Search results for: the agricultural sector

Authors: Neha Budhwani

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed during the pyrolysis of scrap tyres to produce tyre pyrolytic oil (TPO). Due to carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic properties PAHs are priority pollutants. Hence it is essential to remove PAHs from TPO before utilising TPO as a petroleum fuel alternative (to run the engine). Agricultural wastes have promising future to be utilized as biosorbent due to their cost effectiveness, abundant availability, high biosorption capacity and renewability. Various low cost adsorbents were prepared from natural sources. Uptake of PAHs present in tyre pyrolytic oil was investigated using various low-cost adsorbents of natural origin including sawdust (shisham), coconut fiber, neem bark, chitin, activated charcoal. Adsorption experiments of different PAHs viz. naphthalene, acenaphthalene, biphenyl and anthracene have been carried out at ambient temperature (25°C) and at pH 7. It was observed that for any given PAH, the adsorption capacity increases with the lignin content. Freundlich constant Kf and 1/n have been evaluated and it was found that the adsorption isotherms of PAHs were in agreement with a Freundlich model, while the uptake capacity of PAHs followed the order: activated charcoal> saw dust (shisham) > coconut fiber > chitin. The partition coefficients in acetone-water, and the adsorption constants at equilibrium, could be linearly correlated with octanol–water partition coefficients. It is observed that natural adsorbents are good alternative for PAHs removal. Sawdust of Dalbergia sissoo, a by-product of sawmills was found to be a promising adsorbent for the removal of PAHs present in TPO. It is observed that adsorbents studied were comparable to those of some conventional adsorbents.

Keywords: Acenaphthene, anthracene, biphenyl, Coconut fiber, naphthalene, natural adsorbent, PAHs, TPO and wood powder (shisham).

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Authors: Mustafa Engin Başoğlu, Bekir Çakir

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Since large part of electricity is generated by using fossil based resources, energy is an important agenda for countries. In this context, renewable energy sources are alternative to conventional sources due to the depletion of fossil resources, increasing awareness of climate change and global warming concerns. Solar, wind and hydropower energy are the main renewable energy sources. Among of them, since installed capacity of wind power has increased approximately eight times between 2008 - November of 2014, wind energy is a promising source for Turkey. Furthermore, signing of Kyoto Protocol can be accepted as a milestone for Turkey's energy policy. Turkish Government has announced Vision 2023 (energy targets by 2023) in 2010-2014 Strategic Plan prepared by Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MENR). Energy targets in this plan can be summarized as follows: Share of renewable energy sources in electricity generation is 30% of total electricity generation by 2023. Installed capacity of wind energy will be 20 GW by 2023. Other renewable energy sources such as solar, hydropower and geothermal are encouraged with new incentive mechanisms. Dependence on foreign energy is reduced for sustainability and energy security. On the other hand, since Turkey is surrounded by three coastal areas, wind energy potential is convenient for wind power application. As of November of 2014, total installed capacity of wind power plants is 3.51 GW and a lot of wind power plants are under construction with capacity 1.16 GW. Turkish government also encourages the locally manufactured equipments. In this context, one of the projects funded by private sector, universities and TUBİTAK names as MILRES is an important project aimed to promote the use wind energy in electricity generation. Within this project, wind turbine with 500 kW power has been produced and will be installed at the beginning of the 2015. After that, by using the experience obtained from the first phase of the project, a wind turbine with 2.5 MW power will be manufactured in an industrial scale.

Keywords: Wind energy, wind speed, Vision 2023, MILRES (national wind energy system), wind energy potential, Turkey.

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Authors: Eliza. E. Camaso, Guiller. B. Damian, Miguelito. F. Isip, Ronaldo T. Alberto

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Land-cover maps were important for many scientific, ecological and land management purposes and during the last decades, rapid decrease of soil fertility was observed to be due to land use practices such as rice cultivation. High-precision land-cover maps are not yet available in the area which is important in an economy management. To assure   accurate mapping of land cover to provide information, remote sensing is a very suitable tool to carry out this task and automatic land use and cover detection. The study did not only provide high precision land cover maps but it also provides estimates of rice production area that had undergone chemical degradation due to fertility decline. Land-cover were delineated and classified into pre-defined classes to achieve proper detection features. After generation of Land-cover map, of high intensity of rice cultivation, soil fertility degradation assessment in rice production area due to fertility decline was created to assess the impact of soils used in agricultural production. Using Simple spatial analysis functions and ArcGIS, the Land-cover map of Municipality of Quezon in Nueva Ecija, Philippines was overlaid to the fertility decline maps from Land Degradation Assessment Philippines- Bureau of Soils and Water Management (LADA-Philippines-BSWM) to determine the area of rice crops that were most likely where nitrogen, phosphorus, zinc and sulfur deficiencies were induced by high dosage of urea and imbalance N:P fertilization. The result found out that 80.00 % of fallow and 99.81% of rice production area has high soil fertility decline.

Keywords: Aerial image, land-cover, LiDAR, soil fertility degradation.

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Authors: Citlali Aguilera Lira, David Lynch Steinicke, Andrea León Garcia

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One of the challenges that higher education faces is to find how to approach the sustainability in an inclusive way to the student within all the different academic areas, how to move the sustainable development from the abstract field to the operational field. This research comes from the ecoliteracy and the pedagogical praxis as tools for rebuilding the teaching processes inside of universities. The purpose is to determine and describe which are the factors involved in the process of learning particularly in the Greenhouse-School Siembra UV. In the Greenhouse-School Siembra UV, of the University of Veracruz, are cultivated vegetables, medicinal plants and small cornfields under the usage of eco-technologies such as hydroponics, Wickingbed and Hugelkultur, which main purpose is the saving of space, labor and natural resources, as well as function as agricultural production alternatives in the urban and periurban zones. The sample was formed with students from different academic areas and who are actively involved in the greenhouse, as well as institutes from the University of Veracruz and governmental and nongovernmental departments. This project comes from a pedagogic praxis approach, from filling the needs that the different professional profiles of the university students have. All this with the purpose of generate a pragmatic dialogue with the sustainability. It also comes from the necessity to understand the factors that intervene in the students’ praxis. In this manner is how the students are the fundamental unit in the sphere of sustainability. As a result, it is observed that those University of Veracruz students who are involved in the Greenhouse-school, Siembra UV, have enriched in different levels the sense of urban and periurban agriculture because of the diverse academic approaches they have and the interaction between them. It is concluded that the ecotechnologies act as fundamental tools for ecoliteracy in society, where it is strengthen the nutritional and food security from a sustainable development approach.

Keywords: Farming eco-technologies, food security, multidisciplinary, pedagogical praxis.

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Authors: Younis Jabarzadeh, Rahim Sarvari, Negar Ahmadi Alghalandis

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Entrepreneurship at both individual and organizational level is one of the most driving forces in economic development and leads to growth and competition, job generation and social development. Especially in developing countries, the role of entrepreneurship in economic and social prosperity is more emphasized. But the effect of global economic development on the environment is undeniable, especially in negative ways, and there is a need to rethink current business models and the way entrepreneurs act to introduce new businesses to address and embed environmental issues in order to achieve sustainable development. In this paper, green or sustainable entrepreneurship is addressed in Iran to identify challenges and barriers entrepreneurs in the economic and social sectors face in developing green business solutions. Sustainable or green entrepreneurship has been gaining interest among scholars in recent years and addressing its challenges and barriers need much more attention to fill the gap in the literature and facilitate the way those entrepreneurs are pursuing. This research comprised of two main phases: qualitative and quantitative. At qualitative phase, after a thorough literature review, fuzzy Delphi method is utilized to verify those challenges and barriers by gathering a panel of experts and surveying them. In this phase, several other contextually related factors were added to the list of identified barriers and challenges mentioned in the literature. Then, at the quantitative phase, Interpretive Structural Modeling is applied to construct a network of interactions among those barriers identified at the previous phase. Again, a panel of subject matter experts comprised of academic and industry experts was surveyed. The results of this study can be used by policymakers in both the public and industry sector, to introduce more systematic solutions to eliminate those barriers and help entrepreneurs overcome challenges of sustainable entrepreneurship. It also contributes to the literature as the first research in this type which deals with the barriers of sustainable entrepreneurship and explores their interaction.

Keywords: Green entrepreneurship, barriers, Fuzzy Delphi Method, interpretive structural modeling.

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Authors: Paitoon Kraipornsak

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The recent global financial problem urges government to play role in stimulating the economy due to the fact that private sector has little ability to purchase during the recession. A concerned question is whether the increased government spending crowds out private consumption and whether it helps stimulate the economy. If the government spending policy is effective; the private consumption is expected to increase and can compensate the recent extra government expense. In this study, the government spending is categorized into government consumption spending and government capital spending. The study firstly examines consumer consumption along the line with the demand function in microeconomic theory. Three categories of private consumption are used in the study. Those are food consumption, non food consumption, and services consumption. The dynamic Almost Ideal Demand System of the three categories of the private consumption is estimated using the Vector Error Correction Mechanism model. The estimated model indicates the substituting effects (negative impacts) of the government consumption spending on budget shares of private non food consumption and of the government capital spending on budget share of private food consumption, respectively. Nevertheless the result does not necessarily indicate whether the negative effects of changes in the budget shares of the non food and the food consumption means fallen total private consumption. Microeconomic consumer demand analysis clearly indicates changes in component structure of aggregate expenditure in the economy as a result of the government spending policy. The macroeconomic concept of aggregate demand comprising consumption, investment, government spending (the government consumption spending and the government capital spending), export, and import are used to estimate for their relationship using the Vector Error Correction Mechanism model. The macroeconomic study found no effect of the government capital spending on either the private consumption or the growth of GDP while the government consumption spending has negative effect on the growth of GDP. Therefore no crowding out effect of the government spending is found on the private consumption but it is ineffective and even inefficient expenditure as found reducing growth of the GDP in the context of Thailand.

Keywords: government consumption spending, governmentcapital spending, private consumption on food, non food, andservices, Vector Error Correction Mechanism, Almost Ideal DemandSystem, substitution effect, complementary effect, consumer demand, aggregate demand

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Authors: T. Chaiechi, N. Stoeckl

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Scarcity of resources for biodiversity conservation gives rise to the need of strategic investment with priorities given to the cost of conservation. While the literature provides abundant methodological options for biodiversity conservation; estimating true cost of conservation remains abstract and simplistic, without recognising dynamic nature of the cost. Some recent works demonstrate the prominence of economic theory to inform biodiversity decisions, particularly on the costs and benefits of biodiversity however, the integration of the concept of true cost into biodiversity actions and planning are very slow to come by, and specially on a farm level. Conservation planning studies often use area as a proxy for costs neglecting different land values as well as protected areas. These literature consider only heterogeneous benefits while land costs are considered homogenous. Analysis with the assumption of cost homogeneity results in biased estimation; since not only it doesn’t address the true total cost of biodiversity actions and plans, but also it fails to screen out lands that are more (or less) expensive and/or difficult (or more suitable) for biodiversity conservation purposes, hindering validity and comparability of the results. Economies of scope” is one of the other most neglected aspects in conservation literature. The concept of economies of scope introduces the existence of cost complementarities within a multiple output production system and it suggests a lower cost during the concurrent production of multiple outputs by a given farm. If there are, indeed, economies of scope then simplistic representation of costs will tend to overestimate the true cost of conservation leading to suboptimal outcomes. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to provide first road review of the various theoretical ways in which economies of scope are likely to occur of how they might occur in conservation. Consequently, the paper addresses gaps that have to be filled in future analysis.

Keywords: Cost, biodiversity conservation, Multi-output production systems, Empirical techniques.

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Authors: Swathi Ganesan, Nalinda Somasiri, Rebecca Jeyavadhanam, Gayathri Karthick

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The COVID-19 crisis presents a substantial and critical hazard to worldwide health. Since the occurrence of the disease in late January 2020 in the UK, the number of infected people confirmed to acquire the illness has increased tremendously across the country, and the number of individuals affected is undoubtedly considerably high. The purpose of this research is to figure out a predictive machine learning (ML) archetypal that could forecast the COVID-19 cases within the UK. This study concentrates on the statistical data collected from 31st January 2020 to 31st March 2021 in the United Kingdom. Information on total COVID-19 cases registered, new cases encountered on a daily basis, total death registered, and patients’ death per day due to Coronavirus is collected from World Health Organization (WHO). Data preprocessing is carried out to identify any missing values, outliers, or anomalies in the dataset. The data are split into 8:2 ratio for training and testing purposes to forecast future new COVID-19 cases. Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and linear regression (LR) algorithms are chosen to study the model performance in the prediction of new COVID-19 cases. From the evaluation metrics such as r-squared value and mean squared error, the statistical performance of the model in predicting the new COVID-19 cases is evaluated. RF outperformed the other two ML algorithms with a training accuracy of 99.47% and testing accuracy of 98.26% when n = 30. The mean square error obtained for RF is 4.05e11, which is lesser compared to the other predictive models used for this study. From the experimental analysis, RF algorithm can perform more effectively and efficiently in predicting the new COVID-19 cases, which could help the health sector to take relevant control measures for the spread of the virus.

Keywords: COVID-19, machine learning, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, linear regression, support vector machine, random forest.

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Authors: Mevlüt Gül, Hilal Yılmaz, M. Göksel Akpınar, Ayse Karadağ Gürsoy, Özge Bayındır

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Milk is a very important nutrient. Low productivity is a problem of Turkish dairy farming. During recent years, Turkish government has supported cooperatives that assist milk producers and encouraged farmers to become cooperative members. Turkish government established several ways to support specially smallholders. For example Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) provided two to four cows to villagers on a grant or loan basis with a long repayment period at low interest rates by cooperatives. Social Support Project in Rural Areas (SSPRA) is another support program targeting only disadvantaged people, especially poor villager. Both programs have a very strong social support component and similar objectives. But there are minor differences between them in terms of target people, terms and conditions of the credit supplied Isparta province in Mediterranean region of Turkey is one of the supported regions. MARA distributed dairy cows to 1072 farmers through 16 agricultural cooperatives in Isparta province in the context of SSPRA. In this study, economic-social impacts on dairy cattle project implemented through cooperatives were examined in Isparta. Primary data were collected from 12 cooperatives- president. The data were obtained by personal interview through a questionnaire and to cooperatives and given to farms benefiting from the project in order to reveal the economic and social developments. Finding of the study revealed that project provided new job opportunities and improved quality of livestock. It was found that producers who benefited from the project were more willing to participate in cooperative or other producer organizations.

Keywords: ooperative, Dairy Cattle, Economic Impact, Livestock Support Project, Social Impact.

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Authors: Joanna Peksa, Faith Dillon-Lee

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Current developments in the Western economies have turned some universities into corporate institutions driven by practices of production and commodity. Academia is increasingly becoming integrated into national economies as a result of students paying fees and is consequently using business practices in student retention and engagement. With these changes, pedagogy status as a priority within the institution has been changing in light of these new demands. New strategies have blurred the boundaries that separate a student from a client. This led to a change of the dynamic, disrupting the traditional idea of the knowledge market, and emphasizing the corporate aspect of universities. In some cases, where students are seen primarily as a customer, the purpose of academia is no longer to educate but sell a commodity and retain fee-paying students. This paper considers opposing viewpoints on the commodification of higher education, reflecting on the reality of maintaining a pedagogic grounding in an increasingly commercialized sector. By analysing a case study of the Student Success Festival, an event that involved academic and marketing teams, the differences are considered between the respective visions of the pedagogic arm of the university and the corporate. This study argues that the initial concept of the event, based on the principles of gamification, independent learning, and cognitive criticality, was more clearly linked to a grounded pedagogic approach. However, when liaising with the marketing team in a crucial step in the creative process, it became apparent that these principles were not considered a priority in terms of their remit. While the study acknowledges in the power of pedagogy, the findings show that a pact of concord is necessary between different stakeholders in order for students to benefit fully from their learning experience. Nevertheless, while issues of power prevail and whenever power is unevenly distributed, reaching a consensus becomes increasingly challenging and further research should closely monitor the developments in pedagogy in the UK higher education.

Keywords: Economic pressure, commodification, pedagogy, gamification, public service, marketization.

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Authors: Bolajoko I. Malomo, Maryam O. Yusuf

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Lagos urban mini bus drivers play a critical role in the transportation sector. The current major mode of transportation within Lagos metropolis remains road transportation and this confirms the relevance of urban mini-bus drivers in transporting the populace to their various destinations. Other modes of transportation such as the train and waterways are currently inadequate. Various threats to the well-being of urban bus drivers include congested traffic typical of modern day lifestyles, dwindling financial returns due to long hours in traffic, fewer hours of sleep, inadequate diet, time pressure, and assaults related to fare disputes. Several healthrelated problems have been documented to be associated with urban bus driving. For instance, greater rates of hypertension, obesity and cholesterol level have been reported. Research studies are yet to identify the influence of age and marital status on the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers in Lagos metropolis. A study of this nature is necessary as it is culturally perceived in Nigeria that older and married people are especially influenced by family affiliation and would behave in ways that would project positive outcomes. The study sample consisted of 150 urban mini-bus drivers who were conveniently sampled from six (6) different terminuses where their journey begins and terminates. The well-being questionnaire was administered to participants. The criteria for inclusion in the study included the ability to read in English language and the confirmation that interested participants were on duty and suited to be driving mini-buses. Due to the nature of the job of bus driving, the researcher administered the questionnaires on participants who were free and willing to respond to the survey. All participants were males of various age groups and of different marital statuses. Results of analyses conducted revealed no significant influence of age and marital status on the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers. This indicates that the well-being of urban mini bus drivers is not influenced by age or marital status. The findings of this study have cultural implications. It negates the popularly held belief that older and married people care more about their well-being than younger and single people. It brings to fore the need to also identify and consider other factors when certifying people for the job of urban bus driving.

Keywords: Age, Lagos metropolis, marital status, well-being of urban mini bus drivers.

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Authors: Levent Basayigit, Sinan Demir, Yusuf Ucar, Burhan Kara

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Many research projects require accurate delineation of the different land cover type of the agricultural area. Especially it is critically important for the definition of specific plants like cannabis. However, the complexity of vegetation stands structure, abundant vegetation species, and the smooth transition between different seconder section stages make vegetation classification difficult when using traditional approaches such as the maximum likelihood classifier. Most of the time, classification distinguishes only between trees/annual or grain. It has been difficult to accurately determine the cannabis mixed with other plants. In this paper, a mixed distribution models approach is applied to classify pure and mix cannabis parcels using Worldview-2 imagery in the Lakes region of Turkey. Five different land use types (i.e. sunflower, maize, bare soil, and cannabis) were identified in the image. A constrained Gaussian mixture discriminant analysis (GMDA) was used to unmix the image. In the study, 255 reflectance ratios derived from spectral signatures of seven bands (Blue-Green-Yellow-Red-Rededge-NIR1-NIR2) were randomly arranged as 80% for training and 20% for test data. Gaussian mixed distribution model approach is proved to be an effective and convenient way to combine very high spatial resolution imagery for distinguishing cannabis vegetation. Based on the overall accuracies of the classification, the Gaussian mixed distribution model was found to be very successful to achieve image classification tasks. This approach is sensitive to capture the illegal cannabis planting areas in the large plain. This approach can also be used for monitoring and determination with spectral reflections in illegal cannabis planting areas.

Keywords: Gaussian mixture discriminant analysis, spectral mixture model, World View-2, land parcels.

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Authors: I. Oikonomou, I. Lappa, D. Daferera, C. Kanakis, L. Kiokakis, K. Skordilis, A. Avramouli, E. Kalli, C. Pappas, P. A. Tarantilis, E. Skotti

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Grape seeds are waste products of wineries and often referred to as an important agricultural and industrial waste product with the potential to be used in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic applications. In this study, grape seed oil from traditional Ionian varieties was examined for the determination of the quality and the characteristics of each variety. Initially, the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, after transesterification. Furthermore, other quality parameters of the grape seed oils were determined by Spectroscopy techniques, UV-Vis and Raman included. Moreover, the antioxidant capacity of the oil was measured by 2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays and their antioxidant capacity expressed in Trolox equivalents. K and ΔΚ indices were measured in 232, 268, 270 nm, as an oil quality index. The results indicate that the air-dried grape seed total oil content ranged from 5.26 to 8.77% w/w, which is in accordance with the other grape seed varieties tested in similar studies. The composition of grape seed oil is predominated with linoleic and oleic fatty acids, with the linoleic fatty acid ranging from 53.68 to 69.95% and both the linoleic and oleic fatty acids totaling 78-82% of FAMEs, which is analogous to the fatty acid composition of safflower oil. The antioxidant assays ABTS and DPPH scored high, exhibiting that the oils have potential in the cosmetic and culinary businesses. Above that, our results demonstrate that Ionian grape seed oils have prospects that can go further than cosmetic or culinary use, into the pharmaceuticals industry. Finally, the reclamation of grape seeds from wineries waste stream is in accordance with the bio-economy strategic framework and contributes to environmental protection.

Keywords: Antioxidant capacity, fatty acid methyl esters, grape seed oil, GC-MS.

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Authors: Kunchit Pirapake

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Application of Geo-Informatic technology in land tenure and land use on the economic crop area, to create sustainable land, access to the area, and produce sustainable food for the demand of its people in the community. The research objectives are to 1) apply Geo-Informatic Technology on land ownership and agricultural land use (cash crops) in the research area, 2) create GIS database on land ownership and land use, 3) create database of an online Geoinformation system on land tenure and land use. The results of this study reveal that, first; the study area is on high slope, mountains and valleys. The land is mainly in the forest zone which was included in the Forest Act 1941 and National Conserved Forest 1964. Residents gained the rights to exploit the land passed down from their ancestors. The practice was recognized by communities. The land was suitable for cultivating a wide variety of economic crops that was the main income of the family. At present the local residents keep expanding the land to grow cash crops. Second; creating a database of the geographic information system consisted of the area range, announcement from the Interior Ministry, interpretation of satellite images, transportation routes, waterways, plots of land with a title deed available at the provincial land office. Most pieces of land without a title deed are located in the forest and national reserve areas. Data were created from a field study and a land zone determined by a GPS. Last; an online Geo-Informatic System can show the information of land tenure and land use of each economic crop. Satellite data with high resolution which could be updated and checked on the online Geo-Informatic System simultaneously.

Keywords: Geo-Informatic Technology, Land Tenure, Online Geo-Informatic System, Land Use of cash crops.

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Authors: Zahraa Albasry, Hadeel D. Najim, Anmar Al-Taie

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Background: Hypertension is considered as one of the most important causes of cardiovascular complications and one of the leading causes of worldwide mortality. Identifying the potential risk factors associated with this medical health problem plays an important role in minimizing its incidence and related complications. The objective of this study is to explore the prevalence of receptor sensitivity regarding assess and understand the perception of specific predictive confounding factors on the prevalence of hypertension (HT) among a sample of Iraqi population in Baghdad, Iraq. Materials and Methods: A randomized cross sectional study was carried out on 100 adult subjects during their visit to the outpatient clinic at a certain sector of Baghdad Province, Iraq. Demographic, clinical and health records alongside specific screening and laboratory tests of the participants were collected and analyzed to detect the potential of confounding factors on the prevalence of HT. Results: 63% of the study participants suffered from HT, most of them were female patients (P < 0.005). Patients aged between 41-50 years old significantly suffered from HT than other age groups (63.5%, P < 0.001). 88.9% of the participants were obese (P < 0.001) and 47.6% had diabetes with HT. Positive family history and sedentary lifestyle were significantly higher among all hypertensive groups (P < 0.05). High salt and fatty food intake was significantly found among patients suffered from isolated systolic hypertension (ISHT) (P < 0.05). A significant positive correlation between packed cell volume (PCV) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) (r = 0.353, P = 0.048) found among normotensive participants. Among hypertensive patients, a positive significant correlation found between triglycerides (TG) and both SBP (r = 0.484, P = 0.031) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r = 0.463, P = 0.040), while low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) showed a positive significant correlation with DBP (r = 0.443, P = 0.021). Conclusion: The prevalence of HT among Iraqi populations is of major concern. Further consideration is required to detect the impact of potential risk factors and to minimize blood pressure (BP) elevation and reduce the risk of other cardiovascular complications later in life.

Keywords: Correlation, hypertension, Iraq, risk factors.

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Authors: Siqing Chen

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Megalopolis is a group of densely populated metropolitan areas that combine to form an urban complex. Since China introduced the economic reforms in late 1970s, the Chinese urban system has experienced unprecedented growth. The process of urbanisation prevailed in the 1980s, and the process of predominantly large city growth appeared to continue through 1990s and 2000s. In this study, the magnitude and pattern of urbanisation in China during 1990s were examined using remotely sensed imagery acquired by TM/ETM+ sensor onboard the Landsat satellites. The development of megalopolis areas in China was also studied based on the GIS analysis of the increases of urban and built-up area from 1990 to 2000. The analysis suggests that in the traditional agricultural zones in China, e.g., Huang-Huai-Hai Plains, Changjiang River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Sichuan Basin, the urban and built-up areas increased by 1.76 million hectares, of which 0.82 million hectares are expansion of urban areas, an increase of 24.78% compared with 1990 at the national scale. The Yellow River Delta, Changjiang River Delta and Pearl River Delta also saw an increase of urban and built-up area by 63.9%, 66.2% and 83.0% respectively. As a result, three major megalopolises were developed in China: the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong- Macau (Pearl River Delta: PRD) megalopolis area, the Shanghai- Nanjing-Hangzhou (Changjiang River Delta: CRD) megalopolis area and the Beijing-Tianjing-Tangshan-Qinhuangdao (Yellow River Delta-Bohai Sea Ring: YRD) megalopolis area. The relationship between the processed of megalopolisation and the inter-provincial population flow was also explored in the context of social-economic and transport infrastructure development in Post-reform China.

Keywords: Megalopolisation, Land use change, Spatial analysis, Post-reform China

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Authors: Bujar Ismaili, Bahti Ismajli, Venhar Ismaili, Skender Ramadani

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In Kosovo, the problem with the electricity supply is huge and it does not meet the demands of consumers. Older thermal power plants, which are regarded as big environmental polluters, produce most of the energy. Our experiment is based on the production of electricity using the closed method that does not affect environmental pollution by using waste as fuel that is considered to pollute the environment. The experiment was carried out in the village of Godanc, municipality of Shtime, Kosovo. In the experiment, a production line based on the production of electricity and central heating was designed at the same time. The results are the benefits of electricity as well as the release of temperature for heating with minimal expenses and with the release of 0% gases into the atmosphere. During this experiment, coal, plastic, waste from wood processing, and agricultural wastes were used as raw materials. The method utilized in the experiment allows for the release of gas through pipes and filters during the top-to-bottom combustion of the raw material in the boiler, followed by the method of gas filtration from waste wood processing (sawdust). During this process, the final product, gas, is obtained. This gas passes through the carburetor, enabling the combustion process to put the internal combustion machine and the generator into operation and produce electricity that does not release gases into the atmosphere. The results show that the system provides energy stability without environmental pollution from toxic substances and waste, as well as with low production costs. From the final results, it follows that, in the case of using coal fuel, we have benefited from more electricity and higher temperature release, followed by plastic waste, which also gave good results. The results obtained during these experiments prove that the current problems of lack of electricity and heating can be met at a lower cost and have a clean environment and waste management.

Keywords: Energy, heating, atmosphere, waste management, gasification.

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

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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: Chun Chen Yea, Wen Huei Chou

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Many chemical changes in the atmosphere and the ocean are invisible to the naked eye, but they have profound impacts. These changes not only confirm the phenomenon of global carbon pollution, but also forewarn that more changes are coming. The carbon dioxide gases emitted from the burning of fossil fuels dissolve into the ocean and chemically react with seawater to form carbonic acid, which increases the acidity of the originally alkaline seawater. This gradual acidification is occurring at an unprecedented rate and will affect the effective formation of carapace of some marine organisms such as corals and crustaceans, which are almost entirely composed of calcium carbonate. The carapace of these organisms will become more dissoluble. Acidified seawater not only threatens the survival of marine life, but also negatively impacts the global ecosystem via the food chain. Faced with the threat of ocean acidification, all humans are duty-bound. The industrial sector outputs the highest level of carbon dioxide emissions in Taiwan, and the petrochemical industry is the major contributor. Ever since the construction of Formosa Plastics Group's No. 6 Naphtha Cracker Plant in Yunlin County, there have been many environmental concerns such as air pollution and carbon dioxide emission. The marine life along the coast of Yunlin is directly affected by ocean acidification arising from the carbon emissions. Societal change demands our willingness to act, which is what social advocacy promotes. This study uses digital storytelling for social advocacy and ocean acidification as the subject of a visual narrative in visualization to demonstrate the subsequent promotion of social advocacy. Storytelling can transform dull knowledge into an engaging narrative of the crisis faced by marine life. Digital dissemination is an effective social-work practice. The visualization promoting awareness on ocean acidification disseminated via social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. Social media enables users to compose their own messages and share information across different platforms, which helps disseminate the core message of social advocacy.

Keywords: Digital storytelling, visualization, ocean acidification, social advocacy.

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Authors: G. S. Eldiabani, W. H. G. Hale, C. P. Heron

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Forest areas are particularly susceptible to fires, which are often manmade. One of the most fire affected forest regions in the world is the Mediterranean. Libya, in the Mediterranean region, has soils that are considered to be arid except in a small area called Aljabal Alakhdar (Green mountain), which is the geographic area covered by this study. Like other forests in the Mediterranean it has suffered extreme degradation. This is mainly due to people removing fire wood, or sometimes converting forested areas to agricultural use, as well as fires which may alter several soil chemical and physical properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of fires on the physical properties of soil of Aljabal Alakhdar forest in the north-east of Libya. The physical properties of soil following fire in two geographic areas have been determined, with those subjected to the fire compared to those in adjacent unburned areas in one coastal and one mountain site. Physical properties studied were: soil particle size (soil texture), soil water content, soil porosity and soil particle density. For the first time in Libyan soils, the effect of burning on the magnetic susceptibility properties of soils was also tested. The results showed that the soils in both study sites, irrespective of burning or depth fell into the category of a silt loam texture, low water content, homogeneity of porosity of the soil profiles, relatively high soil particle density values and there is a much greater value of the soil magnetic susceptibility in the top layer from both sites except for the soil water content and magnetic susceptibility, fire has not had a clear effect on the soils’ physical properties.

Keywords: Aljabal Alakhdar, the coastal site, the mountain site, fire effect, soil particle size, soil water content, soil porosity, soil particle density, soil magnetic susceptibility.

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Authors: C. Alexandridou, G. N. Angelopoulos, F. A. Coutelieris

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Construction industry in Greece consumes annually more than 25 million tons of natural aggregates originating mainly from quarries. At the same time, more than 2 million tons of construction and demolition waste are deposited every year, usually without control, therefore increasing the environmental impact of this sector. A potential alternative for saving natural resources and minimize landfilling, could be the recycling and re-use of Concrete and Demolition Waste (CDW) in concrete production. Moreover, in order to conform to the European legislation, Greece is obliged to recycle non-hazardous construction and demolition waste to a minimum of 70% by 2020. In this paper characterization of recycled materials - commercially and laboratory produced, coarse and fine, Recycled Concrete Aggregates (RCA) - has been performed. Namely, X-Ray Fluorescence and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were used for chemical and mineralogical analysis respectively. Physical properties such as particle density, water absorption, sand equivalent and resistance to fragmentation were also determined. This study, first time made in Greece, aims at outlining the differences between RCA and natural aggregates and evaluating their possible influence in concrete performance. Results indicate that RCA’s chemical composition is enriched in Si, Al, and alkali oxides compared to natural aggregates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses results indicated the presence of calcite, quartz and minor peaks of mica and feldspars. From all the evaluated physical properties of coarse RCA, only water absorption and resistance to fragmentation seem to have a direct influence on the properties of concrete. Low Sand Equivalent and significantly high water absorption values indicate that fine fractions of RCA cannot be used for concrete production unless further processed. Chemical properties of RCA in terms of water soluble ions are similar to those of natural aggregates. Four different concrete mixtures were produced and examined, replacing natural coarse aggregates with RCA by a ratio of 0%, 25%, 50% and 75% respectively. Results indicate that concrete mixtures containing recycled concrete aggregates have a minor deterioration of their properties (3-9% lower compression strength at 28 days) compared to conventional concrete containing the same cement quantity.

Keywords: Chemical and physical characterization, compressive strength, mineralogical analysis, recycled concrete aggregates, waste management.

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Authors: António Marques, Graça Guedes

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The Portuguese footwear industry had in the last five years a remarkable performance in the exportation values, the trade balance and others economic indicators. After a long period of difficulties and with a strong reduction of companies and employees since 1994 until 2009, the Portuguese footwear industry changed the strategy and is now a success case between the international players of footwear. Only the Italian industry sells footwear with a higher value than the Portuguese and the distance between them is decreasing year by year. This paper analyses how the Portuguese footwear companies innovate and make innovation, according the classification proposed by the Oslo Manual. Also, analyses the strategy follow in the innovation process and shows the linkage between the type of innovation and the strategy of innovation. The research methodology was qualitative and the strategy for data collection was the case study. The qualitative data will be analyzed with the MAXQDA software. The economic results of the footwear companies studied shows differences between all of them and these differences are related with the innovation strategy adopted. The companies focused in product and marketing innovation, oriented to their target market, have higher ratios “turnover per worker” than the companies focused in process innovation. However, all the footwear companies in this “low-tech” industry create value and contribute to a positive foreign trade of 1.310 million euros in 2013. The growth strategies implemented has the participation of the sectorial organizations in several innovative projects. And it’s obvious that cooperation between all of them is a critical element to the performance achieved by the companies and the innovation observed. The Portuguese footwear sector has in the last years an excellent performance (economic results, exportation values, trade balance, brands and international image) and his performance is strongly related with the strategy in innovation followed, the type of innovation and the networks in the cluster. A simplified model, called “Ace of Diamonds”, is proposed by the authors and explains the way how this performance was reached by the seven companies that participate in the study (two of them are the leaders in the setor), and if this model can be used in others traditional and “low-tech” industries.

Keywords: Footwear industry, innovation strategy, low-tech industry, Oslo Manual.

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Authors: Zhaojun Wang, Zongdi Sun, Yongjie Chen, Manman Chen, Linghui Wang

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This paper uses the analytic hierarchy process to study the execution effect of the minimum purchase price of grain in different regions and various grain crops. Firstly, for different regions, five indicators including grain yield, grain sown area, gross agricultural production, grain consumption price index, and disposable income of rural residents were selected to construct an evaluation index system. We collect data of six provinces including Hebei Province, Heilongjiang Province and Shandong Province from 2006 to 2017. Then, the judgment matrix is constructed, and the hierarchical single ordering and consistency test are carried out to determine the scoring standard for the minimum purchase price of grain. The ranking of the execution effect from high to low is: Heilongjiang Province, Shandong Province, Hebei Province, Guizhou Province, Shaanxi Province, and Guangdong Province. Secondly, taking Shandong Province as an example, we collect the relevant data of sown area and yield of cereals, beans, potatoes and other crops from 2006 to 2017. The weight of area and yield index is determined by expert scoring method. And the average sown area and yield of cereals, beans and potatoes in 2006-2017 were calculated, respectively. On this basis, according to the sum of products of weights and mean values, the execution effects of different grain crops are determined. It turns out that among the cereals, the minimum purchase price had the best execution effect on paddy, followed by wheat and finally maize. Moreover, among major categories of crops, cereals perform best, followed by beans and finally potatoes. Lastly, countermeasures are proposed for different regions, various categories of crops, and different crops of the same category.

Keywords: Analytic hierarchy process, grain yield, grain sown area, minimum grain purchase price.

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Authors: Lobat Taghavi, Najaf Hedayat

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Renewable water resources are crucial production variables in arid and semi-arid regions where intensive agriculture is practiced to meet ever-increasing demand for food and fiber. This is crucial for the Dez and Moghan command areas where water delivery problems and adverse environmental issues are widespread. This paper aims to identify major problems areas using on-farm surveys of 200 farmers, agricultural extensionists and water suppliers which was complemented by secondary data and field observations during 2010- 2011 cultivating season. The SPSS package was used to analyze and synthesis data. Results indicated inappropriate canal operations in both schemes, though there was no unanimity about the underlying causes. Inequitable and inflexible distribution was found to be rooted in deficient hydraulic structures particularly in the main and secondary canals. The inadequacy and inflexibility of water scheduling regime was the underlying causes of recurring pest and disease spread which often led to the decline of crop yield and quality, although these were not disputed, the water suppliers were not prepared to link with the deficiencies in the operation of the main and secondary canals. They rather attributed these to the prevailing salinity; alkalinity, water table fluctuations and leaching of the valuable agro-chemical inputs from the plants- route zone with farreaching consequences. Examples of these include the pollution of ground and surface resources due to over-irrigation at the farm level which falls under the growers- own responsibility. Poor irrigation efficiency and adverse environmental problems were attributed to deficient and outdated farming practices that were in turn rooted in poor extension programs and irrational water charges.

Keywords: water delivery, inequity, inflexibility, conflicts, environmental impact, Dez and Moghan

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Authors: Probir Kumar Bose, Rahul Banerjee, Madhujit Deb

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The present energy situation and the concerns about global warming has stimulated active research interest in non-petroleum, carbon free compounds and non-polluting fuels, particularly for transportation, power generation, and agricultural sectors. Environmental concerns and limited amount of petroleum fuels have caused interests in the development of alternative fuels for internal combustion (IC) engines. The petroleum crude reserves however, are declining and consumption of transport fuels particularly in the developing countries is increasing at high rates. Severe shortage of liquid fuels derived from petroleum may be faced in the second half of this century. Recently more and more stringent environmental regulations being enacted in the USA and Europe have led to the research and development activities on clean alternative fuels. Among the gaseous fuels hydrogen is considered to be one of the clean alternative fuel. Hydrogen is an interesting candidate for future internal combustion engine based power trains. In this experimental investigation, the performance and combustion analysis were carried out on a direct injection (DI) diesel engine using hydrogen with diesel following the TMI(Time Manifold Injection) technique at different injection timings of 10 degree,45 degree and 80 degree ATDC using an electronic control unit (ECU) and injection durations were controlled. Further, the tests have been carried out at a constant speed of 1500rpm at different load conditions and it can be observed that brake thermal efficiency increases with increase in load conditions with a maximum gain of 15% at full load conditions during all injection strategies of hydrogen. It was also observed that with the increase in hydrogen energy share BSEC started reducing and it reduced to a maximum of 9% as compared to baseline diesel at 10deg ATDC injection during maximum injection proving the exceptional combustion properties of hydrogen.

Keywords: Hydrogen, performance, combustion, alternative fuels.

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Authors: S. Mahalakshmi, B. Senthil Arasu

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As per the recent changes happening in the global policies, climate related changes and the impact it causes across every sector are viewed as green swan events – in essence, climate related changes can happen often and lead to risk and lot of uncertainty, but need to be mitigated instead of considering them as black swan events. This brings about a question on how this risk can be computed, so that the financial institutions can plan to mitigate it. Climate related changes impact all risk types – credit risk, market risk, operational risk, liquidity risk, reputational risk and others. And the models required to compute this have to consider the different industrial needs of the counterparty, as well as the factors that are contributing to this – be it in the form of different risk drivers, or the different transmission channels or the different approaches and the granular form of data availability. This brings out to the suggestion that the climate related changes, though it affects Pillar I risks, will be a Pillar II risk. This has to be modeled specifically based on the financial institution’s actual exposure to different industries, instead of generalizing the risk charge. And this will have to be considered as the additional capital to be met by the financial institution in addition to their Pillar I risks, as well as the existing Pillar II risks. In this paper, we present a risk assessment framework to model and assess climate change risks - for both credit and market risks. This framework helps in assessing the different scenarios, and how the different transition risks affect the risk associated with the different parties. This research paper delves on the topic of increase in concentration of greenhouse gases, that in turn causing global warming. It then considers the various scenarios of having the different risk drivers impacting credit and market risk of an institution, by understanding the transmission channels, and also considering the transition risk. The paper then focuses on the industry that’s fast seeing a disruption: automobile industry. The paper uses the framework to show how the climate changes and the change to the relevant policies have impacted the entire financial institution. Appropriate statistical models for forecasting, anomaly detection and scenario modeling are built to demonstrate how the framework can be used by the relevant agencies to understand their financial risks. The paper also focuses on the climate risk calculation for the Pillar II capital calculations, and how it will make sense for the bank to maintain this in addition to their regular Pillar I and Pillar II capital.

Keywords: Capital calculation, climate risk, credit risk, pillar II risk, scenario modeling.

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Authors: Mohamed M. A. Abdalla, M. F Mohamed, A. M. A. Rashwan

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A field experiment was conducted in the Agricultural Research Station, at El-Ghoraieb, Assiut to study dry seed yield performance of two locally adapted cultivars (‘Azmerly’ and ‘Cream 7’) and two line introductions (IT81D-1032 and IT82D-812) of common cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) grown at three different within-row spaces (20, 30 and 40 cm) and two planting dates in the summer (April 15th and 30th) and in the fall season (Aug. 12th and 27th) of two successive seasons. The data showed that total dry-seed yield produced by plants grown at 20 cm was greater than at 30 cm in all cvs/lines in both years. Increases in 1000-seed weight were detected in cv ‘Azmerly’ and line IT82D-812 when they were grown at 30 cm as compared with 20 cm in the summer season. However, in the fall season such increases were found in all cvs/lines. Planting at 40 cm produced seeds of greater weight than planting at 30 cm for all cvs/lines in the fall season and also in cv. Cream 7 and line IT82D-812 in the summer season, while all cvs/lines in the fall Planting on April 15th in the summer and also planting on Aug. 12th in the fall had plants which showed increases in 1000-seed weight and total dry-seed yield. The greatest 1000-seed weight was found in the line IT81D-1032 in the summer season and in the line IT82D-812 in the fall season. The sum up results revealed that ‘Azmerly’ produced greater dry-seed yield than ‘Cream 7’ and both of them were superior to the line IT82D-812 and IT81D-1032 in the summer season. In the fall, however, the line IT82D-812 produced greater dry-seed yield than the other cultivars/lines.

Keywords: Cowpea, Assiut, fall, planting dates, El-Ghoraieb.

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Authors: Tamara Kelly

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The past decade has witnessed a good opportunities for city development schemes in UK. The government encouraged restoration of city centers to comprise mixed use developments with high density residential apartments. Investments in regeneration areas were doing well according to the analyses of Property Databank (IPD). However, more recent analysis by IPD has shown that since 2007, property in regeneration areas has been more vulnerable to the market downturn than other types of investment property. The early stages of a property market downturn may be felt most in regeneration where funding, investor confidence and occupier demand would dissipate because the sector was considered more marginal or risky when development costs rise. Moreover, the Bank of England survey shows that lenders have sequentially tightened the availability of credit for commercial real estate since mid-2007. A sharp reduction in the willingness of banks to lend on commercial property was recorded. The credit crunch has already affected commercial property but its impact has been particularly severe in certain kinds of properties where residential developments are extremely difficult, in particular city centre apartments and buy-to-let markets. Commercial property – retail, industrial leisure and mixed use were also pressed, in Birmingham; tens of mixed use plots were built to replace old factories in the heart of the city. The purpose of these developments was to enable young professionals to work and live in same place. Thousands of people lost their jobs during the recession, moreover lending was more difficult and the future of many developments is unknown. The recession casts its shadow upon the society due to cuts in public spending by government, Inflation, rising tuition fees and high rise in unemployment generated anger and hatred was spreading among youth causing vandalism and riots in many cities. Recent riots targeted many mixed used development in the UK where banks, shops, restaurants and big stores were robbed and set into fire leaving residents with horror and shock. This paper examines the impact of the recession and riots on mixed use development in UK.

Keywords: Diversity, mixed use development, outdoor comfort, public realm, safe places, safety by design.

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Authors: C. A. Roberts, J. G. Andrae, S. R. Smith, M. H. Poore, C. A. Young, D. W. Hancock, G. J. Pent

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To the author’s best knowledge, there are no published reports of effective methods for teaching fescue toxicosis and grass endophyte technology in the USA. To address this need, a group of university scientists, industry representatives, government agents, and livestock producers formed an organization called the Alliance for Grassland Renewal. One goal of the Alliance was to develop a teaching method that could be employed across all regions in the USA and all sectors of the agricultural community. The first step in developing this method was identification of experts who were familiar with the science and management of fescue toxicosis. The second step was curriculum development. Experts wrote a curriculum that addressed all aspects of toxicosis and management, including toxicology, animal nutrition, pasture management, economics, and mycology. The curriculum was created for presentation in lectures, laboratories, and in the field. The curriculum was in that it could be delivered across state lines, regardless of peculiar, in-state recommendations. The curriculum was also unique as it was unanimously supported by private companies otherwise in competition with each other. The final step in developing this teaching method was formulating a delivery plan. All experts, including university, industry, government, and production, volunteered to travel from any state in the USA, converge in one location, teach a 1-day workshop, then travel to the next location. The results of this teaching method indicate widespread success. Since 2012, experts across the entire USA have converged to teach Alliance workshops in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, with ongoing workshops in Arkansas and Tennessee. Data from post-workshop surveys indicate that instruction has been effective, as at least 50% of the participants stated their intention to adopt the endophyte technology presented in these workshops. The teaching method developed by the Alliance for Grassland Renewal has proved to be effective, and the Alliance continues to expand across the USA.

Keywords: Endophyte, Epichloë coenophiala, ergot alkaloids, fescue toxicosis, tall fescue.

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Authors: M. M. Shahidul Hassan, Omiya Hassan

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Bangladesh has set its goal to reach upper middle-income country status by 2024. To attain this status, the country must satisfy the World Bank requirement of achieving minimum Gross National Income (GNI). Number of youth job seekers in the country is increasing. University graduates are looking for decent jobs. So, the vital issue of this country is to understand how the GNI and jobs can be increased. The objective of this paper is to address these issues and find ways to create more job opportunities for youths at home and abroad which will increase the country’s GNI. The paper studies proportion of different goods Bangladesh exported, and also the percentage of employment in different sectors. The data used here for the purpose of analysis have been collected from the available literature. These data are then plotted and analyzed. Through these studies, it is concluded that growth in sectors like agricultural, ready-made garments (RMG), jute industries and fisheries are declining and the business community is not interested in setting up capital-intensive industries. Under this situation, the country needs to explore other business opportunities for a higher economic growth rate. Knowledge can substitute the physical resource. Since the country consists of the large youth population, higher education will play a key role in economic development. It now needs graduates with higher-order skills with innovative quality. Such dispositions demand changes in a university’s curriculum, teaching and assessment method which will function young generations as active learners and creators. By bringing these changes in higher education, a knowledge-based society can be created. The application of such knowledge and creativity will then become the commodity of Bangladesh which will help to reach its goal as an upper middle-income country.

Keywords: Bangladesh, economic sectors, economic growth, higher education, knowledge-based economy, massifcation of higher education, teaching and learning, universities’ role in society.

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