EOSDB: The Database for Nuclear EoS

Nuclear equation of state (EoS) plays an important role in understanding the formation of compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes. The true nature of the EoS has been a matter of debate at any density range not only in the nuclear physics but also in the astronomy and astrophysics. We have constructed a database of EoSs by compiling data from the literature. Our database contains the basic properties of the nuclear EoS of symmetric nuclear matter and of pure neutron matter. It also includes the detailed information about the theoretical models, for example the adopted methods and assumptions in individual models. The novelty of the database is to consider new experimental probes such as the symmetry energy, its slope relative to the baryon density, and the incompressibility, which enables the users to check their model dependences. We demonstrate the performance of the EOSDB through the examinations of the model dependence among different nuclear EoSs. It is reveled that some theoretical EoSs, which is commonly used in astrophysics, do not satisfactorily agree with the experimental constraints.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (revised

Outcome evaluation of research for development work conducted in Ghana and Sri Lanka under the Resource, Recovery and Reuse (RRR) subprogram of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).

This is the main report of an external evaluation of the Resource Recovery and Reuse Flagship of the Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE) CGIAR Research Program. WLE commissioned the study. The Evaluators interviewed researchers and partners in two countries, Ghana and Sri Lanka, and in Ghana visited two sites. They also interviewed key international partners and analyzed a wide range of documents, reports and publications. The evaluation was focused on understanding how and in what ways the research and other activities carried out by IWMI and supported by WLE contributed to the outcomes. In essence, the purpose was to understand the specific impact pathways from research to outputs and outcomes

Application of COSMO-RS in Gas Hydrate Mitigation

Formation of gas hydrate in oil and gas pipelines has resulted in flow assurance problem. Ionic liquid (IL), due to its dual functionality has been considered as a very promising hydrate inhibitors. However, experimental testing of IL alone is insufficient to examine all potential ILs combinations due to high number of cation and anion to form ILs. Therefore, in order to screen potential ILs prior to narrow down the amount of potential ILs for experimental work, it is helpful to have a predictive model that could satisfactorily pre-screen ILs or to validate experimental work just by considering the fundamental properties. In this context, four fundamental properties of IL-hydrate system namely sigma profile, hydrogen bonding energies, activity coefficient, and solubility were stimulated through Conductor-Like Screening Model for Real Solvent (COSMO-RS). They were then analyzed to determine if they could be correlated with IL inhibition ability. Among them, sigma profile and hydrogen bonding energies, which later upgraded to total interaction energies exhibit significant relationship with IL inhibition ability. Sigma profile graph in general gives a qualitative understanding in whether certain IL is hydrophobic or hydrophilic. Total interaction energies of ions, on the other hand, have successfully been applied to develop a model that could predict IL thermodynamic inhibition ability in terms of average temperature depression. The correlation was validated with experimental values from literature with an average error of 20.49%. Findings also suggest that this correlation is not suitable to be used for substituted cations, due to the extra H-bonding provided by substituted functional group such as hydroxyl group. Finally, through the use of sigma profile graph and developed correlation, the inhibition ability of 20 ammonium based ILs have been predicted. TMA-OH, due to its short alkyl chain length cation and highly electronegative anion has shown the most promising inhibition ability among 20 of them. It is predicted to be able to depress temperature of IL-hydrate system by 1.97oC, whereas the widely studied EMIM-Cl can only experimentally depress the system by 1.22oC

O PAPEL DA DEFICIÊNCIA SEMÂNTICA REFERENCIAL NA EXPRESSÃO DO SUJEITO NO CRIOULO CABO-VERDIANO: ESCOLHA VARIÁVEL DOS RECURSOS REFERENCIAS REDUZIDOS DA TERCEIRA PESSOA

This study examines the influence of ‘semantic referential deficiency’―consisting of nonhuman, nonspecific, and indefinite reference―in variable third-person subject expression in a corpus of naturalistic Cabo-Verdean Creole discourse collected from respondents from the islands of Santiago and Maio. The methodology follows the Probabilistic Linguistics program (CLAES, 2017) in combining variationist sociolinguistics with cognitively-oriented discourse analysis, whereas the notion of semantic referential deficiency is adopted from Generative Grammar and from research on Brazilian Portuguese argument expression. The coded corpus data were submitted to a suite of descriptive and inferential statistical analyses in R (R CORE TEAM, 2021). Results show a promoting effect from nonhuman and collective referents on the selection of zero or null subjects, alongside other predictors related to referential coherence and accessibility.Nesta pesquisa investiga-se a influência da ‘deficiência semântica referencial’ ―a qual consiste da referência não humana, não específica e indefinida― na expressão variável dos sujeitos da terceira pessoa nas variedades do crioulo cabo-verdiano faladas nas ilhas de Santiago e do Maio. A metodologia que se segue é a Linguística Probabilística (CLAES, 2017), que mistura o variacionismo-sociolinguístico com a análise discursiva orientada à cognição, embora na pesquisa atual o foco interdisciplinar é ampliado ainda mais, já que se toma emprestado da Gramática Gerativa, e das pesquisas na expressão de argumentos no português brasileiro, o conceito da deficiência referencial semântica. O corpus foi sometido a uma série de análises estatísticas descritivas e inferenciais no R (R CORE TEAM, 2021). Os resultados mostram um efeito promotor dos referentes não humanos e coletivos na seleção de sujeitos nulos, em conjunto com outros preditores que se relacionam com a acessibilidade referencial

Community-based co-design of a crowdsourcing task management application for safeguarding indigenous knowledge

Teaching indigenous knowledge (IK) to African youth has become more complicated due to a variety of reasons such as urban migration, loss of interest in it, the dominance of scientific knowledge and the technological revolution. Therefore, there is a considerable movement towards using technologies to safeguard IK before it becomes obsolete. It is noteworthy that research conducted and software development perspectives being used are mainly based on Western worldviews that are inappropriate for African socio-cultural contexts. IK holders are often not in charge of the digitisation process and merely treated as subjects. In this study, we explored a suitable development approach of a crowdsourcing task management application (TMA) as an auxiliary tool for safeguarding IK. Moreover, the study sought to provide an opportunity for the indigenous communities to make requests of three-dimensional (3D) models of their traditional objects independently. The delivered traditional 3D models are imported into the communities' IK visualisation tools used by the IK holders to teach the youth about their cultural heritage. The main objective of this study was to ascertain how the indigenous rural communities could appropriate a foreign technological concept such as crowdsourcing. This brought about our first research theme: investigating the necessary conditions to establish and maintain beneficial embedded community engagement. The second theme was to determine the suitable methods for technology co-design. Thirdly, to discover what does the communities' appropriated crowdsourcing concept entail. We applied a consolidated research method based on Community-based CoDesign (CBCD) extended with Afrocentric research insights and operationalised with Action Research cycle principles of planning, action and reflection. CBCD was conducted in three cycles with Otjiherero speaking indigenous rural communities from Namibia. Reflections from the first cycle revealed that the rural communities would require unique features in their crowdsourcing application. During the second cycle of co-designing with the ovaHimba community, we learnt that CBCD is matured through mutual trust, reciprocity and skills transfer and deconstructing mainstream technologies to spark co-design ideas. Lastly, in our third cycle of CBCD, we showcased that communities of similar cultures and knowledge construction had common ideas of co-designing the TMA. We also simulated that the construction of traditional 3D models requires indigenous communities to provide insight details of the traditional object to minimise unsatisfactory deliverables. The findings of this study are contributing in two areas (1) research approach and (2) appropriation of technology. We provide a synthesis of Oundu moral values and Afrocentricity as a foundation for conducting Afrocentric research to establish and maintain humanness before CBCD can take place. With those taken as inherent moral values, Afrocentricity should then solely be focused on knowledge construction within an African epistemology. For the appropriation of technology, we share codesign techniques on how the indigenous rural communities appropriated the mainstream crowdsourcing concept through local meaning-making. CBCD researchers should incorporate Afrocentricity for mutual learning, knowledge construction, and sharing for the benefit of all