Small-scale Sets Research Articles

Influence of thermal gradient and canister corrosion on the hydration of compacted Barmer bentonite

Compacted bentonite is being used as a buffer material for the safe dumping of high-level radioactive wastes (HLW) in the deep geological repository (DGR) due to its favorable physicochemical properties. However, the temperature variation, probably because of continuous heat emitting canister (initially −150 °C to 250 °C) and geothermal gradient, affect its performance. There would be bentonite iron interface reactions due to the corrosion of steel canister, which might cause reactive transport through the compacted bentonite buffer. Therefore, it is essential to know the influence of a combination of thermal as well as a chemical gradient on the reactive transport through the compacted bentonite buffer in terms of its physicochemical, thermomechanical, mineralogical stability. The purpose of this particular study is to establish the field conditions in the lab by fabricating a small scale set up which would create a thermal gradient on the compacted Barmer bentonite (B1 and B2) samples (compacted at 1.5 Mg/m3, 1.75 Mg/m3 and 2 Mg/m3 densities) by heating its one side at 60 °C, 110 °C, 150 °C and 200 °C temperatures for 28 days each and the system was hydrated by distilled water from the other side and was kept in touch with the metallic iron powder. It was observed that the degree of saturation of both bentonites decreased with an increase in temperature as well as density. However, the cation exchange capacity at lower density reduced more than that of higher density. The microstructural observation revealed the presence of impurities between the lamella of bentonite after 28 days that might be hematite.

Pharmacy preparedness during phases of pandemic COVID in Odisha, India

The COVID 19 pandemic is one of the worst pandemics that struck the world, after the Spanish flu in 1918 and stalled the entire public health care system. Initially in the absence of definite drugs, the primary mitigation priority was prevention. Its web like spread put pressure on the accessory health care systems too and the most affected were perhaps the Pharmacy. In India the pharmacy are an integral part of health services, with desperate demand for an array of supplies and drugs, affecting the Pharmacies and their functioning tremendously, they too have contributed immensely in the mitigation strategies of the government. The study assesses the pharmacies in terms of their preparedness to cope with the demands and enhancement of role of the pharmacists to provide cost effective and consumer friendly services.Online services were good and satisfactory and were offered by only the big scale pharmacy (67%) ;Pharmacists from small scale set ups were yet to be vaccinated (33.3%), preparedness was optimum in terms masks and sanitization of premises, but IEC materials were missing in the small shops(44.4%); supplies were good and surplus but small scale ones sometimes sold the cost effective one’s; adjuvant drugs were in excess but drugs for moderate to severe form of COVID were limited to facility based pharmacyonly. Non COVID medications,in order to prioritize COVID drugs,went missing.Stock charts were displayed by big and middle level shops. Study suggests the pharmacy role in managing a pandemic is upnteem and periodic checks and regulations should be revised as per needs of the time.

Shifting lights through the interstices: Extending notions of what it means to learn music in higher education

The purpose of this study is to explore interstitial spaces in higher music education. Interstitial spaces are small-scale settings where individuals interact around common activities. Drawing from the learning experiences of three students, the disparate feelings that students have within the interstices are unpacked. Specifically, we lean on Michel Foucault’s notions of power and hierarchy as a way to explore the dynamics in the teaching and learning relationships between students, and how the power that institutional structures might wield could shape the pocket conversations taking place. In the context of higher music education, we explore the ways that such spaces offer special moments where students see themselves in new ways. We explore how Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning might latch on to the potential that these interstitial spaces offer. We argue that potentials for transformative learning encounters described by the three students seem to be situated within interstitial spaces. The article considers what it means to be in the peripheral locations of student learning and contributes to the need to revisit interstices as an important location to understand how knowledge and creative interactions can be made in higher music education.

Towards using high-performance liquid chromatography at home

In order to make high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) more widely available at home and in small-scale settings, we have simplified two of its most costly modules, namely the pump and the detector. This should make the setup affordable for home or small laboratory use. A manual HPLC pump was constructed so as to fit into a caulk gun from a local hardware store enabling the generation of 100-150 bar of pressure. In order to limit the pressure drop during the running of a chromatogram, a pulse dampener was developed. We further modified the electrochemical detection (ECD) system so as to use a cheap boron-doped diamond electrode with an overlay of thin filter paper, causing an eluent flow over the electrode by wicking and gravity. Both the pump and the detector are at least ten times cheaper than conventional HPLC modules.Using a home-packed JupiterⓇ Proteo reversed phase capillary column we show how this low-cost HPLC system generates well resolving chromatograms after direct injection of fresh urine. The ECD did not lose its sensitivity during regular use over more than half a year. For homovanillic acid (HVA), which is of medical interest, we measured a linear dynamic range of two orders of magnitude, a detection limit of HVA in the injected sample of 3 μM and a coefficient of variation <10%. The contribution to peak broadening by the detector was much smaller than the contributions by the injector and by the column. After consumption of table olives containing hydroxytyrosol (HT), its metabolite HVA in the corresponding urine could be measured quantitatively. An approach to quantify HT in table olives is presented, as well. This method provides a new tool for investigating physiology of oneself or of dear ones at home.

Prey selectivity of red stingray Hemitrygon akajei caught in the small scale set net installed in estuary

Prey selectivity of red stingray <I>Hemitrygon akajei</I> caught in the small scale set net installed in estuary

Energy Efficiency Analysis through Misalignment on New Design of Hexagonal Coil Array in Wireless Power Transfer

The global transportation revolution accelerates the growth of the Electric Vehicle (EV) market. Wireless Power Transfer Technology (WPT) is part of an alternative solution to replace charging by cable. In its implementation the driver's parking behavior affects Power Transfer Efficiency (PTE) due to frequently misalignment. A new coil array design proposed to optimize PTE and reduce the size of receiver coil. Receiver and transmitter circuits designed to simulate parking conditions and parking lots in small scale settings to get PTE data. Experimental results show that PTE increased by 10% in the center of the coil design and 82% during misalignment on a radius array against single loop coil. In the area of Misalignment tangential boundary, efficiency increased by 5-10% compared to circular coil arrays. The proposed novel coil series achieves a higher overall PTE than a single coil design and an increase in PTE in the tangential boundary misalignment when compared to circular coil arrays.

Influence of wind on the onset of flashover within small-scale compartments with thermally-thin and thermally-thick boundaries

Thermally-thin compartment fire studies are a reasonable approach to understand fire dynamics in informal settlements, where dwellings built with such materials (e.g. steel sheets) are commonly found. Since the number of people living in informal settlements is growing (currently over 1 billion), fire safety engineering research is of major importance for reducing fire occurrence, loss of life, livelihood, and property. This work studied numerically a set of thermally-thin and thermally-thick walled small-scale (1/4 scaled ISO-9705 room) compartment fires in a wind tunnel. This work aims to understand the effect of wind on the heat release rate necessary to reach the onset of flashover (HRRfo) inside the compartment by varying the wind velocity and direction (on the side or back wall). It was found that HRRfo increased with wind velocity for both wind directions for thermally-thin boundaries, while HRRfo decreased with wind velocity for thermally-thick boundaries. It was also found that the wind effect was more significant when blowing on the side wall. It was shown that those results were caused by heat transfer losses through walls and by wind-induced pressures at the doorway; the former being the driving mechanism for thermally-thin walled compartments and the later for thermally-thick bounded compartments.

Robots fuel up

Microrobots Batteries are a convenient source of energy for untethered miniature robots. However, the low specific energy of small-scale batteries sets limits on how long such a robot can operate. Yang et al. report an insect-scale robot called RoBeetle that is powered by the controlled catalytic combustion of methanol, a fuel with more than 10 times the specific energy of a small-scale battery. RoBeetle, with size and mass comparable to a small insect, can carry payloads of up to 2.6 times its body weight, crawl on rough surfaces, and ascend inclines of 15 degrees. Sci. Robot. 5 , eaba0015 (2020).

LCA of electrochemical reduction of CO2 to ethylene

Electrochemical reduction is a promising technology capable of converting CO2 into valuable chemical feedstock. However, the feasibility of transferring small-scale experimental successes to larger scale set-ups calls for careful investigation based on a holistic or system-wide perspective. Electrochemical reduction is a promising technology that is capable of converting CO2 into valuable chemical feedstock. However, the feasibility of bringing reported lab bench successes to industrially relevant scale requires careful assessment from a system-based perspective. This paper presents a unique Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) case study assessing the potential environmental impacts of both small- and large-scale set ups of CO2-to-ethylene conversion via electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). The LCA parameters are modelled according to the current progress of CO2RR from a literature study and an industry standard for CO2 capture and product separation. The output of small scale CO2RR systems are set to 1 g C2H4, while a hypothetical industrial scale is set at 1 ton C2H4 production. Various scenarios taking into account different energy sources to power CO2RR to C2H4 scales are investigated. Apart from the global warming potential (GWP) impacts, other environmental impacts are projected for a more holistic evaluation of CO2RR implementation: acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP). An important message of this study is that the environmental benefits or burdens from small-scale set ups cannot be directly transferred – or linearly projected – to large-scale models. It is also highlighted that along with the focus on GWP reduction, other environmental consequences such as AP, EP, HTP and POCP have to be carefully considered.

A Glimpse of University Students’ Family Life Amidst the COVID-19 Virus

This essay uses a small-scale set of data derived from university students whom I can contact during this period. The variables were particularly pertinent to their family life amidst the COVID-19 virus, including, but not limited to, learning experience with online courses, evaluation on the Government measures against the COVID-19 virus spread, perception of the influence of the pestilence on their own thoughts and behaviors. A simple calculation of frequency was adopted to present the situation related. Results showed a unique experience of the students in the situation of the COVID-19 virus, and reflection on those results was available.

Transmit Power Reduction ≠ Proportional Power Savings: Applicability of Transmit Power Control in Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

This article argues that reducing transmit power at low-power RF transceivers does not lead to proportional energy savings. This is due to the fact that the baseline operations of low-power transceivers are already optimized for very low power consumption. The article then claims that typical transmit power control protocols discussed in the context of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are tested in small-scale settings, and thus do not reflect the actual real-world large-scale WSN or IoT scenarios. The article also discusses how a joint transmit power and routing scheme can help in reducing the overhearing effects on the nodes that have significantly low available energy.

Scales of sustain and decay: making music in deep time

AbstractThis article explores the relationship between the human time of music making and the temporal layers that pervade the natural resources of musical instruments. It therefore offers case studies on two of popular music's most common instruments, the electric guitar and the synthesiser, and their symbolic and material temporalities: guitar players’ quest for ‘infinite sustain’ from Santana to today's effects manufacturers and the ‘psychogeophysical’ approach by artist and theorist Martin Howse, who developed a synthesiser module using radioactive material in order to determine musical events by nuclear decay. While language uses metaphors of sustain and decay as figurative ways to express both musical and planetary dimensions, practices of music offer alternative ecologies of relating the seemingly unrelatable scales of deep time and musical time. If in the Anthropocene humankind becomes aware of its role as a geophysical force, thinking about making music in the Anthropocene requires an awareness for the temporalities involved in the materials at hand. Besides an ecological perspective, the article looks at various media (magazines, ads, and manuals) and thus positions economical mechanisms of the musical instrument manufacturing market as a small-scale experimental setting for larger-scale industrial processes.

The scalable implementation of predictive learning analytics at a distance learning university: Insights from a longitudinal case study

A vast number of studies reported exciting innovations and practices in the field of Learning Analytics (LA). Whilst they provided substantial insights, most of these studies have been implemented in single-course or small-scale settings. There are only a few studies that are large-scale and institutional-wide adaptations of LA and have explored the stakeholders' perspectives (i.e., teachers, students, researchers, management) and involvement with LA. This study reports on one such large-scale and long-term implementation of Predictive Learning Analytics (PLA) spanning a period of 4 years at a distance learning university. OU Analyse (OUA) is the PLA system used in this study, providing predictive insights to teachers about students and their chance of passing a course. Over the last 4 years, OUA has been accessed by 1159 unique teachers and reached 23,180 students in 231 undergraduate online courses. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) to reflect on the macro-level of adoption by detailing usage, challenges, and factors facilitating adoption at an organisational level, and (b) to detail the micro-level of adoption, that is the teachers' perspectives about OUA. Amongst the factors shown to be critical to the scalable PLA implementation were: Faculty's engagement with OUA, teachers as “champions”, evidence generation and dissemination, digital literacy, and conceptions about teaching online.

Perspectives and challenges of small scale plant microalgae cultivation. Evidences from Southern Italy

In recent years, the cultivation of algae has achieved attention of scientists and practicioniers due to the great variety of products that can be obtained, among which biofuels. The aim of this work is twofold. The first is to perform a profitability analysis of food and biofuel production from microalgae, in a small-scale setting. The second is to assess the economic impact of algae production systems on the dairy farms potentially interested in Southern Italy. The analysis was performed using financial and economic indicators and considering two system management scenarios, namely single and collective. Our results confirm that current microalgae production technology favors biofuel only as a co-product and that the production of high-value co-products improve profitability and net income in Southern Italian dairy farms, either in single or collective management. More specifically, the single management is more profitable, but the collective is more viable. The sensitivity analysis, based on the price uncertainty of algal biomass, confirms that the price of product is a critical parameter to ensure the investment feasibility in the agricultural context analyzed. Current study provides hints to entrepreneurs and managers operating in the agricultural sectors, interested in improving their firm’s performance through the adoption of a diversification strategy of business activities.

Urban Civility: City Dwellers Are Not Less Prososcial Than Their Rural Counterparts

Urban living is often thought to promote incivility, but the existing sociological evidence paints a mixed picture. We aimed to examine the urban incivility phenomenon from an evolutionist’s perspective. Small communities are expected to show a higher incidence of helping because the applicability of theories such as kin selection, direct reciprocity and indirect reciprocity to acts of cooperative behaviour is augmented in small-scale demographic settings. Smaller communities have a reduced total pool of individuals to interact with, increasing the likelihood of encountering any given individual multiple times. This makes it easier for individuals to form cooperative relationships with one another, which may facilitate prosociality within smaller communities. Using the lost letter technique, our results show that city dwelling, compared with rural residence, per se does not negatively influence prosociality. This contradicts the expected erosion of cooperative behaviour in anonymous cities and adds to our understanding of the interplay between human macroecology and individual behavioural tendencies.

Nonparametric CAT for CD in Educational Settings With Small Samples.

Cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT) has been suggested by researchers as a diagnostic tool for assessment and evaluation. Although model-based CD-CAT is relatively well researched in the context of large-scale assessment systems, this type of system has not received the same degree of research and development in small-scale settings, such as at the course-based level, where this system would be the most useful. The main obstacle is that the statistical estimation techniques that are successfully applied within the context of a large-scale assessment require large samples to guarantee reliable calibration of the item parameters and an accurate estimation of the examinees' proficiency class membership. Such samples are simply not obtainable in course-based settings. Therefore, the nonparametric item selection (NPS) method that does not require any parameter calibration, and thus, can be used in small educational programs is proposed in the study. The proposed nonparametric CD-CAT uses the nonparametric classification (NPC) method to estimate an examinee's attribute profile and based on the examinee's item responses, the item that can best discriminate the estimated attribute profile and the other attribute profiles is then selected. The simulation results show that the NPS method outperformed the compared parametric CD-CAT algorithms and the differences were substantial when the calibration samples were small.

Screening for the Heterotrophic Cultivation of Chlorella sorokiniana Using an Indirect Impedance Microbiological Technique

Heterotrophic culturing of microalgae is of great interest as it has the potential to produce feedstock for added-value bioproducts. The general expectation is to develop a method that can help screen for different media compositions and batch fermentation settings more easily and faster. In the current study, an indirect impedance microbiological technique was used to test the effects of various carbon and nitrogen sources on the growth of Chlorella sorokiniana. It was found that this technique has great potential to screen for heterotrophic cultivation conditions of microalgae as the metabolic rate of microorganisms can be determined by measuring the amount of CO2 produced. The BacTrac 4100® was proven to be a suitable instrument to compare several different small-scale culturing settings. Considering the relative changes in impedance observed, the initial cell cumber exhibits an inverse linear correlation with the detection time. Chlorella sorokiniana exhibited an enhanced degree of growth on yeast extract and tryptone, and preferred glucose over acetate or glycerol. An optimum rate of growth at a glucose concentration of 20 gL-1 was also determined. Our novel approach in the field of heterotrophic cultivation of microalgae envisages great prospects for the method in terms of the design of experiments in the field of media optimization.

Host-response biomarkers for the diagnosis of bacterial respiratory tract infections.

Appropriate antibiotic treatment for respiratory tract infections (RTIs) necessitates rapid and accurate diagnosis of microbial etiology, which remains challenging despite recent innovations. Several host response-based biomarkers due to infection have been suggested to allow discrimination of bacterial and non-bacterial microbial RTI etiology. This review provides an overview of clinical studies that investigated the diagnostic performance of host-response proteomic biomarkers to identify RTI microbial etiology. Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein have been studied most extensively; whereof procalcitonin has demonstrated the strongest diagnostic performance compared to other biomarkers. Proadrenomedullin, soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1, neopterin and pentraxin-3 need more studies to confirm their diagnostic value. For syndecan-4 and lipocalin-2 currently insufficient evidence exists. Common limitations in several of the studies were the relatively small scale setting, heterogeneous patient population and the absence of statistical power calculation.

Integrated primary care‐behavioral health program development and implementation in a rural context

Objective Despite the known benefits of integrated primary care and behavioral health services, integrated behavioral health services have not been readily used in medical clinics in interior Alaska. With minimal resources, we recently developed an integrated primary care–behavioral health program in a medical clinic in interior Alaska to meet clinic and community needs. The objective of this study was to explore initial program outcomes and determine the feasibility of program development and implementation. Methods We initially conducted a needs assessment for integrating behavioral health services into primary care. Program development was informed by specific clinic needs. Following program implementation, initial program outcomes were tracked with use of data from the electronic health record and patient and provider use and satisfaction surveys. The level of integration of primary care and behavioral health services was evaluated with the Practice Integration Profile. Results A total of 188 patients were seen by behavioral health consultants during the initial pilot phase, including 44.0% referred for mental health symptoms, 33.1% referred for physical health issues, and 22.3% referred for both mental and physical health issues. The initial program outcomes indicate modest clinical improvement (measured by the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire) as well as patient and provider satisfaction with the model, and a moderate level of practice integration. Conclusion On the basis of the initial findings, it appears that our integrated primary care–behavioral health program has the potential to serve an important role in addressing the behavioral health needs of the local population. Our implementation procedure and initial program outcomes suggest that such models are feasible in rural and small-scale settings with minimal overhead costs. Significance statement Integrating behavioral health services into primary care medical settings offers a variety of benefits, including improved continuity of care and access to service, more effective health prevention and management, and clinical cost-effectiveness. Integrated models have not been readily used in rural US settings. With minimal resources, we developed an integrated primary care–behavioral health program in the family medicine department of a semirural medical clinic in Alaska to meet clinic and community needs. The initial program outcomes suggest that this integrated primary care–behavioral health program is helping to address the behavioral health needs of the local population. Our findings suggest that integrated healthcare models are feasible in rural or small-scale settings.

Waste generation, product yield evaluation and exergy analysis during bisphosphonate synthesis and medical drug production processes

Abstract Introduction of the waste of the pharmaceutical industry to the biosphere creates unusual potential disease patterns. Achieving the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production by utilizing the minimum energy and generating as little waste as possible are among the reasonable cleaner production practices. Zoledronic acid is the API of some bone-disease drugs. It is synthesized via the reaction of 1h-imidazole-1-yl- acetic acid hydrochloride with phosphorous acid and phosphorous halogen at moderate temperatures. The product is later separated by crystallization in water. Since the concentration of API is very low in the finished product, generally 50 g of API satisfies the annual market demand. Chemical processes are generally investigated to determine the most convenient production procedures and equipment. In the studies performed in small scale set up, it is important to foresee an upscale design. Exergy utilization is among the considerations in process design and there is almost no information available in the literature yet, regarding the exergy analysis of the production processes of pharmaceuticals. “Cradle to grave” exergy analyses, beginning with the raw materials and ending with retail packaging of a pharmaceutical product is studied here by referring to bisphosphonate production. Although the synthesis stage of this study refers to the production of a single API, the packaging stage of the process refers to the entire pharmaceutical industry, where similar practices are employed. During the chemical synthesis of zoledronic acid under GMP (good manufacturing practice) conditions, the most energy consuming step was found to be crystallization. On the other hand, the most energy consuming step during sterile finished product manufacturing was filling, followed by sterilization of the primary packaging equipment and the materials, and the operation of the HVAC system. The initial cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) was calculated to be 1.47 × 10−2% for the API synthesis, however exergy efficiency of the synthesis process to 2.29 × 10−2% with increasing the yield through process optimization. The CDP of the finished product was 17% and 75% before and after packaging of the finished product, respectively. Synthesis at the maximum attainable conversion ratio and the highest exergy efficiency assures minimum waste generation.