scholarly journals Insulating Organic Material as a Protection System against Late Frost Damages on the Vine Shoots

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6279
Author(s):  
Alessia Di Giuseppe ◽  
Alberto Maria Gambelli ◽  
Federico Rossi ◽  
Andrea Nicolini ◽  
Nicola Ceccarelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
Thermal Insulator ◽  
Wine Sector ◽  
Cotton Candy ◽  
Innovative Techniques ◽  
Protective Effectiveness

Late frosts are one of the major impact factors on agriculture worldwide with large economic losses for agricultural crops, with a significant impact also in wine production. Given the importance of the wine sector in the world, more and more efforts are being made to identify innovative techniques capable of creating a low-cost and effective protection for vine shoots, as well as reducing energy consumption. In a previous work, cotton candy was identified as an insulating material to solve the problems related to late frosts on vineyards and limit its damages as much as possible. From the results of the previous research, it has proved that cotton candy is an excellent thermal insulator, but it degrades quickly in windy conditions. Thus, climatic tests carried out in windy condition showed that straw can greatly slow down the degradation of cotton candy over time, giving an indirect contribution to the protective effectiveness of cotton candy. In addition, several tests were conducted with different amounts of sugar and straw without wind to evaluate whether the straw can itself make a contribution in terms of thermal insulation, as well as contribute to the protective effectiveness of cotton candy, minimizing energy use as well.

scholarly journals Innovative passive reinforcements for the gradual stabilization of a landslide according with the observational method

Landslides ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Brezzi ◽  
Alberto Bisson ◽  
Davide Pasa ◽  
Simonetta Cola
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Fe Model ◽  
Site Conditions ◽  
Observational Method ◽  
Rainy Period ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Set Up

AbstractA large number of landslides occur in North-Eastern Italy during every rainy period due to the particular hydrogeological conditions of this area. Even if there are no casualties, the economic losses are often significant, and municipalities frequently do not have sufficient financial resources to repair the damage and stabilize all the unstable slopes. In this regard, the research for more economically sustainable solutions is a crucial challenge. Floating composite anchors are an innovative and low-cost technique set up for slope stabilization: it consists in the use of passive sub-horizontal reinforcements, obtained by coupling a traditional self-drilling bar with some tendons cemented inside it. This work concerns the application of this technique according to the observational method described within the Italian and European technical codes and mainly recommended for the design of geotechnical works, especially when performed in highly uncertain site conditions. The observational method prescribes designing an intervention and, at the same time, using a monitoring system in order to correct and adapt the project during realization of the works on the basis of new data acquired while on site. The case study is the landslide of Cischele, a medium landslide which occurred in 2010 after an exceptional heavy rainy period. In 2015, some floating composite anchors were installed to slow down the movement, even if, due to a limited budget, they were not enough to ensure the complete stabilization of the slope. Thanks to a monitoring system installed in the meantime, it is now possible to have a comparison between the site conditions before and after the intervention. This allows the evaluation of benefits achieved with the reinforcements and, at the same time, the assessment of additional improvements. Two stabilization scenarios are studied through an FE model: the first includes the stabilization system built in 2015, while the second evaluates a new solution proposed to further increase the slope stability.

Learning from 80 years of studies: a comprehensive catalogue of non-Saccharomyces yeasts associated with viticulture and winemaking

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
João Drumonde-Neves ◽  
Ticiana Fernandes ◽  
Teresa Lima ◽  
Célia Pais ◽  
Ricardo Franco-Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Yeast Species ◽  
Starter Cultures ◽  
Biotechnological Applications ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
Sampling Studies ◽  
Volatile Acidity ◽  
Wine Sector ◽  
Saccharomyces Yeast ◽  
Saccharomyces Yeasts

ABSTRACT Non-Saccharomyces yeast species are nowadays recognized for their impact on wine´s chemical composition and sensorial properties. In addition, new interest has been given to the commercial exploitation of non-Saccharomyces starter cultures in the wine sector. However, over many years, these yeast species were considered sources of contamination in wine production and conservation, mainly due to the high levels of volatile acidity obtained. The present manuscript systematizes 80 years of literature describing non-Saccharomyces yeast species isolated from grapes and/or grape musts. A link between each reference, the accepted taxonomic name of each species and their geographical occurrence is presented, compiling information for 293 species, in a total of 231 citations. One major focus of this work relates to the isolation of non-Saccharomyces yeasts from grapevines usually ignored in most sampling studies, also as isolation from damaged grapes. These particular niches are sources of specific yeast species, which are not identified in most other explored environments. These yeasts have high potential to be explored for important and diversified biotechnological applications.

Investigation and Analysis on Seismic Damage of Masonry Buildings Subjected to Wenchuan Ms=8.0 Earthquake

2010 ◽  
Vol 452-453 ◽  
pp. 105-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Fu Chen ◽  
Bai Tao Sun
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Design ◽  
Concrete Slab ◽  
Seismic Damage ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Masonry Building ◽  
Masonry Buildings ◽  
Seismic Design Code ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Wenchuan Ms 8.0 Earthquake

During Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake, masonry buildings have suffered severely damaged and collapsed, causing heavy casualties and huge economic losses. In this paper, based on seismic site survey data, some new phenomena and characteristics of earthquake damage in comparison with the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, such as seismic damage of large space buildings, inclined or “X” shaped crack in wall between windows or spandrel wall, stair damage, falling of precast reinforced concrete slab and horizontal crack at the bottom of structure, are discussed in detail. Then, the impact factors of seismic capacity of masonry building in Wenchuan earthquake, including construction age, seismic fortification, bay size, floor (roof) form, layer number, thickness of bearing wall are analyzed, respectively; Finally, some recommendations on seismic design and reconstruction of masonry structure by the seismic design code are proposed.

scholarly journals Viability of Biofertilizer Produced by an Indian Biodigester Prototype Applied to Sunflower Plants

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Luciano Fernandes Moura ◽  
Pedro Felipe Sousa Teixeira ◽  
Franklin Aragão Gondim ◽  
Francisco Holanda Nunes Junior ◽  
Rifandreo Monteiro Barbosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Polynomial Regression ◽  
Growth Parameters ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Initial Growth ◽  
Sunflower Crop ◽  
Number Of Leaves ◽  
Relative Chlorophyll Content

Biodigesters have been used to convert biomass into biogas and biofertilizers. This energy use has been important for the reduction of solid waste pollution in the environment. This work aims to analyse the viability of the use of pig biofertilizer produced by an Indian biodigester prototype, monitored by a data acquisition system. The biodigester used was an Indian prototype built on a low cost material that is easy to acquire (polyvinyl chloride-PVC). After the biofertilizer production, we tested its efficiency and viability under conditions of vegetation house in the cultivation of sunflower plants. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial arrangement with 4 concentrations of biofertilizer (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg N ha-1) × 4 harvest periods (14, 21, 25 and 29 days after sowing). We evaluated biometric and vigor parameters by measurements of stem diameter, height of the aerial part, number of leaves and production of fresh and dry matter of roots, aerial and total parts, as well as the relative chlorophyll content. We performed the experiment with five repetitions using two plants each and we submitted the data to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and polynomial regression using the statistical software Sisvar 5.4. The functional Indian biodigester prototype produced a biofertilizer of excellent quality and viability as a biofertilizer for the initial growth of sunflower plants. The biofertilizer served as a nutritional source in the sunflower crop, since it provided increases in all the growth parameters analyzed in relation to the control group (plants in the absence of biofertilizer), especially in the concentration of 120 kg N ha-1.

scholarly journals Analysis of Drying of Brewers’ Spent Grain

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (23) ◽  
pp. 1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ignacio Arranz ◽  
María Teresa Miranda ◽  
Francisco José Sepúlveda ◽  
Irene Montero ◽  
Carmen Victoria Rojas
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Brewing Industry ◽  
Livestock Feed ◽  
Spent Grain ◽  
Very High ◽  
Animal Consumption

Brewing industry generates a main residue, brewers’ spent grain (BSG), which has good properties both for use in animal consumption and for thermal use, but contains a very high content of moisture (20–25% dry matter content), so that its elimination or treatment should be immediate, since it can cause degeneration problems of the product. Currently, brewers often supply this material at low cost for use as livestock feed. This solution is not efficiently carried out without reporting too much benefit to the brewers more than to eliminate waste from their facilities. However, BSG is a raw material of interest for application in different areas due to its low price, availability throughout the year and a valuable chemical composition, so it seems necessary to look for an alternative use to give value to these characteristics. In this paper a drying study is carried out in order to establish the foundations for its energy use by thermal of BSG. BSG has been used from a craft brewery located at Badajoz, Spain. Drying analysis was carried out for various temperatures and inlet air flow by means a convective dryer. The properties studied show that BSG can be used for thermal utilization in large installations, being necessary heat drying processes as a pretreatment in order to obtain a biofuel with acceptable efficiency.

Field study of the effect of low-cost weatherstripping devices on energy use in single-family (San Diego) residences

Energy ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 465-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.R. Brambley ◽  
E.M. Kennedy ◽  
S.J. Romelczyk ◽  
S.S. Penner
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
San Diego ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Single Family

scholarly journals Feature Identification for Non-Intrusively Extracting Occupant Energy-Use Information in Office Buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Nabizadeh Rafsanjani
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Specific Energy Consumption ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Specific Power ◽  
Feature Identification ◽  
Load Monitoring ◽  
Energy Consuming

Detailed energy-use information of office buildings’ occupants is necessary to implement proper simulation/intervention techniques. However, acquiring accurate occupant-specific energy consumption in office buildings at low cost is currently a challenging task since existing intrusive load monitoring (ILM) technologies require a large capital investment to provide high-resolution electricity usage data for individual occupants. On the other hand, non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) approaches have been proven as more cost effective and flexible approaches to provide energy-use information of individual appliances. Therefore, extending the concept of NILM to individual occupants would be beneficial. This paper proposes two occupancy-related energy-consuming features, delay interval and magnitude of power changes and evaluates their significances for extracting occupant-specific power changes in a non-intrusive manner. The proposed features were examined through implementing a logistic regression model as a predictor on aggregate energy load data collected from an office building. Hypotheses tests also confirmed that both features are statistically significant to non-intrusively derive individual occupants’ energy-use information. As the main contribution of this study, these features could be utilized in developing sophisticated NILM-based approaches to monitor individual occupant energy-consuming behavior.  

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