Abstract: Environmental accounting is a recent phenomenon in the modern jurisprudence. It may reflect the corporate governance mechanisms in line with the natural resources and environmental sound management and administration systems in any country of the world. It may be a corporate focused on the improving of the environmental quality. But it is often identified that it is ignored due to some reasons such as unconsciousness, lack of ethical education etc. At present, the world community is very much concerned about the state of the environmental accounting and auditing systems as it bears sustainability on the mother earth for our generations. It is one of the important tools for understanding on the role played by the natural environment in the economy. It provides adequate data which is highlighted both in the contribution of natural resources to economic well-being as well as the costs imposed by pollution or resource degradation. It can play a critical role as on be a part of the many international environmental organizations such as IUCN, WWF, PADELIA, WRI etc.; as they have been taking many initiatives for ensuring the environmental accouting for our competent survivals. The global state actors have already taken some greening accounting initiatives under the forum of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Dedevolpment, the United Nations Statistical Division, the United Nations Conference on Environment and development known as Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg Conference 2002 etc. This study will provide an overview of the environmental accounting education consisting of 25 respondents based on the primary and secondary sources.
Abstract: This research aimed at investigating the Cr (III), Cd
(II) and Pb (II) removal efficiencies by using the newly synthesized
metal oxides/ polyethersulfone (PES), Al2O3/PES and ZrO2/PES,
membranes from synthetic wastewater and exploring fouling
mechanisms. A Comparative study between the removal efficiencies
of Cr (III), Cd (II) and Pb (II) from synthetic and natural wastewater
by using adsorption onto agricultural by products and the newly
synthesized Al2O3/PES and ZrO2/PES membranes was conducted to
assess the advantages and limitations of using the metal oxides/PES
membranes for heavy metals removal. The results showed that about
99 % and 88 % removal efficiencies were achieved by the tested
membranes for Pb (II) and Cr (III), respectively.
Abstract: The daily increase of organic waste materials resulting
from different activities in the country is one of the main factors for
the pollution of environment. Today, with regard to the low level of
the output of using traditional methods, the high cost of disposal
waste materials and environmental pollutions, the use of modern
methods such as anaerobic digestion for the production of biogas has
been prevailing. The collected biogas from the process of anaerobic
digestion, as a renewable energy source similar to natural gas but
with a less methane and heating value is usable. Today, with the help
of technologies of filtration and proper preparation, access to biogas
with features fully similar to natural gas has become possible. At
present biogas is one of the main sources of supplying electrical and
thermal energy and also an appropriate option to be used in four
stroke engine, diesel engine, sterling engine, gas turbine, gas micro
turbine and fuel cell to produce electricity. The use of biogas for
different reasons which returns to socio-economic and environmental
advantages has been noticed in CHP for the production of energy in
the world. The production of biogas from the technology of anaerobic
digestion and its application in CHP power plants in Iran can not only
supply part of the energy demands in the country, but it can
materialize moving in line with the sustainable development. In this
article, the necessity of the development of CHP plants with biogas
fuels in the country will be dealt based on studies performed from the
economic, environmental and social aspects. Also to prove the
importance of the establishment of these kinds of power plants from
the economic point of view, necessary calculations has been done as
a case study for a CHP power plant with a biogas fuel.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with the production of an Arabic word semantic similarity benchmark dataset. It is the first of its kind for Arabic which was particularly developed to assess the accuracy of word semantic similarity measurements. Semantic similarity is an essential component to numerous applications in fields such as natural language processing, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and psychology. Most of the reported work has been done for English. To the best of our knowledge, there is no word similarity measure developed specifically for Arabic. In this paper, an Arabic benchmark dataset of 70 word pairs is presented. New methods and best possible available techniques have been used in this study to produce the Arabic dataset. This includes selecting and creating materials, collecting human ratings from a representative sample of participants, and calculating the overall ratings. This dataset will make a substantial contribution to future work in the field of Arabic WSS and hopefully it will be considered as a reference basis from which to evaluate and compare different methodologies in the field.
Abstract: This study aims to initiate sustainable water management for tourist accommodations in Amphawa, Samut Songkram Province, Thailand. Wastewater generated by tourist accommodation was conducted in 10 homestays and resorts in Amphawa during August – October, 2011. The prominent parameters which are of pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Fat Oil and Grease (FOG), Nitrate (No3-), and Phosphate (PO43-) were conducted monthly. The results revealed that some parameters were over national water quality standard (Class II). Especially, 90% of tourist accommodations have been recorded that FOG was over the standard of wastewater quality from accommodation (group I: total room of accommodation less than 200 rooms). Therefore, grease trap and natural treatment should be utilized in tourist accommodations in order to reduce the discharged of fat, oil, and grease from tourism activities. In addition, number of tourists also relate statistically with BOD and Nitrate at 0.05 level of significance.
Abstract: In order to study the effect of phosphate solubilization
microorganisms (PSM) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria
(PGPR) on yield and yield components of corn Zea mays (L. cv.
SC604) an experiment was conducted at research farm of Sari
Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Iran during
2007. Experiment laid out as split plot based on randomized
complete block design with three replications. Three levels of
manures (consisted of 20 Mg.ha-1 farmyard manure, 15 Mg.ha-1 green
manure and check or without any manures) as main plots and eight
levels of biofertilizers (consisted of 1-NPK or conventional fertilizer
application; 2-NPK+PSM+PGPR; 3 NP50%K+PSM+PGPR; 4-
N50%PK+PSM +PGPR; 5-N50%P50%K+PSM+ PGPR; 6-PK+PGPR; 7-
NK+PSM and 8-PSM+PGPR) as sub plots were treatments. Results
showed that farmyard manure application increased row number, ear
weight, grain number per ear, grain yield, biological yield and
harvest index compared to check. Furthermore, using of PSM and
PGPR in addition to conventional fertilizer applications (NPK) could
improve ear weight, row number and grain number per row and
ultimately increased grain yield in green manure and check plots.
According to results in all fertilizer treatments application of PSM
and PGPR together could reduce P application by 50% without any
significant reduction of grain yield. However, this treatment could
not compensate 50% reduction of N application.
Abstract: This research was conducted in the Lower Ping River
Basin downstream of the Bhumibol Dam and the Lower Wang River
Basin in Tak Province, Thailand. Most of the tributary streams of the
Ping can be considered as ungauged catchments. There are 10-
pumping station installation at both river banks of the Ping in Tak
Province. Recently, most of them could not fully operate due to the
water amount in the river below the level that would be pumping,
even though included water from the natural river and released flow
from the Bhumibol Dam. The aim of this research was to increase the
performance of those pumping stations using weir projects in the
Ping. Therefore, the river analysis system model (HEC-RAS) was
applied to study the hydraulic behavior of water surface profiles in
the Ping River with both cases of existing conditions and proposed
weirs during the violent flood in 2011 and severe drought in 2013.
Moreover, the hydrologic modeling system (HMS) was applied to
simulate lateral streamflow hydrograph from ungauged catchments of
the Ping. The results of HEC-RAS model calibration with existing
conditions in 2011 showed best trial roughness coefficient for the
main channel of 0.026. The simulated water surface levels fitted to
observation data with R2 of 0.8175. The model was applied to 3
proposed cascade weirs with 2.35 m in height and found surcharge
water level only 0.27 m higher than the existing condition in 2011.
Moreover, those weirs could maintain river water levels and increase
of those pumping performances during less river flow in 2013.
Abstract: Climate change could lead to changes in cultural
environments and landscapes as we know them.Climate change
presents an immediate and significant threat to our natural and built
environments and to the ways of life which co-exist with these
environments. In most traditional buildings, the harmony of texture
with nature and environment has been ever considered; so houses and
cities have been mixed with their natural environment so
astonishingly and the selection and usage of materials have been in
such a way that they have provided the utmost conformity with the
environment, as the result the created areas have a unique beauty and
attraction.The extent to which climate change contributes to
destruction procedure on Iran-s historic buildings.is a subject of
current discussion. Cities, towns and built-up areas also have their
own characteristics that might make them particularly vulnerable to
climate change.
Abstract: The seeds of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) fall among the lesser known oil seeds. Cottonseeds are not normally consumed in their natural state due to their gossypol content, an antinutrient. The effect of processing on the sensory characteristics and chemical composition of cottonseed and its extract was studied by subjecting the cottonseed extract to heat treatment (boiling) and the cottonseed to fermentation. The cottonseed extract was boiled using the open pot and the pressure pot for 30 minutes respectively. The fermentation of the cottonseed was carried out for 6 days with samples withdrawn at intervals of 2 days. The extract and fermented samples were subjected to chemical analysis and sensory evaluated for colour, aroma, taste, mouth feel, appearance and overallacceptability. The open pot sample was more preferred. Fermentation for 6 days resulted into a significant reduction in gossypol level of the cottonseed; however, sample fermented for 2 days was most preferred.
Abstract: Active vibration isolation systems are less commonly
used than passive systems due to their associated cost and power
requirements. In principle, semi-active isolation systems can deliver
the versatility, adaptability and higher performance of fully active
systems for a fraction of the power consumption. Various semi-active
control algorithms have been suggested in the past. This paper
studies the 4DOF model of semi-active suspension performance
controlled by on–off and continuous skyhook damping control
strategy. The frequency and transient responses of model are
evaluated in terms of body acceleration, roll angle and tire deflection
and are compared with that of a passive damper. The results show
that the semi-active system controlled by skyhook strategy always
provides better isolation than a conventional passively damped
system except at tire natural frequencies.
Abstract: Gilaburu (Viburnum opulus L.) grown naturally in
Anatolia. In this study, some physico-chemical (sugar, acid, protein,
crude fat, crude fiber, ash etc.) characteristics and mineral
composition of Gilaburu fruit have been investigated. The length,
width, thickness, weight, total soluble solid, protein, crude ash, crude
fiber and crude oil of fruit were found to be 1.12 cm, 1.58 cm, 1.87
cm, 0.87 g, 14.73 %, 0.2 %, 0.11 %, 6.56 % and 0.4 %, respectively.
The seed of fruit mean weight, length, width and thickness were
determinated as 0.08 g, 7.76 cm, 7.67 cm and 1.66, respectively. In
addition 27 mineral elements (Al, Mg, Na, Ba, Ca, Ni, Cd, P, Cr, Pb,
S, Cu, Se, Fe, K, Sr, Li, Z, V, Ag, Bi, Co, Mn, B, Ga, In, Ti) were
analyzed. Gilaburu (Viburnum opulus L.) fruit was richest in
potassium (10764.764 ppm), Mg (1289.088 ppm) and P (1304.169
ppm).
Abstract: The paper investigates parallel channel instabilities of
natural circulation boiling water reactor. A thermal-hydraulic model
is developed to simulate two-phase flow behavior in the natural circulation boiling water reactor (NCBWR) with the incorporation of
ex-core components and recirculation loop such as steam separator, down-comer, lower-horizontal section and upper-horizontal section
and then, numerical analysis is carried out for parallel channel
instabilities of the reactor undergoing both in-phase and out-of-phase
modes of oscillations. To analyze the relative effect on stability of the reactor due to inclusion of various ex-core components and
recirculation loop, marginal stable point is obtained at a particular inlet enthalpy of the reactor core without the inclusion of ex-core
components and recirculation loop and then with the inclusion of the
same. Numerical simulations are also conducted to determine the
relative dominance between two modes of oscillations i.e. in-phase and out-of-phase. Simulations are also carried out when the channels
are subjected to asymmetric power distribution keeping the inlet enthalpy same.
Abstract: Wheat germ has a balanced amino acid composition of the protein, which is well digested by enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract of humans, a high content of vitamins, minerals and unsaturated acids. Introduction components grain food products will enrich their biologically important substances, giving these products a number of valuable properties and reducing their caloric.
A complex natural system of substances in foods will help replenish the body's need of essential nutrients, increasing its resistance to the harmful effects of the environment, prolong life. In this regard, there was a need for the development of production technology of protein complexes from wheat germ and then applying them in food, particularly in the dairy industry. Experimental studies were conducted to determine the number of herbal supplements on the sensory characteristics of the product. Studies have been conducted to determine the optimal process parameters of water activity and moisture content of the investigational product.
Abstract: Decision support systems are usually based on
multidimensional structures which use the concept of hypercube.
Dimensions are the axes on which facts are analyzed and form a
space where a fact is located by a set of coordinates at the
intersections of members of dimensions. Conventional
multidimensional structures deal with discrete facts linked to discrete
dimensions. However, when dealing with natural continuous
phenomena the discrete representation is not adequate. There is a
need to integrate spatiotemporal continuity within multidimensional
structures to enable analysis and exploration of continuous field data.
Research issues that lead to the integration of spatiotemporal
continuity in multidimensional structures are numerous. In this paper,
we discuss research issues related to the integration of continuity in
multidimensional structures, present briefly a multidimensional
model for continuous field data. We also define new aggregation
operations. The model and the associated operations and measures
are validated by a prototype.
Abstract: Nitrogen loss from irrigated cropland, particularly
sandy soils, significantly contributes to nitrate (NO3
-) levels in
surface and groundwaters. Thus, it is of great interest to use
inexpensive natural products that can increase the fertilizer efficiency
and decrease nitrate leaching. In this study, the ability of natural
Iranian zeolite clinoptilolite (Cp) and surfactant modified zeolite
clinoptilolite (SMZ) to remove NH4
+ and NO3
-, respectively, from
aqueous solutions was determined. The feasibility of using Cp and
SMZ as soil amendment to reduce nitrate leaching from soil using
lysimeters was also investigated. Zeolite showed 10.23% to 88.42%
NH4
+ removal efficiency over a wide range of initial NH4
+
concentrations. Nitrate removal efficiency by SMZ was 32.26% to
82.26%. Field study results showed that Cp and SMZ significantly (p
< 0.05) reduced leachate NO3-N concentration compared to control.
There was no significant difference between maximum and mean
leachate NO3-N concentration of SMZ lysimeters and those of Cp
lysimeters.
Abstract: The spreading characteristics of acoustically excited
swirling double-concentric jets were studied experimentally. The
central jet was acoustically excited at low and high pulsation
intensities. A smoke wire flow visualization and a hot-wire
anemometer velocity measurement results show that excitation forces
a vortex ring to roll-up from the edge of the central tube during each
excitation period. At low pulsation intensities, the vortex ring evolves
downstream, and eventually breaks up into turbulent eddies. At high
pulsation intensities, the primary vortex ring evolves and a series of
trailing vortex rings form during the same period of excitation. The
trailing vortex rings accelerate while evolving downstream and
overtake the primary vortex ring within the same cycle. In the
process, the primary vortex ring becomes unstable and breaks up
early. The effect of the fast traveling trailing vortex rings combined
with the swirl motion of the annular flow improve jet spreading
compared with the naturally evolving jets.
Abstract: The production and consumption of natural gas is on
the rise throughout the world as a result of its wide availability, ease
of transportation, use and clean-burning characteristics. The chief use
of ethane is in the chemical industry in the production of Ethene
(ethylene) by steam cracking. In this simulation, obtained ethane
recovery percent based on Gas sub-cooled process (GSP) is 99.9 by
mole that is included 32.1% by using de-methanizer column and
67.8% by de-ethanizer tower. The outstanding feature of this process
is the novel split-vapor concept that employs to generate reflux for
de-methanizer column. Remain amount of ethane in export gas cause
rise in gross heating value up to 36.66 MJ/Nm3 in order to use in
industrial and household consumptions.
Abstract: This paper proposes rough set models with three
different level knowledge granules in incomplete information system
under tolerance relation by similarity between objects according to
their attribute values. Through introducing dominance relation on the
discourse to decompose similarity classes into three subclasses: little
better subclass, little worse subclass and vague subclass, it dismantles
lower and upper approximations into three components. By using
these components, retrieving information to find naturally hierarchical
expansions to queries and constructing answers to elaborative queries
can be effective. It illustrates the approach in applying rough set
models in the design of information retrieval system to access different
granular expanded documents. The proposed method enhances rough
set model application in the flexibility of expansions and elaborative
queries in information retrieval.
Abstract: Heavy metals have bad effects on environment and
soils and it can uptake by natural HAP .natural Hap is an inexpensive
material that uptake large amounts of various heavy metals like Zn
(II) .Natural HAP (N-HAP), extracted from bovine cortical bone ash,
is a good choice for substitution of commercial HAP. Several
experiments were done to investigate the sorption capacity of Zn (II)
to N-HAP in various particles sizes, temperatures, initial
concentrations, pH and reaction times. In this study, the sorption of
Zinc ions from a Zn solution onto HAP particles with sizes of 1537.6
nm and 47.6 nm at three initial pH values of 4.50, 6.00 and 7.50 was
studied. The results showed that better performance was obtained
through a 47.6 nm particle size and higher pH values. The
experimental data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich, and
Arrhenius equations for equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic
studies. The analysis showed a maximum adsorption capacity of NHAP
as being 1.562 mmol/g at a pH of 7.5 and small particle size.
Kinetically, the prepared N-HAP is a feasible sorbent that retains Zn
(II) ions through a favorable and spontaneous sorption process.
Abstract: With the exponentially increasing demand for
wireless communications the capacity of current cellular systems will
soon become incapable of handling the growing traffic. Since radio
frequencies are diminishing natural resources, there seems to be a
fundamental barrier to further capacity increase. The solution can be
found in smart antenna systems.
Smart or adaptive antenna arrays consist of an array of antenna
elements with signal processing capability, that optimize the
radiation and reception of a desired signal, dynamically. Smart
antennas can place nulls in the direction of interferers via adaptive
updating of weights linked to each antenna element. They thus cancel
out most of the co-channel interference resulting in better quality of
reception and lower dropped calls. Smart antennas can also track the
user within a cell via direction of arrival algorithms. This implies that
they are more advantageous than other antenna systems. This paper
focuses on few issues about the smart antennas in mobile radio
networks.