Life Cycle Assessment and Comparison of Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles Prepared by Aqueous and Microwave Synthesis Methods

Abstract: Magnesium oxide nanoparticles are being used increasingly as catalysts for organic synthesis, fuel oil additives, and CO2 adsorbents. There are many ways to produce magnesium oxide nanoparticles, but there is little information available regarding the environmental costs of production. As demand for environmentally friendly materials increases, it is important to understand environmental impact differences between various production methods. This study will compare the differences in embodied energy and global warming potential (GWP) between two synthesis methods: microwave combustion synthesis (microwave synthesis) and oxidation of magnesium hydroxide (aqueous synthesis). The resulting nanoparticles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS). Nanoparticles produced through microwave synthesis formed nanocubes while aqueous synthesis produced round particles with less pronounced facets. The embodied energy and GWP were determined using life cycle assessment (LCA), and it was found that the embodied energy and GWP of magnesium oxide nanoparticles produced by microwave synthesis were significantly less than that of aqueous synthesis

Discourses of Englishness in the contemporary era

This thesis undertakes a critical examination of contemporary narratives of Englishness. More specifically, dominant discursive representations and understandings of English national identity informed by a conservative ideology are investigated. This will be situated within a framework of current social, cultural and political events which are informed by a prevailing and prevalent trend of a sense of English grievance and a growing politicisation of Englishness that is articulated in the contemporary moment, but is informed through the recent past and ongoing processes. This contemporary moment, in terms of the formation of dominant discourse of Englishness, is formed through a symbiotic relationship within a specifically historicised narrative of identity which is informed by and draws from past events within the context of the present. Moreover, recent developments and ongoing processes such as Brexit, devolution and immigration can offer a useful illustration of a specific politicised narrative through which such key contemporary but also historical topics are viewed but how they in turn inform a very specific conceptualisation and discursive representation of Englishness as an increasingly politicised identity. This work will theoretically analyse the use of discourse and ideology as a means to determine and critically understand dominant narratives, perspectives and interpretations of English national identity and the forces and processes driving this within the current, or rather contemporary moment. Indeed, a range of discursive representations such as shifting identity allegiances and formation, public and social attitudes, political policy, direction and statements, dominant media representations and articulations of identity will be studied and analysed as a means to determine whether a sense of Englishness has become politicised and to what extent. This thesis will specifically outline the argument that in the current discursive environment a mediated understanding of Englishness and English national identity is dominated by a specific conservative interpolation, interpretation and narrative. This critical examination will apply existing theoretical and empirical knowledge, in particular around the areas of nationalism, national identity, multiculturalism and post-imperial identity formation, this will then be synthesised and applied within the perimeters of discursive representations of Englishness in the rapidly developing terrain of political, social and cultural flux, uncertainty and conflict as a nodal point of reference and being that England is located within. The fluidity, confusion and intersectional politics of identity within the English context requires an urgent need for critical investigation and demystification. The very crux of this research is not to try to locate some definable sense of English national identity, but instead to uncover and demystify the dominant defining characteristics and critically understand the discursive forces and symbolic positioning that define this topic area. Within the contemporary context discourses of English national identity operate within a specific sense of insecurity of identity, one that is characterised by a sense of defensive exclusivism where concepts of national identity are defined by symbolic lines of demarcation which are ideologically motivated and managed to provide a dominant sense of what England means and what Englishness represents

Addressing Environmental Toxins that Affect Children Through A Children\u27s rights Framework: Tools to help you succeed

This toolkit was developed as part of Loyola University Chicago’s Advancing Healthy Homes and Healthy Communities Initiative (HHHCI). This initiative establishes an interdisciplinary university-community-public-private partner- ship to tackle the problem of environmental toxins in homes and communities through a range of activities. This approach integrates a unique set of strategies and tactics, including applied research, public education, organiz- ing, coalition building, legislative and policy advocacy, and policy implementation. HHHCI uses an integrative research and advocacy model to address the public health and hous- ing problems associated with environmental toxins. This approach integrates a unique set of strategies and tactics, including applied research, public education, organizing, coali- tion building, legislative and policy advocacy, and policy implementation. For more infor- mation, see www.luc.edu/healthyhomes. Several events occurred over the last few years that have inspired the Center for the Human Rights of Children to analyze the effects of environmental toxins on children through a children’s rights framework: In 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan, U.S., experienced a public health crisis when lead from aging pipes leached into public the water supply, exposing over 100,000 residents to harmful lead levels. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a local pediatrician, organized efforts to publicize and address the water crisis, showing that her patients were experiencing elevated lead levels and harm because of the leaching pipes. Gov- ernment officials initially denied any problems. The lack of prompt governmental response in Flint, Michigan, as well as hundreds of other municipalities across the United States to lead poisoning in water supplies demonstrated anationalcrisisthathasprofoundeffects on children’s health and well-being. In 2015, youth in the United States filed a constitutional climate lawsuit, Juliana v. U.S., against the U.S. government in the U.S. Their complaint asserts that, through the govern- ment’s affirmative actions that cause climate change, it has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources. In 2016, twelve year-old Takota Iron Eyes created a video calling for help in the Standing Rock Sioux Nation’s battle against the proposed route of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. The video helped draw thousands of national and international visitors to Standing Rock, North Dakota to fight the pipeline in a protest that lasted nearly a year. This youth-led campaign continues its work to create a more sustainable future and protect indigenous rights in the US. The global activism of teenager, Greta Thun- berg (Sweden), organizing school strikes and protest marches in 2018, called international attention to the global climate crisis. Greta has mobilized countless youth and criticized world leaders for debating scientific facts and inaction in the face of global warming that will disproportionately affect the world’s children. Greta’s activism is an model of children’s rights in action – children having a right to participate, to protest, to have a voice, and be active in decision-making of policy makers and adults that affect children, their health, and their future. At the launch of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2019, Greta and 15 young people from 12 different countries filed a landmark legal complaint against five coun- tries under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The CRC ensures the inalienable rights of children around the world including the right to life, health, and peace. This new climate case is the first of its kind to be filed on behalf of a group of children to protect the rights of children around the globe. In 2019, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) celebrated its 30th anniversary. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most universally adopted instrument in the world. It recognizes that children have politi- cal, social, economic, and civil rights. Building on the accomplishments of the Advancing Healthy Homes and Healthy Communities Initiative to date, the Center for the Human Rights of Children seeks to provide a children’s rights framework to address exposure to environmental toxins, and prevent harm to children from occurring in the first place. In celebration of the CRC’s 30th anni- versary and in honor the work of activists and youth advocating for their rights, we have developed this toolkit to help address environmental toxins through a children’s rights framework. We hope this toolkit can be useful in advancing and protecting the mandate of the CRC by assisting community members and stakeholders in creating a healthy, safe, environment for all children

Sump simulations

Mineral wool insulation material applied to the primary cooling circuit of a nuclear reactor maybe damaged in the course of a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The insulation material released by the leak may compromise the operation of the emergency core cooling system (ECCS), as it maybe transported together with the coolant in the form of mineral wool fiber agglomerates (MWFA) suspensions to the containment sump strainers, which are mounted at the inlet of the ECCS to keep any debris away from the emergency cooling pumps. In the further course of the LOCA, the MWFA may block or penetrate the strainers. In addition to the impact of MWFA on the pressure drop across the strainers, corrosion products formed over time may also accumulate in the fiber cakes on the strainers, which can lead to a significant increase in the strainer pressure drop and result in cavitation in the ECCS. Therefore, it is essential to understand the transport characteristics of the insulation materials in order to determine the long-term operability of nuclear reactors, which undergo LOCA. An experimental and theoretical study performed by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and the Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz1 is investigating the phenomena that maybe observed in the containment vessel during a primary circuit coolant leak. The study entails the generation of fiber agglomerates, the determination of their transport properties in single and multi-effect experiments and the long-term effects that particles formed due to corrosion of metallic containment internals by the coolant medium have on the strainer pressure drop. The focus of this presentation is on the numerical models that are used to predict the transport of MWFA by CFD simulations in the containment sump. Two dispersed phases were conditions to determine the influence of entrained air from a jet on the transport of fibre agglomerates through the sump. The strainer model of A. Grahn was implemented to observe the impact that the accumulation of the fibres have on the pressure drop across the strainers. The geometry considered is similar to the containment sump configurations found in Nuclear Power Plants

Simulations of agglomerate sedimentation and suspension

Mineral wool insulation material applied to the primary cooling circuit of a nuclear reactor maybe damaged in the course of a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The insulation material released by the leak may compromise the operation of the emergency core cooling system (ECCS), as it maybe transported together with the coolant in the form of mineral wool fiber agglomerates (MWFA) suspensions to the containment sump strainers, which are mounted at the inlet of the ECCS to keep any debris away from the emergency cooling pumps. In the further course of the LOCA, the MWFA may block or penetrate the strainers. In addition to the impact of MWFA on the pressure drop across the strainers, corrosion products formed over time may also accumulate in the fiber cakes on the strainers, which can lead to a significant increase in the strainer pressure drop and result in cavitation in the ECCS. Therefore, it is essential to understand the transport characteristics of the insulation materials in order to determine the long-term operability of nuclear reactors, which undergo LOCA. An experimental and theoretical study performed by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and the Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz is investigating the phenomena that maybe observed in the containment vessel during a primary circuit coolant leak. The study entails the generation of fiber agglomerates, the determination of their transport properties in single and multi-effect experiments and the long-term effects that particles formed due to corrosion of metallic containment internals by the coolant medium have on the strainer pressure drop. The focus of this presentation is on the numerical models that are used to predict the transport of MWFA by CFD simulations. A number of pseudo-continuous dispersed phases of spherical wetted agglomerates can represent the MWFA. The size, density, the relative viscosity of the fluid-fiber agglomerate mixture and the turbulent dispersion all affect how the fiber agglomerates are transported. In the cases described here, the size is kept constant while the density is modified. This definition affects both the terminal velocity and volume fraction of the dispersed phases. Application of such a model to sedimentation in a quiescent column and a horizontal flow are examined. The scenario also presents the suspension and horizontal transport of a single fiber agglomerate phase in a racetrack type channel