The FIREDASS (Fire Detection and Suppression Simulation) Model

The FIREDASS (FIRE Detection And Suppression Simulation) project is concerned with the development of fine water mist systems as a possible replacement for the halon fire suppression system currently used in aircraft cargo holds. The project is funded by the European Commission, under the BRITE EURAM programme. The FIREDASS consortium is made up of a combination of Industrial, Academic, Research and Regulatory partners. As part of this programme of work, a computational model has been developed to help engineers optimise the design of the water mist suppression system. This computational model is based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and is composed of the following components: fire model; mist model; two-phase radiation model; suppression model and detector/activation model. The fire model - developed by the University of Greenwich - uses prescribed release rates for heat and gaseous combustion products to represent the fire load. Typical release rates have been determined through experimentation conducted by SINTEF. The mist model - developed by the University of Greenwich - is a Lagrangian particle tracking procedure that is fully coupled to both the gas phase and the radiation field. The radiation model - developed by the National Technical University of Athens - is described using a six-flux radiation model. The suppression model - developed by SINTEF and the University of Greenwich - is based on an extinguishment crietrion that relies on oxygen concentration and temperature. The detector/ activation model - developed by Cerberus - allows the configuration of many different detector and mist configurations to be tested within the computational model. These sub-models have been integrated by the University of Greenwich into the FIREDASS software package. The model has been validated using data from the SINTEF/GEC test campaigns and it has been found that the computational model gives good agreement with these experimental results. The best agreement is obtained at the ceiling which is where the detectors and misting nozzles would be located in a real system. In this paper the model is briefly described and some results from the validation of the fire and mist model are presented.

Environmental impacts of freshwater use and suspended solids in life cycle assessment

Perturbation of natural ecosystems, namely by increasing freshwater use and its degradative use, as well as topsoil erosion by water of land-use production systems, have been emerging as topics of high environmental concern. Freshwater use has become a focus of attention in the last few years for all stakeholders involved in the production of goods, mainly agro-industrial and forest-based products, which are freshwater-intensive consumers, requiring large inputs of green and blue water. This thesis presents a global review on the available Water Footprint Assessment and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based methods for measuring and assessing the environmental relevance of freshwater resources use, based on a life cycle perspective. Using some of the available midpoint LCA-based methods, the freshwater use-related impacts of a Portuguese wine (white ‘vinho verde’) were assessed. However, the relevance of environmental green water has been neglected because of the absence of a comprehensive impact assessment method associated with green water flows. To overcome this constraint, this thesis helps to improve and enhance the LCA-based methods by providing a midpoint and spatially explicit Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method for assessing impacts on terrestrial green water flow and addressing reductions in surface blue water production caused by reductions in surface runoff due to land-use production systems. The applicability of the proposed method is illustrated by a case study on Eucalyptus globulus conducted in Portugal, as the growth of short rotation forestry is largely dependent on local precipitation. Topsoil erosion by water has been characterised as one of the most upsetting problems for rivers. Because of this, this thesis also focuses on the ecosystem impacts caused by suspended solids (SS) from topsoil erosion that reach freshwater systems. A framework to conduct a spatially distributed SS delivery to freshwater streams and a fate and effect LCIA method to derive site-specific characterisation factors (CFs) for endpoint damage on aquatic ecosystem diversity, namely on algae, macrophyte, and macroinvertebrates organisms, were developed. The applicability of this framework, combined with the derived site-specific CFs, is shown by conducting a case study on E. globulus stands located in Portugal as an example of a land use based system. A spatially explicit LCA assessment was shown to be necessary, since the impacts associated with both green water flows and SS vary greatly as a function of spatial location.

Integrated indicator framework and methodology for monitoring and assessment of hazardous substances and their effects in the marine environment

Many maritime countries in Europe have implemented marine environmental monitoring programmes which include the measurement of chemical contaminants and related biological effects. How best to integrate data obtained in these two types of monitoring into meaningful assessments has been the subject of recent efforts by the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Expert Groups. Work within these groups has concentrated on defining a core set of chemical and biological endpoints that can be used across maritime areas, defining confounding factors, supporting parameters and protocols for measurement. The framework comprised markers for concentrations of, exposure to and effects from, contaminants. Most importantly, assessment criteria for biological effect measurements have been set and the framework suggests how these measurements can be used in an integrated manner alongside contaminant measurements in biota, sediments and potentially water. Output from this process resulted in OSPAR Commission (www.ospar.org) guidelines that were adopted in 2012 on a trial basis for a period of 3 years. The developed assessment framework can furthermore provide a suitable approach for the assessment of Good Environmental Status (GES) for Descriptor 8 of the European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

Simulating the effects of vegetation and landscape structure on fire behavior in northeastern Portugal: the case of holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia)

O fogo é um processo frequente nas paisagens do norte de Portugal. Estudos anteriores mostraram que os bosques de azinheira (Quercus rotundifolia) persistem após a passagem do fogo e ajudam a diminuir a sua intensidade e taxa de propagação. Os principais objetivos deste estudo foram compreender e modelar o efeito dos bosques de azinheira no comportamento do fogo ao nível da paisagem da bacia superior do rio Sabor, localizado no nordeste de Portugal. O impacto dos bosques de azinheira no comportamento do fogo foi testado em termos de área e configuração de acordo com cenários que simulam a possível distribuição destas unidades de vegetação na paisagem, considerando uma percentagem de ocupação da azinheira de 2.2% (Low), 18.1% (Moderate), 26.0% (High), e 39.8% (Rivers). Estes cenários tiveram como principal objetivo testar 1) o papel dos bosques de azinheira no comportamento do fogo e 2) de que forma a configuração das manchas de azinheira podem ajudar a diminuir a intensidade da linha de fogo e área ardida. Na modelação do comportamento do fogo foi usado o modelo FlamMap para simular a intensidade de linha do fogo e taxa de propagação do fogo com base em modelos de combustível associados a cada ocupação e uso do solo presente na área de estudo, e também com base em fatores topográficos (altitude, declive e orientação da encosta) e climáticos (humidade e velocidade do vento). Foram ainda usados dois modelos de combustível para a ocupação de azinheira (áreas interiores e de bordadura), desenvolvidos com base em dados reais obtidos na região. Usou-se o software FRAGSATS para a análise dos padrões espaciais das classes de intensidade de linha do fogo, usando-se as métricas Class Area (CA), Number of Patches (NP) e Large Patches Index (LPI). Os resultados obtidos indicaram que a intensidade da linha de fogo e a taxa de propagação do fogo variou entre cenários e entre modelos de combustível para o azinhal. A intensidade média da linha de fogo e a taxa média de propagação do fogo decresceu à medida que a percentagem de área de bosques de azinheira aumentou na paisagem. Também foi observado que as métricas CA, NP e LPI variaram entre cenários e modelos de combustível para o azinhal, decrescendo quando a percentagem de área de bosques de azinheira aumentou. Este estudo permitiu concluir que a variação da percentagem de ocupação e configuração espacial dos bosques de azinheira influenciam o comportamento do fogo, reduzindo, em termos médios, a intensidade da linha de fogo e a taxa de propagação, sugerindo que os bosques de azinhal podem ser usados como medidas silvícolas preventivas para diminuir o risco de incêndio nesta região.

Study of salinity gradients in the Persian Gulf and an experimental model for electric energy extraction from them using nano-membranes

Salinity gradient power (SGP) is the energy that can be obtained from the mixing entropy of two solutions with a different salt concentration. River estuary, as a place for mixing salt water and fresh water, has a huge potential of this renewable energy. In this study, this potential in the estuaries of rivers leading to the Persian Gulf and the factors affecting it are analysis and assessment. Since most of the full water rivers are in the Asia, this continent with the potential power of 338GW is a second major source of energy from the salinity gradient power in the world (Wetsus institute, 2009). Persian Gulf, with the proper salinity gradient in its river estuaries, has Particular importance for extraction of this energy. Considering the total river flow into the Persian Gulf, which is approximately equal to 3486 m3/s, the amount of theoretical extractable power from salinity gradient in this region is 5.2GW. Iran, with its numerous rivers along the coast of the Persian Gulf, has a great share of this energy source. For example, with study calculations done on data from three hydrometery stations located on the Arvand River, Khorramshahr Station with releasing 1.91M/ energy which is obtained by combining 1.26m3 river water with 0.74 m3 sea water, is devoted to itself extracting the maximum amount of extractable energy. Considering the average of annual discharge of Arvand River in Khorramshahr hydrometery station, the amount of theoretical extractable power is 955 MW. Another part of parameters that are studied in this research, are the intrusion length of salt water and its flushing time in the estuary that have a significant influence on the salinity gradient power. According to the calculation done in conditions HWS and the average discharge of rivers, the maximum of salinity intrusion length in to the estuary of the river by 41km is related to Arvand River and the lowest with 8km is for Helle River. Also the highest rate of salt water flushing time in the estuary with 9.8 days is related to the Arvand River and the lowest with 3.3 days is for Helle River. Influence of these two parameters on reduces the amount of extractable energy from salinity gradient power as well as can be seen in the estuaries of the rivers studied. For example, at the estuary of the Arvand River in the interval 8.9 days, salinity gradient power decreases 9.2%. But another part of this research focuses on the design of a suitable system for extracting electrical energy from the salinity gradient. So far, five methods have been proposed to convert this energy to electricity that among them, reverse electro-dialysis (RED) method and pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) method have special importance in practical terms. In theory both techniques generate the same amount of energy from given volumes of sea and river water with specified salinity; in practice the RED technique seems to be more attractive for power generation using sea water and river water. Because it is less necessity of salinity gradient to PRO method. In addition to this, in RED method, it does not need to use turbine to change energy and the electricity generation is started when two solutions are mixed. In this research, the power density and the efficiency of generated energy was assessment by designing a physical method. The physical designed model is an unicellular reverse electro-dialysis battery with nano heterogenic membrane has 20cmx20cm dimension, which produced power density 0.58 W/m2 by using river water (1 g NaCl/lit) and sea water (30 g NaCl/lit) in laboratorial condition. This value was obtained because of nano method used on the membrane of this system and suitable design of the cell which led to increase the yield of the system efficiency 11% more than non nano ones.

Integration of Social Concerns in Collaborative Logistics and Transportation Networks

Part 21: Mobility and Logistics

El patrimonio cultural tangible e intangible articulado a la ordenación territorial aplicado al caso del cantón Paltas provincia de Loja

En el Ecuador la base legal como la Constitución del 2008 y el Código Orgánico de Organización Territorial, Autonomía y descentralización (COOTAD), establecen la organización político administrativa del territorio en diferentes niveles de gobierno, sean estos regiones, provincias, cantones, parroquias rurales y también de régimen especial, para ello estos niveles adquieren funciones de integridad para realizar legislación, ejecución, fiscalización y de participación ciudadana, en donde se alcanzará y se promoverá el desarrollo sustentable en el marco del plan nacional del buen vivir. Para lograr este legado, los diferentes Gobiernos Autónomos Descentralizados deben elaborar y ejecutar el Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial (POT) y el Plan de Desarrollo y Ordenamiento Territorial (PDOT), de acuerdo a sus competencias de circunscripción territorial. Por competencia exclusiva les corresponde a los gobiernos municipales " formular, aprobar y evaluar los planes, programas y proyectos destinados a la preservación, mantenimiento y difusión del patrimonio arquitectónico, cultural y natural de su circunscripción..... Para el efecto, el patrimonio en referencia será considerado en todas sus expresiones tangibles e intangible...” (COOTAD Art. 144). Lamentablemente la mayoría de estos gobiernos municipales poco o nada han incorporado el patrimonio cultural tangible e intangible en sus fases de análisis de, diagnóstico, propuesta y modelo gestión. Como base fundamental tomaremos la guía metodológica para la elaboración de planes de desarrollo y ordenamiento que presenta la SENPLADES en el año 2014y la propuesta que realiza el Dr. Domingo Gómez Orea en su libro Ordenación Territorial 2da edición, de ahí se propone una alternativa metodológica de articulación del patrimonio cultural y ordenamiento territorial. Y para lograr este objetivo, utilizaremos la información disponible que cuenta el Instituto nacional de Patrimonio Cultural (INPC) en su sistema informatizado que se encuentra en la página Web www.inpc.gob.ec, denominado Sistema de Información Patrimonial Cultural del Ecuador (SIPCE), esta base de información que contiene fichas de inventario en sus diferentes ámbitos culturales como inmuebles, muebles, documentos. Arqueológicos y manifestaciones inmateriales, previamente analizadas y georreferenciadas nos permitirán territorializar en el espacio cantonal y con ello poder realizar un análisis integrado con los otros componentes como es el medio físico, poblacional, económico, núcleos de población etc. Esta nueva metodología permitirá visualizar, conocer, aprender y empodéranos del patrimonio cultural material e inmaterial, con aquellas manifestaciones culturales y tradicionales que existen y se encuentran en vigencia. También poder recuperar y rescatar aquellas que están en peligro de desaparecer, este potencial cultural será una gran posibilidad de generar emprendimientos y desarrollo sustentable. La manera más idónea de concretar y fomentar este desarrollo sustentable en territorio será a través de la formulación de programas, planes y proyectos que deberán plantearse en los planes de ordenamiento territorial y los planes de desarrollo territorial. Finalmente para comprobar esta nueva propuesta metodológica de articulación entre el patrimonio cultural y el ordenamiento territorial, la aplicaremos al cantón Paltas de la provincia de Loja.

Computer Aided Design Algorithmic Technique for Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit Design and Smart Home Embedded System Design

To tackle the challenges at circuit level and system level VLSI and embedded system design, this dissertation proposes various novel algorithms to explore the efficient solutions. At the circuit level, a new reliability-driven minimum cost Steiner routing and layer assignment scheme is proposed, and the first transceiver insertion algorithmic framework for the optical interconnect is proposed. At the system level, a reliability-driven task scheduling scheme for multiprocessor real-time embedded systems, which optimizes system energy consumption under stochastic fault occurrences, is proposed. The embedded system design is also widely used in the smart home area for improving health, wellbeing and quality of life. The proposed scheduling scheme for multiprocessor embedded systems is hence extended to handle the energy consumption scheduling issues for smart homes. The extended scheme can arrange the household appliances for operation to minimize monetary expense of a customer based on the time-varying pricing model.

WATER USE AND SYSTEM RELIABILITY UNDER DIESELGENERATOR AND SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWERED PUMPING SYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY OF SOLLA TOGO

Access to improved potable water sources is recognized as one of the key factors in improving health and alleviating global poverty. In recently years, substantial investments have been made internationally in potable water infrastructure projects, allowing 2.3 billion people to gain access to potable water from 1990-2012. One such project was planned and installed in Solla, Togo, a rural village in the northern part of the country, from 2010-2012. Ethnographic studies revealed that, while the community has access to potable water, an estimated 45% of the village’s 1500 residents still rely on unprotected sources for drinking and cooking. Additionally, inequality in system use based on income level was revealed, with the higher income groups accessing the system more regularly than lower income groups. Cost, as well as the availability of cheaper sources, was identified as the main deterrent from using the new water distribution system. A new water-pricing scheme is investigated here with the intention of making the system accessible to a greater percentage of the population. Since 2012, a village-level water committee has been responsible for operations and maintenance (O&M), fulfilling the community management model that is recommended by many development theorists in order to create sustainable projects. The water committee received post-construction support, mostly in the form of technical support during system breakdowns, from the Togolese Ministry of Water and Sanitation (MWSVH). While this support has been valuable in maintaining a functional water supply system in Solla, the water committee still has managerial challenges, particularly with billing and fee collection. As a result, the water committee has only received 2% - 25% of the fees owed at each private connection and public tap stand, making their finances vulnerable when future repairs and capital replacements are necessary. A new management structure is proposed by the MWSVH that will pay utilities workers a wage and will hire an accountant in order to improve the local management and increase revenue. This proposal is analyzed under the new water pricing schemes that are presented. Initially, the rural water supply system was powered by a diesel-generator, but in 2013, a solar photo-voltaic power supply was installed. The new system proved a fiscal improvement for the village water committee, since it drastically reduced their annual O&M costs. However, the new system pumps a smaller volume of water on a daily basis and did not meet the community’s water needs during the dry season of 2014. A hydraulic network model was developed to investigate the system’s reliability under diesel-generator (DGPS) and solar photovoltaic (PVPS) power supplies. Additionally, a new system layout is proposed for the PVPS that allows pumping directly into the distribution line, circumventing the high head associated with pumping solely to the storage tank. It was determined that this new layout would allow for a greater volume of water to be provided to the demand points over the course of a day, meeting a greater fraction of the demand than with the current layout.

Local Use and Management of Tasba (Senna obtusifolia) in the Traditional Food System of Sanguere Paul, North Cameroon

The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of the wild edible weed tasba (Senna obtusifolia) in Sanguéré Paul, Cameroon by examining how households use and manage the plant. This study found that local management of tasba is minimal compared to other traditional vegetables. Tasba was collected most frequently from en brousse or the communal, fallowed land which is often too degraded for traditional field crops to grow. Women subsistence farmers were closely involved with tasba as they are the ones responsible for food production within the family. Socioeconomic differences between women affects how they manage tasba and other vegetables to form a livelihood strategy to achieve food security within the family. Modifications and changes in management and use of tasba are influenced by time, proximity and income based on her perspective, preferences and resources available. Overall, tasba is an integral part of the traditional food system in Sanguéré Paul, and can play a role in the uncertain ecological and social setting of northern Cameroon.

Analysis of Land Use Change as a Method of Predicting Water Demands in an Urbanizing Environment: Redland, Miami-Dade County, Florida

The fluctuation in water demand in the Redland community of Miami-Dade County was examined using land use data from 2001 and 2011 and water estimation techniques provided by local and state agencies. The data was converted to 30 m mosaicked raster grids that indicated land use change, and associated water demand measured in gallons per day per acre. The results indicate that, first, despite an increase in population, water demand decreased overall in Redland from 2001 to 2011. Second, conversion of agricultural lands to residential lands actually caused a decrease in water demand in most cases while acquisition of farmland by public agencies also caused a sharp decline. Third, conversion of row crops and groves to nurseries was substantial and resulted in a significant increase in water demand in all such areas converted. Finally, estimating water demand based on land use, rather than population, is a more accurate approach.

Ranganathan’s Layers of Classification Theory and the FASDA Model of Classification

Describes four waves of Ranganathan’s dynamic theory of classification. Outlines components that distinguish each wave, and porposes ways in which this understanding can inform systems design in the contemporary environment, particularly with regard to interoperability and scheme versioning. Ends with an appeal to better understanding the relationship between structure and semantics in faceted classification schemes and similar indexing languages.

Diachronic and Synchronic Indexing: Modeling Conceptual Change in Indexing Languages

This paper outlines a model of conceptual change in indexing languages. Findings from this modeling effort point to three ways meaning and relationships are established and then change in an indexing language. These ways: structural, terminological, and textual point to ways indexing language metadata can aid in managing conceptual change in indexing languages.

Estimation of water use and crop coefficients for an intensive olive orchard using sap flow measurements and modeled data

Olive tree sap flow measurements were collected in an intensive orchard near Évora, Portugal, during the irrigation seasons of 2013 and 2014, to calculate daily tree transpiration rates (T_SF). Meteorological variables were also collected to calculate reference evapotranspiration (ETo). Both data were used to assess values of basal crop coefficient (Kcb) for the period of the sap flow observations. The soil water balance model SIMDualKc was calibrated with soil, biophysical ground data and sap flow measurements collected in 2013. Validated in 2014 with collected sap flow observations, the model was used to provide estimates of dual e single crop coefficients for 2014 crop growing season. Good agreement between model simulated daily transpiration rates and those obtained with sapflow measurements was observed for 2014 (R2=0.76, RMSE=0.20 mm d-1), the year of validation, with an estimation average absolute error (AAE) of 0.20 mm d-1. Olive modeled daily actual evapotranspiration resulted in atual ETc values of 0.87, 2.05 and 0.77 mm d-1 for 2014 initial, mid- and end-season, respectively. Actual crop coefficient (Kc act) values of 0.51, 0.43 and 0.67 were also obtained for the same periods, respectively. Higher Kc values during spring (initial stage) and autumn (end-stage) were published in FAO56, varying between 0.65 for Kc ini and 0.70 for Kc end. The lower Kc mid value of 0.43 obtained for the summer (mid-season) is also inconsistent with the FAO56 expected Kc mid value of 0.70 for the period. The modeled Kc results are more consistent with the ones published by Allen & Pereira [1] for olive orchards with effective ground cover of 0.25 to 0.5, which vary between 0.40 and 0.80 for Kc ini, 0.40–0.60 for Kc mid with no active ground cover, and 0.35–0.75 for Kc end, depending on ground cover. The SIMDualKc simulation model proved to be appropriate for obtaining evapotranspiration and crop coefficient values for our intensive olive orchard in southern Portugal.

Olive water use and crop coefficients from energy balance and radiometric canopy temperatures

Biophysical and meteorological variables as well as radiometric canopy temperatures were collected in an intensive orchard near Évora, Portugal, with 28% ground cover by canopy and combined in a simplified two-source energy balance model (STSEB) to independently calculate the olive tree transpiration (T_STSEB) component of the total evapotranspiration (ETc). Sap flow observations were simultaneously taken in the same orchard allowing also for independent calculations of tree transpiration (T_SF). Model water use results were compared with water use estimates from the sap flow measurements. Good agreement was observed (R2=0.86, RMSE=0.20 mm d-1), with an estimation average absolute error (AAE) of 0.17 mm d-1. From June to August, on average olive water use were 1.92 and 1.89 mm d-1 for sap flow and STSEB model respectively, and 1.38 and 1.58 mm d-1 for the month of September. Results were also used to assess the olive basal crop coefficients (Kcb). Kcb estimates of 0.33 were obtained for sap flow and STSEB model, respectively, for June to August, and of 0.44 and 0.53 for the month of September. Basal crop coefficients were lower than the suggested FAO56 average Kcb values of 0.65 for June to August, the crop mid-season growth stage, and of 0.65 for the month of September, the end-season.