Search results for: environmental quality and trace elements

Authors: Hooshag Asadi Haroni, Maryam Veiskarami, Yongjun Lu

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The Dalli gold-rich porphyry deposit (17 Mt @ 0.5% Cu and 0.65 g/t Au) is located in the Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Arc (UDMA), a small segment of the Tethyan metallogenic belt, hosting several porphyry Cu (Mo-Au) systems in Iran. This research characterizes the Dalli deposit to define exploration criteria in advanced exploration such as the drilling of possible blind porphyry centers. Geological map, trench/drill hole geochemical and ground magnetic data, and age dating and isotope trace element analyses, carried out at the John De Laeter Research Center of Curtin University, were used to characterize the Delli deposit. Mineralization at Dalli is hosted by NE-trending quartz-diorite porphyry stocks (~ 200m in diameter) intruded by a wall-rock andesite porphyry. Disseminated and stockwork Cu-Au mineralization is related to potassic alteration, comprising magnetite, late K-feldspar and biotite, and quartz-sericite-specularite overprint, surrounded by extensive barren argillic and propylitic alterations. In the peripheries of the porphyry centers, there are N-trending vuggy quartz veins, hosting epithermal Au-Ag-As-Sb mineralization. Geochemical analyses of drill core samples showed that the core of the porphyry stocks is low-grade, whereas the high-grade disseminated and stockwork mineralization (~ 1% Cu and ~ 1.2 g/t Au) occurred at the contact of the porphyry stocks and andesite porphyry. Geochemical studies of the drill hole and trench samples showed a strong correlation between Cu and Au and both show a second-order correlation with Fe and As. Magnetic survey revealed two significant magnetic anomalies, associated with intensive potassic alteration, in the reduced-to-the-pole magnetic map of the area. A relatively weaker magnetic anomaly, showing no surface porphyry expressions, is located on a lithocap, consisting of advanced argillic alteration, vuggy quartz veins, and surface expressions of epithermal geochemical signatures. The association of the lithocap and the weak magnetic anomaly could be indicative of a hidden mineralized porphyry center. Litho-geochemical analyses of the least altered Dalli intrusions and volcanic rocks indicated high Sr/Y (49-61) and Eu/Eu* (0.89-0.92), features typical of Cu porphyries. The U-Pb dating of zircons of the mineralized quartz diorite and andesite porphyry, carried out by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, yielded magmatic crystallization ages of 15.4-16.0 Ma (Middle Miocene). The zircon trace element concentrations of Dalli are characterized by high Eu/Eu* (0.3-0.8), (Ce/Nd)/Y (0.01-0.3), and 10000*(Eu/Eu*)/Y (2-15) ratios, similar to fertile porphyry suites such as the giant Sar-Cheshmeh and Qulong porphyry Cu deposits along the Tethyan belt. This suggests that the Middle Miocene Dalli intrusions are fertile and require extensive deep drillings to define their potential. Chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns show no significant Eu anomalies, and are characterized by light-REE enrichments (La/Sm)n = 2.57–6.40). In normalized multi-element diagrams, analyzed rocks are characterized by enrichments in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and depletions in high field strength elements (HFSE), and display typical features of subduction-related calc-alkaline magmas. The characteristics of the Dalli deposit provided several recognition criteria for detailed exploration of Cu-Au porphyry deposits and highlighted the importance of the UDMA as a potentially significant, economically important, but relatively underexplored porphyry province.

Keywords: porphyry, gold, geochronology, magnetic, exploration

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Authors: Farnaz Nazem

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Iranian architects had creative ways for constructing the buildings in each climate. Some of these architectural elements were made under the ground. Shovadan is one of these underground spaces in hot- humid regions in Dezfoul and Shoushtar city that had special functions and characteristics. In this paper some subjects such as the history of Shovadan, its elements and effective factors in the formation of Shovadan in Dezfool city are discussed.

Keywords: architecture, dezfoul city, Shovadan, south west of Iran

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Authors: M. M. Hassani, S. Ammann, F. K. Wittel, P. Niemz, H. J. Herrmann

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Application of engineered wood, especially in the form of glued-laminated timbers has increased significantly. Recent progress in plywood made of high strength and high stiffness hardwoods, like European beech, gives designers in general more freedom by increased dimensional stability and load-bearing capacity. However, the strong hygric dependence of basically all mechanical properties renders many innovative ideas futile. The tendency of hardwood for higher moisture sorption and swelling coefficients lead to significant residual stresses in glued-laminated configurations, cross-laminated patterns in particular. These stress fields cause initiation and evolution of cracks in the bond-lines resulting in: interfacial de-bonding, loss of structural integrity, and reduction of load-carrying capacity. Subsequently, delamination of glued-laminated timbers made of hardwood elements can be considered as the dominant failure mechanism in such composite elements. In addition, long-term creep and mechano-sorption under changing environmental conditions lead to loss of stiffness and can amplify delamination growth over the lifetime of a structure even after decades. In this study we investigate the delamination process of adhesively bonded hardwood (European beech) elements subjected to changing climatic conditions. To gain further insight into the long-term performance of adhesively bonded elements during the design phase of new products, the development and verification of an authentic moisture-dependent constitutive model for various species is of great significance. Since up to now, a comprehensive moisture-dependent rheological model comprising all possibly emerging deformation mechanisms was missing, a 3D orthotropic elasto-plastic, visco-elastic, mechano-sorptive material model for wood, with all material constants being defined as a function of moisture content, was developed. Apart from the solid wood adherends, adhesive layer also plays a crucial role in the generation and distribution of the interfacial stresses. Adhesive substance can be treated as a continuum layer constructed from finite elements, represented as a homogeneous and isotropic material. To obtain a realistic assessment on the mechanical performance of the adhesive layer and a detailed look at the interfacial stress distributions, a generic constitutive model including all potentially activated deformation modes, namely elastic, plastic, and visco-elastic creep was developed. We focused our studies on the three most common adhesive systems for structural timber engineering: one-component polyurethane adhesive (PUR), melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF), and phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde (PRF). The corresponding numerical integration approaches, with additive decomposition of the total strain are implemented within the ABAQUS FEM environment by means of user subroutine UMAT. To predict the true stress state, we perform a history dependent sequential moisture-stress analysis using the developed material models for both wood substrate and adhesive layer. Prediction of the delamination process is founded on the fracture mechanical properties of the adhesive bond-line, measured under different levels of moisture content and application of the cohesive interface elements. Finally, we compare the numerical predictions with the experimental observations of de-bonding in glued-laminated samples under changing environmental conditions.

Keywords: engineered wood, adhesive, material model, FEM analysis, fracture mechanics, delamination

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Authors: Suin Seo, Sung-Il Cho

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Background: The use of mobile apps for smoking cessation has grown exponentially in recent years. Yet, there were limited researches which evaluated the quality of smoking cessation apps to our knowledge. In most cases, a clinical practice guideline which is focused on clinical physician was used as an evaluation tool. Objective: The objective of this study was to develop a user-centered measure for quality of mobile smoking cessation apps. Methods: A literature search was conducted to identify articles containing explicit smoking cessation guideline for smoker published until January 2018. WHO’s guide for tobacco users to quit was adopted for evaluation tool which assesses smoker-oriented contents of smoking cessation apps. Compared to the clinical practice guideline, WHO guideline was designed for smokers (non-specialist). On the basis of existing criteria which was developed based on 2008 clinical practice guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, evaluation tool was modified and developed by an expert panel. Results: There were five broad categories of criteria that were identified including five objective quality scales: enhancing motivation, assistance with a planning and making quit attempts, preparation for relapse, self-efficacy, connection to smoking. Enhancing motivation and assistance with planning and making quit attempts were similar to contents of clinical practice guideline, but preparation for relapse, self-efficacy and connection to smoking (environment or habit which reminds of smoking) only existed on WHO guideline. WHO guideline had more user-centered elements than clinical guideline. Especially, self-efficacy is the most important determinant of behavior change in accordance with many health behavior change models. With the WHO guideline, it is now possible to analyze the content of the app in the light of a health participant, not a provider. Conclusion: The WHO guideline evaluation tool is a simple, reliable and smoker-centered tool for assessing the quality of mobile smoking cessation apps. It can also be used to provide a checklist for the development of new high-quality smoking cessation apps.

Keywords: smoking cessation, evaluation, mobile application, WHO, guideline

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: Mathias Cehlin, Arman Ameen, Ulf Larsson, Taghi Karimipanah

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The indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is increasingly recognized as a significant factor influencing the overall level of building occupants’ health, comfort and productivity. An air-conditioning and ventilation system is normally used to create and maintain good thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Providing occupant thermal comfort and well-being with minimized use of energy is the main purpose of heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. Among different types of ventilation systems, the most widely known and used ventilation systems are mixing ventilation (MV) and displacement ventilation (DV). Impinging jet ventilation (IJV) is a promising ventilation strategy developed in the beginning of 2000s. IJV has the advantage of supplying air downwards close to the floor with high momentum and thereby delivering fresh air further out in the room compare to DV. Operating in cooling mode, IJV systems can have higher ventilation effectiveness and heat removal effectiveness compared to MV, and therefore a higher energy efficiency. However, how is the performance of IJV when operating in heating mode? This paper presents the function of IJV in a typical office room for winter conditions (heating mode). In this paper, a validated CFD model, which uses the v2-f model is used for the prediction of air flow pattern, thermal comfort and air change effectiveness. The office room under consideration has the dimensions 4.2×3.6×2.5m, which can be designed like a single-person or two-person office. A number of important factors influencing in the room with IJV are studied. The considered parameters are: heating demand, number of occupants and supplied air conditions. A total of 6 simulation cases are carried out to investigate the effects of the considered parameters. Heat load in the room is contributed by occupants, computer and lighting. The model consists of one external wall including a window. The interaction effects of heat sources, supply air flow and down draught from the window result in a complex flow phenomenon. Preliminary results indicate that IJV can be used for heating of a typical office room. The IEQ seems to be suitable in the occupied region for the studied cases.

Keywords: computation fluid dynamics, impinging jet ventilation, indoor environmental quality, ventilation strategy

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Authors: Ndidi F. Amulu, Calistus N. Ude, Patrick E. Amulu, Nneka N. Uchegbu

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The effects of temperature and enzyme concentration on the quality of mixed pineapple and pawpaw blended fruits juice were studied. Extracts of the two fruit juices were separately treated at 70  for 15 min each so as to inactivate micro-organisms. They were analyzed and blended in different proportions of 70% pawpaw and 30% pineapple, 60% pawpaw and 40% pineapple, 50% pineapple and 50% pawpaw, 40% pawpaw and 60% pineapple. The characterization of the fresh pawpaw and pineapple juice before blending showed that the juices have good quality. The high water content of the product may have affected the viscosity, vitamin C content and total soluble solid of the blended juice to be low. The effects of the process parameters on the quality showed that better quality of the blended juice can be obtained within the optimum temperature range of (50-70 °C) and enzyme concentration range (0.12-0.18 w/v). The ratio of mix 60% pineapple juice: 40% pawpaw juice has better quality. This showed that pawpaw and pineapple juices can blend effectively to produce a quality juice.

Keywords: clarification, pawpaw, pineapple, viscosity, vitamin C

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Authors: Hamed Homaei, Iraj Mahdavi, Ali Tajdin

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One of the main concerns of miners is to increase the quality level of their products because the mining metals price depends on their quality level; however, increasing the quality level of these products has different costs at different levels of the supply chain. These costs usually increase after extractor level. This paper studies the coordination issue of a decentralized three-level supply chain with one supplier (extractor), one mineral processor and one manufacturer in which the increasing product quality level cost at the processor level is higher than the supplier and at the level of the manufacturer is more than the processor. We identify the optimal product quality level for each supply chain member by designing a revenue sharing contract. Finally, numerical examples show that the designed contract not only increases the final product quality level but also provides a win-win condition for all supply chain members and increases the whole supply chain profit.

Keywords: three-stage supply chain, product quality improvement, channel coordination, revenue sharing

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Authors: Michael Sinclair, Andrea Ghermandi, Sheela A. Moses, Joseph Sabu

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Passively crowdsourced data, such as geotagged photographs from social media, represent an opportunistic source of location-based and time-specific behavioral data for ecosystem services analysis. Such data have innovative applications for environmental management and protection, which are replicable at wide spatial scales and in the context of both developed and developing countries. Here we test one such innovation, based on the analysis of the metadata of online geotagged photographs, to investigate the provision of recreational services by the entire network of wetland ecosystems in the state of Kerala, India. We estimate visitation to individual wetlands state-wide and extend, for the first time to a developing region, the emerging application of cultural ecosystem services modelling using data from social media. The impacts of restoration of wetland areal extension and water quality improvement are explored as a means to inform more sustainable management strategies. Findings show that improving water quality to a level suitable for the preservation of wildlife and fisheries could increase annual visits by 350,000, an increase of 13% in wetland visits state-wide, while restoring previously encroached wetland area could result in a 7% increase in annual visits, corresponding to 49,000 visitors, in the Ashtamudi and Vembanad lakes alone, two large coastal Ramsar wetlands in Kerala. We discuss how passive crowdsourcing of social media data has the potential to improve current ecosystem service analyses and environmental management practices also in the context of developing countries.

Keywords: coastal wetlands, cultural ecosystem services, India, passive crowdsourcing, social media, wetland restoration

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Authors: Vethathirri Ramanujam Srinivasan, S. M. Shiva Nagendra

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Air quality management in urban areas is a serious concern in both developed and developing countries. In this regard, more number of air quality monitoring stations are planned to mitigate air pollution in urban areas. In India, Central Pollution Control Board has set up 574 air quality monitoring stations across the country and proposed to set up another 500 stations in the next few years. The number of monitoring stations for each city has been decided based on population data. The setting up of ambient air quality monitoring stations and their operation and maintenance are highly expensive. Therefore, there is a need to optimize monitoring networks for air quality management. The present paper discusses the various methods such as Indian Standards (IS) method, US EPA method and European Union (EU) method to arrive at the minimum number of air quality monitoring stations. In addition, optimization of rain-gauge method and Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method using Geographical Information System (GIS) are also explored in the present work for the design of air quality network in Chennai city. In summary, additionally 18 stations are required for Chennai city, and the potential monitoring locations with their corresponding land use patterns are ranked and identified from the 1km x 1km sized grids.

Keywords: air quality monitoring network, inverse distance weighted method, population based method, spatial variation

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Authors: Samaneh Abolli, Mahdi Ahmadi Nasab, Kamyar Yaghmaeian, Mahmood Alimohammadi

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The quality of drinking water, in addition to the presence of physicochemical parameters, depends on the type and geographical location of water sources. In this study, groundwater quality was investigated by sampling total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), total hardness (TH), Cl, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺ parameters in 13 sites, and 40 water samples were sent to the laboratory. Electrometric, titration, and spectrophotometer methods were used. In the next step, the water quality index (WQI) was used to investigate the impact and weight of each parameter in the groundwater. The results showed that only the mean of magnesium ion (40.88 mg/l) was lower than the guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO). Interpreting the WQI based on the WHO guidelines showed that the statuses of 21, 11, and 7 samples were very poor, poor, and average quality, respectively, and one sample had excellent quality. Among the studied parameters, the means of EC (2,087.49 mS/cm) and Cl (1,015.87 mg/l) exceeded the global and national limits. Classifying water quality of TH was very hard (87.5%), hard (7.5%), and moderate (5%), respectively. Based on the geographical distribution, the drinking water index in sites 4 and 11 did not have acceptable quality. Chloride ion was identified as the responsible pollutant and the most important ion for raising the index. The outputs of statistical tests and Spearman correlation had significant and direct correlation (p < 0.05, r > 0.7) between TDS, EC, and chloride, EC and chloride, as well as TH, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺.

Keywords: water quality index, groundwater, chloride, GIS, Garmsar

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Authors: Fotis Vouzas

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This paper is an attempt to investigate the Business Ethics link to Quality Management. Business Ethics as a management practice is well rooted in many organizations, but its contribution to quality management implementation programs and practices is not well documented. The ISO 9000 and the Business Excellence frameworks and Awards seem to provide a basis for the implementation of a TQM philosophy contributing to efficiency, enhanced performance and sustainability. The author examines a series of Corporate Ethics initiatives and investigates the relationship to Total Quality Management in an MNC operating in Greece. The data gathering was carried out through extensive and in-depth interviews with several multiple informants, i.e., the plant manager, the production manager, and the personnel manager, using a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended questions.

Keywords: total quality management, business ethics, Greece, ISO 9000

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Authors: Alireza Shahraki, Kaveh Keshmiry Zadeh

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Total quality management in libraries is of particular importance because high-quality libraries can facilitate the sustained development process in countries. This study has been conducted to examine the feasibility of implementation of total quality management in libraries of Sistan and Baluchestan and to provide an appropriate model for this concern. All of the officials and employees of Sistan and Baluchestan libraries (23 individuals) constitute the population of the study. Data gathering tool is a questionnaire that is designated based on ISO9000. The data extracted from questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS software. Results indicate that the highest degree of conformance to the 8 principles of ISO9000 is attributed to the principle of 'users' (69.9%) and the lowest degree is associated with 'decision making based on facts' (39.1%). Moreover, a significant relationship was observed among the items (1 and 3), (2 and 5), (2 and 7), (3 and 5), (4 and 5), (4 and 7), (4 and 8), (5 and 7), and (7 and 8). According to the research findings, it can generally be said that it is not eligible now to utilize TQM in libraries of Sistan and Baluchestan.

Keywords: quality management, total quality, university libraries, libraries management

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Authors: Adnan I. O. Zaid

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Zinc aluminum alloys are versatile materials which are widely used in manufacturing several parts in the automobile and aircraft industries. The effect of grain refinement of these alloys by rare earth elements on their mechanical characteristics is scarce. The equal channel angular pressing is relatively recent method for producing severe plastic deformation in materials subjected to it resulting in refinement of their structure and enhancement of their mechanical characteristics. The phase diagram of these alloys indicates that large dendrites of large grain size can be formed during their solidification of the cast which tends to deteriorate their mechanical strength and surface quality. To overcome this problem they are normally grain refined by either titanium or titanium + boron to their melt prior to solidification. In this paper, comparison between the effect of adding either titanium, (Ti), titanium+boron, (Ti+B), or Molybdenum, Mo, to zinc-aluminum22, alloy, (ZA22) on its metallurgical and mechanical characteristics in the cast condition and after pressing by the ECAP process is investigated. It was found that addition of either Ti, Ti+B, or Mo to the ZA22 alloy in the cast condition resulted in refining of their structure being more refined by the addition of Mo, then .Ti+B and less refining by Ti addition. Furthermore, the ECAP process resulted in further refinement of the alloy micro structure except in case of Ti+B addition where poisoning i.e. coarsening of the grains has occurred. Regarding the addition of these element on the mechanical behavior; it was found that addition of Ti Or Ti+B resulted in little enhancement of the alloy strength factor and its flow stress at 20% true strain; whereas, the addition of resulted in deteriorating of its mechanical behavior as % decrease in the strength factor and % in its flow stress of 20%. As for the strain hardening index; addition of any of these elements resulted in decreasing the strain hardening index.

Keywords: addition, grain refinement, mechanical characteristics, microstructure, rare earth elements, ZA-22, Zinc- aluminum alloy

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Authors: Sara Mercedes Barroso Pinzón, Álvaro Jesús Caicedo Castro, Antonio Javer Sánchez Herencia

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In recent years there has been increased academic and industrial research into the development of orthopaedic implants with structural properties and functionality similar to mechanical strength, osseointegration, thermal stability and antibacterial capacity similar to bone structure. Hydroxyapatite has been considered for decades as an ideal biomaterial for bone regeneration due to its chemical and crystallographic similarity to the mineral structure bioapatites. However, the lack of trace elements in the hydroxyapatite structure confers very low mechanical and biological properties. Under this scenario, the objective of the research is the synthesis of hydroxyapatite with Mg from the francolite mineral present in phosphate rock from the central-eastern region of Colombia, taking advantage of the extraction of mineral species as natural precursors of Ca, P and Mg. The minerals present were studied, fluorapatite as the mineral of interest associated with magnesium carbonates and quartz. The chemical and mineralogical composition was determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX); the optimum conditions were established using the acid leaching mechanism in the wet concentration process. From the products obtained and characterised by XRD, XRF, SEM, FTIR, RAMAN, HAp-Mg biocomposite scaffolds are fabricated and the influence of Mg on morphometric parameters, mechanical and biological properties in the formed materials is evaluated.

Keywords: phosphate rock, hydroxyapatite, magnesium, biomaterials

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Authors: Seyed Armin Hashemi, Somayeh Rahimzadeh

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The urban green space and environment should be considered to be among the most fundamental elements of the sustainability of natural and human life in the new citizenship. The present research is intended to evaluate the impact of irrigation using urban wastewater of Cadmium (Cd) in the soil and leaves of the pine trees of Rasht in the forest territories of Rasht. For this purpose, following the exact specification of the geographical and topographical attributes of under treatment area, 100 sample trees were implemented randomly –systematically in each compound studied. Approaching the end of growth season, five trees were selected randomly in each of the plats and samples of leaves were collected from the parts near to the end of the crown and the part which was adjacent to the light. At the foot of each of the trees selected, a soil profile was dug and samples of soil were extracted from three depths of 0-20, centimeters. The measurements done in the laboratory showed that the density of nutritious elements of the samples of leaf and soil in the compound irrigated with wastewater .The results of the present research suggest that urban can be used as a source of irrigation whereas muck can be employed in forestation and irrigation with precise and particular supervision and control.

Keywords: irrigation, forestation, urban waste water, pine, wastewater

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Authors: Maha Mourad

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Higher education in any competitive European economy should serve the new information society by increasing the supply of good quality education services and by creating good international brands in the international higher education market. Hence, continuous risk management techniques through higher educational reforms programs became one of the top priorities within the European Union to control the quality of higher education. Risk is higher education is studies by several researchers who agreed that the risk in higher education has a direct influence on continuity of quality education and research contribution. The focus of this research is to highlights the Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) activities in the Polish higher education system as a risk management tool used to control the quality of education. This paper presents a qualitative empirical analysis in 5 different universities in Poland. In addition, it aims to help in finding global practical and create benchmark for policy makers concerning the risk management techniques based on the Polish experience.

Keywords: education development, quality assurance, sustainability, european higher education

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Authors: Maryam Pirdehghan

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During the Ba'ath Party's rule in Iraq, propaganda was utilized to justify and to promote Saddam Hussein's image in the collective memory as the greatest Arab leader. Consequently, urban walls were routinely covered with images of Saddam. Relying on these images, the regime aimed to provide a basis for evoking meanings in the public opinion, which would supposedly strengthen Saddam’s power and reconstruct facts to legitimize his political ideology. Nonetheless, Saddam was not always portrayed with common and explicit elements but in certain periods of his rule, the paintings depicted him in an unusual context, where various historical and contemporary elements were combined in a narrative background. Therefore, an understanding of the implied socio-political references of these elements is required to fully elucidate the impact of these images on forming the memory and collective unconscious of the Iraqi people. To obtain such understanding, one needs to address the following questions: a) How Saddam Hussein is portrayed in mural during his rule? b) What of elements and mythical-historical narratives are found in the paintings? c) Which Saddam's political views were subject to the collective memory through mural? Employing visual semiotics, this study reveals that during Saddam Hussein's regime, the paintings were initially simple portraits but gradually transformed into narrative images, characterized by a complex network of historical, mythical and religious elements. These elements demonstrate the transformation of a secular-nationalist politician into a Muslim ruler who tried to instill three major policies in domestic and international relations i.e. the arabization of Iraq, as well as the propagation of pan-arabism ideology (first period), the implementation of anti-Israel policy (second period) and the implementation of anti-American-British policy (last period).

Keywords: Ba'ath Party, Saddam Hussein, mural, Iraq, propaganda, collective memory

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Authors: Shirko Ahmadi, Ahmad Fallahi, Marco C. Uchida, Gustavo L. Gutierrez

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The aims of the present study are to assess and compare the health habits and quality of life (QoL) of Iranian amateur athletes in different sports. A total of 120 male amateur athletes between 17 and 31 years, engaged in 16 kinds of sports which include team (n=44), individual (n=40) and combat sports (n=36) from sports clubs in the west cities of Iran; and also those not involved in any competition in the past. Additionally, this is a cross-sectional, descriptive observational study, which the subjects completed the WHOQOL-brief questionnaire to evaluate QoL. The questionnaire is composed of 26 questions in four domains (physical health, psychological, social and environmental domains), that was applied in the Persian language. Information on the frequency and duration of training sessions were also collected. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to verify normal distribution, followed by the chi-squared test for proportions and simple analysis of variance for comparisons between groups of sports. Pearson’s correlation was used to assess the relationships between the variables analyzed. According to the findings, those from individual sports obtained highest points in the all domains of QoL; physical domains (87.1 ± 8.1 point), psychological domains (87.6 ± 9.6 point), social domains (89.7 ± 9.2 point), environmental domains (75.5± 10.7 point) and overall QoL score (84.9 ± 9.4 point). Generally, social domains were the highest QoL index (84.3 ± 7.2 points), and environmental domains were the lowest QoL index (68.1 ± 10.8 points), in all of the sports. No correlations were found between QoL domains and time engaged in the sport (r = 0.01; p = 0.93), number of weekly training sessions (r = 0.09; p = 0.37) and session duration (r = -0.06; p= 0.58). Comparison of QoL results with those of the general population revealed higher levels in the physical and psychological components of amateur athletes. In the present study, engaging in sports was associated with higher QoL levels in amateur athletes, particularly in the physical and psychological domains. Moreover, correlations were found between the overall score and domains of QoL.

Keywords: amateur, domains, Iranian, quality of life

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Zohreh Khojasteh-Ghamari, Takashi Irohara

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One of the efficient ways in supply chain risk management is avoiding the interruption in Supply Chain (SC) before it occurs. Although the majority of the organizations focus on their first-tier suppliers to avoid risk in the SC, studies show that in only 60 percent of the disruption cases the reason is first tier suppliers. In the 40 percent of the SC disruptions, the reason is downstream SC, which is the second tier and lower. Due to the increasing complexity and interrelation of modern supply chains, the SC elements have become difficult to trace. Moreover, studies show that there is a vital need to better understand the integration of risk and visibility, especially in the context of multiple objectives. In this study, we propose a multi-objective programming model to avoid disruption in SC. The objective of this study is evaluating the effect of downstream SCV on managing supply chain risk. We propose a multi-objective mathematical programming model with the objective functions of minimizing the total cost and maximizing the downstream supply chain visibility (SCV). The decision variable is supplier selection. We assume there are several manufacturers and several candidate suppliers. For each manufacturer, our model proposes the best suppliers with the lowest cost and maximum visibility in downstream supply chain. We examine the applicability of the model by numerical examples. We also define several scenarios for datasets and observe the tendency. The results show that minimum visibility in downstream SC is needed to have a safe SC network.

Keywords: downstream supply chain, optimization, supply chain risk, supply chain visibility

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Authors: Cindy Sithole, Didier Nyembwe, Peter Olubambi

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The sand casting process involves pattern making, mould making, metal pouring and shake out. Every step in the sand moulding process is very critical for production of good quality castings. However, waste generated during the sand moulding operation and lack of quality are matters that influences performance inefficiencies and lack of competitiveness in South African foundries. Defects produced from the sand moulding process are only visible in the final product (casting) which results in increased number of scrap, reduced sales and increases cost in the foundry. The purpose of this Research is to propose six sigma technique (DMAIC, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) intervention in sand moulding foundries and to reduce variation caused by deficiencies in the sand moulding process in South African foundries. Its objective is to create sustainability and enhance productivity in the South African foundry industry. Six sigma is a data driven method to process improvement that aims to eliminate variation in business processes using statistical control methods .Six sigma focuses on business performance improvement through quality initiative using the seven basic tools of quality by Ishikawa. The objectives of six sigma are to eliminate features that affects productivity, profit and meeting customers’ demands. Six sigma has become one of the most important tools/techniques for attaining competitive advantage. Competitive advantage for sand casting foundries in South Africa means improved plant maintenance processes, improved product quality and proper utilization of resources especially scarce resources. Defects such as sand inclusion, Flashes and sand burn on were some of the defects that were identified as resulting from the sand moulding process inefficiencies using six sigma technique. The courses were we found to be wrong design of the mould due to the pattern used and poor ramming of the moulding sand in a foundry. Six sigma tools such as the voice of customer, the Fishbone, the voice of the process and process mapping were used to define the problem in the foundry and to outline the critical to quality elements. The SIPOC (Supplier Input Process Output Customer) Diagram was also employed to ensure that the material and process parameters were achieved to ensure quality improvement in a foundry. The process capability of the sand moulding process was measured to understand the current performance to enable improvement. The Expected results of this research are; reduced sand moulding process variation, increased productivity and competitive advantage.

Keywords: defects, foundries, quality improvement, sand moulding, six sigma (DMAIC)

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Authors: Abimbola Motunrayo Enitan, Ibironke Titilayo Enitan, John Odiyo

Abstract:

The study assessed quality of surface water across Ndawuse River Phase 1, District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria based on physico-chemical variables that are linked to agrochemical and eutrophication, as well as heavy metals concentrations. In total, sixteen surface water samples were obtained from five locations along the river. The results were compared with the standard limits set by both World Health Organization and Federal Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. The results obtained indicated that BOD5, turbidity, 0.014-3.511 mg Fe/L and 0.078-0.14 mg Cr/L were all above the standard limits. The results further showed that the quality of surface water is being significantly affected by human activities around the Ndawuse River which could pose an adverse health risk to several communities that rely on these receiving water bodies primarily as their source of water. Therefore, there is a need for strict enforcement of environmental laws considering the physico-chemical analysis.

Keywords: Abuja, heavy metals, human exposure risk, Ndawuse River, Nigeria, surface water

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Authors: Manveen Singh

Abstract:

Since the very advent of law enforcement, eyewitness testimony has played a pivotal role in identifying, arresting and convicting suspects. Reliant heavily on the accuracy of human memory, nothing seems to carry more weight with the judiciary than the testimony of an actual witness. The acceptance of eyewitness testimony as a substantive piece of evidence lies embedded in the assumption that the human mind is adept at recording and storing events. Research though, has proven otherwise. Having carried out extensive study in the field of eyewitness testimony for the past 40 years, psychologists have concluded that human memory is fragile and needs to be treated carefully. The question that arises then, is how reliable is eyewitness testimony? The credibility of eyewitness testimony, simply put, depends on several factors leaving it reliable at times while not so much at others. This is further substantiated by the fact that as per scientific research, over 75 percent of all eyewitness testimonies may stand in error; quite a few of these cases resulting in life sentences. Although the advancement of scientific techniques, especially DNA testing, helped overturn many of these eyewitness testimony-based convictions, yet eyewitness identifications continue to form the backbone of most police investigations and courtroom decisions till date. What then is the solution to this long standing concern regarding the accuracy of eyewitness accounts? The present paper shall analyze the linkage between human memory and eyewitness identification as well as look at the various factors governing the credibility of eyewitness testimonies. Furthermore, it shall elaborate upon some best practices developed over the years to help reduce mistaken identifications. Thus, in the process, trace out the changing landscape of eyewitness testimony amidst the evolution of DNA and trace evidence.

Keywords: DNA, eyewitness, identification, testimony, evidence

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Authors: Eric Dede, Marcus Tindall, John W. Cherrie, Steve Hankin, Christopher Collins

Abstract:

Current exposure models used in contaminated land risk assessment are highly conservative. Use of these models may lead to over-estimation of actual exposures, possibly resulting in negative financial implications due to un-necessary remediation. Thus, we are carrying out a study seeking to improve our understanding of human exposure to selected toxic elements in soil: arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) resulting from allotment land-use. The study employs biomonitoring and physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling to quantify human exposure to these elements. We recruited 37 allotment users (adults > 18 years old) in Scotland, UK, to participate in the study. Concentrations of the elements (and their bioaccessibility) were measured in allotment samples (soil and allotment produce). Amount of produce consumed by the participants and participants’ biological samples (urine and blood) were collected for up to 12 consecutive months. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Reading Research Ethics Committee. PBPK models (coded in MATLAB) were used to estimate the distribution and accumulation of the elements in key body compartments, thus indicating the internal body burden. Simulating low element intake (based on estimated ‘doses’ from produce consumption records), predictive models suggested that detection of these elements in urine and blood was possible within a given period of time following exposure. This information was used in planning biomonitoring, and is currently being used in the interpretation of test results from biological samples. Evaluation of the models is being carried out using biomonitoring data, by comparing model predicted concentrations and measured biomarker concentrations. The PBPK models will be used to generate bioavailability values, which could be incorporated in contaminated land exposure models. Thus, the findings from this study will promote a more sustainable approach to contaminated land management.

Keywords: biomonitoring, exposure, PBPK modelling, toxic elements

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Authors: De Biase Ilaria, Della Rocca Mattia

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Our work aims to highlight the role played by cognitive biases in the reception of environmental information, including scientific communication from expert to the lay public, especially in relationship with environmental data coming from biological and biotechnological recording. Some alternative strategies are suggested in order to maximize public awareness on environmental changes.

Keywords: science communication, environment and psychology, cognitive biases, environmental awareness

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Authors: A. Boudiaf

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze and apprehend, through four case studies, the interest of the project of the implementation of the quality management system (QMS) at four Moroccan small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This project could generate significant organizational change to improve the functioning of the organization. In fact, quality is becoming a necessity in the current business world. It is considered to be a major component in companies’ competitive strategies. It should be noted that quality management is characterized by a set of methods and techniques that can be used to solve malfunctions and reorganize companies. It is useful to point out that the choice of the adoption of the quality approach could be influenced by the circumstances of the business context, it could also be derived from its strategic vision; this means that this choice can be characterized as either a strategic aspect or a reactive aspect. This would probably have a major impact on the functioning of the QMS and also on the perception of the quality issue by company managers and their employees.

Keywords: business context, organizational change, quality, reorganization

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Authors: Pegah Zamani

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This multidisciplinary study interrogates the reformulation of socio-ecological systems by bringing different disciplines together and incorporating ecological, social, and technological components to the sustainable design. The study seeks for a holistic sustainable system to understand the multidimensional impact of the evolving innovative technologies on responding to the variable socio-environmental conditions. Through a range of cases, from the vernacular built spaces to the sophisticated optimized systems, the research unfolds how far the environmental elements would impact the performance of a sustainable building, its micro-climatic ecological requirements, and its human inhabitation. As a product of the advancing technologies, an optimized and environmentally responsive building offers new identification, and realization of the built space through reformulating the connection to its internal and external environments (such as solar, thermal, and airflow), as well as its dwellers. The study inquires properties of optimized buildings, by bringing into the equation not only the environmental but also the socio-cultural, morphological, and phenomenal factors. Thus, the research underlines optimized built space as a product and practice which would not be meaningful without addressing and dynamically adjusting to the diversity and complexity of socio-ecological systems.

Keywords: ecology, morphology, socio-ecological systems, sustainability

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Authors: Fstemeh Rais Esmaili, Ehsan Ranjbar

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Pedestrian streets as one type of urban public spaces have an important role in improving the quality of urban life. In Iran, planning and designing of pedestrian streets is in its primary steps. In spite of starting this approach in Iran, and designing several pedestrian streets, there are still not organized studies about quality assessment of pedestrian streets. As a result, the strength and weakness points of the initial experiences have not been utilized. This inattention to quality assessment have caused designing pedestrian streets to be limited to just vehicles traffic control and preliminary actions like paving; so that, special potentials of pedestrian streets for creating social, livable and dynamic public spaces have not been used. This article, as an organized study about quality assessment of pedestrian streets in Iran, tries to reach two main goals: first, introducing a framework for quality assessment of pedestrian streets in Iran, and second, creating a context for improving the quality of pedestrian streets especially for further experiences. The main research methods are description and context analyzing. With respect to comparative analysis of ideas about quality, considering international and local case studies and analyzing existing condition of Saf Pedestrian Street, a particular model for quality assessment has been introduced. In this model, main components and assessment criteria have been presented. On the basis of this model, questionnaire and checklist for assessment have been prepared. The questionnaire and interview have been used to assess qualities which are in direct contact with people and the checklist has been used for analyzing visual qualities by authors through observation. Some results of questionnaire and checklist show that 7 of 11 primary components, diversity, flexibility, cleanness, legibility and imaginably, identity, livability, form and physical setting are rated low and very low in quality degree. Three components, efficiency, comfort and distinctiveness, have medium and low quality degree and one component, access, linkage and permeability has high quality degree. Therefore, based on implemented analyzing process, Saf Pedestrian Street needs to be improved and these quality improvement priorities are determined based on presented criteria. Adaption of final results with existing condition illustrates the shortage of services for satisfying user’s needs, inflexibility and impossibility of using spaces in various times, lack of facilities for different climatic conditions, lack of facilities such as drinking fountain, inappropriate designing of existing urban furniture like garbage cans, and creating pollution and unsuitable view, lack of visual attractions, neglecting disabled persons in designing entrances, shortage of benches and their undesirable designing, lack of vegetation, absence of special characters making it different from other streets, preventing people taking part in the space causing lack of affiliation, lack of appropriate elements for leisure time and lack of exhilaration in the space. On the other hand, these results present high access and permeability, high safety, less sound pollution and more relief, comfortable movement along the way due to suitable pavement and economic efficiency, as the strength points of Saf pedestrian street.

Keywords: pedestrian streets, quality assessment, quality criteria, Saf Pedestrian Street

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Authors: Bashir Abdu Muzakkari, Mohamad Afendee Mohamad, Mohd Fadzil Abdul Kadir

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is an aggregation of several tiny, low-cost sensor nodes, spatially distributed to monitor physical or environmental status. WSN is constantly changing because of the rapid technological advancements in sensor elements such as radio, battery and operating systems. The Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols remain very vital in the WSN because of its role in coordinating communication amongst the sensors. Other than battery consumption, packet collision, network lifetime and latency are factors that largely depend on WSN MAC protocol and these factors have been widely treated in recent days. In this paper, we survey some latest proposed WSN Contention-based, Scheduling-based and Hybrid MAC protocols while presenting an examination, correlation of advantages and limitations of each protocol. Concentration is directed towards investigating the treatment of Quality of Service (QoS) performance metrics within these particular protocols. The result shows that majority of the protocols leaned towards energy conservation. We, therefore, believe that other performance metrics of guaranteed QoS such as latency, throughput, packet loss, network and bandwidth availability may play a critical role in the design of future MAC protocols for WSNs.

Keywords: WSN, QoS, energy consumption, MAC protocol

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Authors: Tanya Kaur Bedi, Shankha Pratim Bhattacharya

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The US Environmental Protection Agency defines indoor air quality as “The air quality within and around buildings, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants”. According to the 2021 report by the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago, Indian residents, a country which is home to the highest levels of air pollution in the world, lose about 5.9 years from life expectancy due to poor air quality and yet has numerous dwellings dependent on natural ventilation. Currently the urban population spends 90% of the time indoors, this scenario raises a concern for occupant health and well-being. The built environment can affect health directly and indirectly through immediate or long-term exposure to indoor air pollutants. Health effects associated with indoor air pollutants include eye/nose/throat irritation, respiratory diseases, heart disease, and even cancer. This study attempts to demonstrate the causal relationship between the indoor air quality and its determining aspects. Detailed indoor air quality audits were conducted in residential buildings located in Kolkata, India in the months of December and January 2021. According to the air pollution knowledge assessment city program in India, Kolkata is also the second most polluted mega-city after Delhi. Although the air pollution levels are alarming year-long, the winter months are most crucial due to the unfavorable environmental conditions. While emissions remain typically constant throughout the year, cold air is denser and moves slower than warm air, trapping the pollution in place for much longer and consequently is breathed in at a higher rate than the summers. The air pollution monitoring period was selected considering environmental factors and major pollution contributors like traffic and road dust. This study focuses on the relationship between the built environment and the spatial-temporal distribution of air pollutants in and around it. The measured parameters include, temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, and benzene. A total of 56 rooms were audited, selectively targeting the most dominant middle-income group. The data-collection was conducted using a set of instruments positioned in the human breathing-zone. The study assesses indoor air quality based on factors determining natural ventilation and air pollution dispersion such as surrounding environment, dominant wind, openable window to floor area ratio, windward or leeward side openings, and natural ventilation type in the room: single side or cross-ventilation, floor height, residents cleaning habits, etc.

Keywords: indoor air quality, occupant health, urban housing, air pollution, natural ventilation, architecture, urban issues

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Authors: Alexandros Pournaras, Anastasia Papadopoulou, Serafim Kontos, Anastasios Karakostas

Abstract:

The air quality of modern cities is an important concern, as poor air quality contributes to human health and environmental issues. Reliable air quality forecasting has, thus, gained scientific and governmental attention as an essential tool that enables authorities to take proactive measures for public safety. In this study, the potential of Machine Learning (ML) models to forecast PM2.5 at local scale is investigated in the city of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, which has been struggling with the persistent issue of air pollution. ML models, with proven ability to address timeseries forecasting, are employed to predict the PM2.5 concentrations and the respective Air Quality Index 5-days ahead by learning from daily historical air quality and meteorological data from 2014 to 2016 and gathered from two stations with different land use characteristics in the urban fabric of Thessaloniki. The performance of the ML models on PM2.5 concentrations is evaluated with common statistical methods, such as R squared (r²) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), utilizing a portion of the stations’ measurements as test set. A multi-categorical evaluation is utilized for the assessment of their performance on respective AQIs. Several conclusions were made from the experiments conducted. Experimenting on MLs’ configuration revealed a moderate effect of various parameters and training schemas on the model’s predictions. Their performance of all these models were found to produce satisfactory results on PM2.5 concentrations. In addition, their application on untrained stations showed that these models can perform well, indicating a generalized behavior. Moreover, their performance on AQI was even better, showing that the MLs can be used as predictors for AQI, which is the direct information provided to the general public.

Keywords: Air Quality, AQ Forecasting, AQI, Machine Learning, PM2.5

Procedia PDF Downloads 55