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Application of the UKCP09 WG outputs to assess performance of combined sewers system in a changing climate
No full textn many parts of the world, old sewer systems have been designed without consideration for change in climate, so probabilities and risks of sewer surcharge and flooding are elevated due to increase in extreme rainfall events as a consequence of global warming. The current paper is aiming to assess how the climate change on interannual to multidecadal timescale (2020s; 2050s; 2080s) will affect design standards of wastewater networks due to the presumed increase in rainfall intensity and frequency in the Northwest of England area (selected site). Design storms have been analyzed for future rainfall obtained from the UK Climate Projection version 2009 (UKCP09) weather generator (WG), which was applied to the existing urban drainage system to check the level of service in winter and summer seasons. Two emission scenarios (SRES) have been adopted to simulate the greenhouse gas concentration; high scenario (A1FI) and low scenario (B1). Results indicate that the impact of increase in the design storm of the system in winter led to a potential of increase flood volume from manholes and intern basements at risk of flooding with the worst condition associated with 24 h storm in 2080s. Moreover, when this design storm depth increased by only 15%, the corresponding flood volume increase by 40%, this indicates that the relation between the cause of flooding and its consequences is nonlinear. Summer season has an opposite picture, and flood volume is projected to decrease with the increase in the storm duration causing low risk. Considering climate change in this study caused most of urban drainage models runs to be very slow with some interruption in the simulation due to the inflation in some parameters, so caution should be taken
The Bolton Review: Issue 3 : ABCs and Coffee Beans
No full textThe Bolton review is a creative writing magazine, set up by members of the creative writing team of the University of Bolton to allow its students and staff to submit creative works of all types
Development of flexible ZnO thin film surface acoustic wave strain sensors on ultrathin glass substrates
No full textFlexible surface acoustic wave (SAW) strain sensors made on ZnO/ultrathin glass (100 μm) substrates have been developed. The sensitivity of the SAW strain sensors under different strain angles and annealing temperatures, as well as the mechanical stability, are investigated. It was shown that the thickness of ZnO has a strong effect on the sensitivity of the strain sensors, and thicker ZnO makes sensors with better performance. Thermal annealing at a temperature up to 200 °C also improves the sensitivity of the strain sensor significantly. The temperature coefficient of frequency remains unchanged under different strains, showing good thermal stability. A cyclic bending test with the strain varied between zero and 2000 με exhibits good mechanical stability and reliability of SAW strain sensors. All the results demonstrate the great potential of flexible SAW strain sensors for flexible electronic applications
Higher Education Data & Information Improvement Programme -HEDIIP NSCS Project Adoption Plan
No full textThe New Subject Coding Scheme Project was commissioned by HEDIIP under the Standards and Understanding theme. The project aimed to develop a replacement for the Joint Academic Coding Scheme that met the needs of a broad group of stakeholders and reflected the diverse and dynamic nature of Higher Education in the twenty first century. The New Subject Coding Scheme project was undertaken by the Centre for Educational Technology, Interoperability and Standards (Cetis) with partners APS Ltd and Aspire Ltd. The project undertook extensive stakeholder engagement to identify the requirements for the new coding system and developed a coding structure that aims to meet these requirements. The new coding scheme is referred to as HECoS – the Higher Education Classification of Subjects. The project ran from May 2014 to October 2015
Tunable graphene/indium phosphide heterostructure solar cells
No full textGraphene based van der Waals heterostructure has attracted wide attention recently, especially for graphene/semiconductor Schottky junction. Herein, through delicately designing and engineering the van der Waals heterostructure between graphene and indium phosphide (InP), which has a suitable bandgap of 1.34 eV for solar energy conversion, we have achieved graphene/p-InP solar cells with power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.3% under AM 1.5G illumination. The chemical doping or electrical field modulation has been used to tune the Fermi level of graphene, which leads to a PCE of 5.6% for the device under gating effect. Furthermore, the interface recombination rate could be reduced while graphene is doped or gated, as evidenced by transient photoluminescence measurements. Considering the stability of cell performance under illumination and the high resistance to space irradiation damage of InP, graphene/InP heterojunction may be promising for special applications such as space solar cells. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Special issue based on the Fire Retardant Technologies 2014 conference held at University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK April 2014
No full textIs the uncanny valley a universal or individual response?
No full textEmpirical studies have established that our affinity towards a synthetic agent does notincrease when the agent is crafted with the intention to persuade us that it is human in itsappearance and behaviour (MacDorman, 2005; MacDorman & Entezari, this volume). Thisincreased negative affective response to a human-like agent was presumed a universalcorollary, as the agent failed to satisfy our expectations of normal human behaviour (Mori,1970/2012). Visualization tasks in infants of up to 12 months old (Lewkowicz & Ghazanfar,2012) and monkeys (Steckenfinger & Ghazanfar, 2009), on normal to synthetic faces, lendsupport that uncanniness is evolutionary in origin. Therefore, as well as developing traits thatmake us more discerning of human-like agents, we are born with instinctive behaviours toreject uncanny agents. MacDorman and Entezari (this volume) explored the superficial traitsin healthy individuals that may exaggerate perception of the uncanny, yet, perception of theuncanny may also be considered from a less cursory to a more fundamental basis in humansthat negate the human norm. As well as having established how particular traits mayexaggerate the uncanny in individuals, the findings in MacDorman and Entezari’s (thisvolume) paper may be considered from another perspective, to consider which particularbiological and learned traits may render an individual devoid of experience of the uncanny
An assessment of the impacts of public works programme implemented in 2013 on the livelihoods of beneficiaries, A case study of selected projects in traditional authority Mponda area of Mangochi district
No full textThis report presents findings and recommendations of a study that was conducted to assess the impacts of the 2013 Public Works Programme (PWP) on the livelihoods of beneficiaries. The study was conducted in three villages within TA Mponda in Mangochi District in Malawi, Southern Africa. PWP is a pro-poor labour intensive intervention which the Government of Malawi has been implementing since 2005 to improve the livelihoods of the poor. The focus of the study was on perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders towards the effects of PWP’s impacts on livelihoods.The study took a qualitative approach and drew a largely purposive sample of women and men among beneficiaries, CSO and traditional leaders among interested groups and government officials among implementers in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews.The study established that PWP was a very important programme whose short-tern benefits were appreciated by beneficiaries. There was inadequate knowledge about PWP objectives among beneficiaries and implementers were not aware of the NSSP which reduced programme success. The recruitment criteria were well understood by stakeholders but communities were not able to define a poor household which may have resulted into inclusion errors. More women than men were participating and held leadership positions but it was not clear if this was a result of gender mainstreaming as men were reportedly shunning the programme. The programme neither helped in asset creation nor engagement in savings by beneficiaries. In general, beneficiaries perceived the benefits from PWP as short-lived.Based on the findings, the study recommended that there should be information flow on policies and guidelines affecting PWP at all levels, wages should be in line with prevailing cost of living, communities should be trained on savings mobilization to enhance impact sustainability and PWP wages be complimented with assets like livestock for improved beneficiary resilience to shocks and risks
Practice and Research in Education : University of Bolton Education research student journal. Issue 2
No full text"Welcome to the second edition of the University of Bolton journal, Policy and Practice in Education, which presents a small selection of our Education research students’ work".David Kitchener - University’s Reader in Education and the journal edito
Development Of A Pavement Rutting Model Using Shakedown Theory
No full textThe rutting of flexible pavements during their exploitation is considered to be one of the main problems in UK as well as worldwide. It is a serious mode of distress alongside fatigue in bituminous pavements that may lead to premature failure, as indicated by permanent deformation or rut depth along the wheel load path, and results in early and costly rehabilitation. This kind of pavement distress makes a negative impact to the serviceability characteristics of the flexible pavement, to the residual life of pavement structure and also to the safety and ride quality for traffic. Two design methods have been used to control rutting: one to limit the vertical compressive strain on the top of subgrade and the other to limit rutting to a tolerable amount usually around “12 mm”. Although experimental data and practical experience have been introduced into these design methods through empirical parameters, there is not a simple relationship between the elastic strain and the long-term plastic behaviour of pavement materials. This paper describes a method based on the kinematic shakedown theorem for constructing a mathematical model to predict the long-term behaviour of pavement structures under the action of repeated and cyclic loadings imposed by moving traffic. This method seeks the mechanism from within a class of mechanisms that minimises the shakedown limit load for pavement structures consisting of layers of Mohr-Coulomb materials. The model differs from extant models, in that the cyclic nature of the loading on a pavement is recognised from the outset, and the current method which is based upon foundation analysis, is replaced by a procedure employing shakedown theory that features the capabilities and applications of the developed technique for assessing rutting in flexible pavements. The basic concepts are outlined together with the most recent calculations of the critical design shakedown load. The influence of the design parameters such as, the strength, stiffness and depth of the granular base-course material as well as the consequences of traffic loading (number of equivalent standard axel loads – ESAL’s) are discussed