Search results for: track duplication

Authors: Sakshi Gupta, Kavita Sardana

Abstract:

Management of a forest catchment involves diverse dimensions, multiple stakeholders, and conflicting interests, primarily due to the wide variety of valuable ecosystem services offered by it. Often, the coordination among different levels of formal institutions governing the catchment, local communities, as well as societal norms, taboos, customs and practices, happens to be amiss, leading to conflicting policy interventions which prove detrimental for such resources. In the case of Ala Catchment, which is a protected forest located at a distance of 9 km North-East of the town of Dalhousie, within district Chamba of Himachal Pradesh, India, and serves as one of the primary sources of public water supply for the downstream town of Dalhousie and nearby areas, several policy measures have been adopted for the restoration of the forest catchment, as well as for the improvement of public water supply. These catchment forest restoration measures include; the installation of a fence along the perimeter of the catchment, plantation of trees in the empty patches of the forest, construction of check dams, contour trenches, contour bunds, issuance of grazing permits, and installation of check posts to keep track of trespassers. While the measures adopted to address the acute shortage of public water supply in the Dalhousie region include; building and maintenance of large capacity water storage tanks, laying of pipelines, expanding public water distribution infrastructure to include water sources other than Ala Catchment Forest and introducing of five new water supply schemes for drinking water as well as irrigation. However, despite these policy measures, the degradation of the Ala catchment and acute shortage of water supply continue to distress the region. This study attempts to conduct an institutional analysis to assess the impact of policy measures for the restoration of the Ala Catchment in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh in India. For this purpose, the theoretical framework of Ostrom’s Institutional Assessment and Development (IAD) Framework was used. Snowball sampling was used to conduct private interviews and focused group discussions. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to interview a total of 184 respondents across stakeholders from both formal and informal institutions. The central hypothesis of the study is that the interplay of formal and informal institutions facilitates the implementation of policy measures for ameliorating Ala Catchment, in turn improving the livelihood of people depending on this forest catchment for direct and indirect benefits. The findings of the study suggest that leakages in the successful implementation of policy measures occur at several nodes of decision-making, which adversely impact the catchment and the ecosystem services provided by it. Some of the key reasons diagnosed by the immediate analysis include; ad-hoc assignment of property rights, rise in tourist inflow increasing the pressures on water demand, illegal trespassing by local and nomadic pastoral communities for grazing and unlawful extraction of forest products, and rent-seeking by a few influential formal institutions. Consequently, it is indicated that the interplay of formal and informal institutions may be obscuring the consequentiality of the policy measures on the restoration of the catchment.

Keywords: catchment forest restoration, institutional analysis and development framework, institutional interplay, protected forest, water supply management

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Elena Sherstoboeva, Elena Karzanova

Abstract:

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

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Sonja Giese, Tess N. Peacock

Abstract:

South African based Innovation Edge is experimenting with technology to drive positive behavior change, enable data-driven decision making, and scale quality early years services. This paper uses five case studies to illustrate how technology can be used in resource-constrained environments to first, encourage parenting practices that build early language development (using a stage-based mobile messaging pilot, ChildConnect), secondly, to improve the quality of ECD programs (using a mobile application, CareUp), thirdly, how to affordably scale services for the early detection of visual and hearing impairments (using a mobile tool, HearX), fourthly, how to build a transparent and accountable system for the registration and funding of ECD (using a blockchain enabled platform, Amply), and finally enable rapid data collection and feedback to facilitate quality enhancement of programs at scale (the Early Learning Outcomes Measure). ChildConnect and CareUp were both developed using a design based iterative research approach. The usage and uptake of ChildConnect and CareUp was evaluated with qualitative and quantitative methods. Actual child outcomes were not measured in the initial pilots. Although parents who used and engaged on either platform felt more supported and informed, parent engagement and usage remains a challenge. This is contrast to ECD practitioners whose usage and knowledge with CareUp showed both sustained engagement and knowledge improvement. HearX is an easy-to-use tool to identify hearing loss and visual impairment. The tool was tested with 10000 children in an informal settlement. The feasibility of cost-effectively decentralising screening services was demonstrated. Practical and financial barriers remain with respect to parental consent and for successful referrals. Amply uses mobile and blockchain technology to increase impact and accountability of public services. In the pilot project, Amply is being used to replace an existing paper-based system to register children for a government-funded pre-school subsidy in South Africa. Early Learning Outcomes Measure defines what it means for a child to be developmentally ‘on track’ at aged 50-69 months. ELOM administration is enabled via a tablet which allows for easy and accurate data collection, transfer, analysis, and feedback. ELOM is being used extensively to drive quality enhancement of ECD programs across multiple modalities. The nature of ECD services in South Africa is that they are in large part provided by disconnected private individuals or Non-Governmental Organizations (in contrast to basic education which is publicly provided by the government). It is a disparate sector which means that scaling successful interventions is that much harder. All five interventions show the potential of technology to support and enhance a range of ECD services, but pathways to scale are still being tested.

Keywords: assessment, behavior change, communication, data, disabilities, mobile, scale, technology, quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Muna Mitchell, Akshay Parchure, Krishna Singaraju

Abstract:

There is an increasing need for medium- to long-span steel bridges with complex geometry due to site restrictions in developed areas. One of the solutions to grade separations in congested areas is to use longer spans on skewed supports that avoid at-grade obstructions limiting impacts to the foundation. Where vertical clearances are also a constraint, continuous steel girders can be used to reduce superstructure depths. Combining continuous long steel spans on severe skews can resolve the constraints at a cost. The behavior of skewed girders is challenging to analyze and design with subsequent complexity during fabrication and construction. As a part of a corridor improvement project, Walter P Moore designed two 1700-foot side-by-side bridges carrying four lanes of traffic in each direction over a railroad track. The bridges consist of prestressed concrete girder approach spans and three-span continuous steel plate girder units. The roadway design added complex geometry to the bridge with horizontal and vertical curves combined with superelevation transitions within the plate girder units. The substructure at the steel units was skewed approximately 56 degrees to satisfy the existing railroad right-of-way requirements. A horizontal point of curvature (PC) near the end of the steel units required the use flared girders and chorded slab edges. Due to the flared girder geometry, the cross-frame spacing in each bay is unique. Staggered cross frames were provided based on AASHTO LRFD and NCHRP guidelines for high skew steel bridges. Skewed steel bridges develop significant forces in the cross frames and rotation in the girder websdue to differential displacements along the girders under dead and live loads. In addition, under thermal loads, skewed steel bridges expand and contract not along the alignment parallel to the girders but along the diagonal connecting the acute corners, resulting in horizontal displacement both along and perpendicular to the girders. AASHTO LRFD recommends a 95 degree Fahrenheit temperature differential for the design of joints and bearings. The live load and the thermal loads resulted in significant horizontal forces and rotations in the bearings that necessitated the use of HLMR bearings. A unique bearing layout was selected to minimize the effect of thermal forces. The span length, width, skew, and roadway geometry at the bridges also required modular bridge joint systems (MBJS) with inverted-T bent caps to accommodate movement in the steel units. 2D and 3D finite element analysis models were developed to accurately determine the forces and rotations in the girders, cross frames, and bearings and to estimate thermal displacements at the joints. This paper covers the decision-making process for developing the framing plan, bearing configurations, joint type, and analysis models involved in the design of the high-skew three-span continuous steel plate girder bridges.

Keywords: complex geometry, continuous steel plate girders, finite element structural analysis, high skew, HLMR bearings, modular joint

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Damith Tennakoon, Mojgan Jadidi, Seyedreza Razavialavi

Abstract:

With recent advancements of automation in robotics, from self-driving cars to autonomous 4-legged quadrupeds, one industry that has been stagnant is the construction industry. The methodologies used in a modern-day construction site consist of arduous physical labor and the use of heavy machinery, which has not changed over the past few decades. The dangers of a modern-day construction site affect the health and safety of the workers due to performing tasks such as lifting and moving heavy objects and having to maintain unhealthy posture to complete repetitive tasks such as painting, installing drywall, and laying bricks. Further, training for heavy machinery is costly and requires a lot of time due to their complex control inputs. The main focus of this research is using immersive wearable technology and robotic arms to perform the complex and intricate skills of modern-day construction workers while alleviating the physical labor requirements to perform their day-to-day tasks. The methodology consists of mounting a stereo vision camera, the ZED Mini by Stereolabs, onto the end effector of an industrial grade robotic arm, streaming the video feed into the Virtual Reality (VR) Meta Quest 2 (Quest 2) head-mounted display (HMD). Due to the nature of stereo vision, and the similar field-of-views between the stereo camera and the Quest 2, human-vision can be replicated on the HMD. The main advantage this type of camera provides over a traditional monocular camera is it gives the user wearing the HMD a sense of the depth of the camera scene, specifically, a first-person view of the robotic arm’s end effector. Utilizing the built-in cameras of the Quest 2 HMD, open-source hand-tracking libraries from OpenXR can be implemented to track the user’s hands in real-time. A mixed-reality (XR) Unity application can be developed to localize the operator's physical hand motions with the end-effector of the robotic arm. Implementing gesture controls will enable the user to move the robotic arm and control its end-effector by moving the operator’s arm and providing gesture inputs from a distant location. Given that the end effector of the robotic arm is a gripper tool, gripping and opening the operator’s hand will translate to the gripper of the robot arm grabbing or releasing an object. This human-robot interaction approach provides many benefits within the construction industry. First, the operator’s safety will be increased substantially as they can be away from the site-location while still being able perform complex tasks such as moving heavy objects from place to place or performing repetitive tasks such as painting walls and laying bricks. The immersive interface enables precision robotic arm control and requires minimal training and knowledge of robotic arm manipulation, which lowers the cost for operator training. This human-robot interface can be extended to many applications, such as handling nuclear accident/waste cleanup, underwater repairs, deep space missions, and manufacturing and fabrication within factories. Further, the robotic arm can be mounted onto existing mobile robots to provide access to hazardous environments, including power plants, burning buildings, and high-altitude repair sites.

Keywords: construction automation, human-robot interaction, hand-tracking, mixed reality

Procedia PDF Downloads 48

Authors: Ananya Barui, Provas Banerjee, Jyotirmoy Chatterjee

Abstract:

Application of optical technology in medicine and biology has a long track-record. In this endeavor, OCT is able to attract both engineers and biologists to work together in the field of photonics for establishing a striking non-invasive imaging technology. In contrast to other in vivo imaging modalities like Raman imaging, confocal imaging, two-photon microscopy etc. which can perform in vivo imaging upto 100-200 micron depth due to limitation in numerical aperture or scattering, however, OCT can achieve high-resolution imaging upto few millimeters of tissue structures depending on their refractive index in different anatomical location. This tomographic system depends on interference of two light waves in an interferometer to produce a depth profile of specimen. In wound healing, frequent collection of biopsies for follow-up of repair process could be avoided by such imaging technique. Real time skin OCT (the optical biopsy) has efficacy in deeper and faster illumination of cutaneou tissue to acquire high resolution cross sectional images of their internal micro-structure. Swept Source-OCT (SS-OCT), a novel imaging technique, can generate high-speed depth profile (~ 2 mm) of wound at a sweeping rate of laser with micron level resolution and optimum coherent length of 5-6 mm. Normally multi-layered skin tissue depicts different optical properties along with variation in thickness, refractive index and composition (i.e. keratine layer, water, fat etc.) according to their anatomical location. For instance, stratum corneum, the upper-most and relatively dehydrated layer of epidermis reflects more light and produces more lucid and a sharp demarcation line with rest of the hydrated epidermal region. During wound healing or regeneration, optical properties of cutaneous tissue continuously altered with maturation of wound bed. More mature and less hydrated tissue component reflects more light and becomes visible as a brighter area in comparison to immature region which content higher amount water or fat that depicts as a darker area in OCT image. Non-healing wound possess prolonged inflammation and inhibits nascent proliferative stage. Accumulation of necrotic tissues also prevents the repair of non-healing wounds. Due to high resolution and potentiality to reflect the compositional aspects of tissues in terms of their optical properties, this tomographic method may facilitate in differentiating non-healing and acute wounds in addition to clinical observations. Non-invasive OCT offers better insight regarding specific biological status of tissue in health and pathological conditions, OCT images could be associated with histo-pathological ‘gold standard’. This correlated SS-OCT and microscopic evaluation of the wound edges can provide information regarding progressive healing and maturation of the epithelial components. In the context of searching analogy between two different imaging modalities, their relative performances in imaging of healing bed were estimated for probing an alternative approach. Present study validated utility of SS-OCT in revealing micro-anatomic structure in the healing bed with newer information. Exploring precise correspondence of OCT images features with histo-chemical findings related to epithelial integrity of the regenerated tissue could have great implication. It could establish the ‘optical biopsy’ as a potent non-invasive diagnostic tool for cutaneous pathology.

Keywords: histo-pathology, non invasive imaging, OCT, wound healing

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: Agboka Komi Mensah, John Odindi, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Onisimo Mutanga, Henri Ez Tonnang

Abstract:

Ecosystems are networks of organisms and populations that form a community of various species interacting within their habitats. Such habitats are defined by abiotic and biotic conditions that establish the initial limits to a population's growth, development, and reproduction. The habitat’s conditions explain the context in which species interact to access resources such as food, water, space, shelter, and mates, allowing for feeding, dispersal, and reproduction. Dispersal is an essential life-history strategy that affects gene flow, resource competition, population dynamics, and species distributions. Despite the importance of dispersal in population dynamics and survival, understanding the mechanism underpinning the dispersal of organisms remains challenging. For instance, when an organism moves into an ecosystem for survival and resource competition, its progression is highly influenced by extrinsic factors such as its physiological state, climatic variables and ability to evade predation. Therefore, greater spatial detail is necessary to understand organism dispersal dynamics. Understanding organisms dispersal can be addressed using empirical and mechanistic modelling approaches, with the adopted approach depending on the study's purpose Cellular automata (CA) is an example of these approaches that have been successfully used in biological studies to analyze the dispersal of living organisms. Cellular automata can be briefly described as occupied cells by an individual that evolves based on proper decisions based on a set of neighbours' rules. However, in the ambit of modelling individual organisms dispersal at the landscape scale, we lack user friendly tools that do not require expertise in mathematical models and computing ability; such as a visual analytics framework for tracking and forecasting the dispersal behaviour of organisms. The term "visual analytics" (VA) describes a semiautomated approach to electronic data processing that is guided by users who can interact with data via an interface. Essentially, VA converts large amounts of quantitative or qualitative data into graphical formats that can be customized based on the operator's needs. Additionally, this approach can be used to enhance the ability of users from various backgrounds to understand data, communicate results, and disseminate information across a wide range of disciplines. To support effective analysis of the dispersal of organisms at the landscape scale, we therefore designed Pydisp which is a free visual data analytics tool for spatiotemporal dispersal modeling built in Python. Its user interface allows users to perform a quick and interactive spatiotemporal analysis of species dispersal using bioecological and climatic data. Pydisp enables reuse and upgrade through the use of simple principles such as Fuzzy cellular automata algorithms. The potential of dispersal modeling is demonstrated in a case study by predicting the dispersal of Fopius arisanus (Sonan), endoparasitoids to control Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Kenya. The results obtained from our example clearly illustrate the parasitoid's dispersal process at the landscape level and confirm that dynamic processes in an agroecosystem are better understood when designed using mechanistic modelling approaches. Furthermore, as demonstrated in the example, the built software is highly effective in portraying the dispersal of organisms despite the unavailability of detailed data on the species dispersal mechanisms.

Keywords: cellular automata, fuzzy logic, landscape, spatiotemporal

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Evelyn Castle, Adam Thompson

Abstract:

Background: In 2013, the Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board redesigned its Routine immunization supply chain from diffused pull to direct delivery push. It addressed issues around stockouts and reduced time spent by health facility staff collecting, and reporting on vaccine usage. The health care board sought the help of a 3PL for twice-monthly deliveries from its cold store to 484 facilities across 44 local governments. eHA’s Health Delivery Systems group formed a 3PL to serve 326 of these new facilities in partnership with the State. We focused on designing and implementing a technology system throughout. Basic methodologies: GIS Mapping: - Planning the delivery of vaccines to hundreds of health facilities requires detailed route planning for delivery vehicles. Mapping the road networks across Kano and Bauchi with a custom routing tool provided information for the optimization of deliveries. Reducing the number of kilometers driven each round by 20%, - reducing cost and delivery time. Direct Delivery Information System: - Vaccine Direct Deliveries are facilitated through pre-round planning (driven by health facility database, extensive GIS, and inventory workflow rules), manager and driver control panel customizing delivery routines and reporting, progress dashboard, schedules/routes, packing lists, delivery reports, and driver data collection applications. Move: Last Mile Logistics Management System: - MOVE has improved vaccine supply information management to be timely, accurate and actionable. Provides stock management workflow support, alerts management for cold chain exceptions/stock outs, and on-device analytics for health and supply chain staff. Software was built to be offline-first with user-validated interface and experience. Deployed to hundreds of vaccine storage site the improved information tools helps facilitate the process of system redesign and change management. Findings: - Stock-outs reduced from 90% to 33% - Redesigned current health systems and managing vaccine supply for 68% of Kano’s wards. - Near real time reporting and data availability to track stock. - Paperwork burdens of health staff have been dramatically reduced. - Medicine available when the community needs it. - Consistent vaccination dates for children under one to prevent polio, yellow fever, tetanus. - Higher immunization rates = Lower infection rates. - Hundreds of millions of Naira worth of vaccines successfully transported. - Fortnightly service to 326 facilities in 326 wards across 30 Local Government areas. - 6,031 cumulative deliveries. - Over 3.44 million doses transported. - Minimum travel distance covered in a round of delivery is 2000 kms & maximum of 6297 kms. - 153,409 kms travelled by 6 drivers. - 500 facilities in 326 wards. - Data captured and synchronized for the first time. - Data driven decision making now possible. Conclusion: eHA’s Vaccine Direct delivery has met challenges in Kano and Bauchi State and provided a reliable delivery service of vaccinations that ensure t health facilities can run vaccination clinics for children under one. eHA uses innovative technology that delivers vaccines from Northern Nigerian zonal stores straight to healthcare facilities. Helped healthcare workers spend less time managing supplies and more time delivering care, and will be rolled out nationally across Nigeria.

Keywords: direct delivery information system, health delivery system, GIS mapping, Northern Nigeria, vaccines

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Ramazan Bakir, Gizem Kayar

Abstract:

It is known that Alzheimer and Dementia are the two most common types of Neurodegenerative diseases and their visibility is getting accelerated for the last couple of years. As the population sees older ages all over the world, researchers expect to see the rate of this acceleration much higher. However, unfortunately, there is no known pharmacological cure for both, although some help to reduce the rate of cognitive decline speed. This is why we encounter with non-pharmacological treatment and tracking methods more for the last five years. Many researchers, including well-known associations and hospitals, lean towards using non-pharmacological methods to support cognitive function and improve the patient’s life quality. As the dementia symptoms related to mind, learning, memory, speaking, problem-solving, social abilities and daily activities gradually worsen over the years, many researchers know that cognitive support should start from the very beginning of the symptoms in order to slow down the decline. At this point, life of a patient and caregiver can be improved with some daily activities and applications. These activities include but not limited to basic word puzzles, daily cleaning activities, taking notes. Later, these activities and their results should be observed carefully and it is only possible during patient/caregiver and M.D. in-person meetings in hospitals. These meetings can be quite time-consuming, exhausting and financially ineffective for hospitals, medical doctors, caregivers and especially for patients. On the other hand, digital support systems are showing positive results for all stakeholders of healthcare systems. This can be observed in countries that started Telemedicine systems. The biggest potential of our system is setting the inter-user communication up in the best possible way. In our project, we propose Machine Learning based digitalization of validated traditional cognitive tests (e.g. MOCA, Afazi, left-right hemisphere), their analyses for high-quality follow-up and communication systems for all stakeholders. R. Bakir and G. Kayar are with Gefeasoft, Inc, R&D – Software Development and Health Technologies company. Emails: ramazan, gizem @ gefeasoft.com This platform has a high potential not only for patient tracking but also for making all stakeholders feel safe through all stages. As the registered hospitals assign corresponding medical doctors to the system, these MDs are able to register their own patients and assign special tasks for each patient. With our integrated machine learning support, MDs are able to track the failure and success rates of each patient and also see general averages among similarly progressed patients. In addition, our platform also supports multi-player technology which helps patients play with their caregivers so that they feel much safer at any point they are uncomfortable. By also gamifying the daily household activities, the patients will be able to repeat their social tasks and we will provide non-pharmacological reminiscence therapy (RT – life review therapy). All collected data will be mined by our data scientists and analyzed meaningfully. In addition, we will also add gamification modules for caregivers based on Naomi Feil’s Validation Therapy. Both are behaving positively to the patient and keeping yourself mentally healthy is important for caregivers. We aim to provide a therapy system based on gamification for them, too. When this project accomplishes all the above-written tasks, patients will have the chance to do many tasks at home remotely and MDs will be able to follow them up very effectively. We propose a complete platform and the whole project is both time and cost-effective for supporting all stakeholders.

Keywords: alzheimer’s, dementia, cognitive functionality, cognitive tests, serious games, machine learning, artificial intelligence, digitalization, non-pharmacological, data analysis, telemedicine, e-health, health-tech, gamification

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Yu-Hsiu Lin, Wen-Chun Lin, Yen-Chang Cheng, Chia-Ju Yeh, Yu-Chuan Chen, Tai-You Li

Abstract:

Demand-Side Management (DSM) has the potential to reduce electricity costs and carbon emission, which are associated with electricity used in the modern society. A home Energy Management System (EMS) commonly used by residential consumers in a down-stream sector of a smart grid to monitor, control, and optimize energy efficiency to domestic appliances is a system of computer-aided functionalities as an energy audit for residential DSM. Implementing fault detection and classification to domestic appliances monitored, controlled, and optimized is one of the most important steps to realize preventive maintenance, such as residential air conditioning and heating preventative maintenance in residential/industrial DSM. In this study, a cloud intelligence-based green EMS that comes up with an Internet of Things (IoT) technology stack for residential DSM is developed. In the EMS, Arduino MEGA Ethernet communication-based smart sockets that module a Real Time Clock chip to keep track of current time as timestamps via Network Time Protocol are designed and implemented for readings of load phenomena reflecting on voltage and current signals sensed. Also, a Network-Attached Storage providing data access to a heterogeneous group of IoT clients via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) methods is configured to data stores of parsed sensor readings. Lastly, a desktop computer with a WAMP software bundle (the Microsoft® Windows operating system, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL relational database management system, and PHP programming language) serves as a data science analytics engine for dynamic Web APP/REpresentational State Transfer-ful web service of the residential DSM having globally-Advanced Internet of Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Computational Intelligence. Where, an abstract computing machine, Java Virtual Machine, enables the desktop computer to run Java programs, and a mash-up of Java, R language, and Python is well-suited and -configured for AI in this study. Having the ability of sending real-time push notifications to IoT clients, the desktop computer implements Google-maintained Firebase Cloud Messaging to engage IoT clients across Android/iOS devices and provide mobile notification service to residential/industrial DSM. In this study, in order to realize edge intelligence that edge devices avoiding network latency and much-needed connectivity of Internet connections for Internet of Services can support secure access to data stores and provide immediate analytical and real-time actionable insights at the edge of the network, we upgrade the designed and implemented smart sockets to be embedded AI Arduino ones (called embedded AIduino). With the realization of edge analytics by the proposed embedded AIduino for data analytics, an Arduino Ethernet shield WizNet W5100 having a micro SD card connector is conducted and used. The SD library is included for reading parsed data from and writing parsed data to an SD card. And, an Artificial Neural Network library, ArduinoANN, for Arduino MEGA is imported and used for locally-embedded AI implementation. The embedded AIduino in this study can be developed for further applications in manufacturing industry energy management and sustainable energy management, wherein in sustainable energy management rotating machinery diagnostics works to identify energy loss from gross misalignment and unbalance of rotating machines in power plants as an example.

Keywords: demand-side management, edge intelligence, energy management system, fault detection and classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Swaleh Aboud, Mishal Gudka, David Obura

Abstract:

Background: Coral reefs are becoming increasingly vulnerable due to several threats ranging from climate change to overfishing. This has resulted in increased management and conservation efforts to protect reefs from degradation and facilitate recovery. Recruitmentof new individuals are isimportant in the recovery process and critical for the persistence of coral reef ecosystems. Local coral community structure can be influenced by successful recruit settlement, survival, and growth Understanding coral recruitment patterns can help quantify reef resilience and connectivity, establish baselines and track changes and evaluate the effectiveness of reef restoration and conservation efforts. This study will examine the abundance and spatial pattern of coral recruits and how this relates to adult community structure, including the distribution of thermal resistance and sensitive genera and their distribution in different management regimes. Methods: Coral recruit and demography surveys were conducted from 2020 to 2022, covering 35 sites in 19coral reef locations along the Kenyan coast. These included marine parks, reserves, community conservation areas (CMAs), and open access areas from the north (Marereni) to the south (Kisite) coast of Kenya and across different reef habitats. The data was collected through the underwater visual census (UVC) technique. We counted adult corals (>10 cm diameter)of23 selected genera using belt transects (25 by 1 m) and sampling of 1 m2 quadrat (at an interval of 5m) for all coloniesless than 10 cm diameter. The benthic cover was collected using photo quadrats. The surveys were only done during the northeast monsoon season. The data wereanalyzed using the R program to see the distribution patterns and the Kruskal Wallis test to see whether there was a significant difference. Spearman correlation was also applied to assess the relationship between the distribution of coral genera in recruits and adults. Results: A total of 44 different coral genera were recorded for recruits, ranging from 3at Marereni to 30at Watamu Marine Reserve. Recruit densities ranged from 1.2±1.5recruit m-2 (mean±SD) at Likoni to 10.3± 8.4 recruit m-2 at Kisite Marine Park. The overall densityof recruitssignificantly differed between reef locations, with Kisite Marine Park and Reserve and Likonihaving significantly large differences from all the other locations, while Vuma, Watamu, Malindi, and Kilifi had significantly lower differences from all the other locations. The recruit generadensity along the Kenya coastwas divided into two clusters, one of which only included sites inKisite Marine Park. Adult colonies were dominated by Porites massive, Acropora, Platygyra, and Favites, whereas recruits were dominated by Porites branching, Porites massive, Galaxea, and Acropora. However, correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant positive correlation (r=0.81, p<0.05) between recruit and adult coral densities across the 23 coral genera. Marereni, which had the lowest densityof recruits, has only thermallyresistant coral genera, while Kisite Marine Park, with the highest recruit densities, has over 90% thermal sensitive coral genera. A weak positive correlation was found between recruit density and coralline algae, dead standing corals, and turf algae, whereas a weak negative correlation was found between recruit density and bare substrate and macroalgae. Between management regimes, marine reserves were found to have more recruits than no-take zones (marine parks and CMAs) and open access areas, although the difference was not significant. Conclusion: There was a statistically significant difference in the density of recruits between different reef locations along the Kenyan coast. Although the dominating genera of adults and recruits were different, there was a strong positive correlation between their coral communities, which could indicate self-recruitment processes or consistent distance seedings (of the same recruit genera). Sites such as Kisite Marine Park, with high recruit densities but dominated by thermally sensitive genera, will, on the other hand, be adversely affected by future thermal stress. This could imply that reducing the threats to coral reefs such as overfishingcould allow for their natural regeneration and recovery.

Keywords: coral recruits, coral adult size-class, cora demography, resilience

Procedia PDF Downloads 95