Search results for: environmental variations

Authors: Ciara Pienaar, J. W. Odendaal, J. Joubert, J. C. Smit

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Radar cross section (RCS) of dielectric objects play an important role in many applications, such as low observability technology development, drone detection, and monitoring as well as coastal surveillance. Various materials are used to construct the targets of interest such as metal, wood, composite materials, radar absorbent materials, and other dielectrics. Since simulated datasets are increasingly being used to supplement infield measurements, as it is more cost effective and a larger variety of targets can be simulated, it is important to have a high level of confidence in the predicted results. Confidence can be attained through validation. Various computational electromagnetic (CEM) methods are capable of predicting the RCS of dielectric targets. This study will extend previous studies by validating full-wave and asymptotic RCS simulations of dielectric targets with measured data. The paper will provide measured RCS data of a number of canonical dielectric targets exhibiting different material properties. As stated previously, these measurements are used to validate numerous CEM methods. The dielectric properties are accurately characterized to reduce the uncertainties in the simulations. Finally, an analysis of the sensitivity of oblique and normal incidence scattering predictions to material characteristics is also presented. In this paper, the ability of several CEM methods, including method of moments (MoM), and physical optics (PO), to calculate the RCS of dielectrics were validated with measured data. A few dielectrics, exhibiting different material properties, were selected and several canonical targets, such as flat plates and cylinders, were manufactured. The RCS of these dielectric targets were measured in a compact range at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, over a frequency range of 2 to 18 GHz and a 360° azimuth angle sweep. This study also investigated the effect of slight variations in the material properties on the calculated RCS results, by varying the material properties within a realistic tolerance range and comparing the calculated RCS results. Interesting measured and simulated results have been obtained. Large discrepancies were observed between the different methods as well as the measured data. It was also observed that the accuracy of the RCS data of the dielectrics can be frequency and angle dependent. The simulated RCS for some of these materials also exhibit high sensitivity to variations in the material properties. Comparison graphs between the measured and simulation RCS datasets will be presented and the validation thereof will be discussed. Finally, the effect that small tolerances in the material properties have on the calculated RCS results will be shown. Thus the importance of accurate dielectric material properties for validation purposes will be discussed.

Keywords: asymptotic, CEM, dielectric scattering, full-wave, measurements, radar cross section, validation

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Authors: A. P. Pashkov

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The number of environmental factors that adversely affect children's health is growing every year; their combination in each territory is different. The contribution of socio-economic factors to the health status of the younger generation is increasing. It is the child’s body that is most sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, responding to this with a deterioration in health. Over the past years, scientists have determined the influence of environmental factors and the incidence of children. Currently, there is a tendency to study regional characteristics of the interaction of a combination of environmental factors with the child's body. The aim of the work was to identify trends in the primary non-infectious morbidity of the children of the Altai Territory as a unique region that combines territories with different levels of environmental quality indicators, as well as to assess the effect of atmospheric air, drinking water and socio-economic indicators on the incidence of children in the region. An unfavorable tendency has been revealed in the region for incidence of such nosological groups as neoplasms, including malignant ones, diseases of the endocrine system, including obesity and thyroid disease, diseases of the circulatory system, digestive diseases, diseases of the genitourinary system, congenital anomalies, and respiratory diseases. Between some groups of diseases revealed a pattern of geographical distribution during mapping and a significant correlation. Some nosologies have a relationship with socio-economic indicators for an integrated assessment: circulatory system diseases, respiratory diseases (direct connection), endocrine system diseases, eating disorders, and metabolic disorders (feedback). The analysis of associations of the incidence of children with average annual concentrations of substances that pollute the air and drinking water showed the existence of reliable correlation in areas of critical and intense degree of environmental quality. This fact confirms that the population living in contaminated areas is subject to the negative influence of environmental factors, which immediately affects the health status of children. The results obtained indicate the need for a detailed assessment of the influence of environmental factors on the incidence of children in the regional aspect, the formation of a database, and the development of automated programs that can predict the incidence in each specific territory. This will increase the effectiveness, including economic of preventive measures.

Keywords: incidence of children, regional features, socio-economic factors, environmental factors

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Authors: Parham Bakhtiari

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Frederic Chopin created numerous acclaimed piano compositions that have been both appreciated and analyzed by musicians starting from the Romantic Period. These compositions are still being played globally with specific privileges among pianists. This study examines particular elements within Chopin's piano works and how they can be interpreted and instructed to those who are not acquainted with his pieces. The theory suggests that particular melodic attributes can be found in Chopin's piano compositions. Therefore, various elements can be recognized, such as polyphonic textures, decorated phrases, themes and variations, inner patterns tuning, blending harmonics, and conflicting beats. These characteristics were discovered within theoretical analysis has identified many of Chopin's compositions. The aim of this study is to identify the musical characteristics of analyzable through music theory and demonstrate a distinctive pianistic polyphonic texture in Chopin's solo piano compositions.

Keywords: Chopin, piano, composition, polyphonic, texture

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Authors: Djeffal Asma, Zemmouri Noureddine

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In order for building designer to be able to balance environmental concerns with other performance requirements, they need clear and concise information. For certain decisions during the design process, qualitative guidance, such as design checklists or guidelines information may not be sufficient for evaluating the environmental benefits between different building materials, products and designs. In this case, quantitative information, such as that generated through a life cycle assessment, provides the most value. LCA provides a systematic approach to evaluating the environmental impacts of a product or system over its entire life. In the case of buildings life cycle includes the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, transporting and installing building components or products, operating and maintaining the building. By integrating LCA into building design process, designers can evaluate the life cycle impacts of building design, materials, components and systems and choose the combinations that reduce the building life cycle environmental impact. This article attempts to give an overview of the integration of LCA methodology in the context of building design, and focuses on the use of this methodology for environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization. A multiple case study was conducted in order to assess the benefits of the LCA as a decision making aid tool during the first stages of the building design under specific climate conditions of the North East region of Algeria. It is clear that the LCA methodology can help to assess and reduce the impact of a building design and components on the environment even if the process implementation is rather long and complicated and lacks of global approach including human factors. It is also demonstrated that using LCA as a multi objective optimization of building process will certainly facilitates the improvement in design and decision making for both new design and retrofit projects.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, buildings, sustainability, elementary schools, environmental impacts

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Authors: Mohammad Tahsin Karimi Nezhad, Zaynab Shadbahr, Ali Gholami

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In recent years many attempts have been made to assess groundwater contamination by nitrates worldwide. The assessment of spatial and temporal variations of physico-chemical parameters of water is necessary to mange water quality. The objectives of the study were to evaluate spatial variability and temporal changes of hydrochemical factors by water sampling from 24 wells in the Shoush City suburb. The analysis was conducted for the whole area and for different land use and geological classes. In addition, nitrate concentration variability with descriptive parameters such as sampling depth, dissolved oxygen, and on ground nitrogen loadings was also investigated The results showed that nitrate concentrations did not exceed the standard limit (50 mg/l). EC of water samples, ranged from 900 to 1200 µs/cm, TDS from 775 to 830 mg/l and pH from 5.6 to 9.

Keywords: groundwater, GIS, water quality, Iran

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Authors: Hamad Albadr

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With the growth that has occurred in the orientation of universities from liability cognitive and maintain the culture of the community to liability functional creating graduates to work according to the needs of the community development; representing the university in today's world, the prime mover of the wheel of development in the community and find appropriate solutions to the problems they are facing and adapt to the demands of the changing environment. This paper deals with the role of Saudi universities as institutions, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the extent of its responsibility to the environmental awareness of the community members in various segments, where it will use the research methodology descriptive and analytical, to gather information, data and analysis answers the study sample consisting of 1500 people from the staff of the Saudi universities: The members of the faculty, and members of the administrative and technical bodies, and current students, 500 of them are responsible for employment in the labor sector and graduates. Where will review the paper to identify the extent to which the objectives of the academic programs in Saudi universities to the needs of the community, and the extent to which the course content submitted to the characteristics of the local environment for the community and how he benefited them to ensure its conformity with the changing needs of society, and how to address the research presented in academic programs to the needs of society and its problems , and the extent to which graduate students to deal enough of social responsibility and commitment to community service and the preservation of the environment, and the availability of a clear policy to serve the community with the academic programs, and how to encourage faculty, staff and students to participate in community service. And the availability of counseling services for school students for vocational guidance, scientific, environmental, and the contribution of Academic Programs publishes scientific and technical culture and the environmental community members.

Keywords: universities in Saudi Arabia, environmental awareness, academic programs, environmental community

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Authors: Surajo Ladan

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English has been in existence in Nigeria since colonial period. The advent of English in Nigeria has caused a lot of linguistic changes in Nigerian languages especially among the educated elites and to some extent, even the ordinary people were not spared from this phenomenon. This scenario has generated a linguistic situation which culminated into the creation of Nigerian Pidgin that are conglomeration of English and other Nigerian languages. English has infiltrated the Nigerian languages to a point that a typical Nigerian can hardly talk without code-switching or using one English word or the other. The existence of English loanwords in Nigerian languages has taken another dimension in this scientific and technological age. Most of scientific and technological inventions are products of English language which are virtually adopted into the languages with phonological, morphological, and sometimes semantic variations. This paper is of the view that there should be a re-think and agitation from Nigerians to protect their languages from the linguistic genocide of English which are invariably facing extinction.

Keywords: linguistic change, loanword, phenomenon, pidgin

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Authors: R. Meier, M. Pander

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In accordance with the industry 4.0 concept, manufacturing process steps as well as the materials themselves are going to be more and more digitalized within the next years. The “digital twin” representing the simulated and measured dataset of the (semi-finished) product can be used to control and optimize the individual processing steps and help to reduce costs and expenditure of time in product development, manufacturing, and recycling. In the present work, two material characterization methods based on Lamb waves were evaluated and compared. For demonstration purpose, both methods were shown at a standard industrial product - copper ribbons, often used in photovoltaic modules as well as in high-current microelectronic devices. By numerical approximation of the Rayleigh-Lamb dispersion model on measured phase velocities second order elastic constants (Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio) were determined. Furthermore, the effective third order elastic constants were evaluated by applying elastic, “non-destructive”, mechanical stress on the samples. In this way, small microstructural variations due to mechanical preconditioning could be detected for the first time. Both methods were compared with respect to precision and inline application capabilities. Microstructure of the samples was systematically varied by mechanical loading and annealing. Changes in the elastic ultrasound transport properties were correlated with results from microstructural analysis and mechanical testing. In summary, monitoring the elastic material properties of plate-like structures using Lamb waves is valuable for inline and non-destructive material characterization and manufacturing process control. Second order elastic constants analysis is robust over wide environmental and sample conditions, whereas the effective third order elastic constants highly increase the sensitivity with respect to small microstructural changes. Both Lamb wave based characterization methods are fitting perfectly into the industry 4.0 concept.

Keywords: lamb waves, industry 4.0, process control, elasticity, acoustoelasticity, microstructure

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Authors: Kevin William Taylor

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This work used industry-standard practices and technologies as a foundation to explore current and future advancements in modularity for 3D environmental production. Covering environmental generation, and AI-assisted generation, this study investigated how these areas will shape the industries goal to achieve full immersion within augmented reality environments. This study will explore modular environmental construction techniques utilized in large scale 3D productions. This will include the reasoning behind this approach to production, the principles in the successful development, potential pitfalls, and different methodologies for successful implementation of practice in commercial and proprietary interactive engines. A focus will be on the role of the 3D artists in the future of environmental development, requiring adaptability to new approaches, as the field evolves in response to tandem technological advancements. Industry findings and projections theorize how these factors will impact the widespread utilization of augmented reality in daily life. This will continue to inform the direction of technology towards expansive interactive environments. It will change the tools and techniques utilized in the development of environments for game, film, and VFX. This study concludes that this technology will be the cornerstone for the creation of AI-driven AR that is able to fully theme our world, change how we see and engage with one another. This will impact the concept of a virtual self-identity that will be as prevalent as real-world identity. While this progression scares or even threaten some, it is safe to say that we are seeing the beginnings of a technological revolution that will surpass the impact that the smartphone had on modern society.

Keywords: virtual reality, augmented reality, training, 3D environments

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Authors: Mostafa Gabr, Rania Abdul Galil, Nihal Salim

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Various interventions are applied in cities with the aim to improve living and acoustic environmental conditions. Noise is one of the most influential and critical factors in the environment that has an effect on the QOL (quality of life) and urban environment. It ranks second among environmental pollution issues according to EEAA. Traffic noise is a major source of noise. Noise barriers are one of the physical techniques in landscape design used to reduce the impact of noise pollution in urban areas. Roadways noise pollution can be best controlled by a noise barrier. The aim of this paper is to consider all facets of sustainability when designing a comfortable acoustic environment in roadways, through different strategies related to planning and the design process. The study focuses on the relation between the design of noise barriers as a landscape noise mitigation installation and their materiality in so far as it influences the sustainability of the open space and the acceptability of users. According to previous studies, design of noise barrier mainly depends on cost as a decisive factor. This study asserts that environmental and socioeconomic costs associated are equally important. Hence, the paper presents a strategy for sustainable soundscape design. It builds a framework focusing on materiality considering the environmental and socioeconomic impact of noise barriers shaping urban open space around the road ways, and the different academic and market positions on noise barrier types and materials. Finally, it concludes with a matrix of the relation between the noise barrier design consideration and the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental).

Keywords: traffic noise level, acoustic sustainability, noise barrier, noise reduction, noise control, acoustical level

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Authors: Ghazal Raheb

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Population growth in big cities of Iran has led to limitation of land resources, more consumption of non-renewable sources of energy and many environmental problems. Emerging of overbuilt urban areas and decreasing amount of green spaces cause the appearance of an undesirable landscape in the cities. Green roof technology is a solution to improve environmental concerns in urban areas which combines green spaces with buildings as the private or semi-private spaces. Successful implementation in different areas definitely depends on accommodation of green roof type with the environment and urban and building typology in Iran. This paper is aiming to provide some recommendation for selecting appropriate type of green roof and executive solutions considering to climatic zoning and urban situation in Iran. Two main aspects which have been considered are environmental and urban typology factors.

Keywords: green roof, urban typology, climate zone, landscape

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Authors: Kamal, Adil Ahmad

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Earthquakes are among the most versatile natural and dynamic processes, and hence a fractal model is considered to be the best representative of the same. We present a novel method to process and analyse information hidden in earthquake sequences using Fractal Dimensions and Iterative Function Systems (IFS). Spatial and temporal variations in the fractal dimensions of seismicity observed around the Indian peninsula in last 30 years are studied. This was used as a possible precursor before large earthquakes in the region. IFS images for observed seismicity in the Himalayan belt were also obtained. We scan the whole data set and coarse grain of a selected window to reduce it to four bins. A critical analysis of four-cornered chaos-game clearly shows that the spatial variation in earthquake occurrences in Himalayan range is not random. Two subzones of Himalaya have a tendency to follow each other in time.

Keywords: earthquakes, fractals, Himalaya, iterated function systems

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Authors: Mitra Bahri, Jean Leopold Kabambi, Jacqueline Yakobi-Hancock, William Render, Stephanie So

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Reducing formaldehyde concentration in residential buildings is an important challenge, especially during the summer. In this study, a ceiling tile was used as a sorptive passive panel for formaldehyde removal. The performance of this passive panel was evaluated under different environmental conditions. The results demonstrated that the removal efficiency is comprised between 40% and 71%. Change in the level of relative humidity (30%, 50%, and 75%) had a slight positive effect on the sorption capacity. However, increase in temperature from 21 °C to 26 °C led to approximately 7% decrease in the average formaldehyde removal performance. GC/MS and HPLC analysis revealed the formation of different by-products at low concentrations under extreme environmental conditions. These findings suggest that the passive panel selected for this study holds the potential to be used for formaldehyde removal under various conditions.

Keywords: formaldehyde, indoor air quality, passive panel, removal efficiency, sorption

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Authors: Abdulrazaq Adepoju

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Climate change and its negative environmental challenges to humanity has for decades, taken the centre stage globally receiving attention on ways to take care of the menace and keep the damaging effects to manageable and tolerable level. However, noise pollution, another major environmental hazard militating against human habitation particularly in the developing countries of the world, is not receiving enough attention by the concerned authorities at all tiers of governance. A good knowledge of the major sources of environmental noise pollution will go a long way in assisting relevant stakeholders in planning, designing, and management of problems associated with noise pollution. This paper seeks to identify the major sources of noise in the built environment on selected areas of Osogbo, Nigeria. The paper adopted a survey research method of collecting data from surveys carried out on buildings around old Garage-Okefia axis, Old garage-Oja Oba axis, and Okefia-Olaiya junction axis, all within Osogbo metropolis using sound surveying metre. It was discovered that noise from vehicular and pedestrian traffic, commercial activities such as advertising vendors and religious buildings (churches and mosques) constitute major causes of noise in the study area. The paper recommends some measures to the affected stakeholders particularly government agencies on means of reducing noise pollution to a tolerable level in the study areas and places of the same industrial layout.

Keywords: built environment, climate change, environmental pollution, noise

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Authors: Thea Freese

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Environmental legislation to protect North and Baltic Sea areas from harmful vessel-source emissions has received increased political attention in recent years. Legislative measures are expected to show positive effects on the health of the marine environment and society. At the same time, compliance might increase the costs to industry and have effects on freight rates and volumes shipped with potential negative repercussions on the environment. Building on an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach, this research project will study the economic effects of maritime environmental legislation in two phases. In Phase I, exploratory in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 experts from various stakeholder groups aiming at identifying variables influencing the relationship between environmental legislation, freight rates and volumes shipped. Influencing factors like compliance, enforcement and modal shift were identified and studied. Phase II will comprise of a quantitative study conducted with the aim of verifying the theory build in Phase I and quantifying economic effects of rules on shipping pollution. Research in this field might inform policy-makers about determinants of behaviour of ship operators in the face of the law and might further the development of a comprehensive legal system for marine environmental protection. At the present stage of research, first tentative results from the qualitative phase may be examined and open research questions to be addressed in the quantitative phase as well as possible research designs for phase II may be discussed. Input from other researchers will be highly valuable at this point.

Keywords: clean shipping operations, compliance, maritime environmental legislation, maritime law and economics, mixed methods research, North and Baltic Sea area

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Gizem Kodak, Alper Unal, Birsen Koldemir, Tayfun Acarer

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Turkish Straits System which consists of Istanbul Strait (Bosphorus), Canakkale Strait (Dardanelles) and the Marmara Sea has a strategical location on international maritime as it is a unique waterway between the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Thus, this area has great importance since it is the only waterway between Black Sea countries and the rest of the World. Turkish Straits System has dangerous environmental factors hosts more vessel every day through developing World trade and this situation results in expanding accident risks day by day. Today, a lot of precautions have been taken to ensure safe navigation and to prevent maritime accidents, and international standards are followed to avoid maritime accidents. Despite this, the environmental factors that affect this area, trigger the maritime accidents and threaten the vessels with new accidents risks in different months with different hazards. This descriptive study consists of temporal and spatial analyses of environmental factors causing maritime accidents. This study also aims at contributing to safety navigation including monthly and regionally characteristics of variables. In this context, two different data sets are created consisting of environmental factors and accidents. This descriptive study on the accidents between 2001 and 2017 the mentioned region also studies the months and places of the accidents with environmental factor variables. Environmental factor variables are categorized as dynamic and static factors. Dynamic factors are appointed as meteorological and oceanographical while static factors are appointed as geological factors that threaten safety navigation with geometrical restricts. The variables that form dynamic factors are approached meteorological as wind direction, wind speed, wave altitude and visibility. The circulations and properties of the water mass on the system are studied as oceanographical properties. At the end of the study, the efficient meteorological and oceanographical parameters on the region are presented monthly and regionally. By this way, we acquired the monthly, seasonal and regional distributions of the accidents. Upon the analyses that are done; The Turkish Straits System that connects the Black Sea countries with the other countries and which is one of the most important parts of the world trade; is analyzed on temporal and spatial dimensions on the reasons of the accidents and have been presented as environmental factor dynamics causing maritime accidents.

Keywords: descriptive study, environmental factors, maritime accidents, statistics

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Authors: Seyedehzahra Mirrahimi

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This paper investigates the effect of variations in window and ceiling heights on cooling inside an architectural training studio with a full-width window. For architectural training, students use the studio more often than they use ordinary classrooms. Therefore, studio dimensions and size, and the window position, directly influence the cooling load. Energy for cooling is one of the most expensive costs in the studio because of the high activity levels of students during the warm season. The methodology of analysis involves measuring energy changes in the Energy Plus software in Kish Island. It was proved that the cooling energy in an architecture studio can be increased by changing window levels and ceiling heights to add a range of cooling energy.

Keywords: cooling energy, Energy Plus, studio classroom, window position

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Authors: Tomas O. Ortega, Cecilia T. Reyes, Cecile O. Legaspi, Cylde G. Abayon, Anna Mae C. Relingo, Mary Eden M. Teruel

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A study was conducted to evaluate the performance in the delivery of environmental management programs of the local government of Malay, Aklan, Philippines. The samples were determined by adopting the Multi-Stage Random Probability Sampling technique. The 150 respondents were drawn from barangays with larger shares of the population based on the Philippine Statistical Authority’s Data on Census Population and Housing for the year 2015. The qualified sample respondents were selected using the Kish Grid. Female respondents were targeted for even numbered questionnaires while male respondents were targeted for odd numbers. The four major core concepts namely awareness, availment, satisfaction and need for action were used in measuring the rating of the respondents and presented in frequency and percentage distributions. The reasons for their response were likewise gathered. The study inferred that a large portion of the respondents was profoundly aware of the environmental management programs implemented by their local government unit especially the solid waste management and the clean-up programs/projects. Programs to control air pollution and waste water management obtained the least awareness ratings from the respondents. A high percentage of respondents had availed of environmental management programs, particularly solid waste management. Overall, majority of the respondents were satisfied with the environmental management programs rendered by the local government unit and therefore needs less action. It is recommended that the local government unit must strengthen air pollution control program. Appropriate action must be taken to support the people’s interest in this program most particularly to the individuals who burn their garbage. Seminars and training-workshops about appropriate waste disposal will most likely help settle this issue.

Keywords: availment, awareness, environmental management, need for action, satisfaction

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Authors: Haruna Maama

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Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is gaining considerable attention despite being voluntary. Meanwhile, it consumes resources to provide ESG reporting, raising a question of its value relevance. The study examined the impact of ESG reporting on the market value of listed firms in SSA. The annual and integrated reports of 276 listed sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) firms. The integrated reporting scores of the firm were analysed using a content analysis method. A multiple regression estimation technique using a GMM approach was employed for the analysis. The results revealed that ESG has a positive relationship with firms’ market value, suggesting that investors are interested in the ESG information disclosure of firms in SSA. This suggests that extensive ESG disclosures are attempts by firms to obtain the approval of powerful social, political and environmental stakeholders, especially institutional investors. Furthermore, the market value analysis evidence is consistent with signalling theory, which postulates that firms provide integrated reports as a signal to influence the behaviour of stakeholders. This finding reflects the value placed on investors' social, environmental and governance disclosures, which affirms the views that conventional investors would care about the social, environmental and governance issues of their potential or existing investee firms. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the prediction of signalling theory. In the context of this theory, integrated reporting is seen as part of firms' overall competitive strategy to influence investors' behaviour. The findings of this study make unique contributions to knowledge and practice in corporate reporting.

Keywords: environmental accounting, ESG accounting, signalling theory, sustainability reporting, sub-saharan Africa

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Authors: Mingyue Sheng, Basil Sharp

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Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from national transport account for the largest share of emissions from energy use in New Zealand. Whether the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship exists between environmental degradation indicators from the transport sector and economic growth in New Zealand remains unclear. This paper aims at exploring the causality relationship between CO₂ emissions from the transport sector, fossil fuel consumption, and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in New Zealand, using annual data for the period 1977 to 2013. First, conventional unit root tests (Augmented Dickey–Fuller and Phillips–Perron tests), and a unit root test with the breakpoint (Zivot-Andrews test) are employed to examine the stationarity of the variables. Second, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test for co-integration, followed by Granger causality investigated causality among the variables. Empirical results of the study reveal that, in the short run, there is a unidirectional causality between economic growth and transport CO₂ emissions with direction from economic growth to transport CO₂ emissions, as well as a bidirectional causality from transport CO₂ emissions to road energy consumption.

Keywords: economic growth, transport carbon dioxide emissions, environmental Kuznets curve, causality

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Authors: Irtaza M. Syed, Kaamran Raahemifar

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This paper presents modeling of a Alternating Current (AC) Photovoltaic (PV) module using Matlab/Simulink. The proposed AC-PV module model is simple, realistic, and application oriented. The model is derived on module level as compared to cell level directly from the information provided by the manufacturer data sheet. DC-PV module, MPPT control, BC, VSI and LC filter, all were treated as a single unit. The model accounts for changes in variations of both irradiance and temperature. The AC-PV module proposed model is simulated and the results are compared with the datasheet projected numbers to validate model’s accuracy and effectiveness. Implementation and results demonstrate simplicity and accuracy, as well as reliability of the model.

Keywords: PV modeling, AC PV Module, datasheet, VI curves irradiance, temperature, MPPT, Matlab/Simulink

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Authors: Farnaz Farhangi

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Many people in New Zealand believe that the access to water is inexhaustible, and it comes from a history of virtually unrestricted access to it. For the region like Hamilton which is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing cities, it is crucial for policy makers to know about the future water consumption and implementation of rules and regulation such as universal water metering. Hamilton residents use water freely and they do not have any idea about how much water they use. Hence, one of proposed objectives of this research is focusing on forecasting water consumption using different methods. Residential water consumption time series exhibits seasonal and trend variations. Seasonality is the pattern caused by repeating events such as weather conditions in summer and winter, public holidays, etc. The problem with this seasonal fluctuation is that, it dominates other time series components and makes difficulties in determining other variations (such as educational campaign’s effect, regulation, etc.) in time series. Apart from seasonality, a stochastic trend is also combined with seasonality and makes different effects on results of forecasting. According to the forecasting literature, preprocessing (de-trending and de-seasonalization) is essential to have more performed forecasting results, while some other researchers mention that seasonally non-adjusted data should be used. Hence, I answer the question that is pre-processing essential? A wide range of forecasting methods exists with different pros and cons. In this research, I apply double seasonal ARIMA and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), considering diverse elements such as seasonality and calendar effects (public and school holidays) and combine their results to find the best predicted values. My hypothesis is the examination the results of combined method (hybrid model) and individual methods and comparing the accuracy and robustness. In order to use ARIMA, the data should be stationary. Also, ANN has successful forecasting applications in terms of forecasting seasonal and trend time series. Using a hybrid model is a way to improve the accuracy of the methods. Due to the fact that water demand is dominated by different seasonality, in order to find their sensitivity to weather conditions or calendar effects or other seasonal patterns, I combine different methods. The advantage of this combination is reduction of errors by averaging of each individual model. It is also useful when we are not sure about the accuracy of each forecasting model and it can ease the problem of model selection. Using daily residential water consumption data from January 2000 to July 2015 in Hamilton, I indicate how prediction by different methods varies. ANN has more accurate forecasting results than other method and preprocessing is essential when we use seasonal time series. Using hybrid model reduces forecasting average errors and increases the performance.

Keywords: artificial neural network (ANN), double seasonal ARIMA, forecasting, hybrid model

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Authors: Zaima Umar, Anas S. Qureshi, Adeel Sarfraz, Saqib Umar, Talha Umar, Muhammad Usman

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Ostrich has been a good source of food and income for people across the world. To get a better understanding of health and health-related problems, the knowledge of its digestive system is of utmost importance. The present study was conducted to determine the morphological and histometrical variations in the digestive system and associated glands of ostrich (Struthio camelus) as regard to the gender and progressive age. A total of 40 apparently healthy ostriches of both genders and two progressive age groups; young one (less than two year, group A); and adult (2-15 years, group B) in equal number were used in this study. Digestive organs including tongue, esophagus, proventriculus, gizzard, small and large intestines and associated glands like liver and pancreas were collected immediately after slaughtering the birds. The organs of the digestive system and associated glands of each group were studied grossly and histologically. Grossly colour, shape consistency, weight and various dimensions (length, width, and circumference) of organs of the digestive tract and associated glands were recorded. The mean (± SEM) of all gross anatomical parameters in group A were significantly (p ≤ 0.01) different from that of group B. For microscopic studies, 1-2 cm tissue samples of organs of the digestive system and associated glands were taken. The tissue was marked and fixed in the neutral buffer formaldehyde solution for histological studies. After fixation, the sections of 5-7 µm were cut and stained by haematoxylin and eosin stain. All the layers (epithelium, lamina propria, lamina muscularis, submucosa and tunica muscularis) were measured (µm) with the help of automated computer software Image J®. The results of this study provide valuable information on the gender and age-related histological and histometrical variations in the digestive organs of ostrich (Struthio camelus). The microscopic studies of different parts of the digestive system revealed highly significant differences (p ≤ 0.01) among the two groups. The esophagus was lined by non-keratinized stratified squamous epithelium. The duodenum, jejunum, and ileum showed similar histological structures. Statistical analysis revealed significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in the thickness of different tunics of the gastrointestinal tract in adult birds (up to 15 years) as compared with young ones (less than two years). Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a gradual but consistent growth in the observed digestive organs mimicking that of other poultry species and may be helpful in determining the growth pattern in this bird. However, there is a need to record the changes at closer time intervals.

Keywords: ostrich, digestive system, histomorphometry, grossly

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Authors: Dana Aljadaa, Hasim Altan

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Japan’s strategy is based on improving the current resources and productivity by identifying the environmental challenges to progress further in many areas. For example, it will help in understanding the competitive challenges in the industry, emerging innovation, and other progresses. The present study seeks to examine the characteristics of sustainable practices using materials that will last longer and following environmental policies. There has been a major emphasis since 1990s and onwards about recycling and preserving the environment. Furthermore, the present paper analyses and argues how national interest in policy increases resource productivity. It is a universal law, but these actions may be different based on the unique situation of the country. In addition, the present study explains some of the strategies developed by the Environmental Agency of Japan in the last few years. There are a few resources reviewed involving ‘Strategy for an Environmental Nation in the 21st Century’ from 2001, ‘Clean Asia Initiative’ from 2008, and ‘New Growth Strategy’ from 2010. The present paper also highlights the emphasis on increasing efficiency, as it is an important part of sustainability. We finally conclude by providing reasoning on the impact and positivity of reducing production and consumption on the environment, resulting in a productive and progressive Japan for the near and long term future.

Keywords: eco-system, resource productivity, sound material-cycle, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: N. Veerappan

Abstract:

Seasonal variations of sea grasses and physico-chemical parameters were studied from April 2011 to March 2012. Samples were collected in four different seasons, namely post monsoon (January-March), summer (April-June) premonsoon (July-September) and monsoon (October-December) from the Uppanar estuary. Three species of sea grass biomass were measured during the study period: Halophila ovalis (215.3 g/m2 - 38.5 g/m2), Halophila beccarii (75.2 g/m2 –30.1 g/m2) and Halodule pinifolia (65.4 g/m2 - 26.5 g/m2), respectively. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that NO2, NO3 PO4, and SiO4 influenced Halophila ovalis biomass distribution, whereas for Halophila beccarii and Halodule pinifolia, atmospheric temperature, water temperature, salinity, pH and DO proved important.

Keywords: sea grass, species biomass, Uppanar estuary, water quality

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Authors: Tamas Mankovits

Abstract:

Lightweight cellular-type structures like metal foams have excellent mechanical properties, therefore the interest in these materials is widely spreading as load-bearing structural elements, e.g. as implants. Numerous technologies are available to produce metal foams. In this paper the material response of closed cell foam structures produced by direct foaming and additive technology is compared. The production technology circumstances are also investigated. Geometrical variations are developed for foam structures produced by additive manufacturing and simulated by finite element method to be able to predict the mechanical behavior.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, direct foaming, finite element method, metal foam

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Cristian F.T. Montenegro, Luís F. N. Lourenço, Maurício B. C. Salles, Renato M. Monaro

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More PV systems have been connected to the electrical network each year. As the number of PV systems increases, some issues affecting grid operations have been identified. This paper studied the impacts related to changes in solar irradiance on a distribution/sub-transmission network, considering variations due to moving clouds and daily cycles. Using MATLAB/Simulink software, a solar farm of 30 MWp was built and then implemented to a test network. From simulations, it has been determined that irradiance changes can have a significant impact on the grid by causing voltage fluctuations outside the allowable thresholds. This work discussed some local control strategies and grid reinforcements to mitigate the negative effects of the irradiance changes on the grid.

Keywords: reactive power control, solar irradiance, utility-scale PV systems, voltage fluctuations

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: Taknaz Banihashemi, Jiangang Fei, Peggy Shu-Ling Chen

Abstract:

Reverse logistics (RL) is a part of the logistics of companies and its aim is to reclaim value from the returned products in an environmentally friendly manner. In recent years, RL has attracted significant attention among both practitioners and academics due to environmental directives and governmental legislation, consumer concerns and social responsibilities for environment, awareness of the limits of natural resources and economic potential. Sustainability development is considered as a critical goal for organisations due to its impact on competitive advantage. With growing environmental concerns and legal regulations related to green and sustainability issues, product disposition through RL can be considered as an environmental, economic and social sound way to achieve sustainable development. When employed properly, RL can help firms to improve their sustainability performance. The aim of this paper is to investigate the sustainability issues in the context of RL in the perspective of the triple-bottom-line approach. Content analysis was used to collect the information. The findings show that there is a research gap to investigate the relationship between RL and sustainability performance. Most of the studies have focused on performance evaluation of RL by considering the factors related to economic and environmental performance. RL can have significant effects on social issues along with economic and environmental issues. The inclusion of the social aspect in the sustainability performance will provide a complete and holistic picture of how RL may impact on the sustainability performance of firms. Generally, there is a lack of research on investigating the relationship between RL and sustainability by integrating the three pillars of triple-bottom-line sustainability performance. This paper provides academics and researchers a broad view of the correlations between RL and sustainability performance.

Keywords: verse Logistics, review, sustainability, sustainability performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Golshid Gilani, Albert De La Fuente, Ana Blanco

Abstract:

Sustainability assessment of new and existing buildings has generated a growing interest due to the evident environmental, social and economic impacts during their construction and service life. Façades, as one of the most important exterior elements of a building, may contribute to the building sustainability by reducing the amount of energy consumption and providing thermal comfort for the inhabitants, thus minimizing the environmental impact on both the building and on the environment. Various methods have been used for the sustainability assessment of buildings due to the importance of this issue. However, most of the existing methods mainly concentrate on environmental and economic aspects, disregarding the third pillar of sustainability, which is the social aspect. Besides, there is a little focus on comprehensive sustainability assessment of facades, as an important element of a building. This confirms the need of developing methods for assessing the sustainable performance of building façades as an important step in achieving building sustainability. In this respect, this paper aims at presenting a model for assessing the global sustainability of façade systems. for that purpose, the Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment (MIVES), a Multi-Criteria Decision Making model that integrates the main sustainability requirements (economic, environmental and social) and includes the concept of value functions, used as an assessment tool.

Keywords: façade, MCDM, MIVES, sustainability

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Authors: Jun-Geol Park, Kyoung-Il Do, Min-Ju Kwon, Kyung-Hyun Park, Yong-Seo Koo

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In this paper, we proposed the SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier)-based ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) protection circuit for latch-up immunity. The proposed circuit has a lower trigger voltage and a higher holding voltage characteristic by using the zener diode structure. These characteristics prevent latch-up problem in normal operating conditions. The proposed circuit was analyzed to figure out the electrical characteristics by the variations of design parameters D1, D2 and stack technology to obtain the n-fold electrical characteristics. The simulations are accomplished by using the Synopsys TCAD simulator. When using the stack technology, 2-stack has the holding voltage of 6.9V and 3-stack has the holding voltage of 10.9V.

Keywords: ESD, SCR, trigger voltage, holding voltage

Procedia PDF Downloads 515