Search results for: consumption volume

Authors: Yifan Zheng, Jinmin Zhu, Jiji Li, Gulling Li, Huahong Shi

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Secondary microplastics originate from the fragmentation of large plastics, and weathering is supposed to be the main cause of fragmentation. In this study, we investigated burrows and burrowing invertebrates on Styrofoam floats from the mariculture areas of China’s coastal waters. Various burrows were found on the submerged surface of Styrofoam floats and could be divided into ‘I’, ‘S’, ‘J’, and ‘Y’ types based on the burrow entrance number and passage curvature. Different invertebrate species, including 5 isopods, 8 clamworms, and 12 crabs, were found inside the burrows. Micro-foams were found in the bodies of these burrowers, with an average abundance of 4.2 ± 0.3 (isopod), 6.9 ± 2.0 (clamworm), and 3.0 ± 0.5 (crab) micro-foams per individual. In the laboratory, we observed the boring process of crabs in abandoned floats. Field and laboratory evidence suggested that these invertebrates bored various burrows. The total volume of crab burrows on a 3-year-used float was estimated to be 2.6 × 10³ cm³, producing 4.1 × 10⁸ microplastics. This study highlights the critical role of bioerosion in destroying man-made substrates and prompting microplastic pollution.

Keywords: burrowing invertebrate, mariculture area, styrofoam float, fragmentation, microplastics

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Salvatore Luongo, Carlo Luongo

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This paper discusses the implementation solutions to reduce the computational load for the Traffic Situational Awareness with Alerts (TSAA) application, based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology. In 2008, there were 23 total mid-air collisions involving general aviation fixed-wing aircraft, 6 of which were fatal leading to 21 fatalities. These collisions occurred during visual meteorological conditions, indicating the limitations of the see-and-avoid concept for mid-air collision avoidance as defined in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA). The commercial aviation aircraft are already equipped with collision avoidance system called TCAS, which is based on classic transponder technology. This system dramatically reduced the number of mid-air collisions involving air transport aircraft. In general aviation, the same reduction in mid-air collisions has not occurred, so this reduction is the main objective of the TSAA application. The major difference between the original conflict detection application and the TSAA application is that the conflict detection is focused on preventing loss of separation in en-route environments. Instead TSAA is devoted to reducing the probability of mid-air collision in all phases of flight. The TSAA application increases the flight crew traffic situation awareness providing alerts of traffic that are detected in conflict with ownship in support of the see-and-avoid responsibility. The relevant effort has been spent in the design process and the code generation in order to maximize the efficiency and performances in terms of computational load and memory consumption reduction. The TSAA architecture is divided into two high-level systems: the “Threats database” and the “Conflict detector”. The first one receives the traffic data from ADS-B device and provides the memorization of the target’s data history. Conflict detector module estimates ownship and targets trajectories in order to perform the detection of possible future loss of separation between ownship and each target. Finally, the alerts are verified by additional conflict verification logic, in order to prevent possible undesirable behaviors of the alert flag. In order to reduce the computational load, a pre-check evaluation module is used. This pre-check is only a computational optimization, so the performances of the conflict detector system are not modified in terms of number of alerts detected. The pre-check module uses analytical trajectories propagation for both target and ownship. This allows major accuracy and avoids the step-by-step propagation, which requests major computational load. Furthermore, the pre-check permits to exclude the target that is certainly not a threat, using an analytical and efficient geometrical approach, in order to decrease the computational load for the following modules. This software improvement is not suggested by FAA documents, and so it is the main innovation of this work. The efficiency and efficacy of this enhancement are verified using fast-time and real-time simulations and by the execution on a real device in several FAA scenarios. The final implementation also permits the FAA software certification in compliance with DO-178B standard. The computational load reduction allows the installation of TSAA application also on devices with multiple applications and/or low capacity in terms of available memory and computational capabilities

Keywords: traffic situation awareness, general aviation, aircraft conflict detection, computational load reduction, implementation solutions, software certification

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: J. P. Borah, R. D. Raland

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Hyperthermia is one of many techniques used destroys cancerous cell. It uses the physical methods to heat certain organ or tissue delivering an adequate temperature in an appropriate period of time, to the entire tumor volume for achieving optimal therapeutic results. Magnetic Metal ferrites nanoparticles (MFe₂O₄ where M = Mn, Zn, Ni, Co, Mg, etc.) are one of the most potential candidates for hyperthermia due to their tunability, biocompatibility, chemical stability and notable ability to mediate high rate of heat induction. However, to obtain the desirable properties for these applications, it is important to optimize their chemical composition, structure and magnetic properties. These properties are mainly sensitive to cation distribution of tetrahedral and octahedral sites. Among the ferrites, zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) and Manganese ferrite ((MnFe₂O₄) is one of a strong candidate for hyperthermia application because Mn and zinc have a non-magnetic cation and therefore the magnetic property is determined only by the cation distribution of iron, which provides a better platform to manipulate or tailor the properties. In this talk, influence of doping and surfactant towards cation re-distribution leading to an enhancement of magnetic properties of ferrite nanoparticles will be demonstrated. The efficiency of heat generation in association with the enhanced magnetic property is also well discussed in this talk.

Keywords: magnetic nanoparticle, hyperthermia, x-ray diffraction, TEM study

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Chun-Qing Li, Hassan Baji, Wei Yang

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Corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete structures is a major problem worldwide. The volume expansion of corrosion products causes concrete cover cracking, which could lead to delamination of concrete cover. The time to cover cracking plays a key role to the assessment of serviceability of reinforced concrete structures subjected to corrosion. Many analytical, numerical, and empirical models have been developed to predict the time to cracking initiation due to corrosion. In this study, a numerical model based on finite element modeling of corrosion-induced cracking process is used. In order to predict the service life based on time to cover initiation, the numerical approach is coupled with a probabilistic procedure. In this procedure, all the influential factors affecting time to cover cracking are modeled as random variables. The results show that the time to cover cracking is highly variables. It is also shown that rust product expansion ratio and the size of more porous concrete zone around the rebar are the most influential factors in predicting service life of corrosion-affected structures.

Keywords: corrosion, crack width, probabilistic, service life

Procedia PDF Downloads 202

Authors: Muhammad Awais

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Study on the nesting biology of the House Crow Corvus splendens was conducted at Hazara University, Garden Campus (125 acres), Mansehra during the 2013 breeding season (June to September). Details about nest locations, tree characteristics, nest and egg characteristics were recorded. Mean nest density of House Crow was 2.4 nests/ acre. Mean tree and nest height were 14.8±6.30 and 11.8±5.42m. Mean tree canopy spread 9.5±2.48m. Mean maximum and minimum nest diameters were 42.3±2.08 and 39.0±1.73cm respectively while maximum and minimum diameters of nest cup were 15.6±1.52 and 13.3±1.15cm respectively. Nest depth and nest cup depth were measured 19.3±2.08 and 8.3±1.15cm respectively. Mean nest weight was 1.4±0.24 kg. Mean clutch size was 4.0 (ranged 1–6). Mean egg length was 38.6±0.69mm, breadth 26.0±0.69mm, egg volume 13.3±0.83cm3 and egg shape index 1.42±0.83. Mean egg weight was 12.3±0.70g. Egg and nest success was calculated 55.1% and 69.0%. Hatchlings and fledglings produced per nest were 2.20 and 1.44 respectively. Main reasons for reproductive failures were unhatched eggs, poor nest construction, bad weather conditions and observer’s disturbance.

Keywords: breeding, Corvus splendens, fledglings, Hazara university, house crow, Mansehra, populus orientalis

Procedia PDF Downloads 391

Authors: N. Allouache, O. Rahli

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Solar radiation is by far the largest and the most world’s abundant, clean, and permanent energy source. In recent years, many promising technologies have been developed to harness the sun's energy. These technologies help in environmental protection, economizing energy, and sustainable development, which are the major issues of the world. One of these important technologies is the solar refrigerating machines that make use of either absorption or adsorption technologies. In this present work, the adsorbent bed is modelized and optimized using different working pairs, such as zeolite-water, silica gel-water, activated carbon-ammonia, calcium chlorid-ammonia, activated carbon fiber- methanol and activated carbon AC35-methanol. The results show that the enhancement of the heat and mass transfer depends on the properties of the working pair; the performances of the adsorption cycle are essentially influenced by the choice of the adsorbent-adsorbate pair. The system can operate successfully for optimal parameters such as the evaporator, condenser, and generating temperatures. The activated carbon is the best adsorbent due to its high surface area and micropore volume.

Keywords: adsorbent bed, heat and mass transfer, numerical analysis, working pairs

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Rashad Al-Gaashani, Muataz A. Atieh

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In this study, the effect of preparation temperature, namely room temperature (RT), 40, 60, and 85°C, on producing of high-quality graphene oxide (GO) has been investigated. GO samples have been prepared by chemical oxidation of graphite via a safe improved chemical technique using a blend of two deferent acids: sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) and phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) with volume ratio 4:1, respectively. potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) were applied as oxidizing agents. In this work, sodium nitrate (NaNO₃) was excluded, so the emission of hazardous explosive gases such as NO₂ and N₂O₂ was shunned. Ice and oil baths were used to carefully control the temperature. Several characterization instruments including X-Ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron dispersive spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV-vis spectroscopy were used to study and compare the synthesized samples. The results indicated that GO can be prepared at RT with graphite oxide, and the purity of GO increased with rising of the solvent temperature. Optical properties of GO samples were studied using UV-vis absorption spectra.

Keywords: chemical method, graphite, graphene oxide, optical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: M. Nakisa, A. Maimun, Yasser M. Ahmed, F. Behrouzi, A. Tarmizi

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The practical application of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), for predicting the flow pattern around Multipurpose Amphibious Vehicle (MAV) hull has made much progress over the last decade. Today, several of the CFD tools play an important role in the land and water going vehicle hull form design. CFD has been used for analysis of MAV hull resistance, sea-keeping, maneuvering and investigating its variation when changing the hull form due to varying its parameters, which represents a very important task in the principal and final design stages. Resistance analysis based on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation has become a decisive factor in the development of new, economically efficient and environmentally friendly hull forms. Three-dimensional finite volume method (FVM) based on Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) has been used to simulate incompressible flow around three types of MAV hull bow models in steady-state condition. Finally, the flow structure and streamlines, friction and pressure resistance and velocity contours of each type of hull bow will be compared and discussed.

Keywords: RANS simulation, multipurpose amphibious vehicle, viscous flow structure, mechatronic

Procedia PDF Downloads 302

Authors: Sepideh Beiramipour, Hadi Haghjouei, Kourosh Qaderi, Majid Rahimpour, Mohammad M. Ahmadi, Sameh A. Kantoush

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Reservoir sedimentation is one of the main challenges by which the reservoir behind the dam is filled with sediments transferred through the river flow. Pressure flushing method is an effective way to drain the deposited sediments of the reservoirs through the bottom outlet. So far, several structural methods have been proposed to increase the efficiency of pressure flushing. The aim of this study is to increase the performance of Dendritic Bottomless Extended (DBE) structure on the efficiency of pressurized sediment flushing using submerged vanes. For this purpose, the physical model of the dam reservoir with dimensions of 7.5 m in length, 3.5 m in width, and 1.8 m in height in the hydraulic and water structures research laboratory of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman was used. In order to investigate the influence of submerged vanes on the performance of DBE structure in pressure flushing, the best arrangement and geometric parameters of the vanes were selected and combined with the DBE structure. The results showed that the submerged vanes significantly increased the performance of the DBE structure so that the volume of the sediment flushing cone with the combination of two structures increased by 3.7 times compared to the DBE structure test.

Keywords: dendritic bottomless extended structure, flushing efficiency, sedimentation, sediment flushing

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Eduardo Cabrera-Rode, Janet Rodriguez, Aimee Alvarez, Ragmila Echevarria, Antonio D. Reyes, Ileana Cubas-Duenas, Silvia E. Turcios, Oscar Diaz-Diaz

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Obex is a nutritional supplement to help weight loss naturally. In addition, this supplement has a satiating effect that helps control the craving to eat between meals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Obex in the metabolic syndrome (MS). This was an open label pilot study conducted in 30 patients with MS and ages between 29 and 60 years old. Participants received Obex, at a dose of one sachet before (30 to 45 minutes) the two main meals (lunch and dinner) daily (mean two sachets per day) for 3 months. The content of the sachets was dissolved in a glass of water or fruit juice. Obex ingredients: Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) berry, inulin, Phaseolus vulgaris, Caralluma fimbriata, inositol, choline, arginine, ornitine, zinc sulfate, carnitine fumarate, methionine, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine and folic acid. In addition to anthropometric measures and blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol and insulin were determined. Insulin resistance was assessed by HOMA-IR index. Three indirect indexes were used to calculate insulin sensitivity [QUICKI index (Quantitative insulin sensitivity check index), Bennett index and Raynaud index]. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the Joint Interim Statement (JIS) criteria. The JIS criteria require at least three of the following components: (1) abdominal obesity (waist circumference major or equal major or equal 94 cm for men or 80 cm for women), (2) triglycerides major or equal 1.7 mmol/L, (3) HDL cholesterol minor 1.03 mmol/L for men or minor 1.30 mmol/L for women, (4) systolic/diastolic blood pressure major or equal 130/85mmHg or use antihypertensive drugs, and (5) fasting plasma glucose major or equal 5.6 mmol/L or known treatment for diabetes. This study was approved by the Ethical and Research Committee of the National Institute of Endocrinology, Cuba and conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Obex is registered as a food supplement in the National Institute of Nutrition and Food, Havana, Cuba. Written consent was obtained from all patients before the study. The clinical trial had been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. After three months of treatment, 43.3% (13/30) of participants decreased the frequency of MS. Compared to baseline, Obex significantly reduced body weight, BMI, waist circumference, and waist/hip ratio and improved HDL-c (p<0.0001) and in addition to lowering blood pressure (p<0.05). After Obex intake, subjects also have shown a reduction in fasting plasma glucose (p<0.0001) and insulin sensitivity was enhanced (p=0.001). No adverse effects were seen in any of the participants during the study. In this pilot study, consumption of Obex decreased the prevalence of MS due to the improved selected components of the metabolic syndrome, indicating that further studies are warranted. Obex emerges as an effective and well tolerated treatment for preventing or delaying MS and therefore potential reduction of cardiovascular risk.

Keywords: nutritional supplement, metabolic syndrome, weight loss, insulin resistance

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Kübra Aktaş, Nermin Bilgiçli, Tayyibe Erten, Perihan Kübra Çiçek

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In this research, different wheat-legume flour blends were used in Turkish noodle preparation with the aid of some gums (xanthan and guar). Chickpea, common bean and soy flours were used in noodle formulation at 20% level with and without gum (1%) addition. Some physical, chemical and sensory properties of noodles were determined. Water uptake, volume increase and cooking loss values of the noodles changed between 92.03-116.37%, 125.0-187.23% and 4.88-8.10%, respectively. Xanthan or guar gam addition decreased cooking loss values of legume fortified noodles. Both legume flour and gum addition significantly (p<0.05) affected the color values of the noodles. The lowest lightness (L*), redness (a*) and the highest yellowness (b*) values were obtained with soy flour usage in noodle formulation. Protein and ash values of noodles ranged between 15.14 and 21.82%; 1.62 and 2.50%, respectively, and the highest values were obtained with soy flour usage in noodle formulation. As a result of sensory evaluation, noodles containing chickpea flour and guar gum were rated with higher taste, odor, appearance and texture scores compared to other noodle samples.

Keywords: noodle, legume, soy, chickpea, common bean, gum

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Siti Murniningsih, Evi Anggraheni

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Various infrastructures such as dams, flood control dams and reservoirs have been developed in the 19th century until the 20th century. These infrastructures are very effective in controlling the river flows and in preventing inundation in the urban area prone to flooding. Flooding in the urban area often brings large impact, affecting every aspect of life and also environment. Ciliwung is one of the rivers allegedly contributes to the flooding problems in Jakarta; various engineering work has been done in Ciliwung river to help controlling the flooding. One of the engineering work is to build Ciawi Dam and Sukamahi Dam. In this research, author is doing the flood calculation with Nakayasu Method, while the previous flooding in that case study is computed using Level Pool Routine. The effectiveness of these dams can be identified by using flood simulation of existing condition and compare it to the flood simulation after the dam construction. The final goal of this study is to determine the effectiveness of flood mitigation infrastructure located at upstream area in reducing the volume of flooding in Jakarta.

Keywords: effectiveness, flood simulation, infrastructure flooding, level pool routine

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Victor Mantilla, Romeu Vicente, António Figueiredo, Victor Ferreira, Sandra Sorte

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Integrating dynamic facades into contemporary building design is shaping a new era of energy efficiency and user comfort. These innovative facades, often constructed using lightweight construction systems and materials, offer an opportunity to have a responsive and adaptive nature to the dynamic behavior of the outdoor climate. Therefore, in regions characterized by high fluctuations in daily temperatures, the ability to adapt to environmental changes is of paramount importance and a challenge. This paper presents a thorough review of the state of the art on double-skin facades (DSF), focusing on lightweight solutions for the external envelope. Dynamic facades featuring elements like movable shading devices, phase change materials, and advanced control systems have revolutionized the built environment. They offer a promising path for reducing energy consumption while enhancing occupant well-being. Lightweight construction systems are increasingly becoming the choice for the constitution of these facade solutions, offering benefits such as reduced structural loads and reduced construction waste, improving overall sustainability. However, the performance of dynamic facades based on low thermal inertia solutions in climatic contexts with high thermal amplitude is still in need of research since their ability to adapt is traduced in variability/manipulation of the thermal transmittance coefficient (U-value). Emerging technologies can enable such a dynamic thermal behavior through innovative materials, changes in geometry and control to optimize the facade performance. These innovations will allow a facade system to respond to shifting outdoor temperature, relative humidity, wind, and solar radiation conditions, ensuring that energy efficiency and occupant comfort are both met/coupled. This review addresses the potential configuration of double-skin facades, particularly concerning their responsiveness to seasonal variations in temperature, with a specific focus on addressing the challenges posed by winter and summer conditions. Notably, the design of a dynamic facade is significantly shaped by several pivotal factors, including the choice of materials, geometric considerations, and the implementation of effective monitoring systems. Within the realm of double skin facades, various configurations are explored, encompassing exhaust air, supply air, and thermal buffering mechanisms. According to the review places a specific emphasis on the thermal dynamics at play, closely examining the impact of factors such as the color of the facade, the slat angle's dimensions, and the positioning and type of shading devices employed in these innovative architectural structures.This paper will synthesize the current research trends in this field, with the presentation of case studies and technological innovations with a comprehensive understanding of the cutting-edge solutions propelling the evolution of building envelopes in the face of climate change, namely focusing on double-skin lightweight solutions to create sustainable, adaptable, and responsive building envelopes. As indicated in the review, flexible and lightweight systems have broad applicability across all building sectors, and there is a growing recognition that retrofitting existing buildings may emerge as the predominant approach.

Keywords: adaptive, control systems, dynamic facades, energy efficiency, responsive, thermal comfort, thermal transmittance

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Sajjad Negahban, Ruihe Wang, Baojiang Sun

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Gas-lift dual gradient drilling is a solution for deepwater drilling challenges. As well, Continuous development of drilling technology leads to increase employment of mineral oil based drilling fluids and synthetic-based drilling fluids, which have adequate characteristics such as: high rate of penetration, lubricity, shale inhibition and low toxicity. The paper discusses utilization of nitrified mineral oil base drilling for deepwater drilling and for more accurate prediction of pressure in DGD at marine riser, solubility and bubble pressure were considered in steady state hydraulic model. The Standing bubble pressure and solubility correlations, and two models which were acquired from experimental determination were applied in hydraulic model. The effect of the black oil correlations, and new solubility and bubble pressure models was evaluated on the PVT parameters such as oil formation volume factor, density, viscosity, volumetric flow rate. Eventually, the consequent simulated pressure profile due to these models was presented.

Keywords: solubility, bubble pressure, gas-lift dual gradient drilling, steady state hydraulic model

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: Soraya Hoornam, Zeinab Sanaee

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Lithium-ion batteries are widely used for providing energy for mobile electronic devices. Graphite is a traditional anode material that was used in almost all commercialized lithium-ion batteries. It gives a specific capacity of 372 mAh/g for lithium storage. But there are multiple better choices for storing lithium that propose significantly higher specific capacities. As an example, silicon-based materials can be mentioned. In this regard, SiO₂ material can offer a huge specific capacity of 1965 mAh/g. Due to this high lithium storage ability, large volume change occurs in this electrode material during insertion and extraction of lithium, which may lead to cracking and destruction of the electrode. The use of nanomaterials instead of bulk material can significantly solve this problem. In addition, if we insert lithium in the active material of the battery before its cycling, which is called pre-lithiation, a further enhancement in the performance is expected. Here, we have fabricated an anode electrode of the battery using SiO₂ nanomaterial mixed with Graphite and assembled a lithium-ion battery half-cell with this electrode. Next, a pre-lithiation was performed on the SiO₂ nanoparticle-containing electrode, and the resulting anode material was investigated. This electrode has great potential for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

Keywords: SiO₂ nanoparticles, lithium-ion battery, pre-lithiation, anode material

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Samad Alipour, Khadije Mosavi Onlaghi

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Urmia Salt Lake (USL) is a hypersaline lake in the northwest of Iran. It contains halite as main dissolved and precipitated mineral and the major mineral mixed with lake bed sediments. Other detrital minerals such as calcite, aragonite, dolomite, quartz, feldspars, augite are forming lake sediments. This study examined the impact of weathering of this sediments collected from 1.5 meters depth and augite placers. The study indicated that weathering of tephritic and adakite rocks of the Islamic Island at the immediate boundary of the lake play a main control of lake bed sediments and has produced a large volume of augite placer along the lake bank. Weathering increases from south to toward north with increasing distance from Islamic Island. Geochemistry of lake sediments demonstrated the enrichment of MgO, CaO, Sr with an elevated anomaly of Eu, possibly due to surface absorbance of Mn and Fe associated Sr elevation originating from adakite volcanic rocks in the vicinity of the lake basin. The study shows the local geology is the major factor in origin of lake sediments than chemical and biochemical produced mineral during diagenetic processes.

Keywords: Urmia Lake, weathering, mineralogy, augite, Iran

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Authors: Jose Neri, Fabrice Canto, Alastair Magnaldo, Laurent Guillerme, Vincent Dugas

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A miniaturized and automated approach for the volumetric titration of free nitric acid in U(VI) solutions is presented. Free acidity measurement refers to the acidity quantification in solutions containing hydrolysable heavy metal ions such as U(VI), U(IV) or Pu(IV) without taking into account the acidity contribution from the hydrolysis of such metal ions. It is, in fact, an operation having an essential role for the control of the nuclear fuel recycling process. The main objective behind the technical optimization of the actual ‘beaker’ method was to reduce the amount of radioactive substance to be handled by the laboratory personnel, to ease the instrumentation adjustability within a glove-box environment and to allow a high-throughput analysis for conducting more cost-effective operations. The measurement technique is based on the concept of the Taylor-Aris dispersion in order to create inside of a 200 μm x 5cm circular cylindrical micro-channel a linear concentration gradient in less than a second. The proposed analytical methodology relies on the actinide complexation using pH 5.6 sodium oxalate solution and subsequent alkalimetric titration of nitric acid with sodium hydroxide. The titration process is followed with a CCD camera for fluorescence detection; the neutralization boundary can be visualized in a detection range of 500nm- 600nm thanks to the addition of a pH sensitive fluorophore. The operating principle of the developed device allows the active generation of linear concentration gradients using a single cylindrical micro channel. This feature simplifies the fabrication and ease of use of the micro device, as it does not need a complex micro channel network or passive mixers to generate the chemical gradient. Moreover, since the linear gradient is determined by the liquid reagents input pressure, its generation can be fully achieved in faster intervals than one second, being a more timely-efficient gradient generation process compared to other source-sink passive diffusion devices. The resulting linear gradient generator device was therefore adapted to perform for the first time, a volumetric titration on a chip where the amount of reagents used is fixed to the total volume of the micro channel, avoiding an important waste generation like in other flow-based titration techniques. The associated analytical method is automated and its linearity has been proven for the free acidity determination of U(VI) samples containing up to 0.5M of actinide ion and nitric acid in a concentration range of 0.5M to 3M. In addition to automation, the developed analytical methodology and technique greatly improves the standard off-line oxalate complexation and alkalimetric titration method by reducing a thousand fold the required sample volume, forty times the nuclear waste per analysis as well as the analysis time by eight-fold. The developed device represents, therefore, a great step towards an easy-to-handle nuclear-related application, which in the short term could be used to improve laboratory safety as much as to reduce the environmental impact of the radioanalytical chain.

Keywords: free acidity, lab-on-a-chip, linear concentration gradient, Taylor-Aris dispersion, volumetric titration

Procedia PDF Downloads 380

Authors: Olakunle Moses Makanjuola, Adebola Ajayi

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Noodles are made from unleavened dough, rolled flat and cut into shapes. The instant noodle market is growing fast in Asian countries and is gaining popularity in the western market. This project reports on the proximate functional and sensory evaluation of different brands of instant noodles in Nigeria. The comparisons were based on proximate functional and sensory evaluation of the product. The result obtained from the proximate analysis showed that sample QHR has the highest moisture content, sample BMG has the highest protein content, sample CPO has the highest fat content, sample. The obtained result from the functional properties showed that sample BMG (Dangote noodles) had the highest volume increase after cooking due to its high swelling capacity, high water absorption capacity and high hydration capacity. Sample sensory analysis of the noodles showed that all the samples are of significant difference (at P < 0.05) in terms of colour, texture, and aroma but there is no significant difference in terms of taste and overall acceptability. Sample QHR (Indomie noodles) is the most preferred by the panelists.

Keywords: proximate, functional, sensory evaluation, noodles

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: G. Hodaifa, J. A. Páez, C. Agabo, E. Ramos, J. C. Gutiérrez, A. Rosal

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Currently, the continuous two-phase decanter process used for olive oil production is the more internationally widespread. The wastewaters generated from this industry (OMW) is a real environmental problem because of its high organic load. Among proposed treatments for these wastewaters, the advanced oxidation technologies (Fenton process, ozone, photoFenton, etc.) are the most favourable. The direct application of these processes is somewhat expensive. Therefore, the application of a previous stage based on a flocculation-sedimentation operation is of high importance. In this research five commercial flocculants (three cationic, and two anionic) have been used to achieve the separation of phases (liquid clarified-sludge). For each flocculant, different concentrations (0-1000 mg/L) have been studied. In these experiments, sludge volume formed over time and the final water quality were determined. The final removal percentages of total phenols (11.3-25.1%), COD (5.6-20.4%), total carbon (2.3-26.5%), total organic carbon (1.50-23.8%), total nitrogen (1.45-24.8%), and turbidity (27.9-61.4%) were obtained. Also, the variation on the electric conductivity reduction percentage (1-8%) was determined. Finally, the best flocculants with highest removal percentages have been determined (QG2001 and Flocudex CS49).

Keywords: flocculants, flocculation, olive oil mill wastewater, water quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 527

Authors: Alebiosu Olugbenga Shadrak, Victor Victoria

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Honey bees exhibit preferences in their foraging behaviour on pollen and nectar for food and honey production, respectively. Melissopalynology is the study of pollen in honey and other honey products. Several work have been conducted on the palynological studies of honeys from the southern parts of Nigeria but with relatively scant records from the Northern region of the country. This present study aimed at revealing the favourably visited plants by honey bees, Apis melifera var. adansonii, at some apiaries in Northern Nigeria, as well as determining the quality of honeys produced. Honeys were harvested and collected from four apiaries of the region, namely: Sarkin Dawa missionary bee farm, Taraba State; Eleeshuwa Bee Farm, Keffi, Nassarawa State, Bulus Beekeeper Apiaries, Kagarko, Kaduna State and Mai Gwava Bee Farm, Kano State. These honeys were acetolysed for palynological microscopic analysis and subjected to standard treatment methods for the determination of their proximate composition and sugar profiling. Fresh anthers of two dominantly represented plants in the honeys were then collected for the quantification of their pollen protein contents, using the micro-kjeldhal procedure. A total of 30 pollen types were identified in the four honeys, and some of them were common to the honeys. A classification method for expressing pollen frequency class was employed: Senna cf. siamea, Terminalia cf. catappa, Mangifera indica, Parinari curatelifolia, Vitellaria paradoxa, Elaeis guineensis, Parkia biglobosa, Phyllantus muellerianus and Berlina Grandiflora, as “Frequent” (16-45%); while the others are either Rare (3-15%) or Sporadic (less than 3 %). Pollen protein levels of the two abundantly represented plants, Senna siamea (15.90mg/ml) and Terminalia catappa (17.33mg/ml) were found to be considerably lower. The biochemical analyses revealed varying amounts of proximate composition, non-reducing sugar and total sugar levels in the honeys. The results of this study indicate that pollen and nectar of the “Frequent” plants were preferentially foraged by honeybees in the apiaries. The estimated pollen protein contents of Senna same and Terminalia catappa were considerably lower and not likely to have influenced their favourable visitation by honeybees. However, a relatively higher representation of Senna cf. siamea in the pollen spectrum might have resulted from its characteristic brightly coloured and well scented flowers, aiding greater entomophily. Terminalia catappa, Mangifera indica, Elaeis guineensis, Vitellaria paradoxa, and Parkia biglobosa are typical food crops; hence they probably attracted the honeybees owing to the rich nutritional values of their fruits and seeds. Another possible reason for a greater entomophily of the favourably visited plants are certain nutritional constituents of their pollen and nectar, which were not investigated in this study. The nutritional composition of the honeys was observed to fall within the safe limits of international norms, as prescribed by Codex Alimentarius Commission, thus they are good honeys for human consumption. It is therefore imperative to adopt strategic conservation steps in ensuring that these favourably visited plants are protected from indiscriminate anthropogenic activities and also encourage apiarists in the country to establish their bee farms more proximally to the plants for optimal honey yield.

Keywords: honeybees, melissopalynology, preferentially foraged, nutritional, bee farms, proximally

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Authors: Amir Moslehi, Gholamreza Raisali

Abstract:

Microdosimetric detectors based on multiple-thick gas electron multiplier (multiple-THGEM) configurations are being used in various fields of radiation protection and dosimetry. In the present work, microdosimetric response of these detectors to fast neutrons has been investigated by Monte Carlo method. Three similar microdosimeters made of A-150 and rexolite as the wall materials are designed; the first based on single-THGEM, the second based on double-THGEM and the third is based on triple-THGEM. Sensitive volume of the three microdosimeters is a right cylinder of 5 mm height and diameter which is filled with the propane-based tissue-equivalent (TE) gas. The TE gas with 0.11 atm pressure at the room temperature simulates 1 µm of tissue. Lineal energy distributions for several neutron energies from 10 keV to 14 MeV including 241Am-Be neutrons are calculated by the Geant4 simulation toolkit. Also, mean quality factor and dose-equivalent value for any neutron energy has been determined by these distributions. Obtained data derived from the three microdosimeters are in agreement. Therefore, we conclude that the multiple-THGEM structures present similar microdosimetric responses to fast neutrons.

Keywords: fast neutrons, geant4, multiple-thick gas electron multiplier, microdosimeter

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Authors: Shafiq Alam, Yen Ning Lee

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Conventional hydrometallurgical processing of metals involves the use of large quantities of toxic chemicals. Realizing a need to develop sustainable technologies, extensive research studies are being carried out to recover and recycle base, precious and rare earth metals from their pregnant leach solutions (PLS) using green chemicals/biomaterials prepared from biomass wastes derived from agriculture, marine and forest resources. Our innovative research showed that bio-adsorbents prepared from such biomass wastes can effectively adsorb precious metals, especially gold after conversion of their functional groups in a very simple process. The highly effective ‘Adsorption-coupled-Reduction’ phenomenon witnessed appears promising for the potential use of this gold biosorption process in the mining industry. Proper management and effective use of biomass wastes as value added green chemicals will not only reduce the volume of wastes being generated every day in our society, but will also have a high-end value to the mining and mineral processing industries as those biomaterials would be cheap, but very selective for gold recovery/recycling from low grade ore, leach residue or e-wastes.

Keywords: biosorption, hydrometallurgy, gold, adsorption, reduction, biomass, sustainability

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Authors: Khedidja Bouhadef, Imene Said Kouadri, Omar Rahli

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In this paper numerical investigation is performed to analyze natural convection heat transfer characteristics within a wavy-wall enclosure filled with fluid-saturated porous medium. The bottom wall which has the wavy geometry is maintained at a constant high temperature, while the top wall is straight and is maintained at a constant lower temperature. The left and right walls of the enclosure are both straight and insulated. The governing differential equations are solved by Finite-volume approach and grid generation is used to transform the physical complex domain to a computational regular space. The aim is to examine flow field, temperature distribution and heat transfer evolutions inside the cavity when Darcy number, Rayleigh number and undulations number values are varied. The results mainly indicate that the heat transfer is rather affected by the permeability and Rayleigh number values since increasing these values enhance the Nusselt number; although the exchanges are not highly affected by the undulations number.

Keywords: grid generation, natural convection, porous medium, wavy wall enclosure

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Authors: Wu Qinglong, Zhou Qicai, Xiong Xiaolei, Zhang Richeng

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In order to achieve the layout and size optimization of the web members of tower crane boom, a truss topology and cross section size optimization method based on continuum is proposed considering three typical working conditions. Firstly, the optimization model is established by replacing web members with web plates. And the web plates are divided into several sub-domains so that periodic soft kill option (SKO) method can be carried out for topology optimization of the slender boom. After getting the optimized topology of web plates, the optimized layout of web members is formed through extracting the principal stress distribution. Finally, using the web member radius as design variable, the boom compliance as objective and the material volume of the boom as constraint, the cross section size optimization mathematical model is established. The size optimization criterion is deduced from the mathematical model by Lagrange multiplier method and Kuhn-Tucker condition. By comparing the original boom with the optimal boom, it is identified that this optimization method can effectively lighten the boom and improve its performance.

Keywords: tower crane boom, topology optimization, size optimization, periodic, SKO, optimization criterion

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Authors: John D. Sanderson

Abstract:

The popularity of American cinema worldwide has contributed to the development of sociolects related to specific film genres in other cultural contexts by means of screen translation, in many cases eluding norms of usage in the target language, a process whose result has come to be known as 'dubbese'. A consequence for the reception in countries where local audiovisual fiction consumption is far lower than American imported productions is that this linguistic construct is preferred, even though it differs from common everyday speech. The iconography of film genres such as science-fiction, western or sword-and-sandal films, for instance, generates linguistic expectations in international audiences who will accept more easily the sociolects assimilated by the continuous reception of American productions, even if the themes, locations, characters, etc., portrayed on screen may belong in origin to other cultures. And the non-normative language (e.g., calques, semantic loans) used in the preferred mode of linguistic transfer, whether it is translation for dubbing or subtitling, has diachronically evolved in many cases into a status of canonized sociolect, not only accepted but also required, by foreign audiences of American films. However, a remarkable step forward is taken when this typology of artificial linguistic constructs starts being used creatively by nationals of these target cultural contexts. In the case of Spain, the success of American sitcoms such as Friends in the 1990s led Spanish television scriptwriters to include in national productions lexical and syntactical indirect borrowings (Anglicisms not formally identifiable as such because they include elements from their own language) in order to target audiences of the former. However, this commercial strategy had already taken place decades earlier when Spain became a favored location for the shooting of foreign films in the early 1960s. The international popularity of the then newly developed sub-genre known as Spaghetti-Western encouraged Spanish investors to produce their own movies, and local scriptwriters made use of the dubbese developed nationally since the advent of sound in film instead of using normative language. As a result, direct Anglicisms, as well as lexical and syntactical borrowings made up the creative writing of these Spanish productions, which also became commercially successful. Interestingly enough, some of these films were even marketed in English-speaking countries as original westerns (some of the names of actors and directors were anglified to that purpose) dubbed into English. The analysis of these 'back translations' will also foreground some semantic distortions that arose in the process. In order to perform the research on these issues, a wide corpus of American films has been used, which chronologically range from Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939) to Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012), together with a shorter corpus of Spanish films produced during the golden age of Spaghetti Westerns, from una tumba para el sheriff (Mario Caiano; in English lone and angry man, William Hawkins) to tu fosa será la exacta, amigo (Juan Bosch, 1972; in English my horse, my gun, your widow, John Wood). The methodology of analysis and the conclusions reached could be applied to other genres and other cultural contexts.

Keywords: dubbing, film genre, screen translation, sociolect

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Authors: Sai Chand, Ashish Dhamaniya, Satish Chandra

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Curbside bus stops are provided on urban roads when sufficient land is not available to construct bus bays. The present study demonstrates the effect of curbside bus stops on midblock capacity of an urban arterial road. Data were collected on seven sections of 6-lane urban arterial roads in New Delhi. Three sections were selected without any side friction to estimate the base value of capacity. Remaining four sections were with curbside bus stop. Speed and volume data were collected in field and these data were used to estimate the capacity of a section. The average base midblock capacity of a 6–lane divided urban road was found to be 6314 PCU/hr which was further referred as base capacity. Effect of curbside bus stop on midblock capacity of urban road was evaluated by comparing the capacity of a section with curbside bus stop with that of the base capacity. Finally, a mathematical relation has been developed between bus frequency and capacity loss. Also a relation has been suggested between dwell time and capacity loss. The developed relations would be very useful for practising engineers to estimate capacity loss due to bus stop.

Keywords: bus frequency, bus stops, capacity loss, urban arterial

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Authors: Kiurski S. Jelena, Ranogajec G. Jonjaua, Kecić S. Vesna, Oros B. Ivana

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The present study investigates the effectiveness of newly designed clayey pellets (fired clay pellets diameter sizes of 5 and 8 mm, and unfired clay pellets with the diameter size of 15 mm) as the beds in the column adsorption process. The adsorption experiments in the batch mode were performed before the column experiment with the purpose to determine the order of adsorbent package in the column which was to be designed in the investigation. The column experiment was performed by using a known mass of the clayey beds and the volume of the waste printing developer, which was purified. The column was filled in the following order: fired clay pellets of the diameter size of 5 mm, fired clay pellets of the diameter size of 8 mm, and unfired clay pellets of the diameter size of 15 mm. The selected order of the adsorbents showed a high removal efficiency for zinc (97.8%) and copper (81.5%) ions. These efficiencies were better than those in the case of the already existing mode adsorption. The obtained experimental data present a good basis for the selection of an appropriate column fill, but further testing is necessary in order to obtain more accurate results.

Keywords: clay materials, fix bed adsorption column, metal ions, printing developer

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Authors: Evgenia Dimova-Aleksandrova, Elitsa Deianova

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Dynamic changes in modern life and habitation due to demographic, urban, technology, and ecological factors affect the size of modern homes leading to a trend of decreasing their area. The current paper aims to investigate the differences between “micro” homes and “small” homes. In Bulgaria, these two types are not included in legal regulations, and therefore, a precise definition and special requirements are needed and sought in order to include their characteristic features in contemporary individual habitation. The purpose of the current study is to determine limits in built-up volume for the two types, to create a definition of the terms “micro” and “small” home, and to find methods to distinguish them. A comparative analysis will differentiate these types of habitation units, thus determining the boundaries for the built-up area for both concepts. The analysis is based on a case study from European practices and is focused on defining minimal requirements for “micro” and “small” home in the context of contemporary demands for high quality habitation in limited areas.

Keywords: Bulgaria, differentiation, micro home, requirements, small home

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Authors: Raghavi Janaswamy, Saraswathi K. Vasudev

Abstract:

Music is one of the supreme arts of expressions, next to the speech itself. Its evolution over centuries has paved the way with a variety of training protocols and performing methods. Indian classical music is one of the most elaborate and refined systems with immense emphasis on the voice culture related to range, breath control, quality of the tone, flexibility and diction. Several exercises namely saraliswaram, jantaswaram, dhatuswaram, upper stayi swaram, alamkaras and varnams lay the required foundation to gain the voice culture and deeper understanding on the voice development and further on to the intricacies of the raga system. This article narrates a few of the Carnatic music training methods with an emphasis on the advanced practice methods for articulating the vocal skills, continuity in the voice, ability to produce gamakams, command in the multiple speeds of rendering with reasonable volume. The creativity on these exercises and their impact on the voice production are discussed. The articulation of the outlined conscious practice methods and vocal exercises bestow the optimum use of the natural human vocal system to not only enhance the signing quality but also to gain health benefits.

Keywords: Carnatic music, Saraliswaram, Varnam, vocal training

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Authors: H. Krarcha

Abstract:

The structural, elastic, vibrational and thermal properties of AHfO3 compounds with the cubic perovskites structure have been investigated, by employing a first principles method, using the plane wave pseudo potential calculations (PP-PW), based on the density functional theory (DFT), within the local density approximation (LDA). The optimized lattice parameters, independent elastic constants (C11, C12 and C44), bulk modulus (B), compressibility (b), shear modulus (G), Young’s modulus (Y ), Poisson’s ratio (n), Lame´’s coefficients (m, l), as well as band structure, density of states and electron density distributions are obtained and analyzed in comparison with the available theoretical and experimental data. For the first time the numerical estimates of elastic parameters of the polycrystalline AHfO3 ceramics (in framework of the VoigteReusseHill approximation) are performed. The quasi-harmonic Debye model, by means of total energy versus volume calculations obtained with the FP-LAPW method, is applied to study the thermal and vibrational effects. Predicted temperature and pressure effects on the structural parameters, thermal expansions, heat capacities, and Debye temperatures are determined from the non-equilibrium Gibbs functions.

Keywords: Hafnium, elastic propreties, first principles calculation, perovskite

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