Utilization of bio-oil for cooking and lighting

Considerable attention has been given to development of renewable energy due to imminent depletion of fossil fuels and environmental concerns over global warming. Therefore, it is necessary to find out all the available alternative sources of energy immediately to meet the increasing energy demand of Bangladesh. Among the available alternative sources of energy in Bangladesh bio-oil is recognized to be a promising alternative energy source. In these days bio-oil is merely used in vehicles and power plants after some up gradation .However, it is not used for domestic purposes like cooking and lighting due to it’s high density and viscosity. A gravity stove is designed to use this high dense and viscous bio-oil for cooking purpose. Efficiency of gravity stove with high dense and viscous bio-oil (karanj) is 11.81% which of kerosene stove is 17.80% also the discharge of karanj oil through gravity stove is sufficient for continuous burning.

Stakeholder service delivery expectations of military facilities management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of service of a South East Asian country's military facilities management organisation. Design/methodology/approach – An interview survey and questionnaire survey were used to obtain a description and summary of stakeholders’ expectations and the extent to which they were being satisfied by the services provided. Findings – The method provides a useful means of identifying and prioritising varying expectations between stakeholder groups and of indicating any mismatch in expectations in the management of military facilities. Social implications – The development and use of a method to test and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the management of military facilities helps in providing better value for money. Originality/value – In addition to re-affirming Parasuraman's overall dimensions of service expectation, the empirical summary of the stakeholders’ expectations obtained in this way is of practical value for the service provider in developing a strategy for expectation management. For the case studied, it is also apparent that although the current processes in service delivery are well understood by all involved stakeholders, there is a need for further improvement with regards to their expectation levels. It is also one of the very few reported studies on the management of military facilities.

'Savoir fare': are cooking skills a new morality

There has been a recent surge of interest in cooking skills in a diverse range of fields, such as health, education and public policy. There appears to be an assumption that cooking skills are in decline and that this is having an adverse impact on individual health and well-being, and family wholesomeness. The problematisation of cooking skills is not new, and can be seen in a number of historical developments that have specified particular pedagogies about food and eating. The purpose of this paper is to examine pedagogies on cooking skills and the importance accorded them. The paper draws on Foucault’s work on governmentality. By using examples from the USA, UK and Australia, the paper demonstrates the ways that authoritative discourses on the know how and the know what about food and cooking – called here ‘savoir fare’ – are developed and promulgated. These discourses, and the moral panics in which they are embedded, require individuals to make choices about what to cook and how to cook, and in doing so establish moral pedagogies concerning good and bad cooking. The development of food literacy programmes, which see cooking skills as life skills, further extends the obligations to ‘cook properly’ to wider populations. The emphasis on cooking knowledge and skills has ushered in new forms of government, firstly, through a relationship between expertise and politics which is readily visible through the authority that underpins the need to develop skills in food provisioning and preparation; secondly, through a new pluralisation of ‘social’ technologies which invites a range of private-public interest through, for example, television cooking programmes featuring cooking skills, albeit it set in a particular milieu of entertainment; and lastly, through a new specification of the subject can be seen in the formation of a choosing subject, one which has to problematise food choice in relation to expert advice and guidance. A governmentality focus shows that as discourses develop about what is the correct level of ‘savoir fare’, new discursive subject positions are opened up. Armed with the understanding of what is considered expert-endorsed acceptable food knowledge, subjects judge themselves through self-surveillance. The result is a powerful food and family morality that is both disciplined and disciplinary.

Recipe for success : cooking up a storm in the technology classroom

Ingredients: - 1 cup Vision - 100ml ‘Real World’ Application - 100ml Unit Structure/Organisation - 100ml Student-centric Approach [optional: Add Social Media/Popular Culture for extra goodness] - Large Dollop of Passion + Enthusiasm - Sprinkle of Approachability Mix all ingredients well. Cover and leave to rise in a Lecture Theatre for 1.5 hours. Cook in a Classroom for 1.5 hours. Garnish with a dash of Humour before serving. Serves 170 Students

Position, privacy and personnel : concerns for the (digital) future

Firms are moving away from decentralized regional offices. Last year the author spoke with a valuer working on the Sunshine Coast for a Brisbane firm. In years past this valuer would have left home in the morning to go to the office, as well as travelling during the day to client sites. Now they get up, have breakfast, change out of their pyjamas (if they have meetings!) and walk into their employer set-up home office to ‘punch-in’. Apart from travel for essential meetings at head office, or for the purpose of on-site inspections, they can attend work, engage with colleagues and clients and never leave home. While this practice may be a cost saving to the firm and a commuter-friendly way of working, it raises a range of issues to be managed.

Cooking enhances but the degree of ripeness does not affect provitamin A carotenoid bioavailability from bananas

Banana is a staple crop in many regions where vitamin A deficiency is prevalent, making it a target for provitamin A biofortification. However, matrix effects may limit provitamin A bioavailability from bananas. The retinol bioefficacies of unripe and ripe bananas (study 1A), unripe high-provitamin A bananas (study 1B), and raw and cooked bananas (study 2) were determined in retinol-depleted Mongolian gerbils (n = 97/study) using positive and negative controls. After feeding a retinol-deficient diet for 6 and 4 wk in studies 1 and 2, respectively, customized diets containing 60, 30, or 15% banana were fed for 17 and 13 d, respectively. In study 1A, the hepatic retinol of the 60% ripe Cavendish group (0.52 ± 0.13 μmol retinol/liver) differed from baseline (0.65 ± 0.15 μmol retinol/liver) and was higher than the negative control group (0.39 ± 0.16 μmol retinol/liver; P < 0.0065). In study 1B, no groups differed from baseline (0.65 ± 0.15 μmol retinol/liver; P = 0.20). In study 2, the 60% raw Butobe group (0.68 ± 0.17 μmol retinol/liver) differed from the 60% cooked Butobe group (0.87 ± 0.24 μmol retinol/liver); neither group differed from baseline (0.80 ± 0.27 μmol retinol/liver; P < 0.0001). Total liver retinol was higher in the groups fed cooked bananas than in those fed raw (P = 0.0027). Body weights did not differ even though gerbils ate more green, ripe, and raw bananas than cooked, suggesting a greater indigestible component. In conclusion, thermal processing, but not ripening, improves the retinol bioefficacy of bananas. Food matrix modification affects carotenoid bioavailability from provitamin A biofortification targets.

"They did not believe me" : Adult survivors' perspectives of child sexual abuse by personnel in Christian Institutions

Executive Summary Child sexual abuse (CSA) in Christian Institutions continues to be of serious concern in public, criminal justice and institutional discourse. This study was conducted in conjunction with Project Kidsafe Foundation and sought the perspectives of Australian survivors of CSA by Personnel in Christian Institutions (PICIs). In total, 81 individual survivors responded to an online survey which asked them a range of questions about their current and childhood life circumstance; the nature, extent and location of abuse; grooming strategies utilised by perpetrators; their experiences of disclosure; and outcomes of official reporting to both criminal justice agencies and also official processes Christian institutions. Survey participants were given the option to further participate in a qualitative interview with the principal researcher. These interviews are not considered within this report. In summary, survey data examined here indicate that: • Instances of abuse included a range of offences from touching outside of clothing to serious penetrative offences. • The onset of abuse occurred at a young age: between 6 and 10 years for most female participants, and 11 and 13 years for male participants. • In the majority of cases the abuse ceased because of actions by survivors, not by adults within families or the Christian institution. • Participants waited significant time before disclosing their abuse, with many waiting 20 years or more. • Where survivors disclosed to family members or PICIs, they were often met with disbelief and unhelpful responses aimed at minimising the harm. • Where an official report was made, it was most often made to police. In these cases 53% resulted in an official investigations. • The primary reasons for reporting were to protect others from the perpetrator and make the Christian institution accountable to an external agency. • Where reports to Christian institutions were made, most survivors were dissatisfied with outcomes, and a smaller majority was extremely dissatisfied. This report reflects the long-held understanding that responding to CSA is a complex and difficult task. If effective and meaningful responses are not made, however, trauma to the survivor is most often compounded and recovery delayed. This report demonstrates the need for further independent analysis and oversight of responses made to CSA by both criminal justice, religious and social institutions. Meaningful change will only be accessible, however, if family, community and institutional environments are safe places for survivors to disclose their experiences of abuse and begin to seek ways of healing. There is much to be learnt from survivors that have already made this journey.

Identity, forgiveness and power in the management of child sexual abuse by personnel in Christian Institutions

The ongoing crises of child sexual abuse by Christian institutions leaders across the Anglophone world continue to attract public attention and public inquiries. The pervasiveness of this issue lends credence to the argument that the prevailing ethos functioning within some Christian Institutions is one which exercises influence to repeatedly mismanage allegations of child sexual abuse by Church leaders. This work draws on semistructured interviews conducted with 15 Personnel in Christian Institutions (PICIs) in Australia who were identified as being pro-active in their approach to addressing child sexual abuse by PICIs. From these data, themes of power and forgiveness are explored through a Foucaultian conceptualising of pastoral power and ‘truth’ construction. Forgiveness is viewed as a discourse which can have the power effect of either silencing or empowering victim/survivors. The study concludes that individual PICIs’ understandings of the role ofpower in their praxis influences outcomes from the deployment of forgiveness.

Integrating crowd-behavior modeling into military simulation using game technology

Crowds of noncombatants play a large and increasingly recognized role in modern military operations and often create substantial difficulties for the combatant forces involved. However, realistic models of crowds are essentially absent from current military simulations. To address this problem, the authors are developing a crowd simulation capable of generating crowds of noncombatant civilians that exhibit a variety of realistic individual and group behaviors at differing levels of fidelity. The crowd simulation is interoperable with existing military simulations using a standard, distributed simulation architecture. Commercial game technology is used in the crowd simulation to model both urban terrain and the physical behaviors of the human characters that make up the crowd. The objective of this article is to present the design and development process of a simulation that integrates commercially available game technology with current military simulations to generate realistic and believable crowd behavior.

Crowd modelling for military simulations using game technology

Crowds of non-combatants play a large and increasingly recognized role in modern military operations, and often create substantial difficulties for the combatant forces involved. However, realistic models of crowds are essentially absent from current military simulations. To address this problem we are developing a crowd simulation capable of generating crowds of non-combatant civilians that exhibit a variety of realistic individual and group behaviours at differing levels of fidelity. The crowd simulation is interoperable with existing military simulations using a standard distributed simulation architecture. Commercial game technology is utilized in the crowd simulation to model both urban terrain and the physical behaviours of the human characters that make up the crowd. The objective of this paper is to present the process involved with the design and development of a simulation that integrates commercially available game technology with current military simulations in order to generate realistic and believable crowd behaviour.

Children exposure assessment to ultrafine particles and black carbon: The role of transport and cooking activities

An accurate evaluation of the airborne particle dose-response relationship requires detailed measurements of the actual particle concentration levels that people are exposed to, in every microenvironment in which they reside. The aim of this work was to perform an exposure assessment of children in relation to two different aerosol species: ultrafine particles (UFPs) and black carbon (BC). To this purpose, personal exposure measurements, in terms of UFP and BC concentrations, were performed on 103 children aged 8-11 years (10.1 ± 1.1 years) using hand-held particle counters and aethalometers. Simultaneously, a time-activity diary and a portable GPS were used to determine the children’s daily time-activity pattern and estimate their inhaled dose of UFPs and BC. The median concentration to which the study population was exposed was found to be comparable to the high levels typically detected in urban traffic microenvironments, in terms of both particle number (2.2×104 part. cm-3) and BC (3.8 μg m-3) concentrations. Daily inhaled doses were also found to be relatively high and were equal to 3.35×1011 part. day-1 and 3.92×101 μg day-1 for UFPs and BC, respectively. Cooking and using transportation were recognized as the main activities contributing to overall daily exposure, when normalized according to their corresponding time contribution for UFPs and BC, respectively. Therefore, UFPs and BC could represent tracers of children exposure to particulate pollution from indoor cooking activities and transportation microenvironments, respectively.

Nurses' experiences of practice and political reform in long-term aged care in Australia : implications for the retention of nursing personnel

Keywords gerontological nursing;health care reform;health policy;long-term care;recruitment and retention Aim  The aim of the study was to explore registered nurses’ experiences in long-term aged care in light of the political reform of aged care services in Australia. Background  In Australia, the aged care industry has undergone a lengthy period of political and structural reform. Despite reviews into various aspects of these reforms, there has been little consideration of the effect these are having on the practice experiences and retention of nursing staff in long-term care. Methods  In this critical hermeneutic study, 14 nurses from long-term care facilities in Australia were interviewed about their experiences during the reform period. Results  The data revealed a sense of tension and conflict between nurses’ traditional values, roles and responsibilities and those supported by the reforms. Nurses struggled to renegotiate both their practice roles and values as the reforms were implemented and the system evolved. Nursing management support was an important aspect in mediating the effect of reforms on nursing staff. Conclusion  This research highlights both the tensions experienced by nurses in long-term aged care in Australia and the need to renegotiate nursing roles, responsibilities and values within an evolving care system. This research supports a role for sensitive and proactive nursing management during periods of industry reform as a retention strategy for qualified nursing personnel.

Cultural inhibitors to hearing the voices of child sexual abuse by church personnel

It is increasingly recognised that Christian Churches and their Institutions have historically been sites where the voices of survivors of child sexual abuse (csa) by Church personnel have not been effectively heard. This paper draws on data from a research project which sought the voices of Church Leaders who were identified as being pro-active in addressing csa within their individual denominations. From this research several key inhibitors to hearing survivor’s voices, within Churches of Australia, were identified. These key inhibitors include the culture of Churches themselves, gendered ideologies, constructions of leadership and the deployment of forgiveness. The identification of such factors creates space to learn more effective strategies for hearing the voices of survivors both within Churches and their organisations and externally. This paper goes beyond considering these factors to report on a collaborative project initiated, between Survivors Australia and Dr Death. This project specifically targets the voices of Australian Survivors of csa by Church leaders. It is hoped that this project will not only achieve the primary objective of hearing and valuing the voices of survivors of csa by Church leaders, but will also provide impetus for the creation of alternative ways of managing complaints of csa by Church leaders in Australia. Such complaints processes will be increasingly survivor focussed and include the creation of spaces where the voices of survivors are valued.

"They did not believe me” Responding to child sexual abuse by Church personnel in Australia

Child sexual abuse (CSA) by Church personnel has been subject to study internationally. Such studies have often held a specific focus on the Roman Catholic Church in nations such as Ireland, Belgium and the United States of America (USA). This paper discusses the findings of a study conducted by the author which considers the perspectives of 81 survivors of child sexual abuse by Church personnel in Australia. Participants in this study completed an online survey and then nominated to undertake an in depth interview. The majority of respondents to the survey (66 - 69%) reported experiencing CSA in a Roman Catholic Church, school or children’s home. This paper explores the voices of survivors and recognises the complex and dynamic ways in which they continue to construct and manage their experiences of CSA by Church personnel. In particular, this study considers survivors’ perspectives of the ways in which Churches have responded to their informal disclosures and official complaints of CSA by Church personnel. Similarly to other locations across the world, participants in this study reported feeling re-victimised by Church processes. Participants reported high levels of dissatisfaction with Church policy and procedure in managing child protection issues, as well as high levels of dissatisfaction with the outcome of their complaints.