The mechanism of RAPRENOx reactions - RAPid REduction of Nitrogen Oxides using Isocyanic acid - proposed by Robert A. Perry1 in an attempt to help control the emission of nitrogen oxides pollutant into the atmosphere, has been re-investigated theoretically. The study of reaction mechanisms was carried out using Chemist software2. All mathematically possible elementary steps have been evaluated and the chemically reasonable ones have been considered to propose new sets of reaction mechanisms. Density Functional Theory (B3LYP/6-31 G**) calculations using Gaussian 983 were made in order to study the relative energies of all species and to predict the energy barrier of each elementary step. As a consequence of our study, there are two more sets of reaction mechanisms (in addition to Perry’s mechanism), that could be possible for the propagation step of RAPRENOx process.

The formation of the tropylium ion, C7H7+, in the mass spectrum of toluene is a chemical process that has been studied extensively in the past. The advances in computational power of personal computers have made the investigation of the pathway to form this ion and its subsequent decomposition feasible at a fairly high level of theory. The calculations that we performed were at the HF/6-31G (d, p) and the B3LYP/6-311++G (2d) levels. This work will show areas of the potential energy surface around the highly symmetric tropylium ion to give a glance of possible mechanisms for its formation and decomposition. Our results have confirmed some of the mechanisms reported in the literature, and in addition new areas are explored in the report.

I dagens samhälle står vi inför tuffa utmaningar för att minska vår miljöpåverkan och stoppa växthuseffekten. Vi har mycket att arbeta mot för att nå ett hållbart samhälle där vi säkrar en bevarad mångfald och en hälsosam miljö att leva i för kommande generationer. Sverige har tagit fram 16 olika miljömål som ska vägleda och hjälpa samhället på väg mot en grönare framtid. Växthusgaser har störst påverkan på växthuseffekten och år 2019 stod byggsektorn för hela 21,1% av den totala mängden växthusgaser som släpptes ut i Sverige. Eftersom byggsektorn har en så pass stor roll i miljöarbetet är det viktigt att vi ser över vår byggteknik och hur vi kan utveckla den. Idag finns mängder av äldre hus i Sverige som är i behov av renovering men frågan som behandlas i det här arbetet är om alternativet att riva ett äldre hus och upprätta ett nytt faktiskt kan vara ett mer hållbart alternativ. I arbetet har en fallstudie genomförts för Bergets LSS-boende där en kontroll har gjorts om det är mer miljövänligt att riva det befintliga huset och bygga ett helt nytt i stället för att renovera byggnaden som Peab gör i skrivande stund. Eftersom växthusgaser är det som mest påverkar miljön negativt har koldioxidekvivalenter valts som värde att studera.Vid undersökningen har växthusgaser från byggnadsmaterial, maskiner och energianvändning granskats och ställts upp i en graf för att undersöka hur många år det tar för en nyproduktion att tjäna in den kvot som uppstår vid byggproduktionen jämfört med renoveringen. Enligt uträkningarna släpper renoveringen under produktionen ut en betydligt mindre andel koldioxidekvivalenter än nyproduktionen men renoveringen har årsvis en större energiförbrukning. Resultatet visar att efter knappa 17 år är båda fallen på samma nivå utsläpp och kommande år kan en nyproduktion klassas som mer miljövänlig. / Today, we face tough challenges to reduce our environmental impact and stop the greenhouse effect. We have much work to put effort into, to achieve a sustainable society where we ensure the preservation of diversity and a healthy environment for future generations to live in. Sweden has developed 16 different environmental goals to guide and help society towards a greener future. Greenhouse gases have the greatest impact on the greenhouse effect and in 2019 the construction sector accounted for a staggering 21.1% of the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted in Sweden. Since the construction sector plays such a large role within the environmental efforts, it is important that we examine our construction technology and ways to develop it. Today, there are many older houses in Sweden that need renovation, but the question addressed in this work is whether the alternative of demolishing an older house and build a new one instead can be a more sustainable option. In this work, a case study has been carried out for Bergets LSS-boende where a review has been made of whether it is more environmentally sustainable to demolish the current house and build a completely new one instead of renovating the existing building as Peab is doing at the time of writing. Since greenhouse gases are the most damaging to the environment, carbon dioxide equivalents have been chosen as the unit to study.In the study, greenhouse gas emissions from building materials, machinery and energy use have been examined and plotted in a graph to explore how many years it will take for a new construction to earn the quota that occurs during the production compared to renovation. According to the calculations, during the production phase, renovation emits a significantly lower proportion of carbon dioxide equivalents than new production, but renovation has a higher annual energy consumption. The result shows that after almost 17 years, both cases are at the same level of emissions and in the coming years a new production can be classified as more environmentally friendly. / <p>2022-06-28</p>

Proportional reasoning instruction is prevalent in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling. The concept of proportional reasoning is used in a variety of contexts for solving real-world problems. One of these contexts is the solving of dosage calculation proportional problems in the healthcare field. On the job, nurses perform drug dosage calculations which carry fatal consequences. As a result, nursing students are required to meet minimum competencies in solving proportion problems. The goal of this research is to describe the lived experiences of nurses in connection to their use of proportional reasoning in order to impact instruction of the procedures used to solve these problems. The research begins by clarifying and defining the conceptual field of proportional reasoning. Utilizing Vergnaud*s theory of conceptual fields and synthesizing the differing organizational frameworks used in the literature on proportional reasoning, the concept is organized and explicated into three components: concepts, procedures, and situations. Through the lens of this organizational structure, data from 44 registered nurses who completed a dosage calculation proportion survey were analyzed and connected to the framework of the conceptual field of proportional reasoning. Four nurses were chosen as a focus of in-depth study based upon their procedural strategies and ability to vividly describe their experiences. These qualitative results are synthesized to describe the lived experiences of nurses related to their education and use of proportional reasoning. Procedural strategies that are supported by textbooks, instruction, and practice are developed and defined. Descriptive statistics show the distribution of procedures used by nurses on a five question dosage calculation survey. The most common procedures used are the nursing formula, cross products, and dimensional analysis. These procedures correspond to the predominate procedures found in nursing dosage calculation texts. Instructional implications focus on the transition between elementary and secondary multiplicative structures, the confusion between equality and proportionality, and the difficulty that like quantities present in dealing with proportions.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24634号 / 工博第5140号 / 新制||工||1982(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科分子工学専攻 / (主査)教授 佐藤 啓文, 教授 佐藤 徹, 教授 松田 建児 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

THE EFFECTS OF GONOODLE ENGAGEMENT ON MATHEMATICS SKILLS OF MIDDLE SCHOOL-AGED STUDENTS WITH AUTISM Abstract By Cheryl D. Barrett University of the Pacific 2023 Academic achievement of students with disabilities has long been a concern in special education, and this work addresses the academic achievement gap between students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their typically developing peers. This study aimed to increase mathematical achievement in fluency and calculation skills for students with ASD using GoNoodle. Additionally, this study intended to extend evidence about existing research on the efficacy of GoNoodle as an appropriate academic intervention tool for students with disabilities. Participants of this study were middle-school-aged students with autism as a primary diagnosis. Extant data was used for this study and the researcher established protocols and data collection tools to increase fidelity in the intervention procedures. During intervention sessions, participants were rated on a 4-point Likert scale with a score of 1 being ‘no participation’ (i.e., the participant chose to not participate and sit at their desk instead); a score of 2 being walking in place only; 3 being running in place only; 4 being both walking and running in place during each segment of the intervention. Their WJ-IV fluency and math calculation tests measured participants' mathematical achievement. Results of this study derived from descriptive analysis, paired samples t-test, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and social validity survey. Descriptive analysis assisted with grouping participants into ASD classification levels. Results showed the numbers of students in each ASD classification level were uneven, therefore excluded from further analysis. The paired sample t-test provided a mean difference between the three timeframes for the WJ-IV scores. Participants showed an increase in the pre-mid (medium effect size) and pre-post (large effect size) timeframes, but a decrease during the pre-mid timeframes. Pearson’s results were all found to be not statistically significant when considering GoNoodle to have an impact on mathematical achievement. Scores did improve, but not enough for statistical significance. Finally, a social validity survey analyzed participants’ perceptions of the use of GoNoodle to ascertain the value of the online tool. Analysis indicated that 100% of the participants provided a positive response to the GoNoodle Mega Math Marathon intervention being fun (n = 25) and an overall positive response (88%) to the intervention tool in general (n = 22). 92% of the participants indicated that they would like to do more GoNoodle activities, thought it was exciting and enjoyable, and felt that they learned new math skills after engaging in the intervention (n = 23). Moreso, 88% of the participants had a positive response to feeling healthier after engaging with the GoNoodle Mega Math Marathon program (n = 22). This tool proved to be a promising strategy for students to be engaged, interested, and excited about learning mathematical skills within this specific population of participants. More research is needed to address the educational gap and to provide better opportunities for living a healthy lifestyle and building an era of productive members of society.

Hydropower is an efficient renewable energy source able to regulate electrical grid fluctuations. However, many hydropower plants were built decades ago, and now it is the time for a major refurbishment. The turbine's efficiency is essential and needs to be determined before and after refurbishment. To this end, the flow rate needs to be determined. Amongst different discharge measurement methods, the pressure-time method is relatively inexpensive and easy to perform compared to other methods. In this method, the flow rate is estimated by the integration of the measured differential pressure and the pressure loss due to friction between two cross-sections in a conduit during the deceleration of the liquid mass by closing a valve or guide vanes. The pressure-time method's accuracy depends on how accurate the head loss and the integration endpoint are estimated. Furthermore, the pressure-time method has limitations specified in IEC-60041, which make it challenging to apply on low-head turbines due to the short water passages when the flow is developing. The main focus of work is to improve the accuracy of the pressure-time method and extend its validity for low-head turbine conditions. Numerical simulation and experimental study have been acquired. A CFD model is developed to investigate the effects of the endpoint of integration and friction models on the method's accuracy. The effect of different boundary conditions is studied in the CFD model, and the result is validated with available experimental data. Different frictional models used with the pressure-time method are compared with CFD simulation for the developing and developed flows. A new parameter is suggested to improve deviation related to the flow status; developing and developed. Furthermore, a new methodology is presented, where the flow rate is estimated with the pressure-time method function of several endpoints. Then, experimental investigations of the pressure-time method outside IEC-60041 recommendations for conditions similar to low-head hydropower are presented. A laboratory setup is designed and built to test the pressure-time method. The method is applied for cases with shorter length, smaller UxL, pipe with variable cross-section and shorter distance to irregularity than IEC-60041 recommendations. Different assumptions for calculating the pressure loss and dynamic pressure variation are studied. Moreover, the quasi-steady assumption's accuracy on the head loss estimation and the difference in dynamic pressure are compared with constant values for their coefficients. The systematic uncertainty of the pressure-time method is also calculated based on the Monte Carlo Method (MCM).

Part B of two Project Reports; Part A can be found at: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/16881 / <p> Procedures have been set up to calculate the reactor kinetics parameters for thorium fuelled CANDU reactors using the perturbation option of the 2-dimensional diffusion code EXTERMINATOR. The procedures are believed to be very accurate. </p> <p> Representative cases of a CANDU thorium converter at different stages during the reactor life have been used to test the developed procedures. Results are presented and discussed. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

InAs/InP multiwavelength quantum dash lasers are promising solutions to rising data loads in our telecommunications systems, as one laser chip can replace many lasers operating at a single wavelength. Quantum dashes are quasi-one-dimensional nanoparticles that offer equal or increased performance as laser gain media when compared to equivalent quantum well devices. InAs/InP quantum dashes are ideal for laser devices emitting in the C-band region, centred around 1550 nm. The quantum dashes in this thesis are epitaxially grown via the self assembled Stranski-Krastanow mode. Characterizing how structure and composition of these quantum dashes affect the energy level spacing and emission wavelengths is crucial for designing better performing telecommunications lasers. In this thesis a method for determining the average heights and widths of these nanoparticles from atomic force microscopy measurements of uncapped InAs/InGaAsP/InP quantum dashes is developed. Single quantum dash simulations are built in Crosslight Photonic Integrated Circuit Simulator (PICS3D) with the lowest energy transition tuned to photoluminescence peak wavelengths provided by National Research Council Canada. These simulations are used to determine the impact of quantum dash dimensions, compositions, and heterostructure changes to the overlap integrals and emission energies. Phosphorus concentration within the quantum dash and wetting layer can modify the predicted emission wavelength by ∼200 nm, and increasing quantum dash lengths beyond 200 nm has negligible effect on emission energy and energy level spacing. The sublayer thickness is increased from 0.1 to 1 nm, and shows that emission energy will increase for GaP sublayers and decrease for GaAs sublayers by up to 30 meV. The role of the wetting layer on energy level spacing is discussed and determined to increase the emission energy by ∼15 meV when the 0.5 nm wetting layer is removed for a 2 nm quantum dash. The role of As/P intermixing is investigated in three ways: by incorporating phosphorus concentration in (1) the quantum dash and wetting layer, (2) the wetting layer, and (3) the lower portion of the quantum dash without a wetting layer. There is negligible change in the overlap integral for these three cases with all other variables held constant, and the trends between each case remain the same. Further experimental analysis of buried InAs quantum dashes is recommended for compositional information. The implementation of variable strain profiles in this model is also recommended, in addition to developing vertically coupled quantum dash simulations. Finally, performing these simulations at varying temperatures will better represent the operating conditions of quantum dash lasers.

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