Search results for: energy consumption prediction

Authors: Seungwon Han, Sung young Yoo, Tae Wan Kim

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The objective of this study was to measure the changes in the photochemical response in the leaves of red pepper (Capsium annuum L.) after foliar fertilization of amino acid and small peptides derived from the waste egg. As a nitrogen fertilizer, waste eggs were incubated over one 1week and then degraded as amino acids and small peptides. The smaller peptides less than 20 kDa were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). MALDI-TOF-MS as a rapid analysis method was to show the molecular mass of degraded egg protein. The sequences of peptides were identified as follows; γ-Glu- Cys-γ-Glu-Cys-γ-Glu-Cys)-Ser and γ-Glu-Cys-γ-Glu-Cys-γ-Glu- Cys)-Gly. It was clearly illuminated that the parameters related to quantum yields for PSI electron transport (ΦRE1O, ΨRE1O, δRE1O) and RC/ABS have increased tendency by small peptide application. On the other hand, phenomenological energy fluxes (ABSO/CSM, TRO/CSM, ET2O/CSM, RE1O/CSM, DIO/CSM) have considerably fluctuated with foliar fertilization of small peptides. In conclusion, the small peptides can enhance the photochemical activities from photosystem II to photosystem I. This study was financially supported by RDA Agenda Project PJ 016196012022.

Keywords: electron transport, foliar fertilization, small peptide, waste egg

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Authors: Tovondahiniriko Fanjirindratovo, Olga Ramiarinjanahary, Paulisimone Rasoavonjy

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The sunshine duration, which is the sum of all the moments when the solar beam radiation is up to a minimal value, is an important parameter for climatology, tourism, agriculture and solar energy. Its measure is usually given by a pyrheliometer installed on a two-axis solar tracker. Due to the high cost of this device and the availability of global radiation on a horizontal surface, on the other hand, several studies have been done to make a correlation between global radiation and sunshine duration. Most of these studies are fitted for the northern hemisphere using a pyrheliometric database. The aim of the present work is to list and assess all the existing methods and apply them to Reunion Island, a tropical region in the southern hemisphere. Using a database of ten years, global, diffuse and beam radiation for a horizontal surface are employed in order to evaluate the uncertainty of existing algorithms for a tropical region. The methodology is based on indirect comparison because the solar beam radiation is not measured but calculated by the beam radiation on a horizontal surface and the sun elevation angle.

Keywords: Carpentras method, data fitting, global radiation, sunshine duration, Slob and Monna algorithm, step algorithm

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Authors: Ibtissem Hosni, Lilia Bennaceur Farah, Saber Mohamed Naceur

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In order to assess the water availability in the soil, it is crucial to have information about soil distributed moisture content; this parameter helps to understand the effect of humidity on the exchange between soil, plant cover and atmosphere in addition to fully understanding the surface processes and the hydrological cycle. On the other hand, aerodynamic roughness length is a surface parameter that scales the vertical profile of the horizontal component of the wind speed and characterizes the surface ability to absorb the momentum of the airflow. In numerous applications of the surface hydrology and meteorology, aerodynamic roughness length is an important parameter for estimating momentum, heat and mass exchange between the soil surface and atmosphere. It is important on this side, to consider the atmosphere factors impact in general, and the natural erosion in particular, in the process of soil evolution and its characterization and prediction of its physical parameters. The study of the induced movements by the wind over soil vegetated surface, either spaced plants or plant cover, is motivated by significant research efforts in agronomy and biology. The known major problem in this side concerns crop damage by wind, which presents a booming field of research. Obviously, most models of soil surface require information about the aerodynamic roughness length and its temporal and spatial variability. We have used a bi-dimensional multi-scale (2D MLS) roughness description where the surface is considered as a superposition of a finite number of one-dimensional Gaussian processes each one having a spatial scale using the wavelet transform and the Mallat algorithm to describe natural surface roughness. We have introduced multi-layer aspect of the humidity of the soil surface, to take into account a volume component in the problem of backscattering radar signal. As humidity increases, the dielectric constant of the soil-water mixture increases and this change is detected by microwave sensors. Nevertheless, many existing models in the field of radar imagery, cannot be applied directly on areas covered with vegetation due to the vegetation backscattering. Thus, the radar response corresponds to the combined signature of the vegetation layer and the layer of soil surface. Therefore, the key issue of the numerical estimation of soil moisture is to separate the two contributions and calculate both scattering behaviors of the two layers by defining the scattering of the vegetation and the soil blow. This paper presents a synergistic methodology, and it is for estimating roughness and soil moisture from C-band radar measurements. The methodology adequately represents a microwave/optical model which has been used to calculate the scattering behavior of the aerodynamic vegetation-covered area by defining the scattering of the vegetation and the soil below.

Keywords: aerodynamic, bi-dimensional, vegetation, synergistic

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Authors: Dita Aviana Dewi, Heri Muji, Dian Nur Amalia, Nanung Agus Fitriyanto

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Utilization of cow feces as a source of alternative energy can be done with turn it as briquettes. Cow feces generate heat around 4000 Cal/g and the methane gas (CH4) are quite high. Methane gas is one of the essential elements in briquettes which serve as the ignition, so that is resulting briquettes combustible. This study aims to know the difference of the composition of the constituents of briquette moisture content and density. Dairy cattle feces used as the main ingredient with additional material from the waste of the agricultural industry in the form of husk. This study was conducted with three treatments, namely T0= feces 1: husk 1, T1= feces 2: husk 1, and T2= feces 3: husk 1. Each treatment was replicated three times. The experimental design used was Complete Random Design Pattern in line with testing of Dunnet. The observed variables are moisture content and density of the briquettes. Results of this study showed an average moisture content of T0 is 31,17%, T1 is 28,14%, and T2 is 49.95%. The average density of briquettes at T0 is 1,0787 g/cm3, T1 is 1,1448 g/cm3, and T2 is 1,1133 g/cm3. Summary of the study is to take the difference of the composition of the feces and the husk do not have significant effects on moisture content and density of briquettes (p < 0.05).

Keywords: dairy cattle feces, briquette, moisture, density

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Authors: L. Gómez-Limia, I. Franco, T. Blanco, S. Martínez

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European eels (Anguilla anguilla) belong to Anguilliformes order and Anguillidae family. They are generally classified as warm-water fish. Eels have a great commercial value in Europe and Asian countries. Eels can reach high weights, although their commercial size is relatively low in some countries. The capture of larger eels would facilitate the recovery of the species, as well as having a greater number of either glass eels or elvers for aquaculture. In the last years, the demand and the price of eels have increased significantly. However, European eel is considered critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The biochemical composition of fishes is an important aspect of quality and affects the nutritional value and consumption quality of fish. In addition, knowing this composition can help predict an individual’s condition for their recovery. Fish is known to be important source of protein rich in essential amino acids. However, there is very little information about changes in amino acids composition of European eels with increase in size. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two different weight categories on the amino acids content in muscle tissue of wild European eels. European eels were caught in River Ulla (Galicia, NW Spain), during winter. The eels were slaughtered in ice water immersion. Then, they were purchased and transferred to the laboratory. The eels were subdivided into two groups, according to the weight. The samples were kept frozen (-20 °C) until their analysis. Frozen eels were defrosted and the white muscle between the head and the anal hole. was extracted, in order to obtain amino acids composition. Thirty eels for each group were used. Liquid chromatography was used for separation and quantification of amino a cids. The results conclude that the eels are rich in glutamic acid, leucine, lysine, threonine, valine, isoleucine and phenylalanine. The analysis showed that there are significant differences (p < 0.05) among the eels with different sizes. Histidine, threonine, lysine, hydroxyproline, serine, glycine, arginine, alanine and proline were higher in small eels. European eels muscle presents between 45 and 46% of essential amino acids in the total amino acids. European eels have a well-balanced and high quality protein source in the respect of E/NE ratio. However, eels with higher weight showed a better ratio of essential and non-essential amino acid.

Keywords: European eels, amino acids, HPLC, body size

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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: Ahmad K. Samaila, Basant K. Jha

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This study is devoted to investigate the effect of transpiration on transient as well as steady-state natural convection flow of a reactive viscous fluid in a vertical channel formed by two infinite vertical parallel porous plates. The Boussinesq assumption is applied and the nonlinear governing equations of energy and momentum are developed. The problem is solved numerically using implicit finite difference method and analytically for steady-state case using perturbation method. Solutions are presented in graphical form for fluid temperature, velocity, and skin-friction and wall heat transfer rate for various parametric values. It is found that velocity, temperature, rate of heat transfer as well as skin-friction are strongly affected by mass leakage through the porous plates.

Keywords: transpiration, reactive viscous fluid, porous plates, natural convection, suction/injection

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Authors: Kai Liu

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Remote sensing-derived land surface temperature (LST) can provide an indication of the temporal and spatial patterns of surface evapotranspiration (ET). However, the spatial resolution achieved by existing commonly satellite products is ~1 km, which remains too coarse for ET estimations. This paper proposed a model that can disaggregate coarse resolution MODIS LST at 1 km scale to fine spatial resolutions at the scale of 250 m. Our approach attempted to weaken the impacts of soil moisture and growing statues on LST variations. The proposed model spatially disaggregates the coarse thermal data by using a non-linear model involving Bowen ratio, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and photochemical reflectance index (PRI). This LST disaggregation model was tested on two heterogeneous landscapes in central Iowa, USA and Heihe River, China, during the growing seasons. Statistical results demonstrated that our model achieved better than the two classical methods (DisTrad and TsHARP). Furthermore, using the surface energy balance model, it was observed that the estimated ETs using the disaggregated LST from our model were more accurate than those using the disaggregated LST from DisTrad and TsHARP.

Keywords: Bowen ration, downscaling, evapotranspiration, land surface temperature

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Authors: David Julian Bernal Melgarejo

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Inland Waterway Transportation (IWT) is playing an important role in national transport systems, water transportation is considered to be safe, energy efficient and environmentally friendly mode of transport, considering all the benefits of IWT the Colombian government is planning to restore the Magdalena’s River navigability, embrace waterway transportation in Colombia could strength competitiveness while reduce most of the transport externalities. However, the current situation of the Magdalena deplorable, the most important river of Colombia has been abandoned for decades and the solution is beyond of a single administrative entity. This paper analyzes the outcomes of the Navigation And Inland Waterway Action and Development in Europe (NAIADES) program as a prospective to develop a sustainable program in Colombia. In order to guarantee the long-term future, and the adaptability of the program a research based on individual interviews with stakeholders and policy experts were carried out, findings support the idea of lack of integration within governmental institution, develop marketing strategies and human resources.

Keywords: inland waterway transportation, logistics, sustainability, multimodal transport systems, water transportation

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Authors: Adnan Alhathal Alanezi, Alanood A. Alsarayreh

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A direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) system was modeled using various angles for the membrane unit and a Reynolds number range of 500 to 2000 in this numerical analysis. The Navier-Stokes, energy, and species transport equations were used to create a two-dimensional model. The finite volume method was used to solve the governing equations (FVM). The results showed that as the Reynolds number grows up to 1500, the heat transfer coefficient increases for all membrane angles except the 60ᵒ inclination angle. Additionally, increasing the membrane angle to 90ᵒreduces the exit influence while increasing heat transfer. According to these data, a membrane with a 90o inclination angle (also known as a vertical membrane) and a Reynolds number of 2000 might have the smallest temperature differential. Similarly, decreasing the inclination angle of the membrane keeps the temperature difference constant between Reynolds numbers 1000 and 2000; however, between Reynolds numbers 500 and 1000, the temperature difference decreases dramatically.

Keywords: direct contact membrane distillation, membrane inclination angle, heat and mass transfer, reynolds number

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Authors: Mimoza Canga, Irene Malagnino, Vergjini Mulo, Alketa Qafmolla, Vito Antonio Malagnino

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Background: Dental caries is the most common dental disease and pregnancy represents a special process of physical, hormonal and metabolic changes in pregnant women, which is accompanied by an imbalance in the oral cavity. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate caries reduction after dental visits, the scaling of teeth, fluoridated water, brushing of the teeth and using fluoride toothpaste before and during pregnancy. Materials and methods: This study was conducted in the time period March 2018- September 2021, the age range of the participants was: 18-41 years old. The sample taken under observation was composed of 84 pregnant women. The questionnaire included the demographic characteristics of the sample, such as age, women's education level was primary, secondary, and higher education. Based on women's education level, our analysis found that 25.9% of pregnant women had completed primary education, 35.2% of them had secondary education and 38.9% of pregnant women had higher education. The descriptive and analytical research analysis is formulated as a longitudinal study. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0. The significance level (α) was set at 0.05, whereas P-value and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. Results: In the present study, it was observed that there is a strong relationship between dental visits and the scaling of the teeth with the value of P˂ .0001. While the number of teeth with caries before pregnancy and fluoridated water have a P-value=0.002. If we compare the same factor with the number of teeth with dental caries during pregnancy, the correlation is P-value = 0.0001. The number of teeth with caries before pregnancy and carbohydrates consumption has a strong relation with P-value=0.05. According to the present research, the number of teeth with dental caries before pregnancy in relation to brushing the teeth has a P-value ˂ 0.05. Furthermore, in the actual research, it was established that using fluoride toothpaste doesn’t affect the number of teeth with caries before pregnancy with a P-value= .314. Conclusion: According to the results of the present study performed in Albania, it was found out that the periodical dental visits, scaling of the teeth, fluoridated water, brushing of the teeth influenced caries reduction before and during pregnancy. In comparison, the usage of fluoride toothpaste did not have any effect on dental caries reduction in the same time period. The recommendations are as follows: maintaining oral hygiene, using fluoridated water and brushing the teeth regularly. Healthcare providers should inform pregnant women about the importance of oral health and the implementation of measures to manage dental caries.

Keywords: brushing of the teeth, dental visits, dental scaling, fluoridated water, pregnancy

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Authors: M. Doumi, K. Tahir, A. Miloudi, A. G. Aissaoui, C. Belfedal, S. Tahir

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This paper presents a three-phase grid-connected photovoltaic generation system with unity power factor for any situation of solar radiation based on voltage-oriented control (VOC). An input voltage clamping technique is proposed to control the power between the grid and photovoltaic system, where it is intended to achieve the maximum power point operation. This method uses a Perturb and Observe (P&O) controller. The main objective of this work is to compare the energy production unit performances by the use of two types of controllers (namely, classical PI and Sliding Mode (SM) Controllers) for the grid inverter control. The proposed control has a hierarchical structure with a grid side control level to regulate the power (PQ) and the current injected to the grid and to obtain a common DC voltage constant. To show the effectiveness of both control methods performances analysis of the system are analyzed and compared by simulation and results included in this paper.

Keywords: grid connected photovoltaic, MPPT, inverter control, classical PI, sliding mode, DC voltage constant, voltage-oriented control, VOC

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Authors: Nji Queenta Ngum, Mwanza Mulunda

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Introduction Most African research reports on the frequent aflatoxin contamination of various foodstuffs, with researchers rarely specifying which of the Aspergillus species are present in these commodities. Numerous research works provide evidence of the ability of fungi to grow, thrive, and interact with other crop species and focus on the fact that these processes are largely affected by climatic variables. South Africa is a water-stressed country with high spatio-temporal rainfall variability; moreover, temperatures have been projected to rise at a rate twice the global rate. This weather pattern change may lead to crop stress encouraging mold contamination with subsequent mycotoxin production. In this study, the biodiversity and distribution of Aspergillus species with their corresponding toxins in maize from six distinct maize producing regions with different weather patterns in South Africa were investigated. Materials And Methods By applying cultural and molecular methods, a total of 1028 maize samples from six distinct agro-climatic regions were examined for contamination by the Aspergillus species while the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was applied to analyse the level of contamination by aflatoxins. Results About 30% of the overall maize samples were contaminated by at least one Aspergillus species. Less than 30% (28.95%) of the 228 isolates subjected to the aflatoxigenic test was found to possess at least one of the aflatoxin biosynthetic genes. Furthermore, almost 20% were found to be contaminated with aflatoxins, with mean total aflatoxin concentration levels of 64.17 ppb. Amongst the contaminated samples, 59.02% had mean total aflatoxin concentration levels above the SA regulatory limit of 20ppb for animals and 10 for human consumption. Conclusion In this study, climate variables (rainfall reduction) were found to significantly (p<0.001) influence the occurrence of the Aspergillus species (especially Aspergillus fumigatus) and the production of aflatoxin in South Africa commercial maize by maize variety, year of cultivation as well as the agro-climatic region in which the maize is cultivated. This included, amongst others, a reduction in the average annual rainfall of the preceding year to about 21.27 mm, and, as opposed to other regions whose average maximum rainfall ranged between 37.24 – 44.1 mm, resulted in a significant increase in the aflatoxin contamination of maize.

Keywords: aspergillus species, aflatoxins, diversity, drought, food safety, HPLC and PCR techniques

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Authors: Xu Xiao China, Xu Lei China

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After the 1990s, the concept of urban sustainable development has been increasing attention in urban planning and urban design. High carbon city, not a sustainable city construction model, has become an important problem which restricts the sustainable development of the city. Therefore, low-carbon city construction is the urgent need to solve the problem, and China is one of the core areas of low-carbon city construction in the world. The research work of low-carbon cities were participated by the Chinese government and academic institutes on theory and practice since 2007, and nowadays it comes to a practice stage with six low-carbon pilot provinces and 36 low-carbon pilot cities identified. To achieve the low-carbon target, developing low-carbon energy, adopting non-pollution technique, constructing green buildings and adopting ecolife-style are suggest by the government. Meanwhile, besides a new standard system and a new eco-environmental status evaluation method, the government also established the Chinese urban development institute including the Low-Carbon City Group. Finally, we want to transform the modern industrial civilization into an ecological civilization and realize sustainable urban development.

Keywords: low-carbon city, China, development practice, system construction, urban sustainability

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Authors: Ivan Ravlich, Ivan Linscott, Sigrid Close

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The experimental search for spin coupling in General Relativity via torsion has been inconclusive. In this work, further experimental avenues to test dynamic torsion are proposed and evaluated. In the extended theory, by relaxing the torsion free condition on the metric connection, general relativity is reformulated to relate the spin density of particles to a new quantity, the torsion tensor. In torsion theories, the spin tensor and torsion tensor are related in much the same way as the stress-energy tensor is related to the metric connection. Similarly, as the metric is the field associated with the metric connection, fields can be associated with the torsion tensor resulting in a field that is either propagating or static. Experimental searches for static torsion have thus far been inconclusive, and currently, there have been no experimental tests for propagating torsion. Experimental tests of propagating theories of torsion are proposed utilizing various spin densities of matter, such as interfaces in superconducting materials and plasmas. The experimental feasibility and observable bounds are estimated, and the most viable candidates are selected to pursue in detail in a future work.

Keywords: general relativity, gravitation, propagating torsion, spin density

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Authors: S. M. Anowarul Haque, Md. Asiful Islam

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Electrical load forecasting is considered to be one of the most indispensable parts of a modern-day electrical power system. To ensure a reliable and efficient supply of electric energy, special emphasis should have been put on the predictive feature of electricity supply. Artificial Neural Network-based approaches have emerged to be a significant area of interest for electric load forecasting research. This paper proposed an Artificial Neural Network model based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm for improved electric load forecasting for Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The forecasting model is developed and simulated on the MATLAB environment with a large number of training datasets. The model is trained based on eight input parameters including historical load and weather data. The predicted load data are then compared with an available dataset for validation. The proposed neural network model is proved to be more reliable in terms of day-wise load forecasting for Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

Keywords: load forecasting, artificial neural network, particle swarm optimization

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Authors: Ali Zain Ul Abadeen, Arshad Hussain

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Roads are considered as the national capital, and huge developmental budget is spent on its construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation. Due to proliferating traffic volume, heavier loads and challenging environmental factors, the need for high-performance asphalt pavement is increased. In this research, the asphalt mixture was modified with carbon nanotubes ranging from 0.2% to 2% of binder to study the effect of CNT modification on rutting potential and fatigue life of asphalt mixtures. During this study, the conventional and modified asphalt mixture was subjected to a uni-axial dynamic creep test and dry Hamburg wheel tracking test to study rutting resistance. Fatigue behavior of asphalt mixture was studied using a four-point bending test apparatus. The plateau value of asphalt mixture was taken as a measure of fatigue performance according to the ratio of dissipated energy approach. Results of these experiments showed that CNT modified asphalt mixtures had reduced rut depth and increased rutting and fatigue resistance at higher percentages of carbon nanotubes.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes, fatigue, four point bending test, modified asphalt, rutting

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Authors: Jafar Akbari, Masoud Rismanchian, Samira Ramezani

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Purpose: The photocatalytic degradation of pollutants is a novel technology with various advantages such as high efficiency and energy saving. In this research, the effects of operational variables on the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO₂ coated on nickel foam in the removal of toluene from the simulated indoor air have been investigated. Methods: TiO₂ film were prepared via the sol-gel method and coated on nickel foam. The characteristics and morphology were found using XRD, SEM, and BET technique. Then, the effects of relative humidity, UV-A intensity, the initial toluene concentration, TiO₂ loading, and the air circulation velocity on the photocatalytic degradation rate have been evaluated. Results: The optimal degradation of toluene has been achieved with loading 4.35 g TiO2 on the foam, 30% RH, 5.4 µW.cm−2 UV-A intensity, and 20 ppm initial concentration in the air circulation velocity of 0.15 fpm. Conclusion: The changes of toluene photocatalytic degradation rate have been studied at various times. Also, the kinetic behavior of toluene photocatalytic degradation has been investigated using Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) model.

Keywords: photocatalytic degradation, operational variables, tio₂, nickel foam, gaseous toluene, nanotechnology

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Authors: Sadiq Sani, Muhammad B. Ibrahim

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Watermelon rinds powder (WRP) and neem-tree leaves powder (NLP) were used as adsorbents for equilibrium adsorption isotherms studies for detoxification of methyl orange dye (MO) from simulated wastewater. The applicability of the process to various isotherm models was tested. All isotherms from the experimental data showed excellent linear reliability (R2: 0.9487-0.9992) but adsorptions onto WRP were more reliable (R2: 0.9724-0.9992) than onto NLP (R2: 0.9487-0.9989) except for Temkin’s Isotherm where reliability was better onto NLP (R2: 0.9937) than onto WRP (R2: 0.9935). Dubinin-Radushkevich’s monolayer adsorption capacities for both WRP and NLP (qD: 20.72 mg/g, 23.09 mg/g) were better than Langmuir’s (qm: 18.62 mg/g, 21.23 mg/g) with both capacities higher for adsorption onto NLP (qD: 23.09 mg/g; qm: 21.23 mg/g) than onto WRP (qD: 20.72 mg/g; qm: 18.62 mg/g). While values for Langmuir’s separation factor (RL) for both adsorbents suggested unfavourable adsorption processes (RL: -0.0461, -0.0250), Freundlich constant (nF) indicated favourable process onto both WRP (nF: 3.78) and NLP (nF: 5.47). Adsorption onto NLP had higher Dubinin-Radushkevich’s mean free energy of adsorption (E: 0.13 kJ/mol) than WRP (E: 0.08 kJ/mol) and Temkin’s heat of adsorption (bT) was better onto NLP (bT: -0.54 kJ/mol) than onto WRP (bT: -0.95 kJ/mol) all of which suggested physical adsorption.

Keywords: adsorption isotherms, methyl orange, neem leaves, watermelon rinds

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Authors: N. Yaiphaba, Elizabeth C. H.

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YPO₄ nanoparticles codoped with Eu³⁺(5 at.%) and Bi³⁺(0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20 at.%) have been prepared in poly acrylic acid (PAA)-H₂O medium by hydrothermal synthesis by maintaining a temperature of 180oC. The crystalline structure of as-prepared and 500oC annealed samples transforms from tetragonal (JCPDS-11-0254) to hexagonal phase (JCPDS-42-0082) with increasing concentration of Bi³⁺ ions. However, 900oC annealed samples exhibit tetragonal structure. The crystallite size of the particles varies from 19-50 nm. The luminescence intensity increases at lower concentration of Bi³⁺ ions and then decreases with increasing Bi3+ ion concentrations. The luminescence intensity further increases on annealing at 500oC and 900oC. Further, 900oC annealed samples show sharp increase in luminescence intensity. Moreover, the samples follow bi-exponential decay indicating energy transfer from donor to the activator or non-uniform distribution of ions in the samples. The samples on excitation at 318 nm exhibit near white emission while at 394 nm excitation show emission in the red region. The as-prepared samples are redispersible and have potential applications in display devices, metal ion sensing, biological labelling, etc.

Keywords: charge transfer, sensitizer, activator, annealing

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Authors: Ana Paula Gomes Nogueira, Pietro Tonolini, Andrea Bonfanti

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Automotive braking systems must convert kinetic into thermal energy by friction. Nowadays, the disc brake system is the most widespread configuration on the automotive market, which its specific configuration provides a very efficient heat dissipation. At the same time, both discs and pads wear out. Different wear mechanisms can act during the braking, which makes the understanding of the phenomenon essential for the strategies to be applied when an increased lifetime of the components is required. In this study, a specific characterization approach was conducted to analyze the worn surfaces of commercial pad friction materials and its conterface cast iron disc after dynobench tests. Scanning electronic microscope (SEM), confocal microscope, and focus ion beam microscope (FIB) were used as the main tools of the analysis, and they allowed imaging of the footprint of the different wear mechanisms presenting on the worn surfaces. Aspects such as the temperature and specific ingredients of the pad friction materials are discussed since they play an important role in the wear mechanisms.

Keywords: wear mechanism, surface characterization, brake tests, friction materials, disc brake

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Authors: Michael Okeke, Andrew Blyth

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Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) as the state of the art Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are used in many different critical infrastructures, from smart home to energy systems and from locomotives train system to planes. Security of SCADA systems is vital since many lives depend on it for daily activities and deviation from normal operation could be disastrous to the environment as well as lives. This paper describes how No-Trust-Zone (NTZ) architecture could be incorporated into SCADA Systems in order to reduce the chances of malicious intent. The architecture is made up of two distinctive parts which are; the field devices such as; sensors, PLCs pumps, and actuators. The second part of the architecture is designed following lambda architecture, which is made up of a detection algorithm based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Hadoop framework for data processing and storage. Apache Spark will be a part of the lambda architecture for real-time analysis of packets for anomalies detection.

Keywords: industrial control system (ics, no-trust-zone (ntz), particle swarm optimisation (pso), supervisory control and data acquisition (scada), swarm intelligence (SI)

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Authors: Swati Srivastava, Mattia Lauriola, Yuval Gilad, Adi Kimchi, Yosef Yarden

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The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) has been proposed to play important, but incompletely understood roles in cancer. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely used as co-medication of various carcinomas, due to their ability to reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy. Furthermore, GR antagonism has proven to be a strategy to treat triple negative breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer. These observations suggest differential GR involvement in cancer subtypes. The goal of our study has been to elaborate the current understanding of GR signaling in tumor progression and metastasis. Our study involves two cellular models, non-tumorigenic breast epithelial cells (MCF10A) and Ewing sarcoma cells (CHLA9). In our breast cell model, the results indicated that the GR agonist dexamethasone inhibits EGF-induced mammary cell migration, and this effect was blocked when cells were stimulated with a GR antagonist, namely RU486. Microarray analysis for gene expression revealed that the mechanism underlying inhibition involves dexamenthasone-mediated repression of well-known activators of EGFR signaling, alongside with enhancement of several EGFR’s negative feedback loops. Because GR mainly acts primarily through composite response elements (GREs), or via a tethering mechanism, our next aim has been to find the transcription factors (TFs) which can interact with GR in MCF10A cells.The TF-binding motif overrepresented at the promoter of dexamethasone-regulated genes was predicted by using bioinformatics. To validate the prediction, we performed high-throughput Protein Complementation Assays (PCA). For this, we utilized the Gaussia Luciferase PCA strategy, which enabled analysis of protein-protein interactions between GR and predicted TFs of mammary cells. A library comprising both nuclear receptors (estrogen receptor, mineralocorticoid receptor, GR) and TFs was fused to fragments of GLuc, namely GLuc(1)-X, X-GLuc(1), and X-GLuc(2), where GLuc(1) and GLuc(2) correspond to the N-terminal and C-terminal fragments of the luciferase gene.The resulting library was screened, in human embryonic kidney 293T (HEK293T) cells, for all possible interactions between nuclear receptors and TFs. By screening all of the combinations between TFs and nuclear receptors, we identified several positive interactions, which were strengthened in response to dexamethasone and abolished in response to RU486. Furthermore, the interactions between GR and the candidate TFs were validated by co-immunoprecipitation in MCF10A and in CHLA9 cells. Currently, the roles played by the uncovered interactions are being evaluated in various cellular processes, such as cellular proliferation, migration, and invasion. In conclusion, our assay provides an unbiased network analysis between nuclear receptors and other TFs, which can lead to important insights into transcriptional regulation by nuclear receptors in various diseases, in this case of cancer.

Keywords: epidermal growth factor, glucocorticoid receptor, protein complementation assay, transcription factor

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Authors: Achim Kampker, Heiner Hans Heimes, Mathias Ordung, Nemanja Sarovic

Abstract:

A key component of the drive train of electric vehicles is the lithium-ion battery system. Among various other components, such as the battery management system or the thermal management system, the battery system mostly consists of several cells which are integrated mechanically as well as electrically. Due to different vehicle concepts with regards to space, energy and power specifications, there is a variety of different battery systems. The corresponding assembly lines are specially designed for each battery concept. Minor changes to certain characteristics of the battery have a disproportionally high effect on the set-up effort in the form of high change-related costs. This paper will focus on battery systems which are made out of battery cells with a prismatic format. The product architecture and the assembly process will be analyzed in detail based on battery concepts of existing electric cars and key variety-causing drivers will be identified. On this basis, several measures will be presented and discussed on how to change the product architecture and the assembly process in order to reduce change-related costs.

Keywords: assembly, automotive industry, battery system, battery concept

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Authors: Mohamed Amine Ferhat, Mohamed Nadjib Bouhatem, Farid Chemat

Abstract:

One of the principal aims of sustainable and green processing development remains the dissemination and teaching of green chemistry to both developed and developing nations. This paper describes one attempt to show that “north-south” collaborations yield innovative sustainable and green technologies which give major benefits for both nations. In this paper we present early results from a solvent free microwave extraction (SFME) of essential oils using fresh orange peel, a byproduct in the production of orange juice. SFME is performed at atmospheric pressure without added any solvent or water. SFME increases essential oil yield and eliminate wastewater treatment. The procedure is appropriate for the teaching laboratory, and allows the students to learn extraction, chromatographic and spectroscopic analysis skills, and are expose to dramatic visual example of rapid, sustainable and green extraction of essential oil, and are introduced to commercially successful sustainable and green chemical processing with microwave energy.

Keywords: essential oil, extraction, green processing, microwave

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Authors: Ashraf Samir Hakim, Randa Mohamed Alarousy

Abstract:

The consumption of food contaminated with molds (microscopic filamentous fungi) and their toxic metabolites results in the development of food-borne mycotoxicosis. The spores of molds are ubiquitously spread in the environment and can be detected everywhere. Ochratoxin A is a potentially carcinogenic fungal toxin found in a variety of food commodities , not only is considered the most abundant and hence the most commonly detected member but also is the most toxic one.Ochratoxin A is the most abundant and hence the most commonly detected member, but is also the most toxic of the three. A very limited research works concerning foods of porcine origin in Egypt were obtained in spite of presence a considerable swine population and consumers. In this study, the quality of various ready-to-eat local and imported pork meat and meat byproducts sold in Egyptian markets as well as edible organs as liver and kidney were assessed for the presence of various molds and their toxins as a raw material. Mycological analysis was conducted on (n=110) samples which included pig livers n=10 and kidneys n=10 from the Basateen slaughter house; local n=70 and 20 imported processed pork meat byproducts.The isolates were identified using traditional mycological and biochemical tests while, Ochratoxin A levels were quantitatively analyzed using the high performance liquid. Results of conventional mycological tests for detecting the presence of fungal growth (yeasts or molds) were negative, while the results of mycotoxins concentrations were be greatly above the permiceable limits or "tolerable weekly intake" (TWI) of ochratoxin A established by EFSA in 2006 in local pork and pork byproducts while the imported samples showed a very slightly increasing.Since ochratoxin A is stable and generally resistant to heat and processing, control of ochratoxin A contamination lies in the control of the growth of the toxin-producing fungi. Effective prevention of ochratoxin A contamination therefore depends on good farming and agricultural practices. Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) including methods to reduce fungal infection and growth during harvest, storage, transport and processing provide the primary line of defense against contamination with ochratoxin A. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of mycological assessment, especially the mycotoxins in pork byproducts in Egypt.

Keywords: Egyptian markets, mycotoxicosis, ochratoxin A, pork meat, pork by-products

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Authors: Mohamed Noureldin, Jinkoo Kim

Abstract:

In this study, a genetic algorithm was used to find out the optimum locations of the slit dampers satisfying a target displacement. A seismic retrofit scheme for a building structure was presented using steel plate slit dampers. A cyclic loading test was used to verify the energy dissipation capacity of the slit damper. The seismic retrofit of the model structure using the slit dampers was compared with the retrofit with enlarging shear walls. The capacity spectrum method was used to propose a simple damper distribution scheme proportional to the inter-story drifts. The validity of the simple story-wise damper distribution procedure was verified by comparing the results of the genetic algorithm. It was observed that the proposed simple damper distribution pattern was in a good agreement with the optimum distribution obtained from the genetic algorithm. Acknowledgment: This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2017R1D1A1B03032809).

Keywords: slit dampers, seismic retrofit, genetic algorithm, optimum design

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Authors: John N. Idenyi, Hadimundeen Abdallah, Abigeal D. Adeyemi, Jonathan C. Eya

Abstract:

Gut microbiomes play a significant role in the growth, metabolism, and health of fish. However, we know very little about the interactive effects of variations in dietary composition and temperature on rainbow trout gut microbiota. Exactly 288 rainbow trout weighing 45.6g ± 0.05 (average ± SD) were fed four isocaloric, isolipidic, and isonitrogenous diets comprising 40% crude protein and 20% crude lipid and formulated as 100 % animal-based protein (AP) and a blend of 50 fish oil (FO)/50 camelina oil (CO), 100 % AP and100 % CO, 100 % plant-based protein (PP) and a blend of 50FO/50CO or 100 % PP and 100 % CO in 14 or 18°C for 150 days. Gut content was analyzed using 16S rRNA gene and shotgun sequencing. The most abundant phyla identified regardless of diet were Tenericutes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, while Aeromonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae were dominant families in 18°C. Moreover, gut microbes were dominated by genes relating to an amino acid, carbohydrate, fat, and energy metabolisms and influenced by temperature. The shared functional profiles for all the diets suggest that plant protein sources in combination with CO could be as good as the fish meal with 50/50 FO & CO in rainbow trout farming.

Keywords: aquafeed, aquaculture, microbiome, rainbow trout

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Authors: M. Balordi, G. Santucci de Magistris, F. Pini, P. Marcacci

Abstract:

The increasing of extreme meteorological events represents the most important causes of damages and blackouts of the whole electric system. In particular, the icing on ground-wires and overheads lines, due to snowstorms or harsh winter conditions, very often gives rise to the collapse of cables and towers both in cold and warm climates. On the other hand, the high concentration of contaminants in the air, due to natural and/or antropic causes, is reflected in high levels of pollutants layered on glass and ceramic insulators, causing frequent and unpredictable flashover events. Overheads line and insulator failures lead to blackouts, dangerous and expensive maintenances and serious inefficiencies in the distribution service. Inducing superhydrophobic (SHP) properties to conductors, ground-wires and insulators, is one of the ways to face all these problems. Indeed, in some cases, the SHP surface can delay the ice nucleation time and decrease the ice nucleation temperature, preventing ice formation. Besides, thanks to the low surface energy, the adhesion force between ice and a superhydrophobic material are low and the ice can be easily detached from the surface. Moreover, it is well known that superhydrophobic surfaces can have self-cleaning properties: these hinder the deposition of pollution and decrease the probability of flashover phenomena. Here this study presents three different studies to impart superhydrophobicity to aluminum, zinc and glass specimens, which represent the main constituent materials of conductors, ground-wires and insulators, respectively. The route to impart the superhydrophobicity to the metallic surfaces can be summarized in a three-step process: 1) sandblasting treatment, 2) chemical-hydrothermal treatment and 3) coating deposition. The first step is required to create a micro-roughness. In the chemical-hydrothermal treatment a nano-scale metallic oxide (Al or Zn) is grown and, together with the sandblasting treatment, bring about a hierarchical micro-nano structure. By coating an alchilated or fluorinated siloxane coating, the surface energy decreases and gives rise to superhydrophobic surfaces. In order to functionalize the glass, different superhydrophobic powders, obtained by a sol-gel synthesis, were prepared. Further, the specimens were covered with a commercial primer and the powders were deposed on them. All the resulting metallic and glass surfaces showed a noticeable superhydrophobic behavior with a very high water contact angles (>150°) and a very low roll-off angles (<5°). The three optimized processes are fast, cheap and safe, and can be easily replicated on industrial scales. The anti-icing and self-cleaning properties of the surfaces were assessed with several indoor lab-tests that evidenced remarkable anti-icing properties and self-cleaning behavior with respect to the bare materials. Finally, to evaluate the anti-snow properties of the samples, some SHP specimens were exposed under real snow-fall events in the RSE outdoor test-facility located in Vinadio, western Alps: the coated samples delay the formation of the snow-sleeves and facilitate the detachment of the snow. The good results for both indoor and outdoor tests make these materials promising for further development in large scale applications.

Keywords: superhydrophobic coatings, anti-icing, self-cleaning, anti-snow, overheads lines

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Authors: Junhong Feng, Wenyu Lu, Xinhong Cheng, Li Zheng, Yuehui Yu

Abstract:

The effects of proton irradiation on the properties of gate oxide were evaluated by monitoring the static parameters (such as threshold voltage and on-resistance) and dynamic parameters (Miller plateau time) of 1700V SiC VDMOS before and after proton irradiation. The incident proton energy was 3MeV, and the doses were 5 × 10¹² P / cm², 1 × 10¹³ P / cm², respectively. The results show that the threshold voltage of MOS exhibits negative drift under proton irradiation, and the near-interface traps in the gate oxide layer are occupied by holes generated by the ionization effect of irradiation, thus forming more positive charges. The basis for selecting TMiller is that the change time of Vgs is the time when Vds just shows an upward trend until it rises to a stable value. The degradation of the turn-off time of the Miller platform verifies that the capacitance Cgd becomes larger, reflecting that the gate oxide layer is introduced into the trap by the displacement effect caused by proton irradiation, and the interface state deteriorates. As a more sensitive area in the irradiation process, the gate oxide layer will be optimized for its parameters (such as thickness, type, etc.) in subsequent studies.

Keywords: SiC VDMOS, proton radiation, Miller time, gate oxide

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