An Evaluation of Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program Proposals for the Period 1992-1994.

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare funded and unfunded research proposals submitted to the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Council between 1992 and 1994. Coding reliability and validity were assessed through a pilot study after which the actual coding was carried out. A census of 32 funded and a simple random sample of 54 unfunded proposals were used for this study. Descriptive statistics (frequencies) were used to describe research themes, sustainable agricultural practices, research categories, funds requested for research, origin of proposals, length of research period, research cooperators, and the occupation of principal investigators. The results of the study showed that the investigators placed emphasis on several variables deemed important in the promotion of sustainable agriculture in the Southern Region. The theme of animal systems research was most emphasized, while the variable, cropping practice, had the highest frequency among the sustainable agricultural practices. Integrated and experimental research categories together had the highest frequencies among the funded proposals. Arkansas received the highest number of proposals funded, and most funded proposals took three years. Many funded proposals were written by four or more cooperators. Professors represented the occupation with the most funding, followed by practitioners. Integrated research was shown to be very important in this study. Integration of animal and cropping systems was considered by researchers as an important farming practice in the promotion of sustainable agriculture in the southern United States. A multi-disciplinary approach where different professionals cooperated to do research was emphasized by many researchers in this study

Aquaculture research and development in rural Africa: summary report

A summary report on the ICLARM-GTZ/Malawi Fisheries Department/University of Malawi International Conference in Zomba, Malawi, on 2-6 April 1990. Contains abstracts of the papers, which attempt to identify the reasons why the progress of aquaculture in Africa has been slow. With Malawi as a case study, fresh approaches to aquaculture development are presented.Aquaculture development, Small scale aquaculture, Sociological aspects, Aquaculture systems, Africa, Malawi,

Sulfate Removal from Mine Impacted Waters

Woo Pig Sulfate (WPS) has developed two methods for reducing levels of calcium sulfate in mine impacted waters, a “hot process” and a two-stage nanofiltration process. Both processes were designed to treat gypsum saturated water that is currently being pumped via interceptor wells to prevent the spread of a sulfate plume into a nearby community. Each solution was designed for Freeport McMoran’s Sierrita mine in Green Valley, Arizona, which was visited in order to gain insight about the problem. Below 250 ppm on the treated stream, nanofiltration and the hot process achieve overall recoveries of 84 and 99%, respectively. The waste, concentrated gypsum water, can be disposed of via evaporation ponds. Both processes are similar economically, but the hot process produces less waste, therefore requiring a smaller footprint for the evaporation pond, is less complex due to possessing fewer unit processes, and is less intensive maintenance-wise. However, since the hot process is more expensive than nanofiltration and is unused on an industrial scale, both processes are being presented as viable, with preference for either depending on whether the mine wants to maximize water recovery

Evaluating learning experiences in virtual laboratory training through student perceptions: a case study in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Hong Kong

With recent advances in information technologies, a new mode of laboratory known as the “virtual laboratory” has begun to revolutionise engineering education. This development has generated discussion about the fundamental learning outcomes of laboratory training courses and, ultimately, an interest in the consequent changes to the student’s learning experiences. This exploratory case study describes the initial phase of a research agenda that is focused on investigating the effectiveness of virtual laboratories in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) in a research-intensive university. The long-term goals of the agenda are to add to the literature of how effective virtual EEE laboratories are (in terms of delivering specific learning outcomes, and also engaging and motivating students and teachers), and to discover whether they can ultimately become a substitute for traditional laboratory training by providing an equivalent and comparable learning experience for students.published_or_final_versio

Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning

This open access book presents research and evaluation results of the Austrian flagship project “Connecting Austria,” illustrating the wide range of research needs and questions that arise when semi-automated truck platooning is deployed in Austria. The work presented is introduced in the context of work in similar research areas around the world. This interdisciplinary research effort considers aspects of engineering, road-vehicle and infrastructure technologies, traffic management and optimization, traffic safety, and psychology, as well as potential economic effects. The book’s broad perspective means that readers interested in current and state-of-the-art methods and techniques for the realization of semi-automated driving and with either an engineering background or with a less technical background gain a comprehensive picture of this important subject. The contributors address many questions such as: Which maneuvers does a platoon typically have to carry out, and how? How can platoons be integrated seamlessly in the traffic flow without becoming an obstacle to individual road users? What trade-offs between system information (sensors, communication effort, etc.) and efficiency are realistic? How can intersections be passed by a platoon in an intelligent fashion? Consideration of diverse disciplines and highlighting their meaning for semi-automated truck platooning, together with the highlighting of necessary research and evaluation patterns to address such a broad task scientifically, makes Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning a unique contribution with methods that can be extended and adapted beyond the geographical area of the research reported

Life Cycle Assessment of PEEK for Additive Manufacturing

The lifecycle assessment process (LCA) is a method that allows one to determine the environ- mental impact and gives the information needed to improve the environmental performance of processes which allows for reducing the human footprint in the environment. This dissertation consists of a lifecycle assessment of the production of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) in both the additive manufacturing and injection molding processes with the aim of selecting the most environmentally friendly process. This assessment is made considering a cradle-to-grave approach from when the natural resources are extracted until the final piece is discarded. This analysis is supported using LCA databases and real experimental data collected at NOVA School of Science and Technology. This data will allow for a more conscious choice in selecting one manufacturing process over the other. OpenLCA was the selected software to perform the life cycle assessment with Delft's University of Technologies' IDEMAT database. It was determined that the additive manufacturing production of PEEK is the manufacturing method that contains the least environmental impact mainly because of the reduction of travel distances that are associated with more local production. This compensates for the slight in- crease in energy consumption of additive manufacturing compared to the injection molding process.O processo de avaliação do ciclo de vida (ACV) é um método que permite determinar o im- pacto ambiental e dá a informação necessária para melhorar o desempenho ambiental dos processos o que permite reduzir a pegada humana no ambiente. Esta dissertação consiste numa avaliação do ciclo de vida da produção da polieteretercetona (PEEK) tanto nos processos de fabrico aditivo como na moldagem por injeção, com o objetivo de selecionar o processo com o menor impacte ambiental. Esta avaliação é efetuada tendo em conta uma abordagem cradle-to-grave que compreende os processos desde a extração dos recursos naturais até que a peça final seja descartada. Esta análise é suportada através de bases de dados de ACV e dados experimentais reais reco- lhidos na NOVA School of Science and Technology. Estes dados permitirão uma escolha mais consciente na seleção de um processo de fabrico em detrimento do outro. O OpenLCA foi o software selecionado para realizar a avaliação do ciclo de vida com o suporte da base de dados IDEMAT produzida pela Universidade de Tecnologias de Delft. Considerou-se que a produção em fabrico aditivo do PEEK é o método de fabrico que contém o menor impacte ambiental, principalmente devido à redução das distâncias de viagem que estão associadas a uma produção local. Este fator compensa o ligeiro aumento do consumo de energia do fabrico aditivo em comparação com o processo de moldagem por injeção

On the feasibility of collaborative green data center ecosystems

The increasing awareness of the impact of the IT sector on the environment, together with economic factors, have fueled many research efforts to reduce the energy expenditure of data centers. Recent work proposes to achieve additional energy savings by exploiting, in concert with customers, service workloads and to reduce data centers’ carbon footprints by adopting demand-response mechanisms between data centers and their energy providers. In this paper, we debate about the incentives that customers and data centers can have to adopt such measures and propose a new service type and pricing scheme that is economically attractive and technically realizable. Simulation results based on real measurements confirm that our scheme can achieve additional energy savings while preserving service performance and the interests of data centers and customers.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

College of Engineering research activities and annual report, July 1, 1980 - June 30, 1981

Annual report of research activities and publications of the College of Engineering, July 1, 1980 - June 30, 1981

Industry/University Collaboration at the University of Michigan-Dearborn: A Focus on Relevant Technology

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154105/1/kampfner1997.pd