Organic farming without fossil fuels - life cycle assessment of two Swedish cases

Organic agriculture is dependent on fossil fuels, just like conventional agriculture, but this can be reduced by the use of on-farm biomass resources. The energy efficiency and environmental impacts of different alternatives can be assessed by life cycle assessment (LCA), which we have done in this project. Swedish organic milk production can become self-sufficient in energy by using renewable sources available on the farm, with biogas from manure as the main energy source. Thereby greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production system can be reduced, both by substituting fossil fuels and by reducing methane emissions from manure. The arable organic farm studied in the project could be self-sufficient in energy by using the residues available in the crop rotation. Because of soil carbon losses, the greenhouse gas emission savings were lower with the use of straw ethanol, heat and power (9%) than by using ley for biogas production (35%). In this research project, the system boundaries were set at energy self-sufficiency at farm or farm-cluster level. Heat and fuel were supplied as needed, and electricity production was equal to use on an annual basis. In practice, however, better resource efficiency can be achieved by making full use of available energy infrastructure, and basing production on resource availability and economic constraints, rather than a narrow self-sufficiency approach

Törtrendű deriváltak integrálása nemlineáris rendszerek új lágy számítási eljárásokon alapuló adaptív szabályozásával = Integration of Fractional Order Derivatives in the Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Systems on the Basis of Novel Soft Computing Techniques

A projektben speciális, "Single Input - Single Output" rendszerekre hasonló háromszögeken alapuló adaptív fixpont transzformációs szabályozót dolgoztunk ki és alkalmaztunk nemlineáris paradigmákra (Ball-Beam System, polimerizációs reakció, hidraulikus munkahenger). A következő lépés e módszer robusztus változatának kidolgozása, majd "Multiple Input - Multiple Output" rendszerekre való kétféle általánosítása volt. A frakcionális deriváltak Caputo féle alakjából numerikus közelítéssel bevezettük a frakcionális derivált három paraméteres változatát és a "kezdeti érték" helyett a "kezdeti történet" fogalmát. Megmutattuk, hogy ez disszipatív és gerjedő rendszerek modellezésére is alkalmas. E deriváltat felhasználtuk egész rendű rendszerek szabályozásának javítására és hipotetikus frakcionális rendszerek modellezésére. Kimutattuk, hogy az általunk javasolt adaptív szabályozó e rendszerekre nehézség nélkül alkalmazható. Adaptív szabályozásunkat különféle egész és törtrendű rendszerek szabályozására alkalmaztuk szimulációval. Széles körű szimulációs vizsgálatokkal kimutattuk a legtipikusabb, Lyapunov függvényt használó adaptív módszerek hiányosságait. Végül ezek kiküszöbölésére kidolgoztuk a "Model Reference Adaptive Control" szabályozók új változatát, amely Lyapunov direkt módszere helyett robusztus fixpont transzformációval működik. | In the project special adaptive controllers were proposed for "Single Input - Single Output" systems. It applies similar triangles for formulating the control law. It was successfully applied for nonlinear paradigms as the Ball-Beam System, a polymerization reaction, and a hydraulic cylinder. In the next step the robust version of this method was elaborated, it was generalized for "Multiple Input - Multiple Output" systems in two different ways. Via numerically approximating Caputo's definition of fractional order (FO) systems a three parameters, finite memory generalization of the FO derivatives was proposed with the concept of the "preceding history" instaed of the "initial conditions". It was shown that it can be used for modeling stable dissipative and unstable systems, too. The new fractional derivative was utilized for improving the adaptive control elaborated for integer order systems, and for modeling the fractional order systems. It was shown that the fixed point transformations based control can easily be applied for the adaptive control of such hypothetical systems. Our method was applied for various integer and fractional order systems via simulations. The most important deficiencies of the most popular adaptive methods using Lyapunov's direct method were pointed out. To eliminate these deficiencies a novel approach was elaborated for the "Model Reference Adaptive Control" in which Lyapunov's method is replaced by robust fixed point transformation

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the frontal region in patients with metabolic syndrome : correlation with anthropometric measurement

Purpose: to demonstrate 1H-MR spectroscopy of the frontal region in patients with metabolic syndrome and to correlate the metabolic ratios with anthropometric measurement. Material and methods: A prospective study was conducted upon 20 patients with metabolic syndrome (10 male, 10 female; mean age 52 years) and 20 age- and sex-matched volunteers. Patients were mild-moderate (n = 14) and marked and morbid obesity (n = 6). Patients and volunteers underwent 1H-MR spectroscopy of the frontal region. The Ch/Cr and NAA/Cr ratio were calculated and correlated with anthropometric measurement. Results: The Cho/Cr and NAA/Cr of patients with Mets (1.03 ± 0.08 and 1.62 ± 0.08) were significantly different (p = 0.001) to those of volunteers (0.78 ± 0 and 1.71 ± 0.61, respectively). The Cho/Cr and NAA/Cr cutoffs used to differentiate patients from volunteers were 0.89 and 1.77 with areas under the curve of 0.992 and 0.867 and accuracy of 97% and 93%, respectively. There was a significant difference in Cho/Cr and NAA/Cr between patients with marked-morbid obesity and moderate-mild obesity (p = 0.001 respectively). Conclusions: We concluded that NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios of the frontal region can differentiate patients with metabolic syndrome from volunteers and are well correlated with the anthropometric measurement

Electricity From Wind for Off-Grid Applications in Bangladesh: a Techno-Economic Assessment

Global GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions are increasing substantially and electricity sector is one of the key contributors to the world\u27s total GHG emissions. GHG emissions cause ozone layer depletion and global warming. Different policy regulation agencies are adopting regulations to reduce GHG emissions in various sectors. People already have started power generation from cleaner sources. Renewable energy sources can provide cleaner electricity. Bangladesh is a densely populated country and most of the country\u27s electricity is produced from natural gas and coal. The Bangladesh government has set a goal to utilize renewable energy for the production of 10% of its electricity by the year 2020. Bangladesh has a lot of isolated coastal areas which are not connected to the national grid which can be electrified by using abundant wind energy. In this study a techno-economic analysis has been conducted for an off-grid island of Bangladesh. The analysis was conducted by developing a data intensive model that calculates the generation cost of electricity from wind energy. The model also estimates the capital cost of the system. The model shows that electricity can be produced from wind energy at a cost of $0.57/kWh. The system\u27s capital cost was calculated to be$63,550.16. Keywords: GHG emission, cost of electricity, off-grid, wind energy, electricity generation.Article History: Received October 15th 2016; Received in revised form January 26th 2017; Accepted February 4th 2017; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Rahman, M.M., Baky, M.A.H, and Islam, A.K.M.S. (2017) Electricity from Wind for Off-Grid Applications in Bangladesh: A Techno-Economic Assessment. International Journal of Renewable Energy Develeopment, 6(1), 55-64.http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.1.55-6

White Cong and Black Clap: The Ambient Truth of Vietnam War Legendry

https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/vietnam_papers/1007/thumbnail.jp

Vietnam War Fiction

https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/vietnam_papers/1006/thumbnail.jp

Role of quercetin and arginine in ameliorating nano zinc oxide-induced nephrotoxicity in rats

BACKGROUND: Nanoparticles are small-scale substances (<100 nm) with unique properties. Therefore, nanoparticles pose complex health risk implications. The objective of this study was to detect whether treatment with quercetin (Qur) and/or arginine (Arg) ameliorated nephrotoxicity induced by two different doses of nano zinc oxide (n-ZnO) particles. METHOD: ZnO nanoparticles were administered orally in two doses (either 600 mg or 1 g/Kg body weight/day for 5 conscutive days) to Wister albino rats. In order to detect the protective effects of the studied antioxidants against n-ZnO induced nepherotoxicity, different biochemical parameters were investigated. Moreover, histopathological examination of kidney tissue was performed. RESULTS: Nano zinc oxide-induced nephrotoxicity was confirmed by the elevation in serum inflammatory markers including: tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6); and C-reactive protein (CRP). Moreover, immunoglobulin (IGg), vascular endothelium growth factor (VEGF), and nitric oxide (NO) were significantly increased in rat serum. Serum urea and creatinine levels were also significantly increased in rats intoxicated with n-ZnO particles compared with the control group. Additionally, a significant decrease in the non-enzymatic antioxidant reduced glutathione (GSH) was shown in kidney tissues and serum glucose levels were increased. These biochemical findings were supported by a histopathological examination of kidney tissues, which showed that in the animals that received a high dose of n-ZnO, numerous kidney glomeruli underwent atrophy and fragmentation. Moreover, the renal tubules showed epithelial desquamation, degeneration and necrosis. Some renal tubules showed casts in their lumina. Severe congestion was also observed in renal interstitium. These effects were dose dependent. Cotreatment of rats with Qur and/or Arg along with n-ZnO significantly improved most of the deviated tested parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The data show that Qur has a beneficial effect against n-ZnO oxidative stress and related vascular complications. Also, its combination with Arg proved to be even more effective in ameliorating nano zinc oxide nephrotoxicity

Death Takes a Day Trip - Wayne Karlin\u27s Rumors and Stones: A Journey

https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/vietnam_papers/1000/thumbnail.jp

Monographic Fictive Writing Comparing the Persian Gulf Wars of 1990 to 2006 and the Vietnam War of 1961 to 1975

https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/vietnam_papers/1003/thumbnail.jp

My Lai: 2003 - Meditations on How the Vietnam War is Memorialized (again)

https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/vietnam_papers/1004/thumbnail.jp