Search results for: safety transfer

Authors: Simran Gill, Samuel Bartels

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Turfgrass is an important component of urban and rural lawns and landscapes. However, broadleaf weeds such as dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) and white clovers (Trifolium repens) pose major challenges to the health and aesthetics of turfgrass fields. Chemical weed control methods, such as 2,4-D weedicides, have been widely deployed; however, their safety and environmental impacts are often debated. Alternative, environmentally friendly control methods have been considered, but experimental tests for their effectiveness have been limited. This study investigates the use and effectiveness of nitrogen and iron compounds as nutrient management methods of weed control. In a two-phase experiment, the first conducted on a blend of cool season turfgrasses in plastic containers, the blend included Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and Creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra) grown under controlled conditions in the greenhouse, involved the application of different combinations of nitrogen (urea and ammonium sulphate) and iron (chelated iron and iron sulphate) compounds and their combinations (urea × chelated iron, urea × iron sulphate, ammonium sulphate × chelated iron, ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate) contrasted with chemical 2, 4-D weedicide and a control (no application) treatment. There were three replicates of each of the treatments, resulting in a total of 30 treatment combinations. The parameters assessed during weekly data collection included a visual quality rating of weeds (nominal scale of 0-9), number of leaves, longest leaf span, number of weeds, chlorophyll fluorescence of grass, the visual quality rating of grass (0-9), and the weight of dried grass clippings. The results drawn from the experiment conducted over the period of 12 weeks, with three applications each at an interval of every 4 weeks, stated that the combination of ammonium sulphate and iron sulphate appeared to be most effective in halting the growth and establishment of dandelions and clovers while it also improved turf health. The second phase of the experiment, which involved the ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate, weedicide, and control treatments, was conducted outdoors on already established perennial turf with weeds under natural field conditions. After 12 weeks of observation, the results were comparable among the treatments in terms of weed control, but the ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate treatment fared much better in terms of the improved visual quality of the turf and other quality ratings. Preliminary results from these experiments thus suggest that nutrient management based on nitrogen and iron compounds could be a useful environmentally friendly alternative for controlling broadleaf weeds and improving the health and quality of turfgrass.

Keywords: broadleaf weeds, nitrogen, iron, turfgrass

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Authors: Dalia Hanna, Alexander Ferworn

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This research provides detailed proposed training modules for the public safety teams and, specifically, SAR teams responsible for search and rescue operations related to finding lost persons with dementia. Finding a lost person alive is the goal of this training. Time matters if a lost person is to be found alive. Finding lost people living with dementia is quite challenging, as they are unaware they are lost and will not seek help. Even a small contribution to SAR operations could contribute to saving a life. SAR operations will always require expert professional and human volunteers. However, we can reduce their time, save lives, and reduce costs by providing practical training that is based on real-life scenarios. The content for the proposed training is based on the research work done by the researcher in this area. This research has demonstrated that, based on utilizing drones, the algorithmic approach could support a successful search outcome. Understanding the behavior of the lost person, learning where they may be found, predicting their survivability, and automating the search are all contributions of this work, founded in theory and demonstrated in practice. In crisis management, human behavior constitutes a vital aspect in responding to the crisis; the speed and efficiency of the response often get affected by the difficulty of the context of the operation. Therefore, training in this area plays a significant role in preparing the crisis manager to manage the emotional aspects that lead to decision-making in these critical situations. Since it is crucial to gain high-level strategic choices and the ability to apply crisis management procedures, simulation exercises become central in training crisis managers to gain the needed skills to respond critically to these events. The training will enhance the responders’ ability to make decisions and anticipate possible consequences of their actions through flexible and revolutionary reasoning in responding to the crisis efficiently and quickly. As adult learners, search and rescue teams will be approaching training and learning by taking responsibility of the learning process, appreciate flexible learning and as contributors to the teaching and learning happening during that training. These are all characteristics of adult learning theories. The learner self-reflects, gathers information, collaborates with others and is self-directed. One of the learning strategies associated with adult learning is effective elaboration. It helps learners to remember information in the long term and use it in situations where it might be appropriate. It is also a strategy that can be taught easily and used with learners of different ages. Designers must design reflective activities to improve the student’s intrapersonal awareness.

Keywords: training, OER, dementia, drones, search and rescue, adult learning, UDL, instructional design

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Authors: Maria Angela Bedini, Fabio Bronzini

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The Italian experiences, positive and negative, of the post-earthquake are conditioned by long times and structural bureaucratic constraints, also motivated by the attempt to contain mafia infiltration and corruption. The transition from the operational phase of the emergency to the planning phase of the reconstruction project is thus hampered by a series of inefficiencies and delays, incompatible with the need for rapid recovery of the territories in crisis. In fact, intervening in areas affected by seismic events means at the same time associating the reconstruction plan with an urban and territorial rehabilitation project based on strategies and tools in which prevention and safety play a leading role in the regeneration of territories in crisis and the return of the population. On the contrary, the earthquakes that took place in Italy have instead further deprived the territories affected of the minimum requirements for habitability, in terms of accessibility and services, accentuating the depopulation process, already underway before the earthquake. The objective of this work is to address with implementing and programmatic tools the procedures and strategies to be put in place, today and in the future, in Italy and abroad, to face the challenge of the reconstruction of activities, sociality, services, risk mitigation: a protocol of operational intentions and firm points, open to a continuous updating and implementation. The methodology followed is that of the comparison in a synthetic form between the different Italian experiences of the post-earthquake, based on facts and not on intentions, to highlight elements of excellence or, on the contrary, damage. The main results obtained can be summarized in technical comparison cards on good and bad practices. With this comparison, we intend to make a concrete contribution to the reconstruction process, certainly not only related to the reconstruction of buildings but privileging the primary social and economic needs. In this context, the recent instrument applied in Italy of the strategic urban and territorial SUM (Minimal Urban Structure) and the strategic monitoring process become dynamic tools for supporting reconstruction. The conclusions establish, by points, a protocol of interventions, the priorities for integrated socio-economic strategies, multisectoral and multicultural, and highlight the innovative aspects of 'inversion' of priorities in the reconstruction process, favoring the take-off of 'accelerator' interventions social and economic and a more updated system of coexistence with risks. In this perspective, reconstruction as a necessary response to the calamitous event can and must become a unique opportunity to raise the level of protection from risks and rehabilitation and development of the most fragile places in Italy and abroad.

Keywords: an operational protocol for reconstruction, operational priorities for coexistence with seismic risk, social and economic interventions accelerators of building reconstruction, the difficult post-earthquake reconstruction in Italy

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Authors: Abdulaziz Alakeel, Roaa Alamri, Abdulrahman Alomair, Mohammed Fouda

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Introduction: Ibrutinib is a selective, potent, and irreversible small-molecule inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK). It forms a covalent bond with a cysteine residue (CYS-481) at the active site of Btk, leading to inhibition of Btk enzymatic activity. The drug is indicated to treat certain type of cancers such as mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia (WM). Cardiac failure is a condition referred to inability of heart muscle to pump adequate blood to human body organs. There are multiple types of cardiac failure including left and right-sided heart failure, systolic and diastolic heart failures. The aim of this review is to evaluate the risk of cardiac failure associated with the use of ibrutinib and to suggest regulatory recommendations if required. Methodology: Signal Detection team at the National Pharmacovigilance Center (NPC) of Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) performed a comprehensive signal review using its national database as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) database (VigiBase), to retrieve related information for assessing the causality between cardiac failure and ibrutinib. We used the WHO- Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) criteria as standard for assessing the causality of the reported cases. Results: Case Review: The number of resulted cases for the combined drug/adverse drug reaction are 212 global ICSRs as of July 2020. The reviewers have selected and assessed the causality for the well-documented ICSRs with completeness scores of 0.9 and above (35 ICSRs); the value 1.0 presents the highest score for best-written ICSRs. Among the reviewed cases, more than half of them provides supportive association (four probable and 15 possible cases). Data Mining: The disproportionality of the observed and the expected reporting rate for drug/adverse drug reaction pair is estimated using information component (IC), a tool developed by WHO-UMC to measure the reporting ratio. Positive IC reflects higher statistical association while negative values indicates less statistical association, considering the null value equal to zero. The results of (IC=1.5) revealed a positive statistical association for the drug/ADR combination, which means “Ibrutinib” with “Cardiac Failure” have been observed more than expected when compared to other medications available in WHO database. Conclusion: Health regulators and health care professionals must be aware for the potential risk of cardiac failure associated with ibrutinib and the monitoring of any signs or symptoms in treated patients is essential. The weighted cumulative evidences identified from causality assessment of the reported cases and data mining are sufficient to support a causal association between ibrutinib and cardiac failure.

Keywords: cardiac failure, drug safety, ibrutinib, pharmacovigilance, signal detection

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Authors: Sigal Portnoy, Jason Friedman, Eitan Raveh

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Introduction: Sensory substitution is possible due to the capacity of our brain to adapt to information transmitted by a synthetic receptor via an alternative sensory system. Practical sensory substitution systems are being developed in order to increase the functionality of individuals with sensory loss, e.g. amputees. For upper limb prosthetic-users the loss of tactile feedback compels them to allocate visual attention to their prosthesis. The effect of adding vibrotactile feedback (VTF) to the applied force has been studied, however its effect on the allocation if visual attention during dual-tasking and the response during misleading visual feedback have not been studied. We hypothesized that VTF will improve the performance and reduce visual attention during dual-task assignments in healthy individuals using a robotic hand and improve the performance in a standardized functional test, despite the presence of misleading visual feedback. Methods: For the dual-task paradigm, twenty healthy subjects were instructed to toggle two keyboard arrow keys with the left hand to retain a moving virtual car on a road on a screen. During the game, instructions for various activities, e.g. mix the sugar in the glass with a spoon, appeared on the screen. The subject performed these tasks with a robotic hand, attached to the right hand. The robotic hand was controlled by the activity of the flexors and extensors of the right wrist, recorded using surface EMG electrodes. Pressure sensors were attached at the tips of the robotic hand and induced VTF using vibrotactile actuators attached to the right arm of the subject. An eye-tracking system tracked to visual attention of the subject during the trials. The trials were repeated twice, with and without the VTF. Additionally, the subjects performed the modified box and blocks, hidden from eyesight, in a motion laboratory. A virtual presentation of a misleading visual feedback was be presented on a screen so that twice during the trial, the virtual block fell while the physical block was still held by the subject. Results: This is an ongoing study, which current results are detailed below. We are continuing these trials with transradial myoelectric prosthesis-users. In the healthy group, the VTF did not reduce the visual attention or improve performance during dual-tasking for the tasks that were typed transfer-to-target, e.g. place the eraser on the shelf. An improvement was observed for other tasks. For example, the average±standard deviation of time to complete the sugar-mixing task was 13.7±17.2s and 19.3±9.1s with and without the VTF, respectively. Also, the number of gaze shifts from the screen to the hand during this task were 15.5±23.7 and 20.0±11.6, with and without the VTF, respectively. The response of the subjects to the misleading visual feedback did not differ between the two conditions, i.e. with and without VTF. Conclusions: Our interim results suggest that the performance of certain activities of daily living may be improved by VTF. The substitution of visual sensory input by tactile feedback might require a long training period so that brain plasticity can occur and allow adaptation to the new condition.

Keywords: prosthetics, rehabilitation, sensory substitution, upper limb amputation

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Authors: Giada Feletti, Daniela Tedesco, Paolo Trucco

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The present study aims to develop a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to enhance information and predictive capabilities in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems, supporting both operational and strategic decisions of different actors. The employed research methodology consists of the first phase of revision of the technical-scientific literature concerning the indicators currently used for the performance measurement of EMS systems. From this literature analysis, it emerged that current studies focus on two distinct perspectives: the ambulance service, a fundamental component of pre-hospital health treatment, and the patient care in the Emergency Department (ED). The perspective proposed by this study is to consider an integrated view of the ambulance service process and the ED process, both essential to ensure high quality of care and patient safety. Thus, the proposal focuses on the entire healthcare service process and, as such, allows considering the interconnection between the two EMS processes, the pre-hospital and hospital ones, connected by the assignment of the patient to a specific ED. In this way, it is possible to optimize the entire patient management. Therefore, attention is paid to the dependency of decisions that in current EMS management models tend to be neglected or underestimated. In particular, the integration of the two processes enables the evaluation of the advantage of an ED selection decision having visibility on EDs’ saturation status and therefore considering the distance, the available resources and the expected waiting times. Starting from a critical review of the KPIs proposed in the extant literature, the design of the dashboard was carried out: the high number of analyzed KPIs was reduced by eliminating the ones firstly not in line with the aim of the study and then the ones supporting a similar functionality. The KPIs finally selected were tested on a realistic dataset, which draws us to exclude additional indicators due to the unavailability of data required for their computation. The final dashboard, which was discussed and validated by experts in the field, includes a variety of KPIs able to support operational and planning decisions, early warning, and citizens’ awareness of EDs accessibility in real-time. By associating each KPI to the EMS phase it refers to, it was also possible to design a well-balanced dashboard covering both efficiency and effective performance of the entire EMS process. Indeed, just the initial phases related to the interconnection between ambulance service and patient’s care are covered by traditional KPIs compared to the subsequent phases taking place in the hospital ED. This could be taken into consideration for the potential future development of the dashboard. Moreover, the research could proceed by building a multi-layer dashboard composed of the first level with a minimal set of KPIs to measure the basic performance of the EMS system at an aggregate level and further levels with KPIs that can bring additional and more detailed information.

Keywords: dashboard, decision support, emergency medical services, key performance indicators

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Authors: Md. M. Hossain, Regan Roat, Jenica Christopherson, Colette Free, Zhiguang Guo

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Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) mediated post-transcriptional gene regulation, and their epigenetic landscapes have been shown to be involved in many human diseases. However, their regulation in diabetes through governing islet’s β-cell function and survival needs to be elucidated. Due to the technical and ethical constraints, it is difficult to study their role in β-cell function and survival in human under in vivo condition. In this study, humanized mice have been developed through transplanting human pancreatic islet under the kidney capsule of NOD.SCID mice and induced β-cell death leading to diabetes condition to study lncRNA mediated regulation. For this, human islets from 3 donors (3000 IEQ, purity > 80%) were transplanted under the kidney capsule of STZ induced diabetic NOD.scid mice. After at least 2 weeks of normoglycecemia, lymphocytes from diabetic NOD mice were adoptively transferred and islet grafts were collected once blood glucose reached > 200 mg/dl. RNA from human donor islets, islet grafts from humanized mice with either adoptive lymphocyte transfer (ALT) or PBS control (CTL) were ribodepleted; barcoded fragment libraries were constructed and sequenced on the Ion Proton sequencer. lncRNA expression in isolated human islets, islet grafts from humanized mice with and without induced β-cell death and their regulation in human islets function in vitro under glucose challenge, cytokine mediated inflammation and induced apoptotic condition were investigated. Out of 3155 detected lncRNAs, 299 that highly expressed in islets were found to be significantly downregulated and 224 upregulated in ALT compared to CTL. Most of these are found to be collocated within 5 kb upstream and 1 kb downstream of 788 up- and 624 down-regulated mRNAs. Genomic Regions Enrichment of Annotations Analysis revealed deregulated and collocated genes are related to pancreas endocrine development; insulin synthesis, processing, and secretion; pancreatitis and diabetes. Many of them, that found to be located within enhancer domains for islet specific gene activity, are associated to the deregulation of known islet/βcell specific transcription factors and genes that are important for β-cell differentiation, identity, and function. RNA sequencing analysis revealed aberrant lncRNA expression which is associated to the deregulated mRNAs in β-cell function as well as in molecular pathways related to diabetes. A distinct set of candidate lncRNA isoforms were identified as highly enriched and specific to human islets, which are deregulated in human islets from donors with different BMIs and with type 2 diabetes. These RNAs show an interesting regulation in cultured human islets under glucose stimulation and with induced β-cell death by cytokines. Aberrant expression of these lncRNAs was detected in the exosomes from the media of islets cultured with cytokines. Results of this study suggest that the islet specific lncRNAs are deregulated in human islet with β-cell death, hence important in diabetes. These lncRNAs might be important for human β-cell function and survival thus could be used as biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for diabetes.

Keywords: β-cell, humanized mouse, pancreatic islet, LncRNAs

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Authors: Peter Modregger, Özgül Öztürk

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Glass fabric reinforced thermoplastic (GFRT) are composite materials, which combine low weight and resilient mechanical properties rendering them especially suitable for automobile construction. However, defects in the glass fabric as well as in the polymer matrix can occur during manufacturing, which may compromise component lifetime or even safety. One type of these defects is local fiber shifts, which can be difficult to detect. Recently, we have experimentally demonstrated the reliable detection of local fiber shifts by X-ray scattering based on the edge-illumination (EI) principle. EI constitutes a novel X-ray imaging technique that utilizes two slit masks, one in front of the sample and one in front of the detector, in order to simultaneously provide absorption, phase, and scattering contrast. The principle of contrast formation is as follows. The incident X-ray beam is split into smaller beamlets by the sample mask, resulting in small beamlets. These are distorted by the interaction with the sample, and the distortions are scaled up by the detector masks, rendering them visible to a pixelated detector. In the experiment, the sample mask is laterally scanned, resulting in Gaussian-like intensity distributions in each pixel. The area under the curves represents absorption, the peak offset refraction, and the width of the curve represents the scattering occurring in the sample. Here, scattering is caused by the numerous glass fiber/polymer matrix interfaces. In our recent publication, we have shown that the standard deviation of the absorption and scattering values over a selected field of view can be used to distinguish between intact samples and samples with local fiber shift defects. The quantification of defect detection performance was done by using p-values (p=0.002 for absorption and p=0.009 for scattering) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR=3.0 for absorption and CNR=2.1 for scattering) between the two groups of samples. This was further improved for the scattering contrast to p=0.0004 and CNR=4.2 by utilizing a harmonic decomposition analysis of the images. Thus, we concluded that local fiber shifts can be reliably detected by the X-ray scattering contrasts provided by EI. However, a potential application in, for example, production monitoring requires fast data acquisition times. For the results above, the scanning of the sample masks was performed over 50 individual steps, which resulted in long total scan times. In this paper, we will demonstrate that reliable detection of local fiber shift defects is also possible by using single images, which implies a speed up of total scan time by a factor of 50. Additional performance improvements will also be discussed, which opens the possibility for real-time acquisition. This contributes a vital step for the translation of EI to industrial applications for a wide variety of materials consisting of numerous interfaces on the micrometer scale.

Keywords: defects in composites, X-ray scattering, local fiber shifts, X-ray edge Illumination

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Authors: Chandan Kundu, Sankar Bhattacharya

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A significant disadvantage of fossil fuel energy production is the considerable amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released, which is one of the contributors to climate change. Apart from environmental concerns, changing fossil fuel prices have pushed society gradually towards renewable energy sources in recent years. Biomass is a plentiful and renewable resource and a source of carbon. Recent years have seen increased research interest in generating fuels and chemicals from biomass. Unlike fossil-based resources, biomass is composed of lignocellulosic material, which does not contribute to the increase in atmospheric CO₂ over a longer term. These considerations contribute to the current move of the chemical industry from non-renewable feedstock to renewable biomass. This presentation focuses on generating bio-oil and two major platform chemicals that can potentially improve the environment. Thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis are considered viable methods for producing bio-oil and biomass-based platform chemicals. Fluidized bed reactors, on the other hand, are known to boost bio-oil yields during pyrolysis due to their superior mixing and heat transfer features, as well as their scalability. This review and the associated experimental work are focused on the thermochemical conversion of biomass to bio-oil and two high-value platform chemicals, Levoglucosenone (LGO) and 5-Chloromethyl furfural (5-CMF), in a fluidized bed reactor. These two active molecules with distinct features can potentially be useful monomers in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries since they are well adapted to the manufacture of biologically active products. This process took several meticulous steps. To begin, the biomass was delignified using a peracetic acid pretreatment to remove lignin. Because of its complicated structure, biomass must be pretreated to remove the lignin, increasing access to the carbohydrate components and converting them to platform chemicals. The biomass was then characterized by Thermogravimetric analysis, Synchrotron-based THz spectroscopy, and in-situ DRIFTS in the laboratory. Based on the results, a continuous-feeding fluidized bed reactor system was constructed to generate platform chemicals from pretreated biomass using hydrogen chloride acid-gas as a catalyst. The procedure also yields biochar, which has a number of potential applications, including soil remediation, wastewater treatment, electrode production, and energy resource utilization. Consequently, this research also includes a preliminary experimental evaluation of the biochar's prospective applications. The biochar obtained was evaluated for its CO₂ and steam reactivity. The outline of the presentation will comprise the following: Biomass pretreatment for effective delignification Mechanistic study of the thermal and thermochemical conversion of biomass Thermochemical conversion of untreated and pretreated biomass in the presence of an acid catalyst to produce LGO and CMF A thermo-catalytic process for the production of LGO and 5-CMF in a continuously-fed fluidized bed reactor and efficient separation of chemicals Use of biochar generated from the platform chemicals production through gasification

Keywords: biomass, pretreatment, pyrolysis, levoglucosenone

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Authors: João Pedro Zanella, Michel J. O. Fagundes

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Introduction: Drug use has been practised by humans universally for millennia, not excluding any population from these habits, however, the rampant drug use is a global concern due to the harm that affects the health of the world population. In this sense, it is observed the reduction of lasting and effective public policies for the resolution, increasing the demand for treatment services. With this comes ibogaine, an alkaloid derived from the root of an African bush (Tabernanthe Iboga), found mostly in Gabon and used widely by the native Bwiti population in rituals, and also other social groups, which demonstrates efficacy against chemical dependence, psychic and emotional disorders, opioid withdrawal was first confirmed by a study in rats done by Michailo Dzoljic and associates in 1988 and again in 1994. Methods: A brief description of the plant, its neurohumoral potential and the effects caused by ingested doses, in a simplified and objective way, will be discussed in the course of this abstract. Results: Ibogaine is not registered or passed by Anvisa, regarding safety and efficacy, and cannot be sold in Brazil. Its illegal trade reaches R$ 5 thousand for a session with the proceeds of the root, and its effect can last up to 72 hours, attributing Iboga's psychoactive effects to the alkaloid called ibogaine. The shrub where Ibogaine is located has pink and yellow flowers, and its fruit produced does not have psychoactive substances, but its root bark contains 6 to 7% indolic alkaloids. Besides extraction from the iboga plant, ibogaine hydrochloride can be semisynthesized from voacangine, another plant alkaloid that acts as a precursor. Its potential has the ability to perform multiple interactions with the neurotransmitter system, which are closely associated with addiction, including nicotinic, opioid and serotoninergic systems. Studies carried out by Edwards found that the doses administered of Iboga should be determined by a health professional when its purpose is to treat individuals for dependence on other drugs. Its use in small doses may cause an increase in sensibility, impaired vision and motor alterations; in moderate quantities, hallucinations, motor and neurological alterations and impaired vision; in high quantities it may cause hallucinations with personal events at a deeper level lasting up to 24 hours or more, followed by motor and visual alterations. Conclusion: The product extracted from the Iboga plant is of great importance in controlling addiction, reducing the need for the use of narcotics by patients, thus gaining a space of extreme importance in the treatment of users of psychoactive substances. It is remarkable the progress of the latest’s research about the usefulness of Ibogaine, and its benefits for certain treatments, even with the restriction of its sale in Brazil. Besides this, Ibogaine has an additional benefit of helping the patient to gain self-control over their destructive behaviours.

Keywords: alkaloids, dependence, Gabon, ibogaine

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Authors: Serdar Delice, Mehmet Isik, Nizami Hasanli, Kadir Goksen

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Researchers have donated great interest to ternary and quaternary semiconductor compounds especially with the improvement of the optoelectronic technology. The quaternary compound Tl2Ga2Se3S which was grown by Bridgman method carries the properties of ternary thallium chalcogenides group of semiconductors with layered structure. This compound can be formed from TlGaSe2 crystals replacing the one quarter of selenium atom by sulfur atom. Although Tl2Ga2Se3S crystals are not intentionally doped, some unintended defect types such as point defects, dislocations and stacking faults can occur during growth processes of crystals. These defects can cause undesirable problems in semiconductor materials especially produced for optoelectronic technology. Defects of various types in the semiconductor devices like LEDs and field effect transistor may act as a non-radiative or scattering center in electron transport. Also, quick recombination of holes with electrons without any energy transfer between charge carriers can occur due to the existence of defects. Therefore, the characterization of defects may help the researchers working in this field to produce high quality devices. Thermoluminescence (TL) is an effective experimental method to determine the kinetic parameters of trap centers due to defects in crystals. In this method, the sample is illuminated at low temperature by a light whose energy is bigger than the band gap of studied sample. Thus, charge carriers in the valence band are excited to delocalized band. Then, the charge carriers excited into conduction band are trapped. The trapped charge carriers are released by heating the sample gradually and these carriers then recombine with the opposite carriers at the recombination center. By this way, some luminescence is emitted from the samples. The emitted luminescence is converted to pulses by using an experimental setup controlled by computer program and TL spectrum is obtained. Defect characterization of Tl2Ga2Se3S single crystals has been performed by TL measurements at low temperatures between 10 and 300 K with various heating rate ranging from 0.6 to 1.0 K/s. The TL signal due to the luminescence from trap centers revealed one glow peak having maximum temperature of 36 K. Curve fitting and various heating rate methods were used for the analysis of the glow curve. The activation energy of 13 meV was found by the application of curve fitting method. This practical method established also that the trap center exhibits the characteristics of mixed (general) kinetic order. In addition, various heating rate analysis gave a compatible result (13 meV) with curve fitting as the temperature lag effect was taken into consideration. Since the studied crystals were not intentionally doped, these centers are thought to originate from stacking faults, which are quite possible in Tl2Ga2Se3S due to the weakness of the van der Waals forces between the layers. Distribution of traps was also investigated using an experimental method. A quasi-continuous distribution was attributed to the determined trap centers.

Keywords: chalcogenides, defects, thermoluminescence, trap centers

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Authors: F. Infante, W. Kaal, S. Perfetto, S. Herold

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In the last decade the demand of wireless sensors and low-power electric devices for condition monitoring in mechanical structures has been strongly increased. Networks of wireless sensors can potentially be applied in a huge variety of applications. Due to the reduction of both size and power consumption of the electric components and the increasing complexity of mechanical systems, the interest of creating dense nodes sensor networks has become very salient. Nevertheless, with the development of large sensor networks with numerous nodes, the critical problem of powering them is drawing more and more attention. Batteries are not a valid alternative for consideration regarding lifetime, size and effort in replacing them. Between possible alternative solutions for durable power sources useable in mechanical components, vibrations represent a suitable source for the amount of power required to feed a wireless sensor network. For this purpose, energy harvesting from structural vibrations has received much attention in the past few years. Suitable vibrations can be found in numerous mechanical environments including automotive moving structures, household applications, but also civil engineering structures like buildings and bridges. Similarly, a dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) is one of the most used devices to mitigate unwanted vibration of structures. This device is used to transfer the primary structural vibration to the auxiliary system. Thus, the related energy is effectively localized in the secondary less sensitive structure. Then, the additional benefit of harvesting part of the energy can be obtained by implementing dedicated components. This paper describes the design process of an energy harvesting tuned vibration absorber (EHTVA) for rotating systems using piezoelectric elements. The energy of the vibration is converted into electricity rather than dissipated. The device proposed is indeed designed to mitigate torsional vibrations as with a conventional rotational TVA, while harvesting energy as a power source for immediate use or storage. The resultant rotational multi degree of freedom (MDOF) system is initially reduced in an equivalent single degree of freedom (SDOF) system. The Den Hartog’s theory is used for evaluating the optimal mechanical parameters of the initial DVA for the SDOF systems defined. The performance of the TVA is operationally assessed and the vibration reduction at the original resonance frequency is measured. Then, the design is modified for the integration of active piezoelectric patches without detuning the TVA. In order to estimate the real power generated, a complex storage circuit is implemented. A DC-DC step-down converter is connected to the device through a rectifier to return a fixed output voltage. Introducing a big capacitor, the energy stored is measured at different frequencies. Finally, the electromechanical prototype is tested and validated achieving simultaneously reduction and harvesting functions.

Keywords: energy harvesting, piezoelectricity, torsional vibration, vibration absorber

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Authors: T. Poyai, P. Painmanakul, N. Chawaloesphonsiya, P. Dhanasin, C. Getwech, P. Wattana

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Drilling is a key activity in oil and gas exploration and production. Drilling always requires the use of drilling mud for lubricating the drill bit and controlling the subsurface pressure. As drilling proceeds, a considerable amount of cuttings or rock fragments is generated. In general, water or Water Based Mud (WBM) serves as drilling fluid for the top hole section. The cuttings generated from this section is non-hazardous and normally applied as fill materials. On the other hand, drilling the bottom hole to reservoir section uses Synthetic Based Mud (SBM) of which synthetic oils are composed. The bottom-hole cuttings, SBM cuttings, is regarded as a hazardous waste, in accordance with the government regulations, due to the presence of hydrocarbons. Currently, the SBM cuttings are disposed of as an alternative fuel and raw material in cement kiln. Instead of burning, this work aims to propose an alternative for drill cuttings management under two ultimate goals: (1) reduction of hazardous waste volume; and (2) making use of the cleaned cuttings. Soil washing was selected as the major treatment process. The physiochemical properties of drill cuttings were analyzed, such as size fraction, pH, moisture content, and hydrocarbons. The particle size of cuttings was analyzed via light scattering method. Oil present in cuttings was quantified in terms of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) through gas chromatography equipped with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Other components were measured by the standard methods for soil analysis. Effects of different washing agents, liquid-to-solid (L/S) ratio, washing time, mixing speed, rinse-to-solid (R/S) ratio, and rinsing time were also evaluated. It was found that drill cuttings held the electrical conductivity of 3.84 dS/m, pH of 9.1, and moisture content of 7.5%. The TPH in cuttings existed in the diesel range with the concentration ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 mg/kg dry cuttings. A majority of cuttings particles held a mean diameter of 50 µm, which represented silt fraction. The results also suggested that a green solvent was considered most promising for cuttings treatment regarding occupational health, safety, and environmental benefits. The optimal washing conditions were obtained at L/S of 5, washing time of 15 min, mixing speed of 60 rpm, R/S of 10, and rinsing time of 1 min. After washing process, three fractions including clean cuttings, spent solvent, and wastewater were considered and provided with recommendations. The residual TPH less than 5,000 mg/kg was detected in clean cuttings. The treated cuttings can be then used for various purposes. The spent solvent held the calorific value of higher than 3,000 cal/g, which can be used as an alternative fuel. Otherwise, the recovery of the used solvent can be conducted using distillation or chromatography techniques. Finally, the generated wastewater can be combined with the produced water and simultaneously managed by re-injection into the reservoir.

Keywords: drill cuttings, green solvent, soil washing, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH)

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: A. M. Ferrari, L. Volpi, M. Pini, C. Siligardi, F. E. Garcia Muina, D. Settembre Blundo

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A long tradition in the ceramic manufacturing since the 18th century, primarily due to the availability of raw materials and an efficient transport system, let to the birth and development of the Italian ceramic tiles district that nowadays represents a reference point for this sector even at global level. This economic growth has been coupled to attention towards environmental sustainability issues throughout various initiatives undertaken over the years at the level of the production sector, such as certification activities and sustainability policies. In this way, starting from an evaluation of the sustainability in all its aspects, the present work aims to develop a benchmarking helping both producers and consumers. In the present study, throughout the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) framework, the sustainability has been assessed in all its dimensions: environmental with the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), economic with the Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and social with the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The annual district production of stoneware tiles during the 2016 reference year has been taken as reference flow for all the three assessments, and the system boundaries cover the entire life cycle of the tiles, except for the LCC for which only the production costs have been considered at the moment. In addition, a preliminary method for the evaluation of local and indoor emissions has been introduced in order to assess the impact due to atmospheric emissions on both people living in the area surrounding the factories and workers. The Life Cycle Assessment results, obtained from IMPACT 2002+ modified assessment method, highlight that the manufacturing process is responsible for the main impact, especially because of atmospheric emissions at a local scale, followed by the distribution to end users, the installation and the ordinary maintenance of the tiles. With regard to the economic evaluation, both the internal and external costs have been considered. For the LCC, primary data from the analysis of the financial statements of Italian ceramic companies show that the higher cost items refer to expenses for goods and services and costs of human resources. The analysis of externalities with the EPS 2015dx method attributes the main damages to the distribution and installation of the tiles. The social dimension has been investigated with a preliminary approach by using the Social Hotspots Database, and the results indicate that the most affected damage categories are health and safety and labor rights and decent work. This study shows the potential of the LCSA framework applied to an industrial sector; in particular, it can be a useful tool for building a comprehensive benchmark for the sustainability of the ceramic industry, and it can help companies to actively integrate sustainability principles into their business models.

Keywords: benchmarking, Italian ceramic industry, life cycle sustainability assessment, porcelain stoneware tiles

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Authors: Zohra Mhedhbi, Meheret Gaston, Sinda Haoues-Jouve, Julia Hidalgo, Pierre Mazzega

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In the current context of climate change, supporting national and local stakeholders to make climate-smart decisions is necessary but still underdeveloped in many countries. To overcome this problem, the Global Frameworks for Climate Services (GFCS), implemented under the aegis of the United Nations in 2012, has initiated many programs in different countries. The GFCS contributes to the development of Climate Services, an instrument based on the production and transfer of scientific climate knowledge for specific users such as citizens, urban planning actors, or agricultural professionals. As cities concentrate on economic, social and environmental issues that make them more vulnerable to climate change, the New Urban Agenda (NUA), adopted at Habitat III in October 2016, highlights the importance of paying particular attention to disaster risk management, climate and environmental sustainability and urban resilience. In order to support the implementation of the NUA, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has identified the urban dimension as one of its priorities and has proposed a new tool, the Integrated Urban Services (IUS), for more sustainable and resilient cities. In the southern countries, there’s a lack of development of climate services, which can be partially explained by problems related to their economic financing. In addition, it is often difficult to make climate change a priority in urban planning, given the more traditional urban challenges these countries face, such as massive poverty, high population growth, etc. Climate services and Integrated Urban Services, particularly in African cities, are expected to contribute to the sustainable development of cities. These tools will help promoting the acquisition of meteorological and socio-ecological data on their transformations, encouraging coordination between national or local institutions providing various sectoral urban services, and should contribute to the achievement of the objectives defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals. To assess the state of the art on these various points, the Web of Science metadatabase is queried. With a query combining the keywords "climate*" and "urban*", more than 24,000 articles are identified, source of more than 40,000 distinct keywords (but including synonyms and acronyms) which finely mesh the conceptual field of research. The occurrence of one or more names of the 514 African cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants or countries, reduces this base to a smaller corpus of about 1410 articles (2990 keywords). 41 countries and 136 African cities are cited. The lexicometric analysis of the metadata of the articles and the analysis of the structural indicators (various centralities) of the networks induced by the co-occurrence of expressions related more specifically to climate services show the development potential of these services, identify the gaps which remain to be filled for their implementation and allow to compare the diversity of national and regional situations with regard to these services.

Keywords: African cities, climate change, climate services, integrated urban services, lexicometry, networks, urban planning, web of science

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Authors: Behnaz Baghaei, Mikael Skrifvars

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Sustainability is today a trend that is seen everywhere, with no exception for the textiles 31 industry. However, there is a rather significant downside regarding how the textile industry currently operates, namely the huge amount of end-of-life textiles coming along with it. Approximately 73% of the 53 million tonnes of fibres used annually for textile production is landfilled or incinerated, while only 12% is recycled as secondary products. Mechanical recycling of end-of-life textile fabrics into yarns and fabrics was before very common, but due to the low costs for virgin man-made fibres, the current textile material composition diversity, the fibre material quality variations and the high recycling costs this route is not feasible. Another way to decrease the ever-growing pile of textile waste is to repurpose the textile. If a feasible methodology can be found to reuse end-of life textiles as secondary market products including a manufacturing process that requires rather low investment costs, then this can be highly beneficial to counteract the increasing textile waste volumes. In structural composites, glass fibre textiles are used as reinforcements, but today there is a growing interest in biocomposites where the reinforcement and/or the resin are from a biomass resource. All-cellulose composites (ACCs) are monocomponent or single polymer composites, and they are entirely made from cellulose, ideally leading to a homogeneous biocomposite. Since the matrix and the reinforcement are both made from cellulose, and therefore chemically identical, they are fully compatible with each other which allow efficient stress transfer and adhesion at their interface. Apart from improving the mechanical performance of the final products, the recycling of the composites will be facilitated. This paper reports the recycling of end-of-life cellulose containing textiles by fabrication of all-cellulose composites (ACCs). Composite laminates were prepared by using an ionic liquid (IL) in a hot process, involving a partial dissolving of the cellulose fibres. Discharged denim fabrics were used as the reinforcement while dissolved cellulose from two different cellulose resources was used as the matrix phase. Virgin cotton staple fibres and recovered cotton from polyester/cotton (polycotton) waste fabrics were used to form the matrix phase. The process comprises the dissolving 6 wt.% cellulose solution in the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium acetate ([BMIM][Ac]), this solution acted as a precursor for the matrix component. The denim fabrics were embedded in the cellulose/IL solution after which laminates were formed, which also involved removal of the IL by washing. The effect of reuse of the recovered IL was also investigated. The mechanical properties of the obtained ACCs were determined regarding tensile, impact and flexural properties. Mechanical testing revealed that there are no clear differences between the values measured for mechanical strength and modulus of the manufactured ACCs from denim/cotton-fresh IL, denim/recovered cotton-fresh IL and denim/cotton-recycled IL. This could be due to the low weight fraction of the cellulose matrix in the final ACC laminates and presumably the denim as cellulose reinforcement strongly influences and dominates the mechanical properties. Fabricated ACC composite laminates were further characterized regarding scanning electron microscopy.

Keywords: all-cellulose composites, denim fabrics, ionic liquid, mechanical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Jennifer E Simpson

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Background and purpose: The ubiquitous use of the Internet and social media by children and young people has had a dual effect. The first is to open a world of possibilities and promise that is characterized by the ability to consume and create content, connect with friends, explore and experiment. The second relates to risks such as unsolicited requests, sexual exploitation, cyberbullying and commercial exploitation. This duality poses significant difficulties for a generation of foster carers and social workers who have no childhood experience to draw on in terms of growing up using the Internet, social media and digital devices. This presentation is concerned with the findings of a small qualitative study about the use of digital devices and the Internet by care-experienced young people to stay in touch with their families and the way this was managed by foster carers and social workers using specific parental mediation strategies. The findings highlight that restrictive strategies were used by foster carers and endorsed by social workers. An argument is made for an approach that develops a series of balanced solutions that move foster carers from such restrictive approaches to those that are grounded in co-use and are interpretive in nature. Methods: Using a purposive sampling strategy, 12 triads consisting of care-experienced young people (aged 13-18 years), their foster carers and allocated social workers were recruited. All respondents undertook a semi-structured interview, with the young people detailing what social media apps and other devices they used to contact their families via an Ecomap. The foster carers and social workers shared details of the methods and approaches they used to manage digital devices and the Internet in general. Data analysis was performed using a Framework analytic method to explore the various attitudes, as well as complementary and contradictory perspectives of the young people, their foster carers and allocated social workers. Findings: The majority of foster carers made use of parental mediation strategies that erred on the side of typologies that included setting rules and regulations (restrictive), ad-hoc checking of a young person’s behavior and device (monitoring), and software used to limit or block access to inappropriate websites (technical). It was noted that minimal use was made by foster carers of parental mediation strategies that included talking about content (active/interpretive) or sharing Internet activities (co-use). Amongst the majority of the social workers, they also had a strong preference for restrictive approaches. Conclusions and implications: Trepidations on the part of both foster carers and social workers about the use of digital devices and the Internet meant that the parental strategies used were weighted more towards restriction, with little use made of approaches such as co-use and interpretative. This lack of balance calls for solutions that are grounded in co-use and an interpretive approach, both of which can be achieved through training and support, as well as wider policy change.

Keywords: parental mediation strategies, risk, children in state care, online safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Francesca Nardi, Kashish Aneja, Katherine Ginsbach

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The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated both a need for evidence-based and rights-based public health policy and how challenging it can be to make effective decisions with limited information, evidence, and data. The O’Neill Institute, in conjunction with several partners, has been working since the beginning of the pandemic to collect, analyze, and distribute critical data on public health policies enacted in response to COVID-19 around the world in the COVID-19 Law Lab. Well-designed laws and policies can help build strong health systems, implement necessary measures to combat viral transmission, enforce actions that promote public health and safety for everyone, and on the individual level have a direct impact on health outcomes. Poorly designed laws and policies, on the other hand, can fail to achieve the intended results and/or obstruct the realization of fundamental human rights, further disease spread, or cause unintended collateral harms. When done properly, laws can provide the foundation that brings clarity to complexity, embrace nuance, and identifies gaps of uncertainty. However, laws can also shape the societal factors that make disease possible. Law is inseparable from the rest of society, and COVID-19 has exposed just how much laws and policies intersects all facets of society. In the COVID-19 context, evidence-based and well-informed law and policy decisions—made at the right time and in the right place—can and have meant the difference between life or death for many. Having a solid evidentiary base of legal information can promote the understanding of what works well and where, and it can drive resources and action to where they are needed most. We know that legal mechanisms can enable nations to reduce inequities and prepare for emerging threats, like novel pathogens that result in deadly disease outbreaks or antibiotic resistance. The collection and analysis of data on these legal mechanisms is a critical step towards ensuring that legal interventions and legal landscapes are effectively incorporated into more traditional kinds of health science data analyses. The COVID-19 Law Labs see a unique opportunity to collect and analyze this kind of non-traditional data to inform policy using laws and policies from across the globe and across diseases. This global view is critical to assessing the efficacy of policies in a wide range of cultural, economic, and demographic circumstances. The COVID-19 Law Lab is not just a collection of legal texts relating to COVID-19; it is a dataset of concise and actionable legal information that can be used by health researchers, social scientists, academics, human rights advocates, law and policymakers, government decision-makers, and others for cross-disciplinary quantitative and qualitative analysis to identify best practices from this outbreak, and previous ones, to be better prepared for potential future public health events.

Keywords: public health law, surveillance, policy, legal, data

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Saiful Islam, Deuk Jong Bae

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The purpose of this study is to examine citizen satisfaction and competitiveness of a Public Private Partnership project. The study focuses on PPP in the transport sector and investigates the New Bundang Subway Line (NBL) in South Korea as the object of a case study. Most PPP studies are dominated by the study of public and private sector interests, which are classified in to three major areas comprising of policy, finance, and management. This study will explore the user perspective by assessing customer satisfaction upon NBL cost and service quality, also the competitiveness of NBL compared to other alternative transport modes which serve the Jeongja – Gangnam trip or vice versa. The regular Bundang Subway Line, New Bundang Subway Line, bus and private vehicle are selected as the alternative transport modes. The study analysed customer satisfaction of NBL and citizen’s preference of alternative transport modes based on a survey in Bundang district, South Korea. Respondents were residents and employees who live or work in Bundang city, and were divided into the following areas Pangyo, Jeongjae – Sunae, Migeun – Ori – Jukjeon, and Imae – Yatap – Songnam. The survey was conducted in January 2015 for two weeks, and 753 responses were gathered. By applying the Hedonic Utility approach, the factors which affect the frequency of using NBL were found to be overall customer satisfaction, convenience of access, and the socio economic demographic of the individual. In addition, by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, criteria factors influencing the decision to select alternative transport modes were identified. Those factors, along with the author judgement of alternative transport modes, and their associated criteria and sub-criteria produced a priority list of user preferences regarding their alternative transport mode options. The study found that overall the regular Bundang Subway Line (BL), which was built and operated under a conventional procurement method was selected as the most preferable transport mode due to its cost competitiveness. However, on the sub-criteria level analysis, the NBL has competitiveness on service quality, particularly on journey time. By conducting a sensitivity analysis, the NBL can become the first choice of transport by increasing the NBL’s degree of weight associated with cost by 0,05. This means the NBL would need to reduce either it’s fare cost or transfer fee, or combine those two cost components to reduce the total of the current cost by 25%. In addition, the competitiveness of NBL also could be obtained by increasing NBL convenience through escalating access convenience such as constructing an additional station or providing more access modes. Although these convenience improvements would require a few extra minutes of journey time, the user found this to be acceptable. The findings and policy suggestions can contribute to the next phase of NBL development, showing that consideration should be given to the citizen’s voice. The case study results also contribute to the literature of PPP projects specifically from a user side perspective.

Keywords: public private partnership, customer satisfaction, public transport, new Bundang subway line

Procedia PDF Downloads 334

Authors: Michel Pons, Anthony Delahaye, Laurence Fournaison

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Secondary refrigeration consists of splitting large-size direct-cooling units into volume-limited primary cooling units complemented by secondary loops for transporting and distributing cold. Such a design reduces the refrigerant leaks, which represents a source of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. However, inserting the secondary circuit between the primary unit and the ‘users’ heat exchangers (UHX) increases the energy consumption of the whole process, which induces an indirect emission of greenhouse gases. It is thus important to check whether that efficiency loss is sufficiently limited for the change to be globally beneficial to the environment. Among the likely secondary fluids, phase change slurries offer several advantages: they transport latent heat, they stabilize the heat exchange temperature, and the formerly evaporators still can be used as UHX. The temperature level can also be adapted to the desired cooling application. Herein, the slurry {ice in mono-propylene-glycol solution} (melting temperature Tₘ of 6°C) is considered for food preservation, and the slurry {mixed hydrate of CO₂ + tetra-n-butyl-phosphonium-bromide in aqueous solution of this salt + CO₂} (melting temperature Tₘ of 13°C) is considered for air conditioning. For the sake of thermodynamic consistency, the analysis encompasses the whole process, primary cooling unit plus secondary slurry loop, and the various properties of the slurries, including their non-Newtonian viscosity. The design of the whole process is optimized according to the properties of the chosen slurry and under explicit constraints. As a first constraint, all the units must deliver the same cooling power to the user. The other constraints concern the heat exchanges areas, which are prescribed, and the flow conditions, which prevent deposition of the solid particles transported in the slurry, and their agglomeration. Minimization of the total energy consumption leads to the optimal design. In addition, the results are analyzed in terms of exergy losses, which allows highlighting the couplings between the primary unit and the secondary loop. One important difference between the ice-slurry and the mixed-hydrate one is the presence of gaseous carbon dioxide in the latter case. When the mixed-hydrate crystals melt in the UHX, CO₂ vapor is generated at a rate that depends on the phase change kinetics. The flow in the UHX, and its heat and mass transfer properties are significantly modified. This effect has never been investigated before. Lastly, inserting the secondary loop between the primary unit and the users increases the temperature difference between the refrigerated space and the evaporator. This results in a loss of global energy efficiency, and therefore in an increased energy consumption. The analysis shows that this loss of efficiency is not critical in the first case (Tₘ = 6°C), while the second case leads to more ambiguous results, partially because of the higher melting temperature.The consequences in terms of greenhouse gases emissions are also analyzed.

Keywords: exergy, hydrates, optimization, phase change material, thermodynamics

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: A. R. Shokoohi, E. A. M. Bulder, C. Th. van Alphen, D. F. den Hertog, E. J. Hin

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The Northern region of the Netherlands has beautiful landscapes, a nice diversity of green and blue areas, and dispersed settlements. However, some recent population changes can become threats to health and wellbeing in these areas. The rural areas in the three northern provinces -Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe, see youngsters leave the region for which reason they are aging faster than other regions in the Netherlands. As a result, some villages have faced major population decline that is leading to loss of facilities/amenities and a decrease in accessibility and social cohesion. Those who still live in these villages are relatively old, low educated and have low-income. To develop a deeper understanding of the health status of the people living in these areas, and help them to improve their living environment, the GO!-Method is being applied in this study. This method has been developed by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) of the Netherlands and is inspired by the broad definition of health by Machteld Huber: the ability to adapt and direct control, in terms of the physical, emotional and social challenges of life, while paying extra attention to vulnerable groups. A healthy living environment is defined as an environment that residents find it pleasant and encourages and supports healthy behavior. The GO!-method integrates six domains that constitute a healthy living environment: health and lifestyle, facilities and development, safety and hygiene, social cohesion and active citizens, green areas, and air and noise pollution. First of all, this method will identify opportunities for a healthier living environment using existing information and perceptions of residents and other local stakeholders in order to strengthen social participation and quality of life in these rural areas. Second, this approach will connect identified opportunities with available and effective evidence-based interventions in order to develop an action plan from the residents and local authorities perspective which will help them to design their municipalities healthier and more resilient. This method is being used for the first time in rural areas to our best knowledge, in close collaboration with the residents and local authorities of the three provinces to create a sustainable process and stimulate social participation. Our paper will present the outcomes of the first phase of this project in collaboration with the municipality of Westerkwartier, located in the northwest of the province of Groningen. And will describe the current situation, and identify local assets, opportunities, and policies relating to healthier environment; as well as needs and challenges to achieve goals. The preliminary results show that rural demographic changes in the northern Netherlands have negative impacts on service provisions and social cohesion, and there is a need to understand this complicated situation and improve the quality of life in those areas.

Keywords: population decline, rural areas, healthy environment, Netherlands

Procedia PDF Downloads 83

Authors: Daniel Martin Fellows, Sean P. Walton, Jennifer Thompson, Oubay Hassan, Kevin Tinkham, Ella Quigley

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Structural integrity for cladding products is a key performance parameter, especially concerning fire performance. Cladding products such as PIR-based sandwich panels are tested rigorously, in line with industrial standards. Physical fire tests are necessary to ensure the customer's safety but can give little information about critical behaviours that can help develop new materials. Numerical modelling is a tool that can help investigate a fire's behaviour further by replicating the fire test. However, fire is an interdisciplinary problem as it is a chemical reaction that behaves fluidly and impacts structural integrity. An analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is needed to capture all aspects of a fire performance test. One method is a two-way coupling analysis that imports the updated changes in thermal data, due to the fire's behaviour, to the FEA solver in a series of iterations. In light of our recent work with Tata Steel U.K using a two-way coupling methodology to determine the fire performance, it has been shown that a program called FDS-2-Abaqus can make predictions of a BS 476 -22 furnace test with a degree of accuracy. The test demonstrated the fire performance of Tata Steel U.K Trisomet product, a Polyisocyanurate (PIR) based sandwich panel used for cladding. Previous works demonstrated the limitations of the current version of the program, the main limitation being the computational cost of modelling three Trisomet panels, totalling an area of 9 . The computational cost increases substantially, with the intention to scale up to an LPS 1181-1 test, which includes a total panel surface area of 200 .The FDS-2-Abaqus program is developed further within this paper to overcome this obstacle and better accommodate Tata Steel U.K PIR sandwich panels. The new developments aim to reduce the computational cost and error margin compared to experimental data. One avenue explored is a multi-scale approach in the form of Reduced Order Modeling (ROM). The approach allows the user to include refined details of the sandwich panels, such as the overlapping joints, without a computationally costly mesh size.Comparative studies will be made between the new implementations and the previous study completed using the original FDS-2-ABAQUS program. Validation of the study will come from physical experiments in line with governing body standards such as BS 476 -22 and LPS 1181-1. The physical experimental data includes the panels' gas and surface temperatures and mechanical deformation. Conclusions are drawn, noting the new implementations' impact factors and discussing the reasonability for scaling up further to a whole warehouse.

Keywords: fire testing, numerical coupling, sandwich panels, thermo fluids

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Authors: Gheorghe Braniste

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The management of the training process in sports is closely related to the awareness of the close connection between performance and the morphological, functional and psychological characteristics of the athlete's body. Achieving high results in Olympic sports is influenced, on the one hand, by the genetically determined characteristics of the body and, on the other hand, by the morphological, functional and motor abilities of the athlete. Taking into account the importance of properly understanding the evolutionary specificity of athletes to assess their competitive potential, this study provides a comparative analysis of the parameters that characterize the growth and development of the level of adaptation of sweeping rowers, considering the growth interval between 12 and 20 years. The study established that, in the multi-annual training process, the bodies of the targeted athletes register significant adaptive changes while analyzing parameters of the morphological, functional, psychomotor and sports-technical spheres. As a result of the influence of physical efforts, both specific and non-specific, there is an increase in the adaptability of the body, its transfer to a much higher level of functionality within the parameters, useful and economical adaptive reactions influenced by environmental factors, be they internal or external. The research was carried out for 7 years, on a group of 28 athletes, following their evolution and recording the specific parameters of each age stage. In order to determine the level of physical, morpho-functional, psychomotor development and technical training of rowers, the screening data were applied at the State University of Physical Education and Sports in the Republic of Moldova. During the research, measurements were made on the waist, in the standing and sitting position, arm span, weight, circumference and chest perimeter, vital capacity of the lungs, with the subsequent determination of the vital index (tolerance level to oxygen deficiency in venous blood in Stange and Genchi breath-taking tests that characterize the level of oxygen saturation, absolute and relative strength of the hand and back, calculation of body mass and morphological maturity indices (Kettle index), body surface area (body gait), psychomotor tests (Romberg test), test-tepping 10 s., reaction to a moving object, visual and auditory-motor reaction, recording of technical parameters of rowing on a competitive distance of 200 m. At the end of the study it was found that highly performance is sports is to be associated on the one hand with the genetically determined characteristics of the body and, on the other hand, with favorable adaptive reactions and energy saving, as well as morphofunctional changes influenced by internal and external environmental factors. The importance of the results obtained at the end of the study was positively reflected in obtaining the maximum level of training of athletes in order to demonstrate performance in large-scale competitions and mostly in the Olympic Games.

Keywords: olympics, parameters, performance, peak

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Aleksandr Kavetskiy, Galina Yakubova, Nikolay Sargsyan, Stephen A. Prior, H. Allen Torbert

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The carbon sequestration question of modern times requires the development of an in-situ method of measuring soil carbon over large landmasses. Traditional chemical analytical methods used to evaluate large land areas require extensive soil sampling prior to processing for laboratory analysis; collectively, this is labor-intensive and time-consuming. An alternative method is to apply nuclear physics analysis, primarily in the form of pulsed fast-thermal neutron-gamma soil carbon analysis. This method is based on measuring the gamma-ray response that appears upon neutron irradiation of soil. Specific gamma lines with energies of 4.438 MeV appearing from neutron irradiation can be attributed to soil carbon nuclei. Based on measuring gamma line intensity, assessments of soil carbon concentration can be made. This method can be done directly in the field using a specially developed pulsed fast-thermal neutron-gamma system (PFTNA system). This system conducts in-situ analysis in a scanning mode coupled with GPS, which provides soil carbon concentration and distribution over large fields. The system has radiation shielding to minimize the dose rate (within radiation safety guidelines) for safe operator usage. Questions concerning the effect of neutron irradiation on soil health will be addressed. Information regarding absorbed neutron and gamma dose received by soil and its distribution with depth will be discussed in this study. This information was generated based on Monte-Carlo simulations (MCNP6.2 code) of neutron and gamma propagation in soil. Received data were used for the analysis of possible induced irradiation effects. The physical, chemical and biological effects of neutron soil irradiation were considered. From a physical aspect, we considered neutron (produced by the PFTNA system) induction of new isotopes and estimated the possibility of increasing the post-irradiation gamma background by comparisons to the natural background. An insignificant increase in gamma background appeared immediately after irradiation but returned to original values after several minutes due to the decay of short-lived new isotopes. From a chemical aspect, possible radiolysis of water (presented in soil) was considered. Based on stimulations of radiolysis of water, we concluded that the gamma dose rate used cannot produce gamma rays of notable rates. Possible effects of neutron irradiation (by the PFTNA system) on soil biota were also assessed experimentally. No notable changes were noted at the taxonomic level, nor was functional soil diversity affected. Our assessment suggested that the use of a PFTNA system with a neutron flux of 1e7 n/s for soil carbon analysis does not notably affect soil properties or soil health.

Keywords: carbon sequestration, neutron gamma analysis, radiation effect on soil, Monte-Carlo simulation

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Authors: Monica Jong, Antonios Banos, Tom Scott, Chris Webster, David Fletcher

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Hydrogen, as a clean alternative to methane, is relatively easy to make, either from water using electrolysis or from methane using steam reformation. However, hydrogen is much trickier to store than methane, and without effective storage, it simply won’t pass muster as a suitable methane substitute. Physical storage of hydrogen is quite inefficient. Storing hydrogen as a compressed gas at pressures up to 900 times atmospheric is volumetrically inefficient and carries safety implications, whilst storing it as a liquid requires costly and constant cryogenic cooling to minus 253°C. This is where DU steps in as a possible solution. Across the periodic table, there are many different metallic elements that will react with hydrogen to form a chemical compound known as a hydride (or metal hydride). From a chemical perspective, the ‘king’ of the hydride forming metals is palladium because it offers the highest hydrogen storage volumetric capacity. However, this material is simply too expensive and scarce to be used in a scaled-up bulk hydrogen storage solution. Depleted Uranium is the second most volumetrically efficient hydride-forming metal after palladium. The UK has accrued a significant amount of DU because of manufacturing nuclear fuel for many decades, and that is currently without real commercial use. Uranium trihydride (UH3) contains three hydrogen atoms for every uranium atom and can chemically store hydrogen at ambient pressure and temperature at more than twice the density of pure liquid hydrogen for the same volume. To release the hydrogen from the hydride, all you do is heat it up. At temperatures above 250°C, the hydride starts to thermally decompose, releasing hydrogen as a gas and leaving the Uranium as a metal again. The reversible nature of this reaction allows the hydride to be formed and unformed again and again, enabling its use as a high-density hydrogen storage material which is already available in large quantities because of its stockpiling as a ‘waste’ by-product. Whilst the tritium storage credentials of Uranium have been rigorously proven at the laboratory scale and at the fusion demonstrator JET for over 30 years, there is a need to prove the concept for depleted uranium hydrogen storage (HyDUS) at scales towards that which is needed to flexibly supply our national power grid with energy. This is exactly the purpose of the HyDUS project, a collaborative venture involving EDF as the interested energy vendor, Urenco as the owner of the waste DU, and the University of Bristol with the UKAEA as the architects of the technology. The team will embark on building and proving the world’s first pilot scale demonstrator of bulk chemical hydrogen storage using depleted Uranium. Within 24 months, the team will attempt to prove both the technical and commercial viability of this technology as a longer duration energy storage solution for the UK. The HyDUS project seeks to enable a true by-product to wonder material story for depleted Uranium, demonstrating that we can think sustainably about unlocking the potential value trapped inside nuclear waste materials.

Keywords: hydrogen, long duration storage, storage, depleted uranium, HyDUS

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Authors: Humaira Athar, Brajeshwar Singh

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Generally, the brightness of the indoor environment of buildings is entirely maintained by the artificial lighting which has consumed a large amount of resources. It is reported that lighting consumes about 19% of the total generated electricity which accounts for about 30-40% of total energy consumption. One possible way is to reduce the lighting energy by exploiting sunlight either through the use of suitable devices or energy efficient materials like translucent concrete. Translucent concrete is one such architectural concrete which allows the passage of natural light as well as artificial light through it. Several attempts have been made on different aspects of translucent concrete such as light guiding materials (glass fibers, plastic fibers, cylinder etc.), concrete mix design and manufacturing methods for use as building elements. Concerns are, however, raised on various related issues such as poor compatibility between the optical fibers and cement paste, unaesthetic appearance due to disturbance occurred in the arrangement of fibers during vibration and high shrinkage in flowable concrete due to its high water/cement ratio. Need is felt to develop translucent concrete to meet the requirement of structural safety as OPC concrete with the maximized saving in energy towards the power of illumination and thermal load in buildings. Translucent concrete was produced using pre-treated plastic optical fibers (POF, 2mm dia.) and high slump white concrete. The concrete mix was proportioned in the ratio of 1:1.9:2.1 with a w/c ratio of 0.40. The POF was varied from 0.8-9 vol.%. The mechanical properties and light transmission of this concrete were determined. Thermal conductivity of samples was measured by a transient plate source technique. Daylight illumination was measured by a lux grid method as per BIS:SP-41. It was found that the compressive strength of translucent concrete increased with decreasing optical fiber content. An increase of ~28% in the compressive strength of concrete was noticed when fiber was pre-treated. FE-SEM images showed little-debonded zone between the fibers and cement paste which was well supported with pull-out bond strength test results (~187% improvement over untreated). The light transmission of concrete was in the range of 3-7% depending on fiber spacing (5-20 mm). The average daylight illuminance (~75 lux) was nearly equivalent to the criteria specified for illumination for circulation (80 lux). The thermal conductivity of translucent concrete was reduced by 28-40% with respect to plain concrete. The thermal load calculated by heat conduction equation was ~16% more than the plain concrete. Based on Design-Builder software, the total annual illumination energy load of a room using one side translucent concrete was 162.36 kW compared with the energy load of 249.75 kW for a room without concrete. The calculated energy saving on an account of the power of illumination was ~25%. A marginal improvement towards thermal comfort was also noticed. It is concluded that the translucent concrete has the advantages of the existing concrete (load bearing) with translucency and insulation characteristics. It saves a significant amount of energy by providing natural daylight instead of artificial power consumption of illumination.

Keywords: energy saving, light transmission, microstructure, plastic optical fibers, translucent concrete

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Authors: Gema M. Rodado, Jose M. Olavarrieta

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Hydrogen fuel cell technologies have experienced a great boost in the last decades, significantly increasing the production of these devices for both stationary and portable (mainly automotive) applications; these are influenced by two main factors: environmental pollution and energy shortage. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts chemical energy directly into electricity by using hydrogen and oxygen gases as reactive components and obtaining water and heat as byproducts of the chemical reaction. Fuel cells, specifically those of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology, are considered an alternative to internal combustion engines, mainly because of the low emissions they produce (almost zero), high efficiency and low operating temperatures (< 373 K). The introduction and use of fuel cells in the automotive market requires the development of standardized and validated procedures to test and evaluate their performance in different environmental conditions including vibrations and freeze-thaw cycles. These situations of vibration and extremely low/high temperatures can affect the physical integrity or even the excellent operation or performance of the fuel cell stack placed in a vehicle in circulation or in different climatic conditions. The main objective of this work is the development and validation of vibration and freeze-thaw cycling test procedures for fuel cell stacks that can be used in a vehicle in order to consolidate their safety, performance, and durability. In this context, different experimental tests were carried out at the facilities of the National Hydrogen Centre (CNH2). The experimental equipment used was: A vibration platform (shaker) for vibration test analysis on fuel cells in three axes directions with different vibration profiles. A walk-in climatic chamber to test the starting, operating, and stopping behavior of fuel cells under defined extreme conditions. A test station designed and developed by the CNH2 to test and characterize PEM fuel cell stacks up to 10 kWe. A 5 kWe PEM fuel cell stack in off-operation mode was used to carry out two independent experimental procedures. On the one hand, the fuel cell was subjected to a sinusoidal vibration test on the shaker in the three axes directions. It was defined by acceleration and amplitudes in the frequency range of 7 to 200 Hz for a total of three hours in each direction. On the other hand, the climatic chamber was used to simulate freeze-thaw cycles by defining a temperature range between +313 K and -243 K with an average relative humidity of 50% and a recommended ramp up and rump down of 1 K/min. The polarization curve and gas leakage rate were determined before and after the vibration and freeze-thaw tests at the fuel cell stack test station to evaluate the robustness of the stack. The results were very similar, which indicates that the tests did not affect the fuel cell stack structure and performance. The proposed procedures were verified and can be used as an initial point to perform other tests with different fuel cells.

Keywords: climatic chamber, freeze-thaw cycles, PEM fuel cell, shaker, vibration tests

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Authors: Louise Reyntjens

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Where criminal law used to be the traditional response to cope with the terrorist threat, European governments are increasingly relying on administrative paths. The reliance on immigration law fits into this trend. Terrorism is seen as a civilization menace emanating from abroad. In this context, the expulsion of dangerous aliens, immigration law’s core task, is put forward as a key security tool. Governments all over Europe are focusing on removing dangerous individuals from their territory rather than bringing them to justice. This research reflects on the consequences for the expelled individuals’ fundamental rights. For this, the author selected four European countries for a comparative study: Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Sweden. All these countries face similar social and security issues, igniting the recourse to immigration law as a counterterrorism tool. Yet, they adopt a very different approach on this: the United Kingdom positions itself on the repressive side of the spectrum. Sweden on the other hand, also 'securitized' its immigration policy after the recent terrorist hit in Stockholm, but remains on the tolerant side of the spectrum. Belgium and France are situated in between. This paper addresses the situation in Belgium. In 2017, the Belgian parliament introduced several legislative changes by which it considerably expanded and facilitated the possibility to expel unwanted aliens. First, the expulsion measure was subjected to new and questionably definitions: a serious attack on the nation’s safety used to be required to expel certain categories of aliens. Presently, mere suspicions suffice to fulfil the new definition of a 'serious threat to national security'. A definition which fails to respond to the principle of legality; the law, nor the prepatory works clarify what is meant by 'a threat to national security'. This creates the risk of submitting this concept’s interpretation almost entirely to the discretion of the immigration authorities. Secondly, in name of intervening more quickly and efficiently, the automatic suspensive appeal for expulsions was abolished. The European Court of Human Rights nonetheless requires such an automatic suspensive appeal under Article 13 and 3 of the Convention. Whether this procedural reform will stand to endure, is thus questionable. This contribution also raises questions regarding expulsion’s efficacy as a key security tool. In a globalized and mobilized world, particularly in a European Union with no internal boundaries, questions can be raised about the usefulness of this measure. Even more so, by simply expelling a dangerous individual, States avoid their responsibility and shift the risk to another State. Criminal law might in these instances be more capable of providing a conclusive and long term response. This contribution explores the human rights consequences of expulsion as a security tool in Belgium. It also offers a critical view on its efficacy for protecting national security.

Keywords: Belgium, counter-terrorism and human rights, expulsion, immigration law

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Authors: Joseph Bertrand Iboum Kissaaka, Charles Fonyuy Ngum Tchioben, Paul Gustave Fowe Kwetche, Jeannette Ngo Elogan Ntem, Joseph Binyet Njebakal, Ribert Yvan Makosso-Tchapi, François Mvondo Owono, Marie Joseph Ntamak-Nida

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Located in the Gulf of Guinea, the Kribi-Campo sub-basin belongs to the Aptian salt basins along the West African Margin. In this paper, we investigated the tectono-stratigraphic architecture of the basin, focusing on the role of salt tectonics and strike-slip faults along the Kribi Fracture Zone with implications for reservoir prediction. Using 2D seismic data and well data interpreted through sequence stratigraphy with integrated seismic attributes analysis with Python Programming and unsupervised Machine Learning, at least six second-order sequences, indicating three main stages of tectono-stratigraphic evolution, were determined: pre-salt syn-rift, post-salt rift climax and post-rift stages. The pre-salt syn-rift stage with KTS1 tectonosequence (Barremian-Aptian) reveals a transform rifting along NE-SW transfer faults associated with N-S to NNE-SSW syn-rift longitudinal faults bounding a NW-SE half-graben filled with alluvial to lacustrine-fan delta deposits. The post-salt rift-climax stage (Lower to Upper Cretaceous) includes two second-order tectonosequences (KTS2 and KTS3) associated with the salt tectonics and Campo High uplift. During the rift-climax stage, the growth of salt diapirs developed syncline withdrawal basins filled by early forced regression, mid transgressive and late normal regressive systems tracts. The early rift climax underlines some fine-grained hangingwall fans or delta deposits and coarse-grained fans from the footwall of fault scarps. The post-rift stage (Paleogene to Neogene) contains at least three main tectonosequences KTS4, KTS5 and KTS6-7. The first one developed some turbiditic lobe complexes considered as mass transport complexes and feeder channel-lobe complexes cutting the unstable shelf edge of the Campo High. The last two developed submarine Channel Complexes associated with lobes towards the southern part and braided delta to tidal channels towards the northern part of the Kribi-Campo sub-basin. The reservoir distribution in the Kribi-Campo sub-basin reveals some channels, fan lobes reservoirs and stacked channels reaching up to the polygonal fault systems.

Keywords: tectono-stratigraphic architecture, Kribi-Campo sub-basin, machine learning, pre-salt sequences, post-salt sequences

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Authors: Sukalyan Chakraborty

Abstract:

Arsenic contamination in groundwater has been a matter of serious concern worldwide. Globally, arsenic contaminated water has caused serious chronic human diseases and in the last few decades the transfer of arsenic to human beings via food chain has gained much attention because food represents a further potential exposure pathway to arsenic in instances where crops are irrigated with high arsenic groundwater, grown in contaminated fields or cooked with arsenic laden water. In the present study, the groundwater of Sahibganj district of Jharkhand has been analysed to find the degree of contamination and its probable associated risk due to direct consumption or irrigation. The present study area comprising of three blocks, namely Sahibganj, Rajmahal and Udhwa in Sahibganj district of Jharkhand state, India, situated in the western bank of river Ganga has been investigated for arsenic contamination in groundwater, soil and crops predominantly growing in the region. Associated physicochemical parameters of groundwater including pH, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved oxygen (DO), oxidation reduction potential (ORP), ammonium, nitrate and chloride were assessed to understand the mobilisation mechanism and chances of arsenic exposure from soil to crops and further into the food chain. Results suggested the groundwater to be dominantly Ca-HCO3- type with low redox potential and high total dissolved solids load. Major cations followed the order of Ca ˃ Na ˃ Mg ˃ K. The concentration of major anions was found in the order of HCO3− > Cl− > SO42− > NO3− > PO43− varied between 0.009 to 0.20 mg L-1. Fe concentrations of the groundwater samples were below WHO permissible limit varying between 54 to 344 µg L-1. Phosphate concentration was high and showed a significant positive correlation with arsenic. As concentrations ranged from 7 to 115 µg L-1 in premonsoon, between 2 and 98 µg L-1 in monsoon and 1 to 133µg L-1 in postmonsoon season. Arsenic concentration was found to be much higher than the WHO or BIS permissible limit in majority of the villages in the study area. Arsenic was also seen to be positively correlated with iron and phosphate. PCA results demonstrated the role of both geological condition and anthropogenic inputs to influence the water quality. Arsenic was also found to increase with depth up to 100 m from the surface. Calculation of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects of the arsenic concentration in the communities exposed to the groundwater for drinking and other purpose indicated high risk with an average of more than 1 in a 1000 population. Health risk analysis revealed high to very high carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk for adults and children in the communities dependent on groundwater of the study area. Observation suggested the groundwater to be considerably polluted with arsenic and posing significant health risk for the exposed communities. The mobilisation mechanism of arsenic also could be identified from the results suggesting reductive dissolution of Fe oxyhydroxides due to high phosphate concentration from agricultural input arsenic release from the sediments along river Ganges.

Keywords: arsenic, physicochemical parameters, mobilisation, health effects

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