Malay K. Pramanik

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Climate change is continuously affecting the ecosystem, species distribution as well as global biodiversity. The assessment of the species potential distribution and the spatial changes under various climate change scenarios is a significant step towards the conservation and mitigation of habitat shifts, and species' loss and vulnerability. In this context, the present study aimed to predict the influence of current and future climate on an ecologically vulnerable medicinal species, Garcinia gummi-gutta, of the southern Western Ghats using Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modeling. The future projections were made for the period of 2050 and 2070 with RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) scenario of 4.5 and 8.5 using 84 species occurrence data, and climatic variables from three different models of Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) fifth assessment. Climatic variables contributions were assessed using jackknife test and AOC value 0.888 indicates the model perform with high accuracy. The major influencing variables will be annual precipitation, precipitation of coldest quarter, precipitation seasonality, and precipitation of driest quarter. The model result shows that the current high potential distribution of the species is around 1.90% of the study area, 7.78% is good potential; about 90.32% is moderate to very low potential for species suitability. Finally, the results of all model represented that there will be a drastic decline in the suitable habitat distribution by 2050 and 2070 for all the RCP scenarios. The study signifies that MaxEnt model might be an efficient tool for ecosystem management, biodiversity protection, and species re-habitation planning under climate change.

Keywords: Garcinia gummi gutta, maximum entropy modeling, medicinal plants, climate change, western ghats, MaxEnt

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Authors: Bello Abdullahi, Kabir Bala, Yahaya M. Ibrahim, Ahmed D. Ibrahim

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Public sector tendering has traditionally been conducted using manual paper-based processes which are known to be inefficient, less transparent, and more prone to manipulations and errors. However, the advent of the Internet and its associated technologies has led to the development of numerous e-Tendering systems that addressed many of the problems associated with the manual paper-based tendering system. Currently, in Nigeria, the public tendering processes are largely conducted based on manual paper-based system that is bedevilled by a number of problems such as inordinate delays, inefficiencies, manipulation of the tender evaluation process, corruption, lack of transparency and competition, among other problems. These problems can be addressed through the adoption of existing web-based e-Tendering systems which are known to address most of these problems. However, these existing e-Tendering systems that have been developed are not based on the Nigerian legal procurement processes and as such their suitability for local application is very limited. This paper is part of a larger study that attempt to address this problem through the development of an e-Tendering system that is based on the requirements of the Nigerian public procuring entities. In this paper, the identified tendering processes commonly used by Nigerian public procuring entities in the selection of construction sources are presented. A multi-methods research approach was used to identify those tendering processes. Specifically, 19 existing business use cases used by Nigerian public procuring entities were identified and 61 system use cases were prescribed based on the identified business use cases. The use cases were used as the basis for the development of domain and software conceptual models. The models were successfully used to guide the development of an e-Tendering system called NPS-eTender. Ripple and Unified Process were adopted as the software development methodologies.

Keywords: e-tendering, e-procurement, requirement model, conceptual model, public sector tendering, public procurement

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Authors: Maria C. Proença, Maria T. Rebelo, Marília Antunes, Maria J. Alves, Hugo Osório, Sofia Cunha, João Casaca

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Using a geographic information system (GIS), the relations between a georeferenced data set of Culex pipiens sl. mosquitoes collected in Portugal mainland during seven years (2006-2012) and meteorological and physiographic parameters such as: air relative humidity, air temperature (minima, maxima and mean daily temperatures), daily total rainfall, altitude, land use/land cover and proximity to water bodies are evaluated. Focus is on the mosquito females; the characterization of its habitat is the key for the planning of chirurgical non-aggressive prophylactic countermeasures to avoid ambient degradation. The GIS allow for the spatial determination of the zones were the mosquito mean captures has been above average; using the meteorological values at these coordinates, the limits of each parameter are identified/computed. The meteorological parameters measured at the net of weather stations all over the country are averaged by month and interpolated to produce raster maps that can be segmented according to the thresholds obtained for each parameter. The intersection of the maps obtained for each month show the evolution of the area favorable to the species through the mosquito season, which is from May to October at these latitudes. In parallel, mean and above average captures were related to the physiographic parameters. Three levels of risk could be identified for each parameter, using above average captures as an index. The results were applied to the suitability meteorological maps of each month. The Culex pipiens critical niche is delimited, reflecting the critical areas and the level of risk for transmission of the pathogens to which they are competent vectors (West Nile virus, iridoviruses, rheoviruses and parvoviruses).

Keywords: Culex pipiens, ecological niche, risk assessment, risk management

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Authors: Mir Md Abdus Salam, Muhammad Mohsin, Pertti Pulkkinen, Paavo Pelkonen, Ari Pappinen

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Soils contaminated with metals, e.g., copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni) are one of the main global environmental problems. Zn is an important element for plant growth, but excess levels may become a threat to plant survival. Soils polluted with metals may also pose risks and hazards to human health. Afforestation based on short rotation Salix crops may be a good solution for the reduction of metals toxicity levels in the soil and in ecosystem restoration of severely polluted sites. In a greenhouse experiment, plant growth and zinc (Zn) uptake by four Salix cultivars grown in Zn contaminated soils collected from a mining area in Finland were tested to assess their suitability for phytoextraction. The sequential extraction technique and inductively coupled plasma‒mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) were used to determine the extractable metals and evaluate the fraction of metals in the soil that could be potentially available for plant uptake. The cultivars displayed resistance to heavily polluted soils throughout the whole experiment. After uptake, the total mean Zn concentrations ranged from 776 to 1823 mg kg⁻¹. The average uptake percentage of Zn across all cultivars and treatments ranged from 97 to 223%. Lime and wood ash addition showed a significant effect on plant dry biomass growth and metal uptake percentage of Zn in most of the cultivars. The results revealed that Salix cultivars have the potential to accumulate and take up significant amounts of Zn. Ecological restoration of polluted soils could be environmentally favorable in conjunction with economically profitable practices, such as forestry and bioenergy production. As such, the utilization of Salix for phytoextraction and bioenergy purposes is of considerable interest.

Keywords: lime, phytoextraction, Salix, wood ash, zinc

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Authors: Sishen Wang

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Chinese rural industry development is the major task currently during rapid urbanization. Development of potentiality assessment, evaluate the overall suitability of each village for further industrial development, could offer reference for policy makers, especially considering the limited data available in Chinese rural regions. The study focuses on 157 official villages in Fuliang County and evaluates their development potentiality by their topography, transportation condition, population, income of villagers, infrastructure and environmental conditions. Land cover changes for Fuliang county and surrounding areas of each village is also investigated for reference. The final development potentiality of each village was calculated by adding different weighted scores of different categories. Besides, inverse distance weighting (IDW) images for both final score of development potentiality and each factor were made and compared to help to understand the final result. The study found that village in the southern and northern regions have higher development potentiality than villages in the eastern and western regions, mainly because of higher income of villagers, good accessibilities and a large amount of population size. In addition, the Fuliang county was divided into five regions based on final result and policy reference for the development of each region were put forward individually. In addition, three suggestions were made for better local development potentiality: Firstly, the transportation accessibility needs to be improved in the northern regions by building more public transit system there. Secondly, the environmental conditions and infrastructure conditions in the eastern region of the county need some improvement. Thirdly, some encouragement and job opportunities should beset up in the western regions to attract labor force to move in and settle down.

Keywords: development potentiality, Fuliang GIS-Based, GIS, official village

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Authors: Shakila Singh

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Dominant discourses constitute heterosexuality as natural, normal and the only legitimate sexuality, and diverse sexual subjectivities as abnormal, unnatural and socially taboo. Similarly, the cisgender subject is reified. There are ongoing debates about the inclusion and suitability of sexuality education in the school curriculum and research show that teachers are not adequately prepared to teach about such issues in the classroom. Not surprising then, that many young people enter these institutions having had limited previous exposure to, or education about, sex, gender and sexuality diversity. This paper discusses the presence of heterosexism and cissexism at multiple layers in higher education institutions, impacting students and staff. Increasing knowledge and awareness of sex, gender and sexuality diversities is also crucial to challenging existing perceptions of sex, gender and sexuality diversities that marginalise and subordinate a large proportion of students and staff. There is a persistent disjuncture between dominant discourses that generally position higher education institutions as socially progressive, open environments and the discourses that legitimate the ascendency of heterosexual and cisgender identities. This paper argues that such disjuncture must be addressed by providing inclusive physical and emotional spaces if universities are to affirm every individual and produce graduates across all disciplines with the cultural capability to engage with increasingly diverse communities. Given the key role of language in shaping cultural and social attitudes, using gender-inclusive language is a powerful way to promote gender equality and eradicate gender bias. This means speaking and writing in a way that does not discriminate against a particular sex, gender or sexual identity and does not perpetuate gender stereotypes. Individuals must be allowed to present themselves and identify in ways they choose and be addressed by their chosen pronouns.

Keywords: heteronormativity, inclusivity, gender, universities

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Authors: Yogita Patil-Sen

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Magnetic nanoparticles such as those made of iron oxide have been widely explored as biocatalysts, contrast agents, and drug delivery systems. However, some of the challenges associated with these particles are agglomeration and biocompatibility, which lead to concern of toxicity of the particles, especially for drug delivery applications. Coating the particles with biocompatible materials such as lipids and peptides have shown to improve the mentioned issues. Thus, these core-shell type nanoparticles are emerging as the new class of nanomaterials for targeted drug delivery applications. In this study, various types of core-shell magnetic nanoparticles are prepared and characterized using techniques, such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The heating ability of nanoparticles is tested under oscillating magnetic field. The efficacy of the nanoparticles as drug carrier is also investigated. The loading of an anticancer drug, Doxorubicin at 18 °C is measured up to 48 hours using UV-visible spectrophotometer. The drug release profile is obtained under thermal incubation condition at 37 °C and compared with that under the influence of oscillating field. The results suggest that the core-shell nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetic behaviour, although, coating reduces the magnetic properties of the particles. Both the uncoated and coated particles show good heating ability, again it is observed that coating decreases the heating behaviour of the particles. However, coated particles show higher drug loading efficiency than the uncoated particles and the drug release is much more controlled under the oscillating magnetic field. Thus, the results strongly indicate the suitability of the prepared core-shell type nanoparticles as drug delivery vehicles and their potential in magnetic hyperthermia applications and for hyperthermia cancer therapy.

Keywords: core-shell, hyperthermia, magnetic nanoparticles, targeted drug delivery

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Authors: Arun Dhakal, Rajesh Kumar Rai

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Agroforestry is long practiced in Nepal as a means of subsistence livelihoods. Given its potential to climate change mitigation, this practice is being recommended as a climate-smart farming practice in the recent years. However, the financial attractiveness of this practice is not well-documented in a labor scarce economy such as Nepal. This study attempts to examine the financial suitability of an agroforestry-based farming practice in the present socio-economic context of Nepal where labor is in short supply. A total of 200 households were randomly selected for household surveys in Dhanusha district during April to July 2015. Two farming practices were found to be dominant in the study area: 1) conventional farming (field crops only) in which at least two field crops are annually grown, and 2) agroforestry-based farming (agroforest, home garden and field crops combined) practice (ABFP). The ABFP was found to be less labor intensive than the conventional farming (137 Man days/yr/ha vs 218 Man days/yr/ha). The ex-ante financial analysis indicated that both the farming practices generated positive NPVs (Net Present Values) and B/C (Benefit-Cost) ratios greater than one, indicating both are financially attractive farming enterprises under the base discount rate of 12%. However, the ABFP generated higher NPV and greater B/C ratio than the conventional farming, indicating the former was financially more attractive than the later. The sensitivity analysis showed that the conventional farming was more sensitive to change in labor wage rate than that of the ABFP. Up to the 24% discount rate, the ABFP generated higher NPV and in case of B/C ratio, the ratio was found greater for ABFP even in 50% discount rate.

Keywords: agroforestry, benefit-cost analysis, conventional farming, net present value

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Authors: Michael D. Vinod, Hadi Khabbaz

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Construction of infrastructure above or adjacent to landfills is becoming more common to capitalize on the limited space available within urban areas. However, development above landfills is a challenging task due to large voids, the presence of organic matter, heterogeneous nature of waste and ambiguity surrounding landfill settlement prediction. Prior to construction of infrastructure above landfills, ground improvement techniques are being employed to improve the geotechnical properties of landfill material. Although the ground improvement techniques have little impact on long term biodegradation and creep related landfill settlement, they have shown some notable short term success with a variety of techniques, including methods for verifying the level of effectiveness of ground improvement techniques. This paper provides geotechnical and landfill engineers a guideline for selection of landfill ground improvement techniques and their suitability to project-specific sites. Ground improvement methods assessed and compared in this paper include concrete injected columns (CIC), dynamic compaction, rapid impact compaction (RIC), preloading, high energy impact compaction (HEIC), vibro compaction, vibro replacement, chemical stabilization and the inclusion of geosynthetics such as geocells. For each ground improvement technique a summary of the existing theory, benefits, limitations, suitable modern ground improvement monitoring methods, the applicability of ground improvement techniques for landfills and supporting case studies are provided. The authors highlight the importance of implementing cost-effective monitoring techniques to allow observation and necessary remediation of the subsidence effects associated with long term landfill settlement. These ground improvement techniques are primarily for the purpose of construction above closed landfills to cater for transport infrastructure loading.

Keywords: closed landfills, ground improvement, monitoring, settlement, transport infrastructure

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Authors: Fatema Akram, Mohammad Golam Rasul, Mohammad Masud Kamal Khan, Md. Sharif Imam Ibne Amir

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A variety of routing techniques are available to develop surface runoff hydrographs from rainfall. The selection of runoff routing method is very vital as it is directly related to the type of watershed and the required degree of accuracy. There are different modelling softwares available to explore the rainfall-runoff process in urban areas. XPSTORM, a link-node based, integrated storm-water modelling software, has been used in this study for developing surface runoff hydrograph for a Golf course area located in Rockhampton in Central Queensland in Australia. Four commonly used methods, namely SWMM runoff, Kinematic wave, Laurenson, and Time-Area are employed to generate runoff hydrograph for design storm of this study area. In runoff mode of XPSTORM, the rainfall, infiltration, evaporation and depression storage for sub-catchments were simulated and the runoff from the sub-catchment to collection node was calculated. The simulation results are presented, discussed and compared. The total surface runoff generated by SWMM runoff, Kinematic wave and Time-Area methods are found to be reasonably close, which indicates any of these methods can be used for developing runoff hydrograph of the study area. Laurenson method produces a comparatively less amount of surface runoff, however, it creates highest peak of surface runoff among all which may be suitable for hilly region. Although the Laurenson hydrograph technique is widely acceptable surface runoff routing technique in Queensland (Australia), extensive investigation is recommended with detailed topographic and hydrologic data in order to assess its suitability for use in the case study area.

Keywords: ARI, design storm, IFD, rainfall temporal pattern, routing techniques, surface runoff, XPSTORM

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Authors: Mohd Afif Md Nasir, Mohd Faizal Amin Nur, Jamaluddin Hasim, Abd Samad Hasan Basari, Mohd Halim Sahelan

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This study is aimed to investigate the suitability of Computer-Based Training (CBT) as one of the approaches in skills competency development at the Centre of Instructor and Advanced Skills Training (CIAST) Shah Alam Selangor and National Youth Skills Institute (NYSI) Pagoh Muar Johor. This study has also examined the perception among trainees toward Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) as to realize the development of skills in Welding Technology. The significance of the study is to create a computer-based skills development approach in welding technology among new trainees in CIAST and IKBN as well as to cultivate the element of general skills among them. This study is also important in elevating the number of individual knowledge workers (K-Workers) working in manufacturing industry in order to achieve the national vision which is to be an industrial nation in the year 2020. The design is a survey of research which using questionnaires as the instruments and is conducted towards 136 trainees from CIAST and IKBN. Data from the questionnaires is proceeding in a Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) in order to find the frequency, mean and chi-square testing. The findings of the study show the welding technology skills have developed in the trainees as a result of the application of the Virtual Reality simulator at a high level (mean=3.90) and the respondents agreed the skills could be embedded through the application of the Virtual Reality simulator (78.01%). The Study also found that there is a significant difference between trainee skill characteristics through the application of the Virtual Reality simulator (p<0.05). Thereby, the Virtual Reality simulator is suitable to be used in the development of welding skills among trainees through the skills training institute.

Keywords: computer-based training, virtual learning environment, welding technology, virtual reality simulator, virtual learning environment

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Authors: Adam Y. Sulaiman, Donal F. Cotter, Ming J. Huang, Neil J. Hewitt

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Suitable low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants that conform to F-gas regulations are required to extend the operational envelope of high-temperature heat pumps (HTHPs) used for industrial waste heat recovery processes. The thermophysical properties and characteristics of these working fluids need to be assessed to provide a comprehensive understanding of operational effectiveness in HTHP applications. This paper presents the results of a theoretical simulation to investigate a range of low-GWP refrigerants and their suitability to supersede refrigerants HFC-245fa and HFC-365mfc. A steady-state thermodynamic model of a single-stage HTHP with an internal heat exchanger (IHX) was developed to assess system cycle characteristics at temperature ranges between 50 to 80 °C heat source and 90 to 150 °C heat sink. A practical approach to maximize the operational efficiency was examined to determine the effects of regulating minimum superheat within the process and subsequent influence on energetic and exergetic efficiencies. A comprehensive map of minimum superheat across the HTHP operating variables were used to assess specific tipping points in performance at 30 and 70 K temperature lifts. Based on initial results, the refrigerants HCFO-1233zd(E) and HFO-1336mzz(Z) were found to be closely aligned matches for refrigerants HFC-245fa and HFC-365mfc. The overall results show effective performance for HCFO-1233zd(E) occurs between 5-7 K minimum superheat, and HFO-1336mzz(Z) between 18-21 K dependant on temperature lift. This work provides a method to optimize refrigerant selection based on operational indicators to maximize overall HTHPs system performance.

Keywords: high-temperature heat pump, minimum superheat, energy & exergy efficiency, low GWP refrigerants

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Authors: Hsi-Chuan Wang, Hongxi Yin

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Compactness has been proposed as a type of sustainable urban form globally. However, the meanings and the measurements might diverse in regarding to the varying interpretation; moreover, since compactness was proposed to eliminate auto culture and urban sprawl in the developed countries, voices have emerged asking to rethink the suitability of compactness in the developing countries – based upon such understanding, Quality of Life (QOL) has been suggested as a good way to show the overall benefit of compactness. In regarding to such background, two subjects were targeted for discussion in this paper: (I) the meaning and feasibility of compactness between the developing and developed countries, and (II) the interaction between compactness and QOL. This paper argues that compactness should not be considered a universal principle for cities of all kind, but rather an ideal concept for urban designer and planner to consider throughout local practices. It firstly reviewed the benefits of both compactness and sprawl to uncover the features behind these urban forms, and later addressed the meaning and difficulty of adopting compactness in both the developing and developed countries. Secondly, arguing compactness to be positioned as a ‘process’ along the transition from the developing countries to the developed ones, this paper applied both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis to uncover (I) the relationship between compactness and QOL in regarding to 30 American cities and (II) the impact of ‘becoming compact’ on QOL in regarding to 8 identified American Urbanized Areas (UZAs). The findings indicated that higher compactness could link to lower QOL among the compact cities, but with higher QOL among the sprawl cities. In addition, based upon the comparison between 2000 and 2010 on 8 UZAs, their QOL have escalated during the transition from the sprawl areas into the compact ones, but the extent of improvement in QOL could differ greatly among areas. In regarding to our findings, compact development should be proposed as a general guideline leading the contemporary sprawl cities in transition with sustainable urbanism; however, to prevent the externalities from damaging QOL with over-compactness, the compact policy should be flexible to adjust a long-term roadmap for sustainable development.

Keywords: compactness, quality of life, sprawl, sustainable urbanism

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Authors: Gurbanova Lamiya

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The Republic of Azerbaijan is considered a region with limited water resources, as up to 70% of surface water is formed outside the country's borders, and most of its territory is an arid (dry) climate zone. It is located at the lower limit of transboundary flows, which is the weakest source of natural water resources in the South Caucasus. It is essential to correctly assess the quality of natural, collector-drainage and groundwater of the area and their suitability for irrigation in order to properly carry out land reclamation measures, provide the normal water-salt regime, and prevent repeated salinization. Through the 141-km-long main Mil-Mugan collector, groundwater, household waste, and floodwaters generated during floods and landslides are poured into the Caspian Sea. The hydrochemical composition of the samples taken from the Sabir irrigation canal passing through the center of the Kura-Araz plain, the Main Mil-Mugan Collector, and the groundwater of the region, which we chose as our research object, were studied and the obtained results were compared by periods. A model is proposed that allows for a complete visualization of the primary materials collected for the study area. The practical use of the established digital model provides all possibilities. The practical use of the established digital model provides all possibilities. An extensive database was created with the ArcGis 10.8 package, using publicly available LandSat satellite images as primary data in addition to ground surveys to build the model. The principles of the construction of the geographic information system of modern GIS technology were developed, the boundary and initial condition of the research area were evaluated, and forecasts and recommendations were given.

Keywords: irrigation channel, groundwater, collector, meliorative measures

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Authors: Jessica Achebe, Susan Tighe

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The reduction of material consumption and greenhouse gas emission when maintain and rehabilitating road networks can achieve added benefits including improved life cycle performance of pavements, reduced climate change impacts and human health effect due to less air pollution, improved productivity due to an optimal allocation of resources and reduced road user cost. This is the essence of incorporating environmental sustainability into pavement management. The functionality of performance measurement approach has made it one of the most valuable tool to Pavement Management Systems (PMSs) to account for different criteria in the decision-making process. However measuring the environmental performance of road network is still a far-fetched practice in road network management, more so an ostensive agency-wide environmental sustainability or sustainable maintenance specifications is missing. To address this challenge, this present research focuses on the environmental sustainability performance of network-level pavement management. The ultimate goal is to develop a framework to incorporate environmental sustainability in pavement management systems for network-level maintenance programming. In order to achieve this goal, this paper present the first step, the intention is to review the previous studies that employed environmental performance measures, as well as the suitability of environmental performance indicators for the evaluation of the sustainability of network-level pavement maintenance strategies. Through an industry practice survey, this paper provides a brief forward regarding the pavement manager motivations and barriers to making more sustainable decisions, and data needed to support the network-level environmental sustainability. The trends in network-level sustainable pavement management are also presented, existing gaps are highlighted, and ideas are proposed for network-level sustainable maintenance and rehabilitation programming.

Keywords: pavement management, environment sustainability, network-level evaluation, performance measures

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Authors: Polycarp Igbojekwe

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The main objective of this study was to determine if emotional labour has become a criterion in performance appraisal, job description, selection, and training schemes in the hotel industry in Nigeria. Our main assumption was that majority of hotel organizations have not built emotional labour into their human resources management schemes. Data were gathered by the use of structured questionnaires designed in Likert format, and interviews. The focus group was managers of the selected hotels. Analyses revealed that majority of the hotels have not built emotional labour into their human resources schemes particularly in the 1, 2, and 3-star hotels. It was observed that service employees of 1, 2, and 3-star hotels have not been adequately trained to perform emotional labour; a critical factor in quality service delivery. Managers of 1, 2, and 3-star hotels have not given serious thought to emotional labour as a critical factor in quality service delivery. The study revealed that suitability of an individual’s characteristics is not being considered as a criterion for selection and performance appraisal for service employees. The implication of this is that, person-job-fit is not seriously considered. It was observed that there has been a disconnect between required emotional competency, its recognition, evaluation, and training. Based on the findings of this study, it is concluded that selection, training, job description and performance appraisal instruments in use in hotels in Nigeria are inadequate. Human resource implications of the findings in this study are presented. It is recommended that hotel organizations should re-design and plan the emotional content and context of their human resources practices to reflect the emotional demands of front line jobs in the hotel industry and the crucial role emotional labour plays during service encounters.

Keywords: emotional labour, employee selection, job description, performance appraisal, person-job-fit, employee compensation

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Authors: Pratibha Goyal, Nupur Mathur, Anuradha Singh

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Antibiotic resistance is the worldwide threat to human health in this century. Excessive use of antibiotic after their discovery in 1940 makes certain bacteria to become resistant against antibiotics. Most common antibiotic-resistant bacteria include Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, E.coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Streptococcus pneumonia. Among all Staphylococcus resistant strain called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is responsible for several lives threatening infection in human commonly found in the hospital environment. Our study aimed to isolate bacteriophage against MRSA from the hospital sewage treatment plant and to analyze its efficiency In Vivo in Swiss albino mice model. Sewage sample for the isolation of bacteriophages was collected from SDMH hospital sewage treatment plant in Jaipur. Bacteriophages isolated by the use of enrichment technique and after characterization, isolated phages used to determine phage treatment efficiency in mice. Mice model used to check the safety and suitability of phage application in human need which in turn directly support the use of natural bacteriophage rather than synthetic chemical to kill pathogens. Results show the plaque formation in-vitro and recovery of MRSA infected mice during the experiment. Favorable lytic efficiency determination of MRSA and Salmonella presents a natural way to treat lethal infections caused by Multidrug-resistant bacteria by using their natural host-pathogen relationship.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance, bacteriophages, methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus, pathogens, phage therapy, Salmonella typhi

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Authors: Lakhminandan Kakati, Merenjungla Jamir

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Rearing of six strains of Samia ricini (eri silk worm) i.e. Yellow plain (YP), Yellow spotted (YS), Yellow Zebra (YZ), Greenish blue plain (GBP), Greenish blue spotted (GBS) and Greenish blue zebra (GBZ) was conducted on Ricinus communis (Castor), Heteropanax fragrans (Kesseru), Evodia fraxinifolia (Payam) and Manihot utilissima (Tapioca) to evaluate the effect of seasonal pattern on larval duration and cocoon parameters in Nagaland, India. Larval duration during spring season was maximum in all strains in all food plants; however minimum for all strains was recorded during summer season on Castor, Kesseru and Tapioca. Cocoon weight was recorded to be minimum (2.8 ± 2 0.55 gm) in YP on Kesseru and maximum (4.06 ± 0.68 gm) in GBZ on Castor during spring season; shell weight fluctuated between 0.34 ± 0.08 gm during spring in GBS on Kesseru and 0.58 ± 0.09 gm during summer in YZ on Castor and percentage of silk ratio was found to be minimum and maximum in YP on Payam during spring (11.37 ± 1.29) and in GBS on Castor during summer (16.05 ± 1.59) respectively. The variation in larval duration and cocoon parameters reflected variation in nutrient composition of food plants and dynamic environment conditions prevailing in different seasons of the year. Payam and Tapioca plants could be fed either singly or alternately with Castor or Kesseru to attain the commercial advantage to ensure more value added production. While there were differences in the productivity parameters with respect to strains and seasons, the present study shows that all the strains on four host plants expressed adaptability and suitability for commercial rearing under Nagaland climatic condition.

Keywords: alternative food plants, Larval and cocoon parameters, Nagaland Inia, six strains of Samia ricini

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Authors: S. M. Dissanayake, I. R. Palihakkara , K. G. Premathilaka

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Oil palm (Elaeisguineensis) is the world’s leading vegetable oil-producing plant and is well established as a perennial plantation crop in tropical countries. Oil palm in Sri Lanka has spread over 10,000 hectares in the wet zone of the Island. In immature plantations, land productivity can be increased with some selected intercrops. At the immature stage of the plantations (age up to 3-5 years), there is a large amount of free space available inside the plantations. This study attempts to determine the suitability of different intercrops during the immature phase of the oil palm. A field experiment is being conducted at Thalgaswella estate (WL2a) in Galle district, Sri Lanka. The objectives of the study are to evaluate and recommend a suitable immature oil palm-based intercropping system/s. This experiment was established with randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four treatments, including control in three replicates. Banana, ginger, and turmeric were selected as intercrops. Growth parameters of intercrops (plant height, length, width of D-leaf, and yield of intercrops) and girth, length, and number of leaflets of 17th frond in oil palms were taken at two months intervals. In addition to this, chlorophyll content was also measured in both intercrops and oil palm trees. Soil chemical parameters were measured annually. Results were statistically analyzed with SAS software. Results revealed that intercropped banana, turmeric, and ginger had given yields of 7.61Mt/ha, 4.92Mt/ha, and 4.53Mt/ha, respectively. When comparing these yields with mono-crop, banana, turmeric, and ginger intercrop yields as percentages of 16.9%, 24.6%, and 30.2%, respectively. The results of this study could be used to make appropriate policies to increase the unit land productivity in oil palm plantations in a low country wet zone (WL2a) of Sri Lanka.

Keywords: inter-cropping, oil palm, policies, mono-crop, land productivity

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Authors: Abdul Salam Turkmani

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Clay of the northern Palmyra region is one of the most important raw materials used in the Syrian ceramics industry. This study is focused on the evaluation of various laboratory analyses such as chemical analysis (XRF), mineral X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and semi-industrial tests carried out on samples collected on two representative locations of the upper Oligocene in AlMkamen valley (MK) and lower Miocene in AlZukara valley (ZR) of the northern part of Palmyra, Syria. Chemical results classify the (MK) and (ZR) clays as semi-plastic red clay slightly carbonate and (eliminate probable) illite-chlorite clays with a very fine particle size distribution. Content of SiO₂ between 46.28-57.66%, Al2O3 13.81-25.2%, Fe₂O₃ 3.47-11.58%, CaO 1.15-7.19%, Na₂O+K₂O varied between 3.34-3.71%. Based on clay chemical composition and iron and carbonate content, these deposits can be considered as red firing clays. Their mineralogical composition is mainly represented by illite, kaolinite and quartz, and accessories minerals such as calcite, feldspar, phillipsite, and goethite. The results of the DTA test confirm the presence of gypsum and quartz phases in (MK) clay. Ceramic testing shows good green and dry bending strength values, which varied between 9-14 kg/cm², at 1160°C to 1180°C. Water absorption moves from 14.6 % at 1120°C to 2.2% at 1180°C to 1.6% at 1200°C. Breaking load after firing changes from 400 to 590 kg/cm². At 1200°C (MK), clay reaches perfect vitrification. After firing, the color of the clay changes from orange-hazel to red-brown at 1180°C. Technological results confirmed the suitability of the studied clays to produce floor and wall ceramic tiles. Using one of the two types of clay into the ceramic body or both types together gave satisfactory industrial results.

Keywords: ceramic, clay, industry , Palmyra

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Authors: Jibril Mohammed, Usman Dadum Hamza, Muhammad Idris Misau, Baba Yahya Danjuma, Yusuf Bode Raji, Abdulsalam Surajudeen

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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been reported to be responsible for many acute and chronic health effects and environmental degradations such as global warming. In this study, a renewable and low-cost coconut shell activated carbon (PHAC) was synthesized and treated with ammonia (PHAC-AM) to improve its hydrophobicity and affinity towards VOCs. Removal efficiencies and adsorption capacities of the ammonia treated activated carbon (PHAC-AM) for benzene and toluene were carried out through batch and fixed-bed studies respectively. Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin adsorption isotherms were tested for the adsorption process and the experimental data were best fitted by Langmuir model and least fitted by Tempkin model; the favourability and suitability of fitness were validated by equilibrium parameter (RL) and the root square mean deviation (RSMD). Judging by the deviation of the predicted values from the experimental values, pseudo-second-order kinetic model best described the adsorption kinetics than the pseudo-first-order kinetic model for the two VOCs on PHAC and PHAC-AM. In the fixed-bed study, the effect of initial VOC concentration, bed height and flow rate on benzene and toluene adsorption were studied. The highest bed capacities of 77.30 and 69.40 mg/g were recorded for benzene and toluene respectively; at 250 mg/l initial VOC concentration, 2.5 cm bed height and 4.5 ml/min flow rate. The results of this study revealed that ammonia treated activate carbon (PHAC-AM) is a sustainable adsorbent for treatment of VOCs in polluted waters.

Keywords: volatile organic compounds, equilibrium and kinetics studies, batch and fixed bed study, bio-based activated carbon

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Authors: Khaled Klib, Yousri Azzam, Ibrahim Maarouf

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Tourism is one of the most important and fastest growing economic activities in the world, which has a prominent role in the growth and development of countries and has become increasingly important as business and trade after the World War II. The tourism development is one of the most important aspects of urban development, which aims to plan and develop tourist attractions and improve the urban environment within cities. Tourism development has become a priority for the urban development policy of cities, particularly those which have many tourist potentials. Complementary services, such as infrastructure, roads’ networks, transportation, and communications are needed for these potentials to function properly. In order to achieve these functionalities, also a new planning for the new areas as an expansion is required, or developing and renovating the existing urban areas according to pre-prepared plans to avoid random expansion of the urban structure of the city. This paper aims to determine the tourist attractions of Al-Khomse city, by reviewing the most important tourist attractions such as the Roman city (Leptis Magna), the geographical location on the Mediterranean coast, the temperate climate and diversity of the natural environment. The paper also examines the reality of the infrastructure and tourist services in the city and its suitability to serve the tourism sector. The paper also includes a proposed for tourism development in the city as one of the city's urban expansion trends, which can guide the development strategy in the future. The paper concludes with a vision for the tourism development areas as one of the trends for urban expansion in the future. The paper also concludes tourism development will have an effective role in the growth and development of urban, economic and social, in addition to preserving the natural environment. The paper recommended the need to emphasize the role of tourism development as one of the pillars and trends for the development policy and expansion of Al-Khomse city, preservation of tourist attractions and natural resources and developing infrastructure and tourist services such as accommodation, entertainment, mobility, and accessibility.

Keywords: tourism, tourist attractions, tourism development, urban expansion

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Authors: Mary Allagoa, Abir Al-Tabbaa

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The study explores the use of binders and additives, such as Portland cement, pulverized fuel ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag, and MgO, to decrease the concentration and leachability of pollutants in contaminated site soils. The research investigates their effectiveness and associated risks of using the binders, with a focus on Total Heavy metals (THM) and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH). The goal of this research is to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of binders and additives in remediating soil pollutants. The study aims to assess the suitability of the mixtures for ground improvement purposes, determine the optimal dosage, and investigate the associated risks. The research utilizes physical (unconfined compressive strength) and chemical tests (batch leachability test) to assess the efficacy of the binders and additives. A completely randomized design one-way ANOVA is used to determine the significance within mix binders of THM. The study also employs incremental lifetime cancer risk assessments (ILCR) and other indexes to evaluate the associated risks. The study finds that Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS): MgO is the most effective binder for remediation, particularly when using low dosages of MgO combined with higher dosages of GGBS binders on TPH. The results indicate that binders and additives can encapsulate and immobilize pollutants, thereby reducing their leachability and toxicity. The mean unconfined compressive strength of the soil ranges from 285.0- 320.5 kPa, while THM levels are less than 10 µg/l in GGBS: MgO and CEM: PFA but below 1 µg/l in CEM I based. The ILCR ranged from 6.77E-02 - 2.65E-01 and 5.444E-01 – 3.20 E+00, with the highest values observed under extreme conditions. The hazard index (HI), Risk allowable daily dose intake (ADI), and Risk chronic daily intake (CDI) were all less than 1 for the THM. The study identifies MgO as the best additive for use in soil remediation.

Keywords: risk ADI, risk CDI, ILCR, novel binders, additives binders, hazard index

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