Search results for: green house gas emission

Authors: Nobuyuki Takemoto, Ai Koyanagi, Masanori Yasuda, Hiroshi Yamamoto

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Background: Fluorescence imaging (FI) is one of the methods to identify sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). However, the procedure is technically complicated and requires procedural skills, as SLN biopsy must be conducted in dim light conditions. As an improved version of this method, we introduced a combined method (Combined mixed dye and fluorescence; CMF) consisting of indigo carmine blue dye and FI. The direct visualization of SLNs under shadowless surgical light conditions is facilitated by the addition of the blue dye. We compared the SLN detection rates of CMF with that of the indocyanine green (ICG) dye method (ICG-D). Methods: A total of 202 patients with stage ≤ IIA breast cancer who underwent breast conservative therapy with separate incision from January 2004 to February 2017 were reviewed. Details of the two methods are as follows: (1) ICG-D: 2ml of ICG (10mg) was used and the green-stained SLNs were resected via a 3-4cm axillary incision; (2) CMF: A combination of 1ml of ICG (5mg) and 1-3ml of indigo carmine (4-12mg) was used. Using Photodynamic Eye (PDE), a 1.5-2 cm incision was made near the point of disappearance of the fluorescence and SLNs with intermediate color of blue and green were resected. Results: There were 92 ICG-D and 110 CMF cases. CMF resulted in a significantly higher detection rate than ICG-D (96.4% vs. 83.7%; p=0.003). This difference was particularly notable in those aged ≥ 60 years (98.3% vs. 74.3%) and individuals with BMI ≥ 25kg/m2 (90.3% vs. 58.3%). Conclusion: CMF is an effective method to identify SLNs which is safe, efficient, and cost-effective. Furthermore, radiation exposure can be avoided, and it can be performed in institutes without nuclear medicine facilities. CMF achieves a high SLN identification rate, and most of this procedure is feasible under shadowless surgical light conditions. CMF can reliably perform SLN biopsy even in those aged ≥ 60 years and individuals with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2.

Keywords: sentinel lymph node biopsy, identification rate, indocyanine green (ICG), indigocarmine, fluorescence

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Authors: Mst. Nilufa Sultana, Shatirah Akib, Muhammad Aqeel Ashraf, Mohamed Roseli Zainal Abidin

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Most people today are aware that global Climate change, is not just a scientific theory but also a fact with worldwide consequences. Global climate change is due to rapid urbanization, industrialization, high population growth and current vulnerability of the climatic condition. Water is becoming scarce as a result of global climate change. To mitigate the problem arising due to global climate change and its drought effect, harvesting rainwater from green roofs, an environmentally-friendly and versatile technology, is becoming one of the best assessment criteria and gaining attention in Malaysia. This paper addresses the sustainability of green roofs and examines the quality of water harvested from green roofs in comparison to rainwater. The factors that affect the quality of such water, taking into account, for example, roofing materials, climatic conditions, the frequency of rainfall frequency and the first flush. A green roof was installed on the Humid Tropic Centre (HTC) is a place of the study on monitoring program for urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia (MSMA), Eco-Hydrological Project in Kualalumpur, and the rainwater was harvested and evaluated on the basis of four parameters i.e., conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH and temperature. These parameters were found to fall between Class I and Class III of the Interim National Water Quality Standards (INWQS) and the Water Quality Index (WQI). Some preliminary treatment such as disinfection and filtration could likely to improve the value of these parameters to class I. This review paper clearly indicates that there is a need for more research to address other microbiological and chemical quality parameters to ensure that the harvested water is suitable for use potable water for domestic purposes. The change in all physical, chemical and microbiological parameters with respect to storage time will be a major focus of future studies in this field.

Keywords: Green roofs, INWQS, MSMA-SME, rainwater harvesting, water treatment, water quality parameter, WQI

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Authors: M. Kamal, Y. Wang, R. Kennon

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Quality Function Deployment is a useful tool in product development with the application of voice of customer. In this paper, it aims to be applied as a product development tool in redesigning fashion and textile product. The purpose of these studies is to apply the effective use of Voice of Customer in redesigning cultural fashion product. The data collection from Voice of Customer or consumers’ feedback might help the producer to improve the quality of merchandise ahead. Voice of Customer could give a specific detailing for quality which needs to be redesigned according to customers’ requirements. Meanwhile, the next objective is to differentiate design specifications and characteristics using House of Quality. In product designing phase, it is very important to distinguish each specification and characteristic which translated from Voice of Customer to House of Quality matrix. This matrix would help designers to development according to qualities that customer wants for the better and successful product in the market. It is hope this research would indicate the customers’ requirements and production team idea might be measured and translated to a systematic data. The specific technical data could be planned ahead with specific design details as well. This could be a sustainable approach for a traditional product which could control the material that they use and sustain the quality as the past production. As a conclusion, this study would benefit the Small Medium Enterprises design team or the designers to style an item from customers view with organised projection of the product. The finding also could assist designers or batik producers’ to recognise specific details Batik sarong from consumers as well as in in advertising and marketing strategy plan.

Keywords: house of quality, Malaysia batik sarong, quality function deployment, voice of customer

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Authors: Eisha Vienna M. Fernandez, Cristan Q. Cabanilla, Hiyasmin Lim, John Donnie A. Ramos

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Allergy is a multifactorial disease affecting a significant proportion of the population. It is developed through the interaction of allergens and the presence of certain polymorphisms in various susceptibility genes. In this study, the correlation of the 105A/C single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the IL-18 gene and house dust mite-specific IgE among Filipino allergic and non-allergic population was investigated. Atopic status was defined by serum total IgE concentration of ≥100 IU/mL, while house dust mite allergy was defined by specific IgE value ≥ +1SD of IgE of nonatopic participants. Two hundred twenty match-paired Filipino cases and controls aged 6-60 were the subjects of this investigation. The level of total IgE and Specific IgE were measured using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) while Polymerase Chain Reaction – Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis was used in the SNP detection. Sensitization profiles of the allergic patients revealed that 97.3% were sensitized to Blomia tropicalis, 40.0% to Dermatophagoides farinae, and 29.1% to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. Multiple sensitization to HDMs was also observed among the 47.27% of the atopic participants. Any of the allergy classes of the atopic triad were exhibited by the cases (allergic asthma: 48.18%; allergic rhinitis: 62.73%; atopic dermatitis: 19.09%), and two or all of these atopic states are concurrently occurring in 26.36% of the cases. A greater proportion of the atopic participants with allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis were sensitized to D. farinae, and D. pteronyssinus, while more of those with atopic dermatitis were sensitized to D. pteronyssinus than D. farinae. Results show that there is overrepresentation of the allele “A” of the 105A/C IL-18 gene SNP in both cases and control groups of the population. The genotype that predominate the population is the heterozygous “AC”, followed by the homozygous wild “AA”, and the homozygous variant “CC” being the least. The study confirmed a positive association between serum specific IgE against B. tropicalis and D. pteronyssinus and the allele “C” (Bt P=0.021, Dp P=0.027) and “AC” (Bt P=0.003, Dp P=0.026) genotype. Findings also revealed that the genotypes “AA” (OR:1.217; 95% CI: 0.701-2.113) and “CC” (OR, 3.5; 95% CI: 0.727-16.849) increase the risk of developing allergy. This indicates that the 105A/C IL-18 gene SNP is a candidate genetic marker for HDM allergy among Filipino patients.

Keywords: house dust mite allergy, interleukin-18 (IL-18), single nucleotide polymorphism,

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Authors: Saleh Abdullah Dabil

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The research aims to survey the dates factories in Al-Kharj Province, and then identify the nature of a series of different production processes and the using of raw materials, as well as their finished products, and the extent of their impact on the environment or consumers satisfaction. Twenty dates factories were selected according to their willingness to participate. The participants of dates factories consist of approximately 40 % of all dates factories in Al-Kharj province. All of the dates factories which were visited were observed. The research team also administered number of questionnaires to the public to know their satisfaction levels of the dates products as well as their suggestions. It is accounted to 237 participants who gave their opinion about the dates products and their suggestions. This study is one of rare studies about green marketing in dates factories. What is new about this study is that it depends upon both of the managers and consumers as well as the researchers to look into the factories’ production line and to observe the level of satisfaction. The study resulted in a very good ending because that the green marketing of dates is in its highest level. This indicates that the factories in general using natural materials and no bad materials or subsides used in the production, the levels of satisfaction by consumers are very good, preferring mostly lose product of dates. The preference of lose dates means the tendency to use the dates in their natural product. The recommendations of this study suggest solving marketing problems in transforming raw dates into manufacturing products. This includes biscuits and other types of sweet products.

Keywords: green marketing, dates factories, environment impact, consumer satisfaction

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Authors: Christophe Spaas, Lies Pottel, Joke De Ceulaer, Johan Abeloos, Philippe Lamoral, Tom De Backer, Calix De Clercq

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We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of an in-house developed low-cost computer-assisted surgery (CAS) protocol for osseous free flap mandibular reconstruction. All patients who underwent primary or secondary mandibular reconstruction with a free (solely or composite) osseous flap, either a fibula free flap or iliac crest free flap, between January 2014 and December 2017 were evaluated. The low-cost protocol consisted out of a virtual surgical planning, a prebend custom reconstruction plate and an individualized free flap positioning guide. The accuracy of the protocol was evaluated through comparison of the postoperative outcome with the 3D virtual planning, based on measurement of the following parameters: intercondylar distance, mandibular angle (axial and sagittal), inner angular distance, anterior-posterior distance, length of the fibular/iliac crest segments and osteotomy angles. A statistical analysis of the obtained values was done. Virtual 3D surgical planning and cutting guide design were performed with Proplan CMF® software (Materialise, Leuven, Belgium) and IPS Gate (KLS Martin, Tuttlingen, Germany). Segmentation of the DICOM data as well as outcome analysis were done with BrainLab iPlan® Software (Brainlab AG, Feldkirchen, Germany). A cost analysis of the protocol was done. Twenty-two patients (11 fibula /11 iliac crest) were included and analyzed. Based on voxel-based registration on the cranial base, 3D virtual planning landmark parameters did not significantly differ from those measured on the actual treatment outcome (p-values >0.05). A cost evaluation of the in-house developed CAS protocol revealed a 1750 euro cost reduction in comparison with a standard CAS protocol with a patient-specific reconstruction plate. Our results indicate that an accurate transfer of the planning with our in-house developed low-cost CAS protocol is feasible at a significant lower cost.

Keywords: CAD/CAM, computer-assisted surgery, low-cost, mandibular reconstruction

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Authors: Shraddha Jadhav

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We are entering a new age in the built environment where we expect our buildings to deliver far more than just a place to work or live. It is widely believed that sustainable building design strategies create improved occupants’ comfort & satisfaction with respect to thermal comfort & indoor environmental quality. Yet this belief remains a hypothesis with little empirical support. IT buildings cater to more than 3000 users at a time. Nowadays people spend 90% of the time inside offices. These sustainable IT office buildings should provide the occupants with maximum comfort for better work productivity. Such green rated buildings fulfill all the criteria at the designing stage, but do they really work as expected at the occupancy stage. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether green IT buildings provide the required comfort level as expected at the design stage. Building Occupants are a rich source of information for evaluating their comfort level in the building and to find out the solutions for their discomfort. This can be achieved by carrying out Post Occupancy Evaluation after the building has been occupied for more than a year or two. The technique consists of qualitative methods like questionnaire surveys & observations and quantitative methods like field measurements, photographs. Post Occupancy Evaluation was carried out in a Green (Platinum rated) IT building in Pune. 30 samples per floor were identified for the questionnaire survey. The core questions access occupant satisfaction with thermal comfort in the work area and measures adopted for making it comfortable were identified. The Mean Radiant Temperature of the same samples was taken to compare the quantitative and qualitative results. The survey was used to evaluate the occupant thermal comfort in a green office building and identify areas needing improvement. The survey has been designed in reference to ASHRAE standard 55-2010 & ISHRAE 10001:2017 IEQ and was further refined to suit the user of the building.

Keywords: green office building, building occupant, thermal comfort, POE, user satisfaction, survey

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Authors: Tripti Nayak, R. K. Bajpai

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An ongoing field experiment was conducted at Long term fertilizer experiment, Raipur, to study the Effect of fertilization (both organic and inorganic) on soil Physical properties (infiltration rate) of Vertisol of ten treatments viz. The treatment combinations for were T1(Control),T2(50%NPK), T3(100%NPK), T4(150%NPK), T5(100%NPK+Zn), T6(100%NP), T7(100%N), T8(100%NPK+FYM), T9 (50%NPK+BGA) and T10(50%NPK+GM). Farmyard manure and green manure is applied at the treatment of T8 (100%NPK+FYM) and T10 (50%NPK+GM). Result showed that the highest infiltration rate recorded T8(100%NPK+FYM) and T10 (50%NPK+GM). These considerations have led to a renewed interest in the organic manures such as FYM, compost and green manures, which are formulations helps in sustainable agriculture production either by providing plants with fixed nitrogen, available P or by other plant growth promoting substances. Organic matter (OM) is the life of the soil because it contains all the essential elements required for plant growth. It also serves as food for soil bacteria. Decomposed OM, known as humus, improves the soil tilth, quality and helps the plant to grow. In general among all the other treatments and control gave poorest infiltration rate. Incorporation of organic sources considerably improved the soil physical properties such as decrease in bulk density and increase in infiltration rate and available NPK status of the soil. Study showed that wherever, nitrogen was substituted through GM, FYM or crop residue (rice straw) in rice, Corresponding decrease in bulk density favorably enhanced the infiltration rate and it was found to be highest in the green-manured plot, FYM and lowest in control. Concluded that Continuous monitoring of physical properties should be carried out for maintaining soil health and enhancing the crop production.

Keywords: long term effect, FYM, green manure, infiltration rate, soil health, crop productivity, vertisol

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Authors: Nour Tawil, Sandra Weber, Kirsten K. Roessler, Martin Mau, Simone Kuhn

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The link between “quality” residential environments and human health and well-being has long been proposed. While the physical properties of a sound environment have been fairly defined, little focus has been given to the psychological impact of architectural elements. Recently, studies have investigated the response to architectural parameters, using measures of physiology, brain activity, and emotion. Results showed different aspects of interest: detailed and open versus blank and closed facades, patterns in perceiving different elements, and a visual bias for capturing faces in buildings. However, in the absence of a consensus on methodologies, the available studies remain unsystematic and face many limitations regarding the underpinning psychological mechanisms. To bridge some of these gaps, an online study was launched to investigate design features that influence the aesthetic judgement and emotional evaluation of house facades, using a well-controlled stimulus set of Canadian houses. A methodical modelling of design features will be performed to extract both high and low level image properties, in addition to segmentation of layout-related features. 300 participants from Canada, Denmark, and Germany will rate the images on twelve psychological dimensions representing appealing aspects of a house. Subjective ratings are expected to correlate with specific architectural elements while controlling for typicality and familiarity, and other individual differences. With the lack of relevant studies, this research aims to identify architectural elements of beneficial qualities that can inform design strategies for optimized residential spaces.

Keywords: architectural elements, emotions, psychological response, residential facades.

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Authors: T. Hopkin, S. Lu, P. Rogers, M. Sexton

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Housing Associations (HAs) contribute circa 20% of the UK’s housing supply. HAs are however under increasing pressure as a result of funding cuts and rent reductions. Due to the increased pressure, a number of processes are currently being reviewed by HAs, especially how they manage and learn from defects. Learning from defects is considered a useful approach to achieving defect reduction within the UK housebuilding industry. This paper contributes to our understanding of how HAs learn from defects by undertaking an initial round table discussion with key HA stakeholders as part of an ongoing collaborative research project with the National House Building Council (NHBC) to better understand how house builders and HAs learn from defects to reduce their prevalence. The initial discussion shows that defect information runs through a number of groups, both internal and external of a HA during both the defects management process and organizational learning (OL) process. Furthermore, HAs are reliant on capturing and recording defect data as the foundation for the OL process. During the OL process defect data analysis is the primary enabler to recognizing a need for a change to organizational routines. When a need for change has been recognized, new options are typically pursued to design out defects via updates to a HAs Employer’s Requirements. Proposed solutions are selected by a review board and committed to organizational routine. After implementing a change, both structured and unstructured feedback is sought to establish the change’s success. The findings from the HA discussion demonstrates that OL can achieve defect reduction within the house building sector in the UK. The paper concludes by outlining a potential ‘learning from defects model’ for the housebuilding industry as well as describing future work.

Keywords: defects, new homes, housing association, organizational learning

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Authors: Khaled Elbehiery, Hussam Elbehiery

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Smart cities are a framework of technologies along with sustainable infrastructure to provide their citizens an improved quality of life, safer environment, affordability, and more, which in turn helps with the society's economic growth. The proposed research will focus on the primary building block of the smart city; the infrastructure of the house itself. The traditional method of building houses has been, for a long time, nothing but a costly manufacturing process, and consequently, buying a house becomes not an option for everyone anymore. The smart cities' Modular Houses are not using traditional building construction materials; the design reduces the common lengthy construction times and associated high costs. The Modular Houses are technological homes, low-cost and customizable based on a family's requirements. In addition, the Modular Houses are environmentally friendly and healthy enough to assist with the pandemic situation.

Keywords: smart cities, modular houses, single-unit property, multi-unit property, mobility features, chain-supply, livable environment, carbon footprint

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Authors: Feddal Imene, Boumediene Youssra, Mimanne Goussem

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The history of the environment and its chemistry is above all the history of its pollution. For a large part, it is the changes made in the air, water and soil by human beings. From there, we can define that pollution is an unfavorable modification of the natural environment that appears as a by-product of human action, through direct and indirect effects. The protection and preservation of the environment is one of the pillars of sustainable development, which is currently a major issue for the future of man and the planet. Currently, humanity is facing an alarming increase in the pollution of the natural environment by various organic or inorganic materials. The objective of our work is to study the adsorption of a textile dye which is known in the industrial environment, methyl green, on raw calcic clay. Our material was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), we also determined its cation exchange capacity (CEC), pHzc and specific surface by Methylene Blue method. The kinetic and thermodynamic study of the adsorption of methyl green was studied, these experiments resulted that the adsorption of the dye follows pseudo second order kinetics, and according to the thermodynamic study and the study of the probability we can say that we have a physisorption.

Keywords: calcic clay, dye, materials, environment

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Authors: Tae Hyun Ahn, Gyo Woo Lee, Man Young Kim

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Because of high thermal efficiency and low CO2 emission, diesel engines are being used widely in many industrial fields although it makes many PM and NOx which give both human health and environment a negative effect. NOx regulations for diesel engines, however, are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the emission standard without NOx reduction devices such as SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction), LNC (Lean NOx Catalyst), and LNT (Lean NOx Trap). Among the NOx reduction devices, urea-SCR system is known as the most stable and efficient method to solve the problem of NOx emission. But this device has some issues associated with the ammonia slip phenomenon which is occurred by shortage of evaporation and thermolysis time, and that makes it difficult to achieve uniform distribution of the injected urea in front of monolith. Therefore, this study has focused on the mixing enhancement between urea and exhaust gases to enhance the efficiency of the SCR catalyst equipped in catalytic muffler by changing inlet gas temperature and spray conditions to improve the spray uniformity of the urea water solution. Finally, it can be found that various parameters such as inlet gas temperature and injector and injection angles significantly affect the evaporation and mixing of the urea water solution with exhaust gases, and therefore, optimization of these parameters are required.

Keywords: UWS (Urea-Water-Solution), selective catalytic reduction (SCR), evaporation, thermolysis, injection

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Authors: Andrey Norov

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In the recent years, Samoilov Research Institute for Mineral Fertilizers JSC “NIUIF”, the oldest (established in September 1919) industry-oriented institute in Russia, has developed a range of sustainable, environment-friendly, zero-waste technologies that ensure minimal consumption of materials and energy resources and fully consistent with the principles of Green Chemistry that include: - Ecofriendly energy and resource saving technology of sulfuric acid from sulfur according to DC-DA scheme (double conversion - double absorption); - Improved zero-waste technology of wet phosphoric acid (WPA) by dihydrate-hemihydrate process applicable to various types of phosphate raw materials; - Flexible, efficient, zero-waste, universal technology of NP / NPS / NPK / NPKS fertilizers with maximum heat recovery from chemical processes; - Novel, zero-waste, no-analogue technology of granular PK / PKS / NPKS fertilizers with controlled dissolution rate and nutrient supply into the soil, which allows to process a number of wastes and by-products; - Innovative resource-saving joint processing of wastes from the production of phosphogypsum and fluorosilicic acid (FSA) into ammonium sulfate with simultaneous neutralization of fluoride compounds with no lime used. - New fertilizer technology of increased environmental and agrochemical efficiency (currently under development). All listed green technologies are patented with Russian and Eurasian patents. The development of ecofriendly, safe, green technologies is ongoing in JSC “NIUIF”.

Keywords: NPKS fertilizers, FSA, sulfuric acid, WPA

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Authors: Ankit Chakraborty, Raj Shah, Prayas Variya

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Self-compacting geo-polymer concrete is a blended version of self-compacting concrete developed in Japan by Okamura. H. in 1986 and geo-polymer concrete proposed by Davidovits in 1999. This method is eco-friendly as there is low CO₂ emission and reduces labor cost due to its self-compacting property and zero percent cement content. We are making an approach to reduce concreting cost and make concreting eco-friendly by replacing cement fully and sand by a certain amount of industrial waste. It will reduce overall concreting cost due to its self-compatibility and replacement of materials, forms eco-friendly concreting technique and gives better fresh property and hardened property results compared to self-compacting concrete and geo-polymer concrete.

Keywords: geopolymer concrete, low cost concreting, low carbon emission, self compactability

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Authors: Zelikha Labbani

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Since its creation in 1964 by Guha and Maheshwari in India on Datura innoxia Mill, in vitro androgenesis has become the method of choice in the production of doubled haploid in many species. However in durum wheat, the Doubled haploid plant breeding programs remained limited due to the low production of androgenetic embryos and converting them into fertile green plants. We describe here an efficient method for inducing embryos and regenerating green plants directly from isolated microspores of durum wheat.

Keywords: Durum wheat, haploid embryos, on in vitro, pretreatment

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Authors: Hamed Saremi, Shahla Saremi

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In today's competitive world, organizations are expected to surpass the competitors and benefit from the resources and benefits. Therefore, organizations need to improve the current performance is felt more than ever that this requires to identify organizational optimal strategies, and consider all strategies simultaneously. In this study, to enhance competitive advantage and according to customer requirements, alignment between business, production and marketing strategies, House of Quality (QFD) approach has been used and zero-one linear programming model has been studied. First, the alignment between production and marketing strategies with business strategy, independent weights of these strategies is calculated. Then with using QFD approach the aligned weights of optimal strategies in each production and marketing field will be obtained and finally the aligned marketing strategies selection with the purpose of allocating budget and specialist human resource to marketing functions will be done that lead to increasing competitive advantage and benefit.

Keywords: marketing strategy, business strategy, strategy alignment, house of quality deployment, production strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 589

Authors: Clement Yeboah

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Prior research concludes that environmental commitment positively drives organisational performance. Nonetheless, the nexus and conditions under which environmental commitment capabilities contribute to a firm’s performance are less understood. The purpose of this quantitative relational study was to examine the relationship between environmental commitment and 500 firms’ performances in Ghana. The researchers further seek to draw insights from the resource-based view to conceptualize environmental commitment and green procurement practices as resource capabilities to enhance firm performance. The researchers used insights from the contingent resource-based view to examine green leadership orientation conditions under which environmental commitment capability contributes to firm performance through green procurement practices. The study’s conceptual framework was tested on primary data from some firms in the Ghanaian market. PROCESS Macro was used to test the study’s hypotheses. Beyond that, green procurement practices mediated the association between environmental commitment capabilities and the firm’s performance. The study further seeks to find out whether green leadership orientation positively moderates the indirect relationship between environmental commitment capabilities and firm performance through green procurement practices. While conventional wisdom suggests that improved environmental commitment capabilities help improve a firm’s performance, this study tested this presumed relationship between environmental commitment capabilities and firm performance and provides theoretical arguments and empirical evidence to justify how green procurement practices uniquely and in synergy with green leadership orientation transform this relationship. The study results indicated a positive correlation between environmental commitment and firm performance. This result suggests that firms that prioritize environmental sustainability and demonstrate a strong commitment to environmentally responsible practices tend to experience better overall performance. This includes financial gains, operational efficiency, enhanced reputation, and improved relationships with stakeholders. The study's findings inform policy formulation in Ghana related to environmental regulations, incentives, and support mechanisms. Policymakers can use the insights to design policies that encourage and reward firms for their environmental commitments, thereby fostering a more sustainable and environmentally responsible business environment. The findings from such research can influence the design and development of educational programs in Ghana, specifically in fields related to sustainability, environmental management, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Institutions may consider integrating environmental and sustainability topics into their business and management courses to create awareness and promote responsible practices among future business professionals. Also the study results can also promote the adoption of environmental accounting practices in Ghana. By recognizing and measuring the environmental impacts and costs associated with business activities, firms can better understand the financial implications of their environmental commitments and develop strategies for improved performance.

Keywords: firm’s performance, green procurement practice, environmental commitment, environmental management, sustainability

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Authors: L. Bazzi, E. Azzouyahar, A. Lamiri, M. Essahli

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Effect of addition of linseed oil (LSO) on the corrosion of aluminium in 0.1 M Na2CO3 has been studied by weight loss measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with inhibitor content to attain 70% for LSO at 4g/L. Inhibition efficiency E (%) obtained from the various methods is in good agreement. The temperature effect on the corrosion behavior of aluminium was studied by potentiodynamic technique in the range from 298 to 308 K.

Keywords: aluminum, corrosion, green inhibitors, carbonate, linseed oil

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Authors: Andreea Anamaria Anghel, Flaviu Mihai Frigura-Lliasa, Attila Simo

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In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in revitalizing the historical area of Timisoara, a city located in western Romania, with a focus on preserving its architectural heritage while also promoting sustainable urban development. This has led to several initiatives aimed at improving public spaces, promoting sustainable transport, and encouraging the use of green infrastructure, such as green interior courtyards, to enhance the livability and sustainability of the area. A preliminary study regarding history, characteristics and current condition was carried out by the authors regarding these interior courtyards in the historical areas of Timisoara, the European Capital of Culture, in 2023, highlighting their potential to contribute to the sustainable development of the city. Modern interventions in interior historical courtyards should aim to preserve the historic character of these spaces while also promoting their sustainable and functional use in the 21st century. By doing so, these courtyards can continue to serve as vital urban oases and cultural landmarks for generations to come.

Keywords: architectural heritage, green interior courtyards, public spaces, sustainable development

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Authors: Hamed Saremi, Suzan Taghavy, Shahla Saremi

Abstract:

In today's competitive world, organizations are expected to surpass the competitors and benefit from the resources and benefits. Therefore, organizations need to improve the current performance is felt more than ever that this requires to identify organizational optimal strategies, and consider all strategies simultaneously. In this study, to enhance competitive advantage and according to customer requirements, alignment between business, production and marketing strategies, House of Quality (QFD) approach has been used and zero-one linear programming model has been studied. First, the alignment between production and marketing strategies with business strategy, independent weights of these strategies is calculated. Then with using QFD approach the aligned weights of optimal strategies in each production and marketing field will be obtained and finally the aligned marketing strategies selection with the purpose of allocating budget and specialist human resource to marketing functions will be done that lead to increasing competitive advantage and benefit.

Keywords: strategy alignment, house of quality deployment, production strategy, marketing strategy, business strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 414

Authors: Ala’a H. Al-Muhtaseb, Farrukh Jamil, Lamya Al-Haj, Mohab Al-Hinai

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Bio-glycerol is considered as high boiling polar triol and immiscible with fossil fuel fractions due to which it is transformed into its respective ketals and acetals which help to improve the quality of diesel emitting less amount of aldehydes and carbon monoxide. Solketal visual appearance is transparent and it is odorless organic liquid used as fuel additive for diesel to improve its cold flow properties. Condensation of bio-glycerol with bio-acetone in presence of beta zeolite has been done for synthesizing solketal. It was observed that glycerol conversion and selectivity of solketal was largely effected by temperature, as it increases from 40 ºC to 60 ºC the conversion of glycerol rises from 80.04 % to 94.26 % and selectivity of solketal from 80.0 % to 94.21 % but further increase in temperature to 100 ºC glycerol conversion reduced to 93.06 % and solketal selectivity to 92.08 %. At the optimum conditions, the bio-glycerol conversion and solketal yield were about 94.26% and 94.21wt% respectively. This process offers an attractive route for converting bio-glycerol, the main by-product of biodiesel to solketal with bio-acetone; a value-added green product with potential industrial applications as a valuable green fuel additive or combustion promoter for gasoline/diesel engines.

Keywords: bio-acetone, bio-glycerol, acetylation, solketal

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Authors: Robby Dwiko Juliardi, Queena K. Qian

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Economic, environmental, and human considerations, as sustainable building design principles, are to be balanced and integrated into building design strategy. Building codes often suggest the efficient and sustainable building products, such as energy-efficient fixtures. However, building departments sometimes fail to manage the full range of requirements in the building assessment, such as siting, neighborhood proximity, and public facility, etc. Hence, it shows roadmap develops the future, an extended look at the future of a chosen field of inquiry composed from the collective knowledge and imagination of the brightest drivers of change in that field. This paper is taken from the best practice of green building implementation in a few countries of Asia (China, Malaysia, and India). Sustainable development will be presented on developing the roadmap of sustainability development of a country. Findings on the similarities and dissimilarities of those countries will show: (1) A general knowledge development on the sustainable green roadmap in Asia, (2) What are the components of developing the roadmap, and (3) What affects the government regulation in a political ecology.

Keywords: developing roadmap, green building, political ecology, sustainable development

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Authors: M. Jerold, V. Sivasubramanian

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This study reports the removal of Malachite Green (MG) from simulated wastewater by using marine macro algae Ulva lactuca. Batch biosorption experiments were carried out to determine the biosorption capacity. The biosorption capacity was found to be maximum at pH 10. The effect of various other operation parameters such as biosorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, contact time and agitation was also investigated. The equilibrium attained at 120 min with 0.1 g/L of biosorbent. The isotherm experimental data fitted well with Langmuir Model with R² value of 0.994. The maximum Langmuir biosorption capacity was found to be 76.92 mg/g. Further, Langmuir separation factor RL value was found to be 0.004. Therefore, the adsorption is favorable. The biosorption kinetics of MG was found to follow pseudo second-order kinetic model. The mechanistic study revealed that the biosorption of malachite onto Ulva lactuca was controlled by film diffusion. The solute transfer in a solid-liquid adsorption process is characterized by the film diffusion and/or particle diffusion. Thermodynamic study shows ΔG° is negative indicates the feasibility and spontaneous nature for the biosorption of malachite green. The biosorbent was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and elemental analysis (CHNS: Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Sulphur). This study showed that Ulva lactuca can be used as promising biosorbent for the removal of MG from wastewater.

Keywords: biosorption, Ulva lactuca, wastewater, malachite green, isotherm, kinetics

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Authors: Seigo Matsuno, Yasuo Uchida, Shozo Tokinaga

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This paper proposes and empirically tests a model of the relationships between green supply chain management (GSCM) activities and corporate performance. From the literature review, we identified five constructs, namely, environmental commitment, supplier collaboration, supplier assessment, information sharing among suppliers, and business process improvement. These explanatory variables are used to form a structural model explaining the environmental and economic performance. The model was analyzed using the data from a survey of a sample of manufacturing firms in Japan. The results suggest that the degree of supplier collaboration has an influence on the environmental performance directly. While, the impact of supplier assessment on the environmental performance is mediated by the information sharing and/or business process improvement. And the environmental performance has a positive relationship on the economic performance. Academic and managerial implications of our findings are discussed.

Keywords: corporate performance, empirical study, green supply chain management, path modeling

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Authors: Sehijpal Singh Khangura, Jai Inder Preet Singh, Vikas Dhawan

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Global warming, growing awareness of the environment, waste management issues, dwindling fossil resources, and rising oil prices resulted to increase the research in the materials that are friendly to our health and environment. Due to these reasons, green products are increasingly being promoted for sustainable development. In this work, fully biodegradable green composites have been developed using jute fibers as reinforcement and poly lactic acid as matrix material by film stacking technique. The effect of curing temperature during development of composites ranging from 160 °C, 170 °C, 180 °C and 190 °C was investigated for various mechanical properties. Results obtained from various tests indicate that impact strength decreases with an increase in curing temperature, but tensile and flexural strength increases till 180 °C, thereafter both the properties decrease. This study gives an optimum curing temperature for the development of jute/PLA composites.

Keywords: natural fibers, polymer matrix composites, jute, compression molding, biodegradation

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Authors: Chinmayee Choudhury

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Human Melanocortin 4 Receptor (HMC4R) is one of the most potential drug targets for the treatment of obesity which controls the appetite. A deletion of the residues 88-92 in HMC4R is sometimes the cause of severe obesity in the humans. In this study, two homology models are constructed for the normal as well as mutated HMC4Rs and some phytochemicals present in Green Tea, Honey and Cinnamon have been docked to them to study their differential binding to the normal and mutated HMC4R as compared to the natural agonist α- MSH. Two homology models have been constructed for the normal as well as mutated HMC4Rs using the Modeller9v7. Some of the phytochemicals present in Green Tea, Honey, and Cinnamon, which have appetite suppressant activities are constructed, minimized and docked to these normal and mutated HMC4R models using ArgusLab 4.0.1. The mode of binding of the phytochemicals with the Normal and Mutated HMC4Rs have been compared. Further, the mode of binding of these phytochemicals with that of the natural agonist α- Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone(α-MSH) to both normal and mutated HMC4Rs have also been studied. It is observed that the phytochemicals Kaempherol, Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) present in Green Tea and Honey, Isorhamnetin, Chlorogenic acid, Chrysin, Galangin, Pinocambrin present in Honey, Cinnamaldehyde, Cinnamyl acetate and Cinnamyl alcohol present in Cinnamon have capacity to form more stable complexes with the Mutated HMC4R as compared to α- MSH. So they may be potential agonists of HMC4R to suppress the appetite.

Keywords: HMC4R, α-MSH, docking, photochemical, appetite suppressant, homology modelling

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Authors: Mahmoud Mourad, Ahmad Hamza H. Ali, S.Ookawara, Ali Kamel Abdel-Rahman, Nady M. Abdelkariem

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The energy consumption of a house can be affected simultaneously by many building design factors related to its main architectural features, building elements and materials. This study focuses on the impact of passive design factors on the annual energy consumption of a suggested prototype house for single-family detached houses of 240 m2 in two floors, each floor of 120 m2 in new Egyptian cities located in (Alexandria - Cairo - Siwa - Assuit – Aswan) which resemble five different climatic zones (Northern coast – Northern upper Egypt - dessert region- Southern upper Egypt – South Egypt) respectively. This study present the effect of the passive design factors affecting the building energy consumption as building orientation, building material (walls, roof and slabs), building type (residential, educational, commercial), building occupancy (type of occupant, no. of occupant, age), building landscape and site selection, building envelope and fenestration (glazing material, shading), and building plan form. This information can be used to estimate the approximate saving in energy consumption, which would result on a change in the design datum for the future houses development, and to identify the major design problems for energy efficiency. To achieve the above objective, this paper presents a study for the factors affecting on the building energy consumption in the hot arid area in new Egyptian cities in five different climatic zones , followed by defining the energy needs for different utilization in this suggested prototype house. Consequently, a detailed analysis of the available Renewable Energy utilizations technologies used in the suggested home, and a calculation of the energy as a function of yearly distribution that required for this home will presented. The results obtained from building annual energy analyses show that architecture passive design factors saves about 35% of the annual energy consumption. It shows also passive cooling techniques saves about 45%, and renewable energy systems saves about 40% of the annual energy needs for this proposed home depending on the cities location on the climatic zones.

Keywords: architecture passive design factors, energy efficient homes, Egypt new cites, renewable energy technologies

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Authors: Farrukh Jamil, Ala'a H. Al-Muhtaseb, Lamya Al-Haj, Mohab A. Al-Hinai

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Glycerol is considered as high boiling polar triol and immiscible with fossil fuel fractions due to which it is transformed into its respective ketals and acetals which help to improve the quality of diesel emitting less amount of aldehydes and carbon monoxide. Solketal visual appearance is transparent, and it is odorless organic liquid used as a fuel additive for diesel to improve its cold flow properties. Condensation of bio-glycerol with bio-acetone in presence of beta zeolite has been done for synthesizing solketal. It was observed that glycerol conversion and selectivity of solketal was largely effected by temperature, as it increases from 40 ºC to 60 ºC the conversion of glycerol rises from 80.04 % to 94.26 % and selectivity of solketal from 80.0 % to 94.21 % but further increase in temperature to 100 ºC glycerol conversion reduced to 93.06 % and solketal selectivity to 92.08 %. At the optimum conditions, the bio-glycerol conversion and solketal yield were about 94.26% and 94.21wt% respectively. This process offers an attractive route for converting bio-glycerol, the main by-product of biodiesel to solketal with bio-acetone; a value-added green product with potential industrial applications as a valuable green fuel additive or combustion promoter for gasoline/diesel engines.

Keywords: bio-glycerol, catalyst, green additive, biomass

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Authors: Zavkiddin Mirtoshev, Mirabbos Mirkamalov

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We have analyzed the time series of full disk integrated soft X-ray (SXR) and hard X-ray (HXR) emission from the solar corona during 2004 January 1 to 2009 December 31, covering the descending phase of solar cycle 23. We employed the daily X-ray index (DXI) derived from X-ray observations from the Solar X-ray Spectrometer (SOXS) mission in four different energy bands: 4-5.5; 5.5-7.5 keV (SXR) and 15-20; 20-25 keV (HXR). The application of Lomb-Scargle periodogram technique to the DXI time series observed by the Silicium detector in the energy bands reveals several short and intermediate periodicities of the X-ray corona. The DXI explicitly show the periods of 13.6 days, 26.7 days, 128.5 days, 151 days, 180 days, 220 days, 270 days, 1.24 year and 1.54 year periods in SXR as well as in HXR energy bands. Although all periods are above 70% confidence level in all energy bands, they show strong power in HXR emission in comparison to SXR emission. These periods are distinctly clear in three bands but somehow not unambiguously clear in 5.5-7.5 keV band. This might be due to the presence of Ferrum and Ferrum/Niccolum line features, which frequently vary with small scale flares like micro-flares. The regular 27-day rotation and 13.5 day period of sunspots from the invisible side of the Sun are found stronger in HXR band relative to SXR band. However, flare activity Rieger periods (150 and 180 days) and near Rieger period 220 days are very strong in HXR emission which is very much expected. On the other hand, our current study reveals strong 270 day periodicity in SXR emission which may be connected with tachocline, similar to a fundamental rotation period of the Sun. The 1.24 year and 1.54 year periodicities, represented from the present research work, are well observable in both SXR as well as in HXR channels. These long-term periodicities must also have connection with tachocline and should be regarded as a consequence of variation in rotational modulation over long time scales. The 1.24 year and 1.54 year periods are also found great importance and significance in the life formation and it evolution on the Earth, and therefore they also have great astro-biological importance. We gratefully acknowledge support by the Indian Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP, the Centre is affiliated to the United Nations), Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) at Ahmedabad, India. This work has done under the supervision of Prof. Rajmal Jain and paper consist materials of pilot project and research part of the M. Tech program which was made during Space and Atmospheric Science Course.

Keywords: corona, flares, solar activity, X-ray emission

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