Search results for: tea consumption

Authors: Audrey Romero-Pelaez, Juan Carlos Morocho-Yunga

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The increasing amount of open educational resources (OER) published on the web for consumption in teaching and learning environments also generates a growing need to ensure the quality of these resources. The low level of OER discovery is one of the most significant drawbacks when faced with its reuse, and as a consequence, high-quality educational resources can go unnoticed. Metadata enables the discovery of resources on the web. The purpose of this study is to lay the foundations for open educational resources to achieve their first quality star within the Quality4OER Framework. In this study, we evaluate the quality of OER metadata and establish the main guidelines on metadata quality in this context.

Keywords: open educational resources, OER quality, quality metadata

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: K. Makangali, G. Tokysheva, A. Shoman

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Goat meat and goat meat products have garnered increasing attention within the realm of nutrition and health due to their potential to provide a myriad of benefits. This scientific article presents a comprehensive review of the health advantages associated with goat meat consumption and the products derived from it. The paper explores the nutritional content of goat meat, highlighting its favorable composition in terms of protein, essential minerals, and amino acids. It delves into the intricate balance of macronutrients, with lower fat and cholesterol levels compared to other meats, making goat meat a desirable choice for individuals seeking healthier dietary options.

Keywords: goat meat, amino acid, nutrition, meat products, meat

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Mariangela Viviani, Daniele Germano, Simone Colace, Agostino Forestiero, Giuseppe Papuzzo, Sara Laurita

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Nowadays, people spend most of their time in closed environments, in offices, or at home. Therefore, secure and highly livable environmental conditions are needed to reduce the probability of aerial viruses spreading. Also, to lower the human impact on the planet, it is important to reduce energy consumption. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems account for the major part of energy consumption in buildings [1]. Devising systems to control and regulate the airflow is, therefore, essential for energy efficiency. Moreover, an optimal setting for thermal comfort and air quality is essential for people’s well-being, at home or in offices, and increases productivity. Thanks to the features of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and techniques, it is possible to design innovative systems with: (i) Improved monitoring and prediction accuracy; (ii) Enhanced decision-making and mitigation strategies; (iii) Real-time air quality information; (iv) Increased efficiency in data analysis and processing; (v) Advanced early warning systems for air pollution events; (vi) Automated and cost-effective m onitoring network; and (vii) A better understanding of air quality patterns and trends. We propose AIR SAFE, an IoT-based infrastructure designed to optimize air quality and thermal comfort in indoor environments leveraging AI tools. AIR SAFE employs a network of smart sensors collecting indoor and outdoor data to be analyzed in order to take any corrective measures to ensure the occupants’ wellness. The data are analyzed through AI algorithms able to predict the future levels of temperature, relative humidity, and CO₂ concentration [2]. Based on these predictions, AIR SAFE takes actions, such as opening/closing the window or the air conditioner, to guarantee a high level of thermal comfort and air quality in the environment. In this contribution, we present the results from the AI algorithm we have implemented on the first s et o f d ata c ollected i n a real environment. The results were compared with other models from the literature to validate our approach.

Keywords: air quality, internet of things, artificial intelligence, smart home

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Authors: Gurjeet Khurana, Surender Singh, Poonam Arora, Praveendra K. Sachan

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Introduction: Post-operative quality of recovery is the key outcome in the perspective of anesthesiologist. It is directly related to patient satisfaction. This is unsurprising, considering most aspects of a poor quality recovery after surgery will impair satisfaction with care. This study was thus undertaken to evaluate effects of Dexamethasone and Lignocaine on Quality of Recovery using QoR- 40 questionnaire and compare their effects. Material and methods: After obtaining the ethical committee approval and written informed consent, 67 patients of 18-60 years, ASA grade I and II scheduled for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly allocated into two groups. Group I of 34 patients received 2mg/kg lignocaine diluted to 10ml with normal saline. Group 2 of 33 patients received 0.1 mg/kg I/V Dexamethasone diluted to 10ml with normal saline. QoR-40 was assessed on pre-operative day, and again QoR-40 was assessed at 24 hr post-operative day-1. Postoperative pain scores, nausea and vomiting and shoulder pain were secondary outcomes. Results: The Global QoR-40 was more than 180 at 24 hr in both the groups. The Dexamethasone group had higher Global QoR-40 than lignocaine group 187.94 v/s 182.85. Amongst dimensions of QoR-40 Dexamethasone had statistically better physical comfort, physical independence, and pain relief as compared to Lignocaine. Positive items had excellent responses in Dexamethasone group. Headache, backache and sore throat were also less severe in Dexamethasone group as compared to Lignocaine group. Dexamethasone group had lower VAS compared to lignocaine group. Similarly, there was less fentanyl consumption in dexamethasone group (364.08 ± 127.31) in postoperative period when compared to the lignocaine group (412.31 ± 147.8). Group receiving dexamethasone had 36% increase in appetite compared to lignocaine group (17.6%), which facilitated early oral feeding. Frequency of PONV was less in group-2 at different time interval as compared to group 1. Total episode of PONV were 18 in group 1 and 7 in group 2. Statistically significant difference was seen among two groups (p value= 0.007). Use of antiemetic was more in group 1 as compared to group 2 at all the times, though it was not statistically significant at different time intervals. Antiemetics were administered to 18 patients in group 1 as compared to 5 patients in group 2 postoperatively. Statistically significant difference (p value= 0.011) was seen in total antiemetic consumption. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that pre-operative administration of a single dose of dexamethasone enhanced the quality of recovery after laparoscopic cholecystectomy as compared to Lignocaine bolus dose.

Keywords: dexamethasone, lignocaine, QoR-40 questionnaire, quality of recovery

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Authors: Shantam Gupta

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The objective of this study is to address the critical need for automation in the domestic food processing sector and study its impact. Food is the one of the most basic physiological needs essential for the survival of a living being. Some of them have the capacity to prepare their own food (like most plants) and henceforth are designated as primary food producers; those who depend on these primary food producers for food form the primary consumers’ class (herbivores). Some of the organisms relying on the primary food are the secondary food consumers (carnivores). There is a third class of consumers called tertiary food consumers/apex food consumers that feed on both the primary and secondary food consumers. Humans form an essential part of the apex predators and are generally at the top of the food chain. But still further disintegration of the food habits of the modern human i.e. Homo sapiens, reveals that humans depend on other individuals for preparing their own food. The old notion of eating raw/brute food is long gone and food processing has become very trenchant in lives of modern human. This has led to an increase in dependence on other individuals for ‘processing’ the food before it can be actually consumed by the modern human. This has led to a further shift of humans in the classification of food chain of consumers. The effects of the shifts shall be systematically investigated in this paper. The processing of food has a direct impact on the economy of the individual (consumer). Also most individuals depend on other processing individuals for the preparation of food. This dependency leads to establishment of a vital link of dependency in the food web which when altered can adversely affect the food web and can have dire consequences on the health of the individual. This study investigates the challenges arising out due to this dependency and the impact of food processing on the economy of the individual. A comparison of Industrial food processing and processing at domestic platforms (households and restaurants) has been made to provide an idea about the present scenario of automation in the food processing sector. A lot of time and energy is also consumed while processing food at home for consumption. The high frequency of consumption of meals (greater than 2 times a day) makes it even more laborious. Through the medium of this study a pressing need for development of an automatic cooking machine is proposed with a mission to reduce the inter-dependency & human effort of individuals required for the preparation of food (by automation of the food preparation process) and make them more self-reliant The impact of development of this product has also further been profoundly discussed. Assumption used: The individuals those who process food also consume the food that they produce. (They are also termed as ‘independent’ or ‘self-reliant’ modern human beings.)

Keywords: automation, food processing, impact on economy, processing individual

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Authors: Narayan Prasad Adhikari

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In Nepal, the crop residues have often been considered as one of the potential sources of energy to cope with prevailing energy crisis. However, the lack of systematic studies about production and various other competent uses of crop production is the main obstacle to evaluate net potential of the residues for energy production. Under this background, this study aims to assess the net annual availability of crop residues for energy production by undertaking three different districts with the representation of country’s three major regions of lowland, hill, and mountain. The five major cereal crops of paddy, wheat, maize, millet, and barley are considered for the analysis. The analysis is based upon two modes of household surveys. The first mode of survey is conducted to total of 240 households to obtain key information about crop harvesting and livestock management throughout a year. Similarly, the quantification of main crops along with the respective residues on fixed land is carried out to 45 households during second mode. The range of area of such fixed land is varied from 50 to 100 m2. The measurements have been done in air dry basis. The quantity for competitive uses of respective crop residues is measured on the basis of respondents’ feedback. There are four major competitive uses of crop residues at household which are building material, burning, selling, and livestock fodder. The results reveal that the net annual available crop residues per household are 4663 kg, 2513 kg, and 1731 kg in lowland, hill, and mountain respectively. Of total production of crop residues, the shares of dedicated fodder crop residues (except maize stalk and maize cob) are 94 %, 62 %, and 89 % in lowland, hill, and mountain respectively and of which the corresponding shares of fodder are 87 %, 91 %, and 82 %. The annual percapita energy equivalent from net available crop residues in lowland, hill, and mountain are 2.49 GJ, 3.42 GJ, and 0.44 GJ which represent 30 %, 33 %, and 3 % of total annual energy consumption respectively whereas the corresponding current shares of crop residues are only 23 %, 8 %, and 1 %. Hence, even utmost exploitation of available crop residues can hardly contribute to one third of energy consumption at household level in lowland, and hill whereas this is limited to particularly negligible in mountain. Moreover, further analysis has also been done to evaluate district wise supply-demand context of dedicated fodder crop residues on the basis of presence of livestock. The high deficit of fodder crop residues in hill and mountain is observed where the issue of energy generation from these residues will be ludicrous. As a contrary, the annual production of such residues for livestock fodder in lowland meets annual demand with modest surplus even if entire fodder to be derived from the residues throughout a year and thus there seems to be further potential to utilize the surplus residues for energy generation.

Keywords: crop residues, hill, lowland, mountain

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Authors: Nacira Mecheri, N. Boussid

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A new chemical mechanism designed to study the process of forming the first aromatic ring (benzene) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from a flame of acetylene (C2H2) has been developed. The mechanism developed, contains 50 chemical species involved in 268 reversible elementary reactions. The comparison between the results from modelling and experimental measurements allowed us to test the validity of the postulated mechanism in specific experimental conditions. Kinetic analysis of the flame by calculating the maximum rates for each elementary reaction, allowed us to identify key reactions pathways of consumption and formation of main precursors of soot.

Keywords: benzene, PAH, acetylene, modeling, flame, soot

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Authors: Li (Claudia) Chen

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With the rapid development of the global economy, the growing prevalence of customer health consciousness has arisen over the last decade. Consumers are considered more healthy lifestyles and wellness routines in their daily life, and likewise, they are inclined to invest disposable incomes in enhancing their health and wellness, beauty, and social identity. Nowadays, visiting spas has become a popular activity; particularly, millennials are increasingly prone to visiting spas. It has now become one of the major places for relaxation, rejuvenation, revitalization, and enjoyment by providing various types of spa services such as hotel and resort spas, destination spas, mineral, and thermal spring spas, medical spas, and so forth. The hotel and resort spa has been becoming increasingly popular among other spas, which is the largest number of spas and revenue over the last five years, and has now surpassed day/salon spas as the industry revenue leader. In the hotel and resort spa industry, sensory experience plays a vital role in the customer journey, and it encompasses all aspects of the sense that can affect the overall experience. Consumers use senses-sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste to gather the information that contributes to the establishment of an experience, and all senses interacting together form the foundation of sensory experiences. Sensory marketing as a marketing strategy engages consumers' senses and affects their behaviour, yet consumers are often unaware of the way senses interact with their day-to-day experiences. Indeed, it is important to understand consumer sensory experience in terms of how it influences consumer consumption behaviour. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the sensory experiences of consumers and the ways that sensory experiences shape consumer behaviour in the hotel and resort spa industry. This paper consists of in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant-observation methods to collect data from different stakeholders. The findings reveal that multisensory experiences play vital roles in consumer spa experiences and are highly influential in consumer perception, cognition, and behaviour. Moreover, the findings also demonstrate that sensory stimuli bring positive or negative effects on consumer experience in the hotel spa industry. Ultimately, the findings also offer additional insight to managers on sensory marketing strategy to stimulate brand experience that can establish customer loyalty.

Keywords: sensory marketing, senses, consumer behaviour, multi-sensory marketing, hotel and resorts spa industry, qualitative research

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Authors: Yuanjun Chen, Yongjiang Shi

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Rising energy prices have drawn a focus to global energy issues, and the severe pollution that has resulted from energy-intensive industrial sectors has yet to be addressed. By combining Energy Efficiency with Industrial Symbiosis, the practices of efficient energy utilization and improvement can be not only enriched at the factory level but also upgraded into “within and/or between firm level”. The academic contribution of this paper provides a conceptual framework of energy management through IS. The management of waste energy within/between firms can contribute to the reduction of energy consumption and provides a solution to the environmental issues.

Keywords: energy efficiency, energy management, industrial symbiosis, energy-intensive industry

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Authors: Nishita Jaiswal, Apoorv Mohan Satpute

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The increasing demand for efficient, cost-effective motor control systems in the automotive industry has driven the need for advanced, highly optimized control algorithms. Field-Oriented Control (FOC) has established itself as the leading approach for motor control, offering precise and dynamic regulation of torque, speed, and position. However, as energy efficiency becomes more critical in modern applications, implementing FOC on low-power, cost-sensitive microcontrollers pose significant challenges due to the limited availability of computational and hardware resources. Currently, most solutions rely on high-performance 32-bit microcontrollers or Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) equipped with Floating Point Units (FPUs) and Hardware Accelerated Units (HAUs). These advanced platforms enable rapid computation and simplify the execution of complex control algorithms like FOC. However, these benefits come at the expense of higher costs, increased power consumption, and added system complexity. These drawbacks limit their suitability for embedded systems with strict power and budget constraints, where achieving energy and execution efficiency without compromising performance is essential. In this paper, we present an alternative approach that utilizes optimized data representation and computation techniques on a 16-bit microcontroller without FPUs or HAUs. By carefully optimizing data point formats and employing fixed-point arithmetic, we demonstrate how the precision and computational efficiency required for FOC can be maintained in resource-constrained environments. This approach eliminates the overhead performance associated with floating-point operations and hardware acceleration, providing a more practical solution in terms of cost, scalability and improved execution time efficiency, allowing faster response in motor control applications. Furthermore, it enhances system design flexibility, making it particularly well-suited for applications that demand stringent control over power consumption and costs.

Keywords: field-oriented control, fixed-point arithmetic, floating point unit, hardware accelerator unit, motor control systems

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Authors: Georgios A. Fragkiadakis, Antonia Psaroudaki, Theodora Mouratidou, Eirini Sfakianaki

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Research: Within the project "Actions for the optimal utilization of the potential of carob in the Region of Crete" which is financed-supervised by the Region, with collaboration of Crete University and Hellenic Mediterranean University, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) survey was carried out, to evaluate the prospects of carob in human nutrition, in Crete. Results and conclusions: 1). Strengths: There exists a local production of carob for human consumption, based on international reports, and local-product reports. The data on products in the market (over 100 brands of carob food), indicates a sufficiency of carob materials offered in Crete. The variety of carob food products retailed in Crete indicates a strong demand-production-consumption trend. There is a stable number (core) of businesses that invest significantly (Creta carob, Cretan mills, etc.). The great majority of the relevant food stores (bakery, confectionary etc.) do offer carob products. The presence of carob products produced in Crete is strong on the internet (over 20 main professionally designed websites). The promotion of the carob food-products is based on their variety and on a few historical elements connected with the Cretan diet. 2). Weaknesses: The international prices for carob seed affect the sector; the seed had an international price of €20 per kg in 2021-22 and fell to €8 in 2022, causing losses to carob traders. The local producers do not sort the carobs they deliver for processing, causing 30-40% losses of the product in the industry. The occasional high price triggers the collection of degraded raw material; large losses may emerge due to the action of insects. There are many carob trees whose fruits are not collected, e.g. in Apokoronas, Chania. The nutritional and commercial value of the wild carob fruits is very low. Carob trees-production is recorded by Greek statistical services as "other cultures" in combination with prickly pear i.e., creating difficulties in retrieving data. The percentage of carob used for human nutrition, in contrast to animal feeding, is not known. The exact imports of carob are not closely monitored. We have no data on the recycling of carob by-products in Crete. 3). Opportunities: The development of a culture of respect for carob trade may improve professional relations in the sector. Monitoring carob market and connecting production with retailing-industry needs may allow better market-stability. Raw material evaluation procedures may be implemented to maintain carob value-chain. The state agricultural services may be further involved in carob-health protection. The education of farmers on carob cultivation/management, can improve the quality of the product. The selection of local productive varieties, may improve the sustainability of the culture. Connecting the consumption of carob with health-food products, may create added value in the sector. The presence and extent of wild carob threes in Crete, represents, potentially, a target for grafting. 4). Threats: The annual fluctuation of carob yield challenges the programming of local food industry activities. Carob is a forest species also - there is danger of wrong classification of crops as forest areas, where land ownership is not clear.

Keywords: human nutrition, carob food, SWOT analysis, crete, greece

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Sendy Ghirardi, Pau Rausell Köster

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The European Commission increasingly pushes cultural policies towards social outcomes and local and regional authorities also call for culture-driven strategies for local development and prosperity and therefore, the measurement of cultural participation becomes increasingly more significant for evidence-based policy-making processes. Cultural participation involves various kinds of social and economic spillovers that combine social and economic objectives of value creation, including social sustainability and respect for human values. Traditionally, from the economic perspective, cultural consumption is measured by the value of financial transactions in purchasing, subscribing to, or renting cultural equipment and content, addressing the market value of cultural products and services. The main sources of data are the household spending survey and merchandise trade survey, among others. However, what characterizes the cultural consumption is that it is linked with the hedonistic and affective dimension rather than the utilitarian one. In fact, nowadays, more and more attention is being paid to the social and psychological dimensions of culture. The aim of this work is to present a comprehensive approach to measure the impacts of cultural participation and cultural users’ behaviour, combining both socio-psychological and economic approaches. The model combines contingent evaluation techniques with the individual characteristic and perception analysis of the cultural experiences to evaluate the cognitive, aesthetic, emotive and social impacts of cultural participation. To investigate the comprehensive approach to measure the impact of the cultural events on individuals, the research has been designed on the basis of prior theoretical development. A deep literature methodology has been done to develop the theoretical model applied to the web platform to measure the impacts of cultural experience on individuals. The developed framework aims to become a democratic tool for evaluating the services that cultural or policy institutions can adopt through the use of an interacting platform that produces big data benefiting academia, cultural management and policies. The Au Culture is a prototype based on an application that can be used on mobile phones or any other digital platform. The development of the AU Culture Platform has been funded by the Valencian Innovation Agency (Government of the Region of Valencia) and it is part of the Horizon 2020 project MESOC.

Keywords: comprehensive approach, cultural participation, economic dimension, socio-psychological dimension

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Authors: Sandeep Singh Waraich

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Wireless sensor network (WSN ) consists of a large number of sensor nodes. The disparity in their energy consumption usually lead to the loss of equilibrium in wireless sensor network which may further results in an energy hole problem in wireless network. In this paper, we have considered the inclusion of orphan nodes which usually remain unutilized as intermediate nodes in multi-hop routing. The Orphan Node Inclusion (ONI) Protocol lets the cluster member to bring the orphan nodes into their clusters, thereby saving important resources and increasing network lifetime in critical applications of WSN.

Keywords: wireless sensor network, orphan node, clustering, ONI protocol

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Authors: Saeidreza Radpour, Md. Alam Mondal, Amit Kumar

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Market penetration of high energy efficiency technologies has key impacts on energy consumption and GHG mitigation. Also, it will be useful to manage the policies formulated by public or private organizations to achieve energy or environmental targets. Energy intensity in residential sector of Alberta was 148.8 GJ per household in 2012 which is 39% more than the average of Canada 106.6 GJ, it was the highest amount among the provinces on per household energy consumption. Energy intensity by appliances of Alberta was 15.3 GJ per household in 2012 which is 14% higher than average value of other provinces and territories in energy demand intensity by appliances in Canada. In this research, a framework has been developed to analyze the market penetration and market share of high energy efficiency technologies in residential sector. The overall methodology was based on development of data-intensive models’ estimation of the market penetration of the appliances in the residential sector over a time period. The developed models were a function of a number of macroeconomic and technical parameters. Developed mathematical equations were developed based on twenty-two years of historical data (1990-2011). The models were analyzed through a series of statistical tests. The market shares of high efficiency appliances were estimated based on the related variables such as capital and operating costs, discount rate, appliance’s life time, annual interest rate, incentives and maximum achievable efficiency in the period of 2015 to 2050. Results show that the market penetration of refrigerators is higher than that of other appliances. The stocks of refrigerators per household are anticipated to increase from 1.28 in 2012 to 1.314 and 1.328 in 2030 and 2050, respectively. Modelling results show that the market penetration rate of stand-alone freezers will decrease between 2012 and 2050. Freezer stock per household will decline from 0.634 in 2012 to 0.556 and 0.515 in 2030 and 2050, respectively. The stock of dishwashers per household is expected to increase from 0.761 in 2012 to 0.865 and 0.960 in 2030 and 2050, respectively. The increase in the market penetration rate of clothes washers and clothes dryers is nearly parallel. The stock of clothes washers and clothes dryers per household is expected to rise from 0.893 and 0.979 in 2012 to 0.960 and 1.0 in 2050, respectively. This proposed presentation will include detailed discussion on the modelling methodology and results.

Keywords: appliances efficiency improvement, energy star, market penetration, residential sector

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Authors: Lucas Caldas, Pablo Paulse, Karla Hora

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Shipping containers are present in different Brazilian cities, firstly used for transportation purposes, but which become waste materials and an environmental burden in their end-of-life cycle. In the last decade, in Brazil, some buildings made partly or totally from shipping containers started to appear, most of them for commercial and office uses. Although the use of a reused container for buildings seems a sustainable solution, it is very important to measure the thermal and energy aspects when they are used as such. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the thermal and energy performance of an office building totally made from a 12-meter-long, High Cube 40’ shipping container in different Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones. Four different constructive solutions, mostly used in Brazil were chosen: (1) container without any covering; (2) with internally insulated drywall; (3) with external fiber cement boards; (4) with both drywall and fiber cement boards. For this, the DesignBuilder with EnergyPlus was used for the computational simulation in 8760 hours. The EnergyPlus Weather File (EPW) data of six Brazilian capital cities were considered: Curitiba, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Campo Grande, Teresina and Rio de Janeiro. Air conditioning appliance (split) was adopted for the conditioned area and the cooling setpoint was fixed at 25°C. The coefficient of performance (CoP) of air conditioning equipment was set as 3.3. Three kinds of solar absorptances were verified: 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 of exterior layer. The building in Teresina presented the highest level of energy consumption, while the one in Curitiba presented the lowest, with a wide range of differences in results. The constructive option of external fiber cement and drywall presented the best results, although the differences were not significant compared to the solution using just drywall. The choice of absorptance showed a great impact in energy consumption, mainly compared to the case of containers without any covering and for use in the hottest cities: Teresina, Rio de Janeiro, and Campo Grande. This study brings as the main contribution the discussion of constructive aspects for design guidelines for more energy-efficient container buildings, considering local climate differences, and helps the dissemination of this cleaner constructive practice in the Brazilian building sector.

Keywords: bioclimatic zones, Brazil, shipping containers, thermal and energy performance

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Authors: Regiane A. Oliveira, Carlos E. Vaz Rossell, Rubens Maciel Filho

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Lactic acid, besides a valuable chemical may be considered a platform for other chemicals. In fact, the feasibility of hemicellulosic sugars as feedstock for lactic acid production process, may represent the drop of some of the barriers for the second generation bioproducts, especially bearing in mind the 5-carbon sugars from the pre-treatment of sugarcane bagasse. Bearing this in mind, the purpose of this study was to use the hemicellulosic liquor from sugarcane bagasse as a substrate to produce lactic acid by fermentation. To release of sugars from hemicellulose it was made a pre-treatment with a diluted sulfuric acid in order to obtain a xylose's rich liquor with low concentration of inhibiting compounds for fermentation (≈ 67% of xylose, ≈ 21% of glucose, ≈ 10% of cellobiose and arabinose, and around 1% of inhibiting compounds as furfural, hydroxymethilfurfural and acetic acid). The hemicellulosic sugars associated with 20 g/L of yeast extract were used in a fermentation process with Lactobacillus plantarum to produce lactic acid. The fermentation process pH was controlled with automatic injection of Ca(OH)2 to keep pH at 6.00. The lactic acid concentration remained stable from the time when the glucose was depleted (48 hours of fermentation), with no further production. While lactic acid is produced occurs the concomitant consumption of xylose and glucose. The yield of fermentation was 0.933 g lactic acid /g sugars. Besides, it was not detected the presence of by-products, what allows considering that the microorganism uses a homolactic fermentation to produce its own energy using pentose-phosphate pathway. Through facultative heterofermentative metabolism the bacteria consume pentose, as is the case of L. plantarum, but the energy efficiency for the cell is lower than during the hexose consumption. This implies both in a slower cell growth, as in a reduction in lactic acid productivity compared with the use of hexose. Also, L. plantarum had shown to have a capacity for lactic acid production from hemicellulosic hydrolysate without detoxification, which is very attractive in terms of robustness for an industrial process. Xylose from hydrolyzed bagasse and without detoxification is consumed, although the hydrolyzed bagasse inhibitors (especially aromatic inhibitors) affect productivity and yield of lactic acid. The use of sugars and the lack of need for detoxification of the C5 liquor from sugarcane bagasse hydrolyzed is a crucial factor for the economic viability of second generation processes. Taking this information into account, the production of second generation lactic acid using sugars from hemicellulose appears to be a good alternative to the complete utilization of sugarcane plant, directing molasses and cellulosic carbohydrates to produce 2G-ethanol, and hemicellulosic carbohydrates to produce 2G-lactic acid.

Keywords: fermentation, lactic acid, hemicellulosic sugars, sugarcane

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Authors: Sina Movafagh, Younes Bakhshan

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Heat transfer of coolant flow through the automobile radiators is of great importance for the optimization of fuel consumption. In this study, the heat transfer performance of the automobile radiator is evaluated numerically. Different concentrations of nanofluids have been investigated by the addition of Al2O3 nano-particles into the water. Also, the effect of the inlet temperature of nanofluid on the performance of radiator is studied. Results show that with an increase of inlet temperature the outlet temperature and pressure drop along the radiator increase. Also, it has been observed that increase of nono-particle concentration will result in an increase in heat transfer rate within the radiator.

Keywords: heat transfer, nanofluid, car radiator, CFD simulation

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Authors: Walter Evaldo Kuchenbecker, Julio Carlos Teixeira

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Since efficiency became a challenge to reduce energy consumption of all electrical machines applications, the permanent magnet machine raises up as a better option, because its performance, robustness and simple control. Even though, the electrical machine was developed through analyses of magnetism effect, permanent magnet machines still not well dominated. As permanent magnet machines are becoming popular in most applications, the pressure to standardize this type of electrical machine increases. However, due limited domain, it is still nowadays without any standard to manufacture, test and application. In order to determine an inductance of the machine, a new method is proposed.

Keywords: permanent magnet generators (pmg), synchronous machine parameters, test procedures, inductances

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Authors: Bhumika Gupta, Jeayaram Subramanian, Hardik Vachhrajani, Avinash Shivdas

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Indian food processing industry is one of the largest in the world in terms of production, consumption, exports and growth opportunities. SMEs play a crucial role within this. Large manufacturing firms largely dominate innovation studies in India. Innovation sources used by SMEs are often different from that of large firms. This paper focuses on exploring various sources of innovation adopted by food processing SMEs in Kerala, South India. Outcome suggests that SMEs use various sources like suppliers, competitors, employees, government/research institutions and customers to get new ideas.

Keywords: food processing, innovation, SMEs, sources of innovation

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Authors: Michalis Michael, Mauro Overend

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Buildings, in which we spend 87-90% of our time, act as a shelter protecting us from environmental conditions and weather phenomena. The building's overall performance is significantly dependent on the envelope’s glazing part, which is particularly critical as it is the most vulnerable part to heat gain and heat loss. However, conventional glazing technologies have relatively low-performance thermo-optical characteristics. In this regard, during winter, the heat losses due to the glazing part of a building envelope are significantly increased as well as the heat gains during the summer period. In this study, the contribution of an innovative glazing technology, namely Closed Cavity Façade (CCF) in improving energy efficiency and IEQ in office buildings is examined, aiming to optimize various design configurations of CCF. Using Energy Plus and IDA ICE packages, the performance of several CCF configurations and geometries for various climate types were investigated, aiming to identify the optimum solution. The model used for the simulations and optimization process was MATELab, a recently constructed outdoor test facility at the University of Cambridge (UK). The model was previously experimentally calibrated. The study revealed that the use of CCF technology instead of conventional double or triple glazing leads to important benefits. Particularly, the replacement of the traditional glazing units, used as the baseline, with the optimal configuration of CCF led to a decrease in energy consumption in the range of 18-37% (depending on the location). This mainly occurs due to integrating shading devices in the cavity and applying proper glass coatings and control strategies, which lead to improvement of thermal transmittance and g-value of the glazing. Since the solar gain through the façade is the main contributor to energy consumption during cooling periods, it was observed that a higher energy improvement is achieved in cooling-dominated locations. Furthermore, it was shown that a suitable selection of the constituents of a closed cavity façade, such as the colour and type of shading devices and the type of coatings, leads to an additional improvement of its thermal performance, avoiding overheating phenomena and consequently ensuring temperatures in the glass cavity below the critical value, and reducing the radiant discomfort providing extra benefits in terms of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ).

Keywords: building energy efficiency, closed cavity façade, optimization, occupants comfort

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Authors: Yi-Jing Lee

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Prior to the development of ritual design tool and framework, this paper establishes a systematic review on the studies related to ritual and ritual design across anthropology, consumer culture, marketing, and design. It is found that following symbolic anthropologists, the ethnographic approach was adapted by consumer culture researchers to study modern rituals and marketers to enhance consumption. In the domain of design, although there are already designers aware of the importance of ritualistic dimension of human interaction, there are little frameworks for conceptualizing and developing rituals. The conceptualized framework and developing tools is proposed and suggestions of applying it is made in the end of the paper.

Keywords: ritual, ritual design, service design, symbolic interaction

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Authors: Nizar Sakli, Chayma Bahar, Chokri Baccouch, Hedi Sakli

Abstract:

If connected objects multiply, they are becoming a challenge in more than one way. In particular by their consumption and their supply of electricity. A large part of the new generations of connected objects will only be able to develop if it is possible to make them entirely autonomous in terms of energy. Some manufacturers are therefore developing products capable of recovering energy from their environment. Vital solutions in certain contexts, such as the medical industry. Energy recovery from the environment is a reliable solution to solve the problem of powering wireless connected objects. This paper presents and study a optically transparent solar patch antenna in frequency band of 2.4 GHz for connected objects in the future standard 5G for energy harvesting and RF transmission.

Keywords: antenna, IoT, solar cell, wireless communications

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Authors: Isabel Schestak, Jan Spriet, David Styles, Prysor Williams

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Breweries and distilleries are well-known for their high water usage. The water consumption in a UK brewery to produce one litre of beer reportedly ranges from 3-9 L and in a distillery from 7-45 L to produce a litre of spirit. This includes product water such as mashing water, but also water for wort and distillate cooling and for cleaning of tanks, casks, and kegs. When cooling towers are used, cooling water can be the dominating water consumption in a brewery or distillery. Interlinked to the high water use is a substantial heating requirement for mashing, wort boiling, or distillation, typically met by fossil fuel combustion such as gasoil. Many water and waste water streams are leaving the processes hot, such as the returning cooling water or the pot ales. Therefore, several options exist to optimise water and energy efficiency of spirit production through heat recovery. Although these options are known in the sector, they are often not applied in practice due to planning efforts or financial obstacles. In this study, different possibilities and design options for heat recovery systems are explored in four breweries/distilleries in the UK and assessed from an economic but also environmental point of view. The eco-efficiency methodology, according to ISO 14045, is applied to combine both assessment criteria to determine the optimum solution for heat recovery application in practice. The economic evaluation is based on the total value added (TVA) while the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to account for the environmental impacts through the installations required for heat recovery. The four case study businesses differ in a) production scale with mashing volumes ranging from 2500 to 40,000 L, in b) terms of heating and cooling technology used, and in c) the extent to which heat recovery is/is not applied. This enables the evaluation of different cases for heat recovery based on empirical data. The analysis provides guidelines for practitioners in the brewing and distilling sector in and outside the UK for the realisation of heat recovery measures. Financial and environmental payback times are showcased for heat recovery systems in the four distilleries which are operating at different production scales. The results are expected to encourage the application of heat recovery where environmentally and economically beneficial and ultimately contribute to a reduction of the water and energy footprint in brewing and distilling businesses.

Keywords: brewery, distillery, eco-efficiency, heat recovery from process and waste water, life cycle assessment

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Authors: S. Movafagh, Y. Bakhshan

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In this study, effect of adding Al2O3 nanoparticle to base fluid (water) in car radiator is investigated numerically. Radiators are compact heat exchangers optimized and evaluated by considering different working conditions. The cooling system of a car plays an important role in vehicle's performance, consists of two main parts, known as radiator and fan. Improving thermal efficiency of engine leads to increase the engine's performance, decline the fuel consumption and decrease the pollution emissions. In this study, the effects of fluid inlet flow rate and nanoparticle volume fraction on heat transfer and pressure drop of acar radiator are studied.

Keywords: forced convection, nanofluid, radiator, CFD simulation

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Authors: Aydin Azizi, Abdurrahman Tanira

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With the onset of climate change and limited fuel resources, improving fuel efficiency has become an important part of the motor industry. To maximize fuel efficiency, development of technologies must come hand-in-hand with awareness of efficient driving strategies. This study aims to explore the various driving habits that can impact fuel efficiency by reviewing available literature. Such habits include sudden and unnecessary acceleration or deceleration, improper hardware maintenance, driving above or below optimum speed and idling. By studying such habits and ultimately applying it to driving techniques, in combination with improved mechanics of the car, will optimize the use of fuel.

Keywords: fuel efficiency, driving techniques, optimum speed, optimizing fuel consumption

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Authors: Della Saddam Housseyn

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Gold, the quintessential noble metal, is one of the most popular metals today, given its ever-increasing cost in the international market. The Amesmessa gold deposit is one of the gold-producing deposits. The first step in our job is to analyze the ore (considered rich ore). Mineralogical and chemical analysis has shown that the general constitution of the ore is quartz in addition to other phases such as Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, dolomite. The second step consists of all the leaching tests carried out in rolling bottles. These tests were carried out on 14 samples to determine the maximum recovery rate and the optimum consumption of reagent (NaCN and CaO). Tests carried out on a pulp density at 50% solid, 500 ppm cyanide concentration and particle size less than 0.6 mm at alkaline pH gave a recovery rate of 94.37%.

Keywords: cyanide, DRX, FX, gold, leaching, rate of recovery, SAA

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Authors: Johanna Lindstrom, Jacob Mickelsson

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Changes in the current media environment are transforming peoples’ everyday media consumption patterns all over the world. Digital media have become a natural, almost unavoidable, part of everyday lives of humans. While this has led to many positive consequences, there is also a growing concern for harmful effects. This paper contributes to knowledge about “the dark side” of media use by considering the topic of media addiction and subsequent coping strategies among young adults. The paper draws on a longitudinal media diary study conducted among young university students between the years 2013 and 2021. A total of 1029 diaries have been collected (approximately 100 each year), aiming at capturing the students’ everyday media behavior. In this paper, reflective narratives in the diaries have been analyzed, aiming at answering the following questions: Which of their own media behaviors do the students perceive as particularly destructive, addictive or problematic? How do they cope with such behaviors? Results from the study indicate a noticeable increase in reflections on addictive media behavior over the years. For example, compared to earlier years, the amount of such reflections significantly started to increase in the diaries in 2016 and 2017, and this trend has continued ever since. Furthermore, the nature of these reflections has changed, displaying a growing concern for one’s own excessive media use and general wellbeing. Media addiction seems particularly difficult to cope with as digital media is literally everywhere and media use in general is described as consistent and habitual, in terms of regularly repeated routines that are fragmented but performed continuously and often unintentionally throughout the day. Reflections on “the dark side” of everyday media consumption become particularly prominent in times of the Covid -19 pandemic. However, this trend was noticeable well before the pandemic started. The study also identifies a countertrend regarding reflections on how to deal and cope with problematic media behavioral patterns. This countertrend portrays a general development of increased awareness of factors that may trigger compulsive behavior and how to avoid or handle such trigger points. The countertrend is particularly evident in recent years, despite the ongoing pandemic and subsequent increases in time spent using media. Addictive media behavior may lead to severe consequences for students’ learning processes and general well-being. Increased awareness of this growing trend and coping strategies are needed on an individual as well as a broader educational level.

Keywords: coping strategies, media addiction, media behavior, well-being

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Authors: Tahsina Sadeque Kapil Ahmed

Abstract:

Context: The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. Tobacco use is a widespread phenomenon in Bangladesh, and that causes numerous deaths and disabilities in a year. The studies conducted elsewhere have strengthened the evidence that mass media campaigns conducted in the context of comprehensive tobacco control programs can promote quitting and reduce smoking, as well as smokeless tobacco prevalence. Awareness building campaigns in mass-media against tobacco use should be prioritized more, and this paper will be an initiative towards enhancing mass-media’s role in controlling tobacco in Bangladesh. Objective: the main objective of this study is to investigate the role of mass-media in controlling tobacco in Bangladesh. Methods: This is a qualitative study and both primary, as well as secondary data were used where information gathered through the Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and media contents. The employees of media houses (five national papers, two online news portals and six TV channels) were selected as study respondent. Media Content Analysis is used through the broad range of ‘texts’ from transcripts of interviews and discussions along with the materials like reports, footages, advertisements, talk-shows, articles etc. Results: The study result documented several opinions of discussants where Mass media was found to play a strong role in support of the amended tobacco control law and its implication that could be created public support against tobacco farming, exposing to companies’ tactics and other tobacco control activities. The study results also revealed that in controlling tobacco supply and demand effectively, media has been assisting the government and anti-tobacco activities productively. Majority of the Key Informants opined spontaneously on tobacco control program publicity, organizational interference, and influence of other activities on media. They also emphasized role of media for activities of anti-tobacco organizations, awareness building actions, popularization of tobacco control law and its amendment. Conclusion and Recommendation: The study shows evidence that mass media coverage of tobacco control issues is influencing the context of comprehensive tobacco control programs. To reduce tobacco consumption, along with strict enforcement efforts, media should be used to assist with the implementation of the tobacco control law. A sustained nationwide campaign to educate the masses against the dangers of smoking and smokeless tobacco is needed, and media can play an important role in creating further awareness about the dangers associated with tobacco consumption.

Keywords: Bangladesh media, mass media, role of media, tobacco control

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Authors: Chinnawat Satsananan

Abstract:

The amount of heavy metals in our environment has been of great concern because of their toxicity when their concentration is more than the permissible level. These metals enter the environment by different ways such as industrial activities, soil pollution. We have used flame atomic absorption spectrometry technique for determination of the concentration of Co, Cd and Pb in different tissues of five samples of seafoods (mackerel, squid, mussels, scallops and shrimp). The concentrations of Co, Cd and Pb in all examined seafoods were less than the reported literature values (WHO). The results mentioned that the seafoods obtained from Thewet Market were safety to consumption and make the quality of life of people in the community look better.

Keywords: heavy metals, seafood, atomic absorption spectrometry, Bangkok

Procedia PDF Downloads 334

Authors: William Kelly, Sorelle Veigne, Xianhua Li, Zuyi Huang, Shyamsundar Subramanian, Eugene Schaefer

Abstract:

The ambr15™ bioreactor is a single-use microbioreactor for cell line development and process optimization. The ambr system offers fully automatic liquid handling with the possibility of fed-batch operation and automatic control of pH and oxygen delivery. With operating conditions for large scale biopharmaceutical production properly scaled down, micro bioreactors such as the ambr15™ can potentially be used to predict the effect of process changes such as modified media or different cell lines. In this study, gassing rates and dilution rates were varied for a semi-continuous cell culture system in the ambr15™ bioreactor. The corresponding changes to metabolite production and consumption, as well as cell growth rate and therapeutic protein production were measured. Conditions were identified in the ambr15™ bioreactor that produced metabolic shifts and specific metabolic and protein production rates also seen in the corresponding larger (5 liter) scale perfusion process. A Dynamic Flux Balance model was employed to understand and predict the metabolic changes observed. The DFB model-predicted trends observed experimentally, including lower specific glucose consumption when CO₂ was maintained at higher levels (i.e. 100 mm Hg) in the broth. A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model of the ambr15™ was also developed, to understand transfer of O₂ and CO₂ to the liquid. This CFD model predicted gas-liquid flow in the bioreactor using the ANSYS software. The two-phase flow equations were solved via an Eulerian method, with population balance equations tracking the size of the gas bubbles resulting from breakage and coalescence. Reasonable results were obtained in that the Carbon Dioxide mass transfer coefficient (kLa) and the air hold up increased with higher gas flow rate. Volume-averaged kLa values at 500 RPM increased as the gas flow rate was doubled and matched experimentally determined values. These results form a solid basis for optimizing the ambr15™, using both CFD and FBA modelling approaches together, for use in microscale simulations of larger scale cell culture processes.

Keywords: cell culture, computational fluid dynamics, dynamic flux balance analysis, microbioreactor

Procedia PDF Downloads 282