A Four-Wing Compound Parabolic Concentrator(CPC)Design for Heating and Sanitization of Waste Products

Harnessing the freely available source of energy from the sun offers a number of additional benefits. Not least of these benefits is the fact that solar energy is an environmentally sustainable alternative. A four-wing compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) was designed as a modification of the regular non-imaging CPC concentrator that has a widespread use as solar collector. The design is intended to increase the angle of acceptance as well as concentration of energy from the sun. The conceptual design, mathematical formulation as well as construction and initial trial results have been presented in this paper. Pilot trials of the four-wing concentrator used for sanitizing both liquid and waste products produced satisfactory results. Improvements in terms of design as well as material used for construction and better preservation of heat can be considered further in the future research.

The Impact of an eLearning Course on Nurses’Attitudes towards Mental Illness

Patients with mental illness are stigmatized. Health care professionals may even perpetuate stigma towards mental illness. Thus it is important to ensure that health care professionals have positive attitudes towards patients with mental illness. The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of an eLearning course on psychiatric nurses’ attitudes towards mental illness. A cluster-randomized trial (ISRCTN32869544) design was used. Twelve wards were randomly assigned to the eLearning course (ePsychNurse.Net) group or the education as a usual group. The participants (N = 228) were allocated to the intervention (n = 115) or control group (n = 113) according their baseline ward affiliation. Attitudes were rated according to the Community Attitude towards the Mentally Ill scale. Both groups were found to have positive, not stigmatized attitudes towards mental illness. No statistically significant changes were found at three-month or nine-month follow-up. It may be that by developing the ePsychNurse.Net course to include more material related to nurses’ attitudes and as nurses become more familiar with eLearning, the course may be effective in shaping nurses’ attitudes towards mental illness. On the other hand, our study’s nine- month time span may have been too short to change nurses’ attitudes.

Developing Open RDI and Education in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences

Open Science(OS)and Research has reached mixed maturity levels in Finland.The meaning of the national project in the ecosystem of Finnish universities of applied sciences(UAS)is to enhance and elaborate OS and Open Education(OE)activities.Future actions were defined based on a survey and interviews carried out in the Finnish UAS sector during 2018 and 2019.The aim of both data collections was to evaluate the current status and attitudes towards open Research,Development,and Innovation(RDI)among staff members.Another purpose was to define the need for internal support services concerning open RDI and OE and to identify knowledge gaps.The results revealed several gaps in understanding OS and OE initiatives.Real-life actions were mostly vague,and the respondents experienced the need for support.On the other hand,the attitudes towards open RDI were positive,and the issue aroused questions and reflections.This study revealed gaps in knowledge and actions in Finnish UAS sectors.These results have been the basis of development actions such as joint workshops,educational webinars,and common instructions.The future plan includes the establishment of an experts’network for supporting open RDI and Education.

“I Want to Feel That I Live in China”:Imaginaries and Hospitality in International Students’(mis-)Encounters at a Top Chinese University

Research on international students’experiences abroad has tended to rely on models of adjustment,integration and/or acculturation to describe their(mis-)encounters with different kinds of people(e.g.,co-nationals,locals and other international students).This paper proposes to use the more fluid concepts of imaginaries and hospitality,leaving behind stages and phases of adaption and acculturation,and focusing on the influence of the Structure on their experiences.Based on a discursive pragmatic analysis of interview data with 20 international students at a top Chinese university,the authors review how the students describe the kind of hospitality experienced at this institution and the influence that it has on their(mis-)encounters.Culturalist,differentialist and essentialist imaginaries(static and fixed views of Chineseness)are often used to justify the lack of encounters and the“segregation”and somewhat“positive discrimination”that they experienced.However,the paper shows that,amongst others,the institutional hospitality management for international students leads to closed contexts of encounters and feelings of exclusion.Although the study serves as a case study and cannot be generalized to the many and varied experiences of international students in other universities in China,some recommendations are made to solve,at least in part,misconceptions about what interculturality and hospitality entail in the internationalization of higher education.

Key Aspects of Open Data in Finnish RDI Cooperation between Higher Education and Businesses

The article highlights aspects that should be considered during an open Research,Development,and Innovation(RDI)process cycle to improve the utilization of research data and foster open cooperation between higher education and businesses.The viewpoint here is in publicly funded joint research projects of the universities of applied sciences(UAS),the concept is,however,applicable in other higher education and research organizations as well.There are various challenges related to research data management in general as well as to the openness and reuse of data and results.The findings of this article are based on the results of a two-day expert workshop,and these results are interlinked with five phases of an open RDI process cycle:planning,implementation,documentation,sharing,and commercialization.Various drivers and barriers can be identified in different stages of the process.On a general level,special attention must be paid to critical factors such as ownership and sharing of data and results,confidential information and business secrets as well as following the requirements of the Open Science(OS)policies of the participating organizations and funders.This article also highlights several best practices that should be considered in each phase of an open RDI process cycle with businesses.

Electromagnetic irradiation exposure and its bioindication–An overview

Man made electromagnetic irradiation and fields cover now the globe due to the recent extensive propagation of mobile telephony.The increased load affects animals and also plants.Especially birds have been studied.Humans are also sensitive.They are good bioindicators as epidemiological methods are available.Humans can also report symptoms which cannot be directly measured with presently available technologies.The nonionizing irradiation can as the ionizing one break the DNA,damage proteins,even increase the blood brain barrier permeability,disturb the night rest,cause fatigue and hormonal disturbances.An increase of the tumours of human head has been described in correlation with the long term mobile phone use and on that side more exposed.The regulations covering mobile telephony are already about two decades old and need re-evaluation.The multitude of irradiation and the interaction of the different wavelength exposures,i.e.,frequency sensitivity is poorly known at present.We should not forget the comparative studies of different species especially those which rely in their lives on electromagnetic orientation physiology.Some countries have issued warnings on the exposures of children.The producers of mobile technology have recently warned the users not to keep those devices in active stage in skin contact.