Development of photo catalytic active building materials using zno nanorods

In many urban cities, the pollutants concentration at street level is quite high because of the dispersion of the exhaust generated by a large number of vehicles is hindered by surrounding tall buildings. Control of these pollutions has become a pressing need for the well-being of society. Many methods have been developed to control these pollutions. Currently, there is an increasing interest in the control of urban pollution level by using construction materials containing photocatalytic nanomaterials, without changing original performance of the building structure. The photocatalytic materials used in the building materials for the purification process are efficient to remove the contaminants such as NOx and VOC. Many works have been concerned with the application of different types of nanomaterials in photocatalytic processes. This paper presents the systematic study on the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanorods on construction materials. In this method, ZnO nanorods were successfully synthesized by a wet chemical route. Systematic experiments were carried out to investigate the photocatalytic activity of the samples. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It has been found that the ZnO nanoflowers contain many radial nanorods with the diameter of 100 nm and the length of 1–1.5 μm and these ZnO single-crystalline nanorods with wurtzite structure grow along the [ 0 0 1] direction. The formation mechanism of ZnO nanoflowers and nanorods was initially interpreted in terms of the general theory of the crystal nucleation and crystal growth direction. ZnO with flower-like morphology exhibited improved ability on the photocatalytic degradation

Global Farm Animal Production and Global Warming: Impacting and Mitigating Climate Change

BACKGROUND: The farm animal sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to many environmental problems, including global warming and climate change. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to synthesize and expand upon existing data on the contribution of farm animal production to climate change. METHODS: We analyzed the scientific literature on farm animal production and documented greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as various mitigation strategies. DISCUSSIONS: An analysis of meat, egg, and milk production encompasses not only the direct rearing and slaughtering of animals, but also grain and fertilizer production for animal feed, waste storage and disposal, water use, and energy expenditures on farms and in transporting feed and finished animal products, among other key impacts of the production process as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: Immediate and far-reaching changes in current animal agriculture practices and consumption patterns are both critical and timely if GHGs from the farm animal sector are to be mitigated

Farmer’s perception of climate change and responsive strategies in three selected provinces of South Africa

The world has responded to climate change phenomenon through two broad response mechanisms (mitigation and adaptation strategies) with the aim of moderating the adverse effects of climate change and/or to exploit any arising beneficial opportunities. The paper aims to examine the trend in climate parameters, farmers’ perception of climate change, constraints faced in production and to identify the strategies (if any) that farmers have adopted to cope with the effects of changing climate. A one-way analysis of variance, percentage analysis and Garrett ranking technique were applied to a set of primary data collected from 150 randomly sampled farmers with the aid of questionnaires in three purposively selected provinces through the months of June to August 2015. The analytical results of obtained recent weather data revealed that the climate parameters have significantly changed over time and these were substantiated by farmers’ experiences. The farmers are engaging in various climate-response strategies, among which, the planting of drought-tolerant varieties is most common. Therefore, it is important to enhance farmers’ access to improved drought-tolerant seeds and efficient irrigation systems. Also observed, is that the lack of awareness of insurance products and inability to afford insurance premiums were the principal reasons majority of the farmers did not have insurance. These present a need to strengthen insurance adoption among farmers through various supporting programmes that may include premium subsidies and media outreach. The paper under one platform provides evidence of changing climate, farmers’ responses towards mitigating perceived adverse effects of the changed climate, and South Africa’s national policy on adaptation and mitigation

Analysis of local electric vehicle incentives in the Norwegian car market : a multi-homing approach

This paper analyse how the local incentives for electric vehicles affect the number of people that purchase both conventional and electric vehicles. After the threshold of 50 000 electric vehicles was reached in April 2015, there has been an ongoing debate regarding whether the incentives for electric vehicles should be withheld. The intent of the incentives is to develop a more climate friendly vehicle fleet. Although the incentives impact on joint purchase is important to understand how efficient the incentives are in achieving the policy objective, we are not aware of any research on this area up to this point. Our contribution is a theoretical model that allow consumers to purchase multiple differentiated product varieties, a behavior defined as multi-homing. The model predicts that multi-homing softens the competition between electric and conventional vehicles and partially absorbs the demand shifting effect of the incentives. Furthermore, we conduct empirical research on the car market to analyse how the car market historically has reacted to the incentives. Our findings coincide with the model's predictions at a satisfactory level. We find that all incentives increase the number of multi-homers. While our estimations shows that free ferry admission leads to an increased vehicle fleet, the introduction of toll stations, congestion charge and road toll lead to a reduction in the overall vehicle stock. The empirical results reveal that the incentives only seem to phase out sales of conventional cars if they are derivatives of policy instruments with a negative effect on the demand for conventional vehicles.nhhma

Improvement of a commercial probiotic product through metabolite profiling and quality assurance system development

In recent years, use of probiotic formulation for animal health and nutrition has gained popularity to produce high quality animal based food products i.e. milk and meat. As a result, number of probiotic products in the market has increased. However, there is an increasing concern about the quality and safety of these products and the importance of ensuring quality control of the probiotics has widely been accepted. BioBrew Ltd produces liquid animal probiotics widely administered to the farm animals in New Zealand. In this study more than 300 samples at various stages of production were analysed. Sampling across New Zealand was carried out for a period of eight months (August 2013 to March 2014). BioBrew Animal Nutritional supplement (BBAN) is molasses fermented liquid formulation having multi-species of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and yeast cells. Viability study was undertaken to enumerate LAB and yeast cell counts in BBAN using traditional plate count methods. Production involved three stages fermentation and viable LAB cell counts in stage 1, 2 and 3 differed significantly (P < 0.05). However, viable counts in stage 3 and final product with different storage days did not differ significantly (P < 0.05) and cell densities on average were found to be more than 109 CFU/ml in the product, which was higher than Minimum Suggested Level (MSL). On contrary, average yeast cell densities reached maximum in stage 1 and 2 (9.97 and 10.24 log CFU/ml respectively) dropped to 5.47 log CFU/ml at the end of storage period. On average, yeast cell counts in the product were just below the MSL, irrespective of product from different production sites. Analysis confirmed that the product contained considerable amount of lactic acid and ethanol in BBAN. Headspace Solid-Phase Micro-Extraction Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry (HSSPME/GCMS) analysis was used to detect the semi-volatile and volatile metabolites in this probiotic formulation. Lactic acid, ethanol and butyric acid were primary metabolites detected in higher quantities in BBAN formulation. Lactic acid, acetic acid, ethanol, butyric acid, diacetyl were the important metabolites identified with antimicrobial properties. Products were screened for potential foodborne pathogens and confirmed BBAN formulation were not detected positive for the presence of any bacterial pathogens over the period of study. However, contamination with yeast (Rhodotorula rubra) observed in 2 batches during the period of study. Favourable conditions for this detected yeast contamination were identified and were effectively controlled through measures suggested in this study. Based on our study, model quality assurance (QA) system was proposed to produce consistent, high quality and safe BBAN. Model QA system includes products testing for pH, temperature, viable counts, safety assessment and presence of metabolites at different stages as well as during various storage days. In summary, it was confirmed that BBAN met the quality control parameters. BBAN has lactic acid, butyric acid, ethanol, acetic acid and diacetyl as major bioactive compounds. BBAN batches tested were free from pathogenic contamination. This study suggested a model QA system to enhance quality and safety of the product

Synthesis and elevation of functionalised quantum dots as flourescence sensors for metal ions

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The Public Health Impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations on Local Communities

Large-scale farm animal production facilities, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), release a significant amount of contaminants into the air and water. Adverse health effects related to exposure to these contaminants among CAFO workers have been welldocumented; however, less is known about their impact on the health of residents in nearby communities. Epidemiological research in this area suggests that neighboring residents are at increased risk of developing neurobehavioral symptoms and respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Additional research is needed to better understand community-scale exposures and health outcomes related to the management practices and emissions of CAFOs