Sustainability of e-waste Management: Egypt case study

The amount of electronic waste generated globally is alarming especially that it is on the rise. The impact of the generated amounts is not only Environmental. The electronic waste sector is unregulated in most developing countries; this results in the informal sector being heavily involved in managing and handling it. Due to the lack of regulations, informal handlers are exposed to hazardous materials that affect both their health and health of the communities living in their proximity. Moreover, the informal sector involves illegal child and women labour under harsh conditions. In addition to the social impact, the lack of regulations leads to missing major economic opportunities associated with developing a recycling industry for the safe handling and material recovery from the generated e-waste volumes. Electronic waste may contain up to 60 different materials including precious and rare-earth metals with an estimated equivalent economic value of 48 billion Euros (Baldé, Wang, Kuehr, & Huisman, 2015; Tansel, 2017). Egypt is one the countries which lack policies and regulations dedicated to e-waste, hence the Egyptian economy is missing the economic potential and job creation opportunities associated with developing the e-waste sector as well as facing major Environmental and health challenges due to the improper handling of the generated amounts. This thesis investigates the current situation of e-waste in Egypt through interviews with major stakeholders in the sector as well as a questionnaire. The thesis then proposes an adapted guideline for the sustainable management of e-waste in Egypt. The guideline is based on the international regulations and guidelines especially those of countries similar to the Egyptian socioeconomic context. Finally, the possibility of upcycling the rejects produced from the e-waste recycling processes is tested. Nonmetals represent around 70% of the total weight of the generated e-waste; these nonmetals include fiberglass and resins which are used in the manufacturing of PCBs (Kaya, 2016). In the Greater Cairo Area only, it is estimated that around 150 ton/year of PCBs are generated (Fathya Soliman & Mounir Boushra, 2017). Thus, the achieved results from upcycling the PCB powder into a composite material, which can replace marble to be used for tabletops or tiles, were a step ahead to realizing sustainable e-waste rejects handling. The produced material has an average flexural strength of about 1773 MPa compared to 1431 MPa for marble and the weight loss during abrasion test of the produced materials was between 0.13%-1.5% compared to about 8.8% for marble

Urban Quality of Life in Nasr City: An Assessment of the Reformation Project of the Built Environment

Large-scale urban renewal initiatives are undertaken by governments in cities under pressure to improve residents' quality of life (QoL) and mitigate economic and environmental issues. In 2019, as a part of the Egypt 2030 vision, the government initiated a road network reformation project to solve mobility issues in the districts linking the east and west of Cairo, including Nasr City District. To investigate if the built environment of Nasr City District is still resident-friendly, this research is being undertaken to examine residents' satisfaction with the reformation project, which had an impact on their QoL

Experimental Validation of a Marine Current Turbine Simulator: Application to a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator-Based System Second-Order Sliding Mode Control

This paper deals with the experimental validation of a Matlab-Simulink simulation tool of marine current turbine (MCT) systems. The developed simulator is intended to be used as a sizing and site evaluation tool for MCT installations. For that purpose, the simulator is evaluated within the context of speed control of a permanent magnet synchronous generatorbased (PMSG) MCT. To increase the generated power, and therefore the efficiency of an MCT, a nonlinear controller has been proposed. PMSG has been already considered for similar applications, particularly wind turbine systems using mainly PI controllers. However, such kinds of controllers do not adequately handle some of tidal resource characteristics such as turbulence and swell effects. Moreover, PMSG parameter variations should be accounted for. Therefore, a robust nonlinear control strategy, namely second-order sliding mode control, is proposed. The proposed control strategy is inserted in the simulator that accounts for the resource and the marine turbine models. Simulations using tidal current data from Raz de Sein (Brittany, France) and experiments on a 7.5-kW real-time simulator are carried out for the validation of the simulator.Thèse financée par Brest Métropole Océan

Immunological role of nasal staphylococcus aureus carriage in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis

Nasal carriage of staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) exerts immunomodulatory effect in patients with atopic dermatitis and it may contribute to airway inflammation and allergic response in patients with allergic rhinitis. We Aim to investigate the frequency of nasal S.aureus carriage in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis and its possible influence on their symptoms and immune markers. We chosed 20 non smoker patients with house dust mite (HDM) allergy causing allergic rhinitis and 20 non smoker healthy subjects matched for age and sex. For all subjects rhinoscopy was done, skin prick test, nasal culture for S.aureus, nasal interleukin 4,nasal total IgE, serum total IgE and serum specific IgE(SSIgE) for HDM. Nasal S.aureus was detected in 16/20 patients (80%) and 5/20 (25%) in healthy subjects with highly significant statistical difference p<0.01. Correlation of nasal staph.aureus count and different systemic and local immune markers revealed highly significant positive correlation between nasal S.aureus count and serum total IgE (r = 0.78, p<0.01) and significant positive correlation with SSIgE (HDM) (r = 0.53, p<0.05), nasal total IgE (r = 0.39, p<0.05) and nasal IL-4 (r = 0.55, p<0.05). Nasal staph.aureus actively modulated the immune reaction in persistent allergic rhinitis patients by promoting local IgE production, so we recommend early detection and treatment of S.aureus carriage in patients

Experimental Validation of a Marine Current Turbine Simulator: Application to a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator-Based System Second-Order Sliding Mode Control

This paper deals with the experimental validation of a Matlab-Simulink simulation tool of marine current turbine (MCT) systems. The developed simulator is intended to be used as a sizing and site evaluation tool for MCT installations. For that purpose, the simulator is evaluated within the context of speed control of a permanent magnet synchronous generatorbased (PMSG) MCT. To increase the generated power, and therefore the efficiency of an MCT, a nonlinear controller has been proposed. PMSG has been already considered for similar applications, particularly wind turbine systems using mainly PI controllers. However, such kinds of controllers do not adequately handle some of tidal resource characteristics such as turbulence and swell effects. Moreover, PMSG parameter variations should be accounted for. Therefore, a robust nonlinear control strategy, namely second-order sliding mode control, is proposed. The proposed control strategy is inserted in the simulator that accounts for the resource and the marine turbine models. Simulations using tidal current data from Raz de Sein (Brittany, France) and experiments on a 7.5-kW real-time simulator are carried out for the validation of the simulator.Thèse financée par Brest Métropole Océan