Search results for: photovoltaic waste heat recovery

Authors: Nilesh Bandekar, Sumita Dasgupta, Luis Alberto Allcahuaman Huaya, Souvik Manna

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Cryptobiosis is a dormant state where all measurable metabolic activities are at a halt, allowing an organism to survive in extreme conditions like low temperature (cryobiosis), extreme drought (anhydrobiosis), etc. This phenomenon is observed especially in tardigrades that can retain this state for decades depending on the abiotic environmental conditions. On returning to favorable conditions, tardigrades re-attain a metabolically active state. In this study, cyanobacteria as a model organism are being chosen to induce cryptobiosis for its effective preservation over a long period of time. Preserving cyanobacteria using this strategy will have multiple space applications because of its ability to produce oxygen. In addition, research has shown the survivability of this organism in space for a certain period of time. Few species of cyanobacterial residents of the soil such as Microcoleus, are able to survive in extreme drought as well. This work specifically focuses on Synechococcus elongatus, an endolith cyanobacteria with multiple benefits. It has the capability to produce 25% oxygen in water bodies. It utilizes carbon dioxide to produce oxygen via photosynthesis and also uses carbon dioxide as an energy source to form glucose via the Calvin cycle. There is a fair possibility of initiating cryptobiosis in such an organism by inducing certain proteins extracted from tardigrades such as Heat Shock Proteins (Hsp27 and Hsp30c) and/or hydrophilic Late Embryogenesis Abundant proteins (LEA). Existing methods like cryopreservation are difficult to execute in space keeping in mind their cost and heavy instrumentation. Also, extensive freezing may cause cellular damage. Therefore, cryptobiosis-induced cyanobacteria for its transportation from Earth to Mars as a part of future terraforming missions on Mars will save resources and increase the effectiveness of preservation. Finally, Cyanobacteria species like Synechococcus elongatus can also produce oxygen and glucose on Mars in favorable conditions and holds the key to terraforming Mars.

Keywords: cryptobiosis, cyanobacteria, glucose, mars, Synechococcus elongatus, tardigrades

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: M. Karzhauov, А. Mukhambetova, M. Sarsenova, E. Raimagambetov, V. Ogay

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Regeneration of injured articular cartilage remains one of the most difficult and unsolved problems in traumatology and orthopedics. Currently, for the treatment of cartilage defects surgical techniques for stimulation of the regeneration of cartilage in damaged joints such as multiple microperforation, mosaic chondroplasty, abrasion and microfractures is used. However, as shown by clinical practice, they can not provide a full and sustainable recovery of articular hyaline cartilage. In this regard, the current high hopes in the regeneration of cartilage defects reasonably are associated with the use of tissue engineering approaches to restore the structural and functional characteristics of damaged joints using stem cells, growth factors and biopolymers or scaffolds. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of chondroinductive growth factors and synovium-derived mesenchymal stem cells (SD-MSCs) on the regeneration of cartilage defects in rabbits. SD-MSCs were isolated from the synovium membrane of Flemish giant rabbits, and expanded in complete culture medium α-MEM. Rabbit SD-MSCs were characterized by CFU-assay and by their ability to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes. The effects of growth factors (TGF-β1, BMP-2, BMP-4 and IGF-I) on MSC chondrogenesis were examined in micromass pellet cultures using histological and biochemical analysis. Articular cartilage defect (4mm in diameter) in the intercondylar groove of the patellofemoral joint was performed with a kit for the mosaic chondroplasty. The defect was made until subchondral bone plate. Delivery of SD-MSCs and growth factors was conducted in combination with hyaloronic acid (HA). SD-MSCs, growth factors and control groups were compared macroscopically and histologically at 10, 30, 60 and 90 days aftrer intra-articular injection. Our in vitro comparative study revealed that TGF-β1 and BMP-4 are key chondroinductive factors for both the growth and chondrogenesis of SD-MSCs. The highest effect on MSC chondrogenesis was observed with the synergistic interaction of TGF-β1 and BMP-4. In addition, biochemical analysis of the chondrogenic micromass pellets also revealed that the levels of glycosaminoglycans and DNA after combined treatment with TGF-β1 and BMP-4 was significantly higher in comparison to individual application of these factors. In vivo study showed that for complete regeneration of cartilage defects with intra-articular injection of SD-MSCs with HA takes time 90 days. However, single injection of SD-MSCs in combiantion with TGF-β1, BMP-4 and HA significantly promoted regeneration rate of the cartilage defects in rabbits. In this case, complete regeneration of cartilage defects was observed in 30 days after intra-articular injection. Thus, our in vitro and in vivo study demonstrated that combined application of rabbit SD-MSC with chondroinductive growth factors and HA results in strong synergistic effect on the chondrogenesis significantly enhancing regeneration of the damaged cartilage.

Keywords: Mesenchymal stem cells, synovium, chondroinductive factors, TGF-β1, BMP-2, BMP-4, IGF-I

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Mayandi Ramanathan

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Gas turbine blades see the most aggressive thermal stress conditions within the engine, due to Turbine Entry Temperatures in the range of 1500 to 1600°C, but in synchronization with other functional components, they must readily deliver efficient performance, whilst incurring minimal overhaul and repair costs during its service life up to 5 million flying miles. The blades rotate at very high rotation rates and remove significant amount of thermal power from the gas stream. At high temperatures the major component failure mechanism is creep. During its service over time under high temperatures and loads, the blade will deform, lengthen and rupture. High strength and stiffness in the longitudinal direction up to elevated service temperatures are certainly the most needed properties of turbine blades. The proposed advanced Ti alloy material needs a process that provides strategic orientation of metallic ordering, uniformity in composition and high metallic strength. 25% Ta/(Al+Ta) ratio ensures TaAl3 phase formation, where as 51% Al/(Al+Ti) ratio ensures formation of α-Ti3Al and γ-TiAl mixed phases fand the three phase combination ensures minimal Al excess (~1.4% Al excess), unlike Ti-47Al-2Cr-2Nb which has significant excess Al (~5% Al excess) that could affect the service life of turbine blades. This presentation will involve the summary of additive manufacturing and heat treatment process conditions to fabricate turbine blade with Ti-43Al matrix alloyed with optimized amount of refractory Ta metal. Summary of thermo-mechanical test results such as high temperature tensile strength, creep strain rate, thermal expansion coefficient and fracture toughness will be presented. Improvement in service temperature of the turbine blades and corrosion resistance dependence on coercivity of the alloy material will be reported. Phase compositions will be quantified, and a summary of its correlation with creep strain rate will be presented.

Keywords: gas turbine, aerospace, specific strength, creep, high temperature materials, alloys, phase optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: A. Stifi, S. Gentes

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Undoubtedly from construction's perspective, the use of explosives will remove a large facility such as a 40-storey building , that took almost 3 to 4 years for construction, in few minutes. Usually, the reconstruction or decommissioning, the last phase of life cycle of any facility, is considered to be the shortest. However, this is proved to be wrong in the case of nuclear power plant. Statistics says that in the last 30 years, the construction of a nuclear power plant took an average time of 6 years whereas it is estimated that decommissioning of such plants may take even a decade or more. This paper is all about the decommissioning phase of a nuclear power plant which needs to be given more attention and encouragement from the research institutes as well as the nuclear industry. Currently, there are 437 nuclear power reactors in operation and 70 reactors in construction. With around 139 nuclear facilities already been shut down and are in different decommissioning stages and approximately 347 nuclear reactors will be in decommissioning phase in the next 20 years (assuming the operation time of a reactor as 40 years), This fact raises the following two questions (1) How far is the nuclear and construction Industry ready to face the challenges of decommissioning project? (2) What is required for a safety and reliable decommissioning project delivery? The decommissioning of nuclear facilities across the global have severe time and budget overruns. Largely the decommissioning processes are being executed by the force of manual labour where the change in regulations is respectively observed. In term of research and development, some research projects and activities are being carried out in this area, but the requirement seems to be much more. The near future of decommissioning shall be better through a sustainable development strategy where all stakeholders agree to implement innovative technologies especially for dismantling and decontamination processes and to deliever a reliable and safety decommissioning. The scope of technology transfer from other industries shall be explored. For example, remotery operated robotic technologies used in automobile and production industry to reduce time and improve effecincy and saftey shall be tried here. However, the innovative technologies are highly requested but they are alone not enough, the implementation of creative and innovative management methodologies should be also investigated and applied. Lean Management with it main concept "elimination of waste within process", is a suitable example here. Thus, the cooperation between international organisations and related industries and the knowledge-sharing may serve as a key factor for the successful decommissioning projects.

Keywords: decommissioning of nuclear facilities, innovative technology, innovative management, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 456

Authors: Aidan Battison, Neliswa Mama

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Environmental pollution by ionic species has been identified as one of the biggest challenges to the sustainable development of communities. The widespread use of organic and inorganic chemical products and the release of toxic chemical species from industrial waste have resulted in a need for advanced monitoring technologies for environment protection, remediation and restoration. Some of the disadvantages of conventional sensing methods include expensive instrumentation, well-controlled experimental conditions, time-consuming procedures and sometimes complicated sample preparation. On the contrary, the development of fluorescent chemosensors for biological and environmental detection of metal ions has attracted a great deal of attention due to their simplicity, high selectivity, eidetic recognition, rapid response and real-life monitoring. Coumarin derivatives S1 and S2 (Scheme 1) containing 1,2,3-triazole moieties at position -3- have been designed and synthesized from azide and alkyne derivatives by CuAAC “click” reactions for the detection of metal ions. These compounds displayed a strong preference for Fe3+ ions with complexation resulting in fluorescent quenching through photo-induced electron transfer (PET) by the “sphere of action” static quenching model. The tested metal ions included Cd2+, Pb2+, Ag+, Na+, Ca2+, Cr3+, Fe3+, Al3+, Cd2+, Ba2+, Cu2+, Co2+, Hg2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+. The detection limits of S1 and S2 were determined to be 4.1 and 5.1 uM, respectively. Compound S1 displayed the greatest selectivity towards Fe3+ in the presence of competing for metal cations. S1 could also be used for the detection of Fe3+ in a mixture of CH3CN/H¬2¬O. Binding stoichiometry between S1 and Fe3+ was determined by using both Jobs-plot and Benesi-Hildebrand analysis. The binding was shown to occur in a 1:1 ratio between the sensor and a metal cation. Reversibility studies between S1 and Fe3+ were conducted by using EDTA. The binding site of Fe3+ to S1 was determined by using 13 C NMR and Molecular Modelling studies. Complexation was suggested to occur between the lone-pair of electrons from the coumarin-carbonyl and the triazole-carbon double bond.

Keywords: chemosensor, "click" chemistry, coumarin, fluorescence, static quenching, triazole

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Alexander Musyoki, Collins Odour

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Over the past few years, the bakery industry in Kenya has experienced significant growth largely in part to the increased adoption of technology and automation in their processes; more specifically due to the adoption of bakery management systems to help in running bakeries. While they have been largely responsible for the improved productivity and efficiency in bakeries, most of them are now outdated and pose more challenges than benefits. The proposed online bakery management system mentioned in this paper aims to address this by allowing bakery owners to track inventory, budget, job progress, and data analytics on each job and in doing so, promote the Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 12, which aim to ensure healthy lives and promote sustainable economic growth as the proposed benefits of these features include scalability, easy accessibility, reduced acquisition costs, better reliability, and improved functionality that will allow bakeries to become more competitive, reduce waste and track inventory more efficiently. To better understand the challenges, a comprehensive study has been performed to assess these traditional systems and try to understand if an online bakery management system can prove to be advantageous to bakery owners. The study conducted gathered feedback from bakery owners and employees in Nairobi County, Kenya using an online survey with a response rate of about 86% from the target population. The responses cited complex and hard to use bakery management systems (59.7%), lack of portability from one device to the other (58.1%) and high acquisition costs (51.6%) as the top challenges of traditional bakery management systems. On the other hand, some of the top benefits that most of the respondents would realize from the online bakery management system was better reliability (58.1%) and reduced acquisition costs (58.1%). Overall, the findings suggest that an online bakery management system has a lot of advantages over traditional systems and is likely to be well-received in the market. In conclusion, the proposed online bakery management system has the potential to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of small-sized bakeries in Nairobi County. Further research is recommended to expand the sample size and diversity of respondents and to conduct more in-depth analyses of the data collected.

Keywords: ICT, technology and automation, bakery management systems, food innovation

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Nazmin Akter, Tariqul Islam, Abu Sayed

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Food loss and waste have become critical global issues, with approximately one-third of the world's food production being wasted. Among the various food products, horticultural fruits and vegetables are especially susceptible to loss due to their relatively short shelf lives. Litchi (Litchi chinensis) is one of Bangladesh's most important horticultural fruits. But the problem with this fruit is its short shelf life by losing weight faster after harvest. The experiment was carried out at Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur-5200 Bangladesh during 2020-2021. The objective of this experiment was to see the impact of nutrients viz., urea (1%), calcium chloride (1%), borax (1%), and their combinations on fruit quality and shelf life of litchi cv. Bombai. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with 7 treatments and 3 replications. Two sprays of each treatment were applied from the last week of May to June (at 20-day intervals). The results indicated that all the treatments significantly improved the quality parameters of litchi fruits as compared to the control. In terms of physicochemical characteristics fruit weight (20.30g), fruit volume (20m ml), and pulp percent (17.14) were found maximum with minimum stone percent (11.09) with the application of urea 1% + borax 1%+ calcium chloride 1%. Maximum TSS (19.62oBrix), TSS/acidity ratio (24.57), maximum ascorbic acid (45.19 mg/100 g pulp), and minimum acidity (0.80%) were reported with the application of T6 (Urea 1% + borax 1%+ calcium chloride 1%) treatments whereas fruits treated with urea 1% + borax 1% gave maximum total sugars (26.64%) and reducing sugars (19.19%) as compared to control. In the case of storage characters, application of Urea 1% + borax 1%+ calcium chloride 1% resulted in a minimum physiological loss in weight (6.11%), (8.41%), and (10.65%) for 2 days, 4 days, and 6 days respectively. In conclusion, to obtain better quality and increased storage period of litchi fruits, two sprays of urea, borax, and calcium chloride (1%) could be used during the fruit growth and development period at fortnightly intervals.

Keywords: litchi chinensis, preharvest, quality, shelf life, postharvest

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: C. S. Chen, F. Y. Hui, B. S. Farhana, J. De Leon

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Introduction: Stroke can lead to long-term disability, affecting one’s quality of life. Providing stroke education to patient and family members is essential to optimize stroke recovery and prevent recurrent stroke. Currently, nurses conduct stroke education by handing out pamphlets and explaining their contents to patients. However, this is not always effective as nurses have varying levels of knowledge and depth of content discussed with the patient may not be consistent. With the advancement of information technology, health education is increasingly being disseminated via electronic software and studies have shown this to have benefitted patients. Hence, a multi-disciplinary team consisting of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals was formed to create the stroke journey map software to deliver consistent and concise stroke education. Research Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of using a stroke journey map software in improving patients’ perceived knowledge in the acute stroke unit during hospitalization. Methods: Patients admitted to the acute stroke unit were given stroke journey map software during patient education. The software consists of 31 interactive slides that are brightly coloured and 4 videos, based on input provided by the multi-disciplinary team. Participants were then assessed with pre-and-post survey questionnaires before and after viewing the software. The questionnaire consists of 10 questions with a 5-point Likert scale which sums up to a total score of 50. The inclusion criteria are patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke and are cognitively alert and oriented. This study was conducted between May 2017 to October 2017. Participation was voluntary. Results: A total of 33 participants participated in the study. The results demonstrated that the use of a stroke journey map as a stroke education medium was effective in improving patients’ perceived knowledge. A comparison of pre- and post-implementation data of stroke journey map revealed an overall mean increase in patients’ perceived knowledge from 24.06 to 40.06. The data is further broken down to evaluate patients’ perceived knowledge in 3 domains: (1) Understanding of disease process; (2) Management and treatment plans; (3) Post-discharge care. Each domain saw an increase in mean score from 10.7 to 16.2, 6.9 to 11.9 and 6.6 to 11.7 respectively. Project Impact: The implementation of stroke journey map has a positive impact in terms of (1) Increasing patient’s perceived knowledge which could contribute to greater empowerment of health; (2) Reducing need for stroke education material printouts making it environmentally friendly; (3) Decreasing time nurses spent on giving education resulting in more time to attend to patients’ needs. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated the benefit of using stroke journey map as a platform for stroke education. Overall, it has increased patients’ perceived knowledge in understanding their disease process, the management and treatment plans as well as the discharge process.

Keywords: acute stroke, education, ischemic stroke, knowledge, stroke

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Z. Kolacinski, L. Szymanski. G. Raniszewski, D. Koza, L. Pietrzak

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Magnetic Bio-Nano-Fluid (BNF) can be composed of a buffer fluid such as plasma and magnetic nanoparticles such as iron, nickel, cobalt and their oxides. However iron is one of the best elements for magnetization by electromagnetic radiation. It can be used as a tool for medical diagnosis and treatment. Radio frequency (RF) radiation is able to heat iron nanoparticles due to magnetic hysteresis. Electromagnetic heating of iron nanoparticles and ferro-fluids BNF can be successfully used for non-invasive thermal ablation of cancer cells. Moreover iron atoms can be carried by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) if iron is used as catalyst for CNTs synthesis. Then CNTs became the iron containers and they screen the iron content against oxidation. We will present a method of CNTs addressing to the required cells. For thermal ablation of cancer cells we use radio frequencies for which the interaction with human body should be limited to minimum. Generally, the application of RF energy fields for medical treatment is justified by deep tissue penetration. The highly iron doped CNTs as the carriers creating magnetic fluid will be presented. An excessive catalyst injection method using electrical furnace and microwave plasma reactor will be presented. This way it is possible to grow the Fe filled CNTs on a moving surface in continuous synthesis process. This also allows producing uniform carpet of the Fe filled CNTs carriers. For the experimental work targeted to cell ablation we used RF generator to measure the increase in temperature for some samples like: solution of Fe2O3 in BNF which can be plasma-like buffer, solutions of pure iron of different concentrations in plasma-like buffer and in buffer used for a cell culture, solutions of carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) of different concentrations in plasma-like buffer and in buffer used for a cell culture. Then the targeted therapies which can be effective if the carriers are able to distinguish the difference between cancerous and healthy cell’s physiology are considered. We have developed an approach based on ligand-receptor or antibody-antigen interactions for the case of colon cancer.

Keywords: cancer treatment, carbon nano tubes, drag delivery, hyperthermia, iron

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Andy Sand, Naama Massad – Ivanir, Nadav Nitzan, Elisa Valderrama, Alfred Wegenberger, Koranit Shlosman, Rotem Shemesh, Ester Segal

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Microbial spoilage of food products is of great concern in the food industry due to the direct impact on the shelf life of foods and the risk of foodborne illness. Therefore, food packaging may serve as a crucial contribution to keep the food fresh and suitable for consumption. Active packaging solutions that have the ability to inhibit the development of microorganism in food products attract a lot of interest, and many efforts have been made to engineer and assimilate such solutions on various food products. NanoPack is an EU-funded international project aiming to develop state-of-the-art antimicrobial packaging systems for perishable foods. The project is based on natural essential oils which possess significant antimicrobial activity against many bacteria, yeasts and molds. The essential oils are encapsulated in natural aluminosilicate clays, halloysite nanotubes (HNT's), that serves as a carrier for the volatile essential oils and enable their incorporation into polymer films. During the course of the project, several polyethylene films with diverse essential oils combinations were designed based on the characteristics of their target food products. The antimicrobial activity of the produced films was examined in vitro on a broad spectrum of microorganisms including gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, yeasts and molds. The films that showed promising in vitro results were successfully assimilated on in vivo active packaging of several food products such as cheese, bread, fruits and raw meat. The results of the in vivo analyses showed significant inhibition of the microbial spoilage, indicating the strong contribution of the NanoPack packaging solutions on the extension of shelf life and reduction of food waste caused by early spoilage throughout the supply chain.

Keywords: food safety, food packaging, essential oils, nanotechnology

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Valentina Adduci

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The developing research aims to define in general the criteria of environmental sustainability of rural buildings in Puglia and particularly in the manor farm. The main part of the study analyzes the relationship / dependence between the rural building and the landscape which, after many stratifications, results clearly identified and sometimes also characterized in a positive way. The location of the manor farm, in fact, is often conditioned by the infrastructural network and by the structure of the agricultural landscape. The manor farm, without the constraints due to the urban pattern’s density, was developed in accordance with a logical settlement that gives priority to the environmental aspects. These vernacular architectures are the most valuable example of how our ancestors have planned their dwellings according to nature. The 237 farms, analysis’ object, have been reported in cartography through the GIS system; a symbol has been assigned to each of them to identify the architectural typology and a different color for the historical period of construction. A datasheet template has been drawn up, and it has made possible a deeper understanding of each manor farm. This method provides a faster comparison of the most recurring characters in all the considered buildings, except for those farms which benefited from special geographical conditions, such as proximity to the road network or waterways. Below there are some of the most frequently constants derived from the statistical study of the examined buildings: southeast orientation of the main facade; placement of the sheep pen on the ground tilted and exposed to the south side; larger windowed surface on the south elevation; smaller windowed surface on the north elevation; presence of shielding vegetation near the more exposed elevations to the solar radiation; food storage’s rooms located on the ground floor or in the basement; animal shelter located in north side of the farm; presence of tanks and wells, sometimes combined with a very accurate channeling storm water system; thick layers of masonry walls, inside of which were often obtained hollow spaces to house stairwells or depots for the food storage; exclusive use of local building materials. The research aims to trace the ancient use of bioclimatic constructive techniques in the Apulian rural architecture and to define those that derive from an empirical knowledge and those that respond to an already encoded design. These constructive expedients are especially useful to obtain an effective passive cooling, to promote the natural ventilation and to built ingenious systems for the recovery and the preservation of rainwater and are still found in some of the manor farms analyzed, most of them are, today, in a serious state of neglect.

Keywords: bioclimatic devices, farmstead, rural landscape, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: Alan Lai, Wilson Yik

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With rapid urbanization, there has been a dramatic increase in global urban population in Asia and over half of population in Asia will live in urban regions in the near future. Facing with increasing exposure to climate-related stresses and shocks, most of the Asian cities will very likely to experience more frequent heat waves and flooding with rising sea levels, particularly the coastal cities will grapple for intense typhoons and storm surges. These climate changes have severe impacts in urban areas at the costs of infrastructure and population, for example, human health, wellbeing and high risks of dengue fever, malaria and diarrheal disease. With the increasing prominence of adaptation to climate changes, there have been changes in corresponding policies. Smaller cities have greater potentials for integrating the concept of resilience into their infrastructure as well as keeping pace with their rapid growths in population. It is therefore important to explore the potentials of Asian cities adapting to climate change and the opportunities of building climate resilience in urban planning and building design. Furthermore, previous studies have mainly attempted at exploiting the potential of resilience on a macro-level within urban planning rather than that on micro-level within the context of individual building. The resilience of individual building as a research field has not yet been much explored. Nonetheless, recent studies define that the resilience of an individual building is the one which is able to respond to physical damage and recover from such damage in a quickly and cost-effectively manner, while maintain its primary functions. There is also a need to develop an assessment tool to evaluate the resilience on building scale which is still largely uninvestigated as it should be regarded as a basic function of a building. Due to the lack of literature reporting metric for assessing building resilience with sustainability, the research will be designed as a case study to provide insight into the issue. The aim of this research project is to encourage and assist in developing neighborhood climate resilience design strategies for Hong Kong so as to bridge the gap between difference scales and that between theory and practice.

Keywords: resilience cities, building resilience, resilient buildings and infrastructure, climate resilience, hot and humid southeast area, high-density cities

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Fatemeh Haghiralsadat, Mohadese Hashemi, Elham Akhoundi Kharanaghi, Mojgan Yazdani, Mahboobe Sharafodini, Omid Javani

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Niosomes are colloidal particles formed from the self-assembly of non-ionic surfactants in aqueous medium resulting in closed bilayer structures. As a consequence of this hydrophilic and hydrophobic structure, niosomes have the capacity to entrap compounds of different solubilities. Niosomes are promising vehicle for drug delivery which protect sensitive drugs and improve the therapeutic index of drugs by restricting their action to target cells. Essential oils are complex mixtures of volatile compounds such as terpenoids, phenol-derived aromatic components that have been used for many biological properties including bactericidal, fungicidal, insecticidal, antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase and other medicinal properties. Encapsulation of essential oils in niosomes can be an attractive method to overcome their limitation such as volatility, easily decomposition by heat, humidity, light, or oxygen. Cuminum cyminum L. (Cumin) is an aromatic plant included in the Apiaceae family and is used to flavor foods, added to fragrances, and for medical preparations which is indigenous to Egypt, the Mediterranean region, Iran and India. The major components of the Cumin oil were reported as cuminaldehyde, γ -terpinene, β-pinene, p-cymene, p-mentha-1, 3-dien-7-al, and p-mentha-1, 4-dien-7-al which provide the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. The aim of this work was to formulate Cumin essential oil-loaded niosomes to improve water solubility of natural product and evaluate its physico-chemical features and stability. Cumin oil was obtained through steam distillation using a clevenger-type apparatus and GC/MS was applied to identify the main components of the essential oil. Niosomes were prepared by using thin film hydration method and nanoparticles were characterized for particle size, dispersity index, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, in vitro release, and morphology.

Keywords: Cuminum cyminum L., Cumin, niosome, essential oil, encapsulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 505

Authors: ALi Zaker, Zhi Chen

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Due to the concerns about the depletion of fossil fuel sources and the deteriorating environment, the attempt to investigate the production of renewable energy will play a crucial role as a potential to alleviate the dependency on mineral fuels. In this respect, biofuels are measured as a vital nominee for national energy security and energy sustainability. Sewage sludge (SS), as an alternative source of renewable energy with a complex composition, is a major waste generated during wastewater treatment. Stricter legislation is continuously refining the requirements for the level of removal of various pollutants in treated water, causing continuous growth of sludge production, which has become a global challenge. In general, there are two main procedures for dealing with SS: incineration and landfill. However, there are a variety of limitations in these options (e.g., production of greenhouse gases and restrictive environmental regulations) in regard to negative social and economic impacts. Pyrolysis is a feasible and cost-effective technology that can simultaneously tackle boundaries concerning the current disposal routes while retrieving bioenergy. Pyrolysis of SS has drawn vigorous interest in research due to the ability of high mass yield of pyrolytic liquid production. Nonetheless, the presence of high molecular weight hydrocarbons and oxygenated- and nitrogenated compounds poses a considerable challenge. In this context, catalytic pyrolysis is another attainable route in order to upgrade the bio-oil quality. Among different catalysts (i.e., zeolites) studied for sewage sludge pyrolysis, activated chars are eco-friendly and low-cost alternatives. The beneficial features comprise comparatively large surface area, long-term stability, and enriched surface functional groups. In light of these premises, this research attempts to investigate the catalytic pyrolysis of sewage sludge with a high-performance sludge-based activated char in contrast to HZSM5 from a theoretical and experimental point of view.

Keywords: catalytic pyrolysis, sewage sludge, char, HZSM5, bio-oil.

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Authors: Liying Li, Han Guo

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Considering the environmental issues generated by the building sector for its energy consumption, solid waste generation, water use, land use, and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this review pointed out to LCA as a decision-support tool to substantially improve the sustainability in the building and construction industry. The comprehensiveness and simplicity of LCA make it one of the most promising decision support tools for the sustainable design and construction of future buildings. This paper contains a comprehensive review of existing studies related to LCAs with a focus on their advantages and limitations when applied in the building sector. The aim of this paper is to enhance the understanding of a building life-cycle analysis, thus promoting its application for effective, sustainable building design and construction in the future. Comparisons and discussions are carried out between four categories of LCA methods: building material and component combinations (BMCC) vs. the whole process of construction (WPC) LCA，attributional vs. consequential LCA, process-based LCA vs. input-output (I-O) LCA, traditional vs. hybrid LCA. Classical case studies are presented, which illustrate the effectiveness of LCA as a tool to support the decisions of practitioners in the design and construction of sustainable buildings. (i) BMCC and WPC categories of LCA researches tend to overlap with each other, as majority WPC LCAs are actually developed based on a bottom-up approach BMCC LCAs use. (ii) When considering the influence of social and economic factors outside the proposed system by research, a consequential LCA could provide a more reliable result than an attributional LCA. (iii) I-O LCA is complementary to process-based LCA in order to address the social and economic problems generated by building projects. (iv) Hybrid LCA provides a more superior dynamic perspective than a traditional LCA that is criticized for its static view of the changing processes within the building’s life cycle. LCAs are still being developed to overcome their limitations and data shortage (especially data on the developing world), and the unification of LCA methods and data can make the results of building LCA more comparable and consistent across different studies or even countries.

Keywords: decision support tool, life-cycle analysis, LCA tools and data, sustainable building design

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Lai Peng, Cristina Pintucci, Dries Seuntjens, José Carvajal-Arroyo, Siegfried Vlaeminck

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Economic incentives drive the implementation of short-cut nitrogen removal processes such as nitritation/denitritation (Nit/DNit) to manage nitrogen in waste streams devoid of biodegradable organic carbon. However, as any biological nitrogen removal process, the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) could be emitted from Nit/DNit. Challenges remain in understanding the fundamental mechanisms and development of engineered mitigation strategies for N2O production. To provide answers, this work focuses on manure as a model, the biggest wasted nitrogen mass flow through our economies. A sequencing batch reactor (SBR; 4.5 L) was used treating the centrate (centrifuge supernatant; 2.0 ± 0.11 g N/L of ammonium) from an anaerobic digester processing mainly pig manure, supplemented with a co-substrate. Glycerin was used as external carbon source, a by-product of vegetable oil. Out-selection of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was targeted using a combination of low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels (down to 0.5 mg O2/L), high temperature (35ºC) and relatively high free ammonia (FA) (initially 10 mg NH3-N/L). After reaching steady state, the process was able to remove 100% of ammonium with minimum nitrite and nitrate in the effluent, at a reasonably high nitrogen loading rate (0.4 g N/L/d). Substantial N2O emissions (over 15% of the nitrogen loading) were observed at the baseline operational condition, which were even increased under nitrite accumulation and a low organic carbon to nitrogen ratio. Yet, higher DO (~2.2 mg O2/L) lowered aerobic N2O emissions and weakened the dependency of N2O on nitrite concentration, suggesting a shift of N2O production pathway at elevated DO levels. Limiting the greenhouse gas emissions (environmental protection) from such a system could be substantially minimized by increasing the external carbon dosage (a cost factor), but also through the implementation of an intermittent aeration and feeding strategy. Promising steps forward have been presented in this abstract, yet at the conference the insights of ongoing experiments will also be shared.

Keywords: mitigation, nitrous oxide, nitritation/denitritation, pig manure

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Chia-Wen Kuo

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Jesse Curran states that there is a "breath awareness" that "facilitates a present-minded capability" to catalyse an "epistemological rupture" in Emily Dickinson's poetry, particularly in the age of Anthropocene. In Dickinson's "Nature", non-humans are subjectified as nature ceases to be subordinated to human interests, and Dickinson's Eco-humility has driven us, readers, into mimicking nature for the making of a better world. In terms of sustainable architecture, Norman Foster is among the representatives who utilise BIM to reduce architectural waste while satiating the users' aesthetic craving for a spectacular skyline. Notably, the Gherkin - 30 St. Mary Axe in east-end London. In 2019, Foster and his team aspired to savour the London skyline with his new design - the Tulip, which has been certified by the LEED as a legitimate green building as well as a complementary extension of the Gherkin. However, Foster's proposition had been denied for numerous times by the mayor Sadiq Khan and the city council as the Tulip cannot blend in the public space around while its observatory functions like a surveillance platform. The Tulip, except for its aesthetic idiosyncrasy, fails to serve for the public good other than another ostentatious tourist attraction in London. The architectural team for Mode Gakuen Cocoon tower, completed in 2008, intended to honour Nature with the symbolism in the building's aesthetic design. It serves as an architectural cocoon that nurtures the students of "Special Technology and Design College" inside. The building itself turns into a Dickinsonian anthropomorphism, where humans are made humble to learn from the entomological beings for self-betterment in the age of Anthropocene. Despite bearing resemblance to a tulip as well as its LEED credential, Norman Foster’s Tulip merely pays tribute to the Nature in a relatively superficial manner without constructing an apparatus that substantially benefit the Londoners as all green cities should embrace Emily Dickinson’s “breath awareness” and be built and treated as an extensive as well as expansive form of biomimicry.

Keywords: green city, sustianable architecture, London, Tokyo

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Suman Chaudhary, Rinku Dhanker, Tanvi, Sneh Goyal

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Sulphur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) have marked their significant role in perspectives of maintaining healthy environment as researchers from all over the world tested and apply these in waste water treatment plants, bioleaching of heavy metals, deterioration of bridge structures, concrete and for bioremediation purposes, etc. Also, these SOB are well adapted in all kinds of environment ranging from normal soil, water habitats to extreme natural sources like geothermal areas, volcanic eruptions, black shale and acid rock drainage (ARD). SOB have been isolated from low pH environment of anthropogenic origin like acid mine drainage (AMD) and bioleaching heaps, hence these can work efficiently in different environmental conditions. Besides having many applications in field of environment science, they may be proven to be very beneficial in area of agriculture as sulphur is the fourth major macronutrients required for the growth of plants. More amount of sulphur is needed by pulses and oilseed crops with respect to the cereal grains. Due to continuous use of land for overproduction of more demanding sulphur utilizing crops and without application of sulphur fertilizers, its concentration is decreasing day by day, and thus, sulphur deficiency is becoming a great problem as it affects the crop productivity and quality. Sulphur is generally found in soils in many forms which are unavailable for plants (cannot be use by plants) like elemental sulphur, thiosulphate which can be taken up by bacteria and converted into simpler forms usable by plants by undergoing a series of transformations. So, keeping the importance of sulphur in view for various soil types, oilseed crops and role of microorganisms in making them available to plants, we made an effort to isolate, optimize, and characterize SOB. Three potential strains of bacteria were isolated, namely SSF7, SSA21, and SSS6, showing sulphate production of concentration, i.e. 2.268, 3.102, and 2.785 mM, respectively. Also, these were optimized for various culture conditions like carbon, nitrogen source, pH, temperature, and incubation time, and characterization was also done.

Keywords: sulphur oxidizing bacteria, isolation, optimization, characterization, sulphate production

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Fatemah Al-Baroud, Sudharani Shreenivas Kshatriya

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Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is one of the companies for gas & oil production in Kuwait. The oil and gas industry is truly global; with operations conducted in every corner of the globe, the global community will rely heavily on oil and gas supplies. KOC has made many commitments to protect all due to KOC’s operations and operational releases. As per KOC’s strategy, the substantial increase in production activities will bring many challenges in managing various environmental hazards and stresses in the company. In order to handle those environmental challenges, the need of implementing effectively the health, safety, and environmental management system (HSEMS) is significant. And by implementing the HSEMS system properly, the environmental aspects of the activities, products, and services were identified, evaluated, and controlled in order to (i) Comply with local regulatory and other obligatory requirements; (ii) Comply with company policy and business requirements; and (iii) Reduce adverse environmental impact, including adverse impact to company reputation. Assessments for the Jurassic Production Facilities are being carried out as a part of the KOC HSEMS procedural requirement and monitoring the implementation of the relevant HSEMS procedures in the facilities. The assessments have been done by conducting series of theme audits using KOC’s audit protocol at JPFs. The objectives of the audits are to evaluate the compliance of the facilities towards the implementation of environmental procedures and the status of the KEPA requirement at all JPFs. The list of the facilities that were covered during the theme audit program are the following: (1) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – Sabriya (2) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – East Raudhatian (3) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – West Raudhatian (4)Early Production Facility (EPF 50). The auditing process comprehensively focuses on the application of KOC HSE MS procedures at JPFs and their ability to reduce the resultant negative impacts on the environment from the operations. Number of findings and observations were noted and highlighted in the audit reports and sent to all concerned controlling teams. The results of these audits indicated that the facilities, in general view, were in line with KOC HSE Procedures, and there were commitments in documenting all the HSE issues in the right records and plans. Further, implemented several control measures at JPFs that minimized/reduced the environmental impact, such as SRU were installed for sulphur recovery. Future scope and monitoring audit after a sufficient period of time will be carried out in conjunction with the controlling teams in order to verify the current status of the recommendations and evaluate the contractors' performance towards the required actions in preserving the environment.

Keywords: assessment of the environmental compliance, environmental and social impact assessment, kuwait environment public authority regulations, health, safety and environment management procedures, jurassic production facilities

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Ambra Giovannelli, Coriolano Salvini

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Many efforts have been spent in the design and development of Concentrated Solar Power (CPS) Plants worldwide. Most of them are for on-grid electricity generation and they are large plants which can benefit from the economies of scale. Nevertheless, several potential applications for Small and Medium-Scale CSP plants can be relevant in the industrial sector as well as for off-grid purposes (i.e. in rural contexts). In a wide range of industrial processes, CSP technologies can be used for heat generation replacing conventional primary sources. For such market, proven technologies (usually hybrid solutions) already exist: more than 100 installations, especially in developing countries, are in operation and performance can be verified. On the other hand, concerning off-grid applications, solar technologies are not so mature. Even if the market offers a potential deployment of such systems, especially in countries where the access to grid is strongly limited, optimized solutions have not been developed yet. In this context, steam power plants can be taken into consideration for medium scale installations, due to the recent results achieved with direct steam generation systems based on paraboloidal dish or Fresnel lens solar concentrators. Steam at 4.0-4.5 MPa and 500°C can be produced directly by means of innovative solar receivers (some prototypes already exist). Although it could seem a promising technology, presently, steam turbines commercially available do not cover the required cycle specifications. In particular, while low-pressure turbines already exist on the market, high-pressure groups, necessary for the abovementioned applications, are not available. The present paper deals with the preliminary design of a high-pressure steam turbine group for a medium-scale CSP plant (200-1000 kWe). Such a group is arranged in a single geared package composed of four radial expander wheels. Such wheels have been chosen on the basis of automotive turbocharging technology and then modified to take the new requirements into account. Results related to the preliminary geometry selection and to the analysis of the high-pressure turbine group performance are reported and widely discussed.

Keywords: concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, steam turbine, radial turbine, medium-scale power plants

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: Latif Karimi, Yasuhide Mochida

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The purpose of this paper is to study Modern Methods of Construction (MMC); specifically, the prefabrication technology and check the applicability, suitability, and benefits of this construction technique over conventional methods for building new houses in Afghanistan. Construction industry and house building sector are a key contributor to Afghanistan’s economy. However, this sector is challenged with lack of innovation and severe impacts that it has on the environment due to huge amount of construction waste from building, demolition and or renovation activities. This paper studies the prefabrication technology, a popular MMC that is becoming more common, improving in quality and being available in a variety of budgets. Several feasibility studies worldwide have revealed that this method is the way forward in improving construction industry performance as it has been proven to reduce construction time, construction wastes and improve the environmental performance of the construction processes. In addition, this study emphasizes on 'sustainability' in-house building, since it is a common challenge in housing construction projects on a global scale. This challenge becomes more severe in the case of under-developed countries, like Afghanistan. Because, most of the houses are being built in the absence of a serious quality control mechanism and dismissive to basic requirements of sustainable houses; well-being, cost-effectiveness, minimization - prevention of wastes production during construction and use, and severe environmental impacts in view of a life cycle assessment. Methodology: A literature review and study of the conventional practices of building houses in urban areas of Afghanistan. A survey is also being completed to study the potentials and challenges of using prefabrication technology for building modern houses in the cities across the country. A residential housing project is selected for case study to determine the drawbacks of current construction methods vs. prefabrication technique for building a new house. Originality: There are little previous research available about MMC considering its specific impacts on sustainability related to house building practices. This study will be specifically of interest to a broad range of people, including planners, construction managers, builders, and house owners.

Keywords: modern methods of construction (MMC), prefabrication, prefab houses, sustainable construction, modern houses

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: John Lamb, Robert Epstein, Vasundhara L. Bhupathi, Sanjeev Kumar Marimekala

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As we enter the new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud Computing, we mostly rely on the Machine and Natural Language Processing capabilities of AI, and Energy Efficient Hardware and Software Devices in almost every industry sector. In these industry sectors, much emphasis is on developing new and innovative methods for producing and conserving energy and sustaining the depletion of natural resources. The core pillars of sustainability are economic, environmental, and social, which is also informally referred to as the 3 P's (People, Planet and Profits). The 3 P's play a vital role in creating a core Sustainability Model in the Enterprise. Natural resources are continually being depleted, so there is more focus and growing demand for renewable energy. With this growing demand, there is also a growing concern in many industries on how to reduce carbon emissions and conserve natural resources while adopting sustainability in corporate business models and policies. In our paper, we would like to discuss the driving forces such as Climate changes, Natural Disasters, Pandemic, Disruptive Technologies, Corporate Policies, Scaled Business Models and Emerging social media and AI platforms that influence the 3 main pillars of Sustainability (3P’s). Through this paper, we would like to bring an overall perspective on enterprise strategies and the primary focus on bringing cultural shifts in adapting energy-efficient operational models. Overall, many industries across the globe are incorporating core sustainability principles such as reducing energy costs, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reducing waste and increasing recycling, adopting advanced monitoring and metering infrastructure, reducing server footprint and compute resources (Shared IT services, Cloud computing, and Application Modernization) with the vision for a sustainable environment.

Keywords: climate change, pandemic, disruptive technology, government policies, business model, machine learning and natural language processing, AI, social media platform, cloud computing, advanced monitoring, metering infrastructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Ahmed Aljudaya, Derek Ingham, Lin Ma, Kevin Hughes, Mohammed Pourkashanian

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Researchers, power companies, and state politicians have given concentrated solar power (CSP) much attention due to its capacity to generate large amounts of electricity whereas overcoming the intermittent nature of solar resources. The Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) is a well-known CSP technology type for being inexpensive, having a low land use factor, and suffering from low optical efficiency. The LFR was considered a cost-effective alternative option to the Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) because of its simplistic design, and this often outweighs its lower efficiency. The LFR has been found to be a promising option for directly producing steam to a thermal cycle in order to generate low-cost electricity, but also it has been shown to be promising for indirect steam generation. The purpose of this important analysis is to compare the annual performance of the Direct Steam Generation (DSG) and Indirect Steam Generation (ISG) of LFR power plants using molten salt and other different Heat Transfer Fluids (HTF) to investigate their technical and economic effects. A 50 MWe solar-only system is examined as a case study for both steam production methods in extreme weather conditions. In addition, a parametric analysis is carried out to determine the optimal solar field size that provides the lowest Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) while achieving the highest technical performance. As a result of optimizing the optimum solar field size, the solar multiple (SM) is found to be between 1.2 – 1.5 in order to achieve as low as 9 Cent/KWh for the direct steam generation of the linear Fresnel reflector. In addition, the power plant is capable of producing around 141 GWh annually and up to 36% of the capacity factor, whereas the ISG produces less energy at a higher cost. The optimization results show that the DSG’s performance overcomes the ISG in producing around 3% more annual energy, 2% lower LCOE, and 28% less capital cost.

Keywords: concentrated solar power, levelized cost of electricity, linear Fresnel reflectors, steam generation

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Oustani Mabrouka, Halilat Med Tahar

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The physico-chemical properties of poultry droppings indicate that this waste can be an excellent way to enrich the soil with low fertility that is the case in arid soils (low organic matter content), but its concentrations in some microbial and chemical components make them potentially dangerous and toxic contaminants if they are used directly in fresh state. On other hand, the accumulation of plant residues in the crop areas can become a source of plant disease and affects the quality of the environment. The biotechnological processes that we have identified appear to alleviate these problems. It leads to the stabilization and processing of wastes into a product of good hygienic quality and high fertilizer value by the composting test. In this context, a trial was conducted in composting operations in the region of Ouargla located in southern Algeria. Composing test was conducted in a completely randomized design experiment. Three mixtures were prepared, in pits of 1 m3 volume for each mixture. Each pit is composed by mixture of poultry droppings and crushed plant residues in amount of 40 and 60% respectively: C1: Droppings + Straw (P.D +S) , C2: Poultry Droppings + Olive Wastes (P.D+O.W) , C3: Poultry Droppings + Date palm residues (P.D+D.P). Before and after the composting process, physico-chemical parameters (temperature, moisture, pH, electrical conductivity, total carbon and total nitrogen) were studied. The stability of the biological system was noticed after 90 days. The results of physico-chemical and microbiological compost obtained from three mixtures: C1: (P.D +S) , C2: (P.D+O.W) and C3: (P.D +D.P) shows at the end of composting process, three composts characterized by the final products were characterized by their high agronomic and environmental interest with a good physico chemical characteristics in particularly a low C/N ratio with 15.15, 10.01 and 15.36 % for (P.D + S), (P.D. + O.W) and (P.D. +D.P), respectively, reflecting a stabilization and maturity of the composts. On the other hand, a significant increase of temperature was recorded at the first days of composting for all treatments, which is correlated with a strong reduction of the pathogenic micro flora contained in poultry dropings.

Keywords: Arid environment, Composting, Date palm residues, Olive wastes, pH, Pathogenic microorganisms, Poultry Droppings, Straw

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Alexandra K. Diem, Giles Richardson, Roxana O. Carare, Neil W. Bressloff

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and although it has been researched for over 100 years, there is still no cure or preventive medication. Its onset and progression is closely related to the accumulation of the neuronal metabolite Aβ. This raises the question of how metabolites and waste products are eliminated from the brain as the brain does not have a traditional lymphatic system. In recent years the rapid uptake of Aβ into cerebral artery walls and its clearance along those arteries towards the lymph nodes in the neck has been suggested and confirmed in mice studies, which has led to the hypothesis that interstitial fluid (ISF), in the basement membranes in the walls of cerebral arteries, provides the pathways for the lymphatic drainage of Aβ. This mechanism, however, requires a net reverse flow of ISF inside the blood vessel wall compared to the blood flow and the driving forces for such a mechanism remain unknown. While possible driving mechanisms have been studied using mathematical models in the past, a mechanism for net reverse flow has not been discovered yet. Here, we aim to address the question of the driving force of this reverse lymphatic drainage of Aβ (also called perivascular drainage) by using multi-scale numerical and analytical modelling. The numerical simulation software COMSOL Multiphysics 4.4 is used to develop a fluid-structure interaction model of a cerebral artery, which models blood flow and displacements in the artery wall due to blood pressure changes. An analytical model of a layer of basement membrane inside the wall governs the flow of ISF and, therefore, solute drainage based on the pressure changes and wall displacements obtained from the cerebral artery model. The findings suggest that an active role in facilitating a reverse flow is played by the components of the basement membrane and that stiffening of the artery wall during age is a major risk factor for the impairment of brain lymphatics. Additionally, our model supports the hypothesis of a close association between cerebrovascular diseases and the failure of perivascular drainage.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, artery wall mechanics, cerebral blood flow, cerebral lymphatics

Procedia PDF Downloads 511

Authors: Przemyslaw Brzyski, Stanislaw Fic

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Hydrated lime, because of the life cycle (return to its natural form as a result of the setting and hardening) has a positive environmental impact. The lime binder is used in mortars. Lime is a slow setting binder with low mechanical properties. The aim of the study was to evaluate the possibility of improving the properties of the lime binder by using different pozzolanic materials as partial replacement of hydrated lime binder. Pozzolan materials are the natural or industrial waste, so do not affect the environmental impact of the lime binder. The following laboratory tests were performed: the analysis of the physical characteristics of the tested samples of lime mortars (bulk density, porosity), flexural and compressive strength, water absorption and the capillary rise of samples and consistency of fresh mortars. As a partial replacement of hydrated lime (in the amount of 10%, 20%, 30% by weight of lime) a metakaolin, silica fume, and zeolite were used. The shortest setting and hardening time showed mortars with the addition of metakaolin. All additives noticeably improved strength characteristic of lime mortars. With the increase in the amount of additive, the increase in strength was also observed. The highest flexural strength was obtained by using the addition of metakaolin in an amount of 20% by weight of lime (2.08 MPa). The highest compressive strength was obtained by using also the addition of metakaolin but in an amount of 30% by weight of lime (9.43 MPa). The addition of pozzolan caused an increase in the mortar tightness which contributed to the limitation of absorbability. Due to the different surface area, pozzolanic additives affected the consistency of fresh mortars. Initial consistency was assumed as plastic. Only the addition of silica fume an amount of 20 and 30% by weight of lime changed the consistency to the thick-plastic. The conducted study demonstrated the possibility of applying lime mortar with satisfactory properties. The features of lime mortars do not differ significantly from cement-based mortar properties and show a lower environmental impact due to CO₂ absorption during lime hardening. Taking into consideration the setting time, strength and consistency, the best results can be obtained with metakaolin addition to the lime mortar.

Keywords: lime, binder, mortar, pozzolan, properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Masih Nikgou

Abstract:

ICU nurses or intensive care nurses are highly specialized and trained healthcare personnel. These nurses provide nursing care for patients with life-threatening illnesses or conditions. They provide the experience, knowledge and specialized skills that patients need to survive and recover. Intensive care nurses (ICU) are trained to make momentary decisions and act quickly when the patient's condition changes. Their primary work environment is in the hospital in intensive care units. Typically, ICU patients require a high level of care. ICU nurses work in challenging and complex fields in their nursing profession. They have the primary duty of caring for and saving patients who are fighting for their lives. Intensive care (ICU) nurses are highly trained to provide exceptional care to patients who depend on 24/7 nursing care. A patient in the ICU is often equipped with a ventilator, intubated and connected to several life support machines and medical equipment. Intensive Care Nurses (ICU) have full expertise in considering all aspects of bringing back their patients. Some of the specific responsibilities of ICU nurses include (a) Assessing and monitoring the patient's progress and identifying any sudden changes in the patient's medical condition. (b) Administration of drugs intravenously by injection or through gastric tubes. (c) Provide regular updates on patient progress to physicians, patients, and their families. (d) According to the clinical condition of the patient, perform the approved diagnostic or treatment methods. (e) In case of a health emergency, informing the relevant doctors. (f) To determine the need for emergency interventions, evaluate laboratory data and vital signs of patients. (g) Caring for patient needs during recovery in the ICU. (h) ICU nurses often provide emotional support to patients and their families. (i) Regulating and monitoring medical equipment and devices such as medical ventilators, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, and pressure lines. (j) Assessment of pain level and sedation needs of patients. (k) Maintaining patient reports and records. As the name suggests, critical care nurses work primarily in ICU health care units. ICUs are completely healthy and have proper lighting with strict adherence to health and safety from medical centers. ICU nurses usually move between the intensive care unit, the emergency department, the operating room, and other special departments of the hospital. ICU nurses usually follow a standard shift schedule that includes morning, afternoon, and night schedules. There are also other relocation programs depending on the hospital and region. Nurses who are passionate about data and managing a patient's condition and outcomes typically do well as ICU nurses. An inquisitive mind and attention to processes are equally important. ICU nurses are completely compassionate and are not afraid to advocate for their patients and family members. who are distressed.

Keywords: nursing, intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit, mobile intensive care unit, surgical intensive care unite

Procedia PDF Downloads 56

Authors: Subrata Sarkar

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The aerospace industry is experiencing a profound product development transformation driven by the powerful integration of digitalization and 3D printing technologies. This paper delves into the significant impact of this convergence on aerospace innovation, specifically focusing on developing jet pumps for fuel systems. This case study is a compelling example of the immense potential of these technologies. In response to the industry's increasing demand for lighter, more efficient, and customized components, the combined capabilities of digitalization and 3D printing are reshaping how we envision, design, and manufacture critical aircraft parts, offering a distinct paradigm in aerospace engineering. Consider the development of a jet pump for a fuel system, a task that presents unique and complex challenges. Despite its seemingly simple design, the jet pump's development is hindered by many demanding operating conditions. The qualification process for these pumps involves many analyses and tests, leading to substantial delays and increased costs in fuel system development. However, by harnessing the power of automated simulations and integrating legacy design, manufacturing, and test data through digitalization, we can optimize the jet pump's design and performance, thereby revolutionizing product development. Furthermore, 3D printing's ability to create intricate structures using various materials, from lightweight polymers to high-strength alloys, holds the promise of highly efficient and durable jet pumps. The combined impact of digitalization and 3D printing extends beyond design, as it also reduces material waste and advances sustainability goals, aligning with the industry's increasing commitment to environmental responsibility. In conclusion, the convergence of digitalization and 3D printing is not just a technological advancement but a gateway to a new era in aerospace product development, particularly in the design of jet pumps. This revolution promises to redefine how we create aerospace components, making them safer, more efficient, and environmentally responsible. As we stand at the forefront of this technological revolution, aerospace companies must embrace these technologies as a choice and a strategic imperative for those striving to lead in innovation and sustainability in the 21st century.

Keywords: jet pump, digitalization, 3D printing, aircraft fuel system.

Procedia PDF Downloads 30

Authors: Sonja Djilas, Gordana Ćetković, Jasna Čanadanović-Brunet, Vesna Tumbas Šaponjac, Slađana Stajčić, Jelena Vulić, Milica Vinčić

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In recent years, interest in food rich in bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, increased the advantages of the functional food products. Bioactive components help to maintain health and prevention of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular and many other degenerative diseases. Recent research has shown that the fruit pomace, a byproduct generated from the production of juice, can be a potential source of valuable bioactive compounds. The use of fruit industrial waste in the processing of functional foods represents an important new step for the food industry. Sour cherries have considerable nutritional, medicinal, dietetic and technological value. According to the production volume of cherries, Serbia ranks seventh in the world, with a share of 7% of the total production. The use of sour cherry pomace has so far been limited to animal feed, even though it can be potentially a good source of polyphenols. For this study, local variety of sour cherry cv. ‘Feketićka’ was chosen for its more intensive taste and deeper red color, indicating high anthocyanin content. The contents of total polyphenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins, as well as radical scavenging activity on DPPH radicals and reducing power of sour cherry juice and pomace were compared using spectrophotometrical assays. According to the results obtained, 66.91% of total polyphenols, 46.77% of flavonoids, 46.77% of total anthocyanins and 47.88% of anthocyanin monomers from sour cherry fruits have been transferred to juice. On the other hand, 29.85% of total polyphenols, 33.09% of flavonoids, 53.23% of total anthocyanins and 52.12% of anthocyanin monomers remained in pomace. Regarding radical scavenging activity, 65.51% of Trolox equivalents from sour cherries were exported to juice, while 34.49% was left in pomace. However, reducing power of sour cherry juice was much stronger than pomace (91.28% and 8.72% of Trolox equivalents from sour cherry fruits, respectively). Based on our results it can be concluded that sour cherry pomace is still a rich source of natural antioxidants, especially anthocyanins with coloring capacity, therefore it can be used for dietary supplements development and food fortification.

Keywords: antioxidants, polyphenols, pomace, sour cherry

Procedia PDF Downloads 305

Authors: Feng-Ming Fan, Xiu-Hui Wen, Po-Feng Chen, Yi-Ching Tu

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Because of inborn natural conditions and man-made sabotage, the water resources insufficient phenomenon in Taiwan is a very important issue needed to face immediately. The regulations and law of water resources protection and recycling are gradually completed now but still lack of specific water recycling effectiveness checking method. The research focused on the industrial parks that already had been certificated with EIA to establish a professional checking system, carry through and forge ahead to contribute one’s bit in water resources sustainable usage. Taiwan Government Policies of Environmental Impact Assessment established in 1994, some development projects were requested to set certain water recycling ratio for water resources effective usage. The water covers and contains everything because all-inclusive companies enter and be stationed. For control the execution status of industrial park water and waste water recycling ratio about EIA commitment effectively, we invited experts and scholars in this filed to discuss with related organs to formulate the policy and audit plan. Besides, call a meeting to set public version water equilibrium diagrams and recycles parameter. We selected nine industrial parks that were requested set certain water recycling ratio in EIA examination stage and then according to the water usage quantity, we audited 340 factories in these industrial parks with spot and documents examination and got fruitful results – the average water usage of unit area per year of all these examined industrial parks is 31,000 tons/hectare/year, the value is just half of Taiwan industries average. It is obvious that the industrial parks with EIA commitment can decrease the water resources consumption effectively. Taiwan government policies of Environmental Impact Assessment took follow though tracking function into consideration at the beginning. The results of this research verify the importance of the implementing with water recycling to save water resources in EIA commitment. Inducing development units to follow EIA commitment to get the balance between environmental protection and economic development is one of the important EIA value.

Keywords: Taiwan government policies of environmental impact assessment, water recycling ratio of EIA commitment, water resources sustainable usage, water recycling

Procedia PDF Downloads 201