Solid biofuel production by mechanical pre-treatment of brewers' spent grain

The brewing industry produces large amounts of by-products and wastes like brewers' spent grain (BSG). In Germany, each year approximately 2.1 million tonnes of BSG are generated. During the last years conventional routes of BSG utilization face a remarkable change, such as the decline in the demand as animal feed. Due to its high content of organic matter energetic utilization may create an additional economic value for breweries. Furthermore, in the recent past breweries tend to shift their energy supply towards more sustainable concepts. Although, a decent number of research projects were carried out already, still no mature strategy is available. However, one possible solution can be the mechanical pretreatment of BSG. This step allows optimized energy utilization by the fractionation of BSG. Due to the transfer of digestible components, such as protein, to the liquid phase, the solid phase will largely consist of combustible components. That represents an opportunity to produce a solid biofuel with lower fuelnitrogen content compared to only thermal dried BSG. Therefore, two main purposes for the mechanical pre-treatment were determined, (1) to reduce the moisture content to at least 60 % (w/w) and (2) to diminish the protein content of the solid phase by 30 %. Moreover, the combustion trials should demonstrate whether stable processes and flue gas emissions within the legal limits in Germany are feasible. The results of the mechanical pre-treatment trials showed that a decrease of the moisture and protein content has been achieved. With regard to the combustion trials inconsistent outcomes were found. On the one hand a stable combustion was realized. On the other hand the legal emission levels of NOx (500 mgm -3) and dust (50 mgm-3) could not be kept during all trials. The further research steps will focus on the optimization of the air/fuel ratio by reducing the primary and secondary air conditions. Copyright © 2014,AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.

Novel Ni-Mg-Al-Ca catalyst for enhanced hydrogen production for the pyrolysis-gasification of a biomass/plastic mixture

A Ni-Mg-Al-Ca catalyst was prepared by a co-precipitation method for hydrogen production from polymeric materials. The prepared catalyst was designed for both the steam cracking of hydrocarbons and for the in situ absorption of CO2 via enhancement of the water-gas shift reaction. The influence of Ca content in the catalyst and catalyst calcination temperature in relation to the pyrolysis-gasification of a wood sawdust/polypropylene mixture was investigated. The highest hydrogen yield of 39.6molH2/g Ni with H2/CO ratio of 1.90 was obtained in the presence of the Ca containing catalyst of molar ratio Ni:Mg:Al:Ca=1:1:1:4, calcined at 500°C. In addition, thermogravimetric and morphology analyses of the reacted catalysts revealed that Ca introduction into the Ni-Mg-Al catalyst prevented the deposition of filamentous carbon on the catalyst surface. Furthermore, all metals were well dispersed in the catalyst after the pyrolysis-gasification process with 20-30nm of NiO sized particles observed after the gasification without significant aggregation.

Polluting production – environmentally sound alternatives; A general model of production externalities

With the determination of principal parameters of producing and pollution abatement technologies, this paper quantifies abatement and external costs at the social optimum and analyses the dynamic relationship between technological development and the above-mentioned costs. With the partial analysis of parameters, the paper presents the impacts on the level of pollution and external costs of extensive and intensive environmental protection, market demand change and product fees, and not environmental protection oriented technological development. Parametrical cost calculation makes the drawing up of two useful rules of thumb possible in connection with the rate of government in-terventions. Also, the paradox of technological development aiming at intensive environmental protection will become apparent.

A csomagoláson található információtartalom újragondolása sokdimenziós skálázással az élelmiszeripar példáján (Rethinking of information content on food packaging using multidimensional scaling)

A csomagolás részét képezi a jelölés – vagy más néven címke, label –, aminek elsődleges funkciója a termék tulajdonságairól való tájékoztatás, amellett, hogy a vállalat és a fogyasztó egyik legfontosabb találkozási pontja. Kiemelt szerepe van a marketing és a vállalati menedzsment eszköztárában, hiszen a fogyasztói döntéshozatal meghatározó forrása. A szerző írásában a jelölések definícióját, fajtáit és csoportosítását tárja az olvasó elé, majd ismerteti jelentőségét, fontosságát és szerepét az élelmiszer-ipari termékek segítségével. Ezután egy 630 fős megkérdezés eredményeképp a sokdimenziós skálázás (MDS) módszerével a jelölések új értelmezését mutatja be: a jelöléseket három dimenzió mentén lehet elhelyezni (előzetes tudás, érdek, megbízhatóság), valamint ezenkívül a jelölések öt homogén csoportot alkotnak (klasszikus, diétás, funkcionális, tudatos, előállítási). A téma jelentőségét az egészség és a környezet iránti növekvő érdeklődés, valamint a változó jogszabályi környezet is alátámasztja. / === / Signs, labels, claims are to inform consumers of product attributes, and are part of the packaging. Labeling is one of the most important marketing and management tool, while purchase decision is made at the point of purchase. The aim of this paper is to present the basic definitions and elements of information content on food packaging. The author developed a new approach to examine labeling using multidimensional scaling as a result of a pilot study. Labels are to distinguish through three dimensions: precognition, interest and reliability. Beyond that labels can be sorted to five homogeneous clusters based on classic, dietary, functional, conscious and production attributes. The relevancy of labeling is supported by growing interest of health and environmental issues and changing law environment.

Clean hydrogen production and carbon dioxide capture methods

Fossil fuels constitute a significant fraction of the world's energy demand. The burning of fossil fuels emits huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Therefore, the limited availability of fossil fuel resources and the environmental impact of their use require a change to alternative energy sources or carriers (such as hydrogen) in the foreseeable future. The development of methods to mitigate carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere is equally important. Hence, extensive research has been carried out on the development of cost-effective technologies for carbon dioxide capture and techniques to establish hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is a clean energy fuel with a very high specific energy content of about 120MJ/kg and an energy density of 10Wh/kg. However, its potential is limited by the lack of environment-friendly production methods and a suitable storage medium. Conventional hydrogen production methods such as Steam-methane-reformation and Coal-gasification were modified by the inclusion of NaOH. The modified methods are thermodynamically more favorable and can be regarded as near-zero emission production routes. Further, suitable catalysts were employed to accelerate the proposed NaOH-assisted reactions and a relation between reaction yield and catalyst size has been established. A 1:1:1 molar mixture of LiAlH 4, NaNH2 and MgH2 were investigated as a potential hydrogen storage medium. The hydrogen desorption mechanism was explored using in-situ XRD and Raman Spectroscopy. Mesoporous metal oxides were assessed for CO2 capture at both power and non-power sectors. A 96.96% of mesoporous MgO (325 mesh size, surface area = 95.08 ± 1.5 m2/g) was converted to MgCO 3 at 350°C and 10 bars CO2. But the absorption capacity of 1h ball milled zinc oxide was low, 0.198 gCO2 /gZnO at 75°C and 10 bars CO2. Interestingly, 57% mass conversion of Fe and Fe 3O4 mixture to FeCO3 was observed at 200°C and 10 bars CO2. MgO, ZnO and Fe3O4 could be completely regenerated at 550°C, 250°C and 350°C respectively. Furthermore, the possible retrofit of MgO and a mixture of Fe and Fe3O 4 to a 300 MWe coal-fired power plant and iron making industry were also evaluated.

Semeando a cultura audiovisual no Rio Grande do Norte: a experiência das oficinas de vídeos do Coletivo Caminhos, Comunicação & Cultura

The audiovisual media is an instrument of communication that plays an important role in the cultural, social and political understanding of society. This survey was done intenting to identify the contribution of the audiovisual media to the culture in the Rio Grande do Norte and trying to understand the process of producing audiovisual in this state. To reach the aim, a case report was done regard the activities of Caminhos, Comunicação & Cultura – CC&C – a group that conducts cultural activities in the state since 2006 and has 76% of its activities related to audiovisual production, in which 47% of them, are video workshops. The video workshop project "Sowing Culture", held by the group in the city of Venha Ver/RN in January 2013, was observed and analised from its conception to its realization. The research pursued to reveal how the initiatives of independent producers, such as the CC&C group, can promote the access to audiovisual culture in regions where such knowledge is limited or nonexistent, due to the poor state policies related to the culture. Methodologically, the research was structured by performing a historical and descriptive analysis of hypothetical-deductive method through participant observation. For the conceptual and theoretical development, it was addressed the Sociability, Ethnography and media activism. The research proved that the independent audiovisual producers are promoting changes in the RN audiovisual practices. Before the background featured in the research, it is proposed a prognostic from researching to opening the RN Audiovisual Observatory, a communicational tool projected as space of sharing information, thinking, speaking, contacting and promoting the audiovisual productions of the state.

A linguagem audiovisual do cinema como elemento integrador da arte e ciência na formação cultural dos professores de ciências e matemática

This work aims to study about the importance of cinema for cultural and professional training of teachers of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The educational potential of cinema is emphasizing by different authors, which also reveal the teachers' training gap in this issue (media). In this study, we defend the audiovisual language of cinema as an integrating element of Arts and Science for cultural and professional training of teachers. This subject has been developed by different authors, in which the emphasis has been the importance of intelligent dialogue with the world. Specifically, the training of science teachers and mathematics, by the approach of Cinema in its formation, It envisions the possibility of minimizing the dichotomy between humanistic and scientific training, already much discussed by some researchers. Educational products contribute to an effective experience and reflection on the cultural and educational role of the Seventh Art. Considering the Cinema as a possible "bridge" between the two cultures (scientific culture and humanistic culture) and promoting ownership of audiovisual language in teacher training It was accomplished the I Exhibition - Cultural Spring: Cinema and Science Education in UFRN. The production of the booklet "Topics of History, Language and Art of Cinema for Science and Mathematics Teachers," and its application in a short course in the XXI National Symposium on Physics Teaching also aimed to contribute to the approximation of Science and Art in training teachers.

Oficina educomunicativa de produção de vídeos: construção de significados sobre problemas socioambientais

This research aims to analyze the meaning making by Elementary Education students from public schools of Uberlândia (Minas Gerais, Brazil) about the social and environmental problems of their surroundings as of audiovisual reading and expression skills. The theoretical framework is based on constructivism, through the study of contributions about: cognitive development; meaningful learning; cognitive processes and types of knowledge; principles of learning with technology; educommunication focused on critical media literacy; and critical environmental education. The study object is a video production workshop organized in nine meetings, from September to November 2015, attended by 15 students. The following data collection instruments were used: the materials produced by the participants, specifically guided critical media literacy, agenda, script and final video; researcher observations from his role as a mediator; and focal interviews. The analysis was divided into two axes: procedural knowledge – technical skills of critical media literacy and production; and conceptual and metacognitive knowledge – representation of social and environmental problems and metacognitive skills of critical media literacy. Data were coded in the form of a skill evaluation rubric and also in the form of graphs. Thus, despite the time constraints, it is inferred that the workshop helped students to deepen their understanding about the discussed content, which is reinforced by observing in the graphs how the constant progressive differentiation of more inclusive concepts occurred along the meetings. It is further considered that the workshop contributed to the students reflect on their way of learning through critical use of techniques of media literacy and production, which can be seen from the satisfactory learners performance in most elements evaluated by the rubrics, as well as from the success in identifying interlocutors, values and actions in the read and built texts, something revealed by the graphs.

AUDIOVISUAL: DO BROADCAST À BROADBAND

A sociedade digital nos abraça em todos os aspectos do cotidiano e uma parte significativa da população vive conectada em multiplataformas. Com a instantaneidade dos fluxos de comunicação, vivemos uma rotina onde muitos acessos estão a um “clique” ou toque. A televisão como mídia preponderante durante várias décadas, na sua transição digital comporta uma função além da TV que conhecíamos, como display interativo que se conecta e absorve conteúdos provenientes de várias fontes. Os consagrados modelos mundiais de distribuição de audiovisual, especialmente pelo Broadcast, sofrem as consequências da mudança do comportamento do seu público pelas novas oportunidades de acesso aos conteúdos, agora interativos e sob demanda. Neste contexto, os modelos das SmartTVs (TVs conectadas) em Broadband (Banda Larga) apresentam opções diferenciadas e requerem um espaço cada vez maior na conexão com todos os outros displays. Com este cenário, o presente estudo busca descrever e analisar as novas ofertas de conteúdos, aplicativos, possibilidades e tendências do hibridismo das fontes para a futura TV.

Content-aware compression for big textual data analysis

A substantial amount of information on the Internet is present in the form of text. The value of this semi-structured and unstructured data has been widely acknowledged, with consequent scientific and commercial exploitation. The ever-increasing data production, however, pushes data analytic platforms to their limit. This thesis proposes techniques for more efficient textual big data analysis suitable for the Hadoop analytic platform. This research explores the direct processing of compressed textual data. The focus is on developing novel compression methods with a number of desirable properties to support text-based big data analysis in distributed environments. The novel contributions of this work include the following. Firstly, a Content-aware Partial Compression (CaPC) scheme is developed. CaPC makes a distinction between informational and functional content in which only the informational content is compressed. Thus, the compressed data is made transparent to existing software libraries which often rely on functional content to work. Secondly, a context-free bit-oriented compression scheme (Approximated Huffman Compression) based on the Huffman algorithm is developed. This uses a hybrid data structure that allows pattern searching in compressed data in linear time. Thirdly, several modern compression schemes have been extended so that the compressed data can be safely split with respect to logical data records in distributed file systems. Furthermore, an innovative two layer compression architecture is used, in which each compression layer is appropriate for the corresponding stage of data processing. Peripheral libraries are developed that seamlessly link the proposed compression schemes to existing analytic platforms and computational frameworks, and also make the use of the compressed data transparent to developers. The compression schemes have been evaluated for a number of standard MapReduce analysis tasks using a collection of real-world datasets. In comparison with existing solutions, they have shown substantial improvement in performance and significant reduction in system resource requirements.

Direct linkage between dimethyl sulfide production and microzooplankton grazing, resulting from prey composition change under high partial pressure of carbon dioxide conditions

Oceanic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is the enzymatic cleavage product of the algal metabolite dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and is the most abundant form of sulfur released into the atmosphere. To investigate the effects of two emerging environmental threats (ocean acidification and warming) on marine DMS production, we performed a large-scale perturbation experiment in a coastal environment. At both ambient temperature and 2 °C warmer, an increase in partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in seawater (160-830 ppmv pCO2) favored the growth of large diatoms, which outcompeted other phytoplankton species in a natural phytoplankton assemblage and reduced the growth rate of smaller, DMSP-rich phototrophic dinoflagellates. This decreased the grazing rate of heterotrophic dinoflagellates (ubiquitous micrograzers), resulting in reduced DMS production via grazing activity. Both the magnitude and sign of the effect of pCO2 on possible future oceanic DMS production were strongly linked to pCO2-induced alterations to the phytoplankton community and the cellular DMSP content of the dominant species and its association with micrograzers.

Stable oxygen isotope ratios, calcium carbonate and opal content in late Pliocene sediments of DSDP Hole 75-532 in the Southeast Atlantic (Table 1)

Site 532 on the Walvis Ridge was sampled at 4000- to 800-year intervals from 2.24 to 2.60 Ma, spanning the three large glacial advances of the late Pliocene. An age model was created by correlating the oxygen isotope record to Site 607 with linear interpolations between tie-lines. The resultant age model differs from that in the site reports by more than 800,000 years, due to misidentification of a magnetic boundary. Sedimentation rates varied by an order of magnitude at this site, with minimum accumulation during glacial events. Interglacial intervals were charactrized by high marine production and high summer precipitation on land, while glacials had very low production and arid continental climate. During the large glacial events (Stages 96-100) conditions of low production and continental aridity reached their greatest intensity, but there is no evidence of a permanent mode shift in either marine or terrestrial records. Calcite concentration has a strong variation at obliquity frequencies, with maxima during interglacials, but occasionally shows a large amplitude at precessional frequencies as well, so that high concentrations occur in a few glacial intervals. As a result, color variation is not a reliable guide to glacial-scale cycles at this site. Composition of the phytoplankton assemblage is diverse and highly variable, and we have not been able to distinguish a clear indicator of upwelling-related production. Spectral analysis reveals obliquity and precessional signals in the pollen data, while several diatom records contain combination tones, indicating that these data represent a complicated response to both local and high-latitude forcing.

Calcium carbonate content in surface sediments and benthic fauna on Antarctic shelves

We analyzed 214 new core-top samples for their CaCO3 content from shelves all around Antarctica in order to understand their distribution and contribution to the marine carbon cycle. The distribution of sedimentary CaCO3 on the Antarctic shelves is connected to environmental parameters where we considered water depth, width of the shelf, sea-ice coverage and primary production. While CaCO3 contents of surface sediments are usually low, high(> 15%) CaCO3 contents occur at shallow water depths (150-200 m) on narrow shelves of the eastern Weddell Sea and at a depth range of 600-900 m on the broader and deeper shelves of the Amundsen, Bellingshausen and western Weddell Seas. Regions with high primary production, such as the Ross Sea and the western Antarctic Peninsula region, have generally low CaCO3 contents in the surface sediments. The predominant mineral phase of CaCO3 on the Antarctic shelves is low-magnesium calcite. With respect to ocean acidification, our findings suggest that dissolution of carbonates in Antarctic shelf sediments may be an important negative feedback only after the onset of calcite undersaturation on the Antarctic shelves. Macrozoobenthic CaCO3 standing stocks do not increase the CaCO3 budget significantly as they are two orders of magnitude lower than the budget of the sediments. This first circumpolar compilation of Antarctic shelf carbonate data does not claim to be complete. Future studies are encouraged and needed to fill data gaps especially in the under-sampled southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean sectors of the Southern Ocean.

Exercise Training Reduces Liver Fat and Increases Rates of VLDL Clearance, but not VLDL Production in NAFLD

Context Randomised controlled trials in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have shown that regular exercise, even without calorie restriction, reduces liver steatosis. A previous study has shown that 16 weeks supervised exercise training in NAFLD did not affect total VLDL kinetics. Objective To determine the effect of exercise training on intrahepatocellular fat (IHCL) and the kinetics of large triglyceride-(TG)-rich VLDL1 and smaller denser VLDL2 which has a lower TG content. Design A 16 week randomised controlled trial. Patients 27 sedentary patients with NAFLD. Intervention Supervised exercise with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or conventional lifestyle advice (control). Main outcome Very low density lipoprotein1 (VLDL1) and VLDL2-TG and apolipoproteinB (apoB) kinetics investigated using stable isotopes before and after the intervention. Results In the exercise group VO2max increased by 31±6% (mean±SEM) and IHCL decreased from 19.6% (14.8, 30.0) to 8.9% (5.4, 17.3) (median (IQR)) with no significant change in VO2max or IHCL in the control group (change between groups p<0.001 and p=0.02, respectively). Exercise training increased VLDL1-TG and apoB fractional catabolic rates, a measure of clearance, (change between groups p=0.02 and p=0.01, respectively), and VLDL1-apoB production rate (change between groups p=0.006), with no change in VLDL1 -TG production rate. Plasma TG did not change in either group. Conclusion An increased clearance of VLDL1 may contribute to the significant decrease in liver fat following 16 weeks of exercise in NAFLD. A longer duration or higher intensity exercise interventions may be needed to lower plasma TG and VLDL production rate.