Search results for: energy performance certificate EPBD

Authors: Narek Margaryan, Zhozef Panosyan

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Due to their unique properties, carbon nanofilms have become the object of general attention and intensive research. In this case it plays a very important role to study surface properties of these films. It is also important to study processes of forming of this films, which is accompanied by a process of self-organization at the nano and micro levels. For more detailed investigation, we examined diamond-like carbon (DLC) layers deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method on Ge substrate and hydro-generated grapheme layers obtained on surface of colloidal solution using grouping method. In this report surface transformation of these CVD nanolayers is studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) upon deposition time. Also, it can be successfully used to study surface properties of self-assembled grapheme layers. In turn, it is possible to sketch out their boundary line, which enables one to draw an idea of peculiarities of formation of these layers. Images obtained by AFM are investigated as a mathematical set of numbers and fractal and roughness analysis were done. Fractal dimension, Regne’s fractal coefficient, histogram, Fast Fourier transformation, etc. were obtained. The dependence of fractal parameters on the deposition duration for CVD films and on temperature of solution tribolayers was revealed. As an important surface parameter for our carbon films, surface energy was calculated as function of Regne’s fractal coefficient. Surface potential was also measured with Kelvin probe method using semi-contacting AFM. The dependence of surface potential on the deposition duration for CVD films and on temperature of solution for hydro-generated graphene was found as well. Results obtained by fractal analysis method was related with purly esperimental results for number of samples.

Keywords: nanostructured films, self-assembled grapheme, diamond-like carbon, surface potential, Kelvin probe method, fractal analysis

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Authors: Mona Mahmoud Abou Samra, Alaa Hamed Salama, Ghada Awad, Soheir Said Mansy

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Proniosomes are well documented for topical drug delivery and preferred over other vesicular systems because they are biodegradable, biocompatible, non-toxic, possess skin penetration ability and prolong the release of drugs by acting as depot in deeper layers of skin. Proniosome drug delivery was preferred due to improved stability of the system than niosomes. The present investigation aimed at formulation development and performance evaluation of proniosomal gel as a vesicular drug carrier system for antifungal drug tolnaftate. Proniosomes was developed using different nonionic surfactants such as span 60 and span 65 with cholesterol in different molar ratios by the Coacervation phase separation method in presence or absence of either lecithin or phospholipon 80 H. Proniosomal gel formulations of tolnaftate were characterized for vesicular shape & size, entrapment efficiency, rheological properties and release study. The effect of surfactants and additives on the entrapment efficiency, particle size and percent of drug released was studied. The selected proniosomal formulations for topical delivery of tolnaftate was subjected to a microbiological study in male rats infected with Trichophyton rubrum; the main cause of Tinea Pedis compared to the free drug and a market product and the results was recorded.

Keywords: fungal infection, proniosome, tolnaftate, trichophyton rubrum

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Authors: Michael D. Vinod, Hadi Khabbaz

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Construction of infrastructure above or adjacent to landfills is becoming more common to capitalize on the limited space available within urban areas. However, development above landfills is a challenging task due to large voids, the presence of organic matter, heterogeneous nature of waste and ambiguity surrounding landfill settlement prediction. Prior to construction of infrastructure above landfills, ground improvement techniques are being employed to improve the geotechnical properties of landfill material. Although the ground improvement techniques have little impact on long term biodegradation and creep related landfill settlement, they have shown some notable short term success with a variety of techniques, including methods for verifying the level of effectiveness of ground improvement techniques. This paper provides geotechnical and landfill engineers a guideline for selection of landfill ground improvement techniques and their suitability to project-specific sites. Ground improvement methods assessed and compared in this paper include concrete injected columns (CIC), dynamic compaction, rapid impact compaction (RIC), preloading, high energy impact compaction (HEIC), vibro compaction, vibro replacement, chemical stabilization and the inclusion of geosynthetics such as geocells. For each ground improvement technique a summary of the existing theory, benefits, limitations, suitable modern ground improvement monitoring methods, the applicability of ground improvement techniques for landfills and supporting case studies are provided. The authors highlight the importance of implementing cost-effective monitoring techniques to allow observation and necessary remediation of the subsidence effects associated with long term landfill settlement. These ground improvement techniques are primarily for the purpose of construction above closed landfills to cater for transport infrastructure loading.

Keywords: closed landfills, ground improvement, monitoring, settlement, transport infrastructure

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Authors: Ebrahim Ghasemi Ardi, Ai Bing Yu, Run Yu Yang

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Current study is aimed to develop an available in-house discrete element method (DEM) code and link it with direct breakage event. So, it became possible to determine the particle breakage and then its fragments size distribution, simultaneous with DEM simulation. It directly applies the particle breakage inside the DEM computation algorithm and if any breakage happens the original particle is replaced with daughters. In this way, the calculation will be followed based on a new updated particles list which is very similar to the real grinding environment. To validate developed model, a grinding ball impacting an unconfined particle bed was simulated. Since considering an entire ball mill would be too computationally demanding, this method provided a simplified environment to test the model. Accordingly, a representative volume of the ball mill was simulated inside a box, which could emulate media (ball)–powder bed impacts in a ball mill and during particle bed impact tests. Mono, binary and ternary particle beds were simulated to determine the effects of granular composition on breakage kinetics. The results obtained from the DEM simulations showed a reduction in the specific breakage rate for coarse particles in binary mixtures. The origin of this phenomenon, commonly known as cushioning or decelerated breakage in dry milling processes, was explained by the DEM simulations. Fine particles in a particle bed increase mechanical energy loss, and reduce and distribute interparticle forces thereby inhibiting the breakage of the coarse component. On the other hand, the specific breakage rate of fine particles increased due to contacts associated with coarse particles. Such phenomenon, known as acceleration, was shown to be less significant, but should be considered in future attempts to accurately quantify non-linear breakage kinetics in the modeling of dry milling processes.

Keywords: particle bed, breakage models, breakage kinetic, discrete element method

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Authors: J. L. Chukwuneke, C. H. Achebe, S. N. Omenyi

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This research work presents the surface thermodynamics approach to M-TB/HIV-Human sputum interactions. This involved the use of the Hamaker coefficient concept as a surface energetics tool in determining the interaction processes, with the surface interfacial energies explained using van der Waals concept of particle interactions. The Lifshitz derivation for van der Waals forces was applied as an alternative to the contact angle approach which has been widely used in other biological systems. The methodology involved taking sputum samples from twenty infected persons and from twenty uninfected persons for absorbance measurement using a digital Ultraviolet visible Spectrophotometer. The variables required for the computations with the Lifshitz formula were derived from the absorbance data. The Matlab software tools were used in the mathematical analysis of the data produced from the experiments (absorbance values). The Hamaker constants and the combined Hamaker coefficients were obtained using the values of the dielectric constant together with the Lifshitz equation. The absolute combined Hamaker coefficients A132abs and A131abs on both infected and uninfected sputum samples gave the values of A132abs = 0.21631x10-21Joule for M-TB infected sputum and Ã132abs = 0.18825x10-21Joule for M-TB/HIV infected sputum. The significance of this result is the positive value of the absolute combined Hamaker coefficient which suggests the existence of net positive van der waals forces demonstrating an attraction between the bacteria and the macrophage. This however, implies that infection can occur. It was also shown that in the presence of HIV, the interaction energy is reduced by 13% conforming adverse effects observed in HIV patients suffering from tuberculosis.

Keywords: absorbance, dielectric constant, hamaker coefficient, lifshitz formula, macrophage, mycobacterium tuberculosis, van der waals forces

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Authors: Waleed Basuliman

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Anthropometric dimensions are considered one of the important factors when designing human-machine systems. In this study, the estimation of anthropometric dimensions has been improved by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model that is able to predict the anthropometric measurements of Saudi males in Riyadh City. A total of 1427 Saudi males aged 6 to 60 years participated in measuring 20 anthropometric dimensions. These anthropometric measurements are considered important for designing the work and life applications in Saudi Arabia. The data were collected during eight months from different locations in Riyadh City. Five of these dimensions were used as predictors variables (inputs) of the model, and the remaining 15 dimensions were set to be the measured variables (Model’s outcomes). The hidden layers varied during the structuring stage, and the best performance was achieved with the network structure 6-25-15. The results showed that the developed Neural Network model was able to estimate the body dimensions of Saudi male population in Riyadh City. The network's mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and the root mean squared error (RMSE) were found to be 0.0348 and 3.225, respectively. These results were found less, and then better, than the errors found in the literature. Finally, the accuracy of the developed neural network was evaluated by comparing the predicted outcomes with regression model. The ANN model showed higher coefficient of determination (R2) between the predicted and actual dimensions than the regression model.

Keywords: artificial neural network, anthropometric measurements, back-propagation

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Authors: Subzar Ahmad Bhat, Saraswati Setia, V. K.Sehgal

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During the past earthquakes, open ground storey buildings have performed poorly due to the soft storey defect. Indian Standard IS 1893:2002 allows analysis of open ground storey buildings without considering infill stiffness but with a multiplication factor 2.5 in compensation for the stiffness discontinuity. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to check the applicability of the multiplication factor of 2.5 and study behaviour of the structure after the application of the multiplication factor. For this purpose, study is performed on models considering infill stiffness using SAP 2000 (Version 14) by linear static analysis and response spectrum analysis. Total seven models are analysed and designed for the range of multiplication factor ranging from 1.25 to 2.5. The value of multiplication factor equal to 2.5 has been found on the higher side, resulting in increased dimension and percentage of reinforcement without significant enhancement beyond a certain multiplication factor. When the building with OGS is designed for values of MF higher than 1.25 considering infill stiffness soft storey effect shifts from ground storey to first storey. For the analysis of the OGS structure best way to analysis the structure is to analyse it as the frame with stiffness and strength of the infill taken into account. The provision of infill walls in the upper storeys enhances the performance of the structure in terms of displacement and storey drift controls.

Keywords: open ground storey, multiplication factor, IS 1893:2002 provisions, static analysis, response spectrum analysis, infill stiffness, equivalent strut

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Authors: Ruobing Liang, Jili Zhang, Chao Zhou

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A solar-heating-and-cooling (SHC) system, consisting of a hybrid photovoltaic/ thermal collector array, a hot water storage tank, and an absorption chiller unit is designed and modeled to satisfy thermal loads (space heating, domestic hot water, and space cooling). The system is applied for Dalian, China, a location with cold climate conditions, where cooling demand is moderate, while space heating demand is slightly high. The study investigates the potential of a solar system installed and operated onsite in a detached single-family household to satisfy all necessary thermal loads. The hot water storage tank is also connected to an auxiliary heater (electric boiler) to supplement solar heating, when needed. The main purpose of the study is to model the overall system and contact a parametric study that will determine the optimum economic system performance in terms of design parameters. The system is compared, through a cost analysis, to an electric heat pump (EHP) system. This paper will give the optimum system combination of solar collector area and volumetric capacity of the hot water storage tank, respectively.

Keywords: absorption chiller, solar PVT collector, solar heating and cooling, solar air-conditioning, parametric study, cost analysis

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Authors: Shaker Aladwan, Paul Forrester

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This paper explores the challenges that face leaders when implementing business excellence programmes in the Jordanian public sector. The study adopted a content analysis approach to analyse the excellence assessment reports that have been produced by the King Abdullah II Centre for Excellence (KACE). The sample comprises ten public organisations which have participated in the King Abdullah Award for Excellence (KAA) more than once and acknowledge in their reports that they have failed to achieve satisfactory results. The key challenges to the implementation of leadership criteria in the public sector in Jordan were found to be poor strategic planning, lack of employee empowerment, weaknesses in benchmarking performance, a lack of financial resources, poor integration and coordination, and poor measurement system: This study proposes a conceptual model for the as assessment of challenges that face managers when seeking to implement excellence in leadership in the Jordanian public sector. Theoretically, this paper fills context gaps in the excellence literature in general and organisational excellence in the public sector in particular. Leadership challenges in the public sector are generally widely studied, but it is important to gain a better understanding of how these challenges can be overcome. In comparison to many existing studies, this research has provided specific and detailed insights these organisational excellence challenges in the public sector and provides a conceptual model for use by other researchers into the future.

Keywords: leadership criterion, organisational excellence, challenges, quality awards, public sector, Jordan

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Authors: N. Laosiripojana, P. Tepamatr

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The influence of bismuth on the water gas shift activities of Pt on ceria was studied. The flow reactor was used to study the activity of the catalysts in temperature range 100-400°C. The feed gas composition contains 5%CO, 10% H₂O and balance N₂. The total flow rate was 100 mL/min. The outlet gas was analyzed by on-line gas chromatography with thermal conductivity detector. The catalytic activities of bimetallic 1%Pt1%Bi/CeO₂ catalyst were greatly enhanced when compared with the activities of monometallic 2%Pt/CeO₂ catalyst. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Temperature-Programmed Reduction (TPR) and surface area analysis. X-ray diffraction pattern of Pt/CeO₂ and PtBi/CeO₂ indicated slightly shift of diffraction angle when compared with pure ceria. This result was due to strong metal-support interaction between platinum and ceria solid solution, causing conversion of Ce⁴⁺ to larger Ce³⁺. The distortions inside ceria lattice structure generated strain into the oxide lattice and facilitated the formation of oxygen vacancies which help to increase water gas shift performance. The H₂-Temperature Programmed Reduction indicated that the reduction peak of surface oxygen of 1%Pt1%Bi/CeO₂ shifts to lower temperature than that of 2%Pt/CeO₂ causing the enhancement of the water gas shift activity of this catalyst. Pt played an important role in catalyzing the surface reduction of ceria and addition of Bi alter the reduction temperature of surface ceria resulting in the improvement of the water gas shift activity of Pt catalyst.

Keywords: bismuth, platinum, water gas shift, ceria

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Authors: Karchung, S. Ruangsinchaiwanich

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This paper presents open-loop vector control method of induction motor with space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) technique. Normally, the closed loop speed control is preferred and is believed to be more accurate. However, it requires a position sensor to track the rotor position which is not desirable to use it for certain workspace applications. This paper exhibits the performance of three-phase induction motor with the simplest control algorithm without the use of a position sensor nor an estimation block to estimate rotor position for sensorless control. The motor stator currents are measured and are transformed to synchronously rotating (d-q-axis) frame by use of Clarke and Park transformation. The actual control happens in this frame where the measured currents are compared with the reference currents. The error signal is fed to a conventional PI controller, and the corrected d-q voltage is generated. The controller outputs are transformed back to three phase voltages and are fed to SVPWM block which generates PWM signal for the voltage source inverter. The open loop vector control model along with SVPWM algorithm is modeled in MATLAB/Simulink software and is experimented and validated in TMS320F28335 DSP board.

Keywords: electric drive, induction motor, open-loop vector control, space vector pulse width modulation technique

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Authors: Said M. AL-Mashaikhi, El-Said I. El-Shafey, Fakhreldin O. Suliman, Saleh Al-Busafi

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Activated carbon (AC) was prepared from date palm leaflets via NaOH activation. AC was oxidized using nitric acid, producing oxidized activated carbon (OAC). OAC was surface functionalized using different amine surfactants, including methylamine (ONM), ethylamine (ONE), and diethylamine (ONDE) using the amide coupling process. Produced carbons were surface characterized for surface area and porosity, X-ray diffraction, SEM, FTIR, and TGA. AC surface area (580 m²/g) has shown a decrease in oxidation to 260 m²/g for OAC. On amine functionalization, the surface area has further decreased to 218, 108, and 20 m²/g on functionalization with methylamine, ethylamine, and diethylamine, respectively. FTIR and TGA showed that the nature of amine functionalization of AC is chemical. Methylene blue sorption was tested on these carbons in terms of kinetics and equilibrium. Sorption was found faster on amine-functionalized carbons than both AC and OAC, and this is due to hydrophobic interaction with the alkyl groups immobilized with data following pseudo second-order reaction. On the other hand, AC showed the slowest adsorption kinetic process due to the diffusion in the porous structure of AC. Sorption equilibrium data was found to follow the Langmuir sorption isotherm with maximum sorption found on ONE. Regardless of its lower surface area than activated carbon, ethylamine functionalized AC showed better performance than AC in terms of kinetics and equilibrium for dye removal.

Keywords: activated carbon, dye removal, functionalization, hydrophobic interaction, water treatment

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Authors: Suneet Jagdev

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Rapid urbanization has resulted in informal settlements on the periphery of nearly all big cities in the developing world due to lack of affordable housing options in the city. Residents of these communities have to travel long distances to get to work or search for jobs in these cities, and women, children and elderly people are excluded from urban opportunities. Affordable and safe public transport facilities can help them expand their possibilities. The aim of this research is to identify social capital as another important element of livable cities that can be protected and nurtured through transit-oriented development, as a tool to provide real resources that can help these transit-oriented communities become self-sustainable. Social capital has been referred to the collective value of all social networks and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other. It is one of the key component responsible to build and maintain democracy. Public spaces, pedestrian amenities and social equity are the other essential part of Transit Oriented Development models that will be analyzed in this research. The data has been collected through the analysis of several case studies, the urban design strategies implemented and their impact on the perception and on the community´s experience, and, finally, how these focused on the social capital. Case studies have been evaluated on several metrics, namely ecological, financial, energy consumption, etc. A questionnaire and other tools were designed to collect data to analyze the research objective and reflect the dimension of social capital. The results of the questionnaire indicated that almost all the participants have a positive attitude towards this dimensions of building a social capital with the aid of transit-oriented development. Statistical data of the identified key motivators against against demographic characteristics have been generated based on the case studies used for the paper. The findings suggested that there is a direct relation between urbanization, transit-oriented developments, and social capital.

Keywords: better opportunities, low-income settlements, social capital, social inclusion, transit oriented development

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Authors: Nan Deng, Zhenqiu Liu

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Thousands of patients with metastatic tumors were diagnosed with cancers of unknown primary sites each year. The inability to identify the primary cancer site may lead to inappropriate treatment and unexpected prognosis. Nowadays, a large amount of genomics and transcriptomics cancer data has been generated by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database has accrued thousands of human cancer tumors and healthy controls, which provides an abundance of resource to differentiate cancer types. Meanwhile, deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown high accuracy on classification among a large number of image object categories. Here, we utilize 25 cancer primary tumors and 3 normal tissues from TCGA and convert their RNA-Seq gene expression profiling to color images; train, validate and test a CNN classifier directly from these images. The performance result shows that our CNN classifier can archive >80% test accuracy on most of the tumors and normal tissues. Since the gene expression pattern of distant metastases is similar to their primary tumors, the CNN classifier may provide a potential computational strategy on identifying the unknown primary origin of metastatic cancer in order to plan appropriate treatment for patients.

Keywords: bioinformatics, cancer, convolutional neural network, deep leaning, gene expression pattern

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Authors: Ai Chin Wong, Wan Ahmad Jaafar Wan Yahaya, Balakrishnan Muniandy

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This study aims to explore the impact of Virtual Reality (VR) using visual signaling principles in learning about the science laboratory safety guide; this study involves students with different spatial ability. There are two types of science laboratory safety lessons, which are Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) and Virtual Reality Non Signaling (VRNS). This research has adopted a 2 x 2 quasi-experimental factorial design. There are two types of variables involved in this research. The two modes of courseware form the independent variables with the spatial ability as the moderator variable. The dependent variable is the students’ performance. This study sample consisted of 141 students. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted to analyze the collected data. The major effects and the interaction effects of the independent variables on the independent variable were explored using the Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA). Based on the findings of this research, the results exhibited low spatial ability students in VRS outperformed their counterparts in VRNS. However, there was no significant difference in students with high spatial ability using VRS and VRNS. Effective learning in students with different spatial ability can be boosted by implementing the Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) in the design as well as the development of Virtual Science Laboratory (ViSLab).

Keywords: spatial ability, science laboratory safety, visual signaling principles, virtual reality

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Authors: Ahmed A. D. Sarhan, Hong Wan Ping, M. Sayuti

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In this current era of competitive machinery productions, the industries are designed to place more emphasis on the product quality and reduction of cost whilst abiding by the pollution-preventing policy. In attempting to delve into the concerns, the industries are aware that the effectiveness of existing lubrication systems must be improved to achieve power-efficient and pollution-preventing machining processes. As such, this research is targeted to study on a plausible solution to the issue in grinding titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) by using nanolubrication, as an alternative to flood grinding. The aim of this research is to evaluate the optimum condition of grinding force and surface roughness using MQL lubricating system to deliver nano-oil at different level of weight concentration of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) mixed normal mineral oil. Taguchi Design of Experiment (DoE) method is carried out using a standard Taguchi orthogonal array of L16(43) to find the optimized combination of weight concentration mixture of SiO2, nozzle orientation and pressure of MQL. Surface roughness and grinding force are also analyzed using signal-to-noise(S/N) ratio to determine the best level of each factor that are tested. Consequently, the best combination of parameters is tested for a period of time and the results are compared with conventional grinding method of dry and flood condition. The results show a positive performance of MQL nanolubrication.

Keywords: grinding, MQL, precision grinding, Taguchi optimization, titanium alloy

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Authors: Walid Chakroun, Sorour Alotaibi, Nesreen Ghaddar, Kamel Ghali

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This study aims at determining the extent to which occupant control of microenvironment influences, improves thermal sensation and comfort, and saves energy in spaces equipped with ceiling personalized ventilation (CPV) system assisted by chair fans (CF) and desk fans (DF) in 2 experiments in a climatic chamber equipped with two-station CPV systems, one that allows control of fan flow rate and the other is set to the fan speed of the selected participant in control. Each experiment included two participants each entering the cooled space from transitional environment at a conventional mixed ventilation (MV) at 24 °C. For CPV diffuser, fresh air was delivered at a rate of 20 Cubic feet per minute (CFM) and a temperature of 16 °C while the recirculated air was delivered at the same temperature but at a flow rate 150 CFM. The macroclimate air of the space was at 26 °C. The full speed flow rates for both the CFs and DFs were at 5 CFM and 20 CFM, respectively. Occupant 1 was allowed to operate the CFs or the DFs at (1/3 of the full speed, 2/3 of the full speed, and the full speed) while occupant 2 had no control on the fan speed and their fan speed was selected by occupant 1. Furthermore, a parametric study was conducted to study the effect of increasing the fresh air flow rate on the occupants’ thermal comfort and whole body sensations. The results showed that most occupants in the CPV+CFs, who did not control the CF flow rate, felt comfortable 6 minutes. The participants, who controlled the CF speeds, felt comfortable in around 24 minutes because they were preoccupied with the CFs. For the DF speed control experiments, most participants who did not control the DFs felt comfortable within the first 8 minutes. Similarly to the CPV+CFs, the participants who controlled the DF flow rates felt comfortable at around 26 minutes. When the CPV system was either supported by CFs or DFs, 93% of participants in both cases reached thermal comfort. Participants in the parametric study felt more comfortable when the fresh air flow rate was low, and felt cold when as the flow rate increased.

Keywords: PMV, thermal comfort, thermal environment, thermal sensation

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Authors: Divya P. Soman, S. Karthika, P. Kalaichelvi, T. K. Radhakrishnan

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Heat transfer characteristics of ionic liquid solution as cold fluid in plate heat exchanger with dimple plate geometry was studied. The ionic liquid solution used in this study was 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide in water. The present experimental study is to understand the heat transfer behavior of different 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide concentrations (0.1 and 0.2% w/w) in water. In addition, the heat transfer activity of ionanofluid as cold fluid was investigated. The ionanofluid was prepared by dispersing 0.3% w/w Al2O3 in the ionic liquid solution as base fluid. Experiments were also conducted to determine thermophysical properties of ionanofluid. The empirical correlations as a function of temperature were developed to predict the thermophysical properties. Finally, the heat transfer performance of ionic liquid solution, ionanofluid, nanofluid and water were compared. The impact of hot fluid’s (water) Reynolds number on overall heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number of cold fluids were analyzed. The nanofluid and ionanofluid were found to possess better heat transfer behavior than water and ionic liquid solution. Heat transfer augmentation was observed for ionanofluid when compared with the base fluid (0.1% w/w ionic liquid solution).

Keywords: ionic liquid, nanofluid, ionanofluid, dimple plate heat exchanger, Nusselt number, overall heat transfer coefficient

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Authors: Imtisal-e-Noor, Andrew Martin, Olli Dahl

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Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) has developed as a chosen planarization technique in nano-electronics industries for fabrication of the integrated circuits (ICs). These CMP processes release a huge amount of wastewater that contains oxides of nano-particles (silica, alumina, and ceria) and oxalic acid. Since, this wastewater has high solid content (TS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and turbidity (NTU); therefore, in order to fulfill the environmental regulations, it needs to be treated up to the local and international standards. The present study proposed a unique CMP wastewater treatment method called Membrane Distillation (MD). MD is a non-isothermal membrane separation process, which allows only volatiles, i.e., water vapors to permeate through the membrane and provides 100% contaminants rejection. The performance of the MD technology is analyzed in terms of total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity, TS, COD, and residual oxide concentration in permeate/distilled water while considering different operating conditions (temperature, flow rate, and time). The results present that high-quality permeate has been recovered after removing 99% of the oxide particles and oxalic acid. The distilled water depicts turbidity < 1 NTU, TOC < 3 mg/L, TS < 50 mg/L, and COD < 100 mg/L. These findings clearly show that the MD treated water can be reused further in industrial processes or allowable to discharge in any water body under the stringent environmental regulations.

Keywords: chemical mechanical polishing, environmental regulations, membrane distillation, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Ife O. Bolaji

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Environmental concerns arising from the use of fossil fuels has increased the interest in the development of renewable and sustainable sources of energy. This would minimize the dependence on fossil fuels and serve as future alternatives. Organic wastes contain carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, which can be utilised as carbon sources for the production of bio-based products. Cellulose is the most abundant natural biopolymer, being the main structural component of lignocellulosic materials. The aim of this project is to develop a biological process for the hydrolysis and fermentation of organic wastes into ethanol and organic acids. The hydrolysis and fermentation processes are integrated in a single vessel using undefined mixed culture microorganisms. The anaerobic fermentation of microcrystalline cellulose was investigated in continuous and batch reactors at 25°C with an appropriate growth medium for cellulase formation, hydrolysis, and fermentation. The reactors were inoculated with soil (B1, C1, C3) or sludge from an anaerobic digester (B2, C2) and the breakdown of cellulose was monitored by measuring the production of ethanol, organic acids and the residual cellulose. The batch reactors B1 and B2 showed negligible microbial activity due to inhibition while the continuous reactors, C1, C2 and C3, exhibited little cellulose hydrolysis which was concealed by the cellulose accumulation in the reactor. At the end of the continuous operation, the reactors C1, C2 and C3 were operated under batch conditions. 48%, 34% and 42% cellulose had been fermented by day 88, 55 and 55 respectively of the batch fermentation. Acetic acid, ethanol, propionic acid and butyric acids were the main fermentation products in the reactors. A stable concentration of 0.6 g/l ethanol and 5 g/L acetic acid was maintained in C3 for several weeks due to reduced activity of methanogens caused by the decrease in pH. Thus far, the results have demonstrated that mixed microbial culture is capable of hydrolysing and fermenting cellulose under lenient conditions. The fermentation of cellulose has been found effective in a combination of continuous and batch processes.

Keywords: cellulose, hydrolysis, mixed culture, organic waste

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Authors: Saleh Abdullah Dabil

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The research aims to survey the dates factories in Al-Kharj Province, and then identify the nature of a series of different production processes and the using of raw materials, as well as their finished products, and the extent of their impact on the environment or consumers satisfaction. Twenty dates factories were selected according to their willingness to participate. The participants of dates factories consist of approximately 40 % of all dates factories in Al-Kharj province. All of the dates factories which were visited were observed. The research team also administered number of questionnaires to the public to know their satisfaction levels of the dates products as well as their suggestions. It is accounted to 237 participants who gave their opinion about the dates products and their suggestions. This study is one of rare studies about green marketing in dates factories. What is new about this study is that it depends upon both of the managers and consumers as well as the researchers to look into the factories’ production line and to observe the level of satisfaction. The study resulted in a very good ending because that the green marketing of dates is in its highest level. This indicates that the factories in general using natural materials and no bad materials or subsides used in the production, the levels of satisfaction by consumers are very good, preferring mostly lose product of dates. The preference of lose dates means the tendency to use the dates in their natural product. The recommendations of this study suggest solving marketing problems in transforming raw dates into manufacturing products. This includes biscuits and other types of sweet products.

Keywords: green marketing, dates factories, environment impact, consumer satisfaction

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Authors: M. Insiat Islam Rabby, M. Mahbubur Rahman, Eshanul Islam, A. K. M. Sadrul Islam

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The numerical and simulative analysis of laminar heat exchange convection of aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) - water nanofluid for the developed region through two parallel plates is presented in this present work. The second order single phase energy equation, mass and momentum equation are solved by using finite volume method with the ANSYS FLUENT 16 software. The distance between two parallel plates is 4 mm and length is 600 mm. Aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) is used as nanoparticle and water is used as the base/working fluid for the investigation. At the time of simulation 1% to 5% volume concentrations of the Al₂O₃ nanoparticles are used for mixing with water to produce nanofluid and a wide range of interval of Reynolds number from 500 to 1100 at constant heat flux 500 W/m² at the channel wall has also been introduced. The result reveals that for increasing the Reynolds number the Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient are increased linearly and friction factor decreased linearly in the developed region for both water and Al₂O₃-H₂O nanofluid. By increasing the volume fraction of Al₂O₃-H₂O nanofluid from 1% to 5% the value of Nusselt number increased rapidly from 0.7 to 7.32%, heat transfer coefficient increased 7.14% to 31.5% and friction factor increased very little from 0.1% to 4% for constant Reynolds number compared to pure water. At constant heat transfer coefficient 700 W/m2-K the pumping power advantages have been achieved 20% for 1% volume concentration and 62% for 3% volume concentration of nanofluid compared to pure water.

Keywords: convective heat transfer, pumping power, constant heat flux, nanofluid, nanoparticles, volume concentration, thermal conductivity

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Authors: Didem Güven, Oytun Hanhan, Elif Ceren Aksoy, Emine Ubay Çokgör

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This paper presents a biological treatability study ofpaintshopwastewaterof a bus factory by an anoxic/aerobic sequencing batch reactor.A lab scale 14L SBR system was implementedto investigate carbon and nitrogen removal performance frompaint shop waste streams combined with domestic and process wastewater of a bus production factory in Istanbul (Turkey).The wastewater collected from decanters of the paint boots and pre-treatmentplant was usedforthefeeding of SBR. The reactor was operated with a total hydraulic retention time of 24 hrs, and a total sludge age of 18.7 days. Initially the efficiency and stability of the reactor were studied when fed with main wastewater stream to simulate the current wastewater treatment plant. Removal efficiency of 57% nitrogen and 90% COD were obtained. Once the paint shop wastewater was introduced to mainstream feeding with a ratio of 1:5, nitrification completely, carbon removal were partially inhibited. SBR system was successful to handle even at very high COD concentrations of paint shop wastewater after feeding of 2 months, with an average effluent COD of 100 mg/L. For the determination of kinetic parameters, respirometric analysis was also conducted with/without paint shop wastewater addition. Model simulation indicated lower maximum specific growth and hydrolysis rates when paint shop wastewater was mixed with the mainstream wastewater of the factory.

Keywords: biological treatability, nitrogen removal, paint shop wastewater, sequencing batch reactor

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Authors: N. Mansouri, A. Asadi

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Data Grid is a geographically distributed environment that deals with data intensive application in scientific and enterprise computing. Data replication is a common method used to achieve efficient and fault-tolerant data access in Grids. In this paper, a dynamic data replication strategy, called Enhanced Latest Access Largest Weight (ELALW) is proposed. This strategy is an enhanced version of Latest Access Largest Weight strategy. However, replication should be used wisely because the storage capacity of each Grid site is limited. Thus, it is important to design an effective strategy for the replication replacement task. ELALW replaces replicas based on the number of requests in future, the size of the replica, and the number of copies of the file. It also improves access latency by selecting the best replica when various sites hold replicas. The proposed replica selection selects the best replica location from among the many replicas based on response time that can be determined by considering the data transfer time, the storage access latency, the replica requests that waiting in the storage queue and the distance between nodes. Simulation results utilizing the OptorSim show our replication strategy achieve better performance overall than other strategies in terms of job execution time, effective network usage and storage resource usage.

Keywords: data grid, data replication, simulation, replica selection, replica placement

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Authors: Sundaresan Sivapatham, B. Prabhu

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Cancer results from a multistage, multi-mechanism carcinogenesis process that involves mutagenic, cell death and epigenetic mechanisms, during the three distinguishable but closely allied stages: initiation, promotion, and progression. Chemoprevention is promising in the realm of cancer prevention and it has been shown to reduce the risk of development of carcinoma in highly susceptible individuals such as those with known genetic mutations or high level of risk factors. The present study is aimed at the need of early detection of bladder cancer in order to improve performance in the treatment of this disease. Consumption of certain natural products like DIM is associated with a reduction in cancer incidence in humans. The study showed the protective effects of Diindolylmethane in N-Butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine treated rats. Results of the study had shown the changes in the tumor markers, biomarkers and histopathological alterations in experimental rats when compared to control rats. The protective effects of DIM were shown from the results of cell proliferation, apoptotic markers and histopathological findings when compared with experimental control animals. Hence, our results speculate that the tumor markers, apoptotic markers, histopathological changes and cell proliferation index measured as PCNA serves as an indicator suggestive of protective effects of DIM in BBN induced urinary bladder carcinogenesis.

Keywords: bladder cancer, N-Butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine, diindolylmethane, histopathology

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Authors: Karan Vishavjit, Aakash Lakra, Shafaq Khan

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The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed healthcare professionals to use big data analytics as a vital tool for tracking and evaluating the effects of contagious viruses. To effectively analyze huge datasets, efficient NoSQL databases are needed. The analysis of post-COVID-19 health and well-being outcomes and the evaluation of the effectiveness of government efforts during the pandemic is made possible by this research’s integration of several datasets, which cuts down on query processing time and creates predictive visual artifacts. We recommend applying sharding and indexing technologies to improve query effectiveness and scalability as the dataset expands. Effective data retrieval and analysis are made possible by spreading the datasets into a sharded database and doing indexing on individual shards. Analysis of connections between governmental activities, poverty levels, and post-pandemic well being is the key goal. We want to evaluate the effectiveness of governmental initiatives to improve health and lower poverty levels. We will do this by utilising advanced data analysis and visualisations. The findings provide relevant data that supports the advancement of UN sustainable objectives, future pandemic preparation, and evidence-based decision-making. This study shows how Big Data and NoSQL databases may be used to address problems with global health.

Keywords: big data, COVID-19, health, indexing, NoSQL, sharding, scalability, well being

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Authors: S. Srikiran, Dharmala Venkata Padmaja, P. N. L. Pavani, R. Pola Rao, K. Ramji

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Technological advancements in the development of cutting tools and coolant/lubricant chemistry have enhanced the machining capabilities of hard materials under higher machining conditions. Generation of high temperatures at the cutting zone during machining is one of the most important and pertinent problems which adversely affect the tool life and surface finish of the machined components. Generally, cutting fluids and solid lubricants are used to overcome the problem of heat generation, which is not effectively addressing the problems. With technological advancements in the field of tribology, nano-level particulate solid lubricants are being used nowadays in machining operations, especially in the areas of turning and grinding. The present investigation analyses the effect of using nano-particulate graphite powder as lubricant in the turning of AISI 1040 steel under variable machining conditions and to study its effect on cutting forces, tool temperature and surface roughness of the machined component. Experiments revealed that the increase in cutting forces and tool temperature resulting in the decrease of surface quality with the decrease in the size of nano-particulate graphite powder as lubricant.

Keywords: solid lubricant, graphite, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), nano–particles

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Authors: Maricon E. Gepolani, Edna A. Aguilar, Pearl B. Sanchez, Enrico P. Supangco

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Intercropping farming system and biofertilizer application are sustainable agricultural practices that increase farm productivity by improving the yield performance of the components involved in the production system. Thus, this on-farm trial determined the yield and forage quality of corn and cowpea with and without biofertilizer application when intercropped with ratooned sugarcane. Intercropping corn and cowpea without biofertilizer application had no negative effect on the vegetative growth of sugarcane. However, application of biofertilizer on intercrops decreased tiller production at 117 days after stubble shaving (DASS), consequently reducing the estimated tonnage yield of sugarcane. The yield of intercrops and forage production of Cp3 cowpea variety increased when intercropped to ratooned sugarcane. In contrast, intercropping PSB 97-92 corn variety to ratooned sugarcane reduced its forage production, but when biofertilizer was applied to intercropped Cp5 cowpea variety, the forage production increased. Profitability (income equivalent ratio) of intercropping for both corn and cowpea are higher than monocropping and are thus suitable intercrops to ratooned sugarcane. Unaffected tiller count (a determinant of sugarcane tonnage yield) when biofertilizer was not applied to intercrops and a reduced tiller count with biofertilizer application to intercrops implies the need to develop a nutrient management practices specific for intercropping systems.

Keywords: biofertilizer, corn, cowpea, intercropping system, ratooned sugarcane

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Authors: Ke Qiu, Minzi Mao, Jianjun Ren, Yu Zhao

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Although much has been done to investigate the influence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on cognitive function, little attention has been paid to the role which gender differences play in this association. In the present study, we aim to explore the gender-specific association between OSA and cognitive impairment. Participants from UK biobank who have completed at least one of the five baseline cognitive tests (visuospatial memory, prospective memory, fluid intelligence, short numeric memory and reaction time) were included and were further categorized into three groups: (1) OSA, (2) self-reported snoring but without OSA, and (3) healthy controls (without OSA or snoring). Multivariable regression analysis was performed to examine the associations among snoring, OSA and performance of each of the five cognitive domains. A total of 267,889 participants (47% male, mean age: 57 years old) were included in our study. In the multivariable regression analysis, female participants in the OSA group had a higher risk of having poor prospective memory (OR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.02～1.50, p = 0.03). Meanwhile, among female participants, OSA were inversely associated with the performances of fluid intelligence (β: -0.29, 95% CI: -0.46～-0.13, p < 0.001) and short-numeric memory (β: -0.14, 95% CI: -0.35～0.08, p = 0.02). In contrast, among male participants, no significant association was observed between OSA and impairment of the five cognitive domains. Overall, OSA was significantly associated with cognitive impairment in female participants rather than in male participants, indicating that more special attention and timely interventions should be given to female OSA patients to prevent further cognitive impairment.

Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), cognitive impairment, gender-specific association, UK biobank

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Authors: Manirath Wongsim, Ekkachai Naenudorn, Nipotepat Muangkote

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Information Technology (IT), play an important role in business management strategies and can provide assistance in all phases of decision making. Thus, many organizations need to be seen as adopting IT, which is critical for a company to organize, manage and operate its processes. In order to implement IT successfully, it is important to understand the underlying factors that influence agricultural system's adoption success. Therefore, this research intends to study this perspective of factors that influence and impact successful IT adoption and related agricultural performance. Case study and survey methodology were adopted for this research. Case studies in two Thai- organizations were carried out. The results of the two main case studies suggested 21 factors that may have an impact on IT adoption in agriculture in Thailand, which led to the development of the preliminary framework. Next, a survey instrument was developed based on the findings from case studies. Survey questionnaires were gathered from 217 respondents from two large-scale surveys were sent to selected members of Thailand farmer, and Thailand computer to test the research framework. The results indicate that the top five critical factors for ensuring IT adoption in agricultural were: 1) network and communication facilities; 2) software; 3) hardware; 4) farmer’s IT knowledge, and; 5) training and education. Therefore, it is now clear which factors are influencing IT adoption and which of those factors are critical success factors for ensuring IT adoption in agricultural organization.

Keywords: agricultural systems adoption, factors influencing IT adoption, factors affecting in agricultural adoption

Procedia PDF Downloads 166