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This essay addresses how Africanist choreography operates as a practice of cultural citizenship, focussing on the work of Thomas ‘Talawa’ Prestø as a leading figure in shaping the cultural sphere for choreography based on African and diaspora forms in Norway and internationally. Whereas cultural policy discourse tends to value Africanist choreography as a tool for social inclusion, this essay seeks to foreground the philosophical basis of Prestø’s work – with a focus on his piece I:Object (2018) and its enactment of ideas of Africana philosophy, heritage and polycentrism. However, rather than focussing exclusively on performance analysis, the essay also emphasises the political importance of the professional work that choreographers like Prestø undertake aside from choreographing – analysing the ways in which he has created a new discursive context for his own practice and the challenge to Eurocentric norms of reception this work enacts

High Pressure Co2 Separation Using Membranes Membrane Selection and Process Modeling

Pemisahan CO2 daripada gas asli (NG) telah menarik minat penyelidikan kerana permintaan tenaga yang semakin meningkat dan keperluan teknik penulenan gas yang lebih cekap dan mesra alam. Kebanyakan NG dihasilkan bersama CO2 yang perlu disingkirkan demi untuk meningkatkan nilai kalorinya. Teknologi membran merupakan salah satu teknologi yang digunakan secara meluas untuk penyingkiran CO2. Walau bagaimanapun, pasarannya masih kecil berbanding proses-proses pemisahan gas yang lain. Ini adalah kerana penggunaan bahan-bahan membran dengan prestasi pemisahan yang rendah dan keadaan pengoperasian modul yang tidak optimum. Pengoptimuman bersistematik bagi setiap peringkat penyediaan membran dan operasi modul bertekanan tinggi telah dicadangkan untuk menyelesaikan masalah tersebut.Salah satu cabaran utama operasi bertekanan tinggi adalah fenomena kesan penusukan pemplastikan yang disebabkan oleh peningkatan tekanan suapan. Polimer komersil polisulfona telah diubahsuai untuk mengoptimumkan prestasi pemisahannya. Kajian bertekanan tinggi dan pemodelan matematik telah dijalankan untuk menilai prestasi pemisahan membran. Bagi mewujudkan tekanan suapan yang tertinggi semasa penyingkiran CO2 tanpa pemplastikan, ciri-ciri pemisahan membran telah dikaji menggunakan ujian penelapan pada tekanan mencecah 57 bar. Kajian dinamik bagi prestasi membran juga dilakukan menggunakan ujikaji penelapan bagi tempoh masa antara 5 hingga 1080 jam (45 hari) dengan pelbagai tekanan antara 6 hingga 57 bar. Model matematik telah dibangunkan berdasarkan teori “dual-sorption” dan model keseluruhan tidak bergerak. Proses pengoptimuman untuk pemilihan membran telah dicapai dengan menggunakan kaedah pengoptimuman pelbagai objektif, manakala keadaan operasi modul dicapai menggunakan model pengaturcaraan pengoptimuman kekangan non-linear dan algoritma “Golden search” yang dilaksanakan menggunakan MATLAB. Tekanan pemplastikan bagi membran yang disediakan adalah 41.07 bar manakala kebolehtelapan dan kememilihan pada tekanan ini adalah masing-masing 5.99 Barrer, dan 44.19. Ini merupakan peningkatan sebanyak 17.65% bagi tekanan pemplastikan dan 66.39% bagi kebolehtelapan. Walau bagaimanapun, membran tersebut kehilangan kira-kira 79.65% kebolehtelapannya pada tekanan ini manakala kememilihannya meningkat sebanyak 91.13% jika dibanding dengan nilai pada 5 bar. Ujian kebolehtelapan yang bergantung kepada masa mendedahkan bahawa tekanan pemplastikan sebagai titik keseimbangan boleh digunakan sebagai kekangan dalam pengoptimuman proses pemisahan gas membran. Model matematik yang dibangunkan menunjukkan keupayaan ramalan yang sangat baik untuk tekanan pemplastikan. Pemilihan bahan membran juga didapati mampu dioptimumkan dengan cekap dengan menggunakan kaedah pengoptimuman multi-objektif. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Separation of CO2 from natural gas (NG) has attracted research interest due to increasing demand for energy and the need for more energy efficient and environmental friendly gas purification techniques. Most of the NG is coproduced with CO2 which need to be removed in order to increase its calorific value. Membrane separation is one of the widely used technologies for CO2 removal. However, its market share is still very small as compared to other gas separation processes. This is due to the use of membrane materials with poor separation performance and the use of non-optimum module operating conditions. Systematic optimization of every stage of membrane preparation and high pressure module operation was proposed to solve this problem. One major challenge of high pressure operation is penetrant-induced plasticization phenomenon which is caused by increasing the feed pressure. Commercial polysulfone polymer was modified to optimize its separation performance. High pressure experimental studies and mathematical modeling were performed to evaluate the separation performance of the membrane. To establish the highest possible feed pressure which can be attained during CO2 removal without plasticization, transport properties of the membrane were evaluated using permeation tests at pressure up to 57 bar. Also, dynamic evaluation of membrane performance was performed using timedependent permeation experiments over a period ranging from 5 hours to 1080 hours (45 days) at various pressures between 6 and 57 bar. Mathematical model was developed based on the theory of dual-sorption and the total immobilization models. The optimization for membrane selection was achieved using a multi-objective optimization method while that of module operating conditions was achieved using non-linear programming constraint optimization model and a Golden search algorithm which was implemented using MATLAB. The plasticization pressure of the prepared membrane is 41.07 bar while the permeability and selectivity at this pressure are 5.99 Barrer, and 44.19 respectively. This is equivalent to a 17.65% and 66.39% increase in plasticization pressure and permeability, respectively. However, the membrane lost about 79.65% of its permeability at this pressure while its selectivity increased by 91.13% as compared to the value at 5 bar. The timedependent permeability tests revealed plasticization pressure as possible equilibrium point which can be used as constraint during membrane gas separation process optimization. The mathematical model developed showed an excellent predictive capability for plasticization pressure. It was also shown that membrane materials selection can be efficiently optimized using the multi – objective optimization approach

Global Business Moral Order and the Challenge of Ethical Relativism in International Business Practices

In the field of applied ethics, there is intimidating recurrent issue of universalized, globalized and internationalized value system in view of protracted antithetical posture of ethical relativism. The potency of ethical relativism as an antithesis to ethical universalism is accentuated by the pervading tendencies of culture specifics in moral value-analysis. As efforts are being made by scholars to isolate the sense in which the subject matter of ethical relativism can suitably be articulated as basis for moral assertions, the increasing spate of globalized value-system in practical human socio-political and economic activities have continue to emphasize the ubiquitous nature and importance of universal approach to moral value analysis. The paper examines the emerging phenomenon of Global Business Moral Order (GBMO) against the backdrop of the threatening defiance of ethical relativists’ posture in international business practices. It concludes that global business moral order is not impossible if available contradictions are resolved in favour of uniform moral order to regulate international unethical business practices. Keywords: Ethical Universalism, Business Moral Order, Ethical Relativis

Towards a better characterization of morphological plasticity and biomass partitioning of trees in structural dynamics of mangrove forests

Changing environmental conditions often impose stressful growing conditions in plant communities. Until now, morphological plasticity, i.e. polymorphic growth physiognomies of plants, has not been sufficiently studied as a pivotal strategy for the whole ecosystem adaptation to environmental stress. We consider mangrove ecosystems as suitable models to provide insights on this subject. In the thesis, I investigate the ecological significance of tree morphological plasticity in the structural development and the dynamics of mangrove forests. I conducted field experiments in two regions located on both sides of the Amazon River mouths i.e. in French Guiana and North Brazil. Forest inventories were carried out in contrasting mangrove stands in both regions. The thesis combines empirical analysis of field data, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and mechanistic, individual-based computer simulations. We published results that proved the TLS-based analysis of individual tree structure useful for a better knowledge on biomass allocation between trunk and branches in tall and large Avicennia germinans mangrove trees reaching 45 m high and 125 cm of trunk diameter. Combining structural descriptions of A. germinans trees found in both sites, I highlighted the site-specific differences in tree allometries. The study suggests that regional differences in mangrove tree structure and function could be captured through better description of crown metrics, and that selected indicators of local morphological plasticity and consequent stand structure could generate a plus-value in the understanding of mangrove stand dynamics across contrasting coastal environments. Beyond the extension of allometric models to large Avicennia trees, we proposed new biomass equations with improved predictive power when crown metrics is taken into account. Additionally, we developed a novel software tool, named Lollymangrove, based on the AMAPStudio suite of software, with the objective of maximizing the potential of further field descriptions and modeling works. Lollymangrove allows standardized forest data capture, 3D visualization of structural data, aboveground biomass computations from a configurable module and export formats for forest dynamics and remote sensing models. Simulation experiments were conducted by means of the spatially explicit, individual-based stand model BETTINA_IBM. This model describes the important mechanism of water uptake limited by salt stress, and revealed insights into the relation between environmental conditions, allometric variations and biomass partitioning of mangrove trees, and stand characteristics. The simulation results suggest close matches with observed ecological patterns (e.g., tree allometries, mortality distributions, and self-thinning trajectories) under higher salinity. In low salinity conditions, however, the current parameterization underestimates the maximum tree height and diameter, and consequently, aboveground biomass and self-thinning trajectories of forest stands. This suggests that the morphology of trees under low levels of salinity are explained by further regulation mechanism(s) that still need to be addressed in a subsequent model improvement. Overall, this work has essentially pointed out the need to elucidate how morphological plasticity relates with structural development of forest stands. It establishes that TLS measurements and structural data analysis associated to efforts for integrative software and mechanistic modelling works could link mangrove dynamics to fast-changing coastal processes