Search results for: high quality salt

Authors: Lina Wu

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The excessive discharge of nitrogen in sewage greatly intensifies the eutrophication of water bodies and poses a threat to water quality. Nitrogen pollution control has become a global concern. Currently, the problem of water pollution in China is still not optimistic. As a typical high ammonia nitrogen organic wastewater, landfill leachate is more difficult to treat than domestic sewage because of its complex water quality, high toxicity, and high concentration.Many studies have shown that the autotrophic anammox bacteria in nature can combine nitrous and ammonia nitrogen without carbon source through functional genes to achieve total nitrogen removal, which is very suitable for the removal of nitrogen from leachate. In addition, the process also saves a lot of aeration energy consumption than the traditional nitrogen removal process. Therefore, anammox plays an important role in nitrogen conversion and energy saving. The process composed of short-range nitrification and denitrification coupled an ammo ensures the removal of total nitrogen and improves the removal efficiency, meeting the needs of the society for an ecologically friendly and cost-effective nutrient removal treatment technology. Continuous flow process for treating late leachate [an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB), anoxic/oxic (A/O)–anaerobic ammonia oxidation reactor (ANAOR or anammox reactor)] has been developed to achieve autotrophic deep nitrogen removal. In this process, the optimal process parameters such as hydraulic retention time and nitrification flow rate have been obtained, and have been applied to the rapid start-up and stable operation of the process system and high removal efficiency. Besides, finding the characteristics of microbial community during the start-up of anammox process system and analyzing its microbial ecological mechanism provide a basis for the enrichment of anammox microbial community under high environmental stress. One research developed partial nitrification-Anammox (PN/A) using an internal circulation (IC) system and a biological aerated filter (BAF) biofilm reactor (IBBR), where the amount of water treated is closer to that of landfill leachate. However, new high-throughput sequencing technology is still required to be utilized to analyze the changes of microbial diversity of this system, related functional genera and functional genes under optimal conditions, providing theoretical and further practical basis for the engineering application of novel anammox system in biogas slurry treatment and resource utilization.

Keywords: nutrient removal and recovery, leachate, anammox, partial nitrification

Procedia PDF Downloads 51

Authors: Nasser Ghassembaglou, Abdullah Bolek, Oktay Yilmaz, Ertan Oznergiz, Hikmet Kocabas, Safak Yilmaz

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Nanofibers are effective material which have frequently been investigated to produce high quality air filters. As an environmental approach our aim is to achieve nanofibers by melting. In spun-bond systems extruder, spin-pump, nozzle package and attenuator are used. Molten polymer which flows from extruder is made steady by spin-pump. Regular melt passes through nozzle holes and forms fibers under high pressure. The fibers pulled from nozzle are shrunk to micron size by an attenuator, after solidification they are collected on a conveyor. In this research different designs of attenuator system have been studied and also CFD analysis have been done on them. Afterwards, one of these designs tested and finally some optimizations have been done to reduce pressure loss and increase air velocity.

Keywords: attenuator, nanofiber, spun-bond, extruder

Procedia PDF Downloads 413

Authors: Daria Reczynska, Justyna Jarczak, Michal Czopowicz, Danuta Sloniewska, Karina Horbanczuk, Wieslaw Jarmuz, Jaroslaw Kaba, Emilia Bagnicka

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Since people, animals and plants are constantly exposed to pathogens they have developed very complex systems of defense. Among ca. 1000 antimicrobial peptides from different families so far identified, approximately 30 belonging to cathelicidin family can be found in mammals. Cathelicidins probably constitute the first line of defense because they can act at a physiological salt concentration which is present in healthy tissues. Moreover, the low salt concentration which is present in infected tissues inhibits their activity. In goat bactenecin 7.5 (BAC7.5), bactenecin 5 (BAC5), myeloid antimicrobial peptide 28 (MAP28), myeloid antimicrobial peptide 34 (MAP34 A and B), goat bactenecin3.4 (ChBac3.4) were identified. Caprine arthritis-encephalitis (CAE) caused by small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) is economic problem. The main CAE symptoms are weight loss, arthritis, pneumonia and mastitis (significant elevation of the somatic cell count and deterioration of some technological parameters). The study was conducted on 24 dairy goats. The animals were divided into two groups: experimental (SRLV-infected) and control (non-infected). The blood samples were collected five times: on the 1st, 7th, 30th, 90th and 150thday of lactation. The levels of transcripts of BAC7.5, BAC5, MAP28 and MAP34 genes in blood leucocytes were measured using qPCR method. There were no differences in mRNA levels of studied genes between stages of lactation. The differences were observed in expressions of BAC5, MAP28 and MAP34 genes with lower levels in the experimental group. There was no difference in BAC7.5 expression between groups. The decreased levels of transcripts of cathelicidin genes in blood leucocytes of SRLV-infected goats may indicate the disturbances of homeostasis in organisms. It can be concluded that SRLV infection seems to inhibit expression of cathelicidin genes. The study was financed by a grant from the National Scientific Center No. UMO-2013/09/B/NZ/03514.

Keywords: goat, CAEV, cathelicidins, blood leukocytes, gene expression

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Authors: Manisha Choudhary, Sudarsan Neogi

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Malachite green (MG), an organic basic dye, has been widely used for the dyeing purpose, as well as a fungicide and antiseptic in aquaculture industry to control fish parasites and disease. However, MG has now turned out to be an extremely controversial compound due to its adverse impact on living beings. Due to high toxicity, proper treatment of wastewater containing MG is utmost important. Among different available technologies, adsorption process is one of the most efficient and cost-effective treatment method due to its simplicity of design, ease of operation and regeneration of used materials. Nonetheless, commercial activated carbon is expensive leading the researchers to focus on utilizing natural resources. In the present work, a species of cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI), was used to develop a highly efficient, low-cost powdered activated carbon by chemical activation using NaOH. The biosorbent was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and X-ray diffraction analysis. Batch adsorption studies were performed to remove MG from an aqueous solution as a function of contact time, initial solution pH, initial dye concentration, biosorbent dosages, the presence of salt and temperature. By increasing the initial dye concentration from 100 to 500 mg/l, adsorption capacity increased from 165.45 to 831.58 mg/g. The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model and the chemisorption mechanisms were revealed. The electrostatic attractions and chemical interactions were observed between amino and hydroxyl groups of the biosorbent and amine groups of the dye. The adsorption was solely controlled by film diffusion. Different isotherm models were used to fit the adsorption data. The excellent recovery of adsorption efficiency after the regeneration of biosorbent indicated the high potential of this adsorbent to remove MG from aqueous solution and an excellent cost-effective biosorbent for wide application in wastewater treatment.

Keywords: adsorption, biosorbent, cactus, malachite green

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Authors: Megersa Dugasa Fite

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This paper analyses regulatory and supervisory issues in the Ethiopian micro finance sector, which caters to the needs of those who have been excluded from the formal financial sector. Micro-finance has received increased importance in development because of its grand goal to give credits to the poor to raise their economic and social well-being and improve the quality of lives. The micro-finance at present has been moving towards a credit-plus period through covering savings and insurance functions. It thus helps in reducing the rate of financial exclusion and social segregation, alleviating poverty and, consequently, stimulating development. The Ethiopian micro finance policy has been generally positive and developmental but major regulatory and supervisory limitations such as the absolute prohibition of NGOs to participate in micro credit functions, higher risks for depositors of micro-finance institutions, lack of credit information services with research and development, the unmet demand, and risks of market failures due to over-regulation are disappointing. Therefore, to remove the limited reach and high degree of problems typical in the informal means of financial intermediation plus to deal with the failure of formal banks to provide basic financial services to a significant portion of the country’s population, more needs to be done on micro finance. Certain key regulatory and supervisory revisions hence need to be taken to strengthen the Ethiopian micro finance sector so that it can practically provide majority poor access to a range of high quality financial services that help them work their way out of poverty and the incapacity it imposes.

Keywords: micro-finance, micro-finance regulation and supervision, micro-finance institutions, financial access, social segregation, poverty alleviation, development, Ethiopia

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Authors: Xuechen Gui, Senmiao Li, Qi Kan

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Dormitory is a place for college students to study and live their daily life. The indoor environment quality of the dormitory is closely related to the physical health, mood status and work efficiency of the dormitory students. In this paper, the temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide concentration of the dormitory in Zijingang campus of Zhejiang University have been tested for three days. The experimental results show that the concentration of carbon dioxide is related to the size of the window opens and the number of dormitory staff, and presents a high concentration of carbon dioxide at nighttime while a low concentration at daytime. In terms of temperature and humidity, there is no significant difference between different orientation and time and presents a small humidity at daytime while a high humidity at nighttime.

Keywords: dormitory, indoor environment, temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: B. Gechbaia, K. Goletiani, G. Gabedava, N. Mikeltadze

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At this stage, Georgia is a country which is actively involved in the European integration process, for which the primary priority is effective integration in the European education system. The modern Georgian higher education system is the process of establishing a new sociocultural reality, whose main priorities are determined by the Quality System as a continuous cycle of planning, implementation, checking and acting. Obviously, in this situation, the issue of management of education institutions comes out in the foreground, since the proper planning and implementation of personnel management processes is one of the main determinants of the company's performance. At the same time, one of the most important factors is the psychological comfort of the personnel, ensuring their protection and efficiency of stress management policy. The purpose of this research is to determine how intensely the relationship is between the psychological comfort of the personnel and the efficiency of the quality system in the institution as the quality assurance mechanisms of educational institutions affect the stability of personnel, prevention and management of the stressful situation. The research was carried out within the framework of the Internal Grant Project «The Role of Organizational Culture in the Process of Settlement of Management of Stress and Conflict, Georgian Reality and European Experience » of the Batumi Navigation Teaching University, based on the analysis of the survey results of target groups. The small-scale research conducted by us has revealed that the introduction of quality assurance system and its active implementation increased the quality of management of Georgian educational institutions, increased the level of universal engagement in internal and external processes and as a result, it has improved the quality of education as well as social and psychological comfort indicators of the society.

Keywords: quality assurance, effective management, stability of personnel, psychological comfort, stress management

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Authors: B. Gopal, Pannala Krishna Murthy, G. N. Sreenivas

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The increasing demand of electric power is giving an emphasis on the need for the maximum utilization of renewable energy sources. On the other hand maintaining power quality to satisfaction of utility is an essential requirement. In this paper the design aspects of a Unified Power Quality Conditioner integrated with photovoltaic system in a distributed generation is presented. The proposed system consist of series inverter, shunt inverter are connected back to back on the dc side and share a common dc-link capacitor with Distributed Generation through a boost converter. The primary task of UPQC is to minimize grid voltage and load current disturbances along with reactive and harmonic power compensation. In addition to primary tasks of UPQC, other functionalities such as compensation of voltage interruption and active power transfer to the load and grid in both islanding and interconnected mode have been addressed. The simulation model is design in MATLAB/ Simulation environment and the results are in good agreement with the published work.

Keywords: distributed generation (DG), interconnected mode, islanding mode, maximum power point tracking (mppt), power quality (PQ), unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), photovoltaic array (PV)

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Authors: Pilly Kagosi, Cherestino Balama

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Beekeeping plays major role in improving biodiversity, increasing household income, and crop production through pollination. Tobacco farming is also the main source of household income for smallholder farmers. In Kigoma, production of Tobacco has increased and is perceived to threaten honey quality. The study explored the perception of the community on quality of honey in tobacco and non tobacco growing areas. The study was conducted in Kigoma Region, Tanzania. District and Villages were purposively sampled based on large numbers of people dealing with beekeeping activities and tobacco farming. Socioeconomic data were collected and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and content analysis. The perception of stakeholders on honey quality was analysed using Likert scale. Majority of the respondents agreed that tobacco farming greatly affects honey quality because honey from beehives near tobacco farms test bitter and sometimes irritating, which was associated with nicotine content and agrochemicals applied to tobacco crops. Though they cannot differentiate honey bitterness from agrochemicals and bee fodders. Furthermore, it was revealed that chemicals applied to tobacco and vegetables have negative effect on the bees and honey quality. Respondents believe that setting bee hives near tobacco farms might contaminate honey and therefore affect its quality. Beekeepers are not aware of the nicotine content from other bee fodders like miombo of which do not have any effect on human beings. Actually, tobacco farming does not affect beekeeping activities in issue of quality when farmers follow proper management of tobacco flowers and proper handling of honey. Though, big challenge in tobacco farming is chemically applied to the crops and harvest bee fodders for curing tobacco. The study recommends training to community on proper management of tobacco and proper handling of bee products.

Keywords: community, honey, perceptions, tobacco

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Park Sung-Min, Chan Kwon Park, Kim Chae-Bogk

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This study aims to analyze the relationship between nonverbal communication, perceived expertise, service quality, and trust. The study was conducted with clients using cosmetic stores in the Daegu area of Korea. Based on the prior study, the measurement questions are correctly amended and organized in this study. The exploration factor analysis was performed using SPSS 22 for the configured measurement questions. And PLS 2.0 was used to perform a confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis. As a result of the analysis, nonverbal communication has been categorized as physical appearance, kinesics, vocal behavior and proxemics. It has been shown that all of the factors in nonverbal communication have a (+) significant effect on perceived expertise. The degree of impact has been analyzed to influence the perceived expertise in the order in which physical appearance, vocal behavior, kinesics and proxemics. The perceived expertise was analyzed to have a (+) significant effect on the service quality. It has been shown that the service quality has a (+) significant effect on trust.

Keywords: nonverbal communication, perceived expertise, service quality, trust

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: E. Abustam, M. I. Said, M. Yusuf, H. M. Ali

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This study aims to examine the sensory quality of meatballs made from Balinese beef and buffalo meat after the addition of smoke powder prior to storage at the temperatures of 2-5°C for 7 days. This study used meat from Longissimus dorsi muscle of male Balinese cattle aged 3 years and of male buffalo aged 5 years as the main raw materials, and smoke powder as a binder and preservative in making meatballs. The study was based on completely randomized design (CRD) of factorial pattern of 2 x 3 x 2 where factors 1, 2 and 3 included the types of meat (cattle and buffalo), types of smoke powder (oven dried, freeze dried and spray dried) with a level of 2% of the weight of the meat (b/b), and storage duration (0 and 7 days) with three replications respectively. The parameters measured were the meatball sensory quality (scores of tenderness, firmness, chewing residue, and intensity of flavor). The results of this study show that each type of meat has produced different sensory characteristics. The meatballs made from buffalo meat have higher tenderness and elasticity scores than the Balinese beef. Meanwhile, the buffalo meatballs have a lower residue mastication score than the Balinese beef. Each type of smoke powders has produced a relatively similar sensory quality of meatballs. It can be concluded that the smoke powder of 2% of the weight of the meat (w/w) could maintain the sensory quality of the meatballs for 7 days of storage.

Keywords: Balinese beef meatballs, buffalo meatballs, sensory quality, smoke powder

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Authors: Shalini Rankawat, Mansi Rankawat, Rahul Dubey, Mazad Zaveri

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Physiological signals such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and arterial blood pressure (ABP) in the intensive care unit (ICU) are often seriously corrupted by noise, artifacts, and missing data, which lead to errors in the estimation of heart rate (HR) and incidences of false alarm from ICU monitors. Clinical support in ICU requires most reliable heart rate estimation. Cardiac activity, because of its relatively high electrical energy, may introduce artifacts in Electroencephalogram (EEG), Electrooculogram (EOG), and Electromyogram (EMG) recordings. This paper presents a robust heart rate estimation method by detection of R-peaks of ECG artifacts in EEG, EMG & EOG signals, using energy-based function and a novel Signal Quality Index (SQI) assessment technique. SQIs of physiological signals (EEG, EMG, & EOG) were obtained by correlation of nonlinear energy operator (teager energy) of these signals with either ECG or ABP signal. HR is estimated from ECG, ABP, EEG, EMG, and EOG signals from separate Kalman filter based upon individual SQIs. Data fusion of each HR estimate was then performed by weighing each estimate by the Kalman filters’ SQI modified innovations. The fused signal HR estimate is more accurate and robust than any of the individual HR estimate. This method was evaluated on MIMIC II data base of PhysioNet from bedside monitors of ICU patients. The method provides an accurate HR estimate even in the presence of noise and artifacts.

Keywords: ECG, ABP, EEG, EMG, EOG, ECG artifacts, Teager-Kaiser energy, heart rate, signal quality index, Kalman filter, data fusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 696

Authors: Uday S. Goel, G. Senthil Kumar, Biswajit Ghosh, V. V. Mahashabde, Dhirendra Kumar, H. Manjunath, Ritesh Kumar, Mahesh Bhagwat, Subodh Pandey

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Tata Steel Bhushan Steel Ltd.(TSBSL)’s Hot Mill at Angul , Orissa , India, was facing shape issues in Hot Rolled (HR) coils. This was resulting in a defect called as ‘Ridge’, which was appearing in subsequent cold rolling operations at various cold mills (CRM) and external customers. A collaborative project was undertaken to resolve this issue. One of the reasons identified was the strange drop in thermal crown after rolling of 20-25 coils in the finishing mill (FM ) schedule. On the shop floor, it was observed that work roll temperatures in the FM after rolling were very high and non uniform across the work roll barrel. Jammed work roll cooling nozzles, insufficient roll bite lubrication and inadequate roll cooling water quality were found to be the main reasons. Regular checking was initiated to check roll cooling nozzles health, and quick replacement done if found jammed was implemented. Improvements on roll lubrication, especially flow rates, was done. Usage of anti-peeling headers and inter stand descaling was enhanced. A subsequent project was also taken up for improving the quality of roll cooling water. Encouraging results were obtained from the project with a reduction in rejection due to ridge at CRM’s by almost 95% of the pre project start levels. Poor profile occurrence of HR coils at HSM was also reduced from a high of 32% in May’19 to <1% since Apr’20.

Keywords: hot rolling flat, shape, ridge, work roll, roll cooling nozzle, lubrication

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Hyoup-Sang Yoon

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The quality of video transmitted by mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) can be influenced by several factors, including protocol layers; parameter settings of each protocol. In this paper, we are concerned with understanding the functional relationship between these influential factors and objective video quality in MANETs. We illustrate a systematic statistical design of experiments (DOE) strategy can be used to analyse MANET parameters and performance. Using a 2k factorial design, we quantify the main and interactive effects of 7 factors on a response metric (i.e., mean opinion score (MOS) calculated by PSNR with Evalvid package) we then develop a first-order linear regression model between the influential factors and the performance metric.

Keywords: evalvid, full factorial design, mobile ad hoc networks, ns-2

Procedia PDF Downloads 413

Authors: Gabriela T. Nakashima, Ana Larissa S. Hansted, Gabriela B. Belini, Carlos R. Sette Jr, Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Fabio M. Yamaji

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The aim of this study was to determine the interference from contaminants in the characterization of sugarcane straw. The sugarcane straw was collected after the harvest and taken to the drying oven, and then it was crushed in the mill type Willey. Analyzes of ash contents and Klason lignin were done in triplicate and high heating value (HHV) in duplicate, according to ASTM standard. The results obtained for the sugarcane straw were 5.29% for ash content, 29.87% for Klason lignin and 17.67 MJ.kg-1 for HHV. Also, the material was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The presence of contaminants was observed, such as silica. The high amount of contaminants in the samples may impact the results of analyzes, also raising its values, for example in the Klason lignin content. These contaminants can also adversely affect the quality of the biomass. Even using the standards is important to know what the purpose of the analysis and care mainly of sampling.

Keywords: biomass, bioenergy, residues, solid fuel

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Authors: Iyad Ismail, Fathilatul Abdul Hamid

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This research was mainly investigated to recognize the extent of big data analysis by external auditors. This paper adopts grounded theory as a framework for conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with eighteen external auditors. The research findings comprised the availability extent of big data and big data analysis usage by the external auditors in Palestine, Gaza Strip. Considering the study's outcomes leads to a series of auditing procedures in order to improve the external auditing techniques, which leads to high-quality audit process. Also, this research is crucial for auditing firms by giving an insight into the mechanisms of auditing firms to identify the most important strategies that help in achieving competitive audit quality. These results are aims to instruct the auditing academic and professional institutions in developing techniques for external auditors in order to the big data analysis. This paper provides appropriate information for the decision-making process and a source of future information which affects technological auditing.

Keywords: big data analysis, external auditors, audit reliance, internal audit function

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Authors: Clement Leroy, Guillaume Boitel

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This paper presents a comparative benchmarking review of a steady and transient three-dimensional (3D) flow computations in centrifugal pump using commercial (AnsysCFX) and open source (OpenFOAM) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. In centrifugal rotor-dynamic pump, the fluid enters in the impeller along to the rotating axis to be accelerated in order to increase the pressure, flowing radially outward into another stage, vaned diffuser or volute casing, from where it finally exits into a downstream pipe. Simulations are carried out at the best efficiency point (BEP) and part load, for single-phase flow with several turbulence models. The results are compared with overall performance report from experimental data. The use of CFD technology in industry is still limited by the high computational costs, and even more by the high cost of commercial CFD software and high-performance computing (HPC) licenses. The main objectives of the present study are to define OpenFOAM methodology for high-quality 3D steady and transient turbomachinery CFD simulation to conduct a thorough time-accurate performance analysis. On the other hand a detailed comparisons between computational methods, features on latest Ansys release 18 and OpenFOAM is investigated to assess the accuracy and industrial applications of those solvers. Finally an automated connected workflow (IoT) for turbine blade applications is presented.

Keywords: benchmarking, CFX, internet of things, openFOAM, time-accurate, turbomachinery

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Authors: Padma Sree Potru

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Abstract: A co-relational descriptive study was conducted to assess the impact of cancer event on self, on family, coping strategies of cancer clients and quality of life among them in G.G.H., Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of cancer events on self, on family, coping of clients and quality of life among cancer patients. Methods: 50 cancer patients were selected through random sampling technique. The data were obtained by using impact of events scale, impact on family scale, coping health inventory and WHOQOL-BREF scale. Results: The results revealed that majority (32%) of them were in the age group of 36-45 years, 72% were females, 44% were having the income of Rs. 5001-10000/- per month, 40% were working for daily wage, and 15% were newly diagnosed of cancer. Among 50 cancer patients, 65% had extreme impact of events, 61% shows extreme impact on family, 46% possess minimal coping strategies and 68% had poor quality of life. This study focuses on that there is a strong positive correlation between quality of life and coping behavior r=0.603 and also between impact of event and impact on family r=0.610, but a negative correlation existed between quality of life and impact of events r= -0.201. ANOVA test reveals that there is a significant difference between subscales of impact on family and coping behavior with f values = 3.893, 3.957 respectively. Chi-square highlights that there is a significant association between impact of events with age, occupation and impact on family with duration of illness. Conclusion: Even though cancer is a dreadful disease still there are many emerging treatment modalities and innovative procedures which are focusing on improving the standards of life among cancer clients. But all this can happen only when the clients accepts the reality, increase their willpower and confidence, desire to live, focusing on coping mechanisms and good ongoing support from the family members.

Keywords: impact of event, impact on family, coping, quality of event

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Authors: Warangkana Juangjandee

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The rapidly increasing number of population in the limited area creates an effect on the idea of the improvement of the area to suit the environment and the needs of people. Faculty of architecture Chiang Mai University is also expanding in both variety fields of study and quality of education. In 2020, the new department will be introduced in the faculty which is Department of Landscape Architecture. With the limitation of the area in the existing building, the faculty plan to renovate some parts of its school for anticipates the number of students who will join the program in the next two years. As a result, the old wooden workshop area is selected to be renovated as student studio space. With such condition, it is necessary to study the restriction and the distinctive environment of the site prior to the improvement in order to find ways to manage the existing space due to the fact that the primary functions that have been practiced in the site, an old wooden workshop space and the new function, studio space, are too different. 72.9% of the annual times in the room are considered to be out of the thermal comfort condition with high relative humidity. This causes non-comfort condition for occupants which could promote mould growth. This study aims to analyze thermal comfort condition in the Landscape Learning Studio Area for finding the solution to improve indoor air quality and respond to local conditions. The research methodology will be in two parts: 1) field gathering data on the case study 2) analysis and finding the solution of improving indoor air quality. The result of the survey indicated that the room needs to solve non-comfort condition problem. This can be divided into two ways which are raising ventilation and indoor temperature, e.g. improving building design and stack driven ventilation, using fan for enhancing more internal ventilation.

Keywords: relative humidity, renovation, temperature, thermal comfort

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Authors: Mohammad Hashemi, John Herbert

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Quantifying and measuring Quality of Experience (QoE) are important and difficult concerns in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Quality of Service (QoS) and the actual User Interface (UI) of the application are both important contributors to the QoE of a user. This paper describes a framework that measures accurately the way a user uses the UI in order to model users' behaviours and profiles. It monitors the use of the mouse and use of UI elements with accurate time measurement. It does this in real-time and does so unobtrusively and efficiently allowing the user to work as normal with the application. This real-time accurate measurement of the user's interaction provides valuable data and insight into the use of the UI, and is also the basis for analysis of the user's QoE.

Keywords: user modelling, user interface experience, quality of experience, user experience, human and computer interaction

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Authors: Emmanuel Okine Neokye, Xiuquan Wang, Krishna K. Thakur, Pedro Quijon, Rana Ali Nawaz, , Sana Basheer

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Oysters are enriched with high-quality protein and are widely known for their exquisite taste. The production of oysters plays an important role in the local economies of coastal communities in many countries, including Atlantic Canada, because of their high economic value. However, because of the changing climatic conditions in recent years, oyster aquaculture faces potentially negative impacts, such as increasing water acidification, rising water temperatures, high salinity, invasive species, algal blooms, and other environmental factors. Although a few isolated effects of climate change on oyster aquaculture have been reported in recent years, it is not well understood how climate change will affect oyster aquaculture from a systematic perspective. In the first part of this study, we present a systematic review of the impacts of climate change and some key environmental factors affecting oyster production on a global scale. The study also identifies knowledge gaps and challenges. In addition, we present key research directions that will facilitate future investigations.

Keywords: climate change, oyster production, oyster aquaculture, greenhouse gases

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Authors: Kanika Taneja, V. K. Soni, Kafeel Ahmad, Shamshad Ahmad

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A severe dust storm generated from a western disturbance over north Pakistan and adjoining Afghanistan affected the north-west region of India between May 28 and 31, 2014, resulting in significant reductions in air quality and visibility. The air quality of the affected region degraded drastically. PM10 concentration peaked at a very high value of around 1018 μgm-3 during dust storm hours of May 30, 2014 at New Delhi. The present study depicts aerosol optical properties monitored during the dust days using ground based multi-wavelength Sky radiometer over the National Capital Region of India. High Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) at 500 nm was observed as 1.356 ± 0.19 at New Delhi while Angstrom exponent (Alpha) dropped to 0.287 on May 30, 2014. The variation in the Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) and real n(λ) and imaginary k(λ) parts of the refractive index indicated that the dust event influences the optical state to be more absorbing. The single scattering albedo, refractive index, volume size distribution and asymmetry parameter (ASY) values suggested that dust aerosols were predominant over the anthropogenic aerosols in the urban environment of New Delhi. The large reduction in the radiative flux at the surface level caused significant cooling at the surface. Direct Aerosol Radiative Forcing (DARF) was calculated using a radiative transfer model during the dust period. A consistent increase in surface cooling was evident, ranging from -31 Wm-2 to -82 Wm-2 and an increase in heating of the atmosphere from 15 Wm-2 to 92 Wm-2 and -2 Wm-2 to 10 Wm-2 at top of the atmosphere.

Keywords: aerosol optical properties, dust storm, radiative transfer model, sky radiometer

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Authors: Seyedeh Belin Tavakoly Sany, H. Rosli, R. Majid, S. Aishah

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In this study, water monitoring was performed from Nov. 2012 to Oct. 2013 to assess water quality and evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of physicochemical and biological variables in water. Water samples were collected from 10 coastal water stations of West Port. In the case of water-quality assessment, multi-metric indices and operational indicators have been proposed to classify the trophic status at different stations. The trophic level of West Port coastal water ranges from eutrophic to hypertrophic. Chl-a concentration was used to estimate the biological response of phytoplankton biomass and indicated eutrophic conditions in West Port and mesotrophic conditions at the control site. During the study period, no eutrophication events or secondary symptoms occurred, which may be related to hydrodynamic turbulence and water exchange, which prevent the development of eutrophic conditions in the West Port.

Keywords: water quality, multi-metric indices, operational indicator, Malaysia, West Port

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Authors: Asmaa Selim, Peter Mizsey

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Bio-ethanol is considered of higher potential as a green renewable energy source owing to its environmental benefits and its high efficiency. In the present study, silver nanoparticles were in-situ generated in a poly (vinyl alcohol) in order to improve its potentials for pervaporation of ethanol-water mixture using solution-casting. Effect of silver content on the pervaporation separation index and the enrichment factor of the membrane at 15 percentage mass water at 40ᵒC was reported. Pervaporation data for nanocomposite membranes showed around 100% increase in the water permeance values while the intrinsic selectivity decreased. The water permeances of origin crosslinked PVA membrane, and the 2.5% silver loaded PVA membrane are 26.65 and 70.45 (g/m².kPa.h) respectively. The values of total flux and water flux are closed to each other, indicating that membranes could be effectively used to break the azeotropic point of ethanol-water. Effect of temperature on the pervaporation performance, permeation parameter and diffusion coefficient of both water and ethanol was discussed. The negative heat of sorption ∆Hs values calculated on the basis of the estimated Arrhenius activation energy values indicating that the sorption process was controlled by Langmuir’s mode. The overall results showed that the membrane containing 0.5 mass percentage of Ag salt exhibited excellent PV performance.

Keywords: bio-ethanol, diffusion coefficient, nanocomposite, pervaporation, poly (vinyl alcohol), silver nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Ayman H. Amer Eissa, Abdul Rahman O. Alghannam

Abstract:

The agricultural crop residuals are considered one of the most important problems faced by the environmental life and farmers in the world. A study was carried out to evaluate the physical characteristics of chopped date palm stalks (fronds and leaflets). These properties are necessary to apply normal design procedures such as pneumatic conveying, fluidization, drying, and combustion. The mechanical treatment by cutting, crushing or chopping and briquetting processes are the primary step and the suitable solution for solving this problem and recycling these residuals to be transformed into useful products. So the aim of the present work to get a high quality for agriculture residues such as date palm stalks (fronds), date palm leaflets briquettes. The results obtained from measuring the mechanical properties (average shear and compressive strength) for date palm stalks at different moisture content (12.63, 33.21 and 60.54%) was (6.4, 4.7 and 3.21MPa) and (3.8, 3.18 and 2.86MPa) respectively. The modulus of elasticity and toughness were evaluated as a function of moisture content. As the moisture content of the stalk regions increased the modulus of elasticity and toughness decreased indicating a reduction in the brittleness of the stalk regions. Chopped date palm stalks (palm fronds), date palm leaflets having moisture content of 8, 10 and 12% and 8, 10 and 12.8% w.b. were dandified into briquettes without binder and with binder (urea-formaldehyde) using a screw press machine. Quality properties for briquettes were durability, compression ratio hardness, bulk density, compression ratio, resiliency, water resistance and gases emission. The optimum quality properties found for briquettes at 8 % moisture content and without binder. Where the highest compression stress and durability were 8.95, 10.39 MPa and 97.06 %, 93.64 % for date palm stalks (palm fronds), date palm leaflets briquettes, respectively. The CO and CO2 emissions for date palm stalks (fronds), date palm leaflets briquettes were less than these for loose residuals.

Keywords: residues, date palm stalks, chopper, briquetting, quality properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 550

Authors: José Nogueira

Abstract:

This research aims to analyze the impact of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in families with children and youth (0-25 years) with ASD in Portugal. The impact will be evaluated on a multidimensional perspective, following the work on the concept of quality life from WHOQOL Group (UN). The study includes quantitative and qualitative methodology. It correlates statistical sources and other information with the data obtained through a survey of a sample of about 100 families with children/youth with ASD (October and November 2013). The results indicate a strong impact of autism on the quality of life for families in all study dimensions. The research shows a negative impact on quality of life for families in material and financial conditions, physical and emotional well-being, career progression, feelings of injustice, social participation and self-perception of happiness. The quality of life remained in the relationship with the family and the spouse, interpersonal relationships and beliefs about himself. The ASD improved the quality of life aspects such as interest, knowledge and exercise of rights on disability, autonomy to make decisions and be able to deal with stress. Other dimensions are contemplated: a detailed characterization of the child/young with ASD and all family members (household composition, relationship status, academic qualifications, occupation, income, and leisure) the impact of diagnosis in the family wellbeing, medical and therapeutic processes, school inclusion, public support, social participation, and the adequacy and implementation of legislation. The study evaluates also the strengths and weaknesses of the Portuguese public rehabilitation system and demonstrates how a good law-in-theory may not solve the problems of families in practice due to the allocation of insufficient public resources, both financial and human resources.

Keywords: autism, families, quality of life, autism spectrum disorder

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Hyun-Jee Yang, Bit-Na Kwon, Yong-Jun Kim, Hyoung-Kyu Song

Abstract:

In the cooperative transmission scheme, both the cellular system and broadcasting system are composed. Two cellular base stations (CBSs) communicating with a user in the cell edge use cooperative transmission scheme in the conventional scheme. In the case that the distance between two CBSs and the user is distant, the conventional scheme does not guarantee the quality of the communication because the channel condition is bad. Therefore, if the distance between CBSs and a user is distant, the performance of the conventional scheme is decreased. Also, the bad channel condition has bad effects on the performance. The proposed scheme uses two relays to communicate well with CBSs when the channel condition between CBSs and the user is poor. Using the relay in the high attenuation environment can obtain both advantages of the high bit error rate (BER) and throughput performance.

Keywords: cooperative communications, diversity gain, OFDM, interworking system

Procedia PDF Downloads 576

Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

Abstract:

Continuous monitoring of industrial plants is one of necessary tasks when it comes to ensuring high-quality final products. In terms of monitoring and diagnosis, it is quite critical and important to detect some incipient abnormal events of manufacturing processes in order to improve safety and reliability of operations involved and to reduce related losses. In this work a new multivariate statistical online diagnostic method is presented using a case study. For building some reference models an empirical discriminant model is constructed based on various past operation runs. When a fault is detected on-line, an on-line diagnostic module is initiated. Finally, the status of the current operating conditions is compared with the reference model to make a diagnostic decision. The performance of the presented framework is evaluated using a dataset from complex industrial processes. It has been shown that the proposed diagnostic method outperforms other techniques especially in terms of incipient detection of any faults occurred.

Keywords: data mining, empirical model, on-line diagnostics, process fault, process monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 401

Authors: Çiğdem Bakır, Mecit Yüzkat

Abstract:

With the increasing emphasis on water quality worldwide, the search for and expanding the market for new and intelligent monitoring systems has increased. The current method is the laboratory process, where samples are taken from bodies of water, and tests are carried out in laboratories. This method is time-consuming, a waste of manpower, and uneconomical. To solve this problem, we used machine learning methods to detect water pollution in our study. We created decision trees with the Orange3 software we used in our study and tried to determine all the factors that cause water pollution. An automatic prediction model based on water quality was developed by taking many model inputs such as water temperature, pH, transparency, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and ammonia nitrogen with machine learning methods. The proposed approach consists of three stages: preprocessing of the data used, feature detection, and classification. We tried to determine the success of our study with different accuracy metrics and the results. We presented it comparatively. In addition, we achieved approximately 98% success with the decision tree.

Keywords: decision tree, water quality, water pollution, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 83

Authors: Hussein M. H. Mohamed, Hamdy M. B. Zaki

Abstract:

Fresh sausage is one of the cheapest and delicious meat products that are gaining popularity all over the world. It is considered as a practice of adding value to low-value meat cuts of high fat and connective tissue contents. One of the most important characteristics of fresh sausage is the distinctive marbling appearance between lean and fatty portions, which can be achieved by using animal fat. For achieving the marbling appearance of fresh sausage, a lager amount of fat needs to be used. The use of animal fat may represent a health concern due to its content of saturated fatty acids and trans-fats, which increase the risk of heart diseases. There is a need for reducing the fat content of fresh sausage to obtain a healthy product. However, fat is responsible for the texture, flavor, and juiciness of the product. Therefore, developing reduced-fat products is a challenging process. The main objectives of the current study were to incorporate chicken skin based products (chicken skin emulsion, gelatinized chicken skin, and gelatinized chicken skin emulsion) during the formulation of fresh sausage as fat replacers and to study the effect of these products on the nutritional quality, physicochemical properties, and sensory attributes of the processed product. Three fresh sausage formulae were prepared using chicken skin based fat replacers (chicken skin emulsion, gelatinized chicken skin, and gelatinized chicken skin emulsion) beside one formula prepared using mesenteric beef fat as a control. The proximate composition, fatty acid profiles, Physico-chemical characteristics, and sensory attributes of all formulas were assessed. The results revealed that the use of chicken skin based fat replacers resulted in significant (P < 0.05) reduction of fat contents from 17.67 % in beef mesenteric fat formulated sausage to 5.77, 8.05 and 8.46 in chicken skin emulsion, gelatinized chicken skin, and gelatinized chicken skin emulsion formulated sausages, respectively. Significant reduction in the saturated fatty acid contents and a significant increase in mono-unsaturated, poly-unsaturated, and omega-3 fatty acids have been observed in all formulae processed with chicken skin based fat replacers. Moreover, significant improvements in the physico-chemical characteristics and non-significant changes in the sensory attributes have been obtained. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that the chicken skin based products can be used safely to improve the nutritional quality and physico chemical properties of beef fresh sausages without changing the sensory attributes of the product. This study may encourage meat processors to utilize chicken skin based fat replacers for the production of high quality and healthy beef fresh sausages.

Keywords: chicken skin emulsion, fresh sausage, gelatinized chicken skin, gelatinized chicken skin emulsion

Procedia PDF Downloads 130