Search results for: water stress
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3315

Search results for: water stress

3165 Affordability and Expenditure Patterns towards Sustainable Consumption in Malaysia

Authors: Affordability, Expenditure Patterns towards Sustainable Consumption in Malaysia

Abstract:

Safe drinking water is needed for survival. Households have to pay the water bill monthly. However, lower income households are sometimes unable to afford the cost. This study examines water access and affordability among households in Malaysia and the determinants of water affordability using cross-sectional data and multiple regression. The paper expects that the bill for basic water consumption is inversely related to average income. This means that policy makers need to redesign the water tariff to improve the quality of life of lower income households.

Keywords: Affordability, households, income, water tariff.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1019
3164 A Water Reuse System in Wetland Paddy Supports the Growing Industrial Water Needs

Authors: Yu-Chuan Chang, Chen Shi-Kai

Abstract:

A water reuse system in wetland paddy was simulated to supply water for industrial in this paper. A two-tank model was employed to represent the return flow of the wetland paddy.Historical data were performed for parameter estimation and model verification. With parameters estimated from the data, the model was then used to simulate a reasonable return flow rate from the wetland paddy. The simulation results show that the return flow ratio was 11.56% in the first crop season and 35.66% in the second crop season individually; the difference may result from the heavy rainfall in the second crop season. Under the existent pond with surplus active capacity, the water reuse ratio was 17.14%, and the water supplementary ratio was 21.56%. However, the pattern of rainfall, the active capacity of the pond, and the rate of water treatment limit the volume of reuse water. Increasing the irrigation water, dredging the depth of pond before rainy season and enlarging the scale of module are help to develop water reuse system to support for the industrial water use around wetland paddy.

Keywords: Return flow, water reuse, wetland paddy, return flow ratio (RR), water reuse ratio (WRR), water supplementary ratio(WSR)

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1262
3163 Influence of Intermediate Principal Stress on Solution of Planar Stability Problems

Authors: M. Jahanandish, M. B. Zeydabadinejad

Abstract:

In this paper, von Mises and Drucker-Prager yield criteria, as typical ones that consider the effect of intermediate principal stress σ2, have been selected and employed for investigating the influence of σ2 on the solution of a typical stability problem. The bearing capacity factors have been calculated under plane strain condition (strip footing) and axisymmetric condition (circular footing) using the method of stress characteristics together with the criteria mentioned. Different levels of σ2 relative to the other two principal stresses have been considered. While a higher σ2 entry in yield criterion gives a higher bearing capacity; its entry in equilibrium equations (axisymmetric) causes substantial reduction.

Keywords: Intermediate principal stress, plane strain, axisymmetric, yield criteria.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1862
3162 Ways to Define the Most Sustainable Actions for Water Shortage Prevention in Mega Cities, Especially in Developing Countries

Authors: Keivan Karimlou, Nemat Hassani, Abdollah Rashidi Mehrabadi

Abstract:

Climate change, industrial bloom, population growth and mismanagement are the most important factors that lead to water shortages around the world. Water shortages often lead to forced immigration, war, and thirst and hunger, especially in developing countries. One of the simplest solutions to solve the water shortage issues around the world is transferring water from one watershed to another; however it may not be a suitable solution. Water managers around the world use supply and demand management methods to decrease the incidence of water shortage in a sustainable manner. But as a matter of economic constraints, they must define a method to select the best possible action to reduce and limit water shortages. The following paper recognizes different kinds of criteria to select the best possible policy for reducing water shortage in mega cities by examining a comprehensive literature review.

Keywords: Criteria, management, shortage, sustainable, water.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1061
3161 Inference of Stress-Strength Model for a Lomax Distribution

Authors: H. Panahi, S. Asadi

Abstract:

In this paper, the estimation of the stress-strength parameter R = P(Y < X), when X and Y are independent and both are Lomax distributions with the common scale parameters but different shape parameters is studied. The maximum likelihood estimator of R is derived. Assuming that the common scale parameter is known, the bayes estimator and exact confidence interval of R are discussed. Simulation study to investigate performance of the different proposed methods has been carried out.

Keywords: Stress-Strength model; maximum likelihoodestimator; Bayes estimator; Lomax distribution

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1739
3160 Stress Solitary Waves Generated by a Second-Order Polynomial Constitutive Equation

Authors: Tsun-Hui Huang, Shyue-Cheng Yang, Chiou-Fen Shieh

Abstract:

In this paper, a nonlinear constitutive law and a curve fitting, two relationships between the stress-strain and the shear stress-strain for sandstone material were used to obtain a second-order polynomial constitutive equation. Based on the established polynomial constitutive equations and Newton’s second law, a mathematical model of the non-homogeneous nonlinear wave equation under an external pressure was derived. The external pressure can be assumed as an impulse function to simulate a real earthquake source. A displacement response under nonlinear two-dimensional wave equation was determined by a numerical method and computer-aided software. The results show that a suit pressure in the sandstone generates the phenomenon of stress solitary waves.

Keywords: Polynomial constitutive equation, solitary.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1627
3159 Assessment of Hargreaves Equation for Estimating Monthly Reference Evapotranspiration in the South of Iran

Authors: Ali Dehgan Moroozeh, B. Farhadi Bansouleh

Abstract:

Evapotranspiration is one of the most important components of the hydrological cycle. Evapotranspiration (ETo) is an important variable in water and energy balances on the earth’s surface, and knowledge of the distribution of ET is a key factor in hydrology, climatology, agronomy and ecology studies. Many researchers have a valid relationship, which is a function of climate factors, to estimate the potential evapotranspiration presented to the plant water stress or water loss, prevent. The FAO-Penman method (PM) had been recommended as a standard method. This method requires many data and these data are not available in every area of world. So, other methods should be evaluated for these conditions. When sufficient or reliable data to solve the PM equation are not available then Hargreaves equation can be used. The Hargreaves equation (HG) requires only daily mean, maximum and minimum air temperature extraterrestrial radiation .In this study, Hargreaves method (HG) were evaluated in 12 stations in the North West region of Iran. Results of HG and M.HG methods were compared with results of PM method. Statistical analysis of this comparison showed that calibration process has had significant effect on efficiency of Hargreaves method.

Keywords: Evapotranspiration, Hargreaves equation, FAOPenman method.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1869
3158 Critical Heights of Sloped Unsupported Trenches in Unsaturated Sand

Authors: Won Taek Oh, Adin Richard

Abstract:

Workers are often required to enter unsupported trenches during the construction process, which may present serious risks. Trench failures can result in death or damage to adjacent properties, therefore trenches should be excavated with extreme precaution. Excavation work is often done in unsaturated soils, where the critical height (i.e. maximum depth that can be excavated without failure) of unsupported trenches can be more reliably estimated by considering the influence of matric suction. In this study, coupled stress/pore-water pressure analyses are conducted to investigate the critical height of sloped unsupported trenches considering the influence of pore-water pressure redistribution caused by excavating. Four different wall slopes (1.5V:1H, 2V:1H, 3V:1H, and 90°) and a vertical trench with the top 0.3 m sloped 1:1 were considered in the analyses with multiple depths of the ground water table in a sand. For comparison, the critical heights were also estimated using the limit equilibrium method for the same excavation scenarios used in the coupled analyses.

Keywords: Critical height, matric suction, unsaturated soil, unsupported trench.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 994
3157 Radon in Drinking Water in Novi Sad

Authors: J. Nikolov, N. Todorovic, S. Forkapic, I. Bikit, D. Mrdja

Abstract:

Exposure to radon occurs when breathing airborne radon while using water: showering, washing dishes, cooking, and drinking water that contain radon. The results of radon activity measurements in water from public drinking fountain in city of Novi Sad, Serbia is presented in this paper. Radon level in some samples exceeded EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recommendation for maximum contaminant level (MCL) for radon in drinking water of 11.1 Bq/l.

Keywords: radon, radioactivity dose, public drink fountain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2650
3156 Water Quality Assessment Based on Operational Indicator in West Coastal Water of Malaysia

Authors: Seyedeh Belin Tavakoly Sany, H. Rosli, R. Majid, S. Aishah

Abstract:

In this study, water monitoring was performed from Nov. 2012 to Oct. 2013 to assess water quality and evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of physicochemical and biological variables in water. Water samples were collected from 10 coastal water stations of West Port. In the case of water-quality assessment, multi-metric indices and operational indicators have been proposed to classify the trophic status at different stations. The trophic level of West Port coastal water ranges from eutrophic to hypertrophic. Chl-a concentration was used to estimate the biological response of phytoplankton biomass and indicated eutrophic conditions in West Port and mesotrophic conditions at the control site. During the study period, no eutrophication events or secondary symptoms occurred, which may be related to hydrodynamic turbulence and water exchange, which prevent the development of eutrophic conditions in the West Port.

Keywords: Water quality, multi-metric indices, operational indicator, Malaysia, West Port.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1749
3155 Obtain the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) in a Medium Containing a Penny-Shaped Crack by the Ritz Method

Authors: A. Tavangari, N. Salehzadeh

Abstract:

In the crack growth analysis, the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) is a fundamental prerequisite. In the present study, the mode I stress intensity factor (SIF) of three-dimensional penny- Shaped crack is obtained in an isotropic elastic cylindrical medium with arbitrary dimensions under arbitrary loading at the top of the cylinder, by the semi-analytical method based on the Rayleigh-Ritz method. This method that is based on minimizing the potential energy amount of the whole of the system, gives a very close results to the previous studies. Defining the displacements (elastic fields) by hypothetical functions in a defined coordinate system is the base of this research. So for creating the singularity conditions at the tip of the crack the appropriate terms should be found.

Keywords: Penny-shaped crack, Stress intensity factor, Fracture mechanics, Ritz method.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2076
3154 Environmental Management in Arid Regions:The Question of Water

Authors: Yousef Bakhbakhi, Mourad Boumaza

Abstract:

Only recently have water ethics received focused interest in the international water community. Because water is metabolically basic to life, an ethical dimension persists in every decision related to water. Water ethics at once express human society-s approach to water and act as guidelines for behaviour. Ideas around water are often implicit and embedded as assumptions. They can be entrenched in behaviour and difficult to contest because they are difficult to “see". By explicitly revealing the ethical ideas underlying water-related decisions, human society-s relationship with water, and with natural systems of which water is part, can be contested and shifted or be accepted with conscious intention by human society. In recent decades, improved understanding of water-s importance for ecosystem functioning and ecological services for human survival is moving us beyond this growth-driven, supplyfocused management paradigm. Environmental ethics challenge this paradigm by extending the ethical sphere to the environment and thus water or water Resources management per se. An ethical approach is a legitimate, important, and often ignored approach to effect change in environmental decision making. This qualitative research explores principles of water ethics and examines the underlying ethical precepts of selected water policy examples. The constructed water ethic principles act as a set of criteria against which a policy comparison can be established. This study shows that water Resources management is a progressive issue by embracing full public participation and a new planning model, and knowledgegeneration initiatives.

Keywords: water resources, environmental management, publicparticipation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1400
3153 Stress Analysis of Laminated Cylinders Subject to the Thermomechanical Loads

Authors: Ş. Aksoy, A. Kurşun, E. Çetin, M. R. Haboğlu

Abstract:

In this study, thermo elastic stress analysis is  performed on a cylinder made of laminated isotropic materials under  thermomechanical loads. Laminated cylinders have many  applications such as aerospace, automotive and nuclear plant in the  industry. These cylinders generally performed under  thermomechanical loads. Stress and displacement distribution of the  laminated cylinders are determined using by analytical method both  thermal and mechanical loads. Based on the results, materials  combination plays an important role on the stresses distribution along  the radius. Variation of the stresses and displacements along the  radius are presented as graphs. Calculations program are prepared  using MATLAB® by authors.

 

Keywords: Isotropic materials, laminated cylinders, thermoelastic stress, thermomechanical load.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3692
3152 Approximate Solution of Some Mixed Boundary Value Problems of the Generalized Theory of Couple-Stress Thermo-Elasticity

Authors: M. Chumburidze, D. Lekveishvili

Abstract:

We have considered the harmonic oscillations and general dynamic (pseudo oscillations) systems of theory generalized Green-Lindsay of couple-stress thermo-elasticity for isotropic, homogeneous elastic media. Approximate solution of some mixed boundary value problems for finite domain, bounded by the some closed surface are constructed.

Keywords: The couple-stress thermo-elasticity, boundary value problems.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1978
3151 The Impact of Occupational Stress on Quality of Work Life among the Staff of e-Workspace

Authors: Alireza Bolhari, Ali Rezaeean, Jafar Bolhari, Fatemeh Zare

Abstract:

With the advent of new technologies, factors related to mental health in e-workspaces are taken into consideration more than ever. Studies have revealed that one of the factors affecting the productivity of employees in an organization is occupational stress. Another influential factor is quality of work life which is important in the improvement of work environment conditions and organizational efficiency. In order to uncover the quality of work life level and to investigate the impact of occupational stress on quality of work life among information technology employees in Iran, a cross-sectional study design was applied and data were gathered using a questionnaire validated by a group of experts. The results of the study showed that information technology staffs have average level of both occupational stress and quality of work life. Furthermore, it was found that occupational stress has a negative impact on quality of work life. In addition, the same results were observed for role ambiguity, role conflict, role under-load, work-pace, work repetitiveness and tension toward quality of work life. No significant relation was found between role overload and quality of work life. Finally, directions for future research are proposed and discussed.

Keywords: Information Technology, e-Workspace, Healthcare, IT Staff, Occupational Stress, Quality of Work Life

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5682
3150 The Study of Rapeseed Characteristics by Factor Analysis under Normal and Drought Stress Conditions

Authors: Ali Bakhtiari Gharibdosti, Mohammad Hosein Bijeh Keshavarzi, Samira Alijani

Abstract:

To understand internal characteristics relationships and determine factors which explain under consideration characteristics in rapeseed varieties, 10 rapeseed genotypes were implemented in complete accidental plot with three-time repetitions under drought stress in 2009-2010 in research field of agriculture college, Islamic Azad University, Karaj branch. In this research, 11 characteristics include of characteristics related to growth, production and functions stages was considered. Variance analysis results showed that there is a significant difference among rapeseed varieties characteristics. By calculating simple correlation coefficient under both conditions, normal and drought stress indicate that seed function characteristics in plant and pod number have positive and significant correlation in 1% probable level with seed function and selection on the base of these characteristics was effective for improving this function. Under normal and drought stress, analyzing the main factors showed that numbers of factors which have more than one amount, had five factors under normal conditions which were 82.72% of total variance totally, but under drought stress four factors diagnosed which were 76.78% of total variance. By considering total results of this research and by assessing effective characteristics for factor analysis and selecting different components of these characteristics, they can be used for modifying works to select applicable and tolerant genotypes in drought stress conditions.

Keywords: Correlation, drought stress, factor analysis, rapeseed.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 648
3149 Space Charge Distribution in 22 kV XLPE Insulated Cable by Using Pulse Electroacoustic Measurement Technique

Authors: N. Ruangkajonmathee, R. Thiamsri, B. Marungsri

Abstract:

This paper presents the experimental results on space charge distribution in cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulating material for 22 kV power distribution system cable by using pulse electroacoustic measurement technique (PEA). Numbers of XLPE insulating material ribbon having thickness 60 μm taken from unused 22 kV high voltage cable were used as specimen in this study. DC electric field stress was applied to test specimen at room temperature (25°C). Four levels of electric field stress, 25 kV/mm, 50 kV/mm, 75 kV/mm and 100 kV/mm, were used. In order to investigate space charge distribution characteristic, space charge distribution characteristics were measured after applying electric field stress 15 min, 30 min and 60 min, respectively. The results show that applied time and magnitude of dc electric field stress play an important role to the formation of space charge.

Keywords: Space charge distribution, pulsed electroacoustic(PEA) technique, cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), DC electrical fields stress.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3238
3148 The Expression of a Novel Gene Encoding an Ankyrin-Repeat Protein, DRA1, is Regulated by Drought-Responsive Alternative Splicing

Authors: H. Sakamoto, Y. Nakagawara, S. Oguri

Abstract:

Drought stress is a critical environmental factor that adversely affects crop productivity and quality. Because of their immobile nature, plants have evolved mechanisms to sense and respond to drought stress. We identified a novel locus of Arabidopsis, designated DRA1 (drought responsive ankyrin1), whose disruption leads to increased drought-stress tolerance. DRA1 encodes a transmembrane protein with an ankyrin-repeat motif that has been implicated in diverse cellular processes such as signal transduction. RT-PCR analysis revealed that there were at least two splicing variants of DRA1 transcripts in wild-type plants. In response to drought stress, the levels of DRA1 transcripts retaining second and third introns were increased, whereas these introns were removed under unstressed conditions. These results suggest that DRA1 protein may negatively regulate plant drought tolerance and that the expression of DRA1is regulated in response to drought stress by alternative splicing.

Keywords: Alternative splicing, ankyrin repeat, Arabidopsis, drought tolerance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1703
3147 Anaerobic Treatment of Produced Water

Authors: F. C. Khong, M. H. Isa, S. R. M. Kutty, S. A. Farhan

Abstract:

An experimental study of anaerobic treatment was performed by hybrid upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (HUASB) reactor to treat produced water (PW) of an onshore crude oil terminal (COD: 1597 mg/L, NH3-N: 14.7 mg/L, phenol: 13.8 mg/L, BOD5: 862 mg/L, sodium: 6240 mg/L and chloride 9530 mg/L). The produced water with high salinity and other toxic substances will inhibit the methanogens performance if there is no adaptation on biomass before anaerobic digestion. COD removal from produced water was investigated at five different dilutions of produced water and tap water (TW) without any nutrient addition and pre-treatment. The dilution ratios were 1PW:4TW, 2PW:3TW, 3PW:2TW, 4PW:1TW and 5PW:0TW. The reactor was evaluated at mesophilic operating condition (35 ± 2 °C) at 5 days of HRT for 250 days continuous feed. The average COD removals for 1PW:4TW, 2PW:3TW, 3PW:2TW, 4PW:1TW and 5PW:0TW were found to be approximately 76.1%, 73.8%, 70.3%, 46.3% and 61.82% respectively, with final average effluent COD of 123.7 mg/L, 240 mg/L, 294 mg/L, 589 mg/L and 738 mg/L, respectively.

Keywords: Anaerobic, fixed film, hybrid UASB, produced water, inhibitor

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2454
3146 Response of Pavement under Temperature and Vehicle Coupled Loading

Authors: Yang Zhong, Mei-jie Xu

Abstract:

To study the dynamic mechanics response of asphalt pavement under the temperature load and vehicle loading, asphalt pavement was regarded as multilayered elastic half-space system, and theory analysis was conducted by regarding dynamic modulus of asphalt mixture as the parameter. Firstly, based on the dynamic modulus test of asphalt mixture, function relationship between the dynamic modulus of representative asphalt mixture and temperature was obtained. In addition, the analytical solution for thermal stress in single layer was derived by using Laplace integral transformation and Hankel integral transformation respectively by using thermal equations of equilibrium. The analytical solution of calculation model of thermal stress in asphalt pavement was derived by transfer matrix of thermal stress in multilayer elastic system. Finally, the variation of thermal stress in pavement structure was analyzed. The result shows that there is obvious difference between the thermal stress based on dynamic modulus and the solution based on static modulus. So the dynamic change of parameter in asphalt mixture should be taken into consideration when theoretical analysis is taken out.

Keywords: Asphalt pavement, dynamic modulus, integral transformation, transfer matrix, thermal stress.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1620
3145 Analysis of Rail Ends under Wheel Contact Loading

Authors: Nannan Zong, Manicka Dhanasekar

Abstract:

The effect of the discontinuity of the rail ends and the presence of lower modulus insulation material at the gap to the variations of stresses in the insulated rail joint (IRJ) is presented. A three-dimensional wheel – rail contact model in the finite element framework is used for the analysis. It is shown that the maximum stress occurs in the subsurface of the railhead when the wheel contact occurs far away from the rail end and migrates to the railhead surface as the wheel approaches the rail end; under this condition, the interface between the rail ends and the insulation material has suffered significantly increased levels of stress concentration. The ratio of the elastic modulus of the railhead and insulation material is found to alter the levels of stress concentration. Numerical result indicates that a higher elastic modulus insulating material can reduce the stress concentration in the railhead but will generate higher stresses in the insulation material, leading to earlier failure of the insulation material

Keywords: Rail end, material interface, wheel-rail contact, stress, finite element method

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2374
3144 Investigation on the Fate Pesticides in Water and Sediments Iraqi Marshland

Authors: Abdal-Kader Saeed Latif, Reyam Naji Ajmi, Huda Farooq Zeki, Wathiq Abaas Hatit

Abstract:

These studies have been carried out on the behavior of pesticides in aquatic environments of marshes to monitoring water and sediment. A total of 25 water and 25 sediment samples were collected at five sampling station during April, June and September. 2013 the levels of organochlorine (OCP) pesticide as a case study to find out the extent of pesticide contamination and accumulation, in water was the concentration of OCPs (0.02, 0.066, 0.7, 0.8, 0.072, 0.058) ppb. In sediment was the concentration of OCPs (5.897, 10.987, 0.089, 0.096, 7.897, and 12.389) ppb respectively in DDT, DDE, Chlordane, Heptachlor, Lindane, and Endosulfan. There is a relationship between pesticides and sediment and water with physical properties because the concentrations of pesticide in water and sediment are not always in equilibrium Furthermore, when sediments are smaller, the rate of deposition is slower. There the wetlands of pesticides due to factors of high temperature and evaporation but used in the control of pesticides in water and sediment also there still exist a variety of organochlorine pesticide residues in water and sediments of wetlands.

Keywords: Bioindicators, Iraqi marshes, Pesticides, Sediment, Water.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2045
3143 The Expression of a Novel Gene Encoding an Ankyrin-Repeat Protein, DRA1, is Regulated by Drought-Responsive Alternative Splicing

Authors: H. Sakamoto, Y. Nakagawara, S. Oguri

Abstract:

Drought stress is a critical environmental factor that adversely affects crop productivity and quality. Because of their immobile nature, plants have evolved mechanisms to sense and respond to drought stress. We identified a novel locus of Arabidopsis, designated DRA1 (drought responsive ankyrin1), whose disruption leads to increased drought-stress tolerance. DRA1 encodes a transmembrane protein with an ankyrin-repeat motif that has been implicated in diverse cellular processes such as signal transduction. RT-PCR analysis revealed that there were at least two splicing variants of DRA1 transcripts in wild-type plants. In response to drought stress, the levels of DRA1 transcripts retaining second and third introns were increased, whereas these introns were removed under unstressed conditions. These results suggest that DRA1 protein may negatively regulate plant drought tolerance and that the expression of DRA1is regulated in response to drought stress by alternative splicing.

Keywords: Alternative splicing, ankyrin repeat, Arabidopsis, drought tolerance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1819
3142 Detection of Leaks in Water Mains Using Ground Penetrating Radar

Authors: Alaa Al Hawari, Mohammad Khader, Tarek Zayed, Osama Moselhi

Abstract:

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is one of the most effective electromagnetic techniques for non-destructive non-invasive subsurface features investigation. Water leak from pipelines is the most common undesirable reason of potable water losses. Rapid detection of such losses is going to enhance the use of the Water Distribution Networks (WDN) and decrease threatens associated with water mains leaks. In this study, GPR approach was developed to detect leaks by implementing an appropriate imaging analyzing strategy based on image refinement, reflection polarity and reflection amplitude that would ease the process of interpreting the collected raw radargram image.

Keywords: Water Networks, Leakage, Water pipelines, Ground Penetrating Radar.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2256
3141 Study of Stress Wave Propagation with NHDMOC

Authors: G.Y. Zhang , M.L. Xu, R.Q. Zhang, W.H. Tang

Abstract:

MOC (method of cell) is a new method of investigating wave propagating in material with periodic microstructure, and can reflect the effect of microstructure. Wave propagation in periodically laminated medium consisting of linearly elastic layers can be treated as a special application of this method. In this paper, it was used to simulate the dynamic response of carbon-phenolic to impulsive loading under certain boundary conditions. From the comparison between the results obtained from this method and the exact results based on propagator matrix theory, excellent agreement is achieved. Conclusion can be made that the oscillation periodicity is decided by the thickness of sub-cells. In the end, the NHDMOC method, which permits studying stress wave propagation with one dimensional strain, was applied to study the one-dimensional stress wave propagation. In this paper, the ZWT nonlinear visco-elastic constitutive relationship with 7 parameters, NHDMOC, and corresponding equations were deduced. The equations were verified, comparing the elastic stress wave propagation in SHPB with, respectively, the elastic and the visco-elastic bar. Finally the dispersion and attenuation of stress wave in SHPB with visco-elastic bar was studied.

Keywords: MOC, NHDMOC, visco-elastic, wave propagation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1872
3140 Stress Corrosion Crack Identification with Direct Assessment Method in Pipeline Downstream from a Compressor Station

Authors: H. Gholami, M. Jalali Azizpour

Abstract:

Stress Corrosion Crack (SCC) in pipeline is a type of environmentally assisted cracking (EAC), since its discovery in 1965 as a possible cause of failure in pipeline, SCC has caused, on average, one of two failures per year in the U.S, According to the NACE SCC DA a pipe line segment is considered susceptible to SCC if all of the following factors are met: The operating stress exceeds 60% of specified minimum yield strength (SMYS), the operating temperature exceeds 38°C, the segment is less than 32 km downstream from a compressor station, the age of the pipeline is greater than 10 years and the coating type is other than Fusion Bonded Epoxy(FBE). In this paper as a practical experience in NISOC, Direct Assessment (DA) Method is used for identification SCC defect in unpiggable pipeline located downstream of compressor station.

Keywords: Stress Corrosion Crack, Direct Assessment, Disbondment, Transgranular SCC, Compressor Station.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2879
3139 Particle Swarm Optimization for Design of Water Distribution Systems

Authors: A. Vasan

Abstract:

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique is applied to design the water distribution pipeline network. A simulation-optimization model is formulated with the objective of minimizing cost and is applied to a benchmark water distribution system optimization problem. The benchmark problem taken for the application of PSO technique to optimize the pipe size of the water distribution network is New York City water supply system problem. The results from the analysis infer that PSO is a potential alternative optimization technique when compared to other heuristic techniques for optimal sizing of water distribution systems.

Keywords: Water distribution systems, Optimization, Particle swarm optimization, Swarm intelligence, New York water supply system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1481
3138 Zamzam Water as Corrosion Inhibitor for Steel Rebar in Rainwater and Simulated Acid Rain

Authors: Ahmed A. Elshami, Stéphanie Bonnet, Abdelhafid Khelidj

Abstract:

Corrosion inhibitors are widely used in concrete industry to reduce the corrosion rate of steel rebar which is present in contact with aggressive environments. The present work aims to using Zamzam water from well located within the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia 20 m (66 ft) east of the Kaaba, the holiest place in Islam as corrosion inhibitor for steel in rain water and simulated acid rain. The effect of Zamzam water was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Potentiodynamic polarization techniques in Department of Civil Engineering - IUT Saint-Nazaire, Nantes University, France. Zamzam water is considered to be one of the most important steel corrosion inhibitor which is frequently used in different industrial applications. Results showed that zamzam water gave a very good inhibition for steel corrosion in rain water and simulated acid rain.

Keywords: Zamzam water, corrosion inhibitor, rain water and simulated acid rain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2744
3137 Water End-Use Classification with Contemporaneous Water-Energy Data and Deep Learning Network

Authors: Khoi A. Nguyen, Rodney A. Stewart, Hong Zhang

Abstract:

‘Water-related energy’ is energy use which is directly or indirectly influenced by changes to water use. Informatics applying a range of mathematical, statistical and rule-based approaches can be used to reveal important information on demand from the available data provided at second, minute or hourly intervals. This study aims to combine these two concepts to improve the current water end use disaggregation problem through applying a wide range of most advanced pattern recognition techniques to analyse the concurrent high-resolution water-energy consumption data. The obtained results have shown that recognition accuracies of all end-uses have significantly increased, especially for mechanised categories, including clothes washer, dishwasher and evaporative air cooler where over 95% of events were correctly classified.

Keywords: Deep learning network, smart metering, water end use, water-energy data.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1300
3136 A Constitutional Approach to the Rights to Water and Energy

Authors: Antonios Maniatis

Abstract:

The present paper focuses on human rights to the water and to the energy and has a scope to promote the legal status on sustainable construction. The right to water constitutes a typical example of 3G fundamental rights, like the right to enjoyment of energy, particularly of electricity, whilst the right to energy efficiency is a right of fourth generation. Both rights to water and energy are examined through their consecration in the framework of the above-mentioned generations. It results that not only decision-makers but also citizens should fight for the further consecration and adequate use of these crucial rights, having to do with the urgent problem of climate change and the sustainable development. The time for the principle of water and energy “rule of law” has come.

Keywords: Climate change law, energy (en + ergon) efficiency, fundamental rights, prosumer, water.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1003