Search results for: ecological planning method

Authors: Andrea J. Alarcón, Maxime Daulat, Raydel Lorenzo, Renato P. Da Cunha, Pierre Breul

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Brazil has increased the use of renewable energy during the last years. Due to its sunshine and large surface area, photovoltaic panels founded in helical piles have been used to produce solar energy. Since Brazilian territory is mainly cover by highly porous structured tropical soils, when the helical piles are installed this structure is broken and its soil properties are modified. Considering the special characteristics of these soils, helical foundations behavior must be extensively studied. The first objective of this work is to determine the most suitable method to estimate the tensile capacity of helical piles in tropical soils. The second objective is to simulate the behavior of these piles in tropical soil. To obtain the rupture to assess load-displacement curves and the ultimate load, also a numerical modelling using Plaxis software was conducted. Lastly, the ultimate load and the load-displacements curves are compared with experimental values to validate the implemented model.

Keywords: finite element, helical piles, modelling, tropical soil, uplift capacity

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Authors: Ayoub Daoudi, Javad Eslami, Anne-Lise Beaucour, Martin Vigroux, Albert Noumowé

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As a fact, many cultural heritage masonry buildings have undergone violent fires during their history. In order to investigate the high temperature behaviour of stone masonry, six French limestones were heated to 600 °C at a rate of 9 °C/min. The main focus is the comparison between the high temperature behaviour of stones at the material and at the structural scale. In order to evaluate the risk of spalling, the tests have been carried out on the stone blocks (12x30x30 cm) instrumented with thermocouples and subjected to an unidirectional heating on one face. Thereafter, visual assessments and non-destructive measurements (dynamic elastic modulus) performed on blocks demonstrate a different behaviour from what was observed at the material scale. Finally, a series of thermo-mechanical computations, using finite element method, allowed us to highlight the difference between the behaviour of stones at material and block scales.

Keywords: limestones, hight temperature behaviour, damage, thermo-mechanical modeling, material and blocks scales, color change

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Authors: Masoud Sheidai, Fahimeh Koohdar, Hashem Sharifi

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Juglans regia (L.) commonly known as Persian walnut of the genus Juglans L. (Juglandaceae) is one of the most important cultivated plant species due to its high-quality wood and edible nuts. The genetic diversity analysis is essential for conservation and management of tree species. Persian walnut is native from South-Eastern Europe to North-Western China through Tibet, Nepal, Northern India, Pakistan, and Iran. The species like Persian walnut, which has a wide range of geographical distribution, should harbor extensive genetic variability to adapt to environmental fluctuations they face. We aimed to study the population genetic structure of seven Persian walnut populations including three wild and four cultivated populations by using ISSR (Inter simple sequence repeats) and SRAP (Sequence related amplified polymorphism) molecular markers. We also aimed to compare the genetic variability revealed by ISSR neutral multilocus marker and rDNA ITS sequences. The studied populations differed in morphological features as the samples in each population were clustered together and were separate from the other populations. Three wild populations studied were placed close to each other. The mantel test after 5000 times permutation performed between geographical distance and morphological distance in Persian walnut populations produced significant correlation (r = 0.48, P = 0.002). Therefore, as the populations become farther apart, they become more divergent in morphological features. ISSR analysis produced 47 bands/ loci, while we obtained 15 SRAP bands. Gst and other differentiation statistics determined for these loci revealed that most of the ISSR and SRAP loci have very good discrimination power and can differentiate the studied populations. AMOVA performed for these loci produced a significant difference (< 0.05) supporting the above-said result. AMOVA produced significant genetic difference based on ISSR data among the studied populations (PhiPT = 0.52, P = 0.001). AMOVA revealed that 53% of the total variability is due to among population genetic difference, while 47% is due to within population genetic variability. The results showed that both multilocus molecular markers and ITS sequences can differentiate Persian walnut populations. The studied populations differed genetically and showed isolation by distance (IBD). ITS sequence based MP and Bayesian phylogenetic trees revealed that Iranian walnut cultivars form a distinct clade separated from the cultivars studied from elsewhere. Almost all clades obtained have high bootstrap value. The results indicated that a combination of multilpcus and sequencing molecular markers can be used in genetic differentiation of Persian walnut.

Keywords: genetic diversity, population, molecular markers, genetic difference

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Authors: Nidhi Sharotri, Dhiraj Sud

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Water pollution by pesticides constitutes a serious ecological problem due to their potential toxicity and bioaccumulation. The widespread use of pesticides in industry and agriculture along with their resistance to natural decomposition, biodegradation, chemical and photochemical degradation under typical environmental conditions has resulted in the emergence of these chemicals and their transformed products in natural water. Among AOP’s, heterogeneous photocatalysis using TiO2 as photocatalyst appears as the most emerging destructive technology for mineralization of the pollutant in aquatic streams. Among the various semiconductors (TiO2, ZnO, CdS, FeTiO3, MnTiO3, SrTiO2 and SnO2), TiO2 has proven to be the most efficient photocatalyst for environmental applications due to its biological and chemical inertness, high photo reactivity, non-toxicity, and photo stability. Semiconductor photocatalysts are characterized by an electronic band structure in which valence band and conduction band are separated by a band gap, i.e. a region of forbidden energy. Semiconductor based photocatalysts produces e-/h+ pairs which have been employed for degradation of organic pollutants. The present paper focuses on modification of TiO2 photocatalyst in order to shift its absorption edge towards longer wavelength to make it active under natural light. Semiconductor TiO2 photocatalysts was prepared by doping with anion (N), cation (Mn) and double doped (Mn, N) using greener approach. Titanium isopropoxide is used as titania precursor and ethanedithiol, hydroxyl amine hydrochloride, manganous chloride as sulphur, nitrogen and manganese precursors respectively. Synthesized doped TiO2 nanomaterials are characterized for surface morphology (SEM, TEM), crystallinity (XRD) and optical properties (absorption spectra and band gap). EPR data confirms the substitutional incorporation of Mn2+ in TiO2 lattice. The doping influences the phase transformation of rutile and anatase phase crystal and thereby the absorption spectrum changes were observed. The effect of variation of reaction parameters such as solvent, reaction time and calcination temperature on the yield, surface morphology and optical properties was also investigated. The TEM studies show the particle size of nanomaterials varies from 10-50 nm. The calculated band gap of nanomaterials varies from 2.30-2.60 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant organophosphate pesticide (Quinalphos) has been investigated by studying the changes in UV absorption spectrum and the promising results were obtained under visible light. The complete mineralization of quinalphos has occurred as no intermediates were recorded after 8 hrs of degradation confirmed from the HPLC studies.

Keywords: quinalphos, doped-TiO2, mineralization, EPR

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Authors: S. M. Gupta, Vanita Aggarwal, Som Nath Sachdeva

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The work reported through this paper is an experimental work conducted on High Performance Concrete (HPC) with super plasticizer with the aim to develop some models suitable for prediction of compressive strength of HPC mixes. In this study, the effect of varying proportions of fly ash (0% to 50% at 10% increment) on compressive strength of high performance concrete has been evaluated. The mix designs studied were M30, M40 and M50 to compare the effect of fly ash addition on the properties of these concrete mixes. In all eighteen concrete mixes have been designed, three as conventional concretes for three grades under discussion and fifteen as HPC with fly ash with varying percentages of fly ash. The concrete mix designing has been done in accordance with Indian standard recommended guidelines i.e. IS: 10262. All the concrete mixes have been studied in terms of compressive strength at 7 days, 28 days, 90 days and 365 days. All the materials used have been kept same throughout the study to get a perfect comparison of values of results. The models for compressive strength prediction have been developed using Linear Regression method (LR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Leave One Out Validation (LOOV) methods.

Keywords: high performance concrete, fly ash, concrete mixes, compressive strength, strength prediction models, linear regression, ANN

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Authors: Samaneh Sadat Fattahi Massoom, Hossein Salimi Bajestani

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The study examines loneliness and depression in students who regularly care for themselves after school (latchkey students) in Mashhad and compares them with parent supervised students using a causal-comparative research method. The 270 participants, aged 7 -13, were selected using convenience and cluster random-assignment sampling. Independent t-test results showed significant differences between loneliness (-4.32, p ≤ 0.05) and depression (-3.02, p ≤0.05) among latchkey and non-latchkey students. Using the Pearson correlation test, significant correlation between depression and loneliness among latchkey students was also discovered (r=0.59, p ≤ 0.05). However, regarding non latchkey students, no significant difference between loneliness and depression was observed (r= 0.02. p ≥ 0.05). Multiple regression results also showed that depression variance can be determined by gender (22%) and loneliness (34%). The findings of this study, specifically the significant difference between latchkey and non-latchkey children regarding feelings of loneliness and depression, carries clear implications for parents. It can be concluded that mothers who spend most of their time working out of the house and devoid their children of their presence in the home may cause some form of mental distress like loneliness and depression. Moreover, gender differences affect the degree of these psychological disorders.

Keywords: loneliness, depression, self-care students, latchkey and non-latchkey students, gender

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Authors: Bai-Chen Xie, Xian-Peng Chen

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China has become the world's largest energy producer and consumer, and its development of renewable energy is of great significance to global energy governance and the fight against climate change. The rapid growth of solar power in China could help achieve its ambitious carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets early. However, the non-technical costs of solar power in China are much higher than at international levels, meaning that inefficiencies are rooted in poor management and improper policy design and that efficiency distortions have become a serious challenge to the sustainable development of the renewable energy industry. Unlike fossil energy generation technologies, the output of solar power is closely related to the volatile solar resource, and the spatial unevenness of solar resource distribution leads to potential efficiency spatial distribution differences. It is necessary to develop an efficiency evaluation method that considers the volatility of solar resources and explores the mechanism of the influence of natural geography and social environment on the spatially varying characteristics of efficiency distribution to uncover the root causes of managing inefficiencies. The study sets solar resources as stochastic inputs, introduces a chance-constrained data envelopment analysis model combined with the directional distance function, and measures the solar resource utilization efficiency of 222 solar power plants in representative photovoltaic bases in northwestern China. By the meta-frontier analysis, we measured the characteristics of different power plant clusters and compared the differences among groups, discussed the mechanism of environmental factors influencing inefficiencies, and performed statistical tests through the system generalized method of moments. Rational localization of power plants is a systematic project that requires careful consideration of the full utilization of solar resources, low transmission costs, and power consumption guarantee. Suitable temperature, precipitation, and wind speed can improve the working performance of photovoltaic modules, reasonable terrain inclination can reduce land cost, and the proximity to cities strongly guarantees the consumption of electricity. The density of electricity demand and high-tech industries is more important than resource abundance because they trigger the clustering of power plants to result in a good demonstration and competitive effect. To ensure renewable energy consumption, increased support for rural grids and encouraging direct trading between generators and neighboring users will provide solutions. The study will provide proposals for improving the full life-cycle operational activities of solar power plants in China to reduce high non-technical costs and improve competitiveness against fossil energy sources.

Keywords: solar power plants, environmental factors, data envelopment analysis, efficiency evaluation

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Authors: Masoud Raei, Mohammadmahdi Sadeghi

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The right to life as the most essential right in human rights issues and in the first group has devoted a special place to itself. Attention to this right and its domain and its reflection in civil rights is one of the most important axis of the rights to life issues. Issues discussed concerning this matter in public law with regard to its status in human rights are the determination of government’s duty toward identification; application and guarantee of this right. The constitutions of countries have chosen different approaches towards the identification of this right and also its limits and boundaries, determining the territory of governments for citizens. The reason for such a difference is the question arising in this regard. It is claimed that without the determination of meaningfulness of the right to life, it is not possible to provide a clear response to this question. The goal of this paper is to justify its theoretical framework from the view of meaningfulness of right to life relying on Quranic verses with a conceptual approach towards the right to life so that the relationship between government and citizens with regard to right to life is determined. Through a comparative study, it is possible to attain significant differences between the teachings of the Holy Quran and human rights documents. The method of this paper is a descriptive-analytic approach relying on interpretation books on Holy Quran.

Keywords: meaningfulness, objectivism, separatism, right to life

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Authors: Ghada Mohammed, Mohamed Abdel Salam, Passent Tantawi

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The study aimed to investigate the impact of motives and barriers for Egyptian users to use Airbnb as a platform of peer-to-peer accommodation instead of hotels on overall attitude towards Airbnb. A sequential mixed-methods approach was adopted to this study and it proposed a comprehensive research model adapted from both literature and results of qualitative phase and then tested via an online questionnaire. The findings revealed that, motives, price, home benefits, privacy, and online reviews significantly explained overall attitude towards Airbnb, while the main barriers were respectively: perceived risk and distrust in which they can predict the overall attitude. While from the subjective norms, only social influence can predict behavioral intention to use Airbnb. The study may serve as a practical reference for practitioners as well as researchers when developing programs and strategies to manage Airbnb consumers' needs and decision process. Some of the main conclusions drawn from this study are that variety was one of the major things that users like about Airbnb and the most important motives are the functional ones like price rather than the experiential ones like authenticity.

Keywords: airbnb, barriers, disruptive innovation, motives, sharing economy

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Authors: Srinivasa Reddy Mallampati, Chi-Hyeon Lee, Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc, Byeong-Kyu Lee

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In the present study, feasibility of the selective surface hydrophilization of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by microwave treatment was evaluated to facilitate the separation from automotive shredder residue (ASR), by the froth flotation. The combination of 60 sec microwave treatment with PAC, a sharp and significant decrease about 16.5° contact angle of PVC was observed in ASR plastic compared with other plastics. The microwave treatment with the addition of PAC resulted in a synergetic effect for the froth flotation, which may be a result of the 90% selective separation of PVC from ASR plastics, with 82% purity. While, simple mixing with a nanometallic Ca/CaO/PO4 dispersion mixture immobilized 95-100% of heavy metals in ASR soil/residues. The quantity of heavy metals leached from thermal residues after treatment by nanometallic Ca/CaO/PO4 was lower than the Korean standard regulatory limit for hazardous waste landfills. Microwave treatment can be a simple and effective method for PVC separation from ASR plastics.

Keywords: automotive shredder residue, chlorinated plastics, hazardous waste, heavy metals, immobilization, separation

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Authors: Marisé García Batlle, Juan Manuel Navarrete Tejero

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In aquatic ecosystems, the main indicators of pollution are contaminated sediments, which are the primary repository of radionuclides and chemicals elements in the marine environment. Radioactive Contamination Factor (RCF) has been proposed as a suitable unit to measure the magnitude of radioactive contamination at global scale, caused mainly by more than 2,000 nuclear explosions tests performed during the 1945-65 period. It is obtained as percentage of contaminant radioactivity (¹³⁷Cs) compared to natural radioactivity (⁴⁰K), both expressed in Bq/g of marine sediments conditioned in Marinelli containers and detected in both NaI(Tl) and HPGe detectors. So, in this paper samples of marine sediments were taken up along the occidental Cuban coasts and analyzed by gamma spectrometry for the determination of gamma-emitting radioisotopes with energies between 60 and 2000 keV. The results proved that the proposed method is simple and suitable to evaluated radioactive contamination. Also, the RCF values provide an appropriate indicator to predict which pollution levels in the future will be and if the rate will go down as disintegrates the ¹³⁷Cs present when only 2,4 half-lives have passed away.

Keywords: Cuba, gamma spectrometry, marine sediments, radioactive pollution

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Authors: Olfat E. El-Azabawy, Enas M. Attia, Nadia Shawky, Amira M. Hypa

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In this work, an attempt is made to study the effects of orange peel extract (OPE) as an environment-friendly corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel (CS) within a formation water solution (FW). The study was performed in different concentrations (0.5-2.5% (v/v)) of peel extracts at ambient temperatures (25oC) and (2.5% (v/v)) at temperature range (25- 55 oC) by weight loss measurements, open circuit potential, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance. The inhibition efficiency was calculated from all measurements and confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Inhibition was found to increase with increasing inhibitors concentration and decrease with increasing temperature. It was seen that IE% is about 92.84% in the presence of 2.5% (v/v) of orange peel inhibitor by using weight loss method. The adsorption process was of physical type and obey Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Also, adsorption, as well as the inhibition process, followed first-order kinetics at all concentrations.

Keywords: eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor, OPE, oilfield water, electrochemical impedance

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Authors: Aresh Vikram Singh, Sarika Nagar

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The tamarind based resin containing hydroxypropane sulphonic acid groups has been synthesized and their adsorption behavior for heavy metal ions has been investigated using batch and column experiments. The hydroxypropane sulphonic acid group has been incorporated onto tamarind by a modified Porath's method of functionalisation of polysaccharides. The tamarind hydroxypropane sulphonic acid (THPSA) resin can selectively remove of heavy metal ions, which are contained in industrial wastewater. The THPSA resin was characterized by FTIR and thermogravimetric analysis. The effects of various adsorption conditions, such as pH, treatment time and adsorbent dose were also investigated. The optimum adsorption condition was found at pH 6, 120 minutes of equilibrium time and 0.1 gram of resin dose. The orders of distribution coefficient values were determined.

Keywords: distribution coefficient, industrial wastewater, polysaccharides, tamarind hydroxypropane sulphonic acid resin, thermogravimetric analysis, THPSA

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Authors: Amal Khalifa, Nicolas Vana Santos

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Steganography has been known for centuries as an efficient approach for covert communication. Due to its popularity and ease of access, image steganography has attracted researchers to find secure techniques for hiding information within an innocent looking cover image. In this research, we propose a novel deep-learning approach to digital image steganography. The proposed method, DeepWaveletFusion, uses convolutional neural networks (CNN) to hide a secret image into a cover image of the same size. Two CNNs are trained back-to-back to merge the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) of both colored images and eventually be able to blindly extract the hidden image. Based on two different image similarity metrics, a weighted gain function is used to guide the learning process and maximize the quality of the retrieved secret image and yet maintaining acceptable imperceptibility. Experimental results verified the high recoverability of DeepWaveletFusion which outperformed similar deep-learning-based methods.

Keywords: deep learning, steganography, image, discrete wavelet transform, fusion

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Authors: Zaccheaus Olasupo Apotiola

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This study evaluates the level of pollution in underground water from Ogijo and Odo-nla areas in lkorodu, Lagos State. Water sample were collected around various industries and transported in ice packs to the laboratory. Temperature and pH was determined on site, physicochemical parameters and total plate were determined using standard methods, while heavy metal concentration was determined using Atomic Absorption spectrophotometry method. The temperature was observed at a range of 20-28 oC, the pH was observed at a range of 5.64 to 6.91 mol/l and were significantly different (P < 0.05) from one another. The chloride content was observed at a range 70.92 to 163.10 mg/l there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between sample 40 GAJ and ISUP, but there was significant difference (P < 0.05) between other samples. The acidity value varied from 11.0 – 34.5 (mg/l), the samples had no alkalinity. The Total plate count was found at 20-125 cfu/ml. Asernic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury concentration ranged between 0.03 - 0.09, 0.04 - 0.11, 0.00 -0.00, and 0.00 – 0.00(mg/l) respectively. However there was significant difference (p < 0.05) between all samples except for sample 4OGA, 5OGAJ, and 3SUTN that were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The results revealed all samples are not safe for human consumption as the levels of Asernic and Lead are above the maximum value of (0.01 mg/l) recommended by NIS 554 and WHO.

Keywords: arsenic, cadmium, lead mercury, WHO

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Authors: Yashvi Italiya

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Dysthymia (DD) is a much-overlooked soft mood disorder and mostly confused with other forms of chronic depression. This research paper gives a spotlight to the DD prevailing in men and women. It also focuses on one of the comorbidities of Dysthymia, i.e., Anxiety. The comorbidities, hurdles in diagnosis, the ubiquity of the disorder, and the relation of Anxiety and DD are briefly described. Gender was the main focus here because the researcher of this paper found it as a research gap while doing the literature review. The study was done through secondary data obtained primarily from a questionnaire having Alpha 0.891 reliability. T-test method of data analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The result shows that the researcher failed to accept alternative hypothesis 1 (M1 > M2), while the alternative hypothesis 2 (M1 > M2) was accepted. The ratio of DD in women (M1) is not higher than that of men (M2) (hypothesis 1). But, women are more anxious than men (hypothesis 2). It was found that comorbid Anxiety is more widespread in one gender. It further plays a significant role in mixing up the symptoms. It was concluded that the dividing line between Dysthymia and MDD is still unclear for an accurate diagnosis. There is an essential need for spreading knowledge concerning the differences between the symptoms of DD and MDD so that the actual disorder can be identified, and proper help can be received from/provided by professionals.

Keywords: anxiety, comorbidity, dysthymia, gender, MDD

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Authors: Majid Arvan, Peyman Beygi, Sina Rokhsati

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In-time detection of fire in buildings is of great importance. Employing intelligent methods in data processing in fire detection systems leads to a significant reduction of fire damage at lowest cost. In this paper, the raw data obtained from the fire detection sensor networks in buildings is processed by using intelligent methods based on neural networks and the likelihood of fire happening is predicted. In order to enhance the quality of system, the noise in the sensor data is reduced by analyzing wavelets and applying SVD technique. Meanwhile, the proposed neural network is trained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). In the simulation work, the data is collected from sensor network inside the room and applied to the proposed network. Then the outputs are compared with conventional MLP network. The simulation results represent the superiority of the proposed method over the conventional one.

Keywords: intelligent fire detection, neural network, particle swarm optimization, fire sensor network

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Authors: Sozan H. Omar, Luluah A. Al Jabr

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The current study aimed to identify critical thinking skills and its level of inclusion in all the activities (44) listed in 11th grade chemistry textbooks. The researcher used a descriptive analytical method by using the content analyzing design. An instrument was created for this purpose and tested for validity and reliability. Results showed that, all activities included critical thinking skills with different ratios as follow: conclusion skill was (87.72%), induction skill was (80.90%), interpretation skill was (77. 72%), discussion of evaluation skill was (68.64%), and assumption skill was (50.45%). Also, the study results indicated that, the level of inclusion of critical thinking skills in the scientific activities was more explicit than implicit with same order as the level of inclusions. In the light of the study's results, the researcher provided some recommendations including the need to provide and redistribute critical thinking skills in the activities listed the chemistry textbook, as well as the need to pay attention to the inclusion level of these skills more implicitly in the activities.

Keywords: critical thinking skills, chemistry textbooks, scientific activities

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Authors: Nothando Gwazani, K. R. Marembo

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An increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fossil fuel and land use change necessitates identification of strategies for mitigating threats associated with global warming. Oceans are insufficient to offset the accelerating rate of carbon emission. However, the challenges of oceans as a source of reducing carbon footprint can be effectively overcome by the storage of carbon in terrestrial carbon sinks. The gases with special optical properties that are responsible for climate warming include carbon dioxide (CO₂), water vapors, methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), stratospheric ozone (O₃), carbon monoxide (CO) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s). Amongst these, CO₂ plays a crucial role as it contributes to 50% of the total greenhouse effect and has been linked to climate change. Because plants act as carbon sinks, interest in terrestrial carbon sequestration has increased in an effort to explore opportunities for climate change mitigation. Removal of carbon from the atmosphere is a topical issue that addresses one important aspect of an overall strategy for carbon management namely to help mitigate the increasing emissions of CO₂. Thus, terrestrial ecosystems have gained importance for their potential to sequester carbon and reduce carbon sink in oceans, which have a substantial impact on the ocean species. Field data and electromagnetic spectrum bands were analyzed using ArcGIS 10.2, QGIS 2.8 and ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 to examine the vegetation distribution. Satellite remote sensing data coupled with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was employed to assess future potential changes in vegetation distributions in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The observed 5-year interval analysis examines the amount of carbon absorbed using vegetation distribution. In 2015, the numerical results showed low vegetation distribution, therefore increased the acidity of the oceans and gravely affected fish species and corals. The outcomes suggest that the study area could be effectively utilized for carbon sequestration so as to mitigate ocean acidification. The vegetation changes measured through this investigation suggest an environmental shift and reduced vegetation carbon sink, and that threatens biodiversity and ecosystem. In order to sustain the amount of carbon in the terrestrial ecosystems, the identified ecological factors should be enhanced through the application of good land and forest management practices. This will increase the carbon stock of terrestrial ecosystems thereby reducing direct loss to the atmosphere.

Keywords: remote sensing, vegetation dynamics, carbon sequestration, terrestrial carbon sink

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Authors: Nuray Güy, Mahmut Özacar

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Semiconductor nanoparticles such as TiO₂ and ZnO as photocatalysts are very efficient catalysts for wastewater treatment by the chemical utilization of light energy, which is capable of converting the toxic and nonbiodegradable organic compounds into carbon dioxide and mineral acids. ZnO semiconductor has a wide bandgap energy of 3.37 eV and a relatively large exciton binding Energy (60 meV), thus can absorb only UV light with the wavelength equal to or less than 385 nm. It exhibits low efficiency under visible light illumination due to its wide band gap energy. In order to improve photocatalytic activity of ZnO under visible light, band gap of ZnO may be narrowed by doping such as N, C, S nonmetal ions and coupled two separate semiconductors possessing different energy levels for their corresponding conduction and valence bands. ZnS has a wider band gap (Eg=3.7 eV) than ZnO and generates electron–hole pairs by photoexcitation rapidly. In the present work, N doped ZnO/ZnS nano photocatalysts with visible-light response were synthesized by microwave-hydrothermal method using thiourea as N source. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–visible (UV–vis). The photocatalytic activities samples and undoped ZnO have been studied for the degradation of dye, and have also been compared with together.

Keywords: photocatalyst, synthesis, visible light, ZnO/ZnS

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Authors: Anupriya Sharma, Sapna Narula

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Over the past decade, sustainability has gone mainstream as more people are worried about environment-related issues than ever before. These issues are of even more concern for industries which leave a significant impact on the environment. Following these ecological issues, corporates are beginning to comprehend the impact on their business. Many such initiatives have been made to address these emerging issues in the consumer-driven textile industry. Demand from customers, local communities, government regulations, etc. are considered some of the major factors affecting environmental decision-making. Research also shows that motivations to go green are inevitably determined by the way top managers perceive environmental issues as managers personal values and ethical commitment act as a motivating factor towards corporate social responsibility. Little empirical research has been conducted to examine the relationship between top managers’ personal environmental attitudes and corporate environmental behaviors for the textile industry in the Indian context. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the current state of environmental management in textile industry and whether the attitude of textile firms’ top managers is significantly related to firm’s response to environmental issues and their perceived benefits of environmental management. To achieve the aforesaid objectives of the study, authors used structured questionnaire based on literature review. The questionnaire consisted of six sections with a total length of eight pages. The first section was based on background information on the position of the respondents in the organization, annual turnover, year of firm’s establishment and so on. The other five sections of the questionnaire were based upon (drivers, attitude, and awareness, sustainable business practices, barriers to implementation and benefits achieved). To test the questionnaire, a pretest was conducted with the professionals working in corporate sustainability and had knowledge about the textile industry and was then mailed to various stakeholders involved in textile production thereby covering firms top manufacturing officers, EHS managers, textile engineers, HR personnel and R&D managers. The results of the study showed that most of the textile firms were implementing some type of environmental management practice, even though the magnitude of firm’s involvement in environmental management practices varied. The results also show that textile firms with a higher level of involvement in environmental management were more involved in the process driven technical environmental practices. It also identified that firm’s top managers environmental attitudes were correlated with perceived advantages of environmental management as textile firm’s top managers are the ones who possess managerial discretion on formulating and deciding business policies such as environmental initiatives.

Keywords: attitude and awareness, Environmental management, sustainability, textile industry

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Authors: Angela Justina Kumalaputri

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Indonesia, as a maritime country, has abundant marine living resources yet has not been optimally utilized. So far, we only focusing on fisheries. In the other hand, Indonesia, as the country with the fourth longest coastline, is a very good cultivation place for microalgae. Microalgae can be diversified to many important products, such as food, fuel, pharmaceutical products, functional food, and cosmetics.This research is focusing on the literature study about types of microalgae as sources for functional foods (such as antioxidants), including the contents and the separation methods. The research methods which we use are: (1) Literature study about various microalgaes (2) Literature study about extractions using supercritical fluid of CO₂, which are free from toxic organic solvents, environmentally friendly, and safe for food products. Supercritical fluid extraction using CO₂ (low critical points: temperature at 31.1 oC and pressure at 72.9 bars) could be done at a low temperature which are suitable for temperature labile compounds, low energy, and faster extraction time compared with conventional method of extraction.

Keywords: antioxidants, supercritical fluid extraction, solvent-free extraction, microalgae

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Authors: Yu-Ting Wang, Yun-Hsiang Cheng, Chien-Cheng Lin, Kun-Lin Lin

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Using a transient liquid phase method, Al was successfully bonded with Al₂O₃, which deposited Ni, Cu, Ge, and Si at the surface of the Al₂O₃ substrate after annealing at the relatively low melting point of Al. No reaction interlayer existed at the interface of any Al/Al₂O₃ specimens. Al−Fe intermetallic compounds, such as Al₉Fe₂ and Al₃Fe, formed in the Al substrate because of the precipitation of Fe, which was an impurity of the Al foil, and the reaction with Al at the grain boundaries of Al during annealing processing. According to the evaluation results of mechanical and thermal properties, the Al/Al₂O₃ specimen deposited on the Ni film possessed the highest shear strength, thermal conductivity, and bonding area percentage, followed by the Cu, Ge, and Si films. The properties of the Al/Al₂O₃ specimens deposited with Ge and Si were relatively unsatisfactory, which could be because the deposited amorphous layers easily formed oxide, resulting in inferior adhesion between Al and Al₂O₃. Therefore, the optimal choice for use in high-power devices is Al/Al₂O₃, with the deposition of Ni film.

Keywords: direct-bonded aluminum, transient liquid phase, thermal conductivity, microstructures, shear strength

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Authors: Xiaocong He

Abstract:

Self-pierce riveting (SPR) is a new high-speed mechanical fastening technique which is suitable for point joining dissimilar sheet materials, as well as coated and pre-painted sheet materials. Mechanical structures assembled by SPR are expected to possess a high damping capacity. In this study, experimental measurement techniques were proposed for the prediction of vibration behavior of single-lap cantilevered SPR beams. The dynamic test software and the data acquisition hardware were used in the experimental measurement of the dynamic response of the single-lap cantilevered SPR beams. Free and forced vibration behavior of the single-lap cantilevered SPR beams was measured using the LMS CADA-X experimental modal analysis software and the LMS-DIFA Scadas II data acquisition hardware. The frequency response functions of the SPR beams of different rivet number were compared. The main goal of the paper is to provide a basic measuring method for further research on vibration based non-destructive damage detection in single-lap cantilevered SPR beams.

Keywords: self-piercing riveting, dynamic response, experimental measurement, frequency response functions

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Authors: Gizem Kodak

Abstract:

The Strait of Çanakkale, together with the Strait of Istanbul and the Sea of Marmara, form the Turkish Straits System. In other words, the Strait of Çanakkale is the southern gate of the system that connects the Black Sea countries with the other countries of the world. Due to the heavy maritime traffic, it is important to scientifically examine the accident characteristics in the region. In particular, the results indicated by the descriptive statistics are of critical importance in order to strengthen the safety of navigation. At this point, exploratory data analysis offers strategic outputs in terms of defining the problem and knowing the strengths and weaknesses against possible accident risk. The study aims to determine the accident characteristics in the Strait of Çanakkale with temporal and spatial analysis of historical data, using Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) as the research method. The study's results will reveal the general characteristics of maritime accidents in the region and form the infrastructure for future studies. Therefore, the text provides a clear description of the research goals and methodology, and the study's contributions are well-defined.

Keywords: maritime accidents, EDA, Strait of Çanakkale, navigational safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: M. Y. Kang, Euntaek Yoon, H. D. Choi

Abstract:

To calculate the full energy (FE) absorption peak efficiency for arbitrary volume sample, we developed and verified the EXVol (Efficiency calculator for EXtended Voluminous source) code which is based on effective solid angle method. EXVol is possible to describe the source area as a non-uniform three-dimensional (x, y, z) source. And decompose and set it into several sets of volume units. Users can equally divide (x, y, z) coordinate system to calculate the detection efficiency at a specific position of a cylindrical volume source. By determining the detection efficiency for differential volume units, the total radiative absolute distribution and the correction factor of the detection efficiency can be obtained from the nondestructive measurement of the source. In order to check the performance of the EXVol code, Si ingot of 20 cm in diameter and 50 cm in height were used as a source. The detector was moved at the collimation geometry to calculate the detection efficiency at a specific position and compared with the experimental values. In this study, the performance of the EXVol code was extended to obtain the detection efficiency distribution at a specific position in a large volume source.

Keywords: attenuation, EXVol, detection efficiency, volume source

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Pedro A. V. Ramos, Duarte M. S. Albuquerque, José C. F. Pereira

Abstract:

Global warming mitigation is one of the main challenges of this century, having the net balance of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be null or negative in 2050. Industry electrification is one of the main paths to achieving carbon neutrality within the goals of the Paris Agreement. Microwave heating is becoming a popular industrial heating mechanism due to the absence of direct GHG emissions, but also the rapid, volumetric, and efficient heating. In the present study, a mathematical model is used to simulate the production using microwave heating of two ceramic pigments, at high temperatures (above 1200 Celsius degrees). The two pigments studied were the yellow (Pr, Zr)SiO₂ and the brown (Ti, Sb, Cr)O₂. The chemical conversion of reactants into products was included in the model by using the kinetic triplet obtained with the model-fitting method and experimental data present in the Literature. The coupling between the electromagnetic, thermal, and chemical interfaces was also included. The simulations were computed in COMSOL Multiphysics. The geometry includes a moving plunger to allow for the cavity impedance matching and thus maximize the electromagnetic efficiency. To accomplish this goal, a MATLAB controller was developed to automatically search the position of the moving plunger that guarantees the maximum efficiency. The power is automatically and permanently adjusted during the transient simulation to impose stationary regime and total conversion, the two requisites of every converged solution. Both 2D and 3D geometries were used and a parametric study regarding the axial bed velocity and the heat transfer coefficient at the boundaries was performed. Moreover, a Verification and Validation study was carried out by comparing the conversion profiles obtained numerically with the experimental data available in the Literature; the numerical uncertainty was also estimated to attest to the result's reliability. The results show that the model-fitting method employed in this work is a suitable tool to predict the chemical conversion of reactants into the pigment, showing excellent agreement between the numerical results and the experimental data. Moreover, it was demonstrated that higher velocities lead to higher thermal efficiencies and thus lower energy consumption during the process. This work concludes that the electromagnetic heating of materials having high loss tangent and low thermal conductivity, like ceramic materials, maybe a challenge due to the presence of hot spots, which may jeopardize the product quality or even the experimental apparatus. The MATLAB controller increased the electromagnetic efficiency by 25% and global efficiency of 54% was obtained for the titanate brown pigment. This work shows that electromagnetic heating will be a key technology in the decarbonization of the ceramic sector as reductions up to 98% in the specific GHG emissions were obtained when compared to the conventional process. Furthermore, numerical simulations appear as a suitable technique to be used in the design and optimization of microwave applicators, showing high agreement with experimental data.

Keywords: automatic impedance matching, ceramic pigments, efficiency maximization, high-temperature microwave heating, input power control, numerical simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: E. Kissi, V. K. Acheamfour, J. J. Gyimah, T. Adjei-Kumi

Abstract:

Factoring accounts receivable is widely accepted as an alternative financing source and utilized in almost every industry that sells business-to-business or business-to-government. However, its patronage in the construction industry is very limited as some barriers hinder its application in the construction industry. This study aims at assessing the barriers to the use of factoring accounts receivables in the Ghanaian construction industry. The study adopted the sequential exploratory research method where structured and unstructured questionnaires were conveniently distributed to D1K1 and D2K2 construction firms in Ghana. Using the one-sample t-test and Kendall’s Coefficient of concordance data was analyzed. The most severe challenge concluded is the high cost of factoring patronage. Other critical challenges identified were low knowledge on factoring processes, inadequate access to information on factoring, and high risks involved in factoring. Hence, it is recommended that contractors should be made aware of the prospects of factoring of accounts receivables in the construction industry. This study serves as basis for further rigorous research into factoring of accounts receivables in the industry.

Keywords: barriers, contractors, factoring accounts receivables, Ghanaian, perception

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Khaled Alotaibi, Salah Alhamadi, Ibraheem Almubarak

Abstract:

The study attempts to explore both corporate governance (GC) and business ethics (BE) practices in Kuwaiti banks and the relationship between CG and BE, using an accountability framework. By examining the perceptions of key stakeholder groups, this study investigates the practices of BE and CG in Islamic banks (IBs) compared to conventional banks (CBs). We contribute to the scarce studies concerned with relations between CG and BE. We have employed a questionnaire survey method for a random sample of crucial relevant stakeholder groups. The empirical analysis of the participants’ perceptions highlights the importance of applying CG regulations and BE for Kuwaiti banks and the clear link between the two concepts. We find that the main concern is not the absence of CG and BE codes, but the lack of consistent enforcement of the regulations. Such a system needs to be strictly and effectively implemented in Kuwaiti banks to protect all stakeholders’ wealth, not only that of stockholders. There are significant patterns in the CG and BE expectations among different stakeholder groups. Most interestingly, banks’ client groups illustrate high expectations concerning CG and BE practices.

Keywords: corporate governance, GC, business ethics, BE, Islamic banks, IBs, conventional banks, CBs, accountability

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Jonas Hinker, Lisa Zumholz, Johanna M. A. Myrzik

Abstract:

Despite strong efforts by the German government to make a transition to higher quality level of building stocks, the rate of renovation continues to remain below the proclaimed level of 2%. As the mandatory standards for residential retrofits are well-balanced in such a way that strict adherence to them guarantees profit from the investment, it becomes difficult to explain the reasons why there are so many people hesitant with their investments. Risks and transaction costs can be understood as socio-technical boundaries and have to be taken into consideration to be able to understand why a worthwhile investment is postponed or rejected. This paper therefore presents a method for investment analyses that is focused on such socio-technical constraints, which helps to reveal the strongest misconceptions of home owners. By depicting sensitivities and risk factors in an integrated and impartial way, such a tool can be utilized by home owners to address reservations and misunderstandings. In the end, this leads to an exploitation of smaller energy efficiency measures that makes up a big demand reduction in the residential sector altogether.

Keywords: energy refurbishment, investment analysis, residential buildings, risk-aware investment strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 513