Search results for: station inflow

Authors: Eisa Y. Adam, Anas A. Fadlelmula, Ali E. Ali

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Sorghum head bug is a key insect pest of sorghum, and it is important to pay attention to the peak time of the pest abundance. The objective of this study was to study the effect of planting date on head bugs population. Field experiment was conducted during 2007/08 – 2008/09 and 2013/14 - 2014/15 cropping seasons at the Damazine Research Station Farm, Blue Nile State to determine sorghum head bugs incidence and abundance through the sowing date. Different sowing dates (early, mid and late sowing) and a susceptible sorghum variety known as Wad Ahmed variety were used the experiment. The experimental design used was randomized complete block design (RCBD). Data were collected on the number of head bug adults and nymphs/panicle, damage percent, coloration and a puncture due to bug feeding and oviposition, 1000 seeds weight and yield. The results showed that significantly (P<0.05) higher number of bugs and damage percent were recorded on the late sowing date for the four seasons followed by the mid sowing, while the early sowing gave low number of bugs, damage percent and high1000 weight. There were significant differences between protected and unprotected heads. The late sowing (August) is a critical sorghum planting time because it coincided with highest numbers of the head bugs.

Keywords: abundance, damage, headbugs, panicle

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Authors: Shivani Verma, Amit Agrawal, Pankaj Kumar Meena, Ashish B. Deoghare

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Over the decade robotics has been a major area of interest among the researchers and scientists in reducing human efforts. The need for robots to replace human work in different dangerous fields such as underground mining, nuclear power station and war against terrorist attack has gained huge attention. Most of the robot design is based on human structure popularly known as humanoid robots. However, the problems encountered in humanoid robots includes low speed of movement, misbalancing in structure, poor load carrying capacity, etc. The simplification and adaptation of the fundamental design principles seen in animals have led to the creation of bio-inspired robots. But the major challenges observed in naturally inspired robot include complexity in structure, several degrees of freedom and energy storage problem. The present work focuses on design and fabrication of a bionic quadruped walking robot which is based on different joint of quadruped mammals like a dog, cheetah, etc. The design focuses on the structure of the robot body which consists of four legs having three degrees of freedom per leg and the electronics system involved in it. The robot is built using readily available plastics and metals. The proposed robot is simple in construction and is able to move through uneven terrain, detect and locate obstacles and take images while carrying additional loads which may include hardware and sensors. The robot will find possible application in the artificial intelligence sector.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, bionic, quadruped robot, degree of freedom

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Authors: I Dewa Gede Arya Putra

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Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a mathematical procedure that uses orthogonal transformation techniques to change a set of data with components that may be related become components that are not related to each other. This can have an impact on clustering wind speed characteristics in Indonesia. This study uses data daily wind speed observations of the Site Meteorological Station network for 30 years. Multicollinearity tests were also performed on all of these data before doing clustering with PCA. The results show that the four main components have a total diversity of above 80% which will be used for clusters. Division of clusters using Ward's method obtained 3 types of clusters. Cluster 1 covers the central part of Sumatra Island, northern Kalimantan, northern Sulawesi, and northern Maluku with the climatological pattern of wind speed that does not have an annual cycle and a weak speed throughout the year with a low-speed ranging from 0 to 1,5 m/s². Cluster 2 covers the northern part of Sumatra Island, South Sulawesi, Bali, northern Papua with the climatological pattern conditions of wind speed that have annual cycle variations with low speeds ranging from 1 to 3 m/s². Cluster 3 covers the eastern part of Java Island, the Southeast Nusa Islands, and the southern Maluku Islands with the climatological pattern of wind speed conditions that have annual cycle variations with high speeds ranging from 1 to 4.5 m/s².

Keywords: PCA, cluster, Ward's method, wind speed

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Authors: Rouag N., Khalifa M. W., Bencheikh A., Abed H.

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The behavior study of forty-two varieties and genotypes of chickpeas regarding root wilt disease induced by Fusarium oxysporum under the natural conditions of infection was conducted at the ITGC experimental station in Sétif. The infected plants of the different chickpea genotypes have shown multiple symptoms in the field caused by the local strain of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.cecris belonging to race II of the pathogen. These symptoms ranged from lateral or partial wilting of some ramifications to total desiccation of the plant, sometimes combined with the very slow growth of symptomatic plants. The results of the search for sources of resistance to Fusarium wilt of chickpeas in the 42 genotypes tested revealed that in terms of infection rate, the presence of 7 groups and no genotype showed absolute resistance. While in terms of severity, the results revealed the presence of three homogeneous groups. The first group formed by the most resistant genotypes, in this case, Flip10-368C; Flip11-77C; Flip11-186C; Flip11-124C; Flip11-142C, Flip11-152C; Flip11-69C; Ghab 05; Flip11-159C; Flip11-90C; Flip10-357C and Flip11-37C while the second group is the FLIP genotype 10-382C which was found to be the most sensitive for the natural infection test. Thus, the genotypes of Cicer arietinum L., which have shown significant levels of resistance to Fusarium wilt, can be integrated into breeding and improvement programs.

Keywords: chickpea, Cicer arietinum, Fusarium oxysporum, genotype resistance

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Authors: Lauren E. Church

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Background: Extravehicular activities (EVAs) are a critical aspect of missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It has long been noted that the spaceflight environment and the physical demands of EVA cause physiological and metabolic changes in humans; this review aims to combine these findings with nutritional studies in analogues of the spaceflight and EVA environments to make nutritional recommendations for astronauts scheduled for and immediately returning from EVAs. Results: Energy demands increase during orbital spaceflight and see further increases during EVA. Another critical element of EVA nutrition is adequate hydration. Orbital EVA appears to provide adequate hydration under current protocol, but during lunar surface EVA (LEVA) and in a 10km lunar walk-back test astronauts have stated that up to 20% more water was needed. Previous attempts for in-suit edible sustenance have not been adequately taken up by astronauts to be economically viable. In elite endurance athletes, a mixture of glucose and fructose is used in gels, improving performance. Discussion: A combination of non-caffeinated energy drink and simple water should be available for astronauts during EVA, allowing more autonomy. There should also be provision of gels or a similar product containing appropriate sodium levels to maintain hydration, but not so much as to hyperhydrate through renal water reabsorption. It is also suggested that short breaks be built into the schedule of EVAs for these gels to be consumed, as it is speculated that reason for low uptake of in-suit sustenance is the lack of time available in which to consume it.

Keywords: astronaut, nutrition, space, sport

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Authors: Iyagbaye O. Rich, Omoigberale O. Michael, Iyagbaye A. Louis

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The physical, chemical parameters and some trace contents of Ugbogui in Edo State, Nigeria were investigated from August 2015 to April 2016. Four stations were studied from upstream to downstream using standard methods. A total of thirty-three (33) physical and chemical characteristics and trace metal contents were examined; Air and water temperatures, depth, transparency, colour, turbidity, flow velocity, pH, total alkalinity, conductivity and dissolved solids etc. Other includes dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, biochemical oxygen demand, chloride, phosphate, sodium, nitrate, sulphate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, cadmium, vanadium and chromium. Eleven (11) parameters exhibited clear seasonal variations. However, there were high significant differences (p < 0.01) in the values of depth, colour, total suspended solid, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, chloride, bicarbonate, phosphate, sulphate, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, chromium and cadmium among the stations. The anthropogenic activities had negatively impacted at station 3 of the river, although most of the recorded values were still within permissible limits.

Keywords: anthropogenic activities, Nigeria, permissible limits, physical and chemical parameters, trace metal, water quality

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Authors: Pattra Pukdeekiat, Siriluk Ruangrungrote

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This work was originated to precisely determine direct solar radiation by using atmospheric physics models since the accurate prediction of solar radiation is necessary and useful for solar energy applications including atmospheric research. The possible models and techniques for a calculation of regional direct solar radiation were challenging and compulsory for the case of unavailable instrumental measurement. The investigation was mathematically governed by six astronomical parameters i.e. declination (δ), hour angle (ω), solar time, solar zenith angle (θz), extraterrestrial radiation (Iso) and eccentricity (E0) along with two atmospheric parameters i.e. air mass (mr) and dew point temperature at Bangna meteorological station (13.67° N, 100.61° E) in Bangkok, Thailand. Analyses of five models of solar radiation determination with the assumption of clear sky were applied accompanied by three statistical tests: Mean Bias Difference (MBD), Root Mean Square Difference (RMSD) and Coefficient of determination (R2) in order to validate the accuracy of obtainable results. The calculated direct solar radiation was in a range of 491-505 Watt/m2 with relative percentage error 8.41% for winter and 532-540 Watt/m2 with relative percentage error 4.89% for summer 2014. Additionally, dataset of seven continuous days, representing both seasons were considered with the MBD, RMSD and R2 of -0.08, 0.25, 0.86 and -0.14, 0.35, 3.29, respectively, which belong to Kumar model for winter and CSR model for summer. In summary, the determination of direct solar radiation based on atmospheric models and empirical equations could advantageously provide immediate and reliable values of the solar components for any site in the region without a constraint of actual measurement.

Keywords: atmospheric physics models, astronomical parameters, atmospheric parameters, clear sky condition

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Authors: M. A. Gad, A. Z. Al-Herrawy

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Microsporidia comprises various pathogenic species can infect humans by means of water. Moreover, chlorine disinfection of drinking-water has limitations against this protozoan pathogen. A total of 48 water samples were collected from two drinking water treatment plants having two different filtration systems (slow sand filter and rapid sand filter) during one year period. Samples were collected from inlet and outlet of each plant. Samples were separately filtrated through nitrocellulose membrane (142 mm, 0.45 µm), then eluted and centrifuged. The obtained pellet from each sample was subjected to DNA extraction, then, amplification using genus-specific primer for microsporidia. Each microsporidia-PCR positive sample was performed by two species specific primers for Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis. The results of the present study showed that the percentage of removal for microsporidia through different treatment processes reached its highest rate in the station using slow sand filters (100%), while the removal by rapid sand filter system was 81.8%. Statistically, the two different drinking water treatment plants (slow and rapid) had significant effect for removal of microsporidia. Molecular identification of microsporidia-PCR positive samples using two different primers for Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis showed the presence of the two pervious species in the inlet water of the two stations, while Encephalitozoon intestinalis was detected in the outlet water only. In conclusion, the appearance of virulent microsporidia in treated drinking water may cause potential health threat.

Keywords: removal, efficacy, microsporidia, drinking water treatment plants, PCR

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Authors: S. Chuenchooklin

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This research was conducted in the Lower Ping River Basin downstream of the Bhumibol Dam and the Lower Wang River Basin in Tak Province, Thailand. Most of the tributary streams of the Ping can be considered as ungauged catchments. There are 10- pumping station installation at both river banks of the Ping in Tak Province. Recently, most of them could not fully operate due to the water amount in the river below the level that would be pumping, even though included water from the natural river and released flow from the Bhumibol Dam. The aim of this research was to increase the performance of those pumping stations using weir projects in the Ping. Therefore, the river analysis system model (HEC-RAS) was applied to study the hydraulic behavior of water surface profiles in the Ping River with both cases of existing conditions and proposed weirs during the violent flood in 2011 and severe drought in 2013. Moreover, the hydrologic modeling system (HMS) was applied to simulate lateral streamflow hydrograph from ungauged catchments of the Ping. The results of HEC-RAS model calibration with existing conditions in 2011 showed best trial roughness coefficient for the main channel of 0.026. The simulated water surface levels fitted to observation data with R2 of 0.8175. The model was applied to 3 proposed cascade weirs with 2.35 m in height and found surcharge water level only 0.27 m higher than the existing condition in 2011. Moreover, those weirs could maintain river water levels and increase of those pumping performances during less river flow in 2013.

Keywords: HEC-RAS, HMS, pumping stations, cascade weirs

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Authors: Huidan Yu, Anurag Deb, Rou Chen, I-Wen Wang

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The use of left ventricle assist devices (LVADs) in patients with heart failure has been a proven and effective therapy for patients with severe end-stage heart failure. Due to the limited availability of suitable donor hearts, LVADs will probably become the alternative solution for patient with heart failure in the near future. While the LVAD is being continuously improved toward enhanced performance, increased device durability, reduced size, a better understanding of implantation management becomes critical in order to achieve better long-term blood supplies and less post-surgical complications such as thrombi generation. Important issues related to the LVAD implantation include the location of outflow grafting (OG), the angle of the OG, the combination between LVAD and native heart pumping, uniform or pulsatile flow at OG, etc. We have hypothesized that an optimal implantation of LVAD is patient specific. To test this hypothesis, we employ a novel in-house computational modeling technique, named InVascular, to conduct a systematic evaluation of cardiac output at aortic arch together with other pertinent hemodynamic quantities for each patient under various implantation scenarios aiming to get an optimal implantation strategy. InVacular is a powerful computational modeling technique that integrates unified mesoscale modeling for both image segmentation and fluid dynamics with the cutting-edge GPU parallel computing. It first segments the aortic artery from patient’s CT image, then seamlessly feeds extracted morphology, together with the velocity wave from Echo Ultrasound image of the same patient, to the computation model to quantify 4-D (time+space) velocity and pressure fields. Using one NVIDIA Tesla K40 GPU card, InVascular completes a computation from CT image to 4-D hemodynamics within 30 minutes. Thus it has the great potential to conduct massive numerical simulation and analysis. The systematic evaluation for one patient includes three OG anastomosis (ascending aorta, descending thoracic aorta, and subclavian artery), three combinations of LVAD and native heart pumping (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3), three angles of OG anastomosis (inclined upward, perpendicular, and inclined downward), and two LVAD inflow conditions (uniform and pulsatile). The optimal LVAD implantation is suggested through a comprehensive analysis of the cardiac output and related hemodynamics from the simulations over the fifty-four scenarios. To confirm the hypothesis, 5 random patient cases will be evaluated.

Keywords: graphic processing unit (GPU) parallel computing, left ventricle assist device (LVAD), lumped-parameter model, patient-specific computational hemodynamics

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Authors: Sagar Shiwakoti, Narendra Man Shakya

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The lumped conceptual hydrological model HBV is applied to the Karnali River Basin to estimate runoff at several gauging stations and to analyze the changes in catchment hydrology and future flood magnitude due to climate change. The performance of the model is analyzed to assess its suitability to simulate streamflow in snow fed mountainous catchments. Due to the structural complexity, the model shows difficulties in modeling low and high flows accurately at the same time. It is observed that the low flows were generally underestimated and the peaks were correctly estimated except for some sharp peaks due to isolated precipitation events. In this study, attempt has been made to evaluate the importance of snow melt discharge in the runoff regime of the basin. Quantification of contribution of snowmelt to annual, summer and winter runoff has been done. The contribution is highest at the beginning of the hot months as the accumulated snow begins to melt. Examination of this contribution under conditions of increased temperatures indicate that global warming leading to increase in average basin temperature will significantly lead to higher contributions to runoff from snowmelt. Forcing the model with the output of HadCM3 GCM and the A1B scenario downscaled to the station level show significant changes to catchment hydrology in the 2040s. It is observed that the increase in runoff is most extreme in June - July. A shift in the hydrological regime is also observed.

Keywords: hydrological modeling, HBV light, rainfall runoff modeling, snow melt, climate change

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Authors: Manoj Gupta Charan Pushparaj

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Tourism related activities are getting popular day by day and tourism has become an integral part of everyone’s life. Ecotourism initiatives have grown enormously in the past decade, and the concept of ecotourism has shown to bring great benefits in terms of environment conservation and to improve the livelihood of local people. However, the potential of ecotourism to sustain improving the livelihood of the local population in the remote future is a topic of active debate. A primary challenge that exists in this regard is the enormous costs of limiting the impacts of tourism related activities on the environment. Here we employed systems modeling approach using computer simulations to determine if ecotourism activities in the small hill town of Yercaud (Tamil Nadu, India) can be sustained over years in improving the livelihood of the local population. Increasing damage to the natural environment as a result of tourism-related activities have plagued the pristine hill station of Yercaud. Though ecotourism efforts can help conserve the environment and enrich local population, questions remain if this can be sustained in the distant future. The vital state variables in the model are the existing tourism foundation (labor, services available to tourists, etc.,) in the town of Yercaud and its natural environment (water, flora and fauna). Another state variable is the textile industry that drives the local economy. Our results would help to understand if environment conservation efforts are sustainable in Yercaud and would also offer suggestions to make it sustainable over the course of several years.

Keywords: ecotourism, simulations, modeling, Yercaud

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Authors: Eun Jeong Yu, Inn Soo Kang, Tae Ki Yoon, Mi Kyoung Koong

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Advanced female age is associated with higher cycle cancelation rates, lower clinical pregnancy rate, increased miscarriage and aneuploidy rates in IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) cycles. This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a Cha Fertility Center, Seoul Station. All fresh non-donor IVF cycles performed in women aged 40 years and above from January 2016 to December 2016 were reviewed. Donor/recipient treatment, PGD/PGS (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis/ Preimplantation Genetic Screening) were excluded from analysis. Of the 1,166 cycles from 753 women who completed ovulation induction, 1,047 were appropriate for the evaluation according to inclusion and exclusion criterion. IVF cycles were categorized according to age and grouped into the following 1-year age groups: 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and > 46. The mean age of patients was 42.4 ± 1.8 years. The median AMH (Anti-Mullerian Hormone) level was 1.2 ± 1.5 ng/mL. The mean number of retrieved oocytes was 4.9 ± 4.3. The clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate in women > 40 years significantly decreased with each year of advancing age (p < 0.001). The clinical pregnancy rate decreased from 21% at the age of 40 years to 0% at ages above 45 years. Live birth rate decreased from 12.3% to 0%, respectively. There were no clinical pregnancy outcomes among 95 patients aged above 45 years of age. The overall miscarriage rate was 40.7% (range, 36.7%-70%). The transfer of at least one good quality embryo was associated with about 4-9% increased chance of a clinical pregnancy rate. Therefore, IVF in old age women less than 46 had a reasonable chance for successful pregnancy outcomes especially when good quality embryo is transferred.

Keywords: advanced maternal age, in vitro fertilization, pregnancy rate, live birth rate

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Authors: Ashim Sattar, Ajanta Goswami, Anil V. Kulkarni

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Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) highly contributes to mountain hazards in the Himalaya. Over the past decade, high altitude lakes in the Himalaya has been showing notable growth in their size and number. The key reason is rapid retreat of its glacier front. Hydrodynamic modeling GLOF using shallow water equations (SWE) would result in understanding its impact in the downstream region. The present study incorporates remote sensing based ice thickness modeling to determine the future extent of the Dhauliganga Lake to map the over deepening extent around the highest lake in the Dhauliganga basin. The maximum future volume of the lake calculated using area-volume scaling is used to model a GLOF event. The GLOF hydrograph is routed along the channel using one dimensional and two dimensional model to understand the flood wave propagation till it reaches the 1st hydropower station located 72 km downstream of the lake. The present extent of the lake calculated using SENTINEL 2 images is 0.13 km². The maximum future extent of the lake, mapped by investigating the glacier bed has a calculated scaled volume of 3.48 x 106 m³. The GLOF modeling releasing the future volume of the lake resulted in a breach hydrograph with a peak flood of 4995 m³/s at just downstream of the lake. Hydraulic routing

Keywords: GLOF, glacial lake outburst floods, mountain hazard, Central Himalaya, future projection

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Authors: Basanta Raj Adhikari

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Large and small scale earthquakes are frequent in the Nepal, Himalaya, and many co-seismic landslides are resulted out of it. Recently, Gorkha earthquake-2015 has triggered many co-seismic landslides destroying many lives and properties. People have displaced their original places due to having many cracks and unstable ground. Therefore, Nepal has been adopting a pronged development strategy to address the earthquake issues through reconstruction and rehabilitation policy, plans and budgets. Landslides are major threat for the mountain livelihood, and it is very important to investigate and mitigate to improve human wellbeing factoring in considerations of economic growth, environmental safety, and sustainable development. Community based landslide investigation was carried with the involvement of the local community in the Sindhupalchowk District of Central Nepal. Landslide training and field orientation were the major methodological approach of this study. Combination of indigenous and modern scientific knowledge has created unique working environment which enhanced the local capacity and trained people for replication. Local topography of the landslide was created with the help of Total Station and bill of quantity was derived based on it. River training works, plantation of trees and grasses, support structures, surface and sub-surface drainage management are the recommended mitigative measures. This is a very unique example of how academia and local community can work together for sustainable development by reducing disaster risk at the local level with very low-cost technology.

Keywords: community, earthquake, landslides, Nepal

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Authors: Esubalew Yehualaw Melaku

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In this study, two basic geophysical methods are applied for mapping the groundwater aquifer system in the Gode area along the Guder River, northeast of Hosanna town, near the western margin of the Central Main Ethiopian Rift. The main target of the study is to map the potential aquifer zone and investigate the groundwater potential for current and future development of the resource in the Gode area. The geophysical methods employed in this study include, Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) and magnetic survey techniques. Electrical sounding was used to examine and map the depth to the potential aquifer zone of the groundwater and its distribution over the area. On the other hand, a magnetic survey was used to delineate contact between lithologic units and geological structures. The 2D magnetic modeling and the geoelectric sections are used for the identification of weak zones, which control the groundwater flow and storage system. The geophysical survey comprises of twelve VES readings collected by using a Schlumberger array along six profile lines and more than four hundred (400) magnetic readings at about 10m station intervals along four profiles and 20m along three random profiles. The study result revealed that the potential aquifer in the area is obtained at a depth range from 45m to 92m. This is the response of the highly weathered/ fractured ignimbrite and pumice layer with sandy soil, which is the main water-bearing horizon. Overall, in the neighborhood of four VES points, VES- 2, VES- 3, VES-10, and VES-11, shows good water-bearing zones in the study area.

Keywords: vertical electrical sounding, magnetic survey, aquifer, groundwater potential

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Authors: Mohamed Ahmed Khali

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Numbers of deep well anode ground beds (GBs) have been retrieved due to un operated anode chains. New identical magnetite anode chains(MAC) have been installed at Raslanuf complex impressed current Cathodic protection(ICCP) system, distributed at different plants(Utility, ethylene and polyethylene). All problems associated with retrieving and installation of MACs have been discussed, rectified and presented. All GB associated severely corroded wellhead casings were well maintained and/ or replaced by new fabricated and modified ones. The main cause of wellhead casings internal corrosion was discussed, and the conducted remedy action to overcome future corrosion problem is presented. All GB connected anode junction boxes (AJBs) and shunts were closely inspected, maintained, and necessary replacement/and or modification were carried out on shunts. All damaged GB concrete foundations (CF) have been inspected and completely replaced. All GB associated Transformer-Rectifiers units (TRUs) were subjected to through inspection, and necessary maintenance has been performed on each individual TRU. After completion of all MACs and TRU maintenance activities, each cathodic protection station (CPS) has been re-operated. An alternative current (AC), direct current (DC), voltage and structure to soil potential (S/P) measurements have been conducted, recorded, and all obtained test results are presented. DC current outputs has been adjusted, and DC current outputs of each MAC has been recorded for each GB AJB.

Keywords: magnatite anode, deep well, ground bed, cathodic protection, transformer rectifies, impreced current, junction box

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Authors: Gholamhossein Hosseini

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Two earliness cotton genotypes I and II, which had been developed by hybridization and backcross methods between sindise-80 as an early maturing gene parent and two other lines i.e. Red leaf and Bulgare-557 as a second parent, are subjected to different environmental conditions. The early maturing genotypes with coded names of I and II were compared with four native cotton cultivars in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications in three ecological regions of Iran from 2016-2017. Two early maturing genotypes along with four native cultivars viz. Varamin, Oltan, Sahel and Arya were planted in Agricultural Research Station of Varamin, Moghan and Kashmar for evaluation. Earliness data were collected for six treatments during two years in the three regions except missing data for the second year of Kashmar. Therefore, missed data were estimated and imputed. For testing the homogeneity of error variances, each experiment at a given location or year is analyzed separately using Hartley and Bartlett’s Chi-square tests and both tests confirmed homogeneity of variance. Combined analysis of variance showed that genotypes I and II were superior in Varamin, Moghan and Kashmar regions. Earliness means and their interaction effects were compared with Duncan’s multiple range tests. Finally combined analysis of variance showed that genotypes I and II were superior in Varamin, Moghan and Kashmar regions. Earliness means and their interaction effects are compared with Duncan’s multiple range tests.

Keywords: cotton, combined, analysis, earliness

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Authors: Umar D. M., Aminu A. M., Izaddeen K. Y.

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Deployments of mini macrocell base stations also referred to as femtocells, improve the quality of service of indoor and outdoor users. Nevertheless, mobility management remains a key issue with regards to their deployment. This paper is leaned towards this issue, with an in-depth focus on the most important aspect of mobility management -handover. In handover management, making a handover decision in the LTE two-tier macrocell femtocell network is a crucial research area. Decision algorithms in this research are classified and comparatively analyzed according to received signal strength, user equipment speed, cost function, and interference. However, it was observed that most of the discussed decision algorithms fail to consider cell selection with hybrid access policy in a single macrocell multiple femtocell scenario, another observation was a majority of these algorithms lack the incorporation of user equipment residence parameter. Not including this parameter boosts the number of unnecessary handover occurrence. To deal with these issues, a sophisticated handover decision algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm considers the user’s velocity, received signal strength, residence time, as well as the femtocell base station’s access policy. Simulation results have shown that the proposed algorithm reduces the number of unnecessary handovers when compared to conventional received signal strength-based handover decision algorithm.

Keywords: user-equipment, radio signal service, long term evolution, mobility management, handoff

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Authors: Vinu Elias Jacob, Manoj Kumar Kini

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Disasters of all types are occurring more frequently and are becoming more costly than ever due to various manmade factors including climate change. A better utilisation of the concept of governance and management within disaster risk reduction is inevitable and of utmost importance. There is a need to explore the role of pre- and post-disaster public policies. The role of urban planning/design in shaping the opportunities of households, individuals and collectively the settlements for achieving recovery has to be explored. Governance strategies that can better support the integration of disaster risk reduction and management has to be examined. The main aim is to thereby build the resilience of individuals and communities and thus, the states too. Resilience is a term that is usually linked to the fields of disaster management and mitigation, but today has become an integral part of planning and design of cities. Disaster resilience broadly describes the ability of an individual or community to 'bounce back' from disaster impacts, through improved mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The growing population of the world has resulted in the inflow and use of resources, creating a pressure on the various natural systems and inequity in the distribution of resources. This makes cities vulnerable to multiple attacks by both natural and man-made disasters. Each urban area needs elaborate studies and study based strategies to proceed in the discussed direction. Cochin in Kerala is the fastest and largest growing city with a population of more than 26 lakhs. The main concern that has been looked into in this paper is making cities resilient by designing a framework of strategies based on urban design principles for an immediate response system especially focussing on the city of Cochin, Kerala, India. The paper discusses, understanding the spatial transformations due to disasters and the role of spatial planning in the context of significant disasters. The paper also aims in developing a model taking into consideration of various factors such as land use, open spaces, transportation networks, physical and social infrastructure, building design, and density and ecology that can be implemented in any city of any context. Guidelines are made for the smooth evacuation of people through hassle-free transport networks, protecting vulnerable areas in the city, providing adequate open spaces for shelters and gatherings, making available basic amenities to affected population within reachable distance, etc. by using the tool of urban design. Strategies at the city level and neighbourhood level have been developed with inferences from vulnerability analysis and case studies.

Keywords: disaster management, resilience, spatial planning, spatial transformations

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Authors: Marju Ben Sayed, Shigeko Haruyama

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Among all kinds of natural disaster, the flood is a common feature in rapidly urbanizing Dhaka city. In this research, assessment of flood risk of Dhaka metropolitan area has been investigated by using an integrated approach of GIS, remote sensing and socio-economic data. The purpose of the study is to measure the flooding risk concerning with the flood protection embankment in big flooding events (1988, 1998 and 2004) and urbanization of Dhaka metropolitan zone. In this research, we considered the Dhaka city into two parts; East Dhaka (outside the flood protection embankment) and West Dhaka (inside the flood protection embankment). Using statistical data, we explored the socio-economic status of the study area population by comparing the density of population, land price and income level. We have drawn the cross section profile of the flood protection embankment into three different points for realizing the flooding risk in the study area, especially in the big flooding year (1988, 1998 and 2004). According to the physical condition of the study area, the land use/land cover map has been classified into five classes. Comparing with each land cover unit, historical weather station data and the socio-economic data, the flooding risk has been evaluated. Moreover, we compared between DEM data and each land cover units to find out the relationship with flood. It is expected that, this study could contribute to effective flood forecasting, relief and emergency management for a future flood event in Dhaka city.

Keywords: land use, land cover change, socio-economic, Dhaka city, GIS, flood

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Authors: A. Alsoqeer

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The establishment, dry matter production and feeding value of six perennial grasses were measured over two growing seasons in a field experiments. The experiments were conducted at the Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2009 and 2010 seasons. The six perennial grasses were: creeping bluegrass (Bothriochloa insculpta cv. Bisset), digit grass (Digitaria smutsi), Jarra digit grass (Digitaria milanjiana), panic (Panicum coloratum cv. Bambatsii), Sabi grass (Urochloa mosambicensis) and setaria (Setaria sphacelata cv. Kazungula). The experimental design used was a completely randomized block design with four replications. The results revealed significant differences among plant species of all agronomic characters and quality traits in the first year, while in the second year, plant species differed significantly for quality traits only. D. smutsi had a superior performance for all agronomic characters, however, it had the lowest values in protein content in the two years comparing with other genotypes. D. milanjiana and U. mosambicensis showed high values in dry matter yield and protein content in the first year, but showed a very poor performance in the second year because most of plants were die due to the low temperatures in the winter. These two species appear to be suitable for annual cultivation. The other species tolerate the cold winter and were a highly productive in the second year.

Keywords: dry mater yield, grass species, cuts, quality traits, crude protein content

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Bartosz Osiecki, Jane Liu

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Pollutants emitted from forest fires such as PM₂.₅ and carbon monoxide (CO) have been found to impact the air quality of distant regions through long-range transport. PM₂.₅ is of particular concern due to its transport capacity and implications for human respiratory and cardiovascular health. As such, significant increases in PM₂.₅ concentrations have been exhibited in urban areas downwind of fire sources. This study seeks to expand on this literature by evaluating the impacts of long-range forest fire emission transport on air quality in Toronto, Ontario, as a means of evaluating the vulnerability of this major urban center to distant fire events. In order to draw correlations between the fire event and air pollution episode in Toronto, MODIS fire count data and HYPLSIT trajectories are used to assess the date, location, and severity of the fire and track the trajectory of emissions (respectively). Forward and back-trajectories are run, terminating at the West Toronto air monitoring station. PM₂.₅ and CO concentrations in Toronto during September 2017 are found to be significantly elevated, which is likely attributable to the fire activity. Other sites in Ontario including Toronto (East, North, Downtown), Mississauga, Brampton, and Hamilton (Downtown) exhibit similar peaks in PM₂.₅ concentrations. This work sheds light on the non-local, natural factors influencing air quality in urban areas. This is especially important in the context of climate change which is expected to exacerbate intense forest fire events in the future.

Keywords: air quality, forest fires, PM₂.₅, Toronto

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Authors: Kwanele Qonono

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Despite the significance and economic benefits of petrol stations in South Africa, these still pose a huge risk of fire and explosion threatening public safety. This research paper examines the extent to which land-use planning in Stellenbosch, South Africa, considers the fire risk posed by petrol stations and the implications for public safety as well as preparedness for large fires or explosions. To achieve this, the research identified the land-use types around petrol stations in Stellenbosch and determined the extent to which their locations comply with the local, national, and international land-use planning regulations. A mixed research method consisting of the collection and analysis of geospatial data and qualitative data was an applied method, where petrol stations within a six-kilometre radius of Stellenbosch’s town centre were utilised as study sites. The research examined the risk of fires/explosions at these petrol stations. The research investigated Stellenbosch Municipality’s institutional preparedness to respond in the event of a fire/explosion at these petrol stations. The research observed that siting of petrol stations does not comply with local, national, and international good practices, thus exposing the surrounding developments to fires and explosions. Land-use planning practice does not consider hazards created by petrol stations. Despite the potential for major fires at petrol stations, Stellenbosch Municipality’s level of preparedness to respond to petrol station fires appears low due to the prioritisation of more frequent events.

Keywords: petrol stations, technological hazard, drr, land-use planning, risk analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Gary Peach, Furqan Hameed

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Musaimeer outfall tunnel is one of the longest storm water tunnels in the world, with a total length of 10.15 km. The tunnel will accommodate surface and rain water received from the drainage networks from 270 km of urban areas in southern Doha with a pumping capacity of 19.7m³/sec. The tunnel is excavated by Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) through Rus Formation, Midra Shales, and Simsima Limestone. Water inflows at high pressure, complex mixed ground, and weaker ground strata prone to karstification with the presence of vertical and lateral fractures connected to the sea bed were also encountered during mining. In addition to pre-tender geotechnical investigations, the Contractor carried out a supplementary offshore geophysical investigation in order to fine-tune the existing results of geophysical and geotechnical investigations. Electric resistivity tomography (ERT) and Seismic Reflection survey was carried out. Offshore geophysical survey was performed, and interpretations of rock mass conditions were made to provide an overall picture of underground conditions along the tunnel alignment. This allowed the critical tunnelling area and cutter head intervention to be planned accordingly. Karstification was monitored with a non-intrusive radar system facility installed on the TBM. The Boring Electric Ahead Monitoring(BEAM) was installed at the cutter head and was able to predict the rock mass up to 3 tunnel diameters ahead of the cutter head. BEAM system was provided with an online system for real time monitoring of rock mass condition and then correlated with the rock mass conditions predicted during the interpretation phase of offshore geophysical surveys. The further correlation was carried by Samples of the rock mass taken from tunnel face inspections and excavated material produced by the TBM. The BEAM data was continuously monitored to check the variations in resistivity and percentage frequency effect (PFE) of the ground. This system provided information about rock mass condition, potential karst risk, and potential of water inflow. BEAM system was found to be more than 50% accurate in picking up the difficult ground conditions and faults as predicted in the geotechnical interpretative report before the start of tunnelling operations. Upon completion of the project, it was concluded that the combined use of different geophysical investigation results can make the execution stage be carried out in a more confident way with the less geotechnical risk involved. The approach used for the prediction of rock mass condition in Geotechnical Interpretative Report (GIR) and Geophysical Reflection and electric resistivity tomography survey (ERT) Geophysical Reflection surveys were concluded to be reliable as the same rock mass conditions were encountered during tunnelling operations.

Keywords: tunnel boring machine (TBM), subsea, karstification, seismic reflection survey

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Authors: Mohamed Ahmed Khalil

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The number of deep well anode ground beds (GBs) have been retrieved due to unoperated anode chains. New identical magnetite anode chains (MAC) have been installed at Raslanuf complex impressed current Cathodic protection (ICCP) system, distributed at different plants (Utility, ethylene and polyethylene). All problems associated with retrieving and installation of MACs have been discussed, rectified and presented. All GB-associated severely corroded wellhead casings were well maintained and/or replaced by new fabricated and modified ones. The main cause of the wellhead casing's severe internal corrosion was discussed and the conducted remedy action to overcome future corrosion problems is presented. All GB-connected anode junction boxes (AJBs) and shunts were closely inspected, maintained and necessary replacement and/or modifications were carried out on shunts. All damaged GB concrete foundations (CF) have been inspected and completely replaced. All GB-associated Transformer-Rectifiers Units (TRU) were subjected to thorough inspection and necessary maintenance was performed on each individual TRU. After completion of all MACs and TRU maintenance activities, each cathodic protection station (CPS) has been re-operated, alternative current (AC), direct current (DC), voltage and structure to soil potential (S/P) measurements have been conducted, recorded and all obtained test results are presented. DC current outputs have been adjusted and DC current outputs of each MAC have been recorded for each GB AJB.

Keywords: magnetite anodes, deep well, ground beds, cathodic protection, transformer rectifier, impressed current, junction boxes

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Tim Steinhaus, Christian Beidl

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Urban air quality and climate protection are two major challenges for future mobility systems. Despite the steady reduction of pollutant emissions from vehicles over past decades, local immission load within cities partially still reaches heights, which are considered hazardous to human health. Although traffic-related emissions account for a major part of the overall urban pollution, modeling the exact interaction remains challenging. In this paper, a novel approach for the determination of the emission-immission interaction on the basis of neural network modeling for traffic induced NO2-immission load within a near-traffic hot-spot scenario is presented. In a detailed sensitivity analysis, the significance of relevant influencing variables on the prevailing NO2 concentration is initially analyzed. Based on this, the generation process of the model is described, in which not only environmental influences but also the vehicle fleet composition including its associated segment- and certification-specific real driving emission factors are derived and used as input quantities. The validity of this approach, which has been presented in the past, is re-examined in this paper using updated data on vehicle emissions and recent immission measurement data. Within the framework of a final scenario analysis, the future development of the immission load is forecast for different developments in the vehicle fleet composition. It is shown that immission levels of less than half of today’s yearly average limit values are technically feasible in hot-spot situations.

Keywords: air quality, emission, emission-immission-interaction, immission, NO2, zero impact

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Banu Karasah, Derya Sarı

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Nature changes as a result of human necessities constantly. This change mostly feels in natural water sources which are reconstructed with an effect of dams and motorways. On the other hand, dams and motorways demolish and re-shape nature while the visual quality of landscape gets a new character. Changing and specialization new landscapes will be very important to protection-usage balance to explore sustainable usage facilities. The main cause of the selection of Artvin city is, it has very important geographical location and one of the most attraction points in the World with its biodiversity, conservation areas and natural landscape characteristics. Coruh River is one of the most significant landscape identity element of Artvin. This river begins with Erzurum and falls into the Black Sea in Batumi in Georgia, many dams, and hydroelectric station are located during this basin. Borcka, Muratli and Deriner dams have already been built. Moreover, Deriner is 6th highest dams all over the world. As a result of dams, motorways route were re-shaped and the ways which have already changed because of elevation is directly affected several of natural destruction. In contrast, many different reservoirs in Coruh Basin provide new vista point that has high visual quality. In this study, we would like to evaluate with sustainable landscape design in 76 km river corridor, which is mainly based on Deriner, Borcka and Muratli Dams and determination of their basin-lakes recreational potential and opportunities. Lastly, we are going to give some suggestion about the potential of the corridor.

Keywords: Artvin, dam reservoirs, landscape assessment, river corridor, visual quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 501

Authors: Nihad Chakri, Btissam El Amrani, Faouzi Berrada, Halima Jounaid, Fouad Amraoui

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In the context of the increasing water resource scarcity in Morocco in recent years, the use of unconventional resources has become imperative. Although efforts have been made in the field of sanitation in urban areas, rural areas, due to their specificities, such as scattered dwellings and limited accessibility, suffer from a lack of basic infrastructure. This work focuses on replicating the Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock (FSAC) model for the treatment and reuse of wastewater from a peri-urban traditional hammam in Casablanca, specifically in the municipality of Dar Bouazza. This initiative is part of the Eco-Hammam project, which aims to minimize the negative impacts of traditional hammams in terms of irrational and uncontrolled consumption of water and wood energy resources. To achieve this, a comprehensive environmental diagnosis of all hammams in the municipality of Dar Bouazza, our study site, has been undertaken. Then, a feasibility study is also conducted to assess the possibility of replicating the FSAC mini-station to treat the wastewater of the selected pilot hammam, namely, My Yacoub II.

Keywords: water resource scarcity, unconventional resources, sanitation, per-urban areas, rural areas, basic infrastructure, replication, reuse of wastewater, traditional hammam, Casablanca, Municipality of Dar Bouazza, negative impacts, environmental diagnosis, feasibility study, pilot hammam, My Yacoub II

Procedia PDF Downloads 39

Authors: Amadou Fall Dia, Maurras Ulbricht Togbe, Aliou Boly, Zakia Kazi Aoul, Elisabeth Metais

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Existing RDF (Resource Description Framework) Stream Processing (RSP) systems allow continuous processing of RDF data issued from different application domains such as weather station measuring phenomena, geolocation, IoT applications, drinking water distribution management, and so on. However, processing window phase often expires before finishing the entire session and RSP systems immediately delete data streams after each processed window. Such mechanism does not allow optimized exploitation of the RDF data streams as the most relevant and pertinent information of the data is often not used in a due time and almost impossible to be exploited for further analyzes. It should be better to keep the most informative part of data within streams while minimizing the memory storage space. In this work, we propose an RDF graph summarization system based on an explicit and implicit expressed needs through three main approaches: (1) an approach for user queries (SPARQL) in order to extract their needs and group them into a more global query, (2) an extension of the closeness centrality measure issued from Social Network Analysis (SNA) to determine the most informative parts of the graph and (3) an RDF graph summarization technique combining extracted user query needs and the extended centrality measure. Experiments and evaluations show efficient results in terms of memory space storage and the most expected approximate query results on summarized graphs compared to the source ones.

Keywords: centrality measures, RDF graphs summary, RDF graphs stream, SPARQL query

Procedia PDF Downloads 171