HighTech and Innovation Journal
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New Technologies and Innovative Solutions in the Development Strategies of Energy Enterprises
Get PDFEnergy companies face challenges arising from the ecological, social, and legal environments. The reduction of negative impacts on the environment and society while maintaining sustainable development affects the formation of new development strategies and the push to introduce state-of-the-art innovative technologies. The main aim of the research is to analyze the importance and role of the adaptation strategy in external requirements and to determine the mechanisms of the occurrence of passive and active adaptation. As a new approach to carrying out strategic analysis, two models were used simultaneously (inductive and hypothetical-deductive), which allowed for the realization of qualitative (interviews, observations) and quantitative (statistical analysis) research methods generally called mixed methods. The study was conducted on the basis of a mixed-method analysis of the adaptation strategies of enterprises from the energy sector. The results of the conducted research show the influence of particular macroeconomic elements (e.g., technologies, ecologies) on making strategic decisions. The issue of adapting an enterprise to its environment is also related to its involvement in the Research and Development (R&D) sphere. Depending on the size of the company, there are different amounts dedicated to R&D. Regulations and the technological environment force innovations by energy companies in the direction of reducing their harmful impact on the environment and society. Legal and political factors (both national and EU) determine the activities of power companies (in each group: small, medium, and large) and the choice of adaptation strategies. The intensity of adaptation to the requirements of environmental changes depends on the size of the company. As power companies apply passive adaptation strategies, and as they increase their position in the market, they begin to implement an active adaptation strategy. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-02-01 Full Text: PD
The Enigma of Commoning in Precarious Times: A Critical Perspective on Social Transformation
Get PDFThe article explores movements for social transformation in precarious times of austerity, dispossessed commons, and narrow nationalism. The authors contribute to social theory by linking questions by critics of "post-politics” to precarity studies on changing conditions of citizenship, labour and livelihoods. They discuss an ambiguous constitution of precariat movements in the borderlands between "civil” and "uncivil” society and "invited” and "invented” spaces for civic agency, and posit that contending movements of today are drawing intellectual energy from past movements for democracy, recognition and the common. The paper discusses the issue of an urban justice movement in Sweden emerging from the precariat in this formerly exceptionalist welfare state's most disadvantaged urban areas. With its vision of reconstructing commons with roots in the working class movement, it has put forward claims for an egalitarian and non-racial democracy while confronting politically grounded frames of institutional conditionality. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-02-02 Full Text: PD
The Impact of Trade Balance of Agri-Food Products on the State's Ability to Withstand the Crisis
Get PDFThe crisis represents a disorder that in contemporary society is increasingly occurring. Crises are often the result of some earlier solution. The situation in agricultural production in Croatia has been negative for years. Inadequate taxation and high administrative burdens act to discourage the production process and impede the competitiveness of farmers. Furthermore, the measures taken to create added value are not enough; they can even be said to be wrong. The current crisis, COVID-19, has caused a disturbance in the market in terms of trends in supply and demand. The crisis period will show whether the country has an adequate strategy to overcome all the economic problems ahead. The aim of this paper was to analyze the readiness of the Republic of Croatia for crisis periods in terms of food security by analyzing the volume of agricultural production, the balance of foreign trade in agri-food products, and the structure of total agri-food product trade. The determined trend of increasing deficits in agri-food products in the foreign trade balance, particularly with EU countries, implies the state's unenviable position regarding food security, indicating the need for the implementation of adequate measures in the direction of the market organization and to facilitate investment in sustainable agriculture production systems. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-03-02 Full Text: PD
Assessment of the Perceptions of Pre-service Teachers towards Practical Work in the Context of Scientific-technological Literacy
Get PDFThis research aims to analyze the perceptions of future preschool teachers towards the application of practical work. This study is part of a more comprehensive teaching innovation project, which aims to contribute to the scientific and technological literacy of teachers in initial training. Three practical activities were designed from the topic Didáctica del Medio Natural at the University of Cádiz (Spain) and implemented during the 2018-2019 year. After their completion, a questionnaire was provided of three closed questions Likert type with five levels. The student's answers were analysed from a quantitative approach taking into account aspects: (1) Usefulness for professional training; (2) Degree of satisfaction with contents; and (3) Degree of utility for your future teaching career. Results indicate that students, in general, were very satisfied with the development of the practical work designed. However, their opinions varied when they considered their usefulness for future teaching work. In conclusion, results indicate that practical work allows future teachers to increase their interest in science. However, it can be advised of the necessity to look for spaces to be able to discuss the learning acquired and to be able to adapt these practices to the children's classroom to consider their didactic potential. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-03-04 Full Text: PD
The Study of Dynamics Heterogeneity in SiO2 Liquid
Get PDFA molecular dynamics simulation has been carried out to investigate the dynamics heterogeneity of SiO2 liquid at 2600 Kelvin and ambient pressure. We indicate that the diffusion in the liquid is realized by the rate of effective reaction, SiOx->SiOx' and OSiy->OSiy'. Moreover, the reactions are non-uniform: they are spatially clustered. In addition, we found the clustering from different sets of atoms specified by the mobility of atom or frequency of reactions. Also, results show that the clustering becomes more pronounced at ambient pressure. This evidences the dynamic heterogeneity in the SiO2 liquid. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-01-01 Full Text: PD
POEAM – A Method for the Part Orientation Evaluation for Additive Manufacturing
Get PDFIn the industrial application of additive manufacturing processes, a significant amount of time and resources are dedicated to the orientation and pre-print setup of the geometry. Steps such as the generation of support structures and the process simulation are among the most time-consuming. For the thorough assessment of an orientation of a given geometry, even more criteria, like print time or surface quality, need to be considered. POEAM proposes a method for an efficient assessment of a set of orientations, by means of well formulated criteria and an early elimination of insufficient orientations. The goal is to narrow the search field, so costly preparation steps will only be performed on orientations that promise a superior end result. Furthermore, POEAM is an automated process, which means it can be performed with minimal human interaction, resulting in an optimum regarding cost-efficiency and evaluation time. The method was applied to a representative geometry and has shown results that confirm the above-mentioned advantages. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-01-03 Full Text: PD
Architectural Rehabilitation and Sustainability of Green Buildings in Historic Preservation
Get PDFThe aim of the article is to draw attention to the fact that architecture must comprehend nature and bring it back to the daily life of man, increasing his physical and psychological comfort. "Green" in architectural rehabilitation can have several meanings and approximations. In this article, we address "Green" as both a color and an attitude. This paper has been developed through deepening the hypothesis of the color green in living coatings. The creation of an ecological skin in architecture accentuates the dilution of the presence of interventions in heritage contexts with an attitude of knowing how to add, involving nature. These enable the development of solutions that avoid architectural language formalisms, which is especially important in the context of heritage architectural rehabilitation. Examples of green roofs and green facades are presented, and it is shown that rainwater management improves the sustainability of the historic place. Complementary, as a green attitude, it is essential to use renewable energy in buildings to achieve NZEB”Nearly Zero Energy Building. As a case study, we have selected the rehabilitation of the Cathedral of Portalegre in Portugal. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-04-04 Full Text: PD
The Use of Zipline Drones Technology for COVID-19 Samples Transportation in Ghana
Get PDFDrone technology has a wide range of general applications in the military, agriculture, data processing, security, and healthcare. The emergence of the novel coronavirus pandemic has accelerated its revolution in the healthcare industry. Ghana, a western African country, was the first to program and deploy automated drones to shuttle medical supplies and samples of suspected COVID-19 patients. With this approach, Ghana was able to quickly respond to the pandemic and save the lives of the general population. This paper presents a narrative study on the use of Zipline drones for transporting samples of suspected COVID-19 patients, highlighting the challenges and potential barriers encountered. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-02-03 Full Text: PD
Innovative Blade Trailing Edge Flap Design Concept using Flexible Torsion Bar and Worm Drive
Get PDFIn this paper, a simple but effective trailing edge flap system was proposed. This preliminary concept uses a more practical and stable actuation system, which consists of a motor-driven worm gear drive and a flexible torsion bar. The flexible torsion bar is designed to be easily twisted while keeping bending rigidity as a support, and the worm gear drive not only provides high torque to overcome aerodynamic forces on the flap area and the torsional rigidity of the support bar, but also acts as a brake to avoid instability due to the high torsional flexibility of the support bar. A preliminary level design study was performed to show the applicability of the new trailing edge flap system for wind turbine rotor blades or helicopter blades. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-03-01 Full Text: PD
Propellant Actuated Device for Parachute Deployment during Seat Ejection for an Aircraft Application
Get PDFPropellant Actuated Devices (PAD) are installed on various combat aircraft of the Air Force and Naval bases to perform extremely important operations such as parachute deployment, harness and leg restraint, cable cutting, pullers, seat ejection, bomb release, fuel tanks, etc. They are basically called "gas generators." Such devices produce high-temperature and high-pressure combustion gases on initiation and are used to perform different operations. These cartridges are single-shot operating devices. The performance of such types of PADs cannot be tested by non-destructive techniques. Hence, cartridges are designed to function with high reliability and stringent quality control checks at all levels during the entire development cycle. The safety features required during handling, storage, and transportation are built into the design of the PAD. The cartridges are required to undergo different and exhaustive design qualification tests to qualify design aspects. A total life of six years is assigned to the cartridge after a performance degradation study of the propellant, which includes two years of installed life. This paper explains the development aspects of PAD, its use, function, testing, and performance evaluation methodology in a suitable fabricated velocity test rig (VTR). The maximum slug velocity is 121.14 m/s in the hot condition, and the minimum slug velocity is 99.14 m/s in the cold condition. The main objective of this paper is to devise a novel method to measure the actual slug velocity of the aircraft gun inside a cartridge using VTR and Doppler RADAR. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-03-03 Full Text: PD