Existentialism and epistemology.

Comments on B. Vandenberg's (see record 1992-12211-001) article on epistemology and an existential consideration of development, taking exception with both his definition of existentialism and his characterization of Piaget's work. Existentialism, it is argued, is not an alternative to epistemology, but a particular style of responding to philosophic questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of the effectiveness of the educational environment supported by computer aided presentations at primary school level

The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the educational environment supported by computer aided presentations at primary school. The effectiveness of the environment has been evaluated in terms of students’ learning and remembering what they have learnt. In the study, we have compared experimental group and control group in terms of learning and recalling what has been learned regarding the effect which computer aided learning environment imposes. Data have been collected through the control grouped pretest–final test model. During the experiment, we have prepared an achievement test, which explains behaviors the students should acquire. According to the findings obtained, a computer aided educational environment has been observed to be more effective than that of conventional education in terms of learning. However, in terms of the permanence of what has been learned, no meaningful difference between the educational environment supported by computer aided presentations and that of conventional education has come out. According to the results of the follow-up tests performed, even though students in the test group have forgotten more of what they have learnt, it has been concluded that students in both groups have forgotten on the same level. Consequently, it has been observed that though the educational environment supported by computer aided presentations has positive contributions to learning activity, it does not have effects on the permanence of what has been learnt.     

Experimental study of a micro-scale sloped solar chimney power plant

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Solar chimney power plants (SCPP) are structures that have the potential to generate a significant amount of electrical energy without harming the...     

Prioritization methodology of dangerous substances for water quality monitoring with scarce data

Monitoring and control of dangerous substances discharged into receiving waters have attracted more attention lately. Since it is not possible to analyze every single substance, a prioritization methodology is needed for the selection of those to be monitored. Existing well-developed models require significant amount of data for reliable outcomes. This paper presents a methodology to prioritize the dangerous substances having adverse effects on freshwaters in Turkey, where data are scarce. Such a methodology will also serve as a solid model for other countries with limited background data. The adopted methodology enabled the elimination of chemicals to generate a candidate list composed of 608 substances among more than 5000 substances. Further screening and prioritization were conducted using different assessment methods (i.e., Total Hazard Value, Total Impact Value, Combined Monitoring-based, and Modelling-based Priority Setting) to obtain a proposed Final Candidate Specific Pollutants List of 150 dangerous substances. The proposed Candidate National Pollutant List of Turkey was established by combining 45 priority pollutants of the European Union with a list of candidate specific pollutants. According to the outcomes of this study, monitoring and controlling of 195 dangerous substances in freshwaters are recommended. Further detailed studies should be conducted in order to observe the actual levels of these dangerous substances in freshwaters followed by a review of the monitoring list accordingly. Moreover, further revisions might be required in the proposed list due to some possible versatile conditions in terms of sampling points (i.e., change in the location of industries).     

Synthesis of novel acrylic modified water reducible alkyd resin: Investigation of acrylic copolymer ratio effect on film properties and thermal behaviors

New four‐component water reducible acrylic modified alkyd resins that are based on 1,3‐propanediol and contain different ratios of acrylic copolymer (AC) were synthesized by using a novel four‐stage fatty acid method. The final content of solids in the water reducible acrylic modified alkyd resins was 60% by weight. After the modified alkyd resin films were cured at 150°C for 1 h, it was observed that the use of AC as the modifier component had improved their physical and chemical surface coating properties and thermal behaviors. Experimental results show that the optimum AC ratio is 40% of the equivalent amount of AC to alkyd resin. Low‐volatile organic compounds (VOC) content water reducible acrylic modified alkyd resins yielded soft and flexible films with high chemical/thermal resistance, suitable for manufacturing of surface coating binders. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 56:947–954, 2016. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Performance evaluation of a submerged membrane bioreactor for the treatment of brackish oil and natural gas field produced water

Produced water, which is co-produced during oil and gas manufacturing, represents one of the largest sources of oily wastewaters. Therefore, treatment of this produced water may improve the economic viability and lead to a new source of water for beneficial use. In this study a submerged hollow fiber membrane bioreactor (MBR) has been studied experimentally for the treatment of brackish oil and natural gas field produced water. This type of wastewater is also characterized with relatively moderate to high amount of salt, oil and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). However, the bacteria which are growing in conventional activated sludge and MBR cannot survive at these strict conditions, therefore acclimation of the bacteria is of vital importance. The performance of the biological system, membrane permeability, the rate and extent of TPH biodegradability have been investigated under different sludge age and F/M ratios. The results obtained by gas chromatography analyses showed that the MBR system could be very effective in the removal of TPH from produced water and a significant improvement in the effluent quality was achieved.