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Students believed physics was one of the most challenging sciences in education, and their interest in learning physics was lacking. Therefore, this study aims to enhance students' understanding and creativity in the STEAM learning system on electricity by creating a project (Paper Circuit) using the students' creativity at the junior high school level - quantitative research with a pre-experimental design used for this study. The population is 8th grade and 9th grade (50 students adapted to the curriculum used in the school) in one of the Junior Secondary Schools located in Bandung and Cimahi, Indonesia. The data is obtained from the pretest-posttest results, which show that the average pre-test score was 57.04 and the post-test score was 76.64. The nonparametric test was tested using the Wilcoxon test to measure student understanding. The results from e Wilcoxon are 0.000, which shows sig. <0.05, which means there is a significant difference between pre-test and post-test. Students' creativity is obtained from the Creativity Product Analysis Matrix (CPAM), and the result for Project 1 is 73.71%, categorized as enough, and Project 2 is 83.13%, categorized as good. Based on the result, Paper Circuit STEAM project-based learning can enhance student understanding and creativity. STEAM project-based learning can be used as an alternative teaching strategy in junior secondary school.

Although chemistry-focused socio-scientific issues support the 'relevance' model of chemistry education, the related literature has lacked any systematic review handling them together. For this reason, this research aimed to thematically synthesize the research papers on chemistry-focused socio scientific issues (SSI) from 2008 to 2020 and inferentially evaluate them in terms of the relevance model of chemistry education. After searching international and national well-known databases through relevant keyword patterns (e.g., Pattern 1: socio-scientific issues and chemistry education), 65 research papers were apparent for the systematic review. Then, the authors generated primary and secondary codes for the research papers and then inferentially marked their 'relevance' components. The systematic review indicated variation of research areas (e.g., relevance model of chemistry education) and dominant research foci for different themes (e.g., competencies and related variables for the theme 'aims'; pollution, energy, industry and fabrication-based problems for the theme 'SSI'; organic compounds for the theme 'chemistry concepts'). Further, it revealed that the research papers on chemistry-focused SSI had some shortcomings at handling all components of the relevance model in a balanced way. The current research suggests professionally training teachers about how to integrate chemistry-focused SSI and the relevance model into school chemistry.

We developed new teaching materials, electrical resistors and capacitors, using carbon nanotube (CNT) paper and carbon fibre (CF) paper to foster students' creative thinking, thereby deepening and extending learning. Using a CNT-paper electrical resistor, it is possible to elucidate the dependence of the resistance value on the length and width. The resistance value is proportional to the length and inversely proportional to the width of the paper. In the case of the CF-paper capacitor, it is also possible to clarify the dependence of the capacitance value on the area and the distance between papers. The capacitance value is proportional to the areas of the papers and inversely proportional to the distance between them. Based on the results of our experiments using the new teaching materials, we confirmed that the measured values were in good agreement with the values predicted by theoretical calculations. Using these materials, it becomes possible for students to visually and actively learn about electrical resistance and capacitance through experiments by themselves and in discussion with other students, in contrast to the traditional teaching methods practiced in many schools worldwide. We found that teaching methods using these materials are a useful and easy way to teach the basic concepts of resistance and capacitance with geometric factors in classrooms.

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This article demonstrates how data from a biology paper, which analyzes the relationship between mass and metabolic rate for two species of marine bryozoan, can be used to teach a variety of regression topics to both introductory and advanced students. A thorough analysis requires intelligent data wrangling, variable transformations, and accounting for correlation between observations. The bryozoan data can be used as a valuable class example throughout the semester, or as a dataset for extended homework assignments and class projects. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Carbon emissions from the Yangtze River Economic Belt are an important element of China's carbon emission endeavor, and a study of its emission reduction pathway can provide a reference for the country's overall management of carbon emission reduction. From the perspective of energy consumption, this paper uses the carbon emission factor method to estimate the carbon emissions of the transportation industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt during 2006–2020, based on the extended STIRPAT model, considering the influence of seven factors, i.e., population size, urbanization rate, GDP per capita, transportation added value, energy structure, energy intensity, and transportation intensity, on carbon emissions. Based on these factors, a scenario analysis, combined with a forecasting model, is used to predict the peak carbon performance of the transportation industry under different development scenarios. The results show that the overall carbon emissions of transportation in the YEB from 2006 to 2020 show a fluctuating upward trend, and the downstream carbon emissions are significantly higher than those in other regions. The main factors influencing carbon emissions from transportation in different upstream, midstream, and downstream regions vary, with both population and economic factors contributing to carbon emissions, while technical factors affect them differently. There are significant differences in the peak carbon performance of transportation under different development scenarios, and the government should take effective measures to work towards achieving the goals of the low-carbon or enhanced low-carbon scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Benjamin Franklin's one fluid theory of electrification, ordinary unelectrified matter consisted of a matrix of matter suffused with a certain amount of "electrical fluid." Electrical effects were due to an excess or deficit of electrical fluid, hence the terms positive and negative. Before the development of a modern view of the atom, diagrams showing charged objects would simply have "+" or "-" signs to indicate the charged state. As physicists we know how to interpret these diagrams and understand what they are telling us about the underlying atomic model of charging. However, novice students may not readily make the connection between the atomic model, in which a charged solid object either gains or loses electrons but does not gain or lose positive charges. Furthermore, when isolated objects become charged, the total number of electrons must be accounted for as charge is a conserved quantity. To really understand the changes that occur in charging by contact, conduction, or induction, it is useful for students to visually represent the processes in a way that emphasizes the atomicity of the processes, including the induced polarization of objects, and the requirement that charge be conserved.

Literature on student ideas about circuits largely focuses on misunderstandings and difficulties, with seminal papers framing student thinking as stable, difficult to change, and connected to incorrect ontological categorizations of current as a thing rather than a process. In this paper, we analyzed 417 student responses to a conceptual question about electric circuits using a lens consistent with resources theory. We found that though indicators of substance-based reasoning about current are common in student responses, this reasoning is not predictive of other difficulties reported in the literature, such as "current is consumed" or "the battery is a constant source of current." We also found that students use substance-based reasoning in resourceful ways, suggesting that substance-based reasoning may in fact be a productive starting place for instruction on circuits.

A global transition to low-carbon, resource-efficient economies is occurring in response to risks posed by climate change and environmental degradation. Hydrogen is proposed as a zero-carbon substitute for natural gas with the potential to reduce carbon emissions in homes and businesses. Trades, including gasfitting, will be affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and require upskilling to develop competencies to work with hydrogen to ensure safety and support domestic uptake. Understanding the training needs of trades practitioners is essential to the successful transition to a zero-carbon economy. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of Australian gasfitters, exploring what motivates gasfitters to participate in training, what informs their ongoing learning and what their preferences are for hydrogen training. Most gasfitters are either self-employed or work in small businesses, and, as such, this context presents both challenges and opportunities to consider in upskilling strategies. Drawing on interview findings and literature on small business learning, the paper presents considerations to inform training approaches and policies in the transition to hydrogen and also, more broadly, for upskilling other small trade businesses similarly affected by a shift to low-carbon and green technologies.

The aim of the present study was to assess the energy-, environmental-, and climate change literacy among primary and middle school students in selected cities of Ethiopia. This survey study was conducted in primary and middle schools found in six cities and involved a total of 1589 students. The finding indicate that the participants of the study had a very good awareness about principles underlying generation and use of energy but performed much poorly in items related to awareness about impacts of climate change. The paper also concluded that students' views about issues related to generation and use of energy cannot be considered as favorable. On the other hand, the results on practices related to energy use and environmental protection reveal that participants reported pro-energy and environmental practice. Interestingly, the practice of participants doesn't seem to align with the generally unfavorable attitude towards energy generation and climate change. Therefore, it is advised that primary and middle schools offer a thorough education on energy and environmental education because these levels of instruction have a special role to play in raising awareness of and developing skills and attitudes related to environmental and climate change education.

Internet of Things (IoT) architectures generally focus on providing consistent performance and reliable communications. The convergence of IoT, edge, fog, and cloud aims to improve the quality of service of applications, which does not typically emphasize energy efficiency. Considering energy in IoT architectures would reduce the energy impact from billions of IoT devices. The research presented in this paper proposes an optimization framework that considers energy consumption of nodes when selecting a node for processing an IoT request in edge-fog-cloud layered architecture. The IoT use cases considered in this paper include smart grid, autonomous vehicles, and eHealth. The proposed framework is evaluated using CPLEX simulations. The results provide insights into mechanisms that can be used to select nodes energy-efficiently whilst meeting the application requirements and other network constraints in multi-layered IoT architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data presented here are manually encoded characteristics of research papers in the area of Energy-Economy Nexus (empirical investigation of Granger causality between energy consumption and economic growth) that describe the methods, samples, and other details related to the individual estimations done in the examined empirical papers. Data cover papers indexed by Scopus, published in economic journals, written in English, after year 2000. In addition, papers were manually filtered to only those that deal with Energy-Economy Nexus investigation and have at least 10 citations at (at the time of query – November 2015). This data are to be used to conduct meta-analysis – associated dataset was used in Hajko [1]. Early version of the dataset was used for multinomial logit estimation in Master thesis by Kociánová [2].

Energy use in rural areas in Nigeria is largely dependent on firewood and other biomass sources. Biomass fuel is domestically used daily for cooking and lighting. Continuous use of this energy resource has negative impact on both the environment and human health, especially on users. Many pulmonary problems have been associated with continuous exposure to smoke arising from burning of these materials. The use of briquetting is a more sustainable alternative to raw burning of biomass as briquettes burn with little or no smoke. However, there is scarcity of data on the emission profiles of major gaseous pollutants arising from many biomass briquettes. This study therefore, investigated the emission profiles of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM2.5) from the combustion of unmodified as well as starch and paper modified briquettes made from four commonly used agro-based wastes namely, wood (control), sawdust (SD), rice husk (RH), coconut shell (CS) and corncob (CC). The gaseous pollutants emitted from combusting 0.5kg of each briquette were measured using appropriate devices. The mean concentrations (ppm) of gaseous emissions and particulates from all briquettes ranged as follows: CO: 35.4 - 79.0, CO2: 500 - 852, NO2: 0.09-0.50 and SO2: bdl - 2.13. All briquettes indicated higher PM2.5 concentrations than control (5190 µg/m3) except SD-paper modified briquettes (3305 µg/m3). CC-paper modified briquettes and RH-starch modified briquettes showed highest concentrations of 21003µg/m³ and 16362µg/m³, respectively. CS-paper modified briquettes emitted the least concentration of PM2.5. This suggests it could be considered as the safest and most ecofriendly of the briquette types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University student activism is generally characterized by protests and demonstrations by students who are reacting to social, political, and economic challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized university student activism, and closed the geographical space for protests and demonstrations. The pandemic locked students out of the university campus, thus, rendering the traditional strategies of mass protests and demonstrations impossible. The COVID-19-induced lockdowns made it difficult, if not impossible, to mobilise for on-campus demonstrations and protests. It seems the pandemic is the last nail in the coffin of on-campus student protests. This theoretical paper uses a collective behaviour framework to explain the evolution of student activism in Zimbabwe, from the traditional on-campus politics to virtual activism. It discusses the challenges associated with cybernetic activism. The paper argues that, despite challenges, Zimbabwean university student activists need to migrate to a new world of digital technology and online activism. In the migration to online activism, students activists face a plethora of challenges. On top of the already existing obstacles, activists face new operational challenges related to trying to mobilise a constituency that has relocated to cyberspace. Student activists utilize the existing digital infrastructure to advance their politics, in spite of a hostile state security system and harsh economic environment, and other operational challenges.

Paper waste sludge (PWS) is a waste produced in large quantities by the pulp and paper industry, and is usually disposed by landfilling. This study investigates the pyrolytic conversion of PWS as an alternative to its valorisation. Low and high ash PWSs (8.5 and 46.7 wt%) were subjected to fast pyrolysis conversion to maximise the bio-oil yield by optimising the reactor temperature and pellet size. Maximum bio-oil yields of 44.5 ± 1.7 daf, wt% at 400 °C, and 59.9 ± 4.1 daf, wt% at 340 °C, for an intermediate pellet size of 4.84 ± 0.15 mm, were attained from the conversion of the low and high PWS, respectively. The low optimal reactor temperatures, as well as the high bio-oil yields, make valorisation via fast pyrolysis conversion promising. A significant reduction in the O/C molar ratio of up to 35%, from the high ash PWS to its bio-oil product, led to a 65% increase of the higher heating value. A thermogravimetric study was implemented to investigate the pyrolytic mechanisms behind the increase in bio-oil yield with intermediate pellets sizes. It revealed that the observed increase in non-condensable gas yield, which corresponded to a decrease in the bio-oil yield, was due to the promotion of exothermic reactions for high heating rates using smaller pellet sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refuse derived fuel (RDF) is an environmentally friendly renewable fuel developed to reduce waste generation. RDF can consist of various kinds of waste such as paper and gardens. One of the critical parameters is the chemical element and calorific value. The purpose of this study was to determine the potential for waste reduction and the relationship of ultimate longevity in RDF to the calorific value. This study's paper and garden waste mixture were P0 (100% paper), P25 (75% paper and 25% garden), P50 (50% paper and 50% garden), P75 (25% paper and 75% garden), and P100 (100% garden). The calorific value of the mixture can reach 3.6-5.2 kWh/kg. Simultaneously the relationship of ultimate elements nitrogen (N), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and ash affects the heating value of RDF. Sampling the application in Depok City can reduce waste by 6.67%, with the potential for electrical energy from paper and garden wastes of 358,903.8 kWh and 48,681 kWh, respectively. This shows that this energy waste can supply 0.1% of the total daily electricity demand in Depok City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]