Reuse Opportunities Research Articles

Promises and challenges of microservices: an exploratory study

Microservice-based architecture is a SOA-inspired principle of building complex systems as a composition of small, loosely coupled components that communicate with each other using language-agnostic APIs. This architectural principle is now becoming increasingly popular in industry due to its advantages, such as greater software development agility and improved scalability of deployed applications. In this work, we aim at collecting and categorizing best practices, challenges, and some existing solutions for these challenges employed by practitioners successfully developing microservice-based applications for commercial use. Specifically, we focus our study on “mature” teams developing microservice-based applications for at least two years, explicitly excluding “newcomers” to the field. We conduct a broad, mixed-method study that includes in-depth interviews with 21 practitioners and a follow-up online survey with 37 respondents, covering 37 companies in total. Our study shows that, in several cases, practitioners opt to deviate from the “standard” advice, e.g., instead of splitting microservices by business capabilities, they focus on resource consumption and intended deployment infrastructure. Some also choose to refrain from using multiple programming languages for implementing their microservices, as that practice hinders reuse opportunities. In fact, our study participants identified robust and shared infrastructural support established early on in the development process as one of the main factors contributing to their success. They also identified several pressing challenges related to the efficient managing of common code across services and the support of product variants. The results of our study can benefit practitioners who are interested to learn from each other, borrow successful ideas, and avoid common mistakes. It can also inform researchers and inspire novel solutions to some of the identified challenges.

Reuse-centric [formula omitted]-means configuration

K-means configuration is to find a configuration of k-means (e.g., the number of clusters, feature sets) that maximize some objectives. It is a time-consuming process due to the iterative nature of k-means. This paper proposes reuse-centrick-means configuration to accelerate k-means configuration. It is based on the observation that the explorations of different configurations share lots of common or similar computations. Effectively reusing the computations from prior trials of different configurations could largely shorten the configuration time. To materialize the idea, the paper presents a set of novel techniques, including reuse-based filtering, center reuse, and a two-phase design to capitalize on the reuse opportunities on three levels: validation, number of clusters, and feature sets. Experiments on k-means–based data classification tasks show that reuse-centrick-means configuration can speed up a heuristic search-based configuration process by a factor of 5.8, and a uniform search-based attainment of classification error surfaces by a factor of 9.1. The paper meanwhile provides some important insights on how to effectively apply the acceleration techniques to tap into a full potential.

Exploiting Reuse for GPU Subgraph Enumeration

Subgraph enumeration is important for many applications such as network motif discovery, community detection, and frequent subgraph mining. To accelerate the execution, recent works utilize graphics processing units (GPUs) to parallelize subgraph enumeration. The performances of these parallel schemes are dominated by the set intersection operations which account for up to 95 percent of the total processing time. (Un)surprisingly, a significant portion (as high as 99 percent) of these operations is actually redundant, i.e., the same set of vertices is repeatedly encountered and evaluated. Therefore, in this article, we seek to salvage and recycle the results of such operations to avoid repeated computation. Our solution consists of two phases. In the first phase, we generate a reusable plan that determines the opportunity for reuse. The plan is based on a novel reuse discovery mechanism that can identify available results to prevent redundant computation. In the second phase, the plan is executed to produce the subgraph enumeration results. This processing is based on a newly designed reusable parallel search strategy that can efficiently maintain and retrieve the results of set intersection operations. Our implementation on GPUs shows that our approach can achieve up to 5 times speedups compared with the state-of-the-art GPU solutions.

Characterizing manufacturing wastewater in the United States for the purpose of analyzing energy requirements for reuse

AbstractThis paper seeks to inform an improved understanding of the energy tradeoff associated with on‐site manufacturing water reuse in the United States from a lifecycle perspective, in part by developing an analytical framework for understanding when this tradeoff for reuse is beneficial. We survey the literature to assess the current state of reuse and its motives and barriers in the United States, before synthesizing information from publicly available EPA data on contaminants in US manufacturing wastewaters and technologies for treating them. Using the available data, we derive a set of “ubiquitous contaminants” among the top ten in terms of mass discharged in more than half of US manufacturing subsectors (NAICS 31–33) according to EPA permit data. We also present information on proven treatment trains and their energy requirements. We then compare water quality requirements for specific contaminants in reclaimed water to those characteristic of wastewater streams currently being discharged from manufacturing plants into surface waters to highlight sectors with reuse opportunities that could require little cost to realize, such as primary metals and, to a lesser extent, petroleum and coal products. We conclude by highlighting data limitations that need to be rectified before applying the framework more broadly and discussing how these data gaps could be filled. Better understanding the relationship between energy and water in the context of on‐site manufacturing water reuse would allow manufacturers to improve resiliency by reducing regulatory, physical, and reputational risks while lessening their footprint on local watersheds.

Software architecture for digital game mechanics: A systematic literature review

Game mechanics, the rules that simulate the virtual world inside a game, take a great part in what makes a game unique. For digital games, this uniqueness reduces the opportunity for software reuse. A high-level software architecture for game mechanics, however, can still be reused where a single, specific implementation cannot. Despite that potential, existing research on game development lacks a comprehensive analysis of how game mechanics could benefit from the field of software architecture. This limits the opportunities for developers and researchers alike to benefit from findings on the subject. To help guide future research on game development, we analyzed the state-of-the-art architectures in game mechanics through a systematic literature review. This work carefully documents data from 36 studies, analyzing the reflections and compromises between design requirements, practices, and restrictions, as well as how they contribute to different types of mechanics. The main findings are that researchers favor reduced development complexity, but often tailor their solutions to specific games or genres. We conclude that a valuable avenue for future research in the field is the generalization of architectural solutions around specific types of mechanics and formalizing the use of software engineering for game mechanics.

Comparison of different activators for alkaline activation of construction and demolition wastes

Currently, construction and demolition waste (CDW) is the most generated waste worldwide. In Colombia, ~ 22 million tons of CDW are generated per year, of which 1.0 million tons are generated in Santiago de Cali; therefore, the mitigation and reuse of CDW are important for reducing the environmental impact of the construction sector. This article presents a study on the application of CDW alkaline activation technology for the manufacture of pastes and mortars using alkaline activators with lower environmental impact, such as sodium sulfate and sodium hydroxide. Geopolymeric pastes were produced using a mixture of 80%CDW-20%OPC and activator solutions with concentrations of Na2O between 0.44% and 1.31%. The pastes were manufactured with fine aggregate obtained from the same CDW. The materials developed were characterized microstructurally, physically and mechanically. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and XRD results, the reaction products were C-(A)-S-H, C-S-H gels and minority (N),C-(A)-S-H gel. Additionally, in the sodium-sulfate-activated pastes, ettringite was identified as an additional hydration product through SEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Binders activated with sodium sulfate 0.8% Na2O (solid-state activator) yielded compressive strengths up to 18 MPa for pastes. These results provide an opportunity for the potential reuse of CDW in new eco-friendly binders.

Incineration of sewage sludge and recovery of residue ash as building material: A valuable option as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic

Circular economy principles were adopted by European Commission, to support a sustainable growth. They contain general rules that should be considered in all situations. At present, during pandemic, some waste disposal practices are under evaluation to guarantee safety conditions.For example, in view of the recent results reporting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in sewage sludge, the possibility that it diffuses in the environment is alarming. The situation may result critical in densely populated cities, which are the largest sources of sewage sludge. In this frame the diffused practice of reuse of this waste in agriculture is under revision.In this context, incineration may represent a valuable alternative strategy to managesewage sludge during pandemic. Indeed, due to thermal treatment, the destruction of organic micropollutants and pathogens, eventually present in the waste, is guarantee.Moreover, it is fundamental to highlight that also if the management of sewage sludge changes, the ash resulting from its combustion may have suitable reuse opportunities, and their landfilling should be avoided.This work presents the available possibilities of sewage sludge ash recovery in building applications and shows the results obtained by the analysis of their sustainability. The approach is based on the use of embodied energy and carbon footprint values, to make a simple and fast new method able to be a suitable tool to support and promote sustainability also in critical situations (such as pandemic) and when all the information about a technology are not available, making not possible to perform a full-LCA approach.This work aims to be not only a reference paper for promotion of strategies able to increase waste management safety, but also an example showing that circular economy principles should be pursued also if boundary conditions can change.

Olympus: Reaching Memory-Optimality on DNN Processors

In DNN processors, main memory consumes much more energy than arithmetic operations. Therefore, many memory-oriented network scheduling (MONS) techniques are introduced to exploit on-chip data reuse opportunities and reduce accesses to memory. However, to derive the theoretical lower bound of memory overhead for DNNs is still a significant challenge, which also sheds light on how to reach memory-level optimality by means of network scheduling. Prior work on MONS mainly focused on disparate optimization techniques or missed some of the data reusing opportunities in diverse network models, thus their results are likely to deviate from the true memory-optimality that can be achieved in processors. This paper introduces Olympus, which comprehensively considers the entire memory-level DNN scheduling space, formally analyzes the true memory-optimality and also how to reach the memory-optimal schedules for an arbitrary DNN running on a DNN processor. The key idea behind Olympus is to derive a true memory lower-bound regarding both the intra-layer and inter-layer reuse opportunities, which has not been simultaneously explored by prior works. Evaluation on SOTA DNN processors of different architectures shows that Olympus can guarantee the minimum off-chip memory access, and it reduces 12.3-85.6% DRAM access and saves 7.4-70.3% energy on the latest network models.

The INFLUENCE OF MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF PALM NUT SHELL- PLASTIC COMPOSITE

Increasing population levels, booming economy and rapid urbanization have greatly accelerated the municipal solid waste (MSW) in our country; in our cities (Bamenda, Buea, Douala, Yaoundé etc.), poor management of solid waste constitutes an urgent problem: flood, deterioration of the urban environment in the form of air, water, and land pollution. Options like recycling and material recovery for subsequent re-use present enormous opportunities for waste management with economic and ecological benefits, wastes as well as plastic and palm nut shell have not yet been recycled satisfactorily; the performances of palm nut shell-plastic composites of 30% palm kernel shell with particle sizes varying from 1mm to 5mm and 70% of polyethylene were used to produce different samples The effects of palm kernel shell particles’ size on mechanical and physical properties of the new composite were studied by the help of different mechanical (flexural and compressive test) and physical tests (density and water absorption). Results showed a better interaction of polyethylene and palm kernel shell particles at 1mm sieve with compressive stress and water absorption higher at 1mm, ultimate flexural stress and the young’s modulus of the material increased as the particle size of the palm kernel shell increased, relatively higher density were obtained at 3mm of the palm kernel shell (PKS) size.
 

Effect of microbial fuel cell operation time on the disinfection efficacy of electrochemically synthesised catholyte from urine

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer an excellent solution to tackle some of the major challenges currently faced by humankind: sustainable energy sources, waste management and water stress. Besides treating wastewater and producing useful electricity from urine, ceramic MFCs can also generate biocidal catholyte in-situ. It has been proved that the electricity generation from the MFCs has a high impact in the catholyte composition. Therefore, the catholyte composition constantly changes while electricity is generated. However, these changes in catholyte composition with time has not yet been studied and that could highly contribute to the disinfection efficacy. In this work, the evolution of the catholyte generation and composition with the MFC operation time has been chemically and microbiologically evaluated, during 42 days. The results show an increase in pH and conductivity with the operation time, reaching pH 11.5. Flow cytometry and luminometer analyses of bioluminescent pathogenic E. coli exposed to the synthesised catholyte revealed killing properties against bacterial cells. A bio-electrochemical system, capable of electricity generation and simultaneous production of bactericidal catholyte from human urine is presented. The possibility to electrochemically generate in-situ a bacterial killing agent from urine, offers a great opportunity for water reuse and resource recovery for practical implementations.

Forward osmosis as an opportunity for acid mining effluent reuse - An assessment of concentration polarization effects on forward osmosis performance and economic aspects

ABSTRACT Forward osmosis (FO) was investigated for treating an acid gold-mining effluent. Draw solution reconcentration by reverse osmosis (RO) was simulated and the FO-RO system economically evaluated. FO presented a rejection of 92.2% for total As and >98.5% for all other ions investigated. Concentration polarization caused a severe reduction in JFO. RO could operate as an additional barrier, with rejection >99.9%. FO-RO presented an estimated capital expenditure of 2,292,444 USD. It was found that Js was more critical in reducing permeate costs than JFO. Nevertheless, the FO-RO system could generate a high-quality effluent, indicating an opportunity to water reuse.

Potential Use and Challenges of Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment and Conservation in Game Lodges and Resorts in Kenya.

Constructed wetlands are cost-effective wastewater treatment alternatives that receive worldwide acceptance. For the Kenyan hospitality industry, in particular, constructed wetlands (CWs) provide opportunities for wastewater reuse and recovery of resources, as well as improvements in local environmental conditions. Hospitality establishments produce large volumes of wastewater that is sometimes discharged to the environment without being treated. This is not only harmful to communities living downstream of these rivers but also to the flora and fauna which are the main attraction for most who visit these lodges. This study used qualitative methods to collect and analyze published official government documents, peer-reviewed research articles, and professional reports including leading international and Kenyan case studies to explore how constructed wetlands can be effectively used in game lodges and resorts situated in arid and remote areas of Kenya. The study investigated wastewater management systems adopted by remote game lodges and resorts in Kenya and the potential role, as well as the challenges to adopting constructed wetland (CW) technology. The results indicated that hotels, game lodges, and resorts both internationally and locally are adopting different types of CWs including surface and subsurface flow as alternative nature-oriented wastewater management systems. The study identified opportunities in the use of CWs as a wastewater management and conservation strategy. The results suggest that there are potential challenges which include inadequate expertise and technical support; low volume of discharge during off-seasons; limited space or land; and the attitude of hospitality managers towards constructed wetlands. Based on these preliminary findings, one may conclude that game lodges, ecolodges, and resorts in remote areas are prime candidates for constructed wetland establishment. The study makes specific recommendations with implications for policy and practice to promote sustainable hospitality operations and environmental conservation. It is suggested that future studies test the efficacy and efficiency of CW technology as wastewater management systems in the Kenyan wilderness areas including national parks, game reserves, and forests.

Assessing the public perceptions of treated wastewater reuse: opportunities and implications for urban communities in developing countries

Wastewater reuse has become an integral part of Integrated Water Resources Management and thus plays a role in securing the water needs for future generations. This study aimed at determining the perceptions of Canaanland, an emerging urban community in Ogun State, Nigeria, on treated wastewater reuse for several purposes. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to the city residents (n = 244). Findings revealed that the city was aware of the economic and environmental benefits of wastewater reuse but would prefer reuse schemes that involved less human contact such as flushing toilets, electricity generation, building construction, and car wash. The least preferred option was for potable purposes. The community also revealed that they would be willing to accept wastewater reuse as long as it is endorsed by medical doctors, university professors, and experts. However, 45.5% of the respondents were from the Covenant University academic environment. Also, an assessment was carried out to ascertain the implications and opportunities for wastewater reuse in the city. Findings indicated that wastewater reuse involves several complexities and interlinkages, which revolve around political and decisional factors, economic and social factors, environmental factors, and technological factors. From the study, policy and decisional suggestions and a wastewater process flow were developed for more efficient wastewater management within developing cities. A study was carried out on eight cities from developing nations that have created a framework for wastewater management using several approaches. Also, a summary of findings reveals that if adequately researched, cheap and alternative means of wastewater treatment and reuse could be developed for electricity generation, carwash, and firefighting for developing nations. The result of this research can be used to address public anxieties regarding wastewater-reuse practices. Additionally, this study hopes to aid successful wastewater management schemes in the foreseeable future.

4D-BIM to enhance construction waste reuse and recycle planning: Case studies on concrete and drywall waste streams

Despite pressing attention on construction waste management (CWM) issues, low rates of construction waste (CW) reuse and recycling (R&R) remain a limitation in construction projects. In recent years, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has gained momentum for CWM purposes; its data-richness, visualization, and simulation capabilities provide an opportunity to enhance CW R&R planning at the project level. In this context, this study proposes temporal-based algorithms integrated with 4D-BIM for the planning of concrete and drywall waste R&R throughout construction projects. Two case studies from Central Texas were used for the demonstration of the algorithms, and estimates were validated with ground truth data and literature values from different projects in North America. The overarching objective of the proposed algorithms is to streamline estimation and visual planning of CW for on-site reuse, and off-site recycling – therefore promoting a more proactive and schedule-based CWM plan. In addition, the approach improves team communication around CWM goals of the project. Moreover, through the use of 4D-BIM, on-site waste reuse opportunities are planned in advance, thus, improving resource recovery and minimizing waste disposal in landfills.

Barriers and opportunities for beneficial reuse of sediment to support coastal resilience

As urbanization and climate change alter sediment fluxes, relative sea level, and coastal erosion around the world, management of sediment as a resource is increasingly important. Sediment is needed to enhance marsh accretion rates, raise the grade elevation of development, and build up beaches and dunes. Beneficial reuse of sediment refers to the repurposing of local sources of sediment for these applications, material typically available from dredging or sediment capture infrastructure, and represents a more sustainable approach compared to the status-quo involving transport to and from distant locations. However, in many locations, beneficial reuse remains a concept or is constrained to small-scale applications. In this paper, we draw on interviews with coastal sediment managers and regulators in Southern California to identify barriers to beneficial reuse and opportunities to overcome them. Interviewees reported numerous regulatory, technical, psychological, financial, and interorganizational barriers in their watersheds and regions. By highlighting these barriers, we aim to identify systemic changes that would make beneficial reuse a realistic and accessible option for Southern California and elsewhere. Most prominently, a more flexible regulatory framework that allows sediment management practices to adapt over time, pilot studies to understand how beneficial reuse works in various settings, and educational programs for regulators and the public could make beneficial reuse a more widespread approach.

Algorithm for sustainable water source and treatment selection process

Abstract World water supply is lacking in many places, making sanitation and reuse methods important. A new algorithm entitled ‘Drinking Water Source and Treatment Selection’ (DWSTS) to more sustainably select and compare water sources and treatment methods is introduced and demonstrated. Sustainability factors included in DWSTS include economic, social, and technical. DWSTS charts produced using this new method are an improvement over more traditional performance measures since they compare water sources based on a spectrum of considerations. The DWSTS method is demonstrated in a representative town. In water-scarce Muslim communities, the practice of ablution offers an opportunity for gray water reuse. Treating and reusing ablution gray water (AGW) was evaluated as part of the new DWSTS algorithm. Investigatory tools included in the new method were: household water use surveys, opinion leader interviews, an AGW collection device prototype design, treatment identification and testing, and comparison of attributes to those of existing water sources. Treatment methods examined were locally-made clay pot filter, coagulation and settling using moringa tree seeds, and P&G™ Purifier of Water. The DWSTS charts developed indicate AGW reuse could be socially acceptable, has potential to provide quality water, and would be financially competitive with existing sources. The DWSTS resulted in a more robust and environmentally sustainable solution than the conventional approach of simply considering cost.

Dataset for estimating occurrence probability of causations for plugged, abandoned and decommissioned oil and gas wells.

This article contains the dataset on the failure frequencies of the barrier and mechanical plugs in place within the hydrocarbon-containing wellbore during plugging and abandonment operation. The interpretation and application of this data can be found in the research article (“https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2019.09.015” Babaleye et al., 2019). These datasets were collected through a comprehensive hazard identification technique workshop involving 10 engineers and academics with considerable years of field experience. The data were collected based on how likely it is for each causation to occur and these likelihoods are ranked from 1 to 10. The process is experience-driven and is complemented by a 1–10 rating of the duration of leak of hydrocarbon before remediation, should the leak reach the mudline. The ranked data was a representative of raw failure data (failure rate or mean time to failure (MTTF)) for each causation and are coded in MATLAB using gamma distribution based on hierarchical Bayesian analysis. The dataset offers unique opportunity for reuse due to its accessibility and discreteness.

Synthesis of a Matériaux Institut Lavoisier metal-organic framework 96 (MIL-96(RM)) using red mud and its application to defluorination of water

High concentration of fluoride is detrimental to both the water environment and human health. In this work, a Matériaux Institut Lavoisier metal-organic framework 96 (MIL-96(RM)) was hydrothermally synthesized using metal ions present in red mud (RM) for fluoride removal from water. Various of processes were used to characterize the prepared adsorbent, and its adsorption behavior was extensively studied to determine its fluoride removal efficacy. The removal rate of fluoride improved with increasing adsorbent dosage, whereas temperature and the presence of coexisting anions had little effect on the performance of fluoride removal. A pseudo-second-order kinetics model was a good fit with the measured adsorption kinetics, and the results of adsorption thermodynamics revealed that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. Taken together, these findings indicated that the likely mechanism for fluoride adsorption was ion exchange, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 82.645 mg g–1 at 293 K being observed. Notably, the fluoride removal rate of MIL-96(RM) still exceeded 50 % after seven regeneration cycles with 1.5 M NaOH solution. This study established that the new MIL-96(RM) adsorbent effectively removed fluoride from water, thereby providing a new opportunity for RM reuse and a strategy to reduce pollution caused by the metal ions present in RM.

Examining the reuse potentials of IoT application frameworks

The major challenge that a developer confronts when building IoT systems is the management of a plethora of technologies implemented with various constraints, from different manufacturers, that at the end need to cooperate. In this paper we argue that developers can benefit from IoT frameworks by reusing their components so as to build in less time and effort IoT systems that can easily integrate new technologies. In order to explore the reuse opportunities offered by IoT frameworks we have performed a case study and analyzed 503 components reused by 35 IoT projects. We examined (a) the types of functionality that are most facilitated for reuse (b) the reuse strategy that is most adopted (c) thequality of the reused components. The results of the case study suggest that the main functionality reused is the one related to the Device Management layer and that Black-box reuse is the main type. Moreover, the quality of the reused components is improved compared to the rest of the components built from scratch.

Knowledge transfer into sport practice: An empirical user analysis of a sport science website

Transferring scientific knowledge to applied practitioners presents a challenge in sport science. Knowledge transfer, conceptualized as knowledge reuse and knowledge contribution, has mainly been studied in the context of specific topics, projects, or organizations. The purposes of this study were to investigate the determinants of knowledge transfer from a publicly available website to its users and to cluster users into different groups based on their level of knowledge transfer. The website www.sportsandscience.de is dedicated to translating evidence-based knowledge that is regularly generated in scientific studies into short and digestible information through e.g. videos and blogs, and provides opportunities for knowledge reuse and contribution. A theoretical model of knowledge transfer in organizations which was adapted to this context guided the study. Data from an online survey of registered website users were employed for the empirical analysis. The regression analyses showed that knowledge reuse is positively affected by ease of knowledge access and negatively by age. Knowledge reuse, job experience, and male gender have a significant positive effect on knowledge contribution. The findings suggest that the theoretical model is generally applicable to this context, but also highlight differences to the original organizational setting. Cluster analysis yielded three clusters: Frequent users, occasional users, and frequent contributors. Analyses of variances revealed significant differences among clusters regarding computer self-efficacy, job experience, gender, age, employment, interested sports, and conditional skills, but not concerning education and formal qualifications. Implications for improving knowledge transfer of such a website are provided.