Search results for: saving grace

Authors: P. C. Kutschera, Elena C. Tesoro, Mary Grace Talamera-Sandico, Jose Maria G. Pelayo III

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Second generation military Filipino Amerasians comprise a formidable contemporary segment of the estimated 250,000-plus biracial Amerasians in the Philippines today. Overall, they are a stigmatized and socioeconomically marginalized diaspora, historically; they were abandoned or estranged by U.S. military personnel fathers assigned during the century-long Colonial, Post-World War II and Cold War Era of permanent military basing (1898-1992). Indeed, U.S. military personnel remain stationed in smaller numbers in the Philippines today. This inquiry is an outgrowth of two recent small sample studies. The first surfaced the impact of the U.S. military prostitution system on formation of the ‘Derivative Amerasian Family Construct’ on first generation Amerasians; a second, qualitative case study suggested the continued effect of the prostitution systems' destructive impetuous on second generation Amerasians. The intent of this current qualitative, multiple-case study was to actively seek out second generation sex industry toilers. The purpose was to focus further on this human phenomenon in the post-basing and post-military prostitution system eras. As background, the former military prostitution apparatus has transformed into a modern dynamic of rampant sex tourism and prostitution nationwide. This is characterized by hotel and resorts offering unrestricted carnal access, urban and provincial brothels (casas), discos, bars and pickup clubs, massage parlors, local barrio karaoke bars and street prostitution. A small case study sample (N = 4) of female and male second generation Amerasians were selected. Sample formation employed a non-probability ‘snowball’ technique drawing respondents from the notorious Angeles, Metro Manila, Olongapo City ‘AMO Amerasian Triangle’ where most former U.S. military installations were sited and modern sex tourism thrives. A six-month study and analysis of in-depth interviews of female and male sex laborers, their families and peers revealed a litany of disturbing, and troublesome experiences. Results showed profiles of debilitating human poverty, history of family disorganization, stigmatization, social marginalization and the ghost of the military prostitution system and its harmful legacy on Amerasian family units. Emerging were testimonials of wayward young people ensnared in a maelstrom of deep economic deprivation, familial dysfunction, psychological desperation and societal indifference. The paper recommends that more study is needed and implications of unstudied psychosocial and socioeconomic experiences of distressed younger generations of military Amerasians require specific research. Heretofore apathetic or disengaged U.S. institutions need to confront the issue and formulate activist and solution-oriented social welfare, human services and immigration easement policies and alternatives. These institutions specifically include academic and social science research agencies, corporate foundations, the U.S. Congress, and Departments of State, Defense and Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security (i.e. Citizen and Immigration Services) It is them who continue to endorse a laissez-faire policy of non-involvement over the entire Filipino Amerasian question. Such apathy, the paper concludes, relegates this consequential but neglected blood progeny to the status of humiliating destitution and exploitation. Amerasians; thus, remain entrapped in their former colonial, and neo-colonial habitat. Ironically, they are unwitting victims of a U.S. American homeland that fancies itself geo-politically as a strong and strategic military treaty ally of the Philippines in the Western Pacific.

Keywords: Asian Americans, diaspora, Filipino Amerasians, military prostitution, stigmatization

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Authors: Abdallah M. Fayed

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The study area is located in south Darb El Arbaieen, western desert of Egypt. It occupies the area between latitudes 22° 00/ and 22° 30/ North and Longitudes 29° 30/ and 30° 00/ East, from southern border of Egypt to the area north Bir Kuraiym and from the area East of East Owienat to the area west Tushka district, its area about 2750 Km2. The famous features; southern part of Darb El Arbaieen road, G Baraqat El Scab El Qarra, Bir Dibis, Bir El Shab and Bir Kuraiym, Interpretation of soil stratification shows layers that are related to Quaternary and Upper-Lower Cretaceous eras. It is dissected by a series of NE-SW striking faults. The regional groundwater flow direction is in SW-NE direction with a hydraulic gradient is 1m / 2km. Mathematical model program has been applied for evaluation of groundwater potentials in the main Aquifer –Nubian Sandstone- in the area of study and Remote sensing technique is considered powerful, accurate and saving time in this respect. These techniques are widely used for illustrating and analysis different phenomenon such as the new development in the desert (land reclamation), residential development (new communities), urbanization, etc. The major issues concerning water development objective of this work is to determine the new development areas in western desert of Egypt during the period from 2003 to 2015 using remote sensing technique, the impacts of the present and future development have been evaluated by using the two-dimensional numerical groundwater flow Simulation Package (visual modflow 4.2). The package was used to construct and calibrate a numerical model that can be used to simulate the response of the aquifer in the study area under implementing different management alternatives in the form of changes in piezometric levels and salinity. Total period of simulation is 100 years. After steady state calibration, two different scenarios are simulated for groundwater development. 21 production wells are installed at the study area and used in the model, with the total discharge for the two scenarios were 105000 m3/d, 210000 m3/d. The drawdown was 11.8 m and 23.7 m for the two scenarios in the end of 100 year. Contour maps for water heads and drawdown and hydrographs for piezometric head are represented. The drawdown was less than the half of the saturated thickness (the safe yield case).

Keywords: remote sensing, management of aquifer systems, simulation modeling, western desert, South Darb El Arbaieen

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Authors: J. D. García Espinel, Paula Pérez Sánchez, Carlos Egea Ruiz, Carlos Lardín Mifsut, Andrés López-Aranguren Oliver

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This paper shortly describes three main actuations over a Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) for reducing its energy consumption: Optimization of the biological reactor in the aeration stage by including new control algorithms and introducing new efficient equipment, the installation of an innovative hybrid system with zero Grid injection (formed by 100kW of PV energy and 5 kW of mini-wind energy generation) and an intelligent management system for load consumption and energy generation control in the most optimum way. This project called RENEWAT, involved in the European Commission call LIFE 2013, has the main objective of reducing the energy consumptions through different actions on the processes which take place in a WWTP and introducing renewable energies on these treatment plants, with the purpose of promoting the usage of treated waste water for irrigation and decreasing the C02 gas emissions. WWTP is always required before waste water can be reused for irrigation or discharged in water bodies. However, the energetic demand of the treatment process is high enough for making the price of treated water to exceed the one for drinkable water. This makes any policy very difficult to encourage the re-use of treated water, with a great impact on the water cycle, particularly in those areas suffering hydric stress or deficiency. The cost of treating waste water involves another climate-change related burden: the energy necessary for the process is obtained mainly from the electric network, which is, in most of the cases in Europe, energy obtained from the burning of fossil fuels. The innovative part of this project is based on the implementation, adaptation and integration of solutions for this problem, together with a new concept of the integration of energy input and operative energy demand. Moreover, there is an important qualitative jump between the technologies used and the alleged technologies to use in the project which give it an innovative character, due to the fact that there are no similar previous experiences of a WWTP including an intelligent discrimination of energy sources, integrating renewable ones (PV and Wind) and the grid.

Keywords: aeration system, biological reactor, CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, hybrid systems, LIFE 2013 call, process optimization, renewable energy sources, wasted water treatment plants

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Authors: Tatsuya Yamazaki, Kazuya Miyakawa, Tomohiko Sugiyama, Toshitaka Iwatani

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The introduction of sensor technologies into agriculture is a necessary step to realize Precision Agriculture. Although sensing methodologies themselves have been prevailing owing to miniaturization and reduction in costs of sensors, there are some difficulties to analyze and understand the sensing data. Targeting at pears ’Le Lectier’, which is particular to Niigata in Japan, cultivation environmental data have been collected at pear fields by eight sorts of sensors: field temperature, field humidity, rain gauge, soil water potential, soil temperature, soil moisture, inner-bag temperature, and inner-bag humidity sensors. With regard to the inner-bag temperature and humidity sensors, they are used to measure the environment inside the fruit bag used for pre-harvest bagging of pears. In this experiment, three kinds of fruit bags were used for the pre-harvest bagging. After over 100 days continuous measurement, volumes of sensing data have been collected. Firstly, correlation analysis among sensing data measured by respective sensors reveals that one sensor can replace another sensor so that more efficient and cost-saving sensing systems can be proposed to pear farmers. Secondly, differences in characteristic and performance of the three kinds of fruit bags are clarified by the measurement results by the inner-bag environmental sensing. It is found that characteristic and performance of the inner-bags significantly differ from each other by statistical analysis. Lastly, a relational model between the sensing data and the pear outlook quality is established by use of Structural Equation Model (SEM). Here, the pear outlook quality is related with existence of stain, blob, scratch, and so on caused by physiological impair or diseases. Conceptually SEM is a combination of exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression. By using SEM, a model is constructed to connect independent and dependent variables. The proposed SEM model relates the measured sensing data and the pear outlook quality determined on the basis of farmer judgement. In particularly, it is found that the inner-bag humidity variable relatively affects the pear outlook quality. Therefore, inner-bag humidity sensing might help the farmers to control the pear outlook quality. These results are supported by a large quantity of inner-bag humidity data measured over the years 2014, 2015, and 2016. The experimental and analytical results in this research contribute to spreading Precision Agriculture technologies among the farmers growing ’Le Lectier’.

Keywords: precision agriculture, pre-harvest bagging, sensor fusion, structural equation model

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Authors: Ram Sharan Mehta, Sanjeev Sharma

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Introduction: Haemodialysis (HD) is a mechanical process of removing waste products from the blood and replacing essential substances in patients with renal failure. First artificial kidney developed in Netherlands in 1943 AD First successful treatment of CRF reported in 1960AD, life-saving treatment begins for CRF in 1972 AD. In 1973 AD Medicare took over financial responsibility for many clients and after that method become popular. BP Koirala institute of health science is the only center outside the Kathmandu, where HD service is available. In BPKIHS PD started in Jan.1998, HD started in August 2002 till September 2003 about 278 patients received HD. Day by day the number of HD patients is increasing in BPKIHS as with institutional growth. No such type of study was conducted in past hence there is lack of valid & reliable baseline data. Hence, the investigators were interested to conduct the study on " Profile of the Renal Failure patients under Haemodialysis at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences Nepal". Objectives: The objectives of the study were: to find out the Socio-demographic characteristics of the patients, to explore the knowledge of the patients regarding disease process and Haemodialysis and to identify the problems encountered by the patients. Methods: It is a hospital-based exploratory study. The population of the study was the clients under HD and the sampling method was purposive. Fifty-four patients undergone HD during the period of 17 July 2012 to 16 July 2013 of complete one year were included in the study. Structured interview schedule was used for collect data after obtaining validity and reliability. Results: Total 54 subjects had undergone for HD, having age range of 5-75 years and majority of them were male (74%) and Hindu (93 %). Thirty-one percent illiterate, 28% had agriculture their occupation, 80% of them were from very poor community, and about 30% subjects were unaware about the disease they suffering. Majority of subjects reported that they had no complications during dialysis (61%), where as 20% reported nausea and vomiting, 9% Hypotension, 4% headache and 2%chest pain during dialysis. Conclusions: CRF leading to HD is a long battle for patients, required to make major and continuous adjustment, both physiologically and psychologically. The study suggests that non-compliance with HD regimen were common. The socio-demographic and knowledge profile will help in the management and early prevention of disease and evaluate aspects that will influence care and patients can select mode of treatment themselves properly.

Keywords: profile, haemodialysis, Nepal, patients, treatment

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Authors: Maria Cherepanova, Svetlana Maximova

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Background And Aims: Suicide is among ten most common causes of death of the working-age population in the world. According to the WHO forecasts, by 2025 suicide will be the third leading cause of death, after cardiovascular diseases and cancer. In 2019, the global suicide rate in the world was 10,5 per 100,000 people. In Russia, the average figure was 11.6. However, in some depressed regions of Russia, such as Buryatia and Altai, it reaches 35.3. The aim of this study was to develop models based on the regional factors of social well-being deprivation that provoke the suicidal risk of various age groups of Russian population. We also investigated suicidal risk prevention in modern Russia, analyzed its efficacy, and developed recommendations for suicidal risk prevention improvement. Methods: In this study, we analyzed the data from sociological surveys from six regions of Russia. Totally we interviewed 4200 people, the age of the respondents was from 16 to 70 years. The results were subjected to factorial and regression analyzes. Results: The results of our study indicate that young people are especially socially vulnerable, which result in ineffective patterns of self-preservation behavior and increase the risk of suicide. That is due to lack of anti-suicidal barriers formation; low importance of vital values; the difficulty or impossibility to achieve basic needs; low satisfaction with family and professional life; and decrease in personal unconditional significance. The suicidal risk of the middle-aged population is due to a decrease in social well-being in the main aspects of life, which determines low satisfaction, decrease in ontological security, and the prevalence of auto-aggressive deviations. The suicidal risk of the elderly population is due to increased factors of social exclusion which result in narrowing the social space and limiting the richness of life. Conclusions: The existing system for lowering suicide risk in modern Russia is predominantly oriented to a medical treatment, which provides only intervention to people who already committed suicide, that significantly limits its preventive effectiveness and social control of this deviation. The national strategy for suicide risk reduction in modern Russian society should combine medical and social activities, designed to minimize possible situations resulting to suicide. The strategy for elimination of suicidal risk should include a systematic and significant improvement of the social well-being of the population and aim at overcoming the basic aspects of social disadvantages such as poverty, unemployment as well as implementing innovative mental health improvement, developing life-saving behavior that will help to counter suicides in Russia.

Keywords: social factors, suicide, prevention, Russia

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Authors: Tolulope Aremu

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This paper is based on the idea of using deep learning methodology for optimizing production yield by tuning a few key process parameters in a manufacturing environment. The study was explicitly on how to maximize production yield and minimize operational costs by utilizing advanced neural network models, specifically Long Short-Term Memory and Convolutional Neural Networks. These models were implemented using Python-based frameworks—TensorFlow and Keras. The targets of the research are the precision molding processes in which temperature ranges between 150°C and 220°C, the pressure ranges between 5 and 15 bar, and the material flow rate ranges between 10 and 50 kg/h, which are critical parameters that have a great effect on yield. A dataset of 1 million production cycles has been considered for five continuous years, where detailed logs are present showing the exact setting of parameters and yield output. The LSTM model would model time-dependent trends in production data, while CNN analyzed the spatial correlations between parameters. Models are designed in a supervised learning manner. For the model's loss, an MSE loss function is used, optimized through the Adam optimizer. After running a total of 100 training epochs, 95% accuracy was achieved by the models recommending optimal parameter configurations. Results indicated that with the use of RSM and DOE traditional methods, there was an increase in production yield of 12%. Besides, the error margin was reduced by 8%, hence consistent quality products from the deep learning models. The monetary value was annually around $2.5 million, the cost saved from material waste, energy consumption, and equipment wear resulting from the implementation of optimized process parameters. This system was deployed in an industrial production environment with the help of a hybrid cloud system: Microsoft Azure, for data storage, and the training and deployment of their models were performed on Google Cloud AI. The functionality of real-time monitoring of the process and automatic tuning of parameters depends on cloud infrastructure. To put it into perspective, deep learning models, especially those employing LSTM and CNN, optimize the production yield by fine-tuning process parameters. Future research will consider reinforcement learning with a view to achieving further enhancement of system autonomy and scalability across various manufacturing sectors.

Keywords: production yield optimization, deep learning, tuning of process parameters, LSTM, CNN, precision manufacturing, TensorFlow, Keras, cloud infrastructure, cost saving

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Authors: H. Agbaria, A. Salman, M. Huleihel, G. Beck, D. H. Rich, S. Mordechai, J. Kapelushnik

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Viral and bacterial infections are responsible for variety of diseases. These infections have similar symptoms like fever, sneezing, inflammation, vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. Thus, physicians may encounter difficulties in distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections based on these symptoms. Bacterial infections differ from viral infections in many other important respects regarding the response to various medications and the structure of the organisms. In many cases, it is difficult to know the origin of the infection. The physician orders a blood, urine test, or 'culture test' of tissue to diagnose the infection type when it is necessary. Using these methods, the time that elapses between the receipt of patient material and the presentation of the test results to the clinician is typically too long ( > 24 hours). This time is crucial in many cases for saving the life of the patient and for planning the right medical treatment. Thus, rapid identification of bacterial and viral infections in the lab is of great importance for effective treatment especially in cases of emergency. Blood was collected from 50 patients with confirmed viral infection and 50 with confirmed bacterial infection. White blood cells (WBCs) and plasma were isolated and deposited on a zinc selenide slide, dried and measured under a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscope to obtain their infrared absorption spectra. The acquired spectra of WBCs and plasma were analyzed in order to differentiate between the two types of infections. In this study, the potential of FTIR microscopy in tandem with multivariate analysis was evaluated for the identification of the agent that causes the human infection. The method was used to identify the infectious agent type as either bacterial or viral, based on an analysis of the blood components [i.e., white blood cells (WBC) and plasma] using their infrared vibrational spectra. The time required for the analysis and evaluation after obtaining the blood sample was less than one hour. In the analysis, minute spectral differences in several bands of the FTIR spectra of WBCs were observed between groups of samples with viral and bacterial infections. By employing the techniques of feature extraction with linear discriminant analysis (LDA), a sensitivity of ~92 % and a specificity of ~86 % for an infection type diagnosis was achieved. The present preliminary study suggests that FTIR spectroscopy of WBCs is a potentially feasible and efficient tool for the diagnosis of the infection type.

Keywords: viral infection, bacterial infection, linear discriminant analysis, plasma, white blood cells, infrared spectroscopy

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Authors: K. Yuki, R. Tsuji, K. Takai, S. Aramaki, R. Kibushi, N. Unno, K. Suzuki

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A small cold plate with uni-directional porous copper is proposed for cooling power electronics such as an on-vehicle inverter with the heat generation of approximately 500 W/cm2. The uni-directional porous copper with the pore perpendicularly orienting the heat transfer surface is soldered to a grooved heat transfer surface. This structure enables the cooling liquid to evaporate in the pore of the porous copper and then the vapor to discharge through the grooves. In order to minimize the cold plate, a double flow channel concept is introduced for the design of the cold plate. The cold plate consists of a base plate, a spacer, and a vapor discharging plate, totally 12 mm in thickness. The base plate has multiple nozzles of 1.0 mm in diameter for the liquid supply and 4 slits of 2.0 mm in width for vapor discharging, and is attached onto the top surface of the porous copper plate of 20 mm in diameter and 5.0 mm in thickness. The pore size is 0.36 mm and the porosity is 36 %. The cooling liquid flows into the porous copper as an impinging jet flow from the multiple nozzles, and then the vapor, which is generated in the pore, is discharged through the grooves and the vapor slits outside the cold plate. A heated test section consists of the cold plate, which was explained above, and a heat transfer copper block with 6 cartridge heaters. The cross section of the heat transfer block is reduced in order to increase the heat flux. The top surface of the block is the grooved heat transfer surface of 10 mm in diameter at which the porous copper is soldered. The grooves are fabricated like latticework, and the width and depth are 1.0 mm and 0.5 mm, respectively. By embedding three thermocouples in the cylindrical part of the heat transfer block, the temperature of the heat transfer surface ant the heat flux are extrapolated in a steady state. In this experiment, the flow rate is 0.5 L/min and the flow velocity at each nozzle is 0.27 m/s. The liquid inlet temperature is 60 °C. The experimental results prove that, in a single-phase heat transfer regime, the heat transfer performance of the cold plate with the uni-directional porous copper is 2.1 times higher than that without the porous copper, though the pressure loss with the porous copper also becomes higher than that without the porous copper. As to the two-phase heat transfer regime, the critical heat flux increases by approximately 35% by introducing the uni-directional porous copper, compared with the CHF of the multiple impinging jet flow. In addition, we confirmed that these heat transfer data was much higher than that of the ordinary single impinging jet flow. These heat transfer data prove high potential of the cold plate with the uni-directional porous copper from the view point of not only the heat transfer performance but also energy saving.

Keywords: cooling, cold plate, uni-porous media, heat transfer

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Authors: Misheck Musokwa, Paramu Mafongoya, Simon Lorentz

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Seasonal shortages of fodder during the dry season is a major constraint to smallholder livestock farmers in South Africa. To mitigate the shortage of fodder, legume trees can be intercropped with pastures which can diversify the sources of feed and increase the amount of protein for grazing animals. The objective was to evaluate dry matter yield of Panicum maximum and land productivity under different fodder production systems during 2016/17-2017/18 seasons at Empangeni (28.6391° S and 31.9400° E). A randomized complete block design, replicated three times was used, the treatments were sole Panicum maximum, Panicum maximum + Sesbania sesban, Panicum maximum + pigeonpea, sole Sesbania sesban, Sole pigeonpea. Three months S.sesbania seedlings were transplanted whilst pigeonpea was direct seeded at spacing of 1m x 1m. P. maximum seeds were drilled at a respective rate of 7.5 kg/ha having an inter-row spacing of 0.25 m apart. In between rows of trees P. maximum seeds were drilled. The dry matter yield harvesting times were separated by six months’ timeframe. A 0.25 m² quadrant randomly placed on 3 points on the plot was used as sampling area during harvesting P. maximum. There was significant difference P < 0.05 across 3 harvests and total dry matter. P. maximum had higher dry matter yield as compared to both intercrops at first harvest and total. The second and third harvest had no significant difference with pigeonpea intercrop. The results was in this order for all 3 harvest: P. maximum (541.2c, 1209.3b and 1557b) kg ha¹ ≥ P. maximum + pigeonpea (157.2b, 926.7b and 1129b) kg ha¹ > P. maximum + S. sesban (36.3a, 282a and 555a) kg ha¹. Total accumulation of dry matter yield of P. maximum (3307c kg ha¹) > P. maximum + pigeonpea (2212 kg ha¹) ≥ P. maximum + S. sesban (874 kg ha¹). There was a significant difference (P< 0.05) on seed yield for trees. Pigeonpea (1240.3 kg ha¹) ≥ Pigeonpea + P. maximum (862.7 kg ha¹) > S.sesbania (391.9 kg ha¹) ≥ S.sesbania + P. maximum. The Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) was in the following order P. maximum + pigeonpea (1.37) > P. maximum + S. sesban (0.84) > Pigeonpea (0.59) ≥ S. Sesbania (0.57) > P. maximum (0.26). Results indicates that it is beneficial to have P. maximum intercropped with pigeonpea because of higher land productivity. Planting grass with pigeonpea was more beneficial than S. sesban with grass or sole cropping in terms of saving the shortage of arable land. P. maximum + pigeonpea saves a substantial (37%) land which can be subsequently be used for other crop production. Pigeonpea is recommended as an intercrop with P. maximum due to its higher LER and combined production of livestock feed, human food, and firewood. Panicum grass is low in crude protein though high in carbohydrates, there is a need for intercropping it with legume trees. A farmer who buys concentrates can reduce costs by combining P. maximum with pigeonpea this will provide a balanced diet at low cost.

Keywords: fodder, livestock, productivity, smallholder farmers

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Authors: O. Eso, M. Mohammadi, J. Darkwa, J. Calautit

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Residential buildings are responsible for 22% of the global end-use energy demand and 17% of global CO₂ emissions. Tropical climates particularly present higher latent heat gains, leading to more cooling loads. However, the cooling processes are all based on conventional mechanical air conditioning systems which are energy and carbon intensive technologies. Passive cooling systems have in the past been considered as alternative technologies for minimizing energy consumption in buildings. Nevertheless, replacing mechanical cooling systems with passive ones will require a careful assessment of the passive cooling system heat transfer to determine if suitable to outperform their conventional counterparts. This is because internal heat gains, indoor-outdoor heat transfer, and heat transfer through envelope affects the performance of passive cooling systems. While many studies have investigated sensible heat transfer in passive cooling systems, not many studies have focused on their latent heat transfer capabilities. Furthermore, combining heat prevention, heat modulation and heat dissipation to passively cool indoor spaces in the tropical climates is critical to achieve thermal comfort. Since passive cooling systems use only one of these three approaches at a time, integrating more than one passive cooling system for effective indoor latent heat removal while still saving energy is studied. This study is a systematic review of recently published peer review journals on integrated passive cooling systems for tropical residential buildings. The missing links in the experimental and numerical studies with regards to latent heat reduction interventions are presented. Energy simulation studies of integrated passive cooling systems in tropical residential buildings are also discussed. The review has shown that comfortable indoor environment is attainable when two or more passive cooling systems are integrated in tropical residential buildings. Improvement occurs in the heat transfer rate and cooling performance of the passive cooling systems when thermal energy storage systems like phase change materials are included. Integrating passive cooling systems in tropical residential buildings can reduce energy consumption by 6-87% while achieving up to 17.55% reduction in indoor heat flux. The review has highlighted a lack of numerical studies regarding passive cooling system performance in tropical savannah climates. In addition, detailed studies are required to establish suitable latent heat transfer rate in passive cooling ventilation devices under this climate category. This should be considered in subsequent studies. The conclusions and outcomes of this study will help researchers understand the overall energy performance of integrated passive cooling systems in tropical climates and help them identify and design suitable climate specific options for residential buildings.

Keywords: energy savings, latent heat, passive cooling systems, residential buildings, tropical residential buildings

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Authors: Julia R. Beulig, Stefan Ohla, Detlev Belder

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In contrast to off-line analytical methods, lab-on-a-chip technology delivers direct information about the observed reaction. Therefore, microfluidic devices make an important scientific contribution, e.g. in the field of synthetic chemistry. Herein, the rapid generation of analytical data can be applied for the optimization of chemical reactions. These microfluidic devices enable a fast change of reaction conditions as well as a resource saving method of operation. In the presented work, we focus on the investigation of multiphase regimes, more specifically on a biphasic microfluidic droplet systems. Here, every single droplet is a reaction container with customized conditions. The biggest challenge is the rapid qualitative and quantitative readout of information as most detection techniques for droplet systems are non-specific, time-consuming or too slow. An exception is the electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The combination of a reaction screening platform with a rapid and specific detection method is an important step in droplet-based microfluidics. In this work, we present a novel approach for synthesis optimization on the nanoliter scale with direct ESI-MS detection. The development of a droplet-based microfluidic device, which enables the modification of different parameters while simultaneously monitoring the effect on the reaction within a single run, is shown. By common soft- and photolithographic techniques a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chip with different functionalities is developed. As an interface for the MS detection, we use a steel capillary for ESI and improve the spray stability with a Teflon siphon tubing, which is inserted underneath the steel capillary. By optimizing the flow rates, it is possible to screen parameters of various reactions, this is exemplarity shown by a Domino Knoevenagel Hetero-Diels-Alder reaction. Different starting materials, catalyst concentrations and solvent compositions are investigated. Due to the high repetition rate of the droplet production, each set of reaction condition is examined hundreds of times. As a result, of the investigation, we receive possible reagents, the ideal water-methanol ratio of the solvent and the most effective catalyst concentration. The developed system can help to determine important information about the optimal parameters of a reaction within a short time. With this novel tool, we make an important step on the field of combining droplet-based microfluidics with organic reaction screening.

Keywords: droplet, mass spectrometry, microfluidics, organic reaction, screening

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Authors: Ami Okabe, Daisuke Gondo, Akira Ogawa, Yasuhisa Hasegawa, Koichi Sato, Sadao Araki, Hideki Yamamoto

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Membrane separation draws attention as the energy-saving technology. Pervaporation (PV) uses hydrophobic ceramic membranes to separate organic compounds from industrial wastewaters. PV makes it possible to separate organic compounds from azeotropic mixtures and from aqueous solutions. For the PV separation of low concentrations of organics from aqueous solutions, hydrophobic ceramic membranes are expected to have high separation performance compared with that of conventional hydrophilic membranes. Membrane separation performance is evaluated based on the pervaporation separation index (PSI), which depends on both the separation factor and the permeate flux. Ingenuity is required to increase the PSI such that the permeate flux increases without reducing the separation factor or to increase the separation factor without reducing the flux. A thin separation layer without defects and pinholes is required. In addition, it is known that the flux can be increased without reducing the separation factor by reducing the diffusion resistance of the membrane support. In a previous study, we prepared hydrophobic silica membranes by a molecular templating sol−gel method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to form pores suitable for permitting the passage of organic compounds through the membrane. We separated low-concentration organics from aqueous solutions by PV using these membranes. In the present study, hydrophobic silica membranes were prepared on a porous alumina hollow fiber support that is thinner than the previously used alumina support. Ethyl acetate (EA) is used in large industrial quantities, so it was selected as the organic substance to be separated. Hydrophobic silica membranes were prepared by dip-coating porous alumina supports with a -alumina interlayer into a silica sol containing CTAB and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS) as the silica precursor. Membrane thickness increases with the lifting speed of the sol in the dip-coating process. Different thicknesses of the γ-alumina layer were prepared by dip-coating the support into a boehmite sol at different lifting speeds (0.5, 1, 3, and 5 mm s-1). Silica layers were subsequently formed by dip-coating using an immersion time of 60 s and lifting speed of 1 mm s-1. PV measurements of the EA (5 wt.%)/water system were carried out using VTMS hydrophobic silica membranes prepared on -alumina layers of different thicknesses. Water and EA flux showed substantially constant value despite of the change of the lifting speed to form the γ-alumina interlayer. All prepared hydrophobic silica membranes showed the higher PSI compared with the hydrophobic membranes using the previous alumina support of hollow fiber.

Keywords: membrane separation, pervaporation, hydrophobic, silica

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Authors: S. Arias

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New housing developments and the technological changes that this implies, adapt the styles of living of its residents, as well as new family structures and forms of work due to the particular needs of a specific group of people which involves different techniques of dealing with, organize, equip and use a particular territory. Currently, own their own space is increasingly important and the cities are faced with the challenge of providing the opportunity for such demands, as well as energy, water and waste removal necessary in the process of construction and occupation of new human settlements. Until the day of today, not has failed to give full response to these demands and needs, resulting in cities that grow without control, badly used land, avenues and congested streets. Buildings and dwellings have an important impact on the environment and on the health of the people, therefore environmental quality associated with the comfort of humans to the sustainable development of natural resources. Applied to architecture, this concept involves the incorporation of new technologies in all the constructive process of a dwelling, changing customs of developers and users, what must be a greater effort in planning energy savings and thus reducing the emissions Greenhouse Gases (GHG) depending on the geographical location where it is planned to develop. Since the techniques of occupation of the territory are not the same everywhere, must take into account that these depend on the geographical, social, political, economic and climatic-environmental circumstances of place, which in modified according to the degree of development reached. In the analysis that must be undertaken to check the degree of sustainability of the place, it is necessary to make estimates of the energy used in artificial air conditioning and lighting. In the same way is required to diagnose the availability and distribution of the water resources used for hygiene and for the cooling of artificially air-conditioned spaces, as well as the waste resulting from these technological processes. Based on the results obtained through the different stages of the analysis, it is possible to perform an energy audit in the process of proposing recommendations of sustainability in architectural spaces in search of energy saving, rational use of water and natural resources optimization. The above can be carried out through the development of a sustainable building code in develop technical recommendations to the regional characteristics of each study site. These codes would seek to build bases to promote a building regulations applicable to new human settlements looking for is generated at the same time quality, protection and safety in them. This building regulation must be consistent with other regulations both national and municipal and State, such as the laws of human settlements, urban development and zoning regulations.

Keywords: building regulations, housing, sustainability, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Huu Hue Van

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The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and flow into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Climate Change Research Institute at University of Can Tho, in studying the possible consequences of climate change, has predicted that, many provinces in the Mekong Delta will be flooded by the year 2030. The Mekong Delta lacks fresh water in the dry season. Being served for daily life, industry and agriculture in the dry season, the water is mainly taken from layers of soil contained water under the ground (aquifers) depleted water; the water level in aquifers have decreased. Previously, the Mekong Delta can withstand two bad scenarios in the future: 1) The Mekong Delta will be submerged into the sea again: Due to subsidence of the ground (over-exploitation of groundwater), subsidence of constructions because of the low groundwater level (10 years ago, some of constructions were built on the foundation of Melaleuca poles planted in Mekong Delta, Melaleuca poles have to stay in saturated soil layer fully, if not, they decay easyly; due to the top of Melaleuca poles are higher than the groundwater level, the top of Melaleuca poles will decay and cause subsidence); erosion the river banks (because of the hydroelectric dams in the upstream of the Mekong River is blocking the flow, reducing the concentration of suspended substances in the flow caused erosion the river banks) and the delta will be flooded because of sea level rise (climate change). 2) The Mekong Delta will be deserted: People will migrate to other places to make a living because of no planting due to alum capillary (In Mekong Delta, there is a layer of alum soil under the ground, the elevation of groundwater level is lower than the the elevation of layer of alum soil, alum will be capillary to the arable soil layer); there is no fresh water for cultivation and daily life (because of saline intrusion and groundwater depletion in the aquifers below). Mekong Delta currently has about seven aquifers below with a total depth about 500 m. The water mainly has exploited in the middle - upper Pleistocene aquifer (qp2-3). The major cause of two bad scenarios in the future is over-exploitation of water in aquifers. Therefore, studying and building water reservoirs in seven aquifers will solve many pressing problems such as preventing subsidence, providing water for the whole delta, especially in coastal provinces, favorable to nature, saving land ( if we build the water lake on the surface of the delta, we will need a lot of land), pollution limitation (because when building some hydraulic structures for preventing the salt instrutions and for storing water in the lake on the surface, we cause polluted in the lake)..., It is necessary to build a reservoir under the ground in aquifers in the Mekong Delta. The super-sized reservoir will contribute to the existence and development of the Mekong Delta.

Keywords: aquifers, aquifers storage, groundwater, land subsidence, underground reservoir

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: İrem Yetkin, Feray Maden, Seda Tosun, Yenal Akgün, Özgür Kilit, Koray Korkmaz, Gökhan Kiper, Mustafa Gündüzalp

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Forced migration, whether caused by conflicts or other factors, frequently places individuals in vulnerable situations, necessitating immediate access to shelter. To promptly address the immediate needs of affected individuals, temporary shelters are often established. These shelters are characterized by their adaptable and functional nature, encompassing lightweight and sustainable structural systems, rapid assembly capabilities, modularity, and transportability. The shelter design is contingent upon demand, resulting in distinct phases for different structural forms. A multi-phased shelter approach covers emergency response, temporary shelter, and permanent reconstruction. Emergency shelters play a critical role in providing immediate life-saving aid, while temporary and transitional shelters, which are also called “t-shelters,” offer longer-term living environments during the recovery and rebuilding phases. Among these, temporary shelters are more extensively covered in the literature due to their diverse inhabiting functions. The roles of emergency shelters and temporary shelters are inherently separate, addressing distinct aspects of sheltering processes. Given their prolonged usage, temporary shelters are built for greater durability compared to emergency shelters. Nonetheless, inadequacies in temporary shelters can lead to challenges in ensuring habitability. Issues like non-expandable structures unsuitable for accommodating large families, the use of short-term shelters that worsen conditions, non-waterproof materials providing insufficient protection against bad weather conditions, and complex installation systems contribute to these problems. Given the aforementioned problems, there arises a need to develop adaptive shelters featuring lightweight components for ease of transport, possess the ability for rapid assembly, and utilize durable materials to withstand adverse weather conditions. In this study, first, the state-of-the-art on temporary shelters is presented. Then, an adaptive temporary shelter composed of foldable plates is proposed, which can easily be assembled and transportable. The proposed shelter is deliberated upon its movement capacity, transportability, and flexibility. This study makes a valuable contribution to the literature since it not only offers a systematic analysis of temporary shelters utilizing kinetic systems but also presents a practical solution that meets the necessary design requirements.

Keywords: deployable structures, foldable plates, forced migration, temporary shelters

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: Rabea Sefrin, Christian Glock, Juergen Schnell

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The preservation of existing structures is of great economic interest because it contributes to higher sustainability and resource conservation. In the case of existing buildings, in addition to repair and maintenance, modernization or reconstruction works often take place in the course of adjustments or changes in use. Since the structural framework and the associated load level are usually changed in the course of the structural measures, the stability of the structure must be verified in accordance with the currently valid regulations. The concrete compressive strength of the existing structures concrete and the derived mechanical parameters are of central importance for the recalculation and verification. However, the compressive strength of the existing concrete is usually set comparatively low and thus underestimated. The reasons for this are too small numbers, and large scatter of material properties of the drill cores, which are used for the experimental determination of the design value of the compressive strength. Within a structural component, the load is usually transferred over the area with higher stiffness and consequently with higher compressive strength. Therefore, existing strength variations within a component only play a subordinate role due to rearrangement effects. This paper deals with the experimental and numerical determination of such rearrangement effects in order to calculate the concrete compressive strength of existing structures more realistic and economical. The influence of individual parameters such as the specimen geometry (prism or cylinder) or the coefficient of variation of the concrete compressive strength is analyzed in experimental small-part tests. The coefficients of variation commonly used in practice are adjusted by dividing the test specimens into several layers consisting of different concretes, which are monolithically connected to each other. From each combination, a sufficient number of the test specimen is produced and tested to enable evaluation on a statistical basis. Based on the experimental tests, FE simulations are carried out to validate the test results. In the frame of a subsequent parameter study, a large number of combinations is considered, which had not been investigated in the experimental tests yet. Thus, the influence of individual parameters on the size and characteristic of the rearrangement effect is determined and described more detailed. Based on the parameter study and the experimental results, a calculation model for a more realistic determination of the in situ concrete compressive strength is developed and presented. By considering rearrangement effects in concrete during recalculation, a higher number of existing structures can be maintained without structural measures. The preservation of existing structures is not only decisive from an economic, sustainable, and resource-saving point of view but also represents an added value for cultural and social aspects.

Keywords: existing structures, in-situ concrete compressive strength, rearrangement effects, recalculation

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Venkata Ramanaiah, Shabina Khanam

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Enormous potential for saving energy is available in coal-based sponge iron plants as these are associated with the high percentage of energy wastage per unit sponge iron production. An energy integration option is proposed, in the present paper, to a coal based sponge iron plant of 100 tonnes per day production capacity, being operated in India using SL/RN (Stelco-Lurgi/Republic Steel-National Lead) process. It consists of the rotary kiln, rotary cooler, dust settling chamber, after burning chamber, evaporating cooler, electrostatic precipitator (ESP), wet scrapper and chimney as important equipment. Principles of process integration are used in the proposed option. It accounts for preheating kiln inlet streams like kiln feed and slinger coal up to 170ᴼC using waste gas exiting ESP. Further, kiln outlet stream is cooled from 1020ᴼC to 110ᴼC using kiln air. The working areas in the plant where energy is being lost and can be conserved are identified. Detailed material and energy balances are carried out around the sponge iron plant, and a modified model is developed, to find coal requirement of proposed option, based on hot utility, heat of reactions, kiln feed and air preheating, radiation losses, dolomite decomposition, the heat required to vaporize the coal volatiles, etc. As coal is used as utility and process stream, an iterative approach is used in solution methodology to compute coal consumption. Further, water consumption, operating cost, capital investment, waste gas generation, profit, and payback period of the modification are computed. Along with these, operational aspects of the proposed design are also discussed. To recover and integrate waste heat available in the plant, three gas-solid heat exchangers and four insulated ducts with one FD fan for each are installed additionally. Thus, the proposed option requires total capital investment of $0.84 million. Preheating of kiln feed, slinger coal and kiln air streams reduce coal consumption by 24.63% which in turn reduces waste gas generation by 25.2% in comparison to the existing process. Moreover, 96% reduction in water is also observed, which is the added advantage of the modification. Consequently, total profit is found as $2.06 million/year with payback period of 4.97 months only. The energy efficient factor (EEF), which is the % of the maximum energy that can be saved through design, is found to be 56.7%. Results of the proposed option are also compared with literature and found in good agreement.

Keywords: coal consumption, energy conservation, process integration, sponge iron plant

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Rene Hellmuth

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Factory planning has the task of designing products, plants, processes, organization, areas, and the construction of a factory. The requirements for factory planning and the building of a factory have changed in recent years. Regular restructuring of the factory building is becoming more important in order to maintain the competitiveness of a factory. Restrictions in new areas, shorter life cycles of product and production technology as well as a VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity) lead to more frequent restructuring measures within a factory. A building information model (BIM) is the planning basis for rebuilding measures and becomes an indispensable data repository to be able to react quickly to changes. Use as a planning basis for restructuring measures in factories only succeeds if the BIM model has adequate data quality. Under this aspect and the industrial requirement, three data quality factors are particularly important for this paper regarding the BIM model: up-to-dateness, completeness, and correctness. The research question is: how can a BIM model be kept up to date with required data quality and which visualization techniques can be applied in a short period of time on the construction site during conversion measures? An as-is analysis is made of how BIM models and digital factory models (including laser scans) are currently being kept up to date. Industrial companies are interviewed, and expert interviews are conducted. Subsequently, the results are evaluated, and a procedure conceived how cost-effective and timesaving updating processes can be carried out. The availability of low-cost hardware and the simplicity of the process are of importance to enable service personnel from facility mnagement to keep digital factory models (BIM models and laser scans) up to date. The approach includes the detection of changes to the building, the recording of the changing area, and the insertion into the overall digital twin. Finally, an overview of the possibilities for visualizations suitable for construction sites is compiled. An augmented reality application is created based on an updated BIM model of a factory and installed on a tablet. Conversion scenarios with costs and time expenditure are displayed. A user interface is designed in such a way that all relevant conversion information is available at a glance for the respective conversion scenario. A total of three essential research results are achieved: As-is analysis of current update processes for BIM models and laser scans, development of a time-saving and cost-effective update process and the conception and implementation of an augmented reality solution for BIM models suitable for construction sites.

Keywords: building information modeling, digital factory model, factory planning, restructuring

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Pooria Norouzi, Nicholas Tsang, Adam van der Goes, Joseph Yu, Douglas Zheng, Sirine Maleej

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In this study, virtual meters will be designed and used for energy balance measurements of an air handling unit (AHU). The method aims to replace traditional physical sensors in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems with simulated virtual meters. Due to the inability to manage and monitor these systems, many HVAC systems have a high level of inefficiency and energy wastage. Virtual meters are implemented and applied in an actual HVAC system, and the result confirms the practicality of mathematical sensors for alternative energy measurement. While most residential buildings and offices are commonly not equipped with advanced sensors, adding, exploiting, and monitoring sensors and measurement devices in the existing systems can cost thousands of dollars. The first purpose of this study is to provide an energy consumption rate based on available sensors and without any physical energy meters. It proves the performance of virtual meters in HVAC systems as reliable measurement devices. To demonstrate this concept, mathematical models are created for AHU-07, located in building NE01 of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Burnaby campus. The models will be created and integrated with the system’s historical data and physical spot measurements. The actual measurements will be investigated to prove the models' accuracy. Based on preliminary analysis, the resulting mathematical models are successful in plotting energy consumption patterns, and it is concluded confidently that the results of the virtual meter will be close to the results that physical meters could achieve. In the second part of this study, the use of virtual meters is further assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) in the HVAC systems of building to improve energy management and efficiency. By the data mining approach, virtual meters’ data is recorded as historical data, and HVAC system energy consumption prediction is also implemented in order to harness great energy savings and manage the demand and supply chain effectively. Energy prediction can lead to energy-saving strategies and considerations that can open a window in predictive control in order to reach lower energy consumption. To solve these challenges, the energy prediction could optimize the HVAC system and automates energy consumption to capture savings. This study also investigates AI solutions possibility for autonomous HVAC efficiency that will allow quick and efficient response to energy consumption and cost spikes in the energy market.

Keywords: virtual meters, HVAC, artificial intelligence, energy consumption prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: John Kosmeh

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Introduction – For years, senior health care and skilled nursing facilities have been plagued with the dilemma of not having the necessary tools and equipment to adequately care for senior residents in their communities. This has led to high transport rates to emergency departments and high 30-day readmission rates, costing billions of unnecessary dollars each year, as well as quality assurance issues. Our Senior care telemedicine program is designed to solve this issue. Methods – We conducted a 1-year pilot program using our technology coupled with our 24/7 telemedicine program with skilled nursing facilities in different parts of the United States. We then compared transports rates and 30-day readmission rates to previous years before the use of our program, as well as transport rates of other communities of similar size not using our program. This data was able to give us a clear and concise look at the success rate of reducing unnecessary transport and readmissions as well as cost savings. Results – A 94% reduction nationally of unnecessary out-of-facility transports, and to date, complete elimination of 30-day readmissions. Our virtual platform allowed us to instruct facility staff on the utilization of our tools and system as well as deliver treatment by our ER-trained providers. Delay waiting for PCP callbacks was eliminated. We were able to obtain lung, heart, and abdominal ultrasound imaging, 12 lead EKG, blood labs, auscultate lung and heart sounds, and collect other diagnostic tests at the bedside within minutes, providing immediate care and allowing us to treat residents within the SNF. Are virtual capabilities allowed for loved ones, family members, and others who had medical power of attorney to virtually connect with us at the time of visit, to speak directly with the medical provider, providing increased confidence in the decision to treat the resident in-house. The decline in transports and readmissions will greatly reduce governmental cost burdens, as well as fines imposed on SNF for high 30-day readmissions, reduce the cost of Medicare A readmissions, and significantly impact the number of patients visiting overcrowded ERs. Discussion – By utilizing our program, SNF can effectively reduce the number of unnecessary transports of residents, as well as create significant savings from loss of day rates, transportation costs, and high CMS fines. The cost saving is in the thousands monthly, but more importantly, these facilities can create a higher quality of life and medical care for residents by providing definitive care instantly with ER-trained personnel.

Keywords: senior care, long term care, telemedicine, technology, senior care communities

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Mohammad Afzal Khan, Fatimah Alanazi, Hala Abdalrahman Ahmed, Talal Shamma, Kilian Kelly, Mohammed A. Hammad, Abdullah O. Alawad, Abdullah Mohammed Assiri, Dieter Clemens Broering

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Lung transplantation is a life-saving surgical replacement of diseased lungs in patients with end-stage respiratory malfunctions. Despite the remarkable short-term recovery, long-term lung survival continues to face several significant challenges, including chronic rejection and severe toxic side-effects due to global immunosuppression. Stem cell-based immunotherapy has been recognized as a crucial immunoregulatory regimen in various preclinical and clinical studies. Despite initial therapeutic outcomes, conventional stem cells face key limitations. The Cymerus™ manufacturing facilitates the production of a virtually limitless supply of consistent human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived mesenchymal stem cells, which could play a key role in selective immunosuppression and graft repair during rejection. Here, we demonstrated the impact of iPSC-derived human MSCs on the development of immune-tolerance and long-term graft survival in mouse orthotopic airway allografts. BALB/c→C57BL/6 allografts were reconstituted with iPSC-derived MSCs (2 million/transplant/ at d0), and allografts were examined for regulatory T cells (Tregs), oxygenation, microvascular blood flow, airway epithelium and collagen deposition during rejection. We demonstrated that iPSC-derived MSC treatment leads to significant increase in tissue expression of hTSG-6 protein, followed by an upregulation of mouse Tregs and IL-5, IL-10, IL-15 cytokines, which augments graft microvascular blood flow and oxygenation, and thereby maintained a healthy airway epithelium and prevented the subepithelial deposition of collagen at d90 post-transplantation. Collectively, these data confirmed that iPSC-derived MSC-mediated immunosuppression has potential to establish immune-tolerance and rescue allograft from sustained hypoxic/ischemic phase and subsequently limits long-term airway epithelial injury and collagen progression, which therapeutically warrant a study of Cymerus iPSC-derived MSCs as a potential management option for immunosuppression in transplant recipients.

Keywords: stem cell therapy, immunotolerance, regulatory T cells, hypoxia and ischemia, microvasculature

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: África Vicario, Fernando J. Álvarez, Felipe Parralejo, Fernando Aranda

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The irrigation systems of traditional agriculture, such as gravity-fed irrigation, produce a great waste of water because, generally, there is no control over the amount of water supplied in relation to the water needed. The AIRON Project tries to solve this problem by implementing an IoT-based system to sensor the irrigation plots so that the state of the crops and the amount of water used for irrigation can be known remotely. The IoT system consists of a sensor network that measures the humidity of the soil, the weather conditions (temperature, relative humidity, wind and solar radiation) and the irrigation water flow. The communication between this network and a central gateway is conducted by means of long-range wireless communication that depends on the characteristics of the irrigation plot. The main objective of the AIRON project is to deploy an IoT sensor network in two different plots of the irrigation community of Aranjuez in the Spanish region of Madrid. The first plot is 2 km away from the central gateway, so LoRa has been used as the base communication technology. The problem with this plot is the absence of mains electric power, so devices with energy-saving modes have had to be used to maximize the external batteries' use time. An ESP32 SOC board with a LoRa module is employed in this case to gather data from the sensor network and send them to a gateway consisting of a Raspberry Pi with a LoRa hat. The second plot is located 18 km away from the gateway, a range that hampers the use of LoRa technology. In order to establish reliable communication in this case, the long-term evolution (LTE) standard is used, which makes it possible to reach much greater distances by using the cellular network. As mains electric power is available in this plot, a Raspberry Pi has been used instead of the ESP32 board to collect sensor data. All data received from the two plots are stored on a proprietary server located at the irrigation management company's headquarters. The analysis of these data by means of machine learning algorithms that are currently under development should allow a short-term prediction of the irrigation water demand that would significantly reduce the waste of this increasingly valuable natural resource. The major finding of this work is the real possibility of deploying a remote sensing system for irrigated plots by using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) devices, easily scalable and adaptable to design requirements such as the distance to the control center or the availability of mains electrical power at the site.

Keywords: internet of things, irrigation water control, LoRa, LTE, smart farming

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Chiyoung Kim, Jaegeol Yim

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Bus service is often either main or the only public transportation available in cities. In metropolitan areas, both subways and buses are available whereas in the medium sized cities buses are usually the only type of public transportation available. Bus Information Systems (BIS) provide current locations of running buses, efficient routes to travel from one place to another, points of interests around a given bus stop, a series of bus stops consisting of a given bus route, and so on to users. Thanks to BIS, people do not have to waste time at a bus stop waiting for a bus because BIS provides exact information on bus arrival times at a given bus stop. Therefore, BIS does a lot to promote the use of buses contributing to pollution reduction and saving natural resources. BIS implementation costs a huge amount of budget as it requires a lot of special equipment such as road side equipment, automatic vehicle identification and location systems, trunked radio systems, and so on. Consequently, medium and small sized cities with a low budget cannot afford to install BIS even though people in these cities need BIS service more desperately than people in metropolitan areas. It is possible to provide BIS service at virtually no cost under the assumption that everybody carries a smartphone and there is at least one person with a smartphone in a running bus who is willing to reveal his/her location details while he/she is sitting in a bus. This assumption is usually true in the real world. The smartphone penetration rate is greater than 100% in the developed countries and there is no reason for a bus driver to refuse to reveal his/her location details while driving. We have developed a mobile app that periodically reads values of sensors including GPS and sends GPS data to the server when the bus stops or when the elapsed time from the last send attempt is greater than a threshold. This app detects the bus stop state by investigating the sensor values. The server that receives GPS data from this app has also been developed. Under the assumption that the current locations of all running buses collected by the mobile app are recorded in a database, we have also developed a web site that provides all kinds of information that most BISs provide to users through the Internet. The development environment is: OS: Windows 7 64bit, IDE: Eclipse Luna 4.4.1, Spring IDE 3.7.0, Database: MySQL 5.1.7, Web Server: Apache Tomcat 7.0, Programming Language: Java 1.7.0_79. Given a start and a destination bus stop, it finds a shortest path from the start to the destination using the Dijkstra algorithm. Then, it finds a convenient route considering number of transits. For the user interface, we use the Google map. Template classes that are used by the Controller, DAO, Service and Utils classes include BUS, BusStop, BusListInfo, BusStopOrder, RouteResult, WalkingDist, Location, and so on. We are now integrating the mobile app system and the web app system.

Keywords: bus information system, GPS, mobile app, web site

Procedia PDF Downloads 214

Authors: Nadeem Yousuf Khan

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This paper proposes the formation of a digital emergency response system (dERS) in the aged, long-term care, and chronic disease setups in the post-COVID healthcare ecosystem, focusing on the Asia Pacific market where the aging population is increasing significantly. It focuses on the use of digital technologies such as wearables, a global positioning system (GPS), and mobile applications to build an integrated care system for old folks with co-morbidities and other chronic diseases. The paper presents a conceptual framework of a connected digital health ecosystem that not only provides proactive care to registered patients but also prevents the damages due to sudden conditions such as strokes by alerting and treating the patients in a digitally connected and coordinated manner. A detailed review of existing digital health technologies such as wearables, GPS, and mobile apps was conducted in context with the new post-COVID healthcare paradigm, along with a detailed literature review on the digital health policies and usability. A good amount of research papers is available in the application of digital health, but very few of them discuss the formation of a new framework for a connected digital ecosystem for the aged care population, which is increasing around the globe. A connected digital emergency response system has been proposed by the author whereby all registered patients (chronic disease and aged/long term care) will be connected to the proposed digital emergency response system (dERS). In the proposed ecosystem, patients will be provided with a tracking wrist band and a mobile app through which the control room will be monitoring the mobility and vitals such as atrial fibrillation (AF), blood sugar, blood pressure, and other vital signs. In addition to that, an alert in case if the patient falls down will add value to this system. In case of any variation in the vitals, an alert is sent to the dERS 24/7, and dERS clinical staff immediately trigger that alert which goes to the connected hospital and the adulatory service providers, and the patient is escorted to the nearest connected tertiary care hospital. By the time, the patient reaches the hospital, dERS team is ready to take appropriate clinical action to save the life of the patient. Strokes or myocardial infarction patients can be prevented from disaster if they are accessible to engagement healthcare. This dERS will play an effective role in saving the lives of aged patients or patients with chronic co-morbidities.

Keywords: aged care, atrial fibrillation, digital health, digital emergency response system, digital technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Mishadi Herath, Amin Talei, Andreas Hermawan, Clarina Chua

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Green walls are vegetated structures on building’s wall that are considered as part of sustainable urban design. They are proved to have many micro-climate benefits such as reduction in indoor temperature, noise attenuation, and improvement in air quality. On the other hand, several studies have also been conducted on potential reuse of greywater in urban water management. Greywater is relatively clean when compared to blackwater; therefore, this study was aimed to assess the potential reuse of it for irrigating a green wall system. In this study, the campus of Monash University Malaysia located in Selangor state was considered as the study site where total 48 samples of greywater were collected from 7 toilets hand-wash and 5 pantries during 3 months period. The samples were tested to characterize the quality of greywater in the study site and compare it with local standard for irrigation water. PH and concentration of heavy metals, nutrients, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), total Coliform and E.coli were measured. Results showed that greywater could be directly used for irrigation with minimal treatment. Since the effluent of the system was supposed to be drained to stormwater drainage system, the effluent needed to meet certain quality requirement. Therefore, a biofiltration system was proposed to host the green wall plants and also treat the greywater (which is used as irrigation water) to the required level. To assess the performance of the proposed system, an experimental setup consisting of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) soil columns with sand-based filter media were prepared. Two different local creeper plants were chosen considering several factors including fast growth, low maintenance requirement, and aesthetic aspects. Three replicates of each plants were used to ensure the validity of the findings. The growth of creeping plants and their survivability was monitored for 6 months while monthly sampling and testing of effluent was conducted to evaluate effluent quality. An analysis was also conducted to estimate the potential cost and benefit of such system considering water and energy saving in the system. Results showed that the proposed system can work efficiently throughout a long period of time with minimal maintenance requirement. Moreover, the biofiltration-green wall system was found to be successful in reusing greywater as irrigating water while the effluent was meeting all the requirements for being drained to stormwater drainage system.

Keywords: biofiltration, green wall, greywater, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: Andrew Green, Jiaming Liu, Kellathur Srinivasan, Raymond Chua

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Introduction: The size of Singapore’s online health product (HP) market (e-commerce) is largely unknown. However, it is recognized that a large majority comes from overseas and thus, unregulated. As buying HP from unauthorized sources significantly compromises public health safety, understanding e-commerce users’ demographics and their perceptions on online HP purchasing becomes a pivotal first step to form a basis for recommendations in Singapore’s pharmacovigilance efforts. Objective: To assess the prevalence of online HP purchasing behaviour among Singaporean e-commerce users. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study targeting Singaporean e-commerce users recruited from various local websites and online forums. Participants were not randomized into study arms but instead stratified by random sampling method based on participants’ age. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was used to explore participants' demographics, online HP purchasing behaviour, knowledge and attitude. The association of different variables with online HP purchasing behaviour was analysed using logistic regression statistics. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of HP e-commerce users in Singapore (%) and variables that contribute to the prevalence (adjusted prevalent ratio). Results: The study recruited 372 complete and valid responses. The prevalence of online HP consumers among e-commerce users in Singapore is estimated to be 55.9% (1.7 million consumers). Online purchasing of complementary HP (46.9%) was the most prevalent, followed by medical devices (21.6%) and Western medicine (20.5%). Multivariate analysis showed that age is an independent variable that correlates with the likelihood of buying HP online. The prevalence of HP e-commerce users is highest in the 35-44 age group (64.1%) and lowest among the 16-24 age group (36.4%). The most bought HP through the internet are vitamins and minerals (21.5%), non-herbal (15.9%), herbal (13.9%), weight loss (8.7%) and sports (8.4%) supplements. While the top 3 products are distributed equally between the genders, there is a skew towards female respondents (12.4% in females vs. 4.9% in males) for weight loss supplements and towards males (13.2% in males vs. 3.7% in females) for sports supplements. Even though online consumers are in the younger age brackets, our study found that up to 72.0% of HP bought online are bought for others (buyer’s family and/or friends). Multivariate analysis showed a statistically significant association between purchasing HP through online means and the perceptions that 'internet is safe' (adjusted Prevalence Ratio=1.15, CI 1.03-1.28), 'buying HP online is time saving' (PR=1.17, CI 1.01-1.36), and 'recognition of HP brand' (PR=1.21 CI 1.06-1.40). Conclusions: This study has provided prevalence data for online HP market in Singapore, and has allowed the country’s regulatory body to formulate a targeted pharmacovigilance approach to this growing problem.

Keywords: e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, pharmacovigilance, Singapore

Procedia PDF Downloads 361

Authors: Aidan N. Smallwood, Celestine R. Weegenaar, Jack N. Evans

Abstract:

The intensive care unit (ICU) is a particularly resource heavy environment, in terms of staff, drugs and equipment required. Whilst many areas of the hospital are attempting to cut down on plastic use and minimise their impact on the environment, this has proven challenging within the confines of intensive care. Concurrently, as globalization has progressed over recent decades, there has been a tendency towards centralised manufacturing with international distribution networks for products, often covering large distances. In this study, we have modelled the standard consumption of plastic single-use items over the course of the first 24-hours of an average individual patient’s stay in a 12 bed ICU in the United Kingdom (UK). We have identified the country of manufacture and calculated the minimum possible distance travelled by each item from factory to patient. We have assumed direct transport via the shortest possible straight line from country of origin to the UK and have not accounted for transport within either country. Assuming an intubated patient with invasive haemodynamic monitoring and central venous access, there are a total of 52 distincts, largely plastic, disposable products which would reasonably be required in the first 24-hours after admission. Each product type has only been counted once to account for multiple items being shipped as one package. Travel distances from origin were summed to give the total distance combined for all 52 products. The minimum possible total distance travelled from country of origin to the UK for all types of product was 273,353 km, equivalent to 6.82 circumnavigations of the globe, or 71% of the way to the moon. The mean distance travelled was 5,256 km, approximately the distance from London to Mecca. With individual packaging for each item, the total weight of consumed products was 4.121 kg. The CO2 produced shipping these items by air freight would equate to 30.1 kg, however doing the same by sea would produce 0.2 kg CO2. Extrapolating these results to the 211,932 UK annual ICU admissions (2018-2019), even with the underestimates of distance and weight of our assumptions, air freight would account for 6586 tons CO2 emitted annually, approximately 130 times that of sea freight. Given the drive towards cost saving within the UK health service, and the decline of the local manufacturing industry, buying from intercontinental manufacturers is inevitable However, transporting all consumables by sea where feasible would be environmentally beneficial, as well as being less costly than air freight. At present, the NHS supply chain purchases from medical device companies, and there is no freely available information as to the transport mode used to deliver the product to the UK. This must be made available to purchasers in order to give a fuller picture of life cycle impact and allow for informed decision making in this regard.

Keywords: CO2, intensive care, plastic, transport

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Karl Erickson I. Ebora

Abstract:

Science and technology are two inseparable terms which bring wonders to all aspects of life such as education, medicine, food production and even the environment. In education, technology has become an integral part as it brings many benefits to the teaching-learning process. However, in the Philippines, being one of the developing countries resources are scarce and not all schools enjoy the fruits brought by technology. Much of this ordeal impacts that of multigrade instruction. These schools are often the last priority in resources allocation since these have limited number of students. In fact, it is not surprising that these schools do not have even a single computer unit much more a computer laboratory. This paper sought to present a plan on how public schools would receive its e-classroom. Specifically, this paper sought to answer questions like the level of the school readiness in terms of facilities and equipment; the attitude of the respondents towards the use of e-classroom; level of teacher’s familiarity in using different e-classroom software and the plans of interventions undertaken by the school to make it e-classroom ready. After gathering and analysing the necessary data, this paper came up with the following conclusions that in terms of facilities and equipment, Guisguis Talon Elementary School (Main), though a multigrade school, is ready to receive e-classroom.; that the respondents show positive disposition in technology utilization in teaching after they strongly agree that technology plays essential role in the teaching-learning process. Also, they strongly agree that technology is a good motivator; it makes the teaching and learning more interesting and effective; it makes teaching easy; and that technology enhances student’s learning. Additionally, Teacher-respondents in Guisguis Talon Elementary School (Main) show familiarity in using software. They are very familiar with MS Word; MS Excel; MS PowerPoint; and internet and email. Moreover, they are very familiar with basic e-classroom computer operations and basic application software. They are very familiar with MS office and can do simple editing and formatting; in accessing and saving information from CD/DVD, external hard drives, USB and the like; and in browsing effectively different search engines and educational sites, download and upload files. Likewise respondents strongly agree to the interventions undertaken by the school to make it e-classroom ready. They strongly agree that funding and support are needed by the school; that stakeholders should be encouraged to consider donating of equipment; and that school and community should try to mobilize their resources in order to help the school; that the teachers should be provided with trainings in order for them to be technologically competent; and that principals and administrators should motivate their teachers to undergo continuous professional development.

Keywords: e-classroom, multi-grade school, DCP, classroom computers

Procedia PDF Downloads 197

Authors: Nura Khattab, Fayad Al-Haimus, Teruko Kishibe, Netanel Krugliak, Melissa McGowan, Brodie Nolan

Abstract:

Trauma-induced coagulopathy remains a significant contributor to mortality in severely injured patients. Fibrinogen is essential for early hemostasis and is recognized as the first coagulation factor to fall below critical levels, compromising the coagulation cascade. Early administration of fibrinogen concentrate may be feasible and effective to prevent coagulopathy. We conducted this scoping review to characterize the existing quantity of literature, and to explore the usage of prehospital fibrinogen concentrate products in improving clinical outcomes in trauma patients. Methods: A search strategy was developed in consultation with an information specialist. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, and Scopus from inception to May 6th 2024. English studies evaluating prehospital/military usage of fibrinogen concentrate in trauma patients were included. Studies were assessed by three independent reviewers for meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria. Reference lists of included articles were reviewed to identify additional studies meeting inclusion criteria. Clinical endpoints regarding fibrinogen concentrate were extracted and synthesized. Results: The literature search returned 1301 articles with seven studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Five studies (71%) were conducted in civilian settings and two studies (29%) were conducted in military settings. Of the included studies, three (43%) utilized a randomized control trial. We identified seven outcomes that compared varying concentrations of fibrinogen or fibrinogen concentrate to a placebo group. The outcomes included overall mortality, death from hemorrhage, thromboembolic events, clotting time, maximum clot firmness, clot stability at ER admission, and fibrinogen concentration at ER admission. Apart from thromboembolic events, all other reported outcomes showed statistically significant differences in group comparisons, determined using p values. The four (57%) non-clinical studies underscored the robustness, practicality, and degree of fibrinogen concentrate utilization in military environments and retrieval services. Conclusion: Preliminary research suggests that prehospital fibrinogen concentrate administration in traumatic bleeding patients is both feasible and effective, improving mortality and clotting parameters. While implementing a time-saving and proactive approach with fibrinogen holds potential for enhancing trauma care, the current evidence is limited. Further studies in this novel field are warranted.

Keywords: fibrinogen concentrate, prehospital, military, trauma, trauma-induced coagulopathy

Procedia PDF Downloads 6