Search results for: green DME production

Authors: Babagana Mohammed, Abdulmuminu Mustapha Ali, Solomon Ibrahim, Buba Ahmad Umdagas

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This research investigated the possibility of replacing coarse and fine aggregates with waste road-asphalt (RWA), when sieved appropriately, in concrete production. Interlock pavement block is used widely in many parts of the world as modern day solution to outdoor flooring applications. The weight-percentage replacements of both coarse and fine aggregates with RWA at 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% respectively using a concrete mix ratio of 1:2:4 and water-to-cement ratio of 0.45 were carried out. The interlock block samples produced were then cured for 28days. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and the water absorption properties of the samples were then tested. Comparison of the results of the RWA-containing samples to those of the respective control samples shows significant benefits of using RWA in interlock block production. UCS results of RWA-containing samples compared well with those of the control samples and the RWA content also influenced the lowering of the water absorption of the samples. Overall, the research shows that it is possible to replace both coarse and fine aggregates with RWA materials when sieved appropriately, hence indicating that RWA could be recycled beneficially.

Keywords: aggregate, block-production, pavement, road-asphalt, use, waste

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Authors: Alonggot Limcharoen, Jintana Wannarat, Vorawat Panich

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This study aims to investigate the balancing of the number of operators (Line Balancing technique) in the production line of hard disk drive components in order to increase efficiency. At present, the trend of using hard disk drives has continuously declined leading to limits in a company’s revenue potential. It is important to improve and develop the production process to create market share and to have the ability to compete with competitors with a higher value and quality. Therefore, an effective tool is needed to support such matters. In this research, the Arena program was applied to analyze the results both before and after the improvement. Finally, the precedent was used before proceeding with the real process. There were 14 work stations with 35 operators altogether in the RA production process where this study was conducted. In the actual process, the average production time was 84.03 seconds per product piece (by timing 30 times in each work station) along with a rating assessment by implementing the Westinghouse principles. This process showed that the rating was 123% underlying an assumption of 5% allowance time. Consequently, the standard time was 108.53 seconds per piece. The Takt time was calculated from customer needs divided by working duration in one day; 3.66 seconds per piece. Of these, the proper number of operators was 30 people. That meant five operators should be eliminated in order to increase the production process. After that, a production model was created from the actual process by using the Arena program to confirm model reliability; the outputs from imitation were compared with the original (actual process) and this comparison indicated that the same output meaning was reliable. Then, worker numbers and their job responsibilities were remodeled into the Arena program. Lastly, the efficiency of production process enhanced from 70.82% to 82.63% according to the target.

Keywords: hard disk drive, line balancing, ECRS, simulation, arena program

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Authors: M. Hosseinnezhad, K. Gharanjig

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Natural dyes, extracted from black carrot and bramble, were utilized as photosensitizers to prepare dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Spectrophotometric studies of the natural dyes in solution and on a titanium dioxide substrate were carried out in order to assess changes in the status of the dyes. The results show that the bathochromic shift is seen on the photo-electrode substrate. The chemical binding of the natural dyes at the surface photo-electrode were increased by the chelating effect of the Ti(IV) ions. The cyclic voltammetry results showed that all extracts are suitable to be performed in DSSCs. Finally, photochemical performance and stability of DSSCs based on natural dyes were studied. The DSSCs sensitized by black carrot extract have been reported to achieve up to Jsc=1.17 mAcm^-2, Voc= 0.55 V, FF= 0.52, η=0.34%, whereas Bramble extract can obtain up to Jsc=2.24 mAcm^-2, Voc= 0.54 V, FF= 0.57, η=0.71%. The power conversion efficiency was obtained from the mixed dyes in DSSCs. The power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells using mixed Black carrot and Bramble dye is the average of the their efficiency in single DSSCs.

Keywords: anthocyanin, dye-sensitized solar cells, green energy, optical materials

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Authors: Maria Francesca Scannone, Martina Bochicchio

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One of the major environmental problems today is hydrocarbon contamination. The promising sustainable technologies for the treatment of these contaminated sites involves the use of biological organisms. In Agri Valley (Basilicata Region) there is a living laboratory (natural oil seeps) where the selective pressure has enriched the environmental matrices with microorganisms, fungi and plant species able to use the hydrocarbons as a source of metabolic energy, to degrade or tolerate hydrocarbons. Observers visiting this area are fascinated by its unspoiled nature, and the condition of the ecosystem does not appear to has been damaged. The amazing resiliency observed in Tramutola site is of key importance to try to bring green remediation technologies, but no research has been done to identify high-performing native species. The aim of this research was to study how natural processes affect the fate of released oil or how individual species or communities of plants and animals are capable of dealing with the burden of otherwise toxic chemicals. The survey of vegetation was carried out, more than 60 species have been identified and divided into tree, shrub and herb layer. Plant data sheets have been completed only for the species that showed the most appropriate properties for phytoremediation. In general, members of the Salicales, Cyperales, Poales, Fagales, Cornales, Equisetales orders were the most commonly identified orders. They are pioneer plants with high adaptive capacity and vegetative propagation. The literature review has highlighted the existence of rhizosphere effect and a green liver model on selected plants. The study provides significant information on the environmental stress adaptation processes of many indigenous plants that are living and growing on a natural leak of crude oil and gas that migrates up through subsurface.

Keywords: green liver, hydrocarbon degradation, oil seeps, phytoremediation

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Authors: Ruolan Zhou

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Trisomy of human chromosome 21 is the primary cause of Down Syndrome (DS), and this genetic disease has significantly burdened families and countries, causing great controversy. To address this problem, the research takes an approach in exploring the relationship between genetic abnormality and this disease's symptoms, adopting several techniques, including data analysis and enrichment analysis. It also explores open-source websites, such as NCBI, DAVID, SOURCE, STRING, as well as UCSC, to complement its result. This research has analyzed the variety of genes on human chromosome 21 with simple coding, and by using analysis, it has specified the protein-coding genes, their function, and their location. By using enrichment analysis, this paper has found the abundance of keratin production-related coding-proteins on human chromosome 21. By adopting past researches, this research has attempted to disclose the relationship between trisomy of human chromosome 21 and keratin production abnormality, which might be the reason for common diseases in patients with Down Syndrome. At last, by addressing the advantage and insufficiency of this research, the discussion has provided specific directions for future research.

Keywords: Down Syndrome, protein production, genome, enrichment analysis

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Authors: Hiba Akrout, Khaoula Hidouri, Béchir Chaouachi, Romdhane Ben Slama

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A simple solar distiller has been constructed in order to desalt water via the solar distillation process. An experimental study has been conducted in June. The aim of this work is to study the effect of the distance between the cold condensing surface and the hot steam generation surface in order to optimize the geometric characteristics of a simple solar still. To do this, we have developed a mathematical model based on thermal and mass equations system. Subsequently, the equations system resolution has been made through a program developed on MATLAB software, which allowed us to evaluate the production of this system as a function of the distance separating the two surfaces. In addition, this model allowed us to determine the evolution of the humid air temperature inside the solar still as well as the humidity ratio profile all over the day. Simulations results show that the solar distiller production, as well as the humid air temperature, are proportional to the global solar radiation. It was also found that the air humidity ratio inside the solar still has a similar evolution of that of solar radiation. Moreover, the solar distiller average height augmentation, for constant water depth, induces the diminution of the production. However, increasing the water depth for a fixed average height of solar distiller reduces the production.

Keywords: distillation, solar energy, heat transfer, mass transfer, average height

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Authors: Yung-Chen Hsu, Juan Hernandez, W. T. Evert Ting, Dawit Gizachew

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Mycotoxin contamination of foods and feeds poses a high risk for human and animal health. Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a ubiquitous mycotoxin produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium fungi. It exhibits nephrotoxicity, teratogenicity, mutagenicity, and immunotoxicity in both humans and animals. OTA has been detected in foods such as cereals, coffee, grapes, cocoa, wine, and spices. Consumption of food contaminated with OTA has been linked to kidney and liver diseases. Niger (Guizotia abyssinica) is an oil seed that is used for extracting cooking oil in countries like Ethiopia and India. The seed cake (a byproduct from oil extraction) is also used as dairy cattle feed in Ethiopia. It is also exported to North America and Europe to be used mainly as bird feed. To our knowledge, there have been no studies on the growth and production of OTA on niger seeds. In this study, the environment conditions that support OTA production including effects of water activity, temperature, and incubation time on growth and OTA production by A. fresenii and A. sulphureus were investigated.

Keywords: mycotoxin, ochratoxin A, aspergillus, niger seed

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Authors: Bryony Pound

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This study investigated how views of green or urban space affect learning performance. It provides evidence of the value of visual access to greenspace in work and learning environments, and builds on the extensive research into the cognitive and learning-related benefits of access to green and natural spaces, particularly in learning environments. It demonstrates that benefits of visual access to natural spaces whilst learning can produce statistically significant faster responses than those facing urban views after only 5 minutes. The primary hypothesis of this research was that a greenspace view would improve short-term learning. Participants were randomly assigned to either a view of parkland or of urban buildings from the same room. They completed a psychological test of two stages. The first stage consisted of a presentation of words from eight different categories (four manmade and four natural). Following this a 2.5 minute break was given; participants were not prompted to look out of the window, but all were observed doing so. The second stage of the test involved a word recognition/false memory test of three types. Type 1 was presented words from each category; Type 2 was non-presented words from those same categories; and Type 3 was non-presented words from different categories. Participants were asked to respond with whether they thought they had seen the words before or not. Accuracy of responses and reaction times were recorded. The key finding was that reaction times for Type 2 words (highest difficulty) were significantly different between urban and green view conditions. Those with an urban view had slower reaction times for these words, so a view of greenspace resulted in better information retrieval for word and false memory recognition. Importantly, this difference was found after only 5 minutes of exposure to either view, during winter, and with a sample size of only 26. Greenspace views improve performance in a learning task. This provides a case for better visual access to greenspace in work and learning environments.

Keywords: benefits, greenspace, learning, restoration

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Authors: Nana Segu Acquaah-Harrison, James Osei Mensah, Richard Aidoo, David Amponsah, Amy Buah, Gilbert Aboagye

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The study aimed at assessing the feasibility of commercial meat rabbit production in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana. Structured and unstructured questionnaires were utilized in obtaining information from two hundred meat consumers and 15 meat rabbit farmers. Data were analyzed using Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR)/Profitability Index (PI) technique, percentages and chi-square contingency test. The study found that the current demand for rabbit meat is low (36%). The desirable nutritional attributes of rabbit meat and other socio economic factors of meat consumers make the potential demand for rabbit meat high (69%). It was estimated that GH¢5,292 (approximately $ 2672) was needed as a start-up capital for a 40-doe unit meat rabbit farm in Kumasi Metropolis. The cost of breeding animals, housing and equipment formed 12.47%, 53.97% and 24.87% respectively of the initial estimated capital. A Net Present Value of GH¢ 5,910.75 (approximately $ 2984) was obtained at the end of the fifth year, with an internal rate return and profitability index of 70% and 1.12 respectively. The major constraints identified in meat rabbit production were low price of rabbit meat, shortage of fodder, pest and diseases, high cost of capital, high cost of operating materials and veterinary care. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that meat rabbit production is feasible in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana. The study recommends embarking on mass advertisement; farmer association and adapting to new technologies in the production process will help to enhance productivity.

Keywords: feasibility, commercial meat rabbit, production, Kumasi, Ghana

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Authors: Inês Amorim Leitão, Loes van Shaick, António Dinis Ferreira, Violette Geissen

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Plastic pollution is a growing concern worldwide: plastics are commercialized in large quantities and it takes a long time for them to degrade. When in the environment, plastic is fragmented into microplastics (<5mm), which have been found in all environmental compartments at different locations. Microplastics contribute to the environmental pollution in water, air and soil and are linked to human health problems. The progressive increase of population living in cities led to the aggravation of the pollution problem worldwide, especially in urban environments. Urban areas represent a strong source of pollution, through the roads, industrial production, wastewater, landfills, etc. It is expected that pollutants such as microplastics are transported diffusely from the sources through different pathways such as wind and rain. Therefore, it is very complex to quantify, control and treat these pollutants, designated current problematic issues by the European Commission. Green areas are pointed out by experts as natural filters for contaminants in cities, through their capacity of retention by vegetation. These spaces have thus the capacity to control the load of pollutants transported. This study investigates the spatial distribution of microplastics in urban soils of different land uses, their transport through atmospheric deposition, wind erosion, runoff and streams, as well as their deposition in vegetation like grass and tree leaves in urban environment. Coimbra, a medium large city located in the central Portugal, is the case-study. All the soil, sediments, water and vegetation samples were collected in Coimbra and were later analyzed in the Wageningen University & Research laboratory. Microplastics were extracted through the density separation using Sodium Phosphate as solution (~1.4 g cm−3) and filtration methods, visualized under a stereo microscope and identified using the u-FTIR method. Microplastic particles were found in all the different samples. In terms of soils, higher concentrations of microplastics were found in green parks, followed by landfills and industrial places, and the lowest concentrations in forests and pasture land-uses. Atmospheric deposition and streams after rainfall events seems to represent the strongest pathways of microplastics. Tree leaves can retain microplastics on their surfaces. Small leaves such as needle leaves seem to present higher amounts of microplastics per leaf area than bigger leaves. Rainfall episodes seem to reduce the concentration of microplastics on leaves surface, which suggests the wash of microplastics down to lower levels of the tree or to the soil. When in soil, different types of microplastics could be transported to the atmosphere through wind erosion. Grass seems to present high concentrations of microplastics, and the enlargement of the grass cover leads to a reduction of the amount of microplastics in soil, but also of the microplastics moved from the ground to the atmosphere by wind erosion. This study proof that vegetation can help to control the transport and dispersion of microplastics. In order to control the entry and the concentration of microplastics in the environment, especially in cities, it is essential to defining and evaluating nature-based land-use scenarios, considering the role of green urban areas in filtering small particles.

Keywords: microplastics, cities, sources, pathways, vegetation

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Authors: Hafez Abdo, Rob Ackrill

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Renewable energy (RE) promotion in the UK relies on multiple policy instruments, which are required to overcome the path dependency pressures favouring fossil fuels. These instruments include targeted funding schemes and economy-wide instruments embedded in the tax code. The resulting complexity of incentives raises important questions around the coherence and effectiveness of these instruments for RE generation. This complexity is exacerbated by UK RE policy being nested within EU policy in a multi-level governance (MLG) setting. To gain analytical traction on such complexity, this study will analyse policies promoting the on-farm generation of energy for heat and power, from farm and food waste, via anaerobic digestion. Utilising both primary and secondary data, it seeks to address a particular lacuna in the academic literature. Via a localised, in-depth investigation into the complexity of policy instruments promoting RE, this study will help our theoretical understanding of the challenges that MLG and path dependency pressures present to policymakers of multi-dimensional policies.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, energy, green, policy, renewable, tax, UK

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Authors: Ahn Yun-Ho, Hyery Kang, Koh Dong-Yeun, Huen Lee

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In this study, we demonstrate the production of natural gas hydrates from permeable marine sediments with simultaneous mechanisms for methane recovery and methane-air or methane-air/carbon dioxide replacement. The simultaneous melting happens until the chemical potentials become equal in both phases as natural gas hydrate depletion continues and self-regulated methane-air replacement occurs over an arbitrary point. We observed certain point between dissociation and replacement mechanisms in the natural gas hydrate reservoir, and we call this boundary as critical methane concentration. By the way, when carbon dioxide was added, the process of chemical exchange of methane by air/carbon dioxide was observed in the natural gas hydrate. The suggested process will operate well for most global natural gas hydrate reservoirs, regardless of the operating conditions or geometrical constraints.

Keywords: air injection, carbon dioxide sequestration, hydrate production, natural gas hydrate

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Authors: Mohammed Abed, Rita Nemes

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Cellular concrete powder (CCP) is not used widely as supplementary cementitious material, but in the literature, its efficiency is proved when it used as a replacement of cement in concrete mixtures. In this study, different amounts of raw CCP (CCP as a waste material without any industrial modification) will be used to investigate the characteristics of cement pastes and the effects of CCP on the properties of the cement pastes. It is an attempt to produce green binder paste, which is useful for sustainable construction applications. The fresh and hardened properties of a number of CCP blended cement paste will be tested in different life periods, and the optimized CCP volume will be reported with more significant investigations on durability properties. Different replacing of mass percentage (low and high) of the cement mass will be conducted (0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90%). The consistency, flexural strength, and compressive strength will be the base indicator for the further properties' investigations. The CCP replacement until 50% have been tested until 7 days, and the initial results showed a linear relationship between strength and the percentage of the replacement; that is an optimistic indicator for further replacement percentages of waste CCP.

Keywords: cellular concrete powder, supplementary cementitious material, sustainable construction, green concrete

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Authors: Jian Li

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Carotenoids area group of metabolites in mostly photosynthetic organisms such as plants and microalgae and have wide applications in cosmetics, food, feed, and health industries. Although phototrophic cultivation of microalgae has been developed to produce some carotenoids for decades, most carotenoids are currently synthesized chemically at industrial scales because of affordable production costs. Chemical carotenoids are regarded not as safe for human beings as natural carotenoids and are restricted only for animal feed markets, and the industries call for inexpensive sources of natural products. Microalgae grow much quicker in mixotrophy than in phototrophy, and thus mixotrophic cultivation processes have great potential to reduce the production cost of carotenoids from microalgae. However, much more expensive photobioreactor systems and more strictly controlled sterile processes are needed to avoid contamination by heterotrophic organisms during mixotrophic cultivation processes, which makes mixotrophy, in fact, much more expensive than phototrophic cultivation. Recently technical breakthroughs have been reported to overcome contamination problems in photobioreactor systems traditionally used for phototrophic cultivation, and a much lower process cost of mixotrophic cultivation than that of phototrophic cultivation might be achieved for carotenoid production. These reviews intend to summarize recent technical advancements in mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae, to evaluate the economic viability of carotenoid production from mixotrophically cultivated microalgae, and to prospect mixotrophy as a strategy to produce a variety of carotenoids for industrial applications.

Keywords: microalgae, carotenoid, mixotrophy, biotechnology

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Authors: Honey Fadaie, Vahid Parhoodeh

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This paper concentrates on the result of research based on studies on parameters of sustainability in Persian Garden design as a traditional Iranian landscape and in a contemporary park, Jamshidieh in Iran as a new experience of re-creation of Persian Gardens’ sustainable design. Since, sustainable development has three parts: social, economic and environmental. The complexities of each part are too great to discuss in a paper of this length, thus the authors decided to analyze the design of Persian garden by considering their environmental sustainability. By the analysis of sustainable features and characteristics of traditional gardens, and exploration of parameters of sustainability in Iranian modern landscape, Such as Jamshideh Park, the main objective of this research is to identify the strategies for sustainable landscaping and parameters of creating sustainable green spaces for contemporary cities. The results demonstrate that in Persian Gardens, sustainable parameters such as productive networks and local renewable materials have been used to achieve sustainable development. At the conclusion, guidelines and recommendations for sustainable landscaping are presented.

Keywords: Jamshidieh park, Persian garden, sustainable landscape, urban green space

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Authors: Laurence G. Almoguera, Vitaliana U. Malamug, Armando N. Espino, Marvin M. Cinense

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The mangrove pens were modified to produce mud crab (Scylla serrata) and milkfish (Chanos chanos) in a polyculture system. The modification of mangrove pens was done by adding excavations inside the pen. The water quality parameters (dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, and temperature) were monitored, the recovery and the production rate in each pen were evaluated. The experiment was conducted for a rearing period of 143 days in nine mangrove pens, each having an area of 32 m² with an average net enclosure height of 3 m from the soil surface. The three different pens constructed (existing design - with canal only, with 43% excavation by area, and 54% excavation by area) were designated as T₁, T₂, and T₃, respectively. All experimental units were stocked with 31 pieces of crablets (with 33.3 g average weight) and additional 130 pieces of milkfish fingerlings (with 0.11 g average weight) to the modified mangrove pens. The water quality parameters recorded in the pens were favorable for the growth and recovery of the mud crab and milkfish, except for dissolved oxygen (DO). It was found to be the reason for the total mortality of the stocked milkfish. For mud crab, the highest mean recovery was recorded in T₂ (34.41%), followed by T₃ (26.91%) and the lowest in T1 (21.50%). The production rate followed the same trend as the recovery, where T₂ (74.49 g/m²) obtained the highest, followed by T₃ (55 g/m2) and the lowest was in T₁ (34.87 g/m²). The statistical analysis revealed that the variations of the mud crab recovery were not significant, while in terms of production rate, modified mangrove pens were found to be more effective than the existing design. Due to the total mortality of the cultured milkfish, the current set-up of modified mangrove pens was found to be not suitable for the polyculture system of milkfish and mud crab production.

Keywords: aquasilviculture, milkfish, modified mangrove pen, mud crab, polyculture, production rate

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Authors: M. Ahmed Eldesouky, S. Nasr, A. Beltagy

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Groundwater is generally considered as the best source for aquaculture as it is well protected from contamination. The most common problem limiting the use of groundwater in Egypt is its high iron, manganese and ammonia content. This problem is often overcome by applying the treatment before use. Aeration in many cases is not enough to oxidize iron and manganese in complex forms with organics. Most of the treatment we use potassium permanganate as an oxidizer followed by a pressurized closed green sand filter. The aim of present study is to investigate the optimum characteristics of groundwater to give lowest iron, manganese and ammonia, maximum production and quality of fish in aquaculture in El-Max Research Station. The major design goal of the system was determined the optimum time for harvesting the treated water, pH, and Glauconite weight to use it for aquaculture process in the research site and achieve the Egyptian law (48/1982) and EPA level required for aquaculture. The water characteristics are [Fe = 0.116 mg/L, Mn = 1.36 mg/L,TN = 0.44 mg/L , TP = 0.07 mg/L , Ammonia = 0.386 mg/L] by using the glauconite filter we obtained high efficiency for removal for [(Fe, Mn and Ammonia] ,but in the Lab we obtained result for (Fe, 43-97), ( Mn,92-99 ), and ( Ammonia, 66-88 )]. We summarized the results to show the optimum time, pH, Glauconite weight, and the best model for design in the region.

Keywords: aquaculture, ammonia in groundwater, groundwater, iron and manganese in water, groundwater treatment

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Authors: Enes Huylu, Sude Erkin, Nur A. Özdemir, Hatice K. Güney, Cemre S. Atılgan, Hüseyin Y. Altıntaş, Aysemin Top, Muammer Yılman, Özak Durmuş

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Remanufacturing (reman) applications allow manufacturers to contribute to the circular economy and help to introduce products with almost the same quality, environment-friendly, and lower cost. The objective of this study is to present that the carbon footprint of automotive spare parts used in vehicles could be reduced by reman applications based on Life Cycle Analysis which was framed with ISO 14040 principles. In that case, it was aimed to investigate reman applications for 21 parts in total. So far, research and calculations have been completed for the alternator, turbocharger, starter motor, compressor, manual transmission, auto transmission, and DPF (diesel particulate filter) parts, respectively. Since the aim of Ford Motor Company and Ford OTOSAN is to achieve net zero based on Science-Based Targets (SBT) and the Green Deal that the European Union sets out to make it climate neutral by 2050, the effects of reman applications are researched. In this case, firstly, remanufacturing articles available in the literature were searched based on the yearly high volume of spare parts sold. Paper review results related to their material composition and emissions released during incoming production and remanufacturing phases, the base part has been selected to take it as a reference. Then, the data of the selected base part from the research are used to make an approximate estimation of the carbon footprint reduction of the relevant part used in Ford OTOSAN. The estimation model is based on the weight, and material composition of the referenced paper reman activity. As a result of this study, it was seen that remanufacturing applications are feasible to apply technically and environmentally since it has significant effects on reducing the emissions released during the production phase of the vehicle components. For this reason, the research and calculations of the total number of targeted products in yearly volume have been completed to a large extent. Thus, based on the targeted parts whose research has been completed, in line with the net zero targets of Ford Motor Company and Ford OTOSAN by 2050, if remanufacturing applications are preferred instead of recent production methods, it is possible to reduce a significant amount of the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of spare parts used in vehicles. Besides, it is observed that remanufacturing helps to reduce the waste stream and causes less pollution than making products from raw materials by reusing the automotive components.

Keywords: greenhouse gas emissions, net zero targets, remanufacturing, spare parts, sustainability

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Authors: Ogunwole Cecilia Oluwakemi, Timothy Ayomitunde Aderemi

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Provision of sufficient food and elimination of abject poverty have usually been the conventional benefits of agriculture in any society. Meanwhile, despite the fact that Nigeria is an agrarian society, food insecurity and poverty have become the issues of concern among both scholars and policymakers in the recent times. Against this backdrop, this study examined the nexus among agriculture, food security, and poverty reduction in Nigeria from 1990 to 2019 within the framework of the Cointegration and Granger Causality approach. Data was collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and the World Development Indicators, respectively. The following are the major results that emanated from the study. A long run equilibrium relationship exists among agricultural value added, food production index, and GDP per capita in Nigeria. Similarly, there is a unidirectional causality which flows from food production index to poverty reduction in Nigeria. In the same vein, one way causality flows from poverty reduction to agricultural value added in Nigeria. Consequently, this study makes the following recommendation for the policymakers in Nigeria, and other African countries by extension, that agricultural value added and food production are the important variables that cannot be undermined when poverty reduction occupies the central focus of the policymakers. Therefore, any time these policymakers want to reduce poverty, policies that drive agricultural value added and food production should be embarked upon. Therefore, this study will contribute to the literature by establishing the type of linkage that exists between agriculture, food security, and poverty reduction in Nigeria.

Keywords: agriculture, value added, food production, GDP per capita, Nigeria

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Authors: Ali Abdrhman M. Ukasha

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Data security needed in data transmission, storage, and communication to ensure the security. The color image is decomposed into red, green, and blue channels. The blue and green channels are compressed using 3-levels discrete wavelet transform. The Arnold transform uses to changes the locations of red image channel pixels as image scrambling process. Then all these channels are encrypted separately using a key image that has same original size and is generating using private keys and modulo operations. Performing the X-OR and modulo operations between the encrypted channels images for image pixel values change purpose. The extracted contours of color image recovery can be obtained with accepted level of distortion using Canny edge detector. Experiments have demonstrated that proposed algorithm can fully encrypt 2D color image and completely reconstructed without any distortion. It has shown that the color image can be protected with a higher security level. The presented method has easy hardware implementation and suitable for multimedia protection in real time applications such as wireless networks and mobile phone services.

Keywords: color image, wavelet transform, edge detector, Arnold transform, lossy image encryption

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Authors: Charles Iledun Oyewole

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The daunting challenge that the ‘man with the hoe’ is going to face in the coming decades will be complex and interwoven. With global population already above 7 billion people, it has been estimated that food (crop) production must more than double by 2050 to meet up with the world’s food requirements. Nigeria population is also expected to reach over 240 million people by 2050, at the current annual population growth of 2.61 per cent. The country’s farming population is estimated at over 65 per cent, but the country still depends on food importation to complement production. The small scale farmer, who depends on simple hand tools: hoes and cutlasses, remains the centre of agricultural production, accounting for 90 per cent of the total agricultural output and 80 per cent of the market flow. While the hoe may have been a tool for sustainable development at a time in human history, this role has been smothered by population growth, which has brought too many mouths to be fed (over 170 million), as well as many industries to fuel with raw materials. It may then be argued that the hoe is unfortunately not a tool for the coming challenges and that agricultural mechanization should be the focus. However, agriculture as an enterprise is a ‘complete wheel’ which does not work when broken, particularly, in respect to mechanization. Generally, mechanization will prompt increase production, where land is readily available; increase production, will require post-harvest handling mechanisms, crop processing and subsequent storage. An important aspect of this is readily available and favourable markets for such produce; fuel by good agricultural policies. A break in this wheel will lead to the process of mechanization crashing back to subsistence production, and probably reversal to the hoe. The focus of any agricultural policy should be to chart a course for sustainable mechanization that is environmentally friendly, that may ameliorate Nigeria’s food and raw material gaps. This is the focal point of this article.

Keywords: Crop production, Farmer, Hoes, Mechanization, Policy framework, Population, Growth, Rural areas

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Authors: E. Kuley, M. Durmuş, E. Balikci, G. Ozyurt, Y. Uçar, F. Kuley, F. Ozogul, Y. Ozogul

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Ammonia and biogenic amine production of fish spoilage bacteria in sardine infusion decarboxylase broth and antimicrobial effect of olive by products (olive leaf extract:OL, olive cake: OC and black water:BW) was monitored using HPLC method. Fish spoilage bacteria produced all biogenic amine tested, mainly histamine and serotonin. Ammonia was accumulated more than 13.60 mg/L. Histamine production was in range 37.50 mg/L by Ser. liquefaciens and 86.71 mg/L by Ent. cloacae. The highest putrescine and cadaverine production was observed by Ent. cloacae (17.80 vs. 17.69 mg/L). The presence of OL, OC and BW in the broth significantly affected biogenic amine accumulation by bacteria. The antibacterial effect of olive by products depended on bacterial strains. OL and OC resulted in significant inhibition effect on HIS accumulation by bacteria apart from Ser. liquefaciens and Prot. mirabilis. The study result revealed that usefulness of OL and OC to prevent the accumulation of this amine which may affect human health.

Keywords: Antimicrobials, biogenic amine, fish spoilage bacteria, olive-by products

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Authors: Sajjad Farahani, Wilkistar Otieno, Xiaohang Yue

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This paper develops a model for the optimal disposition decision for product returns in a remanufacturing system with limited recoverable inventory capacity. In this model, a constant demand is satisfied by remanufacturing returned products which are up to the minimum required quality grade. The quality grade of returned products is uncertain and remanufacturing cost increases as the quality level decreases, and remanufacturer wishes to determine which returned product to accept to be remanufactured for reselling, and any unaccepted returns may be salvaged at a value that increases with their quality level. Accepted returns can be stocked for remanufacturing upon demand requests, but incur a holding cost. A Markov decision problem is formulated in order to evaluate various performance measures for this system and obtain the optimal remanufacturing policy. A detailed numerical study reveals that our approach to the disposition problem outperforms the current industrial practice ignoring quality grade of returned products. In addition, we identify conditions under which this improvement is the highest.

Keywords: green supply chain management, matrix geometric method, production recovery, reverse supply chains

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Authors: Kaleb Shiferaw, Berhanu Geberemedhin

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Ethiopian farmers have a long tradition of beekeeping and the country has huge potential for honey production. However traditional mode of production still dominates the sub sector which negatively affect the total production and productivity. A number of studies have been conducted to better understand the working honey production, however, none of them systematically investigate the extent of technical efficiency of the sub-sector. This paper uses Stochastic Frontier production model to quantifying the extent of technical efficiency and identify exogenous determinant of inefficiency. The result showed that consistent with other studies traditional practice dominate small scale honey production in Ethiopia. The finding also revealed that use of purchased inputs such as bee forage and other supplement is very limited among honey producers indicating that natural bee forage is the primary source of bee forage. The immediate consequence of all these is low production and productivity. The number of hives the household owns, whether the household used improved apiculture technologies, availability of natural forest which is the primary sources of nectar for bees and amount of land owned by the households were found to have a significant influence on the amount of honey produced by beekeeper. Our result further showed that the mean technical efficiency of honey producers is 0.79 implying that, on average honey producer produce 80 percent of the maximum output. The implication is that 20 percent of the potential output is lost due to technical inefficiency. Number of hives owned by a honey produces, distance to district town-a proxy to market access, household wealth, and whether the household head has a leadership role in the PA affect the technical efficiency of honey producers. The finding suggest that policies that aim to expand the use of improved hives is expected to increase the honey production at household level. The result also suggest that investment on rural infrastructure would be instrumental in improving technical efficiency of honey producer.

Keywords: small-scale honey producer, Ethiopia, technical efficiency in apiculture, stochastic frontier analysis

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Authors: Yenny Paola Morales Cortés, Fabián Rico Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Serrato Bermúdez, Carlos Arturo Martínez Riascos

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Numerous benefits of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) as prebiotics have motivated the study of enzymatic processes for their production. These processes have special complexities due to several factors that make difficult high productivity, such as enzyme type, reaction medium pH, substrate concentrations and presence of inhibitors, among others. In the present work the production of galactooligosaccharides (with different degrees of polymerization: two, three and four) from lactose was studied. The study considers the formulation of a mathematical model that predicts the production of GOS from lactose using the enzyme β-galactosidase. The effect of pH in the reaction was studied. For that, phosphate buffer was used and with this was evaluated three pH values (6.0.6.5 and 7.0). Thus it was observed that at pH 6.0 the enzymatic activity insignificant. On the other hand, at pH 7.0 the enzymatic activity was approximately 27 times greater than at 6.5. The last result differs from previously reported results. Therefore, pH 7.0 was chosen as working pH. Additionally, the enzyme concentration was analyzed, which allowed observing that the effect of the concentration depends on the pH and the concentration was set for the following studies in 0.272 mM. Afterwards, experiments were performed varying the lactose concentration to evaluate its effects on the process and to generate the data for the adjustment of the mathematical model parameters. The mathematical model considers the reactions of lactose hydrolysis and transgalactosylation for the production of disaccharides and trisaccharides, with their inverse reactions. The production of tetrasaccharides was negligible and, because of that, it was not included in the model. The reaction was monitored by HPLC and for the quantitative analysis of the experimental data the Matlab programming language was used, including solvers for differential equations systems integration (ode15s) and nonlinear problems optimization (fminunc). The results confirm that the transgalactosylation and hydrolysis reactions are reversible, additionally inhibition by glucose and galactose is observed on the production of GOS. In relation to the production process of galactooligosaccharides, the results show that it is necessary to have high initial concentrations of lactose considering that favors the transgalactosylation reaction, while low concentrations favor hydrolysis reactions.

Keywords: β-galactosidase, galactooligosaccharides, inhibition, lactose, Matlab, modeling

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Authors: Ismail Bin Mohd Saaid, Abubakar Abubakar Umar

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Despite the successes recorded by Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer (ASP) flooding as an effective chemical EOR technique, the combination CEOR is not unassociated with stern glitches, one of which is the scaling of downhole equipment. One of the major issues inside the oil industry is how to control scale formation, regardless of whether it is in the wellhead equipment, down-hole pipelines or even the actual field formation. The best approach to handle the challenge associated with oilfield scale formation is the application of scale inhibitors to avert the scale formation. Chemical inhibitors have been employed in doing such. But due to environmental regulations, the industry have focused on using green scale inhibitors to mitigate the formation of scales. This paper compares the scale inhibition performance of Polyaspartic acid and sodium polyacrylic acid, both commercial green scale inhibitors, in mitigating silicate scales formed during Alkaline/Surfactant/polymer flooding under static conditions. Both PASP and TH5000 are non-threshold inhibitors, therefore their efficiency was only seeing in delaying the deposition of the silicate scales.

Keywords: alkaline/surfactant/polymer flooding (ASP), polyaspartic acid (PASP), sodium polyacrylate (SPA)

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Authors: Sandeep Goyal, Sandeep Saluja

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Natural antioxidants have major role in maintenance of health. Green tea extract principally contains epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), as its abundant antioxidant constituent. Green tea is consumed daily worldwide as antioxidant to combat CNS diseases and has traditional importance also. EGCG has neuroprotective potential in various animal models of Parkinson disease, Alzheimer’s disease etc. but its exact mechanism has not been ruled out. The present study has been designed to investigate the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and mitochondrial modulating mechanism of neuroprotective effect of epigallocatechin-3-gallate against rodent model of rotenone induced Parkinson’s disease (PD). The behavioural alterations were assessed by using open field test apparatus, Chatilon’s grip strength test apparatus and elevated plus maze for determining the locomotor activity, grip strength and cognition respectively. Biochemically, various parameters to assess oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and neurochemical estimations were performed on rat brain homogenates. A histological examination of rat brain striatum was done to check the neurodegeneration. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) at 10 & 20 mg/kg, were investigated for their neuroprotective potential along with levodopa as a standard agent. Minocycline, a microglial activation inhibitor, was administered alone and in combination with EGCG. EGCG and minocycline produced ameliorative effect against rotenone induced PD like symptoms by significantly reduced behavioral, biochemical and histological alterations. Results of our study reveal the neuroprotective effect of EGCG and minocycline against rotenone induced PD. Results of our study indicate that EGCG exerted neuroprotective effect against rotenone induced PD via its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and mitochondrial modulating mechanisms and substantiate its previously reported and traditional claims for its use in CNS diseases.

Keywords: antioxidants, neurotoxicity, rotenone, EGCG

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Authors: Mohamed Ahmed M. Azab

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The shortage of fresh water is a major problem in several areas of the world such as arid regions and coastal zones in several countries of Arabian Gulf. Fortunately, arid regions are exposed to high levels of solar irradiation most the year, which makes the utilization of solar energy a promising solution to such problem with zero harmful emission (Green System). The main objective of this work is to conduct a feasibility study of utilizing small autonomous water desalination units powered by photovoltaic modules as a green renewable energy resource to be employed in different isolated zones as a source of drinking water for some scattered societies where the installation of huge desalination stations are discarded owing to the unavailability of electric grid. Yanbu City is chosen as a case study where the Renewable Energy Center exists and equipped with all sensors to assess the availability of solar energy all over the year. The study included two types of available water: the first type is brackish well water and the second type is seawater of coastal regions. In the case of well water, two versions of desalination units are involved in the study: the first version is based on day operation only. While the second version takes into consideration night operation also, which requires energy storage system as batteries to provide the necessary electric power at night. According to the feasibility study results, it is found that utilization of small autonomous desalinations unit is applicable and economically accepted in the case of brackish well water. While in the case of seawater the capital costs are extremely high and the cost of desalinated water will not be economically feasible unless governmental subsidies are provided. In addition, the study indicated that, for the same water production, the utilization of energy storage version (day-night) adds additional capital cost for batteries, and extra running cost for their replacement, which makes the unit price not only incompetent with day-only unit but also with conventional units powered by diesel generator (fossil fuel) owing to the low prices of fuel in the kingdom. However, the cost analysis shows that the price of the produced water per cubic meter of day-night unit is similar to that produced from the day-only unit provided that the day-night unit operates theoretically for a longer period of 50%.

Keywords: solar energy, water desalination, reverse osmosis, arid regions

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Authors: Fama Jallow, Melody Neaves, Professor Mcgregor

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The quest for sustainable energy sources has driven significant interest in hydrogen production as a clean and efficient fuel. Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) has emerged as a prominent method for generating hydrogen, necessitating the development of advanced electrode designs with improved performance characteristics. Additive manufacturing (AM) by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) method presents an opportunity to tailor electrode microstructures and properties, enhancing their performance. This research proposes investigating the AM of electrodes with different lattice structures to optimize hydrogen production. The primary objective is to employ advanced modeling techniques to identify and select two optimal lattice structures for electrode fabrication. LPBF will be used to fabricate electrodes with precise control over lattice geometry, pore size, and distribution. The performance evaluation will encompass energy consumption and porosity analysis. AWE will assess energy efficiency, aiming to identify lattice structures with enhanced hydrogen production rates and reduced power requirements. Computed tomography (CT) scanning will analyze porosity to determine material integrity and mass transport characteristics. The research aims to bridge the gap between AM and hydrogen production by investigating lattice structures potential in electrode design. By systematically exploring lattice structures and their impact on performance, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the design and fabrication of highly efficient and cost-effective electrodes for AWE. The outcomes hold promise for advancing hydrogen production through AM. The research will have a significant impact on the development of sustainable energy sources. The findings from this study will help to improve the efficiency of AWE, making it a more viable option for hydrogen production. This could lead to a reduction in our reliance on fossil fuels, which would have a positive impact on the environment. The research is also likely to have a commercial impact. The findings could be used to develop new electrode designs that are more efficient and cost-effective. This could lead to the development of new hydrogen production technologies, which could have a significant impact on the energy market.

Keywords: hydrogen production, electrode, lattice structure, Africa

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Authors: Noor-ul-Ain, Muhammad Thair Khan, Adeela Ajmal, Hamid Mustafa

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Pakistan is an agricultural country and livestock only share 11.8 percent to national GDP during 2015-16. Pakistan is a 3rd largest milk producing country having 41.2, 35.6, 29.4, 68.4 and 1.0 million head cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and camel, respectively. Modern urbanization and shortage of feed resources for livestock species in a country is an alarming threat. The introduction of new technology and advanced techniques solve this issue. This includes drought feeding, increase production, aid to crop management, balance nutrition and easily storaged of wet feed products. It is therefore clear that silage has important role in animal feed and feeding. Financial model of this study clear the effectiveness of silage. Therefore, it is revealed from this study that silage is a cost-effective option for a profitable dairy farming in Pakistan.

Keywords: feed, silage, dairy, production, Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 440