Search results for: temperature change

Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Muhammad Alkhunayn, Aayah Al Yaari, Ayman Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari, Fatehi Eissa

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The recent rise of smart educational aids and the move away from traditional listening aids are leading to a fundamental shift in the way in which individuals with attention and listening problems (ALP) manipulate listening inputs and/or act appropriately to the spoken information presented to them. A total sample of twenty-six ALP pupils (m=20 and f=6) between 7-12 years old was selected from different strata based on gender, region and school. In the sample size, thirteen (10 males and 3 females) received the treatment in terms of smart classes provided with smart educational aids in a listening course that lasted for four month-semester while others did not (they studied the same course by the same instructor but in ordinary class). A pretest was administered to assess participants’ levels, and a posttest was given to evaluate their attention and listening comprehension performance, namely in phonetic and phonological tests with sociolinguistic themes that have been designed for this purpose. Test results were analyzed both psychoneurolinguistically and statistically. Results reveal a remarkable change in pupils’ behavioral listening where scores witnessed a significant difference in the performance of the experimental ALP group in the pretest compared to the posttest (Pupils performed better at the pretest-posttest on phonetics than at the two tests on phonology). It is concluded that smart educational aids designed for listening skills help not only increase the listening command of pupils with ALP to understand what they listen to but also develop their interactive listening capability and, at the same rate, are responsible for increasing concentrated and in-depth listening capacity. Plus, ALP pupils become able to grasp the audio content of text recordings, including educational audio recordings, news, oral stories and tales, views, spiritual/religious text and general knowledge. However, the pupils have not experienced individual smart audio-visual aids that connect listening to other language receptive and productive skills, which could be the future area of research.

Keywords: language skills, implementing, listening skill, attention, smart aids

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Authors: Lai Peng, Cristina Pintucci, Dries Seuntjens, José Carvajal-Arroyo, Siegfried Vlaeminck

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Economic incentives drive the implementation of short-cut nitrogen removal processes such as nitritation/denitritation (Nit/DNit) to manage nitrogen in waste streams devoid of biodegradable organic carbon. However, as any biological nitrogen removal process, the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) could be emitted from Nit/DNit. Challenges remain in understanding the fundamental mechanisms and development of engineered mitigation strategies for N2O production. To provide answers, this work focuses on manure as a model, the biggest wasted nitrogen mass flow through our economies. A sequencing batch reactor (SBR; 4.5 L) was used treating the centrate (centrifuge supernatant; 2.0 ± 0.11 g N/L of ammonium) from an anaerobic digester processing mainly pig manure, supplemented with a co-substrate. Glycerin was used as external carbon source, a by-product of vegetable oil. Out-selection of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was targeted using a combination of low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels (down to 0.5 mg O2/L), high temperature (35ºC) and relatively high free ammonia (FA) (initially 10 mg NH3-N/L). After reaching steady state, the process was able to remove 100% of ammonium with minimum nitrite and nitrate in the effluent, at a reasonably high nitrogen loading rate (0.4 g N/L/d). Substantial N2O emissions (over 15% of the nitrogen loading) were observed at the baseline operational condition, which were even increased under nitrite accumulation and a low organic carbon to nitrogen ratio. Yet, higher DO (~2.2 mg O2/L) lowered aerobic N2O emissions and weakened the dependency of N2O on nitrite concentration, suggesting a shift of N2O production pathway at elevated DO levels. Limiting the greenhouse gas emissions (environmental protection) from such a system could be substantially minimized by increasing the external carbon dosage (a cost factor), but also through the implementation of an intermittent aeration and feeding strategy. Promising steps forward have been presented in this abstract, yet at the conference the insights of ongoing experiments will also be shared.

Keywords: mitigation, nitrous oxide, nitritation/denitritation, pig manure

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Authors: Hanan. Al Chaghouri, Mohammad Azad Malik, P. John Thomas, Paul O’Brien

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The process of assembling metal nanoparticles at the interface of two liquids has received a great interest over the past few years due to a wide range of important applications and their unusual properties compared to bulk materials. We present a low cost, simple and cheap synthesis of metal nanoparticles, core/shell structures and semiconductors followed by assembly of these particles between immiscible liquids. The aim of this talk is divided to three parts: firstly, to describe the achievement of a closed loop recycling for producing cadmium sulphide as powders and/or nanostructured thin films for solar cells or other optoelectronic devices applications by using a different chain length of commercially available secondary amines of dithiocarbamato complexes. The approach can be extended to other metal sulphides such as those of Zn, Pb, Cu, or Fe and many transition metals and oxides. Secondly, to synthesis significantly cheaper magnetic particles suited for the mass market. Ni/NiO nanoparticles with ferromagnetic properties at room temperature were among the smallest and strongest magnets (5 nm) were made in solution. The applications of this work can be applied to produce viable storage devices and the other possibility is to disperse these nanocrystals in solution and use it to make ferro-fluids which have a number of mature applications. The third part is about preparing and assembling of submicron silver, cobalt and nickel particles by using polyol methods and liquid/liquid interface, respectively. Noble metal like gold, copper and silver are suitable for plasmonic thin film solar cells because of their low resistivity and strong interactions with visible light waves. Silver is the best choice for solar cell application since it has low absorption losses and high radiative efficiency compared to gold and copper. Assembled cobalt and nickel as films are promising for spintronic, magnetic and magneto-electronic and biomedics.

Keywords: assembling nanoparticles, liquid/liquid interface, thin film, core/shell, solar cells, recording media

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Authors: Tara Moore

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Madagascar is one of the regions of the world with the highest biodiversity, with more than 600 new species discovered in just the last decade. In parallel with its record-breaking biodiversity, Madagascar is also the tenth poorest country in the world. The resultant socio-economic pressures are leading to a highly threatened environment. In particular, deforestation is at the core of biodiversity and ecosystem loss, primarily from slash and burn agriculture and illegal rosewood tree harvesting. Effective policy response is imperative for improved conservation in Madagascar. However, these changes cannot come from the current, unstable government institutions. After a violent and politically turbulent coup in 2009, any effort to defend Madagascar's biodiversity has been eclipsed by the high corruption of government bodies. This paper presents three policy options designed for a private donor to invest in conservation in Madagascar. The first proposed policy consists of payments for ecosystem services model, which involves paying local Malagasy women to reforest nearby territories. The second option is a micro-irrigation system proposal involving relocating local Malagasy out of the threatened forest region. The final proposition is captive breeding funding for the Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group, which could then lead to new reintroductions in the threatened northeastern rainforests. In the end, all three options present feasible, impactful options for a conservation-minded major donor. Ideally, the policy change would involve a combination of all three options, as each provides necessary development and conservation re-structuring goals. Option one, payments for ecosystem services, would be the preferred choice if there were only enough funding for one project. The payments for ecosystem services project both support local populations and promotes sustainable development while reforesting the threatened Marojejy National Park. Regardless of the chosen policy solution, any support from a donor will make a huge impact if it supports both sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: captive breeding, cnservation policy, lemur conservation, Madagascar conservation, payments for ecosystem services

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Petra Borilova Linhartova, Michaela Ruckova, Sabina Sevcikova, Natalie Mlcuchova, Jan Bohm, Katerina Zukalova, Monika Vlachova, Jiri Dolina, Lumir Kunovsky, Radek Kroupa, Zdenek Pavlovsky, Zdenek Danek, Tereza Deissova, Lydie Izakovicova Holla, Ondrej Slaby, Zdenek Kala

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Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy that frequently develops from Barrett's esophagus (BE), a premalignant pathologic change occurring in the lower end of the esophagus. Specific microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs that function as posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression, were repeatedly proved to play key roles in the pathogenesis of these diseases. This pilot study aimed to analyze four selected miRNAs in esophageal tissues from healthy controls (HC) and patients with reflux esophagitis (RE)/BE/EAC, as well as to compare expression at the site of Barrett's mucosa/adenocarcinoma and healthy esophageal tissue outside the area of the main pathology in patients with BE/EAC. In this pilot study, 22 individuals (3 HC, 8 RE, 5 BE, 6 EAC) were included and endoscopically examined. RNA was isolated from the fresh-frozen esophageal tissue (stored in the RNAlater™ Stabilization Solution −70°C) using the AllPrep DNA/RNA/miRNA Universal Kit. Subsequent RT-qPCR analysis was performed using selected TaqMan MicroRNA Assays for miR-21, miR-34a, miR-196a, miR-196b, and endogenous control (RNU44). While the expression of miR-21 in the esophageal tissue with the main pathology was decreased in BE and EAC patients in comparison to the group of HC and RE patients (p=0.01), the expression of miR-196a was increased in the BE and EAC patients (p<0.01). Correlations between those miRNAs expression in tissue and severity of diagnosis were observed (p<0.05). In addition, miR-196a was significantly more expressed at the site with the main pathology than in paired adjacent esophageal tissue in BE and EAC patients (p<0.01). In conclusion, our pilot results showed that miR-196a, which regulates the proliferation, invasion, and migration (and was previously associated with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and marked as a potential therapeutic target), could be a diagnostic tissue biomarker for BE and EAC as well.

Keywords: microRNA, barrett´s esophagus, esophageal adenocarcinoma, biomarker

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Authors: Lucas Paganin, Viliam Makis

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With the advent of globalization, the market competition has become a major issue for most companies. One of the main strategies to overcome this situation is the quality improvement of the product at a lower cost to meet customers’ expectations. In order to achieve the desired quality of products, it is important to control the process to meet the specifications, and to implement the optimal maintenance policy for the machines and the production lines. Thus, the overall objective is to reduce process variation and the production and maintenance costs. In this paper, an integrated model involving Statistical Process Control (SPC) and maintenance is developed to achieve this goal. Therefore, the main focus of this paper is to develop the jointly optimal maintenance and statistical process control policy minimizing the total long run expected average cost per unit time. In our model, the production process can go out of control due to either the deterioration of equipment or other assignable causes. The equipment is also subject to failures in any of the operating states due to deterioration and aging. Hence, the process mean is controlled by an Xbar control chart using equidistant sampling epochs. We assume that the machine inspection epochs are the times when the control chart signals an out-of-control condition, considering both true and false alarms. At these times, the production process will be stopped, and an investigation will be conducted not only to determine whether it is a true or false alarm, but also to identify the causes of the true alarm, whether it was caused by the change in the machine setting, by other assignable causes, or by both. If the system is out of control, the proper actions will be taken to bring it back to the in-control state. At these epochs, a maintenance action can be taken, which can be no action, or preventive replacement of the unit. When the equipment is in the failure state, a corrective maintenance action is performed, which can be minimal repair or replacement of the machine and the process is brought to the in-control state. SMDP framework is used to formulate and solve the joint control problem. Numerical example is developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control policy.

Keywords: maintenance, semi-Markov decision process, statistical process control, Xbar control chart

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Authors: Gerrit Ter Haar, Thorsten Becker, Deborah Blaine

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The Additive Manufacturing (AM) process of Selective Laser Melting (SLM) has seen an exponential growth in sales and development in the past fifteen years. Whereas the capability of SLM was initially limited to rapid prototyping, progress in research and development (R&D) has allowed SLM to be capable of fully functional parts. This technology is still at a primitive stage and technical knowledge of the vast number of variables influencing final part quality is limited. Ongoing research and development of the sensitive printing process and post processes is of utmost importance in order to qualify SLM parts to meet international standards. Quality concerns in Ti-6Al-4V manufactured through SLM has been identified, which include: high residual stresses, part porosity, low ductility and anisotropic mechanical properties. Whereas significant quality improvements have been made through optimising printing parameters, research indicates as-produced part ductility to be a major limiting factor when compared to its wrought counterpart. This study aims at achieving an in-depth understanding of the underlining links between SLM produced Ti-6Al-4V microstructure and its mechanical properties. Knowledge of microstructural transformation kinetics of Ti-6Al-4V allows for the optimisation of post-process heat treatments thereby achieving the required process route to manufacture high quality SLM produced Ti-6Al-4V parts. Experimental methods used to evaluate the kinematics of microstructural transformation of SLM Ti-6Al-4V are: optical microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. Results show that a low-temperature heat treatment is capable of transforming the as-produced, martensitic microstructure into a duel-phase microstructure exhibiting both a high strength and improved ductility. Furthermore, isotropy of mechanical properties can be achieved through certain annealing routes. Mechanical properties identical to that of wrought Ti-6Al-4V can, therefore, be achieved through an optimised process route.

Keywords: EBSD analysis, heat treatments, microstructural characterisation, selective laser melting, tensile behaviour, Ti-6Al-4V

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Authors: Renee Yi-Mond Yuan

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The fast development of tourism industries around the world, has largely contributed to many cities, and countries economical and social progress. Past year Taiwan in particular was ranked among one of fastest raise growth country. Thanks to the prominent importance of this phenomenon; seasonal mobility or multipurpose trips have reached more than 1 Billion tourists crossing International borders and more than 4 billion intramural travelers that have nourished the economy and employment in the service sector in most attractive regions, representing about one tenth of World GDP amount, including trade, research, cultural or journalistic purposes. Then the increased activities are giving pressure to the consumption of energy, water, resources, and Greenhouse Gas emissions. The further concentration of tourists in most beautiful sites of the World with consistent supply and reduced pollutions and means for waste control and risks management are challenging the preservation and protection of the natural original environment, including species and their ecosystems, ethnics and their cultures or languages, protection of inherited landscapes and monuments for the future generations to come. In this article, few projects will be analyzed, methods and directions in the EU sustainable development scheme giving way to economical and social activities and preserve rural areas and remote countryside as well as smarter cities development. EU ETS forecasting escalation in the next few decades for road and air, and will reconsider investments and reliance on Biobased alternatives that may turn out solutions and contributions to sustain popularization of tourism development. Study of Examples of Stakeholders practices and Governments efforts, consumer’s attitude to bring new forms of more responsible holidays models: ecotourism, eco-certification, partnerships, investment in technologies and facilities, and possibly create greener perceptions and less impacting demands for the longer term through association, organizations and awards.

Keywords: tourism, sustainability, protection, risks management, change in rural/urban environment

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Authors: Zimu Li, Zheng Wan

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The Suez Canal plays an important role in global shipping networks and is one of the most frequently used waterways in the world. The 2021 canal obstruction by ship Ever Given in March 2021, however, completed blocked the Suez Canal for a week and caused significant disruption to world trade. Therefore, it is very important to quantitatively analyze the impact of the accident on the robustness of the global shipping network. However, the current research on maritime transportation networks is usually limited to local or small-scale networks in a certain region. Based on the complex network theory, this study establishes a global shipping complex network covering 2713 nodes and 137830 edges by using the real trajectory data of the global marine transport ship automatic identification system in 2018. At the same time, two attack modes, deliberate (Suez Canal Blocking) and random, are defined to calculate the changes in network node degree, eccentricity, clustering coefficient, network density, network isolated nodes, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality under the two attack modes, and quantitatively analyze the actual impact of Suez Canal Blocking on the robustness of global shipping network. The results of the network robustness analysis show that Suez Canal blocking was more destructive to the shipping network than random attacks of the same scale. The network connectivity and accessibility decreased significantly, and the decline decreased with the distance between the port and the canal, showing the phenomenon of distance attenuation. This study further analyzes the impact of the blocking of the Suez Canal on Chinese ports and finds that the blocking of the Suez Canal significantly interferes withChina's shipping network and seriously affects China's normal trade activities. Finally, the impact of the global supply chain is analyzed, and it is found that blocking the canal will seriously damage the normal operation of the global supply chain.

Keywords: global shipping networks, ship AIS trajectory data, main channel, complex network, eigenvalue change

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Authors: Yazdan Moradi

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Spirulina platensis is a blue-green microalga with unique nutrient content and has many nutritional and therapeutic effects that are used to enrich various foods. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of Spirulina platensis microalgae on the nutritional value and sensory and physical properties of four different cereal-based products. For this purpose, spirulina microalgae dry powder with amounts of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 is added to the formula of pasta, bulk bread, layered sweets, and cupcakes. A sample without microalgae powder of each product is also considered as a control. The results showed that adding Spirulina powder to the formulation of selected foods significantly changed the nutrition value and sensory and physical characteristics. Comparison to control protein increased in the samples containing spirulina powder. The increase in protein was about 1, 0.6, 1.2 and 1.1 percent in bread, cake, layered sweets and Pasta, respectively. The iron content of samples, including Spirulina, also increased. The increase was 0.6, 2, 5 and 18 percent in bread, cake, layered sweets and Pasta respectively. Sensory evaluation analysis showed that all products had an acceptable acceptance score. The instrumental analysis of L*, a*, and b* color indices showed that the increase of spirulina caused green color in the treatments, and this color change is more significant in the bread and pasta samples. The results of texture analysis showed that adding spirulina to selected food products reduces the hardness of the samples. No significant differences were observed in fat content in samples, including spirulina samples and control. However, fatty acid content and a trace amount of EPA found in samples included 1% spirulina. Added spirulina powder to food ingredients also changed the amino acid profile, especially essential amino acids. An increase of histidine, isoleucine, leucine, tryptophan, and valine in samples, including Spirulina was observed.

Keywords: spirulina, nutrition, Alge, iron, food

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Authors: Suman Chaudhary, Rinku Dhanker, Tanvi, Sneh Goyal

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Sulphur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) have marked their significant role in perspectives of maintaining healthy environment as researchers from all over the world tested and apply these in waste water treatment plants, bioleaching of heavy metals, deterioration of bridge structures, concrete and for bioremediation purposes, etc. Also, these SOB are well adapted in all kinds of environment ranging from normal soil, water habitats to extreme natural sources like geothermal areas, volcanic eruptions, black shale and acid rock drainage (ARD). SOB have been isolated from low pH environment of anthropogenic origin like acid mine drainage (AMD) and bioleaching heaps, hence these can work efficiently in different environmental conditions. Besides having many applications in field of environment science, they may be proven to be very beneficial in area of agriculture as sulphur is the fourth major macronutrients required for the growth of plants. More amount of sulphur is needed by pulses and oilseed crops with respect to the cereal grains. Due to continuous use of land for overproduction of more demanding sulphur utilizing crops and without application of sulphur fertilizers, its concentration is decreasing day by day, and thus, sulphur deficiency is becoming a great problem as it affects the crop productivity and quality. Sulphur is generally found in soils in many forms which are unavailable for plants (cannot be use by plants) like elemental sulphur, thiosulphate which can be taken up by bacteria and converted into simpler forms usable by plants by undergoing a series of transformations. So, keeping the importance of sulphur in view for various soil types, oilseed crops and role of microorganisms in making them available to plants, we made an effort to isolate, optimize, and characterize SOB. Three potential strains of bacteria were isolated, namely SSF7, SSA21, and SSS6, showing sulphate production of concentration, i.e. 2.268, 3.102, and 2.785 mM, respectively. Also, these were optimized for various culture conditions like carbon, nitrogen source, pH, temperature, and incubation time, and characterization was also done.

Keywords: sulphur oxidizing bacteria, isolation, optimization, characterization, sulphate production

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Authors: Shabistana Nisar, Parvez Qamar Rizvi, Sheeraz Malik

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The potential advantage of nanotechnology is comparably marginal due to its unclear benefits in agriculture and insufficiency in public opinion. The nanotech products might solve the pesticide problems of societal concern fairly at acceptable or low risk for consumers and environmental applications. The deleterious effect of chemicals used on crops can be compacted either by reducing the existing active ingredient to nanosize or by plummeting the metals into nanoform. Considering the above facts, an attempt was made to determine the efficacy of nanoelements viz., Silver, Copper Manganese and Neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) for effective management of gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera infesting chickpea, being the most damaging pest of large number of crops, gram pod borer was selected as test insect to ascertain the impact of nanoparticles under controlled conditions (25-27 ˚C, 60-80% RH). The respective nanoformulations (0.01, 0.005, 0.003, 0.0025, 0.002, 0.001) were topically applied on 4th instar larvae of pod borer. In general, nanochemicals (silver, copper, manganese, NSKE) produced relatively high mortality at low dilutions (0.01, 0.005, 0.003). The least mortality was however recorded at 0.001 concentration. Nanosilver proved most efficient producing significantly highest (f₄,₂₄=129.56, p < 0.05) mortality 63.13±1.77, 83.21±2.02 and 96.10±1.25 % at 0.01 concentration after 2nd, 4th and 6th day, respectively. The least mortality was however recorded with nanoNSKE. The mortality values obtained at respective days were 21.25±1.50%, 25.20±2.00%, and 56.20±2.25%. Nanocopper and nanomanganese showed slow rate of killing on 2nd day of exposure, but increased (79.20±3.25 and 65.33±1.25) at 0.01 dilution on 3rd day, followed by 83.00±3.50% and 70.20±2.20% mortality on 6thday. The sluggishness coupled with antifeedancy was noticed at early stage of exposure. The change in body colour to brown due to additional melanisation in copper, manganese, and silver treated larvae and demalinization in nanoNSKE exposed larvae was observed at later stage of treatment. Thus, all the nanochemicals applied, produced the significant lethal impact on Helicoverpa armigera and can be used as valuable tool for its effective management.

Keywords: chickpea, helicoverpa armigera, management, nanoparticles

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Authors: Libia Jiménez Chávez

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This is a study of freedom riders and their courageous journey for civil rights, but the year was not 1961. It was 2003. This paper chronicles the emergence of a new civil rights movement for immigrant rights through an oral history of the 2003 U.S. Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (IWFR). During the height of the post-9/11 immigrant repression, a bloc of organizations inspired by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s mobilized 900 multinational immigrants and their allies in the fight for legal status, labor protections, family reunification, and civil rights. The activists visited over 100 U.S. cities, met with Congressional leaders in the nation’s capital, and led a rally of over 50,000 people in New York City. This unified effort set the groundwork for the national May Day immigration protests of 2006. Movements can be characterized in two distinct ways: physical movement and social movements. In the past, historians have considered immigrants both as people and as participants in social movements. In contrast, studies of recent migrants tend to say little about their involvement in immigrant political mobilizations. The dominant literature on immigration portrays immigrants as objects of exclusion, border enforcement, detention, and deportation instead of strategic political actors. This paper aims to change this perception. It considers the Freedom Riders both as immigrants who were literally on the move and as participants in a social movement. Through interviews with participants and archival video footage housed at the University of California Los Angeles, it is possible to study this mobile protest as a movement. This contemporary immigrant struggle is an opportunity to explore the makeup and development of a heterogenous immigrant coalition and consider the relationship between population movements and social justice. In addition to oral histories and archival research, the study will utilize social movement literature, U.S. immigration and labor history, and Undocumented Critical Theory to expand the historiography of immigrant social movements in America.

Keywords: civil rights, immigrant social movements, undocumented communities, undocumented critical theory

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Authors: Dalya Markovich

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In the last decade art-educators strive to integrate critical pedagogy within the art classroom. Critical pedagogy aims to deconstruct the oppressive social reality and the false consciousness in which learners from both privileged and underprivileged groups are caught. Understanding oppression as a product of socio-political conditions seeks to instigate processes of change anchored in the student's views. Yet, growing empirical evidence show that these efforts often has resulted in art projects in which art teachers play an active role in the process of critical teaching, while the students remain passive listeners. In this common scenario, the teachers/artists become authoritarian moral guides of critical thinking and acting, while the students are often found to be indifferent or play along to satisfy the teachers'/artists aspirations. These responses indicate that the message of critical pedagogy – transforming the students' way of thinking and acting – mostly do not fulfill its emancipation goals. The study analyses the critical praxis embedded in new art projects and their influence on the participants. This type of projects replaces the individual producer with a collaborative work; switch the finite work with an ongoing project; and transforms the passive learner to an engaged co-producer. The research delves into the pedagogical framework of two of these art projects by using qualitative methods. In-depth interviews were conducted with 4 of the projects' initiator and managers, in order to access understandings of the art projects goals and pedagogical methods. Field work included 4 participant observation (two in each project) during social encounters in the project's settings, focusing on how critical thinking is enacted (or not) by the participants. The analysis exposes how the new art projects avoid the prepackaged "critical" assumptions and praxis, thus turning the participants from passive carriers of critical thinking to agents that actively use criticism. Findings invite researchers to explore new avenues for understanding critical pedagogy and developing various ways to implement critical pedagogy during art education, in view of the growing need of critical thinking and acting in school/society.

Keywords: critical pedagogy, education through art, collaborative work, agency

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Authors: Roohallah Yousefi

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Introduction: Voxelotor, also known as GBT 440, binds to the alpha cleft in HbS tetramers and promotes the stability of the relaxed or oxygenated state of HbS. This process hinders the conformational change of the HbS tetramers into the deoxygenated state. Voxelotor prevents interactions between HbS tetramers in the deoxygenated state, ultimately inhibiting the polymerization of HbS tetramers and resulting in significant clinical improvements, particularly in raising hemoglobin levels in patients. In this study, we have explored the use of herbal compound models, such as rosmarinic acid and compounds with similar structures that exhibit high binding affinity to Voxelotor's hemoglobin binding site. Materials and methods: The molecular model of hemoglobin (PDB: 5E83) was initially obtained from the RCSB PDB database. In addition, we collected 453 ligand models with structural similarity to rosmarinic acid from the PubChem database. To prepare these models for molecular docking, we utilized the Molegro Virtual Docker tool. Subsequently, we used the SwissADME web tool to predict the physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetics of these compounds. Results: We investigated the affinity and binding site of 453 compounds similar to rosmarinic acid on the hemoglobin model (PDB: 5E83). Our focus was on the alpha cleft between two alpha chains of the hemoglobin model (PDB: 5E83). The results showed that most compounds had molecular weights above 500 daltons, and some exhibited acceptable hydrophobicity. Furthermore, their solubility in aqueous solutions was good. None of the compounds were able to cross the blood-brain barrier or have gastrointestinal absorption. However, they did have varying inhibitory effects on CYP2C9 cytochromes. The skin penetration rate was generally low. Conclusion: Through our study, we identified three compounds (CID: 162739375, CID: 141386569, and CID: 24015539) with promising potential for further research. These compounds demonstrated high binding affinity to the hemoglobin model, favorable dissolution and digestive absorption rates, as well as suitable hydrophobicity, making them ideal candidates for continued laboratory investigation.

Keywords: voxelotor, binding site, hemoglobin, rosmarinic acid

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Authors: Hazel Pettifor, Charlie Wilson, David Mccollum, Oreane Edelenbosch

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Vehicle purchase is a technology adoption decision that will strongly influence future energy and emission outcomes. Global integrated assessment models (IAMs) provide valuable insights into the medium and long terms effects of socio-economic development, technological change and climate policy. In this paper we present a unique and transparent approach for improving the behavioural representation of these models by incorporating social influence effects to more accurately represent consumer choice. This work draws together strong conceptual thinking and robust empirical evidence to introduce heterogeneous and interconnected consumers who vary in their aversion to new technologies. Focussing on vehicle choice, we conduct novel empirical research to parameterise consumer risk aversion and how this is shaped by social and cultural influences. We find robust evidence for social influence effects, and variation between countries as a function of cultural differences. We then formulate an approach to modelling social influence which is implementable in both simulation and optimisation-type models. We use two global integrated assessment models (IMAGE and MESSAGE) to analyse four scenarios that introduce social influence and cultural differences between regions. These scenarios allow us to explore the interactions between consumer preferences and social influence. We find that incorporating social influence effects into global models accelerates the early deployment of electric vehicles and stimulates more widespread deployment across adopter groups. Incorporating cultural variation leads to significant differences in deployment between culturally divergent regions such as the USA and China. Our analysis significantly extends the ability of global integrated assessment models to provide policy-relevant analysis grounded in real-world processes.

Keywords: behavioural realism, electric vehicles, social influence, vehicle choice

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Authors: S. McLean, J. A. Scott

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The research topic is focusing on improving sustainable operation through recovery and reuse of waste heat in process water streams, an area in the mining industry that is often overlooked. There are significant advantages to the application of this topic, including economic and environmental benefits. The smelting process in the mining industry presents an opportunity to recover waste heat and apply it to alternative uses, thereby enhancing the overall process. This applied research has been conducted at the Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations smelter site, in particular on the water cooling towers. The aim was to determine and optimize methods for appropriate recovery and subsequent upgrading of thermally low-grade heat lost from the water cooling towers in a manner that makes it useful for repurposing in applications, such as within an acid plant. This would be valuable to mining companies as it would be an opportunity to reduce the cost of the process, as well as decrease environmental impact and primary fuel usage. The waste heat from the cooling towers needs to be upgraded before it can be beneficially applied, as lower temperatures result in a decrease of the number of potential applications. Temperature and flow rate data were collected from the water cooling towers at an acid plant over two years. The research includes process control strategies and the development of a model capable of determining if the proposed heat recovery technique is economically viable, as well as assessing any environmental impact with the reduction in net energy consumption by the process. Therefore, comprehensive cost and impact analyses are carried out to determine the best area of application for the recovered waste heat. This method will allow engineers to easily identify the value of thermal resources available to them and determine if a full feasibility study should be carried out. The rapid scoping model developed will be applicable to any site that generates large amounts of waste heat. Results show that heat pumps are an economically viable solution for this application, allowing for reduced cost and CO₂ emissions.

Keywords: environment, heat recovery, mining engineering, sustainability

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Authors: Anna Ching-Yu Wong

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This study aims to identify the quality and effectiveness of the adult programs provided by the public library using the ServQUAL Method and the National Library Public Programs Assessment guidelines (NIPPA, June 2019). ServQUAl covers several variables, namely: tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. NIPPA guidelines focus on program characteristics, particularly on the outcomes – the level of satisfaction from program participants. The reached populations were adults who participated in library adult programs at a small-town public library in Kansas. This study was designed as quantitative evaluative research which analyzed the quality and effectiveness of the library adult programs by analyzing the role of each factor based on ServQUAL and the NIPPA's library program assessment guidelines. Data were collected from November 2019 to January 2020 using a questionnaire with a Likert Scale. The data obtained were analyzed in a descriptive quantitative manner. The impact of this research can provide information about the quality and effectiveness of existing programs and can be used as input to develop strategies for developing future adult programs. Overall the result of ServQUAL measurement is in very good quality, but still, areas need improvement and emphasis in each variable: Tangible Variables still need improvement in indicators of the temperature and space of the meeting room. Reliability Variable still needs improvement in the timely delivery of the programs. Responsiveness Variable still needs improvement in terms of the ability of the presenters to convey trust and confidence from participants. Assurance Variables still need improvement in the indicator of knowledge and skills of program presenters. Empathy Variable still needs improvement in terms of the presenters' willingness to provide extra assistance. The result of program outcomes measurement based on NIPPA guidelines is very positive. Over 96% of participants indicated that the programs were informative and fun. They learned new knowledge and new skills and would recommend the programs to their friends and families. They believed that together, the library and participants build stronger and healthier communities.

Keywords: ServQual model, ServQual in public libraries, library program assessment, NIPPA library programs assessment

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Authors: Muhammad Umar Kiani, Muhammad Shahbaz, Hassan Akbar

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Simulation of a high speed inviscid steady ideal air flow around a 2D/axial-symmetry body was carried out by the use of mb_cns code. mb_cns is a program for the time-integration of the Navier-Stokes equations for two-dimensional compressible flows on a multiple-block structured mesh. The flow geometry may be either planar or axisymmetric and multiply-connected domains can be modeled by patching together several blocks. The main simulation code is accompanied by a set of pre and post-processing programs. The pre-processing programs scriptit and mb_prep start with a short script describing the geometry, initial flow state and boundary conditions and produce a discretized version of the initial flow state. The main flow simulation program (or solver as it is sometimes called) is mb_cns. It takes the files prepared by scriptit and mb_prep, integrates the discrete form of the gas flow equations in time and writes the evolved flow data to a set of output files. This output data may consist of the flow state (over the whole domain) at a number of instants in time. After integration in time, the post-processing programs mb_post and mb_cont can be used to reformat the flow state data and produce GIF or postscript plots of flow quantities such as pressure, temperature and Mach number. The current problem is an example of supersonic inviscid flow. The flow domain for the current problem (strake configuration wing) is discretized by a structured grid and a finite-volume approach is used to discretize the conservation equations. The flow field is recorded as cell-average values at cell centers and explicit time stepping is used to update conserved quantities. MUSCL-type interpolation and one of three flux calculation methods (Riemann solver, AUSMDV flux splitting and the Equilibrium Flux Method, EFM) are used to calculate inviscid fluxes across cell faces.

Keywords: steady flow simulation, processing programs, simulation code, inviscid flux

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Authors: Denise Schrama, Claudia Raposo, Pedro Rodrigues

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Background: Food allergies are conducted by a hypersensitive response of the immune system. These allergies are a global concern for the public health. Consumption of fish is increasing worldwide as it is a healthy meat with high nutritional value. Unfortunately, fish can cause adverse immune-mediate reactions, affecting part of the population with higher incidence in children. β-parvalbumin, a small, highly conserved stable, calcium or magnesium binding muscle protein is the main fish allergen. In fish-allergic patients, cross-reactivity between different fish species exist due to recognition of highly identical protein regions. Enolases, aldolases, or fish gelatin are other identified fish allergens in some fish species. With no available cure for fish allergies, clinical management is only based on an avoidance diet aiming at the total exclusion of offending food. Methods: Mediterranean fish (S. aurata and D. labrax) were fed specifically designed diets, enriched in components that target the expression or inactivation of parvalbumin (creatine and EDTA, respectively). After 90 days fish were sampled and biological tissues were excised. Proteomics was used to access fish allergens characterization and expression in muscle while IgE assays to confirm the lower allergenic potential are conducted in patients with history of fish allergies. Fish welfare and quality of flesh were established with biochemical, texture and sensorial analysis. Results: Fish welfare shows no major impact between diets. In case of creatine supplementation in D. labrax proteomic analysis show a slight decrease in parvalbumin expression. No accumulation of this compound was found in muscle. For EDTA supplementation in S. aurata IgE assay show a slight decrease in allergenicity when using sera of fish allergic patients. Conclusion: Supplementation with these two compounds seems to change slightly the allergenicity of the two mean Mediterranean species.

Keywords: fish allergies, fish nutrition, proteomics, aquaculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Simone Tedeschi, Francesco Crespi, Paolo Liberati, Massimo Paradiso, Antonio Sciala

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This paper aims at contributing to the understanding of smokers’ responses to cigarette prices increases with a focus on heterogeneity, both across individuals and price levels. To do this, a stated preference quasi-experimental design grounded in a random utility framework is proposed to evaluate the effect on smokers’ utility of the price level and variation, along with social conditioning and health impact perception. The analysis is based on individual-level data drawn from a unique survey gathering very detailed information on Italian smokers’ habits. In particular, qualitative information on the individual reactions triggered by changes in prices of different magnitude and composition are exploited. The main findings stemming from the analysis are the following; the average price elasticity of cigarette consumption is comparable with previous estimates for advanced economies (-.32). However, the decomposition of this result across five latent-classes of smokers, reveals extreme heterogeneity in terms of price responsiveness, implying a potential price elasticity that ranges between 0.05 to almost 1. Such heterogeneity is in part explained by observable characteristics such as age, income, gender, education as well as (current and lagged) smoking intensity. Moreover, price responsiveness is far from being independent from the size of the prospected price increase. Finally, by comparing even and uneven price variations, it is shown that uniform across-brand price increases are able to limit the scope of product substitutions and downgrade. Estimated price-response heterogeneity has significant implications for tax policy. Among them, first, it provides evidence and a rationale for why the aggregate price elasticity is likely to follow a strictly increasing pattern as a function of the experienced price variation. This information is crucial for forecasting the effect of a given tax-driven price change on tax revenue. Second, it provides some guidance on how to design excise tax reforms to balance public health and revenue goals.

Keywords: smoking behaviour, preference heterogeneity, price responsiveness, cigarette taxation, random utility models

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Zeynep Şahin, Züleyha Yılmaz, Fikret Çankaya

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In today's business world, in which it is difficult to survive, the economic life of products, services or knowledge is considerably reduced. Competitors produce similar products or extra-featured ones instantly. In this environment, the contribution of companies to the social and economic environment is a preferred criterion by consumers alongside products or services. Therefore, consumers need to obtain more detailed information about companies. Besides, this drastic change in the market encourages companies to become sustainable. Sustainable business means the company puts consumed products back. Corporate sustainability, corresponds to sustainability at the level of the company, and gives equal importance to company growth and profitability together with environmental and social issues. The BIST Sustainability Index started to be calculated by the Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST) in 2014 to evaluate the sustainability performance of companies in Turkey. The main objective of this study is to present the importance of sustainability reports in Turkey. To this aim, the performances of 15 companies in the BIST Sustainability Index were compared the periods before and after entering the index. On the other hand, sustainability reporting practices should be encouraged to increase studies on this issue. In this context, to remain on the agenda of the issue is a further objective of this study. To achieve these objectives, the financial data of the companies in the period before and after entering to the BIST Sustainability Index were analyzed using t-test in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) package. The results of the study showed that no significant difference between the performances of the companies in terms of the net profit margin, the return on assets and equity capital in these periods could be found. Therefore, it can be said that insufficient importance is given to sustainability issues in Turkey. The reasons for this situation might be considered as a lack of awareness due to the recent introduction and calculation of the index. It is expected that the awareness of firms and investors about sustainability will increase, and that they will demonstrate the necessary importance to this issue over time.

Keywords: sustainability reporting, sustainability index, firm performance, BIST sustainability index

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Authors: Mário Silva, Filipa Gomes, Filipa Oliveira, Simone Morais, Cristina Delerue-Matos

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Brown seaweeds are abundant in Portuguese coastline and represent an almost unexploited marine economic resource. One of the most common species, easily available for harvesting in the northwest coast, is Saccorhiza polyschides grows in the lowest shore and costal rocky reefs. It is almost exclusively used by local farmers as natural fertilizer, but contains a substantial amount of valuable compounds, particularly alginates, natural biopolymers of high interest for many industrial applications. Alginates are natural polysaccharides present in cell walls of brown seaweed, highly biocompatible, with particular properties that make them of high interest for the food, biotechnology, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional extraction processes are based on thermal treatment. They are lengthy and consume high amounts of energy and solvents. In recent years, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) has shown enormous potential to overcome major drawbacks that outcome from conventional plant material extraction (thermal and/or solvent based) techniques, being also successfully applied to the extraction of agar, fucoidans and alginates. In the present study, acid pretreatment of brown seaweed Saccorhiza polyschides for subsequent microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of alginate was optimized. Seaweeds were collected in Northwest Portuguese coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean between May and August, 2014. Experimental design was used to assess the effect of temperature and acid pretreatment time in alginate extraction. Response surface methodology allowed the determination of the optimum MAE conditions: 40 mL of HCl 0.1 M per g of dried seaweed with constant stirring at 20ºC during 14h. Optimal acid pretreatment conditions have enhanced significantly MAE of alginates from Saccorhiza polyschides, thus contributing for the development of a viable, more environmental friendly alternative to conventional processes.

Keywords: acid pretreatment, alginate, brown seaweed, microwave-assisted extraction, response surface methodology

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Authors: Narasamma Nippatlapallia

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Communities across the world are desperate to get their environment free of toxic per-poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) especially when these chemicals are in aqueous media. In the present study, two different chain length PFAS (PFHxA (C6), PFDA (C10)) are selected for degradation using a modified continuous flow nonthermal plasma. The results showed 82.3% PFHxA and 94.1 PFDA degradation efficiencies, respectively. The defluorination efficiency is also evaluated which is 28% and 34% for PFHxA and PFDA, respectively. The results clearly indicates that the structure of PFAS has a great impact on degradation efficiency. The effect of flow rate is studied. increase in flow rate beyond 2 mL/min, decrease in degradation efficiency of the targeted PFAS was noticed. PFDA degradation was decreased from 85% to 42%, and PFHxA was decreased to 32% from 64% with increase in flow rate from 2 to 5 mL/min. Similarly, with increase in flow rate the percentage defluorination was decreased for both C10, and C6 compounds. This observation can be attributed to mainly because of change in residence time (contact time). Real water/wastewater is a composition of various organic, and inorganic ions that may affect the activity of oxidative species such as 𝑂𝐻. radicals on the target pollutants. Therefore, it is important to consider radicals quenching chemicals to understand the efficiency of the reactor. In gas-liquid NTP discharge reactors 𝑂𝐻. , 𝑒𝑎𝑞 − , 𝑂 . , 𝑂3, 𝐻2𝑂2, 𝐻. are often considered as reactive species for oxidation and reduction of pollutants. In this work, the role played by two distinct 𝑂 .𝐻 Scavengers, ethanol and glycerol, on PFAS percentage degradation, and defluorination efficiency (i,e., fluorine removal) are measured was studied. The addition of scavenging agents to the PFAS solution diminished the PFAS degradation to different extents depending on the target compound molecular structure. In comparison with the degradation of only PFAS solution, the addition of 1.25 M ethanol inhibited C10, and C6 degradation by 8%, and 12%, respectively. This research was supported with energy efficiency, production rate, and specific yield, fluoride, and PFAS concentration analysis with respect to optimum hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the continuous flow reactor.

Keywords: wastewater, PFAS, nonthermal plasma, mineralization, defluorination

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Authors: Jin-Siang Shaw, Patricia Moya Caceres, Sheng-Xiang Xu

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This paper aims to integrate the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method with the adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller (AFSMC) to achieve vibration attenuation in a piezoelectric actuator subject to base excitation. The piezoelectric actuator is a complicated system made of ferroelectric materials and its performance can be affected by nonlinear hysteresis loop and unknown system parameters and external disturbances. In this study, an adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller is proposed for the vibration control of the system, because the fuzzy sliding mode controller is designed to tackle the unknown parameters and external disturbance of the system, and the adaptive algorithm is aimed for fine-tuning this controller for error converging purpose. Particle swarm optimization method is used in order to find the optimal controller parameters for the piezoelectric actuator. PSO starts with a population of random possible solutions, called particles. The particles move through the search space with dynamically adjusted speed and direction that change according to their historical behavior, allowing the values of the particles to quickly converge towards the best solutions for the proposed problem. In this paper, an initial set of controller parameters is applied to the piezoelectric actuator which is subject to resonant base excitation with large amplitude vibration. The resulting vibration suppression is about 50%. Then PSO is applied to search for an optimal controller in the neighborhood of this initial controller. The performance of the optimal fuzzy sliding mode controller found by PSO indeed improves up to 97.8% vibration attenuation. Finally, adaptive version of fuzzy sliding mode controller is adopted for further improving vibration suppression. Simulation result verifies the performance of the adaptive controller with 99.98% vibration reduction. Namely the vibration of the piezoelectric actuator subject to resonant base excitation can be completely annihilated using this PSO based adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller.

Keywords: adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller, particle swarm optimization, piezoelectric actuator, vibration suppression

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Authors: Bong Jae Lee, Jeong Il Lee, Hyo Su Kim

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Both developed and developing countries have adopted the decision to join the Paris agreement to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 meeting in Paris. As a result, the developed and developing countries have to submit the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) by 2020, and each country will be assessed for their performance in reducing GHG. After that, they shall propose a reduction target which is higher than the previous target every five years. Therefore, an accurate method for calculating greenhouse gas emissions is essential to be presented as a rational for implementing GHG reduction measures based on the reduction targets. Non-CO2 GHGs (CF4, NF3, N2O, SF6 and so on) are being widely used in fabrication process of semiconductor manufacturing, and etching/deposition process of display manufacturing process. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) value of Non-CO2 is much higher than CO2, which means it will have greater effect on a global warming than CO2. Therefore, GHG calculation methods of the electronics industry are provided by Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and it will be discussed at ISO/TC 146 meeting. As discussed earlier, being precise and accurate in calculating Non-CO2 GHG is becoming more important. Thus this study aims to discuss the implications of the calculating methods through comparing the methods of IPCC and EPA. As a conclusion, after analyzing the methods of IPCC & EPA, the method of EPA is more detailed and it also provides the calculation for N2O. In case of the default emission factor (by IPCC & EPA), IPCC provides more conservative results compared to that of EPA; The factor of IPCC was developed for calculating a national GHG emission, while the factor of EPA was specifically developed for the U.S. which means it must have been developed to address the environmental issue of the US. The semiconductor factory ‘A’ measured F gas according to the EPA Destruction and Removal Efficiency (DRE) protocol and estimated their own DRE, and it was observed that their emission factor shows higher DRE compared to default DRE factor of IPCC and EPA Therefore, each country can improve their GHG emission calculation by developing its own emission factor (if possible) at the time of reporting Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (No. 10053589).

Keywords: non-CO2 GHG, GHG emission, electronics industry, measuring method

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Authors: Elena Vinogradova, Aleksei Pleshakov, Aleksei Yakovlev

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During the flight of a supersonic aircraft under various conditions (altitude, Mach, etc.), it becomes necessary to coordinate the operating modes of the air intake and engine. On the supersonic aircraft, it’s been done by changing various control factors (the angle of rotation of the wedge panels and etc.). This paper investigates the possibility of using modern optimization methods to determine the optimal position of the supersonic air intake wedge panels in order to maximize the total pressure recovery coefficient. Modern software allows us to conduct auto-optimization, which determines the optimal position of the control elements of the investigated product to achieve its maximum efficiency. In this work, the flow in the supersonic aircraft inlet has investigated and optimized the operation of the flaps of the supersonic inlet in an aircraft in a 2-D setting. This work has done using ANSYS CFX software. The supersonic aircraft inlet is a flat adjustable external compression inlet. The braking surface is made in the form of a three-stage wedge. The IOSO NM software package was chosen for optimization. Change in the position of the panels of the input device is carried out by changing the angle between the first and second steps of the three-stage wedge. The position of the rest of the panels is changed automatically. Within the framework of the presented work, the position of the moving air intake panel was optimized under fixed flight conditions of the aircraft under a certain engine operating mode. As a result of the numerical modeling, the distribution of total pressure losses was obtained for various cases of the engine operation, depending on the incoming flow velocity and the flight altitude of the aircraft. The results make it possible to obtain the maximum total pressure recovery coefficient under given conditions. Also, the initial geometry was set with a certain angle between the first and second wedge panels. Having performed all the calculations, as well as the subsequent optimization of the aircraft input device, it can be concluded that the initial angle was set sufficiently close to the optimal angle.

Keywords: optimal angle, optimization, supersonic air intake, total pressure recovery coefficient

Procedia PDF Downloads 242

Authors: Sonu Rana, Jyoti Verma, A. K. Gautam

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In most developing countries like India, the majority of the population heavily relies on agriculture for their livelihood. The yield of agriculture is heavily dependent on uncertain weather conditions like a monsoon, soil fertility, availability of irrigation facilities and fertilizers as well as support from the government. The agricultural yield is quite less compared to the effort put in due to inefficient agricultural facilities and obsolete farming practices on the one hand and lack of knowledge on the other hand, and ultimately agricultural community does not prosper. It is therefore essential for the farmers to improve their harvest yield by the acquisition of related data such as soil condition, temperature, humidity, availability of irrigation facilities, availability of, manure, etc., and adopt smart farming techniques using modern agricultural equipment. Nowadays, using IOT technology in agriculture is the best solution to improve the yield with fewer efforts and economic costs. The primary focus of this work-related is IoT technology in the agriculture field. By using IoT all the parameters would be monitored by mounting sensors in an agriculture field held at different places, will collect real-time data, and could be transmitted by a transmitting device like an antenna. To improve the system, IoT will interact with other useful systems like Wireless Sensor Networks. IoT is exploring every aspect, so the radio frequency spectrum is getting crowded due to the increasing demand for wireless applications. Therefore, Federal Communications Commission is reallocating the spectrum for various wireless applications. An antenna is also an integral part of the newly designed IoT devices. The main aim is to propose a new antenna structure used for IoT agricultural applications and compatible with this new unlicensed frequency band. The main focus of this paper is to present work related to these technologies in the agriculture field. This also presented their challenges & benefits. It can help in understanding the job of data by using IoT and correspondence advancements in the horticulture division. This will help to motivate and educate the unskilled farmers to comprehend the best bits of knowledge given by the huge information investigation utilizing smart technology.

Keywords: smart agriculture, IoT, agriculture technology, data analytics, smart technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Prasanna Belur, P. R. Ashwini, Sampath Charanyaa, I. Regupathi

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Indian oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) are one of the richest and cheapest sources of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) such as Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The health benefits conferred by n-3 PUFA upon consumption, in the prevention and treatment of coronary, neuromuscular, immunological disorders and allergic conditions are well documented. Natural refined Indian Sardine oil generally contain about 25% (w/w) n-3 PUFA along with various unsaturated and saturated fatty acids in the form of mono, di, and triglycerides. Having high concentration of n-3 PUFA content in the glyceride form is most desirable for human consumption to avail maximum health benefits. Thus, enhancing the n-3 PUFA content while retaining it in the glyceride form with green technology is the need of the hour. In this study, refined Indian Sardine oil was subjected to selective hydrolysis by Candida antartica lipase to enhance n-3 PUFA content. The degree of hydrolysis and enhancement of n-3 PUFA content was estimated by determining acid value, Iodine value, EPA and DHA content (by Gas Chromatographic methods after derivitization) before and after hydrolysis. Various reaction parameters such as pH, temperature, enzyme load, lipid to aqueous phase volume ratio and incubation time were optimized by conducting trials with one parameter at a time approach. Incubating enzyme solution with refined sardine oil with a volume ratio of 1:1, at pH 7.0, for 60 minutes at 50 °C, with an enzyme load of 60 mg/ml was found to be optimum. After enzymatic treatment, the oil was subjected to refining to remove free fatty acids and moisture content using previously optimized refining technology. Enzymatic treatment at the optimal conditions resulted in 12.11 % enhancement in Degree of hydrolysis. Iodine number had increased by 9.7 % and n-3 PUFA content was enhanced by 112 % (w/w). Selective enhancement of n-3 PUFA glycerides, eliminating saturated and unsaturated fatty acids from the oil using enzyme is an interesting preposition as this technique is environment-friendly, cost effective and provide natural source of n-3 PUFA rich oil.

Keywords: Candida antartica, lipase, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, sardine oil

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Abdullah Faqihi, John Hedley

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Biosensors play a significant role in the healthcare sectors, scientific and technological progress. Developing electrodes that are easy to manufacture and deliver better electrochemical performance is advantageous for diagnostics and biosensing. They can be implemented extensively in various analytical tasks such as drug discovery, food safety, medical diagnostics, process controls, security and defence, in addition to environmental monitoring. Development of biosensors aims to create high-performance electrochemical electrodes for diagnostics and biosensing. A biosensor is a device that inspects the biological and chemical reactions generated by the biological sample. A biosensor carries out biological detection via a linked transducer and transmits the biological response into an electrical signal; stability, selectivity, and sensitivity are the dynamic and static characteristics that affect and dictate the quality and performance of biosensors. In this research, a developed experimental study for laser scribing technique for graphene oxide inside a vacuum chamber for processing of graphene oxide is presented. The processing of graphene oxide (GO) was achieved using the laser scribing technique. The effect of the laser scribing on the reduction of GO was investigated under two conditions: atmosphere and vacuum. GO solvent was coated onto a LightScribe DVD. The laser scribing technique was applied to reduce GO layers to generate rGO. The micro-details for the morphological structures of rGO and GO were visualised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy so that they could be examined. The first electrode was a traditional graphene-based electrode model, made under normal atmospheric conditions, whereas the second model was a developed graphene electrode fabricated under a vacuum state using a vacuum chamber. The purpose was to control the vacuum conditions, such as the air pressure and the temperature during the fabrication process. The parameters to be assessed include the layer thickness and the continuous environment. Results presented show high accuracy and repeatability achieving low cost productivity.

Keywords: laser scribing, lightscribe DVD, graphene oxide, scanning electron microscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 122