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In Bangladesh, prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) farming remains dependent on the capture of wild postlarvae as hatchery production is still inadequate. However, prawn postlarvae fishing has been accompanied by concerns over recent climate change. Different climatic variables including cyclone, salinity, sea level rise, water temperature, flood, rainfall, and drought have had adverse effects on coastal ecosystem, thus determining a decline in the availability of prawn postlarvae and thereby catch. The households of postlarvae fishers also face a variety of socioeconomic constraints due to climate change. Considering extreme vulnerability to the effects of climate change, an integrated approach needs to be introduced to cope with the challenges.

This paper explores the possibilities for increasing energy efficiency of ship propulsion systems by the use and appropriate control of adjustable speed drives based on pulse width modulation voltage source inverters (PWM VSIs) and induction motors (IMs). A passenger ship moved by two twin propulsion units using IMs with a rated power of 7,000 kW is chosen as case study. Each IM is supplied by an AC-AC power converter in a back-to-back configuration, based on three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) VSIs. To increase the overall efficiency of the propulsion drive, the IM side control is integrated with a suitable electrical loss minimization technique (ELMT). A complete dynamic model of the IM propulsion drive is developed, including the IM model taking into account the iron loss, the power converter model with PWM, and the control system with the ELMT. Results show the capability of the ELMT to significantly increase the overall efficiency of the IM by about 10% at full load.

The DC grids supplying electric vehicles are starting to gain interest worldwide. The DC faults management represent an important design and exploitation issue in these networks. This paper proposes an electronic switch for DC networks supplying electric vehicles (EV). Tests of the proposed switch were carried on under DC faults occurrence in presence of EV. The control of the low voltage distribution system is very important for achieving the proper operation of the devices interconnected to it. The protection of the entire system is analyzed, thus disregarding the protections used by the manufacturers for shielding the DC power system devices or its components.

Electric mobility can be seen as the element capable of breaking the current model 'non-sustainable' road transport. It is able to promote a 'green revolution' for a smarter mobility and integrated with other sectors of the economy especially with the energy sector. The idea to integrate renewable energy sources, in this case photovoltaic system, with the electric mobility can bring many economic benefits to the environment, both at the urban level and not alone, so much so that it is taken up a route for the future of mobility. The aim of this work describe a possible project of green mobility for a Campus, based on power from renewable sources in order to feed a system of shared transport, in order to optimize traffic flows of vehicles. In this mode, it is possible to have a zero impact of CO2 emissions. © 2014 IEEE.

BACKGROUND Municipal bio-wastes (MBW) yield soluble bio-based substances (SBO) by anaerobic digestion, composting and chemical hydrolysis. The SBO are known valuable products for multiple uses in the chemical industry, agriculture and animal husbandry. The present work investigates a new SBO property, i.e. reducing the ammonia content in MBW anaerobic digestates. Thus, MBW were fermented under anaerobic conditions with 0.05 or 0.20% SBO added. RESULTS Fermentations were carried out at 55 °C for 14 days using nine batch reactors of 6.5 L capacity working in parallel, each containing 4 L MBW slurry (100 g volatile solids). The control and SBO 0.05% reactors produced 70 L of biogas, and 1.2 g and 0.11 g ammonia N, respectively. The SBO 0.20% reactors produced 73 L biogas and a digestate containing 0.32 g less ammonia N than the starting ammonia content. Oxidation of ammonia to N2 promoted by SBO seemed the most likely reason for the ammonia reduction. The process benefits were evaluated in comparison with conventional technology for the abatement of ammonia. CONCLUSIONS Integration of biochemical and chemical technology yielding multipurpose products from MBW is a potentially viable cost-effective feasible route to turn a MBW treatment plant into a biorefinery. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to analyse the role of resistance at team level in a change project focused on the maintenance activities of a high reliability organisation (HRO) that operates in the electricity distribution field.Design/methodology/approachA grounded theory is built, analysing a large dataset of material (project reports, processes descriptions, internal memos and presentations), direct observation and semi‐structured interviews.FindingsThe paper documents a model where resistance has evolved over time. Differentiated responses to change of employees during the project and also different forms of resistance are observed. The outcome of the analysis shows the positive role of mindful inertia in the change project.Research limitations/implicationsOutcomes are, by the nature of the research, deeply rooted in the context and the study is focused on a specific service of an organisation that is high reliability‐oriented. Future studies should look at whether these insights are also relevant for other organisations.Practical implicationsMindful inertia can prove useful in achieving better performances in implementing change.Originality/valueWith respect to the existing literature, the paper shows that in HROs acceptance of change and mindful resistance to that change interacts to improve the outcome process. Resistance, under certain conditions, can provide the very insights needed to implement change.

Smart mobility is a key priority for sustainable development across the globe. Thus, marketers and policymakers need to understand which consumer characteristics are relevant for successfully promoting this form of transportation. By considering the context of electric scooters, which have recently spread in many cities around the world, the present study investigates the effects of consumers’ attitude toward green products, consumers’ innovativeness, and conspicuous consumption on environmentalism. The results of an experiment – carried out among an international sample of 403 American, Asian, and European participants – show that consumers’ attitudes toward green products positively influence their environmentalism, due to their level of innovativeness in the attempt to try technological green products. This effect is magnified by consumers’ conspicuous consumption orientation.

An experimental study was carried out on a fuel cell propulsion system for minibus application with the aim to investigate the main issues of energy management within the system in dynamic conditions. The fuel cell system (FCS), based on a 20 kW PEM stack, was integrated into the power train comprising DC–DC converter, Pb batteries as energy storage systems and asynchronous electric drive of 30kW. As reference vehicle a minibus for public transportation in historical centres was adopted. A preliminary experimental analysis was conducted on the FCS connected to a resistive load through a DC–DC converter, in order to verify the stack dynamic performance varying its power acceleration from 0.5 kW/s to about 4 kW/s. The experiments on the power train were conducted on a test bench able to simulate the vehicle parameters and road characteristics on specific driving cycles, in particular the European R40 cycle was adopted as reference. The “soft hybrid” configuration, which permitted the utilization of a minimum size energy storage system and implied the use of FCS mainly in dynamic operation, was compared with the “hard hybrid” solution, characterized by FCS operation at limited power in stationary conditions. Different control strategies of power flows between fuel cells, electric energy storage system and electric drive were adopted in order to verify the two above hybrid approaches during the vehicle mission, in terms of efficiencies of individual components and of the overall power train. The FCS was able to support the dynamic requirements typical of R40 cycle, but an increase of air flow rate during the fastest acceleration phases was necessary, with only a slight reduction of FCS efficiency. The FCS efficiency resulted comprised between 45 and 48%, while the overall power train efficiency reached 30% in conditions of constant stack power during the driving cycle.