Search results for: affordable energy development

Authors: Ricky A. J. Syngkon, Santi Gopal Maji

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Decent work and inclusive economic growth, social development, environmental protection, eradication of poverty and hunger as well as clean water and sanitation are the rudiments of 2030 agenda of sustainable development goals of the United Nations. On the other hand, spirituality is deeply entwined in the fabric of daily lives that helps in shaping attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of common people and ensuring quality of lives and overall sustainable development through protection of environment and natural resources. Mawlynnong, a small village in North-Eastern part of India, is a vivid example of how spirituality influences the development of sense of community leading to upliftment of the economic conditions of the people. Mawlynnong as a small hamlet has been in existence for a couple of centuries and it was acknowledged as the cleanest village of Asia in 2004 by BBC and National Geographic and subsequently endorsed by UNESCO in 2006. Consequently, it has attracted large number of tourists over the years from India and other parts of the world. This paper tries to explore how spirituality leads to a sense of community and the economic benefits for the people. Further, this paper also tries to find out the answer whether such an informal collective effort is sustainable or not for achieving solidarity economy. The study is based on both primary and secondary data collected from the local people and the State Government records. The findings of the study indicate that over the last one and a half decade the tourist footfall has increased to a great extent in Mawlynnong and this has brought about a paradigm shift in the occupational structure of its inhabitants from plantation to service sector particularly tourism and tourism related activities. As a result, from the economic standpoint, it is observed that life is much better off now as compared to before. But from the socio-cultural standpoint, the study finds a drift in terms of the cohesiveness and community bonding which was the hallmark of this village. This drift puts a question mark about the sustainability of such practices and consequently the development of solidarity economy.

Keywords: spirituality, sense of community, economic welfare, solidarity economy, Mawlynnong village

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Authors: Zahra Hamidi

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Promoting cycling, as an affordable environmentally friendly mode of transport to replace private car use has been central to sustainable transport policies. Cycling is faster than walking and combined with public transport has the potential to extend the opportunities that people can access. In other words, cycling, besides direct positive health impacts, can improve people mobility and ultimately their quality of life. Transport literature well supports the close relationship between mobility, quality of life, and, well being. At the same time inequity in the distribution of access and mobility has been associated with the key aspects of injustice and social exclusion. The pattern of social exclusion and inequality in access are also often related to population characteristics such as age, gender, income, health, and ethnic background. Therefore, while investing in transport infrastructure it is important to consider the equity of provided access for different population groups. This paper proposes a method to evaluate the equity of cycling in a city from Rawls egalitarian perspective. Since this perspective is concerned with the difference between individuals and social groups, this method combines accessibility measures and Theil index of inequality that allows capturing the inequalities ‘within’ and ‘between’ groups. The paper specifically focuses on two population characteristics as gender and ethnic background. Following Rawls equity principles, this paper measures accessibility by bikes to a selection of urban activities that can be linked to the concept of the social primary goods. Moreover, as growing number of cities around the world have launched bike-sharing systems (BSS) this paper incorporates both private and public bikes networks in the estimation of accessibility levels. Additionally, the typology of bike lanes (separated from or shared with roads), the presence of a bike sharing system in the network, as well as bike facilities (e.g. parking racks) have been included in the developed accessibility measures. Application of this proposed method to a real case study, the city of Malmö, Sweden, shows its effectiveness and efficiency. Although the accessibility levels were estimated only based on gender and ethnic background characteristics of the population, the author suggests that the analysis can be applied to other contexts and further developed using other properties, such as age, income, or health.

Keywords: accessibility, cycling, equity, gender

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Authors: Barbara Magallona

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Given the observations between students who were active participants in a dialogue with their teacher and students who simply answered the teacher’s questions, the researcher will investigate the relationship between student-teacher dialogue in the classroom and the development of higher level thinking skills with an emphasis on the questioning techniques used by the teacher. The study posits the main question: What is the relationship between teachers’ questioning techniques and the development of students’ higher level thinking skills in a literature class (or in literature classes) in Xavier? The following are the study’s sub-questions: a) What types of questions do literature teachers at Xavier School ask? b) What types of responses do literature students at Xavier School give to teachers' questions? c) To what extent is the development of students' higher level thinking skills shown in teacher-student classroom dialogues in Xavier School's literature classroom? Since questioning techniques and student responses in the literature classroom form the core of this paper and in order to evaluate them, the study uses Andersen and Krathwohl’s revision of Harold Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Teun van Dijk’s discourse-cognition-society triangle will be used as a theoretical framework to design and to guide the classroom interaction.

Keywords: discourse analysis, literature classroom, questioning techniques, secondary education

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Authors: Jingwei Wang, Anthony G. Fane, Jia Wei Chew

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The use of fluidized Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) as a means of mitigation membrane fouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) has received much attention in recent years, especially in anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactors (AFMBRs). It has been affirmed that the unsteady-state tangential shear conferred by GAC fluidization on membrane surface suppressed the extent of membrane fouling with energy consumption much lower than that of bubbling (i.e., air sparging). In a previous work, the hydrodynamics of the fluidized GAC particles were correlated with membrane fouling mitigation effectiveness. Results verified that the momentum transfer from particle to membrane held a key in fouling mitigation. The goal of the current work is to understand the effect of fluidized GAC on membrane critical flux. Membrane critical flux values were measured by a vertical Direct Observation Through the Membrane (DOTM) setup. The polystyrene particles (known as latex particles) with the particle size of 5 µm were used as model foulant thus to give the number of the foulant on the membrane surface. Our results shed light on the positive effect of fluidized GAC enhancing the critical membrane flux by an order-of-magnitude as compared to that of liquid shear alone. Membrane fouling mitigation was benefitted by the increasing of power input.

Keywords: membrane fouling mitigation, liquid-solid fluidization, critical flux, energy input

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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: Jan Cernohorsky

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This article aims to assess the evolution of imperfect competition in selected banking markets, in particular in the banking markets of Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Another objective is to assess the evolution of the relationship of imperfect competition and profit development in the banking markets. The article first provides an overview of literature on the topic. It then measures the degree of imperfect competition in individual markets using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. The commonly used indicator of total assets was chosen as an indicator. Based on this measurement, the individual banking sectors are categorized into theoretical definitions of the various types of imperfect competition - namely all surveyed banking sectors falling within the theoretical definition of monopolistic competition. Subsequently, using correlation analysis, i.e., the Pearson correlation coefficient, or the Spearman correlation coefficient, the connection between the evolution of imperfect competition and the development of the gross profit on selected banking markets was surveyed. It was found that with the exception of the banking market in Slovenia, where there is a positive correlation; there is no correlation between the evolution of imperfect competition and profit development in the selected markets. This means a recommendation for the regulators that it is not appropriate to rationalize a higher degree of regulation in granting banking licenses on the size of the profits attained in the banking market, as the relationship between the degree of concentration in the banking market and the amount of profit according to our measurements does not exist.

Keywords: bank, banking system, imperfect competition, profitability

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Authors: A. F. Alves, L. Schmidt, J. Ferrao

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Portugal is one of the more vulnerable European countries to the impacts of climate change. These include: temperature increase; coastal sea level rise; desertification and drought in the countryside; and frequent and intense extreme weather events. Hence, adaptation strategies to climate change are of great importance. This is what was addressed by ClimAdaPT.Local. This policy-oriented project had the main goal of developing 26 Municipal Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change, through the identification of local specific present and future vulnerabilities, the training of municipal officials, and the engagement of local communities. It is intended to be replicated throughout the whole territory and to stimulate the creation of a national network of local adaptation in Portugal. Supported by methodologies and tools specifically developed for this project, our paper is based on the surveys, training and stakeholder engagement workshops implemented at municipal level. In an 'adaptation-as-learning' process, these tools functioned as a social-learning platform and an exercise in knowledge and policy co-production. The results allowed us to explore the nature of local vulnerabilities and the exposure of gaps in the context of reappraisal of both future climate change adaptation opportunities and possible dysfunctionalities in the governance arrangements of municipal Portugal. Development issues are highlighted when we address the sectors and social groups that are both more sensitive and more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We argue that a pluralistic dialogue and a common framing can be established between them, with great potential for transformational adaptation. Observed climate change, present-day climate variability and future expectations of change are great societal challenges which should be understood in the context of the sustainable development agenda.

Keywords: adaptation, ClimAdaPT.Local, climate change, Portugal, sustainable development

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Authors: Dewan Ahsan

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Denmark is well ahead in generating electricity from renewable sources. The offshore wind sector is playing the pivotal role to achieve this target. Though there is a rapid growth of offshore wind sector in Denmark, still there is a dearth of synchronization in OHS (occupational health and safety) regulation and standards. Therefore, this paper attempts to ascertain: i) what are the major challenges of the company specific OHS standards? ii) why does the offshore wind industry need a standardized OHS management system? and iii) who can play the key role in this process? To achieve these objectives, this research applies the interview and survey techniques. This study has identified several key challenges in OHS management system which are; gaps in coordination and communication among the stakeholders, gaps in incident reporting systems, absence of a harmonized OHS standard and blame culture. Furthermore, this research has identified eleven key stakeholders who are actively involve with the offshore wind business in Denmark. As noticed, the relationships among these stakeholders are very complex specially between operators and sub-contractors. The respondent technicians are concerned with the compliance of various third-party OHS standards (e.g. ISO 31000, ISO 29400, Good practice guidelines by G+) which are applying by various offshore companies. On top of these standards, operators also impose their own OHS standards. From the technicians point of angle, many of these standards are not even specific for the offshore wind sector. So, it is a big challenge for the technicians and sub-contractors to comply with different company specific standards which also elevate the price of their services offer to the operators. For instance, when a sub-contractor is competing for a bidding, it must fulfill a number of OHS requirements (which demands many extra documantions) set by the individual operator and/the turbine supplier. According to sub-contractors’ point of view these extra works consume too much time to prepare the bidding documents and they also need to train their employees to pass the specific OHS certification courses to accomplish the demand for individual clients and individual project. The sub-contractors argued that in many cases these extra documentations and OHS certificates are inessential to ensure the quality service. So, a standardized OHS management procedure (which could be applicable for all the clients) can easily solve this problem. In conclusion, this study highlights that i) development of a harmonized OHS standard applicable for all the operators and turbine suppliers, ii) encouragement of technicians’ active participation in the OHS management, iii) development of a good safety leadership, and, iv) sharing of experiences among the stakeholders (specially operators-operators-sub contractors) are the most vital strategies to overcome the existing challenges and to achieve the goal of 'zero accident/harm' in the offshore wind industry.

Keywords: green energy, offshore, safety, Denmark

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Authors: Sadia Munir

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The aim of this study is to investigate changes in placental development and vascular dysfunction which subsequently affect feto-maternal health in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Fetal and postnatal adverse health outcomes of GDM are shown to be associated with disturbances in placental structure and function. Children of women with GDM are more likely to be obese and diabetic in childhood and adulthood. GDM also increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preeclampsia, birth injuries, macrosomia and neonatal hypoglycemia, respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal cardiac dysfunction and stillbirth. Incidences of type 2 diabetes in the MENA region are growing at an alarming rate which is estimated to become more than double by 2030. Five of the top 10 countries for diabetes prevalence in 2010 were in the Gulf region. GDM also increases the risk of development of type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, more than half of the women with GDM develop diabetes later in their life. The human placenta is a temporary organ located at the interface between mother and fetal blood circulation. Placenta has a central role as both a producer as well as a target of several molecules that are involved in placental development and function. We have investigated performed a Pubmed search with key words placenta, GDM, placental villi, vascularization, cytokines, growth factors, inflammation, hypoxia, oxidative stress and pathophysiology. We have investigated differences in the development and vascularization of placenta, their underlying causes and impact on feto-maternal health through literature review. We have also identified gaps in the literature and research questions that need to be answered to completely understand the central role of placenta in the GDM. This study is important in understanding the pathophysiology of placenta due to changes in the vascularization of villi, surface area and diameter of villous capillaries in pregnancies complicated by GDM. It is necessary to understand these mechanisms in order to develop treatments to reverse their effects on placental malfunctioning, which in turn, will result in improved mother and child health.

Keywords: gestational diabetes mellitus, placenta, vasculature, villi

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Authors: Farzad Shidfar, Najmeh Rostami, Ziaodin Mazhari, Fatemeh Hosseini Baharanchi

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Background and Aim: The rate of failure to maintain a reduced weight has been increased. By definition, people who regain about one-third to two-thirds of their lost weight after one year from the end of the dietary treatment and return all the lost weight after 5 years it is called weight regain. This study was performed to find the causes of weight regain and its relationship with biochemical and psychological factors. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed by reviewing the files of people who followed the dietary treatment in 1397-1398.seventy-three persons was in the weight regain group, and seventy-three people were in the weight maintenance group. Psychological factors such as depression, anxiety, quality of life, physical activity, and dietary frequency were assessed through a questionnaire, and biochemical factors such as serum insulin and fasting blood sugar were measured. The mean basal energy in the weight regain group was significantly higher than the weight maintenance group (p = 0.004). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of food intake and inflammatory index of food. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of food intake and inflammatory index of food. Mean serum insulin concentration (p = 0.023), mean fasting blood sugar (p = 0.04) and insulin resistance (p = 0.013) in the weight regain group were higher than the weight maintenance group. The weight maintenance group showed higher insulin sensitivity than the weight regain group (p = 0.005). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of psychological indicators. Conclusion: The only body mass index after one year from the end of the treatment period, insulin sensitivity, serum insulin concentration, fasting blood sugar, insulin resistance, selenium intake, and basal energy expenditure Specific and significant with weight regain. However, the significance of insulin resistance, basal energy expenditure, and body mass index after one year from the end of the treatment period was higher than other variables in the weight regain group.

Keywords: body weight maintenance, weight regain, insulin resistance, insulin sensitivity

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Authors: Muhamad Nugraha

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Economic growth always correlate positively with the magnitude of the unemployment rate. This is caused by labor which one of important variable to keep growth in the real sector of the region. Meanwhile, the economic structure in districts of Jember showed an increase of economic activity began to shift towards the industrial sector and some other economic sectors, so they have an affects to considerations for policy makers to increase economic growth in Jember as an autonomous region in East Java Province. At the fact, SMEs is among the factors driving economic growth in the region. This is shown by the high amount of SMEs. However, employment in the sector grew slightly slowed. It is caused by a lack of productivity in SMEs. Through the analysis of the transformation of economic structure theory, and the theory of Triple Helix using descriptive analytical method Location Quotient and Shift - Share, found that the results of the economic structure in Jember slowly shifting from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector, because it is dominated by trade sector, hotel and restaurant sector. In addition, SMEs is the potential sector of economic growth in Jember. While to maximizing role and functions of the institution's Research and Development Center of SMEs, there are three points to be known, that are Business Landscape, Business Architecture and Value Added.

Keywords: economic growth, SMEs, labor, Research and Development Center of SMEs

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Authors: J. Miranda, D. Chavarría-Barrientos, M. Ramírez-Cadena, M. E. Macías, P. Ponce, J. Noguez, R. Pérez-Rodríguez, P. K. Wright, A. Molina

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Higher education methods need to evolve because the new generations of students are learning in different ways. One way is by adopting emergent technologies, new learning methods and promoting the maker movement. As a result, Tecnologico de Monterrey is developing Open Innovation Laboratories as an immediate response to educational challenges of the world. This paper presents an Open Innovation Laboratory for Rapid Realization of Sensing, Smart and Sustainable Products (S³ Products). The Open Innovation Laboratory is composed of a set of specific resources where students and teachers use them to provide solutions to current problems of priority sectors through the development of a new generation of products. This new generation of products considers the concepts Sensing, Smart, and Sustainable. The Open Innovation Laboratory has been implemented in different courses in the context of New Product Development (NPD) and Integrated Manufacturing Systems (IMS) at Tecnologico de Monterrey. The implementation consists of adapting this Open Innovation Laboratory within the course’s syllabus in combination with the implementation of specific methodologies for product development, learning methods (Active Learning and Blended Learning using Massive Open Online Courses MOOCs) and rapid product realization platforms. Using the concepts proposed it is possible to demonstrate that students can propose innovative and sustainable products, and demonstrate how the learning process could be improved using technological resources applied in the higher educational sector. Finally, examples of innovative S³ products developed at Tecnologico de Monterrey are presented.

Keywords: active learning, blended learning, maker movement, new product development, open innovation laboratory

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Authors: G. W. Greubel, A. Kalam

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This paper provides a review of the technical problems facing the South African electricity system and discusses a hypothetical ‘virtual grid’ concept that may assist in solving the problems. The proposed solution has potential application across emerging markets with constrained power infrastructure or for companies who wish to be entirely powered by renewable energy. South Africa finds itself at a confluence of forces where the national electricity supply system is constrained with under-supply primarily from old and failing coal-fired power stations and congested and inadequate transmission and distribution systems. Simultaneously, the country attempts to meet carbon reduction targets driven by both an alignment with international goals and a consumer-driven requirement. The constrained electricity system is an aspect of an economy characterized by very low economic growth, high unemployment, and frequent and significant load shedding. The fiscus does not have the funding to build new generation capacity or strengthen the grid. The under-supply is increasingly alleviated by the penetration of wind and solar generation capacity and embedded roof-top solar. However, this increased penetration results in less inertia, less synchronous generation, and less capability for fast frequency response, with resultant instability. The renewable energy facilities assist in solving the under-supply issues but merely ‘kick the can down the road’ by not contributing to grid stability or by substituting the lost inertia, thus creating an expanding issue for the grid to manage. By technically balancing its electricity demand and supply a company with facilities located across the country can be protected from the effects of load shedding, and thus ensure financial and production performance, protect jobs, and contribute meaningfully to the economy. By treating the company’s load (across the country) and its various distributed generation facilities as a ‘virtual grid’, which by design will provide ancillary services to the grid one is able to create a win-win situation for both the company and the grid.

Keywords: load shedding, renewable energy integration, smart grid, virtual grid, virtual power plant

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Authors: Walid A. M. Ghoneim, Hamdy A. Ashour, Asmaa E. Abdo

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In this paper, linear analysis of a Switched Reluctance Generator (SRG) model is applied on the most common configurations (4/2, 6/4 and 8/6) for both conventional short-pitched and fully-pitched designs, in order to determine the optimum stator/rotor pole angles at which the maximum output voltage is generated per unit excitation current. This study is focused on SRG analysis and design as a proposed solution for renewable energy applications, such as wind energy conversion systems. The world’s potential to develop the renewable energy technologies through dedicated scientific researches was the motive behind this study due to its positive impact on economy and environment. In addition, the problem of rare earth metals (Permanent magnet) caused by mining limitations, banned export by top producers and environment restrictions leads to the unavailability of materials used for rotating machines manufacturing. This challenge gave authors the opportunity to study, analyze and determine the optimum design of the SRG that has the benefit to be free from permanent magnets, rotor windings, with flexible control system and compatible with any application that requires variable-speed operation. In addition, SRG has been proved to be very efficient and reliable in both low-speed or high-speed applications. Linear analysis was performed using MATLAB simulations based on the (Modified generalized matrix approach) of Switched Reluctance Machine (SRM). About 90 different pole angles combinations and excitation patterns were simulated through this study, and the optimum output results for each case were recorded and presented in detail. This procedure has been proved to be applicable for any SRG configuration, dimension and excitation pattern. The delivered results of this study provide evidence for using the 4-phase 8/6 fully pitched SRG as the main optimum configuration for the same machine dimensions at the same angular speed.

Keywords: generalized matrix approach, linear analysis, renewable applications, switched reluctance generator

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Authors: Zijiao Chai, Wangming Li

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Under the background of increasing aging population, the situation of city endowment resources shortage gradually revealed. And many villages in the metropolitan area with the good natural ecological environment and leisure tourism base, have become one of the main destinations of urban old people for the off-site pension. This paper is based on a survey of more than ten villages which are characterized by leisure and endowment in Hangzhou metropolitan area, China. The satisfaction degree of the two main groups in the villages, dwellers, and aged visitors, is researched using the method of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. The statistics are obtained from 535 questionnaires and qualitative interview. According to the satisfaction scores, it could be determined whether the dwellers and aged visitors have reached the equilibrium state. The equilibrium state is the development target of the villages, and it`s defined by environmentally friendly, proper for employment and pension, facilities sharing and harmonious life for each other. Furthermore, this paper comes up with some planning countermeasures in order to avoid "imbalance between dwellers and aged visitors" and obtain sustainable development while maintaining the economic benefit.

Keywords: aged visitors, balance between dwellers and aged visitors, dwellers, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, Hangzhou metropolitan area, leisure and endowment characteristic villages

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Authors: Thouraya Majoul

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Obesity is now a real public health issue throughout the world, and it is well-established that obesity leads to cardiovascular diseases. The prevention and treatment of obesity using nutritional supplements has become a realistic and effective approach. This study was carried out to analyze the incidence of a high-fat diet on rat heart metabolism as well as on fatty acids composition, then to investigate the eventual protective effects of a grape seed extract (GSE). The experimental design consisted of three rat groups subjected to three different conditions; standard (SD), high-fat diet (HFD) and HFD+GSE (HG). We showed that GSE counteracted the effect of HFD on fatty acid composition, namely, docosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, arachidonic acid (ARA), palmitic acid (PA) and palmitoleic acid. Besides, GSE treatment restored HFD-altered metabolic pathways through the recovery of some cardiac enzyme activities such as lipase, glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase and pyruvate dehydrogenase. The cardiac lactate level and lactate dehydrogenase activity were also analyzed in relation to HFD and GSE administration. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing the anti-obesity and cardioprotective effects of GSE in relation to fatty acid composition and some cardiac enzymes, supporting its role as a therapeutic agent of obesity.

Keywords: Grape seed extract, phenolic, obesity, cardioprotective, lipotoxicity, energy metabolism

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Authors: Iyasu Eibedingil

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The construction industry is one of the major factors responsible for causing a negative impact on the environment. It has the largest share in the use of natural resources including land use, material extraction, and greenhouse gases emissions. For this reason, it is imperative to reduce its environmental impact through the construction of sustainable buildings with less impact. These days, it is possible to measure the environmental impact by using different tools such as the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Given this premise, this study explored the environmental impact of two types of roofing systems through comparative life cycle assessment approach. The tiles were analyzed to select the most environmentally friendly roofing system for the villa at Khalifa City A, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. These products are available in various forms; however, in this study concrete roof tiles and clay roof tiles were considered. The results showed that concrete roof tiles have lower environmental impact. In all scenarios considered, manufacturing the roof tiles locally, using recovered fuels for firing clay tiles, and using renewable energy (electricity from PV plant) showed that the concrete roof tiles were found to be excellent in terms of its embodied carbon, embodied the energy and various other environmental performance indicators.

Keywords: clay roof tile, concrete roof tile, life cycle assessment, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: Kamran Siddique, Yangwoo Kim, Zahid Akhtar

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In recent years, the technological advancements have led to a deluge of data from distinctive domains and the need for development of solutions based on parallel and distributed computing has still long way to go. That is why, the research and development of massive computing frameworks is continuously growing. At this particular stage, highlighting a potential research area along with key insights could be an asset for researchers in the field. Therefore, this paper explores one of the emerging distributed computing frameworks, Apache Hama. It is a Top Level Project under the Apache Software Foundation, based on Bulk Synchronous Processing (BSP). We present an unbiased and critical interrogation session about Apache Hama and conclude research directions in order to assist interested researchers.

Keywords: apache hama, bulk synchronous parallel, BSP, distributed computing

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Authors: Clifford Kwakwa Amoah, De-Graft Owusu-Manu, Prince Antwi-Afari

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Infrastructure is the lifeline for economic development of any country. Hence, obtaining infrastructure quality cannot be overemphasized. Nevertheless, challenges of infrastructure quality persist, and it is worse in developing countries despite the diverse study on the subject matter. Therefore, this study was formulated to identify the prevalent determinants of infrastructure quality using synthesis of extant literature (to identify key variables), and analysis of survey questionnaire of data collected by means of the inductive methodology approach, mean score ranking and descriptive statistics. The variables “partner with the private sector, growth stimulation and poverty reduction, and adherence to procurement core principles” were the most significant challenges that the government faces. Moreover, it would be of utmost concern to adopt some stringent measures to help improve and accelerate on the growth and development of the nation, thereby achieving the best quality required. This study is novel conducted to provide insight into some of the punitive measures, considered in ensuring that quality infrastructure is obtained in both developing (specifically) and developed economies. The research findings therefore provide some guidance for overcoming the accumulative challenges. Application of the stated findings will help bridge the gap of infrastructure challenges; this is because the study found strong empirical evidence that infrastructure plays a pivotal role in the productivity enhancement.

Keywords: challenges, development, economic growth, government, infrastructure quality

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Authors: O. Bilbao, I. Loizaga, F. A. Girot, A. Torregaray

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The current energetical situation and the high competitiveness in industrial sectors as the automotive one have become the development of new manufacturing processes with less energy and raw material consumption a real necessity. As consequence, new forming processes related with high temperature hot forging in closed dies have emerged in the last years as new solutions to expand the possibilities of hot forging and iron casting in the automotive industry. These technologies are mid-way between hot forging and semi-solid metal processes, working at temperatures higher than the hot forging but below the solidus temperature or the semi solid range, where no liquid phase is expected. This represents an advantage comparing with semi-solid forming processes as thixoforging, by the reason that no so high temperatures need to be reached in the case of high melting point alloys as steels, reducing the manufacturing costs and the difficulties associated to semi-solid processing of them. Comparing with hot forging, this kind of technologies allow the production of parts with as forged properties and more complex and near-net shapes (thinner sidewalls), enhancing the possibility of designing lightweight components. From the process viewpoint, the forging forces are significantly decreased, and a significant reduction of the raw material, energy consumption, and the forging steps have been demonstrated. Despite the mentioned advantages, from the material behavior point of view, the expansion of these technologies has shown the necessity of developing new material flow behavior models in the process working temperature range to make the simulation or the prediction of these new forming processes feasible. Moreover, the knowledge of the material flow behavior at the working temperature range also allows the design of the new closed dies concept required. In this work, the flow behavior characterization in the mentioned temperature range of the widely used in automotive commercial components 42CrMo4 steel has been studied. For that, hot compression tests have been carried out in a thermomechanical tester in a temperature range that covers the material behavior from the hot forging until the NDT (Nil Ductility Temperature) temperature (1250 ºC, 1275 ºC, 1300 ºC, 1325 ºC, 1350ºC, and 1375 ºC). As for the strain rates, three different orders of magnitudes have been considered (0,1 s-1, 1s-1, and 10s-1). Then, results obtained from the hot compression tests have been treated in order to adapt or re-write the Spittel model, widely used in automotive commercial softwares as FORGE® that restrict the current existing models up to 1250ºC. Finally, the obtained new flow behavior model has been validated by the process simulation in a commercial automotive component and the comparison of the results of the simulation with the already made experimental tests in a laboratory cellule of the new technology. So as a conclusion of the study, a new flow behavior model for the 42CrMo4 steel in the new working temperature range and the new process simulation in its application in automotive commercial components has been achieved and will be shown.

Keywords: 42CrMo4 high temperature flow behavior, high temperature hot forging in closed dies, simulation of automotive commercial components, spittel flow behavior model

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Authors: Nien-Te Kuo, Yi-Sung Cheng, Kuo-Chien Chang

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Cultural festival tourism is now seen by many as an opportunity to facilitate community development because it has significant influences on the economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of local communities. The potential for tourist attraction has been recognized as a useful tool to strengthen local economies from governments. However, most community festivals in Taiwan are short-lived, often only lasting for a few years or occasionally not making it past a one-off event. Researchers suggested that most governments and other stakeholders do not recognize the importance of building a partnership with residents when developing community tourism. Thus, the sustainable community tourism development still remains a key issue in the existing literature. The success of community tourism is related to the attitudes and lifestyles of local residents. In order to maintain sustainable tourism, residents need to be seen as development partners. Residents’ support intention for tourism development not only helps to increase awareness of local culture, history, the natural environment, and infrastructure, but also improves the interactive relationship between the host community and tourists. Furthermore, researchers have identified the social capital theory as the core of sustainable community tourism development. The social capital of residents has been seen as a good way to solve issues of tourism governance, forecast the participation behavior and improve support intention of residents. In addition, previous studies have pointed out the role of community participation and place identity in increasing resident support intention for tourism development. A lack of place identity is one of the main reasons that community tourism has become a mere formality and is not sustainable. It refers to how much residents participate during tourism development and is mainly influenced by individual interest. Scholars believed that the place identity of residents is the soul of community festivals. It shows the community spirit to visitors and has significant impacts on tourism benefits and support intention of residents in community tourism development. Although the importance of community participation and place identity have been confirmed by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, real-life execution still needs to be improved. This study aimed to use social capital theory to investigate the social structure between community residents, participation levels in festival tourism, degrees of place identity, and resident support intention for future community tourism development, and the causal relationship that these factors have with cultural festival tourism. A quantitative research approach was employed to examine the proposed model. Structural equation model was used to test and verify the proposed hypotheses. This was a case study of the Kaohsiung Zuoying Wannian Folklore Festival. The festival was located in the Zuoying District of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. The target population of this study was residents who attended the festival. The results reveal significant correlations among social capital, community participation, place identity and support intention. The results also confirm that impacts of social capital on support intention were significantly mediated by community participation and place identity. Practical suggestions were provided for tourism operators and policy makers. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, Republic of China, under the grant MOST-105-2410-H-328-013.

Keywords: community participation, place identity, social capital, support intention

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Authors: Abdulrahman Abdulrahman

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Critical depth meters, such as abroad crested weir, Venture Flume and combined control flume are standard devices for measuring flow in open channels. The discharge relation for these devices cannot be solved directly, but it needs iteration process to account for the approach velocity head. In this paper, analytical solution was developed to calculate the discharge in a combined critical depth-meter namely, a hump combined with lateral contraction in rectangular channel with subcritical approach flow including energy losses. Also analytical formulae were derived for approach velocity head coefficient for different types of critical depth meters. The solution was derived by solving a standard cubic equation considering energy loss on the base of trigonometric identity. The advantage of this technique is to avoid iteration process adopted in measuring flow by these devices. Numerical examples are chosen for demonstration of the proposed solution.

Keywords: broad crested weir, combined control meter, control structures, critical flow, discharge measurement, flow control, hydraulic engineering, hydraulic structures, open channel flow

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Authors: Tianyi Qin

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Along with the acceleration of Chinese urbanization, the expansion, renovation and demolition of old buildings is on the stage together with the design and construction of new buildings every day in downtown of the old city area. The coordinative symbiosis between new and old buildings is an important problem which needs to be solved in the process of urban development. By studying and analyzing the case of Shanghai Citic Plaza and surroundings, this paper contributes to discussing the concept, value and problems to be solved of the coordination of new and old buildings, meanwhile, striking the balance between new and old buildings from the aspects of architectural form, space, function and local context. As a result, the strategy of the coordinative symbiosis between new and old buildings is summarized, which can offer some guiding principles to urban development from now on.

Keywords: coordinative symbiosis, new and old buildings, Shanghai Citic Plaza, strategy

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Authors: Ramin Tafazzoli, Rahime Zamanfashami, Amir Mohagheghzadeh

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Entrepreneurship is the driving engine of countries’ economic development and has a determinant role in the economic, social and cultural improvement of the societies. Entrepreneurship and its impact on countries’ destiny, result in the planner and policy makers’ attempts to explore and extend it in various aspects. These days, all countries follow their social capital development and human resource quality improvement to achieve the strategic national objectives, economic growth, value creation, cultural dynamism, civil excellence and social solidarity, pursuing the sustainable development based on innovation, entrepreneurial technology , knowledge management and knowledge-focused in various levels and areas. Because of the rapid economic and cultural changes in recent decades and also the emerged need for reinforcing the knowledge-based structures and wealth generation via knowledge, a convenient infrastructure is strongly required for generating science and technology. Devoting attention to entrepreneurship and training and fostering the students who have the essential abilities and skills for creating a suitable business unit, is one of the duties of each university. New expectations necessitate that universities in the development trend by way of entrepreneurship, play a prominent role. Since, higher education has an important role in training and fostering the specialist human resource in the society, attention to the academic entrepreneurship help to develop this issue better. The higher education, relying on its core mission (training and researching) be expected to help the path where exploit and apply the created capabilities and also to cause the development in the society. In this term, the higher education play an essential role to expanse and extent the entrepreneurial concepts by establishing the entrepreneurship universities. Therefore, it is necessary to constitute and establish the entrepreneurship university to solve the problems and improve the development trend. The entrepreneurial courses follow the objectives such as: informing, creating culture, entrepreneurial morality, technical knowledge, entrepreneurial skills transferring, preparing the audiences or researching, job creation, business establishing and its preservation. According to the vision 1404 of Islamic republic of Iran in which the society has to include the advanced knowledge in the field of technology and science generation and also economic growth. In this essay, we investigate the entrepreneurship concepts, entrepreneurship university characteristics, entrepreneurship organizations values, entrepreneurship education process, meanwhile paying attention to that fact which the university can play an essential role in entrepreneurs training by education, culture and science. At the end, we present some suggestion and some solution for obstacles, emphasizing on the vision.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneur university, higher education, university

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Authors: M. R. Noor El-Din, Marwa R. Mishrif, R. E. Morsi, E. A. El-Sharaky, M. E. Haseeb, Rania T. M. Ghanem

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This paper studies the physical and rheological behaviours of water/in/diesel fuel nanoemulsions prepared by modified low energy method. Twenty of water/in/diesel fuel nanoemulsions were prepared using mixed nonionic surfactants of sorbitan monooleate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate (MTS) at Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) value of 10 and a working temperature of 20°C. The influence of the prepared nanoemulsions on the physical properties such as kinematic viscosity, density, and calorific value was studied. Also, nanoemulsion systems were subjected to rheological evaluation. The effect of water loading percentage (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 wt.%) on rheology was assessed at temperatures range from 20 to 60°C with temperature interval of 10 for time lapse 0, 1, 2 and 3 months, respectively. Results show that all of the sets nanoemulsions exhibited a Newtonian flow character of low-shear viscosity in the range of 132 up to 191 1/s, and followed by a shear-thinning region with yield value (Non-Newtonian behaviour) at high shear rate for all water ratios (5 to 10 wt.%) and at all test temperatures (20 to 60°C) for time ageing up to 3 months. Also, the viscosity/temperature relationship of all nanoemulsions fitted well Arrhenius equation with high correlation coefficients that ascertain their Newtonian behavior.

Keywords: alternative fuel, nanoemulsion, surfactant, diesel fuel

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Authors: Simin Baneshi

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Critical thinking, as one of the essential skills of the 21st century, plays a fundamental role in improving teaching and learning processes. In the field of educational management, strengthening this skill among teachers can contribute to designing more effective educational programs, enhancing teaching quality, and improving learning outcomes. English language teachers, by utilizing critical thinking, can analyze educational challenges and find innovative solutions for them. The aim of this research is to examine the role of critical thinking in educational management and its impact on the professional development of English language teachers. Additionally, identifying optimal methods to enhance this skill among teachers and educational managers is another objective of this study. This research was conducted using a mixed-methods approach with a sample population of 200 teachers and 20 educational managers from schools and English language teaching institutions across three provinces in Iran. Sampling was carried out through stratified random sampling for teachers and purposive sampling for managers. In the quantitative section, a standardized critical thinking questionnaire with 30 closed-ended questions and a Likert scale was employed, and the data were analyzed using independent t-tests, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and regression analysis. In the qualitative section, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 managers and 10 experienced teachers. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The validity of the instruments was confirmed by five experts in the field of education, and the reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.89. The findings revealed that teachers with high critical thinking skills are more successful in designing innovative educational programs, managing classrooms, and solving educational issues. Additionally, managers who adopt critical management approaches create a more dynamic educational environment for fostering these skills. Regular training programs and critical thinking workshops had a positive impact on the professional development of teachers. Critical thinking is a key element in educational management and the professional development of English language teachers. Providing targeted educational opportunities, specialized workshops, and constructive feedback can strengthen this skill among teachers and lead to improved teaching quality. The results of this study can assist educational policymakers in designing professional development programs for teachers and serve as a model for other educational domains.

Keywords: critical thinking, educational management, professional development, teachers

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Authors: Vasilii V. Ananev

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Oil-and-gas potential of Cuba is found through the discoveries among which there are the most large-scale deposits, such as the Boca de Jaruco and Varadero fields of heavy oils. Currently, the petroleum and petroleum products needs of the island state are satisfied by own sources by less than a half. The prospects of the hydrocarbon resource base development are connected with the adjacent water area of the Gulf of Mexico where foreign companies had been granted license blocks for geological study and further development since 2001. Two Russian companies - JSC Gazprom Neft and OJSC Zarubezhneft, among others, took part in the development of the Cuban part of the Gulf of Mexico. Since 2004, five oil wells have been drilled by various companies in the deep waters of the exclusive economic zone of Cuba. Commercial oil-and-gas bearing prospects have been established in neither of them for both geological and technological reasons. However, only a small part of the water area has been covered by drilling and the productivity of the drill core has been tested at the depth of Cretaceous sediments only. In our opinion, oil-and-gas bearing prospects of the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico remain undervalued and the mentioned water area needs additional geological exploration. The planning of exploration work in this poorly explored region shall be carried out systematically and it shall be based on the results of the regional scientific research.

Keywords: Cuba, catoche, geology, exploration

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Authors: Muhammad Arsalan

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The efficiency of a financial intermediation system is assessed by its ability to achieve allocative efficiency, asset transformation, and the subsequent economic development. Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF) was conceived to serve as an alternate financial intermediation system adherent to the injunctions of Islam. A critical appraisal of the state of contemporary IBF reveals that it neither fulfills the aspirations of Islamic rhetoric nor is efficient in terms of asset transformation and economic development. This paper is an intuitive pursuit to explore the economic rationale of established principles of IBF, and the reasons of the persistent divergence of IBF being accused of ruses and sophistry. Disentangling the varying viewpoints, the underdevelopment of IBF has been attributed to misinterpretation of Riba, which has been explicated through a narrow fiqhi and legally deterministic approach. It presents a critical account of how incorrect conceptualization of the key injunction on Riba, steered flawed institutionalization of an Islamic Financial intermediation system. It also emphasizes on the wrong interpretation of the ontological and epistemological sources of Islamic Law (primarily Riba), that explains the perennial economic underdevelopment of the Muslim world. Deeming ‘a collaborative and dynamic Ijtihad’ as the elixir, this paper insists on the exigency of redefining Riba, i.e., a definition that incorporates the modern modes of economic cooperation and the contemporary financial intermediation ecosystem. Finally, Riba has been articulated in an agency theoretic framework to eschew expropriation of wealth, and assure protection of property rights, aimed at realizing the twin goals of a) Shari’ah adherence in true spirit, b) financial and economic development of the Muslim world.

Keywords: agency theory, financial intermediation, Islamic banking and finance, ijtihad, economic development, Riba, information asymmetry

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Authors: Feng-Ming Fan, Xiu-Hui Wen

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Shortage of water resources is a crucial problem to be solved in Taiwan. However, lack of effective and mandatory regulation on water recovery and recycling leads to no effective water resource controls currently. Although existing legislation sets standards regarding water recovery, implementation and enforcement of legislation are facing challenges. In order to break through the dilemma, this study aims to find enforcement tools, improve inspection skills, develop an inspection system, to achieve sustainable development of precious water resources. The Taiwan Environmental Impact Assessment Act (EIA Act) was announced on 1994. The aim of EIA Act is to protect the environment by preventing and mitigating the adverse impact of development activity on the environment. During the EIA process, we can set standards that require enterprises to reach a certain percentage of water recycling based on different case characteristics, to promote sewage source reduction and water saving benefits. Next, we have to inspect how the enterprises handle their waste water and perform water recovery based on environmental assessment commitments, for the purpose of reviewing and measuring the implementation efficiency of water recycling and reuse, an eco-friendly measure. We invited leading experts in related fields to provide lecture on water recycling, strengthen law enforcement officials’ inspection knowledge, and write inspection reference manual to be used as basis of enforcement. Then we finalized the manual by reaching mutual agreement between the experts and relevant agencies. We then inspected 65 high-tech companies whose daily water consumption is over 1,000 tons individually, located at 3 science parks, set up by Ministry of Science and Technology. Great achievement on water recycling was achieved at an amount of 400 million tons per year, equivalent to 2.5 months water usage for general public in Taiwan. The amount is equal to 710 billion bottles of 600 ml cola, 170 thousand international standard swimming pools of 2,500 tons, irrigation water applied to 40 thousand hectares of rice fields, or 1.7 Taipei Feitsui Reservoir of reservoir storage. This study demonstrated promoting effects of environmental impact assessment commitments on water recycling, and therefore water resource sustainable development. It also confirms the value of EIA Act for environmental protection. Economic development should go hand in hand with environmental protection, and it’s a mainstream. It clearly shows the EIA regulation can minimize harmful effects caused by development activity to the environment, as well as pursuit water resources sustainable development.

Keywords: the environmental impact assessment act, water recycling environmental assessment commitment, water resource sustainable development, water recycling, water reuse

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Authors: Felix U. Asoiro, Kingsley O. Anyichie, Meshack I. Simeon, Chinenye E. Azuka

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The work was aimed at studying the effects of microwave drying (450 W) and hot air oven drying on the drying kinetics and physico-functional properties of yams and cocoyams species. The yams and cocoyams were cut into chips of thicknesses of 3mm, 5mm, 7mm, 9mm, and 11mm. The drying characteristics of yam and cocoyam chips were investigated under microwave drying and hot air oven temperatures (50oC – 90oC). Drying methods, temperature, and thickness had a significant effect on the drying characteristics and physico-functional properties of yam and cocoyam. The result of the experiment showed that an increase in the temperature increased the drying time. The result also showed that the microwave drying method took lesser time to dry the samples than the hot air oven drying method. The iodine affinity of starch for yam was higher than that of cocoyam for the microwaved dried samples over those of hot air oven-dried samples. The results of the analysis would be useful in modeling the drying behavior of yams and cocoyams under different drying methods. It could also be useful in the improvement of shelf life for yams and cocoyams as well as designs of efficient systems for drying, handling, storage, packaging, processing, and transportation of yams and cocoyams.

Keywords: coco yam, drying, microwave, modeling, energy consumption, iodine affinity, drying ate

Procedia PDF Downloads 113