Search results for: grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEB)

Authors: Ziaullah, Shah Wahab Ali

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Micro-grid equipped with heterogeneous energy resources present the idea of small scale distributed energy management (DEM). DEM helps in minimizing the transmission and operation costs, power management and peak load demands. Micro-grids are collections of small, independent controllable power-generating units and renewable energy resources. Micro-grids also motivate to enable active customer participation by giving accessibility of real-time information and control to the customer. The capability of fast restoration against faulty situation, integration of renewable energy resources and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) make micro-grid as an ideal system for distributed power systems. Micro-grids can have a bank of energy storage devices. The energy management system of micro-grid can perform real-time energy forecasting of renewable resources, energy storage elements and controllable loads in making proper short-term scheduling to minimize total operating costs. We present a review of existing micro-grids optimization objectives/goals, constraints, solution approaches and tools used in micro-grids for energy management. Cost-benefit analysis of micro-grid reveals that cooperation among different micro-grids can play a vital role in the reduction of import energy cost and system stability. Cooperative micro-grids energy trading is an approach to electrical distribution energy resources that allows local energy demands more control over the optimization of power resources and uses. Cooperation among different micro-grids brings the interconnectivity and power trading issues. According to the literature, it shows that open area of research is available for cooperative micro-grids energy trading. In this paper, we proposed and formulated the efficient energy management/trading module for interconnected micro-grids. It is believed that this research will open new directions in future for energy trading in cooperative micro-grids/interconnected micro-grids.

Keywords: distributed energy management, information and communication technologies, microgrid, energy management

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Authors: Felix Darko-Amoah, Daniel Acquah

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In contemporary ecosystems for developing countries like Ghana, the need to explore innovative solutions for sustainable livelihoods of farmers is more important than ever. With Ghana’s population growing steadily and the demand for food, fiber and shelter increasing, it is imperative that the construction industry and agriculture come together to address the challenges faced by farmers in the country. In order to enhance the livelihoods of cocoa farmers in Ghana, this paper provides an innovative strategy that aims to integrate the areas of civil engineering and cash crop agriculture. This study focuses on cocoa cultivation in poorer nations, where farmers confront a variety of difficulties include restricted access to financing, subpar infrastructure, and insufficient support services. We seek to improve farmers' access to financing, improve infrastructure, and provide support services that are essential to their success by combining the fields of building engineering and cocoa production. The findings of the study are beneficial to cocoa producers, community extension agents, and construction engineers. In order to accomplish our objectives, we conducted 307 of field investigations in particular cocoa growing communities in the Western Region of Ghana. Several studies have shown that there is a lack of adequate infrastructure and financing, leading to low yields, subpar beans, and low farmer profitability in developing nations like Ghana. Our goal is to give farmers access to better infrastructure, better financing, and support services that are crucial to their success through the fusion of construction engineering and cocoa production. Based on data gathered from the field investigations, the results show that the employment of appropriate technology and methods for developing structures, roads, and other infrastructure in rural regions is one of the essential components of this strategy. For instance, we find that using affordable, environmentally friendly materials like bamboo, rammed earth, and mud bricks can assist to cut expenditures while also protecting the environment. By applying simple relational techniques to the data gathered, the results also show that construction engineers are crucial in planning and building infrastructure that is appropriate for the local environment and circumstances and resilient to natural disasters like floods. Thus, the convergence of construction engineering and cash crop cultivation is another crucial component of the agriculture-construction interplay. For instance, farmers can receive financial assistance to buy essential inputs, such as seeds, fertilizer, and tools, as well as training in proper farming methods. Moreover, extension services can be offered to assist farmers in marketing their crops and enhancing their livelihoods and revenue. In conclusion, our analysis of responses from the 307 participants depicts that the combination of construction engineering and cash crop agriculture offers an innovative approach to improving farmers' livelihoods in cocoa farming communities in Ghana. In conclusion, by inculcating the findings of this study into core decision-making, policymakers can help farmers build sustainable and profitable livelihoods by addressing challenges such as limited access to financing, poor infrastructure, and inadequate support services.

Keywords: cocoa agriculture, construction engineering, farm buildings and equipment, improved livelihoods of farmers

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Authors: Nazeema Ahmed

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This paper reports on the development of a student peer mentoring programme at a higher education institution. The programme is dependent on volunteering senior undergraduate students who are trained to mentor first-year students studying towards an engineering degree. The evaluation of the programme took the form of first-year students completing a self-report paper questionnaire at the onset of a lecture and mentors completing their questionnaire electronically. The evaluation yielded mixed findings. Peer mentoring clearly benefited some students in their adjustment to the institution. Specific mentors’ personal attributes enabled the establishment of successful mentoring relationships, where encouragement, advice and academic assistance was provided. Gains were reciprocal with mentors reporting that the programme contributed towards their personal development. Confidence in the programme was expressed in mentors feeling that it was an initiative worth continuing and first-year students agreeing that it be recommended to future first-year students. This was despite many unfavourable experiences of mentors where their professionalism and commitment to the programme was suspect. It is evident that while mentors began with noble intentions they appear either to lose interest or become overwhelmed with their own workload as the academic year progresses. On the other hand, some mentors reported feeling challenged by the apathy of first-year students who failed to maximise the opportunity available to them. The different attitudes towards mentoring that manifested as a mentoring culture in some departments were particularly pertinent to its successful implementation. The findings point to the key role of academic staff in the mentoring programme who model the mentoring relationship in their interaction with student mentors. While their involvement in the programme may be perceived as a drain on resources in an already demanding academic teaching environment, it is imperative that structural changes be put in place for the programme to be both efficient and sustainable. A pervasive finding concerns the evolving institutional culture of student development in the faculty. Mentors and first-year students alike alluded to the potential of the mentoring programme provided it is seriously endorsed at both the departmental and faculty level. The findings provide a foundation from which to develop the programme further and to begin improving its capacity for maximizing student retention in South African higher education.

Keywords: engineering students, first-year students, peer mentoring

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Authors: Manisha Bal, Remya Chinnamma Jose, B.C. Meikap

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Dust particles suspended in air are a major source of air pollution. A self-priming submerged venturi scrubber proven very effective in cases of handling nuclear power plant accidents is an efficient device to remove dust particles from the air and thus aids in pollution control. Venturi scrubbers are compact, have a simple mode of operation, no moving parts, easy to install and maintain when compared to other pollution control devices and can handle high temperatures and corrosive and flammable gases and dust particles. In the present paper, fly ash particles recognized as a high air pollutant substance emitted mostly from thermal power plants is considered as the dust particle. Its exposure through skin contact, inhalation and indigestion can lead to health risks and in severe cases can even root to lung cancer. The main focus of this study is on the removal of fly ash particles from polluted air using a self-priming venturi scrubber in submerged conditions using water as the scrubbing liquid. The venturi scrubber comprising of three sections: converging section, throat and diverging section is submerged inside a water tank. The liquid enters the throat due to the pressure difference composed of the hydrostatic pressure of the liquid and static pressure of the gas. The high velocity dust particles atomize the liquid droplets at the throat and this interaction leads to its absorption into water and thus removal of fly ash from the air. Detailed investigation on the scrubbing of fly ash has been done in this literature. Experiments were conducted at different throat gas velocities, water levels and fly ash inlet concentrations to study the fly ash removal efficiency. From the experimental results, the highest fly ash removal efficiency of 99.78% is achieved at the throat gas velocity of 58 m/s, water level of height 0.77m with fly ash inlet concentration of 0.3 x10⁻³ kg/Nm³ in the submerged condition. The effect of throat gas velocity, water level and fly ash inlet concentration on the removal efficiency has also been evaluated. Furthermore, experimental results of removal efficiency are validated with the developed empirical model.

Keywords: dust particles, fly ash, pollution control, self-priming venturi scrubber

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Authors: Weber-Lewerenz Bianca

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Digitization is developing fast and has become a powerful tool for digital planning, construction, and operations. Its transformation bears high potentials for companies, is critical for success, and thus, requires responsible handling. This study provides an assessment of calls made in the sustainable development goals by the United Nations (SDGs), White Papers on AI by international institutions, EU-Commission and German Government requesting for the consideration and protection of values and fundamental rights, the careful demarcation between machine (artificial) and human intelligence and the careful use of such technologies. The study discusses digitization and the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) in construction engineering from an ethical perspective by generating data via conducting case studies and interviewing experts as part of the qualitative method. This research evaluates critically opportunities and risks revolving around corporate digital responsibility (CDR) in the construction industry. To the author's knowledge, no study has set out to investigate how CDR in construction could be conceptualized, especially in relation to the digitization and AI, to mitigate digital transformation both in large, medium-sized, and small companies. No study addressed the key research question: Where can CDR be allocated, how shall its adequate ethical framework be designed to support digital innovations in order to make full use of the potentials of digitization and AI? Now is the right timing for constructive approaches and apply ethics-by-design in order to develop and implement a safe and efficient AI. This represents the first study in construction engineering applying a holistic, interdisciplinary, inclusive approach to provide guidelines for orientation, examine benefits of AI and define ethical principles as the key driver for success, resources-cost-time efficiency, and sustainability using digital technologies and AI in construction engineering to enhance digital transformation. Innovative corporate organizations starting new business models are more likely to succeed than those dominated by conservative, traditional attitudes.

Keywords: construction engineering, digitization, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, ethics, corporate digital responsibility, digital innovation

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Authors: Zarabizan Zakaria, Hayati Zainal

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The construction industry is one of the most important sectors that contribute to the nation’s economy and catalyze towards the growth of other industries. However, some construction projects have not been completed on its stipulated time and duration, scope and budget due to several factors. This problem arises due to the weaknesses of human factors, especially from ineffective leadership quality practiced by project managers and contractors in managing project teams. Therefore, a construction project should impose the element of Project Team. The project team is formed in the implementation of the project which includes the project brief, project scope, customer requirements and provided designs. Many organizations in the construction sector use teams to meet today's global competition and customer expectations, however, team effectiveness evaluation is required. In insuring the construction team is successful and effectiveness, the construction department must encourage, measure, set up, and evaluate or review the effectiveness of project team that was formed. In order to produce a better outcome for a high-end project, an effective and efficient project team is required which also help in increasing overall productivity. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of team effectiveness in the construction project team based on the overall construction project performance. It examines several different factors which related to team effectiveness. It also examines the relationship between team effectiveness factor and project performance aspect. Team Effect Review and Project Performance Review are developed to be used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using several statistical tests. Results obtained from data analysis are validated using semi-structured interviews. Besides that, a comprehensive survey were developed to assess the way construction project teams in order to maintain its effectiveness throughout the project phase. In order to determine a project successful it has been found that Project Team Leadership is the most important factor. In addition, the definition of team effectiveness in the construction project team is developed based on the perspective of project clients and project team members. The results of this study are expected to provide an idea on the factors that are needed to be focused on improving the team's effectiveness towards project performance aspects. At the same time, the definition of team effectiveness from team members and owner views has been developed in order to provide a better understanding of the word team's effectiveness in construction projects.

Keywords: project team, leadership, construction project, project successful

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Authors: Yahaya Abdullahi Adadu, Canice Erunke Esidene

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The problems of socio-economic development have been a major challenge bedeviling the Nigerian post-colonial state since her political independence from Britain in October I,1960. Critics have argued that the dilemma of Nigeria’s economic survival started since the early 1970s when the agricultural sector which supposedly was the economic mainstay has been literally substituted with the gains of the oil petro-dollars coming from the foreign exchange earnings. Agriculture therefore, which used to be a major player in terms of human and national upliftment in Nigeria have been given a back seat while oil and gas has taken over the front burner in virtually every aspect of Nigeria’s national life. This study is therefore an exposition of the efforts of the Nasarawa state government in reversing the dangerous trend in which the over reliance on oil wealth has caused to persons, individuals and groups in terms of the prevailing levels of poverty and other attendant vices therein. The study focuses on the management policies of the various regimes in the state since its inception in 1996, with particular reference to the regime types-military and civilian alike in propelling the needed policy change, which could transform the economy in line with international best practices. Particular emphasis will be paid to the BADA-KOSHI agricultural scheme whose interest was to recover the lost glory of rural agriculture through series of roots and tuber expansion, and particularly such crops as yam minissetts, cassava, sweet potatoes and coco-yam, respectively. The paper covers the period between 1996 -2011, a period considered to be critical in the agricultural revolution of the state. The study adopts a theoretical approach via secondary methods of analysis for the efficient explanations of the burning issues under consideration. The paper sums up with policy recommendations and conclusion.

Keywords: poverty, agriculture, Badakoshi, rural policy management

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Authors: Monica Arnaudo, Monika Topel, Bjorn Laumert

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Within the Swedish context, the current trend of relatively low electricity prices promotes the electrification of the energy infrastructure. The residential heating sector takes part in this transition by proposing a switch from a centralized district heating system towards a distributed heat pumps-based setting. When it comes to urban environments, two issues arise. The first, seen from an electricity-sector perspective, is related to the fact that existing networks are limited with regards to their installed capacities. Additional electric loads, such as heat pumps, can cause severe overloads on crucial network elements. The second, seen from a heating-sector perspective, has to do with the fact that the indoor comfort conditions can become difficult to handle when the operation of the heat pumps is limited by a risk of overloading on the distribution grid. Furthermore, the uncertainty of the electricity market prices in the future introduces an additional variable. This study aims at assessing the extent to which distributed heat pumps can penetrate an existing heat energy network while respecting the technical limitations of the electricity grid and the thermal comfort levels in the buildings. In order to account for the multi-disciplinary nature of this research question, a cosimulation modeling approach was adopted. In this way, each energy technology is modeled in its customized simulation environment. As part of the cosimulation methodology: a steady-state power flow analysis in pandapower was used for modeling the electrical distribution grid, a thermal balance model of a reference building was implemented in EnergyPlus to account for space heating and a fluid-cycle model of a heat pump was implemented in JModelica to account for the actual heating technology. With the models set in place, different scenarios based on forecasted electricity market prices were developed both for present and future conditions of Hammarby Sjöstad, a neighborhood located in the south-east of Stockholm (Sweden). For each scenario, the technical and the comfort conditions were assessed. Additionally, the average cost of heat generation was estimated in terms of levelized cost of heat. This indicator enables a techno-economic comparison study among the different scenarios. In order to evaluate the levelized cost of heat, a yearly performance simulation of the energy infrastructure was implemented. The scenarios related to the current electricity prices show that distributed heat pumps can replace the district heating system by covering up to 30% of the heating demand. By lowering of 2°C, the minimum accepted indoor temperature of the apartments, this level of penetration can increase up to 40%. Within the future scenarios, if the electricity prices will increase, as most likely expected within the next decade, the penetration of distributed heat pumps can be limited to 15%. In terms of levelized cost of heat, a residential heat pump technology becomes competitive only within a scenario of decreasing electricity prices. In this case, a district heating system is characterized by an average cost of heat generation 7% higher compared to a distributed heat pumps option.

Keywords: cosimulation, distributed heat pumps, district heating, electrical distribution grid, integrated energy systems

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Authors: Salami Abiodun Olusola, Bankole Faith Ayobami

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Agro-wastes are wastes produced from various agricultural activities and include manures, corncob, plant stalks, hulls, leaves, sugarcane bagasse, oil-palm spadix, and rice bran. In farming situation, the agro-waste is often useless and, thus, discarded. Huge quantities of waste resources generated from Nigerian agriculture could be converted to more useful forms of energy, which could contribute to the country’s primary energy needs and reduce problems associated with waste management. Accumulation of agro-wastes may cause health, safety, and environmental concern. However, biotechnological use of agro-waste could enhance food security through its bioconversion to useful renewable energy. Mushrooms are saprophytes which feed by secreting extracellular enzymes, digesting food externally, and absorb the nutrients in net-like hyphae. Therefore, mushrooms could be exploited for bioconversion of the cheap and numerous agro-wastes for providing nutritious food for animals, human and carbon recycling. The study investigated the bioconversion potentials of Pleurotus florida on agro-wastes using a simple and cost-effective biotechnological method. Four agro-wastes; corncobs, oil-palm spadix, corn straw, and sawdust, were composted and used as substrates while the biological efficiency (BE) and the nutritional composition of P. florida grown on the substrates were determined. Pleurotus florida contained 26.28-29.91% protein, 86.90-89.60% moisture, 0.48-0.91% fat, 19.64-22.82% fibre, 31.37-38.17% carbohydrate and 5.18-6.39% ash. The mineral contents ranged from 342-410 mg/100g Calcium, 1009-1133 mg/100g Phosphorus, 17-21 mg/100g Iron, 277-359 mg/100g Sodium, and 2088-2281 mg/100g Potassium. The highest yield and BE were obtained on corncobs (110 g, 55%), followed by oil-palm spadix (76.05 g, 38%), while the least BE was recorded on corn straw substrate (63.12 g, 31.56%). Utilization of the composted substrates yielded nutritional and edible mushrooms. The study presents biotechnological procedure for bioconversion of agro-wastes to edible and nutritious mushroom for efficient agro-wastes’ management, utilization, and recycling.

Keywords: agrowaste, bioconversion, biotechnology, utilization, recycling

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Authors: Nishanthi N. S., Srikanth Vedantam

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Intracellular delivery of materials has always proved to be a challenge in research and therapeutic applications. Usually, vector-based methods, such as liposomes and polymeric materials, and physical methods, such as electroporation and sonoporation have been used for introducing nucleic acids or proteins. Reliance on exogenous materials, toxicity, off-target effects was the short-comings of these methods. Microinjection was an alternative process which addressed the above drawbacks. However, its low throughput had hindered its adoption widely. Mechanical deformation of cells by squeezing them through constriction channel can cause the temporary development of pores that would facilitate non-targeted diffusion of materials. Advantages of this method include high efficiency in intracellular delivery, a wide choice of materials, improved viability and high throughput. This cell squeezing process can be studied deeper by employing simple models and efficient computational procedures. In our current work, we present a finite sized dissipative particle dynamics (FDPD) model to simulate the dynamics of the cell flowing through a constricted channel. The cell is modeled as a capsule with FDPD particles connected through a spring network to represent the membrane. The total energy of the capsule is associated with linear and radial springs in addition to constraint of the fixed area. By performing detailed simulations, we studied the strain on the membrane of the capsule for channels with varying constriction heights. The strain on the capsule membrane was found to be similar though the constriction heights vary. When strain on the membrane was correlated to the development of pores, we found higher porosity in capsule flowing in wider channel. This is due to localization of strain to a smaller region in the narrow constriction channel. But the residence time of the capsule increased as the channel constriction narrowed indicating that strain for an increased time will cause less cell viability.

Keywords: capsule, cell squeezing, dissipative particle dynamics, intracellular delivery, microfluidics, numerical simulations

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Authors: Ratul Das, Udit Narayan Das

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Surface imperviousness in urban area brings significant changes in storm water drainage systems and some recent studies reveals that the impervious surfaces that passes the storm water runoff directly to drainage systems through storm water collection systems, called directly connected impervious area (DCIA) is an effective parameter rather than total impervious areas (TIA) for computation of surface runoff. In the present study, extension of DCIA and TIA were computed for a small sub-urban area of Agartala, the capital of state Tripura. Total impervious surfaces covering the study area were identified on the existing storm water drainage map from landuse map of the study area in association with field assessments. Also, DCIA assessed through field survey were compared to DCIA computed by empirical relationships provided by other investigators. For the assessment of DCIA in the study area two methods were adopted. First, partitioning the study area into four drainage sub-zones based on average basin slope and laying of existing storm water drainage systems. In the second method, the entire study area was divided into small grids. Each grid or parcel comprised of 20m× 20m area. Total impervious surfaces were delineated from landuse map in association with on-site assessments for efficient determination of DCIA within each sub-area and grid. There was a wide variation in percent connectivity of TIA across each sub-drainage zone and grid. In the present study, total impervious area comprises 36.23% of the study area, in which 21.85% of the total study area is connected to storm water collection systems. Total pervious area (TPA) and others comprise 53.20% and 10.56% of the total area, respectively. TIA recorded by field assessment (36.23%) was considerably higher than that calculated from the available land use map (22%). From the analysis of recoded data, it is observed that the average percentage of connectivity (% DCIA with respect to TIA) is 60.31 %. The analysis also reveals that the observed DCIA lies below the line of optimal impervious surface connectivity for a sub-urban area provided by other investigators and which indicate the probable reason of water logging conditions in many parts of the study area during monsoon period.

Keywords: Drainage, imperviousness, runoff, storm water.

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Authors: Maxime Moreau, Silvère Baron, Jean-Marc Lobaccaro, Karine Charlet, Sébastien Menecier, Frédéric Perisse

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Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) is an ionized gas generated at atmospheric pressure with the temperature of heavy particles (molecules, ions, atoms) close to the room temperature. Recent studies have shown that both in-vitro and in-vivo plasma exposition to many cancer cell lines are efficient to induce the apoptotic way of cell death. In some other works, normal cell lines seem to be less impacted by plasma than cancer cell lines. This is called selectivity of plasma. It is highly likely that the generated RNOS (Reactive Nitrogen Oxygen Species) in the plasma jet, but also in the medium, play a key-role in this selectivity. In this study, two CAP devices will be compared to electrical power, chemical species composition and their efficiency to kill cancer cells. A particular focus on the action of hydrogen peroxide will be made. The experiments will take place as described next for both devices: electrical and spectroscopic characterization for different voltages, plasma treatment of normal and cancer cells to compare the CAP efficiency between cell lines and to show that death is induced by an oxidative stress. To enlighten the importance of hydrogen peroxide, an inhibitor of H2O2 will be added in cell culture medium before treatment and a comparison will be made between the results of cell viability in this case and those from a simple plasma exposition. Besides, H2O2 production will be measured by only treating medium with plasma. Cell lines will also be exposed to different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide in order to characterize the cytotoxic threshold for cells and to make a comparison with the quantity of H2O2 produced by CAP devices. Finally, the activity of catalase for different cell lines will be quantified. This enzyme is an important antioxidant agent against hydrogen peroxide. A correlation between cells response to plasma exposition and this activity could be a strong argument in favor of the predominant role of H2O2 to explain the selectivity of plasma cancer treatment by cold atmospheric plasma.

Keywords: cold atmospheric plasma, hydrogen peroxide, prostate cancer, selectivity

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Authors: N. N. Mosola, S. J. Molete, L. S. Masoebe, M. Letsae

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Hand gesture recognition is a technique used to locate, detect, and recognize a hand gesture. Detection and recognition are concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI concepts are applicable in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Expert systems (ES), etc. Hand gesture recognition can be used in sign language interpretation. Sign language is a visual communication tool. This tool is used mostly by deaf societies and those with speech disorder. Communication barriers exist when societies with speech disorder interact with others. This research aims to build a hand recognition system for Lesotho’s Sesotho and English language interpretation. The system will help to bridge the communication problems encountered by the mentioned societies. The system has various processing modules. The modules consist of a hand detection engine, image processing engine, feature extraction, and sign recognition. Detection is a process of identifying an object. The proposed system uses Canny pruning Haar and Haarcascade detection algorithms. Canny pruning implements the Canny edge detection. This is an optimal image processing algorithm. It is used to detect edges of an object. The system employs a skin detection algorithm. The skin detection performs background subtraction, computes the convex hull, and the centroid to assist in the detection process. Recognition is a process of gesture classification. Template matching classifies each hand gesture in real-time. The system was tested using various experiments. The results obtained show that time, distance, and light are factors that affect the rate of detection and ultimately recognition. Detection rate is directly proportional to the distance of the hand from the camera. Different lighting conditions were considered. The more the light intensity, the faster the detection rate. Based on the results obtained from this research, the applied methodologies are efficient and provide a plausible solution towards a light-weight, inexpensive system which can be used for sign language interpretation.

Keywords: canny pruning, hand recognition, machine learning, skin tracking

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Authors: Naijin Wu, Peizhong Li, Haijian Wang, Wenxia Wei, Yun Song

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Chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) pollution poses a severe threat to human health and is persistent in groundwater. Although chemical reduction or bioremediation is effective, it is still hard to achieve their complete and rapid dechlorination. Recently, the combination of zero-valent iron and biostimulation has been considered to be one of the most promising strategies, but field studies of this technology are scarce. In a typical site contaminated by various types of CAHs, basic physicochemical parameters of groundwater, CAHs and their product concentrations, and microbial abundance and diversity were monitored after a remediation slurry containing both micron zero-valent iron (mZVI) and biostimulation components were directly injected into the aquifer. Results showed that groundwater could form and keep low oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), a neutral pH, and anoxic conditions after different degrees of fluctuations, which was benefit for the reductive dechlorination of CAHs. The injection also caused an obvious increase in the total organic carbon (TOC) concentration and sulfate reduction. After 253 days post-injection, the mean concentration of total chlorinated ethylene (CEE) from two monitoring wells decreased from 304 μg/L to 8 μg/L, and total chlorinated ethane (CEA) decreased from 548 μg/L to 108 μg/L. Occurrence of chloroethane (CA) suggested that hydrogenolysis dechlorination was one of the main degradation pathways for CEA, and also hints that biological dechlorination was activated. A significant increase of ethylene at day 67 post-injection indicated that dechlorination was complete. Additionally, the total bacterial counts increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude after 253 days post-injection. And the microbial species richness decreased and gradually changed to anaerobic/fermentative bacteria. The relative abundance of potential degradation bacteria increased corresponding to the degradation of CAHs. This work demonstrates that mZVI and biostimulation can be combined to achieve the efficient removal of various CAHs from contaminated groundwater sources.

Keywords: chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, groundwater, field study, zero-valent iron, biostimulation

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Authors: Sardar Khana, Zar Ali Khana

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Rapid industrial development and urbanization contribute a lot to wastewater discharge. The wastewater enters into natural aquatic ecosystems from industrial activities and considers as one of the main sources of water pollution. Discharge of effluents loaded with heavy metals into the surrounding environment has become a key issue regarding human health risk, environment, and food chain contamination. Nickel causes fatigue, cancer, headache, heart problems, skin diseases (Nickel Itch), and respiratory disorders. Nickel compounds such as Nickel Sulfide and Nickel oxides in industrial environment, if inhaled, have an association with an increased risk of lung cancer. Therefore the removal of Nickel from effluents before discharge is necessary. Removal of Nickel by low-cost biosorbents is an efficient method. This study was aimed to investigate the efficiency of activated carbon and Pinusroxburgiisaw dust for the removal of Nickel from industrial effluents using commercial Activated Carbon, and raw P.roxburgii saw dust. Batch and column adsorption experiments were conducted for the removal of Nickel. The study conducted indicates that removal of Nickel greatly dependent on pH, contact time, Nickel concentration, and adsorbent dose. Maximum removal occurred at pH 9, contact time of 600 min, and adsorbent dose of 1 g/100 mL. The highest removal was 99.62% and 92.39% (pH based), 99.76% and 99.9% (dose based), 99.80% and 100% (agitation time), 92% and 72.40% (Ni Conc. based) for P.roxburgii saw dust and activated Carbon, respectively. Similarly, the Ni removal in column adsorption was 99.77% and 99.99% (bed height based), 99.80% and 99.99% (Concentration based), 99.98%, and 99.81% (flow rate based) during column studies for Nickel using P.Roxburgiisaw dust and activated carbon, respectively. Results were compared with Freundlich isotherm model, which showed “r2” values of 0.9424 (Activated carbon) and 0.979 (P.RoxburgiiSaw Dust). While Langmuir isotherm model values were 0.9285 (Activated carbon) and 0.9999 (P.RoxburgiiSaw Dust), the experimental results were fitted to both the models. But the results were in close agreement with Langmuir isotherm model.

Keywords: nickel removal, batch, and column, activated carbon, saw dust, plant uptake

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Authors: Mohammed Seyam, Faridah Othman, Ahmed El-Shafie

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The early warning of high stream flow events (HSF) and floods is an important aspect in the management of surface water and rivers systems. This process can be performed using either process-based models or data driven-based models such as artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. The main goal of this study is to develop efficient AI-based model for predicting the real-time hourly stream flow (Q) and apply it as early warning tool of HSF and floods in the downstream area of the Selangor River basin, taken here as a paradigm of humid tropical rivers in Southeast Asia. The performance of AI-based models has been improved through the integration of the lag time (Lt) estimation in the modelling process. A total of 8753 patterns of Q, water level, and rainfall hourly records representing one-year period (2011) were utilized in the modelling process. Six hydrological scenarios have been arranged through hypothetical cases of input variables to investigate how the changes in RF intensity in upstream stations can lead formation of floods. The initial SF was changed for each scenario in order to include wide range of hydrological situations in this study. The performance evaluation of the developed AI-based model shows that high correlation coefficient (R) between the observed and predicted Q is achieved. The AI-based model has been successfully employed in early warning throughout the advance detection of the hydrological conditions that could lead to formations of floods and HSF, where represented by three levels of severity (i.e., alert, warning, and danger). Based on the results of the scenarios, reaching the danger level in the downstream area required high RF intensity in at least two upstream areas. According to results of applications, it can be concluded that AI-based models are beneficial tools to the local authorities for flood control and awareness.

Keywords: floods, stream flow, hydrological modelling, hydrology, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Radwa Elshorbagy, Alaa Elden Balbaa, Khaled Ayad, Waleed Reda

Abstract:

Introduction: Ankle sprain is a common lower limb injury that is complicated by high recurrence rate. The cause of recurrence is not clear; however, changes in motor control have been postulated. Objective: to determine the contribution of proximal hip strategy to dynamic postural control in patients with recurrent ankle sprain. Methods: Fifteen subjects with recurrent ankle sprain (group A) and fifteen healthy control subjects (group B) participated in this study. Abductor-adductors as well as flexor-extensor hip musculatures control was abolished by fatigue using the Biodex Isokinetic System. Dynamic postural control was measured before and after fatigue by the Biodex Balance System. Results: Repeated measures MANOVA was used to compare between and within group differences, in group A fatiguing of hip muscles (flexors-extensors and abductors-adductors) increased overall stability index (OASI), anteroposterior stability index (APSI) and mediolateral stability index (MLSI) significantly (p=0.00) whereas; in group B fatiguing of hip flexors-extensors increased significantly OASI and APSI only (p= 0.017, 0.010; respectively) while fatiguing of hip abductors-adductors has no significant effect on these variables. Moreover, patients with ankle sprain had significantly lower dynamic balance after hip muscles fatigue compared to the control group. Specifically, after hip flexor-extensor fatigue, the OASI, APSI and MLSI were increased significantly than those of the control values (p= 0.002, 0.011, and 0.003, respectively) whereas fatiguing of hip abductors-adductors increased significantly in OASI and APSI only (p=0.012, 0.026, respectively). Conclusion: To maintain dynamic balance, patients with recurrent ankle sprain seem to rely more on the hip strategy. This means that those patients depend on a top to down instead of down to top strategy clinical relevance: patients with recurrent ankle sprain less efficient in maintaining the dynamic postural control due to the change in motor strategies. Indicating that health care providers and rehabilitation specialists should treat CAI as a global/central and not just as a simple local or peripheral injury.

Keywords: hip strategy, ankle strategy, postural control, dynamic balance

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Authors: Christos Konstantopoulos, Thomas Ussmueller

Abstract:

Digital low drop-out regulators, in contrast to analog counterparts, provide an architecture of sub-1 V regulation with low power consumption, high power efficiency, and system integration. Towards an optimized integration in the ultra-low-power system-on-chip Internet of Things architecture that is operated through a radio frequency energy harvesting scheme, the D-LDO regulator should constitute the main regulator that operates the master-clock and rest loads of the SoC. In this context, we present a D-LDO with linear search coarse regulation and asynchronous fine regulation, which incorporates an in-regulator clock generation unit that provides an autonomous, self-start-up, and power-efficient D-LDO design. In contrast to contemporary D-LDO designs that employ ring-oscillator architecture which start-up time is dependent on the frequency, this work presents a fast start-up burst oscillator based on a high-gain stage with wake-up time independent of coarse regulation frequency. The design is implemented in a 55-nm Global Foundries CMOS process. With the purpose to validate the self-start-up capability of the presented D-LDO in the presence of ultra-low input power, an on-chip test-bench with an RF rectifier is implemented as well, which provides the RF to DC operation and feeds the D-LDO. Power efficiency and load regulation curves of the D-LDO are presented as extracted from the RF to regulated DC operation. The D-LDO regulator presents 83.6 % power efficiency during the RF to DC operation with a 3.65 uA load current and voltage regulator referred input power of -27 dBm. It succeeds 486 nA maximum quiescent current with CL 75 pF, the maximum current efficiency of 99.2%, and 1.16x power efficiency improvement compared to analog voltage regulator counterpart oriented to SoC IoT loads. Complementary, the transient performance of the D-LDO is evaluated under the transient droop test, and the achieved figure-of-merit is compared with state-of-art implementations.

Keywords: D-LDO, Internet of Things, RF energy harvesting, voltage regulators

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Authors: Jungyeol Hong, Dongjoo Park

Abstract:

The primary purpose of this study is to develop a methodological framework to predict daily subway ridership at a station-level and to examine the association between subway ridership and bus demand incorporating commercial business facility in the vicinity of each subway station. The socio-economic characteristics, land-use, and built environment as factors may have an impact on subway ridership. However, it should be considered not only the endogenous relationship between bus and subway demand but also the characteristics of commercial business within a subway station’s sphere of influence, and integrated transit network topology. Regarding a statistical approach to estimate subway ridership at a station level, therefore it should be considered endogeneity and heteroscedastic issues which might have in the subway ridership prediction model. This study focused on both discovering the impacts of bus demand, commercial business characteristics, and network topology on subway ridership and developing more precise subway ridership estimation accounting for its statistical bias. The spatial scope of the study covers entire Seoul city in South Korea and includes 243 stations with the temporal scope set at twenty-four hours with one-hour interval time panels each. The data for subway and bus ridership was collected Seoul Smart Card data from 2015 and 2016. Three-Stage Least Square(3SLS) approach was applied to develop daily subway ridership model as capturing the endogeneity and heteroscedasticity between bus and subway demand. Independent variables incorporating in the modeling process were commercial business characteristics, social-economic characteristics, safety index, transit facility attributes, and dummies for seasons and time zone. As a result, it was found that bus ridership and subway ridership were endogenous each other and they had a significantly positive sign of coefficients which means one transit mode could increase another transportation mode’s ridership. In other words, two transit modes of subway and bus have a mutual relationship instead of the competitive relationship. The commercial business characteristics are the most critical dimension among the independent variables. The variables of commercial business facility rate in the paper containing six types; medical, educational, recreational, financial, food service, and shopping. From the model result, a higher rate in medical, financial buildings, shopping, and food service facility lead to increment of subway ridership at a station, while recreational and educational facility shows lower subway ridership. The complex network theory was applied for estimating integrated network topology measures that cover the entire Seoul transit network system, and a framework for seeking an impact on subway ridership. The centrality measures were found to be significant and showed a positive sign indicating higher centrality led to more subway ridership at a station level. The results of model accuracy tests by out of samples provided that 3SLS model has less mean square error rather than OLS and showed the methodological approach for the 3SLS model was plausible to estimate more accurate subway ridership. Acknowledgement: This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2017R1C1B2010175).

Keywords: subway ridership, bus ridership, commercial business characteristic, endogeneity, network topology

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Authors: Ashlie Latiolais

Abstract:

Architecture, as a discipline, is on a trajectory of extension beyond the boundaries of buildings and, more increasingly, is coupled with research that connects to alternative and typically disjointed disciplines. A “both/and” approach and (expanded) definition of architecture, as depicted here, expands the margins that contain the profession. Figuratively, architecture is a series of edges, events, and occurrences that establishes a choreography or stage by which humanity exists. The way in which architecture controls and suggests the movement through these spaces, being within a landscape, city, or building, can be viewed as a datum by which the “dance” of everyday life occurs. This submission views the realm of architecture through the lens of movement and dance as a cross-fertilizer of collaboration, tectonic, and spatial geometry investigations. “Designing on digital programs puts architects at a distance from the spaces they imagine. While this has obvious advantages, it also means that they lose the lived, embodied experience of feeling what is needed in space—meaning that some design ideas that work in theory ultimately fail in practice.” By studying the body in motion through real-time performance, a more holistic understanding of architectural space surfaces and new prospects for theoretical teaching pedagogies emerge. The atypical intersection rethinks how architecture is considered, created, and tested, similar to how “dance artists often do this by thinking through the body, opening pathways and possibilities that might not otherwise be accessible” –this is the essence of this poster submission as explained through unFOLDED, a creative performance work. A new languageismaterialized through unFOLDED, a dynamic occupiable installation by which architecture is investigated through dance, movement, and body analysis. The entry unfolds a collaboration of an architect, dance choreographer, musicians, video artist, and lighting designers to re-create one of the first documented avant-garde performing arts collaborations (Matisse, Satie, Massine, Picasso) from the Ballet Russes in 1917, entitled Parade. Architecturally, this interdisciplinary project orients and suggests motion through structure, tectonic, lightness, darkness, and shadow as it questions the navigation of the dark space (stage) surrounding the installation. Artificial light via theatrical lighting and video graphics brought the blank canvas to life – where the sensitive mix of musicality coordinated with the structure’s movement sequencing was certainly a challenge. The upstage light from the video projections created both flickered contextual imagery and shadowed figures. When the dancers were either upstage or downstage of the structure, both silhouetted figures and revealed bodies are experienced as dancer-controlled installation manipulations occurred throughout the performance. The experimental performance, through structure, prompted moving (dancing) bodies in space, where the architecture served as a key component to the choreography itself. The tectonic of the delicate steel structure allowed for the dancers to interact with the installation, which created a variety of spatial conditions – the contained box of three-dimensional space, to a wall, and various abstracted geometries in between. The development of this research unveils the new role of an Architect as a Choreographer of the built environment.

Keywords: dance, architecture, choreography, installation, architect, choreographer, space

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Authors: Tania Viju, Bimal P., Naseer M. A.

Abstract:

This study aims to develop a conceptual framework for the decision support system (DSS), that helps the decision-makers to dynamically choose appropriate safety measures for each identified accident blackspot. An accident blackspot is a segment of road where the frequency of accident occurrence is disproportionately greater than other sections on roadways. According to a report by the World Bank, India accounts for the highest, that is, eleven percent of the global death in road accidents with just one percent of the world’s vehicles. Hence in 2015, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India gave prime importance to the rectification of accident blackspots. To enhance road traffic safety and reduce the traffic accident rate, effectively identifying and rectifying accident blackspots is of great importance. This study helps to understand and evaluate the existing methods in accident blackspot identification and prediction that are used around the world and their application in Indian roadways. The decision support system, with the help of IoT, ICT and smart systems, acts as a management and planning tool for the government for employing efficient and cost-effective rectification strategies. In order to develop a decision criterion, several factors in terms of quantitative as well as qualitative data that influence the safety conditions of the road are analyzed. Factors include past accident severity data, occurrence time, light, weather and road conditions, visibility, driver conditions, junction type, land use, road markings and signs, road geometry, etc. The framework conceptualizes decision-making by classifying blackspot stretches based on factors like accident occurrence time, different climatic and road conditions and suggesting mitigation measures based on these identified factors. The decision support system will help the public administration dynamically manage and plan the necessary safety interventions required to enhance the safety of the road network.

Keywords: decision support system, dynamic management, road accident blackspots, road safety

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Authors: Shima Fasahat

Abstract:

This research is an experimental research which was done about microbial fuel cells in order to study them for electricity generating and wastewater treatment. These days, it is very important to find new, clean and sustainable ways for energy supplying. Because of this reason there are many researchers around the world who are studying about new and sustainable energies. There are different ways to produce these kind of energies like: solar cells, wind turbines, geothermal energy, fuel cells and many other ways. Fuel cells have different types one of these types is microbial fuel cell. In this research, an MFC was built in order to study how it can be used for electricity generating and wastewater treatment. The microbial fuel cell which was used in this research is a reactor that has two tanks with a catalyst solution. The chemical reaction in microbial fuel cells is a redox reaction. The microbial fuel cell in this research is a two chamber MFC. Anode chamber is an anaerobic one (ABR reactor) and the other chamber is a cathode chamber. Anode chamber consists of stabilized sludge which is the source of microorganisms that do redox reaction. The main microorganisms here are: Propionibacterium and Clostridium. The electrodes of anode chamber are graphite pages. Cathode chamber consists of graphite page electrodes and catalysts like: O₂, KMnO₄ and C₆N₆FeK₄. The membrane which separates the chambers is Nafion117. The reason of choosing this membrane is explained in the complete paper. The main goal of this research is to generate electricity and treating wastewater. It was found that when you use electron receptor compounds like: O_2, MnO₄, C₆N₆FeK₄ the velocity of electron receiving speeds up and in a less time more current will be achieved. It was found that the best compounds for this purpose are compounds which have iron in their chemical formula. It is also important to pay attention to the amount of nutrients which enters to bacteria chamber. By adding extra nutrients in some cases the result will be reverse.  By using ABR the amount of chemical oxidation demand reduces per day till it arrives to a stable amount.

Keywords: anaerobic baffled reactor, bioenergy, electrode, energy efficient, microbial fuel cell, renewable chemicals, sustainable

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Authors: Anna Carolina De Paula Sermarini, Rodrigo Flora Calili

Abstract:

Energy Efficiency (EE) needs investments, new technologies, greater awareness and management on the side of citizens and organizations, and more planning. However, this issue is usually remembered and discussed only in moments of energy crises, and opportunities are missed to take better advantage of the potential of EE in the various sectors of the economy. In addition, there is little concern about the subject among the less favored classes, especially in low-income communities. Accordingly, this article presents suggestions for public policies that aim to increase EE for low-income housing and communities based on international and national experiences. After reviewing the literature, eight policies were listed, and to evaluate them; a multicriteria decision model was developed using the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) methods, combined with fuzzy logic. Nine experts analyzed the policies according to 9 criteria: economic impact, social impact, environmental impact, previous experience, the difficulty of implementation, possibility/ease of monitoring and evaluating the policies, expected impact, political risks, and public governance and sustainability of the sector. The results found in order of preference are (i) Incentive program for equipment replacement; (ii) Community awareness program; (iii) EE Program with a greater focus on low income; (iv) Staggered and compulsory certification of social interest buildings; (v) Programs for the expansion of smart metering, energy monitoring and digitalization; (vi) Financing program for construction and retrofitting of houses with the emphasis on EE; (vii) Income tax deduction for investment in EE projects in low-income households made by companies; (viii) White certificates of energy for low-income. First, the policy of equipment substitution has been employed in Brazil and the world and has proven effective in promoting EE. For implementation, efforts are needed from the federal and state governments, which can encourage companies to reduce prices, and provide some type of aid for the purchase of such equipment. In second place is the community awareness program, promoting socio-educational actions on EE concepts and with energy conservation tips. This policy is simple to implement and has already been used by many distribution utilities in Brazil. It can be carried out through bids defined by the government in specific areas, being executed by third sector companies with public and private resources. Third on the list is the proposal to continue the Energy Efficiency Program (which obliges electric energy companies to allocate resources for research in the area) by suggesting the return of the mandatory investment of 60% of the resources in projects for low income. It is also relatively simple to implement, requiring efforts by the federal government to make it mandatory, and on the part of the distributors, compliance is needed. The success of the suggestions depends on changes in the established rules and efforts from the interested parties. For future work, we suggest the development of pilot projects in low-income communities in Brazil and the application of other multicriteria decision support methods to compare the results obtained in this study.

Keywords: energy efficiency, low-income community, public policy, multicriteria decision making

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Authors: Maria Altamirano, Alfonso Duran

Abstract:

Biostimulation has recently become important in order to improve the stability and performance of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. This strategy involves the addition of nutrients or supplements to improve the rate of degradation of a native microbial consortium. With the aim of biostimulate sytrophism between secondary fermenting bacteria and methanogenic archaea, improving metabolite degradation and efficient conversion to methane, the addition of conductive materials, mainly carbon based have been studied. This research seeks to highlight the effect that coconut biochar (CBC) has on the metanogenic conversion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), analyzing the surface chemistry properties that give biochar its capacity to serve as a redox mediator in the anaerobic digestion process. The biochar characterization techniques were electrical conductivity (EC) scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV). Effect of coconut biochar addition was studied using Authomatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS II) applying a one-way variance analysis to determine the dose that leads to higher methane performance. The surface chemistry of the CBC could confer properties that enhance the AD process, such as the presence of alkaline and alkaline earth metals and their hydrophobicity that may be related to their buffering capacity and the adsorption of polar and non-polar compounds, such as NH4+ and CO2. It also has aromatic functional groups, just as quinones, whose potential as a redox mediator has been demonstrated and its morphology allows it to form an immobilizing matrix that favors a closer activity among the syntrophic microorganisms, which directly contributed in the oxidation of secondary metabolites and the final reduction to methane, whose yield is increased by 39% compared to controls, with a CBC dose of 1 g/L.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biochar, biostimulation, syntrophic metabolism

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Authors: María Dolores Caro, Eugenio M. Fedriani, Ángel F. Tenorio

Abstract:

The transportation of dangerous goods by lorries throughout Europe must be done by using the roads conforming the European Road Transport Network. In this network, there are several parking areas where lorry drivers can park to rest according to the regulations. According to the "European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road", parking areas where lorries transporting dangerous goods can park to rest, must follow several security stipulations to keep safe the rest of road users. At this respect, these lorries must be parked in adapted areas with strict and permanent surveillance measures. Moreover, drivers must satisfy several restrictions about resting and driving time. Under these facts, one may expect that there exist enough parking areas for the transport of this type of goods in order to obey the regulations prescribed by the European Union and its member countries. However, the already-existing parking areas are not sufficient to cover all the stops required by drivers transporting dangerous goods. Our main goal is, starting from the already-existing parking areas and the loading-and-unloading location, to provide an optimal answer to the following question: how many additional parking areas must be built and where must they be located to assure that lorry drivers can transport dangerous goods following all the stipulations about security and safety for their stops? The sense of the word “optimal” is due to the fact that we give a global solution for the location of parking areas throughout the whole European Road Transport Network, adjusting the number of additional areas to be as lower as possible. To do so, we have modeled the problem using graph theory since we are working with a road network. As nodes, we have considered the locations of each already-existing parking area, each loading-and-unloading area each road bifurcation. Each road connecting two nodes is considered as an edge in the graph whose weight corresponds to the distance between both nodes in the edge. By applying a new efficient algorithm, we have found the additional nodes for the network representing the new parking areas adapted for dangerous goods, under the fact that the distance between two parking areas must be less than or equal to 400 km.

Keywords: trans-european transport network, dangerous goods, parking areas, graph-based modeling

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Authors: Ahmet Erdoğan, Şahin Kesici, Mustafa Baloğlu

Abstract:

Information technologies have lead to changes in the areas of communication, learning, and teaching. Besides offering many opportunities to the learners, these technologies have changed the teaching methods and beliefs of teachers. What the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) means to the teachers is considerably important to integrate technology successfully into teaching processes. It is necessary to understand how to plan and apply teacher training programs in order to balance students’ pedagogical and technological knowledge. Because of many inefficient teacher training programs, teachers have difficulties in relating technology, pedagogy and content knowledge each other. While providing an efficient training supported with technology, understanding the three main components (technology, pedagogy and content knowledge) and their relationship are very crucial. The purpose of this study is to determine whether motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning strategies are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. A hundred seventy five Turkish mathematics teachers candidates responded to the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) Scale. Of the group, 129 (73.7%) were women and 46 (26.3%) were men. Participants' ages ranged from 20 to 31 years with a mean of 23.04 years (SD = 2.001). In this study, a multiple linear regression analysis was used. In multiple linear regression analysis, the relationship between the predictor variables, mathematics teacher candidates' motivational beliefs, and self-regulated learning strategies, and the dependent variable, TPACK perceptions, were tested. It was determined that self-efficacy for learning and performance and intrinsic goal orientation are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. Additionally, mathematics teacher candidates' critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, organisation, time and study environment management, and help-seeking were found to be significant predictors for their TPACK perceptions.

Keywords: candidate mathematics teachers, motivational beliefs, self-regulated learning strategies, technological and pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge

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Authors: Yanqing Yi, Maria Cristina Lavagnolo, Alessandro Manzardo

Abstract:

Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is a major challenge in the European Union, emphasizing the urgent need for appropriate waste management processes. Selecting these solutions is challenging, as it requires identifying efficient C&DW management techniques that balance acceptable practices, regulatory compliance, resource conservation, economic viability, and environmental concerns. Techniques for analyzing many kinds of criteria allow for the use of multi-criteria analysis in life cycle assessment (LCA). Although LCA is commonly used to analyze environmental effects, the economic factor has not been fully integrated into the LCA approach in C&DW management. The life cycle costing (LCC) approach was designed to assess economic performance in the C&DW management process. The choice of an effective multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique is critical for the C&DW system. This study seeks to propose a model that employs MCDM by considering LCA and LCC results, thereby augmenting both environmental and economic sustainability. A widely used compensatory MCDM technique, TOPSIS, has been chosen to identify the most effective C&DW management scheme by comparing and ranking various scenarios. Four waste management alternatives were examined in the Lombardy region of Italy, namely, (i) landfill; (ii) recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery; (iii) recycling for road construction; (iv) recycling for concrete production and road construction. We determine that, with the implementation of various scenarios, the most suitable scenario emerges to be recycled for concrete production and road construction, with a score of 0.711/1; recycling for road construction, with a final score of 0.291/1, ranks second; recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery scores 0.002/1, ranks third; and landfill (scores: 0/1) is the worst choice, indicating it has the highest environmental impact. Finally, suggestions were developed to improve the system's environmental performance.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, construction and demolition waste, multi-criteria decision making

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Authors: Tarana Siddika, Ilka U. Heinemann, Patrick O’Donoghue

Abstract:

Protein kinase B (AKT1) is a serine/threonine kinase and central transducer of cell survival pathways. Typical approaches to study AKT1 biology in cells rely on growth factor or insulin stimulation that activates AKT1 via phosphorylation at two key regulatory sites (Threonine308, Serine473), yet cell stimulation also activates many other kinases and fails to differentiate the effect of the two main activating sites of AKT1 on downstream substrate phosphorylation and cell growth. While both AKT1 activating sites are associated with disease and used as clinical markers, in some cancers, high levels of Threonine308 phosphorylation are associated with poor prognosis while in others poor survival correlates with high Serine473 levels. To produce cells with specific AKT1 activity, a system was developed to deliver active AKT1 to human cells. AKT1 phospho-variants were produced from Escherichia coli with programmed phosphorylation by genetic code expansion. Tagging of AKT1 with an N-terminal cell penetrating peptide tag derived from the human immunodeficiency virus trans-activator of transcription (TAT) helped to enter AKT1 proteins in mammalian cells. The TAT-tag did not alter AKT1 kinase activity and was necessary and sufficient to rapidly deliver AKT1 protein variants that persisted in human cells for 24 h without the need to use transfection reagents. TAT-pAKT1T308, TAT-pAKT1S473 and TAT-pAKT1T308S473 proteins induced selective phosphorylation of the known AKT1 substrate GSK-3αβ, and downstream stimulation of the AKT1 pathway as evidenced by phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 at Serine240/244 in transfected cells. Increase in cell growth and proliferation was observed due to the transfection of different phosphorylated AKT1 protein variants compared to cells with TAT-AKT1 protein. The data demonstrate efficient delivery of AKT1 with programmed phosphorylation to human cells, thus establishing a cell-based model system to investigate signaling that is dependent on specific AKT1 activity and phosphorylation.

Keywords: cell penetrating peptide, cell signaling, protein kinase b (AKT1), phosphorylation

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Authors: Radwa El Shorbagy, Alaa El Din Balbaa, Khaled Ayad, Waleed Reda

Abstract:

Introduction: Ankle sprain is a common lower limb injury that is complicated by high recurrence rate. The cause of recurrence is not clear; however, changes in motor control have been postulated. Objective: to determine the contribution of proximal hip strategy to dynamic postural control in patients with recurrent ankle sprain. Methods: Fifteen subjects with recurrent ankle sprain (group A) and fifteen healthy control subjects (group B) participated in this study. Abductor-adductors as well as flexor-extensor hip musculatures control was abolished by fatigue using the Biodex Isokinetic System. Dynamic postural control was measured before and after fatigue by the Biodex Balance System Results: Repeated measures MANOVA was used to compare between and within group differences, In group A fatiguing of hip muscles (flexors-extensors and abductors-adductors) increased overall stability index (OASI), anteroposterior stability index (APSI) and mediolateral stability index (MLSI) significantly (p= 0.00) whereas; in group B fatiguing of hip flexors-extensors increased significantly OASI and APSI only (p= 0.017, 0.010; respectively) while fatiguing of hip abductors-adductors has no significant effect on these variables. Moreover, patients with ankle sprain had significantly lower dynamic balance after hip muscles fatigue compared to the control group. Specifically, after hip flexor-extensor fatigue, the OASI, APSI and MLSI were increased significantly than those of the control values (p= 0.002, 0.011, and 0.003, respectively) whereas fatiguing of hip abductors-adductors increased significantly in OASI and APSI only (p=0.012, 0.026, respectively). Conclusion: To maintain dynamic balance, patients with recurrent ankle sprain seem to relay more on the hip strategy. This means that those patients depend on a top to down instead of down to top strategy clinical relevance: patients with recurrent ankle sprain less efficient in maintaining the dynamic postural control due to the change in motor strategies. Indicating that health care providers and rehabilitation specialists should treat CAI as a global/central and not just as a simple local or peripheral injury.

Keywords: ankle sprain, fatigue hip muscles, dynamic balance

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Authors: Sumanta Meher, Gaurav Shukla

Abstract:

The torments of the victims of terrorism have not only confined to loss of life and limp but also includes the physiological trauma to the innocent victims. The physical wounds may heal, but the trauma remains in the mind and heart of the victims and their loved ones; however, one should not deny that these terrorist activities affect to a major extent to their livelihood. To protect their human rights and restore the shattered lives of the victims of terrorism all the Nations beyond their differences have to show solidarity and frame a comprehensive restorative policy with an effective implementing mechanism. The General Assembly of United Nations, through its several resolutions, has appealed Nations to show solidarity and also committed to helping the Members State to frame the law and policy to support the victims of terrorism. To achieve the objectives of the resolutions adopted by the United Nations, the Indian legislators in 2008 amended the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and incorporated Section 357A to provide financial assistance to the victims of terrorism. In India, the contemporary developments in the victims’ oriented studies have increased the dimension of the traditional criminal justice systems to protect the rights of the victims. In this regard, the paper has ascertained the Indian legal framework in respect to the restorative justice to the victims of terrorism and also addressed the question as to whether the statutory provisions and enforcement mechanisms are efficient enough to protect the human rights of the victims of terrorism. For that purpose, the paper has analyzed the International instruments and the reports with regard to the compensation to the victims of terrorist attacks, with that, the article also evaluates the initiatives of United Nations to help Members State to frame the law and policies to support the victims of terrorism. The study also made an attempt to critically analyze the legal provisions of compensation and rehabilitation of the victims of terrorist attacks in India and whether they are in alignment with the International standards. While concluding, the paper has made an endeavor for a robust legal framework towards the restorative justice for the victims of terrorism in India.

Keywords: victims of terrorism, restorative justice, human rights, criminal justice system of India

Procedia PDF Downloads 162