Search results for: limit pressure of soil

Authors: Xie Xiaobin, Zhang Yan, Shi Yipeng, Sun Wenying, Chen Shuang, Cai Zhipeng, Zhang Hong, Zhang Lixia, Xie Like

Abstract:

Objective: The objective of this research is to compare the efficacy of the late in-situ surgical revision augmented with continuous infusion and needle revision on failed trabeculectomy blebs. Methods From December 2018 to December 2021, a prospective randomized controlled trial was performed on 44 glaucoma patients with failed bleb ≥ 6months with medically uncontrolled in Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. They were randomly divided into two groups. 22 eyes of 22 patients underwent the late in-situ surgical revision with continuous anterior chamber infusion in the study group, and 22 of 22 patients were treated with needle revision in the control group. Main outcome measures include preoperative and postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP), the number of anti-glaucoma medicines, the operation success rate, and the postoperative complications. Results The postoperative IOP values decreased significantly from the baseline in both groups (both P<0.05). IOP was significantly lower in the study group than in the control group at one week, 1, and 3 months postoperatively (all P<0.05). IOP reductions in the study group were substantially more prominent than in the control group at all postoperative time points (all P<0.05). The complete success rate in the study group was significantly higher than in the control group (71.4% vs. 33.3%, P<0.05), while the complete failure rate was significantly lower in the study group (0% vs. 28.5%, P<0.05). According to Cox’s proportional hazards regression analysis, high IOP at baseline was independently associated with increased risks of complete failure (adjusted hazard ratio=1.141, 95% confidence interval=1.021-1.276, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative complications between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: Both in-situ surgical and needle revision have acceptable success rates and safety for the late failed trabeculectomy blebs, while the former is likely to have a higher level of efficacy over the latter. Needle revision may be insufficient for eyes with low target IOP.

Keywords: glaucoma, trabeculectomy blebs, in-situ surgical revision, needle revision

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Elchin Hajiyev, Afet Memmedova Dadash, Sabina Hajiyeva, Aynur Karimova, Ramiz Aliyev

Abstract:

Although potatoes have a wide distribution range, the yield potential of varieties varies greatly depending on the region. Our country is made up of agricultural regions with very different environmental characteristics.In this case, we cannot expect the introduced varieties to show the same adaptation to the different conditions of our country. For this reason, in our country, varieties with high general adaptability should be used, rather than varieties with special adaptability in certain areas. Soil salinization has become a global problem.Increased salinity has a serious impact on food security by reducing plant productivity. Plants have protective mechanisms of adaptation to salt stress, such as the synthesis of physiologically active substances, resistance to antioxidant stress and oxidation of membrane lipids. One of these substances is free proline. Our study revealed genetic variation in proline accumulation among samples exposed to stress factors.Changes in proline content under stress conditions were studied in 50 samples. There was wide variation across all treatments.The amount of proline varied between 7.2–37.7 μM/g under salinity conditions.The lowest rate was in the SF33 genotype (1.5 times more than the control (2.5 μM/g)).The highest level of proline under the influence of salt stress was in the SF45 genotype (7.25 times higher than the control (32.5 μM/g)). Our studies have found that the protective system reacts differently to the influence of stress factors. According to the results obtained on the amount of proline, adaptation mechanisms must be more actively activated to maintain metabolism and ensure viability in sensitive forms under the influence of stress factors. At high doses of the salt stressor, a tenfold increase in proline compared to the control indicates significant damage to the plant organism as a result of stress.To prevent damage to the body, the antioxidant system needs to quickly mobilize and work at full capacity in adverse conditions. An increase in the dose of the stress factor salt in our study caused a greater increase in the amount of free proline in plant tissues. Considering the functions of proline as an osmoprotector and antioxidant, it was found that increasing its amount is aimed at protecting the plant from the acute effects of stressors.

Keywords: genetic variability, potato, genotypes, proline, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 37

Authors: Ekta, G. K. Darbha

Abstract:

Nanotechnology offers the potential of simultaneously increasing efficiency as compared to their bulk material as well as reducing harmful environmental impacts of pesticides in field of agriculture. The term nanopesticide covers different pesticides that are cumulative of several surfactants, polymers, metal ions, etc. of nanometer size ranges from 1-1000 nm and exhibit abnormal behavior (high efficacy and high specific surface area) of nanomaterials. Commercial formulations of pesticides used by farmers nowadays cannot be used effectively due to a number of problems associated with them. For example, more than 90% of applied formulations are either lost in the environment or unable to reach the target area required for effective pest control. Around 20−30% of pesticides are lost through emissions. A number of factors (application methods, physicochemical properties of the formulations, and environmental conditions) can influence the extent of loss during application. It is known that among various formulations, polymer-based formulations show the greatest potential due to their greater efficacy, slow release and protection against premature degradation of active ingredient as compared to other commercial formulations. However, the nanoformulations can have a significant effect on the fate of active ingredient as well as may release some new ingredients by reacting with existing soil contaminants. Environmental fate of these newly generated species is still not explored very well which is essential to field scale experiments and hence a lot to be explored in the field of environmental fate, nanotoxicology, transport properties and stability of such formulations. In our preliminary work, we have synthesized polymer based nanoformulation of commercially used weedicide atrazine. Atrazine belongs to triazine class of herbicide, which is used in the effective control of seed germinated dicot weeds and grasses. It functions by binding to the plastoquinone-binding protein in PS-II. Plant death results from starvation and oxidative damage caused by breakdown in electron transport system. The stability of the suspension of nanoformulation containing herbicide has been evaluated by considering different parameters like polydispersity index, particle diameter, zeta-potential under different environmental relevance condition such as pH range 4-10, temperature range from 25°C to 65°C and stability of encapsulation also have been studied for different amount of added polymer. Morphological characterization has been done by using SEM.

Keywords: atrazine, nanoformulation, nanopesticide, nanotoxicology

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: Miaomiao Zhang, Sabrina Beckmann, Haluk Ertan, Rocky Chau, Mike Manefield

Abstract:

Phenazines are a large class of nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocyclic compounds, which are almost exclusively produced by bacteria from diverse genera including Pseudomonas and Streptomyces. Phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) as one of 'core' phenazines are converted from chorismic acid before modified to other phenazine derivatives in different cells. Phenazines have attracted enormous interests because of their multiple roles on biocontrol, bacterial interaction, biofilm formation and fitness of their producers. However, in spite of ecological importance, degradation as a part of phenazines’ fate only have extremely limited attention now. Here, to isolate PCA-degrading bacteria, 200 mg L-1 PCA was supplied as sole carbon, nitrogen and energy source in minimal mineral medium. Quantitative PCR and Reverse-transcript PCR were employed to study abundance and activity of functional gene MFORT 16269 in PCA degradation, respectively. Intermediates and products of PCA degradation were identified with LC-MS/MS. After enrichment and isolation, a PCA-degrading strain was selected from soil and was designated as Rhodanobacter sp. PCA2 based on full 16S rRNA sequencing. As determined by HPLC, strain PCA2 consumed 200 mg L-1 (836 µM) PCA at a rate of 17.4 µM h-1, accompanying with significant cells yield from 1.92 × 105 to 3.11 × 106 cells per mL. Strain PCA2 was capable of degrading other phenazines as well, including phenazine (4.27 µM h-1), pyocyanin (2.72 µM h-1), neutral red (1.30 µM h-1) and 1-hydroxyphenazine (0.55 µM h-1). Moreover, during the incubation, transcript copies of MFORT 16269 gene increased significantly from 2.13 × 106 to 8.82 × 107 copies mL-1, which was 2.77 times faster than that of the corresponding gene copy number (2.20 × 106 to 3.32 × 107 copies mL-1), indicating that MFORT 16269 gene was activated and played roles on PCA degradation. As analyzed by LC-MS/MS, decarboxylation from the ring structure was determined as the first step of PCA degradation, followed by cleavage of nitrogen-containing ring by dioxygenase which catalyzed phenazine to nitrosobenzene. Subsequently, phenylhydroxylamine was detected after incubation for two days and was then transferred to aniline and catechol. Additionally, genomic and proteomic analyses were also carried out for strain PCA2. Overall, the findings presented here showed that a newly isolated strain Rhodanobacter sp. PCA2 was capable of degrading phenazines through decarboxylation and cleavage of nitrogen-containing ring, during which MFORT 16269 gene was activated and played important roles.

Keywords: decarboxylation, MFORT16269 gene, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid degradation, Rhodanobacter sp. PCA2

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Monika Simkute-Bukante

Abstract:

Teachers significantly influence student achievements, personal development, and academic success. Consequently, they are subject to heightened expectations and scrutiny from governments, school administrations, parents, and even students. Increasing responsibilities and pressures impact teachers’ professional well-being, contributing to a global trend of increased teacher turnover and shortages due to stress and heavy workloads. Given the critical role of teachers in educating young people, it is essential to implement strategies to retain them. School administrations are pivotal in creating an environment conducive to optimal performance. However, there remains a gap in understanding how school administration leadership impacts teachers' professional well-being and its potential for improvement. This research aims to define teacher professional well-being, identify its attributes, and explore the factors influencing it, with a particular focus on the role of school administration. Employing the concept analysis method, this study reviews scholarly publications from 2019 to 2024 to articulate the components of teacher professional well-being. The findings highlight key attributes of teacher well-being, including self-efficacy, work engagement, job satisfaction, relationships with colleagues and students, support from administration, work autonomy, school climate, time pressure, workload, resilience, stress, burnout, and turnover intentions. The analysis demonstrates that school administration leadership directly affects these aspects by providing support in challenging situations, empowering teachers, offering recognition, facilitating open communication, and ensuring autonomy at work. In conclusion, the research shows that teachers' professional well-being is heavily dependent on relationships with school administration, colleagues, and students, as well as the overall school climate. It suggests that by enhancing these elements, school leaders can significantly improve teacher professional well-being. Recommendations are made for developing strategies to support these relationships, thereby fostering an environment that enhances teacher retention and effectiveness.

Keywords: concept analysis, teacher professional well-being, school administration leadership, well-being factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 39

Authors: Waqas Ahmed Khan, Faheem Khokhaar

Abstract:

Air pollution is one of the main perpetrators of climate change. GHGs cause melting of glaciers and cause change in temperature and heavy rain fall many gasses like Formaldehyde is not direct precursor that damage ozone like CO2 or Methane but Formaldehyde (HCHO) form glyoxal (CHOCHO) that has effect on ozone. Countries around the globe have unique air quality monitoring protocols to describe local air pollution. Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that is used in building materials and to produce many household products and medical preservatives. Formaldehyde also occurs naturally in the environment. It is produced in small amounts by most living organisms as part of normal metabolic processes. Pakistan lacks the monitoring facilities on larger scale to measure the atmospheric gasses on regular bases. Formaldehyde is formed from Glyoxal and effect mountain biodiversity and livelihood. So its monitoring is necessary in order to maintain and preserve biodiversity. Objective: Present study is aimed to measure atmospheric HCHO vertical column densities (VCDs) obtained from ground-base and compute HCHO data in Punjab and elevated areas (Rawalpindi & Islamabad) by satellite observation during the time period of 2014-2015. Methodology: In order to explore the spatial distributing of H2CO, various fields campaigns including international scientist by using car Max-Doas. Major focus was on the cities along national highways and industrial region of Punjab Pakistan. Level 2 data product of satellite instruments OMI retrieved by differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique are used. Spatio-temporal distribution of HCHO column densities over main cities and region of Pakistan has been discussed. Results: Results show the High HCHO column densities exceeding permissible limit over the main cities of Pakistan particularly the areas with rapid urbanization and enhanced economic growth. The VCDs value over elevated areas of Pakistan like Islamabad, Rawalpindi is around 1.0×1016 to 34.01×1016 Molecules’/cm2. While Punjab has values revolving around the figure 34.01×1016. Similarly areas with major industrial activity showed high amount of HCHO concentrations. Tropospheric glyoxal VCDs were found to be 4.75 × 1015 molecules/cm2. Conclusion: Results shows that monitoring site surrounded by Margalla hills (Islamabad) have higher concentrations of Formaldehyde. Wind data shows that industrial areas and areas having high economic growth have high values as they provide pathways for transmission of HCHO. Results obtained from this study would help EPA, WHO and air protection departments in order to monitor air quality and further preservation and restoration of mountain biodiversity.

Keywords: air quality, formaldehyde, Max-Doas, vertical column densities (VCDs), satellite instrument, climate change

Procedia PDF Downloads 205

Authors: Alaa Abdellatif, Gabrièle Breda

Abstract:

Background. Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) are innovative therapies that mainly target orphan diseases and high unmet medical needs. ATMP includes gene therapy medicinal products (GTMP), somatic cell therapy medicinal products (CTMP), and tissue-engineered therapies (TEP). Since legislation opened the way in 2007, 25 ATMPs have been approved in the EU, which is about the same amount as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, not all of the ATMPs that have been approved have successfully reached the market and retained their approval. Objectives. We aim to understand all the factors limiting the market access to very promising therapies in a systemic approach, to be able to overcome these problems, in the future, with scientific, regulatory and commercial innovations. Further to recent reviews that focus either on specific countries, products, or dimensions, we will address all the challenges faced by ATMP development today. Methodology. We used mixed methods and a multi-level approach for data collection. First, we performed an updated academic literature review on ATMP development and their scientific and market access challenges (papers published between 2018 and April 2023). Second, we analyzed industry feedback from cell and gene therapy webinars and white papers published by providers and pharmaceutical industries. Finally, we established a comparative analysis of the regulatory guidelines published by EMA and the FDA for ATMP approval. Results: The main challenges in bringing these therapies to market are the high development costs. Developing ATMPs is expensive due to the need for specialized manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the regulatory pathways for ATMPs are often complex and can vary between countries, making it challenging to obtain approval and ensure compliance with different regulations. As a result of the high costs associated with ATMPs, challenges in obtaining reimbursement from healthcare payers lead to limited patient access to these treatments. ATMPs are often developed for orphan diseases, which means that the patient population is limited for clinical trials which can make it challenging to demonstrate their safety and efficacy. In addition, the complex manufacturing processes required for ATMPs can make it challenging to scale up production to meet demand, which can limit their availability and increase costs. Finally, ATMPs face safety and efficacy challenges: dangerous adverse events of these therapies like toxicity related to the use of viral vectors or cell therapy, starting material and donor-related aspects. Conclusion. As a result of our mixed method analysis, we found that ATMPs face a number of challenges in their development, regulatory approval, and commercialization and that addressing these challenges requires collaboration between industry, regulators, healthcare providers, and patient groups. This first analysis will help us to address, for each challenge, proper and innovative solution(s) in order to increase the number of ATMPs approved and reach the patients

Keywords: advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), product development, market access, innovation

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Mohd Asharf Ganie, Aafia Rashid, Mohd Afzal Zargar, Showkat Ali Zargar, Syed Mudasar, Tabasum Parvaiz, Zafar Amin Shah

Abstract:

Accumulating evidence suggests that Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) might at least contribute to the metabolic co-morbidities in PCOS. Hence, we aimed to study the effect of vitamin D supplementation in co-prescription with insulin sensitizers like metformin and pioglitazone on clinical, hormonal and metabolic parameters in women with PCOS. In this open label randomized, controlled trial a total of 120 women with PCOS diagnosis (AE-PCOS 2009 Criteria) were assigned to four treatment groups (n= 30 in each): group I (metformin 1 gm/day in combination with cholecalciferol 4000 IU/day), group II (pioglitazone 30 mg/day in combination with cholecalciferol 4000 IU/day), group III (metformin 1 gm /day) and group IV (pioglitazone 30 mg/day). Vitamin D supplementation was given as 60,000 units every two weeks for 24 weeks. All the subjects were routinely evaluated for clinical, biochemical, hormonal and insulin sensitivity parameters in addition to various safety parameters especially serum calcium levels at baseline and after 24 weeks of the treatment. Our results indicate that 95.5% of PCOS women were vitamin D deficient at baseline. Serum 25 (OH) D levels increased significantly (p < 0.001) in groups I and II without any adverse effects after 24 weeks of oral administration of 4000 IU cholecalciferol daily. However, serum 25 (OH) D levels remained unchanged in group III and IV. By six months, number of menstrual cycles per year increased whereas Ferriman-Gallwey score, serum total testosterone and HOMA-IR decreased significantly (P < 0.001) in the treatment groups supplemented with cholecalciferol as compared to those treated either drug alone. No significant beneficial changes were observed on weight, BMI, blood pressure, glucose tolerance and serum lipids in any of the groups supplemented with cholecalciferol. We conclude that daily dose of 4000 IU cholecalciferol might be a useful adjunct in complex treatment of PCOS with fewer adverse events. Furthermore, pioglitazone and cholecalciferol combination seems to be marginally better although there was no statistical significance.

Keywords: PCOS, vitamin D supplementation, insulin resistance, spironolactone, metformin, pioglitazone

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: Sinan Bilgen, Bekir Ozer Ay, Nilay Sezer Uzol

Abstract:

After decades of conventional shapes, irregular forms with complex geometries are getting more popular for form generation of tall buildings all over the world. This trend has recently brought out diverse building forms such as twisting tall buildings. This study investigates both the aerodynamic and design features of twisting tall buildings through comparative analyses. Since twisting a tall building give rise to additional complexities related with the form and structural system, lateral load effects become of greater importance on these buildings. The aim of this study is to analyze the inherent characteristics of these iconic forms by comparing the wind loads on twisting tall buildings with those on their prismatic twins. Through a case study research, aerodynamic analyses of an existing twisting tall building and its prismatic counterpart were performed and the results have been compared. The prismatic twin of the original building were generated by removing the progressive rotation of its floors with the same plan area and story height. Performance-based measures under investigation have been evaluated in conjunction with the architectural design. Aerodynamic effects have been analyzed by both wind tunnel tests and computational methods. High frequency base balance tests and pressure measurements on 3D models were performed to evaluate wind load effects on a global and local scale. Comparisons of flat and real surface models were conducted to further evaluate the effects of the twisting form without façade texture contribution. Comparisons highlighted that, the twisting form under investigation shows better aerodynamic behavior both for along wind but particularly for across wind direction. Compared to the prismatic counterpart; twisting model is superior on reducing vortex-shedding dynamic response by disorganizing the wind vortices. Consequently, despite the difficulties arisen from inherent complexity of twisted forms, they could still be feasible and viable with their attractive images in the realm of tall buildings.

Keywords: aerodynamic tests, motivation for twisting, tall buildings, twisted forms, wind excitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: Chinwe Susan Oguejiofor, Daniel Osamwonyi Iyioha

Abstract:

Over the last two decades, Nigeria has witnessed an upsurge in graduate unemployment occasioned by the lack of industries and proliferation of tertiary institutions churning out thousands of graduates every year to compete for the few available job space. The astronomical rise in the unemployment rate amongst Nigerian graduates however, is principally assumed to be the defective curricula of the universities and other tertiary institutions whose focus is on training for white-collar jobs. Although graduate unemployment has become a global scourge, its adverse economic impact is believed to be more in developing economies like Nigeria with a huge young population within the working age who cannot seem to find gainful employment to make out a respectable livelihood. Thus, higher institutions especially Universities found itself under pressure and intense competition to produce graduates who can think outside the box and create jobs; hence there was the need to focus on instilling hands-on practical job skills into their students that will make them job creators rather than job seekers on graduation. In the same vein stakeholders in education have continued to lend their voices to the philosophy that the undergraduate curricula should be completely overhauled to accomodate the development of hand-on practical skills and innovative capacity relevant to creating solutions to societal problems. In a bid to correct this anomaly, the Federal Government of Nigeria in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment inaugurated a programme tagged “University Entrepreneurship Development Programme” (UNEDEP) whose objective was basically to promote self-employment among the youth right from the institutions of higher learning. But the question is whether the objectives of the programme have actually been achieved. Despite the inclusion in Nigerian educational curriculum close to two decades now,, one wonder if the essence has been aborted. Thus, the paper focused on the concept of entrepreneurship education, objectives of entrepreneurship education, Graduates unemployment, rethinking entrepreneurship education programme in tertiary institution for employment generation , role of entrepreneurship in job creation, challenges of entrepreneurship education in tertiary institution in Nigeria, conclusion and recommendations were drawn accordingly.

Keywords: rethinking, entrepreneurship education, remedy, unemployment, job creation

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Ja-Keoung Koo, Kensuke Nakamura, Hyohun Kim, Dongwha Shin, Yeonseok Kim, Ji-Su Ahn, Byung-Woo Hong

Abstract:

The machine learning techniques based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) have been actively developed and successfully applied to a variety of image analysis tasks including reconstruction, noise reduction, resolution enhancement, segmentation, motion estimation, object recognition. The classical visual information processing that ranges from low level tasks to high level ones has been widely developed in the deep learning framework. It is generally considered as a challenging problem to derive visual interpretation from high dimensional imagery data. A CNN is a class of feed-forward artificial neural network that usually consists of deep layers the connections of which are established by a series of non-linear operations. The CNN architecture is known to be shift invariant due to its shared weights and translation invariance characteristics. However, it is often computationally intractable to optimize the network in particular with a large number of convolution layers due to a large number of unknowns to be optimized with respect to the training set that is generally required to be large enough to effectively generalize the model under consideration. It is also necessary to limit the size of convolution kernels due to the computational expense despite of the recent development of effective parallel processing machinery, which leads to the use of the constantly small size of the convolution kernels throughout the deep CNN architecture. However, it is often desired to consider different scales in the analysis of visual features at different layers in the network. Thus, we propose a CNN model where different sizes of the convolution kernels are applied at each layer based on the random projection. We apply random filters with varying sizes and associate the filter responses with scalar weights that correspond to the standard deviation of the random filters. We are allowed to use large number of random filters with the cost of one scalar unknown for each filter. The computational cost in the back-propagation procedure does not increase with the larger size of the filters even though the additional computational cost is required in the computation of convolution in the feed-forward procedure. The use of random kernels with varying sizes allows to effectively analyze image features at multiple scales leading to a better generalization. The robustness and effectiveness of the proposed CNN based on random kernels are demonstrated by numerical experiments where the quantitative comparison of the well-known CNN architectures and our models that simply replace the convolution kernels with the random filters is performed. The experimental results indicate that our model achieves better performance with less number of unknown weights. The proposed algorithm has a high potential in the application of a variety of visual tasks based on the CNN framework. Acknowledgement—This work was supported by the MISP (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the National Program for Excellence in SW (20170001000011001) supervised by IITP, and NRF-2014R1A2A1A11051941, NRF2017R1A2B4006023.

Keywords: deep learning, convolutional neural network, random kernel, random projection, dimensionality reduction, object recognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Sezer Kefeli, Sertaç Arslan

Abstract:

In this paper, supercavitationphenomena, and parameters are explained, and hydrodynamic design approaches are investigated for supercavitating torpedoes. In addition, drag force calculation methods ofsupercavitatingvehicles are obtained. Basically, conventional heavyweight torpedoes reach up to ~50 knots by classic hydrodynamic techniques, on the other hand super cavitating torpedoes may reach up to ~200 knots, theoretically. However, in order to reachhigh speeds, hydrodynamic viscous forces have to be reduced or eliminated completely. This necessity is revived the supercavitation phenomena that is implemented to conventional torpedoes. Supercavitation is a type of cavitation, after all, it is more stable and continuous than other cavitation types. The general principle of supercavitation is to separate the underwater vehicle from water phase by surrounding the vehicle with cavitation bubbles. This situation allows the torpedo to operate at high speeds through the water being fully developed cavitation. Conventional torpedoes are entitled as supercavitating torpedoes when the torpedo moves in a cavity envelope due to cavitator in the nose section and solid fuel rocket engine in the rear section. There are two types of supercavitation phase, these are natural and artificial cavitation phases. In this study, natural cavitation is investigated on the disk cavitators based on numerical methods. Once the supercavitation characteristics and drag reduction of natural cavitationare studied on CFD platform, results are verified with the empirical equations. As supercavitation parameters cavitation number (), pressure distribution along axial axes, drag coefficient (C_?) and drag force (D), cavity wall velocity (U_?) and dimensionless cavity shape parameters, which are cavity length (L_?/d_?), cavity diameter(d_ₘ/d_?) and cavity fineness ratio (〖L_?/d〗_ₘ) are investigated and compared with empirical results. This paper has the characteristics of feasibility study to carry out numerical solutions of the supercavitation phenomena comparing with empirical equations.

Keywords: CFD, cavity envelope, high speed underwater vehicles, supercavitating flows, supercavitation, drag reduction, supercavitation parameters

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: İlkay Özer Erselcan, Abdi Kükner, Gökhan Ceylan

Abstract:

The power generated by eight point absorber type wave energy converters each having a different buoy are calculated in order to investigate the performances of buoys in this study. The calculations are carried out by modeling three different sea states observed in two different locations in the Black Sea. The floats analyzed in this study have two basic geometries and four different draft/radius (d/r) ratios. The buoys possess the shapes of a semi-ellipsoid and a semi-elliptic paraboloid. Additionally, the draft/radius ratios range from 0.25 to 1 by an increment of 0.25. The radiation forces acting on the buoys due to the oscillatory motions of these bodies are evaluated by employing a 3D panel method along with a distribution of 3D pulsating sources in frequency domain. On the other hand, the wave forces acting on the buoys which are taken as the sum of Froude-Krylov forces and diffraction forces are calculated by using linear wave theory. Furthermore, the wave energy converters are assumed to be taut-moored to the seabed so that the secondary body which houses a power take-off system oscillates with much smaller amplitudes compared to the buoy. As a result, it is assumed that there is not any significant contribution to the power generation from the motions of the housing body and the only contribution to power generation comes from the buoy. The power take-off systems of the wave energy converters are high pressure oil hydraulic systems which are identical in terms of their characteristic parameters. The results show that the power generated by wave energy converters which have semi-ellipsoid floats is higher than that of those which have semi elliptic paraboloid floats in both locations and in all sea states. It is also determined that the power generated by the wave energy converters follow an unsteady pattern such that they do not decrease or increase with changing draft/radius ratios of the floats. Although the highest power level is obtained with a semi-ellipsoid float which has a draft/radius ratio equal to 1, other floats of which the draft/radius ratio is 0.25 delivered higher power that the floats with a draft/radius ratio equal to 1 in some cases.

Keywords: Black Sea, buoys, hydraulic power take-off system, wave energy converters

Procedia PDF Downloads 346

Authors: Debabrata Adhikari, Mikhail Matveev, Louise Brown, Jan Kočí, Andy Long

Abstract:

Resin transfer molding (RTM) is increasingly used for manufacturing high-quality composite structures due to its additional advantages over prepregs of low-cost out-of-autoclave processing. However, to retain the advantages, it is critical to reduce the void content during the injection. Reinforcements commonly used in RTM, such as woven fabrics, have dual-scale porosity with mesoscale pores between the yarns and the micro-scale pores within the yarns. Due to the fabric geometry and the nature of the dual-scale flow, the flow front during injection creates a complicated fingering formation which leads to void formation. Analytical modeling of void formation for woven fabrics has been widely studied elsewhere. However, there is scope for improvement to the reduction in void formation in 3D fabrics wherein the in-plane yarn layers are confined by additional through-thickness binder yarns. In the present study, the structural morphology of the tortuous pore spaces in the 3D fabric has been studied and implemented using open-source software TexGen. An analytical model for the void and the fingering formation has been implemented based on an idealized unit cell model of the 3D fabric. Since the pore spaces between the yarns are free domains, the region is treated as flow-through connected channels, whereas intra-yarn flow has been modeled using Darcy’s law with an additional term to account for capillary pressure. Later the void fraction has been characterised using the criterion of void formation by comparing the fill time for inter and intra yarn flow. Moreover, the dual-scale two-phase flow of resin with air has been simulated in the commercial CFD solver OpenFOAM/ANSYS to predict the probable location of voids and validate the analytical model. The use of an idealised unit cell model will give the insight to optimise the mesoscale geometry of the reinforcement and injection parameters to minimise the void content during the LCM process.

Keywords: 3D fiber, void formation, RTM, process modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Ncedo Cameron Xhala

Abstract:

Several public sector institutions lack policy direction on how to successfully implement their large infrastructure investment projects. It is significant to improve strategic policy direction in public sector institutions in order to improve planning, management and implementation of large infrastructure investment projects. It is significant to improve an understanding of internal and external pressures that exerts pressure on large infrastructure projects. The significance is to fulfill the public sector’s mandate, align the sectors’ scarce resources, stakeholders and to improve project management processes. The study used a case study approach which was underpinned by a constructionist approach. The study used a theoretical sampling technique when selecting study participants, and was followed by a snowball sampling technique that was used to select an identified case study project purposefully. The study was qualitative in nature, collected and analyzed qualitative empirical data from the purposefully selected five subject matter experts and has analyzed the case study documents. The study used a semi-structured interview approach, analysed case study documents in a qualitative approach. The interviews were on a face-to-face basis and were guided by an interview guide with focused questions. The study used a three coding process step comprising of one to three steps when analysing the qualitative empirical data. Findings reveal that an improvement of strategic policy direction in public sector institutions improves the integration in planning, management and on implementation on large infrastructure investment projects. Findings show the importance of understanding the external and internal pressures when implementing public sector’s large infrastructure investment projects. The study concludes that strategic policy direction in public sector institutions results in improvement of planning, financing, delivery, monitoring and evaluation and successful implementation of the public sector’s large infrastructure investment projects.

Keywords: implementation, infrastructure, investment, management

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Anil Koklu, Amin Mansoorifar, Ali Beskok

Abstract:

Dielectric spectroscopy (DS) is a noninvasive, label free technique for a long term real-time measurements of the impedance spectra of biological cells. DS enables characterization of cellular dielectric properties such as membrane capacitance and cytoplasmic conductivity. We have developed a lab-on-a-chip device that uses an electro-activated microwells array for loading, DS measurements, and unloading of biological cells. We utilized from dielectrophoresis (DEP) to capture target cells inside the wells and release them after DS measurement. DEP is a label-free technique that exploits differences among dielectric properties of the particles. In detail, DEP is the motion of polarizable particles suspended in an ionic solution and subjected to a spatially non-uniform external electric field. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first microfluidic chip that combines DEP and DS to analyze biological cells using electro-activated wells. Device performance is tested using two different cell lines of prostate cancer cells (RV122, PC-3). Impedance measurements were conducted at 0.2 V in the 10 kHz to 40 MHz range with 6 s time resolution. An equivalent circuit model was developed to extract the cell membrane capacitance and cell cytoplasmic conductivity from the impedance spectra. We report the time course of the variations in dielectric properties of PC-3 and RV122 cells suspended in low conductivity medium (LCB), which enhances dielectrophoretic and impedance responses, and their response to sudden pH change from a pH of 7.3 to a pH of 5.8. It is shown that microfluidic chip allowed online measurements of dielectric properties of prostate cancer cells and the assessment of the cellular level variations under external stimuli such as different buffer conductivity and pH. Based on these data, we intend to deploy the current device for single cell measurements by fabricating separately addressable N × N electrode platforms. Such a device will allow time-dependent dielectric response measurements for individual cells with the ability of selectively releasing them using negative-DEP and pressure driven flow.

Keywords: microfluidic, microfabrication, lab on a chip, AC electrokinetics, dielectric spectroscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Maxime Moreau, Silvère Baron, Jean-Marc Lobaccaro, Karine Charlet, Sébastien Menecier, Frédéric Perisse

Abstract:

Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) is an ionized gas generated at atmospheric pressure with the temperature of heavy particles (molecules, ions, atoms) close to the room temperature. Recent studies have shown that both in-vitro and in-vivo plasma exposition to many cancer cell lines are efficient to induce the apoptotic way of cell death. In some other works, normal cell lines seem to be less impacted by plasma than cancer cell lines. This is called selectivity of plasma. It is highly likely that the generated RNOS (Reactive Nitrogen Oxygen Species) in the plasma jet, but also in the medium, play a key-role in this selectivity. In this study, two CAP devices will be compared to electrical power, chemical species composition and their efficiency to kill cancer cells. A particular focus on the action of hydrogen peroxide will be made. The experiments will take place as described next for both devices: electrical and spectroscopic characterization for different voltages, plasma treatment of normal and cancer cells to compare the CAP efficiency between cell lines and to show that death is induced by an oxidative stress. To enlighten the importance of hydrogen peroxide, an inhibitor of H2O2 will be added in cell culture medium before treatment and a comparison will be made between the results of cell viability in this case and those from a simple plasma exposition. Besides, H2O2 production will be measured by only treating medium with plasma. Cell lines will also be exposed to different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide in order to characterize the cytotoxic threshold for cells and to make a comparison with the quantity of H2O2 produced by CAP devices. Finally, the activity of catalase for different cell lines will be quantified. This enzyme is an important antioxidant agent against hydrogen peroxide. A correlation between cells response to plasma exposition and this activity could be a strong argument in favor of the predominant role of H2O2 to explain the selectivity of plasma cancer treatment by cold atmospheric plasma.

Keywords: cold atmospheric plasma, hydrogen peroxide, prostate cancer, selectivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Igor A. Krichtafovitch

Abstract:

The evolutionary processes are not linear. Long periods of quiet and slow development turn to rather rapid emergences of new species and even phyla. During Cambrian explosion, 22 new phyla were added to the previously existed 3 phyla. Contrary to the common credence the natural selection or a survival of the fittest cannot be accounted for the dominant evolution vector which is steady and accelerated advent of more complex and more intelligent living organisms. Neither Darwinism nor alternative concepts including panspermia and intelligent design propose a satisfactory solution for these phenomena. The proposed hypothesis offers a logical and plausible explanation of the evolutionary processes in general. It is based on two postulates: a) the Biosphere is a single living organism, all parts of which are interconnected, and b) the Biosphere acts as a giant biological supercomputer, storing and processing the information in digital and analog forms. Such supercomputer surpasses all human-made computers by many orders of magnitude. Living organisms are the product of intelligent creative action of the biosphere supercomputer. The biological evolution is driven by growing amount of information stored in the living organisms and increasing complexity of the biosphere as a single organism. Main evolutionary vector is not a survival of the fittest but an accelerated growth of the computational complexity of the living organisms. The following postulates may summarize the proposed hypothesis: biological evolution as a natural life origin and development is a reality. Evolution is a coordinated and controlled process. One of evolution’s main development vectors is a growing computational complexity of the living organisms and the biosphere’s intelligence. The intelligent matter which conducts and controls global evolution is a gigantic bio-computer combining all living organisms on Earth. The information is acting like a software stored in and controlled by the biosphere. Random mutations trigger this software, as is stipulated by Darwinian Evolution Theories, and it is further stimulated by the growing demand for the Biosphere’s global memory storage and computational complexity. Greater memory volume requires a greater number and more intellectually advanced organisms for storing and handling it. More intricate organisms require the greater computational complexity of biosphere in order to keep control over the living world. This is an endless recursive endeavor with accelerated evolutionary dynamic. New species emerge when two conditions are met: a) crucial environmental changes occur and/or global memory storage volume comes to its limit and b) biosphere computational complexity reaches critical mass capable of producing more advanced creatures. The hypothesis presented here is a naturalistic concept of life creation and evolution. The hypothesis logically resolves many puzzling problems with the current state evolution theory such as speciation, as a result of GM purposeful design, evolution development vector, as a need for growing global intelligence, punctuated equilibrium, happening when two above conditions a) and b) are met, the Cambrian explosion, mass extinctions, happening when more intelligent species should replace outdated creatures.

Keywords: supercomputer, biological evolution, Darwinism, speciation

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Faisal Mahroogi, Mahmoud Bady, Yaser H. Alahmadi, Ahmed Alsisi, Sunny Narayan, Muhammad Usman Kaisan

Abstract:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia established Saudi Vision 2030, an initiative of the government with the goal of promoting more socioeconomic as well as cultural diversity. The kingdom, which is dedicated to sustainable development and clean energy, uses cutting-edge approaches to address energy-related issues, including the circular carbon economy (CCE) and a more varied energy mix. In order for Saudi Arabia to achieve its Vision 2030 goal of having a net zero future by 2060, sustainability is essential. By addressing the energy and climate issues of the modern world with responsibility and innovation, Vision 2030 is turning into a global role model for the transition to a sustainable future. As per the Ambitions of the National Environment Strategy of the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, and Water (MEWA), raising environmental compliance across all sectors and reducing pollution and adverse environmental impacts are critical focus areas. As a result, the current study presents an experimental analysis of the performance and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine running mostly on waste cooking oil (WCO). A one-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine with constant speed and natural aspiration is the engine type utilized. Research was done on how the engine performed and emission parameters when fueled with a mixture of 10% butanol, 10% diesel, 10% WCO, and 10% diethyl ether (D70B10W10DD10). The study's findings demonstrated that engine emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and carbon monoxide (CO) varied significantly depending on the load being applied. The brake thermal efficiency, cylinder pressure, and the brake power of the engine were all impacted by load change.

Keywords: ICE, waste cooking oil, fuel additives, butanol, combustion, emission characteristics

Procedia PDF Downloads 48

Authors: Tarek Duzan

Abstract:

Fractures are a fundamental property of most reservoirs. Despite their abundance, they remain difficult to detect and quantify. The most effective characterization of fractured reservoirs is accomplished by integrating geological, geophysical, and engineering data. Detection of fractures and defines their relative contribution is crucial in the early stages of exploration and later in the production of any field. Because fractures could completely change our thoughts, efforts, and planning to produce a specific field properly. From the structural point of view, all reservoirs are fractured to some point of extent. North Gialo field is thought to be a naturally fractured reservoir to some extent. Historically, natural fractured reservoirs are more complicated in terms of their exploration and production efforts, and most geologists tend to deny the presence of fractures as an effective variable. Our aim in this paper is to determine the degree of fracturing, and consequently, our evaluation and planning can be done properly and efficiently from day one. The challenging part in this field is that there is no enough data and straightforward well testing that can let us completely comfortable with the idea of fracturing; however, we cannot ignore the fractures completely. Logging images, available well testing, and limited core studies are our tools in this stage to evaluate, model, and predict possible fracture effects in this reservoir. The aims of this study are both fundamental and practical—to improve the prediction and diagnosis of natural-fracture attributes in N. Gialo hydrocarbon reservoirs and accurately simulate their influence on production. Moreover, the production of this field comes from 2-phase plan; a self depletion of oil and then gas injection period for pressure maintenance and increasing ultimate recovery factor. Therefore, well understanding of fracturing network is essential before proceeding with the targeted plan. New analytical methods will lead to more realistic characterization of fractured and faulted reservoir rocks. These methods will produce data that can enhance well test and seismic interpretations, and that can readily be used in reservoir simulators.

Keywords: natural fracture, sandstone reservoir, geological, geophysical, and engineering data

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Manami Masuda, Mariko Era, Takayoshi Kawahara, Takahide Kanyama, Hiroshi Morita

Abstract:

Objectives: Fatty acid salts are a type of anionic surfactant and are produced from fatty acids and alkali. Moreover, fatty acid salts are known to have potent antibacterial activities. Acanthamoeba is ubiquitously distributed in the environment including sea water, fresh water, soil and even from the air. Although generally free-living, Acanthamoeba can be an opportunistic pathogen, which could cause a potentially blinding corneal infection known as Acanthamoeba keratitis. So, in this study, we evaluated the anti-amoeba activity of fatty acid salts and fatty acids to Acanthamoeba castellanii ATCC 30010. Materials and Methods: The antibacterial activity of 9 fatty acid salts (potassium butyrate (C4K), caproate (C6K), caprylate (C8K), caprate (C10K), laurate (C12K), myristate (C14K), oleate (C18:1K), linoleate (C18:2K), linolenate (C18:3K)) tested on cells of Acanthamoeba castellanii ATCC 30010. Fatty acid salts (concentration of 175 mM and pH 10.5) were prepared by mixing the fatty acid with the appropriate amount of KOH. The amoeba suspension mixed with KOH with a pH adjusted solution was used as the control. Fatty acids (concentration of 175 mM) were prepared by mixing the fatty acid with Tween 80 (20 %). The amoeba suspension mixed with Tween 80 (20 %) was used as the control. The anti-amoeba method, the amoeba suspension (3.0 × 104 cells/ml trophozoites) was mixed with the sample of fatty acid potassium (final concentration of 175 mM). Samples were incubated at 30°C, for 10 min, 60 min, and 180 min and then the viability of A. castellanii was evaluated using plankton counting chamber and trypan blue stainings. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Acanthamoeba was determined using the two-fold dilution method. The MIC was defined as the minimal anti-amoeba concentration that inhibited visible amoeba growth following incubation (180 min). Results: C8K, C10K, and C12K were the anti-amoeba effect of 4 log-unit (99.99 % growth suppression of A. castellanii) incubated time for 180 min against A. castellanii at 175mM. After the amoeba, the suspension was mixed with C10K or C12K, destroying the cell membrane had been observed. Whereas, the pH adjusted control solution did not exhibit any effect even after 180 min of incubation with A. castellanii. Moreover, C6, C8, and C18:3 were the anti-amoeba effect of 4 log-unit incubated time for 60 min. C4 and C18:2 exhibited a 4-log reduction after 180 min incubation. Furthermore, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined. The MIC of C10K, C12K and C4 were 2.7 mM. These results indicate that C10K, C12K and C4 have high anti-amoeba activity against A. castellanii and suggest C10K, C12K and C4 have great potential for antimi-amoeba agents.

Keywords: Fatty acid salts, anti-amoeba activities, Acanthamoeba, fatty acids

Procedia PDF Downloads 472

Authors: Manal Elgallal, Louise Fletcher, Barbara Evans

Abstract:

Water scarcity is a growing concern in many arid and semi-arid countries. The increase of water scarcity threatens economic development and sustainability of human livelihoods as well as environment especially in developing countries. Globally, agriculture is the largest water consumption sector, accounting for approximately 70% of all freshwater extraction. Growing competition between the agricultural and higher economic value in urban and industrial uses of high-quality freshwater supplies, especially in regions where water scarcity major problems, will increase the pressure on this precious resource. In this circumstance, wastewater may provide reliable source of water for agriculture and enable freshwater to be exchanged for more economically valuable purposes. Concern regarding the risks from microbial and toxic components to human health and environment quality is a serious obstacle for wastewater reuse particularly in agriculture. Although powerful approaches and tools for microbial risk assessment and management for safe use of wastewater are now available, few studies have attempted to provide any mechanism to quantitatively assess and manage the environmental risks resulting from reusing wastewater. In seeking pragmatic solutions to sustainable wastewater reuse, there remains a lack of research incorporating both health and environmental risk assessment and management with economic analysis in order to quantitatively combine cost, benefits and risks to rank alternative reuse options. This study seeks to enhance effective reuse of wastewater for irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas, the outcome of the study is an evaluation approach that can be used to assess different reuse strategies and to determine the suitable scale at which treatment alternatives and interventions are possible, feasible and cost effective in order to optimise the trade-offs between risks to protect public health and the environment and preserving the substantial benefits.

Keywords: environmental risks, management, life cycle costs, waste water irrigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: Joanna Peksa, Faith Dillon-Lee

Abstract:

Current developments in the Western economies have turned some universities into corporate institutions driven by practices of production and commodity. Academia is increasingly becoming integrated into national economies as a result of students paying fees and is consequently using business practices in student retention and engagement. With these changes, pedagogy status as a priority within the institution has been changing in light of these new demands. New strategies have blurred the boundaries that separate a student from a client. This led to a change of the dynamic, disrupting the traditional idea of the knowledge market, and emphasizing the corporate aspect of universities. In some cases, where students are seen primarily as a customer, the purpose of academia is no longer to educate but sell a commodity and retain fee-paying students. This paper considers opposing viewpoints on the commodification of higher education, reflecting on the reality of maintaining a pedagogic grounding in an increasingly commercialized sector. By analysing a case study of the Student Success Festival, an event that involved academic and marketing teams, the differences are considered between the respective visions of the pedagogic arm of the university and the corporate. This study argues that the initial concept of the event, based on the principles of gamification, independent learning, and cognitive criticality, was more clearly linked to a grounded pedagogic approach. However, when liaising with the marketing team in a crucial step in the creative process, it became apparent that these principles were not considered a priority in terms of their remit. While the study acknowledges in the power of pedagogy, the findings show that a pact of concord is necessary between different stakeholders in order for students to benefit fully from their learning experience. Nevertheless, while issues of power prevail and whenever power is unevenly distributed, reaching a consensus becomes increasingly challenging and further research should closely monitor the developments in pedagogy in the UK higher education.

Keywords: economic pressure, commodification, pedagogy, gamification, public service, marketization

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: B. Rakjarit, S. Athichanagorn

Abstract:

Double displacement process is a method in which gas is injected at an updip well to displace the oil bypassed by waterflooding operation from downdip water injector. As gas injection is costly and a large amount of gas is needed, gas dump-flood from multiple gas reservoirs is an attractive alternative. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the benefits of the novel approach of double displacement process via gas dump-flood from multiple gas reservoirs. A reservoir simulation model consisting of a dipping oil reservoir and several underlying layered gas reservoirs was constructed in order to investigate the performance of the proposed method. Initially, water was injected via the downdip well to displace oil towards the producer located updip. When the water cut at the producer became high, the updip well was shut in and perforated in the gas zones in order to dump gas into the oil reservoir. At this point, the downdip well was open for production. In order to optimize oil recovery, oil production and water injection rates and perforation strategy on the gas reservoirs were investigated for different numbers of gas reservoirs having various depths and thicknesses. Gas dump-flood from multiple gas reservoirs can help increase the oil recovery after implementation of waterflooding upto 10%. Although the amount of additional oil recovery is slightly lower than the one obtained in conventional double displacement process, the proposed process requires a small completion cost of the gas zones and no operating cost while the conventional method incurs high capital investment in gas compression facility and high-pressure gas pipeline and additional operating cost. From the simulation study, oil recovery can be optimized by producing oil at a suitable rate and perforating the gas zones with the right strategy which depends on depths, thicknesses and number of the gas reservoirs. Conventional double displacement process has been studied and successfully implemented in many fields around the world. However, the method of dumping gas into the oil reservoir instead of injecting it from surface during the second displacement process has never been studied. The study of this novel approach will help a practicing engineer to understand the benefits of such method and can implement it with minimum cost.

Keywords: gas dump-flood, multi-gas layers, double displacement process, reservoir simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 406

Authors: Mohamed Abdelkareem

Abstract:

Remote sensing data contributed on predicting the prospective areas of water resources. Integration of microwave and multispectral data along with climatic, hydrologic, and geological data has been used here. In this article, Sentinel-2, Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array Type L‐band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data were utilized to identify the geological, hydrologic and structural features of Wadi Asyuti which represents a defunct tributary of the Nile basin, in the eastern Sahara. The image transformation of Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 data allowed characterizing the different varieties of rock units. Integration of microwave remotely-sensed data and GIS techniques provided information on physical characteristics of catchments and rainfall zones that are of a crucial role for mapping groundwater prospective zones. A fused Landsat-8 OLI and ALOS/PALSAR data improved the structural elements that difficult to reveal using optical data. Lineament extraction and interpretation indicated that the area is clearly shaped by the NE-SW graben that is cut by NW-SE trend. Such structures allowed the accumulation of thick sediments in the downstream area. Processing of recent OLI data acquired on March 15, 2014, verified the flood potential maps and offered the opportunity to extract the extent of the flooding zone of the recent flash flood event (March 9, 2014), as well as revealed infiltration characteristics. Several layers including geology, slope, topography, drainage density, lineament density, soil characteristics, rainfall, and morphometric characteristics were combined after assigning a weight for each using a GIS-based knowledge-driven approach. The results revealed that the predicted groundwater potential zones (GPZs) can be arranged into six distinctive groups, depending on their probability for groundwater, namely very low, low, moderate, high very, high, and excellent. Field and well data validated the delineated zones.

Keywords: GIS, remote sensing, groundwater, Egypt

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: M. Bredice, M. B. Forleo, L. Quici

Abstract:

Coastal tourism is currently facing huge challenges on how to balance environmental problems and tourist activities. Recent literature shows a growing interest in the issue of sustainable tourism from a so-called civilized tourists’ perspective by investigating opinions, perceptions, and behaviors. This study investigates the opinions of youth on what makes them responsible tourists and the ability of coastal marine areas to support tourism in future scenarios. A sample of 778 Italians attending the last year of high school was interviewed. Descriptive statistics, tests, and cluster analyses are applied to highlight the distribution of opinions among youth, detect significant differences based on demographic characteristics, and make segmentation of the different profiles based on students’ opinions and behaviors. Preliminary results show that students are largely convinced (62%) that by 2050 the quality of coastal environments could limit seaside tourism, while 10% of them believe that the problem can be solved simply by changing the tourist destination. Besides the cost of the holiday, the most relevant aspect respondents consider when choosing a marine destination is the presence of tourist attractions followed by the quality of the marine-coastal environment, the specificity of the local gastronomy and cultural traditions, and finally, the activities offered to guests such as sports and events. The reduction of waste and lower air emissions are considered the most important environmental areas in which marine-coastal tourism activities can contribute to preserving the quality of seas and coasts. Areas in which, as a tourist, they believe possible to give a personal contribution were (responses “very much” and “somewhat”); do not throw litter in the sea and on the beach (84%), do not buy single-use plastic products (66%), do not use soap or shampoo when showering in beaches (53%), do not have bonfires (47%), do not damage dunes (46%), and do not remove natural materials (e.g., sand, shells) from the beach (46%). About 6% of the sample stated that they were not interested in contributing to the aforementioned activities, while another 7% replied that they could not contribute at all. Finally, 80% of the sample has never participated in voluntary environmental initiatives or citizen science projects; moreover, about 64% of the students have never participated in events organized by environmental associations in marine or coastal areas. Regarding the test analysis -based on Kruskal-Wallis and Mann and Whitney tests - gender, region, and studying area of students reveals significance in terms of variables expressing knowledge and interest in sustainability topics and sustainable tourism behaviors. The classification of the education field is significant for a great number of variables, among which those related to several sustainable behaviors that respondents declare to be able to contribute as tourists. The ongoing cluster analysis will reveal different profiles in the sample and relevant variables. Based on preliminary results, implications are envisaged in the fields of education, policy, and business strategies for sustainable scenarios. Under these perspectives, the study has the potential to contribute to the conference debate about marine and coastal sustainable development and management.

Keywords: cluster analysis, education, knowledge, young people

Procedia PDF Downloads 72

Authors: Sagwata A. Manyike, Hulisani Magada

Abstract:

The South African National Biodiversity Institute is in the process of developing a guideline which sets out how biodiversity can be incorporated into land use (zoning) schemes. South Africa promulgated its Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act in 2015 and the act seeks, amongst other things, to bridge the gap between spatial planning and land use management within the country. In addition, the act requires local governments to develop wall-to-wall land use schemes for their entire jurisdictions as they had previously only developed them for their urban areas. At the same time, South Africa has a rich history of systematic conservation planning whereby Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Support Areas have been spatially delineated at a scale appropriate for spatial planning and land use management at the scale of local government. South Africa is also in the process of spatially delineating ecological infrastructure which is defined as naturally occurring ecosystems which provide valuable services to people such as water and climate regulation, soil formation, disaster risk reduction, etc. The Biodiversity and Land Use Project, which is funded by the Global Environmental Facility through the United Nations Development Programme is seeking to explore ways in which biodiversity information and ecological infrastructure can be incorporated into the spatial planning and land use management systems of local governments. Towards this end, the Biodiversity and Land Use Project have developed a guideline which sets out how local governments can integrate biodiversity into their land-use schemes as a way of not only ensuring sustainable development but also as a way helping them prepare for climate change. In addition, by incorporating biodiversity into land-use schemes, the project is exploring new ways of protecting biodiversity through land use schemes. The Guideline for Incorporating Biodiversity into Land Use Schemes was developed as a response to the fact that the National Land Use Scheme Guidelines only indicates that local governments needed to incorporate biodiversity without explaining how this could be achieved. The Natioanl Guideline also failed to specify which biodiversity-related layers are compatible with which land uses or what the benefits of incorporating biodiversity into the schemes will be for that local government. The guideline, therefore, sets out an argument for why biodiversity is important in land management processes and proceeds to provide a step by step guideline for how schemes can integrate priority biodiversity layers. This guideline will further be added as an addendum to the National Land Use Guidelines. Although the planning act calls for local government to have wall to wall schemes within 5 years of its enactment, many municipalities will not meet this deadline and so this guideline will support them in the development of their new schemes.

Keywords: biodiversity, climate change, land use schemes, local government

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Gwo-Hwa Wan, Tai-Ho Hung, Fen-Fang Chung, Wan-Ying Lee, Hui-Ching Yang

Abstract:

Air pollutant exposure results in elevated concentrations of oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers in general populations. Increased concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers in pregnant women would be associated with preterm labor and low birth weight. To our best knowledge, the associations between air pollutants exposure and inflammation in pregnant women and fetuses are unknown, as well as their effects on fetal growth. This study aimed to evaluate the influences of outdoor air pollutants in northern Taiwan areas on the inflammatory biomarker (high sensitivity C-reactive protein, hs-CRP) concentration in the blood of healthy pregnant women and how the biomarker impacts fetal growth. In this study, 38 healthy pregnant women who are in their first trimester and live in northern Taiwan area were recruited from the Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Personal characteristics and prenatal examination data (e.g., blood pressure) were obtained from recruited subjects. The concentrations of inflammatory mediators, hs-CRP, in the blood of healthy pregnant women were analyzed. Additionally, hourly data of air pollutants (PM10, SO2, NO2, O3, CO) concentrations were obtained from air quality monitoring stations in Taipei area, established by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration. The definition of lag 0 and lag 01 are the exposure to air pollutants on the day of blood withdrawal, and the average exposure to air pollutants one day before and on the day of blood withdrawal, respectively. The statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS software version 22.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). This analytical result indicates that the healthy pregnant women aged between 28 and 42 years old. The body mass index before pregnancy averaged 21.51 (sd = 2.51) kg/m2. Around 90% of the pregnant women had never smoking habit, and 28.95% of them had allergic diseases. Approximately around 84% and 5.26% of the pregnant women worked at indoor and outdoor environments, respectively. The mean hematocrit level of the pregnant women was 37.10%, and the hemoglobin levels were ranged between 10.1 and 14.7 g/dL with 12.47 g/dL of mean value. The blood hs-CRP concentrations of healthy pregnant women in the first trimester ranged between 0.32 and 32.5 mg/L with 2.83 (sd = 5.69) mg/L of mean value. The blood hs-CRP concentrations were positively associated with ozone concentrations at lag 0-14 (r = 0.481, p = 0.017) in healthy pregnant women. Significant lag effects were identified in ozone at lag 0-14 with a positive excess concentration of blood hs-CRP.

Keywords: air pollutant, hs-CRP, pregnant woman, ozone, first trimester

Procedia PDF Downloads 251

Authors: Nihad Chakri, Btissam El Amrani, Faouzi Berrada, Halima Jounaid, Fouad Amraoui

Abstract:

Public baths or hammams play an essential role in the Moroccan urban and peri-urban fabric, constituting part of the cultural heritage. Urbanization in Morocco has led to a significant increase in the number of these traditional hammams: between 6,000 and 15,000 units (to be updated) operate with a traditional heating system. Numerous studies on energy consumption indicate that a hammam consumes between 60 and 120m3 of water and one to two tons of wood per day. On average, one ton of wood costs 650 Moroccan dirhams (approximately 60 Euros), resulting in a daily fuel cost of around 1300 Moroccan dirhams (about 120 Euros). These high consumptions result in significant environmental nuisances generated by: Wastewater: in the case of hammams located on the outskirts of Casablanca, such as our study area, the Municipality of Dar Bouazza, most of these waters are directly discharged into the receiving environment without prior treatment because they are not connected to the sanitation network. Emissions of black smoke and ashes produced by the often incomplete combustion of wood. Reducing the liquid and gas emissions generated by these hammams thus poses an environmental and sustainable development challenge that needs to be addressed. In this context, we initiated the Eco-hammam project with the objective of implementing innovative and locally adapted solutions to limit the negative impacts of hammams on the environment and reduce water and wood energy consumption. This involves treating and reusing wastewater through a compact system with heat recovery and using alternative energy sources to increase and enhance the energy efficiency of these traditional hammams. To achieve this, on-site surveys of hammams in the Dar Bouazza Municipality and the application of statistical approaches to the results of the physico-chemical and bacteriological characterization of incoming and outgoing water from these units were conducted. This allowed us to establish an environmental diagnosis of these entities. In conclusion, the analysis of well water used by Dar Bouazza's hammams revealed the presence of certain parameters that could be hazardous to public health, such as total germs, total coliforms, sulfite-reducing spores, chromium, nickel, and nitrates. Therefore, this work primarily focuses on prospecting upstream of our study area to verify if other sources of pollution influence the quality of well water.

Keywords: public baths, hammams, cultural heritage, urbanization, water consumption, wood consumption, environmental nuisances, wastewater, environmental challenge, sustainable development, Eco-hammam project, innovative solutions, local adaptation, negative impacts, water conservation, wastewater treatment, heat recovery, alternative energy sources, on-site surveys, Dar Bouazza Municipality, statistical approaches, physico-chemical characterization, bacteriological characterization, environmental diagnosis, well water analysis, public health, pollution sources, well water quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Wesley Too, Christine Chesiror

Abstract:

Hypertension is a public health challenge that globally, with the World Health Organization estimating that by 2025, more than 1.5 billion people would have been diagnosed with it. Kenya’s prevalence of hypertension is estimated at 24.6 percent; however, 55% of the affected have uncontrolled blood pressure, which is worst in some parts of the country with different lifestyle: nomads and migratory communities. Kenyan pastoralists comprise 20% of the nation's population and are constantly on the move for search of water, pasture for their herd, and desertification have driven nomadic populations to the brink, given their unique and dynamic challenges. Nomads face myriad of challenges and barriers towards the management of their health care problems. Nomadic area is predominantly rural, with a low population density and a nomadic population. Health care access and quality are further hampered by poor telecommunications, infrastructure, and security. In Kenya, nomadic communities experience the worst health outcomes, disproportionate health disparities, and inequalities due to unresponsive, culturally sensitive health care system to nomad’s lifestyle and their health care needs. Marsabit covering a surface area of 66,923.1 km2, is the second largest county in Kenya, constituting about 2.3 million people of North-Eastern region, with only 2.3 percent and 1.9 percent of Kenya's total number of doctors and nurses in the country. In Kenya, there are scanty research on hypertension managementin this region and, at best, non-existent study on hypertension among nomads-migratory communities of Northern Kenya. Therefore, the purpose seeks to determine the prevalence of hypertension among nomads and document nomads' practices regarding early detections, management, and levels of control of hypertension in one of the Counties in Kenya with high- hypertensive case load per year. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to collect data from multiple sites and health facilities. A total of 260 participants were enrolled into the study. The study is currently ongoing. It is anticipated that by September, we will have initial findings & recommendations to share for conference

Keywords: pastoralists, hypertension, health, kenya

Procedia PDF Downloads 104