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Abstract. The impact of multiphase reactions involving nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and aromatic compounds was simulated in this study. A mechanism (CAPRAM 2.4, MODAC Mechanism) was applied for the aqueous phase reactions, whereas RACM was applied for the gas phase chemistry. Liquid droplets were considered as monodispersed with a mean radius of 0.1 µm and a liquid content (LC) of 50 µg m-3. The multiphase mechanism has been further extended to the chemistry of aromatics, i.e. reactions involving benzene, toluene, xylene, phenol and cresol have been added. In addition, reaction of NO2 with dissociated hydroxyl substituted aromatic compounds has also been implemented. These reactions proceed through charge exchange leading to nitrite ions and therefore to nitrous acid formation. The strength of this source was explored under urban polluted conditions. It was shown that it may increase gas phase HONO levels under some conditions and that the extent of this effect is strongly pH dependent. Especially under moderate acidic conditions (i.e. pH above 4) this source may represent more than 75% of the total HONO/NO2 - production rate, but this contribution drops down close to zero in acidic droplets (as those often encountered in urban environments).

Abstract Canada has numerous climatic and geographical regions and the Canadian housing stock (CHS) is diversified in terms of vintage, geometry, construction materials, envelope, occupancy, energy sources and heating, ventilation and air conditioning system and equipment. Therefore, strategies to achieve net zero energy (NZE) status with the current stock of houses need to be devised considering the unique characteristics of the housing stock, the economic conditions and energy mix available in each region. Identifying and assessing pathways for converting existing houses to NZE buildings at the housing stock level is a complex and multifaceted problem and requires extensive analysis on the impact of energy efficiency and renewable/alternative energy technology retrofits on the energy use and GHG emissions of households. A techno-economic analysis of retrofitting renewable/alternative energy technologies in the CHS to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions was conducted to develop strategies to achieve or approach NZE status for Canadian houses. The results indicate that substantial energy savings and GHG emission reductions are techno-economically feasible for the CHS through careful selection of retrofit options. While achieving large scale conversion of existing houses to NZEB is not feasible, approaching NZE status is a realistic goal for a large percentage of Canadian houses.

The net energy (NE) system takes into account the metabolic utilisation of energy and has been proposed as a superior system for characterising the energy value of feeds. In growing pigs, the inefficiency of ME utilisation for NE (or the heat increment, HI) is dependent on many factors, among them the genotype, which implies that published NE prediction equations may not apply across all genotypes. We conducted a study to investigate the effect of two genotypes (Yorkshire-Hampshire♀ × Duroc♂; YH × D) and Large white♀ × Landrace♂; LW × LR) on heat production (HP) and NE value of a corn soybean meal-based diet fed to growing pigs. The diet met or exceeded the nutrient specifications of 20-50 kg b.w. pigs according to NRC (1998). A total of sixteen barrows were used, eight of each genotype (initial b.w. of 20.1 ± 1.1 and 19.0 ± 0.9 kg for YH ×D and LW × LR, respectively). Pigs were initially fed at 550 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day (high ME intake) for determination of DE and ME in metabolism crates. Thereafter, HP was measured using an indirect calorimeter at either high ME or 330 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day (low ME intake) to estimate fasting HP (FHP) by regression. Pigs were allowed a 3-d adaptation period at low ME intake before measurement of HP. Irrespective of the genotype, a reduction of ME intake resulted in a decrease (P < 0.0001) of HP (352 for high ME vs. 292 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day for low ME). Pigs of LW × LR tended (P = 0.07) to have higher HP than those of YH× D and their estimated FHP was 175 and 103 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, respectively. The determined diet NE value was lower for the YHxD genotype (2,307 vs. 2633 kcal/kg DMI, P = 0.01) than for the LW × LR genotype. Pigs of LW × LR genotype showed lower (179 vs. 226 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, P = 0.003) HI than YH × D genotype and were determined to retain less energy as protein (100 vs. 123 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, P =0.04) and more energy as fat (73 vs. 42 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, P = 0.04). The diet NE value was 96% (LW × LR) and 81% (YH × D) of the predicted NE from published equations. In conclusion, a corn-soybean meal fed at equal amounts resulted in different HP and NE value depending on genotype.

Even with the benefits of sustainability and climate change reporting, there is limited information on how municipalities are reporting on performance for external stakeholders in comparison with private sector organizations. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the current state of sustainability and climate change reporting at the local level and to investigate the extent to which municipalities across Ontario, Canada, report. We used content analysis to identify the presence or non-presence of information on the websites of 38 municipalities and analyzed the results using descriptive statistics. Our analysis showed that the sample municipalities were not widely reporting on sustainability or climate change performance. Also, we identified a gap between the number of plans and reports produced by sample municipalities, with the latter being less common, indicating a need for an improved evaluation of plan implementation. Further, we found that a provincial regulation that required municipalities to make their energy conservation and demand management plans public did not guarantee publication of the plan on a municipality’s website. This study contributes to the growing field of sustainability and climate change planning and reporting by local governments and offers empirical evidence specific to Ontario, Canada.

This study aimed to realize Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), i.e., no poverty, zero hunger, and sustainable cities and communities through the implementation of an intelligent cattle-monitoring system to enhance dairy production. Livestock industries in developing countries lack the technology that can directly impact meat and dairy products, where human resources are a major factor. This study proposed a novel, cost-effective, smart dairy-monitoring system by implementing intelligent wireless sensor nodes, the Internet of Things (IoT), and a Node-Micro controller Unit (Node-MCU). The proposed system comprises three modules, including an intelligent environmental parameter regularization system, a cow collar (equipped with a temperature sensor, a GPS module to locate the animal, and a stethoscope to update the heart rate), and an automatic water-filling unit for drinking water. Furthermore, a novel IoT-based front end has been developed to take data from prescribed modules and maintain a separate database for further analysis. The presented Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSNs) can intelligently determine the case of any instability in environmental parameters. Moreover, the cow collar is designed to obtain precise values of the temperature, heart rate, and accurate location of the animal. Additionally, auto-notification to the concerned party is a valuable addition developed in the cow collar design. It employed a plug-and-play design to provide ease in implementation. Moreover, automation reduces human intervention, hence labor costs are decreased when a farm has hundreds of animals. The proposed system also increases the production of dairy and meat products by improving animal health via the regularization of the environment and automated food and watering. The current study represents a comprehensive comparative analysis of the proposed implementation with the existing systems that validate the novelty of this work. This implementation can be further stretched for other applications, i.e., smart monitoring of zoo animals and poultry.

Biodiesel is a fuel generally consisting of a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) which is used in alternative or in combination with petroleum diesel for its environmental benefits. Biodiesel is conveniently manufactured from vegetable oils by transesterification of triglycerides with methanol. However, the process brings about the concurrent formation of glycerol, which may become an oversupplied chemical if biodiesel production keeps growing. A novel biodiesel-like material (abbreviated as DMC-BioD) was developed by reacting soybean oil with dimethyl carbonate (DMC), which avoided the co-production of glycerol. The main difference between DMC-BioD and biodiesel produced from vegetable oil and methanol (MeOH-biodiesel) was the presence of fatty acid glycerol carbonate monoesters (FAGCs) in addition to FAMEs. In the following study, details regarding synthesis and composition of DMC-BioD are provided along with physical properties relevant for its use as a fuel. In addition, the production of potential pyrogenic contaminants was investigated by analytical pyrolysis and compared with those from MeOH-biodiesel, and the model compounds tristearin, triolein, trilinolein and oleic acid glycerol carbonate ester (OAGC). The presence of FAGCs influenced both fuel and flow properties, while the distribution of main pyrogenic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), was little affected. Benefits and drawbacks of DMC as a candidate transmethylating reagent for producing biofuel from renewable resources and alternative co-products (glycerol carbonate and glycerol dicarbonate) are discussed.

Camptotheca acuminata is considered a natural medicinal plant with antitumor activity. The assessment of climate change impact on its suitable habitats is important for cultivation and conservation. In this study, we applied a novel approach to build ecological niche models with both climate and soil variables while the confounding effects between the variables in the two categories were avoided. We found that the degree-days below zero and mean annual precipitation were the most important climatic factors, while the basic soil saturation, soil gravel volume percentage, and clay content were the main soil factors, determining the suitable habitats of C. acuminata. We found that suitable habitats of this species would moderately increase in future climates under both the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate change scenarios for the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s. However, substantial shifts among levels of habitat suitability were projected. The dual high-suitable habitats would expand, which would be favorable for commercial plantations. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the impact of climate change on this species and provide a scientific basis for the cultivation and conservation purposes.