Proposed Project Activities Research Articles

Marine Archaeological Survey for the Webster to Seadrift Pipeline Project in Calhoun and Jackson Counties, Texas

Marine Archaeological Survey for the Webster to Seadrift Pipeline Project in Calhoun and Jackson Counties, Texas

Cultural Resources Investigations for the CrownQuest City of Midland Oil and Gas Project, Midland and Glasscock Counties, Texas

SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) was retained by CrownQuest Operating, LLC, to complete an intensive cultural resources investigation for the proposed CrownQuest City of Midland Oil and Gas Project (Project). The Project includes newly proposed oil and gas well pads, crude oil pipeline, and associated access roads on City of Midland property in Midland and Glasscock Counties, Texas. These new components will be constructed within an existing upstream oil and gas system. The 149.9-acre (60.7-hectare) Project area is located approximately 15 miles southeast of Midland, Texas, immediately south of Highway 158, and is situated along and between Johnson and Pemberton Draws. The Project involves a political subdivision within the state of Texas (City of Midland). The Antiquities Code of Texas (ACT) applies because the Project’s activities occur on property owned by the City of Midland and will involve more than 5 acres / 5,000 cubic yards of land disturbance or may potentially affect known archaeological sites. It is SWCA’s understanding that the Project does not currently have a federal nexus, and it is not subject to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The purpose of this investigation was to identify and assess any cultural resources, such as historic and prehistoric archaeological sites and historic buildings, structures, objects, and sites (such as cemeteries) that might be located within the boundaries of the proposed Project and evaluate their significance and eligibility for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark. The investigations included a background and historic map review of the Project area and immediately surrounding region followed by pedestrian survey with visual examination and shovel test excavations at proposed Project activity areas. All investigations were conducted in accordance with the ACT and standards and guidelines established by the THC and Council of Texas Archeologists. Following the review and acceptance of the final cultural resources report, all records and photographs will be curated with the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio, per requirements of the ACT in accordance with the CTA guidelines. The cultural resources investigation was conducted under ACT Permit No. 8506. Fieldwork was performed from July 30 to August 4, 2018. The Project setting was mainly eroded and heavily disturbed uplands with occasional exposures of bedrock and caliche. Pedestrian survey was augmented by hand excavating 253 shovel tests and seven auger tests, which were terminated at the maximum reachable depth or at soils likely predating human occupation, typically around 45 cm below surface. The most pervasive land disturbance observed was related to petroleum exploration and extraction activities that have generally impacted ground surface integrity. During the investigation SWCA archaeologists did not observe any prehistoric or historic cultural resources within the Project area. The location near site 41MD4, identified during the background review, could not be visited by SWCA survey staff due to a fire in the facility. The site boundary defined does not extend into a proposed Project activity area and the closest associated Project item is already disturbed. On that basis it is not considered to be a Project concern. Based on the negative findings of the intensive cultural resources survey, SWCA recommends that no further archaeological investigations are warranted within the assessed portions of the CrownQuest City of Midland Oil and Gas Project area.

Analysis and Mathematical Description of the Ideal Thermotropic Cycle of Internal Combustion Engines

A mathematical model of an ideal thermotropic cycle is proposed, which extends the idea of real working processes in the internal combustion engine (ICE). The thermotropic cycle the same for diesel, gasoline and gas ICE, and also provides significantly better correspondense to the real cycles than classical cycles. Heat supply to the cycle is carried out in the form of a combined process "compression-expansion". The combined process consists of two incomplete thermotropic processes and with a high degree of approximation reproduces the laws of real combustion processes in the ICE, from compression to expansion. The mathematical model of the basic thermotropic process is based on the laws of molecular kinetic theory and thermodynamics of ideal gases. The main thermotropic process is based on three fundamental equations of thermodynamics: differential equations of the first law of thermodynamics and the law of heat exchange of the external source of the working medium, as well as the equation of state (Clapeyron). The heat of the process in the thermotropic process, in contrast to the polytropic, is an independent value and takes into account fuel consumption. The equation of the main thermotropic process has additivity, which allows us to consider its parameters as the sum of the adiabatic and thermal components of the process occurring in the gas mixture. An important feature of the thermotropic process is also the variable heat capacity of the process. The gas laws of classical thermodynamics are special cases of a new process. The advantage of the new cycle model is mathematical simplicity. The initial system of equations made it possible to perform precise integration and express the equations of processes and cycles in elementary functions. Precise integration ensured high accuracy of estimation of influencing factors contained in the model and absolute convergence of thermal and material balances of the cycle. A number of elements of the theory of thermotropic processes and cycles can be used to replace isochoric-isobaric-polytropic combustion models in undergraduate and specialist studies. This is facilitated by the absence of the need for complex computer programs that significantly complicate the development of educational material. In General, models with more complex laws of heat supply can be useful for undergraduates and graduate students to pre-evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed project activities to improve the internal combustion engine.

Biotechnology in the production of beverages: the teaching of chemistry from the production of aguardente de cagaita (Eugenia dysenterica)

The diversity in the types of vegetation, Brazil is the second largest biome Cerrado, occupying 25% of the country, surpassed only by the Amazon. In Minas Gerais, the Brazilian state has about 10.3% of its area the Cerrado vegetation, covering mainly areas of the Upper and Middle Jequitinhonha. The flora of the cerrado has several fruit species with high potential for agricultural use, which are traditionally used by local people, and the fruits have high levels of sugars, proteins and minerals. Among the great diversity of plants and fruits present in the cerrado is the Eugenia dysenterica, popularly known as cagaita. The fruit is globular yellow color when ripe, slightly acid and can reach up to 4 cm long and up to 5 cm diameter. The work here exposed was led initially to a survey of state schools that have high school in the city of Sete Lagoas-MG. After this survey was chosen for the project development a nearby school of the Federal University of Sao Joao del Rei (UFSJ-CSL) for viability of the project and in which direction proved to be very available. 3rd year high school classes were chosen, totaling 55 students, selecting the students who had greater knowledge of the concepts studied and shown interest. Various activities with students have been developed, one of which is the application of a questionnaire in the first meeting, which enabled us to identify where the problems thereof. a booklet with texts followed fixation exercises and illustrative images on each topic worked in class and the students images developing the proposed project activities was developed. This study aimed to use a fruit of the Cerrado, cagaita to perform fermentation and subsequent distillation, to promote ownership of the concepts of chemistry, biochemistry and biotechnology in high school students. Through the questionnaire at the end of the project, it was possible to assess the relevance of their work and the impact on the training of students. The study proved to be very promising for the students and the school, where probably, future students of the University. It is important to emphasize that the development of the project was very promising because it allowed greater interaction of students with dynamic classes, practical and contextualized, allowing a greater learning of them.

Geothermal heat pump application for CO2 reduction using Clean Development Mechanism

Geothermal heat pumps have several advantages over conventional heating and cooling systems. They can operate in both winter and summer, have high efficiencies, and do not directly emit any greenhouse gases during operation. Investors (in developing countries) can use Clean Development Mechanism as a source of financing for new or existing renewable energy facilities by selling Certified Emission Reductions credits (CERs), which represent the amount of CO2 emission (1 CER = 1 tCO2eq) that is avoided using renewable energy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the possibility of CO2 reduction by using geothermal heat pumps for fossil fuel displacement with applying Clean Development Mechanism. Results have shown that by using geothermal heat pumps during a 7-year crediting period, the estimated emission reduction would be 79.45 tCO2 (equal to 80 CERs), enabling the investor to achieve profit from selling 80 CERs and thus helping to fund the proposed project activity. Three main factors which influence the amount of CO2 reduction have been identified: carbon-dioxide emission factor for electricity source, efficiency of technology used for baseline scenario, and coefficient of performance (COP) of heat pumps.

USO DE PLANTAS MEDICINAIS COMO INSTRUMENTO DE CONSCIENTIZAÇÃO: RESPONSABILIDADE SOCIAL E AMBIENTAL

In Brazil the medicinal plants are used with little or none scientific evidence. This study had as theobject the people knowledge and the awareness of the correct use of the medicinal plants withEscola Rural João Pessoa 4° grade students families, at São Sepé Municipal District(RS, Brazil).During the study, questionnaires were applied to identify ways of obtaining and using medicinalplants, use motive, cultivation and preparing ways. About 20 plants were cited by the interviewed;all of them use the plants as the first resource in case of light considered health problems. If thecommunity involvement at the proposed project activities and development in class, the actionscreated by the project (debates, regarding material turned in, games and argumentations)contributed to stimulate the interest to the topic; as a consequence, we can say that the schoolcommunity were touched in relation to the problems involving the use of those plants, the dealand care demanded for these resource maintenance and, as extension, to the care with thenatural resources, in a general way.

Measurement and verification of a lighting load reduction project through energy efficiency

This paper will describe the methodology and pro-cedures that were followed to measure and verify the impact on the electricity use of a lighting load reduction project implemented at a gold mine. The lighting retrofit was concentrated on the 100 level and 100 incline of the gold mine. Since the lights were underground, it was operational for 24 hours each day. The proposed project activity aimed to reduce the electric demand of the lighting system by replacing the current types of lighting fixtures with more energy efficient units.The possibility existed to reduce the lighting load by 157 kW. These impacts needed to be assessed in order to verify the DSM impacts and savings for the client, the ESCO and Eskom. Pre-implementation metering was done in order to determine the oper-ational and installed capacity of the original lighting system. Together with the number of lights affected by this project activity and the 24-hour operational profile, this data defined the baseline electricity use of the project. The same metering techniques and layout have been used after implementation to determine the new installed and operational capac-ity of the new lighting system. This project achieved 99.36% of its contracted target of 157kW.

Environmental impact assessment of a proposed info-tech complex in East Calcutta wetlands

An info-tech complex is proposed for 286 acres (116 ha) of land within the East Calcutta wetlands. The proposed site is 15 km east of Kolkata city and only 8 km south of Dum Dum airport. The site is vacant, with pockets of agricultural land and a few degrading water-logged areas. In order to assess the likely impact of the proposed development on the environment, a rapid environmental impact assessment of an area of 10 km radius from the centre of the project site was carried out. The present status of the environment with respect to ambient air, surface water, groundwater, soil, landuse, noise, and socio-economics of the core and buffer zone has been documented and correlated with 24 project activities during construction, development and operational phases. The frequency of adverse impacts is greater than that of beneficial impacts. Out of the total adverse impacts 20 are short term, reversible and have a low magnitude. The total impact score for the proposed project is ( − )468.75 and as per the Assessment Value Index Scale the environmental impact of the proposed project activities is ‘no appreciable impact.’ But there are certain sectors where the environment will be adversely impacted. Therefore, appropriate measures have been suggested to ameliorate the adverse impacts. It is envisaged that if these measures are implemented then there will be an improvement in the quality of the environment, as well as life, by 687.5 units.

Integration of Effects-Based and Stressor-Based Approaches into a Holistic Framework for Cumulative Effects Assessment in Aquatic Ecosystems

As the density of development increases, there is a growing need to address the cumulative effects of project developments on the environment. In Canada this need has been recognized in legislation whereby new project developments that require an environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act are required to address the cumulative effects of proposed project activities relative to the existing environmental condition. Unfortunately, existing stressor-based and effects-based approaches to environmental assessment do not adequately address cumulative effects as defined under the Act when used in isolation. However, elements from each approach can be conceptually incorporated into a holistic cumulative effects assessment framework. Key framework components include: (1) an effects-based assessment to determine existing accumulated environmental state, (2) a stressor-based assessment to predict potential impacts of new development relative to the existing environmental state, (3) post-development monitoring to assess the accuracy of impact predictions and to provide an avenue for adaptive management, and (4) decision-making frameworks to link scientific information to public opinion and managerial action. The key advantage of this framework is that it provides a more holistic, systematic approach for incorporation of ecological information into a scientific and management framework for cumulative effects assessment.