Boilers slagging when burning wood pellets

A promising trend for upgrading wastes from timber cutting, processing and treatment is their granulation. It allows to increase their specific heats of combustion by 2.5– 3.5 times and their portability characteristics by 3–4 times, to reduce transportation costs by 6– 10 times and to improve all the operations stages. The construction and commissioning of boiler facilities operating on refined biofuel made it possible to form a stable domestic market for wood pellets. However, 0.5 – 1.5 MW nominal capacity hot water boilers equipped with furnaces and profiled burners at the bottom, in cold seasons had fast accumulation of focal residues deposits in the burners and on the furnace chambers lining. The process was complicated by these deposits hardening due to their melting and sintering. These circumstances cause a decrease in the energy and environmental performance of heat-generating installations and their reliability, and also leads to the unplanned shutdowns to clean the boiler furnaces. To find out the reasons for these negative phenomena and to develop recommendations for their elimination, a set of research operations was carried out with wood pellets shipped by the manufacturer and supplied to the burners of the boilers under the analyses; with focal residues accumulated in the burners and on the lining of the furnace chambers; as well as an analysis of the heat generating facilities operation modes. The studies carried out made it possible to identify the main factors that caused these negative phenomena and to develop the recommendations for their elimination.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION: TRENDS OF THE FUTURE (COMPUTER GAMES IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS)

Стремительное внедрение новых технологий во все сферы жизни неизбежно влечет кардинальные перемены, в том числе и в образовании. Авторы сконцентрировали внимание на одном из аспектов новых технологий в образовании – на геймификации учебного процесса и применении компьютерных игр как перспективную тенденцию обучения новым навыкам, умениям, компетенциям. Авторы показывают на конкретных примерах позитивные стороны этого процесса, широкие возможности применения компьютерных игр и развитие новых направлений их использования. The rapid introduction of new technologies into all spheres of life inevitably entails cardinal changes, including in education. The authors focused on one of the aspects of new technologies in education – on the gamification of the educational process and the use of computer games as a promising trend in teaching new skills, abilities, and competencies. The authors show, with specific examples, the positive aspects of this process, the wide possibilities of using computer games and the development of new directions for their use.

Analysis of clothing elements reflecting fashion trends in the collection of fashion shows

The aim of the work is to study fashion trends, to establish a set of elements through which changes are expressed in models (samples) of collections of fashion shows of clothes, and how these changes are introduced into mass production and are repeated over time. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the development of a methodology for studying clothing samples, identifying fashion trends and making forecasts. The results obtained can be used in training for the formation of competencies among specialists in the field of fashion technology, modeling and clothing design, at industry enterprises for the development of promising collections. The proposed technique was tested, elements of models and materials were identified, the use and combination of which ensures the relative novelty and integrity of the collections, forms a promising trend, which is further implemented in the mass production of clothing.

Course Internationalization Through Virtual Exchange: Students’ Reflections About “Seeing the World Through the Lens That is Soccer”

Virtual exchange (VE) is an emergent but promising trend in course internationalization, which consists of using technology to interact and work with another class located in another city/country to develop digital skills and intercultural competence. After a VE project was implemented in a sports-related communication course, students reflected on their experience in a short paper or a video. This case study is a qualitative analysis of these 17 reflections. Despite some complications, students indicated they learned much about cultural differences and would be keen to repeat the VE experience.

University Foundations and Philanthropic Fundraising in Chinese Higher Education: a Promising Trend with Challenges

This study overviews policies and practice of philanthropic fundraising in Chinese universities with a focus on university foundations. It briefly reviews the theoretical dimensions of philanthropic fundraising in higher education from a global perspective and university philanthropic fundraising models as well as their applications in Chinese universities. It shows the important role of university foundations in generating philanthropic revenue in Chinese universities. By identifying challenges and the general trends, it explores strategies for sustainable philanthropic fundraising for Chinese universities, which may provide stakeholders with a helpful and relevant reference to promote philanthropic fundraising of Chinese universities. It also gives a general guidance of philanthropic fundraising strategies for Chinese universities.

THE USE OF THE CLOUD-BASED OPEN LEARNING AND RESEARCH PLATFORM FOR COLLABORATION IN VIRTUAL TEAMS

The article highlights the promising ways of providing access to cloud-based platforms and tools to support collaborative learning and research processes. It is emphasized that the implementation of cloud computing services is a promising trend in the development of modern ICT pedagogical systems. The concept of cloud-based open learning and research platform is considered. The benchmarking studies of using ICT tools for learning and research within the pedagogical systems of higher education are fulfilled. The analysis and evaluation of the existing experience of using different types of software packages to support learning and research processes within the cloud-based environment are proposed. The issues of integration of knowledge-based services, language technologies and database network services within the open systems of learning and research are covered. A model of the cloud-based open learning and research collaborative environment involving the use of cloud-based components based on AWS virtual desktop, IBM Box, WPadV4 and other tools is substantiated. The reasonable ways of tools selection are considered and the prospects for their use within the cloud-based open learning and research platform in pedagogical systems of higher education are described. The research methods are the analysis of official international documents, publications on the subject of the research, observation, comparison, the analysis of the experience of using educational and scientific network packages, application of cloud technologies, benchmarking studies and experimental studies. Conclusions and recommendations encompass the application of cloud-based open learning and research technologies covering research platforms, scientific and educational network packages, and also cloud services for collecting, submitting and processing data as a promising trend in the development and modernization of the educational environment of higher education institutions and collaborative research.