Search results for: chemical systems engineering

Authors: Ada Garus

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This paper presents the outcomes of the sustainability assessment of food delivery with a last-mile delivery service introduced in a real-world case study. The methodology used in the sustainability assessment integrates multi-criteria decision-making analysis, sustainability pillars, and scenario analysis to best reflect the conflicting needs of stakeholders involved in the last mile delivery system. The case study provides an application of the framework to the food delivery system of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission where three alternative solutions were analyzed I) the existent state in which individuals frequent the local cantine or pick up their food, using their preferred mode of transport II) the hypothetical scenario in which individuals can only order their food using the delivery droid system III) a scenario in which the food delivery droid based system is introduced as a supplement to the current system. The environmental indices are calculated using a simulation study in which decision regarding the food delivery is predicted using a multinomial logit model. The vehicle dynamics model is used to predict the fuel consumption of the regular combustion engines vehicles used by the cantine goers and the electricity consumption of the droid. The sustainability assessment allows for the evaluation of the economic, environmental, and social aspects of food delivery, making it an apt input for policymakers. Moreover, the assessment is one of the first studies to investigate automated delivery droids, which could become a frequent addition to the urban landscape in the near future.

Keywords: innovations in transportation technologies, behavioural change and mobility, urban freight logistics, innovative transportation systems

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Authors: Andrew Gennett

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Designing for fungal development means embracing the symbiotic relationship between the living system and built environment. The potential of mycelium post-colonization is explored for the fabrication of advanced pure mycelium products, going beyond the conventional methods of aggregating materials. Fruiting induction imparts desired material properties such as enhanced environmental resistance. Production approach allows for simultaneous generation of multiple products while scaling up raw materials supply suitable for architectural applications. The following work explores the integration of fungal environmental perception with computational design of built fruiting chambers. Polyporales, are classified by their porous reproductive tissues supported by a wood-like context tissue covered by a hard waterproofing coat of hydrobpobins. Persisting for years in the wild, these species represent material properties that would be highly desired in moving beyond flat sheets of arial mycelium as with leather or bacon applications. Understanding the inherent environmental perception of fungi has become the basis for working with and inducing desired hyphal differentiation. Working within the native signal interpretation of a mycelium mass during fruiting induction provides the means to apply textures and color to the final finishing coat. A delicate interplay between meeting human-centered goals while designing around natural processes of living systems represents a blend of art and science. Architecturally, physical simulations inform model design for simple modular fruiting chambers that change as fungal growth progresses, while biological life science principles describe the internal computations occurring within the fungal hyphae. First, a form filling phase of growth is controlled by growth chamber environment. Second, an initiation phase of growth forms the final exterior finishing texture. Hyphal densification induces cellular cascades, in turn producing the classical hardened cuticle, UV protective molecule production, as well, as waterproofing finish. Upon fruiting process completion, the fully colonized spent substrate holds considerable value and is not considered waste. Instead, it becomes a valuable resource in the next cycle of production scale-up. However, the acquisition of new substrate resources poses a critical question, particularly as these resources become increasingly scarce. Pursuing a regenerative design paradigm from the environmental perspective, the usage of “agricultural waste” for architectural materials would prove a continuation of the destructive practices established by the previous industrial regime. For these residues from fields and forests serve a vital ecological role protecting the soil surface in combating erosion while reducing evaporation and fostering a biologically diverse food web. Instead, urban centers have been identified as abundant sources of new substrate material. Diverting the waste from secondary locations such as food processing centers, papers mills, and recycling facilities not only reduces landfill burden but leverages the latent value of these waste steams as precious resources for mycelium cultivation. In conclusion, working with living systems through innovative built environments for fungal development, provides the needed gain of function and resilience of mycelium products. The next generation of sustainable fungal products will go beyond the current binding process, with a focus upon reducing landfill burden from urban centers. In final considerations, biophilic material builds to an ecologically regenerative recycling production cycle.

Keywords: regenerative agriculture, mycelium fabrication, growth chamber design, sustainable resource acquisition, fungal morphogenesis, soil fertility

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Authors: Adel. M. Sharaf, Foad H. Gandoman

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Nowadays, Photovoltaic-PV Farms/ Parks and large PV-Smart Grid Interface Schemes are emerging and commonly utilized in Renewable Energy distributed generation. However, PV-hybrid-Dc-Ac Schemes using interface power electronic converters usually has negative impact on power quality and stabilization of modern electrical network under load excursions and network fault conditions in smart grid. Consequently, robust FACTS based interface schemes are required to ensure efficient energy utilization and stabilization of bus voltages as well as limiting switching/fault onrush current condition. FACTS devices are also used in smart grid-Battery Interface and Storage Schemes with PV-Battery Storage hybrid systems as an elegant alternative to renewable energy utilization with backup battery storage for electric utility energy and demand side management to provide needed energy and power capacity under heavy load conditions. The paper presents a robust interface PV-Li-Ion Battery Storage Interface Scheme for Distribution/Utilization Low Voltage Interface using FACTS stabilization enhancement and dynamic maximum PV power tracking controllers. Digital simulation and validation of the proposed scheme is done using MATLAB/Simulink software environment for Low Voltage- Distribution/Utilization system feeding a hybrid Linear-Motorized inrush and nonlinear type loads from a DC-AC Interface VSC-6-pulse Inverter Fed from the PV Park/Farm with a back-up Li-Ion Storage Battery.

Keywords: AC FACTS, smart grid, stabilization, PV-battery storage, Switched Filter-Compensation (SFC)

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Authors: Naima Umar

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Mid-1960’s has been landmark in the history of Indian agriculture. It was in 1966-67 when a New Agricultural Strategy was put into practice to tide over chronic shortages of food grains in the country. This strategy adopted was the use High-Yielding Varieties (HYV) of seeds (wheat and rice), which was popularly known as the Green Revolution. This phase of agricultural development has saved us from hunger and starvation and made the peasants more confident than ever before, but it has also created a number of socio-economic and environmental implications such as the reduction in area under forest, salinization, waterlogging, soil erosion, lowering of underground water table, soil, water and air pollution, decline in soil fertility, silting of rivers and emergence of several diseases and health hazards. The state of Uttar Pradesh in the north is bounded by the country of Nepal, the states of Uttrakhand on the northwest, Haryana on the west, Rajasthan on the southwest, Madhya Pradesh on the south and southwest, and Bihar on the east. It is situated between 23052´N and 31028´N latitudes and 7703´ and 84039´E longitudes. It is the fifth largest state of the country in terms of area, and first in terms of population. Forming the part of Ganga plain the state is crossed by a number of rivers which originate from the snowy peaks of Himalayas. The fertile plain of the Ganga has led to a high concentration of population with high density and the dominance of agriculture as an economic activity. Present paper highlights the negative impact of new agricultural technology on health of the people and environment and will attempt to find out factors which are responsible for these implications. Karl Pearson’s Correlation coefficient technique has been applied by selecting 1 dependent variable (i.e. Productivity Index) and some independent variables which may impact crop productivity in the districts of the state. These variables have categorized as: X1 (Cropping Intensity), X2 (Net irrigated area), X3 (Canal Irrigated area), X4 (Tube-well Irrigated area), X5 (Irrigated area by other sources), X6 (Consumption of chemical fertilizers (NPK) Kg. /ha.), X7 (Number of wooden plough), X8 (Number of iron plough), X9 (Number of harrows and cultivators), X10 (Number of thresher machines), X11(Number of sprayers), X12 (Number of sowing instruments), X13 (Number of tractors) and X14 (Consumption of insecticides and pesticides (in Kg. /000 ha.). The entire data during 2001-2005 and 2006- 2010 have been taken and 5 years average value is taken into consideration, based on secondary sources obtained from various government, organizations, master plan report, economic abstracts, district census handbooks and village and town directories etc,. put on a standard computer programmed SPSS and the results obtained have been properly tabulated.

Keywords: agricultural technology, environmental implications, health hazards, socio-economic problems

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Authors: Rodrigo A. Schiller, Rubens C. Da Silva, Kazuo Nishimoto, Claudio M. P. Sampaio

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The need to reduce fossil fuels consumption due to the current scenario of trying to restrain global warming effects and reduce air pollution is dictating a series of transformations in shipping. This study introduces, at first, the changes of the regulatory framework concerning gas emissions control and fuel consumption efficiency on merchant ships. Secondly, the main operational procedures with high potential reduction of fuel consumption are discussed, with focus on existing vessels, using ship speed reduction procedure. This procedure shows the positive impacts on both operating costs reduction and also on energy efficiency increase if correctly applied. Finally, a numerical analysis of the fuel consumption variation with the speed was carried out for a Suezmax class oil tanker, which has been adapted to oil offloading operations for FPSOs in Brazilian offshore oil production systems. In this analysis, the discussions about the variations of vessel energy efficiency from small speed rate reductions and the possible applications of this improvement, taking into account the typical operating profile of the vessel in such a way to have significant economic impacts on the operation. This analysis also evaluated the application of two different numerical methods: one based only on regression equations produced by existing data, semi-empirical method, and another using a CFD simulations for estimating the hull shape parameters that are most relevant for determining fuel consumption, analyzing inaccuracies and impact on the final results.

Keywords: energy efficiency, offloading operations, speed reduction, Suezmax oil tanker

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Authors: Dušan Bojović, Wei Huang, Zdravko Stojanović, Jovan Ilić

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In an era of ever-growing electricity generation from renewable energy sources, namely wind and solar, a need for reliable energy storage and intensive balancing of the electric power system gains significance. For decades, pump storage hydroelectric power plants have proven to be an important asset regarding the storage of generated electricity. However, with the increasing overall share of wind and solar in electric systems at large, the importance of electric grid stability keeps growing. A large pump storage project, the Bistrica Pump Storage Plant (PSP), is currently under development in Serbia. The Bistrica PSP will be designed as a 600+ MW power plant, which is envisaged as a significant contributor to the Serbian power grid stability as more and more renewable energy sources are implemented over time. PSP Bistrica is seen as a strategically important project on the green agenda path of the Electric Power Industry of Serbia as a necessary pre-condition for the safe implementation of other renewable energy sources. The importance of such a plant would also play an important role in reducing the electricity production from coal, i.e., thermoelectric power plants. During the project’s development, various techniques and technologies are evaluated for the purpose of determining the optimum (the most profitable) solution. Over the course of this paper, these technologies – such as frequency-regulated pump turbines and ternary sets will be presented, with a detailed explanation of their possible application within the Bistrica PSP project and their relative advantages/disadvantages in this particular case.

Keywords: hydraulic turbines, pumped storage, renewable energy, competing technologies

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Authors: Tim Steinhaus, Christian Beidl

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Urban air quality and climate protection are two major challenges for future mobility systems. Despite the steady reduction of pollutant emissions from vehicles over past decades, local immission load within cities partially still reaches heights, which are considered hazardous to human health. Although traffic-related emissions account for a major part of the overall urban pollution, modeling the exact interaction remains challenging. In this paper, a novel approach for the determination of the emission-immission interaction on the basis of neural network modeling for traffic induced NO2-immission load within a near-traffic hot-spot scenario is presented. In a detailed sensitivity analysis, the significance of relevant influencing variables on the prevailing NO2 concentration is initially analyzed. Based on this, the generation process of the model is described, in which not only environmental influences but also the vehicle fleet composition including its associated segment- and certification-specific real driving emission factors are derived and used as input quantities. The validity of this approach, which has been presented in the past, is re-examined in this paper using updated data on vehicle emissions and recent immission measurement data. Within the framework of a final scenario analysis, the future development of the immission load is forecast for different developments in the vehicle fleet composition. It is shown that immission levels of less than half of today’s yearly average limit values are technically feasible in hot-spot situations.

Keywords: air quality, emission, emission-immission-interaction, immission, NO2, zero impact

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Authors: Farhat Jabeen, Muhammad Asad

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The study assessed the curative potential of Moringa olifera seeds against copper oxide nanoparticles induced toxicity in Oreochromis mossambicus. In order to investigate the curative potential of M. olifera seeds, firstly we examine its chemical composition, secondary metabolites, and bioactive compounds including hydroxyl-cinnamic acids, flavanols and hydroxybenzoic acids through standard methods and high performance liquid chromatography. In current study, the potential sub-lethal toxic dose of CuO-NPs (0.12 mg/l) was investigated through pilot experiment and three non-lethal doses (low=32, medium=48 and high=96 mg/l) of M. olifera were selected on the basis of its LC50 value for O. mossambicus. The experimental fish, O. mossambicus (n=100 of approximately 20 g each) were procured from Manawan Fisheries Complex, Lahore, and acclimatized for two weeks in glass aquaria. Experiment was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. During acclimatization and experimental period, fish received the commercial fish feed at 2.5% body weight daily. In order to assess the curative effect of M. olifera against CuO NPs induced toxicity, O. mossambicus were randomly divided into five groups and were designated as control (C) without any treatment, positive control (G*) exposed to potential toxic dose of CuO-NPs at 0.12 mg/l, and three treated groups namely G1, G2, and G3 co-treated with 0.12 mg/l of CuO-NPs plus different doses of M. olifera seed extract at 32, 48, and 96 mg/l, respectively for 56 days. Fish were exposed to waterborne CuO NPs and M. olifera seed extract. CuO-NPs treatment was ceased after 28 days but the doses of M. olifera were continued for 56 days. Blood was taken after 28 and 56 days through caudal venipuncture. Liver and intestine were taken for oxidative stress and histological studies after 56 days. In M. olifera seeds, moisture contents, crude protein, lipids, carbohydrates and ash were recorded as 3.8, 37.83, 32.52, 46.12, and 7.75%, respectively on dry weight basis. Total energy was recorded as 627.36 kcal/100g. Qualitative analysis of M. olifera seeds showed the presence of terpenoids, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and phenolics, while its quantitative analysis showed the considerable amount of total phenolics, flavonoids, saponins, and alkaloids as 134.75, 170.15, 1.57, and 0.4 µg/mg, respectively. Analysis of bioactive compounds in M. olifera seeds showed the presence of hydroxy-cinnamic acids (6.07 µg/ml), flavanols (71.72 µg/ml), and hydroxyl benzoic acids (97.82 µg/ml). The results showed that M. oliefera seed extract at 48 and 56 mg/l was able to cure against the toxic effects of CuO-NPs. The significant changes were observed in G* and G1 for sero-hepatic enzymes, anti-oxidants and histological profile. The investigations of this study showed that M. olifera is a good curative agent against potential induced toxicity of CuO-NPs in O. mossambicus. The curative effect of M. olifera is attributed to the presence of higher amount of secondary metabolites and bioactive compounds. This study suggested the use of M. olifera to curate different ailments in fish and other organisms.

Keywords: CuO nanoparticles, curative, Moringa olifera, Oreochromis mossambicus

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Authors: Maria De Cillis

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This paper addresses the subject of love in two of the most prominent Islamic philosophers: Ibn Sīnā (known in the Latin World as Avicenna d. 1037) Avicenna and al-Kirmānī (DC 1021). By surveying the connection that the concept of love entertains with the notions of divine providence and determinism in the luminaries’ theoretical systems, the present paper highlights differences and similarities in their respective approaches to the subjects. Through a thorough analysis of primary and secondary literature, it will be shown that Avicenna’s thought, which is mainly informed by the Aristotelian and Farābīan metaphysical and cosmological stances, is also integrated with mystical underpinnings. Particularly, in Avicenna’s Risāla fī’l-ʿishq love becomes the expression of the divine providence which operates through the intellectual striving the souls undertake in their desire to return to their First Cause. Love is also portrayed as an instrument helping the divine decree to remain unadulterated by way of keeping existing beings within their species and genera as well as an instrument which is employed by God to know and be known. This paper also discusses that if on the one hand, al-Kirmānī speaks of love as the Aristotelian and Farābian motive-force spurring existents to achieve perfection and as a tool which facilitates the status quo of divine creation, on the other hand, he remains steadily positioned within Ismā‘īlī and Neoplatonic paradigms: the return of all loving-beings to their Source is interrupted at the level of the first Intellect, whilst God remains inaccessible and ineffable. By investigating his opus magnum, the Rāḥat al-ʿaql, we shall highlight how al-Kirmānī also emphasizes the notion of divine providence which allows humans to attain their ultimate completeness by following the teachings of the Imams, repositories of the knowledge necessary to serve the unreachable deity.

Keywords: Avicenna, determinism, love, al-Kirmani, Ismaili philosophy

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Authors: Wendy Flory, Kazi Czarnecki, Matthijs Mercy, Mark Joswiak, Mary Beth Seasholtz

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Polyurethane Materials are present in a wide range of industrial segments such as Furniture, Building and Construction, Composites, Automotive, Electronics, and more. Dow is one of the leaders for the manufacture of the two main raw materials, Isocyanates and Polyols used to produce polyurethane products. Dow is also a key player for the manufacture of Polyurethane Systems/Formulations designed for targeted applications. In 1990, the first analytical chemometric models were developed and deployed for use in the Dow QC labs of the polyols business for the quantification of OH, water, cloud point, and viscosity. Over the years many models have been added; there are now over 140 models for quantification and hundreds for product identification, too many to be reasonable for support. There are 29 global models alone for the quantification of OH across > 70 products at many sites. An attempt was made to consolidate these into a single model. While the consolidated model proved good statistics across the entire range of OH, several products had a bias by ASTM E1655 with individual product validation. This project summary will show the strategy for global model updates for OH, to reduce the number of models for quantification from over 140 to 5 or less using chemometric methods. In order to gain an understanding of the best product groupings, we identify clusters by reducing spectra to a few dimensions via Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP). Results from these cluster analyses and a separate validation set allowed dow to reduce the number of models for predicting OH from 29 to 3 without loss of accuracy.

Keywords: hydroxyl, global model, model maintenance, near infrared, polyol

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Authors: Kerryn Krige, Kerrin Myers

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Social entrepreneurship offers the opportunity to simultaneously address both social and economic inequality in South Africa. Its appeal across racial groups, its attractiveness to young people, its applicability in rural and peri-urban markets, and its acceleration in middle income, large-business economies suits the South African context. However, the potential to deliver much-needed developmental benefits has not been realised because the social entrepreneurship debate lacks evidence as to who social entrepreneurs are, their goals and operations and the socio-economic results they achieve. As a result, policy development has been stunted, and legislative barriers and red tape remain. Social entrepreneurs are isolated from the mainstream economy, and struggle to access funding because of limitations in legislative and organisational structures. The objective of the study is to strengthen the ecosystem for social entrepreneurship in South Africa by producing robust, policy-rich information from and about social enterprises currently in operation across the country. The study employs a quantitative survey methodology, using online and telephonic data collection methods. A purposive sample of 1000 social enterprises was included in the first large-scale study of social entrepreneurship in South Africa. The results offer deep insight into the characteristics of social enterprises; the activities they undertake and the markets they serve; their modes of operation and funding sources as well as key challenges and support systems. The results contribute towards developing a model of social enterprise in the African context.

Keywords: social enterprise, key characteristics, challenges and enablers, towards an African model

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Authors: Diana Mitova, Krassimir Mitrev

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To prepare the current generation for the future, education systems need to change. It implies a way of learning that meets the demands of the times and the environment in which we live. Productive interaction in the educational process implies an interactive learning environment and the possibility of personal development of learners based on communication and mutual dialogue, cooperation and good partnership in decision-making. Students need not only theoretical knowledge, but transferable skills that will help them to become inventors and entrepreneurs, to implement ideas. STEM education , is now a real necessity for the modern school. Through learning in a "learning company", students master examples from classroom practice, simulate real life situations, group activities and apply basic interactive learning strategies and techniques. The learning company is the subject of this study, reduced to entrepreneurship training in STEM - technologies that encourage students to think outside the traditional box. STEM learning focuses the teacher's efforts on modeling entrepreneurial thinking and behavior in students and helping them solve problems in the world of business and entrepreneurship. Learning based on the implementation of various STEM projects in extracurricular activities, experiential learning, and an interdisciplinary approach are means by which educators better connect the local community and private businesses. Learners learn to be creative, experiment and take risks and work in teams - the leading characteristics of any innovator and future entrepreneur. This article presents some European policies on STEM and entrepreneurship education. It also shares best practices for training company training , with the integration of STEM in the learning company training environment. The main results boil down to identifying some advantages and problems in STEM entrepreneurship education. The benefits of using integrative approaches to teach STEM within a training company are identified, as well as the positive effects of project-based learning in a training company using STEM. Best practices for teaching entrepreneurship through extracurricular activities using STEM within a training company are shared. The following research methods are applied in this research paper: Theoretical and comparative analysis of principles and policies of European Union countries and Bulgaria in the field of entrepreneurship education through a training company. Experiences in entrepreneurship education through extracurricular activities with STEM application within a training company are shared. A questionnaire survey to investigate the motivation of secondary vocational school students to learn entrepreneurship through a training company and their readiness to start their own business after completing their education. Within the framework of learning through a "learning company" with the integration of STEM, the activity of the teacher-facilitator includes the methods: counseling, supervising and advising students during work. The expectation is that students acquire the key competence "initiative and entrepreneurship" and that the cooperation between the vocational education system and the business in Bulgaria is more effective.

Keywords: STEM, entrepreneurship, training company, extracurricular activities

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Authors: Shreya Mishra, Manosi Chaudhuri, Ajoy K. Dey

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Workplace bullying is a social phenomenon which has proved to be hazardous not only for employees’ well-being but also organizations. Despite being prevalent across geographical boundaries, Indian organizations have failed to acknowledge its vices. This paper aims to understand targets’ perception on what makes bullying nurture in organizations. The paper suggests that person-led Indian work settings give birth to bullying behavior as it lacks professional acumen and systems. An analysis of 13 in-depth interviews of employees from the organized sector suggests that organizations, where decision making lies with single individual, may be a hub of hostile behavior due to the culture which promotes ‘yesmanship’, ‘authoritarianism’ and/or blind belief of leaders on certain set of employees. The study used constructivist grounded theory approach, and the data was analyzed using R Based Qualitative Data Analysis (RQDA) software. Respondents reported that bullying behavior is taken lightly by the management with 'just ignore it' attitude. According to the respondents, the behavior prolong as the perpetrator have a direct approach to the top authority. The study concludes that person-led organizations may create a family-like environment which is favored by employees; however, authoritative leaders are unable to gain the trust of employees. Also, employees who are close to the leader may either be a perpetrator or a target of bullying. It is recommended that leaders in such organizations need to acknowledge the presence of bullying which affects an employees’ commitment towards their job and/or organization. They need to have an assertive check on individuals who hide behind ‘yesman’ attitude. This may help employees feel safe in such work settings.

Keywords: constructivist grounded theory, person-led organization, RQDA, workplace bullying

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Authors: Zeradam Yeshiwas, A. Krishnaia

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The aim of this study is to verify the resulting surface roughness of parts formed by the Single-Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) process for an ISO 3574 Drawing Quality Cold Rolled CR2 Steel. The chemical composition of drawing quality Cold Rolled CR2 steel is comprised of 0.12 percent of carbon, 0.5 percent of manganese, 0.035 percent of sulfur, 0.04 percent phosphorous, and the remaining percentage is iron with negligible impurities. The experiments were performed on a 3-axis vertical CNC milling machining center equipped with a tool setup comprising a fixture and forming tools specifically designed and fabricated for the process. The CNC milling machine was used to transfer the tool path code generated in Mastercam 2017 environment into three-dimensional motions by the linear incremental progress of the spindle. The blanks of Drawing Quality Cold Rolled CR2 steel sheets of 1 mm of thickness have been fixed along their periphery by a fixture and hardened high-speed steel (HSS) tools with a hemispherical tip of 8, 10 and 12mm of diameter were employed to fabricate sample parts. To investigate the surface roughness, hyperbolic-cone shape specimens were fabricated based on the chosen experimental design. The effect of process parameters on the surface roughness was studied using three important process parameters, i.e., tool diameter, feed rate, and step depth. In this study, the Taylor-Hobson Surtronic 3+ surface roughness tester profilometer was used to determine the surface roughness of the parts fabricated using the arithmetic mean deviation (Rₐ). In this instrument, a small tip is dragged across a surface while its deflection is recorded. Finally, the optimum process parameters and the main factor affecting surface roughness were found using the Taguchi design of the experiment and ANOVA. A Taguchi experiment design with three factors and three levels for each factor, the standard orthogonal array L9 (3³) was selected for the study using the array selection table. The lowest value of surface roughness is significant for surface roughness improvement. For this objective, the ‘‘smaller-the-better’’ equation was used for the calculation of the S/N ratio. The finishing roughness parameter Ra has been measured for the different process combinations. The arithmetic means deviation (Rₐ) was measured via the experimental design for each combination of the control factors by using Taguchi experimental design. Four roughness measurements were taken for a single component and the average roughness was taken to optimize the surface roughness. The lowest value of Rₐ is very important for surface roughness improvement. For this reason, the ‘‘smaller-the-better’’ Equation was used for the calculation of the S/N ratio. Analysis of the effect of each control factor on the surface roughness was performed with a ‘‘S/N response table’’. Optimum surface roughness was obtained at a feed rate of 1500 mm/min, with a tool radius of 12 mm, and with a step depth of 0.5 mm. The ANOVA result shows that step depth is an essential factor affecting surface roughness (91.1 %).

Keywords: incremental forming, SPIF, drawing quality steel, surface roughness, roughness behavior

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Authors: Amit S. Chauhan, S. Mandal

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The structural response of shear walls subjected to various types of loads is difficult to predict precisely. They are incorporated in buildings to resist lateral forces and support the gravity loads. The steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) are used as lateral load resisting systems for buildings and acts as an alternative to reinforced concrete shear walls (RCSWs). This paper compares the behavior of SPSW with the RCSW incorporated in a building frame having G+6 storey, located in Zone III, using the technique of Equivalent Static Method (ESM) as per Indian Standard Criteria For Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures IS 1893:2002. This paper intends to evaluate several parameters such as lateral displacement at tip, inter-storey drift, weight of steel and volume of concrete with the alteration of the shear wall with respect to different types viz., SPSW and RCSW. The strip model employed in this study is a widely accepted analytical tool for SPSW analysis. SPSW can be modelled as truss members by using a series of diagonal tension strips positioned at 45-degree angles. In this paper, by replacing the SPSWs with the tension strips, the G+6 building has been analyzed using STAAD.Pro V8i. Based on the present study, it can be concluded that structure with SPSWs is much better then structure with RCSWs.

Keywords: equivalent static method, inter-storey drift, lateral displacement, Steel plate shear wall, strip model

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Authors: Fong-Zuo Lee, Jihn-Sung Lai, Yung-Bin Lin, Xiaoqin Liu, Kuo-Chun Chang, Zhi-Xian Yang, Wen-Dar Guo, Jian-Hao Hong

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In recent years, climate change is a major factor to increase rainfall intensity and extreme rainfall frequency. The increased rainfall intensity and extreme rainfall frequency will increase the probability of flash flood with abundant sediment transport in a river basin. The floods caused by heavy rainfall may cause damages to the bridge, embankment, hydraulic works, and the other disasters. Therefore, the foundation scouring of bridge pier, embankment and spur dike caused by floods has been a severe problem in the worldwide. This severe problem has happened in many East Asian countries such as Taiwan and Japan because of these areas are suffered in typhoons, earthquakes, and flood events every year. Results from the complex interaction between fluid flow patterns caused by hydraulic works and the sediment transportation leading to the formation of river morphology, it is extremely difficult to develop a reliable and durable sensor to measure river bed degradation and bridge pier scouring. Therefore, an innovative scour monitoring sensor using vibration-based Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) was developed. This vibration-based MEMS sensor was packaged inside a stainless sphere with the proper protection of the full-filled resin, which can measure free vibration signals to detect scouring/deposition processes at the bridge pier. In addition, a friendly operational system includes rainfall runoff model, one-dimensional and two-dimensional numerical model, and the applicability of sediment transport equation and local scour formulas of bridge pier are included in this research. The friendly operational system carries out the simulation results of flood events that includes the elevation changes of river bed erosion near the specified bridge pier and the erosion depth around bridge piers. In addition, the system is developed with easy operation and integrated interface, the system can supplies users to calibrate and verify numerical model and display simulation results through the interface comparing to the scour monitoring sensors. To achieve the forecast of the erosion depth of river bed and main bridge pier in the study area, the system also connects the rainfall forecast data from Taiwan Typhoon and Flood Research Institute. The results can be provided available information for the management unit of river and bridge engineering in advance.

Keywords: flash flood, river bed degradation, bridge pier scouring, a friendly operational system

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Authors: M. C. Yu, Z. L. Niu, L. G. Zhang, W. W. Cui, Y. L. Zhang

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According to the theory of the vibration isolation for linear systems, linear damping can reduce the transmissibility at the resonant frequency, but inescapably increase the transmissibility of the isolation frequency region. To resolve this problem, nonlinear vibration isolation technology has recently received increasing attentions. Shear thickening fluid (STF) is a special colloidal material. When STF is subject to high shear rate, it rheological property changes from a flowable behavior into a rigid behavior, i.e., it presents shear thickening effect. STF isolator is a vibration isolator using STF as working material. Because of shear thickening effect, STF isolator is a variable-damped isolator. It exhibits small damping under high vibration frequency and strong damping at resonance frequency due to shearing rate increasing. So its special inherent character is very favorable for vibration isolation, especially for restraining resonance. In this paper, firstly, STF was prepared by dispersing nano-particles of silica into polyethylene glycol 200 fluid, followed by rheological properties test. After that, an STF isolator was designed. The vibration isolation system supported by STF isolator was modeled, and the numerical simulation was conducted to study the vibration isolation properties of STF. And finally, the effect factors on vibrations isolation performance was also researched quantitatively. The research suggests that owing to its variable damping, STF vibration isolator can effetely restrain resonance without bringing unfavorable effect at high frequency, which meets the need of ideal damping properties and resolves the problem of traditional isolators.

Keywords: shear thickening fluid, variable-damped isolator, vibration isolation, restrain resonance

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Authors: John R Evans, Sook-Ying Ho, Rey Chin

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This paper describes the research investigations orientated to the starting and propelling of a solid fuel rocket engine which operates as combined cycle propulsion system using three thrust pulses. The vehicle has been designed to minimise the cost of launching small number of Nano/Cube satellites into low earth orbits (LEO). A technology described in this paper is a ground-based launch propulsion system which starts the rocket vertical motion immediately causing air flow to enter the ramjet’s intake. Current technology has a ramjet operation predicted to be able to start high subsonic speed of 280 m/s using a liquid fuel ramjet (LFRJ). The combined cycle engine configuration is in many ways fundamentally different from the LFRJ. A much lower subsonic start speed is highly desirable since the use of a mortar to obtain the latter speed for rocket means a shorter launcher length can be utilized. This paper examines the means and has some performance calculations, including Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of air-intake at suitable operational conditions, 3-DOF point mass trajectory analysis of multi-pulse propulsion system (where pulse ignition time and thrust magnitude can be controlled), etc. of getting a combined cycle rocket engine use in a single stage vehicle.

Keywords: combine cycle propulsion system, low earth orbit launch vehicle, computational fluid dynamics analysis, 3dof trajectory analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Onada Olawale Ahmed

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As the intensification of aquaculture production increases on global scale, the growing concern of fish farmers around the world is related to cost of fish production, where cost of feeding takes substantial percentage. Fishmeal (FM) is one of the most expensive ingredients, and its high dependence in aqua-feed production translates to high cost of feeding of stocked fish. However, to reach a sustainable aquaculture, new alternative protein sources including cheaper plant or animal origin proteins are needed to be introduced for stable aqua-feed production. Spirulina is a cyanobacterium that has good nutrient profile that could be useful in aquaculture. This review therefore emphasizes on the nutritional value of Spirulina as a potential replacement of FM in aqua-feed. Spirulina is a planktonic photosynthetic filamentous cyanobacterium that forms massive populations in tropical and subtropical bodies of water with high levels of carbonate and bicarbonate. Spirulina grows naturally in nutrient rich alkaline lake with water salinity ( > 30 g/l) and high pH (8.5–11.0). Its artificial production requires luminosity (photo-period 12/12, 4 luxes), temperature (30 °C), inoculum, water stirring device, dissolved solids (10–60 g/litre), pH (8.5– 10.5), good water quality, and macro and micronutrient presence (C, N, P, K, S, Mg, Na, Cl, Ca and Fe, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Se). Spirulina has also been reported to grow on agro-industrial waste such as sugar mill waste effluent, poultry industry waste, fertilizer factory waste, and urban waste and organic matter. Chemical composition of Spirulina indicates that it has high nutritional value due to its content of 55-70% protein, 14-19% soluble carbohydrate, high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), 1.5–2.0 percent of 5–6 percent total lipid, all the essential minerals are available in spirulina which contributes about 7 percent (average range 2.76–3.00 percent of total weight) under laboratory conditions, β-carotene, B-group vitamin, vitamin E, iron, potassium and chlorophyll are also available in spirulina. Spirulina protein has a balanced composition of amino acids with concentration of methionine, tryptophan and other amino acids almost similar to those of casein, although, this depends upon the culture media used. Positive effects of spirulina on growth, feed utilization and stress and disease resistance of cultured fish have been reported in earlier studies. Spirulina was reported to replace up to 40% of fishmeal protein in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) diet and even higher replacement of fishmeal was possible in common carp (Cyprinus carpio), partial replacement of fish meal with spirulina in diets for parrot fish (Oplegnathus fasciatus) and Tilapia (Orechromis niloticus) has also been conducted. Spirulina have considerable potential for development, especially as a small-scale crop for nutritional enhancement and health improvement of fish. It is important therefore that more research needs to be conducted on its production, inclusion level in aqua-feed and its possible potential use of aquaculture.

Keywords: aquaculture, spirulina, fish nutrition, fish feed

Procedia PDF Downloads 509

Authors: F. Bellali, M. Kharroubi, M. Loutfi, N.Bourhim

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In Morocco, fish processing industry is an important source income for a large amount of byproducts including skins, bones, heads, guts and scales. Those underutilized resources particularly scales contain a large amount of proteins and calcium. Scales from Sardina plichardus resulting from the transformation operation have the potential to be used as raw material for the collagen production. Taking into account this strong expectation of the regional fish industry, scales sardine upgrading is well justified. In addition, political and societal demands for sustainability and environment-friendly industrial production systems, coupled with the depletion of fish resources, drive this trend forward. Therefore, fish scale used as a potential source to isolate collagen has a wide large of applications in food, cosmetic and bio medical industry. The main aim of this study is to isolate and characterize the acid solubilize collagen from sardine fish scale, Sardina pilchardus. Experimental design methodology was adopted in collagen processing for extracting optimization. The first stage of this work is to investigate the optimization conditions of the sardine scale deproteinization on using response surface methodology (RSM). The second part focus on the demineralization with HCl solution or EDTA. Moreover, the last one is to establish the optimum condition for the isolation of collagen from fish scale by solvent extraction. The basic principle of RSM is to determinate model equations that describe interrelations between the independent variables and the dependent variables.

Keywords: Sardina pilchardus, scales, valorization, collagen extraction, response surface methodology

Procedia PDF Downloads 402

Authors: Urvashi Kaushal

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With the entry of multinationals in India, engineering students of Indian universities have opportunity to work with the best and the most innovative industries in the world, but in order to compete in the global job market, they require an added competence of communication skills in English. With work places turning global, competence in English can provide the Indian student the added advantage to begin his/her career in the international market. The present method of teaching English in any engineering college across Gujarat mostly concentrates on developing writing, and reading skills. Developing speech becomes a secondary topic owing to the old trend of lecturing in the class room and the huge strength of the class. This paper aims to highlight the importance of improving speaking skills of engineering students. It also insists that presentations can be used as a viable method to enhance the communication skills of these students. Presentations force students to plan, prepare, practice and perfect their communication skills which will enable them to get a foothold in the industry. The paper also discusses one such experiment carried out at the author’s institute and the response it received. Further, such experimental language learning approach is bound to have some limitations and obstacles. The paper suggests ways to overcome such limitations and strives to develop an interesting means of developing communication skills of the engineering students.

Keywords: engineering, English, presentation, communication skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 428

Authors: Mustafa İlhan Akbaş, Özlem Garibay, Ivan Garibay

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The economic entities in innovation ecosystems form various industry clusters, in which they compete and cooperate to survive and grow. Within a successful and stable industry cluster, the entities acquire different roles that complement each other in the system. The universities and research centers have been accepted to have a critical role in these systems for the creation and development of innovations. However, the real effect of research institutions on regional economic growth is difficult to assess. In this paper, we present our approach for the identification of the impact of research activities on the regional entrepreneurship for a specific high-tech industry: optics and photonics. The optics and photonics has been defined as an enabling industry, which combines the high-tech photonics technology with the developing optics industry. The recent literature suggests that the growth of optics and photonics firms depends on three important factors: the embedded regional specializations in the labor market, the research and development infrastructure, and a dynamic small firm network capable of absorbing new technologies, products and processes. Therefore, the role of each factor and the dynamics among them must be understood to identify the requirements of the entrepreneurship activities in optics and photonics industry. There are three main contributions of our approach. The recent studies show that the innovation in optics and photonics industry is mostly located around metropolitan areas. There are also studies mentioning the importance of research center locations and universities in the regional development of optics and photonics industry. These studies are mostly limited with the number of patents received within a short period of time or some limited survey results. Therefore the first contribution of our approach is conducting a comprehensive analysis for the state and recent history of the photonics and optics research in the US. For this purpose, both the research centers specialized in optics and photonics and the related research groups in various departments of institutions (e.g. Electrical Engineering, Materials Science) are identified and a geographical study of their locations is presented. The second contribution of the paper is the analysis of regional entrepreneurship activities in optics and photonics in recent years. We use the membership data of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and the regional photonics clusters to identify the optics and photonics companies in the US. Then the profiles and activities of these companies are gathered by extracting and integrating the related data from the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) database, ES-202 database and the data sets from the regional photonics clusters. The number of start-ups, their employee numbers and sales are some examples of the extracted data for the industry. Our third contribution is the utilization of collected data to investigate the impact of research institutions on the regional optics and photonics industry growth and entrepreneurship. In this analysis, the regional and periodical conditions of the overall market are taken into consideration while discovering and quantifying the statistical correlations.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, industrial clusters, optics, photonics, emerging industries, research centers

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Authors: Z. Soleymani, M. Amirzadeh

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Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was developed in 1960 in Japan and introduced in 1983 in America and Europe. The paper presents a real application of this technique in a way that the method of applying QFD in design and production aero fuel pumps has been considered. While designing a product and in order to apply system engineering process, the first step is identification customer needs then its transition to engineering parameters. Since each change in deign after production process leads to extra human costs and also increase in products quality risk, QFD can make benefits in sale by meeting customer expectations. Since the needs identified as well, the use of QFD tool can lead to increase in communications and less deviation in design and production phases, finally it leads to produce the products with defined technical attributes.

Keywords: customer voice, engineering parameters, gear pump, QFD

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Ankit Nagar, Dinesh Kumar Nauriyal, Sukhpal Singh

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This paper examines the key determinants of farmers’ access to agricultural extension services, sources of agricultural extension services preferred and accessed by the farmers. An ordered logistic regression model was used to analyse the data of the 360 sample households based on a primary survey conducted in western Uttar Pradesh, India. The study finds that farmers' decision to engage in the agricultural extension programme is significantly influenced by factors such as education level, gender, farming experience, social group, group membership, farm size, credit access, awareness about the extension scheme, farmers' perception, and distance from extension sources. The most intriguing finding of this study is that the progressive farmers, which have long been regarded as a major source of knowledge diffusion, are the most distrusted sources of information as they are suspected of withholding vital information from potential beneficiaries. The positive relationship between farm size and ‘Access’ underlines that the extension services should revisit their strategies for targeting more marginal and small farmers constituting over 85 percent of the agricultural households by incorporating their priorities in their outreach programs. The study suggests that marginal and small farmers' productive potential could still be greatly augmented by the appropriate technology, advisory services, guidance, and improved market access. Also, the perception of poor quality of the public extension services can be corrected by initiatives aimed at building up extension workers' capacity.

Keywords: agriculture, access, extension services, ordered logistic regression

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Massimo Zucchetti

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In the US, the SPARC-ARC projects of compact tokamaks are being developed: both are aimed at the technological demonstration of fusion power reactors with cutting-edge technology but following different design approaches. However, they show more similarities than differences in the fuel cycle, safety, radiation protection, environmental, waste and decommissioning aspects: all reactors, either experimental or demonstration ones, have to fulfill certain "essential" requirements to pass from virtual to real machines, to be built in the real world. The paper will discuss these "essential" requirements. Some of the relevant activities in these fields, carried out by our research group (ESSENTIAL group), will be briefly reported, with the aim of showing some methodology aspects that have been developed and might be of wider interest. Also, a non-competitive comparison between our results for different projects will be included when useful. The question of advanced D-He3 fuel cycles to be used for those machines will be addressed briefly. In the past, the IGNITOR project of a compact high-magnetic field D-T ignition experiment was found to be able to sustain limited D-He3 plasmas, while the Candor project was a more decisive step toward D-He3 fusion reactors. The following topics will be treated: Waste management and radioactive safety studies for advanced fusion power plants; development of compact high-field advanced fusion reactors; behavior of nuclear materials under irradiation: neutron-induced radioactivity due to side DT reactions, radiation damage; accident analysis; reactor siting.

Keywords: advanced fuel fusion reactors, deuterium-helium3, high-field tokamaks, fusion safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Asma Lamin, Anna H. Kaksonen, Ivan Cole, Paul White, Xiao-Bo Chen

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Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is a process in which microorganisms initiate, facilitate, or accelerate the electrochemical corrosion reactions of metallic components. Several reports documented that MIC accounts for about 20 to 40 % of the total cost of corrosion. Biofilm formation due to the presence of microorganisms on the surface of metal components is known to play a vital role in MIC, which can lead to severe consequences in various environmental and industrial settings. Quorum sensing (QS) system plays a major role in regulating biofilm formation and control the expression of some microbial enzymes. QS is a communication mechanism between microorganisms that involves the regulation of gene expression as a response to the microbial cell density within an environment. This process is employed by both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria to regulate different physiological functions. QS involves production, detection, and responses to signalling chemicals, known as auto-inducers. QS controls specific processes important for the microbial community, such as biofilm formation, virulence factor expression, production of secondary metabolites and stress adaptation mechanisms. The use of QS inhibitors (QSIs) has been proposed as a possible solution to biofilm related challenges in many different applications. Although QSIs have demonstrated some strength in tackling biofouling, QSI-based strategies to control microbially influenced corrosion have not been thoroughly investigated. As such, our research aims to target the QS mechanisms as a strategy for mitigating MIC on metal surfaces in engineered systems.

Keywords: quorum sensing, quorum quenching, biofilm, biocorrosion

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Melanie Francois, Gilles Caboche, Frederic Demoisson, Francois Maeght, Maria Paola Carpanese, Lionel Combemale, Pascal Briois

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Finding new clean, and efficient way for energy production is one of the actual global challenges. Advances in fuel cell technology have shown that, for few years, Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell (PCFC) has attracted much attention in the field of new hydrogen energy thanks to their lower working temperature, possible higher efficiency, and better durability than classical SOFC. On the contrary of SOFC, where O²⁻ oxygen ion is the charge carrier, PCFC works with H⁺ proton as a charge carrier. Consequently, the lower activation energy of proton diffusion compared to the one of oxygen ion explains those benefits and allows PCFC to work in the 400-600°C temperature range. Doped-BaCeO₃ is currently the most chosen material for this application because of its high protonic conductivity; for example, BaCe₀.₉Y₀.₁O₃ δ exhibits a total conductivity of 1.5×10⁻² S.cm⁻¹ at 600°C in wet H₂. However, BaCeO₃ based perovskite has low stability in H₂O and/or CO₂ containing atmosphere, which limits their practical application. On the contrary, BaZrO₃ based perovskite exhibits good chemical stability but lower total conductivity than BaCeO₃ due to its larger grain boundary resistance. By substituting zirconium with 20% of yttrium, it is possible to achieve a total conductivity of 2.5×10⁻² S.cm⁻¹ at 600°C in wet H₂. However, the high refractory property of BaZr₀.₈Y₀.₂O₃-δ (noted BZY20) causes problems to obtain a dense membrane with large grains. Thereby, using a synthesis process that gives fine particles could allow better sinterability and thus decrease the number of grain boundaries leading to a higher total conductivity. In this work, BaZr₀.₈Y₀.₂O₃-δ have been synthesized by classical batch hydrothermal device and by a continuous hydrothermal device developed at ICB laboratory. The two variants of this process are able to work in supercritical conditions, leading to the formation of nanoparticles, which could be sintered at a lower temperature. The as-synthesized powder exhibits the right composition for the perovskite phase, impurities such as BaCO₃ and YO-OH were detected at very low concentration. Microstructural investigation and densification rate measurement showed that the addition of 1 wt% of ZnO as sintering aid and a sintering at 1550°C for 5 hours give high densified electrolyte material. Furthermore, it is necessary to heat the synthesized powder prior to the sintering to prevent the formation of secondary phases. It is assumed that this thermal treatment homogenizes the crystal structure of the powder and reduces the number of defects into the bulk grains. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy investigations in various atmospheres and a large range of temperature (200-700°C) were then performed on sintered samples, and the protonic conductivity of BZY20 has been highlighted. Further experiments on half-cell, NiO-BZY20 as anode and BZY20 as electrolyte, are in progress.

Keywords: hydrothermal synthesis, impedance measurement, Y-doped BaZrO₃, proton conductor

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Noura Shehab-Eldeen, Mohamed Elsherbeeny, Hossam Elmetwally, Mohamed Salama, Ahmed Lotfy, Mohamed Elgamal, Hussein Sheashaa, Mohamed Sobh

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Mitochondrial toxins including papaverine may be implicated in the etiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. The aim was to detect the effect of papaverine on the proliferation and viability of neural stem cells. Rat neural progenitor cells were isolated from embryos (E14) brains. The dispersed tissues were allowed to settle, then, The supernatant was centrifuged at 1,000 g for 5 min. The pellet was placed in Hank’s solution cultured as free-floating neurospheres Dulbecco’s modified Eagle medium (DMEM) and Hams F12 (3:1) supplemented with B27 (Invitrogen GmBH, Karlsruhe, Germany), 20 ng/mL epidermal growth factor (EGF; Biosource, Karlsruhe, Germany), 20 ng/mL recombinant human fibroblast growth factor (rhFGF; R&D Systems, Wiesbaden-Nordenstadt, Germany), and penicillin and streptomycin (1:100; Invitrogen) at 37°C with 7.5% CO2 . Differentiation was initiated by growth factor withdrawal and plating onto a poly-d-lysine/ laminin matrix. The neurospheres were fed every 2-3 days by replacing 50% of the culture media with fresh media. The culture suspension was transferred to a dish containing 16 wells. The wells were divided as follows: 4 wells received no papaverine (control), 4 wells 1 u, 4 wells 5 u and 4 wells 10 u of papaverine solution. In the next 2 weeks, photography (0,4,5,11days) and viability test were done. The photographs were analysed. Results : papaverine didn't affect proliferation of neurospheres, while it affected viability compared to control , this was dose related. Conclusion: This indicates the harmful effect of papaverine suggesting it to be a candidate neurotoxin causing Parkinsonism.

Keywords: neurospheres, neural stem cells, papaverine, Parkinsonism

Procedia PDF Downloads 645

Authors: Ntloana Hlabishi Peter

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The availability of public transportation modes and qualitative infrastructure is a burning issue that affects urban sustainability. Public transportation is indispensable in providing adequate transportation means to people at an affordable price, and it promotes public transport reliance. Burgersfort town has a critical condition on the urban public transportation infrastructure which affects the bus and taxi public transport modes and the existing infrastructure. The municipality is regarded as one of the mining towns in Limpopo Province considering the availability of mining activities and proposal on establishment of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The study aim is to assess the efficacy of current public transportation infrastructure and to propose relevant recommendations that will unlock the possibility of future supportable public transportation systems. The Key Informant Interview (KII) was used to acquire data on the views from commuters and stakeholders involved. There KII incorporated three relevant questions in relation to services rendered in public transportation. Relevant literature relating to public transportation modes and infrastructure revealed the imperatives of public transportation infrastructure, and relevant legislation was reviewed concerning public transport infrastructure. The finding revealed poor conditions on the public transportation ranks and also inadequate parking space for public transportation modes. The study reveals that 100% of people interviewed were not satisfied with the condition of public transportation infrastructure and 100% are not satisfied with the services offered by public transportation sectors. The findings revealed that the municipality is the main player who can upgrade the existing conditions of public transportation. The study recommended that an intermodal transportation facility must be established to resolve the emerging challenges.

Keywords: public transportation, modes, infrastructure, urban sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 209

Authors: Syed Jawad Hussain, Abir Touati, Farid Touati

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Free-Space Optics (FSO) is a wireless technology that enables the optical transmission of data though the air. FSO is emerging as a promising alternative or complementary technology to fiber optic and wireless radio-frequency (RF) links due to its high-bandwidth, robustness to EMI, and operation in unregulated spectrum. These systems are envisioned to be an essential part of future generation heterogeneous communication networks. Despite the vibrant advantages of FSO technology and the variety of its applications, its widespread adoption has been hampered by rather disappointing link reliability for long-range links due to atmospheric turbulence-induced fading and sensitivity to detrimental climate conditions. Qatar, with modest cloud coverage, high concentrations of airborne dust and high relative humidity particularly lies in virtually rainless sunny belt with a typical daily average solar radiation exceeding 6 kWh/m2 and 80-90% clear skies throughout the year. The specific objective of this work is to study for the first time in Qatar the effect of solar irradiation on the deliverability of the FSO Link. In order to analyze the transport media, we have ported Embedded Linux kernel on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and designed a network sniffer application that can run into FPGA. We installed new FSO terminals and configure and align them successively. In the reporting period, we carry out measurement and relate them to weather conditions.

Keywords: free space optics, solar irradiation, field programmable gate array, FSO outage

Procedia PDF Downloads 347