State University of Semarang

Plasma-assisted nitrogen fixation is an alternative route for sustainable nitrate production. The influence of controlled N2/O2 availability on the evolution of reactive species and nitrate selectivity remains insufficiently understood. This study introduces a controlled gas composition strategy to elucidate the relationship between plasma-generated reactive species and nitrogen fixation pathways in aqueous electrolyte systems. The K2SO4 concentration significantly influenced the breakdown and discharge behaviors. Based on the balance between discharge initiation and power requirement, 0.02 M K2SO4 was selected for subsequent nitrogen fixation experiments. The gas composition strongly affected the formation of nitrogen species. The N2/O2 composition of 79/21 resulted in the highest nitrate concentration (1889 mg L⁻¹), followed by N2/O2 = 50/50 (1702 mg L⁻¹), whereas pure O2 yielded the lowest nitrate concentration (181 ± 3.00 mg L⁻¹). The optimized N2/O2 ratio of 79/21 achieved the highest nitrate concentration of 1889 mg L⁻¹, demonstrating that balanced nitrogen and oxygen availability, rather than excessive oxygen supply, governs nitrate formation. These findings provide novel mechanistic insights into plasma-driven nitrogen fixation and offer a potential pathway for decentralized nitrate fertilizer production using electricity-driven processes. At approximately 400 W for 60 min, the optimum condition required 0.400 kWh of electrical energy and achieved an apparent nitrate energy yield of 5.67 g NO₃⁻ kWh⁻¹. These results demonstrate plasma-assisted aqueous nitrogen formation, enabling sustainable nitrate production, which aligns with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger).

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.