Search results for: waste characterization

Authors: Yana Snegireva

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Carbonate reservoirs are known for their heterogeneity, resulting from various geological processes such as diagenesis and fracturing. These complexities may cause great challenges in understanding fluid flow behavior and predicting the production performance of naturally fractured reservoirs. The investigation of carbonate reservoirs is crucial, as many petroleum reservoirs are naturally fractured, which can be difficult due to the complexity of their fracture networks. This can lead to geological uncertainties, which are important for global petroleum reserves. The problem outlines the key challenges in carbonate reservoir modeling, including the accurate representation of fractures and their connectivity, as well as capturing the impact of fractures on fluid flow and production. Traditional reservoir modeling techniques often oversimplify fracture networks, leading to inaccurate predictions. Therefore, there is a need for a modern approach that can capture the complexities of carbonate reservoirs and provide reliable predictions for effective reservoir management and production optimization. The modern approach to carbonate reservoir modeling involves the utilization of the hybrid fracture modeling approach, including the discrete fracture network (DFN) method and implicit fracture network, which offer enhanced accuracy and reliability in characterizing complex fracture systems within these reservoirs. This study focuses on the application of the hybrid method in the Nepsko-Botuobinskaya anticline of the Eastern Siberia field, aiming to prove the appropriateness of this method in these geological conditions. The DFN method is adopted to model the fracture network within the carbonate reservoir. This method considers fractures as discrete entities, capturing their geometry, orientation, and connectivity. But the method has significant disadvantages since the number of fractures in the field can be very high. Due to limitations in the amount of main memory, it is very difficult to represent these fractures explicitly. By integrating data from image logs (formation micro imager), core data, and fracture density logs, a discrete fracture network (DFN) model can be constructed to represent fracture characteristics for hydraulically relevant fractures. The results obtained from the DFN modeling approaches provide valuable insights into the East Siberia field's carbonate reservoir behavior. The DFN model accurately captures the fracture system, allowing for a better understanding of fluid flow pathways, connectivity, and potential production zones. The analysis of simulation results enables the identification of zones of increased fracturing and optimization opportunities for reservoir development with the potential application of enhanced oil recovery techniques, which were considered in further simulations on the dual porosity and dual permeability models. This approach considers fractures as separate, interconnected flow paths within the reservoir matrix, allowing for the characterization of dual-porosity media. The case study of the East Siberia field demonstrates the effectiveness of the hybrid model method in accurately representing fracture systems and predicting reservoir behavior. The findings from this study contribute to improved reservoir management and production optimization in carbonate reservoirs with the use of enhanced and improved oil recovery methods.

Keywords: carbonate reservoir, discrete fracture network, fracture modeling, dual porosity, enhanced oil recovery, implicit fracture model, hybrid fracture model

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Authors: Leonardo Coloma

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The world changes constantly, every second its properties vary due either natural factors or human intervention. As the most intelligent creatures on the planet, human beings have transformed the environment and paradoxically –have allowed ‘mother nature’ to lose species, accelerate the processes of climate change, the deterioration of the ozone layer, among others. The rapid population growth, the procurement, administration and distribution of resources, waste management, and technological advances are some of the factors that boost urban sprawl whose gray stain extends over the territory, facing challenges such as pollution, overpopulation and scarcity of resources. In Ecuador, these problems are added to the social, cultural, economic and political anomalies that have historically affected it. This fact can represent a greater delay when trying to solve global problems, without having paid attention to local inconveniences –smaller ones, but ones that could be the key to project smart solutions on bigger ones. This research aims to highlight the main characteristics of the development models adopted by two Amazonian cities, and analyze the impact of such urban growth on society; to finally define the parameters that would allow the development of an intelligent city in Ecuador, prepared for the challenges of the XXI Century. Contrasts in the climate, temperature, and landscape of Ecuadorian cities are fused with the cultural diversity of its people, generating a multiplicity of nuances of an indecipherable wealth. However, we strive to apply development models that do not recognize that wealth, not understanding them and ignoring that their proposals will vary according to where they are applied. Urban plans seem to take a bit of each of the new theories and proposals of development, which, in the encounter with the informal growth of cities, with those excluded and ‘isolated’ societies, generate absurd morphologies - where the uncertain becomes tangible. The desire to project smart cities is ever growing, but it is important to consider that this concept does not only have to do with the use of information and communication technologies. Its success is achieved when advances in science and technology allow the establishment of a better relationship between people and their context (natural and built). As a research methodology, urban analysis through mappings, diagrams and geographical studies, as well as the identification of sensorial elements when living the city, will make evident the shortcomings of the urban models adopted by certain populations of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Following the vision of previous investigations started since 2014 as part of ‘Centro de Acciones Urbanas,’ the results of this study will encourage the dialogue between the city (as a physical fact) and those who ‘make the city’ (people as its main actors). This research will allow the development of workshops and meetings with different professionals, organizations and individuals in general.

Keywords: Latin American cities, smart cities, urban development, urban morphology, urban sprawl

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Authors: Mohamed Elkashouty, Mohamed Yehia, Ahmed Tawfuk

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The study area is located in the southern part of Giza Governorate at both side of the Nile Valley. A combination of major and trace elements have been used to classify surface- and ground-waters in El Kurimat village, Egypt. The main purpose of the project is to investigate the surface-and ground-waters quality and hydrochemical evaluation. The situation is further complicated by contamination with lithogenic and anthropogenic (agricultural and sewage wastewaters) sources and low groundwater management strategies. The Quaternary aquifer consists of sands and gravels of Pleistocene age intercalated with clay lenses and overlain by silty clay aquitard (Holocene). The semi-pervious silty clay aquitard of the Holocene Nile sediments cover the Quaternary aquifer in most areas. The groundwater flows generally from southwest to northeast. To achieve this target, thirty five and seventy three samples were collected from surface– and ground-waters within summer and winter seasons 2009-2010). Total dissolved solids (TDS), cations, anions, NO2, NO3, PO4 , Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, As, F, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr and V) were determined in water samples. Grain size analysis was achieved to eight soil samples and measured the organic matter percent in different fractions. The TDS concentration is high in Arab El Ein canal by lithogenic and anthropogenic sources. The average concentrations of TDS in the River Nile are 245 (summer) and 254 ppm (winter). NO3 content ranges from 1.7 to 12 mg/l (summer), while in winter it ranges from 0.4 to 2.4. Most of the toxic metal concentrations are below the drinking and irrigation guidelines except Mn, V, Cr, Al, and Fe, which are higher than the guidelines in some canals and drains. The TDS concentration in groundwater increases toward northeastern and northwestern part of the study area (i.e. toward limestone plateau). It is due to hydrogeological interconnection between Quaternary and Eocene aquifer (saline water), wastewater dump and recharge from wadi El Atfihi wastewater. There is a good match between the hydrogeology and the hydrogeochemistry. Total dissolved solid in groundwater increases toward southwestern part, may be due to hydrogeological interconnection between Quaternary and Eocene aquifer and leakage from agricultural waste water of El Mohut drain. Fe, Mn, Cr, Al, PO4 and NO3 concentrations are high due to anthropogenic sources, therefore they are unsuitable for drinking. The average concentration of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn &Zn are higher in winter than those in summer due to winter drought. The organic matter content in soil are increases in the northeastern and southwestern part, with different fractions, sue to agricultural wastewaters. Reused of contaminated surface- and ground-waters samples by mixing with fresh water (By AquaChem) was estimated to increase the income per capita.

Keywords: surface water, groundwater, major ions, toxic metals

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: V. Cesaroni, C. Girometta, A. Bernicchia, M. Brusoni, F. Corana, R. M. Baiguera, C. M. Cusaro, M. L. Guglielminetti, B. Mannucci, H. Kawagishi, C. Perini, A. M. Picco, P. Rossi, E. Salerni, E. Savino

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Fungi of the genus Hericium contain various compounds with antibacterial activity, cytotoxic effect on cancer cells and bioactive molecules. Some of the active metabolites stimulate the synthesis of the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). Recently, the effect of dietary supplement based on Hericium erinaceus on recognition memory and on hippocampal mossy fiber-CA3 neurotransmission was published. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Hericium species on Italian territory in order to isolate the strains for further studies and applications. The first step was to collect Hericium sporophores in Tuscany: H. alpestre Pers., H. coralloides (Scop.) Pers. and H. erinaceus (Bull.) Pers. were the species present. The strains of H. alpestre (H.a.1), H. coralloides (H.c.1) and H. erinaceus (H.e.1 & H.e.2) have been isolated in pure culture and preserved in the collection of the University of Pavia (MicUNIPV). The DNA sequences obtained from the strains were compared to other sequences found in international databases. Therefore, it was possible to construct a phylogenetic tree that highlights the clear separation in clades of the sequences and the molecular identification of our strains with the species of Hericium considered. The second step was to cultivate indoor and outdoor H. erinaceus in order to obtain as many sporophores as possible for further chemical analysis. All the procedures for H. erinaceus cultivation have been followed. Among the available recipes for indoor H. erinaceus cultivation, it was used a substrate formulation contained 70% oak sawdust, 20% rice bran, 10% wheat straw, 1% CaCO3 and 1% sucrose. The bioactive compounds present in the mycelia and in the sporophores of H. erinaceus were chemically analyzed in collaboration with the Centro Grandi Strumenti of the University of Pavia using high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS/MS). The materials to be analyzed were previously freeze-dried and then extracted with an alcoholic procedure. Preliminary chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of potentially bioactive and structurally different secondary metabolites such as polysaccharides, erinacins, ericenones, steroids and other terpenoids. Ericenones C and D (in sporophores) and erinacin A (in mycelium) have been identified by comparison with the respective standards. These molecules are known to have effects on the Central Nervous System (CNS) cells, which is the main objective of our studies. Thanks to the high sensitivity in the detection of bioactive compounds of H. erinaceus, it will be possible to use the To obtain lyophilized mycelium and the respective culture broth, 4 small pieces (about 5 mm2) of the respective H.e.1 or H.c.1 strains, taken from the margin of growing cultures (MEA), were inoculated into 1 liter of 2% ME (malt extract, Biokar Diagnostics). The static liquid cultures were kept at 24 °C in the dark chamber and fungi grew for one month. 10 replicates for each strain have been done. The method proposed as an analytical screening protocol to determine the optimal growth conditions of the fungus and to improve the production chain of H. erinaceus. These results encourage to carry out chemical analyzes also on H. alpestre and H. coralloides in order to evaluate the presence of bioactive compounds in these two species.

Keywords: Hericium species, Hercium erinaceus bioactive compounds, medicinal mushrooms, mushroom cultivation

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Authors: Anna Drabczyk, Sonia Kudlacik-Kramarczyk, Dagmara Malina, Bozena Tyliszczak, Agnieszka Sobczak-Kupiec

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Nowadays, nano-size materials are very popular group of materials among scientists. What is more, these materials find an application in a wide range of various areas. Therefore constantly increasing demand for nanomaterials including metallic nanoparticles such as silver of gold ones is observed. Therefore, new routes of their preparation are sought. Considering potential application of nanoparticles, it is important to select an adequate methodology of their preparation because it determines their size and shape. Among the most commonly applied methods of preparation of nanoparticles chemical and electrochemical techniques are leading. However, currently growing attention is directed into the biological or biochemical aspects of syntheses of metallic nanoparticles. This is associated with a trend of developing of new routes of preparation of given compounds according to the principles of green chemistry. These principles involve e.g. the reduction of the use of toxic compounds in the synthesis as well as the reduction of the energy demand or minimization of the generated waste. As a result, a growing popularity of the use of such components as natural plant extracts, infusions or essential oils is observed. Such natural substances may be used both as a reducing agent of metal ions and as a stabilizing agent of formed nanoparticles therefore they can replace synthetic compounds previously used for the reduction of metal ions or for the stabilization of obtained nanoparticles suspension. Methods that proceed in the presence of previously mentioned natural compounds are environmentally friendly and proceed without the application of any toxic reagents. Methodology: Presented research involves preparation of silver nanoparticles using selected plant extracts, e.g. artichoke extract. Extracts of natural origin were used as reducing and stabilizing agents at the same time. Furthermore, syntheses were carried out in the presence of additional polymeric stabilizing agent. Next, such features of obtained suspensions of nanoparticles as total antioxidant activity as well as content of phenolic compounds have been characterized. First of the mentioned studies involved the reaction with DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical. The content of phenolic compounds was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu technique. Furthermore, an essential issue was also the determining of the stability of formed suspensions of nanoparticles. Conclusions: In the research it was demonstrated that metallic nanoparticles may be obtained using plant extracts or infusions as stabilizing or reducing agent. The methodology applied, i.e. a type of plant extract used during the synthesis, had an impact on the content of phenolic compounds as well as on the size and polydispersity of obtained nanoparticles. What is more, it is possible to prepare nano-size particles that will be characterized by properties desirable from the viewpoint of their potential application and such an effect may be achieved with the use of non-toxic reagents of natural origin. Furthermore, proposed methodology stays in line with the principles of green chemistry.

Keywords: green chemistry principles, metallic nanoparticles, plant extracts, stabilization of nanoparticles

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Authors: Natalia V. Beloglazova, Pieterjan Lenain, Martin Hedstrom, Dietmar Knopp, Sarah De Saeger

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In recent years polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which represent a hazard to humans and entire ecosystem, have been receiving an increased interest due to their mutagenic, carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting properties. They are formed in all incomplete combustion processes of organic matter and, as a consequence, ubiquitous in the environment. Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is on the priority list published by the Environmental Agency (US EPA) as the first PAH to be identified as a carcinogen and has often been used as a marker for PAHs contamination in general. It can be found in different types of water samples, therefore, the European Commission set up a limit value of 10 ng L–1 (10 ppt) for BAP in water intended for human consumption. Generally, different chromatographic techniques are used for PAHs determination, but these assays require pre-concentration of analyte, create large amounts of solvent waste, and are relatively time consuming and difficult to perform on-site. An alternative robust, stand-alone, and preferably cheap solution is needed. For example, a sensing unit which can be submerged in a river to monitor and continuously sample BaP. An affinity sensor based on capacitive transduction was developed. Natural antibodies or their synthetic analogues can be used as ligands. Ideally the sensor should operate independently over a longer period of time, e.g. several weeks or months, therefore the use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) was discussed. MIPs are synthetic antibodies which are selective for a chosen target molecule. Their robustness allows application in environments for which biological recognition elements are unsuitable or denature. They can be reused multiple times, which is essential to meet the stand-alone requirement. BaP is a highly lipophilic compound and does not contain any functional groups in its structure, thus excluding non-covalent imprinting methods based on ionic interactions. Instead, the MIPs syntheses were based on non-covalent hydrophobic and π-π interactions. Different polymerization strategies were compared and the best results were demonstrated by the MIPs produced using electropolymerization. 4-vinylpyridin (VP) and divinylbenzene (DVB) were used as monomer and cross-linker in the polymerization reaction. The selectivity and recovery of the MIP were compared to a non-imprinted polymer (NIP). Electrodes were functionalized with natural receptor (monoclonal anti-BaP antibody) and with MIPs selective towards BaP. Different sets of electrodes were evaluated and their properties such as sensitivity, selectivity and linear range were determined and compared. It was found that both receptor can reach the cut-off level comparable to the established ML, and despite the fact that the antibody showed the better cross-reactivity and affinity, MIPs were more convenient receptor due to their ability to regenerate and stability in river till 7 days.

Keywords: antibody, benzo(a)pyrene, capacitive sensor, MIPs, river water

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Authors: Anurag Bhambhani, Jan Peter Van Der Hoek, Zoran Kapelan

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The food system depends on the availability of Phosphorus (P) and Nitrogen (N). Growing population, depleting Phosphorus reserves and energy-intensive industrial nitrogen fixation are threats to their future availability. Recovering P and N from domestic sewage water offers a solution. Recovered P and N can be applied to agricultural land, replacing virgin P and N. Thus, recovery from sewage water offers a solution befitting a circular economy. To ensure minimum waste and maximum resource efficiency a circularity assessment method is crucial to optimize nutrient flows and minimize losses. Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) is a useful method to quantify the circularity of materials. It was developed for materials that remain within the market and recently extended to include biotic materials that may be composted or used for energy recovery after end-of-use. However, MCI has not been used in the context of nutrient recovery. Besides, MCI is time-static, i.e., it cannot account for dynamic systems such as the terrestrial nutrient cycles. Nutrient application to agricultural land is a highly dynamic process wherein flows and stocks change with time. The rate of recycling of nutrients in nature can depend on numerous factors such as prevailing soil conditions, local hydrology, the presence of animals, etc. Therefore, a dynamic model of nutrient flows with indicators is needed for the circularity assessment. A simple substance flow model of P and N will be developed with the help of flow equations and transfer coefficients that incorporate the nutrient recovery step along with the agricultural application, the volatilization and leaching processes, plant uptake and subsequent animal and human uptake. The model is then used for calculating the proportions of linear and restorative flows (coming from reused/recycled sources). The model will simulate the adsorption process based on the quantity of adsorbent and nutrient concentration in the water. Thereafter, the application of the adsorbed nutrients to agricultural land will be simulated based on adsorbate release kinetics, local soil conditions, hydrology, vegetation, etc. Based on the model, the restorative nutrient flow (returning to the sewage plant following human consumption) will be calculated. The developed methodology will be applied to a case study of resource recovery from wastewater. In the aforementioned case study located in Italy, biochar or zeolite is to be used for recovery of P and N from domestic sewage through adsorption and thereafter, used as a slow-release fertilizer in agriculture. Using this model, information regarding the efficiency of nutrient recovery and application can be generated. This can help to optimize the recovery process and application of the nutrients. Consequently, this will help to optimize nutrient recovery and application and reduce the dependence of the food system on the virgin extraction of P and N.

Keywords: circular economy, dynamic substance flow, nutrient cycles, resource recovery from water

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Authors: P. M. Natarajan, Shambhu Kallolikar, S. Ganesh

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By size and volume of water, Ganges River basin is the biggest among the fourteen major river basins in India. By Hindu’s faith, it is the main ‘holy river’ in this nation. But, of late, the pollution load, both domestic and industrial sources are deteriorating the surface and groundwater as well as land resources and hence the environment of the Ganges River basin is under threat. Seeing this scenario, the Indian government began to reclaim this river by two Ganges Action Plans I and II since 1986 by spending Rs. 2,747.52 crores ($457.92 million). But the result was no improvement in the water quality of the river and groundwater and environment even after almost three decades of reclamation, and hence now the New Indian Government is taking extra care to rejuvenate this river and allotted Rs. 2,037 cores ($339.50 million) in 2014 and Rs. 20,000 crores ($3,333.33 million) in 2015. The reasons for the poor water quality and stinking environment even after three decades of reclamation of the river are either no treatment/partial treatment of the sewage. Hence, now the authors are suggesting a tertiary level treatment standard of sewages of all sources and origins of the Ganges River basin and recycling the entire treated water for nondomestic uses. At 20million litres per day (MLD) capacity of each sewage treatment plant (STP), this basin needs about 2020 plants to treat the entire sewage load. Cost of the STPs is Rs. 3,43,400 million ($5,723.33 million) and the annual maintenance cost is Rs. 15,352 million ($255.87 million). The advantages of the proposed exercise are: we can produce a volume of 1,769.52 million m³ of biogas. Since biogas is energy, can be used as a fuel, for any heating purpose, such as cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat. It is possible to generate about 3,539.04 million kilowatt electricity per annum from the biogas generated in the process of wastewater treatment in Ganges basin. The income generation from electricity works out to Rs 10,617.12million ($176.95million). This power can be used to bridge the supply and demand gap of energy in the power hungry villages where 300million people are without electricity in India even today, and to run these STPs as well. The 664.18 million tonnes of sludge generated by the treatment plants per annum can be used in agriculture as manure with suitable amendments. By arresting the pollution load the 187.42 cubic kilometer (km³) of groundwater potential of the Ganges River basin could be protected from deterioration. Since we can recycle the sewage for non-domestic purposes, about 14.75km³ of fresh water per annum can be conserved for future use. The total value of the water saving per annum is Rs.22,11,916million ($36,865.27million) and each citizen of Ganges River basin can save Rs. 4,423.83/ ($73.73) per annum and Rs. 12.12 ($0.202) per day by recycling the treated water for nondomestic uses. Further the environment of this basin could be kept clean by arresting the foul smell as well as the 3% of greenhouse gages emission from the stinking waterways and land. These are the ways to reclaim the waterways of Ganges River basin from deterioration.

Keywords: Holy Ganges River, lifeline of India, wastewater treatment and management, making Ganges permanently holy

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Authors: Anishur Rahman, Maria Areias, Diogo Simões, Ana Figeuiredo, Filipa Figueiredo, João Nunes

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The circular economy (CE) has gained increased awareness among academics, businesses, and decision-makers as it stimulates resource circularity in the production and consumption systems. A large epistemological study has explored the principles of CE, but scant attention eagerly focused on analysing how CE is evaluated, consented to, and enforced using economic metabolism data and business intelligent framework. Economic metabolism involves the ongoing exchange of materials and energy within and across socio-economic systems and requires the assessment of vast amounts of data to provide quantitative analysis related to effective resource management. Limited concern, the present work has focused on the regional flows pilot region from Portugal. By addressing this gap, this study aims to promote eco-innovation and sustainability in the regions of Intermunicipal Communities Região de Coimbra, Viseu Dão Lafões and Beiras e Serra da Estrela, using this data to find precise synergies in terms of material flows and give companies a competitive advantage in form of valuable waste destinations, access to new resources and new markets, cost reduction and risk sharing benefits. In our work, emphasis on applying artificial intelligence (AI) and, more specifically, on implementing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms is placed, contributing to construction a business intelligent approach. With the emergence of new approaches generally highlighted under the sub-heading of AI and machine learning (ML), the methods for statistical analysis of complex and uncertain production systems are facing significant changes. Therefore, various definitions of AI and its differences from traditional statistics are presented, and furthermore, ML is introduced to identify its place in data science and the differences in topics such as big data analytics and in production problems that using AI and ML are identified. A lifecycle-based approach is then taken to analyse the use of different methods in each phase to identify the most useful technologies and unifying attributes of AI in manufacturing. Most of macroeconomic metabolisms models are mainly direct to contexts of large metropolis, neglecting rural territories, so within this project, a dynamic decision support model coupled with artificial intelligence tools and information platforms will be developed, focused on the reality of these transition zones between the rural and urban. Thus, a real decision support tool is under development, which will surpass the scientific developments carried out to date and will allow to overcome imitations related to the availability and reliability of data.

Keywords: circular economy, artificial intelligence, economic metabolisms, machine learning

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Authors: Alper T. Celebi, Ali Beskok

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Electroosmotic (EO) slip flows in nanochannels are investigated using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and the results are compared with analytical solution of Poisson-Boltzmann and Stokes (PB-S) equations with slip contribution. The ultimate objective of this study is to show that well-known continuum flow model can accurately predict the EO velocity profiles in nanochannels using the slip lengths and apparent viscosities obtained from force-driven flow simulations performed at various liquid-wall interaction strengths. EO flow of aqueous NaCl solution in silicon nanochannels are simulated under realistic electrochemical conditions within the validity region of Poisson-Boltzmann theory. A physical surface charge density is determined for nanochannels based on dissociations of silanol functional groups on channel surfaces at known salt concentration, temperature and local pH. First, we present results of density profiles and ion distributions by equilibrium MD simulations, ensuring that the desired thermodynamic state and ionic conditions are satisfied. Next, force-driven nanochannel flow simulations are performed to predict the apparent viscosity of ionic solution between charged surfaces and slip lengths. Parabolic velocity profiles obtained from force-driven flow simulations are fitted to a second-order polynomial equation, where viscosity and slip lengths are quantified by comparing the coefficients of the fitted equation with continuum flow model. Presence of charged surface increases the viscosity of ionic solution while the velocity-slip at wall decreases. Afterwards, EO flow simulations are carried out under uniform electric field for different liquid-wall interaction strengths. Velocity profiles present finite slips near walls, followed with a conventional viscous flow profile in the electrical double layer that reaches a bulk flow region in the center of the channel. The EO flow enhances with increased slip at the walls, which depends on wall-liquid interaction strength and the surface charge. MD velocity profiles are compared with the predictions from analytical solutions of the slip modified PB-S equation, where the slip length and apparent viscosity values are obtained from force-driven flow simulations in charged silicon nano-channels. Our MD results show good agreements with the analytical solutions at various slip conditions, verifying the validity of PB-S equation in nanochannels as small as 3.5 nm. In addition, the continuum model normalizes slip length with the Debye length instead of the channel height, which implies that enhancement in EO flows is independent of the channel height. Further MD simulations performed at different channel heights also shows that the flow enhancement due to slip is independent of the channel height. This is important because slip enhanced EO flow is observable even in micro-channels experiments by using a hydrophobic channel with large slip and high conductivity solutions with small Debye length. The present study provides an advanced understanding of EO flows in nanochannels. Correct characterization of nanoscale EO slip flow is crucial to discover the extent of well-known continuum models, which is required for various applications spanning from ion separation to drug delivery and bio-fluidic analysis.

Keywords: electroosmotic flow, molecular dynamics, slip length, velocity-slip

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Authors: Lorenzo Casagrande, Antonio Bonati, Ferdinando Auricchio, Antonio Occhiuzzi

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This paper summarizes the results of a survey on smart non-structural element dynamic dissipation when installed in modern high-rise mega-frame prototypes. An innovative glazed curtain wall was designed using Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) joints in order to increase the energy dissipation and enhance the seismic/wind response of the structures. The studied buildings consisted of thirty- and sixty-storey planar frames, extracted from reference three-dimensional steel Moment Resisting Frame (MRF) with outriggers and belt trusses. The internal core was composed of a CBF system, whilst outriggers were placed every fifteen stories to limit second order effects and inter-storey drifts. These structural systems were designed in accordance with European rules and numerical FE models were developed with an open-source code, able to account for geometric and material nonlinearities. With regard to the characterization of non-structural building components, full-scale crescendo tests were performed on aluminium/glass curtain wall units at the laboratory of the Construction Technologies Institute (ITC) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), deriving force-displacement curves. Three-dimensional brick-based inelastic FE models were calibrated according to experimental results, simulating the fac¸ade response. Since recent seismic events and extreme dynamic wind loads have generated the large occurrence of non-structural components failure, which causes sensitive economic losses and represents a hazard for pedestrians safety, a more dissipative glazed curtain wall was studied. Taking advantage of the mechanical properties of SMA, advanced smart joints were designed with the aim to enhance both the dynamic performance of the single non-structural unit and the global behavior. Thus, three-dimensional brick-based plastic FE models were produced, based on the innovated non-structural system, simulating the evolution of mechanical degradation in aluminium-to-glass and SMA-to-glass connections when high deformations occurred. Consequently, equivalent nonlinear links were calibrated to reproduce the behavior of both tested and smart designed units, and implemented on the thirty- and sixty-storey structural planar frame FE models. Nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHAs) were performed to quantify the potential of the new system, when considered in the lateral resisting frame system (LRFS) of modern high-rise MRFs. Sensitivity to the structure height was explored comparing the responses of the two prototypes. Trends in global and local performance were discussed to show that, if accurately designed, advanced materials in non-structural elements provide new sources of energy dissipation.

Keywords: advanced technologies, glazed curtain walls, non-structural elements, seismic-action reduction, shape memory alloy

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Authors: Gideon Abagna Azunre

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Informal urbanism is perhaps the most ubiquitous urban phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Ghana specifically. Estimates suggest that about two-fifths of urban dwellers (37.9%) in Ghana live in informal settlements, while two-thirds of the working labour force are within the informal economy. This makes Ghana invariably an ‘informal country.’ Informal urbanism involves economic and housing activities that are – in law or in practice – not covered (or insufficiently covered) by formal regulations. Many urban folks rely on informal urbanism as a survival strategy due to limited formal waged employment opportunities or rising home prices in the open market. In an era of globalizing neoliberalism, this struggle to survive in cities resonates with several people globally. For years now, there have been intense debates on the utility of informal urbanism – both its economic and housing dimensions – in developing sustainable cities. While some scholars believe that informal urbanism is beneficial to the sustainable city development agenda, others argue that it generates unbearable negative consequences and it symbolizes lawlessness and squalor. Consequently, the main aim of this research was to dig below the surface of the narratives to locate the role of informal urbanism in the quest for sustainable cities. The research geographically focused on Ghana and its burgeoning informal sector. Also, both primary and secondary data were utilized for the analysis; Secondary data entailed a synthesis of the fragmented literature on informal urbanism in Ghana, while primary data entailed interviews with informal stakeholders (such as informal settlement dwellers), city authorities, and planners. These two data sets were weaved together to discover the nexus between informal urbanism and the tripartite dimensions of sustainable cities – economic, social, and environmental. The results from the research showed a two-pronged relationship between informal urbanism and the three dimensions of sustainable city development. In other words, informal urbanism was identified to both positively and negatively affect the drive for sustainable cities. On the one hand, it provides employment (particularly to women), supplies households’ basic needs (shelter, health, water, and waste management), and enhances civic engagement. However, on the other hand, it perpetuates social and gender inequalities, insecurity, congestion, and pollution. The research revealed that a ‘black and white’ interpretation and policy approach is incapable of capturing the complexities of informal urbanism. Therefore, trying to eradicate or remove it from the urbanscape because it exhibits some negative consequences means cities will lose their positive contributions. The inverse also holds true. A careful balancing act is necessary to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs. Overall, the research presented a de-colonial theorization of informal urbanism and thus followed post-colonial scholars’ clarion call to African cities to embrace the paradox of informality and find ways to integrate it into the city-building process.

Keywords: informal urbanism, sustainable city development, economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, Ghana

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Authors: Roberto Pili, Alessandro Romagnoli, Hartmut Spliethoff, Christoph Wieland

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Internal combustion engines (ICE) are today the most common energy system to drive vehicles and transportation systems. Numerous studies state that 50-60% of the fuel energy content is lost to the ambient as sensible heat. ORC offers a valuable alternative to recover such waste heat from ICE, leading to fuel energy savings and reduced emissions. In contrast, the additional weight of the ORC affects the net energy balance of the overall system and the ORC occupies additional volume that competes with vehicle transportation capacity. Consequently, a lower income from delivered freight or passenger tickets can be achieved. The economic feasibility of integrating an ORC into an ICE and the resulting economic impact of weight and volume have not been analyzed in open literature yet. This work intends to define such a benchmark for ORC applications in the transportation sector and investigates the current situation on the market. The applied methodology refers to the freight market, but it can be extended to passenger transportation as well. The economic parameter X is defined as the ratio between the variation of the freight revenues and the variation of fuel costs when an ORC is installed as a bottoming cycle for an ICE with respect to a reference case without ORC. A good economic situation is obtained when the reduction in fuel costs is higher than the reduction of revenues for the delivered freight, i.e. X<1. Through this constraint, a maximum allowable change of transport capacity for a given relative reduction in fuel consumption is determined. The specific fuel consumption is influenced by the ORC in two ways. Firstly because the transportable freight is reduced and secondly because the total weight of the vehicle is increased. Note, that the generated electricity of the ORC influences the size of the ICE and the fuel consumption as well. Taking the above dependencies into account, the limiting condition X = 1 results in a second order equation for the relative change in transported cargo. The described procedure is carried out for a typical city bus, a truck of 24-40 t of payload capacity, a middle-size freight train (1000 t), an inland water vessel (Va RoRo, 2500 t) and handysize-like vessel (25000 t). The maximum allowable mass and volume of the ORC are calculated in dependence of its efficiency in order to satisfy X < 1. Subsequently, these values are compared with weight and volume of commercial ORC products. For ships of any size, the situation appears already highly favorable. A different result is obtained for road and rail vehicles. For trains, the mass and the volume of common ORC products have to be reduced at least by 50%. For trucks and buses, the situation looks even worse. The findings of the present study show a theoretical and practical approach for the economic application of ORC in the transportation sector. In future works, the potential for volume and mass reduction of the ORC will be addressed, together with the integration of an economic assessment for the ORC.

Keywords: ORC, transportation, volume, weight

Procedia PDF Downloads 203

Authors: Milos Travar, Jovana Nikolov, Andrej Vranicar, Natasa Todorovic

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Over the years, High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors proved to be an excellent practical tool and, as such, have established their today's wide use in low background γ-spectrometry. One of the advantages of gamma-ray spectrometry is its easy sample preparation as chemical processing and separation of the studied subject are not required. Thus, with a single measurement, one can simultaneously perform both qualitative and quantitative analysis. One of the most prominent features of HPGe detectors, besides their excellent efficiency, is their superior resolution. This feature virtually allows a researcher to perform a thorough analysis by discriminating photons of similar energies in the studied spectra where otherwise they would superimpose within a single-energy peak and, as such, could potentially scathe analysis and produce wrongly assessed results. Naturally, this feature is of great importance when the identification of radionuclides, as well as their activity concentrations, is being practiced where high precision comes as a necessity. In measurements of this nature, in order to be able to reproduce good and trustworthy results, one has to have initially performed an adequate full-energy peak (FEP) efficiency calibration of the used equipment. However, experimental determination of the response, i.e., efficiency curves for a given detector-sample configuration and its geometry, is not always easy and requires a certain set of reference calibration sources in order to account for and cover broader energy ranges of interest. With the goal of overcoming these difficulties, a lot of researches turned towards the application of different software toolkits that implement the Monte Carlo method (e.g., MCNP, FLUKA, PENELOPE, Geant4, etc.), as it has proven time and time again to be a very powerful tool. In the process of creating a reliable model, one has to have well-established and described specifications of the detector. Unfortunately, the documentation that manufacturers provide alongside the equipment is rarely sufficient enough for this purpose. Furthermore, certain parameters tend to evolve and change over time, especially with older equipment. Deterioration of these parameters consequently decreases the active volume of the crystal and can thus affect the efficiencies by a large margin if they are not properly taken into account. In this study, the optimisation method of two HPGe detectors through the implementation of the Geant4 toolkit developed by CERN is described, with the goal of further improving simulation accuracy in calculations of FEP efficiencies by investigating the influence of certain detector variables (e.g., crystal-to-window distance, dead layer thicknesses, inner crystal’s void dimensions, etc.). Detectors on which the optimisation procedures were carried out were a standard traditional co-axial extended range detector (XtRa HPGe, CANBERRA) and a broad energy range planar detector (BEGe, CANBERRA). Optimised models were verified through comparison with experimentally obtained data from measurements of a set of point-like radioactive sources. Acquired results of both detectors displayed good agreement with experimental data that falls under an average statistical uncertainty of ∼ 4.6% for XtRa and ∼ 1.8% for BEGe detector within the energy range of 59.4−1836.1 [keV] and 59.4−1212.9 [keV], respectively.

Keywords: HPGe detector, γ spectrometry, efficiency, Geant4 simulation, Monte Carlo method

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Abayomi O. Adetuyi, Jamiu M. Jabar, Samuel O. Afolabi

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Vegetable fibres are classes of fibres of low density, biodegradable and non-abrasive that are largely abundant fibre materials with specific properties and mostly found/ obtained in plants on earth surface. They are classified into three categories, depending on the part of the plant from which they are gotten from namely: fruit, Blast and Leaf fibre. Ever since four/five millennium B.C, attention has been focussing on the commonest and highly utilized cotton fibre obtained from the fruit of cotton plants (Gossypium spp), for the production of cotton fabric used in every home today. The present study, therefore, focused on the ability of three underutilized vegetable (fruit) fibres namely: coir fiber (Eleas coniferus), palm kernel fiber and empty fruit bunch fiber (Elias guinensis) through chemical modifications for better composite value addition performance to polyurethane form and dye adsorption. These fibres were sourced from their parents’ plants, identified and cleansed with 2% hot detergent solution 1:100, rinsed in distilled water and oven-dried to constant weight, before been chemically modified through alkali bleaching, mercerization and acetylation. The alkali bleaching involves treating 0.5g of each fiber material with 100 mL of 2% H2O2 in 25 % NaOH solution with refluxing for 2 h. While that of mercerization and acetylation involves the use of 5% sodium hydroxide NaOH solution for 2 h and 10% acetic acid- acetic anhydride 1:1 (v/v) (CH3COOH) / (CH3CO)2O solution with conc. H2SO4 as catalyst for 1 h, respectively on the fibres. All were subsequently washed thoroughly with distilled water and oven dried at 105 0C for 1 h. These modified fibres were incorporated as composite into polyurethane form and used in dye adsorption study of indigo. The first two treatments led to fiber weight reduction, while the acidified acetic anhydride treatment gave the fibers weight increment. All the treated fibers were found to be of less hydrophilic nature, better mechanical properties, higher thermal stabilities as well as better adsorption surfaces/capacities than the untreated ones. These were confirmed by gravimetric analysis, Instron Universal Testing Machine, Thermogravimetric Analyser and the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) respectively. The fiber morphology of the modified fibers showed smoother surfaces than unmodified fibres.The empty fruit bunch fibre and the coconut coir fibre are better than the palm kernel fibres as reinforcers for composites or as adsorbents for waste-water treatment. Acetylation and alkaline bleaching treatment improve the potentials of the fibres more than mercerization treatment. Conclusively, vegetable fibres, especially empty fruit bunch fibre and the coconut coir fibre, which are cheap, abundant and underutilized, can replace the very costly powdered activated carbon in wastewater treatment and as reinforcer in foam.

Keywords: chemical modification, industrial application, value addition, vegetable fibre

Procedia PDF Downloads 297

Authors: Manal M. Kame, Zeinab A. Demerdash, Hanan G. El-Baz, Salwa M. Hassan, Faten M. Salah, Wafaa Mansour, Olfat Hammam

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Cord blood (CB) derived Unrestricted Somatic Stem Cells (USSCs) with their multipotentiality hold great promise in liver regeneration. This work aims at evaluation of the therapeutic potentiality of USSCs in two experimental models of chronic liver injury induced either by S. mansoni infection in balb/c mice or CCL4 injection in hamsters. Isolation, propagation, and characterization of USSCs from CB samples were performed. USSCs were induced to differentiate into osteoblasts, adipocytes and hepatocyte-like cells. Cells of the third passage were transplanted in two models of liver fibrosis: (1) Twenty hamsters were induced to liver fibrosis by repeated i. p. injection of 100 μl CCl4 /hamster for 8 weeks. This model was designed as; 10 hamsters with liver fibrosis and treated with i.h. injection of 3x106 USSCs (USSCs transplanted group), 10 hamsters with liver fibrosis (pathological control group), and 10 hamsters with healthy livers (normal control group). (2) Murine chronics S.mansoni model: twenty mice were induced to liver fibrosis with S. mansoni ceracariae (60 cercariae/ mouse) using the tail immersion method and left for 12 weeks. This model was designed as; 10 mice with liver fibrosis were transplanted with i. v. injection of 1×106 USCCs (USSCs transplanted group). Other 2 groups were designed as in hamsters model. Animals were sacrificed 12 weeks after USSCs transplantation, and their liver sections were examined for detection of human hepatocyte-like cells by immunohistochemistry staining. Moreover, liver sections were examined for fibrosis level, and fibrotic indices were calculated. Sera of sacrificed animals were tested for liver functions. CB USSCs, with fibroblast-like morphology, expressed high levels of CD44, CD90, CD73 and CD105 and were negative for CD34, CD45, and HLA-DR. USSCs showed high expression of transcripts for Oct4 and Sox2 and were in vitro differentiated into osteoblasts, adipocytes. In both animal models, in vitro induced hepatocyte-like cells were confirmed by cytoplasmic expression of glycogen, alpha-fetoprotein, and cytokeratin18. Livers of USSCs transplanted group showed engraftment with human hepatocyte-like cells as proved by cytoplasmic expression of human alpha-fetoprotein, cytokeratin18, and OV6. In addition, livers of this group showed less fibrosis than the pathological control group. Liver functions in the form of serum AST & ALT level and serum total bilirubin level were significantly lowered in USSCs transplanted group than pathological control group (p < 0.001). Moreover, the fibrotic index was significantly lower (p< 0.001) in USSCs transplanted group than pathological control group. In addition liver sections, of i. v. injection of 1×106 USCCs of mice, stained with either H&E or sirius red showed diminished granuloma size and a relative decrease in hepatic fibrosis. Our experimental liver fibrosis models transplanted with CB-USSCs showed liver engraftment with human hepatocyte-like cells as well as signs of liver regeneration in the form of improvement in liver function assays and fibrosis level. These data provide hope that human CB- derived USSCs are introduced as multipotent stem cells with great potentiality in regenerative medicine & strengthens the concept of cellular therapy for the treatment of liver fibrosis.

Keywords: cord blood, liver fibrosis, stem cells, transplantation

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Nayana T. Nivangune, Vivek V. Ranade, Ashutosh A. Kelkar

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Organic carbamates are versatile compounds widely employed as pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, dyes, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and in the synthesis of polyurethanes. Carbamates can be easily transformed into isocyanates by thermal cracking. Isocyantes are used as precursors for manufacturing agrochemicals, adhesives and polyurethane elastomers. Manufacture of polyurethane foams is a major application of aromatic ioscyanates and in 2007 the global consumption of polyurethane was about 12 million metric tons/year and the average annual growth rate was about 5%. Presently Isocyanates/carbamates are manufactured by phosgene based process. However, because of high toxicity of phoegene and formation of waste products in large quantity; there is a need to develop alternative and safer process for the synthesis of isocyanates/carbamates. Recently many alternative processes have been investigated and carbamate synthesis by methoxycarbonylation of aromatic amines using dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as a green reagent has emerged as promising alternative route. In this reaction methanol is formed as a by-product, which can be converted to DMC either by oxidative carbonylation of methanol or by reacting with urea. Thus, the route based on DMC has a potential to provide atom efficient and safer route for the synthesis of carbamates from DMC and amines. Lot of work is being carried out on the development of catalysts for this reaction and homogeneous zinc salts were found to be good catalysts for the reaction. However, catalyst/product separation is challenging with these catalysts. There are few reports on the use of supported Zn catalysts; however, deactivation of the catalyst is the major problem with these catalysts. We wish to report here methoxycarbonylation of aniline to methylphenylcarbamate (MPC) using amino acid complexes of Zn as highly active and selective catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, IR, solid state NMR and XPS analysis. Methoxycarbonylation of aniline was carried out at 170 °C using 2.5 wt% of the catalyst to achieve >98% conversion of aniline with 97-99% selectivity to MPC as the product. Formation of N-methylated products in small quantity (1-2%) was also observed. Optimization of the reaction conditions was carried out using zinc-proline complex as the catalyst. Selectivity was strongly dependent on the temperature and aniline:DMC ratio used. At lower aniline:DMC ratio and at higher temperature, selectivity to MPC decreased (85-89% respectively) with the formation of N-methylaniline (NMA), N-methyl methylphenylcarbamate (MMPC) and N,N-dimethyl aniline (NNDMA) as by-products. Best results (98% aniline conversion with 99% selectivity to MPC in 4 h) were observed at 170oC and aniline:DMC ratio of 1:20. Catalyst stability was verified by carrying out recycle experiment. Methoxycarbonylation preceded smoothly with various amine derivatives indicating versatility of the catalyst. The catalyst is inexpensive and can be easily prepared from zinc salt and naturally occurring amino acids. The results are important and provide environmentally benign route for MPC synthesis with high activity and selectivity.

Keywords: aniline, heterogeneous catalyst, methoxycarbonylation, methylphenyl carbamate

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: I. Stathopoulos, V. Syrgiamiotis, E. Karavasilis, A. Ploussi, I. Nikas, C. Hatzigiorgi, K. Platoni, E. P. Efstathopoulos

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Introduction: Brain and central nervous system (CNS) tumors form the second most common group of cancer in children, accounting for 30% of all childhood cancers. MRI is the key imaging technique used for the visualization and management of pediatric brain tumors. Initial characterization of tumors from MRI scans is usually performed via a radiologist’s visual assessment. However, different brain tumor types do not always demonstrate clear differences in visual appearance. Using only conventional MRI to provide a definite diagnosis could potentially lead to inaccurate results, and so histopathological examination of biopsy samples is currently considered to be the gold standard for obtaining definite diagnoses. Machine learning is defined as the study of computational algorithms that can use, complex or not, mathematical relationships and patterns from empirical and scientific data to make reliable decisions. Concerning the above, machine learning techniques could provide effective and accurate ways to automate and speed up the analysis and diagnosis for medical images. Machine learning applications in radiology are or could potentially be useful in practice for medical image segmentation and registration, computer-aided detection and diagnosis systems for CT, MR or radiography images and functional MR (fMRI) images for brain activity analysis and neurological disease diagnosis. Purpose: The objective of this study is to provide an automated tool, which may assist in the imaging evaluation and classification of brain neoplasms in pediatric patients by determining the glioma type, grade and differentiating between different brain tissue types. Moreover, a future purpose is to present an alternative way of quick and accurate diagnosis in order to save time and resources in the daily medical workflow. Materials and Methods: A cohort, of 80 pediatric patients with a diagnosis of posterior fossa tumor, was used: 20 ependymomas, 20 astrocytomas, 20 medulloblastomas and 20 healthy children. The MR sequences used, for every single patient, were the following: axial T1-weighted (T1), axial T2-weighted (T2), FluidAttenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR), axial diffusion weighted images (DWI), axial contrast-enhanced T1-weighted (T1ce). From every sequence only a principal slice was used that manually traced by two expert radiologists. Image acquisition was carried out on a GE HDxt 1.5-T scanner. The images were preprocessed following a number of steps including noise reduction, bias-field correction, thresholding, coregistration of all sequences (T1, T2, T1ce, FLAIR, DWI), skull stripping, and histogram matching. A large number of features for investigation were chosen, which included age, tumor shape characteristics, image intensity characteristics and texture features. After selecting the features for achieving the highest accuracy using the least number of variables, four machine learning classification algorithms were used: k-Nearest Neighbour, Support-Vector Machines, C4.5 Decision Tree and Convolutional Neural Network. The machine learning schemes and the image analysis are implemented in the WEKA platform and MatLab platform respectively. Results-Conclusions: The results and the accuracy of images classification for each type of glioma by the four different algorithms are still on process.

Keywords: image classification, machine learning algorithms, pediatric MRI, pediatric oncology

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Men An Pan, Hong Ren Chen, Chih Heng Shih, Hsing Yuan Yen

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Pingtung County is located in the southernmost region of Taiwan. During the winter season, pollutants due to insufficient dispersion caused by the downwash of the northeast monsoon lead to the poor air quality of the County. Through the implementation of various control methods, including the application of permits of air pollution, fee collection of air pollution, control oil fume of catering sectors, smoke detection of diesel vehicles, regular inspection of locomotives, and subsidies for low-polluting vehicles. Moreover, to further mitigate the air pollution, additional alternative controlling strategies are also carried out, such as construction site control, prohibition of open-air agricultural waste burning, improvement of river dust, and strengthening of road cleaning operations. The combined efforts have significantly reduced air pollutants in the County. However, in order to effectively and promptly monitor the ambient air quality, the County has subsequently deployed micro-sensors, with a total of 400 IoTs (Internet of Things) micro-sensors for PM2.5 and VOC detection and 3 air quality monitoring stations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), covering 33 townships of the County. The covered area has more than 1,300 listed factories and 5 major industrial parks; thus forming an Internet of Things (IoTs) based multi-level air quality monitoring system. The results demonstrate that the IoTs multi-level air quality sensors combined with other strategies such as “sand and gravel dredging area technology monitoring”, “banning open burning”, “intelligent management of construction sites”, “real-time notification of activation response”, “nighthawk early bird plan with micro-sensors”, “unmanned aircraft (UAV) combined with land and air to monitor abnormal emissions”, and “animal husbandry odour detection service” etc. The satisfaction improvement rate of air control, through a 2021 public survey, reached a high percentage of 81%, an increase of 46% as compared to 2018. For the air pollution complaints for the whole year of 2021, the total number was 4213 in contrast to 7088 in 2020, a reduction rate reached almost 41%. Because of the spatial-temporal features of the air quality monitoring IoTs system by the application of microsensors, the system does assist and strengthen the effectiveness of the existing air quality monitoring network of the EPA and can provide real-time control of the air quality. Therefore, the hot spots and potential pollution locations can be timely determined for law enforcement. Hence, remarkable results were obtained for the two years. That is, both reduction of public complaints and better air quality are successfully achieved through the implementation of the present IoTs system for real-time air quality monitoring throughout Pingtung County.

Keywords: IoT, PM, air quality sensor, air pollution, environmental monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Dessy Pinem, Rahmadian Sembiring, Adanil Bushra

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Medan Belawan is one of the subdistricts of 21 districts in Medan. Medan Belawan Sub-district is directly adjacent to the Malacca Strait in the North. Due to its direct border with the Malacca Strait, the problem in this sub-district, which has continued for many years, is a flood of rob. In 2015, rob floods inundated Sicanang urban village, Belawan I urban village, Belawan Bahagia urban village and Bagan Deli village. The extent of inundation in the flood of rob that occurred in September 2015 reached 540, 938 ha. Rob flood is a phenomenon where the sea water is overflowing into the mainland. Rob floods can also be interpreted as a puddle of water on the coastal land that occurs when the tidal waters. So this phenomenon will inundate parts of the coastal plain or lower place of high tide sea level. Rob flood is a daily disaster faced by the residents in the district of Medan Belawan. Rob floods can happen every month and last for a week. The flood is not only the residents' houses, the flood also soaked the main road to Belawan Port reaching 50 cm. To deal with the problems caused by the flood and to prepare coastal communities to face the character of coastal areas, it is necessary to know the vulnerability of the people who are always the victims of the rob flood. Are the people of Medan Belawan sub-district, especially in the flood-affected villages, able to cope with the consequences of the floods? To answer this question, it is necessary to assess the vulnerability of the Belawan District community in the face of the flood disaster. This research is descriptive, qualitative and quantitative. Data were collected by observation, interview and questionnaires in 4 urban villages often affected by rob flood. The vulnerabilities measured are physical, economic, social, environmental, organizational and motivational vulnerabilities. For vulnerability in the physical field, the data collected is the distance of the building, floor area ratio, drainage, and building materials. For economic vulnerability, data collected are income, employment, building ownership, and insurance ownership. For the vulnerability in the social field, the data collected is education, number of family members, children, the elderly, gender, training for disasters, and how to dispose of waste. For the vulnerability in the field of organizational data collected is the existence of organizations that advocate for the victims, their policies and laws governing the handling of tidal flooding. The motivational vulnerability is seen from the information center or question and answer about the rob flood, and the existence of an evacuation plan or path to avoid disaster or reduce the victim. The results of this study indicate that most people in Medan Belawan sub-district have a high-level vulnerability in physical, economic, social, environmental, organizational and motivational fields. They have no access to economic empowerment, no insurance, no motivation to solve problems and only hope to the government, not to have organizations that support and defend them, and have physical buildings that are easily destroyed by rob floods.

Keywords: disaster, rob flood, Medan Belawan, vulnerability

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Neelofar, Khursheed Alam, Jamal Ahmad

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Protein modification in diabetes mellitus may lead to early glycation products (EGPs) or amadori product as well as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Early glycation involves the reaction of glucose with N-terminal and lysyl side chain amino groups to form Schiff’s base which undergoes rearrangements to form more stable early glycation product known as Amadori product. After Amadori, the reactions become more complicated leading to the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that interact with various AGE receptors, thereby playing an important role in the long-term complications of diabetes. Millard reaction or nonenzymatic glycation reaction accelerate in diabetes due to hyperglycation and alter serum protein’s structure, their normal functions that lead micro and macro vascular complications in diabetic patients. In this study, Human Serum Albumin (HSA) with a constant concentration was incubated with different concentrations of glucose at 370C for a week. At 4th day, Amadori product was formed that was confirmed by colorimetric method NBT assay and TBA assay which both are authenticate early glycation product. Conformational changes in native as well as all samples of Amadori albumin with different concentrations of glucose were investigated by various biophysical and biochemical techniques. Main biophysical techniques hyperchromacity, quenching of fluorescence intensity, FTIR, CD and SDS-PAGE were used. Further conformational changes were observed by biochemical assays mainly HMF formation, fructoseamine, reduction of fructoseamine with NaBH4, carbonyl content estimation, lysine and arginine residues estimation, ANS binding property and thiol group estimation. This study find structural and biochemical changes in Amadori modified HSA with normal to hyperchronic range of glucose with respect to native HSA. When glucose concentration was increased from normal to chronic range biochemical and structural changes also increased. Highest alteration in secondary and tertiary structure and conformation in glycated HSA was observed at the hyperchronic concentration (75mM) of glucose. Although it has been found that Amadori modified proteins is also involved in secondary complications of diabetes as AGEs but very few studies have been done to analyze the conformational changes in Amadori modified proteins due to early glycation. Most of the studies were found on the structural changes in Amadori protein at a particular glucose concentration but no study was found to compare the biophysical and biochemical changes in HSA due to early glycation with a range of glucose concentration at a constant incubation time. So this study provide the information about the biochemical and biophysical changes occur in Amadori modified albumin at a range of glucose normal to chronic in diabetes. Although many implicates currently in use i.e. glycaemic control, insulin treatment and other chemical therapies that can control many aspects of diabetes. However, even with intensive use of current antidiabetic agents more than 50 % of diabetic patient’s type 2 suffers poor glycaemic control and 18 % develop serious complications within six years of diagnosis. Experimental evidence related to diabetes suggests that preventing the nonenzymatic glycation of relevant proteins or blocking their biological effects might beneficially influence the evolution of vascular complications in diabetic patients or quantization of amadori adduct of HSA by authentic antibodies against HSA-EGPs can be used as marker for early detection of the initiation/progression of secondary complications of diabetes. So this research work may be helpful for the same.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, glycation, albumin, amadori, biophysical and biochemical techniques

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: Gordana Branković, Vesna Dragičević, Dejan Dodig, Desimir Knežević, Srbislav Denčić, Gordana Šurlan-Momirović

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Phytic acid is a major pool in the flux of phosphorus through agroecosystems and represents a sum equivalent to > 50% of all phosphorus fertilizer used annually. Nutrition rich in phytic acid can substantially decrease micronutrients apsorption as calcium, zink, iron, manganese, copper due to phytate salts excretion by human and non-ruminant animals as poultry, swine and fish, having in common very scarce phytase activity, and consequently the ability to digest and utilize phytic acid, thus phytic acid derived phosphorus in animal waste contributes to water pollution. The tested accessions consisted of 15 genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. vulgare) and of 15 genotypes of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.). The trials were sown at the three test sites in Serbia: Rimski Šančevi (RS) (45º19´51´´N; 19º50´59´´E), Zemun Polje (ZP) (44º52´N; 20º19´E) and Padinska Skela (PS) (44º57´N 20º26´E) during two vegetation seasons 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. The experimental design was randomized complete block design with four replications. The elementary plot consisted of 3 internal rows of 0.6 m2 area (3 × 0.2 m × 1 m). Grains were grinded with Laboratory Mill 120 Perten (“Perten”, Sweden) (particles size < 500 μm) and flour was used for the analysis. Phytic acid grain content was determined spectrophotometrically with the Shimadzu UV-1601 spectrophotometer (Shimadzu Corporation, Japan). Objectives of this study were to determine: i) variability and stability of the phytic acid content among selected genotypes of bread and durum wheat, ii) predominant source of variation regarding genotype (G), environment (E) and genotype × environment interaction (GEI) from the multi-environment trial, iii) influence of climatic variables on the GEI for the phytic acid content. Based on the analysis of variance it had been determined that the variation of phytic acid content was predominantly influenced by environment in durum wheat, while the GEI prevailed for the variation of the phytic acid content in bread wheat. Phytic acid content expressed on the dry mass basis was in the range 14.21-17.86 mg g-1 with the average of 16.05 mg g-1 for bread wheat and 14.63-16.78 mg g-1 with the average of 15.91 mg g-1 for durum wheat. Average-environment coordination view of the genotype by environment (GGE) biplot was used for the selection of the most desirable genotypes for breeding for low phytic acid content in the sense of good stability and lower level of phytic acid content. The most desirable genotypes of bread and durum wheat for breeding for phytic acid were Apache and 37EDUYT /07 No. 7849. Models of climatic factors in the highest percentage (> 91%) were useful in interpreting GEI for phytic acid content, and included relative humidity in June, sunshine hours in April, mean temperature in April and winter moisture reserves for genotypes of bread wheat, as well as precipitation in June and April, maximum temperature in April and mean temperature in June for genotypes of durum wheat.

Keywords: genotype × environment interaction, phytic acid, stability, variability

Procedia PDF Downloads 366

Authors: Antonella Di Sotto, Cinzia Ingallina, Caterina Fraschetti, Simone Circi, Marcello Locatelli, Simone Carradori, Gabriela Mazzanti, Luisa Mannina, Silvia Di Giacomo

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Cannabis sativa L. is one of the oldest cultivated plant species known not only for its voluptuous use but also for the wide application in food, textile, and therapeutic industries. Recently, the progress of biotechnologies applied to medicinal plants has allowed to produce different hemp varieties with low content of psychotropic phytoconstituents (tetrahydrocannabinol < 0.2% w/v), thus leading to a renewed industrial and therapeutic interest for this plant. In this context, in order to discover new potential remedies of pharmaceutical and/or nutraceutical interest, the chemopreventive properties of different organic and hydroalcoholic extracts, obtained from the inflorescences of C. sativa L. var. USO31, collected in June and September harvesting, were assessed. Particularly, the antimutagenic activity towards the oxidative DNA-damage induced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BOOH) was evaluated, and the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical scavenging power of the samples were assessed as possible mechanisms of antimutagenicity. Furthermore, the ability of the extracts to inhibit the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), whose overexpression has been found to play a critical role in neoplastic transformation and tumor progression, has been studied as a possible chemopreventive strategy. A careful phytochemical characterization of the extracts for phenolic and terpenoid composition has been obtained by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. Under our experimental condition, all the extracts were found able to interfere with the tBOOH-induced mutagenicity in WP2uvrAR strain, although with different potency and effectiveness. The organic extracts from both the harvesting periods were found to be the main effective antimutagenic samples, reaching about a 55% inhibition of the tBOOH-mutagenicity at the highest concentration tested (250 μg/ml). All the extracts exhibited radical scavenger activity against DPPH and ABTS radicals, with a higher potency of the hydroalcoholic samples. The organic extracts were also able to inhibit the G6PD enzyme, being the samples from September harvesting the highly potent (about 50% inhibition respect to the vehicle). At the phytochemical analysis, all the extracts resulted to contain both polar and apolar phenolic compounds. The HPLC analysis revealed the presence of catechin and rutin as the major constituents of the hydroalcoholic extracts, with lower levels of quercetin and ferulic acid. The monoterpene carvacrol was found to be an ubiquitarian constituent. At GC-MS analysis, different terpenoids, among which caryophyllene sesquiterpenes, were identified. This evidence suggests a possible role of both polyphenols and terpenoids in the chemopreventive properties of the extracts from the inflorescences of C. sativa var. USO31. According to the literature, carvacrol and caryophyllene sesquiterpenes can contribute to the strong antimutagenicity although the role of all the hemp phytocomplex cannot be excluded. In conclusion, present results highlight a possible interest for the inflorescences of C. sativa var. USO31 as source of bioactive molecules and stimulate further studies in order to characterize its possible application for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical purposes.

Keywords: antimutagenicity, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, hemp inflorescences, nutraceuticals, sesquiterpenes

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Satam Alotibi, Osama A. Hussein, Aziz H. Al-Shaibani, Nawaf A. Al-Aqeel, Abdellah Kaiba, Fatehia S. Alhakami, Mohammed Alyami, Talal F. Qahtan

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The demand for sustainable and efficient energy conversion using solar energy has grown rapidly in recent years. In this pursuit, solar-to-chemical conversion has emerged as a promising approach, with oxygen vacancies-rich tungsten trioxide (WO₃) playing a crucial role. This study presents a method for synthesizing oxygen vacancies-rich WO3, resulting in a significant enhancement of its photocatalytic activity, representing a significant step towards sustainable energy solutions. Experimental results underscore the importance of oxygen vacancies in modifying the properties of WO₃. These vacancies introduce additional energy states within the material, leading to a reduction in the bandgap, increased light absorption, and acting as electron traps, thereby reducing emissions. Our focus lies in developing oxygen vacancies-rich WO₃, which demonstrates unparalleled potential for improved photocatalytic applications. The effectiveness of oxygen vacancies-rich WO₃ in solar-to-chemical conversion was showcased through rigorous assessments of its photocatalytic degradation performance. Sunlight irradiation was employed to evaluate the material's effectiveness in degrading organic pollutants in wastewater. The results unequivocally demonstrate the superior photocatalytic performance of oxygen vacancies-rich WO₃ compared to conventional WO₃ nanomaterials, establishing its efficacy in sustainable and efficient energy conversion. Furthermore, the synthesized material is utilized to fabricate films, which are subsequently employed in immobilized WO₃ and oxygen vacancies-rich WO₃ reactors for water purification under natural sunlight irradiation. This application offers a sustainable and efficient solution for water treatment, harnessing solar energy for effective decontamination. In addition to investigating the photocatalytic capabilities, we extensively analyze the structural and chemical properties of the synthesized material. The synthesis process involves in situ thermal reduction of WO₃ nano-powder in a nitrogen environment, meticulously monitored using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to ensure precise control over the synthesis of oxygen vacancies-rich WO₃. Comprehensive characterization techniques such as UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) provide deep insights into the material's optical properties, chemical composition, elemental states, structure, surface properties, and crystalline structure. This study represents a significant advancement in sustainable energy conversion through solar-to-chemical processes and water purification. By harnessing the unique properties of oxygen vacancies-rich WO₃, we not only enhance our understanding of energy conversion mechanisms but also pave the way for the development of highly efficient and environmentally friendly photocatalytic materials. The application of this material in water purification demonstrates its versatility and potential to address critical environmental challenges. These findings bring us closer to a sustainable energy future and cleaner water resources, laying a solid foundation for a more sustainable planet.

Keywords: sustainable energy conversion, solar-to-chemical conversion, oxygen vacancies-rich tungsten trioxide (WO₃), photocatalytic activity enhancement, water purification

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Authors: Kadri-Ann Kertsmik, Martin Talvik, Kimmo Lylykangas, Simo Ilomets, Targo Kalamees

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This study compares the building carbon footprint (CF) values for a case study of a private house located in a cold climate, using the Level(s) methodology. It provides a framework for measuring the environmental performance of buildings throughout their life cycle, taking into account various factors. The study presents the results of the three scenarios, comparing their carbon emissions and highlighting the benefits of circular material usage. The construction process was thoroughly documented, and all materials and components (including minuscule mechanical fasteners, each meter of cable, a kilogram of mortar, and the component of HVAC systems, among other things) delivered to the construction site were noted. Transportation distances of each delivery, the fuel consumption of construction machines, and electricity consumption for temporary heating and electrical tools were also monitored. Using the detailed data on material and energy resources, the CF was calculated for two scenarios: one where circular material usage was applied and another where virgin materials were used instead of reused ones. The results were compared with the CF calculated based on the building permit design model using the Level(s) methodology. To study the range of possible results in the early stage of CF assessment, the same building permit design was given to several experts. Results showed that embodied carbon values for a built scenario were significantly lower than the values predicted by the building permit stage as a result of more precise material quantities, as the calculation methodology is designed to overestimate the CF. Moreover, designers made an effort to reduce the building's CF by reusing certain materials such as ceramic tiles, lightweight concrete blocks, and timber during the construction process. However, in a cold climate context where operational energy (B6) continues to dominate, the total building CF value changes between the three scenarios were less significant. The calculation for the building permit project was performed by several experts, and CF results were in the same range. It alludes that, for the first estimation of preliminary building CF, using average values proves to be an appropriate method for the Estonian national carbon footprint estimation phase during building permit application. The study also identified several opportunities for reducing the carbon footprint of the building, such as reusing materials from other construction sites, preferring local material producers, and reducing wastage on site. The findings suggest that using circular materials can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. Overall, the study highlights the importance of using a comprehensive approach to measure the environmental performance of buildings, taking into account both the project and the actually built house. It also emphasises the need for ongoing monitoring for designing the building and construction site waste. The study also gives some examples of how to enable future circularity of building components and materials, e.g., building in layers, using wood as untreated, etc.

Keywords: carbon footprint, circular economy, sustainable construction, level(s) methodology

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Authors: Chuanxiang Cheng, Tiantian Min, Jin Yue

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Antimicrobial active packaging enables extensive biological effects to improve food safety. However, the efficacy of antimicrobial packaging hinges on factors including the diffusion rate of the active agent toward the food surface, the initial content in the antimicrobial agent, and the targeted food shelf life. Among the possibilities of antimicrobial packaging design, an interesting approach involves the incorporation of volatile antimicrobial agents into the packaging material. In this case, the necessity for direct contact between the active packaging material and the food surface is mitigated, as the antimicrobial agent exerts its action through the packaging headspace atmosphere towards the food surface. However, it still remains difficult to achieve controlled and precise release of bioactive compounds to the specific target location with required quantity in food packaging applications. Remarkably, the development of stimuli-responsive materials for electrospinning has introduced the possibility of achieving controlled release of active agents under specific conditions, thereby yielding enduring biological effects. Relative humidity (RH) for the storage of food categories such as meat and aquatic products typically exceeds 90%. Consequently, high RH can be used as an abiotic trigger for the release of active agents to prevent microbial growth. Hence, a novel RH - responsive polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan (PVA/CS) composite nanofibrous film incorporated with 4-terpineol/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes (4-TA@β-CD ICs) was engineered by electrospinning that can be deposited as a functional packaging materials. The characterization results showed the thermal stability of the films was enhanced after the incorporation due to the hydrogen bonds between ICs and polymers. Remarkably, the 4 wt% 4-TA@β-CD ICs/PVA/CS film exhibited enhanced crystallinity, moderate hydrophilic (Water contact angle of 81.53°), light barrier property (Transparency of 1.96%) and water resistance (Water vapor permeability of 3.17 g mm/m2 h kPa). Moreover, this film also showed optimized mechanical performance with a Young’s modulus of 11.33 MPa, a tensile strength of 19.99 MPa and an elongation at break of 4.44 %. Notably, the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of this packaging material were significantly improved. The film demonstrated the half-inhibitory concentrations (IC50) values of 87.74% and 85.11% for scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2′-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic) (ABTS) free radicals, respectively, in addition to an inhibition efficiency of 65% against Shewanella putrefaciens, the characteristic bacteria in aquatic products. Most importantly, the film achieved controlled release of 4-TA under high 98% RH by inducing the plasticization of polymers caused by water molecules, swelling of polymer chains, and destruction of hydrogen bonds within the cyclodextrin inclusion complex. Consequently, low relative humidity is suitable for the preservation of nanofibrous film, while high humidity conditions typical in fresh food packaging environments effectively stimulated the release of active compounds in the film. This film with a long-term antimicrobial effect successfully extended the shelf life of Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp to 7 days at 4 °C. This attractive design could pave the way for the development of new food packaging materials.

Keywords: controlled release, electrospinning, nanofibrous film, relative humidity–responsive, shrimp preservation

Procedia PDF Downloads 41

Authors: Ivanor Zardo, Fernanda Walper Da Cunha, Júlia Sarkis, Ligia Damasceno Ferreira Marczak

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Lipid oxidation is one of the most important deteriorating processes in oil industry, resulting in the losses of nutritional value of oils as well as changes in color, flavor and other physiological properties. Autoxidation of lipids occurs naturally between molecular oxygen and the unsaturation of fatty acids, forming fat-free radicals, peroxide free radicals and hydroperoxides. In order to avoid the lipid oxidation in vegetable oils, synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and tertiary butyl hydro-quinone (TBHQ) are commonly used. However, the use of synthetic antioxidants has been associated with several health side effects and toxicity. The use of natural antioxidants as stabilizers of vegetable oils is being suggested as a sustainable alternative to synthetic antioxidants. The alternative that has been studied is the use of natural extracts obtained mainly from fruits, vegetables and seeds, which have a well-known antioxidant activity related mainly to the presence of phenolic compounds. The sunflower seed cake is rich in phenolic compounds (1 4% of the total mass), being the chlorogenic acid the major constituent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro application of the phenolic extract obtained from the sunflower seed cake as a retarder of the lipid oxidation reaction in soybean oil and to compare the results with a synthetic antioxidant. For this, the soybean oil, provided from the industry without any addition of antioxidants, was subjected to an accelerated storage test for 17 days at 65 °C. Six samples with different treatments were submitted to the test: control sample, without any addition of antioxidants; 100 ppm of synthetic antioxidant BHT; mixture of 50 ppm of BHT and 50 ppm of phenolic compounds; and 100, 500 and 1200 ppm of phenolic compounds. The phenolic compounds concentration in the extract was expressed in gallic acid equivalents. To evaluate the oxidative changes of the samples, aliquots were collected after 0, 3, 6, 10 and 17 days and analyzed for the peroxide, diene and triene conjugate values. The soybean oil sample initially had a peroxide content of 2.01 ± 0.27 meq of oxygen/kg of oil. On the third day of the treatment, only the samples treated with 100, 500 and 1200 ppm of phenolic compounds showed a considerable oxidation retard compared to the control sample. On the sixth day of the treatment, the samples presented a considerable increase in the peroxide value (higher than 13.57 meq/kg), and the higher the concentration of phenolic compounds, the lower the peroxide value verified. From the tenth day on, the samples had a very high peroxide value (higher than 55.39 meq/kg), where only the sample containing 1200 ppm of phenolic compounds presented significant oxidation retard. The samples containing the phenolic extract were more efficient to avoid the formation of the primary oxidation products, indicating effectiveness to retard the reaction. Similar results were observed for dienes and trienes. Based on the results, phenolic compounds, especially chlorogenic acid (the major phenolic compound of sunflower seed cake), can be considered as a potential partial or even total substitute for synthetic antioxidants.

Keywords: chlorogenic acid, natural antioxidant, vegetables oil deterioration, waste valorization

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Loren S. Bernal., Catalina Castillo, Carel E. Carvajal, José F. Ibla

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Plastic pollution, specifically microplastics, has become a significant issue in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. The large amount of plastic waste carried by water tributaries has resulted in the accumulation of microplastics in water bodies. The polymer aging process caused by environmental influences such as photodegradation and chemical degradation of additives leads to polymer embrittlement and properties change that require degradation or reduction procedures in rivers. However, there is a lack of such procedures for freshwater entities that develop over extended periods. The aim of this study is evaluate the potential of Pleurotus ostreatus a fungus, in reducing lowdensity polyethylene microplastics present in freshwater samples collected from the middle basin of the Magdalena River in Colombia. The study aims to evaluate this process both in vitro and in silico by identifying the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus in the presence of microplastics and identifying the most likely interactions of Pleurotus ostreatus enzymes and their affinity energies. The study follows an engineering development methodology applied on an experimental basis. The in vitro evaluation protocol applied in this study focused on the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus on microplastics using enzymatic inducers. In terms of in silico evaluation, molecular simulations were conducted using the Autodock 1.5.7 program to calculate interaction energies. The molecular dynamics were evaluated by using the myPresto Portal and GROMACS program to calculate radius of gyration and Energies.The results of the study showed that Pleurotus ostreatus has the potential to degrade low-density polyethylene microplastics. The in vitro evaluation revealed the adherence of Pleurotus ostreatus to LDPE using scanning electron microscopy. The best results were obtained with enzymatic inducers as a MnSO4 generating the activation of laccase or manganese peroxidase enzymes in the degradation process. The in silico modelling demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus was able to interact with the microplastics present in LDPE, showing affinity energies in molecular docking and molecular dynamics shown a minimum energy and the representative radius of gyration between each enzyme and its substract. The study contributes to the development of bioremediation processes for the removal of microplastics from freshwater sources using the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. The in silico study provides insights into the affinity energies of Pleurotus ostreatus microplastic degrading enzymes and their interaction with low-density polyethylene. The study demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus can interact with LDPE microplastics, making it a good agent for the development of bioremediation processes that aid in the recovery of freshwater sources. The results of the study suggested that bioremediation could be a promising approach to reduce microplastics in freshwater systems.

Keywords: bioremediation, in silico modelling, microplastics, Pleurotus ostreatus

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Brayan S. Pabón, R. Ricardo Moreno, Edith Gonzalez

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Inside the wide Colombian natural fiber set is the banana stem leaf, known as Calceta de Plátano, which is a material present in several regions of the country and is a fiber extracted from the pseudo stem of the banana plant (Musa paradisiaca) as a regular maintenance process. Colombia had a production of 2.8 million tons in 2007 and 2008 corresponding to 8.2% of the international production, number that is growing. This material was selected to be studied because it is not being used by farmers due to it being perceived as a waste from the banana harvest and a propagation pest agent inside the planting. In addition, the Calceta does not have industrial applications in Colombia since there is not enough concrete knowledge that informs us about the properties of the material and the possible applications it could have. Based on this situation the industrial design is used as a link between the properties of the material and the need to transform it into industrial products for the market. Therefore, the project identifies potential design attributes that the banana stem leaf can have for product development. The methodology was divided into 2 main chapters: Methodology for the material recognition: -Data Collection, inquiring the craftsmen experience and bibliography. -Knowledge in practice, with controlled experiments and validation tests. -Creation of design attributes and material profile according to the knowledge developed. Moreover, the Design methodology: -Application fields selection, exploring the use of the attributes and the relation with product functions. -Evaluating the possible fields and selection of the optimum application. -Design Process with sketching, ideation, and product development. Different protocols were elaborated to qualitatively determine some material properties of the Calceta, and if they could be designated as design attributes. Once defined, performed and analyzed the validation protocols, 25 design attributes were identified and classified into 4 attribute categories (Environmental, Functional, Aesthetics and Technical) forming the material profile. Then, 15 application fields were defined based on the relation between functions of product and the use of the Calceta attributes. Those fields were evaluated to measure how much are being used the functional attributes. After fields evaluation, a final field was defined , influenced by traditional use of the fiber for packing food. As final result, two products were designed for this application field. The first one is the Multiple Container, which works to contain small or large-thin pieces of food, like potatoes chips or small sausages; it allows the consumption of food with sauces or dressings. The second is the Chorizo container, specifically designed for this food due to the long shape and the consumption mode. Natural fiber research allows the generation of a solider and a more complete knowledge about natural fibers. In addition, the research is a way to strengthen the identity through the investigation of the proper and autochthonous, allowing the use of national resources in a sustainable and creative way. Using divergent thinking and the design as a tool, this investigation can achieve advances in the natural fiber handling.

Keywords: banana stem leaf, Calceta de Plátano, design attributes, natural fibers, product design

Procedia PDF Downloads 229