Environmental impact analysis of five family houses in Eastern Slovakia through a life cycle assessment

This study performs a life cycle assessment (LCA) of five new family houses in Eastern Slovakia to compare them in terms of the materials and technologies used. The main goal of the analysis is to investigate and highlight the expectable reduction rate of environmental impact resulting from using green materials and technologies. Their environmental impact is determined by using eToolLCD software. The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) categories of global warming, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication and photochemical ozone creation potential are determined within the cradle-to-grave boundary. The examined family houses are built of conventional materials such as aerated concrete blocks, expanded polystyrene (EPS) for thermal insulation and roofing mineral wool, as well as natural materials such as clay, straw, wood, cellulose and vegetation for the roofs. Family houses built of natural materials are characterized by negative emissions of CO2eq in the product phase. Results show that especially the product phase contributes greatly to all environmental impact categories for houses built of conventional materials, such as aerated concrete blocks, mineral wool for thermal insulation, reinforcement concrete and ceramic or concrete tiles.

Life Cycle Analysis of Single Family Houses and Effects of Green Technologies on Environment

Construction and using of buildings for many years produce long-lasting impacts on human health and the environment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the rapidly evolving science of clarifying these impacts in terms of their quality, severity, and duration. LCA of three selected new family houses located in Eastern Slovakia is performed with the aim to compare them in terms of built-in materials as well as used technologies. The main goal of the analysis is to investigate and underline the foreseeable reduction rate of environmental impacts resulting from applied green materials and green technologies. LCA impact categories of global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) are selected for this analysis. Investigated family houses are built from conventional materials, such as aerated concrete blocks, reinforced concrete, thermal insulation of silicate mineral slabs, and roofing mineral wool, as well as natural materials, such as clay, straw, wood, cellulose, and vegetation roofs. Product phase contributes greatly to the GWP for houses built of conventional materials. AP, EP, ODP, and POCP impact categories are considerable also in the product phase. Even an operational energy phase contributes a large share of the negative impact on the environment. Adoption of green design and technology in buildings, which can mitigate negative impacts on the environment, has been recognized as a key step towards global sustainable development. The main goal of this article is to make the case that green buildings are important for reducing negative effects on the environment and resources, while simultaneously enhancing positive effects throughout the building life cycle.

Testing a Process-Product Framework for Conceptualizing Motivation

This study explored the idea that motivation for learning can be a process as well as a product: the product being an active state of motivation whereas the process would include the antecedents that created that state. This hypothesis was tested by interviewing 47 university students immediately after normal lectures. Results showed that 89% had experienced an active state of motivation (the product phase) that was influenced by antecedents that included personal characteristics (e.g., self-efficacy, individual interest), temporal personal factors (mood, fatigue), and contextual factors (teacher enthusiasm and “interestingness”). It was concluded that process-product is a potentially useful framework for conceptualizing motivation.

Microstructure and Crystallography of β Phase Formed through Electric Current Pulse (ECP) Treatment in Cold-Rolled Cu-40%Zn Alloy

Most of the studies on phase transformation in metallic materials have focused on transformations during cooling processes due to the easiness of the conservation of the product phase. However, for phase transformation happening during heating processes, the experimental investigations have been indirect if the product high temperature phase could not be preserved to the convenient observation temperature, for example the room temperature. The high density Electric Current Pulse (ECP) treatment allows the phase transformation during heating process and the preservation of the high temperature phase to the room temperature, offering possibilities for direct experimental examinations. Thus, in the present work, a cold-rolled Cu–40%Zn alloy was ECP treated and the microstructure of the product phase and the transformation orientation relationship were investigated. Results show that during the ECP treatment, the high temperature beta phase with BCC structure formed in the parent alpha phase with FCC structure. Especially, two kinds of orientation relationships could be detected between the parent alpha phase and the product beta precipitates. The one is the Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationship (K-S OR), and the other is the Nishiyama-Wasserman (N-W). In addition, the amount of beta precipitates obeying the K-S OR is more than that of precipitates obeying the N-W OR. The results of this work provide new fundamental information on phase transformation of metallic materials.

Molten Salt Synthesis and Formation Mechanism of Plate-Like MgAl2O4 Spinel

Plate-like Magnesium Aluminum spinel (MgAl2O4) with octahedral structure was synthesized using Al2O3plate-like particles and MgO powders as raw materials in the molten salt of LiCl, KCl or NaCl, respectively. The Results indicated that the molten salts accelerated MA formation, and LiCl was more effective than KCl and NaCl, which may be attributed to the higher solubility of MgO in the former than in the latter two. The outline shape of MA spinel product phase was the same as that of original plate-like Al2O3particles. The growth mechanism of plate-like MgAl2O4spinel particles with octahedral structure should be governed by “template formation mechanism” accompanied with “dissolution-precipitation mechanism”.

Crystallographic orientation relationships in the α→γ′ martensitic transformation in an Fe–Mn–Al–Ni system

The Fe43.5Mn34Al15Ni7.5 (at.%) alloy exhibits outstanding pseudoelastic behaviour over a wide range of temperatures. This alloy undergoes an unusual martensitic transformation from a disordered body-centred cubic (α) parent phase to a face-centred cubic (γ′) product phase. In the present work, the orientations of the parent and product phases for quenched samples were analysed by electron backscatter diffraction. Bain, Kurdjumow–Sachs, Pitsch, Nishiyama–Wassermann and Greninger–Troiano orientation relationships between the parent and product phases were compared with experimental results. The Pitsch relationship appears to be the most suitable to describe the α→γ′ martensitic transformation. This result provides experimental support to the dislocation-based heterogeneous Bogers–Burgers type transformation mechanism. No indications of variant selection were detected in the thermally activated transformations.

Corruption as a Source of Government Project Failure in Developing Countries

This study explores how corruption impacts the failure of government projects in developing countries with evidence from the Ghanaian context. This study solicits the perceptions of project management practitioners (14), contractors (6), government officials (clients; 5), and the general public (5) on the subject. The findings indicate that corruption influences government project failure on all the failure criteria that were used for the evaluation. However, corruption influences failure at two different levels: project management and product phase. At the project management level, corruption has direct influence, while at the product phase level, the influence is indirect.