Kant's Arguments for God's Existence

A clear and concise exposition and critique of Kant's arguments for God's existenc

OCD and Philosophy: Short Papers on OCD, Psychopathy, and Psychopathology

Short papers on OCD, philosophy, psychopathy, psychopathology generally, and their interrelations

The Economics of Higher Education in the 21st Century

In the first part of this two-part work, the economics of higher education are explained. It is made clear how a university’s business model differs from that of a company that has to compete on the open market. On this basis, it is explained: (i)Why universities are in no way threatened by low retention-rates and graduation-rates; (ii)Why universities cannot significantly improve or otherwise alter the quality of their educational services without imperiling their very existences; (iii)Why universities do not have to improve the quality of their educational services; (iv)Why universities couldn’t improve the quality of their services even if they wanted to; (v)Why the fact that many universities have low retention- and graduation-rates does not a represent a business opportunity, or opportunity of any other kind, for anyone, whether inside or outside of academia; and (vi)Why principles of Knowledge Management (KM) that are so useful when it comes to helping businesses that compete on the open market are completely useless, and indeed of negative utility, when it comes to helping universities solve their problems. In the second part of this work, it is explained how to construct an online university that is both lucrative and also provides instruction that is faster, better, cheaper, and more useful than the instruction provided by any existing (or possible) brick-and-mortar university. Finally, it is explained how the principles of KM can be used to optimize such a university, once it is up and running

Gas-solid trickle flow hydrodynamics in a packed column

The pressure gradient and the static and the dynamic hold-up have been measured for a system consisting of a Fluid Cracking Catalyst (FCC) of 30–150 × 10−6 m diameter, trickling over a packed bed and with a gas streaming in countercurrent flow. The experiments were carried out at ambient conditions using a glass column of 25 × 10−3 m diameter. The packing material consisted of 8 × 8 × 3 mm ceramic Raschig rings, a mixture of 7 × 7 × 1 mm glass Raschig rings and 5 × 5 mm catalyst pellets and of stacked Kerapak ceramic mixing units of Sulzer, each unit 50 mm long and 25 mm in diameter. Four different gases have been tested. A correlation for the pressure gradient in the preloading region is derived based on the Ergun equation and taking into account the internal gas recirculation due to the solids trickles. The void fraction of the trickles is found to be independent of the physical properties of the gas phase. The behaviour of the GSTF-system in the preloading regime and the phenomena of loading and flooding are discussed. A correlation is given which relates the boundary between preloading and loading with the particle and gas properties and the solids flow rate

A model for a countercurrent gas—solid—solid trickle flow reactor for equilibrium reactions. The methanol synthesis

The theoretical background for a novel, countercurrent gas—solid—solid trickle flow reactor for equilibrium gas reactions is presented. A one-dimensional, steady-state reactor model is developed. The influence of the various process parameters on the reactor performance is discussed. The physical and chemical data used apply to the case of low-pressure methanol synthesis from CO and H2 with an amorphous silica—alumina as the product adsorbent. Complete reactant conversion is attainable in a single-pass operation, so that a recycle loop for the non-converted reactants is superfluous.\ud \ud In the following article the installation and experiments for which this theory was developed will be described

Parasites with parasites: The corona virus and the end of non-virtual education

Education has to go digital, and this will involve a lot more than just on-lining brick-and-mortar classes. Also, the process of doing this will be real epistemology, as in, it will involve people doing epistemology, instead of just impotently and unoriginally talking about it

Simultaneous dehydrogenation of organic compounds and hydrogen removal by hydride forming alloys

The applicability of hydrogen-absorbing metals in dehydrogenation reactions was investigated. Based on thermodynamic considerations, operating ranges were defined within which an increase of the reactant c onversion can be achieved owing to an in situ hydrogen removal by the alloy. Low plateau pressures (e.g. < 0.01 MPa) at high temperature (e.g. > 473 K) are required for economic applications. An (economic) improvement of the alkane-to-alkene conversion does not seem feasible owing to the extreme pressure and temperature conditions. In the present study as a model system, 2-propanol was dehydrogenated in a batch process at 473 K and 0.1-1.0 MPa over a Cu/CuO catalyst in the presence of an excess amount of Mg2.4Ni. The hydride forming metal alloy appears to be able to affect the hydrogen balance of the experimental system owing to absorption or desorption. However, an unexpected catalytic effect of the metal hydride was observed towards condensation reactions. Owing to the loss in selectivity, Mg2.4Ni, is not applicable for an improvement of the dehydrogenation processes for secondary alcohols

Binary vapour—liquid equilibria of methanol with sulfolane. Tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether and 18-crown-6 = Phasengleichgewichte in binären systemen von Methanol mit Sulfolan, Tetraethylenglycoldimethylether und 18-krone-6 Kronenether

The activity coefficients of methanol in sulfolane, tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (TEGDME) and 18-crown-6 under conditions of equilibrium have been determined in the temperature range 423–503 K and in the pressure range 0.28–3.5 MPa. A minimum in the activity coefficient was found for the methanol—TEGDME and methanol—18-crown-6 solutions