33 research outputs found

    Proceedings of the 2nd Energy Security and Chemical Engineering Congress

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    Mechanical engineering is a field that is continuously evolving as a profession to provide sustainable design, products and technologies for society. Mechanical engineering products, in conjunction with technological advances in other sectors, contribute to noise, water and air pollution, and the degradation of land and landscape. The rate of production, both energy and products, is increasing at such a rapid rate that natural regeneration can no longer sustain. Emission control is a fast-growing topic for mechanical engineers and others, encompassing the development of machines and processes that produce fewer pollutants as well as new materials and processes that can decrease or eliminate pollution that has already been generated. And, in an increasingly environmentally conscious world, the concept of sustainability is also intrinsically important to the success or failure of any engineering product or processes. Mechanical engineers thus play a central role in applying a truly modern approach for enabling the global transition to green energy and sustainable prac-tices. To address climate change, researchers are progressively looking into a wide range of novel solutions for energy conversion, engine efficiency, alternative fuels, nature-inspired materials, enhanced manufacturing processes and so on. In this context, this book presents part of the proceedings of the Mechanical and Materials track of the 2nd Energy Security and Chemical Engineering Congress (ESChE 2021) as presented by the academics, researchers and postgraduate students. The book provides insights into different aspects of mechanical processes, nanoma-terials and alternate fuels that set the stage for development of sustainable techno-logical solutions. The content of this book will be useful for students, researchers and professionals working in the areas of mechanical engineering, materials, energy technologies, optimization and allied fields

    Natural or anthropogenic variability? A long-term pattern of the zooplankton communities in an ever-changing transitional ecosystem

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    The Venice Lagoon is an important site belonging to the Italian Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). Alongside with the increasing trend of water temperature and the relevant morphological changes, in recent years, the resident zooplankton populations have also continued to cope with the colonization by alien species, particularly the strong competitor Mnemiopsis leidyi. In this work, we compared the dynamics of the lagoon zooplankton over a period of 20 years. The physical and biological signals are analyzed and compared to evaluate the hypothesis that a slow shift in the environmental balance of the site, such as temperature increase, sea level rise (hereafter called “marinization”), and competition between species, is contributing to trigger a drift in the internal equilibrium of the resident core zooplankton. Though the copepod community does not seem to have changed its state, some important modifications of structure and assembly mechanisms have already been observed. The extension of the marine influence within the lagoon has compressed the spatial gradients of the habitat and created a greater segregation of the niches available to some typically estuarine taxa and broadened and strengthened the interactions between marine species

    Relationship between synoptic circulations and the spatial distributions of rainfall in Zimbabwe

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    This study examines how the atmospheric circulation patterns in Africa south of the equator govern the spatial distribution of precipitation in Zimbabwe. The moisture circulation patterns are designated by an ample set of eight classified circulation types (CTs). Here it is shown that all wet CTs over Zimbabwe features enhanced cyclonic/convective activity in the southwest Indian Ocean. Therefore, enhanced moisture availability in the southwest Indian Ocean is necessary for rainfall formation in parts of Zimbabwe. The wettest CT in Zimbabwe is characterized by a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, driving an abundance of southeast moisture fluxes, from the southwest Indian Ocean into Zimbabwe. Due to the proximity of Zimbabwe to the Agulhas and Mozambique warm current, the activity of the ridging South Atlantic Ocean anticyclone is a dominant synoptic feature that favors above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. Also, coupled with a weaker state of the Mascarene high, it is shown that a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, can be favorable for the southwest movement of tropical cyclones into the eastern coastal landmasses resulting in above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. The driest CT is characterized by the northward track of the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude cyclones leading to enhanced westerly fluxes in the southwest Indian Ocean, limiting moist southeast winds into Zimbabwe

    Non-communicable Diseases, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

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    This reprint includes 15 articles in the field of non-communicable Diseases, big data, and artificial intelligence, overviewing the most recent advances in the field of AI and their application potential in 3P medicine

    Advanced Control and Estimation Concepts, and New Hardware Topologies for Future Mobility

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    According to the National Research Council, the use of embedded systems throughout society could well overtake previous milestones in the information revolution. Mechatronics is the synergistic combination of electronic, mechanical engineering, controls, software and systems engineering in the design of processes and products. Mechatronic systems put “intelligence” into physical systems. Embedded sensors/actuators/processors are integral parts of mechatronic systems. The implementation of mechatronic systems is consistently on the rise. However, manufacturers are working hard to reduce the implementation cost of these systems while trying avoid compromising product quality. One way of addressing these conflicting objectives is through new automatic control methods, virtual sensing/estimation, and new innovative hardware topologies

    Maintenance Management of Wind Turbines

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    “Maintenance Management of Wind Turbines” considers the main concepts and the state-of-the-art, as well as advances and case studies on this topic. Maintenance is a critical variable in industry in order to reach competitiveness. It is the most important variable, together with operations, in the wind energy industry. Therefore, the correct management of corrective, predictive and preventive politics in any wind turbine is required. The content also considers original research works that focus on content that is complementary to other sub-disciplines, such as economics, finance, marketing, decision and risk analysis, engineering, etc., in the maintenance management of wind turbines. This book focuses on real case studies. These case studies concern topics such as failure detection and diagnosis, fault trees and subdisciplines (e.g., FMECA, FMEA, etc.) Most of them link these topics with financial, schedule, resources, downtimes, etc., in order to increase productivity, profitability, maintainability, reliability, safety, availability, and reduce costs and downtime, etc., in a wind turbine. Advances in mathematics, models, computational techniques, dynamic analysis, etc., are employed in analytics in maintenance management in this book. Finally, the book considers computational techniques, dynamic analysis, probabilistic methods, and mathematical optimization techniques that are expertly blended to support the analysis of multi-criteria decision-making problems with defined constraints and requirements
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