Papers by Keyword: Environment

Abstract: It is known for a long time that calcified tissues secreted by aquatic or terrestrial invertebrates – such as mollusc shells – have the ability to concentrate large amounts of pollutants, in particular heavy metals. In the present paper, we have found an extremely rapid and easy procedure to qualitatively detect the putative presence of heavy metals in shells, without having to use sophisticated techniques such as Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy, atomic adsorption spectroscopy or ICP-MS. Our method rests on the capacity of the silver enhancement chemicals that are traditionally used in immunogold localization experiments to increase the size of heavy metal nanoparticles, whatever the chemical element. It goes as follows: freshly broken pieces of shells that are suspected to contain traces of heavy metals are simply incubated 15 minutes in few drops of a silver enhancement solution (British Biocell International), and, after short rinsing and drying, the shell fragments are directly observed with a tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope, under back scattered electron (BSE) mode without any further preparation. Heavy metals nanoparticles are detected as bright spots. Our method is extremely fast (about half an hour in total), and may be used as a quick check for pre-selecting series of calcified samples prior to the quantitative analysis of their heavy metal content.

Abstract: This paper presents a long-term electricity energy supply-demand model of Timor Island, Indonesia. Implications of projected demand growth within the observed area towards the available supply as well as the amount of CO₂ emission is taken into account. As its main objective is to review and to present initial comparison of the long-term electricity planning prepared by the utility, the analysis is carried out using the bottom-up energy system model. Unlike the common electricity long-term demand projection that is usually constructed based on the factors related to the electricity growth, the model is developed based on the simple projection considering historical electricity demand users. According to the analysis, the planned power plants would not able to meet the elecricity demand in the case of high growth demand scenario. The variation of CO₂ emission that is obtained from the considered scenarios is also shown.

Abstract: The present scenario of energy conservation has witnessed many innovative and eco-friendly techniques and one such area where there is a necessity to conserve energy is foundries. Foundries also pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases contributing to 296143037.6 metric tons annually. The proposed technique in this paper aims at reducing the energy utilized in melting the scrap material at foundries by solar thermal energy. In the methodology proposed, solar energy is concentrated onto the scrap placed on a receiving platform using a parabolic trough and heats it up so that the heated scrap takes lesser energy to melt. The experiments resulted in preheating temperature of 100 °C when placed on a receiving platform and 110°C when copper shots are used to conduct heat from receiver to the scrap. This translates to energy conservation of 6%. This eco-friendly technique when adopted can result in substantial savings in consumption and environmental protection.

Abstract: In modern business conditions companies are more or less characterized by complexity and fluctuation. Special economic conditions, particularly in terms of intensive processes of globalization and the global financial crisis, have shown a constant decrease profit-making of the enterprises in the machinery industry, and thereby worsening financial position. It is a kind of crisis of business enterprises in the less adaptable business-system environment. Crisis management comes to the fore a crisis, enterprises, primarily associated with the development of the situation in which the company has reached a critical point with certain characteristics. However, it is a definition of all the hallmarks of the crisis the company. In the narrower sense, the crisis of the company is to be understood as a process in which, unplanned and unwanted, endanger the fundamental economic objectives of the company - the goal of preserving invested capital, profit goal (profitability), the goal of preserving the liquidity and solvency of the company. Therefore identify four main phases of the crisis of business enterprises: strategic crisis, the crisis of profitability, liquidity crisis, liquidity and borrowing.

Abstract: It is well known that fabric handle is controllable by controlling and adjusting mechanical properties of the fabric. The handling of fabrics, on one hand, is mostly decided by the structure of the fabric, i.e. quality of yarn, yarn count, twist number, density of warp and weft, fabric weight and weave design. Such a fabric structure is represented in terms of Cover Factor. On the other hand, the handling of fabrics can also be changed through the mechanical properties by dyeing and finishing processes after weaving. The present work investigated how much influence is exerted on wool fabric by 11 sorts of chemicals generally used in dyeing and finishing processes, and how much change is exerted on the handle of processed fabrics. The experimental results were compared with the original fabric with no treatment in terms of mechanical properties relevant to KES. It was confirmed that the fabric handle greatly depended on fabric structure. Besides, the differences in the degree of damage and the hydrophilicity of wool fiber arisen from the treatments using chemicals were examined. The effect of chemicals used in dyeing and finishing processes was also investigated on the environment. Keywords: Wool, Chemical treatment, Fabric handle, KES, Environment.

Abstract: In surface winning particulate matters are generated from a range of site preparation, stockpiling, loading, transportation and processing activities. This article aims to review issues relevant to particulate matters produced by the surface winning and impact on people living near by the quarry. Due to the areal extent of the site and limitations imposed by readily available data, the article has focused upon activities associated with quarry. On the base of obtained data was composed mathematical model of the distribution of particulate matter from the source to the surroundings to visual impact of the quarry and potential impact of the particulate matters. The visualization is shown direction of particulate matters propagation and allows decide on used measures to eliminate negative impact on people and environment.

Abstract: Certainly, one of the most cost effective and comprehensive infrastructure assets of the build environment is road infrastructure. The environmental impacts of this asset during its life-cycle drive researchers to create a foundational framework to quantify these effects. Life cycle assessment (LCA), a method for the assessment of all modules in a life cycle, has been examined to evaluate all the environmental modules and components of road projects due to constraints of environmental assessments. The enthusiasm for enhancing the sustainable development of basic infrastructure leads to quick expansion on pavement life cycle assessment. An audit of applicable published LCA studies has recognized that environmental modules, such as the usage module (rolling resistance of pavement, carbonation, and albedo), end of life (EOL) module, and components such as traffic congestion during the construction module are not regarded in most of the articles. These modules potentially have the same environmental impact as other regularly considered modules such as materials, transportation, and construction. The goal of this study is to recognize shortfalls in the fields that bolster pavement LCA, to prepare a comprehensive and straight forward methodology, and to provide a basis on which related studies can move forward

Abstract: In recent years, very high cycle fatigue has become a major concern in design and durability of engineering components and structures such as railway wheels, rails, offshore structures, bridges, load bearings, etc. There are some factors which have been assumed to influence the fatigue behavior for metallic materials in VHCF regime. But most factors influencing the VHCF behavior have not been studied thoroughly. In order to deeply understand the essence of material fatigue, the experimental and theoretical aspects of the factors influencing on very high cycle fatigue for metallic materials should be studied further more. This paper deals with an overview on the effect of factors on the property in very high cycle fatigue regime. Research trends and some conclusions in this field are briefly discussed and obtained.

Abstract: The increase of energy consumption has produced significant environmental impacts such as climatic change, acid rain, photo chemical smog formation, nonrenewable resource consumption etc. Considering the urgency of saving the world’s energy reserve and reduction of environmental impacts, studies on the energy consumption throughout the life cycle of building materials are crucial.In this study, it was aimed to indicate the factors which contribute the energy efficiency in manufacturing processes of building materials. The study included the energy used for raw material extraction, production energy for manufacturing of building materials, transportation energy and construction energy on site. A literature review was made. Energy use and efficiency for each process were evaluated.

Abstract: Plastic has found an irreplaceable part in human life. Human produces plastic wastes continually which results in pollution. In this paper GLCM (Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix) technique is used for plastic segregation. Plastic segregation is necessary for recycling; hence they have to be segregated from other wastes. Manufacturing plastics from recycled plastic products uses only two-third of the energy used to make plastics from virgin materials. By the variation in intensity levels of reflected light from the plastic wastes it is segregated. This type of waste management gains attention in recent days due to enormous increase in the wastes generated. Robotic arm controlled using vision system that uses GLCM technique is used for segregation. The GLCM property of contrast is calculated for the given sample and it is compared with the stored pre-defined value. On successful comparison with the given condition a signal is sent through the serial port to the 8051 microcontroller using USART (Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) feature. On receipt of this signal, the microcontroller provides movement of the robotic arm by controlling the servo motors.