28266 research outputs found
Sort by
THE IMPACTS OF DECENTRALIZATION CONFIGURATION ON ENERGY-RELATED SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE OF WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
No full textWater distribution system (WDS) is one of the important aspects of the well-being of human society. The equitable distribution of quality water is a fundamental right of every consumer. Current WDSs face growing threats from infrastructure deterioration, climate change, drought, pollution, and depletion of water resources. In response to these challenges and their uncertainties, decentralized WDSs have been increasingly accepted across various engineering sectors. An example of decentralized water systems is the integration of locally available water resources within existing centralized WDSs. This enables utilization of local water resources, reducing the dependency on centralized water supply and thereby enhancing the system resilience. However, decentralized systems often come with additional costs. Therefore, it is essential to assess both the resilience and sustainability aspects of these systems. This study explores the resilience of decentralized systems in short-term demand change that enables effective design and implementation of resilient infrastructure. The energy-based resilience calculation has been used for the resilience evaluation. The study results show that the decentralized WDS are resilient to the short-term demand change due to the distributed nature. Moreover, this study explores the energy-related sustainability at various levels of decentralized WDSs in long-term demand change scenarios. Understanding the different levels of decentralized WDS helps in optimizing the use of local resources and provide valuable insights in design and implementation of such systems. Additionally, analyzing the demand change scenarios helps to understand the long-term performance of the decentralized WDSs for effective planning and decision-making. This study evaluates energy-related sustainability of decentralized WDS using Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework: economic, environmental, and social aspects. The economic aspect is evaluated through capital and operational costs, the environmental aspect is evaluated based on Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from the pump operations, and the social aspect is evaluated by examining the surplus energy in the system. The study also examines the pump curve changes that influence power consumption, thereby impacting the energy-related sustainability. The sustainability evaluation concludes that decentralized systems have increased costs, increased GHG emissions, and reduced surplus energy during demand increase scenarios without proper additional strategy. Since the centralized nodes have higher energy and heads, pump curves of centralized pumps can be adjusted after the introduction of decentralized system. This results in a reduction of the cost and GHG emissions associated with the centralized main pump, therefore enhancing energy-related sustainability.In summary, the goal of this thesis is to analyze the resilience and sustainability of decentralized WDSs to the demand change scenarios. The resilience is evaluated in short-term demand change while the sustainability is evaluated at various levels of decentralization in long-term demands change scenarios. Additionally, the research concludes that proper adjustments of pump curves make decentralized WDS more sustainable
SUN WUKONG VS. THE GATEKEEPERS OF THE WEST: CULTURAL GATEKEEPING AND THE CRITICAL RECEPTION OF BLACK MYTH: WUKONG
No full textThis thesis examines the divergent critical reception of Black Myth: Wukong, a landmark AAA title from Chinese developer Game Science that achieved immense commercial success yet faced mixed reviews from prominent Western media. This research argues that the critical dissonance reveals a process of cultural gatekeeping, where Western institutions applied culturally specific evaluative frameworks as universal standards of quality, thereby disadvantaging a non-Western cultural product operating on different assumptions. Through a comparative analysis of game reviews and the application of Network Gatekeeping Theory (NGT), this study dissects the power dynamics at play, revealing how inconsistent critical standards were applied to the game compared to its Western or Japanese counterparts. The analysis further investigates how networked communities acted as a powerful counter-gatekeeping force, challenging and delegitimizing biased institutional narratives. Finally, the Black Myth: Wukong phenomenon is presented as a pivotal case study demonstrating the evolution of video games into a primary arena for global cultural negotiation, exposing the limitations of traditional critical authority in a networked era
A COMPARISON OF PELLETED VS EXTRUDED FEED FORM ON FEEDING BEHAVIORS OF HORSES
No full textChewing plays an essential role in horse health via stimulation of saliva production. Feed form may influence both chewing behavior and salivary volume, but no data are available regarding impact in horses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of feed form on chewing activity, feeding behavior, and salivary parameters in horses. Quarter Horses (n = 6) with normal dental exams were utilized in a 28-day single crossover study to evaluate treatment diets formulated with identical ingredients and nutrient content (Treatment A = pelleted; Treatment B = extruded). Horses were acclimated to treatments for 16 days and fed twice daily (approximately 1.36 kg/meal). All horses were turned out to pasture daily with ad libitum access to water and white salt blocks. To measure salivary volume and other parameters, saliva samples were collected prior to and following each meal using sterile swabs (Salimetrics, State College, PA). Horses were outfitted with halters equipped with sensors (EquiWatch System®) to monitor mastication, meal consumption time, and jaw movements (chews) during each feeding session. Total data collection included 98 meal sessions and 186 saliva samples. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS (version 9.4), with significance set at P \u3c 0.05. Feed residue was scored as high, medium or low on each saliva swab, and was analyzed using the Chi-Square (PROC FREQ), while mastication and salivary data were analyzed using ANOVA (PROC MIXED). Consumption time did not differ between diets: (Pelleted: 16.47 ± 0.73 min; Extruded: 16.45 ± 0.67 min; P = 0.99). However, chewing rate per minutes varied (Pelleted: 95.30 ± 1.88 chews/min vs. Extruded: 97.47 ± 1.80 chews/min; P = 0.05). Total chews did not differ (Pelleted 1560.09 ± 66.27 chews; Extruded: 1587.78 ± 59.19 chews; P = 0.66). Saliva volume measured pre and post meal did not differ (P = 0.77) between pelleted (0.28 ± 0.11 ml) and extruded (0.24 ± 0.08 ml) diets. However, saliva pH was different (P = 0.02) following each meal, with the extruded diet pH lower (8.29), as compared to the pelleted diet (8.43). Feed residue levels also differed with pelleted diet, swabs were scored as medium more frequently after feeding (47.06% to 60.61%, P = 0.04) as compared to the extruded diet where swabs scored as high residue were increased (16.95% to 36.21%, P \u3c 0.001). These results indicate that extruded and pelleted diets manufactured with identical nutrient and ingredient profiles did not influence consumption time or total chews, but significantly affected chewing rate per second and salivary pH. Cumulatively, these findings demonstrate the complexity of equine mastication and feeding behavior. Future studies should include tests with commercially available pelleted or textured diets in order to evaluate differences between traditional formulations and feed forms
Facing Our Crises as They Really Are
No full textGlobally, we face a situation that seems increasingly dire. Our current system of production and societal structures both drive the destruction of the environment and perpetuate oppression of all forms, leading to massive crises within society and the environment. These crises are deeply linked with one another in an assemblage that will be referred to as the polycrisis. This thesis is primarily motivated by the following questions: Why have we so far failed to adequately respond to the polycrisis and what can be done about it now? My answers are that 1) we are failing to adequately consider the real conditions we face and therefore falling prey to reciprocal failings in our theory and practice and 2) that we must develop and put into practice a plurality of solutions grounded in the specific contexts faced by the actual people attempting to deal with these problems
Brimming With Teeth
No full textBRIMMING WITH TEETH is a feral, lyrical collection that reimagines grief, transformation, and survival through the language of bone, blood, and myth. These poems blur the line between the human and the animal, the living and the dead, to forge a brutal, breathtaking new world. The objective of this collection is to examine instincts, the things that live below the conscience, and what makes us human
ANALYSIS OF NONTRONITE ALTERATION IN COMPLEX ACIDIC SOLUTIONS
No full textThe presence of hydrated minerals such as clay minerals and sulfates on Mars is indicative of a potentially long planetary history of fluid-rock interactions. Investigations into the alteration of clays in varied acidic conditions are essential to better our understanding of acid-clay interactions in planetary environments. This study was designed to explore the acid-sulfate alteration of nontronite (NAu-1), an Fe-rich Mars analog clay mineral, by exposing it to both chemically complex acid mine drainage (AMD) and a synthetic acid-sulfate fluid (H2SO4) in laboratory settings and then detailing and comparing the alteration products.In the laboratory experiments, 1g of NAu-1 was reacted in 50mL of an initial solution (either AMD or synthetic H2SO4) prepared at an initial pH of 1, 3, 5, or 7 at temperatures of 4, 30, and 80ºC for 3, 7, and 14 days. These experimental conditions were designed to explore their effects on the severity of clay dissolution, the changes in dissolved ion concentrations, and the types of secondary precipitates formed. The initial and reacted solutions were measured for their pH and conductivity, as well as their dissolved ion concentrations, which was quantified by ICP-MS. Dissolution of NAu-1 was evidenced by increases in dissolved ion concentrations above those of the initial solutions, where Si and Al were sourced from the tetrahedral sheets, Fe from the octahedral sheets, and Mg and Ca from the clay interlayers. The initial NAu-1 and reacted solids were investigated by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy.The results of this study revealed the importance of solution chemistry and solution pH in controlling the evolution of reacting NAu-1 with acid-sulfate solutions. Specifically, divergent pH evolutions were noted where the solution pH typically decreased in AMD experiments and increased in H2SO4 experiments. There was an increase in the concentration of dissolved ions sourced in NAu-1, with higher gains in lower-pH and higher temperature experiments, suggesting NAu-1 dissolution under all conditions tested. The pH increases in H2SO4 experiments was due to proton uptake by dissolving NAu-1, while the pH decreases in AMD experiments resulted from extensive Fe(III) hydrolysis and precipitation – reactions that release protons in solution. NAu-1 dissolution was also evidenced by Raman analysis, which showed structural changes to the SiO4 tetrahedral structure of altered NAu-1 in pH 1 and 3 experiments but very little change in the pH 5 and 7 experiments.XRD analysis identified the Fe(III) precipitate as goethite as well as gypsum as a secondary phase. Goethite was more common in pH 5 and 7 experiments of both solution types, especially at higher temperatures, while gypsum was more common in AMD experiments under all conditions tested. Higher amounts of Fe(III)-rich phases precipitated from the AMD solutions, which were intrinsically Fe-rich, than from the H2SO4 solutions where fewer precipitates formed even in the more neutral-pH H2SO4 experiments. These Fe(III)-rich precipitates formed coatings on altered NAu-1, thus protecting it against aggressive dissolution even in lower-pH and high-temperature conditions.The results of this study highlight the complexity of reacting systems involving NAu-1 and acid-sulfate solutions under Mars-relevant conditions. These experiments demonstrated that complex natural acidic solutions react with NAu-1 differently than synthetic H2SO4 solutions in terms of pH evolution, the degree of clay dissolution, and the formation of precipitates. The potential for long-term stability of nontronite at the Martian surface under acidic conditions, similar to these AMD experiments, could be enhanced due to the precipitation of protective Fe-rich coatings. The features compiled by this study of NAu-1 alteration by acid-sulfate solutions could also be of use in the identification and ‘reverse-engineering’ of the past surface processes and environmental conditions on Mars
Data Analysis of the Enrichment of Rare Earth Elements in Illinois Basin Coal Seams
No full textAs the United States attempts to move away from using foreign sources of rare earth elements (REEs), it is crucial to find domestic sources to aid with this transition. New, unconventional sources of these elements that yield high enough amounts to make said sources economically viable to mine are sought after. Several recent projects from the Department of Energy have examined coal and coal by-products from U.S. coal basins as an unconventional source for these elements. One group of projects has focused on the geochemical characteristics of the Illinois Basin coal seams.
However, these projects do not answer how enriched the REEs are, nor if other elements found alongside them are enriched as well. To find this out, multiple datasets were acquired from the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). These datasets, each comprising of a multitude of coal samples and the various attributes they were originally tested for, were arranged and structured based on their coal seam and the ISGS-defined region of the Illinois Basin. The data analysis consists of determining enrichments compared to the coal’s Clarke values and the values of the Upper Continental Crust (UCC), and the statistical analysis of the correlations that could be identified among oxides, potential hydrothermal elements, and REEs. These results were then inserted into heatmaps and box plots, and analyzed to determine the concentration of the elements and their enrichment, what minerals are potentially present in the basin’s coal, and how the chemical index of alteration varied throughout the seams and regions, all to give a better understanding of the REEs’ distribution and the relationships that they possess among the elemental and mineralogical matter that is found in the Illinois Basin.
These results show that there is a slight enrichment of REEs in the Illinois Basin’s coal, as compared to their Clarke values. The significant positive correlations between the oxides of Al2O3, SiO2, and TiO2, and the REEs can be used to suggest a possible terrigenous enrichment for the REEs, but there are uncertainties due to differing enrichment calculations. There are also enrichments in nickel, zinc, and lead, as compared to their Clarke values, which can be used to suggest hydrothermal enrichments. However, because there were few significant positive correlations between the hydrothermal elements and the REEs, it can be said that these fluids did not contribute to the overall enrichment of the REEs. Additionally, by further analysis the relationships found in the data, it can be concluded that a wide range of minerals, such as quartz, calcite, rutile, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and REE-baring minerals such as monazite and xenotime, are present throughout the coal found in the basin. However, numerous limitations, such as the absence of several pieces of data from one of the datasets used, an unequal sample distribution among the seams and regions tested, and uncertainty involving the overall impact outliers had on the data and the results, created multiple sets of issues that require the instillation of standardized methods that will help with processes and understanding similar sets of data better. But overall, these findings will help to further the understanding of the depositional conditions and processes that occurred in this region that has led to the coal found in the state of Illinois today
An Exploration of the Intersection Between Masculinity and Mass Shootings Among Incels
No full textMass shootings are becoming increasingly common in the United States. We know from data uploaded to the FBI’s UCR (Uniform Crime Reports) that men commit a majority of violent crime. As such, there would appear to be a link between men and violent crimes, such as mass shootings. This study aims to answer the question “what role does masculinity play in mass shootings?” Data utilized in this study are the manifestos of four incel mass shooters published to an online database for content analysis. Findings indicate that each manifesto presented strong ties to hegemonic masculinity as well as criminological theory