9th Annual Symposium of School of Science, Engineering and Health

This symposium continues a strong tradition of annual events designed to showcase student and faculty innovation, creativity and productivity. However, it is the first that we are holding as a newly re-organized School of Science, Engineering and Health

New Frontiers in Cementitious and Lime-Based Materials and Composites

Cement and lime currently are the most common binders in building materials. However, alternative materials and methods are needed to overcome the functional limitations and environmental footprint of conventional products. This Special Issue dedicated to “New frontiers in cementitious and lime-based materials and composites” gathers selected reviews and experimental articles that showcase the most recent trends in this multidisciplinary field. Authoritative contributions from all around the world provide important insights into all areas of research related to cementitious and lime-based materials and composites, spanning from structural engineering to geotechnics, including materials science and processing technology. This Topical Collection is intended to foster innovation and help researchers and developers to identify new solutions for a more sustainable and functional built environment

Spinoff, 1992

This publication is intended to foster the aim of the NASA Technology Transfer Program by heightening awareness of the NASA technology available for reapplication and its potential for public benefit. The publication is organized in three main sections. Section 1 outlines NASA's mainline effort, the major programs that generate new technology and therefore replenish and expand the bank of knowledge available for transfer. Section 2 contains a representative sampling of spinoff products that resulted from secondary application of technology originally developed to meet mainline goals. Section 3 describes the various mechanisms NASA employs to stimulate technology transfer and lists, in an appendix, contact sources for further information about the Technology Transfer Program

International Conference on Civil Infrastructure and Construction (CIC 2020)

This is the proceedings of the CIC 2020 Conference, which was held under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani in Doha, Qatar from 2 to 5 February 2020. The goal of the conference was to provide a platform to discuss next-generation infrastructure and its construction among key players such as researchers, industry professionals and leaders, local government agencies, clients, construction contractors and policymakers. The conference gathered industry and academia to disseminate their research and field experiences in multiple areas of civil engineering. It was also a unique opportunity for companies and organizations to show the most recent advances in the field of civil infrastructure and construction. The conference covered a wide range of timely topics that address the needs of the construction industry all over the world and particularly in Qatar. All papers were peer reviewed by experts in their field and edited for publication. The conference accepted a total number of 127 papers submitted by authors from five different continents under the following four themes: Theme 1: Construction Management and Process Theme 2: Materials and Transportation Engineering Theme 3: Geotechnical, Environmental, and Geo-environmental Engineering Theme 4: Sustainability, Renovation, and Monitoring of Civil InfrastructureThe list of the Sponsors are listed at page 1

Evaluation of nitrogen elimination in anammox granular system for the treatment of industrial wastewater effluents

The present doctoral thesis focuses on the application of the single-stage partial nitritation-anammox (PN-AMX) processes with granular biomass for the removal of nitrogen from three hot-topic anaerobically digested industrial wastewater effluents, namely: fish-canning wastewater, pig slurry and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). These wastewater streams are characterized by high concentrations of nitrogen and organic matter, and thus its treatment with the PN-AMX processes, as well as the performance of the biological processes, were assessed during the operation of laboratory scale reactors. The gathered experimental data will improve the start-up and applicability limits of the biological processes at full-scale, allowing the fulfillment of the increasingly stringent discharge requirements for these industrial effluents

Special oils for halal and safe cosmetics

Three types of non conventional oils were extracted, analyzed and tested for toxicity. Date palm kernel oil (DPKO), mango kernel oil (MKO) and Ramputan seed oil (RSO). Oil content for tow cultivars of dates Deglect Noor and Moshkan was 9.67% and 7.30%, respectively. The three varieties of mango were found to contain about 10% oil in average. The red yellow types of Ramputan were found to have 11 and 14% oil, respectively. The phenolic compounds in DPKO, MKO and RSO were 0.98, 0.88 and 0.78 mg/ml Gallic acid equivalent, respectively. Oils were analyzed for their fatty acid composition and they are rich in oleic acid C18:1 and showed the presence of (dodecanoic acid) lauric acid C12:0, which reported to appear some antimicrobial activities. All extracted oils, DPKO, MKO and RSO showed no toxic effect using prime shrimp bioassay. Since these oils are stable, melt at skin temperature, have good lubricity and are great source of essential fatty acids; they could be used as highly moisturizing, cleansing and nourishing oils because of high oleic acid content. They are ideal for use in such halal cosmetics such as Science, Engineering and Technology 75 skin care and massage, hair-care, soap and shampoo products

Geothermal Paving Systems for Urban Runoff Treatment and Renewable Energy Efficiency

Water and energy are two of the most precious and essential resources which are inseparably connected; vital for the survival and well-being of humanity. Sustainable water resources and energy management emphasizes the requirement for a holistic approach in meeting the needs of the present and future generations. In order to indentify the needs and obstacles relating to water reuse and renewable energy initiatives, Hanson Formpave in partnership with The University of Edinburgh implement a five-year pilot project between May 2005 and June 2010. The research project addressed the use of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) such as permeable pavements systems (PPS) and integration of renewable energy tools such as geothermal heat pumps (GHPs). The research uses the novel and timely urban drainage system and focuses on water quality assessment when incorporated with GHPs. Twelve-tanked laboratory scaled experimental PPS were evaluated at The King’s Building campus (The University of Edinburgh, Scotland) using different compositions. Variations in designs included the presence of geotextiles layers and geothermal heating/cooling applications. The experimental rigs were examined for a two year period (March 2008 to April 2010). Two types of urban stormwater were used in the analysis; (i) gully pot liquor and (ii) gully pot liquor spiked with Canis lupus familiaris (dog) faeces. This urban wastewater represented the extreme worstcase scenario from a storm event, which can occur on a permeable pavement parking lot. The pavement systems operated in batch-flow to mimic weekly storm events and reduce pumping costs. Six PPS were located indoor in a controlled environment and six corresponding PPS were placed outdoors to allow for a direct comparison of controlled and uncontrolled environmental conditions. The outdoor rig simulated natural weather conditions whilst the indoor rig operated under controlled environmental conditions such as regulated temperature, humidity and light. The project assessed the performance of these pavement rigs with the integration of ground-source heating and cooling, standalone PPS and the abilities for water quality treatment from a physical, chemical and microbiological perspective. The performance efficiency of the GHP was measured by the energy efficiency ration (EER) for steady state cooling efficiency and the coefficient of performance (COP) for the heating cycle efficiency. Findings from the combined PPS and GHP system and standalone systems were able to significantly lower levels for all physiochemical and microbial water quality parameters in the range of (70-99.99%) respectively. Outflow concentrations for all pavement systems met the European Commission Environment Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC). The presence of geotextiles resulted in a significant reduction of contaminants when compared to PPS systems without (p <0.05). Photocatalytic disinfection with titanium dioxide (TIO2) was applied to the effluent from PPS for further treatment and polishing of the stormwater. After the photocatalytic disinfection, the water met the requirements for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) water recycling guidelines and the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for potable water consumption with regards to microbial contamination. An Energy and temperature balance was developed for two PPS using a 4th order Runge-Kutta numerical method to model the heat fluxes and energy balance within the pavement system. Machine learning techniques such as artificial neural networks (backpropagatioin feed forward neural networks) and self-organising maps (SOM) were applied and successfully predicted the effluent concentrations of nutrients, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and microbial pollutants. The overall outcome of this research is a significant contribution to the development of a new generable of sustainable and eco-friendly pavements. The research project proves scientifically that PPS is one of the most appropriate systems for GHP installation and does not affect its efficiency for water pollutant removal

Quality management in laboratories- Effciency prediction models

In recent years, the choice of quality tools by laboratories has increased significantly. This fact contributed to the growth of competitiveness, requiring a new organizational posture to adapt to the new challenges. In order to obtain competitive advantages in the respective sectors of activity, laboratories have increasingly invested in innovation. In this context, the main objective of this study aims to develop efficiency models for laboratories using tools from the Scientific Area of Artificial Intelligence. Throughout this work, different studies will be presented, carried out in water analysis laboratories, stem cell cryopreservation laboratories and dialysis care clinics, in which innovative solutions and better resource control were sought, without compromising quality and promoting greater sustainability This work can be seen as an investigation opportunity that can be applied not only in laboratories and clinics, but also in organizations from different sectors in order to seek to define prediction models, allowing the anticipation of future scenarios and the evaluation of ways of acting. The results show the feasibility of applying the models and that the normative references applied to laboratories and clinics can be a basis for structuring the systems; Gestão da Qualidade em Laboratórios Modelos de Previsão de Eficiência Resumo: Nos últimos anos, a adoção de ferramentas da qualidade por parte dos laboratórios tem aumentado significativamente. Este facto contribuiu para o crescimento da competitividade, exigindo uma nova postura organizacional de forma a se adaptarem aos novos desafios. Tendo em vista obter vantagens competitivas nos respetivos sectores de atividade, os laboratórios têm, cada vez mais, apostado em inovação. Neste contexto, o principal objetivo deste estudo visa o desenvolvimento de modelos de eficiência para laboratórios através do recurso a ferramentas da Área Científica da Inteligência Artificial. Ao longo deste trabalho irão ser apresentados diferentes estudos, realizados em laboratórios de análises de águas, laboratórios de criopreservação de células estaminais e clínicas de prestação de cuidados de diálise, nos quais se procuraram soluções inovadoras e um melhor controlo de recursos, sem comprometer a qualidade e promovendo uma maior sustentabilidade. Este trabalho pode ser encarado como uma oportunidade de investigação que pode ser aplicado não apenas em laboratórios e clínicas mas, também, em organizações de diversos sectores com o intuito de se procurar definir modelos de previsão, possibilitando a antecipação de cenários futuros e a avaliação de formas de atuação. Os resultados mostram a viabilidade da aplicação dos modelos e que os referenciais normativos aplicados aos laboratórios e às clínicas podem servir como base para estruturação dos sistemas

Biomass for Energy Country Specific Show Case Studies

In many domestic and industrial processes, vast percentages of primary energy are produced by the combustion of fossil fuels. Apart from diminishing the source of fossil fuels and the increasing risk of higher costs and energy security, the impact on the environment is worsening continually. Renewables are becoming very popular, but are, at present, more expensive than fossil fuels, especially photovoltaics and hydropower. Biomass is one of the most established and common sources of fuel known to mankind, and has been in continuous use for domestic heating and cooking over the years, especially in poorer communities. The use of biomass to produce electricity is interesting and is gaining ground. There are several ways to produce electricity from biomass. Steam and gas turbine technology is well established but requires temperatures in excess of 250 °C to work effectively. The organic Rankine cycle (ORC), where low-boiling-point organic solutions can be used to tailor the appropriate solution, is particularly successful for relatively low temperature heat sources, such as waste heat from coal, gas and biomass burners. Other relatively recent technologies have become more visible, such as the Stirling engine and thermo-electric generators are particularly useful for small power production. However, the uptake of renewables in general, and biomass in particular, is still considered somewhat risky due to the lack of best practice examples to demonstrate how efficient the technology is today. Hence, the call for this Special Issue, focusing on country files, so that different nations’ experiences can be shared and best practices can be published, is warranted. This is realistic, as it seems that some nations have different attitudes to biomass, perhaps due to resource availability, or the technology needed to utilize biomass. Therefore, I suggest that we go forward with this theme, and encourage scientists and engineers who are researching in this field to present case studies related to different countries. I certainly have one case study for the UK to present