State University of Semarang

The contamination of aquatic environments by pharmaceutical residues, notably paracetamol (PCT), has emerged as a significant environmental issue, attributed to its persistence and the inadequate efficacy of traditional treatment approaches in its removal. In this study, TiO2/biochar composite photocatalysts were synthesized via an ultrasonic-assisted wet impregnation method and applied for the photocatalytic degradation of PCT under UV light irradiation. Biochar was produced from rice straw biomass waste through a controlled pyrolysis process and subsequently composited with anatase-phase TiO2 at biochar mass ratios of 10, 20, and 30 wt.

This research tested whether prompt engineering could act as a type of pedagogical mediation to enhance the quality of AI-generated student feedback on EFL students' argumentative essays in an Islamic education system. An initial pool of eight expert raters (four primary raters and four inter-raters) scored the AI-generated feedback from Claude Sonnet 4 using 12 systematically developed prompts to elicit feedback. Raters were asked to score feedback produced by these prompts across four areas of evaluation: pedagogy, linguistics, Islamic content, and AI reliability. The highest rated configuration was Prompt 4 (Feedback-only sequencing, English Lecturer Persona), with a mean rating of 31.00 (out of 35) in all categories. A Friedman test showed there were statistically significant differences among the four evaluative categories, chi(2)(3) = 30.077, p < .001. Additionally, inter-rater reliabilities were high for each of the possible pairs of raters (r = .89-.96). Overall, this research suggests that prompt engineering is a potentially viable method of pedagogical mediation, allowing educators to develop more culturally responsive and pedagogically relevant AI-generated feedback systems for Islamic EFL higher education settings.

Socio-scientific issues (SSI) are complex real-world problems that gain lots of attention not only from researchers and policy makers but also educators considering the global challenges. Along with this increasing attention, various literature studies have been conducted, including those employing bibliometric approaches using VOSviewer, which have provided valuable insights into publication trends and research productivity. However, these studies still offer limited insight into the educational dimensions of SSI. To address this gap, this article seeks to map existing research on SSI in the field of education by providing a more comprehensive overview of the scope and breadth of the literature, particularly through an education-focused interpretation that captures the thematic structure, cross-contextual integration, and evolving global dimensions of SSI. VOSviewer was used as a tool to analyse the metadata from articles in the Scopus database. Four hundred and twenty articles written in English were gathered from the search process by using the keyword of “socioscientific issues”. The analysis results show various emerging topics in relation with socio-scientific issues. The development of integration of SSI in education is mostly found in science education and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education as well as in teacher training, particularly for science teachers. In addition, we also observe from the data analysis that sustainability and sustainable development, climate change, and social justice are those evolving SSIs.

Nut shell is a natural filler widely used across various industries, including furniture, insulation, lightweight products, construction, packaging, and automotive, due to its superior performance and its contribution to industry sustainability. Natural fillers possess hydrophilic characteristics and exhibit heterogeneous behavior upon interaction with other materials, necessitating chemical, mechanical, ultrasonic, and hydrothermal treatments to enhance their interlocking and compatibility. The primary objective of this investigation is to assess the performance of composites, modification processes, fabrication methods, and the performance of different nut shells, to offer more comprehensive recommendations for industrial applications. The findings of this study unequivocally indicate that the modification, shape, and size of fillers, together with manufacturing factors, significantly influence the characterization, physical, mechanical, thermal, and tribological features, and degradation processes of nut shell-reinforced composites. In addition, this study provides the latest advances in understanding the degradation mechanisms of composites, including thermal, biological, and chemical mechanisms. Moreover, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) indicates that using nut shells in composites significantly creates eco-friendly materials and innovative industries. Therefore, further studies must focus on improving compatibility with various matrix types and other materials, optimizing production parameters, and exploring the performance of nut shell-reinforced composites.

The increasing demand for sustainable polymer composites has driven the development of hybrid laminates that combine natural, recycled, and synthetic reinforcements while maintaining adequate mechanical performance. However, the combined influence of stacking sequence and mineral filler addition on the mechanical behavior of such sustainable hybrid systems remains insufficiently understood. In this study, sustainable hybrid laminated composites based on epoxy reinforced with glass fiber (G), bamboo fiber (B), and flex banner (F) were fabricated with varying stacking sequences and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) filler contents (0 and 1 wt.%). A total of nine laminate configurations were produced and evaluated through flexural and impact testing. The results demonstrate that mechanical performance is strongly governed by laminate architecture and filler addition. The bamboo-dominant G/B/B/B/G laminate containing 1 wt.% CaCO3 exhibited the highest flexural strength (191 MPa) and impact resistance (0.766 J/mm2), indicating a synergistic effect between reinforcement arrangement and CaCO3-induced matrix strengthening. In contrast, the lowest performance was observed for the G/F/B/F/G configuration without filler. Overall, all hybrid composites outperformed neat epoxy, highlighting the potential of bamboo-flex banner hybrid laminates with CaCO3 filler for sustainable composite applications requiring balanced mechanical properties. This work aligns with SDG 12 by promoting resource-efficient circular-economy practices through the utilization of flex banner material and natural fibers as reinforcements in epoxy-based hybrid composites.