Search results for: human resources cost

Authors: Charles Amoatey

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The issue of risk in the mining industry is a global phenomenon and the Ghanaian mining industry is not exempted. The main purpose of this study is to identify the critical risk factors affecting the mining industry. The study takes an integrated view of the mining industry by examining the contribution of various risk factors to mining project failure in Ghana. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the critical risk factors from key mining practitioners. About 80 respondents from 11 mining firms participated in the survey. The study identified 22 risk factors contributing to mining project failure in Ghana. The five most critical risk factors based on both probability of occurrence and impact were: (1) unstable commodity prices, (2) inflation/exchange rate, (3) land degradation, (4) high cost of living and (5) government bureaucracy for obtaining licenses. Furthermore, the study found that risk assessment in the mining sector has a direct link with mining project sustainability. Mitigation measures for addressing the identified risk factors were discussed. The key findings emphasize the need for a comprehensive risk management culture in the entire mining industry.

Keywords: risk, assessment, mining, Ghana

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Authors: Mourad Zmami Oussema BenSalha

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The current research aims to assess empirically the reaction of private investment to exchange rate fluctuations in Tunisia using a sample of 548 firms operating in manufacturing industries between 1997 and 2002. The micro-econometric model we estimate is based on an accelerator-profit specification investment model increased by two variables that measure the variation and the volatility of exchange rates. Estimates using the system the GMM method reveal that the effects of the exchange rate depreciation on investment are negative since it increases the cost of imported capital goods. Turning to the exchange rate volatility, as measured by the GARCH (1,1) model, our findings assign a significant role to the exchange rate uncertainty in explaining the sluggishness of private investment in Tunisia in the full sample of firms. Other estimation attempts based on various sub samples indicate that the elasticities of investment relative to the exchange rate volatility depend upon many firms’ specific characteristics such as the size and the ownership structure.

Keywords: investment, exchange rate volatility, manufacturing firms, system GMM, Tunisia

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Authors: Srinivasulu Dasaiah, Kalyan Yakkala, Gangadhar Battala, Pavan Kumar Pindi, Ramakrishna Naidu Gurijala

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Tinospora cordifolia leaves biomass used for the removal fluoride from aqueous solutions. Batch biosorption technique was applied, pH, contact time, biosorbent dose and initial fluoride concentration was studied. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) techniques used to study the surface characteristics and the presence of chemical functional groups on the biosorbent. Biosorption isotherm models and kinetic models were applied to understand the sorption mechanism. Results revealed that pH, contact time, biosorbent dose and initial fluoride concentration played a significant effect on fluoride removal from aqueous solutions. The developed biosorbent derived from Tinospora cordifolia leaves biomass found to be a low-cost biosorbent and could be used for the effective removal of fluoride in synthetic as well as real water samples.

Keywords: biosorption, contact time, fluoride, isotherms

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Authors: Akshaya P., Priyanjali Prabhkaran

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The paper examines the formulation of strategies to develop a comprehensive model of city level water utility management to addressing urban sanitation issues. The water is prime life sustaining natural resources and nature’s gifts to all living beings on the earth multiple urban sanitation issues are addressed in the supply of water in a city. Many of these urban sanitation issues are linked to population expansion and economic inequity. Increased usage of water and the development caused water scarcity. The lack of water supply results increases the chance of unhygienic situations in the cities. In this study, the urban sanitation issues are identified with respect to water supply and utility management. The study compared based on their best practices and initiatives. From this, best practices and initiatives identify suitable sustainable measures to address water supply issues in the city level. The paper concludes with the listed provision that should be considered suitable measures for water supply and utility management in city level to address the urban sanitation issues.

Keywords: water, benchmarking water supply, water supply networks, water supply management

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Authors: Peter G. Youssef, Saad M. Mahmoud, Raya K. AL-Dadah

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Many water desalination technologies have been developed but in general they are energy intensive and have high cost and adverse environmental impact. Recently, adsorption technology for water desalination has been investigated showing the potential of using low temperature waste heat (50-85oC) thus reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This work mathematically compares the performance of an adsorption cycle that produces two useful effects namely, fresh water and cooling using two different adsorbents, silica-gel and an advanced zeolite material AQSOA-ZO2, produced by Mitsubishi plastics. It was found that at low chilled water temperatures, typically below 20oC, the AQSOA-Z02 is more efficient than silica-gel as the cycle can produce 5.8 m3 of fresh water per day and 50.1 Rton of cooling per tonne of AQSOA-ZO2. Above 20oC silica-gel is still better as the cycle production reaches 8.4 m3 per day and 62.4 Rton per tonne of silica-gel. These results show the potential of using the AQSOA-Z02 at low chilled water temperature for water desalination and cooling applications.

Keywords: adsorption, desalination, refrigeration, seawater

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Authors: Omar Al Ali

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The current study was aimed to explore the relationships between emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, and leader's performance. Data were collected from 260 senior managers from UAE. The results showed that there are significant relationships between emotional intelligence and leadership performance as measured by the annual internal evaluations of each participant (r = .42, p < .01). Data from regression analysis revealed that both variables namely emotional intelligence (beta = .31, p < .01), and cognitive ability (beta = .29, p < .01), predicted leadership competencies, and together explained 26% of its variance. Data suggests that EI and cognitive ability are significantly correlated with leadership performance. In depth implications of the present findings for human resource development theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, leadership, performance

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Authors: Gabrielle Robertson, Matthew Downs, Joseph Dagher

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Iron deposition in the brain has been linked with a host of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis. While some treatment options exist, there are no objective measurement tools that allow for the monitoring of iron levels in the brain in vivo. An emerging Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) method has been recently proposed to deduce iron concentration through quantitative measurement of magnetic susceptibility. This is a multi-step process that involves repeated modeling of physical processes via approximate numerical solutions. For example, the last two steps of this Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) method involve I) mapping magnetic field into magnetic susceptibility and II) mapping magnetic susceptibility into iron concentration. Process I involves solving an ill-posed inverse problem by using regularization via injection of prior belief. The end result from Process II highly depends on the model used to describe the molecular content of each voxel (type of iron, water fraction, etc.) Due to these factors, the accuracy and repeatability of QSM have been an active area of research in the MRI and medical imaging community. This work aims to estimate iron concentration in the brain via a single step. A synthetic numerical model of the human head was created by automatically and manually segmenting the human head on a high-resolution grid (640x640x640, 0.4mm³) yielding detailed structures such as microvasculature and subcortical regions as well as bone, soft tissue, Cerebral Spinal Fluid, sinuses, arteries, and eyes. Each segmented region was then assigned tissue properties such as relaxation rates, proton density, electromagnetic tissue properties and iron concentration. These tissue property values were randomly selected from a Probability Distribution Function derived from a thorough literature review. In addition to having unique tissue property values, different synthetic head realizations also possess unique structural geometry created by morphing the boundary regions of different areas within normal physical constraints. This model of the human brain is then used to create synthetic MRI measurements. This is repeated thousands of times, for different head shapes, volume, tissue properties and noise realizations. Collectively, this constitutes a training-set that is similar to in vivo data, but larger than datasets available from clinical measurements. This 3D convolutional U-Net neural network architecture was used to train data-driven Deep Learning models to solve for iron concentrations from raw MRI measurements. The performance was then tested on both synthetic data not used in training as well as real in vivo data. Results showed that the model trained on synthetic MRI measurements is able to directly learn iron concentrations in areas of interest more effectively than other existing QSM reconstruction methods. For comparison, models trained on random geometric shapes (as proposed in the Deep QSM method) are less effective than models trained on realistic synthetic head models. Such an accurate method for the quantitative measurement of iron deposits in the brain would be of important value in clinical studies aiming to understand the role of iron in neurological disease.

Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, iron deposition, machine learning, quantitative susceptibility mapping

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Authors: Faisal Bin Alam

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Most of the manufacturing entities cause negative footprint to nature that demand due attention. Textile industries have one of the longest supply chains and bear the liability of significant environmental impact to our planet. Issues of environmental safety, scarcity of energy and resources, and demand for eco-friendly products have driven research to search for safe and suitable alternatives in apparel processing. Consumer awareness, increased pressure from fashion brands and actions from local legislative authorities have somewhat been able to improve the practices. Objective of this paper is to reveal the best selection of raw materials and methods of production, taking environmental sustainability into account. Methodology used in this study is exploratory in nature based on personal experience, field visits in the factories of Bangladesh and secondary sources. Findings are limited to exploring better alternatives to conventional operations of a Readymade Garment manufacturing, from fibre selection to final product delivery, therefore showing some ways of achieving greener environment in the supply chain of a clothing industry.

Keywords: textile and apparel, environmental sustainability, supply chain, production, clothing

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Authors: Akshata S. Malani, Anagha D. Chaudhari, Rajeshkumar U. Sambhe

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Nanotechnology in pristine sense refers to building of structures at atomic and molecular scale. Meticulously nanotechnology encompasses the nanomaterials with atleast one dimension size ranging from 1 to 100 nanometres.Unlike the literal meaning of its name, nanotechnology is a massive concept beyond imagination. This paper predominantly deals with relevance of nanotechnology in automotive industries. New generation of automotives looks at nanotechnology as an emerging trend of manufacturing revolution. Intricate shapes can be made out of fairly inexpensive raw materials instead of conventional fabrication process. Though the current era have enough technology to face competition, nanotechnology can give futuristic implications to pick up the modern pace. Nanotechnology intends to bridge the gap between automotives with superior technical performance and their cost fluctuation. Preliminarily, it is an area of great scientific interest and a major shaper of many new technologies. Nanotechnology can be an ideal building block for automotive industries, under constant evolution offering a very wide scope of activity. It possesses huge potential and is still in the embryonic form of research and development.

Keywords: nanotechnology, nanomaterials, manufacturing, automotive industry

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Authors: Ahmed Al-Adaileh, Souheil Khaddaj

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Outcomes of exhaustion of natural resources started influencing each spirit on this planet. Energy is an essential factor in this aspect. To restore the circumstance to the appropriate track, all attempts must focus on two fundamental branches: producing electricity from clean and renewable reserves and decreasing the overall unnecessary consumption of energy. The focal point of this paper will be on lessening the power consumption in the household's segment. This paper is an attempt to give a clear understanding of a framework called Reduction of Energy Consumption in Household Sector (RECHS) and how it should help householders to reduce their power consumption by substituting their household appliances, turning-off the appliances when stand-by modus is detected, and scheduling their appliances operation periods. Technically, the framework depends on utilizing Z-Wave compatible plug-ins which will be connected to the usual house devices to gauge and control them remotely and semi-automatically. The suggested framework underpins numerous quality characteristics, for example, integrability, scalability, security and adaptability.

Keywords: smart energy management systems, internet of things, wireless mesh networks, microservices, cloud computing, big data

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Authors: Muhammad Rizwan Tabassum, Ao Xia, Jerry D. Murphy

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The aim of this work is to provide an overview of macroalgae as an alternative feedstock for gaseous fuel production and key innovative technologies. Climate change and continuously depleting resources are the key driving forces to think for alternative sources of energy. Macroalgae can be favored over land based energy crops because they are not in direct competition with food crops. However, some drawbacks, such as high moisture content, seasonal variation in chemical composition and process inhibition limit the economic practicability. Macroalgae, like brown seaweed can be converted into gaseous and liquid fuel by different conversion technologies. Biomethane via anaerobic digestion is the appealing technology due to its dual advantage of a commercially applicable and environment friendly technology. Other technologies like biodiesel and bioethanol conversion technologies from seaweed are still under progress. Screening of high yielding macroalgae species, peak harvesting season and process optimization make the technology economically feasible for alternative source of feedstock for biofuel production in future.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biofuels, bio-methane, advanced conversion technologies, macroalgae

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Authors: Reihaneh Rafiemanzelat

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One of the most recent fields of investigation in urban issues focuses on the walkability in urban spaces. The paper aims to establish the theoretical relationship between the people's link with definite urban public spaces and the social identity processes derived from the relation with these places. The theoretical aspects which are examined for this purpose are: the concept of walkability and its developments and the social identity theories derived from walkable spaces. In fact, the paper presents the main results obtained from an empirical investigation which concern to the genesis of urban social identity in particular street as one of the main elements of public spaces in cities. İsmet İnönü Blvd which known as Salamis Street in Famagusta, North Cyprus is one of the main street in city whit high level of physical and social activities all the time. The urban social identity of users was analyzed, focusing on three main factors: walkability of space, social identification, and image of the space. These three factors were analyzed in relation to a series of items in the initial questionnaire, evaluation of existing natural resources, and environmental attitudes.

Keywords: walkability, urban public space, pedestrian, social activity, social identity

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Authors: Ugo Galvanetto, Pirto G. Pavan, Mirco Zaccariotto

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The discipline of Computer-integrated surgery (CIS) will provide equipment able to improve the efficiency of healthcare systems and, which is more important, clinical results. Surgeons and machines will cooperate in new ways that will extend surgeons’ ability to train, plan and carry out surgery. Patient specific CIS of the brain requires several steps: 1 - Fast generation of brain models. Based on image recognition of MR images and equipped with artificial intelligence, image recognition techniques should differentiate among all brain tissues and segment them. After that, automatic mesh generation should create the mathematical model of the brain in which the various tissues (white matter, grey matter, cerebrospinal fluid …) are clearly located in the correct positions. 2 – Reliable and fast simulation of the surgical process. Computational mechanics will be the crucial aspect of the entire procedure. New algorithms will be used to simulate the mechanical behaviour of cutting through cerebral tissues. 3 – Real time provision of visual and haptic feedback A sophisticated human-machine interface based on ergonomics and psychology will provide the feedback to the surgeon. The present work will address in particular point 2. Modelling the cutting of soft tissue in a structure as complex as the human brain is an extremely challenging problem in computational mechanics. The finite element method (FEM), that accurately represents complex geometries and accounts for material and geometrical nonlinearities, is the most used computational tool to simulate the mechanical response of soft tissues. However, the main drawback of FEM lies in the mechanics theory on which it is based, classical continuum Mechanics, which assumes matter is a continuum with no discontinuity. FEM must resort to complex tools such as pre-defined cohesive zones, external phase-field variables, and demanding remeshing techniques to include discontinuities. However, all approaches to equip FEM computational methods with the capability to describe material separation, such as interface elements with cohesive zone models, X-FEM, element erosion, phase-field, have some drawbacks that make them unsuitable for surgery simulation. Interface elements require a-priori knowledge of crack paths. The use of XFEM in 3D is cumbersome. Element erosion does not conserve mass. The Phase Field approach adopts a diffusive crack model instead of describing true tissue separation typical of surgical procedures. Modelling discontinuities, so difficult when using computational approaches based on classical continuum Mechanics, is instead easy for novel computational methods based on Peridynamics (PD). PD is a non-local theory of mechanics formulated with no use of spatial derivatives. Its governing equations are valid at points or surfaces of discontinuity, and it is, therefore especially suited to describe crack propagation and fragmentation problems. Moreover, PD does not require any criterium to decide the direction of crack propagation or the conditions for crack branching or coalescence; in the PD-based computational methods, cracks develop spontaneously in the way which is the most convenient from an energy point of view. Therefore, in PD computational methods, crack propagation in 3D is as easy as it is in 2D, with a remarkable advantage with respect to all other computational techniques.

Keywords: computational mechanics, peridynamics, finite element, biomechanics

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Authors: Djelloul Benatiallah

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Due to the current high consumption and recent industry growth, the depletion of fossil and natural energy supplies like oil, gas, and uranium is declining. Due to pollution and climate change, there needs to be a swift switch to renewable energy sources. Research on renewable energy is being done to meet energy needs. Solar energy is one of the renewable resources that can currently meet all of the world's energy needs. In most parts of the world, solar energy is a free and unlimited resource that can be used in a variety of ways, including photovoltaic systems for the generation of electricity and thermal systems for the generation of heatfor the residential sector's production of hot water. In this article, we'll conduct a comparison. The first step entails identifying the two empirical models that will enable us to estimate the daily irradiations on a horizontal plane. On the other hand, we compare it using the data obtained from measurements made at the Adrar site over the four distinct seasons. The model 2 provides a better estimate of the global solar components, with an absolute mean error of less than 7% and a correlation coefficient of more than 0.95, as well as a relative coefficient of the bias error that is less than 6% in absolute value and a relative RMSE that is less than 10%, according to a comparison of the results obtained by simulating the two models.

Keywords: solar radiation, renewable energy, fossil, photovoltaic systems

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Authors: Yi-Jing Lee

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Prior to the development of ritual design tool and framework, this paper establishes a systematic review on the studies related to ritual and ritual design across anthropology, consumer culture, marketing, and design. It is found that following symbolic anthropologists, the ethnographic approach was adapted by consumer culture researchers to study modern rituals and marketers to enhance consumption. In the domain of design, although there are already designers aware of the importance of ritualistic dimension of human interaction, there are little frameworks for conceptualizing and developing rituals. The conceptualized framework and developing tools is proposed and suggestions of applying it is made in the end of the paper.

Keywords: ritual, ritual design, service design, symbolic interaction

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Authors: Md. Kamal Uddin, Abdul Shukor Juraimi, Md. Parvez Anwar

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Seawater with reduced herbicide could be considered as a low cost environment friendly alternative method for weed control in turfgrass. Different concentration of sea water in combination with trifloxysulfuron-sodium and quinclorac were used to determine weed control level in turfgrass field. The weed species S. diander, C. aromaticus, and C. rotundus except E. atrovirens were fully controlled when treated with ¾ recommended trifloxysulfuron–sodium with sea water, ¾ recommended trifloxysulfuron–sodium with ¾ sea water, ½ recommended trifloxysulfuron–sodium with sea water, ¾ recommended quinclorac with sea water and ¾ recommended quinclorac with ¾ sea water. Eragrostis atrovirens showed maximum 48% injury when treated with ¾ recommended trifloxysulfuron–sodium and sea water. Among the tested turf grasses, P. vaginatum showed only 8% injury to sea water in combination with ¾ recommended quinclorac, indicating greater salt tolerance. Zoysia japonica also showed no more than 14% injury when treated with sea water in combination with ¾ recommended trifloxysulfuron–sodium or quinclorac.

Keywords: sea water, trifloxysulfuron–sodium, quinclorac, turf

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Authors: Gholamreza Madad

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The role of medical equipment in modern advanced hospitals is irrefutable. Despite limited financial resources, developing countries have taken an uncontrollable manner to the purchase of complex and expensive equipment, although they have not taken good maintenance to keep these huge capitals. In our country, limited studies have indicated that the irregularities exist in the management of medical equipment maintenance. Research method: The research was done as a cross-sectional one, and in this study, a questionnaire was used to collect data in 10 hospitals. After distributing and collecting questionnaires in person, the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS software. Research findings: According to the obtained results from the four dimensions of the management of medical equipment maintenance, only (maintenance planning) was in a moderate position and other components with a score of less than 50% were at a low level. There was a direct relationship between the total score of maintenance management and guidance points and coordination of medical equipment maintenance, and as well as the age of hospital managers. Discussion and conclusion: In sum, we can say that problems such as lack of skilled staff in medical engineering departments of hospitals, lack of funds and unaware of the authorities of medical engineering units to their duties have caused that the maintenance situation of medical equipment maintenance is in poor condition (near average). The low inexperience of the authorities of the unit has also contributed to this problem.

Keywords: equipment, maintenance, medical equipment, hospitals

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Authors: Ugo Rovigatti

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Neuroblastoma (NBL) has epitomized for at least 40 years our understanding of cancer cellular and molecular biology and its potential applications to novel therapeutic strategies. This includes the discovery of the very first oncogene aberrations and tumorigenesis suppression by differentiation in the 80s; the potential role of suppressor genes in the 90s; the relevance of immunotherapy in the millennium first, and the discovery of additional mutations by NGS technology in the millennium second decade. Similar discoveries were achieved in the majority of human cancers, and similar therapeutic interventions were obtained subsequently to NBL discoveries. Unfortunately, targeted therapies suggested by specific mutations (such as MYCN amplification –MNA- present in ¼ or 1/5 of cases) have not elicited therapeutic successes in aggressive NBL, where the prognosis is still dismal. The reasons appear to be linked to Tumor Heterogeneity, which is particularly evident in NBL but also a clear hallmark of aggressive human cancers generally. The new avenue of cancer immunotherapy (CIT) provided new hopes for cancer patients, but we still ignore the cellular or molecular targets. CIT is emblematic of high-risk disease (HR-NBL) since the mentioned GD2 passive immunotherapy is still providing better survival. We recently critically reviewed and evaluated the literature depicting the genomic landscapes of HR-NBL, coming to the qualified conclusion that among hundreds of affected genes, potential targets, or chromosomal sites, none correlated with anti-GD2 sensitivity. A better explanation is provided by the Micro-Foci inducing Virus (MFV) model, which predicts that neuroblasts infection with the MFV, an RNA virus isolated from a cancer-cluster (space-time association) of HR-NBL cases, elicits the appearance of MNA and additional genomic aberrations with mechanisms resembling chromothripsis. Neuroblasts infected with low titers of MFV amplified MYCN up to 100 folds and became highly transformed and malignant, thus causing neuroblastoma in young rat pups of strains SD and Fisher-344 and larger tumor masses in nu/nu mice. An association was discovered with GD2 since this glycosphingolipid is also the receptor for the family of MFV virus (dsRNA viruses). It is concluded that a dsRNA virus, MFV, appears to provide better explicatory mechanisms for the genesis of i) specific genomic aberrations such as MNA; ii) extensive tumor heterogeneity and chromothripsis; iii) the effects of passive immunotherapy with anti-GD2 monoclonals and that this and similar models should be further investigated in both pediatric and adult cancers.

Keywords: neuroblastoma, MYCN, amplification, viruses, GD2

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Authors: Pipop Chatrabhuti, S. Visessri, T. Charinpanitkul

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Precision irrigation (PI) technology has emerged as a solution to optimize water usage in agriculture, aiming to maximize crop yields while minimizing water waste. Developing a new PI for commercialization requires developers to research, synthesize, evaluate, and select appropriate technologies and make use of such information to produce innovative products. The objective of this review is to facilitate innovators by providing them with a summary of existing knowledge and the identification of gaps in research linking to the innovative development of PI. This paper reviews and synthesizes technologies and components relevant to precision irrigation, highlighting its potential benefits and challenges. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework is used for the review. The study is intended to contribute to innovators who apply for collaborative approach to problem-solving and idea generation that involves seeking external input and resources from a diverse range of individuals and organizations.

Keywords: innovation synthesis, technology assessment, precision irrigation technologies, precision irrigation components, new product development

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Authors: Maram Saleh

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Knowledge has become an essential resource in today’s economy and become the most important asset of maintaining competition advantage in organizations. The importance of knowledge has made organizations to manage their knowledge assets and resources through all multiple knowledge management stages such as: Knowledge Creation, knowledge storage, knowledge sharing and knowledge use. Researches on data mining are continues growing over recent years on both business and educational fields. Data mining is one of the most important steps of the knowledge discovery in databases process aiming to extract implicit, unknown but useful knowledge and it is considered as significant subfield in knowledge management. Data miming have the great potential to help organizations to focus on extracting the most important information on their data warehouses. Data mining tools and techniques can predict future trends and behaviors, allowing businesses to make proactive, knowledge-driven decisions. This review paper explores the applications of data mining techniques in supporting knowledge management process as an effective knowledge discovery technique. In this paper, we identify the relationship between data mining and knowledge management, and then focus on introducing some application of date mining techniques in knowledge management for some real life domains.

Keywords: Data Mining, Knowledge management, Knowledge discovery, Knowledge creation.

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Authors: Adebayo John Julius, Emmanuel Imoagene

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Mitigating global warming through reducing emission from deforestation and degradation (REDD) has been given increasing attentions in government-to-government negotiations while discussions among decision-makers have been going on, it is important to learn about the perception of local people in relation to REDD because the implementation will affect their lives. A survey was conducted using questionnaires to examine the livelihood and forest dependency of the local people in the vicinity of Onigambari and Ido area. Respondents’ income from forest activities and forest resources are collected. Participation in tourism related activities among the household members was also investigated to measure the potential of this “eco-friendly” income generation activity in the local communities. There was a general indication of reducing slash-and-burn activities with distance from the park and involvement in tourism-related job. Most of the local people were willing to accept compensation as alternative for slash-and-burn activities. The compensation preferred is in various form of development and different level of forest and environmental activities

Keywords: livelihood, emission, deforestation, degradation, local people, southwest Nigeria

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Authors: Otana A. Jakpor

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Air pollution is without a doubt one of the gravest environmental threats the world is facing today in terms of its sheer toll on human lives. Each year an estimated 70,000 Americans lose their lives to air pollution -- a number equal to deaths from both breast and prostate cancer combined. Since Americans spend nearly 90% of their time indoors, more research is needed on indoor air pollution and common exposures such as candles. Paraffin wax is a by-product of petroleum, and similarities have been observed between fine particulate emissions from paraffin candles and diesel exhaust. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not paraffin candles are a major potential source of indoor air pollution. Furthermore, this study aims to determine whether or not soy candles are a safer, cleaner alternative to paraffin candles.

Keywords: soy candle, soy, paraffin candle, paraffin

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Authors: Qinghua Zhang, Yanhe Zhu, Xiang Zhao, Yeqin Yang, Hongwei Jing, Guoan Zhang, Jie Zhao

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This paper presents a wearable reconfigurable supernumerary robotic limb with differential actuated joints, which is lightweight, compact and comfortable for the wearers. Compared to the existing supernumerary robotic limbs which mostly adopted series structure with large movement space but poor carrying capacity, a prototype with the series-parallel configuration to better adapt to different task requirements has been developed in this design. To achieve a compact structure, two kinds of cable-driven mechanical structures based on guide pulleys and differential actuated joints were designed. Moreover, two different tension devices were also designed to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the cable-driven transmission. The proposed device also employed self-designed bearings which greatly simplified the structure and reduced the cost.

Keywords: cable-driven, differential actuated joints, reconfigurable, supernumerary robotic limb

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Authors: Zhanzhao Fu, Chongyi Ling, Jinlan Wang

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Water splitting and rechargeable air-based batteries are emerging as new renewable energy storage and conversion technologies. However, the discovery of suitable catalysts with high activity and low cost remains a great challenge. In this work, we report a single-atom trifunctional catalyst, namely Ti₃C₂O₂ supported single Pd atom (Pd1@Ti₃C₂O₂), for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This catalyst is selected from 12 candidates and possesses low overpotentials of 0.22 V, 0.31 V and 0.34 V for the HER, OER and ORR, respectively, making it an excellent electrocatalyst for both overall water splitting and rechargeable air-based batteries. The superior OER and ORR performance originates from the optimal d band center of the supported Pd atom. Moreover, the excellent activity can be maintained even if the single Pd atoms aggregate into small clusters. This work offers new opportunities for advancing the renewable energy storage and conversion technologies and paves a new way for the development of multifunctional electrocatalysts.

Keywords: DFT, SACs, OER, ORR, HER

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Authors: Byron Baron

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Typical of the Mediterranean region, the Maltese islands exhibit calcareous soils containing low organic carbon content and high salinity, in addition to being relatively shallow. This has lead to the common practice of applying copious amounts of artificial fertilisers as well as other chemical inputs, together with the use of ground water having high salinity. Such intensive agricultural activities, over a prolonged time period, on such land has lead further to the loss of any soil fertility, together with direct negative impacts on the quality of fresh water reserves and the local ecosystem. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the natural resources on the island would be sufficient to apply ecological intensification i.e. the use of natural processes to replace anthropological inputs without any significant loss in food production. This was implementing through a sustainable agricultural system based on permaculture practices. Ecological intensification following permaculture principles was implemented for two years in order to capture the seasonal changes in duplicate. The areas dedicated to wild plants were only trimmed back to avoid excessive seeding but never mowing. A number of local staple crops were grown throughout this period, also in duplicate. Concomitantly, a number of practices were implemented following permaculture principles such as reducing land tilling, applying only natural fertiliser, mulching, monitoring of soil parameters using sensors, no use of herbicides or pesticides, and precision irrigation linked to a desalination system. Numerous environmental parameters were measured at regular intervals so as to quantify any improvements in ecological conditions. Crop output was also measured as kilos of produce per area. The results clearly show that over the two year period, the variety of wild plant species increased, the number of visiting pollinators increased, there were no pest infestations (although an increase in the number of pests was observed), and a slight improvement in overall soil health was also observed. This was obviously limited by the short duration of the testing implementation. Dedicating slightly less than 15% of total land area to wild plants in the form of borders around plots of crops assisted pollination and provided a foraging area for gleaning bats (measured as an increased number of feeding buzzes) whilst not giving rise to any pest infestations and no apparent yield losses or ill effects to the crops. Observed increases in crop yields were not significant. The study concluded that with the right support for the initial establishment of a healthy ecosystem and controlled intervention, the available natural resources on the island can substantially improve the condition of the local agricultural land area, resulting is a more prolonged economical output with greater ecological sustainability. That being said, more comprehensive and long-term monitoring is required in order to fully validate these results and design a sustainable agriculture system that truly achieves the best outcome for the Maltese context.

Keywords: ecological intensification, soil health, sustainable agriculture, permaculture

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Authors: Ali Seddiki, Mohamed Djebbouri, Driss Guerchi

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Medical imaging produces human body pictures in digital form. Since these imaging techniques produce prohibitive amounts of data, compression is necessary for storage and communication purposes. In some areas in medicine, it may be sufficient to maintain high image quality only in region of interest (ROI). This paper discusses a contribution to quality purpose compression in the region of interest of scintigraphic images based on dual tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) using Run-Length coding (RLE) and Huffman coding (HC).

Keywords: DT-CWT, region of interest, run length coding, Scintigraphic images

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Authors: Godfrey Omulo, Regina Birner, Karlheinz Koller, Thomas Daum

Abstract:

Conservation agriculture (CA) as a climate-resilient and sustainable practice have been carried out for over three decades in Zambia. However, its continued promotion and adoption has been predominantly on a small-scale basis. Despite the plethora of scholarship pointing to the positive benefits of CA in regard to enhanced yield, profitability, carbon sequestration and minimal environmental degradation, these have not stimulated commensurate agricultural extensification desired for Zambia. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential differences between mechanized conventional and conservation tillage practices on operation time, fuel consumption, labor costs, soil moisture retention, soil temperature and crop yield. An on-farm mechanized conservation agriculture (MCA) experiment arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications was used. The research was conducted on a 15 ha of sandy loam rainfed land: soybeans on 7ha with plot dimensions of 24 m by 210 m and maize on 8ha with plot dimensions of 24 m by 250 m. The three tillage treatments were: residue burning followed by disc harrowing, ripping tillage and no-till. The crops were rotated in two subsequent seasons. All operations were done using a 60hp 2-wheel tractor, a disc harrow, a two-tine ripper and a two-row planter. Soil measurements and the agro-economic factors were recorded for two farming seasons. The season results showed that the yield of maize and soybeans under no-till and ripping tillage practices were not significantly different from the conventional burning and discing. But, there was a significant difference in soil moisture content between no-till (25.31SFU±2.77) and disced (11.91SFU±0.59) plots at depths from 10-60 cm. Soil temperature in no-till plots (24.59°C±0.91) was significantly lower compared to the disced plots (26.20°C±1.75) at the depths 15 cm and 45 cm. For maize, there was a significant difference in operation time between disc-harrowed (3.68hr/ha±1.27) and no-till (1.85hr/ha±0.04) plots, and a significant difference in cost of labor between disc-harrowed (45.45$/ha±19.56) and no-till (21.76$/ha) plots. There was no significant difference in fuel consumption between ripping and disc-harrowing and direct seeding. For soybeans, there was a significant difference in operation time between no-tillage (1.96hr/ha±0.31) and ripping (3.34hr/ha±0.53) and disc harrowing (3.30hr/ha±0.16). Further, fuel consumption and labor on no-till plots were significantly different from both the ripped and disc-harrowed plots. The high seed emergence percentage on maize disc-harrowed plot (93.75%±5.87) was not significantly different from ripping and no-till plots. Again, the high seed emergence percentage for the soybean ripped plot (93.75%±13.03) had no significant difference with discing and ripping. The results show that it is economically sound and timesaving to practice MCA and get viable yields compared to conventional farming. This research fills the gap on the potential of MCA in the context of Zambia and its profitability in incentivizing policymakers to invest in appropriate and sustainable machinery and implements for extensive agricultural production.

Keywords: climate-smart agriculture, labor cost, mechanized conservation agriculture, soil moisture, Zambia

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Mark Schudeleit, Christian Sieg, Ferit Küçükay

Abstract:

This publication focuses on the limits and potentials of 48V hybrid systems, which are especially due to the cost advantages an attractive alternative, compared to established high volt-age HEVs and thus will gain relevant market shares in the future. Firstly, at market overview is given which shows the current known 48V hybrid concepts and demonstrators. These topologies will be analyzed and evaluated regarding the system power and the battery capacity as well as their implemented hybrid functions. The potential in fuel savings and CO2 reduction is calculated followed by the customer-relevant dimensioning of the electric motor and the battery. For both measured data of the real customer operation is used. Subsequently, the CO2 saving potentials of the customer-oriented dimensioned powertrain will be presented for the NEDC and the customer operation. With a comparison of the newly defined drivetrain with existing 48V systems the question can be answered whether current systems are dimensioned optimally for the customer operation or just for legislated driving cycles.

Keywords: 48V hybrid systems, market comparison, requirements and potentials in customer operation, customer-oriented dimensioning, CO2 savings

Procedia PDF Downloads 534

Authors: Rozo D. Juan Felipe, Ramírez L. Leonardo Juan, Puerta A. Gabriel Alberto

Abstract:

The telemedicine services require correct computing resource management to guarantee productivity and efficiency for medical and non-medical staff. The aim of this study was to examine web management strategies to ensure the availability of resources and services in telemedicine so as to provide medical information management with an accessible strategy. In addition, to evaluate the quality-of-service parameters, the followings were measured: delays, throughput, jitter, latency, available bandwidth, percent of access and denial of services based of web management performance map with profiles permissions and database management. Through 24 different test scenarios, the results show 100% in availability of medical information, in relation to access of medical staff to web services, and quality of service (QoS) of 99% because of network delay and performance of computer network. The findings of this study suggest that the proposed strategy of web management is an ideal solution to guarantee the availability, reliability, and accessibility of medical information. Finally, this strategy offers seven user profile used at telemedicine center of Bogota-Colombia keeping QoS parameters suitable to telemedicine services.

Keywords: availability, medical information, QoS, strategy, telemedicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Marref Cherine, Bezzala Adel, Houhamdimoussa

Abstract:

Wetlands represent ecosystems of great importance through their ecological and socio-economic functions and biological diversity, even if they are most threatened by anthropization. This study aimed to contribute to the creation of an inventory of bird species in the Gadaïne eco-complex (Batna, Algeria) from 2019 to 2021. Counts were carried out from 8:00 to 19:00 using a telescope (20 × 60) and a pair of binoculars (10 × 50) and by employing absolute and relative methods. Birds were categorized by phenology, habitat, biogeography, and diet. A total of 80 species in 58 genera and 19 families were observed. Migratory birds were dominant (38%) phenologically, and the birds of Palearctic origin dominated (26.25%) biogeographically. Invertivorous and carnivorous species were the most common (35%). Ecologically, the majority of species were waterbirds (73.75%), which are protected in Algeria. This study highlights the need for the preservation of ecosystem components and the enhancement of biological resources of protected, rare, and key species. We observed 43797 individuals of Marmaronetta angustirostris during our study and reported the nesting of Podiceps nigricollis, Porphyrio porphyrio, and Tadorna ferruginea. For this reason, it is recommended to propose the area as a Ramsar site.

Keywords: biodiversity, avifauna, ecological status, wetlands

Procedia PDF Downloads 42