Search results for: residential energy systems

Authors: Aidin Foroutan, David S. Wishart, Leluo L. Guan, Carolyn Fitzsimmons

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Maximizing efficiency and growth potential of beef cattle requires not only genetic selection (i.e. residual feed intake (RFI)) but also adequate nutrition throughout all stages of growth and development. Nutrient restriction during gestation has been shown to negatively affect post-natal growth and development as well as fertility of the offspring. This, when combined with RFI may affect progeny traits. This study aims to investigate the impact of selection for divergent genetic potential for RFI and maternal nutrition during early- to mid-gestation, on bull calf traits such as fertility and muscle development using multiple ‘omics’ approaches. Comparisons were made between High-diet vs. Low-diet and between High-RFI vs. Low-RFI animals. An epigenetics experiment on semen samples identified 891 biomarkers associated with growth and development. A gene expression study on Longissimus thoracis muscle, semimembranosus muscle, liver, and testis identified 4 genes associated with muscle development and immunity of which Myocyte enhancer factor 2A [MEF2A; induces myogenesis and control muscle differentiation] was the only differentially expressed gene identified in all four tissues. An initial metabolomics experiment on serum samples using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) identified 4 metabolite biomarkers related to energy and protein metabolism. Once all the biomarkers are identified, bioinformatics approaches will be used to create a database covering all the ‘omics’ data collected from this project. This database will be broadened by adding other information obtained from relevant literature reviews. Association analyses with these data sets will be performed to reveal key biological pathways affected by RFI and maternal nutrition. Through these association studies between the genome and metabolome, it is expected that candidate biomarker genes and metabolites for feed efficiency, fertility, and/or muscle development are identified. If these gene/metabolite biomarkers are validated in a larger animal population, they could potentially be used in breeding programs to select superior animals. It is also expected that this work will lead to the development of an online tool that could be used to predict future traits of interest in an animal given its measurable ‘omics’ traits.

Keywords: biomarker, maternal nutrition, omics, residual feed intake

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Authors: Dayei Oh, Feeza Vasudeva, Narges Azizi Fard

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Drawing on the Foucauldian conception of episteme, epistemic communities refer to a community in which members share common frames of epistemic reference, delineating the proper construction of social realities for their members. One of the most cited definitions of epistemic communities is a group of professionals possessing acknowledged expertise and proficiency in a specific field, influencing policymaking and governance. More recently, the advancement of the Internet has changed the way society produces, disseminates, and consumes knowledge. Against this backdrop, this literature review explores the ways in which online epistemic communities are studied in communication scholarship between 2002 and 2022. Examining 92 peer-reviewed journal articles from the Web of Science database, three research objectives have been addressed: (1) geographical contexts, platforms, and methods that are studied in communication research, (2) different types of epistemic communities, and (3) prevailing themes and concepts that are related to the research of the chosen epistemic communities. This research demonstrates increasing scholarly attention towards the lay public as prominent online epistemic communities along with more conventional epistemic communities such as academia and journalists, hinting at how the Internet provides epistemic capacities for negotiating the boundaries of epistemic authority and competencies between experts and lay people. Through qualitative reading of these papers, the findings show that communication research tends to approach epistemic communities of the political left and right asymmetrically: The right-wing epistemic communities are studied in connection with mis/disinformation, conspiracy theories, populist rejection of authoritative epistemologies, whereas the left-wing communities are studied as emancipatory epistemic struggles and activism against Western, colonial, white, and male-centric knowledge systems. This points to a grave need for communication and multidisciplinary scholarship to investigate such uncharted characters of right- and left-wing epistemic communities.

Keywords: communication research, internet, knowledge, online epistemic communities

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Authors: Tsepiso Mofolo, Luna Bergh

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The Lesotho construction industry fails to embrace environmental practices, which has then lead to excessive consumption of resources, land degradation, air and water pollution, loss of habitats, and high energy usage. The industry is highly inefficient, and this undermines its capability to yield the optimum contribution to social, economic and environmental developments. Sustainable construction is, therefore, imperative to ensure the cultivation of benefits from all these intrinsic themes of sustainable development. The development of a sustainable construction industry requires a holistic approach that takes into consideration the interaction between Lean Construction principles, socio-economic and environmental policies, technological advancement and the principles of construction or project management. Sustainable construction is a cutting-edge phenomenon, forming a component of a subjectively defined concept called sustainable development. Sustainable development can be defined in terms of attitudes and judgments to assist in ensuring long-term environmental, social and economic growth in society. The key concept of sustainable construction is Lean Construction. Lean Construction emanates from the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS), namely the application and adaptation of the fundamental concepts and principles that focus on waste reduction, the increase in value to the customer, and continuous improvement. The focus is on the reduction of socio-economic waste, and protestation of environmental degradation by reducing carbon dioxide emission footprint. Lean principles require a fundamental change in the behaviour and attitudes of the parties involved in order to overcome barriers to cooperation. Prevalent barriers to adoption of Lean Construction in Lesotho are mainly structural - such as unavailability of financing, corruption, operational inefficiency or wastage, lack of skills and training and inefficient construction legislation and political interferences. The consequential effects of these problems trigger down to quality, cost and time of the project - which then result in an escalation of operational costs due to the cost of rework or material wastage. Factor and correlation analysis of these barriers indicate that they are highly correlated, which then poses a detrimental potential to the country’s welfare, environment and construction safety. It is, therefore, critical for Lesotho’s construction industry to develop a robust governance through bureaucracy reforms and stringent law enforcement.

Keywords: construction industry, sustainable development, sustainable construction industry, lean construction, barriers to sustainable construction

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Authors: Cagri Mollamahmutoglu, Ali Mercan, Aykut Levent

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Studies concerning the microstructures are becoming more important as the utilization of various micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) are increasing. Thus in recent years, thermal buckling and vibration analysis of microstructures have been subject to many investigations that are utilizing different numerical methods. In this study, thermal effects on mechanical response of a functionally graded (FG) Timoshenko micro-beam are presented in the framework of a mixed finite element formulation. Size effects are taken into consideration via modified couple stress theory. The mixed formulation is based on a function which in turn is derived via Gateaux Differential scientifically. After the resolution of all field equations of the beam, a potential operator is carefully constructed. Then this operator is used for the manufacturing of the functional. Usual procedures of finite element approximation are utilized for the derivation of the mixed finite element equations once the potential is obtained. Resulting finite element formulation allows usage of C₀ type simple linear shape functions and avoids shear-locking phenomena, which is a common shortcoming of the displacement-based formulations of moderately thick beams. The developed numerical scheme is used to obtain the effects of thermal loads on the static bending, free vibration and buckling of FG Timoshenko micro-beams for different power-law parameters, aspect ratios and boundary conditions. The versatility of the mixed formulation is presented over other numerical methods such as generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM). Another attractive property of the formulation is that it allows direct calculation of the contribution of micro effects on the overall mechanical response.

Keywords: micro-beam, functionally graded materials, thermal effect, mixed finite element method

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Authors: Jobo Dubihlela, Kofi Boamah

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The inimitable role of the internal auditing, challenges and the predicament of state-owned enterprises in emerging markets are acknowledged. Study sought to address the inter-related questions, about how does IAF complement the performance and sustainability of SOEs? How can effective IA control systems be implemented to improve the performance results and culture of SOEs in Namibia? The weaknesses inherent in the SOE sector, unfortunately, impacts on the IAF ability to effectively support the SOEs. Despite these challenges, the study has unearthed IAF potential capabilities to contribute to SOE survival in Namibia by complementing the governance practices of the sector. Using a quantitative research approach, the dataset was collected and analysed from SOEs to confirm the role of the internal auditing function (IAF) as an indispensable concomitant of SOE performance. The study adopted a data approach supported by the literary evidence, which enabled generalisation and connectedness of the issues being addressed. The outcome of the data analysis contributed to achieving the results, which are discussed and eventually support the conclusions reached. Results show that the intractable task of internal auditing depends on the leadership of the board of directors of the SOEs. Study also revealed critical priorities needed to influence policymakers and oversight bodies to overcome the iniquities influencing SOE operations, understand and embrace IAF to salvage a sector that has a lot to offer and yet is severely mismanaged. Results support literature on IA’s contribution to SOE development from a developing country’s point of view and is the first of its kind in Namibia. Findings suggest ways to possibly enhance knowledge development of future researchers and ‘wet their appetite’ for further research in emerging markets and on a global scale.

Keywords: internal auditing activity, state-owned enterprises, emerging markets, auditing function

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Authors: Chahrazed Zouaoui

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In recent years, the volume of geospatial information is increasing due to the evolution of communication technologies and information, this information is presented often by geographic information systems (GIS) and stored on of spatial databases (BDS). The classical data mining revealed a weakness in knowledge extraction at these enormous amounts of data due to the particularity of these spatial entities, which are characterized by the interdependence between them (1st law of geography). This gave rise to spatial data mining. Spatial data mining is a process of analyzing geographic data, which allows the extraction of knowledge and spatial relationships from geospatial data, including methods of this process we distinguish the monothematic and thematic, geo- Clustering is one of the main tasks of spatial data mining, which is registered in the part of the monothematic method. It includes geo-spatial entities similar in the same class and it affects more dissimilar to the different classes. In other words, maximize intra-class similarity and minimize inter similarity classes. Taking account of the particularity of geo-spatial data. Two approaches to geo-clustering exist, the dynamic processing of data involves applying algorithms designed for the direct treatment of spatial data, and the approach based on the spatial data pre-processing, which consists of applying clustering algorithms classic pre-processed data (by integration of spatial relationships). This approach (based on pre-treatment) is quite complex in different cases, so the search for approximate solutions involves the use of approximation algorithms, including the algorithms we are interested in dedicated approaches (clustering methods for partitioning and methods for density) and approaching bees (biomimetic approach), our study is proposed to design very significant to this problem, using different algorithms for automatically detecting geo-spatial neighborhood in order to implement the method of geo- clustering by pre-treatment, and the application of the bees algorithm to this problem for the first time in the field of geo-spatial.

Keywords: mining, GIS, geo-clustering, neighborhood

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Authors: Benedictus Asriparusa, Lathifah Al Hakimi, Aulia Husada

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A large amount of energy is being wasted by the release of natural gas associated with the oil industry. This release interrupts the environment particularly atmosphere layer condition globally which contributes to global warming impact. This research presents an overview of the methods employed by researchers in PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia in the Minas area to determine a new prediction method of measuring and reducing gas flaring and its emission. The method emphasizes advanced research which involved analytical studies, numerical studies, modeling, and computer simulations, amongst other techniques. A flaring system is the controlled burning of natural gas in the course of routine oil and gas production operations. This burning occurs at the end of a flare stack or boom. The combustion process releases emissions of greenhouse gases such as NO2, CO2, SO2, etc. This condition will affect the chemical composition of air and environment around the boundary layer mainly during transition season. Transition season in Indonesia is absolutely very difficult condition to predict its pattern caused by the difference of two air mass conditions. This paper research focused on transition season in 2013. A simulation to create the new pattern of the pollutants distribution is needed. This paper has outlines trends in gas flaring modeling and current developments to predict the dominant variables in the pollutants distribution. A Fluent model is used to simulate the distribution of pollutants gas coming out of the stack, whereas WRF model output is used to overcome the limitations of the analysis of meteorological data and atmospheric conditions in the study area. Based on the running model, the most influence factor was wind speed. The goal of the simulation is to predict the new pattern based on the time of fastest wind and slowest wind occurs for pollutants distribution. According to the simulation results, it can be seen that the fastest wind (last of March) moves pollutants in a horizontal direction and the slowest wind (middle of May) moves pollutants vertically. Besides, the design of flare stack in compliance according to EPA Oil and Gas Facility Stack Parameters likely shows pollutants concentration remains on the under threshold NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards).

Keywords: flare motion, new prediction, pollutants distribution, transition season, WRF model

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Authors: Ross J. Maestas

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Biofuels are derived from multiple renewable bioenergy feedstocks including animal fats, wood, starchy grains, and oil seeds. Transportation agencies have considered growing the latter two on underutilized and nontraditional lands that they manage, such as in the Right of Way (ROW), abandoned weigh stations, and at maintenance yards. These crops provide the opportunity to generate revenue or supplement fuel once converted and offer a solution to increasing fuel costs and instability by creating a ‘home-grown’ alternative. Biofuels are non-toxic, biodegradable, and emit less Green House Gasses (GHG) than fossil fuels, therefore allowing agencies to meet sustainability goals and regulations. Furthermore, they enable land managers to achieve soil erosion and roadside aesthetic strategies. The research sought to understand if the cultivation of a biofuel feedstock within the Arkansas State Highway Transportation Department’s (AHTD) managed and marginalized lands is feasible by identifying potential land areas and crops. To determine potential plots the parcel data was downloaded from Arkansas’s GIS office. ArcGIS was used to query the data for all variations of the names of property owned by AHTD and a KML file was created that identifies the queried parcel data in Google Earth. Furthermore, biofuel refineries in the state were identified to optimize the harvest to transesterification process. Agricultural data was collected from federal and state agencies and universities to assess various oil seed crops suitable for conversion and suited to grow in Arkansas’s climate and ROW conditions. Research data determined that soybean is the best adapted biofuel feedstock for Arkansas with camelina and canola showing possibilities as well. Agriculture is Arkansas’s largest industry and soybean is grown in over half of the state’s counties. Successful cultivation of a feedstock in the aforementioned areas could potentially offer significant employment opportunity for which the skilled farmers already exist. Based on compiled data, AHTD manages 21,489 acres of marginalized land. The result of the feasibility assessment offer suggestions and guidance should AHTD decide to further investigate this type of initiative.

Keywords: Arkansas highways, biofuels, renewable energy initiative, marginalized lands

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Authors: M. B. Mshelia, J. K. Balogun, J. Auta, N. O. Bankole

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Studies on some aspects of the physico-chemical parameters of Jebba Lake, Niger State, Nigeria was carried out from January to December, 2011. The aim was to investigate some of the physico-chemical parameters relevant to life and health of fish in the water body. Six (6) sampling sites were selected at random which covered Northern (Faku and Awuru), middle (Old Gbajibo and Shankade) and southern zones (New Gbajibo and Jebba dam} of Jebba Lake. Sampling was carried out for the period of 12 Months. The Physico-chemical parameters that were considered were water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, water transparency, phosphate and nitrate. They were all measured using standard methods. The results showed that water temperature values ranged between 26.06 ± 0.15a in Jebba lake site to 27.34 ± 0.12b in Shankade sampling site, depth varied from 8.08m to 31.64m, water current was between 20.10.62 cm/sec and 26.46 cm/sec, Secchi disc transparency ranged from0.46±0.01 m in New Gbajibo, while the highest mean value was 0.53 ± 0.04 m in Jebba dam., pH varied from 6.49 ± 0.01 and 7.59,5.35±0.03a mg/l in New Gbajibo and 6.75 ± 0.03 mg/l in Faku.The dissolved oxygen varied between 5.35±0.03a mg/l in New Gbajibo and 6.75 ± 0.03 mg/l in Faku.,The mean conductivity value was highest in Faku and Jebba with 128.8 ± 0.32 and 128.8 ± 0.42homs/cm) respectively, Alkalinity ranged 43.00±0.02 to33.30±0.32 mg/l., The nitrate-nitrogen range (2.37 ± 0.08 – 6.40 ± 0.50mg/l)., The mean values of phosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P) recorded varied between 0.18 ± 0.00 mg/l in Faku to 0.47 + 0.10 mg/l in Old Gbajibo.The highest mean value for total dissolved solids was 57.88 ± 0.28 mg/l in Shankade, while the lowest mean value of 39.17 ± 0.42 mg/l was recorded in Faku. Free CO2 ranged from 1.75 mg/l to 2.94 mg/l, Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) was between 4.25 mg/l and 5.41 mg/l and nitrate-nitrogen concentration was between 2.37 mg/l and 6.40 mg/l. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) between these parameters in relation to stations. Generally, the physico-chemical characteristics of Lake Jebba were within the productive values for aquatic systems, and strongly indicate that the lake is unpolluted.

Keywords: Jebba Lake, water quality, secchi disc, DO meter, sampling sites, physico-chemical parameters

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Authors: Malini Ganapathy, Sarjit Kaur

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Maximising learning with higher-order thinking skills with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has been deep-rooted and emphasised in various developed countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Singapore. The transformation of the education curriculum in the Malaysia Education Development Plan (PPPM) 2013-2025 focuses on the concept of Higher Order Thinking (HOT) skills which aim to produce knowledgeable students who are critical and creative in their thinking and can compete at the international level. HOT skills encourage students to apply, analyse, evaluate and think creatively in and outside the classroom. In this regard, the National Education Blueprint (2013-2025) is grounded based on high-performing systems which promote a transformation of the Malaysian education system in line with the vision of Malaysia’s National Philosophy in achieving educational outcomes which are of world class status. This study was designed to investigate ESL students’ learning practices on the emphasis of promoting HOTs while using ICT in their curricula. Data were collected using a stratified random sampling where 100 participants were selected to take part in the study. These respondents were a group of undergraduate students who undertook ESL courses in a public university in Malaysia. A three-part questionnaire consisting of demographic information, students’ learning experience and ICT utilization practices was administered in the data collection process. Findings from this study provide several important insights on students’ learning experiences and ICT utilization in developing HOT skills.

Keywords: English as a second language students, critical and creative thinking, learning, information and communication technology and higher order thinking skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 490

Authors: Calister Wingang Makebe, Wilson Ambindei Agwanande, Emmanuel Jong Nso, P. Nisha

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Traditional liquid-state fermentation processes of Annona muricata L. juice can result in fluctuating product quality and quantity due to difficulties in control and scale up. This work describes a laboratory-scale batch fermentation process to produce a probiotic Annona muricata L. enzymatically extracted juice, which was modeled using the Doehlert design with independent extraction factors being incubation time, temperature, and enzyme concentration. It aimed at a better understanding of the traditional process as an initial step for future optimization. Annona muricata L. juice was fermented with L. acidophilus (NCDC 291) (LA), L. casei (NCDC 17) (LC), and a blend of LA and LC (LCA) for 72 h at 37 °C. Experimental data were fitted into mathematical models (Monod, Logistic and Luedeking and Piret models) using MATLAB software, to describe biomass growth, sugar utilization, and organic acid production. The optimal fermentation time was obtained based on cell viability, which was 24 h for LC and 36 h for LA and LCA. The model was particularly effective in estimating biomass growth, reducing sugar consumption, and lactic acid production. The values of the determination coefficient, R2, were 0.9946, 0.9913 and 0.9946, while the residual sum of square error, SSE, was 0.2876, 0.1738 and 0.1589 for LC, LA and LCA, respectively. The growth kinetic parameters included the maximum specific growth rate, µm, which was 0.2876 h-1, 0.1738 h-1 and 0.1589 h-1 as well as the substrate saturation, Ks, with 9.0680 g/L, 9.9337 g/L and 9.0709 g/L respectively for LC, LA and LCA. For the stoichiometric parameters, the yield of biomass based on utilized substrate (YXS) was 50.7932, 3.3940 and 61.0202, and the yield of product based on utilized substrate (YPS) was 2.4524, 0.2307 and 0.7415 for LC, LA, and LCA, respectively. In addition, the maintenance energy parameter (ms) was 0.0128, 0.0001 and 0.0004 with respect to LC, LA and LCA. With the kinetic model proposed by Luedeking and Piret for lactic acid production rate, the growth associated, and non-growth associated coefficients were determined as 1.0028 and 0.0109, respectively. The model was demonstrated for batch growth of LA, LC, and LCA in Annona muricata L. juice. The present investigation validates the potential of Annona muricata L. based medium for heightened economical production of a probiotic medium.

Keywords: L. acidophilus, L. casei, fermentation, modelling, kinetics

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Authors: Runlin Liu, Shilong Li

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China is a mountainous country, with two-thirds of its territory covered by plateaus, hills, and mountains, and nearly half of the cities and towns are distributed in mountainous areas. Compared with the environmental constraints in the development path of cities and towns in the plains, there are heterogeneities in aspects such as spatial characteristics, growth mode, and ecological protection and so on for mountain village and townlets, and the development path of mountain village and townlets has a bidirectional relationship between mountain space and economic growth. Based on classical growth theory, this article explores the two-dimensional coupling relation between space and economy in mountain village and townlets under background of rural rejuvenation. GIS technology is adopted in the study to analyze spatial trends and patterns, economical spatial differentiation characteristics of village and townlets. This powerful tool can also help differentiate and analyze limiting factors and assessment systems in the economic growth of village and townlets under spatial dimension of mountainous space. To make the research more specific, this article selects mountain village and townlets in Southwest China as the object of study; this provides good cases for analyzing parallel coupling mechanism of the duality structure system between economic growth and spatial expansion and discussing the path selection of spatial economic growth of mountain village and towns with multiple constraints. The research results can provide quantitative references for the spatial and economic development paths of mountain villages and towns, which is helpful in realizing efficient and high-quality development mode with equal emphasis on spatial and economic benefits for these type of towns.

Keywords: coupling mechanism, geographic information technology, mountainous town, synergetic development, spatial economy

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Authors: Bernd Sauer, Michel Werner, Stefan Emrich, Michael Kopnarski, Oliver Koch

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Friction reduction is an important aspect in the context of sustainability and energy transition. Rolling bearings are therefore used in many applications in which components move relative to each other. Conventionally lubricated rolling bearings are used in a wide range of applications, but are not suitable under certain conditions. Conventional lubricants such as grease or oil cannot be used at very high or very low temperatures. In addition, these lubricants evaporate at very low ambient pressure, e.g. in a high vacuum environment, making the use of solid lubricated bearings unavoidable. With the use of solid-lubricated bearings, predicting the service life becomes more complex. While the end of the service life of bearings with conventional lubrication is mainly caused by the failure of the bearing components due to material fatigue, solid-lubricated bearings fail at the moment when the lubrication layer is worn and the rolling elements come into direct contact with the raceway during operation. In order to extend the service life of these bearings beyond the service life of the initial coating, the use of transfer lubrication is recommended, in which pockets or sacrificial cages are used in which the balls run and can thus absorb the lubricant, which is then available for lubrication in tribological contact. This contribution presents the results of wear and service life tests on solid-lubricated rolling bearings with sacrificial cage pockets. The cage of the bearing consists of a polyimide (PI) matrix with 15% molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and serves as a lubrication depot alongside the silver-coated balls. The bearings are tested under high vacuum (pE < 10-2 Pa) at a temperature of 300 °C on a four-bearing test rig. First, investigations of the bearing system within the bearing service life are presented and the torque curve, the wear mass and surface analyses are discussed. With regard to wear, it can be seen that the bearing rings tend to increase in mass over the service life of the bearing, while the balls and the cage tend to lose mass. With regard to the elementary surface properties, the surfaces of the bearing rings and balls are examined in terms of the mass of the elements on them. Furthermore, service life investigations with different material pairings are presented, whereby the focus here is on the service life achieved in addition to the torque curve, wear development and surface analysis. It was shown that MoS2 in the cage leads to a longer service life, while a silver (Ag) coating on the balls has no positive influence on the service life and even appears to reduce it in combination with MoS2.

Keywords: ball bearings, molybdenum disulfide, solid lubricated bearings, solid lubrication mechanisms

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Authors: Sushil Pradhan

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Biotechnology contributes to sustainable development in several ways such as biofertilizer production, biopesticide production and management of environmental pollution, tissue culture and biodiversity conservation in vitro, in vivo and in situ, Insectivorous medicinal plant Drosera burmannii Vahl belongs to the Family-Droseraceae under Order-Caryophyllales, Dicotyledoneae, Angiospermeae which has 31 (thirty one) living genera and 194 species besides 7 (seven) extinct (fossil) genera. Locally it is known as “Patkanduri” in Odia. Its Hindi name is “Mukhajali” and its English name is “Sundew”. The earliest species of Drosera was first reported in 1753 by Carolous Linnaeus called Drosera indica L (Indian Sundew). The latest species of Drosera reported by Fleisch A, Robinson, AS, McPherson S, Heinrich V, Gironella E and Madulida D.A. (2011) is Drosera ultramafica from Malaysia. More than 50 % species of Drosera have been reported from Australia and next to Australia is South Africa. India harbours only 3 species such as D. indica L, Drosera burmannii Vahl and D. peltata L. From our Odisha only D. burmannii Vahl is being reported for the first time from the district of Subarnapur near Sonepur (Arjunpur Reserve Forest Area). Drosera plant is autotrophic but to supplement its Nitrogen (N2) requirement it adopts heterotrophic mode of nutrition (insectivorous/carnivorous) as well. The colour of plant in mostly red and about 20-30cm in height with beautiful pink or white pentamerous flowers. Plants grow luxuriantly during November to February in shady and moist places near small water bodies of running water stream. Medicinally it is a popular herb in the locality for the treatment of cold and cough in children in rainy season by the local Doctors (Kabiraj and Baidya). In the present field investigation an attempt has been made to understand the unique reproductive phase and life cycle of the plant thereby planning for its conservation and propagation through various techniques of tissue culture and biotechnology. More importantly besides morphological and anatomical studies, cytological investigation is being carried out to find out the number of chromosomes in the cell and its genomics as there is no such report as yet for Drosera burmannii Vahl. The ecological significance and biodiversity conservation of Drosera with special reference to energy, environmental and chemical engineering has been discussed in the research paper presentation.

Keywords: insectivorous, medicinal, drosera, biotechnology, chromosome, genome

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Authors: Bhenjamin Jordan L. Ona

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Weather modification is an act of altering weather systems that catches interest on scientific studies. Cloud seeding is a common form of weather alteration. On the same principle, tropical cyclone mitigation experiment follows the methods of cloud seeding with intensity to account for. This study will present the effects of aerosol to tropical cyclone cloud microphysics and intensity. The framework of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model incorporated with Thompson aerosol-aware scheme is the prime host to support the aerosol-cloud microphysics calculations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) ingested into the tropical cyclones before making landfall over the Philippine coast. The coupled microphysical and radiative effects of aerosols will be analyzed using numerical data conditions of Tropical Storm Ketsana (2009), Tropical Storm Washi (2011), and Typhoon Haiyan (2013) associated with varying CCN number concentrations per simulation per typhoon: clean maritime, polluted, and very polluted having 300 cm-3, 1000 cm-3, and 2000 cm-3 aerosol number initial concentrations, respectively. Aerosol species like sulphates, sea salts, black carbon, and organic carbon will be used as cloud nuclei and mineral dust as ice nuclei (IN). To make the study as realistic as possible, investigation during the biomass burning due to forest fire in Indonesia starting October 2015 as Typhoons Mujigae/Kabayan and Koppu/Lando had been seeded with aerosol emissions mainly comprises with black carbon and organic carbon, will be considered. Emission data that will be used is from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The physical mechanism/s of intensification or deintensification of tropical cyclones will be determined after the seeding experiment analyses.

Keywords: aerosol, CCN, IN, tropical cylone

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Authors: Olajumoke Adetoun Ojeleye

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The study assessed the safety culture, mindfulness and safe behaviors of students residing in the halls of residence of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to assess the level of safety mindfulness of students residing in the halls of residence of OAU, examine their safety culture and establish whether these students are involved in unsafe practices. The study employed a cross-sectional research design and instrument used for data collection was a self-structured, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was tested for validity and reliability with its reliability coefficient at 0.71 before being used for data collection. Respondents were selected by multi-stage sampling technique and the sample size was 530. Data collection took 2 weeks and analysed using descriptive statistical techniques. Results showed that about half of the respondents’ population (49.8%) was between the ages of 20-24 years. There were more males (56.2%) than females (43.8%). Although data demonstrated that majority (91.7%) of the respondents are highly safety minded and the safety culture of an equally high proportion (83.4%) was adjudged fair, a lot of improvement is needed in the area of alerting or informing management of impending dangers and studying the hall handbook to internalize its contents. The study further showed that only 43.6% of respondents had good safety practices and behaviors and majority (56.4%) had fair safety practices and behaviors. One accidental discovery of the study is the finding that not a few of the students squat their counterparts. The study recommended the establishment of clearly written out complaint procedure that is accessible and available to all hall residents, building more hostels with adequate facilities to address the issue of overcrowding and also putting systems in place in order to encourage residents to report incidences/accidents.

Keywords: safe behaviours, safety culture, safety mindfulness, student

Procedia PDF Downloads 263

Authors: Siti Anis Nadia Abu Bakar, Vani Tanggamani

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Over recent years, the quality and environmental management practices are the necessary tasks in hospitality industry in order to provide high quality services, a comfortable and safe environment for occupants as well as innovative nature and shareholders' satisfaction, its environmental and social added value sustainable. Numerous studies have observed and measured quality management program (QMProg) and environmental management practices (EMPrac) independently. This paper analyzed the level of QMProg, and EMPrac in hospitality industry, particularly on hotel performance, specifically in the context of Malaysia as hotel industry in Malaysia has contributed tremendously to the development in the Malaysia tourism industry.The research objectives are; (1) to analyze how the level of QMProg influences on firm performance; (2) to investigate the level of EMPrac and its influence on firm performance. This paper contributes to the literature by providing added-value to the service industry strategic decision-making processes by helping to predict the varying impacts of positive and negative corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on financial performance in their respective industries. Further, this paper also contributes to develop more applicable CSR strategies. As a matter of fact, the findings of this paper has contributed towards an integrated management system that will assist a firm in implementation of their environmental strategy by creating a higher level of accountability for environmental performance. The best results in environmental systems have instigated managers to explore more options when dealing with problems, especially problems involving the reputation of their hotel. In conclusion, the results of the study infer that the best CSR strategies of the quality and environmental management practices influences hotel performance.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental management practices (EMPrac), performance (PERF), quality management program (QMProg)

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Authors: Ajay Mandal, Jitendar Kumar Tiwari, N. Sathish, A. K. Srivastava

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A fundamental investigation is performed on the development of graphene (Gr) reinforced stainless steel 316L (SS 316L) metal matrix composite via selective laser melting (SLM) in order to improve specific strength and wear resistance property of SS 316L. Firstly, SS 316L powder and graphene were mixed in a fixed ratio using low energy planetary ball milling. The milled powder is then subjected to the SLM process to fabricate composite samples at a laser power of 320 W and exposure time of 100 µs. The prepared composite was mechanically tested (hardness and tensile test) at ambient temperature, and obtained results indicate that the properties of the composite increased significantly with the addition of 0.2 wt. % Gr. Increment of about 25% (from 194 to 242 HV) and 70% (from 502 to 850 MPa) is obtained in hardness and yield strength of composite, respectively. Raman mapping and XRD were performed to see the distribution of Gr in the matrix and its effect on the formation of carbide, respectively. Results of Raman mapping show the uniform distribution of graphene inside the matrix. Electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) map of the prepared composite was analyzed under FESEM in order to understand the microstructure and grain orientation. Due to thermal gradient, elongated grains were observed along the building direction, and grains get finer with the addition of Gr. Most of the mechanical components are subjected to several types of wear conditions. Therefore, it is very necessary to improve the wear property of the component, and hence apart from strength and hardness, a tribological property of composite was also measured under dry sliding condition. Solid lubrication property of Gr plays an important role during the sliding process due to which the wear rate of composite reduces up to 58%. Also, the surface roughness of worn surface reduces up to 70% as measured by 3D surface profilometry. Finally, it can be concluded that SLM is an efficient method of fabricating cutting edge metal matrix nano-composite having Gr like reinforcement, which was very difficult to fabricate through conventional manufacturing techniques. Prepared composite has superior mechanical and tribological properties and can be used for a wide variety of engineering applications. However, due to the unavailability of a considerable amount of literature in a similar domain, more experimental works need to perform, such as thermal property analysis, and is a part of ongoing study.

Keywords: selective laser melting, graphene, composite, mechanical property, tribological property

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Authors: Gheorghe Ionita, Sebastian Brad, Ioan Stefanescu

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In any fusion device, tritium plays a key role both as a fuel component and, due to its radioactivity and easy incorporation, as tritiated water (HTO). As for the ITER project, to reduce the constant potential of tritium emission, there will be implemented a Water Detritiation System (WDS) and an Isotopic Separation System (ISS). In the same time, during operation of fission CANDU reactors, the tritium content increases in the heavy water used as moderator and cooling agent (due to neutron activation) and it has to be reduced, too. In Romania, at the National Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies (ICIT Rm-Valcea), there is an Experimental Pilot Plant for Tritium Removal (Exp. TRF), with the aim of providing technical data on the design and operation of an industrial plant for heavy water depreciation of CANDU reactors from Cernavoda NPP. The selected technology is based on the catalyzed isotopic exchange process between deuterium and liquid water (LPCE) combined with the cryogenic distillation process (CD). This paper presents an updated review of activities in the field carried out in Romania after the year 2000 and in particular those related to the development and operation of Tritium Removal Experimental Pilot Plant. It is also presented a comparison between the experimental pilot plant and industrial plant to be implemented at Cernavoda NPP. The similarities between the experimental pilot plant from ICIT Rm-Valcea and water depreciation and isotopic separation systems from ITER are also presented and discussed. Many aspects or 'opened issues' relating to WDS and ISS could be checked and clarified by a special research program, developed within ExpTRF. By these achievements and results, ICIT Rm - Valcea has proved its expertise and capability concerning tritium management therefore its competence may be used within ITER project.

Keywords: ITER project, heavy water detritiation, tritium removal, isotopic exchange

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Authors: Svetlana Cojocaru, Mircea Petic, Inga Titchiev

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Humanity faces more and more often with different social disasters, which in turn can generate new accidents and catastrophes. To mitigate their consequences, it is important to obtain early possible signals about the events which are or can occur and to prepare the corresponding scenarios that could be applied. Our research is focused on solving two problems in this domain: identifying signals related that an accident occurred or may occur and mitigation of some consequences of disasters. To solve the first problem, methods of selecting and processing texts from global network Internet are developed. Information in Romanian is of special interest for us. In order to obtain the mentioned tools, we should follow several steps, divided into preparatory stage and processing stage. Throughout the first stage, we manually collected over 724 news articles and classified them into 10 categories of social disasters. It constitutes more than 150 thousand words. Using this information, a controlled vocabulary of more than 300 keywords was elaborated, that will help in the process of classification and identification of the texts related to the field of social disasters. To solve the second problem, the formalism of Petri net has been used. We deal with the problem of inhabitants’ evacuation in useful time. The analysis methods such as reachability or coverability tree and invariants technique to determine dynamic properties of the modeled systems will be used. To perform a case study of properties of extended evacuation system by adding time, the analysis modules of PIPE such as Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets (GSPN) Analysis, Simulation, State Space Analysis, and Invariant Analysis have been used. These modules helped us to obtain the average number of persons situated in the rooms and the other quantitative properties and characteristics related to its dynamics.

Keywords: lexicon of disasters, modelling, Petri nets, text annotation, social disasters

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Authors: Tomoya Oshiro, Hiroko Ono

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Japan's aging population is increasing due to the decrease in birthrate. It causes various problems like the decrease in the gross domestic product of the country. The reason is why the local government of Japan has been on the way to a sustainable city recently. Then it is essential to get control of an urban structure to make the compact city successful. There are many kinds of paper about the compact city; however, the paper about a compact city of the island-type city is less. The purpose of this study is to clarify difference of urban structure between an island-type and a general city type. The method which has conducted in this research has two steps. First of all, by using evaluation indexes in the handbook, we evaluated the urban structures among each same -population-class cities from 50,000 to 100,000 people. Next, to clear the difference about the urban structure and feature between island-type and general-type cities compare the radar chart which is composed with each evaluation indexes of urban structure. Moreover, in order to clarify the relationship between evaluation indexes and the place of residence by using GIS software to show up population density on the map. As a result of this research, the management of local government and the local economy in evaluation indexes are indicated to be negative point in comparison of island-type cities with general cities. However, evaluation indexes of safety/security and low-carbon/energy are proved to be positive point. The research to find the difference features of the island-type of urban structure proves that the management of local government or the local economy is negative point in these island-type cities. In addition, the public transportation coverage in Miyako Island, Sado Island, and Amakusa Island show low value compare with other islands and average value. Relationship between evaluation indexes of an urban structure and the place of residence prove that the place of residence is related to public transportation coverage. If the place of residence is spread out, the public transportation coverage will be decreased. The results of this research reveal that the finances in island-type cities are negative point compare to general cities. This problem is caused by declining population. In addition, the place of residence is related to the public transportation coverage. Even though, it needs a much money to increase the public transportation coverage. It is possibly to cause other problems furthermore the aspect of finance is influenced by that as well. The conclusion in this research suggests that it is important for creating the compact city in island-type cities that we first need to address solving the problems about the management of local government and the local economy.

Keywords: sustainable city, comparative analysis, geographic information system, urban structure

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Authors: Muhammad Arif Jalil, Xaythavay Luangvilay, Montree Bunruangses, Somchat Sonasang, Preecha Yupapin

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Black and white holes form the entangled pair⟨BH│WH⟩, where a white hole occurs when the particle moves at the same speed as light. The entangled black-white hole pair is at the center with the radian between the gap. When the speed of particle motion is slower than light, the black hole is gravitational (positive gravity), where the white hole is smaller than the black hole. On the downstream side, the entangled pair appears to have a black hole outside the gap increases until the white holes disappear, which is the emptiness paradox. On the upstream side, when moving faster than light, white holes form times tunnels, with black holes becoming smaller. It will continue to move faster and further when the black hole disappears and becomes a wormhole (Singularity) that is only a white hole in emptiness (Emptiness). This research studies use of black and white holes generated by a two-level circuit for communication transmission carriers, in which high ability and capacity of data transmission can be obtained. The black and white hole pair can be generated by the two-level system circuit when the speech of a particle on the circuit is equal to the speed of light. The black hole forms when the particle speed has increased from slower to equal to the light speed, while the white hole is established when the particle comes down faster than light. They are bound by the entangled pair, signal and idler, ⟨Signal│Idler⟩, and the virtual ones for the white hole, which has an angular displacement of half of π radian. A two-level system is made from an electronic circuit to create black and white holes bound by the entangled bits that are immune or cloning-free from thieves. Start by creating a wave-particle behavior when its speed is equal to light black hole is in the middle of the entangled pair, which is the two bit gate. The required information can be input into the system and wrapped by the black hole carrier. A timeline (Tunnel) occurs when the wave-particle speed is faster than light, from which the entangle pair is collapsed. The transmitted information is safely in the time tunnel. The required time and space can be modulated via the input for the downlink operation. The downlink is established when the particle speed is given by a frequency(energy) form is down and entered into the entangled gap, where this time the white hole is established. The information with the required destination is wrapped by the white hole and retrieved by the clients at the destination. The black and white holes are disappeared, and the information can be recovered and used.

Keywords: cloning free, time machine, teleportation, two-level system

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Authors: Ozan Yavuz Baytemir, Ender Cigeroglu, Gokhan Osman Ozgen

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Vibration is an important issue in the design of various components of aerospace, marine and vehicular applications. In order not to lose the components’ function and operational performance, vibration isolation design involving the optimum isolator properties selection and isolator positioning processes appear to be a critical study. Knowing the growing need for the vibration isolation system design, this paper aims to present two types of software capable of implementing modal analysis, response analysis for both random and harmonic types of excitations, static deflection analysis, Monte Carlo simulations in addition to study of parameter and location optimization for different types of isolation problem scenarios. Investigating the literature, there is no such study developing a software-based tool that is capable of implementing all those analysis, simulation and optimization studies in one platform simultaneously. In this paper, the theoretical system model is generated for a 6-DOF rigid body. The vibration isolation system of any mechanical structure is able to be optimized using hybrid method involving both global search and gradient-based methods. Defining the optimization design variables, different types of optimization scenarios are listed in detail. Being aware of the need for a user friendly vibration isolation problem solver, two types of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are prepared and verified using a commercial finite element analysis program, Ansys Workbench 14.0. Using the analysis and optimization capabilities of those GUIs, a real application used in an air-platform is also presented as a case study at the end of the paper.

Keywords: hybrid optimization, Monte Carlo simulation, multi-degree-of-freedom system, parameter optimization, location optimization, passive vibration isolation analysis

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Authors: Vanja Skoric

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The paper examines whether the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) can be meaningfully addressed through the rights-based approach to AI design, investigating in particular how the inclusive, participatory process of assessing the AI impact would make this viable. There is a significant gap between envisioning rights-based AI systems and their practical application. Plausibly, internalizing human rights approach within AI design process might be achieved through identifying and assessing implications of AI features human rights, especially considering the case of vulnerable individuals and communities. However, there is no clarity or consensus on how such an instrument should be operationalised to usefully identify the impact, mitigate harms and meaningfully ensure relevant stakeholders’ participation. In practice, ensuring the meaningful inclusion of those individuals, groups, or entire communities who are affected by the use of the AI system is a prerequisite for a process seeking to assess human rights impacts and risks. Engagement in the entire process of the impact assessment should enable those affected and interested to access information and better understand the technology, product, or service and resulting impacts, but also to learn about their rights and the respective obligations and responsibilities of developers and deployers to protect and/or respect these rights. This paper will provide an overview of the study and practice of the participatory design process for AI, including inclusive impact assessment, its main elements, propose a framework, and discuss the lessons learned from the existing theory. In addition, it will explore pathways for enhancing and promoting individual and group rights through such engagement by discussing when, how, and whom to include, at which stage of the process, and what are the pre-requisites for meaningful and engaging. The overall aim is to ensure using the technology that works for the benefit of society, individuals, and particular (historically marginalised) groups.

Keywords: rights-based design, AI impact assessment, inclusion, harm mitigation

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Authors: Adeyinka Adeniran, Omowunmi Bakare, Esther Oluwole, Florence Chieme, Temitope Durojaiye, Modupe Akinyinka, Omobola Ojo, Babatunde Olujobi, Marcus Ilesanmi, Akintunde Ogunsakin

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Introduction: Globally, COVID-19 has greatly impacted the human race physically, socially, mentally, and economically. However, healthcare workers seemed to bear the greatest impact. The study, therefore, sought to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the primary healthcare workers in Ekiti, South-west Nigeria. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study using a quantitative data collection method of 716 primary healthcare workers in Ekiti state. Respondents were selected using an online convenience sampling method via their social media platforms. Data was collected, collated, and analyzed using SPSS version 25 software and presented as frequency tables, mean and standard deviation. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using a t-test, and the level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Less than half (47.1%) of respondents were between 41-50 age group and a mean age of 44.4+6.4SD. A majority (89.4%) were female, and almost all (96.2%) were married. More than (90%) had ever heard of Coronavirus, and (85.8%) had to spend more money on activities of daily living such as transportation (90.1%), groceries (80.6%), assisting relations (95.8%) and sanitary measures (disinfection) at home (95.0%). COVID-19 had a huge negative impact on about (89.7%) of healthcare workers, with a mean score of 22+4.8. Conclusion: COVID-19 negatively impacted the daily living and professional duties of primary healthcare workers, which reflected their psychological, physical, social, and economic well-being. Disease outbreaks are unlikely to disappear in the near future. Hence, global proactive interventions and homegrown measures should be adopted to protect healthcare workers and save lives.

Keywords: Covid-19, health workforce, primary health care, health systems, depression

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Authors: Angelica Corcoran, Fredrik Lind, Pavleta Knutsson, Henrik Thunman

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Solid waste volumes are at current predominately deposited on landfill. Furthermore, the impending climate change requires new solutions for a sustainable future energy mix. Currently, solid waste is globally utilized to small extent as fuel during combustion for heat and power production. Due to its variable composition and size, solid waste is considered difficult to combust and requires a technology with high fuel flexibility. One of the commercial technologies used for combustion of such difficult fuels is circulating fluidized beds (CFB). In a CFB boiler, fine particles of a solid material are used as 'bed material', which is accelerated by the incoming combustion air that causes the bed material to fluidize. The chosen bed material has conventionally been silica sand with the main purpose of being a heat carrier, as it transfers heat released by the combustion to the heat-transfer surfaces. However, the release of volatile compounds occurs rapidly in comparison with the lateral mixing in the combustion chamber. To ensure complete combustion a surplus of air is introduced, which decreases the total efficiency of the boiler. In recent years, the concept of partly or entirely replacing the silica sand with an oxygen carrier as bed material has been developed. By introducing an oxygen carrier to the combustion chamber, combustion can be spread out both temporally and spatially in the boiler. Specifically, the oxygen carrier can take up oxygen from the combustion air where it is in abundance and release it to combustible gases where oxygen is in deficit. The concept is referred to as oxygen carrier aided combustion (OCAC) where the natural ore ilmenite (FeTiO3) has been the oxygen carrier used. The authors have validated the oxygen buffering ability of ilmenite during combustion of biomass in Chalmers 12-MWth CFB boiler in previous publications. Furthermore, the concept has been demonstrated on full industrial scale during combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW) in E.ON’s 75 MWth CFB boiler. The experimental campaigns have showed increased mass transfer of oxygen inside the boiler when combustion both biomass and MSW. As a result, a higher degree of burnout is achieved inside the combustion chamber and the plant can be operated at a lower surplus of air. Moreover, the buffer of oxygen provided by the oxygen carrier makes the system less sensitive to disruptions in operation. In conclusion, combusting difficult fuels with OCAC results in higher operation stability and an increase in boiler efficiency.

Keywords: OCAC, ilmenite, combustion, CFB

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Authors: Maria Sofia Palagonia, Doriano Brogioli, Fabio La Mantia

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In the last decade, lithium has become an important raw material in various sectors, in particular for rechargeable batteries. Its production is expected to grow more and more in the future, especially for mobile energy storage and electromobility. Until now it is mostly produced by the evaporation of water from salt lakes, which led to a huge water consumption, a large amount of waste produced and a strong environmental impact. A new, clean and faster electrochemical technique to recover lithium has been recently proposed: electrochemical ion pumping. It consists in capturing lithium ions from a feed solution by intercalation in a lithium-selective material, followed by releasing them into a recovery solution; both steps are driven by the passage of a current. In this work, a new configuration of the electrochemical cell is presented, used to study and optimize the process of the intercalation of lithium ions through the hydrodynamic condition. Lithium Manganese Oxide (LiMn₂O₄) was used as a cathode to intercalate lithium ions selectively during the reduction, while Nickel Hexacyano Ferrate (NiHCF), used as an anode, releases positive ion. The effect of hydrodynamics on the process has been studied by conducting the experiments at various fluxes of the electrolyte through the electrodes, in terms of charge circulated through the cell, captured lithium per unit mass of material and overvoltage. The result shows that flowing the electrolyte inside the cell improves the lithium capture, in particular at low lithium concentration. Indeed, in Atacama feed solution, at 40 mM of lithium, the amount of lithium captured does not increase considerably with the flux of the electrolyte. Instead, when the concentration of the lithium ions is 5 mM, the amount of captured lithium in a single capture cycle increases by increasing the flux, thus leading to the conclusion that the slowest step in the process is the transport of the lithium ion in the liquid phase. Furthermore, an influence of the concentration of other cations in solution on the process performance was observed. In particular, the capturing of the lithium using a different concentration of NaCl together with 5 mM of LiCl was performed, and the results show that the presence of NaCl limits the amount of the captured lithium. Further studies can be performed in order to understand why the full capacity of the material is not reached at the highest flow rate. This is probably due to the porous structure of the material since the liquid phase is likely not affected by the convection flow inside the pores. This work proves that electrochemical ion pumping, with a suitable hydrodynamic design, enables the recovery of lithium from feed solutions at the lower concentration than the sources that are currently exploited, down to 1 mM.

Keywords: desalination battery, electrochemical ion pumping, hydrodynamic, lithium

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Authors: S. Z. A. Zaidi, A. Crosky

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Biocomposites is a field that has gained much scientific attention due to the current substantial consumption of non-renewable resources and the environmentally harmful disposal methods required for traditional polymer composites. Research on natural fiber reinforced polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has gained considerable momentum over the past decade. There is little work on PHAs reinforced with unidirectional (UD) natural fibers and little work on using epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) as a toughening agent for PHA-based biocomposites. In this work, we prepared polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV) biocomposites reinforced with UD 30 wt.% flax fibers and evaluated the use of ENR with 50% epoxidation (ENR50) as a toughening agent for PHBV biocomposites. Quasi-unidirectional flax/PHBV composites were prepared by hand layup, powder impregnation followed by compression molding.  Toughening agents – polybutylene adiphate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) and ENR50 – were cryogenically ground into powder and mechanically mixed with main matrix PHBV to maintain the powder impregnation process. The tensile, flexural and impact properties of the biocomposites were measured and morphology of the composites examined using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The UD biocomposites showed exceptionally high mechanical properties as compared to the results obtained previously where only short fibers have been used. The improved tensile and flexural properties were attributed to the continuous nature of the fiber reinforcement and the increased proportion of fibers in the loading direction. The improved impact properties were attributed to a larger surface area for fiber-matrix debonding and for subsequent sliding and fiber pull-out mechanisms to act on, allowing more energy to be absorbed. Coating cryogenically ground ENR50 particles with PHBV powder successfully inhibits the self-healing nature of ENR-50, preventing particles from coalescing and overcoming problems in mechanical mixing, compounding and molding. Cryogenic grinding, followed by powder impregnation and subsequent compression molding is an effective route to the production of high-mechanical-property biocomposites based on renewable resources for high-obsolescence applications such as plastic casings for consumer electronics.

Keywords: natural fibers, natural rubber, polyhydroxyalkanoates, unidirectional

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Authors: Engy S. El-Kayal, Mohamed M. S. Arafa

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There are various causes of ankle pain including traumatic and non-traumatic causes. Various imaging techniques are available for assessment of AP. MRI is considered to be the imaging modality of choice for ankle joint evaluation with an advantage of its high spatial resolution, multiplanar capability, hence its ability to visualize small complex anatomical structures around the ankle. However, the high costs and the relatively limited availability of MRI systems, as well as the relatively long duration of the examination all are considered disadvantages of MRI examination. Therefore there is a need for a more rapid and less expensive examination modality with good diagnostic accuracy to fulfill this gap. HRU has become increasingly important in the assessment of ankle disorders, with advantages of being fast, reliable, of low cost and readily available. US can visualize detailed anatomical structures and assess tendinous and ligamentous integrity. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of HRU with MRI in the assessment of patients with AP. We included forty patients complaining of AP. All patients were subjected to real-time HRU and MRI of the affected ankle. Results of both techniques were compared to surgical and arthroscopic findings. All patients were examined according to a defined protocol that includes imaging the tendon tears or tendinitis, muscle tears, masses, or fluid collection, ligament sprain or tears, inflammation or fluid effusion within the joint or bursa, bone and cartilage lesions, erosions and osteophytes. Analysis of the results showed that the mean age of patients was 38 years. The study comprised of 24 women (60%) and 16 men (40%). The accuracy of HRU in detecting causes of AP was 85%, while the accuracy of MRI in the detection of causes of AP was 87.5%. In conclusions: HRU and MRI are two complementary tools of investigation with the former will be used as a primary tool of investigation and the latter will be used to confirm the diagnosis and the extent of the lesion especially when surgical interference is planned.

Keywords: ankle pain (AP), high-resolution ultrasound (HRU), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ultrasonography (US)

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Authors: Damian Stanislaw Nakonieczny, Grazyna Simha Martynkova, Marianna Hundakova, G. Kratosová, Karla Cech Barabaszova

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The main aim of the research was to functionalize the surface of spherical aluminum silicates in the form of so-called cenospheres. Cenospheres are light ceramic particles with a density between 0.45 and 0.85 kgm-3 hat can be obtained as a result of separation from fly ash from coal combustion. However, their occurrence is limited to about 1% by weight of dry ash mainly derived from anthracite. Hence they are very rare and desirable material. Cenospheres are characterized by complete chemical inertness. Mohs hardness in range of 6 and completely smooth surface. Main idea was to prepare the surface by chemical etching, among others hydrofluoric acid (HF) and hydrogen peroxide, caro acid, silanization using (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) to obtain the maximum development and functionalization of the surface to improve chemical and mechanical connection with biomedically used polymers, i.e., polyacrylic methacrylate (PMMA) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK). These polymers are used medically mainly as a material for fixed and removable dental prostheses and PEEK spinal implants. The problem with their use is the decrease in mechanical properties over time and bacterial infections fungal during implantation and use of dentures. Hence, the use of a ceramic filler that will significantly improve the mechanical properties, improve the fluidity of the polymer during shape formation, and in the future, will be able to support bacteriostatic substances such as silver and zinc ions seem promising. In order to evaluate our laboratory work, several instrumental studies were performed: chemical composition and morphology with scanning electron microscopy with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Probe (SEM/EDX), determination of characteristic functional groups of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), phase composition of X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and thermal analysis of Thermo Gravimetric Analysis/differentia thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), as well as assessment of isotherm of adsorption with Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface development. The surface was evaluated for the future application of additional bacteria and static fungus layers. Based on the experimental work, it was found that orated methods can be suitable for the functionalization of the surface of cenosphere ceramics, and in the future it can be suitable as a bacteriostatic filler for biomedical polymers, i.e., PEEK or PMMA.

Keywords: bioceramics, composites, functionalization, surface development

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