Search results for: urban safety thresholds

Authors: Oh Hyeon Jeon, WooYoung Jung

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In this study, seepage analysis was performed by the level difference between upstream and downstream of weir structure for safety evaluation of weir structure against flooding. Monte Carlo Simulation method was employed by considering the probability distribution of the adjacent ground parameter, i.e., permeability coefficient of weir structure. Moreover, by using a commercially available finite element program (ABAQUS), modeling of the weir structure is carried out. Based on this model, the characteristic of water seepage during flooding was determined at each water level with consideration of the uncertainty of their corresponding permeability coefficient. Subsequently, fragility function could be constructed based on this response from numerical analysis; this fragility function results could be used to determine the weakness of weir structure subjected to flooding disaster. They can also be used as a reference data that can comprehensively predict the probability of failur,e and the degree of damage of a weir structure.

Keywords: weir structure, seepage, flood disaster fragility, probabilistic risk assessment, Monte-Carlo simulation, permeability coefficient

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Authors: Kevin Wongleedee

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Food quality and risks are major concerns for inbound senior tourists when visiting tourist destinations in Thailand. The purposes of this study were to investigate food quality and risks perceived by inbound senior tourists. This paper drew upon data collection from an inbound senior tourist survey conducted in Thailand during summer 2013. Summer time in Thailand is a high season for inbound tourists. It is also a high risk period in which a variety food safety issues and incidents have often occurred. The survey was structured primarily to obtain inbound senior tourists’ concerns toward a variety of food quality and risks they encountered during their trip in Thailand. A total of 400 inbound senior tourists were elicited as data input for mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that inbound tourists rated the overall food quality at a high level and the three most important perceived food risks were 1) unclean physical cooking facility, 2) toxic chemical handling, and 3) unclean water.

Keywords: food quality, inbound senior tourists, risks, Thailand

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Authors: Fadwa Chtioui

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Vital Pulp Therapy (VPT) is nowadays challenging the deep-rooted dogma of root canal treatment, being the only therapeutic option for permanent teeth diagnosed with irreversible pulpitis or carious pulp exposure. Histologic and clinical research has shown that compromised dental pulp can be treated without the full removal or excavation of all healthy pulp, and the outcome of the partial or full pulpotomy followed by a Tricalcium-Silicate-based dressing seems to show promising results in maintaining pulp vitality and preserving affected teeth in the long term. By reviewing recent advances in the techniques of VPT and their clinical effectiveness and safety in permanent teeth with irreversible Pulpitis, this work provides a new understanding of pulp pathophysiology and defense mechanisms and will reform dental practitioners' decision-making in treating irreversible pulpits from root canal therapy to vital pulp therapy by taking advantage of the biological effects of Tricalcium Silicate materials.

Keywords: irreversible pulpitis, vital pulp therapy, pulpotomy, Tricalcium Silicate

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Authors: A. Aydin, E. Akyol, N. Soyatik

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This study has been presented which is a detailed work of seismic microzonation of the city center. For seismic microzonation area of 225 km2 has been selected as the study area. MASW (Multichannel analysis of surface wave) and seismic refraction methods have been used to generate one-dimensional shear wave velocity profile at 250 locations and two-dimensional profile at 60 locations. These shear wave velocities are used to estimate equivalent shear wave velocity in the study area at every 2 and 5 m intervals up to a depth of 60 m. Levels of equivalent shear wave velocity of soil are used the classified of the study area. After the results of the study, it must be considered as components of urban planning and building design of Denizli and the application and use of these results should be required and enforced by municipal authorities.

Keywords: seismic microzonation, liquefaction, land use management, seismic refraction

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Authors: Siziwe Monica Zuma

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The Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP) is an instrument that the South African Government uses to reduce unemployment and poverty and also stimulate economic growth. However, due to the limited budget and programs in the EPWP, the program has had challenges in reducing unemployment, poverty and stimulating economic growth. The EPWP Vuk’uphile program had positive outcomes in developing Black emerging contractors, in order for them to participate in the main stream economy far better than when the EPWP program was not introduced. The Skills component of the program particularly the EPWP Infrastructure, which is the most funded program under EPWP has had limited success in transferring appropriate skills to ensure labour participants can penetrate the labour market after participating in the EPWP. Education and skills are important attributes that can contribute to labour absorption, however, the EPWP particularly the infrastructure program needs to strengthen skills development over a longer period of time suggested a year with multi skills relevant to the labour market. Longer and more sustained employment provides a safety net and reduces poverty better that short term employment. The EPWP program can be expanded in the infrastructure sector, focusing on rural infrastructure, agricultural infrastructure, infrastructure related components like property, ownership, management, and other services. These can stimulate the Economic sector Infrastructure of EPWP, offer longer term and more sustained employment and rural enterprise development and further employment. The Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP) is an instrument that the South African Government uses to reduce unemployment and poverty and also stimulate economic growth. However, due to the limited budget and programs in the EPWP, the program has had challenges in reducing unemployment, poverty and stimulating economic growth. The EPWP Vuk’uphile program has had positive outcomes in developing Black emerging contractors, in order for them to participate in the main stream economy far better than when the EPWP program was not introduced. The Skills component of the program particularly the EPWP Infrastructure, which is the most funded program under EPWP has had limited success in transferring appropriate skills to ensure labour participants are able to penetrate the labour market after participating in the EPWP. Education and skills are important attributes that can contribute to labour absorption, however, the EPWP particularly the infrastructure program needs to strengthen skills development over a longer period of time suggested a year with multi skills relevant to the labour market. Longer and more sustained employment provides a safety net and reduces poverty better that short term employment. The EPWP program can be expanded in the infrastructure sector, focusing on rural infrastructure, agricultural infrastructure, infrastructure related components like property, ownership, management, and other services. These can stimulate the Economic sector Infrastructure of EPWP, offer longer term and more sustained employment and rural enterprise development and further employment.

Keywords: Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP), VUKÚPHILE, youth, Public Works Programs (PWP), Infrastructure Sector of EPWP (EPWP Infrastructure)

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Authors: Taksina Bunbut

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Personality and grooming are vital for creating professionalism and safety image for all staffs in the airline industry. Airline Business Program also has an aim to educate students through the subject Personality Development and Grooming in order to elevate the quality of students to meet standard requirements of the airline industry. However, students agree that there are many difficulties that cause unsuccessful learning experience in this subject. The research is to study problems that can afflict students from getting good results in the classroom. Furthermore, exploring possible solutions to overcome challenges are also included in this study. The research sample consists of 140 students who attended the class of Personality Development and Grooming. The employed research instrument is a questionnaire. Statistic for data analysis is t-test and Multiple Regression Analysis. The result found that although students are satisfied with teaching and learning of this subject, they considered that teaching in English and teaching topics in social etiquette in different cultures are difficult for them to understand.

Keywords: personality development, grooming, Airline Business Program, soft skill

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Authors: Minjung Park, Jimin Park, Youngwoon Kim, Hyungseop Han, Myoungryul Ok, Hojeong Jeon, Hyunkwang Seok, Yuchan Kim

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Magnesium is an essential element in human body and has unique characteristics such as bioabsorbable and biodegradable properties. Therefore, there has been much attention on studies on the implants based on magnesium to avoid subsequent surgery. However, high amount of hydrogen gas is generated by relatively severe corrosion of magnesium especially in aqueous condition with chloride ions. And it contributes to the causes of swelling of skin and causes consequent inflammation of soft tissue where is directly in contact with implants. Therefore, there is still concern about the safety of the using biodegradable magnesium alloys, which is limited to various applications. In this study, we analyzed the influence of coenzyme on corrosion behavior of magnesium. The analysis of corrosion rate was held by using Hanks’ balanced salt solution (HBSS) as a body stimulated fluid and in condition of 37°C. Thus, with deferring the concentration of the coenzyme used in this study, corrosion rates from 0.0654ml/ cm² to 0.0438ml/cm² were observed in immersion tests. Also, comparable results were obtained in electrochemical tests. Results showed that hydrogen gas produced from corrosion of magnesium can be controlled.

Keywords: biodegradable magnesium, biomaterials, coenzyme, corrosion

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Authors: S. M. Ahuja

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There are about 12000 stone crusher units in India and are located in clusters around urban areas to the stone quarries. These crushers create lot of fugitive dust emissions and noise pollution which is a major health hazard for the people working in the crushers and also living in its vicinity. Ambient air monitoring was carried out near various stone crushers and it has been observed that fugitive emission varied from 300 to 8000 mg/Nm3. A number of stone crushers were thoroughly studied and their existing pollution control devices were examined. Limitations in the existing technology were also studied. A technology consisting of minimal effective spray nozzles to reduce the emissions at source followed by a containment cum control system having modular cyclones as air pollution control device has been conceived. Besides preliminary energy audit has also been carried out in some of the stone crushers which indicates substantial potential for energy saving.

Keywords: stone crushers, spray nozzles, energy audit

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Authors: Kahil Amar, Meziani Faroudja, Khelil Nacim

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The principal objective of this study is the evaluation of the seismic performance of reinforced concrete frame structures, taking into account of the behavior laws, reflecting the real behavior of materials, using CASTEM2000 software. A finite element model used is based in modified Takeda model with Timoshenko elements for columns and beams. This model is validated on a Vecchio experimental reinforced concrete (RC) frame model. Then, a study focused on the behavior of a RC frame with three-level and three-story in order to visualize the positioning the plastic hinge (plastic rotation), determined from the curvature distribution along the elements. The results obtained show that the beams of the 1^st and 2^nd level developed a very large plastic rotations, or these rotations exceed the values corresponding to CP (Collapse prevention with cp q_CP = 0.02 rad), against those developed at the 3^rd level, are between IO and LS (Immediate occupancy and life Safety with q_IO = 0.005 rad and rad q_LS = 0.01 respectively), so the beams of first and second levels submit a very significant damage.

Keywords: seismic performance, performance level, pushover analysis, plastic rotation, plastic hinge

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Authors: Mauricio Molina

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The present research project aims to determine whether it is possible to have a statement, allowing you to have an economic model to establish clearly if the population that uses the rail system underground in the city of Medellin with an increase in productivity total factor. The present project aims to concentrate on the surroundings to the system underground for a period of 60 months in the city of Medellin. According to the review bibliographic is can establish that in it most of them cases, the cities that have with systems of transport rail are more productive. And should to its time present is an analysis that may lead to determine if effectively the use of the transport railway improves the productivity of a city and its inhabitants.

Keywords: economic growth, mobility urban, total factor productivity, rail transport

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Authors: Syed Ali Shahbaz Shah

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In the last few years, Bituminous Asphaltic roads are becoming popular day by day in the world. Plenty of research has been carried out to identify many advantages like safety, environmental effects, and comfort. Some other benefits are minimal noise and skid resistance enhancement. Besides the benefits of asphaltic roads, the permeable structure of the road also causes some distress, and raveling is one of the crucial defects. The main reason behind this distress is the failure of adhesion between bitumen mortar, specifically due to excessive load from heavy traffic. The main focus of this study is to identify the root cause and propose both the long-term and the short-term solutions of raveling on a specific road section depicting the overall road situation from the bridge of Kahuta road towards the intersection of the Islamabad express highway. The methodology adopted for this purpose is visual inspections in-situ. It was noted that there were chunks of debris on the road surface, which indicates that the asphalt binder is aged the most probably. Further laboratory testing would confirm that either asphalt binder is aged or inadequate compaction was adept during cold weather paving.

Keywords: asphaltic roads, asphalt binder, distress, raveling

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Authors: Samir Ranjbar, Nasrullah Istanekzai

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According to a report published in The Guardian, Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan is the fifth fastest growing city in the world, whose population has increased fourfold since 2001 from 1.2 million to 4.8 million people. The main reason for this increment is identified as the return of Afghans migrated during the civil war. In addition to the return of immigrants, a steep economic growth due to foreign assistance in last decade creating lots of job opportunities in Kabul resulted in the attraction of individuals from the neighboring provinces as well. However, the development of urban facilities such as water supply system, housing transportation and waste management systems has yet to catch up with this rapid increase in population. Since Kabul city has developed traditionally and municipal governance had very limited capacity to implement municipal bylaws. As an unwanted consequence of this growth 70% of Kabul citizens contributed to developing informal settlement for which we can say that around three million people living in informally settled areas, lacking the very vital social and physical infrastructures of livelihood. This research focuses on a region with 30 ha area and 2100 people residents in the center of Kabul city. A comprehensive land readjustment concept plan has been formulated for this area. Through this concept plan, physical and social infrastructure has been demonstrated and analyzed. Findings of this paper propose a solution for the problems of this unplanned area in Kabul which is readjusting of unplanned area by a self-supporting process. This process does not need governmental budget and can be applied by government, private sectors and landowner associations. Furthermore, by implementing the Land Readjustment process, conceptual plans can be built for unplanned areas, maximum facilities can be brought to the residents’ urban life, improve the environment for the users’ benefit, promote the culture and sense of cooperation, participation and coexistence in the mind of people, improving the transport system, improvement in economic status (the value of land increases due to infrastructure availability and land legalization). In addition to all these benefits for the public, we can raise the revenue of government by collecting the taxes from landowners. This process is implemented in most of countries of the world, it was implemented for the first time in Germany and after that in most cities of Japan as well, and is known as one of the effective processes for infrastructural development. To sum up, the notable characteristic of the Land readjustment process is that it works on the concept of mutual interest in which both landowners and the government take advantage. However, in this process, the engagement of community is very important and without public cooperation, this process can face the failure.

Keywords: land readjustment, informal settlement, Kabul, Afghanistan

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Authors: N. Schneider, M. Bruchhage, M. Hartweg, G. Mutungi, J. O Regan, S. Deoni

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Observational neuroimaging studies suggest differences between breast-fed and formula-fed infants in developmental myelination, a key brain process for learning and cognitive development. However, the possible effects of a nutrient formulation on myelin development in healthy term infants in an intervention study have not been investigated. Objective was, therefore, to investigate the efficacy of a nutrient formulation with higher levels of myelin-relevant nutrients as compared to a control formulation with lower levels of the same nutrients on brain myelination and cognitive development in the first 6 months of life. The study is an ongoing randomized, controlled, double-blind, two-center, parallel-group clinical trial with a nonrandomized, non-blinded arm of exclusively breastfed infants. The current findings result from a staged statistical analysis at 6 months; the recruitment and intervention period has been completed for all participants. Follow-up visits at 12, 18 and 24 months are still ongoing. N= 81 enrolled full term, neurotypical infants of both sexes were randomized into either the investigational (N= 42) or the control group (N= 39), and N= 108 children in the breast-fed arm served as a natural reference group. The effect of a blend of docosahexaenoic acid, arachidonic acid, iron, vitamin B12, folic acid as well as sphingomyelin from a uniquely proceed whey protein concentrate enriched in alpha-lactalbumin and phospholipids in an infant nutrition product matrix was investigated. The main outcomes for the staged statistical analyses at 6 months included brain myelination measures derived from MRI. Additional outcomes were brain volume, cognitive development and safety. The full analyses set at 6 months comprised N= 66 infants. Higher levels of myelin-relevant nutrients compared to lower levels resulted in significant differences in myelin structure, volume, and rate of myelination as early as 3 and 6 months of life. The cross-sectional change of means between groups for whole-brain myelin volume was 8.4% for investigational versus control formulation (3.5% versus the breastfeeding reference) group at 3 months and increased to 36.4% for investigational versus control formulation (14.1% versus breastfeeding reference) at 6 months. No statistically significant differences were detected for early cognition scores. Safety findings were largely similar across groups. This is the first pediatric nutritional neuroimaging study demonstrating the efficacy of a myelin nutrient blend on developmental myelination in well-nourished term infants. Myelination is a critical process in learning and development. The effects were demonstrated across the brain, particularly in temporal and parietal regions, known to be functionally involved in sensory, motor and language skills. These first results add to the field of nutritional neuroscience by demonstrating early life nutrition benefits for brain architecture which may be foundational for later cognitive and behavioral outcomes. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03111927 (Infant Nutrition and Brain Development - Full-Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov).

Keywords: brain development, infant nutrition, MRI, myelination

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Authors: Firdaus Amri, Ima Sri Rahmani

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Traffic jam becomes the main problem among the people in a metropolitan city, especially in Indonesia. Nebengers, as one of ridesharing community in Indonesia, offer solutions against this problem. Nebengers is a social media community that connect people who want to give the ride and who want to ask for the ride. But in reality, Nebengers still have quite problems, especially regarding the safety issue. Practically, in this issue, they (people in Nebengers) only depend on trust between the one who gives the ride and who asks for the ride. Trust is defined as an expectation that partners, including potential partners, have goodwill and benign intent in their dealing with one and another. This paper will examine the role of personality type as predictor of trust among Nebengers community. Hexaco Personality consists of six dimensions (honesty-humility, emotionality, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience) is used in this research. By using snowball sampling, we took 250 respondents from Nebengers community as participants for this research. They complete questionnaires which are provided in online form. The role of each personality type as a basic analysis to understand trust among Nebengers community will be discussed in this research.

Keywords: Nebengers, personality type, ridesharing, trust

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Authors: Sulaiman Kassim Ibrahim

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Human Resource is one of the most important elements in any country. They are very important in actualizing the potential of every sector in the country, i.e Agric, Education, Finance, Judiciary and all formal and informal sectors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the loss of human resource in Nigeria through street begging. The study used intensive literature review. Finding from the review indicate that a significant number of human resource are into street begging in the country undeveloped and untapped. The paper recommend that policy should be initiated to discourage street begging, develop this resource through education and empowerment, stop rural-urban migration by providing infrastructure in the rural areas and abolish informal (Almajiri or beggars school) and transform it into formal school.

Keywords: human resource, street begging, Nigeria, Almajiri

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Authors: B. S. Akhmetov, P. T.Kharitonov, L. Sh. Balgabayeva, O. V. Kisseleva, T. S. Kartbayev

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This article analyzes the applicability of known renewable energy technical means as mobile power sources under the field and extreme conditions. The requirements are determined for the parameters of mobile micro-HPP. The application prospectively of the mobile micro-HPP with intelligent control systems is proved for this purpose. Variants of low-speed electric generators for micro HPP are given. Variants of designs for mobile micro HPP are presented with the direct (gearless) transfer of torque from the hydraulic drive to the rotor of the electric generator. Variant of the hydraulic drive for micro HPP is described workable at low water flows. A general structure of the micro HPP intelligent system control is offered that implements the principle of maximum energy efficiency. The legitimacy of construction and application of mobile micro HPP is proved as electrical power sources for life safety of people under the field and extreme conditions.

Keywords: mobile micro-hydro powerplants, information management systems, hydraulic drive, computer science

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Authors: Aby Nesan Raj, Sumil K. Raj, Sumesh Jayan

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The objective of the study is to formulate a self-regulation model that shall enhance the usage of Intelligent Transportation Systems by understanding the theory of self-efficacy. The core logic of the self-regulation model shall monitor driver's behavior based on the situations related to the various sources of Self Efficacy like enactive mastery, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and physiological arousal in addition to the vehicle data. For this study, four different vehicle data, speed, drowsiness, diagnostic data and surround camera views are considered. This data shall be given to the self-regulation model for evaluation. The oddness, which is the output of self-regulation model, shall feed to Intelligent Transportation Systems where appropriate actions are being taken. These actions include warning to the user as well as the input to the related transportation systems. It is also observed that the usage of vehicle as a sensor reduces the wastage of resource utilization or duplication. Altogether, this approach enhances the intelligence of the transportation systems especially in safety, productivity and environmental performance.

Keywords: emergency management, intelligent transportation system, self-efficacy, traffic management

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Authors: B.-Y.-S. Lau, Y.-C.-T. Jonathan, M.-S. Alias

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Heritage trees are natural large, individual trees with exceptionally value due to association with age or event or distinguished people. In Malaysia, there is an abundance of tropical heritage trees throughout the country. It is essential to set up a repository of heritage trees to prevent valuable trees from being cut down. In this cross domain study, a web-based online expert system namely the Heritage Tree Expert Assessment and Classification (HTEAC) is developed and deployed for public to nominate potential heritage trees. Based on the nomination, tree care experts or arborists would evaluate and verify the nominated trees as heritage trees. The expert system automatically rates the approved heritage trees according to pre-defined grades via Delphi technique. Features and usability test of the expert system are presented. Preliminary result is promising for the system to be used as a full scale public system.

Keywords: arboriculture, Delphi, expert system, heritage tree, urban forestry

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Authors: Chang Liu, John Nash, Stephen D. Prior

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This paper presents the design and implementation details of a complete unmanned aerial system (UAS) based on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components, focusing on safety, security, search and rescue scenarios in GPS-denied environments. In particular, the aerial platform is capable of semi-autonomously navigating through extremely low-light, GPS-denied indoor environments based on onboard sensors only, including a downward-facing optical flow camera. Besides, an additional low-cost payload camera system is developed to stream both infrared video and visible light video to a ground station in real-time, for the purpose of detecting sign of life and hidden humans. The total cost of the complete system is estimated to be $1150, and the effectiveness of the system has been tested and validated in practical scenarios.

Keywords: unmanned aerial system, commercial-off-the-shelf, extremely low-light, GPS-denied, optical flow, infrared video

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Authors: Henry Acurio, Alvaro Corral, Juan Fonseca

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In Ecuador, subventions on fossil fuels for the road transportation sector have always been part of its economy throughout time, mainly because of demagogy and populism from political leaders. It is clearly seen that the government cannot maintain the subsidies anymore due to its commercial balance and its general state budget; subsidies are a key barrier to implementing the use of cleaner technologies. However, during the last few months, the elimination of subsidies has been done gradually with the purpose of reaching international prices. It is expected that with this measure, the population will opt for other means of transportation, and in a certain way, it will promote the use of private electric vehicles and public, e.g., taxis and buses (urban transport). Considering the three main elements of sustainable development, an analysis of the social, economic, and environmental impacts of eliminating subsidies will be generated at the country level. To achieve this, four scenarios will be developed in order to determine how the subsidies will contribute to the promotion of electro-mobility: 1) A Business as Usual (BAU) scenario; 2) the introduction of 10 000 electric vehicles by 2025; 3) the introduction of 100 000 electric vehicles by 2030; 4) the introduction of 750 000 electric vehicles by 2040 (for all the scenarios, buses, taxis, lightweight duty vehicles, and private vehicles will be introduced, as it is established in the National Electro Mobility Strategy for Ecuador). The Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) will be used, and it will be suitable to determine the cost for the government in terms of importing derivatives for fossil fuels and the cost of electricity to power the electric fleet that can be changed. The elimination of subventions generates fiscal resources for the state that can be used to develop other kinds of projects that will benefit Ecuadorian society. It will definitely change the energy matrix, and it will provide energy security for the country; it will be an opportunity for the government to incentivize a greater introduction of renewable energies, e.g., solar, wind, and geothermal. At the same time, it will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the transportation sector, considering its mitigation potential, which as a result, will ameliorate the inhabitant quality of life by improving the quality of air, therefore reducing respiratory diseases associated with exhaust emissions, consequently, achieving sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and complying with the agreements established in the Paris Agreement COP 21 in 2015. Electro-mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean can only be achieved by the implementation of the right policies by the central government, which need to be accompanied by a National Urban Mobility Policy (NUMP), and can encompass a greater vision to develop holistic, sustainable transport systems at local governments.

Keywords: electro mobility, energy, policy, sustainable transportation

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Authors: Suman Singh, Myungho Lee, Insik Park, Yangjai Shin, Youn Suk Lee

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Active antimicrobial films prepared by incorporating AgSiO2, AgZn, and AgZ at 1%, 3%, 5%, 10% (w/w) into polypropylene (PP) matrix. Complete thermal, structural, mechanical and functional characterization were carried out of all formulations and determined the antimicrobial efficiency and returnable antimicrobial efficiency according to the Japanese Industrial Standard method. The morphology of the films showed agglomerates of particles in the composites. The active formulation had decreased elongation compared to the pure PP sample. Thermal analyses indicated that the active formulation compositions had increased thermal stability. The films showed 50% antimicrobial properties after the fifth wash against the tested microorganisms, presenting better activity against Gram negative organisms than Gram positive ones. These findings suggest that PP films with AgSiO2, AgZn, and AgZ particles could provide a significant contribution to the quality and safety of seafood in the distribution chain.

Keywords: antimicrobial film, properties and characterization, returnable packaging, sea food

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Authors: Magdalena Biela, Marta Weber-Siwirska, Edyta Sierka

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The current noticed trend in Central European countries, as in other regions of the world, is for people to migrate to cities. As a result, the urban population is to have reached 70% of the total by 2050. Due to this tendency, as well as taking high real estate prices and limited reserves of city green areas into consideration, the greenery and agricultural soil adjacent to cities is are to be devoted to housing projects, while city centres are expected to undergo partial depopulation. Urban heat islands and phenomena such as torrential rains may cause serious damage. They may even endanger the very life and health of the inhabitants. Due to these tangible effects of climate change, residents expect that local government takes action to develop green infrastructure (GI). The main purpose of our research has been to assess the degree of readiness on the part of the local government in Poland to develop BGI. A questionnaire using the CAWI method was prepared, and a survey was carried out. The target group were town hall employees in all 380 powiat cities and towns (380 county centres) in Poland. The form contained 14 questions covering, among others, actions taken to support the development of GI and ways of motivating residents to take such actions. 224 respondents replied to the questions. The results of the research show that 52% of the cities/towns have taken or intend to take measures to favour the development of green spaces. Currently, the installation of green roofs and living walls is are only carried out by 6 Polish cities, and a few more are at the stage of preparing appropriate regulations. The problem of rainwater retention is much more widespread. Among the municipalities declaring any activities for the benefit of GI, approximately 42% have decided to work on this problem. Over 19% of the respondents are planning an increase in the surface occupied by green areas, 14% - the installation of green roofs, and 12% - redevelopment of city greenery. It is optimistic that 67% of the respondents are willing to acquire knowledge about BGI by means of taking part in educational activities both at the national and international levels. There are many ways to help GI development. The most common type of support in the cities and towns surveyed is co-financing (35%), followed by full financing of projects (11%). About 15% of the cities declare only advisory support. Thus, the problem of GI in Central European cities is at the stage of initial development and requires advanced measures and implementation of both proven solutions applied in other European and world countries using the concept of Nature-based Solutions.

Keywords: city/town, blue-green infrastructure, green roofs, climate change adaptation

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Authors: WooYoung Jung, Buntheng Chhorn, Min-Gi Kim

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Recently, damage to domestic facilities by strong winds and typhoons are growing. Therefore, this study focused on sign structure among various vulnerable facilities. The evaluation of the wind fragility was carried out considering the destruction of the anchor, which is one of the various failure modes of the sign structure. The performance evaluation of the anchor was carried out to derive the wind fragility. Two parameters were set and four anchor types were selected to perform the pull-out and shear tests. The resistance capacity was estimated based on the experimental results. Wind loads were estimated using Monte Carlo simulation method. Based on these results, we derived the wind fragility according to anchor type and wind exposure category. Finally, the evaluation of the wind fragility was performed according to the experimental parameters such as anchor length and anchor diameter. This study shows that the depth of anchor was more significant for the safety of structure compare to diameter of anchor.

Keywords: sign structure, wind fragility, set anchor, pull-out test, shear test, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Pradeep Peiris, Hasini Lecamwasam

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The fluid, ambiguous, and often elusive existence of caste among the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka has inspired many scholarly endeavours. Originally, Sinhalese caste was organized according to the occupational functions assigned to various groups in society. Hence cultivators came to be known as Goyigama, washers Dobi, drummers Berava, smiths Navandanna and so on. During pre-colonial times the specialized services of various groups were deployed to build water reservoirs, cultivate the land, and/or sustain the Buddhist order by material means. However, as to how and why caste prevails today in Sinhalese society when labour is in ideal terms free to move where it wants, or in other words, occupation is no longer strictly determined or restricted by birth, is a question worth exploring. Hence this paper explores how, and perhaps more interestingly why, when the nexus between traditional occupations and caste status is fast disappearing, caste itself has managed to survive and continues to be salient in politics in Sri Lanka. In answer to this larger question, the paper looks at caste from three perspectives: 1) Buddhism, whose ethical project provides a justification of social stratifications that transcends economic bases 2) Capitalism that has reactivated and reproduced archaic relations in a process of 'accumulation by subordination', not only by reinforcing the marginality of peripheral caste groups, but also by exploiting caste divisions to hinder any realization of class interests and 3) Democracy whose supposed equalizing effect expected through its ‘one man–one vote’ approach has been subverted precisely by itself, whereby the aggregate ultimately comes down to how many such votes each ‘group’ in society has. This study draws from field work carried out in Dedigama (in the District of Kegalle, Central Province) and Kelaniya (in the District of Colombo, Western Province) in Sri Lanka over three years. The choice of field locations was encouraged by the need to capture rural and urban dynamics related to caste since caste is more apparently manifest in rural areas whose material conditions partially warrant its prevalence, whereas in urban areas it exists mostly in the ideological terrain. In building its analysis, the study has employed a combination of objectivist and subjectivist approaches to capture the material and ideological existence of caste and caste politics in Sinhalese society. Therefore, methods such as in-depth interviews, observation, and collection of demographical and interpretive data from secondary sources were used for this study. The paper has been situated in a critical theoretical framework of social inquiry in an attempt to question dominant assumptions regarding such meta-labels as ‘Capitalism’ and ‘Democracy’, and also the supposed emancipatory function of religion (focusing on Buddhism).

Keywords: Buddhism, capitalism, caste, democracy, Sri Lanka

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Authors: Bouchra Wassate, Younes Karhat, Khadija El Falaki

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Leachate is a source of surface water and groundwater contamination if it has not been pretreated. Indeed, due to its complex structure and its pollution load make its treatment extremely difficult to achieve the standard limits required. The objective of this work is to show the interest of advanced oxidation processes on leachate treatment of urban waste containing high concentrations of organic pollutants. The efficiency of Fenton (Fe2+ +H2O2 + H+) reagent for young leachate recovered from collection trucks household waste in the city of Casablanca, Morocco, was evaluated with the objectives of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and discoloration reductions. The optimization of certain physicochemical parameters (initial pH value, reaction time, and [Fe2+], [H2O2]/ [Fe2+] ratio) has yielded good results in terms of reduction of COD and discoloration of the leachate.

Keywords: COD removal, color removal, Fenton process, oxidation process, leachate

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Chang Su Woo, Hyun Sung Park

Abstract:

Useful lifetime evaluations of rail-pads were very important in design procedure to assure the safety and reliability. It is, therefore, necessary to establish a suitable criterion for the replacement period of rail pads. In this study, we performed properties and accelerated heat aging tests of rail pads considering degradation factors and all environmental conditions including operation, and then derived a lifetime prediction equation according to changes in hardness, thickness, and static spring constants in the Arrhenius plot to establish how to estimate the aging of rail pads. With the useful lifetime prediction equation, the lifetime of e-clip pads was 2.5 years when the change in hardness was 10% at 25°C; and that of f-clip pads was 1.7 years. When the change in thickness was 10%, the lifetime of e-clip pads and f-clip pads is 2.6 years respectively. The results obtained in this study to estimate the useful lifetime of rail pads for high speed trains can be used for determining the maintenance and replacement schedule for rail pads.

Keywords: rail pads, accelerated test, Arrhenius plot, useful lifetime prediction, mechanical engineering design

Procedia PDF Downloads 301

Authors: Reggie Chandra

Abstract:

Trafficaccidents and traffic signal optimization are correlated. However, 70-90% of the traffic signals across the USA are not synchronized. The reason behind that is insufficient resources to create and implement timing plans. In this work, we will discuss the use of a breakthrough Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to optimize traffic flow and collect 24/7/365 accurate traffic data using a vehicle detection system. We will discuss what are recent advances in Artificial Intelligence technology, how does AI work in vehicles, pedestrians, and bike data collection, creating timing plans, and what is the best workflow for that. Apart from that, this paper will showcase how Artificial Intelligence makes signal timing affordable. We will introduce a technology that uses Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and deep learning algorithms to detect, collect data, develop timing plans and deploy them in the field. Convolutional Neural Networks are a class of deep learning networks inspired by the biological processes in the visual cortex. A neural net is modeled after the human brain. It consists of millions of densely connected processing nodes. It is a form of machine learning where the neural net learns to recognize vehicles through training - which is called Deep Learning. The well-trained algorithm overcomes most of the issues faced by other detection methods and provides nearly 100% traffic data accuracy. Through this continuous learning-based method, we can constantly update traffic patterns, generate an unlimited number of timing plans and thus improve vehicle flow. Convolutional Neural Networks not only outperform other detection algorithms but also, in cases such as classifying objects into fine-grained categories, outperform humans. Safety is of primary importance to traffic professionals, but they don't have the studies or data to support their decisions. Currently, one-third of transportation agencies do not collect pedestrian and bike data. We will discuss how the use of Artificial Intelligence for data collection can help reduce pedestrian fatalities and enhance the safety of all vulnerable road users. Moreover, it provides traffic engineers with tools that allow them to unleash their potential, instead of dealing with constant complaints, a snapshot of limited handpicked data, dealing with multiple systems requiring additional work for adaptation. The methodologies used and proposed in the research contain a camera model identification method based on deep Convolutional Neural Networks. The proposed application was evaluated on our data sets acquired through a variety of daily real-world road conditions and compared with the performance of the commonly used methods requiring data collection by counting, evaluating, and adapting it, and running it through well-established algorithms, and then deploying it to the field. This work explores themes such as how technologies powered by Artificial Intelligence can benefit your community and how to translate the complex and often overwhelming benefits into a language accessible to elected officials, community leaders, and the public. Exploring such topics empowers citizens with insider knowledge about the potential of better traffic technology to save lives and improve communities. The synergies that Artificial Intelligence brings to traffic signal control and data collection are unsurpassed.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, convolutional neural networks, data collection, signal control, traffic signal

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Víctor Cecilio, Roberto Gómez, J. Alberto Escobar, Héctor Guerrero

Abstract:

The study of the structural behavior of a support/pier of an elevated viaduct in Mexico City is presented. Detection of foundation piles with uncertain integrity prompted the review of possible situations that could jeopardy the structural safety of the pier. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the structural conditions of the support, taking into account the type of anomaly reported and the depth at which it is located, the position of the pile with uncertain integrity in the foundation system, the stratigraphy of the surrounding soil and the geometry and structural characteristics of the pier. To carry out the above, dynamic analysis, spectral modal, and step-by-step, with elastic and inelastic material models, were performed. Results were evaluated in accordance with the standards used for the design of the original structural project and with the Construction Regulations for Mexico’s Federal District (RCDF-2017, 2017). Comments on the response of the analyzed models are issued, and the conclusions are presented from a structural point of view.

Keywords: dynamic analysis, inelastic models, dubious foundation, bridge pier

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Hefzollah Mohammadian, Ensieh Hajeb, Mohamad Baqer Heidari

Abstract:

In this paper, for the protection and safety of tanks gases (flammable materials) and also due to the considerable economic value of the reservoir, the new system for the protection, the conservation and fire fighting has been cloned. The system consists of several parts: the Sensors to detect heat and fire with Nanotechnology (nano sensor), Barrier for isolation and protection from a range of two electronic zones, analyzer for detection and locating point of fire accurately, Main electronic board to announce fire, Fault diagnosis in different locations, such as relevant alarms and activate different devices for fire distinguish and announcement. An important feature of this system, high speed and capability of fire detection system in a way that is able to detect the value of the ambient temperature that can be adjusted. Another advantage of this system is autonomous and does not require human operator in place. Using nanotechnology, in addition to speeding up the work, reduces the cost of construction of the sensor and also the notification system and fire extinguish.

Keywords: analyser, barrier, heat resistance, general fault, general alarm, nano sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Farid Amidi Fazli, Afshin Babazadeh, Farnaz Amidi Fazli

Abstract:

In contrast with literal meaning of nano, researchers have been achieving mega adventures in this area and every day more nanomaterials are being introduced to the market. After long time application of fossil-based plastics, nowadays accumulation of their waste seems to be a big problem to the environment. On the other hand, mankind has more attention to safety and living environment. Replacing common plastic packaging materials with degradable ones that degrade faster and convert to non-dangerous components like water and carbon dioxide have more attractions; these new materials are based on renewable and inexpensive sources of starch and cellulose. However, the functional properties of them do not suitable for packaging. At this point, nanotechnology has an important role. Utilizing of nanomaterials in polymer structure will improve mechanical and physical properties of them; nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) has this ability. This work has employed a chemical method to produce NCC and starch bio nanocomposite containing NCC. X-Ray Diffraction technique has characterized the obtained materials. Results showed that applied method is a suitable one as well as applicable one to NCC production.

Keywords: biofilm, cellulose, nanocomposite, starch

Procedia PDF Downloads 389