Search results for: industrial policy

Authors: Matthias Stange

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Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the most promising methods in the building design process and plays an important role in the digitalization of the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Industry. The application of BIM is seen as the key enabler for increasing productivity in the construction industry. The model-based collaboration using the BIM method is intended to significantly reduce cost increases, schedule delays, and quality problems in the planning and construction of buildings. Numerous qualitative studies based on expert interviews support this theory and report perceived benefits from the use of BIM in terms of achieving project objectives related to cost, schedule, and quality. However, there is a large research gap in analysing quantitative data collected from real construction projects regarding the actual benefits of applying BIM based on representative sample size and different application regions as well as different project typologies. In particular, the influence of the project-related BIM maturity level is completely unexplored. This research project examines primary data from 105 construction projects worldwide using quantitative research methods. Projects from the areas of residential, commercial, and industrial construction as well as infrastructure and hydraulic engineering were examined in application regions North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, MENA region, and South America. First, a descriptive data analysis of 6 independent project variables (BIM maturity level, application region, project category, project type, project size, and BIM level) were carried out using statistical methods. With the help of statisticaldata analyses, the influence of the project-related BIM maturity level on 6 dependent project variables (deviation in planning time, deviation in construction time, number of planning collisions, frequency of rework, number of RFIand number of changes) was investigated. The study revealed that most of the benefits of using BIM perceived through numerous qualitative studies have not been confirmed. The results of the examined sample show that the application of BIM did not have an improving influence on the dependent project variables, especially regarding the quality of the planning itself and the adherence to the schedule targets. The quantitative research suggests the conclusion that the BIM planning method in its current application has not (yet) become a recognizable increase in productivity within the planning and construction process. The empirical findings indicate that this is due to the overall low level of BIM maturity in the projects of the examined sample. As a quintessence, the author suggests that the further implementation of BIM should primarily focus on an application-oriented and consistent development of the project-related BIM maturity level instead of implementing BIM for its own sake. Apparently, there are still significant difficulties in the interweaving of people, processes, and technology.

Keywords: AEC-process, building information modeling, BIM maturity level, project results, productivity of the construction industry

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Authors: Andrew Fox, Qingping Yang, Yuanhong Zhao, Tao Zhang

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Furniture is a very significant subdivision of architecture and its inherent interior design activities. The furniture industry has developed from an artisan-driven craft industry, whose forerunners saw themselves manifested in their crafts and treasured a sense of pride in the creativity of their designs, these days largely reduced to an anonymous collective mass-produced output. Although a very conservative industry, there is great potential for the implementation of collaborative digital technologies allowing a reconfigured artisan experience to be reawakened in a new and exciting form. The furniture manufacturing industry, in general, has been slow to adopt new methodologies for a design using artificial and rule-based generative design. This tardiness has meant the loss of potential to enhance its capabilities in producing sustainable, flexible, and mass customizable ‘right first-time’ designs. This paper aims to demonstrate the concept methodology for the creation of alternative and inspiring aesthetic structures for robot-based additive manufacturing (RBAM). These technologies can enable the economic creation of previously unachievable structures, which traditionally would not have been commercially economic to manufacture. The integration of these technologies with the computing power of generative design provides the tools for practitioners to create concepts which are well beyond the insight of even the most accomplished traditional design teams. This paper aims to address the problem by introducing generative design methodologies employing the Autodesk Fusion 360 platform. Examination of the alternative methods for its use has the potential to significantly reduce the estimated 80% contribution to environmental impact at the initial design phase. Though predominantly a design methodology, generative design combined with RBAM has the potential to leverage many lean manufacturing and quality assurance benefits, enhancing the efficiency and agility of modern furniture manufacturing. Through a case study examination of a furniture artifact, the results will be compared to a traditionally designed and manufactured product employing the Ecochain Mobius product life cycle analysis (LCA) platform. This will highlight the benefits of both generative design and robot-based additive manufacturing from an environmental impact and manufacturing efficiency standpoint. These step changes in design methodology and environmental assessment have the potential to revolutionise the design to manufacturing workflow, giving momentum to the concept of conceiving a pre-industrial model of manufacturing, with the global demand for a circular economy and bespoke sustainable design at its heart.

Keywords: robot, manufacturing, generative design, sustainability, circular econonmy, product life cycle assessment, furniture

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Authors: Kelly S. Parkinson, Katherine Y. Teh-White

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Futureye has a bespoke social licence to operate methodology which has successfully secured community approval and commercial return for fisheries which have faced regulatory and financial risk. This unique approach to fisheries management focuses on delivering improved social and environmental outcomes to support the fishing industry make steps towards achieving the United Nations SDGs. An SLO is the community’s implicit consent for a business or project to exist. An SLO must be earned and maintained alongside regulatory licences. In current and new operations, it helps you to anticipate and measure community concerns around your operations – leading to more predictable and sensible policy outcomes that will not jeopardise your commercial returns. Rising societal expectations and increasing activist sophistication mean the international fishing industry needs to resolve community concerns at each stage their supply chain. Futureye applied our tested social licence to operate (SLO) methodology to help Austral Fisheries who was being attacked by activists concerned about the sustainability of Patagonian Toothfish. Austral was Marine Stewardship Council certified, but pirates were making the overall catch unsustainable. Austral wanted to be carbon neutral. SLO provides a lens on the risk that helps industries and companies act before regulatory and political risk escalates. To do this assessment, we have a methodology that assesses the risk that we can then translate into a process to create a strategy. 1) Audience: we understand the drivers of change and the transmission of those drivers across all audience segments. 2) Expectation: we understand the level of social norming of changing expectations. 3) Outrage: we understand the technical and perceptual aspects of risk and the opportunities to mitigate these. 4) Inter-relationships: we understand the political, regulatory, and reputation system so that we can understand the levers of change. 5) Strategy: we understand whether the strategy will achieve a social licence through bringing the internal and external stakeholders on the journey. Futureye’s SLO methodologies helped Austral to understand risks and opportunities to enhance its resilience. Futureye reviewed the issues, assessed outrage and materiality and mapped SLO threats to the company. Austral was introduced to a new way that it could manage activism, climate action, and responsible consumption. As a result of Futureye’s work, Austral worked closely with Sea Shepherd who was campaigning against pirates illegally fishing Patagonian Toothfish as well as international governments. In 2016 Austral launched the world’s first carbon neutral fish which won Austral a thirteen percent premium for tender on the open market. In 2017, Austral received the prestigious Banksia Foundation Sustainability Leadership Award for seafood that is sustainable, healthy and carbon neutral. Austral’s position as a leader in sustainable development has opened doors for retailers all over the world. Futureye’s SLO methodology can identify the societal, political and regulatory risks facing fisheries and position them to proactively address the issues and become an industry leader in sustainability.

Keywords: carbon neutral, fisheries management, risk communication, social licence to operate, sustainable development

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Authors: Arvind Kumar

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The city of Kanpur is located in the terrestrial plain area on the bank of the river Ganges and is the second largest city in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The city generates approximately 1400-1600 tons per day of MSW. Kanpur has been known as a major point and non-points-based pollution hotspot for the river Ganges. The city has a major industrial hub, probably the largest in the state, catering to the manufacturing and recycling of plastic and other dry waste streams. There are 4 to 5 major drains flowing across the city, which receive a significant quantity of waste leakage, which subsequently adds to the Ganges flow and is carried to the Bay of Bengal. A river-to-sea flow approach has been established to account for leaked waste into urban drains, leading to the build-up of marine litter. Throughout its journey, the river accumulates plastic – macro, meso, and micro, from various sources and transports it towards the sea. The Ganges network forms the second-largest plastic-polluting catchment in the world, with over 0.12 million tonnes of plastic discharged into marine ecosystems per year and is among 14 continental rivers into which over a quarter of global waste is discarded 3.150 Kilo tons of plastic waste is generated in Kanpur, out of which 10%-13% of plastic is leaked into the local drains and water flow systems. With the Support of Kanpur Municipal Corporation, 1TPD capacity MRF for drain waste management was established at Krishna Nagar, Kanpur & A German startup- Plastic Fisher, was identified for providing a solution to capture the drain waste and achieve its recycling in a sustainable manner with a circular economy approach. The team at Plastic Fisher conducted joint surveys and identified locations on 3 drains at Kanpur using GIS maps developed during the survey. It suggested putting floating 'Boom Barriers' across the drains with a low-cost material, which reduced their cost to only 2000 INR per barrier. The project was built upon the self-sustaining financial model. The project includes activities where a cost-efficient model is developed and adopted for a socially self-inclusive model. The project has recommended the use of low-cost floating boom barriers for capturing waste from drains. This involves a one-time time cost and has no operational cost. Manpower is engaged in fishing and capturing immobilized waste, whose salaries are paid by the Plastic Fisher. The captured material is sun-dried and transported to the designated place, where the shed and power connection, which act as MRF, are provided by the city Municipal corporation. Material aggregation, baling, and transportation costs to end-users are borne by Plastic Fisher as well.

Keywords: Kanpur, marine environment, drain waste management, plastic fisher

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Authors: O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, J. Fischer, C. Lautenbach, H. A. Pant

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In 21st century higher education (HE), the diversity among students has increased in recent years due to the internationalization and higher mobility. Offering and providing equal and fair opportunities based on students’ individual skills and abilities instead of their social or cultural background is one of the major aims of HE. In this context, valid, objective and transparent assessments of students’ preconditions and academic competencies in HE are required. However, as analyses of the current states of research and practice show, a substantial research gap on assessment practices in HE still exists, calling for the development of effective solutions. These demands lead to significant conceptual and methodological challenges. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the research program 'Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education – Validation and Methodological Challenges' (KoKoHs) focusses on addressing these challenges in HE assessment practice by modeling and validating objective test instruments. Including 16 cross-university collaborative projects, the German-wide research program contributes to bridging the research gap in current assessment research and practice by concentrating on practical and policy-related challenges of assessment in HE. In this paper, we present a differentiated overview of existing assessments of HE at the national and international level. Based on the state of research, we describe the theoretical and conceptual framework of the KoKoHs Program as well as results of the validation studies, including their key outcomes. More precisely, this includes an insight into more than 40 developed assessments covering a broad range of transparent and objective methods for validly measuring domain-specific and generic knowledge and skills for five major study areas (Economics, Social Science, Teacher Education, Medicine and Psychology). Computer-, video- and simulation-based instruments have been applied and validated to measure over 20,000 students at the beginning, middle and end of their (bachelor and master) studies at more than 300 HE institutions throughout Germany or during their practical training phase, traineeship or occupation. Focussing on the validity of the assessments, all test instruments have been analyzed comprehensively, using a broad range of methods and observing the validity criteria of the Standards for Psychological and Educational Testing developed by the American Educational Research Association, the American Economic Association and the National Council on Measurement. The results of the developed assessments presented in this paper, provide valuable outcomes to predict students’ skills and abilities at the beginning and the end of their studies as well as their learning development and performance. This allows for a differentiated view of the diversity among students. Based on the given research results practical implications and recommendations are formulated. In particular, appropriate and effective learning opportunities for students can be created to support the learning development of students, promote their individual potential and reduce knowledge and skill gaps. Overall, the presented research on competency assessment is highly relevant to national and international HE practice.

Keywords: 21st century skills, academic competencies, innovative assessments, KoKoHs

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Authors: Alexandra Steed

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Alexandra Steed URBAN was commissioned to undertake the South Essex Green and Blue Infrastructure Study (SEGBI) on behalf of the Association of South Essex Local Authorities (ASELA): a partnership of seven neighboring councils within the Thames Estuary. Located on London’s doorstep, the 70,000-hectare region is under extraordinary pressure for regeneration, further development, and economic expansion, yet faces extreme challenges: sea-level rise and inadequate flood defenses, stormwater flooding and threatened infrastructure, loss of internationally important habitats, significant existing community deprivation, and lack of connectivity and access to green space. The brief was to embrace these challenges in the creation of a document that would form a key part of ASELA’s Joint Strategic Framework and feed into local plans and master plans. Thus, helping to tackle climate change, ecological collapse, and social inequity at a regional scale whilst creating a relationship and awareness between urban communities and the surrounding landscapes and nature. The SEGBI project applied a ‘land-based’ methodology, combined with a co-design approach involving numerous stakeholders, to explore how living infrastructure can address these significant issues, reshape future planning and development, and create thriving places for the whole community of life. It comprised three key stages, including Baseline Review; Green and Blue Infrastructure Assessment; and the final Green and Blue Infrastructure Report. The resulting proposals frame an ambitious vision for the delivery of a new regional South Essex Estuary (SEE) Park – 24,000 hectares of protected and connected landscapes. This unified parkland system will drive effective place-shaping and “leveling up” for the most deprived communities while providing large-scale nature recovery and biodiversity net gain. Comprehensive analysis and policy recommendations ensure best practices will be embedded within planning documents and decisions guiding future development. Furthermore, a Natural Capital Account was undertaken as part of the strategy showing the tremendous economic value of the natural assets. This strategy sets a pioneering precedent that demonstrates how the prioritisation of living infrastructure has the capacity to address climate change and ecological collapse, while also supporting sustainable housing, healthier communities, and resilient infrastructures. It was only achievable through a collaborative and cross-boundary approach to strategic planning and growth, with a shared vision of place, and a strong commitment to delivery. With joined-up thinking and a joined-up region, a more impactful plan for South Essex was developed that will lead to numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits across the region, and enhancing the landscape and natural environs on the periphery of one of the largest cities in the world.

Keywords: climate change, green and blue infrastructure, landscape architecture, master planning, regional planning, social equity

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Authors: Annisa Ulfah Pristya, Andi Setiawan

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Electricity is the primary requirement today's world, including Indonesia. This is because electricity is a source of electrical energy that is flexible to use. Fossil energy sources are the major energy source that is used as a source of energy power plants. Unfortunately, this conversion process impacts on the depletion of fossil fuel reserves and causes an increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, disrupting health, ozone depletion, and the greenhouse effect. Solutions have been applied are solar cells, ocean wave power, the wind, water, and so forth. However, low efficiency and complicated treatment led to most people and industry in Indonesia still using fossil fuels. Referring to this Fuel Cell was developed. Fuel Cells are electrochemical technology that continuously converts chemical energy into electrical energy for the fuel and oxidizer are the efficiency is considerably higher than the previous natural source of electrical energy, which is 40-60%. However, Fuel Cells still have some weaknesses in terms of the use of an expensive platinum catalyst which is limited and not environmentally friendly. Because of it, required the simultaneous source of electrical energy and environmentally friendly. On the other hand, Indonesia is a rich country in marine sediments and organic content that is never exhausted. Stacking the organic component can be an alternative energy source continued development of fuel cell is A Microbial Fuel Cell. Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) is a tool that uses bacteria to generate electricity from organic and non-organic compounds. MFC same tools as usual fuel cell composed of an anode, cathode and electrolyte. Its main advantage is the catalyst in the microbial fuel cell is a microorganism and working conditions carried out in neutral solution, low temperatures, and environmentally friendly than previous fuel cells (Chemistry Fuel Cell). However, when compared to Chemistry Fuel Cell, MFC only have an efficiency of 40%. Therefore, the authors provide a solution in the form of Nano-MFC (Nano Microbial Fuel Cell): Utilization of Carbon Nano Tube to Increase Efficiency of Microbial Fuel Cell Power as an Effective, Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Alternative Energy Source. Nano-MFC has the advantage of an effective, high efficiency, cheap and environmental friendly. Related stakeholders that helped are government ministers, especially Energy Minister, the Institute for Research, as well as the industry as a production executive facilitator. strategic steps undertaken to achieve that begin from conduct preliminary research, then lab scale testing, and dissemination and build cooperation with related parties (MOU), conduct last research and its applications in the field, then do the licensing and production of Nano-MFC on an industrial scale and publications to the public.

Keywords: CNT, efficiency, electric, microorganisms, sediment

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Authors: H. E. Elzain, S. Y. Chung, V. Senapathi, Kye-Hun Park

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Groundwater is considered a significant source for drinking and irrigation purposes in Miryang city, and it is attributed to a limited number of a surface water reservoirs and high seasonal variations in precipitation. Population growth in addition to the expansion of agricultural land uses and industrial development may affect the quality and management of groundwater. This research utilized multidisciplinary approaches of geostatistics such as multivariate statistics, factor analysis, cluster analysis and kriging technique in order to identify the hydrogeochemical process and characterizing the control factors of the groundwater geochemistry distribution for developing risk maps, exploiting data obtained from chemical investigation of groundwater samples under the area of study. A total of 79 samples have been collected and analyzed using atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) for major and trace elements. Chemical maps using 2-D spatial Geographic Information System (GIS) of groundwater provided a powerful tool for detecting the possible potential sites of groundwater that involve the threat of contamination. GIS computer based map exhibited that the higher rate of contamination observed in the central and southern area with relatively less extent in the northern and southwestern parts. It could be attributed to the effect of irrigation, residual saline water, municipal sewage and livestock wastes. At wells elevation over than 85m, the scatter diagram represents that the groundwater of the research area was mainly influenced by saline water and NO3. Level of pH measurement revealed low acidic condition due to dissolved atmospheric CO2 in the soil, while the saline water had a major impact on the higher values of TDS and EC. Based on the cluster analysis results, the groundwater has been categorized into three group includes the CaHCO3 type of the fresh water, NaHCO3 type slightly influenced by sea water and Ca-Cl, Na-Cl types which are heavily affected by saline water. The most predominant water type was CaHCO3 in the study area. Contamination sources and chemical characteristics were identified from factor analysis interrelationship and cluster analysis. The chemical elements that belong to factor 1 analysis were related to the effect of sea water while the elements of factor 2 associated with agricultural fertilizers. The degree level, distribution, and location of groundwater contamination have been generated by using Kriging methods. Thus, geostatistics model provided more accurate results for identifying the source of contamination and evaluating the groundwater quality. GIS was also a creative tool to visualize and analyze the issues affecting water quality in the Miryang city.

Keywords: groundwater characteristics, GIS chemical maps, factor analysis, cluster analysis, Kriging techniques

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Authors: Mustapha Rilwan Adewale, Salau Ayobami Muhammed

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This study focuses on the heat transfer analysis of magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) squeezing flow between parallel disks, considering a viscous incompressible fluid. The upper disk exhibits both upward and downward motion, while the lower disk remains stationary but permeable. By employing similarity transformations, a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is derived to describe the flow behavior. To solve this system, a numerical approach, namely the Chebyshev collocation method, is utilized. The study investigates the influence of flow parameters and compares the obtained results with existing literature. The significance of this research lies in understanding the heat transfer characteristics of MHD squeezing flow, which has practical implications in various engineering and industrial applications. By employing the similarity transformations, the complex governing equations are simplified into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, facilitating the analysis of the flow behavior. To obtain numerical solutions for the system, the Chebyshev collocation method is implemented. This approach provides accurate approximations for the nonlinear equations, enabling efficient computations of the heat transfer properties. The obtained results are compared with existing literature, establishing the validity and consistency of the numerical approach. The study's major findings shed light on the influence of flow parameters on the heat transfer characteristics of the squeezing flow. The analysis reveals the impact of parameters such as magnetic field strength, disk motion amplitude, fluid viscosity on the heat transfer rate between the disks, the squeeze number(S), suction/injection parameter(A), Hartman number(M), Prandtl number(Pr), modified Eckert number(Ec), and the dimensionless length(δ). These findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the system's behavior and provide insights for optimizing heat transfer processes in similar configurations. In conclusion, this study presents a thorough heat transfer analysis of magneto-hydrodynamics squeezing flow between parallel disks. The numerical solutions obtained through the Chebyshev collocation method demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the approach. The investigation of flow parameters highlights their influence on heat transfer, contributing to the existing knowledge in this field. The agreement of the results with previous literature further strengthens the reliability of the findings. These outcomes have practical implications for engineering applications and pave the way for further research in related areas.

Keywords: squeezing flow, magneto-hydro-dynamics (MHD), chebyshev collocation method(CCA), parallel manifolds, finite difference method (FDM)

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Authors: Tristance Kee

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With an unprecedented increase in elderly population around the world, the severe lack of quality housing and health-and-safety provisions to serve this cohort cannot be ignored any longer. Many elderly citizens, especially singletons, live in unsafe housing conditions with poorly executed planning and design. Some suffer from deteriorating mobility, sight and general alertness and their sub-standard living conditions further hinder their daily existence. This research explains how concepts such as Universal Design and Co-Design operate in a high density city such as Hong Kong, China where innovative design can become an alternative solution where government and the private sector fail to provide quality elderly friendly facilities to promote a sustainable urban development. Unlike other elderly research which focuses more on housing policies, nursing care and theories, this research takes a more progressive approach by providing an in-depth impact assessment on how innovative design can be practical solutions for creating a more sustainable built environment. The research objectives are to: 1) explain the relationship between innovative design for elderly and a healthier and sustainable environment; 2) evaluate the impact of human ergonomics with the use of universal design; and 3) explain how innovation can enhance the sustainability of a city in improving citizen’s sight, sound, walkability and safety within the ageing population. The research adopts both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine ways to improve elderly population’s relationship to our built environment. In particular, the research utilizes collected data from questionnaire survey and focus group discussions to obtain inputs from various stakeholders, including designers, operators and managers related to public housing, community facilities and overall urban development. In addition to feedbacks from end-users and stakeholders, a thorough analysis on existing elderly housing facilities and Universal Design provisions are examined to evaluate their adequacy. To echo the theme of this conference on Innovation and Sustainable Development, this research examines the effectiveness of innovative design in a risk-benefit factor assessment. To test the hypothesis that innovation can cater for a sustainable development, the research evaluated the health improvement of a sample size of 150 elderly in a period of eight months. Their health performances, including mobility, speech and memory are monitored and recorded on a regular basis to assess if the use of innovation does trigger impact on improving health and home safety for an elderly cohort. This study was supported by district community centers under the auspices of Home Affairs Bureau to provide respondents for questionnaire survey, a standardized evaluation mechanism, and professional health care staff for evaluating the performance impact. The research findings will be integrated to formulate design solutions such as innovative home products to improve elderly daily experience and safety with a particular focus on the enhancement on sight, sound and mobility safety. Some policy recommendations and architectural planning recommendations related to Universal Design will also be incorporated into the research output for future planning of elderly housing and amenity provisions.

Keywords: elderly population, innovative design, sustainable built environment, universal design

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Authors: Eli Avraham

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The Arab Spring was widely covered in the global media and the number of Western tourists traveling to the area began to fall. The goal of this study was to analyze which media strategies marketers in Middle Eastern countries chose to employ in their attempts to repair the negative image of the area in the wake of the Arab Spring. Several studies were published concerning image-restoration strategies of destinations during crises around the globe; however, these strategies were not part of an overarching theory, conceptual framework or model from the fields of crisis communication and image repair. The conceptual framework used in the current study was the ‘multi-step model for altering place image’, which offers three types of strategies: source, message and audience. Three research questions were used: 1.What public relations crisis techniques and advertising campaign components were used? 2. What media policies and relationships with the international media were adopted by Arab officials? 3. Which marketing initiatives (such as cultural and sports events) were promoted? This study is based on qualitative content analysis of four types of data: 1) advertising components (slogans, visuals and text); (2) press interviews with Middle Eastern officials and marketers; (3) official media policy adopted by government decision-maker (e.g. boycotting or arresting newspeople); and (4) marketing initiatives (e.g. organizing heritage festivals and cultural events). The data was located in three channels from December 2010, when the events started, to September 31, 2013: (1) Internet and video-sharing websites: YouTube and Middle Eastern countries' national tourism board websites; (2) News reports from two international media outlets, The New York Times and Ha’aretz; these are considered quality newspapers that focus on foreign news and tend to criticize institutions; (3) Global tourism news websites: eTurbo news and ‘Cities and countries branding’. Using the ‘multi-step model for altering place image,’ the analysis reveals that Middle Eastern marketers and officials used three kinds of strategies to repair their countries' negative image: 1. Source (cooperation and media relations; complying, threatening and blocking the media; and finding alternatives to the traditional media) 2. Message (ignoring, limiting, narrowing or reducing the scale of the crisis; acknowledging the negative effect of an event’s coverage and assuring a better future; promotion of multiple facets, exhibitions and softening the ‘hard’ image; hosting spotlight sporting and cultural events; spinning liabilities into assets; geographic dissociation from the Middle East region; ridicule the existing stereotype) and 3. Audience (changing the target audience by addressing others; emphasizing similarities and relevance to specific target audience). It appears that dealing with their image problems will continue to be a challenge for officials and marketers of Middle Eastern countries until the region stabilizes and its regional conflicts are resolved.

Keywords: Arab spring, cultural events, image repair, Middle East, tourism marketing

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Authors: Isabella Bianco, Gian Andrea Blengini

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The environmental impact related to ornamental stones (such as marbles and granites) is largely debated. Starting from the industrial revolution, continuous improvements of machineries led to a higher exploitation of this natural resource and to a more international interaction between markets. As a consequence, the environmental impact of the extraction and processing of stones has increased. Nevertheless, if compared with other building materials, ornamental stones are generally more durable, natural, and recyclable. From the scientific point of view, studies on stone life cycle sustainability have been carried out, but these are often partial or not very significant because of the high percentage of approximations and assumptions in calculations. This is due to the lack, in life cycle databases (e.g. Ecoinvent, Thinkstep, and ELCD), of datasets about the specific technologies employed in the stone production chain. For example, databases do not contain information about diamond wires, chains or explosives, materials commonly used in quarries and transformation plants. The project presented in this paper aims to populate the life cycle databases with specific data of specific stone processes. To this goal, the methodology follows the standardized approach of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), according to the requirements of UNI 14040-14044 and to the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook guidelines of the European Commission. The study analyses the processes of the entire production chain (from-cradle-to-gate system boundaries), including the extraction of benches, the cutting of blocks into slabs/tiles and the surface finishing. Primary data have been collected in Italian quarries and transformation plants which use technologies representative of the current state-of-the-art. Since the technologies vary according to the hardness of the stone, the case studies comprehend both soft stones (marbles) and hard stones (gneiss). In particular, data about energy, materials and emissions were collected in marble basins of Carrara and in Beola and Serizzo basins located in the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola. Data were then elaborated through an appropriate software to build a life cycle model. The model was realized setting free parameters that allow an easy adaptation to specific productions. Through this model, the study aims to boost the direct participation of stone companies and encourage the use of LCA tool to assess and improve the stone sector environmental sustainability. At the same time, the realization of accurate Life Cycle Inventory data aims at making available, to researchers and stone experts, ILCD compliant datasets of the most significant processes and technologies related to the ornamental stone sector.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, LCA datasets, ornamental stone, stone environmental impact

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Authors: Bastian Waduge Naveen Harindu Hemasiri, Jae-Kwan Kim, Ji-Myon Lee

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Indium tin oxide (ITO) remains the industrial standard transparent conducting oxides with better performances. Recently, graphene becomes as a strong material with unique properties to replace the ITO. However, graphene/ITO hybrid composite material is a newly born field in the electronic world. In this study, the graphene/ITO composite bi-film was synthesized by a two steps process. 10 wt.% tin-doped, ITO thin films were produced by an environmentally friendly aqueous sol-gel spin coating technique with economical salts of In(NO3)3.H2O and SnCl4 without using organic additives. The wettability and surface free energy (97.6986 mJ/m2) enhanced oxygen plasma treated glass substrates were used to form voids free continuous ITO film. The spin-coated samples were annealed at 600 0C for 1 hour under low vacuum conditions to obtained crystallized, ITO film. The crystal structure and crystalline phases of ITO thin films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The Scherrer equation was used to determine the crystallite size. Detailed information about chemical composition and elemental composition of the ITO film were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) coupled with FE-SEM respectively. Graphene synthesis was done under chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method by using Cu foil at 1000 0C for 1 min. The quality of the synthesized graphene was characterized by Raman spectroscopy (532nm excitation laser beam) and data was collected at room temperature and normal atmosphere. The surface and cross-sectional observation were done by using FE-SEM. The optical transmission and sheet resistance were measured by UV-Vis spectroscopy and four point probe head at room temperature respectively. Electrical properties were also measured by using V-I characteristics. XRD patterns reveal that the films contain the In2O3 phase only and exhibit the polycrystalline nature of the cubic structure with the main peak of (222) plane. The peak positions of In3d5/2 (444.28 eV) and Sn3d5/2 (486.7 eV) in XPS results indicated that indium and tin are in the oxide form only. The UV-visible transmittance shows 91.35 % at 550 nm with 5.88 x 10-3 Ωcm specific resistance. The G and 2D band in Raman spectroscopy of graphene appear at 1582.52 cm-1 and 2690.54 cm-1 respectively when the synthesized CVD graphene on SiO2/Si. The determined intensity ratios of 2D to G (I2D/IG) and D to G (ID/IG) were 1.531 and 0.108 respectively. However, the above-mentioned G and 2D peaks appear at 1573.57 cm-1 and 2668.14 cm-1 respectively when the CVD graphene on the ITO coated glass, the positions of G and 2D peaks were red shifted by 8.948 cm-1 and 22.396 cm-1 respectively. This graphene/ITO bi-film shows modified electrical properties when compares with sol-gel derived ITO film. The reduction of sheet resistance in the bi-film was 12.03 % from the ITO film. Further, the fabricated graphene/ITO bi-film shows 88.66 % transmittance at 550 nm wavelength.

Keywords: chemical vapor deposition, graphene, ITO, Raman Spectroscopy, sol-gel

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Authors: Olia Kanevskaia

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Standardization has been in the limelight of numerous academic studies. Typically described as ‘any set of technical specifications that either provides or is intended to provide a common design for a product or process’, standards do not only set quality benchmarks for products and services, but also spur competition and innovation, resulting in advantages for manufacturers and consumers. Their contribution to globalization and technology advancement is especially crucial in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and telecommunications sector, which is also characterized by a weaker state-regulation and expert-based rule-making. Most of the standards developed in that area are interoperability standards, which allow technological devices to establish ‘invisible communications’ and to ensure their compatibility and proper functioning. This type of standard supports a large share of our daily activities, ranging from traffic coordination by traffic lights to the connection to Wi-Fi networks, transmission of data via Bluetooth or USB and building the network architecture for the Internet of Things (IoT). A large share of ICT standards is developed in the specialized voluntary platforms, commonly referred to as Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), which gather experts from various industry sectors, private enterprises, governmental agencies and academia. The institutional architecture of these bodies can vary from semi-public bodies, such as European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), to industry-driven consortia, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The past decades witnessed a significant shift of standard setting to those institutions: while operating independently from the states regulation, they offer a rather informal setting, which enables fast-paced standardization and places technical supremacy and flexibility of standards above other considerations. Although technical norms and specifications developed by such nongovernmental platforms are not binding, they appear to create significant regulatory impact. In the United States (US), private voluntary standards can be used by regulators to achieve their policy objectives; in the European Union (EU), compliance with harmonized standards developed by voluntary European Standards Organizations (ESOs) can grant a product a free-movement pass. Moreover, standards can de facto manage the functioning of the market when other regulative alternatives are not available. Hence, by establishing (potentially) mandatory norms, SDOs assume regulatory functions commonly exercised by States and shape their own legal order. The purpose of this paper is threefold: First, it attempts to shed some light on SDOs’ institutional architecture, focusing on private, industry-driven platforms and comparing their regulatory frameworks with those of formal organizations. Drawing upon the relevant scholarship, the paper then discusses the extent to which the formulation of technological standards within SDOs constitutes a private legal order, operating in the shadow of governmental regulation. Ultimately, this contribution seeks to advise whether a state-intervention in industry-driven standard setting is desirable, and whether the increasing regulatory importance of SDOs should be addressed in legislation on standardization.

Keywords: private order, standardization, standard-setting organizations, transnational law

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Authors: Yu-Hsin Tsai

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A new, mandated county regional plan system has been initiated since 2010 nationwide in Taiwan, with its role situated in-between the policy-led cross-county regional plan and the blueprint-led city plan. This new regional plan contain both urban and rural areas in one single plan, which provides a more complete planning territory, i.e., city region within the county’s jurisdiction, and to be executed and managed effectively by the county government. However, the full picture of its functions and characteristics seems still not totally clear, compared with other levels of plans; either are planning goals and issues that can be most appropriately dealt with at this spatial scale. In addition, the extent to which the inclusion of sustainability ideal and measures to cope with climate change are unclear. Based on the above issues, this study aims to clarify the roles of county regional plan, to analyze the extent to which the measures cope with sustainability, climate change, and forecasted declining population, and the success factors and issues faced in the planning process. The methodology applied includes literature review, plan quality evaluation, and interview with officials of the central and local governments and urban planners involved for all the 23 counties in Taiwan. The preliminary research results show, first, growth management related policies have been widely implemented and expected to have effective impact, including incorporating resources capacity to determine maximum population for the city region as a whole, developing overall vision of urban growth boundary for all the whole city region, prioritizing infill development, and use of architectural land within urbanized area over rural area to cope with urban growth. Secondly, planning-oriented zoning is adopted in urban areas, while demand-oriented planning permission is applied in the rural areas with designated plans. Then, public participation has been evolved to the next level to oversee all of government’s planning and review processes due to the decreasing trust in the government, and development of public forum on the internet etc. Next, fertile agricultural land is preserved to maintain food self-supplied goal for national security concern. More adoption-based methods than mitigation-based methods have been applied to cope with global climate change. Finally, better land use and transportation planning in terms of avoiding developing rail transit stations and corridor in rural area is promoted. Even though many promising, prompt measures have been adopted, however, challenges exist to surround: first, overall urban density, likely affecting success of UGB, or use of rural agricultural land, has not been incorporated, possibly due to implementation difficulties. Second, land-use related measures to mitigating climate change seem less clear and hence less employed. Smart decline has not drawn enough attention to cope with predicted population decrease in the next decade. Then, some reluctance from county’s government to implement county regional plan can be observed vaguely possibly since limits have be set on further development on agricultural land and sensitive areas. Finally, resolving issue on existing illegal factories on agricultural land remains the most challenging dilemma.

Keywords: city region plan, sustainability, global climate change, growth management

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Authors: Bibha Kumari, Nigel P. Brunton, Dilip K. Rai, Brijesh K. Tiwari

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Edible mushrooms possess numerous functional components like homo- and hetero- β-glucans [β(1→3), β(1→4) and β(1→6) glucosidic linkages], chitins, ergosterols, bioactive polysaccharides and peptides imparting health beneficial properties to mushrooms. Some of the proven biological activities of mushroom extracts are antioxidant, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, cholesterol lowering activity by inhibiting a key cholesterol metabolism enzyme i.e. 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl CoA reductase (HMGCR), angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition. Application of novel extraction technologies like pulsed electric field (PEF) and high power ultrasound offers clean, green, faster and efficient extraction alternatives with enhanced and good quality extracts. Sequential PEF followed by ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) were applied to recover bioactive enriched fractions from industrial white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) stalk waste using environmentally friendly and GRAS solvents i.e. water and water/ethanol combinations. The PEF treatment was carried out at 60% output voltage, 2 Hz frequency for 500 pulses of 20 microseconds pulse width, using KCl salt solution of 0.6 mS/cm conductivity by the placing 35g of chopped fresh mushroom stalks and 25g of salt solution in the 4x4x4cm3 treatment chamber. Sequential UAE was carried out on the PEF pre-treated samples using ultrasonic-water-bath (USB) of three frequencies (25 KHz, 35 KHz and 45 KHz) for various treatment times (15-120 min) at 80°C. Individual treatment using either PEF or UAE were also investigation to compare the effect of each treatment along with the combined effect on the recovery and bioactivity of the crude extracts. The freeze dried mushroom stalk powder was characterised for proximate compositional parameters (dry weight basis) showing 64.11% total carbohydrate, 19.12% total protein, 7.21% total fat, 31.2% total dietary fiber, 7.9% chitin (as glucosamine equivalent) and 1.02% β-glucan content. The total phenolic contents (TPC) were determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu procedure and expressed as gallic-acid-equivalents (GAE). The antioxidant properties were ascertained using DPPH and FRAP assays and expressed as trolox-equivalents (TE). HMGCR activity and molecular mass of β-glucans will be measured using the commercial HMG-CoA Reductase Assay kit (Sigma-Aldrich) and size exclusion chromatography (HPLC-SEC), respectively. Effects of PEF, UAE and their combination on the antioxidant capacity, HMGCR inhibition and β-glucans content will be presented.

Keywords: β-glucan, mushroom stalks, pulsed electric field (PEF), ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE)

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Authors: Philippe Castaing, Thomas Jollivet

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As a result of their advantages, i.e. recyclability, weld-ability, environmental compatibility, long (continuous) fiber thermoplastic composites (LFTPC) are increasingly used in many industrial sectors (mainly automotive and aeronautic) for structural applications. Indeed, in the next ten years, the environmental rules will put the pressure on the use of new structural materials like composites. In aerospace, more than 50% of the damage are due to stress impact and 85% of damage are repaired on the fuselage (fuselage skin panels and around doors). With the arrival of airplanes mainly of composite materials, replacement of sections or panels seems difficult economically speaking and repair becomes essential. The objective of the present study is to propose a solution of repair to prevent the replacement the damaged part in thermoplastic composites in order to recover the initial mechanical properties. The classification of impact damage is not so not easy : talking about low energy impact (less than 35 J) can be totally wrong when high speed or weak thicknesses as well as thermoplastic resins are considered. Crash and perforation with higher energy create important damages and the structures are replaced without repairing, so we just consider here damages due to impacts at low energy that are as follows for laminates : − Transverse cracking; − Delamination; − Fiber rupture. At low energy, the damages are barely visible but can nevertheless reduce significantly the mechanical strength of the part due to resin cracks while few fiber rupture is observed. The patch repair solution remains the standard one but may lead to the rupture of fibers and consequently creates more damages. That is the reason why we investigate the repair of thermoplastic composites impacted at low energy. Indeed, thermoplastic resins are interesting as they absorb impact energy through plastic strain. The methodology is as follows: - impact tests at low energy on thermoplastic composites; - identification of the damage by micrographic observations; - evaluation of the harmfulness of the damage; - repair by reconsolidation according to the extent of the damage ; -validation of the repair by mechanical characterization (compression). In this study, the impacts tests are performed at various levels of energy on thermoplastic composites (PA/C, PEEK/C and PPS/C woven 50/50 and unidirectional) to determine the level of impact energy creating damages in the resin without fiber rupture. We identify the extent of the damage by US inspection and micrographic observations in the plane part thickness. The samples were in addition characterized in compression to evaluate the loss of mechanical properties. Then the strategy of repair consists in reconsolidating the damaged parts by thermoforming, and after reconsolidation the laminates are characterized in compression for validation. To conclude, the study demonstrates the feasibility of the repair for low energy impact on thermoplastic composites as the samples recover their properties. At a first step of the study, the “repair” is made by reconsolidation on a thermoforming press but we could imagine a process in situ to reconsolidate the damaged parts.

Keywords: aerospace, automotive, composites, compression, damages, repair, structural applications, thermoplastic

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Authors: Hassiba Benguergoura, Kamal Chanane, Sâad Moulay

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Pervaporation (PV), a membrane-based separation technology, has gained much attention because of its energy saving capability and low-cost, especially for separation of azeotropic or close-boiling liquid mixtures. There are two crucial issues for industrial application of pervaporation process. The first is developing membrane material and tailoring membrane structure to obtain high pervaporation performances. The second is modeling pervaporation transport to better understand of the above-mentioned structure–pervaporation relationship. Many models were proposed to predict the mass transfer process, among them, solution-diffusion model is most widely used in describing pervaporation transport including preferential sorption, diffusion and evaporation steps. For modeling pervaporation transport, the permeation flux, which depends on the solubility and diffusivity of components in the membrane, should be obtained first. Traditionally, the solubility was calculated according to the Flory–Huggins theory. Separation of the benzene (Bz)/cyclohexane (Cx) mixture is industrially significant. Numerous papers have been focused on the Bz/Cx system to assess the PV properties of membrane materials. Membranes with both high permeability and selectivity are desirable for practical application. Several new polymers have been prepared to get both high permeability and selectivity. Styrene-butadiene rubbers (SBR), dense membranes cross-linked by chloromethylation were used in the separation of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures. The impact of chloromethylation reaction as a new method of cross-linking SBR on the pervaporation performance have been reported. In contrast to the vulcanization with sulfur, the cross-linking takes places on styrene units of polymeric chains via a methylene bridge. The partial pervaporative (PV) fluxes of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures in styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) were predicted using Fick's first law. The predicted partial fluxes and the PV separation factor agreed well with the experimental data by integrating Fick's law over the benzene concentration. The effects of feed concentration and operating temperature on the predicted permeation flux by this proposed model are investigated. The predicted permeation fluxes are in good agreement with experimental data at lower benzene concentration in feed, but at higher benzene concentration, the model overestimated permeation flux. The predicted and experimental permeation fluxes all increase with operating temperature increasing. Solvent sorption levels for benzene/ cyclohexane mixtures in a SBR membrane were determined experimentally. The results showed that the solvent sorption levels were strongly affected by the feed composition. The Flory- Huggins equation generates higher R-square coefficient for the sorption selectivity.

Keywords: benzene, cyclohexane, pervaporation, permeation, sorption modeling, SBR

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Authors: Cristina Diaz, Lucia Perez-Gandarillas, Gonzalo Garcia-Fuentes, Simone Visigalli, Roberto Canziani, Giuseppe Di Florio, Paolo Gronchi

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During their lifetime, industrial machines are often subjected to chemical, mechanical and thermal extreme conditions. In some cases, the loss of efficiency comes from the degradation of the surface as a result of its exposition to abrasive environments that can cause wear. This is a common problem to be solved in industries of diverse nature such as food, paper or concrete industries, among others. For this reason, a good selection of the material is of high importance. In the machine design context, stainless steels such as AISI 304 and 316 are widely used. However, the severity of the external conditions can require additional protection for the steel and sometimes coating solutions are demanded in order to extend the lifespan of these materials. Therefore, the development of effective coatings with high wear resistance is of utmost technological relevance. In this research, bilayer coatings made of Titanium-Tantalum, Titanium-Niobium, Titanium-Hafnium, and Titanium-Zirconium have been developed using magnetron sputtering configuration by PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) technology. Their tribological behavior has been measured and evaluated under different environmental conditions. Two kinds of steels were used as substrates: AISI 304, AISI 316. For the comparison with these materials, titanium alloy substrate was also employed. Regarding the characterization, wear rate and friction coefficient were evaluated by a tribo-tester, using a pin-on-ball configuration with different lubricants such as tomato sauce, wine, olive oil, wet compost, a mix of sand and concrete with water and NaCl to approximate the results to real extreme conditions. In addition, topographical images of the wear tracks were obtained in order to get more insight of the wear behavior and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images were taken to evaluate the adhesion and quality of the coating. The characterization was completed with the measurement of nanoindentation hardness and elastic modulus. Concerning the results, thicknesses of the samples varied from 100 nm (Ti-Zr layer) to 1.4 µm (Ti-Hf layer) and SEM images confirmed that the addition of the Ti layer improved the adhesion of the coatings. Moreover, results have pointed out that these coatings have increased the wear resistance in comparison with the original substrates under environments of different severity. Furthermore, nanoindentation hardness results showed an improvement of the elastic strain to failure and a high modulus of elasticity (approximately 200 GPa). As a conclusion, Ti-Ta, Ti-Zr, Ti-Nb, and Ti-Hf are very promising and effective coatings in terms of tribological behavior, improving considerably the wear resistance and friction coefficient of typically used machine materials.

Keywords: coating, stainless steel, tribology, wear

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: B. Shahzamanian, S. Varga, D. C. Alarcón-Padilla

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Desalination is considered the primary alternative to increase water supply for domestic, agricultural and industrial use. Sustainable desalination is only possible in places where renewable energy resources are available. Solar energy is the most relevant type of renewable energy to driving desalination systems since most of the areas suffering from water scarcity are characterized by a high amount of available solar radiation during the year. Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) technology integrated with solar thermal concentrators is a suitable combination for heat-driven desalination. It can also be coupled with thermal vapour compressors or absorption heat pumps to boost overall system performance. The most interesting advantage of MED is the suitability to be used with a transient source of energy like solar. An experimental study was carried out to assess the performance of the most important life-size multi-effect desalination plant driven by solar energy located in the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA). The MED plant is used as a reference in many studies regarding multi-effect distillation. The system consists of a 14-effect MED plant coupled with a double-effect absorption heat pump. The required thermal energy to run the desalination system is supplied by means of hot water generated from 60 static flat-plate solar collectors with a total aperture area of 606 m2. In order to compensate for the solar energy variation, a thermal storage system with two interconnected tanks and an overall volume of 40 m3 is coupled to the MED unit. The multi-effect distillation unit is built in a forward feed configuration, and the last effect is connected to a double-effect LiBr-H2O absorption heat pump. The heat pump requires steam at 180 ºC (10 bar a) that is supplied by a small-aperture parabolic trough solar field with a total aperture area of 230 m2. When needed, a gas boiler is used as an auxiliary heat source for operating the heat pump and the MED plant when solar energy is not available. A set of experiments was carried out for evaluating the impact of the heating water temperature (Th), top brine temperature (TBT) and temperature difference between effects (ΔT) on the performance ratio of the MED plant. The considered range for variation of Th, TBT and ΔT was 60-70°C, 54-63°C and 1.1-1.6°C, respectively. The performance ratio (PR), defined as kg of distillate produced for every 2326 kJ of thermal energy supplied to the MED system, was almost independent of the applied variables with a variation of less than 5% for all the cases. The maximum recorded PR was 12.4. The results indicated that the system demonstrated robustness for the whole range of operating conditions considered. Author gratitude is expressed to the PSA for providing access to its installations, the support of its scientific and technical staff, and the financial support of the SFERA-III project (Grant Agreement No 823802). Special thanks to the access provider staff members who ensured the access support.

Keywords: multi-effect distillation, performance ratio, robustness, solar energy

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Authors: Elena Sherstoboeva, Elena Karzanova

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This paper explores the impact of the annexation of Crimea on the regulation of live performances and tour management of Russian pop music performers in Ukraine and of Ukrainian performers in Russia. Without a doubt, the cultural relationship between Russia and Ukraine is not limited to this issue. Yet concert markets tend to respond particularly rapidly to political, economic, and social changes, especially in Russia and Ukraine, where the high level of digital piracy means that the music businesses mainly depend upon income from performances rather than from digital rights sales. This paper argues that the rules formed in both countries after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 have contributed to the separation of a single cultural space that had existed in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine before the annexation. These rules have also facilitated performers’ self-censorship and increased the politicisation of the music businesses in the two neighbouring countries. This study applies a comparative socio-legal approach to study Russian and Ukrainian live events and tour regulation. A qualitative analysis of Russian and Ukrainian national and intergovernmental legal frameworks is applied to examine formal regulations. Soviet and early post-Soviet laws and policies are also studied, but only to the extent that they help to track the changes in the Russian–Ukrainian cultural relationship. To identify and analyse the current informal rules, the study design includes in-depth semi-structured interviews with 30 live event or tour managers working in Russia and Ukraine. A case study is used to examine how the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual international competition, has played out within the Russian–Ukrainian conflict. The study suggests that modern Russian and Ukrainian frameworks for live events and tours have developed Soviet regulatory traditions when cultural policies served as a means of ideological control. At the same time, contemporary regulations mark a considerable perspective shift, as the previous rules have been aimed at maintaining close cultural connections between the Russian and Ukrainian nations. Instead of collaboration, their current frameworks mostly serve as forms of repression, implying that performers must choose only one national market in which to work. The regulatory instruments vary and often impose limitations that typically exist in non-democratic regimes to restrict foreign journalism, such as visa barriers or bans on entry. The more unexpected finding is that, in comparison with Russian law, Ukrainian regulations have created more obstacles to the organisation of live tours and performances by Russian artists in Ukraine. Yet this stems from commercial rather than political factors. This study predicts that the more economic challenges the Russian or Ukrainian music businesses face, the harsher the regulations will be regarding the organisation of live events or tours in the other country. This study recommends that international human rights organisations and non-governmental organisations develop and promote specific standards for artistic rights and freedoms, given the negative effects of the increasing politicisation of the entertainment business and cultural spheres to freedom of expression and cultural rights and pluralism.

Keywords: annexation of Crimea, artistic freedom, censorship, cultural policy

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Authors: Hari K. Adhikari, Keshab Sharma, K. C. Apil

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The Gorkha Nepal earthquake of moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8 hit the central region of Nepal on April 25, 2015; with the epicenter about 77 km northwest of Kathmandu Valley. This paper aims to explore challenges of reconstruction in the rural earthquake-stricken areas of Nepal. The Gorkha earthquake on April 25, 2015, has significantly affected the livelihood of people and overall economy in Nepal, causing severe damage and destruction in central Nepal including nation’s capital. A larger part of the earthquake affected area is difficult to access with rugged terrain and scattered settlements, which posed unique challenges and efforts on a massive scale reconstruction and rehabilitation. 800 thousand buildings were affected leaving 8 million people homeless. Challenge of reconstruction of optimum 800 thousand houses is arduous for Nepal in the background of its turmoil political scenario and weak governance. With significant actors involved in the reconstruction process, no appreciable relief has reached to the ground, which is reflected over the frustration of affected people. The 2015 Gorkha earthquake is one of most devastating disasters in the modern history of Nepal. Best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive study on reconstruction after disasters in modern Nepal, which integrates the necessary information to deal with challenges and opportunities of reconstructions. The study was conducted using qualitative content analysis method. Thirty engineers and ten social mobilizes working for reconstruction and more than hundreds local social workers, local party leaders, and earthquake victims were selected arbitrarily. Information was collected through semi-structured interviews and open-ended questions, focus group discussions, and field notes, with no previous assumption. Author also reviewed literature and document reviews covering academic and practitioner studies on challenges of reconstruction after earthquake in developing countries such as 2001 Gujarat earthquake, 2005 Kashmir earthquake, 2003 Bam earthquake and 2010 Haiti earthquake; which have very similar building typologies, economic, political, geographical, and geological conditions with Nepal. Secondary data was collected from reports, action plans, and reflection papers of governmental entities, non-governmental organizations, private sector businesses, and the online news. This study concludes that inaccessibility, absence of local government, weak governance, weak infrastructures, lack of preparedness, knowledge gap and manpower shortage, etc. are the key challenges of the reconstruction after 2015 earthquake in Nepal. After scrutinizing different challenges and issues, study counsels that good governance, integrated information, addressing technical issues, public participation along with short term and long term strategies to tackle with technical issues are some crucial factors for timely and quality reconstruction in context of Nepal. Sample collected for this study is relatively small sample size and may not be fully representative of the stakeholders involved in reconstruction. However, the key findings of this study are ones that need to be recognized by academics, governments, and implementation agencies, and considered in the implementation of post-disaster reconstruction program in developing countries.

Keywords: Gorkha earthquake, reconstruction, challenges, policy

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Authors: Lenon M. Pereira, Helen J. Khoury, Marcos E. A. Andrade, Dean L. Cutajar, Vinicius S. M. Barros, Anatoly B. Rozenfeld

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With the increase of beam widths and the advent of multiple-slice and helical scanners, concerns related to the current dose measurement protocols and instrumentation in computed tomography (CT) have arisen. The current methodology of dose evaluation, which is based on the measurement of the integral of a single slice dose profile using a 100 mm long cylinder ionization chamber (Ca,100 and CPPMA, 100), has been shown to be inadequate for wide beams as it does not collect enough of the scatter-tails to make an accurate measurement. In addition, a long ionization chamber does not offer a good representation of the dose profile when tube current modulation is used. An alternative approach has been suggested by translating smaller detectors through the beam plane and assessing the accumulated dose trough the integral of the dose profile, which can be done for any arbitrary length in phantoms or in the air. For this purpose, a MOSFET dosimeter of small dosimetric volume was used. One of its recently designed versions is known as the MOSkin, which is developed by the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at the University of Wollongong, and measures the radiation dose at a water equivalent depth of 0.07 mm, allowing the evaluation of skin dose when placed at the surface, or internal point doses when placed within a phantom. Thus, the aim of this research was to characterize the response of the MOSkin dosimeter for X-ray CT beams and to evaluate its application for the accumulated dose assessment. Initially, tests using an industrial x-ray unit were carried out at the Laboratory of Ionization Radiation Metrology (LMRI) of Federal University of Pernambuco, in order to investigate the sensitivity, energy dependence, angular dependence, and reproducibility of the dose response for the device for the standard radiation qualities RQT 8, RQT 9 and RQT 10. Finally, the MOSkin was used for the accumulated dose evaluation of scans using a Philips Brilliance 6 CT unit, with comparisons made between the CPPMA,100 value assessed with a pencil ionization chamber (PTW Freiburg TW 30009). Both dosimeters were placed in the center of a PMMA head phantom (diameter of 16 cm) and exposed in the axial mode with collimation of 9 mm, 250 mAs and 120 kV. The results have shown that the MOSkin response was linear with doses in the CT range and reproducible (98.52%). The sensitivity for a single MOSkin in mV/cGy was as follows: 9.208, 7.691 and 6.723 for the RQT 8, RQT 9 and RQT 10 beams qualities respectively. The energy dependence varied up to a factor of ±1.19 among those energies and angular dependence was not greater than 7.78% within the angle range from 0 to 90 degrees. The accumulated dose and the CPMMA, 100 value were 3,97 and 3,79 cGy respectively, which were statistically equivalent within the 95% confidence level. The MOSkin was shown to be a good alternative for CT dose profile measurements and more than adequate to provide accumulated dose assessments for CT procedures.

Keywords: computed tomography dosimetry, MOSFET, MOSkin, semiconductor dosimetry

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Authors: Adam J. Bowen

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Abstract— Should robots have rights or legal protections. Often debates concerning whether robots and AI should be afforded rights focus on conditions of personhood and the possibility of future advanced forms of AI satisfying particular intrinsic cognitive and moral attributes of rights-holding persons. Such discussions raise compelling questions about machine consciousness, autonomy, and value alignment with human interests. Although these are important theoretical concerns, especially from a future design perspective, they provide limited guidance for addressing the moral and legal standing of current and near-term AI that operate well below the cognitive and moral agency of human persons. Robots and AI are already being pressed into service in a wide range of roles, especially in healthcare and biomedical contexts. The design and large-scale implementation of robots in the context of core societal institutions like healthcare systems continues to rapidly develop. For example, we bring them into our homes, hospitals, and other care facilities to assist in care for the sick, disabled, elderly, children, or otherwise vulnerable persons. We enlist surgical robotic systems in precision tasks, albeit still human-in-the-loop technology controlled by surgeons. We also entrust them with social roles involving companionship and even assisting in intimate caregiving tasks (e.g., bathing, feeding, turning, medicine administration, monitoring, transporting). There have been advances to enable severely disabled persons to use robots to feed themselves or pilot robot avatars to work in service industries. As the applications for near-term AI increase and the roles of robots in restructuring our biomedical practices expand, we face pressing questions about the normative implications of human-robot interactions and collaborations in our collective worldmaking, as well as the moral and legal status of robots. This paper argues that robots operating in public and private spaces be afforded some protections as either moral patients or legal agents to establish prohibitions on robot abuse, misuse, and mistreatment. We already implement robots and embed them in our practices and institutions, which generates a host of human-to-machine and machine-to-machine relationships. As we interact with machines, whether in service contexts, medical assistance, or home health companions, these robots are first encountered in relationship to us and our respective roles in the encounter (e.g., surgeon, physical or occupational therapist, recipient of care, patient’s family, healthcare professional, stakeholder). This proposal aims to outline a framework for establishing limiting factors and determining the extent of moral or legal protections for robots. In doing so, it advocates for a relational approach that emphasizes the priority of mapping the complex contextually sensitive roles played and the relations in which humans and robots stand to guide policy determinations by relevant institutions and authorities. The relational approach must also be technically informed by the intended uses of the biomedical technologies in question, Design History Files, extensive risk assessments and hazard analyses, as well as use case social impact assessments.

Keywords: biomedical robots, robot ethics, robot laws, human-robot interaction

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Authors: Purnima Dhall, Rita Kumar

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Introduction: River Yamuna, in the national capital territory (NCT), and also the primary source of drinking water for the city. Delhi discharges about 3,684 MLD of sewage through its 18 drains in to the Yamuna. Water quality monitoring is an important aspect of water management concerning to the pollution control. Public concern and legislation are now a day’s demanding better environmental control. Conventional method for estimating BOD5 has various drawbacks as they are expensive, time-consuming, and require the use of highly trained personnel. Stringent forthcoming regulations on the wastewater have necessitated the urge to develop analytical system, which contribute to greater process efficiency. Biosensors offer the possibility of real time analysis. Methodology: In the present study, a novel rapid method for the determination of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) has been developed. Using the developed method, the BOD of a sample can be determined within 2 hours as compared to 3-5 days with the standard BOD3-5day assay. Moreover, the test is based on specified consortia instead of undefined seeding material therefore it minimizes the variability among the results. The device is coupled to software which automatically calculates the dilution required, so, the prior dilution of the sample is not required before BOD estimation. The developed BOD-Biosensor makes use of immobilized microorganisms to sense the biochemical oxygen demand of industrial wastewaters having low–moderate–high biodegradability. The method is quick, robust, online and less time consuming. Findings: The results of extensive testing of the developed biosensor on drains demonstrate that the BOD values obtained by the device correlated with conventional BOD values the observed R2 value was 0.995. The reproducibility of the measurements with the BOD biosensor was within a percentage deviation of ±10%. Advantages of developed BOD biosensor • Determines the water pollution quickly in 2 hours of time; • Determines the water pollution of all types of waste water; • Has prolonged shelf life of more than 400 days; • Enhanced repeatability and reproducibility values; • Elimination of COD estimation. Distinctiveness of Technology: • Bio-component: can determine BOD load of all types of waste water; • Immobilization: increased shelf life > 400 days, extended stability and viability; • Software: Reduces manual errors, reduction in estimation time. Conclusion: BiosensorBOD can be used to measure the BOD value of the real wastewater samples. The BOD biosensor showed good reproducibility in the results. This technology is useful in deciding treatment strategies well ahead and so facilitating discharge of properly treated water to common water bodies. The developed technology has been transferred to M/s Forbes Marshall Pvt Ltd, Pune.

Keywords: biosensor, biochemical oxygen demand, immobilized, monitoring, Yamuna

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Authors: Vladislav Grigorovitch, Marina Grigorovitch, David Pearlmutter, Erez Gal

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The concept of “electric island” is involved with achieving the balance between the self-power generation ability of each educational institution and energy consumption demand. Photo-Voltaic (PV) solar system installed on the roofs of educational buildings is a common way to absorb the available solar energy and generate electricity for self-consumption and even for returning to the grid. The main objective of this research is to develop and implement an “electric island” monitoring infrastructure for promoting energy efficiency in educational buildings. A microscale monitoring methodology will be developed to provide a platform to estimate energy consumption performance classified by rooms and subspaces rather than the more common macroscale monitoring of the whole building. The monitoring platform will be established on the experimental sites, enabling an estimation and further analysis of the variety of environmental and physical conditions. For each building, separate measurement configurations will be applied taking into account the specific requirements, restrictions, location and infrastructure issues. The direct results of the measurements will be analyzed to provide deeper understanding of the impact of environmental conditions and sustainability construction standards, not only on the energy demand of public building, but also on the energy consumption habits of the children that study in those schools and the educational and administrative staff that is responsible for providing the thermal comfort conditions and healthy studying atmosphere for the children. A monitoring methodology being developed in this research is providing online access to real-time data of Interferential Therapy (IFTs) from any mobile phone or computer by simply browsing the dedicated website, providing powerful tools for policy makers for better decision making while developing PV production infrastructure to achieve “electric islands” in educational buildings. A detailed measurement configuration was technically designed based on the specific conditions and restriction of each of the pilot buildings. A monitoring and analysis methodology includes a large variety of environmental parameters inside and outside the schools to investigate the impact of environmental conditions both on the energy performance of the school and educational abilities of the children. Indoor measurements are mandatory to acquire the energy consumption data, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide and other air quality conditions in different parts of the building. In addition to that, we aim to study the awareness of the users to the energy consideration and thus the impact on their energy consumption habits. The monitoring of outdoor conditions is vital for proper design of the off-grid energy supply system and validation of its sufficient capacity. The suggested outcomes of this research include: 1. both experimental sites are designed to have PV production and storage capabilities; 2. Developing an online information feedback platform. The platform will provide consumer dedicated information to academic researchers, municipality officials and educational staff and students; 3. Designing an environmental work path for educational staff regarding optimal conditions and efficient hours for operating air conditioning, natural ventilation, closing of blinds, etc.

Keywords: sustainability, electric island, IOT, smart building

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Authors: Andrew D. Henshaw

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The research examines the influence of familial and kinship based leadership on the resilience of politically violent organizations. Organizations of this type frequently fight in the same conflicts though are called 'terrorist' or 'insurgent' depending on political foci of the time, and thus different approaches are used to combat them. The research considers them correlated phenomena with significant overlap and identifies strengths and vulnerabilities in resilience processes. The research employs paired case studies to examine resilience in organizations under significant external pressure, and achieves this by measuring three variables. 1: Organizational robustness in terms of leadership and governance. 2. Bounce-back response efficiency to external pressures and adaptation to endogenous and exogenous shock. 3. Perpetuity of operational and attack capability, and political legitimacy. The research makes three hypotheses. First, familial/kinship leadership groups have a significant effect on organizational resilience in terms of informal operations. Second, non-familial/kinship organizations suffer in terms of heightened security transaction costs and social economics surrounding recruitment, retention, and replacement. Third, resilience in non-familial organizations likely stems from critical external supports like state sponsorship or powerful patrons, rather than organic resilience dynamics. The case studies pair familial organizations with non-familial organizations. Set 1: The Haqqani Network (HQN) - Pair: Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Set 2: Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) - Pair: The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). Case studies were selected based on three requirements, being: contrasting governance types, exposure to significant external pressures and, geographical similarity. The case study sets were examined over 24 months following periods of significantly heightened operational activities. This enabled empirical measurement of the variables as substantial external pressures came into force. The rationale for the research is obvious. Nearly all organizations have some nexus of familial interconnectedness. Examining familial leadership networks does not provide further understanding of how terrorism and insurgency originate, however, the central focus of the research does address how they persist. The sparse attention to this in existing literature presents an unexplored yet important area of security studies. Furthermore, social capital in familial systems is largely automatic and organic, given at birth or through kinship. It reduces security vetting cost for recruits, fighters and supporters which lowers liabilities and entry costs, while raising organizational efficiency and exit costs. Better understanding of these process is needed to exploit strengths into weaknesses. Outcomes and implications of the research have critical relevance to future operational policy development. Increased clarity of internal trust dynamics, social capital and power flows are essential to fracturing and manipulating kinship nexus. This is highly valuable to external pressure mechanisms such as counter-terrorism, counterinsurgency, and strategic intelligence methods to penetrate, manipulate, degrade or destroy the resilience of politically violent organizations.

Keywords: Counterinsurgency (COIN), counter-terrorism, familial influence, insurgency, intelligence, kinship, resilience, terrorism

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Authors: Xinyu Wei, Mingming Peng, Kenji Kamiya, Eika Qian

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Iso-stearic acid as a saturated fatty acid with a branched chain shows a low pour point, high oxidative stability and great biodegradability. The industrial production of iso-stearic acid involves first isomerizing unsaturated fatty acids into branched-chain unsaturated fatty acids (BUFAs), followed by hydrogenating the branched-chain unsaturated fatty acids to obtain iso-stearic acid. However, the production yield of iso-stearic acid is reportedly less than 30%. In recent decades, extensive research has been conducted on branched fatty acids. Most research has replaced acidic clays with zeolites due to their high selectivity, good thermal stability, and renewability. It was reported that isomerization of unsaturated fatty acid occurred mainly inside the zeolite channel. In contrast, the production of by-products like dimer acid mainly occurs at acid sites outside the surface of zeolite. Further, the deactivation of catalysts is attributed to the pore blockage of zeolite. In the present study, micro/mesoporous ZSM-22 zeolites were developed. It is clear that the synthesis of a micro/mesoporous ZSM-22 zeolite is regarded as the ideal strategy owing to its ability to minimize coke formation. Different mesoporosities micro/mesoporous H-ZSM-22 zeolites were prepared through recrystallization of ZSM-22 using sodium hydroxide solution (0.2-1M) with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide template (CTAB). The structure, morphology, porosity, acidity, and isomerization performance of the prepared catalysts were characterized and evaluated. The dissolution and recrystallization process of the H-ZSM-22 microporous zeolite led to the formation of approximately 4 nm-sized mesoporous channels on the outer surface of the microporous zeolite, resulting in a micro/mesoporous material. This process increased the weak Brønsted acid sites at the pore mouth while reducing the total number of acid sites in ZSM-22. Finally, an activity test was conducted using oleic acid as a model compound in a fixed-bed reactor. The activity test results revealed that micro/mesoporous H-ZSM-22 zeolites exhibited a high isomerization activity, reaching >70% selectivity and >50% yield of BUFAs. Furthermore, the yield of oligomers was limited to less than 20%. This demonstrates that the presence of mesopores in ZSM-22 enhances contact between the feedstock and the active sites within the catalyst, thereby increasing catalyst activity. Additionally, a portion of the dissolved and recrystallized silica adhered to the catalyst's surface, covering the surface-active sites, which reduced the formation of oligomers. This study offers distinct insights into the production of iso-stearic acid using a fixed-bed reactor, paving the way for future research in this area.

Keywords: Iso-stearic acid, oleic acid, skeletal isomerization, micro/mesoporous, ZSM-22

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Authors: A. Onur Kutlu, H. Tolga Bolukbasi

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Since the 1990s, governments, international organizations and scholars have drawn increasing attention to the significance of women in the labour force. While advanced industrial countries in North Western Europe and North America have managed to increase female labour force participation (FLFP) in the early post world war two period, emerging economies of the 1970s have only been able to increase FLFP only a decade later. Among these areas, Southern Europe features a wave of remarkable bounce backs in FLFP. However, despite striking similarities between the features in Southern Europe and those in Turkey, Turkey has not been able to pull women into the labour force. Despite a host of institutional similarities, Turkey has failed to reach to the level of her Southern European neighbours. This paper addresses the puzzle why Turkey lag behind in FLFP in comparison to her Southern European neighbours. There are signs showing that FLFP is currently reaching a critical threshold at a time when structural factors may allow a trend. It is not known, however, the constellation of conditions which may bring rising FLFP in Turkey. In order to gain analytical leverage from similar transitions in countries that share similar labour market and welfare state regime characteristics, this paper identifies the conditions in Southern Europe that brought rising FLFP to be able to explore the prospects for Turkey. Second, this paper takes these variables in the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as conditions which can potentially explain the outcome of rising FLFP in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. The purpose here is to identify any causal pathway there may exist that lead to rising FLFP in Southern Europe. In order to do so, this study analyses two time periods in all cases, which represent different periods for different countries. The first period is identified on the basis of low FLFP and the second period on the basis of the transition to significantly higher FLFP. Third, the conditions are treated following the standard procedures in fsQCA, which provide equifinal: two distinct paths to higher levels of FLFP in Southern Europe, each of which may potentially increase FLFP in Turkey. Based on this analysis, this paper proposes that there exist two distinct paths leading to higher levels of FLFP in Southern Europe. Among these paths, salience of left parties emerges as a sufficient condition. In cases where this condition was not present, a second path combining enlarging service sector employment, increased tertiary education among women and increased childcare enrolment rates led to increasing FLFP.

Keywords: female labour force participation, fsQCA, Southern Europe, Turkey

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Authors: Arzyana Sunkar, Yanto Santosa, Siti Badriyah Rushayati

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Indonesia has experienced annual forest fires that have rapidly destroyed and degraded its forests. Fires in the peat swamp forests of Riau Province, have set the stage for problems to worsen, this being the ecosystem most prone to fires (which are also the most difficult, to extinguish). Despite various efforts to curb deforestation, and forest degradation processes, severe forest fires are still occurring. To find an effective solution, the basic causes of the problems must be identified. It is therefore critical to have an in-depth understanding of the underlying causal factors that have contributed to deforestation and forest degradation as a whole, in order to attain reductions in their rates. An assessment of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation was carried out, in order to design and implement measures that could slow these destructive processes. Research was conducted in Giam Siak Kecil–Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve (GSKBB BR), in the Riau Province of Sumatera, Indonesia. A biosphere reserve was selected as the study site because such reserves aim to reconcile conservation with sustainable development. A biosphere reserve should promote a range of local human activities, together with development values that are in line spatially and economically with the area conservation values, through use of a zoning system. Moreover, GSKBB BR is an area with vast peatlands, and is experiencing forest fires annually. Various factors were analysed to assess the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR; data were collected from focus group discussions with stakeholders, key informant interviews with key stakeholders, field observation and a literature review. Landsat satellite imagery was used to map forest-cover changes for various periods. Analysis of landsat images, taken during the period 2010-2014, revealed that within the non-protected area of core zone, there was a trend towards decreasing peat swamp forest areas, increasing land clearance, and increasing areas of community oil-palm and rubber plantations. Fire was used for land clearing and most of the forest fires occurred in the most populous area (the transition area). The study found a relationship between the deforested/ degraded areas, and certain distance variables, i.e. distance from roads, villages and the borders between the core area and the buffer zone. The further the distance from the core area of the reserve, the higher was the degree of deforestation and forest degradation. Research findings suggested that agricultural expansion may be the direct cause of deforestation and forest degradation in the reserve, whereas socio-economic factors were the underlying driver of forest cover changes; such factors consisting of a combination of socio-cultural, infrastructural, technological, institutional (policy and governance), demographic (population pressure) and economic (market demand) considerations. These findings indicated that local factors/problems were the critical causes of deforestation and degradation in GSKBB BR. This research therefore concluded that reductions in deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR could be achieved through ‘local actor’-tailored approaches such as community empowerment

Keywords: Actor-led solution, community empowerment, drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve

Procedia PDF Downloads 344