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Contemporary Hong Kong is riven by serious political and social polarization. Hong Kong's problem does not lie in ideological differences among citizens; rather, the major issue is that people of different political stripes view each other as enemies. In this study, we conducted two experiments to compare the impacts of deliberation and discussion on political depolarization. In study 1, we invited participants of opposing views toward the Article 23 legislation and conducted a 90-min discussion session. The participants were divided into two groups: deliberation and causal discussion. The deliberation group received an information booklet on the issue and had to strictly follow rules of deliberation whereas the causal discussion group had no such stimuli. In study 2, we used video recordings from study 1 and presented the videos to two groups of participants. One group of participants watched the deliberation video and the other group watched the causal discussion video. The main finding of the study is both deliberation and causal discussion had mixed effects on reducing political polarization. After discussion, issue attitude and issue polarization remained largely the same, but people's attitude toward others with opposing views became more favorable and affective polarization was reduced. No systematic differences were found between deliberation and discussion. And watching discussion and deliberation will deliver similar effects but to a lesser extent.

Lines and angles are essential for students because of geometry and its many applications in daily life. However, there are still many students who have difficulty grasping the material. Therefore, it is necessary to design learning using the right approach, context, and media. This study aims to produce a learning trajectory that can assist students in understanding the concept of lines and angles, maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of learning, create meaningful learning, and motivate student learning. This study used the Joglo Traditional House context as a starting point and the design research method developed by Gravemeijer and Cobb with three main steps: preparing for the experiment, designing the experiment (pilot experiment and teaching experiment), and retrospective analysis. However, in design experiment step is limited to the pilot experiment. In this study, all activities were designed based on Indonesian Realistic Mathematics Education. It involves six 7th-grade students from one of the junior high schools at Juwana Resident with three different abilities, namely two students for each level with high, moderate, and low ability. The learning trajectory generated in this study consists of a series of learning processes in four activities that can be used to develop local instructional theories and develop designs for further activities. Those are observing Joglo traditional house video for understanding lines and angles concepts, deducing line positions, discovering the angles' properties on parallel lines intersected by other lines, and solving lines and angles problems.

The low oil productivity of tight oil reservoirs is mainly caused by poor reservoir physical properties such as low porosity and permeability, a small pore and throat ratio, and bad well connectivity, which lead to bad water injection capability and rapid pressure decline for the reservoir. In this paper, an enhanced oil recovery technique for tight oil reservoirs is proposed by combination of horizontal well volume fracturing and CO2 huff-n-puff to improve the reservoir physical properties and increase the flow capability of crude oil. In the initial reservoir development stage, the precise horizontal well trajectory and reservoir volume fracturing scale are designed by analyzing the distribution of sand body thickness and the oily sedimentary facies. The micro-seismic tracking technique is also used to monitor the fracture elongation. When the reservoir energy cannot satisfy the economic limit of oil productivity, the CO2 huff-n-puff technique is applied to increase the reservoir energy quickly. After the precise fracturing technique is used in tight oil Block X, the average oil production rate of six fractured horizontal wells increases by 5 ton (1 ton = 7.33 bbl) at the initial production stage, and the effective oil production increase life lasts for 32 months. When the reservoir energy is supplemented using the CO2 huff-n-puff technique, the oil production rate of pilot experiment well SP-1 increases from 1.9 to 12.8 ton with a cumulative oil increase of 1333.8 ton.

PurposeThe anticipated benefits of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) include safety and mobility enhancement. Small headways between successive vehicles, on one hand, can cause increased capacity and throughput and thereby improve overall mobility. On the other hand, small headways can cause vehicle occupant discomfort and unsafety. Therefore, in a CAV environment, it is important to determine appropriate headways that offer a good balance between mobility and user safety/comfort.Design/methodology/approachIn addressing this research question, this study carried out a pilot experiment using a driving simulator equipped with a Level-3 automated driving system, to measure the threshold headways. The Method of Constant Stimuli (MCS) procedure was modified to enable the estimation of two comfort thresholds. The participants (drivers) were placed in three categories (“Cautious,” “Neutral” and “Confident”) and 250 driving tests were carried out for each category. Probit analysis was then used to estimate the threshold headways that differentiate drivers' discomfort and their intention to re-engage the driving tasks.FindingsThe results indicate that “Cautious” drivers tend to be more sensitive to the decrease in headways, and therefore exhibit greater propensity to deactivate the automated driving mode under a longer headway relative to other driver groups. Also, there seems to exist no driver discomfort when the CAV maintains headway up to 5%–9% shorter than the headways they typically adopt. Further reduction in headways tends to cause discomfort to drivers and trigger take over control maneuver.Research limitations/implicationsIn future studies, the number of observations could be increased further.Practical implicationsThe study findings can help guide specification of user-friendly headways specified in the algorithms used for CAV control, by vehicle manufacturers and technology companies. By measuring and learning from a human driver's perception, AV manufacturers can produce personalized AVs to suit the user's preferences regarding headway. Also, the identified headway thresholds could be applied by practitioners and researchers to update highway lane capacities and passenger-car-equivalents in the autonomous mobility era.Originality/valueThe study represents a pioneering effort and preliminary pilot driving simulator experiment to assess the tradeoffs between comfortable headways versus mobility-enhancing headways in an automated driving environment.

The use of bioretention areas is common in urban stormwater management, but their performance varies significantly depending on rainfall characteristics and design conditions. In this study, a pilot experiment using bioretention columns with different media (commercial activated carbon and river sediment-derived biochar) investigated the influence of rainfall on bioretention performance. The results indicated that the runoff volume retention ratio (Rv), which included the runoff purified and discharged at the bottom of the column, and the runoff retained in media during rainfall event, decreased significantly with increases in the rainfall event return period (p 0.05). The addition of adsorptive material, such as activated carbon and biochar, may not be the key factor for improving nitrogen and COD removal under heavy rain that exceeds the 2-yr return period. The bioretention performance of phosphorus removal from urban stormwater runoff could be improved by replacing or adding media with high adsorption capacity, but these improvements would not be significant under heavy rain that exceeds the 2-yr return period. The results provide some reference for evaluating bioretention performance and optimizing bioretention design in the future.

This study investigates the user experience in cloud-based environments. As a result of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)restrictions, we were not able to execute the experiments as initially planned and hence this study is being presented as a pilot experiment that can be used as a prototype in future research. The aim of these experiments is to find a metric that can be used in estimating the performance of remote desktop systems. This study mainly focuses on latency, within and across networks, as the primary factor in the remote-desktop user experience. © 2002 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Architecture's reach into neuroscience has demonstrated the value of biometric data, particularly neurophysiological data captured through the use of portable electroencephalography (EEG) technolog...

In this research, we designed and manufactured a pilot scale magnetic separator applying in magnetic-nanoparticles-assisted chromium containing tannery wastewater treatment. The separator is mainly composed of 186 magnetic bars and an in-situ cleaning system. The magnetic bars arranged vertically and arbitrary three magnetic bars are arranged in an equilateral triangle. Effect of dosage of magnetic particles, pH and alkali type on chromium capture efficiency and outlet chromium concentration of chromium containing tanning wastewater in laboratory scale experiments were investigated. In pilot experiment, the separator kept continuous running 15 days for 8 h per day with magnetic nanoparticles-chromium complex removed every 4 h by in-situ scraper. The treatment capacity is 16 m3/day for a device and outlet chromium concentration always less than 0.5 mg/L. The separator has simple structure and large processing capacity, and is energy-saving and easy to be scaled up. It has great potential in magnetic nanoparticles-assisted wastewater treatment.

This study was intended to reduce the generation of waste activated sludge (WAS) by injecting a microbial agent into membrane bio reactor (MBR) system. A pilot equipment with a daily treatment capacity of 3,000 L, equipped with a anoxic tank, a MBR, and a permeate storage tank, was manufactured, and a blank operation and an operation with the microbial agent injected were conducted successively after a stabilization operation for approximately 81 days. According to the quality of the treated water in the operations above, T-N removal rates were almost the same, but CODMn removal rate in the operation with the microbial agent injected was approximately 32% higher than that in the blank operation. In addition, it was demonstrated that the changes in the total MLSS amount were 8,154 g in the blank operation and 6,496 g in the operation with the microbial agent. Hence, it was possible to confirm that the sludge was reduced by approximately 20% when injecting the microbial agent. This study concludes that the characteristics of the microbial agent can be sufficiently exhibited and the higher effect of the reduction in sludge generation amount can be obtained if the limitations of the composition that the equipment for the pilot experiment has are improved and if it is possible to operate for an extended period of time.

The present paper illustrates a pilot experiment in which a new model for fostering creativity in the product development process is tested with novice engineers. After introducing creativity in th...

This study aims to produce statistical learning designs in the introduction of the concept of average values and knowing student learning outcomes in learning average values by previously learning about the presentation of data consisting of tables and diagrams through learning trajectories and what happens during the learning process. This learning is based on Lesson Study for Learning Community (LSLC), the approach of Indonesian Realistic Mathematics Education (PMRI). This study uses a type of Design Research method research design type of validation study, which involves in MTs 1 in Palembang. There are three stages in design research type validation studies namely Preparing for the experiment in the form of literature study and the design of the Hypothetical Learning Trajectory (HLT); Design experiment in the form of a Preliminary Teaching Experiment (Pilot Experiment) and Teaching Experiment; and Restrospective analysis. The instruments used were written test, video and field notes. The results of learning experiments show that the design of learning provided has helped students understand the concept of Mean.

Concrete is a common material utilized in the structure sector in huge amounts. This man-made construction material is utilized for the construction of bridges, buildings, roads, dams, etc. It has waste usage from structure to roads, drains pipes, etc. Engineers are continuously trying to improve the performance properties of concretes by incorporating supplementary material like blast furnace slag, fly ash, steel slag, silica fume, etc. This review paper is based on the findings of three such supplementary materials – nano-silica (NS), silica fume (SF), and steel slag (SS) which have been reinforced in concrete. However a thorough study of the use, to better understand its mechanism, of NS, SF and SS in concrete is missing. This paper, therefore, seeks to provide a study of the usage of concrete NS, SF, and SS. The Nano silica is comprised of a high purity amorphous silica powder which generally exists in a powdered form. Other materials that are discussed herein are SF and SG. SF is a by-product obtained while producing silicon metal and ferrosilicon alloys whereas SS is obtained when impurities are separated from molten metal in the steelmaking furnace. The main motivation behind this review paper is to gather the relevant papers in a single place so that a concrete mixture can be developed by reinforcing NS, SF, and SS in different percentages. From the results of previous studies, it can be inferred that the combined use of NS, SF, and SS increases certain properties of concrete, particularly mechanical, which may help to produce superior concrete properties in the further studies of NS, SF, and SS. Also, the results from the pilot experiment to affirm that the combined effects of NS, SF, and SS enhance the mechanical properties of concrete are presented herein.

Fusion-fission hybrid systems (FFH) represent a coupling between a fusion device and a subcritical fission reactor driven by neutrons produced by fusion reactions. This kind of systems, in principle, can be useful for different purposes, for example, as energy amplifier or as nuclear waste burner. In this work, the preliminary characteristics and potentialities of a FFH based on a tokamak device characterized by high magnetic field (B > 9 T) and high-density plasma (n > 1014 cm-3) have been evaluated. During the years high magnetic field compact tokamaks have been designed, built and operated. Thanks to their characteristics, such as compactness, high field and high density plasma, these devices can produce intense neutron fluxes, and therefore are good candidates to be incorporated in FFH while operating in a sub-ignited regime. An additional advantage is that their design is based on relatively simple existing technology. In this work, a coupling between a tokamak (operating in DD-mode) and a subcritical molten salt fission blanket has been proposed. Molten salt reactor could be adapted for this purpose and could help the hybrid system to increase its energy balance. A model with a molten salt fission blanket (keff = 0.92, P = 95 MW) instead of the lithium one, has been considered and studied in terms of neutronic evaluations. Presented preliminary numerical calculations based on a neutron Monte-Carlo code confirm the potentialities of the system.

As earlier leaf removal experiments in tomato had shown that this improved dry matter partitioning to the fruits and production, a pilot experiment with high-wire cucumber was conducted in the spring and summer of 2016 at the experimental research facilities of Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture. The five treatments were combinations of 3 or 3.5 stems m-2, and 0, 16 or 33% leaf removal in head of the crop. The combination 3.5/0% was lacking. The experimental data were analysed with the INTKAM crop growth model. The total number of fruits m-2 was the most important factor for production, which is determined by the optimal combination of stem density and assimilate supply. It is therefore important to grow the crop such that the maximum number of fruits with sufficient weight can be realized. Leaf removal in itself led to a slightly higher abortion, a lower development rate and therefore less axils, and a lower LAI with less light interception, and therefore produced less fruits and kilos. This, however, can be compensated with a higher stem density. It results in a crop with a normal LAI and architecture, combined with more axils m-2 that can bear fruits. Production and light use efficiency increase. On the other hand, labour and the risk to harvest small fruits will increase.

This article presents a pilot experiment conducted to better understand how Middle Pleistocene hominins might have processed and exploited elephants using simple stone and bone tools. The experimen...

The composite solid absorbent was developed for simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification of low-temperature flue gas. The efficiency of this absorbent was confirmed by a pilot experiment in...

Ochre, waste iron sludge from the treatment of iron rich groundwater for potable use, makes up a significant waste problem. Furthermore, wastewater treatment plants with enhanced biological phosphorus removal and the digestion of sludge are in lack of iron for the prevention of hydrogen sulfide production and the release of phosphorous during anaerobic digestion. Thus, the addition of ochre to anaerobic digestion is a potential beneficial reuse of ochre. Sludge from wastewater treatment plants with enhanced biological phosphorus removal was used for the experiments. Batch and continuous pilot-scale tests were performed for the mesophilic digestion of primary and waste-activated sludge with different doses of ochre. Two different doses of ochre corresponding to molar ratios of 1 and 2 moles Fe3+/mole P released in the batch test resulted in 29% and 57% reductions of phosphates respectively in the sludge liquor compared to the control sludge without inhibiting the digestion process. In the pilot experiment, the dosing of ochre at both a high and low dose (molar ratios of 1.6 and 0.8 Fe3+/S2&minus, respectively ) resulted in an immediate drop in the H2S concentration (from &gt, 2000 ppm down to 570 ppm), while the control reactor still produced biogas with a high hydrogen sulfide concentration. The inhibition of the digestion process was observed (accumulation of acetate) at the higher dose. In a second pilot scale experiment, lower doses of ochre were tested continuously (1.5 and 0.75 mole Fe3+/mole Preleased) to avoid any inhibition, while evaluating the phosphate precipitation. A reduction of phosphates in sludge liquor (33% and 66% for the low and high doses respectively) was obtained.

This paper investigates the possibility of a holistic interdisciplinary and cross-thematic educational approach of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and HASS (Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences) knowledge fields. The interdisciplinary educational approach of STE? and HASS knowledge branches, set out to resolve complex issues in an innovative way, can assist the development of the students into active and knowledgeable citizens so they will be able to face actual problems whose nature is always interdisciplinary. There is reference in elements which advocate the necessity of this holistic cross-thematic approach and additionally theories and techniques are established which are able to support it. Main characteristic of this development is its support with ICTs. Characteristics of a relevant educational scenario are presented. The scenario is implemented as a pilot experiment and relevant results can be extracted. The scenario is recommended as prototype due to its special interdisciplinarity, the educational techniques that were utilized, and its design procedure based on principles of Educational Management & Engineering and due to the positive results from its pilot implementation. Relevant conclusions are projected.

This study investigated the performance of organic pollutant degradation using the electro-Fenton process and low-cost titanium (Ti) electrodes as cathodes. Three Ti electrodes with different morphologies, i.e., a plate and two meshes with large (MS-L) and small (MS-S) opening sizes, were evaluated using electrochemical characterization, as well as kinetic and energy studies based on the COD removal performance of the electro-Fenton process. The preliminary results indicated that the MS-S electrode, which has the largest electrochemically active surface area and lowest resistance amongst the three electrodes, could reduce Fe3+ to Fe2+ most effectively in the synthetic solution. However, when treating real wastewater, MS-L rather than MS-S exhibited 13.8% higher COD removal efficiency with a 1.5-fold higher rate constant (i.e., 0.0362 min−1) during the initial 30 min of the electro-Fenton process. This unexpected anomaly was due to excessive clogging by suspended solids (SS) present in the real wastewater that were easily captured by the narrow openings of MS-S. Consequently, a pilot-scale electro-Fenton system was operated using MS-L. The pilot experiment demonstrated stable degradation of organic pollutants for five consecutive months with an average COD removal efficiency of 86%, showing its feasibility in treating real wastewater. With its competitive regeneration of Fe2+, low manufacturing cost and energy consumption, the electro-Fenton process using Ti mesh with large opening sizes appears to be a viable and practical technology for wastewater treatment.

This article is devoted to the study of the slang language of youth on the basis of the results of a pilot free associative experiment. The purpose of this study is to identify the content of the stereotypical notions for native speakers, and to reveal the links that exist in the conceptual system of native speakers. In this regard, a pilot associative experiment was conducted among 40 students, belonging to the youth, who are either native English speakers or who speak English fluently. There were also presented the results of a free associative experiment aimed at identifying components that reflect national and individual characteristics of the perception of slangism, as well as the metaphorical characteristics of naive discourse, which are universal for young people. In addition, we were able to identify the influence of extra-linguistic factors on the content of the associative thesaurus.

This study presents results of the pilot experiments made with new parametric multi-site multi-variable stochastic daily weather generator (WG) SPAGETTA. The experiments are performed for eight European regions and we focus on spatial characteristics of temperature. The WG is calibrated using the gridded weather data E-OBS. In evaluating the generator, the spatial and temporal temperature autocorrelations derived from the synthetic series were found to perfectly fit the values derived from the calibration data. Next, the WG is validated in terms of the frequency of “spatial hot days” and the annual maximum length of “spatial hot spells”. The results indicate a very good correspondence between characteristics derived from synthetic and calibration data. As part of the validation tests, the performance of the WG is compared with a regional climate model (RCM), which shows a similar performance as the generator. In a final experiment, the use of the WG for the future climate is demonstrated, the WG parameters (including the temperature autocorrelations) calibrated with the observed data are modified according to the RCM-based changes in these parameters. While analyzing synthetic series produced with the modified generator, we discuss partial impacts due to changes in individual WG parameters on the spatial hot days and spells. We show that the impacts are mainly (but not only) due to changes in temperature averages. The projected changes in temperature autocorrelations have also some impacts, larger for the spatial hot spells than for the spatial hot days. Climate change impacts on spatial hot days/spells based on the WG are compared with impacts based on the RCM, and we conclude that the differences are mainly due to simplifying assumptions adopted in our pilot experiment.

The feasibility of implementing encapsulation technology for the biological anaerobic treatment of high-strength wastewater was investigated. The small pilot-scale wastewater treatment process, deployed at a local brewery, consisted of a 4-L fermenting first-stage reactor containing alginate-encapsulated fermenting microorganisms and a 30-L methanogenic second-stage reactor containing alginate-encapsulated anaerobic digester sludge (CH4E reactor). A parallel second-stage 30-L anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) was operated for comparison. The first-stage reactor produced 40.4 ± 47.3% more volatile fatty acids than present in the influent wastewater. The CH4E reactor stared rapidly, with an off-gas methane content >60% after 14 days. It took >1 month for the AnMBR to achieve this performance. Nevertheless, the CH4E reactor performance declined relative to the AnMBR over time. This was thought to be a result of encapsulant leakage and the encapsulation of a non-ideal initial community. Further optimization is needed, but encapsulation shows promise for small-footprint anaerobic biological treatment applications.

Efficient capture of CO2 is of great significance for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the control of global warming. We herein report a pilot experiment demonstrating successful carbon capture under normal pressure using flowable slurry formed with Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 and 2-methylimidazole-glycol-water solution in continuously cycled setup composed of a sorption bubble column (with height 3.7 m and inner diameter 60 mm) and a desorption tank. A series of factors that affect the carbon capture efficiency were investigated systematically. The experimental results show that the use of finer aperture and installing baffles, lower superficial gas velocity, lower sorption temperature, higher regeneration temperature, and low regeneration pressure are favorable for carbon capture. CO2 concentration in the emission gas could be reduced from 24.9 mol% to 0.5–2.5 mol%, indicating that more than 92% of CO2 could be removed. The working loading of CO2 in the recycled slurry reached 1.53 mol/(L·bar). The slurry could be regenerated under very moderate conditions (333 K and 0.05 MPa), which are far from boiling conditions for the solvent. It was also shown that the performance of the slurry remained stable over more than 100 h of cycling. This work demonstrates that the approach based on the use of the slurry is readily applicable, and could lead to energy savings compared to the traditional amine absorption approach.

Background The use of reclaimed dredged sediments as growing media may offer a profitable alternative to their disposal as a waste and at the same time meets the need of peat-substitute substrates in horticulture. When sediments are reused to cultivate food crops, issues related to human health rise due to potential accumulation of contaminants in the product. This pilot study aimed at verifying the suitability of a reclaimed dredged port sediment, used pure or mixed with peat, as a growing medium for lettuce cultivation. Results The pure sediment caused a reduction in crop yield, probably due to its unsuitable physical properties, whereas the mixture sediment-peat and pure peat resulted in the same yield. Although the sediment contained potentially phytotoxic heavy metals and some organic pollutants, no symptoms of plant toxicity were noted. Besides, no organic contaminants were detected in lettuce heads, and heavy metals amounts were not hazardous for consumers. Conversely, plants grown in the sediment were particularly rich in minerals like Ca, Mg and Fe, and showed higher concentrations of organic acids and antioxidants. Conclusion The use of the sediment as a growing medium for lettuce was shown to be safe for both inorganic and organic contaminants. Nevertheless, considering crop yield results, the mixture of the sediment with other materials is recommended in order to produce a substrate with more suitable physicochemical properties for vegetable cultivation. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Biological filtration is an effective biological treatment method for odorous pollutants. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the humification degrees of the media and the removal efficiency of the odors. The biological treatment of a mixed waste gas system in four biofilters packed with COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4 media (media with different humification degrees) was studied. The pilot experiment showed that with the mixed waste gases, the removal rate of methyl mercaptan was 100% via all four different packing media. The finished product composting (COM4) had the best removal efficiency on ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, toluene, and methyl mercaptan, with values of 97.38%, 97.03%, 98.31%, and 100%, respectively. Therefore, the media of COM4 was applied in the compost plant for treating odors and its practical application value was verified. And results of field experiment showed that before replacing the filter, the least removal efficiency of methyl mercaptan of the biofilter was 17.22%. After changing the filter, the value was up to 100%. Besides that, the removal efficiencies of ammonia increased from 38.10% to 89.84% and hydrogen sulfide increased from 24.05% to 87.95%, and the removal rate of carbon disulfide increased by 51%. The higher humification degrees of the media is proved to be beneficial to the removal of odors.

In the context of prolific chemical raw materials, the flexible dual-riser fluid catalytic cracking (FDFCC) was put forward to increase the yield of light aromatics, in which hydrofining light cycle oil (HLCO) was processed in the second riser under high temperature. The process not only meets the increasing demand for aromatics, but also solves the problem of high aromatics content (more than 50 wt%) of FCC gasoline, which is difficult to meet increasingly stringent gasoline standards. The results of the pilot experiment showed that the optimization reaction temperature of the secondary riser of the FDFCC unit was 575 °C, and the content of aromatics in cracked gasoline reached 78 wt% or more. It should be noted that light cycle oil (LCO) should be subjected to deep hydrogenation from the perspective of increasing aromatics production.

In this study, we present the development of a mobile system to measure real-world total respiratory tract deposition of inhaled ambient black carbon (BC). Such information can be used to supplement the existing knowledge on air pollution-related health effects, especially in the regions where the use of standard methods and intricate instrumentation is limited. The study is divided in two parts. Firstly, we present the design of portable system and methodology to evaluate the exhaled air BC content. We demonstrate that under real-world conditions, the proposed system exhibit negligible particle losses, and can additionally be used to determine the minute ventilation. Secondly, exemplary experimental data from the system is presented. A feasibility study was conducted in the city of La Paz, Bolivia. In a pilot experiment, we found that the cumulative total respiratory tract deposition dose over 1-h commuting trip would result in approximately 2.6 μg of BC. This is up to 5 times lower than the values obtained from conjectural approach (e.g. using physical parameters from previously reported worksheets). Measured total respiratory tract deposited BC fraction varied from 39% to 48% during walking and commuting inside a micro-bus, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, no studies focusing on experimental determination of real-world deposition dose of BC have been performed in developing regions. This can be especially important because the BC mass concentration is significant and determines a large fraction of particle mass concentration. In this work, we propose a potential method, recommendations, as well as the limitations in establishing an easy and relatively cheap way to estimate the respiratory tract deposition of BC. In this study we present a novel method to measure real-world respiratory tract deposition dose of Black Carbon. Results from a pilot study in La Paz, Bolivia, are presented. (Less)

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the human body are an important source of bioeffluents to indoor environments. A mid-sized (2 m × 2 m × 2 m), air-tight environmental chamber was used to measure VOC emissions from the whole body of each participant. Air tightness, homogeneity, adsorption, and desorption were controlled to satisfy the requirements of the experiment. Background concentrations of VOCs and ozone were maintained at a low level. To estimate human emission rates, the VOC concentrations of the chamber's air and of exhaled breath were collected by Tenax-TA tubes and analyzed through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Fourteen healthy participants enrolled in the pilot experiment. The chemical components of volatile emissions from the breath and the whole body of participants were found to be similar. The average emission rate of total VOC (TVOC) from the whole-body was 742.8 μg/h (SD = 464.7 μg/h), while the average TVOC emission rate from the breath samples was 41.4 μg/h (SD = 11.7 μg/h). In addition, the VOCs detected in the whole-body analyses were mainly alkanes with 3–6 carbons, while the VOCs detected in the breath sample analyses were primarily acetone and isoprene. In comparison with previous studies, the detected VOC types were mostly consistent, but the specific compounds varied. Moreover, the emission rates of very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs) were lower in this study, whereas the aromatics were on the same order of magnitude.

Multiple-choice items are extensively used across different assessment contexts. A crucial requirement for ensuring their validity is their correct development, and a number of item-writing guidelines have been proposed that support item developers. This experimental pilot study aimed to investigate the effect of violating two item-writing guidelines: the differential length of the correct option compared to distractors and its lexical overlap with the stem. Standard and flawed items, respectively adhering to and deviating from guidelines, were randomly assigned to 55 college students and compared in their psychometric functioning. Results indicated that, in general, flawed items tended to be easier and less subject to random answers than standard ones, but significant differences were few. Discrepancies between standard and flawed subtests approached statistical significance with medium effect sizes. Although of interest, findings must be cautiously interpreted due to the small sample size. Implications for future research are discussed., Los ítems de opción múltiple son ampliamente utilizados en contextos de evaluación muy variados. Un requisito muy importante para garantizar su validez es su correcta redacción, y para ayudar a conseguirlo se han desarrollado una serie de directrices. El objetivo de este estudio piloto experimental fue investigar el efecto del incumplimiento de dos de estas reglas, más concretamente, la longitud diferencial de la opción correcta comparada con los distractores y su solapamiento léxico con el enunciado. Para ello, se asignó aleatoriamente a 55 estudiantes a las condiciones de responder a ítems que respetaban o que incumplían las mencionadas directrices y se compararon las propiedades psicométricas conseguidas por los ítems. Los resultados indican que, en general, los ítems con incumplimientos tendían a ser más fáciles y a recibir menos respuestas aleatorias; no obstante, había pocas diferencias significativas y el tamaño del efecto era medio. Aunque de interés, estos resultados deben ser interpretados con cautela debido al escaso tamaño muestral. Se comentan las implicaciones para futuras investigaciones

Thermal desorption disposal of oily drilling cuttings was tested on the developed medium sized experimental system. The thermal desorption unit adopted electromagnetic induction heating during continuous conveying of materials by double screws, and the handling capability was 250 L/h. Thermal desorption test at different temperatures (300–550 °C) were carried out in conditions of residence times of 7 min and 12 min respectively. Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) content of samples after treatment reduced to less than 1% when heating temperature up to 450 °C, and the oil removal rate was about 95%. The residual content of TPH dropped to 0.3% when heating temperature at 550 °C and residence time reached to 12 min. The temperature distribution of the material in heating bed obtained by numerical simulation based on test operating conditions. A temperature rising lag area of materials in filling section of barrel was found when heating. The material temperature in this area was only about 55–65% of the setting value when residence time reach to 12 min, while the other areas temperatures could up to above 90%, and the deviation between the material temperature and the setting value became obvious when the temperature is higher.

Direct use of manganese fines in the submerged arc furnace (SAF) will lead to the low permeability of the charge, essentially increase the consumption of coke and electric energy. In order to make better use of manganese fines as well as to save energy and cost in the industry, the sintering process of manganese ore is particularly important. In current study, three different Mn ores are selected to study the effect of ore proportion and basicity on the properties of sinters. Both small scale and pilot scale sintering experiments were carried out. Physical properties of the sinters at room temperature were examined and the sinters were also detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical microscope to investigate the mineral phase compositions and microstructures afterwards. The results showed that in the range of low basicity, the increase of basicity will make the strength of sinter deteriorate and the porosity decrease. Under the current experimental conditions, scheme 1 and scheme 4 with basicity of 0.7 are the better process parameters, which are applied for the pilot experiment in the sintering pot. And the pilot experimental results shown that the strength of sinter increases with the increase of carbon addition and 10% carbon addition is the optimal carbon content in the current study.

Does the stock price efficiency, i.e. the speed and the extent with which prices reflect public information, affect corporate innovation? Using the intensity of algorithmic trading (AT) to capture price efficiency and the Tick Size Pilot experiment setting, we establish a causal positive relation between AT and innovation measured by patents. The relation is stronger for firms where managerial compensation is more closely linked to the share price performance and for more opaque firms where managerial effort is more difficult to observe from financial information. Our results generalize to other measures of innovation such as R&D spending and the number of citations.

The experimental design for a generalized linear model (GLM) is important but challenging since the design criterion often depends on model specification including the link function, the linear predictor, and the unknown regression coefficients. Prior to constructing locally or globally optimal designs, a pilot experiment is usually conducted to provide some insights on the model specifications. In pilot experiments, little information on the model specification of GLM is available. Surprisingly, there is very limited research on the design of pilot experiments for GLMs. In this work, we obtain some theoretical understanding of the design efficiency in pilot experiments for GLMs. Guided by the theory, we propose to adopt a low-discrepancy design with respect to some target distribution for pilot experiments. The performance of the proposed design is assessed through several numerical examples.

Cooperation has been the focus of many experimental articles in economics, due to its importance in evolutionary and social issues. The existing studies mostly focus on sequential games with two players, or on simultaneous games with more than two players. Little attention has been devoted to the study of sequential games with more than two players. The pilot experiment presented here aims at exploring this untouched area, focusing on a simple cooperation game with three players in a sequential setting. The results show that, contrary to theoretical predictions, players are willing to cooperate in a substantial way, even without individual incentives to do so. Moreover, indirect reciprocity assumes some significance, even if its effects cannot be fully determined from the gathered data. Though these results do not allow to draw any clear-cut conclusion by themselves, they could represent a good starting point for future research on this topic.

This contribution deals with potential alkali-silica reaction in concrete with full replacement of fine sand and silica flour with waste glass (sand, powder). The chemical composition is verified and the potential risk determined. This research deals with the assumption of eliminating the risk of alkali-silica reaction due to the waste glass utilization. Several principles of alkali silica reaction are summarized, methods of testing ASR are explained and the results of the pilot experiment are evaluated. The potential alkali-silica reaction is tested on the specimens. The values are obtained after 1, 5, 9, 14, 21 and 28 days.

Wellbore integrity is a critical subject in oil and gas production and CO2 storage. Successful subsurface deposition of various fluids, such as CO2, depends on the integrity of the storage site. In a storage site, injection wells and pre-existing wells might leak due to over-pressurization, mechanical/chemical degradation, and/or a poor cement job, thus reducing the sealing capacity of the site. Wells that leak due to microannuli or cement fractures on the order of microns are difficult to seal with typical workover techniques. We tested a novel polymer gelant, originally developed for near borehole isolation, in a pilot experiment at Mont Terri, Switzerland to evaluate its performance in the aforementioned scenario. The polymer gel sealant was injected to seal a leaky wellbore drilled in the Opalinus Clay as a pilot test. The success of the pH-triggered polymer gel (sealant) in sealing cement fractures was previously demonstrated in laboratory coreflood experiments [1-3]. pH-sensitive microgels viscosify upon neutralization in contact with alkaline cement to become highly swollen gels with substantial yield stress that can block fluid flow. The leaky wellbore setup was prepared by heating-cooling cycles to induce leakage pathways in the cased and cemented wellbore. The leakage pathways are a combination of fractures in the cement and microannuli at the cement-formation interface. The exact nature of these leakage pathways can be determined by over-coring at the end of the experiment life. We used polyacrylic acid polymer (sealant) to seal these intervals. The process comprises of three stages: (1) injection of a chelating agent as the preflush to ensure a favorable environment for the polymer gel, (2) injection of polymer solution, and (3) shut-in for the polymer gelation. Then, we evaluated the short-/long-term performance of the sealant in withholding the injected fluids (formation brine and CO2 gas). The novel sealant was successfully deployed to seal the small aperture pathways of the borehole at the pilot test. We conducted performance tests using formation brine and CO2 gas to put differential pressure on the polymer gel seal. Pressure and flow rate at the specific interval were monitored during and after injection of brine and CO2. Results of performance tests after polymer injection were compared against those in the absence of the sealant. Several short-term (4 min) constant-pressure tests at different pressure levels were performed using formation brine, and no significant injection flow rate (rates were below 0.3 ml/min) was observed. The result shows more than a ten-fold drop in the injection rate compared to the case without the sealant. The polymer gel showed compressible behavior at the beginning of the short-term performance tests. Our long-term (1-week) test shows even less injectivity (~ 0.15 ml/min) after polymer gelation. The CO2 performance test shows only 3 bar pressure dissipation overnight after injection compared to an abrupt loss of CO2 pressure in the absence of polymer gel. Sealant shows good performance even in the presence of CO2 gas with high diffusivity and acidity. Pilot test of our novel sealant proves its competency to mitigate wellbore leakage through fractured cement or debonded microannuli, where other remedy techniques are seldom effective. The effectiveness of the sealing process was successfully tested in the high-alkaline wellbore environment of formation brine in contact with cement. The results to date are encouraging and will be further analyzed once over-coring of the wellbore containing the cemented annulus occurs. The results are useful to understand the complexities of the cement/wellbore interface and adjust the sealant/process to sustain the dynamic geochemical environment of the wellbore.

openaire: EC/H2020/721385/EU//SOCRATES The current paper introduces for the very first time recently invented electrodeposition-redox replacement (EDRR) method in continuous leaching-recovery-solution purification process. The mini-pilot study reveals that longer duration of the EDRR process is beneficial as it increases gold recovery per stage and decreases the specific energy consumption of the EDRR. This extraordinary behavior is postulated to be inherent to the EDRR process, as during the EDRR the cathode surface is gradually transformed from stainless steel surface to gold(±copper) surface, thus increasing process performance with time. In addition, gold concentration of 1 mg/L in the PLS was established as the minimum concentration required for efficient operation of the EDRR process. Gold extraction from ore to solution throughout the pilot test reached up to ca. 90%, whereas in reference cyanidation test only 64% of gold was dissolved. Overall, after 150 h of pilot experiment, 83% of dissolved gold was recovered from solution on the cathode, resulting in 68.5% holistic recovery of gold from ore. Furthermore, process simulation model was built, and it suggested that closed-loop operation of cupric chloride leaching – EDRR recovery – copper precipitation process can recover in total over 84% of gold from refractory telluride ore to the cathode product, providing further evidence of true potential of EDRR in sustainable gold extraction.

The Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) is a NASA Earth Ventures Suborbital Investigation designed to test the hypothesis that kilometer-scale (“submesoscale”) ocean eddies make important contributions to vertical exchange of climate and biological variables in the upper ocean. To test this hypothesis, S-MODE will employ a combination of aircraft-based remote sensing measurements of the ocean surface, measurements from ships, measurements from a variety of autonomous oceanographic platforms, and numerical modeling. The field campaign will consist of two month-long intensive operating periods (IOPs) that will be preceded by a smaller-scale pilot experiment to test and improve operational readiness and to compare measurements made from different platforms. The pilot experiment was delayed because of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and it is currently planned for October-November 2020.

In the paper we present the results from the pilot experiment with PhD students within the scientific project „Engineering Education and Science for the Benefit of Business in the Design of Heat Transfer of Electronic Equipment” at the University of Plovdiv. A company in the field of electronics gave three PhD students a project on the topic: “Thermal design and simulations of heat transfer on a desktop-based computer system”. During the pilot experiment, doctoral students developed a thermal model of a desktop-based computer.

Due to the high cost and danger associated with both manned and unmanned flight testing, a large portion of hypersonic vehicles' development has been and will be undertaken in hypersonic impulse facilities capable of re-producing in generally some limited way, the aerothermodynamic loads and aerothermodynamic behaviour seen at these velocities. The measurement of force in impulse facilities using force balances has always been complicated, this is now much easier due to image tracking techniques utilising high speed cinematography, yet they have issues due to flow radiation at higher enthalpies and have only been used in larger impulse facilities. This paper examines the use of a free flying model in a small reflected shock tunnel at UQ as a pilot experiment before it is attempted to try out this technique in the X2 expansion tube at UQ. Using 3D printed models, appreciable test model movement could be seen in the test time. Furthermore, three different models were produced to investigate how the results are affected by scaling the model. It was shown through preliminary testing that an appreciable amount of movement could be achieved in the test time, suggesting that these experimental methods could be applied to an expansion tube testing campaign utilising higher enthalpy flow conditions.

The properties of fractured reservoirs were getting worse and worse. The output of low-permeability reservoirs was difficult to guarantee. Temporary plugging agent can preferentially select low permeability, improve reservoir heterogeneity, and increase production. The commonly used temporary plugging agent is generally cross-linked polyacrylamide and its modified derivative, and its plugging effect is good, but the gel-breaking effect under the reservoir conditions affected its use. This article developed a temporary plugging rubber based on vegetable gum: use hydroxypropyl modified guar gum as the main agent, together with the viscosity inhibitors and dispersants; The base fluid to be transported under the construction conditions, and it can be glued after reaching the construction horizon, and the plugging rubber can withstand the pressure; preferably, the gel breaker makes it easy to break the plugging rubber after the construction is completed. The indoor pressure test proves that the plugging rubber can withstand 17 MPa pressure at 40 °C. The indoor breakage test proves that the 5%–15% acid breaker can make the rubber stopper at 3 h. Pilot pressure test proves that the rubber can be extruded in the borehole. The smaller the hole diameter of the blasthole, the greater pressure of the rubber can withstand. The rubber formed with 7% guar gum concentration can withstand 3 MPa pressure in the crack state; and no rubber is filtered out within 45 min under 45 MPa in the state of sand packing state. For more and more low porosity and low permeability heterogeneous reservoirs in China, the temporary plugging rubber of vegetable gum have better application prospects.

Numerous studies endorsed by the scientific community affirm that biophilic design in the workplace improves productivity and user well-being. However, it is necessary to go a step further and objectify the design criteria serving as an operator for productivity and well-being in design practice. In response to the challenge s of how to measure the improvement of productivity and well-being through biophilic architecture design, the main contribution of this article is the development of a tool that allows to measure the predicted feature that improve productivity and well-being, based on a scientific method, which is tested by conducting a pilot experiment. A scheduled pilot experiment, as a small-scale version done in preparation for a major study, has been conducted to test a tool that quantifies the impact of biophilic design features on performance and well-being, to evaluate the influence of variables such as greenery and daylight on improving workplace performance, and look at biophilic design knowledge in greater depth. The role of natural indoor environments - understood as spaces within buildings provided with elements of nature - has received relatively little attention, compared to the number of studies evaluating occupant impact related to other characteristics of indoor environments derived from mechanical and electrical systems such as thermal factors, noise and vibration, ergonomics and office design. The present study is one of the first studies evaluating and measuring the combination of greenery and daylight into a biophilic design proposal. The results highlight an improvement in well-being, performance, creativity and health by introducing daylight and greenery into workplace design such as biophilic design features. The tool developed and tested in this pilot experiment opens a way to improve measured workplace performance to a much greater extent in contrast to the existing practice.

Introduction: This paper aims to assess the contribution of community-based surveillance to traditional surveillance systems through a pilot project launched in the Kabadougou – Bafing – Folon health region in Côte d’Ivoire by the International Rescue Committee with funding from the US Government through the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The system was initiated following the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in 2014 in Guinea and Liberia, which both share borders with Côte d'Ivoire. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, covering the period from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. Data collection, conducted from November 6-11, 2018, included document review, observations and individual interviews. The quantitative data analysis was completed using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the proportion of alert cases (signals) investigated and reported and the proportion of suspected cases reported and confirmed biologically by the Institut Pasteur of Côte d'Ivoire. A comparison was made between cases confirmed through routine surveillance and those confirmed through community-based surveillance. Qualitative data were analyzed by theme. Results: A total of 2459 cases were reported at the community level, the majority of which concern watery diarrhea (51%), fever and rash (28%) and fever and yellow eyes (15%). The remaining cases reported (6%) included other reported morbid events. In total 4265 other unusual events were reported, majority of which relate to "the number of people who had died in the community" (48%) and "the number of sick or dead animals and fish" (42%).Investigation of unusual events increased from 44% (n=601) to 76% (n=543) during the study period. Data from community-based surveillance reports accounted for 33% of cases of confirmed diseases of epidemiological significance (n=30) in the Kabadougou-Bafing-Folon health region. These cases include yellow fever, measles, and rubella. No cases of meningitis, neonatal tetanus, or Guinea worm were reported by CHWs. Conclusion: Community-based reporting complemented and strengthened the surveillance system which otherwise focused on routine data reported at health centers. however, the initiative remains contingent on external funding.

In this paper, we report the current status and utilizations of Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), Japanese regional positioning satellites system, and introduce some applications such as machine control for construction, smart agriculture, and so on. Mainly we focus on the pilot experiment using with Multi-GNSS Advanced Demonstration tool for Orbit and Clock Analysis (MADOCA) in Thailand. In comparison between MADOCA and RTK, RMS of 2.65 cm in the horizontal direction and 4.44 cm in the vertical direction was obtained in the low-latitude region where ionosphere disturbances like Plasma bubble are considered to be large. It can be concluded that this result is accurate enough for agriculture and construction machine control in low-latitude region. In areas where continuous observation reference station (CORS) is sparse or where internet communication networks are not available, high-precision positioning using MADOCA by QZSS is useful.

In this paper, toward robotic gait assistance, we investigate the feasibility of a cane-type assistive mobile robot accompanying the user autonomously through a clinical pilot experiment. As widely known, gait ability is important for all people to keep their quality of life. However, for people having weakened lower limbs such as elderly people, their postural sway during walking could be insuppressible and cause falling. To support the gait motion of elderly people, our group has been developing a series of hand-holding cane robots named Intelligent Cane. Such assistive robots are expected to remove barriers to the independent lives of elderly people. Recently, we have focused on the potential of a companion robot that follows the user ahead and can be touched or grasped for bracing whenever the user needs it. In order to demonstrate proof of our concept through an experiment with a motion capture system, we propose a user companion strategy that enables our cane robot to keep a constant relative distance between the robot and the user walking on a treadmill. We evaluate the accuracy of the user companion in an experiment where a user walks on a treadmill. Then, we conduct a clinical experiment with three healthy subjects walking on with the treadmill with our cane robot as a pilot study. Through the clinical experiment, we evaluate a postural stabilization effect of physical interaction with the robot and discuss the feasibility of our robotic gait assistance methodology.

In this work, we propose to use an approximate 2D map of the environment generated from the latest environment modeling technology and enhance the object manipulation performance for the touch based mobile augmented reality. We validated the advantage of the proposed interface through a pilot experiment and confirmed that the use of the 2D map helps reduce the task completion time almost 2 times and improve the usability as well.

Coagulation of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) and polytitanium tetrachloride (PTC) was studied at various conditions in treating wastewater that contained phosphorus (P). Jar-test experiments were performed at various chemical doses (0.02–0.49 mM), alkalinities (50 ≤ AT ≤ 150 mg CaCO3/L of NaHCO3), pH levels (3.0–8.5), and OH/Ti ratio (0.3 ≤ B ≤ 3.0) to determine the conditions at which P (2 mg/L) removal was most efficient. The TiCl4 concentration ([TiCl4]) required to achieve 98–99% P removal was 0.25 mM at 50 mg CaCO3/L, 0.31 mM at 100 mg CaCO3/L, and 0.49 mM at 150 mg CaCO3/L. Response surface analysis predicted that P removal would reach 100% at controlled pH = 3.5 with minimum [TiCl4] = 0.21 mM. PTC removed P most effectively at B = 0.3, and the optimal dose at B = 0.3 was 0.27 mM. Laboratory results and a pilot experiment will help to optimize use of Ti-based coagulants to remediate wastewater that contains P.

This research elaborates the selection of the Test First and Test Last model for a pilot experiment that was executed as a feasibility study to validate the suitability of the existing Test First model for its implementation in the series of actual experiment. The series of actual experiment is designed to investigate the quality of the project developed by the students in higher educational institution with the Test First over Test Last model. The findings gathered from the pilot experiment demonstrate that there were misunderstandings on the user stories among the participants that have led to the development of an enhanced Test First model.