Search results for: building energy optimization

Authors: K. Meera Saheb, K. Krishna Bhaskar

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Complex structures used in many fields of engineering are made up of simple structural elements like beams, plates etc. These structural elements, sometimes carry concentrated masses at discrete points, and when subjected to severe dynamic environment tend to vibrate with large amplitudes. The frequency amplitude relationship is very much essential in determining the response of these structural elements subjected to the dynamic loads. For Timoshenko beams, the effects of shear deformation and rotary inertia are to be considered to evaluate the fundamental linear and nonlinear frequencies. A commonly used method for solving vibration problem is energy method, or a finite element analogue of the same. In the present Coupled Displacement Field method the number of undetermined coefficients is reduced to half when compared to the famous Rayleigh Ritz method, which significantly simplifies the procedure to solve the vibration problem. This is accomplished by using a coupling equation derived from the static equilibrium of the shear flexible structural element. The prime objective of the present paper here is to study, in detail, the effect of a central concentrated mass on the large amplitude free vibrations of uniform shear flexible beams. Accurate closed form expressions for linear frequency parameter for uniform shear flexible beams with a central concentrated mass was developed and the results are presented in digital form.

Keywords: coupled displacement field, coupling equation, large amplitude vibrations, moderately thick plates

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Authors: Anum Rafiq

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Adolescence is a vulnerable period for youth across the world. It is a period of new learning with opportunities to understand and develop perspectives on health and well-being. With youth beginning to engage in intimate relationships at an earlier age in the 21st century, concentrating on the learning opportunity they have in school is paramount. The nature of what has been deemed important to teach in schools has changed throughout history, and the focus has shifted from home/family skills to teaching youth how to be competitive in the job market. Amidst this emphasis, opportunities for them exist to learn about building healthy intimate relationships, one of the foundational elements of most people’s lives. Using an Institutional Ethnography (IE), the lived experiences of youth in how they understand intimate relationships and how their learning experience is organized through the high school Health and Physical Education (H&PE) course is explored. An empirical inquiry into how the actual work of teachers and youth are socially organized by a biomedical, employment-related, and efficiency-based discourse is provided. Through thirty-two qualitative interviews with teachers and youth, a control of ruling relations such as institutional accountability circuits, performance reports, and timetabling over the experience of teachers and youth is found. One of the facets of the institutional accountability circuit is through the social organization of teaching and learning about healthy intimate relationships being framed through a biomedical discourse. In addition, the role of a hyper-focus on performance and evaluation is found as paramount in situating healthy intimacy discussions as inferior to neoliberally charged productivity measures such as employment skills. Lastly, due to the nature of institutional policies such as regulatory guidelines, teachers are largely influenced to avoid diving into discussions deemed risky or taboo by society, such as healthy intimacy in adolescence. The findings show how texts such as the H&PE curriculum, the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) guidelines, Ministry of Education Performance Reports, and the timetable organize the day-to-day activities of teachers and students and reproduce different disjunctures for youth. This disjuncture includes some of their experiences being subordinated, difficulty relating to curriculum, and an experience of healthy living discussions being skimmed over across sites. The findings detail that the experience of youth in learning about healthy intimate relationships is not akin to the espoused vision outlined in policy documents such as the H&PE (2015) curriculum policy. These findings have implications for policymakers, activists, and school administration alike, which call for an investigation into who is in power when it comes to youth’s learning needs, as a pivotal period where youth can be equipped with life-changing knowledge is largely underutilized. A restructuring of existing institutional practices that allow for the social and institutional flexibility required to broach the topic of healthy intimacy in a comprehensive manner is required.

Keywords: health policy, intimate relationships, youth, education, ruling relations, sexual education, violence prevention

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Authors: Sanaz Moayer, Fang Huang, Scott Gardner

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In the highly leveraged business world of today, an organisation’s success depends on how it can manage and organize its traditional and intangible assets. In the knowledge-based economy, knowledge as a valuable asset gives enduring capability to firms competing in rapidly shifting global markets. It can be argued that ability to create unique knowledge assets by configuring ICT and human capabilities, will be a defining factor for international competitive advantage in the mid-21st century. The concept of KM is recognized in the strategy literature, and increasingly by senior decision-makers (particularly in large firms which can achieve scalable benefits), as an important vehicle for stimulating innovation and organisational performance in the knowledge economy. This thinking has been evident in professional services and other knowledge intensive industries for over a decade. It highlights the importance of social capital and the value of the intellectual capital embedded in social and professional networks, complementing the traditional focus on creation of intellectual property assets. Despite the growing interest in KM within professional services there has been limited discussion in relation to multinational resource based industries such as mining and petroleum where the focus has been principally on global portfolio optimization with economies of scale, process efficiencies and cost reduction. The Australian minerals and metals mining industry, although traditionally viewed as capital intensive, employs a significant number of knowledge workers notably- engineers, geologists, highly skilled technicians, legal, finance, accounting, ICT and contracts specialists working in projects or functions, representing potential knowledge silos within the organisation. This silo effect arguably inhibits knowledge sharing and retention by disaggregating corporate memory, with increased operational and project continuity risk. It also may limit the potential for process, product, and service innovation. In this paper the strategic application of knowledge management incorporating contemporary ICT platforms and data mining practices is explored as an important enabler for knowledge discovery, reduction of risk, and retention of corporate knowledge in resource based industries. With reference to the relevant strategy, management, and information systems literature, this paper highlights possible connections (currently undergoing empirical testing), between an Strategic Knowledge Management (SKM) framework incorporating supportive Data Mining (DM) practices and competitive advantage for multinational firms operating within the Australian resource sector. We also propose based on a review of the relevant literature that more effective management of soft and hard systems knowledge is crucial for major Australian firms in all sectors seeking to improve organisational performance through the human and technological capability captured in organisational networks.

Keywords: competitive advantage, data mining, mining organisation, strategic knowledge management

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Authors: Sumita Srivastava

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Despite several measures taken by the Government of India, entrepreneurship is still not perceived as a viable career option by the young generation. Although the rate of startups has improved a little after the penetration of e portals as business platforms, still the numbers are not very significant. It is also important to note that entrepreneurial initiatives are mostly taken up by graduates of premier institutions of India like Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs). The scenario is not very satisfactory amongst the masses graduating from mainstream universities of the country. Indian youth at large are not attracted towards entrepreneurship as a career choice. The reason probably lies in the social fabric of the country and inappropriate education system which does not support the entrepreneurship at large amongst youth in the country. Education is critical to the development of an economy from the poverty level to the level of self-sustenance and development. The current curriculum in the majority of business schools in India prepares the average graduate to become employed by the available firms or business owners in society. For graduates in other streams, employment opportunities are very limited. The aim of this study was to identify and design entrepreneurship education contents to encourage undergraduates to pursue entrepreneurship as a career choice. This comprehensive study was conducted in multiple stages. Extensive research was conducted at each stage with an appropriate methodology. These stages of the project study were interconnected with each other, and each preceding stage provided inputs for the following stage of the study. In the first stage of the study, an empirical analysis was conducted to understand the current state of entrepreneurial intentions of undergraduates of Agra city. Various stakeholders were contacted at the stage, including students (n = 500), entrepreneurs (n = 20) and academicians and field experts (n = 10). At the second stage of the project study, a systems science technique, Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used to identify the critical elements of entrepreneurship education in India based upon the findings of stage 1. The application of the Nominal Group Technique involved a workshop format; 15 domain experts participated in the workshop. Throughout the process, a democratic process was followed to avoid individual dominance and premature focusing on a single idea. The study obtained 63 responses from experts for effective entrepreneurship education in India. The responses were reduced to seven elements after a few thematic iterations. These elements were then segregated into content (knowledge, skills and attitude) and learning interaction on the basis of experts’ responses. After identifying critical elements of entrepreneurship education in the previous stage, the course was designed and validated at stage 3 of the project. Scientific methods were used at this stage to validate the curriculum contents and training interventions experimentally. The educational and training interventions designed through this study would not only help in developing entrepreneurial intentions but also creating skills relevant to the local entrepreneurial opportunities in the vicinity.

Keywords: curriculum design, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneuship education, nominal group technique

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Authors: Ratnakumar V. Kappagantula, Gordon D. Ingram, Hari B. Vuthaluru

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This paper analyzes a three reactor chemical looping process for hydrogen production from natural gas, allowing for carbon dioxide capture through chemical looping technology. An oxygen carrier is circulated to separate carbon dioxide, to reduce steam for hydrogen production and to supply oxygen for combustion. In this study, the emphasis is placed on the steam conversion in the steam reactor by investigating the hydrogen efficiencies of the complete system at steam conversions of 15.8% and 50%. An Aspen Plus model was developed for a Three Reactor Chemical Looping process to study the effects of operational parameters on hydrogen production is investigated. Maximum hydrogen production was observed under stoichiometric conditions. Different conversions in the steam reactor, which was modelled as a Gibbs reactor, were found when Gibbs-identified products and user identified products were chosen. Simulations were performed for different oxygen carriers, which consist of an active metal oxide on an inert support material. For the same metal oxide mass flowrate, the fuel reactor temperature decreased for different support materials in the order: aluminum oxide (Al2O3) > magnesium aluminate (MgAl2O4) > zirconia (ZrO2). To achieve the same fuel reactor temperature for the same oxide mass flow rate, the inert mass fraction was found to be 0.825 for ZrO2, 0.7 for MgAl2O4 and 0.6 for Al2O3. The effect of poisoning of the oxygen carrier was also analyzed. With 3000 ppm sulfur-based impurities in the feed gas, the hydrogen product energy rate of the process were found to decrease by 0.4%.

Keywords: aspen plus, chemical looping combustion, inert support balls, oxygen carrier

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Authors: Severino Machingambi

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Most academics entering Higher education as lecturers in South Africa do not have qualifications in Education or teaching. This creates serious problems since they are not sufficiently equipped with pedagogical approaches and theories that inform their facilitation of learning strategies. This, arguably, is one of the reasons why higher education institutions are experiencing high student failure rate. In order to mitigate this problem, it is critical that higher education institutions devise internal academic staff development programmes to capacitate academics with pedagogical skills and competencies so as to enhance the quality of student learning. This paper reported on how the Teaching and Learning Development Centre of a university used design-based research methodology to conceptualise and implement an academic staff development programme for new academics at a university of technology. This approach revolves around the designing, testing and refining of an educational intervention. Design-based research is an important methodology for understanding how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice. The need for a professional development course for academics arose due to the fact that most academics at the university did not have teaching qualifications and many of them were employed straight from industry with little understanding of pedagogical approaches. This paper examines three key aspects of the programme namely, the preliminary phase, the teaching experiment and the retrospective analysis. The preliminary phase is the stage in which the problem identification takes place. The problem that this research sought to address relates to the unsatisfactory academic performance of the majority of the students in the institution. It was therefore hypothesized that the problem could be dealt with by professionalising new academics through engagement in an academic staff development programme. The teaching experiment phase afforded researchers and participants in the programme the opportunity to test and refine the proposed intervention and the design principles upon which it was based. The teaching experiment phase revolved around the testing of the new academics professional development programme. This phase created a platform for researchers and academics in the programme to experiment with various activities and instructional strategies such as case studies, observations, discussions and portfolio building. The teaching experiment phase was followed by the retrospective analysis stage in which the research team looked back and tried to give a trustworthy account of the teaching/learning process that had taken place. A questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to collect data from participants that helped to evaluate the programme and its implementation. One of the findings of this study was that academics joining university really need an academic induction programme that inducts them into the discourse of teaching and learning. The study also revealed that existing academics can be placed on formal study programmes in which they acquire educational qualifications with a view to equip them with useful classroom discourses. The study, therefore, concludes that new and existing academics in universities should be supported through induction programmes and placement on formal studies in teaching and learning so that they are capacitated as facilitators of learning.

Keywords: academic staff, pedagogy, programme, staff development

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Authors: Saumya R. Jha, Krishanu Biswas, Nilesh P. Gurao

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Several recent investigations have revealed medium entropy alloys exhibiting better mechanical properties than their high entropy counterparts. This clearly establishes that although a higher entropy plays a vital role in stabilization of particular phase over complex intermetallic phases, configurational entropy is not the primary factor responsible for the high inherent strengthening in these systems. Above and beyond a high contribution from friction stresses and solid solution strengthening, strain hardening is an important contributor to the strengthening in these systems. In this regard, researchers have developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques like High Pressure Torsion (HPT) to incorporate very high shear strain in the material, thereby leading to ultrafine grained (UFG) microstructures, which cause manifold increase in the strength. The presented work demonstrates a meticulous study of the variation in mechanical properties at different radial displacements from the center of HPT tested equiatomic ternary FeMnNi synthesized by casting route, which is a low stacking fault energy FCC alloy that shows significantly higher toughness than its high entropy counterparts like Cantor alloy. The gradient in grain sizes along the radial direction of these specimens has been modeled using microstructure entropy for predicting the mechanical properties, which has also been validated by indentation tests. The dislocation density is computed by FEM simulations for varying strains and validated by analyzing synchrotron diffraction data. Thus, the proposed model can be utilized to predict the strengthening behavior of similar systems deformed by HPT subjected to varying loading conditions.

Keywords: high pressure torsion, severe plastic deformation, configurational entropy, dislocation density, FEM simulation

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Authors: J. S. Saini, P. P. K. Sandhu

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The multi-hop nature of Wireless Mesh Networks and the hasty progression of throughput demands results in multi- channels and multi-radios structures in mesh networks, but the main problem of co-channels interference reduces the total throughput, specifically in multi-hop networks. Quality of Service mentions a vast collection of networking technologies and techniques that guarantee the ability of a network to make available desired services with predictable results. Quality of Service (QoS) can be directed at a network interface, towards a specific server or router's performance, or in specific applications. Due to interference among various transmissions, the QoS routing in multi-hop wireless networks is formidable task. In case of multi-channel wireless network, since two transmissions using the same channel may interfere with each other. This paper has considered the Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) routing protocol to locate the secure and optimised path. The proposed technique also utilizes the Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) based lossless data compression and intra cluster data aggregation to enhance the communication between the source and the destination. The use of clustering has the ability to aggregate the multiple packets and locates a single route using the clusters to improve the intra cluster data aggregation. The use of the LZW based lossless data compression has ability to reduce the data packet size and hence it will consume less energy, thus increasing the network QoS. The MATLAB tool has been used to evaluate the effectiveness of the projected technique. The comparative analysis has shown that the proposed technique outperforms over the existing techniques.

Keywords: WMNS, QOS, flooding, collision avoidance, LZW, congestion control

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Authors: Stacia E. H. Sitohang, S.Mn., Socrates Rudy Sirait

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The first movie theater in Indonesia was established in December 1900. The movie industry started with international movie penetration. After a while, local movie producers started to rise and created local Indonesian movies. The industry is growing through ups and downs in Indonesia. In 2008, Visinema was founded in Jakarta, Indonesia, by AnggaDwimasSasongko, one of the most respected movie director in Indonesia. After getting achievements and recognition, Visinema chose to grow the company horizontally as opposed to only grow vertically and gain another similar achievement. Visinemachose to build the ecosystem that enables them to obtain many more opportunities and generatebusiness sustainability. The company proceed as an agile company. They created several business subsidiaries to support the company’s Intellectual Property (IP) development. This research was done through interview with the key persons in the company and questionnaire to get market insights regarding Visinema. The is able to transform their IP that initially started from movies to different kinds of business model. Interestingly, Angga chose to use the start up approach to create Visinema. In 2019, the company successfully gained Series A funding from Intudo Ventures and got other various investment schemes to support the business. In early 2020, Covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted many industries in Indonesia, especially the entertainment and leisure businesses. Fortunately, Visinema did not face any significant problem regarding survival during the pandemic, there were nolay-offs nor work hour reductions. Instead, they were thinking of much bigger opportunities and problems. While other companies suffer during the pandemic, Visinema created the first focused Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD) in Indonesia named Bioskop Online. The platform was created to keep the company innovating and adapting with the new online market as the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Other than a digital platform, Visinemainvested heavily in animation to target kids and family business. They believed that penetrating the technology and animation market is going to be the biggest opportunity in Visinema’s road map. Besides huge opportunities, Visinema is also facing problems. The first is company brand positioning. Angga, as the founder, felt the need to detach his name from the brand image of Visinema to create system sustainability and scalability. Second, the company has to create a strategy to refocus in a particular business area to maintain and improve the competitive advantages. The third problem, IP piracy is a huge structural problem in Indonesia, the company considers IP thieves as their biggest competitors as opposed to other production company. As the recommendation, we suggest a set of branding and management strategy to detach the founder’s name from Visinema’s brand and improve the competitive advantages. We also suggest Visinema invest in system building to prevent IP piracy in the entertainment industry, which later can be another business subsidiary of Visinema.

Keywords: business ecosystem, agile, sustainability, scalability, start Up, intellectual property, digital platform

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Authors: P. Acosta-Santamaría, A. Ibatá-Soto, A. López-Vásquez

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Organic compounds in wastewaters coming from textile and pharmaceutical industry generated multiple harmful effects on the environment and the human health. One of them is the methyl orange (MeO), an azoic dye considered to be a recalcitrant compound. The heterogeneous photocatalysis emerges as an alternative for treating this type of hazardous compounds, through the generation of OH radicals using radiation and a semiconductor oxide. According to the author’s knowledge, catalysts such as TiO₂ doped with metals show high efficiency in degrading MeO; however, this presents economic limitations on industrial scale. Black sand can be considered as a naturally doped catalyst because in its structure is common to find compounds such as titanium, iron and aluminum oxides, also elements such as zircon, cadmium, manganese, etc. This study reports the photocatalytic activity of the mineral black sand used as semiconductor in the discoloration of MeO by oxidation and reduction photocatalytic techniques. For this, magnetic composites from the mineral were prepared (RM, M1, M2 and NM) and their activity were tested through MeO discoloration while TiO₂ was used as reference. For the fractions, chemical, morphological and structural characterizations were performed using Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis. M2 fraction showed higher MeO discoloration (93%) in oxidation conditions at pH 2 and it could be due to the presence of ferric oxides. However, the best result to reduction process was using M1 fraction (20%) at pH 2, which contains a higher titanium percentage. In the first process, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) was used as electron donor agent. According to the results, black sand mineral can be used as natural semiconductor in photocatalytic process. It could be considered as a photocatalyst precursor in such processes, due to its low cost and easy access.

Keywords: black sand mineral, methyl orange, oxidation, photocatalysis, reduction

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Authors: Mehmet Akif Bütüner, İlhan Koşalay

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Hydroelectric power plants (HEPPs) are renewable energy power plants with the highest installed power in the world. While the control systems operating in these power plants ensure that the system operates at the desired operating point, it is also responsible for stopping the relevant unit safely in case of any malfunction. While these control systems are expected not to miss signals that require stopping, on the other hand, it is desired not to cause unnecessary stops. In traditional control systems including modern systems with SCADA infrastructure, alarm conditions to create warnings or trip conditions to put relevant unit out of service automatically are usually generated with predefined limits regardless of different operating conditions. This approach results in alarm/trip conditions to be less likely to detect minimal changes which may result in serious malfunction scenarios in near future. With the methods proposed in this research, routine behavior of the oil circulation of hydraulic governor of a HEPP will be modeled with machine learning methods using historical data obtained from SCADA system. Using the created model and recently gathered data from control system, oil pressure of hydraulic accumulators will be estimated. Comparison of this estimation with the measurements made and recorded instantly by the SCADA system will help to foresee failure before becoming worse and determine remaining useful life. By using model outputs, maintenance works will be made more planned, so that undesired stops are prevented, and in case of any malfunction, the system will be stopped or several alarms are triggered before the problem grows.

Keywords: hydroelectric, governor, anomaly detection, machine learning, regression

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Authors: Krishna Prasad Maity, Narendra Tanty, Ananya Patra, V. Prasad

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Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a well-known material for very good electrical, thermal conductivity and high tensile strength. Because of that, it’s widely used in many fields like nanotechnology, electronics, optics, etc. In last two decades, polyaniline (PANI) with CNT and functionalized CNT (fCNT) have been promising materials in application of gas sensing, electromagnetic shielding, electrode of capacitor etc. So, the study of electrical conductivity of PANI/CNT and PANI/fCNT is important to understand the charge transport and interaction between PANI and CNT in the composite. It is observed that a transition in magnetoresistance (MR) with lowering temperature, increasing magnetic field and decreasing CNT percentage in CNT/PANI composite. Functionalization of CNT prevent the nanotube aggregation, improves interfacial interaction, dispersion and stabilized in polymer matrix. However, it shortens the length, breaks C-C sp² bonds and enhances the disorder creating defects on the side walls. We have studied electrical resistivity and MR in PANI with CNT and fCNT composites for different weight percentages down to the temperature 4.2K and up to magnetic field 5T. Resistivity increases significantly in composite at low temperature due to functionalization of CNT compared to only CNT. Interestingly a transition from negative to positive magnetoresistance has been observed when the filler is changed from pure CNT to functionalized CNT after a certain percentage (10wt%) as the effect of more disorder in fCNT/PANI composite. The transition of MR has been explained on the basis of polaron-bipolaron model. The long-range Coulomb interaction between two polarons screened by disorder in the composite of fCNT/PANI, increases the effective on-site Coulomb repulsion energy to form bipolaron which leads to change the sign of MR from negative to positive.

Keywords: coulomb interaction, magnetoresistance transition, polyaniline composite, polaron-bipolaron

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Authors: Romeo Malik, Yashraj Tripathy, Anup Barai

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Transportation safety is a major concern for vehicle electrification on a large-scale. The failure cost of lithium-ion batteries is substantial and is significantly impacted by higher liability and replacement cost. With continuous advancement on the material front in terms of higher energy density, upgrading safety characteristics are becoming more crucial for broader integration of lithium-ion batteries. Understanding and impeding thermal runaway is the prime issue for battery safety researchers. In this study, a comprehensive comparison of thermal runaway mechanisms for two different cathode types, Li(Ni₀.₃Co₀.₃Mn₀.₃)O₂ and Li(Ni₀.₈Co₀.₁₅Al₀.₀₅)O₂ is explored. Both the chemistries were studied for different states of charge, and the various abuse scenarios that lead to thermal runaway is investigated. Abuse tests include mechanical abuse, electrical abuse, and thermal abuse. Batteries undergo thermal runaway due to a series of combustible reactions taking place internally; this is observed as multiple jets of flame reaching temperatures of the order of 1000ºC. The physicochemical characterisation was performed on cells, prior to and after abuse. Battery’s state of charge and chemistry have a significant effect on the flame temperature profiles which is otherwise quantified as heat released. Majority of the failures during transportation is due to these external short circuit. Finally, a mitigation approach is proposed to impede the thermal runaway hazard. Transporting lithium-ion batteries under low states of charge is proposed as a way forward. Batteries at low states of charge have demonstrated minimal heat release under thermal runaway reducing the risk of secondary hazards such as thermal runaway propagation.

Keywords: battery reliability, lithium-ion batteries, thermal runaway characterisation, tomography

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Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management

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Authors: Idoia Landa Oregi, Itsaso Gonzalez Ochoantesana, Olatz Nicolas Buxens, Carlo Ferretti

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The impact of citizens in urban transformations has become increasingly important in the pursuit of creating citizen-centered cities. Citizens at the forefront of the urban transformation process are key to establishing resilient, sustainable, and inclusive cities that cater to the needs of all residents. Therefore, collecting data and information directly from citizens is crucial for the sustainable development of cities. Within this context, public participation becomes a pillar for acquiring the necessary information from citizens. Public participation in urban transformation processes establishes a more responsive, equitable, and resilient urban environment. This approach cultivates a sense of shared responsibility and collective progress in building cities that truly serve the well-being of all residents. However, the implementation of public participation practices often overlooks strategies to effectively engage citizens in the processes, resulting in non-successful participatory outcomes. Therefore, this research focuses on identifying and analyzing the critical aspects of citizen engagement during the same participatory urban transformation process in different European contexts: Ermua (Spain), Elva (Estonia) and Matera (Italy). The participatory neighborhood regeneration process is divided into three main stages, to turn social districts into inclusive and smart neighborhoods: (i) the strategic level, (ii) the design level, and (iii) the implementation level. In the initial stage, the focus is on diagnosing the neighborhood and creating a shared vision with the community. The second stage centers around collaboratively designing various action plans to foster inclusivity and intelligence while pushing local economic development within the district. Finally, the third stage ensures the proper co-implementation of the designed actions in the neighborhood. To this date, the presented results critically analyze the key aspects of engagement in the first stage of the methodology, the strategic plan, in the three above-mentioned contexts. It is a multifaceted study that incorporates three case studies to shed light on the various perspectives and strategies adopted by each city. The results indicate that despite of the various cultural contexts, all cities face similar barriers when seeking to enhance engagement. Accordingly, the study identifies specific challenges within the participatory approach across the three cities such as the existence of discontented citizens, communication gaps, inconsistent participation, or administration resistance. Consequently, key learnings of the process indicate that a collaborative sphere needs to be cultivated, educating both citizens and administrations in the aspects of co-governance, giving these practices the appropriate space and their own communication channels. This study is part of the DROP project, funded by the European Union, which aims to develop a citizen-centered urban renewal methodology to transform the social districts into smart and inclusive neighborhoods.

Keywords: citizen-centred cities, engagement, public participation, urban transformation

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Authors: Hafiz Arbab Sakandar

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Time-restricted intermittent fasting (TRIF) impacts host’s physiology and health. Plenty of health benefits have been reported for TRIF in animal models. However, limited studies have been conducted on humans especially in underdeveloped economies. Here, we designed a study to investigate the impact of TRIF/Ramadan fasting (16:8) on the modulation of gut-microbiome structure, metabolic pathways, and predicted metabolites and explored the correlation among them at different time points (during and after the month of Ramadan) in Pakistani Expats living in China. We observed different trends of Shannon-Wiener index in different subjects; however, all subjects showed substantial change in bacterial diversity with the progression of TRIF. Moreover, the changes in gut microbial structure by the end of TRIF were higher vis-a-vis in the beginning, significant difference was observed among individuals. Additionally, metabolic pathways analysis revealed that amino acid, carbohydrate and energy metabolism, glycan biosynthesis metabolism of cofactors and vitamins were significantly affected by TRIF. Pyridoxamine, glutamate, citrulline, arachidonic acid, and short chain fatty acid showed substantial difference at different time points based on the predicted metabolism. In conclusion, these results contribute to further our understanding about the key relationship among, dietary intervention (TRIF), gut microbiome structure and function. The preliminary results from study demonstrate significant potential for elucidating the mechanisms underlying gut microbiome stability and enhancing the effectiveness of microbiome-tailored interventions among the Pakistani populace. Nonetheless, extensive, and rigorous large-scale research on the Pakistani population is necessary to expound on the association between diet, gut microbiome, and overall health.

Keywords: gut microbiome, health, fasting, functionality

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Authors: Mona Kamel Hassan

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Teaching a class of diverse learners poses a great challenge not only for foreign and second language teachers, but also for teachers in different disciplines as well as for curriculum designers. Thus, to contribute to previous research tackling language diversity, the current paper shares the experience of teaching a reading, writing and vocabulary building course to diverse Arabic as a Foreign Language learners in their advanced language proficiency level. Diversity is represented in students’ motivation, their prior knowledge, their various needs and interests, their level of anxiety, and their different learning styles and skills. While teaching this course the researcher adopted the universal design for learning (UDL) framework, which is a means to meet the various needs of diverse learners. UDL stresses the importance of enabling the entire diverse students to gain skills, knowledge, and enthusiasm to learn through the employment of teaching methods that respond to students' individual differences. Accordingly, the educational curriculum developed for this course and the teaching methods employed is modified. First, the researcher made the language curriculum vivid and attractive to inspire students' learning and to keep them engaged in their learning process. The researcher encouraged the entire students, from the first day, to suggest topics of their interest; political, social, cultural, etc. The authentic Arabic texts chosen are those that best meet students’ needs, interests, lives, and sociolinguistic issues, together with the linguistic and cultural components. In class and under the researcher’s guidance, students dig into these topics to find solutions for the tackled issues while working with their peers. Second, to gain equal opportunities to demonstrate learning, role-playing was encouraged to give students the opportunity to perform different linguistic tasks, to reflect and share their diverse interests and cultural backgrounds with their peers. Third, to bring the UDL into the classroom, students were encouraged to work on interactive, collaborative activities through technology to improve their reading and writing skills and reinforce their mastery of the accumulated vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and collocations. These interactive, collaborative activities help to facilitate student-student communication and student-teacher communication and to increase comfort in this class of diverse learners. Detailed samples of the educational curriculum and interactive, collaborative activities developed, accompanied by methods of teaching employed to teach these diverse learners, are presented for illustration. Results revealed that students are responsive to the educational materials which are developed for this course. Therefore, they engaged in the learning process and classroom activities and discussions effectively. They also appreciated their instructor’s willingness to differentiate the teaching methods to suit students of diverse background knowledge, learning styles, level of anxiety, etc. Finally, the researcher believes that sharing this experience in teaching diverse learners will help both language teachers and teachers in other disciplines to develop a better understanding to meet their students' diverse needs. Results will also pave the way for curriculum designers to develop educational material that meets the needs of diverse learners.

Keywords: teaching, language, diverse, learners

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Authors: L. K. Nivedha, V. Maruthapandian, R. Kothandaraman

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Rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZAB) are gaining significant research attention owing to their high energy density and copious zinc resources worldwide. However, the unsolved obstacles such as dendrites, passivation, depth of discharge and the lack of an efficient cathode catalyst restrict their practical application1. By and large, non-noble transition metal-based catalysts are well-reputed materials for catalysing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with greater stability in alkaline medium2. Herein, we report the synthesis and application of Mn₃O4-NiFeLDH/Carbon composite as a cathode catalyst for rechargeable ZAB. The synergetic effects of the mixed transition metals (Mn/Ni/Fe) have aided in catalysing ORR and OER in alkaline electrolyte with a shallow potential gap of 0.7 V. The composite, by its distinctive physicochemical characteristics, shows an excellent OER activity with a current density of 1.5 mA cm⁻² at a potential of 1.6 V and a superior ORR activity with an onset potential of 0.8 V when compared with their counterparts. Nevertheless, the catalyst prefers a two-electron pathway for the electrochemical reduction of oxygen which results in a limiting current density of 2.5 mA cm⁻². The bifunctional activity of the Mn₃O₄-NiFeLDH/Carbon composite was utilized in developing rechargeable ZAB. The fully fabricated ZAB delivers an open circuit voltage of 1.4 V, a peak power density of 70 mW cm⁻², and a specific capacity of 800 mAh g⁻¹ at a current density of 20 mA cm⁻² with an average discharge voltage of 1 V and the cell is operable upto 50 mA cm-2. Rechargeable ZAB demonstrated over 110 h at 10 mA cm⁻². Further, the cause for the diminished charge-discharge performance experienced beyond the 100th cycle was investigated, and carbon corrosion was testified using Infrared spectroscopy.

Keywords: rechargeable zinc-air battery, oxygen evolution reaction, bifunctional catalyst, alkaline medium

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Authors: Mohamed Edokali, Robert Menzel, David Harbottle, Ali Hassanpour

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Forward osmosis (FO) process has stood out as an energy-efficient technology for water desalination and purification, although the practical application of FO for desalination still relies on RO-based Thin Film Composite (TFC) and Cellulose Triacetate (CTA) polymeric membranes which have a low performance. Recently, graphene oxide (GO) laminated membranes have been considered an ideal selection to overcome the bottleneck of the FO-polymeric membranes owing to their simple fabrication procedures, controllable thickness and pore size and high water permeability rates. However, the low stability of GO laminates in wet and harsh environments is still problematic. The recent developments of modified GO and hydrophobic reduced graphene oxide (rGO) membranes for FO desalination have demonstrated attempts to overcome the ongoing trade-off between desalination performance and stability, which is yet to be achieved prior to the practical implementation. In this study, acid-functionalized GO nanosheets cooperatively reduced and crosslinked by the hyperbranched polyethyleneimine (PEI) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers, respectively, are applied for fabrication of the FO membrane, to enhance the membrane stability and performance, and compared with other functionalized rGO-FO membranes. PEI/PEG doped rGO membrane retained two compacted d-spacings (0.7 and 0.31 nm) compared to the acid-functionalized GO membrane alone (0.82 nm). Besides increasing the hydrophilicity, the coating layer of PEG onto the PEI-doped rGO membrane surface enhanced the structural integrity of the membrane chemically and mechanically. As a result of these synergetic effects, the PEI/PEG doped rGO membrane exhibited a water permeation of 7.7 LMH, salt rejection of 97.9 %, and reverse solute flux of 0.506 gMH at low flow rates in the FO desalination process.

Keywords: desalination, forward osmosis, membrane performance, polyethyleneimine, polyethylene glycol, reduced graphene oxide, stability

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Authors: Alexandre Beaupré-Lavallée, Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant, Nathalie Beaulac

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The question of internal governance of universities is a political and scientific debate in the province of Quebec (Canada). Governments have called or set up inquiries on the subject on three separate occasions since the complete overhaul of the educational system in the 1960s: the Parent Commission (1967), the Angers Commission (1979) and the Summit on Higher Education (2013). All three produced reports that highlight the constant tug-of-war for authority and legitimacy within universities. Past and current research that cover Quebec universities have studied several aspects regarding internal governance: the structure as a whole or only some parts of it, the importance of certain key aspects such as collegiality or strategic planning, or of stakeholders, such as students or administrators. External governance has also been studied, though, as with internal governance, research so far as only covered well delineated topics like financing policies or overall impacts from wider societal changes such as New Public Management. The latter, NPM, is often brought up as a factor that influenced overall State policies like “steering-at-a-distance” or internal shifts towards “managerialism”. Yet, to the authors’ knowledge, there is not study that specifically maps how the Quebec State formally influences internal governance. In addition, most studies about the Quebec university system are not comparative in nature. This paper presents a portion of the results produced by a 2022- 2023 study that aims at filling these last two gaps in knowledge. Building on existing governmental, institutional, and scientific papers, we documented the legal and regulatory framework of the Quebec university system and of twenty-one other university systems in North America and Europe (2 in Canada, 2 in the USA, 16 in Europe, with the addition of the European Union as a distinct case). This allowed us to map the presence (or absence) of mandatory structures of governance enforced by States, as well as their composition. Then, using Clark’s “triangle of coordination”, we analyzed each system to assess the relative influences of the market, the State and the collegium upon the governance model put in place. Finally, we compared all 21 non-Quebec systems to characterize the province’s policies in an internal perspective. Preliminary findings are twofold. First, when all systems are placed on a continuum ranging from “no State interference in internal governance” to “State-run universities”, Quebec comes in the middle of the pack, albeit with a slight lean towards institutional freedom. When it comes to overall governance (like Boards and Senates), the dual nature of the Quebec system, with its public university and its coopted yet historically private (or ecclesiastic) institutions, in fact mimics the duality of all university systems. Second, however, is the sheer abundance of legal and regulatory mandates from the State that, while not expressly addressing internal governance, seems to require de facto modification of internal governance structure and dynamics to ensure institutional conformity with said mandates. This study is only a fraction of the research that is needed to better understand State-universities interactions regarding governance. We hope it will set the stage for future studies.

Keywords: internal governance, legislation, Quebec, universities

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Authors: Calvin Stephen, Biswajit Basu, Aonghus McNabola

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Market liberalization in the power sector has led to the emergence of micro-hydropower schemes that are dependent on the use of pumps-as-turbines in applications that were not suitable as potential hydropower sites in earlier years. These applications include energy recovery in water supply networks, sewage systems, irrigation systems, alcohol breweries, underground mining and desalination plants. As a result, there has been an accelerated adoption of pumpsas-turbine technology due to the economic advantages it presents in comparison to the conventional turbines in the micro-hydropower space. The performance of this machines under cavitation conditions, however, is not well understood as there is a deficiency of knowledge in literature focused on their turbine mode of operation. In hydraulic machines, cavitation is a common occurrence which needs to be understood to safeguard them and prolong their operation life. The overall purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cavitation on the performance of a pumps-as-turbine system over its entire operating range. At various operating speeds, the cavitating region is identified experimentally while monitoring the effects this has on the power produced by the machine. Initial results indicate occurrence of cavitation at higher flow rates for lower operating speeds and at lower flow rates at higher operating speeds. This implies that for cavitation free operation, low speed pumps-as-turbine must be used for low flow rate conditions whereas for sites with higher flow rate conditions high speed turbines should be adopted. Such a complete understanding of pumps-as-turbine suction performance can aid avoid cavitation induced failures hence improved reliability of the micro-hydropower plant.

Keywords: cavitation, micro-hydropower, pumps-as-turbine, system design

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Authors: Adela Penesova, Zofia Radikova, Boris Bajer, Andrea Havranova, Miroslav Vlcek

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Background: The aim of our study was to compare the effect of intensified lifestyle intervention on insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21 after 8 weeks of lifestyle intervention. Methods: A group of 43 obese patients (13M/30F; 43.0±12.4 years; BMI (body mass index) 31.2±6.3 kg/m2 participated in a weight loss interventional program (NCT02325804) following an 8-week hypocaloric diet (-30% energy expenditure) and physical activity 150 minutes/week. Insulin sensitivity was evaluated according to the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and insulin sensitivity indices according to Matsuda and Cederholm were calculated (ISImat and ISIced). Plasma ALT, AST, Fetuin-A, FGF 21, and physical fitness were measured. Results: The average reduction of body weight was 6.8±4.9 kg (0-15 kg; p=0.0006), accompanied with a significant reduction of body fat amount of fat mass (p=0.03), and waist circumference (p=0.02). Insulin sensitivity has been improved (IR HOMA 2.71±3.90 vs 1.24±0.83; p=0.01; ISIMat 6.64±4.38 vs 8.93±5.36 p ≤ 0.001). Total, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides decreased (p=0.05, p=0.04, p=0.04, respectively). Physical fitness significantly improved after intervention (as measure VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake) (p ≤ 0.001). ALT decreased significantly (0.44±0.26 vs post 0.33±0.18 ukat/l, p=0.004); however, AST not (pre 0.40±0.15 vs 0.35±0.09 ukat/l, p=0.07). Hepatokine Fetuin-A significantly decreased after intervention (43.1±10.8 vs 32.6±8.6 ng/ml, p < 0.001); however, FGF 21 levels tended to decrease (146±152 vs 132±164 pg/ml, p=0.07). Conclusion: 8-weeks of diet and physical activity intervention program in obese otherwise healthy subjects led to an improvement of insulin resistance parameters and liver marker profiles, as well as increased physical fitness. This study was supported by grants APVV 15-0228; VEGA 2/0161/16.

Keywords: obesity, diet, exercice, insulin sensitivity

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Authors: Bienvenu Gael Fouda Mbanga

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This study reports a new approach of preparation of carbon nanoparticles coated cerium oxide nanorods (CNPs/CeONRs) nanocomposite and reusing the spent adsorbent of Cd2+- CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite for latent fingerprint detection (LFP) after removing Cd2+ ions from aqueous solution. CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite was prepared by using CNPs and CeONRs with adsorption processes. The prepared nanocomposite was then characterized by using UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-visible), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Zeta potential, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The average size of the CNPs was 7.84nm. The synthesized CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite has proven to be a good adsorbent for Cd2+ removal from water with optimum pH 8, dosage 0. 5 g / L. The results were best described by the Langmuir model, which indicated a linear fit (R2 = 0.8539-0.9969). The adsorption capacity of CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite showed the best removal of Cd2+ ions with qm = (32.28-59.92 mg/g), when compared to previous reports. This adsorption followed pseudo-second order kinetics and intra particle diffusion processes. ∆G and ∆H values indicated spontaneity at high temperature (40oC) and the endothermic nature of the adsorption process. CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite therefore showed potential as an effective adsorbent. Furthermore, the metal loaded on the adsorbent Cd2+- CNPs/CeONRs has proven to be sensitive and selective for LFP detection on various porous substrates. Hence Cd2+-CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite can be reused as a good fingerprint labelling agent in LFP detection so as to avoid secondary environmental pollution by disposal of the spent adsorbent.

Keywords: Cd2+-CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite, cadmium adsorption, isotherm, kinetics, thermodynamics, reusable for latent fingerprint detection

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Natacha Fery, Guilherme L. Dalledonne, Xiangyang Zheng, Cheng Tang, Roberto Mayerle

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A Decision Support System (DSS) for supporting decision makers in the management of the Shandong Peninsula has been developed. Emphasis has been given to coastal protection, coastal cage aquaculture and harbors. The investigations were done in the framework of a joint research project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In this paper, a description of the DSS, the development of its components, and results of its application are presented. The system integrates in-situ measurements, process-based models, and a database management system. Numerical models for the simulation of flow, waves, sediment transport and morphodynamics covering the entire Bohai Sea are set up based on the Delft3D modelling suite (Deltares). Calibration and validation of the models were realized based on the measurements of moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) and High Frequency (HF) radars. In order to enable cost-effective and scalable applications, a database management system was developed. It enhances information processing, data evaluation, and supports the generation of data products. Results of the application of the DSS to the management of coastal protection, coastal cage aquaculture and harbors are presented here. Model simulations covering the most severe storms observed during the last decades were carried out leading to an improved understanding of hydrodynamics and morphodynamics. Results helped in the identification of coastal stretches subjected to higher levels of energy and improved support for coastal protection measures.

Keywords: coastal protection, decision support system, in-situ measurements, numerical modelling

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Authors: Marpaleni

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The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared in 2007 that global warming and climate change are not just a series of events caused by nature, but rather caused by human behaviour. Thus, to reduce the impact of human activities on climate change it is required to have information about how people respond to the environmental issues and what constraints they face. However, information on these and other phenomena remains largely missing, or not fully integrated within the existing data systems. The proposed study is aimed at filling the gap in this knowledge by focusing on Environmentally Friendly Behaviour (EFB) of the people of Indonesia, by taking the province of South Sumatera as a case of study. EFB is defined as any activity in which people engage to improve the conditions of the natural resources and/or to diminish the impact of their behaviour on the environment. This activity is measured in terms of consumption in five areas at the household level, namely housing, energy, water usage, recycling and transportation. By adopting the Indonesia’s Environmentally Friendly Behaviour conducted by Statistics Indonesia in 2013, this study aims to precisely identify one’s orientation towards EFB based on socio demographic characteristics such as: age, income, occupation, location, education, gender and family size. The results of this research will be useful to precisely identify what support people require to strengthen their EFB, to help identify specific constraints that different actors and groups face and to uncover a more holistic understanding of EFB in relation to particular demographic and socio-economics contexts. As the empirical data are examined from the national data sample framework, which will continue to be collected, it can be used to forecast and monitor the future of EFB.

Keywords: environmentally friendly behavior, demographic, South Sumatera, Indonesia

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: Sharvare Palwai, Padmaja Guggilla

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Smart materials, also called as responsive materials, undergo reversible physical or chemical changes in their properties as a consequence of small environmental variations. They can respond to a single or multiple stimuli such as stress, temperature, moist, electric or magnetic fields, light, or chemical compounds. Hence smart materials are the basis of many applications, including biosensors and transducers, particularly electroactive polymers. As the polymers exhibit good flexibility, high transparency, easy processing, and low cost, they would be promising for the sensor material. Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF), being a ferroelectric polymer, exhibits piezoelectric and pyro electric properties. Pyroelectric materials convert heat directly into electricity, while piezoelectric materials convert mechanical energy into electricity. These characteristics of PVDF make it useful in biosensor devices and batteries. However, the influence of nanoparticle fillers such as Lithium Tantalate (LiTaO₃/LT), Potassium Niobate (KNbO₃/PN), and Zinc Titanate (ZnTiO₃/ZT) in polymer films will be studied comprehensively. Developing advanced and cost-effective biosensors is pivotal to foresee the fullest potential of polymer based wireless sensor networks, which will further enable new types of self-powered applications. Finally, nanocomposites films with best set of properties; the sensory elements will be designed and tested for their performance as electric generators under laboratory conditions. By characterizing the materials for their optical properties and investigate the effects of doping on the bandgap energies, the science in the next-generation biosensor technologies can be advanced.

Keywords: polyvinylidene fluoride, PVDF, lithium tantalate, potassium niobate, zinc titanate

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Issam A. Al-Khatib

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In order to achieve a significant reduction of waste amount flowing into landfills, it is important to first understand the composition of the solid municipal waste generated. Hence a detailed analysis of municipal solid waste composition has been conducted in Nablus city. The aim is to provide data on the potential recyclable fractions in the actual waste stream, with a focus on the plastic fraction. Hence, waste-sorting campaigns were conducted on mixed waste containers from five districts in Nablus city. The districts vary in terms of infrastructure and average income. The target is to obtain representative data about the potential quantity and quality of household plastic waste. The study has measured the composition of municipal solid waste collected/ transported by Nablus municipality. The analysis was done by categorizing the samples into eight primary fractions (organic and food waste, paper and cardboard, glass, metals, textiles, plastic, a fine fraction (<10 mm), and others). The study results reveal that the MSW stream in Nablus city has a significant bio- and organic waste fraction (about 68% of the total MSW). The second largest fraction is paper and cardboard (13.6%), followed by plastics (10.1%), textiles (3.2%), glass (1.9%), metals (1.8%), a fine fraction (0.5%), and other waste (0.3%). After this complete and detailed characterization of MSW collected in Nablus and taking into account the content of biodegradable organic matter, the composting could be a solution for the city of Nablus where the surrounding areas of Nablus city have agricultural activities and could be a natural outlet to the compost product. Different waste management options could be practiced in the future in addition to composting, such as energy recovery and recycling, which result in a greater possibility of reducing substantial amounts that are disposed of at landfills.

Keywords: developing countries, composition, management, recyclable, waste.

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Aysegul Evren Yapicioglu

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The social roles and responsibilities expected from citizens are increasing due to changing global living conditions. Science education is expected to prepare conscious and sensitive students. Because today’s students are the adults of future. Precondition of this task is Teacher Education. In the past decade, one of the most important research field is socioscientific issues. This study deals with advantages and disadvantages of socioscientific issue based instruction in science classroom according to pre-service science teachers’ views. A case study approach that is one of the qualitative research design was used to explore their views. Fourteen pre-service science teachers participated to instruction process. Dolphinariums, Kyoto Protocol, genetically modified organisms, recyclable black bags’ benefits and damages, genetic tests, alternative energy sources and organ donation are examples of socioscientific issues, which were taught through activities in a special teaching course. Diaries and focus group interview were used as data collection tools. As a result of the study, the advantages of socioscientific issue based instruction in science classroom comprise of six sub-categories which are multi-skilling, social awareness development of thinking, meaningful learning, character and professional development, contribution of scientific literacy whereas disadvantages of this instruction process are challenges teachers and students, limitations of teaching and learning process in pre-service science teachers’ perspectives. Finally, this study contributes to science teachers and researchers to overcome disadvantages and benefit from the advantage of socioscientific issue based instruction in science classroom.

Keywords: science education, socioscientific issues, socioscientific issue based instruction, pre-service science teacher

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Ghodsieh Isapour Toutizad, Aiyong Wang, Joonsoo Han, Derek Creaser, Louise Olsson, Magnus Skoglundh, Hanna HaRelind

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Nitrous oxide (N2O), which is generally formed as a byproduct of industrial chemical processes and fossil fuel combustion, has attracted considerable attention due to its destructive role in global warming and ozone layer depletion. From various developed technologies used for lean NOx reduction, the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with ammonia is presently the most applied method. Therefore, the development of catalysts for efficient lean NOx reduction without forming N2O in the process, or only forming it to a very small extent from the exhaust gases is of crucial significance. One type of catalysts that nowadays are used for this aim are zeolite-based catalysts. It is owing to their remarkable catalytic performance under practical reaction conditions such as high thermal stability and high N2 selectivity. Among all zeolites, copper ion-exchanged zeolites, with CHA, MFI, and BEA framework structure (like SSZ-13, ZSM-5 and Beta, respectively), represent higher hydrothermal stability, high activity and N2 selectivity. This work aims at investigating the effect of the zeolite framework structure on the formation of N2O during NH3-SCR reaction conditions over three Cu-based zeolites ranging from small-pore to large-pore framework structure. In the zeolite framework, Cu exists in two cationic forms, that can catalyze the SCR reaction by activating NO to form NO+ and/or surface nitrate species. The nitrate species can thereafter react with NH3 to form another intermediate, ammonium nitrate, which seems to be one source for N2O formation at low temperatures. The results from in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) indicate that during the NO oxidation step, mainly NO+ and nitrate species are formed on the surface of the catalysts. The intensity of the absorption peak attributed to NO+ species is higher for the Cu-CHA sample compared to the other two samples, indicating a higher stability of this species in small cages. Furthermore, upon the addition of NH3, through the standard SCR reaction conditions, absorption peaks assigned to N-H stretching and bending vibrations are building up. At the same time, negative peaks are evolving in the O-H stretching region, indicating blocking/replacement of surface OH-groups by NH3 and NH4+. By removing NH3 and adding NO2 to the inlet gas composition, the peaks in the N-H stretching and bending vibration regions show a decreasing trend in intensity, with the decrease being more pronounced for increasing pore size. It can probably be owing to the higher accumulation of ammonia species in the small-pore size zeolite compared to the other two samples. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the ammonia surface species are strongly bonded to the CHA zeolite structure, which makes it more difficult to react with NO2. To conclude, the framework structure of the zeolite seems to play an important role in the formation and reactivity of surface species relevant for the SCR process. Here we intend to discuss the connection between the zeolite structure, the surface species, and the formation of N2O during ammonia-SCR.

Keywords: fast SCR, nitrous oxide, NOx, standard SCR, zeolites

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Authors: Sadhana Sharma, P. K. Nema, Siddhartha Singha

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Paneer or Indian cottage cheese is an acid and heat coagulated milk product, highly perishable because of high moisture (58-60 %). Typically paneer is marble to light creamy white in appearance. A good paneer should have cohesive body with slight sponginess or springiness. The texture must be smooth and velvety with close-knit compactness. It should have pleasing mild acidic, slightly sweet and nutty flavour. Consumers today demand simple to prepare, convenient, healthy and natural foods. Dehydrated paneer finds numerous ways to be used. It can be used in curry preparation similar to paneer-in-curry, a delicacy in Indian cuisine. It may be added to granola/ trail mix yielding a high energy snack. If grounded to a powder, it may be used as a cheesy spice mix or used as popcorn seasoning. Dried paneer powder may be added to pizza dough or to a white sauce to turn it into a paneer sauce. Drying of such food hydrogels by conventional methods is associated with several undesirable characteristics including case hardening, longer drying time, poor rehydration ability and fat loss during drying. The present study focuses on developing cost-effective protocol for freeze-drying of paneer. The dehydrated product would be shelf-stable and can be rehydrated to its original state having flavor and texture comparable to the fresh form. Moreover, the final product after rehydration would be more fresh and softer than its frozen counterparts. The developed product would be shelf-stable at room temperature without any addition of preservatives.

Keywords: color, freeze-drying, paneer, texture

Procedia PDF Downloads 137