Design and development of an Energy Efficiency Knowledge Center (EEKC)

The Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) at West Virginia University has worked with more than 430 manufacturing companies over 17 years to identify energy and productivity saving opportunities for small and medium sized companies. The savings, which keep adding up year after year, are appreciable but do not fully capture the potential impacts of the IAC Program. The implementation rate of the recommendations has been only about 40% on average. This rate was expected to be improved with a knowledge center.;Energy Efficiency Knowledge Center (EEKC) is a regional system which includes the development and deployment of technical resources to assist industrial facilities in energy assessment phases. The EEKC as a repository for information and knowledge is designed to contribute to continuous improvement by incorporating the knowledge of IAC experts and plant personnel. The EEKC provides information to clients on how to obtain baseline energy use for their specific energy systems by fuel type using tools such as Quick Plant Energy Profiler (QuickPEP) by the Department of Energy (DOE).;The EEKC also incorporates access and utilization of the DOE Best Practices tools for enabling sensitivity analysis and estimating energy savings potential at various assessment phases. Moreover, spreadsheet tools are integrated within application software as required enabling clients to analyze the value of energy efficiency measures during the pre-assessment and assessment phases.;In this research thesis, the IAC activities and tasks are studied with respect to information and knowledge flow. The research objectives are presented and potential materials and steps to develop an online knowledge center are reviewed. Then, based on needs identified for continuous improvement, the design of EEKC is planned in which Web 2.0 is mainly used

A correlative model to predict in vivo AUC for nanosystem drug delivery with release rate-limited absorption

Purpose. Drug release from nanosystems at the sites of either absorption or effect biophase is a major determinant of its biological action. Thus, in vitro drug release is of paramount importance in gaining insight for the systems performance in vivo. Methods. A novel in vitro in vivo correlation, IVIVC, model denoted as double reciprocal area method was presented and applied to 19 drugs from 55 nano formulations with total 336 data, gathered from literature. Results. The proposed model correlated the in vitro with in vivo parameters with overall error of 12.4 ± 3.9%. Also the trained version of the model predicted the test formulations with overall error of 15.8 ± 3.7% indicating the suitability of the approach. A theoretical justification was provided for the model considering the unified classical release laws. Conclusion. The model does not necessitate bolus intravenous drug data and seems to be suitable for IVIVC of drugs with release rate-limited absorption

Incongruence Between Learning Style and Written Corrective Feedback Type: Mediating Effect of Implicit Theory of Learning Style

Implicit theory (Dweck, 2000) suggests that learners’ theories about the malleability of their individual traits (learning style, here) determine the extent to which they can stretch their learning style (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Young, 2010) and benefit from the instruction that mismatches their preferred styles. The present study aimed at investigating the extent to which Iranian EFL learners with inductive vs. deductive learning styles would benefit from the written corrective feedback (WCF) that does not match their learning styles (i.e., implicit vs. explicit WCF). The study also examined if their success (or lack of) in style stretching and improving their written accuracy is due to the implicit theory (entity vs. incremental) they hold about their learning style. The result showed that students with an incremental theory significantly improved their written accuracy more than those with an entity theory. Also, the findings revealed that inductive learners were more successful in adapting to the mismatched WCF (explicit) and made greater improvement in their written accuracy than deductive students who received implicit WCF.La théorie implicite d’un apprenant (Dweck, 2000) sur la malléabilité de ses traits individuels (styles d’apprentissage, ici) détermine dans quelle mesure il peut étirer son style d’apprentissage (Gregersen et MacIntyre, 2014; Young, 2010) et profiter de l’instruction qui ne correspond pas à leurs styles préférés. Cette étude vise à déterminer dans quelle mesure les apprenants iraniens de l’anglais langue étrangère ayant des styles d’apprentissage inductifs ou déductifs bénéficient de la rétroaction corrective écrite qui ne correspond pas à leurs styles d’apprentissage (c.-à-d. implicite ou explicite). Cette étude examine également si leur succès (ou leur manque) dans l’étirement de style et l’amélioration de leur précision écrite est dû aux théories implicites (entité vs incrémentales) qu’ils détiennent sur leur style d’apprentissage. Les résultats ont montré que les étudiants avec une théorie incrémentale ont considérablement amélioré leur précision écrite beaucoup plus que ceux qui ont eu une théorie d’entité. De plus, les résultats ont révélé que les apprenants inductifs ont réussi mieux à s’adapter à la rétroaction corrective explicite (qui ne correspond pas à leur style d’apprentissage) et ont amélioré davantage leur précision écrite que les élèves déductifs qui ont reçu la rétroaction corrective implicite

Temperature-dependent development of the two-spotted ladybeetle, Adalia bipunctata, on the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, and a factitious food under constant temperatures

The ability of a natural enemy to tolerate a wide temperature range is a critical factor in the evaluation of its suitability as a biological control agent. In the current study, temperature-dependent development of the two-spotted ladybeetle A. bipunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) was evaluated on Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and a factitious food consisting of moist bee pollen and Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) eggs under six constant temperatures ranging from 15 to 35 degrees C. On both diets, the developmental rate of A. bipunctata showed a positive linear relationship with temperature in the range of 15-30 degrees C, but the ladybird failed to develop to the adult stage at 35 degrees C. Total immature mortality in the temperature range of 15-30 degrees C ranged from 24.30-69.40% and 40.47-76.15% on the aphid prey and factitious food, respectively. One linear and two nonlinear models were fitted to the data. The linear model successfully predicted the lower developmental thresholds and thermal constants of the predator. The non-linear models of Lactin and Briere overestimated the upper developmental thresholds of A. bipunctata on both diets. Furthermore, in some cases, there were marked differences among models in estimates of the lower developmental threshold (t(min)). Depending on the model, t(min) values for total development ranged from 10.06 to 10.47 degrees C and from 9.39 to 11.31 degrees C on M. persicae and factitious food, respectively. Similar thermal constants of 267.9DD (on the aphid diet) and 266.3DD (on the factitious food) were calculated for the total development of A. bipunctata, indicating the nutritional value of the factitious food