Search results for: sustainable crop production

Authors: Shima Fasahat

Abstract:

This research is an experimental research which was done about microbial fuel cells in order to study them for electricity generating and wastewater treatment. These days, it is very important to find new, clean and sustainable ways for energy supplying. Because of this reason there are many researchers around the world who are studying about new and sustainable energies. There are different ways to produce these kind of energies like: solar cells, wind turbines, geothermal energy, fuel cells and many other ways. Fuel cells have different types one of these types is microbial fuel cell. In this research, an MFC was built in order to study how it can be used for electricity generating and wastewater treatment. The microbial fuel cell which was used in this research is a reactor that has two tanks with a catalyst solution. The chemical reaction in microbial fuel cells is a redox reaction. The microbial fuel cell in this research is a two chamber MFC. Anode chamber is an anaerobic one (ABR reactor) and the other chamber is a cathode chamber. Anode chamber consists of stabilized sludge which is the source of microorganisms that do redox reaction. The main microorganisms here are: Propionibacterium and Clostridium. The electrodes of anode chamber are graphite pages. Cathode chamber consists of graphite page electrodes and catalysts like: O₂, KMnO₄ and C₆N₆FeK₄. The membrane which separates the chambers is Nafion117. The reason of choosing this membrane is explained in the complete paper. The main goal of this research is to generate electricity and treating wastewater. It was found that when you use electron receptor compounds like: O_2, MnO₄, C₆N₆FeK₄ the velocity of electron receiving speeds up and in a less time more current will be achieved. It was found that the best compounds for this purpose are compounds which have iron in their chemical formula. It is also important to pay attention to the amount of nutrients which enters to bacteria chamber. By adding extra nutrients in some cases the result will be reverse.  By using ABR the amount of chemical oxidation demand reduces per day till it arrives to a stable amount.

Keywords: Anaerobic baffled reactor, bioenergy, electrode, energy efficient, microbial fuel cell, renewable chemicals, sustainable.

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Authors: Kanittha Kanokkanjana, Savitri Garivait

Abstract:

This study focuses on emission of black carbon (BC) from field open burning of corn residues. Real-time BC concentration was measured by Micro Aethalometer from field burning and simulated open burning in a chamber (SOC) experiments. The average concentration of BC was 1.18±0.47 mg/m3 in the field and 0.89±0.63 mg/m3 in the SOC. The deduced emission factor from field experiments was 0.50±0.20 gBC/kgdm, and 0.56±0.33 gBC/kgdm from SOC experiment, which are in good agreement with other studies. In 2007, the total burned area of corn crop was 8,000 ha, resulting in an emission load of BC 20 ton corresponding to 44.5 million kg CO2 equivalent. Therefore, the control of open burning in corn field represents a significant global warming reduction option.

Keywords: Black carbon, corn field residues, global warming, mitigation option

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Authors: Daniel F. Garcia, Diego Gonzalez

Abstract:

This paper shows a simple and effective approach to the design and implementation of Industrial Information Systems (IIS) oriented to control the characteristics of each individual product manufactured in a production line and also their manufacturing conditions. The particular products considered in this work are large steel strips that are coiled just after their manufacturing. However, the approach is directly applicable to coiled strips in other industries, like paper, textile, aluminum, etc. These IIS provide very detailed information of each manufactured product, which complement the general information managed by the ERP system of the production line. In spite of the high importance of this type of IIS to guarantee and improve the quality of the products manufactured in many industries, there are very few works about them in the technical literature. For this reason, this paper represents an important contribution to the development of this type of IIS, providing guidelines for their design, implementation and exploitation.

Keywords: Data storage, industrial information systems, measurement systems integration, signal acquisition.

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Authors: Tao Zou, Zhengnan Zhou

Abstract:

In the context of global climate change, flooding and sea level rise is increasingly threatening coastal urban areas, in which large population is continuously concentrated. Dutch experiences in urban water system management provide high reference value for sustainable coastal urban development projects. Preliminary studies shows the urban water system in Almere, a typical Dutch polder city, have three kinds of operational modes, achieving functions as: (1) coastline control – strong multiple damming system prevents from storm surges and maintains sufficient capacity upon risks; (2) high flexibility – large area and widely scattered open water system greatly reduce local runoff and water level fluctuation; (3) internal water maintenance – weir and sluice system maintains relatively stable water level, providing excellent boating and landscaping service, coupling with water circulating model maintaining better water quality. Almere has provided plenty of hints and experiences for ongoing development of coastal cities in emerging economies.

Keywords: Coastal area, resilience, sustainable urban watersystem, water circulation.

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Authors: G. V. Byrd, B. B. Ghaley, E. Hayashi

Abstract:

In urban farming, research and innovation are taking place at an unprecedented pace, and soilless growing technologies are emerging at different rates motivated by different objectives in various parts of the world. Local food production is ultimately a main objective everywhere, but adoption rates and expressions vary with socio-economic drivers. Herein, the status of hydroponics and aquaponics is summarized for four countries with diverse socio-economic settings: Europe (Denmark), Asia (Japan and Nepal) and North America (US). In Denmark, with a strong environmental ethic, soilless growing is increasing in urban agriculture because it is considered environmentally friendly. In Japan, soil-based farming is being replaced with commercial plant factories using advanced technology such as complete environmental control and computer monitoring. In Nepal, where rapid loss of agricultural land is occurring near cities, dozens of hydroponics and aquaponics systems have been built in the past decade, particularly in “non-traditional” sites such as roof tops to supplement family food. In the US, where there is also strong interest in locally grown fresh food, backyard and commercial systems have proliferated. Nevertheless, soilless growing is still in the research and development and early adopter stages, and the broad contribution of hydroponics and aquaponics to food security is yet to be fully determined. Nevertheless, current adoption of these technologies in diverse environments in different socio-economic settings highlights the potential contribution to food security with social and environmental benefits which contribute to several Sustainable Development Goals.

Keywords: Aquaponics, hydroponics, soilless agriculture, urban agriculture.

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Authors: Mia Wimala, Emma Akmalah, Ira Irawati, M. Rangga Sururi

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One way that has been aggressively implemented in creating a sustainable environment nowadays is through the implementation of green building concept. In order to ensure the success of its implementation, the support and initiation from educational institutions, especially higher education institutions are indispensable. This research was conducted to figure out the obstacles restraining the success of green campus implementation in Indonesia, as well as to propose strategies to overcome those obstacles. The data presented in this paper are mainly derived from interview and questionnaire distributed randomly to the staffs and students in 10 (ten) major institutions around Jakarta and West Java area. The data were further analyzed using ANOVA and SWOT analysis. According to 182 respondents, it is found that resistance to change, inadequate knowledge, information and understanding, no penalty for any environmental violation, lack of reward for green campus practices, lack of stringent regulations/laws, lack of management commitment, insufficient funds are the obstacles to the green campus movement in Indonesia. In addition, out of 6 criteria considered in UI GreenMetric World Ranking, education was the only criteria that had no significant difference between public and private universities in generating the green campus performance. The work concludes with recommendation of strategies to improve the implementation of green campus in the future.

Keywords: Green campus, obstacles, sustainable, higher education institutions.

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Authors: Y. Suranindyah, A. Astuti

Abstract:

Twelve lactating Etawah Crossedbred goats were used in this study. Goat feed consisted of Cally andra callothyrsus, Pennisetum purpureum, wheat bran and dried fermented cassava peel. The cassava peels were fermented with a traditional culture called “ragi tape" (mixed culture of Saccharomyces cerevisae, Aspergillus sp, Candida, Hasnula and Acetobacter). The goats were divided into 2 groups (Control and Treated) of six does. The experimental diet of the Control group consisted of 70% of roughage (fresh Callyandra callothyrsus and Pennisetum purpureum 60:40) and 30% of wheat bran on dry matter (DM) base. In the Treated group 30% of wheat bran was replaced with dried fermented cassava peels. Data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance followed SPSS program. The concentration of HCN in fermented cassava peel decreased to non toxic level. Nutrient composition of dried fermented cassava peel consisted of 85.75% dry matter; 5.80% crude protein and 82.51% total digestible nutrien (TDN). Substitution of 30% of wheat bran with dried fermented cassava peel in the diet had no effect on dry matter and organic matter intake but significantly (P< 0.05) decreased crude protein and TDN consumption as well as milk yields and milk composition. The study recommended to reduced the level of substitution to less than 30% of concentrates in the diet in order to avoid low nutrient intake and milk production of goats.

Keywords: Fermented Cassava Peel, Milk Production, Composition, Etawah Crossedbred Goat.

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Authors: M. Keshlaf, R. Mensah, O. Nicetic, R. Spooner-Hart

Abstract:

The effectiveness of a commercial bee attractant, synthetic honey bee queen mandibular pheromone (Fruit Boost^®) for enhancing pollination of Gossypium hirsutum was evaluated in a transgenic (Bt) cotton crop. The study assessed the number of bee visitations to blossoms of plants treated with Fruit Boost^® as well, as effects on fruit set, yield, and lint quality. Bee activity on plots sprayed with pheromone concentrations of 50 and 500 queen equivalents (QEQ) /ha did not differ significantly from water-only control, on the day of application or the subsequent day. Application of the pheromone did not increase fruit set, yield, or lint quality. Two consecutive pheromone applications, applied two days apart, were not significantly different from a single application for any parameter.

Keywords: Apis mellifera, cotton, pollination, QMP pheromone

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Authors: Vidyasagar Shilapuram, Nesrin Ozalp, Anam Waheed

Abstract:

Carboneous catalytical methane decomposition is an attractive process because it produces two valuable products: hydrogen and carbon. Furthermore, this reaction does not emit any green house or hazardous gases. In the present study, experiments were conducted in a thermo gravimetric analyzer using Fluka 05120 as carboneous catalyst to analyze its effectiveness in methane decomposition. Various temperatures and methane partial pressures were chosen and carbon mass gain was observed as a function of time. Results are presented in terms of carbon formation rate, hydrogen production and catalytical activity. It is observed that there is linearity in carbon deposition amount by time at lower reaction temperature (780 °C). On the other hand, it is observed that carbon and hydrogen formation rates are increased with increasing temperature. Finally, we observed that the carbon formation rate is highest at 950 °C within the range of temperatures studied.

Keywords: Catalysis, Fluka 05120, Hydrogen production, Methane decomposition

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Authors: Vedansh Gupta, Allyson Lutz, Ameen Razavi, Fatemeh Shirazi

Abstract:

The agriculture industry is especially vulnerable to forecasted water shortages. In the fresh and fresh-cut produce sector, conventional flume-based washing with recirculation exhibits high water demand. This leads to a large water footprint and possible cross-contamination of pathogens. These can be alleviated through advanced water reuse processes, such as membrane technologies including reverse osmosis (RO). Water reuse technologies effectively remove dissolved constituents but can easily foul without pre-treatment. Biological treatment is effective for the removal of organic compounds responsible for fouling, but not at the low temperatures encountered at most produce processing facilities. This study showed that the Microvi MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) technology effectively removes organic compounds (> 80%) at low temperatures (6-8 °C) from wash water. The MNE technology uses synthetic microorganism-material composites with negligible solids production, making it advantageously situated as an effective bio-pretreatment for RO. A preliminary technoeconomic analysis showed 60-80% savings in operation and maintenance costs (OPEX) when using the Microvi MNE technology for organics removal. This study and the accompanying economic analysis indicated that the proposed technology process will substantially reduce the cost barrier for adopting water reuse practices, thereby contributing to increased food safety and furthering sustainable water reuse processes across the agricultural industry.

Keywords: Biological pre-treatment, innovative technology, vegetable processing, water reuse, agriculture, reverse osmosis, MNE biocatalysts.

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Authors: D. Scalone, R. Palmeri, F. Licciardello, G. Muratore, A. Todaro, G. Spagna

Abstract:

Prickly pear fruit (Opuntia ficus indica L. Miller) belongs to the Cactaceae family. This species is very sensitive to low storage temperatures (< 5°C) which cause damages. The fruits can be peeled, suitably packaged and successfully commercialized as a ready-to-eat product. The main limit to the extension of the shelf life is the production of off-flavors due to different factors, the growth of microorganisms and the action of endogenous enzymes. Lipoxygenase (LOX) and Pectinesterase (PE) are involved in fruit degradation. In particular, LOX pathway is directly responsible for lipid oxidation, and the subsequent production of off-flavours, while PE causes the softening of fruit during maturation. They act on the texture and shelf-life of post-harvest, packaged fruits, as a function of the the grown of microorganisms and packaging technologies used. The aim of this work is to compare the effect of different packaging technologies on the shelf life extension of ready-to-eat prickly pear fruits with regards for the enzymes activities.

Keywords: Enzymes, packaging, prickly pear, shelf life.

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Authors: A. Manivannan, R. T. Narendhirakannan

Abstract:

The objective of this research was to investigate biodegradation of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to produce bioethanol using dilute-acid pretreatment (1% sulfuric acid) results in high hemicellulose decomposition and using yeast (Pachysolen tannophilus) as bioethanol producing strain. A maximum ethanol yield of 1.14g/L with coefficient, 0.24g g^-1; productivity, 0.015g l^-1h^-1 was comparable to predicted value 32.05g/L obtained by Central Composite Design (CCD). Maximum ethanol yield coefficient was comparable to those obtained through enzymatic saccharification and fermentation of acid hydrolysate using fully equipped fermentor. Although maximum ethanol concentration was low in lab scale, the improvement of lignocellulosic ethanol yield is necessary for large scale production.

Keywords: Acid hydrolysis, Biodegradation, Hemicellulose, Pachysolen tannophilus, Water hyacinth.

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Authors: Avishek Chanda, Nam Kyeun Kim, Debes Bhattacharyya

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The use of renewable substitutes in various semi-structural and structural applications has experienced an increase since the last few decades. Sandwich panels have been used for many decades, although research on understanding the effects of the core structures on the panels’ fire-reaction properties is limited. The current work investigates the fire-performance of a corrugated sandwich panel made from renewable, biodegradable, and sustainable material, plywood. The bench-scale fire testing apparatus, cone-calorimeter, was employed to evaluate the required fire-reaction properties of the sandwich core in a panel configuration, with three corrugated layers glued together with face-sheets under a heat irradiance of 50 kW/m². The study helped in documenting a unique heat release trend associated with the fire performance of the 3-layered corrugated sandwich panels and in understanding the structural stability of the samples in the event of a fire. Furthermore, the total peak heat release rate was observed to be around 421 kW/m², which is significantly low compared to many polymeric materials in the literature. The total smoke production was also perceived to be very limited compared to other structural materials, and the total heat release was also nominal. The time to ignition of 21.7 s further outlined the advantages of using the plywood component since polymeric composites, even with flame-retardant additives, tend to ignite faster. Overall, the corrugated plywood sandwich panels had significant fire-reaction properties and could have important structural applications. The possible use of structural panels made from bio-degradable material opens a new avenue for the use of similar structures in sandwich panel preparation.

Keywords: Corrugated sandwich panel, fire-reaction properties, plywood, renewable material.

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Authors: M. Fathi, M. J. Alvarez, V. Rodríguez

Abstract:

Assembly line balancing is a very important issue in mass production systems due to production cost. Although many studies have been done on this topic, but because assembly line balancing problems are so complex they are categorized as NP-hard problems and researchers strongly recommend using heuristic methods. This paper presents a new heuristic approach called the critical task method (CTM) for solving U-shape assembly line balancing problems. The performance of the proposed heuristic method is tested by solving a number of test problems and comparing them with 12 other heuristics available in the literature to confirm the superior performance of the proposed heuristic. Furthermore, to prove the efficiency of the proposed CTM, the objectives are increased to minimize the number of workstation (or equivalently maximize line efficiency), and minimizing the smoothness index. Finally, it is proven that the proposed heuristic is more efficient than the others to solve the U-shape assembly line balancing problem.

Keywords: Critical task method, Heuristic, Line balancingproblem, U-shape

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Authors: Carsten Röcker

Abstract:

This paper provides an introduction into the evolution of information and communication technology and illustrates its usage in the work domain. The paper is sub-divided into two parts. The first part gives an overview over the different phases of information processing in the work domain. It starts by charting the past and present usage of computers in work environments and shows current technological trends, which are likely to influence future business applications. The second part starts by briefly describing, how the usage of computers changed business processes in the past, and presents first Ambient Intelligence applications based on identification and localization information, which are already used in the production and retail sector. Based on current systems and prototype applications, the paper gives an outlook of how Ambient Intelligence technologies could change business processes in the future.

Keywords: Ambient Intelligence, Ubiquitous Computing, Business Applications, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

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Authors: Yetti Marlida , Rina Delfita , Neni Gusmanizar, Gita Ciptaan

Abstract:

Phytases are acid phosphatase enzymes, which efficiently cleave phosphate moieties from phytic acid, thereby generating myo-inositol and inorganic phosphate. Thirty four isolates of endophytic fungi to produce of phytases were isolated from leaf, stem and root fragments of soybean. Screening of 34 isolates of endophytic fungi identified the phytases produced by Rhizoctonia sp. and Fusarium verticillioides . The phytase production were the best induced by phytic acid and rice bran compared the others inducer in submerged fermentation medium used. The phytase produced by both Rhizoctonia sp. and F. verticillioides have pH optimum at 4.0 and 5.0 respectively. The characterization of phytase from Fusarium verticillioides showed that temperature optimum was 500C and stability until 600C, the pH optimum 5.0 and pH stability was 2.5 – 6.0, and substrate specificity were rice bran>soybean meal>corn> coconut cake, respectively.

Keywords: endophytic fungus, phytase, soybean, Rhizoctoniasp., Fusarium verticillioides,

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Authors: Mohammed Agbali, Claudia Trillo, Yusuf Arayici, Terrence Fernando

Abstract:

The wide-spread adoption of the Smart City concept has introduced a new era of computing paradigm with opportunities for city administrators and stakeholders in various sectors to re-think the concept of urbanization and development of healthy cities. With the world population rapidly becoming urban-centric especially amongst the emerging economies, social innovation will assist greatly in deploying emerging technologies to address the development challenges in core sectors of the future cities. In this context, sustainable health-care delivery and improved quality of life of the people is considered at the heart of the healthy city agenda. This paper examines the Boston innovation landscape from the perspective of smart services and innovation ecosystem for sustainable development, especially in transportation and healthcare. It investigates the policy implementation process of the Healthy City agenda and eHealth economy innovation based on the experience of Massachusetts’s City of Boston initiatives. For this purpose, three emerging areas are emphasized, namely the eHealth concept, the innovation hubs, and the emerging technologies that drive innovation. This was carried out through empirical analysis on results of public sector and industry-wide interviews/survey about Boston’s current initiatives and the enabling environment. The paper highlights few potential research directions for service integration and social innovation for deploying emerging technologies in the healthy city agenda. The study therefore suggests the need to prioritize social innovation as an overarching strategy to build sustainable Smart Cities in order to avoid technology lock-in. Finally, it concludes that the Boston example of innovation economy is unique in view of the existing platforms for innovation and proper understanding of its dynamics, which is imperative in building smart and healthy cities where quality of life of the citizenry can be improved.

Keywords: Smart city, social innovation, eHealth, innovation hubs, emerging technologies, equitable healthcare, healthy cities.

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Authors: P. Meethum, C. Suvanjumrat

Abstract:

Many aluminum motorcycle parts produced by a high pressure die casting. Some parts such as fuel caps were a thin and complex shape. This part risked for porosities and blisters on surface if it only depended on an experience of mold makers for mold design. This research attempted to use CAST-DESIGNER software simulated the high pressure die casting process with the same process parameters of a motorcycle fuel cap production. The simulated results were compared with fuel cap products and expressed the same porosity and blister locations on cap surface. An average of absolute difference of simulated results was obtained 0.094 mm when compared the simulated porosity and blister defect sizes on the fuel cap surfaces with the experimental micro photography. This comparison confirmed an accuracy of software and will use the setting parameters to improve fuel cap molds in the further work.

Keywords: Aluminum, die casting, fuel cap, motorcycle.

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Authors: Vasileios Anastopoulos

Abstract:

Cyber threat intelligence assists organisations in understanding the threats they face and helps them make educated decisions on preparing their defences. Sharing of threat intelligence and threat information is increasingly leveraged by organisations and enterprises, and various software solutions are already available, with the open-source malware information sharing platform (MISP) being a popular one. In this work, a methodology for the production of cyber threat intelligence using the threat information stored in MISP is proposed. The methodology leverages the discipline of social network analysis and the diamond model, a model used for intrusion analysis, to produce cyber threat intelligence. The workings of the proposed methodology are demonstrated with a case study on a production MISP instance of a real organisation. The paper concludes with a discussion on the proposed methodology and possible directions for further research.

Keywords: Cyber threat intelligence, diamond model, malware information sharing platform, social network analysis.

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

Abstract:

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: Carsten Röcker

Abstract:

This paper provides an introduction into the evolution of information and communication technology and illustrates its usage in the work domain. The paper is sub-divided into two parts. The first part gives an overview over the different phases of information processing in the work domain. It starts by charting the past and present usage of computers in work environments and shows current technological trends, which are likely to influence future business applications. The second part starts by briefly describing, how the usage of computers changed business processes in the past, and presents first Ambient Intelligence applications based on identification and localization information, which are already used in the production and retail sector. Based on current systems and prototype applications, the paper gives an outlook of how Ambient Intelligence technologies could change business processes in the future.

Keywords: Ambient Intelligence, Ubiquitous Computing, Business Applications, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

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Authors: N.A. Rashidi, S. Yusup, M.M. Ahmad

Abstract:

As the fossil fuels kept on depleting, intense research in developing hydrogen (H2) as the alternative fuel has been done to cater our tremendous demand for fuel. The potential of H2 as the ultimate clean fuel differs with the fossil fuel that releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the surrounding and leads to the global warming. The experimental work was carried out to study the production of H2 from palm kernel shell steam gasification at different variables such as heating rate, steam to biomass ratio and adsorbent to biomass ratio. Maximum H2 composition which is 61% (volume basis) was obtained at heating rate of 100oCmin-1, steam/biomass of 2:1 ratio, and adsorbent/biomass of 1:1 ratio. The commercial adsorbent had been modified by utilizing the alcoholwater mixture. Characteristics of both adsorbents were investigated and it is concluded that flowability and floodability of modified CaO is significantly improved.

Keywords: Biomass gasification, Calcium oxide, Carbon dioxide capture, Sorbent flowability

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Authors: F. Brunke, L. Waalkes, C. Siemers

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Due to reduced stiffness, research on second generation titanium alloys for implant applications, like the metastable β-titanium alloy Ti-15Mo, become more and more important in the recent years. The machinability of these alloys is generally poor leading to problems during implant production and comparably large production costs. Therefore, in the present study, Ti-15Mo was alloyed with 0.8 wt.-% of the rare earth metals lanthanum (Ti-15Mo+0.8La) and neodymium (Ti-15Mo+0.8Nd) to improve its machinability. Their microstructure consisted of a titanium matrix and micrometer-size particles of the rare earth metals and two of their oxides. The particles stabilized the microstructure as grain growth was minimized. As especially the ductility might be affected by the precipitates, the behavior of Ti-15Mo+0.8La and Ti- 15Mo+0.8Nd was investigated during static and dynamic deformation at elevated temperature to develop a processing route. The resulting mechanical properties (static strength and ductility) were similar in all investigated alloys.

Keywords: Ti-15Mo, Titanium alloys, Rare earth metals, Free-machining alloy.

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Authors: Sahira N. Muslim, Alaa N. Mohammed, Saba Saadoon Khazaal, Batool Kadham Salman, Israa M. S. AL-Kadmy, Sraa N. Muslim, Ahmed S. Dwaish, Sawsan Mohammed Kareem, Sarah N. Aziz, Ruaa A. Jasim

Abstract:

Tannase has wide applications in food, beverage, brewing, cosmetics and chemical industries and one of the major applications of tannase is the production of gallic acid. Gallic acid is used for manufacturing of trimethoprim. In the present study, a local fungal strain of Penicillium expansum A₄ isolated from spoilt apple samples gave the highest production level of tannase. Tannase was partially purified with a recovery yield of 92.52% and 6.32 fold of purification by precipitation using ammonium sulfate at 50% saturation. Tannase led to increased antimicrobial activity of ceftazidime against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and S. aureus and had a synergism effect at low concentrations of ceftazidime, and thus, tannase may be a useful adjuvant agent for the treatment of many bacterial infections in combination with ceftazidime.

Keywords: Ceftazidime, Penicillium expansum, tannase, antimicrobial activity.

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Authors: Ramlan Zailani, Halim Ghafar, Mohamad Sofian So'aib

Abstract:

Air infiltration in mass scale industrial applications of bio char production is inevitable. The presence of oxygen during the carbonization process is detrimental to the production of biochar yield and properties. The experiment was carried out on several wood species in a fixed-bed pyrolyser under various fractions of oxygen ranging from 0% to 11% by varying nitrogen and oxygen composition in the pyrolysing gas mixtures at desired compositions. The bed temperature and holding time were also varied. Process optimization was carried out by Response Surface Methodology (RSM) by employing Central Composite Design (CCD) using Design Expert 6.0 Software. The effect of oxygen ratio and holding time on biochar yield within the range studied were statistically significant. From the analysis result, optimum condition of 15.2% biochar yield of mangrove wood was predicted at pyrolysis temperature of 403 oC, oxygen percentage of 2.3% and holding time of two hours. This prediction agreed well with the experiment finding of 15.1% biochar yield.

Keywords: Mangrove wood, slow pyrolysis, oxygen infiltration.

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Authors: Fanny Guay

Abstract:

Building resilience, sustainable buildings, urbanization, climate change, resilient cities, are just a few examples of where the focus of research has been in the last few years. It is obvious that there is a need to rethink how we are building our cities and how we are renovating our existing buildings. However, the question remaining is how can we assure that we are building sustainable yet resilient cities? There are many aspects one can touch upon when discussing resilience in cities, but after the event of Grenfell in June 2017, it has become clear that fire resilience must be a priority. We define resilience as a holistic approach including communities, society and systems, focusing not only on resisting the effects of a disaster, but also how it will cope and recover from it. Cities are an example of such a system, where components such as buildings have an important role to play. A building on fire will have an impact on the community, the economy, the environment, and so the entire system. Therefore, we believe that fire and resilience go hand in hand when we discuss building resilient cities. This article aims at discussing the current state of the concept of fire resilience and suggests actions to support the built of more fire resilient buildings. Using the case of Grenfell and the fire safety regulations in the UK, we will briefly compare the fire regulations in other European countries, more precisely France, Germany and Denmark, to underline the difference and make some suggestions to increase fire resilience via regulation. For this research, we will also include other types of resilience such as technological resilience, discussing the structure of buildings itself, as well as community resilience, considering the role of communities in building resilience. Our findings demonstrate that to increase fire resilience, amending existing regulations might be necessary, for example, how we performed reaction to fire tests and how we classify building products. However, as we are looking at national regulations, we are only able to make general suggestions for improvement. Another finding of this research is that the capacity of the community to recover and adapt after a fire is also an essential factor. Fundamentally, fire resilience, technological resilience and community resilience are closely connected. Building resilient cities is not only about sustainable buildings or energy efficiency; it is about assuring that all the aspects of resilience are included when building or renovating buildings. We must ask ourselves questions as: Who are the users of this building? Where is the building located? What are the components of the building, how was it designed and which construction products have been used? If we want to have resilient cities, we must answer these basic questions and assure that basic factors such as fire resilience are included in our assessment.

Keywords: Buildings, cities, fire, resilience.

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Authors: Thomas Meier

Abstract:

One of the major challenges for sustainable smart building systems is to support device interoperability, i.e. connecting sensor or actuator devices from different vendors, and present their functionality to the external applications. Furthermore, smart building systems are supposed to connect with devices that are not available yet, i.e. devices that become available on the market sometime later. It is of vital importance that a sustainable smart building platform provides an appropriate external interface that can be leveraged by external applications and smart services. An external platform interface must be stable and independent of specific devices and should support flexible and scalable usage scenarios. A typical approach applied in smart home systems is based on a generic device interface used within the smart building platform. Device functions, even of rather complex devices, are mapped to that generic base type interface by means of specific device drivers. Our new approach, presented in this work, extends that approach by using the smart building system’s rule engine to create complex virtual devices that can represent the most diverse properties of real devices. We examined and evaluated both approaches by means of a practical case study using a smart building system that we have developed. We show that the solution we present allows the highest degree of flexibility without affecting external application interface stability and scalability. In contrast to other systems our approach supports complex virtual device configuration on application layer (e.g. by administration users) instead of device configuration at platform layer (e.g. platform operators). Based on our work, we can show that our approach supports almost arbitrarily flexible use case scenarios without affecting the external application interface stability. However, the cost of this approach is additional appropriate configuration overhead and additional resource consumption at the IoT platform level that must be considered by platform operators. We conclude that the concept of complex virtual devices presented in this work can be applied to improve the usability and device interoperability of sustainable intelligent building systems significantly.

Keywords: Complex virtual devices, device integration, device interoperability, Internet of Things, smart building platform.

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Authors: Simon L. Madsen, Mads Dyrmann, Morten S. Laursen, Rasmus N. Jørgensen

Abstract:

Recent advances in the Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) safety and perception systems enable safe low altitude autonomous terrain following flights recently demonstrated by the consumer DJI Mavic PRO and Phamtom 4 Pro drones. This paper presents the first prototype system utilizing this functionality in form of semi-automated UAS based collection of crop/weed images where the embedded perception system ensures a significantly safer and faster gathering of weed images with sub-millimeter resolution. The system is to be used when the weeds are at cotyledon stage and prior to the harvest recognizing the grass weed species, which cannot be discriminated at the cotyledon stage.

Keywords: Weed mapping, integrated weed management, DJI SDK, automation, cotyledon plants.

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Authors: Ratanaporn Leesing, Thidarat Papone, Mutiyaporn Puangbut

Abstract:

Mixotrophic cultivation of the isolated freshwater microalgae Chlorella sp. KKU-S2 in batch shake flask for biomass and lipid productions, different concentration of glucose as carbon substrate, different nitrogen source and concentrations were investigated. Using 1.0g/L of NaNO₃ as nitrogen source, the maximum biomass yield of 10.04g/L with biomass productivity of 1.673g/L d was obtained using 40g/L glucose, while a biomass of 7.09, 8.55 and 9.45g/L with biomass productivity of 1.182, 1.425 and 1.575g/L d were found at 20, 30 and 50g/L glucose, respectively. The maximum lipid yield of 3.99g/L with lipid productivity of 0.665g/L d was obtained when 40g/L glucose was used. Lipid yield of 1.50, 3.34 and 3.66g/L with lipid productivity of 0.250, 0.557 and 0.610g/L d were found when using the initial concentration of glucose at 20, 30 and 50g/L, respectively. Process product yield (Y_P/S) of 0.078, 0.119, 0.158 and 0.094 were observed when glucose concentration was 20, 30, 40 and 50 g/L, respectively. The results obtained from the study shows that mixotrophic culture of Chlorella sp. KKU-S2 is a desirable cultivation process for microbial lipid and biomass production. 

Keywords: Mixotrophic cultivation, microalgal lipid, Chlorella sp. KKU-S2.

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Authors: G. Trigui, B. Laroche, M. Miquel, B. Dubreucq, A. Trubuil

Abstract:

The subcellular organelles called oil bodies (OBs) are lipid-filled quasi-spherical droplets produced from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and then released into the cytoplasm during seed development. It is believed that an OB grows by coalescence with other OBs and that its stability depends on the composition of oleosins, major proteins inserted in the hemi membrane that covers OBs. In this study, we measured the OB-volume distribution from different genotypes of A. thaliana after 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 days of seed development. In order to test the hypothesis of OBs dynamics, we developed a simple mathematical model using non-linear differential equations inspired from the theory of coagulation. The model describes the evolution of OB-volume distribution during the first steps of seed development by taking into consideration the production of OBs, the increase of triacylglycerol volume to be stored, and the growth by coalescence of OBs. Fitted parameters values show an increase in the OB production and coalescence rates in A. thaliana oleosin mutants compared to wild type.

Keywords: Biogenesis, coalescence, oil body, oleosin, population dynamics.

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