Constructing Employability Indicators for Enhancing the Effectiveness of Engineering Education for the Solar Industry

The aim of this research is to establish a set of employability indicators that capture the competency requirements and performance expectations that solar energy enterprises have of their employees. In the qualitative component of the study, 12 administrators and 32 engineers in the industry were interviewed, and meetings with focus groups were conducted to formulate a questionnaire for a survey of Taiwanese solar energy companies for the confirmation and prioritisation of the employability indicators. On the basis of the results of the quantitative component, an interpretational model relating competence, job performance, working attitude, and employability for solar corporation recruitment and training purposes as well as for school curricular development was developed. The interpretation model formulated effectively interprets the relationship between solar enterprises’ expectations and students’ employability. The research contributes a framework for the selection and cultivation of talent, as well as providing a basis for fundamental development of the solar engineering curriculum

Is Contract Farming More Profitable and Efficient Than Non-Contract Farming-A Survey Study of Rice Farms In Taiwan

Trade liberalization and globalization has modernized the food retail sector in Taiwan, affecting consumers, producers and trade patterns. These changes have placed significant pressures on farmers and processors including more stringent quality control and product varieties. The government has launched a rice production-marketing contract program in 2005 to assist rice farmers and the agro-business sector to work together as partners. The minimum scale for each contract is 50 hectares of adjacent rice paddies with 50 participants including rice farmers, seedling providers, millers and marketing agents. In order to evaluate the outcome of this program, a survey is conducted in the summer of 2005 after the first (spring) crop is harvested. Information of price and value of output and major variable and fixed inputs are collected along with characteristics of the farmers and farms. The survey results show that the average revenue of a contract farm is about 11 percent higher than an average non-contract farm. The per hectare cost of production in a contract farm is about 13 percent lower and as a result the average profit margin under contract is more than 50 percent above those without contract. A swtiching regression profit frontier model is adopted to further investigate their efficiency performance. The result indicates that an average contract farms is 20 percent more efficient than an average non-contract farm in a comparable operating environment. The result also suggests that although contract farming has potential to improve the profit of smallholders, it is not a sufficient condition for such improvement.Land Economics/Use,

FFTPL: An Analytic Placement Algorithm Using Fast Fourier Transform for Density Equalization

We propose a flat nonlinear placement algorithm FFTPL using fast Fourier transform for density equalization. The placement instance is modeled as an electrostatic system with the analogy of density cost to the potential energy. A well-defined Poisson's equation is proposed for gradient and cost computation. Our placer outperforms state-of-the-art placers with better solution quality and efficiency

Building Professional Competencies Indices in the Solar Energy Industry for the Engineering Education Curriculum

This study aims to develop professional competency indices and their subindices as needed by the solar energy industry, to establish a basis for development of the engineering education curriculum. The methodologies adopted by the study are literature analysis, expert advisories, and focus groups. The study focuses on the establishment of competency indices by experts at stock market-listed companies and then confirms these competencies with focus groups. The study found that the competencies required by the solar industry consist of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the areas of materials development and applications, photovoltaic technology, cell manufacturing technology, biotechnology, chemical technology, power generation and electricity, process development and improvement, data collection and analysis, industry regulation, green energy beliefs, and working attitudes and values. The results of this study can be used as the basis for the cultivation, selection, and employment of industry professionals

The complete mitochondrial genome of a parthenogenetic ant Monomorium triviale (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Monomorium is one of the most species-rich yet taxonomically problematic ant genus. An East Asian species, M. triviale Wheeler, W.M., 1906, is reproduced by obligate thelytokous parthenogenesis and performs strict reproductive division of labor. We sequenced the M. triviale mitogenome using next-generation sequencing methods. The circular mitogenome of M. triviale was 16, 290 bp in length, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and a single non-coding region of 568 bp. The base composition was AT-biased (82%). Gene order rearrangements were detected and likely to be unique to the genus Monomorium. We announce the M. triviale mitogenome as additional genomic resources for elucidating phylogenetic and taxonomic problems of Monomorium and comparative genomics of parthenogenetic ant species

Analysis of Heat Transfer Mechanism for Shelf Vacuum Freeze-Drying Equipment

Vacuum freeze-drying technology is applicable to the process of high heat-sensitive products. Due to the long drying period and extremely low processing temperature and pressure, the uniform and efficiency of heat transfer fluid temperature in shelf are critical for product quality. Therefore, in this study, the commercial computer fluid dynamics (CFD) software, FLUENT, was utilized for three-dimension numerical simulation of the shelf vacuum freeze-drying process. The influences of different inlet and outlet positions for shelves on the uniformity of the flow rate and temperature were discussed. Moreover, it explored the impacts on the temperature gradient of shelves after heat exchange of different flow rates and low temperature materials. In order to reduce the developing time and optimize the design, the various secondary refrigerants in different plies of shelves were investigated. According to the effect of heat exchange between different flow rates and low temperature layer material shelves on the temperature gradient of shelves surface, the minimum temperature gradient was 20 L/min, and the maximum was 2.5 L/min

Theory of thermalization in an isolated Bose-Einstein condensate

Thermalization in an isolated oscillating Bose-Einstein condensate in a disordered trap is investigated. We show Shannon entropy in $x$ or $p$ representation is the eligible one to describe the thermalization. Besides, we show that multiple scattering with the disorder generates more and more incoherent thermal particles and condensed and thermal particles act as mutual heat bath that results in the thermalization of the whole system. We also demonstrate that Loschmidt's paradox can be resolved in the present system

Enzymatic Conversion of Glycerol to Glyceric Acid with Immobilised Laccase in Na-Alginate Matrix

AbstractIn this study, enzymatic oxidation of glycerol was performed for the production of glyceric acid. The effectiveness of immobilised laccase in Na-Alginate matrix was also verified. Glycerol was incubated at 25oC with 30mM of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPO), which acted as a mediator, in the presence of immobilized laccase from Trametes versicolor. Glyceric acid was quantified using HPLC, while the activity of enzyme was measured using ABTS assay. The yield of laccase activity was 90%. On the other hand, glyceric acid obtained was around 7 wt% from the total product at 24h. In conclusion, enzymatic oxidation is able to produce comparable amount of glyceric acid through a more environmental friendly method

Fabrication and Photovoltaic Characteristics of Coaxial Silicon Nanowire Solar Cells Prepared by Wet Chemical Etching

Nanostructured solar cells with coaxial p-n junction structures have strong potential to enhance the performances of the silicon-based solar cells. This study demonstrates a radial junction silicon nanowire (RJSNW) solar cell that was fabricated simply and at low cost using wet chemical etching. Experimental results reveal that the reflectance of the silicon nanowires (SNWs) declines as their length increases. The excellent light trapping was mainly associated with high aspect ratio of the SNW arrays. A conversion efficiency of ∼7.1% and an external quantum efficiency of ∼64.6% at 700 nm were demonstrated. Control of etching time and diffusion conditions holds great promise for the development of future RJSNW solar cells. Improving the electrode/RJSNW contact will promote the collection of carries in coaxial core-shell SNW array solar cells