Search results for: building’s screens modeling

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: Babak Forouraghi

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A genetic circuit is a collection of interacting genes and proteins that enable individual cells to implement and perform vital biological functions such as cell division, growth, death, and signaling. In cell engineering, synthetic gene circuits are engineered networks of genes specifically designed to implement functionalities that are not evolved by nature. These engineered networks enable scientists to tackle complex problems such as engineering cells to produce therapeutics within the patient's body, altering T cells to target cancer-related antigens for treatment, improving antibody production using engineered cells, tissue engineering, and production of genetically modified plants and livestock. Construction of computational models to realize genetic circuits is an especially challenging task since it requires the discovery of the flow of genetic information in complex biological systems. Building synthetic biological models is also a time-consuming process with relatively low prediction accuracy for highly complex genetic circuits. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the utility of a pre-trained bidirectional encoder transformer that can accurately predict gene expressions in genetic circuit designs. The main reason behind using transformers is their innate ability (attention mechanism) to take account of the semantic context present in long DNA chains that are heavily dependent on the spatial representation of their constituent genes. Previous approaches to gene circuit design, such as CNN and RNN architectures, are unable to capture semantic dependencies in long contexts, as required in most real-world applications of synthetic biology. For instance, RNN models (LSTM, GRU), although able to learn long-term dependencies, greatly suffer from vanishing gradient and low-efficiency problem when they sequentially process past states and compresses contextual information into a bottleneck with long input sequences. In other words, these architectures are not equipped with the necessary attention mechanisms to follow a long chain of genes with thousands of tokens. To address the above-mentioned limitations, a transformer model was built in this work as a variation to the existing DNA Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (DNABERT) model. It is shown that the proposed transformer is capable of capturing contextual information from long input sequences with an attention mechanism. In previous works on genetic circuit design, the traditional approaches to classification and regression, such as Random Forrest, Support Vector Machine, and Artificial Neural Networks, were able to achieve reasonably high R2 accuracy levels of 0.95 to 0.97. However, the transformer model utilized in this work, with its attention-based mechanism, was able to achieve a perfect accuracy level of 100%. Further, it is demonstrated that the efficiency of the transformer-based gene expression classifier is not dependent on the presence of large amounts of training examples, which may be difficult to compile in many real-world gene circuit designs.

Keywords: machine learning, classification and regression, gene circuit design, bidirectional transformers

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Authors: David Bakker, Nikki Rickard

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Smartphone apps hold immense potential as mental health and wellbeing tools. Support can be made easily accessible and can be used in real-time while users are experiencing distress. Furthermore, data can be collected to enable machine learning and automated tailoring of support to users. While many apps have been developed for mental health purposes, few have adhered to evidence-based recommendations and even fewer have pursued experimental validation. This paper details the development and experimental evaluation of an app, MoodMission, that aims to provide support for low moods and anxiety, help prevent clinical depression and anxiety disorders, and serve as an adjunct to professional clinical supports. MoodMission was designed to deliver cognitive behavioural therapy for specifically reported problems in real-time, momentary interactions. Users report their low moods or anxious feelings to the app along with a subjective units of distress scale (SUDS) rating. MoodMission then provides a choice of 5-10 short, evidence-based mental health strategies called Missions. Users choose a Mission, complete it, and report their distress again. Automated tailoring, gamification, and in-built data collection for analysis of effectiveness was also included in the app’s design. The development process involved construction of an evidence-based behavioural plan, designing of the app, building and testing procedures, feedback-informed changes, and a public launch. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted comparing MoodMission to two other apps and a waitlist control condition. Participants completed measures of anxiety, depression, well-being, emotional self-awareness, coping self-efficacy and mental health literacy at the start of their app use and 30 days later. At the time of submission (November 2016) over 300 participants have participated in the RCT. Data analysis will begin in January 2017. At the time of this submission, MoodMission has over 4000 users. A repeated-measures ANOVA of 1390 completed Missions reveals that SUDS (0-10) ratings were significantly reduced between pre-Mission ratings (M=6.20, SD=2.39) and post-Mission ratings (M=4.93, SD=2.25), F(1,1389)=585.86, p < .001, np2=.30. This effect was consistent across both low moods and anxiety. Preliminary analyses of the data from the outcome measures surveys reveal improvements across mental health and wellbeing measures as a result of using the app over 30 days. This includes a significant increase in coping self-efficacy, F(1,22)=5.91, p=.024, np2=.21. Complete results from the RCT in which MoodMission was evaluated will be presented. Results will also be presented from the continuous outcome data being recorded by MoodMission. MoodMission was successfully developed and launched, and preliminary analysis suggest that it is an effective mental health and wellbeing tool. In addition to the clinical applications of MoodMission, the app holds promise as a research tool to conduct component analysis of psychological therapies and overcome restraints of laboratory based studies. The support provided by the app is discrete, tailored, evidence-based, and transcends barriers of stigma, geographic isolation, financial limitations, and low health literacy.

Keywords: anxiety, app, CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy, depression, eHealth, mission, mobile, mood, MoodMission

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Authors: Krzysztof Skiba, Zbigniew Czyz, Ksenia Siadkowska, Piotr Borowiec

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The article presents selected concepts of technologies that use intelligent materials in aircraft in order to improve their performance. Most of the research focuses on solutions that improve the performance of fixed wing aircraft due to related to their previously dominant market share. Recently, the development of the rotorcraft has been intensive, so there are not only helicopters but also gyroplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles using rotors and vertical take-off and landing. There are many different technologies to change a shape of the aircraft or its elements. Piezoelectric, deformable actuator systems can be applied in the system of an active control of vibration dampening in the aircraft tail structure. Wires made of shape memory alloys (SMA) could be used instead of hydraulic cylinders in the rear part of the aircraft flap. The aircraft made of intelligent materials (piezoelectrics and SMA) is one of the NASA projects which provide the possibility of changing a wing shape coefficient by 200%, a wing surface by 50%, and wing deflections by 20 degrees. Active surfaces made of shape memory alloys could be used to control swirls in the flowing stream. An intelligent control system for helicopter blades is a method for the active adaptation of blades to flight conditions and the reduction of vibrations caused by the rotor. Shape memory alloys are capable of recovering their pre-programmed shapes. They are divided into three groups: nickel-titanium-based, copper-based, and ferromagnetic. Due to the strongest shape memory effect and the best vibration damping ability, a Ni-Ti alloy is the most commercially important. The subject of this work was to prepare a conceptual design of a rotor blade with SMA actuators. The scope of work included 3D design of the supporting rotor blade, 3D design of beams enabling to change the geometry by changing the angle of rotation and FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis. The FEM analysis was performed using NX 12 software in the Pre/Post module, which includes extended finite element modeling tools and visualizations of the obtained results. Calculations are presented for two versions of the blade girders. For FEM analysis, three types of materials were used for comparison purposes (ABS, aluminium alloy 7057, steel C45). The analysis of internal stresses and extreme displacements of crossbars edges was carried out. The internal stresses in all materials were close to the yield point in the solution of girder no. 1. For girder no. 2 solution, the value of stresses decreased by about 45%. As a result of the displacement analysis, it was found that the best solution was the ABS girder no. 1. The displacement of about 0.5 mm was obtained, which resulted in turning the crossbars (upper and lower) by an angle equal to 3.59 degrees. This is the largest deviation of all the tests. The smallest deviation was obtained for beam no. 2 made of steel. The displacement value of the second girder solution was approximately 30% lower than the first solution. Acknowledgement: This work has been financed by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development under the LIDER program, Grant Agreement No. LIDER/45/0177/L-9/17/NCBR/2018.

Keywords: aircraft, helicopters, shape memory alloy, SMA, smart material, unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV

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Authors: Vasundhara H. Krishnani, Ajay Saini, Dibesh Karmacharya, Salit Kark

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Illegal Wildlife Trade is one of the most pressing global conservation challenges. Unregulated wildlife trade can threaten biodiversity, contribute to habitat loss, limit sustainable development efforts, and expedite species declines and extinctions. In low-income and middle-income countries, such as Nepal and other countries in Asia and Africa, many of the people engaged in the early stages of illegal wildlife trade, which includes the hunting and transportation of wildlife, belong to Indigenous tribes and local communities.These countries primarily rely on punitive measures to prevent and suppress Illegal Wildlife Trade. For example, in Nepal, people involved in wildlife crimes can often be sentenced to incarceration and a hefty fine and serve up to 15 years in prison. Despite these harsh punitive measures, illegal wildlife trade remains a significant conservation challenge in many countries. The aim of this study was to examine factors affecting the participation of Indigenous communities in Illegal Wildlife Trade while recording the experiences of members of the Indigenous Chepang community, some of whom were imprisoned for their alleged involvement in rhino poaching. Chepangs, belonging to traditionally a hunter-gatherer community, are often considered an isolated and marginalized Indigenous community, some of whom live around the Chitwan National Park in Nepal. Established in 1973, Chitwan National Park is situated in the Chitwan Valley of Nepal and was one of the first regions that was declared as a protected area in Nepal, aiming to protect the one-horned rhinoceros as a flagship species. Conducted over a period of three years, this study used semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to collect data from Illegal Wildlife Trade offenders, family members of offenders, community Elders, NGO personnel, community forest representatives, Chepang community representatives, and Government school teachers from the region surrounding Chitwan National Park. The study also examined the social, cultural, health, and financial impacts that the imprisonment of offenders had on the families of the community members, especially women and children. The results suggest that involvement of the members of the Chepang community living around Chitwan National Park in the poaching of the one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) can be attributed to a range of factors, some of which include: lack of livelihood opportunities, lack of awareness regarding wildlife rules and regulations and poverty.This work emphasises the need for raising awareness and building programs to enhance alternative livelihood training and empower indigenous and marginalised communities that provide sustainable alternatives. Furthermore, the issue needs to be addressed as a community solution which includes all community members. We suggest this multi-pronged approach can benefit wildlife conservation by reducing illegal poaching and wildlife trade, as well as community conservation in regions with similar challenges. By actively involving and empowering local communities, the communities become key stakeholders in the conservation process. This involvement contributes to protecting wildlife and natural ecosystems while simultaneously providing sustainable livelihood options for local communities.

Keywords: alternative livelihoods, chepang community, illegal wildlife trade, low-and middle-income countries, nepal, one-horned rhinoceros

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Authors: Elena Cangelosi, Wayne Beyea

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This research expands the resilience planning literature by exploring the barriers and enablers to climate and health adaptation planning for small urban, coastal Great Lakes communities. With funding from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Climate Ready City and States Initiative, this research took place during a 3-year pilot intervention project which integrates urban planning and public health. The project used the CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework to prevent or reduce the human health impacts from climate change in Marquette County, Michigan. Using a deliberation with the analysis planning process, interviews, focus groups, and community meetings with over 25 stakeholder groups and over 100 participants identified the area’s climate-related health concerns and adaptation interventions to address those concerns. Marquette County, on the shores of Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, was selected for the project based on their existing adaptive capacity and proactive approach to climate adaptation planning. With Marquette County as the context, this study fills a gap in the adaptation literature, which currently heavily emphasizes large-urban or agriculturally-based rural areas, and largely neglects small urban areas. This research builds on the qualitative case-study, survey, and interview approach established by previous researchers on contextual barriers and enablers for adaptation planning. This research uses a case study approach, including surveys and interviews of public officials, to identify the barriers and enablers for climate and health adaptation planning for small-urban areas within a large, non-agricultural, Great Lakes county. The researchers hypothesize that the barriers and enablers will, in some cases, overlap those found in other contexts, but in many cases, will be unique to a rural setting. The study reveals that funding, staff capacity, and communication across a large, rural geography act as the main barriers, while strong networks and collaboration, interested leaders, and community interest through a strong human-land connection act as the primary enablers. Challenges unique to rural areas are revealed, including weak opportunities for grant funding, large geographical distances, communication challenges with an aging and remote population, and the out-migration of education residents. Enablers that may be unique to rural contexts include strong collaborative relationships across jurisdictions for regional work and strong connections between residents and the land. As the factors that enable and prevent climate change planning are highly contextual, understanding, and appropriately addressing the unique factors at play for small-urban communities is key for effective planning in those areas. By identifying and addressing the barriers and enablers to climate and health adaptation planning for small-urban, coastal areas, this study can help Great Lakes communities appropriately build resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change. In addition, this research expands the breadth of research and understanding of the challenges and opportunities planners confront in the face of climate change.

Keywords: climate adaptation and resilience, climate change adaptation, climate change and urban resilience, governance and urban resilience

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Authors: Sami El Khatib, Agnès Leroux, Jean-Louis Merlin, François Guillemin, Marie-Ange D’Hallewin

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment modality based on the cytotoxic effect occurring on the target tissues by interaction of a photosensitizer with light in the presence of oxygen. One of the major advances in PDT can be attributed to the use of topical aminolevulinic (ALA) to induce Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) for the treatment of early stage cancers as well as diagnosis. ALA is a precursor of the heme synthesis pathway. Locally delivered to the target tissue ALA overcomes the negative feedback exerted by heme and promotes the transient formation of PpIX in situ to reach critical effective levels in cells and tissue. Whereas early steps of the heme pathway occur in the cytosol, PpIX synthesis is shown to be held in the mitochondrial membranes and PpIX fluorescence is expected to accumulate in close vicinity of the initial building site and to progressively diffuse to the neighboring cytoplasmic compartment or other lipophylic organelles. PpIX is known to be highly reactive and will be degraded when irradiated with light. PpIX photobleaching is believed to be governed by a singlet oxygen mediated mechanism in the presence of oxidized amino acids and proteins. PpIX photobleaching and subsequent spectral phototransformation were described widely in tumor cells incubated in vitro with ALA solution, or ex vivo in human and porcine mucosa superfused with hexylaminolevulinate (hALA). PpIX photobleaching was also studied in vivo, using animal models such as normal or tumor mice skin and orthotopic rat bladder model. Hexyl aminolevulinate a more potent lipophilic derivative of ALA was proposed as an adjunct to standard cystoscopy in the fluorescence diagnosis of bladder cancer and other malignancies. We have previously reported the effectiveness of hALA mediated PDT of rat bladder cancer. Although normal and tumor bladder epithelium exhibit similar fluorescence intensities after intravesical instillation of two hALA concentrations (8 and 16 mM), the therapeutic response at 8mM and 20J/cm2 was completely different from the one observed at 16mM irradiated with the same light dose. Where the tumor is destroyed, leaving the underlying submucosa and muscle intact after an 8 mM instillation, 16mM sensitization and subsequent illumination results in the complete destruction of the underlying bladder wall but leaves the tumor undamaged. The object of the current study is to try to unravel the underlying mechanism for this apparent contradiction. PpIX extraction showed identical amounts of photosensitizer in tumor bearing bladders at both concentrations. Photobleaching experiments revealed mono-exponential decay curves in both situations but with a two times faster decay constant in case of 16mM bladders. Fluorescence microscopy shows an identical fluorescence pattern for normal bladders at both concentrations and tumor bladders at 8mM with bright spots. Tumor bladders at 16 mM exhibit a more diffuse cytoplasmic fluorescence distribution. The different response to PDT with regard to the initial pro-drug concentration can thus be attributed to the different cellular localization.

Keywords: bladder cancer, hexyl-aminolevulinate, photobleaching, confocal fluorescence microscopy

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Authors: Ashleigh Williams

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Micro- and nanoplastics’ (MNLPs) omnipresence and ecological accumulation is evident when surveying recent environmental impact studies. For example, in 2014 it was estimated that at least 52.3 trillion plastic microparticles are floating at sea, and scientists have even found plastics present remote Arctic ice and snow (5,6). Plastics have even found their way into precipitation, with more than 1000 tons of microplastic rain precipitating onto the Western United States in 2020. Even more recent studies evaluating the chemical safety of reusable plastic bottles found that hundreds of chemicals leached into the control liquid in the bottle (ddH2O, ph = 7) during a 24-hour time period. A consequence of the increased abundance in plastic waste in the air, land, and water every year is the bioaccumulation of MNLPs in ecosystems and trophic niches of the animal food chain, which could potentially cause increased direct and indirect exposure of humans to MNLPs via inhalation, ingestion, and dermal contact. Though the detrimental, toxic effects of MNLPs have been established in marine biota, much less is known about the potentially hazardous health effects of chronic MNLP ingestion in humans. Recent data indicate that long-term exposure to MNLPs could cause possible inflammatory and dysbiotic effects. However, toxicity seems to be largely dose-, as well as size-dependent. In addition, the transcytotic uptake of MNLPs through the intestinal epithelia in humans remain relatively unknown. To this point, the goal of the current study was to investigate the mechanisms of micro- and nanoplastic uptake and transcytosis of Polystyrene (PE) in human stem-cell derived, physiologically relevant in vitro intestinal model systems, and to compare the relative effect of particle size (30 nm, 100 nm, 500 nm and 1 µm), and concentration (0 µg/mL, 250 µg/mL, 500 µg/mL, 1000 µg/mL) on polystyrene MNLP uptake, transcytosis and intestinal epithelial model integrity. Observational and quantitative data obtained from confocal microscopy, immunostaining, transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) measurements, cryosectioning, and ELISA cytokine assays of the proinflammatory cytokines Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-8 were used to evaluate the localization and transcytosis of polystyrene MNPs and its impact on epithelial integrity in human-derived intestinal in vitro model systems. The effect of Microfold (M) cell induction on polystyrene micro- and nanoparticle (MNP) uptake, transcytosis, and potential inflammation was also assessed and compared to samples grown under standard conditions. Microfold (M) cells, link the human intestinal system to the immune system and are the primary cells in the epithelium responsible for sampling and transporting foreign matter of interest from the lumen of the gut to underlying immune cells. Given the uptake capabilities of Microfold cells to interact both specifically and nonspecific to abiotic and biotic materials, it was expected that M- cell induced in vitro samples would have increased binding, localization, and potentially transcytosis of Polystyrene MNLPs across the epithelial barrier. Experimental results of this study would not only help in the evaluation of the plastic toxicity, but would allow for more detailed modeling of gut inflammation and the intestinal immune system.

Keywords: nanoplastics, enteroids, intestinal barrier, tissue engineering, microfold (M) cells

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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: Berna Çalışkan

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The integrated water management is a colloborative approach to planning that brings together institutions that influence all elements of the water cycle, waterways, watershed characteristics, wetlands, ponds, lakes, floodplain areas, stream channel structure. It encourages collaboration where it will be beneficial and links between water planning and other planning processes that contribute to improving sustainable urban development and liveability. Hydraulic considerations can influence the selection of a highway corridor and the alternate routes within the corridor. widening a roadway, replacing a culvert, or repairing a bridge. Because of this, the type and amount of data needed for planning studies can vary widely depending on such elements as environmental considerations, class of the proposed highway, state of land use development, and individual site conditions. The extraction of drainage networks provide helpful preliminary drainage data from the digital elevation model (DEM). A case study was carried out using the Arc Hydro extension within ArcGIS in the study area. It provides the means for processing and presenting spatially-referenced Stream Model. Study area’s flow routing, stream levels, segmentation, drainage point processing can be obtained using DEM as the 'Input surface raster'. These processes integrate the fields of hydrologic, engineering research, and environmental modeling in a multi-disciplinary program designed to provide decision makers with a science-based understanding, and innovative tools for, the development of interdisciplinary and multi-level approach. This research helps to manage transport project planning and construction phases to analyze the surficial water flow, high-level streams, wetland sites for development of transportation infrastructure planning, implementing, maintenance, monitoring and long-term evaluations to better face the challenges and solutions associated with effective management and enhancement to deal with Low, Medium, High levels of impact. Transport projects are frequently perceived as critical to the ‘success’ of major urban, metropolitan, regional and/or national development because of their potential to affect significant socio-economic and territorial change. In this context, sustaining and development of economic and social activities depend on having sufficient Water Resources Management. The results of our research provides a workflow to build a stream network how can classify suitability map according to stream levels. Transportation projects establish, develop, incorporate and deliver effectively by selecting best location for reducing construction maintenance costs, cost-effective solutions for drainage, landslide, flood control. According to model findings, field study should be done for filling gaps and checking for errors. In future researches, this study can be extended for determining and preventing possible damage of Sensitive Areas and Vulnerable Zones supported with field investigations.

Keywords: water resources management, hydro tool, water protection, transportation

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Authors: André Python

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To this day, terrorism persists as a worldwide threat, exemplified by the recent deadly attacks in January 2015 in Paris and the ongoing massacres perpetrated by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In response to this threat, states deploy various counterterrorism measures, the cost of which could be reduced through effective preventive measures. In order to increase the efficiency of preventive measures, policy-makers may benefit from accurate predictive models that are able to capture the complex spatial dynamics of terrorism occurring at a local scale. Despite empirical research carried out at country-level that has confirmed theories explaining the diffusion processes of terrorism across space and time, scholars have failed to assess diffusion’s theories on a local scale. Moreover, since scholars have not made the most of recent statistical modelling approaches, they have been unable to build up predictive models accurate in both space and time. In an effort to address these shortcomings, this research suggests a novel approach to systematically assess the theories of terrorism’s diffusion on a local scale and provide a predictive model of the local spatial dynamics of terrorism worldwide. With a focus on the lethal terrorist events that occurred after 9/11, this paper addresses the following question: why and how does lethal terrorism diffuse in space and time? Based on geolocalised data on worldwide terrorist attacks and covariates gathered from 2002 to 2013, a binomial spatio-temporal point process is used to model the probability of terrorist attacks on a sphere (the world), the surface of which is discretised in the form of Delaunay triangles and refined in areas of specific interest. Within a Bayesian framework, the model is fitted through an integrated nested Laplace approximation - a recent fitting approach that computes fast and accurate estimates of posterior marginals. Hence, for each location in the world, the model provides a probability of encountering a lethal terrorist attack and measures of volatility, which inform on the model’s predictability. Diffusion processes are visualised through interactive maps that highlight space-time variations in the probability and volatility of encountering a lethal attack from 2002 to 2013. Based on the previous twelve years of observation, the location and lethality of terrorist events in 2014 are statistically accurately predicted. Throughout the global scope of this research, local diffusion processes such as escalation and relocation are systematically examined: the former process describes an expansion from high concentration areas of lethal terrorist events (hotspots) to neighbouring areas, while the latter is characterised by changes in the location of hotspots. By controlling for the effect of geographical, economical and demographic variables, the results of the model suggest that the diffusion processes of lethal terrorism are jointly driven by contagious and non-contagious factors that operate on a local scale – as predicted by theories of diffusion. Moreover, by providing a quantitative measure of predictability, the model prevents policy-makers from making decisions based on highly uncertain predictions. Ultimately, this research may provide important complementary tools to enhance the efficiency of policies that aim to prevent and combat terrorism.

Keywords: diffusion process, terrorism, spatial dynamics, spatio-temporal modeling

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Authors: A. Zapata, Orlando Arroyo, R. Bonett

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Over the last two decades, the growing demand for housing in Latin American countries has led to the development of construction projects based on low and medium-rise buildings with thin reinforced concrete walls. This system, known as Thin Walls Reinforced Concrete Buildings (TWRCB), uses walls with thicknesses from 100 to 150 millimetres, with flexural reinforcement formed by welded wire mesh (WWM) with diameters between 5 and 7 millimetres, arranged in one or two layers. These walls often have irregular structural configurations, including combinations of rectangular shapes. Experimental and numerical research conducted in regions where this structural system is commonplace indicates inherent weaknesses, such as limited ductility due to the WWM reinforcement and thin element dimensions. Because of its complexity, numerical analyses have relied on two-dimensional models that don't explicitly account for the floor system, even though it plays a crucial role in distributing seismic forces among the resilient elements. Nonetheless, the numerical analyses assume a rigid diaphragm hypothesis. For this purpose, two study cases of buildings were selected, low-rise and mid-rise characteristics of TWRCB in Colombia. The buildings were analyzed in Opensees using the MVLEM-3D for walls and shell elements to simulate the slabs to involve the effect of coupling diaphragm in the nonlinear behaviour. Three cases are considered: a) models without a slab, b) models with rigid slabs, and c) models with flexible slabs. An incremental static (pushover) and nonlinear dynamic analyses were carried out using a set of 44 far-field ground motions of the FEMA P-695, scaled to 1.0 and 1.5 factors to consider the probability of collapse for the design base earthquake (DBE) and the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) for the model, according to the location sites and hazard zone of the archetypes in the Colombian NSR-10. Shear base capacity, maximum displacement at the roof, walls shear base individual demands and probabilities of collapse were calculated, to evaluate the effect of absence, rigid and flexible slabs in the nonlinear behaviour of the archetype buildings. The pushover results show that the building exhibits an overstrength between 1.1 to 2 when the slab is considered explicitly and depends on the structural walls plan configuration; additionally, the nonlinear behaviour considering no slab is more conservative than if the slab is represented. Include the flexible slab in the analysis remarks the importance to consider the slab contribution in the shear forces distribution between structural elements according to design resistance and rigidity. The dynamic analysis revealed that including the slab reduces the collapse probability of this system due to have lower displacements and deformations, enhancing the safety of residents and the seismic performance. The strategy of including the slab in modelling is important to capture the real effect on the distribution shear forces in walls due to coupling to estimate the correct nonlinear behaviour in this system and the adequate distribution to proportionate the correct resistance and rigidity of the elements in the design to reduce the possibility of damage to the elements during an earthquake.

Keywords: thin wall reinforced concrete buildings, coupling slab, rigid diaphragm, flexible diaphragm

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Authors: Roland F. Karthaus, Rachel S. O'Brien

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Over the past decade, the authors have undertaken applied research aimed at enabling transformation within the prison service to improve conditions and outcomes for those living, working and visiting in prisons in the UK and the communities they serve. The research has taken place against a context of reducing resources and public discontent at increasing levels of violence, deteriorating conditions and persistently high levels of re-offending. Top-down governmental policies have mainly been ineffectual and in some cases counter-productive. The prison service is characterised by hierarchical organisation, and the research has applied design thinking at multiple levels to challenge and precipitate change: top-down, middle-out and bottom-up. The research employs three distinct but related approaches, system design (top-down): working at the national policy level to analyse the changing policy context, identifying opportunities and challenges; engaging with the Ministry of Justice commissioners and sector organisations to facilitate debate, introducing new evidence and provoking creative thinking, place-based design (middle-out): working with individual prison establishments as pilots to illustrate and test the potential for local empowerment, creative change, and improved architecture within place-specific contexts and organisational hierarchies, everyday design (bottom-up): working with individuals in the system to explore the potential for localised, significant, demonstrator changes; including collaborative design, capacity building and empowerment in skills, employment, communication, training, and other activities. The research spans a series of projects, through which the methodological approach has developed responsively. The projects include a place-based model for the re-purposing of Ministry of Justice land assets for the purposes of rehabilitation; an evidence-based guide to improve prison design for health and well-being; capacity-based employment, skills and self-build project as a template for future open prisons. The overarching research has enabled knowledge to be developed and disseminated through policy and academic networks. Whilst the research remains live and continuing; key findings are emerging as a basis for a new methodological approach to effecting change in the UK prison service. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary to overcome the barriers between distinct areas of the prison service. Sometimes referred to as total environments, prisons encompass entire social and physical environments which themselves are orchestrated by institutional arms of government, resulting in complex systems that cannot be meaningfully engaged through narrow disciplinary lenses. A scalar approach is necessary to connect strategic policies with individual experiences and potential, through the medium of individual prison establishments, operating as discrete entities within the system. A reflexive process is necessary to connect research with action in a responsive mode, learning to adapt as the system itself is changing. The role of individuals in the system, their latent knowledge and experience and their ability to engage and become agents of change are essential. Whilst the specific characteristics of the UK prison system are unique, the approach is internationally applicable.

Keywords: architecture, design, policy, prison, system, transformation

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Authors: Mohosina Jabin Toma, Gerald Tembrevilla, Marina Milner-Bolotin

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Science education in Bangladesh is losing its appeal at an alarming rate due to the lack of science laboratory equipment, excessive teacher-student ratio, and outdated teaching strategies. Research-based educational technologies aim to address some of the problems faced by teachers who have limited access to laboratory resources, like many Bangladeshi teachers. Physics Education Technology (PhET) research team has been developing science and mathematics interactive simulations to help students develop deeper conceptual understanding. Still, PhET simulations are rarely used in Bangladesh. The purpose of this study is to explore Bangladeshi teachers’ challenges in learning to implement PhET-enhanced pedagogies and examine teachers’ views on PhET’s pedagogical opportunities in secondary science education. Since it is a new technology for Bangladesh, seven workshops on PhET were conducted in Dhaka city for 129 in-service and pre-service teachers in the winter of 2023 prior to data collection. This study followed an explanatory mixed method approach that included a pre-and post-workshop survey and five semi-structured interviews. Teachers participated in the workshops voluntarily and shared their experiences at the end. Teachers’ challenges were also identified from workshop discussions and observations. The interviews took place three to four weeks after the workshop and shed light on teachers’ experiences of using PhET in actual classroom settings. The results suggest that teachers had difficulty handling new technology; hence, they recommended preparing a booklet and Bengali YouTube videos on PhET to assist them in overcoming their struggles. Teachers also faced challenges in using any inquiry-based learning approach due to the content-loaded curriculum and exam-oriented education system, as well as limited experience with inquiry-based education. The short duration of classes makes it difficult for them to design PhET activities. Furthermore, considering limited access to computers and the internet in school, teachers think PhET simulations can bring positive changes if used in homework activities. Teachers also think they lack pedagogical skills and sound content knowledge to take full advantage of PhET. They highly appreciated the workshops and proposed that the government designs some teacher training modules on how to incorporate PhET simulations. Despite all the challenges, teachers believe PhET can enhance student learning, ensure student engagement and increase student interest in STEM Education. Considering the lack of science laboratory equipment, teachers recognized the potential of PhET as a supplement to hands-on activities for secondary science education in Bangladesh. They believed that if PhET develops more curriculum-relevant sims, it will bring revolutionary changes to how Bangladeshi students learn science. All the participating teachers in this study came from two organizations, and all the workshops took place in urban areas; therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all secondary science teachers. A nationwide study is required to include teachers from diverse backgrounds. A further study can shed light on how building a professional learning community can lessen teachers’ challenges in incorporating PhET-enhanced pedagogy in their teaching.

Keywords: educational technology, inquiry-based learning, PhET interactive simulations, PhET-enhanced pedagogies, science education, science laboratory equipment, teacher professional development

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Authors: Lorenzo Casagrande, Antonio Bonati, Ferdinando Auricchio, Antonio Occhiuzzi

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This paper summarizes the results of a survey on smart non-structural element dynamic dissipation when installed in modern high-rise mega-frame prototypes. An innovative glazed curtain wall was designed using Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) joints in order to increase the energy dissipation and enhance the seismic/wind response of the structures. The studied buildings consisted of thirty- and sixty-storey planar frames, extracted from reference three-dimensional steel Moment Resisting Frame (MRF) with outriggers and belt trusses. The internal core was composed of a CBF system, whilst outriggers were placed every fifteen stories to limit second order effects and inter-storey drifts. These structural systems were designed in accordance with European rules and numerical FE models were developed with an open-source code, able to account for geometric and material nonlinearities. With regard to the characterization of non-structural building components, full-scale crescendo tests were performed on aluminium/glass curtain wall units at the laboratory of the Construction Technologies Institute (ITC) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), deriving force-displacement curves. Three-dimensional brick-based inelastic FE models were calibrated according to experimental results, simulating the fac¸ade response. Since recent seismic events and extreme dynamic wind loads have generated the large occurrence of non-structural components failure, which causes sensitive economic losses and represents a hazard for pedestrians safety, a more dissipative glazed curtain wall was studied. Taking advantage of the mechanical properties of SMA, advanced smart joints were designed with the aim to enhance both the dynamic performance of the single non-structural unit and the global behavior. Thus, three-dimensional brick-based plastic FE models were produced, based on the innovated non-structural system, simulating the evolution of mechanical degradation in aluminium-to-glass and SMA-to-glass connections when high deformations occurred. Consequently, equivalent nonlinear links were calibrated to reproduce the behavior of both tested and smart designed units, and implemented on the thirty- and sixty-storey structural planar frame FE models. Nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHAs) were performed to quantify the potential of the new system, when considered in the lateral resisting frame system (LRFS) of modern high-rise MRFs. Sensitivity to the structure height was explored comparing the responses of the two prototypes. Trends in global and local performance were discussed to show that, if accurately designed, advanced materials in non-structural elements provide new sources of energy dissipation.

Keywords: advanced technologies, glazed curtain walls, non-structural elements, seismic-action reduction, shape memory alloy

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Authors: Dimitra Das, Anuradha Mitra, Kalyan Kumar Chattopadhyay

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Organic polymers, constructed from light elements like carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, and boron atoms, are the emergent class of non-toxic, metal-free, environmental benign advanced materials. Covalent triazine-based polymers with a functional triazine group are significant class of organic materials due to their remarkable stability arising out of strong covalent bonds. They can conventionally form hydrogen bonds, favour π–π contacts, and they were recently revealed to be involved in interesting anion–π interactions. The present work mainly focuses upon the development of a single-crystalline, highly cross-linked triazine-based nitrogen-rich organic polymer with nanodendritic morphology and significant thermal stability. The polymer has been synthesized through hydrothermal treatment of melamine and ethylene glycol resulting in cross-polymerization via condensation-polymerization reaction. The crystal structure of the polymer has been evaluated by employing Rietveld whole profile fitting method. The polymer has been found to be composed of monoclinic melamine having space group P21/a. A detailed insight into the chemical structure of the as synthesized polymer has been elucidated by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopic analysis. X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic (XPS) analysis has also been carried out for further understanding of the different types of linkages required to create the backbone of the polymer. The unique rod-like morphology of the triazine based polymer has been revealed from the images obtained from Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Interestingly, this polymer has been found to selectively detect mercury (Hg²⁺) ions at an extremely low concentration through fluorescent quenching with detection limit as low as 0.03 ppb. The high toxicity of mercury ions (Hg²⁺) arise from its strong affinity towards the sulphur atoms of biological building blocks. Even a trace quantity of this metal is dangerous for human health. Furthermore, owing to its small ionic radius and high solvation energy, Hg²⁺ ions remain encapsulated by water molecules making its detection a challenging task. There are some existing reports on fluorescent-based heavy metal ion sensors using covalent organic frameworks (COFs) but reports on mercury sensing using triazine based polymers are rather undeveloped. Thus, the importance of ultra-trace detection of Hg²⁺ ions with high level of selectivity and sensitivity has contemporary significance. A plausible sensing phenomenon by the polymer has been proposed to understand the applicability of the material as a potential sensor. The impressive sensitivity of the polymer sample towards Hg²⁺ is the very first report in the field of highly crystalline triazine based polymers (without the introduction of any sulphur groups or functionalization) towards mercury ion detection through photoluminescence quenching technique. This crystalline metal-free organic polymer being cheap, non-toxic and scalable has current relevance and could be a promising candidate for Hg²⁺ ion sensing at commercial level.

Keywords: fluorescence quenching , mercury ion sensing, single-crystalline, triazine-based polymer

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Authors: Emre Kara, Ali Kurşun, Halil Aykul

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The lightweight sandwiches obtained with the use of various core materials such as foams, honeycomb, lattice structures etc., which have high energy absorbing capacity and high strength to weight ratio, are suitable for several applications in transport industry (automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding industry) where saving of fuel consumption, load carrying capacity increase, safety of vehicles and decrease of emission of harmful gases are very important aspects. While the sandwich structures with foams and honeycombs have been applied for many years, there is a growing interest on a new generation sandwiches with micro lattice cores. In order to produce these core structures, various production methods were created with the development of the technology. One of these production technologies is an additive manufacturing technique called selective laser sintering/melting (SLS/SLM) which is very popular nowadays because of saving of production time and achieving the production of complex topologies. The static bending and the dynamic low velocity impact tests of the sandwiches with carbon fiber/epoxy skins and the micro lattice cores produced via SLS/SLM were already reported in just a few studies. The goal of this investigation was the analysis of the flexural response of the sandwiches consisting of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) skins and the micro lattice cores manufactured via SLS under thermo-mechanical loads in order to compare the results in terms of peak load and absorbed energy values respect to the effect of core cell size, temperature and support span length. The micro lattice cores were manufactured using SLS technology that creates the product drawn by a 3D computer aided design (CAD) software. The lattice cores which were designed as body centered cubic (BCC) model having two different cell sizes (d= 2 and 2.5 mm) with the strut diameter of 0.3 mm were produced using titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) powder. During the production of all the core materials, the same production parameters such as laser power, laser beam diameter, building direction etc. were kept constant. Vacuum Infusion (VI) method was used to produce skin materials, made of [0°/90°] woven S-Glass prepreg laminates. The combination of the core and skins were implemented under VI. Three point bending tests were carried out by a servo-hydraulic test machine with different values of support span distances (L = 30, 45, and 60 mm) under various temperature values (T = 23, 40 and 60 °C) in order to analyze the influences of support span and temperature values. The failure mode of the collapsed sandwiches has been investigated using 3D computed tomography (CT) that allows a three-dimensional reconstruction of the analyzed object. The main results of the bending tests are: load-deflection curves, peak force and absorbed energy values. The results were compared according to the effect of cell size, support span and temperature values. The obtained results have particular importance for applications that require lightweight structures with a high capacity of energy dissipation, such as the transport industry, where problems of collision and crash have increased in the last years.

Keywords: light-weight sandwich structures, micro lattice cores, selective laser sintering, transport application

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Authors: Antonella Falanga, Armando Cartenì

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"Big data" refers to extremely vast and complex sets of data, encompassing extraordinarily large and intricate datasets that require specific tools for meaningful analysis and processing. These datasets can stem from diverse origins like sensors, mobile devices, online transactions, social media platforms, and more. The utilization of big data is pivotal, offering the chance to leverage vast information for substantial advantages across diverse fields, thereby enhancing comprehension, decision-making, efficiency, and fostering innovation in various domains. Big data, distinguished by its remarkable attributes of enormous volume, high velocity, diverse variety, and significant value, represent a transformative force reshaping the industry worldwide. Their pervasive impact continues to unlock new possibilities, driving innovation and advancements in technology, decision-making processes, and societal progress in an increasingly data-centric world. The use of these technologies is becoming more widespread, facilitating and accelerating operations that were once much more complicated. In particular, big data impacts across multiple sectors such as business and commerce, healthcare and science, finance, education, geography, agriculture, media and entertainment and also mobility and logistics. Within the transportation sector, which is the focus of this study, big data applications encompass a wide variety, spanning across optimization in vehicle routing, real-time traffic management and monitoring, logistics efficiency, reduction of travel times and congestion, enhancement of the overall transportation systems, but also mitigation of pollutant emissions contributing to environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, in public administration and the development of smart cities, big data aids in improving public services, urban planning, and decision-making processes, leading to more efficient and sustainable urban environments. Access to vast data reservoirs enables deeper insights, revealing hidden patterns and facilitating more precise and timely decision-making. Additionally, advancements in cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) have further amplified the potential of big data, enabling more sophisticated and comprehensive analyses. Certainly, utilizing big data presents various advantages but also entails several challenges regarding data privacy and security, ensuring data quality, managing and storing large volumes of data effectively, integrating data from diverse sources, the need for specialized skills to interpret analysis results, ethical considerations in data use, and evaluating costs against benefits. Addressing these difficulties requires well-structured strategies and policies to balance the benefits of big data with privacy, security, and efficient data management concerns. Building upon these premises, the current research investigates the efficacy and influence of big data by conducting an overview of the primary and recent implementations of big data in transportation systems. Overall, this research allows us to conclude that big data better provide to enhance rational decision-making for mobility choices and is imperative for adeptly planning and allocating investments in transportation infrastructures and services.

Keywords: big data, public transport, sustainable mobility, transport demand, transportation planning

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Authors: Rosimeire Araújo Silva, Philip Martin Fearnside

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Extreme droughts and floods in the Amazon have serious consequences for natural ecosystems and the human population in the region. The frequency of these events has increased in recent years, and projections of climate change predict greater frequency and intensity of these events. Understanding the links between these extreme events and different patterns of sea surface temperature in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is essential, both to improve the modeling of climate change and its consequences and to support efforts of adaptation in the region. The relationship between sea temperatures and events in the Amazon is much more complex than is usually assumed in climatic models. Warming and cooling of different parts of the oceans, as well as the interaction between simultaneous temperature changes in different parts of each ocean and between the two oceans, have specific consequences for the Amazon, with effects on precipitation that vary in different parts of the region. Simplistic generalities, such as the association between El Niño events and droughts in the Amazon, do not capture this complexity. We investigated the variability of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Tropical Pacific Ocean during the period 1950-2022, using Empirical Orthogonal Functions (FOE), spectral analysis coherence and wavelet phase. The two were identified as the main modes of variability, which explain about 53,9% and 13,3%, respectively, of the total variance of the data. The spectral and coherence analysis and wavelets phase showed that the first selected mode represents the warming in the central part of the Pacific Ocean (the “Central El Niño”), while the second mode represents warming in the eastern part of the Pacific (the “Eastern El Niño The effects of the 1982-1983 and 1976-1977 El Niño events in the Amazon, although both events were characterized by an increase in sea surface temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, the impact on rainfall in the Amazon was distinct. In the rainy season, from December to March, the sub-basins of the Japurá, Jutaí, Jatapu, Tapajós, Trombetas and Xingu rivers were the regions that showed the greatest reductions in rainfall associated with El Niño Central (1982-1983), while the sub-basins of the Javari, Purus, Negro and Madeira rivers had the most pronounced reductions in the year of Eastern El Niño (1976-1977). In the transition to the dry season, in April, the greatest reductions were associated with the Eastern El Niño year for the majority of the study region, with the exception only of the sub-basins of the Madeira, Trombetas and Xingu rivers, which had their associated reductions to Central El Niño. In the dry season from July to September, the sub-basins of the Japurá Jutaí Jatapu Javari Trombetas and Madeira rivers were the rivers that showed the greatest reductions in rainfall associated with El Niño Central, while the sub-basins of the Tapajós Purus Negro and Xingu rivers had the most pronounced reductions. In the Eastern El Niño year this season. In this way, it is possible to conclude that the Central (Eastern) El Niño controlled the reductions in soil moisture in the dry (rainy) season for all sub-basins shown in this study. Extreme drought events associated with these meteorological phenomena can lead to a significant increase in the occurrence of forest fires. These fires have a devastating impact on Amazonian vegetation, resulting in the irreparable loss of biodiversity and the release of large amounts of carbon stored in the forest, contributing to the increase in the greenhouse effect and global climate change.

Keywords: sea surface temperature, variability, climate, Amazon

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Esmael Makarian, Ayub Elyasi, Fatemeh Saberi, Olusegun Stanley Tomomewo

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Rock mechanical investigation is one of the most crucial activities in underground operations, especially in surveys related to hydrocarbon exploration and production, geothermal reservoirs, energy storage, mining, and geotechnics. There is a wide range of traditional methods for driving, collecting, and analyzing rock mechanics data. However, these approaches may not be suitable or work perfectly in some situations, such as fractured zones. Cutting-edge technologies have been provided to solve and optimize the mentioned issues. Internet of Things (IoT), Edge, and Cloud Computing technologies (ECt & CCt, respectively) are among the most widely used and new artificial intelligence methods employed for geomechanical studies. IoT devices act as sensors and cameras for real-time monitoring and mechanical-geological data collection of rocks, such as temperature, movement, pressure, or stress levels. Structural integrity, especially for cap rocks within hydrocarbon systems, and rock mass behavior assessment, to further activities such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and underground gas storage (UGS), or to improve safety risk management (SRM) and potential hazards identification (P.H.I), are other benefits from IoT technologies. EC techniques can process, aggregate, and analyze data immediately collected by IoT on a real-time scale, providing detailed insights into the behavior of rocks in various situations (e.g., stress, temperature, and pressure), establishing patterns quickly, and detecting trends. Therefore, this state-of-the-art and useful technology can adopt autonomous systems in rock mechanical surveys, such as drilling and production (in hydrocarbon wells) or excavation (in mining and geotechnics industries). Besides, ECt allows all rock-related operations to be controlled remotely and enables operators to apply changes or make adjustments. It must be mentioned that this feature is very important in environmental goals. More often than not, rock mechanical studies consist of different data, such as laboratory tests, field operations, and indirect information like seismic or well-logging data. CCt provides a useful platform for storing and managing a great deal of volume and different information, which can be very useful in fractured zones. Additionally, CCt supplies powerful tools for predicting, modeling, and simulating rock mechanical information, especially in fractured zones within vast areas. Also, it is a suitable source for sharing extensive information on rock mechanics, such as the direction and size of fractures in a large oil field or mine. The comprehensive review findings demonstrate that digital transformation through integrated IoT, Edge, and Cloud solutions is revolutionizing traditional rock mechanical investigation. These advanced technologies have empowered real-time monitoring, predictive analysis, and data-driven decision-making, culminating in noteworthy enhancements in safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Therefore, by employing IoT, CCt, and ECt, underground operations have experienced a significant boost, allowing for timely and informed actions using real-time data insights. The successful implementation of IoT, CCt, and ECt has led to optimized and safer operations, optimized processes, and environmentally conscious approaches in underground geological endeavors.

Keywords: rock mechanical studies, internet of things, edge computing, cloud computing, underground surveys, geological operations

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Authors: Aditi Chitharanjan Parmar, Marco Gottardo, Giulia Adele Tuci, Francesco Valentino

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The generation of urban organic waste is a significant environmental problem due to the potential release of leachate and/or methane into the environment. This contributes to climate change, discharging a valuable resource that could be used in various ways. This research addresses this issue by proposing a two-step approach by linking biowaste management to aquaculture industry via single cell proteins (SCP) production. A mixture of food waste and municipal sewage sludge (FW-MSS) was firstly subjected to a mesophilic (37°C) anaerobic fermentation to produce a liquid stream rich in short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are important building blocks for the following microbial biomass growth. In the frame of stable fermentation activity (after 1 week of operation), the average value of SCFAs was 21.3  0.4 g COD/L, with a CODSCFA/CODSOL ratio of 0.77 COD/COD. This indicated the successful strategy to accumulate SCFAs from the biowaste mixture by applying short hydraulic retention time (HRT; 4 days) and medium organic loading rate (OLR; 7 – 12 g VS/L d) in the lab-scale (V = 4 L) continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The SCFA-rich effluent was then utilized as feedstock for the growth of a mixed microbial consortium able to store polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), a class of biopolymers completely biodegradable in nature and produced as intracellular carbon/energy source. Given the demonstrated properties of the intracellular PHA as antimicrobial and immunomodulatory effect on various fish species, the PHA-producing culture was intended to be utilized as SCP in aquaculture. The growth of PHA-storing biomass was obtained in a 2-L sequencing batch reactor (SBR), fully aerobic and set at 25°C; to stimulate a certain storage response (PHA production) in the cells, the feast-famine conditions were adopted, consisting in an alternation of cycles during which the biomass was exposed to an initial abundance of substrate (feast phase) followed by a starvation period (famine phase). To avoid the proliferation of other bacteria not able to store PHA, the SBR was maintained at low HRT (2 days). Along the stable growth of the mixed microbial consortium (the growth yield was estimated to be 0.47 COD/COD), the feast-famine strategy enhanced the PHA production capacity, leading to a final PHA content in the biomass equal to 16.5 wt%, which is suitable for the use as SCP. In fact, by incorporating the waste-derived PHA-rich biomass into fish feed at 20 wt%, the final feed could contain a PHA content around 3.0 wt%, within the recommended range (0.2–5.0 wt%) for promoting fish health. Proximate analysis of the PHA-rich biomass revealed a good crude proteins level (around 51 wt%) and the presence of all the essential amino acids (EAA), together accounting for 31% of the SCP total amino acid composition. This suggested that the waste-derived SCP was a source of good quality proteins with a good nutritional value. This approach offers a sustainable solution for urban waste management, potentially establishing a sustainable waste-to-value conversion route by connecting waste management to the growing aquaculture and fish feed production sectors.

Keywords: feed supplement, nutritional value, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), single cell protein (SCP), urban organic waste.

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Authors: Samira Hamiditehrani

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Automated vehicles (AVs) are emerging technologies that could potentially offer a wide range of opportunities and challenges for the transportation sector. The advent of AV technology has also resulted in new business models in shared mobility services where many ride hailing and car sharing companies are developing on-demand AVs including shared automated vehicles (SAVs) and pooled automated vehicles (Pooled AVs). SAVs and Pooled AVs could provide alternative shared mobility services which encourage sustainable transport systems, mitigate traffic congestion, and reduce automobile dependency. However, the success of on-demand AVs in addressing major transportation policy issues depends on whether and how the public adopts them as regular travel modes. To identify conditions under which individuals may adopt on-demand AVs, previous studies have applied human behavior and technology acceptance theories, where Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been validated and is among the most tested in on-demand AV research. In this respect, this study has three objectives: (a) to propose and validate a theoretical model for behavioral intention to use SAVs and Pooled AVs by extending the original TPB model; (b) to identify the characteristics of early adopters of SAVs, who prefer to have a shorter and private ride, versus prospective users of Pooled AVs, who choose more affordable but longer and shared trips; and (c) to investigate Canadians’ intentions to adopt on-demand AVs for regular trips. Toward this end, this study uses data from an online survey (n = 3,622) of workers or adult students (18 to 75 years old) conducted in October and November 2021 for six major Canadian metropolitan areas: Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, and Hamilton. To accomplish the goals of this study, a base bivariate ordered probit model, in which both SAV and Pooled AV adoptions are estimated as ordered dependent variables, alongside a full structural equation modeling (SEM) system are estimated. The findings of this study indicate that affective motivations such as attitude towards AV technology, perceived privacy, and subjective norms, matter more than sociodemographic and travel behavior characteristic in adopting on-demand AVs. Also, the results of second objective provide evidence that although there are a few affective motivations, such as subjective norms and having ample knowledge, that are common between early adopters of SAVs and PooledAVs, many examined motivations differ among SAV and Pooled AV adoption factors. In other words, motivations influencing intention to use on-demand AVs differ among the service types. Likewise, depending on the types of on-demand AVs, the sociodemographic characteristics of early adopters differ significantly. In general, findings paint a complex picture with respect to the application of constructs from common technology adoption models to the study of on-demand AVs. Findings from the final objective suggest that policymakers, planners, the vehicle and technology industries, and the public at large should moderate their expectations that on-demand AVs may suddenly transform the entire transportation sector. Instead, this study suggests that SAVs and Pooled AVs (when they entire the Canadian market) are likely to be adopted as supplementary mobility tools rather than substitutions for current travel modes

Keywords: automated vehicles, Canadian perception, theory of planned behavior, on-demand AVs

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Authors: Manuel de Pazos-Liano, Manuel Cifuentes-Antonio, Juan Fisac-Gozalo, Sara Perales-Momparler, Carlos Martinez-Montero

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The first-ever game in the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, the new home of the Club Atletico de Madrid, was played on September 16, 2017, thanks to the work of a multidisciplinary team that made it possible to combine urban development with sustainability goals. The new football ground sits on a 1.2 km² land owned by the city of Madrid. Its construction has dramatically increased the sealed area of the site (transforming the runoff coefficient from 0.35 to 0.9), and the surrounding sewer network has no capacity for that extra flow. As an alternative to enlarge the existing 2.5 m diameter pipes, it was decided to detain runoff on site by means of an integrated and durable infrastructure that would not blow up the construction cost nor represent a burden on the municipality’s maintenance tasks. Instead of the more conventional option of building a large concrete detention tank, the decision was taken on the use of pervious pavement on the 3013 car parking spaces for sub-surface water storage, a solution aligned with the city water ordinance and the Madrid + Natural project. Making the idea a reality, in only five months and during the summer season (which forced to pour the porous concrete only overnight), was a challenge never faced before in Spain, that required of innovation both at the material as well as the machinery side. The process consisted on: a) defining the characteristics required for the porous concrete (compressive strength of 15 N/mm2 and 20% voids); b) testing of different porous concrete dosages at the construction company laboratory; c) stablishing the cross section in order to provide structural strength and sufficient water detention capacity (20 cm porous concrete over a 5 cm 5/10 gravel, that sits on a 50 cm coarse 40/50 aggregate sub-base separated by a virgin fiber polypropylene geotextile fabric); d) hydraulic computer modelling (using the Full Hydrograph Method based on the Wallingford Procedure) to estimate design peak flows decrease (an average of 69% at the three car parking lots); e) use of a variety of machinery for the application of the porous concrete to achieve both structural strength and permeable surface (including an inverse rotating rolling imported from USA, and the so-called CMI, a sliding concrete paver used in the construction of motorways with rigid pavements); f) full-scale pilots and final construction testing by an accredited laboratory (pavement compressive strength average value of 15 N/mm2 and 0,0032 m/s permeability). The continuous testing and innovating construction process explained in detail within this article, allowed for a growing performance with time, finally proving the use of the CMI valid also for large porous car park applications. All this process resulted in a successful story that converts the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium into a great demonstration site that will help the application of the Spanish Royal Decree 638/2016 (it also counts with rainwater harvesting for grass irrigation).

Keywords: construction machinery, permeable carpark, porous concrete, SUDS, sustainable develpoment

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Authors: Marcial Blondet, Malena Serrano, Álvaro Rubiños, Elin Mattsson

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In Peru, there are more than two million houses made of adobe (sun dried mud bricks) or rammed earth (35% of the total houses), in which almost 9 million people live, mainly because they cannot afford to purchase industrialized construction materials. Although adobe houses are cheap to build and thermally comfortable, their seismic performance is very poor, and they usually suffer significant damage or collapse with tragic loss of life. Therefore, over the years, researchers at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and other institutions have developed many reinforcement techniques as an effort to improve the structural safety of earthen houses located in seismic areas. However, most rural communities live under unacceptable seismic risk conditions because these techniques have not been adopted massively, mainly due to high cost and lack of diffusion. The nylon rope mesh reinforcement technique is simple and low-cost, and two technological transference tools have been developed to diffuse it among rural communities: 1) Scale seismic simulations using a portable shaking table have been designed to prove its effectiveness to protect adobe houses; 2) A step-by-step illustrated construction manual has been developed to guide the complete building process of a nylon rope mesh reinforced adobe house. As a study case, it was selected the district of Pullo: a small rural community in the Peruvian Andes where more than 80% of its inhabitants live in adobe houses and more than 60% are considered to live in poverty or extreme poverty conditions. The research team carried out a one-day workshop in May 2015 and a two-day workshop in September 2015. Results were positive: First, the nylon rope mesh reinforcement procedure was proven simple enough to be replicated by adults, both young and seniors, and participants handled ropes and knots easily as they use them for daily livestock activity. In addition, nylon ropes were proven highly available in the study area as they were found at two local stores in variety of color and size.. Second, the portable shaking table demonstration successfully showed the effectiveness of the nylon rope mesh reinforcement and generated interest on learning about it. On the first workshop, more than 70% of the participants were willing to formally subscribe and sign up for practical training lessons. On the second workshop, more than 80% of the participants returned the second day to receive introductory practical training. Third, community members found illustrations on the construction manual simple and friendly but the roof system illustrations led to misinterpretation so they were improved. The technological transfer tools developed in this project can be used to train rural dwellers on earthquake-resistant self-construction with adobe, which is still very common in the Peruvian Andes. This approach would allow community members to develop skills and capacities to improve safety of their households on their own, thus, mitigating their high seismic risk and preventing tragic losses. Furthermore, proper training in earthquake-resistant self-construction with adobe would prevent rural dwellers from depending on external aid after an earthquake and become agents of their own development.

Keywords: adobe, Peruvian Andes, safe housing, technological transference

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Authors: John E. Boberg, Steven J. Bourgeois

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The decline in student engagement and motivation through the middle years is well documented and clearly associated with a decline in mathematics achievement that persists through high school. To combat this trend and, very often, to meet high-stakes accountability standards, a growing number of parents, teachers, and schools have implemented various methods to incentivize learning. However, according to Self-Determination Theory, forms of incentivized learning such as public praise, tangible rewards, or threats of punishment tend to undermine intrinsic motivation and learning. By focusing on external forms of motivation that thwart autonomy in children, adults also potentially threaten relatedness measures such as trust and emotional engagement. Furthermore, these controlling motivational techniques tend to promote shallow forms of cognitive engagement at the expense of more effective deep processing strategies. Therefore, any short-term gains in apparent engagement or test scores are overshadowed by long-term diminished motivation, resulting in inauthentic approaches to learning and lower achievement. The current study focuses on the relationships between student trust, engagement, and motivation during these crucial years as students transition from elementary to middle school. In order to test the effects of controlled motivational techniques on achievement in mathematics, this quantitative study was conducted on a convenience sample of 22 elementary and middle schools from a single public charter school district in the south-central United States. The study employed multi-source data from students (N = 1,054), parents (N = 7,166), and teachers (N = 356), along with student achievement data and contextual campus variables. Cross-sectional questionnaires were used to measure the students’ self-regulated learning, emotional and cognitive engagement, and trust in teachers. Parents responded to a single item on incentivizing the academic performance of their child, and teachers responded to a series of questions about their acceptance of various incentive strategies. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate model fit and analyze the direct and indirect effects of the predictor variables on achievement. Although a student’s trust in teacher positively predicted both emotional and cognitive engagement, none of these three predictors accounted for any variance in achievement in mathematics. The parents’ use of incentives, on the other hand, predicted a student’s perception of his or her controlled motivation, and these two variables had significant negative effects on achievement. While controlled motivation had the greatest effects on achievement, parental incentives demonstrated both direct and indirect effects on achievement through the students’ self-reported controlled motivation. Comparing upper elementary student data with middle-school student data revealed that controlling forms of motivation may be taking their toll on student trust and engagement over time. While parental incentives positively predicted both cognitive and emotional engagement in the younger sub-group, such forms of controlling motivation negatively predicted both trust in teachers and emotional engagement in the middle-school sub-group. These findings support the claims, posited by Self-Determination Theory, about the dangers of incentivizing learning. Short-term gains belie the underlying damage to motivational processes that lead to decreased intrinsic motivation and achievement. Such practices also appear to thwart basic human needs such as relatedness.

Keywords: controlled motivation, student engagement, incentivized learning, mathematics achievement, self-determination theory, student trust

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Authors: Catherine Vasnetsov, Victor Vasnetsov

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Context: Thermo-responsive polymers are materials that undergo significant changes in their physical properties in response to temperature changes. These polymers have gained significant attention in research due to their potential applications in various industries and medicine. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their behavior are not well understood, particularly in relation to cosolvency, which is crucial for practical applications. Research Aim: This study aimed to theoretically investigate the phenomenon of cosolvency in long-chain polymers using the Flory-Huggins statistical-mechanical framework. The main objective was to understand the interactions between the polymer, solvent, and cosolvent under different conditions. Methodology: The research employed a combination of Monte Carlo computer simulations and advanced machine-learning methods. The Flory-Huggins mean field theory was used as the basis for the simulations. Spinodal graphs and ternary plots were utilized to develop an initial computer model for predicting polymer behavior. Molecular dynamic simulations were conducted to mimic real-life polymer systems. Machine learning techniques were incorporated to enhance the accuracy and reliability of the simulations. Findings: The simulations revealed that the addition of very low or very high volumes of cosolvent molecules resulted in smaller radii of gyration for the polymer, indicating poor miscibility. However, intermediate volume fractions of cosolvent led to higher radii of gyration, suggesting improved miscibility. These findings provide a possible microscopic explanation for the cosolvency phenomenon in polymer systems. Theoretical Importance: This research contributes to a better understanding of the behavior of thermo-responsive polymers and the role of cosolvency. The findings provide insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying cosolvency and offer specific predictions for future experimental investigations. The study also presents a more rigorous analysis of the Flory-Huggins free energy theory in the context of polymer systems. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: The data for this study was collected through Monte Carlo computer simulations and molecular dynamic simulations. The interactions between the polymer, solvent, and cosolvent were analyzed using the Flory-Huggins mean field theory. Machine learning techniques were employed to enhance the accuracy of the simulations. The collected data was then analyzed to determine the impact of cosolvent volume fractions on the radii of gyration of the polymer. Question Addressed: The research addressed the question of how cosolvency affects the behavior of long-chain polymers. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate the interactions between the polymer, solvent, and cosolvent under different volume fractions and understand the resulting changes in the radii of gyration. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study utilized theoretical modeling and computer simulations to investigate the phenomenon of cosolvency in long-chain polymers. The findings suggest that moderate cosolvent volume fractions can lead to improved miscibility, as indicated by higher radii of gyration. These insights contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cosolvency in polymer systems and provide predictions for future experimental studies. The research also enhances the theoretical analysis of the Flory-Huggins free energy theory.

Keywords: molecular modelling, flory-huggins, cosolvency, stimuli-responsive polymers

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Authors: Osman Adiguzel

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Shape memory alloys take place in a class of smart materials by exhibiting a peculiar property called the shape memory effect. This property is characterized by the recoverability of two certain shapes of material at different temperatures. These materials are often called smart materials due to their functionality and their capacity of responding to changes in the environment. Shape memory materials are used as shape memory devices in many interdisciplinary fields such as medicine, bioengineering, metallurgy, building industry and many engineering fields. The shape memory effect is performed thermally by heating and cooling after first cooling and stressing treatments, and this behavior is called thermoelasticity. This effect is based on martensitic transformations characterized by changes in the crystal structure of the material. The shape memory effect is the result of successive thermally and stress-induced martensitic transformations. Shape memory alloys exhibit thermoelasticity and superelasticity by means of deformation in the low-temperature product phase and high-temperature parent phase region, respectively. Superelasticity is performed by stressing and releasing the material in the parent phase region. Loading and unloading paths are different in the stress-strain diagram, and the cycling loop reveals energy dissipation. The strain energy is stored after releasing, and these alloys are mainly used as deformation absorbent materials in control of civil structures subjected to seismic events, due to the absorbance of strain energy during any disaster or earthquake. Thermal-induced martensitic transformation occurs thermally on cooling, along with lattice twinning with cooperative movements of atoms by means of lattice invariant shears, and ordered parent phase structures turn into twinned martensite structures, and twinned structures turn into the detwinned structures by means of stress-induced martensitic transformation by stressing the material in the martensitic condition. Thermal induced transformation occurs with the cooperative movements of atoms in two opposite directions, <110 > -type directions on the {110} - type planes of austenite matrix which is the basal plane of martensite. Copper-based alloys exhibit this property in the metastable β-phase region, which has bcc-based structures at high-temperature parent phase field. Lattice invariant shear and twinning is not uniform in copper-based ternary alloys and gives rise to the formation of complex layered structures, depending on the stacking sequences on the close-packed planes of the ordered parent phase lattice. In the present contribution, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies were carried out on two copper-based CuAlMn and CuZnAl alloys. X-ray diffraction profiles and electron diffraction patterns reveal that both alloys exhibit superlattice reflections inherited from the parent phase due to the displacive character of martensitic transformation. X-ray diffractograms taken in a long time interval show that diffraction angles and intensities of diffraction peaks change with the aging duration at room temperature. In particular, some of the successive peak pairs providing a special relation between Miller indices come close to each other. This result refers to the rearrangement of atoms in a diffusive manner.

Keywords: shape memory effect, martensitic transformation, reversibility, superelasticity, twinning, detwinning

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Authors: Tobias Huwer, Thomas Bobek, Gunter Spöcker

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Driving forces for enhancements in production are trends like digitalization and individualized production. Currently, such developments are restricted to assembly parts. Thus, complex freeform surfaces are not addressed in this context. The need for efficient use of resources and near-net-shape production will require individualized production of complex shaped workpieces. Due to variations between nominal model and actual geometry, this can lead to changes in operations in Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) to make CAPP manageable for an adaptive serial production. In this context, 3D CAD data can be a key to realizing that objective. Along with developments in the geometrical adaptation, a preceding inspection method based on CAD data is required to support the process planner by finding objective criteria to make decisions about the adaptive manufacturability of workpieces. Nowadays, this kind of decisions is depending on the experience-based knowledge of humans (e.g. process planners) and results in subjective decisions – leading to a variability of workpiece quality and potential failure in production. In this paper, we present an automatic part inspection method, based on design and measurement data, which evaluates actual geometries of single workpiece preforms. The aim is to automatically determine the suitability of the current shape for further machining, and to provide a basis for an objective decision about subsequent adaptive manufacturability. The proposed method is realized by a workflow-based approach, keeping in mind the requirements of industrial applications. Workflows are a well-known design method of standardized processes. Especially in applications like aerospace industry standardization and certification of processes are an important aspect. Function blocks, providing a standardized, event-driven abstraction to algorithms and data exchange, will be used for modeling and execution of inspection workflows. Each analysis step of the inspection, such as positioning of measurement data or checking of geometrical criteria, will be carried out by function blocks. One advantage of this approach is its flexibility to design workflows and to adapt algorithms specific to the application domain. In general, within the specified tolerance range it will be checked if a geometrical adaption is possible. The development of particular function blocks is predicated on workpiece specific information e.g. design data. Furthermore, for different product lifecycle phases, appropriate logics and decision criteria have to be considered. For example, tolerances for geometric deviations are different in type and size for new-part production compared to repair processes. In addition to function blocks, appropriate referencing systems are important. They need to support exact determination of position and orientation of the actual geometries to provide a basis for precise analysis. The presented approach provides an inspection methodology for adaptive and part-individual process chains. The analysis of each workpiece results in an inspection protocol and an objective decision about further manufacturability. A representative application domain is the product lifecycle of turbine blades containing a new-part production and a maintenance process. In both cases, a geometrical adaptation is required to calculate individual production data. In contrast to existing approaches, the proposed initial inspection method provides information to decide between different potential adaptive machining processes.

Keywords: adaptive, CAx, function blocks, turbomachinery

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Authors: Anne E. Goodenough

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Students often learn best ‘on the job’ through holistic real-world projects. They need real-world experiences to make classroom learning applicable and to increase their employability. Academics typically value working on projects where new knowledge is created and have a genuine desire to help students engage with learning and develop new skills. They might also have institutional pressure to enhance student engagement, retention, and satisfaction. External organizations - especially non-governmental bodies, charities, and small enterprises - often have fundamental and pressing questions, but lack the manpower and academic expertise to answer them effectively. They might also be on the lookout for talented potential employees. This study examines ways in which these diverse requirements can be met simultaneously by creating three-way projects that provide excellent academic and real-world outcomes for all involved. It studied a range of innovative projects across natural sciences (biology, ecology, physical geography and social sciences (human geography, sociology, criminology, and community engagement) to establish how to best harness the potential of this powerful approach. Focal collaborations included: (1) development of practitioner-linked modules; (2) frameworks where students collected/analyzed data for link organizations in research methods modules; (3) placement-based internships and dissertations; and (4) immersive fieldwork projects in novel locations to allow students engage first-hand with contemporary issues as diverse as rhino poaching in South Africa, segregation in Ireland, and gun crime in Florida. Although there was no ‘magic formula’ for success, the approach was found to work best when small projects were developed that were achievable in a short time-frame, both to tie into modular curricula and meet the immediacy expectations of many link organizations. Bigger projects were found to work well in some cases, especially when they were essentially a series of linked smaller projects, either running concurrently or successively with each building on previous work. Opportunities were maximized when there were tangible benefits to the link organization as this generally increased organization investment in the project and motivated students too. The importance of finding the right approach for a given project was found to be key: it was vital to ensure that something that could work effectively as an independent research project for one student, for example, was not shoehorned into being a project for multiple students within a taught module. In general, students were very positive about collaboration projects. They identified benefits to confidence, time-keeping and communication, as well as conveying their enthusiasm when their work was of benefit to the wider community. Several students have gone on to do further work with the link organization in a voluntary capacity or as paid staff, or used the experiences to help them break into the ever-more competitive job market in other ways. Although this approach involves a substantial time investment, especially from academics, the benefits can be profound. The approach has strong potential to engage students, help retention, improve student satisfaction, and teach new skills; keep the knowledge of academics fresh and current; and provide valuable tangible benefits for link organizations: a real triple win.

Keywords: authentic learning, curriculum development, effective education, employability, higher education, innovative pedagogy, link organizations, student experience

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Authors: Melina Kopke, Jelle Van Dijk

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Persons with cognitive disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often dependent on some form of professional support. Recent transformations in Dutch healthcare have spurred institutions to apply new, empowering methods and tools to enable their clients to cope (more) independently in daily life. Assistive Technologies (ATs) seem promising as empowering tools. While ATs can, functionally speaking, help people to perform certain activities without human assistance, we hold that, from a design-theoretical perspective, such technologies often fail to empower in a deeper sense. Most technologies serve either to prescribe or to monitor users’ actions, which in some sense objectifies them, rather than strengthening their agency. This paper proposes that theories of embodied interaction could help formulating a design vision in which interactive assistive devices augment, rather than replace, human agency and thereby add to a persons’ empowerment in daily life settings. It aims to close the gap between empowerment theory and the opportunities provided by assistive technologies, by showing how embodiment and empowerment theory can be applied in practice in the design of new, interactive assistive devices. Taking a Research-through-Design approach, we conducted a case study of designing to support independently living people with ASD with structuring daily activities. In three iterations we interlaced design action, active involvement and prototype evaluations with future end-users and healthcare professionals, and theoretical reflection. Our co-design sessions revealed the issue of handling daily activities being multidimensional. Not having the ability to self-manage one’s daily life has immense consequences on one’s self-image, and also has major effects on the relationship with professional caregivers. Over the course of the project relevant theoretical principles of both embodiment and empowerment theory together with user-insights, informed our design decisions. This resulted in a system of wireless light units that users can program as a reminder for tasks, but also to record and reflect on their actions. The iterative process helped to gradually refine and reframe our growing understanding of what it concretely means for a technology to empower a person in daily life. Drawing on the case study insights we propose a set of concrete design principles that together form what we call the embodied empowerment design framework. The framework includes four main principles: Enabling ‘reflection-in-action’; making information ‘publicly available’ in order to enable co-reflection and social coupling; enabling the implementation of shared reflections into an ‘endurable-external feedback loop’ embedded in the persons familiar ’lifeworld’; and nudging situated actions with self-created action-affordances. In essence, the framework aims for the self-development of a suitable routine, or ‘situated practice’, by building on a growing shared insight of what works for the person. The framework, we propose, may serve as a starting point for AT designers to create truly empowering interactive products. In a set of follow-up projects involving the participation of persons with ASD, Intellectual Disabilities, Dementia and Acquired Brain Injury, the framework will be applied, evaluated and further refined.

Keywords: assistive technology, design, embodiment, empowerment

Procedia PDF Downloads 267