Search results for: winter precipitation

Authors: Sultana Afrin Nipa

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Life on Earth cannot thrive or survive without water. Water is intimately tied with community, culture, spirituality, identity, socio-economic progress, security, self-determination, and livelihood. Thus, access to water is a United Nations recognized human right due to its significance in these realms. However, there is often conflict between those who consider water as the spiritual and cultural value and those who consider it an economic value thus being threatened by economic development, corporate exploitation, government regulation, and increased privatization, highlighting the complex relationship between water and culture. The Colorado River basin is home to over 29 federally recognized tribal nations. To these tribes, it holds cultural, economic, and spiritual significance and often extends to deep human-to-non-human connections frequently precluded by the Westphalian regulations and settler laws. Despite the recognition of access to rivers as a fundamental human right by the United Nations, tribal communities and their water rights have been historically disregarded through inter alia, colonization, and dispossession of their resources. Law of the River such as ‘Winter’s Doctrine’, ‘Bureau of Reclamation (BOR)’ and ‘Colorado River Compact’ have shaped the water governance among the shareholders. However, tribal communities have been systematically excluded from these key agreements. While the Winter’s Doctrine acknowledged that tribes have the right to withdraw water from the rivers that pass through their reservations for self-sufficiency, the establishment of the BOR led to the construction of dams without tribal consultation, denying the ‘Winters’ regulation and violating these rights. The Colorado River Compact, which granted only 20% of the water to the tribes, diminishes the significance of international legal frameworks that prioritize indigenous self-determination and free pursuit of socio-economic and cultural development. Denial of this basic water right is the denial of the ‘recognition’ of their sovereignty and self-determination that questions the effectiveness of the international law. This review assesses the international legal frameworks concerning indigenous rights and water justice and aims to pinpoint gaps hindering the effective recognition and protection of Indigenous water rights in Colorado River Basin. This study draws on a combination of historical and qualitative data sets. The historical data encompasses the case settlements provided by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) respectively the notable cases of Native American water rights settlements on lower Colorado basin related to Arizona from 1979-2008. This material serves to substantiate the context of promises made to the Indigenous people and establishes connections between existing entities. The qualitative data consists of the observation of recorded meetings of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) to evaluate how the previously made promises are reflected now. The study finds a significant inconsistency in participation in the decision-making process and the lack of representation of Native American tribes in water resource management discussions. It highlights the ongoing challenges faced by the indigenous people to achieve their self-determination goal despite the legal arrangements.

Keywords: colorado river, indigenous rights, law of the river, water governance, water justice

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Authors: Pablo Reche

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Since 1980’s aquaculture has become the biggest economic activity in southern Chile, being Salmo salar and Oncorhynchus mykiss the main finfish species. High fish density makes both species prone to contract diseases, what drives the industry to big losses, affecting greatly the local economy. Three are the most concerning infective agents, the infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAv), the bacteria Piscirickettsia salmonis and the copepod Caligus rogercresseyi. To regulate the industry the government arranged the salmon farms within management areas named as barrios, which coordinate the fallowing periods and antibiotics treatments of their salmon farms. In turn, barrios are gathered into larger management areas, named as macrozonas whose purpose is to minimize the risk of disease transmission between them and to enclose the outbreaks within their boundaries. However, disease outbreaks still happen and transmission to neighbor sites enlarges the initial event. Salmon disease agents are mostly transported passively by local currents. Thus, to understand how transmission occurs it must be firstly studied the physical environment. In Chile, salmon farming takes place in the inner seas of the southernmost regions of western Patagonia, between 41.5ºS-55ºS. This coastal marine system is characterised by western winds, latitudinally modulated by the position of the South-Eats Pacific high-pressure centre, high precipitation rates and freshwater inflows from the numerous glaciers (including the largest ice cap out of Antarctic and Greenland). All of these forcings meet in a complex bathymetry and coastline system - deep fjords, shallow sills, narrow straits, channels, archipelagos, inlets, and isolated inner seas- driving an estuarine circulation (fast outflows westwards on surface and slow deeper inflows eastwards). Such a complex system is modelled on the numerical model MIKE3, upon whose 3D current fields particle-track-biological models (one for each infective agent) are decoupled. Each agent biology is parameterized by functions for maturation and mortality (reproduction not included). Such parameterizations are depending upon environmental factors, like temperature and salinity, so their lifespan will depend upon the environmental conditions those virtual agents encounter on their way while passively transported. CLIC (Connectivity-Langrangian–IFOP-Chile) is a service platform that supports the graphical visualization of the connectivity matrices calculated from the particle trajectories files resultant of the particle-track-biological models. On CLIC users can select, from a high-resolution grid (~1km), the areas the connectivity will be calculated between them. These areas can be barrios and macrozonas. Users also can select what nodes of these areas are allowed to release and scatter particles from, depth and frequency of the initial particle release, climatic scenario (winter/summer) and type of particle (ISAv, Piscirickettsia salmonis, Caligus rogercresseyi plus an option for lifeless particles). Results include probabilities downstream (where the particles go) and upstream (where the particles come from), particle age and vertical distribution, all of them aiming to understand how currently connectivity works to eventually propose a minimum risk zonation for aquaculture purpose. Preliminary results in Chiloe inner sea shows that the risk depends not only upon dynamic conditions but upon barrios location with respect to their neighbors.

Keywords: aquaculture zonation, Caligus rogercresseyi, Chilean Patagonia, coastal oceanography, connectivity, infectious salmon anemia virus, Piscirickettsia salmonis

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Maryam Kiani, Xiaoqin Tian, Yu Du, Abdul Basit Kiani

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Zn-doped MgFe₂O₄ nanoparticles (ZMFO) (Zn=0.0, 0.2, 0.35, 0.5,) were prepared by Co-precipitation synthesis route. Structural and morphological analysis confirmed the formation of spinel cubic nanostructure by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) data shows high reactive surface area owing to a small average particle size of about 14 nm, which greatly influences the gas sensing mechanism. The gas sensing property of ZMFO for several gases was obtained by measuring the resistance as a function of different factors, like composition and response time in air and in the presence of gas. The sensitivity of spinel ferrite to gases CO₂, O₂, and O₂ at room temperature has been compared. The nanostructured ZMFO exhibited high sensitivity in the order of CO₂>O₂ and showed a good response time of (~1min) to CO₂, demonstrating that this expanse of research can be used in the field of gas sensors devising high sensitivity and good selectivity at 25°C.

Keywords: MgFe₂O₄ nanoparticles, hydrothermal synthesis, gas sensing properties, XRD

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Authors: Pallab Bhattacharya, C. K. Das

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Development of microwave absorbing material is a growing field of research in both the commercial and defense sector, and also to enrich the field of stealth technology. The recent work is attentive to the preparation of nanocomposite based on acid modified MWCNT, hexagonal shaped magnetic M-type hexaferrite (CuFe10Al2O19) and polyaniline. CuFe10Al2O19 was prepared by a facile chemical co-precipitation method. An in-situ approach was employed for the coating of polyaniline on MWCNT/CuFe10Al2O19 nanocomposite. The final fabrication of this nanocomposite for microwave measurements was done suitably in the matrix of thermoplastic polyurethane with 10% filler content. The nanocomposites showed the maximum reflection loss of -60.2 dB (in X-band) at the thickness of 2.5 mm with a broad absorption range in contrast to the pristine MWCNT and CuFe10Al2O19. Addition of PANI improves the microwave absorption property of the nanocomposites. The thermal stability of the prepared nanocomposites is also very high.

Keywords: magnetic materials, microwave absorption, MWCNT, nanocomposites

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Neda Mehdipour, Mohammad Hasan Gerami, Reza Rahnama, Ali Hamzehpour, Hanieh Nemati

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Laurencia caspica (red macroalgae) Enteromorpha intestinalis and Cladophora glomerata (green macroalgae) are three major macroalgae that grow along the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea. We investigated spatial and temporal variation of these three macroalgal species on hard substrates and their relation with environmental factors in 2014. Sampling was done seasonally from spring to winter 2014 from eight sites. Results indicated that of these three species had heterogeneity distribution along southern parts of the Caspian Sea. In addition, C. glomerata was dominant taxa in all stations and had maximum contribution in dissimilarities between sampling sites. According to BIO-ENV salinity, pH and Silicate were the best subset variables for explaining changes in the abundance over time of the hard-substrates macroalgae fauna under study. However, the position of species in Redundancy Analysis (RDA) plot revealed that L. caspica associated with temperature, E. intestinalis with pH and C. glomerata associated with phosphate and silicate.

Keywords: macroalgae, distribution, environmental factors, Caspian Sea

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Authors: Tanapat Chongkamunkong

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The objective of this paper is to present a practical use of Geographic Information System (GIS) to the public health from spatial correlation between multiple factors and dengue fever outbreak. Meteorological factors, demographic factors and environmental factors are compiled using GIS techniques along with the Global Satellite Mapping Remote Sensing (RS) data. We use monthly dengue fever cases, population density, precipitation, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data. The scope cover study area under climate change of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indicated by sea surface temperature (SST) and study area in 12 provinces of Thailand as remote sensing (RS) data from January 2007 to December 2014.

Keywords: dengue fever, sea surface temperature, Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Mohsen Najarchi

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This research was carried out in five fields (5-15 hectares) in Arak located in center of Iran, to determine optimum level of water consumed for Barely in four stages growth (vegetative, yield formation, flowering, and ripening). Actual evapotranspiration was calculated using measured water requirement in the fields. Five levels of water requirement equal to 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 percents formed the treatments. To determine the optimum level of water requirement linear programming was used. The study showed 60 percent water requirement (40 percent deficit irrigation) has been the optimum level of irrigation for winter wheat in four stages of growth. Comparison between all of the treatments indicated above with normal condition (100% water requirement) shows increasing in water use efficiency. Although 40% deficit irrigation treatment lead to decrease of 38% in yield, net benefit was increasing in 11.37%. Furthermore, in comparison with normal condition, 70% of water requirement increased water use efficiency as 30%.

Keywords: optimum, deficit irrigation, water use efficiency, evapotranspiration

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Authors: Abolfazl Bezaatpour, Sahar Khatami

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Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared by the co-precipitation method and silica was then coated on the magnetic nanoparticles followed by modification with (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane. Then, dioxomolybdenum(VI) Schiff base complex of N,N′-bis(5-chloromethyl-salicylidine)-1,2-phenylenediamine) was immobilized on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles as a heterogeneous catalyst. The catalyst was identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectra and atomic absorption spectroscopy techniques. The catalyst shows excellent catalytic activity in epoxidation of olefins using tert-butylhydroperoxide in 1,2-dichloroethane. In this report, the supported complex exhibited 100% selectivity for epoxidation with 100% conversion for cyclooctene. Nanocatalyst can be easily recovered by a magnetic field and reused for subsequent reactions for at least 5 times with less deterioration in catalytic activity.

Keywords: dioxomolybdenum (VI), epoxidation, nanocatalysis, nanoparticles, Schiff base

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Authors: Abdulmajeed Bashir Mlitan, Ethan Hack

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Soil samples were collected from and around Alkomos cement factory, Alkomos town, Libya. Soil physiochemical properties were determined. In addition, olive leaves were scanned for their fungal content. This work can conclude that the results obtained for the examined physiochemical characteristics of soil in the area studied prove that cement dust from the Alkomos cement factory in Libya has had a significant impact on the soil. The affected soil properties are pH and total calcium content. These characteristics were found to be higher than those in similar soils from the same area. The increment of soil pH in the same area may be a result of precipitation of cement dust over the years. Different responses were found in each season and each site. For instance, the dominance of fungi of soil and leaves was lowest at 100 m from the factory and the evenness and diversity increased at this site compared to the control area and 250 m from the factory.

Keywords: pollution, soil microbial, alkomos, Libya

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Authors: G. E. Gandomkar, E. Bekhradinassab, S. Sabbaghi, M. M. Zerafat

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The reduction of water content in crude oil emulsions reduces pipeline corrosion potential and increases the productivity. Chemical emulsification of crude oil emulsions is one of the methods available to reduce the water content. Presence of demulsifier causes the film layer between the crude oil emulsion and water droplets to become unstable leading to the acceleration of water coalescence. This research has been performed to study the improvement performance of a chemical demulsifier by silica nanoparticles. The silica nano-particles have been synthesized by sol-gel technique and precipitation using poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly ethylene glycol (PEG) as surfactants and then nano-particles are added to the demulsifier. The silica nanoparticles were characterized by Particle Size Analyzer (PSA) and SEM. Upon the addition of nanoparticles, bottle tests have been carried out to separate and measure the water content. The results show that silica nano-particles increase the demulsifier efficiency by about 40%.

Keywords: demulsifier, dehydration, silicon dioxide, nanoparticle

Procedia PDF Downloads 385

Authors: Tatyana Aleksandrovna Barbasova, Lev Sergeevich Kazarinov, Olga Valerevna Kolesnikova, Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Filimonova

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We regard forecasting of energy consumption by private production areas of a large industrial facility as well as by the facility itself. As for production areas the forecast is made based on empirical dependencies of the specific energy consumption and the production output. As for the facility itself implementation of the task to minimize the energy consumption forecasting error is based on adjustment of the facility’s actual energy consumption values evaluated with the metering device and the total design energy consumption of separate production areas of the facility. The suggested procedure of optimal energy consumption was tested based on the actual data of core product output and energy consumption by a group of workshops and power plants of the large iron and steel facility. Test results show that implementation of this procedure gives the mean accuracy of energy consumption forecasting for winter 2014 of 0.11% for the group of workshops and 0.137% for the power plants.

Keywords: energy consumption, energy consumption forecasting error, energy efficiency, forecasting accuracy, forecasting

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Authors: Azim Hilmy Mohamad Yusof, Muhamad Iqbal Mubarak Faharul Azman, Nur Azwin Ismail, Noer El Hidayah Ismail

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Infiltration is the process by which precipitation or water soaks into subsurface soils and moves into rocks through cracks and pore spaces. This paper explains how the water infiltration will be identified using 2-D resistivity imaging. Padang Minden, in Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang has been chosen as the survey area during this study. The study area consists of microcline granite with grain size of medium to coarse. 2-D Resistivity Imaging survey is used to detect subsurface layer for many years by making measurements on the ground surface. The result shows that resistivity value of 0.015 Ωm - 10 Ωm represent the salt water intrusion zone while the resistivity value of 11 Ωm - 100 Ωm is suggested as the boundary zone between the salt water intrusion zone and low saturated zone.

Keywords: 2-D resistivity imaging, microcline granite, salt water intrusion, water infiltration

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Authors: A. S. Talaab, Safaa, A. Mahmoud, Hanan S. Siam

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A field experiment was conducted during the winter season of 2013/2014 in the barley production area of Dakhala – New Valley Governorate, Egypt to assess the effect of nitrogen rate and time of N fertilizer application on barley grain yield, yield components and N use efficiency of barley and their association with grain yield. The treatments consisted of three levels of nitrogen (0, 70 and 100 kg N/acre) and five application times. The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design with three replication. Results revealed that barley grain yield and yield components increased significantly in response to N rate. Splitting N fertilizer amount at several times result in significant effect on grain yield, yield components, protein content and N uptake efficiency when compared with the entire N was applied at once. Application of N at rate of 100 kg N/acre resulted in accumulation of nitrate in the subsurface soil > 30cm. When N application timing considered, less NO3 was found in the soil profile with splitting N application compared with all preplans application.

Keywords: nitrogen use efficiency, splitting N fertilizer, barley, NO3

Procedia PDF Downloads 293

Authors: Lidija Jevrić, Denis Kučević, Sanja Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Strahinja Kovačević, Milica Karadžić

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In the present study, the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was applied in order to determine the differences between the milk samples originating from a conventional dairy farm (CF) and an organic dairy farm (OF) in AP Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia. The clustering was based on the basis of the average values of saturated fatty acids (SFA) content and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) content obtained for every season. Therefore, the HCA included the annual SFA and UFA content values. The clustering procedure was carried out on the basis of Euclidean distances and Single linkage algorithm. The obtained dendrograms indicated that the clustering of UFA in OF was much more uniform compared to clustering of UFA in CF. In OF, spring stands out from the other months of the year. The same case can be noticed for CF, where winter is separated from the other months. The results could be expected because the composition of fatty acids content is greatly influenced by the season and nutrition of dairy cows during the year.

Keywords: chemometrics, clustering, food engineering, milk quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Shanlong Lu, Jiming Jin, Xiaochun Wang

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The Tibetan Plateau has the largest number of inland lakes with the highest elevation on the planet. These massive and large lakes are mostly in natural state and are less affected by human activities. Their shrinking or expansion can truly reflect regional climate and environmental changes and are sensitive indicators of global climate change. However, due to the sparsely populated nature of the plateau and the poor natural conditions, it is difficult to effectively obtain the change data of the lake, which has affected people's understanding of the temporal and spatial processes of lake water changes and their influencing factors. By using the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) MOD09Q1 surface reflectance images as basic data, this study produced the 8-day lake water surface data set of the Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2012 at 250 m spatial resolution, with a lake water surface extraction method of combined with lake water surface boundary buffer analyzing and lake by lake segmentation threshold determining. Then based on the dataset, the lake water surface variations and their influencing factors were analyzed, by using 4 typical natural geographical zones of Eastern Qinghai and Qilian, Southern Qinghai, Qiangtang, and Southern Tibet, and the watersheds of the top 10 lakes of Qinghai, Siling Co, Namco, Zhari NamCo, Tangra Yumco, Ngoring, UlanUla, Yamdrok Tso, Har and Gyaring as the analysis units. The accuracy analysis indicate that compared with water surface data of the 134 sample lakes extracted from the 30 m Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper ) images, the average overall accuracy of the lake water surface data set is 91.81% with average commission and omission error of 3.26% and 5.38%; the results also show strong linear (R2=0.9991) correlation with the global MODIS water mask dataset with overall accuracy of 86.30%; and the lake area difference between the Second National Lake Survey and this study is only 4.74%, respectively. This study provides reliable dataset for the lake change research of the plateau in the recent decade. The change trends and influencing factors analysis indicate that the total water surface area of lakes in the plateau showed overall increases, but only lakes with areas larger than 10 km2 had statistically significant increases. Furthermore, lakes with area larger than 100 km2 experienced an abrupt change in 2005. In addition, the annual average precipitation of Southern Tibet and Southern Qinghai experienced significant increasing and decreasing trends, and corresponding abrupt changes in 2004 and 2006, respectively. The annual average temperature of Southern Tibet and Qiangtang showed a significant increasing trend with an abrupt change in 2004. The major reason for the lake water surface variation in Eastern Qinghai and Qilian, Southern Qinghai and Southern Tibet is the changes of precipitation, and that for Qiangtang is the temperature variations.

Keywords: lake water surface variation, MODIS MOD09Q1, remote sensing, Tibetan Plateau

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Authors: Ekaterina Zvorykina

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Nowadays, Arctic and Antarctic regions are distinguished to be one of the most important strategic resources for global development. Nonetheless, living conditions in Arctic regions still demand certain improvements. As soon as the region is rarely populated, one of the main points of interest is health accommodation of the people, who migrate to Arctic region for permanent and shift work. At Arctic and Antarctic latitudes, personnel face polar day and polar night conditions during the time of the year. It means that they are deprived of natural sunlight in winter season and have continuous daylight in summer. Firstly, the change in light intensity during 24-hours period due to migration affects circadian rhythms. Moreover, the controlled artificial light in winter is also an issue. The results of the recent studies on night shift medical professionals, who were exposed to permanent artificial light, have already demonstrated higher risks in cancer, depression, Alzheimer disease. Moreover, people exposed to frequent time zones change are also subjected to higher risks of heart attack and cancer. Thus, our main goals are to understand how high latitude work and living conditions can affect human health and how it can be prevented. In our study, we analyze molecular and cellular factors, which play important role in circadian rhythm change and distinguish main risk groups in people, migrating to high latitudes. The main well-studied index of circadian timing is melatonin or its metabolite 6-sulfatoxymelatonin. In low light intensity melatonin synthesis is disturbed and as a result human organism requires more time for sleep, which is still disregarded when it comes to working time organization. Lack of melatonin also causes shortage in serotonin production, which leads to higher depression risk. Melatonin is also known to inhibit oncogenes and increase apoptosis level in cells, the main factors for tumor growth, as well as circadian clock genes (for example Per2). Thus, people who work in high latitudes can be distinguished as a risk group for cancer diseases and demand more attention. Clock/Clock genes, known to be one of the main circadian clock regulators, decrease sensitivity of hypothalamus to estrogen and decrease glucose sensibility, which leads to premature aging and oestrous cycle disruption. Permanent light exposure also leads to accumulation superoxide dismutase and oxidative stress, which is one of the main factors for early dementia and Alzheimer disease. We propose a new screening system adjusted for people, migrating from middle to high latitudes and accommodation therapy. Screening is focused on melatonin and estrogen levels, sleep deprivation and neural disorders, depression level, cancer risks and heart and vascular disorders. Accommodation therapy includes different types artificial light exposure, additional melatonin and neuroprotectors. Preventive procedures can lead to increase of migration intensity to high latitudes and, as a result, the prosperity of Arctic region.

Keywords: circadian rhythm, high latitudes, melatonin, neuroprotectors

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Pamphile Ndagijimana, Xuejiao Liu, Zhiwei Li, Yin Wang

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Enhancing the properties of activated carbon is very imperative for various applications. Indeed, the activated carbon has promising physicochemical properties desired for a considerable number of applications. In this regard, we are proposing an enhanced and green technology for increasing the efficiency and performance of the activated carbon to various applications. The technique poses on the use of natural extracts from tuberous and cereals based-solutions. These solutions showed high potentiality to be used in the synthesis of activated carbon-graphene composite with only 3 mL. The extracted liquid from tuberous sourcing was enough to induce precipitation within a fraction of a minute in contrast to that from cereal sourced. Using these extracts, a synthesis of activated carbon-graphene composite was successful. Different characterization techniques such as XRD, SEM, FTIR, BET, and Raman spectroscopy were performed to investigate the composite materials. The results confirmed a conjugation between activated carbon and graphene material.

Keywords: activated carbon, cereals, extract solution, graphene, tuberous

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Leila Khosravi

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A major part of the drinking water in North West of Iran is supplied from Mahabad reservoir 80 km northwest of Mahabad. This reservoir collects water from 750 km-catchment which is undergoing accelerated changes due to deforestation and urbanization. The main objective of this study is to develop a catchment modeling platform which translates ongoing land-use changes, soil data, precipitation and evaporation into surface runoff of the river discharging into the reservoir: Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT, model along with hydro -meteorological records of 1997–2011. A variety of statistical indices were used to evaluate the simulation results for both calibration and validation periods; among them, the robust Nash–Sutcliffe coefficients were found to be 0.52 and 0.62 in the calibration and validation periods, respectively. This project has developed a reliable modeling platform with the benchmark land physical conditions of the Mahabad dam basin.

Keywords: simulation, surface runoff, Mahabad dam, SWAT model

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: R. A. Eman Elsheikh, Bart Schultz, Abraham Mehari Haile, Hussein S. Adam

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A field experiment was conducted at Gezira research station farm during the winter season in the third week of November 2012, in WadMedani, Sudan (Lat 14.23 W, Long 33.39 E and altitude 405 m above sea level, in deep cracking alkaline heavy clay Vertisols). The objective of this study was to determine the effect of three different irrigation for 10 days (W1), 15 days (W2) and 20 days (W3) and for two rows of 30 cm (S1) and 40 cm (S2), respectively. The experimental design was split plot with three replicates. The sunflower test variety was Hysun 33 cultivar. The seasonal water applied during the study was 6898, 6647, 5256, 5435, 5214, 5416 m3/ha for W1S1, W1S2, W2S1, W2S2, W3S1 and W3S2 respectively. The seed yield obtained for the above treatment in that sequence was 4208, 5542, 5167, 4579, 2931, 2936 kg/ha. The corresponding computed water productivity was 0.61, 0.82, 0.87, 0.95, 0.54, 0.56 kg/m3. The study clearly indicated that the highest seed yield was obtained when the crop was sown at 40 cm row spacing and was irrigated every 10 days (W1S2), followed by W2S1.

Keywords: water productivity, water deficit, sunflower, plant spacing

Procedia PDF Downloads 331

Authors: Elsayed G. Zaki, Nora A. Hamad, Hadeel G. El-Shorbagy

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The effect of watermelon rind extract as green inhibitors for the formation of calcium sulphate scale have been investigated using conductivity measurements concurrently with the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and optical microscopic examinations. Mineral scales were deposited from the brine solution by cathodic polarization of the steel surface. The results show up that the anti-scaling property of the extracts could be attributed to the presence of citrulline. In solution, citrulline retards calcium sulphate precipitation via formation of a complex with the calcium cations. Thin, smooth and non adherent film formed over the steel surface, under cathodic polarization, by the deposition of the calcium- citrulline complex. The stability of the aqueous extracts with time was also investigated.

Keywords: anti-scaling, scale inhibitor, green extracts, water treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 251

Authors: Henrik L. Funke, Lars Ulke-Winter, Sandra Gelbrich, Lothar Kroll

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This work reports about an approach for an automatic adaptation of concrete formulations based on genetic algorithms (GA) to optimize a wide range of different fit-functions. In order to achieve the goal, a method was developed which provides a numerical description of a fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) mixture regarding the production technology and the property spectrum of the concrete. In a first step, the FRC mixture with seven fixed components was characterized by varying amounts of the components. For that purpose, ten concrete mixtures were prepared and tested. The testing procedure comprised flow spread, compressive and bending tensile strength. The analysis and approximation of the determined data was carried out by GAs. The aim was to obtain a closed mathematical expression which best describes the given seven-point cloud of FRC by applying a Gene Expression Programming with Free Coefficients (GEP-FC) strategy. The seven-parametric FRC-mixtures model which is generated according to this method correlated well with the measured data. The developed procedure can be used for concrete mixtures finding closed mathematical expressions, which are based on the measured data.

Keywords: concrete design, fibre reinforced concrete, genetic algorithms, GEP-FC

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Z. V. P. Murthy, Preeti Arunachalam, Sangeeta Balram

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Removal of metal ions from different wastewaters has become important due to their effects on living beings. Cadmium is one of the heavy metals found in different industrial wastewaters. There are many conventional methods available to remove heavy metals from wastewaters like adsorption, membrane separations, precipitation, electrolytic methods, etc. and all of them have their own advantages and disadvantages. The present work deals with the use of natural biosorbents (chitin and chitosan) to separate cadmium ions from aqueous solutions. The adsorption data were fitted with different isotherms and kinetics models. Amongst different adsorption isotherms used to fit the adsorption data, the Freundlich isotherm showed better fits for both the biosorbents. The kinetics data of adsorption of cadmium showed better fit with pseudo-second order model for both the biosorbents. Chitosan, the derivative from chitin, showed better performance than chitin. The separation results are encouraging.

Keywords: chitin, chitosan, cadmium, isotherm, kinetics

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Authors: G. Agrawal, R. Agrawal, A. Pich

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The pH and temperature responsive biodegradable poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) based microgels functionalized with itaconic acid (IA) units are prepared via precipitation polymerization for drug delivery applications. Volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) of the obtained microgels is influenced by both IA content and pH of the surrounding medium. The developed microgels can be degraded under acidic conditions due to the presence of hydrazone based crosslinking points inside the microgel network. The microgel particles are able to effectively encapsulate doxorubicin (DOX) drug and exhibit low drug leakage under physiological conditions. At low pH, rapid DOX release is observed due to the changes in electrostatic interactions along with the degradation of particles. The results of the cytotoxicity assay further display that the DOX-loaded microgel exhibit effective antitumor activity against HeLa cells demonstrating their great potential as drug delivery carriers for cancer therapy.

Keywords: degradable, drug delivery, hydrazone linkages, microgels, responsive

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: S. Zenia, L. Bitta, O. Bouhamam, H. Brines, M. Boudriaa, F. Haddadj, F. Marniche, A. Milla, H. Saadi, A. Smai

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The bee Apis mellifera intermissa is a major social insect, in addition to its honey production, it is a pillar of our biodiversity. Several living organisms can come into contact with it: bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, mites, and insects. In Algeria, many beekeepers have reported unusual mortality of local bees, loss of foragers and significant losses of their livestock. Despite the presence of a varied honey-bearing flora and a favourable Mediterranean climate, honey production remains low. This phenomenon can be attributed to the excess winter mortality, but also to the increasing difficulties that beekeepers face in maintaining healthy bee colonies, particularly bee diseases and their transmission facilitated by trade and beekeeping practices. Our survey is based on a questionnaire composed of several parts. The results obtained show that the disease that most affects bees according to beekeepers is varroa mite with 93% followed by fungi with 26%. The most replied enemy of bees is the false ringworm with 73%, followed by the bee-eater with 63%. Our goal is to determine the causes of this low production in two areas: Bejaia and Tizi-Ouzou.

Keywords: diseases, Apis mellifera L., varroa, European foulbrood

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Chia-Ling Chang, Hao-Bo Chang

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Global climate change alters rainfall characteristics, while the variation of these characteristics further influences environmental conditions, such as hydrologic responses, landslide areas, and the amounts of diffuse pollution. The variations of environmental conditions may impact the stability of water resource systems. The objective of this study is to assess the present conditions of major water resource systems in Taiwan. The impact of climate change on each system is also discussed herein. Compared to the water resource systems in northern Taiwan, the ratio of the precipitation during the rainy season to that during the dry season has a larger increase in southern Taiwan. This variation of hydrologic condition impacts the stability of water resource systems and increases the risk of normal water supply. The findings in this work can be important references for water resource management.

Keywords: basin management, climate change, water resource system, water resource management

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Authors: Humaira Khan, Mohsin Javed, Sammia Shahid

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The reinforced photocatalytic activity of graphene oxide (GO) along with composites of ZnO nanoparticles and copper-doped ZnO nanoparticles were studied by synthesizing ZnO and copper- doped ZnO nanoparticles by co-precipitation method. Zinc acetate and copper acetate were used as precursors, whereas graphene oxide was prepared from pre-oxidized graphite in the presence of H2O2.The supernatant was collected carefully and showed high-quality single-layer characterized by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), XRD (X-ray Diffraction Analysis), EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectrometry). The degradation of methylene blue as standard pollutant under UV-Visible irradiation gave results for photocatalytic activity of dopants. It could be concluded that shrinking of optical band caused by composites of Cu-dopped nanoparticles with GO enhances the photocatalytic activity.

Keywords: degradation, graphene oxide, photocatalysis, ZnO nanoparticles and copper-doped ZnO nanoparticles

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Authors: Khalil Ahmad Khosa

Abstract:

Pakistan is such a diverse region, it is the center of various religions and settlements long before the creation of the nation that exists today. The country's attraction range from the ruin of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill stations, which attract those interested in winter sports. Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over 7000 m, which attracts adventurers and mountaineers from around the world, especially K2.[4] The north part of Pakistan has many old fortresses, ancient architecture and the Hunza and Chitral valley, home to small pre-Islamic Animist Kalash people community. The romance of the historic Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is timeless and legendary, Punjab province has the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital, with many examples of Mughal architecture such as Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort. Tourism is a growing industry in Pakistan. However, till this date, the government has not be able to take the tourism market seriously within Pakistan. Pakistan is home to a diverse number of tourist attractions which have not been funded or protected due to the government giving the tourism market a low priority.

Keywords: architecture, Pakistan, tourism, turist

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Authors: Priscila M. Lima, Corine A. P. de Almeida, Muriele R. de Lima, Fernando J. C. Magalhães Filho

Abstract:

This work characterized the preliminary treatment in WWTPs in the state of Mato Grosso Do Sul (Brazil) and analyzed aspects of operation and maintenance of solid waste retained, and was evaluated the interference of this step in treatment efficiency beyond the relationship between solid waste generation with rainfall and seasonality in the region of each WTPs. The results shown that the standard setting in the preliminary treatment consists of grid along with Sand Trap, followed by Parshall that is used in 94.12% of WWTPs analyzed, and in 5.88% of WWTPs it was added the air-lift to the Sand Trap. Was concluded that the influence of rainfall, flow and seasonality associated with the rate of waste generation in the preliminary treatment, had little relation to the operation and maintenance of the primary treatment. But in some cases, precipitation data showed increased rainfall converging with increased flow and solid waste generation.

Keywords: pretreatment, sewage, solid waste, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 445

Authors: Z. Asadgol, A. Nadali, H. Arfaeinia, M. Khalifeh Gholi, R. Fateh, M. Fahiminia

Abstract:

The present investigation was conducted to detect the type and concentrations of bacterial and fungal bioaerosols in one room (bedroom) of each selected residential building located in different regions of Qom during February 2015 (n=9) to July 2016 (n=11). Moreover, we evaluated the efficiency of negative air ions (NAIs) in bioaerosol reduction in indoor air in residential buildings. In the first step, the mean concentrations of bacterial and fungal in nine sampling sites evaluated in winter were 744 and 579 colony forming units (CFU)/m³, while these values were 1628.6 and 231 CFU/m³ in the 11 sampling sites evaluated in summer, respectively. The most predominant genera between bacterial and fungal in all sampling sites were detected as Micrococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. and also, Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp., respectively. The 95% and 45% of sampling sites have bacterial and fungal concentrations over the recommended levels, respectively. In the removal step, we achieved a reduction with a range of 38% to 93% for bacterial genera and 25% to 100% for fungal genera by using NAIs. The results suggested that NAI is a highly effective, simple and efficient technique in reducing the bacterial and fungal concentration in the indoor air of residential buildings.

Keywords: bacterial, fungal, negative air ions (NAIs), indoor air, Iran

Procedia PDF Downloads 383

Authors: Reshma Jolly, Mohammad Shakir, Mohammad Shoeb Khan, Noor E. Iram

Abstract:

A nanocomposite system integrating hydroxyapatite, chitin and starch (n-HA/CT/ST) has been synthesized via co-precipitation approach at room temperature, addressing the issues of biocompatibility, mechanical strength and cytotoxicity required for Bone tissue engineering. The interactions, crystallite size and surface morphology against n-HA/CT (nano-hydroxyapatite/chitin) nanocomposite have been obtained by correlating and comparing the results of FTIR, SEM, TEM and XRD. The comparative study of the bioactivity of n-HA/CT and n-HA/CT/ST nanocomposites revealed that the incorporation of starch as templating agent improved these properties in n-HA/CT/ST nanocomposite. The rise in thermal stability in n-HA/CT/ST nanocomposite as compared to n-HA/CT has been observed by comparing the TGA results. The comparison of SEM images of both the scaffolds indicated that the addition of ST influenced the surface morphology of n-HA/CT scaffold which appeared to be rougher and porous. The MTT assay on murine fibroblast L929 cells and in-vitro bioactivity of n-HA/CT/ST matrix referred superior non-toxic property of n-HA/CT/ST nanocomposite and higher possibility of osteo-integration in-vivo, respectively.

Keywords: bioactive, chitin, hyroxyapatite, nanocomposite

Procedia PDF Downloads 469