Search results for: production recovery

Authors: Theodora-Venetia Missirli, Konstantina Kyriakopoulou, Magdalini Krokida

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Olive mill solid waste is an olive oil mill industry by-product with high phenolic, lipid and organic acid concentrations that can be used as a low cost source of natural antioxidants. In this study, extracts of Olea europaea (olive tree) solid olive mill waste (SOMW) were evaluated in terms of their antiradical activity and total phenolic compounds concentrations, such as oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol etc. SOMW samples were subjected to drying prior to extraction as a pretreatment step. Two drying processes, accelerated solar drying (ASD) and air-drying (AD) (at 35, 50, 70°C constant air velocity of 1 m/s), were applied. Subsequently, three different extraction methods were employed to recover extracts from untreated and dried SOMW samples. The methods include the green Microwave Assisted (MAE) and Ultrasound Assisted Extraction (UAE) and the conventional Soxhlet extraction (SE), using water and methanol as solvents. The efficiency and selectivity of the processes were evaluated in terms of extraction yield. The antioxidant activity (AAR) and the total phenolic content (TPC) of the extracts were evaluated using the DPPH assay and the Folin-Ciocalteu method, respectively. The results showed that bioactive content was significantly affected by the extraction technique and the solvent. Specifically, untreated SOMW samples showed higher performance in the yield for all solvents and higher antioxidant potential and phenolic content in the case of water. UAE extraction method showed greater extraction yields than the MAE method for both untreated and dried leaves regardless of the solvent used. The use of ultrasound and microwave assisted extraction in combination with industrially applied drying methods, such as air and solar drying, was feasible and effective for the recovery of bioactive compounds.

Keywords: antioxidant potential, drying treatment, olive mill pomace, microwave assisted extraction, ultrasound assisted extraction

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Authors: Carolina Zambrana, Grover Zurita

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The food loss production that occurs in deficient agricultural production is one of the major problems worldwide. This puts the population's food security and the efficiency of farming investments at risk. It is to be expected that this food security will be achieved with the own and efficient production of each country. It will have an impact on the well-being of its population and, thus, also on food sovereignty. The production losses in quantity and quality occur due to the lack of efficient detection of diseases at an early stage. It is very difficult to solve the agriculture efficiency using traditional methods since it takes a long time to be carried out due to detection imprecision of the main diseases, especially when the production areas are extensive. Therefore, the main objective of this research study is to perform a systematic literature review, of the latest five years, of Precision Agriculture (PA) to be able to understand the state of the art of the set of new technologies, procedures, and optimization processes with Artificial Intelligence (AI). This study will focus on Corns, Potatoes, and Rice diagnostic diseases. The extensive literature review will be performed on Elsevier, Scopus, and IEEE databases. In addition, this research will focus on advanced digital imaging processing and the development of software and hardware for PA. The convolution neural network will be handling special attention due to its outstanding diagnostic results. Moreover, the studied data will be incorporated with artificial intelligence algorithms for the automatic diagnosis of crop quality. Finally, precision agriculture with technology applied to the agricultural sector allows the land to be exploited efficiently. This system requires sensors, drones, data acquisition cards, and global positioning systems. This research seeks to merge different areas of science, control engineering, electronics, digital image processing, and artificial intelligence for the development, in the near future, of a low-cost image measurement system that allows the optimization of crops with AI.

Keywords: precision agriculture, convolutional neural network, deep learning, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Elena Pucci, Margherita Tufarelli, Leonardo Giliberti

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As central for human and social development of the future, sustainability is becoming a recurring theme also in the fashion industry, where the need to explore new possible directions aimed at achieving sustainability goals and their communication is rising. Scholars have been devoted to the overall environmental impact of the textile and fashion industry, which, emerging as one of the world’s most polluting, today concretely assumes the need to take the path of sustainability in both products and production processes. Every day we witness the impact of our consumption, showing that the sustainability concept is as vast as complex: with a sometimes ambiguous definition, sustainability can concern projects, products, companies, sales, packagings, supply chains in relation to the actors proximity as well as traceability, raw materials procurement, and disposal. However, in its primary meaning, sustainability is the ability to maintain specific values and resources for future generations. The contribution aims to address sustainability in the fashion system as a layered problem that requires substantial changes at different levels: in the fashion product (materials, production processes, timing, distribution, and disposal), in the functioning of the system (life cycle, impact, needs, communication) and last but not least in the practice of fashion design which should conceive durable, low obsolescence and possibly demountable products. Moreover, consumers play a central role for the growing awareness, together with an increasingly strong sensitivity towards the environment and sustainable clothing. Since it is also a market demand, undertaking significant efforts to achieve total transparency and sustainability in all production and distribution processes is becoming fundamental for the fashion system. Sustainability is not to be understood as purely environmental but as the pursuit of collective well-being in relation to conscious production, human rights, and social dignity with the aim to achieve intelligent, resource, and environmentally friendly production and consumption patterns. Assuming sustainability as a layered problem makes the role of communication crucial to convey scientific or production specific content so that people can obtain and interpret information to make related decisions. Hence, if it is true that “what designers make becomes the future we inhabit'', design is facing great and challenging responsibility. The fashion industry needs a system of rules able to assess the sustainability of products, which is transparent and easily interpreted by consumers, identifying and enhancing virtuous practices. There are still complex and fragmented value chains that make it extremely difficult for brands and manufacturers to know the history of their products, to identify exactly where the risks lie, and to respond to the growing demand from consumers and civil society for responsible and sustainable production practices in the fashion industry.

Keywords: fashion design, fashion system, sustainability, communication, complexity

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Authors: Afiq Mohd Fahmi, Tony Gutierrez, Sebastian Hennige

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Increasing amounts of CO₂ entering the marine environment, also known as ocean acidification, is documented as having harmful impacts on a variety of marine organisms. When considering the future risk of hydrocarbon pollution, which is generally detrimental to marine life as well, this needs to consider how OA-induced changes to microbial communities will compound this since hydrocarbon degradation is influenced by the community-level microbial response. This study aims to evaluate the effects of increased atmospheric CO₂ conditions and oil enrichment on the phytoplankton-associated bacterial communities. Faroe Shetland Channel (FSC) is a subarctic region in the northeast Atlantic where crude oil extraction has recently been expanded. In the event of a major oil spill in this region, it is vital that we understand the response of the bacterial community and its consequence on primary production within this region—some phytoplankton communities found in the ocean harbor hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria that are associated with its psychosphere. Surface water containing phytoplankton and bacteria from FSC were cultured in ambient and elevated atmospheric CO₂ conditions for 4 days of acclimation in microcosms before introducing 1% (v/v) of crude oil into the microcosms to simulate oil spill conditions at sea. It was found that elevated CO₂ conditions do not significantly affect the chl a concentration, and exposure to crude oil detrimentally affected chl a concentration up to 10 days after exposure to crude oil. The diversity and richness of the bacterial community were not significantly affected by both CO₂ treatment and oil enrichment. The increase in the relative abundance of known hydrocarbon degraders such as Oleispira, Marinobacter and Halomonas indicates potential for biodegradation of crude oil, while the resilience of dominant taxa Colwellia, unclassified Gammaproteobacteria, unclassified Rnodobacteria and unclassified Halomonadaceae could be associated with the recovery of microalgal community 13 days after oil exposure. Therefore, the microbial community from the subsurface of FSC has the potential to recover from crude oil pollution even under elevated CO₂ (750 ppm) conditions.

Keywords: phytoplankton, bacteria, crude oil, ocean acidification

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Authors: Victor Chinecherem Ejeke, Raphael Eze Nnam

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The main objective of this research is to produce biodiesel from waste vegetable oil using activated eggshell waste as solid catalysts. A transesterification reaction was performed for the conversion to biodiesel. Waste eggshells were calcined at 700°C, 800°C and 900°C for a time period of 3hrs for the preparation of the renewable catalyst. The calcined waste eggshell catalyst was characterized using X-Ray Florescence (XRF) Spectroscopy, which revealed CaO as the major constituent (90.86%); this was further confirmed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analyses. The prepared catalyst was used for transesterification reaction and the effects of calcination temperature (700 to 900°C), Deep Eutectic Solvent DES loading (3 to 18 wt. %), Waste Egg Shell (WES) catalyst loading (6 to 14 wt. %) on the conversion to biodiesel were studied. The yield of biodiesel using a waste eggshell catalyst (91%) is comparable to conventional catalyst like sodium hydroxide with a yield of 80-90%. The maximum biodiesel production yield was obtained at a specific oil-to methanol molar ratio of 1:10, a temperature of 65°C and a catalyst loading of 14g-wt%. The biodiesel produced was characterized as being composed of methyl Tetradecanoate (C₁₄H₂₈O₂) 30.92% using the Gas Chromatographic (GC-MS) analysis. The fuel properties of the biodiesel (Flashpoint 138ᵒC) were comparable to commercial diesel, and hence it can be used in compression-ignition engines. The results indicated that the catalysts derived from waste eggshell had high potential to be used as biodiesel production catalysts in transesterification of waste vegetable oil with the advantage of reusability and also not requiring water washing steps.

Keywords: waste vegetable oil, catalyst , biodiesel , waste egg shell

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Authors: Syue-Wen Lin

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Objective: This article explores the nursing experience of an 84-year-old male lung cancer patient who underwent a thoracoscopic right lower lobectomy and treatment. The patient has multiple medical histories, including hypertension and diabetes. The nursing process involved cancer treatment, postoperative pain management, as well as wound care and healing. Methods: The nursing period is from February 10 to February 17, 2024. During the nursing process, pain management strategies are implemented, including morphine drugs and non-drug methods, and music therapy, essential oil massage, and extended reception time are used to make patients feel physically and mentally comfortable so as to reduce postoperative pain and encourage active participation in rehabilitation. Strict sterile wound dressing procedures and advanced wound care techniques are used to promote wound healing and prevent infection. Due to septic shock, dialysis is used to relieve worsening symptoms. Taking into account the patient's cancer status, the nursing team provides comprehensive cancer care based on the patient's physical and psychological needs. Given the complexity of the patient's condition, including advanced cancer, palliative care is also incorporated throughout the care process to relieve discomfort and provide psychological support. Results: Through comprehensive health assessment, the nursing team fully understood the patient's condition and developed a personalized care plan based on the patient's condition. The interprofessional critical care team provides respiratory therapy and lung expansion exercises to reduce muscle loss while addressing the patient's psychological status, pain management, and vital sign stabilization needs, resulting in a comprehensive approach to care. Lung expansion exercises and the use of a high-frequency chest wall oscillation vest successfully improved sputum drainage and facilitated weaning from mechanical ventilation. In addition, helping patients stabilize their vital signs and the integration of cancer care, pain management, wound care and palliative care helps the patient be fully supported throughout the recovery process, ultimately improving his quality of life. Conclusion: Lung cancer and septic shock present significant challenges to patients, and the nursing team not only provides critical care but also addresses the unique needs of patients through comprehensive infection control, cancer care, pain management, wound care, and palliative care interventions. These measures effectively improve patients' quality of life, promote recovery, and provide compassionate palliative care for terminally ill patients. Nursing staff work closely with family members to develop a comprehensive care plan to ensure that patients receive high-quality medical care as well as psychological support and a comfortable recovery environment.

Keywords: septic shock, lung cancer, palliative care, nursing experience

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Authors: H. R. Kamali, A. Sadegheih, M. A. Vahdat-Zad, H. Khademi-Zare

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In this paper, a single product, multi-echelon, multi-period closed loop supply chain is surveyed, including a variety of costs, time conditions, and capacities, to plan and determine the values and time of the components procurement, production, distribution, recycling and disposal specially for high-tech products that undergo a decreasing production cost and sale price over time. For this purpose, the mathematic model of the problem that is a kind of mixed integer linear programming is presented, and it is finally proved that the problem belongs to the category of NP-hard problems.

Keywords: closed loop supply chain, continuous price decrease, NP-hard, planning

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Authors: Mehmet Savsar

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This paper presents a practical case application of simulation modeling and analysis in a specific industrial setting. Various maintenance related parameters of the equipment in the system under consideration are determined and a simulation model is developed to study system behavior. System performance is determined based on established parameters and operational policies, which included system operation with and without preventive maintenance implementation. The results show that preventive maintenance practice has significant effects on improving system productivity. The simulation procedures outlined in this paper can be used by operation managers to perform production line analysis under different maintenance policies in various industrial settings.

Keywords: simulation, production line, machine failures, maintenance, industrial bakery

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Authors: Naznine Anwar, Kim Cornish, Izelle Labuschagne, Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis

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Falls and subsequent injuries are common features in symptomatic Huntington’s disease (symp-HD) individuals. As part of daily walking, navigating around obstacles may incur a greater risk of falls in symp-HD. We designed obstacle-crossing experiment to examine adaptive gait dynamics and to identify underlying spatiotemporal gait characteristics that could increase the risk of falling in symp-HD. This experiment involved navigating around one or two ground-based obstacles under two conditions (walking while navigating around one obstacle, and walking while navigating around two obstacles). A total of 32 participants were included, 16 symp-HD and 16 healthy controls with age and sex matched. We used a GAITRite electronic walkway to examine the spatiotemporal gait characteristics and inter-trail gait variability when participants walked at their preferable speed. A minimum of six trials were completed which were performed for baseline free walk and also for each and every condition during navigating around the obstacles. For analysis, we separated all walking steps into three phases as approach steps, navigating steps and recovery steps. The mean and inter-trail variability (within participant standard deviation) for each step gait variable was calculated across the six trails. We found symp-HD individuals significantly decreased their gait velocity and step length and increased step duration variability during the navigating steps and recovery steps compared with approach steps. In contrast, HC individuals showed less difference in gait velocity, step time and step length variability from baseline in both respective conditions as well as all three approaches. These findings indicate that increasing spatiotemporal gait variability may be a possible compensatory strategy that is adopted by symp-HD individuals to effectively navigate obstacles during walking. Such findings may offer benefit to clinicians in the development of strategies for HD individuals to improve functional outcomes in the home and hospital based rehabilitation program.

Keywords: Huntington’s disease, gait variables, navigating around obstacle, basal ganglia dysfunction

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Authors: Yaolin Tian, Shanxiong Chen, Fujia Zhao, Xiaoyu Lin, Hailing Xiong

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Ancient books are significant culture inheritors and their background textures convey the potential history information. However, multi-style texture recovery of ancient books has received little attention. Restricted by insufficient ancient textures and complex handling process, the generation of ancient textures confronts with new challenges. For instance, training without sufficient data usually brings about overfitting or mode collapse, so some of the outputs are prone to be fake. Recently, image generation and style transfer based on deep learning are widely applied in computer vision. Breakthroughs within the field make it possible to conduct research upon multi-style texture recovery of ancient books. Under the circumstances, we proposed a network of layout analysis and image fusion system. Firstly, we trained models by using Deep Convolution Generative against Networks (DCGAN) to synthesize multi-style ancient textures; then, we analyzed layouts based on the Position Rearrangement (PR) algorithm that we proposed to adjust the layout structure of foreground content; at last, we realized our goal by fusing rearranged foreground texts and generated background. In experiments, diversified samples such as ancient Yi, Jurchen, Seal were selected as our training sets. Then, the performances of different fine-turning models were gradually improved by adjusting DCGAN model in parameters as well as structures. In order to evaluate the results scientifically, cross entropy loss function and Fréchet Inception Distance (FID) are selected to be our assessment criteria. Eventually, we got model M8 with lowest FID score. Compared with DCGAN model proposed by Radford at el., the FID score of M8 improved by 19.26%, enhancing the quality of the synthetic images profoundly.

Keywords: deep learning, image fusion, image generation, layout analysis

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Authors: Barzin Rajabloo, Martin Desilets

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First, an electrochemical model for the reduction of CO₂ into CH₃OH is developed in which mass and charge transfer, reactions at the surface of the electrodes and fluid flow of the electrolyte are considered. This mathematical model is developed in COMSOL Multiphysics® where both secondary and tertiary current distribution interfaces are coupled to consider concentrations and potentials inside different parts of the cell. Constant reaction rates are assumed as the fitted parameters to minimize the error between experimental data and modeling results. The model is validated through a comparison with experimental data in terms of faradaic efficiency for production of CH₃OH, the current density in different applied cathode potentials as well as current density in different electrolyte flow rates. The comparison between model outputs and experimental measurements shows a good agreement. The model indicates the higher hydrogen evolution in comparison with CH₃OH production as well as mass transfer limitation caused by CO₂ concentration, which are consistent with findings in the literature. After validating the model, in the second part of the study, some design parameters of the cell, such as cathode geometry and catholyte/anolyte channel widths, are modified to reach better performance and higher faradaic efficiency of methanol production.

Keywords: carbon dioxide, electrochemical reduction, methanol, modeling

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Authors: Nguyen Van Anh Le, Mafuyu Kitahara

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In several languages, it is widely acknowledged that vowels are longer before voiced consonants than before voiceless ones such as English. However, in Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean, the distribution of voiced-voiceless stop contrasts and long-short vowel differences are vastly different from English. The purpose of this study is to determine whether these targeted learners' L2 English production and perception change in terms of vowel duration as a function of stop voicing. The production measurements in the database of Asian learners revealed a distinct effect than the one observed in native speakers. There was no evident vowel lengthening patterns. The results of the perceptual experiment with 24 participants indicated that individuals tended to prefer voiceless stops when preceding vowels were shortened, but there was no statistically significant difference between intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced-level learners. However, learners demonstrated distinct perceptual patterns for various vowels and stops. The findings have valuable implications for L2 English speech acquisition. Keywords: voiced/voiceless stops, preceding vowel duration, voiced/voiceless perception, L2 English, L1 Mandarin Chinese, L1 Vietnamese, L1 Japanese, L1 Korean

Keywords: voiced/voiceless stops, preceding vowel duration, voiced/voiceless perception, L2 english

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Authors: Fatemeh Ansarniya, Fatemeh Mirjalili, Hamid Reza Abedini, Shabnam Salari, M. Horasht

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The study of this research is the effect of using Fe₂O₃ and sum of alkalis elements in the floor tile production. At first, raw materials of floor tile with the same formulation of original sample was prepared and sintered for 39 minutes at 1130˚C in roller kiln and finally, physical properties of the sintered bodies based on floor tile standard process was investigated. The results showed that there was the possibility of production of floor tile containing different percentages of Fe₂O₃ and sum of Na₂O+ K₂O. With increasing the Fe₂O₃ and sum of Na₂O+ K₂O elements, the percentages of water absorption and raw, dry and sintered strengths were decreased, but the percentages of shrinkage were increased which caused the decreasing the percentages of expansion.

Keywords: floor tile, physical properties, Na2O+ K2O, Fe2O3

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Authors: Ane Larrea, Victor Sebastian, Manuel Arruebo, Jesus Santamaria

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We present a gas-liquid microfluidic system as a reactor to obtain magnetite nanoparticles with an excellent degree of control regarding their crystalline phase, shape and size. Several types of microflow approaches were selected to prevent nanomaterial aggregation and to promote homogenous size distribution. The selected reactor consists of a mixer stage aided by ultrasound waves and a reaction stage using a N2-liquid segmented flow to prevent magnetite oxidation to non-magnetic phases. A milli-fluidic reactor was developed to increase the production rate where a magnetite throughput close to 450 mg/h in a continuous fashion was obtained.

Keywords: continuous production, magnetic nanoparticles, microfluidics, nanomaterials

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Authors: Debajyoti Bose

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Chitosan has received much attention as a functional biopolymer for diverse applications, especially in pharmaceutics and medicine. Chitosan is a positively charged natural biodegradable and biocompatible polymer. It is a linear polysaccharide consisting of β-1,4 linked monomers of glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine. Chitosan can be mainly obtained from fungal sources during large fermentation process. In this study,three different fungal strains Aspergillus niger NCIM 1045, Aspergillus oryzae NCIM 645 and Mucor indicus MTCC 3318 were used for the production of chitosan. The growth mediums were optimized for maximum fungal production. The produced chitosan was characterized by determining degree of deacetylation. Chitosan possesses one reactive amino at the C-2 position of the glucosamine residue, and these amines confer important functional properties to chitosan which can be exploited for biofabrication to generate various chemically modified derivatives and explore their potential for pharmaceutical field. Chitosan nanoparticles were prepared by ionic cross-linking with tripolyphosphate (TPP). The major effect on encapsulation and release of protein (e.g. enzyme diastase) in chitosan-TPP nanoparticles was investigated in order to control the loading and release efficiency. It was noted that the chitosan loading and releasing efficiency as a nanocapsule, obtained from different fungal sources was almost near to initial enzyme activity(12026 U/ml) with a negligible loss. This signify, chitosan can be used as a polymeric drug as well as active component or protein carrier material in dosage by design due to its appealing properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low toxicity and relatively low production cost from abundant natural sources. Based upon these initial experiments, studies were also carried out on modification of chitosan based nanocapsules incorporated with physiologically important enzymes and nutraceuticals for target delivery.

Keywords: fungi, chitosan, enzyme, nanocapsule

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Authors: Maikasuwa Mohammed Abubakar, Okebiorun Ola, M. H. Sidi, Ala Ahmed Ladan, Ango Aabdullahi Kamba

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The study examines the economic analysis of cassava value chain by farmers in Ilesa West Local Government Area of Osun State. Simple random sampling technique was used to collect data from 200 respondents from purposively selected wards in the L.G.A. The data collected were analyzed using budgetary analysis and value addition model. The result shows that an average total cost incurred by the input dealers was ₦9,062,127.74 while the average net profit realized was ₦1,038,102.40. Other actors such as producers, processors and marketers incurred an average total cost of ₦23,324.00, ₦130,177.00 and ₦523,755.00 per production season, respectively and the average net profit realized was ₦102,614.00 for cassava producers, ₦51,131.00 for cassava processors and ₦79,045.00 for cassava marketers during cassava production season. Further analysis shows the rate of investment for cassava input dealers was ₦0.1, for cassava producers was ₦4.4, for cassava processors were ₦0.40 and for cassava marketers was ₦0.20. This indicated that rate of return on cassava was higher in cassava production than in others corridors along the value chain of cassava. However, value added the cassava producers (₦102,536.16/season) was the highest when compared with value added by cassava processors (₦51,853.82/season) and cassava marketers (₦100,885.56/season).

Keywords: Cassava, value chain, Ilesa West, Nigeria

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Authors: Fatima M. Kabbashi, Abdalla M. Abdalla, Hussam K. Hamad, Elias S. Hassan

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This study investigates the production of renewable energy (biogas) from biomedical hazard waste (blood) and eco-friendly disposal. Biogas is produced by the bacterial anaerobic digestion of biomaterial (blood). During digestion process bacterial feeding result in breaking down chemical bonds of the biomaterial and changing its features, by the end of the digestion (biogas production) the remains become manure as known. That has led to the economic and eco-friendly disposal of hazard biomedical waste (blood). The samples (Whole blood, Red blood cells 'RBCs', Blood platelet and Fresh Frozen Plasma ‘FFP’) are collected and measured in terms of carbon to nitrogen C/N ratio and total solid, then filled in connected flasks (three flasks) using water displacement method. The results of trails showed that the platelet and FFP failed to produce flammable gas, but via a gas analyzer, it showed the presence of the following gases: CO, HC, CO₂, and NOX. Otherwise, the blood and RBCs produced flammable gases: Methane-nitrous CH₃NO (99.45%), which has a blue color flame and carbon dioxide CO₂ (0.55%), which has red/yellow color flame. Methane-nitrous is sometimes used as fuel for rockets, some aircraft and racing cars.

Keywords: renewable energy, biogas, biomedical waste, blood, anaerobic digestion, eco-friendly disposal

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Authors: P. Chaijak, M. Lertworapreecha, C. Sukkasem

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Extracellular laccases are copper-containing microbial enzymes with many industrial biotechnological applications. This study evaluated the ability of nutrients in coconut coir to enhance the yield of extracellular laccase of Galactomyces reesii IFO 10823 and develop a co-culture between this yeast and other filamentous fungi isolated from the fungus comb of Macrotermes sp. The co-culture between G. reesii IFO 10823 and M. indicus FJ-M-5 (G3) gave the highest activity at 580.20 U/mL. When grown in fermentation media prepared from coconut coir and distilled water at 70% of initial moisture without supplement addition, G3 produced extracellular laccase of 113.99 U/mL.

Keywords: extracellular laccase, production, yeast, natural inducer

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Authors: Joanna Rybicka-Łada, Magda Kosmal, Anna Kuśnierz

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One of the main problems of the glass industry is the still high consumption of energy needed to produce glass mass, as well as the increase in prices, fuels, and raw materials. Therefore, comprehensive actions are taken to improve the entire production process. The key element of these activities, starting from filling the set to receiving the finished product, is the melting process, whose task is, among others, dissolving the components of the set, removing bubbles from the resulting melt, and obtaining a chemically homogeneous glass melt. This solution avoids dust formation during filling and is available on the market. This process consumes over 90% of the total energy needed in the production process. The processes occurring in the set during its conversion have a significant impact on the further stages and speed of the melting process and, thus, on its overall effectiveness. The speed of the reactions occurring and their course depend on the chemical nature of the raw materials, the degree of their fragmentation, thermal treatment as well as the form of the introduced set. An opportunity to minimize segregation and accelerate the conversion of glass sets may be the development of new technologies for preparing and dosing sets. The previously preferred traditional method of melting the set, based on mixing all glass raw materials together in loose form, can be replaced with a set in a thickened form. The aim of the project was to develop a glass set in a selectively or completely densified form and to examine the influence of set processing on the melting process and the properties of the glass.

Keywords: glass, melting process, glass set, raw materials

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Authors: E. Moroydor Derun, P. Gurses, M. Yildirim, A. S. Kipcak, T. Ibroska, S. Piskin

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Due to their strong mechanical and thermal properties magnesium borates have a wide usage area such as ceramic industry, detergent production, friction reducing additive and grease production. In this study, microwave synthesis of magnesium borates from MgCl2.6H2O (Magnesium chloride hexahydrate), MgO (Magnesium oxide) and H3BO3 (Boric acid) for different reaction times is researched. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy are used to find out how the reaction time sways on the products. The superficial properties are investigated with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). According to XRD analysis, the synthesized compounds are 00-041-1407 pdf coded Shabinite (Mg5(BO3)4Cl2(OH)5.4(H2O)) and 01-073-2158 pdf coded Karlite (Mg7(BO3)3(OH,Cl)5).

Keywords: magnesium borate, microwave synthesis, XRD, SEM

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Authors: Esma Birisci, Ronald McGarvey

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One of the common problems in food service industry is demand uncertainty. This research presents a multi-criteria optimization approach to identify the efficient frontier of points lying between the minimum-waste and minimum-shortfall solutions within uncertain demand environment. It also addresses correlation across demands for items (e.g., hamburgers are often demanded with french fries). Reducing overproduction food waste (and its corresponding environmental impacts) and an aversion to shortfalls (leave some customer hungry) need to consider as two contradictory objectives in an all-you-care-to-eat environment food service operation. We identify optimal production adjustments relative to demand forecasts, demand thresholds for utilization of leftovers, and percentages of demand to be satisfied by leftovers, considering two alternative metrics for overproduction waste: mass; and greenhouse gas emissions. Demand uncertainty and demand correlations are addressed using a kernel density estimation approach. A statistical analysis of the changes in decision variable values across each of the efficient frontiers can then be performed to identify the key variables that could be modified to reduce the amount of wasted food at minimal increase in shortfalls. We illustrate our approach with an application to empirical data from Campus Dining Services operations at the University of Missouri.

Keywords: environmental studies, food waste, production planning, uncertain and correlated demand

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Authors: M. J. Alcedo, K. Ito, K. Maeda

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Measuring animal welfare is a newly emerging area of research and it needs multi-disciplinary way to do it. Due to the diversity of what constitutes the definition of animal welfare, different methods and models were developed and mostly conducted in semi and commercial farms in developed countries. Few studies have been conducted in developing countries and in backyard livestock operation. Recognizing that majority of livestock operations are categorized as backyard in developing countries, it is crucial to come up with parameters that can assess the welfare of the animal in the backyard level. This research had made use of stockmanship competence as the proxy indicator to assess animal welfare. Stockmanship competence in this study refers to the capacity of the animal owner to ensure the welfare of their animal by providing their needs for growth and reproduction. The Philippine recommend on goat production, tips on goat raising and goat scientific literatures were used as references to come up with indicators that are known to be important in meeting the needs of the animal and ensuring its welfare. Scores from -1 to +2 were assigned depending on how close it is of satisfying the animal’s need. It is hoped that this assessment method could contribute to the growing body of knowledge on animal welfare and can be utilized as logical and scientific framework in assessing welfare in backyard goat operation. It is suggested that further study needs to be conducted to refine and standardize indicators and identify other indicators for goat welfare assessment.

Keywords: backyard goat production, stockmanship competence, animal welfare, Philippines

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Authors: Ayoub Azizi-Shotorkhoft, Tahereh Mohammadabadi, Hosein Motamedi, Morteza Chaji, Hasan Fazaeli

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This study was conducted to investigate nutritive value of wheat straw processed with termite gut symbiotic bacteria with lignocellulosic-degrading potential including Bacillus licheniformis, Ochrobactrum intermedium and Microbacterium paludicola in vitro. These bacteria were isolated by culturing termite guts contents in different culture media containing different lignin and lignocellulosic materials that had been prepared from water-extracted sawdust and wheat straw. Results showed that incubating wheat straw with all of three isolated bacteria increased (P<0.05) acid-precipitable polymeric lignin (APPL) compared to control, and highest amount of APPL observed following treatment with B. licheniformis. Highest and lowest (P<0.05) in vitro gas production and ruminal organic matter digestibility were obtained when treating wheat straw with B. licheniformis and control, respectively. However, other fermentation parameters such as b (i.e., gas production from the insoluble fermentable fractions at 144h), c (i.e., rate of gas production during incubation), ruminal dry matter digestibility, metabolizable energy, partitioning factor, pH and ammonia nitrogen concentration were similar between experimental treatments (P>0.05). It is concluded that processing wheat straw with isolated bacteria improved its nutritive value as ruminants feed.

Keywords: termite gut bacteria, wheat straw, nutritive value, ruminant

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Authors: Olufunke Olufunmilayo Ilemobayo, Barakat. O Abdulazeez

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Profit making among poultry egg farmers has been a challenge to efficient distribution of scarce farm resources over the years, due majorly to low capital base, inefficient management, technical inefficiency, economic inefficiency, thus poultry egg production has moved into an underperformed situation, characterised by low profit margin. Though previous studies focus mainly on broiler production and efficiency of its production, however, paucity of information exist in the areas of profit efficiency in the study area. Hence, determinants of profit efficiency among poultry egg farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria were investigated. A purposive sampling technique was used to obtain primary data from poultry egg farmers in Owo and Akure local government area of Ondo State, through a well-structured questionnaire. socio-economic characteristics such as age, gender, educational level, marital status, household size, access to credit, extension contact, other variables were input and output data like flock size, cost of feeder and drinker, cost of feed, cost of labour, cost of drugs and medications, cost of energy, price of crate of table egg, price of spent layers were variables used in the study. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, budgeting analysis, and stochastic profit function/inefficiency model. Result of the descriptive statistics shows that 52 per cent of the poultry farmers were between 31-40 years, 62 per cent were male, 90 per cent had tertiary education, 66 per cent were primarily poultry farmers, 78 per cent were original poultry farm owners and 55 per cent had more than 5 years’ work experience. Descriptive statistics on cost and returns indicated that 64 per cent of the return were from sales of egg, while the remaining 36 per cent was from sales of spent layers. The cost of feeding take the highest proportion of 69 per cent of cost of production and cost of medication the lowest (7 per cent). A positive gross margin of N5, 518,869.76, net farm income of ₦ 5, 500.446.82 and net return on investment of 0.28 indicated poultry egg production is profitable. Equipment’s cost (22.757), feeding cost (18.3437), labour cost (136.698), flock size (16.209), drug and medication cost (4.509) were factors that affecting profit efficiency, while education (-2.3143), household size (-18.4291), access to credit (-16.027), and experience (-7.277) were determinant of profit efficiency. Education, household size, access to credit and experience in poultry production were the main determinants of profit efficiency of poultry egg production in Ondo State. Other factors that affect profit efficiency were cost of feeding, cost of labour, flock size, cost of drug and medication, they positively and significantly influenced profit efficiency in Ondo State, Nigeria.

Keywords: cost and returns, economic inefficiency, profit margin, technical inefficiency

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Authors: Saud Hamdan Alshammari

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Photocatalytic water splitting to produce hydrogen (H₂) has obtained significant attention as an environmentally friendly technology. This process, which produces hydrogen from water and sunlight, represents a renewable energy source. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) plays a critical role in photocatalytic hydrogen production due to its chemical stability, availability, and low cost. Nevertheless, TiO₂'s wide band gap (3.2 eV) limits its visible light absorption and might affect the effectiveness of the photocatalytic. Coupling TiO₂ with other semiconductors is a strategy that can enhance TiO₂ by narrowing its band gap and improving visible light absorption. This paper studies the modification of TiO₂ by coupling it with another semiconductor such as CdS nanoparticles using a reflux reactor and autoclave reactor that helps form a core-shell structure. Characterization techniques, including TEM and UV-Vis spectroscopy, confirmed successful coating of TiO₂ on CdS core, reduction of the band gap from 3.28 eV to 3.1 eV, and enhanced light absorption in the visible region. These modifications are attributed to the heterojunction structure between TiO₂ and CdS.The essential goal of this study is to improve TiO₂ for use in photocatalytic water splitting to enhance hydrogen production. The core-shell TiO₂@CdS nanoparticles exhibited promising results, due to band gap narrowing and improved light absorption. Future work will involve adding Pt as a co-catalyst, which is known to increase surface reaction activity by enhancing proton adsorption. Evaluation of the TiO₂@CdS@Pt catalyst will include performance assessments and hydrogen productivity tests, considering factors such as effective shapes and material ratios. Moreover, the study could be enhanced by studying further modifications to the catalyst and displaying additional performance evaluations. For instance, doping TiO₂ with metals such as nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), and cobalt (Co) and non-metals such as nitrogen (N), carbon (C), and sulfur (S) could positively influence the catalyst by reducing the band gap, enhancing the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, and increasing the surface area, respectively. Additionally, to further improve catalytic performance, examining different catalyst morphologies, such as nanorods, nanowires, and nanosheets, in hydrogen production could be highly beneficial. Optimizing photoreactor design for efficient photon delivery and illumination will further enhance the photocatalytic process. These strategies collectively aim to overcome current challenges and improve the efficiency of hydrogen production via photocatalysis.

Keywords: hydrogen production, photocatalytic, water spliiting, semiconductor, nanoparticles

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Authors: Ahmed Elreedy, Ahmed Tawfik

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This investigation aims to assess the effect of inoculum to substrate ratio (ISR) and nitrogen to phosphorous balance on simultaneous biohydrogen and methane production from anaerobic decomposition of mono-ethylene glycol (MEG). Different ISRs were applied in the range between 2.65 and 13.23 gVSS/gCOD, whereas the tested N/P ratios were changed from 4.6 to 8.5; both under thermophilic conditions (55°C). The maximum obtained methane and hydrogen yields (MY and HY) of 151.86±10.8 and 22.27±1.1 mL/gCODinitial were recorded at ISRs of 5.29 and 3.78 gVSS/gCOD, respectively. Unlikely, the ammonification process, in terms of net ammonia produced, was found to be ISR and COD/N ratio dependent, reaching its peak value of 515.5±31.05 mgNH4-N/L at ISR and COD/N ratio of 13.23 gVSS/gCOD and 11.56. The optimum HY was enhanced by more than 1.45-fold with declining N/P ratio from 8.5 to 4.6; whereas, the MY was improved (1.6-fold), while increasing N/P ratio from 4.6 to 5.5 with no significant impact at N/P ratio of 8.5. The results obtained revealed that the methane production was strongly influenced by initial ammonia, compared to initial phosphate. Likewise, the generation of ammonia was markedly deteriorated from 535.25±41.5 to 238.33±17.6 mgNH4-N/L with increasing N/P ratio from 4.6 to 8.5. The kinetic study using Modified Gompertz equation was successfully fitted to the experimental outputs (R2 > 0.9761).

Keywords: mono-ethylene glycol, biohydrogen and methane, inoculum to substrate ratio, nitrogen to phosphorous balance, ammonification

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Authors: Italo Luigi de Paoli

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

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

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Authors: Ifeanyichukwu Edeh, Tim Overton, Steve Bowra

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There is increasing interest in utilising low grade or waste biomass for the production of renewable bioenergy vectors i.e. waste to energy. In this study we have chosen to assess, activated sludge, which is a microbial biomass generated during the second stage of waste water treatment as a source of lipid for biodiesel production. To date a significant proportion of biodiesel is produced from used cooking oil and animal fats. It was reasoned that if activated sludge proved a viable feedstock it has the potential to support increase biodiesel production capacity. Activated sludge was obtained at different times of the year and from two different sewage treatment works in the UK. The biomass within the activated sludge slurry was recovered by filtration and the total weight of material calculated by combining the dry weight of the total suspended solid (TSS) and the total dissolved solid (TDS) fractions. Total lipids were extracted from the TSS and TDS using solvent extraction (Folch methods). The classes of lipids within the total lipid extract were characterised using high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) by referencing known standards. The fatty acid profile and content of the lipid extract were determined using acid mediated-methanolysis to obtain fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) which were analysed by gas chromatography and HPTLC. The results showed that there were differences in the total biomass content in the activated sludge collected from different sewage works. Lipid yields from TSS obtained from both sewage treatment works differed according to the time of year (between 3.0 and 7.4 wt. %). The lipid yield varied slightly within the same source of biomass but more widely between the two sewage treatment works. The neutral lipid classes identified were acylglycerols, free fatty acids, sterols and wax esters while the phospholipid class included phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidycholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol. The fatty acid profile revealed the presence of palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid and stearic acid and that unsaturated fatty acids were the most abundant. Following optimisation, the FAME yield was greater than 10 wt. % which was required to have an economic advantage in biodiesel production.

Keywords: activated sludge, biodiesel, lipid, methanolysis

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Authors: Elmo Thiago Lins Cöuras Ford, Valentina Alessandra Carvalho do Vale, Rubens Maribondo do Nascimento, José Ubiragi de Lima Mendes

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Given the unquestionable need of environmental preservation of discarded industrial residues, The scrape of tires have been seen as a salutary alternative for addictive in concrete, asphalt production and of other composites materials. In this work, grew a composite the base of scrape of tire as reinforcement and latex as matrix, to be used as insulating thermal in "cold" systems (0º). Analyzed the acting of the material was what plays the thermal conservation when submitted the flow of heat. Verified the temperature profiles in the internal surfaces and it expresses of the composite as well as the temperature gradient in the same. As a consequence, in function of the answers of the system, conclusions were reached.

Keywords: cold system, latex, flow of heat, asphalt production

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Authors: Dipankar Deka

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Exploration and production of Oil & Gas is a very challenging business on which a nation’s energy security depends on. The exploration and Production of hydrocarbon is a very precise and time-bound process. The striking rate of hydrocarbon in a drilled well is so uncertain that the success rate is only 31% in 2021 as per Rigzone. Huge cost is involved in drilling as well as the production of hydrocarbon from a well. Due to this very reason, no one can effort to lose a well because of faulty machines, which increases the non-productive time (NPT). Numerous activities that include manpower and machines synchronized together works in a precise way to complete the full cycle of exploration, rig movement, drilling and production of crude oil. There are several machines, both fixed and mobile, are used in the complete cycle. Most of these machines have a tight schedule of work operating in various drilling sites that are simultaneously being drilled, providing a very narrow window for maintenance. The shutdown of any of these machines for even a small period of time delays the whole project and increases the cost of production of hydrocarbon by manifolds. Moreover, these machines are custom designed exclusively for oil field operations to be only used in Mining Exploration Licensed area (MEL) earmarked by the government and are imported and very costly in nature. The cost of some of these mobile units like Well Logging Units, Coil Tubing units, Nitrogen pumping units etc. that are used for Well stimulation and activation process exceeds more than 1 million USD per unit. So the increase of self-life of these units also generates huge revenues during the extended duration of their services. In this paper we are considering the very critical mobile oil field equipment like Well Logging Unit, Coil Tubing unit, well-killing unit, Nitrogen pumping unit, MOL Oil Field Truck, Hot Oil Circulation Unit etc., and their extensive preventive maintenance in our auto workshop. This paper is the outcome of 10 years of structured automobile maintenance and minute documentation of each associated event that allowed us to perform the comparative study between the new practices of preventive maintenance over the age-old practice of system-based corrective maintenance and its impact on the self-life of the equipment.

Keywords: automobile maintenance, preventive maintenance, symptom based maintenance, workshop technologies

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