加拿大

Innovative, inexpensive, sustainable fuel for cooking and light can be produced with an anaerobic digestion biogas system. A biodigester was designed from parts that are locally available to purchase and maintain in a developing nation. The prototype was designed, built and the engineering was approved and tested. Research and testing of techniques used to produce biogas were recorded and analyzed. The digester successfully produced enough biogas to connect to a stove and burn. Research and testing continued on different ways to pressurize the biogas. A burn time of eleven minutes was recorded. A Bunsen burner was designed, again from locally available parts, in order to enhance the flame to use for cooking. The designed digester and burner worked satisfactorily to burn the biogas collected in the system. Using small scale tests, additional research and testing continued on the most efficient production of the biogas. Figure 1 shows the results of the small scale biogas testing. The results from the small scale testing showed that the best variables for producing biogas are using school compost, ie apples, bananas, oranges, cucumbers, grapefruit, grapes etc, which has been blended to acquire the most surface area with a 1:1 ratio. Figure 3 shows the results of a sample of methane (first three peaks) and of the biogas that was produced (last two peaks). The first peak is the nitrogen and the oxygen in the sample. The second peak is the methane and the third peak is carbon dioxide. The first biogas sample that was tested had no methane so there was an absence of the second peak. This was similar for Figures 4 and 5. Figure 6 shows a sample of the final biogas product which is producing methane as shown by the blue circle. Figures 3 through 5 lack a methane peak due to leaks in the biogas system and limited time within testing periods. The hypothesis was proved correct. An innovative, inexpensive, sustainable fuel for cooking and light using an anaerobic digestion system that can be built completely in developing nations such as Honduras was created. The biogas was ignited using a stove which provided heat for cooking. The biogas was not tested using a light; however, since the biogas can burn, this is theoretically possible. The final system achieved these goals.

This project determined which varietal of grapes grew best in the Lytton / Lillooet area. This project specifically measured growth rates, maturity levels, and breakage rates of the 18 grape varietals (9 red, 9 white) that grew on different slope positions. This experiment determined which varietal was best suited for the site specifically chosen in Lillooet and provided a ranking of the most desirable varietals for potential grape growers.

1. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to design a theoretical tempered-air system to be integrated into an existing heating system in a home equipped with an air-to-air heat pump. This was to overcome the cost and environmental challenges of heating in cold climates as well as provide an environmentally friendly air-conditioning system in the summer at little to no cost. 2. Procedure: In the winter of 2010 an underground high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe (10cm diameter, and 30.5m length) was buried 2.5m underground around the footings of a new residential project. A fan with a flow of 3.4m³/min was attached to the pipe outside, and used to push air underground through the pipe and into the house. The ambient and incoming air temperatures as well as the date and time were recorded daily using a temperature probe with an error margin of ±0.1ºC throughout the summer and winter seasons of 2011. This data was then plotted and analyzed. A number of options to best extract thermal energy for potential use for heating and cooling were examined. Design components were selected to create an air chamber for an air-to-air heat pump to increase its coefficient of performance (COP). 3. Data: Graph 1 Graph 2 Winter Graph (Graph 1): The blue line represents the outdoor ambient temperature and the orange line represents the temperature of the tempered air. These are both arranged chronologically. The grey lines represent one standard deviation on either side of the incoming temperatures. The ambient temperatures vary dramatically, while the incoming temperatures remain quite stable. The lowest recorded temperature was about -9.0ºC, at which point the temperature exiting from the underground pipe was about 10.5ºC. Summer Graph (Graph 2): With dramatically varying ambient temperatures, the temperature of the incoming air consistently stays between 11.1 and 16.2ºC. The highest recorded outdoor temperature was about 30.0ºC, while the incoming temperature at that point was about 15.5ºC. This cold air was used as air conditioning.

Increasing concentrations of copper in discharged effluents pose hazards to aquatic food chains. This project aimed to develop a self-sustained copper remediation system based on electrical and microbiological principles. The production of electrons during yeast fermentation was investigated to catalyze the reduction reaction of dissolved copper ions. An electrical circuit was designed to harness electrons produced from either a pure or mixed culture of yeast, and were compared for voltage outputs. This system utilized a combination of carbon cloth and copper wire as the electrodes, and a magnesium sulfate based electrolyte. The better-performing cell was subjected to copper reduction analysis, in which various initial concentrations of copper were examined. Further data analysis was carried out on the voltage outputs achieved with both the mixed and pure cultures of yeast, in which an average base line was established and voltage flunctuations were compared to that of the base line. In this way, it was possible to determine the amount and severity of each voltage flunctuation — thus demonstrating whether mixed or pure cultures of yeast produced more stable outputs. Throughout the experiment, self-constructed equipment, including arduino microcontroller moderated incubators and drip-feed systems were implemented to maintain an optimum yeast growth rate. It was found that mixed yeast cultures produced smoother electrical potential outputs in response to feeding and stress intervals. The copper recovery experiment was therefore conducted using the mixed culture. Through a series of conductivity measurements indicative of copper concentrations, metal recovery was successfully demonstrated. Trend line analysis indicated similar flunctuations between voltage output and copper recovery rates, demonstrating how copper was recovered as a result of electrons harnessed from the yeast culture. These findings can be applied to the development of an energy efficient and cost-effective copper remediation system for contaminated water effluents.

The purpose of the Actuator is to create a practical device that passively exercises\r the lower legs to help prevent blood clots, Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), in\r wheelchair-bound individuals of any age. The secondary purpose of the device is to\r improve range of motion of the lower legs and speed the recovery of their leg action. It is hoped that this invention will help to prevent DVT, and allow some people to even use their legs again, through passive or active muscular motion. The invention was produced using a number of prototypes and design sketches. Although the current model is quite functional, as it keeps the users legs in motion, it is still in the prototypic design stage.\r The Actuator is a simple to use, easy to retrofit device. It is also portable and will be\r able to attach onto the front of any wheelchair. It harnesses the motion of the wheelchair to drive the users legs in a circular motion.\r The invention was tested in a closed and controlled environment: the duration of the\r Actuator’s use was constant, a doctor was present to take blood pressure and heart rate, and the rotation speed of the user’s legs was controlled by keeping the wheelchair speed constant. The data was collected by monitoring heart rate and skin surface temperature of healthy individuals, and blood pressure and heart rate of a wheelchair bound individual.\r As seen with both experiments (wheelchair bound, and healthy individuals) heart rate\r increased. In addition, the wheelchair bound individual’s heart rate also noticeably\r increased, with an evident increase in blood pressure as well. However, skin surface\r temperature is sensitive to surroundings and often provides little indication of deep vein blood flow, thus the skin surface temperature measurements were too inaccurate for any conclusions to be formulated.\r The inventor’s grandmother had developed DVT’s in 2005, and passed away because of them. Had she been given an Actuator it may have prevented such a tragedy. Her death was the driving force behind the project’s development. Over the time period that this project has been in process, the true potential of this invention has been realized.\r I truly believe that it will revolutionize the way that we treat people in wheelchairs, and the way people in wheelchairs can treat themselves.

To find out if Sphagnum moss could be used as a cheap, reusable filter\r for poor families with water contaminated by heavy metals.

The purpose of my project was to determine which activity improved academic performance the most: 10 minutes of exercise, 10 minutes of Brain Gym (cross-lateral movements), or a combination of 5 minutes exercise and 5 minutes Brain Gym. This project was conducted to find which activity would be a better learning aid in grade 4 students. There were many steps to conducting this study. First, I located teachers and classes, willing to allow the testing and determined days and times to test. Next, I created consent forms to explain the project and had permission forms from the students and their parents signed. Then I prepared 15 math and reading tests at students’ grade level. There were two tests for 15 days- labeled Before Test and After Test. When I administered the tests for the classes doing the activities, I made sure the tests were given by the classroom teacher, which kept the students motivated. Tests were given every day for 5 days. The Before Test was given at 1:00 pm. Then at 1:30 pm students did 10 minutes of the planned activity for that week. Immediately after the activity, students were given the After Test. This was done every day and was repeated for Exercise, Brain Gym, and Combination week. The control class was designed to determine if doing the test for a second time in a day improved the student’s performance. The Before Test was given at 1:00 pm and then at 1:30 pm. When the Before Tests were completed, the students continued with their daily work for 10 minutes. Then at 1:40 pm students were given the After Test. This was repeated for Exercise, Brain Gym, and Combination week. Students were given 10 minutes to complete the scheduled activity that week; either Exercises, Brain Gym or a combination of the two. During the week of Exercise, Jumping jacks, Skipping, Stride jumps, Burpies, Twisties and Jogging on the spot were completed in the 10 minutes provided. During the Brain Gym week, there were 26 Brain Gym movements. The lists of movements were rotated each day; so all movements were performed. The test results of this study were intriguing. (Bar=Standard Deviation) I concluded that 10 minutes of exercise was the better brain booster. Exercise improved academic performance by 9.8%. Brain Gym improved academic performance by 0.2% and the combination activities increased test scores by an average of 3.2%. The control class test scores decreased on average by 1.0% indicating that writing the tests twice in a day, did not improve students’ test scores. Exercising for 10 minutes improved student’s math scores by 11.0% and reading scores by 6.9%. Brain Gym math test scores decreased by 1.4%, and increased in reading by 1.8%. In the combination of the two, the math test scores decreased by 1.0%, reading test scores increased by 7.4%. Overall, the most effective and reliable brain booster was 10 minutes of mild aerobic exercise alone.

Lymnae stagnalis (pond snail) is emerging as a preferable invertebrate model in understanding neurological mechanisms because of its simple nervous system. A three-cell network mediates behaviours such as aerial respiration and research has shown that small, subtle changes occurring across the network might result in a disruption of natural behaviour (Lukowiak et al. 1995). It is also known that Lymnae features a more developed eye than other molluscs and studies have shown that various wavelengths of light can activate photoreceptors producing distinct electrophysiological responses (Sakakibara et al. 2004). However, no studies have looked beyond the electrophysiological response. The purpose of this project was to determine if coloured light would firstly, elicit a behavioural response as observed in its movement and secondly, affect learning and memory through the operant conditioning of its aerial respiration.

The redox reactions of bacteria metabolism have been extrinsically studied. These mechanisms allow certain types of bacteria to be able to synthesize extremely valuable extracellular byproducts. Other types of bacteria are able to extract toxic metals from water by donating electrons directly to those aqueous metal ions, thus turning them into solid precipitates. However, the problem of these microorganisms is that their efficiency rates and production speeds are exceptionally low. This study focuses on the properties of electrotrophs, which are bacteria that can feed on pure electrons directly from an electrode (Rabaey et al 2010). Compared to normal organic-feeding bacteria, electrotrophs direct the majority of the electrons obtained to the production of metabolic byproducts (Nevin et al 2010). Therefore, when electrotrophs are employed in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) their metabolic redox reaction efficiency rates are dramatically increased. This makes it possible to produce large quantities of valuable compounds such as hydrocarbons, plastics and medicine or efficiently remediating the environment (He et al 2016). Moreover, the usage of electricity as an energy source compared to conventional organic substrates is immensely cheaper (Rabaey et al 2010). However, not all bacteria are electrotrophs nor do all electrotrophs have favourable metabolic traits. Thus, there is a need for a novel procedure to turn conventional bacteria into electrotrophs which is a crucial step to making the BES an aggressive competitor in the sustainable energy industry.

This study demonstrates that microbial film power generation is a potentially viable source of alternative energy. This research occurred over a period of two years. In the first year (2016) I tested a new method of generating renewable energy, referred to as microbial film power generation. I showed that electricity could be captured from microbial decomposition using solid graphite plates (29cm x 20cm) placed in lightly decomposed muskeg (collected in northern British Columbia). In the second year (2017) the purpose was to increase the power output of the fuel cell, while also compacting the setup. Certain changes were made to the experimental set up, namely the use of spongy graphite felt in place of solid graphite plates, thus providing a larger surface area for microbial activity to occur. The new fuel cells made produced about twice as much power. Not only was the power output greater, but it was produced from a much smaller area: 7.82 mWh/cm2 on graphite felt, compared to 0.21 mWh/cm2 on graphite plates. In other words, graphite felt produced 37 times more power per unit area than graphite plates. Furthermore, it would appear that by removing the load from the fuel cell for approximately 24 hours, the fuel cell could essentially recharge. This may be due to microbial activity releasing more electrons onto the anode permitting a new cycle to take place. This would suggest that the system could naturally recharge itself.