In this paper, I look at the history of the internet and online advertising. The internet is inextricably linked to capitalism and is fueled by advertising. As a result, companies like Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon collect data in large volumes to improve targeted advertising. An investigation of new power structures has emerged with the internet and how they dominate its and our future. My creativity lies between art and technology. By merging new technologies like Artificial Intelligence with humor and graphic design, I try to shine a light on the subject.

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The aim of this thesis is to provide a social anthropological analysis and interpretation of the freetekno party phenomenon in the Czech Republic from synchronic and diachronic perspective. The author bases his argument on both his own field research and professional literature on the topic. An extended case method serves as a basic methodological Framework. After introduction of selected theoretical concepts (music scene, neotribes, youth subculture, rites de passage, liminality and liminoidity, spontaneous communitas and rhizom) as well as outline of the current state of research in the area of study of the freetekno party phenomenon, there is an empirical part of the thesis which consists of two main parts: the historical-ethnographic and the analytical-interpretative. The first part describes the first rave party in Great Britain, expansion of this phenomenon in continental Europe, its adoption in the Czech Republic and its gradual evolution up to the present. The following part serves as an analytical-interpretation of the above-outlined situation and a subsequent socio-anthropological interpretation. Freetekno scene is described as neotribal rhizom and freetekno events are subsequently conceptualized as unique ritual processes. The transformation of the freetekno phenomenon is then...

This thesis looks at the construction of China as a security threat in the United Kingdom, through the theoretical lens of techno-Orientalism. The main argument is that techno-Orientalist ideas influence the Western perception of China as a security threat, which leads to the creation of certain fears regarding China which affects the identity creation of both the United Kingdom and China. Techno-Orientalism shows how the West perceives itself as losing its grip on modernity, and thus the future; the East is being perceived as the producers of technology which lead to the opposite of the desired Western liberal humanism. Thus, the East is on its way to take over modernity and turn it into a technological oppressive future. These ideas influence how the United Kingdom perceives China as a security threat, and this is shown through a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis of debates in the British Parliament.

Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collectors are widely used to harness a large fraction of the solar spectrum to generate electricity and heat from a single collector. The circulation of the working medium will pass through the collector which cools down the PV cell temperature and also increases the water temperature, which will increase the electrical and thermal performance at the same time. PVT is an emerging technology and is demonstrated for domestic and industrial applications. There has also been a major gap for the techno-economic analysis of PVT system in different climatic conditions and further developing reliable financial models that can be applied in different regions. This thesis paper presents a techno-economic evaluation of a liquid-based PVT collector system developed by Abora Solar, Spain across a wide range of climatic conditions and contexts. The various performance indicators are visualized by digital mapping approach for 86 different locations all over the world. The databank obtained from the analysis is further used to establish a general correlation between collector performance and meteorological parameters such as Global horizontal irradiation and ambient temperature. The collector energetic performance is simulated using a validated and proprietary simulation tool developed by Abora Solar company. The complete energy system consists of a PVT collector, a water storage tank, and the associated DHW demand simulator. The collector energetic performance has reflected following the analysed Global horizontal irradiation and ambient temperature trend. The highest and lowest energy utilization ratio of the collector has been recorded in Reykjavik, Iceland (63%) and Medina, Saudi Arabia (54%) respectively. The highest and lowest exergetic efficiency of the collector has been recorded in Reykjavik, Iceland (23%) and Medina, Saudi Arabia (17%) respectively. The exergetic efficiency collector has shown better performance with the less ambient temperature and less quality of work in high ambient temperatures. Furthermore, the energy utilization ratio and exergetic efficiencies of collector production are analysed. The economic analysis is carried out in realistic approach using two different financial scenarios: mode (1) The total system cost is capital investment in the first year; mode (2) Only 25 % of total system cost is a capital investment and remaining 75 % investment is considered with financing period with certain interest rate. The economic performance of the collector has been decided mainly based on the Net Present Value per unit collector area, whereas it expressed high dependency on thermal energy savings. The average NPV per unit collector area of 86 geographical cities for first financial model 1 and financial model 2 are 1886€ and 2221€ respectively. Besides, the Payback Period has also been estimated for the first financing model in all selected locations. The first financial model (1) has shown better results in locations with a high interest rate and highly recommended for the locations with interest rate. The significant work of understanding of PVT components behaviour at the system level, the collector energetic and economic performance at different climatic conditions across the world have been highlighted which reflects the concrete developments to this research subject area and helps market decision-makers for market penetration.

The industrial sector is one of the largest emitters of CO2 and a great potential for retrofitting with carbon capture systems. In this work the performance of a palladium-based membrane reactor at 400°C and operating pressures between 100-400 kPa have been studied in terms of methane conversion, hydrogen recovery, hydrogen purity, and CO2 emission. It is found that the MR has the potential to produce high purity hydrogen while the methane conversion values could be as high as 40% at very moderate operating conditions and without using any sweep gases. The H2 permeation and separation properties of two Pd-based composite membranes were evaluated and compared at 400 °C and at a pressure range of 150 kPa to 600 kPa. One membrane was characterized by an approximately 8 μm-thick palladium (Pd)-gold (Au) layer deposited on an asymmetric microporous Al2O3 substrate; the other membrane consisted of an approximately 11 μm-thick pure palladium layer deposited on a yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) support. At 400 °C and with a trans-membrane pressure of 50 kPa, the membranes showed a H2 permeance of 8.42 × 10−4 mol/m2·s·Pa0.5 and 2.54 × 10−5 mol/m2·s·Pa0.7 for Pd-Au and Pd membranes, respectively. Pd-Au membrane showed infinite ideal selectivity to H2 with respect to He and Ar at 400 °C and a trans-membrane pressure of 50 kPa, while the ideal selectivities for the Pd membrane under the same operating conditions were much lower. Furthermore, the permeation tests for ternary and quaternary mixtures of H2, CO, CO2, CH4, and H2O were conducted on the Pd/YSZ membrane. The H2 permeating flux decreased at the conclusion of the permeation tests for all mixtures. This decline however, was not permanent, i.e., H2 permeation was restored to its initial value after treating the membrane with H2 for a maximum of 7 h. The effects of gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) and the steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio on H2 permeation were also investigated using simulated steam methane reforming mixtures. It was found that H2 permeation is highest at the greatest GHSV, due to a decline in the concentration polarization effect. Variations in S/C ratio however, showed no significant effect on the H2 permeation. The permeation characteristics for the Pd/YSZ membrane were also investigated at temperatures ranging from 350 to 400 °C. The pre-exponential factor and apparent activation energy were found to be 5.66 × 10−4 mol/m2·s·Pa0.7 and 12.8 kJ/mol, respectively. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were performed on both pristine and used membranes, and no strong evidence of the formation of Pd-O or any other undesirable phases was observed. The permeation tests with pure hydrogen and inert gases indicate that the MR is highly selective toward hydrogen and the produced hydrogen is an ultrahigh purity grade. The carbon capture experiments in the work consists of dehydrating the retentate stream and redirecting it to a 13X packed bed before analyzing the stream via mass spectrometry. The carbon capture studies reveal that approximately 5.96 mmole CO2 (or 262.25 mg of CO2)can be captured per g of 13X. In this study, SEM-EDS, and XRD technics have been used to characterize the crystallography and morphology of the membrane surface. These material characterization techniques reveal that the surface of the membrane has gone through significant oxidation during the steam methane reforming reaction, although this oxidation is only limited to the few nanometers of depth through the surface of the palladium membrane.

In this study a roof-top PVT/absorption chiller system is modeled for a hotel building in Antalya, Turkey to cover the cooling demand of the hotel, to produce electricity and domestic hot water. PVT modules, an absorption chiller, a hot storage tank and a natural gas fired auxiliary heater are the main components of the system. Elecetrical power produced by the system is 94.2 MWh, the cooling power is 185.5 MWh and the amount of domestic hot water produced in the system is 65135 m3 at 45 0C annually.  Even though the systems is capable of meeting the demands of the hotel building, because of the high investment costs of PVT modules and high interest rates in Turkey, it is not economically favorable. Using cheaper solar collectors, integrating a cold storage unit in the system or having an improved conrol strategy are the options to increase the system efficiency and to make the system economically competitive.

Every day 493 tonnes of waste containing 67% of organic material is generated in the city of El Alto in Bolivia. The majority of the waste is disposed to a landfill that is expected to reach its maximum capacity by 2015. Therefore, new waste treatment methods need to be explored. The high content of organic material in waste makes biogas technologies a potential solution for waste treatment in El Alto. These technologies can generate a renewable energy source and organic fertilizer that can provide several benefits to the city. The objective of this study is to investigate the techno-economic feasibility of a small-scale biogas plant for treating organic market waste in the city of El Alto. To this end, a multi-criteria analysis was performed to identify a suitable technology. The garage-shaped digester was selected as the most appropriate technology for the conditions of El Alto. By implementing this technology, 1.8 GWh of electricity and 2,340 tonnes of organic fertilizer can be produced annually. Furthermore, an economic analysis of two scenarios was conducted. The Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return, Payback time, Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and sensitivity analysis were evaluated. The biogas plant resulted economically viable in both cases. However, the LCOE estimated (0.17-0.26 USD/kWh) were very high in comparison to the LCOE from natural gas in Bolivia (0.026 USD/kWh). Regarding the sensitivity analysis, several parameters were evaluated from which the compost price was the most influential on changing the NPV. The study also included the estimation of the emission savings. A total of 900 tonnes of CO2/year could be avoided for producing electricity from biogas. Moreover, social benefits could also be generated such as new job opportunities. The use of a small-scale biogas plant for treating organic market waste in the city of El Alto is a cost-effective option. Though, it is fundamental that the government support the waste-to-biogas technologies by introducing economic mechanisms and promoting awareness to ensure the markets for both, biogas and organic fertilizer.

The development of high capacity factor solar power plants is an interesting topic, especially when considering the climate and economic conditions of a location such as the Chilean Atacama Desert. The hybridisation of solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies for such an application is a promising collaboration. The low cost of PV and dispatchability of CSP, integrated with thermal energy storage (TES), has the promise of delivering baseload electricity at a lower cost than what could be achieved with CSP alone. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate whether or not a hybrid PV-CSP plant is more economically viable, than CSP alone or hybrid PV-diesel, for baseload generation. To analyse this hypothesis, a techno-economic optimisation study of a PV-CSP hybrid plant with battery storage and fossil fuel backup was performed. In doing so, a methodology for the identification of optimum solar hybrid plant configurations, given current technology and costs, to best satisfy specific location weather and economic conditions was developed. Building on existing models, for the PV and CSP components, and developing models for further hybridisation, a complete PV-CSP model was created that could satisfy a baseload demand. Multi-objective optimisations were performed to identify optimal trade-offs between conflicting technical, economic and environmental performance indicators. For the given economic and technical assumptions, CSP hybridised with fossil fuel backup was shown to provide electricity at the lowest cost and have the lowest project capital expenditure. This configuration showed a 42% and 52% reduction in the levelised cost of electricity in comparison to CSP alone and hybrid PV-diesel, respectively. It also provides a 45% reduction in CAPEX in comparison to CSP alone. PV-CSP integration increases capital costs and the cost of electricity, but reduced the use of fossil fuel backup and thereby reduced emissions, when compared to CSP with fossil fuel backup. However PV-CSP showed a 97% reduction in CO2 emissions when compared to hybrid PV-diesel. Furthermore, it showed a 35% and 46% reduction in LCOE in comparison to CSP alone and hybrid PV-diesel.

In this paper I introduce and explain the construct of ‘Craft Fiction’ as a setting for my own artistic work. Within a fictional framework, I am mediating between the field of craft and the contemporary environment of relocated materialities and digital worlds I find myself in. Using the vehicle of language and analyzing those dialogue that are ongoing in craft processes, I am assessing the intimate relationships between maker and its tools/machines, in order to discuss hierarchies and purpose of crafting.