Search results for: biomass resource

Authors: Olakanmi Oladayo Olufemi, Bamifewe Olusegun James, Badmus Yaya Opeyemi, Adegoke Kayode

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The wireless sensor network (WSN) has made a significant contribution to the emergence of various intelligent services or cloud-based applications. Most of the time, these data are stored on a cloud platform for efficient management and sharing among different services or users. However, the sensitivity of the data makes them prone to various confidentiality and performance-related attacks during and after harvesting. Various security schemes have been developed to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the WSNs' data. However, their specificity towards particular attacks and the resource constraint and heterogeneity of WSNs make most of these schemes imperfect. In this paper, we propose a secure variance-aware routing and authentication scheme with two-tier verification to collect, share, and manage WSN data. The scheme is capable of classifying WSN into different subnets, detecting any attempt of wormhole and black hole attack during harvesting, and enforcing access control on the harvested data stored in the cloud. The results of the analysis showed that the proposed scheme has more security functionalities than other related schemes, solves most of the WSNs and cloud security issues, prevents wormhole and black hole attacks, identifies the attackers during data harvesting, and enforces access control on the harvested data stored in the cloud at low computational, storage, and communication overheads.

Keywords: data block, heterogeneous IoT network, data harvesting, wormhole attack, blackhole attack access control

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Authors: Ka C. Lam, Oluwafunmibi S. Idowu

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Uncertainty in cost is a major factor affecting performance of construction projects. To our knowledge, several conceptual cost models have been developed with varying degrees of accuracy. Incorporating conceptual quantities into conceptual cost models could improve the accuracy of early predesign cost estimates. Hence, the development of quantity models for estimating conceptual quantities of framed reinforced concrete structures using supervised machine learning is the aim of the current research. Using measured quantities of structural elements and design variables such as live loads and soil bearing pressures, response and predictor variables were defined and used for constructing conceptual quantities models. Twenty-four models were developed for comparison using a combination of non-parametric support vector regression, linear regression, and bootstrap resampling techniques. R programming language was used for data analysis and model implementation. Gross soil bearing pressure and gross floor loading were discovered to have a major influence on the quantities of concrete and reinforcement used for foundations. Building footprint and gross floor loading had a similar influence on beams and slabs. Future research could explore the modelling of other conceptual quantities for walls, finishes, and services using machine learning techniques. Estimation of conceptual quantities would assist construction planners in early resource planning and enable detailed performance evaluation of early cost predictions.

Keywords: bootstrapping, conceptual quantities, modelling, reinforced concrete, support vector regression

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Authors: Lingzhi Li, Jiankun Zhang, Tiantian Gu

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Hazard management that can prevent fatal accidents and property losses is a fundamental process during the buildings’ construction stage. However, due to lack of safety supervision resources and operational pressures, the conduction of hazard management is poor and ineffective in China. In order to improve the quality of construction safety management, it is critical to explore the use of information technologies to ensure that the process of hazard management is efficient and effective. After exploring the existing problems of construction hazard management in China, this paper develops the griddization management model for construction hazard management. First, following the knowledge grid infrastructure, the griddization computing infrastructure for construction hazards management is designed which includes five layers: resource entity layer, information management layer, task management layer, knowledge transformation layer and application layer. This infrastructure will be as the technical support for realizing grid management. Second, this study divides the construction hazards into grids through city level, district level and construction site level according to grid principles. Last, a griddization management process including hazard identification, assessment and control is developed. Meanwhile, all stakeholders of construction safety management, such as owners, contractors, supervision organizations and government departments, should take the corresponding responsibilities in this process. Finally, a case study based on actual construction hazard identification, assessment and control is used to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed griddization management model. The advantage of this designed model is to realize information sharing and cooperative management between various safety management departments.

Keywords: construction hazard, griddization computing, grid management, process

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Authors: Paul E. Olsen

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Researchers, businesses, and governments study the glass ceiling faced by women and members of minority groups at work, but the experiences of gay men, lesbians, and bisexual men and women with the lavender ceiling have not received similar attention. This qualitative research traces similarities between the lavender ceiling and the glass ceiling. More specifically, it presents a study designed to elucidate the experiences of gay men at work and compare them with those of women and minority group members, as reported in research literature on the glass ceiling. This research asked: 1) What have gay men experienced in the workplace? 2) What experiences have they had with recruitment, mentors, corporate climate, advancement opportunities, performance evaluation, social activities, harassment, and task force and committee assignments? 3) How do these experiences compare with those of women and minorities who have described their experiences with the glass ceiling? Purposeful and convenience sampling were used as participant selection strategies. Participants were diverse in terms of age, education, and industry. Data for this study were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with eight self-identified gay men working in human services, manufacturing, marketing, finance, government, the nonprofit sector, and retail. The gay men in the study described workplace experiences similar to descriptions of the glass ceiling faced by women and minorities. The lavender ceiling parallels the glass ceiling in corporate climates, harassment, mentors, social activities, promotions and performance appraisal, and task force and committee assignments at work. Women and most minorities do not, however, face the disclosure dilemma: Should one reveal his sexual orientation at work?

Keywords: discrimination, diversity, gay and lesbian, human resource

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Authors: Mohammed Aman Kassim

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This study explored the attitudes of hotel managers toward climate change adaption and mitigation practices in resort hotels located in Bishoftu town, Ethiopia. Weak resource management in the area causes serious environmental problems. So sustainable way forward is needed for the destination in order to reduce environmental damage. Six resorts were selected out of twelve resort hotels in Bishoftu City by using the systematic sampling method, and a total of fifty-six managers were taken for the study. The data analyzed came from self-administered questionnaires, site observation, and a short face-to-face interview with general managers. The results showed that 99% of hotel managers possess positive attitudes toward climate change adaptation and mitigation practices. But they did not show a high commitment to adopting all adaptation and mitigation practices in their hotel’s actions and day-to-day operation. Key adoption influencing factors identified were: owners' commitment toward sustainability, the applicability of government rules and regulations, and incentives for good achievement. The findings also revealed that the attitudes of resort hotel managers toward climate change adaption and mitigation practices are more significantly influenced by their social factors, such as level of education and age, in this study. The study demonstrated that in order to increase managers' commitment and hotels become green: government led-education and training programs, green certification actions, and application of government environmental regulation are important.

Keywords: climate change, climate change adaptation and mitigation practices, environmental attitude, resort hotels

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Authors: Marie Taylor, Catriona Murphy

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The aim of this paper is to identify the factors of success in community based heritage tourism initiatives. Heritage and community are central to many tourism initiatives with heritage tourism having the potential to act as a catalyst for community development. This paper presents the findings of research that examined the relationship between heritage tourism and community development. The findings recognised that heritage tourism had economic, social and cultural benefits for a community as well as a role in strengthening concepts such as sense of identity, place, and authenticity. In addition, this paper proposes an assessment framework for sustainable community based heritage tourism to identify factors and contextual influences involved in their success or failure. In evaluating the sustainability of such initiatives, a number of issues are investigated including the continued role of stakeholders, the role of funding, the influence of collaboration and the changing role of rural development and its impact on community engagement. The research is descriptive, evaluative and explanatory research, exploring and analysing issues such as the development of community structures in community based heritage tourism. Thus, it will contribute to the development of potential tourism and community development policies and strategies at a local, national and international level. An interpretative and inductive approach is utilised, and a mixed method approach followed as it encapsulates the best of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The case studies focus on social enterprises in relation to tourism and community based tourism cooperatives as there are limited study and knowledge of these. Consequently, this research will contribute to the discourse on community based heritage tourism as an aspect of community development.

Keywords: collaboration, community-based heritage tourism, stakeholders, sustainable tourism

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Authors: Zicheng Zhang, Linli Zhang

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As China's biggest social media platform, Weibo has taken on essential health communication responsibilities during the pandemic. This research takes 105 posters in 15 health-related official Weibo accounts as the analysis objects to explore COVID19 health information communication and visualisation. First, the interaction between the audiences and Weibo, including forwarding, comments, and likes, is statistically analysed. The comments about the information design are extracted manually, and then the sentiment analysis is carried out to verdict audiences' views about the poster's design. The forwarding and comments are quantified as the attention index for a reference to the degree of likes. In addition, this study also designed an evaluation scale based on the standards of Health Literacy Resource by the Centers for Medicare& Medicaid Services (US). Then designers scored all selected posters one by one. Finally, combining the data of the two parts, concluded that: 1. To a certain extent, people think that the posters do not deliver substantive and practical information; 2. Non-knowledge posters(i.e., cartoon posters) gained more Forwarding and Likes, such as Go, Wuhan poster; 3. The analysis of COVID posters is still mainly picture-oriented, mainly about encouraging people to overcome difficulties; 4. Posters for pandemic prevention usually contain more text and fewer illustrations and do not clearly show cultural differences. In conclusion, health communication usually involves a lot of professional knowledge, so visualising that knowledge in an accessible way for the general public is challenging. The relevant posters still have the problems of lack of effective communication, superficial design, and insufficient content accessibility.

Keywords: weibo, visualisation, covid posters, poster design

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Authors: Xiaoxue Jin, Qiong Zhang

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The rapid influx and ongoing flow of young migrants in large cities, alongside the emergence and evolution of new social media, have led to increased interpersonal alienation and weakened place attachment. In the interplay between individuals and space, urban public spaces play a pivotal role in meeting the multifaceted needs of individuals and fostering a sense of attachment. This article aims to investigate the relationship between the place characteristics of public spaces and individuals' needs and perceptions, with an aim to identify the factors influencing place attachment among the youth. This study is conducted in the Shekou community of Shenzhen, focusing on the youth residents to evaluate their place attachment levels and to analyze their perceptions of the place characteristics of selected public spaces. The influencing factors of public spaces on place attachment were sorted out through detailed data analysis. Research has found that rapid urbanization has led to spatial homogenization and spatial segregation caused by uneven resource distribution, which in turn diminishes the utilization of public spaces. The social characteristics of public spaces, such as the quality of social activities and spatial openness, are critical in forming place attachment. In this research, place characteristics impacting place attachment are categorized, aiming to reconstruct the characteristics of public space places and use them as a medium to explore the place attachment of young people, promote their independent creation and participation in public life, and enhance the dynamism between individuals and spaces.

Keywords: place attachment, place characteristics, public spaces, spatial perception

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Authors: Salman Naseer

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One of the main challenges of operating a smart city (SC) is collecting the massive data generated from multiple data sources (DS) and to transmit them to the control units (CU) for further data processing and analysis. These ever-increasing data demands require not only more and more capacity of the transmission channels but also results in resource over-provision to meet the resilience requirements, thus the unavoidable waste because of the data fluctuations throughout the day. In addition, the high energy consumption (EC) and carbon discharges from these data transmissions posing serious issues to the environment we live in. Therefore, to overcome the issues of intensive EC and carbon emissions (CE) of massive data dissemination in Smart Cities, we propose an energy efficient and carbon reduction approach by utilizing the daily mobility of the existing vehicles as an alternative communications channel to accommodate the data dissemination in smart cities. To illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach, we take the Auckland City in New Zealand as an example, assuming massive data generated by various sources geographically scattered throughout the Auckland region to the control centres located in city centre. The numerical results show that our proposed approach can provide up to 5 times lower delay as transferring the large volume of data by utilizing the existing daily vehicles’ mobility than the conventional transmission network. Moreover, our proposed approach offers about 30% less EC and CE than that of conventional network transmission approach.

Keywords: smart city, delay tolerant network, infrastructure offloading, opportunistic network, vehicular mobility, energy consumption, carbon emission

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Authors: Anju Batta Sehgal

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Climate change is a major challenge in terms of agriculture, food security and rural livelihood for thousands of people especially the poor in Himachal, which falls in North-Western Himalayas. Agriculture contributes over 45 per cent to net state domestic product. It is the main source of income and employment. Over 93 per cent of population is dependent on agriculture which provides direct employment to 71 percent of its people. Area of operation holding is about 9,79 lakh hectares owned by 9.14 lakh farmers. About 80 per cent area is rain-fed and farmers depend on weather gods for rains. Region is a home of diverse ethnic communities having enormous socio-economic and cultural diversities, gifted with range of farming systems and rich resource wealth, including biodiversity, hot spots and ecosystems sustaining millions of people living in the region. But growing demands of ecosystem goods and services are posing threats to natural resources. Climate change is already making adverse impact on the indigenous people. The rural populace is directly dependent for all its food, shelter and other needs on the climate. Our aim should be to shift the focus to indigenous people as primary actors in terms of global climate change monitoring, adaptations and innovations. Objective of this paper is to identify the climate change related threats and vulnerabilities associated with agriculture as a sector and agriculture as people’s livelihood. Broadly it analyses the connections between the nature and rural consumers the ethnic groups.

Keywords: climate change, agriculture, indigenous people, Himachal Pradesh

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Authors: Muhammad Faizan Chinannai, Jaeseung Lee, Mohamed Hassan Gundu, Hyunchul Ju

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Fuel cell is known to be an effective renewable energy resource which is commercializing in the present era. It is really important to know about the improvement in performance even when the system faces some defects. This study was carried out to analyze the performance of the Polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFCs) under different operating conditions such as current density, relative humidity and Pt loadings considering defects with load changes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the response of the fuel cell system with defects in Balance of Plants (BOPs) and catalyst layer (CL) degradation by maintaining the coolant flow rate as such to preserve the cell temperature at the required level. Multi-Scale Simulation of 3D two-phase PEFC model with coolant was carried out under different load conditions. For detailed analysis and performance comparison, extensive contours of temperature, current density, water content, and relative humidity are provided. The simulation results of the different cases are compared with the reference data. Hence the response of the fuel cell stack with defects in BOP and CL degradations can be analyzed by the temperature difference between the coolant outlet and membrane electrode assembly. The results showed that the Failure of the humidifier increases High-Frequency Resistance (HFR), air flow defects and CL degradation results in the non-uniformity of current density distribution and high cathode activation overpotential, respectively.

Keywords: PEM fuel cell, fuel cell modeling, performance analysis, BOP components, current density distribution, degradation

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Authors: Nafiseh Noormohammadi, Ahmad Sobhani Najafabadi

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Hypericins (hypericin and pseudohypericin) are natural napthodianthrone derivatives produced by Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s Wort), which have many medicinal properties such as antitumor, antineoplastic, antiviral, and antidepressant activities. Production and accumulation of hypericin in the plant are influenced by both genetic and environmental conditions. Despite the existence of different high-throughput data on the plant, genetic dimensions of hypericin biosynthesis have not yet been completely understood. In this research, 21 high-quality RNA-seq data on different parts of the plant were integrated into metabolic data to reconstruct a coexpression network. Results showed that a cluster of 30 transcripts was correlated with total hypericin. The identified transcripts were divided into three main groups based on their functions, including hypericin biosynthesis genes, transporters, detoxification genes, and transcription factors (TFs). In the biosynthetic group, different isoforms of polyketide synthase (PKSs) and phenolic oxidative coupling proteins (POCPs) were identified. Phylogenetic analysis of protein sequences integrated into gene expression analysis showed that some of the POCPs seem to be very important in the biosynthetic pathway of hypericin. In the TFs group, six TFs were correlated with total hypericin. qPCR analysis of these six TFs confirmed that three of them were highly correlated. The identified genes in this research are a rich resource for further studies on the molecular breeding of H. perforatum in order to obtain varieties with high hypericin production.

Keywords: hypericin, St. John’s Wort, data mining, transcription factors, secondary metabolites

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Authors: Fujia Yang

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Alongside technological innovation, the current “double reduction” policy and English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education in China both emphasise and encourage appropriately integrating educational technologies into the classroom. Therefore, schools are increasingly using digital means to engage students in English reading, but the impact of such technologies on Chinese pupils’ reading achievement remains unclear. To serve as a reference for reforming English reading education in primary schools under the double reduction policy, this study investigates the effects and primary influencing factors of a specific reading programme, Accelerated Reader (AR), on Chinese primary school students’ reading achievement. A quantitative online survey was used to collect 37 valid questionnaires from teachers, and the results demonstrate that, from teachers’ perspectives, the AR program seemed to positively affect students’ reading achievement by recommending material at the appropriate reading levels and developing students’ reading habits. Although the reading enjoyment derived from the AR program does not directly influence students’ reading achievement, these factors are strongly correlated. This can be explained by the self-paced, independent learning AR format, its high accuracy in predicting reading level, the quiz format and external motivation, and the importance of examinations and resource limitations in China. The results of this study may support reforming English reading education in Chinese primary schools.

Keywords: educational technology, reading programme, primary students, accelerated reader, reading effects

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Authors: Yuanyuan Wang, Chun Hui

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Drawing on social capital theory, this article discusses how individuals may utilize network ties to come up with creativity. Social capital theory elaborates how network ties enhances individual creativity from three dimensions: structural access, and relational and cognitive mechanisms. We categorize network ties into strong and weak in terms of tie strength. With less structural constraints, weak ties allow diverse and heterogeneous knowledge to prosper, further facilitating individuals to build up connections among diverse even distant ideas. On the other hand, strong ties with the relational mechanism of cooperation and trust may benefit the accumulation of psychological capital, ultimately to motivate and sustain creativity. We suggest that differential ties play different roles for individual creativity: Weak ties deliver informational benefit directly rifling individual creativity from informational resource aspect; strong ties offer solidarity benefits to reinforce psychological capital, which further inspires individual creativity engagement from a psychological viewpoint. Social capital embedded in network ties influence individuals’ informational acquisition, motivation, as well as cognitive ability to be creative. Besides, we also consider the moderating effects constraining the relatedness between network ties and creativity, such as knowledge articulability. We hypothesize that when the extent of knowledge articulability is low, that is, with low knowledge codifiability, and high dependency and ambiguity, weak ties previous serving as knowledge reservoir will not become ineffective on individual creativity. Two-wave survey will be employed in Mainland China to empirically test mentioned propositions.

Keywords: network ties, social capital, psychological capital, knowledge articulability, individual creativity

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Authors: Andrew Gennett

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Designing for fungal development means embracing the symbiotic relationship between the living system and built environment. The potential of mycelium post-colonization is explored for the fabrication of advanced pure mycelium products, going beyond the conventional methods of aggregating materials. Fruiting induction imparts desired material properties such as enhanced environmental resistance. Production approach allows for simultaneous generation of multiple products while scaling up raw materials supply suitable for architectural applications. The following work explores the integration of fungal environmental perception with computational design of built fruiting chambers. Polyporales, are classified by their porous reproductive tissues supported by a wood-like context tissue covered by a hard waterproofing coat of hydrobpobins. Persisting for years in the wild, these species represent material properties that would be highly desired in moving beyond flat sheets of arial mycelium as with leather or bacon applications. Understanding the inherent environmental perception of fungi has become the basis for working with and inducing desired hyphal differentiation. Working within the native signal interpretation of a mycelium mass during fruiting induction provides the means to apply textures and color to the final finishing coat. A delicate interplay between meeting human-centered goals while designing around natural processes of living systems represents a blend of art and science. Architecturally, physical simulations inform model design for simple modular fruiting chambers that change as fungal growth progresses, while biological life science principles describe the internal computations occurring within the fungal hyphae. First, a form filling phase of growth is controlled by growth chamber environment. Second, an initiation phase of growth forms the final exterior finishing texture. Hyphal densification induces cellular cascades, in turn producing the classical hardened cuticle, UV protective molecule production, as well, as waterproofing finish. Upon fruiting process completion, the fully colonized spent substrate holds considerable value and is not considered waste. Instead, it becomes a valuable resource in the next cycle of production scale-up. However, the acquisition of new substrate resources poses a critical question, particularly as these resources become increasingly scarce. Pursuing a regenerative design paradigm from the environmental perspective, the usage of “agricultural waste” for architectural materials would prove a continuation of the destructive practices established by the previous industrial regime. For these residues from fields and forests serve a vital ecological role protecting the soil surface in combating erosion while reducing evaporation and fostering a biologically diverse food web. Instead, urban centers have been identified as abundant sources of new substrate material. Diverting the waste from secondary locations such as food processing centers, papers mills, and recycling facilities not only reduces landfill burden but leverages the latent value of these waste steams as precious resources for mycelium cultivation. In conclusion, working with living systems through innovative built environments for fungal development, provides the needed gain of function and resilience of mycelium products. The next generation of sustainable fungal products will go beyond the current binding process, with a focus upon reducing landfill burden from urban centers. In final considerations, biophilic material builds to an ecologically regenerative recycling production cycle.

Keywords: regenerative agriculture, mycelium fabrication, growth chamber design, sustainable resource acquisition, fungal morphogenesis, soil fertility

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Authors: Lingfei Sun

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Based on the significant value of ecology, the strategic planning for ecological civilization construction was mentioned in the 17th and 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. How to generate economic value based on the environmental capacity is not only an economic decision but also a political decision to make. Boshan took the full use of “Ecology” and transformed it as an inexhaustible green resource to benefit people, reflecting the sustainable value of new agriculture development mode. The Strawberry Harvest Festival and Blueberry Harvest Festival hosted approximately 96,000 and 54,000 leisure tourists respectively in 2014. For the Kiwi Harvest Festival in August 2014, in average, it attracted about 4600 tourists per day, which generated daily kiwi sales of 50,000 lbs and 3 million RMB (About 476,000 USD) of daily revenue. The purpose of this study is to elaborate the modes of agritourism development, by analyzing the cases in rural area of Boshan, China. Interviews with the local government officers were applied to discover operation mode of agritourism operation. The financial data was used to demonstrate the strength of government policy and improvement of the income of rural people. The result indicated that there are mainly three types of modes: the Intensive Mode, the Model Mode and the Mixed Mode, supported by case study respectively. With the boom of tourism, the development of agritourism in Boshan relies on the agriculture encouraging policy of China and the effort of local government; meanwhile, large scale of cultivation and the product differentiation are the crucial elements for the success of rural agritourism projects.

Keywords: agriculture, agritourism, economy, rural area development

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Authors: Carmela Monterroso, Marc Romero-Estonllo, Carlos Pascual, Beatriz Rodríguez-Garrido

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The mobilization of heavy metals from polluted soils causes their transfer to natural waters, with consequences for ecosystems and human health. Phytostabilization techniques are applied to reduce this mobility, through the establishment of a vegetal cover and the application of soil amendments. In this work, the capacity of different organic amendments to improve water quality and reduce the mobility of metals in mine-tailings was evaluated. A field pilot test was carried out with leaching columns installed on an old Cu mine ore (NW of Spain) which forms part of the PhytoSUDOE network of phytomanaged contaminated field sites (PhytoSUDOE/ Phy2SUDOE Projects (SOE1/P5/E0189 and SOE4/P5/E1021)). Ten columns (1 meter high by 25 cm in diameter) were packed with untreated mine tailings (control) or those treated with organic amendments. Applied amendments were based on different combinations of municipal wastes, bark chippings, biomass fly ash, and nanoparticles like aluminum oxides or ferrihydrite-type iron oxides. During the packing of the columns, rhizon-samplers were installed at different heights (10, 20, and 50 cm) from the top, and pore water samples were obtained by suction. Additionally, in each column, a bottom leachate sample was collected through a valve installed at the bottom of the column. After packing, the columns were sown with grasses. Water samples were analyzed for: pH and redox potential, using combined electrodes; salinity by conductivity meter: bicarbonate by titration, sulfate, nitrate, and chloride, by ion chromatography (Dionex 2000); phosphate by colorimetry with ammonium molybdate/ascorbic acid; Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb by flame atomic absorption/emission spectrometry (Perkin Elmer). Porewater and leachate from the control columns (packed with unamended mine tailings) were extremely acidic and had a high concentration of Al, Fe, and Cu. In these columns, no plant development was observed. The application of organic amendments improved soil conditions, which allowed the establishment of a dense cover of grasses in the rest of the columns. The combined effect of soil amendment and plant growth had a positive impact on water quality and reduced mobility of aluminum and heavy metals.

Keywords: leaching, organic amendments, phytostabilization, polluted soils

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Authors: Abigaile Rose Mary R. Capay, Janne Ly Castillon-Gilpo, Sheila A. Javier

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The transition to online learning has been a challenging feat on the mental health of tertiary students. This study investigated whether learning mindfulness strategies online would help in improving students’ imagination, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability, as measured by the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) Big Five Factor Markers, as well as their dispositional mindfulness as measured by the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Fifty-two college students participated in the experiment. The 23 participants assigned to the treatment condition received 6-weekly experiential sessions of online mindfulness training and were advised to follow a daily mindfulness practice, while the 29 participants from the control group only received a 1-hour lecture. Scores were collected at pretest and posttest. Findings show that there was a significant difference in the pretest and posttest scores of students assigned in the treatment group, likewise medium effect sizes in the variables: dispositional mindfulness (t (22) = 2.64, p = 0.015, d = .550), extraversion (t (22) = 2.76, p = 0.011, d = 0.575), emotional stability (t (22) = 2.99, p = 0.007, d = .624), conscientiousness (t (22) = 2.74, p = 0.012, d = .572) and imagination (t (22) = 4.08, p < .001), but not for agreeableness (t (22) = 2.01, p = 0.057, d = .419). No significant differences were observed on the scores of the control group. Educational institutions are recommended to consider teaching basic mindfulness strategies to tertiary students, as a valuable resource in improving their mental health as they navigate through adjustments in online learning.

Keywords: mindfulness, school-based interventions, MAAS, IPIP Big Five Markers, experiment

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Authors: Mir Md. Abdus Salam, Muhammad Mohsin, Pertti Pulkkinen, Paavo Pelkonen, Ari Pappinen

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Soil and water pollution caused by extensive mining practices can adversely affect environmental components, such as humans, animals, and plants. Despite a generally positive contribution to society, mining practices have become a serious threat to biological systems. As metals do not degrade completely, they require immobilization, toxicity reduction, or removal. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of lime and N100 (11-amino-1-hydroxyundecylidene) chelate amendment on the growth and phytoextraction potential of the willow variety Klara (S. viminalis × S. schwerinii × S. dasyclados) grown in soils heavily contaminated with copper (Cu). The plants were irrigated with tap or processed water (mine wastewater). The sequential extraction technique and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) tool were used to determine the extractable metals and evaluate the fraction of metals in the soil that could be potentially available for plant uptake. The results suggest that the combined effects of the contaminated soil and processed water inhibited growth parameter values. In contrast, the accumulation of Cu in the plant tissues was increased compared to the control. When the soil was supplemented with lime and N100; growth parameter and resistance capacity were significantly higher compared to unamended soil treatments, especially in the contaminated soil treatments. The combined lime- and N100-amended soil treatment produced higher growth rate of biomass, resistance capacity and phytoextraction efficiency levels relative to either the lime-amended or the N100-amended soil treatments. This study provides practical evidence of the efficient chelate-assisted phytoextraction capability of Klara and highlights its potential as a viable and inexpensive novel approach for in-situ remediation of Cu-contaminated soils and mine wastewaters. Abandoned agricultural, industrial and mining sites can also be utilized by a Salix afforestation program without conflict with the production of food crops. This kind of program may create opportunities for bioenergy production and economic development, but contamination levels should be examined before bioenergy products are used.

Keywords: copper, Klara, lime, N100, phytoextraction

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Authors: Haiqiang Song, Huiqing Liu

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The Doseo basin in Chad, Central Africa is one of the most important oil and gas blocks in the world. However, the low degree of oil and gas exploration and the lack of relevant geological data restrict the understanding and resource evaluation of the basin. To further develop the Doseo basin efficiently, it is urgent to deeply analyze the source rock characteristics and hydrocarbon generation potential of the Doseo basin. Based on seismic and drilling data in recent years, this paper systematically evaluates the geochemical characteristics of source rocks and their generated oils in Doseo Basin, explores the development, distribution, and evolution characteristics of source rocks, and evaluates the exploration potential of Doseo Basin according to the hydrocarbon enrichment law. The results show that the Lower Cretaceous Baliemian and Apudian source rocks in Doseo Basin are well developed, with high organic matter abundance (average TOC≥3%) and good organic matter types (type I~II), which are the main development layers of source rocks, but the organic matter maturity is generally low (Ro of the drilled source rocks is mainly between 0.4%~0.8%). The planar structure also shows that the main hydrocarbon accumulation mode in Doseo sag is the forward tectonic reservoirs such as near source anticlines and faulted noses. Finally, it is estimated that the accumulative resources of the main source rocks in the Doseo Basin are about 4.33× 108T in Apudite and Balim terrace layers. The results of this study will help guide the next step of oil and gas exploration, which is expected to drive the next step of oil and gas development.

Keywords: Doseo basin, lower cretaceous, source rock characteristics, developmental characteristics, hydrocarbon generation potential

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Authors: Staņislavs Gendelis, Andris Jakovičs, Jānis Ratnieks, Aigars Laizāns, Dāvids Vardanjans

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Dehumidification of biogas at the biomass plants is very important to provide the energy efficient burning of biomethane at the outlet. A few methods are widely used to reduce the water content in biogas, e.g. chiller/heat exchanger based cooling, usage of different adsorbents like PSA, or the combination of such approaches. A quite different method of biogas dehumidification is offered and analyzed in this paper. The main idea is to direct the flow of biogas from the plant around it downwards; thus, creating additional insulation layer. As the temperature in gas shell layer around the plant will decrease from ~ 38°C to 20°C in the summer or even to 0°C in the winter, condensation of water vapor occurs. The water from the bottom of the gas shell can be collected and drain away. In addition, another upward shell layer is created after the condensate drainage place on the outer side to further reducing heat losses. Thus, counterflow biogas heat exchanger is created around the biogas plant. This research work deals with the numerical modelling of biogas flow, taking into account heat exchange and condensation on cold surfaces. Different kinds of boundary conditions (air and ground temperatures in summer/winter) and various physical properties of constructions (insulation between layers, wall thickness) are included in the model to make it more general and useful for different biogas flow conditions. The complexity of this problem is fact, that the temperatures in both channels are conjugated in case of low thermal resistance between layers. MATLAB programming language is used for multiphysical model development, numerical calculations and result visualization. Experimental installation of a biogas plant’s vertical wall with an additional 2 layers of polycarbonate sheets with the controlled gas flow was set up to verify the modelling results. Gas flow at inlet/outlet, temperatures between the layers and humidity were controlled and measured during a number of experiments. Good correlation with modelling results for vertical wall section allows using of developed numerical model for an estimation of parameters for the whole biogas dehumidification system. Numerical modelling of biogas counterflow heat exchanger system placed on the plant’s wall for various cases allows optimizing of thickness for gas layers and insulation layer to ensure necessary dehumidification of the gas under different climatic conditions. Modelling of system’s defined configuration with known conditions helps to predict the temperature and humidity content of the biogas at the outlet.

Keywords: biogas dehumidification, numerical modelling, condensation, biogas plant experimental model

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Authors: Iulia E. Falcan

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The transition of the European power sector towards a clean, renewable energy (RE) system faces the challenge of meeting power demand in times of low wind speed and low solar radiation, at a reasonable cost. This is likely to be achieved through a combination of 1) energy storage technologies, 2) development of the cross-border power grid, 3) installed overcapacity of RE and 4) dispatchable power sources – such as biomass. This paper uses NASA; derived hourly data on weather patterns of sixteen European countries for the past twenty-five years, and load data from the European Network of Transmission System Operators-Electricity (ENTSO-E), to develop a stochastic optimization model. This model aims to understand the synergies between the four classes of technologies mentioned above and to determine the optimal configuration of the energy technologies portfolio. While this issue has been addressed before, it was done so using deterministic models that extrapolated historic data on weather patterns and power demand, as well as ignoring the risk of an unbalanced grid-risk stemming from both the supply and the demand side. This paper aims to explicitly account for the inherent uncertainty in the energy system transition. It articulates two levels of uncertainty: a) the inherent uncertainty in future weather patterns and b) the uncertainty of fully meeting power demand. The first level of uncertainty is addressed by developing probability distributions for future weather data and thus expected power output from RE technologies, rather than known future power output. The latter level of uncertainty is operationalized by introducing a Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) constraint in the portfolio optimization problem. By setting the risk threshold at different levels – 1%, 5% and 10%, important insights are revealed regarding the synergies of the different energy technologies, i.e., the circumstances under which they behave as either complements or substitutes to each other. The paper concludes that allowing for uncertainty in expected power output - rather than extrapolating historic data - paints a more realistic picture and reveals important departures from results of deterministic models. In addition, explicitly acknowledging the risk of an unbalanced grid - and assigning it different thresholds - reveals non-linearity in the cost functions of different technology portfolio configurations. This finding has significant implications for the design of the European energy mix.

Keywords: cross-border grid extension, energy storage technologies, energy system transition, stochastic portfolio optimization

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Authors: Mazifah Simis, Azahan Awang, Kadir Arifin

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The brownfield regeneration is being implemented in developped countries. However, as a group 1 developing country in the South East Asia, the rapid development and increasing number of urban population in Malaysia have urged the needs to incorporate the brownfield regeneration into its physical planning development. The increasing number of urban ex-landfills is seen as a new resource that could overcome the issues of inadequate urban green space provisions. With regards to the new development approach in urban planning, this perception study aims to identify the sustainable planning approach based on what the stakeholders have in mind. Respondents consist of 375 local communities within four urban ex-landfill areas and 61 landscape architect and town planner officers in the Malaysian Local Authorities. Three main objectives are set to be achieved, which are (i) to identify ex-landfill issues that need to be overcome prior to the ex-landfill redevelopment (ii) to identify the most suitable types of ex-landfill redevelopment, and (iii) to identify the priority function for ex-landfill redevelopment as the public parks. From the data gathered through the survey method, the order of priorities based on stakeholders' perception was produced. The results show different perception among the stakeholders, but they agreed to the development of the public park as the main development. Hence, this study attempts to produce an integrated approach as a model for sustainable ex-landfill redevelopment that could be accepted by the stakeholders as a beneficial future development that could change the image of 296 ex-landfills in Malaysia into the urban public parks by the year 2020.

Keywords: brownfield regeneration, ex-landfill redevelopment, integrated approach, stakeholders' perception

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Authors: Ana Pego

Abstract:

Environmental technologies were developed for decades. Clean technologies emerged a few years ago. In these perspectives, the use of cleantech technologies has become very important due the fact of new era of environmental feats. As such, the market itself has become more competitive, more collaborative towards a better use of clean technologies. This paper shows the importance of clean technologies in offshore energy sector in Portuguese market, its localization and its impact on economy. Clean technologies are directly related with renewable cluster and concomitant with economic and social resource optimization criteria, geographic aspects, climate change and soil features. Cleantech is related with regional development, socio-technical transitions in organisations. There are an economical and social combinations which allow specialisation of regions in activities, higher employment, reduce of energy costs, local knowledge spillover and, business collaboration and competitiveness. The methodology used will be quantitative (IO matrix for Portugal 2013) and qualitative (questionnaires to stakeholders). The mix of both methodologies will confirm whether the use of technologies will allow a positive impact on economic and social variables used on this model. It is expected a positive impact on Portuguese economy both in investment and employment taking in account the localization of offshore renewable activities. This means that the importance of offshore renewable investment in Portugal has a few points which should be pointed out: the increase of specialised employment, localization of specific activities in territory, and increase of value added in certain regions. The conclusion will allow researchers and organisation to compare the Portuguese model to other European regions in order to a better use of natural and human resources.

Keywords: cleantech, economic impact, localisation, territory dynamics

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Authors: Hossein Miri, Zhou YongQi, Chan Bormei-Suy

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The development of advanced technologies and innovative solutions has opened up exciting new possibilities for revolutionizing healthcare systems. One such emerging concept is the use of virtual and holographic health information platforms that aim to provide interactive and personalized medical information to users. This paper provides a review of notable virtual and holographic health information platforms. It begins by highlighting the need for information visualization and 3D representation in healthcare. It then proceeds to provide background knowledge on information visualization and historical developments in 3D visualization technology. Additional domain knowledge concerning holography, holographic computing, and mixed reality is then introduced, followed by highlighting some of their common applications and use cases. After setting the scene and defining the context, the need and importance of virtual and holographic visualization in medicine are discussed. Subsequently, some of the current research areas and applications of digital holography and holographic technology are explored, alongside the importance and role of virtual and holographic visualization in genetics and genomics. An analysis of the key principles and concepts underlying virtual and holographic health information systems is presented, as well as their potential implications for healthcare are pointed out. The paper concludes by examining the most notable existing mixed-reality applications and systems that help doctors visualize diagnostic and genetic data and assist in patient education and communication. This paper is intended to be a valuable resource for researchers, developers, and healthcare professionals who are interested in the use of virtual and holographic technologies to improve healthcare.

Keywords: virtual, holographic, health information platform, personalized interactive medical information

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Authors: Virgo Sulakatko

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The reduction of energy consumption of the built environment has been one of the topics tackled by European Commission during the last decade. Increased energy efficiency requirements have increased the renovation rate of apartment buildings covered with External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS). Due to fast and optimized application process, a large extent of quality assurance is depending on the specific activities of artisans and are often not controlled. The on-site degradation factors (DF) have the technical influence to the façade and cause future costs to the owner. Besides the thermal conductivity, the building envelope needs to ensure the mechanical resistance and stability, fire-, noise-, corrosion and weather protection, and long-term durability. As the shortcomings of the construction phase become problematic after some years, the common value of the renovation is reduced. Previous work on the subject has identified and rated the relevance of DF to the technical requirements and developed a method to reveal the economic value of repair works. The future costs can be traded off to increased the quality assurance during the construction process. The proposed framework is describing the joint simulation of the technical importance and economic value of the on-site DFs of ETICS. The model is providing new knowledge to improve the resource allocation during the construction process by enabling to identify and diminish the most relevant degradation factors and increase economic value to the owner.

Keywords: ETICS, construction technology, construction management, life cycle costing

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Authors: Lavanya Ratnabala, Robinroy Peter, E. Y. A. Charles

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This research paper addresses the challenges of exploration and navigation in unknown environments from an evolutionary swarm robotics perspective. Path formation plays a crucial role in enabling cooperative swarm robots to accomplish these tasks. The paper presents a method called the sub-goal-based path formation, which establishes a path between two different locations by exploiting visually connected sub-goals. Simulation experiments conducted in the Argos simulator demonstrate the successful formation of paths in the majority of trials. Furthermore, the paper tackles the problem of inter-collision (traffic) among a large number of robots engaged in path formation, which negatively impacts the performance of the sub-goal-based method. To mitigate this issue, a task allocation strategy is proposed, leveraging local communication protocols and light signal-based communication. The strategy evaluates the distance between points and determines the required number of robots for the path formation task, reducing unwanted exploration and traffic congestion. The performance of the sub-goal-based path formation and task allocation strategy is evaluated by comparing path length, time, and resource reduction against the A* algorithm. The simulation experiments demonstrate promising results, showcasing the scalability, robustness, and fault tolerance characteristics of the proposed approach.

Keywords: swarm, path formation, task allocation, Argos, exploration, navigation, sub-goal

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Authors: Ma. Manna Farrel B. Pinto

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As global industrialization progresses, the environment remains to be at risk of disturbances brought by developments of cities and communities. Impacts of flourishing industries such as tourism require rapid growth of establishments and may threaten ecosystems and natural resources. Puerto Galera as a biosphere reserve and declared as the Center of the World’s Center of Marine Shorefish Biodiversity is on the brink of ecological deterioration as tourism further develops in its coastal areas. Apparently, attempts were initiated to establish a baseline for designation of protection in the economic and coastal marine zones of Puerto Galera but continuity of its implementation and coordination of concerned units remains deficient. Indications of eutrophication have been observed based on water quality analysis although parameter values still comply with the national standards for coastal waters. Water quality data, biodiversity and hydrodynamic information, gathered from studies, and local government units were analysed to assess the condition of the coast as well as acting policies implemented by the local authorities. Sources of contaminants were also located in its three main communities, and their shores wherein in recommendations for installing wastewater treatment facilities and further improvement of policies of waste discharge must be addressed. With a conceptual framework proposed in the study, a comprehensive data analysis and coordinated management are necessary to form an integrated coastal management for further protection and preservation of the sustainable coastal marine ecosystem of Puerto Galera.

Keywords: coastal management, environmental management, integrated resource management, Puerto Galera

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Authors: Maher Aburrous, Adel Khelifi, Manar Abu Talib

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Transactions performed by financial institutions on daily basis require XML encryption on large scale. Encrypting large volume of message fully will result both performance and resource issues. In this paper a novel approach is presented for securing financial XML transactions using classification data mining (DM) algorithms. Our strategy defines the complete process of classifying XML transactions by using set of classification algorithms, classified XML documents processed at later stage using element-wise encryption. Classification algorithms were used to identify the XML transaction rules and factors in order to classify the message content fetching important elements within. We have implemented four classification algorithms to fetch the importance level value within each XML document. Classified content is processed using element-wise encryption for selected parts with "High", "Medium" or “Low” importance level values. Element-wise encryption is performed using AES symmetric encryption algorithm and proposed modified algorithm for AES to overcome the problem of computational overhead, in which substitute byte, shift row will remain as in the original AES while mix column operation is replaced by 128 permutation operation followed by add round key operation. An implementation has been conducted using data set fetched from e-banking service to present system functionality and efficiency. Results from our implementation showed a clear improvement in processing time encrypting XML documents.

Keywords: XML transaction, encryption, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), XML classification, e-banking security, fuzzy classification, cryptography, intelligent encryption

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Authors: Ang Chia Hong, Julian Khoo Xubin, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

Abstract:

Distributed systems offer many benefits to the healthcare industry. From big data analysis to business intelligence, the increased computational power and efficiency from distributed systems serve as an invaluable resource in the healthcare sector to utilize. However, as the usage of these distributed systems increases, many issues arise. The main focus of this paper will be on security issues. Many security issues stem from distributed systems in the healthcare industry, particularly information security. The data of people is especially sensitive in the healthcare industry. If important information gets leaked (Eg. IC, credit card number, address, etc.), a person’s identity, financial status, and safety might get compromised. This results in the responsible organization losing a lot of money in compensating these people and even more resources expended trying to fix the fault. Therefore, a framework for a blockchain-based healthcare data management system for healthcare was proposed. In this framework, the usage of a blockchain network is explored to store the encryption key of the patient’s data. As for the actual data, it is encrypted and its encrypted data, called ciphertext, is stored in a cloud storage platform. Furthermore, there are some issues that have to be emphasized and tackled for future improvements, such as a multi-user scheme that could be proposed, authentication issues that have to be tackled or migrating the backend processes into the blockchain network. Due to the nature of blockchain technology, the data will be tamper-proof, and its read-only function can only be accessed by authorized users such as doctors and nurses. This guarantees the confidentiality and immutability of the patient’s data.

Keywords: distributed, healthcare, efficiency, security, blockchain, confidentiality and immutability

Procedia PDF Downloads 175