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Multiapplication Triple Network Hydrogel for Desalination and Water Treatment
No full textSolar evaporators are promising for freshwater generation from seawater and wastewater, but are currently made from fossil-based materials compromising their sustainable profile. We developed a triple network hydrogel (CTMH) for solar-driven water purification. The hydrogel combines Fe-based metal–organic framework nanoparticles (Fe-MOF NPs) as light-absorbing components with two bio-derived polymers: sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and starch. These polymers tailored the pore structure and swelling properties of the cellulose fibers. The hydrogel has a light absorption of 94%. The porosities together with the hydrophilic nature of the hydrogel constituents almost half the water evaporation enthalpy to 1301 J·g −1. Through the synergistic effects, an evaporation rate of 2.55 kg·m −2·h −1 and a photothermal conversion of 92.2% are obtained for the CTMH hydrogel. In addition, the CTMH hydrogel has excellent salt resistance. The abundant hydroxyl groups remove up to 99.9% of methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO), and rhodamine B (RhB) dyes by adsorption through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction. Purification efficiency is up to 99% for seawater and wastewater. Therefore, the bio-based triple network CTMH hydrogel has great potential for seawater desalination and dyeing wastewater purification.</p
The Practice of Interdisciplinarity: Funding, Careers and Impact
No full textThis chapter explores how interdisciplinary research is shaped by key structural factors – such as research funding, career trajectories, institutional frameworks, and societal expectation. The chapter points towards potential ways of overcoming barriers for successful interdisciplinarity and examines how relevant factors are influencing the success and sustainability of interdisciplinary team efforts. We show that funding, careers, and impact are entangled, and that robust tools and methods are available to manage healthy and sustainable research collaboration.This chapter explores how interdisciplinary research is shaped by key structural factors—such as research funding, career trajectories, institutional frameworks, and societal expectation. The chapter points towards potential ways of overcoming barriers for successful interdisciplinarity and examines how relevant factors are influencing the success and sustainability of interdisciplinary team e]orts. We show that funding, careers, and impact are entangled, and that robust tools and methods are available to manage healthy and sustainable research collaboration
Academic Development work between policy and practice:The case of German Academic Development
No full textAcademic Development (AD) has been widely discussed under the perspectives of its roles, identities and contributions for higher education in the literature before. However, a closer analysis seems to be missing of how the setting and enactment of higher education policy gives agency and defines roles, space to navigate for academic developers. In the following chapter we will therefore analyse the situation of German academic development as a case for how academic work and practice are becoming entangled with the policy setting and execution of a new the national superstructure funding innovation in higher education teaching. Through a triangulated analysis we delineate consequences and implications of higher education policy setting for AD work and practices. Moreover, we also discuss how the self-understanding of AD as political actor entangles with both policy setting and emergent practices. This chapter sheds light on a previously not well-elaborated aspect of AD work and invites to a reflection of the implications of the German case for AD policy work in other countries
Balancing fracture toughness and ionic conductivity in lithium thiosilicate glassy electrolytes
No full textThe use of solid instead of liquid electrolytes can lead to increased battery capacity and safety. However, solid-state electrolytes bring a number of challenges, especially the lower ionic conductivity and the risk of material cracking, ultimately causing battery failure. This work addresses these challenges by probing the archetypical electrolyte family of lithium thiosilicate glasses (xLi2S-(100−x)SiS2) to study the influence of lithium sulfide content on the mechanical and ionic transport properties. Interestingly, we find a decreasing fracture toughness and increasing ionic conductivity with increasing Li2S content. We ascribe this to the depolymerization of the glassy network with increasing Li2S content and a decoupled activation mechanism of thermal diffusion and movement under mechanical strain. Ultimately, the investigated glasses offer insights into battery operation where the electrolyte is continuously cycled through high- and low-lithium content states. In turn, this highlights the need to consider the material properties across a wide range of compositions when engineering future solid-state electrolytes.</p
Concrete Poetry:System Poetry, Language Poetry, Conceptual Poetry, Visual Poetry, Sound Poetry
No full textThe concrete poetry movements, such as system poetry, language poetry, conceptual poetry, visual poetry, sound poetry etc., all have in common that the emphasis is on the materiality of language, i.e. the shape and the sound of the signs rather than on the significans of the text. Joseph M. Conte has pointed out that the perception, when reading concrete poetry, is dual, i.e. on the one hand you sense the signs of the text, on the other hand you decode the significans of the text. On the contrary, it seems plausible that concrete poetry, especially in the last half century, is created as a complex interaction between the materiality of writing and existential-political agendas, as in the case with Inger Christensen’s system poetry and Johannes Heldén’s multimedial poetry. The thesis of the chapter is that Nordic concrete poetry is more than a (neo)Dadaist play with typography, orthography, and sound, as it often has its own well-defined poetological, existential and political objectives.The chapter focuses on three periods in the history of concrete poetry in the Nordic countries. The first period is the avant-garde around World War I, with journals such as the Danish Klingen, the Swedish Flamman, and the Finnish Quosego and Ultra, and poets such as Diktonius, Södergran, Lagerkvist, Uppdal, Bønnelycke, and Momberg. The second period of concrete poetry is the 1960s, with the Danish journals mak and ta', and system and concrete poets such as Vagn Steen, Højholt and Inger Christensen, the Norwegian journal Profil and poets such as Vold and Rykkja, and Swedish poets such as Fahlström, Hodell, and Bengt Emil Johnson. Finally, a golden age of concrete poetry is the turn of the millennium as a result of the impact from the American conceptual writing and the digital literature. Notable is the internordic internet journal, afsnit p, in which poets such as Danish Frostholm and Søndergaard, Norwegian Ormstad and Aasprong, Swedish Heldén, and Finland-Swedish Cia Rinne have published works. The chapter outlines the most important genres within Nordic concrete poetry, which have been spread as currents from the 1920s to the present day, namely graphic poems, sound poems, interactive poems, montage/-readymade poems, and interartial/-medial poems.<br/
A computational study on wear behavior in piston ring-cylinder liner assemblies
No full textThe interaction between piston rings and cylinder liner, constituting a pivotal frictional pair within an internal combustion engine, profoundly impacts both engine efficiency and longevity. This study models the wear process of engine components, specifically the dry sliding wear of 2D piston ring-on-cylinder liner interactions, specifically under lubrication-free conditions, in a uniflow scavenged two-stroke engine using finite element method (FEM) in ANSYS APDL using the differential Archard wear model. The k − ε turbulence model is employed to simulate in-cylinder pressure in an engine cycle, showing minimal discrepancies from experimental data. The wear model incorporates material properties, contact mechanics, and operational parameters, employing advanced finite element method to simulate real-world conditions accurately. Key variables such as material hardness and contact pressure are examined to determine their influence on wear depth. The simulation results indicate that wear is significantly affected by the surface hardness of the interacting materials. The liner experiences more wear than the piston ring due to its lower hardness and higher wear coefficient. The developed model is validated against Hertz contact pressures, demonstrating high accuracy and reliability. In other words, the FEM results for contact pressure closely matched the predictions from the Hertz analytical solution. This study introduces integrating OpenFOAM simulation outputs as input for ANSYS APDL, enabling a more comprehensive and accurate wear analysis. Additionally, the wear simulation is conducted on a real large two-stroke engine, enhancing the practical relevance of the findings. This approach provides deeper insights into the wear behavior of piston ring–liner interactions under real-world operating conditions, offering a significant advancement over conventional modeling techniques.</p
Psychometric properties of patient-related outcome measures used for patients surviving a pulmonary embolism:A systematic review
Full text linkBACKGROUND: Patients who survive a pulmonary embolism (PE) often suffer several negative long-term physical and mental consequences, limiting their ability to stay physically- and socially active ultimately deteriorating their quality of life. Patients with PE therefore need evidence-based rehabilitation, targeting what is important to each individual patient. Valid and reliable patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are crucial to help clinicians plan and track rehabilitation outcomes in a reliable manner.PURPOSE: A systematic review to generate an overview over psychometric properties (reliability, validity, responsiveness, floor/ceiling effect and accessibility) of 34 PROMs used to assess PE, identified in a previous review by the research group.METHODS: A literature search was performed in PUBMED, CINAHL and EMBASE from inception to September 2024 and included psychometric studies of 34 specific PROMs. The evidence for each psychometric property was evaluated according to the COSMIN criteria for good measurement properties and graded according to the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach for systematic reviews. Methodological quality was assessed using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist for PROMs.RESULTS: The literature search yielded 3.801 records after removal of duplicates; 3.778 records were excluded based on title and abstract and further 10 articles were excluded during full-text reading leaving 13 articles evaluating the psychometric properties of PROMs. The Pulmonary Embolism Quality of life Questionnaire (PEmb-QoL) was assessed in 10 studies, showing very good internal consistency, reliability, criterion validity, construct validity, responsiveness and floor/ceiling effects. Structural validity for the PEmb-QoL was considered inadequate. One study found moderate evidence for the EQ-5D-5l showing adequate convergent construct validity. EQ-5D-5L also showed very good divergent construct validity, as well as good floor/ceiling effects and acceptability but inadequate structural validity. Low evidence for Perception of anticoagulation treatment questionnaire (PACT-Q) showed very good construct validity and internal consistency as well as adequate structural validity. Structural validity for the PACT-Q was acceptable, while content validity was doubtful and poor floor/ceiling effects. Finally moderate to high evidence for the Post-VTE functional status scale (PVFS) showing very good construct validity but inadequate structural validity and doubtful content validity.CONCLUSION: Some aspects of psychometric properties has been assessed in four out of the 34 PROMs used to assess patients with PE. Future studies should strive towards assessing all psychometric properties of PROMs used both clinically and in research.IMPLICATIONS: The results from this review put the reliability of tracking patients with PE into question, possibly skewing results from previous studies and more importantly showing an incomplete picture of rehabilitation following PE.</p
