Search results for: waste management systems

Authors: H. Higashiyama, M. Sappakittipakorn, M. Mizukoshi, O. Takahashi

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Ceramic waste aggregates (CWAs) were made from electric porcelain insulator wastes supplied from an electric power company, which were crushed and ground to fine aggregate sizes. In this study, to develop the CWA mortar as an eco–efficient, ground granulated blast–furnace slag (GGBS) as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) was incorporated. The water–to–binder ratio (W/B) of the CWA mortars was varied at 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6. The cement of the CWA mortar was replaced by GGBS at 20 and 40% by volume (at about 18 and 37% by weight). Mechanical properties of compressive and splitting tensile strengths, and elastic modulus were evaluated at the age of 7, 28, and 91 days. Moreover, the chloride ingress test was carried out on the CWA mortars in a 5.0% NaCl solution for 48 weeks. The chloride diffusion was assessed by using an electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). To consider the relation of the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient and the pore size, the pore size distribution test was also performed using a mercury intrusion porosimetry at the same time with the EPMA. The compressive strength of the CWA mortars with the GGBS was higher than that without the GGBS at the age of 28 and 91 days. The resistance to the chloride ingress of the CWA mortar was effective in proportion to the GGBS replacement level.

Keywords: ceramic waste aggregate, chloride diffusion, GGBS, pore size distribution

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Authors: Aouiche Abdelaziz, Soudani Mouhamed Salah, Aouiche El Moundhe

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The present paper addresses the utilization of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Fuzzy Inference Systems (FISs) for the identification and control of dynamical systems with some degree of uncertainty. Because ANNs and FISs have an inherent ability to approximate functions and to adapt to changes in input and parameters, they can be used to control systems too complex for linear controllers. In this work, we show how ANNs and FISs can be put in order to form nets that can learn from external data. In sequence, it is presented structures of inputs that can be used along with ANNs and FISs to model non-linear systems. Four systems were used to test the identification and control of the structures proposed. The results show the ANNs and FISs (Back Propagation Algorithm) used were efficient in modeling and controlling the non-linear plants.

Keywords: non-linear systems, fuzzy set Models, neural network, control law

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Authors: Nathalie Stephenne, Mathieu Veschkens, Stéphane Palm, Christophe Charlemagne, Jacques Defoux

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According to Europe’s first River basin Management Plans (RBMPs), 56% of European rivers failed to achieve the good status targets of the Water Framework Directive WFD. In Central European countries such as Belgium, even more than 80% of rivers failed to achieve the WFD quality targets. Although the RBMP’s should reduce the stressors and improve water body status, their potential to address multiple stress situations is limited due to insufficient knowledge on combined effects, multi-stress, prioritization of measures, impact on ecology and implementation effects. This paper describes a webGis prototype developed for the Walloon administration to improve the communication and the management of sediment dredging actions carried out in rivers and lakes in the frame of RBMPs. A large number of stakeholders are involved in the management of rivers and lakes in Wallonia. They are in charge of technical aspects (client and dredging operators, organizations involved in the treatment of waste…), management (managers involved in WFD implementation at communal, provincial or regional level) or policy making (people responsible for policy compliance or legislation revision). These different kinds of stakeholders need different information and data to cover their duties but have to interact closely at different levels. Moreover, information has to be shared between them to improve the management quality of dredging operations within the ecological system. In the Walloon legislation, leveling dredged sediments on banks requires an official authorization from the administration. This request refers to spatial information such as the official land use map, the cadastral map, the distance to potential pollution sources. The production of a collective geodatabase can facilitate the management of these authorizations from both sides. The proposed internet system integrates documents, data input, integration of data from disparate sources, map representation, database queries, analysis of monitoring data, presentation of results and cartographic visualization. A prototype of web application using the API geoviewer chosen by the Geomatic department of the SPW has been developed and discussed with some potential users to facilitate the communication, the management and the quality of the data. The structure of the paper states the why, what, who and how of this communication tool.

Keywords: sediments, web application, GIS, rivers management

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Authors: Ali Mashayekh, Mahdiye Khorasani, Thomas weyh

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The demand for battery electric vehicles (BEV) is steadily increasing, and it can be assumed that electric mobility will dominate the market for individual transportation in the future. Regarding BEVs, the focus of state-of-the-art research and development is on vehicle batteries since their properties primarily determine vehicles' characteristic parameters, such as price, driving range, charging time, and lifetime. State-of-the-art battery packs consist of invariable configurations of battery cells, connected in series and parallel. A promising alternative is battery systems based on multilevel inverters, which can alter the configuration of the battery cells during operation via semiconductor switches. The main benefit of such topologies is that a three-phase AC voltage can be directly generated from the battery pack, and no separate power inverters are required. Therefore, modular battery systems based on different multilevel inverter topologies and reconfigurable battery systems are currently under investigation. Another advantage of the multilevel concept is that the possibility to reconfigure the battery pack allows battery cells with different states of charge (SoC) to be connected in parallel, and thus low-loss balancing can take place between such cells. In contrast, in conventional battery systems, parallel connected (hard-wired) battery cells are discharged via bleeder resistors to keep the individual SoCs of the parallel battery strands balanced, ultimately reducing the vehicle range. Different multilevel inverter topologies and reconfigurable batteries have been described in the available literature that makes the before-mentioned advantages possible. However, what has not yet been described is how an intelligent operating algorithm needs to look like to keep the SoCs of the individual battery strands of a modular battery system with integrated power electronics balanced. Therefore, this paper suggests an SoC balancing approach for Battery Modular Multilevel Management (BM3) converter systems, which can be similarly used for reconfigurable battery systems or other multilevel inverter topologies with parallel connectivity. The here suggested approach attempts to simultaneously utilize all converter modules (bypassing individual modules should be avoided) because the parallel connection of adjacent modules reduces the phase-strand's battery impedance. Furthermore, the presented approach tries to reduce the number of switching events when changing the switching state combination. Thereby, the ohmic battery losses and switching losses are kept as low as possible. Since no power is dissipated in any designated bleeder resistors and no designated active balancing circuitry is required, the suggested approach can be categorized as a proactive balancing approach. To verify the algorithm's validity, simulations are used.

Keywords: battery management system, BEV, battery modular multilevel management (BM3), SoC balancing

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Authors: Jagannath Koravadi, Archith Gupta

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In a world with constantly growing energy prices, and growing concerns about the global climate changes caused by increased energy consumption, it is becoming more and more essential to save energy wherever possible. Refrigeration systems are one of the major and bulk energy consuming systems now-a-days in industrial sectors, residential sectors and household environment. Refrigeration systems with considerable cooling requirements consume a large amount of electricity and thereby contribute greatly to the running costs. Therefore, a great deal of attention is being paid towards improvement of the performance of the refrigeration systems in this regard throughout the world. The Coefficient of Performance (COP) of a refrigeration system is used for determining the system's overall efficiency. The operating cost to the consumer and the overall environmental impact of a refrigeration system in turn depends on the COP or efficiency of the system. The COP of a refrigeration system should therefore be as high as possible. Slight modifications in the technical elements of the modern refrigeration systems have the potential to reduce the energy consumption, and improvements in simple operational practices with minimal expenses can have beneficial impact on COP of the system. Thus, the challenge is to determine the changes that can be made in a refrigeration system in order to improve its performance, reduce operating costs and power requirement, improve environmental outcomes, and achieve a higher COP. The opportunity here, and a better solution to this challenge, will be to incorporate modifications in conventional refrigeration systems for saving energy. Energy efficiency, in addition to improvement of COP, can deliver a range of savings such as reduced operation and maintenance costs, improved system reliability, improved safety, increased productivity, better matching of refrigeration load and equipment capacity, reduced resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, better working environment, and reduced energy costs. The present work aims at fabricating a working model of a refrigerator that will provide for effective heat recovery from superheated refrigerant with the help of an efficient de-superheater. The temperature of the refrigerant and water in the de-super heater at different intervals of time are measured to determine the quantity of waste heat recovered. It is found that the COP of the system improves by about 6% with the de-superheater and the power input to the compressor decreases by 4 % and also the refrigeration capacity increases by 4%.

Keywords: coefficiency of performance, de-superheater, refrigerant, refrigeration capacity, heat recovery

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Authors: Michael McCann

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Managerial theories propose that, in joint stock companies, executives may be tempted to waste excess free cash on unprofitable projects to keep control of resources. In order to conceal their projects' poor performance, they may seek to engage in earnings management. On the one hand, managers may manipulate earnings upwards in order to post ‘good’ performances and safeguard their position. On the other, since managers pursuit of unrewarding investments are likely to lead to low long-term profitability, managers will use negative accruals to reduce current year’s earnings, smoothing earnings over time in order to conceal the negative effects. Agency models argue that boards of directors are delegated by shareholders to ensure that companies are governed properly. Part of that responsibility is ensuring the reliability of financial information. Analyses of the impact of board characteristics, particularly board independence on the misuse of free cash flow and earnings management finds conflicting evidence. However, existing characterizations of board independence do not account for such directors gaining firm-specific knowledge over time, influencing their monitoring ability. Further, there is little analysis of the influence of the relative experience of independent directors and executives on decisions surrounding the use of free cash. This paper contributes to this literature regarding the heterogeneous characteristics of boards by investigating the influence of independent director tenure on earnings management and the relative tenures of independent directors and Chief Executives. A balanced panel dataset comprising 51 companies across 11 annual periods from 2005 to 2015 is used for the analysis. In each annual period, firms were classified as conducting earnings management if they had discretionary accruals in the bottom quartile (downwards) and top quartile (upwards) of the distributed values for the sample. Logistical regressions were conducted to determine the marginal impact of independent board tenure and a number of control variables on the probability of conducting earnings management. The findings indicate that both absolute and relative measures of board independence and experience do not have a significant impact on the likelihood of earnings management. It is the level of free cash flow which is the major influence on the probability of earnings management. Higher free cash flow increases the probability of earnings management significantly. The research also investigates whether board monitoring of earnings management is contingent on the level of free cash flow. However, the results suggest that board monitoring is not amplified when free cash flow is higher. This suggests that the extent of earnings management in companies is determined by a range of company, industry and situation-specific factors.

Keywords: corporate governance, boards of directors, agency theory, earnings management

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Authors: Grace Omowunmi Soyebi

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Data Mining is the extraction of information from a large database which helps in predicting a trend or behavior, thereby helping management make knowledge-driven decisions. One principal problem of most hospitals in rural areas is making use of the file management system for keeping records. A lot of time is wasted when a patient visits the hospital, probably in an emergency, and the nurse or attendant has to search through voluminous files before the patient's file can be retrieved; this may cause an unexpected to happen to the patient. This Data Mining application is to be designed using a Structured System Analysis and design method, which will help in a well-articulated analysis of the existing file management system, feasibility study, and proper documentation of the Design and Implementation of a Computerized medical record system. This Computerized system will replace the file management system and help to easily retrieve a patient's record with increased data security, access clinical records for decision-making, and reduce the time range at which a patient gets attended to.

Keywords: data mining, medical record system, systems programming, computing

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Authors: Asiya Rezzouq, Mehdi El Bouchti, Omar Cherkaoui, Sanaa Majid, Souad Zyade

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In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the exploration of new renewable and non-conventional sources for the production of biodegradable nanomaterials. Nature harbours valuable cellulose-rich materials that have so far been under-exploited and can be used to create cellulose derivatives such as cellulose microfibres (CMFs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). These unconventional sources have considerable potential as alternatives to conventional sources such as wood and cotton. By using agricultural waste to produce these cellulose derivatives, we are responding to the global call for sustainable solutions to environmental and economic challenges. Responsible management of agricultural waste is increasingly crucial to reducing the environmental consequences of its disposal, including soil and water pollution, while making efficient use of these untapped resources. In this study, the main objective was to extract cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from melon plant residues using methods that are both efficient and sustainable. To achieve this high-quality extraction, we followed a well-defined protocol involving several key steps: pre-treatment of the residues by grinding, filtration and chemical purification to obtain high-quality (CMF) with a yield of 52% relative to the initial mass of the melon plant residue. Acid hydrolysis was then carried out using phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid to convert (CMF) into cellulose nanocrystals. The extracted cellulose nanocrystals were subjected to in-depth characterization using advanced techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction. The resulting cellulose nanocrystals have exceptional properties, including a large specific surface area, high thermal stability and high mechanical strength, making them suitable for a variety of applications, including as reinforcements for composite materials. In summary, the study highlights the potential for recovering agricultural melon waste to produce high-quality cellulose nanocrystals with promising applications in industry, nanotechnology, and biotechnology, thereby contributing to environmental and economic sustainability.

Keywords: cellulose, melon plant residues, cellulose nanocrystals, properties, applications, composite materials

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Authors: Vesna Bosilj Vukšić, Darija Ivandić Vidović, Ljubica Milanović Glavan

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Information technology plays an irreplaceable role in introducing and improving business process orientation in a company. It enables implementation of the theoretical concept, measurement of results achieved and undertaking corrective measures aimed at improvements. Information technology is a key concept in the development and implementation of the business process management systems as it establishes a connection to business operations. Both in the literature and practice, insurance companies are often seen as highly process oriented due to the nature of their business and focus on customers. They are also considered leaders in using information technology for business process management. The research conducted aimed to investigate whether the perceived leadership status of insurance companies is well deserved, i.e. to establish the level of process orientation and explore the practice of information technology use in insurance companies in the region. The main instrument for primary data collection within this research was an electronic survey questionnaire sent to the management of insurance companies in the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. The conducted research has shown that insurance companies have a satisfactory level of process orientation, but that there is also a huge potential for improvement, especially in the segment of information technology and its connection to business processes.

Keywords: business processes management, process orientation, information technology, insurance companies

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Authors: Arcady Ponosov

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A novel mathematical approach is suggested, which facilitates a compressed representation and efficient validation of parameter-rich ordinary differential equation models describing the dynamics of complex, especially biology-related, systems and which is based on identification of the system's latent variables. In particular, an efficient parameter estimation method for the compressed non-linear dynamical systems is developed. The method is applied to the so-called 'power-law systems' being non-linear differential equations typically used in Biochemical System Theory.

Keywords: generalized law of mass action, metamodels, principal components, synergetic systems

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Authors: Ali E. Abbas

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This paper summarizes some of the discussions that occurred in a workshop in West Virginia, U.S.A which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in February 2016. The goal of the workshop was to explore the opportunities and challenges for applying systems engineering in large enterprises, and some of the issues that still persist. The main topics of the discussion included challenges with elaboration and abstraction in large systems, interfacing physical and social systems, and the need for axiomatic frameworks for large enterprises. We summarize these main points of discussion drawing parallels with decision making in organizations to instigate research in these discussion areas.

Keywords: decision analysis, systems engineering, framing, value creation

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Authors: Sofia Figueroa, Efrain Bernal, Silvia Del Pilar Forero, Humberto Ramirez

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This work shows a detailed review of the scope of global research on the road infrastructure using materials from Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW), also called RCD. In the first phase of this research, a segment of road was designed using recycled materials such as Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) on the top, the natural coarse base including 30% of RAP and recycled concrete blocks. The second part of this segment was designed using regular materials for each layer of the pavement. Both structures were built next to each other in order to analyze and measure the material properties as well as performance and environmental factors in the pavement under real traffic and weather conditions. Different monitoring devices were installed among the structure, based on the literature revision, such as soil cells, linear potentiometer, moisture sensors, and strain gauges that help us to know the C&DW as a part of the pavement structure. This research includes not only the physical characterization but also the measured parameters in a field such as an asphalt mixture (RAP) strain (ετ), vertical strain (εᵥ) and moisture control in coarse layers (%w), and the applied loads and strain in the subgrade (εᵥ). The results will show us what is happening with these materials in order to obtain not only a sustainable solution but also to know its behavior and lifecycle.

Keywords: sustainable pavements, construction & demolition waste-C&DW, recycled rigid concrete, reclaimed asphalt pavement-rap

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Authors: Mathodzi Nditsheni, Olawole Emmanuel Aina, Joshua Oluwole Olowoyo

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The ever-increasing world population is putting extreme pressure on the already limited agricultural resources for food production. Different soil enhancers were introduced by famers to meet the need of the ever-increasing population demand for food. One of the soil enhancers is the municipal waste sludge. This research investigated the differences in the concentrations of trace metals and levels of phytochemicals in four different tomato varieties cultivated on soil treated with municipal waste sludge in Pretoria, South Africa. Fruits were harvested at maturity and analyzed for trace metals and phytochemicals contents using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) respectively. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the differences in the concentrations of trace metals and phytochemical from different tomato varieties were significant. From the study, Rodade tomato bioaccumulated the highest concentrations of Mn, Cr, Cu and Ni, Roma bioaccumulated the highest concentrations of, Cd, Fe and Pb while Heinz bioaccumulated the highest concentrations of As and Zn. Cherry tomato on the other hand, recorded the lowest concentrations for most metals, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. The results of the study further showed that phenolic and flavonoids content were higher in the Solanum lycopersicum fruit grown in soils treated with municipal waste sludge. The study also showed that there was an inverse relationship between the levels of trace metals and phytochemicals. The calculated contamination factor values of trace metals like Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn were above the safe value of 1 which indicated that the tomato fruits may be unsafe for human consumption. However, the contamination factor values for the remaining trace metals were well below the safe value of 1. From the results obtained either for the control group or the treatment, the tomato varieties used in the study, bioaccumulated the toxic trace metals in their fruits and some of the values obtained were higher than the acceptable limit, which may then imply that the varieties of tomato used in this study bio accumulated the toxic trace metals from the soil, hence care should be taken when these tomato varieties are either cultivated or harvested from polluted areas

Keywords: trace metals, flavonoids, phenolics, waste sludge, tomato, contamination factors

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar Appicharla

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This paper presents the results of the modelling and analysis of the European Railway Traffic Management (ERTMS) safety-critical incident to raise awareness of biases in the systems engineering process on the Cambrian Railway in the UK using the RAIB 17/2019 as a primary input. The RAIB, the UK independent accident investigator, published the Report- RAIB 17/2019 giving the details of their investigation of the focal event in the form of immediate cause, causal factors, and underlying factors and recommendations to prevent a repeat of the safety-critical incident on the Cambrian Line. The Systems for Investigation of Railway Interfaces (SIRI) is the methodology used to model and analyze the safety-critical incident. The SIRI methodology uses the Swiss Cheese Model to model the incident and identify latent failure conditions (potentially less than adequate conditions) by means of the management oversight and risk tree technique. The benefits of the systems for investigation of railway interfaces methodology (SIRI) are threefold: first is that it incorporates the “Heuristics and Biases” approach advanced by 2002 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, Prof Daniel Kahneman, in the management oversight and risk tree technique to identify systematic errors. Civil engineering and programme management railway professionals are aware of the role “optimism bias” plays in programme cost overruns and are aware of bow tie (fault and event tree) model-based safety risk modelling techniques. However, the role of systematic errors due to “Heuristics and Biases” is not appreciated as yet. This overcomes the problems of omission of human and organizational factors from accident analysis. Second, the scope of the investigation includes all levels of the socio-technical system, including government, regulatory, railway safety bodies, duty holders, signaling firms and transport planners, and front-line staff such that lessons are learned at the decision making and implementation level as well. Third, the author’s past accident case studies are supplemented with research pieces of evidence drawn from the practitioner's and academic researchers’ publications as well. This is to discuss the role of system thinking to improve the decision-making and risk management processes and practices in the IEC 15288 systems engineering standard and in the industrial context such as the GB railways and artificial intelligence (AI) contexts as well.

Keywords: accident analysis, AI algorithm internal audit, bounded rationality, Byzantine failures, heuristics and biases approach

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Authors: Goksen Capar, Levent Dogankaya

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According to the circular economy model, resource productivity should be maximized and wastes should be reduced. Since earth’s natural resources are continuously depleted, resource recovery has gained great interest in recent years. As part of our research study on the recovery and reuse of silk wastes, this paper focuses on the utilization of silkworm pupae as fishmeal replacement, which would replace the original fishmeal raw material, namely the fish itself. This, in turn, would contribute to sustainable management of wild fish resources. Silk fibre is secreted by the silkworm Bombyx mori in order to construct a 'room' for itself during its transformation process from pupae to an adult moth. When the cocoons are boiled in hot water, silk fibre becomes loose and the silk yarn is produced by combining thin silk fibres. The remaining wastes are 1) sericin protein, which is dissolved in water, 2) remaining part of cocoon, including the dead body of B. mori pupae. In this study, an eight weeks trial was carried out to determine the growth performance of common carp juveniles fed with waste silkworm pupae meal (SWPM) as a replacement for fishmeal (FM). Four isonitrogenous diets (40% CP) were prepared replacing 0%, 33%, 50%, and 100% of the dietary FM with non-defatted silkworm pupae meal as a dietary protein source for experiments in C. carpio. Triplicate groups comprising of 20 fish (0.92±0.29 g) were fed twice/day with one of the four diets. Over a period of 8 weeks, results showed that the diet containing 50% of its protein from SWPM had significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) growth rates in all groups. The increasing levels of SWPM were resulted in a decrease in growth performance and significantly lower growth (p ≤ 0.05) was observed with diets having 100% SWPM. The study demonstrates that it is practical to replace 50% of the FM protein with SWPM with a significantly better utilization of the diet but higher SWPM levels are not recommended for juvenile carp. Further experiments are under study to have more detailed results on the possible effects of this alternative diet on the growth performance of juvenile carp.

Keywords: Bombyx mori, Cyprinus carpio, fish meal, silk, waste pupae

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Authors: Pravira Rizki Suwarno, Fanny Aliza Savitri, Priseyola Ayunda Prima, Pipin Surahman, Mahelga Levina Amran, Khoirunisa Ulya Nur Utari, Nora Permatasari

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The Bogowonto River or commonly called the Bhagawanta River, is one of the rivers on Java Island. It is located in Central Java, Indonesia. Its watershed area is 35 km² with 57 km long. This river covers three regencies, namely Wonosobo Regency and Magelang Regency in the upstream and Purworejo Regency in the south and downstream. The Bogowonto River experiences channel narrowing and silting. It is caused by garbage along the river that comes from livestock and household waste. The narrowing channel and siltation cause a capacity reduction of the river to drain flood discharge. Comprehensive and sustainable actions are needed in dealing with current and future floods. Based on these current conditions, a priority scale is required. Therefore, this study aims to determine the priority scale of flood management in Purworejo Regency using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. This method will determine the appropriate actions based on the rating. In addition, there will be field observations through distributing questionnaires to several parties, including the stakeholders and the community. The results of this study will be in 2 (two) forms of actions, both structurally covering water structures and non-structural, including social, environmental, and law enforcement.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, bogowonto, flood control, management

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Authors: Takashi Shimizu, Tomoaki Hashimoto

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A class of implicit systems is known as a more generalized class of systems than a class of explicit systems. To establish a control method for such a generalized class of systems, we adopt model predictive control method which is a kind of optimal feedback control with a performance index that has a moving initial time and terminal time. However, model predictive control method is inapplicable to systems whose all state variables are not exactly known. In other words, model predictive control method is inapplicable to systems with limited measurable states. In fact, it is usual that the state variables of systems are measured through outputs, hence, only limited parts of them can be used directly. It is also usual that output signals are disturbed by process and sensor noises. Hence, it is important to establish a state estimation method for nonlinear implicit systems with taking the process noise and sensor noise into consideration. To this purpose, we apply the model predictive control method and unscented Kalman filter for solving the optimization and estimation problems of nonlinear implicit systems, respectively. The objective of this study is to establish a model predictive control with unscented Kalman filter for nonlinear implicit systems.

Keywords: optimal control, nonlinear systems, state estimation, Kalman filter

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Authors: K. H. Yang, T. C. Yeh, P. S. Lu, F. C. Yang, T. Y. Wu, W. J. Sung

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In this study, a series of full-scale hot smoke tests has been conducted to validate the performances of the smoke management system in the WWY center for arts before grand opening. Totaled 19 scenarios has been established and experimented with fire sizes ranging from 2 MW to 10 MW. The measured ASET data provided by the smoke management system experimentation were compared with the computer-simulated RSET values for egress during the design phase. The experimental result indicated that this system could successfully provide a safety margin of 200% and ensure a safe evacuation in case of fire in the WWY project, including worst-cases and fail-safe scenarios. The methodology developed and results obtained in this project can provide a useful reference for future applications, such as for the large-scale indoor sports dome and arena, stadium, shopping malls, airport terminals, and stations or tunnels for railway and subway systems.

Keywords: building hot smoke tests, performance-based smoke management system designs, full-scale experimental validation, tenable condition criteria

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Authors: Katarzyna Neffe-Skocinska, Marzena Tomaszewska, Beata Bilska, Dorota Zielinska, Monika Trzaskowska, Anna Lepecka, Danuta Kolozyn-Krajewska

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The aim of the study was to assess Polish consumer behavior towards food waste, including knowledge of information on food labels. The survey was carried out using the CAPI (computer assisted personal interview) method, which involves interviewing the respondent using mobile devices. The research group was a representative sample for Poland due to demographic variables: gender, age, place of residence. A total of 1.115 respondents participated in the study (51.1% were women and 48.9% were men). The questionnaire included questions on five thematic aspects: 1. General knowledge and sources of information on the phenomenon of food waste; 2. Consumption of food after the date of minimum durability; 3. The meanings of the phrase 'best before ...'; 4. Indication of the difference between the meaning of the words 'best before ...' and 'use by'; 5. Indications products marked with the phrase 'best before ...'. It was found that every second surveyed Pole met with the topic of food waste (54.8%). Among the respondents, the most popular source of information related to the research topic was television (89.4%), radio (26%) and the Internet (24%). Over a third of respondents declared that they consume food after the date of minimum durability. Only every tenth (9.8%) respondent does not pay attention to the expiry date and type of consumed products (durable and perishable products). Correctly 39.8% of respondents answered the question: How do you understand the phrase 'best before ...'? In the opinion of 42.8% of respondents, the statements 'best before ...' and 'use by' mean the same thing, while 36% of them think differently. In addition, more than one-fifth of respondents could not respond to the questions. In the case of products of the indication information 'best before ...', more than 40% of the respondents chosen perishable products, e.g., yoghurts and durable, e.g., groats. A slightly lower percentage of indications was recorded for flour (35.1%), sausage (32.8%), canned corn (31.8%), and eggs (25.0%). Based on the assessment of the behavior of Polish consumers towards the phenomenon of food waste, it can be concluded that respondents have elementary knowledge of the study subject. Noteworthy is the good conduct of most respondents in terms of compliance with shelf life and dates of minimum durability of food products. The publication was financed on the basis of an agreement with the National Center for Research and Development No. Gospostrateg 1/385753/1/NCBR/2018 for the implementation and financing of the project under the strategic research and development program social and economic development of Poland in the conditions of globalizing markets – GOSPOSTRATEG - acronym PROM.

Keywords: food waste, shelf life, dates of durability, consumer knowledge and behavior

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Authors: Italo Luigi de Paoli

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The use of synthetic soil for the vegetables cultivation in conditions of limited water consumption The separate collection of urban organic waste and green waste for the countries of the European Union averages 100 kg / inhabitant x year with an annual growth of about 10%. The production of quality compost averages 38% - 40% of the production of organic waste material. Most of the compost produced is used as an organic soil improver in those nutrient-poor soils in order to improve its quality. This study seeks to enhance the production of quality compost by creating a synthetic soil, where the percentages of compost on average oscillate between 50% and 60% in which, with appropriate precautions, different species of horticultural can be grown in conditions of high environmental safety without the use of pesticides and with a consumption of water used for irrigation limited to the actual evaporation of the plants. The project started in 2018 and is still ongoing, confirms its validity through a series of different horticultural productions, especially if this technology is applied where the availability of land suitable for the cultivation of vegetables is limited and where the use of water for irrigation represents a cultural criticality. Furthermore, the creation of "open field" crops, together with their automation, represents a further possibility in the concrete development of such technologies, giving the final product organoleptic characteristics equal if not superior to what the market offers today for human nutrition.

Keywords: water scarcity, compost, vegetable foods, syntetic soil

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Authors: Namrata Khatri

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The rapid growth of cities is transforming the urban environment and posing significant challenges for environmental quality. This study examines the urban environment of Belagavi in Karnataka, India, using geostatistical methods to assess the spatial pattern and land use distribution of the city and to evaluate the quality of the urban environment. The study is driven by the necessity to assess the environmental impact of urbanisation. Satellite data was utilised to derive information on land use and land cover. The investigation revealed that land use had changed significantly over time, with a drop in plant cover and an increase in built-up areas. High-resolution satellite data was also utilised to map the city's open areas and gardens. GIS-based research was used to assess public green space accessibility and to identify regions with inadequate waste management practises. The findings revealed that garbage collection and disposal techniques in specific areas of the city needed to be improved. Moreover, the study evaluated the city's thermal environment using Landsat 8 land surface temperature (LST) data. The investigation found that built-up regions had higher LST values than green areas, pointing to the city's urban heat island (UHI) impact. The study's conclusions have far-reaching ramifications for urban planners and politicians in Belgaum and other similar cities. The findings may be utilised to create sustainable urban planning strategies that address the environmental effect of urbanisation while also improving the quality of life for city dwellers. Satellite data and high-resolution satellite pictures were gathered for the study, and remote sensing and GIS tools were utilised to process and analyse the data. Ground truthing surveys were also carried out to confirm the accuracy of the remote sensing and GIS-based data. Overall, this study provides a complete assessment of Belgaum's environmental quality and emphasizes the potential of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) approaches in environmental assessment and management.

Keywords: environmental quality, UEQ, remote sensing, GIS

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Authors: Courtley Pharaoh, D. J. Visser

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University management is often caught between competing interests from stakeholders like students, trustees, donors, government and the community it serves. This study aimed to identify what management competencies are required by executive management members of universities of technology to effectively manage a university of technology in South Africa from the perspective of the executive management members. This exploratory study will make use of a qualitative methodology to establish what management competencies are deemed as important to manage a university of technology in South Africa from the executive management perspective. Due to the consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the study made use of online face-to-face interviews to ascertain from executive management members of universities of technology what the required management competencies needed by executive management members of universities of technology to effectively manage a University of Technology in South Africa. Qualitative Content Analysis was used to analyse the data collected. The findings of the study identified a total of 26 management competencies which were categorised into three groupings or themes. This study identified a list of required management competencies needed by executive management members of universities of technology to effectively manage a university of technology in South Africa, as per the lived experience of executive management members. The researcher recommends further studies at traditional and comprehensive universities and compares the results of those future studies with the results of this study. A comprehensive list of management competencies could then be identified, which could assist with the compilation of job descriptions of executive management members of universities in South Africa.

Keywords: university of technology, management competencies, executive management, executive management members, important

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Authors: W. Schellong

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Industry accounts for one-third of global final energy demand. Crossover technologies (e.g. motors, pumps, process heat, and air conditioning) play an important role in improving energy efficiency. These technologies are used in many applications independent of the production branch. Especially electrical power is used by drives, pumps, compressors, and lightning. The paper demonstrates the algorithm of the energy analysis by some selected case studies for typical industrial processes. The energy analysis represents an essential part of energy management systems (EMS). Generally, process control system (PCS) can support EMS. They provide information about the production process, and they organize the maintenance actions. Combining these tools into an integrated process allows the development of an energy critical equipment strategy. Thus, asset and energy management can use the same common data to improve the energy efficiency.

Keywords: crossover technologies, data management, energy analysis, energy efficiency, process control

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Authors: Inas S. Khayal, Weiping Zhou, Jonathan Skinner

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Healthcare delivery systems around the world are in crisis. The need to improve health outcomes while decreasing healthcare costs have led to an imminent call to action to transform the healthcare delivery system. While Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering have primarily focused on biological level data and biomedical technology, there is clear evidence of the importance of the delivery of care on patient outcomes. Classic singular decomposition approaches from reductionist science are not capable of explaining complex systems. Approaches and methods from systems science and systems engineering are utilized to structure healthcare delivery system data. Specifically, systems architecture is used to develop a multi-scale and multi-dimensional characterization of the healthcare delivery system, defined here as the Healthcare Delivery System Knowledge Base. This paper is the first to contribute a new method of structuring and visualizing a multi-dimensional and multi-scale healthcare delivery system using systems architecture in order to better understand healthcare delivery.

Keywords: health informatics, systems thinking, systems architecture, healthcare delivery system, data analytics

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Authors: Jacky Hau

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The prevalence of emerging technologies disrupts various industries as well as consumer behavior. Data collection has been in the fingertip and inherited through enabled Internet-of-things (IOT) devices. Big data analytics (BDA) becomes possible and allows real-time demand network management (DNM) through leagile supply chain. To enhance further on its resilience and predictability, governance is going to be examined to promote supply chain transparency and trust in an efficient manner. Leagility combines lean thinking and agile techniques in supply chain management. It aims at reducing costs and waste, as well as maintaining responsiveness to any volatile consumer demand by means of adjusting the decoupling point where the product flow changes from push to pull. Leagility would only be successful when collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) process or alike is in place throughout the supply chain business entities. Governance and procurement of the supply chain, however, is crucial and challenging for the execution of CPFR as every entity has to walk-the-talk generously for the sake of overall benefits of supply chain performance, not to mention the complexity of exercising the polices at both of within across various supply chain business entities on account of organizational behavior and mutual trust. Empirical survey results showed that the effective timespan on demand forecasting had been drastically shortening in the magnitude of months to weeks planning horizon, thus agility shall come first and preferably following by lean approach in a timely manner.

Keywords: governance, leagility, procure-to-pay, source-to-contract

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Authors: A. M. Naraghi, V. Gonzalez, M. O'Sullivan, C. G. Walker, M. Poshdar, F. Ying, M. Abdelmegid

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Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Agent Based Simulation (ABS) are two simulation approaches that have been proposed to support decision-making in the construction industry. Despite the wide use of these simulation approaches in the construction field, their applications for production and material planning is still limited. This is largely due to the dynamic and complex nature of construction material supply chain systems. Moreover, managing the flow of construction material is not well integrated with site logistics in traditional construction planning methods. This paper presents a hybrid of DES and ABS to simulate on-site and off-site material supply processes. DES is applied to determine the best production scenarios with information of on-site production systems, while ABS is used to optimize the supply chain network. A case study of a construction piling project in New Zealand is presented illustrating the potential benefits of using the proposed hybrid simulation model in construction material flow planning. The hybrid model presented can be used to evaluate the impact of different decisions on construction supply chain management.

Keywords: construction supply-chain management, simulation modeling, decision-support tools, hybrid simulation

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Authors: Peng Zhang, Cai Liang

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The non-biodegradable plastic wastes have posed severe environmental and ecological contaminations. Numerous technologies, such as pyrolysis, incineration, and landfilling, have already been employed for the treatment of plastic waste. Compared with conventional methods, microwave has displayed unique advantages in the rapid production of hydrogen from plastic wastes. Understanding the interaction between microwave radiation and materials would promote the optimization of several parameters for the microwave reaction system. In this work, various carbon materials have been investigated to reveal microwave heating performance and the ensuing catalytic activity. Results showed that the diversity in the heating characteristic was mainly due to the dielectric properties and the individual microstructures. Furthermore, the gaps and steps among the surface of carbon materials would lead to the distortion of the electromagnetic field, which correspondingly induced plasma discharging. The intensity and location of local plasma were also studied. For high-yield H₂ production, iron nanoparticles were selected as the active sites, and a series of iron/carbon bifunctional catalysts were synthesized. Apart from the high catalytic activity, the iron particles in nano-size close to the microwave skin depth would transfer microwave irradiation to the heat, intensifying the decomposition of plastics. Under microwave radiation, iron is supported on activated carbon material with 10wt.% loading exhibited the best catalytic activity for H₂ production. Specifically, the plastics were rapidly heated up and subsequently converted into H₂ with a hydrogen efficiency of 85%. This work demonstrated a deep understanding of microwave reaction systems and provided the optimization for plastic treatment.

Keywords: plastic waste, recycling, hydrogen, microwave

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Authors: Jiri Barta

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This paper deals with the prevention and management of emergencies. It focuses on the protection of assets of the critical infrastructure entities that are important to preventing, preparing for and management of emergencies and crisis situations. The paper defines assets and specifies their use and place in the process of crisis management and planning. Critical assets that are protected from the negative effects of emergency or crisis situation we can use in crisis management and response. This basic rule applies mainly to the substantial assets used in the protection of critical infrastructure processes.

Keywords: asset, continuity, critical infrastructure, crisis management process

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Authors: Lisa Shambare, Jean Mulopo, Sehliselo Ndlovu

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One of the major challenges of sustainable development is promoting an industry which is both ecologically durable and economically viable. This requires processes that are material and energy efficient whilst also being able to limit the production of waste and toxic effluents through effective methods of process synthesis and intensification. In South Africa and globally, both miniaturisation and technological advances have substantially increased the amount of electronic wastes (e-waste) generated annually. Vast amounts of e-waste are being generated yearly with only a minute quantity being recycled officially. The passion for electronic devices cannot ignore the scarcity and cost of mining the noble metal resources which contribute significantly to the efficiency of most electronic devices. It has hence become imperative especially in an African context that sustainable strategies which are environmentally friendly be developed for recycling of the noble metals from e-waste. This paper investigates the recovery of gold, silver and palladium from electronic wastes, which consists of a vast array of metals, using ionic liquids which have the potential of reducing the gaseous and aqueous emissions associated with existing hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical technologies while also maintaining the economy of the overall recycling scheme through solvent recovery. The ionic liquids 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium hydrogen sulphate (BmimHSO4) which behaves like a protic acid and was used in the present research for the selective leaching of gold and silver from e-waste. Different concentrations of the aqueous ionic liquid were used in the experiments ranging from 10% to 50%. Thiourea was used as the complexing agent in the investigation with Fe3+ as the oxidant. The pH of the reaction was maintained in the range of 0.8 to 1.5. The preliminary investigations conducted were successful in the leaching of silver and palladium at room temperature with optimum results being at 48hrs. The leaching results could not be explained because of the leaching of palladium with the absence of gold. Hence a conclusion could not be drawn and there was the need for further experiments to be run. The leaching of palladium was carried out with hydrogen peroxide as oxidant and 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride (BmimCl) as the solvent. The experiments at carried out at a temperature of 60 degrees celsius and a very low pH. The chloride ion was used to complex with palladium metal. From the preliminary results, it could be concluded that pretreatment of the treatment e-waste was necessary to improve the efficiency of the metal recovery process. A conclusion could not be drawn for the leaching experiments.

Keywords: BmimCl, BmimHSO4, gold, palladium, silver

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Authors: Jesús M. Martín, Francisco Corona, Dolores Hidalgo

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Landfills present long-term threats to soil, air, groundwater and surface water due to the formation of greenhouse gases (methane gas and carbon dioxide) and leachate from decomposing garbage. The composition of leachate differs from site to site and also within the landfill. The leachates alter with time (from weeks to years) since the landfilled waste is biologically highly active and their composition varies. Mainly, the composition of the leachate depends on factors such as characteristics of the waste, the moisture content, climatic conditions, degree of compaction and the age of the landfill. Therefore, the leachate composition cannot be generalized and the traditional treatment models should be adapted in each case. Although leachate composition is highly variable, what different leachates have in common is hazardous constituents and their potential eco-toxicological effects on human health and on terrestrial ecosystems. Since leachate has distinct compositions, each landfill or dumping site would represent a different type of risk on its environment. Nevertheless, leachates consist always of high organic concentration, conductivity, heavy metals and ammonia nitrogen. Leachate could affect the current and future quality of water bodies due to uncontrolled infiltrations. Therefore, control and treatment of leachate is one of the biggest issues in urban solid waste treatment plants and landfills design and management. This work presents a treatment model that will be carried out "in-situ" using a cost-effective novel technology that combines solar evaporation/condensation plus forward osmosis. The plant is powered by renewable energies (solar energy, biomass and residual heat), which will minimize the carbon footprint of the process. The final effluent quality is very high, allowing reuse (preferred) or discharge into watercourses. In the particular case of this work, the final effluents will be reused for cleaning and gardening purposes. A minority semi-solid residual stream is also generated in the process. Due to its special composition (rich in metals and inorganic elements), this stream will be valorized in ceramic industries to improve the final products characteristics.

Keywords: forward osmosis, landfills, leachate valorization, solar evaporation

Procedia PDF Downloads 202