20588 research outputs found
Sort by
Impact of CO2 impurity in hydrogen gas on wetting characteristics of carbonate minerals; new insights and implications for hydrogen geo-storage in saline aquifers
Get PDFThe effectiveness of Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) as a long-term solution for sustainable green energy relies on secure containment in geological formations and optimized storage and retrieval processes, where fluid-rock interactions, particularly the wettability of the rock, play a crucial role. Additionally, the pre-injection of a cushion gas, such as CO2, to maintain sufficient pressure for hydrogen (H2) withdrawal can influence wettability. This study employed the tilted plate method to examine contact angle hysteresis of the wetting phase (water) on a carbonate rock substrate, measuring advancing and receding contact angles in the presence of various H2-CO2 mixtures ([0.30 CO2 + 0.70 H2], [0.50 CO2 + 0.50 H2, 0.70 CO2 + 0.30 H2]) at pressures (500, 1200, 2000, and 3000 psi) and temperatures (50 °C and 80 °C). Further analyses using AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) and EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) were conducted to assess the effects of CO2 impurity on the carbonate rock surface. Our findings indicate that while pressure has minimal effect on the wetting properties of the carbonate substrate, higher temperatures make the surface more water-wet. More importantly, CO2 concentration plays a critical role in system wettability, as increasing the CO2 mole fraction from 30 % to 70 % significantly reduces the water-wetness of the carbonate surface. Specifically, the rock remains water-wet under reservoir conditions when CO2 is 50 % or less, with contact angles between 42° and 65°, whereas at higher CO2 levels, it shifts toward neutral wettability, with contact angles ranging from 80° to 100°. AFM and EDS analyses indicate that changes in surface roughness and elemental concentration due to CO2 exposure contribute to these wettability variations. As a result, at lower CO2 concentrations because of more water-wet state of the surface and higher IFT, a higher gas column height and storage capacity is acheivable, whilst stronger snap-off effect and hence more trapped gas during water imbibition process, impairs the hydrogen recovery efficiency. The opposite applies at higher CO2 levels. Thus, optimizing CO2 concentration is a key factor in balancing the storage capacity and the recovery efficiency. The findings of this work enhance our understanding of hydrogen geo-storage mechanisms in carbonate reservoirs with CO2 as a cushion gas, supporting more reliable predictions for underground hydrogen storage projects
Performance health for saxophonists: Exploring methods for peak performance and injury prevention
No full textPerformance health and wellbeing for the saxophonist is an understudied area within the larger discipline of musicians’ health. Few studies have examined how to improve the psychological and physical health of saxophonists, although the area is fortunately increasing in academic interest. Drawing from exemplars in sports science, an area with extensive research history in performance and injury management, there are several principles and methods that could be applied to saxophonists’ practice and training to potentially support injury prevention through risk mitigation and performance quality. In addition, many creative research studies from within music and health science disciplines have provided support for the use of yoga, breathing exercises, mindfulness and other concepts at improving performative and health outcomes, especially in areas of peak performance, injury management, mindset, health and wellbeing.
The aims of this PhD project were to investigate performance health and wellbeing for saxophonists, through three key elements across four separate studies: cohort perspectives and experiences of playing-related health and wellbeing; aspects of physical and mental load during saxophone practice and performance; and the implementation of an interdisciplinary practice program.
Throughout this thesis, the feasibility of an interdisciplinary practice program was evaluated in both supporting injury prevention and performance enhancement. Initially, the practice program was trialled as a practice-led self study, refined, then implemented within a cohort training study. Key themes were identified pertinent to injury management, skill acquisition, recovery, health and wellbeing concerns. A cohort background study was used to gather saxophonists’ perspectives and experiences, with key themes on health literacy and education, performance anxiety, occupational demands, performance-related injury and pain experience. One study involved physiological measures to quantify the physical load of saxophone performance and practice, using heart rate monitors, rating of perceived exertion and blood lactate measurements. Many of the findings from this body of work may be individually used to modify an existing practice, in the interests of undertaking sustainable practice that supports performance, health and wellbeing. Study outcomes may assist in directing future research with larger and more diverse study populations, inform development of practical resources for pedagogy and performance, and build upon existing understanding of saxophone-specific performance health needs to guide future performing arts research
The Command Center, the Smart City, and community engagement: A critical public relations analysis in ICT-based risk communication in two Smart Cities in East Java, Indonesia
No full textSince 2017, Indonesia has implemented a movement towards 100 Smart Cities. This thesis examines community engagement in ICT (Information Communication Technology)- based risk communication in East Java, Indonesia, focusing on the concept of the Smart City. This study investigates two Indonesian Smart Cities—Surabaya Smart City and Banyuwangi Smart Kampung, which both embody unique Smart City concepts and diverse sociocultural landscapes. The study focuses on four community types: the urban kampung, and the urban elite in Surabaya, and the traditional kampung, and the cultured elite in Banyuwangi. The Indonesian context presents various sociocultural characteristics that shape distinct community risk perceptions, knowledge, and participation.
The research applies critical Public Relations (PR) to critique the Excellence Theory of PR, focusing on sociocultural considerations and the significance of the involvement of community voices in an organisation’s decision-making process. The Command Center is an ICT-integrated public service platform to respond to public matters, including risk and emergency. This research examines the ICT characteristics of the Command Center and raises questions about whether the Smart City boosts community empowerment and whether the community engages with the Command Center.
The research engages a pragmatic paradigm using mixed methods. This comprised of focus groups with the community representatives, interviews with the government representatives and experts, and surveys of the community. The findings highlight distinct narratives of the Command Center, representing the communities’ sociocultural and risk capacity profiles and the government’s risk communication approach. The study proposes an integrative sociocultural model of risk communication engagement, that considers specific sociocultural contexts of Indonesia. Furthermore, the research contributes to national and global objectives by spotlighting the significance of local communities, contexts, and roles. These elements are integral to enriching the discourse on public safety at both the national and global levels, ultimately aiding in realising sustainable cities and communities
Field-scale investigation of Co2 plume dynamics under spatial wettability variations: Implications for geological Co2 storage
Get PDFSubsurface formations typically exhibit heterogeneous wetting characteristics due to the complex pore system, mixed lithology, and prolonged contact with native fluids. This non-uniformity in spatial wettability distribution thus makes the subsurface formations exhibit more complex localized CO2/brine/rock interactions, introducing uncertainties in estimating trapping capacity and predicting CO2 plume migration. Field-scale investigation on the role of wettability in CO2 geo-storage has received limited attention, and previous studies typically assume an internal uniform wettability condition across the whole formation. However, the more realistic scenario of internal wettability spatial variations within a single formation is yet to be thoroughly examined. In this study, a range of experiment-derived wettability-dependent trapping coefficients were utilized to implement the internal wettability heterogeneity in a single formation model, and its impact on CO2 plume pattern and trapping efficiency was examined. Furthermore, mixed-wet systems with different CO2-wet fractions were also considered in this study. The results indicate that internal wettability variations result in changes in the local CO2 saturation pattern and thus impact the overall plume shape and migration. In addition, the internal heterogeneous wettability system exhibits an approximately 35% reduction and an approximately 20% increase in residual trapping capacity in comparison to internal uniform strongly water wet and uniform weakly water-wet systems, respectively. An increase in the fraction of CO2-wet regions in the mixed-wet system results in concentrated high-saturation clusters and reduced local CO2 residual saturation. This further results in reduced residual and dissolution trapping, followed by a linear correlation
Impacts of impervious cover expansion on riparian areas in a rapidly urbanising Himalayan landscape
No full textThe proliferation of impervious cover (IC) - including roads, buildings, and pavements - resulting from urbanisation is rapidly transforming fragile riparian ecosystems in Himalayan cities across South Asia. In these regions, economic growth often takes precedence over environmental protection, and the ecological impacts of expanding IC remain poorly understood. Globally, riparian research has largely overlooked these regions due to financial and logistical constraints, raising concerns about the adequacy of the existing literature and the appropriateness of the urban environment management strategies implemented. This thesis aims to address a critical gap by examining the cumulative impacts of IC expansion on the Himalayas\u27 fragile and narrow riparian ecosystems, using Thimphu City, Bhutan, as a case study. Through the integration of remote sensing, field surveys, metagenomic analysis, and microplastic assessment, this study investigated spatial and temporal land cover changes, plant community composition and structure, soil bacterial and functional diversity, and microplastic pollution in riparian areas of both urban and peri-urban reference sites along the Wang River (also referred to as Raidāk River).
Between 1997 and 2022, the area of IC in Thimphu’s riparian areas increased by 44.4%, while agricultural and low-vegetation land cover declined by 47.7%. Despite this reduction, vegetation cover slightly increased, primarily due to plantations and the spontaneous downstream spread of the exotic tree species Salix babylonica. Urban sites exhibited higher plant species richness and a greater presence of exotic species; however, due to the dominance of a few species, overall diversity was lower. Exotic species were found to be highly resistant to the impacts of IC, thriving even at IC levels as high as 80%, whereas native species richness began to decline at IC levels above 40%. Sites with higher IC were dominated by non-riparian, ruderal, and stress-tolerant species such as Rumex nepalensis and Calamagrostis scabrescens, which exhibit limited dispersal strategies, unlike the more functionally diverse plant communities observed at reference sites.
Given the lower plant species diversity observed in areas with higher IC, it was hypothesised that soil bacterial and functional diversity would exhibit a similar pattern of change. However, the results revealed a contrasting trend: higher bacterial and functional diversity in areas with greater IC. This suggests that plant diversity may not be a reliable indicator of soil bacterial diversity in urban environments subject to multiple human disturbances. The soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio significantly explained variations in bacterial diversity and community composition. This suggests that IC indirectly influences microbial communities by contributing to nitrogen enrichment, likely through sewage discharges and organic waste deposits.
Further, the abundance of soil microplastics highlighted another indirect effect of IC on riparian ecosystems. A significant positive association was observed between elevated phosphorus levels, potentially originating from wastewater and sewage discharges, and the abundance of microplastics. These pollutants are transported from urban centres into riparian zones via IC structures such as stormwater drains and drainage systems, accumulating microplastics in riparian soils. Urban soils accounted for 93.3% of all detected microplastic particles.
This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the ecological impacts of increasing IC expansion in Thimphu City, Bhutan, offering valuable baseline data for understanding the effects of urbanisation on narrow and fragile riparian ecosystems in the Himalayas. It introduces evidence-based IC thresholds and a tipping point model to guide and check IC expansion in climatically and ecologically sensitive regions. Building on these findings, the study underscores the need for future research to adopt a collaborative, multi-scale approach across urban centres at varying stages of development. This approach should incorporate long-term ecological monitoring to capture seasonal and inter-annual dynamics in IC-plant–microbe interactions and hydrological processes
A study on the multifunctional properties and application perspectives of ZnO/SiC composite materials
Get PDFZnO/SiC nanocomposite materials possess significant potential for various technological fields due to their extraordinary optical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. The synthesis methods, material properties, and diverse applications of ZnO/SiC composites have been systematically explored in this study. The potential application areas of this nanocomposite include their roles in photocatalysis, optoelectronic devices, gas sensors, and photovoltaic systems. The synergetic effects of ZnO and SiC are analyzed to highlight their advantages over their individual components. Future research directions must focus on the remaining challenges to optimize these nanoscale composite materials for industrial and emerging applications
Automated instance segmentation and registration of spinal vertebrae from CT-scans with an improved 3D U-net neural network and corner point registration
Get PDFThis paper presents a rapid and robust approach for 3D volumetric segmentation, labelling, and registration of human spinal vertebrae from CT scans using an optimised and improved 3D U-Net neural network architecture. The network is designed by incorporating residual and dense interconnections, followed by an extensive evaluation of different network setups by optimising the network components like activation functions, optimisers, and pooling operations. In addition, the network architecture is optimised for varying numbers of convolution layers per block and U-Net levels with fixed and cascading numbers of filters. For 3D virtual reality visualisation, the segmentation output of the improved 3D U-Net network is registered with the original scans through a corner point registration process. The registration takes into account the spatial coordinates of each segmented vertebra as a 3D volume and eight virtual fiducial markers to ensure alignment in all rotational planes. Trained on the VerSe’20 dataset, the proposed pipeline achieves a Dice score coefficient of 92.38% for vertebrae instance segmentation and a Hausdorff distance of 5.26 mm for vertebrae localisation on the VerSe’20 public test dataset, which outperforms many existing methods that participated in the VerSe’20 challenge. Integrated with Singular Health\u27s MedVR software for virtual reality visualisation, the proposed solution has been deployed on standard edge-computing hardware in medical institutions. Depending on the scan size, the deployed solution takes between 90 and 210 s to label and segment vertebrae, including the cervical vertebrae. It is hoped that the acceleration of the segmentation and registration process will facilitate the easier preparation of future training datasets and benefit pre-surgical visualisation and planning
Compassionate self-care for nurses and midwives: A sequential explanatory mixed methods study
Get PDFBackground: Awareness of being kind and compassionate to yourself is often overlooked despite emerging evidence that high levels of self-compassion decrease levels of anxiety and improves well-being. Aim: To explore what being compassionate to yourself means to nurses and midwives and increase knowledge and understanding of how self-compassion may enhance well-being. Methods: Mixed methods study design was utilised to investigate and explore the influence of self-compassion on nurses and midwives\u27 well-being. Phase 1 involved quantitative data collection and analysis. Phase 2 qualitative data were collected to expand on quantitative results. Results: Fifty-four participants responded to a pre-workshop questionnaire, 55 completed immediate post-questionnaire, 28 completed a follow-up questionnaire six-eight weeks later. Five participants were interviewed to gain more insights of their experiences. Quantitative results showed significant increase in self-compassion scores immediately post-workshop, with an estimated improvement of 0.26 points (95 % CI: 0.14, 0.38, P \u3c 0.001). Participants\u27 anxiety significantly decreased by 0.5 units (95 % CI: −0.64, −0.36, P \u3c 0.001). Mood changes were not statistically significant. Reflexive thematic analysis of qualitative data provided further insight into these changes resulting in three key themes: (1) “Awareness of self-compassion was the first step”, (2) “Care for yourself, before caring for others” (3) “Self-compassion strategies with everyday living activities”. Conclusions: Self-compassion education can enhance nurses\u27 and midwives\u27 knowledge and understanding. Education can increase self-compassion strategies and skills to reduce anxiety levels. However, qualitative data confirmed the need for sustained reinforcement of self-compassion practices. Further research is recommended to confirm these initial findings and explore long-term impacts
Foundations and strategic vision of the Canadian Translational Geroscience Network
Get PDFGeroscience is an emerging interdisciplinary field that explores the biological connections between aging and the development of chronic diseases, with the ultimate goal of identifying interventions to extend healthspan and delay age-related conditions. Recognizing the growing importance of this field, the Canadian Translational Geroscience Network (geroscience.ca) was officially launched during a conference held in Montreal on September 5-6, 2024. Building on the momentum of successful Geroscience meetings in Toronto and Montreal in 2023, this milestone event marked a transformative step forward for geroscience in Canada. This event brought together key stakeholders, including the Canadian Frailty Network (CFN), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aging (CIHR-IA), the Réseau Québécois de Recherche sur le Vieillissement (RQRV), the Simone & Edouard Schouela RUISSS McGill Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health of Seniors (Schouela CEDurable), the Division of Geriatric Medicine at McGill University, and the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto. Additionally, a broad coalition of geriatricians, healthcare professionals, and researchers convened to discuss and advance the field of geroscience in Canada. The 2-day conference focused on creating a multidisciplinary community to address the challenges of an aging population, emphasizing the importance of funding, national and international collaboration, and training the next generation of researchers and clinicians. Workshops and presentations showcased a range of innovative research, from cellular studies to clinical trials, aimed at understanding and treating age-related diseases. Key discussions highlighted the critical role of partnerships among research institutions, healthcare systems, and biotech companies in translating research findings into practical interventions. The Canadian Translational Geroscience Network\u27s strategic objectives focus on expanding funding opportunities for geroscience, developing specialized training programs, and increasing membership to cultivate a diverse, multidisciplinary, and collaborative network. This network aims to include students, basic and clinical researchers, citizens, government entities, and organizations or professionals interested in advancing the geroscience field. With a clear roadmap for future growth, the Canadian Translational Geroscience Network aims to position Canada at the forefront of geroscience, fostering evidence-based innovation that improves the health and quality of life for aging populations
Normative data and objective benchmarks for selected force plate tests for professional and youth soccer players in the English Football League
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to establish objective benchmarks for countermovement jump (CMJ), countermovement rebound jump (CMRJ), and isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) metrics in male professional and youth soccer players. Professional (N = 139; age: 24 ± 5 years; height: 184 ± 7 cm; mass: 81 ± 9 kg) and youth (N = 137; age: 17 ± 1 years; height: 178 ± 17 cm; mass: 72 ± 8 kg) soccer players were recruited from 7 separate clubs. Many CMJ (25/32), CMRJ (24/30), and (2/2) IMTP metrics discriminated between age groups. Significant (p \u3c 0.05) differences were identified in CMJ outcome (4/4), propulsive kinetic (6/6), and relative propulsive kinetic (4/4) metrics, but trivial non-significant (p \u3e 0.05) differences were identified in strategy (4/4) metrics. Rebound jump portion propulsive kinetic (4/4) metrics and braking depth demonstrated moderate to large differences between groups, but only one relative propulsive kinetic (1/4) metric demonstrated significant (p \u3c 0.01) differences. Professional soccer players also demonstrated significantly (p \u3c 0.001) greater IMTP peak force (3031 ± 549 N vs 2441 ± 452 N; g = 0.788) and relative peak force (37.39 ± 5.35 N/kg vs 34.01 ± 4.74 N/kg; g = 0.446) than youth soccer players