Assessment of access to health services and vulnerabilities of female fish traders in the Kafue Flats, Zambia: analysis report

Under the regional programme Fisheries and HIV/AIDS in Africa: Investing in Sustainable Solutions, the WorldFish Center conducted this study on access to health services and vulnerabilities of female fish traders in the Kafue Flats floodplains in Zambia. This report outlines and analyses the particular vulnerabilities of female fish traders in the Kafue Flats fishery and formulates recommendations to facilitate stakeholder uptake of strategic responses to tackle the drivers of the epidemic in fishing communities and improve the livelihoods of fisher folk and fish traders in the Kafue Flats and other fisheries in Zambia. (pdf contains 55 pages

Experimental and Theoretical Study of Earth-Moist Concrete

No abstract

On prescribing the number of singular points in a Cosserat-elastic solid

In a geometrically non-linear Cosserat model for micro-polar elastic solids, we insert dipole pairs of singularities into smooth maps and control the amount of Cosserat energy needed to do so. We use this method to force an arbitrary number of singular points into Cosserat-elastic solids by prescribing smooth boundary data. Throughout this paper, we exploit connections between harmonic maps and Cosserat-elastic solids, so that we are able to adapt and incorporate ideas of R. Hardt and F.-H. Lin, as well as F. B\'ethuel

Photocatalysis applied to concrete products - part 2 : influencing factors and product performance

The second part of this three-part article series addresses the influence of physicochemical parameters on the degradation performance of concrete products containing photocatalytic active TiO2. The influence of process conditions like irradiance, relative humidity, pollutant concentration and flow rate on the degradation mechanism is investigated. Furthermore, a short overview on photo catalytic powders (especially TiO2) and their influence on the degradation of NO are presented. In addition the application of TiO2 coatings and their microstructural analysis is explained

Developing teamwork skills beyond cross-cultural barriers: a case study for engineering students in higher education

In 2013, our university has implemented a new educational model that puts team projects at the core of all BSc programmes, requiring that students develop teamwork skills. On top of this, in 2018, our Chemical Science & Engineering BSc has become an English-taught, international programme. In consideration of this challenging transition, we have developed additional training to facilitate students' acquisition of knowledge, skills, tools, and attitudes to aid conscientious intercultural teamwork. For this, it is paramount that students become aware of, and learn to appreciate, differences in the educational and cultural backgrounds of themselves and their peers. Concurrently, students should practice what they have learned and adjust their behaviour when appropriate. In this paper, we share our experiences, best practices, and lessons learned. More specifically, our study: i) explores which factors are key to a successful intercultural team, ii) investigates how diversity in teams can be cherished and used for the benefit of the team, its members, and its goals, and iii) how these teamwork skills can effectively be taught in engineering programmes. Building on this, the paper describes how the new curricular education has been designed, what is taught, and how an inclusive, regardful, and pleasant atmosphere has been created for the intercultural project teams

Water layer thickness of silica fines and their effect on the workability of cement pastes

Concrete is used in infrastructure and in buildings. It is composed of granular materials of different sizes and the grading of the composed solid mix covers a wide range. The overall grading of the mix, containing particles from 300 nm to 32 mm, determines the mix properties of the concrete. The properties in fresh state (flow properties and workability) are for instance governed by the particle size distribution (PSD) and the resulting particle packing (PP). One way to further improve the packing is to increase the solid size range, e.g. by including particles with sizes below 300 nm. Possible materials, which are currently available, are limestone and silica fines like silica fume (mS) and nano-silica (nS). This paper addresses the characterization of six different silica fines with respect to their application in cement paste. Given that the fines provide by far the highest percentage of specific surface area in a mix, their packing behavior and water demand is of vital interest for the design of concrete. In the present work, different mixes are compared and analyzed using the mini spread-flow test method. In this way, a deformation coefficient derived by the spread-flow test is confirmed to correlate with the product of computed specific surface area (SSA) based on measured PSD and intrinsic density of the individual silica fines. Similarly, correlations with equal accuracy are found with a computed SSA using the BET method. With the flow experiments of different mixes it is possible to derive an individual deformation coefficient of the silica particles. It is demonstrated that the computed and the BET surface area values have a constant ratio (0.76 to 0.70). Finally, the value of a constant water layer thickness around the powder particles (24.8 nm) is computed for all silica fines at the onset of flowing. This implies the possibility to predict the flow behavior of paste only based on the knowledge of their SSA, either determined by computation or by BET measurements