Current Progress of Jatropha Curcas Commoditisation as Biodiesel Feedstock: A Comprehensive Review

This article looks at the national and global actors, social networks, and narratives that have influenced Jatropha’s worldwide acceptability as a biofuel crop. Jatropha Curcas is a genus of around 175 succulent shrubs and trees in the Euphorbiaceae family (some of which are deciduous, such as Jatropha Curcas L.). It’s a drought-tolerant perennial that thrives in poor or marginal soil and produces a large amount of oil per hectare. It is easy to grow, has a fast growth rate, and can generate seeds for up to 50 years. Jatropha Curcas has been developed as a unique and promising tropical plant for augmenting renewable energy sources due to its various benefits. It is deserving of being recognised as the only competitor in terms of concrete and intangible environmental advantages. Jatropha Curcas is a low-cost biodiesel feedstock with good fuel properties and more oil than other species. It is a non-edible oilseed feedstock. Thus it will have no impact on food prices or the food vs fuel debate. Jatropha Curcas emits fewer pollutants than diesel and may be used in diesel engines with equivalent performance. Jatropha Curcas also makes a substantial contribution to the betterment of rural life. The plant may also provide up to 40% oil yield per seed based on weight. This study looks at the features characteristics of Jatropha Curcas as biodiesel feedstock and performance, and emissions of internal combustion engine that operates on this biodiesel fuel

College students perception on physical education classes during their high school days

This purpose of this study is to identify and investigate whether there are similarities or differences between genders regarding the perceptions on physical activities of college university students in one of the largest University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The focus was on three main categories, namely general knowledge, physical education and scientific basis of physical activities. Each category contained questions which serve to evaluate their perceptions about physical activities. The questionnaire was adapted from a journal article on a study done by Mowatt, DePauw and Hulac (1988). This study investigates the perceptions of 113 students (55 males; 65 females) aged between 19 and 25 about physical activities, using the above-mentioned categories. Results of the t-test showed significant differences for general knowledge, t(23) = 3.9, p0.05 no significant differences in means were found between the male and female students

Forecasting societies' adaptive capacities through a demographic metabolism model

In seeking to understand how future societies will be affected by climate change we cannot simply assume they will be identical to those of today, because climate and societies are both dynamic. Here we propose that the concept of demographic metabolism and the associated methods of multi-dimensional population projections provide an effective analytical toolbox to forecast important aspects of societal change that affect adaptive capacity. We present an example of how the changing educational composition of future populations can influence societies' adaptive capacity. Multi-dimensional population projections form the human core of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios, and knowledge and analytical tools from demography have great value in assessing the likely implications of climate change on future human well-being