A novel internal waves generator

We present a new kind of generator of internal waves which has been designed for three purposes. First, the oscillating boundary conditions force the fluid particles to travel in the preferred direction of the wave ray, hence reducing the mixing due to forcing. Secondly, only one ray tube is produced so that all of the energy is in the beam of interest. Thirdly, temporal and spatial frequency studies emphasize the high quality for temporal and spatial monochromaticity of the emitted beam. The greatest strength of this technique is therefore the ability to produce a large monochromatic and unidirectional beam

Sociocontextuality of competence and educational processes in transnational areas. The habits of survival

Die Operationalisierung des sog. ressourcenorientierten Ansatzes in pädagogischen Praxisfeldern mit Menschen ausländischer Herkunft oder Migrationshintergrund ist stark davon abhängig, wie die Benachteiligung, die durch den fremd- bzw. transnationalen Erwerbskontext von Kompetenzen in Migrationssituationen entstanden ist, zugunsten der MigrantInnen produktiv bewältigt werden kann. Ausgehend von der Kritik an einem durch Abstraktion gekennzeichneten Umgang mit der Bedeutung des Kontextes für die Entstehung des Phänomens \u27Kompetenz\u27, wie dies u.a. in der theoretischen Grundlage der PISA-Studien der Fall ist, stellt der Verfasser in diesem Beitrag die These auf, dass Kompetenzen sowohl in ihren Konstruktionsprozessen als Fähigkeit als auch in ihrer Konstitution als Kapital, ergo (Kompetenzen), in ihrer Onto- bzw. Soziogenese kontextabhängig sind. Diese Kontextdependenz der Kompetenz zwingt die ressourcenorientierte erziehungswissenschaftliche Migrationsforschung zur ernsthaften Auseinandersetzung mit der Frage der Modalitäten des Transfers und denen der Nutzbarmachung der mitgebrachten Kompetenzen im Kontext der transnationalen Migration. Die theoretische und empirische Klärung einige dieser Modalitäten zu skizzieren, gilt folglich das Erkenntnisinteresse dieses Beitrags. Mit Hilfe des Habitusbegriffs nähert sich der Verfasser zunächst dieser Frage theoretisch an. Anschließend greift er die Ergebnisse einer empirischen Untersuchung, die mit zirka 80 Flüchtlingsjugendlichen afrikanischer Herkunft u.a. über ihre Bildungsbiografie in Deutschland geführt wurde, auf (vgl. Neumann. u.a. 2003, Seukwa 2006) und fokussiert dabei v.a. die aus den empirischen Daten hervorgegangenen positiven bzw. negativen Raum- oder Kontexteffekte beim Kompetenztransfer bzw. bei ihrer Nutzbarmachung. (DIPF/Orig.)The operationalisation of the so-called resource-oriented approach in pedagogical work with people of foreign origin or with a migration background is highly dependent on the way the disadvantage resulting from the foreign or transnational context of competence acquisition in migration situations is dealt with. Based on criticism of an abstract understanding of the significance of context in the development of the phenomenon of \u27competence\u27, as it appears in the theoretical framework of the PISA studies, for instance, the author will hypothesize here that competencies are context-dependent in their development process as skills as well as in their constitution as resources - and thus in their ontogenesis and sociogenesis. This context-dependence of competence makes it necessary for the resource-oriented approach to migration research to seriously tackle the question of the modalities of transfer and the utilisation of prior to migration acquired competencies of young migrants in the context of transnational migration. Outlining the theoretical and empirical aspects of some of these modalities is hence the primary aim of the present study. The author will at first approach this question theoretically, while making use of the concept of \u27Habitus\u27 as a starting point. After that he will come back to the results of an empirical study of educational careers in Germany, which he conducted with about 80 refugee youths of African origin (cf. Neumann 2003, Seukwa 2006), and will focus primarily on the positive and negative contextual effects in the process of competence transfer and their utilisation by these young women and men as reflected by the empirical data. (DIPF/Orig.

New business opportunities for European companies in Asia within the infrastructure sector - C) energy

This report aims to identify expansion opportunities for European companies with in a selected country that promises the best growth and investment potential. After careful analyses, Vietnam emerges as the most appropriate country to study. Further more, the energy sector is promising and offers a lot of potential. It appears that the Vietnamese Energy sector needs experienced partners as its side to further develop. European companies offer the expertise to close existing gaps and boost Vietnam’s Energy industry, particularly with in the wind power energy market

Valorisation of unconventional lignocellulosic biomass into bioenergy and bioproducts using ionic-liquid based technologies

In order to transition energy use away from fossil fuels, the transformation of renewable lignocellulosic biomass needs to be improved and its supply of sustainable bioenergy into a wider bioeconomy increased. Achieving this will require: (1) renewable, cheap and high-quality lignocellulosic feedstocks, (2) a robust process to transform this feedstock into bioenergy and finally (3) a system to recover and use this bioenergy as well as value-added products. In this PhD, multiple examples were used to explore unconventional feedstocks, novel transformation processes and opportunities for value-added products. Feedstocks ranging from invasive species threatening the UK environment, Rhododendron and Japanese Knotweed (Chapter 3), metal contaminated waste wood (Chapter 4), metal enriched biomass grown on marginal land (Chapter 5), and wastewater irrigated willow, a leading dedicated bioenergy crop (Chapter 6). While conventional bioenergy systems often burn wood pellets for energy co-generation, the innovative transformation process of ionic liquid-based technologies are explored as flexible enough to fractionate unconventional biomass feedstocks and deliver high yields of sustainable bioenergy and bioproducts. This was allowed by the unique and tuneable properties of protic ionic liquids. Here dimethylbutyl-hydrogen sulphate - [DMBA][HSO4], a cheap hydrogen sulphate [HSO4]- based ionic liquid, and 1-methylimidazolium chloride - [C1Him][Cl], were used in the ionic-liquid based ionoSolv process. Key efficiency parameters such as temperature, reaction time, biomass to solvent loading and solvent recycling, were explored. The process was also challenged with the presence of diverse metal contamination to determine the potential to extract the metals and produce a fermentable pulp and lignin in parallel. Bioenergy recovery from the ionoSolv process was explored as well as the potential to recover multiple value-added products. In addition to determination of heating values of isolated lignin as well as hydrolysis and fermentation yields of cellulose rich pulps into bioethanol, interactions of contaminating metals and their impact on yeast fermentation yields were investigated. This investigation highlights the benefits of [C1Him][Cl] ionic liquid pretreatment for the production of clean bioenergy and bioproducts from highly contaminated feedstocks. As an important property of ionic liquids is that they can act as media for electrochemical reactions, electrodeposition of metals from ionic liquid liquor, metal extraction efficiencies and any detrimental interactions with ionic liquid recycling were assessed. To further diversify system outputs beyond bioenergy alone, production of bio-oils, char and gases from pyrolysis of post-hydrolysis residue was determined, as well as the possibility for recovery of phytochemicals as potential complementary value-added products. This research highlights that unconventional feedstocks have the potential to support a developing bioeconomy and that the reallocation of waste and reclamation of contaminated soils and waters could act as a financial, social and environmental levers to improve the sustainability of bioenergy production. The studies also showcase how a versatile engineered ionic-liquid pretreatment has the potential to transform environmental burdens into resources that are compatible with the diversification of multiple product streams. Taken together, these findings can serve as a proof-of-concept for integrated scale-up of sustainable ionic-liquid based biorefinery.Open Acces