Solar lanterns or solar home lighting systems – Community preferences in East Timor

Access to electrification in rural areas of East Timor is extremely limited with as few as 5% of rural households connected to electricity. The government of East Timor intends to increase rural access to electricity significantly in the coming decade. The introduction of small PV systems is envisaged for many households in the most remote areas. Several agencies have piloted the introduction of small solar home systems (SHS) and solar lanterns. In the Railaco sub-district of East Timor, some 1000 households have experience of using either SHS and/or solar lanterns and are in a unique position to indicate a preference regarding these forms of PV lighting technology. This paper reports on a survey of 76 households in Railaco investigating experience with PV lighting systems. Results of the survey indicate a strong preference by users for SHS rather than lanterns. The preference for SHS arose from a range of factors including: a perception of better light quality; ability to illuminate the whole house; reduced risk of damage to the PV equipment; and longer duration of nightly operation. The research indicates that where a single PV lighting system is provided, users are likely to prefer SHS to solar lanterns.     

Novel Movable Typing for Personalized Vein-Chips in Large Scale: Recapitulate Patient-Specific Virchow's Triad and its Contribution to Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis

The Vein-Chip recapitulates CVST Virchow's triad and enables systematic characterization of venous thrombogenesis with respect to fibrin formation and platelet aggregation. Distinct from the arterial setting, platelets universally adhere across the entire CVS Vein-Chip independent of stenotic geometry and flow disturbance. Intriguingly, fibrin propagates along with the flow direction, but exclusively deposits to the inner vessel wall. Upon inflammatory endothelial injury, fibrin deposition mirrors to the outer vessel wall, but still not in the lumen. Together, the Vein-Chip promises future applications for personalized thrombotic assessment and monitoring.     

Application of induced voltage in cloudy apple juice: enzymatic browning and bioactive and flavouring compounds

Controlling enzymatic browning and decreasing the loss of phenolic and flavour compounds by emerging technologies have drawn interest. In this study, magneto-induced voltages (900–1800 V, 20-45 kHz) with mild temperature (20–50 °C) were applied to inactivate polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) in cloudy apple juice. Results suggested that PPO and POD activities could be reduced by 98.5% and 99.4%, respectively, following the condition: induced voltage 1800 V; frequency 45 kHz; temperature 50 °C and duration 3 min. And, phenolic compounds included gallic acid, catechin, chlorogenic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, rutin and p-coumaric acid, as well as major aroma compounds consisted of 22 volatile constituents which classified into three categories: esters, alcohols and aldehydes were also investigated. It suggested the phenolic compounds and major aroma compounds remained unchanged after the electrical treatment. This study suggests that the induced voltage produced by electromagnetic induction is an alternative to conventional heating methods.     

Effects of hyperoxia and diet on murine tissue levels of vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acids

One hundred eighty-six adult female mice were studied to examine the effect of manipulating dietary vitamin E and fractional inspired oxygen concentrations (FiO₂) on tissue levels of vitamin E, total polyunsaturated fatty acids (TPUFA) and conjugated dienes (CD) as an index of lipid peroxidation. Animals were fed custom diets containing either 0, 50 or 150 ppm DL-α-tocopheryl acetate. Once plasma vitamin E levels of mice fell below 0.2 mg/dl (at week 19), all mice were placed in chambers containing either room air (FiO₂≈0.21) or FiO₂>0.95 for the next 72 hr. Dietary manipulation had a major impact on the levels of vitamin E in plasma, lung and perirenal adipose tissues (p<0.0001, p<0.0001 and p<0.005, respectively). Dietary vitamin E deprivation was associated with significant reductions in lung glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activities (p<0.05) and in plasma TPUFA levels (p<0.05). No significant effect attributable to either diet or FiO₂ was observed for liver vitamin E, liver TPUFA or lung TPUFA levels, or for those of CD in any tissue examined. Adipose TPUFA levels were depressed in all dietary groups exposed to FiO₂>0.95, when compared with those of groups exposed to room air. The high FiO₂ exposures also were associated with marked reductions in lung to body weight ratios (p<0.01). These data suggest that dietary vitamin E treatment after long-term feeding can modify vitamin levels in plasma, lung and adipose tissue, and lung GPX activities. Vitamin E levels in liver seemed less responsive to our dietary manipulations in adult female mice, though expressing liver vitamin E levels in terms of TPUFA revealed significant differences between the ratios from 0 and 150 ppm vitamin E groups (p<0.05).     

Sorption of rhenium and vanadium from mineralized solutions by fibrous ionites

Sorption of rhenium(VII) and vanadium(V) from mineralized sulfate-chloride solutions by fibrous ionites of the FIBAN series is investigated. Equilibrium, kinetic, and dynamic characteristics of sorption of Re and V by the FIBAN ionite of the AK-22 brand, which contains functional groups =NH₂, -NH₂, -COOH, and ≡N, are found. It is established that the maximal capacity of this reagent in regards to vanadium(V) is observed at pH = 4. Sorption isotherms of Re and V are linear, being described by the Henry equation with constants K _H = 1.36 ± 0.30 dm³/g (R ² = 0.995) and 674 ± 21 cm³/g (R ² = 0.999), respectively. Integral sorption kinetic curves are found under conditions of a limited solution volume, and effective diffusion coefficients of Re and V, which constituted 9.0 × 10^?13 and 7.5 × 10^?15 m²/s, respectively, are calculated allowing for the half-transformation time. The possibility of separating these metals in dynamic conditions is shown.     

The role of Caravan Parks in meeting the housing needs of the aged

Creating ‘liveable’ communities that are healthy and sustainable is an aspiration of policymakers in Australia and overseas. Indicators are being used at the national, state and local level to compare the liveability of cities and regions. Yet, there are challenges in the adoption of such indicators. Planning scholars see a challenge in creating indicators that measure something publicly valued, while public health researchers are concerned about scant systemic research on relationships between policies, the built environment, and health and well-being. This article provides an overview of liveability indicators used to date in Australia and internationally. It then outlines the results of consultations with Melbourne-based academics and decision-makers, on how to increase their utility and support the creation of healthy, liveable and sustainable cities.     

Power Delivery Studies of Windbelt Generators with Different Architectures

Windbelt generators have been proposed as small, green power sources for battery charging applications. Some of the reported results lack detailed information about how key parameters influence the output power of the generator. In this work, we built prototypes with different architectures to study the voltage generation and power delivery as functions of belt tension, length, and electrical load at various wind speeds. We also studied the maximum power delivery conditions before the breakdown of the belt oscillation occurs. Our results are obtained from windbelt generators with two types of architectures： a conventional design with an adjustable belt that uses weight for tension control, and a revised design with a belt oscillation perpendicular to the coil axis. We have concluded that the breakdown of the belt oscillation at lower output resistances is a primary bottleneck that will limit windbelt systems to only very low power applications.     

Biodegradation of High Strength Phenolic Wastewater in a Modified External Loop Inversed Fluidized Bed Airlift Bioreactor (EIFBAB)

An EIFBAB was modified with a mixed‐tank reactor placed in series to extend the phenol treatability range. Phenol degradation at high concentrations was investigated at recycle rates from the mixed‐tank reactor from 0 to 15 L/h under batch operation. With a total working volume of 10 L, the new setup could handle 3000 mg/L phenol at a comparable volumetric biodegradation rate of 9 mg/L·h at optimized operation of 5 L/h recycle rate, as the 11 mg/L‐h in the original EIFBAB. While the original EIFBAB could not handle phenol concentrations exceeding 3000 mg/L, continuous operation was ascertained in the modified EIFBAB for phenol degradation of up to 5000 mg/L phenol and feed flow rates up to 160 mL/h. The recoverability of the system under shock loading of phenol up to 5000 mg/L was also assessed.     

The effect of temperature and humidity on dengue virus propagation in Aedes aegypti mosquitos

School children are important targets for sun awareness education, but the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of school teachers with respect to sun awareness are poorly understood. A questionnaire-based survey of 76 school teachers was undertaken. Twenty-four per cent of teachers indicated previous experience in teaching sun awareness, but 93% of teachers had no classroom resources for teaching sun awareness. Sun awareness was perceived by respondents as unimportant relative to other health education issues. There was considerable scope for improvement in attitudes and behaviour of teachers with respect to sun awareness. Teachers need more information about environmental factors which affect strength of sunlight, individual risk factors for sunburn and sunscreen strength. Intervention strategies involving school teachers need simple messages, emphasizing the importance of shade, clothing and hats in sun avoidance.