• Title/Summary/Keyword: Sustainable technologies

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Implications of Impacts of Climate Change on Forest Product Flows and Forest Dependent Communities in the Western Ghats, India

  • Murthy, Indu K.;Bhat, Savithri;Sathyanarayan, Vani;Patgar, Sridhar;M., Beerappa;Bhat, P.R.;Bhat, D.M.;Gopalakrishnan, Ranjith;Jayaraman, Mathangi;Munsi, Madhushree;N.H., Ravindranath;M.A., Khalid;M., Prashant;Iyer, Sudha;Saxena, Raghuvansh
    • Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.189-200
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    • 2014
  • The tropical wet evergreen, tropical semi evergreen and moist deciduous forest types are projected to be impacted by climate change. In the Western Ghats region, a biodiversity hotspot, evergreen forests including semi evergreen account for 30% of the forest area and according to climate change impact model projections, nearly a third of these forest types are likely to undergo vegetation type change. Similarly, tropical moist deciduous forests which account for about 28% of the forest area are likely to experience change in about 20% of the area. Thus climate change could adversely impact forest biodiversity and product flow to the forest dependent households and communities in Uttara Kannada district of the Western Ghats. This study analyses the distribution of non-timber forest product yielding tree species through a network of twelve 1-ha permanent plots established in the district. Further, the extent of dependence of communities on forests is ascertained through questionnaire surveys. On an average 21% and 28% of the tree species in evergreen and deciduous forest types, respectively are, non-timber forest product yielding tree species, indicating potential high levels of supply of products to communities. Community dependence on non-timber forest products is significant, and it contributes to Rs. 1199 and Rs. 3561/household in the evergreen and deciduous zones, respectively. Given that the bulk of the forest grids in Uttara Kannada district are projected to undergo change, bulk of the species which provide multiple forest products are projected to experience die back and even mortality. Incorporation of climate change projections and impacts in forest planning and management is necessary to enable forest ecosystems to enhance resilience.

Proposal of a prototype plant based on the exfoliation process for the treatment of irradiated graphite

  • Pozzetto, Silvia;Capone, Mauro;Cherubini, Nadia;Cozzella, Maria Letizia;Dodaro, Alessandro;Guidi, Giambattista
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.52 no.4
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    • pp.797-801
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    • 2020
  • Most of irradiated graphite that should be disposed comes from moderators and reflectors of nuclear power plants. The quantity of irradiated graphite could be higher in the future if high-temperature reactors (HTRs) will be deployed. In this case noteworthy quantities of fuel pebbles containing semi-graphitic carbonaceous material should be added to the already existing 250,000 tons of irradiated graphite. Industry graphite is largely used in industrial applications for its high thermal and electrical conductivity and thermal and chemical resistance, making it a valuable material. Irradiated graphite constitutes a waste management challenge owing to the presence of long-lived radionuclides, such as 14C and 36Cl. In the ENEA Nuclear Material Characterization Laboratory it has been successfully designed a procedure based on the exfoliation process organic solvent assisted, with the purpose of investigate the possibility of achieving graphite significantly less toxic that could be recycled for other purpose [1]. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of the scalability from laboratory to industrial dimensions of the exfoliation process and provide the prototype of a chemical plant for the treatment of irradiated graphite.

Single Cell Oil Production from Undetoxified Arundo donax L. hydrolysate by Cutaneotrichosporon curvatus

  • Di Fidio, Nicola;Liuzzi, Federico;Mastrolitti, Silvio;Albergo, Roberto;De Bari, Isabella
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.256-267
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    • 2019
  • The use of low-cost substrates represents one key issue to make single cell oil production sustainable. Among low-input crops, Arundo donax L. is a perennial herbaceous rhizomatous grass containing both C5 and C6 carbohydrates. The scope of the present work was to investigate and optimize the production of lipids by the oleaginous yeast Cutaneotrichosporon curvatus from undetoxified lignocellulosic hydrolysates of steam-pretreated A. donax. The growth of C. curvatus was first optimized in synthetic media, similar in terms of sugar concentration to hydrolysates, by applying the response surface methodology (RSM) analysis. Then the bioconversion of undetoxified hydrolysates was investigated. A fed-batch process for the fermentation of A. donax hydrolysates was finally implemented in a 2-L bioreactor. Under optimized conditions, the total lipid content was 64% of the dry cell weight and the lipid yield was 63% of the theoretical. The fatty acid profile of C. curvatus triglycerides contained 27% palmitic acid, 33% oleic acid and 32% linoleic acid. These results proved the potential of lipid production from A. donax, which is particularly important for their consideration as substitutes for vegetable oils in many applications such as biodiesel or bioplastics.

Emerging Technologies for Sustainable Smart City Network Security: Issues, Challenges, and Countermeasures

  • Jo, Jeong Hoon;Sharma, Pradip Kumar;Sicato, Jose Costa Sapalo;Park, Jong Hyuk
    • Journal of Information Processing Systems
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.765-784
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    • 2019
  • The smart city is one of the most promising, prominent, and challenging applications of the Internet of Things (IoT). Smart cities rely on everything connected to each other. This in turn depends heavily on technology. Technology literacy is essential to transform a city into a smart, connected, sustainable, and resilient city where information is not only available but can also be found. The smart city vision combines emerging technologies such as edge computing, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc. to create a sustainable ecosystem by dramatically reducing latency, bandwidth usage, and power consumption of smart devices running various applications. In this research, we present a comprehensive survey of emerging technologies for a sustainable smart city network. We discuss the requirements and challenges for a sustainable network and the role of heterogeneous integrated technologies in providing smart city solutions. We also discuss different network architectures from a security perspective to create an ecosystem. Finally, we discuss the open issues and challenges of the smart city network and provide suitable recommendations to resolve them.

SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS USING TRENCHLESS TECHNOLOGIES IN URBAN UNDERGROUND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

  • Dae-Hyun (Dan) Koo;Samuel Ariaratnam
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2013.01a
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    • pp.367-374
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    • 2013
  • Underground infrastructure systems provide essential public services and goods through buried structures including water and sewer, gas and petroleum, power and communication pipelines. The majority of existing underground infrastructure systems was installed in green field areas prior to development of complex urban built environments. Currently, there is a global trend to escalate major demand for underground infrastructure system renewal and new installation while minimizing disruption and maintaining functions of existing superstructures. Therefore, Engineers and utility owners are rigorously seeking technologies that minimize environmental, social, and economic impact during the renewal and installation process. Trenchless technologies have proven to be socially less disruptive, more environmentally friendly, energy conservative and economically viable alternative methods. All of those benefits are adequate to enhance overall sustainability. This paper describes effective sustainable solutions using trenchless technologies. Sustainability is assessed by a comparison between conventional open cut and trenchless technology methods. Sustainability analysis is based on a broad perspective combining the three main aspects of sustainability: economic; environmental; and social. Economic includes construction cost, benefit, and social cost analysis. Environmental includes emission estimation and environmental quality impact study. Social includes various social impacts on an urban area. This paper summarizes sustainable trenchless technology solutions and presents a sustainable construction method selection process in a proposed framework to be used in urban underground infrastructure capital improvement projects.

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The exfoliation of irradiated nuclear graphite by treatment with organic solvent: A proposal for its recycling

  • Capone, Mauro;Cherubini, Nadia;Cozzella, Maria Letizia;Dodaro, Alessandro;Guarcini, Tiziana
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.1037-1040
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    • 2019
  • For the past 50 years, graphite has been widely used as a moderator, reflector and fuel matrix in different kinds of gas-cooled reactors. Resulting in approximately 250,000 metric tons of irradiated graphite waste. One of the most significant long-lived radioisotope from graphite reactors is carbon-14 ($^{14}C$) with a half-life of 5730 years, this makes it a huge concern for deep geologic disposal of nuclear graphite (NG). Considering the lifecycle of NG a number of waste management options have been developed, mainly focused on the achievement the radiological requirements for disposal. The existing approaches for recycling depend on the cost to be economically viable. In this new study, an affordable process to remove $^{14}C$ has been proposed using samples taken from the Nuclear Power Plant in Latina (Italy) which have been used to investigate the capability of organic and inorganic solvents in removing $^{14}C$ from exfoliated nuclear graphite, with the aim to design a practicable approach to obtain graphite for recycling or/and safety disposed as L& LLW.

Properties of Concrete Incorporating Recycled Post-Consumer Environmental Wastes

  • Eisa, Ahmed
    • International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.251-258
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    • 2014
  • The use of sustainable technologies such as supplementary cementitious materials, and/or recycled post-consumer environmental wastes is widely used in concrete industry in the last decade. This paper presents the results of a laboratory investigation of normal concrete containing sustainable technologies. Twenty one mixtures (21) were prepared with different combinations of silica fume, fly ash, olive's seed ash, and corncob ash (CCA). Fresh and hardened concrete properties were measured, as expected the inclusion of the sustainable technologies affected both fresh and hardened concrete properties. Based on the results obtained in this study and the analyses conducted, the following observations were drawn: replacing the cement by olive's seed ash or CCA has a significant effect on fresh concrete workability. Olive's seed ash increased the slump by more than 200 % compared to the control mixtures. The compressive strength of mixtures containing olive's seed ash showed by 45 and 75 % decrease compared to the control mixtures. The 28 days compressive strength of mixtures produced by CCA of 10 % replacement decreased by 41 % compared to the control mixture.

Sustainable Technology for Land Management (토지 관리를 위한 지속가능한 기술)

  • Kim, Young Hag
    • Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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    • v.47 no.2
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    • pp.213-231
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    • 2017
  • The development of new spatial technologies enables sustainability as well as the efficiency of future land management while maintaining the efficiency of current land management. In this context, what are the challenges facing land management and sustainability, how can set the relationship between the land management and sustainability? What is sustainable technology for land management? And how can sustainability challenges and technologies be applied to land management? and so on. Therefore, this study is to search sustainable land management direction by investigating and applying sustainable technologies for more efficient and continuous maintenance of land management. To describe and approach sustainable technologies for land management, in particular, capacity, security, IT resource, new device, standards, transparency, and data, access to data and so on that can be considered as the challenges of sustainability and land management.