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Acute shortage of potable water and energy supplies is expected to raise in developing countries in the near future. One solid way to address these issues is to exploit renewable energy resources efficiently. Hence, this study aims to investigate wind and solar energy use in the coastal areas of southern Iran for renewable-powered seawater desalination and hydrogen production systems.

To accomplish the aforementioned purpose, five areas most prone to the problems in Iran, namely, Mahshahr, Jask and Chabahar ports and Kish and Hormoz islands were scrutinized. To ascertain the amount of wind and solar energy available in the areas, Weibull distribution function, Angstrom–Prescott equation and HOMER software were used.

The findings indicated that wind energy density in Kish was 2,014.86 (kWh/m².yr) and solar energy density in Jask equaled to 2,255.7 (kWh/m².yr) which possessed the best conditions among the areas under study. Moreover, three commercial wind turbines and three photovoltaic systems were examined for supplying energy needed by the water desalination and hydrogen production systems. The results showed that application of wind turbines with rated power of 660, 750 and 900 kWh in Kish could result in desalting 934,145, 1,263,339 and 2,000,450 (m³/yr) of seawater or producing 14,719, 20,896 and 31,521 (kg/yr) of hydrogen, respectively. Additionally, use of photovoltaic systems with efficiency of %14.4, %17.01 and %21.16 in Jask could desalinate 287, 444 and 464 (m³/yr) of seawater or generate 4.5, 7 and 7.3 (kg/yr) of hydrogen, respectively.

Compared to the huge extent of water shortage and environmental pollution, there has not been conducted enough studies to obtain broader view regarding use of renewable energies to solve these issues in Iran. Therefore, this study tries to close this gap and to give other developing nations the idea of water desalination and hydrogen production via renewable energies.

To develop a water repellent (WR), rodent repellent (RR) and UV resistant (UVR) formulation for woven nylon tapes to be used in aircraft arrester system.

UVR, WR and RR formulation for woven nylon tapes were prepared using silicone oil as WR, oleoresin (OR) (red chilly extract) and denatonium benzoate (DB) as RRs, carbon black for UV resistance and butyral resin as binder.

Incorporation of silicon oil improved the water repellency of the processed nylon tapes. DB and OR in the formulation protected the tapes from rats. The former showed excellent protection for nylon tapes in the experimental conditions. More than 150 days of protection has been achieved in comparison to 27 days using OR. The presence of carbon black along with silicon oil and DB in the formulation enabled the nylon tapes UVR‐WR‐RR in a single processing step. The presence of RRs and WRs within the same formulation did not affect each other's performance.

OR and DB were used as RR materials and silicone oil as WR material. In addition, some other RR and WR materials could have been evaluated.

The formulation imparts UV resistance, water and rodent repellency to the nylon tapes after processing.

This type of formulation is novel for processing of nylon tapes to be used in aircraft arrester systems.

Examines the new energy regulation proposals set out in the revised Approved Document Part L of the 1995 Building Regulations. Assesses the ways in which the New Requirement L1 calls for better standards of building fabric insulation, improved space heating and hot water controls and the limitation of heat loss. Also considers the more stringent method of calculating U‐values and the attention given to limiting air infiltration and potential thermal bridging effects around windows, doors and other openings. Discusses the equations from the Building Research Establishment Domestic Energy Model (BREDEM) used to calculate the space and ventilation heating requirements of a dwelling, together with a rationale for using a two‐zone model. Assesses the concept of an “energy label” and how this can be expanded using software tools to give estimates of fuel use to an accuracy of ±10 per cent with cost benefits of increased insulation standards.

A healthy and easy-to-use orange snack obtained from the freeze-dried orange pulp puree is proposed. Once the commercial packaging of the snack has been opened, the effect of conventional home storage temperature on its physicochemical properties and on the content of bioactive compounds has been studied. This research aims to recommend the consumer, and therefore the manufacturer, the best conditions for home storage of this product, keeping its nutritional quality and antioxidant capacity, as well as maintaining its colour and crispness.

The water content, water activity, hygroscopicity, crispness, colour, vitamin C, β-carotene, total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity were characterised both when the orange snack was newly obtained and after one, two and six months of storage inside zipper bags, at 4 and 20 ºC.

The results indicated that, in these conditions, the orange snack increased its water content, causing a loss in both its porosity and its characteristic crispness. Nevertheless, the bioactive compounds remained stable throughout the storage period, with the exception of β-carotene, the content of which decreased markedly when the orange snack was stored at 20 ºC.

Few studies have evaluated the stability of food products during home storage. The findings showed that the maximum storage time to ensure a proper texture of the orange snack studied is between two and six months, both at 4 and 20 ºC. However, from the point of view of the conservation of both vitamin C and, especially, of β-carotene, it is recommended that this product be stored in refrigeration.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study on how drinking water consumption could be potentially reduced by the introduction of dual water distribution networks. Since water of this quality is required only for drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing, delivering such water for uses that require non‐drinking water quality represents a tremendous waste of water and energy, and contributes to environmental pollution.

An overview of dual distribution networks in several countries is presented. Kuwait, in which 86 percent of the freshwater network has a parallel brackish water network, is the leader in this field, with brackish water used for a range of outdoor activities. The residential sector is the major consumer of freshwater in Kuwait and the control of demand in this sector will be a key factor in curbing the overall demand, which without any demand management measures is expected to quadruple by 2025. Computer modeling based on existing water use statistics and the proposed phasing‐in of a dual distribution network for indoor use in households has been undertaken to determine how the large quantities of reclaimed can be used to reduce drinking water consumption.

The paper presents a modeling exercise that demonstrates that by using reverse osmosis (RO) treated wastewater for toilet flushing and watering the gardens, water consumption demand can be stabilized at present levels over a 20‐year period.

The paper concludes that with foresight and long‐term planning it is feasible to implement a dual water supply network in a major city, on a scale which may lead to saving up to 25 percent of drinking quality water on top of other traditional water conservation measures.

A tax based on land value is in many ways ideal, but many economists dismiss it by assuming it could not raise enough revenue. Standard sources of data omit much of the potential tax base, and undervalue what they do measure. The purpose of this paper is to present more comprehensive and accurate measures of land rents and values, and several modes of raising revenues from them besides the conventional property tax.

The paper identifies 16 elements of land's taxable capacity that received authorities either trivialize or omit. These 16 elements come in four groups.

In Group A, Elements 1‐4 correct for the downward bias in standard sources. In Group B, Elements 5‐10 broaden the concepts of land and rent beyond the conventional narrow perception, while Elements 11‐12 estimate rents to be gained by abating other kinds of taxes. In Group C, Elements 13‐14 explain how using the land tax, since it has no excess burden, uncaps feasible tax rates. In Group D, Elements 15‐16 define some moot possibilities that may warrant further exploration.

This paper shows how previous estimates of rent and land values have been narrowly limited to a fraction of the whole, thus giving a false impression that the tax capacity is low. The paper adds 14 elements to the traditional narrow “single tax” base, plus two moot elements advanced for future consideration. Any one of these 16 elements indicates a much higher land tax base than economists commonly recognize today. Taken together they are overwhelming, and cast an entirely new light on this subject.

Rough estimations of water gain through greywater reuse and rainwater harvesting together with energy recovery from wastewater generated from a fictitious eco-city of population 100,000 located in Istanbul, Turkey form the main framework of the study. As such, the highly important concept of water–energy nexus will be emphasised and domestic wastewater will be partly considered for water recycling and the rest for energy recovery. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Distribution of daily domestic water consumption among different household uses and the population in the residential area are the two governing parameters in the practical calculation of daily wastewater generated. Therefore, domestic wastewater will be initially estimated based on population, and in turn, the amount of greywater will be found from the per cent distribution of water use. After segregation of greywater, the energy equivalency of the rest of the wastewater, known as blackwater, will further be calculated. Besides, the long-term average precipitation data of the geographical location (Istanbul) are used in determining safe and sound rainwater harvesting. Harvesting is considered to be only from the roofs of the houses; therefore, surface area of the roofs is directly taken from an actual residential site in Turkey, housing the same population which is constructed in four stages. Similarly, the fictitious eco-city in Istanbul is assumed to be constructed in a stage-wise manner to resemble real conditions.

The water consumption of the fictitious eco-city ABC is considered as 15,000 m³/day by taking the unit water consumption 150 L/capita.day. Therefore, total water savings through on-site reuse and reuse as irrigation water (9,963 m³/day) will reduce water consumption by 64 per cent. Minimum 40 per cent water saving is shown to be possible by means of only greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting with a long-term average annual precipitation of 800 mm. The energy recovery from the rest of the wastewater after segregation of greywater is calculated as 15 MWh/day as electricity and heat that roughly correspond to electricity demand of 1,300 households each bearing four people.

A fictitious eco-city rather than an actual one located in Istanbul is considered as the pilot area in the study. So far, an eco-city with population around 100,000 in Turkey does not exist. An important implication relates to rainwater harvesting. The amount of safe water to be gained through precipitation is subject to fluctuations within years and, thus, the amount of collected rainwater will highly depend on the geographical location of such an eco-city.

The study covering rough calculations on water savings and energy recovery from domestic wastewater will act as a guide to practitioners working on efficient water management in the eco-cities, especially in those that are planned in a developing country.

Practising water–energy nexus in an eco-city of population 100,000 regarding water savings and energy recovery from wastewater forms the originality of the study. Sustainable water use and energy recovery from wastewater are among the emerging topics in environmental science and technology. However, safe and sound applications are lacking especially in the developing countries. Guiding these countries with practical calculations on both water gain and energy recovery from wastewater (blackwater) is the value of the work done. Moreover, Istanbul is deliberately selected as a case study area for various reasons: its annual rainfall represents the worlds’ average, it is one of the most crowded megacities of the world that supply water demand from the surface water reservoirs and the megacity has not yet significantly increased wastewater reuse and recycling practices.

This paper aims to present an analytical investigation of energy and exergy performance on a solar flat plate collector (SFPC) with Cu-CuO/water hybrid nanofluid, Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids as collector running fluids.

Heat transfer characteristics, pressure drop and energy and exergy efficiencies of SFPC working on these nanofluids are investigated and compared. In this study, a comparison is made by varying the mass flow rates and nanoparticle volume concentration. Thermophysical properties of hybrid nanofluids are estimated using distinctive correlations available in the open literature. Then, the influence of these properties on energy and exergy efficiencies of SFPC is discussed in detail.

Energy analysis reveals that by introducing the hybrid nanoparticles in water, the thermal conductivity of the working fluid is enhanced by 17.52 per cent and that of the individual constituents is enhanced by 15.72 and 15.35 per cent for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. This resulted in 2.16 per cent improvement in useful heat gain for hybrid nanofluid and 1.03 and 0.91 per cent improvement in heat gain for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. In line with the above, the collector efficiency increased by 2.175 per cent for the hybrid nanofluid and 0.93 and 1.05 per cent enhancement for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. Exergy analysis elucidates that by using the hybrid nanofluid, exergy efficiency is increased by 2.59 per cent, whereas it is 2.32 and 2.18 per cent enhancement for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. Entropy generation is reduced by 3.31, 2.35 and 2.96 per cent for Cu-CuO/water, Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively, as compared to water.

However, this is associated with a penalty of increment in pressure drop of 2.92, 3.09 and 2.74 per cent for Cu-CuO/water, Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively, compared with water.

It is clear from the analysis that Cu-CuO/water hybrid nanofluids possess notable increment in both energy and exergy efficiencies to use them in SFPCs.

This paper aims to explore how organizations use annual reporting for legitimacy purposes in the context of the ten recently privatised regional water companies in the UK. Although privatization required the water plcs to establish a distinctly different organizational legitimacy for themselves as customer‐focused companies commensurate with their new private sector status, it was clear from the nature of their privatization that they would experience difficulties in achieving this. Privatization did little to change their previous monopoly character, and this created discrepancy with the model of private sector companies operating in customer‐led competitive markets.

The paper uses a content analysis of statements concerning customer service in annual reports. The analysis examines the variety of ways in which the ten water plcs deployed both assertive and defensive impression management techniques in their attempts to gain, maintain and repair their legitimacy as customer‐focused companies.

The analysis emphasises the importance of the role of corporate reporting as a resource in legitimacy management. The paper also argues that, despite sustained efforts, the water plcs did not wholly succeed in persuading all their customers that the privatization of water was “a good thing”.

The paper will be valuable to researchers and practitioners alike, as it attempts to take further one's understanding of how organizations use corporate reporting for legitimacy purposes by examining a much more extreme case of the legitimacy problem than has been previously considered in the literature: namely, the need for an entirely new basis for corporate legitimacy.

The purpose of this paper is: to track the methods by which farmers access groundwater for irrigation in the North China Plain (NCP); to explore whether climate factors influence farmers’ decisions on the methods of groundwater access for irrigation; and to examine whether the amount of groundwater use for irrigation and crop yield systematically differ across groups of farmers using various methods of groundwater access, and how climate factors affect them.

Descriptive statistical analysis and econometric models are used on household survey data collected over several years and county-level climate data.

Over the past few decades, a significant share of farmers have switched the methods of groundwater access from collective tubewells to own tubewells or groundwater markets. Farmers who bought water from groundwater markets applied less water to wheat plots than those who had their own tubewells. However, wheat yield was not negatively affected. Both average climate conditions and long-term variations were found to be related to farmers’ choice of methods of groundwater access for irrigation. More frequent droughts and increasingly volatile temperatures both increased the likelihood of farmers gaining groundwater irrigation from markets.

The analysis results suggest farmers are using groundwater markets to help them adapt to climate change. Applying empirical analysis to identify the impact of the methods by which farmers access groundwater for irrigation on the amount of groundwater use and crop yield will help policy makers design reasonable adaptation policies for the NCP.