Sustainable Waste Management and Waste to Energy Recovery in Thailand

In Thailand, the municipal solid waste (MSW) generated is currently about 71,700 tons a day. Moreover, solid waste management (SWM) is an interdisciplinary issue. The concept of WM has been embraced by Thailand through the setting of a national master plan for SWM. Several waste to energy (WTE) projects have been initiated. The anaerobic digestion WTE power plant in Rayong municipality was selected for performance evaluation. It is able to treat 70 tons of organic waste per days but its actual throughput has decreased to 20 tons per day based on limited amount of waste separation effected to isolate organic waste. In addition, a better digester design is required for the actual organic waste generated. Thermal processes such as gasification and incineration in Hatyai have been applied for mixed waste. However, they suffer from the limitation that high moisture content waste can cause fluctuating heating values. Also, the environmental impact on nearby communities is an important concern. Meanwhile, investment in WTE project has been encouraged by the introduction of the feed-in tariff (FiT) rate paid for electricity generated through sustainable processes to promote energy recovery from MSW. The keys to success for WTE technologies are waste separation at source and development of machine innovation

Greening Municipality Through Carbon Footprint for Selective Municipality

Evaluation of the organizational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operational activities of selective municipality was investigated in this study. The selected municipality is located in Songkhla Province, the southern part of Thailand, and is divided into seven functional units. The total GHG emissions were estimated at 16,920.29 ton CO2 eq. in the fiscal year 2016. The carbon footprints under direct, indirect, and optional indirect emissions (scopes 1, 2, and 3, respectively) were found to be 1129.92, 255.24, and 15,535.13 ton CO2 eq./year, respectively. The highest carbon footprint was from methane emissions related to solid waste decomposition in sanitary landfills (15,524 ton CO2 eq./year). Therefore, the main GHG mitigation strategy proposed was the installation of waste to energy recovery in order to reduce waste throughput to the landfill. For specific municipal operations, diesel combustion in municipality-owned vehicles had the highest carbon emission followed by fugitive emissions from refrigerants and electricity consumption (746.92, 289.60, and 255.24 ton CO2 eq./year, respectively). The important constraints in reducing GHG emissions from upstream and downstream of the organizational activities were identified in terms of time, cost, and data accessibility. Further, convergent cooperation and public participation are also significant for effective implementation of global warming mitigation strategies

Life cycle cost analysis and energy performance of President’s office, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand

The importance of life cycle cost analysis for administration is to investigate the components and activities which are outstanding engagements making high operational cost. This involves energy efficiency and consumption reduction from occupants in building. The aim of this study is to evaluate the cost of operational performance in administrative buildings of Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Hatyai campus called President’s office (PO). It has a 6,988 m2 functional area including executive, administrative, and meeting operations. The highest cost of operation comes from electricity consumption estimated to be about 2,439,047 THB or 69,687 USD. To obtain the approximate energy performance of PO, energy audit was investigated. The primary operational energy was considered in four components;(1) Air-conditioning (AC) to cool the rooms, (2) Lighting to illuminate the rooms, (3) IT devices to process documents and database, and (4) auxiliary appliances to support administration. In particularly, AC system consumes the highest energy. Approximately 75% of the energy consumed in the building is attributed to administrative operations. This study also suggests some solutions that have been recorded to be effective in reducing the energy consumption of administrative building. The energy measures were divided into two different categories, reaching by internal and external factors. The most mutual recommendations were identified as lighting and air conditioning retrofits. Renewable energy is an environmental friendly solution but installation has been proved to cost higher than saving cost. Furthermore, there is still potential for improving energy performance not only by its physical characteristics but also by several significant factors such as occupant’s behavioral change, and control of indoor environmental condition. The energy efficiency improvement requires holistic measures for sustainable energy building

Editor's Choice - Infective Native Aortic Aneurysms: A Delphi Consensus Document on Terminology, Definition, Classification, Diagnosis, and Reporting Standards.

There is no consensus regarding the terminology, definition, classification, diagnostic criteria, and algorithm, or reporting standards for the disease of infective native aortic aneurysm (INAA), previously known as mycotic aneurysm. The aim of this study was to establish this by performing a consensus study. The Delphi methodology was used. Thirty-seven international experts were invited via mail to participate. Four two week Delphi rounds were performed, using an online questionnaire, initially with 22 statements and nine reporting items. The panellists rated the statements on a five point Likert scale. Comments on statements were analysed, statements revised, and results presented in iterative rounds. Consensus was defined as ≥ 75% of the panel selecting "strongly agree" or "agree" on the Likert scale, and consensus on the final assessment was defined as Cronbach's alpha coefficient > .80. All 38 panellists completed all four rounds, resulting in 100% participation and agreement that this study was necessary, and the term INAA was agreed to be optimal. Three more statements were added based on the results and comments of the panel, resulting in a final 25 statements and nine reporting items. All 25 statements reached an agreement of ≥ 87%, and all nine reporting items reached an agreement of 100%. The Cronbach's alpha increased for each consecutive round (round 1 = .84, round 2 = .87, round 3 = .90, and round 4 = .92). Thus, consensus was reached for all statements and reporting items. This Delphi study established the first consensus document on INAA regarding terminology, definition, classification, diagnostic criteria, and algorithm, as well as reporting standards. The results of this study create essential conditions for scientific research on this disease. The presented consensus will need future amendments in accordance with newly acquired knowledge

Targeted transcriptional and proteomic studies explicate specific roles of Bacillus subtilis iturin A, fengycin, and surfactin on elicitation of defensive systems in mandarin fruit during stress.

Application of Bacillus cyclic lipopeptides (CLPs); fengycin, iturin A and surfactin has shown a great potential in controlling the spread of green mold pathogen invasion (Penicillium digitatum) in wounded mandarin fruit during postharvest period. The limited defensive protein profiles followed specific expression of pivotal genes relating to plant hormone mediating signaling pathways of the CLPs' action on stimulating host plant resistance have been exhibited. The present study aimed to elucidate the specific effect of individual CLP obtained from Bacillus subtilis ABS-S14 as elicitor role on activation of plant defensive system at transcriptional and proteomic levels with and without P. digitatum co-application in mandarin fruit. Fengycin and iturin A elevated the gene expression of PAL, ACS1, ACO, CHI, and GLU while significantly stimulating plant POD transcription was only detected in the treatments of surfactin both with and without following P. digitatum. An increase of LOX and PR1 gene transcripts was determined in the treatments of individual CLP with fungal pathogen co-application. Fengycin activated production of unique defensive proteins such as protein involved in ubiquinone biosynthetic process in treated flavedo without P. digitatum infection. Proteins involved in the auxin modulating pathway were present in the iturin A and surfactin treatments. CLP-protein binding assay following proteome analysis reveals that iturin A attached to 12-oxophytodienoate reductase 2 involved in the oxylipin biosynthetic process required for jasmonic acid production which is implicated in induced systemic resistance (ISR). This study suggests specific elicitor action of individual CLP, particularly iturin A showed the most powerful in stimulating the ISR system in response to stresses in postharvest mandarins

Role of a Mine in Changing Its Surroundings—Land Use and Land Cover and Impact on the Natural Environment in Barapukuria, Bangladesh

Land use and land cover (LULC) change is considered among the most discussed issues associated with development nowadays. It is necessary to provide factual and up-to-date information to policymakers to fulfil the increasing population’s food, work, and habitation needs while ensuring environmental sustainability. Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote sensing can perform such work adequately. This study aims to assess land use and land cover changes concerning the Barapukuria coal mine and its adjacent areas in Bangladesh by applying remote sensing and GIS (geographical information system) techniques. This research work used time-series satellite images from the Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite between 1999 and 2009 and the Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS satellite for 2019. Supervised classification maximum likelihood classifier matrix was implemented using ERDAS Imagine 2018. The images were categorised into four definite classes: settlement, agricultural land, forest land, and waterbody. Analytical results clearly indicated that settlements and agricultural land had increasing and decreasing trends over the past 20 years, respectively. Settlements increased from 22% to 34% between 1999 and 2019. However, agricultural land reduced from 69% to 59% in the same period. Settlements grew by more than 50% during this period. The research had an overall accuracy of 70%, while the kappa coefficient was more than 0.60. There were land subsidence issues because of mining activities, leading to 1.003 km2 area being depressed and 1500 houses cracked. This research depicts the present LULC scenario and the impact of the coalfield area. It is expected to reduce the burden on policymakers to prepare a proper and effective mines development policy in Bangladesh and meet sustainable development goal (SDG) 15 (Life on land)

Induction of β -1,3-glucanase in barley in response to infection by fungal pathogens

The sequence of a partial cDNA clone corresponding to an mRNA induced in leaves of barley (Hordeum vulgare) by infection with fungal pathogens matched almost perfectly with that of a cDNA clone coding for β-1,3-glucanase isolated from the scutellum of barley. Western blot analysis of intercellular proteins from near-isogenic barley lines inoculated with the powdery mildew fungus (Erysiphe graminis f. sp. hordei) showed a strong induction of glucanase in all inoculated lines but was most pronounced in two resistant lines. These data were confirmed by β -1,3-glucanase assays. The barley cDNA was used as a hybridization probe to detect mRNAs in barley, wheat (Triticum aestivum), rice (Oryza sativus), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), which are induced by infection with the necrotrophic pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana. These results demonstrate that activation of β -1,3-glucanase genes may be a general response of cereals to infection by fungal pathogens

MDCT Findings in Gastrointestinal Perforations and the Predictive Value according to the Site of Perforation

: Background: Gastrointestinal perforations are a frequent cause of acute abdominal symptomatology for patients in the emergency department. The aim of this study was to investigate the findings of multidetector-row computed tomography of gastrointestinal perforations and analyze the impact of any imaging signs on the presurgical identification of the perforation site. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed emergency MDCT findings of 93 patients submitted to surgery for gastrointestinal perforation at two different institutions. Two radiologists separately reviewed the emergency MDCT examinations performed on each patient, before and after knowing the surgical diagnosis of the perforation site. A list of findings was considered. Positive predictive values were estimated for each finding with respect to each perforation site, and correspondence analysis (CA) was used to investigate the relationship between the findings and each of the perforation types. Results: We did not find inframesocolic free air in sigmoid colorectal perforations, and in rare cases, only supramesocolic free fluid in gastroduodenal perforations was found. A high PPV of perivisceral fat stranding due to colonic perforation and general distension of upstream loops and collapse of downstream loops were evident in most patients. Conclusions: Our data could offer additional information on the perforation site in the case of doubtful findings to support surgeons, especially in planning a laparoscopic approach