Abstract: In recent research copper and manganese systems
were found to be the most active in CO and organic compounds
oxidation among the base catalysts. The mixed copper manganese
oxide has been widely studied in oxidation reactions because of their
higher activity at low temperatures in comparison with single oxide
catalysts. The results showed that the formation of spinel
CuxMn3−xO4 in the oxidized catalyst is responsible for the activity
even at room temperature. That is why the most of the investigations
are focused on the hopcalite catalyst (CuMn2O4) as the best coppermanganese
catalyst. Now it’s known that this is true only for CO
oxidation, but not for mixture of CO and VOCs. The purpose of this
study is to investigate the alumina supported copper-manganese
catalysts with different Cu/Mn molar ratio in terms of oxidation of
CO, methanol and dimethyl ether. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation of γ-Al2O3 with
copper and manganese nitrates and the catalytic activity
measurements were carried out in two stage continuous flow
equipment with an adiabatic reactor for simultaneous oxidation of all
compounds under the conditions closest possible to the industrial. Gas
mixtures on the input and output of the reactor were analyzed with a
gas chromatograph, equipped with FID and TCD detectors. The
texture characteristics were determined by low-temperature (- 196oС)
nitrogen adsorption in a Quantachrome Instruments NOVA 1200e
(USA) specific surface area & pore analyzer. Thermal, XRD and
TPR analyses were performed. It was established that the active component of the mixed Cu-
Mn/γ–alumina catalysts strongly depends on the Cu/Mn molar ratio.
Highly active alumina supported Cu-Mn catalysts for CO, methanol
and DME oxidation were synthesized. While the hopcalite is the best
catalyst for CO oxidation, the best compromise for simultaneous
oxidation of all components is the catalyst with Cu/Mn molar ratio
1:5.
Abstract: In this paper air quality conditions in Makkah and
Leeds are compared. These two cities have totally different climatic
conditions. Makkah climate is characterised as hot and dry (arid)
whereas that of Leeds is characterised as cold and wet (temperate).
This study uses air quality data from 2012 collected in Makkah,
Saudi Arabia and Leeds, UK. The concentrations of all pollutants,
except NO are higher in Makkah. Most notable, the concentrations of
PM10 are much higher in Makkah than in Leeds. This is probably due
to the arid nature of climatic conditions in Makkah and not solely due
to anthropogenic emission sources, otherwise like PM10 some of the
other pollutants, such as CO, NO, and SO2 would have shown much
greater difference between Leeds and Makkah. Correlation analysis is
performed between different pollutants at the same site and the same
pollutants at different sites. In Leeds the correlation between PM10
and other pollutants is significantly stronger than in Makkah. Weaker
correlation in Makkah is probably due to the fact that in Makkah
most of the gaseous pollutants are emitted by combustion processes,
whereas most of the PM10 is generated by other sources, such as
windblown dust, re-suspension, and construction activities. This is in
contrast to Leeds where all pollutants including PM10 are
predominantly emitted by combustions, such as road traffic.
Furthermore, in Leeds frequent rains wash out most of the
atmospheric particulate matter and suppress re-suspension of dust.
Temporal trends of various pollutants are compared and discussed.
This study emphasises the role of climatic conditions in managing air
quality, and hence the need for region-specific controlling strategies
according to the local climatic and meteorological conditions.
Abstract: Background subtraction and temporal difference are
often used for moving object detection in video. Both approaches are
computationally simple and easy to be deployed in real-time image
processing. However, while the background subtraction is highly
sensitive to dynamic background and illumination changes, the
temporal difference approach is poor at extracting relevant pixels of
the moving object and at detecting the stopped or slowly moving
objects in the scene. In this paper, we propose a simple moving object
detection scheme based on adaptive background subtraction and
temporal difference exploiting dynamic background updates. The
proposed technique consists of histogram equalization, a linear
combination of background and temporal difference, followed by the
novel frame-based and pixel-based background updating techniques.
Finally, morphological operations are applied to the output images.
Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can solve the
drawbacks of both background subtraction and temporal difference
methods and can provide better performance than that of each method.
Abstract: Present work deals with the possible use of fertigation
in agriculture and its impact on the availability of mineral nitrogen
(Nmin) in topsoil and subsoil horizons. The aim of the present study is
to demonstrate the effect of the organic matter presence in fertigation
on microbial transformation and availability of mineral nitrogen
forms. The main investigation reason is the potential use of pretreated
waste water, as a source of organic carbon (Corg) and residual
nutrients (Nmin) for fertigation. Laboratory experiment has been
conducted to demonstrate the effect of the arable land fertilization
method on the Nmin availability in different depths of the soil with
the usage of model experimental containers filled with soil from
topsoil and podsoil horizons that were taken from the precise area.
Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa) has been chosen as a
model plant. The water source protection zone Brezova nad Svitavou
has been a research area where significant underground reservoirs of
drinking water of the highest quality are located. From the second
half of the last century local sources of drinking water show
nitrogenous compounds increase that get here almost only from
arable lands. Therefore, an attention of the following text focuses on
the fate of mineral nitrogen in the complex plant-soil. Research
results show that the fertigation application with Corg in a
combination with mineral fertilizer can reduce the amount of Nmin
leached from topsoil horizon of agricultural soils. In addition, some
plants biomass production reduces may occur.
Abstract: In recent decades, particulate matter (PM10) have
received much attention due to its potential adverse health impact and
the subsequent need to better control or regulate these pollutants.
The aim of this paper is focused on study risk assessment of PM10
in four different districts (Shebikah, Masfalah, Aziziyah, Awali) in
Makkah, Saudi Arabia during the period from 1 Ramadan 1434 AH -
27 Safar 1435 AH. Samples were collected by using Low Volume
Sampler (LVS Low Volume Sampler) device and filtration method
for estimating the total concentration of PM10.
The study indicated that the mean PM10 concentrations were 254.6
(186.1 - 343.2) μg/m3 in Shebikah, 184.9 (145.6 - 271.4) μg/m3 in
Masfalah, 162.4 (92.4-253.8) μg/m3 in Aziziyah, and 56.0 (44.5 -
119.8) μg/m3 in Awali. These values did not exceed the permissible
limits in PME (340 μg/m3 as daily average). Furthermore, health
assessment is carried out using AirQ2.2.3 model to estimate the
number of hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases. The
cumulative number of cases per 100,000 were 1534 (18-3050 case),
which lower than that recorded in the United States, Malaysia. The
concentration response coefficient was 0.49 (95% CI 0.05 - 0.70) per
10 μg/m3 increase of PM10.
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: This paper aims to project the construction of a
prototype azimuthal thruster, mounted with materials of low cost and
easy access, testing in a controlled environment to measure their
performance, characteristics and feasibility of future projects. The
construction of the simulation of dynamic positioning software,
responsible for simulating a vessel and reposition it when necessary.
Validation tests were performed in the form of partial or complete
system. These tests validate the system manually or automatically.
The system provides an interface to the user and simulates the
conditions unfavorable positioning of a vessel, accurately calculates
the azimuth angle, the direction of rotation of the helix and the time
that this should be turned on so that the vessel back to position
original. A serial communication connects the Simulation Dynamic
Positioning System with Embedded System causing the usergenerated
data to simulate the DP system arrives in the form of
control signals to the motors of the propellant. This article addresses
issues in the marine industry employees.
Abstract: The study is in application and analysis of two tourism
management tools that can contribute to making public managers
decision: the Barometer of Tourism Sustainability (BTS) and the
Ecological Footprint (EF). The results have shown that BTS allows
you to have an integrated view of the tourism system, awakening to
the need for planning of appropriate actions so that it can achieve the
positive scale proposed (potentially sustainable). Already the
methodology of ecological tourism footprint is an important tool to
measure potential impacts generated by tourism to tourist reality.
Abstract: Zn alloy and composite coatings are widely used in
buildings and structures, automobile and fasteners industries to
protect steel component from corrosion. In this paper, Zn-Ni-Al2O3
nanocomposite coatings were electrodeposited on mild steel using a
novel sol enhanced electroplating method. In this method, transparent
Al2O3 sol was added into the acidic Zn-Ni bath to produced Zn-Ni-
Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings. The effect of alumina sol on the
electrodeposition process, and coating properties was investigated
using cyclic voltammetry, XRD, ESEM and Tafel test. Results from
XRD tests showed that the structure of all coatings was single γ-
Ni5Zn21 phase. Cyclic voltammetry results showed that the
electrodeposition overpotential was lower in the presence of alumina
sol in the bath, and caused the reduction potential of Zn-Ni to shift to
more positive values. Zn-Ni-Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings produced
more uniform and compact deposits, with fine grained microstructure
when compared to Zn-Ni coatings. The corrosion resistance of Zn-Ni
coatings was improved significantly by incorporation of alumina
nanoparticles into the coatings.
Abstract: This paper presents the design, development and
evaluation of an application prototype developed to support
tuberculosis (TB) patients’ treatment adherence. The system makes
use of graphics and voice reminders as opposed to text messaging to
encourage patients to follow their medication routine. To evaluate the
effect of the prototype applications, participants were given mobile
phones on which the reminder system was installed. Thirty-eight
people, including TB health workers and patients from Zanzibar,
Tanzania, participated in the evaluation exercises. The results
indicate that the participants found the mobile image-based
application is useful to support TB treatment. All participants
understood and interpreted the intended meaning of every image
correctly. The study findings revealed that the use of a mobile visualbased
application may have potential benefit to support TB patients
(both literate and illiterate) in their treatment processes.
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: Greenhouses offer us suitable conditions which can
be controlled easily for the growth of the plant and they are made by
using a covering material that allows the sun light entering into the
system. Covering material can be glass, fiber glass, plastic or another
transparent element. This study investigates the solar energy usability
rates and solar energy benefitting rates of a semi-spherical (modified
arch) type greenhouse system according to different orientations and
positions which exists under climatic conditions of Bayburt. In the
concept of this study it is tried to determine the best direction and
best sizes of a semi-spherical greenhouse to get best solar benefit
from the sun. To achieve this aim a modeling study is made by using
MATLAB. However, this modeling study is run for some determined
shapes and greenhouses it can be used for different shaped
greenhouses or buildings. The basic parameters are determined as
greenhouse azimuth angle, the rate of size of long edge to short and
seasonal solar energy gaining of greenhouse. The optimum azimuth
angles of 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 50 m2 modified arch
greenhouse are 90o, 90o, 35o, 35o, 34o, 33o and 22o while their
optimum k values (ratio of length to width) are 10, 10, 10, 10, 6, 4
and 4 respectively. Positioning the buildings in order to get more
solar heat energy in winter and less in summer brings out energy and
money savings and increases the comfort.
Abstract: This paper presents the design and fabrication of a
novel piezoelectric actuator for a gas micro pump with check valve
having the advantages of miniature size, light weight and low power
consumption. The micro pump is designed to have eight major
components, namely a stainless steel upper cover layer, a piezoelectric
actuator, a stainless steel diaphragm, a PDMS chamber layer, two
stainless steel channel layers with two valve seats, a PDMS check
valve layer with two cantilever-type check valves and an acrylic
substrate. A prototype of the gas micro pump, with a size of 52 mm ×
50 mm × 5.0 mm, is fabricated by precise manufacturing. This device
is designed to pump gases with the capability of performing the
self-priming and bubble-tolerant work mode by maximizing the stroke
volume of the membrane as well as the compression ratio via
minimization of the dead volume of the micro pump chamber and
channel. By experiment apparatus setup, we can get the real-time
values of the flow rate of micro pump and the displacement of the
piezoelectric actuator, simultaneously. The gas micro pump obtained
higher output performance under the sinusoidal waveform of 250 Vpp.
The micro pump achieved the maximum pumping rates of 1185
ml/min and back pressure of 7.14 kPa at the corresponding frequency
of 120 and 50 Hz.
Abstract: Neural activity in the human brain starts from the
early stages of prenatal development. This activity or signals
generated by the brain are electrical in nature and represent not only
the brain function but also the status of the whole body. At the
present moment, three methods can record functional and
physiological changes within the brain with high temporal resolution
of neuronal interactions at the network level: the
electroencephalogram (EEG), the magnet oencephalogram (MEG),
and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); each of these has
advantages and shortcomings. EEG recording with a large number of
electrodes is now feasible in clinical practice. Multichannel EEG
recorded from the scalp surface provides very valuable but indirect
information about the source distribution. However, deep electrode
measurements yield more reliable information about the source
locations intracranial recordings and scalp EEG are used with the
source imaging techniques to determine the locations and strengths of
the epileptic activity. As a source localization method, Low
Resolution Electro-Magnetic Tomography (LORETA) is solved for
the realistic geometry based on both forward methods, the Boundary
Element Method (BEM) and the Finite Difference Method (FDM). In
this paper, we review the findings EEG- LORETA about epilepsy.
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: Brownfields are one of the most important problems
that must be solved by today's cities. The topic of this article is
description of developing a comprehensive transformation of postindustrial
area of the former iron factory national cultural heritage
lower Vítkovice. City of Ostrava used to be industrial superpower of
the Czechoslovak Republic, especially in the area of coal mining and
iron production, after declining industrial production and mining in
the 80s left many unused areas of former factories generally
brownfields and backfields. Since the late 90s we are observing how
the city officials or private entities seeking to remedy this situation.
Regeneration of brownfields is a very expensive and long-term
process. The area is now rebuilt for tourists and residents of the city
in the entertainment, cultural, and social center. It was necessary do
the reconstruction of the industrial monuments. Equally important
was the construction of new buildings, which helped reusing of the
entire complex. This is a unique example of transformation of
technical monuments and completion of necessary new objects, so
that the area could start working again and reintegrate back into the
urban system.
Abstract: A new fast growing trend in tourism is ecotourism, in
which tourists visit natural ecosystems under low impact, nonconsumptive
and locally oriented activities. Through these activities
species and habitats are maintained and typically, underdeveloped
regions are emphasized. Ecotourism provides a great alternative,
especially for rural and undeveloped area. At the same time, despite
its many benefits, it also poses many risks for the naturally protected
areas. If ecotourism is practiced improperly degradation and
irreversible damages could be the unwanted result. In addition, the
lack of MSc programs in the field of Ecotourism in Europe makes it a
necessity to be developed. Such an MSc program is being
implemented with the lead partner the Technical University of
Madrid. The entire partnership has six Universities, seven SMEs and
one National Park from seven different countries all over Europe.
The MSc will have 10 educational modules that will be available
online and will prepare professionals that will be able to implement
ecotourism in a sustainable way. Only through awareness and
education a sustainable ecotourism will be achieved in the protected
areas of Europe.
Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the effective size, section
and structural characteristics of circular hollow steel (CHS) damper.
CHS damper is among steel dampers which are used widely for
seismic energy dissipation because they are easy to install, maintain
and are inexpensive. CHS damper dissipates seismic energy through
metallic deformation due to the geometrical elasticity of circular shape
and fatigue resistance around connection part. After calculating the
effective size, which is found to be height to diameter ratio of √3,
nonlinear FE analyses were carried out to evaluate the structural
characteristics and effective section (diameter-to-ratio).
Abstract: In this paper, an experiment was conducted to assess
the impact of online deliberation on citizens’ attitudes. Specifically,
this research compared pre and post deliberation opinions of
participants who deliberated online via an asynchronous platform
regarding the issue of political opinion polls. Results indicate that
online deliberation had a positive effect on citizens’ attitudes since it
was found that following deliberation participants changed their
views regarding public opinion polls. Specifically, online deliberation
improved discussants perceptions regarding the reliability of polls,
while suppressing their negative views about the misuse of polls by
media, polling organizations and politicians.