Abstract: Traditionally, the embodied energy of design choices
which reduce operational energy were assumed to have a negligible
impact on the life cycle energy of buildings. However with new
buildings having considerably lower operational energy, the
significance of embodied energy increases. A life cycle assessment of
a population of house designs was conducted in a mild and mixed
climate zone. It was determined not only that embodied energy
dominates life cycle energy, but that the impact on embodied of
design choices was of equal significance to the impact on operational
energy.
Abstract: In light of the technological development and its
introduction into the field of education, an online course was
designed in parallel to the 'conventional' course for teaching the
''Qualitative Research Methods''. This course aimed to characterize
learning-teaching processes in a 'Qualitative Research Methods'
course studied in two different frameworks. Moreover, its objective
was to explore the difference between the culture of a physical
learning environment and that of online learning. The research
monitored four learner groups, a total of 72 students, for two years,
two groups from the two course frameworks each year. The courses
were obligatory for M.Ed. students at an academic college of
education and were given by one female-lecturer. The research was
conducted in the qualitative method as a case study in order to attain
insights about occurrences in the actual contexts and sites in which
they transpire. The research tools were open-ended questionnaire and
reflections in the form of vignettes (meaningful short pictures) to all
students as well as an interview with the lecturer. The tools facilitated
not only triangulation but also collecting data consisting of voices
and pictures of teaching and learning. The most prominent findings
are: differences between the two courses in the change features of the
learning environment culture for the acquisition of contents and
qualitative research tools. They were manifested by teaching
methods, illustration aids, lecturer's profile and students' profile.
Abstract: The growth of organic farming practices in the last
few decades is continuing to stimulate the international debate about
this alternative food market. As a part of a PhD project research
about embeddedness in Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), this
paper focuses on the promotional aspects of organic farms websites
from the Madrid region. As a theoretical tool, some knowledge
categories drawn on the geographic studies literature are used to
classify the many ideas expressed in the web pages. By analysing
texts and pictures of 30 websites, the study aims to question how and
to what extent actors from organic world communicate to the
potential customers their personal beliefs about farming practices,
products qualities, and ecological and social benefits. Moreover, the
paper raises the question of whether organic farming laws and
regulations lack of completeness about the social and cultural aspects
of food.
Abstract: SARA is a common and serious metabolic disorder in
early lactation in dairy cattle and in finishing beef cattle, caused by
diets with high inclusion of cereal grain. This experiment was
performed to determine the efficacy of Megasphaera elsdenii, a
major lactate-utilizing bacterium in prevention/treatment of SARA in
vivo. In vivo experimentation, it was used eight ruminally cannulated
rams and it was applied the rapid adaptation with the mixture of grain
based on wheat (80% wheat, 20% barley) and barley (80% barley,
20% wheat). During the systematic adaptation, it was followed the
probability of SARA formation by being measured the rumen pH
with two hours intervals after and before feeding. After being
evaluated the data, it was determined the ruminal pH ranged from
5.2-5.6 on the condition of feeding with 60 percentage of grain
mixture based on barley and wheat, that assured the definite form of
subacute acidosis. In four days SARA period, M. elsdenii (1010 cfu
ml-1) was inoculated during the first two days. During the SARA
period, it was observed the decrease of feed intake with M. elsdenii
inoculation. Inoculation of M. elsdenii was caused to differentiation
of rumen pH (P
Abstract: The work aims to develop a robot in the form of
autonomous vehicle to detect, inspection and mapping of
underground pipelines through the ATmega328 Arduino platform.
Hardware prototyping is very similar to C / C ++ language that
facilitates its use in robotics open source, resembles PLC used in
large industrial processes. The robot will traverse the surface
independently of direct human action, in order to automate the
process of detecting buried pipes, guided by electromagnetic
induction. The induction comes from coils that send the signal to the
Arduino microcontroller contained in that will make the difference in
intensity and the treatment of the information, and then this
determines actions to electrical components such as relays and
motors, allowing the prototype to move on the surface and getting the
necessary information. This change of direction is performed by a
stepper motor with a servo motor. The robot was developed by
electrical and electronic assemblies that allowed test your application.
The assembly is made up of metal detector coils, circuit boards and
microprocessor, which interconnected circuits previously developed
can determine, process control and mechanical actions for a robot
(autonomous car) that will make the detection and mapping of buried
pipelines plates. This type of prototype can prevent and identifies
possible landslides and they can prevent the buried pipelines suffer an
external pressure on the walls with the possibility of oil leakage and
thus pollute the environment.
Abstract: Breast cancer is in the top rate of cancer. We analyzed
the prevalence of obesity and its association with breast cancer and
finally we reviewed 25 article that 320 patient and 320 control which
enrolled to our study. The distribution of breast cancer patients and
controls with respect to their anthropometric indices in patients with
higher weight, which was statistically significant (60.2 ± 10.2 kg)
compared with control group (56.1 ± 11.3 kg). The body mass index
of patients was (26.06+/-3.42) and significantly higher than the
control group (24.1+/-1.7). Obesity leads to increased levels of
adipose tissue in the body that can be stored toxins and carcinogens
to produce a continuous supply. Due to the high level of fat and the
role of estrogen in a woman which is endogenous estrogen of the
tumor and regulates the activities of growth steroids, obesity has
confirmed as a risk factor for breast cancer. Our study and other
studies have shown that obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer. And
it can be prevented with a weight loss intervention for breast cancer
in the future.
Abstract: While choosing insulating oil, characteristic features
such as thermal cooling, endurance, efficiency and being
environment-friendly should be considered. Mineral oils are referred
as petroleum-based oil. In this study, vegetable oils investigated as an
alternative insulating liquid to mineral oil. Dissipation factor,
breakdown voltage, relative dielectric constant and resistivity
changes with the frequency and voltage of mineral, rapeseed and nut
oils were measured. Experimental studies were performed according
to ASTM D924 and IEC 60156 standards.
Abstract: Residential buildings consume significant amounts of
energy and produce large amount of emissions and waste. However,
there is a substantial potential for energy savings in this sector which
needs to be evaluated over the life cycle of residential buildings. Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been employed to study
the primary energy uses and associated environmental impacts of
different phases (i.e., product, construction, use, end of life, and
beyond building life) for residential buildings. Four different
alternatives of residential buildings in Vancouver (BC, Canada) with
a 50-year lifespan have been evaluated, including High Rise
Apartment (HRA), Low Rise Apartment (LRA), Single family
Attached House (SAH), and Single family Detached House (SDH).
Life cycle performance of the buildings is evaluated for embodied
energy, embodied environmental impacts, operational energy,
operational environmental impacts, total life-cycle energy, and total
life cycle environmental impacts. Estimation of operational energy
and LCA are performed using DesignBuilder software and Athena
Impact estimator software respectively.
The study results revealed that over the life span of the buildings,
the relationship between the energy use and the environmental
impacts are identical. LRA is found to be the best alternative in terms
of embodied energy use and embodied environmental impacts; while,
HRA showed the best life-cycle performance in terms of minimum
energy use and environmental impacts. Sensitivity analysis has also
been carried out to study the influence of building service lifespan
over 50, 75, and 100 years on the relative significance of embodied
energy and total life cycle energy. The life-cycle energy requirements
for SDH are found to be a significant component among the four
types of residential buildings. The overall disclose that the primary
operations of these buildings accounts for 90% of the total life cycle
energy which far outweighs minor differences in embodied effects
between the buildings.
Abstract: Cemented carbides, owing to their excellent
mechanical properties, have been of immense interest in the field of
hard materials for the past few decades. A number of processing
techniques have been developed to obtain high quality carbide tools,
with a wide range of grain size depending on the application and
requirements. Microwave sintering is one of the heating processes,
which has been used to prepare a wide range of materials including
ceramics. A deep understanding of microwave sintering and its
contribution towards control of grain growth and on deformation of
the resulting carbide materials requires further studies and attention.
In addition, the effect of binder materials and their behavior during
microwave sintering is another area that requires clear understanding.
This review aims to focus on microwave sintering, providing
information of how the process works and what type of materials it is
best suited for. In addition, a closer look at some microwave sintered
Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt samples will be taken and discussed,
highlighting some of the key issues and challenges faced in this
research area.
Abstract: It is a major challenge to build a bridge superstructure
that has long-term durability and low maintenance requirements. A
solution to this challenge may be to use new materials or to
implement new structural systems. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP)
composites have continued to play an important role in solving some
of persistent problems in infrastructure applications because of its
high specific strength, light weight, and durability. In this study, the
concept of the hybrid FRP-concrete structural systems is applied to a
bridge superstructure. The hybrid FRP-concrete bridge superstructure
is intended to have durable, structurally sound, and cost effective
hybrid system that will take full advantage of the inherent properties
of both FRP materials and concrete. In this study, two hybrid FRP-concrete
bridge systems were investigated. The first system consists
of trapezoidal cell units forming a bridge superstructure. The second
one is formed by arch cells. The two systems rely on using cellular
components to form the core of the bridge superstructure, and an
outer shell to warp around those cells to form the integral unit of the
bridge. Both systems were investigated analytically by using finite
element (FE) analysis. From the rigorous FE studies, it was
concluded that first system is more efficient than the second.
Abstract: Effect of sprue/metal head height on mould filling,
microstructure and mechanical properties of TWDI casting is studied.
Results show that metal/sprue height of 50 mm is not sufficient to
push the melt through the gating channel, but as it is increased from
100-350 mm, proper mould filling is achieved. However at higher
heights between 200 mm and 350 mm, defects associated with
incomplete solidification, carbide precipitation and turbulent flow are
evident. This research shows that superior UTS, hardness, nodularity
and nodule count are obtained at 100 mm sprue height.
Abstract: Several parameters are established in order to measure
biodiesel quality. One of them is the iodine value, which is an
important parameter that measures the total unsaturation within a
mixture of fatty acids. Limitation of unsaturated fatty acids is
necessary since warming of higher quantity of these ones ends in
either formation of deposits inside the motor or damage of lubricant.
Determination of iodine value by official procedure tends to be very
laborious, with high costs and toxicity of the reagents, this study uses
artificial neural network (ANN) in order to predict the iodine value
property as an alternative to these problems. The methodology of
development of networks used 13 esters of fatty acids in the input
with convergence algorithms of back propagation of back
propagation type were optimized in order to get an architecture of
prediction of iodine value. This study allowed us to demonstrate the
neural networks’ ability to learn the correlation between biodiesel
quality properties, in this caseiodine value, and the molecular
structures that make it up. The model developed in the study reached
a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.99 for both network validation and
network simulation, with Levenberg-Maquardt algorithm.
Abstract: This work studies the effect of chemical composition
on the activity and selectivity of γ–alumina supported CuO/
MnO2/Cr2O3 catalysts toward deep oxidation of CO, dimethyl ether
(DME) and methanol. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation
of the support with an aqueous solution of copper nitrate, manganese
nitrate and CrO3 under different conditions. Thermal, XRD and TPR
analysis were performed. The catalytic measurements of single
compounds oxidation were carried out on continuous flow equipment
with a four-channel isothermal stainless steel reactor. Flow-line
equipment with an adiabatic reactor for simultaneous oxidation of all
compounds under the conditions that mimic closely the industrial
ones was used. The reactant and product gases were analyzed by
means of on-line gas chromatographs.
On the basis of XRD analysis it can be concluded that the active
component of the mixed Cu-Mn-Cr/γ–alumina catalysts consists of at
least six compounds – CuO, Cr2O3, MnO2, Cu1.5Mn1.5O4,
Cu1.5Cr1.5O4 and CuCr2O4, depending on the Cu/Mn/Cr molar ratio.
Chemical composition strongly influences catalytic properties, this
influence being quite variable with regards to the different processes.
The rate of CO oxidation rapidly decrease with increasing of
chromium content in the active component while for the DME was
observed the reverse trend. It was concluded that the best
compromise are the catalysts with Cu/(Mn + Cr) molar ratio 1:5 and
Mn/Cr molar ratio from 1:3 to 1:4.
Abstract: Currently, continuous two-phase decanter process
used for olive oil production is the more internationally widespread.
The wastewaters generated from this industry (OMW) are a real
environmental problem because of its high organic load. Among
proposed treatments for these wastewaters, advanced oxidation
technologies (Fenton, ozone, photoFenton, etc.) are the most
favourable. The direct application of these processes is somewhat
expensive. Therefore, the application of a previous stage based on a
flocculation-sedimentation operation is of high importance. In this
research five commercial flocculants (three cationic, and two anionic)
have been used to achieve the separation of phases (liquid clarifiedsludge).
For each flocculant, different concentrations (0-1000 mg/L)
have been studied. In these experiments, sludge volume formed and
the final water quality were determined. The final removal
percentages of total phenols (11.3-25.1%), COD (5.6-20.4%), total
carbon (2.3-26.5%), total organic carbon (1.50-23.8%), total nitrogen
(1.45-24.8%), and turbidity (27.9-61.4%) were determined. The
variation on electric conductivity reduction percentage (1-8%) was
also determined. Finally, the best flocculants with highest removal
percentages have been determined (QG2001 and Flocudex CS49).
Abstract: In this paper, some limit properties for mixing random
variables sequences were studied and some results on weak law of
large number for mixing random variables sequences were presented.
Some complete convergence theorems were also obtained. The results
extended and improved the corresponding theorems in i.i.d random
variables sequences.
Abstract: In this work new macroporous Ni electrodes modified
with Au nanoparticles for hydrogen production have been developed.
The supporting macroporous Ni electrodes have been obtained by
means of the electrodeposition at high current densities. Then, the Au
nanoparticles were synthesized and added to the electrode surface.
The electrocatalytic behaviour of the developed electrocatalysts was
studied by means of pseudo-steady-state polarization curves,
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and hydrogen
discharge curves. The size of the Au synthetized nanoparticles shows
a monomodal distribution, with a very sharp band between 10 and 50
nm. The characteristic parameters d10, d50 and d90 were 14, 20 and
31 nm respectively. From Tafel polarization data has been concluded
that the Au nanoparticles improve the catalytic activity of the
developed electrodes towards the HER respect to the macroporous Ni
electrodes. EIS permits to obtain the electrochemically active area by
means of the roughness factor value. All the developed electrodes
show roughness factor values in the same order of magnitude. From
the activation energy results it can be concluded that the Au
nanoparticles improve the intrinsic catalytic activity of the
macroporous Ni electrodes.
Abstract: The effect of processing on plasma lipid profile and
atherogenic indices of rats fed Artocarpus heterophyllus seed diets at
different concentrations were investigated. Fifty five rats were used
for this study, they were divided into eleven groups of five rats each
(one control group and ten test groups), the test groups were fed raw,
boiled, roasted, fermented and soaked diets at 10% and 40%
concentrations. The study lasted for thirty five days. The diets led to
significant decrease (p
Abstract: 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).
Abstract: This study aims at developing a novel cold asphalt
concrete binder course mixture by using Ordinary Portland Cement
(OPC) as a replacement for conventional mineral filler (0%-100%)
with new by-product material (LJMU-A2) used as a supplementary
cementitious material. With this purpose, cold asphalt concrete binder
course mixtures with cationic emulsions were studied by means of
stiffness modulus whereas water sensitivity was assessed by
measuring the stiffness modulus ratio before and after sample
conditioning.
The results indicate that a substantial enhancement in the stiffness
modulus and a considerable improvement of water sensitivity
resistance is achieved by adding LJMU-A2 to the cold asphalt
mixtures as a supplementary cementitious material. Moreover, the
addition of LJMU-A2 to those mixtures leads to a stiffness modulus
after 2-day curing compared to that obtained with Portland cement,
which occurs after 7-day curing.
Abstract: The phatic function of communication is a vital
element of any conversation. This research paper looks into this
function with respect to personal blogs maintained by Indian
bloggers. This paper is a study into the phenomenon of phatic
communication maintained by bloggers through their blogs. Based on
a linguistic analysis of the posts of twenty eight Indian bloggers,
writing in English, studied over a period of three years, the study
indicates that though the blogging phenomenon is not conversational
in the same manner as face-to-face communication, it does make
ample provision for feedback that is conversational in nature.
Ordinary day to day offline conversations use conventionalized
phatic utterances; those on the social media are in a perpetual mode
of innovation and experimentation in order to sustain contact with its
readers. These innovative methods and means are the focus of this
study. Though the personal blogger aims to chronicle his/her personal
life through the blog, the socializing function is crucial to these
bloggers. In comparison to the western personal blogs which focus on
the presentation of the ‘bounded individual self’, we find Indian
personal bloggers engage in the presentation of their ‘social selves’.
These bloggers yearn to reach out to the readers on the internet and
the phatic function serves to initiate, sustain and renew social ties on
the blogosphere thereby consolidating the social network of readers
and bloggers.