Search results for: Water quality.

Authors: J. Elbl, J. K. Friedel, J. Záhora, L. Plošek, A. Kintl, J. Přichystalová, J. Hynšt, L. Dostálová, K. Zákoutská

Abstract:

This work presents the first results from the long-term experiment, which is focused on the impact of intensive rainfall and long period of drought on microbial activities in soil. Fifteen lysimeters were prepared in the area of our interest. This area is a protection zone of underground source of drinking water. These lysimeters were filed with topsoil and subsoil collected in this area and divided into two groups. These groups differ in fertilization and amount of water received during the growing season. Amount of microbial biomass and leaching of mineral nitrogen and phosphates were chosen as main indicators of microbial activities in soil. Content of mineral nitrogen and phosphates was measured in soil solution, which was collected from each lysimeters. Amount of microbial biomass was determined in soil samples that were taken from the lysimeters before and after the long period of drought and intensive rainfall.

Keywords: Mineral nitrogen, Phosphates, Microbial activities, Drought, Precipitation.

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Authors: Bernat-Carles Serdà Ferrer, Arantza Del Valle Gómez

Abstract:

The Quality of Life (QoL) paradigm is multidimensional, dynamic and modular and its definition differs across the cancer continuum. The challenge in the interpretation of QoL data in clinical research is that QoL is influenced by psychological phenomena such as adaptation to illness. This research aims to obtain a valid and sensitive assessment of QoL change over the continuum disease, and to evaluate a rehabilitation programme aimed at inverting the observed decrease in QoL when patients return to daily living activities. The sample comprised 66 men. Patients were first assessed to establish a baseline (P1-diagnosis). This was followed by a post-test (P2-discharge) and a then-test measurement (P3-retrospective evaluation) and after returning home patients were randomized in experimental and control groups. The experimental group attended a rehabilitation programme over 24 weeks (P4). Results show that from baseline to post-test, QoL decreased significantly. The recalibration then-test confirmed a low QoL in all periods evaluated. Significant differences between the experimental and control groups prove the positive effect of the Exercise Rehabilitation Programme (ERP) on QoL. Understanding the real dynamic of QoL over time would help to adapt rehabilitation programmes by improving sensitivity and efficacy and provide professionals with a more accurate perception of the impact of treatment and side effects on patients’ QoL. Our results underline the importance of changing the approach adopted by health professionals towards one of watchful waiting on patients’ QoL until their complete recovery in daily life.

Keywords: Prostate cancer, quality of life, rehabilitation programme, response shift.

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Authors: Juan A. Ferriz-Papi, Simon Thomas

Abstract:

The construction industry generates large amounts of waste, usually mixed, which can be composed of different origin materials, most of them catalogued as non-hazardous. The European Union targets for this waste for 2020 have been already achieved by the UK, but it is mainly developed in downcycling processes (backfilling) whereas upcycling (such as recycle in new concrete batches) still keeps at a low percentage. The aim of this paper is to explore further in the use of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste (CDW) in concrete mixes so as to improve upcycling. A review of most recent research and legislation applied in the UK is developed regarding the production of concrete blocks. As a case study, initial tests were developed with a CDW recycled aggregate sample from a CDW plant in Swansea. Composition by visual inspection and sieving tests of two samples were developed and compared to original aggregates. More than 70% was formed by soil waste from excavation, and the rest was a mix of waste from mortar, concrete, and ceramics with small traces of plaster, glass and organic matter. Two concrete mixes were made with 80% replacement of recycled aggregates and different water/cement ratio. Tests were carried out for slump, absorption, density and compression strength. The results were compared to a reference sample and showed a substantial reduction of quality in both mixes. Despite that, the discussion brings to identify different aspects to solve, such as heterogeneity or composition, and analyze them for the successful use of these recycled aggregates in the production of concrete blocks. The conclusions obtained can help increase upcycling processes ratio with mixed CDW as recycled aggregates in concrete mixes.

Keywords: Recycled aggregate, concrete, concrete block, construction and demolition waste, recycling.

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Authors: M. Mohemmed Sha, T. Manesh, A. Mohamed Mustaq Ahmed

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In this corporate world, the technology of Web services has grown rapidly and its significance for the development of web based applications gradually rises over time. The success of Business to Business integration rely on finding novel partners and their services in a global business environment. However, the selection of the most suitable Web service from the list of services with the identical functionality is more vital. The satisfaction level of the customer and the provider’s reputation of the Web service are primarily depending on the range it reaches the customer’s requirements. In most cases, the customer of the Web service feels that he is spending for the service which is undelivered. This is because the customer always thinks that the real functionality of the web service is not reached. This will lead to change of the service frequently. In this paper, a framework is proposed to evaluate the Quality of Service (QoS) and its cost that makes the optimal correlation between each other. In addition, this research work proposes some management decision against the functional deviancy of the web service that is guaranteed at time of selection.

Keywords: Web service, service level agreement, quality of a service, cost of a service, QoS, CoS, SOA, WSLA, WsRF.

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Authors: Yogesh Aggarwal, Paratibha Aggarwal

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The paper presents a comparative performance of the models developed to predict 28 days compressive strengths using neural network techniques for data taken from literature (ANN-I) and data developed experimentally for SCC containing bottom ash as partial replacement of fine aggregates (ANN-II). The data used in the models are arranged in the format of six and eight input parameters that cover the contents of cement, sand, coarse aggregate, fly ash as partial replacement of cement, bottom ash as partial replacement of sand, water and water/powder ratio, superplasticizer dosage and an output parameter that is 28-days compressive strength and compressive strengths at 7 days, 28 days, 90 days and 365 days, respectively for ANN-I and ANN-II. The importance of different input parameters is also given for predicting the strengths at various ages using neural network. The model developed from literature data could be easily extended to the experimental data, with bottom ash as partial replacement of sand with some modifications.

Keywords: Self compacting concrete, bottom ash, strength, prediction, neural network, importance factor.

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Authors: Sitthichon Kanitthakun, Pinit Kumhom, Kosin Chamnongthai

Abstract:

In quality control of freeze-dried durian, crispiness is a key quality index of the product. Generally, crispy testing has to be done by a destructive method. A nondestructive testing of the crispiness is required because the samples can be reused for other kinds of testing. This paper proposed a crispiness classification method of freeze-dried durians using fuzzy logic for decision making. The physical changes of a freeze-dried durian include the pores appearing in the images. Three physical features including (1) the diameters of pores, (2) the ratio of the pore area and the remaining area, and (3) the distribution of the pores are considered to contribute to the crispiness. The fuzzy logic is applied for making the decision. The experimental results comparing with food expert opinion showed that the accuracy of the proposed classification method is 83.33 percent.

Keywords: Durian, crispiness, freeze drying, pore, fuzzy logic.

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Authors: Hamidreza Babaali, Alireza Mojtahedi, Nasim Soori, Saba Soori

Abstract:

Hydraulic jump is one of the effective ways of energy dissipation in stilling basins that the ‎energy is highly dissipated by jumping. Adverse slope surface at the end stilling basin is ‎caused to increase energy dissipation and stability of the hydraulic jump. In this study, the adverse slope ‎has been added to end of United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) II stilling basin in hydraulic model of Nazloochay dam with scale 1:40, and flow simulated into stilling basin using Flow-3D ‎software. The numerical model is verified by experimental data of water depth in ‎stilling basin. Then, the parameters of water level profile, Froude Number, pressure, air ‎entrainment and turbulent dissipation investigated for discharging 300 m³/s using K-Ɛ and Re-Normalization Group (RNG) turbulence ‎models. The results showed a good agreement between numerical and experimental model‎ as ‎numerical model can be used to optimize of stilling basins.‎

Keywords: Experimental and numerical modeling, end adverse slope, flow ‎parameters, USBR II Stilling Basin.

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Authors: Pratik Dhabal Deo, Manoj P.

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With the increasing number of social media users, the amount of video content available has also significantly increased. Currently, the number of smartphone users is at its peak, and many are increasingly using their smartphones as their main photography and recording devices. There have been a lot of developments in the field of video quality assessment in since the past years and more research on various other aspects of video and image are being done. Datasets that contain a huge number of videos from different high-end devices make it difficult to analyze the performance of the metrics on the content from most used devices even if they contain contents taken in poor lighting conditions using lower-end devices. These devices face a lot of distortions due to various factors since the spectrum of contents recorded on these devices is huge. In this paper, we have presented an analysis of the objective Video Quality Analysis (VQA) metrics on contents taken only from most used devices and their performance on them, focusing on full-reference metrics. To carry out this research, we created a custom dataset containing a total of 90 videos that have been taken from three most commonly used devices, and Android smartphone, an iOS smartphone and a Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera. On the videos taken on each of these devices, the six most common types of distortions that users face have been applied in addition to already existing H.264 compression based on four reference videos. These six applied distortions have three levels of degradation each. A total of the five most popular VQA metrics have been evaluated on this dataset and the highest values and the lowest values of each of the metrics on the distortions have been recorded. Finally, it is found that blur is the artifact on which most of the metrics did not perform well. Thus, in order to understand the results better the amount of blur in the data set has been calculated and an additional evaluation of the metrics was done using High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) codec, which is the next version of H.264 compression, on the camera that proved to be the sharpest among the devices. The results have shown that as the resolution increases, the performance of the metrics tends to become more accurate and the best performing metric among them is VQM with very few inconsistencies and inaccurate results when the compression applied is H.264, but when the compression is applied is HEVC, Structural Similarity (SSIM) metric and Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion (VMAF) have performed significantly better.

Keywords: Distortion, metrics, recording, frame rate, video quality assessment.

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Authors: Pham Thu Thuy, Nguyen Lan Huong, Chu Ky Son

Abstract:

Champs Bourcin black grape originated from Aquitaine, France and planted in Sapa, Lao cai provice, exhibited high total acidity (11.72 g/L). After 9 days of alcoholic fermentation at 25oC using Saccharomyces cerevisiae UP3OY5 strain, the ethanol concentration of wine was 11.5% v/v, however the sharp sour taste of wine has been found. The malolactic fermentation (MLF) was carried out by Oenococcus oeni ATCCBAA-1163 strain which had been preadapted to acid (pH 3-4) and ethanol (8-12%v/v) conditions. We obtained the highest vivability (83.2%) upon malolactic fermentation after 5 days at 22oC with early stationary phase O. oeni cells preadapted to pH 3.5 and 8% v/v ethanol in MRS medium. The malic acid content in wine was decreased from 5.82 g/L to 0.02 g/L after MLF (21 days at 22oC). The sensory quality of wine was significantly improved.

Keywords: Champs Bourcin grape, malolactic fermentation, pre-adaptation, Oenococcus oeni

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Authors: A. Tellaeche, R. Arana, I.Maurtua

Abstract:

The exhaustive quality control is becoming more and more important when commercializing competitive products in the world's globalized market. Taken this affirmation as an undeniable truth, it becomes critical in certain sector markets that need to offer the highest restrictions in quality terms. One of these examples is the percussion cap mass production, a critical element assembled in firearm ammunition. These elements, built in great quantities at a very high speed, must achieve a minimum tolerance deviation in their fabrication, due to their vital importance in firing the piece of ammunition where they are built in. This paper outlines a machine vision development for the 100% inspection of percussion caps obtaining data from 2D and 3D simultaneous images. The acquisition speed and precision of these images from a metallic reflective piece as a percussion cap, the accuracy of the measures taken from these images and the multiple fabrication errors detected make the main findings of this work.

Keywords: critical tolerance, high speed decision makingsimultaneous 2D/3D machine vision.

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Authors: Tajul Urus, S., Molla, A., Teoh, S.Y.

Abstract:

A number of studies highlighted problems related to ERP systems, yet, most of these studies focus on the problems during the project and implementation stages but not during the postimplementation use process. Problems encountered in the process of using ERP would hinder the effective exploitation and the extended and continued use of ERP systems and their value to organisations. This paper investigates the different types of problems users (operational, supervisory and managerial) faced in using ERP and how 'feral system' is used as the coping mechanism. The paper adopts a qualitative method and uses data collected from two cases and 26 interviews, to inductively develop a casual network model of ERP usage problem and its coping mechanism. This model classified post ERP usage problems as data quality, system quality, interface and infrastructure. The model is also categorised the different coping mechanism through use of 'feral system' inclusive of feral information system, feral data and feral use of technology.

Keywords: Case Studies, Coping Mechanism, Post Implementation ERP system, Usage Problem

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Authors: M. Irannezhad, E. H. N. Gashti, U. Moback, B. Kløve

Abstract:

Climate change would cause mean sea level to rise +1 m by 2100. To prevent coastal floods resulting from the sea level rising, different flood control structures have been built, with acceptable protection levels. Gothenburg with the River Göta älv located on the southwest coast of Sweden is a vulnerable city to the accelerated rises in mean sea level. We evaluated using a sea barrage in the River Göta älv to protect Gothenburg during this century. The highest sea level was estimated to 2.95 m above the current mean sea level by 2100. To verify flood protection against such high sea levels, both barriers have to be closed. To prevent high water level in the River Göta älv reservoir, the barriers would be open when the sea level is low. The suggested flood control structures would successfully protect the city from flooding events during this century.

Keywords: Climate change, Flood control structures, Gothenburg, Sea level rising, Water level model.

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Authors: Ebeed A. Saleh, Kadry M. Sadek, Safaa H. Ghorbal

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Due to the determination of the pollution status of fresh resources in the Egyptian territorial waters is very important for public health; this study was carried out to reveal the levels of heavy metals in the shellfish and their environment and its relation to the highly developed industrial activities in those areas. A total of 100 shellfish samples from the Rosetta, Edku, El-Maadiya, Abo-Kir and El-Max coasts [10 crustaceans (shrimp) and 10 mollusks (oysters)] were randomly collected from each coast. Additionally, 10 samples from both the water and the sediment were collected from each coast. Each collected sample was analyzed for cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and zinc residues using a Perkin Elmer atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The results showed that the levels of heavy metals were higher in the water and sediment from Abo-Kir. The heavy metal levels decreased successively for the Rosetta, Edku, El-Maadiya, and El-Max coasts, and the concentrations of heavy metals, except copper and zinc, in shellfish exhibited the same pattern. For the concentration of heavy metals in shellfish tissue, the highest was zinc and the concentrations decreased successively for copper, lead, chromium and cadmium for all coasts, except the Abo-Kir coast, where the chromium level was highest and the other metals decreased successively for zinc, copper, lead and cadmium. In Rosetta, chromium was higher only in the mollusks, while the level of this metal was lower in the crustaceans; this trend was observed at the Edku, El-Maadiya and El-Max coasts as well. Herein, we discuss the importance of such contamination for public health and the sources of shellfish contamination with heavy metals. We suggest measures to minimize and prevent these pollutants in the aquatic environment and, furthermore, how to protect humans from excessive intake.

Keywords: Atomic absorption, heavy metals, sediment, shellfish, water.

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Authors: Suhartini M. Jainury, Rizauddin Ramli, Mohd Nizam A. Rahman

Abstract:

Lean, which was initially developed by Toyota, is widely implemented in other companies to improve competitiveness. This research is an attempt to identify the adoption of lean in the production system of Malaysian car manufacturer, Proton using case study approach. To gain the in-depth information regarding lean implementation, an activity on the assembly line called Set Parts Supply (SPS) was studied. The result indicates that by using lean principles, tools and techniques in the implementation of SPS enabled to achieve the goals on safety, quality, cost, delivery and morale. The implementation increased the size of the workspace, improved the quality of assembly and the delivery of parts supply, reduced the manpower, achieved cost savings on electricity and also increased the motivation of manpower in respect of attendance at work. A framework of SPS implementation is suggested as a contribution for lean practices in production system.

Keywords: Assembly line, lean manufacturing, production, parts supply.

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Authors: Hala A. Hassan, Vasiliki K. Tsiouri, Konstantinos E. Konstantinos

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Fugitive particulate matter (PM) is a major source of airborne pollution in the Middle East countries. The meteorological conditions and topography of the area makes it highly susceptible to wind-blown particles which raise many air quality concerns. Air quality tools such as field monitoring, emission factors and dispersion modeling have been used in previous research studies to analyze the release and impacts of fugitive PM in the region. However, these tools have been originally developed based on experiments made for European and North American regions. In this work, an experimental campaign was conducted on April-May 2014 in a construction site in Doha city, Qatar. The ultimate goal is to evaluate the applicability of the existing emission factors for construction sites in dry and arid areas like the Middle East.

Keywords: Air pollution, construction, emissions, middle east, fugitive particulate matter.

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Authors: Jitendra Jain, Cassandra Hidajat, Hansraj Riteesh Bookun

Abstract:

Graft patency underpins long-term prognosis after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). The benefits of the combined use of only the left internal mammary artery and radial artery, referred to as total arterial revascularisation (TAR), on long-term clinical outcomes and quality of life are relatively unknown. The aim of this study was to identify whether there were differences in long term clinical outcomes between recipients of TAR compared to a cohort of mostly arterial revascularization involving the left internal mammary, at least one radial artery and at least one saphenous vein graft. A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients who underwent TAR or were re-vascularized with supplementary saphenous vein graft from February 1996 to December 2004. Telephone surveys were conducted to obtain clinical outcome parameters including major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) and Short Form (SF-36v2) Health Survey responses. A total of 176 patients were successfully contacted to obtain postop follow up results. The mean follow-up length from time of surgery in our study was TAR 12.4±1.8 years and conventional 12.6±2.1. PCS score was TAR 45.9±8.8 vs LIMA/Rad/ SVG 44.9±9.2 (p=0.468) and MCS score was TAR 52.0±8.9 vs LIMA/Rad/SVG 52.5±9.3 (p=0.723). There were no significant differences between groups for NYHA class 3+ TAR 9.4% vs. LIMA/Rad/SVG 6.6%; or CCS 3+ TAR 2.35% vs. LIMA/Rad/SVG 0%.

Keywords: CABG, MACCEs, quality of life, total arterial revascularization.

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Authors: M. Abdulkadir, V. Hernandez-Perez

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The characteristics of fluid flow and phase separation in an oil-water separator were numerically analysed as part of the work presented herein. Simulations were performed for different velocities and droplet diameters, and the way this parameters can influence the separator geometry was studied. The simulations were carried out using the software package Fluent 6.2, which is designed for numerical simulation of fluid flow and mass transfer. The model consisted of a cylindrical horizontal separator. A tetrahedral mesh was employed in the computational domain. The condition of two-phase flow was simulated with the two-fluid model, taking into consideration turbulence effects using the k-ε model. The results showed that there is a strong dependency of phase separation on mixture velocity and droplet diameter. An increase in mixture velocity will bring about a slow down in phase separation and as a consequence will require a weir of greater height. An increase in droplet diameter will produce a better phase separation. The simulations are in agreement with results reported in literature and show that CFD can be a useful tool in studying a horizontal oilwater separator.

Keywords: CFD, droplet diameter, mixture velocity

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Authors: Bruno Félix, André Vasconcelos, José Tribolet

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Nowadays increasingly the population makes use of Information Technology (IT). As such, in recent year the Portuguese government increased its focus on using the IT for improving people-s life and began to develop a set of measures to enable the modernization of the Public Administration, and so reducing the gap between Public Administration and citizens.Thus the Portuguese Government launched the Simplex Program. However these SIMPLEX eGov measures, which have been implemented over the years, present a serious challenge: how to forecast its impact on existing Information Systems Architecture (ISA). Thus, this research is focus in addressing the problem of automating the evaluation of the actual impact of implementation an eGovSimplification and Modernization measures in the Information Systems Architecture. To realize the evaluation we proposes a Framework, which is supported by some key concepts as: Quality Factors, ISA modeling, Multicriteria Approach, Polarity Profile and Quality Metrics

Keywords: Information System Architecture, Evaluation, eGov Simplification measure, Multicriteria Evaluation

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Authors: P. Chihomvu, P. Stegmann, M. Pillay

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Pollution of the Klip River has caused microorganisms inhabiting it to develop protective survival mechanisms. This study isolated and characterized the heavy metal resistant bacteria in the Klip River. Water and sediment samples were collected from six sites along the course of the river. The pH, turbidity, salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen were measured in-situ. The concentrations of six heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn) of the water samples were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Biochemical and antibiotic profiles of the isolates were assessed using the API 20E® and Kirby Bauer Method. Growth studies were carried out using spectrophotometric methods. The isolates were identified using 16SrDNA sequencing. The uppermost part of the Klip River with the lowest pH had the highest levels of heavy metals. Turbidity, salinity and specific conductivity increased measurably at Site 4 (Henley on Klip Weir). MIC tests showed that 16 isolates exhibited high iron and lead resistance. Antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed that the isolates exhibited multitolerances to drugs such as Tetracycline, Ampicillin, and Amoxicillin.

Keywords: Klip River, heavy metals, resistance.

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Authors: Maya S. Rathod, Bahadur Singh Hathan

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Mustard leaves are rich in folates, vitamin A, K and B-complex. Mustard greens are low in calories and fats and rich in dietary fiber. They are rich in potassium, manganese, iron, copper, calcium, magnesium and low in sodium. It is very rich in antioxidants and Phytonutrients. For the optimization of process variables (moisture content and mustard leave powder), the experiments were conducted according to central composite Face Centered Composite design of RSM. The mustard leaves powder was replaced with composite flour (a combination of rice, chickpea and corn in the ratio of 70:15:15). The extrudate was extruded in a twin screw extruder at a barrel temperature of 120°C. The independent variables were mustard leaves powder (2-10 %) and moisture content (12-20 %). Responses analyzed were bulk density, water solubility index, water absorption index, lateral expansion, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and overall acceptability. The optimum conditions obtained were 7.19 g mustard leaves powder in 100g premix having 16.8% moisture content (w.b).

Keywords: Extrusion, mustard leaves powder, optimization, response surface methodology.

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Authors: Chao-Linag Hsieh, Zheng-Wei Ye, Chen-Kang Huang, Yeun-Chung Lee, Chih-Hong Sun, Tzai-Hung Wen, Jehn-Yih Juang, Joe-Air Jiang

Abstract:

Air pollution and climate warming become more and more intensified in many areas, especially in urban areas. Environmental parameters are critical information to air pollution and weather monitoring. Thus, it is necessary to develop a suitable air pollution and weather monitoring system for urban areas. In this study, a vehicle monitoring system (VMS) based on the IoT technique is developed. Cars are selected as the research tool because it can reach a greater number of streets to collect data. The VMS can monitor different environmental parameters, including ambient temperature and humidity, and air quality parameters, including PM2.5, NO₂, CO, and O₃. The VMS can provide other information, including GPS signals and the vibration information through driving a car on the street. Different sensor modules are used to measure the parameters and collect the measured data and transmit them to a cloud server through the LoRa protocol. A user interface is used to show the sensing data storing at the cloud server. To examine the performance of the system, a researcher drove a Nissan x-trail 1998 to the area close to the Da’an District office in Taipei to collect monitoring data. The collected data are instantly shown on the user interface. The four kinds of information are provided by the interface: GPS positions, weather parameters, vehicle information, and air quality information. With the VMS, users can obtain the information regarding air quality and weather conditions when they drive their car to an urban area. Also, government agencies can make decisions on traffic planning based on the information provided by the proposed VMS.

Keywords: Vehicle, monitoring system, LoRa, smart city.

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Authors: Abdur Rosyid, Mohamed El-Madany, Mohanad Alata

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Due to simplicity and low cost, rotordynamic system is often modeled by using lumped parameters. Recently, finite elements have been used to model rotordynamic system as it offers higher accuracy. However, it involves high degrees of freedom. In some applications such as control design, this requires higher cost. For this reason, various model reduction methods have been proposed. This work demonstrates the quality of model reduction of rotor-bearing-support system through substructuring. The quality of the model reduction is evaluated by comparing some first natural frequencies, modal damping ratio, critical speeds, and response of both the full system and the reduced system. The simulation shows that the substructuring is proven adequate to reduce finite element rotor model in the frequency range of interest as long as the number and the location of master nodes are determined appropriately. However, the reduction is less accurate in an unstable or nearly-unstable system.

Keywords: Finite element model, rotordynamic system, model reduction, substructuring.

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Authors: Manfred Szerencsits, Christine Weinberger, Maximilian Kuderna, Franz Feichtinger, Eva Erhart, Stephan Maier

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Cover or catch crops have beneficial effects for soil, water, erosion, etc. If harvested, they also provide feedstock for biogas without competition for arable land in regions, where only one main crop can be produced per year. On average gross energy yields of approx. 1300 m³ methane (CH₄) ha^-1 can be expected from 4.5 tonnes (t) of cover crop dry matter (DM) in Austria. Considering the total energy invested from cultivation to compression for biofuel use a net energy yield of about 1000 m³ CH₄ ha^-1 is remaining. With the straw of grain maize or Corn Cob Mix (CCM) similar energy yields can be achieved. In comparison to catch crops remaining on the field as green manure or to complete fallow between main crops the effects on soil, water and climate can be improved if cover crops are harvested without soil compaction and digestate is returned to the field in an amount equivalent to cover crop removal. In this way, the risk of nitrate leaching can be reduced approx. by 25% in comparison to full fallow. The risk of nitrous oxide emissions may be reduced up to 50% by contrast with cover crops serving as green manure. The effects on humus content and erosion are similar or better than those of cover crops used as green manure when the same amount of biomass was produced. With higher biomass production the positive effects increase even if cover crops are harvested and the only digestate is brought back to the fields. The ecological footprint of arable farming can be reduced by approx. 50% considering the substitution of natural gas with CH₄ produced from cover crops.

Keywords: Biogas, cover crops, catch crops, land use competition, sustainable agriculture.

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Authors: Tahereh Talebi, Reza Ghomashchi, Pejman Talemi, Sima Aminorroaya

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Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of p-type Bi₂Te₃ material has been accomplished, and a high quality crack-free thick film has been achieved for thermoelectric (TE) applications. TE generators (TEG) can convert waste heat into electricity, which can potentially solve global warming problems. However, TEG is expensive due to the high cost of materials, as well as the complex and expensive manufacturing process. EPD is a simple and cost-effective method which has been used recently for advanced applications. In EPD, when a DC electric field is applied to the charged powder particles suspended in a suspension, they are attracted and deposited on the substrate with the opposite charge. In this study, it has been shown that it is possible to prepare a TE film using the EPD method and potentially achieve high TE properties at low cost. The relationship between the deposition weight and the EPD-related process parameters, such as applied voltage and time, has been investigated and a linear dependence has been observed, which is in good agreement with the theoretical principles of EPD. A stable EPD suspension of p-type Bi₂Te₃ was prepared in a mixture of acetone-ethanol with triethanolamine as a stabilizer. To achieve a high quality homogenous film on a copper substrate, the optimum voltage and time of the EPD process was investigated. The morphology and microstructures of the green deposited films have been investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The green Bi₂Te₃ films have shown good adhesion to the substrate. In summary, this study has shown that not only EPD of p-type Bi₂Te₃ material is possible, but its thick film is of high quality for TE applications.

Keywords: Electrical conductivity, electrophoretic deposition, p-type Bi2Te3, thermoelectric materials, thick films.

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Authors: M. Sadique, S. Ainane, Y. F. Yap, P. Rostron, E. Al Hajri

Abstract:

The presence of sand in production lines in the oil and gas industries causes material degradation due to erosion-corrosion. The material degradation caused by erosion-corrosion in pipelines can result in a high cost of monitoring and maintenance and in major accidents. The process of erosion-corrosion consists of erosion, corrosion, and their interactions. Investigating and understanding how the erosion-corrosion process affects the degradation process in certain materials will allow for a reduction in economic loss and help prevent accidents. In this study, material loss due to erosion-corrosion of mild steel under impingement of sand-laden water at 90˚ impingement angle is investigated using a submerged impingement jet (SIJ) test. In particular, effects of jet velocity and sand loading on TWL due to erosion-corrosion, weight loss due to pure erosion and erosion-corrosion interactions, at a temperature of 29-33 °C in sea water environment (3.5% NaCl), are analyzed. The results show that the velocity and sand loading have a great influence on the removal of materials, and erosion is more dominant under all conditions studied. Changes in the surface characteristics of the specimen after impingement test are also discussed.

Keywords: Erosion-corrosion, flow velocity, jet impingement, sand loading.

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Authors: M. Donmez, F. Akbal

Abstract:

In this study arsenate [As(V)] removal from drinking water by coagulation process was investigated. Ferric chloride (FeCl3.6H2O) and ferrous sulfate (FeSO4.7H2O) were used as coagulant. The effects of major operating variables such as coagulant dose (1–30 mg/L) and pH (5.5–9.5) were investigated. Ferric chloride and ferrous sulfate were found as effective and reliable coagulant due to required dose, residual arsenate and coagulant concentration. Optimum pH values for maximum arsenate removal for ferrous sulfate and ferric chloride were found as 8 and 7.5. The arsenate removal efficiency decreased at neutral and acidic pH values for Fe(II) and at the high acidic and high alkaline pH for Fe(III). It was found that the increase of coagulant dose caused a substantial increase in the arsenate removal. But above a certain ferric chloride and ferrous sulfate dosage, the increase in arsenate removal was not significant. Ferric chloride and ferrous sulfate dose above 8 mg/L slightly increased arsenate removal.

Keywords: Arsenic removal, coagulation, ıron salts, drinking water.

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Authors: S. Raja Balachandar, K.Kannan

Abstract:

A new Meta heuristic approach called "Randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm (RGES)" for solving vertex covering problems has been designed. This algorithm is found upon introducing randomization concept along with the two of the four primary parameters -velocity- and -gravity- in physics. A new heuristic operator is introduced in the domain of RGES to maintain feasibility specifically for the vertex covering problem to yield best solutions. The performance of this algorithm has been evaluated on a large set of benchmark problems from OR-library. Computational results showed that the randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm - based heuristic is capable of producing high quality solutions. The performance of this heuristic when compared with other existing heuristic algorithms is found to be excellent in terms of solution quality.

Keywords: Vertex covering Problem, Velocity, Gravitational Force, Newton's Law, Meta Heuristic, Combinatorial optimization.

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Authors: Sari F. Alkhatib, Chang Je Park, Gyuhong Roh

Abstract:

Theiterative scheme which is used to treat buildup factors for stratified shields is being investigated here using the layer-splitting technique.A simple suggested formalism for the scheme based on the Kalos’ formula is introduced, based on which the implementation of the testing technique is carried out.

The second layer in a double-layer shield was split into two equivalent layers and the scheme (with the suggested formalism) was implemented on the new “three-layer” shieldconfiguration.The results of such manipulation on water-lead and water-iron shields combinations are presented here for 1MeV photons.

It was found that splitting the second layer introduces some deviation on the overall buildup factor value. This expected deviation appeared to be higher in the case of low Z layer followed by high Z. However, the overall performance of the iterative scheme showed a great consistency and strong coherence even with the introduced changes. The introduced layer-splitting testing technique shows the capability to be implemented in test the iterative scheme with a wide range of formalisms.

Keywords: Buildup Factor, Iterative Scheme, Stratified Shields

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Authors: Carmen E. Zapata, Juan Bautista, Olga Montoya, Claudia Moreno, Marisol Suarez, Alejandra Betancur, Duvan Nanclares, Natalia A. Cano

Abstract:

This study aims to evaluate the diversity of microorganisms in filters PM2.5 and PM10; and determine the genotoxic and cytotoxic activity of the complex mixture present in PM2.5 filters used in the Aburrá Valley Air Quality Monitoring Network (Colombia). The research results indicate that particulate matter PM2.5 of different monitoring stations are bacteria; however, this study of detection of bacteria and their phylogenetic relationship is not complete evidence to connect the microorganisms with pathogenic or degrading activities of compounds present in the air. Additionally, it was demonstrated the damage induced by the particulate material in the cell membrane, lysosomal and endosomal membrane and in the mitochondrial metabolism; this damage was independent of the PM2.5 concentrations in almost all the cases.

Keywords: Cytotoxic, genotoxic, microbiological analysis, PM10, PM2.5.

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Authors: R. A. Isabel, E. Baburaj

Abstract:

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are essential for real-time health monitoring of patients and in diagnosing of many diseases. WBANs comprise many sensors to monitor a large range of ambient conditions. Quality of Service (QoS) is a key challenge in WBAN, because the different state information of the neighboring nodes has to be monitored in an accurate manner. However, energy consumption gets increased while predicting and maintaining the exact information in highly dynamic environments. In order to reduce energy consumption and end to end delay, Markov Chain Based Quality of Service Support (MC-QoSS) method is designed in the health monitoring services of WBAN communication. The energy consumption gets reduced by forming a Markov chain with high energy nodes in the sensor networks communication path. The low energy level sensor nodes are removed using transitional probability in order to reduce end to end delay. High energy nodes are formed in the chain structure of its corresponding path to enhance communication. After choosing the communication path through high energy nodes, the packets are sent to the sink node from the source node with a higher Packet Delivery Ratio. The simulation result shows that MC-QoSS method improves the packet delivery ratio and reduces energy consumption with minimum end to end delay, compared to existing methods.

Keywords: Wireless body area networks, quality of service, Markov chain, health monitoring services.

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