Search results for: minimum water content

Authors: Azadeh Golshan, Craig Evans, Phillip Geary, Abigail Morrow, Zoe Rogers, Marcel Maeder

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22 physicochemical variables have been determined in water samples collected weekly from January to December in 2013 from three sampling stations located within a major drinking water reservoir. Classical Multivariate Curve Resolution Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) analysis was used to investigate the environmental factors associated with the physico-chemical variability of the water samples at each of the sampling stations. Matrix augmentation MCR-ALS (MA-MCR-ALS) was also applied, and the two sets of results were compared for interpretative clarity. Links between these factors, reservoir inflows and catchment land-uses were investigated and interpreted in relation to chemical composition of the water and their resolved geographical distribution profiles. The results suggested that the major factors affecting reservoir water quality were those associated with agricultural runoff, with evidence of influence on algal photosynthesis within the water column. Water quality variability within the reservoir was also found to be strongly linked to physical parameters such as water temperature and the occurrence of thermal stratification. The two methods applied (MCR-ALS and MA-MCR-ALS) led to similar conclusions; however, MA-MCR-ALS appeared to provide results more amenable to interpretation of temporal and geological variation than those obtained through classical MCR-ALS.

Keywords: drinking water reservoir, multivariate analysis, physico-chemical parameters, water quality

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Authors: Shreesh Sinha, Alexander B. Barker, Megan Parkin, Emma Wilson, Rachael L. Murray

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Background and Objectives: Exposure to HFSS imagery is associated with the consumption of foods high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS), and subsequently obesity, among young people. We report and compare the results of two content analyses, one of two popular terrestrial children's television channels in the UK and the other of a selection of children's programmes available on video-on-demand (VOD) streaming sites. Methods: Content analysis of three days' worth of programmes (including advertisements) on two popular children's television channels broadcast on UK television (CBeebies and Milkshake) as well as a sample of 40 highest-rated children's programmes available on the VOD platforms, Netflix and Amazon Prime, using 1-minute interval coding. Results: HFSS content was seen in 181 broadcasts (36%) and in 417 intervals (13%) on terrestrial television, 'Milkshake' had a significantly higher proportion of programmes/adverts which contained HFSS content than 'CBeebies'. In VOD platforms, HFSS content was seen in 82 episodes (72% of the total number of episodes), across 459 intervals (19% of the total number of intervals), with no significant difference in the proportion of programmes containing HFSS content between Netflix and Amazon Prime. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that HFSS content is common in both popular UK children's television channels and children's programmes on VOD services. Since previous research has shown that HFSS content in the media has an effect on HFSS consumption, children's television programmes broadcast either on TV or VOD services are likely to have an effect on HFSS consumption in children, and legislative opportunities to prevent this exposure are being missed.

Keywords: public health, junk food, children's TV, HFSS

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Authors: Abdelrahman Elsehsah, Abdelazim Negm, Eid Ashour, Mohamed Elsahabi

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Water resources management is a critical field that encompasses the planning, development, conservation, and allocation of water resources to meet societal needs while ensuring environmental sustainability. This paper reviews the key concepts and challenges in water resources management, emphasizing the significance of a holistic approach that integrates social, economic, and environmental factors. Traditional water management practices, characterized by supply-oriented strategies and centralized control, are increasingly inadequate in addressing contemporary challenges such as water scarcity, climate change impacts, and ecosystem degradation. Emerging technologies, particularly machine learning and remote sensing, offer innovative solutions to enhance decision-making processes in water management. Machine learning algorithms facilitate accurate water demand forecasting, quality monitoring, and leak detection, while remote sensing technologies provide vital data for assessing water availability and quality. This review highlights the need for integrated water management strategies that leverage these technologies to promote sustainable practices and foster resilience in water systems. Future research should focus on improving data quality, accessibility, and the integration of diverse datasets to optimize the benefits of these technological advancements.

Keywords: water resources management, water scarcity, climate change, machine learning, remote sensing, water quality, water governance, sustainable practices, ecosystem management

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Authors: Elizabeth Spink

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The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 sets a target for safe and affordable drinking water for all. Developing country governments aiming to achieve this goal often face significant challenges when trying to service last mile customers, particularly those in peri-urban and rural areas. Expansion of water networks often requires high connection fees from households, and demand for connections may be low if there are cheaper substitute sources of water available. This research studies the effect of the availability of substitute sources of water on demand for individual water connections in Livingstone, Zambia, using an event study analysis of metering campaigns. Metering campaigns reduce the share of a household's neighbors that can provide free water to the household if their water connection becomes disconnected due to nonpayment. The results show that household payments in newly metered regions increase by 10 percentage points in the months following metering events, with a decrease in disconnections of 6 percentage points for low-income households. To isolate the effect of changes in a household's substitution possibilities, a similar analysis is conducted among households that neighbor the metered region. These results show mixed evidence of the impact of substitutes on payment behavior and disconnections. The results suggest that metering may be effective in increasing household demand for individual water connections primarily through a lower monthly cost burden for newly metered households.

Keywords: piped-water access, water demand, water utilities, water sharing

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Authors: Julianne Cai, Weili Xue, Yibin Wu

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Social media retailing (SMR) platforms have become popular nowadays. It is characterized by a creative combination of content creation and product selling, which differs from traditional e-tailing (TE) with product selling alone. Motivated by real-world practices like social media platforms “TikTok” and douyin.com, we endeavor to study if the SMR model performs better than the TE model in a monopoly setting. By building a stylized economic model, we find that the SMR model does not always outperform the TE model. Specifically, when the SMR platform collects less commission from the seller than the TE platform, the seller, consumers, and social welfare all benefit more from the SMR model. In contrast, the platform benefits more from the SMR model if and only if the creator’s social influence is high enough or the cost of content creation is small enough. For the incentive structure of the content rewards in the SMR model, we found that a strong incentive mechanism (e.g., the quadratic form) is more powerful than a weak one (e.g., the linear form). The previous one will encourage the creator to choose a much higher quality level of content creation and meanwhile allowing the platform, consumers, and social welfare to become better off. Counterintuitively, providing more generous content rewards is not always helpful for the creator (seller), and it may reduce her profit. Our findings will guide the platform to effectively design incentive mechanisms to boost the content creation and retailing in the SMR model and help the influencers efficiently create content, engage their followers (fans), and price their products sold on the SMR platform.

Keywords: content creation, creator economy, incentive strategy, platform retailing

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Authors: Samaneh Abolli, Mahmood Alimohammadi

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The survey analyzed 71 bottled water brands in Tehran, Iran, examining 10 physicochemical parameters and 16 heavy metals. The water quality index (WQI) approach was used to assess water quality, and methods such as carcinogen risk (CR) and hazard index (HI) were employed to evaluate health risks. The results indicated that the bottled water had good quality overall, but some brands were of poor or very poor quality. The study also revealed significant human health risks, especially for children, due to the presence of minerals and heavy metals in bottled water. Correlation analyses and risk assessments for various substances were conducted, providing valuable insights into the potential health impacts of the analyzed bottled water.

Keywords: bottled wate, rwater quality index, health risk assessment, contamination degree, heavy metal evaluation index

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Authors: Hooman Fallah

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Seawater injection and produced water re-injection are presently the most commonly used approach to enhanced recovery. The dominant factors for total oil recovery are the reservoir temperature, reservoir pressure, crude oil and water composition. In this study, the production under water injection in Soroosh, one of the southern Iranian heavy oil field has been simulated (the fluid properties are focused). In order to reveal the dominant factors in this production process, the sensitivity analysis has been done for the following effective factors, fluid viscosity, initial water saturation, gravity force and injection well strategy. It is crystal clear that the study of the dominant factors in production processes will help the engineers to design the best production mechanisms in our numerous hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Keywords: water injection, initial water saturation, oil viscosity, gravity force, injection well strategy

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Authors: T. Tahri, H. Zahloul, K. E. Meddah, H. Lazergue

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This paper presents a theoretical study that leads to the design of a photovoltaic pumping system to irrigate six hectares of oranges in the valley of Chlef using the software "PVSYST". It was shown that the site of Chlef presents a favorable climate to this type of energy with an irradiation of over 5 kWh/m2/day, and significant resources underground water. Another very important coincidence still promotes the use of this type of energy for pumping water in Chlef is that the demand for water, especially in agriculture, peaked in hot and dry where it is precisely when one has access to the maximum of solar energy.

Keywords: solar energy, irradiation, water pumping, design, Valley of Chlef

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Authors: Guadalupe Pérez, Jorge Islas, Mirna Guevara, Raúl Suárez

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Jatropha curcas is a perennial oleaginous plant that is currently considered an energy crop with high potential as an environmentally sustainable biofuel. During the last decades, research in biofuels has grown in tropical and subtropical regions in Latin America. However, as far we know, there are no reports on the growth and yield patterns of Jatropha curcas under the specific agro climatic scenarios of the State of Morelos, Mexico. This study presents the results of 52 months monitoring of 10 toxic and non-toxic ecotypes of Jatropha curcas (E1M, E2M, E3M, E4M, E5M, E6O, E7O, E8O, E9C, E10C) in an experimental plantation with minimum watering and fertilization resources. The main objective is to identify the ecotypes with the highest potential as biodiesel raw material in the select region, by developing experimental information. Specifically, we monitored biophysical and growth parameters, including plant survival and seed production (at the end of month 52), to study the performance of each ecotype and to establish differences among the variables of morphological growth, net seed oil content, and toxicity. To analyze the morphological growth, a statistical approach to the biophysical parameters was used; the net seed oil content -80 to 192 kg/ha- was estimated with the first harvest; and the toxicity was evaluated by examining the phorbol ester concentration (µg/L) in the oil extracted from the seeds. The comparison and selection of ecotypes was performed through a methodology developed based on the normalization of results. We identified four outstanding ecotypes (E1M, E2M, E3M, and E4M) that can be used to establish Jatropha curcas as energy crops in the state of Morelos for feasible agro-industrial production of biodiesel and other products related to the use of biomass.

Keywords: biodiesel production, Jatropha curcas, seed oil content, toxic and non-toxic ecotypes

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Authors: Tarek S. Jamil, Ahmed M. Shaban, Eman S. Mansor, Ahmed A. Karim, Azza M. Abdel Aty

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In this manuscript, 35 m³/d NF unit was designed and applied for surface water treatment of river Nile water. Intake of Embaba drinking water treatment plant was selected to install that unit at since; it has the lowest water quality index value through the examined 6 sites in greater Cairo area. The optimized operating conditions were feed and permeate flow, 40 and 7 m³/d, feed pressure 2.68 bar and flux rate 37.7 l/m2.h. The permeate water was drinkable according to Egyptian Ministerial decree 458/2007 for the tested parameters (physic-chemical, heavy metals, organic, algal, bacteriological and parasitological). Single and double sand filters were used as pretreatment for NF membranes, but continuous clogging for sand filters moved us to use UF membrane as pretreatment for NF membrane.

Keywords: River Nile, NF membrane, pretreatment, UF membrane, water quality

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Authors: Khalid S. Hashim, Andy Shaw, Rafid Alkhaddar, Montserrat Ortoneda Pedrola

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A flow column has been innovatively used in the design of a new electrocoagulation reactor (ECR1) that will reduce the temperature of water being treated; where the flow columns work as a radiator for the water being treated. In order to investigate the performance of ECR1 and compare it to that of traditional reactors; 600 mL water samples with an initial temperature of 35 0C were pumped continuously through these reactors for 30 min at current density of 1 mA/cm2. The temperature of water being treated was measured at 5 minutes intervals over a 30 minutes period using a thermometer. Additional experiments were commenced to investigate the effects of initial temperature (15-35 0C), water conductivity (0.15 – 1.2 S) and current density (0.5 -3 mA/cm2) on the performance of ECR1. The results obtained demonstrated that the ECR1, at a current density of 1 mA/cm2 and continuous flow model, reduced water temperature from 35 0C to the vicinity of 28 0C during the first 15 minutes and kept the same level till the end of the treatment time. While, the temperature increased from 28.1 to 29.8 0C and from 29.8 to 31.9 0C in the batch and the traditional continuous flow models respectively. In term of initial temperature, ECR1 maintained the temperature of water being treated within the range of 22 to 28 0C without the need for external cooling system even when the initial temperatures varied over a wide range (15 to 35 0C). The influent water conductivity was found to be a significant variable that affect the temperature. The desirable value of water conductivity is 0.6 S. However, it was found that the water temperature increased rapidly with a higher current density.

Keywords: water temperature, flow column, electrocoagulation

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Authors: Ali Montazar

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California and the Colorado River Basin are facing increasing uncertainty concerning water supplies. The Colorado River is the main source of irrigation water in the low desert of California. Currently, due to an increasing water-use competition and long-term drought at the Colorado River Basin, efficient use of irrigation water is one of the highest conservation priorities in the region. This study aims to present some of current irrigation technologies and management approaches in the low desert and assess the viability and potential of these water management practices. The results of several field experiments are used to assess five water conservation practices of sub-surface drip irrigation, automated surface irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, tail-water recovery system, and deficit irrigation strategy. The preliminary results of several ongoing studies at commercial fields are presented, particularly researches in alfalfa, sugar beets, kliengrass, sunflower, and spinach fields. The findings indicate that all these practices have significant potential to conserve water (an average of 1 ac-ft/ac) and enhance the efficiency of water use (15-25%). Further work is needed to better understand the feasibility of each of these applications and to help maintain profitable and sustainable agricultural production system in the low desert as water and labor costs, and environmental issues increase.

Keywords: automated surface irrigation, deficit irrigation, low desert of California, sprinkler irrigation, sub-surface drip irrigation, tail-water recovery system

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Authors: Hanizam Awang, Mohammed Zuhear Al-Mulali

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In this study, the possibility of using unground oil palm ash (UOPA) for producing foamed concrete is investigated. The UOPA used in this study is produced by incinerating palm oil biomass at a temperature exceeding 1000ºC. A semi-structural density of 1300kg/m3 was used with filler to binder ratio of 1.5 and preliminary water to binder ratio of 0.45. Cement was replaced by UOPA at replacement levels of 0, 25, 35, 45, 55 and 65% by weight of binder. Properties such as density, compressive strength, drying shrinkage and water absorption were investigated to the age of 90 days. The mix with a 35% of UOPA content was chosen to be used as the base material of a newly designed interlocking, mortar-less block system.

Keywords: foamed concrete, oil palm ash, strength, interlocking block

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Authors: Seyyed Naeim Saber, Javad Usefi

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This study was conducted to determine the effect of salbutamol (beta-adrenergic agonist) on carcass characteristics and some blood parameters in male broiler chicks. Four hundred and twenty day-old (Coob-500) male broiler were used in this experiment for six weeks. All birds were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups with 4 replicates of 15 birds per pen. Treatment groups included: control, 5, 10, and 15 mg salbutamol per liter water and 10, 20 and 30 mg salbutamol per kg diet. The data obtained from this study indicated that supplementation of salbutamol in water and diets have significant effect on live body weight, abdominal fat, and gizzard weight (p<0.05). Also adding salbutamol in broiler water and feed did not have significant effect on thigh and breast dry matter, thigh and breast crude protein, and thigh and breast crude fat (p>0.05). The results from this study demonstrated that salbutamol has significant (p<0.05) effect on hemoglobin content and RV/TV but it does not have significant effect (p>0.05) on hematocrit amount.

Keywords: salbutamol, beta-adrenergic agonist, broiler chicks, carcass characteristic

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Authors: Miroslav Gutten, Daniel Korenciak, Milan Simko, Milan Chupac

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Ensure the reliable and correct function of transformers is the main essence of on-line non-destructive diagnostic tool, which allows the accurately track of the status parameters. Devices for on-line diagnostics are very costly. However, there are devices, whose price is relatively low and when used correctly, they can be executed a complex diagnostics. One of these devices is sensor HYDRAN M2, which is used to detect the moisture and gas content in the insulation oil. Using the sensor HYDRAN M2 in combination with temperature, load measurement, and physicochemical analysis can be made the economically inexpensive diagnostic system, which use is not restricted to distribution transformers. This system was tested in educational laboratory environment at measured oil transformer 22/0.4 kV. From the conclusions referred in article is possible to determine, which kind of fault was occurred in the transformer and how was an impact on the temperature, evolution of gases and water content.

Keywords: transformer, diagnostics, gas and moisture sensor, monitoring

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Authors: Chady El Hachem, Pan Ye, Kamilia Abahri, Rachid Bennacer

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Considered as a building construction material, and regarding its environmental benefits, wood fiber insulation is the material of interest in this work. The definition of adequate elementary representative volume that guarantees reliable understanding of the hygrothermal macroscopic phenomena is very critical. At the microscopic scale, when subjected to hygric solicitations, fibers undergo local dimensionless variations. It is therefore necessary to master this behavior, which affects the global response of the material. This study consists of an experimental procedure using the non-destructive method, X-ray tomography, followed by morphological post-processing analysis using ImageJ software. A refine investigation took place in order to identify the representative elementary volume and the sufficient resolution for accurate structural analysis. The second part of this work was to evaluate the microscopic hygric behavior of the studied material. Many parameters were taken into consideration, like the evolution of the fiber diameters, distribution along the sorption cycle and the porosity, and the water content evolution. In addition, heat transfer simulations based on the energy equation resolution were achieved on the real structure. Further, the problematic of representative elementary volume was elaborated for such heterogeneous material. Moreover, the material’s porosity and its fibers’ thicknesses show very big correlation with the water content. These results provide the literature with very good understanding of wood fiber insulation’s behavior.

Keywords: hygric behavior, morphological characterization, wood fiber insulation material, x-ray tomography

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Authors: Ramandeep Kaur, Kamaljit Kaur

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In recent years, the technology of the remote sensing is growing rapidly. Image enhancement is one of most commonly used of image processing operations. Noise reduction plays very important role in digital image processing and various technologies have been located ahead to reduce the noise of the remote sensing images. The noise reduction using wavelet coefficients based on Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) has less consequences on the edges than available methods but this is not as establish in edge preservation techniques. So in this paper we provide a new technique minimum patch based noise reduction OMP which reduce the noise from an image and used edge preservation patch which preserve the edges of the image and presents the superior results than existing OMP technique. Experimental results show that the proposed minimum patch approach outperforms over existing techniques.

Keywords: image denoising, minimum patch, OMP, WCOMP

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Authors: Cecilia Kunseh Betek

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Managing rural water supply systems effectively and efficiently is a challenge in the O R Tambo District Municipality due to the long distances between consumers and municipal centres. This is a couple with the low income of most residents and the government's policy of free basic water which is making rural water provision very difficult. With regard to cartage, the results reveal that the majority (84.4%) of the population covers distances of about 1kilometre to fetch water, and 15.6% travel up kilometer to access water facilities. This means that the water sources are located very far from households, outside the officially legislated array of 200metres. These are many reasons to account for this situation. Firstly, this implies that there are inadequate stand pipes to cater for all the homesteads scattered across the rugged terrain of OR Tambo District municipality. Secondly, and following from the first explanation, it would be seen that funding that is made available is not adequate, or is not efficiently spent on the targeted projects. The situation in the rural areas of South Africa is fraught with cumbersome complexity when it comes to service delivery.

Keywords: water, management, government, rural

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Said Cheto, Khawla Oukaltouma, Imane Chamkhi, Ammar Ibn Yasser, Bouchra Benmrid, Ahmed Qaddoury, Lamfeddal Kouisni, Joerg Geistlinger, Youssef Zeroual, Adnane Bargaz, Cherki Ghoulam

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Our study aimed to assess, the role of inoculation of faba bean/wheat intercrops with selected rhizobacteria consortia gathering one rhizobia and two phosphate solubilizing bacteria “PSB” to alleviate the effects of combined water deficit and P limitation on Faba bean/ wheat intercrops versus monocrops under greenhouse conditions. One Vicia faba L variety (Aguadulce “Ag”), and one Triticum durum L. variety (Karim “K”) were grown as sole crops or intercrop in pots containing sterilized substrate (sand: peat 4:1v/v) added either with rock phosphate (RP) as the alone P source (P limitation) or with KH₂PO₄ in nutrient solution (P sufficient control). Plant inoculation was done using rhizobacterial consortia composed; C1(Rhizobium laguerreae, Kocuria sp, and Pseudomonas sp) and C2 (R. laguerreae, Rahnella sp, and Kocuria sp). Two weeks after inoculation, the plants were submitted to water deficit consisting of 40% of substrate water holding Capacity (WHC) versus 80% WHC for well-watered plants. At the flowering stage, the trial was assessed, and the results showed that inoculation with both consortia (C1 and C2) improved faba bean biomass in terms of shoots, roots, and nodules compared to inoculation with rhizobia alone, particularly C2 improved these parametres by 19.03, 78.99, and 72.73%, respectively. Leaf relative water content decreased under combined stress, particularly in response to C1 with a significant improvement of this parameter in wheat intercrops. For faba bean under P limitation, inoculation with C2 increased stomatal conductance (gs) by 35.73% compared to plants inoculated with rhizobia alone. Furthermore, the same inoculum C2 improved membrane stability by 44,33% versus 16,16% for C1 compared to inoculation with rhizobia alone under P deficit. For sole cropped faba bean plants, inoculation with both consortia improved N accumulation compared to inoculation with rhizobia alone with an increase of 70.75% under P limitation. Moreover, under the combined stress, intercropping inoculation with C2 improved plant biomass and N content (112.98%) in wheat plants, compared to the sole crop. Our finding revealed that consortium C2 might offer an agronomic advantage under water and P deficit and could be used as inoculum for enhancing faba bean and wheat production under both monocropping and intercropping systems.

Keywords: drought, phosphorus, intercropping, PSB, rhizobia, vicia faba, Triticum durum

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Authors: Luyao Liu, Dekui Yuan, Xu Li

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As one of the most important bays of China, the water exchange capacity of Bohai Bay can influence the economic development and urbanization of surrounding cities. However, the rapid reclamation has influenced the weak water exchange capacity of this semi-enclosed bay in recent years. This paper sets two hydrodynamic models of Bohai Bay with two shorelines before and after reclamation. The mean value and distribution of Turn-over Time, the distribution of residual current, and the feature of the tracer path are compared. After comparison, it is found that Bohai Bay keeps these characteristics; the spending time of water exchange in the northern is longer than southern, and inshore is longer than offshore. However, the mean water exchange time becomes longer after reclamation. In addition, the material spreading is blocked because of the inwardly extending shorelines, and the direction changed from along the shoreline to towards the center after reclamation.

Keywords: Bohai Bay, water exchange, reclamation, turn-over time

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Authors: Agnieszka P. Regiec

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Capital companies are based on monetary capital. In the traditional model, the capital is the sum of the nominal values of all shares issued. For a few years within the European countries, the limited liability companies’ (LLC) regulations are leaning towards liberalization of the capital structure in order to provide higher degree of autonomy regarding the intra-corporate governance. Reforms were based primarily on the legal system of the USA. In the USA, the tradition of no-par shares is well-established. Thus, as a point of reference, the American legal system is being chosen. Regulations of Germany, Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Finland, Poland and the USA will be taken into consideration. The analysis of the share capital is important for the development of science not only because the capital structure of the corporation has significant impact on the shareholders’ rights, but also it reflects on relationships between creditors of the company and the company itself. Multi-level comparative approach towards the problem will allow to present a wide range of the possible outcomes stemming from the novelization. The dogmatic method was applied. The analysis was based on the statutes, secondary sources and judicial awards. Both the substantive and the procedural aspects of the capital structure were considered. In Germany, as a result of the regulatory competition, typical for the EU, the structure of LLCs was reshaped. New LLC – Unternehmergesellschaft, which does not require a minimum share capital, was introduced. The minimum share capital for Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung was lowered from 25 000 to 10 000 euro. In France the capital structure of corporations was also altered. In 2003, the minimum share capital of société à responsabilité limitée (S.A.R.L.) was repealed. In 2009, the minimum share capital of société par actions simplifiée – in the “simple” version of S.A.R.L. was also changed – there is no minimum share capital required by a statute. The company has to, however, indicate a share capital without the legislator imposing the minimum value of said capital. In Netherlands the reform of the Besloten Vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid (B.V.) was planned with the following change: repeal of the minimum share capital as the answer to the need for higher degree of autonomy for shareholders. It, however, preserved shares with nominal value. In Finland the novelization of yksityinen osakeyhtiö took place in 2006 and as a result the no-par shares were introduced. Despite the fact that the statute allows shares without face value, it still requires the minimum share capital in the amount of 2 500 euro. In Poland the proposal for the restructuration of the capital structure of the LLC has been introduced. The proposal provides among others: devaluation of the capital to 1 PLN or complete liquidation of the minimum share capital, allowing the no-par shares to be issued. In conclusion: American solutions, in particular, balance sheet test and solvency test provide better protection for creditors; European no-par shares are not the same as American and the existence of share capital in Poland is crucial.

Keywords: balance sheet test, limited liability company, nominal value of shares, no-par shares, share capital, solvency test

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Authors: S. A. Che Osmi, W. M. F. W. Ishak, S. F. Che Osmi

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Nowadays the issues of water quality and water pollution have been a major problem across the country. A lot of management attempt to develop their own TMDL database in order to control the river pollution. Over the past decade, the mathematical modeling has been used as the tool for the development of TMDL. This paper presents the application of water quality modeling to develop the total maximum daily load (TMDL) information. To obtain the reliable database of TMDL, the appropriate water quality modeling should choose based on the available data provided. This paper will discuss on the use of several water quality modeling such as QUAL2E, QUAL2K, and EFDC to develop TMDL. The attempts to integrate several modeling are also being discussed in this paper. Based on this paper, the differences in the application of water quality modeling based on their properties such as one, two or three dimensional are showing their ability to develop the modeling of TMDL database.

Keywords: TMDL, water quality modeling, QUAL2E, EFDC

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Authors: Emery Jr. Coppola

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Water resources are being depleted and degraded at an alarming and non-sustainable rate worldwide. In some areas, it is progressing more slowly. In other areas, irreversible damage has already occurred, rendering regions largely unsuitable for human existence with destruction of the environment and the economy. Today, 2.5 billion people or 36 percent of the world population live in water-stressed areas. The convergence of factors that created this global water crisis includes local, regional, and global failures. In this paper, a survey of some of these factors is presented. They include abuse of political power and regulatory acquiescence, improper planning and design, ignoring good science and models, systemic failures, and division between the powerful and the powerless. Increasing water demand imposed by exploding human populations and growing economies with short-falls exacerbated by climate change and continuing water quality degradation will accelerate this growing water crisis in many areas. Without regional measures to improve water efficiencies and protect dwindling and vulnerable water resources, environmental and economic displacement of populations and conflict over water resources will only grow. Perhaps more challenging, a global commitment is necessary to curtail if not reverse the devastating effects of climate change. Factors will be illustrated by real-world examples, followed by some partial solutions offered by water experts for helping to mitigate the growing water crisis. These solutions include more water efficient technologies, education and incentivization for water conservation, wastewater treatment for reuse, and improved data collection and utilization.

Keywords: climate change, water conservation, water crisis, water technologies

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Authors: Hyeongdo Jeong, Jong Kook Lee

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Granule morphology and microstructure were affected by slurry viscosity, chemical composition, particle size and spray drying process. In this study, we investigated granule morphology of zirconia powder with solid content on two-fluid spray drying. Zirconia granules after spray drying show sphere-like shapes with a diameter of 40-70 μm at low solid contents (30 or 40 wt%) and specific surface area of 5.1-5.6 m²/g. But a donut-like shape with a few cracks were observed on zirconia granules prepared from the slurry of high solid content (50 wt %), green compacts after cold isostatic pressing under the pressure of 200 MPa have the density of 2.1-2.2 g/cm³ and homogeneous fracture surface by complete destruction of granules. After the sintering at 1500 °C for 2 h, all specimens have relative density of 96.2-98.3 %. With increasing a solid content from 30 to 50 wt%, grain size increased from 0.3 to 0.6 μm, but relative density was inversely decreased from 98.3 to 96.2 %.

Keywords: zirconia, solid content, granulation, spray drying

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Authors: Feyza Tatar, Alime Cengiz, Dilara Sandikçi, Muhammed Dervisoglu, Talip Kahyaoglu

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Blueberries are known for their bioactive properties such as high anthocyanin contents, antioxidant activities and potential health benefits. However, anthocyanins are sensitive to environmental conditions during processes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of spray drying conditions on the blueberry microcapsules by Plackett-Burman experimental design. Inlet air temperature (120 and 180°C), feed pump rate (20% and 40%), DE of maltodextrin (6 and 15 DE), coating concentration (10% and 30%) and source of blueberry (Duke and Darrow) were independent variables, tested at high (+1) and low (-1) levels. Encapsulation efficiency (based on total phenol) of blueberry microcapsules was the dependent variable. In addition, anthocyanin content, antioxidant activity, water solubility, water activity and bulk density were measured for blueberry powders. The antioxidant activity of blueberry powders ranged from 72 to 265 mmol Trolox/g and anthocyanin content was changed from 528 to 5500 mg GAE/100g. Encapsulation efficiency was significantly affected (p<0.05) by inlet air temperature and coating concentration. Encapsulation efficiency increased with increasing inlet air temperature and decreasing coating concentration. The highest encapsulation efficiency could be produced by spray drying at 180°C inlet air temperature, 40% pump rate, 6 DE of maltodextrin, 13% maltodextrin concentration and source of duke blueberry.

Keywords: blueberry, microencapsulation, Plackett-Burman design, spray drying

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Authors: Zahia Dorbane, Si Ammar Kadi, Dalila Boudouma, Thierry Gidenne

Abstract:

In rabbits feeding, minimum fibre intake is essential to avoid digestive disorders. However, this concentration of fibre is not easy to obtain when formulating feeds, without reduction of nutritional value. Three stage olive cake, the residual material after oil extraction by centrifugation, including pulp and stones, can be used as a fibre source in rabbit diet. The incorporation of olive cake can allow a better balance between different fibre fractions and reduce health disorder. However, for practical use of any raw material, it is necessary to know its chemical and nutritive value. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritive value of three-stage olive cake (TSOC) for growing rabbits. Thus, 36 rabbits weaned at 35 days (702.8 ± 28.5) were divided into three groups of 12 receiving one of the following diets: control with 0% of TSOC, TSOC10 (10% of TSOC) and TSOC20 (20% TSOC). The rabbits were individually housed in digestibility cages and received ad libitum one of the three diets, fresh and clean water was provided ad libitum. After an adaptation period of 7d, feces were collected for 4d. Collected feces were frozen and stored for further analysis. The chemical composition of TSOC shows that it is a rich fiber raw material since it contains (%DM): 6% of CP; 7.4% of EE; 78.7% of NDF; 55.4% of ADF and 24.3% of ADL. The inclusion of TSOC at 20% of basal diet reduced the digestibility coefficient of organic matter, crude protein and NDF from 67.8 to 55.3%, 80.4 to 75.3% and from 31.5 to 18.4% (p < 0.001) respectively. The digestible energy and digestible protein content of the three-stage olive cake estimated by regression was 2.94 ± 0.52MJ DE/kg DM and 22.4 ± 6 g DP/kg DM respectively. In conclusion, based on the results of the present experiment, the three-stage olive cake can be used as a fibre source for rabbit.

Keywords: digestibility, nutritive value, olive cake, rabbit

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Authors: Ramandeep Kaur, Tarsem Singh Dhillon, Rajinder Kumar Dhall, Ruma Devi

Abstract:

French bean (Phaseolous vulgaris L.) is an economically potential legume vegetable grown at high altitude (>1000 ft.). More recently, its cultivation in Northern Indian plans is gaining popularity but there is severe reduction in its yield and quality due to low temperature during extreme winter conditions of December-January in open field conditions. Therefore, present study was undertaken to evaluate 29 indeterminate French bean genotypes for various yield and quality traits in poly-net house with the objective to identify best performing genotypes during winter conditions. The significant variation was observed among all the genotypes for all the studied traits. The green pod yield was significantly higher in genotype Lakshmi (992.33 g/plant) followed by Star-I (955.50 g/plant) and FBK-4 (911.17 g/plant). However, the genotypes FBK-10 (105.50 days) and Lakshmi (106.83 days) took least number of days to first harvest and were significantly better than all other genotypes (109.00-136.83 days). The maximum numbers of 10 pickings were recorded in genotype Lakshmi whereas maximum harvesting span as also observed in Lakshmi (60.50 days) which was significantly higher than all other genotypes (31.17-56.50 days). Regarding quality traits, maximum dry matter was observed in FBK-13 (13.87%), protein content in FBK-1 (9.67%), sugar content in FBK-5 (9.60%) and minimum fiber content in FBK-12 (0.69%). It is hereby concluded that high productivity and better quality of French bean (genotypes: Lakshmi, Star-I, FBK-4) was produced in poly-net house conditions of Punjab, India and these pods fetches premium price in the market as there is no availability of green pods at that time in high altitudes. Hence, there is a great scope of cultivation of indeterminate French bean under poly-net house conditions in Punjab.

Keywords: earliness, pod, protected environment, quality, yield

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Authors: Zeinab Syed Abdel Rehim

Abstract:

Water shortage is considered as one of the huge problems the world encounter now. Water desalination is considered as one of the more suitable methods governments can use to substitute the increased need for potable water. The humidification-dehumidification process for water desalination is viewed as a promising technique for small capacity production plants. The process has several attraction features which include the use of sustainable energy sources, low technology, and low-temperature dehumidification. A pilot experimental set-up plant was constructed with the conventional HVAC components such as air blower that supplies air to an air duct inside which air preheater, steam injector and cooling coil of a small refrigeration unit are placed. The present work evaluates the characteristics of humidification-dehumidification process for water desalination as a function of air flow rate, total power input and air inlet temperature in order to study the optimum conditions required to produce distilled water.

Keywords: condensation, dehumidification, evaporation, humidification, water desalination

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Authors: V. Sobotková, B. Šarapatka, M. Dumbrovský, J. Uhrová, M. Bednář

Abstract:

The paper deals with the influence of implemented conservation measures on the quality of surface water resources. Recently, a new process of complex land consolidation in the Czech Republic has provided a unique opportunity to improve the quality of the environment and sustainability of crop production by means of better soil and water conservation. The most important degradation factor in our study area in the Hubenov drinking water reservoir catchment basin was water erosion together with loss of organic matter. Hubenov Reservoir water resources were monitored for twenty years (1990–2010) to collect water quality data for nitrate nitrogen (N-NO3-), total P, and undissolved substances. Results obtained from measurements taken before and after land consolidation indicated a decrease in the linear trend of N-NO3- and total P concentrations, this was achieved through implementation of conservation measures limiting soil degradation in the Hubenov reservoir catchment area.

Keywords: complex land consolidation, degradation, land use, soil and water conservation, surface water resources

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Feny Mentang, Roike Iwan Montolalu, Henny Adeleida Dien, Kristhina P. Rahael, Tomy Moga, Ayub Meko, Siegfried Berhimpon

Abstract:

Smoked fish is one of the famous fish products in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Research in producing smoked fish using smoke liquid, and the use of that product as main taste for a new “natural condiment” have been done, including a series of researches to find materials for sachet. Research aims are to determine the effectiveness of smoked edible sachets, in preventing oxidation of natural condiment, stored in ambient temperature. Two kinds of natural condiment flavors were used, i.e. smoked Skipjack flavor, and Sea Food flavor. Three variables of edible sachets were used for the natural condiments, i.e. non-sachet, edible sachet without smoke liquid, and edible sachet with smoke liquid. The natural condiments were then stored in ambient temperature, for 0, 10, 20, and 30 days. To determine the effectiveness of edible sachets in preventing oxidation, analysis of TBA, water content, and pH were conducted. The results shown that natural condiment with smoked seafood taste had TBA values higher than that of smoked Skipjack. Edible sachet gave a highly significant effect (P > 0.01) on TBA. Natural condiment in smoked edible sachet has a lower TBA than natural condiment non-sachet, and with sachet without smoke liquid. The longer storing time, the higher TBA, especially for non-sachet and with sachet without smoke liquid. There were no significant effect (P > 0.05) of edible sachet on water content and pH.

Keywords: edible sachet, smoke liquid, natural condiment, oxidation

Procedia PDF Downloads 512