Search results for: water efficiency

Authors: Gabriela Lucas Sanchez

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The contemporary housing industry is dominated by tract houses, which prioritize uniformity and cost-efficiency over environmental and ecological considerations. However, as the world faces the growing challenges of climate change and resource depletion, there is an urgent need to rethink the residential paradigm. This essay explores how regenerative practices can be integrated into standard residential designs to create a shift that reduces the environmental impact of housing and actively contributes to ecological health. Passive sustainable practices, such as passive solar design, natural ventilation, and the use of energy-efficient materials, aim to maximize resource use efficiency, minimize waste, and create healthy living environments. Regenerative practices, on the other hand, go beyond sustainability to work in harmony with natural systems, actively restoring and enriching the environment. Integrating these two approaches can redefine the residential paradigm, creating homes that reduce harm and positively impact the local ecosystem. The essay begins by exploring the principles and benefits of passive sustainable practices, discussing how they can reduce energy consumption and improve indoor environmental quality in standardized housing. Passive sustainability minimizes energy consumption through strategic design choices, such as optimizing building orientation, utilizing natural ventilation, and incorporating high-performance insulation and glazing. However, while sustainability efforts have been important steps in the right direction, a more holistic, regenerative approach is needed to address the root causes of environmental degradation. Regenerative development and design seek to go beyond simply reducing negative impacts, instead aiming to create built environments that actively contribute to restoring and enhancing natural systems. This shift in perspective is critical, as it recognizes the interdependence between human settlements and the natural world and the potential for buildings to serve as catalysts for positive change.

Keywords: passive sustainability, regenerative architecture, residential architecture, community

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Authors: M. Y. Waziri, M. A. Aliyu

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The paper proposes an approach to improve the performance of Broyden’s method for solving systems of nonlinear equations. In this work, we consider the information from two preceding iterates rather than a single preceding iterate to update the Broyden’s matrix that will produce a better approximation of the Jacobian matrix in each iteration. The numerical results verify that the proposed method has clearly enhanced the numerical performance of Broyden’s Method.

Keywords: mulit-step Broyden, nonlinear systems of equations, computational efficiency, iterate

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Authors: Mohammadamin Esmaeilzadehazimi, Morteza Shayan Arani, Mohammad Toorani, Aouni Lakis

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This study uses a hybrid finite element method to predict the dynamic behavior of both fully and partially-filled truncated conical shells stiffened with ring stiffeners. The method combines classical shell theory and the finite element method, and employs displacement functions derived from exact solutions of Sanders' shell equilibrium equations for conical shells. The shell-fluid interface is analyzed by utilizing the velocity potential, Bernoulli's equation, and impermeability conditions to determine an explicit expression for fluid pressure. The equations of motion presented in this study apply to both conical and cylindrical shells. This study presents the first comparison of the method applied to ring-stiffened shells with other numerical and experimental findings. Vibration frequencies for conical shells with various boundary conditions and geometries in a vacuum and filled with water are compared with experimental and numerical investigations, achieving good agreement. The study thoroughly investigates the influence of geometric parameters, stiffener quantity, semi-vertex cone angle, level of water filled in the cone, and applied boundary conditions on the natural frequency of fluid-loaded ring-stiffened conical shells, and draws some useful conclusions. The primary advantage of the current method is its use of a minimal number of finite elements while achieving highly accurate results.

Keywords: finite element method, fluid–structure interaction, conical shell, natural frequency, ring-stiffener

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Authors: Masato Saeki

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Presented herein is a novel algorithms for calculating the damping performance of particle dampers. The particle damper is a passive vibration control technique and has many practical applications due to simple design. It consists of granular materials constrained to move between two ends in the cavity of a primary vibrating system. The damping effect results from the exchange of momentum during the impact of granular materials against the wall of the cavity. This damping has the advantage of being independent of the environment. Therefore, particle damping can be applied in extreme temperature environments, where most conventional dampers would fail. It was shown experimentally in many papers that the efficiency of the particle dampers is high in the case of resonant vibration. In order to use the particle dampers effectively, it is necessary to solve the equations of motion for each particle, considering the granularity. The discrete element method (DEM) has been found to be effective for revealing the dynamics of particle damping. In this method, individual particles are assumed as rigid body and interparticle collisions are modeled by mechanical elements as springs and dashpots. However, the computational cost is significant since the equation of motion for each particle must be solved at each time step. In order to improve the computational efficiency of the DEM, the new algorithms are needed. In this study, new algorithms are proposed for implementing the high performance DEM. On the assumption that behaviors of the granular particles in the each divided area of the damper container are the same, the contact force of the primary system with all particles can be considered to be equal to the product of the divided number of the damper area and the contact force of the primary system with granular materials per divided area. This convenience makes it possible to considerably reduce the calculation time. The validity of this calculation method was investigated and the calculated results were compared with the experimental ones. This paper also presents the results of experimental studies of the performance of particle dampers. It is shown that the particle radius affect the noise level. It is also shown that the particle size and the particle material influence the damper performance.

Keywords: particle damping, discrete element method (DEM), granular materials, numerical analysis, equivalent noise level

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Authors: Nikolai Nosik, Vladislav Podmasterjev, Nina Kondrashina, Marina Chataeva, Olga Lobach, Dmitry Noosik, Sergei Razumovskii

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Virucidal activity of ozone is well known: dissolved in water it kill viruses very fast. The virucidal capacity of ozone in ozone-air mixture is less known. The goal of the study was to investigate the virucidal potentials of the ozone–air mixture and kinetics of virus inactivation. Materials and methods. Ozone (O3 ) was generated from oxygen with ozonizer ( 1.0 – 75.0 mg\l). The ozone concentration was determined by the spectrophotometric methods. Virus contaminated samples were placed into the flowing reactor. Viruses: poliovirus type 1, vaccine strain (Sabin) and adenovirus, type 5, were obtained from the State virus collection. Titrations of viruses were carried out in appropriate cell cultures. CxT value ( mg\l x min) was calculated. Results. Metallic, polycarbonic and fiber “Kevlar” samples were contaminated with virus, dried and treated with ozone-air mixture in the flowing reactor. Kinetics of poliovirus inactivation: in 15 min at 5.0 mg\l -2.0 lg TCID50 inhibition , in 15 min at 10 mg\l – 2.5 lg TCID50 , 4.0 lg TCID50 inactivation of poliovirus was achieved after 75min at ozone concentration 20.0mg\l (99.99%). ( CxT = 75, 150 and 1500 mg\l x min on all three types of surfaces). It was found that the inactivation of poliovirus was more effective when the virus contaminated samples were wet (in 15 min at 20mg\l inhibition of virus in dry samples was 2.0 TCID50 , in wet samples – 4.0 TCID50). Adenovirus was less resistant to ozone treatment then poliovirus: 4.0 lg TCID50 inhibition was observed after 30 min of the treatment with ozone at 20mg\l ( CxT mg\l x min = 300 for adenovirus as for poliovirus it was 1500). Conclusion. It was found that ozone-air mixture inactivates viruses at rather high concentrations (compared to the reported effect of ozone dissolved in water). Despite of that there is a difference in the resistance to ozone action between viruses – poliovirus is more resistant then adenovirus-ozone-air mixture can be used for disinfection of large rooms. The maintaining of the virus-contaminated surfaces in wet condition allow to decrease the ozone load for virus inactivation.

Keywords: adenovirus, disinfection, ozone, poliovirus

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Authors: Feng Yue, Fei Dai

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With the rapid development of urbanization process in China, its environmental protection pressure is severely tested. So, analyzing and optimizing the landscape pattern is an important measure to ease the pressure on the ecological environment. This paper takes Wuhan Urban Development Zone as the research object, and studies its landscape pattern evolution and quantitative optimization strategy. First, remote sensing image data from 1990 to 2015 were interpreted by using Erdas software. Next, the landscape pattern index of landscape level, class level, and patch level was studied based on Fragstats. Then five indicators of ecological environment based on National Environmental Protection Standard of China were selected to evaluate the impact of landscape pattern evolution on the ecological environment. Besides, the cost distance analysis of ArcGIS was applied to simulate wildlife migration thus indirectly measuring the improvement of ecological environment quality. The result shows that the area of land for construction increased 491%. But the bare land, sparse grassland, forest, farmland, water decreased 82%, 47%, 36%, 25% and 11% respectively. They were mainly converted into construction land. On landscape level, the change of landscape index all showed a downward trend. Number of patches (NP), Landscape shape index (LSI), Connection index (CONNECT), Shannon's diversity index (SHDI), Aggregation index (AI) separately decreased by 2778, 25.7, 0.042, 0.6, 29.2%, all of which indicated that the NP, the degree of aggregation and the landscape connectivity declined. On class level, the construction land and forest, CPLAND, TCA, AI and LSI ascended, but the Distribution Statistics Core Area (CORE_AM) decreased. As for farmland, water, sparse grassland, bare land, CPLAND, TCA and DIVISION, the Patch Density (PD) and LSI descended, yet the patch fragmentation and CORE_AM increased. On patch level, patch area, Patch perimeter, Shape index of water, farmland and bare land continued to decline. The three indexes of forest patches increased overall, sparse grassland decreased as a whole, and construction land increased. It is obvious that the urbanization greatly influenced the landscape evolution. Ecological diversity and landscape heterogeneity of ecological patches clearly dropped. The Habitat Quality Index continuously declined by 14%. Therefore, optimization strategy based on greenway network planning is raised for discussion. This paper contributes to the study of landscape pattern evolution in planning and design and to the research on spatial layout of urbanization.

Keywords: landscape pattern, optimization strategy, ArcGIS, Erdas, landscape metrics, landscape architecture

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Authors: Tahir Ali Akbar, Hirra Jabbar

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Land cover change analysis plays a significant role in understanding the trends of urban sprawl and land use transformation due to anthropogenic activities. In this study, the spatio-temporal dynamics of major land covers were analyzed in the last twenty years (1988-2016) for District Lahore located in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. The Landsat satellite imageries were downloaded from USGS Global Visualization Viewer of Earth Resources Observation and Science Center located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota USA. The imageries included: (i) Landsat TM-5 for 1988 and 2001; and (ii) Landsat-8 OLI for 2016. The raw digital numbers of Landsat-5 images were converted into spectral radiance and then planetary reflectance. The digital numbers of Landsat-8 image were directly converted into planetary reflectance. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to classify the processed images into six major classes of water, buit-up, barren land, shrub and grassland, sparse vegetation and dense vegetation. The NDVI output results were improved by visual interpretation using high-resolution satellite imageries. The results indicated that the built-up areas were increased to 21% in 2016 from 10% in 1988. The decrease in % areas was found in case of water, barren land and shrub & grassland. There were improvements in percentage of areas for the vegetation. The increasing trend of urban sprawl for Lahore requires implementation of GIS based spatial planning, monitoring and management system for its sustainable development.

Keywords: land cover changes, NDVI, remote sensing, urban sprawl

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Authors: Ouzid Yasmina, Aiche-Iratni Ghenima, Harchaoui Lina, Saadoun Noria, Houali Karim

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Medicinal plants are an important source of bioactive molecules with biological activities such as anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antimitotic.... These molecules include alkaloids, polyphenols and terpenes. The latter can be extracted by different solvents, namely: water, ethanol, methanol, butanol, acetone... This is why it seemed interesting to us to evaluate in vitro the antimitotic and genotoxic effect of these secondary metabolites contained in the aqueous extract of the leaves of Peganum harmala L. by the Allium cepa L. test on meristematic cells by calculating the mitotic parameters (The mitotic index, the aberration index and the limit value of cytotoxicity).A spectrophotometric determination of secondary metabolites, namely alkaloids and flavonoids in the aqueous extract of this essence, was performed. As a result, the alkaloid content is estimated to be 28.42 μg EC/mg extract, and the flavonoid content is 12.52 μg EQ/mg extract. The determination of the mitotic index revealed disturbances in cell division with a highly significant difference between the negative control (distilled water) and the different samples (aqueous extracts, colchicine and quecetin). The exposure of meristematic cells to our samples resulted in a large number of chromosomal, nuclear and cellular aberrations with an aberration index reaching 16.21±1.28% for the 4mg/ml aqueous extract and 11.71±3.32% for the 10mg/ml aqueous extract. The limit value of cytotoxicity revealed that our samples are sublethal on Allium cepa L. meristematic cells.

Keywords: allium cepa l., antimitotic and genotoxic effect, aqueous leaf extract, laghouat (algeria), peganum harmala l., secondary metabolites

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Authors: Najlaa Yousef Qusti, Steven J. Brookes, Paul A. Brunton

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Background: Tooth discoloration can be an aesthetic problem, and tooth whitening using carbamide peroxide bleaching agents are a popular treatment option. However, there are concerns about possible adverse effects such as demineralisation of the bleached enamel; however, the cause of this demineralisation is unclear. Introduction: Teeth can become stained or discoloured over time. Tooth whitening is an aesthetic solution for tooth discoloration. Bleaching solutions of 10% carbamide peroxide (CP) have become the standard agent used in dentist-prescribed and home-applied ’vital bleaching techniques’. These materials release hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), the active whitening agent. However, there is controversy in the literature regarding the effect of bleaching agents on enamel integrity and enamel mineral content. The purpose of this study was to establish if carbamide peroxide bleaching agents affect the acid solubility of enamel (i.e., make teeth more prone to demineralisation). Materials and Methods: Twelve human premolar teeth were sectioned longitudinally along the midline and varnished to leave the natural enamel surface exposed. The baseline behavior of each tooth half in relation to its demineralisation in acid was established by sequential exposure to 4 vials containing 1ml of 10mM acetic acid (1 minute/vial). This was followed by exposure to 10% CP for 8 hours. After washing in distilled water, the tooth half was sequentially exposed to 4 further vials containing acid to test if the acid susceptibility of the enamel had been affected. The corresponding tooth half acted as a control and was exposed to distilled water instead of CP. The mineral loss was determined by measuring [Ca²⁺] and [PO₄³⁻] released in each vial using a calcium ion-selective electrode and the phosphomolybdenum blue method, respectively. The effect of bleaching on the tooth surfaces was also examined using SEM. Results: Exposure to carbamide peroxide did not significantly alter the susceptibility of enamel to acid attack, and SEM of the enamel surface revealed a slight alteration in surface appearance. SEM images of the control enamel surface showed a flat enamel surface with some shallow pits, whereas the bleached enamel appeared with an increase in surface porosity and some areas of mild erosion. Conclusions: Exposure to H₂O₂ equivalent to 10% CP does not significantly increase subsequent acid susceptibility of enamel as determined by Ca²⁺ release from the enamel surface. The effects of bleaching on mineral loss were indistinguishable from distilled water in the experimental system used. However, some surface differences were observed by SEM. The phosphomolybdenum blue method for phosphate is compromised by peroxide bleaching agents due to their oxidising properties. However, the Ca²⁺ electrode is unaffected by oxidising agents and can be used to determine the mineral loss in the presence of peroxides.

Keywords: bleaching, carbamide peroxide, demineralisation, teeth whitening

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Authors: Ming-Jyh Chen, Wen-Ming Huang, Yi-Chu Liu, Li-Hui Yang

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Introduction: Social responsibility is the key to sustainable organizational development. Under the ground Green Health Hospital Declaration signed by our superintendent, we have launched comprehensive energy conservation management in medical services, the community, and the staff’s life. To execute environment-friendly promotion with robust strategies, we build up a low-carbon medical system and community with smart green public construction promotion as well as intensifying energy conservation education and communication. Purpose/Methods: With the support of the board and the superintendent, we construct an energy management team, commencing with an environment-friendly system, management, education, and ISO 50001 energy management system; we have ameliorated energy performance and energy efficiency and continuing. Results: In the year 2021, we have achieved multiple goals. The energy management system efficiently controls diesel, natural gas, and electricity usage. About 5% of the consumption is saved when compared to the numbers from 2018 and 2021. Our company develops intelligent services and promotes various paperless electronic operations to provide people with a vibrant and environmentally friendly lifestyle. The goal is to save 68.6% on printing and photocopying by reducing 35.15 million sheets of paper yearly. We strengthen the concept of environmental protection classification among colleagues. In the past two years, the amount of resource recycling has reached more than 650 tons, and the resource recycling rate has reached 70%. The annual growth rate of waste recycling is about 28 metric tons. Conclusions: To build a green medical system with “high efficacy, high value, low carbon, low reliance,” energy stewardship, economic prosperity, and social responsibility are our principles when it comes to formulation of energy conservation management strategies, converting limited sources to efficient usage, developing clean energy, and continuing with sustainable energy.

Keywords: energy efficiency, environmental education, green hospital, sustainable development

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Authors: Mangana B. Rampheri, Timothy Dube, Farai Dondofema, Tatenda Dalu

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Identifying and delineating groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) is critical to the well understanding of the GDEs spatial distribution as well as groundwater allocation. However, this information is inadequately understood due to limited available data for the most area of concerns. Thus, this study aims to address this gap using remotely sensed, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and in-situ data to identify and delineate GDEs in Khakea-Bray Transboundary Aquifer. Our study developed GDEs index, which integrates seven explanatory variables, namely, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Land-use and landcover (LULC), slope, Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), flow accumulation and curvature. The GDEs map was delineated using the weighted overlay tool in ArcGIS environments. The map was spatially classified into two classes, namely, GDEs and Non-GDEs. The results showed that only 1,34 % (721,91 km2) of the area is characterised by GDEs. Finally, groundwater level (GWL) data was used for validation through correlation analysis. Our results indicated that: 1) GDEs are concentrated at the northern, central, and south-western part of our study area, and 2) the validation results showed that GDEs classes do not overlap with GWL located in the 22 boreholes found in the given area. However, the results show a possible delineation of GDEs in the study area using remote sensing and GIS techniques along with AHP. The results of this study further contribute to identifying and delineating priority areas where appropriate water conservation programs, as well as strategies for sustainable groundwater development, can be implemented.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process (AHP), explanatory variables, groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs), khakea-bray transboundary aquifer, sentinel-2

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Authors: Vladimir S. Timofeev

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In this article the problem of distributional moments estimation is considered. The new approach of moments estimation based on usage of the characteristic function is proposed. By statistical simulation technique, author shows that new approach has some robust properties. For calculation of the derivatives of characteristic function there is used numerical differentiation. Obtained results confirmed that author’s idea has a certain working efficiency and it can be recommended for any statistical applications.

Keywords: characteristic function, distributional moments, robustness, outlier, statistical estimation problem, statistical simulation

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Authors: Ashim Kanti Dey, Briti Sundar Bhowmik

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This paper presents an idea to improve the soft soil by using lime grits which are normally produced as waste product in the paper manufacturing industries. This waste material cannot be used as a construction material because of its light weight, uniform size and poor compaction control. With scarcity in land, effective disposal of lime grit is a major concern of all paper manufacturing industries. Considering its non-plasticity and high permeability characteristics the lime grit may suitably be used as a drainage material for speedy consolidation of cohesive soil. It can also be used to improve the bearing capacity of soft clay. An attempt has been made in this paper to show the usefulness of lime grit in improving the bearing capacity of shallow foundation resting on soft clayey soil. A series of undrained unconsolidated cyclic triaxial tests performed at different area ratios and at three different water contents shows that dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio can be substantially improved with lime grit. Improvement is observed to be more in case of higher area ratio and higher water content. Static triaxial tests were also conducted on lime grit reinforced clayey soil after application of 50 load cycles to determine the effect of lime grit columns on cyclically loaded clayey soils. It is observed that the degradation is less for lime grit stabilized soil. A study of model test with different area ratio of lime column installation is also included to see the field behaviour of lime grit reinforced soil.

Keywords: lime grit column, area ratio, shear modulus, damping ratio, strength ratio, improvement factor, degradation factor

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Authors: Mathieu Bourdeau, Philippe Basset, Julien Waeytens, Elyes Nefzaoui

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As residential buildings account for a third of the overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, building energy modeling is an essential tool to reach energy efficiency goals. In the energy modeling process, calibration is a mandatory step to obtain accurate and reliable energy simulations. Nevertheless, the comparison between simulation results and the actual building energy behavior often highlights a significant performance gap. The literature discusses different origins of energy performance gaps, from building design to building operation. Then, building operation description in energy models, especially energy usages and users’ behavior, plays an important role in the reliability of simulations but is also the most accessible target for post-occupancy energy management and optimization. Therefore, the present study aims to discuss results on the calibration ofresidential building energy models using real operation data. Data are collected through a sensor network of more than 180 sensors and advanced energy meters deployed in three collective residential buildings undergoing major retrofit actions. The sensor network is implemented at building scale and in an eight-apartment sample. Data are collected for over one year and half and coverbuilding energy behavior – thermal and electricity, indoor environment, inhabitants’ comfort, occupancy, occupants behavior and energy uses, and local weather. Building energy simulations are performed using a physics-based building energy modeling software (Pleaides software), where the buildings’features are implemented according to the buildingsthermal regulation code compliance study and the retrofit project technical files. Sensitivity analyses are performed to highlight the most energy-driving building features regarding each end-use. These features are then compared with the collected post-occupancy data. Energy-driving features are progressively replaced with field data for a step-by-step calibration of the energy model. Results of this study provide an analysis of energy performance gap on an existing residential case study under deep retrofit actions. It highlights the impact of the different building features on the energy behavior and the performance gap in this context, such as temperature setpoints, indoor occupancy, the building envelopeproperties but also domestic hot water usage or heat gains from electric appliances. The benefits of inputting field data from an extensive instrumentation campaign instead of standardized scenarios are also described. Finally, the exhaustive instrumentation solution provides useful insights on the needs, advantages, and shortcomings of the implemented sensor network for its replicability on a larger scale and for different use cases.

Keywords: calibration, building energy modeling, performance gap, sensor network

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Authors: Muhammad Naeem Chaudhry, Fahim Nawaz, Rana Nauman Shabbir

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New strategies aimed at increasing the resilience of crop plants to the negative effects of climate change represent important research priorities of plant scientists. The use of soil microorganisms to alleviate abiotic stresses like drought has gained particular importance in recent past. A field experiment was planned to investigate the effect of phosphorous solubilizing bacteria on yield and seed quality of Camelina (Camelina sativa L.) under water deficit conditions. The study was conducted at Agronomic Research Farm, University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University Bahawalpur, during 4th week of November, 2013. The available seeds of Camelina sativa were inoculated with two bacterial strains (pseudomonas and Bacillus spp.) and grown under various water stress levels i.e. D0, (four irrigations), D3 (three irrigation), D2 (two irrigations), and D1 (one irrigation). The results revealed that drought stress significantly reduced the plant growth and yield, consequently reducing protein contents and oil concentration in camelina. The exposure to drought stress decreased plant height (16%), plant population (27%), number of fertile branches (41-59%), number of pods per plant (35%) and seed per pod (33%). Drought stress also exerted a negative impact on yield characteristics by reducing the 1000-seed weight (65%), final seed yield (52%), biological yield (22%) and harvest index (39%) of camelina. However, the inoculation of seeds with Pseudomonas and Bacillus spp. promoted the plant growth characterized by increased plant height and enhanced plant population. It was noted that inoculation of seeds with Pseudomonas resulted in the maximum plant population (113.4 cm), primary branches (19 plant-1), and number of pods (664 plant-1), whereas Bacillus inoculation resulted in maximum plant height (113.4 cm), seeds per pod (15.9), 1000-seed weight (1.85 g), and seed yield (3378.8 kg ha-1). Moreover, the inoculation with Bacillus also significantly improved the quality attributes of camelina and gave 3.5% and 2.1% higher oil contents than Pseudomonas and control (no-inoculation), respectively. Similarly, the same strain also resulted in maximum protein contents (33.3%). Our results confirmed the hypothesis that inoculation of seeds with phosphorous solubilizing bacterial strains is an effective, viable and environment-friendly approach to improve yield and quality of camelina under water deficit conditions. However, further studies are suggested to investigate the physiological and molecular processes, stimulated by bacterial strains, for increasing drought tolerance in food crops.

Keywords: Camelina, drought stress, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, seed quality

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Authors: Arun Kumar R. K. Gothra, Hasan Alhakamy

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With increasing expectations and demands for warehousing and distribution, Warehouse Solution Incorporated in Victoria has been looking at ways to improve on its business processes to maintain the competitive edge. To maintain the provision of high quality service standards at competitive and affordable prices, improvements in the logistics management are necessary. One such avenue is to make efficient use of space available in the warehouse. This paper is based on a study of the collaboration of Warehouse Solution Inc with Dandenong Distribution Centre (DDC) to solve congestion problem and enhance efficiency of the whole warehouse activities.

Keywords: space optimization, optimal utilization, warehouse, DDC

Procedia PDF Downloads 602

Authors: Raquel Dafouz Neus Cáceres, Javier Fernandez-Rubio, Belinda Huerta José Luis Rodríguez-Gil, Nicola Mastroianni, Miren López de Alda, Damià Barceló, Yolanda Valcárcel

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The region of Galicia, found in north-western (NW) Spain, is a national and world leader in shellfish, especially mussel production, and recognized for its fishing industry. Few studies have evaluated the presence of emerging contaminants in NW Spain, with those published mainly concerning the continental aquatic environment. The objective of this study was to identify the environmental risk posed by the presence of pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse in this important coastal region. The presence of sixteen pharmaceuticals (benzodiazepines, anxiolytics, and caffeine), and 19 drugs of abuse (cocainics, amphetamine-like compounds, opiates and opioids, lysergic compounds, and cannabinoids) was assessed in 23 sites located in the Rías (Coastal inlets) of Muros, Arousa, and Pontevedra (NW Spain). Twenty-two of these locations were affected by waste-water treatment plant (WWTP) effluents, and one represented the effluent of one of these WWTPs. Venlafaxine was the pharmaceutical compound detected at higher concentration in the three Rías, with a maximum value of 291 ng/L at the site Porto do Son (Ría de Muros). Total concentration in the three Rías was 819,26 ng/L. Next, citalopram and lorazepam were the most prevalent compounds detected. Metabolite of cocaine benzoylecgonine was the drug of abuse with the highest concentration, measured at 972 ng/L in the Ría of Noia WWTP (no dilution). This compound was also detected at 142 ng/L in the site La Isla de Aros, Ría of Pontevedra. Total concentration for the three Rías was 1210 ng/L. Ephedrine was also detected at high level in the three Rías, with a total concentration of 579,28 ng/L. The results obtained for caffeine show maximum and average concentrations of 857 ng/L Isla de Arosa, Ría de Pontevedra the highest measured in seawater in Spain. A preliminary hazard assessment was carried out by comparing these measured environmental concentrations (MEC) to predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs) for aquatic organisms. Six out of the 22 seawater samples resulted in a Hazard Quotient (HQ) from chronic exposure higher than 1 with the highest being 17.14, indicating a high probability of adverse effects in the aquatic environment. In addition, the risk was assessed on the basis of persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity (PBT). This work was financially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Carlos III Health Institute and the program 'Proyectos de Investigacion en Salud 2015-2017' FIS (PI14/00516), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Catalan Government (Consolidated Research Groups '2014 SGR 418 - Water and Soil Quality Unit' and 2014 SGR 291 - ICRA), and the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 603437. The poster entitled 'Environmental Risk of Pharmaceuticals, Drugs of Abuse and Stimulant Caffeine in Marine Water: A Case Study in the North-Western of Spain'.

Keywords: drug of abuse, pharmaceuticals, caffeine, environmental risk, seawater

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Authors: Asowata Osamede, Christo Pienaar, Johan Bekker

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Mismatch in electrical energy (power) or outage from commercial providers, in general, does not promote development to the public and private sector, these basically limit the development of industries. The necessity for a well-structured photovoltaic (PV) system is of importance for an efficient and cost-effective monitoring system. The major renewable energy potential on earth is provided from solar radiation and solar photovoltaics (PV) are considered a promising technological solution to support the global transformation to a low-carbon economy and reduction on the dependence on fossil fuels. Solar arrays which consist of various PV module should be operated at the maximum power point in order to reduce the overall cost of the system. So power regulation and conditioning circuits should be incorporated in the set-up of a PV system. Power regulation circuits used in PV systems include maximum power point trackers, DC-DC converters and solar chargers. Inappropriate choice of power conditioning device in a basic off-grid PV system can attribute to power loss, hence the need for a right choice of power conditioning device to be coupled with the system of the essence. This paper presents the design and implementation of a power conditioning devices in order to improve the overall yield from the availability of solar energy and the system’s total efficiency. The power conditioning devices taken into consideration in the project includes the Buck and Boost DC-DC converters as well as solar chargers with MPPT. A logging interface circuit (LIC) is designed and employed into the system. The LIC is designed on a printed circuit board. It basically has DC current signalling sensors, specifically the LTS 6-NP. The LIC is consequently required to program the voltages in the system (these include the PV voltage and the power conditioning device voltage). The voltage is structured in such a way that it can be accommodated by the data logger. Preliminary results which include availability of power as well as power loss in the system and efficiency will be presented and this would be used to draw the final conclusion.

Keywords: tilt and orientation angles, solar chargers, PV panels, storage devices, direct solar radiation

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Authors: Simone F. Medeiros, Jessica M. Fonseca, Gizelda M. Alves, Danilo M. Santos, Sérgio P. Campana-Filho, Amilton M. Santos

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Stimuli responsive and biocompatible hydrogel nanoparticles have gained special attention as systems for potential applications in controlled release of drugs to improve their therapeutic efficacy while minimizing side effects. In this work, novel solid dispersions based on thermo- and pH-responsive poly(N-vinylcaprolactam-co-itaconic acid-co-ethylene- glycol dimethacrylate) hydrogel nanoparticles embedded in chitosan matrices were prepared via spray drying for controlled release of ketoprofen. Firstly, the hydrogel nanoparticles containing ketoprofen were prepared via precipitation polymerization and their stimuli-responsive behavior, thermal properties, chemical composition, encapsulation efficiency and morphology were characterized. Then, hydrogel nanoparticles with different particles size were embedded into chitosan matrices via spray-drying. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to investigate the particles size, dispersity and morphology. Finally, ketoprofen release profiles were studied as a function of pH and temperature. Chitosan/poly(NVCL-co-IA-co-EGDMA)-ketoprofen microparticles presented spherical shape, rough surface and pronounced agglomeration, indicating that hydrogels nanoparticles loaded with ketoprofen modified the surface of chitosan matrix. The maximum encapsulation efficiency of ketoprofen into hydrogel nanoparticles was 57.8% and the electrostatic interactions between amino groups from chitosan and carboxylic groups from hydrogel nanoparticles were able to control ketoprofen release. The hydrogel nanoparticles themselves were capable to retard the release of ketoprofen-loaded until 48h of in vitro release tests, while their incorporation into chitosan matrix achieved a maximum percentage of drug release of 45%, using a mass ratio of chitosan: poly(NVCL-co-IA-co-EGDMA equal to 10:7, and 69%, using a mass ratio of chitosan: poly(NVCL-co-IA-co-EGDMA equal to 5:2.

Keywords: hydrogel nanoparticles, poly(N-vinylcaprolactam-co-itaconic acid-co-ethylene- glycol dimethacrylate), chitosan, ketoprofen, spray-drying

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Authors: Daniela Rimnacova, Maryna Vorokhta, Martina Svabova

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CO₂ adsorption capacity of several materials - waste (power fly ash, slag, carbonized sewage sludge), rocks (Czech Silurian shale, black coal), and carbon (synthesized carbon, activated carbon as a reference material) - were measured on dry samples using a unique hand-made manometric sorption apparatus at a temperature of 45 °C and pressures of up to 7 MPa. The main aim was finding utilization of the waste materials and rocks for removal of the air or water pollutants caused by anthropogenic activities, as well as for the carbon dioxide storage. The equilibrium amount of the adsorbate depends on temperature, gas saturation pressure, porosity, surface area and volume of pores, and last but not least, on the composition of the adsorbents. Given experimental conditions can simulate in-situ situations in the rock bed and can be achieved just by a high-pressure apparatus. The CO₂ excess adsorption capacities ranged from 0.018 mmol/g (ash) to 13.55 mmol/g (synthesized carbon). The synthetized carbon had the highest adsorption capacity among all studied materials as well as the highest price. This material is usually used for the adsorption of specific pollutants. The excess adsorption capacity of activated carbon was 9.19 mmol/g. It is used for water and air cleaning. Ash can be used for chemisorption onto ash particle surfaces or capture of special pollutants. Shale is a potential material for enhanced gas recovery or CO₂ sequestration in-situ. Slag is a potential material for capture of gases with a possibility of the underground gas storage after the adsorption process. The carbonized sewage sludge is quite a good adsorbent for the removal and capture of pollutants, as well as shales or black coal which show an interesting relationship between the price and adsorption capacity.

Keywords: adsorption, CO₂, high pressure, porous materials

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Authors: Erdogan Kaygan, Alvin Gatto

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An investigation of adaptable winglets for enhancing morphing aircraft performance is described in this paper. The concepts investigated consist of various winglet configurations fundamentally centered on a baseline swept wing. The impetus for the work was to identify and optimize winglets to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of a morphing aircraft. All computations were performed with Athena Vortex Lattice modelling with varying degrees of twist and cant angle considered. The results from this work indicate that if adaptable winglets were employed on aircraft’s improvements in aircraft performance could be achieved.

Keywords: aircraft, drag, twist, winglet

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Authors: Akudo Ejelonu, Sarah Willig, J. Anthony Sauder, Heather Murphy, Frances Shofer

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Background: The high prevalence of diarrheal diseases in the village of Tzununá, Guatemala is linked to lack of sanitation facilities and handwashing practices. Diarrheal diseases are preventable and improved access to latrines, hygiene education and clean water may improve sanitation by reducing the spread of disease. Objective: Between May 2015-January 2017, the University of Pennsylvania Chapter of Engineers Without Border (PennEWB) and local partners designed an intervention to reduce diarrheal disease by building pour flush latrines in 50 individual households and providing education on the importance of handwashing practice. Design/Methods: Through convenient sampling, we surveyed 45 households to evaluate the community’s knowledge of diarrheal disease, handwashing practices, and maintenance of the latrines. Results: 92% of the study participants experienced decrease of new cases of diarrheal disease after receiving a latrine. Only 11% washed their hands after defecating in the latrine. There was gap in understanding the health outcome of latrine sanitation and handwashing education. The respondents did not connect the reduction of diarrheal disease with latrine use and maintenance. Instead, they associated their motivation for latrine use with aesthetics, proximity to their home, ease and comfort, and reduction of shame. We recommend that PennEWB adopt UNICEF or WHO education on hand washing practice. Conclusion: Social interaction and social pressure drove the household use of latrines. The latrines are being valued and cleaned. The education that the residents received did not target norms and behaviors. Latrines could be used to create a new social norm that supports behavioral change.

Keywords: diarrheal disease, latrine, open defecation, water, sanitation and hygiene

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Authors: Fruzsina Pataki-Bittó, Edit Németh

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On the one hand, new technologies and communication tools improve employee productivity and accelerate information and knowledge transfer, while on the other hand, information overload and continuous interruptions make it even harder to concentrate at work. It is a great challenge for companies to find the right balance, while there is also an ongoing demand to recruit and retain the talented employees who are able to adopt the modern work style and effectively use modern communication tools. For this reason, this research does not focus on the objective measures of office interruptions, but aims to find those disruption factors which influence the comfort and job satisfaction of employees, and the way how they feel generally at work. The focus of this research is on how employees feel about the different types of interruptions, which are those they themselves identify as hindering factors, and those they feel as stress factors. By identifying and then reducing these destructive factors, job satisfaction can reach a higher level and employee turnover can be reduced. During the research, we collected information from depth interviews and questionnaires asking about work environment, communication channels used in the workplace, individual communication preferences, factors considered as disruptions, and individual steps taken to avoid interruptions. The questionnaire was completed by 141 office workers from several types of workplaces based in Hungary. Even though 66 respondents are working at Hungarian offices of multinational companies, the research is about the characteristics of the Hungarian labor force. The most important result of the research shows that while more than one third of the respondents consider office noise as a disturbing factor, personal inquiries are welcome and considered useful, even if in such cases the work environment will not be convenient to solve tasks requiring concentration. Analyzing the sizes of the offices, in an open-space environment, the rate of those who consider office noise as a disturbing factor is surprisingly lower than in smaller office rooms. Opinions are more diverse regarding information communication technologies. In addition to the interruption factors affecting the employees' job satisfaction, the research also focuses on the role of the offices in the 21^st century.

Keywords: information overload, interruption, job satisfaction, office environment, work efficiency

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Authors: Leijun Zhang

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Reading literacy has become a powerful tool for academic success and an essential goal of education. The ability to read is not only fundamental for pupils’ academic success but also a prerequisite for successful participation in today’s vastly expanding multi-literate textual environment. It is also important to recognize that, in many educational settings, students are expected to learn a foreign/second language for successful participation in the increasingly globalized world. Therefore, it is crucial to help learners become skilled foreign-language readers. Research indicates that students’ reading comprehension can be significantly improved through explicit instruction of multiple reading strategies. Despite the wealth of research on how to enhance learners’ reading comprehension achievement by identifying an enormous range of reading strategies and techniques for assisting students in comprehending specific texts, relatively scattered studies have centered on whether these reading comprehension strategies and techniques are used in classrooms, especially in Chinese academic settings. Given the central role of ‘the teacher’ in reading instruction, the study investigates the degree of importance that EFL teachers attach to reading comprehension strategies and their classroom employment of those strategies in secondary schools in China. It also explores the efficiency of reading strategy instruction on pupils’ reading comprehension performance. As a mix-method study, the analysis drew on data from a quantitative survey and interviews with seven teachers. The study revealed that the EFL teachers had positive attitudes toward the use of cognitive strategies despite their insufficient knowledge about and limited attention to the metacognitive strategies and supporting strategies. Regarding the selection of reading strategies for instruction, the mandated curriculum and high-stakes examinations, text features and demands, teaching preparation programs and their own EFL reading experiences were the major criteria in their responses, while few teachers took into account the learner needs in their choice of reading strategies. Although many teachers agreed upon the efficiency of reading strategy instruction in developing students’ reading comprehension competence, three challenges were identified in their implementation of the strategy instruction. The study provides some insights into reading strategy instruction in EFL contexts and proposes implications for curriculum innovation, teacher professional development, and reading instruction research.

Keywords: reading comprehension strategies, EFL reading instruction, language teacher cognition, teacher education

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Authors: Azam Fazelpour, Saeed R. Dehghani, Vlastimil Masek, Yuri S. Muzychka

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The study uses an image analysis technique employing thermal imaging to measure the percentage of areas with various temperatures on a freezing surface. An image segmentation method using threshold values is applied to a sequence of image recording the freezing process. The phenomenon is transient and temperatures vary fast to reach the freezing point and complete the freezing process. Freezing salt water is subjected to the salt rejection that makes the freezing point dynamic and dependent on the salinity at the phase interface. For a specific area of freezing, nucleation starts from one side and end to another side, which causes a dynamic and transient temperature in that area. Thermal cameras are able to reveal a difference in temperature due to their sensitivity to infrared radiance. Using Experimental setup, a video is recorded by a thermal camera to monitor radiance and temperatures during the freezing process. Image processing techniques are applied to all frames to detect and classify temperatures on the surface. Image processing segmentation method is used to find contours with same temperatures on the icing surface. Each segment is obtained using the temperature range appeared in the image and correspond pixel values in the image. Using the contours extracted from image and camera parameters, stratified areas with different temperatures are calculated. To observe temperature contours on the icing surface using the thermal camera, the salt water sample is dropped on a cold surface with the temperature of -20°C. A thermal video is recorded for 2 minutes to observe the temperature field. Examining the results obtained by the method and the experimental observations verifies the accuracy and applicability of the method.

Keywords: ice contour boundary, image processing, image segmentation, salt ice, thermal image

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Authors: Binbin Chen, Dennis Y. C. Leung

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Aluminium (Al) -air cell holds a high volumetric capacity density of 8.05 Ah cm-3, benefit from the trivalence of Al ions. Additional benefits of Al-air cell are low price and environmental friendliness. Furthermore, the Al energy conversion process is characterized of 100% recyclability in theory. Along with a large base of raw material reserve, Al attracts considerable attentions as a promising material to be integrated within the global energy system. However, despite the early successful applications in military services, several problems exist that prevent the Al-air cells from widely civilian use. The most serious issue is the parasitic corrosion of Al when contacts with electrolyte. To overcome this problem, super-pure Al alloyed with various traces of metal elements are used to increase the corrosion resistance. Nevertheless, high-purity Al alloys are costly and require high energy consumption during production process. An alternative approach is to add inexpensive inhibitors directly into the electrolyte. However, such additives would increase the internal ohmic resistance and hamper the cell performance. So far these methods have not provided satisfactory solutions for the problem within Al-air cells. For the operation of alkaline Al-air cell, there are still other minor problems. One of them is the formation of aluminium hydroxide in the electrolyte. This process decreases ionic conductivity of electrolyte. Another one is the carbonation process within the gas diffusion layer of cathode, blocking the porosity of gas diffusion. Both these would hinder the performance of cells. The present work optimizes the above problems by building an Al-air cell operation system, consisting of four components. A top electrolyte tank containing fresh electrolyte is located at a high level, so that it can drive the electrolyte flow by gravity force. A mechanical rechargeable Al-air cell is fabricated with low-cost materials including low grade Al, carbon paper, and PMMA plates. An electrolyte waste tank with elaborate channel is designed to separate the hydrogen generated from the corrosion, which would be collected by gas collection device. In the first section of the research work, we investigated the performance of the mechanical rechargeable Al-air cell with a constant flow rate of electrolyte, to ensure the repeatability experiments. Then the whole system was assembled together and the feasibility of operating was demonstrated. During experiment, pure hydrogen is collected by collection device, which holds potential for various applications. By collecting this by-product, high utilization efficiency of aluminum is achieved. Considering both electricity and hydrogen generated, an overall utilization efficiency of around 90 % or even higher under different working voltages are achieved. Fluidic electrolyte could remove aluminum hydroxide precipitate and solve the electrolyte deterioration problem. This operation system provides a low-cost strategy for harvesting energy from the abundant secondary Al. The system could also be applied into other metal-air cells and is suitable for emergency power supply, power plant and other applications. The low cost feature implies great potential for commercialization. Further optimization, such as scaling up and optimization of fabrication, will help to refine the technology into practical market offerings.

Keywords: aluminium-air cell, high efficiency, hydrogen, mechanical recharge

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Authors: Alexey V. Klyuev, Valery P. Samarin, Viktor F. Klyuev, Andrey V. Klyuev

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A power measurement algorithm of the input mix components of the noise signal and pulse interference is considered. The algorithm efficiency analysis has been carried out for different interference to signal ratio. Algorithm performance features have been explored by numerical experiment results.

Keywords: noise signal, pulse interference, signal power, spectrum width, detection

Procedia PDF Downloads 331

Authors: S. R. Dehghani, Y. S. Muzychka, G. F. Naterer

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The ice accretion of salt water on cold substrates creates brine-spongy ice. This type of ice is a mixture of pure ice and liquid brine. A real case of creation of this type of ice is superstructure icing which occurs on marine vessels and offshore structures in cold and harsh conditions. Transient heat transfer through this medium causes phase changes between brine pockets and pure ice. Salt rejection during the process of transient heat conduction increases the salinity of brine pockets to reach a local equilibrium state. In this process the only effect of passing heat through the medium is not changing the sensible heat of the ice and brine pockets; latent heat plays an important role and affects the mechanism of heat transfer. In this study, a new analytical model for evaluating heat transfer through brine-spongy ice is suggested. This model considers heat transfer and partial solidification and melting together. Properties of brine-spongy ice are obtained using properties of liquid brine and pure ice. A numerical solution using Method of Lines discretizes the medium to reach a set of ordinary differential equations. Boundary conditions are chosen using one of the applicable cases of this type of ice; one side is considered as a thermally isolated surface, and the other side is assumed to be suddenly affected by a constant temperature boundary. All cases are evaluated in temperatures between -20 C and the freezing point of brine-spongy ice. Solutions are conducted using different salinities from 5 to 60 ppt. Time steps and space intervals are chosen properly to maintain the most stable and fast solution. Variation of temperature, volume fraction of brine and brine salinity versus time are the most important outputs of this study. Results show that transient heat conduction through brine-spongy ice can create a various range of salinity of brine pockets from the initial salinity to that of 180 ppt. The rate of variation of temperature is found to be slower for high salinity cases. The maximum rate of heat transfer occurs at the start of the simulation. This rate decreases as time passes. Brine pockets are smaller at portions closer to the colder side than that of the warmer side. A the start of the solution, the numerical solution tends to increase instabilities. This is because of sharp variation of temperature at the start of the process. Changing the intervals improves the unstable situation. The analytical model using a numerical scheme is capable of predicting thermal behavior of brine spongy ice. This model and numerical solutions are important for modeling the process of freezing of salt water and ice accretion on cold structures.

Keywords: method of lines, brine-spongy ice, heat conduction, salt water

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Authors: Felipe Azocar Simonet, Luis Acosta Espejo

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In this article, we will try to find an efficient boundary approximation for the bi-objective location problem with coherent coverage for two levels of hierarchy (CCLP). We present the mathematical formulation of the model used. Supported efficient solutions and unsupported efficient solutions are obtained by solving the bi-objective combinatorial problem through the weights method using a Lagrangean heuristic. Subsequently, the results are validated through the DEA analysis with the GEM index (Global efficiency measurement).

Keywords: coherent covering location problem, efficient frontier, lagragian relaxation, data envelopment analysis

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Authors: Elizabeth Crafton, Donald Ott, Teresa Cutright

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Harmful algal blooms (HABs), more notably cyanobacteria-dominated HABs, compromise water quality, jeopardize access to drinking water and are a risk to public health and safety. HABs are representative of ecosystem imbalance largely caused by environmental changes, such as eutrophication, that are associated with the globally expanding human population. Cyanobacteria-dominated HABs are anticipated to increase in frequency, magnitude, and are predicted to plague a larger geographical area as a result of climate change. The weather pattern is important as storm-driven, pulse-input of nutrients have been correlated to cyanobacteria-dominated HABs. The mobilization of aqueous and particulate nutrients and the response of the phytoplankton community is an important relationship in this complex phenomenon. This relationship is most apparent in high-impact areas of adequate sunlight, > 20ᵒC, excessive nutrients and quiescent water that corresponds to ideal growth of HABs. Typically the impact of particulate phosphorus is dismissed as an insignificant contribution; which is true for areas that are not considered high-impact. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a simulated storm-driven, pulse-input of reactive phosphorus and the response of three different cyanobacteria assemblages (~5,000 cells/mL). The aqueous and particulate sources of phosphorus and changes in HAB were tracked weekly for 4 weeks. The first cyanobacteria composition consisted of Planktothrix sp., Microcystis sp., Aphanizomenon sp., and Anabaena sp., with 70% of the total population being non-diazotrophic and 30% being diazotrophic. The second was comprised of Anabaena sp., Planktothrix sp., and Microcystis sp., with 87% diazotrophic and 13% non-diazotrophic. The third composition has yet to be determined as these experiments are ongoing. Preliminary results suggest that both aqueous and particulate sources are contributors of total reactive phosphorus in high-impact areas. The results further highlight shifts in the cyanobacteria assemblage after the simulated pulse-input. In the controls, the reactors dosed with aqueous reactive phosphorus maintained a constant concentration for the duration of the experiment; whereas, the reactors that were dosed with aqueous reactive phosphorus and contained soil decreased from 1.73 mg/L to 0.25 mg/L of reactive phosphorus from time zero to 7 days; this was higher than the blank (0.11 mg/L). Suggesting a binding of aqueous reactive phosphorus to sediment, which is further supported by the positive correlation observed between total reactive phosphorus concentration and turbidity. The experiments are nearly completed and a full statistical analysis will be completed of the results prior to the conference.

Keywords: Anabaena, cyanobacteria, harmful algal blooms, Microcystis, phosphorous, response surface methodology

Procedia PDF Downloads 154