Search results for: Extractive resources

Authors: Tendü H. Göktuğ, Gönül T. İçemer, Bülent Deniz

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National parks, which are rich in natural and cultural resources values are protected in the context of the idea to develop sustainability, are among the most important recreated areas demanding with each passing day. Increasing recreational use or unplanned use forms negatively affect the resource values and visitor satisfaction. The intent of national parks management is to protect the natural and cultural resource values and to provide the visitors with a quality of recreational experience, as well. In this context, the current studies to improve the appropriate tourism and recreation planning and visitor management, approach have focused on recreational carrying capacity analysis. The aim of this study is to analyze recreational carrying capacity of Çıralı Coast in the Bey Mountains Coastal National Park to compare the analyze results with the current usage format and to develop alternative management strategies. In the first phase of the study, the annual and daily visitations, geographic, bio-physical, and managerial characteristics of the park and the type of recreational usage and the recreational areas were analyzed. In addition to these, ecological observations were carried out in order to determine recreational-based pressures on the ecosystems. On-site questionnaires were administrated to a sample of 284 respondents in the August 2015 - 2016 to collect data concerning the demographics and visit characteristics. The second phase of the study, the coastal area separated into four different usage zones and the methodology proposed by Cifuentes (1992) was used for capacity analyses. This method supplies the calculation of physical, real and effective carrying capacities by using environmental, ecological, climatic and managerial parameters in a formulation. Expected numbers which estimated three levels of carrying capacities were compared to current numbers of national parks’ visitors. In the study, it was determined that the current recreational uses in the north of the beach were caused by ecological pressures, and the current numbers in the south of beach much more than estimated numbers of visitors. Based on these results management strategies were defined and the appropriate management tools were developed in accordance with these strategies. The authors are grateful for the financial support of this project by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (No: 114O344)

Keywords: Çıralı Coast, national parks, recreational carrying capacity, visitor management

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Yurike, Yonariza, Rudi Febriamansyah, Syafruddin Karimi

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Forest is a natural resource that has an important function as a supporting element of human life. Forest degradation enormous impact on global warming is a reality we have experienced together, that disruption of ecosystems, extreme weather conditions, disruption of water management system watersheds and the threat of natural disasters as floods, landslides and droughts, even disruption food security. Dharmasraya is a district in the province of West Sumatra, which has an area of 92.150 ha of forest, which is largely a former production forest concessions (Forest Management Rights) which is supposed to be a secondary forest. This study answers about the impact of land use in the former concession area Dharmasraya on the environment. The methodology used is the household survey, key informants, and satellite data / GIS. From the results of the study, the former concession area in Dharmasraya experienced a reduction of forest cover over time significantly. Forest concessions should be secondary forests in Dharmasraya, now turned conversion to oil palm plantations. Population pressures and growing economic pressures, resulting in more intensive harvesting. As a result of these forest disturbances caused changes in forest functions. These changes put more emphasis towards economic function by ignoring social functions or ecological function. Society prefers to maximize their benefits today and pay less attention to the protection of natural resources. This causes global warming is increasing and this is not only felt by people around Dharmasraya but also the world. Land clearing by the community through a process in slash and burn. This fire was observed by NOAA satellites and recorded by the Forest Service of West Sumatra. This demonstrates the ability of trees felled trees to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) to be lost, even with forest fires accounted for carbon dioxide emitted into the air, and this has an impact on global warming. In addition to the change of control of land into oil palm plantations water service has been poor, people began to trouble the water and oil palm plantations are located in the watershed caused the river dried up. Through the findings of this study is expected to contribute ideas to the policy makers to pay more attention to the former concession forest management as the prevention or reduction of global warming.

Keywords: climate change, community, concession forests, environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Elena Listo Ubeda, Miguel Marchamalo Sacristan

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The demand for water doubles every twenty years, at a rate which is twice as fast as the world´s population growth. Despite it´s great importance, water is one of the most degraded natural resources in the world, mainly because of the reduction of natural vegetation coverage, population growth, contamination and changes in the soil use which reduces its capacity to collect water. This situation is especially serious in Central America, as reflected in the Human Development reports. The objective of this project is to assist in the improvement of water production and quality in Central America. In order to do these two watersheds in Costa Rica were selected as experiments: that of the Virilla-Durazno River, located in the extreme north east of the central valley which has an Atlantic influence; and that of the Jabillo River, which flows directly into the Pacific. The Virilla river watershed is located over andisols, and that of the Jabillo River is over alfisols, and both are of great importance for water supply to the Greater Metropolitan Area and the future tourist resorts respectively, as well as for the production of agriculture, livestock and hydroelectricity. The hydrological reaction in different soil-cover complexes, varying from the secondary forest to natural vegetation and degraded pasture, was analyzed according to the evaluation of the properties of the soil, infiltration, soil compaction, as well as the effects of the soil cover complex on erosion, calculated by the C factor of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). A water balance was defined for each watershed, in which the volume of water that enters and leaves were estimated, as well as the evapotranspiration, runoff, and infiltration. Two future scenarios, representing the implementation of reforestation and deforestation plans, were proposed, and were analyzed for the effects of the soil cover complex on the water balance in each case. The results obtained show an increase of the ground water recharge in the humid forest areas, and an extension of the study of the dry areas is proposed since the ground water recharge here is diminishing. These results are of great significance for the planning, design of Payment Schemes for Environmental Services and the improvement of the existing water supply systems. In Central America spatial planning is a priority, as are the watersheds, in order to assess the water resource socially and economically, and securing its availability for the future.

Keywords: Costa Rica, infiltration, soil, water

Procedia PDF Downloads 384

Authors: N. Pérez-Rodríguez, D. García-Bernet, A. Torrado-Agrasar, J. M. Cruz, A. B. Moldes, J. M. Domínguez

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World economy is based on non-renewable, fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas, which entails its rapid depletion and environmental problems. In EU countries, the objective is that at least 20% of the total energy supplies in 2020 should be derived from renewable resources. Biogas, a product of anaerobic degradation of organic substrates, represents an attractive green alternative for meeting partial energy needs. Nowadays, trend to circular economy model involves efficiently use of residues by its transformation from waste to a new resource. In this sense, characteristics of agricultural residues (that are available in plenty, renewable, as well as eco-friendly) propitiate their valorisation as substrates for biogas production. Corn cob is a by-product obtained from maize processing representing 18 % of total maize mass. Corn cob importance lies in the high production of this cereal (more than 1 x 109 tons in 2014). Due to its lignocellulosic nature, corn cob contains three main polymers: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Crystalline, highly ordered structures of cellulose and lignin hinders microbial attack and subsequent biogas production. For the optimal lignocellulose utilization and to enhance gas production in anaerobic digestion, materials are usually submitted to different pretreatment technologies. In the present work, enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasounds and combination of both technologies were assayed as pretreatments of corn cob for biogas production. Enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment was started by adding 0.044 U of Ultraflo® L feruloyl esterase per gram of dry corncob. Hydrolyses were carried out in 50 mM sodium-phosphate buffer pH 6.0 with a solid:liquid proportion of 1:10 (w/v), at 150 rpm, 40 ºC and darkness for 3 hours. Ultrasounds pretreatment was performed subjecting corn cob, in 50 mM sodium-phosphate buffer pH 6.0 with a solid: liquid proportion of 1:10 (w/v), at a power of 750W for 1 minute. In order to observe the effect of the combination of both pretreatments, some samples were initially sonicated and then they were enzymatically hydrolysed. In terms of methane production, anaerobic digestion of the corn cob pretreated by enzymatic hydrolysis was positive achieving 290 L CH4 kg MV-1 (compared with 267 L CH4 kg MV-1 obtained with untreated corn cob). Although the use of ultrasound as the only pretreatment resulted detrimentally (since gas production decreased to 244 L CH4 kg MV-1 after 44 days of anaerobic digestion), its combination with enzymatic hydrolysis was beneficial, reaching the highest value (300.9 L CH4 kg MV-1). Consequently, the combination of both pretreatments improved biogas production from corn cob.

Keywords: biogas, corn cob, enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasound

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: Fouzia Brihmat

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Economic planning models, which are used to build microgrids and distributed energy resources, are the current norm for expressing such confidence (DER). These models often decide both short-term DER dispatch and long-term DER investments. This research investigates the most cost-effective hybrid (photovoltaic-diesel) renewable energy system (HRES) based on Total Net Present Cost (TNPC) in an Algerian Saharan area, which has a high potential for solar irradiation and has a production capacity of 1GW/h. Lead-acid batteries have been around much longer and are easier to understand, but have limited storage capacity. Lithium-ion batteries last longer, are lighter, but generally more expensive. By combining the advantages of each chemistry, we produce cost-effective high-capacity battery banks that operate solely on AC coupling. The financial implications of this research describe the corrosion process that occurs at the interface between the active material and grid material of the positive plate of a lead-acid battery. The best cost study for the HRES is completed with the assistance of the HOMER Pro MATLAB Link. Additionally, during the course of the project's 20 years, the system is simulated for each time step. In this model, which takes into consideration decline in solar efficiency, changes in battery storage levels over time, and rises in fuel prices above the rate of inflation. The trade-off is that the model is more accurate, but it took longer to compute. As a consequence, the model is more precise, but the computation takes longer. We initially utilized the Optimizer to run the model without MultiYear in order to discover the best system architecture. The optimal system for the single-year scenario is the Danvest generator, which has 760 kW, 200 kWh of the necessary quantity of lead-acid storage, and a somewhat lower COE of $0.309/kWh. Different scenarios that account for fluctuations in the gasified biomass generator's production of electricity have been simulated, and various strategies to guarantee the balance between generation and consumption have been investigated. The technological optimization of the same system has been finished and is being reviewed in a recent paper study.

Keywords: battery, corrosion, diesel, economic planning optimization, hybrid energy system, lead-acid battery, multi-year planning, microgrid, price forecast, PV, total net present cost

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Torsten Hermanns, Thoufik Al Khawli, Wolfgang Schulz

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In laser cutting as well as in long pulsed laser drilling of metals, it can be demonstrated that the ablation shape (the shape of cut faces respectively the hole shape) that is formed approaches a so-called asymptotic shape such that it changes only slightly or not at all with further irradiation. These findings are already known from the ultrashort pulse (USP) ablation of dielectric and semiconducting materials. The explanation for the occurrence of an asymptotic shape in laser cutting and long pulse drilling of metals is identified, its underlying mechanism numerically implemented, tested and clearly confirmed by comparison with experimental data. In detail, there now is a model that allows the simulation of the temporal (pulse-resolved) evolution of the hole shape in laser drilling as well as the final (asymptotic) shape of the cut faces in laser cutting. This simulation especially requires much less in the way of resources, such that it can even run on common desktop PCs or laptops. Individual parameters can be adjusted using sliders – the simulation result appears in an adjacent window and changes in real time. This is made possible by an application-specific reduction of the underlying ablation model. Because this reduction dramatically decreases the complexity of calculation, it produces a result much more quickly. This means that the simulation can be carried out directly at the laser machine. Time-intensive experiments can be reduced and set-up processes can be completed much faster. The high speed of simulation also opens up a range of entirely different options, such as metamodeling. Suitable for complex applications with many parameters, metamodeling involves generating high-dimensional data sets with the parameters and several evaluation criteria for process and product quality. These sets can then be used to create individual process maps that show the dependency of individual parameter pairs. This advanced simulation makes it possible to find global and local extreme values through mathematical manipulation. Such simultaneous optimization of multiple parameters is scarcely possible by experimental means. This means that new methods in manufacturing such as self-optimization can be executed much faster. However, the software’s potential does not stop there; time-intensive calculations exist in many areas of industry. In laser welding or laser additive manufacturing, for example, the simulation of thermal induced residual stresses still uses up considerable computing capacity or is even not possible. Transferring the principle of reduced models promises substantial savings there, too.

Keywords: asymptotic ablation shape, interactive process simulation, laser drilling, laser cutting, metamodeling, reduced modeling

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Authors: Tas Yong Koh, Steve Rowlinson, Yuzhong Shen

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In construction safety management, safety climate has long been linked to workers' safety behaviors and performance. For this reason, safety climate concept and tools have been used as heuristics to diagnose a range of safety-related issues by some progressive contractors in Hong Kong and elsewhere. However, as a diagnostic tool, safety climate tends to treat the different components of the climate construct in a linear fashion. Safety management in construction projects, in reality, is a multi-faceted and multilevel phenomenon that resembles a complex system. Hence, understanding safety management in construction projects requires not only the understanding of safety climate but also the organizational-systemic nature of the phenomenon. Our involvement, diagnoses, and interpretations of a range of safety climate-related issues which culminated in the project’s sub-optimum safety performance in an infrastructure construction project have brought about such revelation. In this study, a range of data types had been collected from various hierarchies of the project site organization. These include the frontline workers and supervisors from the main and sub-contractors, and the client supervisory personnel. Data collection was performed through the administration of safety climate questionnaire, interviews, observation, and document study. The findings collectively indicate that what had emerged in parallel of the seemingly linear climate-based exploration is the exposition of the organization-systemic nature of the phenomenon. The results indicate the negative impacts of climate perceptions mismatch, insufficient work planning, and risk management, mixed safety leadership, workforce negative attributes, lapsed safety enforcement and resources shortages collectively give rise to the project sub-optimum safety performance. From the dynamic causation and multilevel perspective, the analyses show that the individual, group, and organizational levels issues are interrelated and these interrelationships are linked to negative safety climate. Hence the adoption of both perspectives has enabled a fuller understanding of the phenomenon of safety management that point to the need for an organizational-systemic intervention strategy. The core message points to the fact that intervention at an individual level will only meet with limited success if the risks embedded in the higher levels in group and project organization are not addressed. The findings can be used to guide the effective development of safety infrastructure by linking different levels of systems in a construction project organization.

Keywords: construction safety management, dynamic causation, multilevel analysis, safety climate

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Abdul Mutolib, Yonariza Mahdi, Hanung Ismono

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The existence of forests is essential to human lives on earth, but its existence is threatened by forest deforestations and degradations. Forest deforestations and degradations in Indonesia is not only caused by the illegal activity by the company or the like, even today many cases in Indonesia forest damage caused by human activities, one of which cut down forests for agriculture and plantations. In West Sumatra, community forest management are the result supported the enactment of customary land tenure, including ownership of land within the forest. Indigenous forest management have a positive benefit, which gives the community an opportunity to get livelihood and income, but if forest management practices by indigenous peoples is not done wisely, then there is the destruction of forests and cause adverse effects on the environment. Based on intensive field works in Dhamasraya District employing some data collection techniques such as key informant interviews, household surveys, secondary data analysis, and satellite image interpretation. This paper answers the following questions; how the impact of forest management by local communities on forest conditions (foccus in Forest Production and Limited Production Forest) and knowledge of the local community on the benefits of forests. The site is a Nagari Bonjol, Dharmasraya District, because most of the forest in Dharmasraya located and owned by Nagari Bonjol community. The result shows that there is damage to forests in Dharmasraya because of forest management activities by local communities. Damage to the forest area of 33,500 ha in Dharmasraya because forests are converted into oil palm and rubber plantations with monocultures. As a result of the destruction of forests, water resources are also diminishing, and the community has experienced a drought in the dry season due to forest cut down and replaced by oil palm plantations. Knowledge of the local community on the benefits of low forest, the people considered that the forest does not have better benefits and cut down and converted into oil palm or rubber plantations. Local people do not understand the benefits of ecological and environmental services that forests. From the phenomena in Dharmasraya on land ownership, need to educate the local community about the importance of protecting the forest, and need a strategy to integrate forests management to keep the ecological functions that resemble the woods and counts the economic benefits for the welfare of local communities. One alternative that can be taken is to use forest management models agroforestry smallholders in accordance with the characteristics of the local community who still consider the economic, social and environmental.

Keywords: community, customary land, farmer plantations, and forests

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Sidharth Talan, Devendra Kumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh Rajput, Subhajit Bhattacharjee

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Mining industry is known for its appetite to spend sizeable capital on mine equipment. However, in the current scenario, the mining industry is challenged by daunting factors of non-uniform geological conditions, uneven ore grade, uncontrollable and volatile mineral commodity prices and the ever increasing quest to optimize the capital and operational costs. Thus, the role of equipment reliability and maintenance planning inherits a significant role in augmenting the equipment availability for the operation and in turn boosting the mine productivity. This paper presents the Risk Based Maintenance (RBM) planning conducted on mine loading equipment namely Load Haul Dumpers (LHDs) at Vedanta Resources Ltd subsidiary Hindustan Zinc Limited operated Sindesar Khurd Mines, an underground zinc and lead mine situated in Dariba, Rajasthan, India. The mining equipment at the location is maintained by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) namely Sandvik and Atlas Copco, who carry out the maintenance and inspection operations for the equipment. Based on the downtime data extracted for the equipment fleet over the period of 6 months spanning from 1^st January 2017 until 30^th June 2017, it was revealed that significant contribution of three downtime issues related to namely Engine, Hydraulics, and Transmission to be common among all the loading equipment fleet and substantiated by Pareto Analysis. Further scrutiny through Bubble Matrix Analysis of the given factors revealed the major influence of selective factors namely Overheating, No Load Taken (NTL) issues, Gear Changing issues and Hose Puncture and leakage issues. Utilizing the equipment wise analysis of all the downtime factors obtained, spares consumed, and the alarm logs extracted from the machines, technical design changes in the equipment and pre shift critical alarms checklist were proposed for the equipment maintenance. The given analysis is beneficial to allow OEMs or mine management to focus on the critical issues hampering the reliability of mine equipment and design necessary maintenance strategies to mitigate them.

Keywords: bubble matrix analysis, LHDs, OEMs, Pareto chart analysis, spares consumption matrix, critical alarms checklist

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Kimberly J. Cribbs, Ryan M. Lefers, TorOve Leiknes, Noreddine Ghaffour

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In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, domestic agriculture is hindered by a lack of freshwater, poor soil quality, and ambient temperatures unsuitable for cultivation resulting in a heavy reliance on imported food. Attempts to minimize the risk of food insecurity by growing crops domestically creates a significant demand on limited freshwater resources in this region. Cultivating food in a greenhouse allows some of these challenges, such as poor soil quality and temperatures unsuitable for cultivation, to be overcome. One of the most common methods for greenhouse cooling is evaporative cooling. This method cools the air by the evaporation of water and requires a large amount of water relative to that needed for plant growth and air with a low relative humidity. Considering that much of the population in GCC countries live within 100 km of a coast and that sea water can be utilized for evaporative cooling, coastal agriculture could reduce the risk of food insecurity and water demand. Unfortunately, coastal regions tend to experience both high temperatures and high relative humidity causing evaporative cooling by itself to be inadequate. Therefore, dehumidification is needed prior to utilizing evaporative cooling. Utilizing a liquid desiccant for air dehumidification is promising, but the desiccant regeneration to retain its dehumidification potential remains a significant obstacle for the adoption of this technology. This project studied the regeneration of a magnesium chloride (MgCl₂) desiccant solution from 20wt% to 30wt% by direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) and explored the possibility of using the recovered water for irrigation. Two 0.2 µm hydrophobic PTFE membranes were tested at feed temperatures of 80, 70, and 60°C and with a permeate temperature of 20°C. It was observed that the permeate flux increases as the difference between the feed and coolant temperature increases and also as the feed concentration decreases. At 21wt% the permeate flux was 34,17, and 14 L m⁻² h⁻¹ for feed temperatures of 80, 70, and 60°C, respectively. Salt rejection decreased overtime; however, it remained greater than 99.9% over an experimental time span of 10 hours. The results show that DCMD can successfully regenerate the magnesium chloride desiccant solution.

Keywords: agriculture, direct contact membrane distillation, GCC countries, liquid desiccant, water recovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Fatema Akram, Mohammad G. Rasul, M. Masud K. Khan, M. Sharif I. I. Amir

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Australia is a country of some 7,700 million square kilometres with a population of about 22.6 million. At present water security is a major challenge for Australia. In some areas the use of water resources is approaching and in some parts it is exceeding the limits of sustainability. A focal point of proposed national water conservation programs is the recycling of both urban storm-water and treated wastewater. But till now it is not widely practiced in Australia, and particularly storm-water is neglected. In Australia, only 4% of storm-water and rainwater is recycled, whereas less than 1% of reclaimed wastewater is reused within urban areas. Therefore, accurately monitoring, assessing and predicting the availability, quality and use of this precious resource are required for better management. As storm-water is usually of better quality than untreated sewage or industrial discharge, it has better public acceptance for recycling and reuse, particularly for non-potable use such as irrigation, watering lawns, gardens, etc. Existing storm-water recycling practice is far behind of research and no robust technologies developed for this purpose. Therefore, there is a clear need for using modern technologies for assessing feasibility of storm-water harvesting and reuse. Numerical modelling has, in recent times, become a popular tool for doing this job. It includes complex hydrological and hydraulic processes of the study area. The hydrologic model computes storm-water quantity to design the system components, and the hydraulic model helps to route the flow through storm-water infrastructures. Nowadays water quality module is incorporated with these models. Integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) with these models provides extra advantage of managing spatial information. However for the overall management of a storm-water harvesting project, Decision Support System (DSS) plays an important role incorporating database with model and GIS for the proper management of temporal information. Additionally DSS includes evaluation tools and Graphical user interface. This research aims to critically review and discuss all the aspects of storm-water harvesting and reuse such as available guidelines of storm-water harvesting and reuse, public acceptance of water reuse, the scopes and recommendation for future studies. In addition to these, this paper identifies, understand and address the importance of modern technologies capable of proper management of storm-water harvesting and reuse.

Keywords: storm-water management, storm-water harvesting and reuse, numerical modelling, geographic information system, decision support system, database

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Authors: Yi-Chun Huang, Kuan-Yun Chen, Chuang-Hung Lin

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Urban Green Belt and Blue is a part of the city landscape, it is an important constituent element of the urban environment and appearance. The Hsinchu East Gate Moat is situated in the center of the city, which not only has a wealth of historical and cultural resources, but also combines the Green Belt and the Blue Belt qualities at the same time. The Moat runs more than a thousand meters through the vital Green Belt and the Blue Belt in downtown, and each section is presented in different qualities of moat from south to north. The water area and the green belt of surroundings are presented linear and banded spread. The water body and the rich diverse river banks form an urban green belt of rich layers. The watercourse with green belt design lets users have connections with blue belts in different ways; therefore, the integration of Hsinchu East Gate and moat have become one of the unique urban landscapes in Taiwan. The study is based on the fact-finding case of Hsinchu East Gate Moat where situated in northern Taiwan, to research the impact between the SVF variation of the city and spatial sequence of Urban Green Belt and Blue landscape and visual analysis by constituent cross-section, and then comparing the influence of different leaf area index – the variable ecological factors to the degree of enclosure. We proceed to survey the landscape design of open space, to measure existing structural features of the plant canopy which contain the height of plants and branches, the crown diameter, breast-height diameter through access to diagram of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and on-the-spot actual measurement. The north and south districts of blue green belt areas are divided 20 meters into a unit from East Gate Roundabout as the epicenter, and to set up a survey points to measure the SVF above the survey points; then we proceed to quantitative analysis from the data to calculate open landscape degree of enclosure. The results can be reference for the composition of future river landscape and the practical operation for dynamic space planning of blue and green belt landscape.

Keywords: sky view factor, degree of enclosure, spatial sequence, leaf area indices

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Authors: Yemane Tadesse Gebreslassie, Fisseha Guesh Gebremeskel

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Nanotechnology has made remarkable advancements in recent years, revolutionizing various scientific fields, industries, and research institutions through the utilization of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. Among these nanoparticles, copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) have garnered significant attention due to their versatile properties and wide-range applications, particularly, as effective antimicrobial and anticancer agents. CuO NPs can be synthesized using different methods, including physical, chemical, and biological approaches. However, conventional chemical and physical approaches are expensive, resource-intensive, and involve the use of hazardous chemicals, which can pose risks to human health and the environment. In contrast, biological synthesis provides a sustainable and cost-effective alternative by eliminating chemical pollutants and allowing for the production of CuO NPs of tailored sizes and shapes. This comprehensive review focused on the green synthesis of CuO NPs using various biological resources, such as plants, microorganisms, and other biological derivatives. Current knowledge and recent trends in green synthesis methods for CuO NPs are discussed, with a specific emphasis on their biomedical applications, particularly in combating cancer and microbial infections. This review highlights the significant potential of CuO NPs in addressing these diseases. By capitalizing on the advantages of biological synthesis, such as environmental safety and the ability to customize nanoparticle characteristics, CuO NPs have emerged as promising therapeutic agents for a wide range of conditions. This review presents compelling findings, demonstrating the remarkable achievements of biologically synthesized CuO NPs as therapeutic agents. Their unique properties and mechanisms enable effective combating against cancer cells and various harmful microbial infections. CuO NPs exhibit potent anticancer activity through diverse mechanisms, including induction of apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis, and modulation of signaling pathways. Additionally, their antimicrobial activity manifests through various mechanisms, such as disrupting microbial membranes, generating reactive oxygen species, and interfering with microbial enzymes. This review offers valuable insights into the substantial potential of biologically synthesized CuO NPs as an alternative approach for future therapeutic interventions against cancer and microbial infections.

Keywords: copper oxide nanoparticles, green synthesis, nanotechnology, microbial infection

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Authors: A. M. Merino-Lechuga, A. González-Caro, D. Suescum-Morales, E. Fernández-Ledesma, J. R. Jiménez, J. M. Fernández-Rodriguez

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Since the mid-19th century, the boom in the economy and industry has grown exponentially. This has led to an increase in pollution due to rising Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the accumulation of waste, leading to an increasingly imminent future scarcity of raw materials and natural resources. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the primary greenhouse gases, accounting for up to 55% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The manufacturing of construction materials generates approximately 73% of CO₂ emissions, with Portland cement production contributing to 41% of this figure. Hence, there is scientific and social alarm regarding the carbon footprint of construction materials and their influence on climate change. Carbonation of concrete is a natural process whereby CO₂ from the environment penetrates the material, primarily through pores and microcracks. Once inside, carbon dioxide reacts with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) and/or CSH, yielding calcium carbonates (CaCO3) and silica gel. Consequently, construction materials act as carbon sinks. This research investigated the effect of accelerated carbonation on the physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of two types of non-structural vibrated concrete pavers (conventional and draining) made from natural aggregates and two types of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste (CDW). Natural aggregates were replaced by recycled aggregates using a volumetric substitution method, and the CO₂ capture capacity was calculated. Two curing environments were utilized: a carbonation chamber with 5% CO₂ and a standard climatic chamber with atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Additionally, the effect of curing times of 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days on concrete properties was analyzed. Accelerated carbonation in-creased the apparent dry density, reduced water-accessible porosity, improved compressive strength, and decreased setting time to achieve greater mechanical strength. The maximum CO₂ capture ratio was achieved with the use of recycled concrete aggregate (52.52 kg/t) in the draining paver. Accelerated carbonation conditions led to a 525% increase in carbon capture compared to curing under atmospheric conditions. Accelerated carbonation of cement-based products containing recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste is a promising technology for CO₂ capture and utilization, offering a means to mitigate the effects of climate change and promote the new paradigm of circular economy.

Keywords: accelerated carbonation, CO₂ curing, CO₂ uptake and construction and demolition waste., circular economy

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Authors: Alvaro Figueira, Bruno Cabral

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Nowadays, students are used to be assessed through an online platform. Educators have stepped up from a period in which they endured the transition from paper to digital. The use of a diversified set of question types that range from quizzes to open questions is currently common in most university courses. In many courses, today, the evaluation methodology also fosters the students’ online participation in forums, the download, and upload of modified files, or even the participation in group activities. At the same time, new pedagogy theories that promote the active participation of students in the learning process, and the systematic use of problem-based learning, are being adopted using an eLearning system for that purpose. However, although there can be a lot of feedback from these activities to student’s, usually it is restricted to the assessments of online well-defined tasks. In this article, we propose an automatic system that informs students of abnormal deviations of a 'correct' learning path in the course. Our approach is based on the fact that by obtaining this information earlier in the semester, may provide students and educators an opportunity to resolve an eventual problem regarding the student’s current online actions towards the course. Our goal is to prevent situations that have a significant probability to lead to a poor grade and, eventually, to failing. In the major learning management systems (LMS) currently available, the interaction between the students and the system itself is registered in log files in the form of registers that mark beginning of actions performed by the user. Our proposed system uses that logged information to derive new one: the time each student spends on each activity, the time and order of the resources used by the student and, finally, the online resource usage pattern. Then, using the grades assigned to the students in previous years, we built a learning dataset that is used to feed a machine learning meta classifier. The produced classification model is then used to predict the grades a learning path is heading to, in the current year. Not only this approach serves the teacher, but also the student to receive automatic feedback on her current situation, having past years as a perspective. Our system can be applied to online courses that integrate the use of an online platform that stores user actions in a log file, and that has access to other student’s evaluations. The system is based on a data mining process on the log files and on a self-feedback machine learning algorithm that works paired with the Moodle LMS.

Keywords: data mining, e-learning, grade prediction, machine learning, student learning path

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Authors: Charles Akinola Imolehin

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According to the news on world population record, over 6.6 billion people on earth, and almost a quarter million added each day, the scale of human activity and environmental impact is unprecedented. Soaring human population growth over the past century has created a visible challenge to earth’s life support systems. Critical natural resources such as clean ground water, fertile topsoil, and biodiversity are diminishing at an exponential rate, orders of magnitude above that at which they can be regenerated. In addition, the world faces an onslaught of other environmental threats including degenerated global climate change, global warming, intensified acid rain, stratospheric ozone depletion and health threatening pollution. Overpopulation and the use of deleterious technologies combine to increase the scale of human activities to a level that underlies these entire problems. These intensifying trends cannot continue indefinitely, hopefully, through increased understanding and valuation of ecosystems and their services, earth’s basic life-support system will be protected for the future. To say the fact, human civilization is now the dominant cause of change in the global environment. Now that human relationship to the earth has change so utterly, there is need to see to that change and understand its implication. These are two aspects to the challenges which all should believe. The first is to realize that human activity has power to harm the earth and can indeed have global and even permanent effects. Second is to realize that the only way to understand human new role as a co-architect of nature is to see human activities as part of a complex system that does operate according to the same simple rules of cause and effect commonly used to. So, understanding the physical/biological dimension of earth system is an important precondition for making sensible policy to protect our environment. Because believing in Sustainable Development is a matter of reconciling respect for the environment, social equity, and economic profitability. Also, there is strong believe that environmental protection is naturally about reducing air and water pollution, but it also includes the improvement of the environmental performance of existing process. That is why is important to always have it at the heart of business policy that the environmental problem is not our effect on the environment so much as the relationship of production activities on the environment. There should be this positive thinking in all operation to always be environmentally friendly especially in projection and considering Sustainable ALL awareness in all sites of operation.

Keywords: earth's ocean, marine animals life under treat, flooding, ctritical natiural resouces polluted

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Authors: A. G. Back

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In the context of global climate change, extreme weather events are increasingly intense and frequent, challenging the adaptability of urban space. In this sense, urban planning is a relevant instrument for addressing, in a systemic manner, various sectoral policies capable of linking the urban agenda to the reduction of social and environmental risks. The Master Plan of the Municipality of Sao Paulo, 2014, presents innovations capable of promoting the transition to sustainability in the urban space. Among such innovations, the following stand out: i) promotion of density in the axes of mass transport involving mixture of commercial, residential, services, and leisure uses (principles related to the compact city); ii) vulnerabilities reduction based on housing policies, including regular sources of funds for social housing and land reservation in urbanized areas; iii) reserve of green areas in the city to create parks and environmental regulations for new buildings focused on reducing the effects of heat island and improving urban drainage. However, long-term implementation involves distributive conflicts and may change in different political, economic, and social contexts over time. Thus, the central objective of this paper is to identify which factors limit or support the implementation of these policies. That is, to map the challenges and interests of converging and/or divergent urban actors in the sustainable urban development agenda and what resources they mobilize to support or limit these actions in the city of Sao Paulo. Recent proposals to amend the urban zoning law undermine the implementation of the Master Plan guidelines. In this context, three interest groups with different views of the city come into dispute: the real estate market, upper middle class neighborhood associations ('not in my backyard' movements), and social housing rights movements. This paper surveys the different interests and visions of these groups taking into account their convergences, or not, with the principles of sustainable urban development. This approach seeks to fill a gap in the international literature on the causes that underpin or hinder the continued implementation of policies aimed at the transition to urban sustainability in the medium and long term.

Keywords: adaptation, ecosystem-based adaptation, interest groups, urban planning, urban transition to sustainability

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Authors: Mahdi Nasiri Tabrizi, A. Dadkhah, M. Khirkhah

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In order to study the effect of planting on yield, yield components and quality traits in bread and durum wheat varieties, a field split-plot experiment based on complete randomized design with three replications was conducted in Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Razavi Khorasan located in city of Mashhad during 2013-2014. Main factor were consisted of five sowing dates (first October, fifteenth December, first March, tenth March, twentieth March) and as sub-factors consisted of different bread wheat (Bahar, Pishgam, Pishtaz, Mihan, Falat and Karim) and two durum wheat (Dena and Dehdasht). According to results of analysis variance the effect of planting date was significant on all examined traits (grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, number of grain per spike, thousands kernel weight, number of spike per square meter, plant height, the number of days to heading, the number of days to maturity, during the grain filling period, percentage of wet gluten, percentage of dry gluten, gluten index, percentage of protein). By delay in planting, majority of traits significantly decreased, except quality traits (percentage of wet gluten, percentage of dry gluten and percentage of protein). Results of means comparison showed, among planting date the highest grain yield and biological yield were related to first planting date (Octobr) with mean of production of 5/6 and 1/17 tons per hectare respectively and the highest bread quality (gluten index) with mean of 85 and percentage of protein with mean of 13% to fifth planting date also the effect of genotype was significant on all traits. The highest grain yield among of studied wheat genotypes was related to Dehdasht cultivar with an average production of 4.4 tons per hectare. The highest protein percentage and bread quality (gluten index) were related to Dehdasht cultivar with 13.4% and Falat cultivar with number of 90 respectively. The interaction between cultivar and planting date was significant on all traits and different varieties had different trend for these traits. The highest grain yield was related to first planting date (October) and Falat cultivar with an average of production of 6/7 tons per hectare while in grain yield did not show a significant different with Pishtas and Mihan cultivars also the most of gluten index (bread quality index) and protein percentage was belonged to the third planting date and Karim cultivar with 7.98 and Dena cultivar with 7.14% respectively.

Keywords: yield component, yield, planting date, cultivar, quality traits, wheat

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Authors: Abejide Dorcas Ropo, Falusi Olamide Ahmed, Daudu Oladipupo Abdulazeez Yusuf, Muhammad Liman Muhammad, Gado Aishatu Adamu

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Bambara groundnut is an indigenous African legume with great potential to tackle the problem of food insecurity in Nigeria. A germplasm collection mission was carried out in collaboration with the Agricultural Developments Project (ADP) Extension officers of Nigeria between October and December 2014. Bambara groundnut seeds were collected from farmers in different States in Nigeria, such as Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Enugu, and Federal Capital Territoy (FCT) Abuja. Some seeds were also collected from National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB). The seeds were phenotyped using the descriptor list of Vigna subterranea produced by the International Plant Genetic Resource Institute. A total of 45 original seed lots were collected, which comprised of mixed seeds having different seed coat colours (15) and pure seeded accessions having the same seed coat and eye colour (30). After sorting, a total of 83 accessions were derived from the 45 original seed lots collected, and a total of 24 distinct seed morphotypes with varying seed coat colours and eye colours were identified from the collections. They include cream ( cream ash eye, cream plain eye, and cream black eye), cream purplish spots, cream brown spots/stripe, cream black stripe, cream dark brown patches, cream light grey spots, cream black patches, black, red, light red, dark red, brownish red, brown speckled with black, red speckled with black, brown, brown with brown pattern below hilum, brown with black pattern below hilum, cream black, grey brown, grey black and variegated red. The highest number of accessions were collected from NACGRAB (11), followed by Niger State (10), and the lowest from Benue, Jigawa, and Adamawa States (2). Niger State also had the highest number of mixed seeds. The different seed phenotypes observed in the study are important for the field production of true-to-type lines and can be exploited for the genetic improvement of the Bambara groundnut.

Keywords: Bambara groundnut, characterization, collection, germplasm, phenotypic

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Authors: Adnan Celik

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Entrepreneurs are people who attempt to do a business and do not hesitate to do so. They are involved in the production of economic goods and services through factors of production. They also find the financial resources necessary for production and the markets where the production will be evaluated. After all, they create economic values. The main function of the entrepreneur in contemporary societies is to realize innovations. From this point, the power of the modern entrepreneur is based on her/his capacity to innovate and transform his innovations into tangible commercial products. In this context, the concept of an entrepreneur is used to mean the person or persons who constantly innovate. Successful entrepreneurs take on the role of the locomotive in the development of their countries. They support economic development with their activities. In addition to production and marketing activities, it also has important contributions to employment. Along with the development of the country, they also try to make the income distribution more balanced. Especially developed country entrepreneurs intensely perform the following functions; “to produce new goods and services or to increase the quality and quality of known goods and services; ability to develop and apply new production methods; establishing new organizations in the industry; reach new markets; to find new sources from which raw materials and similar materials can be obtained”. Entrepreneurs who fully implement business functions are easier to achieve economic efficiency. Thus, they provide great advantages to the business and the national economy. Successful entrepreneurs are people who make money by creating economic values. These revenues are; on the one hand, it is distributed to individuals in the business as wages, premiums, or dividends; It is also used in the growth of companies. Thus, employees, managers, entrepreneurs and the whole country can benefit greatly. In the least developed countries, the guiding effect of traditional value patterns on individuals' attitudes and behaviors varies depending on the socio-economic characteristics of individuals. It is normal for an entrepreneur with a low level of education, who was brought up in a traditional structure, to behave in accordance with traditional value patterns. In fact, this is the primary problem of all countries in the development effort. The solution to this problem will be possible by giving the necessary importance to the social dimension as well as the technical dimension of development. This study mainly focuses on the importance of entrepreneurship for the national economy. This issue has been handled separately in terms of developed and least developed countries. As a result of the study, entrepreneurship suggestions were made, especially to least developed countries, with the goal of national economy and development.

Keywords: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, national economy, entrepreneurship in developed and least developed countries

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Authors: Pappu Kumar, Ajai Singh, Anshuman Singh

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There are different water user sectors such as rural, urban, mining, subsistence and commercial irrigated agriculture, commercial forestry, industry, power generation which are present in the catchment in Subarnarekha River Basin and Ranchi city. There is an inequity issue in the access to water. The development of the rural area, construction of new power generation plants, along with the population growth, the requirement of unmet water demand and the consideration of environmental flows, the revitalization of small-scale irrigation schemes is going to increase the water demands in almost all the water-stressed catchment. The WEAP Model was developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to enable evaluation of planning and management issues associated with water resources development. The WEAP model can be used for both urban and rural areas and can address a wide range of issues including sectoral demand analyses, water conservation, water rights and allocation priorities, river flow simulation, reservoir operation, ecosystem requirements and project cost-benefit analyses. This model is a tool for integrated water resource management and planning like, forecasting water demand, supply, inflows, outflows, water use, reuse, water quality, priority areas and Hydropower generation, In the present study, efforts have been made to access the utility of the WEAP model for water supply and demand analysis for Ranchi city. A detailed works have been carried out and it was tried to ascertain that the WEAP model used for generating different scenario of water requirement, which could help for the future planning of water. The water supplied to Ranchi city was mostly contributed by our study river, Hatiya reservoir and ground water. Data was collected from various agencies like PHE Ranchi, census data of 2011, Doranda reservoir and meteorology department etc. This collected and generated data was given as input to the WEAP model. The model generated the trends for discharge of our study river up to next 2050 and same time also generated scenarios calculating our demand and supplies for feature. The results generated from the model outputs predicting the water require 12 million litter. The results will help in drafting policies for future regarding water supplies and demands under changing climatic scenarios.

Keywords: WEAP model, water demand analysis, Ranchi, scenarios

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Authors: Katarzyna Pawęska, Aleksandra Bawiec, Ewa Burszta-Adamiak, Wiesław Fiałkiewicz

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The water shortage becomes a serious problem not only in African and Middle Eastern countries, but also recently in the European Union. Scarcity of water means that not all agricultural, industrial and municipal needs will be met. When the annual availability of renewable freshwater per capita is less than 1,700 cubic meters, countries begin to experience periodic or regular water shortages. The phenomenon of water stress is the result of an imbalance between the constantly growing demand for water and its availability. The constant development of industry, population growth, and climate changes make the situation even worse. The search for alternative water sources and independent supplies is becoming a priority for many countries. Data enabling the assessment of country’s condition regarding water resources, water consumption, water price, wastewater volume, forecasted climate changes e.g. temperature, precipitation, are scattered and their interpretation by common entrepreneurs may be difficult. For this purpose, a digital tool has been developed to support decisions related to the implementation of water and wastewater re-use systems, as a result of an international research project “Framework for organizational decision-making process in water reuse for smart cities” (SMART-WaterDomain) funded under the EIG-CONCERT Japan call on Smart Water Management for Sustainable Society. The developed geo-visualization tool graphically presents, among others, data about the capacity of wastewater treatment plants and the volume of water demand in the private and public sectors for Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. It is expected that such a platform, extended with economical water management data and climate forecasts (temperature, precipitation), will allow in the future independent investigation and assessment of water use rate and wastewater production on the local and regional scale. The tool is a great opportunity for small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, local authorities, and common users to analyze the impact of climate change on the availability of water in the regions of their business activities. Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the support of the Project Organisational Decision Making in Water Reuse for Smart Cities (SMART- WaterDomain), funded by The National Centre for Research and Development and supported by the EIG-Concert Japan.

Keywords: circular economy, digital tool, geo-visualization, wastewater re-use

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Authors: Liya Kalinnikova Magnusson

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The present and ongoing research investigation are focusing on special educational origins in Moldova for children with disabilities and its development towards inclusion. The research is coordinated with related research on inclusion in Ukraine and other countries. The research interest in these issues in Moldova is caused by several reasons. The first one is based upon one of the intensive processes of deconstruction of special education institutions in Moldova since 1989. A large number of children with disabilities have been dropping out of these institutions: from 11400 students in 1989 to 5800 students in 1996, corresponding to 1% of all school-age Moldovan learners. Despite the fact that a huge number of students was integrated into regular schools and the dynamics of this data across the country was uneven (the opposite, the dynamics of exclusion was raised in Trans-Dniester on the border of Moldova), the volume of the change was evident and traditional special educational provision was under stable decline. The second reason is tied to transitional challenges, which Moldova met under the force to economic liberalisation that led the country to poverty. Deinstitutionalization of the entire state system took place in the situation of economic polarization of the society. The level of social benefits was dramatically diminished, increasing inequality. The most vulnerable from the comprehensive income consideration were families with many children, children with disabilities, children with health problems, etc.: each third child belonged to the poorest population. In 2000-2001: 87,4% of all families with children had incomes below the minimum wage. The research question raised based upon these considerations has been addressed to the investigation of particular patterns of the origins of special education and its development towards inclusion in Moldova from 1980 until the present date: what is the pattern of special education origins and what are particular arrangements of special education development towards inclusion against inequality? This is a qualitative study, with relevant peer review resources connected to the research question and national documents of educational reforms towards inclusion retrospectively and contemporary, analysed by a content analysis approach. This study utilises long term statistics completed by the respective international agencies as a result of regular monitoring of the implementation of educational reforms. The main findings were composed in three big themes: adoption of the Soviet pattern of special education, ‘endemic stress’ of breaking the pattern, and ‘paradoxes of resolution’.

Keywords: special education, statistics, educational reforms, inclusion, children with disabilities, content analysis

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Authors: Bojana Ž. Bajić, Siniša N. Dodić, Vladimir S. Puškaš, Jelena M. Dodić

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Increasing industrialization as a response to the demands of the consumer society greatly exploits resources and generates large amounts of waste effluents in addition to the desired product. This means it is a priority to implement technologies with the maximum utilization of raw materials and energy, minimum generation of waste effluents and/or their recycling (secondary use). Considering the process conditions and the nature of the raw materials used by the vegetable oil industry, its wastewaters can be used as substrates for the biotechnological production which requires large amounts of water. This way the waste effluents of one branch of industry become raw materials for another branch which produces a new product while reducing wastewater pollution and thereby reducing negative environmental impacts. Vegetable oil production generates wastewaters during the process of rinsing oils and fats which contain mainly fatty acid pollutants. The vegetable oil industry generates large amounts of waste effluents, especially in the processes of degumming, deacidification, deodorization and neutralization. Wastewaters from the vegetable oil industry are generated during the whole year in significant amounts, based on the capacity of the vegetable oil production. There are no known alternative applications for these wastewaters as raw materials for the production of marketable products. Since the literature has no data on the potential negative impact of fatty acids on the metabolism of the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris, these wastewaters were considered as potential raw materials for the biotechnological production of xanthan. In this research, vegetable oil industry wastewaters were used as the basis for the cultivation media for xanthan production with Xanthomonas campestris ATCC 13951. Examining the process of biosynthesis of xanthan on vegetable oil industry wastewaters as the basis for the cultivation media was performed to obtain insight into the possibility of its use in the aforementioned biotechnological process. Additionally, it was important to experimentally determine the absence of substances that have an inhibitory effect on the metabolism of the production microorganism. Xanthan content, rheological parameters of the cultivation media, carbon conversion into xanthan and conversions of the most significant nutrients for biosynthesis (carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus sources) were determined as indicators of the success of biosynthesis. The obtained results show that biotechnological production of the biopolymer xanthan by bacterium Xanthomonas campestris on vegetable oil industry wastewaters based cultivation media simultaneously provides preservation of the environment and economic benefits which is a sustainable solution to the problem of wastewater treatment.

Keywords: biotechnology, sustainable bioprocess, vegetable oil industry wastewaters, Xanthomonas campestris

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Authors: Emilio Galdeano-Gómez, Ángeles Godoy-Durán, Juan C. Pérez-Mesa, Laura Piedra-Muñoz

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Eco-efficiency is receiving ever-increasing interest as an indicator of sustainability, as it links environmental and economic performances in productive activities. In agriculture, these indicators and their determinants prove relevant due to the close relationships in this activity between the use of natural resources, which is generally limited, and the provision of basic goods to society. In this context, various analyses have focused on eco-efficiency by considering individual family farms as the basic production unit. However, not only must the measure of efficiency be taken into account, but also the existence of a series of factors which constitute socio-economic, political-institutional, and environmental determinants. Said factors have been studied to a lesser extent in the literature. The present work analyzes eco-efficiency at a micro level, focusing on small-scale family farms as the main decision-making units in horticulture in southeast Spain, a sector which represents about 30% of the fresh vegetables produced in the country and about 20% of those consumed in Europe. The objectives of this study are a) to obtain a series of eco-efficiency indicators by estimating several pressure ratios and economic value added in farming, b) to analyze the influence of specific social, economic and environmental variables on the aforementioned eco-efficiency indicators. The present work applies the method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which calculates different combinations of environmental pressures (water usage, phytosanitary contamination, waste management, etc.) and aggregate economic value. In a second stage, an analysis is conducted on the influence of the socio-economic and environmental characteristics of family farms on the eco-efficiency indicators, as endogeneous variables, through the use of truncated regression and bootstrapping techniques, following Simar-Wilson methodology. The results reveal considerable inefficiency in aspects such as waste management, while there is relatively little inefficiency in water usage and nitrogen balance. On the other hand, characteristics, such as product specialization, the adoption of quality certifications and belonging to a cooperative do have a positive impact on eco-efficiency. These results are deemed to be of interest to agri-food systems structured on small-scale producers, and they may prove useful to policy-makers as regards managing public environmental programs in agriculture.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, eco-efficiency, family farms, horticulture, socioeconomic features

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Alberto Jiménez-Vargas, Manuel de Jesús Palacios-Gallegos, Miguel Ángel Hernández-López, Rafael Campos-Amezcua, Julio Cesar Solís-Sanchez

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An optimal wind turbine blade design must be able of capturing as much energy as possible from the wind source available at the area of interest. Many times, an optimal design means the use of large quantities of material and complicated processes that make the wind turbine more expensive, and therefore, less cost-effective. For the construction and installation of a wind turbine, the blades may cost up to 20% of the outline pricing, and become more important due to they are part of the rotor system that is in charge of transmitting the energy from the wind to the power train, and where the static and dynamic design loads for the whole wind turbine are produced. The aim of this work is the develop of a blade fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation that allows the identification of the major damage zones during the normal production situation, and thus better decisions for design and optimization can be taken. The simulation is a dynamic case, since we have a time-history wind velocity as inlet condition instead of a constant wind velocity. The process begins with the free-use software NuMAD (NREL), to model the blade and assign material properties to the blade, then the 3D model is exported to ANSYS Workbench platform where before setting the FSI system, a modal analysis is made for identification of natural frequencies and modal shapes. FSI analysis is carried out with the two-way technic which begins with a CFD simulation to obtain the pressure distribution on the blade surface, then these results are used as boundary condition for the FEA simulation to obtain the deformation levels for the first time-step. For the second time-step, CFD simulation is reconfigured automatically with the next time-step inlet wind velocity and the deformation results from the previous time-step. The analysis continues the iterative cycle solving time-step by time-step until the entire load case is completed. This work is part of a set of projects that are managed by a national consortium called “CEMIE-Eólico” (Mexican Center in Wind Energy Research), created for strengthen technological and scientific capacities, the promotion of creation of specialized human resources, and to link the academic with private sector in national territory. The analysis belongs to the design of a rotor system for a 5 kW wind turbine design thought to be installed at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Keywords: blade, dynamic, fsi, wind turbine

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Authors: V. L. M. F. Capellini, A. P. P. M. Maturana, N. C. M. Brondino, M. B. C. L. B. M. Peixoto, A. J. Broughton

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A paradigm shift is a process. The process of implementing inclusive education, a system constructed to support all learners, requires planning, identification, experimentation, and evaluation. In this vein, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of one Brazilian state school systems to provide special education students with a quality inclusive education. This study originated at the behest of concerned families of students with special needs who filed complaints with the Municipality of Bauru, São Paulo. These families claimed, 1) children with learning differences and educational needs had not been identified for services, and 2) those who had been identified had not received sufficient specialized educational assistance (SEA) in schools across the City of Bauru. Hence, the Office of Civil Rights for the state of São Paulo (Ministério Público de São Paulo) summoned the local higher education institution, UNESP, to design a research study to investigate these allegations. In this exploratory study, descriptive data were gathered from all elementary and middle schools including 58 state schools and 17 city schools, for a total of 75 schools overall. Data collection consisted of each school's annual strategic action plan, surveys and interviews with all school stakeholders to determine their perceptions of the inclusive education available to students with Special Education Needs (SEN). The data were collected as one of four stages in a larger study which also included field observations of a focal students' experience and a continuing education course for all teachers and administrators in both state and city schools. For the purposes of this study, the researchers were interested in understanding the perceptions of school staff, parents, and students across all schools. Therefore, documents and surveys from 75 schools were analyzed for adherence to federal legislation guaranteeing students with SEN the right to special education assistance within the regular school setting. Results shows that while some schools recognized the legal rights of SEN students to receive special education, the plans to actually deliver services were absent. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed both school staff and families have insufficient planning and accessibility resources, and the schools have inadequate infrastructure for full-time support to SEN students, i.e., structures and systems to support the identification of SEN and delivery of services within schools of Bauru, SP. Having identified the areas of need, the city is now prepared to take next steps in the process toward preparing all schools to be inclusive.

Keywords: inclusion, school, special education, special needs

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Catherine Peyrols Wu

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Intercultural interactions are becoming increasingly common in organizations and life. These interactions are often the stage of miscommunication and conflict. In management research, these problems are commonly attributed to cultural differences in values and interactional norms. As a result, the notion that intercultural competence can minimize these challenges is widely accepted. Cultural differences, however, are not the only source of a challenge during intercultural interactions. The need to rely on a lingua franca – or common language between people who have different mother tongues – is another important one. In theory, a lingua franca can improve communication and ease coordination. In practice however, disparities in people’s ability and confidence to communicate in the language can exacerbate tensions and generate inefficiencies. In this study, we draw on power theory to develop a model of disparities in language competence and conflict in a multicultural work context. Specifically, we hypothesized that differences in language competence between interaction partners would be positively related to conflict such that people would report greater conflict with partners who have more dissimilar levels of language competence and lesser conflict with partners with more similar levels of language competence. Furthermore, we proposed that cultural intelligence (CQ) an intercultural competence that denotes an individual’s capability to be effective in intercultural situations, would weaken the relationship between disparities in language competence and conflict such that people would report less conflict with partners who have more dissimilar levels of language competence when the interaction partner has high CQ and more conflict when the partner has low CQ. We tested this model with a sample of 135 undergraduate students working in multicultural teams for 13 weeks. We used a round-robin design to examine conflict in 646 dyads nested within 21 teams. Results of analyses using social relations modeling provided support for our hypotheses. Specifically, we found that in intercultural dyads with large disparities in language competence, partners with the lowest level of language competence would report higher levels of interpersonal conflict. However, this relationship disappeared when the partner with higher language competence was also high in CQ. These findings suggest that communication in a lingua franca can be a source of conflict in intercultural collaboration when partners differ in their level of language competence and that CQ can alleviate these effects during collaboration with partners who have relatively lower levels of language competence. Theoretically, this study underscores the benefits of CQ as a complement to language competence for intercultural effectiveness. Practically, these results further attest to the benefits of investing resources to develop language competence and CQ in employees engaged in multicultural work.

Keywords: cultural intelligence, intercultural interactions, language competence, multicultural teamwork

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Authors: Bylhah Mugotitsa, Jim Todd, Agnes Kiragga, Jay Greenfield, Evans Omondi, Lukoye Atwoli, Reinpeter Momanyi

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The INSPIRE network aims to build an open, ethical, sustainable, and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data science platform, particularly for longitudinal mental health (MH) data. While studies have been done at the clinical and population level, there still exists limitations in data and research in LMICs, which pose a risk of underrepresentation of mental disorders. It is vital to examine the existing longitudinal MH data, focusing on how FAIR datasets are. This landscape analysis aimed to provide both overall level of evidence of availability of longitudinal datasets and degree of consistency in longitudinal studies conducted. Utilizing prompters proved instrumental in streamlining the analysis process, facilitating access, crafting code snippets, categorization, and analysis of extensive data repositories related to depression, anxiety, and psychosis in Africa. While leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), we filtered through over 18,000 scientific papers spanning from 1970 to 2023. This AI-driven approach enabled the identification of 228 longitudinal research papers meeting inclusion criteria. Quality assurance revealed 10% incorrectly identified articles and 2 duplicates, underscoring the prevalence of longitudinal MH research in South Africa, focusing on depression. From the analysis, evaluating data and metadata adherence to FAIR principles remains crucial for enhancing accessibility and quality of MH research in Africa. While AI has the potential to enhance research processes, challenges such as privacy concerns and data security risks must be addressed. Ethical and equity considerations in data sharing and reuse are also vital. There’s need for collaborative efforts across disciplinary and national boundaries to improve the Findability and Accessibility of data. Current efforts should also focus on creating integrated data resources and tools to improve Interoperability and Reusability of MH data. Practical steps for researchers include careful study planning, data preservation, machine-actionable metadata, and promoting data reuse to advance science and improve equity. Metrics and recognition should be established to incentivize adherence to FAIR principles in MH research

Keywords: longitudinal mental health research, data sharing, fair data principles, Africa, landscape analysis

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Authors: Masanori Kimura

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Due to the decline of the 18-year-old population, Japanese universities have a tendency to convert their form of employment from tenured positions to fixed-term positions for newly hired teachers. The advantage of this is that universities can be more flexible in their employment plans in case they fail to fill the enrollment of quotas of prospective students or they need to supplement teachers who can engage in other academic fields or research areas where new demand is expected. The most serious disadvantage of this, however, is that if secure positions cannot be provided to faculty members, there is the possibility that coherence of education and continuity of research supported by the university cannot be achieved. Therefore, the question of this presentation is as follows: Are universities aiming to give first priority to management, or are they trying to prioritize educational and research rather than management? To answer this question, the author examined the number of job offerings for college foreign language teachers posted on the JREC-IN (Japan Research Career Information Network, which is run by Japan Science and Technology Agency) website from April 2012 to October 2015. The results show that there were 1,002 and 1,056 job offerings for tenured positions and fixed-term contracts respectively, suggesting that, overall, today’s Japanese universities show a tendency to give first priority to management. More detailed examinations of the data, however, show that the tendency slightly varies depending on the types of universities. National universities which are supported by the central government and state universities which are supported by local governments posted more job offerings for tenured positions than for fixed-term contracts: national universities posted 285 and 257 job offerings for tenured positions and fixed-term contracts respectively, and state universities posted 106 and 86 job offerings for tenured positions and fixed-term contracts respectively. Yet the difference in number between the two types of employment status at national and state universities is marginal. As for private universities, they posted 713 job offerings for fixed-term contracts and 616 offerings for tenured positions. Moreover, 73% of the fixed-term contracts were offered for low rank positions including associate professors, lectures, and so forth. Generally speaking, those positions are offered to younger teachers. Therefore, this result indicates that private universities attempt to cut their budgets yet expect the same educational effect by hiring younger teachers. Although the results have shown that there are some differences in personal strategies among the three types of universities, the author argues that all three types of universities may lose important human resources that will take a pivotal role at their universities in the future unless they urgently review their employment strategies.

Keywords: higher education, management, employment status, foreign language education

Procedia PDF Downloads 134