Microwave-assisted and conventional hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic waste material: comparison of the chemical and structural properties of the hydrochars

This study compares the chemical and structural properties of the hydrochars prepared from microwave-assisted and conventional hydrothermal carbonizations of Prosopis africana shell, a waste plant material. The preparation involved heating the raw material in de-ionized water at 200 °C for 5-20 min, and 120-240 min in the microwave and conventional oven respectively. The prepared hydrochars were characterized using the scanning electron microscope, nitrogen sorption measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, CHN analyzer, thermogravimetric analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance. The results showed that the microwave-assisted hydrothermal carbonization process is fast in the carbonization of the Prosopis africana shell as shown by the level of conversion attained within the short time. This study presents new data on the comparison of the hydrochars from microwave-assisted and conventional hydrothermal carbonization processes of the same lignocellulosic material in terms of their properties

Biomass derived mesoporous carbon monoliths via an evaporation-induced self-assembly

Evaporation-induced self-assembly has been applied in the synthesis of crack-free mesoporous carbon monolith with good mechanical stability using a waste plant material as carbon precursor and triblock copolymer F127 as template. The carbon monolith was characterized using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurement, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the carbon monolith is mesoporous, has a surface area of 219 m²/g, and a narrow pore size distribution of 6.5 nm

Microwave-assisted hydrothermal carbonization of rapeseed husk: A strategy for improving its solid fuel properties

Hydrothermal carbonization of a waste biomass material is a green and promising technique for improving its solid fuel properties, which does not require pretreatment procedure such as drying of the biomass. In this study, hydrothermal carbonization of rapeseed husk, a waste plant material was carried out under microwave heating and the effect of process parameters, such as reaction temperature and residence time on the mass yields and energy properties of the hydrochars was studied. The procedure involved the heating of the feedstock in deionized water in a microwave oven at temperatures of 150 to 200 °C for a specified period of time. The results indicated that the mass yields decreased, as the reaction temperature and residence time were increased, which led to improvement in the energy properties of the prepared hydrochars. The reaction was rapid within the first 20 min, and stabilized afterwards. The energy properties of the prepared hydrochars are consistent with previous studies, showing that the hydrochars have the potential of being used as solid fuel. The structural and morphological analysis carried out revealed that the feedstock was transformed during the process

Health and medical research funding agencies' promotion of public engagement within research: a qualitative interview study exploring the UK context

Background: Public engagement (PE) has become a common feature of many liberal governmental agendas worldwide. Since the turn of this century there has been a succession of United Kingdom policy initiatives to encourage research funding agencies, universities and researchers to reconsider how they engage with citizens and communities. Although most funding agencies now explicitly promote PE within research, little empirical work has been carried out in this area. In this study, we explored why and how health and medical research funding agencies in the United Kingdom have interpreted and implemented their role to promote PE within research. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 key informants from 10 agencies that fund health or medical research. Data were also gathered from agencies’ websites and documentation. The analysis was based on the constant comparative method. Results: Across agencies, we found that PE was being interpreted and operationalised in various different ways. The terminology used within funding agencies to describe PE seems to be flexibly applied. Disciplinary differences were evident both in the terminology used to describe PE and the drivers for PE highlighted by participants – with applied health science funders more aligned with participatory models of PE. Within the grant funding process PE was rarely systematically treated as a key component of research. In particular, PE was not routinely incorporated into the planning of funding calls. PE was more likely to be considered in the application and assessment phases, where it was largely appraised as a tool for enhancing science. Concerns were expressed regarding how to monitor and evaluate PE within research. Conclusions: This study suggests funding agencies working within specific areas of health and medicine can promote particular definitions of PE and aligned practices which determine the boundaries in which researchers working in these areas understand and practice PE. Our study also highlights how the research grant process works to privilege particular conceptions of PE and its purpose. Tensions are evident between some funders’ core concepts of traditional science and PE, and they face challenges as they try to embed PE into long-standing systems that prioritise particular conceptions of ‘scientific excellence’ in research

Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of carbon monolith via a soft-template method using resorcinol and formaldehyde as carbon precursor and pluronic F127 as template

A new microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of carbon monolith is reported in this work. The process uses microwave heating at 100 °C under acidic condition by employing a triblock copolymer F127 as the template, and resorcinol–formaldehyde as the carbon precursor. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen sorption measurements, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray studies and thermogravimetic analysis were used to characterize the synthesized material. The carbon monolith is crack-free, mesoporous and has a high surface area of 697 m²/g. The results demonstrate that the microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis is a fast and simple approach to obtain carbon monoliths, as it reduces effectively the synthesis time from hours to a few minutes which could be an advantage in the large scale production of the material

Through the Looking Glass to a Shared Reflection: The Evolving Relationship between Administrative Law and Financial Regulation

Administrative law and financial regulation might be thought closely connected, sharing a focus on federal regulation and intertwined at key historical junctures such as the birth of the New Deal administrative state. Yet, oddly, in many ways these two fields stand today poles apart, divided not simply by their separation in law school curricula and faculty, but even more by opposite precepts and framing principles. Modern U.S. administrative law takes notice-and-comment rulemaking as the paradigmatic example of administrative action, with the goal of such regulation often being to compensate for market deficiencies. Accountability, particularly political accountability through presidential and congressional oversight and legal accountability through the courts, is administrative law’s central obsession. While financial regulatory agencies engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking, their regulatory mode is often more informal and hidden from public view, with the market serving as much as an arbiter of successful financial regulation as the object of regulators’ attention. Here the defining structural precept is not accountability but independence, and the vast majority of financial regulators enjoy a range of independence protections, including protection from removal, budgetary autonomy, and exemption from White House regulatory oversight. This essay explores the historical contrasts between administrative law and financial regulation, with the aim of elucidating the contingent and contestable nature of each field’s framing presumptions. Its aim is to provide the basis for a sustained and reciprocal engagement that will provide room for rethinking regulatory approaches in both. Indeed, in part as a result of the financial crisis that rethinking is already underway, and the essay also identifies ways in which the historical differences between these two fields are abating

The Constitutional Duty To Supervise

The IRS targets Tea Party organizations\u27 applications for nonprofit tax-exempt status for special scrutiny. Newly opened online federal health exchanges fail to function. Officials at some Veterans Administration hospitals engage in widespread falsification of wait times. A key theme linking these examples is that they all involve managerial and supervisory failure. This should come as no surprise. Supervision and other systemic features of government administration have long been fundamental in shaping how an agency operates, and their importance is only more acute today. New approaches to program implementation and regulation mean that a broader array of actors is wielding broader discretionary governmental authority. The centrality of systemic administration in practice contrasts starkly with its virtual exclusion from contemporary U.S. constitutional law. This exclusion of administration takes a variety of doctrinal guises, but it surfaces repeatedly in both structural and individual rights contexts. This Article argues that the exclusion of systemic administration from constitutional law is a mistake. This exclusion creates a deeply troubling disconnect between the realities of government and the constitutional requirements imposed on exercises of governmental power. Just as importantly, the current doctrinal exclusion of administration stands at odds with the Constitution\u27s text and structure, which repeatedly emphasize one particular systemic administrative feature: supervision. This emphasis on supervision is most prominently manifest in Article II\u27s Take Care Clause, but it also surfaces more broadly as a constitutional prerequisite of delegation of governmental power. Whether it is rooted in Article II, general separation of powers principles, or due process, a duty to supervise represents a basic precept of our federal constitutional structure. Moreover, concerns about judicial role do not justify the Court\u27s refusal to engage with systemic administration, and judicial recognition of a constitutional duty to supervise is critical even if the duty is entirely politically enforced. Indeed, recognizing a constitutional duty to supervise is as central to the overall project of constitutional interpretation as it is to the aim of better keying constitutional law to the realities of contemporary governance. Recognizing this duty underscores the need for greater attention to how courts can support constitutional enforcement by the other branches and highlights the porous and critical relationship between constitutional and subconstitutional law