Ambiguity in Language: Existential and Educational Aspects

Any method which is designed to teach language arts in an educational setting is a reflection of an interplay between experience and language, with language a unique form of that representation. There is no one-to-one relationship between experience and language; it is not a re-enactment of reality, but its symbolic retelling. Thus, the alternatives available to teach a child ways to handle his experiences in order to make chem communicable are based on how one chooses to allow language to symbolize activity. Experience may first be reduced to specific commonalities which will render these experiences suitable for communication. The effect, then, is to regulate, constrain and give a common form to the verbal behavior of children. An alternate methodology, rather than reduce experience, strives to communicate it by allowing the child to use the imaginative and creative aspects of his language. This approach is derived from existential philosophy and the language critiques of Wittgenstein and Mauthner, both of whom stress the ambiguous and metaphoric nature of language. This dissertation argues that the skill of using language to communicate, called language arts in formal education, should be based on the continuous development of our ability to use this imagery, metaphor and the inherent ambiguous nature of language, all of which permit children to participate in the creation of meaning. This creation occurs when the comparisons found in imagery, metaphor and ambiguity are successfully brought together. Ambiguity forces the listener to share in the creation and transfer of meaning, and it allows children the possibility of exploring their own natural and spontaneous creative efforts in language play. In this respect, then, language is not split into the ordinary and the extraordinary, into one which grips reality and the one which lends itself to flights of fantasy. The imposed dichotomy between the two disappears; language arts becomes holistic and organic. Both traditional functions of language, effective and expressive, begin to approximate each other, doing away with separate spheres of activity and concern

Performance study of direct integration of phase change material into an innovative evaporator of a simple vapour compression system

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 768824 (HYBUILD). This work was partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España (RTI2018-093849-B-C31—MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades—Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) (RED2018-102431-T). This work is partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme. This paper experimentally investigates the direct integration of 3.15 kg of phase change materials (PCM) into a standard vapour compression system of variable cooling capacity, through an innovative lab-scale refrigerant-PCM-water heat exchanger (RPW-HEX), replacing the conventional evaporator. Its performance was studied in three operating modes: charging, discharging, and direct heat transfer between the three fluids. In the charging mode, a maximum energy of 300 kJ can be stored in the PCM for the cooling capacity at 30% of the maximum value. By doubling the cooling power, the duration of charging is reduced by 50%, while the energy stored is only reduced by 13%. In the discharging mode, the process duration is reduced from 25 min to 9 min by increasing the heat transfer fluid (HTF) flow rate from 50 L·h-1 to 150 L·h-1. In the direct heat transfer mode, the energy stored in the PCM depends on both the cooling power and the HTF flow rate, and can vary from 220 kJ for a cooling power at 30% and HTF flow rate of 50 L·h-1 to 4 kJ for a compressor power at 15% and a HTF flow rate of 150 L·h-1. The novel heat exchanger is a feasible solution to implement latent energy storage in vapour compression systems resulting to a compact and less complex system.The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2017 SGR 1537). GREiA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. Boniface Dominick Mselle would like to thank Programa Santander Predoc UdL for his research fellowship

Experimental Assessment of the Influence of the Design on the Performance of Novel Evaporators with Latent Energy Storage Ability

This study was carried out within the HYBUILD project, as part of the task aimed at developing novel evaporators for compact and direct integration of phase-change materials (PCM) into air-conditioning systems for efficient utilization of solar energy. To achieve this, novel evaporators were designed to contain PCM between refrigerant and heat transfer fluid (HTF) channels, allowing a three-media heat exchange mechanism. This paper experimentally assesses the influence of the configuration/arrangement of the channels on the performance of the evaporators, using three different lab-scale prototypes. Key performance indicators (KPI) relevant for thermal energy storage (TES) and heat exchangers (HEX) were used to study the influence of the design on the performance of the different designs of the novel evaporators. The results show that the change in the PCM, refrigerant, and HTF channel configuration affects the performance of the novel evaporators independently. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the refrigeration system and the energy storage density of the modules are the least affected KPIs (less than 16%), whereas the state of charge (SOC) at thermal equilibrium is the most affected KPI (about 44%). A discussion on how these effects provide unique strength for specific applications is included.The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2017 SGR 1537). GREiA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. Boniface Dominick Mselle would like to thank Programa Santander Predoc UdL for his research fellowship

Search for the χc′\chi'_c Charmonium States as Solution to the CDF ψ′\psi' Puzzle

The efforts of Roy-Sridhar-Close-Cho-Wise-Trivedi to resolve the CDF $\psi'$ anomaly with cascades from above-threshold $\chi^\prime_c$ states require well defined signature states require well defined signatures [a small total width and a large branching fraction for \cp \ra \gamma + \pp] for the solution to be viable. Here we estimte the production of such states from BR (B \ra \cp + X)BR (\cp \ra \gamma \pp) and $\gamma \gamma$ production of $\chi^\prime_{c2}$ at CLEO II, and comment on the feasbility of testing the hypothesis in terms of current experimental capabilities.Comment: 8 pages Latex File, No figure

Experimental Study on Two PCM Macro-Encapsulation Designs in a Thermal Energy Storage Tank

The use of latent heat thermal energy storage is an effective way to increase the efficiency of energy systems due to its high energy density compared with sensible heat storage systems. The design of the storage material encapsulation is one of the key parameters that critically affect the heat transfer in charging/discharging of the storage system. To fill the gap found in the literature, this paper experimentally investigates the effect of the macro-encapsulation design on the performance of a lab-scale thermal energy storage tank. Two rectangular slabs with the same length and width but different thickness (35 mm and 17 mm) filled with commercial phase change material were used. The results show that using thinner slabs achieved a higher power, leading to a reduction in the charging and discharging time of 14% and 30%, respectively, compared with the thicker slabs. Moreover, the variation of the heat transfer fluid flow rate has a deeper impact on the temperature distribution and the energy charged/released when thicker slabs were used. The macro-encapsulation design did not have a significant impact on the discharging efficiency of the tank, which was around 85% for the operating thresholds considered in this study.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 764025 (SWS-HEATING). This work was partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España (RTI2018-093849-B-C31—MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades—Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) (RED2018-102431-T). This work is partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia program