Search results for: technical writing

Authors: T. Lydon, A. McNabola, P. Coughlan

Abstract:

Energy consumption in the water distribution network (WDN) is a well established problem equating to the industry contributing heavily to carbon emissions, with 0.9 kg CO2 emitted per m3 of water supplied. It is indicated that 85% of energy wasted in the WDN can be recovered by installing turbines. Existing potential in networks is present at small capacity sites (5-10 kW), numerous and dispersed across networks. However, traditional turbine technology cannot be scaled down to this size in an economically viable fashion, thus alternative approaches are needed. This research aims to enable energy recovery potential within the WDN by exploring the potential of pumps-as-turbines (PATs), to realise this potential. PATs are estimated to be ten times cheaper than traditional micro-hydro turbines, presenting potential to contribute to an economically viable solution. However, a number of technical constraints currently prohibit their widespread use, including the inability of a PAT to control pressure, difficulty in the selection of PATs due to lack of performance data and a lack of understanding on how PATs can cater for fluctuations as extreme as +/- 50% of the average daily flow, characteristic of the WDN. A PAT prototype is undergoing testing in order to identify the capabilities of the technology. Results of preliminary testing, which involved testing the efficiency and power potential of the PAT for varying flow and pressure conditions, in order to develop characteristic and efficiency curves for the PAT and a baseline understanding of the technologies capabilities, are presented here: •The limitations of existing selection methods which convert BEP from pump operation to BEP in turbine operation was highlighted by the failure of such methods to reflect the conditions of maximum efficiency of the PAT. A generalised selection method for the WDN may need to be informed by an understanding of impact of flow variations and pressure control on system power potential capital cost, maintenance costs, payback period. •A clear relationship between flow and efficiency rate of the PAT has been established. The rate of efficiency reductions for flows +/- 50% BEP is significant and more extreme for deviations in flow above the BEP than below, but not dissimilar to the reaction of efficiency of other turbines. •PAT alone is not sufficient to regulate pressure, yet the relationship of pressure across the PAT is foundational in exploring ways which PAT energy recovery systems can maintain required pressure level within the WDN. Efficiencies of systems of PAT energy recovery systems operating conditions of pressure regulation, which have been conceptualise in current literature, need to be established. Initial results guide the focus of forthcoming testing and exploration of PAT technology towards how PATs can form part of an efficiency energy recovery system.

Keywords: energy recovery, pump-as-turbine, water distribution network, water distribution network

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Katarina Pogacnik, Ursa Zakrajsek, Nejc Sirk, Ziga Lampret

Abstract:

Due to an increase in living standards along with global population growth and a trend of urbanization, municipalities and regions are faced with an ever rising energy demand. A challenge has arisen for cities around the world to modify the energy supply chain in order to reduce its consumption and CO₂ emissions. The aim of our work is the development of a computational-analytical platform for dynamic support in decision-making and the determination of economic and technical indicators of energy efficiency in a smart city, named Energy Atlas. Similar products in this field focuse on a narrower approach, whereas in order to achieve its aim, this platform encompasses a wider spectrum of beneficial and important information for energy planning on a local or regional scale. GIS based interactive maps provide an extensive database on the potential, use and supply of energy and renewable energy sources along with climate, transport and spatial data of the selected municipality. Beneficiaries of Energy atlas are local communities, companies, investors, contractors as well as residents. The Energy Atlas platform consists of three modules named E-Planning, E-Indicators and E-Cooperation. The E-Planning module is a comprehensive data service, which represents a support towards optimal decision-making and offers a sum of solutions and feasibility of measures and their effects in the area of efficient use of energy and renewable energy sources. The E-Indicators module identifies, collects and develops optimal data and key performance indicators and develops an analytical application service for dynamic support in managing a smart city in regards to energy use and sustainable environment. In order to support cooperation and direct involvement of citizens of the smart city, the E-cooperation is developed with the purpose of integrating the interdisciplinary and sociological aspects of energy end-users. Interaction of all the above-described modules contributes to regional development because it enables for a precise assessment of the current situation, strategic planning, detection of potential future difficulties and also the possibility of public involvement in decision-making. From the implementation of the technology in Slovenian municipalities of Ljubljana, Piran, and Novo mesto, there is evidence to suggest that the set goals are to be achieved to a great extent. Such thorough urban energy planning tool is viewed as an important piece of the puzzle towards achieving a low-carbon society, circular economy and therefore, sustainable society.

Keywords: circular economy, energy atlas, energy management, energy planning, low-carbon society

Procedia PDF Downloads 305

Authors: Kever Gomes, Rosana Martins

Abstract:

The use of environmental indicators is today an important strategy for analyzing the sustainability of agricultural systems. Despite of the considerable importance of family agriculture for Brazilian economy, sustainable agricultural practices are still weakly known, and the known ones, underused. Currently, economic aspects of the relationship between man and nature lead to the destruction of natural ecosystems, which justifies the urgent need for dissemination and usage of new sustainable production techniques. The study shows the agro-social and social-cultural trajectory of the farmers and hypothesis are advanced on what would imply the adoption of agroforestry systems in family agriculture. This study aimed to investigate aspects related to the perception of sustainable agriculture, especially on agroforestry systems in farms of farmers from Distrito Federal-Brazil. Agro-social characteristics of farmers were systematized considering their perceptions about agroforestry systems for the preparation of proposal for a program of Environmental Services Payment, intended for families who are involved in the various activities of home gardens. This study used qualitative methodological approaches of quantitative research, using descriptive exploratory research. To get the necessary elements for the intended analysis, interviews were conducted at 40 heads of households of which 15 were men and 25 women. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, having been considered in the analysis the frequency, consistency, coherence and originality of responses. It was found that the lack of financial resources and lack of technical assistance are limiting factors for the dissemination and use of sustainable agricultural practices. Considering the great number of species found for the main categories of use, it can be inferred that the home gardens play important functions for the interviewed families, contributing for the food and medicine production destined for the consumption by the families themselves, and also playing an important esthetic function thanks to the variety of their ornamental plants. The wealth of these home gardens may be related to the rural origin and to the culture of the owners, who still keep a cultivation tradition. It was found that the products obtained from the home gardens contributed for the diet’s variety of the informants, representing a promising potential for the improvement of the population alimentation. The study reached the conclusion over the need to motivate the interest of these farmers to seek information and resources to enable the implementation of Agroforestry projects, including the recovery of areas in their properties, even those distinct from their backyards. The study shows the agro-social and social-cultural trajectory of the farmers and hypothesis are advanced on what would imply the adoption of agroforestry systems in family agriculture.

Keywords: agro-biodiversity, natural conservation, silviculture, urban agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Josef Drahorad, Milos Beran, Ondrej Vltavsky, Marian Urban, Martin Fronek, Jiri Sova

Abstract:

Engineering efforts of researchers of the Food research institute Prague and the Czech Technical University in spray drying technologies led to the introduction of a demonstrator ATOMIZER and a new technology of Carbon Dioxide-Assisted Spray Nebulization Drying (CASND). The equipment combines the spray drying technology, when the liquid to be dried is atomized by a rotary atomizer, with Carbon Dioxide Assisted Nebulization - Bubble Dryer (CAN-BD) process in an original way. A solution, emulsion or suspension is saturated by carbon dioxide at pressure up to 80 bar before the drying process. The atomization process takes place in two steps. In the first step, primary droplets are produced at the outlet of the rotary atomizer of special construction. In the second step, the primary droplets are divided in secondary droplets by the CO2 expansion from the inside of primary droplets. The secondary droplets, usually in the form of microbubbles, are rapidly dried by warm air stream at temperatures up to 60ºC and solid particles are formed in a drying chamber. Powder particles are separated from the drying air stream in a high efficiency fine powder separator. The product is frequently in the form of submicron hollow spheres. The CASND technology has been used to produce microparticulated protein concentrates for human nutrition from alternative plant sources - hemp and canola seed filtration cakes. Alkali extraction was used to extract the proteins from the filtration cakes. The protein solutions after the alkali extractions were dried with the demonstrator ATOMIZER. Aerosol particle size distribution and concentration in the draying chamber were determined by two different on-line aerosol spectrometers SMPS (Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer) and APS (Aerodynamic Particle Sizer). The protein powders were in form of hollow spheres with average particle diameter about 600 nm. The particles were characterized by the SEM method. The functional properties of the microparticulated protein concentrates were compared with the same protein concentrates dried by the conventional spray drying process. Microparticulated protein has been proven to have improved foaming and emulsifying properties, water and oil absorption capacities and formed long-term stable water dispersions. This work was supported by the research grants TH03010019 of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

Keywords: carbon dioxide-assisted spray nebulization drying, canola seed, hemp seed, microparticulated proteins

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: D. Tedesco, G. Feletti, P. Trucco

Abstract:

The present study aims to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) to support the operational decision of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) regarding the assignment of medical emergency requests to Emergency Departments (ED). In the literature, this problem is also known as “hospital selection” and concerns the definition of policies for the selection of the ED to which patients who require further treatment are transported by ambulance. The employed research methodology consists of the first phase of revision of the technical-scientific literature concerning DSSs to support the EMS management and, in particular, the hospital selection decision. From the literature analysis, it emerged that current studies are mainly focused on the EMS phases related to the ambulance service and consider a process that ends when the ambulance is available after completing a request. Therefore, all the ED-related issues are excluded and considered as part of a separate process. Indeed, the most studied hospital selection policy turned out to be proximity, thus allowing to minimize the transport time and release the ambulance in the shortest possible time. The purpose of the present study consists in developing an optimization model for assigning medical emergency requests to the EDs, considering information relating to the subsequent phases of the process, such as the case-mix, the expected service throughput times, and the operational capacity of different EDs in hospitals. To this end, a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model was created to evaluate different hospital selection policies. Therefore, the next steps of the research consisted of the development of a general simulation architecture, its implementation in the AnyLogic software and its validation on a realistic dataset. The hospital selection policy that produced the best results was the minimization of the Time To Provider (TTP), considered as the time from the beginning of the ambulance journey to the ED at the beginning of the clinical evaluation by the doctor. Finally, two approaches were further compared: a static approach, which is based on a retrospective estimate of the TTP, and a dynamic approach, which is based on a predictive estimate of the TTP determined with a constantly updated Winters model. Findings reveal that considering the minimization of TTP as a hospital selection policy raises several benefits. It allows to significantly reduce service throughput times in the ED with a minimum increase in travel time. Furthermore, an immediate view of the saturation state of the ED is produced and the case-mix present in the ED structures (i.e., the different triage codes) is considered, as different severity codes correspond to different service throughput times. Besides, the use of a predictive approach is certainly more reliable in terms of TTP estimation than a retrospective approach but entails a more difficult application. These considerations can support decision-makers in introducing different hospital selection policies to enhance EMSs performance.

Keywords: discrete event simulation, emergency medical services, forecast model, hospital selection

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Mark Darius Juszczak

Abstract:

While epistemology, as a sub-field of philosophy, is generally concerned with theoretical questions about the nature of knowledge, the explosion in digital media technologies has resulted in an exponential increase in the storage and transmission of human information. That increase has resulted in a particular non-linear dynamic – digital epistemological functions are radically altering how and what we know. Neither the rate of that change nor the consequences of it have been well studied or taken into account in developing state-level strategies for epistemological functions. At the current time, US Federal policy, like that of virtually all other countries, maintains, at the national state level, clearly defined boundaries between various epistemological agencies - agencies that, in one way or another, mediate the functional use of knowledge. These agencies can take the form of patent and trademark offices, national library and archive systems, departments of education, departments such as the FTC, university systems and regulations, military research systems such as DARPA, federal scientific research agencies, medical and pharmaceutical accreditation agencies, federal funding for scientific research and legislative committees and subcommittees that attempt to alter the laws that govern epistemological functions. All of these agencies are in the constant process of creating, analyzing, and regulating knowledge. Those processes are, at the most general level, epistemological functions – they act upon and define what knowledge is. At the same time, however, there are no high-level strategic epistemological directives or frameworks that define those functions. The only time in US history where a proxy state-level epistemological strategy existed was between 1961 and 1969 when the Kennedy Administration committed the United States to the Apollo program. While that program had a singular technical objective as its outcome, that objective was so technologically advanced for its day and so complex so that it required a massive redirection of state-level epistemological functions – in essence, a broad and diverse set of state-level agencies suddenly found themselves working together towards a common epistemological goal. This paper does not call for a repeat of the Apollo program. Rather, its purpose is to investigate the minimum structural requirements for a national state-level epistemological strategy in the United States. In addition, this paper also seeks to analyze how the epistemological work of the multitude of national agencies within the United States would be affected by such a high-level framework. This paper is an exploratory study of this type of framework. The primary hypothesis of the author is that such a function is possible but would require extensive re-framing and reclassification of traditional epistemological functions at the respective agency level. In much the same way that, for example, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) evolved to respond to a new type of security threat in the world for the United States, it is theorized that a lack of coordination and alignment in epistemological functions will equally result in a strategic threat to the United States.

Keywords: strategic security, epistemological functions, epistemological agencies, Apollo program

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Milos Beran, Josef Drahorad, Ondrej Vltavsky, Martin Fronek, Jiri Sova

Abstract:

While most nanofibers are produced using electrospinning, this technique suffers from several drawbacks, such as the requirement for specialized equipment, high electrical potential, and electrically conductive targets. Consequently, recent years have seen the increasing emergence of novel strategies in generating nanofibers in a larger scale and higher throughput manner. The centrifugal spinning is simple, cheap and highly productive technology for nanofiber production. In principle, the drawing of solution filament into nanofibers using centrifugal spinning is achieved through the controlled manipulation of centrifugal force, viscoelasticity, and mass transfer characteristics of the spinning solutions. Engineering efforts of researches of the Food research institute Prague and the Czech Technical University in the field the centrifugal nozzleless spinning led to introduction of a pilot plant demonstrator NANOCENT. The main advantages of the demonstrator are lower investment cost - thanks to simpler construction compared to widely used electrospinning equipments, higher production speed, new application possibilities and easy maintenance. The centrifugal nozzleless spinning is especially suitable to produce submicron fibers from polymeric solutions in highly volatile solvents, such as chloroform, DCM, THF, or acetone. To date, submicron fibers have been prepared from PS, PUR and biodegradable polyesters, such as PHB, PLA, PCL, or PBS. The products are in form of 3D structures or nanofiber membranes. Unique self-supporting nanofiber membranes were prepared from the biodegradable polyesters in different mixtures. The nanofiber membranes have been tested for different applications. Filtration efficiencies for water solutions and aerosols in air were evaluated. Different active inserts were added to the solutions before the spinning process, such as inorganic nanoparticles, organic precursors of metal oxides, antimicrobial and wound healing compounds or photocatalytic phthalocyanines. Sintering can be subsequently carried out to remove the polymeric material and transfer the organic precursors to metal oxides, such as Si02, or photocatalytic Zn02 and Ti02, to obtain inorganic nanofibers. Electrospinning is more suitable technology to produce membranes for the filtration applications than the centrifugal nozzleless spinning, because of the formation of more homogenous nanofiber layers and fibers with smaller diameters. The self-supporting nanofiber membranes prepared from the biodegradable polyesters are especially suitable for medical applications, such as wound or burn healing dressings or tissue engineering scaffolds. This work was supported by the research grants TH03020466 of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

Keywords: polymeric nanofibers, self-supporting nanofiber membranes, biodegradable polyesters, active inserts

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: R. M. Kilonzo, S. Bedingfield, K. Smith, K. Hudgins Smith, K. Couper, R. Ratley, Z. Taylor, A. Engelman, M. Renne

Abstract:

Introduction: The mental health needs of university students continue to evolve, necessitating a strategic approach to service delivery. The East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Counseling Center developed its inaugural Strategic Plan (2024-2028) to enhance student mental health services. The plan focuses on improving access, quality of care, and service visibility, aligning with the university’s mission to support academic success and student well-being. Aim: This strategic plan aims to establish a comprehensive framework for delivering high-quality, evidence-based mental health services to ETSU students, addressing current challenges, and anticipating future needs. Methods: The development of the strategic plan was a collaborative effort involving the Counseling Center’s leadership, staff, with technical support from Doctor of Public Health-community and behavioral health intern. Multiple workshops, online/offline reviews, and stakeholder consultations were held to ensure a robust and inclusive process. A SWOT analysis and stakeholder mapping were conducted to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. Key performance indicators (KPIs) were set to measure service utilization, satisfaction, and outcomes. Results: The plan resulted in four strategic priorities: service application, visibility/accessibility, safety and satisfaction, and training programs. Key objectives include expanding counseling services, improving service access through outreach, reducing stigma, and increasing peer support programs. The plan also focuses on continuous quality improvement through data-driven assessments and research initiatives. Immediate outcomes include expanded group therapy, enhanced staff training, and increased mental health literacy across campus. Conclusion and Recommendation: The strategic plan provides a roadmap for addressing the mental health needs of ETSU students, with a clear focus on accessibility, inclusivity, and evidence-based practices. Implementing the plan will strengthen the Counseling Center’s capacity to meet the diverse needs of the student population. To ensure sustainability, it is recommended that the center continuously assess student needs, foster partnerships with university and external stakeholders, and advocate for increased funding to expand services and staff capacity.

Keywords: strategic plan, university counseling center, mental health, students

Procedia PDF Downloads 19

Authors: Joe Kallas

Abstract:

It is now widely accepted that the preservation of cultural heritage must go beyond simple restoration and renovation actions. While some historic monuments have been preserved for millennia, many of them, less important or simply neglected because of lack of money, have disappeared. As a result, the adaptation of monuments and archaeological sites to new functions allow them to 'survive'. Temporary activities or 'ephemeral' re-use, are increasingly recognized as a means of vitalization of deprived areas and enhancement of historic sites that became obsolete. They have the potential to increase economic and cultural value while making the best use of existing resources. However, there are often conservation and preservation issues related to the implementation of this type of re-use, which can also threaten the integrity and authenticity of archaeological sites and monuments if they have not been properly managed. This paper aims to get a better knowledge of the ephemeral re-use of heritage, and more specifically the subject of the incorporation of the festival phenomenon within the monuments and archaeological sites in Lebanon, a topic that is not yet studied enough. This paper tried to determine the elements that compose it, in order to analyze this phenomenon and to trace its good practices, by comparing international study cases to important national cases: the International Festival of Baalbek, the International Festival of Byblos and the International Festival of Beiteddine. Various factors have been studied and analyzed in order to best respond to the main problematic of this paper: 'How can we preserve the integrity of sites and monuments after the integration of an ephemeral function? And what are the preventive conservation measures to be taken when holding festivals in archaeological sites with fragile structures?' The impacts of the technical problems were first analyzed using various data and more particularly the effects of mass tourism, the integration of temporary installations, sound vibrations, the effects of unstudied lighting, until the mystification of heritage. Unfortunately, the DGA (General Direction of Antiquities in Lebanon) does not specify any frequency limit for the sound vibrations emitted by the speakers during musical festivals. In addition, there is no requirement from its part regarding the installations of the lighting systems in the historic monuments and no monitoring is done in situ, due to the lack of awareness of the impact that could be generated by such interventions, and due to the lack of materials and tools needed for the monitoring process. The study and analysis of the various data mentioned above led us to the elaboration of the main objective of this paper, which is the establishment of a list of recommendations. This list enables to define various preventive conservation measures to be taken during the holding of the festivals within the cultural heritage sites in Lebanon. We strongly hope that this paper will be an awareness document to start taking into consideration several factors previously neglected, in order to improve the conservation practices in the archaeological sites and monuments during the incorporation of the festival phenomenon.

Keywords: archaeology, authenticity, conservation, cultural heritage, festival, historic sites, integrity, monuments, tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: John Dimopoulos

Abstract:

This proposal attempts a refabrication of Heidegger’s classic thing-being and object-being analysis in order to provide better ontological tools for understanding contemporary culture, technology, and society. In his work, Heidegger sought to understand and comment on the problem of technology in an era of rampant innovation and increased perils for society and the planet. Today we seem to be at another crossroads in this course, coming after postmodernity, during which dreams and dangers of modernity augmented with critical speculations of the post-war era take shape. The new era which we are now living in, referred to as hypermodernity by researchers in various fields such as architecture and cultural theory, is defined by the horizontal implementation of digital technologies, cybernetic networks, and mixed reality. Technology today is rapidly approaching a turning point, namely the point of no return for humanity’s supervision over its creations. The techno-scientific civilization of the 21st century creates a series of problems, progressively more difficult and complex to solve and impossible to ignore, climate change, data safety, cyber depression, and digital stress being some of the most prevalent. Humans often have no other option than to address technology-induced problems with even more technology, as in the case of neuron networks, machine learning, and AI, thus widening the gap between creating technological artifacts and understanding their broad impact and possible future development. As all technical disciplines and particularly design, become enmeshed in a matrix of digital hyper-objects, a conceptual toolbox that allows us to handle the new reality becomes more and more necessary. Weaponized design, prevalent in many fields, such as social and traditional media, urban planning, industrial design, advertising, and the internet in general, hints towards an increase in conflicts. These conflicts between tech companies, stakeholders, and users with implications in politics, work, education, and production as apparent in the cases of Amazon workers’ strikes, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Facebook and Microsoft data scandals, and more are often non-transparent to the wide public’s eye, thus consolidating new elites and technocratic classes and making the public scene less and less democratic. The new category proposed, weapon-being, is outlined in respect to the basic function of reducing complexity, subtracting materials, actants, and parameters, not strictly in favor of a humanistic re-orientation but in a more inclusive ontology of objects and subjects. Utilizing insights of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and its schematization of technological objects, an outline for a radical ontology of technology is approached.

Keywords: design, hypermodernity, object-oriented ontology, weapon-being

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Efrain Rodriguez, Cristhian Riano, Alberto Alvares

Abstract:

In recent years, robots manipulators with parallel architectures are used in additive manufacturing processes – 3D printing. These robots have advantages such as speed and lightness that make them suitable to help with the efficiency and productivity of these processes. Consequently, the interest for the development of parallel robots for additive manufacturing applications has increased. This article deals with the conceptual design and dimensional synthesis of the linear delta robot for additive manufacturing. Firstly, a methodology based on structured processes for the development of products through the phases of informational design, conceptual design and detailed design is adopted: a) In the informational design phase the Mudge diagram and the QFD matrix are used to aid a set of technical requirements, to define the form, functions and features of the robot. b) In the conceptual design phase, the functional modeling of the system through of an IDEF0 diagram is performed, and the solution principles for the requirements are formulated using a morphological matrix. This phase includes the description of the mechanical, electro-electronic and computational subsystems that constitute the general architecture of the robot. c) In the detailed design phase, a digital model of the robot is drawn on CAD software. A list of commercial and manufactured parts is detailed. Tolerances and adjustments are defined for some parts of the robot structure. The necessary manufacturing processes and tools are also listed, including: milling, turning and 3D printing. Secondly, a dimensional synthesis method applied on design of the linear delta robot is presented. One of the most important key factors in the design of a parallel robot is the useful workspace, which strongly depends on the joint space, the dimensions of the mechanism bodies and the possible interferences between these bodies. The objective function is based on the verification of the kinematic model for a prescribed cylindrical workspace, considering geometric constraints that possibly lead to singularities of the mechanism. The aim is to determine the minimum dimensional parameters of the mechanism bodies for the proposed workspace. A method based on genetic algorithms was used to solve this problem. The method uses a cloud of points with the cylindrical shape of the workspace and checks the kinematic model for each of the points within the cloud. The evolution of the population (point cloud) provides the optimal parameters for the design of the delta robot. The development process of the linear delta robot with optimal dimensions for additive manufacture is presented. The dimensional synthesis enabled to design the mechanism of the delta robot in function of the prescribed workspace. Finally, the implementation of the robotic platform developed based on a linear delta robot in an additive manufacturing application using the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technique is presented.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, delta parallel robot, dimensional synthesis, genetic algorithms

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Larry Hawkins, Scott K. Sakakura, Michael J. Salopek

Abstract:

The Marshall Space Flight Center is designing and building a next-generation CO₂ removal system, the Four Bed Carbon Dioxide Scrubber (4BCO₂), which will use the International Space Station (ISS) as a testbed. The current ISS CO2 removal system has faced many challenges in both performance and reliability. Given that CO2 removal is an integral Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) subsystem, the 4BCO2 Scrubber has been designed to eliminate the shortfalls identified in the current ISS system. One of the key required upgrades was to improve the performance and reliability of the blower that provides the airflow through the CO₂ sorbent beds. A magnetically levitated blower, capable of higher airflow and pressure than the previous system, was developed to meet this need. The design and qualification testing of this next-generation blower are described here. The new blower features a high-efficiency permanent magnet motor, a five-axis, active magnetic bearing system, and a compact controller containing both a variable speed drive and a magnetic bearing controller. The blower uses a centrifugal impeller to pull air from the inlet port and drive it through an annular space around the motor and magnetic bearing components to the exhaust port. Technical challenges of the blower and controller development include survival of the blower system under launch random vibration loads, operation in microgravity, packaging under strict size and weight requirements, and successful operation during 4BCO₂ operational changeovers. An ANSYS structural dynamic model of the controller was used to predict response to the NASA defined random vibration spectrum and drive minor design changes. The simulation results are compared to measurements from qualification testing the controller on a vibration table. Predicted blower performance is compared to flow loop testing measurements. Dynamic response of the system to valve changeovers is presented and discussed using high bandwidth measurements from dynamic pressure probes, magnetic bearing position sensors, and actuator coil currents. The results presented in the paper show that the blower controller will survive launch vibration levels, the blower flow meets the requirements, and the magnetic bearings have adequate load capacity and control bandwidth to maintain the desired rotor position during the valve changeover transients.

Keywords: blower, carbon dioxide removal, environmental control and life support system, magnetic bearing, permanent magnet motor, validation testing, vibration

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Dohwan Kim, Dongchoon Ryou, Pyungjong Yoo

Abstract:

In public water facilities, drinking water distribution systems have played an important role along with water purification systems. The water distribution network is one of the most expensive components of water supply infrastructure systems. To improve the reliability for the drinking rate of tap water, advanced water treatment processes such as granular activated carbon and membrane filtration were used by water service providers in Korea. But, distrust of the people for tap water are still. Therefore, accurate diagnosis and condition assessment for water pipelines are required to supply the clean water. The internal corrosion of water pipe has increased as time passed. Also, the cross-sectional areas in pipe are reduced by the rust, deposits and tubercles. It is the water supply ability decreases as the increase of hydraulic pump capacity is required to supply an amount of water, such as the initial condition. If not, the poor area of water supply will be occurred by the decrease of water pressure. In order to solve these problems, water managers and engineers should be always checked for the current status of the water pipe, such as water leakage and damage of pipe. If problems occur, it should be able to respond rapidly and make an accurate estimate. In Korea, replacement and rehabilitation of aging drinking water pipes are carried out based on the circumstances of simply buried years. So, water distribution system management may not consider the entire water pipeline network. The long-term design and upgrading of a water distribution network should address economic, social, environmental, health, hydraulic, and other technical issues. This is a multi-objective problem with a high level of complexity. In this study, the thickness of the old water pipes, corrosion levels of the inner and outer surface for water pipes, basic data research (i.e. pipe types, buried years, accident record, embedded environment, etc.), specific resistance of soil, ultimate tensile strength and elongation of metal pipes, samples characteristics, and chemical composition analysis were performed about aging drinking water pipes. Samples of water pipes used in this study were cement mortar lining ductile cast iron pipe (CML-DCIP, diameter 100mm) and epoxy lining steel pipe (diameter 65 and 50mm). Buried years of CML-DCIP and epoxy lining steel pipe were respectively 32 and 23 years. The area of embedded environment was marine reclamation zone since 1940’s. The result of this study was that CML-DCIP needed replacement and epoxy lining steel pipe was still useful.

Keywords: drinking water distribution system, water supply, replacement, rehabilitation, water pipe

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: O. Adjoul, A. Feugier, K. Benfriha, A. Aoussat

Abstract:

In general, issues related to design and maintenance are considered in an independent manner. However, the decisions made in these two sets influence each other. The design for maintenance is considered an opportunity to optimize the life cycle cost of a product, particularly in the nuclear or aeronautical field, where maintenance expenses represent more than 60% of life cycle costs. The design of large-scale systems starts with product architecture, a choice of components in terms of cost, reliability, weight and other attributes, corresponding to the specifications. On the other hand, the design must take into account maintenance by improving, in particular, real-time monitoring of equipment through the integration of new technologies such as connected sensors and intelligent actuators. We noticed that different approaches used in the Design For Maintenance (DFM) methods are limited to the simultaneous characterization of the reliability and maintainability of a multi-component system. This article proposes a method of DFM that assists designers to propose dynamic maintenance for multi-component industrial systems. The term "dynamic" refers to the ability to integrate available monitoring data to adapt the maintenance decision in real time. The goal is to maximize the availability of the system at a given life cycle cost. This paper presents an approach for simultaneous optimization of the design and maintenance of multi-component systems. Here the design is characterized by four decision variables for each component (reliability level, maintainability level, redundancy level, and level of monitoring data). The maintenance is characterized by two decision variables (the dates of the maintenance stops and the maintenance operations to be performed on the system during these stops). The DFM model helps the designers choose technical solutions for the large-scale industrial products. Large-scale refers to the complex multi-component industrial systems and long life-cycle, such as trains, aircraft, etc. The method is based on a two-level hybrid algorithm for simultaneous optimization of design and maintenance, using genetic algorithms. The first level is to select a design solution for a given system that considers the life cycle cost and the reliability. The second level consists of determining a dynamic and optimal maintenance plan to be deployed for a design solution. This level is based on the Maintenance Free Operating Period (MFOP) concept, which takes into account the decision criteria such as, total reliability, maintenance cost and maintenance time. Depending on the life cycle duration, the desired availability, and the desired business model (sales or rental), this tool provides visibility of overall costs and optimal product architecture.

Keywords: availability, design for maintenance (DFM), dynamic maintenance, life cycle cost (LCC), maintenance free operating period (MFOP), simultaneous optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Hahido Samaras

Abstract:

In many cases, especially with the pandemic playing a major role in fast-tracking the growth of the digital industry, online learning has become a necessity or even a standard educational model nowadays, reliably overcoming barriers such as location, time and cost and frequently combined with a face-to-face format (e.g., in blended learning). This being the case, it is evident that students in many parts of the world, as well as their parents, will increasingly need to become aware of the pros and cons of online versus traditional courses. This fast-growing mode of learning, accelerated during the years of the pandemic, presents an abundance of exciting options especially matched for a large number of secondary school students in remote places of the world where access to stimulating educational settings and opportunities for a variety of learning alternatives are scarce, adding advantages such as flexibility, affordability, engagement, flow and personalization of the learning experience. However, online learning can also present several challenges, such as a lack of student motivation and social interactions in natural settings, digital literacy, and technical issues, to name a few. Therefore, educational researchers will need to conduct further studies focusing on the benefits and weaknesses of online learning vs. traditional learning, while instructional designers propose ways of enhancing student motivation and engagement in virtual environments. Similarly, teachers will be required to become more and more technology-capable, at the same time developing their knowledge about their students’ particular characteristics and needs so as to match them with the affordances the technology offers. And, of course, schools, education programs, and policymakers will have to invest in powerful tools and advanced courses for online instruction. By developing digital courses that incorporate intentional opportunities for community-building and interaction in the learning environment, as well as taking care to include built-in design principles and strategies that align learning outcomes with learning assignments, activities, and assessment practices, rewarding academic experiences can derive for all students. This paper raises various issues regarding the effectiveness of online learning on students by reviewing a large number of research studies related to the usefulness and impact of online learning following the COVID-19-induced digital education shift. It also discusses what students, teachers, decision-makers, and parents have reported about this mode of learning to date. Best practices are proposed for parties involved in the development of online learning materials, particularly for secondary school students, as there is a need for educators and developers to be increasingly concerned about the impact of virtual learning environments on student learning and wellbeing.

Keywords: blended learning, online learning, secondary schools, virtual environments

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: Seydou Drabo

Abstract:

This paper examines how traditional contraceptives and abortion practices challenges the use of modern contraceptives in Burkina Faso. It demonstrates how fears and ‘superstitions’ interact with knowledge about modern contraceptives methods to determine use in a context where other way of controlling fertility (traditional contraceptives, abortion) are available to women in the public, private and traditional health sectors. Furthermore, these issues come at the time when Burkina Faso is among countries with a high fertility rate which (6.0 in 2010) and a very low used of contraceptives as only 16% of married women of childbearing age were using a contraceptive method in 2010. The country also has a young population since 33 % of the population is between 10-24 years old and this number is expected to increase by 2050, generating fears that a growing population of youth will put excessive pressure on available resources, including access to education, health services, and employment. Despite over two decades of dedicated policy attention, 24% of women of reproductive age (15-49) was estimated to have an unmet need for contraception in 2010. This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted since march 2016 (The research is still in progress) in Burkina Faso. Data were collected from 25 women (users and non-users of modern contraceptives and /or traditional contraceptives, post abortion care patients), 4 street drugs vendors and 3 traditional healers through formal and informal interviews, as well as direct observation. The findings show that a variety of contraceptives methods and abortion drugs or methods, both traditional and modern circulate and are available to women. Traditional contraceptives called African contraceptives by some of our participants refer to several birth control method including plants decoction, magical ring, waist necklace, a ritual done with a mixture of lay coming from termite mound and menses. Abortion is a practice that is done in secret through the use of abortion drugs or through intra uterine manoeuvres. Modern contraceptives include Oral contraceptive, implants, injectable. Stereotypes about modern contraceptives, having regular menstrual cycles and adopt of natural birth control methods, bad experience with modern contraceptives methods, the side effect of modern contraceptives, irregularity of sexual activities and the availability of emergency contraceptives are among factors that limit their use among women. In addition, a negative perception is built around modern contraceptives seen as the drug of ‘white people’. In general, the information on these drugs circulates in women’s social network (first line of information on contraceptive). Some women prefer using what they call African contraceptives or inducing an abortion over modern contraceptives because of their side effect. Furthermore, the findings show that women practices and attitudes in controlling birth varies throughout different phases of their lives. Beyond global discourses and technical solution, the issue of Family planning is all about social practices.

Keywords: abortion, Burkina Faso, contraception, culture, women

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Rohit Lall

Abstract:

The adoption of Micro Irrigation (MI) technologies in India has helped in achieving higher cropping and irrigation intensity with significant savings on resource savings such as labour, fertilizer and improved crop yields. These technologies have received considerable attention from policymakers, growers and researchers over the years for its perceived ability to contribute towards agricultural productivity and economic growth with the well-being of the growers of the country. Keeping the pace with untapped theoretical potential to cover government had launched flagship programs/centre sector schemes with earmarked budget to capture the potential under these waters saving techniques envisaged under these technologies by way of providing financial assistance to the beneficiaries for adopting these technologies. Micro Irrigation technologies have been in the special attention of the policymakers over the years. India being an agrarian economy having engaged 75% of the population directly or indirectly having skilled, semi-skilled and entrepreneurs in the sector with focused attention and financial allocations from the government under these technologies in covering the untapped potential under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) 'Per Drop More Crop component.' During the year 2004, a Taskforce on Micro Irrigation was constituted to estimate the potential of these technologies in India which was estimated 69.5 million hectares by the Task Force Report on MI however only 10.49 million hectares have been achieved so far. Technology collaborations by leading manufacturing companies in overseas have proved to a stepping stone in technology advancement and product up gradation with increased efficiencies. Joint ventures by the leading MI companies have added huge business volumes which have not only accelerated the momentum of achieving the desired goal but in terms of area coverage but had also generated opportunities for the polymer manufacturers in the country. To provide products matching the global standards Bureau of Indian Standards have constituted a sectional technical committee under the Food and Agriculture Department (FAD)-17 to formulated/devise and revise standards pertaining to MI technologies. The research lobby has also contributed at large by developing in-situ analysis proving MI technologies a boon for farming community of the country with resource conservation of which water is of paramount importance. Thus, Micro Irrigation technologies have proved to be the key tool for feeding the grueling demand of food basket of the growing population besides maintaining soil health and have been contributing towards doubling of farmers’ income.

Keywords: task force on MI, standards, per drop more crop, doubling farmers’ income

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Valerii Levshakov, Olga Fedorova

Abstract:

Specific features of ship structures, made from composites, i.e. simultaneous shaping of material and structure, large sizes, complicated outlines and tapered thickness have defined leading role of technology, integrating test results from material science, designing and structural analysis. Main procedures of composite shipbuilding are contact molding, vacuum molding and winding. Now, the most demanded composite shipbuilding technology is the manufacture of structures from fiberglass and multilayer hybrid composites by means of vacuum molding. This technology enables the manufacture of products with improved strength properties (in comparison with contact molding), reduction of production duration, weight and secures better environmental conditions in production area. Mechanized winding is applied for the manufacture of parts, shaped as rotary bodies – i.e. parts of ship, oil and other pipelines, deep-submergence vehicles hulls, bottles, reservoirs and other structures. This procedure involves processing of reinforcing fiberglass, carbon and polyaramide fibers. Polyaramide fibers have tensile strength of 5000 MPa, elastic modulus value of 130 MPa and rigidity of the same can be compared with rigidity of fiberglass, however, the weight of polyaramide fiber is 30% less than weight of fiberglass. The same enables to the manufacture different structures, including that, using both – fiberglass and organic composites. Organic composites are widely used for the manufacture of parts with size and weight limitations. High price of polyaramide fiber restricts the use of organic composites. Perspective area of winding technology development is the manufacture of carbon fiber shafts and couplings for ships. JSC ‘Shipbuilding & Shiprepair Technology Center’ (JSC SSTC) developed technology of dielectric uncouplers for cryogenic lines, cooled by gaseous or liquid cryogenic agents (helium, nitrogen, etc.) for temperature range 4.2-300 K and pressure up to 30 MPa – the same is used for separating components of electro physical equipment with different electrical potentials. Dielectric uncouplers were developed, the manufactured and tested in accordance with International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Technical specification. Spiral uncouplers withstand operating voltage of 30 kV, direct-flow uncoupler – 4 kV. Application of spiral channel instead of rectilinear enables increasing of breakdown potential and reduction of uncouplers sizes. 95 uncouplers were successfully the manufactured and tested. At the present time, Russian the manufacturers of ship composite structures have started absorption of technology of manufacturing the same using automated prepreg laminating; this technology enables the manufacture of structures with improved operational specifications.

Keywords: fiberglass, infusion, polymeric composites, winding

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Vinay Kumar Vanjakula, Frank Adam

Abstract:

The generation of electricity through wind power is one of the leading renewable energy generation methods. Due to abundant higher wind speeds far away from shore, the construction of offshore wind turbines began in the last decades. However, the installation of offshore foundation-based (monopiles) wind turbines in deep waters are often associated with technical and financial challenges. To overcome such challenges, the concept of floating wind turbines is expanded as the basis of the oil and gas industry. For such a floating system, stabilization in harsh conditions is a challenging task. For that, a robust heavy-weight gravity anchor is needed. Transportation of such anchor requires a heavy vessel that increases the cost. To lower the cost, the gravity anchor is designed with ballast chambers that allow the anchor to float while towing and filled with water when lowering to the planned seabed location. The presence of such a large structure may influence the flow field around it. The changes in the flow field include, formation of vortices, turbulence generation, waves or currents flow breaking and pressure differentials around the seabed sediment. These changes influence the installation process. Also, after installation and under operating conditions, the flow around the anchor may allow the local seabed sediment to be carried off and results in Scour (erosion). These are a threat to the structure's stability. In recent decades, rapid developments of research work and the knowledge of scouring on fixed structures (bridges and monopiles) in rivers and oceans have been carried out, and very limited research work on scouring around a bluff-shaped gravity anchor. The objective of this study involves the application of different numerical models to simulate the anchor towing under waves and calm water conditions. Anchor lowering involves the investigation of anchor movements at certain water depths under wave/current. The motions of anchor drift, heave, and pitch is of special focus. The further study involves anchor scour, where the anchor is installed in the seabed; the flow of underwater current around the anchor induces vortices mainly at the front and corners that develop soil erosion. The study of scouring on a submerged gravity anchor is an interesting research question since the flow not only passes around the anchor but also over the structure that forms different flow vortices. The achieved results and the numerical model will be a basis for the development of other designs and concepts for marine structures. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical model will build in OpenFOAM and other similar software.

Keywords: anchor lowering, anchor towing, gravity anchor, computational fluid dynamics, scour

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: B. Shahzamanian, S. Varga, D. C. Alarcón-Padilla

Abstract:

Desalination is considered the primary alternative to increase water supply for domestic, agricultural and industrial use. Sustainable desalination is only possible in places where renewable energy resources are available. Solar energy is the most relevant type of renewable energy to driving desalination systems since most of the areas suffering from water scarcity are characterized by a high amount of available solar radiation during the year. Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) technology integrated with solar thermal concentrators is a suitable combination for heat-driven desalination. It can also be coupled with thermal vapour compressors or absorption heat pumps to boost overall system performance. The most interesting advantage of MED is the suitability to be used with a transient source of energy like solar. An experimental study was carried out to assess the performance of the most important life-size multi-effect desalination plant driven by solar energy located in the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA). The MED plant is used as a reference in many studies regarding multi-effect distillation. The system consists of a 14-effect MED plant coupled with a double-effect absorption heat pump. The required thermal energy to run the desalination system is supplied by means of hot water generated from 60 static flat-plate solar collectors with a total aperture area of 606 m2. In order to compensate for the solar energy variation, a thermal storage system with two interconnected tanks and an overall volume of 40 m3 is coupled to the MED unit. The multi-effect distillation unit is built in a forward feed configuration, and the last effect is connected to a double-effect LiBr-H2O absorption heat pump. The heat pump requires steam at 180 ºC (10 bar a) that is supplied by a small-aperture parabolic trough solar field with a total aperture area of 230 m2. When needed, a gas boiler is used as an auxiliary heat source for operating the heat pump and the MED plant when solar energy is not available. A set of experiments was carried out for evaluating the impact of the heating water temperature (Th), top brine temperature (TBT) and temperature difference between effects (ΔT) on the performance ratio of the MED plant. The considered range for variation of Th, TBT and ΔT was 60-70°C, 54-63°C and 1.1-1.6°C, respectively. The performance ratio (PR), defined as kg of distillate produced for every 2326 kJ of thermal energy supplied to the MED system, was almost independent of the applied variables with a variation of less than 5% for all the cases. The maximum recorded PR was 12.4. The results indicated that the system demonstrated robustness for the whole range of operating conditions considered. Author gratitude is expressed to the PSA for providing access to its installations, the support of its scientific and technical staff, and the financial support of the SFERA-III project (Grant Agreement No 823802). Special thanks to the access provider staff members who ensured the access support.

Keywords: multi-effect distillation, performance ratio, robustness, solar energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: C. Fúnez Guerra, B. Nieto Calderón, M. Jaén Caparrós, L. Reyes-Bozo, A. Godoy-Faúndez, E. Vyhmeister

Abstract:

The global energy system is experiencing a change of scenery. Unstable energy markets, an increasing focus on climate change and its sustainable development is forcing businesses to pursue new solutions in order to ensure future economic growth. This has led to the interest in using hydrogen as an energy carrier in transportation and industrial applications. As an energy carrier, hydrogen is accessible and holds a high gravimetric energy density. Abundant in hydrocarbons, hydrogen can play an important role in the shift towards low-emission fossil value chains. By combining hydrogen production by natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage, the overall CO2 emissions are significantly reduced. In addition, the flexibility of hydrogen as an energy storage makes it applicable as a stabilizer in the renewable energy mix. The recent development in hydrogen fuel cells is also raising the expectations for a hydrogen powered transportation sector. Hydrogen value chains exist to a large extent in the industry today. The global hydrogen consumption was approximately 50 million tonnes (7.2 EJ) in 2013, where refineries, ammonia, methanol production and metal processing were main consumers. Natural gas reforming produced 48% of this hydrogen, but without carbon capture and storage (CCS). The total emissions from the production reached 500 million tonnes of CO2, hence alternative production methods with lower emissions will be necessary in future value chains. Hydrogen from electrolysis is used for a wide range of industrial chemical reactions for many years. Possibly, the earliest use was for the production of ammonia-based fertilisers by Norsk Hydro, with a test reactor set up in Notodden, Norway, in 1927. This application also claims one of the world’s largest electrolyser installations, at Sable Chemicals in Zimbabwe. Its array of 28 electrolysers consumes 80 MW per hour, producing around 21,000 Nm3/h of hydrogen. These electrolysers can compete if cheap sources of electricity are available and natural gas for steam reforming is relatively expensive. Because electrolysis of water produces oxygen as a by-product, a system of Autothermal Reforming (ATR) utilizing this oxygen has been analyzed. Replacing the air separation unit with electrolysers produces the required amount of oxygen to the ATR as well as additional hydrogen. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the technical and economic potential of large-scale production of hydrogen for oil refining industry. Sensitivity analysis of parameters such as investment costs, plant operating hours, electricity price and sale price of hydrogen and oxygen are performed.

Keywords: autothermal reforming, electrolyser, hydrogen, natural gas, steam methane reforming

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Chii-Dong Ho, Jian-Har Chen

Abstract:

The decline in permeate flux across membrane modules is attributed to the increase in temperature polarization resistance in flat-plate Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) modules for pure water productivity. Researchers have discovered that this effect can be diminished by embedding turbulence promoters, which augment turbulence intensity at the cost of increased power consumption, thereby improving vapor permeate flux. The device performance of DCMD modules for permeate flux was further enhanced by shrinking the hydraulic diameters of inserted S-ribs carbon-fiber promoters as well as considering the energy consumption increment. The mass-balance formulation, based on the resistance-in-series model by energy conservation in one-dimensional governing equations, was developed theoretically and conducted experimentally on a flat-plate polytetrafluoroethylene/polypropylene (PTFE/PP) membrane module to predict permeate flux and temperature distributions. The ratio of permeate flux enhancement to energy consumption increment, as referred to an assessment on economic viewpoint and technical feasibilities, was calculated to determine the suitable design parameters for DCMD operations with the insertion of S-ribs carbon-fiber turbulence promoters. An economic analysis was also performed, weighing both permeate flux improvement and energy consumption increment on modules with promoter-filled channels by different array configurations and various hydraulic diameters of turbulence promoters. Results showed that the ratio of permeate flux improvement to energy consumption increment in descending hydraulic-diameter modules is higher than in uniform hydraulic-diameter modules. The fabrication details of the DCMD module filaments implementing the S-ribs carbon-fiber filaments and the schematic configuration of the flat-plate DCMD experimental setup with presenting acrylic plates as external walls were demonstrated in the present study. The S-ribs carbon fibers perform as turbulence promoters incorporated into the artificial hot saline feed stream, which was prepared by adding inorganic salts (NaCl) to distilled water. Theoretical predictions and experimental results exhibited a great accomplishment to considerably achieve permeate flux enhancement, such as the new design of the DCMD module with inserting S-ribs carbon-fiber promoters. Additionally, the Nusselt number for the water vapor transferring membrane module with inserted S-ribs carbon-fiber promoters was generalized into a simplified expression to predict the heat transfer coefficient and permeate flux as well.

Keywords: permeate flux, Nusselt number, DCMD module, temperature polarization, hydraulic diameters

Procedia PDF Downloads 8

Authors: Chen Yao, Wang Ke

Abstract:

Small towns are the most basic administrative institutions in our country, which are connected with cities and rural areas. Small towns play an important role in promoting local urban and rural economic development, providing the main public services and maintaining social stability in social governance. With the vigorous development of small towns and the transformation of industrial structure, the changes of social structure, spatial structure, and lifestyle are lagging behind, causing that the spatial form and landscape style do not belong to both cities and rural areas, and seriously affecting the quality of people’s life space and environment. The rural economy in Zhejiang Province has started, the society and the population are also developing in relative stability. In September 2016, Zhejiang Province set out the 'Technical Guidelines for Comprehensive Environmental Remediation of Small Towns in Zhejiang Province,' so as to comprehensively implement the small town comprehensive environmental remediation with the main content of strengthening the plan and design leading, regulating environmental sanitation, urban order and town appearance. In November 2016, Huzhou City started the comprehensive environmental improvement of small towns, strived to use three years to significantly improve the 115 small towns, as well as to create a number of high quality, distinctive and beautiful towns with features of 'clean and livable, rational layout, industrial development, poetry and painting style'. This paper takes Meixi Town, Zhangwu Town and Sanchuan Village in Huzhou City as the empirical cases, analyzes the small town public space by applying the relative theory of actor-network and space syntax. This paper also analyzes the spatial composition in actor and social structure elements, as well as explores the relationship of actor’s spatial practice and public open space by combining with actor-network theory. This paper introduces the relevant theories and methods of spatial syntax, carries out research analysis and design planning analysis of small town spaces from the perspective of quantitative analysis. And then, this paper proposes the effective updating strategy for the existing problems in public space. Through the planning and design in the building level, the dissonant factors produced by various spatial combination of factors and between landscape design and urban texture during small town development will be solved, inhabitant quality of life will be promoted, and town development vitality will be increased.

Keywords: small towns, urbanization, public space, updating

Procedia PDF Downloads 228

Authors: Baye Berihun Getahun, Mulugeta Atnaf Tiruneh, Richard G. F. Visser

Abstract:

Resource-poor farmers practice low-input farming systems, and yet, most breeding programs give less attention to this huge farming system, which serves as a source of food and income for several people in developing countries. The high-input conventional breeding system appears to have failed to adequately meet the needs and requirements of 'difficult' environments operating under this system. Moreover, the unavailability of resources for crop production is getting for their peaks, the environment is maltreated by excessive use of agrochemicals, crop productivity reaches its plateau stage, particularly in the developed nations, the world population is increasing, and food shortage sustained to persist for poor societies. In various parts of the world, genetic gain at the farmers' level remains low which could be associated with low adoption of crop varieties, which have been developed under high input systems. Farmers usually use their local varieties and apply minimum inputs as a risk-avoiding and cost-minimizing strategy. This evidence indicates that the conventional high-input plant breeding system has failed to feed the world population, and the world is moving further away from the United Nations' goals of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition. In this review, we discussed the rationality of focused breeding programs for low-input farming systems and, the technical aspect of crop breeding that accommodates future food needs and its significance for developing countries in the decreasing scenario of resources required for crop production. To this end, the application of exotic introgression techniques like polyploidization, pan-genomics, comparative genomics, and De novo domestication as a pre-breeding technique has been discussed in the review to exploit the untapped genetic diversity of the crop wild relatives (CWRs). Desired recombinants developed at the pre-breeding stage are exploited through appropriate breeding approaches such as evolutionary plant breeding (EPB), rhizosphere-related traits breeding, and participatory plant breeding approaches. Populations advanced through evolutionary breeding like composite cross populations (CCPs) and rhizosphere-associated traits breeding approach that provides opportunities for improving abiotic and biotic soil stress, nutrient acquisition capacity, and crop microbe interaction in improved varieties have been reviewed. Overall, we conclude that low input farming system is a huge farming system that requires distinctive breeding approaches, and the exotic pre-breeding introgression techniques and the appropriate breeding approaches which deploy the skills and knowledge of both breeders and farmers are vital to develop heterogeneous landrace populations, which are effective for farmers practicing low input farming across the world.

Keywords: low input farming, evolutionary plant breeding, composite cross population, participatory plant breeding

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Chris Miskelly, Eoin Cunningham, Beatrice Smyth, John. D. Holbrey, Gosia Swadzba-Kwasny, Emily L. Byrne, Yoan Delavoux, Mantian Li.

Abstract:

Recently, the use of ionic liquids (ILs) for the preparation of lignocellulose derived cellulosic materials as alternatives to petrochemical feedstocks has been the focus of considerable research interest. While the technical viability of IL-based lignocellulose treatment methodologies has been well established, the high cost of reagents inhibits commercial feasibility. This work aimed to assess the technoeconomic viability of the preparation of cellulose rich materials (CRMs) using protic ionic liquids (PILs) synthesized from low cost alkylamines and sulphuric acid. For this purpose, the tertiary alkylamines, triethylamine, and dimethylbutylamine were selected. Bulk scale production cost of the synthesized PILs, triethylammonium hydrogen sulphate and dimetheylbutylammonium hydrogen sulphate, was reported as $0.78 kg-1 to $1.24 kg-1. CRMs were prepared through the treatment of common wheat (Triticum aestivum) straw with these PILs. By controlling treatment parameters, CRMs with a cellulose content of ≥ 80 wt% were prepared. This was achieved using a T. aestivum straw to PIL loading ratio of 1:15 w/w, a treatment duration of 180 minutes, and ethanol as a cellulose antisolvent. Infrared spectra data and decreased onset degradation temperature of CRMs (ΔTONSET ~ 70 °C) suggested the formation of cellulose sulphate esters during treatment. Chemical derivatisation can aid the dispersion of prepared CRMs in non-polar polymer/ composite matrices, but act as a barrier to thermal processing at temperatures above 150 °C. It was also shown that treatment increased the crystallinity of CRMs (ΔCrI ~ 40 %) without altering the native crystalline structure or crystallite size (~ 2.6 nm) of cellulose; peaks associated with the cellulose I crystalline planes (110), (200), and (004) were observed at Bragg angles 16.0 °, 22.5 ° and 35.0 ° respectively. This highlighted the inability of assessed PILs to dissolve crystalline cellulose and was attributed to the high acidity (pKa ~ - 1.92 to - 6.42) of sulphuric acid derived anions. Electron micrographs revealed that the stratified multilayer tissue structure of untreated T. aestivum straw was significantly modified during treatment. T. aestivum straw particles were disassembled during treatment, with prepared CRMs adopting a golden-brown film-like appearance. This work demonstrated the degradation of non-cellulosic fractions of lignocellulose without dissolution of cellulose. It is the first to report on the derivatisation of cellulose during treatment with protic hydrogen sulphate ionic liquids, and the potential implications of this with reference to biopolymer feedstock preparation.

Keywords: cellulose, extraction, protic ionic liquids, esterification, thermal stability, waste valorisation, biopolymer feedstock

Procedia PDF Downloads 36

Authors: Tsitsi Nyukurayi Muparari, Walter Timo De Vries, Jaap Zevenbergen

Abstract:

The nature of Land administration accommodates diversity in terms of both spatial data handling activities and the expertise involved, which supposedly aims to satisfy the unpredictable demands of land data and the diverse demands of the customers arising from the land. However, it is known that strategic decisions of restructuring are in most cases repelled in favour of complex structures that strive to accommodate professional diversity and diverse roles in the field of Land administration. Yet despite of this widely accepted knowledge, there is scanty theoretical knowledge concerning the psychological methodologies that can extract the deeper perceptions from the diverse spatial expertise in order to explain the invisible control arm of the polarised reception of the ideas of change. This paper evaluates Q methodology in the context of a cadastre and land registry merger (under one agency) using the Swedish cadastral system as a case study. Precisely, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of Q methodology towards modelling the diverse psychological perceptions of spatial professionals who are in a widely contested decision of merging the cadastre and land registry components of Land administration using the Swedish cadastral system as a case study. An empirical approach that is prescribed by Q methodology starts with the concourse development, followed by the design of statements and q sort instrument, selection of the participants, the q-sorting exercise, factor extraction by PQMethod and finally narrative development by logic of abduction. The paper uses 36 statements developed from a dominant competing value theory that stands out on its reliability and validity, purposively selects 19 participants to do the Qsorting exercise, proceeds with factor extraction from the diversity using varimax rotation and judgemental rotation provided by PQMethod and effect the narrative construction using the logic abduction. The findings from the diverse perceptions from cadastral professionals in the merger decision of land registry and cadastre components in Sweden’s mapping agency (Lantmäteriet) shows that focus is rather inclined on the perfection of the relationship between the legal expertise and technical spatial expertise. There is much emphasis on tradition, loyalty and communication attributes which concern the organisation’s internal environment rather than innovation and market attributes that reveals customer behavior and needs arising from the changing humankind-land needs. It can be concluded that Q methodology offers effective tools that pursues a psychological approach for the evaluation and gradations of the decisions of strategic change through extracting the local perceptions of spatial expertise.

Keywords: cadastre, factor extraction, land administration merger, land registry, q-methodology, rotation

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Yevheniia Varyvoda, Douglas Taren

Abstract:

At the aggregate level, climate variability, the rising number of active violent conflicts, globalization and industrialization of agriculture, the loss in diversity of crop species, the increase in demand for agricultural production, and the adoption of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns are exacerbating factors of food system destabilization. The importance of pseudocereals to fuel and sustain resilient food systems is recognized by leading organizations working to end hunger, particularly for their critical capability to diversify livelihood portfolios and provide plant-sourced healthy nutrition in the face of systemic shocks and stresses. Amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa are the most promising and used pseudocereals for ensuring food system resilience in the reality of climate change due to their high nutritional profile, good digestibility, palatability, medicinal value, abiotic stress tolerance, pest and disease resistance, rapid growth rate, adaptability to marginal and degraded lands, high genetic variability, low input requirements, and income generation capacity. The study provides the rationale and examples of advancing local and regional food systems' resilience by scaling up the utilization of amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa along all components of food systems to architect indirect nutrition interventions and climate-smart approaches. Thus, this study aims to explore the drivers for ancient pseudocereal utilization, the potential resilience benefits that can be derived from using them, and the challenges and opportunities for pseudocereal utilization within the food system components. The PSALSAR framework regarding the method for conducting systematic review and meta-analysis for environmental science research was used to answer these research questions. Nevertheless, the utilization of pseudocereals has been slow for a number of reasons, namely the increased production of commercial and major staples such as maize, rice, wheat, soybean, and potato, the displacement due to pressure from imported crops, lack of knowledge about value-adding practices in food supply chain, limited technical knowledge and awareness about nutritional and health benefits, absence of marketing channels and limited access to extension services and information about resilient crops. The success of climate-resilient pathways based on pseudocereal utilization underlines the importance of co-designed activities that use modern technologies, high-value traditional knowledge of underutilized crops, and a strong acknowledgment of cultural norms to increase community-level economic and food system resilience.

Keywords: resilience, pseudocereals, food system, climate change

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Cathy Basterfield

Abstract:

Issue: To engage in one’s own health care, health professionals need to be aware of an individual’s specific skills and abilities for best communication. One of the most discussed is health literacy. One of the assumed skills and abilities for adults is an individuals’ health literacy. Background: A review of publicly available health content appears to assume all adult readers will have a broad and full capacity to read at a high level of literacy, often at a post-school education level. Health information writers and clinicians need to recognise one critical area for why there may be little or no change in a person’s behaviour, or no-shows to appointments. Perhaps unintentionally, they are miscommunicating with the majority of the adult population. Health information contains many literacy domains. It usually includes technical medical terms or jargon. Many fact sheets and other information require scientific literacy with or without specific numerical literacy. It may include graphs, percentages, timing, distance, or weights. Each additional word or concept in these domains decreases the readers' ability to meaningfully read, understand and know what to do with the information. An attempt to begin to read the heading where long or unfamiliar words are used will reduce the readers' motivation to attempt to read. Critically people who have low literacy are overwhelmed when pages are covered with lots of words. People attending a health environment may be unwell or anxious about a diagnosis. These make it harder to read, understand and know what to do with the information. But access to health information must consider an even wider range of adults, including those with poor school attainment, migrants, and refugees. It is also homeless people, people with mental health illnesses, or people who are ageing. People with low literacy also may include people with lifelong disabilities, people with acquired disabilities, people who read English as a second (or third) language, people who are Deaf, or people who are vision impaired. Outcome: This paper will discuss Easy English, which is developed for adults. It uses the audiences’ everyday words, short sentences, short words, and no jargon. It uses concrete language and concrete, specific images to support the text. It has been developed in Australia since the mid-2000s. This paper will showcase various projects in the health domain which use Easy English to improve the understanding and functional use of written information for the large numbers of adults in our communities who do not have the health literacy to manage a range of day to day reading tasks. See examples from consent forms, fact sheets and choice options, instructions, and other functional documents, where Easy English has been developed. This paper will ask individuals to reflect on their own work practice and consider what written information must be available in Easy English. It does not matter how cutting-edge a new treatment is; when adults can not read or understand what it is about and the positive and negative outcomes, they are less likely to be engaged in their own health journey.

Keywords: health literacy, inclusion, Easy English, communication

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Mary Hanhoun, Jilla Bamarni, Anne-Sophie Bougard

Abstract:

INSPIR’ECO is a 18-month research and innovation project that aims to specify and develop a tool to offer new services for industrials and territorial planners/managers based on Industrial Ecology Principles. This project is carried out on the territory of Salaise Sablons and the services are designed to be deployed on other territories. Salaise-Sablons area is located in the limit of 5 departments on a major European economic axis multimodal traffic (river, rail and road). The perimeter of 330 ha includes 90 hectares occupied by 20 companies, with a total of 900 jobs, and represents a significant potential basin of development. The project involves five multi-disciplinary partners (Syndicat Mixte INSPIRA, ENGIE, IDEEL, IDEAs Laboratory and TREDI). INSPIR’ECO project is based on the principles that local stakeholders need services to pool, share their activities/equipment/purchases/materials. These services aims to : 1. initiate and promote exchanges between existing companies and 2. identify synergies between pre-existing industries and future companies that could be implemented in INSPIRA. These eco-industrial synergies can be related to: the recovery / exchange of industrial flows (industrial wastewater, waste, by-products, etc.); the pooling of business services (collective waste management, stormwater collection and reuse, transport, etc.); the sharing of equipments (boiler, steam production, wastewater treatment unit, etc.) or resources (splitting jobs cost, etc.); and the creation of new activities (interface activities necessary for by-product recovery, development of products or services from a newly identified resource, etc.). These services are based on IT tool used by the interested local stakeholders that intends to allow local stakeholders to take decisions. Thus, this IT tool: - include an economic and environmental assessment of each implantation or pooling/sharing scenarios for existing or further industries; - is meant for industrial and territorial manager/planners - is designed to be used for each new industrial project. - The specification of the IT tool is made through an agile process all along INSPIR’ECO project fed with: - Users expectations thanks to workshop sessions where mock-up interfaces are displayed; - Data availability based on local and industrial data inventory. These input allow to specify the tool not only with technical and methodological constraints (notably the ones from economic and environmental assessments) but also with data availability and users expectations. A feedback on innovative resource management initiatives in port areas has been realized in the beginning of the project to feed the designing services step.

Keywords: development opportunities, INSPIR’ECO, INSPIRA, industrial ecology, planification, synergy identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Catarina Maria Neto da Cruz, Ana Maria Reis d'Azevedo Breda

Abstract:

Emotions are manifestations of everything that happens around us, influencing, consequently, our actions. People experience emotions continuously when socialize with friends, when facing complex situations, and when at school, among many other situations. Although the influence of emotions in the teaching and learning process is nothing new, its study in the academic field has been more popular in recent years, distinguishing between positive (e.g., enjoyment and curiosity) and negative emotions (e.g., boredom and frustration). There is no doubt that emotions play an important role in the students’ learning process since the development of knowledge involves thoughts, actions, and emotions. Nowadays, one of the most significant changes in acquiring knowledge, accessing information, and communicating is the way we do it through technological and digital resources. Faced with an increasingly frequent use of technological or digital means with different purposes, whether in the acquisition of knowledge or in communicating with others, the emotions involved in these processes change naturally. The speed with which the Internet provides information reduces the excitement for searching for the answer, the gratification of discovering something through our own effort, the patience, the capacity for effort, and resilience. Thus, technological and digital devices are bringing changes to the emotional domain. For this reason and others, it is essential to educate children from an early age to understand that it is not possible to have everything with just one click and to deal with negative emotions. Currently, many curriculum guidelines highlight the importance of the development of so-called soft skills, in which the emotional domain is present, in academic contexts. The technical report “OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills”, developed by OECD, is one of them. Within the scope of the Portuguese reality, the “Students’ profile by the end of compulsory schooling” and the “Health education reference” also emphasizes the importance of emotions in education. There are several resources to stimulate good emotions in articulation with cognitive development. One of the most predictable and not very used resources in the most diverse areas of knowledge after pre-school education is the literature. Due to its characteristics, in the narrative or in the illustrations, literature provides the reader with a journey full of emotions. On the other hand, literature makes it possible to establish bridges between narrative and different areas of knowledge, reconciling the cognitive and emotional domains. This study results from the presentation session of a children's book, entitled “From the Outside to Inside and from the Inside to Outside”, to children attending the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of basic education in the Portuguese education system. In this book, rationale and emotion are in constant dialogue, so in this session, based on excerpts from the book dramatized by the authors, some questions were asked to the children in a large group, with an aim to explore their perception regarding certain emotions or events that trigger them. According to the aim of this study, qualitative, descriptive, and interpretative research was carried out based on participant observation and audio records.

Keywords: emotions, basic education, children, soft skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 84