Search results for: urban commercial streets

Authors: P. Mandree, S. O. Ramchuran, F. O'Brien, L. Sethunya, S. Khumalo

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South Africa is identified as one of the five emerging waste management markets, globally. The waste sector in South Africa influences the areas of energy, water and food at an economic and social level. Recently, South African industries have focused on waste valorization and diversification of the current product offerings in an attempt to reduce industrial waste, target a zero waste-to-landfill initiative and recover energy. South Africa has a number of waste streams including industrial and agricultural biomass, municipal waste and marine waste. Large volumes of agricultural and forestry residues, in particular, are generated which provides significant opportunity for production of bio-based fuels and chemicals. This could directly impact development of a rural economy. One of the largest agricultural industries is the sugar industry, which contributes significantly to the country’s economy and job creation. However, the sugar industry is facing challenges due to fluctuations in sugar prices, increasing competition with low-cost global sugar producers, increasing energy and agricultural input costs, lower consumption and aging facilities. This study is aimed at technology development for the production of various bio-based chemicals using feedstock from the sugar refining process. Various indigenous bacteria and yeast species were assessed for the potential to produce platform chemicals in flask studies and at 30 L fermentation scale. Quantitative analysis of targeted bio-based chemicals was performed using either gas chromatography or high pressure liquid chromatography to assess production yields and techno-economics in order to compare performance to current commercial benchmark processes. The study also creates a decision platform for the research direction that is required for strain development using Industrial Synthetic Biology.

Keywords: bio-based chemicals, biorefinery, industrial synthetic biology, waste valorization

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: M. Danial Ismail, Turkan Sultan Yasar Ismail, Mehmet Cetin

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Eco-design issues are seldom addressed as a major importance in most projects in Turkey. Cities undergo a rapid urban expansion with less awareness and focus on green spaces. The aim of this paper is firstly to analyse the graduating landscape architecture students of Kastamonu University’s perception on the new course content that discusses the relationship of art, space and nature in the context of landscape architectural design using the perception analysis methodology. Secondly, this paper also addresses how these elements synthesize together in an artistic perception in concept and form. In this study, a new coursework subject was introduced as a part of the curriculum for the 4th year students of the undergraduate program and project proposals dealing with the concept of art, space and nature were discussed and graded. Simulations of contemporary art installations in gallery spaces are built upon the concept of critical awareness to ecological problems. These concepts and simulations are important as they will influence future developments and projects. This paper will give an insight to scholars and professionals regarding new concepts of multidisciplinary education strategies and its positive effects on critical and creative design thinking within the scope of ecological design.

Keywords: art, ecological design, landscape architecture curriculum, space and nature

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Papazafeiropoulou Olga

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The first Greek expatriates created centers of culture in Australia from the beginning of the 19th century, in the large urban centers of the cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth). They created community theater according to their cultural standards, their socio-spiritual progress and development and their relationship with theatrical creation. At the same time, the Greek immigrants of the small towns and, especially of NSW, created their own temples of art, rebuilding theater buildings (theatres and cinemas), many of which are preserved to this day. Hellenism in Australia operated in the field of entertainment, reflecting the currents of the time and the global spread of mechanical developments. The Australian-born young people of the parish, as well as pioneering expatriates joined the theater and cinematographic events of Australia. They mobilized beyond the narrow confines of the parish, gaining recognition and projecting Hellenism to the Australian establishment. G. Paizis (A. Haggard), Dimitrios Ioannidis, Stelios Saligaros, Angela Parselli, Sofia Pergamali, Raoul Kardamatis, Adam Tavlaridis, John Lemonne, Rudy Ricco, Artemis Linou, distinguished themselves by writing their names in the history of Australian theater, as they served consequently the theatrical process, elevating the sentiment of the expatriate during the early years of its settlement in the Australian Commonwealth until 1950.

Keywords: greeks, commubity, australia, theatre

Procedia PDF Downloads 45

Authors: Adel A. Ghobbar

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The airline industry is continuously challenging how to safely increase the service life of the aircraft with limited maintenance budgets. Operators are looking for the most qualified maintenance providers of aircraft components, offering the finest customer service. Component owner and maintenance provider is offering an Abacus agreement (Aircraft Component Leasing) to increase the efficiency and productivity of the customer service. To increase the customer service, the current focus on No Fault Found (NFF) units must change into the focus on Early Failure (EF) units. Since the effect of EF units has a significant impact on customer satisfaction, this needs to increase the reliability of EF units at minimal cost, which leads to the goal of this paper. By identifying the reliability of early failure (EF) units with regards to No Fault Found (NFF) units, in particular, the root cause analysis with an integrated cost analysis of EF units with the use of a failure mode analysis tool and a cost model, there will be a set of EF maintenance improvements. The data used for the investigation of the EF units will be obtained from the Pentagon system, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system used by Fokker Services. The Pentagon system monitors components, which needs to be repaired from Fokker aircraft owners, Abacus exchange pool, and commercial customers. The data will be selected on several criteria’s: time span, failure rate, and cost driver. When the selected data has been acquired, the failure mode and root cause analysis of EF units are initiated. The failure analysis approach tool was implemented, resulting in the proposed failure solution of EF. This will lead to specific EF maintenance improvements, which can be set-up to decrease the EF units and, as a result of this, increasing the reliability. The investigated EFs, between the time period over ten years, showed to have a significant reliability impact of 32% on the total of 23339 unscheduled failures. Since the EFs encloses almost one-third of the entire population.

Keywords: supportability, no fault found, FMEA, early failure, availability, operational reliability, predictive model

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Authors: Fikile Xaki, Zendy Magayiyana

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The increasing population and urbanization, with the demand for land and development, has had adverse impacts on wetland areas which has resulted in changing the hydrology and water chemistry of wetlands, affecting the water supply and water quality in urban areas like the Highland View, a residential area in Mbizana, South Africa. The settlement development in Highland View has led to wetland degradation due to land uses like agriculture and conversion of wetland for settlement development. Interviews with the local community were conducted to show how settlement development on wetland affects them. The results indicated that the environmental rights of people as according to Section 24 of the South African Constitution are compromised, and sustainable development was not put into consideration during development. With the results from the survey - through questionnaires for the Mbizana Local Municipality and the community, it was clear that the community needs education and capacity building on wetland management and conservation. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to map physical properties of the Highland View wetland and houses built on the wetland. With all the information gathered from the research, it was clear that local municipality, together with hydrologists, needs to develop an environmental management framework to protect the wetlands.

Keywords: sustainable development, wetlands, human settlement, water

Procedia PDF Downloads 320

Authors: Jose Melena, Rosa Santander, Tanya Gonzalez, Richard Duque, Juan Illanes

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Ecuador is one of the countries with the greatest aquatic biodiversity worldwide. In particular, there are at least a dozen native marine species with great aquaculture potential locally. This research concerns one of those species. It has proposed to implement experimental protocols in order to induce spawning and to generate the early larval development of the penshell Atrina maura under controlled conditions. Bioassays were carried out with one adult batch (n= 26) with an average valvar length of 307,6 ± 9,4 mm, which were collected in the Puerto El Morro Mangrove (2° 42' 33'' S, 80° 14' 28'' W), Guayas Province. During a short acclimation stage, five adults of penshell A. maura were sacrificed in order to determine their sexual maturity degree and to estimate their sex ratio. Dissection showed that three were ripe females (60%) and two were ripe males (40%). Later, three groups (n= 7 by each) were tested with two treatments in order to induce the broodstock spawning: thermal stress, osmotic shock, and one control. Spawning induction was achieved by the immersion in water to 0 g L⁻¹ per 1 h and immersion in sea water to 34 g L⁻¹ per 1 h. After the delivery of gametes, it was achieved 1,35 × 10⁶ viable zygotes. As results, fertilized eggs had 60 µm diameter; while first and second cell divisions were observed to 1 h post-fertilization, with individual average length of 65 ± 4 µm and polar body. Latter cell divisions, including gastrula stage, appeared at 9 h post-fertilization, with individual average length of 71 ± 4 µm; and trochophore stage at 16 h post-fertilization with individual average length of 75 ± 5 µm. In addition, veliger stage was registered at 20 h post-fertilization with individual average length of 81 ± 5 µm. Umboned larvae appeared at day 8 post-fertilization, with individual average length of 145 ± 6 µm. These pioneering results in Ecuador can strengthen the local conservation process of the overexploited A. maura and to encourage its production for commercial purposes.

Keywords: Atrina maura, Ecuador, larval development, spawning induction

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Sónia Ribeiro, Diana Farinha, Elsa Pereira, Hélia Sales, Filipa Figueiredo, Rita Pontes, João Nunes

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Conventional plastic impacts on Planet, natural resources contamination, human health as well as animals are the most attractive environmental and health attention. The lack of treatment in the end-of-life (EOL) phase and uncontrolled discard allows plastic to be found everywhere in the world. Food waste is increasing significantly, with a final destination to landfills. To face these difficulties, new packaging solutions are needed with the objective of prolonging the shelf-life of products as well as equipment solutions for the development of the mentioned packaging. FLUI project thus presents relevance and innovation to reach a new level of knowledge and industrial development focused in Ecodesign. Industrial equipment field for the manufacture of new packaging solutions based on biodegradable plastics films to apply in the food sector. With lesser environmental impacts and new solutions that make it possible to prevent food waste, reduce the production e consequent poor disposal of plastic of fossil origin. It will be a paradigm shift at different levels, from industry to waste treatment stations, passing through commercial agents and consumers. It can be achieved through the life cycle assessment (LCA) and ecodesign of the products, which integrates the environmental concerns in the design of the product as well as through the entire life cycle. The FLUI project aims to build a piece of new bio-PLA extrusion equipment with the incorporation of bioactive extracts through the production of flexible mono- and multi-layer functional films (FLUI systems). The biofunctional and biodegradable films will prompt the extension of packaged products’ shelf-life, reduce food waste and contribute to reducing the consumption of non-degradable fossil plastics, as well as the use of raw material from renewable sources.

Keywords: food packing, bioplastics, ecodesign, circular economy

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Ergün Şakalar, Şeyma Özçirak Ergün, Emrah Yalazi̇, Emine Altinkaya, Cengiz Ataşoğlu

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In recent years, food allergies which cause serious health problems affect to public health around the world. Foodstuffs which contain allergens are either intentionally used as ingredients or are encased as contaminant in food products. The prevalence of clinical allergy to peanuts and nuts is estimated at about 0.4%-1.1% of the adult population, representing the allergy to pistachio the 7% of the cases of tree nut causing allergic reactions. In order to protect public health and enforce the legislation, methods for sensitive analysis of pistachio and peanut contents in food are required. Pea, pistachio and peanut are used together, to reduce the cost in food production such as baklava, snack foods.DNA technology-based methods in food analysis are well-established and well-roundedtools for species differentiation, allergen detection. Especially, the probe-based TaqMan real-time PCR assay can amplify target DNA with efficiency, specificity, and sensitivity.In this study, pistachio, peanut and pea were finely ground and three separate series of triplet mixtures containing 0.1, 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000 mg kg-1 of each sample were prepared for each series, to a final weight of 100 g. DNA from reference samples and industrial products was successfully extracted with the GIDAGEN® Multi-Fast DNA Isolation Kit. TaqMan probes were designed for triplex determination of ITS, Ara h 3 and pea lectin genes which are specific regions for identification pistachio, peanut and pea, respectively.The real-time PCR as quantitative detected pistachio, peanut and pea in these mixtures down to the lowest investigated level of 0.1, 0.1 and 1 mg kg-1, respectively. Also, the methods reported here are capable of detecting of as little as 0.001% level of peanut DNA, 0,000001% level of pistachio DNA and 0.000001% level of pea DNA. We accomplish that the quantitative triplex real-time PCR method developed in this study canbe applied to detect pistachio, peanut and peatraces for three allergens at once in commercial food products.

Keywords: allergens, DNA, real-time PCR, TaqMan probe

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Ali Reza Sattarzadeh, Ronny J. Kutadinata, Pubudu N. Pathirana, Van Thanh Huynh

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Traffic congestion has become a severe worldwide problem, affecting everyday life, fuel consumption, time, and air pollution. The primary causes of these issues are inadequate transportation infrastructure, poor traffic signal management, and rising population. Traffic flow forecasting is one of the essential and effective methods in urban congestion and traffic management, which has attracted the attention of researchers. With the development of technology, undeniable progress has been achieved in existing methods. However, there is a possibility of improvement in the extraction of temporal and spatial features to determine the importance of traffic flow sequences and extraction features. In the proposed model, we implement the convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning models for mining nonlinear correlations and their effectiveness in increasing the accuracy of traffic flow prediction in the real dataset. According to the experiments, the results indicate that implementing Conv-LSTM networks increases the productivity and accuracy of deep learning models for traffic flow prediction.

Keywords: deep learning algorithms, intelligent transportation systems, spatiotemporal features, traffic flow prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Raahil Sheikh, Abhishek Maurya, Priya Gujjar, Himanshu Dwivedi, Prathamesh Minde

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UAVs have been an initial member of our environment since it's the first used by Austrian warfare in Venice. At that stage, they were just pilotless balloons equipped with bombs to be dropped on enemy territory. Over time, technological advancements allowed UAVs to be controlled remotely or autonomously. This study shall mainly focus on the intensification of pre-existing manual drones equipping them with a variety of sensors and making them autonomous, and capable, and purposing them for a variety of roles, including thermal sensing, data collection, tracking creatures, forest fires, volcano detection, hydrothermal studies, urban heat, Island measurement, and other environmental research. The system can also be used for reconnaissance, research, 3D mapping, and search and rescue missions. This study mainly focuses on automating tedious tasks and reducing human errors as much as possible, reducing deployment time, and increasing the overall efficiency, efficacy, and reliability of the UAVs. Creation of a comprehensive Ground Control System UI (GCS) enabling less trained professionals to be able to use the UAV with maximum potency. With the inclusion of such an autonomous system, artificially intelligent paths and environmental gusts and concerns can be avoided.

Keywords: UAV, drone, autonomous system, thermal imaging

Procedia PDF Downloads 57

Authors: Anjali Sidhu, Anju Bala, Amit Kumar

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Metal nanoparticles have the potential to revolutionize the agriculture owing to sizzling interdisciplinary nano-technological application domain. Numerous patents and products incorporating engineered nanoparticles (NPs) entered into agro-applications with the collective goal to promote proficiency as well as sustainability with lower input and generating meager waste than conventional products and approaches. Loose smut of wheat caused by Ustilago segetum tritici is an internally seed-borne pathogen. It is dormant in the seed unless the seed germinates and its symptoms are expressed at the reproductive stage of the plant only. Various seed treatment agents are recommended for this disease but due to the inappropriate methods of seed treatments used by farmers, each and every seed may not get treated, and the infected seeds escape the fungicidal action. The antimicrobial potential and small size of nanoparticles made them the material of choice as they could enter each seed and restrict the pathogen inside the seed due to the availability of more number of nanoparticles per unit volume of the nanoformulations. Nanoparticles of diverse nature known for their in vitro antimicrobial activity viz. ZnO, MgO, CuS and AgNPs were synthesized, surface modified and characterized by traditional methods. They were applied on infected wheat seeds which were then grown in pot conditions, and their mycelium was tracked in the shoot and leaf region of the seedlings by microscopic staining techniques. Mixed responses of inhibition of this internal mycelium were observed. The time and method of application concluded to be critical for application, which was optimised in the present work. The results implicated that there should be field trails to get final fate of these pot trails up to commercial level. The success of their field trials could be interpreted as a revolution to replace high dose organic fungicides of high residue behaviour.

Keywords: metal nanoparticles, nanopriming, seed borne pathogen, Ustilago segetum tritici

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Sanket S. Jugade, Swapneel U. Naphade, Satyabodh M. Kulkarni

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Microscale energy harvesters can be used to convert ambient mechanical vibrations to electrical energy. Such devices have great applications in low powered electronics in remote environments like powering wireless sensor nodes of Internet of Things, lightings on highways or in ships, etc. In this paper, a Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based energy harvester has been modeled using Analytical and Finite Element Method (FEM). The device consists of a microcantilever with a proof mass attached to its free end and a Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric thin film deposited on the surface of microcantilever in a unimorph or bimorph configuration. For the analytical method, the energy harvester was modeled as an equivalent electrical system in SIMULINK. The Finite element model was developed and analyzed using the commercial package COMSOL Multiphysics. The modal analysis was performed first to find the fundamental natural frequency and its variation with geometrical parameters of the system. Then the harmonic analysis was performed to find the input mechanical power, output electrical voltage, and power for a range of excitation frequencies and base acceleration values. The variation of output power with load resistance, PVDF film thickness, and damping values was also found out. The results from FEM were then validated with that of the analytical model. Finally, the performance of the device was optimized with respect to various electro-mechanical parameters. For a unimorph configuration consisting of single crystal silicon microcantilever of dimensions 8mm×2mm×80µm and proof mass of 9.32 mg with optimal values of the thickness of PVDF film and load resistance as 225 µm and 20 MΩ respectively, the maximum electrical power generated for base excitation of 0.2g at 630 Hz is 0.9 µW.

Keywords: bimorph, energy harvester, FEM, harmonic analysis, MEMS, PVDF, unimorph

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Heri Hermansyah, Annisa Kurnia, A. Vania Anisya, Adi Surjosatyo, Yopi Sunarya, Rita Arbianti, Tania Surya Utami

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Lipase is one of biocatalyst which is applied commercially for the process in industries, such as bioenergy, food, and pharmaceutical industry. Nowadays, biocatalysts are preferred in industries because they work in mild condition, high specificity, and reduce energy consumption (high pressure and temperature). But, the usage of lipase for industry scale is limited by economic reason due to the high price of lipase and difficulty of the separation system. Immobilization of lipase is one of the solutions to maintain the activity of lipase and reduce separation system in the process. Therefore, we conduct a study about lipase immobilization with the adsorption-cross linking method using glutaraldehyde because this method produces high enzyme loading and stability. Lipase is immobilized on different kind of resin with the various functional group. Highest enzyme loading (76.69%) was achieved by lipase immobilized on anion macroporous which have anion functional group (OH^‑). However, highest activity (24,69 U/g support) through olive oil emulsion method was achieved by lipase immobilized on anion macroporous-chitosan which have amino (NH₂) and anion (OH^-) functional group. In addition, it also success to produce biodiesel until reach yield 50,6% through interesterification reaction and after 4 cycles stable 63.9% relative with initial yield. While for Aspergillus, niger lipase immobilized on anion macroporous-kitosan have unit activity 22,84 U/g resin and yield biodiesel higher than commercial lipase (69,1%) and after 4 cycles stable reach 70.6% relative from initial yield. This shows that optimum functional group on support for immobilization with adsorption-cross linking is the support that contains amino (NH₂) and anion (OH^-) functional group because they can react with glutaraldehyde and binding with enzyme prevent desorption of lipase from support through binding lipase with a functional group on support.

Keywords: adsorption-cross linking, immobilization, lipase, resin

Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Ahmed A. Mohamed Aly

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Ground movements induced from excavations is a major cause of deformation and damage to the adjacent buildings and utilities. With the increasing rate of construction work in urban area, this problem is growing more significant and has become the cause of numerous legal disputes. This problem is investigated numerically in the present study using finite element method. Five-story reinforced concrete building rests on raft foundation is idealized as two dimensional model. The building is considered to be constructed adjacent to excavation affected by an adjacent excavation in medium sand. Excavation is supported using sheet pile wall. Two dimensional plane strain program PLAXIS is used in this study. 15 nodes triangular element is used to idealize soil with Mohr-Coulomb model. Five nodes isoperimetric beam element is used to idealize sheet pile and building. Interface element is used to represent the contact between beam element and soil. Two parameters were studied, the first is the foundation depth and the second is the building distance from the excavation. Nodal displacements and elements straining actions were obtained and studied from the analyzed finite element model results.

Keywords: excavation, relative distance, effective stresses, lateral deformation, relative depth

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Musyimi Mbathi

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Information regarding social, political, demographic, economic and other attributes of human settlement is important for decision makers at all levels of planning, as they have to grapple with dynamic environments often associated with settlements. At the local level, it is particularly important for both communities and urban managers to have accurate and reliable information regarding all planning attributes. Settlement mapping, in particular, informal settlements mapping in Kenya, has over the past few years been carried out using modern tools like Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing for spatial data analysis and planning. GIS tools offer a platform for integration of spatial and non-spatial data as well as visualisation of the settlements. The capabilities offered by these tools have enabled communities to participate especially in the planning and management of new infrastructure as well as settlement upgrading. Land tenure based projects within informal settlements have also relied on GIS and related tools with considerable success. Additionally, the adoption of participatory approaches and use of geo-information tools helped to provide a basis for all inclusive planning thus promoting accountability, transparency, legitimacy, and other dimensions of governance within human settlement planning. The paper examines the context and application of geo-information tools for planning within low-income settlements of Kenya. A case study of Kiambiu settlement will be used to demonstrate how the tools have been applied for planning and decision-making purposes.

Keywords: informal settlements, GIS, governance, modern tools

Procedia PDF Downloads 474

Authors: Tugce Arslan

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For a communicative act to be carried out successfully, the speaker and the listener must consider certain principles in line with the intention–centered “Cooperative Principle” expressed by H. P. Grice. Violation of a communication principle causes the listener to make new inferences called “implicatures”. In this study, focusing on the linguistic use of H. P. Grice’s principles, we aim to find out which principles of conversation are generally followed in case files from different fields and which principles are frequently violated. Three case files were examined, and the violating and the abiding cases of the maxims were classified in terms of four categories (Quality, Quantity, Relevance and Manner). The results of this investigation is reported below (V: Violating, A: Abiding): Quality Quantity Relevance Manner V A V A V A V A Case 1 10 8 5 9 3 15 16 6 Case 2 4 5 11 6 2 11 7 14 Case 3 21 13 7 12 9 14 15 9 Total 35 26 23 27 14 40 38 29 The excerpts were selected from files covering three different areas: the Assize Court, the Family Court and the Commercial Court of First Instance. In this way, the relations between the types of violations and the types of courts are examined. Our main finding is that in the 1st and the 3rd file, as the cases of violation in “Quality” and “Manner” increase, the cases of violation in “Quantity” and “Relevance” decrease. In the second file, on the other hand, as the cases of violation in “Quantity” increase, the cases of violation in “Quality”, “Relevance” and “Manner” decrease. In the talk, we shall compare these results with the results obtained in the study of Tajabadi, Dowlatabadi, and Mehric (2014), which examined various case files in Iran. Our main finding is that in the study conducted in Iran, violations were found only on the principles of “Quantity” and “Relevance”, while violations were found on the principles of “Quality”, “Quantity” and “Manner” in this study. In this case, it shows us that there is a connection between at least two maxims. In both cases, it has been noticed that the “Quantity” maxim is a common denominator. Studies in this field can be enlightening for many areas such as discourse analysis, legal studies, etc. Accordingly, comments will be made about the nature of the violations mentioned in H. P. Grice’s “Cooperation Principle”. We shall also discuss various conversational practices that cannot be analysed with these maxims.

Keywords: comparative analysis, cooperation principle, forensic linguistics, pragmatic.

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Kayode O. Afolabi, Benson C. Iweriebor, Anthony I. Okoh, Larry C. Obi

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Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is the major etiological viral agent of porcine multisystemic wasting syndrome (PWMS) and other porcine circovirus-associated diseases (PCVAD) of great economic importance in pig industry globally. In an effort to determine the status of swine herds in the Province as regarding the ‘small but powerful’ viral pathogen; a total of 375 blood, faecal and nasal swab samples were obtained from seven pig farms (commercial and communal) in Amathole, O.R. Tambo and Chris-Hani District Municipalities of Eastern Cape Province between the year 2015 and 2016. Three hundred and thirty nine (339) samples out of the total sample were subjected to molecular screening using PCV2 specific primers by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Selected sequences were further analyzed and confirmed through genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses. The data obtained revealed that 15.93% of the screened samples (54/339) from the swine herds of the studied areas were positive for PCV2; while the severity of occurrence of the viral pathogen as observed at farm level ranges from approximately 5.6% to 60% in the studied farms. The Majority, precisely 15 out of 17 (88%) analyzed sequences were found clustering with other PCV2b reference strains in the phylogenetic analysis. More interestingly, two other sequences obtained were also found clustering within PCV2d genogroup, which is presently another fast-spreading genotype with observable higher virulence in global swine herds. This finding confirmed the presence of this all-important viral pathogen in pigs of the region; which could result in a serious outbreak of PCVAD and huge economic loss at the instances of triggering factors if no appropriate measures are taken to curb its spread effectively.

Keywords: pigs, polymerase chain reaction, porcine circovirus type 2, South Africa

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Authors: Flaviu Mihai Frigura-Lliasa, Andreea Anamaria Anghel, Attila Simo

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Due to the beauty, usefulness, science, constantly changing, constantly evolving features, and most of the time, mystery it involves, nature-based art is seen as a both modern and timeless direction that has been extensively used in design. The goal of the team's activities was to experiment with ways of fusing the two most common contemporary ways of referring to green installations, that is, either in a pure artistic or in an ecological manner, and creating a living, dynamic, interactive installation capable of both receiving and interpreting external factors, such as natural and human stimuli, that would not only determine some of the mechanism's presets. By consequent, a complex experiment made up of various research and project stages was elaborated in order to transform an idea into an actual interactive green installation within months thanks to the interaction, teamwork, and design processes undertaken throughout the academic years by both university lecturers and some of our students. The outcomes would lead to the development of a dynamic artwork called "Modgrew" as well as the introduction of experiment-based learning at the Timisoara Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, as well as at the Faculty of Electrical and Power Engineering, for the green wall automation issues.

Keywords: green design, living walls, modular structure, interactive proof of concept

Procedia PDF Downloads 61

Authors: Violina Angelova

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A comparative study has been carried out into the impact of organic meliorants on the uptake of heavy metals, micro and macroelements and the phytoremediation potential of enhanced tobacco BAC F3. The soil used as part of this experiment was sampled from the vicinity of the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The pot experiment carried out consisted of a randomized, complete block design containing nine treatments and three replications (27 pots). The treatments consisted of a control (with no organic meliorants) and compost and vermicompost meliorants (added at 5%, 10%, 15%, and 30%, and recalculated based on their dry soil weight). Upon reaching commercial ripeness, the tobacco plants were gathered. Heavy metals, micro and macroelement contents in roots, stems, and leaves of tobacco were analyzed by the method of the microwave mineralization. To determine the elements in the samples, inductively coupled emission spectrometry (Jobin Yvon Emission - JY 38 S, France) was used. The distribution of the heavy metals, micro, and macroelements in the organs of the enhanced tobacco has a selective character and depended above all on the parts of the plants and the element that was examined. Pb, Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn, P and Mg distribution in tobacco decreases in the following order: roots > leaves > stems, and for Cd, K, and Ca - leaves > roots > stems. The high concentration of Cd in the leaves and the high translocation factor indicate the possibility of enhanced tobacco to be used in phytoextraction. Tested organic amendments significantly influenced the uptake of heavy metals, micro and macroelements by the roots, stems, and leaves of tobacco. A correlation was found between the quantity of the mobile forms and the uptake of Pb, Zn, and Cd by the enhanced tobacco. The compost and vermicompost treatments significantly reduced heavy metals concentration in leaves and increased uptake of K, Ca and Mg. The 30% compost and 30% vermicompost treatments led to the maximal reduction of heavy metals in enhanced tobacco BAC F3. The addition of compost and vermicompost further reduces the ability to digest the heavy metals in the leaves, and phytoremediation potential of enhanced tobacco BAC F3. Acknowledgment: The financial support by the Bulgarian National Science Fund Project DFNI Н04/9 is greatly appreciated.

Keywords: heavy metals, micro and macroelements, enhanced tobacco BAC F3, phytoremediation, organic meliorants

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Authors: Qin Xia

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’National New District’ as a regional overall promotion of strategic thinking has become increasingly mature, but its spatial expansion is still chaotic and disorderly, so it is urgent to summarize the complex and unique driving mechanism contained in its spatial expansion to formulate sustainable urban expansion plan. Under the understanding of the general laws of the driving mechanism of China's space expansion, it is found that the existing research on the driving mechanism of the space expansion of national new districts is insufficient. The research area focuses on the research of the driving mechanism of the space expansion of a single new area. In terms of research methods, qualitative description is the main focus. In terms of research content, it is limited to the expansion speed, intensity, and area of the new district itself and does not involve the expansion and utilization efficiency of space and the spillover efficiency to surrounding cities. The specific connotations of social, economic, political, and geographical categories are not thoroughly explored. It is often a general explanation that a certain factor has promoted it. The logic is not rigorous and convincing, and the description is relatively static, with different time and space. There is less literature on scale interaction. Through the reflection on the key and difficult points of the drive mechanism of the space expansion of the national new area, it is clear that the existing research on the drive mechanism of the space expansion of the national new area should be continued to drive the sustainable expansion of space.

Keywords: national new district, space expansion, driving mechanism, existing research

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Authors: Abdon O. Makore

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The study analyses policy and institutional implications with regard to the successful implementation of IPTS in Harare. IPTS has widely been recommended as a rich solution to chaotic public transport operations, yet studies to determine the suitability or applicability of this concept have not been done in light of the existing transport institutions and policy framework in Harare. A predominantly qualitative research approach was employed backed by a deep scrutiny of the NTP and other subsidiary legislations and plans in place so as to ascertain the views and perceptions of various stakeholders regarding the proposed concept. As such, key informant interviews, unstructured interviews, and questionnaires were vital tools in gathering data and these were effectively buttressed by observations, photography, and documentary analysis. The study revealed from a policy perspective that there are high prospects for the implementation of IPTS in Harare as the existing NTP, subsidiary legislations and plans do have provisions for the concept backed by keen interest of all responsible urban public transport authorities. However, there is lack of coherent and systematic approach among other responsible institutions, as such recommendations formulated advocated for institutional integration and strong political will for the ultimate success of the concept.

Keywords: integrated public transport system, policy, legislation, institutions

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: Raahil Sheikh, Prathamesh Minde, Priya Gujjar, Himanshu Dwivedi, Abhishek Maurya

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UAVs have been an initial member of our environment since it's the first used by Austrian warfare in Venice. At that stage, they were just pilotless balloons equipped with bombs to be dropped on enemy territory. Over time, technological advancements allowed UAVs to be controlled remotely or autonomously. This study shall mainly focus on the intensification of pre-existing manual drones equipping them with a variety of sensors and making them autonomous, and capable, and purposing them for a variety of roles, including thermal sensing, data collection, tracking creatures, forest fires, volcano detection, hydrothermal studies, urban heat, Island measurement, and other environmental research. The system can also be used for reconnaissance, research, 3D mapping, and search and rescue missions. This study mainly focuses on automating tedious tasks and reducing human errors as much as possible, reducing deployment time, and increasing the overall efficiency, efficacy, and reliability of the UAVs. Creation of a comprehensive Ground Control System UI (GCS) enabling less trained professionals to be able to use the UAV with maximum potency. With the inclusion of such an autonomous system, artificially intelligent paths and environmental gusts and concerns can be avoided

Keywords: UAV, autonomous systems, drones, geo thermal imaging

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Authors: Ramin Mirzada

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This research investigates the valuation of public transport importance in decreasing congestion and in introduction of bus rapid transit in Kabul city. The main concern and main problem of the Kabul city public transport is traffic congestion. When buses and trams are stuck in traffic jams, it is clear that they fall behind from the schedule and this cause lots of problem for Kabul residence. In this research, the main attention has been given to improve current public transport in Kabul city which Public transport has large share almost 50% share among all mode. The main purpose of this research is to improve public transport system, to examine the demand and the supply of public transport in Kabul city, and to improve public transport system by introducing Bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Kabul city. The data which is used in this research is gathered by Transport Ministry, Kabul Municipality and Japan Cooperation Agency in Afghanistan (JICA). Urban transportation modeling system (UTMS) which is also known as traditional four-step modeling is used as the methodology of this research. The outcome of this research shows that by improving public transport which is local bus system mostly congestion problem of Kabul city become solve, and for those lanes which has the high demand and has more congestion, it is needed to introduce bus rapid transit system.

Keywords: transportation, planning, public transport, bus rapid transit, Kabul, Afghanistan

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Authors: Thanh Van Hoang, Tien Yin Chou, Yao Min Fang, Yi Min Huang, Xuan Linh Nguyen

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Reliable information on the spatial distribution of annual rainfall and temperature is essential in research projects relating to urban and regional planning. This research presents results of a classification of temperature and rainfall in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam based on measurements from seven meteorological stations (Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Lang, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Phu Lien, Thai Binh) in the river basin over a thirty-years period from 1982-2011. The average accumulated rainfall trends in the delta are analysed and form the basis of research essential to weather and climate forecasting. This study employs interpolation based on the Kriging Method for daily rainfall (min and max) and daily temperature (min and max) in order to improve the understanding of sources of variation and uncertainly in these important meteorological parameters. To the Kriging method, the results will show the different models and the different parameters based on the various precipitation series. The results provide a useful reference to assist decision makers in developing smart agriculture strategies for the Red River Delta in Vietnam.

Keywords: spatial interpolation method, ArcGIS, temperature variability, rainfall variability, Red River Delta, Vietnam

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Authors: Patience Oluchi Silas, Yemi Adeshina

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Financial transactions involving the use of the internet has become an important practice among commercial banks in Nigeria with the introduction of internet banking and this has improved banking efficiency in rending services to customers. However, customers in Lagos State are enslaved in the fear of insecurity, technical failure, inadequate operational facilities, including improper telecommunications and poor power supply. It is in line with this that this paper explores the obstacles faced by Lagosians, tourists, small scale business owners, companies, customers and the government's attitude in addressing the challenges associated with online banking system in Nigeria through relevant legislations. Internet banking has the potential to transform economic activity and achieve developmental goals. If the associated Challenges are addressed quickly, then it will have the desired impact on the Nigerian economy. In this study, Respondents, mostly bank employees and customers were issued well designed and structured questionnaires to effectively examine the new developments brought about by the introduction of Internet banking and the challenges inhibiting its adoption. Hypotheses were formulated to test assumptions and claims generated from the study. The results were statistically analyzed to address the issues of errors and chances, and at the end, the result of the statistical analysis shows that all especially insecurity, inadequate operational facilities and poor power supply are the significant factors affecting the adoption of internet banking services in Nigeria. The study recommends that for internet banking to assume a developmental dimension in Nigeria and for the country to be fully integrated and respected in global financial environment, the prevalent level of frauds in Lagos State and among Nigerians must first be addressed and the relevant local laws should be put in place and in consonance with international laws and conventions; get the citizens well educated on the intricacies of Internet usage and frauds.

Keywords: internet-banking, adoption, challenges, insecurity, legislation, fraud, Lagos state, statistics

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Authors: Noemia Bessa Vilela, Jose Caramelo Gomes

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All law student are familiarized, in the first years of their bachelor of laws with the concepts of “public goods” and “ private goods”; often, such legal concept does not exactly match such economic concept, and there are consequences are some sort of confusion being created. The list of goods that follow under each category is not exhaustive, nor are students given proper mechanisms to acknowledge that some legal fields can, on its own, be considered as a “public good”; this is the case of Competition. Legal authors consider that “competition law is used to promote public interest” and, as such, it is a “public good”; in economics theory, Competition is the first public good in a market economy, as the enabler of allocation efficiency. Competition law is the legal tool to support the proper functioning of the market economy and democracy itself. It is fact that Competition Law only applies to economic activities, still, competition is object of private litigation as an integral part of Public Law. Still, regardless of the importance of Competition Law in the economic activity and market regulation, most student complete their studies in law, join the Bar Associations and engage in their professional activities never having been given sufficient tools to deal with the increasing demands of a globalized world. The lack of knowledge of economics, market functioning and the mechanisms at their reach in order to ensure proper realization of their duties as lawyers/ attorneys-at-law would be tackled if Competition Law would be included as part of the curricula of Law Schools. Proper teaching of Competition Law would combine the foundations of Competition Law, doctrine, case solving and Case Law study. Students should to understand and apply the analytical model. Special emphasis should be given to EU Competition Law, namely the TFEU Articles 101 to 106. Damages Directive should also be part of the curriculum. Students must in the first place acquire and master the economic rationale as competition and the world of competition law are the cornerstone of sound and efficient market. The teaching of Competition Law in undergraduate programs in Law would contribute to fulfill the potential of the students who will deal with matters related to consumer protection, economic and commercial law issues both in private practice and as in-house lawyers for companies.

Keywords: higher education, competition law, legal education, law, market economy, industrial economics

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Authors: Shashank Mukkoti, Mainak Majumder, Srinivasan Venkatraman

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Owing to the land scarcity in the modern-day, most of the construction activities are carried out closed to the existing buildings. Most of the high-rise buildings are constructed on pile foundations to transfer the design loads to a strong stratum below the ground surface. Due to the proximity of the new and existing structures, noise disturbances are prominent during the pile installation. Installation of vibratory piles is most suitable in urban areas. The ground vibrations developed due to the vibratory pile driving may cause many detrimental effects on the surrounding structures based on the proximity of the sources and nature of the structures. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the severity of ground vibrations induced by vibratory pile driving. For this purpose, a three-dimensional finite element model has been developed in the ABAQUS/ Explicit finite element program. The couple finite/infinite element method has been employed for the capturing of propagating waves due to the pile installation. The geometry of the pile foundations, frequency of the pile driving, length of the pile has been considered for the parametric study. The results show that vibrations generated due to the vibratory pile installation are either very close or more than the thresholds tolerance limits set by different guidelines.

Keywords: FE model, pile driving, free field vibrations, wave propagation

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Authors: Shraddha Jadhav

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We are entering a new age in the built environment where we expect our buildings to deliver far more than just a place to work or live. It is widely believed that sustainable building design strategies create improved occupants’ comfort & satisfaction with respect to thermal comfort & indoor environmental quality. Yet this belief remains a hypothesis with little empirical support. IT buildings cater to more than 3000 users at a time. Nowadays people spend 90% of the time inside offices. These sustainable IT office buildings should provide the occupants with maximum comfort for better work productivity. Such green rated buildings fulfill all the criteria at the designing stage, but do they really work as expected at the occupancy stage. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether green IT buildings provide the required comfort level as expected at the design stage. Building Occupants are a rich source of information for evaluating their comfort level in the building and to find out the solutions for their discomfort. This can be achieved by carrying out Post Occupancy Evaluation after the building has been occupied for more than a year or two. The technique consists of qualitative methods like questionnaire surveys & observations and quantitative methods like field measurements, photographs. Post Occupancy Evaluation was carried out in a Green (Platinum rated) IT building in Pune. 30 samples per floor were identified for the questionnaire survey. The core questions access occupant satisfaction with thermal comfort in the work area and measures adopted for making it comfortable were identified. The Mean Radiant Temperature of the same samples was taken to compare the quantitative and qualitative results. The survey was used to evaluate the occupant thermal comfort in a green office building and identify areas needing improvement. The survey has been designed in reference to ASHRAE standard 55-2010 & ISHRAE 10001:2017 IEQ and was further refined to suit the user of the building.

Keywords: green office building, building occupant, thermal comfort, POE, user satisfaction, survey

Procedia PDF Downloads 57

Authors: Nhan N. T. Ton, Anh T. N. Dao, Kouichirou Katou, Toshiaki Taniike

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Facile electron-hole recombination and the broad band gap are two major drawbacks of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) when applied in visible-light photocatalysis. Hybridization of TiO₂ with graphene is a promising strategy to lessen these pitfalls. Recently, there have been many reports on the synthesis of TiO₂/graphene nanocomposites, in most of which graphene oxide (GO) was used as a starting material. However, the reduction of GO introduced a large number of defects on the graphene framework. In addition, the sensitivity of titanium alkoxide to water (GO usually contains) significantly obstructs the uniform and controlled growth of TiO₂ on graphene. Here, we demonstrate a novel technique to synthesize TiO₂/graphene nanocomposites without the use of GO. Graphene dispersion was obtained through the chemical exfoliation of graphite in titanium tetra-n-butoxide with the aid of ultrasonication. The dispersion was directly used for the sol-gel reaction in the presence of different catalysts. A TiO₂/reduced graphene oxide (TiO₂/rGO) nanocomposite, which was prepared by a solvothermal method from GO, and the commercial TiO₂-P25 were used as references. It was found that titanium alkoxide afforded the graphene dispersion of a high quality in terms of a trace amount of defects and a few layers of dispersed graphene. Moreover, the sol-gel reaction from this dispersion led to TiO₂/graphene nanocomposites featured with promising characteristics for visible-light photocatalysts including: (I) the formation of a TiO₂ nano layer (thickness ranging from 1 nm to 5 nm) that uniformly and thinly covered graphene sheets, (II) a trace amount of defects on the graphene framework (low ID/IG ratio: 0.21), (III) a significant extension of the absorption edge into the visible light region (a remarkable extension of the absorption edge to 578 nm beside the usual edge at 360 nm), and (IV) a dramatic suppression of electron-hole recombination (the lowest photoluminescence intensity compared to reference samples). These advantages were successfully demonstrated in the photocatalytic decomposition of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The TiO₂/graphene nanocomposites exhibited 15 and 5 times higher activity than TiO₂-P25 and the TiO₂/rGO nanocomposite, respectively.

Keywords: chemical exfoliation, photocatalyst, TiO₂/graphene, sol-gel reaction

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Authors: Lee A. Browne, K. Rumbold

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The first fluorinating enzyme, 5'-fluoro-5'-deoxyadenosine synthase (fluorinase) was isolated from the soil bacterium Streptomyces cattleya. Such an enzyme, with the ability to catalyze a C-F bond, presents great potential as a biocatalyst. Naturally fluorinated compounds are extremely rare in nature. As a result, the number of fluorinases identified remains relatively few. The field of fluorination is almost completely synthetic. However, with the increasing demand for fluorinated organic compounds of commercial value in the agrochemical, pharmaceutical and materials industries, it has become necessary to utilize biologically based methods such as biocatalysts. A key step in this crucial process is the large-scale production of the fluorinase enzyme in considerable quantities for industrial applications. Thus, this study aimed to optimize expression of the fluorinase enzyme in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression systems in order to obtain high protein yields. The fluorinase gene was cloned into the pET 41b(+) and pPinkα-HC vectors and used to transform the expression hosts, E.coli BL21(DE3) and Pichia pastoris (PichiaPink™ strains) respectively. Expression trials were conducted to select optimal conditions for expression in both expression systems. Fluorinase catalyses a reaction between S-adenosyl-L-Methionine (SAM) and fluoride ion to produce 5'-fluorodeoxyadenosine (5'FDA) and L-Methionine. The activity of the enzyme was determined using HPLC by measuring the product of the reaction 5'FDA. A gradient mobile phase of 95:5 v/v 50mM potassium phosphate buffer to a final mobile phase containing 80:20 v/v 50mM potassium phosphate buffer and acetonitrile were used. This resulted in the complete separation of SAM and 5’-FDA which eluted at 1.3 minutes and 3.4 minutes respectively. This proved that the fluorinase enzyme was active. Optimising expression of the fluorinase enzyme was successful in both E.coli and PichiaPink™ where high expression levels in both expression systems were achieved. Protein production will be scaled up in PichiaPink™ using fermentation to achieve large-scale protein production. High level expression of protein is essential in biocatalysis for the availability of enzymes for industrial applications.

Keywords: biocatalyst, expression, fluorinase, PichiaPink™

Procedia PDF Downloads 542