Search results for: consumer food waste

Authors: Miguel Llorens-Marin, Adolfo Hernandez, Maria Puelles-Gallo

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The increasing influence of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) on hotel bookings and the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) contained in them has been featured by many scientific studies as a major factor in the booking decision. The main reason is that nowadays, in the hotel sector, consumers first come into contact with the offer through the web and the online environment. Due to the nature of the hotel product and the fact that it is booked in advance to actually seeing it, there is a lack of knowledge about its actual features. This makes eWOM a major channel to help consumers to reduce their perception of risk when making their booking decisions. This research studies the relationship between aspects of customer influenceability by reading eWOM communications, at the time of booking a hotel, with the propensity to write a review. In other words, to test relationships between the reading and the writing of eWOM. Also investigates the importance of different underlying motivations for writing eWOM. Online surveys were used to obtain the data from a sample of hotel customers, with 739 valid questionnaires. A measurement model and Path analysis were carried out to analyze the chain of relationships among the independent variable (influenceability from reading reviews) and the dependent variable (propensity to write a review) with the mediating effects of additional variables, which help to explain the relationship. The authors also tested the moderating effects of age and gender in the model. The study considered three different underlying motivations for writing a review on a hotel experience, namely hedonic, altruistic and conflicted. Results indicate that the level of influenceability by reading reviews has a positive effect on the propensity to write reviews; therefore, we manage to link the reading and the writing of reviews. Authors also discover that the main underlying motivation to write a hotel review is the altruistic motivation, being the one with the higher Standard regression coefficient above the hedonic motivation. The authors suggest that the propensity to write reviews is not related to sociodemographic factors (age and gender) but to attitudinal factors such as ‘the most influential factor when reading’ and ‘underlying motivations to write. This gives light on the customer engagement motivations to write reviews. The implications are that managers should encourage their customers to write eWOM reviews on altruistic grounds to help other customers to make a decision. The most important contribution of this work is to link the effect of reading hotel reviews with the propensity to write reviews.

Keywords: hotel reviews, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), online consumer reviews, digital marketing, social media

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Esra Ece Var

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Beekeeping plays essential role both in terms of agricultural yields and agricultural economy; they produce honey, wax, royal jelly, apitoxin, pollen, and propolis. Nowadays, these natural products become more importantly suitable and preferable for nutrition, food supplement, medicine, and industry. However, to produce organic honey, majority of the apiaries are located in remote or distant rural areas where utilities such as electricity and Internet network are not available. Additionally, due to colony failures, world honey production decreases year by year despite the increase in the number of beehives. The objective of this paper is to develop a smart beehive monitoring system for apiaries including those that do not have access to Internet network. In this context, temperature and humidity inside the beehive, and ambient temperature were measured with RFID sensors. Control center, where all sensor data was sent and stored at, has a GSM module used to warn the beekeeper via SMS when an anomaly is detected. Simultaneously, using the collected data, an unsupervised machine learning algorithm is used for detecting anomalies and calibrating the warning system. The results show that the smart beehive monitoring system can detect fatal anomalies up to 4 weeks prior to colony loss.

Keywords: beekeeping, smart systems, machine learning, anomaly detection, apiculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Sema Kayapinar, Ismail Karaoglan, Turan Paksoy, Hadi Gokcen

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Green Supply Chain Management is gaining growing interest among researchers and supply chain management. The concept of Green Supply Chain Management is to integrate environmental thinking into the Supply Chain Management. It is the systematic concept emphasis on environmental problems such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, recycling end of life products, generation of solid and hazardous waste. This study is to present a green supply chain network model integrated Internet of Things applications. Internet of Things provides to get precise and accurate information of end-of-life product with sensors and systems devices. The forward direction consists of suppliers, plants, distributions centres and sales and collect centres while, the reverse flow includes the sales and collects centres, disassembled centre, recycling and disposal centre. The sales and collection centre sells the new products are transhipped from factory via distribution centre and also receive the end-of life product according their value level. We describe green logistics activities by presenting specific examples including “recycling of the returned products and “reduction of CO2 gas emissions”. The different transportation choices are illustrated between echelons according to their CO2 gas emissions. This problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model to solve the green supply chain problems which are emerged from the environmental awareness and responsibilities. This model is solved by using Gams package program. Numerical examples are suggested to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed model.

Keywords: green supply chain optimization, internet of things, greenhouse gas emission, recycling

Procedia PDF Downloads 331

Authors: A. Talaei, M. Ahiduzzaman, A. Kumar

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In Canada, an increase in the production of iron and steel is anticipated for satisfying the increasing demand of iron and steel in the oil sands and automobile industries. It is predicted that GHG emissions from iron and steel sector will show a continuous increase till 2030 and, with emissions of 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the sector will account for more than 2% of total national GHG emissions, or 12% of industrial emissions (i.e. 25% increase from 2010 levels). Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the energy intensity and to implement energy efficiency measures in the industry to reduce the GHG footprint. This paper analyzes the current energy consumption in the Canadian iron and steel industries and identifies energy efficiency opportunities to improve the energy intensity and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from this industry. In order to do this, a demand tree is developed representing different iron and steel production routs and the technologies within each rout. The main energy consumer within the industry is found to be flared heaters accounting for 81% of overall energy consumption followed by motor system and steam generation each accounting for 7% of total energy consumption. Eighteen different energy efficiency measures are identified which will help the efficiency improvement in various subsector of the industry. In the sintering process, heat recovery from coolers provides a high potential for energy saving and can be integrated in both new and existing plants. Coke dry quenching (CDQ) has the same advantages. Within the blast furnace iron-making process, injection of large amounts of coal in the furnace appears to be more effective than any other option in this category. In addition, because coal-powered electricity is being phased out in Ontario (where the majority of iron and steel plants are located) there will be surplus coal that could be used in iron and steel plants. In the steel-making processes, the recovery of Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) gas and scrap preheating provides considerable potential for energy savings in BOF and Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel-making processes, respectively. However, despite the energy savings potential, the BOF gas recovery is not applicable in existing plants using steam recovery processes. Given that the share of EAF in steel production is expected to increase the application potential of the technology will be limited. On the other hand, the long lifetime of the technology and the expected capacity increase of EAF makes scrap preheating a justified energy saving option. This paper would present the results of the assessment of the above mentioned options in terms of the costs and GHG mitigation potential.

Keywords: Iron and Steel Sectors, Energy Efficiency Improvement, Blast Furnace Iron-making Process, GHG Mitigation

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Authors: N. Moradi, C. M. Lopez-Vazquez, H. Garcia Hernandez, F. Rubio Rincon, D. Brdanovic, Mark van Loosdrecht

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Advanced oxidation processes have been widely used for disinfection, removal of residual organic material, and for the removal of emerging contaminants from drinking water and wastewater. Yet, the application of these technologies to sludge treatment processes has not gained enough attention, mostly, considering the complexity of the sludge matrix. In this research, ozone and UV/H₂O₂ treatment were applied for the removal of emerging contaminants from a digestate supernatant. The removal of the following compounds was assessed:(i) salicylic acid (SA) (a surrogate of non-stradiol anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)), and (ii) sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfamethazine (SMN), and tetracycline (TCN) (the most frequent human and animal antibiotics). The ozone treatment was carried out in a plexiglass bubble column reactor with a capacity of 2.7 L; the system was equipped with a stirrer and a gas diffuser. The UV and UV/H₂O₂ treatments were done using a LED set-up (PearlLab beam device) dosing H₂O₂. In the ozone treatment evaluations, 95 % of the three antibiotics were removed during the first 20 min of exposure time, while an SA removal of 91 % occurred after 8 hours of exposure time. In the UV treatment evaluations, when adding the optimum dose of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂:COD molar ratio of 0.634), 36% of SA, 82% of TCN, and more than 90 % of both SMX and SMN were removed after 8 hours of exposure time. This study concluded that O₃ was more effective than UV/H₂O₂ in removing emerging contaminants from the digestate supernatant.

Keywords: digestate sludge, emerging contaminants, ozone, UV-AOP

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Authors: Emmanuel Bole Akinpelu

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Festival is a social event that takes place every year which showcase culture and other social activities that usually take place in an environment or town. However, Oranyan Festival is an annual event organized and celebrated in Oyo town in honor of Oranyan the great who is reputed to be the overall head of the Kings of the Yoruba. This event is attended by people from all works of life. The Oyos are used to celebrating various cultural festivals; like Ogun, Oya, Sango, Egungun, Obatala and others. However, Oranyan festival in Oyo is a recent development in honour of Oranyan. He was said to be powerful and an embodiment of a unique cultural tradition. The study examined the significance of the festival to the Oyo Yoruba group. Oyo Yoruba cultural heritage include; Ewi, Ijala, Traditional food ‘Amala and Gbegiri’, Ekun Iyawo, (Bridal Chants), Traditional Music, Traditional Dance, Traditional Game ‘Ayo Olopon’ Eke (Traditional wrestling) and others. Data for this work was gathered through archival sources as journals and relevant publications on the various Oyo Yoruba Traditional Art and Culture. The study is of the opinion that the festival has influence over the religion, Political, economic and other aspects of the modern day traditions. The study also revealed that Oranyan Festival made people to have a better understanding of their rich Cultural Heritage and promoted unity among all and sundry. It also promotes peace among the people. Conclusively, it promotes the rich Cultural Heritage of Oyo Yoruba’s both within and outside NIGERIA and the world at large.

Keywords: Yoruba Oyo, arts and culture, Oranyan, festival

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Authors: Patrick Mueller, Alan Martin, Justin Stockwell, Robert Goldblatt

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Elevated concentrations of inorganic nitrogen (N) compounds (nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia) are a ubiquitous feature to mine-influenced drainages due to the leaching of blasting residues and use of cyanide in the milling of gold ores. For many mines, the management of N is a focus for environmental protection, therefore understanding the factors controlling the speciation and behavior of N is central to effective decision making. In this paper, the passive attenuation of ammonia and nitrite is described for three northern water bodies (two lakes and a tailings pond) influenced by mining activities. In two of the water bodies, inorganic N compounds originate from explosives residues in mine water and waste rock. The third water body is a decommissioned tailings impoundment, with N compounds largely originating from the breakdown of cyanide compounds used in the processing of gold ores. Empirical observations from water quality monitoring indicate nitrification (the oxidation of ammonia to nitrate) occurs in all three waterbodies, where enrichment of nitrate occurs commensurately with ammonia depletion. The N species conversions in these systems occurred more rapidly than chemical oxidation kinetics permit, indicating that microbial mediated conversion was occurring, despite the cool water temperatures. While nitrification of ammonia and nitrite to nitrate was the primary process, in all three waterbodies nitrite was consistently present at approximately 0.5 to 2.0 % of total N, even following ammonia depletion. The persistence of trace amounts of nitrite under these conditions suggests the co-occurrence denitrification processes in the water column and/or underlying substrates. The implications for N management in mine waters are discussed.

Keywords: explosives, mining, nitrification, water

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Nutnicha Wongpadungkiat, Suwit Siriwatanayotin, Aluck Thipayarat, Punchira Vongsawasdi, Chotika Viriyarattanasak

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Chicken products are major export product of Thailand. With a dramatically increasing consumption of chicken product in the world, there are abundant wastes from chicken meat processing industry. Recently, much research in the development of value-added products from chicken meat industry has focused on the production of protein hydrolysate, utilized as food ingredients for human diet and animal feed. The present study aimed to determine the effect of thermal pre-treatment on functional properties of chicken protein hydrolysate. Chicken breasts were heated at 40, 60, 80 and 100ºC prior to hydrolysis by Alcalase at 60ºC, pH 8 for 4 hr. The hydrolysate was freeze-dried, and subsequently used for assessment of its functional properties molecular weight by gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The obtained results show that increasing the pre-treatment temperature increased oil holding capacity and emulsion stability while decreasing antioxidant activity and water holding capacity. The SDS-PAGE analysis showed the evidence of protein aggregation in the hydrolysate treated at the higher pre-treatment temperature. These results suggest the connection between molecular weight of the hydrolysate and its functional properties.

Keywords: chicken protein hydrolysate, enzymatic hydrolysis, thermal pretreatment, functional properties

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Authors: Christos Chaschatzis, Chrysoula Karaiskou, Pantelis Angelidis, Sotirios K. Goudos, Igor Kotsiuba, Panagiotis Sarigiannidis

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Over the past few decades, the rapid growth of the global population has led to the need to increase agricultural production and improve the quality of agricultural goods. There is a growing focus on environmentally eco-friendly solutions, sustainable production, and biologically minimally fertilized products in contemporary society. Precision agriculture has the potential to incorporate a wide range of innovative solutions with the development of machine learning algorithms. YOLOv5 and YOLOv8 are two of the most advanced object detection algorithms capable of accurately recognizing objects in real time. Detecting tree diseases is crucial for improving the food production rate and ensuring sustainability. This research aims to evaluate the efficacy of YOLOv5 and YOLOv8 in detecting the symptoms of Armillaria spp. in sweet cherry trees and determining their health status, with the goal of enhancing the robustness of precision agriculture. Additionally, this study will explore Computer Vision (CV) techniques with machine learning algorithms to improve the detection process’s efficiency.

Keywords: Armillaria spp., machine learning, precision agriculture, smart farming, sweet cherries trees, YOLOv5, YOLOv8

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Authors: S. B. Otieno, T. S. Jayne, M. Muyanga

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Selenium which is an-antioxidant is important for human health enters food chain through crops. In Kenya Zea mays is consumed by 96% of population hence is a cheap and convenient method to provide selenium to large number of population. Several soil factors are known to have antagonistic effects on selenium speciation hence the uptake by Zea mays. No investigation in Kenya has been done to determine the effects of soil characteristics (pH, Tcarbon, CEC, Eh) affect accumulation of selenium in Zea mays grains in Maize Belt in Kenya. About 100 Zea mays grain samples together with 100 soil samples were collected from the study site, put in separate labeled Ziplocs and were transported to laboratories at room temperature for analysis. Maize grains were analyzed for selenium while soil samples were analyzed for pH, Cat Ion Exchange Capacity, total carbon, and electrical conductivity. The mean selenium in Zea mays grains varied from 1.82 ± 0.76 mg/Kg to 11±0.86 mg/Kg. There was no significant difference between selenium levels between different grain batches {χ (Df =76) = 26.04 P= 1.00} The pH levels varied from 5.43± 0.58 to 5.85± 0.32. No significant correlations between selenium in grains and soil pH (Pearson’s correlations = - 0.143), and between selenium levels in grains and the four (pH,Tcarbon,CEC,Eh) soil chemical characteristics {F (4,91) = 0.721 p = 0.579} was observed.It can be concluded that the soil chemical characteristics in the study site did not significantly affect the accumulation of native selenium in Zea mays grains.

Keywords: maize, native, soil, selenium

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Authors: Juliana Kurniawati, Helen Diana Vida

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Visiting mall is one of the Indonesian communities’ lifestyle who live in urban areas. Indonesian people, especially who live in Jakarta, use a shopping mall as one of the favourite places to get pleasure. This mall visitors come from various social classes. They use the shopping mall as a place to identify themselves as urban people. Jakarta has a number of great shopping malls such as Plaza Indonesia, Plaza Senayan, Pondok Indah Mall, etc. The shopping malls become one of the popular places since Jakarta's public sphere such as parks and playgrounds are very limited in number compared to that of shopping malls. In Jakarta, people do not come to a shopping mall only for shopping. Sometimes they go there to look around, meet up with some friends, or watch a movie. We can find everything in the shopping malls. The principle of one-stop shopping becomes an attractive offer for urban people. The items for selling are various, from the cheap goods to the expensive ones. A new era in consumer culture began with the advent of shopping was localized in France in the 19th century. Since the development of the online store and the easier way to access the internet, everyone can shop 24 hours anywhere they want. The emergence of online store indirectly has an impact on the viability of conventional stores. In October 2017, in Indonesia, two outlets branded goods namely Lotus and Debenhams were closed. This may a result of increasingly rampant online stores and shopping style urban society shift. The rising of technology gives some influence on the development of e-commerce in Indonesia. Everyone can access e-commerce. However, those who can do it are the middle up class to high class people. The development of e-commerce in Indonesia is quite fast, we can observe the emergence of various online shopping sites on various social media platforms such as Zalora, Berrybenka, Bukalapak, Lazada, and Tokopedia. E-commerce is increasingly affecting people's lives in line with the development of lifestyle and increasing revenue. This research aims to know the reasons of urban society choosing e-commerce as a medium for grocery shopping, how e-commerce is affecting their shopping styles, as well as why society provides confidence in the online store for shopping. This research uses theories of lifestyle by David Chaney. The subject of this research is urban society who actively shop online on Zalora, the communities based in Jakarta. Zalora site was chosen because the site is selling branded goods. This research is expected to explain in detail about the changing style of the urban community from the shopping mall to digital media by emphasizing the aspect of public confidence towards the online store.

Keywords: e-commerce, shopping, lifestyle, changing

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: S. M. Amin Hosseini, Oriol Pons, Albert de la Fuente

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An earthquake hit the Kermanshah province, which is located in the west of Iran, on 12th November 2017 at 18:18 UTC (21:48 Iran Standard Time). This earthquake caused several deaths and injured people. In this disaster, substantial homes were destroyed and many homes were damaged. The Iranian government, local authorities, and several non-governmental organizations responded to affected populations’ needs, such as foods, blanket, water, a tent as a temporary shelter, etc. Considerable national groups, including governmental, non-governmental organizations, and people from non-organized groups, directly and indirectly, tried to bring donated goods to the affected populations. However, some of these aids could not satisfy all the affected populations. Moreover, these impossibilities led to waste extensive resources. In this regard, this research study aims to assess the problems of the Kermanshah disaster responses. At the same time, this project searches possible solutions in order to increase emergency management efficiencies for encountering future events. To this end, this study assesses the problem from all beneficiaries´ point of views. In this regard, a survey and a questionnaire were designed for statistical analyses of the responses of people, who were involved in the Kermanshah earthquake recovery program. Additionally, this research study takes into account diverse strategies, which have been applied in other recovery programs, with the Kermanshah case in order to determine similarities and differences. Finally, this study presents possible solutions taken from other recovery programs that could be applied for the Kermanshah emergency responses. However, the results demonstrate that it is required to customize applied strategies based on local conditions and requirements.

Keywords: disaster response, Kermanshah earthquake, natural disasters, NGOs

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Jinhyun Ryu, Chengliang Xie, Nal Ae Yoon, Dong Hoon Lee, Gu Seob Roh, Hyun Joon Kim, Gyeong Jae Cho, Wan Sung Choi, Sang Soo Kang

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Type 2 diabetes is a heterogeneous group of metabolic disorders featured by a deficit in or loss of insulin activity to maintain normal glucose homeostasis. Mainly, it results from the compromised insulin secretion and/or reduced insulin activity. The frequency of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been increased rapidly in recent decades with the increase in the trend of obesity due to life style and food habit. Obesity is considered to be the primary risk factor for the development of insulin resistance and thereby developing T2D. Traditionally naturally occurring fruits, vegetables etc. are being used to treat many pathogenic conditions. In this study, we tried to find out the effect of a popularly used vegetable in Bangladesh and several other Asian countries, ‘bitter melon’ on high fat diet induced T2D. To investigate the effect, we used 70% ethanol extract of bitter melon (BME) as dietary supplement with chow. BME was found to attenuate the high fat diet (HFD) induced body weight and total fat mass significantly. We also observed that BME reduced the insulin resistance induced by HFD effectively. Furthermore, dietary supplementation of BME was highly effective in increasing insulin sensitivity, and reducing the hepatic fat and obesity. These results indicate that BME could be effective to attenuate T2D and could be a preventive measure against T2D.

Keywords: bitter melon, obesity, type 2 diabetes, high fat diet

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Authors: Karla D. Vazquez-Valdez, Bradley P. Wynne

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In the last decades manufacturing needs have been changing, leading to the study of manufacturing methods that were underdeveloped, such as incremental forming processes like shear forming. These processes use rotating tools in constant local contact with the workpiece, which is often also rotating, to generate shape. This means much lower loads to forge large parts and no need for expensive special tooling. Potential has already been established by demonstrating manufacture of high-value products, e.g., turbine and satellite parts, with high dimensional accuracy from difficult to manufacture materials. Thus, huge opportunities exist for these processes to replace the current method of manufacture for a range of high value components, e.g., eliminating lengthy machining, reducing material waste and process times; or the manufacture of a complicated shape without the development of expensive tooling. However, little is known about the exact deformation conditions during processing and why certain materials are better than others for shear forming, leading to a lot of trial and error before production. Three alloys were used for this study: Ti-54M, Jethete M154, and IN718. General Microscopy and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) were used to measure strains and orientation maps during shear forming. A Design of Experiments (DOE) analysis was also made in order to understand the impact of process parameters in the properties of the final workpieces. Such information was the key to develop a reliable Finite Element Method (FEM) model that closely resembles the deformation paths of this process. Finally, the potential of these three materials to be shear spun was studied using the FEM model and their Forming Limit Diagram (FLD) which led to the development of a rough methodology for testing the shear spinnability of various metals.

Keywords: shear forming, damage, principal strains, forming limit diagram

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: A. Rattanapittayapron, O. Vanijajiva

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Canna indica is a prominent species complex in tropical and subtropical areas. They become indigenous in Southeast Asia where they have been introduced. At present, C. indica complex comprises over hundred hybrids, are cultivated as commercial horticulture. The species complex contains starchy rhizome having economic value in terms of food and herbal medicine. In addition, bright color of the flowers makes it a valuable ornamental plant and potential source for natural colorant. This study aims to assess genetic diversity of four varieties of C. indica complex based on SRAP (sequence-related amplified polymorphism) and iPBS (inter primer binding site) markers. We also examined phytochemical characteristics and antioxidant properties of the flower extracts from four different color varieties. Results showed that despite of the genetic variation, there were no significant differences in phytochemical characteristics and antioxidant properties of flowers. The SRAP and iPBS results agree with the more primitive traits showed by morphological information and phytochemical and antioxidant characteristics from the flowers. Since Canna flowers has long been used as natural colorants together with the antioxidant activities from the ethanol extracts in this study, there are likely to be good source for cosmetics additives.

Keywords: Canna indica, antioxidant activity, genetic diversity, SRAP, iPBS

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Ahmed Zahran

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Bifidobacterium breve ATCC 15700, Bifidobacterium adolescents ATCC 15704 and Bifidobacterium longum ATCC 15707 were tested for their growth, acid production, bile tolerance, antibiotic resistance and adherence to columnar epithelial cells of the small intestine of goat. The growth of all studied species was determined in the MRSL medium. B.longum 15707 was the most active species in comparison with the other two species; it was also more resistant to bile acids. The adhesion of the studied species to the columnar epithelial cells was studied. All the studied species showed some degree of adhesion; however, B.longum adhered more than the other two species. This species was resistant to four types of antibiotics and was sensitive to chloramphenicol 30 µg. The activity of Bifidobacterium species in soymilk was evaluated by measuring the development of titratalle acidity. B.longum 15707 was the most active species in terms of growth and activity of soymilk. So, soymilk containing bifidobacteria could be added to goat milk to produce acceptable functional soy yogurt, using the ratio of (1:4) soy milk to goat milk. This product could be of unique health benefits, especially in the case of high cholesterol levels and replenishment of intestinal flora after antibiotic therapy.

Keywords: bifidobacteria physiological properties, soy milk, goat milk, attachment epithelial cells, columnar tissues, probiotic food

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Authors: Yogi Sirodz Gaos, Irvan Wiradinata

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In the 500 kW Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power plant in Indonesia, an AFT (according to the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association – TEMA) type shell and tube heat exchanger device is used as a pre-heating system for the ORC’s hot water circulation system. The pre-heating source is a waste heat recovery of the brine water, which is tapped from a geothermal power plant. The brine water itself has 5 MWₜₕ capacities, with average temperature of 170ᵒC, and 7 barg working pressure. The aim of this research is to examine the performance of the heat exchanger in the ORC system in a 500 kW ORC power plant. The data for this research were collected during the commissioning on the middle of December 2016. During the commissioning, the inlet temperature and working pressure of the brine water to the shell and tube type heat exchanger was 149ᵒC, and 4.4 barg respectively. Furthermore, the ΔT for the hot water circulation of the ORC system to the heat exchanger was 27ᵒC, with the inlet temperature of 140ᵒC. The pressure in the hot circulation system was dropped slightly from 7.4ᵒC to 7.1ᵒC. The flow rate of the hot water circulation was 80.5 m³/h. The presentation and discussion of a case study on the performance of the heat exchanger on the 500 kW ORC system is presented as follows: (1) the heat exchange duty is 2,572 kW; (2) log mean temperature of the heat exchanger is 13.2ᵒC; (3) the actual overall thermal conductivity is 1,020.6 W/m².K (4) the required overall thermal conductivity is 316.76 W/m².K; and (5) the over design for this heat exchange performance is 222.2%. An analysis of the heat exchanger detailed engineering design (DED) is briefly discussed. To sum up, this research concludes that the shell and tube heat exchangers technology demonstrated a good performance as pre-heating system for the ORC’s hot water circulation system. Further research need to be conducted to examine the performance of heat exchanger system on the ORC’s hot water circulation system.

Keywords: shell and tube, heat exchanger, organic Rankine cycle, performance, commissioning

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Authors: Lynnette Lyzwinski, Liam Caffery, Matthew Bambling, Sisira Edirippulige

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Introduction: A novel method of delivering mindfulness interventions for populations at risk of weight gain and stress-related eating, in particular, college students, is through mHealth. While there have been qualitative studies on mHealth for weight loss, there has not been a study on mHealth for weight loss using mindfulness that has explored student perspectives on a student centred mindfulness app and mindfulness-based text messages for eating and stress. Student perspective data will provide valuable information for creating a specific purpose weight management app and mindfulness-based text messages (for the Mindfulness App study). Methods: A qualitative focus group study was undertaken at St Lucia campus at the University of Queensland in March 2017. Students over the age of 18 were eligible to participate. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. One week following the focus group, students were sent sample mindfulness-based text messages based on their responses. Students provided written feedback via email. Data were analysed using N Vivo software. Results: The key themes in a future mindfulness-based app are a simple design interface, a focus on education/practical tips, and real-life practical exercises. Social media should be avoided. Key themes surrounding barriers include the perceived difficulty of mindfulness and a lack of proper guidance or knowledge. The mindfulness-based text messages were received positively. Key themes were creating messages with practical tips about how to be mindful and how to integrate mindful reflection of both one’s body and environment while on campus. Other themes including creating positive, inspirational messages. There was lack of agreement on the ideal timing for messages. Discussion: This is the first study that explored student perspectives on a mindfulness-app and mindfulness-based text messages for stress and weight management as a pre-trial study for the Mindfulness App trial for stress, lifestyle, and weight in students. It is important to consider maximizing the potential facilitators of use and minimize potential identified barriers when developing and designing a future mHealth mindfulness-based intervention tailored to the student consumer. Conclusion: Future mHealth studies may consider integrating mindfulness-based text messages in their interventions for weight and stress as this is a novel feature that appears to be acceptable for participants. The results of this focus group provide the basis to develop content for a specific purpose student app for weight management.

Keywords: mindfulness, college students, mHealth, weight loss

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Authors: Miju Choi, Ava Seo

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Japan has been positioned as a major inbound market to Korea, accounting for about 31% of total inbound visitors until 2012. The percentage has sharply dropped each year since and remained in second place, reaching 13.33% in 2016. Meanwhile, China has been boosted as a major inbound market, reaching 46.79% in 2016. Chinese tourists mainly visit Korea with the major purpose of shopping. They consume Korean cosmetic/beauty products and clothes while Japanese tourists prefer to purchase healthy food such as ginseng and seaweed. This study aims to investigate and compare tourist shopping patterns across two major inbound markets, China and Japan. A quantitative approach using survey was applied from 2009 to 2016. Findings suggest Chinese visit Korea due to quality of product, value for money, and accessibility, and trust. Meanwhile, Japanese choose Korea as a shopping destination mainly due to convenience, affordability, and tourist attractions. Also, there were significant differences in shopping venues. For example, Japanese tourists prefer shopping at department stores while Chinese tourists prefer retail outlets and local markets. This study contributes to deeper understanding on two major inbound markets to Korea and suggests future marketing strategies.

Keywords: tourist shopping patterns, Korea, China, Japan, historical data

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Authors: N. P. Tien, S. Songsermpong, T. H. Quan

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Mung bean vermicelli is a popular food in Asian countries and is made from mung bean starch. The preparation process involves several steps, including drying, which affects the structure and quality of the vermicelli. This study aims to examine the effects of different drying technologies on the rehydration time and quality of mung bean vermicelli. Three drying technologies, namely hot air drying, microwave continuous drying, and microwave vacuum drying, were used for the drying process. The vermicelli strands were dried at 45°C for 12h in a hot air dryer, at 70 Hz of conveyor belt speed inverter in a microwave continuous dryer, and at 30 W.g⁻¹ of microwave power density in a microwave vacuum dryer. The results showed that mung bean vermicelli dried using hot air drying had the longest rehydration time of 12.69 minutes. On the other hand, vermicelli dried through microwave continuous drying and microwave vacuum drying had shorter rehydration times of 2.79 minutes and 2.14 minutes, respectively. Microwave vacuum drying also resulted in larger porosity, higher water absorption, and cooking loss. The tensile strength and elasticity of vermicelli dried using hot air drying were higher compared to microwave drying technologies. The sensory evaluation did not reveal significant differences in most attributes among the vermicelli treatments. Overall, microwave drying technology proved to be effective in reducing rehydration time and producing good-quality mung bean vermicelli.

Keywords: mung bean vermicelli, drying, hot air, microwave continuous, microwave vacuum

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Authors: Bruce Small, Martin Espig, Alyssa Ryan

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In the agricultural sector, the rapid expansion of herbicide resistant weeds is a major threat to the global sustainability of food and fibre production. Efforts to avoid herbicide resistance have primarily focused on new technologies and farmer education. Yet, despite decades of advice to growers from agricultural scientists and extension professionals of the need for management strategies for herbicide use, herbicide resistance continues to increase. Technological options are running out and current extension efforts to change farmer behaviour are failing to curb the problem. As part of a five-year, government funded, research programme to address herbicide resistance in New Zealand, social science theory and practice are being utilised to investigate the complexities of managing herbicide use and controlling resistance. As an initial step, we are utilising a transdisciplinary, multi-level systems approach to examine the problem definition, knowledge beliefs, attitudes and values of different important actors in the agri-business sector. In this paper, we report early project results from qualitative research examining the similarities and contrasts in the perceptions of scientists, farmer/growers, and rural professionals.

Keywords: behaviour change, herbicide resistant weeds, knowledge beliefs, systems perspective

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Authors: M. I. Nicolas, J. C. Cruz, Ysmael Verde, A.Yeladaqui-Tello

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The manufacture of Portland cement has revolutionized the construction industry since the nineteenth century; however, the high cost and large amount of energy required on its manufacturing encouraged, from the seventies, the search of alternative materials to replace it partially or completely. Among the materials studied to replace the cement are the ashes. In the city of Chetumal, south of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, there are no natural sources of pozzolanic ash. In the present study, the cementitious properties of artificial ash resulting from the combustion of waste pine wood were analyzed. The ash obtained was sieved through the screen and No.200 a fraction was analyzed using the technique of X-ray diffraction; with the aim of identifying the crystalline phases and particle sizes of pozzolanic material by the Debye-Scherrer equation. From the characterization of materials, mixtures for a concrete of f'c = 250 kg / cm2 were designed with the method ACI 211.1; for the pattern mixture and for partial replacements of Portland cement by 5%, 10% and 12% pine wood ash mixture. Simple resistance to axial compression of specimens prepared with each concrete mixture, at 3, 14 and 28 days of curing was evaluated. Pozzolanic activity was observed in the ash obtained, checking the presence of crystalline silica (SiO2 of 40.24 nm) and alumina (Al2O3 of 35.08 nm). At 28 days of curing, the specimens prepared with a 5% ash, reached a compression resistance 63% higher than design; for specimens with 10% ash, was 45%; and for specimens with 12% ash, only 36%. Compared to Pattern mixture, which after 28 days showed a f'c = 423.13 kg/cm2, the specimens reached only 97%, 86% and 82% of the compression resistance, for mixtures containing 5%, 10% ash and 12% respectively. The pozzolanic activity of pine wood ash influences the compression resistance, which indicates that it can replace up to 12% of Portland cement by ash without compromising its design strength, however, there is a decrease in strength compared to the pattern concrete.

Keywords: concrete, pine wood ash, pozzolanic activity, X-ray

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Authors: Mingxia Zhu, Matthew Tingchi Liu

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AI grows gradually in the market with its efficiency and accuracy, influencing people’s perceptions, attitude, and even consequential behaviors. Current study extends prior research by focusing on AI’s impact on consumers’ morality. First, study 1 tested individuals’ believes about AI and human’s moral perceptions and people’s attribution of moral worth to AI and human. Moral perception refers to a computational system an entity maintains to detect and identify moral violations, while moral worth here denotes whether individual regard an entity as worthy of moral treatment. To identify the effect of AI on consumers’ morality, two studies were employed. Study 1 is a within-subjects survey, while study 2 is an experimental study. In the study 1, one hundred and forty participants were recruited through online survey company in China (M_age = 27.31 years, SD = 7.12 years; 65% female). The participants were asked to assign moral perception and moral worth to AI and human. A paired samples t-test reveals that people generally regard that human has higher moral perception (M_Human = 6.03, SD = .86) than AI (M_AI = 2.79, SD = 1.19; t(139) = 27.07, p < .001; Cohen’s d = 1.41). In addition, another paired samples t-test results showed that people attributed higher moral worth to the human personnel (M_Human = 6.39, SD = .56) compared with AIs (M_AI = 5.43, SD = .85; t(139) = 12.96, p < .001; d = .88). In the next study, two hundred valid samples were recruited from survey company in China (M_age = 27.87 years, SD = 6.68 years; 55% female) and the participants were randomly assigned to two conditions (AI vs. human). After viewing the stimuli of human versus AI, participants are informed that one insurance company would determine the price purely based on their declaration. Therefore, their open-ended answers were coded into ethical, honest behavior and unethical, dishonest behavior according to the design of prior literature. A Chi-square analysis revealed that 64% of the participants would immorally lie towards AI insurance inspector while 42% of participants reported deliberately lower mileage facing with human inspector (χ^2 (1) = 9.71, p = .002). Similarly, the logistic regression results suggested that people would significantly more likely to report fraudulent answer when facing with AI (β = .89, odds ratio = 2.45, Wald = 9.56, p = .002). It is demonstrated that people would be more likely to behave unethically in front of non-human agents, such as AI agent, rather than human. The research findings shed light on new practical ethical issues in human-AI interaction and address the important role of human employees during the process of service delivery in the new era of AI.

Keywords: AI agent, consumer morality, ethical behavior, human-AI interaction

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Authors: Siva Kumar Bathina, Sudheer Siddapureddy

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Fires accident becomes even worse when the hazardous equipment like reactors or radioactive waste packages are engulfed in fire. In this work, large-eddy numerical fire simulations are performed using fire dynamic simulator to predict the thermal behavior of such bodies engulfed in hydrocarbon pool fires. A radiatively dominated 0.3 m circular burner with n-heptane as the fuel is considered in this work. The fire numerical simulation results without anybody inside the fire are validated with the reported experimental data. The comparison is in good agreement for different flame properties like predicted mass burning rate, flame height, time-averaged center-line temperature, time-averaged center-line velocity, puffing frequency, the irradiance at the surroundings, and the radiative heat feedback to the pool surface. Cask of different sizes is simulated with SS304L material. The results are independent of the material of the cask simulated as the adiabatic surface temperature concept is employed in this study. It is observed that the mass burning rate increases with the blockage ratio (3% ≤ B ≤ 32%). However, the change in this increment is reduced at higher blockage ratios (B > 14%). This is because the radiative heat feedback to the fuel surface is not only from the flame but also from the cask volume. As B increases, the volume of the cask increases and thereby increases the radiative contribution to the fuel surface. The radiative heat feedback in the case of the cask engulfed in the fire is increased by 2.5% to 31% compared to the fire without cask.

Keywords: adiabatic surface temperature, fire accidents, fire dynamic simulator, radiative heat feedback

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Authors: Haluk Özparlak, Murad Aydın Şanda, Gülşin Arslan

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Phoxinellus anatolicus, Carassius gibelio, Sander lucioperca, Vimba vimba tenella, Capoeta capoeta, Tinca tinca from Suğla Lake (Turkey) and Phoxinellus anatolicus, Scardinius erythrophthalmus, Tinca tinca from Beyşehir Lake (Turkey) are economically important fish species and these fish have been consumed as food by local people. P. anatolicus is also endangered and endemic species from Turkey. In this study, concentrations of Cd, Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn were determined in muscle tissue of these fish by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Levels of metals in the muscle tissue of all the fish specimens were compared with results of previous studies, the tolerance levels of national and international guidelines and the levels of Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) limits set by FAO/WHO. Concentrations of Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in the muscle tissue of all the fish specimens from Suğla and Beyşehir Lakes exceeded the tolerance levels of national and international guidelines. However, concentrations of Cd, Fe, Pb and Zn were below PTWI limits. Therefore, in terms of these metal levels, consumption of fresh filet of examined seven fish species (weekly up to about 300 g/person) doesn’t seem to be objectionable for human health.

Keywords: Beyşehir Lake, fish, metal levels, Suğla Lake

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Authors: Okafor Joan, Nwodo Uchechukwu

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Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is a significant pathogen responsible for opportunistic and nosocomial infection. One of the most significant antibiotic resistance mechanisms in K. pneumoniae isolates is efflux pumps. Our current study identified efflux genes (AcrAB, OqxAB, MacAB, and TolC) and regulatory genes (RamR and RarA) in multidrug-resistant (MDR) K. pneumoniae isolated from hospital effluents and investigated their relationship with antibiotic resistance. The sum of 145 K. pneumoniae isolates was established by PCR and screened for antibiotic susceptibility. PCR detected efflux pump genes, and their link with antibiotic resistance was statistically examined. However, 120 (83%) of the confirmed isolated were multidrug-resistant, with the largest percentage of resistance to ampicillin (88.3%) and the weakest rate of resistance to imipenem (5.5%). Resistance to the other antibiotics ranged from 11% to 76.6%. Molecular distribution tests show that AcrA, AcrB, MacA, oqxB oqxA, TolC, MacB were detected in 96.7%, 85%, 76.7%, 70.8%, 55.8%, 39.1%, and 29.1% respectively. However, 14.3% of the isolates harboured all seven genes screened. Efflux pump system AcrAB (83.2%) was the most commonly detected in K. pneumonia isolated across all the antibiotics class-tested. In addition, the frequencies of RamR and RarA were 46.2% and 31.4%, respectively. AcrAB and OqxAB efflux pump genes were significantly associated with fluoroquinolone, beta-lactam, carbapenem, and tetracycline resistance (p<0.05). The high rate of efflux genes in this study demonstrated that this resistance mechanism is the dominant way in K. pneumoniae isolates. Appropriate treatment must be used to reduce and tackle the burden of resistant Klebsiella pneumonia in hospital wastewater effluents.

Keywords: Klebsiella pneumonia, efflux pumps, regulatory genes, multidrug-resistant, hospital, PCR

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Authors: Sahar Hooshmand, Mohammad Reza Bagherzadeh Anasari

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The aim of this study was to examine the effect of breakfast eating pattern (between frequencies of breakfast consumers and non-consumers) on nutritional status (weight for age, height for age and weight for height). A total 4570 primary school children aged 6-9 years old constituted the sample. From these, 2234 Iranian school children (1218 girls and 1016 boys) and 2336 Indian school children (1096 girls and 1240 boys) were included in a cross sectional study. Breakfast frequency consumption was recorded through an interview with mothers of children. Height and wight of children were taken and body mass index were calculated. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) AnthroPlus software used to assess the nutritional status of the children. Weight for age z-scores were slightly associated with frequency of consuming breakfast in both India (χ2 = 60.083, p=0.000) and Iran (χ2 = 18.267, p=0.032). A significant association was seen between frequency of child‘s breakfast intake and the height z-scores in both India (χ2 = 31.334, p=0.000) and Iran (χ2 = 19.443, p=0.022). Most of children with normal height had breakfast daily in both countries. A significant association was seen with children‘s BMI z-scores of Indian children (χ2 = 31.247, p=0.000) but it was not significant in Iran (χ2 = 10.791, p=0.095). The present study confirms the observations of other studies that showed more frequency in having breakfast is associated with better nutritional status.

Keywords: breakfast, schoolchildren, nutritional status, global food security

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Authors: Francisco Reyes, Hector Ramirez

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In the coastal zones are home to mangrove swamps, coral reefs, and seagrass ecosystems, which are the most biodiverse and fragile on the planet. These areas support a great diversity of marine life; they are also extraordinarily important for humans in the provision of food, water, wood, and other associated goods and services; they also contribute to climate regulation. The lack of an automated model that generates information on the dynamics of changes in coastlines and coastal erosion is identified as a central problem. Coastlines were determined from 1984 to 2020 on the Google Earth platform Engine from Landsat and Sentinel images, using the Normalized Differential Water Index (MNDWI) and Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) v5.0. Starting from the 2020 coastline, the 10-year prediction (Year 2031) was determined with the erosion of 238.32 hectares and an accretion of 181.96 hectares, while the 20-year prediction (Year 2041) will be presented an erosion of 544.04 hectares and an accretion of 133.94 hectares. The erosion and accretion of Playa Muelle in the municipality of Puerto Colombia were established, which will register the highest value of erosion. The coverage that presented the greatest change was that of artificialized Territories.

Keywords: coastline, coastal erosion, MNDWI, Google Earth Engine, Colombia

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Authors: Marinos Xagoraris, Iliada K. Lappa, Charalambos Kanakis, Dimitra Daferera, Christina Papadopoulou, Georgios Sourounis, Charilaos Giotis, Pavlos Bouchagier, Christos S. Pappas, Petros A. Tarantilis, Efstathia Skotti

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The aim of this work was to recover phenolic compounds from grape skins produced in Greek varieties of the Ionian Islands in order to form the basis of calculations for their further utilization in the context of the circular economy. Isolation and further utilization of phenolic compounds is an important issue in winery by-products. For this purpose, 37 samples were collected, extracted, and analyzed in an attempt to provide the appropriate basis for their sustainable exploitation. Extraction of the bioactive compounds was held using an eco-friendly, non-toxic, and highly effective water-glycerol solvent system. Then, extracts were analyzed using UV-Vis, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy. Also, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were measured. LC-MS chromatography showed qualitative differences between different varieties. Peaks were attributed to monomeric 3-flavanols as well as monomeric, dimeric, and trimeric proanthocyanidins. The FT-IR and Raman spectra agreed with the chromatographic data and contributed to identifying phenolic compounds. Grape skins exhibited high total phenolic content (TPC), and it was proved that during vinification, a large number of polyphenols remained in the pomace. This study confirmed that grape skins from Ionian Islands are a promising source of bioactive compounds, suggesting their utilization under a bio-economic and environmental strategic framework.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, grape skin, phenolic compounds, waste recovery

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Authors: Golnush Masghati-Amoli, Paul Chin

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Over the past recent years, with the rapid increases in data availability and computing power, Machine Learning (ML) techniques have been called on in a range of different industries for their strong predictive capability. However, the use of Machine Learning in commercial banking has been limited due to a special challenge imposed by numerous regulations that require lenders to be able to explain their analytic models, not only to regulators but often to consumers. In other words, although Machine Leaning techniques enable better prediction with a higher level of accuracy, in comparison with other industries, they are adopted less frequently in commercial banking especially for scoring purposes. This is due to the fact that Machine Learning techniques are often considered as a black box and fail to provide information on why a certain risk score is given to a customer. In order to bridge this gap between the explain-ability and performance of Machine Learning techniques, a Hybrid Model is developed at Dun and Bradstreet that is focused on blending Machine Learning algorithms with traditional approaches such as scorecards. The Hybrid Model maximizes efficiency of traditional scorecards by merging its practical benefits, such as explain-ability and the ability to input domain knowledge, with the deep insights of Machine Learning techniques which can uncover patterns scorecard approaches cannot. First, through development of Machine Learning models, engineered features and latent variables and feature interactions that demonstrate high information value in the prediction of customer risk are identified. Then, these features are employed to introduce observed non-linear relationships between the explanatory and dependent variables into traditional scorecards. Moreover, instead of directly computing the Weight of Evidence (WoE) from good and bad data points, the Hybrid Model tries to match the score distribution generated by a Machine Learning algorithm, which ends up providing an estimate of the WoE for each bin. This capability helps to build powerful scorecards with sparse cases that cannot be achieved with traditional approaches. The proposed Hybrid Model is tested on different portfolios where a significant gap is observed between the performance of traditional scorecards and Machine Learning models. The result of analysis shows that Hybrid Model can improve the performance of traditional scorecards by introducing non-linear relationships between explanatory and target variables from Machine Learning models into traditional scorecards. Also, it is observed that in some scenarios the Hybrid Model can be almost as predictive as the Machine Learning techniques while being as transparent as traditional scorecards. Therefore, it is concluded that, with the use of Hybrid Model, Machine Learning algorithms can be used in the commercial banking industry without being concerned with difficulties in explaining the models for regulatory purposes.

Keywords: machine learning algorithms, scorecard, commercial banking, consumer risk, feature engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 138