An international collaborative research network helps to design climate robust rice systems

Rice is the world's most important staple food. Although mainly produced in Asia (91%), it is consumed on all continents and its global importance and consumption is increasing. The limited scope to expand production areas coupled with increasing resource constraints (mainly the lack of or competing demands for land and water) make it difficult to meet necessary production increases. Climate change in terms of increasing temperatures, more frequent droughts, anticipated loss of productive estuaries due to rising sea levels, more frequent and severe storms and rising CO2 levels further compounds these problems. This constitutes a huge challenge for science, policy and farmers. The provision of effective solutions is complex due to the spatialtemporal dimensions that must be integrated when setting research, policy and management priorities. These challenges have motivated us to form a Community of Practice (CoP) of concerned scientists. We formed this CoP around the central theme of simulation modelling as a technology that allows integration of discipline-based component science across space and time. We also use modelling as an engagement tool with stakeholders and to connect seemingly disparate scientific disciplines. Here we put our Research for Development (R4D) activities into context and report on some of the research efforts that our CoP is currently involved in. In our quest to design locally-adapted, profitable and sustainable, climate-robust rice-based cropping systems, we welcome input from the wider, global R4D community. (Résumé d'auteur

Navigating the Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Conservation Standard and Test Procedure for Pumps

TutorialAs the compliance date of January 27, 2020 approaches, the complexity of the US DOE Energy Conservation Standard (ECS) and Test Procedure (TP) for Pumps leaves many pump manufacturers, distributors, engineering procurement contractors, consultants, and end users with uncertainty regarding the requirements and impact of the regulation. Since this is a first in the United States, this paper addresses the contents of this ECS and TP to provide an understanding of the scope; implications to the manufacturer, end users, and other interested parties; and the benefits of the rule and voluntary product energy labeling initiatives. As pump energy conservation standards progress, it will be more difficult to achieve the required energy savings through pump efficiency alone; therefore, an extended product approach will be required to achieve the energy savings. More and more, pumps will be sold with motors and controls. This paper aims to provide some additional information and training to the manufacturer, specifier, installer, and end user to ensure that published energy savings are achieved and that intelligent systems are not misapplied, resulting in reduced functionality, reliability, and potentially increased power consumption when misapplied

Visualisation and characterisation of flame radical emissions through intensified spectroscopic imaging

Combustion flames contain strong emissions from excited radical species produced by the combustion process. The monitoring and characterisation of such emissions is important for an in-depth understanding of fuel energy conversion and pollutant formation processes. In this paper, an approach combining emission spectroscopy with intensified digital imaging techniques is proposed for visualising and quantifying the radiative characteristics of free radicals of combustion flames. Recent advances in CCD technology, especially in EM image intensification, have made it possible to obtain high resolution emission images of isolated spectral emissions from particular flame radicals. These can be used to study emission intensity and distribution, with the aim of correlating combustion emission products with flame spectral emission patterns

Carotenoids and chlorophyll content in natural soap with addition of vegetative raw material

In the present study, we performed quantitative and qualitative determination of carotenoids and chlorophyll in five samples of natural soap with addition of vegetative raw material: Green tea, Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub, Trifolium pratense L., Alchemilla vulgaris L. and Urtica dioica L. There was developed the method of quantitative content of carotenoids and chlorophyll using spectrophotometry with analytical wavelength at 450 nm (carotenoids) and 667 nm (chlorophyll). Qualitative determination was carried out by the comparative TLC analysis. As mobile phases were used in the experiment following a mixed solvent of hexane-acetone (3: 1). Identification of carotenoids was carried out according to standard samples β -carotene and literature data

A cell-based smoothed finite element method for kinematic limit analysis

This paper presents a new numerical procedure for kinematic limit analysis problems, which incorporates the cell-based smoothed finite element method with second-order cone programming. The application of a strain smoothing technique to the standard displacement finite element both rules out volumetric locking and also results in an efficient method that can provide accurate solutions with minimal computational effort. The non-smooth optimization problem is formulated as a problem of minimizing a sum of Euclidean norms, ensuring that the resulting optimization problem can be solved by an efficient second-order cone programming algorithm. Plane stress and plane strain problems governed by the von Mises criterion are considered, but extensions to problems with other yield criteria having a similar conic quadratic form or 3D problems can be envisaged

Sense of Belonging Increases Performance Expectations among Women in STEM Fields

This research examines threatening educational environments for women STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) majors. Previous research found that underrepresented groups receive subtle and overt messages that they do not belong in science and academia which leads to lower science identity, lower grades, and switching to a non-STEM major (Ong et al. 2011; Robnett 2016; Rainey et al., 2018). This study used survey data from students (N = 213) from a western university. The results indicate a 2-way interaction between sense of belonging (or the acceptance an individual feels regarding a specific group or environment) and science identity (how strongly a person identifies with their STEM field) on science performance expectations. Results showed that higher science identity predicted higher performance expectations; however, moderate to higher sense of belonging significantly strengthened this relationship. This result can better help us understand why women are underrepresented in STEM fields, and provide insight into possible interventions, such as improving sense of belonging for underrepresented groups within STEM

Lived epistemology, the childlike and a virtuous education

The following thesis provides an account of what it means to approach epistemic concepts in a lived rather than abstract fashion. It argues that taking such a position naturally leads to an assessment of how the epistemic life might be lived virtuously, and it grounds this in experiences of being-with-worth. It then isolates and gives a thorough account of the key, childlike virtues found in the Golden Age of British children’s literature: playfulness, a capacity for wonder, and intellectual humility and open-mindedness. After exploring how this model of a virtuous epistemic life might re-orientate philosophical discussions of nostalgia and the epistemic worth of literature, the thesis finishes by cashing out what a virtuous education might look like. This final move includes an analysis of some of my own attempts to achieve a virtuous education whilst teaching