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Maximizing Polypropylene Recovery from Waste Carpet Feedstock: A Solvent-Driven Pathway Towards Circular Economy
Get PDFHere we propose a novel approach for the efficient recovery of polypropylene from waste carpet feedstock utilising a solvent based method operating at 160 °C. The findings contribute to advancing sustainable recycling practices for waste carpet materials and offer valuable insight into the recovery of PP which can also be utilised for other complex waste streams
Functional Characteristics and Coping Strategies among Rugby Athletes: A Cluster Analysis Approach
Get PDFThe developing domain of mental health in sports has gained much interest, acknowledging its pivotal role in athlete performance and well-being. The aim of this research is to provide a quantitative description concerning the levels of mental health, physical activity, cognitive fusion, cognitive flexibility, and coping strategies that characterize rugby athletes by using a data-driven approach. A total of 92 rugby athletes took part in this study and filled out a set of self-administered questionnaires. A correlational analysis showed that general well-being was positively associated with years spent playing rugby (r = 0.23) and coping mechanisms (r = 0.29). Athletes’ well-being was also negatively correlated with cognitive inflexibility (r = −0.41) and cognitive fusion (r = −0.39). A k-means cluster analysis identified two unique groups: group 1, characterized by higher levels of psychological well-being, lower levels of physical activity, greater cognitive flexibility, improved coping techniques, and reduced cognitive fusion, and group 2, which exhibits opposite characteristics. The discrepancies observed in psychological characteristics such as coping strategies, cognitive fusion, and cognitive inflexibility highlight their potential impact on the general health of rugby players. To comprehend the complex interplay between psychological and physical elements in rugby athletes, long-term studies with larger samples are crucial
Economic keywords in political communications and financial markets
Get PDFThis paper investigates the interplay between the use of economically significant keywords in political speeches—indicative of their economic content—and observed trends in financial markets. To this end, we implement a statistical/bibliometric study on the speeches stated by the US Presidents and the Standard and Poor’s 500 index (S &P 500). The corpus covers 1951-2017, including 376 discourses. The S &P 500 daily returns, prices, and volumes are considered in the same period. Our analysis utilises Kendall’s correlation to assess the relationship between S &P 500 variables and the frequency of economic terms in the speeches. Additionally, four distance measures are applied to evaluate the similarities among these time series. Lastly, we compare Shannon entropies computed for each variable. The values of the index are observed the day before, the same day, and the day after the Presidents conducted their speeches. The joint evaluation of the results shows that the speeches’ economic content and the S &P 500 volume have the most meaningful relationship. In particular, the volume shows some changes interrelated to the speeches before and after the days of the talks. The price has similar behaviour but with a lighter magnitude than volume. The daily returns are poorly responsive to the speeches’ economic content, but entropy suggests that they present some distributional similarities
3D Indoor Positioning in 5G networks
Get PDFOver the past two decades, the challenge of accurately positioning objects or users indoors, especially in areas where Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are not available, has been a significant focus for the research community. With the rise of 5G IoT networks, the quest for precise 3D positioning in various industries has driven researchers to explore various machine learning-based positioning techniques.
Within this context, researchers are leveraging a mix of existing and emerging wireless communication technologies such as cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Visible Light Communication (VLC), etc., as well as integrating any available useful data to enhance the speed and accuracy of indoor positioning. Methods for indoor positioning involve combining various parameters such as received signal strength (RSS), time of flight (TOF), time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), direction of arrival (DOA) and more.
Among these, fingerprint-based positioning stands out as a popular technique in Real Time Localisation Systems (RTLS) due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.
Positioning systems based on fingerprint maps or other relevant methods find applications in diverse scenarios, including malls for indoor navigation and geo-marketing, hospitals for monitoring patients, doctors, and critical equipment, logistics for asset tracking and optimising storage spaces, and homes for providing Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) services.
A significant challenge facing all indoor positioning systems is the objective evaluation of their performance. This challenge is compounded by the coexistence of heterogeneous technologies and the rapid advancement of computation. There is a vast potential for information fusion to be explored. These observations have led to the motivation behind our work. As a result, two novel algorithms and a framework are introduced in this thesis
Perceived cognitive performance in off-prescription users of modafinil and methylphenidate: an online survey
Get PDFIntroduction
Modafinil and methylphenidate are used off-prescription for cognitive enhancement in healthy individuals. Such use is often reported in online surveys, but it is unclear whether drug use for cognitive enhancement is motivated by perceived poor cognitive performance or a desire to improve good cognitive performance. The current study investigated whether off-prescription users of modafinil and methylphenidate differed in their self-perceived cognitive performance from people who do not take these drugs.
Method
An online survey targeting forum sites assessed self-perceived cognitive function via the Adult Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, and the General Procrastination Scale.
Results
There were 249 respondents, of whom 43% reported no use of modafinil and methylphenidate (the control group) and 58% reported use of one or both drugs without a prescription for cognitive enhancement. This created an independent samples design with three groups. On both the Adult Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale and General Procrastination Scale, modafinil and methylphenidate users reported higher scores than the control group, indicating higher levels of perceived inattention and procrastination. Scores on the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire indicated that modafinil and methylphenidate users rated themselves as having fewer cognitive failures than controls.
Conclusion
These findings suggest that at least some reported off-prescription users of modafinil and methylphenidate may be seeking to reduce the impact of self-perceived poorer performance, particularly in forms of cognition that are likely to impact on self-directed or self-motivated work
Feasibility of manufacturing high aspect ratio hollow tubes of SS410 through wire-arc directed energy deposition
No full textThis study reports new observations from the fabrication of high aspect ratio hollow tubes of SS410 through wire-arc directed energy deposition (wire-arc DED) process. Characterisation work was performed on a single tube as a function of its build height. The maximum ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 1372 MPa and maximum yield strength (YS) of 980 MPa were achieved in the middle region of the tube. The highest UTS in the middle was attributed to the low delta ferrite content. The reduction of delta ferrite was found to be linked with the repetitive heating and cooling. In contrast, the top and bottom sections exhibit a substantial presence of delta ferrite, indicating that the cyclic effects were not considerable. Nevertheless, the presence of significant ductility in the bottom region of the component indicated the occurrence of tempering effects. This observation is further supported by the lower levels of local strain observed using KAM mapping. Overall, this work proposes a novel fabrication method for producing hollow sections with superior strength and ductile properties
What not to do in facial infrared thermographic measurements: A post data enhancement
Get PDFThe accuracy of infrared thermographic measurements depends on several factors, including movement of target. In this study, accuracy of nose tip temperatures obtained in a mental workload assessment using a thermal imaging camera were impacted by participants’ movement and camera zooming/panning. To correct these measurement errors, we compared manual facial landmark identification techniques using data labelling software with an automated deep learning-based approach utilised for facial landmark tracking and evaluated both against the built-in tracking features of the thermal camera, Thermal Spot Tracking. Using the Manual Thermal Landmark Annotation measurements as the ground truth, our results show that the Automated Facial Feature Tracking approach, which is the AI based approach performed better than the Thermal Spot Tracking as it matched comparatively more spatial coordinates and temperature datapoints as well as showed comparatively lower mean relative error. The study highlights the potential of AI in enhancing the accuracy of thermographic measurements, particularly in applications involving facial temperature analysis
An Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Route to Tin-Doped Gallium Oxide Thin Films with Optoelectronic Properties
Get PDFGallium oxide is a wide-bandgap compound semiconductor material renowned for its diverse applications spanning gas sensors, liquid crystal displays, transparent electrodes, and ultraviolet detectors. This paper details the aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition synthesis of tin doped gallium oxide thin films using gallium acetylacetonate and monobutyltin trichloride dissolved in methanol. It was observed that Sn doping resulted in a reduction in the transmittance of Ga2O3 films within the visible spectrum, while preserving the wide bandgap characteristics of 4.8 eV. Furthermore, Hall effect testing revealed a substantial decrease in the resistivity of Sn-doped Ga2O3 films, reducing it from 4.2 × 106 Ω cm to 2 × 105 Ω cm for the 2.5 at. % Sn:Ga2O3 compared to the nominally undoped Ga2O3
Can 'justified disapproval' be separated from addiction stigma? An empirical focus is required
Get PDFStigma is largely recognized as a harmful practice of social devaluation and discrimination, yet some scholars still advance arguments that stigma also serves an important disincentivizing force towards addictive behaviours. Whilst others counter that stigma is a fundamentally harmful process, a more nuanced call has been made for “justified disapproval” as a beneficial normative force to be separated from addiction stigma. The legitimacy of such a claim requires empirical support which has been lacking thus far. We review evidence in the domains of social norms, stigma, addiction and behavioural sciences as a starting point for an empirically focused evaluation of the possibility of “justified disapproval” as a legitimate positive force. We note that whilst normative influences, emotions and addiction-relevant appraisals affect such behaviours under certain conditions, there are important questions regarding whether these can be harnessed without invoking the known and pervasive effects of stigma. Rather, we propose that efforts to curb addiction-related behaviours via normative influences are likely to fail or backfire. In the absence of empirical evidence to support the use of normative ‘disapproval’ strategies, alternative approaches should be pursued, particularly those which address the broader socio-cultural and structural drivers of addiction problems
Collective Translation as Forking (分岔)
No full textTogether with a Taiwanese working group, we have been producing a Chinese translation of Aesthetic Programming: A Handbook of Software Studies, a free and open source book first written by Winnie Soon and Geoff Cox in 2020, and released in English in a git repository, dynamic website, downloadable PDF and printed form. Apart from learning to code in p5.js, the book addresses the cultural and aesthetic dimensions of programming from its insides, as a means to think and act critically, and to understand the importance of programming as a cultural practice that can develop discussion of issues that are relatively under-acknowledged in technical subjects such as gender, race and sexuality. Importantly, the book is understood as a computational object, not released as a fixed and universal teaching resource, but rather a situated curriculum with the potential for extension and customization with other arts and coding communities. The use of Git has allowed the authors to formalize its production as an iterative process, allowing for reversioning and for others to fork a copy and customize with different references, examples, critical reflections and even new chapters. The interest is in forking a book like forking software, and incorporating local knowledge and examples, and how this resonates with a politics of cultural translation. This essay will elaborate on the process of running two open participatory workshops that were conducted in Taipei and London (in 2023) with the aim to challenge some of the normative social relations of production associated with translation, and explore other possibilities of collective practice.
The politics of translation has been well-established in general, but what of the specifics of translating a book such as this? Aside from the technical and aesthetic challenges and implications, this raises the question of how the Chinese language model enforces particular hegemonic worldviews that occlude differences. With all the variants of Chinese language, how is this tied to expressions of colonial power that resonates with our use of English? Given the rich variations of Chinese and indigenous languages (not least in a Taiwanese context), we are curious how we might be sensitive to language diversity that challenges the Western-centrism of programming in English (and inherent nationalisms). We are also mindful of the way that “queer” politics has informed the way that terms can be appropriated/expropriated, as a means to “talk back” to the source codes of oppression. What are the implications of drawing the practices of forking and translating together