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Recovery of catalysis active products from spent battery cathode materials
Get PDFWith the increasing number of portable electronic devices and electric vehicles consumption, it is estimated there is a rapid growth of rechargeable lithium ion batteries market. With the lifetime of 5-8 years for the lithium ion batteries. In the long run, it is predicated a large amount of spent LIBs will be retired, imposing huge pressure on environmental pollution control and resources exhaustion. The effective recycling or regeneration of the spent LIBs can efficiently alleviate the environmental burden but also decrease the waste generation of valuable metal resources. Here, we propose a Co3O4 based composite materials through hydrometallurgy and sulfidation process. The regenerated materials in this study exhibit high catalytic activity in alkaline solution with a Tafel slope of 49 mV dec-1. This results obtained from this study illustrates a green and facile recycling approach for Co3O4 based composite materials from the spent lithium ion cathode materials for catalytic reaction
A new concept of bio-based prestress technology with experimental Proof-of-Concept on Bamboo-Timber composite beams
No full textThis paper presents a pioneering experimental proof-of-concept study to validate a novel concept of prestress technology that used only pure bio-based composite materials while achieved consistent prestressed stress distribution within the structure member, and provided in-situ flexibility, improved structural performance, and maximised the rate of utilisation of each material. Industrial level of facilities were used during this development. The prestress is achieved by pressurised/forced lamination of multiple components with different materials and geometrical properties. The prestressing process is activated during the pressure release stage during which the components are interacting with each other, creating different stress statuses that would favour the weaker and adverse the stronger components to maximise the strength exploitation of different materials. Using laminated bamboo and timber as an example pair, twenty-two glulam, non-prestressed and prestressed laminated bambootimber composite beams were manufactured, tested, and analysed to provide an in-depth understanding of the structural behaviours of these novel structural members. Failure modes, yielding, ultimate and serviceability limit loads, and corresponding deflections, as well as the histories of strain development at key positions of the specimens were examined. The experimental study confirmed the feasibility, effectiveness and industrial scalability of the proposed technology. The novel concept provides a new approach for developing the prestress technology for bio-based materials, and this experimental study laid the foundation for its future analytical development and numerical studies
Managing minority employees in organizations in Asia Pacific: Towards a more inclusive workplace?
No full textThe research on diversity and minorities in the Asia–Pacific region has not kept pace with the rapid politico-socio-economic development of this region. This article provides an indicative summary of extant research and emphasizes the need for more attention to addressing the research gap in the field. It outlines how the special issue contributes to advancing knowledge and suggests several future research avenues that align with the Sustainable Development Goals as a global vision
Cross‑sectional study of the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and career adaptability of Chinese youths
Get PDFBackground Young people often experience dramatic changes, both psychologically and physically, as they are transiting from students to working adults. However, there is still a lack of empirical studies on the relationship between the trait emotional intelligence and the career adaptability of youths in the Asia-Pacific region. This research examines that relationship in Chinese youths in Hong Kong. Method Cross-sectional data (N = 500) was collected from two universities in 2019 and 2020. The 2019 sample was made up of 256 Chinese university students (117 males, 139 females; ages 21-25). The 2020 sample included 244 Chinese university students (132 males, 112 females; ages 21-25). The participants were asked to complete the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) to evaluate their emotional intelligence in the domains of self-emotion appraisal, other people’s emotion appraisal, regulation of emotion, and use of emotion. Participants completed the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) to assess their career adaptability in the areas of concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. Results All domains of trait emotional intelligence were positively associated with career adaptability. Multiple Regression analysis showed that self-emotion appraisal and appraisal of other people’s emotional were the most predictive factors in terms of career adaptability. Together, these two dimensions of emotional intelligence explain 12.5%, 26.2%, 13.4% and 69.4% respectively of the variance in students’ concern, control, curiosity, and confidence in relation to career adaptability. Conclusion The results highlight the importance of emotional intelligence in career adaptability. It is thus of value to study further whether career adaptability of young people may improve if emotional intelligence is incorporated into the student curriculum. The findings offer valuable insights for educators and teachers who are responsible for wellrounded development of students, and will thereby foster healthy lifestyles, stable emotional well-being and greater career adaptability in adolescents
Effective harvesting of microalgae biomass by using novel synthesized cationic polymer coated magnetic nanocomposites
Get PDFIncreasing energy consumption due to rapid urban development has generated huge amount of CO2 emission over the decades, resulting in alarm level of global CO2 concentration (\u3e400ppm) and adverse climate changes have been frequently shown that such global environmental impact should be mitigated. In order to achieve the goals of sustainable growth and carbon neutrality by 2050, a significant reduction of fossil fuels combustion for electricity generation should be implemented. Apart from traditional renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy that have been adopted for many years, microalgae biofuel recently has been proposed for potential large scale application and promising results have been reported. However, due to the properties of diluted cells densities and small cells size of microalgae that a high energy consumption was required for its biomass collection before downstream processing of the biofuel production, for example, conventional cells harvesting methods like centrifugation and filtration consumed 20-30% of the overall energy requirement of the processes. On the other hand, past studies showed that microalgae cells with negatively charged surface can be easily flocculated by simple and inexpensive cationic flocculants, however, effective collection of the flocculated cells and removal of residual flocculating agent from spent medium were required. In the present study, a marine green microalgae Tetraselmis sp. was selected for conducting the growth optimization study under different pH and salinities conditions. A novel cationic polymer (polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride; PDDA) coated iron oxide (Fe3O4) was synthesized to conduct the rapid microalgae cells flocculation
Study of Potential Synergistic Effect of Probiotic Formulas on Acrylamide Reduction
Get PDFAcrylamide (AA) is a food processing contaminant commonly found in fried and baked food products. In this study, the potential synergistic effect of probiotic formulas in reducing AA was studied. Five selected probiotic strains (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum ATCC14917 (L. Pl.), Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus ATCC11842 (L. B.), Lacticaseibacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei ATCC25302 (L. Pa), Streptococcus thermophilus ATCC19258, and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum ATCC15707) were selected for investigating their AA reducing capacity. It was found that L. Pl. (108 CFU/mL) showed the highest AA reduction percentage (43–51%) when exposed to different concentrations of AA standard chemical solutions (350, 750, and 1250 ng/mL). The potential synergistic effect of probiotic formulas was also examined. The result demonstrated a synergistic AA reduction effect by the probiotic formula: L. Pl. + L. B., which also showed the highest AA reduction ability among the tested formulas. A further study was conducted by incubating selected probiotic formulas with potato chips and biscuit samples followed by an in vitro digestion model. The findings demonstrated a similar trend in AA reduction ability as those found in the chemical solution. This study firstly indicated the synergistic effect of probiotic formulas on AA reduction and its effect was also highly strain-dependent
Designing 3D-Printed Smart-Sole Shoes for the Elderly: Examining Appearance Acceptance in Hong Kong
Get PDFThis research seeks to investigate the footwear appearance preferences of elderly individuals in Hong Kong to develop comfortable 3D-printed midsole smart sole shoes. By analyzing the participants’ design requirements on shoe aesthetics, the findings will aid footwear manufacturers in developing shoes that meet the design preferences of elderly individuals, thereby improving their comfort and style. This study highlights the significance of considering shoe aesthetics as a crucial parameter in footwear design for the elderly population. Ultimately, the successful development of comfortable and stylish shoes can promote increased mobility and enhance the quality of life for this demographic group
Co–MoCx supported on N-doped CNTs for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction under alkaline medium conditions†
Get PDFThe water splitting reaction has the potential to be a sustainable and environmentally friendly way of producing hydrogen as a fuel source, which is an important step in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and mitigating climate change. Currently, most commonly used catalysts for water splitting are based on precious metals such as platinum and iridium, which are expensive and scarce. Therefore, finding new catalysts that are low-cost, abundant and efficient is of great importance for making water splitting economically viable on a large scale. It was found that pairing up Co nanoparticles (NPs) with MoCx boosted the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity by more than 2-fold (Z10 = 130 mV, Tafel slope = 156.08 mV), compared with the pure Co NPs supported on N-doped carbon (Z10 = 337 mV) under alkaline medium conditions. Its activity is comparable to those of Pt single-atom catalysts (SACs) supported on a mesoporous carbon matrix. The good activity may be due to the modification of the D-band of Co by Mo doping and the relatively high electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) of 477.25 cm2, which is comparable to those of Ru SAC materials