Search results for: wind environment

Authors: Ashish Agarwal, Vaibhav Singh

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Harmful emissions from oil and gas processing facilities have long remained a matter of concern for governments and environmentalists throughout the world. This paper analyses Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) gas processing plant in Hazira, Gujarat, India. It is the largest gas-processing complex in the country designed to process 41MMSCMD sour natural gas & associated sour condensate. The complex, sprawling over an area of approximate 705 hectares is the mother plant for almost all industries at Hazira and enroute Hazira Bijapur Jagdishpur pipeline. Various sources of pollution from each unit starting from Gas Terminal to Dew Point Depression unit and Caustic Wash unit along the processing chain were examined with the help of different emission data obtained from ONGC. Pollution discharged to the environment was classified into Water, Air, Hazardous Waste and Solid (Non-Hazardous) Waste so as to analyze each one of them efficiently. To protect air environment, Sulphur recovery unit along with automatic ambient air quality monitoring stations, automatic stack monitoring stations among numerous practices were adopted. To protect water environment different effluent treatment plants were used with due emphasis on aquaculture of the nearby area. Hazira plant has obtained the authorization for handling and disposal of five types of hazardous waste. Most of the hazardous waste were sold to authorized recyclers and the rest was given to Gujarat Pollution Control Board authorized vendors. Non-Hazardous waste was also handled with an overall objective of zero negative impact on the environment. The effect of methods adopted is evident from emission data of the plant which was found to be well under Gujarat Pollution Control Board limits.

Keywords: sulphur recovery unit, effluent treatment plant, hazardous waste, sour gas

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Authors: M. Belouadah, S. Rahmouni, N. Teballe

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The durability of concrete is not one of its features, but its response to service loads and environmental conditions. Thus, the durability of concrete depends on a variety of material characteristics, but also the aggressiveness of the environment. Much durability problems encountered in tropical regions (region M'sila) due to the presence of chlorides and sulfates (in the ground or in the aggregate) with the additional aggravation of the effect of hot weather and arid. This lack of sustainability has a direct influence on the structure of the building and can lead to the complete deterioration of many buildings. The characteristics of the nature of fillers are evaluated based on the degree of aggressiveness of the environment considering as a means of characterization: mechanical strength, porosity. Specimens will be exposed to different storage media chemically aggressive drinking water, salts and sulfates (sodium chloride, MgSO4), solutions are not renewed or PH control solutions. The parameters taken into account are: age, the nature and degree of aggressiveness of the environment conservation, the incorporation of adjuvant type superplasticizer dosage and mineral additives.

Keywords: ordinary concretes, marble powder fillers, adjuvant, strength

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Authors: Melike Sultan Karasu Asnaz, Ayse Ozdogan Dolcek

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Crop drying, which aims to reduce the moisture content to a certain level, is a method used to extend the shelf life and prevent it from spoiling. One of the oldest food preservation techniques is open sunor shade drying. Even though this technique is the most affordable of all drying methods, there are some drawbacks such as contamination by insects, environmental pollution, windborne dust, and direct expose to weather conditions such as wind, rain, hail. However, solar dryers that provide a hygienic and controllable environment to preserve food and extend its shelf life have been developed and used to dry agricultural products. Thus, foods can be dried quickly without being affected by weather variables, and quality products can be obtained. This research is mainly devoted to investigating the modelling of drying kinetics of cantaloupe in a forced convection solar dryer. Mathematical models for the drying process should be defined to simulate the drying behavior of the foodstuff, which will greatly contribute to the development of solar dryer designs. Thus, drying experiments were conducted and replicated five times, and various data such as temperature, relative humidity, solar irradiation, drying air speed, and weight were instantly monitored and recorded. Moisture content of sliced and pretreated cantaloupe were converted into moisture ratio and then fitted against drying time for constructing drying curves. Then, 10 quasi-theoretical and empirical drying models were applied to find the best drying curve equation according to the Levenberg-Marquardt nonlinear optimization method. The best fitted mathematical drying model was selected according to the highest coefficient of determination (R²), and the mean square of the deviations (χ^²) and root mean square error (RMSE) criterial. The best fitted model was utilized to simulate a thin layer solar drying of cantaloupe, and the simulation results were compared with the experimental data for validation purposes.

Keywords: solar dryer, mathematical modelling, drying kinetics, cantaloupe drying

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Authors: Yujie Zhao, Jiantao Weng

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In the past decade, with the rapid development of China's economy, the purchasing power and physical demand of residents have been improved, which results in the vast emergence of public buildings like large shopping malls. However, the architects usually focus on the internal functions and streamlines of these buildings, ignoring the impact of the environment on the subjective feelings of building users. Only in Zhejiang province, the infiltration of cold air in winter frequently occurs at the entrance of sizeable commercial complex buildings that have been in operation, which will affect the environmental comfort of the building lobby and internal public spaces. At present, to reduce these adverse effects, it is usually adopted to add active equipment, such as setting air curtains to block air exchange or adding heating air conditioners. From the perspective of energy consumption, the infiltration of cold air into the entrance will increase the heat consumption of indoor heating equipment, which will indirectly cause considerable economic losses during the whole winter heating stage. Therefore, it is of considerable significance to explore the suitable entrance forms for improving the environmental comfort of commercial buildings and saving energy. In this paper, a commercial complex with apparent cold air infiltration problem in Hangzhou is selected as the research object to establish a model. The environmental parameters of the building entrance, including temperature, wind speed, and infiltration air volume, are obtained by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation, from which the heat consumption caused by the natural air infiltration in the winter and its potential economic loss is estimated as the objective metric. This study finally obtains the optimization direction of the building entrance form of the commercial complex by comparing the simulation results of other local commercial complex projects with different entrance forms. The conclusions will guide the entrance design of the same type of commercial complex in this area.

Keywords: air infiltration, commercial complex, heat consumption, CFD simulation

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Authors: Mohd Shahneel Saharudin, Jiacheng Wei, Islam Shyha, Fawad Inam

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This study aimed to investigate the effect of aggressive environment on the flexural properties of halloysite nanotubes-polyester nanocomposites. Results showed that the addition of halloysite nanotubes into polyester matrix was found to improve flexural properties of the nanocomposites in dry condition and after water-methanol exposure. Significant increase in surface roughness was also observed and measured by Alicona Infinite Focus optical microscope.

Keywords: halloysite nanotube, composites, flexural properties, surface roughness

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Authors: Ayobami Kehinde

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The literary representations of the family, tradition and change in African literature offer an immense, and as yet little theorised area of literary scholarship. Therefore, this paper explores the nexus among the family, tradition and change in five purposively selected post-colonial African fiction: Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, Wale Okediran’s Tenants of the House, J. M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country, Tsitsi Dangrembga’s Nervous Condition and Meja Mwangi’s Striving for the Wind. The methodology centres on analysing, questioning, undermining and celebrating the family and its contemporary vicissitudes as depicted in the texts. This is with a view to exploring the postcolonial novel with references to concepts developed by major theorists in the field of postcolonial studies, including Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Kwame Appiah and Achille Mbembe. It is revealed that in spite of the fact that the family is a vital institution, the primary social unit in any community, an agent of acculturation and the first focus of development, independence and growth, the texts reflect a diversity of problems confronting the family unit in Africa. These include the multiple problems of disrupted family lives, enforced family separation, political and personal violence with the domestic environment. It is concluded that the post-colonial African novel is a quintessential weapon to analyse the continent, opening up to the reader the specific expressions and experiences of human lives and their wider contexts. Therefore, the post-colonial African novel is a primary socio-cultural indicator representing an immense variety of lived realities in the continent. The study, therefore, suggests a concerted concern with the preservation of traditional family structures and other related aspects, such as cultural values, spirituality, gender roles and mutual trust.

Keywords: family, African fiction, postcolonialism, African tradition, domestic dissonance

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Authors: Y. Benabid, K. Benfriha, V. Rieuf, J. F. Omhover

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This paper describes an approach to create custom concepts for innovative products; this approach describes relations between innovation tools and Computer Aided Design environment (use creativity session and design tools). A model for the design process is proposed and explored in order to describe the power tool used to create and ameliorate an innovative product all based upon a range of data (cloud points) in this study. Comparison between traditional method and innovative method we help to generate and put forward a new model of the design process in order to create a custom Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) in a CAD environment in order to ameliorate and controlling the motion. The custom concept needs big development in different environments; the relation between these environments is described. The results can help the surgeons in the upstream treatment phases. CAD models can be applied and accepted by professionals in the design and manufacture systems. This development is based on the anatomy of the population of North Africa.

Keywords: ankle foot orthosis, CAD, reverse engineering, sketch

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Authors: Djamila Nebbali, Rezki Nebbali, Ahmed Ouibrahim

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This study focuses on the cooling of a photovoltaic panel (PV). Indeed, the cooling improves the conversion capacity of this one and maintains, under extreme conditions of air temperature, the panel temperature at an appreciable level which avoids the altering. To do this, a fan provides forced circulation of air. Because the fan is supplied by the panel, it is necessary to determine the optimum operating point that unites efficiency of the PV with the consumption of the fan. For this matter, numerical simulations are performed at varying mass flow rates of air, under two extreme air temperatures (50°C, 25°C) and a fixed solar radiation (1000 W.m2) in a case of no wind.

Keywords: energy conversion, efficiency, balance energy, solar cell

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Authors: Maria Christofi, George Plastiras, Rafaella Elia, Vaggelis Tsiourtis, Theocharis Theocharides, Miltiadis Katsaros

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The rapidly expanding urban areas of the world constitute a challenge of how we need to make the transition to "the next urbanization", which will be defined by new analytical tools and new sources of data. This paper is about the production of a spatial application, the ‘FUMapp’, where space and its initiative will be available literally, in meters, but also abstractly, at a sensed level. While existing spatial applications typically focus on illustrations of the urban infrastructure, the suggested application goes beyond the existing: It investigates how our environment's perception adapts to the alterations of the built environment through a dataset construction of biophysical measurements (eye-tracking, heart beating), and physical metrics (spatial characteristics, size of stimuli, rhythm of mobility). It explores the intersections between architecture, cognition, and computing where future design can be improved and identifies the flexibility and livability of the ‘available space’ of specific examined urban paths.

Keywords: biophysical data, flexibility of urban, livability, next urbanization, spatial application

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Authors: Mehrdad Rezaei, Reza Haghmaram, Nima Amjadi

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This paper proposes an operating and cost optimization model for micro-grid (MG). This model takes into account emission costs of NOx, SO2, and CO2, together with the operation and maintenance costs. Wind turbines (WT), photovoltaic (PV) arrays, micro turbines (MT), fuel cells (FC), diesel engine generators (DEG) with different capacities are considered in this model. The aim of the optimization is minimizing operation cost according to constraints, supply demand and safety of the system. The proposed genetic algorithm (GA), with the ability to fine-tune its own settings, is used to optimize the micro-grid operation.

Keywords: micro-grid, optimization, genetic algorithm, MG

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Authors: Karima Boukhadia

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In the present study, the subsonic flow in an asymmetrical diffuser was simulated numerically using code CFX 11.0 and its generator of grid ICEM CFD. Two models of turbulence were tested: K- ε and K- ω SST. The results obtained showed that the K- ε model singularly over-estimates the speed value close to the wall and that the K- ω SST model is qualitatively in good agreement with the experimental results of Buice and Eaton 1997. They also showed that the separation and reattachment of the fluid on the tilted wall strongly depends on its angle of inclination and that the length of the zone of separation increases with the angle of inclination of the lower wall of the diffuser.

Keywords: asymmetric diffuser, separation, reattachment, tilt angle, separation zone

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Authors: Rohaya Abdul Wahab, Raja Mohd Fuad Tengku Aziz, Nazaliza Othman, Sharifah Saleh, Nabihah Razali, Rozaimah Baharim, M. Hanif M. Nasir

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This paper will discuss how EDA tools are integrated and automated in an Integrated Circuit Design Environment. Some of the problems face in our current environment is that users need to configure manually on the library paths, start-up files and project directories. Certain manual processes that happen between the users and applications can be automated but they must be transparent to the users. For example, the users can run the applications directly after login without knowing the library paths and start-up files locations. The solution to these problems is to automate the processes using standard configuration files which will benefit the users and EDA support. This paper will discuss how the implementation is done to automate the process using scripting languages such as Perl, Tcl, Scheme and Shell Script. These scripting tools are great assets for design engineers to build a robust and powerful design flow and this technique is widely used to integrate all the tools together.

Keywords: EDA tools, Integrated Circuits, scripting, integration, automation

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Authors: Radek Richtr, Petr Paus

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The connection to the primal environment, living and growing nature is disappearing for most of the residents in urban core areas nowadays. Most of the residents perceive scattered green mass like more technical objects than sentient living organisms. The Arboretum is a type of application from the 'serious games' genre -it is a research experiment masked as a gaming environment. In used virtual and augmented reality environments, every city district is represented by central objects; Pillars created as a result of resident’s consensus. Every player can furthermore plant and grow virtual organic seeds everywhere he wants. Seeds sprout, and their form is determined by both players’ choice and nearest pillar. Every house, private rooms, and even workspace get their new living virtual avatar-connected 'residents' growing from player-planted seeds. Every room or workspace is transformed into (calming) nature scene, reflecting in some way both players and community spirit and together create a vicinity environment. The conceptual design phase of the project is crucial and allows for the identification of the fundamental problems through abstraction. The project that centers on wide community usage needs a clear and accessible interface. Simultaneously the conceptual design allows early sharing of project ideas and creating public concern. The paper discusses the current conceptual model of an Arboretum project (which is part of a whole widespread project) and its validation.

Keywords: augmented reality, conceptual design, mixed reality, social engineering

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Authors: Reihaneh Rafiemanzelat

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due to towards the rapid urbanization, cities throughout the world faced to rapid growth through gray infrastructure. Therefore designing cities based on green and blue infrastructure can offer the best solution to support healthy urban environment. This conformation with a wide range of ecosystem service has a positive impact on the regulation of air temperature, noise reduction, air quality, and also create a pleasant environment for humans activities. Research mainly focuses on the concept and principles of green and blue infrastructure in the city of Esfahan at the center of Iran in order to create a livable and healthy environment. Design principles for green and blue infrastructure are classified into two different but interconnect evaluations. Healthy green infrastructure assessing based on; volume, shape, location, dispersion, and maintenance. For blue infrastructure there are three aspects of water and ecosystem which are; the contribution of water on medical health, the contribution of water on mental health, and creating possibilities to exercise.

Keywords: healthy cities, livability, urban landscape, green and blue infrastructure

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Authors: Bruno Henrique Rocha Fernandes, Amir Rezaee, Jucelia Appio

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The relation between Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and organizational performance remains the subject of substantial literature. Though many studies demonstrated positive relationship, still major influencing variables are not yet clear. This study considers the Person-Environment Fit (PE Fit) and its components, Person-Supervisor (PS), Person-Group (PG), Person-Organization (PO) and Person-Job (PJ) Fit, as possible explanatory variables. We analyzed PE Fit as a moderator between HRM practices and financial performance in the “best companies to work” in Brazil. Data from HRM practices were classified through the High Performance Working Systems (HPWS) construct and data on PE-Fit were obtained through surveys among employees. Financial data, consisting of return on invested capital (ROIC) and price earnings ratio (PER) were collected for publicly traded best companies to work. Findings show that PO Fit and PJ Fit play a significant moderator role for PER but not for ROIC.

Keywords: financial performance, human resource management, high performance working systems, person-environment fit

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Authors: Tapas Goswami, Debabrata Goswami

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We have studied the changes in ground state recovery dynamics of IR 144 dye using degenerate transient absorption spectroscopy technique when going from homogeneous solution phase to heterogeneous partially miscible liquid/liquid interface. Towards this aim, we set up a partially miscible liquid/liquid interface in which dye is insoluble in one solvent carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) layer and soluble in other solvent dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO). A gradual increase in ground state recovery time of the dye molecule is observed from homogenous bulk solution to more heterogeneous environment interface layer. In the bulk solution charge distribution of dye molecule is in equilibrium with polar DMSO solvent molecule. Near the interface micro transportation of non-polar solvent, CCl₄ disturbs the solvent equilibrium in DMSO layer and it relaxes to a new equilibrium state corresponding to a new charge distribution of dye with a heterogeneous mixture of polar and non-polar solvent. In this experiment, we have measured the time required for the dye molecule to relax to the new equilibrium state in different heterogeneous environment. As a result, dye remains longer time in the excited state such that even it can populate more triplet state. The present study of ground state recovery dynamics of a cyanine dye molecule in different solvent environment provides the important characteristics of effect of solvation on excited life time of a dye molecule.

Keywords: excited state, ground state recovery, solvation, transient absorption

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Authors: Kaznah Alshammari, Thomas Beach, Yacine Rezgui

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Technological advances in the construction sector are helping to make smart cities a reality by means of cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS integrate information and the physical world through the use of information communication technologies (ICT). An increasingly common goal in the built environment is to integrate building information models (BIM) with the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor technologies using CPS. Future advances could see the adoption of digital twins, creating new opportunities for CPS using monitoring, simulation, and optimisation technologies. However, researchers often fail to fully consider the security implications. To date, it is not widely possible to assimilate BIM data and cybersecurity concepts, and, therefore, security has thus far been overlooked. This paper reviews the empirical literature concerning IoT applications in the built environment and discusses real-world applications of the IoT intended to enhance construction practices, people’s lives and bolster cybersecurity. Specifically, this research addresses two research questions: (a) how suitable are the current IoT and CPS security stacks to address the cybersecurity threats facing digital twins in the context of smart buildings and districts? and (b) what are the current obstacles to tackling cybersecurity threats to the built environment CPS? To answer these questions, this paper reviews the current state-of-the-art research concerning digital twins in the built environment, the IoT, BIM, urban cities, and cybersecurity. The results of these findings of this study confirmed the importance of using digital twins in both IoT and BIM. Also, eight reference zones across Europe have gained special recognition for their contributions to the advancement of IoT science. Therefore, this paper evaluates the use of digital twins in CPS to arrive at recommendations for expanding BIM specifications to facilitate IoT compliance, bolster cybersecurity and integrate digital twin and city standards in the smart cities of the future.

Keywords: BIM, cybersecurity, digital twins, IoT, urban cities

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Authors: Justin Zhengjie Tan, Yang Zhao

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Adiabatic Rapid Passage, a popular method of achieving population inversion, is studied in a Rabi dimer model in the presence of noise which acts as a dissipative environment. The integration of the multi-Davydov D2 Ansatz into the time-dependent variational framework enables us to model the intricate quantum system accurately. By influencing the system with a driving field strength resonant with the energy spacing, the probability of adiabatic rapid passage, which is modelled after the Landau Zener model, can be derived along with several other observables, such as the photon population. The effects of a dissipative environment can be reproduced by coupling the system to a common phonon mode. By manipulating the strength and frequency of the driving field, along with the coupling strength of the phonon mode to the qubits, we are able to control the qubits and photon dynamics and subsequently increase the probability of Adiabatic Rapid Passage happening.

Keywords: quantum electrodynamics, adiabatic rapid passage, Landau-Zener transitions, dissipative environment

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Authors: A. Bekbaev, M. Dzhamanbaev, R. Abitaeva, A. Karbozova, G. Nabyeva

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In this paper, the regression dependence of dancing intensity from wind speed and length of span was established due to the statistic data obtained from multi-year observations on line wires dancing accumulated by power systems of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. The lower and upper limitations of the equations parameters were estimated, as well as the adequacy of the regression model. The constructed model will be used in research of dancing phenomena for the development of methods and means of protection against dancing and for zoning plan of the territories of line wire dancing.

Keywords: power lines, line wire dancing, dancing intensity, regression equation, dancing area intensity

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Authors: Auday Al-Mayyahi, Phil Birch, William Wang

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A vision system-based navigation for autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) equipped with a single camera in an indoor environment is presented. A proposed navigation algorithm has been utilized to detect obstacles represented by coloured mini- cones placed in different positions inside a corridor. For the recognition of the relative position and orientation of the AGV to the coloured mini cones, the features of the corridor structure are extracted using a single camera vision system. The relative position, the offset distance and steering angle of the AGV from the coloured mini-cones are derived from the simple corridor geometry to obtain a mapped environment in real world coordinates. The corridor is first captured as an image using the single camera. Hence, image processing functions are then performed to identify the existence of the cones within the environment. Using a bounding box surrounding each cone allows to identify the locations of cones in a pixel coordinate system. Thus, by matching the mapped and pixel coordinates using a projection transformation matrix, the real offset distances between the camera and obstacles are obtained. Real time experiments in an indoor environment are carried out with a wheeled AGV in order to demonstrate the validity and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: autonomous ground vehicle, navigation, obstacle avoidance, vision system, single camera, image processing, ultrasonic sensor

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Authors: Baikunthanath Sahoo, Santosh Kumar Sahu, Krishna Malakar

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With the essence of global environmental sustainability and green business management, the wind of business research moved towards Corporate Social Responsibility. In addition to international and national treaties, businesses have also started realising environmental protection and energy efficiency through CSR as part of business strategy in response to climate change. Considering the ambitious emission reduction target and rapid economic development of India, this study is an attempt to explore the effect of CSR on the energy efficiency management of manufacturing firms in India. By using firm-level data, the panel fixed effect model shows that the CSR dummy variable is negatively influencing the energy intensity or technically, they are energy efficient. The result demonstrates that in the presence of CSR, all the production economic variables are significant. The result also shows that doing environmental expenditure does not improve energy efficiency might be because very few firms are motivated to do such expenditure and also not common to all sectors. The interactive effect model result conforms that without considering CSR dummy as an intervening variable only Manufacturers of Chemical and Chemical products, Manufacturers of Pharmaceutical, medical chemical, and botanical products firms energy intensity low but after considering CSR in their business practices all six sub-sector firms become energy efficient. The empirical result also validate that firms are continuously engaged in CSR activities they are highly energy efficient. It is an important motivational factor for firms to become economically and environmentally sustainable in the corporate world. This analysis would help business practitioners to know how to manage today’s profitability and tomorrow’s sustainability to achieve a comparative advantage in the emerging market economy. The paper concludes that reducing energy consumption as part of their social responsibility to care for the environment, will need collaborative efforts of business society and policy bodies.

Keywords: CSR, Energy Efficiency, Indian manufacturing Sector, Business strategy

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Authors: Yezli-Touiker Samira, Amrani-Kirane Leila, Soltani Mazouni Nadia

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Due to secondary effects of conventional insecticides on the environment, the agrochemical research has resulted in the discovery of novel molecules. That research work will help in the development of a new group of pesticides that may be cheaper and less hazardous to the environment and non-target organisms which is the main desired outcome of the present work. Angiotensin-converting enzyme as a target for the development of novel insect growth regulators. Captopril is an inhibitor of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) it was tested in vivo by topical application on reproduction of Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The compound is diluted in acetone and applied topically to newly emerged pupae (10µg/ 2µl). The effects of this molecule was studied,on the biochemistry of ovary (on amounts nucleic acid, proteins, the qualitative analysis of the ovarian proteins and the reproductive potential (duration of the pre-oviposition, duration of the oviposition, number of eggs laid and hatching percentage). Captopril reduces significantly quantity of ovarian proteins and nucleic acid. The electrophoresis profile reveals the absence of tree bands at the treated series. This molecule reduced the duration of the oviposition period, the fecundity and the eggviability.

Keywords: environment, ephestia kuehniella, captopril, reproduction, the agrochemical research

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Authors: Kuei-Hao Li, Eden Huang

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Motivation suggests the willingness one person has towards taking action. Learners’ motivation has frequently been regarded as the most crucial factor in successful language acquisition. Without sufficient motivation, learners cannot achieve long-term learning goals despite remarkable abilities. Therefore, the study aims to investigate motivation of interaction tasks designed by the researchers for college EFL learners in Travel English class in virtual reality environment, integrating CUE model, Cognition, Usage and Expansion in the course. Thirty college learners were asked to join the virtual language learning website designed by the researchers. Data was collected via feedback questionnaire, interview, and learner interactions. The findings indicated that the course in the CUE model in language learning website of virtual reality environment was effective at motivating EFL learners and improving their oral communication and social interactions in the learning process. Some pedagogical implications are also provided in helping both language instructors and EFL learners in virtual reality environment.

Keywords: motivation, virtual reality, virtual language learning, second language acquisition

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Authors: Mohammad Javad Afroughi, Vahid Hosseini, Jason S. Olfert

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Both traffic-generated particles and noise have been associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases, especially in near-highway environments. Although noise and particulate matters (PM) have different mechanisms of dispersion, sharing the same emission source in urban areas (road traffics) can result in a similar degree of variability in their levels. This study investigated the temporal variation of and correlation between noise levels, PM concentrations and traffic intensities near a major highway in Tehran, Iran. Tehran particulate concentration is highly influenced by road traffic. Additionally, Tehran ultrafine particles (UFP, PM<0.1 µm) are mostly emitted from combustion processes of motor vehicles. This gives a high possibility of a strong association between traffic-related noise and UFP in near-highway environments of this megacity. Hourly average of equivalent continuous sound pressure level (Leq), total number concentration of UFPs, mass concentration of PM2.5 and PM10, as well as traffic count and speed were simultaneously measured over a period of three days in winter. Additionally, meteorological data including temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction were collected in a weather station, located 3 km from the monitoring site. Noise levels showed relatively low temporal variability in near-highway environments compared to PM concentrations. Hourly average of Leq ranged from 63.8 to 69.9 dB(A) (mean ~ 68 dB(A)), while hourly concentration of particles varied from 30,800 to 108,800 cm-3 for UFP (mean ~ 64,500 cm-3), 41 to 75 µg m-3 for PM2.5 (mean ~ 53 µg m-3), and 62 to 112 µg m-3 for PM10 (mean ~ 88 µg m-3). The Pearson correlation coefficient revealed strong relationship between noise and UFP (r ~ 0.61) overall. Under downwind conditions, UFP number concentration showed the strongest association with noise level (r ~ 0.63). The coefficient decreased to a lesser degree under upwind conditions (r ~ 0.24) due to the significant role of wind and humidity in UFP dynamics. Furthermore, PM2.5 and PM10 correlated moderately with noise (r ~ 0.52 and 0.44 respectively). In general, traffic counts were more strongly associated with noise and PM compared to traffic speeds. It was concluded that noise level combined with meteorological data can be used as a proxy to estimate PM concentrations (specifically UFP number concentration) in near-highway environments of Tehran. However, it is important to measure joint variability of noise and particles to study their health effects in epidemiological studies.

Keywords: noise, particulate matter, PM10, PM2.5, ultrafine particle

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Authors: Marwa Zein

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The long-term of the contract is one of the major features that distinguish international trade and investment contracts from other internal contracts. This is due to the nature of the contract and the huge works required to be performed from one hand or the desire of the parties to achieve stability in their transactions. However, long-term contracts might expose them to certain events and circumstances that impact the capability of the parties to execute their obligations pursuant to these contracts. During the year 2016, the Egyptian government has taken series of economic decisions which greatly impacted the economic and investment environment. Consequently, many contracts have encountered many problems in their execution due to such changes that greatly influence the performance of their obligation, a matter that necessitated the renegotiation of the conditions of these contracts on the basis of the unpredicted changes that could be listed under the Force Majeure Clause. The principle of fair and equitable treatment in investment placed on an obligation on the Egyptian government to consider the renegotiation of contract clauses based on the new conditions. This paper will discuss the idea of renegotiating international trade and investment contracts in Egypt with reference to the changes the economic environment has witnessed lately.

Keywords: change of circumstances, international contracts, investment contracts, renegotiation

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Authors: Kaisa M. Herne, Hanna E. Björkstedt

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Comparisons of online and laboratory environments are important for assessing whether the environment influences behavioral results. Trust game behavior was examined in three environments: 1) The standard laboratory setting with physically present participants (laboratory), 2) An online environment with an online meeting before playing the trust game (online plus a meeting); and 3) An online environment without a meeting (online without a meeting). In laboratory, participants were present in a classroom and played the trust game anonymously via computers. Online plus a meeting mimicked the laboratory in that participants could see each other in an online meeting before sessions started, whereas online without a meeting was a standard online experiment in which participants did not see each other at any stages of the experiment. Participants were recruited through pools of student subjects at two universities. The trust game was identical in all conditions; it was played with the same software, anonymously, and with stranger matching. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment conditions regarding trust or trustworthiness. Results suggest that conducting trust game experiments online will yield similar results to experiments implemented in a laboratory.

Keywords: laboratory vs. online experiment, trust behavior, trust game, trustworthiness behavior

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Authors: Rajesh Kumar, Puneet Aggarwal

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In context of understanding problems faced by undergraduate students while carrying out laboratory experiments dealing with high voltages, it was found that most of the students are hesitant to work directly on machine. The reason is that error in the circuitry might lead to deterioration of machine and laboratory instruments. So, it has become inevitable to include modern pedagogic techniques for undergraduate students, which would help them to first carry out experiment in virtual system and then to work on live circuit. Further advantages include that students can try out their intuitive ideas and perform in virtual environment, hence leading to new research and innovations. In this paper, virtual environment used is of MATLAB/Simulink for three-phase induction machines. The performance analysis of three-phase induction machine is carried out using virtual environment which includes Direct Current (DC) Test, No-Load Test, and Block Rotor Test along with speed torque characteristics for different rotor resistances and input voltage, respectively. Further, this paper carries out computer aided teaching of basic Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) drive circuitry. Hence, this paper gave undergraduates a clearer view of experiments performed on virtual machine (No-Load test, Block Rotor test and DC test, respectively). After successful implementation of basic tests, VSI circuitry is implemented, and related harmonic distortion (THD) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of current and voltage waveform are studied.

Keywords: block rotor test, DC test, no load test, virtual environment, voltage source inverter

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Authors: Sabita Mahapatra

Abstract:

‘Going green’ has been an emerging issue worldwide driving companies to continuously enhance their green capabilities and implement innovative green practices to protect the environment and improve business performance. Green has become a contemporary business environmental issue. The resource advantage theory is adopted in the present study to observe the impact of marketing orientation and green innovation practices on environmental and firm’s performance. The small and medium firms compared to large firms have different approach towards market orientation as a strategic tool. The present study proposes a conceptual framework regarding the impact of market orientation on environmental and firm’s performance through green innovation practices in the context of small and medium scale industries (SMEs). The propositions developed in the present paper would provide scope for future research study to validate the conceptual framework in the emerging economy like India.

Keywords: market orientation, green innovation practices, environment performance, corporate performance, emerging market

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Authors: Sidrah Ahmed

Abstract:

The river and lakes flows are modeled mathematically by shallow water equations that are depth-averaged Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations under Boussinesq approximation. The temperature stratification dynamics influence the water quality and mixing characteristics. It is mainly due to the atmospheric conditions including air temperature, wind velocity, and radiative forcing. The experimental observations are commonly taken along vertical scales and are not sufficient to estimate small turbulence effects of temperature variations induced characteristics of shallow flows. Wind shear stress over the water surface influence flow patterns, heat fluxes and thermodynamics of water bodies as well. Hence it is crucial to couple temperature gradients with shallow water model to estimate the atmospheric effects on flow patterns. The Ripa system has been introduced to study ocean currents as a variant of shallow water equations with addition of temperature variations within the flow. Ripa model is a hyperbolic system of partial differential equations because all the eigenvalues of the system’s Jacobian matrix are real and distinct. The time steps of a numerical scheme are estimated with the eigenvalues of the system. The solution to Riemann problem of the Ripa model is composed of shocks, contact and rarefaction waves. Solving Ripa model with Riemann initial data with the central schemes is difficult due to the eigen structure of the system.This works presents the comparison of four different finite difference schemes for the numerical solution of Riemann problem for Ripa model. These schemes include Lax-Friedrichs, Lax-Wendroff, MacCormack scheme and a higher order finite difference scheme with WENO method. The numerical flux functions in both dimensions are approximated according to these methods. The temporal accuracy is achieved by employing TVD Runge Kutta method. The numerical tests are presented to examine the accuracy and robustness of the applied methods. It is revealed that Lax-Freidrichs scheme produces results with oscillations while Lax-Wendroff and higher order difference scheme produce quite better results.

Keywords: finite difference schemes, Riemann problem, shallow water equations, temperature gradients

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Authors: Rajesh Karki, Safal Bhattarai, Saket Adhikari

Abstract:

Reliable and economic operation of power systems are becoming extremely challenging with large scale integration of renewable energy sources due to the intermittency and uncertainty associated with renewable power generation. It is, therefore, important to make a quantitative risk assessment and explore the potential resources to mitigate such risks. Probabilistic models for different energy storage systems (ESS), such as the flywheel energy storage system (FESS) and the compressed air energy storage (CAES) incorporating specific charge/discharge performance and failure characteristics suitable for probabilistic risk assessment in power system operation and planning are presented in this paper. The proposed methodology used in FESS modelling offers flexibility to accommodate different configurations of plant topology. It is perceived that CAES has a high potential for grid-scale application, and a hybrid approach is proposed, which embeds a Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) method in an analytical technique to develop a suitable reliability model of the CAES. The proposed ESS models are applied to a test system to investigate the economic and reliability benefits of the energy storage technologies in system operation and planning, as well as to assess their contributions in facilitating wind integration during different operating scenarios. A comparative study considering various storage system topologies are also presented. The impacts of failure rates of the critical components of ESS on the expected state of charge (SOC) and the performance of the different types of ESS during operation are illustrated with selected studies on the test system. The paper also applies the proposed models on the test system to investigate the economic and reliability benefits of the different ESS technologies and to evaluate their contributions in facilitating wind integration during different operating scenarios and system configurations. The conclusions drawn from the study results provide valuable information to help policymakers, system planners, and operators in arriving at effective and efficient policies, investment decisions, and operating strategies for planning and operation of power systems with large penetrations of renewable energy sources.

Keywords: flywheel energy storage, compressed air energy storage, power system reliability, renewable energy, system planning, system operation

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