Search results for: reduced order models

Authors: Kunwar Paritosh, Sanjay Mathur, Monika Yadav, Paras Gandhi, Subodh Kumar, Nidhi Pareek, Vivekanand Vivekanand

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A significant fraction of energy is wasted every year managing the biodegradable organic waste inadequately as development and sustainability are the inherent enemies. The management of these waste is indispensable to boost its optimum utilization by converting it to renewable energy resource (here biogas) through anaerobic digestion and to mitigate greenhouse gas emission. Food and yard wastes may prove to be appropriate and potential feedstocks for anaerobic co-digestion for biogas production. The present study has been performed to explore the synergistic effect of co-digesting food waste and yard trimmings from MNIT campus for enhanced biogas production in different ratios in batch tests (37±10C, 90 rpm, 45 days). The results were overwhelming and showed that blending two different organic waste in proper ratio improved the biogas generation considerably, with the highest biogas yield (2044±24 mLg-1VS) that was achieved at 75:25 of food waste to yard waste ratio on volatile solids (VS) basis. The yield was 1.7 and 2.2 folds higher than the mono-digestion of food or yard waste (1172±34, 1016±36mLg-1VS) respectively. The increase in biogas production may be credited to optimum C/N ratio resulting in higher yield. Also Adding TiO2 nanoparticles showed virtually no effect on biogas production as sometimes nanoparticles enhance biogas production. ICP-MS, FTIR analysis was carried out to gain an insight of feedstocks. Modified Gompertz and logistics models were applied for the kinetic study of biogas production where modified Gompertz model showed goodness-of-fit (R2=0.9978) with the experimental results.

Keywords: anaerobic co-digestion, biogas, kinetics, nanoparticle, organic waste

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Authors: Ribeiro Tiago Magalhães

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Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of a hydroelectric power plant in the state of Amapá, and to present the results obtained by dimensioning the diversity of the main mosquito vectors involved in the transmission of pathogens that cause diseases such as malaria, dengue and leishmaniasis. Methodology: The present study was conducted on the banks of the Araguari River, in the municipalities of Porto Grande and Ferreira Gomes in the southern region of Amapá State. Nine monitoring campaigns were conducted, the first in April 2014 and the last in March 2016. The selection of the catch sites was done in order to prioritize areas with possible occurrence of the species considered of greater importance for public health and areas of contact between the wild environment and humans. Sampling efforts aimed to identify the local vector fauna and to relate it to the transmission of diseases. In this way, three phases of collection were established, covering the schedules of greater hematophageal activity. Sampling was carried out using Shannon Shack and CDC types of light traps and by means of specimen collection with the hold method. This procedure was carried out during the morning (between 08:00 and 11:00), afternoon-twilight (between 15:30 and 18:30) and night (between 18:30 and 22:00). In the specific methodology of capture with the use of the CDC equipment, the delimited times were from 18:00 until 06:00 the following day. Results: A total of 32 species of mosquitoes was identified, and a total of 2,962 specimens was taxonomically subdivided into three genera (Culicidae, Psychodidae and Simuliidae) Psorophora, Sabethes, Simulium, Uranotaenia and Wyeomyia), besides those represented by the family Psychodidae that due to the morphological complexities, allows the safe identification (without the method of diaphanization and assembly of slides for microscopy), only at the taxonomic level of subfamily (Phlebotominae). Conclusion: The nine monitoring campaigns carried out provided the basis for the design of the possible epidemiological structure in the areas of influence of the Cachoeira Caldeirão HPP, in order to point out among the points established for sampling, which would represent greater possibilities, according to the group of identified mosquitoes, of disease acquisition. However, what should be mainly considered, are the future events arising from reservoir filling. This argument is based on the fact that the reproductive success of Culicidae is intrinsically related to the aquatic environment for the development of its larvae until adulthood. From the moment that the water mirror is expanded in new environments for the formation of the reservoir, a modification in the process of development and hatching of the eggs deposited in the substrate can occur, causing a sudden explosion in the abundance of some genera, in special Anopheles, which holds preferences for denser forest environments, close to the water portions.

Keywords: Amazon, hydroelectric, power, plants

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Authors: Linda Boussaid, Farid Brahim Belaribi

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The physico-chemical properties of liquid materials in the industrial field, in general, and in that of the chemical industries, in particular, constitutes a prerequisite for the design of equipment, for the resolution of specific problems (related to the techniques of purification and separation, at risk in the transport of certain materials, etc.) and, therefore, at the production stage. Chloroalkanes, ethers constitute three chemical families having an industrial, theoretical and environmental interest. For example, these compounds are used in various applications in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. In addition, they contribute to the particular thermodynamic behavior (deviation from ideality, association, etc.) of certain mixtures which constitute a severe test for predictive theoretical models. Finally, due to the degradation of the environment in the world, a renewed interest is observed for ethers, because some of their physicochemical properties could contribute to lower pollution (ethers would be used as additives in aqueous fuels.). This work is a thermodynamic, experimental and theoretical study of the volumetric properties of liquid binary systems formed from compounds belonging to the chemical families of chloroalkanes, ethers, having an industrial, theoretical and environmental interest. Experimental determination of the densities and excess volumes of the systems studied, at different temperatures in the interval [278.15-333.15] K and at atmospheric pressure, using an AntonPaar vibrating tube densitometer of the DMA5000 type. This contribution of experimental data, on the volumetric properties of the binary liquid mixtures of 1,2-dichloroethane with an ether, supplemented by an application of the theoretical model of Prigogine-Flory-Patterson PFP, will probably contribute to the enrichment of the thermodynamic database and the further development of the theory of Flory in its Prigogine-Flory-Patterson (PFP) version, for a better understanding of the thermodynamic behavior of these liquid binary mixtures

Keywords: prigogine-flory-patterson (pfp), propriétés volumétrique , volume d’excés, ethers

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Authors: Fethia Zenak, Salima Benbernou, Linda Zaoui

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Recently, many companies are based on process development from scratch to achieve their business goals. The process development is not trivial and the main objective of enterprise managing processes is to decrease the software development time. Several concepts have been proposed in the field of business process-based reused development, known as BP Mashup. This concept consists of reusing existing business processes which have been modeled in order to respond to a particular goal. To meet user process requirements, our contribution is to mix parts of processes as 'processes fragments' components to build a new process (i.e. process mashup). The main idea of our paper is to offer graphical framework tool for both creating and running processes mashup. Allow users to perform a mixture of fragments, using a simple interface with set of graphical mixture operators based on a proposed formal model. A process mashup and mixture behavior are described within a new specification of a high-level language, language for process mashup (BPML).

Keywords: business process, mashup, fragments, bp mashup

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Authors: Ammar Ouahab, Meriem Houichi , Sanna Mihoubi

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Background: Nigella sativa is an annual flowering plant, belongs to the Ranunculaceae family. It has many pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory; anti-bacterial; anti-hepatotoxic activities etc. Materials: In order to predict the pharmacological activity of Nigella Sativa’s compounds, some web based servers were used, namely, PubChem, Molinspiration, ADMET-SAR, PASS online and PharMapper. In addition to that, AutoDOCK was used to investigate the different molecular interactions between the selected compounds and their target proteins. Results: All compounds displayed a stable interaction with their targets and satisfactory binding energies, which means that they are active on their targets. Conclusion: Nigella sativa is an effective medicinal plant that has several ethno-medical uses; the latter uses are proven herein via an in-silico study of their pharmacological activities.

Keywords: Nigella sativa, AutoDOCK, PubChem, Molinspiration, ADMET-SAR, PharMapper, PASS online server, docking

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Authors: Svetlana Guryeva, Inna Kornienko, Elena Petersen

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At present, translational medicine is a rapidly developing branch of biomedicine. The main idea of translational medicine is a practical application of fundamental research. One of the possible applications for translational medicine is researching therapies that improve human age-related organism condition. To fill the gap between experiments and clinical practice, it is necessary to create the standardized system for the investigation of different effects on cellular aging models. In this study, primary human fibroblasts derived from patients of different ages were used as a cellular aging model. The senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, lipofuscin, γ-H2AX, the reactive oxygen species level, and cell death markers (annexin V/propidium iodide) were used as biomarkers of the cell functional state. The effects of damaging exposures (oxidative stress and heat shock), potential positive factors (metformin and acetaminophen), and their combinations were investigated using the described biomarkers. Oxidative stress and heat shock caused the increase in the levels of all biomarkers, and only the cells from young patients partly coped with stress 3 days after the exposures. Metformin improved the state of pretreatment cells from young and old patients. The acetaminophen did not show significant changes in the biomarker levels compare to the action of metformin. This study proved the opportunity to develop a standardized screening system based on biomarkers of the cell functional state to identify potential positive or negative effects of some physical and chemical exposures. Moreover, such a system can be useful for the aims of regenerative medicine to determine the effect of cell pretreatment before transplantation.

Keywords: biomarkers, primary fibroblasts, regenerative medicine, senescence, test system, translational medicine

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Authors: Arjun, A. D. Singh

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The purpose of this study is to resolve the solid waste problems caused by plastics and concrete demolition as well. In order to that mechanical properties of polymer concrete; in particular, polymer concrete made of unsaturated polyester resins from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste and recycled concrete aggregates is carried out. Properly formulated unsaturated polyester based on recycled PET is mixed with inorganic aggregates to produce polymer concrete. Apart from low manufacturing cost, polymer concrete blend has acceptable properties, to go through it. The prior objectives of the paper is to investigate the mechanical properties, i.e. compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and the flexural strength of polymer concrete blend using an unsaturated polyester resin based on recycled PET. The relationships between the mechanical properties are also analyzed.

Keywords: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), concrete aggregates, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength

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Authors: Anas Al-Ali, Mohammed Suleiman, Ayman Hussein

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Sulfur is an important element has many practical applications in present as nanoparticles. Nanosize sulfur particles also have many important applications like in pharmaceuticals, medicine, synthesis of nanocomposites for lithium batteries, modification of carbon nanotubes. Different methods were used for nano-sized particle synthesis; among those, chemical precipitation, electrochemical method, micro-emulsion technique, composing of oil, surfactant, co-surfactant, aqueous phases with the specific compositions and ultrasonic treatment of sulfur-cystine solution. In this work, sulfur nanoparticles (S NPs) were prepared by a quick precipitation method with and without using a surfactant to stabilize the formed S NPs. The synthesized S NPs were characterized by XRD, SEM, and TEM in order to confirm their sizes and structures. Application of nanotechnology is suggested for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The anticancer activity of the prepared S NPs has been tested on various types of cancer cell clones including leukemia, kidney and colon cancers.

Keywords: sulfur nanoparticles (S-NPs), TEM, SEM, anti cancer activity, XRD

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Authors: Soma Sarkar

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A number of authors have recently argued that there are strong links between ecosystem services and sustainable development, particularly development efforts that aim to reduce rural poverty. We see two distinct routes by which the science of ecosystem services can contribute to both nature conservation and sustainable development. First, a thorough accounting of ecosystem services and a better understanding of how and at what rates ecosystems produce these services can be used to motivate payment for nature conservation. At least part of the generated funds can be used to compensate people who suffer lost economic opportunities to protect these services. For example, if rural poor are asked to take actions that reduce farm productivity to protect and regulate water supply, those farmers could be compensated for the reduced productivity they experience. When the benefits of natural ecosystems are explicitly quantified, those benefits are more valued both by the people who directly interact with the ecosystems and the governmental and other agencies that would have to pay for substitute sources of these services if these ecosystems should become impaired. Appreciating the value of ecosystem services can motivate increased conservation investment to prevent having to pay for substitutes later. This approach could be characterized as a ‘‘government investment’’ approach because the payments will generally come from beneficiaries outside of the local area, and a governmental or other agency is typically responsible for collecting and redistributing the funds. Second, a focus on the conservation of ecosystem services could improve the success of projects that attempt to both conserve nature and improve the welfare of the rural poor by fostering markets for the goods and services that local people produce or extract from ecosystems. These projects could be characterized as more ‘‘community based’’ because the goal is to foster the more organic, or grassroots, development of cottage industries, such as ecotourism, or the production of non-timber forest products, that are enhanced by better protection of local ecosystems. Using this framework, we discuss the factors that may have contributed to failure or success for several projects in the district of Purulia, one of the most backward districts of India and inhabited by indigenous group of people. A large majority of people in this district are dependent on environment based incomes for their sustenance. The erosion of natural resource base owing to poor governance in the district has led to the reductions in the household incomes of these people. The scale of our analysis is local or project level. The plight of poor has little to do with the production functions of ecosystem services. But for rural poor, at the local level, the status of ecosystem services can make a big difference in their daily lives.

Keywords: ecosystem services, governance, rural poor, community based natural resource management

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Authors: Mansour Fakhri, Monire Zokaei

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Where there are many demolitions on conventional asphalt pavements, heavy costs are paid to repair and reconstruct the pavement roads annually. Recently some research has been done in order to increase the pavement life. Perpetual pavement is regarded as one of them which can improve the pavement life and minimize the maintenance activity and cost. In this research, ABAQUS which is a finite element software is implemented for analyzing and simulation of perpetual pavement. Viscoelastic model of material is used and loading wheel is considered to be dynamic. Effect of different parameters on pavement function has been considered. Because of high primary cost these pavements are not widely used. In this regard, life cost analysis was also carried out to compare perpetual pavement to conventional asphalt concrete pavement. It was concluded that although the initial cost of perpetual pavement is higher than that of conventional asphalt pavement, life cycle cost analysis during 50 years of service life showed that the performance of this pavement is better and the whole life cost of that is less.

Keywords: ABAQUS, lifecycle cost analysis, mechanistic empirical, perpetual pavement

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Authors: Frederic Barth, Wouter Vanhoudt, Marc Londo, Jaap C. Jansen, Karine Veum, Javier Castro, Klaus Nürnberger, Matthias Altmann

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Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in the transition towards a low-carbon economy, especially within the transport sector, the energy sector and the (petro)chemical industry sector. However, the production and use of hydrogen only make sense if the production and transportation are carried out with minimal impact on natural resources, and if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced in comparison to conventional hydrogen or conventional fuels. The CertifHy project, supported by a wide range of key European industry leaders (gas companies, chemical industry, energy utilities, green hydrogen technology developers and automobile manufacturers, as well as other leading industrial players) therefore aims to: 1. Define a widely acceptable definition of green hydrogen. 2. Determine how a robust Guarantee of Origin (GoO) scheme for green hydrogen should be designed and implemented throughout the EU. It is divided into the following work packages (WPs). 1. Generic market outlook for green hydrogen: Evidence of existing industrial markets and the potential development of new energy related markets for green hydrogen in the EU, overview of the segments and their future trends, drivers and market outlook (WP1). 2. Definition of “green” hydrogen: step-by-step consultation approach leading to a consensus on the definition of green hydrogen within the EU (WP2). 3. Review of existing platforms and interactions between existing GoO and green hydrogen: Lessons learnt and mapping of interactions (WP3). 4. Definition of a framework of guarantees of origin for “green” hydrogen: Technical specifications, rules and obligations for the GoO, impact analysis (WP4). 5. Roadmap for the implementation of an EU-wide GoO scheme for green hydrogen: the project implementation plan will be presented to the FCH JU and the European Commission as the key outcome of the project and shared with stakeholders before finalisation (WP5 and 6). Definition of Green Hydrogen: CertifHy Green hydrogen is hydrogen from renewable sources that is also CertifHy Low-GHG-emissions hydrogen. Hydrogen from renewable sources is hydrogen belonging to the share of production equal to the share of renewable energy sources (as defined in the EU RES directive) in energy consumption for hydrogen production, excluding ancillary functions. CertifHy Low-GHG hydrogen is hydrogen with emissions lower than the defined CertifHy Low-GHG-emissions threshold, i.e. 36.4 gCO2eq/MJ, produced in a plant where the average emissions intensity of the non-CertifHy Low-GHG hydrogen production (based on an LCA approach), since sign-up or in the past 12 months, does not exceed the emissions intensity of the benchmark process (SMR of natural gas), i.e. 91.0 gCO2eq/MJ.

Keywords: green hydrogen, cross-cutting, guarantee of origin, certificate, DG energy, bankability

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Authors: Jamaludin Jamaludin, Suparji Suparji, Lilik Anifah, I. Gusti Putu Asto Buditjahjanto, Eppy Yundra

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Learning media is an important and main component in the learning process. By using currently available media, cadets still have difficulty understanding how the piston engine works, so they are not able to apply these concepts appropriately. This study aims to examine the development of interactive media for piston engine courses in order to improve student learning outcomes. The research method used is a literature study of several articles, journals and proceedings of interactive media development results from 2010-2020. The results showed that the development of interactive media is needed to support the learning process and influence the cognitive abilities of students. With this interactive media, learning outcomes can be improved and the learning process can be effective.

Keywords: interactive media, learning outcomes, learning process, literature study

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Authors: Hamed Reza Heshmat Mohajer, Lan Ding, Mattheos Santamouris

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One of the worst environmental dangers for people who live in cities is the Urban Heat Island (UHI) impact which is anticipated to become stronger in the coming years as a result of climate change. Accordingly, the key aim of this paper is to study the interaction between the urban configuration and mitigation strategies including increasing albedo of the urban environment (reflective material), implementation of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) and/or a combination thereof. To analyse the microclimate models of different urban categories in the metropolis of Sydney, this study will assess meteorological parameters using a 3D model simulation tool of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) named ENVI-met. In this study, four main parameters are taken into consideration while assessing the effectiveness of UHI mitigation strategies: ambient air temperature, wind speed/direction, and outdoor thermal comfort. Layouts with present condition simulation studies from the basic model (scenario one) are taken as the benchmark. A base model is used to calculate the relative percentage variations between each scenario. The findings showed that maximum cooling potential across different urban layouts can be decreased by 2.15 °C degrees by combining high-albedo material with flora; besides layouts with open arrangements(OT1) present a highly remarkable improvement in ambient air temperature and outdoor thermal comfort when mitigation technologies applied compare to compact counterparts. Besides all layouts present a higher intensity on the maximum ambient air temperature reduction rather than the minimum ambient air temperature. On the other hand, Scenarios associated with an increase in greeneries are anticipated to have a slight cooling effect, especially on high-rise layouts.

Keywords: sustainable urban development, urban green infrastructure, high-albedo materials, heat island effect

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Authors: Wei-Hao Lee, Ta-Wui Cheng, Yung-Chin Ding, Tai-Tien Wang

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The purpose of this study is trying to use marble wastes as the raw material to fabricate geopolymer green mortar / concrete. Experiment results show that using marble to make geopolymer mortar and concrete, the compressive strength after 28 days curing can reach 35 MPa and 25 MPa, respectively. The characteristics of marble-based geopolymer green mortar and concrete will keep testing for a long term in order to understand the effect parameters. The study is based on resource recovery and recycling. Its basic characteristics are low consumption, low carbon dioxide emission and high efficiency that meet the international tendency 'Circular Economy.' By comparing with Portland cement mortar and concrete, production 1 ton of marble-based geopolymer mortar and concrete, they can be saved around 50.3% and 49.6% carbon dioxide emission, respectively. Production 1 m3 of marble-based geopolymer concrete costs about 62 USD that cheaper than that of traditional Portland concrete. It is proved that the marble-based geopolymer concrete has great potential for further engineering development.

Keywords: marble, geopolymer, geopolymer concrete, CO₂ emission

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Authors: Francis Chinweuba Eboh, Tobias Richards

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In this study, a waste-to-energy combined heat and power plant under construction was modelled and simulated with the Aspen Plus software. The base case process plant was evaluated and compared when integrated with flue gas condensation (FGC) in order to find out the impact of the exergy efficiency and economic feasibility as well as the effect of overall system exergy losses and revenue generated in the investigated plant. The economic evaluations were carried out using the vendor cost data from Aspen process economic analyser. The results indicate that 4 % increase in the exergy efficiency and 29 % reduction in the exergy loss in the flue gas were obtained when the flue gas condensation was incorporated. Furthermore, with the integrated FGC, the net present values (NPV) and income generated in the base process plant were increased by 29 % and 10 % respectively after 20 years of operation.

Keywords: economic feasibility, exergy efficiency, exergy losses, flue gas condensation, waste-to-energy

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Authors: Cristina Sá, Carlos Gomes, António Martins

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The reasons that explain different behaviors towards tax obligations in similar countries are not completely understood yet. The main purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the factors that influence tax morale levels in Portugal and Spain. We use data from European Values Study (EVS). Using a sample of 2,652 individuals, a factor analysis was used to extract the underlying dimensions of tax morale of Portuguese and Spanish taxpayers. Based on a factor analysis, the results of this paper show that sociological and behavioral factors, psychological factors and political factors are important for a good understanding of taxpayers’ behavior in Iberian Peninsula. This paper added value relies on the analyses of a wide range of variables and on the comparison between Portugal and Spain. Our conclusions provided insights that tax authorities and politicians can use to better focus their strategies and actions in order to increase compliance, reduce tax evasion, fight underground economy and increase country´s competitiveness.

Keywords: compliance, tax morale, Portugal, Spain

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Authors: Dian Guan

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With the wide application of multimedia and the Internet, the development of teaching theories, and the implementation of teaching reforms, many different university English classroom teaching modes have emerged. The university English teaching mode is changing from the traditional teaching mode based on conversation and text to the multimodal English teaching mode containing discussion, pictures, audio, film, etc. Applying university English teaching models is conducive to cultivating lifelong learning skills. In addition, lifelong learning skills can also be called learners' autonomous learning skills. Learners' independent learning ability has a significant impact on English learning. However, many university students, especially art and design students, don't know how to learn individually. When they become university students, their English foundation is a relative deficiency because they always remember the language in a traditional way, which, to a certain extent, neglects the cultivation of English learners' independent ability. As a result, the autonomous learning ability of most university students is not satisfactory. The participants in this study were 60 students and one teacher in their first year at a university in western China. Two observations and interviews were conducted inside and outside the classroom to understand the impact of a multimodal teaching model of university English on students' autonomous learning ability. The results were analyzed, and it was found that the multimodal teaching model of university English significantly affected learners' autonomy. Incorporating classroom presentations and poster exhibitions into multimodal teaching can increase learners' interest in learning and enhance their learning ability outside the classroom. However, further exploration is needed to develop multimodal teaching materials and evaluate multimodal teaching outcomes. Despite the limitations of this study, the study adopts a scientific research method to analyze the impact of the multimodal teaching mode of university English on students' independent learning ability. It puts forward a different outlook for further research on this topic.

Keywords: art university, EFL education, learner autonomy, multimodal pedagogy

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Authors: Jin Sup Kim, Min Seo

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An improved cross-shaped hall plate with high sensitivity is described in this paper. Among different geometries that have been simulated and measured using Helmholtz coil. The paper describes the physical hall plate design and implementation in a 0.18-µm CMOS technology. In this paper, the biasing is a constant voltage mode. In the voltage mode, magnetic field is converted into an output voltage. The output voltage is typically in the order of micro- to millivolt and therefore, it must be amplified before being transmitted to the outside world. The study, design and performance optimization of hall plate has been carried out with the COMSOL Multiphysics. It is used to estimate the voltage distribution in the hall plate with and without magnetic field and to optimize the geometry. The simulation uses the nominal bias current of 1mA. The applied magnetic field is in the range from 0 mT to 20 mT. Measured results of the one structure over the 10 available samples show for the best sensitivity of 2.5 %/T at 20mT.

Keywords: cross-shaped hall plate, sensitivity, CMOS technology, Helmholtz coil

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Authors: Kyu Chul Lee, Sung Hyun Yoo, Choon Ki Ahn, Myo Taeg Lim

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Recent experimental evidences have shown that because of a fast convergence and a nice accuracy, neural networks training via extended Kalman filter (EKF) method is widely applied. However, as to an uncertainty of the system dynamics or modeling error, the performance of the method is unreliable. In order to overcome this problem in this paper, a new finite impulse response (FIR) filter based learning algorithm is proposed to train radial basis function neural networks (RBFN) for nonlinear function approximation. Compared to the EKF training method, the proposed FIR filter training method is more robust to those environmental conditions. Furthermore, the number of centers will be considered since it affects the performance of approximation.

Keywords: extended Kalman filter, classification problem, radial basis function networks (RBFN), finite impulse response (FIR) filter

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Authors: M. A. Ahmed, Sidra A. Shaikh, M. W. Akhtar

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Solar radiation on horizontal surface over three southern cities of Sindh, namely Karachi, Hyderabad and Nawabshah has been investigated to asses the feasibility of solar energy application for power generation. In the present work, measured data of bright sunshine hour of the region have been used to estimate the global and diffuse solar radiation. The regression coefficient 'a' and 'b' have been calculated using first order Angstrom type co-relation. The result obtained shows that the contribution of direct solar radiation is low and diffuse radiation is high during the monsoon months July and August for Karachi and Hyderabad. The sky remains clear from September to June, whereas for Nawabshah the global radiation remains high throughout the year. The potential of grid quality solar photovoltaic power in Karachi is estimated for 10 square meter area of solar panel.

Keywords: solar potential over Sindh, global and diffuse solar radiation, radiation over three cities of Sindh, solar panels

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Authors: Yingying Ding

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This study presents a methodology of specialized translation with the objective of helping teachers to improve the strategies in teaching translation. In order to allow students to acquire skills to translate specialized texts, they need to become familiar with the semantic and syntactic features of source texts and target texts. The aim of our study is to use a corpus-based approach in the teaching of specialized translation between Chinese and Italian. This study proposes to construct a specialized Chinese - Italian comparable corpus that consists of 50 economic contracts from the domain of food. With the help of AntConc, we propose to compile a comparable corpus in for translation teaching purposes. This paper attempts to provide insight into how teachers could benefit from comparable corpus in the teaching of specialized translation from Italian into Chinese and through some examples of passive sentences how students could learn to apply different strategies for translating appropriately the voice.

Keywords: contrastive studies, specialised translation, corpus-based approach, teaching

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Authors: Colm Barcoe, Garvan Whelan

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Over the past five years, visitations of American holidaymakers to Ireland have grown exponentially owing to the online strategies of Tourism Ireland, a Destination Marketer (DMO) with a meagre budget which is extended by their understanding of best practices to maximise their monetary allowance. This suggested framework incorporates a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) such as financial, marketing, and operational that offer a scale of measurement from which the Irish DMO can monitor the success of each promotional campaign when targeting the US and Canada. These are presented not as final solutions but rather as suggestions based on empirical evidence obtained from both primary and secondary sources. This research combines the wisdom extracted through qualitative methodologies with the objective of understanding the processes that drive both emergent and agile strategies. The Study extends the work relative to performance and examines the role of social media in the context of promoting Ireland to North America. There are two main themes that are identified and analysed in this investigation, these are the approach of the DMO when advocating Ireland as a brand and the benefits of digital platforms set against a proposed scale of KPIs, such as destination marketing, brand positioning, and identity development. The key narrative of this analysis is to focus on the power of social media when capitalising upon marketing opportunities, operating on a relatively small budget. This will always be a relevant theme of discussion due to the responsibility of an organisation like Tourism Ireland operating under the restraints imposed by government funding. The overall conclusions of this research may help inform those concerned with the implementing of social media strategies develop clearer models of measurement when promoting a destination to North America. The suggestions of this study will benefit small and medium enterprises particularly.

Keywords: destination marketing, framework, measure, performance

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Authors: P. Raajeswari, S. M. Devatha, S. Yuvajanani, U. Rashika

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Edible food packaging are the need of the hour to save life on land and under water by eliminating waste cycle and replacing Single Use Plastics at grass root level as it can be eaten or composted as such. Cassava (Manihot esculenta) selected for making edible films are rich source of starch, and also it exhibit good sheeting propertiesdue to the high amylose: amylopectin content. Cassava starch was extracted by manual method at a laboratory scale and yielded 65 per cent. Edible films were developed by adding food grade plasticizers and water. Glycerol showed good plasticizing property as compared to sorbitol and polylactic acid in both manual (petri dish) and machine (film making machine) production. The thickness of the film is 0.25±0.03 mm. Essential oil and components from peels like pomegranate, orange, pumpkin, onion, and banana brat, and herbs like tulsi and country borage was extracted through the standardized aqueous and alkaline method. In the standardized film, the essential oil and components from selected peel and herbs were added to the casting solution separately and casted the film. It was added to improve the anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and optical properties. By inclusion of extracts, it reduced the bubble formation while casting. FTIR, Water Vapor and Oxygen Transmission Rate (WVTR and OTR), tensile strength, microbial load, shelf life, and degradability of the films were done to analyse the mechanical property of the standardized films. FTIR showed the presence of essential oil. WVTR and OTR of the film was improved after inclusion of essential oil and extracts from 1.312 to 0.811 cm₃/m₂ and 15.12 to 17.81 g/ m₂.d. Inclusion of essential oil from herbs showed better WVTR and OTR than the inclusion of peel extract and standard. Tensile strength and Elongation at break has not changed by essential oil and extracts at 0.86 ± 0.12 mpa and 14 ± 2 at 85 N force. By inclusion of extracts, an optical property of the film enhanced, and it increases the appearance of the packaging material. The films were completely degraded on 84thdays and partially soluble in water. Inclusion of essential oil does not have impact on degradability and solubility. The microbial loads of the active films were decreased from 15 cfu/gm to 7 cfu/gm. The films can be stored at frozen state for 24 days and 48 days at atmospheric temperature when packed with South Indian snacks and savories.

Keywords: active films, cassava starch, plasticizer, characterization

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Authors: O. Ansari, H. Hafs, A. Bah, M. Asbik, M. Malha, M. Bakhouya

Abstract:

Water is one of the most important and vulnerable natural resources due to human activities and climate change. Water-level continues declining year after year and it is primarily caused by sustained, extensive, and traditional usage methods. Improving water utilization becomes an urgent issue in order satisfy the increasing population needs. Desalination of seawater or brackish water could help in increasing water potential. However, a cost-effective desalination process is required. The most appropriate method for performing this desalination is solar-driven distillation, given its simplicity, low cost and especially the availability of the solar energy source. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the influence of coupling integrated basin plate by fins with preheating by solar collector on the performance of solar still. The energy balance equations for the various elements of the solar still are introduced. A numerical example is used to show the efficiency of the proposed solution.

Keywords: active solar still, desalination, fins, solar collector

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Authors: Rios A. S., Hild F., Deus E. P., Aimedieu P., Benallal A.

Abstract:

The damage micromechanisms of chopped strand mats manufactured by compression of Brazilian coconut fiber and coconut fibers in different external conditions (chemical treatment) were used in this study. Mechanical analysis testing uniaxial traction were used with Digital Image Correlation (DIC). The images captured during the tensile test in the coconut fibers and coconut fiber mats showed an uncertainty of measurement in order centipixels. The initial modulus (modulus of elasticity) and tensile strength decreased with increasing diameter for the four conditions of coconut fibers. The DIC showed heterogeneous deformation fields for coconut fibers and mats and the displacement fields showed the rupture process of coconut fiber. The determination of poisson’s ratio of the mat was performed through of transverse and longitudinal deformations found in the elastic region.

Keywords: coconut fiber, mechanical behavior, digital image correlation, micromechanism

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Authors: AmirHossein Mohajerzadeh, Mohammad Alishahi, Saeed Aslishahi, Mohsen Zabihi

Abstract:

In this paper, we consider sensor nodes with the capability of measuring the bearings (relative angle to the target). We use geometric methods to select a set of observer nodes which are responsible for collecting data from the target. Considering the characteristics of target tracking applications, it is clear that significant numbers of sensor nodes are usually inactive. Therefore, in order to minimize the total network energy consumption, a set of sensor nodes, called sentinel, is periodically selected for monitoring, controlling the environment and transmitting data through the network. The other nodes are inactive. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm provides a joint scheduling and routing algorithm to transmit data between network nodes and the fusion center (FC) in which not only provides an efficient way to estimate the target position but also provides an efficient target tracking. Performance evaluation confirms the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: coverage, routing, scheduling, target tracking, wireless sensor networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: Y. H. Hwang, J. Won, Y. S. Kang

Abstract:

Since ionic liquids have a special interaction with gas specially CO2 and/or olefin, supported ionic liquids membrane (SILM) are fabricated for practical gas separation. However, SILM has a problem in practical application due to the low mechanical stability under high pressure for gas separation. In order to improve the mechanical strength of the selective ionic liquid layer, we prepared supported ion gel membrane by the formation of gel on the surface of Nylon support. The ion gel was prepared by the addition of poly(styrene-block-ethyleneoxide-block-styrene) triblock copolymer in four tricyanomethanide ionic liquids have different cation; 1-ethyl-3-methlyimidazolium tricyanomethanide, 1-butyl-3-methlyimidazolium tricyanomethanide, 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tricyanomethanide, 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium tricyanomethanide using methylenechloride as a solvent. The characters of ion gel with different cation were studied. Four different gases (CO2, N2, O2, and CH4) permeance were measured at room temperature by bubble flow meter and cation effect of tricyanomethanide ionic liquids investigated.

Keywords: membrane, ionic liquid, ion gel, nanostructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Dandi Bachtiar, Mohammed Ausama Abbas, Januar Parlaungan Siregar, Mohd Ruzaimi Bin Mat Rejab

Abstract:

Short sugar palm fibre and thermoplastic polyurethane were combined to produce new composites by using the extrude method. Two techniques used to prepare a new composite material, firstly, extrusion of the base material with short fibre, secondly hot pressing them. The size of sugar palm fibre was fixed at 250µm. Different weight percent (10 wt%, 20 wt% and 30 wt%) were used in order to optimise preparation process. The optimization of process depended on the characterization mechanical properties such as impact, tensile, and flexural of the new (TPU/SPF) composite material. The results proved that best tensile and impact properties of weight additive fibre applied 10 wt%. There was an increasing trend recorded of flexural properties during increased the fibre loading. Meanwhile, the maximum tensile strength was 14.0 MPa at 10 wt% of the fibre. Moreover, there was no significant effect for additions more than 30 wt% of the fibre.

Keywords: composites, natural fibre, polyurethane, sugar palm

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Authors: Strahinja Kovačević, Sanja Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Lidija Jevrić, Cristina Prandi, Piermichele Kobauri

Abstract:

The present study is based on molecular modeling of a series of twelve 5-(4-substituent-phenoxy)-3-methylfuran-2(5H)-one derivatives which have potential of strigolactones mimics toward Striga hermonthica. The first step of the analysis included the calculation of molecular descriptors which numerically describe the structures of the analyzed compounds. The descriptors ALOGP (lipophilicity), AClogS (water solubility) and BBB (blood-brain barrier penetration), served as the input variables in multiple linear regression (MLR) modeling of germination activity toward S. hermonthica. Two MLR models were obtained. The first MLR model contains ALOGP and AClogS descriptors, while the second one is based on these two descriptors plus BBB descriptor. Despite the braking Topliss-Costello rule in the second MLR model, it has much better statistical and cross-validation characteristics than the first one. The ALOGP and AClogS descriptors are often very suitable predictors of the biological activity of many compounds. They are very important descriptors of the biological behavior and availability of a compound in any biological system (i.e. the ability to pass through the cell membranes). BBB descriptor defines the ability of a molecule to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Besides the lipophilicity of a compound, this descriptor carries the information of the molecular bulkiness (its value strongly depends on molecular bulkiness). According to the obtained results of MLR modeling, these three descriptors are considered as very good predictors of germination activity of the analyzed compounds toward S. hermonthica seeds. This article is based upon work from COST Action (FA1206), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Keywords: chemometrics, germination activity, molecular modeling, QSAR analysis, strigolactones

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: A. Kardi, R. Zagrouba, M. Alqahtani

Abstract:

The Internet of Everything (IoE) presents today a very attractive and motivating field of research. It is basically based on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in which the routing task is the major analysis topic. In fact, it directly affects the effectiveness and the lifetime of the network. This paper, developed from recent works and based on extensive researches, proposes a taxonomy of routing protocols in WSNs. Our main contribution is that we propose a classification model based on nine classes namely application type, delivery mode, initiator of communication, network architecture, path establishment (route discovery), network topology (structure), protocol operation, next hop selection and latency-awareness and energy-efficient routing protocols. In order to provide a total classification pattern to serve as reference for network designers, each class is subdivided into possible subclasses, presented, and discussed using different parameters such as purposes and characteristics.

Keywords: routing, sensor, survey, wireless sensor networks, WSNs

Procedia PDF Downloads 182