Search

In Paraguay, the pseudo stem of the banana tree is cut and broken after fruit annually, deposited in growing area for weathering. The wide availability of these pseudo stem transforms them into a potential source of raw material for processing into pulp for paper, justifying a preliminary screen of your paper ability. The fresh pseudo stems were subjected to a process for separating the fibrous material, dried in the atmosphere and the material obtained was stored until use. First tests were made in laboratory some alkaline Cooking of the material to evaluate the ranges of the operating variables: active alkali concentration, temperature and Cooking time and the appearance of the material obtained, and then tracking Cookings were conducted at pilot plant horizontal rotary digester, with 10, 5%AA 145° C for 45 minutes. The yield was determined and the drainability of the pulp obtained and prepared in the laboratory leaves was measured tensile resitence, RCT (Ring Crush Test) and CMT (Concora Meduim Test). He pulp yield is 54% of a typical chemical pulp and drainability of 215 mL CSF stands at the lower threshold of cellulose pulp. The tensile index with a value of 95 Nm/g corresponds to papers with high tensile resistance and RCT values of 215 N and 209 N CMT are satisfactory, and indicate that these pastes can be used in fillings for papers to corrugate. These results are promising and justify performing an experimental design to optimize the process.

The corncob is a product found in significant amounts in the residues of agriculture, which has potential for use underexplored. This paper presents a study of the chemical characterization of corn cobs, extraction and application of hemicelluloses present in these wastes. Two fractions of hemicelluloses were obtained, the first being obtained after neutralization and precipitation of the alkaline solution and the second after addition of ethanol in the supernatant of the same solution. Handsheets were made by using bleached kraft eucalyptus pulp, and adding hemicelluloses. After that, their physical and mechanical properties were evaluated, according to TAPPI Standard. An increase in the resistance was observed to drainage and in the properties directly affected by the inter-fiber bonds with the content increase of hemicelluloses and also obtaining handsheets with lower bulk with content increase of these carbohydrates.

SummaryBackgroundEffective home treatment algorithms implemented based on a pathophysiologic and pharmacologic rationale to accelerate recovery and prevent hospitalisation of patients with early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) would have major implications for patients and health system.MethodsThis academic, matched-cohort study compared outcomes of 90 consecutive consenting patients with mild COVID-19 treated at home by their family physicians between October 2020 and January 2021, according to the proposed recommendation algorithm, with outcomes for 90 age-, sex-, and comorbidities-matched patients who received other therapeutic regimens. Primary outcome was time to resolution of major symptoms. Secondary outcomes included prevention of hospitalisation. Analyses were by intention-to-treat.FindingsAll patients achieved complete remission. The median [IQR] time to resolution of major symptoms was 18 [14-23] days in the ‘recommended’ schedule cohort and 14 [7-30] days in the matched ‘control’ cohort (p=0·033). Other symptoms persisted in a lower percentage of patients in the ‘recommended’ than in the ‘control’ cohort (23·3% versus 73·3%, respectively, p90% (from 481 to 44 days and from €296.000 to €28.000, respectively. 1.2 patients had to be treated to prevent one hospitalisation event.InterpretationImplementation of an early home treatment algorithm failed to accelerate recovery from major symptoms of COVID 19, but almost eliminated the risk of hospitalisation and related treatment costs.Research inContextEvidence before this studyWe searched PubMed and the Cochrane Library for peer-reviewed articles published in any language up to March 19, 2021, using the search terms “2019-nCoV” or “SARS-CoV-2” or “COVID-19” and “early” or “outpatient” or “treatment” or “home”. Our search did not identify any randomised clinical trials or observational studies that assessed the effectiveness of treatment regimens targeting early, mild symptoms of COVID-19 in the outpatient setting.Added value of this studyIn this fully academic, observational matched-cohort study, we found that early home treatment of 90 consecutive patients with mild COVID-19 by their family physicians according to the proposed recommendation algorithm, designed based on a pathophysiologic and pharmacologic rationale, required few more days to achieve resolution of major symptoms including fever, dyspnea, musculoskeletal pain, headache and cough compared to 90 age-, sex-, and comorbidities-matched patients who received other therapeutic regimens (primary outcome). Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that the home treatment of COVID-19 patients according to the proposed recommendation algorithm significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization compared to the other treatments in the ‘control’ cohort. Days of hospitalization and related treatment costs were reduced by over 90% in the ‘recommended’ cohort as compared to ‘control’ cohort. Just 1.2 patients needed to be treated according to the recommendation algorithm to prevent one hospitalization event. We also found that symptoms such as anosmia and ageusia/dysgeusia were less persistent and lasted a shorter time in the ‘recommendation’ than in the ‘control’ cohort.Implications of the available evidenceThe finding that the implementation of the proposed simple treatment algorithm during the initial, mild phase of COVID-19 has the potential to prevent disease progression, potentially limiting the need for hospital admission, may have major implications for patients and health care providers. Indeed, preventing hospitalisations due to the worsening of COVID-19 will not only save lives, but will also contribute to remarkably reduced treatment costs and to streamlining health care systems that are overburdened by the effects of the pandemic. However, time to hospitalization was a secondary outcome of the study and the possibility of a casual finding cannot be definitely excluded. Thus, the observed reduction in patients hospitalizations should be considered as an hypothesis generating finding that could provide a robust background for a prospective trial primarily aimed to test treatment effect on this outcome.

Background The SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2) has led to more than 165 million COVID-19 cases and >3.4 million deaths worldwide. Epidemiological analysis has revealed that the risk of developing severe COVID-19 increases with age. Despite a disproportionate number of older individuals and long-term care facilities being affected by SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, very little is understood about the immune responses and development of humoral immunity in the extremely old person after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here we conducted a serological study to investigate the development of humoral immunity in centenarians following a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in a long-term care facility. Methods Extreme aged individuals and centenarians who were residents in a long-term care facility and infected with or exposed to SARS-CoV-2 were investigated between April and June 2020 for the development of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Blood samples were collected from positive and bystander individuals 30 and 60 days after original diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Plasma was used to quantify IgG, IgA, and IgM isotypes and subsequent subclasses of antibodies specific for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The function of anti-spike was then assessed by virus neutralization assays against the native SARS-CoV-2 virus. Findings Fifteen long-term care residents were investigated for SARS-CoV-2 infection. All individuals had a Clinical Frailty scale score ≥5 and were of extreme older age or were centenarians. Six women with a median age of 98.8 years tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Anti-spike IgG antibody titers were the highest titers observed in our cohort with all IgG positive individuals having virus neutralization ability. Additionally, 5 out of the 6 positive participants had a robust IgA anti-SARS-CoV-2 response. In all 5, antibodies were detected after 60 days from initial diagnosis.

Background: Asymptomatic carriers were positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) without developing symptoms, which might be a potential source of infection outbreak. Here, we aim to clarify the epidemiologic and influencing factors of asymptomatic carriers in the general population. Methods: In our hospital, all hospital staff have received throat swab RT-PCR test, plasma COVID-19 IgM/IgG antibodies test and chest CT examination. We analyzed the correlation between infection rates and gender, age, job position, work place and COVID-19 knowledge training of the staff. After that, all asymptomatic staff were re-examined weekly for 3 weeks. Findings: A total of 3764 hospital staff were included in this single-center cross-sectional study. Among them, 126 hospital staff had abnormal findings, and the proportion of asymptomatic infection accounted for 0.76% (28/3674). There were 26 staff with IgM+, 73 with IgG+, and 40 with ground glass shadow of chest CT. Of all staff with abnormal findings, the older they are, the more likely they are to be the staff with abnormal results, regardless of their gender. Of 3674 hospital staff, the positive rate of labor staff is obviously higher than that of health care workers (HCWs) and administrative staff (P0.05). The positive rate of HCWs who participated in the COVID-19 knowledge training was lower than those did not participate in early training (P 0.05). During 3 weeks follow-up, all asymptomatic patients did not present the development of clinical symptoms or radiographic abnormalities after active intervention in isolation point. Interpretation: To ensure the safety of resumption of work, institutions should conduct COVID-19 prevention training for staff and screening for asymptomatic patients, and take quarantine measures as soon as possible in areas with high density of population. Funding: The Key Project for Anti-2019 novel Coronavirus Pneumonia from the Ministry of Science and Technology, China; Wuhan Emergency Technology Project of COVID-19 epidemic, China.

Background: COVID-19 severity is disproportionately high in the elderly and people with comorbidities. However, other factors that predispose individuals to increased chances of infection are unclear. Methods: Data from 18,600 people screened for COVID-19 in Mumbai during the outbreak's initial phase, March 7 to June 30, 2020, were used to assess risk factors associated with COVID-19 using the odds ratio analysis. Findings: Males aged ≥60 years having both diabetes and hypertension were at the highest risk of COVID-19 infection (M vs. F OR=2.5, 95% CI=1.34–4.67, p = 0.0049). People having both diabetes and hypertension in ≥20 years (OR=4.11, 95% CI=3.26–5.20, p

In the pulp and paper industry, the design of industrial equipment based on empirical correlations can be avoided using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools. The present study aims at investigation of the turbulent pipe flow of concentrated Eucalyptus pulp suspension using the ANSYS FLUENT® CFD software package. The modelling strategy was a pseudo-homogeneous approach. The non-Newtonian behavior of the pulp suspension was introduced into the CFD code considering its viscosity as a function of a shear rate. Additionally, the existence of a water annulus at the pipe wall surrounding the core flow was taken into account. Four low-Reynolds k-ɛ turbulence models were selected in the present study aiming at describing the presence of a drag reduction effect. All the models used were able to reproduce the drag reduction effect. Additionally the Lam-Bremhorst model was modified taking into account alterations applied successfully by other authors for the turbulent flow of polymer solutions. A good correspondence between the peculiar S-shaped profile near the wall, for the dimensionless velocity, reported in literature for these systems and those obtained numerically was achieved. The approach followed was validated by comparing the numerical results of pressure drop with those from literature.

Much attention has been recently paid to the refuse derived fuels (RDFs) due to its benefits in aspects of municipal solid waste management and waste to energy technology. Densified-refuse derived fuel (RDF5) with different raw materials were produced and characterized in this study. Municipal solid wastes used as raw materials for the RDF5 production were sawdust, corrugated paper, plastic bag, and dry cooked rice. Influences of raw material volumetric mixing ratio, extrusion temperature and addition of glycerin as a binder on properties of the RDF5 produced were experimentally investigated. It was found that an increase of dry cooked rice amount and an addition of the glycerin in the mixture led to an increase of density and a decrease of compressive strength of the RDF5. Densities and compressive strengths were in the ranges of 1.4-2.3 g/cm 3 and 75-457 N/cm 2 , respectively. Addition of the glycerin also increased the overall thermal efficiency of the cookstove using RDF5 as a fuel. While greater amount of dry cooked rice in the mixture had a negative effect on the overall thermal efficiency. However, extrusion temperature had no obvious effect on the properties of the fuel.

The effect of mechanical refining on the enzymatic digestibility of pretreated corn stover (PCS) was investigated. Low severity, dilute sulfuric acid PCS was subjected to mechanical refining using a bench-scale food processor blender, a PFI mill, a 12-inch laboratory disk refiner, and a 25mm co-rotating twin-screw extruder. Glucose yields from enzymatic hydrolysis were improved by 10–15% after blending and disk refining, while PFI refining and twin-screw extrusion showed a glucose yield improvement of 16–20%. A pilot scale refining test using a Szego mill was performed and showed approximately 10% improvements in biomass digestibility. This suggests the possibility to scale up a mechanical refining technique to obtain similar enzymatic digestibility glucose yield enhancement as achieved by PFI milling and extrusion technologies. Proposed mechanisms of each mechanical refining technology are presented and reasons for improvements in biomass digestibility are discussed in this paper.

This paper presents a novel process for n-butanol production which combines a fermentation consuming carbon dioxide (succinic acid fermentation) with subsequent catalytic reduction steps to add hydrogen to form butanol. Process simulations in Aspen Plus have been the basis for the techno-economic analyses performed. The overall economy for the novel process cannot be justified, as production of succinic acid by fermentation is too costly. Though, succinic acid price is expected to drop drastically in a near future. By fully integrating the succinic acid fermentation with the catalytic conversion the need for costly recovery operations could be reduced. The hybrid process would need 22% less raw material than the butanol fermentation at a succinic acid fermentation yield of 0.7g/g substrate. Additionally, a carbon dioxide fixation of up to 13ktonnes could be achieved at a plant with an annual butanol production of 10ktonnes.

This study ascertained the technical potential of producing bio fuel from naturally occurring micro algae spirulina. The algae are grown by BCSIR and the collected algae are examined. The growing environment contains nitrates, phosphates and carbon dioxide that come from atmosphere. The overall research work consisted of manual and mechanical drying of algae, grinding and subjecting the algal matter to acid hydrolysis to extract carbohydrates to form an algal sugar solution. Fermentation of that solution was performed with Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce ethanol. The presents of ethanol in the solution assures the ultimate desired destination of the work. An average of 15.2 g/L of reducing sugar was extracted in the hydrolysate showing that microalgae have significant usable carbohydrates after hydrolysis to conduct this research work. Ethanol percentage varies with the variation of hydrolysis time, concentration of sulfuric acid and fermentation time. The average value of ethanol percentage varies between 0.85-1.0 percentamong the samples. Although the ethanol percentage is not economical for this algae but the main task of establishing the process of bio fuel production from micro algae comes to a successful end. This process gives the assurance and defined way of bio fuel production from other carbohydrate enriched micro algae.

The aims of this research were to design and develop a machine for producing high quality of natural dental floss. Experimental results indicated that appreciate coating was the mixture of coconut oil and beeswax of 2:1.Coating and drying temperature were 80 and 50 degree Celsius, respectively. Mechanical properties of dental floss made in this research were not different from dental floss sale on the market. By analysis of the mechanical property together with user satisfaction, it can be concluded that triple twisted type was a best size of silk thread used to produce natural floss. Moreover, it not found any microorganisms growth in dental floss from microbial testing.

In this study, Palm Oil Methyl Ester (PME) was added to ethanol-biodiesel fuel in order to reduce the emissions. The percentage of ethanol is up to 20% in volume. Thus, the effects of ethanol on particulate matter (PM) components, soluble organic fraction (SOF) and dry soot (DS) using different type of fuel blends were investigated. Using a composite filter, the ester-ethanol-diesel characteristic such as mass concentration in term PM, SOF and DS were analyzed under different engine operating conditions using four cylinder engine. The results show that increasing ethanol in blended fuel will decrease the PM, SOF and DS at low and middle load. In addition, as the load is increased, the PM component such as SOF and DS also increase. Thus, ethanol-biodiesel fuel can reduce the emissions for low and middle load condition.

This study was undertaken to evaluate the degradation of synthetic and real municipal wastewater by commercial bacteria known as SludgeHammer bacteria and some local isolated strains. TOC removal efficiencies in the synthetic wastewater were 70%, 54%, 52%, 42% for the SludgeHammer, B. subtilis, B. laterosponus and P. aeruginosa, respectively. TOC degradation experiments using municipal wastewater found that the mixed bacteria culture of selected strain of B. subitlis and P. aeruginosa increased treatment performance by 6 to 16% higher than other strains. However, they took relatively longer time to reach the maximum degradation rate compared to the SludgeHammer bacteria.

Biocorrosion refers to the influence of microorganisms adhered to surfaces, in the corrosion process of metals. At Embalse Nuclear Power Plant (ENPP), this phenomenon has been detected in several water cooling systems. In order to mitigate this process, it was proposed to modify the current chlorination water treatment by adding a commercial bromide-based biocide. This study evaluated in situ the effect of the addition of the biocide on biofilm formation and also on the corrosion rate of carbon steel components. The results of the corrosion rate measurements, as well as the evaluation of the kinetics of biofilm growth, showed no significant difference between the former and the modified water treatments. It was concluded that, under the current conditions of operation, the addition of a bromide-based biocide (BBB) does not improve the effectiveness against biofouling and biocorrosion of the water treatment.

The continuous increasing demand for energy and the decreasing petroleum resources has led to the search for alternative fuel which is renewable and sustainable. The quality and efficiency of Biodiesel fuel was found to be more significant than petro diesel. For predicting the properties of Biodiesel, various models were developed using various feed oils and blends, the quality of Biodiesel depends on the type of feed oils. The %ARD values were proposed, which vary with composition of feed oils for a given model in comparison between predicted and experimental data. There is a huge scope in the development of accurate models to predict the properties of Biodiesel and more importantly their blends as they are gaining significance with the ever increasing demand of Diesel fuel.

The desupersaturation of industrial phosphoric acid is a unit operation integrated either explicitly or implicitly in the Wet Process for Phosphoric Acid production (WPPA). This operation aims to improve the acid quality by elimination or reduction of impurities, which impair the acid quality and affect the process downstream performance. Given the importance and impact of the phosphoric acid quality and its treatment on the performance of the whole production chain, we studied the operation of desupersaturation of this acid under various conditions of temperature and residence time. This allows determination, on one hand of the concentration evolution and the nature of various mineral phases of impurities present in the solution acid, and on the other hand the determination of the optimum treatment conditions of the acid to be adopted for improving production units performances. These measures can reduce the negative impacts of impurities in terms of fouling, corrosion, abrasion and produced acid quality.

Sedimentary phosphate occurs largely at Gafsa mining basin. Among these occurrences Jebel Alima (Redeyf region) is an open pit quarry. After extraction, raw phosphate requires several stages of treatments to become concentrated: crushing, grinding, scrubbing, sizing, attrition, de-sliming and flotation. The coarse reject, generated from the first step of ore processing, constitutes the main pollution source in the mining area around the washing plant. Since composition contains a host of environmentally hazardous chemical elements such as Cd, U, Pb…. The results of the chemical characterization also show that the raw sample can achieve P2O5 grade of 13.52%. After 170 scrubbing tests, with 4kg of solid waste for each test, the liberated fraction showed a content of 24.33% P2O5. After sieving, the fraction under 315 microns was recovered for flotation, whereas the fraction greater than 315 microns goes through grinding. 11 grinding tests were carried out taking into account the parameter variations (rotational speed, grinding time, solid concentration and load). The result of the optimum grinding is: Load: 7/1; speed: 60 tr / min; time: 5,5min; Cs: 45%. The liberated fraction content is 20.24%. Before the reverse flotation, the product from scrubber outlet (fraction 315 microns) were mixed. The feed material has a content of 22.44% P2O5. The beneficiation of waste reject was carried out by reverse flotation in acid medium with amines and esters.The content reached 28.16% P2O5 with carbonation rate of 1.6. This content is very close to 29% (content of commercial phosphates). Therefore the coarse waste reject could be considered as potential reserves for the future.

Marine and coastal pollution has become a global concern in recent years due to the increase in intensity of contaminants in the marine environment. The release of crude oil in the marine environment during exploitation and transportation cause serious environmental pollution, owing to the presence of toxic organic compounds. Crude oil, which is the most predominant energy resource throughout the word is the complex mixtures of hydrocarbons including more than 70% of alkanes along with aromatics, naphthenes, and resins. The long chain alkanes present in the crude oil remains persistent due to its non-volatile nature and pose a major menace to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Biodegradation has emerged as a potential and economical technology for the restoration of oil spilled environment. It provides efficient, economical and environment friendly solution for on-shore and off-shore oil spill remedies. The present study investigates the degradation of crude oil using a biosurfactant producing microorganism ‘Bacillus subtilis’ to obtain maximum degradation. Bacillus subtilis isolated from polymer dump site, Chennai, India was used for the degradation of crude oil. Crude oil degradation and viscosity reduction was observed to be 80% and 60%, respectively, in 10 days. The high microbial adherence, surface tension reduction, emulsification activity, production of higher amount of biosurfactant, stability of the produced biosurfactant at extreme environment conditions, viscosity reduction and high rate of degradation indicates the potential of the microorganism for oil spill treatment.

The present study represents the conversion of biomass solid waste in the form of pine seed into bio-oil by solvent extraction method. Hexane is used as solvent in this process which forms miscella (mixture of solvent and oil). Solvent is recovered by distillation from miscella. The oil obtained was analyzed for their properties as an alternative fuel and was compared with petroleum product and other biomass derived oil. The fuel properties compared were higher calorific value, density and viscosity.

The dwarf-castor could be drought tolerant, pest-resistant, require less artificial care, and biomass oil could be harvested for three times in a year. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) will be used to obtain the crystallization temperature and the enthalpy of endothermic and exothermic of the dwarf-castor oil, the biodiesel, petrodiesel, and the environmentally-friendly diesel. Moreover, the infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) will be also used in the results of transesterification for identifying the characteristic functional groups. Furthermore, the heat of combustion and the kinematic viscosity of environmentally-friendly diesel were conducted by bomb calorimeter and viscometer, respectively, which were compared with the various proportion of biodiesel for mixing with petrodiesel, and then to obtain the best condition of mixtures B20 as a suitable environmentally-friendly diesel of dwarf-castor's biodiesel.

This experimental investigation evaluates the comparative improvement of palm biodiesel-diesel blend (20% palm biodiesel-80% diesel) with the help of ethanol, n -butanol and diethyl ether as additives regarding emission and performance characteristics. The improved blends consisted 80% diesel, 15% palm biodiesel and 5% additive. Use of additives prominently improved brake power, decreased BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption) and increased BTE (brake thermal efficiency). Diethyl ether showed highest 6.25% increment of brake power, 3.28% decrement of BSFC and about 4% increment of BTE than 20% palm biodiesel-diesel blend when used as additive. Other two additives also showed interesting improvement regarding performance. All the blends with additives showed decreased NO and CO emission but HC emission showeda slight increment. However, this experiment reveals comparative suitability of these three additives on improving biodiesel-diesel blend.

The article describes the process of deep aerobic mineralization of activated sludge in municipal wastewater treatment plants using a complex of aerobic heterotrophic and autotrophic microorganisms, including denitrifiers.

This paper discusses the cold storage characteristics and the formation mechanism of gas hydrate, studies the selection and substitution of g-h for cool storage air conditioning, the advantages of using g-h formed by multiple refrigerant and water soluble substances as cool storage medium, the effect of additives and the outfield on g-h formation, the characteristics of g-h slurry, the method that accelerates the rapid formation of g-h, the improvement of cold storage device and the requirements of ideal g-h. The flow performance of g-h slurry is the key whether g-h slurry can be applied to air conditioning well, so using CFD sets up the flow model of CO2 g-h slurry in pipeline, whose flow was simulated. Analysis of the pressure drop when the g-h flow in the Vertical bend. Research shows that the characteristics of CO2 g-h slurry is very suitable for the air conditioning system. Finally the paper puts forward some existing problems of g-h cool storage technology to make it practical.

International audience; 4D modeling has been an applied research area for around two decades since the first seminal works in the nineties. In the last years, a number of case studies have been published both for demonstrating the various applications of 4D and for assessing technological propositions. However, in most papers only little place is given to the particular content of 4D models. In parallel, following the growing implementation of Building Information Modeling, 4D modeling process is usually recognized as a “BIM use”. In BIM implementations and protocols, the Level Of Development of datasets is a fundamental issue. This paper describes the application of two distinct “4D uses” conducted on a single pilot project. They aim to assess the levels of graphical and temporal details required for the implemented uses. The authors finally discuss the diversity of 4D uses with 4D models, both planned or ad-hoc, as well as the logical understanding related to 4D LOD.

This paper presents an overview on optimal overcurrent relay coordination in protection system and protective relays. Efforts have been made to include all methods used for the coordination of overcurrent relays. It includes techniques, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Nature Inspire Algorithm (NIA) as well as other conventional methods used for overcurrent protection. A brief mentioned is made about conventional methods while more prominence is given on the application of AI and NIA for the protection of overcurrent relays. This paper presents a set of references of all respective papers related and provides a brief summary of the research work. In addition, the results of these techniques also provided in the respective references.

The building sector in the United States is responsible for 41% of energy consumption and 39% of carbon footprint while the majority of energy consumption and carbon footprint are caused by aging buildings which represent 70% of existing buildings in the United States. The energy consumption of aging buildings can be significantly reduced by identifying and implementing green building upgrade measures based on available budgets. Aging buildings are often in urgent need for upgrading to improve their operational, economic, and environmental performance. This paper presents the development of an optimization model that is capable of identifying the optimal selection of building upgrade measures to minimize energy consumption of aging buildings while complying with limited upgrade budgets and building operational performance. This optimization model is designed to estimate building energy consumption using energy simulation software packages such as eQuest and it is integrated with databases of building products. This optimization model performs analysis of replacing existing building fixtures and equipment during the optimization computations to identify the optimal replacement of building products that minimizes building energy consumption and carbon emissions. The model is designed to provide detailed results for building owners and operators, which include specifications for the recommended upgrade measures and their location in the building; upgrade cost; expected energy, operational, and life-cycle cost savings; and expected payback period. This paper illustrates the new and unique capabilities of the developed optimization model.

Compressed Air Foam System is a kind of new high efficiency firefighting systems. It produces high quality foams by injecting compressed air into foam solution. The gas-liquid mixing effect determines properties of foams. Properties of foams determine the efficiency of extinguishing. This paper introduced the status of compressed air foam system gas-liquid mixing technology, categorized and analyzed existing gas-liquid mixing modus, finally put forward factors influencing mixing effect. Stability of foams was used as criteria to evaluate the gas-liquid mixing effect. Gas-liquid mixing modus, gas-liquid mixing area and turbulence enhancer were three factors determined by mixing chamber structure. Gas-liquid flow ratio, gas-liquid mixing pressure and gas-liquid mixing speed were another three factors determined by working parameters. These factors were analyzed and corresponding optimization advices were put forward in order to better gas-liquid mixing effect. This paper could provide some guidance to the design of mixing chambers and optimization of mixing parameters.

The paper presents results of laboratory investigations concerning a nine field slab-column structure in the scale 1:2. As a model served a reinforced concrete slab with the dimensions of 9300×9300×100 mm. The aim of the investigations was to determine mechanism of destruction of the corner part of a slab-column structure caused by the removal of the support depending on the applied reinforcement. The paper contains the results of laboratory tests compared with the results of simplified numerical calculations.

To more accurately describe the evolution process of traffic flow, a novel method was proposed on the basis of the polynomial trend model and the Kalman filtering theory in the paper. The state variables were defined as the deviations of the actual origin destination (OD) flow from the historical values. These deviations were presented as a stochastic evolution process with a sliding trend. Furthermore, the dynamic OD matrix was estimated and predicated by establishing a polynomial trend filtering model. A large number of simulation results prove that the performance of the algorithm proposed in this paper is better than the traditional method, and this algorithm can acquire more accurate estimation and prediction information for OD matrix.

This paper explains the fabrication of an UAV having aerofoil shaped fuselage using NACA 4416 profile and compare the result between the aerodynamic characteristics with that of the same model obtained from CFD investigation. Open circuit subsonic wind tunnel has been used to test the fabricated UAV model and collection of data. The wind tunnel is associated with Versatile Data Acquisition System (VDAS) to measure the lift & drag force coefficients and point surface pressures. This paper explains the design parameters and investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of the fabricated ‘Aerofoil Shaped Fuselage’ UAV model. This type of model might be used for many military and civil applications like scientific data gathering, surveillance for law enforcement & homeland security, precision agriculture, forest fire monitoring, geological survey etc. The aerodynamic characteristics of Aerofoil Shaped Fuselage UAV model have been carried out at two different Reynolds Number (1.37 x 10 5 and 2.74 x 10 5 respectively) with different angles of attack from -3 o to 18 o . The stalling angle of this design is found at about 14 o during experimental investigation. The aerofoil shaped fuselage UAV model might be used for designing the future UAV.

Mathematical modeling and simulation techniques represent powerful tools for optimizing the operation of drinking water supply networks. Water quality in the distribution systems is affected by the hydraulic regime in the network (Vreeburg, 2007). An incidental re-suspension of accumulated loose particles is the main cause of discoloration events in the network (Vreeburg, 2010). This article describes two technical tools that are being developed to help water utilities create and maintain programs for preventing the occurrence of discoloration events in their water distribution systems. The first of the two directly applicable tools is a portable measuring device that enables continuous measurement of hydraulic properties and water discoloration in the network. The other tool is a software application ADAM, which uses a non-data-hungry methodology based on a risk analysis approach and utilizes the author's previous experience with mathematical modeling of various water-supply networks. The probability of the presence of sediment accumulation in each pipe section in the network is estimated. Problems relating to uncertainty and poor input data quality are solved by the application of the FMEA/FMECA technique (Tuhovcak, Rucka, 2009). The analysis is performed using ADAM, the newly developed simulation software for hydraulic analysis of water supply networks. The tools presented in this paper have been developed under the framework of “Tools for prevention of water discoloration in water mains”, the current national research project of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (registration number TA02020604), a brief outline of which is also presented in this paper.

This paper examines returns to scale in building constructions in Indonesia based on large sample sizes of different project types (i.e., hotel or apartment, hospital, office, campus, and plant). The analysis demonstrates that costs tended to vary with sizes at a constant rate, as shown by cost capacity factors close to unity, with the exception of campus cases that supported decreasing returns to scale. This finding affirms those of previous studies that non-constant returns to scale in cost-size relationships appear to weakly exist for building constructions. At the very least, it also implies that a simple unit-cost approach remains a reliable method for early cost estimates. This paper also identifies some potential issues associated with constant returns-to-scale applications.

The aim of this paper is to compare the policies for measurement, depreciation and recognition of tangible fixed assets according to the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs) and according to the full version of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS/IFRS). In addition, the paper presents results of an empirical research into the awareness level of respondents (economists and chief accountants of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic) as to the IAS/IFRS and IFRS for SMEs accounting system.

This paper is to provide up-to-date information on the state of acoustic ignition system development, with such systems seen as one of the most promising alternative to the traditional electrical systems. The article summarizes the principles of the gas-dynamic (acoustic) ignition systems, describes the most commonly used igniter designs, and also describes some unusual and potentially promising igniter designs. It also contains a survey of contemporary domestic and foreign theoretical and experimental research in the field of gas-dynamic ignition. Descriptions of promising igniter designs are provided. The paper analyses identified strengths and weaknesses of the construction designs described. On the basis of accumulated and presented materials, recommendations are drawn for the future course of development, which comprise the need to address the thermal issues of such igniters, their lifetime and the need for more comprehensive studies on atypical designs, which can be more efficient than their currently used counterparts.

This paper presents Large Eddy simulations of flow and acoustic computations around 2D and 3D airfoils using a novel type of mesh called voxel mesh. Voxel mesh refers to the mesh that has different number of nodes in the neighbouring cell layers. Voxel mesh has many advantages such as creating cells with minimum skewness, automatic mesh generation and uniformity in cell shapes and sizes. The voxel meshes aren’t yet validated in boundary layer computations. In this paper we validate the use of voxel meshes in boundary layer computations in 2D and 3D airfoils. Six cases were tried out in the research three 2D meshes and three 3D cases were tried out. Each case was simulated at Reynolds number 2.83×105 and attack angle of 90. Flow field computation was done by FrontFlowBlue-7.2 software the acoustic computation was done by using FrontFlowBlue-Acoustic2.2 software. The results obtained from the simulations were compared with the experimental values. The use of voxel meshes to resolve the boundary layer in turbulent fluid flows could be validated using 2D airfoils. Therefore voxel meshes were used in 3D airfoil flow computations. After successful flow computations the source fluctuations in the flow was used for the acoustic computations. The sound pressure levels computed from the acoustic computations were compared with the experimental values. Some oscillation in the pressure could be observed due to the step like structure at the surface of voxel mesh but these variations were less apparent in meshes that had smaller cells.

This paper describes synthetically the design, development and characterization of two wireless instrumented crutches for monitoring lower-limb rehabilitation activities. These sensorized crutches allow monitoring axial and shear forces and tilt angles in real time. Each crutch is composed of three strain-gauge bridges measuring axial and shear forces, a conditioning and transmission circuit, a tri-axial accelerometer and a battery power management circuit. The data are transmitted wirelessly via Bluetooth to a remote computer, no further readout unit is necessary. The instrumented crutches have been tested and characterized using an ad-hoc experimental setup and they have been used for the first tests on one subject. This paper shows, in a concise manner, the description of the system and the first experimental results on one crutch obtained in laboratory.

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. This paper examines the issues related to the implementation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the construction industry and the various initiatives and approaches that are being used in various countries around the world to promote effective BIM implementation in their construction industries. Objectives of Study The effective implementation and use of BIM remains a major issue for the construction industry. Whilst the technology underpinning BIM has been around for well over a decade BIM implementation and take-up has been relatively slow in the construction industry compared to industries such as manufacturing and engineering. The purpose of this study is to investigate the initiatives and approaches that are being used by countries that are leading the way in the field. Methods The methodology for this paper is based on a literature review of the key global trends in relation to BIM implementation and then a detailed investigation of implementation strategies that have been developed in a range of countries and regions such as North America, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Australia. Results The research reveals that there BIM implementation has gained considerable momentum over the past few years. A number of countries are developing successful implementation strategies with North America, the United Kingdom and the Scandinavian region generally leading the way. A key finding was the importance of coordinated government support and leadership as a critical driver for BIM implementation. Other important strategies were found to be the development of national and global BIM standards, legal protocols to address liability issues, BIM certification, education and training and articulating the business case for BIM implementation. Conclusions The paper concludes with a range of strategies and recommendations that flow from the research findings.

Tender price evaluation of construction project is one of the most important works for the clients to control project cost in the bidding stage. However,the previously underutilization of project cost data made the tender price evaluation of new projects lack of effective evaluation criterion, which brings challenge to cost control. With the improvement of companies’ information technology application and the advent of big data era, the project cost-related data can be completely and systematically recorded in real time, as well as fully utilized to support decision-making for construction project cost management. In this paper, a system for tender price evaluation of construction project based on big data is presented, aiming to use related technique of big data to analysis project cost data to give a reasonable cost range, which contributes to obtaining the evaluation criterion to support the tender price controls. The paper introduced the data sources, data extraction, data storage and data analysis of the system respectively. A case study is conducted in a metro station project to evaluate the system. The results show that the system based on big data is significant for tender price evaluation in construction project.

This paper presents a management proposal to improve the efficient use of water resources in water supply systems. This is based on management tools, project management and is organized into three levels of planning (strategic, tactical and operational), following definitions of theories of strategic planning. This paper details these levels of planning, with a focus on strategic management, i.e., action plans at the strategic level, describing a methodology and detailing the main tasks that should be executed, as well as the main tools that can be used in each task, such as SWOT analysis and Balanced Scorecard.

The objective of the present paper is to describe the applications of tensegrity structures in civil engineering (roofs, domes, stadiums, etc.). The term of tensegrity was introduced by Fuller in the middle 50th of XX century. There are several definitions of this concept. For the purpose of this paper the tensegrity is defined a pin-joined system with a particular configuration of cables and struts that form a statically indeterminate structure in a stable equilibrium. Infinitesimal mechanism should exist in a tensegrity with equivalent self-stress state. Major advantages of tensegrity are: large stiffness-to-mass ratio, deployability, reliability and controllability.

The major Lithuanian cities are experiencing a rapid growth of their suburbs. This process is under the surveillance for more than 40 years and is difficult to be controlled. Regional territorial distribution is constituted by cities and rural settlements. The sustainable development of the region depends on interaction between these two different systems. A rapid growth of the suburbs has highlighted the disparities in regional hierarchical network of suburban rural settlements. Growing suburbanization of the cities moves citizens into the neighbour peripheral rural settlements and creates a cohesive hierarchical network of peripheral settlements in the metropolitan district. The authors of the paper are interested in a qualitative future development of peripheral rural settlements in districts of the major cities. The previous authors’ research has shown that the difference between real positive indicators values of settlements, which are usually used in Lithuania by planners to characterise the residential quality of suburban settlement and treat future development of this settlement, frequently differs from the city’ s residents choice to live in such an interpretive suburban residential quality. The aim of this paper is to bring together the results of authors’ other research deliverables ((1) the identification of subjective and objective indicators of suburban residential environment; (2) creation of conceptual model of subjectively and objectively integrated quality indicators assessment of the suburban residential environment) designed to create a picture of the peripheral future of the major Lithuanian cities (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda) and discuss them in different scenarios, drawing out implications for metropolitan districts’ hierarchical network of rural settlements. The creation of scenarios will be performed under the multiple criteria methods.

With the urban rail transit network in Beijing becoming gradually intensive, the passenger flow organization also develops towards the type of the network mode. This paper analyzes the development trend of the urban rail transit network in Beijing. On the basis of a reasonable classification of emergencies occurred in urban rail transit, this paper puts forward the passenger organization model of rail transit network under emergency conditions, and then set a certain train accident of Beijing Metro Line 1 as an example to illustrate the practical application of the passenger emergency organization mode.

The article is devoted to the problems of making cargo passages through low-head waterpower developments (those built in XX century in Central Russia). The paper presents an analysis of layout and structural properties of these passages which go through phreatic and concrete dams and through river-run power plants. The paper stresses the importance of these cargo passages for transport connection both at the time when hydraulic engineering structures were being built and nowadays. The research also points out the problems in cargo passages operation and explains why these problems occur. Motor highways through the biggest hydroelectric power stations of the Volga are taken as an example. The author offers some efficient technical solutions for making cargo passages through lowland rivers more effective.

The paper describes an innovative software that is used for real estate evaluation and mapping and analyzing of real estate advertisements published on the internet in the Czech Republic. The software systematically collects, analyzes and assesses data about the changes in the real estate market. For each half year, the software assembles over 650,000 price quotations concerning sale or rental of apartments, houses, business properties and building lots. All real estate advertisements are continuously stored in a software database and are thoroughly analyzed for their credibility. There have been numerous articles concerning real estate market analysis in both mass media and scholarly publications. Unfortunately, not all presented information is objective and unbiased. Many cases by “independent specialists” have stated information with no verified research. We have witnessed manipulation of information by lobbies (such as banks offering mortgage agents, real estate companies and agents, building companies, developers, majority owners, etc.). The author of this paper offers objective and unbiased evaluation of price development in real estate market. The author brings forward information based on extensive research and large amounts of statistical data which has been collected continuously from year 2007 until today.

The current paper aims at presenting a standardized auditing scheme for assessing energy efficiency in water supply systems. The proposed scheme has been developed based on the existing methodologies and International Water Association (IWA) water balance principles. The main innovation is the direct link to the water auditing in order to encourage water utilities to carry out the joint management of water losses and related energy efficiency. Key energy efficiency performance indices are calculated based on the energy auditing without the need of using hydraulic modelling. Two case-studies are explored and discussed. This paper shows that specific energy consumption and pump efficiency are not sufficient to evaluate the energy efficiency of a given system. The energy balance proposed herein allows the development of a preliminary diagnosis and the identification of the critical areas in terms of energy efficiency, and thereby, supports the tactical and operational management of water supply systems. 5 6 8 DHA/NES 2014 14 a 17 de julho

The paper shortly presents the history and development of the traditional design in civil engineering. Next, the idea of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its practical benefits are described. Main part of the paper is devoted to discussion about what kind of difficulties we may encounter during the implementation of the BIM technology and how they are related to the potential benefits. Case study presents the existing design prepared in BIM technology.

In recognition that pressure equipment welds that have not undergone a full volumetric inspection may contain internal defects, a weld efficiency is introduced. For spot volumetric inspection which is typically 10% of the weld length the weld efficiency is taken as 0.85. Of interest is that this factor is universally adopted in all known pressure equipment codes around the world. Its origins are obscure and to the authors’ best knowledge, has gone unchallenged for the past 88 years. Additional interest is the use of 0.7 weld efficiency for a weld that has undergone no volumetric inspection. This is prevalent in many international pressure equipment code, but not all. This paper revisits these factors. It considers how they were developed and explores a more rigorous probabilistic approach based on the amount of volumetric inspection and the likelihood of defects. It also considers the closely associated design factors. Understanding also that weld technology has developed since the early 1900 and in particular with the introduction of new technologies such as submerged arc welding, it may not be unreasonable to expect these weld efficiencies to differ from that initially developed. While the paper is not conclusive in its findings, it highlights there is justification to question the weld efficiencies adopted and proposes a program to develop more rigorous values.

This paper presents several parallelization aspects of Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) problems in computational mechanics when using an Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) scheme. The physical domain of the coupled problem is then solved on two different zones: a first zone for the fluid dynamics and the fluid mesh deformation and a second one for the solid mechanics. The idea can be further extended by adding more Physics to the coupled system, such as heat transport (for fluid and solid) or excitable media, among many others. In this paper, the basic two premises are that all problems can already be solved individually in parallel with good scalability and that the coupled system is solved in a coupled way within the same code. The paper introduces the formulation, presents some parallelization issues and proposes how to attack them, presents some results and discuss them and draws some future lines.

Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI) had been involved in ASME Section III environment assistant fatigue (EAF) task group (TG) and undertaken the calculation and verification work of first round sample problem, which was intended to test the engineering application of environmentally assisted fatigue (EAF) using the F en correction factor method of Code Case N-792 Rev.0 and the proposed Code Case for evaluation of strain rate in EAF evaluations. This paper will present the sample problem of a light water reactor (LWR) primary loop stainless steel nozzle under some thermal transients and the calculation procedure of detailed integral methods according to Code Case N-792. Moreover, the method of strain rate calculation was particularly studied and discussed which is essential to the F en value. The F en correction factor results and the comparison with other participants is presented in this paper.