scholarly journals A Basic Characterisation Study of Bioplastics via Gelatinization of Corn Starch

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 820-833
Author(s):  
Cindy Li Yin Lee ◽  
Wan Sieng Yeo

Plastic waste is the third-largest waste source in the world, so it raises the world’s human health and environmental concerns. Replacing conventional petroleum plastic with bioplastic is an alternative way to minimise plastic wastes from human life and bioplastic is more environmentally friendly. Therefore, this research study aims to synthesise bioplastic from corn starch via gelatinization and study its characteristics. Different from other studies, in this study, new formulations of bioplastics with different ratios of corn starch to glycerol samples that are 1:0.5, 1:1, 2:1, and 2:2, namely Sets A, B, C, and D, respectively, were studied and compared. From the Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy analysis, the results show that all produced corn starch-based bioplastic samples had the four major plastic’s functional groups which indicated that they were categorized as polyester. Meanwhile, via thermal property analysis, all bioplastic samples could be thermally decomposed from 34 °C to 504 °C where their weight was reduced from 5 mg to 1 mg. Among the four bioplastic samples (Sets A to D) with different ratios of corn starch to glycerol, it was found that a ratio of corn starch and glycerol that was 1:0.5 (Set A) had more biodegradable characteristics and it had the lowest water holding capacity. From the results, Set A could only hold around 4.27 % of the water that could avoid interaction of water with the contents that were wrapped with. Besides, from the results, Set A could degrade better in soils, and dissolve more in ethanol, acetone, and oils when compared to other samples. Since the bioplastic can degrade naturally by the ethanol produced from bacteria in the soils under anaerobic reactions, thus Set A has the potential application to be used as a fertiliser coating to minimise the fertiliser release rate in regions under heavy rainfall.

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Leontyev

The paper is focused on one of the key aspects of Fyodor Vasilyuk’s contribution to the elabora¬tion of methodological foundations of psychology, namely, on the construct of lifeworld and ‘lifeworld ontology’ as a metatheoretical framework for the understanding of human life and activity in the world. The paper is subdivided into four sections. The first one gives the justification of Vasilyuk’s approach in terms of ‘lifeworld ontology’, reveals its conceptual connection with the ideas of A.N. Leontiev and S.L. Rubinstein. The second one is dedicated to the concept of lifeworld, its association with specifically human ways of existing in the world, its distinction from the environment and the idea of multiple hu¬man worlds. In the third section, the author reveals, basing on the conceptions of L. Binswanger, E. van Deurtzen and C. Popper, the multidimensional structure of human lifeworld and discusses the mutuality of human-world relationships. In the fourth section. a typology of lifeworlds is offered, based on three core criteria: past/present/future ratio, individual/society relationship, and factual/due/possible ratio as value orientations.


wisdom ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Ana Bazak

The first aim of this paper is to circumscribe the concept of wisdom from the standpoint of op­posite as well as close notions. The second one is to relate moral wisdom to social conditions; this as­pect emphasises two states of moral wisdom or, ra­ther, two levels on which the concept has been conceived: that of a fragmented and separated cognisance and manners to manage one’s own existence – whether this entity is an individual per­son or a small or large community – and that of an integrated wisdom of humanity in a holistic app­roach. The third aim of this research is to question if and how moral wisdom should be redefined in the present “Era of Emergent Technologies”. Indeed, the abundance of rapid scientific discoveries and of technologies unimaginable before generates great expectations and strong technophile beliefs concer­ning a spectacular and fundamental improvement of human life, generally, thus of every human per­son and community. But as we can see, it is not quite the case: just this incongruent situation allows, more, requires the re-questioning of the concept of moral wisdom nowadays. This re-ques­tioning shows that the different traditional repre­sentations of moral wisdom have to be transcen­ded and that on the theoretical level the urgency is to think within new categories and support a new type of human action adequate to the world global problems whose climbing demonstrates the back­wardness of moral wisdom.


A way out of the deepening global crisis is possible through a fundamental change in the methodology for realizing holistic reality. The traditional mechanics-materialistic science clearly ignores the integrity of the world and man, his spirituality. Trialectics as a true method of comprehending the living integral world and developing in its course a new personal methodology is based on the recognition of the three-pointed personality ‒ the spiritual and bio-social nature of man, the specificity of which as a representative of a special conscious natural kind is determined by humanity, in which the freedom of personal benevolent creativity lies. The three-person nature of a man, his humanity, is reflected in unome as the initial deep-seated code of human life-unfolding — a potential universality-quality of the life process of unfolding a personality that reaches its highest form in every act of a personality when its self-realization acquires the personal quality of freedom-responsibility. The comprehension of the unom, which includes the genome and the memon, is aimed at setting the purity of the transformations of the economy of human senses-values, which allow exploring the deep spiritual and semantic unity of the separate economic entities. Unomics is a new fateful science of humanity, which aims to explore and substantiate the benevolent format of the life activity of the individual-microcosm act, based on the understanding-deployment of the syncretic dimension of the value-semantic Universe (macrocosm). It requires a spiritually experienced, existential basis for the knowledge of an economic person, which asserts the supremacy of the individual. The format «unomics ‒ globalistics» is revealed. In understanding the unom of the personality, the primary role is played by the problem of studying its existentials, which define the meanings of life ‒ economic production that is productive for humanity. Three main existentials of human existence are: spirituality, freedom and responsibility (V. Frankl). Their comprehension in the new format of trialectics allowed to go deeper into the understanding of the existential «freedom-responsibility». The third existential in the being of a human is love.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 47-65
Author(s):  
Zimitri Erasmus

How does Sylvia Wynter’s theory of the human depart from Western bio-centric and teleological accounts of the human? To grapple with this question I clarify five key concepts in her theory: the Third Emergence, auto- and socio-poiesis, the autopoietic overturn, the human as hybrid, and sociogenesis. I draw on parts of Wynter’s oeuvre, texts she works with and my conversations with Anthony Bogues. Wynter invents a Third Emergence of the world to mark the advent of the human as a hybrid being. She challenges Western conceptions that reduce the human to biological properties. In opposition to Western teleology, her counter-cartography of a history of human life offers a relational conception of human existence which pivots around Frantz Fanon’s theory of sociogeny. She draws on Aimé Césaire’s call for a conception of the human made to the measure of the world, not to the measure of ‘Man’. This makes Wynter’s theory counter-, not post-humanist.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-57
Author(s):  
Michael H. Mitias ◽  

This paper is a critical analysis of the conditions under which a decent world order is possible, an order in which the different peoples of the world can thrive under the conditions of peace, cooperation, freedom, justice, and prosperity. This analysis is done from the standpoint of Janusz Kuczyński’s philosophy of universalism as a metaphilosophy. More than any other in the contemporary period, this philosophy has advanced a focused, systematic, and comprehensive analysis of these conditions on the basis of a universal vision of nature, human nature, and the meaning of human life and destiny. The paper is composed of three parts. The first part is devoted to a short overview of activism in the history of philosophy. The second part is devoted to an analysis of the main elements of universalism as a metaphilosophy, especially the theoretical conditions of establishing a decent world order. The third part is devoted to a discussion of the practical steps that should be taken to establish a decent world order.


Diacovensia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 133.-154.
Author(s):  
Stanislav Šota

The paper analyzes the understanding of the pastoral and catechetical dimension of the bishop’s ministry in the documents of Pope Francis. In four parts, the paper presents the content and characteristics of bishop’s pastoral and catechetical activities, the mode of its realization and concrete contribution. Speaking primarily of the Jesus-like dimension of bishop’s pastoral-catechetical activity, the paper analyzes, it “stops” on Jesus’ face as the image and the synonym of bishop’s necessary evangelizing zeal, fervor and transformation. Jesus’ transformed face is a call, a mission and a need for the evangelizing, pastoral and catechetical transformation. The Jesus-like face speaks about the necessity of bishops being imbued with the principles and values of Jesus, about the necessity of their testimony and concrete love rooted in pastoral and catechetical activity. The second part of the paper brings concrete tasks of bishop’s ministry in the pastoral and catechetical sense: the incorporation of the Gospel in the socio-cultural environment, creating new models of pastoral-catechetical activity, promoting missionary communion, reviewing traditions, overcoming the “rural syndrome” in the pastoral-catechetical activity, the need to realize the bishop’s ministry in the dimension of “Jesus the Citizen” and “going out” to the peripheries, especially with a better family pastoral. In the third part, the author analyzes the pastoral-catechetical postulates of the bishop’s ministry through the prism of stronger inculturation, active, rather than re-active pastoral-catechetical activity, the overcoming of atheistic and anti-ecclesial culture of modern man, the need to preserve the original ways of incorporating the Gospel in the society, and the need for a stronger pastoral and catechetical inculturational involvement of bishops in their own dioceses. The fourth part of the paper points to the social dimension of the pastoral-catechistical activity of bishops, by stressing the need for bishops’ initiative to overcome evil and poverty that are present in the world, to deprive and eliminate their consequences, to point out their structural causes, with concern for ensuring health care for every person, the dignity of work, fair pay, protection of the dignity of human life, to contribute to and spread social dialogue as an essential dimension of peace and common good in the world.


2006 ◽  
pp. 75-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Moiseev

The number of classical banks in the world has reduced. In the majority of countries the number of banks does not exceed 200. The uniqueness of the Russian banking sector is that in this respect it takes the third place in the world after the USA and Germany. The paper reviews the conclusions of the economic theory about the optimum structure of the banking market. The empirical analysis shows that the number of banks in a country is influenced by the size of its territory, population number and GDP per capita. Our econometric estimate is that the equilibrium number of banks in Russia should be in a range of 180-220 units.


2006 ◽  
pp. 126-134
Author(s):  
L. Evstigneeva ◽  
R. Evstigneev

“The Third Way” concept is still widespread all over the world. Growing socio-economic uncertainty makes the authors revise the concept. In the course of discussion with other authors they introduce a synergetic vision of the problem. That means in the first place changing a linear approach to the economic research for a non-linear one.


CCIT Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-115
Author(s):  
Untung Rahardja ◽  
Khanna Tiara ◽  
Ray Indra Taufik Wijaya

Education is an important factor in human life. According to Ki Hajar Dewantara, education is a civilizing process that a business gives high values ??to the new generation in a society that is not only maintenance but also with a view to promote and develop the culture of the nobility toward human life. Education is a human investment that can be used now and in the future. One other important factor in supporting human life in addition to education, which is technology. In this globalization era, technology has touched every joint of human life. The combination of these two factors will be a new innovation in the world of education. The innovation has been implemented by Raharja College, namely the use of the method iLearning (Integrated Learning) in the learning process. Where such learning has been online based. ILearning method consists of TPI (Ten Pillars of IT iLearning). Rinfo is one of the ten pillars, where it became an official email used by the whole community’s in Raharja College to communicate with each other. Rinfo is Gmail, which is adapted from the Google platform with typical raharja.info as its domain. This Rinfo is a medium of communication, as well as a tool to support the learning process in Raharja College. Because in addition to integrated with TPi, this Rinfo was connected also support with other learning tools, such as Docs, Drive, Sites, and other supporting tools.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-106
Author(s):  
ASTEMIR ZHURTOV ◽  

Cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as humiliate the dignity, are prohibited in most countries of the world, and Russia is no exception in this issue. The article presents an analysis of the institution of responsibility for torture in the Russian Federation. The author comes to the conclusion that the current criminal law of Russia superficially and fragmentally regulates liability for torture, in connection with which the author formulated the proposals to define such act as an independent crime. In the frame of modern globalization, the world community pays special attention to the protection of human rights, in connection with which large-scale international standards have been created a long time ago. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international acts enshrine prohibitions of cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as degrade the dignity.Considering the historical experience of the past, these standards focus on the prohibition of any kind of torture, regardless of the purpose of their implementation.


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