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Authors: Ahmad Kayvani Fard, Yehia Manawi

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Qatar’s primary source of fresh water is through seawater desalination. Amongst the major processes that are commercially available on the market, the most common large scale techniques are Multi-Stage Flash distillation (MSF), Multi Effect distillation (MED), and Reverse Osmosis (RO). Although commonly used, these three processes are highly expensive down to high energy input requirements and high operating costs allied with maintenance and stress induced on the systems in harsh alkaline media. Beside that cost, environmental footprint of these desalination techniques are significant; from damaging marine eco-system, to huge land use, to discharge of tons of GHG and huge carbon footprint. Other less energy consuming techniques based on membrane separation are being sought to reduce both the carbon footprint and operating costs is membrane distillation (MD). Emerged in 1960s, MD is an alternative technology for water desalination attracting more attention since 1980s. MD process involves the evaporation of a hot feed, typically below boiling point of brine at standard conditions, by creating a water vapor pressure difference across the porous, hydrophobic membrane. Main advantages of MD compared to other commercially available technologies (MSF and MED) and specially RO are reduction of membrane and module stress due to absence of trans-membrane pressure, less impact of contaminant fouling on distillate due to transfer of only water vapor, utilization of low grade or waste heat from oil and gas industries to heat up the feed up to required temperature difference across the membrane, superior water quality, and relatively lower capital and operating cost. To achieve the objective of this study, state of the art flat-sheet cross-flow DCMD bench scale unit was designed, commissioned, and tested. The objective of this study is to analyze the characteristics and morphology of the membrane suitable for DCMD through SEM imaging and contact angle measurement and to study the water quality of distillate produced by DCMD bench scale unit. Comparison with available literature data is undertaken where appropriate and laboratory data is used to compare a DCMD distillate quality with that of other desalination techniques and standards. Membrane SEM analysis showed that the PTFE membrane used for the study has contact angle of 127º with highly porous surface supported with less porous and bigger pore size PP membrane. Study on the effect of feed solution (salinity) and temperature on water quality of distillate produced from ICP and IC analysis showed that with any salinity and different feed temperature (up to 70ºC) the electric conductivity of distillate is less than 5 μS/cm with 99.99% salt rejection and proved to be feasible and effective process capable of consistently producing high quality distillate from very high feed salinity solution (i.e. 100000 mg/L TDS) even with substantial quality difference compared to other desalination methods such as RO and MSF.

Keywords: membrane distillation, waste heat, seawater desalination, membrane, freshwater, direct contact membrane distillation

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Karthika Durairaj, Buvaneswari G., Gowdham M., Gilles M., Velmurugan G.

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Background: Hyperglycaemia is the primary cause of metabolic illness. Recently, researchers focused on the possibility that chemical exposure could promote metabolic disease. Hyperglycaemia causes a variety of metabolic diseases dependent on its etiologic conditions. According to animal and population-based research, individual chemical exposure causes health problems through alteration of endocrine function with the influence of microbial influence. We were intrigued by the function of gut microbiota variation in high fat and chemically induced hyperglycaemia. Methodology: C57/Bl6 mice were subjected to two different treatments to generate the etiologic-based diabetes model: I – a high-fat diet with a 45 kcal diet, and II - endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) cocktail. The mice were monitored periodically for changes in body weight and fasting glucose. After 120 days of the experiment, blood anthropometry, faecal metagenomics and metabolomics were performed and analyzed through statistical analysis using one-way ANOVA and student’s t-test. Results: After 120 days of exposure, we found hyperglycaemic changes in both experimental models. The treatment groups also differed in terms of plasma lipid levels, creatinine, and hepatic markers. To determine the influence on glucose metabolism, microbial profiling and metabolite levels were significantly different between groups. The gene expression studies associated with glucose metabolism vary between hosts and their treatments. Conclusion: This research will result in the identification of biomarkers and molecular targets for better diabetes control and treatment.

Keywords: hyperglycaemia, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, gut microbiota, host metabolism

Procedia PDF Downloads 41

Authors: Regina R. Gunawan, Indwiani Astuti, H. Raden Danarto

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Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. Cancer is caused by mutations that alter the function of normal human genes and give rise to cancer genes. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a small non-coding RNA that regulates the gen through complementary bond towards mRNA target and cause mRNA degradation. miRNA works by either promoting or suppressing cell proliferation. miRNA level expression in cancer may offer another value of miRNA as a biomarker in cancer diagnostic. miRNA-21 is believed to have a role in carcinogenesis by enhancing proliferation, anti-apoptosis, cell cycle progression and invasion of tumor cells. Hsa-miR-21-5p marker has been identified in Prostate Cancer (PCa) and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) patient’s urine. This research planned to explore the diagnostic performance of miR-21 to differentiate PCa and BPH patients. In this study, urine samples were collected from 20 PCa patients and 20 BPH patients. miR-21 relative expression against the reference gene was analyzed and compared between the two. miRNA expression was analyzed using the comparative quantification method to find the fold change. miR-21 validity in identifying PCa patients was performed by quantifying the sensitivity and specificity with the contingency table. miR-21 relative expression against miR-16 in PCa patient and in BPH patient has 12,98 differences in fold change. From a contingency table of Cq expression of miR-21 in identifying PCa patients from BPH patient, Cq miR-21 has 100% sensitivity and 75% specificity. miR-21 relative expression can be used in discriminating PCa from BPH by using a urine sample. Furthermore, the expression of miR-21 has higher sensitivity compared to PSA (Prostate specific antigen), therefore miR-21 has a high potential to be analyzed and developed more.

Keywords: benign prostate hyperplasia, biomarker, miRNA-21, prostate cancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Glykeria A. Visvini, George N. Mathioudakis, Amaia Soto Beobide, Aris E. Giannakas, George A. Voyiatzis

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Polymeric nanocomposites have generated considerable interest in both academic research and industry because their properties can be tailored by adjusting the type & concentration of nano-inclusions, resulting in complementary and adaptable characteristics. The exceptional and/or unique properties of the nanocomposites, including the high mechanical strength and stiffness, the ease of processing, and their lightweight nature, are attributed to the high surface area, the electrical and/or thermal conductivity of the nano-fillers, which make them appealing materials for a wide range of engineering applications. Polymeric «breathable» membranes enabling water vapor permeability (WVP) can be designed either by using micro/nano-fillers with the ability to interrupt the continuity of the polymer phase generating micro/nano-porous structures or/and by creating micro/nano-pores into the composite material by uniaxial/biaxial stretching. Among the nanofillers, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit particular high WVP and for this reason, they have already been proposed for gas separation membranes. In a similar context, they could prove to be promising alternative/complementary filler nano-materials, for the development of "breathable" products. Polypropylene (PP) is a commonly utilized thermoplastic polymer matrix in the development of composite films, due to its easy processability and low price, combined with its good chemical & physical properties. PP is known to present several crystalline phases (α, β and γ), depending on the applied treatment process, which have a significant impact on its final properties, particularly in terms of WVP. Specifically, the development of the β-phase in PP in combination with stretching is anticipated to modify the crystalline behavior and extend the microporosity of the polymer matrix exhibiting enhanced WVP. The primary objective of this study is to develop breathable nano-carbon based (functionalized MWCNTs) PP composite membranes, potentially also avoiding the stretching process. This proposed alternative is expected to have a better performance/cost ratio over current stretched PP/CaCO3 composite benchmark membranes. The focus is to investigate the impact of both β-nucleator(s) and nano-carbon fillers on water vapor transmission rate properties of relevant PP nanocomposites.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes, nanocomposites, nucleating agents, polypropylene, water vapor permeability

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Martin Cai, Khadijah B. Hashim, Leng Leo, Edmund F. Tian

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Analysis of traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) supplements has always been a laborious task, particularly in the case of multi‐ingredient formulations. Traditionally, herbal extracts are analysed using one or few markers compounds. In the recent years, however, pharmaceutical companies are introducing health supplements of TCM active ingredients to cater to the needs of consumers in the fast-paced society in this age. As such, new problems arise in the aspects of composition identification as well as quality analysis. In most cases of products or supplements formulated with multiple TCM herbs, the chemical composition, and nature of each raw material differs greatly from the others in the formulation. This results in a requirement for individual analytical processes in order to identify the marker compounds in the various botanicals. Thin-layer Chromatography (TLC) is a simple, cost effective, yet well-regarded method for the analysis of natural products, both as a Pharmacopeia-approved method for identification and authentication of herbs, and a great analytical tool for the discovery of chemical compositions in herbal extracts. Recent technical advances introduced High-Performance TLC (HPTLC) where, with the help of automated equipment and improvements on the chromatographic materials, both the quality and reproducibility are greatly improved, allowing for highly standardised analysis with greater details. Here we report an industrial consultancy project with ONI Global Pte Ltd for the analysis of LAC Liver Protector, a TCM formulation aimed at improving liver health. The aim of this study was to identify 4 key components of the supplement using HPTLC, following protocols derived from Chinese Pharmacopeia standards. By comparing the TLC profiles of the supplement to the extracts of the herbs reported in the label, this project proposes a simple and cost-effective analysis of the presence of the 4 marker compounds in the multi‐ingredient formulation by using 4 different HPTLC methods. With the increasing trend of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) bringing natural products and health supplements into the market, it is crucial that the qualities of both raw materials and end products be well-assured for the protection of consumers. With the technology of HPTLC, science can be incorporated to help SMEs with their quality control, thereby ensuring product quality.

Keywords: traditional Chinese medicine supplement, high performance thin layer chromatography, active ingredients, product quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Youssef R. Hassan, Mohamed S. Hasanin, Reda M. Abdelhameed

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Recently, innovations in packaging security features become more important to see the originality of packaging in industrial application. Luminescent 3d printing materials have been a promising property which can provides a unique opportunity for the design and application of 3D printing. Lack emission of terbium ions, as a source of green emission, in salt form prevent its uses in industrial applications, so searching about stable and highly emitter material become essential. Nowadays, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) play an important role in designing light emitter material. In this work, fluorescent high density polyethylene (FHDPE) composite filament with Tb-benzene 1,3,5-tricarboxylate (Tb-BTC) MOFs for 3D printing have been successfully developed.HDPE pellets were mixed with Tb-BTC and melting extrustion with single screw extruders. It was found that Tb-BTCuniformly dispersed in the HDPE matrix and significantly increased the crystallinity of PE, which not only maintained the good thermal property but also improved the mechanical properties of Tb-BTC@HDPE composites. Notably, the composite filaments emitted ultra-bright green light under UV lamp, and the fluorescence intensity increased as the content of Tb-BTC increased. Finally, several brightly luminescent exquisite articles could be manufactured by fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer with these new fluorescent filaments. In this context, the development of novel fluorescent Tb-BTC@HDPE composites was combined with 3D printing technology to amplified the packaging Security Features.

Keywords: 3D printing, fluorescent, packaging, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Vikas S. Minchekar

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The eyewitness is a crucial source of evidence in the criminal judicial system. However, rely on the reminiscence of an eyewitness especially intoxicated eyewitness is not always judicious. It might lead to some serious consequences. Day by day, alcohol-related crimes or the criminal incidences in bars, nightclubs, and restaurants are increasing rapidly. Tackling such cases is very complicated to any investigation officers. The people in that incidents are violated due to the alcohol consumption hence, their ability to identify the suspects or recall these phenomena is affected. The studies on the effects of alcohol consumption on motor activities such as driving and surgeries have received much attention. However, the effect of alcohol intoxication on memory has received little attention from the psychology, law, forensic and criminology scholars across the world. In the Indian context, the published articles on this issue are equal to none up to present day. This field experiment investigation aimed at to finding out the effect of alcohol consumption on identification accuracy in lineups. Forty adult, social drinkers, and twenty sober adults were randomly recruited for the study. The sober adults were assigned into 'placebo' beverage group while social drinkers were divided into two group e. g. 'low dose' of alcohol (0.2 g/kg) and 'high dose' of alcohol (0.8 g/kg). The social drinkers were divided in such a way that their level of blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) will become different. After administering the beverages for the placebo group and liquor to the social drinkers for 40 to 50 minutes of the period, the five-minute video clip of mock crime is shown to all in a group of four to five members. After the exposure of video, clip subjects were given 10 portraits and asked them to recognize whether they are involved in mock crime or not. Moreover, they were also asked to describe the incident. The subjects were given two opportunities to recognize the portraits and to describe the events; the first opportunity is given immediately after the video clip and the second was 24 hours later. The obtained data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Scheffe’s posthoc multiple comparison tests. The results indicated that the 'high dose' group is remarkably different from the 'placebo' and 'low dose' groups. But, the 'placebo' and 'low dose' groups are equally performed. The subjects in a 'high dose' group recognized only 20% faces correctly while the subjects in a 'placebo' and 'low dose' groups are recognized 90 %. This study implied that the intoxicated witnesses are less accurate to recognize the suspects and also less capable of describing the incidents where crime has taken place. Moreover, this study does not assert that intoxicated eyewitness is generally less trustworthy than their sober counterparts.

Keywords: intoxicated eyewitness, memory, social drinkers, lineups

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: Reham H. Soliman, Noha Noufal, Howayda AbdelAal

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Calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase (CASK) belongs to the membrane-associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK) family and has been proposed as a mediator of cell-cell adhesion and proliferation, which can contribute to tumorogenesis. CASK has been linked as a good prognostic factor with some tumor subtypes, while considered as a poor prognostic marker in others. To our knowledge, no sufficient evidence of CASK role in colorectal cancer is available. The aim of this study is to evaluate the expression of Calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase (CASK) in non-mucinous colorectal adenocarcinoma and adenomatous polyps as precursor lesions and assess its prognostic significance. The study included 42 cases of conventional colorectal adenocarcinoma and 15 biopsies of adenomatous polyps with variable degrees of dysplasia. They were reviewed for clinicopathological prognostic factors and stained by CASK; mouse, monoclonal antibody using heat-induced antigen retrieval immunohistochemical techniques. The results showed that CASK protein was significantly overexpressed (p <0.05) in CRC compared with adenoma samples. The CASK protein was overexpressed in the majority of CRC samples with 85.7% of cases showing moderate to strong expression, while 46.7% of adenomas were positive. CASK overexpression was significantly correlated with both TNM stage and grade of differentiation (p <0.05). There was a significantly higher expression in tumor samples with early stages (I/II) rather than advanced stage (III/IV) and with low grade (59.5%) rather than high grade (40.5%). Another interesting finding was found among the adenomas group, where the stronger intensity of staining was observed in samples with high grade dysplasia (33.3%) than those of lower grades (13.3%). In conclusion, this study shows that there is significant overexpression of CASK protein in CRC as well as in adenomas with high grade dysplasia. This indicates that CASK is involved in the process of carcinogenesis and functions as a potential trigger of the adenoma-carcinoma cascade. CASK was significantly overexpressed in early stage and low-grade tumors rather than tumors with advanced stage and higher histological grades. This suggests that CASK protein is a good prognostic factor. We suggest that CASK affects CRC in two different ways derived from its physiology. CASK as part of MAGUK family can stimulate proliferation and through its cell membrane localization and as a mediator of cell-cell adhesion might contribute in tumor confinement and localization.

Keywords: CASK, colorectal cancer, overexpression, prognosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Elmira Solati, Atousa Mehrani, Davoud Dorranian

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Generation of ZnO-Au nanocomposite under laser irradiation of a mixture of the ZnO and Au colloidal suspensions are experimentally investigated. In this work, firstly ZnO and Au nanoparticles are prepared by pulsed laser ablation of the corresponding metals in water using the 1064 nm wavelength of Nd:YAG laser. In a second step, the produced ZnO and Au colloidal suspensions were mixed in different volumetric ratio and irradiated using the second harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser operating at 532 nm wavelength. The changes in the size of the nanostructure and optical properties of the ZnO-Au nanocomposite are studied as a function of the volumetric ratio of ZnO and Au colloidal suspensions. The crystalline structure of the ZnO-Au nanocomposites was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The optical properties of the samples were examined at room temperature by a UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectrophotometer. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was done by placing a drop of the concentrated suspension on a carbon-coated copper grid. To further confirm the morphology of ZnO-Au nanocomposites, we performed Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) of the ZnO-Au nanocomposites was measured to characterize the luminescence properties of the ZnO-Au nanocomposites. The ZnO-Au nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction pattern shows that the ZnO-Au nanocomposites had the polycrystalline structure of Au. The behavior observed by images of transmission electron microscope reveals that soldering of Au and ZnO nanoparticles include their adhesion. The plasmon peak in ZnO-Au nanocomposites was red-shifted and broadened in comparison with pure Au nanoparticles. By using the Tauc’s equation, the band gap energy for ZnO-Au nanocomposites is calculated to be 3.15–3.27 eV. In this work, the formation of ZnO-Au nanocomposites shifts the FTIR peak of metal oxide bands to higher wavenumbers. PL spectra of the ZnO-Au nanocomposites show that several weak peaks in the ultraviolet region and several relatively strong peaks in the visible region. SEM image indicates that the morphology of ZnO-Au nanocomposites produced in water was spherical. The TEM images of ZnO-Au nanocomposites demonstrate that with increasing the volumetric ratio of Au colloidal suspension the adhesion increased. According to the size distribution graphs of ZnO-Au nanocomposites with increasing the volumetric ratio of Au colloidal suspension the amount of ZnO-Au nanocomposites with the smaller size is further.

Keywords: Au nanoparticles, pulsed laser ablation, ZnO-Au nanocomposites, ZnO nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: M. Shiva Prasad, S. R. Atchuta, T. Vijayaraghavan, S. Sakthivel

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The world is in need of efficient energy conversion technologies which are affordable, accessible, and sustainable with eco-friendly nature. Solar energy is one of the cornerstones for the world’s economic growth because of its abundancy with zero carbon pollution. Among the various solar energy conversion technologies, solar thermal technology has attracted a substantial renewed interest due to its diversity and compatibility in various applications. Solar thermal systems employ concentrators, tracking systems and heat engines for electricity generation which lead to high cost and complexity in comparison with photovoltaics; however, it is compatible with distinct thermal energy storage capability and dispatchable electricity which creates a tremendous attraction. Apart from that, employing cost-effective solar selective receiver tube in a concentrating solar thermal (CST) system improves the energy conversion efficiency and directly reduces the cost of technology. In addition, the development of solar receiver tubes by low cost methods which can offer high optical properties and corrosion resistance in an open-air atmosphere would be beneficial for low and medium temperature applications. In this regard, our work opens up an approach which has the potential to achieve cost-effective energy conversion. We have developed a highly selective tandem absorber coating through a facile wet chemical route by a combination of chemical oxidation, sol-gel, and nanoparticle coating methods. The developed tandem absorber coating has gradient refractive index nature on stainless steel (SS 304) and exhibited high optical properties (α ≤ 0.95 & ε ≤ 0.14). The first absorber layer (Cr-Mn-Fe oxides) developed by controlled oxidation of SS 304 in a chemical bath reactor. A second composite layer of ZrO₂-SiO₂ has been applied on the chemically oxidized substrate by So-gel dip coating method to serve as optical enhancing and corrosion resistant layer. Finally, an antireflective layer (MgF₂) has been deposited on the second layer, to achieve > 95% of absorption. The developed tandem layer exhibited good thermal stability up to 250 °C in open air atmospheric condition and superior corrosion resistance (withstands for > 200h in salt spray test (ASTM B117)). After the successful development of a coating with targeted properties at a laboratory scale, a prototype of the 1 m tube has been demonstrated with excellent uniformity and reproducibility. Moreover, it has been validated under standard laboratory test condition as well as in field condition with a comparison of the commercial receiver tube. The presented strategy can be widely adapted to develop highly selective coatings for a variety of CST applications ranging from hot water, solar desalination, and industrial process heat and power generation. The high-performance, cost-effective medium temperature receiver tube technology has attracted many industries, and recently the technology has been transferred to Indian industry.

Keywords: concentrated solar thermal system, solar selective coating, tandem absorber, ultralow refractive index

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Rotem Mashkov, Noam Shoval

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In an age when a tourist’s gaze is more focused on the daily lives of locals, it is evident that local food markets are being rediscovered. Traditional urban markets succeed in reinventing themselves as a space for consumption, recreation, and culture, enabling authentic experiences and interpersonal interactions with the local culture. Alongside this, the pressure of tourism development may result in commercialization and retail gentrification to the point of losing the sense of local identity. The issue of finding a balance between tourism development and the preservation of unique local features is at the heart of this study and is being tested using the case of the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. The research question—how merchants respond to tourism development in the Mahane Yehuda food market— focuses on local traders, a group of players who are usually absent from the research arenas, although they influence tourism development as well as influenced by it. Three main research methods were integrated into this study. The first two methods, a survey of articles survey and comparative mapping of the business mix, were used to characterize the changes in the Mahane Yehuda market both consciously and physically. The third research method, involving in-depth interviews with merchants, was used to examine the traders' attitudes and responses to tourism development. The findings indicate that there has been a turnaround in the market image over the past decade and a half. Additionally, there has been a significant physical change in the business mix, reflected by a decline of 15% in the number of stalls selling food products and delicacies. The data from the interviews on the traders’ attitudes towards tourism development were inconclusive; there were disagreements among the traders about the economic contribution of tourism development in relation to their dependence on the tourism industry. However, there was a consensus on the need for authentic elements in the marketplace. The findings of the study also indicate a strong link between the merchants’ response to tourism development and their stall ownership status as the merchant could exercise their position in various ways depending on the possession type.

Keywords: business mix, Jerusalem, local food markets, Mahane Yehuda market, merchants’ attitude, ownership status, retail gentrification, tourism development, traditional urban markets

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Priscila Vitorino, Jeeziane Rezende, Edison Pereira, Adrielly Silva, Weimar Barroso

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Body composition insight during physical activity is relevant to follow up sports income since it can be important and actuate in velocity, resistance, potency, and has an effect on force and agility. The purpose of this study was to identify anthropometric profile, evaluate and correlate body mass index and bioimpedance behavior during the days of Caminhada Ecológica de Goiás - Brasil. A longitudinal study was performed with 25 male participants, with an average age of 45.6±9.1 years. All patients were actives. Body composition was evaluated by body mass index (BMI) measurement and bioimpedance procedures. Both were collected 20 days before walking beginning (A0) and in the four days along the same (A1, A2, A3 e A4). Data were collected in the end of each walking day at athletes accommodations. Final distance during walking route was 308 km in five days, with an average of 62km/day and 7,6 km/hour, and an average temperature of 30°C. Data are represented with mean and standard deviation. ANOVA (Bonferroni pos test) was used to compare frequent measurements between the days. Pearson's correlation test was used to correlate BMI with lean mass, fat mass, and water. BMI decreased from A0 to A1, A2 and A3 (p < 0,01) and increased on A4 (p < 0,01). No changes were observed concerning fat percentage (p=0,60), lean mass (p=0,10) and body water composition (p=0,09). A positive and moderate correlation between BMI and fat percentage was observed; an inverse and moderate correlation between BMI, lean mass and body water composition occurred. Total body mass increased during high intensity and long term walking distance. However, the values of body fat, lean mass and water were maintained.

Keywords: aerobic exercise, body composition, metabolism, sports

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Authors: Eko Adhi Setiawan, Duli Asih Siregar, Aiman Setiawan

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Solar energy is abundant in nature, particularly in the tropics which have peak sun hour that can reach 8 hours per day. In the fabrication process, Photovoltaic’s (PV) performance are tested in standard test conditions (STC). It specifies a module temperature of 25°C, an irradiance of 1000 W/ m² with an air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) spectrum and zero wind speed. Thus, the results of the performance testing of PV at STC conditions cannot fully represent the performance of PV in the tropics. For example Indonesia, which has a temperature of 20-40°C. In this paper, the effect of temperature on the choice of the 5 kW AC inverter topology on the PV system such as the Central Inverter, String Inverter and AC-Module specifically for the tropics will be discussed. The proper inverter topology can be determined by analysis of the effect of temperature and irradiation on the PV panel. The effect of temperature and irradiation will be represented in the characteristics of I-V and P-V curves. PV’s characteristics on high temperature would be analyzed using Solar panel modeling through MATLAB Simulink based on mathematical equations that form Solar panel’s characteristic curve. Based on PV simulation, it is known then that temperature coefficients of short circuit current (ISC), open circuit voltage (VOC), and maximum output power (PMAX) consecutively as high as 0.56%/oC, -0.31%/oC and -0.4%/oC. Those coefficients can be used to calculate PV’s electrical parameters such as ISC, VOC, and PMAX in certain earth’s surface’s certain point. Then, from the parameters, the utility of the 5 kW AC inverter system can be determined. As the result, for tropical area, string inverter topology has the highest utility rates with 98, 80 %. On the other hand, central inverter and AC-Module Topology has utility rates of 92.69 % and 87.7 % eventually.

Keywords: Photovoltaic, PV-Inverter Configuration, PV Modeling, Solar Panel Characteristics.

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: Shantanu Prakash, Suruchi Shukla, Amita Jain

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Introduction: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem and a leading cause of chronic liver disease. Injection drug use and individuals receiving blood and blood products are the primary modes of HCV transmission. Our study aims to establish the prevalent genotypes/ subtypes of HCV circulating in Uttar Pradesh, North India, as reported from a tertiary care hospital. Methods: It is a retrospective observational analysis of consecutive 404 HCV RNA positive cases referred to our hospital during September 2014 to April 2017. The study was approved by an institutional ethics committee. Written informed consent was taken from each participant. Clinical and demographic details of these patients were recorded using predesigned questionnaires. All the laboratory testing was carried on stored serum sample of enrolled cases. Genotyping of all 404 strains was done by Sanger’s sequencing of the core region. The phylogenetic analysis of 179 HCV strains with high -quality sequencing data was performed. Results: The distribution of prevalent genotypes/ subtypes as noted in the present study was; Genotype (GT)1a [n-101(25%)], GT1b [n-12(2.9%)], GT1c [1(0.25%)], GT3a [275(68.07%)], GT3b [9(2.2%)], GT3g [2(0.49%)], GT3i [3(0.74%)], and GT4a [1(0.24%)]. HCV genotypes GT2, GT5 and GT6 were not detected from our region. Sequence analysis showed high genotypic variability in HCV GT3. Phylogenetic analysis showed that HCV GT3 and GT1 circulating in our region were related to Indian strains reported earlier. Conclusions: HCV genotypes 3a and 1a are commonest circulating genotypes in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, genetic variation, bioinformatics, genotype, HCV

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: M. L. Moyo

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Concerns about climate change, food productivity, and the ever-increasing cost of commercial fertilizer products is forcing have spurred interest in the production of alternatives or substitutes for commercial fertilizer products. In this study, the potential of pyrolytic tire char (PT-char) to improve soil productivity was investigated. The use of carbonized biomass, which is commonly termed biochar or biofertilizer and exhibits similar properties to PT-char in agriculture is not new, with historical evidence pointing to the use of charcoal for soil improvement by indigenous Amazon people for several centuries. Due to minimal market value or use of PT-char, huge quantities are currently stockpiled in South Africa. This successively reduces revenue and decreases investments in waste tire recycling efforts as PT-char constitutes 40 % weight of the total waste tire pyrolysis products. The physicochemical analysis results reported in this study showed that PT-char contains a low concentration of essential plant elements (P and K) and, therefore, cannot be used for increasing nutrient availability in soils. A low presence of heavy metals (Ni, Pb, and Cd), which may be harmful to the environment at high application rates was also observed. In addition, the results revealed that PT-char contains very high levels of Zn, a widely known phytotoxicity causing agents in plants. However, the study also illustrated that PT-char is made up of a highly aromatic and condensed carbon structure. PT-char is therefore highly stable, less prone to microbial degradation, and has a low chemical reactivity in soils. Considering these characteristics, PT-char meets the requirements for use as a carbon sequestration agent, which may be useful in mitigating climate change.

Keywords: agriculture, carbon sequestration, physicochemical analysis, pyrolytic tire char, soil amendment.

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Trunal Bhujangrao, Catherine Froustey, Fernando Veiga, Philippe Darnis, Franck Girot Mata

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The understanding of the material behavior under shear loading has great importance for a researcher in manufacturing processes like cutting, machining, milling, turning, friction stir welding, etc. where the material experiences large deformation at high temperature. For such material behavior analysis, hot shear tests provide a useful means to investigate the evolution of the microstructure at a wide range of temperature and to improve the material behavior model. Shear tests can be performed by direct shear loading (e.g. torsion of thin-walled tubular samples), or appropriate specimen design to convert a tensile or compressive load into shear (e.g. simple shear tests). The simple shear tests are straightforward and designed to obtained very large deformation. However, many of these shear tests are concerned only with the elastic response of the material. It is becoming increasingly important to capture a plastic response of the material. Plastic deformation is significantly more complex and is known to depend more heavily on the strain rate, temperature, deformation, etc. Besides, there is not enough work is done on high-temperature shear loading, because of geometrical instability occurred during the plastic deformation. The aim of this study is to design a new shear tensile specimen geometry to convert the tensile load into dominant shear loading under plastic deformation. Design of the specimen geometry is based on FEM. The material used in this paper is AA7075 alloy, tested quasi statically under elevated temperature. Finally, the microstructural changes taking place during

Keywords: AA7075 alloy, dynamic recrystallization, edge effect, large strain, shear tensile test

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Nnadi Ezekiel Oluwaseun Ejiofor

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The foundation of this study is the identification of risk variables and their implications on abandoned construction projects in Nigeria. The study's particular goals are to pinpoint the risk factors that lead to the abandonment of public building projects in Nigeria. This study used a hybrid research design that included case studies and descriptive survey research methods. Professionals who work directly in the built environment and are employed by Ministries and Departmental Agencies (MDAs), the public sector, or the private sector are the study's target demographic. This study used a descriptive survey and case study research design to gather data. Nigeria is experiencing a high rate of project abandonment due to housing deficit issues. Factors contributing to this include The study reveals factors contributing to public project abandonment in Abuja FCT include poor cashflow 4.96, inconsistent government policies 4.89, lack of accountability, high corruption, incompetent contractors, non-availability of building materials, lack of utilities, wrong materials, infrastructural facilities, poor planning, and undefined contracts. The study reveals that abandoned projects have a huge impact on the construction industry, such as wastage of resources with a mean value of 3.35, distrust of economic growth, 3.28, and so on. The study found a significant relationship between risk factors and public building construction in Abuja through a T-test value of 0.037, rejecting the null hypothesis and indicating a positive correlation.

Keywords: cost, tetfund, construction projects, public university

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Gayatri Ghosh

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In this work, a flavour theory of a neutrino mass model based on A_4 symmetry is considered to explain the phenomenology of neutrino mixing. The spontaneous symmetry breaking of A_4 symmetry in this model leads to tribimaximal mixing in the neutrino sector at a leading order. We consider the effect of Z_2 × Z_2 invariant perturbations in neutrino sector and find the allowed region of correction terms in the perturbation matrix that is consistent with 3σ ranges of the experimental values of the mixing angles. We study the entanglement of this formalism on the other phenomenological observables, such as δ_CP phase, the neutrino oscillation probability P(νµ → νe), the effective Majorana mass |mee| and |meff νe |. A Z_2 × Z_2 invariant perturbations in this model is introduced in the neutrino sector which leads to testable predictions of θ_13 and CP violation. By changing the magnitudes of perturbations in neutrino sector, one can generate viable values of δ_CP and neutrino oscillation parameters. Next we investigate the feasibility of charged lepton flavour violation in type-I seesaw models with leptonic flavour symmetries at high energy that leads to tribimaximal neutrino mixing. We consider an effective theory with an A_4 × Z_2 × Z_2 symmetry, which after spontaneous symmetry breaking at high scale which is much higher than the electroweak scale leads to charged lepton flavour violation processes once the heavy Majorana neutrino mass degeneracy is lifted either by renormalization group effects or by a soft breaking of the A_4 symmetry. In this context the implications for charged lepton flavour violation processes like µ → eγ, τ → eγ, τ → µγ are discussed.

Keywords: Z2 × Z2 invariant perturbations, CLFV, delta CP phase, tribimaximal neutrino mixing

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Authors: Ala’a H. Al-Muhtaseb, Farrukh Jamil, Sandeep K. Saxena

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The fast growth rate of energy consumption along with world population expected to demand 50% more energy by 2030 than nowadays. At present, the energy demand is mostly provided by limited fossil fuel sources such as oil, natural gas, and coal that are resulting in dramatic increase in CO2 emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. The growth of the biodiesel industry over the last decade has resulted in a price drop because glycerol is obtained as a by-product during transesterification of vegetable oil or animal fats, which accounts for one tenth of every gallon of biodiesel produced. The production of oxygenates from glycerol gains much importance due to the excellent diesel-blending property of the oxygenates that not only improve the quality of the fuel but also increases the overall yield of the biodiesel in helping to meet the target for energy production from renewable sources for transport in the energy utilization directives. The reaction of bio-glycerol with bio-acetone was carried out in a magnetically stirred two necked round bottom flaskS. Condensation of bio-glycerol with acetone in the presence of various modified forms of beta zeolite has been done for synthesizing solketal (AB-2 modified with nitric acid, AB-3 modified with oxalic acid). Among all modified forms of beta zeolite, AB-2 showed the best performance for maximum glycerol conversion 94.26 % with 94.21 % solketal selectivity and minimum acetal formation 0.05 %. The physiochemical properties of parent beta zeolite and all its modified forms were analyzed by XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, FTIR and TPD. It has been revealed that AB-2 catalysts with high pore volume and surface area gave high glycerol conversion with maximum solketal selectivity. Despite this, the crystallinity of AB-3 was lower than AB-2 which helps to provide the shorter path length for reactants and product but due high pore volume AB-2 was preferred which gave maximum bio-glycerol conversion. Temperature does matter the glycerol conversion and selectivity of solketal, as it increases from 40 ºC to 60 ºC the conversion of glycerol rises from 80.04 % to 94.26 % and selectivity of solketal from 80.0 % to 94.21 % but further increase in temperature to 100 ºC glycerol conversion reduced to 93.06 % and solketal selectivity to 92.08 %. AB-2 was found to be highly stable as up to 4 repeated experimental runs there was less than 10% decrease in its activity. This process offers an attractive route for converting bio-glycerol, the main by-product of biodiesel to solketal with bio-acetone; a value-added green product with potential industrial applications as a valuable green fuel additive or combustion promoter for gasoline/diesel engines.

Keywords: beta-zeolite, bio-glycerol, catalyst, solketal

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Authors: Mohammed A. Al-Yafrsi, Fahed A. Al-Mana

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A study was conducted to evaluate the compaction-tolerance ability of some warm season turfgrasses under shade and sunlight conditions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon): 'Tifway' and 'Tifsport', seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) and its cultivar 'Sea Isle 2000' were used. The study area was divided into two sections where one was exposed to sunlight and the other one was maintained under shade using green plastic grille (shade 70%). Turfgrasses were planted by sods in beds containing a mixture of sand, silt, and peat moss (4: 1: 1, v/v). The soil compaction was applied using a locally-made cylindrical roll (weighing 250 kg), passing four times over the growing turfgrasses for 3 days/week. The results revealed that compaction treatment led to a decrease in grass height, and it was the lowest (4.0 cm) for paspalum 'Sea Isle 2000' in February. At the shaded area, paspalum turfgrasses retained its high quality degree (4.0) in April, May, and June. In the sunlight area, the grass quality degree was the greatest (4.0) in 'Sea Isle 2000' and the lowest (3.0) in 'Tifsport'. Paspalum turfgrasses gave higher color degree (4) than bermuda grasses (2.5) in April, May, and June. The compaction also led to a decline in leaf area, fresh and dry weights of all grown turfgrasses. The grass density was high for paspalum turfgrasses indicating that their resistance to compaction was greater than bermudagrasses. It can be concluded that the best compaction and shade tolerant turfgrasses are 'Sea Isle 2000' and seashore paspalum.

Keywords: hybrid bermudagrass, seashore paspalum, soil compaction, shade area, sunlight condition

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Authors: A. Abubakar, A. Parsa, S. Walker

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Despite advances made in the diagnosis and management of drug-sensitive tuberculosis (TB) over the past decades, treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains challenging and complex particularly in high burden countries including Nigeria. Treatment of MDR-TB is cost-prohibitive with success rate generally lower compared to drug-sensitive TB and if care is not taken it may become the dominant form of TB in future with many treatment uncertainties and substantial morbidity and mortality. Addressing these challenges requires collaborative efforts thorough sustained researches to evaluate the current treatment guidelines, particularly in high burden countries and prevent progression of resistance. To our best knowledge, there has been no research exploring the acceptability, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of community-based-MDR-TB treatment model in Nigeria, which is among the high burden countries. The previous similar qualitative study looks at the home-based management of MDR-TB in rural Uganda. This research aimed to explore patient’s views and acceptability of community-based-MDR-TB treatment model and to evaluate and compare the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community-based versus hospital-based MDR-TB treatment model of care from the Nigerian perspective. Knowledge of patient’s views and acceptability of community-based-MDR-TB treatment approach would help in designing future treatment recommendations and in health policymaking. Accordingly, knowledge of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are part of the evidence needed to inform a decision about whether and how to scale up MDR-TB treatment, particularly in a poor resource setting with limited knowledge of TB. Mixed methods using qualitative and quantitative approach were employed. Qualitative data were obtained using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 MDR-TB patients in Nigeria to explore their views and acceptability of community-based MDR-TB treatment model. Qualitative data collection followed an iterative process which allowed adaptation of topic guides until data saturation. In-depth interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Quantitative data on treatment outcomes were obtained from medical records of MDR-TB patients to determine the effectiveness and direct and indirect costs were obtained from the patients using validated questionnaire and health system costs from the donor agencies to determine the cost-effectiveness difference between community and hospital-based model from the Nigerian perspective. Findings: Some themes have emerged from the patient’s perspectives indicating preference and high acceptability of community-based-MDR-TB treatment model by the patients and mixed feelings about the risk of MDR-TB transmission within the community due to poor infection control. The result of the modeling from the quantitative data is still on course. Community-based MDR-TB care was seen as the acceptable and most preferred model of care by the majority of the participants because of its convenience which in turn enhanced recovery, enables social interaction and offer more psychosocial benefits as well as averted productivity loss. However, there is a need to strengthen this model of care thorough enhanced strategies that ensure guidelines compliance and infection control in order to prevent the progression of resistance and curtail community transmission.

Keywords: acceptability, cost-effectiveness, multidrug-resistant TB treatment, community and hospital approach

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Authors: Ayat N. El-Shazly, Dina Magdy Abdo, Hamdy Maamoun Abdel-Ghafar, Xiangju Song, Heqing Jiang

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Product water recovery and draw solution (DS) reuse is the most energy-intensive stage in forwarding osmosis (FO) technology. Sucrose solution is the most suitable DS for FO application in food and beverages. However, sucrose DS recovery by conventional pressure-driven or thermal-driven concentration techniques consumes high energy. Herein, we developed a spontaneous and sustainable solar-driven evaporation process based on a photothermal membrane for the concentration and recovery of sucrose solution. The photothermal membrane is composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs)photothermal layer on a hydrophilic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) substrate. The f-MWCNTs photothermal layer with a rough surface and interconnected network structures not only improves the light-harvesting and light-to-heat conversion performance but also facilitates the transport of water molecules. The hydrophilic PVDF substrate can promote the rapid transport of water for adequate water supply to the photothermal layer. As a result, the optimized f-MWCNTs/PVDF photothermal membrane exhibits an excellent light absorption of 95%, and a high surface temperature of 74 °C at 1 kW m−2 . Besides, it realizes an evaporation rate of 1.17 kg m−2 h−1 for 5% (w/v) of sucrose solution, which is about 5 times higher than that of the natural evaporation. The designed photothermal evaporation process is capable of concentrating sucrose solution efficiently from 5% to 75% (w/v), which has great potential in FO process and juice concentration.

Keywords: solar, pothothermal, membrane, MWCNT

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Authors: Talat Zeeshan

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Nickel doped cobalt ferrites 〖(Co〗_(1-x) Ni_x Fe_2 O_4) has been synthesized with the variation of Ni dopant (x=0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75) by ball milling route at 150 RPM for 3hrs. The impact of nickel on Co ferrites has been investigated by using various approaches of characterization such as XRD (X-Ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning electron microscopy, FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), UV-Vis spectroscopy, LCR meter and CV (Cyclic voltammetry). The cubic structure of the nanoparticles confirmed by the XRD data, the increase in Ni dopant reduces the crystallite size. FTIR spectroscopy has been employed in order to analyze various functional groups. The agglomerated morphology of the particles has been observed by SEM images.. UV-Vis analysis reveals that the optical energy bandgap progressively rises with nickel doping, from 1.50 eV to 2.02 eV. The frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 MHz has been used for dielectric evaluation, where dielectric parameters such as AC conductivity, tan loss, and dielectric constant are examined. When the frequency of the applied AC field rises the AC conductivity increases, while the dielectric constant and tan loss constantly decrease. The pseudocapacitive behavior revealed by the CV curve showed that at high scan rates, specific capacitance values (Cs) are low, whereas at low scan rates, they are high. At the low scan rate of 10 mVs-1, the maximum specific capacitance of 244.4 Fg-1 has been attained at x = 0.75. Nickel doped cobalt ferrites electrodes have incredible electrochemical characteristics that make them a promising option for pseudo capacitor applications.

Keywords: lattice parameters, crystallite size, pseudo capacitor, band gap: magnetic material, energy band gap

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Authors: Francesca Alemanno

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As a complex socio-spatial phenomenon, migration is a practice that also contains a strong imaginative component with respect to the place that, through displacement, one person wants to reach. Every migrant has undertaken his journey having in his mind an image of the displacement he was about to make, of its implications and finally, of the place or city in which he was or would have liked to land. Often, however, the imaginary that has come to build before departure does not fully correspond to the reality of landing; this discrepancy, which can be more or less wide, plays an important role in the relationship that is established with the territory and in the evolution, therefore, of the city itself. In this sense, therefore, the clash that occurs between the imagined and the real is one of the factors that can contribute to making the entry of a migrant into new territory as critical as it can be. Starting from this perspective, the experiences of people who derive from a migratory context and who, over time, manage to create a bond with the land of reception, are taken into account as stories of resistance as they are necessarily charged with a force that is capable of driving difficult and articulated processes of change. The phenomenon of migrant entrepreneurship that is taken into consideration by this abstract plays a very important role because it highlights the story of many people who have managed to build such a close bond with the new territory of arrival that they can imagine and then realize the construction of their own personal business. The margin of contrast between the imagined city and the one that will be inhabited will be observed through the narratives of those who, through the realization of his business project has acted directly on the reality in which he landed. The margin of contrast that exists between the imagined city and the one actually inhabited, together with the implications that this may have on real life, has been observed and analyzed through a period of fieldwork, practicing ethnography, through the narratives of people who find themselves living in a new city as a result of a migration path, and has been contextualized with the support of semi-structured interviews and field notes. At the theoretical level, the research is inserted into a constructionist framework, particularly suited to detect and analyze processes of change, construction of the imaginary and its own modification, being able to capture the consequent repercussions of this process on the conceptual, emotional and practical level.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, imagination, migration, resistance

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Authors: Ekin Ozer, Maria Q. Feng, Rupa Purasinghe

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Structural deterioration of bridge systems possesses an ongoing threat to the transportation networks. Besides, landmark bridges’ integrity and safety are more than sole functionality, since they provide a strong presence for the society and nations. Therefore, an innovative and sustainable method to inspect landmark bridges is essential to ensure their resiliency in the long run. In this paper, a recently introduced concept, smartphone-based modal frequency estimation is addressed, and this paper targets to authenticate the fidelity of smartphone-based vibration measurements gathered from three landmark suspension bridges. Firstly, smartphones located at the bridge mid-span are adopted as portable and standalone vibration measurement devices. Then, their embedded accelerometers are utilized to gather vibration response under operational loads, and eventually frequency domain characteristics are deduced. The preliminary analysis results are compared with the reference publications and high-quality monitoring data to validate the usability of smartphones on long-span landmark suspension bridges. If the technical challenges such as high period of vibration, low amplitude excitation, embedded smartphone sensor features, sampling, and citizen engagement are tackled, smartphones can provide a novel and cost-free crowdsourcing tool for maintenance of these landmark structures. This study presents the early phase findings from three signature structures located in the United States.

Keywords: smart and mobile sensing, structural health monitoring, suspension bridges, vibration analysis

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Authors: Cenk Sezen, Turgay Partal

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North Sea Caspian Pattern Index (NCP) refers to an atmospheric teleconnection between the North Sea and North Caspian at the 500 hPa geopotential height level. The aim of this study is to search for effects of NCP on annual and seasonal mean temperature and also annual and seasonal precipitation totals in the Aegean region of Turkey. The study contains the data that consist of 46 years obtained from nine meteorological stations. To determine the relationship between NCP and the climatic parameters, firstly the Pearson correlation coefficient method was utilized. According to the results of the analysis, most of the stations in the region have a high negative correlation NCPI in all seasons, especially in the winter season in terms of annual and seasonal mean temperature (statistically at significant at the 90% level). Besides, high negative correlation values between NCPI and precipitation totals are observed during the winter season at the most of stations. Furthermore, the NCPI values were divided into two group as NCPI(-) and NCPI(+), and then mean temperature and precipitation total values, which are grouped according to the NCP(-) and NCP(+) phases, were determined as annual and seasonal. During the NCPI(-), higher mean temperature values are observed in all of seasons, particularly in the winter season compared to the mean temperature values under effect of NCP(+). Similarly, during the NCPI(-) in winter season precipitation total values have higher than the precipitation total values under the effect of NCP(+); however, in other seasons there no substantial changes were observed between the precipitation total values. As a result of this study, significant proof is obtained with regards to the influences of NCP on the temperature and precipitation regime in the Aegean region of Turkey.

Keywords: Aegean region, NCPI, precipitation, temperature

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Authors: Ndana Mohammed, Abdullahi Musa Sabo

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The oils used in this work were extracted from seeds of Ricinuscommunis, Heaveabrasiliensis, Gossypiumhirsutum, Azadirachtaindica, Glycin max and Jatrophacurcasby solvent extraction method using n-hexane, and gave the yield of 48.00±0.00%, 44.30±0.52%, 45.50±0.64%, 47.60±0.51%, 41.50±0.32% and 46.50±0.71% respectively. However these feed stocks are highly challenging to trans-esterification reaction because they were found to contain high amount of free fatty acids (FFA) (6.37±0.18, 17.20±0.00, 6.14±0.05, 8.60±0.14, 5.35±0.07, 4.24±0.02mgKOH/g) in order of the above. As a result, two-stage trans-esterification reactions process was used to produce biodiesel; Acid esterification was used to reduce high FFA to 1% or less, and the second stage involve the alkaline trans-esterification/optimization of process condition to obtain high yield quality biodiesel. The salient features of this study include; characterization of oils using AOAC, AOCS standard methods to reveal some properties that may determine the viability of sample seeds as potential feed stocks for biodiesel production, such as acid value, saponification value, Peroxide value, Iodine value, Specific gravity, Kinematic viscosity, and free fatty acid profile. The optimization of process parameters in biodiesel production was investigated. Different concentrations of alkaline catalyst (KOH) (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.50w/v, methanol/oil molar ratio (3:1, 6:1, 9:1, 12:1, and 15:1), reaction temperature (500 C, 550 C, 600 C, 650 C, 700 C), and the rate of stirring (150 rpm,225 rpm,300 rpm and 375 rpm) were used for the determination of optimal condition at which maximum yield of biodiesel would be obtained. However, while optimizing one parameter other parameters were kept fixed. The result shows the optimal biodiesel yield at a catalyst concentration of 1%, methanol/oil molar ratio of 6:1, except oil from ricinuscommunis which was obtained at 9:1, the reaction temperature of 650 C was observed for all samples, similarly the stirring rate of 300 rpm was also observed for all samples except oil from ricinuscommunis which was observed at 375 rpm. The properties of biodiesel fuel were evaluated and the result obtained conformed favorably to ASTM and EN standard specifications for fossil diesel and biodiesel. Therefore biodiesel fuel produced can be used as substitute for fossil diesel. The work also reports the result of the study on the evaluation of the effect of the biodiesel storage on its physicochemical properties to ascertain the level of deterioration with time. The values obtained for the entire samples are completely out of standard specification for biodiesel before the end of the twelve months test period, and are clearly degraded. This suggests the biodiesels from oils of Ricinuscommunis, Heaveabrasiliensis, Gossypiumhirsutum, Azadirachtaindica, Glycin max and Jatrophacurcascannot be stored beyond twelve months.

Keywords: biodiesel, characterization, esterification, optimization, transesterification

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Authors: Lana Singleton

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Achieving a sufficient global solution to climate change seems elusive through disappointing climate agreements and lack of cooperation. However, is this reluctance of coordination deep rooted on a more individual, societal level within countries due to a fundamental lack of social and institutional trust? The risks of climate change are illustrious and widely accepted, yet responses on an individual level are also largely inadequate. This research looks to further investigate types of trust, risk perception of climate change, and their interaction to build a greater understanding of whether a social trap (Rothstein, 2005) – where an absence of trust can overwhelm an individuals’ risk perception and result in minimal action despite knowing the dangers of no action – exists and where it is more prevalent. Presence of the social trap will be analysed for willingness to act in favour of climate change mitigation as well as attitude (acceptance) of different types of renewable energy forms. Using probit models with cross-sectional survey data on four developed European countries (UK, France, Germany, and Norway), we find evidence of the social trap in the aggregated data model, which highlights the importance of social trust regarding willingness to act in favour of climate mitigation as there is a high probability of action regardless of risk perception of climate change when social trust is high. In contrast, the same is not true for renewables, as interactions were mainly insignificant, although there were interesting findings involving institutional trust, gender, and country specific results for particular renewables.

Keywords: climate risk, renewables, risk perception, social trap, trust, willingness to act

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Authors: Ying-Chang Yu, Yuan-Lung Lo

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Building ventilation performance is an important indicator of indoor comfort. However, in addition to the geometry of the building or the proportion of the opening, the ventilation performance is also very much related to the actual wind pressure of the building. There are more and more contemporary building designs built with multi-layer exterior envelope. Due to ventilation and view observatory requirement, the porous outer layer of the building is commonly adopted and has a significant wind damping effect, causing the phenomenon of actual wind pressure loss. However, the relationship between the wind damping effect and the actual wind pressure is not linear. This effect can make the indoor ventilation of the building rationalized to reasonable range under the condition of high wind pressure, and also maintain a good amount of ventilation performance under the condition of low wind pressure. In this study, wind tunnel experiments were carried out to simulate the different wind pressures flow through the porous outer layer, and observe the actual wind pressure strength engage with the window layer to find the decreasing relationship between the damping effect of the porous shell and the wind pressure. Experiment specimen scale was designed to be 1:50 for testing real-world building conditions; the study found that the porous enclosure has protective shielding without affecting low-pressure ventilation. Current study observed the porous skin may damp more wind energy to ease the wind pressure under high-speed wind. Differential wind speed may drop the pressure into similar pressure level by using porous skin. The actual mechanism and value of this phenomenon will need further study in the future.

Keywords: multi-layer facade, porous media, wind damping, wind tunnel test, building ventilation

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Authors: Alice Robba, Renaud Bouchet, Celine Barchasz, Jean-Francois Colin, Erik Elkaim, Kristina Kvashnina, Gavin Vaughan, Matjaz Kavcic, Fannie Alloin

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With their high theoretical energy density (~2600 Wh.kg-1), lithium/sulfur (Li/S) batteries are highly promising, but these systems are still poorly understood due to the complex mechanisms/equilibria involved. Replacing S8 by Li2S as the active material allows the use of safer negative electrodes, like silicon, instead of lithium metal. S8 and Li2S have different conductivity and solubility properties, resulting in a profoundly changed activation process during the first cycle. Particularly, during the first charge a high polarization and a lack of reproducibility between tests are observed. Differences observed between raw Li2S material (micron-sized) and that electrochemically produced in a battery (nano-sized) may indicate that the electrochemical process depends on the particle size. Then the major focus of the presented work is to deepen the understanding of the Li2S material charge mechanism, and more precisely to characterize the effect of the initial Li2S particle size both on the mechanism and the electrode preparation process. To do so, Li2S nanoparticles were synthetized according to two ways: a liquid path synthesis and a dissolution in ethanol, allowing Li2S nanoparticles/carbon composites to be made. Preliminary chemical and electrochemical tests show that starting with Li2S nanoparticles could effectively suppress the high initial polarization but also influence the electrode slurry preparation. Indeed, it has been shown that classical formulation process - a slurry composed of Polyvinylidone Fluoride polymer dissolved in N-methyle-2-pyrrolidone - cannot be used with Li2S nanoparticles. This reveals a complete different Li2S material behavior regarding polymers and organic solvents when going at the nanometric scale. Then the coupling between two operando characterizations such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Absorption and Emission Spectroscopy (XAS/XES) have been carried out in order to interpret the poorly understood first charge. This study discloses that initial particle size of the active material has a great impact on the working mechanism and particularly on the different equilibria involved during the first charge of the Li2S based Li-ion batteries. These results explain the electrochemical differences and particularly the polarization differences observed during the first charge between micrometric and nanometric Li2S-based electrodes. Finally, this work could lead to a better active material design and so to more efficient Li2S-based batteries.

Keywords: Li-ion/Sulfur batteries, Li2S nanoparticles effect, Operando characterizations, working mechanism

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