Sustainability boot camp: Bridging disciplines to create a sustainable future

ABSTRACT

Today’s college graduates seek employment that contributes to sustainability, while employers seek new employees who have practical, hands-on experience addressing sustainability challenges. However, few students emerge from university with the mindset and tools to immediately apply sustainability concepts to the challenges they face. A multidisciplinary, immersive, co-curricular “boot camp” sustainability learning experience can address these challenges. This article describes the design and pilot testing of a sustainability boot camp at Virginia Tech involving a team of nine interdisciplinary faculty fellows from 6 colleges and insight from over 200 sustainability experts from multiple domains. Learning outcomes were developed based on thematic analysis of industry interviews from multiple sectors, yielding a set of competencies that companies seek in new hires for sustainability positions. The program is structured around three elements (sustainability integration, professional development, and network building) and incorporates lectures, professional development training, networking opportunities, and problem-based learning to help students develop a “sustainability lens” that can be applied to not only future professional activities but also personal decisions. The first two offerings of the boot camp with 60 students provided lessons learned for others developing similar programs.     

基于焊缝增强接头技术的模型参数

基于整体无损伤评估方法,采用模型参数,定量评估了建设过程中焊缝增强接头技术的可行性。根据钢的屈服强度和焊缝中有效刚度的变化,改进了预测焊缝强度的表达式。通过模型参数的变化和系统识别技术,在27个焊缝区域,进行了局部刚度变化的无损测量试验。为了比较,传统的无损监测(NDT)方法、射线探伤以及破坏张拉试验均被用以评估无损强度预测程序的精度,从强度破坏模型和无损测量刚度变化焊接系统中所得到的预测强度与从破坏张拉试验中得到的结果也进行了比较。同时对该方法的适用范围进行了研究。     

Nutritional properties of oat‐based beverages as affected by processing and storage

Oat‐based beverages enriched with vitamins and minerals were produced with common hydrothermal treatments and stored at 22 °C for 64 weeks. The effects of decanting on the retention of native vitamins, minerals and fatty acids, and different UHT holding time (5 s or 20 s) at 140 °C on vitamins were investigated. Fatty acid profile, vitamin retention and dissolved oxygen concentration were monitored during storage. The decanting process caused a 47% increase of vitamin B₆ and a 45–74% loss of phosphorus, zinc, calcium and iron. The steam‐injection UHT treatment caused a 60% loss of vitamin D₃ for both holding times and a 30% loss of vitamin B₁₂ for 20 s. During 1 year of storage, oleic and linoleic acids were stable, whereas linolenic acid decreased only slightly, even in the iron‐enriched variety. The dissolved oxygen concentration increased to a low value of 0.71 mg L^?1 and reached a balance after 16 weeks. Most enriched vitamins except vitamins A, D₃ and B₁₂ were stable during ambient storage. Oat‐based beverages with highly retained vitamins can be manufactured by adding vitamins prior to direct UHT treatment with a shorter holding time. Additionally, iron enrichment of such beverages, without affecting the fatty acid profile, can be achieved by filter sterilisation. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of natural rubber latex films in the presence of vegetable oil microemulsions

A series of vegetable oil microemulsions are formulated and incorporated into NR latex to study the potent antimicrobial activity of vegetable oil‐plasticized NR latex film against the adherent bacteria on the treated film. The particle size of latex incorporated with 2.50 phr of oil has attained up to 424 nm after incubated at 35 ± 2 °C for 24 h. The tensile stress of all NR latex films are relatively low, ranged 0.289 to 0.511 MPa. All emulsions are found compatible with NR and the low contact angles (<90°) corresponded to no oil blooming onto the surfaces of NR latex films. The crosslink densities are in good correlation with tensile strengths. The potent antimicrobial properties of the NR latex films are investigated from the viability assessment of the adherent tested Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 (E. coli ATCC 25922) and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 (S. aureus ATCC 25923). Results shows that NR latex film incorporated with palm kernel oil/soybean oil blend, NR‐E(P/S = 7/3), has significantly killed the adherent S. aureus with 92.5% reduction but showed no significant log reduction in E. coli. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44788.     

Online Ideology: A Comparison of Website Communication and Media Use

This study examined and compared the websites of ideological groups from a communications and media use perspective. Thirty‐six websites with message boards categorized as either violent ideological, nonviolent ideological, or nonviolent nonideological were content coded for several distinguishing characteristics. The results indicated that group type was predicted by the type of information presented, the difficulty of becoming a member, and the amount of freedom members had on discussion boards. These findings suggest that characteristics of violent ideological group websites can be used to distinguish them from websites of both nonviolent ideological and nonideological groups. This study also provides a demonstration of a research methodology that can be used to naturally observe ideological groups via an online setting.