Analytical Solution of Heat Exchange in Typical Electrocaloric Devices

Most of electrocaloric devices reported so far can be simplified as a multilayer structure in which thermal source and sink are different materials at two ends. The thermal conduction in the multilayer structure is the key for the performance of the devices. In this paper, the analytical solutions for the thermal conduction in a multilayer structure with four layers are introduced. The middle two layers are electrocaloric materials. The analytical solutions are also simplified for a hot/cold plate with two sides being different media - a typical case for thermal treatment of materials. The analytical solutions include series with infinite terms. It is proved that these series are convergent so the sum of a series can be calculated using the first N terms. The equation for calculating the N is introduced. Based on the case study, it is found that the N is usually a small number, mostly less than 40 and rarely more than 100. The issues related to the application of the analytical solutions for the simulation of real electrocaloric devices are discussed, which includes the usage of multilayer ceramic capacitor, influence of electrodes, and characterization of thin film.

Green Self-Activating Synthesis System for Porous Carbons; Celery Biomass Wastes as a Typical Case for CO2 Uptake with Kinetic, Equilibrium and Thermodynamic Studies

A green self-activating synthesis system (SASS) has been introduced for porous carbons. In the presented system, there is no external support for the activation process, and the activating agents are the circulating gases released during the pyrolysis treatment. As a typical case, this system was used for the synthesis of hierarchical porous carbons from celery wastes in hydroponic greenhouses. Based on the adsorption-desorption results, the optimal porous carbons were synthesized at 700°C, providing a surface area as high as 1126 m2g−1 and micropore volume of approximately 0.7 cm3g−1. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated the presence of graphitic nitrogen in the synthesized porous carbon structure. The synthesized porous carbons were applied as an adsorbent for CO2 capture. CO2 adsorption was performed at low and high pressures at various temperatures. Under low pressures (0-1 bar), the synthesized carbons adsorbed 5 mmolg−1 at 0°C and 2.03 mmolg−1 at 25°C. The adsorption capacity of the synthesized carbon at 25°C and a relatively high pressure of 9.5 bar was 9.57 mmolg−1. Based on the thermodynamic and kinetic models, it was clarified that the adsorption process can be regarded as physisorption with an adsorption enthalpy of 23.2 kJ.mol−1. Additionally, the fractional-order kinetic model was found to be the best match in the kinetic curves. The synthesis system described herein represents a promising strategy for producing green porous carbon from various waste organic precursors.

Promises and Challenges of Medical Patient Healthcare Portals in Underserved Communities

As a safety-net medical center that serves many underserved communities, Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia (EMCP) faces many challenges in providing healthcare to its communities. To improve those services, EMCP has released a new IT healthcare portal (app). This chapter describes some of the promises and challenges EMCP is currently facing in their attempts to convince communities in its catchment area to adopt that healthcare portal. The challenges are discussed in the contexts of poor social determinants of health (SDOH), unique social factors, as well as the importance of managing community trust in EMCP within the broader contexts of underserved communities of which the new portal is only part of the story. This is not a typical case of IT adoption. The challenges at hand are not only technical but to a large degree social, dealing in part with issues of cultural diversity, perceived lack of respect, and poor health literacy.

Tourism Environmental Impacts Assessment to Guide Public Authorities towards Sustainable Choices for the Post-COVID Era

The collapse of tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many destinations to rethink their economic model, by focusing on sustainability and innovation. Advances in tourism impact assessment can not only improve tourism products and services, but also guide the sector towards responsible choices for the post-COVID era. The paper proposes a new way to assess tourism products using the Life Cycle Assessment—LCA methodology. Thanks to this method the authors quantify the environmental impacts of tourism choices and propose alternative green solutions. Innovation is therefore aimed at promoting a new awareness to support sustainable tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the impacts have been quantified, local governments can make decisions in their plans to promote the most sustainable solutions. The application of the methodology to a typical case study for the Mediterranean area—Cinque Terre National Park in the Liguria Region (Italy)—further helps administrations to transfer and replicate the authors’ proposal. The proposed methodology is applied taking into account several priority issues for host territories such as the activities carried out by tourists, tourism mobility, and accommodation.

Case Report: Neonatal Massive Pneumothorax Resulting in Compression Atelectasis Treated by Ultrasound-Guided Pleural Puncture Therapy: A Typical Case Based on Lung Ultrasound Finding

Atelectasis is a complication of different pulmonary diseases; however, neonatal compression atelectasis due to pneumothorax is rarely reported in the literature. Recently, we encountered a typical case of atelectasis. A preterm infant was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit owing to severe respiratory distress. Lung ultrasound examination confirmed severe pneumothorax and large area of atelectasis. Lung re-expansion occurred when the air was drained from the pleural cavity.

Malicious Javascript Detection based on Clustering Techniques

Malicious JavaScript code is still a problem for website and web users. The complication and equivocation of this code make the detection which is based on signatures of antivirus programs becomes ineffective. So far, the alternative methods using machine learning have achieved encouraging results, and have detected malicious JavaScript code with high accuracy. However, according to the supervised learning method, the models, which are introduced, depend on the number of labeled symbols and require significant computational resources to activate. The rapid growth of malicious JavaScript is a real challenge to the solutions based on supervised learning due to the lacking of experience in detecting new forms of malicious JavaScript code. In this paper, we deal with the challenge by the method of detecting malicious JavaScript based on clustering techniques. The known symbols that will be analyzed, the characteristics which are extracted, and a detection processing technique applied on output clusters are included in the model. This method is not computationally complicated, as well as the typical case experiments gave positive results; specifically, it has detected new forms of malicious JavaScript code.

Does the accessibility of a farmer predict the delivery of extension services? Evidence from Rwanda

To determine whether a farmer’s accessibility predicts the delivery of extension services, this study used banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease-management advisory as a typical case with which to collect extension-delivery information from 690 farmers, distinguished by their respective accessibility. Cost–distance analysis was applied to define each farmer’s accessibility. The results revealed that a farmer’s accessibility does not predict extension delivery to that farmer in all forms of the examined extension parameters. Significant factors contributing to the delivery of extension services included BXW incidence and membership in Twigire Muhinzi groups. Given the results of this paper, I argue that the nature of the advisory and the type of farmers’ networks are more predictive factors than physical proximity. The findings of this study support the argument that the group-based extension approach is more effective; therefore, the Twigire Muhinzi initiative is recommended as a suitable model for delivering agricultural advisory services. The absence of a significant association between extension delivery and distance (accessibility) suggests that extension agents do not follow the first-reached, first-served rule but instead follow the problem-solving-based approach.