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Assessment of the Impact of lockdown on PM 2.5 emission in Nepal
No full textAir pollution has been one of the main concerns for Nepal for a very long and PM2.5 is one of the most neglected air pollutants in Nepal. Nepal is among the countries most affected by both indoor and outdoor PM2.5 pollution in the world. This thesis is based on the recent lockdown that happened in Nepal during the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020. This study investigates the impact of lockdown on PM2.5 emission based on the assessment of emission inventories. The annual data for PM2.5 emission was extracted from EDGAR (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research) and then the extrapolation was done to calculate the assumed PM2.5 emission for 2019 and 2020 using linear regression. The assumed nationwide monthly emission ercentage was used to calculate the PM2.5 emission during lockdown months. The PM2.5 sources affected during the lockdown were identified and their assumed percentage contribution (6.18%) was used to calculate the emission during lockdown month. The ambient air PM2.5 concentration data was extracted from the official websites of the government of Nepal. The lockdown months were compared with the preceding year's same month and the percentage change was calculated. The study suggested that in 2020 the PM2.5 emission rate for April was reduced by 4.68% and for May it was reduced by 4.85% whereas during an assumed 'no lockdown‘ year, all the months would have had an increase in PM2.5 emission by ~1.6%. The concentration of PM2.5 for March was educed by 14.65%, similarly, for April it was reduced by 13.96% and for May it was reduced by 50.92%. The comparison of the percentage change of both the PM2.5 emission and concentration shows that the decrease in concentration was much higher compared to the reduction in emission due to the lockdown. The monthly assessment of PM2.5 during the lockdown suggested that the percentage change in emission of PM2.5 was minor compared to the change in the concentration of PM2.5 which might be due to different reasons including meteorology, underestimation of the contribution of some emission sectors by the emission inventories and the fact that the emission inventories are set up for the whole country whereas the PM2.5 concentration data are collected with monitoring stations located in cities close to major PM2.5 sources
Investigation of Acute Toxicity of Urban Surface Water Combined with Luminescent Bacteria Test, TOC and AAS
No full textWith the acceleration of urbanization, the quality of urban water quality is a serious issue. In this study, three main analytical techniques were used to comprehensively analyse the urban surface water quality. Luminescent bacteria test is a rapid and sensitive bioassay for acute toxicity determination in water. Through the inhibition rate of bacteria, the toxicity of water quality is reflected in a short-term. In this study, Vibrio fischeri bioassay was used to determine the toxicity in urban surface water. However, when the luminescence results of samples have only a slight difference, AAS and TOC can be used as sensitive chemical analytical techniques. atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) can analyse the heavy metal concentration and total organic carbon (TOC) can determine the organic contamination in water. AAS and TOC can quantitatively and qualitatively analyse chemical parameters. In the study, although each technique has a certain limitation, the combination of these three experiments can be detailed explain the cause of toxicity of urban surface water. Therefore, the advantage of these three methods which are fast, highly sensitive, and easy to operate, makes the analysis of water quality more efficiently. In this study, the water samples were analysed after filtration. In case the toxicity being related to substances sorbed to the suspended matter has a significant effect on water quality, it is necessary to conduct unfiltered experiments in future research
CO2 Emission Analysis of ALTANA AG: Geospatial and graph analysis to set a benchmark for CO2 emission calculations
No full textIn 2019, Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences and ALTANA AG, a global leader in true specialty chemicals, initiated a project in cooperation to analyze the outbound transportation CO2 footprint from the European facilities of ALTANA AG.
Since the distance is the main driver for CO2 emissions, methods were introduced to have shortest route distances after clustering of ALTANA’s shipments in space and time. This thesis aims to demonstrate methods to set benchmarks for distances or indirectly CO2 emissions. Besides complex distance calculations like Travelling Salesperson and Vehicle Routing Problems, a recommender system was also created for sea shipments. Last but not least, a simulation of social learning of consignees in a graph was also demonstrated.
Geospatial and graph theory analyses were accomplished mostly with open-source tools. The main tools were PostGIS, Pysal, Geopandas, QGIS, pgRouting, Vrpy, and NetworkX. Jupyter Notebook files were also accompanied by chapters in this thesis that allow the readers to reproduce the results.
The thesis provides an approach and methods for setting benchmarks for the CO2 emissions with open-source tools that ALTANA would have more bargaining power against its shipping service providers to encourage them for less CO2 emissions
The challenge of professionalization vs. social capital orientation in agricultural cooperatives- A case study of agricultural supply cooperatives in North-Rhine-Westphalia
No full textMany studies have been conducted in the northern part of Europe, especially in Sweden. This thesis is conducted to get an impression on the actual position of cooperatives in Germany. To be specific in North-Rhine-Westphalia where several cooperatives have been founded and become major player in the agribusiness sector. However, this was not by accident, but a response to the requirements of the famers in this region. Those coops have been developed in the Münsterland, a region north-west located in NRW which is famous for their intensive livestock-business and small amount of arable land, and in general is the home of small, structured family-farms. In the past, cooperatives have been the only one to provide information and products to the farmers in this region. Due to those circumstances the farmers in this region have a strong attachment to “their coops”. As a result of this specialty several joint ventures of cooperatives have been observed. The objective of this thesis is to examinate the perspective of social capital orientation of two expert-groups which can be shared into two different experts-groups prominent supply cooperatives in North Rhine-Westphalia
Analysen zur Situation und zum Verbleib der an BUS beteiligten Schülerinnen und Schüler
No full textDas NRW-Programm „Betrieb und Schule“ (BUS) richtete sich an Jugendliche aus Nordrhein-Westfalen mit ungünstiger Prognose für einen erfolgreichen Schulabschluss. Mit speziellen pädagogischen Ansätzen und einem Langzeitpraktikum in Betrieben sollten die Jugendlichen einen Einstieg in die Arbeitswelt erhalten. Die Lehrkräfte des BUS-Programms 2005/2006 wurden ein Jahr nach Ablauf des Förderpraktikums über die weitere berufliche und schulische Entwicklung der beteiligten 1.681 Schüler*innen befragt. Der Bericht schildert die Ergebnisse dieser Befragung
5/2021 Erste Änderungssatzung zur Prüfungsordnung für den Bachelorstudiengang International Taxation and Law der Fakultät Gesellschaft und Ökonomie an der Hochschule Rhein-Waal
No full textLinux-Simulation als implizites Lernszenario
No full textLinux is an operating system, which is used by a limited number of people. The main idea of this project is to develop a game that not only simulates Linux, but also provides an opportunity to learn various things about the use of this operating system.
The game, LinuxSimulationGame, is built with Unity and designed by following the requirements of a focus group. While in development, game tests are used to investigate the current state and quality of the game. Game tests provide feedback to the developer, which can be used to plan further changes. By using mechanics like space, objects, actions, rules and skills the game produces various situations in which a user is able to learn. By memorizing information based on a Linux operating system.
Both game tests and interviews have proved an interest in this kind of gameplay. LinuxSimulationGame is a game which could result in an increase of knowledge. This would require further testing. This document describes mechanics and data needed for creation of games like LinuxSimulationGame
Bedeutung des CT-Wertes für die Epidemiologie und den klinischen Stellenwert beim pandemischen neuen Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 - Semiquantifizierung mittels Polymerase-Kettenreaktion
No full textEinleitung: Derzeitig ist die PCR die zuverlässigste und sensitivste Nachweismethode einer Infektion mit dem neuen Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Die real-time PCR bietet die Möglichkeit einer Semiquantifizierung der Viruslast über die Interpretation des cycle-threshold (CT)-Wertes. Dieser gibt die Anzahl der PCR Zyklen an die nötig sind, um ein Fluoreszenzsignal der Patientenprobe zu detektieren. In dieser Arbeit wurden die CT-Werte der SARS-CoV-2-PCR untersucht und die Ergebnisse mit demographischen Daten der Patienten korreliert.
Methoden: Es wurden die CT-Werte der positiv getesteten Proben retrospektiv vom 15. März bis 15. September 2020 ausgewertet. Abstriche der Patienten wurden in 500 μl 0,9-prozentiger Salzlösung ausgewaschen. Virale RNA wurde im MagNA Pure 96 mittels des „DNA and viral NA small volume“ Kit extrahiert. Die RT-PCR erfolgte im Rotor Gene Q mit 45 PCR Zyklen. Der CT-Wert des S-Gen jeder positiven Probe sowie der CT-Wert der positiven Kontrollen wurde dokumentiert. Statistische Analysen erfolgten unter anderem mit dem Mann-Whitney U-Test, dem t-Test, dem F-Test, der ANOVA und dem Bonferroni post-hoc Test.
Ergebnisse: Im Untersuchungszeitraum wurden insgesamt 65.878 Patienten über Nasopharynx-Abstriche auf das neue SARS-CoV-2 untersucht. Davon wurden 1.103 (1,7%) Proben mittels RT-PCR positiv getestet. Auf Grund der Berechnung der Fehlergrenzen wurden nur Proben mit einem CT-Wert der positiven Kontrolle zwischen 25,10 und 29,70 ausgewertet. Daher wurden 26 Proben exkludiert und 1.077 positive Proben zur Auswertung herangezogen. Von den untersuchten Patienten waren 566 (52,5%) weiblich und 511 (47,4%) männlich, 944 (87,6%) Proben wurden ambulant und 133 (12,3%) stationär entnommen. Positiv getestete Frauen waren signifikant älter als Männer (50,93 versus 45,04 Jahre; P=0,006) und hatten einen geringfügig höheren CT-Wert (25,44 versus 24,77; P=0,04). Die CT-Werte der stationär und ambulant entnommenen Proben wiesen keine signifikanten Unterschiede auf (25,80 versus 25,03; P=0,1), wobei stationäre Patienten signifikant älter waren (55,11 versus 47,15 Jahre; P<0,0001). Im Vergleich der Altersgruppen wiesen lediglich die Gruppe der über 80-jährigen signifikant höhere CT-Werte auf (P<0,001). 39 von 79 (49,4%) CT-Werten von Kindern und Jugendlichen waren kleiner oder gleich 24 und waren damit infektiös. Nur 3 von 79 Kindern (3,8%) und Jugendlichen im Vergleich zu 130 von 998 Erwachsenen (13,0%) wurden stationär behandelt. Der longitudinale Vergleich der CT-Werte zeigte keine signifikanten Schwankungen im Analyse- Zeitraum.
Fazit: CT-Werte eignen sich zu einer detaillierteren Überwachung der SARS-CoV-2 Pandemie. Das Alter wie auch das Geschlecht sind wichtige Co-Faktoren bei SARS-CoV-2 positiven Patienten und kann Einfluss auf die CT-Werte in der SARS-CoV-2-PCR haben. Kinder haben nach dieser Studie eine vergleichbare Infektiosität zu Erwachsenen
Data visualisation platform for individuals
No full textVarious companies have been collecting people's digital footprint by offering free digital services to them. People are aware of it vaguely, it is difficult for them to see what actually the companies have or its value. According to the General Data Protection Regulation, finally, individuals can request their collected data from the companies. Nevertheless, the data has been offered as machine-readable files mostly that individuals cannot understand. Thus, a data visualisation application for individuals was designed to improve these problems in this project. The application was built as low fidelity and high fidelity prototypes and tested with 10 participants through remote usability tests to explore its possibility. In the tests, the target users showed their positive interest in the concept and visual design. Consequently, it clearly showed its potential to improve the situation. However, some participants seemed to worry about sharing their data for donating, or unsatisfied with the basic level of data visualisation. To cope with these issues and to have a better effect, some improvement of interface design, additional introduction screens and advanced data visualisation was suggested as a further improvement for the future
