Search results for: sustainable water solutions

Authors: Samineh Barmaki, Ville Jokinen, Esko Kankuri

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We report a microfluidic chip that can be used to modify the gaseous microenvironment of a cell-culture in ambient atmospheric conditions. The aim of the study is to show the cellular response to nitric oxide (NO) under hypoxic (oxygen < 5%) condition. Simultaneously targeting to hypoxic and nitric oxide will provide an opportunity for NO‑based therapeutics. Studies on cellular responses to lowered oxygen concentration or to gaseous mediators are usually carried out under a specific macro environment, such as hypoxia chambers, or with specific NO donor molecules that may have additional toxic effects. In our study, the chip consists of a microfluidic layer and a cell culture well, separated by a thin gas permeable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane. The main design goal is to separate the gas oxygen scavenger and NO donor solutions, which are often toxic, from the cell media. Two different types of gas exchangers, titled 'pool' and 'meander' were tested. We find that the pool design allows us to reach a higher level of oxygen depletion than meander (24.32 ± 19.82 %vs -3.21 ± 8.81). Our microchip design can make the cells culture more simple and makes it easy to adapt existing cell culture protocols. Our first application is utilizing the chip to create hypoxic conditions on targeted areas of cell culture. In this study, oxygen scavenger sodium sulfite generates hypoxia and its effect on human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293). The PDMS membrane was coated with fibronectin before initiating cell cultures, and the cells were grown for 48h on the chips before initiating the gas control experiments. The hypoxia experiments were performed by pumping of O₂-depleted H₂O into the microfluidic channel with a flow-rate of 0.5 ml/h. Image-iT® reagent as an oxygen level responser was mixed with HEK-293 cells. The fluorescent signal appears on cells stained with Image-iT® hypoxia reagent (after 6h of pumping oxygen-depleted H₂O through the microfluidic channel in pool area). The exposure to different levels of O₂ can be controlled by varying the thickness of the PDMS membrane. Recently, we improved the design of the microfluidic chip, which can control the microenvironment of two different gases at the same time. The hypoxic response was also improved from the new design of microchip. The cells were grown on the thin PDMS membrane for 30 hours, and with a flowrate of 0.1 ml/h; the oxygen scavenger was pumped into the microfluidic channel. We also show that by pumping sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as a nitric oxide donor activated under light and can generate nitric oxide on top of PDMS membrane. We are aiming to show cellular microenvironment response of HEK-293 cells to both nitric oxide (by pumping SNP) and hypoxia (by pumping oxygen scavenger solution) in separated channels in one microfluidic chip.

Keywords: hypoxia, nitric oxide, microenvironment, microfluidic chip, sodium nitroprusside, SNP

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Ocsana Opris, Ildiko Lung, Maria L. Soran, Alexandra Ciorita, Lucian Copolovici

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The effects assessment of environmental stress factors on both crop and wild plants of nutritional value are a very important research topic. Continuously worldwide consumption of drugs leads to significant environmental pollution, thus generating environmental stress. Understanding the effects of the important drugs on plant composition and ultrastructural modification is still limited, especially at environmentally relevant concentrations. The aim of the present work was to investigate the influence of three non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on chlorophylls content, carotenoids content, total polyphenols content, antioxidant capacity, and ultrastructure of orache (Atriplex patula L.) and spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.). All green leafy vegetables selected for this study were grown in controlled conditions and treated with solutions of different concentrations (0.1‒1 mg L⁻¹) of diclofenac, ibuprofen, and naproxen. After eight weeks of exposure of the plants to NSAIDs, the chlorophylls and carotenoids content were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array and mass spectrometer detectors, total polyphenols and antioxidant capacity by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Also, the ultrastructural analyses of the vegetables were performed using transmission electron microscopy in order to assess the influence of the selected NSAIDs on cellular organisms, mainly photosynthetic organisms (chloroplasts), energy supply organisms (mitochondria) and nucleus as a cellular metabolism coordinator. In comparison with the control plants, decreases in the content of chlorophylls were observed in the case of the Atriplex patula L. plants treated with ibuprofen (11-34%) and naproxen (25-52%). Also, the chlorophylls content from Spinacia oleracea L. was affected, the lowest decrease (34%) being obtained in the case of the treatment with naproxen (1 mg L⁻¹). Diclofenac (1 mg L⁻¹) affected the total polyphenols content (a decrease of 45%) of Atriplex patula L. and ibuprofen (1 mg L⁻¹) affected the total polyphenols content (a decrease of 20%) of Spinacia oleracea L. The results obtained also indicate a moderate reduction of carotenoids and antioxidant capacity in the treated plants, in comparison with the controls. The investigations by transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that the green leafy vegetables were affected by the selected NSAIDs. Thus, this research contributes to a better understanding of the adverse effects of these drugs on studied plants. Important to mention is that the dietary intake of these drugs contaminated plants, plants with important nutritional value, may also presume a risk to human health, but currently little is known about the fate of the drugs in plants and their effect on or risk to the ecosystem.

Keywords: abiotic stress, green leafy vegetables, pigments content, ultra structure

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: J. Dharmaraj, C. Gunasekaran

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Invertebrates are the reliable ecological indicators of disturbance of the forest ecosystems and they respond to environment changes more quickly than other fauna. Among these the terrestrial invertebrates are vital to functioning ecosystems, contributing to processes such as decomposition, nutrient cycling and soil fertility. The natural ecosystems of the forests have been subject to various types of disturbances, which lead to decline of flora and fauna. The comparative diversity of micro-arthropods in natural forest, wattle plantation and eucalyptus plantations were studied in Nilgiris. The study area was divided in to five major sites (Emerald (Site-I), Thalaikundha (Site-II), Kodapmund (Site-III), Aravankad (Site-IV), Kattabettu (Site-V). The research was conducted during period from March 2014 to August 2014. The leaf and soil samples were collected and isolated by using Berlese funnel extraction methods. Specimens were isolated and identified according to their morphology (Balogh 1972). In the present study results clearly showed the variation in soil pH, NPK (Major Nutrients) and organic carbon among the study sites. The chemical components of the leaf litters of the plantation decreased the diversity of micro-arthropods and decomposition rate leads to low amount of carbon and other nutrients present in the soil. Moreover eucalyptus and wattle plantations decreases the availability of the ground water source to other plantations and micro-arthropods and hences affects the soil fertility. Hence, the present study suggests to minimize the growth of wattle and eucalyptus tree plantations in the natural areas which may help to reduce the decline of forests.

Keywords: micro-arthropods, assemblage, berlese funnel, morphology, NPK, nilgiris

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Authors: Chhabi Nigam, S. Ramakrishnan

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This paper brings out the analysis of the airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to study the impact of Doppler centroid on Image quality and geocoding accuracy from the perspective of Stripmap mode of data acquisition. Although in Stripmap mode of data acquisition radar beam points at 90 degrees broad side (side looking), shift in the Doppler centroid is invariable due to platform motion. In-accurate estimation of Doppler centroid leads to poor image quality and image miss-registration. The effect of Doppler centroid is analyzed in this paper using multiple sets of data collected from airborne platform. Occurrences of ghost (ambiguous) targets and their power levels have been analyzed that impacts appropriate choice of PRF. Effect of aircraft attitudes (roll, pitch and yaw) on the Doppler centroid is also analyzed with the collected data sets. Various stages of the RDA (Range Doppler Algorithm) algorithm used for image formation in Stripmap mode, range compression, Doppler centroid estimation, azimuth compression, range cell migration correction are analyzed to find the performance limits and the dependence of the imaging geometry on the final image. The ability of Doppler centroid estimation to enhance the imaging accuracy for registration are also illustrated in this paper. The paper also tries to bring out the processing of low squint SAR data, the challenges and the performance limits imposed by the imaging geometry and the platform dynamics on the final image quality metrics. Finally, the effect on various terrain types, including land, water and bright scatters is also presented.

Keywords: ambiguous target, Doppler Centroid, image registration, Airborne SAR

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: Rebecca-Lee Kuhnert, Ron Rapee

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Up to 15% of Australian youth will experience an emotional disorder, yet relatively few get the help they need. Schools provide an ideal environment through which we can identify young people who are struggling and provide them with appropriate help. Universal mental health screening is a method by which all young people in school can be quickly assessed for emotional disorders, after which identified youth can be linked to appropriate health services. Despite the obvious logic of this process, universal mental health screening has received little scientific evaluation and even less application in Australian schools. This study will develop methods for Australian education systems to help identify young people (aged 9-17 years old) who are struggling with existing and emerging emotional disorders. Prior to testing, a series of focus groups will be run to get feedback and input from young people, parents, teachers, and mental health professionals. They will be asked about their thoughts on school-based screening methods and and how to best help students at risk of emotional distress. Schools (n=91) across New South Wales, Australia will be randomised to do either immediate screening (in May 2021) or delayed screening (in February 2022). Students in immediate screening schools will complete a long online mental health screener consisting of standard emotional health questionnaires. Ultimately, this large set of items will be reduced to a small number of items to form the final brief screener. Students who score in the “at-risk” range on any measure of emotional health problems will be identified to schools and offered pathways to relevant help according to the most accepted and approved processes identified by the focus groups. Nine months later, the same process will occur among delayed screening schools. At this same time, students in the immediate screening schools will complete screening for a second time. This will allow a direct comparison of the emotional health and help-seeking between youth whose schools had engaged in the screening and pathways to care process (immediate) and those whose schools had not engaged in the process (delayed). It is hypothesised that there will be a significant increase in students who receive help from mental health support services after screening, compared with baseline. It is also predicted that all students will show significantly less emotional distress after screening and access to pathways of care. This study will be an important contribution to Australian youth mental health prevention and early intervention by determining whether school screening leads to a greater number of young people with emotional disorders getting the help that they need and improving their mental health outcomes.

Keywords: children and young people, early intervention, mental health, mental health screening, prevention, school-based mental health

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Authors: Judith Margaret Tymon

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As cities struggle to incorporate informal settlements into the fabric of urban areas, the focus has often been on the provision of housing. This study explores the underlying structure of street networks, with the goal of understanding the morphogenesis of informal settlements through the lens of the access network. As the stages of development progress from infill to consolidation and eventually, to a planned in-situ settlement, the access networks retain the form of the core segments; however, a majority of street patterns are adapted to a grid design to support infrastructure in the final upgraded phase. A case study is presented to examine the street network in the informal settlement of Gobabis Namibia as it progresses from its initial stages to a planned, in-situ, and permanently upgraded development. The Informal Development Stages framework of foundation, infill, and consolidation, as developed by Dr. Jota Samper, is utilized to examine the evolution of street networks. Data is gathered from historical Google Earth satellite images for the time period between 2003 and 2022. The results demonstrate that during the foundation through infill stages, incremental changes follow similar patterns, with pathways extended, lengthened, and densified as housing is created and the settlement grows. In the final stage of consolidation, the resulting street layout is transformed to support the installation of infrastructure; however, some elements of the original street patterns remain. The core pathways remain intact to accommodate the installation of infrastructure and the creation of housing plots, defining the shape of the settlement and providing the basis of the urban form. The adaptations, growth, and consolidation of the street network are critical to the eventual formation of the spatial layout of the settlement. This study will include a comparative analysis of findings with those of recent research performed by Kamalipour, Dovey, and others regarding incremental urbanism within informal settlements. Further comparisons will also include studies of street networks of well-established urban centers that have shown links between the morphogenesis of access networks and the eventual spatial layout of the city. The findings of the study can be used to guide and inform strategies for in-situ upgrading and can contribute to the sustainable development of informal settlements.

Keywords: Gobabis Namibia, incremental urbanism, informal development stages, informal settlements, street networks

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Authors: Juliana Amaka Ugwu

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Trapping efficiency of methyl eugenol and three locally made food-based lures were evaluated in three locations for trapping of B. dorsalis on mango homestead trees in Ibadan South west Nigeria. The treatments were methyl eugenol, brewery waste, pineapple juice, orange juice, and control (water). The experiment was laid in a Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD) and replicated three times in each location. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and significant means were separated by Turkey’s test. The results showed that B. dorsalis was recorded in all locations of study. Methyl eugenol significantly (P < 0.05) trapped higher population of B. dorsalis in all the study area. The population density of B. dorsalis was highest during the ripening period of mango in all locations. The percentage trapped flies after 7 weeks were 77.85%-82.38% (methyl eugenol), 7.29%-8.64% (pineapple juice), 5.62-7.62% (brewery waste), 4.41%-5.95% (orange juice), and 0.24-0.47% (control). There were no significance differences (p > 0.05) on the population of B. dorsalis trapped in all locations. Similarly, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) on the population of flies trapped among the food attractants. However, the three food attractants significantly (p < 0.05) trapped higher flies than control. Methyl eugenol trapped only male flies while brewery waste and other food based attractants trapped both male and female flies. The food baits tested were promising attractants for trapping B. dorsalis on mango homestead tress, hence increased dosage could be considered for monitoring and mass trapping as management strategies against fruit fly infestation.

Keywords: attractants, trapping, mango, Bactrocera dorsalis

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Authors: Erifyli Tsagkari, Stephanie Connelly, Zhaowei Liu, Andrew McBride, William Sloan

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Biofilms play an essential role in treating water in biofiltration systems. The biofilm morphology and function are inextricably linked to the hydrodynamics of flow through a filter, and yet engineers rarely explicitly engineer this interaction. We develop a system that links computer simulation and 3-D printing to optimize and rapidly prototype filter media to optimize biofilm function with the hypothesis that biofilm function is intimately linked to the flow passing through the filter. A computational model that numerically solves the incompressible time-dependent Navier Stokes equations coupled to a model for biofilm growth and function is developed. The model is imbedded in an optimization algorithm that allows the model domain to adapt until criteria on biofilm functioning are met. This is applied to optimize the shape of filter media in a simple flow channel to promote biofilm formation. The computer code links directly to a 3-D printer, and this allows us to prototype the design rapidly. Its validity is tested in flow visualization experiments and by microscopy. As proof of concept, the code was constrained to explore a small range of potential filter media, where the medium acts as an obstacle in the flow that sheds a von Karman vortex street that was found to enhance the deposition of bacteria on surfaces downstream. The flow visualization and microscopy in the 3-D printed realization of the flow channel validated the predictions of the model and hence its potential as a design tool. Overall, it is shown that the combination of our computational model and the 3-D printing can be effectively used as a design tool to prototype filter media to optimize biofilm formation.

Keywords: biofilm, biofilter, computational model, von karman vortices, 3-D printing.

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Authors: Aziz Ikhlef

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Most of multi-slices CT scanners are built with detectors composed of scintillator - photodiodes arrays. The photodiodes arrays are mainly based on front-illuminated technology for detectors under 64 slices and on back-illuminated photodiode for systems of 64 slices or more. The designs based on back-illuminated photodiodes were being investigated for CT machines to overcome the challenge of the higher number of runs and connection required in front-illuminated diodes. In backlit diodes, the electronic noise has already been improved because of the reduction of the load capacitance due to the routing reduction. This translated by a better image quality in low signal application, improving low dose imaging in large patient population. With the fast development of multi-detector-rows CT (MDCT) scanners and the increasing number of examinations, the clinical community has raised significant concerns on radiation dose received by the patient in both medical and regulatory community. In order to reduce individual exposure and in response to the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) which suggests that all exposures should be kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA), every manufacturer is trying to implement strategies and solutions to optimize dose efficiency and image quality based on x-ray emission and scanning parameters. The added demands on the CT detector performance also comes from the increased utilization of spectral CT or dual-energy CT in which projection data of two different tube potentials are collected. One of the approaches utilizes a technology called fast-kVp switching in which the tube voltage is switched between 80kVp and 140kVp in fraction of a millisecond. To reduce the cross-contamination of signals, the scintillator based detector temporal response has to be extremely fast to minimize the residual signal from previous samples. In addition, this paper will present an overview of detector technologies and image chain improvement which have been investigated in the last few years to improve the signal-noise ratio and the dose efficiency CT scanners in regular examinations and in energy discrimination techniques. Several parameters of the image chain in general and in the detector technology contribute in the optimization of the final image quality. We will go through the properties of the post-patient collimation to improve the scatter-to-primary ratio, the scintillator material properties such as light output, afterglow, primary speed, crosstalk to improve the spectral imaging, the photodiode design characteristics and the data acquisition system (DAS) to optimize for crosstalk, noise and temporal/spatial resolution.

Keywords: computed tomography, X-ray detector, medical imaging, image quality, artifacts

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Authors: Bryan Jefry Sabillon, Arlex Molina Cedillo

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Currently, the raise in the demand of electrical energy as a consequence of the development of technology and population growth, as well as some projections made by ‘La Agencia Internacional de la Energía’ (AIE) and research institutes, reveal alarming data about the expected raise of it in the next few decades. Because of this, something should be made to raise the awareness of the rational and efficient usage of this resource. Because of the global concern of providing electrical energy to isolated areas, projects consisting of energy generation using renewable resources are commonly carried out. On a socioeconomically and cultural point of view, it can be foreseen a positive impact that would result for the society to have this resource. This article is focused on the great potential that Honduras shows, as a country that is looking forward to produce renewable energy due to the crisis that it’s living nowadays. Because of this, we present a detailed research that exhibits the main necessities that the rural communities are facing today, to allay the negative aspects due to the scarcity of electrical energy. We also discuss which should be the type of electrical generation method to be used, according to the disposition, geography, climate, and of course the accessibility of each area. Honduras is actually in the process of developing new methods for the generation of energy; therefore, it is of our concern to talk about renewable energy, the exploitation of which is a global trend. Right now the countries’ main energetic generation methods are: hydrological, thermic, wind, biomass and photovoltaic (this is one of the main sources of clean electrical generation). The use of these resources was possible partially due to the studies made by the organizations that focus on electrical energy and its demand, such as ‘La Cooperación Alemana’ (GIZ), ‘La Secretaria de Energía y Recursos Naturales’ (SERNA), and ‘El Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica’ (BCIE), which eased the complete guide that is to be used in the protocol to be followed to carry out the three stages of this type of projects: 1) Licences and Permitions, 2) Fincancial Aspects and 3) The inscription for the Protocol in Kyoto. This article pretends to take the reader through the necessary information (according to the difficult accessibility that each zone might present), about the best option of electrical generation in zones that are totally isolated from the net, pretending to use renewable resources to generate electrical energy. We finally conclude that the usage of hybrid systems of generation of energy for small remote communities brings about a positive impact, not only because of the fact of providing electrical energy but also because of the improvements in education, health, sustainable agriculture and livestock, and of course the advances in the generation of energy which is the main concern of this whole article.

Keywords: energy, isolated, renewable, accessibility

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Hanen Bouaziz, Françoise Croute, Najiba Zeghal

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In order to investigate the toxic effects of fluoride on cerebrum maturity of suckling mice, we treated adult female mice of Swiss Albinos strain by 500 ppm NaF in their drinking water from the 15th day of pregnancy until the day 14 after delivery. All mice were sacrificed on day 14 after parturition. During treatment, levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, the marker of lipid peroxidation extend, increased, while the activities of the antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase and the level of glutathione decreased significantly in cerebellum compared with those of the control group. These results suggested that fluoride enhanced oxidative stress, thereby disturbing the antioxidant defense of nursing pups. In addition, acetylcholinesterase activity in cerebellum was inhibited after treatment with fluoride. In cerebellum of mice, migration of neurons from the external granular layer to the internal granular layer occurred postnatally. Key guidance signals to these migrating neurons were provided by laminin, an extracellular matrix protein fixed to the surface of astrocytes. In the present study, we examined the expression and distribution of laminin in cerebellum of 14-day-old mice. Immunoreactive laminin was disappeared by postnatal day 14 in cerebellum parenchyma of control pups and was restricted to vasculature despite the continued presence of granular cells in the external granular layer. In contrast, in cerebellum of NaF treated pups, laminin was deposited in organised punctuate clusters in the molecular layer. These data indicated that the disruption of laminin distribution might play a major role in the profound derangement of neuronal migration observed in cerebellum of NaF treated pups.

Keywords: acetylcholinesterase activity, cerebellum, laminin, oxidative stress, suckling mice

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Authors: Calvin Stephen, Biswajit Basu, Aonghus McNabola

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Market liberalization in the power sector has led to the emergence of micro-hydropower schemes that are dependent on the use of pumps-as-turbines in applications that were not suitable as potential hydropower sites in earlier years. These applications include energy recovery in water supply networks, sewage systems, irrigation systems, alcohol breweries, underground mining and desalination plants. As a result, there has been an accelerated adoption of pumpsas-turbine technology due to the economic advantages it presents in comparison to the conventional turbines in the micro-hydropower space. The performance of this machines under cavitation conditions, however, is not well understood as there is a deficiency of knowledge in literature focused on their turbine mode of operation. In hydraulic machines, cavitation is a common occurrence which needs to be understood to safeguard them and prolong their operation life. The overall purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cavitation on the performance of a pumps-as-turbine system over its entire operating range. At various operating speeds, the cavitating region is identified experimentally while monitoring the effects this has on the power produced by the machine. Initial results indicate occurrence of cavitation at higher flow rates for lower operating speeds and at lower flow rates at higher operating speeds. This implies that for cavitation free operation, low speed pumps-as-turbine must be used for low flow rate conditions whereas for sites with higher flow rate conditions high speed turbines should be adopted. Such a complete understanding of pumps-as-turbine suction performance can aid avoid cavitation induced failures hence improved reliability of the micro-hydropower plant.

Keywords: cavitation, micro-hydropower, pumps-as-turbine, system design

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Stefan Ninković

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The main purpose of this paper is to examine the different theoretical approaches and relevant empirical evidence and thus, recognize some of the most pressing challenges faced by school leaders. This paper starts from the fact that the new mission of the school is characterized by the need for stronger coordination among students' academic, social and emotional learning. In this sense, school leaders need to focus their commitment, vision and leadership on the issues of students' attitudes, language, cultural and social background, and sexual orientation. More specifically, they should know what a good teaching is for student’s at-risk, students whose first language is not dominant in school, those who’s learning styles are not in accordance with usual teaching styles, or who are stigmatized. There is a rather wide consensus around the fact that the traditionally popular concept of instructional leadership of the school principal is no longer sufficient. However, in a number of "pro-leadership" circles, including certain groups of academic researchers, consultants and practitioners, there is an established tendency of attributing school principal an extraordinary influence towards school achievements. On the other hand, the situation in which all employees in the school are leaders is a utopia par excellence. Although leadership obviously can be efficiently distributed across the school, there are few findings that speak about sources of this distribution and factors making it sustainable. Another idea that is not particularly new, but has only recently gained in importance is related to the fact that the collective capacity of the school is an important resource that often remains under-cultivated. To understand the nature and power of collaborative school cultures, it is necessary to know that these operate in a way that they make their all collective members' tacit knowledge explicit. In this sense, the question is how leaders in schools can shape collaborative culture and create social capital in the school. Pressure exerted on schools to systematically collect and use the data has been accompanied by the need for school leaders to develop new competencies. The role of school leaders is critical in the process of assessing what data are needed and for what purpose. Different types of data are important: test results, data on student’s absenteeism, satisfaction with school, teacher motivation, etc. One of the most important tasks of school leaders are data-driven decision making as well as ensuring transparency of the decision-making process. Finally, the question arises whether the existing models of school leadership are compatible with the current social and economic trends. It is necessary to examine whether and under what conditions schools are in need for forms of leadership that are different from those that currently prevail. Closely related to this issue is also to analyze the adequacy of different approaches to leadership development in the school.

Keywords: educational changes, leaders, leadership, school

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Authors: Sina Kazemi, Farshid Torabi, Todd Peterson

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Drilling in shale formations is frequently time-consuming, challenging, and fraught with mechanical failures such as stuck pipes or hole packing off when the cutting removal rate is not sufficient to clean the bottom hole. Crossing the heavy oil shale and sand reservoirs with active shale and microfractures is generally associated with severe fluid losses causing a reduction in the rate of the cuttings removal. These circumstances compromise a well’s integrity and result in a lower rate of penetration (ROP). This study presents collective results of field studies and theoretical analysis conducted on data from South Pars and North Dome in an Iran-Qatar offshore field. Solutions to complications related to drilling in shale formations are proposed through systemically analyzing and applying modeling techniques to select field mud logging data. Field data measurements during actual drilling operations indicate that in a shale formation where the return flow of polymer mud was almost lost in the upper dolomite layer, the performance of hole cleaning and ROP progressively change when higher string rotations are initiated. Likewise, it was observed that this effect minimized the force of rotational torque and improved well integrity in the subsequent casing running. Given similar geologic conditions and drilling operations in reservoirs targeting shale as the producing zone like the Bakken formation within the Williston Basin and Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, a drill bench dynamic modeling simulation was used to simulate borehole cleaning efficiency and mud optimization. The results obtained by altering RPM (string revolution per minute) at the same pump rate and optimized mud properties exhibit a positive correlation with field measurements. The field investigation and developed model in this report show that increasing the speed of string revolution as far as geomechanics and drilling bit conditions permit can minimize the risk of mechanically stuck pipes while reaching a higher than expected ROP in shale formations. Data obtained from modeling and field data analysis, optimized drilling parameters, and hole cleaning procedures are suggested for minimizing the risk of a hole packing off and enhancing well integrity in shale reservoirs. Whereas optimization of ROP at a lower pump rate maintains the wellbore stability, it saves time for the operator while reducing carbon emissions and fatigue of mud motors and power supply engines.

Keywords: ROP, circulating density, drilling parameters, return flow, shale reservoir, well integrity

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Authors: Kinga Topolska, Agnieszka Filipiak-Florkiewicz, Adam Florkiewicz, Daria Chechelska, Iwona Cieślik, Ewa Cieślik

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Food choice is a complex human behaviour, that is influenced by many interrelating factors. It is important to understand what consumers really want to eat. Nowadays, the growing popularity of frozen desserts is observed. Among them, sorbets are of the special interest. They are made primarily of fruit juice or fruit purée, water and sugar. A questionnaire study was done to evaluate the consumer preferences towards sorbets. A hundred respondents were included in the study. The respondents answered the questions concerning, inter alia, on the favourite taste of sorbets, additional ingredients (pieces of fruits, nuts etc.), the reason for choosing the product and also the opinion about potential purchasing or not the new product. Women, more frequently than men, indicated strawberry sorbet or the product on the basis of citrus fruits as a favourite one. In turn, 14% of men chose the apple taste. Pieces of chocolate were chosen by most of respondents. Men, more often than women, regarded raisins, alcohol and nuts as the most desirable additional ingredients of sorbets. The candied fruits and spices were indicated more frequently by women. Most of respondents indicated the taste as the major reason for sorbet buying. In turn, for 20% women the most important determinant was the care for their figure. It was observed that more than a half of women regarded sorbets as healthier than traditional ice creams. Answering the question: 'If you had the opportunity to try a new sorbet, containing the ingredient with proven healthy properties, would you buy it?', significantly more men than women answered 'yes, because I like novelty'. Meanwhile, for 14% respondents (independently of gender) it would be only a publicity stunt. Knowing what the consumers desire in selecting a product, is a very important information to design and offer them a new one. Sorbets could be an interesting alternative to ice creams.

Keywords: consumer, preferences, sorbets, questionnaire study

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Authors: Edgar Willy Rimarachin Valderrama, Eduardo Rojas Parra

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Thermal energy from solar radiation is widely present in power plants, food drying, chemical reactors, heating and cooling systems, water treatment processes, hydrogen production, and others. In the case of power plants, one of the technologies available to transform solar energy into thermal energy is by solar rotary kilns where a bed of granular matter is heated through concentrated radiation obtained from an arrangement of heliostats. Numerical modeling is a useful approach to study the behavior of granular beds in solar rotary kilns. This technique, once validated with small-scale experiments, can be used to simulate large-scale processes for industrial applications. This study gives a comprehensive classification of numerical models used to simulate the movement and heat transfer for beds of granular media within solar rotary furnaces. In general, there exist three categories of models: 1) continuum, 2) discrete, and 3) multiphysics modeling. The continuum modeling considers zero-dimensional, one-dimensional and fluid-like models. On the other hand, the discrete element models compute the movement of each particle of the bed individually. In this kind of modeling, the heat transfer acts during contacts, which can occur by solid-solid and solid-gas-solid conduction. Finally, the multiphysics approach considers discrete elements to simulate grains and a continuous modeling to simulate the fluid around particles. This classification allows to compare the advantages and disadvantages for each kind of model in terms of accuracy, computational cost and implementation.

Keywords: granular beds, numerical models, rotary kilns, solar thermal applications

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Authors: Marpaleni

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The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared in 2007 that global warming and climate change are not just a series of events caused by nature, but rather caused by human behaviour. Thus, to reduce the impact of human activities on climate change it is required to have information about how people respond to the environmental issues and what constraints they face. However, information on these and other phenomena remains largely missing, or not fully integrated within the existing data systems. The proposed study is aimed at filling the gap in this knowledge by focusing on Environmentally Friendly Behaviour (EFB) of the people of Indonesia, by taking the province of South Sumatera as a case of study. EFB is defined as any activity in which people engage to improve the conditions of the natural resources and/or to diminish the impact of their behaviour on the environment. This activity is measured in terms of consumption in five areas at the household level, namely housing, energy, water usage, recycling and transportation. By adopting the Indonesia’s Environmentally Friendly Behaviour conducted by Statistics Indonesia in 2013, this study aims to precisely identify one’s orientation towards EFB based on socio demographic characteristics such as: age, income, occupation, location, education, gender and family size. The results of this research will be useful to precisely identify what support people require to strengthen their EFB, to help identify specific constraints that different actors and groups face and to uncover a more holistic understanding of EFB in relation to particular demographic and socio-economics contexts. As the empirical data are examined from the national data sample framework, which will continue to be collected, it can be used to forecast and monitor the future of EFB.

Keywords: environmentally friendly behavior, demographic, South Sumatera, Indonesia

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: S. Abdi Goudazri, R. Ziaie Moayed, A. Nazeri

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Loose soils normally are of weak bearing capacity due to their structural nature. Being exposed to heavy traffic loads, they would fail in most cases. To tackle the aforementioned issue, geotechnical engineers have come up with different approaches; one of which is making use of geosynthetic-reinforced soil-aggregate systems. As these polymeric reinforcements have highlighted economic and environmentally-friendly features, they have become widespread in practice during the last decades. The present research investigates the efficiency of four different types of these reinforcements in increasing the bearing capacity of two-layered soil sections using a series California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test. The studied sections are comprised of a 10 cm-thick layer of no. 161 Firouzkooh sand (weak subgrade) and a 10 cm-thick layer of compacted aggregate materials (base course) classified as SP and GW according to the United Soil Classification System (USCS), respectively. The aggregate layer was compacted to the relative density (Dr) of 95% at the optimum water content (Wopt) of 6.5%. The applied reinforcements were including two kinds of geocomposites (type A and B), a geotextile, and a geogrid that were embedded at the interface of the lower and the upper layers of the soil-aggregate system. As the standard CBR mold was not appropriate in height for this study, the mold used for soaked CBR tests were utilized. To make a comparison between the results of stress-settlement behavior in the studied specimens, CBR values pertinent to the penetrations of 2.5 mm and 5 mm were considered. The obtained results demonstrated 21% and 24.5% increments in the amount of CBR value in the presence of geocomposite type A and geogrid, respectively. On the other hand, the effect of both geotextile and geocomposite type B on CBR values was generally insignificant in this research.

Keywords: geosynthetics, geogrid, geotextile, CBR test, increasing bearing capacity

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Authors: Pratikno Hidayat, Khamdan Cahyari

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Hydrogen is the ultimate choice of energy carriers in future. It contents high energy density (42 kJ/g), emits only water vapor during combustion and has high energy conversion up to 50% in fuel cell application. One of the promising methods to produce hydrogen is from organic waste through dark fermentation method. It utilizes sugar-rich organic waste as substrate and hydrogen-producing microorganisms to generate the hydrogen. Solid waste of sago processing industries in Indonesia is one of the promising raw materials for both producing biofuel hydrogen and mitigating the environmental impact due to the waste disposal. This research was meant to investigate the effect of chemical and biological pretreatment i.e. acid treatment and mushroom cultivation toward lignocellulosic waste of these sago industries. Chemical pretreatment was conducted through exposing the waste into acid condition using sulfuric acid (H2SO4) (various molar i.e. 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 M and various duration of exposure i.e. 30, 60 and 90 minutes). Meanwhile, biological treatment was conducted through utilization of the solid waste as growth media of mushroom (Oyster and Ling-zhi) for 3 months. Dark fermentation was conducted at pH 5.0, temperature 27℃ and atmospheric pressure. It was noticed that chemical and biological pretreatment could improve hydrogen yield with the highest yield at 3.8 ml/g VS (31%v H2). The hydrogen production was successfully performed to generate high percentage of hydrogen, although the yield was still low. This result indicated that the explosion of acid chemical and biological method might need to be extended to improve degradability of the solid waste. However, high percentage of hydrogen was resulted from proper pretreatment of residual sludge of biogas plant to generate hydrogen-producing inoculum.

Keywords: hydrogen, sago waste, chemical, biological, dark fermentation, Indonesia

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Authors: Parul Johri, Mala Trivedi

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Major Intrinsic proteins (MIPs), actively involved in the passive transport of small polar molecules across the membranes of almost all living organisms. MIPs that specifically transport water molecules are named aquaporins (AQPs). The permeability of membranes is actively controlled by the regulation of the amount of different MIPs present but also in some cases by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of the channel. Based on sequence similarity, MIPs have been classified into many categories. All of the proteins are made up of the 20 amino acids, the only difference is there in their orientations. Again all the 20 amino acids are made up of the basic five elements namely: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur and nitrogen. These elements are responsible for giving the amino acids the properties of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity which play an important role in protein interactions. The hydrophobic amino acids characteristically have greater number of carbon atoms as carbon is the main element which contributes to hydrophobic interactions in proteins. It is observed that the carbon level of proteins in different species is different. In the present work, we have taken a sample set of 150 aquaporins proteins from Uniprot database and a dynamic programming code was written to calculate the carbon percentage for each sequence. This carbon percentage was further used to barcode the aqauporins of animals and plants. The protein taken from Oryza sativa, Zea mays and Arabidopsis thaliana preferred to have carbon percentage of 31.8 to 35, whereas on the other hand sequences taken from Mus musculus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Homo sapiens, Bos Taurus, and Rattus norvegicus preferred to have carbon percentage of 31 to 33.7. This clearly demarks the carbon range in the aquaporin proteins from plant and animal origin. Hence the atom level analysis of protein sequences can provide us with better results as compared to the residue level comparison.

Keywords: aquaporins, carbon, dynamic prgramming, MIPs

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Authors: Tomasz Grzes, Maciej Kopczynski, Jaroslaw Stepaniuk

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The rough sets theory developed by Prof. Z. Pawlak is one of the tools that can be used in the intelligent systems for data analysis and processing. Banking, medicine, image recognition and security are among the possible fields of utilization. In all these fields, the amount of the collected data is increasing quickly, but with the increase of the data, the computation speed becomes the critical factor. Data reduction is one of the solutions to this problem. Removing the redundancy in the rough sets can be achieved with the reduct. A lot of algorithms of generating the reduct were developed, but most of them are only software implementations, therefore have many limitations. Microprocessor uses the fixed word length, consumes a lot of time for either fetching as well as processing of the instruction and data; consequently, the software based implementations are relatively slow. Hardware systems don’t have these limitations and can process the data faster than a software. Reduct is the subset of the decision attributes that provides the discernibility of the objects. For the given decision table there can be more than one reduct. Core is the set of all indispensable condition attributes. None of its elements can be removed without affecting the classification power of all condition attributes. Moreover, every reduct consists of all the attributes from the core. In this paper, the hardware implementation of the two-stage greedy algorithm to find the one reduct is presented. The decision table is used as an input. Output of the algorithm is the superreduct which is the reduct with some additional removable attributes. First stage of the algorithm is calculating the core using the discernibility matrix. Second stage is generating the superreduct by enriching the core with the most common attributes, i.e., attributes that are more frequent in the decision table. Described above algorithm has two disadvantages: i) generating the superreduct instead of reduct, ii) additional first stage may be unnecessary if the core is empty. But for the systems focused on the fast computation of the reduct the first disadvantage is not the key problem. The core calculation can be achieved with a combinational logic block, and thus add respectively little time to the whole process. Algorithm presented in this paper was implemented in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) as a digital device consisting of blocks that process the data in a single step. Calculating the core is done by the comparators connected to the block called 'singleton detector', which detects if the input word contains only single 'one'. Calculating the number of occurrences of the attribute is performed in the combinational block made up of the cascade of the adders. The superreduct generation process is iterative and thus needs the sequential circuit for controlling the calculations. For the research purpose, the algorithm was also implemented in C language and run on a PC. The times of execution of the reduct calculation in a hardware and software were considered. Results show increase in the speed of data processing.

Keywords: data reduction, digital systems design, field programmable gate array (FPGA), reduct, rough set

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Authors: Suraj D. Khadka, Priyantha W. Jayawickrama

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In search of a sustainable construction material, geopolymer has been investigated for past decades to evaluate its advantage over conventional products. Synthesis of geopolymer requires a source of aluminosilicate mixed with sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate at different proportions to maintain a Si/Al molar ratio of 1-3 and Na/Al molar ratio of unity. A comprehensive geopolymer study was performed with Metakaolin and Class C Fly ash as primary aluminosilicate sources. Synthesized geopolymer was analyzed for time-dependent viscosity, setting period and strength at varying initial moisture content, curing temperature and humidity. Different concentration of Ca(OH)₂ and CaSO₄.2H₂O were added to vary the amount of calcium contained in synthesized geopolymer. Influence of calcium content in unconfined compressive strength behavior of geopolymer were analyzed. Finally, Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) was performed to investigate the hardened product. It was observed that fly ash based geopolymer had shortened setting time and faster increase in viscosity as compared to geopolymer synthesized from metakaolin. This was primarily attributed to higher calcium content resulting in formation of calcium silicate hydrates (CSH). SEM-EDS was performed to verify the presence of CSH phases. Spectral analysis of geopolymer prepared by addition of Ca(OH)₂ and CaSO₄.2H₂O indicated higher CSH phases at higher concentration. It was observed that lower concentration of added calcium favored strength gain in geopolymer. However, at higher calcium concentration, decrease in strength was observed. Strength variation was also observed with humidity at initial curing condition. At 100% humidity, geopolymer with added calcium presented higher strength compared to samples cured at ambient humidity condition (40%). Reduction in strength in these samples at lower humidity was primarily attributed to reduction in moisture content in specimen due to the formation of CSH phases and loss of moisture through evaporation. For low calcium content geopolymers, with increase in temperature, gain in strength was observed with maximum strength observed at 200 ˚C. However, samples with higher calcium content demonstrated severe cracking resulting in low strength at elevated temperatures.

Keywords: calcium silicate hydrates, geopolymer, humidity, Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, unconfined compressive strength

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Authors: Lucile Soudani, Hervé Illy, Rémi Bouchié

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Mould growth in living environments has been widely reported for decades all throughout the world. A higher level of moisture in housings can lead to building degradation, chemical component emissions from construction materials as well as enhancing mould growth within the envelope elements or on the internal surfaces. Moreover, a significant number of studies have highlighted the link between mould presence and the prevalence of respiratory diseases. In recent years, the proportion of biobased materials used in construction has been increasing, as seen as an effective lever to reduce the environmental impact of the building sector. Besides, bio-based materials are also hygroscopic materials: when in contact with the wet air of a surrounding environment, their porous structures enable a better capture of water molecules, thus providing a more suitable background for mould growth. Many studies have been conducted to develop reliable models to be able to predict mould appearance, growth, and decay over many building materials and external exposures. Some of them require information about temperature and/or relative humidity, exposure times, material sensitivities, etc. Nevertheless, several studies have highlighted a large disparity between predictions and actual mould growth in experimental settings as well as in occupied buildings. The difficulty of considering the influence of all parameters appears to be the most challenging issue. As many complex phenomena take place simultaneously, a preliminary study has been carried out to evaluate the feasibility to sadopt a reliability approach rather than a deterministic approach. Both epistemic and random uncertainties were identified specifically for the prediction of mould appearance and growth. Several studies published in the literature were selected and analysed, from the agri-food or automotive sectors, as the deployed methodology appeared promising.

Keywords: bio-based materials, mould growth, numerical prediction, reliability approach

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Authors: Wafa Al Jabri

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Background: In Middle Eastern Countries (MECs), there is a high prevalence of genetic blood disorders (GBDs), particularly sickle cell disease and thalassemia. The GBDs are considered a major public health concern that place a huge burden to individuals, families, communities, and health care systems. The high rates of consanguineous marriages, along with the unacceptable termination of at-risk pregnancy in MECs, reduce the possible solutions to control the high prevalence of GBDs. Since the early 1970s, most of MECs have started introducing premarital screening services (PSS) as a preventive measure to identify the asymptomatic carriers of GBDs and to provide genetic counseling to help couples plan for healthy families; yet, the success rate of PSS is very low. Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the factors that affect the success of PSS in MECs. Methods: An integrative review of articles located in CINAHL, PubMed, SCOPUS, and MedLine was carried out using the following terms: “premarital screening,” “success,” “effectiveness,” and “ genetic blood disorders”. Second, a hand search of the reference lists and Google searches were conducted to find studies that did not exist in the primary database searches. Only studies which are conducted in MECs and published after 2010 were included. Studies that were not published in English were excluded. Results: Eighteen articles were included in the review. The results showed that PSS in most of the MECs was successful in achieving its objective of identifying high-risk marriages; however, the service failed to meet its ultimate goal of reducing the prevalence of GBDs. Various factors seem to hinder the success of PSS, including poor public awareness, late timing of the screening, culture and social stigma, lack of prenatal diagnosis services and therapeutic abortion, emotional factors, religious beliefs, and lack of genetic counseling services. However, poor public awareness, late timing of the screening, religious misbeliefs, and the lack of adequate counseling services were the most common barriers identified. Conclusion and Implications: The review help in providing a framework for an effective preventive measure to reduce the prevalence of GBDs in MECS. This framework focuses primarily in overcoming the identified barriers by providing effective health education programs in collaboration with religious leaders, offering the screening test to young adults at an earlier stage, and tailoring the genetic counseling to consider people’s values, beliefs, and preferences.

Keywords: premarital screening, middle east, genetic blood disorders, factors

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Authors: Dinnah Feye H. Andal, Ann Laurice V. Salonga

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The paper investigates the flooding event that was experienced by Marikina City residents during the onslaught of Tropical Storm Ondoy on September 26, 2009 and during the heavy downpour caused by the southwest monsoon (Habagat) on August 1-8, 2012. Typhoon Ketsana, locally known as Tropical Storm Ondoy, devastated the whole of Marikina City, displacing a lot of people from their homes and damages properties as well, as flood rose at a very short period of time. Meanwhile, the massive amount of rain water brought by the southwest monsoon lasted for a week that also caused flooding to different parts of Metro Manila including Marikina City. This paper examines how the respondents’ experiences of the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ondoy informed the coping strategies that the households in Barangay Tumana and Provident Village employed during the flooding brought by the southwest monsoon rains. Specifically, the research compares the coping strategies to flood hazards between residents of Barangay Tumana and Provident Village before, during and after the flooding caused by the southwest monsoon rains. Both study sites have relatively low elevation and are located along rivers and creeks which make them highly susceptible to flood. Interviews with affected residents were undertaken to understand how a household's coping strategies contribute to the development of community coping strategies at the respective neighborhood level. Based from the findings, income levels, local politics, religion and social relations between and among neighbors affect the way household and community coping strategies differ in the two case study sites.

Keywords: community coping strategies, Habagat, Marikina, Ondoy

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Authors: Seongwon Im, Jimin Kim, Kyeongcheol Kim, Dong-Hoon Kim

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Cattle manure (CM) produced from farmhas been utilized to soils for increasing crop production owing to high nutrients content and effective microorganisms. Some cities with the concentrated activity of livestock industry have suffered from environmental problems, such as odorous gas emissions and soil and water pollution, caused by excessive use of compost. As an alternative option, the anaerobic digestion (AD) process can be utilized, which can reduce the volume of organic waste but also produce energy. According to Korea-Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (KMTIE), the energy potential of CM via biogas production was estimated to be 0.8 million TOE per year, which is higher than that of other organic wastes. However, limited energy is recovered since useful organic matter, capable of converting to biogas, may be degraded during the long storage period (1-6 months).In this study, the effect of storage period on biogas potential of CM was investigated. Compared to fresh CM (VS 14±1 g/L, COD 205±5 g/L, TKN 7.4±0.8 g/L, NH4+-N 1.5±0.1), old CM has higher organic (35-37%) and nitrogen content (50-100%) due to the drying process during storage. After stabilization period, biogas potential of 0.09 L CH4/g VS was obtained in R1 (old CM supplement) at HRT of 150-100 d, and it was decreased further to 0.06 L CH4/g VS at HRT of 80 d. The drop of pH and organic acids accumulation were not observed during the whole operation of R1. Ammonia stripping and pretreatment of CM were found to be not effective to increase CH4 yield. On the other hand, a sudden increase of biogas potential to 0.19-0.22 L CH4/g VS was achieved in R2 after changing feedstock to fresh CM. The expected reason for the low biogas potential of old CM might be related with the composition of organic matters in CM. Easily biodegradable organic matters in the fresh CM were contained in high concentration, butthey were removed by microorganisms during storing CM in a farm, resulting low biogas yield. This study implies that fresh storage is important to make AD process applicable for CM.

Keywords: storage period, cattle manure, biogas potential, microbial analysis

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Authors: Sopana Wongtawee

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Purpose: Adequate bowel cleansing is essential for a high quality, effective and safe colonoscopy. The aims of this study were to compare the efficacy of bowel preparation based on a low-residue diet before 8:00 followed by a clear-liquid diet, and a low-residue diet until 16:00 one day before colonoscopy using sodium phosphate solution (Xubil ®), the side effects of the two protocols and the patient satisfaction with them. Method: This was an endoscopist-blinded, prospective, randomized, controlled trial. A total of 224 patients (112 in each group) scheduled for outpatient colonoscopy met the criteria.They were randomized to either a low-residue diet consisting of white rice porridge with either fish, chicken or eggs before 8:00 followed by a clear-liquid diet (Group 1) or a low-residue diet consisting of the same food and drink, until 16:00 the day before colonoscopy(Group 2). All of them received 45 ml of sodium phosphate solution (Xubil ®) and three glasses of water (300 ml/glass) the evening before and the morning of the procedure. The cleansing efficacy of bowel preparation was rated according to the modified Rajawithi hospital bowel preparation score scale, patient satisfaction with bowel preparation was rated using Likert scale, and side effects of the 2 protocols was assessed using a patient questionnaire. Results: The cleansing efficacy between the two groups was significantly different (p=0.02). Satisfaction with bowel preparation and side effects were not different, except for the feeling of hunger in the first group (p=0.001). Conclusion: The low-residue diet consisting of white rice porridge with fish, chicken or eggs until 16:00 one day before colonoscopy achieved a better bowel-cleansing efficacy than the protocol consisting of clear liquid all day and rice porridge only before 8:00 one day before colonoscopy.

Keywords: bowel preparation, colonoscopy, sodium phosphate solution, nursing management

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Authors: Shih-Huang Pan, Tsuyoshi Miyazaki, Minoru Otani, Santhanamoorthi Nachimuthu, Jyh-Chiang Jiang

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Ammonia (NH₃) is crucial in renewable energy and agriculture, yet its traditional production via the Haber-Bosch process faces challenges due to the inherent inertness of nitrogen (N₂) and the need for high temperatures and pressures. The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction (ENRR) presents a more sustainable option, functioning at ambient conditions. However, its advancement is limited by selectivity and efficiency challenges due to the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The critical roles of protonation of N-species and HER highlight the necessity of selecting optimal catalysts and solvents to enhance ENRR performance. Notably, transition metal oxides, with their adjustable electronic states and excellent chemical and thermal stability, have shown promising ENRR characteristics. In this study, we use density functional theory (DFT) methods to investigate the ENRR mechanisms on IrO₂ (110), a material known for its tunable electronic properties and exceptional chemical and thermal stability. Employing the constant electrode potential (CEP) model, where the electrode - electrolyte interface is treated as a polarizable continuum with implicit solvation, and adjusting electron counts to equalize work functions in the grand canonical ensemble, we further incorporate the advanced 3D Reference Interaction Site Model (3D-RISM) to accurately determine the ENRR limiting potential across various solvents and pH conditions. Our findings reveal that the limiting potential for ENRR on IrO₂ (110) is significantly more favorable than for HER, highlighting the efficiency of the IrO₂ catalyst for converting N₂ to NH₃. This is supported by the optimal *NH₃ desorption energy on IrO₂, which enhances the overall reaction efficiency. Microkinetic simulations further predict a promising NH₃ production rate, even at the solution's boiling point¸ reinforcing the catalytic viability of IrO₂ (110). This comprehensive approach provides an atomic-level understanding of the electrode-electrolyte interface in ENRR, demonstrating the practical application of IrO₂ in electrochemical catalysis. The findings provide a foundation for developing more efficient and selective catalytic strategies, potentially revolutionizing industrial NH₃ production.

Keywords: density functional theory, electrocatalyst, nitrogen reduction reaction, electrochemistry

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Authors: Irit Rutman Halili, Tehila Zvulun, Natali Elgabsi, Revaya Cohen, Shlomo Sarig

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Active sand dunes (ASD) may cause significant damage to field crops and livelihood, and therefore, it is necessary to find a treatment that would enhance ADS soil stability. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) contain microorganisms on the soil surface. Metabolic polysaccharides secreted by biocrust cyanobacteria glue the soil particles into aggregates, thereby stabilizing the soil surface. Filter cake powder (FCP) is a waste by-product in the final stages of the production of sugar from sugarcane, and its disposal causes significant environmental pollution. FCP contains high concentrations of polysaccharides and has recently been shown to be soil stability enhancing agent in ASD. It has been reported that adding FCP to the ASD soil surface by dispersal significantly increases the level of penetration resistance of soil biocrust (PRSB) nine weeks after a single treatment. However, it was not known whether a similar effect could be obtained by administering the FCP in liquid form by means of spraying. It has now been found that spraying a water solution of FCP onto the ASD soil surface significantly increased the level of penetration resistance of soil biocrust (PRSB) three weeks after a single treatment. These results suggest that FCP spraying can be used as a short-term soil stability-enhancing agent for ASD, while administration by dispersal might be more efficient over the long term. Finally, an additional benefit of using FCP as a soil stabilizer, either by dispersal or by spraying, is the reduction in environmental pollution that would otherwise result from the disposal of FCP solid waste.

Keywords: active sand dunes, filter cake powder, biological soil crusts, penetration resistance of soil biocrust

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Yu-Yu Wang, Shih-Hua Hsieh, Ru-Shian Hsieh

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Wishes and choices being respected, and the right to be supported rather than coerced, have been internationally recognized as the human rights of persons with mental illness. In Taiwan, ‘coerced hospitalization’ has become difficult since the revision of the mental health legislation in 2007. Despite trend towards human rights, the real problem families face when their family members are in mental health crisis is the lack of alternative services. This study aims to explore: 1) When is hospitalization seen as the only solution by family members? 2) What are the barriers for arranging hospitalization, and how are they managed? 3) What have family carers learned, in their experiences of caring for their family members with mental illness? To answer these questions, qualitative approach was adopted, and focus group interviews were taken to collect data. This study includes 24 family carers. The main findings of this research include: First, hospital is the last resort for carers in helplessness. Family carers tend to do everything they could to provide care at home for their family members with mental illness. Carers seek hospitalization only when a patient’s behavior is too violent, weird, and/or abnormal, and beyond their ability to manage. Hospitalization, nevertheless, is never an easy choice. Obstacles emanate from the attitudes of the medical doctors, the restricted areas of ambulance service, and insufficient information from the carers’ part. On the other hand, with some professionals’ proactive assistance, access to medical care while in crisis becomes possible. Some family carers obtained help from the medical doctor, nurse, therapist and social workers. Some experienced good help from policemen, taxi drivers, and security guards at the hospital. The difficulty in accessing medical care prompts carers to work harder on assisting their family members with mental illness to stay in stable states. Carers found different ways of helping the ‘person’ to get along with the ‘illness’ and have better quality of life. Taking back ‘the right to control’ in utilizing medication, from passiveness to negotiating with medical doctors and seeking alternative therapies, are seen in many carers’ efforts. Besides, trying to maintain regular activities in daily life and play normal family roles are also experienced as important. Furthermore, talking with the patient as a person is also important. The authors conclude that in order to protect the human rights of persons with mental illness, it is crucial to make the medical care system more flexible and to make the services more humane: sufficient information should be provided and communicated, and efforts should be made to maintain the person’s social roles and to support the family.

Keywords: family carers, independent living, mental health crisis, persons with mental illness

Procedia PDF Downloads 306