Search results for: menstrual cycle

Authors: Ana-María Gómez-Carvajal, Hernando Santamaría-García, Mateo Bernal, Mario Valderrama, Daniela Lizarazo, Juliana Restrepo, María Fernanda Barreto, Angélica Parra, Paula Torres, Diana Matallana, Jaime Silva, José Santamaría-García, Sandra Baez

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Higher levels of oxytocin are associated with better performance on social cognition tasks. However, higher levels of oxytocin have also been associated with increased levels of envy and schadenfreude. Considering these antecedents, this study aims to explore social emotions (i.e., envy and schadenfreude) and other components of social cognition (i.e. ToM and empathy), in women in the puerperal period and their respective partners, compared to a control group of men and women without children or partners. Control women should be in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle or taking oral contraceptives as they allow oxytocin levels to remain stable. We selected this population since increased levels of oxytocin are present in both mothers and fathers of newborn babies. Both groups were matched by age, sex, and education level. Twenty-two parents of newborns (11 women, 11 men) and 15 controls (8 women, 7 men) performed an experimental task designed to trigger schadenfreude and envy. In this task, each participant was shown a real-life photograph and a description of two target characters matched in age and gender with the participant. The task comprised two experimental blocks. In the first block, participants read 15 sentences describing fortunate events involving either character. After reading each sentence, participants rated the event in terms of how much envy they felt for the character (1=no envy, 9=extreme envy). In the second block, participants read and reported the intensity of their pleasure (schadenfreude, 1=no pleasure, 9=extreme pleasure) in response to 15 unfortunate events happening to the characters. Five neutral events were included in each block. Moreover, participants were assessed with ToM and empathy tests. Potential confounding variables such as general cognitive functioning, stress levels, hours of sleep and depression symptoms were also measured. Results showed that parents of newborns showed increased levels of envy and schadenfreude. These effects are not explained by any confounding factor. Moreover, no significant differences were found in ToM or empathy tests. Our results offer unprecedented evidence of specific differences in envy and schadenfreude levels in parents of newborns. Our findings support previous studies showing a negative relationship between oxytocin levels and negative social emotions. Further studies should assess the direct relationship between oxytocin levels in parents of newborns and the performance in social emotions tasks.

Keywords: envy, empathy, oxytocin, schadenfreude, social emotions, theory of mind

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Authors: Seul Ki Min, Gwang Heum Yoon, Jung Hyun Joo, Hwa Sung Shin

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Cellular membrane distortion is known as a factor to change intracellular signaling. However, progress of relevant studies is difficult because there are no facilities that can control membrane distortion finely. In this study, we developed microfluidic device which can inflict mechanical stress on cell membrane of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using regular height of the channels. And cellular physiological changes were analyzed from cells cultured in the device. Excessive calcium ion influx through into cytoplasm was induced from mechanical stress. The results revealed that compressed cells had up-regulated Mat3 mRNA which regulates cell size and cell cycle from a prolonged G1 phase. Additionally, TAG used for the production of biodiesel was raised rapidly from 4 h after compression. Taken together, membrane distortion can be considered as an attractive inducer for biofuel production.

Keywords: mechanical stress, membrane distortion, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, deflagellation, cell cycle, lipid metabolism

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Authors: Johannes Gantner, Michael Held, Matthias Fischer

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The refurbishment of the building stock in terms of energy supply and efficiency is one of the major challenges of the German turnaround in energy policy. As the building sector accounts for 40% of Germany’s total energy demand, additional insulation is key for energy efficient refurbished buildings. Nevertheless the energetic benefits often the environmental and economic performances of insulation materials are questioned. The methods Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as well as Life Cycle Costing (LCC) can form the standardized basis for answering this doubts and more and more become important for material producers due efforts such as Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) or Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). Due to increasing use of LCA and LCC information for decision support the robustness and resilience of the results become crucial especially for support of decision and policy makers. LCA and LCC results are based on respective models which depend on technical parameters like efficiencies, material and energy demand, product output, etc.. Nevertheless, the influence of parameter uncertainties on lifecycle results are usually not considered or just studied superficially. Anyhow the effect of parameter uncertainties cannot be neglected. Based on the example of an exterior wall the overall lifecycle results are varying by a magnitude of more than three. As a result simple best case worst case analyses used in practice are not sufficient. These analyses allow for a first rude view on the results but are not taking effects into account such as error propagation. Thereby LCA practitioners cannot provide further guidance for decision makers. Probabilistic analyses enable LCA practitioners to gain deeper understanding of the LCA and LCC results and provide a better decision support. Within this study, the environmental and economic impacts of an exterior wall system over its whole lifecycle are illustrated, and the effect of different uncertainty analysis on the interpretation in terms of resilience and robustness are shown. Hereby the approaches of error propagation and Monte Carlo Simulations are applied and combined with statistical methods in order to allow for a deeper understanding and interpretation. All in all this study emphasis the need for a deeper and more detailed probabilistic evaluation based on statistical methods. Just by this, misleading interpretations can be avoided, and the results can be used for resilient and robust decisions.

Keywords: uncertainty, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Leo Latasch, Mario Di Gennaro

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Introduction: The goal of this project was to increase the resilience of the population as well as rescue organizations to make both quality and time-related improvements in handling crises. A helper network was created for this purpose. Methods: Social questions regarding the structure and purpose of helper networks were considered - specifically with regard to helper motivation, the level of commitment and collaboration between populations and agencies. The exchange of information, the coordinated use of volunteers, and the distribution of available resources will be ensured through defined communication and cooperation routines. Helper smartphones will also be used provide a picture of the situation on the ground. Results: The helper network was established and deployed based on the RESIBES information technology system. It consists of a service platform, a web portal and a smartphone app. The service platform is the central element for collaboration between the various rescue organizations, as well as for persons, associations, and companies from the population offering voluntary aid. The platform was used for: Registering helpers and resources and then requesting and assigning it in case of a disaster. These services allow the population's resources to be organized. The service platform also allows for a secure data exchange between services and external systems. Conclusions: The social and technical work priorities have allowed us to cover a full cycle of advance structural work, gaining an overview, damage management, evaluation, and feedback on experiences. This cycle allows experiences gained while handling the crisis to feed back into the cycle and improve preparations and management strategies.

Keywords: coordination, disaster, resilience, volunteers

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Authors: Salman Obaidoon, Mohamed Hassan, Omer Bakather

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As environmental regulations increase, the need for a clean and inexpensive energy is becoming necessary these days using an available raw material with high efficiency and low emissions of toxic gases. This paper presents a study on modifying a gas turbine power plant fired by diesel, which is located in Saudi Arabia in order to increase the efficiency and capacity of the station as well as decrease the rate of emissions. The studied power plant consists of 30 units with different capacities and total net power is 1470 MW. The study was conducted on unit number 25 (GT-25) which produces 72.3 MW with 29.5% efficiency. In the beginning, the unit was modeled and simulated by using WinSim Design II software. In this step, actual unit data were used in order to test the validity of the model. The net power and efficiency obtained from software were 76.4 MW and 32.2% respectively. A difference of about 6% was found in the simulated power plant compared to the actual station which means that the model is valid. After the validation of the model, the simple gas turbine power plant was converted to a combined cycle power plant (CCPP). In this case, the exhausted gas released from the gas turbine was introduced to a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), which consists of three heat exchangers: an economizer, an evaporator and a superheater. In this proposed model, many scenarios were conducted in order to get the optimal operating conditions. The net power of CCPP was increased to 116.4 MW while the overall efficiency of the unit was reached to 49.02%, consuming the same amount of fuel for the gas turbine power plant. For the purpose of comparing the rate of emissions of carbon dioxide on each model. It was found that the rate of CO₂ emissions was decreased from 15.94 kg/s to 9.22 kg/s by using the combined cycle power model as a result of reducing of the amount of diesel from 5.08 kg/s to 2.94 kg/s needed to produce 76.5 MW. The results indicate that the rate of emissions of carbon dioxide was decreased by 42.133% in CCPP compared to the simple gas turbine power plant.

Keywords: combined cycle power plant, efficiency, heat recovery steam generator, simulation, validation, WinSim design II software

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Authors: Mirjana Ruppel, Rajendra Persad, Amit Bahl, Sanja Dogramadzi, Chris Melhuish, Lyndon Smith

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Multimodal image registration is a profoundly complex task which is why deep learning has been used widely to address it in recent years. However, two main challenges remain: Firstly, the lack of ground truth data calls for an unsupervised learning approach, which leads to the second challenge of defining a feasible loss function that can compare two images of different modalities to judge their level of alignment. To avoid this issue altogether we implement a generative adversarial network consisting of two registration networks GAB, GBA and two discrimination networks DA, DB connected by spatial transformation layers. GAB learns to generate a deformation field which registers an image of the modality B to an image of the modality A. To do that, it uses the feedback of the discriminator DB which is learning to judge the quality of alignment of the registered image B. GBA and DA learn a mapping from modality A to modality B. Additionally, a cycle-consistency loss is implemented. For this, both registration networks are employed twice, therefore resulting in images ˆA, ˆB which were registered to ˜B, ˜A which were registered to the initial image pair A, B. Thus the resulting and initial images of the same modality can be easily compared. A dataset of liver CT and MRI was used to evaluate the quality of our approach and to compare it against learning and non-learning based registration algorithms. Our approach leads to dice scores of up to 0.80 ± 0.01 and is therefore comparable to and slightly more successful than algorithms like SimpleElastix and VoxelMorph.

Keywords: cycle consistency, deformable multimodal image registration, deep learning, GAN

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Authors: Timothy Francis Grant

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There are conflicting purposes at play with the design of sustainable packaging which include material reduction, recycling compatibility, use of secondary content and performance of the package in protecting and delivering the product. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is able to evaluate these different strategies against environmental metrics such as climate change, land and water use and marine litter pollution. However, LCA has traditionally been too time consuming and expensive to be used effectively in packaging design process. To make LCA practical for packaging technologist and designers a simplified tool is needed to make LCA possible for non-environmental specialists. The Packaging Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET) is a web-based solution for undertaking LCA of new and existing packaging designs considering the global supply chain and impacts from cradle to grave. PIQET is based on a pre-calculated LCA database covering the materials and processes involved in the packaging lifecycle from cradle to grave. This includes both virgin materials and recycled content, conversion of materials into packaging, and the transportation of packaging to the product filling. In addition, PIQET assesses the impacts once the package is filled looking at storage, transport and product loss through the supply chain. When applied to consumer packaging light weight packages which are note recyclable have lower impacts than more recyclable packages which have a higher mass. Its also apparent that for many products the impacts of product failure and product loss are more important environmentally compared to packaging material efficiency.

Keywords: Climate change, Life Cycle Assessment, Marine litter, Packaging sustainability

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Authors: Yakui Bai, Chen Sun, Ke Wang

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An experimental investigation of environmental effect on fatigue behavior in SA508 Gr.3 Cl.2 Steam Generator Forging CAP1400 nuclear power plant has been carried out. In order to simulate actual loading condition, a range of strain amplitude was applied in different low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests. The current American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) design fatigue code does not take full account of the interactions of environmental, loading, and material's factors. A range of strain amplitude was applied in different low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests at a strain rate of 0.01%s⁻¹. A design fatigue model was constructed by taking environmentally assisted fatigue effects into account, and the corresponding design curves were given for the convenience of engineering applications. The corrosion fatigue experiment was performed in a strain control mode in 320℃ borated and lithiated water environment to evaluate the effects of a mixed environment on fatigue life. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in steam generator large forging in primary water of pressurized water reactor was also observed. In addition, it is found that the CF life of SA508 Gr.3 Cl.2 decreases with increasing temperature in the water environment. The relationship between the reciprocal of temperature and the logarithm of fatigue life was found to be linear. Through experiments and subsequent analysis, the mechanisms of reduced low cycle fatigue life have been investigated for steam generator forging.

Keywords: failure behavior, low alloy steel, steam generator forging, stress corrosion cracking

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Authors: Jeni A. Popescu, Sorin G. Tomescu, Valeriu A. Vilag

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The paper focuses on the potential methods of increasing the performance of a microturbine by combining additional elements available for utilization in a cogeneration plant. The activity is carried out within the framework of a project aiming to develop, manufacture and test a microturbine functional model with high potential in energetic industry utilization. The main goal of the analysis is to determine the parameters of the fluid flow passing through each section of the turbine, based on limited data available in literature for the focus output power range or provided by experimental studies, starting from a reference cycle, and considering different cycle options, including simple, intercooled and recuperated options, in order to optimize a small cogeneration plant operation. The studied configurations operate under the same initial thermodynamic conditions and are based on a series of assumptions, in terms of individual performance of the components, pressure/velocity losses, compression ratios, and efficiencies. The thermodynamic analysis evaluates the expected performance of the microturbine cycle, while providing a series of input data and limitations to be included in the development of the experimental plan. To simplify the calculations and to allow a clear estimation of the effect of heat transfer between fluids, the working fluid for all the thermodynamic evolutions is, initially, air, the combustion being modelled by simple heat addition to the system. The theoretical results, along with preliminary experimental results are presented, aiming for a correlation in terms of microturbine performance.

Keywords: cogeneration, microturbine, performance, thermodynamic analysis

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Authors: Pawit Tangviroon, Apichit Svang-Ariyaskul

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As the limited availability of petroleum-based fuel has been a major concern, biodiesel is one of the most attractive alternative fuels because it is renewable and it also has advantages over the conventional petroleum-base diesel. At Present, productions of biodiesel generally perform by transesterification of vegetable oils with low molecular weight alcohol, mainly methanol, using chemical catalysts. Methanol is petrochemical product that makes biodiesel producing from methanol to be not pure renewable energy source. Therefore, ethanol as a product produced by fermentation processes. It appears as a potential feed stock that makes biodiesel to be pure renewable alternative fuel. The research is conducted based on two biodiesel production processes by reacting soybean oils with methanol and ethanol. Life cycle assessment was carried out in order to evaluate the environmental impacts and to identify the process alternative. Nine mid-point impact categories are investigated. The results indicate that better performance on Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP) and Acidification Potential (AP) are observed in biodiesel production from methanol when compared with biodiesel production from ethanol due to less energy consumption during the production processes. Except for ADP and AP, using methanol as feed stock does not show any advantages over biodiesel from ethanol. The single score method is also included in this study in order to identify the best option between two processes of biodiesel production. The global normalization and weighting factor based on eco-taxes are used and it shows that producing biodiesel form ethanol has less environmental load compare to biodiesel from methanol.

Keywords: biodiesel, ethanol, life cycle assessment, methanol, soybean oil

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Authors: Liying Li, Han Guo

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Considering the environmental issues generated by the building sector for its energy consumption, solid waste generation, water use, land use, and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this review pointed out to LCA as a decision-support tool to substantially improve the sustainability in the building and construction industry. The comprehensiveness and simplicity of LCA make it one of the most promising decision support tools for the sustainable design and construction of future buildings. This paper contains a comprehensive review of existing studies related to LCAs with a focus on their advantages and limitations when applied in the building sector. The aim of this paper is to enhance the understanding of a building life-cycle analysis, thus promoting its application for effective, sustainable building design and construction in the future. Comparisons and discussions are carried out between four categories of LCA methods: building material and component combinations (BMCC) vs. the whole process of construction (WPC) LCA，attributional vs. consequential LCA, process-based LCA vs. input-output (I-O) LCA, traditional vs. hybrid LCA. Classical case studies are presented, which illustrate the effectiveness of LCA as a tool to support the decisions of practitioners in the design and construction of sustainable buildings. (i) BMCC and WPC categories of LCA researches tend to overlap with each other, as majority WPC LCAs are actually developed based on a bottom-up approach BMCC LCAs use. (ii) When considering the influence of social and economic factors outside the proposed system by research, a consequential LCA could provide a more reliable result than an attributional LCA. (iii) I-O LCA is complementary to process-based LCA in order to address the social and economic problems generated by building projects. (iv) Hybrid LCA provides a more superior dynamic perspective than a traditional LCA that is criticized for its static view of the changing processes within the building’s life cycle. LCAs are still being developed to overcome their limitations and data shortage (especially data on the developing world), and the unification of LCA methods and data can make the results of building LCA more comparable and consistent across different studies or even countries.

Keywords: decision support tool, life-cycle analysis, LCA tools and data, sustainable building design

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Authors: Michael Ward, Eliana Kalakouti, Andrew Alabi

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Aim: The handover process is recognized as a vulnerable step in the patient care pathway where errors are likely to occur. As such, it is a major preventable cause of patient harm due to human factors of poor communication and systematic error. The aim of this study was to audit the general surgery department’s weekend handover process compared to the recommended criteria for safe handover as set out by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). Method: A retrospective audit of the General Surgery department’s Friday patient lists and patient medical notes used for weekend handover in a London-based District General Hospital (DGH). Medical notes were analyzed against RCS's suggested criteria for handover. A standardized paper weekend handover proforma was then developed in accordance with guidelines and circulated in the department. A post-intervention audit was then conducted using the same methods for cycle 1. For cycle 2, we introduced an electronic weekend handover tool along with Electronic Patient Records (EPR). After a one-month period, a second post-intervention audit was conducted. Results: Following cycle 1, the paper weekend handover proforma was only used in 23% of patient notes. However, when it was used, 100% of them had a plan for the weekend, diagnosis and location but only 40% documented potential discharge status and 40% ceiling of care status. Qualitative feedback was that it was time-consuming to fill out. Better results were achieved following cycle 2, with 100% of patient notes having the electronic proforma. Results improved with every patient having documented ceiling of care, discharge status and location. Only 55% of patients had a past surgical history; however, this was still an increase when compared to paper proforma (45%). When comparing electronic versus paper proforma, there was an increase in documentation in every domain of the handover outlined by RCS with an average relative increase of 1.72 times (p<0.05). Qualitative feedback was that the autofill function made it easy to use and simple to view. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the implementation of an electronic autofill handover proforma significantly improved handover compliance with RCS guidelines, thereby improving the transmission of information from week-day to weekend teams.

Keywords: surgery, handover, proforma, electronic handover, weekend, general surgery

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Authors: Nqobile Muleya, Winston Garira, Godwin Mchau

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Citrus Black Spot (CBS) is a fungal disease that is responsible for huge economical loss and poses a threat to the citrus industry worldwide. We construct a mathematical model framework for citrus black spot between fruits to characterise the dynamics of the disease development, paying attention to the pathogen life cycle. We have made an observation from the model analysis that the initial inoculum from ascomata is very important for disease development and thereafter it is no longer important due to conidia which is responsible for secondary infection. Most importantly, the model indicated that ascospores and conidia are very important parameters in developing citrus black spot within a short distance. The basic reproductive number and its importance in relation to citrus black spot persistence are outlined. A numerical simulation of the model was done to explain the theoretical findings.

Keywords: epidemiological modelling, Guidnardia citricarpa, life cycle stage, fungal, disease development

Procedia PDF Downloads 336

Authors: Lozano Paul

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Coupled Membrane Separation Technology (CMST), including Cross Flow Microfiltration (CFM) and Reverse Osmosis (RO), are used to concentrate microalgae biomass or/and to extract and concentrate water-soluble metabolites produced during micro-algae production cycle, as well as water recycling. Micro-algae biomass was produced using different feeding mixtures of ingredients: pure chemical origin compounds and natural/ecological water-extracted components from available local plants. Micro-algae was grown either in conventional plastic bags (100L/unit) or in small-scale innovative bioreactors (75L). Biomass was concentrated as CFM retentate using a P19-60 ceramic membrane (0.2μm pore size), and water-soluble micro-algae metabolites left in the CFM filtrate were concentrated by RO. Large volumes of water (micro-algae culture media) of were recycled by the CMTS for another biomass production cycle.

Keywords: extraction, membrane process, microalgae, natural compound

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Authors: Kenza Maher, Yahya Zakaria, Noora S. Al-Jaidah

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Temperature is a critical parameter for lithium-ion battery performance, life, and safety. In this study, four commercially available 18650 lithium-ion cells from four different manufacturers are subjected to accelerated cycle aging for up to 500 cycles at two different temperatures (25°C and 45°C). The cells are also calendar-aged at the same temperatures in both charged and discharged states for 6 months to investigate the effect of aging and temperature on capacity fade and state of health. The results showed that all battery cells demonstrated good cyclability and had a good state of health at both temperatures. However, the capacity loss and state of health of these cells are found to be dependent on the cell chemistry and aging conditions, including temperature. Specifically, the capacity loss is found to be higher at the higher aging temperature, indicating the significant impact of temperature on the aging of lithium-ion batteries.

Keywords: lithium-ion battery, aging mechanisms, cycle aging, calendar aging.

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Authors: Mojtaba Mahmoodian, Joshua Phelan, Mehdi Shahparvari

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With a large percentage of countries’ total infrastructure expenditure attributed to water network maintenance, it is essential to optimise maintenance strategies to rehabilitate or replace underground pipes before failure occurs. The aim of this paper is to provide water utility managers with a maintenance management approach for underground water pipes, subject to external loading and material corrosion, to give the lowest life cycle cost over a predetermined time period. This reliability-based maintenance management methodology details the optimal years for intervention, the ideal number of maintenance activities to perform before replacement and specifies feasible renewal options and intervention prioritisation to minimise the life cycle cost. The study was then extended to include feasible renewal methods by determining the structural condition index and potential for soil loss, then obtaining the failure impact rating to assist in prioritising pipe replacement. A case study on optimisation of maintenance plans for the Melbourne water pipe network is considered in this paper to evaluate the practicality of the proposed methodology. The results confirm that the suggested methodology can provide water utility managers with a reliable systematic approach to determining optimum maintenance plans for pipe networks.

Keywords: water pipe networks, maintenance management, reliability analysis, optimum maintenance plan

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Authors: H. Golchoobian, M. H. Taheri, S. Saedodin, A. Sarafraz

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This paper investigates the possibility of using three systems of organic Rankine auxiliary power generation, ejector refrigeration and absorption to recover energy from a diesel car. The analysis is done for both urban and suburban driving modes that vary from 60 to 120 km/h. Various refrigerants have also been used for organic Rankine and Ejector refrigeration cycles. The capacity was evaluated by Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system in both urban and suburban conditions for cyclopentane and ammonia as refrigerants. Also, for these two driving plans, produced cooling by absorption refrigeration system under variable ambient temperature conditions and in ejector refrigeration system for R123, R134a and R141b refrigerants were investigated.

Keywords: absorption system, diesel engine, ejector refrigeration, energy recovery, organic Rankine cycle

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Authors: Jukka Heinonen

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Higher density reduces distances, private car dependency and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). As a result, increased density has been given a central role among urban development targets. However, it is not just travel behavior that changes along with density. Rather, the consumption patterns, or overall lifestyles, change along with changing urban structure, particularly with changing housing types and consumption opportunities. Furthermore, elevated consumption of services, more frequent flying and less intra-household sharing have been shown to potentially outweigh the gains from reduced driving in more dense urban settlements. In this study, the geography of carbon footprints (CFs) in California is analyzed paying close attention to the household size differences and the resulting economies-of-scale advantages and disadvantages. A hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) framework is employed together with consumer expenditure data to assess the CFs. According to the study, small urban households have the highest CFs in California. Their transport related emissions are significantly lower than those of the residents of less urbanized areas, but higher emissions from other consumption categories, together with the low degree of sharing of goods, overweigh the gains. Two functional units, per capita and per household, are used to analyze the CFs and to demonstrate the importance of household size. The lifestyle impacts visible through the consumption data are also discussed. The study suggests that there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the premises of low-carbon human settlements.

Keywords: carbon footprint, life cycle assessment, lifestyle, household size, consumption, economies-of-scale

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Authors: Michael Dimmer, Holger Flederer

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The basis of realizing a construction project is a technically flawless concept which satisfies conditions regarding environment and costs, as well as static-constructional terms. The presented software system actively supports civil engineers during the setup of optimal designs, by giving advice regarding durability, life-cycle costs, sustainability and much more. A major part of the surrounding conditions of a design process is gathered and assimilated by experienced engineers subconsciously. It is a question about eligible building techniques and their practicability by considering emerging costs. Planning engineers have acquired many of this experience during their professional life and use them for their daily work. Occasionally, the planning engineer should disassociate himself from his experience to be open for new and better solutions which meet the functional demands, as well. The developed expert system gives planning engineers recommendations for preferred design options of new constructions as well as for existing bridge constructions. It is possible to analyze construction elements and techniques regarding sustainability and life-cycle costs. This way the software provides recommendations for future constructions. Furthermore, there is an option to design existing road bridges especially for heavy duty transport. This implies a route planning tool to get quick and reliable information as to whether the bridge support structures of a transport route have been measured sufficiently for a certain heavy duty transport. The use of this expert system in bridge planning companies and building authorities will save costs massively for new and existent bridge constructions. This is achieved by consequently considering parameters like life-cycle costs and sustainability for its planning recommendations.

Keywords: expert system, planning process, road bridges, software system

Procedia PDF Downloads 251

Authors: Ananya Mitra Pramanik, Anjali Agrawal

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This paper traces the waste produced by the textile industry and evaluates the need for this waste to be reused or repurposed. From ancient times the textile industry has been a prominent part of all the economies of the world. It is famous for traditional as well as mill made fabrics. However the beauty and utility radiated by the textiles are juxtaposed by the piling amount of waste that the whole life cycle of a textile production and disposal entails. Waste happens in stages in a textile life cycle. It can be broadly categorised as pre-consumer and post-consumer waste. This research suggests suitable processes and techniques for channelizing post-industrial waste. It explores the scope of textile waste as a raw material for innovation and design. It discusses the role of designers in using waste to create useful and appealing designs. The paper examines the need of designers to create novel ideas to reuse textiles. This paper is based on secondary research. Most of the information used is taken from books and journals. The DEFRA report 2009 is also consulted for comprehensive data on textile waste percentage.

Keywords: designers, repurposing, textiles, waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: A. Soria-Salinas, M.-P. Zorzano, J. Martín-Torres, J. Sánchez-García-Casarrubios, J.-L. Pérez-Díaz, A. Vakkada-Ramachandran

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The current state-of-the-art methods of mass gauging of Electric Propulsion (EP) propellants in microgravity conditions rely on external measurements that are taken at the surface of the tank. The tanks are operated under a constant thermal duty cycle to store the propellant within a pre-defined temperature and pressure range. We demonstrate using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations that the heat-transfer within the pressurized propellant generates temperature and density anisotropies. This challenges the standard mass gauging methods that rely on the use of time changing skin-temperatures and pressures. We observe that the domes of the tanks are prone to be overheated, and that a long time after the heaters of the thermal cycle are switched off, the system reaches a quasi-equilibrium state with a more uniform density. We propose a new gauging method, which we call the Improved PVT method, based on universal physics and thermodynamics principles, existing TRL-9 technology and telemetry data. This method only uses as inputs the temperature and pressure readings of sensors externally attached to the tank. These sensors can operate during the nominal thermal duty cycle. The improved PVT method shows little sensitivity to the pressure sensor drifts which are critical towards the end-of-life of the missions, as well as little sensitivity to systematic temperature errors. The retrieval method has been validated experimentally with CO₂ in gas and fluid state in a chamber that operates up to 82 bar within a nominal thermal cycle of 38 °C to 42 °C. The mass gauging error is shown to be lower than 1% the mass at the beginning of life, assuming an initial tank load at 100 bar. In particular, for a pressure of about 70 bar, just below the critical pressure of CO₂, the error of the mass gauging in gas phase goes down to 0.1% and for 77 bar, just above the critical point, the error of the mass gauging of the liquid phase is 0.6% of initial tank load. This gauging method improves by a factor of 8 the accuracy of the standard PVT retrievals using look-up tables with tabulated data from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Keywords: electric propulsion, mass gauging, propellant, PVT, xenon

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Authors: E. Asadollahi-Yazdi, J. Gardan, P. Lafon

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Nowadays, manufactures are encountered with production of different version of products due to quality, cost and time constraints. On the other hand, Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a production method based on CAD model disrupts the design and manufacturing cycle with new parameters. To consider these issues, the researchers utilized Design For Manufacturing (DFM) approach for AM but until now there is no integrated approach for design and manufacturing of product through the AM. So, this paper aims to provide a general methodology for managing the different production issues, as well as, support the interoperability with AM process and different Product Life Cycle Management tools. The problem is that the models of System Engineering which is used for managing complex systems cannot support the product evolution and its impact on the product life cycle. Therefore, it seems necessary to provide a general methodology for managing the product’s diversities which is created by using AM. This methodology must consider manufacture and assembly during product design as early as possible in the design stage. The latest approach of DFM, as a methodology to analyze the system comprehensively, integrates manufacturing constraints in the numerical model in upstream. So, DFM for AM is used to import the characteristics of AM into the design and manufacturing process of a hybrid product to manage the criteria coming from AM. Also, the research presents an integrated design method in order to take into account the knowledge of layers manufacturing technologies. For this purpose, the interface model based on the skin and skeleton concepts is provided, the usage and manufacturing skins are used to show the functional surface of the product. Also, the material flow and link between the skins are demonstrated by usage and manufacturing skeletons. Therefore, this integrated approach is a helpful methodology for designer and manufacturer in different decisions like material and process selection as well as, evaluation of product manufacturability.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, 3D printing, design for manufacturing, integrated design, interoperability

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Authors: Marcela Ondova, Adriana Estokova

Abstract:

Rapid industrialization results in increased use of natural resources bring along serious ecological and environmental imbalance due to the dumping of industrial wastes. Principles of sustainable construction have to be accepted with regard to the consumption of natural resources and the production of harmful emissions. Cement is a great importance raw material in the building industry and today is its large amount used in the construction of concrete pavements. Concerning raw materials cost and producing CO2 emission the replacing of cement in concrete mixtures with more sustainable materials is necessary. To reduce this environmental impact people all over the world are looking for a solution. Over a period of last ten years, the image of fly ash has completely been changed from a polluting waste to resource material and it can solve the major problems of cement use. Fly ash concretes are proposed as a potential approach for achieving substantial reductions in cement. It is known that it improves the workability of concrete, extends the life cycle of concrete roads, and reduces energy use and greenhouse gas as well as amount of coal combustion products that must be disposed in landfills. Life cycle assessment also proved that a concrete pavement with fly ash cement replacement is considerably more environmentally friendly compared to standard concrete roads. In addition, fly ash is cheap raw material, and the costs saving are guaranteed. The strength properties, resistance to a frost or de-icing salts, which are important characteristics in the construction of concrete pavements, have reached the required standards as well. In terms of human health it can´t be stated that a concrete cover with fly ash could be dangerous compared with a cover without fly ash. Final Multi-criteria analysis also pointed that a concrete with fly ash is a clearly proper solution.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, fly ash, waste, concrete pavements

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Authors: Stephen Fanale

Abstract:

Criminalization creates sizable barriers to housing and perpetuates the cycle of homelessness. Not only does criminalization leave people on the streets and in shelters indefinitely, but it also unnecessarily costs the taxpayers. Homelessness is a growing issue throughout the world, and criminalizing these human beings is a violation of basic human rights. While this may seem like an insurmountable obstacle, there is something that can be done while fighting that battle. While they are under-researched as a whole, specialty courts, specifically homeless courts, are a growing vessel that can address some of the barriers associated with the criminalization of homelessness. They divert individuals away from jail while connecting them to services that will help their situation instead of hindering it. The model being used in Salt Lake City, while similar to others throughout the United States, stands alone in its outreach efforts and should be paving the way for the rest of the world. The following will look at criminalization and different ways of addressing it, and, finally, Salt Lake City’s current operations, including the unique outreach court: Kayak Court.

Keywords: barriers to housing, criminalization, cycle of homelessness, homeless court, diversion, kayak court

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Authors: L. Heidari, M. Jalili Ghazizade

Abstract:

This paper aims to determine the best environmental and economic scenario for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management of the Maku city by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The functional elements of this study are collection, transportation, and disposal of MSW in Maku city. Waste composition and density, as two key parameters of MSW, have been determined by field sampling, and then, the other important specifications of MSW like chemical formula, thermal energy and water content were calculated. These data beside other information related to collection and disposal facilities are used as a reliable source of data to assess the environmental impacts of different waste management options, including landfills, composting, recycling and energy recovery. The environmental impact of MSW management options has been investigated in 15 different scenarios by Integrated Waste Management (IWM) software. The photochemical smog, greenhouse gases, acid gases, toxic emissions, and energy consumption of each scenario are measured. Then, the environmental indices of each scenario are specified by weighting these parameters. Economic costs of scenarios have been also compared with each other based on literature. As final result, since the organic materials make more than 80% of the waste, compost can be a suitable method. Although the major part of the remaining 20% of waste can be recycled, due to the high cost of necessary equipment, the landfill option has been suggested. Therefore, the scenario with 80% composting and 20% landfilling is selected as superior environmental and economic scenario. This study shows that, to select a scenario with practical applications, simultaneously environmental and economic aspects of different scenarios must be considered.

Keywords: IWM software, life cycle assessment, Maku, municipal solid waste management

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Authors: Jeffrey A. Amelse

Abstract:

Many corporations aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Carbon Dioxide by 2035-2050. This paper examines what it will take to achieve those goals. Achieving Net Zero CO₂ requires an understanding of where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO₂ generation, and proper understanding of the Carbon Cycle. The latter leads to the distinction between CO₂ and biomass carbon sequestration. Short reviews are provided for prior technologies proposed for reducing CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels or substitution by renewable energy, to focus on their limitations and to show that none offer a complete solution. Of these, CO₂ sequestration is poised to have the largest impact. It will just cost money, scale-up is a huge challenge, and it will not be a complete solution. CO₂ sequestration is still in the demonstration and semi-commercial scale. Transportation accounts for only about 30% of total U.S. energy demand, and renewables account for only a small fraction of that sector. Yet, bioethanol production consumes 40% of U.S. corn crop, and biodiesel consumes 30% of U.S. soybeans. It is unrealistic to believe that biofuels can completely displace fossil fuels in the transportation market. Bioethanol is traced through its Carbon Cycle and shown to be both energy inefficient and inefficient use of biomass carbon. Both biofuels and CO₂ sequestration reduce future CO₂ emissions from continued use of fossil fuels. They will not remove CO₂ already in the atmosphere. Planting more trees has been proposed as a way to reduce atmospheric CO₂. Trees are a temporary solution. When they complete their Carbon Cycle, they die and release their carbon as CO₂ to the atmosphere. Thus, planting more trees is just 'kicking the can down the road.' The only way to permanently remove CO₂ already in the atmosphere is to break the Carbon Cycle by growing biomass from atmospheric CO₂ and sequestering biomass carbon. Sequestering tree leaves is proposed as a solution. Unlike wood, leaves have a short Carbon Cycle time constant. They renew and decompose every year. Allometric equations from the USDA indicate that theoretically, sequestrating only a fraction of the world’s tree leaves can get the world to Net Zero CO₂ without disturbing the underlying forests. How can tree leaves be permanently sequestered? It may be as simple as rethinking how landfills are designed to discourage instead of encouraging decomposition. In traditional landfills, municipal waste undergoes rapid initial aerobic decomposition to CO₂, followed by slow anaerobic decomposition to methane and CO₂. The latter can take hundreds to thousands of years. The first step in anaerobic decomposition is hydrolysis of cellulose to release sugars, which those who have worked on cellulosic ethanol know is challenging for a number of reasons. The key to permanent leaf sequestration may be keeping the landfills dry and exploiting known inhibitors for anaerobic bacteria.

Keywords: carbon dioxide, net zero, sequestration, biomass, leaves

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Authors: Zhongnan Ye, Xiaoyi Liu, Shu-Chien Hsu

Abstract:

Rapid urbanization has led to a significant increase in construction and demolition waste (C&D waste), underscoring the need for sustainable waste management strategies in the construction industry. Aiming to enhance the sustainability of urban construction practices, this study develops an optimization model to effectively suggest the optimal recycling and reuse strategies for C&D waste, including concrete and steel. By employing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the model evaluates the environmental impacts of adopted construction materials throughout their lifecycle. The model optimizes the quantity of materials to recycle or reuse, the selection of specific recycling and reuse processes, and logistics decisions related to the transportation and storage of recycled materials with the objective of minimizing the overall environmental impact, quantified in terms of carbon emissions, energy consumption, and associated costs, while adhering to a range of constraints. These constraints include capacity limitations, quality standards for recycled materials, compliance with environmental regulations, budgetary limits, and temporal considerations such as project deadlines and material availability. The strategies are expected to be both cost-effective and environmentally beneficial, promoting a circular economy within the construction sector, aligning with global sustainability goals, and providing a scalable framework for managing construction waste in densely populated urban environments. The model is helpful in reducing the carbon footprint of construction projects, conserving valuable resources, and supporting the industry’s transition towards a more sustainable future.

Keywords: circular construction, construction and demolition waste, life cycle assessment, material recycling

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Authors: Francesca Scalisi, Cesare Sposito

Abstract:

The building construction industry consumes a large amount of resources and energy, both during construction (embodied energy) and during the operational phase (operating energy). This paper presents a review of the literature on low carbon and low embodied energy materials in buildings. The embodied energy comprises the energy consumed during the extraction, processing, transportation, construction, and demolition of building materials. While designing a nearly zero energy building, it is necessary to choose and use materials, components, and technologies that allow to reduce the consumption of energy and also to reduce the emissions in the atmosphere during all the Life Cycle Assessment phases. The appropriate choice of building materials can contribute decisively to reduce the energy consumption of the building sector. The increasing worries for the environmental impact of construction materials are witnessed by a lot of studies. The mentioned worries have brought again the attention towards natural materials. The use of more sustainable construction materials and construction techniques represent a major contribution to the eco-efficiency of the construction industry and thus to a more sustainable development.

Keywords: embodied energy, embodied carbon, life cycle assessment, architecture, sustainability, material construction

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Authors: Ranajoy Bhattcharyya

Abstract:

We estimate international product cycles as shifting product spaces by using 1976 to 2010 UN Comtrade data on all differentiated tradable products in all countries. We use a product space approach to identify the representative product baskets of high-, middle and low-income countries and then use these baskets to identify the patterns of change in comparative advantage of countries over time. We find evidence of a product cycle in two senses: First, high-, middle- and low-income countries differ in comparative advantage, and high-income products migrate to the middle-income basket. A similar pattern is observed for middle- and low-income countries. Our estimation of the lag shows that middle-income countries tend to quickly take up the products of high-income countries, but low-income countries take a longer time absorbing these products. Thus, the gap between low- and middle-income countries is considerably higher than that between middle- and high-income nations.

Keywords: product cycle, comparative advantage, representative product basket, ex-post data

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Authors: Y. N. Fung, R. Liu, T. M. Choi

Abstract:

The life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely applied in the study of the sustainable fashion industry. Through the LCA, the social, environmental, and economic performances of the fashion industry can be assessed, which helps sustainable product developers (designers, retailers, and manufacturers) to address problems in product development. In prior studies, environmental impact, economic performance, and social responsibility are commonly considered separately. Inter-relations between dimensions of sustainability and LCA are rarely reported. The development process of sustainable sportswear products is complicated. Changes in the product components (e.g., materials, manufacturing methods, and product design) of sportswear will correspondingly influence supply chain activities and meanwhile affect environmental, economic, and social performances. In this study, the interrelations between different LCAs and how the interrelated LCAs can help product developers to strike a balance among environmental, economic, and social performances are explored. Based on the findings, a three-dimensional assessment framework on the sustainability life cycle is introduced. To examine the applicability of the developed framework, proof-of-concept sportswear legging products were developed. The developed sportswear legging products were assessed in terms of the interrelated dimensions of environmental, economic, and social performances. The results demonstrate the effects of shifting in desig¬n details and product functions on the environmental, social, and economic performances of sportswear products. The outcome of this study provides insights on the approach to balance sustainability and the development of cost-effective and sustainable sportswear products for sportswear developers.

Keywords: sustainable development, sports fashion, life cycle assessment, indicators for sustainability, sustainability impacts

Procedia PDF Downloads 112