Exploring Hong Kong Youth Culture via a Virtual Reality Tour

The advantages of employing virtual reality tours in teaching are attributed to the virtual reality experience it provides to the students. In the case of teaching popular culture, benefits from the potential of VR tour are amplified by the empirical significance that would lead to the students’ imagination and reflection. In addition, an online VR tour suggests a flexibility that allows students to learn anyplace anytime, satisfying the need for blended learning and distance learning, which is a very critical mode of teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article discusses the advantages and challenges of blending “virtual reality” into the teaching of popular culture, and, furthermore, the implications of VR in tertiary education are discussed by examining the research that is conducted through the application of a VR tour in the course: Hong Kong Popular Culture. Sixty-eight students participated in the course. After implementing the VR tour, a questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted. In addition, students wrote essays to reflect on the youth culture of contemporary Hong Kong after the explanation of the tour, and these were also examined. We observed the positive responses from the students and the way in which the VR tour could enhance the learning qualities in the course on cultural studies.

Energetic Optimization and Exergetic Performance Investigation of an Ejector System Using HCFO-1233zd(E) as a Refrigerant

In this study, the performance of an ejector refrigeration system using HCFO-1233zd(E) as the working fluid is investigated and presented. A novel improved modeling approach that considers ejector loss coefficients as functions of the ejector pressure lift and area ratio has been used. The resulting mathematical model developed using the first and second laws of thermodynamics and gas dynamics is solved using Engineering Equation Solver. Different ejector geometries with area ratios of 6.44, 7.04, 7.51, 7.73, 8.28, 8.62, 9.13, 9.41 and 10.64 were used in this study. The evaporator temperatures were between 0 °C and 16 °C, the generator temperatures were between 75 °C and 120 °C and the condensing temperatures varied between 20 °C and 40 °C. For the range of parameters used, the optimal coefficient of performance (COP) is in the range 0.11 and 0.88 for evaporator temperatures between 4 °C and 16 °C. At the optimal working conditions, the COP improves with higher area ratios, lower condensing temperatures and requires increased generator temperatures. In the critical mode of operation, both the energetic and exegetic performance of the ejector are shown to decline as generator temperatures increase, evaporator temperatures reduce and as the area ratios decrease. Thermodynamic investigation using the exergy analysis method indicates that most of the exergetic losses come from the ejector (46-56%) followed by the condenser (18-29%), the generator (21-26%), the evaporator (0.8-3%), and the throttle valve (1- 1.6%), with the pump having a very small contribution. Moreover, correlations for the optimal generator and optimal COP were derived and presented. Keywords: Coefficient of performance, Critical mode, Ejector refrigeration system, Ejector loss coefficients, Exergetic performance, Hydroflouroolefins

Energetic Optimization and Exergetic Performance Investigation of an Ejector System Using HCFO-1233zd(E) as a Refrigerant

In this study, the performance of an ejector refrigeration system using HCFO-1233zd(E) as the working fluid is investigated and presented. A novel improved modeling approach that considers ejector loss coefficients as functions of the ejector pressure lift and area ratio has been used. The resulting mathematical model developed using the first and second laws of thermodynamics and gas dynamics is solved using Engineering Equation Solver. Different ejector geometries with area ratios of 6.44, 7.04, 7.51, 7.73, 8.28, 8.62, 9.13, 9.41 and 10.64 were used in this study. The evaporator temperatures were between 0 °C and 16 °C, the generator temperatures were between 75 °C and 120 °C and the condensing temperatures varied between 20 °C and 40 °C. For the range of parameters used, the optimal coefficient of performance (COP) is in the range 0.11 and 0.88 for evaporator temperatures between 4 °C and 16 °C. At the optimal working conditions, the COP improves with higher area ratios, lower condensing temperatures and requires increased generator temperatures. In the critical mode of operation, both the energetic and exegetic performance of the ejector are shown to decline as generator temperatures increase, evaporator temperatures reduce and as the area ratios decrease. Thermodynamic investigation using the exergy analysis method indicates that most of the exergetic losses come from the ejector (46-56%) followed by the condenser (18-29%), the generator (21-26%), the evaporator (0.8-3%), and the throttle valve (1- 1.6%), with the pump having a very small contribution. Moreover, correlations for the optimal generator and optimal COP were derived and presented. Keywords: Coefficient of performance, Critical mode, Ejector refrigeration system, Ejector loss coefficients, Exergetic performance, Hydroflouroolefins

Flow spreading behind a combined dam with a through part of tetrahedrons on foothill rivers

The areas of the foothill rivers are distinguished by large bottom slopes reaching 0.004, with increased kinetics of the flow of more than 0.15, and by gravel-pebble sediments of the river bed and flow. An analysis of the studies performed on the regulatory structures showed that the bulk of them was performed for the conditions of lowland rivers. In the article, a design of a combined dam with a through part of tetrahedrons is proposed. The experiments were conducted in a flume with a rigid bottom and with a variable slope of. The modeling was performed according to Froude in a self-similar area. Experimental studies revealed the presence of two flow spreading modes depending on the bottom slope: a “calm” mode at iД < iκр and a “critical” mode at iД > iκр These modes are mainly influenced by the degree of constraint and the Froude number. In the previous articles, a solution to the problem was provided for the case iД < iκр, which covers the foothill sections of rivers at a “calm” mode. At a further increase in the degree of flow constraint n > 0.3 and the Froude number Fr > 0.15, a “critical mode” is observed. Here, a solution to the problem for this case is given. The problem, in this case, differs from the previously considered one by non-uniform distribution of velocities in the weakly disturbed core, a significant reduction in the length of the vortex zone; the vertical compression of the flow continues to the end of the vortex zone. The versatility of the velocity distribution in the zones of weakly disturbed core and intense turbulent mixing is experimentally substantiated. With theoretical studies, using the basic equations of applied mechanics, a method for calculating the velocity field was developed, and the planned dimensions of the vortex zones were established. The comparison with experimental data showed satisfactory agreement.

Jaspers als Zeitdiagnostiker

For a number of writings of Jaspers it is significant that they imply diagnoses (or critical reflections) about some cultural and political tendencies and events during his lifetime. Those diagnoses becomes evident in the books “Man in modern Age”, “The Question of German Guilt”, “The Atom bomb and the Future of Man” or “The Future of Mankind”, and “The Future of Germa- ny”. There Jaspers treated in a critical mode: inhuman consequences of the development of modern sciences und techniques, the guilt of German people for the rise of Naziism, the danger of the extinction of all mankind by the atom-bomb, the abolition of individual freedom and human dignity by totali- tarian governments, the introduction of a new constitution for West-Germany without an open and broader discussion and cooperation with the German people a. s. o. That those critical diagnoses are grounded in a liberal ethos of freedom and humanity in Jaspers’ philosophy is the main thesis of this article.

Ergoic framing in New Right online groups

Conspiracy theories are often disqualified as inadequate and deliberate forms of misinformation. In this analysis, we engage with a specific case, the conspiracy theory developed on an online New Right forum called Q about the so-called “MAGA Kid incident” with focus on its circulation and uptake on Facebook. Drawing on ethnomethodological principles, the analysis shows how ergoic argumentation is systematically being deployed as a means of debunking rational-factual discourses about such incidents. While rationality itself is being rejected, conspiracy theorists deploy “reasonable” knowledge tactics. The paper shows how conspiracy theorists skillfully mobilize social media affordances, particularly Internet memes, to promote conspiracism as a form of inclusive political activism as well as a legitimate and “critical” mode of reasoning.

Economies of Accomplishments

Amateur music-making was often labeled a feminine “accomplishment”—a designation that carried ambivalent connotations. The extensive and contradictory prescriptive literature about accomplishments, and the broader discussion about women’s education of which it was a part, deemed musical ability at once essential and frivolous. The justifications for accomplishments cohered primarily around the theme of patriarchal authority: pleasing fathers and husbands and attracting potential mates. Warnings regarding accomplishments stemmed from scenarios where such justifications went awry (with foolish fathers and rakish suitors). Yet the lived experiences of amateur musicians show that young women took pleasure in the self-fashioning opportunities musical performances afforded. Moreover, in courtship and marriage, music served not simply to please and entertain others, but, as Sarah Brown’s experiences demonstrate, also was a critical mode through which family intimacy was built and maintained.

Study on Conceptual Design of a Solar Ejector Refrigeration System

The refrigeration system based on the conventional compression cycle consumes an enormous amount of high-grade energy. Using fossil fuels as the energy sources results in the addition of CO2 into the atmosphere and consequently stimulating higher greenhouse effect. The ejector refrigeration systems powered by renewable energy sources would be an effective alternative without increasing global CO2 footprint. In this study, the performance characteristics of a solar ejector refrigeration system working with R718 are analytically calculated by using a one-dimensional flow model. At the critical mode, the solar ejector-refrigeration system is analyzed at various working conditions such as condenser temperature, evaporator temperature, generator temperature, and ejector area ratio. The critical system performance is analyzed to meet any designated working conditions with a wide range of condenser temperatures. It is found that during the critical mode of operation, higher area ratio, higher evaporator temperature and lower generator temperature enhance the performance of the system. The minimum evaporator temperature, and the maximum generator temperature designed to acquire the required coefficient of performance value are also calculated.