Search results for: core city

Authors: Aaron Huber, Manoj Karwa

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Floods, heat waves, drought, wildfires, tornadoes and other environmental disasters are a snapshot of looming national problems that can create increasing demands on the national grid. With nearly 500,000 school buses on the road and the environmental protection agency (EPA) providing nearly $1B for electric school buses, there is a solution for this national issue. Bidirectional batteries in electric school buses enable a future proof solution to sustain the power grid during adverse environmental conditions and other periods of high demand. School buses have larger batteries than standard electric vehicles. When they are not transporting students, these buses can spend peak solar hours parked and plugged into bi-directional direct current fast chargers (DCFC). A partnership with Highland Electric, Proterra and Rhombus enabled over 7 MWh of energy servicing Massachusetts and Vermont grids. The buses were part of a vehicle to grid (V2G) program with National Grid and Green Mountain Power that can charge an average American home for one month with a single bus. V2G infrastructure enables school systems to future proof their charging strategies, strengthen their local grids and can create additional revenue streams with their EV fleets. A bidirectional ecosystem with Highland, Proterra and Rhombus can enable grid resiliency or the ability to withstand power outages caused by excessive demands, natural disasters or rogue nation's attacks with no loss of service. A fleet of school buses is a standalone resilient asset that can be accessed across a city to keep its citizens safe without having any toxic fumes. Nearly 95% of all school buses across USA are powered by diesel internal combustion engines. Diesel exhaust has been classified as a human carcinogen, and it can lead to and exacerbate respiratory conditions. Bidirectional school buses and chargers enable energy justice by providing backup power in case of emergencies or high demand for marginalized communities and aim to make energy more accessible, affordable, clean, and democratically managed.

Keywords: V2G, vehicle to grid, electric buses, eBuses, DC fast chargers, DCFC

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Authors: Donghun Lee, Jiyoung Shin, Youjin Kim, Jin Joo Kim

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The sinking of Sewol ferry occurred in Korea on the morning of 16 April 2014 while carrying 476 people. In all, 304 passengers, mostly secondary school students from Danwon High School in Ansan City died in the disaster. The sinking of Sewol ferry has resulted in widespread social and political turmoil within South Korea. Many criticize the actions of the captain and crews of the ferry as well as the ferry operator and the regulators who oversaw its operations. However, huge criticism has been directed at the South Korean government for its national disaster response system. This disaster has made Korean government build up a new disaster management and psychological support system. The purpose of this study was to understand developmental and change process of a female counselor in her late fifties participated in Sewol ferry disaster counseling for a year. She has participated in providing as a counselor counseling and psychological support for the victims' families of Sewol ferry disaster, additionally as a director of community youth counseling center operated by local government by establishing governmental psychological supports plan for recovering collective trauma in the community, through which she have gotten self-reflection of whole her life. For in-depth interview data analysis, Mandelbaum’s three conceptual frameworks were employed; dimensions, turnings, and adaptation. The result of the study indicates extracted categories of life dimension, turning point and adaptation. The details of these categories are ‘having a self-image in youth’, ‘marriage in fairy-tale’, ‘unexpected death of husband’, ‘taking a step forward from darkness’, the way of counselor’, nice grown child’, ‘Sewol ferry disaster’ in life dimension, ‘death in front of life’, ‘milestone in life, counseling’ in turning points, ‘before Sewol ferry disaster’, ‘after Sewol ferry disaster’ in adaptation. Life history methods revealed the counselor’s internal developmental process by analyzing what Sewol ferry disaster influenced on an individual life, especially a counselor's one, what changes she went through, and how she adapted herself to that. Based on the results, discussions and suggestions are provided.

Keywords: development and change, disaster counseling, identity of female counselor, Mandelbaum’s life history, Sewol ferry

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Authors: Emanuela Zilli, Antonella Ruffatto, Davide Bonaldo, Stefano Bevilacqua, Tommaso Caputo, Luisa Fontana, Carmelina Saraceno, Antonio Sturaroo, Teodoro Sava, Antonio Madia

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The new Hospital in Cittadella - ULSS 6 Euganea Health Trust, in the North-East of Italy (400 beds, project completion date in 2026), will partially take the place of the existing building. Interesting features have been suggested in order to project a modern, “environmental-friendly” and “people-friendly” building. Specific multidisciplinary meetings (involving stakeholders and professionals with different backgrounds) have been organized on a periodic basis in order to guarantee the appropriate implementation of logistic and organizational solutions related to eco-sustainability, integration with the context, and the concept of “design for all” and “humanization of care.” The resulting building will be composed of organic shapes determined by the external environment (sun movement, climate, landscape, pre-existing buildings, roads) and the needs of the internal environment (areas of care and diagnostic-treatment paths reorganized with experience gained during the pandemic), with extensive use of renewable energy, solar panels, a 4th-generation heating system, sanitised and maintainable surfaces. There is particular attention to the quality of the staff areas, which include areas dedicated to psycho-physical well-being (relax points, yoga gym), study rooms, and a centralized conference room. Outdoor recreational spaces and gardens for music and watercolour therapy will be included; atai-chi gym is dedicated to oncology patients. Integration in the urban and social context is emphasized through window placement toward the gardens (maternal-infant, mental health, and rehabilitation wards). Service areas such as dialysis, radiology, and labs have views of the medieval walls, the symbol of the city’s history. The new building has been designed to pursue the maximum level of eco-sustainability, harmony with the environment, and integration with the historical, urban, and social context; the concept of humanization of care has been considered in all the phases of the project management.

Keywords: environmental-friendly, humanization, eco-sustainability, new hospital

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Authors: A. Fathianpour, M. B. Jelodar, S. Wilkinson

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This paper outlines the approaches taken to assess multi-hazard assessments. There is currently confusion in assessing multi-hazard impacts, and so this study aims to determine which of the available options are the most useful. The paper uses an international literature search, and analysis of current multi-hazard assessments and a case study to illustrate the effectiveness of the chosen method. Findings from this study will help those wanting to assess multi-hazards to undertake a straightforward approach. The paper is significant as it helps to interpret the various approaches and concludes with the preferred method. Many people in the world live in hazardous environments and are susceptible to disasters. Unfortunately, when a disaster strikes it is often compounded by additional cascading hazards, thus people would confront more than one hazard simultaneously. Hazards include natural hazards (earthquakes, floods, etc.) or cascading human-made hazards (for example, Natural Hazard Triggering Technological disasters (Natech) such as fire, explosion, toxic release). Multi-hazards have a more destructive impact on urban areas than one hazard alone. In addition, climate change is creating links between different disasters such as causing landslide dams and debris flows leading to more destructive incidents. Much of the prevailing literature deals with only one hazard at a time. However, recently sophisticated multi-hazard assessments have started to appear. Given that multi-hazards occur, it is essential to take multi-hazard risk assessment under consideration. This paper aims to review the multi-hazard assessment methods through articles published to date and categorize the strengths and disadvantages of using these methods in risk assessment. Napier City is selected as a case study to demonstrate the necessity of using multi-hazard risk assessments. In order to assess multi-hazard risk assessments, first, the current multi-hazard risk assessment methods were described. Next, the drawbacks of these multi-hazard risk assessments were outlined. Finally, the improvements to current multi-hazard risk assessments to date were summarised. Generally, the main problem of multi-hazard risk assessment is to make a valid assumption of risk from the interactions of different hazards. Currently, risk assessment studies have started to assess multi-hazard situations, but drawbacks such as uncertainty and lack of data show the necessity for more precise risk assessment. It should be noted that ignoring or partial considering multi-hazards in risk assessment will lead to an overestimate or overlook in resilient and recovery action managements.

Keywords: cascading hazards, disaster assessment, mullti-hazards, risk assessment

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Authors: Tony Wilson

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This paper sets out a practices perspective or practices theory, which has become pervasive from business to sociological studies. In doing so, it locates the perspective historically (in the work of the philosopher Heidegger) and provides a contemporary illustration of its application to communication, consumer and cultural studies as central to this conference theme. The structured account of practices (as articulated in eight ‘axioms’) presented towards the conclusion of this paper is an initial statement - planned to encourage further detailed qualitative and systematic research in areas of interest to the conference. Practice theories of equipped and situated construction of participatory meaning (as in media and marketing consuming) are frequently characterized as lacking common ground, or core principles. This paper explores whether by retracing a journey to earlier philosophical underwriting, a shared territory promoting new research can be located as current philosophical hermeneutics. Moreover, through returning to hermeneutic first principles, the paper shows that a series of spatio-temporal metaphors become available - appropriate to analyzing communication as a process across disciplines in which it is considered. Thus one can argue, for instance, that media users engage (enter) digital text from their diverse ‘horizons of expectation’, in a productive enlarging ‘fusion’ of horizons of understanding, thereby ‘projecting’ a new narrative, integrated in a ‘hermeneutic circle’ of meaning. A politics of communication studies may contest a horizon of understanding - so engaging in critical ‘distancing’. Marketing’s consumers can occupy particular places on a horizon of understanding. Media users pass over borders of changing, revised perspectives. Practices research can now not only be discerned in multiple disciplines but equally crosses disciplines. The ubiquitous practice of media use by managers and visitors in a shopping mall - the mediatization of malls - responds to investigating not just with media study expertise, but from an interpretive marketing perspective. How have mediated identities of person or place been changed? Emphasizing understanding of entities in a material environment as ‘equipment’, practices theory enables the quantitative correlation of use and demographic variable as ‘Zeug Score’. Human behavior is fundamentally habitual - shaped by its tacit assumptions - occasionally interrupted by reflection. Practices theory acknowledges such action to be minimally monitored yet nonetheless considers it as constructing narrative. Thus presented in research, ‘storied’ behavior can then be seen to be (in)formed and shaped from a shifting hierarchy of ‘horizons’ or of perspectives - from habituated to reflective - rather than a single seamless narrative. Taking a communication practices perspective here avoids conflating tacit, transformative and theoretical understanding in research. In short, a historically grounded and unifying statement of contemporary practices theory will enhance its potential as a tool in communication, consumer and cultural research, landscaping interpretative horizons of human behaviour through exploring widely the culturally (in)formed narratives equipping and incorporated (reflectively, unreflectively) in people’s everyday lives.

Keywords: communication, consumer, cultural practices, hermeneutics

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Authors: Alireza Rahpeyma

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One of the most significant challenges faced by cities is inefficient and deteriorated urban fabric. Deteriorated areas bring about numerous issues, including economic, social, physical, and infrastructural problems, sewage management, environmental concerns, and security issues. One of the crucial necessities of modern urban life is the revitalization and renovation of these urban fabrics. Another important aspect is preserving a cohesive cultural and social identity during the urban renewal process. Urban renovation and upgrading are not a one-time occurrence but rather an ongoing process that ultimately needs to become ingrained in the system. This process is not swift; it involves sensitive and intricate stages that require well-designed plans within short, medium, and long-term timeframes. To revitalize dilapidated areas, a comprehensive understanding of the urban region's sustainability is essential. The goal of this study is to provide a suitable model for the upgrading and renewal of areas 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 in Tehran, preserving the heritage within these urban fabrics (urban assets), including the valuable morphologies of these areas, to prevent financial wastage. This study was conducted descriptively and analytically using the SWOT technique and GIS software. The research results regarding urban upgrading and renewal bring about the following points: 1) Urban upgrading and renewal ensure satisfactory efficiency, justice, environmental quality, safety and security, hygiene, sewage management, and the comfort and aesthetics of urban spaces. 2) Employing the above processes in old city centers re-establishes the historical and cultural connection between people and their past, a past that is evolving and improving and will not repeat itself. 3) Despite the expansion and growth of Iranian cities, cultural and national identity can be preserved by adhering to healthy urban revitalization principles. 4) Proper urban upgrading and renewal prevent social fragmentation, deviant behavioral patterns, psychological and occupational disorders, and financial losses. In general, preserving the identity and urban life in renovation and upgrading must be comprehensive, encompassing various dimensions, including physical, social, economic, political, and administrative aspects.

Keywords: dilapidated areas, renovation, sustainable reconstruction, Tehran-Iran

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Authors: Sneha Manjunath

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Architecture is a continuous process of evolution that keeps changing and evolving through time and gives rise to various design solutions based on the purpose of change and the present function of the space. This evolution in design has been happening for a long time and hence a variety of climate-responsive, context-responsive and human-responsive developments in habitats are witnessed. India has been one of the hot spots for the conservation of heritage and architecture. Buildings ranging from Indus-valley civilization to modern contemporary dwellings have all evolved in one or the other way. Various historical sites such as Hampi in Karnataka, Taj Mahal in Agra and various temples in Southern India are identified and preserved under the Archeological Survey of India. The main objective of such preservation is to help in protecting, preserving and keeping it intact for the future. Study of such heritage-rich buildings and building techniques helps us in understanding the psychology, lifestyle and socio-cultural impacts it had on the complete urban fabric that developed in a region. It also gives an insight into the occupation, economic status and religious beliefs that gave rise to a pattern in an urban form that was more inclusive and appropriate as per the need of the users. Today’s generation draws various inspirations from history with respect to space planning, building services such as lighting, ventilation and sanitation systems and elevation treatments. It is important to know and understand the importance of certain urban planning techniques used to develop ancient towns or cities in a radial pattern, square pattern, or checkered pattern depending on the need of the administrative set-up of the respective town or city. It is believed that every element of design undergoes evolution and it is important for a designer to know, respect and develop the same for the future so as to acknowledge and conserve every aspect of heritage that has been a backbone in urban form generation even today. Hampi in the Karnataka state of India is a very good example of how the monuments and dwellings from 14th Century still stand strong. Temples from North India, such as Kedarnath Temple, survived heavy floods because of their building techniques. Such building materials and construction techniques are to be revived and reused for a better perspective towards space planning in urbanized cities.

Keywords: architecture, urban form, heritage, town planning

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Authors: D. Densenbal, Ts. Naidansuren, M. Oyunchimeg, Ts. Manaljav, D. Udval, L. Khosbayar, Kh. Solongo, D. Ichinnorov, B. Solongo

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Background: The rapid economic growth and to the common use of smoky fuel such as coal in the small traditional houses (Ger) in Mongolia is worsening its air pollution problem. In addition, the smoking rate is considered to be high. Despite these conditions, few prevalence studies of COPD epidemiology and diagnose have been performed in Mongolia. The spirometric test is a widely used diagnose for COPD. Aims: Healthy and over the 40 aged adults were evaluated of Pulmonary function test in Ulaanbaatar. Methods: Healthy, over the 40 aged residences were admitted for this study from II sub-district, in Khan-Uul district of Ulaanbaatar city. In this cross-sectional study. Health information was collected 184 subjects between 01-03 July in 2013; spirometry device was named Hichest–105 Japan that was employed for this study. Studies were using the acceptability standards outlined, and data were compared with personal reference data generated on Asian subjects which were performed abnormally to evaluated by global initiative obstructive lung decreases (GOLD). Data were analyzed using SPSS 20 software. Results: A total of 134 subjects (age 52.9±9.8, man 32.8%) were performed PFT which were interpreted normal 73.9% (sum of man 65.0% and woman 79.4% ), abnormal 26.1% which were typed obstruction 17.2% (23), restriction 6% (8), mixed 3% (4). Airflow obstruction were determined in all man 25% (11), woman 13.3% (12) which were classified mild 43.4% (man 54.5%, woman 33.3%), moderate 52.2% (36.3% vs. 66.7%) and severe 4.3% man 1 GOLD degree. Undetermined a very severe obstruction. Normal PFT subjects were compared a group of gender and age group which man was significantly higher than the women (p<0.05). Age group of PFT decrease was no difference in gender (p>0.05) also no difference in BMI (p>0.05). Normal PFT subjects were compared with predicted values were used to Asian population which was significantly lower than FEV1 (0.15±0.36 l), PEF (1.92±1.31 l) and same deference occurred man (FEV1 0.19±0.42 l, PEF 2.04±1.64), women (0.14±0.33 l vs. 1.86±1.15 l). The decrease of FEV1 was defined in over the 60 age group higher than other age groups. Conclusion: Not only observed an air flow limitation prevalence dominance in all case but also COPD prevalence diagnosed man were higher than women. Normal PFT subjects were compared with predicted values were used to Asian population which was significant air flow limitation started early.

Keywords: PFT, obstruction, FEV1, COPD

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Authors: Mohammad Mahbub Alam Talukder, Shahnewaz, Hasanat-E-Rabbi, Mohammed Nazrul Islam

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Road traffic accident is a global problem which is severe in the developing countries like Bangladesh. In consequence, in developing countries road trauma has now been recognized as an increasing public health hazards and economic burning issue. And after road traffic accidents the lack of management and economic costs related with health seeking behavior have a disproportionate impact on lower income groups, thus contributing to the persistence of poverty in conjunction with disability. This cross sectional study, carried out during July 2012 to June 2013, aimed to explore health seeking decision and culture of handling the road traffic accident related victims, as taken from experiences of the poor disabled people of slum dwellers of Dhaka city. The present study has been designed based on qualitative techniques such as in-depth interview and case studies. Additionally, a survey questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics of the study population (n=150) and to select participants purposely for in-depth interview (n=50) and case study (n=30). Content analysis of qualitative data was done through theme coding and matrix analysis of case study was done to use relevant verbatim. Most of the time the health seeking decision totally depended on the surrounded people of the accidental place, their knowledge, awareness and remaining facility and capacity regarding proper management of the victims. However, most of the cases the victims did not get any early treatment and it took 2-12 hours to get even the first aid because of distance, shortage of money, lack of availability of getting the aid, lack of mass awareness etc. Under the reality of discriminated and unaffordable health service provision better treatment could not turn out due to economic inability of the poor victims. To avoid the severe trauma, treatment delay must be reduced by providing first aid within very short time and to do so, mass awareness campaign is necessary for handing the victims. Moreover, necessary measures should be taken to ensure cost free health service provision to treat the chronic disabled condition of the road traffic accident related poor victims.

Keywords: accident, injury, disabled, qualitative, slum

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: Charlotte Jeavons, Charitini Stavropoulous, Nicolas Drey

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Background: Over one-third of five-year-olds and almost half of all eight-year-olds in the UK have obvious caries experience that can be detected by visual screening techniques. School-based caries preventions programs to apply fluoride varnish to young children’s teeth operate in many areas in the UK. Their aim is to reduce dental caries in children. The Department of Health guidance (2009) on consent states information must be provided to parents to enable informed autonomous decision-making prior to any treatment involving their young children. Fluoride varnish schemes delivered in primary schools use letters for this purpose. Parents are expected to return these indicating their consent or refusal. A large proportion of parents do not respond. In the absence of positive consent, these children are excluded from the program. Non-response is more common in deprived areas creating inequality. The reason for this is unknown. The consent process used is underpinned by the ethical theory of deontology that is prevalent in clinical dentistry and widely accepted in bio-ethics. Objective: To investigate parents’ views, understanding and experience of the fluoride varnish program taking place in their child’s school, including their views about the practical consent arrangements. Method: Schools participating in the fluoride varnish scheme operating in Enfield, North London, were asked to take part. Parents with children in nursery, reception, or year one were invited to participate via semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Thematic analysis was conducted. Findings: 40 parents were recruited from eight schools. The global theme of ‘trust’ was identified as the strongest influence on parental responses. Six themes were identified; protecting children from harm is viewed by parents as their role, parents have the capability to decide but lack confidence, sharing responsibility for their child’s oral health with the State is welcomed by a parent, existing relationships within parents’ social networks strongly influences consent decisions, official dental information is not communicated effectively, sending a letter to parents’ and excluding them from meeting dental practitioners is ineffective. The information delivered via a letter was not strongly identified by parents as influencing their response. Conclusions: Personal contact with the person(s) providing information and requesting consent has a greater impact on parental consent responses than written information provided alone. This demonstrates that traditional bio-ethical ideas about rational decision-making where emotions are transcended and interference is not justified unless preventing harm to an unaware person are outdated. Parental decision-making is relational and the consent process should be adapted to reflect this. The current system that has a deontology view of decision making at its core impoverishes parental autonomy and may, ultimately, increase dental inequalities as a result.

Keywords: consent, decision, ethics, fluoride, parents

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Authors: Kittitara Chunlakittiphan, Patompong Satapornpong

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Introduction: The variation of genetics affects how our body responds to pharmaceuticals elucidates the correlation between long-term use of medical cannabis and adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Medical cannabis is regarded as the treatment for chronic pain, cancer pain, acute pain, psychological disorders, multiple sclerosis and migraine management. However, previous studies have shown that delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an ingredient found in cannabis, was the cause of ADRs in CB1 receptors found in humans. Previous research suggests that distributions of the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor gene and pharmacogenetic markers, which vary amongst different populations, might affect incidences of ADRs. Although there is an evident need to investigate the level of the CB1 receptor gene (rs806365), studies on the distribution of CB1-pharmacogenetics markers in Thai patients are limited. Objective: Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the distribution of the rs806365 polymorphism in Thai patients who have been treated with medical cannabis. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 31 Thai patients with THC-induced ADRs and 34 THC-tolerant controls to take part in this study. All patients with THC-induced ADRs were accessed through a review of medical records by physicians. EDTA blood of 3ml was collected to obtain the CNR1 gene (rs806365) and genotyping of this gene was conducted using the real-time PCR ViiA7 (ABI, Foster City, CA, USA) following the manufacturer’s instruction. Results: The sample consisted of 65 patients (40/61.54%) were females and (25/38.46%) were males, with an age range of 19-87 years, who have been treated with medical cannabis. In this study, the most common THC-induced ADRs were dry mouth and/or dry throat, tachycardia, nausea, and arrhythmia. Across the whole sample, we found that 52.31% of Thai patients carried a heterozygous variant (rs806365, CT allele). Moreover, the number of rs806365 (CC, homozygous variant) carriers totaled seventeen people (26.15%) amongst the subjects of Thai patients treated with medical cannabis. Furthermore, 17 out of 22 patients (77.27%) who experienced severe ADRs: Tachycardia and/or arrhythmia, carried an abnormal rs806365 gene (CT and CC alleles). Conclusions: The results propose that the rs806365 gene is widely distributed amongst the Thai population and there is a link between this gene and vulnerability to developing THC-induced ADRs after being treated with medical cannabis. Therefore, it is necessary to screen for the rs806365 gene before using medical cannabis to treat a patient.

Keywords: rs806365, THC-induced adverse drug reactions, CB1 receptor, Thai population

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Authors: Mulugeta Shegaze, Mekitie Wondafrash, Alemayehu A. Alemayehu, Shikur Mohammed, Zewdu Shewangezaw, Mukerem Abdo, Gebresilasea Gendisha

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Background: The 2004 World Health Assembly called for specific actions to halt the overweight and obesity epidemic that is currently penetrating urban populations in the developing world. Adolescents require particular attention due to their vulnerability to develop obesity and the fact that adolescent weight tracks strongly into adulthood. However, there is scarcity of information on the modifiable risk factors to be targeted for primary intervention among urban adolescents in Ethiopia. This study was aimed at determining the magnitude and risk factors of overweight and obesity among high school adolescents in Addis Ababa. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in February and March 2014 on 456 randomly selected adolescents from 20 high schools in Addis Ababa city.  Demographic data and other risk factors of overweight and obesity were collected using self-administered structured questionnaire, whereas anthropometric measurements of weight and height were taken using calibrated equipment and standardized techniques. The WHO STEPS instrument for chronic disease risk was applied to assess dietary habit and physical activity. Overweight and obesity status was determined based on BMI-for-age percentiles of WHO 2007 reference population. Results: The prevalence rates of overweight, obesity, and overall overweight/ obesity among high school adolescents in Addis Ababa were 9.7% (95%CI = 6.9-12.4%), 4.2% (95%CI = 2.3-6.0%), and 13.9% (95%CI = 10.6-17.1%), respectively. Overweight/obesity prevalence was highest among female adolescents, in private schools, and in the higher wealth category. In multivariable regression model, being female [AOR(95%CI) = 5.4(2.5,12.1)], being from private school [AOR(95%CI) = 3.0(1.4,6.2)], having >3 regular meals [AOR(95%CI) = 4.0(1.3,13.0)], consumption of sweet foods [AOR(95%CI) = 5.0(2.4,10.3)] and spending >3 hours/day sitting [AOR(95%CI) = 3.5(1.7,7.2)] were found to increase overweight/ obesity risk, whereas high Total Physical Activity level [AOR(95%CI) = 0.21(0.08,0.57)] and better nutrition knowledge [AOR(95%CI) = 0.160.07,0.37)] were found protective. Conclusions: More than one in ten of the high school adolescents were affected by overweight/obesity with dietary habit and physical activity are important modifiable risk factors. Well-tailored nutrition education program targeting lifestyle change should be initiated with more emphasis to female adolescents and students in private schools.

Keywords: adolescents, NCDs, overweight, obesity

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Authors: Hung Hing Chan, Tai-Shan Hu

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Kaohsiung has been an industrial city of Taiwan for over a hundred year. Consequently, there are several abandoned industrial lands left when the process of deindustrialization has started, resulting in the decay of the adjacent urban communities. These industrial lands, which are brownfields that are potentially or already contaminated by hazardous substances, have created social injustice to the surrounding communities. The redevelopments of industrial lands bring a sustainable development to the communities, while the redevelopments can be in different forms, depending on the natural conditions. This research studies the possible approaches to facilitate social sustainability of urban regeneration resulted from the industrial land redevelopment projects, which has always been ignored. The aim of the research is to find out the best western practices of brownfield redevelopment to facilitate social aspect of sustainable urban regeneration and make a contribution to the industrial land redevelopment of Taiwan. The research is conducted via literature review and case study. Industrial land redevelopment has been a social focus in the blighted communities to promote urban regeneration after the post-industrial age. The tendency of this kind of redevelopment is towards constructing the built environment, as a result the environmental and economic aspect of sustainability of the redeveloped industrial land will be boosted, while the social aspect will not be necessarily better since the local communities affected are rarely engaged in the decision-making process and inadequate resource allocation to the projects is not guaranteed. To ensure the improvement of social sustainability is reached, the recommendations of this research, such as civic engagement, a formation of dedicated brownfield regeneration agency and resource allocation to employ brownfield process manager and to strategic communication, should be incorporated into the real practices of industrial land-led urban regeneration. Besides, the case study also shows that the social sustainability of industrial land-led urban regeneration can be promoted by (1) upholding the local feature and public participation in the regeneration process, (2) allocating resources and enforcing responsibility system, and (3) assuring financial resource for the urban regeneration projects and residents. Subsequent research will involve in-depth interviews with the chiefs of the village of related communities in Kaohsiung and questionnaire with the community members to comprehend their opinions regarding social sustainability, aiming at evaluating the social sustainability and finding out which kind of redevelopment project tends to support the social dimension of sustainable development more.

Keywords: brownfield, industrial land, redevelopment, social sustainability, urban regeneration

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Authors: Moses Obenade, Francis I. Okpiliya, Gordon T. Amangabara

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According to the 2006 Census of Nigeria, there are 2,525,690 females out of the total population of 5,198,716 of Rivers State. Of that figure, about 90 percent are still within the reproductive age of (0-49). With an annual growth rate of 3.4 percent, the population of Rivers State is estimated to grow to 7,262,755 by 2016. This means an increase of 2,064,039 within a ten year period. From a projected population increase of 182,766 in 2007 only 30,394 live births were registered while an astronomical increase of 543,275 live births were registered in 2008 as against the anticipated increase of 188,980. Preliminary investigations revealed that this exceptional figure in 2008 was occasioned by manpower and logistics support provided by the Rivers State Government for the Port Harcourt office of the National Population Commission (NPC). The mop-up exercise of 2008 by NPC that was engineered from the support provided by the Rivers State Government indicates that the agency needs the co-operation and partnership of the three tiers of government and the communities in performing its statutory duties that is pertinent to national planning, growth and development. Because the incentives received from Rivers State Government did not continue in 2009, live births registration noise-dived to only 60,546 from the expected increase of 195,405. It was further observed that Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas which constitute the state capital have the highest number of live births registration during the period of 2007 to 2014 covered by this paper. This trend of not adequately accounting for or registering all live births in the state has continued till date without being addressed by the authorities concerned. The current situation if left unchecked portend serious danger for the state and indeed Nigeria, as paucity of data could hamper sound economic planning as well as proper allocation of resources to targeted sectors. This paper therefore recommends an innovative multi-stakeholder funding strategy comprising the federal, state, local government and communities. Their participation in an integrated manner will aid the achievement of comprehensive live births registration in the state. It is hoped that investments in education, health and social sectors could help in addressing most of the problems bedeviling the nation as such as lowering of fertility and improving lives.

Keywords: live births registration, population, rivers state, national population commission, Nigeria

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Authors: Rana Alkhamra

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Background: Child's earliest experiences with books and stories during the first years of his life are strongly linked with the development of his early language and literacy skills. Interacting in routine learning activities, such as shared book reading, storytelling, and teaching about the letters of the alphabet make a critical foundation for early learning, language growth and emergent literacy. Aim: The current study explores family and preschool early interactive literacy practices in families and preschools (nursery and kindergarten) in Jordan. It highlights the importance of early interactive literacy activities on child language and literacy growth and development. Methods: This is a cross sectional study that surveyed 243 Jordanian families. The survey investigated literacy routine practices, largely shared books reading, at home and at preschool; child speech and language development; and family demographics. Results: Around 92.5% of the families read books and stories to their children, as frequently as 1-2 times weekly or monthly (75%). Only 19.6% read books on daily basis. Many families reported preferring story-telling (97%). Despite that families acknowledged the importance of early literacy activities, on language, reading and writing, cognitive, and academic development, 45% asked for education and training pertaining to specific ways and ideas to help their young children develop language and literacy skills. About 69% of the families reported reading books and stories to their children for 15 minutes a day, while 71.2% indicated having their children watch television for 3 to > 6 hours a day. At preschool, only 52.8% of the teachers were reported to read books and stories. Factors like parent education, monthly income, living inside (33.6%) or outside (66.4%) the capital city of Amman significantly (p < 0.05) affected child early literacy interactive activities whether at home or at preschool. Conclusion: Early language and literacy skills depend largely on the opportunities and experiences provided to children in the home and in preschool environment. Family literacy programs can play an important role in bridging the gap in early literacy experiences for families that need help. Also, speech therapists can work in collaboration with families and educators to ensure that young children have high quality and sufficient opportunities to participate in early literacy activities both at home and in preschool environments.

Keywords: literacy, interactive activities, language, practices, family, preschool, Jordan

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Authors: Sabyasachi Behera, Shiv Kumar, Pramod Gautam, Anisur Rahman, Pawan Pathak, Rahul Bhadouria

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Background: The increasing proportion of population especially urban poor and vulnerable groups or groups with specific needs, with health indicators worse than their rural counterparts in India face various issues related with availability and quality of health care. The reasons are myriad, starting from information and awareness of the community, especially, in a scenario wherein the needs and challenges of floating and migrant urban populations remain poorly understood. Weak linkages between health care facilities and slum dwellers and vulnerable populations hinder the improvement of health services for urban poor. Method: To address this issue, TCIHC program is helping health department of Indore city of Madhya Pradesh to establish a referral mechanism with a dual approach: at both community and facility level. The former is based on the premise of ‘building social capital’, i.e. norms and networks within a community facilitating collective action, helps improve the demand and supply of health services at appropriate levels of care (Minus 2: Accredited Social Health Activist and Community Health Groups; Minus 1: Urban Health Nutrition Days; Zero: Urban Primary Health Center; Plus 1: secondary facility with BEmONC services; Plus 2: secondary facilities with CEmONC services; Plus 3: tertiary level facility) for the urban poor. The latter focuses on encouraging the provision of all services at various levels of service delivery points and stakeholders to function in a coordinated manner to ensure better health service availability and coverage in underserved slum areas. Results: This initiative has enhanced the utilization of community based, primary and secondary level services through defined referral pathways that are clearly known to a community dweller. Conclusion: An ideal referral mechanism should begin with referral at the community level wherein services of a frontline health care provider are accessed by them at their door-step, causing no delay in both understanding and decision on the health issues faced by them.

Keywords: levels of care, linkages, referral mechanism, service delivery

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Authors: Paolino Di Felice

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The background and significance of this study come from papers already appeared in the literature which measured the impact of public services (e.g., hospitals, schools, ...) on the citizens’ needs satisfaction (one of the dimensions of QOL studies) by calculating the distance between the place where they live and the location on the territory of the services. Those studies assume that the citizens' dwelling coincides with the centroid of the polygon that expresses the boundary of the administrative district, within the city, they belong to. Such an assumption “introduces a maximum measurement error equal to the greatest distance between the centroid and the border of the administrative district.”. The case study, this abstract reports about, investigates the implications descending from the adoption of such an approach but at geographical scales greater than the urban one, namely at the three levels of nesting of the Italian administrative units: the (20) regions, the (110) provinces, and the 8,094 municipalities. To carry out this study, it needs to be decided: a) how to store the huge amount of (spatial and descriptive) input data and b) how to process them. The latter aspect involves: b.1) the design of algorithms to investigate the geometry of the boundary of the Italian administrative units; b.2) their coding in a programming language; b.3) their execution and, eventually, b.4) archiving the results in a permanent support. The IT solution we implemented is centered around a (PostgreSQL/PostGIS) Geo DataBase structured in terms of three tables that fit well to the hierarchy of nesting of the Italian administrative units: municipality(id, name, provinceId, istatCode, regionId, geometry) province(id, name, regionId, geometry) region(id, name, geometry). The adoption of the DBMS technology allows us to implement the steps "a)" and "b)" easily. In particular, step "b)" is simplified dramatically by calling spatial operators and spatial built-in User Defined Functions within SQL queries against the Geo DB. The major findings coming from our experiments can be summarized as follows. The approximation that, on the average, descends from assimilating the residence of the citizens with the centroid of the administrative unit of reference is of few kilometers (4.9) at the municipalities level, while it becomes conspicuous at the other two levels (28.9 and 36.1, respectively). Therefore, studies such as those mentioned above can be extended up to the municipal level without affecting the correctness of the interpretation of the results, but not further. The IT framework implemented to carry out the experiments can be replicated for studies referring to the territory of other countries all over the world.

Keywords: quality of life, distance measurement error, Italian administrative units, spatial database

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Authors: Ngoc-Hieu Vu

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Dairy production in Vietnam is a relatively new agricultural activity and milk production increased remarkably in recent years. Smallholders are still the main drivers for this development, especially in the southern part of the country. However, information on the farming practices is very limited. Therefore, this study aimed to determine factors influencing milk yield and quality (milk fat, total solids, solids-not-fat, total number of bacteria, and somatic cell count) and revenue of dairy farms in Southern Vietnam. The collection of data was at the farm level; individual animal records were unavailable. The 539 studied farms were located in the provinces Lam Dong (N=111 farms), Binh Duong (N=69 farms), Long An (N=174 farms), and Ho Chi Minh city (N=185 farms). The dataset included 9221 monthly test-day records of the farms from January 2013 to May 2015. Seasons were defined as rainy and dry. Farms sizes were classified as small (< 10 milking cows), medium (10 to 19 milking cows) and large (≥ 20 milking cows). The model for each trait contained year-season and farm region-farm size as subclass fixed effects, and individual farm and residual as random effects. Results showed that year-season, region, and farm size were determining sources of variation affecting all studied traits. Milk yield was higher in dry than in rainy seasons (P < 0.05), while it tended to increase from years 2013 to 2015. Large farms had higher yields (445.6 kg/cow) than small (396.7 kg/cow) and medium (428.0 kg/cow) farms (P < 0.05). Small farms, in contrast, were superior to large farms in terms of milk fat, total solids, solids-not-fat, total number of bacteria, and somatic cell count than large farms (P < 0.05). Revenue per cow was higher in large compared with medium and small farms. In conclusion, large farms achieved higher milk yields and revenues per cow, while small farms were superior in milk quality. Overall, milk yields were low and better training, financial support and marketing opportunities for farmers are needed to improve dairy production and increase farm revenues in Southern Vietnam.

Keywords: farm size, milk yield and quality, season, Southern Vietnam

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Authors: Eliane Cristina De Carvalho Mendoza Meza

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The Brazilian Federal Constitution from 1988 innovated with decentralized management, sharing the decision process among the federal government, states, and municipality (federalism). This innovation gave the opportunity to the civil society participates in the public policy agenda, including the municipal one; the state recognized that new actors were needed now it has been one more actor and not the only one. It was in this context that the woman’s Policy Secretaries were created in the three levels of government: federal, state and municipal. It intend to reduce the historical and social differences between men and women, especially in the poorest municipalities, working in a network basis with other secretaries, governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations to promote actions that can result in benefits and empowerment for women. In addition, they promote actions to protect them from domestic violence and to help them to learn how generate income. It was not a calm process, women have been fighting for their rights since the 1970s and despite the gender equality was recognized in the Federal Constitution of 1988, just in 2013 it was possible to see a real growth in the creation of municipal Women’s Policy Secretary. In 2009, just 6.5% of the cities in Brazil had implemented the Secretary; in 2013, it was 11%. The municipality realized that the gender issue was in reality a public problem, so the municipal agenda incorporated it and transformed in public policy, creating the municipal Women’s Policy Secretary. The introduction of a gender policy in Brazilian municipalities shows us that the female citizens are treated as political subjects and it is the first step to try to compensate inequality between men and women in the local level. It becomes more important when the Brazilian federalism is analyzed. In Brazil, the federal government controls the municipalities’ budgets to implement federal public policies and others federal interests, so having a public policy of gender approved by the actors in the local government with so little freedom to manage is something very important. It is necessary mark some points: taking a gender policy to the poorest cities is a form to protect all citizens with no distinction, men and women, as recommended in the Federal Constitution; not all problems in a city center in the municipal agenda, this only happens when a problem is perceived as an issue, it means the women situation was perceived as important, so that it became a public policy; at least, the gender public policy intend to emancipate and contemplate the empowerment of women.

Keywords: federalism, gender, municipal agenda, social participation

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Authors: Mahsa Mousavi, Hamid Reza Pourshaghaghi, Mohammad Tahghighi, Henk Corporaal

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Recently, Statistic Random-Access Memory-based (SRAM-based) Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are widely used in aeronautics and space systems where high dependability is demanded and considered as a mandatory requirement. Since design’s circuit is stored in configuration memory in SRAM-based FPGAs; they are very sensitive to Single Event Upsets (SEUs). In addition, the adverse effects of SEUs on the electronics used in space are much higher than in the Earth. Thus, developing fault tolerant techniques play crucial roles for the use of SRAM-based FPGAs in space. However, fault tolerance techniques introduce additional penalties in system parameters, e.g., area, power, performance and design time. In this paper, an accurate estimation of configuration memory vulnerability to SEUs is proposed for approximate-tolerant applications. This vulnerability estimation is highly required for compromising between the overhead introduced by fault tolerance techniques and system robustness. In this paper, we study applications in which the exact final output value is not necessarily always a concern meaning that some of the SEU-induced changes in output values are negligible. We therefore define and propose Approximate-based Configuration Memory Vulnerability Factor (ACMVF) estimation to avoid overestimating configuration memory vulnerability to SEUs. In this paper, we assess the vulnerability of configuration memory by injecting SEUs in configuration memory bits and comparing the output values of a given circuit in presence of SEUs with expected correct output. In spite of conventional vulnerability factor calculation methods, which accounts any deviations from the expected value as failures, in our proposed method a threshold margin is considered depending on user-case applications. Given the proposed threshold margin in our model, a failure occurs only when the difference between the erroneous output value and the expected output value is more than this margin. The ACMVF is subsequently calculated by acquiring the ratio of failures with respect to the total number of SEU injections. In our paper, a test-bench for emulating SEUs and calculating ACMVF is implemented on Zynq-7000 FPGA platform. This system makes use of the Single Event Mitigation (SEM) IP core to inject SEUs into configuration memory bits of the target design implemented in Zynq-7000 FPGA. Experimental results for 32-bit adder show that, when 1% to 10% deviation from correct output is considered, the counted failures number is reduced 41% to 59% compared with the failures number counted by conventional vulnerability factor calculation. It means that estimation accuracy of the configuration memory vulnerability to SEUs is improved up to 58% in the case that 10% deviation is acceptable in output results. Note that less than 10% deviation in addition result is reasonably tolerable for many applications in approximate computing domain such as Convolutional Neural Network (CNN).

Keywords: fault tolerance, FPGA, single event upset, approximate computing

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Authors: Hebah M. Musalem, Jeylan El-Mansoury, Lin M. Tuleimat, Selwa Alhazza, Abdul-Aziz A. Al Zoba

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Background: Amblyopia is a condition that affects the visual system triggering a decrease in visual acuity without a known underlying pathology. It is due to abnormal vision development in childhood or infancy. Most importantly, vision loss is preventable or reversible with the right kind of intervention in most of the cases. Strabismus, sensory defects, and anisometropia are all well-known causes of amblyopia. However, ocular misalignment in Strabismus is considered the most common form of amblyopia worldwide. The risk of developing amblyopia increases in premature children, developmentally delayed or children who had brain lesions affecting the visual pathway. The prevalence of amblyopia varies between 2 to 5 % in the world according to the literature. Objective: To determine the different causes of Amblyopia in pediatric patients seen in ophthalmology clinic of a tertiary care center, i.e. King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC). Methods: This is a hospital based, random retrospective, based on reviewing patient’s files in the Ophthalmology Department of KFSH&RC in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Inclusion criteria: amblyopic pediatric patients who attended the clinic from 2015 to 2016, who are between 6 months and 18 years old. Exclusion Criteria: patients above 18 years of age and any patient who is uncooperative to obtain an accurate vision or a proper refraction. Detailed ocular and medical history are recorded. The examination protocol includes a full ocular exam, full cycloplegic refraction, visual acuity measurement, ocular motility and strabismus evaluation. All data were organized in tables and graphs and analyzed by statistician. Results: Our preliminary results will be discussed on spot by our corresponding author. Conclusions: We focused on this study on utilizing various examination techniques which enhanced our results and highlighted a distinguished correlation between amblyopia and its’ causes. This paper recommendation emphasizes on critical testing protocols to be followed among amblyopic patient, especially in tertiary care centers.

Keywords: amblyopia, amblyopia causes, amblyopia diagnostic criterion, amblyopia prevalence, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Michael Picard

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This proposal offers to shed light on the changing legal geography of the global waste economy. Global waste recycling has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. NASDAQ predicts the emergence of a worldwide 1,296G$ waste management market between 2017 and 2022. Underlining this evolution, a new generation of preferential waste-trade agreements has emerged in the Pacific. In the last decade, Japan has concluded a series of bilateral treaties with Asian countries, and most recently with China. An agreement between Tokyo and Beijing was formalized on 7 May 2008, which forged an economic partnership on waste transfer and mining. The agreement set up International Recycling Zones, where certified recycling plants in China process industrial waste imported from Japan. Under the joint venture, Chinese companies salvage the embedded value from Japanese industrial discards, reprocess them and send them back to Japanese manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi and Panasonic. This circular economy is designed to convert surplus garbage into surplus value. Ever since the opening of Sino-Japanese eco-parks, millions of tons of plastic and e-waste have been exported from Japan to China every year. Yet, quite unexpectedly, China has recently closed its waste market to imports, jeopardizing Japan’s billion-dollar exports to China. China notified the WTO that, by the end of 2017, it would no longer accept imports of plastics and certain metals. Given China’s share of Japanese waste exports, a complete closure of China’s market would require Japan to find new uses for its recyclable industrial trash generated domestically every year. It remains to be seen how China will effectively implement its ban on waste imports, considering the economic interests at stake. At this stage, what remains to be clarified is whether China's ban on waste imports will negatively affect the recycling trade between Japan and China. What is clear, though, is the rapid transformation in the legal geography of waste mining in East-Asia. For decades, East-Asian waste trade had been tied up in an ‘ecologically unequal exchange’ between the Japanese core and the Chinese periphery. This global unequal waste distribution could be measured by the Environmental Stringency Index, which revealed that waste regulation was 39% weaker in the Global South than in Japan. This explains why Japan could legally export its hazardous plastic and electronic discards to China. The asymmetric flow of hazardous waste between Japan and China carried the colonial heritage of international law. The legal geography of waste distribution was closely associated to the imperial construction of an ecological trade imbalance between the Japanese source and the Chinese sink. Thus, China’s recent decision to ban hazardous waste imports is a sign of a broader ecological shift. As a global economic superpower, China announced to the world it would no longer be the planet’s junkyard. The policy change will have profound consequences on the global circulation of waste, re-routing global waste towards countries south of China, such as Vietnam and Malaysia. By the time the Berlin Conference takes place in May 2018, the presentation will be able to assess more accurately the effect of the Chinese ban on the transboundary movement of waste in Asia.

Keywords: Asia, ecological unequal exchange, global waste trade, legal geography

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Authors: Qianxi Lv, Junying Liang

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Among the various modes of interpreting, simultaneous interpreting (SI) is regarded as a ‘complex’ and ‘extreme condition’ of cognitive tasks while consecutive interpreters (CI) do not have to share processing capacity between tasks. Given that SI exerts great cognitive demand, it makes sense to posit that the output of SI may be more compromised than that of CI in the linguistic features. The bulk of the research has stressed the varying cognitive demand and processes involved in different modes of interpreting; however, related empirical research is sparse. In keeping with our interest in investigating the quantitative linguistic factors discriminating between SI and CI, the current study seeks to examine the potential lexical simplification, syntactic complexity and sequential organization mechanism with a self-made inter-model corpus of transcribed simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, translated speech and original speech texts with a total running word of 321960. The lexical features are extracted in terms of the lexical density, list head coverage, hapax legomena, and type-token ratio, as well as core vocabulary percentage. Dependency distance, an index for syntactic complexity and reflective of processing demand is employed. Frequency motif is a non-grammatically-bound sequential unit and is also used to visualize the local function distribution of interpreting the output. While SI is generally regarded as multitasking with high cognitive load, our findings evidently show that CI may impose heavier or taxing cognitive resource differently and hence yields more lexically and syntactically simplified output. In addition, the sequential features manifest that SI and CI organize the sequences from the source text in different ways into the output, to minimize the cognitive load respectively. We reasoned the results in the framework that cognitive demand is exerted both on maintaining and coordinating component of Working Memory. On the one hand, the information maintained in CI is inherently larger in volume compared to SI. On the other hand, time constraints directly influence the sentence reformulation process. The temporal pressure from the input in SI makes the interpreters only keep a small chunk of information in the focus of attention. Thus, SI interpreters usually produce the output by largely retaining the source structure so as to relieve the information from the working memory immediately after formulated in the target language. Conversely, CI interpreters receive at least a few sentences before reformulation, when they are more self-paced. CI interpreters may thus tend to retain and generate the information in a way to lessen the demand. In other words, interpreters cope with the high demand in the reformulation phase of CI by generating output with densely distributed function words, more content words of higher frequency values and fewer variations, simpler structures and more frequently used language sequences. We consequently propose a revised effort model based on the result for a better illustration of cognitive demand during both interpreting types.

Keywords: cognitive demand, corpus-based, dependency distance, frequency motif, interpreting types, lexical simplification, sequential units distribution, syntactic complexity

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Navid Mirzaei Varzeghani, Mahmoud Saffarzadeh, Ali Naderan, Amirhossein Taheri

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Countries are progressing, and the world's busiest airports see year-on-year increases in travel demand. Passenger acceptability of an airport depends on the airport's appeals, which may include one of these routes between the city and the airport, as well as the facilities to reach them. One of the critical roles of transportation planners is to predict future transportation demand so that an integrated, multi-purpose system can be provided and diverse modes of transportation (rail, air, and land) can be delivered to a destination like an airport. In this study, 356 questionnaires were filled out in person over six days. First, the attraction of business and non-business trips was studied using data and a linear regression model. Lower travel costs, a range of ages more significant than 55, and other factors are essential for business trips. Non-business travelers, on the other hand, have prioritized using personal vehicles to get to the airport and ensuring convenient access to the airport. Business travelers are also less price-sensitive than non-business travelers regarding airport travel. Furthermore, carrying additional luggage (for example, more than one suitcase per person) undoubtedly decreases the attractiveness of public transit. Afterward, based on the manner and purpose of the trip, the locations with the highest trip generation to the airport were identified. The most famous district in Tehran was District 2, with 23 visits, while the most popular mode of transportation was an online taxi, with 12 trips from that location. Then, significant variables in separation and behavior of travel methods to access the airport were investigated for all systems. In this scenario, the most crucial factor is the time it takes to get to the airport, followed by the method's user-friendliness as a component of passenger preference. It has also been demonstrated that enhancing public transportation trip times reduces private transportation's market share, including taxicabs. Based on the responses of personal and semi-public vehicles, the desire of passengers to approach the airport via public transportation systems was explored to enhance present techniques and develop new strategies for providing the most efficient modes of transportation. Using the binary model, it was clear that business travelers and people who had already driven to the airport were the least likely to change.

Keywords: multimodal transportation, demand modeling, travel behavior, statistical models

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Authors: Cherrie Mae S. Sia, Noel J. Belonguel, Jarungchai Anton S. Vatanagul

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Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic progressive, neurodegenerative disorder known for its motor symptoms such as bradykinesia, resting tremor, muscle rigidity, and postural instability. Patients with PD also experience non-motor symptoms (NMS) such as depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances that are most of the time unrecognized by clinicians. This may be due to the lack of spontaneous reports from the patients or partly because of the lack of systematic questioning from the healthcare professional. There is limited data with regards to these NMS especially that of Filipino patients with PD. Objectives: This study aims to determine the non-motor symptoms of Filipino patients with Parkinson’s disease. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective, cohort study involving thirty-four patients of Filipino-descent diagnosed with PD in three out-patient clinics in Cebu City from April to September 2014. Each patient was interviewed using the Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS). A Cebuano version of the NMSS was also provided for the non-English speaking patients. Interview time was approximately ten to fifteen minutes for each respondent. Results: Of the thirty-four patients with Parkinson’s disease, majority was noted to be males (N=19) and the disease was noted to be more prevalent in patients with a mean age of 62 (SD±9) years old. Hypertension (59%) and diabetes mellitus (29%) were the common co-morbidities in the study population. All patients presented more than one NMS, with insomnia (41.2%), poor memory (23.5%) and depression (14.7%) being the first non-motor symptoms to occur. Symptoms involving mood/cognition (mean=2.21), and attention/memory (mean=2.05) were noted to be the most frequent and of moderate severity. Based on the NMSS, the symptoms that were noted to be mild and often to occur were those that involved the mood/cognition (score=3.84), attention/memory (score=3.50), and sleep/fatigue (score=3.00) domains. Levodopa-Carbidopa, Ropinirole, and Pramipexole were the most frequently used medications in the study population. Conclusion: Non-motor symptoms (NMS) are common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). They appear at the time of diagnosis of PD or even before the motor symptoms manifest. The earliest non-motor symptoms to occur are insomnia, poor memory, and depression. Those pertaining to mood/cognition and attention/memory are the most frequent NMS and they are of moderate severity. Identifying these NMS by doing a questionnaire-guided interview such as the Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS) before they can become more severe and affect the patient’s quality of life is a must for every clinician caring for a PD patient. Early treatment and control of these NMS can then be given, hence, improving the patient’s outcome and prognosis.

Keywords: non motor symptoms, Parkinson's Disease, insomnia, depression

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Authors: Shanaka Gunasekara, Maleen Jayasuriya, Nalin Harischandra, Lilantha Samaranayake, Gamini Dissanayake

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One serious facet of the worsening Human-Elephant conflict (HEC) in nations such as Sri Lanka involves elephant-train collisions. Endangered Asian elephants are maimed or killed during such accidents, which also often result in orphaned or disabled elephants, contributing to the phenomenon of lone elephants. These lone elephants are found to be more likely to attack villages and showcase aggressive behaviour, which further exacerbates the overall HEC. Furthermore, Railway Services incur significant financial losses and disruptions to services annually due to such accidents. Most elephant-train collisions occur due to a lack of adequate reaction time. This is due to the significant stopping distance requirements of trains, as the full braking force needs to be avoided to minimise the risk of derailment. Thus, poor driver visibility at sharp turns, nighttime operation, and poor weather conditions are often contributing factors to this problem. Initial investigations also indicate that most collisions occur in localised “hotspots” where elephant pathways/corridors intersect with railway tracks that border grazing land and watering holes. Taking these factors into consideration, this work proposes the leveraging of recent developments in Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) technology to detect elephants using an RGB/infrared capable camera around known hotspots along the railway track. The CNN was trained using a curated dataset of elephants collected on field visits to elephant sanctuaries and wildlife parks in Sri Lanka. With this vision-based detection system at its core, a prototype unit of an early warning system was designed and tested. This weatherised and waterproofed unit consists of a Reolink security camera which provides a wide field of view and range, an Nvidia Jetson Xavier computing unit, a rechargeable battery, and a solar panel for self-sufficient functioning. The prototype unit was designed to be a low-cost, low-power and small footprint device that can be mounted on infrastructures such as poles or trees. If an elephant is detected, an early warning message is communicated to the train driver using the GSM network. A mobile app for this purpose was also designed to ensure that the warning is clearly communicated. A centralized control station manages and communicates all information through the train station network to ensure coordination among important stakeholders. Initial results indicate that detection accuracy is sufficient under varying lighting situations, provided comprehensive training datasets that represent a wide range of challenging conditions are available. The overall hardware prototype was shown to be robust and reliable. We envision a network of such units may help contribute to reducing the problem of elephant-train collisions and has the potential to act as an important surveillance mechanism in dealing with the broader issue of human-elephant conflicts.

Keywords: computer vision, deep learning, human-elephant conflict, wildlife early warning technology

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Authors: Chang-Hui Shen, Michelle Esposito, Andrew J. Shen, Michael Adejokun, Diana Laterman

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The packaging of DNA into nucleosomes is critical to genomic compaction, yet it can leave gene promoters inaccessible to activator proteins or transcription machinery and thus prevents transcriptional initiation. Both chromatin remodelers and histone acetylases (HATs) are the two main transcription co-activators that can reconfigure chromatin structure for transcriptional activation. Ino80p is the core component of the INO80 remodeling complex. Recently, it was shown that Ino80p dissociates from the yeast INO1 promoter after induction. However, when certain HATs were deleted or mutated, Ino80p accumulated at the promoters during gene activation. This suggests a link between HATs’ presence and Ino80p’s dissociation. However, it has yet to be demonstrated that Ino80p can be acetylated. To determine if Ino80p can be acetylated, wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells carrying Ino80p engineered with a double FLAG tag (MATa INO80-FLAG his3∆200 leu2∆0 met15∆0 trp1∆63 ura3∆0) were grown to mid log phase, as were non-tagged wild type (WT) (MATa his3∆200 leu2∆0 met15∆0 trp1∆63 ura3∆0) and ino80∆ (MATa ino80∆::TRP1 his3∆200 leu2∆0 met15∆0 trp1∆63 ura3∆0) cells as controls. Cells were harvested, and the cell lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation (IP) with α-FLAG resin to isolate Ino80p. These eluted IP samples were subjected to SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Subsequently, the blots were probed with the α-FLAG and α-acetyl lysine antibodies, respectively. For the blot probed with α-FLAG, one prominent band was shown in the INO80-FLAG cells, but no band was detected in the IP samples from the WT and ino80∆ cells. For the blot probed with the α-acetyl lysine antibody, we detected acetylated Ino80p in the INO80-FLAG strain while no bands were observed in the control strains. As such, our results showed that Ino80p can be acetylated. This acetylation can explain the co-activator’s recruitment patterns observed in current gene activation models. In yeast INO1, it has been shown that Ino80p is recruited to the promoter during repression, and then dissociates from the promoter once de-repression begins. Histone acetylases, on the other hand, have the opposite pattern of recruitment, as they have an increased presence at the promoter as INO1 de-repression commences. This Ino80p recruitment pattern significantly changes when HAT mutant strains are studied. It was observed that instead of dissociating, Ino80p accumulates at the promoter in the absence of functional HATs, such as Gcn5p or Esa1p, under de-repressing processes. As such, Ino80p acetylation may be required for its proper dissociation from the promoters. The remodelers’ dissociation mechanism may also have a wide range of implications with respect to transcriptional initiation, elongation, or even repression as it allows for increased spatial access to the promoter for the various transcription factors and regulators that need to bind in that region. Our findings here suggest a previously uncharacterized interaction between Ino80p and other co-activators recruited to promoters. As such, further analysis of Ino80p acetylation not only will provide insight into the role of epigenetic modifications in transcriptional activation, but also gives insight into the interactions occurring between co-activators at gene promoters during gene regulation.

Keywords: acetylation, chromatin remodeler, epigenetic modification, Ino80p

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Authors: Yashas Bedre Raghavendra, Pim Vullers

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This study presents the design and implementation of an abstract cryptographic coprocessor, leveraging AMBA(Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture) protocols - APB (Advanced Peripheral Bus) and AHB (Advanced High-performance Bus), to enable seamless integration with the main CPU(Central processing unit) and enhance the coprocessor’s algorithm flexibility. The primary objective is to create a versatile coprocessor that can execute various cryptographic algorithms, including ECC(Elliptic-curve cryptography), RSA(Rivest–Shamir–Adleman), and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) while providing a robust and secure solution for modern secure embedded systems. To achieve this goal, the coprocessor is equipped with a tightly coupled memory (TCM) for rapid data access during cryptographic operations. The TCM is placed within the coprocessor, ensuring quick retrieval of critical data and optimizing overall performance. Additionally, the program memory is positioned outside the coprocessor, allowing for easy updates and reconfiguration, which enhances adaptability to future algorithm implementations. Direct links are employed instead of DMA(Direct memory access) for data transfer, ensuring faster communication and reducing complexity. The AMBA-based communication architecture facilitates seamless interaction between the coprocessor and the main CPU, streamlining data flow and ensuring efficient utilization of system resources. The abstract nature of the coprocessor allows for easy integration of new cryptographic algorithms in the future. As the security landscape continues to evolve, the coprocessor can adapt and incorporate emerging algorithms, making it a future-proof solution for cryptographic processing. Furthermore, this study explores the addition of custom instructions into RISC-V ISE (Instruction Set Extension) to enhance cryptographic operations. By incorporating custom instructions specifically tailored for cryptographic algorithms, the coprocessor achieves higher efficiency and reduced cycles per instruction (CPI) compared to traditional instruction sets. The adoption of RISC-V 128-bit architecture significantly reduces the total number of instructions required for complex cryptographic tasks, leading to faster execution times and improved overall performance. Comparisons are made with 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, highlighting the advantages of the 128-bit architecture in terms of reduced instruction count and CPI. In conclusion, the abstract cryptographic coprocessor presented in this study offers significant advantages in terms of algorithm flexibility, security, and integration with the main CPU. By leveraging AMBA protocols and employing direct links for data transfer, the coprocessor achieves high-performance cryptographic operations without compromising system efficiency. With its TCM and external program memory, the coprocessor is capable of securely executing a wide range of cryptographic algorithms. This versatility and adaptability, coupled with the benefits of custom instructions and the 128-bit architecture, make it an invaluable asset for secure embedded systems, meeting the demands of modern cryptographic applications.

Keywords: abstract cryptographic coprocessor, AMBA protocols, ECC, RSA, AES, tightly coupled memory, secure embedded systems, RISC-V ISE, custom instructions, instruction count, cycles per instruction

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Authors: Taif Rocky, Uttam Saha, Mahobul Islam

Abstract:

With a rapid urbanisation in Bangladesh, waste management remains one of the core challenges. Turning municipal waste into biogas for mass usage is a solution that Bangladesh needs to adopt urgently. Practical Action with its commitment to challenging poverty with technological justice has piloted such idea in Gaibandha. The initiative received immense success and drew the attention of policy makers and practitioners. We believe, biogas from waste can highly contribute to meet the growing demand for energy in the country at present and in the future. Practical Action has field based experience in promoting small scale and innovative technologies. We have proven track record in integrated solid waste management. We further utilized this experience to promote waste to biogas at end users’ level. In 2011, we have piloted a project on waste to biogas in Gaibandha, a northern secondary town of Bangladesh. With resource and support from UNICEF and with our own innovative funds we have established a complete chain of utilizing waste to the renewable energy source and organic fertilizer. Biogas is produced from municipal solid waste, which is properly collected, transported and segregated by private entrepreneurs. The project has two major focuses, diversification of biogas end use and establishing a public-private partnership business model. The project benefits include Recycling of Wastes, Improved institutional (municipal) capacity, Livelihood from improved services and Direct Income from the project. Project risks include Change of municipal leadership, Traditional mindset, Access to decision making, Land availability. We have observed several outcomes from the initiative. Up scaling such an initiative will certainly contribute for sustainable cleaner and healthier urban environment and urban poverty reduction. - It reduces the unsafe disposal of wastes which improve the cleanliness and environment of the town. -Make drainage system effective reducing the adverse impact of water logging or flooding. -Improve public health from better management of wastes. -Promotes usage of biogas replacing the use of firewood/coal which creates smoke and indoor air pollution in kitchens which have long term impact on health of women and children. -Reduce the greenhouse gas emission from the anaerobic recycling of wastes and contributes to sustainable urban environment. -Promote the concept of agroecology from the uses of bio slurry/compost which contributes to food security. -Creates green jobs from waste value chain which impacts on poverty alleviation of urban extreme poor. -Improve municipal governance from inclusive waste services and functional partnership with private sectors. -Contribute to the implementation of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) Strategy and Employment Creation of extreme poor to achieve the target set in Vision 2021 by Government of Bangladesh.

Keywords: kitchen waste, secondary town, biogas, segregation

Procedia PDF Downloads 205

Authors: Prashant Gupta

Abstract:

Throughout India, temples have served as cultural centers, commerce hubs, art galleries, educational institutions, and social centers in addition to being places of worship since centuries. Across the country, there are over two million temples, which are crucial economic hubs, attracting devotees and tourists worldwide. In India, we have 53 temples per each 100,000 Indians. As per NSSO survey, the temple economy is worth about $40 billion and 2.32 per cent of GDP based on major temple’s survey, which only includes formal sector. It could be much larger as an actual estimation has not been done yet. In India, 43.1% of total economy represents informal sector. Over 10 billion domestic tourists visit to new destinations every year within India. Even 20 per cent of the 90 million foreign tourists visited Madurai and Mahabalipuram temples which became the most visited tourist spot in 2022. Recently the current central government in power have started revitalizing the ancient Indian civilization by reconstructing and beautifying the major temples of India i.e., Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, Mahakaleshwara Temple, Kedarnath, Ayodhya etc. The reason researcher chose Kashi as a case study because it is known as a Spiritual Capital of India, which is also the abode for the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikkism, which are core Sanatan Dharmic practices. 17,800 Million INR Amount was spend to redevelop Kashi Vishwanath Corridor since 2019. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 1. To assess historical contribution of temples in socio economic development and revival of Indic Civilization. 2. To examine the role of temples redevelopment for informal sector businesses. 3. To identify the sub-sectors of informal sector businesses 4. To identify products and services of informal businesses for investigation of marketing strategies and business development. PROPOSED METHODS AND PROCEDURES This study will follow a mixed approach, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods of research. To conduct the study, data will be collected from 500 informal business owners through structured questionnaire and interview instruments. The informal business owners will be selected using a systematic random sampling technique. In addition, documents from government offices of the last 10 years of tax collection will be reviewed to substantiate the study. To analyze the study, descriptive and econometric analysis techniques will be employed. EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION OF THE PROPOSED STUDY By studying the contribution of temple re-development on informal business creation and growth, the study will be beneficial to the informal business owners and the government. For the government, scientific and empirical evidence on the contribution of temple re-development for informal business creation and growth to give evidence the study will give based infrastructural development and boosting tax collection. For informal businesses, the study will give them a detailed insight on the nature of their business and the possible future growth potential of their business, and the alternative products and services supplying to their customers in the future. Studying informal businesses will help to identify the key products and services which are majorly profitable and possess potential to multiply and grow through correct product marketing strategies and business development.

Keywords: business development, informal sector businesses, services and products marketing, temple economics

Procedia PDF Downloads 58