Visitors' preferences of renewable energy options in 'green' hotels.

Tourism belongs to the industries with significant energy consumption. Visitors as well as hotel managers have, however, a positive attitude towards the responsible use of energy resources. The level of research on visitors’ preferences of using different types of renewable energy is low, unlike findings on factual characteristics of conventional and renewable energies. That is why our aim was to assess visitors’ preferences of environmentally friendly energy sources in hotels. Preferences of six types of renewable energy - “green” tariff energy, solar panels on the rooftops, solar panels on the ground, heat pumps, AD, wind turbine, were measured at four tourist destinations in the Czech Republic. The positive attitude of tourists towards the selected types of energy sources was confirmed. The highest preferences were found for solar panels installed on the rooftops. A typology of preferences was revealed by cluster analysis and differences between clusters were tested for independent variables. Clusters of visitors with a high and low interest in any type of renewable energy were identified as well as a cluster of visitors with interest in all types apart from solar panels installed on the ground - the visitor’s origin was found as the main differentiation factor

On the influence of inlet perturbations on slug dynamics in horizontal multiphase flow—a computational study

When multiphase flows are modeled numerically, complex geometrical and operational features of the experiments, such as the phase mixing section, are often not resolved in detail. Rather simplified boundary conditions are prescribed, which usually cause less irregular dynamics in the system than present in reality. In this paper, a perturbation that randomly disturbs the secondary components of the velocity vector at the inlet is proposed in order to capture the experimentally observed instabilities at the interface between the phases. This in particular enhances the formation of slugs in the pipe. Different amplitudes of the perturbation are investigated. One observes that, the higher the perturbation amplitude, the earlier the slugs occur. On the other hand, sufficiently far away from the inlet, the flow pattern shows the same dynamics for different perturbation amplitudes. Hence, no specific frequency is imposed by the prescribed perturbation. The simulation results are validated by comparison with liquid level data from a corresponding experiment

Influence of parallel magnetic fields on a single-layer two-dimensional electron system with a hopping mechanism of conductivity

Large positive (P) magnetoresistance (MR) has been observed in parallel magnetic fields in a single 2D layer in a delta-doped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure with a variable-range-hopping (VRH) mechanism of conductivity. Effect of large PMR is accompanied in strong magnetic fields by a substantial change in the character of the temperature dependence of the conductivity. This implies that spins play an important role in 2D VRH conductivity because the processes of orbital origin are not relevant to the observed effect. A possible explanation involves hopping via double occupied states in the upper Hubbard band, where the intra-state correlation of spins is important.Comment: 10 pages, 4 jpeg figure

Universal Crossover between Efros-Shklovskii and Mott Variable-Range-Hopping Regimes

A universal scaling function, describing the crossover between the Mott and the Efros-Shklovskii hopping regimes, is derived, using the percolation picture of transport in strongly localized systems. This function is agrees very well with experimental data. Quantitative comparison with experiment allows for the possible determination of the role played by polarons in the transport.Comment: 7 pages + 1 figure, Revte

Faculty experiences and motivations in design thinking teaching and learning

Introduction: Design thinking (DT) is a creative, iterative approach to generating solutions that are desirable, feasible, and viable. Given its role in fostering creativity and innovation, a growing number of higher education instructors are teaching DT. Exploring how and what instructors know about DT and why they might teach it could provide critical insight into the ways in which DT is operationalized in higher education teaching and learning. Materials and methods: A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used for data collected from online surveys administered to faculty teaching DT. The survey included items about DT practices, outcomes from DT, demographic characteristics, and course characteristics. Five open-text survey items queried participants about their definition of DT, why they teach DT, and what additional outcomes they observed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative items and thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative items. Results: Participants (n = 49) represented various academic ranks, disciplines, types of institutions, and geographic locations. Analyses indicated clear congruence between quantitative and qualitative data. Definitions of DT aligned with well-known models of DT. Motivations for teaching DT included the promotion of personal development, DT proficiency, impact, and interpersonal skill development. Other positive student outcomes observed included increases in enthusiasm, self-awareness, empowerment, optimism, and a sense of belonging. Negative student outcomes included time constraints, teamwork conflicts, and student frustration. Conclusion: Faculty believe that DT leads to highly valuable social innovation skill sets for students. This cross-institutional, multi-disciplinary study provides critical insight into faculty experiences and motivations for teaching DT, offering various strategies for instructors and institutions interested in fostering the uptake of DT within higher education

Aligned nanofibres made of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) grafted to hyaluronan for potential healthcare applications

In this work, a hybrid copolymer consisting of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) grafted to hyaluronic acid (HA) was synthesised and characterised. Once formed, the P(3HB)-g-HA copolymer was soluble in water allowing a green electrospinning process. The diameters of nanofibres can be tailored by simply varying the Mw of polymer. The optimization of the process allowed to produce fibres of average diameter in the range of 100-150 nm and low polydispersity. The hydrophobic modification has not only increased the fibre diameter, but also the obtained layers were homogenous. At the nanoscale, the hybrid copolymer exhibited an unusual hairy topography. Moreover, the hardness and tensile properties of the hybrid were found to be superior compared to fibres made of unmodified HA. Particularly, this reinforcement was achieved at the longitudinal direction. Additionally, this work reports the use in the composition of a water-soluble copolymer containing photo cross-linkable moieties to produce insoluble materials post-electrospinning. The derivatives as well as their nanofibrous mats retain the biocompatibility of the natural polymers used for the fabrication