Search results for: John B. Wood

Authors: Daniel John Avutia

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Solar Photovoltaic (PV) development is reliant on the sunlight hours available in a particular region to generate electricity. A potential area is assessed through its inherent solar radiation intensity measured in watts per square meter. Solar energy development involves the feasibility, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the relevant infrastructure, but this paper will focus on the design and construction aspects. Africa and Australasia have the longest sunlight hours per day and the highest solar radiation per square meter, 7 sunlight hours/day and 5 kWh/day respectively. Solar PV support configurations consist of fixed-tilt support and tracker system structures, the differentiation being that the latter was introduced to improve the power generation efficiency of the former due to the sun tracking movement capabilities. The installation of Solar PV foundations involves rammed piles, drilling/grout piles and shallow raft reinforced concrete structures. This paper presents a case study of 2 solar PV projects in Africa and Australia, discussing the foundation design consideration and associated construction cost implications of the selected foundations systems. Solar PV foundations represent up to one fifth of the civil works costs in a project. Therefore, the selection of the most structurally sound and feasible foundation for the prevailing ground conditions is critical towards solar PV development. The design wind speed measured by anemometers govern the pile embedment depth for rammed and drill/grout foundation systems. The lateral pile deflection and vertical pull out resistance of piles increase proportionally with the embedment depth for uniform pile geometry and geology. The pile driving rate may also be used to anticipate the lateral resistance and skin friction restraining the pile. Rammed pile foundations are the most structurally suitable due to the pile skin friction and ease of installation in various geological conditions. The competitiveness of solar PV projects within the renewable energy mix is governed by lowering capital expenditure, improving power generation efficiency and power storage technological advances. The power generation reliability and efficiency are areas for further research within the renewable energy niche.

Keywords: design, foundations, piles, solar

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Authors: Ayodele A. Otaiku

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Purpose: Nigeria has become the largest importer of rice in Africa and second in the world, 2015. Investigate interactions of organic rice farming on soil quality and health from bio-waste converted to biofertilizer and its environmental impact on rice crop. Methodology: Bio-wastes, poultry waste, organic agriculture wastes, wood ash mixed with microbial inoculant organisms called OBD-Plus microbes (broad spectrum) composted in anaerobic digester to OBD-biofertilizer (2010 - 2012) uses microbes to build humus and other stable carbons. Two field experiments were carried out at Badeggi, Niger state in 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the response of lowland rice production using biofertilizer. The experimental field was laid out in a strip-plot design with five treatments and three replications and at twenty-one day old seedlings of FARO 44 and FARO 52 rice varieties were transplanted. Plots without fertiliser application served as control. Findings: The highest rice grain yield increase of 4.4 t/ha over the control in 2012 against the Nigeria average of lowland rice grain yields of 1.5 t/ha. The utilization of OBD-Biofertilizer can decrease the use of chemical nitrogen fertilizer, prevent the depletion of soil organic matter and reduce environmental pollution. Increasing the floodwater productivity and optimizing the recycling of nutrients cum grazer populations and disease by biocontrols microbes present in the OBD-Biofertilizer. Organic matter in the soil improves by 58% and C/N 15 (2011) and 13.35 (2012). Implications: OBD- Biofertilizer produce plant growth hormones such as indole acetic acid (IAA), glomalin related soil protein and extracellular enzymes as phosphatases that promote soil health and quality. Conclusion: Microorganisms can enhance nutrients use efficiency by increasing root surface area e.g., mycorrhizal, fungi, promoting other beneficial symbioses of the host plant and microbial interactions resulting to increase in soil organic matter. By 2030, climate change is projected to depress cereal production in Africa by 2 to 3 percent. Improved seeds and increased fertilizer use should more than compensate, but this factor will still weigh heavily on efforts to make progress.

Keywords: OBD-plus microbial consortia, OBD-biofertilizer, rice production, soil quality, sustainable agriculture

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Authors: John K. Avor, Choong-Koo Chang

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The transfer of electrical loads at power generation stations from Standby Auxiliary Transformer (SAT) to Unit Auxiliary Transformer (UAT) and vice versa is through a fast bus transfer scheme. Fast bus transfer is a time-critical application where the transfer process depends on various parameters, thus transfer schemes apply advance algorithms to ensure power supply reliability and continuity. In a nuclear power generation station, supply continuity is essential, especially for critical class 1E electrical loads. Bus transfers must, therefore, be executed accurately within 4 to 10 cycles in order to achieve safety system requirements. However, the main problem is that there are instances where transfer schemes scrambled due to inaccurate interpretation of key parameters; and consequently, have failed to transfer several critical loads from UAT to the SAT during main generator trip event. Although several techniques have been adopted to develop robust transfer schemes, a combination of Artificial Neural Network and Fuzzy Systems (Neuro-Fuzzy) has not been extensively used. In this paper, we apply the concept of Neuro-Fuzzy to determine plant operating mode and dynamic prediction of the appropriate bus transfer algorithm to be selected based on the first cycle of voltage information. The performance of Sequential Fast Transfer and Residual Bus Transfer schemes was evaluated through simulation and integration of the Neuro-Fuzzy system. The objective for adopting Neuro-Fuzzy approach in the bus transfer scheme is to utilize the signal validation capabilities of artificial neural network, specifically the back-propagation algorithm which is very accurate in learning completely new systems. This research presents a combined effect of artificial neural network and fuzzy systems to accurately interpret key bus transfer parameters such as magnitude of the residual voltage, decay time, and the associated phase angle of the residual voltage in order to determine the possibility of high speed bus transfer for a particular bus and the corresponding transfer algorithm. This demonstrates potential for general applicability to improve reliability of the auxiliary power distribution system. The performance of the scheme is implemented on APR1400 nuclear power plant auxiliary system.

Keywords: auxiliary power system, bus transfer scheme, fuzzy logic, neural networks, reliability

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Authors: John McDowall, Lucy Lightfoot

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Stigma constitutes a significant barrier to the recovery and social integration of individuals affected by mental illness. Although there is some debate in the literature regarding the definition and utility of stigma as a concept, it is widely accepted that it comprises three components: stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial reactions, and discrimination. Stereotypical beliefs describe the cognitive knowledge-based component of stigma, referring to beliefs (often negative) about members of a group that is based on cultural and societal norms (e.g. ‘People with anxiety are just weak’). Prejudice refers to the affective/evaluative component of stigma and describes the endorsement of negative stereotypes and the resulting negative emotional reactions (e.g. ‘People with anxiety are just weak, and they frustrate me’). Discrimination refers to the behavioural component of stigma, which is arguably the most problematic, as it exerts a direct effect on the stigmatized person and may lead people to behave in a hostile or avoidant way towards them (i.e. refusal to hire them). Research exploring anti-stigma initiatives focus primarily on an educational approach, with the view that accurate information will replace misconceptions and decrease stigma. Many approaches take a biogenetic stance, emphasising brain and biochemical deficits - the idea being that ‘mental illness is an illness like any other.' While this approach tends to effectively reduce blame, it has also demonstrated negative effects such as increasing prognostic pessimism, the desire for social distance and perceptions of stereotypes. In the present study 144 participants were split into three groups and read one of three vignettes presenting causal explanations for Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): One explanation emphasized biogenetic factors as being important in the etiology of GAD, another emphasised psychosocial factors (e.g. aversive life events, poverty, etc.), and a third stressed the adaptive features of the disorder from an evolutionary viewpoint. A variety of measures tapping the various components of stigma were administered following the vignettes. No difference in stigma measures as a function of causal explanation was found. People who had contact with mental illness in the past were significantly less stigmatising across a wide range of measures, but this did not interact with the type of causal explanation.

Keywords: generalised anxiety disorder, discrimination, prejudice, stigma

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Authors: Zeenat Rupawalla, Nicole Robinson, Susanne Schmidt, Sijie Li, Selina Carruthers, Elodie Buisset, John Roles, Ben Hankamer, Juliane Wolf

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Agriculture has radically changed the global biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen (N). Fossil fuel-enabled synthetic N-fertiliser is a foundation of modern agriculture but applied to soil crops only use about half of it. To address N-pollution from cropping and the large carbon and energy footprint of N-fertiliser synthesis, new technologies delivering enhanced energy efficiency, decarbonisation, and a circular nutrient economy are needed. We characterised algae fertiliser (AF) as an alternative to synthetic N-fertiliser (SF) using empirical and modelling approaches. We cultivated microalgae in nutrient solution and modelled up-scaled production in nutrient-rich wastewater. Over four weeks, AF released 63.5% of N as ammonium and nitrate, and 25% of phosphorous (P) as phosphate to the growth substrate, while SF released 100% N and 20% P. To maximise crop N-use and minimise N-leaching, we explored AF and SF dose-response-curves with spinach in glasshouse conditions. AF-grown spinach produced 36% less biomass than SF-grown plants due to AF’s slower and linear N-release, while SF resulted in 5-times higher N-leaching loss than AF. Optimised blends of AF and SF boosted crop yield and minimised N-loss due to greater synchrony of N-release and crop uptake. Additional benefits of AF included greener leaves, lower leaf nitrate concentration, and higher microbial diversity and water holding capacity in the growth substrate. Life-cycle-analysis showed that replacing the most effective SF dosage with AF lowered the carbon footprint of fertiliser production from 2.02 g CO₂ (C-producing) to -4.62 g CO₂ (C-sequestering), with a further 12% reduction when AF is produced on wastewater. Embodied energy was lowest for AF-SF blends and could be reduced by 32% when cultivating algae on wastewater. We conclude that (i) microalgae offer a sustainable alternative to synthetic N-fertiliser in spinach production and potentially other crop systems, and (ii) microalgae biofertilisers support the circular nutrient economy and several sustainable development goals.

Keywords: bioeconomy, decarbonisation, energy footprint, microalgae

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Authors: Hsiu-Ling Hsu, En-Minh (John) Lan

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Pronunciation has received more and more language researchers’ and teachers’ attention because it is important for effective or even successful communication. How to consistently and correctly orally produce verbal morphology, such as English regular past tense inflection, has been a big challenge and troublesome for FL learners. The research aims to explore EFL (English as a foreign language) learners’ developmental trajectory of the inflectional morphology, that is, what mediating processes and strategies EFL learners use, to attain native-like prosodic structure of inflectional morphemes (e.g., –ed and –s suffixes) by comparing the differences among EFL learners at different English levels. This research adopted a self-repair analysis and Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis with three developmental stages as a theoretical framework. To answer the research questions, we conducted two experiments, grammatical tense test written production (Experiment 1) and read-aloud oral production (Experiment 2), and recruited 30 participants who were divided into three groups, low-, middle-, and advanced EFL learners. Experiment 1 was conducted to ensure that participants had learned the knowledge of forming the English regular past tense rules and Experiment 2 was carried out to compare the data across FL English learner groups at different English levels. The EFL learners’ self-repair data showed at least four interesting findings. First, low achievers were more sensitive to the plural suffix -s than the past tense suffix -ed. Middle achievers exhibited a greater responsiveness to the past tense suffix, while high achievers demonstrated equal sensitivity to both suffixes. Additionally, two strategies used by EFL English learners to produce verbs and nouns with inflectional morphemes were to delete internal syllable and to divide a four-syllable verb (e.g., ‘graduated’) into two prosodic structures (e.g., ‘gradu’ and ‘ated’ or ‘gradua’ and ‘ted’). Third, true vowel epenthesis was found only in the low EFL achievers. Moreover fortition (native-like sound) was observed in the low and middle EFL achievers. These findings and self-repair data disclosed mediating processes between the developmental stages and provided insight on how Taiwan EFL learners attained the adjunction prosodic structures of inflectional Morphemes in English.

Keywords: inflectional morphology, prosodic structure, developmental trajectory, strategies and mediating processes, English as a foreign language

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Authors: Mike Yaw Osei-Atweneboana, John Asiedu Larbi, Edward Jenner Tettevi

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Background: The lymphatic filariasis (LF) control programme has been on-going in Ghana since 2000. This community-wide approach involves the use of ivermectin (IVM) and albendazole (ALB). Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections control is augmented within this programme; however, in areas where LF is not prevalent, albendazole alone is administered to school children. The purpose of this study was therefore, to determine the efficacy of albendazole against soils transmitted helminths and the impact of mass drug administration of albendazole and ivermectin on the health status of children of school going age and pregnant women. Material/Methods: This was a twelve months longitudinal study. A total of 412 subjects including school children (between the ages of 2-17 years) and pregnant women were randomly selected from four endemic communities in Kpandai district of the Northern region. Coprological assessment for parasites was based on the Kato–Katz technique in both dry and rainy seasons at baseline, 21 days and 3 months post-treatment. Single-dose albendazole treatment was administered to all patients at baseline. Preserved samples are currently under molecular studies to identify possible single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within the beta tubulin gene which is associated with benzimidazole resistance. Results: Of all the parasites found (hookworm, Trichuris trichiura, Hymenolepis nana, and Taenia sp.); hookworm was the most prevalent. In the dry season, the overall STHs prevalence at pre-treatment was 29%, while 9% and 13% prevalence was recorded at 21 days, and three months after treatment respectively. However, in the rainy season, the overall STHs prevalence was 8%, while 4% and 12% was recorded at 21 days and three months respectively after ALB treatment. In general, ALB treatment resulted in an overall hookworm egg count reduction rate of 89% in the dry season and 93% in the rainy season, while the T. trichiura egg count reduction rate was 100% in both seasons. Conclusions: STH infections still remains a significant public health burden in Ghana. Hookworm infection seems to respond poorly or sub-optimally to ALB, raising concerns of possible emergence of resistance which may lead to a major setback for the control and elimination of STH infections, especially hookworm infections.

Keywords: hookworm, sub-optimal response, albendazole, trichuriasis, soil-transmitted helminths

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Authors: Philip Friedlander, John Rutledge, Jason Suh

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Inhibition of programmed death-1 (PD-1) or its ligand PD-L1 confers therapeutic efficacy in a wide range of solid tumor malignancies. Primary or acquired resistance can develop through activation of immunosuppressive immune cells such as tumor-associated macrophages. The renin angiotensin system (RAS) systemically regulates fluid and sodium hemodynamics, but components are expressed on and regulate the activity of immune cells, particularly of myeloid lineage. We hypothesized that inhibition of RAS would improve the efficacy of PD-1/PD-L-1 treatment. A retrospective analysis was performed through a chart review of patients with solid metastatic malignancies treated with a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor between 1/2013 and 6/2019 at Valley Hospital, a community hospital in New Jersey, USA. Efficacy was determined by medical oncologist documentation of clinical benefit in visit notes and by the duration of time on immunotherapy treatment. The primary endpoint was the determination of efficacy differences in patients treated with an inhibitor of RAS ( ace inhibitor, ACEi, or angiotensin blocker, ARB) compared to patients not treated with these inhibitors. To control for broader antihypertensive effects, efficacy as a function of treatment with beta blockers was assessed. 173 patients treated with PD-1/PD-L-1 inhibitors were identified of whom 52 were also treated with an ACEi or ARB. Chi-square testing revealed a statistically significant relationship between being on an ACEi or ARB and efficacy to PD-1/PD-L-1 therapy (p=0.001). No statistically significant relationship was seen between patients taking or not taking beta blocker antihypertensives (p= 0.33). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed statistically significant improvement in the duration of therapy favoring patients concomitantly treated with ACEi or ARB compared to patients not exposed to antihypertensives and to those treated with beta blockers. Logistic regression analysis revealed that age, gender, and cancer type did not have significant effects on the odds of experiencing clinical benefit (p=0.74, p=0.75, and p=0.81, respectively). We conclude that retrospective analysis of the treatment of patients with solid metastatic tumors with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 in a community setting demonstrates greater clinical benefit in the context of concomitant ACEi or ARB inhibition, irrespective of gender or age. This data supports the development of prospective assessment through randomized clinical trials.

Keywords: angiotensin, cancer, immunotherapy, PD-1, efficacy

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Authors: Evelyn Marie Richmond, Andrew McBride, Chris Johnston, John Marley

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Background: Good quality patient information resources for orthognathic treatment help to reinforce information delivered during the initial consultation and help patients make informed decisions about their care. The Consultant Orthodontists and a Dental Core Trainee noted limited patient engagement with the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) 'Your Jaw Surgery' online resources and that the existing BOS patient information leaflet (PIL) could be customised and developed to meet local requirements. Aim: The quality improvement project (QIP) aimed to improve patients' understanding of orthognathic treatment by ensuring at least 90% of patients had read the new in-house patient information leaflet (PIL) and a minimum of 50% of patients had accessed the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) 'Your Jaw Surgery' online resources before attending the joint orthognathic multidisciplinary clinic by June 2023. Methods: The QIP was undertaken in the orthodontic department of the School of Dentistry, Belfast. Data was collected prospectively during a 6-month period from January 2023 to June 2023 over 3 Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles. Suitable patients were identified at consultant orthodontic new patient clinics. Following initial consultation for orthognathic treatment, patients were contacted to complete a patient questionnaire. Design: The change ideas were a poster with a QR code directing patients to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website in consultation areas and a new in-house PIL with a QR code directing patients to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website. Results: In PDSA cycle 1, 86.7% of patients were verbally directed to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website, and 53.3% accessed the online resources after their initial consultation. Although 100% of patients reported reading the existing PIL, only 64.3% felt it discussed the risks of orthognathic treatment in sufficient detail. By PDSA cycle 3, 100% of patients reported being directed to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website, however, only 58.3% engaged with the website. 100% of patients who read the new PIL felt that it discussed the risks of orthognathic treatment in sufficient detail. Conclusion: The slight improvement in access to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website shows that patients do not necessarily choose to access information online despite its availability. The uptake of the new PIL was greater than reported patient engagement with the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website, which indicates patients still value written information despite the availability of online resources.

Keywords: orthognathic surgery, patient information resources, quality improvement project, risks

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Authors: Natasha Gabriella, Josef-Peter Schöggl, Alfred Posch

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Being a mature industry, pulp and paper industry (PPI) possess strength points coming from its existing infrastructure, technology know-how, and abundant availability of biomass. However, the declining trend of the wood-based products sales sends a clear signal to the industry to transform its business model in order to increase its profitability. With the emerging global attention on bio-based economy and circular economy, coupled with the low price of fossil feedstock, the PPI starts to integrate biorefinery as a value-added business model to keep the industry’s competitiveness. Nonetheless, biorefinery as an innovation exposes the PPI with some barriers, of which the uncertainty of the promising product becomes one of the major hurdles. This study aims to assess factors that affect the diffusion and development of forest biorefinery in the PPI, including drivers, barriers, advantages, disadvantages, as well as the most promising bio-based products of forest biorefinery. The study examines the identified factors according to the layer of business environment, being the macro-environment, industry, and strategic group level. Besides, an overview of future state of the identified factors is elaborated as to map necessary improvements for implementing forest biorefinery. A two-phase Delphi method is used to collect the empirical data for the study, comprising of an online-based survey and interviews. Delphi method is an effective communication tools to elicit ideas from a group of experts to further reach a consensus of forecasting future trends. Collaborating a total of 50 experts in the panel, the study reveals that influential factors are found in every layers of business of the PPI. The politic dimension is apparent to have a significant influence for tackling the economy barrier while reinforcing the environmental and social benefits in the macro-environment. In the industry level, the biomass availability appears to be a strength point of the PPI while the knowledge gap on technology and market seem to be barriers. Consequently, cooperation with academia and the chemical industry has to be improved. Human resources issue is indicated as one important premise behind the preceding barrier, along with the indication of the PPI’s resistance towards biorefinery implementation as an innovation. Further, cellulose-based products are acknowledged for near-term product development whereas lignin-based products are emphasized to gain importance in the long-term future.

Keywords: forest biorefinery, pulp and paper, bio-based product, Delphi method

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Authors: Charles Ruffner, Michael Manton, Gintautas Kibirkstis, Gediminas Brazaitas, Vitas Marozas, Ekaterine Makrickiene, Rutile Pukiene, Per Angelstam

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In dynamic boreal forests, fire is an important natural disturbance, which drives regeneration and mortality of living and dead trees, and thus successional trajectories. However, current forest management practices focusing on wood production only have effectively eliminated fire as a stand-level disturbance. While this is generally well studied across much of Europe, in Lithuania, little is known about the historic fire regime and the role fire plays as a management tool towards the sustainable management of future landscapes. Focusing on Scots pine forests, we explore; i) the relevance of fire disturbance regimes on forestlands of Lithuania; ii) fire occurrence in the Dzukija landscape for dry upland and peatland forest sites, and iii) correlate tree-ring data with climate variables to ascertain climatic influences on growth and fire occurrence. We sampled and cross-dated 132 Scots pine samples with fire scars from 4 dry pine forest stands and 4 peatland forest stands, respectively. The fire history of each sample was analyzed using standard dendrochronological methods and presented in FHAES format. Analyses of soil moisture and nutrient conditions revealed a strong probability of finding forests that have a high fire frequency in Scots pine forests (59%), which cover 34.5% of Lithuania’s current forestland. The fire history analysis revealed 455 fire scars and 213 fire events during the period 1742-2019. Within the Dzukija landscape, the mean fire interval was 4.3 years for the dry Scots pine forest and 8.7 years for the peatland Scots pine forest. However, our comparison of fire frequency before and after 1950 shows a marked decrease in mean fire interval. Our data suggest that hemi-boreal forest landscapes of Lithuania provide strong evidence that fire, both human and lightning-ignited fires, has been and should be a natural phenomenon and that the examination of biological archives can be used to guide sustainable forest management into the future. Currently, fire use is prohibited by law as a tool for forest management in Lithuania. We recommend introducing trials that use low-intensity prescribed burning of Scots pine stands as a regeneration tool towards mimicking natural forest disturbance regimes.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, cultural burning, dendrochronology, forest dynamics, forest management, succession

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Authors: Suehyun Cho, Darrell Harrington, Florent Cros, Olin Palmer, John Caputo, Michael Kardosh, Eran Oren, William Loudon, Alex Kiselyov, Michael Shpigelmacher

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The Dandy-Walker malformation (DWM) represents a clinical syndrome manifesting as a combination of posterior fossa cyst, hypoplasia of the cerebellar vermis, and obstructive hydrocephalus. Anatomic hallmarks include hypoplasia of the cerebellar vermis, enlargement of the posterior fossa, and cystic dilatation of the fourth ventricle. Current treatments of DWM, including shunting of the cerebral spinal fluid ventricular system and endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), are frequently clinically insufficient, require additional surgical interventions, and carry risks of infections and neurological deficits. Bionaut Labs develops an alternative way to treat Dandy-Walker Malformation (DWM) associated with non-communicating hydrocephalus. We utilize our discreet microsurgical Bionaut™ particles that are controlled externally and remotely to perform safe, accurate, effective fenestration of the Dandy-Walker cyst, specifically in the posterior fossa of the brain, to directly normalize intracranial pressure. Bionaut™ allows for complex non-linear trajectories not feasible by any conventional surgical techniques. The microsurgical particle safely reaches targets in the lower occipital section of the brain. Bionaut™ offers a minimally invasive surgical alternative to highly involved posterior craniotomy or shunts via direct fenestration of the fourth ventricular cyst at the locus defined by the individual anatomy. Our approach offers significant advantages over the current standards of care in patients exhibiting anatomical challenge(s) as a manifestation of DWM, and therefore, is intended to replace conventional therapeutic strategies. Current progress, including platform optimization, Bionaut™ control, and real-time imaging and in vivo safety studies of the Bionauts™ in large animals, specifically the spine and the brain of ovine models, will be discussed.

Keywords: Bionaut™, cerebral spinal fluid, CSF, cyst, Dandy-Walker, fenestration, hydrocephalus, micro-robot

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Authors: John E. Foley, Martin Miele, Raul Fonda, Jon Jacobson

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This paper presents development and implementation of new and innovative data collection and analysis methodologies based on deployment of total field magnetometer arrays. Our research has focused on the development of a vertically-integrated suite of platforms all utilizing common data acquisition, data processing and analysis tools. These survey platforms include low-altitude helicopters and ground-based vehicles, including robots, for terrestrial mapping applications. For marine settings the sensor arrays are deployed from either a hydrodynamic bottom-following wing towed from a surface vessel or from a towed floating platform for shallow-water settings. Additionally, sensor arrays are deployed from tethered remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for underwater settings where high maneuverability is required. While the primary application of these systems is the detection and mapping of unexploded ordnance (UXO), these system are also used for various infrastructure mapping and geologic investigations. For each application, success is driven by the integration of magnetometer arrays, accurate geo-positioning, system noise mitigation, and stable deployment of the system in appropriate proximity of expected targets or features. Each of the systems collects geo-registered data compatible with a web-enabled data management system providing immediate access of data and meta-data for remote processing, analysis and delivery of results. This approach allows highly sophisticated magnetic processing methods, including classification based on dipole modeling and remanent magnetization, to be efficiently applied to many projects. This paper also briefly describes the initial development of magnetometer-based detection systems deployed from low-altitude helicopter platforms and the subsequent successful transition of this technology to the marine environment. Additionally, we present examples from a range of terrestrial and marine settings as well as ongoing research efforts related to sensor miniaturization for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) magnetic field mapping applications.

Keywords: dipole modeling, magnetometer mapping systems, sub-surface infrastructure mapping, unexploded ordnance detection

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Authors: Nozar Kishi, Babak Kamrani, Filmon Habte

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Natural hazards such as earthquakes and tropical storms, are very frequent and highly destructive in Japan. Japan experiences, every year on average, more than 10 tropical cyclones that come within damaging reach, and earthquakes of moment magnitude 6 or greater. We have developed stochastic catastrophe models to address the risk associated with the entire suite of damaging events in Japan, for use by insurance, reinsurance, NGOs and governmental institutions. KCC’s (Karen Clark and Company) catastrophe models are procedures constituted of four modular segments: 1) stochastic events sets that would represent the statistics of the past events, hazard attenuation functions that could model the local intensity, vulnerability functions that would address the repair need for local buildings exposed to the hazard, and financial module addressing policy conditions that could estimates the losses incurring as result of. The events module is comprised of events (faults or tracks) with different intensities with corresponding probabilities. They are based on the same statistics as observed through the historical catalog. The hazard module delivers the hazard intensity (ground motion or wind speed) at location of each building. The vulnerability module provides library of damage functions that would relate the hazard intensity to repair need as percentage of the replacement value. The financial module reports the expected loss, given the payoff policies and regulations. We have divided Japan into regions with similar typhoon climatology, and earthquake micro-zones, within each the characteristics of events are similar enough for stochastic modeling. For each region, then, a set of stochastic events is developed that results in events with intensities corresponding to annual occurrence probabilities that are of interest to financial communities; such as 0.01, 0.004, etc. The intensities, corresponding to these probabilities (called CE, Characteristics Events) are selected through a superstratified sampling approach that is based on the primary uncertainty. Region specific hazard intensity attenuation functions followed by vulnerability models leads to estimation of repair costs. Extensive economic exposure model addresses all local construction and occupancy types, such as post-linter Shinand Okabe wood, as well as concrete confined in steel, SRC (Steel-Reinforced Concrete), high-rise.

Keywords: typhoon, earthquake, Japan, catastrophe modelling, stochastic modeling, stratified sampling, loss model, ERM

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Authors: Sibashish Baksi, Ujjaini Sarkar, Sudeshna Saha

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In the present study, hydrolysis of Pinus roxburghi wood powder was carried out with Viscozyme, and kinetics of the hydrolysis has been investigated. Finely ground sawdust is submerged into 2% aqueous peroxide solution (pH=11.5) and pretreated through autoclaving, probe sonication, and alkaline peroxide pretreatment. Afterward, the pretreated material is subjected to hydrolysis. A chain of experiments was executed with delignified biomass (50 g/l) and varying enzyme concentrations (24.2–60.5 g/l). In the present study, 14.32 g/l of glucose, along with 7.35 g/l of xylose, have been recovered with a viscozyme concentration of 48.8 g/l and the same condition was treated as optimum condition. Additionally, thermal deactivation of viscozyme has been investigated and found to be gradually decreasing with escalated enzyme loading from 48.4 g/l (dissociation constant= 0.05 h⁻¹) to 60.5 g/l (dissociation constant= 0.02 h⁻¹). The hydrolysis reaction is a pseudo first-order reaction, and therefore, the rate of the hydrolysis can be expressed as a fractal-like kinetic equation that communicates between the product concentration and hydrolytic time t. It is seen that the value of rate constant (K) increases from 0.008 to 0.017 with augmented enzyme concentration from 24.2 g/l to 60.5 g/l. Greater value of K is associated with stronger enzyme binding capacity of the substrate mass. However, escalated concentration of supplied enzyme ensures improved interaction with more substrate molecules resulting in an enhanced de-polymerization of the polymeric sugar chains per unit time which eventually modifies the physiochemical structure of biomass. All fractal dimensions are in between 0 and 1. Lower the value of fractal dimension, more easily the biomass get hydrolyzed. It can be seen that with increased enzyme concentration from 24.2 g/l to 48.4 g/l, the values of fractal dimension go down from 0.1 to 0.044. This indicates that the presence of more enzyme molecules can more easily hydrolyze the substrate. However, an increased value has been observed with a further increment of enzyme concentration to 60.5g/l because of diffusional limitation. It is evident that the hydrolysis reaction system is a heterogeneous organization, and the product formation rate depends strongly on the enzyme diffusion resistances caused by the rate-limiting structures of the substrate-enzyme complex. Value of the rate constant increases from 1.061 to 2.610 with escalated enzyme concentration from 24.2 to 48.4 g/l. As the rate constant is proportional to Fick’s diffusion coefficient, it can be assumed that with a higher concentration of enzyme, a larger amount of enzyme mass dM diffuses into the substrate through the surface dF per unit time dt. Therefore, a higher rate constant value is associated with a faster diffusion of enzyme into the substrate. Regression analysis of time curves with various enzyme concentrations shows that diffusion resistant constant increases from 0.3 to 0.51 for the first two enzyme concentrations and again decreases with enzyme concentration of 60.5 g/l. During diffusion in a differential scale, the enzyme also experiences a greater resistance during diffusion of larger dM through dF in dt.

Keywords: viscozyme, glucose, fractal kinetics, thermal deactivation

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Authors: Aishwarya Pothula

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Euthanasia in India is a politically dormant policy issue in the sense that discussions around it are sporadic in nature (usually with developments in specific cases) and it stays as a dominant issue in the public domain for a fleeting period. In other words, it is a non-political issue that has been unable to successfully get on the policy agenda. This paper studies how the Supreme Court of India (SC) plays a role in euthanasia’s policy making. In 2011, the SC independently put a law in place that legalized passive euthanasia through its judgement in the Aruna Shanbaug v. Union of India case. According to this, it is no longer illegal to withhold/withdraw a patient’s medical treatment in certain cases. This judgement, therefore, is the empirical focus of this paper. The paper essentially employs two techniques of discourse analysis to study the SC’s system of argumentation. The two methods, Text Analysis using Gasper’s Analysis Table and Frame Analysis – are complemented by two discourse techniques called metaphor analysis and lexical analysis. The framework within which the analysis is conducted lies in 1) the judicial process of India, i.e. the SC procedures and the Constitutional rules and provisions, and 2) John W. Kingdon’s theory of policy windows and policy entrepreneurs. The results of this paper are three-fold: first, the SC dismiss the petitioner’s request for passive euthanasia on inadequate and weak grounds, thereby setting no precedent for the historic law they put in place. In other words, they leave the decision open for the Parliament to act upon. Hence the judgement, as opposed to arguments by many, is by no means an instance of judicial activism/overreach. Second, they define euthanasia in a way that resonates with existing broader societal themes. They combine this with a remarkable use of authoritative and protective tones/stances to settle at an intermediate position that balances the possible opposition to their role in the process and what they (perhaps) perceive to be an optimal solution. Third, they soften up the policy community (including the public) to the idea of passive euthanasia leading it towards a Parliamentarian legislation. They achieve this by shaping prevalent principles, provisions and worldviews through an astute use of the legal instruments at their disposal. This paper refers to this unconventional role of the SC as ‘judicial entrepreneurship’ which is also the first scholarly contribution towards research on euthanasia as a policy issue in India.

Keywords: argumentation analysis, Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, discourse analysis, euthanasia, judicial entrepreneurship, policy-making process, supreme court of India

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Tewodros Abate Alemayehu, Abebe Getahun, Akewake Geremew, Dawit Solomon Demeke, John Recha, Dawit Solomon, Gebremedihin Ambaw, Fasil Dawit Moges

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of supplementation of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and Mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) on growth performance, feed utilization, fatty acid profiles, hematology, and intestinal morphology of Chamo strain Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) fry reared at optimal temperature (28.62 ± 0.11 ⁰C). Nile tilapia fry (initial weight 1.45 ± 0.01g) were fed basal diet/control diet (Diet-T1), 6 g kg-¹ MOS supplemented diet (Diet-T2), 4 mg ZnO-NPs supplemented diet (Diet-T3), 4 mg ZnO-Bulk supplemented diet (Diet-T4), a combination of 6 g kg-¹ MOS and 4 mg ZnO-Bulk supplemented diet (Diet-T5) and combination of 6 g kg-¹ MOS and 4 mg ZnO-NPs supplemented diet (Diet-T6). Randomly, duplicate aquariums for each diet were assigned and hand-fed to apparent satiation three times daily (08:00, 12:00, and 16:00) for 12 weeks. Fish fed MOS, ZnO-NPs, and a combination of MOS and ZnO-Bulk supplemented diet had higher weight gain, Daily Growth Rate (DGR), and Specific Growth Rate (SGR) than fish fed the basal diet and other feeding groups, although the effect was not significant. According to the GC analysis, Nile tilapia was supplemented with 6 g kg-¹ MOS, 4 mg ZnO-NPs, or a combination of ZnO-NPs, and MOS showed the highest content of EPA, DHA, and higher ratios of PUFA/SFA than other feeding groups. Mean villi length in the proximal and middle portion of the Nile tilapia intestine was affected significantly (p<0.05) by diet. Fish fed Diet-T2 and Diet-T3 had significantly higher villi lengths in the proximal and middle portions of the intestine compared to other feeding groups. The inclusion of additives significantly improved goblet numbers at the proximal, middle, and distal portions of the intestine. Supplementation of additives had also improved some hematological parameters compared with control groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of additives MOS and ZnO-NPs could confer benefits on growth performance, fatty acid profiles, hematology, and intestinal morphology of Chamo strain Nile tilapia.

Keywords: chamo strain nile tilapia, fatty acid profile, hematology, intestinal morphology, MOS, ZnO-Bulk, ZnO-NPs

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Morteza Esfandiari, Shabnam Jabari, Heather MacGrath, David Coleman

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Flood is a severe issue in different places in the world as well as the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. The downtown area of Fredericton is close to the Saint John River, which is susceptible to flood around May every year. Recently, the frequency of flooding seems to be increased, especially after the fact that the downtown area and surrounding urban/agricultural lands got flooded in two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019. In order to have an explicit vision of flood span and damage to affected areas, it is necessary to use either flood inundation modelling or satellite data. Due to contingent availability and weather dependency of optical satellites, and limited existing data for the high cost of hydrodynamic models, it is not always feasible to rely on these sources of data to generate quality flood maps after or during the catastrophe. Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND), a state-of-the-art topo-hydrological index, normalizes the height of a basin based on the relative elevation along with the stream network and specifies the gravitational or the relative drainage potential of an area. HAND is a relative height difference between the stream network and each cell on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM). The stream layer is provided through a multi-step, time-consuming process which does not always result in an optimal representation of the river centerline depending on the topographic complexity of that region. HAND is used in numerous case studies with quite acceptable and sometimes unexpected results because of natural and human-made features on the surface of the earth. Some of these features might cause a disturbance in the generated model, and consequently, the model might not be able to predict the flow simulation accurately. We propose to include a previously existing stream layer generated by the province of New Brunswick and benefit from culvert maps to improve the water flow simulation and accordingly the accuracy of HAND model. By considering these parameters in our processing, we were able to increase the accuracy of the model from nearly 74% to almost 92%. The improved model can be used for generating highly accurate flood maps, which is necessary for future urban planning and flood damage estimation without any need for satellite imagery or hydrodynamic computations.

Keywords: HAND, DTM, rapid floodplain, simplified conceptual models

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Authors: John Yahng, Hansraj Riteesh Bookun

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Objective: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study evaluating the safety of discharge on the first postoperative day following carotid surgery - principally carotid endarterectomy. Methods: Between January 2010 to October 2017, 252 patients with mean age of 72 years, underwent carotid surgery by seven surgeons. Their medical records were consulted and their operative as well as complication timelines were databased. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse pooled responses and our indicator variables. The statistical package used was STATA 13. Results: There were 183 males (73%) and the comorbid burden was as follows: ischaemic heart disease (54%), diabetes (38%), hypertension (92%), stage 4 kidney impairment (5%) and current or ex-smoking (77%). The main indications were transient ischaemic attacks (42%), stroke (31%), asymptomatic carotid disease (16%) and amaurosis fugax (8%). 247 carotid endarterectomies (109 with patch arterioplasty, 88 with eversion and transection technique, 50 with endarterectomy only) were performed. 2 carotid bypasses, 1 embolectomy, 1 thrombectomy with patch arterioplasty and 1 excision of a carotid body tumour were also performed. 92% of the cases were performed under general anaesthesia. A shunt was used in 29% of cases. The mean length of stay was 5.1 ± 3.7days with the range of 2 to 22 days. No patient was discharged on day 1. The mean time from admission to surgery was 1.4 ± 2.8 days, ranging from 0 to 19 days. The mean time from surgery to discharge was 2.7 ± 2.0 days with the of range 0 to 14 days. 36 complications were encountered over this period, with 12 failed repairs (5 major strokes, 2 minor strokes, 3 transient ischaemic attacks, 1 cerebral bleed, 1 occluded graft), 11 bleeding episodes requiring a return to the operating theatre, 5 adverse cardiac events, 3 cranial nerve injuries, 2 respiratory complications, 2 wound complications and 1 acute kidney injury. There were no deaths. 17 complications occurred on postoperative day 0, 11 on postoperative day 1, 6 on postoperative day 2 and 2 on postoperative day 3. 78% of all complications happened before the second postoperative day. Out of the complications which occurred on the second or third postoperative day, 4 (1.6%) were bleeding episodes, 1 (0.4%) failed repair , 1 respiratory complication (0.4%) and 1 wound complication (0.4%). Conclusion: Although it has been common practice to discharge patients on the second postoperative day following carotid endarterectomy, we find here that discharge on the first operative day is safe. The overall complication rate is low and most complications are captured before the second postoperative day. We suggest that patients having an uneventful first 24 hours post surgery be discharged on the first day. This should reduce hospital length of stay and the health economic burden.

Keywords: carotid, complication, discharge, surgery

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Authors: Ana Paula S. A. Correa, Allan K. R. Galardo, Luana A. Lima, Talita F. Sobral, Josiane N. Muller, Jessica F. S. Barroso, Nercy V. R. Furtado, Ednaldo C. Rêgo., Jose B. P. Lima

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Malaria is a public health problem in the Brazilian Legal Amazon. Among the integrated approaches for anopheline control, the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) remains one of the main tools in the basic strategy applied in the Amazonian States, where the National Malaria Control Program currently uses one of the insecticides from the pyrethroid class, the Etofenprox WP. Understanding the residual efficacy of insecticides on different surfaces is essential to determine the spray cycles, in order to maintain a rational use and to avoid product waste. The aim of this study was to evaluate the residual efficacy of Etofenprox - VECTRON ® 20 WP on surfaces of Unplastered Cement (UC) and Unpainted Wood (UW) on panels, in field, and in semi-field evaluation of Brazil’s Amapa State. The evaluation criteria used was the cone bioassay test, following the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended method, using plastic cones and female mosquitos of Anopheles sp. The tests were carried out in laboratory panels, semi-field evaluation in a “test house” built in the Macapa municipality, and in the field in 20 houses, being ten houses per surface type (UC and UW), in an endemic malaria area in Mazagão’s municipality. The residual efficacy was measured from March to September 2017, starting one day after the spraying, repeated monthly for a period of six months. The UW surface presented higher residual efficacy than the UC. In fact, the UW presented a residual efficacy of the insecticide throughout the period of this study with a mortality rate above 80% in the panels (= 95%), in the "test house" (= 86%) and in field houses ( = 87%). On the UC surface it was observed a mortality decreased in all the tests performed, with a mortality rate of 45, 47 and 29% on panels, semi-field and in field, respectively; however, the residual efficacy ≥ 80% only occurred in the first evaluation after the 24-hour spraying bioassay in the "test house". Thus, only the UW surface meets the specifications of the World Health Organization Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES) regarding the duration of effective action (three to six months). To sum up, the insecticide residual efficacy presented variability on the different surfaces where it was sprayed. Although the IRS with Etofenprox WP was efficient on UW surfaces, and it can be used in spraying cycles at 4-month intervals, it is important to consider the diversity of houses in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, in order to implement alternatives for vector control, including the evaluation of new products or different formulations types for insecticides.

Keywords: Anopheles, vector control, insecticide, bioassay

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Authors: Seemabahen Dave, Maria Varua, Basant Maheshwari, Roger Packham

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The declining groundwater levels and quality are acknowledged to be affecting the well-being of farmers especially those located in the semi-arid regions where groundwater is the only source of water for domestic and agricultural use. Further, previous studies have identified the need to examine the quality of life of farmers beyond economic parameters and for a shift in setting rural development policy goals to the perspective of beneficiaries. To address these gaps, this paper attempts to ascertain the subjective wellbeing of farmers from two semi-arid regions of India. The study employs the integrated conceptual framework for the assessment of individual and regional subjective wellbeing developed by Larson in 2009 at Australia. The method integrates three domains i.e. society, natural environment and economic services consisting of 37 wellbeing factors. The original set of 27 revised wellbeing factors identified by John Ward is further revised in current study to make it more region specific. Generally, researchers in past studies select factors of wellbeing based on literature and assign the weights arbitrary. In contrast, the present methodology employs a unique approach by asking respondents to identify the factors most important to their wellbeing and assign weights of importance based on their responses. This method minimises the selection bias and assesses the wellbeing from farmers’ perspectives. The primary objectives of this study are to identify key wellbeing attributes and to assess the influence of groundwater on subjective wellbeing of farmers. Findings from 507 farmers from 11 villages of two watershed areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat, India chosen randomly and were surveyed using a structured face-to-face questionnaire are presented in this paper. The results indicate that significant differences exist in the ranking of wellbeing factors at individual, village and regional levels. The top five most important factors in the study areas include electricity, irrigation infrastructure, housing, land ownership, and income. However, respondents are also most dissatisfied with these factors and correspondingly perceive a high influence of groundwater on them. The results thus indicate that intervention related to improvement of groundwater availability and quality will greatly improve the satisfaction level of well-being factors identified by the farmers.

Keywords: groundwater, farmers, semi-arid regions, subjective wellbeing

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

Authors: Hanady Hamdallah, H. Elyse Ireland, John H. H. Williams

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Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a food supplement that is reported to have multiple beneficial health effects, including being anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity. Animal studies have shown a significant anti-obesity effect of CLA, but results in humans were inconsistent, where some of the studies found an anti-obesity effect while other studies failed to find any decline in obesity markers after CLA supplementation. This meta-analysis aimed to determine if oral CLA supplementation has been shown to reduce obesity related markers in women. Pub Med, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were used to identify the eligible trials using two main searching strategies: the first one was to search eligible trials using keywords 'Conjugated linoleic acid', 'CLA', 'Women', and the second strategy was to extract the eligible trials from previously published systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The eligible trials were placebo control trials where women supplemented with CLA mixture in the form of oral capsules for 6 months or less. Also, these trials provided information about body composition expressed as body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), total body fat (TBF), percentage body fat (BF %), and/ or lean body mass (LBM). The quality of each included study was assessed using both JADAD scale and an adapted CONSERT checklist. Meta-analysis of 8 eligible trials showed that CLA supplementation was significantly associated with reduced BW (Mean ± SD, 1.2 ± 0.26 kg, p < 0.001), BMI (0.6 ± 0.13kg/m², p < 0.001) and TBF (0.76 ± 0.26 kg, p= 0.003) in women, when supplemented over 6-16 weeks. Subgroup meta-analysis demonstrated a significant reduction in BW (1.29 ± 0.31 kg, p < 0.001), BMI (0.60 ± 0.14 kg/m², p < 0.001) and TBF (0.82 ± 0.28 kg, p= 0.003) in the trials that had recruited overweight-obese women. The second subgroup meta-analysis, that considered the menopausal status of the participants, found that CLA was significantly associated with reduced BW (1.35 ± 0.37 kg, p < 0.001; 1.05 ± 0.36 kg, p= 0.003) and BMI (0.50 ± 0.17 kg/m², p= 0.003; 0.75 ± 0.2 kg/m², p < 0.001) in both pre and post-menopausal age women, respectively. A reduction in TBF (1.09 ± 0.37 kg, p= 0.003) was only significant in post-menopausal women. Interestingly, CLA supplementation was associated with a significant reduction in BW (1.05 ± 0.35 kg, p< 0.003), BMI (0.73 ± 0.2 kg/m², p < 0.001) and TBF (1.07 ± 0.36 kg, p= 0.003) in the trials without lifestyle monitoring or interventions. No significant effect of CLA on LBM was detected in this meta-analysis. This meta-analysis suggests a moderate anti-obesity effect of CLA on BW, BMI and TBF reduction in women, when supplemented over 6-16 weeks, particularly in overweight-obese women and post-menopausal women. However, this finding requires careful interpretation due to several issues in the designs of available CLA supplementation trials. More well-designed trials are required to confirm this meta-analysis results.

Keywords: body composition, body mass index, body weight, conjugated linoleic acid

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Authors: Benson Tette, Thomas Mensah

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As a developing country, Ghana has a high potential to harness the economic value of every industry. Two of the industries that produce below capacity are handicrafts (for instance, carpentry) and information technology (i.e., computer science). To boost production and maintain competitiveness, the carpentry sector in Ghana needs more effective manufacturing procedures that are also more affordable. This issue can be resolved using computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology, which automates the fabrication process and decreases the amount of time and labor needed to make wood goods. Yet, the integration of CAM in carpentry-related production is rarely explored. To streamline the manufacturing process, this research investigates the equipment and technology that are currently used in the Ghanaian carpentry sector for automated fabrication. The research looks at the various CAM technologies, such as Computer Numerical Control routers, laser cutters, and plasma cutters, that are accessible to Ghanaian carpenters yet unexplored. We also investigate their potential to enhance the production process. To achieve the objective, 150 carpenters, 15 software engineers, and 10 policymakers were interviewed using structured questionnaires. The responses provided by the 175 respondents were processed to eliminate outliers and omissions were corrected using multiple imputations techniques. The processed responses were analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings showed that adaptation and integration of CAD software with CAM technologies would speed up the design-to-manufacturing process for carpenters. It must be noted that achieving such results entails first; examining the capabilities of current CAD software, then determining what new functions and resources are required to improve the software's suitability for carpentry tasks. Responses from both carpenters and computer scientists showed that it is highly practical and achievable to streamline the design-to-manufacturing process through processes such as modifying and combining CAD software with CAM technology. Making the carpentry-software integration program more useful for carpentry projects would necessitate investigating the capabilities of the current CAD software and identifying additional features in the Ghanaian ecosystem and tools that are required. In conclusion, the Ghanaian carpentry sector has a chance to increase productivity and competitiveness through the integration of CAM technology with CAD software. Carpentry companies may lower labor costs and boost production capacity by automating the fabrication process, giving them a competitive advantage. This study offers implementation-ready and representative recommendations for successful implementation as well as important insights into the equipment and technologies available for automated fabrication in the Ghanaian carpentry sector.

Keywords: carpentry, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), Ghana, information technology(IT)

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Thea Freese, Michael Gille, Andrew Hursthouse, John Struthers

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Ship operators on the North and Baltic Sea have been experiencing increased political interest in marine environmental protection and cleaner vessel operations. Stricter legislation on SO2 and NOx emissions, ballast water management and other measures of protection are currently being phased in or will come into force in the coming years. These measures benefit the health of the marine environment, while increasing company’s operational costs. In times of excess shipping capacity and linked consolidation in the industry non-compliance with environmental rules is one way companies might hope to stay competitive with both intra- and inter-modal trade. Around 5-15% of industry participants are believed to neglect laws on vessel-source pollution willingly or unwillingly. Exploratory in-depth interviews conducted with 12 experts from various stakeholder groups informed the researchers about variables influencing compliance levels, including awareness and apprehension, willingness to comply, ability to comply and effectiveness of controls. Semi-structured expert interviews were evaluated using qualitative content analysis. A model of determinants of compliance was developed and is presented here. While most vessel operators endeavour to achieve full compliance with environmental rules, a lack of availability of technical solutions, expediency of implementation and operation and economic feasibility might prove a hindrance. Ineffective control systems on the other hand foster willing non-compliance. With respect to motivations, lacking time, lacking financials and the absence of commercial advantages decrease compliance levels. These and other variables were inductively developed from qualitative data and integrated into a model on environmental compliance. The outcomes presented here form part of a wider research project on economic effects of maritime environmental legislation. Research on determinants of compliance might inform policy-makers about actual behavioural effects of shipping companies and might further the development of a comprehensive legal system for environmental protection.

Keywords: compliance, marine environmental protection, exploratory qualitative research study, clean vessel operations, North and Baltic Sea area

Procedia PDF Downloads 366

Authors: Nairy Kechichian

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The original Leclerc Bridge is a covered wooden bridge that is considered a Quebec heritage structure with an index of 60, making it a very important provincial bridge from a historical point of view. It was constructed in 1927 and is in the rural area of Abitibi-Temiscamingue. It is a “town Québécois” type of structure, which is generally rare but common for covered bridges in Abitibi-Temiscamingue. This type of structure is composed of two trusses on both sides formed with diagonals, internal bracings, uprights and top and bottom chords to allow the transmission of loads. This structure is mostly known for its solidity, lightweightness, and ease of construction. It is a single-span bridge with a length of 25.3 meters and allows the passage of one vehicle at a time with a 4.22-meter driving lane. The structure is composed of 2 trusses located at each end of the deck, two gabion foundations at both ends, uprights and top and bottom chords. WSP (Williams Sale Partnership) Canada inc. was mandated by the Transport Minister of Quebec in 2019 to increase the capacity of the bridge from 5 tons to 30.6 tons and rehabilitate it, as it has deteriorated quite significantly over the years. The bridge was damaged due to material deterioration over time, exposure to humidity, high load effects and insect infestation. To allow the passage of 3 axle trucks, as well as to keep the integrity of this heritage structure, the final design chosen to rehabilitate the bridge involved adding a new deck independent from the roof structure of the bridge. Essentially, new steel beams support the deck loads and the desired vehicle loads. The roof of the bridge is linked to the steel deck for lateral support, but it is isolated from the wooden deck. The roof is preserved for aesthetic reasons and remains intact as it is a heritage piece. Due to strict traffic management obstacles, an efficient construction method was put into place, which consisted of building a temporary bridge and moving the existing roof onto it to allow the circulation of vehicles on one side of the temporary bridge while providing a working space for the repairs of the roof on the other side to take place simultaneously. In parallel, this method allowed the demolition and reconstruction of the existing foundation, building a new steel deck, and transporting back the roof on the new bridge. One of the main criteria for the rehabilitation of the wooden bridge was to preserve, as much as possible, the existing patrimonial architectural design of the bridge. The project was completed successfully by the end of 2021.

Keywords: covered bridge, wood-steel, short span, town Québécois structure

Procedia PDF Downloads 44

Authors: Passkorn Khanthongthip, John T. Novak

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Many studies have been reported that the nZVI and MgO NPs were often found in waste activated sludge (WAS). However, little is known about the impact of those NPs on WAS stabilization. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of both NPs on WAS anaerobic digestion for methane production and to examine the change of metanogenic population under those different environments using qPCR. Four dosages (2, 50, 100, and 200 mg/g-TSS) of MgO NPs were added to four different bottles containing WAS to investigate the impact of MgO NPs on methane production during WAS anaerobic digestion. The effects of nZVI on methane production during WAS anaerobic digestion were also conducted in another four bottles using the same methods described above except that the MgO NPs were replaced by nZVI. A bottle of WAS anaerobic digestion without nanoparticles addition was also operated to serve as a control. It was found that the relative amounts, compared to the control system, of methane production in each WAS anaerobic digestion bottle adding 2, 50, 100, 200 mg/gTSS MgO NPs were 98, 62, 28, and 14 %, respectively. This suggests that higher MgO NPs resulted in lower methane production. The data of batch test for the effects of corresponding released Mg2+ indicated that 50 mg/gTSS MgO NPs or higher could inhibit methane production at least 25%. Moreover, the volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration was 328, 384, 928, 3,684, and 7,848 mg/L for the control and four WAS anaerobic digestion bottles with 2, 50, 100, 200 mg/gTSS MgO NPs addition, respectively. Higher VFA concentration could reduce pH and subsequently decrease methanogen growth, resulting in lower methane production. The relative numbers of total gene copies of methanogens analyzed from samples taken from WAS anaerobic digestion bottles were approximately 99, 68, 38, and 24 % of control for the addition of 2, 50, 100, and 200 mg/gTSS, respectively. Obviously, the more MgO NPs appeared in sludge anaerobic digestion system, the less methanogens remained. In contrast, the relative amount of methane production found in another four WAS anaerobic digestion bottles adding 2, 50, 100, and 200 mg/gTSS nZVI were 102, 128, 112, and 104 % of the control, respectively. The measurement of methanogenic population indicated that the relative content of methanogen gene copies were 101, 132, 120, and 112 % of those found in control, respectively. Additionally, the cumulative VFA was 320, 234, 308, and 330 mg/L, respectively. This reveals that nZVI addition could assist to increase methanogenic population. Higher amount of methanogen accelerated VFA degradation for greater methane production, resulting in lower VFA accumulation in digesters. Moreover, the data for effects of corresponding released Fe2+ conducted by batch tests suggest that the addition of approximately 50 mg/gTSS nZVI increased methane production by 20%. In conclusion, the presence of MgO NPs appeared to diminish the methane production during WAS anaerobic digestion. Higher MgO NPs dosages resulted in more inhibition on methane production. In contrast, nZVI addition promoted the amount of methanogenic population which facilitated methane production.

Keywords: magnesium oxide nanoparticles, methane production, methanogenic population, nano zerovalent iron

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Fangliang Chen, Yihe Huang, Tejav Deganyar, Anselm Boehm, Hamid Batoul

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With growing population density and further urbanization, the average noise level in cities is increasing. Excessive noise is not only annoying but also leads to a negative impact on human health. To deal with the increasing city noise, environmental regulations bring up higher standards on acoustic comfort in buildings by mitigating the noise transmission from building envelope exterior to interior. Framed window, door and façade systems are the leading choice for modern fenestration construction, which provides demonstrated quality of weathering reliability, environmental efficiency, and installation ease. The overall sound insulation of such systems depends both on glasses and frames, where glass usually covers the majority of the exposed surfaces, thus it is the main source of sound energy transmission. While frames in modern façade systems become slimmer for aesthetic appearance, which contribute to a minimal percentage of exposed surfaces. Nevertheless, frames might provide substantial transmission paths for sound travels through because of much less mass crossing the path, thus becoming more critical in limiting the acoustic performance of the whole system. There are various methodologies and numerical programs that can accurately predict the acoustic performance of either glasses or frames. However, due to the vast variance of size and dimension between frame and glass in the same system, there is no satisfactory theoretical approach or affordable simulation tool in current practice to access the over acoustic performance of a whole façade system. For this reason, laboratory test turns out to be the only reliable source. However, laboratory test is very time consuming and high costly, moreover different lab might provide slightly different test results because of varieties of test chambers, sample mounting, and test operations, which significantly constrains the early phase design of framed façade systems. To address this dilemma, this study provides an effective analytical methodology to predict the acoustic performance of framed façade systems, based on vast amount of acoustic test results on glass, frame and the whole façade system consist of both. Further test results validate the current model is able to accurately predict the overall sound transmission loss of a framed system as long as the acoustic behavior of the frame is available. Though the presented methodology is mainly developed from façade systems with aluminum frames, it can be easily extended to systems with frames of other materials such as steel, PVC or wood.

Keywords: city noise, building facades, sound mitigation, sound transmission loss, framed façade system

Procedia PDF Downloads 35

Authors: Nicholas S. Norbert Jr., John E. Bischoff, Christopher J. Willy

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Knowledge Management (KM) is globally recognized as a crucial element in securing competitive advantage through building and maintaining organizational memory, codifying and protecting intellectual capital and business intelligence, and providing mechanisms for collaboration and innovation. KM frameworks and approaches have been developed and defined identifying critical success factors for conducting KM within numerous industries ranging from scientific to business, and for ranges of organization scales from small groups to large enterprises. However, engineering and technical teams operating within restricted environments are subject to unique barriers and KM challenges which cannot be directly treated using the approaches and tools prescribed for other industries. This research identifies barriers in conducting KM within Hardware Development Engineering (HDE) teams and statistically compares significance to barriers upholding the four KM pillars of organization, technology, leadership, and learning for HDE teams. HDE teams suffer from restrictions in knowledge sharing (KS) due to classification of information (national security risks), customer proprietary restrictions (non-disclosure agreement execution for designs), types of knowledge, complexity of knowledge to be shared, and knowledge seeker expertise. As KM evolved leveraging information technology (IT) and web-based tools and approaches from Web 1.0 to Enterprise 2.0, KM may also seek to leverage emergent tools and analytics including expert locators and hybrid recommender systems to enable KS across barriers of the technical teams. The research will test hypothesis statistically evaluating if KM barriers for HDE teams affect the general set of expected benefits of a KM System identified through previous research. If correlations may be identified, then generalizations of success factors and approaches may also be garnered for HDE teams. Expert elicitation will be conducted using a questionnaire hosted on the internet and delivered to a panel of experts including engineering managers, principal and lead engineers, senior systems engineers, and knowledge management experts. The feedback to the questionnaire will be processed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify and rank statistically significant barriers of HDE teams within the four KM pillars. Subsequently, KM approaches will be recommended for upholding the KM pillars within restricted environments of HDE teams.

Keywords: engineering management, knowledge barriers, knowledge management, knowledge sharing

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Authors: Susan Mwai, Mary Muchane, Peter Wachira, Sheila Okoth, Muchai Muchane, Halima Saado

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Tropical forests harbor a wide range of biodiversity and rich macro-fungi diversity compared to the temperate regions in the World. However, biodiversity is facing the threat of extinction following the rate of forest loss taking place before proper study and documentation of macrofungi is achieved. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of converting indigenous habitat to plantation forest on macrofungi diversity. To achieve the objective of this study, an inventory focusing on macro-fungi diversity was conducted within Kereita block in Kikuyu Escarpment forest which is on the southern side of Aberdare mountain range. The macrofungi diversity was conducted in the indigenous forest and in more than 15 year old Patula plantation forest , during the wet (long rain season, December 2014) and dry (Short rain season, May, 2015). In each forest type, 15 permanent (20m x 20m) sampling plots distributed across three (3) forest blocks were used. Both field and laboratory methods involved recording abundance of fruiting bodies, taxonomic identity of species and analysis of diversity indices and measures in terms of species richness, density and diversity. R statistical program was used to analyze for species diversity and Canoco 4.5 software for species composition. A total number of 76 genera in 28 families and 224 species were encountered in both forest types. The most represented taxa belonged to the Agaricaceae (16%), Polyporaceae (12%), Marasmiaceae, Mycenaceae (7%) families respectively. Most of the recorded macro-fungi were saprophytic, mostly colonizing the litter 38% and wood 34% based substrates, which was followed by soil organic dwelling species (17%). Ecto-mycorrhiza fungi (5%) and parasitic fungi (2%) were the least encountered. The data established that indigenous forests (native ecosystems) hosts a wide range of macrofungi assemblage in terms of density (2.6 individual fruit bodies / m2), species richness (8.3 species / plot) and species diversity (1.49/ plot level) compared to the plantation forest. The Conversion of native forest to plantation forest also interfered with species composition though did not alter species diversity. Seasonality was also shown to significantly affect the diversity of macro-fungi and 61% of the total species being present during the wet season. Based on the present findings, forested ecosystems in Kenya hold diverse macro-fungi community which warrants conservation measures.

Keywords: diversity, Indigenous forest, macro-fungi, plantation forest, season

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Authors: Jeffrey A. Amelse

Abstract:

Many corporations aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Carbon Dioxide by 2035-2050. This paper examines what it will take to achieve those goals. Achieving Net Zero CO₂ requires an understanding of where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO₂ generation, and proper understanding of the Carbon Cycle. The latter leads to the distinction between CO₂ and biomass carbon sequestration. Short reviews are provided for prior technologies proposed for reducing CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels or substitution by renewable energy, to focus on their limitations and to show that none offer a complete solution. Of these, CO₂ sequestration is poised to have the largest impact. It will just cost money, scale-up is a huge challenge, and it will not be a complete solution. CO₂ sequestration is still in the demonstration and semi-commercial scale. Transportation accounts for only about 30% of total U.S. energy demand, and renewables account for only a small fraction of that sector. Yet, bioethanol production consumes 40% of U.S. corn crop, and biodiesel consumes 30% of U.S. soybeans. It is unrealistic to believe that biofuels can completely displace fossil fuels in the transportation market. Bioethanol is traced through its Carbon Cycle and shown to be both energy inefficient and inefficient use of biomass carbon. Both biofuels and CO₂ sequestration reduce future CO₂ emissions from continued use of fossil fuels. They will not remove CO₂ already in the atmosphere. Planting more trees has been proposed as a way to reduce atmospheric CO₂. Trees are a temporary solution. When they complete their Carbon Cycle, they die and release their carbon as CO₂ to the atmosphere. Thus, planting more trees is just 'kicking the can down the road.' The only way to permanently remove CO₂ already in the atmosphere is to break the Carbon Cycle by growing biomass from atmospheric CO₂ and sequestering biomass carbon. Sequestering tree leaves is proposed as a solution. Unlike wood, leaves have a short Carbon Cycle time constant. They renew and decompose every year. Allometric equations from the USDA indicate that theoretically, sequestrating only a fraction of the world’s tree leaves can get the world to Net Zero CO₂ without disturbing the underlying forests. How can tree leaves be permanently sequestered? It may be as simple as rethinking how landfills are designed to discourage instead of encouraging decomposition. In traditional landfills, municipal waste undergoes rapid initial aerobic decomposition to CO₂, followed by slow anaerobic decomposition to methane and CO₂. The latter can take hundreds to thousands of years. The first step in anaerobic decomposition is hydrolysis of cellulose to release sugars, which those who have worked on cellulosic ethanol know is challenging for a number of reasons. The key to permanent leaf sequestration may be keeping the landfills dry and exploiting known inhibitors for anaerobic bacteria.

Keywords: carbon dioxide, net zero, sequestration, biomass, leaves

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