Search results for: Mediterranean climate

Authors: Omar A. Shaneb, Adell S. Amer

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Reduction of CO2 emissions has become a priority for several countries due to increasing concerns about global warming and climate change, especially in the developed countries. Residential sector is considered one of the most important sectors for considerable reduction of CO2 emissions since it represents a significant amount of the total consumed energy in those countries. A significant CO2 reduction cannot be achieved unless some initiatives have been adopted in the policy of these countries. Introducing micro combined heat and power (µCHP) systems into residential energy systems is one of these initiatives, since such a technology offers several advantages. Moreover, µCHP technology has the opportunity to be operated not only by natural gas but it could also be operated by renewable fuels. However, this technology can be operated by different operation strategies. Each strategy has some advantages and disadvantages. This paper provides a review of different operation strategies of such a technology used for residential energy systems, especially for single dwellings. The review summarizes key points that outline the trend of previous research carried out in this field.

Keywords: energy management, µCHP systems, residential energy systems, sustainable houses, operation strategy.

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Authors: Nikolaos Katsoulas, Sofia Faliagka, George Kountrias, Eleni Dimitriou, Eleftheria Pechlivani

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The challenges to feed the world in 2050 are becoming more and more apparent. This calls for producing more with fewer inputs (most of them under scarcity), higher resource efficiency, minimum or zero effect on the environment, and higher sustainability. Therefore, increasing the circularity of production systems is highly significant for their sustainability. Protected horticulture offers opportunities for maximum resource efficiency across various levels within and between farms and at the regional level), high-quality production, and contributes significantly to the nutrition security as part of the world food production. In greenhouses, closed soilless cultivation systems give the opportunity to increase the water and nutrient use efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of the cultivation system by the reuse of the drained water and nutrients. However, due to the low quality of the water used in the Mediterranean countries, a completely closed system is not feasible. Partial discharge of the drainage nutrient solution when the levels of electrical conductivity (EC) or of the toxic ions in the system are reached is still a necessity. Thus, in the frame of the circular economy concept, this work presents the utilisation of the drainage solution of soilless cultivation systems for microalgae and biofertilisers production. The system includes a greenhouse equipped with a soilless cultivation system, a drainage solution collection tank, a closed bioreactor for microalgae production, and a biocatalysis tank. The bioreactor tested in the frame of this work includes two closed tube loops of a capacity of 1000 L each where, after the initial inoculation, the microalgae is developed using as a growth medium the drainage solution collected from the greenhouse crops. The bioreactor includes light and temperature control while pH is still manually regulated. As soon as the microalgae culture reaches a certain density level, 20% of the culture is harvested, and the culture system is refiled by a drainage nutrient solution. The microalgae produced goes through a biocatalysis process, which leads to the production of a rich aminoacids (and nitrogen) biofertiliser. The produced biofertiliser is then used for the fertilisation of greenhouse crops. The complete production cycle along with the effects of the biofertiliser produced on crop growth and yield are presented and discussed in this manuscript. Acknowledgment: This work was carried out under the PestNu project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Green Deal grant agreement No. 101037128 — PestNu.

Keywords: soilless, water use efficiency, nutrients use efficiency, biostimulant

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Authors: Ivonne Tshuma, Ralf Cord-Ruwisch, Wendell Ela

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Water crisis is a world-wide problem because of population growth and climate change. Hence, desalination is a solution to water scarcity, which threatens the world. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most used technique for desalination; unfortunately, this process, usually requires high-pressure requirement hence requires a lot of energy about 3 – 5.5 KWhr/m³ of electrical energy. The pressure requirements of RO can be alleviated by the use of PRO (pressure retarded osmosis) to drive the RO process. This paper proposes a process of utilizing the energy directly from PRO to drive an RO process. The paper mostly analyses the PRO process parameters such as cross-flow velocity, density, and buoyancy and how these have an effect on PRO hence ultimately the RO process. The experimental study of the PRO with various feed solution concentrations and cross-flow velocities at fixed applied pressure with different orientations of the PRO cell was performed. The study revealed that without cross-flow velocity, buoyancy effects were observed but not with cross-flow velocity.

Keywords: cross-flow velocity, pressure retarded osmosis, density, buoyancy

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Authors: Julien G. Chenet, Mario A. Hernandez, U. Leonardo Rodriguez

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The tropical areas are places where there is scarcity of access to potable water and where renewable energies need further development. They also display high undernourishment levels, even though they are one of the resources-richest areas in the world. In these areas, it is common to count on great extension of soils, high solar radiation and raw water from rain, groundwater, surface water or even saltwater. Even though resources are available, access to them is limited, and the low-density habitat makes central solutions expensive and investments not worthy. In response to this lack of investment, rural inhabitants use fossil fuels and timber as an energy source and import agrochemical for soils fertilization, which increase GHG emissions. The OASIS project brings an answer to this situation. It supplies renewable energy, potable water and organic food. The first step is the determination of the needs of the communities in terms of energy, water quantity and quality, food requirements and soil characteristics. Second step is the determination of the available resources, such as solar energy, raw water and organic residues on site. The pilot OASIS project is located in the Vichada department, Colombia, and ensures the sustainable use of natural resources to meet the community needs. The department has roughly 70% of indigenous people. They live in a very scattered landscape, with no access to clean water and energy. They use polluted surface water for direct consumption and diesel for energy purposes. OASIS pilot will ensure basic needs for a 400-students education center. In this case, OASIS will provide 20 kW of solar energy potential and 40 liters per student per day. Water will be treated form groundwater, with two qualities. A conventional one with chlorine, and as the indigenous people are not used to chlorine for direct consumption, second train is with reverse osmosis to bring conservable safe water without taste. OASIS offers a solution to supply basic needs, shifting from fossil fuels, timber, to a no-GHG-emission solution. This solution is part of the mitigation strategy against Climate Change for the communities in low-density areas of the tropics. OASIS is a learning center to teach how to convert natural resources into utilizable ones. It is also a meeting point for the community with high pedagogic impact that promotes the efficient and sustainable use of resources. OASIS system is adaptable to any tropical area and competes technically and economically with any conventional solution, that needs transport of energy, treated water and food. It is a fully automatic, replicable and sustainable solution to sort out the issue of access to basic needs in rural areas. OASIS is also a solution to undernourishment, ensuring a responsible use of resources, to prevent long-term pollution of soils and groundwater. It promotes the closure of the nutrient cycle, and the optimal use of the land whilst ensuring food security in depressed low-density regions of the tropics. OASIS is under optimization to Vichada conditions, and will be available to any other tropical area in the following months.

Keywords: climate change adaptation and mitigation, rural development, sustainable access to clean and renewable resources, social inclusion

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Authors: Rolf Katzenbach, Frithjof Clauss, Jie Zheng

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The final energy use can be divided mainly in four sectors: commercial, industrial, residential, and transportation. The trend in final energy consumption by sector plays as a most straightforward way to provide a wide indication of progress for reducing energy consumption and associated environmental impacts by different end use sectors. According to statistics the average share of end use energy for residential sector in the world was nearly 20% until 2011, in Germany a higher proportion is between 25% and 30%. However, it remains less studied than energy use in other three sectors as well its impacts on climate and environment. The reason for this involves a wide range of fields, including the diversity of residential construction like different housing building design and materials, living or energy using behavioral patterns, climatic condition and variation as well other social obstacles, market trend potential and financial support from government. This paper presents an extensive and in-depth analysis of the manner by which projects researched and operated by authors in the fields of energy efficiency primarily from the perspectives of both technical potential and initiative energy saving consciousness in the residential sectors especially in social housing buildings.

Keywords: energy efficiency, renewable energy, retro-commissioning, social housing, sustainability

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Authors: Granch Berhe Tseghai, Lodrick Wangatia Makokha

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Cotton dyeing using reactive dyes is one of the major water polluter; this is due to large amount of dye and salt remaining in effluent. Recent adverse climate change and its associated effect to human life have lead to search for more sustainable industrial production. Cationization of cotton to improve its affinity for reactive dye has been earmarked as a major solution for dyeing of cotton with no or less salt. Synthetic cationizing agents of ammonium salt have already been commercialized. However, in nature there are proteinous products which are rich in amino and ammonium salts which can be carefully harnessed to be used as cationizing agent for cotton. The hoofs and horns have successfully been used to cationize cotton so as to improve cotton affinity to the dye. The cationization action of the hoof and horn extract on cotton was confirmed by dyeing the pretreated fabric without salt and comparing it with conventionally dyed and untreated salt free dyed fabric. UV-VIS absorption results showed better dye absorption (62.5% and 50% dye bath exhaustion percentage for cationized and untreated respectively) while K/S values of treated samples were similar to conventional sample.

Keywords: cationization, cotton, proteinous products, reactive dyes

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Authors: Pius Akindele Adeniyi

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The World's tropical forests are disappearing at an alarming rate of more than 200,000 ha per year as a result of deforestation due mainly to population pressures, economic growth, poor management and inappropriate policy. A forest policy determines the role of the sector in a nation's economy and it is formulated in accordance with the objectives of the national economic development. Urban forestry as a concept is relatively new in Nigeria when compared to European and American countries. It consists of growing of trees, shrubs and grass along streets, in parks, and around public or private buildings whose management rests in the hands of the public and private owners. Major urban centers in Nigeria are devoid of efficiently planned tree-planting programs. Hence, various factors militating against environmental improvements, such as climate and other agents of degradation, are highlighted for the necessary attention. The paper discusses the need for forest policy formulation and the objectives of forest policy. Elements of forest policy are also discussed and in particular, those peculiar to urbanization and degraded lands are Forest policy and land-use and policy implementation together with some problem issues in forest policy are discussed while recommendations are given on formulation of a forest policy.

Keywords: urban, forest, policy, environment, interaction, degraded

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Authors: Lucy Patricia Onundo, Wilfred Njoroge Mwema

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The rapidly diminishing fossil fuel reserves, their exorbitant cost and the increasingly apparent negative effect of fossil fuels to climate changes is a wake-up call to explore renewable energy. Wind, bio-fuel and solar power have already become staples of Kenyan electricity mix. The potential of electric power generation from marine tidal currents is enormous, with oceans covering more than 70% of the earth. However, attempts to harness marine tidal energy in Kenya, has yet to be studied thoroughly due to its promising, cyclic, reliable and predictable nature and the vast energy contained within it. The high load factors resulting from the fluid properties and the predictable resource characteristics make marine currents particularly attractive for power generation and advantageous when compared to others. Global-level resource assessments and oceanographic literature and data have been compiled in an analysis of the technology-specific requirements for tidal energy technologies and the physical resources. Temporal variations in resource intensity as well as the differences between small-scale applications are considered.

Keywords: tidal power, renewable energy, energy assessment, Kenya

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Authors: Giacomo Barbieri

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In soilless culture, the management of the nutrient solution is the most important aspect for crop growing. Fertigation dose, frequency and nutrient concentration must be planned with the objective of reaching an optimal crop growth by limiting the utilized resources and the associated costs. The definition of efficient fertigation strategies is a complex problem since fertigation requirements vary on the basis of different factors, and crops are sensitive to small variations on fertigation parameters. To the best of author knowledge, a small-scale test bench that is flexible for both nutrient solution preparation and precise irrigation is currently missing, limiting the investigations in standard practices for soilless culture. Starting from the analysis of the state of the art, this paper proposes a small-scale system that is potentially able to concurrently test different fertigation strategies. The system will be designed and implemented throughout a three year project started on August 2018. However, due to the importance of the topic within current challenges as food security and climate change, this work is spread considering that may inspire other universities and organizations.

Keywords: soilless culture, fertigation, test bench, small-scale, automation

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Authors: Leveque Benjamin, Rabaud Suzanne, Anest Hugo, Catalan Caroline, Neveux Guillaume

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Human products consumption is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. However, few pertinent ecological indicators regarding product life cycle impact on species and ecosystems have been built. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies are well under way to conceive standardized methods to assess this impact, by taking already partially into account three of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment pressures (land use, pollutions, climate change). Coupling LCA and ecological data and methods is an emerging challenge to develop a product biodiversity footprint. This approach was tested on three case studies from food processing, textile, and cosmetic industries. It allowed first to improve the environmental relevance of the Potential Disappeared Fraction of species, end-point indicator typically used in life cycle analysis methods, and second to introduce new indicators on overexploitation and invasive species. This type of footprint is a major step in helping companies to identify their impacts on biodiversity and to propose potential improvements.

Keywords: biodiversity, companies, footprint, life cycle assessment, products

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Authors: Maja Martinovic, Valentina Zarkovic, Hrvoje Maljak

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Europe is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, in which tourism occupies a significant place among the most relevant economic activities, and this applies to the Republic of Croatia as well. Based on this study, the authors intended to encourage and support the creation of an effective tourism policy in Croatia that would be based on the profiling of certain target groups. Another objective was to compare the results obtained from the customer analysis with the market analysis of the tourism industry in Croatia. The objective is to adapt the current tourist offer according to the identified needs and expectations of a particular tourist group in order to increase the attractiveness of Croatia as a tourist destination and motivate greater attendance of the targeted tourist groups. The current research was oriented towards the Russian market as the target group. Therefore, the authors wanted to encourage a discussion on how to attract more Russian guests. Consequently, the intention of the research was a detailed analysis of Russian tourists, in order to gain a better understanding of their travelling motives and tendencies. Furthermore, attention was paid to the expectations of Russian customers and to compare them with the Croatian tourist offer, and to determine whether there is a possibility for an overlap. The method used to obtain the information required was a survey conducted among Russian citizens about their travelling habits. The research was carried out on the basis of 166 participants of different age, gender, profession and income group. The sampling and distribution of the survey took place between May and July 2016. The results provided from the research indicate that Croatian tourism has certain unrealized potential considering the popularization of Croatia as a tourist destination, and there is a capacity for increasing the revenues within the group of Russian tourists. Such a conclusion is based on the fact that the Croatian tourist offer and the preferences of the Russian guests are compatible, i.e. they overlap in many aspects. The results demonstrate that beautiful nature, cultural and historical heritage as well as the sun and sea, play a leading role in attracting more Russian tourists. It is precisely these elements that form the three pillars of the Croatian tourist offer. On the other hand, the profiling revealed that the most desirable destinations for the Russian guests are Italy and Spain, both of which provide the same main tourist attractions as Croatia. Therefore, the focus of the strategic ideas given in the paper shifted to other tourism segments, such as type of accommodation, sales channels, travel motives, additional offer and seasonality etc., in order to gain advantage in the Russian market, the Mediterranean region and tourism in general. The purpose of the research is to serve as a foundation for analysing the attractiveness of the other tourist destinations in the Russian market, as well as to be a general basis for a more detailed profiling of the various specific target groups of the Russian and other tourist groups.

Keywords: Croatia, Russian market, target groups, tourism, tourist destination

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Authors: Saul Ngarava, Leocadia Zhou, Nomakhaya Monde

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Water crises have the fourth most significant societal impact after weapons of mass destruction, climate change, and extreme weather conditions, ahead of natural disasters. Intricacies between women and water are central to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The majority of the 1.2 billion poor people worldwide, with two-thirds being women, and mostly located in Sub Sahara Africa (SSA) and South Asia, do not have access to safe and reliable sources of water. There exist gendered differences in water security based on the division of labour associating women with water. Globally, women and girls are responsible for water collection in 80% of the households which have no water on their premises. Women spend 16 million hours a day collecting water, while men and children spend 6 million and 4 million per day, respectively, which is time foregone in the pursuit of other livelihood activities. Due to their proximity and activities concerning water, women are vulnerable to water insecurity through exposures to water-borne diseases, fatigue from physically carrying water, and exposure to sexual and physical harassment, amongst others. Proximity to treated water and their wellbeing also has an effect on their sensitivity and adaptive capacity to water insecurity. The great distances, difficult terrain and heavy lifting expose women to vulnerabilities of water insecurity. However, few studies have quantified the vulnerabilities and burdens on women, with a few taking a phenomenological qualitative approach. Vulnerability studies have also been scanty in the water security realm, with most studies taking linear forms of either quantifying exposures, sensitivities or adaptive capacities in climate change studies. The current study argues for the need for a water insecurity vulnerability assessment, especially for women into research agendas as well as policy interventions, monitoring, and evaluation. The study sought to identify and provide pathways through which female-headed households were water insecure in South Africa, the 30th driest country in the world. This was through linking the drinking water decision as well as the vulnerability frameworks. Secondary data collected during the 2016 General Household Survey (GHS) was utilised, with a sample of 5928 female-headed households. Principal Component Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling were used to analyse the data. The results show dynamic relationships between water characteristics and water treatment. There were also associations between water access and wealth status of the female-headed households. Association was also found between water access and water treatment as well as between wealth status and water treatment. The study concludes that there are dynamic relationships in water insecurity (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) for female-headed households in South Africa. The study recommends that a multi-prong approach is required in tackling exposures, sensitivities, and adaptive capacities to water insecurity. This should include capacitating and empowering women for wealth generation, improve access to water treatment equipment as well as prioritising the improvement of infrastructure that brings piped and safe water to female-headed households.

Keywords: gender, principal component analysis, structural equation modelling, vulnerability, water insecurity

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Authors: A. M. Tarola, R. Preti, A. M. Girelli, P. Campana

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Goat dairy products are gaining popularity worldwide. In developing countries, but also in many marginal regions of the Mediterranean area, goats represent a great part of the economy and ensure food security. In fact, these small ruminants are able to convert efficiently poor weedy plants and small trees into traditional products of high nutritional quality, showing great resilience to different climatic and environmental conditions. In developed countries, goat milk is appreciated for the presence of health-promoting compounds, bioactive compounds such as conjugated linoleic acids, oligosaccharides, sphingolipids and polyammines. This paper focuses on the recent advances in literature on the nutritional properties of goat milk and on innovative techniques to improve its quality as to become a promising functional food. The environmental sustainability of different methodologies of production has also been examined. Goat milk is valued today as a food of high nutritional value and functional properties as well as small environmental footprint. It is widely consumed in many countries due to high nutritional value, lower allergenic potential, and better digestibility when compared to bovine milk, that makes this product suitable for infants, elderly or sensitive patients. The main differences in chemical composition between a cow and goat milk rely on fat globules that in goat milk are smaller and in fatty acids that present a smaller chain length, while protein, fat, and lactose concentration are comparable. Milk nutritional properties have demonstrated to be strongly influenced by animal diet, genotype, and welfare, but also by season and production systems. Furthermore, there is a growing interest in the dairy industry in goat milk for its relatively high concentration of prebiotics and a good amount of probiotics, which have recently gained importance for their therapeutic potential. Therefore, goat milk is studied as a promising matrix to develop innovative functional foods. In addition to the economic and nutritional value, goat milk is considered a sustainable product for its small environmental footprint, as they require relatively little water and land, and less medical treatments, compared to cow, these characteristics make its production naturally vocated to organic farming. Organic goat milk production has becoming more and more interesting both for farmers and consumers as it can answer to several concerns like environment protection, animal welfare and economical sustainment of rural populations living in marginal lands. These evidences make goat milk an ancient food with novel properties and advantages to be valorized and exploited.

Keywords: goat milk, nutritional quality, bioactive compounds, sustainable production, animal welfare

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Authors: Abdulkadir Magaji

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This study analyzes and compares the actual measured and simulated performance of a 3.2 kwP grid-connected photovoltaic system. The system is located at the Outdoor Facility of Government Day secondary School Katsina State, which lies approximately between coordinate of 12°15′N 7°30′E. The system consists of 14 Mono crystalline silicon modules connected in two strings of 7 series-connected modules, each facing north at a fixed tilt of 340. The data presented in this study were measured in the year 2015, where the system supplied a total of 4628 kWh to the local electric utility grid. The performance of the system was simulated using PVsyst software using measured and Meteonorm derived climate data sets (solar radiation, ambient temperature and wind speed). The comparison between measured and simulated energy yield are discussed. Although, both simulation results were similar, better comparison between measured and predicted monthly energy yield is observed with simulation performed using measured weather data at the site. The measured performance ratio in the present study shows 58.4% is higher than those reported elsewhere as compared in the study.

Keywords: performance, evaluation, grid connection, photovoltaic system

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Authors: Yasser Shabana, Khaled Ghoneem, Nehal Arafat, Younes Rashad, Dalia Aseel, Bruce Fitt, Aiming Qi, Benjamine Richard

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Providing food for more than 100 million people is one of Egypt's main challenges facing development. The overall goal is to formulate strategies to enhance food security in light of population growth. Two hundred samples of maize grains from 25 governates were collected. For the detection of seed-borne fungi, the deep-freezing blotter method (DFB) and washing method (ISTA 1999) were used. A total of 41 fungal species was recovered from maize seed samples. Weather data from 30 stations scattered all over Egypt and covering the major maize growing areas were obtained. Canonical correspondence analysis of data for the obtained fungal genera with temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed, or solar radiation revealed that relative humidity, temperature and wind speed were the most influential weather variables.

Keywords: biodiversity, climate change, maize, seed-borne fungi

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Authors: Peng Liu, Maria Justo Alonso, Hans Martin Mathisen

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A theoretical model is developed to evaluate the performance and energy saving potential of an air handling unit integrated with a membrane energy exchanger in cold climates. The recovered sensible and latent heat, fan preheating use for frost prevention and heating energy consumed by heating coil after the ventilator is compared for the air handling unit combined heat and energy exchanger respectively. A concept of coefficient of performance of air handling unit is presented and applied to assess the energy use of air handling unit (AHU) in cold climates. The analytic results indicate downsizing of the preheating coil before exchanger and heating coils after exchanger are expected since the required power to preheat and condition the air is reduced compared to heat exchanger when the MEE is integrated with AHU. Simultaneously, a superior ratio of energy recovered (RER) is obtained from AHU build-in a counter-flow MEE. The AHU with sensible-only heat exchanger has noticeably low RER, around 1 at low outdoor air temperature where the maximum energy rate is desired to condition the severe cold and dry air.

Keywords: membrane energy exchanger, cold climate, energy efficient building, HVAC

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Authors: F. Esfandyari Darabad, Z. Samadi

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The volume of runoff caused by rainfall in the river basin has enticed the researchers in the fields of the water management resources. In this study, first of the hydrological data such as the rainfall and discharge of the Khiyav river basin of Meshkin city in the northwest of Iran collected and then the process of analyzing and reconstructing has been completed. The soil conservation service (scs) has developed a method for calculating the runoff, in which is based on the curve number specification (CN). This research implemented the following model in the Khiyav river basin of Meshkin city by the GIS techniques and concluded the following fact in which represents the usage of weight model in calculating the curve numbers that provides the possibility for the all efficient factors which is contributing to the runoff creation such as; the geometric characteristics of the basin, the basin soil characteristics, vegetation, geology, climate and human factors to be considered, so an accurate estimation of runoff from precipitation to be achieved as the result. The findings also exposed the accident-prone areas in the output of the Khiyav river basin so it was revealed that the Khiyav river basin embodies a high potential for the flood creation.

Keywords: curve number, khiyav river basin, runoff estimation, SCS

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Authors: Gulnara N. Nabiyeva, Stephen M. Wheeler

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a multipurpose computer-based tool that provides a sophisticated ability to map and analyze data on different spatial layers. However, GIS is far more easily applied in some policy areas than others. This paper seeks to determine the areas of sustainable development, including environmental, economic, and social dimensions, where GIS has been used to date to support efforts to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to discuss potential areas where it might be used more. Based on an extensive analysis of published literature, we ranked the SDGs according to how frequently GIS has been used to study related policy. We found that SDG#15 “Life on Land” is most often addressed with GIS, following by SDG#11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities”, and SDG#13 “Climate Action”. On the other hand, we determined that SDG#2 “Zero Hunger”, SDG#8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, and SDG#16 “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” are least addressed with GIS. The paper outlines some specific ways that GIS might be applied to the SDGs least linked to this tool currently.

Keywords: GIS, GIS application, sustainable community development, sustainable development goals

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Authors: Oubelkacem Yacine, El Bast Hassan, El Bakkali Abdelmajid, Lamhasni Taibi, Ettakni Mahmoud, Ait Lyazidi Saadia, Haddad Mustapha, Ben-Ncer Abdelouahed, El Ferrane Mohammed, Boufarra Abdelkrim

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The present work relates to an on-site and completely non-invasive investigation of one of the most famous west Mediterranean Torah Scroll housed at the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco. The scroll is 26 m long and consists of 143 parchment sheets of 59 cm x 19 cm, exhibiting only black writings; it is of unknown age. The artifact has been restored by the curator staff of the library. The investigation exploring separately the parchment support and the writing black ink aims at: i) the examination of the parchment conservation/degradation state, ii) the identification of the black ink and iii) the identification of the parchment handcrafting materials. For this purpose, the analyses have been based on combining all of elemental XRF and structural Raman, ATR-FT Infrared Red and Fiber Optical Reflectance spectroscopies, in addition to chroma-metric and pH measurements. pH measurements showing values around 6.5 are in concordance with the absence of any visual corrosion related to the parchment acidity. However, on the basis of the relative intensities and frequency shift of amid I (AI) and amid II (AII) vibrational bands of the collagen, ATR-FTIR spectra revealed diffuse hydrolysis and gelatinization of the parchment writing support; diffuse and non-homogeny degradation by gelatinization has been also confirmed by the IG gelatinization index deduced from the NIR bands on the FOR spectra. This IG index, defined as the ratio I (6860 cm-1) / I (6685 cm-1), ranges in the interval 0.98 – 1 and highlights collagen degradation at the molecular level. Sequentially Shifted Excitation Raman measurements (SSERS) crossed to X-ray fluorescence (XRF) ones on the black writings revealed that the black ink used is an iron-copper gall one, while FOR spectra are typical of pure metal gall inks. These later reflectance measurements exclude, thus, any intentional addition of carbon black to the ink recipe. Moreover, no lead white had been used while pre-drawing the writing lines. On another side, ATR-FTIR measurements highlighted the presence of oxalates as ink degradation products. Considering the parchment handcrafting, the combination of XRF and ATR-FTIR measurements led to the assumption that this writing support had been prepared according to ancient Middle East practices; the parchment infrared fingerprint seems identical to that of the Dead Sea scroll. The present multi-technical analyses are the first ones performed on an ancient Judaic written parchment of Morocco; it is under furthering. The investigation will be extended to other parchments belonging to the Jewish Cultural Heritage Museum of Morocco in Casablanca.

Keywords: torah scroll, parchment, black ink, non-invasive analyses, XRF/ATR-FTIR/RAMAN/FORS

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Authors: Fanny Desbiolles, Laure Malleret, Isabelle Laffont-Schwob, Christophe Tiliacos, Anne Piram, Mohamed Sarakha, Pascal Wong-Wah-Chung

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Pharmaceuticals in the environment have become a very hot topic in the recent years. This interest is related to the large amounts dispensed and to their release in urine or faeces from treated patients, resulting in their ubiquitous presence in water resources and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) effluents. Thereby, many studies focused on the prediction of pharmaceuticals’ behaviour, to assess their fate and impacts in the environment. Carbamazepine is a widely consumed psychotropic pharmaceutical, thus being one of the most commonly detected drugs in the environment. This organic pollutant was proved to be persistent, especially with respect to its non-biodegradability, rendering it recalcitrant to usual biological treatment processes. Consequently, carbamazepine is very little removed in WWTP with a maximum abatement rate of 5 % and is then often released in natural surface waters. To better assess the environmental fate of carbamazepine in aqueous media, its photochemical transformation was undertaken in four natural waters (two French rivers, the Berre salt lagoon, Mediterranean Sea water) representative of coastal and inland water types. Kinetic experiments were performed in the presence of light using simulated solar irradiation (Xe lamp 300W). Formation of short-lifetime species was highlighted using chemical trap and laser flash photolysis (nanosecond). Identification of transformation by-products was assessed by LC-QToF-MS analyses. Carbamazepine degradation was observed after a four-day exposure and an abatement of 20% maximum was measured yielding to the formation of many by-products. Moreover, the formation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) was evidenced in waters using terephthalic acid as a probe, considering the photochemical instability of its specific hydroxylated derivative. Correlations were implemented using carbamazepine degradation rate, estimated hydroxyl radical formation and chemical contents of waters. In addition, laser flash photolysis studies confirmed •OH formation and allowed to evidence other reactive species, such as chloride (Cl2•-)/bromine (Br2•-) and carbonate (CO3•-) radicals in natural waters. Radicals mainly originate from dissolved phase and their occurrence and abundance depend on the type of water. Rate constants between reactive species and carbamazepine were determined by laser flash photolysis and competitive reactions experiments. Moreover, LC-QToF-MS analyses of by-products help us to propose mechanistic pathways. The results will bring insights to the fate of carbamazepine in various water types and could help to evaluate more precisely potential ecotoxicological effects.

Keywords: carbamazepine, kinetic and mechanistic approaches, natural waters, photodegradation

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Authors: M. S. Agha, A. M. Eshahiry, S. A. Aldabbar, Z. M. Alshahri

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The propagation of microwave is affected by rain and dust particles causing signal attenuation and de-polarization. Computations of these effects require knowledge of the propagation characteristics of microwave and millimeter wave energy in the climate conditions of the studied region. This paper presents effect of wind and humidity on wireless communication such as microwave links in the North West region of Libya (Al-Khoms). The experimental procedure is done on three selected antennae towers (Nagaza station, Al-Khoms center station, Al-Khoms gateway station) for determining the attenuation loss per unit length and cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) change. Dust particles are collected along the region of the study, to measure the particle size distribution (PSD), calculate the concentration, and chemically analyze the contents, then the dielectric constant can be calculated. The results show that humidity and dust, antenna height and the visibility affect both attenuation and phase shift; in which, a few considerations must be taken into account in the communication power budget.

Keywords: : Attenuation, scattering, transmission loss.

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Authors: Muhammad Hadi Ibrahim

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The benefits of alternative/renewable fuels in general and a study of the environmental impacts of biofuels in particular have been reviewed in this paper. It is a known fact that, energy generation using fossil fuel produces many important pollutants including; nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, soot, dust, smoke and other particulate harmful matter. It’s believed that if carbon dioxide levels continue to increase drastically, the planet will become warmer and will most likely result in a variety of negative impacts including; sea-level rise, extreme and unpredictable weather events and an increased frequency of draughts in inland agricultural zones. Biofuels such as alcohols, biogas, etc. appear to be more viable alternatives, especially for use as fuels in diesel engines. The substitution of fossil fuel through increased utilization of biofuels produced in a sustainable manner, can contribute immensely towards a cleaner environment, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation of climate change. Stakeholders in the energy sector can be sensitized by the findings of the research study and to consider the possible adverse effects in developing technologies for the production and combustion of biofuels.

Keywords: emission, energy, renewable/alternative fuel, environment, pollution

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Authors: Renuka Mahadevan, Maneka Jayasinghe, Dianne Dredge

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Over the last two years, tourism has been subject to unprecedented changes, and experts predict further change, especially with respect to travel and tourism choices. As concerns regarding the environment and climate change grow, many tourism industry stakeholders are particularly keen on taking steps to mitigate the adverse impacts of the travel industry to the broader society and environment. This approach and process is commonly referred to as 'Sustainable Tourism'. An emerging concept that extends beyond 'sustainable tourism' is 'Regenerative Tourism', which aims to impact the local systems, society and environment positively. In particular, it aims to provide transformational experiences to tourists and thereby inspire the travellers while the local cultural heritage and traditions are preserved from generation to generation. This study analyses how tourism stakeholders are shifting their attitude towards travel and tourism, particularly regarding its impact on people, places, businesses and the environment. The analysis will be based on a global survey of 1200 businesses, tourism organisations, employees, and travel consumers. The preliminary analysis of responses reveals a high interest towards transformational experiences during travel.

Keywords: regenerative tourism, transformational, experience, local systems

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Authors: N. Hatraf, L. Merabti, Z. Neffah, W. Taane

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The excessive consumption of fossil energies (electrical energy) during summer caused by the technological development involves more and more climate warming. In order to reduce the worst impact of gas emissions produced from classical air conditioning, heat driven solar absorption chiller is pretty promising; it consists on using solar as motive energy which is clean and environmentally friendly to provide cold. Solar absorption machine is composed by four components using Lithium Bromide /water as a refrigerating couple. LiBr- water is the most promising in chiller applications due to high safety, high volatility ratio, high affinity, high stability and its high latent heat. The lithium bromide solution is constitute by the salt lithium bromide which absorbs water under certain conditions of pressure and temperature however if the concentration of the solution is high in the absorption chillers; which exceed 70%, the solution will crystallize. The main aim of this article is to study the phenomena of the crystallization and to evaluate how the dependence between the electric conductivity and the concentration which should be controlled.

Keywords: absorption, crystallization, experimental results, lithium bromide solution

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Authors: Chanpen Meenakorn

Abstract:

This research aimed to examine the relationships between customer expectations and service quality management of Banpaew Hospital Samutsakorn in Thailand. The study sample consisted of 360 customers in patient unit. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics used were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The analytical statistics comprised Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient analysis. The result showed that service quality of nurses was very good with sustainable development trend. Physical evidence was at a high level, and the process and personal were rated at a high level. Additional, the study suggested that head nurse should be encouraged to improve service quality management, management training. Nurse administrators should create an appropriate nursing department climate, and provide necessary resources in the department. In addition, the nurse administrators should continuously follow up the results of customer expectations and focus on patients/customers, process management, information and knowledge management, and evaluation of service quality also.

Keywords: Banpaew Hospital, Customer Expectations, Service Provided, Samutsakorn

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Authors: Linda A. O’Higgins, Astrid Wingler, Jorge Oliveira

Abstract:

The growth of Chlorella vulgaris was characterized as a function of irradiance in a laboratory turbidostat (1 L) and compared to batch growth in sunlit modules (5–25 L) of the commercial Phytobag photobioreactor. The effects of variable sunlight and culture density were deconvoluted by a mathematical model. The analysis showed that algal growth was light-limited due to shading by external construction elements and due to light attenuation within the algal bags. The model was also used to predict maximum biomass productivity. The manipulative experiments and the model predictions were confronted with data from a production season of a 10m2 pilot-scale photobioreactor, Phytobag (10,000 L). The analysis confirmed light limitation in all three photobioreactors. An additional limitation of biomass productivity was caused by the nitrogen starvation that was used to induce lipid accumulation. Reduction of shading and separation of biomass and lipid production are proposed for future optimization.

Keywords: microalgae, batch cultivation, Chlorella vulgaris, Mathematical model, photobioreactor, scale-up

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Authors: Alberto Azevedo, Ricardo Martins, André B. Fortunato, Anabela Oliveira

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Water is under severe threat today because of the rising population, increased agricultural and industrial needs, and the intensifying effects of climate change. Due to sea-level rise, erosion, and demographic pressure, the coastal regions are of significant concern to the scientific community. The Water Monitoring Sentinel Cloud platform (WORSICA) service is focused on providing new tools for monitoring water in coastal and inland areas, taking advantage of remote sensing, in situ and tidal modeling data. WORSICA is a service that can be used to determine the coastline, coastal inundation areas, and the limits of inland water bodies using remote sensing (satellite and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - UAVs) and in situ data (from field surveys). It applies to various purposes, from determining flooded areas (from rainfall, storms, hurricanes, or tsunamis) to detecting large water leaks in major water distribution networks. This service was built on components developed in national and European projects, integrated to provide a one-stop-shop service for remote sensing information, integrating data from the Copernicus satellite and drone/unmanned aerial vehicles, validated by existing online in-situ data. Since WORSICA is operational using the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) computational infrastructures, the service can be accessed via a web browser and is freely available to all European public research groups without additional costs. In addition, the private sector will be able to use the service, but some usage costs may be applied, depending on the type of computational resources needed by each application/user. Although the service has three main sub-services i) coastline detection; ii) inland water detection; iii) water leak detection in irrigation networks, in the present study, an application of the service to Óbidos lagoon in Portugal is shown, where the user can monitor the evolution of the lagoon inlet and estimate the topography of the intertidal areas without any additional costs. The service has several distinct methodologies implemented based on the computations of the water indexes (e.g., NDWI, MNDWI, AWEI, and AWEIsh) retrieved from the satellite image processing. In conjunction with the tidal data obtained from the FES model, the system can estimate a coastline with the corresponding level or even topography of the inter-tidal areas based on the Flood2Topo methodology. The outcomes of the WORSICA service can be helpful for several intervention areas such as i) emergency by providing fast access to inundated areas to support emergency rescue operations; ii) support of management decisions on hydraulic infrastructures operation to minimize damage downstream; iii) climate change mitigation by minimizing water losses and reduce water mains operation costs; iv) early detection of water leakages in difficult-to-access water irrigation networks, promoting their fast repair.

Keywords: remote sensing, coastline detection, water detection, satellite data, sentinel, Copernicus, EOSC

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Aminu Mansur

Abstract:

A comparison of soil temperature at (5 and 30 cm) depths at a research site over the period (1976-2008) was analyzed. Based on the statistical analysis of the database of (12,045) days of individual soil temperature measurements in sandy-loam of the (salwick series) soils, the mean soil temperature revealed a statistically significant increase of about -1.1 to 10.9°C at 5 cm depth in 1976 compared to 2008. Similarly, soil temperature at 30 cm depth increased by -0.1 to 2.1°C in 2008 compared to 1976. Although, rapid increase in soil temperature at all depths was observed during that period, but a thorough assessment of these conditions suggested that the soil temperature at 5 cm depth are progressively increasing over time. A typical example of those increases in soil temperature was provided for agriculture where Miscanthus (elephant) plant that grows within the study area is adversely affected by the mean soil temperature increase. The study concluded that these observations contribute to the growing mass of evidence of global warming and knowledge on secular trends. Therefore, there was statistically significant increase in soil temperature at Compton Experimental Site between 1976-2008.

Keywords: soil temperature, warming trend, environment science, climate and atmospheric sciences

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Authors: Sanjay Adhikesaven

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Workplace accidents are a critical problem that causes many deaths, injuries, and financial losses. Climate change has a severe impact on industrial workers, partially caused by global warming. To reduce such casualties, it is important to proactively find unsafe environments where injuries could occur by detecting the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and identifying unsafe activities. Thus, we propose an industrial workplace alerting and monitoring platform to detect PPE use and classify unsafe activity in group settings involving multiple humans and objects over a long period of time. Our proposed method is the first to analyze prolonged actions involving multiple people or objects. It benefits from combining pose estimation with PPE detection in one platform. Additionally, we propose the first open-source annotated data set with video data from industrial workplaces annotated with the action classifications and detected PPE. The proposed system can be implemented within the surveillance cameras already present in industrial settings, making it a practical and effective solution.

Keywords: computer vision, deep learning, workplace safety, automation

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Authors: Hamid Mohamad Hosein Zadeh Hashemi

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In this article, in order to recognize the value of aesthetics of the place of wisdom and mysticism on Islamic art-architecture, and compare it with the influence of philosophy and thought on the "modern art of architecture" of the West, it examines the position of wisdom and philosophy in art Architecture ". In this regard, one can point out the unique status of "art of architecture" in human societies, which in two cultures of the East and West, based on the ideas of Islamic wisdom and Western thought, has taken a dual path, so that even today, even from the original And the basic "art of architecture" of its primary and academic has turned away and has undergone some kind of transformation. To this end, we examine some of the "aesthetics" positions based on the "art of architecture" in the broad sense of the word, in order to reflect on the historical course of this art, and with regard to the position of Islamic thought and Western thought, each of which originated from, but based on The basis of cultures, climate, and sociology, and others, are ultimately the result of an arbitrary result, namely the achievement of the aesthetic position of wisdom and mysticism on the "Islamic-Iranian" architecture of art "and its opposition to the position of philosophy and thought On modern art of modern architecture of the West.

Keywords: aesthetics, art, philosophy, the art of Architecture, wisdom

Procedia PDF Downloads 247